Chapter – 47
Making Miniatures
I slipped a bookmark into my book and was about to pass by the workshop when,
I happened to glance inside.
I saw the Underworld King and Adachi,
seriously working on something.
Adachi often spends time with the Underworld King.
What are they doing?
Curious, Mukai stepped inside.
“What are you two making?”
Both the Underworld King and Adachi looked up at the same time.
“Miniatures,” they said.
Looking closer, I saw the Underworld King crafting a desk,
and Adachi making a sofa.
“They saw me working here and said they wanted to make something too,
so I’m teaching them,” Adachi explained.
As we were talking, a man in his thirties appeared from the back.
He was Masomi Toju, a miniature dollhouse artist.
After visiting the salon and seeing the gallery,
he wanted to make his own Underworld dollhouses here,
so he registered as a temp and began creating his works in the workshop.
“I hope we’re not getting in your way,”
he said nervously.
“Don’t be ridiculous. I’m serious about what I’m making,”
Adachi replied.
“I’ll finish this piece, then build the room,
and have it displayed in the gallery,”
Masomi added.
“Exactly,” the Underworld King said, exchanging a glance with Adachi and smiling happily.
“If it’s a bother, I can make you leave,” Mukai offered.
“Not at all. The things you two make are actually quite good.
You’ve already made two miniature items,
so if you keep going, you’ll be able to make a whole dollhouse,”
Masomi assured.
“See? He said it,” the Underworld King said proudly, ignoring Mukai as he looked at Masomi’s work.
“Is this… the River of Three Crossings?
It’s beautiful.
So this is how you see it, huh?”
I was captivated by the exquisite detail.
“Before seeing this gallery, I never thought I’d want to make anything.
I was dead and didn’t really care anymore,”
Masomi said, picking up a tiny stone with tweezers and placing it on the riverbank.
“But then I was told that everything in this gallery is made by the dead,
and I was fascinated.
Having something I made displayed here… it’s like a dream.
Once someone sees this in the Underworld,
anyone would want to create a masterpiece before moving on to their next life.”
Watching Masomi speak with sparkling eyes,
the Underworld King smiled in delight.
“The piece I’m making now will need a place to display it once it’s done,”
he said.
“Don’t worry about that.
We have professional carpenters who can make display shelves tailored to your work,”
Masomi reassured him.
“Really? Then I can make it as I want.
I feel relieved,” he said, sitting down to continue his work with joy.
“Is your job okay, Underworld King?”
“Huh? Oh, yeah. I’ve already loaded a week’s worth of souls into the Spirit Cannon, so I’m fine,”
he replied.
The Spirit Cannon is a device used to place souls into unborn children.
In the past, it was manual, so the Underworld King and the Shinigami had to stay close by.
Now, it automatically inserts souls into children being born,
allowing the Underworld King to have free time for hobbies.
“It’s convenient to load them in rapid succession.
The chance of stillbirth has gone down,
and it’s helpful that there’s no error with the automatic standard.
I really appreciate the research and development team,”
he added.
When setting the standard manually, even a slight mistake could cause a stillbirth.
Just having that risk reduced was a huge relief.
As we talked, an alarm went off.
“Evil spirit enlarged in XX Town.
Extermination team is on site.
All available personnel, report immediately.”
I had just been about to take a nap…
I exhaled deeply and called to Adachi.
“Come on, let’s go.”
“Just when it’s almost finished—don’t touch this!!”
Adachi stared at the Underworld King.
“Who taught you to doubt me like that?”
The Underworld King glanced at Mukai.
“Is this my fault? I don’t think so.”
“Enough, just go already,” Mukai said.
The Underworld King waved his hand, but Adachi shot him a suspicious glare as we left the room.
As I was about to go, I peeked in from the doorway.
“Underworld King, don’t touch Adachi’s work,”
I warned, stopping his hand.
“You really have no trust, do you?”
“I understand. No mischief,” the Underworld King raised both hands.
Beside him, Masomi laughed at our exchange.
I looked at the Underworld King silently.
“….”
“I swear to God, I won’t do anything.”
“Well, it’s not like it matters if you say that,”
I muttered and headed back down to the human world.
