Author: Iwashi-zukushi
Raw: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n3388fm/46/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA
“I see, so this is the paper you spoke of, to take the place of parchment…”
“This feel, this smoothness… more than anything, this thinness.
You say you can make this in greater quantity than parchment?”
I had been given time, presented myself before the two of them again, and had them look at paper hot from the making; both were gazing at it as if seeing something they could not believe.
Fufufufu, amazing, isn’t it, beautiful, isn’t it!
“Yes, it is amazing, isn’t it! Thanks to Nora and the dwarves and the cyclopes!”
I answered, chest out.
With further fine adjustments at the finished factory, we now had paper one could truly mistake for fine paper.
This I have no choice but to boast of! I was thinking as I reported to the two of them.
The two looked hard at me. And at the same time, burst out.
Eh, why??
“No, Asha, you… is it Nora and the helpers you take pride in, there.”
“Truly… you may take it as your own credit, you know?”
The two of them, in concert, were wryly smiling.
Come to think of it, it is true I am the one who proposed it, and I am the one running the plan and the progress…
But I still do not think it is my power or my credit.
“How shall I put it… I am sorry.
From where I stand, I cannot help feeling it would have ended as a castle in the air without everyone’s aid…”
And that, I think, is probably the fact.
Even cutting the timber I could not do.
The various this-and-that from there… especially anything factory-related is thanks to Nora and the others, and the materials are thanks to Kira.
What Nasti gathered is indispensable as well, and without Gerda’s cooperation we could not have put lightning magic to effective use.
Well, I was the trigger, I suppose. To realize it, I alone would have been far from enough.
Yes, I think it is everyone’s credit.
“I see.
It is because you are that sort that the others cooperate, I suppose.”
“Yes, truly. …I understand why Your Majesty has taken a liking to her.”
“Fufu, is that so.”
The two of them were convinced, looking affectionately close.
…Are they flirting a little, this.
No, I would very much like them to unfold it before my eyes, please, please, but.
But perhaps because my eyes and Dorothea’s, other people’s eyes, were there, they left off there.
“Now then, with this the first problem is cleared.
At last, the other… how to copy.”
“Yes. That, too, we are about to experiment on.
For this we are scheduled to have Lady Dominas’s help as well.”
“Ah, so that is why Dominas has been fidgeting since this morning.”
The Demon King recalled it, smiling, looking amused.
Or rather, Lady Dominas fidgets!? That is the surprising part!
“I-is that so… Ah, I ought not keep her waiting too long, so I shall take my leave soon.”
“Mm. I am truly looking forward to it; apply yourself.
If it is you, the result will follow after, I should think.”
“Yes, Asha, haste is forbidden. If it is you, it will be all right; we believe in you.”
So saying, both of them, and Dorothea as well, saw me off, smiling.
…Trust without doubt is heavy. And I want to answer it.
It ought to be heavy, and rather it gives my heart strength.
This sort of sensation, truly, I might not have been able to feel if I had not come to this country.
So I want to feel it more.
In that sense, this is surely a selfish thought.
But this much they might forgive me.
Thinking convenient things for myself, I headed for Lady Dominas’s room.
“I see, this is.
Certainly, a considerable thing.”
“Right~? Really, it’s all thanks to Doctor Asha.”
When I arrived at Lady Dominas’s room, Nora and Lady Dominas had paper in hand and were going back and forth about this and that.
Half of it was Nora showing off… well, I think that cannot be helped either.
“I am sorry to have kept you waiting.”
“Ah, you are on time, so there is no problem.”
“Good work, Doctor Asha. How were Her Majesty’s and Lady Grace’s reactions?”
When I called out, the two turned and greeted me.
And to Nora, who asked even though she surely knew the result, I put up a thumb, gu.
“They were thoroughly impressed!”
“Fufufu, well, well, it was worth the effort, wasn’t it.”
“No, I think that was beyond the dimension of effort…”
At Nora’s words I went a little distant-eyed, and slapped a high five against the hand raised high.
Yes, I do not dislike this itself. Rather, it is fun.
Watching us, Lady Dominas tilted her head, looking puzzled.
“What is that.”
“Eh, ah, that action just now?
It is called a high five, an action to praise each other’s hard work, or to share the feeling of ‘we did it!’ when something has gone well… I think?”
“That’s about it, yes.”
Nora and I looked at each other and nodded, yes, yes.
Lady Dominas stared at us, jii.
“I envy that. I want to do it too.”
“Eh, ah, that just now? Shall we?”
At the sudden, and unexpected, words I found myself going wide-eyed as I asked, timidly.
But Lady Dominas shook her head.
“No, not now. I have done nothing.
I will ask when the experiment goes well.”
“I see, that is so as well… I understand.
Let us do our best at the experiment, so we can high-five in good spirits!”
So saying I made fists with both hands, gu.
Lady Dominas watched that a while, then imitated, gu.
“Understood. I will do my best.
And high-five in good spirits.”
…Damn, that is cute!?
Drawn by it, perhaps, Nora made a fist, gu, as well.
Is it that, is everyone’s cuteness a cheat too!
If it has come to this I will absolutely make it succeed and get to see still cuter places!
And so on, writhing only on the inside.
I looked back over the materials. Ink, and a mysterious powder, and various other things.
Using these, whether it can be done… the theory is probably all right, but the result I do not know.
In a sense, I am about to take the greatest gamble since coming to this island.
But it will surely be all right. There will be some failures, I think, but if it is with these two.
Thinking that, I, we, headed for the experiment.
