As Promised

Author: Iwashi-zukushi
Raw: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n3388fm/49/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

For that day, we delivered the large quantity of printed matter to the castle together with the cyclopes.
Lady Grace put a hand to her brow and fell silent at the number of sheets, and the Demon King’s eyes sparkled terribly; as expected.
Or rather, she even started saying she would have one made in the castle, so I held her back, saying there was still room to improve.
In the end Dorothea dragged her away, and I am terribly sorry.

“Please make it up to me next time.”

She said it with a thoroughly good smile, though.
…Er… yes, I-I will make it up properly!
I have no idea how, though!

And so, escaping from reality a little.
Lady Dominas had said she would try to do something about the points to improve, so we were waiting on her result, and for the moment we dissolved.

And then, the next day.

“I think I can manage it.”
“Already!?”

Toward Lady Dominas, who had called in the afternoon, I returned that, unable even to paper it over.
That she was proud rather than angry at such rude behavior was, again, cute.
No, that is not it.

“No, this is yesterday’s talk, is it not!?
Why is it already getting done!?”

Yes. I had asked Lady Dominas about the points to improve we had washed out yesterday.
Why does it look as if she can manage it in only a day!?

“Because, see.
There is not much I cannot do.”
“There is too little!!”
“Fufu, amazing, isn’t it.”

Ah, honestly. If you say it that proudly, I cannot help wanting to pat your head!

“Er, Asha…”
“Eh? …Ah, uwah!?”

Coming back to myself at Lady Dominas’s voice, I found I had been patting Lady Dominas’s head at some point.
And at a fairly considerable pace.

“I-I am sorry, Lady Dominas, I meant no harm!!”

I hurriedly bowed low; Lady Dominas watched me a while.
Then, she looked a little aside.

“I don’t particularly mind.
Do it a little more gently.”

Stop, do not say it with that slightly shy sort of feeling.
Something in my heart is being shaved away.

“Asha, a moment… ah, wait, Lady Dominas…?”
“Ah, Kira. I am glad you look well.”

Kira, recognizing Lady Dominas, stopped as if surprised.
After greeting Kira, Lady Dominas thought a while.

“Sorry, Kira. I had no eye.”

And she suddenly bowed her head.
Kira, bowed to, hurriedly ran up to Lady Dominas.

“Eh, w-what all of a sudden… I-I am, all right, so.”
“That you are all right is fortunate.
But that I could not think of a way to put your ability to use is my failing.”
“That is… I did not, know either.
If Asha, had not taught me…”

Kira desperately soothed and coaxed, trying to make Lady Dominas, who was bowing low, raise her face.
Even stammering, that there was no falsehood in those words, and more than anything in her feelings, came through.

Then Lady Dominas glanced this way.

“Nn, because Asha was there, it did not come to misfortune.
But it is also a fact that I was inadequate.
…But I do not mean to trouble you either.”
“Y-yes, I am all right, so…
Rather, I am glad, I met Asha, even, that much.”

So saying, Kira glanced this way.
Lady Dominas looked this way as well, as if drawn.

…Yes, that gaze is a little, you know, troubling?

At any rate, the awkwardness between the two, not that, but a slightly troubling feeling, seemed to have been resolved with this, which was good.
I have a feeling another problem has begun to arise… but, for now.

“Er… I am sorry to interrupt the talk, Lady Dominas, you think you can do it?”
“Ah, yes. That is what I came to call you for… Sorry, Kira, I will borrow Asha.”
“Ah, yes, if you can return her by dinner…”

A business deal seemed to have been struck between Lady Dominas and Kira.
…The thing being bought and sold is me, though…

Holding such complicated feelings, I headed for the castle, pulled along by Lady Dominas.

 

“Ah, Doctor Asha, earlier than I thought.”

Nora, who had come ahead, received us and smiled.
That it was a little wry was perhaps because I was still being led by the hand by Lady Dominas.
Having come this far at last, Lady Dominas let go.

“Ahaha… I am sorry to have kept you waiting.”
“Then, shall we begin.”

Beside me as I apologized to Nora, Lady Dominas said it without a shred of guilt.
…Ah, I could tell she was excited, somehow.
Being shown this sort of place is, to be honest, a little glad-making.

She has gone to the trouble of getting this excited; we have to put out a proper result too!
And so we got to the experiment at once.

That said, the preparations were more or less done.

“Then, Lady Dominas, what do you mean, you think you can manage it?”

I asked so, looking at the implements that had been set out.
Some sort of rod, a manuscript of characters stuck to a board, and on the opposite side a board I had never seen.
To be honest I could not imagine how they were to be used.

“Nn, in fact, like this…”

And she began to operate, unhurried.
All of a sudden the rod gave off light, it struck the manuscript… nn?? A phenomenon I did not understand well occurred.

Nora was probably the same; the two of us made dubious faces.

“W-what in the world was that just now…??”
“The light looked as if it struck the manuscript and vanished…”

Regrettably, neither Nora nor I are well versed in magic.
When we tilted our heads and looked at Lady Dominas… she was showing a shy smile.

“That just now was the dark-attribute magic ‘Mana Absorption’.
Faint dark-attribute magic can be adjusted so that it cancels with white things and is reflected by black things.”
“…Hoh? In other words, this board has been bestowed with magic?”
“And only the character places have been struck by the reflected ‘Mana Absorption’?”

Nora and I found ourselves looking at the board.
An ordinary-looking board, but.
When we took it off and sprinkled the usual powder from above, powder certainly remained in the shape of left-right reversed characters.

“Eh, w-wait, is this not amazing!?
If it is someone who can use this magic tool, anyone can do the same thing, is that it!?”
“And the ink only has to be black, then… this is amazing.”

To be honest, I am surprised.
With this, the degree of dependence on Lady Dominas has dropped all at once.
I was thinking, but.

“Two problems. Setting it up is a bother. The shape of the characters warps.”
“…Ah. Certainly.”

Placing the board to set the manuscript takes a little nerve, and they had indeed gone a little thin.
But if that is so…

“But then, if we hit it like this, does that not solve it?”

So saying, Nora changed the place of setting.
With the manuscript at the center, she placed the rod and the board at a right angle. The manuscript she placed so as to be at a forty-five-degree angle.
…No, I thought of this too, you know?
I adjusted the angle so the reflected light would come in perpendicular to the paper.
At this angle it is projected in just the same shape. When we tried the experiment, it was so.
Of course other angles are no problem if you set them so the reflected light comes in perpendicular, but this arrangement is probably the easiest to understand.

And the other one…

“As for the problem of setting it up… does ‘Mana Absorption’ pass through glass?”
“Ah, I see.”

As expected of Nora; she understood from that alone.
Yes, in other words we make it truly like a photocopier.
Place it on installed glass, project a dispel toward it, and set the board where it can receive what is reflected.

“That way of doing it… but now that you say it, I am convinced.”

Told, Lady Dominas was convinced as well.
Then after that…

“After that, it is how to change the manuscript.”
“That is no problem.
This board’s state I can copy onto this thin one.”
“…Yes??”

At a remark I had not even imagined, Nora and I froze.
Leaving us aside, Lady Dominas touched the removed board chon to a board thin as paper.

In fact, when we dropped powder… the same characters rose without a doubt.

“…With this thinness and softness, we can stick it to that cylinder, can we not?”
“Nn, no problem at all, I should think. And this material seems sturdier than paper, so the durability is on another level as well.”

The problems were solved all at once.
After this it is about making a glass bed, but that will be morning work for Nora.
I found myself staring hard at Lady Dominas.

“See, there is not much I cannot do, is there?”

Lady Dominas, laughing proudly, was very cute.