Jin Nidou was an orphan. Abandoned in front of the Nidou Orphanage when he was very young, he had been raised within its walls ever since.
Crafting was his hobby, and it was his greatest talent. Because he grew up in an orphanage—an environment where he couldn't always get what he wanted—he had naturally chosen the path of making things for himself.
"Big Bro Jin, make me a plane!"
"You got it."
For the younger boys, he started with tops and bamboo copters, eventually moving on to stilts, boomerangs, kites, and even model airplanes.
After graduating from a public middle school, he attended a part-time high school while working various jobs.
"Big brother, I want a doll!"
"Alright, alright. Just wait a bit."
For the girls, he made origami and stuffed animals. In the process, he became well-versed in dressmaking, reaching a point where he could sew clothes with ease.
"Jin, you really are gifted. You’re such a help to us," the Orphanage Director who raised him would say, praising him at every opportunity.
"Jin, I'm sorry to ask, but could you fix the leak in the roof?"
"Leave it to me."
He handled carpentry as well, doing everything from basic house repairs to building chairs and tables.
After graduation, he found employment at a certain company. He moved into the company's bachelor dormitory and finally left the orphanage. The children who adored him wept as they said their goodbyes.
"It’s not like we’ll never see each other again, everyone. I’ll come visit with presents on my days off, okay?"
Just as he promised, every Sunday he would visit the orphanage, his hands full of gifts bought with his salary.
＊ ＊ ＊
A different space, a different time, a different world altogether. Not Earth.
There, a single witch—a magic-user—was approaching the end of her days.
"Listen... find someone... someone I can entrust with... this laboratory and... all that I am. Somehow... find that person. Please. I'm counting... on you..."
"YES, MOTHER."
She was a Magi Craft Meister. She entrusted her legacy to the automata she had created by pouring in everything she possessed, and then she quietly drew her last breath.
＊ ＊ ＊
The company Jin joined wasn't a "black company" in the strictest sense, but it was incredibly demanding. Though there was no unpaid overtime, Sunday was his only day off, and those living in the dormitory were frequently called in for emergencies.
Because Jin was a high school graduate, he was worked to the bone, and fatigue began to take a heavy toll on him.
"Big Bro Jin, you look really tired."
It reached the point where even the children at the orphanage were worried about him.
"Is work that busy? Don't push yourself; you should really rest on your Sundays," the Orphanage Director told him, but Jin wouldn't hear of it, insisting that playing with the children was how he found his own peace.
＊ ＊ ＊
The automata continued to search for its creator's successor. The only clues were 'wavelength' and 'waveform.'
The automata, capable of identifying the individuality of humans through these readings, searched relentlessly for a human who possessed a wavelength and waveform as close to its master's as possible.
"IN THIS WORLD, IT MAY BE IMPOSSIBLE."
The probability of finding an identical or near-identical match was infinitesimally small. Even after a hundred years, the automata had been unable to find a successor.
＊ ＊ *
"Nidou, sorry, but take care of this too."
"Yes, sir."
Jin was constantly tasked with cleaning up various messes. Organizing documents and verifying contracts were the easy tasks; more often, he was handling complaints, repairing defective products, or doing collections. Currently, he was repairing an internal LAN that had gone down.
He was given these tasks because he possessed a remarkably broad range of knowledge across many different fields.
＊ ＊ ＊
"MANA IS INSUFFICIENT TO ACCESS OTHER-DIMENSIONAL SPACE."
Using the vast knowledge it had been granted, the automata realized it lacked the magical power to reach into other dimensions and began developing a means to compensate for the deficit.
＊ ＊ ＊
"Man, I really need some sleep..."
Jin walked along with deep circles under his eyes. It was no wonder; he hadn't slept for three days. Today’s job was a system check at a certain steel mill.
＊ ＊ ＊
"WORLD 2367: FAILURE. PROCEEDING TO SCAN WORLD 2368."
With a persistence only an inorganic being could possess, the automata continued its search for a successor.
＊ ＊ ＊
"Let's see... temperature control error. Looks like a wire is snapped somewhere."
Jin traced the sensor line leading toward the electric furnace.
＊ ＊ ＊
"WORLD 3601... FOUND!"
At the end of a search spanning a thousand years, the automata had finally found a successor.
"INITIATING SUMMONING FORMULA."
＊ ＊ ＊
"God, it’s hot. Doesn't matter if the furnace is shut off, not with all that molten iron sitting underneath."
The electric furnace wasn't running during the check, of course, but that massive volume of liquid iron wasn't going to cool down any time soon.
"Ah, there it is. Looks like it got hit when they dumped the scrap in."
Electric furnaces used arc discharges to melt down iron, often using scrap metal as the primary raw material. It seemed a piece of it had snagged and damaged the sensor wire.
＊ ＊ ＊
"CONSTRUCTING SUMMONING CIRCLE. GRANTING LINGUISTIC KNOWLEDGE AS AN ADDITIONAL ATTRIBUTE."
It seemed that communication through language was universal across all worlds.
"ACTIVATE!"
A magic circle composed of complex magical script rose into the air before the automata.
＊ ＊ ＊
"And that should do it..."
Jin finished replacing the part. Just then, his hand slipped, and he nearly dropped his tool.
"Oops—!"
He reflexively reached out for it, but he was standing over the ladle of the electric furnace—the vessel where the molten iron was pooled.
"Whoa!"
With a short, sharp cry, Jin's body tumbled toward the ladle.
His final thought in this world was a simple one:
(I wonder if the life insurance will reach the orphanage okay...)