Chapter 70: The Mermaid Witch

The first prototype of the scroll was a success, but my cautious approach prevented me from making the foolish mistake of immediately sending it to America.

Additional tests revealed that the scroll’s effectiveness varied depending on the type of magic sealed within it. Some spells would misfire, while others would fail to function properly.

For example, offensive spells could generally be sealed without issue—whether it was the shooting spell “Shoot Aaah” or the ice lance spell “Frozen Spear Doo-Vaala”. The power or scale of a spell didn’t affect whether it could be sealed. Even non-offensive spells could be stored, including high-consumption grand spells like the “Midnight Magic” of the Night Witch or the “Feast Magic” of the Tobacco Witch.

The downside was that the greater the spell’s mana consumption, the weaker the effects of the Monster Scissor became, shortening the scroll’s expiration period. However, in theory, even an ordinary person with no magical abilities could use a scroll to activate a Great Glacier Magic spell—though, as the Spider Witch pointed out, their lack of control would likely lead to self-destruction.

On the other hand, self-augmenting spells could be sealed but would fail to activate. Examples include “Boil, My Blood—Deni”, a self-enhancement spell, and the dragon transformation spell “Fly through the skies—[incomprehensible]—Lizard to Dragon Nag-Nazg-Eni-Enshwa”.

The issue arose when the person sealing the spell and the person activating it were different. It seemed that the moment a self-affecting spell was sealed, it became tied to the person who charged it with mana.

For example, if I were to seal a dragon transformation spell into a scroll, it would become a spell designed specifically to turn me into a dragon.

So, if Fuyou were to activate that scroll, the spell would check for me as the target and fail, displaying something like:
“Transformation target Dairi Kenshi not found. Magic effect invalid.”

However, if Fuyou were to seal her own self-enhancement spell and later activate that same scroll, the enhancement would trigger without issue.

This whole system was a bit tricky to grasp.

Additionally, Seer magic—since it acts directly on the caster’s eyes—also counted as a self-affecting spell. This meant that even if it were sealed in a scroll, only the original caster could use it. What a shame. I had really wanted to experience what it was like to glimpse the future.

Although the scrolls turned out to have more limitations than I had initially thought, they were still incredibly useful.

Due to the need for magic stone components, widespread civilian use would be difficult. However, after obtaining incantation samples from the Magic University and working with the Spider Witch, we confirmed that the high-level defensive magic used by the Aratake Group’s defensive mage could be successfully sealed and activated.

This high-level defense spell was strong enough to protect someone standing at the epicenter of a grand magic explosion without a scratch. Normally, it had a long incantation time and a high mana cost, but when sealed in a scroll, those downsides vanished (since the mana was expended at the time of sealing, not at activation). A single press of a button was all it took to instantly deploy the spell.

The ability to immediately activate a high-tier defensive spell—just that one function alone—was enough to justify the development of scroll technology.

I refined the scroll mechanism and miniaturized it, then developed an attachment that could be installed in the grip of a magic staff.

The design was a cylindrical attachment that fit around the handle, similar to how an arm guard wraps around an arm. The user would hold the staff with their fingers wrapped around the attachment, allowing them to activate the defensive spell with the press of a switch.

Miniaturizing the defensive spell attachment significantly weakened the Monster scissor’s effects, but by utilizing the “Monster Scissor Sandwich” technique I had previously used to seal the Eternal Flame, I managed to drastically enhance its functionality. This extended its lifespan to about 30–35 days, making it practical for real combat.

With input from the Spider Witch, I compiled a list of usage precautions for the scrolls and refined them into a deployable battlefield tool. Then, I sent the Defensive Magic Attachment to the American diplomat stationed in Tokyo.

The Black Ship had departed Tokyo with the Blue Witch, the Dragon Witch, and Professor Ohinata, but several personnel had been left behind in their place.

These included temporary instructors for teaching magic script, personnel studying Japanese magic tools, and one diplomat who doubled as an emergency contact.

That diplomat, formerly an employee at an American TV station, possessed 160K units of magic power and was assigned to return to America using teleportation magic in case of an emergency.

The Spider Witch claimed that the scroll technology and the Defensive Magic Attachment I had developed had the potential to shift the tide of the Demon King War.

Although Japan was not currently experiencing an emergency, the diplomat had to decide whether the new invention was important enough to warrant using his one-way teleportation ticket to bring it back to America.

The diplomat reportedly struggled with the decision.

He recognized the full value of the magic tool I had developed and praised it without hesitation.

However, there was only one one-way ticket to America. Once he returned, he couldn’t immediately come back to Japan.

Should he activate his return magic or wait?

If he waited, it was possible that further breakthroughs would emerge from the fusion of Japanese and American magical technologies.

After all, it had only been two and a half months since the introduction of magic script, and new applied technologies were already emerging.

If he returned now, he might miss out on even greater innovations.

Moreover, if a crisis were to erupt in Japan later, he would no longer be able to teleport back to report the emergency. And given Japan’s history of frequent catastrophic events, that was a very real concern.

On the other hand, if he returned to America immediately, he could personally deliver a battlefield-ready magic tool that could provide instant high-tier defensive magic in the Demon King War.

This would enable mass production using America’s magic stone reserves and allow researchers to develop even more advanced applications.

It was a difficult decision indeed.

The diplomat, after much hesitation, ultimately chose action over waiting and returned to America with the scroll and the magic defense attachment.

Being a diplomat is tough. If his decision to return turns out to be a mistake later, he’ll likely face criticism… but honestly, I think he made the right call. You never know what the future holds, so as long as he made the best decision based on the information available, no one has any right to complain.

With that settled, I shifted into a relaxed mode, having completed my work.

There was nothing more I could do for Hiyori and the professor across the sea. As for the applications of magic script, the only successful experiment I had was the initial scroll.

I had tried every idea I could think of—three-dimensional script, thread script, compound script, cursive script, mirror script, Gremlin script, magic stone inscriptions—but none of them produced any meaningful results.

Well, it’s not like every flash of inspiration is going to be a home run. If I really want to do something groundbreaking with magic script, I’ll have to continue studying it diligently and deepening my knowledge.

As I balanced studying magic script with a life of farming and reading, the rainy days gradually began to outnumber the sunny ones.

By June, the rainy season had begun.

The heavy rains at the start of June were relentless. The Seer mage even issued flood warnings. It was the worst continuous downpour since the Gremlin disaster, causing the three major rivers of Tokyo—Arakawa, Sumida, and Tama—to overflow. Waterwheels stopped, floods occurred, and over 20,000 people were forced into evacuation.

I was among those affected by the rain.

Worried about my rice fields after so many days of rain, I went to check on them—only to slip and fall into a swollen irrigation canal.

Fortunately, Fuyou pulled me out immediately using her roots, saving me. But when I returned home, drenched, the Spider Witch was beside herself with worry. She gave me a firm yet gentle lecture, leaving no room for argument.

I never expected to personally experience the all-too-common “went to check on the rice fields and got swept away” scenario that you always hear about on the news. I knew it was risky, but my concern for the fields got the better of me.

I won’t do it again. Ever.

The Spider Witch declared that I was forbidden from going outside in the rain, and since I had no grounds to argue, I remained indoors until the long rains finally ended.

After twenty days of overcast skies, the weather cleared, revealing a bright blue sky.

Stepping outside for the first time in a while, I saw a brown, muddy torrent flowing through the drainage ditch in front of my house. The rain had stopped, but the water was still rushing fast.

The road in front of my house was covered in mud, leaves, and broken branches, evidence that it had been flooded. And all over the place, Gremlins had fallen from the sky, scattering like a carpet of gemstones glittering in the sunlight.

I let out a deep sigh.

Since the Gremlin disaster, these things have been falling instead of lightning, and they’re a major nuisance for farming.

Unlike hail or sleet, Gremlins don’t melt away. Instead, they accumulate in the soil like a bunch of pebbles, hindering crop growth.

On top of that, they damage roof tiles and destroy plastic greenhouses.

Just thinking about the backbreaking work of clearing Gremlins from my rice fields and farmland was enough to make me feel depressed.

As I was lost in thought, the Spider Witch crawled through the Mist of Confusion, rustling as she approached to give her report.

“Dairi, I took a quick look around the mountain… Some areas have unstable ground. I reinforced spots where landslides might occur with my threads, but it’s dangerous, so don’t go near them. I put up warning signs, so you should be able to tell which areas to avoid.”

“Wow, thanks a lot.”

The Spider Witch is way too competent. She even takes measures to prevent secondary disasters.

“Anything else I can help with?” 

“Not really. Oh, wait! The Gremlins! Can you help me clean them up? From the fields and rice paddies. Doing it alone is exhausting.”

“Got it. I’ve seen people cleaning up Gremlins in my district before, but I’ve never done it myself. Teach me how?”

“It’s not really much of a method, to be honest. It’s basically just picking up rocks. I use a fine mesh screen to scoop up the topsoil and—huh?”

As I was explaining, I felt something tugging at my pant leg.

Looking down, I saw that my pants were caught on a root.

The root was reaching out from the direction of the back mountain, gesturing as if to beckon me.

Hmm? Looks like Fuyou has something to say.

What could it be?

“Spider Witch, could you take care of this?”

“I can, but… aren’t you going to see her yourself?”

“Last time I went when she called me, she showed me the mummified corpse of a monster she had drained dry.”

Apparently, she wanted to be praised for taking down a big prey, but it was straight-up horror, and I nearly wet myself.

The Spider Witch accepted my explanation and rustled her way into the backwoods.

She disappeared among the trees and returned shortly after.

When I asked what the matter was, she tilted her head a few times in confusion before saying:

“Uh… it looks like a mermaid has washed up on the riverbank.”

“Huh?”

Why…?

I couldn’t make sense of it, so I asked for a reason, but even Fuyou didn’t seem to know.

A mermaid had been washed up on the flooded Tama River, and since she didn’t know what to do, she came to consult with me.

Yeah, well, I don’t know either.

A wild mermaid? No, it’s probably the Mermaid Witch, right?

“Well, Tokyo Bay and the Tama River are connected. With the flooding, the river got wider, so maybe it was easier to swim upstream?”

“Oh, right! The Eyeball Witch said the Mermaid Witch was going around rescuing people stranded in flooded areas.”

“I see…? So, she ended up coming up the Tama River. But isn’t there supposed to be a Fog of Bewilderment?”

“Yeah… that’s the bad thing about the Fog of Bewilderment. It’s not a magic that drives intruders away—it messes with their sense of direction and makes them lose track of where they are. The Mermaid Witch probably got lost and couldn’t find her way back…”

Even witches get caught in the Fog of Bewilderment? That’s way too dangerous.

It’s a spell that produces an obviously unnatural fog, so anyone can tell at a glance that stepping in is a bad idea. But it’s well known that the Mermaid Witch has low intelligence. Charging straight into an eerie fog without caution is totally possible.

Talking about it at my doorstep wasn’t going to get us anywhere, so we headed to the riverbank where Fuyou had found the mermaid.

The Tama River was swollen, carrying brown floodwaters mixed with driftwood. The mermaid wasn’t exactly on the riverbank—she was on the roadside beside the river.

Her long, beautiful blonde hair was caked in mud, her fish-like lower half was covered in wounds with scales peeling off, and blood dripped from her head. Her upper body had gashes all over, leaving her in an utterly battered state.

The reason for her condition was obvious—she was being attacked by an enormous green-furred bear.

The beast was biting into her, clawing at her, while the Mermaid Witch weakly flailed, trying to push it away. But she was completely overpowered.

“What the hell!? She’s a witch, but she’s getting beaten up by a third-class monster!”

“We have to help her! The Mermaid Witch is really strong underwater, but she’s super weak on land!”

The Spider Witch, upon seeing the Mermaid Witch in danger, shot out a thread and pulled her away. Then, with a massive leap, she pounced on the green bear, sinking her sharp fangs into its neck and tearing it apart in an instant.

After wrapping her prey neatly in silk for preservation, the Spider Witch quietly returned to me.

“Uh… hello…”

But for some reason, the rescued Mermaid Witch, despite greeting us, was trembling in fear and trying to back away from the Spider Witch.

The Spider Witch, drooling heavily, slowly retreated.

“Sorry, Dairi. She looks… really delicious—I mean, she seems really scared of me. I really want to eat her—no, wait, I mean, I don’t want to scare her. Can you take care of her?”

“What!? Uh… ugh, fine, I got it.”

“Hello there~!”

“Uh… h-hello?”

The terrified Mermaid Witch greeted me again while half-crying and clinging onto me.

I’m the one who should be scared here! Don’t touch me! Get off me!

But pushing away a severely wounded person out of pure disgust would weigh on my conscience. If the Spider Witch hadn’t asked, I definitely would have shoved her away, but since she did, I had no choice.

The Mermaid Witch’s entire body was covered in wounds, but the worst were the ones on her head, which was bleeding profusely, and her abdomen, where the gash was so deep I could see flesh.

If I was going to treat her, I couldn’t leave her out here. At the very least, I had to disinfect and stitch up her wounds.

With no other options, I hoisted the Mermaid Witch onto my back and hurried home.

I carried her into the living room, laid out a clean sheet over the table, and set her down.

After preparing some lukewarm water in a pot and washing off the dirt, I got a clearer look at her injuries.

The wound on her head was deep enough to expose her skull, and the gash on her abdomen reached her internal organs.

Both injuries had torn into major blood vessels, and the bleeding wouldn’t stop.

This wasn’t something first-aid could handle!

“Spider Witch, can you take her to a hospital? There’s no way I can treat this.”

“Impossible. A witch’s body structure is completely different from a human’s. Taking her to a hospital wouldn’t help…”

I threw in the towel, but the Spider Witch, who was hiding outside the window to avoid looking at the Mermaid Witch, rejected the idea of taking her to a hospital.

Right. She looked half-human, but she wasn’t human at all.

Even Hiyori, who looked 100% human, didn’t have a heart and had an internal body temperature below freezing—biologically impossible. The Mermaid Witch, who was half fish, was probably even further removed from humanity. Human medicine wouldn’t be much help.

“Th-Then what do we do? If we leave her like this, she’ll die! A witch getting killed by a third-class monster? That actually happens?”

“It does. The Mermaid Witch is invincible in water, but on land, she’s really weak. I think she ended up on land by accident because of the Fog of Bewilderment… In a way, we’re partly responsible for what happened to her. Dairi, can’t you save her?”

“No way, no way! She needs surgery!”

“Hel… lo…”

“What? She passed out!? Crap, crap!”

The blood was draining from the Mermaid Witch’s entire body.

If we didn’t act fast, she was really going to die!

One of the elite witches of the Tokyo Witch Assembly—

Defeated by a third-class monster—

Dying an absurd death!

It sounded like a joke, but at this rate, it was really going to happen!

What the hell do I do!? Help me, Hiyori!

“Dairi, calm down. It’ll be okay. You can do it…”

“Do WHAT!?”

“She needs surgery, right? You can do it, Dairi. You’re good with your hands…”

“No, no, no, no, NO!! I’m a staff-maker! A craftsman! Not a doctor!”

Just because I was skilled with my hands didn’t mean I could handle surgery. I had never studied medicine. This was impossible!

“But… you performed a Gremlin graft on yourself, didn’t you…?”

“I did! But that’s completely different!”

“Yeah… you’re right… Sorry, that was unreasonable. I’ll take her to the hospital and figure something out…”

As she spoke, the Spider Witch peeked her face through the window and extended her legs—but drool was dripping from her mouth.

Oh no. Both options were bad.

Me performing surgery was reckless.

But if the Spider Witch took her to the hospital, she might eat her on the way. Even if she managed to hold back, the Mermaid Witch was weakening so quickly that she might not survive the trip.

I hesitated—but while I hesitated, the Mermaid Witch was slipping away.

I made up my mind, sprayed alcohol on my hands, and picked up a carving knife.

It’s fine. I can do this. I’m skilled, I’m skilled, I’m skilled…!

Back in the old days, barbers performed surgery just because they were good with blades.

I am the world’s greatest master of handling blades.

If they could do it, I can do it.

It’s fine. I can do this. I’m skilled, I’m skilled, I’m skilled…!

If I don’t do it, who will?

“A-Alright! Spider Witch, just make the suturing thread! I’ll handle everything else!”

“Huh? Then…”

“I’m starting the Mermaid Witch’s surgery!”

Please, let this work!!!

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