Published: September 2, 2025
※8/13 Typo corrections made.
This is Satou. Maybe because of working late at night, I don’t recall ever taking a bath in my room’s bathroom since becoming a working adult. Most of the time, I just take a hot shower in the morning to wake myself up.
The only time I can soak slowly in hot water is when I go to a super public bathhouse during those consecutive overnight stays as a change of pace.
◇
The night breeze has gotten colder over the past few days, so I let my wife and husband sleep inside the carriage. Especially Hayuna-san—if she caught a cold and passed it on to the baby, that would be a real problem.
Tonight’s shift has a different lineup than usual.
Normally, I, Mia, and Lulu are first shift; Pochi, Tama, and Nana are second shift; and Liza and Arisa are third shift. But today, Arisa and Mia have swapped places.
“What are you making?”
“Circuit Liquid.”
Most textbooks just call it magic liquid.
What I’m making now is different from ordinary magic liquid. I’m following a recipe hidden in a stack of papers.
Yeah, the ingredients are different, but the method is basically the same as for regular magic liquid.
“Hmm, wait? Didn’t it usually glow red?”
Arisa’s quick to notice. I don’t want to lose focus now, so I don’t answer her and continue working while staring at the magic liquid glowing blue as it absorbs magic power.
I pour the freshly made blue circuit liquid into the wooden sword, which I had split in half and carved grooves in for the magical circuit.
Since I cooled it down to the right temperature before pouring it in, the wood base won’t catch fire like last time.
“It’s black, but is this also a wooden sword?”
I can’t ignore her completely, so I nod slightly. Lulu is quietly watching nearby, but Arisa is so noisy.
I brush glue thinly on the remaining half of the wooden sword and press them together. Then I tie it with a string to secure it. I place it on the Mana Infusion Platform and gently manipulate the magic liquid inside the sword to draw finer patterns.
Eventually, Arisa gets bored watching, lying down with dried meat in her mouth, hugging her knees while gazing this way.
Next to me, Lulu gently wipes the sweat off my forehead with a handkerchief. I’m sure Lulu’s feminine skills must be around 530,000 or so.
I try pouring magic power into the finished wooden sword. The flow isn’t as smooth as with Liza’s spear, but it’s pretty good.
The entire sword glows faintly blue.
Even after I stop supplying magic, it stays glowing, though a bit dimmer.
“Hey, hey, a magic sword that emits blue light… that can’t be real, right? There’s no way one that easy could be made.”
Arisa’s words shake me. She’s probably figured out what it really is.
I swing the wooden sword again while supplying magic power.
The blue trail it leaves behind is beautiful.
“Hey, is that really it?”
After waiting for the afterimage to fade into the darkness, I answer Arisa.
“Yes, it’s a Holy Sword.”
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“W-wait, you said Holy Sword?”
“Technically, it’s a Holy Sword imitation.”
During the day, Arisa found a vertical acrostic hidden in a stack of papers. It was the research notes of a man who tried to make a Holy Sword.
The main content was about how to make a special circuit liquid needed for Holy Sword creation. Ingredients include Dragon Scale Powder, powdered gems, gold bars, and so on. The prototype just now cost the equivalent of 15 gold coins. If this were an MMO RPG, some players would probably give up leveling skills over such a recipe.
The original part is only here; otherwise, it’s made the same way as a Demonic Sword. For that part, I referred to Torazayuuya’s book, which was more detailed.
There’s a reason I said “imitation.”
Making it with a wooden sword like this works, but it seems forging a metal sword doesn’t succeed. Forging means hammering hot metal to extend it, so you can’t form such precise circuits inside. Since this time it’s a soft material like wood, it worked.