Chapter 70
The first scroll prototype was a success, but I had our careful approach to thank for avoiding the foolish mistake of excitedly sending it straight to America.
Additional tests conducted just to be safe revealed that scrolls could misfire or fail to function properly depending on the type of magic sealed inside them.
For example, most offensive magic can be sealed. Shooting magic like 'Fire,' or ice-spear magic like 'Freeze, Javelin.'
The spell's power and scale have no bearing on whether it can be sealed, either. Non-offensive magic can also be sealed, and even extremely powerful spells with enormous magic costs, such as the Night Witch's 'Midnight Magic' and the Tobacco Witch's 'Feast Magic,' can be sealed.
The greater the magic cost of the spell sealed inside, the weaker the Mamonobasami's effect becomes, and the shorter its shelf life. Even so, in theory, an ordinary person with no power at all could use a scroll to cast Great Glacier Magic. They would probably blow themselves up due to insufficient control, though, according to the Spider Witch.
By contrast, magic that acts on the caster can be sealed, but it will fail to activate. For example, the self-enhancement spell 'Stir, my blood,' or the dragon-transformation spell 'Fly through the sky, spit fire, and turn lizard into dragon.'
This happens when the person who seals the magic and the person who activates it are different. Spells that act on the caster themselves apparently become linked to their target the moment the magic is charged.
Suppose I sealed a dragon-transformation spell in a scroll.
The dragon-transformation spell sealed in the scroll would then become 'a spell that transforms Oori into a dragon.'
So even if Fuyou activated that scroll, it would say, 'There is no transformation target named Oori nearby. The magical effect is invalid.'
Still, when Fuyou released a scroll containing a self-enhancement spell that she herself had sealed, the enhancement activated normally. So it is certainly possible to activate self-targeting magic as long as the person who sealed it is the one using it.
The details are a little complicated.
Also, the future-sight spell is a self-targeting spell that acts on the caster's own eyes, so even if it is sealed in a scroll, only the person who sealed it can use it. What a shame. I wanted to experience what it felt like to see the future at least once.
We discovered that scrolls were magical tools with more restrictions than expected, but they were still extremely useful.
Using magic stones as their material would make widespread civilian use difficult, but after obtaining casting samples from the Magic University and asking the Spider Witch for her help, we successfully sealed and activated the high-level defensive magic used by the Arataki group's defensive mage.
This high-level defensive magic is powerful enough to leave you unharmed even at the epicenter of a rampaging grand spell. Its incantation is somewhat long and its magic cost is high, but sealing it in a scroll removes both disadvantages. The magic is consumed during sealing, so there is no cost at activation, and it can be deployed instantly with the flip of a switch.
The ability to deploy high-level defensive magic instantly was by itself enough to make developing scroll technology worthwhile.
I miniaturized the scroll mechanism for sealing high-level defensive magic and created an attachment to fit onto the grip of a wand.
It was a cylindrical attachment that resembled an arm guard if you imagined the wand's handle as an arm. The wand user would grip the attachment along with the wand and flip the switch when necessary to deploy the defensive magic.
Miniaturization had significantly reduced the Mamonobasami's effectiveness in this defensive-magic attachment, but I greatly enhanced it using the Mamonobasami sandwich technique I had employed when sealing the Transfer Flame. That secured a shelf life of roughly thirty to thirty-five days. With an expiration period that long, it should be more than capable of withstanding actual combat.
With the Spider Witch's advice, I compiled instructions on using scrolls and finished something suitable for battlefield deployment. I sent the defensive-magic attachment to an American diplomat stationed in Tokyo.
The Black Ship had taken the Blue Witch, the Dragon Witch, and Professor Ohinata from Tokyo, but it had left several people behind.
They included exchange personnel who served as temporary instructors in magic script and others who studied Japanese magical-tool technology. One of them was a diplomat who also served as an emergency contact.
The diplomat, formerly employed by an American television station, possessed 160K magic power. In the event of an emergency in Japan, he was supposed to return to America using Return Magic and report the situation.
"The scroll technology Oori developed and the defensive-magic attachment made with it could change the tide of the war against the Demon King," the Spider Witch said.
There had been no emergency in Japan. Even so, it was worth expending the precious one-way Return Magic, limited to a single trip, to deliver it to America.
The Spider Witch manipulated a decoy to deliver the magical tool I had made to the diplomat, leaving the decision to return up to him.
Apparently, the diplomat agonized over it.
He accurately understood the value of the magical tool I had made and heaped unreserved praise on it.
But there was only one American flight, and it was a one-way ticket. Once he returned to America, he could not simply turn around and come back to Japan. Should he use it or not?
If he waited a little longer, an even more innovative magical tool might be born from the fusion of American and Japanese technology. After all, applied new technology had emerged just two and a half months after magic script was introduced.
There was also the danger that an emergency might occur in Japan after he returned, leaving him unable to report it to America. Emergencies happened often in Japan, after all.
On the other hand, if he returned now, he could certainly bring back a magical tool that would be of immense help in the war against the Demon King, then use America's stockpile of magic stones for mass production and further research.
It was a very difficult decision.
After agonizing over it, the diplomat finally chose action over waiting and returned to America with the scroll and defensive-magic attachment.
Being a diplomat must be hard. If this decision to return ends up backfiring later, people will probably hound him over it... Though I think he made the right decision. No one knows what will happen next, so as long as you make the best decision possible based on the information available, you shouldn't be blamed for it.
Well then.
With that, I finished a job and entered relaxation mode.
There was nothing more I could do for Hiyori and the Professor across the sea. As for applying magic script, the only idea I had tried that worked was the first scroll.
I had tried every idea I could think of—three-dimensional letters, thread script, character-set glyphs, cursive script, mirror writing, Gremlin script, and magic-stone engraving—but none of them produced any meaningful results.
Well, there was no way every flash of inspiration could be a bull's-eye. If I wanted to accomplish something with magic script, I would probably need to keep studying steadily and deepen my knowledge.
While living a life of farming in fair weather and reading in the rain as I studied magic script, the time spent reading in the rain gradually increased. June arrived, bringing the rainy season with it.
The long rains that began at the start of June this year were terrible. They were severe enough for the future-sight spell to issue a flood warning, and the heaviest consecutive rainfall since the Gremlin disaster caused Tokyo's major rivers—the Arakawa, Sumida, and Tama—to swell all at once. Water wheels stopped, flooding occurred, and more than twenty thousand people were forced to live in evacuation shelters.
I was affected by the heavy rain too. The rain continued for so long that I grew worried about the rice paddies and went to check on them, only to slip and fall into an irrigation channel swollen with water.
Fortunately, Fuyou quickly pulled me out by the roots and saved me, but when I came home soaking wet, the Spider Witch was terrified and gave me a thorough lecture. Her tone was polite and gentle, but she left me no room to argue.
I never expected to experience in real life the news story about someone 'going to check on their rice paddies and getting swept away.' I did think it might be dangerous, but I was so worried about the fields that I went anyway. I will never do that again.
The Spider Witch banned me from going outside in rainy weather, and since I couldn't argue with her, I was not allowed out until the long rains had stopped.
After twenty straight days of overcast skies, the clouds finally cleared, revealing a brilliant blue sky.
When I stepped outside for the first time in ages, a muddy brown torrent was flowing through the ditch in front of the house. The rain had stopped, but the current was still raging.
The road in front of the house was muddy with leaves and branches, making it clear that it had once been submerged by rising water. Gremlins lay scattered across it, glittering in the sunlight like a carpet of jewels.
I sighed. Ever since the Gremlin disaster, gremlins had started falling from the sky in place of lightning, making them the greatest enemy of farmwork.
Unlike hail or sleet, they did not melt away, so they were like having heaps of pebbles mixed into the soil, interfering with the growth of crops.
On top of that, they battered roof tiles until they were dented all over and crushed plastic greenhouses.
As I grew depressed thinking about the backbreaking labor of removing gremlins from the fields and rice paddies, the Spider Witch came crawling noisily out of the Lost Fog and gave me a report.
"Oori, I took a quick look along the foothills... There were several places where the ground had become unstable. I reinforced the spots that looked likely to collapse with webbing, but they're dangerous, so don't go near them. I put up signs too, so you should be able to tell which places are off-limits just by looking..."
"Oh, thank you."
Spider Witch-san is almost too competent, isn't she? She even prevents secondary disasters.
"Is there anything else I can help with...?"
"No, not really. Ah, wait! Gremlins! Could you help me clean up the gremlins? The ones in the fields and rice paddies. It's hard to do it alone."
"I understand. I've seen people cleaning up gremlins in my district, but I've never done it myself. Teach me how...?"
"There's nothing grand enough to call a method. Basically, you're just picking up stones. I scoop up the topsoil with fine-mesh wire... Huh?"
In the middle of my explanation, something tugged at my foot. When I looked down, I saw that my trouser cuff was being pulled by a root.
The root beckoned me toward the mountain behind the house—beckoned with a root instead of a hand.
Hmm? Fuyou seems to have something she wants to say. I wonder what it is.
"Spider Witch-san, could you take care of it?"
"I can, but... aren't you going to go see her...?"
"The last time she called me over, she showed me the corpse of a monster you'd sucked dry and turned into a mummy."
Apparently, she wanted praise for taking down such a big one, but it was straight-up horror, and I nearly soiled myself.
The Spider Witch accepted my explanation and noisily crawled into the mountain behind the house.
She disappeared among the trees, then returned not long afterward.
When I asked what she wanted, the Spider Witch tilted her head several times and spoke with a puzzled expression.
"It looks like a mermaid has washed up on the riverbank."
"Huh?"
Why...?
I asked why, since it made no sense, but Fuyou apparently didn't understand either.
A mermaid had washed up on the bank of the swollen Tama River and, not knowing what to do, had come to ask for help.
I had no idea, either.
Was it a stray mermaid? No, it was probably the Mermaid Witch, right?
"Well, Tokyo Bay and the Tama River are connected. Since the river's swollen, its width has increased, making it easier to swim upstream... maybe?"
"Oh, right. The Eyeball Witch said the Mermaid Witch had been going around rescuing people stranded in flooded areas."
"I see? So she followed the current up the Tama River. But shouldn't the Lost Fog be covering this place?"
"The Lost Fog's downside has shown itself... The Lost Fog isn't a spell that repels intruders. It just 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 home..."
Even witches can get caught in the Lost Fog? That's way too vicious.
It produces such obviously unnatural fog that you can tell at a glance that entering it is dangerous, but it's well known that the Mermaid Witch's intelligence has declined. She could easily have charged into the unnatural fog without a care.
Talking about it in front of the house was getting us nowhere, so we headed to the riverbank where Fuyou had found the mermaid.
The Tama River was a muddy, swollen torrent carrying driftwood. I had heard that the mermaid had washed up on the riverbank, but to be precise, she was on the road beside the river.
Her long, beautiful golden hair was caked in mud; her fish tail was covered in wounds, with scales torn away. Blood ran from her head, and her upper body was riddled with lacerations. Her entire body was a wreck.
The reason she was in such terrible shape was obvious. A gigantic green-furred bear was attacking her, biting and mauling her. The Mermaid Witch flailed weakly and tried to push it away with her hands, but she was being mauled without putting up a fight.
"What?! How is a witch getting pummeled by a Class-C monster?!"
"Help her! The Mermaid Witch is incredibly strong underwater, but she's incredibly weak on land!"
As soon as the Spider Witch saw the Mermaid Witch's predicament, she shot out webbing and pulled her closer. Then she reared up on two legs, roared to intimidate the green bear, and leaped at it, tearing its throat out with her sharp fangs. It happened in an instant.
After wrapping up her prey in webbing to preserve it, the Spider Witch carefully came back toward me.
"H-hello...!"
But the rescued Mermaid Witch backed away from the Spider Witch in terror for some reason, even as she greeted her.
The Spider Witch slowly backed away, drooling heavily.
"Sorry, Oori. She looks incredibly delicious... I mean, she's terribly frightened of me. I want to eat her... I mean, I don't want to get any closer. Could you look after her?"
"Huh?! No... uh... I-I understand."
"Hello!"
"Huh? H-hello?"
Still terrified of the Spider Witch, the Mermaid Witch clung to me while greeting me again, half in tears.
I'm the one who should be scared here. Don't touch me! Don't cling to me!
But my conscience wouldn't let me push away someone covered in devastating injuries. If the Spider Witch hadn't asked me, I would have shoved her away and put some distance between us, but since she had asked me, there was nothing for it.
The Mermaid Witch was covered in wounds. The bleeding from her head was especially severe, and the laceration in her abdomen was deep enough to expose the flesh.
If I was going to care for her, I couldn't leave her lying here. At the very least, I would have to disinfect and stitch her wounds.
I reluctantly hoisted the Mermaid Witch onto my back and hurried home.
I carried the Mermaid Witch into the living room, laid a clean sheet on the table, and laid her down on it. Once I made lukewarm water in a pot and washed away the dirt, I could see how serious her injuries really were.
The wound on her head was deep enough to expose her skull, and the laceration in her abdomen reached all the way to her organs.
Both wounds seemed to have damaged major blood vessels, and the bleeding would not stop.
This isn't an injury that amateur first aid can handle!
"Spider Witch-san, could you take her to a hospital? This isn't something that can be fixed by tending to her here."
"It's impossible. Witches have bodies structured completely differently from humans. Taking her to a hospital wouldn't do anything..."
I gave up, but the Spider Witch, who was hiding outside the window so she wouldn't have to look at the Mermaid Witch, rejected the idea of taking her to a hospital.
Oh, right. She looked half-human, but she wasn't human at all.
Even Hiyori, who looked one hundred percent human, had no heart and a core body temperature below freezing—an anatomically impossible body. A mermaid witch would be even farther removed from humanity. Human medicine would have trouble treating her.
"Then what are we supposed to do? If we leave her alone, she'll die from these injuries. A witch losing to a Class-C monster and dying? Can that really happen?"
"It can. The Mermaid Witch is invincible underwater, but she's truly weak once she comes ashore. I think she accidentally came onto land because of the Lost Fog... Part of the responsibility for the Mermaid Witch ending up like this lies with us. Oori, can't you heal her?"
"No, no, no! She needs surgery!"
"Hel... lo..."
"Huh? Did she pass out!? This is bad, this is really bad!"
All the color had drained from the Mermaid Witch's body.
I had to do something quickly, or she really was going to die!
One of the great Tokyo Witches' Assembly—the Mermaid Witch!
Defeated by a Class-C monster! Dropping dead on the spot!
It sounded ridiculous, but she would die if this continued! She really would die!
What am I supposed to do about this?! Hiyori, help me!
"Oori, calm down. It's all right. You can do it..."
"Do what?!"
"It needs surgery, right? You can do it, Oori. You're good with your hands..."
"No, no, no, no! I'm a wandmaker, not a doctor!"
Don't assume dexterity can solve everything. I've never studied medicine. There's no way I can do this!
"But you performed a Gremlin transplant surgery on yourself, didn't you...?"
"I did, but that's completely different!"
"Mm... you're right... Sorry for asking the impossible. I'll take her to a hospital and see if I can do something..."
As she said that, the Spider Witch poked her face in through the window and stretched out her legs. Saliva was dripping from her mouth.
This is bad either way.
Me performing surgery would be reckless.
But if I had the Spider Witch take her to the hospital, she would eat her on the way. Even if the Spider Witch could restrain her appetite, I had no idea whether the Mermaid Witch, who was rapidly weakening, would survive the trip to the hospital.
I hesitated, but the Mermaid Witch continued to weaken while I did.
I sprayed alcohol over my hands and picked up a carving knife.
It's okay. I can do it. I'm dexterous, I'm dexterous, I'm dexterous...!
Long ago, barbers performed surgery simply because they were skilled at handling blades.
I'm the world's greatest man when it comes to handling blades. There's nothing I can't do.
It's okay. I can do it. I'm dexterous, I'm dexterous, I'm dexterous...!
If I don't do it, who will?
"O-okay. Spider Witch-san, just make me some suture thread. I'll handle everything else here."
"Oh. Then...?"
"I'm beginning the Mermaid Witch's operation."
P-please let this work!!!