Negotiation, or a Presentation

Author: Iwashi-zukushi
Raw: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n3388fm/32/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

And then that day came.

“Right, then let’s go, Gerda, Kira!”

At my fired-up voice, the two of them.

“Ah. Her Majesty is waiting as well. Let us go at once.”

A settled voice.

“A-are we really going…? I feel unsettled…”

A voice that would not come to a boil, or rather had lost its nerve.

The former was Gerda, of course, and the latter Kira.
Of course there was no option of not going.

“What are you saying, at this late hour.
Gerda went to the trouble of arranging it, and the Demon King is giving us her time.
There’s no option of not going.”
“Th-that’s true, but… Asha alone would be… fine…”

Yes, well, to be honest I would not deny that.
But it was also a fact that it would go faster with Kira there.

“If it’s only the proposal, I can do it alone.
But to give it persuasive force, I need you, Kira.”
“Uuu… if you… say that…”

…Sorry, Kira.
I am aware I am saying it knowing she is weak to the word need.
I won’t misuse it, I absolutely won’t!

Making excuses inwardly, I pushed once more.

“And I’m reassured if you’re with us, Kira.”
“…All right. I’ll go… with you…”

Hesitantly, Kira nodded.

Sorry. Really sorry. I am a worse person than I thought.
But here I would harden my heart.
There was that she was necessary for what I wanted to do, but more than that, there was something I wanted to try.

“Thank you.
Then, once more… let’s go!”

And the three of us went out of the workshop.

 

A stir, a whisper, or a little loudly.
The street, not usually that lively, swayed as if rippling.
The ones those stirring people turned their gazes on were us.
Fine, fine~ look more. I need that.

…Yes. More than the discomfort, I felt somehow bright.
That’s odd. I was not this bold.
Since coming to this island, I had probably changed in various ways.
My heart, as well.

I glanced at Kira walking beside me. At Gerda walking ahead as if to lead.
Surely it was because these two were here, I thought from the bottom of my heart.
If I had been alone I probably could not have been this open, and I could not have made a proposal like this in the first place.
In that sense as well I could not thank them enough.
So, to repay their cooperation. I could not lose this presentation.
…Ah, my stomach again… I know the Demon King will listen properly, but…

 

At any rate.
Gathering the town’s gazes, we came to the Demon King’s castle.
We were shown into the audience chamber, and waited a while.
The Demon King came.

And the moment she entered she narrowed her eyes and looked at us in turn.
After a while of observation, she spoke.

“They say three days apart and so on, but it was the truth, I see.
You have become quite polished.”

The Demon King called to us, thoroughly amused.
I smiled back.

“I am honored by your praise.
In fact, it has to do with what I wish to convey today.”
“What, those hairs and clothes, you say?”

As she said it she stared at our appearance again, intently.

Yes. Our hair was clearly different.
Gerda’s hair was moist, glossy, and deep, and yet had a lightness that flowed, silky.
Kira’s hair, brighter as well, looked fluffy and soft, and drew out her sweetness to the full.
She looked quite embarrassed, perhaps because she had let down the hair she usually tied up.
I, too, had become something like the classic raven-black, I thought.

Yes. This was the result of washing our hair thoroughly with shampoo made by dissolving soap in water.
We had also used a treatment of lemon water with honey and herbs added.
…I was startled myself at how glossy it had become.

In a world without soap, nobles could finish with ‘Purification,’ but of course commoners could hardly wash their hair properly.
They rinsed to some extent with water or hot water, but that did not mean the oil and dirt came off.
It became a hotbed of fleas and lice, and one cause of illness.
We had washed with shampoo for the first time since being born here.
The lightness of the hair was beyond description.

Gerda was a high-ranking knight, of the noble class, so she had been cleaning with ‘Purification,’ but it was only purification.
Using a treatment on top of that and seeing what happened had also been an experiment.

…Incidentally, for the two who did not know how, I washed their hair carefully myself.
Washing hair means, well, that sort of attire, you know?
I will only say it was a feast for the eyes.

I answered the Demon King without letting any of that show on my face.

“Yes. Since the other day I have been experimenting with Gerda’s and Kira’s help.
Ah, the tools Nora made were a great help as well.”

And I explained, roughly, the process of making soap.

“Hoh. That, was it, when you said to send Gerda over.”
“Eh, no, that is, ah… you jest. I did ask for her cooperation, certainly.”

At the Demon King’s teasing I almost retorted, and hurriedly rephrased.
Close, close. This is not that unofficial room from then.

Dorothea cleared her throat, kohon.
…I wanted to think it was a caution to the Demon King.

“Hmh. At any rate, there was a certain result, I take it?”
“Yes, as you say.
This hair and these clothes as well were done using what we made with Gerda’s and Kira’s cooperation.”
“…I see. In other words, you became able to raise an effect equal to ‘Purification’ magic, without using it?”
“I am impressed by Your Majesty’s insight, as expected.
To be precise, it is not completely equal; there are things it cannot purify.
But we became able to do something close.”

I thought it would be bad to put this inaccurately, so I said the honest thing.
She had probably taken it; the Demon King nodded, slowly.

“Yes. I understand that it is a splendid result.
But it has nothing to do with an apothecary’s work, I take it?”
“Yes. It may seem unrelated at a glance, but…”

And I conveyed the talk of prevention by soap that I had explained to Gerda and the others the other day.
As expected of the Demon King, she understood the effect at once.

“I understand the talk. Indeed it was a blind spot, and something that ought to be done.
…But that effect is, after all, only what you are saying.”

At the Demon King’s words, a stir ran through the audience chamber.
Gerda in particular sent the Demon King a look of reproach.
No, is that all right!? Won’t she be charged with lèse-majesté!?
But the Demon King settled that air with a single light wave of her arm.

“Ah, do not misunderstand. It is not that I do not believe Asha.
Only that without some grounds, or clear figures, it is difficult to move as a large-scale undertaking.”

At the Demon King’s apologetic words I nodded, rather, as if convinced.
That rational, or logical, side of the Demon King I honestly liked.
It made it easier to talk, from our side as well.

And. It also meant that if there were grounds, she would carry it out.

“Yes. I think it is as you say.”
“W-what…? No, did you not want to produce that soap?”
“Yes, of course that is so.
But as you say, the preventive effect will not appear as figures until it is actually used, so it cannot be grounds for doing something from here.”

I had thought of that as well.
Florence Nightingale had a side as a statistician.
She proved with statistics that a clean environment was important for preventing illness and for a good prognosis.
…But that could be done because it was a front-line hospital, an environment where the wounded were sent in large numbers.
I could not wait, on this island now, for enough sick people to occur to be persuasive as statistics.

So I had laid the groundwork.

“And so I tried changing my thinking.
What if we hide the true purpose, and produce it for another, clear purpose?”
“Hmh? …Hoh. Surely not.”

Whoa, has she already seen through it?
I can only say, as expected…

“Yes, that is so. …Walking this town the other day, I understood something.
The people of this town… are tired. Or they have no spring in their days.
There are no small number of such people.”

Yes. The streets that were somehow not lively; the weakness of spirit I felt in ordinary people, Elma and Nora aside.
They lived in peace, but they had been sent as sacrifices with no end in sight; it was only natural their mood would sink.
In that case.

“I think this hair, these clothes, can become a richness in those people’s days.
In fact, just walking the town we have drawn quite a bit of attention.”

Incidentally, if washing hair spread, the effect of lice and the like would decrease as well, so there would be a fair preventive effect too.

“How thorough. You had already begun laying the groundwork.”

As if exasperated, as if impressed. And unmistakably amused, the Demon King laughed.
I laughed back.

“I mean to do something outlandish, so I must do at least this much.”
“I see. That is reasonable as well.
And it would indeed be a thing of meaning.
And more than anything… the others will hardly allow you to monopolize it among yourselves.”

Kutsu kutsu, the Demon King laughed, amused, in her throat.
Yes. I had no intention of monopolizing it among us, and I did not think it would be allowed.
I had gone out of my way to advertise in order to make that situation.

“Now then, say what is needed to mass-produce that soap.”
“I thank you for your generous words.
First, as I said a moment ago, we use seawater, so a factory for production near the sea.
If possible, laborers for transport, and several people who can use lightning magic.
We will need the dwarves’ cooperation as well, so if I may be allowed to negotiate that.”

Well, that negotiation was as good as over the moment I had Nora involved.

“Also, I have asked Stella’s factory for related cloth, so if you could attach a budget for mass-producing that.”
“Good grief. When it comes to this sort of thing you are greedy.”

Even as she said it the Demon King was amused.
Whether she was enjoying my proposal, or enjoying what came after it was realized.
But we were not done yet.

“And one more. This I do not know if it can be done, so truly, only if possible…”

I made the proposal I thought would probably be the hardest.