The Unveiling

Author: Iwashi-zukushi
Raw: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n3388fm/50/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

At Lady Dominas’s smile, Nora and I found ourselves staring.
No, but this is a place she may put on still more of a smug face, truly.
To be able to do such a thing… nn? If she can do such a thing?

“Um, a moment, Lady Dominas, Nora.
Could you make something like this?”

I consulted the two of them about what I had thought of.
The two thought a little.

“Possible.”
“Well, I will show you I can do it, if it is the doctor’s request!”

A thoroughly reliable answer came back.
If this can be done, might it not be revolutionary.
No, it is already revolutionary long since, but still more.
I could not stop the pounding in my chest.

 

And, as expected, a glass bed was morning work if it was Nora.
Then various mechanical adjustments… I think we reached a completion for the time being.
On top of that we adjusted the other thing I had thought, could we not… and when we had a prospect I received time from the Demon King.

And before we met, I asked if we might be given a room in which to install the machine; her eyes shine sparkled.

“Of course, ah, I shall have a room emptied at once, so bring it in at once!”
“Your Majesty. I understand your feelings, but please restrain yourself a little more.”
“I-I am sorry…”

There was even a scene of Dorothea immediately cautioning her.
At any rate the arrangements were done, and after that it remained only to carry it out.
We did the meetings and adjustments with care, and on the day.

“…Ha??”

The Demon King had a face as if her soul had been knocked out.
Lady Grace had lost her words and frozen.

We had Her Majesty write characters, read them on the glass bed, and transferred them to the printing press’s plates.
Once both sides’ plates were done, the cyclopes moved the machine and printing began.
Incidentally they had dressed up more than usual. That sort of place is a little cute.

But the sight unfolding was nowhere near cute.
Gears groaning goun goun, paper sent on and on, flipping with a kururi, printed on both sides.
With improvements piled since then, the speed of printing at thirty sheets a minute, one every two seconds, was breathtaking, in a word.
In no time more than thirty sheets were printed, and we stopped there for the moment.

“And so, these are what has been printed.
If you would compare them with what Your Majesty wrote.”

So saying I held out two sheets to the Demon King.
I had put a mark on the original manuscript so it could be told.

The Demon King compared the two in silence. Then she let out a deep sigh, fuu…

“Say, Asha.”
“Yes, what is it.”
“I had not even thought that I would be left without a second word.”
“I am most delighted to receive your praise.
This, too, is entirely the fruit of Lady Dominas’s and Nora’s technical power.”

I bowed my head respectfully and answered the Demon King’s thoroughly exasperated words.
The Demon King was clearly wryly smiling, and Lady Grace had at last come back from her rigidity and was blinking again and again.

Then, perhaps noticing the paper Her Majesty held, she looked there.

“Your Majesty, may I see as well?”
“Ah, of course. Look well.”

Lady Grace received the paper the Demon King held out with a trembling hand.
Yes, it would be a shock… even I, who have seen it in stages, want to say how did it come to this.
Lady Grace, too, having compared them again and again, sighed after all.

“I had the principle explained, and even so there is something hard to believe…
That from receiving Your Majesty’s manuscript, this many sheets can be copied in a few minutes…”
“Mm, I too can hardly believe it of a sudden, but… taking it in hand like this, you see…”

I think one does not often see the two of them with faces like this.
That I think even this alone made it worth doing—is that a mean streak.
In secret I looked at Nora and grinned, and so on.

The Demon King, who had been looking closely at what had been printed, suddenly turned this way, so I hurriedly straightened.

“Say, Asha.
From the explanation I received just now, this can copy even what is written in ordinary ink, is that it?”
“It is as you say. At first it had to be special ink, but by Lady Dominas’s proposal that was resolved.”
“In other words, copies of books and documents that already exist can be made easily as well.
For example, books handed down in some royal house or other.”
“Er, if we can borrow them, it is possible.
Only, in that case there are problems such as having to take the book apart, or the possibility of damaging the book by opening it too far.”
“I see, we shall think of that problem another time.”

The Demon King, who had asked me several questions, sank into thought.
Lady Grace, who had probably understood the Demon King’s intent, was gazing at the Demon King’s face.
Incidentally I understand nothing at all. From this manner, perhaps it has to do with Lady Grace’s country, about that much.
Certainly if they are royal books, it would be better to leave copies.
They would be parchment books, so deterioration is frightening as well.
They may have been doing the work of copying by hand every so many years.

“No, forgive me, let us return to the talk.
With this, if only the manuscript is prepared, one can copy in great quantity, is that it.”
“Yes, it is as you say.”

If the Demon King says nothing, I will not pry.
If it is something all right to ask, I will probably be consulted someday.

“Then, from here on, if we prepare manuscripts for practicing characters and calculation, we can make a great quantity of sheets like this.”
“Yes. With this I think Lady Grace’s burden will be lightened somewhat as well.”

At my reply Lady Grace nodded… and the Demon King wryly smiled.

“Grace, you mean to write textbooks and books with the time that floats free, I take it.”
“As expected of Your Majesty, you understood.
Shown a thing like this, I cannot spend the time that floats free in rest.
As one entrusted with education, even if my arms should break I must write down all of my knowledge.”
“Good grief, even if I say ‘in moderation’ you will not listen, I suppose.”

The Demon King sighed, a little resignation mixed in.
Ah, she really is that sort of person, Lady Grace.
I glanced at Lady Dominas and Nora, exchanged looks, and nodded, yes.

“Your Majesty, a moment, if I may.”

The Demon King, who had been conversing with Lady Grace, turned this way and nodded.

“Mm, say whatever you will.”
“Thank you.
In fact, thinking there might be such a thing, I have prepared a tool for writing characters.”

…With a serious face I was doing a guts pose on the inside.
Thinking there might be such a thing is a line one wants to say once, is it not!?
Knowing nothing of my inner thoughts, the Demon King tilted her head with a puzzled face.

“…What? A tool for writing characters?
Not a pen?”
“Yes. There is a tool that puts still less burden on the arms than that.”

When I said so, Nora brought out from the shadow of the machine something like a small box.
It had keys with characters written arranged, and behind them the usual board.
A somewhat larger board was arranged as well.

“…What is this tool. No, surely not…?”
“Fufufu, it is that surely-not.
Then, if you will excuse me a moment…”

I sat before that box, loosened my fingers lightly, and took a deep breath.
When I set my fingers to the keys… I moved my fingers at high speed, patatatata.
This is the high-speed touch-typing peculiar to otaku!
And so on, raising my own tension by myself.

Each time I struck a key, a small stamp with that character written was driven into the board.
In fact these stamps have the magic ‘Mana Absorption’ put into them, and the board is already in a charged state.
When a stamp touches this board, the plate that will be the original has its charge released in just the left-right reversed shape of the characters.
When one line of a sentence is finished, a line break enters automatically.
I also put a return key so one can line-break oneself.

And on the larger board, that is reversed further—that is, ordinary characters—are transferred and displayed; Lady Dominas adjusted it so.
The theory is that thing, you know, the toy or tool where iron sand is inside and characters written with a magnet pen become visible. That, reproduced with the transfer board and the printing powder.
By this one can confirm the characters, the sentences, one has typed.

Incidentally, when one mistypes, moving a lever for that purpose lets one charge it again… that is, one can erase typed characters as well.
These we were able to have operate by reuse of the magic recovered with ‘Mana Absorption’ and by the user’s own consumption of magic.
Though I say consumption of magic, it is only maintaining a faint charge; it truly consumes only a little.
Needless to say, these mechanisms are Nora and Lady Dominas’s combination.

Then, once the sentence is complete, you touch a cable running from the original board to the printing press’s plate to transfer, and printing preparations are complete.
At first we were taking the board off and touching it, but after various trial and error a cable that can transmit was made, so we improved it to this form.

And so.
A thing one ought to call a magic-powered typewriter, or a word processor, had been made.
Well, if Lady Dominas had not invented that board I would absolutely not have thought of such a thing.
Of course, if it were not Nora such a complex mechanism could not be made, and stamps bestowed with ‘Mana Absorption’ Lady Dominas alone could probably make.

“…What was that just now, finger movement eerie to a degree.”
“That is the part you take!? No, certainly, it looks that way, yes…”

Come to think of it, people here have never seen touch-typing, so it cannot be helped if it looks so.

“A-at any rate, if one uses this tool one can record faster than writing characters, more easily, and in uniform characters.
Well, practice is needed until it becomes fast…”
“I see… so that is it.”

Lady Grace, who had taken the printed paper as a trial, smiled.

“Asha, in other words you were thinking of my hands, were you?
So that my hands would be even a little easier.”
“That, I also thought it might be forward… but this, too, as part of prevention before the wrists and such are hurt.”

At my words Lady Grace returned a smile.
Then she softly touched the typewriter with a finger and pressed one, two keys, kashan, kashan.

“I thank you, Asha.
If you would, might you teach me how to practice as well?”
“Yes, of course!”

Lady Grace’s eyes were shining.
There was interest in this new tool as well, surely, but more than anything.
They seemed to shine with the joy of being able to write down her own knowledge to the full.
After all, afterward I taught her only a little and she acquired touch-typing in no time, and before I knew it she had become faster than I…

Incidentally, an incident later occurs in which the Demon King sulks that the time she can be attended to has decreased because Grace is always typing, but that is another story.