Part 186: A Certain Witch Hunter's Interview Tape

Between EP4 and EP5, a total of four extra TIPS were released. Three of them got the visual novel treatment in Tsubasa. This one, similarly to the Letter from a Summoner, was released in the commercial guidebook for EP4 and as such also has parts of it omitted. Unlike the Letter, though, this one already had a translation by one animesuki forums user cardslash02 so I didn't have to start from scratch. It was a decent translation but I did do some editing and fixed some mistakes.

The two speakers (interviewer and interviewee, presumably) were denoted with the two different kinds of Japanese quotation marks, 「」 and 『』. I left these in as they were, the main reason being that telling the difference between ' and " is a bit more annoying.


A Certain Witch Hunter's Interview Tape

(omitted)

『During the war, Mr. Ushiromiya was just a powerless junior officer, but because of his proficiency in English he was able to establish strong affiliations with the occupying forces after the war, obtaining great influence and connections. Because of this, it was rumored that he procured the gold using his relations with the US army.』

(omitted)

「He also utilized the authority of the GHQ to purchase Rokkenjima, did he not?」
『That's right. With the GHQ connection always supporting him in the background, Mr. Ushiromiya rapidly stocked up assets in the postwar period. People say that he was quick to receive word of the Korean War, securing his place among the rich who reaped the biggest benefits from the special procurements.』

(omitted)

「Then, as I thought, Mr. Ushiromiya was just a gambler who happened to win a once-in-a-lifetime bet, and the legend of the gold is just an illusion.」
『I can't say for sure. Until Mr. Ushiromiya's gold is exposed under the light of day, it will remain just an illusion... But even so, as daring as the president of Marusoo certainly was, he was not the kind of careless man to have blind faith in his business partners.』

(omitted)

『This was told by a certain doctor who was close to the president at the time he was dying.
(TL note: The word used here was "sensei" which could refer to a variety of professions, such as teacher, but I figured doctor is a good guess given that the president was dying.)

(omitted)

Ultimately, the chairman made a 40% investment in the faction as a whole, but a 10% share was a personal investment. It was that 10% share. In other words, 10% of the ten tons of gold, or one ton, was practically entrusted with him.』
「One ton of gold bars, is that so? Today, the relative value would be about two billion yen, right?」
『Those gold bars were eventually returned to Mr. Ushiromiya, but it is said they were temporarily placed in the possession of the president.

(omitted)

In the arrangement of inheritance after the chairman passed away, there was only one piece of evidence supporting the existence of the Ushiromiya gold. A single 10 kg ingot had turned up. I think it had probably been a commemorative gift of some sort.』
「Without the president's cooperation, there's no way he could have gained the trust of the other power brokers. Perhaps it was a reward or gratitude for that.」
『I think so too. However, after that, it seems the gold ingot was unfortunately lost. There are no photos left of it either, but there are many who witnessed it such as the family and stakeholders.』

(omitted)

『Well, there are a lot of things in this world that cannot be proven with physical evidence. Do you love your wife?』
「Sorry, I'm single.」
『You see, a wedding ring is supposed to be the proof of a mutual, everlasting vow of love. But even that doesn't stop cheating and adultery, right? Whether you and your spouse still love each other or not, if you have to ask them to prove it to you, isn't that in itself proof that your love has disappeared?』
「I suppose it is.」
『As the wife keeps repeating that she loves her husband, he has no choice but to take her words at face value. It's surely the same for the wife. Every morning, when you turn 50 or 60, the morning starts with a kiss. But if that's nothing but a habit and the love's long gone, there's nothing you can do anymore.』
「Is that because "without love, it cannot be seen"?」
『Oh, it seems you know that phrase. Yes, it's exactly that. The people who didn't stop respecting and believing in the president could certainly see the ten tons of gold. The people who didn't care about the president or Mr. Ushiromiya could not see it. Something like that?』

(omitted)

『This truth about Rokkenjima or whatever it is that you guys are pursuing, there's nothing left of it anymore. It's been a long time and all the evidence is long gone... You should just decide on whatever you like.

(omitted)

If you want to understand what happened, you need evidence. Actually, no, if you just figured out what they were thinking, wouldn't you inevitably understand what happened?』
「"Spin the chessboard around", is that what you mean?」
『What is that?』
「Ah, never mind. Basically, it means to read your opponent's moves. Getting a feel for your enemy's thought process.」
『Oh, that's what it means. Yeah, that sounds about right. What were Mr. Ushiromiya and the other related people thinking, how did they want to live their lives? If you don't think about things like that, you'll never arrive at the truth.』
「"Without love, it cannot be seen"?」
『Hahhaha, again with that pretentious line. Yeah, that's fine too. That rich weirdo, what ridiculous schemes could he even have been up to? Thinking like that, it cannot be seen either. If you assume you couldn't possibly understand what a strange, wealthy eccentric was thinking, take off those rose-colored glasses! I suggest you think of him as just a human being. Shouldn't that be enough? Associating him with this, I can help my childhood friend save face, isn't that right?』
「Thank you very much. Once I've prepared the transcript I will send it to you, so please check it over.」
『That's okay, checking is a pain so just publish it as it is. No matter what gets glossed over, anyone reading it in bad faith will come up with a spiteful interpretation anyway. Just please leave me anonymous. That was my condition for talking to you in the first place.』
「Yes, I understand. Thank you again for today.」
『You're welcome. Could you stop the tape now? No matter how many times I do it, audio recording-

bzzrrt.