A Secret Talk

Author: Iwashi-zukushi
Raw: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n3388fm/7/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

“Hmh. Chris is skilled at sewing. Granny Stella’s has been short of needlewomen.”
“Kira can use magic, I see. I shall leave her with Dominas; have her sent where she can be of use.”

The Demon King’s voice as she sorted us one after another passed in one ear and out the other.
In this town, me. Alone.
Those words went round and round in my head.

In modern Japan, there were about two hundred physicians per hundred thousand people.
In highly specialized modern medicine, even that was said to be not enough.
Even at fifty thousand, the calculation called for a hundred.
In other words, I would have to do the work of a hundred people.
There were limits even to how brutal a workplace could be.

Apothecaries were a rare commodity, so few had likely been sent here.
I had been sent because of that church decree, whose timing I still could not call good or bad.
Perhaps more would come in the future, but for now, it was me alone.

Even with the conditions that the severely ill would be handled with healing magic, and that I would be spared demonfolk and monsters, we were still badly short of hands.

“How did it come to this…”

No, of course it was because of what I had said, and I had no intention of running from it in the end.
Even so, I could not help but grumble.

Of course I could not provide advanced medical care by myself, and my specialty had been internal medicine to begin with.
If I narrowed it to examinations and prescribing medicine, the situation would improve a little.
Even then, it could easily become murderously busy…

First of all, how large was the town? What was the actual population?
What were the sanitary conditions? How often did illness occur?
Would I make house calls for people who could not come to the workshop I had been given—because of bad legs, or because they could not move?
How many people were there outside the town?
Monsters aside, should I not deal to some extent with demonfolk as well?

All sorts of questions raced round and round in my head.
I thought, and thought.
And then I noticed something, and a wry laugh slipped out of me.

What do you know. In the end, I was motivated.

I had been crushed by reality often enough—or rather, there had been any number of things I could do nothing about.
Even so, I had done what I could, as far as I could, had I not?
I was probably that sort of person by nature.

Then I would do it.
There was magic as a means, besides. To give up before I even started would be too foolish.

By the time the Demon King finished sorting us, I had fully steeled myself.

“Now then, that is the lot of you.
Ah, and those who cannot read or write, go first to Grace over there.
We post notices, so you will need to practice your letters as well.
Each of you, follow your guides and be on your way.”

Everyone nodded and stood—and that was when it happened.
As if she had just remembered, the Demon King turned to me and showed me a beaming smile.
I will not be fooled, I warned myself: that was the same smile she had worn when she told me there was no apothecary.

“Ah, Asha, you stay. I have something I wish to speak of.”
“Eh—m-me alone?”
“Yes, you alone. I will not harm you, so be at ease.”
“Y-yes… as you will.”

Of course I could not refuse.
She was treating me rather frankly, but the Demon King and I were different in standing to begin with.
Even asking just now whether it was me alone could have been lèse-majesté, if it went poorly.
So of course I had no choice but to obey.

I wanted to run. I had a thoroughly bad feeling about this.

I knew there was nowhere left to run, and still I could not help thinking it.

 

After the others had filed out, turning all sorts of looks on me as I remained alone, I was hauled off to another room.
No, I was not truly being marched away, but that was how it felt.
I was guided with heavy steps, and sat as small as I could in the corner of a sofa. Facing me, the Demon King wore a pleasant smile.
To her left stood Gerda; to her right, the woman who was her aide.

“Now then, Asha. The reason I had you come here specially.
What are you?”
“Eh, e-er, I’m not quite sure I understand the meaning of the question…”

The Demon King’s question, a fastball straight down the middle, threw me into an immediate panic.
Wait, surely she hadn’t guessed something from that little exchange?

“You need not play dumb. I told you a moment ago I would not harm you.
And so I have no intention of doing anything to you.
But I cannot very well ignore it, for the sake of what comes after.”
“For the sake of what comes after…?”
“Yes. What in the world are you? What education have you received?
I can hardly believe it is what a farmer’s daughter from a mountain village would have had.
And yet you are not some spy who has slipped in under a false identity.
One of that sort would not make themselves conspicuous by speaking up first, as you did.”

I-I see… I could not say I did not understand.
My knowledge was far removed from that of an ordinary commoner.
But whether I would be believed if I suddenly spilled it all… so thinking, I decided to try to dodge.

“My teacher, the apothecary, had all sorts of books, and she let me read them.
That is how I knew Gerda’s race.”
“Hmh. Studious of you; that is well.
But that is not all, is it?”
“Er… why do you think so?”

So she would not let me dodge after all, I thought—but I was also curious what had caught her interest so.
I had answered a question with a question, and she showed no sign of taking offense; if anything, she answered looking rather pleased with herself.

“Your bearing and manner, which do not seem those of a farmer, had caught my eye as well.
But what decided it was the exchange just now.”

Told that, I thought back over the earlier exchange, and could not guess at all.
Had I said something special? I was still turning it over when the Demon King’s amused voice came.

“That you have no idea means it is soaked into you that deeply, I suppose.
There—you were surprised at ‘more than a thousand a year,’ were you not?
And after that you seemed to be turning something over…”
“Y-yes?”

The line was so unexpected that a stupid sound came out of me.
My face was probably doing something equally stupid.
The Demon King went on, looking at me with the smug smile of a child whose prank had succeeded.

“Whether an ordinary commoner can even add and subtract is an open question.
Even among those of some education, not a few would struggle with multiplication and division, pen and paper in hand.
And yet you calculated in your head, did you not?
And that, perhaps judging that a precise calculation was unnecessary in that moment, in a rough estimate.”

Told that, I remembered. I had indeed done that calculation.
And I had not remembered it until she pointed it out—which meant that, for me, it had truly been a matter of course.

“It is not only that you can calculate in your head. Being able to think what figures you need, and what it means to grasp the number per year—there are only so many who can do that.”
“Y-you could tell from that…?”

I was so surprised my mouth fell open.
And it was not only me: the aide and Gerda were looking at the Demon King with surprise and awe as well.

“There is more, you know?
You understand organizations, and the division of roles.
Who is responsible, whether I should be doing it myself—ordinarily one would not mind, and would simply do as told.
To mind such things, one would have to be a person who knew what an organization meant, and who had needed to think of efficient structure and movement—or one educated for that purpose. Well?”

The Demon King counted the points off on her fingers, looking thoroughly pleased.
Given what she had said, there was no room to argue.
She looked at me, who had been left speechless, with evident enjoyment.

“I told you, did I not? I have confidence in my eye for people.”
“…I am impressed. I yield.”

All I could do was bow my head, honestly.