Vol 2 Chapter 7 – My Wife’s Invincibility Increases, But She’s Still Part 2

The other day, I gifted Yumeba a mithril ribbon enchanted with translation magic, but something caught my attention during the process.

Previously, when I enchanted Yumeba’s sword with inscription magic or crafted underwater activity bracelets during our honeymoon, I noticed that using existing materials limited me to three effects max with inscription magic.

This limitation held true even for equipment I materialized from my own magic power, so I assumed that was the hard limit for inscription magic, but…

“With mithril equipment, it felt like there was still room to spare.”

The ribbon I gave Yumeba only had two enchantments—translation magic and a spell that absorbs ambient mana to sustain the effects semi-permanently—but I got the sense I could add two or three more effects.

Perhaps because mithril has higher magic permeability, it seemed capable of holding more magical inscriptions.

“That said, just because something’s possible doesn’t mean it’ll be easy.”

Three effects alone were troublesome enough. Four or more would spike the difficulty even higher.

“But I’ve got plenty of mithril lying around, so might as well experiment.”

Yumeba’s out training with the Royal Guard today, so I’ve got free time during the day.

By the way, anyone could’ve guessed this, but I once accompanied Yumeba to observe the Royal Guard’s training—and haven’t gone back since the guards tearfully begged me not to.

Yeah. When I cheer her on, Yumeba-san gets way too pumped up and goes all out in training, leaving every other guard member beaten to a pulp without exception.

So when Yumeba’s at training, I’m on house-sitting duty.

“Sword, telepathy device, bracelet, ribbon… What kind of equipment should I make next?”

Standing before the mithril, I contemplate what to gift Yumeba next.

Part of it is that I’m a mage who doesn’t need much equipment myself, but honestly, don’t you want to dress up your beautiful wife if you can?

Well, from that perspective, I could also upgrade equipment for my transformed appearance as Alisa, but…

“Still, it’s gotta be Yumeba’s equipment.”

There’s no doubt Alisa’s a beautiful girl, but I’d rather prioritize equipment for Yumeba, whom I can appreciate objectively, over stuff I wear myself.

“Hmm. Right now Yumeba can operate freely on land and underwater, but come to think of it, she doesn’t have any aerial equipment.”

Actually, Yumeba’s weapon collection includes ranged weapons, all stored in her bracelet, but…

“A sky date does sound appealing.”

Ultimately, that’s what it comes down to.

Yeah. Carrying Yumeba princess-style through the sky isn’t bad, but I’d really like to fly together on a date or something.

So I decided to develop equipment enchanted with flight magic.

I feel like Yumeba-san’s getting closer and closer to invincibility, but I don’t really care.

Either way, she’ll eventually become the world’s strongest creature.

The question is what kind of equipment to make.

She’s already wearing bracelets on both arms, her earrings and necklace are occupied by the telepathy device, and she has a ribbon in her hair.

“Rings would get in the way of sword-gripping, anklets look tacky, and if I enchant her clothes or underwear… I can’t exactly enchant every outfit she owns.”

I ponder this and that, but surprisingly few good ideas come to mind.

“When I’m stuck like this, I should think from scratch.”

Ignoring existing equipment, I consider what would be most suitable for flight magic enchantment.

“Something worn near the body’s center would be best, so a necklace… no, a pendant would work.”

A round medallion hanging from the neck would make inscription easy too.

The problem is that a necklace already exists as part of the telepathy device…

“Hmm.”

Actually, I’ve never been thrilled about the telepathy device being a two-piece set of earring and necklace.

Ideally, I’d want to integrate everything into a single micro-terminal as compact as a smartphone, but creating an actual smartphone is way too difficult.

Maybe I should just incorporate the telepathy device’s functions into the medallion…

“Wait. Hold on.”

I pause my train of thought.

Since I’m thinking from scratch, something fundamental occurs to me—Yumeba isn’t exactly a magic specialist.

Sure, she’s better than average mages, but naturally she’s inferior compared to me, and basing everything on my standards is a mistake.

Until now, Yumeba’s genius-level sense and my equipment adjustments have made things work fine, but if I keep loading her up with increasingly complicated equipment, won’t it become an unnecessary burden?

Specifically, there’s a real possibility my equipment could actually hinder Yumeba’s swordsmanship.

It’s fine now, but in a future critical moment, it could determine victory or defeat.

“Which means I need magic that links with all of Yumeba’s enchanted equipment and supports her.”

Magic where Yumeba only needs to give minimal instructions, and the support system makes optimal decisions and operates the equipment for her.

At this point, flight magic becomes a complete afterthought, and I’d need to fundamentally rebuild Yumeba’s equipment from the ground up.

“But thinking about it, the only equipment Yumeba would absolutely hate to part with is the ribbon.”

That only has constantly-active translation magic on it, so it can be considered completely independent.

The real problem is whether I can actually construct something as complex as support magic.

“Separating part of my consciousness and inscribing it into the medallion is… no good.”

When I married Yumeba, there was one spell she prohibited me from using.

That’s magic that creates a duplicate body by separating part of my consciousness.

The reason is that Yumeba has the trait of easily seeing through my identity even when I’m transformed as Alisa, so a duplicate body with part of my consciousness embedded would be “fake but partially real,” creating an awkward situation.

Since it’s not really me, she can’t pour her affection into it, but when the consciousness later integrates back, it becomes part of my experiences—and Yumeba hated the idea of memories of her treating me coldly remaining in my mind.

So I’m forbidden from using duplicate bodies or any similar magic.

“In that case, I need to build something like a completely independent program without sentience.”

Yeah. Sounds incredibly tedious without even thinking about it.

◇◇◇

After mulling things over alone, I eventually decided to consult with Yumeba when she returned from training.

“Flight magic! I want it, I want it, I want it!”

Yumeba got extremely excited at just the first part of the conversation, making discussion impossible.

“Flying while Lio holds me was nice too, but I wanted to try flying on my own at least once!”

“I-I see.”

We derailed right from the start, but I course-corrected back to the support magic topic.

“If it’s just supporting me, you don’t need to transfer part of your consciousness, do you?”

“Ah.”

Yumeba points this out and I realize—she’s absolutely right.

What’s needed is a system capable of minimal autonomous action that learns from Yumeba’s behavior and provides optimal support—there’s no need to deliberately transfer part of my consciousness.

I had that method available, so I was trapped by preconceptions and overlooked something fundamental.

“That said, building support magic with autonomous functions from scratch would take forever, so transferring part of my consciousness would still be faster.”

“Can’t you transfer part of my consciousness instead of yours?”

“…That’s it.”

Yeah. Again trapped by preconceptions—I was fixated on transferring my consciousness when transferring Yumeba’s own consciousness would naturally provide optimal support.

With Yumeba’s cooperation, the plan proceeded smoothly.

Working with my beloved wife beats thinking alone any day.

“At this point, there’s no need to stick with a medallion shape either.”

I chose a body-centered medallion pendant because of the flight magic premise, but if I’m enchanting support magic, it doesn’t need to be a medallion.

Consulting with Yumeba, we examined various approaches.

Yeah. Way more fun than working solo.

◇◇◇

Several days later.

Yumeba’s dedicated support magic system—nicknamed Yume II—was complete. Pronounced “Yume Two.”

It’s a softball-sized mithril sphere that links with all of Yumeba’s equipment for optimal operation, with an added function to collect and store magic power leaking from Yumeba’s body.

Flight magic works by wrapping magic power around the body to fly, but just as airborne mana is toxic poison to humans, another person’s magic power could also be poisonous.

So the idea was to collect Yumeba’s own excess magic power to enable flight magic operation.

Incidentally, Yume II is set to float and follow around Yumeba’s shoulder area.

It’s using flight magic, so even if Yumeba moves at full speed—probably fine, I think.

Honestly, I’m not confident flight magic can reliably keep up with the full-sprint speed of someone from the world’s strongest creature clan.

“Gyuuun! Spin spin! Babyuuun!”

And currently, Yumeba was testing the flight magic with Yume II’s support while making incomprehensible sound effects with her mouth.

Yeah. If I recorded this and showed future Yumeba, it’d definitely become a dark history moment, but she looks so happy I won’t rain on her parade.

Come to think of it, I developed camera magic but never developed video magic.

“Ahahahaha!”

Yumeba looks incredibly joyful, flying through the sky with surprising skill for a first-timer, occasionally activating equipment to test various things.

Yeah. Same as with underwater activities—she’s already better than me.

I’m flying with flight magic too to observe, but if someone told me to replicate those movements, I’d immediately declare it impossible.

(My wife’s getting even more invincible.)

Well, it’s my fault for obsessively upgrading Yumeba’s equipment as a hobby.

“Lio, set up some targets for meeee.”

“Sure, sure.”

I respond to Yumeba’s request by retrieving multiple small flying objects from my Item Box—failed prototypes destined for disposal from when I was making Yume II.

Yeah. Through various trial and error, I settled on the current spherical shape, but initially I tried all kinds of flying object forms.

These are powered by my magic, not Yumeba’s though.

“Here I go.”

“Bring it.”

When I snap my fingers, the multiple flying objects begin high-speed flight surrounding Yumeba.

Despite being failures, they’re based on flying objects designed to support Yumeba.

Their flight performance equals or exceeds Yume II’s, and yet…

“Yume II!”

Following Yumeba’s command, Yume II fired laser-like attacks—lightning magic I enchanted to shoot lightning bolts in straight lines—instantly shooting down every single target.

“Whoa.”

As expected of Yume II with part of Yumeba’s consciousness transferred.

To perfectly track and instantly shoot down multiple objects flying at that speed.

Yeah. It was meant as just a single attack spell for minimal self-defense, but when Yume II uses it, it’s genuinely ultimate equipment.

“Pretty decent.”

“…I see.”

Apparently not quite satisfying enough for Yumeba though.

◇◇◇

Since Yumeba and Yume II are originally the same person, simple communication works like telepathy with easy exchanges.

Furthermore, Yume II can read Yumeba’s intentions, so even without instructions, it mostly understands her desires.

With repeated fine-tuning, they should achieve perfect coordination.

“This feels great!”

Yumeba seemed quite pleased with Yume II.

◇◇◇

So after upgrading her equipment, Yumeba—for some reason challenged the world’s strongest creature to a match.

“You’re still not there while relying on equipment.”

“…Guh.”

And she lost without putting up a fight.

The wall was higher than imagined.

◇◇◇

After upgrading her equipment, Yumeba departed for Royal Guard training today—looking back reluctantly as always.

Embracing and kissing when Yumeba leaves has become routine, but she always glances back so wistfully that I’m tempted to suggest taking the day off for a date.

“See you laterrr.”

If only this world’s strongest creature watching beside me weren’t here.

◇◇◇

With Yumeba’s equipment settled for now, I transformed into Alisa after a long time and headed to the Adventurer’s Guild.

Come to think of it, I haven’t reported back to my familiar receptionist Serina-san about returning from the honeymoon or picked up the telepathy devices I left with her.

Actually, I already reported via telepathy device, but it’s been ages since we met in person.

(Oh right, I haven’t given her a souvenir either.)

Though the souvenir’s just an assortment of regional specialty sweets Yumeba picked out.

So I arrived at the Adventurer’s Guild, opened the door and entered—and Serina-san, spotting me, looked up at the ceiling with an “oh crap” expression.

I don’t know what’s up, but I approached Serina-san to ask, and…

“You the rumored Annihilation Witch?”

“…Huh?”

Someone suddenly called out, leaving me confused.

Looking toward the voice, I saw a group of four—a woman at the front who called out to me was slender with ash-gray hair and green eyes.

Her impression reminded me of a stray cat, lightly equipped and clearly built for speed.

“We’ve heard about the Annihilation Witch too. S-rank adventurer-level abilities, the guild’s hot new talent, right?”

“…Is that so.”

I’m pretty confused since she’s just talking at me one-sidedly.

“But S-rank adventurer-level people are a dime a dozen if you look around, and as it happens, we’re called that too.”

“I see.”

“But if you really have S-rank adventurer-level abilities, you should just hurry up and complete your promotion. Why haven’t you done that yet?”

“…”

Because I stopped at the final promotion procedure stage—though I obviously didn’t answer that, responding with silence instead.

I’m starting to understand what this woman wants.

“Meaning?”

“We’re gonna verify whether you really have the abilities to deserve all that attention from the Adventurer’s Guild ahead of us!”

As she spoke, the woman moved, and before I knew it, her fist was thrust right in front of my face.

I wouldn’t say I didn’t see it at all, but she attacked at a speed I couldn’t react to and stopped just short.

“Oh my. Can’t the great Annihilation Witch even dodge an attack like this?”

I looked away from the woman mocking and looking down on me with her sarcastic tone, glancing toward Serina-san instead…

“No! No! No!”

She was desperately making X-shapes with both arms toward me.

Apparently blasting her away with magic is a no-go.

“…I have one question.”

I guess I’ll have to think of another approach and execute it.

“What?”

“Why did you stop short?”

“Hah. I was being considerate not to bloody up that pretty face of yours.”

“You just wanted to claim victory and run, didn’t you?”

“…What?”

Yeah. This is annoying, but I’ll provoke her for Serina-san’s sake and beat her up physically.

“No! No! No!”

Serina-san was making X-shapes with both arms even more desperately than before while shaking her head, but it’s probably my imagination.

“You stopped short because you weren’t certain you could beat me, right? You wanted to finish feeling victorious. If you actually hit me, I might counterattack, so being the coward you are, stopping short was your only option, wasn’t it?”

“…”

Receiving my provocation, the woman narrowed her eyes—WHAM! A sound echoed through the area.

This time the woman’s fist hit my face without stopping short, and in my peripheral vision Serina-san was clutching her head and crouching down.

“…Huh?”

The woman who attacked me stared blankly, unable to immediately comprehend that her fist had caved in and the bones shattered.

Yeah. Punch my Aegis absolute defense barrier barehanded and that’s what happens.

“A…ghhh!”

Finally recognizing her condition, the woman crouched down clutching her broken fist, while simultaneously one of the three people behind her—a muscular, huge, skinhead man—charged at me, swinging his mighty arm…

“Pretty weak for your appearance.”

“Wha…!”

He was shocked when I stopped his attack with one hand.

“Impossible! Where does such power come from those thin arms…!”

“…People who rely on muscles for power are apparently second-rate.”

I repeated what Yumeba told me, though actually my power comes from magic-enhanced physical strengthening.

◇◇◇

One minute later, I physically beat up all four and left them sprawled on the floor.

“Oh geez. I told you it was a bad idea.”

Seeing this, Serina-san approached looking exhausted.

“Who were these people?”

“An A-rank adventurer party that came from outside the capital after hearing rumors about you, Alisa-san. They’re supposedly skilled enough that all four A-rank members together could reach S-rank level…”

“At this point, just ‘reaching S-rank level’ doesn’t mean much.”

“Right?”

According to Serina-san, they barged into the capital’s Adventurer’s Guild demanding to see me, and while Serina-san listened to them with a twitching face…

“They came to challenge you for achievements toward their S-rank promotion exam. Of course I tried to stop them, but…”

“I showed up before you could persuade them.”

“Exactly.”

“Well, adventurers tend to be excessively confident.”

“…Alisa-san, you’re an adventurer too, you know?”

Oh right.

“Well, they’ve been hit with reality now. Let’s have high hopes for their future growth.”

“Isn’t that excessive expectations for people physically dominated by me?”

“…Alisa-san, your standards are just off.”

“…”

Living with Yumeba—or rather, with the Saionji ducal family—I really can’t argue back.

“More importantly, perfect timing. There’s actually a request I’d like you to take, Alisa-san!”

“…Ugh.”

Maybe perfect timing for Serina-san, but bad timing for me.

I had a bad feeling about whatever requests Serina-san brings.