Kays Translations

Chapter 79: It Spoke!?

Over the span of a month, I managed to disassemble 8% of the Demon King Gremlin.

There’s still a long road ahead, but the insights I’ve gained so far are numerous.

After dismantling 48,000 parts, I can say with certainty that the Demon King Gremlin represents the pinnacle of magic civilization’s geometry and bioengineering.

For example, the “High-Strength Gremlin” material turned out to be a high-purity version of the decoy material used by the Spider Witch.

When I compared the shavings left from carving the Spider Witch’s decoy with the High-Strength Gremlin material from the Demon King Gremlin, I found that their properties were too similar to be coincidental.

However, the Demon King’s version was far more uniform and stable. You could say it was free of impurities. Unlike natural materials, which often contain imperfections or inconsistencies, this was clearly an artificially synthesized and refined material.

The same goes for the “Invisible Gremlin.”

Ghost-type monsters are completely immune to physical attacks. The gremlins they possess are invisible—but become visible once the monster dies.

However, some components of the Demon King Gremlin are still invisible, even though the Demon King is undeniably dead.

It’s clear that the Demon King had the same immunity to physical attacks as ghost-type monsters. Yet the fact that these gremlin parts remain invisible even post-mortem makes them a complete upgrade over standard invisible gremlins.

Then there’s the “Multilayer Structure.”

I had a gremlin trader fetch me a Dragon Furnace Gremlin from a wild dragon for comparison, and again, while they shared similar traits, the Demon King Gremlin’s structure was far more refined and advanced.

These upgraded biological components, derived from magical creatures, and the beautiful, harmonious geometric structures are arranged with clear purpose—like circuits, or blood vessels converging toward a heart.

It’s incredibly artistic. Multiple geometric components come together to form large, intricate shapes—this kind of structural beauty is common throughout.

I’m confident I can continue the disassembly without issues. I’ve made no mistakes up to 8%, and I don’t expect to make any going forward.

But analyzing how it all works—that’s going to be the real challenge.

Without a doubt, the Demon King Gremlin is constructed on an insanely advanced magic theory.

To put it into perspective: if Earth’s current understanding of magic is at the level of toddlers playing with building blocks, then the Demon King Gremlin is like a space station.

Some components that look exactly the same are used in different contexts with different purposes. I can’t distinguish the differences, but there must be something setting them apart. I just can’t identify it.

Parts that I can make sense of—like “this material resembles the Spider Witch’s decoy” or “this structure is based on the Dragon Furnace Gremlin”—are rare exceptions. A staggering 99% of it remains completely beyond my understanding.

It’s like a weakling who’s just mastered single-digit addition trying to understand an advanced mathematics theory proposed by a top-tier university professor. It’s just not happening.

But that’s the thrill of reverse engineering.

After all, the Demon King Gremlin has an estimated 600,000 parts. I may not understand the construction theory, but the sheer number of completed examples gives me plenty to learn from.

Just like a baby who doesn’t know grammar can still start speaking Japanese just by hearing it constantly…

Or like watching a Hollywood movie without subtitles and guessing the meaning of lines based on expressions and scenes…

Even if I don’t understand the logic yet, I can work backward from the vast number of samples.

The more mysterious and incomprehensible the Demon King Gremlin is, the bigger the reward will be once I finally understand it. If it were simple enough to analyze quickly, the knowledge gained wouldn’t be worth much.

Just imagining the advanced technology I might extract from this fills me with motivation. I feel like I could keep disassembling and analyzing this thing for hundreds of days without stopping.

But I’m not a wizard, just a regular person. My stamina is average. This is going to be a long, grueling task. My motivation is strong, but my energy isn’t keeping up.

After devoting an entire month to disassembly work, I decided to take a break. My first full day off since the river outing with Hiyori.

When I told Hiyori, who had come to visit, that I was taking a break today, she smiled and suggested we go for a walk. It wasn’t a bad idea, so I nodded.

If the electricity were working, I might’ve just watched an anime movie online and relaxed. But with no power, indoor entertainment is scarce. Other than tending the rice fields, I hadn’t stepped outside for a whole month—so wandering around Okutama again sounded like a pretty good change of pace.

As I was putting on my shoes at the entrance, Mokutan, having picked up on the signs of an outing, poked its head out into the hallway and trotted over to my feet, meowing eagerly. Looks like it wants to come along for the walk. Are you the embodiment of cuteness or what?

“Mii.”

“Good girl, good girl. Hiyori’s coming on the walk too, is that okay?”

“Mii!”

When I crouched down and stroked Mokutan’s head with my fingertips, it looked up at the Blue Witch, wagged her tail, and let out a spirited cry. It didn’t look particularly happy, but she wasn’t unhappy either. More like, “Permission granted,” sort of vibe.

“Hey, Mokutan, let’s give you a snack.”

“Mi.”

Hiyori crouched down, pulled a lump of charcoal from her robe pocket, placed it in her palm, and held it out. Mokutan crept closer and quickly snatched up the charcoal before stepping back.

Looks like Hiyori has really bonded with our fire lizard. Mokutan’s the most affectionate of the three, so it’s gotten comfortable enough to take food from her hand. I mean, she’s over at our place four or five times a week, so she’s bound to get used to them eventually.

The three of us—two humans and one lizard—headed out for a walk. The sky was lightly overcast, hiding the sun just enough to make it a pleasant day. We wandered around Okutama, which was lightly veiled in a mist of uncertainty.

It was fully autumn now. The katsura trees growing in the breezy, shaded edges of the mountain had begun to shed their leaves, spreading yellow and brown foliage over the ground and filling the air with a sweet caramel-like scent.

“Oh, look—kinmokusei is blooming. And is that… a pumpkin? Come to think of it, I think I tossed some seeds over there last year or the year before.”

“Nature’s tough. Want to take a few home? Halloween’s coming up.”

“Seriously? It’s that time already? This year flew by! Around this time last year, wasn’t it when the Class-A monsters were migrating?”

Back then, the Demon King, who had been raising hell and terrifying the world, is now being shamefully dismantled piece by piece. Times really do change fast.

Mokutan looked like it wanted to keep walking, shifting on her feet impatiently, but Hiyori and I decided to harvest a few small pumpkins.

As I tore off the thick, sturdy pumpkin vines with my bare hands, Hiyori started up a conversation.

“You’re not into Halloween, Dairi?”

“Not exactly. I do look forward to the Halloween candy the professor gives out every year.”

“You’re supposed to be the one giving out candy. You’re an adult.”

“What’s wrong with taking it if it’s being offered? What about you?”

“Me? After the Gremlin disaster, I just go along with Kei-chan’s plans. Oh, right—this year, apparently my cosplay costume is selling pretty well in town.”

“Wait, why?”

“What do you mean ‘why’? I’m a witch. Halloween’s about dressing up as witches and vampires, right?”

That actually made perfect sense.

Oh yeah—of course!

The event where people dress up as imaginary monsters has basically become a real cosplay event. Naturally.

Cosplaying as the Blue Witch and saying “Trick or treat!” would be terrifying. Like, is the trick going to be freezing the whole house solid? Real witches are scary.

“Mii. Mimi!”

“Whoa whoa, Mokutan, stop pulling my shoelaces. We’ll go back to walking after we harvest the pumpkin that hasn’t been eaten by bugs. So, Hiyori, how do you feel about it? Seeing cosplayers of yourself walking around town. Isn’t it embarrassing?”

“Not really. Have you forgotten what my previous job was? I was a model.”

“Ohhh yeah—posing in clothes and being the face of ads, you’re basically made for cosplay. Guess embarrassment isn’t part of the job description, huh.”

“The way you put that kinda sucks… but yeah, basically. Dairi, how about that pumpkin over there? It’s got a nice color.”

We kept harvesting pumpkins, leaving Mokutan to wait idly. But as we got picky about their color and size, the little fire lizard grew impatient and started crying out energetically.

“Mii! Mimi, mimimi! Mi… miimi… Dai-ri!”

“!?”

Amid the cries, we suddenly heard my name—“Dai-ri”—spoken in the voice of a young girl. Both of us froze in disbelief and dropped our pumpkins.

“It… it talked!?”

“Hiyori, did you hear that too!? Mokutan, say it again. Just once more!”

“Mimi?”

“Not that—before! You said ‘Dairi,’ right? Come on, one more time. Dairi!”

“Mii-mii.”

“Close! Dairi!”

“Dai-ri!”

“Wooooaaaah, she talked!! Good girl, good girl! You’re amazing, Mokutan!”

“Dai-ri!”

As I petted her head, Mokutan cried out happily.

At first, I had been a little anxious—what if she starts talking like a human? But now that it’s actually happening, the amazement totally wins out. It’s like a pet parrot speaking human words for the first time. Pure joy.

Good, good! Mokutan’s so smart! At this rate, maybe Tsubaki and Sekitan will start talking too. Or maybe they already do, and I just haven’t noticed.

While I was caught up playing with Mokutan, Hiyori had taken several steps back, her expression turning highly suspicious, even wary.

“Hey. Aren’t you even a little concerned? It just talked, you know.”

“Yeah, smart, right?”

“No. Monsters don’t talk. That thing’s a witch.”

“O… oh…”

Her words froze me in place.

A cold sweat trickled down my side.

Oh crap. That’s right. Hiyori had believed the fire lizard was just a regular monster, but if it talks, that’s a whole different story.

This could unravel the whole complicated parentage situation like a chain reaction.

Wh-Wh-Wh-What do I do!?

“N-No, I mean, maybe it’s just smart for a monster? Look here—see this? It’s got a gremlin on its belly, right? A witch wouldn’t have a gremlin, would they?”

“Hm. That’s true… Wait, hold on. Fuyou had a gremlin, didn’t she? The Flower Witch’s daughter. If a witch’s child has a gremlin and can talk… is the fire lizard also a witch’s child?”

“Wh-Who knows?”

“Dairi!”

Hiyori looked down at Mokutan, who was lying on its back all relaxed, and thoughtfully placed a hand on her chin.

Detective Hiyori, please stop right there! If you keep deducing, you’re going to dig up a messier family drama than a daytime soap!

“If witch children take after their parents like Fuyou does… Was there ever a Fire Lizard Witch? A Dragon Witch…? No, that’s not right. That one just transforms into a dragon—her true form is indistinguishable from a human.”

“W-Well, there might be witches you don’t know about. Maybe it’s the child of a magician or something?”

“True. Fire… maybe Flame witch? No, she’s humanoid. Serious, studious, and definitely not the type to have a secret child. What about the Phoenix Witch of Kanagawa? She’s been dead for ages… and birds and lizards are a bit too different…”

Hiyori looked completely puzzled.

Safe! Well, there’s no way she’d guess if she doesn’t know about Flame witch’s yuri pyromaniac kink.

She always kept that side of her hidden and maintained her image as the straight-laced witch.

Even if Hiyori suspects the fire lizard is the flame witch’s child, the idea that it could be their child never even enters her mind. As expected. No way she could guess that.

…Or maybe…

Should I just tell her now? If my guess is right and the fire lizard will eventually evolve like a caterpillar into a butterfly—turning humanoid—then the truth about its parents will eventually come out. It’ll probably look like one of them.

“Dairi, Dairi! Mii-mii, Dairi!”

But when I look at the fire lizard nibbling playfully at my finger, I feel like there’s no need to drop a truth bomb on Hiyori just yet.

Mokutan, Sekitan, and Tsubaki—they’re all my kids. No reason to stir up a custody war over it.

Alright. I’ll deflect and change the subject.

Mokutan, you don’t need to worry about a thing. You’re a member of the Dairi family. An employee of the magic staff workshop. I’m not handing you over to Hiyori or the Flame witch.

“Maybe they’re the child of some witch who died suddenly right after the Gremlin Disaster? Someone who never made it into the public eye. An orphan. Yeah, an orphan.”

“Is that so…? Hmm. Judging by when the fire lizard showed up in Okutama and its size when we first met… that would mean it was born around—”

“H-Hey, Hiyori! Witches can apparently have kids, but can magicians have them too?”

“Hm? Ah, yes. Iruma performed human experiments related to that.”

Hiyori’s expression immediately soured as she said that. Her magic energy leaked out, making the air feel heavy and cold.

Crap. I avoided one landmine just to step on another.

“Ugh, let’s not talk about that scumbag. Makes me nauseous. Oh, but there’s a good example too. I heard the Rabbit and the Wolf up in Tohoku had their first daughter last year. She inherited both their traits and has a gremlin. We even sent a gift on behalf of the Tokyo Witch Council.”

“Wow. It’s rare for magicians to have families.”

“Not that rare. Well, it is rare for that to happen after the Gremlin Disaster. But the Night Witch has two daughters, and her husband’s still alive. They’ve got a really tight-knit family. The Eyeball Witch has two sons—one should be an adult by now. The Mermaid Witch also had a brother, I think. And the Northern Witch’s father is still alive too.”

“That’s… actually quite a few.”

There were more family types than I expected.

Even around Tokyo, which had the highest number of survivors, over 80% of the population was wiped out by the Gremlin Disaster. In a family of four—two parents and two kids—maybe one would survive. It’s not uncommon for someone to be the only one left in their family.

But those with a magicians in the family had a higher chance of surviving. Still, just because you’re related to a witch doesn’t mean you’re guaranteed to make it through—Hiyori’s family, for example, was torn apart by the disaster.

Before Hiyori could turn her attention back to the fire lizard, I shoved a pumpkin into her hands and hurried her along to resume the walk. Mokutan trotted behind us, meowing happily.

It seemed Hiyori had shelved her suspicions about Mokutan’s origins for now. She started talking instead about her current dilemma: she suspects the Northern Witch has been avoiding her lately.

Kids grow up fast. It’s been over six years since the disaster. There are now first-graders who know nothing of the world before it happened. It’s kind of hard to believe.

I’m getting older, too. Doesn’t feel like I am, but I must be.

The Demon King has been defeated, there are no more precognitive danger warnings, and it finally feels like the string of crappy disasters has come to an end.

A peaceful era is ahead. There probably won’t be much need for magic staffs anymore.

But I don’t find that disappointing. As long as there are people, the demand for magic staffs will never disappear. Besides, “The return of a second or third Demon King!” is a classic trope in anime. That kind of dragged-out development is pretty common in manga too.

Well, even if the Demon King does come back someday, Hiyori will probably be the one to bring him down—with a super-upgraded Kyanos Ver.100 magic staff, enhanced by reverse-engineering Demon King gremlin tech.

To be ready for that day, I’ll just keep chipping away at the dismantling work.

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