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doe-clotureofyellow · 3 years ago

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Manual of Evil: on the Novelization of Daughter of Evil

Manual of Evil mothy interview

“Daughter of Evil” has finally been made into a novel. What feelings did he have when he was weaving the story therein?

--What made you want to turn this into a novel?

After I published “Daughter of Evil”, as time went on the world of the story got bigger and bigger inside my head. And so I wound up feeling like it would be difficult to convey it all properly as just songs. Naturally, I could very well have made it into a song by cutting out some of that world, but that just led to me to exploring for a way I might be able to get people to really experience the “of Evil” world more deeply. Right when I was doing that I got into talks about all this, and was able to put it all down in writing.

--Please tells us about some of the struggles and hangups you had when writing this story.

I had put together and fleshed out most of my original concepts before I started writing the novel, so that part of it wasn’t much of a hardship for me. Only, as you might imagine, when I tried to make these ideas match exactly with the already-published songs, some inconsistencies began appearing. There were a lot of parts that I hadn’t thought about too deeply when I was first making “Daughter of Evil”, and so it was pretty challenging to get these all to match up (haha).

Also, simply retreading the story of the song wasn’t particularly interesting, so I had to put together what was going on in the underside of the story that the song was telling.

--Did you have some reason for making it a story about a fictional world?

Truthfully, the stories of the songs that I publish, not just the “Of Evil” series, almost all take place in the Evillious region and its neighboring countries, which serves as the main setting for this novel. They’re set in periods before the “Daughter of Evil”’s time, or in its future. Though naturally there are songs that have no connection to it. One of them actually shows up in the novel as a “fairytale”.

--Some impressive items show up in this story, like the “Very Amazing Green Onion” and “The Very Amazing Octopus” and such—how exactly are they amazing?

Generally speaking they’re amazing, nothing but amazing!!

…Erm, well, the people who gift and seek out these items are slightly unique sorts of people, so might that mean that they have some strange power that the average person would be unaware of?

I didn’t write it in this time, but the friend of the green onion-loving-person, who is also the apprentice of the octopus-loving-person, can change the color of her eyes by looking through her “Very Amazing Glasses”.

--Now, please leave us one final message.

This novel supplements the “of Evil” series that has been previously published as songs by serving as an answer to it, while also posing new questions of its own.

Honestly, I still don’t know how this story is going to unfold from here on out. But, without exaggerating any, I’m very happy to anyone who can accept this as a piece of fun entertainment even halfheartedly look on over me and my work. .

The Appearance of the World of “Daughter of Evil”

We asked AkunoP about the makeup of the world of “Daughter of Evil”. In the end, how exactly does this world take shape?

The story of “Daughter of Evil” has the primary motif if the French Revolution of the 18th century. The Kingdom of Lucifenia that serves as its main stage is designed after France, their neighboring country Elphegort is Germany, the far removed island nation of Marlon is England, and so on. However, in actual practice there are a lot of differences in these countries’ histories, and they’re original places in terms of the country’s makeup and their geography.

This story is above all a fairy-tale, set in a strange world where peculiar incidents that defy human experience occur, albeit rarely (even leaving the magic aside).

And just as fairy-tales often come with spirits and witches and demons, so too do these things perhaps exist in this world. That’s something you should look into deeper as you read this story.

I really hope that everyone who’s read my work can have fun coming up with their own interpretations of the parts that I haven't written about in this story.

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doe-clotureofyellow · 4 years ago

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Hi! I don't know if this account is still active but I had a question. I would like to use this translation as the basis for a plot summary of Cloture of Yellow that I would upload to YouTube. I promise to not quote directly from the translation, as per the rules, but I would make reference to the events in the story which I can only understand through your translation if that makes sense? Is that alright? Many thanks, I really appreciate these translations existing :))

Yeah, summarizing the events of the story without quoting anything is fine.

#you're welcome i enjoyed translating them

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doe-clotureofyellow · 6 years ago

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(E-book) Afterword

Clôture of Yellow e-book edition Afterword

This is my maiden work, the novel “Daughter of Evil: Cloture of Yellow”.

It’s been seven years since it was first published, and now this time it’s finally come out as an e-book.

Regarding the actual contents, there’s been a bit of addition and text revisions since it was first published. These were done when it was re-published two years back.

This time, I wrote out a bonus episode just for the e-book release, which features a story from the perspective of Chartette’s father, the great craftsman Langley. I wrote it out myself, but thinking on the character’s popularity I wonder if there was really any demand for a story from his viewpoint? Probably not.

Still, if I had to say why I wanted to write his view of things—this “Daughter of Evil” story is one that I wanted to give the feel of being a collection of various lives. Not just Allen, Riliane, and Germaine…Each of the people who play a supporting role of course have their own stories too.

As for the contents I suppose it doesn’t seem to have much relation to the main book. But several of the matters that show up in this bonus story have a big importance for the later sequels. Maybe it would be best to take it as a so-called connecting point to the story that continues on after this, or an introduction to it. If it piques your interest, I’d love for you to read on after the sequel, “Daughter of Evil: Wiegenlied of Green”.

AkunoP (mothy)

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doe-clotureofyellow · 6 years ago

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Afterword

Clôture of Yellow Afterword

Nice to meet you, I am AkunoP/mothy.

Though this might not be a first meeting for those of you who are familiar with my song, “The Daughter of Evil”. Yes, this book has a story that was derived from slightly different circumstances than other light novels.

“The Daughter of Evil” was originally something uploaded onto a video website as a song that used the “VOCALOID” music software.

This work uses as its base the story told in both the “Daughter of Evil” song and another piece, “Servant of Evil”; it also adds in the perspective of the “red-armored swordswoman” who appears in the songs.

At the time, I used to go on to myself about how I’d make a plot that I could write a novel with on my blog and whatnot, but I never dreamed that the day would come that I could actually make it into a book.

When I first resolved to make it into a novel, I agonized over how to keep myself in check, over how freely I could write, if I could just spit out my plot (or rather, wild ideas) like that, etc; but in the end, I decided to write completely on my own terms.

I dismissed the pleas I got from people in charge telling me “not to add any more VOCALOID characters because getting permission for them would be hard”, pressed my illustrator Miss Ichika to include ideas in the outfit designs that weren’t used in the original version, and finally, readily changed the finished product from what I had thought up in the very beginning. I let myself do as I pleased, so as to not be ashamed of the “AkunoP” name. Let me take this opportunity to give all involved my most heartfelt apology, and my gratitude.

For those of you who are first learning of “Daughter of Evil” through this novel, I think you’ll be able to more deeply enjoy this story by listening to its various songs, “Daughter of Evil” and “Servant of Evil”, as well as “Daughter of White” and “Regret Message”.

For everyone who’s read up to this point, I truly thank you most graciously. And, please look forward to the World of Evil I (might) continue to develop after this!

AkunoP (mothy)

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doe-clotureofyellow · 6 years ago

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Concept Art Notes

Clôture of Yellow VG edition concept art notes

Allen Avadonia

Represented by Kagamine Len

The protagonist of the story. A fourteen year old boy who hides his true status to work as the princess’ servant in the Lucifenian Palace

Ichika’s comment: He’s a servant, so he has clothes that are easy to move in. In order to show a bit of his boyishness I made the lower cuff of his outer jacket a bit too big for him. As I wanted to give him the feel of being in uniform I designed his jacket collar to be a little bit larger.

Riliane Lucifen d’Autriche

Represented by Kagamine Rin

The overbearing princess who rules the Kingdom of Lucifenia. She and Allen are twins, but she’s lost her memories of him.

Ichika’s comment: She has a kind of light and fluffy dress design with a lot of lace and ribbons to show her more adorable side. Her decorations, such as her brooch and hair ties, were made with France in mind, so they pretty much all have a rose motif.

Michaela

Represented by Hatsune Miku

A servant who works on the Keel estate. She is loved by everyone for her kind and good-humored personality, as well as her lovely appearance and singing voice.

Ichika’s comment: Given that she’s meant to be adorable, her outfit was made with a kind of fluttering look in her sleeves and such. There are a lot of parts where two pieces overlap.

Elluka Clockworker

Represented by Megurina Luka

A sorceress that serves in the palace, and one of the Three Heroes. Her predictions are never wrong, and so there are many who trust in her in the palace.

Ichika’s comment: It’s hard to tell because it’s covered by her robe, but frankly there is a lot of exposure in her clothing. Her outfit was made with a theme of being bewitching.

Germaine Avadonia

Represented by MEIKO

Allen’s adopted sibling who lives in the town below Lucifenia castle. She’s dependable and cares about her friends, but that comes with the snag of her being a little crude.

Ichika’s comment: Her armor is based on Leonhart’s armor. As it prioritizes heroism over sex appeal, her legs aren’t left exposed (ha).

Kyle Marlon

Represented by KAITO

The king of Marlon, and Riliane’s fiancé. He is no match for his mother, Empress Dowager Prim. He’s also friends with Keel.

Ichika’s comment: As he was designed with a theme of solemnity, his whole appearance is composed with a precise and stiff feel. The collar of his jacket is designed like a suit.

Leonhart Avadonia

Represented by LEON

Allen and Germaine’s adoptive father, and one of the Three Heroes. He’s the captain of the guard of the royal family, but he clashes with the princess over their different opinions.

Ichika’s comment: He has solidly built heavy armor. The cloak is part of his uniform as captain of the guard; he didn’t have one during his hero days.

Mariam Phatipe

Represented by MIRIAM

The head maid serving in the palace, and one of the Three Heroes. Her personality is extremely rigid, but she has her kind side as well, and there are many who admire her.

Ichika’s comment: She was made with the theme of cool beauty and severity. Her design is a little old-fashioned, made with the image of the time of the previous queen.

Gast Venom

Represented by Camui Gackpo

A skilled mercenary who heads a mercenary band, called “The Demon of Asmodean”. He apparently has some relationship with the Three Heroes in his past.

Ichika’s comment: He’s dressed to give the feel of a foreigner. His waist has a more feminine sash, and his outfit has some womanly components put in it.

Gumillia

Represented by GUMI

A sorceress who serves in the palace, and Elluka’s apprentice. She doesn’t say much, and has a sort of mysterious air.

Ichika’s comment: As she’s Elluka’s apprentice her outfit design is made to resemble hers, though it also shows a more apprentice-esque childishness in it.

Keel Freezis

Represented by Hiyama Kiyoteru

A wealthy merchant who lives in Elphegort’s capital of Aceid. He’s a calm sort who never loses his smile, but he does have avarice in his trade.

Ichika’s comment: As he’s a merchant, his outfit is based on the Marlon uniform, including shoes and clothing that are easy to walk in. He wears his robe in business discussions.

Chartette

Represented by Kasane Teto

A maid who serves in the palace, and Allen’s childhood friend. She has a frightening strength, and struggles with more delicate work. She breaks things a lot.

Ichika’s comment: She’s a peasant, so she has light armor on her casual wear. Her leg armor serves as a counterweight for when she swings her sword around.

Clarith

Represented by Yowane Haku

A servant who works at the Keel estate alongside Michaela. She has a complex regarding the color of her hair, which is different from other people’s.

Ichika’s comment: On the whole she’s like Michaela, but I made her design more simple to express a grown-up and “in the background” air.

Ney Phatipe

Represented by Akita Neru

A maid who serves in the palace, and head maid Mariam’s adoptive daughter. She does all her work flawlessly, but it’s countered by her being a gossip and loose-lip.

Ichika’s comment: Her sleeve cuffs are folded back very neatly. It’s a uniform for a maid of the yellow country, with frills on the waist and the skirt puffed out and such.

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doe-clotureofyellow · 6 years ago

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(VG) Afterword

Clôture of Yellow VG edition Afterword

For this publication, I ended up looking back over my original first work again, and was struck by how greatly different the writing style is.

I suppose it only makes sense, considering it was originally written five years before this afterword I’m writing now.

As it was the first novel I’d written it, put charitably, had more vigor and energy than now; put uncharitably, it was something I wrote according to my emotions, without thinking about it much. It has a writing style that feels like a stranger’s work, and I do think that the person I was back then is different from who I am now. Not just in regard to my books and music, but on the whole.

As time passes my circumstances change, as do the people I keep company with. And of course, my way of thinking has changed a little too. In that sense, you could say that my old work is a good tool for being able to remember my mental state at the time.

Because of that I was able to feel a great deal of nostalgia while reading it, but of course there were also some minor parts that had elements I disliked. Naturally. As the person who wrote this was the “Past AkunoP”, quite unlike the me of now.

Holding onto that gloomy feeling I felt a bit awkward about publishing it as is, and I wanted to make it so that people who had already finished reading the original edition of “Cloture of Yellow” could enjoy it again, so I did some revision and additions to it. Of course, the plot hasn’t changed much, but in particular the parts relating to the Three Heroes are vastly different from the original.

Revising to this extent is something I’ll limit to this current piece. I don’t think I should do too many corrections with my old works, on the whole. Even if there are some parts that are poorly made, changing them would be no less than faking the past.

But there is a part of me that wanted to break my principles and revise just this work alone. “Cloture of Yellow” is my most profoundly memorable work, while at the same time it’s the novel that has the most technical mistakes. Really, I just wanted to change the conclusion, but of course to do that would cause too many distortions through the entire work itself, so I did my alterations just within the bounds of not damaging the writing style I used at the time.

Perhaps those of you who are touching on the “Daughter of Evil” series for the first time with this edition will be able to make some interesting discoveries if you go and read the original edition of the novel

AkunoP (mothy)

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doe-clotureofyellow · 6 years ago

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Hello! I've been trying to find Evillious Chronicles translations for a while now so thank you for creating them! I'm kinda new to this and haven't read any of it yet. I kinda confused with the order of the chapter. Is it out of order or something?

Out of order?

Everything was posted in the order it was translated. If you want a reliable reading order, go to the directory. It has links to each post and the order that you read them in, and each post comes with before and after links.

#()anonymous

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doe-clotureofyellow · 6 years ago

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Hello, thank you for the translation! I'm reading it again, and I'm confused why Riliane has been using "We" and other plural first person pronouns to refer to herself. I don't remember her using that ever before.

I explain this in my translation notes, but to reiterate here:

Riliane has a fancy pants pronoun that she uses most of the book to put on airs. She drops it at certain key points for a more humble pronoun.

English does not have fancy pants pronouns, except in the case of the “royal we”, wherein royalty speaks in plural. Thus, I used the “royal we” to denote when she’s putting on airs.

#()anonymous

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doe-clotureofyellow · 6 years ago

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The Demonic Twin Blades; Scene 2

The Demonic Twin Blades short story

☼ Master Craftsman Langley ~In the Kingdom of Lucifenia, “Great Levin Church”~

“—So it was futile after all…” Mikhail regretfully murmured as he took back the case with the twin swords inside.

“Sorry. Didn’t do much good.”

Confronting Mikhail in the church’s guest room, I formally bowed my head to him.

“No, I know you went to a great deal of effort. The way I hear it, you even used gunpowder.”

“Well, yeah.”

Mikhail handed me several gold coins.

“I’ll reimburse your expenses. Please accept it.”

I gratefully took the money.

As planned, Mikhail evidently was heading out of Lucifenia after tomorrow.

After that I wouldn’t see him again.

…

When I blurted out that I had something to ask him, Mikhail brightly leaned forward to answer.

“Anything, go ahead.”

“—Have you ever heard of the word ‘Inheritor’?”

“--!? …Where did you hear that?”

“I had a bizarre dream. Inside it, a demon taking the form of a fish told me that you were an ‘Inheritor’.”

“Odd…A demon dream? I’ve commissioned many blacksmiths with the destruction of these swords until now, but you might just be the first to have experienced such a thing. –Regarding being an ‘Inheritor’, I am. It’s not really anything I need to hide, so I’ll tell you about it.”

Mikhail brought his face closer to show it to me, his left eye swiveling.

“You have probably already figured out that my eye is artificial, yes? But this isn’t something that was put in here later on. I’ve had this unique eyeball since the day I was born.”

“Is something like that…actually possible?”

“Among those born in Levianta, people with peculiar powers, called ‘Inheritors’, appear on rare occasions. They can, for example, have prophetic dreams called ‘purple dreams’, or manipulate blue fire, and so on. These are said to have been the result of them ‘inheriting part of the gods’ power’. As for myself—I was told by the archbishop that I am the ‘Inheritor’ of the pillar god Behemo, of the ‘Twin Gods’. Thanks to this artificial eye, I can see more than other people.”

“…Such as?”

“To put it simply, I have ‘see-through vision’. For example, I am able to see through the four walls to this room. Additionally…You have a pregnant woman working at your smithy, don’t you Mr. Langley? The sex of the fetus in her womb…is male.”

“You can even see that?”

“And many other things besides. …Well, anyway, to sum up ‘Inheritors’ are those who have peculiar powers like that. It’s a little different from sorcerers.”

“Speaking of sorcerers…Why hasn’t the Levin church asked Elluka Clockworker to dispose of the twin swords? Someone like her would surely be able to do something like that, wouldn’t she?”

“Well…That’s a bit of a long story.”

Mikhail’s formerly talkative tone had quickly grown more severe. He probably didn’t want to say much on this subject.

I had no inclination to persistently grill him on the finer details. I’m sure the church had their reasons, and I was very averse to getting myself wrapped up in any excess trouble any further by trodding on that area.

I was puzzling over whether I should go pray while I’m here, as I’ve come all this way to a church—and with that in mind, I bid Mikhail goodbye and headed for the chapel.

Right before I left the guest room, I once more turned to look at Mikhail.

Behind him—I could swear I saw an illusion of a woman covered entirely in scales.

--While offering my prayers to god in the chapel, my mind whirled with various things.

Vessels of Deadly Sin.

Demons.

Spirits.

Inheritors.

Sorceresses.

All of them things that were only weakly related to my life.

And I had no wish to get involved with them now.

I had become…too old for such things.

I would just live the rest of my days quietly at the smithy.

But…

What of the child that Nagisa would give birth too, and—Chartette?

I prayed, I wanted them to live tranquil lives…But that wasn’t something that was up to me.

All I could do was pray.

Sun god.

Earth god.

And twin dragon gods.

Please grant mercy and peace.

To this world and those who live in it.

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doe-clotureofyellow · 6 years ago

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The Demonic Twin Blades; Scene 1

The Demonic Twin Blades short story

☼ Master Craftsman Langley ~In the Kingdom of Lucifenia, “Langley Smithy”~

The country had changed, and so change had also visited upon the scope of my work at the smithy.

When it came to the “Langley Smithy”, one could say that things had changed primarily in a good direction.

The settlement of the revolution certainly didn’t mean we would have peace. On the contrary, the chaos caused by the change in leadership had led to the birth of several new seeds of war.

Whether it was invasion from foreign countries, or further internal conflicts—that’s not for this mere blacksmith to know. But this prediction was something everyone could make. The fact that this smithy had been flourishing despite the fact that the war had ended was more proof of that than anything.

Frankly speaking, supplying weapons for the resistance had been an extremely dangerous gamble. If the revolution were to have failed, then it wouldn’t have been the princess beheaded in the town square, but rather the members of the resistance. Naturally, I was included among their number.

But it didn’t turn out that way, and high quality of the weapons that the resistance used had resulted in my becoming known to a great many people.

One such person was the great merchant, Keel Freezis. Thanks to his considerable financial assistance, the outlet for my smithy grew, and I gained in both equipment and workers.

…Though I’ll have to pay him back for all that over some long months and years, on the whole the benefits have been fairly large.

Now, there are three other smiths outside of myself in the smithy. Two of them are new hires, but both of them had originally worked for other blacksmiths before. They were fairly skilled for their youth. Our workload going up was no reason to let the quality of our goods go down, and as long as I had the two of them I didn’t think I had much to worry about there.

The other one—Nagisa Coulomb, the lone woman in the smithy, started working here around eleven years ago. I recall my Chartette loving the yet youthful girl Nagisa like a little sister when she first arrived.

Nagisa hardly swung her hammer like the other smiths. Her strong suite was the construction of weapons that used gunpowder. To an old man like me who could only make old-fashioned swords and shields, the weapons ideas that Nagisa came up with were extremely innovative and interesting, and in practice during management of the store Nagisa’s gunpowder rifles grew more heavily prioritized as the years went by.

…Only, she’d really dropped the ball when she’d come up with the plans for the “Gunpowder-filled iron glove”. It was something that allowed one to fire a glove like a weapon, and the prototype that she’d made for it was hardly practical.

Its power as a weapon certainly wasn’t bad. But thinking on it as a defensive garment, it was too dangerous to always have on you something that could potentially explode on impact. Its kickback when fired was so intense that only brawny men could really handle it well.

At some point that prototype had disappeared from the smithy. Nagisa had probably not wanted her failure to be exposed to the public, and so disposed of it without anyone knowing.

That was little more than a guess on my part.

She was always shy, and never said much.

--Not even who was the father of the baby that was inside her growing belly.

I realized that Nagisa was pregnant right after the revolution had ended. I hadn’t heard anything about her having a boyfriend, but I didn’t really have the right to judge her for being with child. At the time I had thought that if she’d found someone to marry, then that was good enough.

But according to the gossip of the other smiths...the child’s father was a man who was just passing through. And furthermore, he was the leader of a band of mercenaries, and died during the revolution.

In the end, the only thing I could do was ask Nagisa the truth, as the person running the smithy.

As expected she didn’t tell me anything concrete, but…she did plead to me, “I will raise the child by myself once they’re born. I have no doubts about this. So please, let me work here like I have until this point.”

I couldn’t do anything so heartless as to cast Nagisa out. Without much alternative I decided to pay heed to her request, but seeing how big her stomach has gotten she’d be on her last month soon. Naturally I’d have to give her time off before and after the birthing.

What should I do after the baby is born?—I consulted my wife on it, and she delightedly volunteered to help take care of the child.

“Our fool girl is all grown up and out of the country, so it’ll be perfect.”

And then after saying so, she laughed loudly.

Yes, our daughter—Chartette—had suddenly gone in a journey after the revolution, having been seized by some notion or another.

Personally I’d like for her to come home soon and start looking for a husband...but, well, maybe it’s always been a pipe dream to think that we could keep our wild girl cooped up in this tiny smithy.

Frankly speaking, I’m not that worried. I’ve heard tale of her efforts during the revolution, and she’s with Germaine besides, so she’ll be fine.

But....it was starting to look like it’d be a while before I’d be able to see any grandkids.

--Thinking on that, perhaps the situation with Nagisa’s child was perfect for his wife after all.

“Lucifenian women are all stubborn...Don’t you think so--Leonhart?” I murmured without thinking, facing the direction where the Lion Knight’s grave was.

My job of striking metal with my hammer had grown extremely rough lately.

It would probably be time to retire soon…While I swung my arm with such thoughts in my head, one of the other smiths across from me suddenly lifted their head and said, “…Looks like we’ve got a customer, boss.”

When I turned around, I saw a young man wearing garb that wasn’t often seen around here looking around at the smithy with great interest.

“~♪”

I didn’t know why, but he was cheerfully humming a little tune.

Even stranger, he was shouldering some kind of long thin case wrapped in cloth.

Though I had been in the middle of working, perhaps my ears have been getting worse from age that I didn’t notice all until I had it pointed out to me by someone else.

…The melody of the tune he was humming was familiar.

“Who’re you?”

I didn’t say that with any intention of intimidating him, but it seems the other man took it that way. He took a step back with an apologetic expression, and began to introduce himself.

“I beg your pardon. My name…is Mikhail Asayev. My profession is—”

“You a monk?”

“—Yes, exactly. That’s quite a good guess, considering I’m not wearing my robes.”

“You were humming a hymnal. So I figured that might be the case. –This is a smithy that specializes in weapons. If you want a rosary you’ll have to find some other shop.”

“Oh no no, that’s not it—I came here with a comission regarding weapons, nothing less. I was encouraged to come here by King Marlon.”

A referral from Kyle Marlon—that must mean that he was a fairly high-ranking monk.

In that case, I couldn’t very well dismiss him.

Mikhail laid the case he was carrying onto the floor, pulled off the cloth and opened the lid.

And there inside it—were two unrefined looking swords.

“These are ritual objects long held in Holy Levianta…the ‘Twin Swords of Levianta’,” Mikhail said, his left pupil abruptly rotating around once.

“These are ritual objects? –You’re putting me on. The Levin church making swords into ritual objects?”

“These are being held not by the church, but the country of Holy Levianta itself. Monks don’t carry swords. However, though this is a religious country, military might is necessary to protect the dignity of our country and religion. Think of this as a symbol of that.”

Spinning.

Mikhail’s left eye swiveled again.

--I couldn’t help but find the movement unnaturally awkward.

It probably wasn’t the eye he was born with. It looked fake, man-made.

“…So then, what is it with these swords?”

“Right. Among these twin swords, it is said that one represents ‘Creation’, and the other ‘Ending’. They originally belonged to the Li family in the distant past when Holy Levianta was called the Magic Kingdom, but they were taken outside the country shortly before the Leviantan Catastro—Ah, you don’t seem terribly interested in this sort of history. You have a very bored look on your face.”

“…”

“Well then let’s put a stop to that for now, and move on to the main topic of conversation. My commission—is for you to completely destroy these swords.”

“…Wha!?”

I didn’t understand what he was getting at.

Expressly going to the trouble to take swords to a smithy, not to hone them or hammer them back into shape…but to destroy them?

…No, hold on.

“I understand, I know what’s going on. You’re…trying to get the crime pinned on me. You want the swords destroyed for some reason. But if you destroyed ritual artifacts you would obviously be punished for it. So to keep that from happening you’re going to use another country’s blacksmith—”

“No no, it’s nothing with that kind of conspiracy to it,” Mikhail denied my assertion, waving his hands exaggeratedly. “I’ve obtained permission from the archbishop on this.”

So saying, he showed me a sheet of parchment.

--And sure enough, the gist of what was written on there was basically, “The perpetrator who carries out the destruction of the Twin Swords of Levianta will not be charged with any crime”. As soon as I saw the archbishop’s signature and the dragon symbol next to it, I could tell…it was not a false letter.

“So then…I really don’t get why. Why on earth would the archbishop himself want the ritual artifacts passed down in his country to be destroyed—”

“Mister Langley. Do you…know of the ‘Vessels of Deadly Sin’?”

“…Only what rumor tells me. Just the legends spoken of among the other smiths here.”

--In this world there existed several weapons and tools wherein dwelled “Demons of Deadly Sin”, and no matter how skilled the craftsman, these could not be remade or destroyed.

Long before, a certain blacksmith was able to find a spoon that was one of the “Vessels of Deadly Sin”, and tried to reforge it into a fork. However, ultimately not only was he unable to carry that out, but he was possessed by the demon and driven to die in madness--that was the kind of thing they would talk about.

“You don’t mean…these twin swords are ‘Vessels of Deadly Sin’?”

“Indeed…Though perhaps it’s a bit hard to believe up front. Thanks to that, the archbishop is greatly aggrieved at the fact that he sanctified items with a demon inside as ritual artifacts.

“So then just throw them away somewhere.”

“I can’t do that. If I did, and someone else were to find them, then there’s a chance misfortune would befall this person. I’ve already made this same request to blacksmiths throughout Holy Levianta, but none of them were able to destroy it.”

Cursed swords that held a demon inside, and couldn’t be broken—

My interest as a blacksmith was overcoming my terror.

I took one of the swords in hand and knocked it against the floor at several angles to test it out.

…Contrary to expectation, the sword easily snapped after several times of this.

It snapped quite neatly.

“Hey…It’s broken off.”

“You think so? And yet…by tomorrow I guarantee it’ll be remade like it was before.”

“That’s ridiculous.”

“Well then, you should see it yourself with your own eyes tomorrow. …You have seven days. That’s how long I’ll be staying in this country. I’ll come back on the morning of the third day, and if I’m able to confirm that the twin swords have been destroyed—” Mikhail swiveled his left eye, and showed me a bag full of gold coins. “—One million Ev. That is what I’ll pay you as your fee.”

“…That is an extremely large amount of gold.”

“It’s to compensate just for the risk you’re undertaking. After all is said and done, these swords have a demon in them after all. …If you feel any kind of danger or feel afraid and want to quit on the commission, then take the swords to the great Levin church. That’s where I’ll be staying. –Well then.”

Without waiting for a proper reply from me, Mikhail walked out from the entrance.

…So, what should I do?

For now, I tossed the snapped sword in my hand in the case. Next I scooped up the piece of blade that had broken off and similarly put it in the case.

I closed the case and set it in a corner of the smithy.

--The following morning. When I opened the case to check, just as Mikhail told me, the sword that should have still been snapped in half had returned to how it had been before.

I had the key to the smithy on my person, and never took it off, so there wasn’t any trace that some outside person had made their way inside. It didn’t also seem to me like any of the smiths were pulling a prank on me.

I thought to myself that this was quite an interesting article. I didn’t necessarily believe the nonsense that there was really a demon inside, but regardless I could tell this was a job that wouldn’t be quite so straightforward.

I didn’t have any real obligation to take it on, but if I could get all that money just for destroying some swords, I had no reason not to.

First, I properly examined the twin swords to come up with an opinion on them.

In ancient times, the Magic Kingdom that supposedly was destroyed by a catastrophe caused by a dragon was said in legends to have had a culture that was far, far more advanced than what we had now. Whether that was true or not, when it came to these swords they didn’t seem to be made by any particularly advanced technology at all. The metal used in them had a low purity, and there was no particular detailed decorations like as would be on a treasured sword.

I decided to have the other smiths help me, and smash them into pieces using a large steel hammer. Not just the body of the blades, but also the hilts and the guard, everything. I put the items that had been reduced to rubble into the case and left it be, but of course by the next day it was completely reformed again.

This time I tried melting it with heat. Thanks to the new model of furnace we had, it was comparatively simple to reduce the twin blades to masses of iron. But…by the next day, those too had returned to their original form as swords.

As expected the other smiths were creeped out, and though they had participated intending to get a cut of the reward, they soon wanted nothing to do with the twin blades. When they did, Nagisa who had seemed indifferent of it all up to then, suggested I try exploding it with gunpowder.

I couldn’t very well do that inside the smithy, so I decided to do it at a nearby riverbank. When I blew up the twin swords buried inside gunpowder, there was a great cheer from all the spectators watching. I took the pieces of the pulverized sword back to the smithy to see what would happen…but I couldn’t hope for much.

I decided to watch over the pieces of the sword through the night, by myself. It always reformed itself in the middle of the night. So then, I figured I would see this happen with my own eyes.

--Around two in the morning, a peculiar event happened.

It seemed to me that the moonlight that was coming in through the small window in the smithy suddenly grew brighter.

Right after I realized that, the scene before my eyes suddenly grew too dazzling to see...And then I lost consciousness.

--I realized that my body was sinking into the ocean.

I felt no difficulty at all from being unable to breath, so I quickly could tell that it was a dream.

An enormous fish with rainbow scales was swimming right in front of me.

“…Cease your pointless actions.”

It was a woman’s voice.

“You cannot destroy a ‘Vessel of Deadly Sin’. Even if you could—there’s no meaning in doing so.”

Was this fish the demon that dwelled in the twin swords?

When I asked her, the fish replied “Correct”, and then continued.

“You are quite lucky. I am a pacifist demon, and as such you are safe even now. If you were to have done such things on any other ‘Vessel of Deadly Sin’…You would have been cursed long before. However, I grow tired of playing around on this any further. And…none of you can protect me.”

“Protect you? Are you saying that someone is hunting you?”

“Yes. A ‘sorceress’ who is collecting ‘Vessels of Deadly Sin’—I refuse to be used by the likes of a human being. Mikhail Asayev…Right now, in this period I should be able to deceive her with an ‘Inheritor’ like him. And that girl, Nagisa or something…I could perhaps wait for her child to grow up, but—”

Sorceress—did she mean Elluka Clockworker, one of the Three Heroes?

And…what was an “Inheritor”?

“…I won’t let you put a hand on Nagisa.”

“Then return the twin blades to Mikhail immediately. I think that would be the best thing for the both of us, hahaha—"

--And there, I woke up.

It was already dawn. Instead of moonlight, sunbeams were streaming in from the window.

And…as expected, the pieces of the blades were once more twin swords.

Had that just been a dream? Or was it a vision that the demon had shown me?

Either way, it would be impossible to destroy these twin swords through regular means.

I had to think of what I would do after this point.

I could just obediently give up and return the twin swords to Mikhail. I’d lose the opportunity to make a large amount of money, but this all happened by chance anyway. I had little need to be greedy about it.

But if these blades really did have demons in them…Could I really just leave them be? They probably wouldn’t cause any trouble if they were in Mikhail’s hands, him being a monk and all…but there was no guarantee that he wouldn’t get possessed by a demon.

The other route that I could think of—I could entrust it to the sorceress Elluka Clockworker. Someone like her might know some way to seal the demon inside.

But I’d heard that Elluka had left the country after the revolution started. I had no way to learn where she was. And she was a friend of the Levin archbishop in the first place. So then, maybe he had already contacted her for help and it hadn’t gone well, or else…maybe he’d had some reason not to.

Well, that wasn’t something I ought to participate in. At any rate, the idea of entrusting the twin swords to Elluka wasn’t realistic.

There’s also—No, I can’t do that. That’d be ridiculous.

A certain being came to my mind, but I instantly dismissed it.

--Spirits.

That was another story told of in the smithy.

That there were dependents of the great earth god Held that were said to live in the Millenium Tree Forest.

And that among those various spirits, there was supposedly one that could destroy and devour anything.

But then…Even if that being exists, I’m hardly likely to find it in just two or three days.

In the end, no other good ideas came to mind after that.

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