Winter had passed, and vibrant rapeseed flowers began blooming in the early spring backyard.
During the warm, pleasant midday with gentle breezes, Hiyori could be found at the base of the Fuyou tree.
Surrounded by the fragrance of the spring flowers Fuyori had bloomed, she sat on a picnic sheet with the Spider Witch, having a girls’ get-together.
Mokutan was there too, her belly round and plump, his mouth smudged with charcoal, napping on her back atop the Spider Witch. Her nose lantern was also inflated. Cute.
“Hiyori, Hiyori. Hey.”
“Hmm? Oh, want another sandwich?”
When I called out to her, she took out a sandwich from her lunchbox and offered it to me.
It looked delicious, but I had just eaten lunch. I shook my head.
“I don’t need it. I made you an engagement ring, Hiyori. Do you even want one?”
“…Huh?”
When I stated my business plainly, Hiyori froze with her teacup in hand.
The Spider Witch froze too.
Fuyou, who had been poking the sleeping Mokutan’s cheek with her vine tip, also froze, but thawed quickly and wrapped a vine around my waist.
“If the Blue Witch doesn’t want it, maybe I’ll take it? Right, Uncle?♡”
“Ah! Hey, stop that, Fuyou! What if she takes it seriously?! Dali, no, you can’t! If you’re giving an engagement ring, give it to me, don’t give it to anyone but me!”
“O-oh. Got it. Here.”
Since Hiyori pressed me so intensely, I took her left hand and slipped the ring on with a soft plop.
Alright, done. Time to head back to the workshop and put in the final push on dismantling the Demon King Gremlin.
Thinking my business was finished, I tried to leave, but Hiyori grabbed my clothes and nearly made me trip.
“Wait, wait, wait. Wait for everything. That’s way too casual. What is this supposed to mean?”
“Huh? Wasn’t the feeling enchantment strong enough?”
“What are you talking about? Engagement, I mean, should I take this to mean… that?”
“??? I don’t really get it. Hiyori, you sometimes look anxious, right? So I thought I’d make my feelings—that I love you, that I’m always by your side—into a ring shape, hoping it would be something reassuring. Basically, I just processed invisible ‘I love you’ into something visible.”
Since giving her the engagement ring didn’t seem to convey my feelings well enough, I explained my intentions honestly.
Did I cause another communication error? I felt anxious, but Hiyori, hearing my explanation, turned red, cupped the engagement ring in her right hand, and smiled. Seems safe.
“…There’s never been a day I was more glad to have fallen for you. I’ll treasure it.”
“But Professor and Mamono-kun both broke up after getting engaged, you know. Engagements feel like the beginning of the end.”
“…There’s never been a day my mood dropped so fast. I’ll blow you away, you nonchalant man.”
Hearing my words, Hiyori turned red for a completely different reason than before, and with raging magical power, she froze the flower field around us.
Eek! Why?! She was giving off safe vibes!
“Don’t worry, Uncle. If you break up, I’ll pick you up♡”
“Fuyou, you shouldn’t provoke her too much… Also, Dali, apologize right away. I know you didn’t mean it that way, but…”
“Sniffle!! Sniff? It’s cold. Did winter come back?”
The peaceful picnic atmosphere began to turn stormy before I arrived.
I must have said something wrong somehow. After apologizing profusely to the furious Hiyori, I awkwardly retreated.
Giving the engagement ring went well. I thought it was almost perfect communication. But I messed up at the very last moment.
Good grief. It seems it’ll still take quite a while before I completely master perfect communication with Hiyori.
The engagement ring presentation had its hiccups, but somehow, Hiyori’s mental state stabilized after that.
The late-night long phone calls decreased, and her words and actions seemed more composed. It might be a temporary change, but it was worth giving the gift.
When Hiyori calms down, I calm down too. Since the Second Iruma incident, nothing noteworthy happened, and at the end of February, the Demon King Gremlin was finally completely dismantled.
Progress: 100%.
After 80 years, the Demon King Gremlin dismantling project was complete.
The total number of parts dismantled one by one completely by hand: 524,288.
Even for me, called the personification of dexterity, it was an unprecedented ultra-long-term project, a path of hardship.
It could be called a great achievement in my history. No, it was truly difficult.
But it was worth it. Oh, so worth it.
I also obtained information I wouldn’t have known without completely dismantling it.
For example, the total part count of 524,288 is a power of 2. Exactly 2 to the 19th power.
I assert this: there’s no doubt this was done intentionally.
I never even thought about the meaning of the Geometric Gremlin’s total part count until the dismantling was complete.
The Demon King Gremlin utilizes not just geometric mathematics, but squares as well.
When new information like this emerges, I need to broaden my perspective even more.
The Demon King Gremlin might be a collection of far more academic disciplines than I thought.
I’m from a technical background, so I can only analyze the Demon King Gremlin from that perspective.
I might just not understand because of my lack of knowledge and weak antennae—there’s a high possibility that top-tier specialists would see something different.
Materials engineering, particle physics, crystallography, organic chemistry, inorganic chemistry, chemical engineering, structural biology, developmental biology, neuroscience, artificial intelligence… the list of potentially related fields goes on and on.
Even specialists in those fields wouldn’t understand if the Demon King Gremlin were just handed to them.
It just looks like a black gem.
However, by dismantling all the parts and creating diagrams, various specialists can now analyze it from various perspectives.
In fact, Yamagami-san used the materials I sent to the Magic University ages ago to create a mana calculator.
If I distribute the raw data I painstakingly dismantled and collected to specialists worldwide, surely more and more new technologies and information will emerge.
Originally, my purpose in dismantling the Demon King Gremlin was for reference in making a staff.
Now there’s also the meaning of warming up before analyzing the Quodentz in the Ruci Kingdom, but the main goal was staff-making.
I clearly own the Demon King Gremlin, and I have no obligation to share technology or information with the world.
But on the other hand, there’s little meaning in keeping it all to myself.
The Demon King Gremlin isn’t something I can utilize alone.
From fragmentary information about the Demon King Gremlin, Yamagami created a mana calculator.
The mana calculator will evolve into a calculator, then into a computer.
Combined with mana communicators, it could even become a smartphone.
It’s not an easy path, but the roadmap to the destination is visible.
If I absorb advanced magical civilization technology from the Demon King Gremlin, surely a mana power source won’t be just a dream.
I have no idea how to do it, but if the gremlins overflowing throughout the world could be converted to power, there’d be no need to run steam engines on expensive oil.
If I add Demon King Gremlin information to the world, some genius somewhere might discover a mana power source.
Calculation, communication, power.
If these three are secured, it will no longer be a post-collapse civilization world.
Humanity will surely return to an advanced civilization.
Rebuilding the world using the relics of the magical civilization that destroyed it.
Speaking of advanced civilization—WEB manga!
Online games!
Streaming dramas and movies!
Anime goods and world delicacies delivered to your home in just a few clicks!
Information that comes up instantly with a search instead of flipping through thick specialized books!
Uooooh, long live advanced civilization!!
If just spreading Demon King Gremlin data to the world brings advanced civilization closer, I’d gladly do it.
When I gathered all the Demon King Gremlin diagrams, models used for verification, and duplicate parts available for provision, it amounted to a considerable volume.
I thought I’d just send it to the Magic University as usual, and went to ask the Spider Witch, who was napping in the old temple’s nest, to deliver the heavy load.
Hearing my story, the Spider Witch said thoughtfully:
“How nostalgic. I feel like I’ve seen a movie like this… what was the title? Something about analyzing a UFO that crashed long ago to advance science…”
“Ah, it’s essentially that kind of situation.”
The Japanese, with their history of reverse-engineering firearms transmitted to Tanegashima, are good at that kind of thing.
“Yeah. So I think this is a political matter rather than a university one…”
“A political matter?”
“Yes… it’s too big a story. When you received the Demon King Gremlin, you were dealing with the American government, right…?”
“Ah, that’s right. So letting it go becomes a political matter too. Makes sense.”
The reasoning makes sense, but it seems like it’s going to become a troublesome story.
When nations get involved, rights and interests get incredibly complicated. What a pain.
The bureaucratic system was broken back then, so the Blue Witch’s power-play negotiations worked, but it’d be difficult now. Right?
“Should I ask the Seer mage to look into the future so this messy story lands softly… is he dead? No, wait, his sons and daughters are in Hokkaido, right?”
“They are. The eldest son who can produce unpronounceable sounds is the prefectural governor… but he’s not really suited for national politics, so I don’t recommend bringing this to him…”
“Huh. Even though he can see the future? High-spec but terrible personality?”
Thinking of Iruma, I asked anxiously, but the Spider Witch shook her head slowly.
“He was Prime Minister not long ago… but didn’t have a very good reputation. That child can only handle prefecture-scale matters, can’t be trusted with national-scale talks…”
From what I heard, the Farseer’s eldest son became Prime Minister with unprecedented approval ratings, but repeatedly changed policies morning and evening, flip-flopping. His popularity plummeted rapidly. He resigned after one term and returned to his hometown in disappointment.
He was by no means incompetent, but his inability to use his Farseer ability as well as his father was his downfall.
He would see the future and use it as reference for policy, but if he saw a better future, he’d change to that.
If he saw an even better future, he’d change again.
Repeated policy shifts caused confusion and dissatisfaction on the ground, and to resolve that confusion and dissatisfaction, he’d use Farseeing.
Then the crucial policies would be neglected.
He also sometimes misinterpreted the meaning of the future scenes he saw, and Farseeing became a source of rigid preconceptions rather than careful planning.
The result of being overwhelmed by his excellent ability was that the Farseer Prime Minister’s reputation was in tatters. The greater the people’s expectations, the deeper their disappointment seemed to be.
Even so, the Seer mage’s eldest son is doing well in his hometown.
Apparently, he can fully utilize his Farseer ability for politics on the scale of Hokkaido.
When it comes to national scale, there’s too much to see and he gets confused… or so the story goes.
I see. So basically, he lacks the capacity for it. No, being able to serve as prefectural governor means he has considerable capacity.
I’m reminded once again that for Transcendents, while ability is important, the individual’s qualities matter too.
Freezing magic and Foresight magic—Foresight magic seems stronger, yet in reality, the Blue Witch is stronger.
Foresight magic and Vampire magic—Foresight magic seems more amazing, yet the Vampire mage is considered more competent.
Perhaps it’s rare for magic and the individual’s qualities to align well.
“If the Seer won’t work, I’ll just leave everything to you, Spider Witch.”
“Huh…? U-um… I could talk to the Witch Party and get it on the agenda for the next summit meeting, but…”
“That’s amazing. You can pull off something like that, so why do you seem so unconfident?”
“…I’m afraid of committing treason.”
“Huh? Ah, Iruma!? That piece of—! He traumatized Spider-san! No, it’s fine! Have confidence! You’re capable! Spider-san is capable! You’re kind! Strong! Cool! Considerate! Big! A spider! And a graceful lady! Yeah, a Yamato Nadeshiko!”
Spider-san had become dejected, but after I praised her extensively for a while, she recovered her mental state, promised to spread the Demon King Gremlin dismantling results to the world in a good way, and carried out the luggage.
What a lifesaver. As expected, the friend you should have is a spider. The one to rely on is a giant spider!
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