Chapter 32
After about an hour, the Flamekeeper Witch returned from her perverse arson spree with a refreshed, peaceful expression.
The Blue Witch apparently went home with the mugwort dumplings I'd wrapped and left in the kitchen as a souvenir, without even realizing what she'd been made to do. Poor thing. I can't exactly tell her the truth.
I felt awkward asking the Flamekeeper Witch for details about what exactly she'd done, so I decided not to mention the matter.
The workings of life are amazing.
"Phew... Artisan-san, do you think you'll be able to make the sealing device?"
"Y-yeah. It'll take some time after I make and test a few prototypes, so... Let's say it'll be finished three days from now."
"Three days? Hmm, could I stay at your place until it's finished? I think I'm still all right, but depending on my condition, I'd like you to go ahead with the sealing even if it's unfinished."
"Okay. Tell me if things get bad."
The Flamekeeper Witch bowed her head, burrowed into the ash in the workshop's furnace, and began eating pieces of charcoal that had survived the burning. So that's how she lives?
Although the Flamekeeper Witch had a bizarre biology, I knew she wasn't someone who set fires indiscriminately, so I left her alone and continued working.
Cuanos's multilayered structure and Aleister's regular dodecahedron fractal were examples of how repeating the same structure often had significance in magic-stone processing. Experimentally, I carved magic stones into identical shapes and prototyped several types of linked structures.
When I went to rouse the Flamekeeper Witch so she could charge it with mana for an activation test, I found that she'd fallen asleep inside the furnace.
The outline of the fire that formed her human shape had collapsed, resembling quietly glowing embers. I could hear her breathing softly, so she probably wasn't dead, but I woke her up just in case.
"Flamekeeper, Flamekeeper. Are you all right? You're alive, right?"
"...Mmm... no... Huh!? S-sorry, I fell asleep. Did you need something?"
When the Flamekeeper Witch woke up, she restored her human outline. I was relieved to see that she looked energetic, but I told her what I'd seen.
"No, it's just that the outline of your body had collapsed. Are you all right?"
"Oh, that. Lately, this happens when I sleep. It never used to, but it seems that the farther my consciousness recedes, the more my body comes apart."
"Isn't that bad...?"
"It is. It's very bad. That's why I can't relax at all."
She didn't look sick while she was awake and talking, but just as she'd said, it seemed that her life was rapidly nearing its end.
I'd better make that sealing magic tool as soon as possible.
Over the next three days, I improved and prototyped the sealing magic tool while having the Flamekeeper Witch help me with activation tests.
In the end, the most efficient and effective design sandwiched the sealing target between two rings made by linking identically shaped magic stones in three colors. The ring components worked best in either a notched shape or an arrowhead shape. Both performed about equally well, but I chose the arrowhead shape because I preferred its design.
Once trapped inside this sealing magic tool, the flow of time becomes approximately 1/40,000 as fast. One day inside is 110 years outside.
The device needs mana to activate and maintain the seal, but according to my calculations, it should continue operating without any problems as long as an amount of mana equivalent to a Witch's is infused into it once every three years.
When the Flamekeeper Witch entered the prototype seal, I discovered that even while sealed, she could think things over at an incredibly slow pace and apparently see the scenery outside.
She had hoped not to spend long years in darkness, and at least to be able to see the world outside. That was perfectly reasonable.
No matter how different the flow of time was, being locked in darkness for decades would probably drive anyone insane. At the very least, no one could blame her for wanting to enjoy the scenery while she was sealed away.
Accordingly, I built the sealing system into a lantern enclosed in crystal panes that would resist deterioration even after being exposed to the passage of many years.
It was easy to use: put the Flamekeeper Witch inside the lantern and activate the seal.
After that, the lantern could be hung from the staff and carried around by someone, so she wouldn't be bored during her long sealed life, which might last who knew how long.
The designs for the sealing lantern and staff incorporated the Flamekeeper Witch's requests, and the result was satisfying.
The lantern alone would have served its purpose. Turning it into a staff was mostly a matter of my personal taste.
I'm a Wandmaker, after all. I've been making amulets too, but making staves still gets me the most excited. This is my true calling.
It was almost complete, with only the fine decorations left to add.
I asked the Flamekeeper Witch, who was fidgeting impatiently as she waited for it to be finished:
"What should we name the staff? Do you have anything in mind, like, 'I'd like something like this'?"
"Anything's fine, but... how did you decide on the names of your other staves?"
"My Octameteorite is simply named after the magic stone. Blue Witch's Cuanos means 'blue' in Greek. Professor Ohinata's Aleister was taken from the name of a twentieth-century magician. The Hell Witch's Hariti is another name for Kishimojin."
There was no particular rule to my naming system.
I wanted a cool name worthy of a brand-new special magic staff, but if she had a preference, I was happy to use that instead.
"I see. Then... could you name it after my surname? Once I'm sealed away, my family will probably be the ones carrying it around."
"Okay. What's your surname?"
"Himori."
"Firekeeper, huh? That's a perfect fit for a surname."
"Is it...?"
I engraved "Firekeeper's Staff" on the shaft in a Japanese brush-lettering font. So cool!
Names with lots of strokes, like "Scorching-Heat Shackling Chain Staff" or "Crimson Lotus Sealing Staff," are cool too, but once you reach my level of expertise, you can find a kind of "chic" in simplicity. It's the same principle that makes "Amaterasu" cooler than "Ultimate Omnipotent Sun God." I accept dissent.
"All right, it's done. What do you think?"
"Huh? That's not how my name is written... Well, it's fine."
She seemed about to say something, but she gave it her approval, so I decided it was good enough.
With that, the lantern-style dual-sealing magic tool, Firekeeper's Staff, was complete.
I'd already run extensive functional tests, so I knew there were no problems with its operation.
The Flamekeeper Witch had already said everything she needed to say to the people close to her. Without the slightest hesitation, she hopped into the lantern I'd infused with mana and came to a stop as if pinned in space.
"Hey, are you all right?"
I waved my hand in front of the lantern.
There was no response. That was proof that the flow of time had slowed properly.
I nodded once and closed the lantern's lid.
As the beginning of a sealing that might continue for more than a hundred years, it was remarkably anticlimactic.
Well, it seemed she had no regrets after apparently getting to do something naughty with the older woman she admired, at least in her own mind. Even if it looked anticlimactic to me, she must have had all sorts of feelings and inner conflicts of her own.
I called the Blue Witch through the eye-familiar communication system, told her the sealing was complete, and had her take Firekeeper's Staff to Shinagawa Ward, which was the Blue Witch's jurisdiction and the hometown where the Flamekeeper Witch's family was waiting. This was as far as I could go.
It was highly doubtful that anti-aging technology would be developed while I was still alive. In other words, I probably wouldn't see her again.
Farewell, Flamekeeper Witch.
As payment for making Firekeeper's Staff, the Flamekeeper Witch gave me all the rights to the private factory she owned in Shinagawa Ward. It was one of the important factories that melted down metal gathered from urban mines overflowing with resources and shaped it into forms needed in the modern age.
It operated with two smelting furnaces at its core, and forty people worked there in total, including factory workers, personnel responsible for securing labor and fuel, transport workers, and clerks.
I acquired all rights to the factory under the name "0933."
With a single instruction from me or one letter, the entire factory would operate for my sake. No one would bother asking me why.
They never asked me for instructions, either, and normally ran the factory on their own. But if I asked them for something, they would silently make it their top priority.
It was an extremely convenient position. That was only natural, since I'd discussed with the Flamekeeper Witch how to make it a convenient position for me.
I had a furnace at home and specialized in high-end custom-made work, so I couldn't imagine ever needing the factory's production capacity.
Still, a factory I could use without having to deal with people or manage personnel was hardly something to turn down. Of all the things the Flamekeeper Witch could give me as a reward, the factory seemed the most useful, so I gratefully accepted it.
It wasn't until two weeks after I sent the Flamekeeper Witch away that the document proving my rights to the factory arrived.
The formal deed, which seemed to have been prepared with the help of a surviving lawyer or someone else knowledgeable about such legal matters, came with a letter from the Flamekeeper Witch's younger sister.
The Flamekeeper Witch's younger sister had apparently inherited her sister's work just as it was, becoming the Fireheir Witch.
Could a human really take over a Witch's role? I wondered, but my doubts melted away as I read the letter.
The letter began with heartfelt thanks for helping her sister, while the latter half contained valuable usage data about the unexpected effects produced by Firekeeper's Staff.
First of all, Firekeeper's Staff apparently functioned not only as a sealing device but also as an ordinary staff.
Its magic amplification was around threefold. Since it also contained a mana-backflow prevention mechanism, it could reduce feedback damage when advanced magic was used.
I already knew that, since I'd tested it myself.
What I hadn't expected was a buff to fire magic.
When the Flamekeeper Witch's younger sister held Firekeeper's Staff, she could control fire.
She could expand fire magic's area of effect, increase its power without consuming additional mana, and burn only specific objects—in other words, she could use the abilities that had belonged to the Flamekeeper Witch.
Apparently, blood relation was involved. The Flamekeeper Witch's father, mother, and younger sister all benefited from the fire-magic buff, but her unrelated friend and other Witches received no particular benefit when they used it.
The Flamekeeper Witch's younger sister possessed mana on a level that ranked among humanity's very best—about twice Professor Ohinata's and roughly four times mine. Even that was less than one-twentieth the amount possessed by the weakest Witch, but it was an extraordinary amount for a human.
With the unexpected benefit produced by Firekeeper's Staff, an abundant supply of mana for a human, and the connections her sister had built with the Witches governing the surrounding regions, the younger sister apparently became Shinagawa Ward's guardian as the Fireheir Witch who succeeded her sister.
The letter ended with another expression of profound gratitude.
After reading it, even I felt like returning at least a word of thanks. I didn't.
It was extremely interesting data. I'd been worried only about the seal malfunctioning, so I never imagined it would gain a positive effect as well. I became intensely curious about the principle behind it.
The regrettable part was its lack of reproducibility. There were no other Witches whose bodies were made of fire, and my supply of magic-stone fragments was running low, making it difficult to create another identical staff. With blood relation involved in the benefit as well, I was completely stumped.
It was interesting data. If I could unravel the principle, it might open up a new frontier in magic-staff design. However, further investigation would be difficult.
Unless another fire fairy was found, or the Fireheir Witch continued using Firekeeper's Staff for years and accumulated enough data, it would be impossible to investigate this fire-magic buff phenomenon in greater depth.
As its maker, I was happy that the portable sealed prison had displayed an effect as a special staff.
I sincerely hoped the Fireheir Witch would keep using Firekeeper's Staff and go on making waves.
The more successful a Witch carrying my staff became, the more famous my staff would become. It was the best!