The Melancholy Demon King

Author: Iwashi-zukushi
Raw: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n3388fm/51/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

“By the way, Asha.
What was your reason for going to such lengths?”

Just as I had finished teaching Lady Grace the basics of typing, the Demon King asked, all of a sudden.
I… yes, to be honest I did think, so she noticed after all.

“Eh, nothing of the sort, as if I were plotting something.”
“Fu. It is all within my sight!
—is what I would like to say, but wasting time in play will not do either.
Knowing you, this matter too has some connection to an apothecary’s work, I take it?”

She asked it in the form of a question, with a smile of complete conviction.
Well, having been read this far, there is no point in putting on a strange show of it.

“As expected of your insight; it is exactly as you say.
In fact, there are several things I would like to ask…”
“In this flow there is no way I could refuse.
I permit it. Speak.”

The Demon King prompted me with a wry smile.
She would probably have permitted it even without making it sound like I owed her a favor.
But if the technology to realize what I wanted to ask had not existed, it could not be helped.

And so, this time I had tried in various ways.
…I had not imagined it would become this amazing, though!

“Then I shall speak.
First: now that we can make a great quantity of paper with the same thing written on it, I was thinking I would like to be allowed to make patients’ notes as well, in a unified form.”
“Hmh? …Hoh, I see.”

She sank into thought at my single remark, and at once, having understood, her face became convinced.
…She understands unknown talk this fast~ I see~. Past as expected and a little frightening.
Is this the Demon King’s true terror!?
No, I will set that aside for now.

Until now, Kira had been taking down patients’ intake forms on the spot by asking them.
The more times we did it, the more she became able to draw out what I wanted asked, but there is still variation.
And more than anything, I cannot have Kira, who has now become factory manager of a chemical industrial plant, doing chores forever.
…Her own feelings aside.

And so I had been thinking: if we could make an intake form anyone could use—or rather, that a patient herself could fill in at once if handed it.

“Asking at the start of an examination is one thing, but I also wanted a form that could gather, for each patient, how they had improved from their first condition.”

This, in other words, is a chart.
Frighteningly, Granny Dia apparently remembered every patient’s course of treatment with no charts or anything of the sort.
Put the other way, regrettably, no notes or anything of that kind had been left.
And I am sorry, but I do not have that much memory.
Also, if something happens to me, or if apothecaries are sent in in the future, a certain number of patients will need to be handed over. That possibility has to be thought of.
So I had been thinking it would be nice if we could do it from now.
At present it is still a quantity an ordinary human can manage to copy, after all.

“I see. And with this machine, one can make a great quantity of the same documents.”
“It is as you say.”

Yes, it has left my first image of cranking it by hand, guri guri, by a great deal more than a great deal!
While I was distant-eyed, Lady Grace, who had been thinking something, suddenly opened her mouth.

“Your Majesty, if the same documents can be made in quantity, could they not be used in the work of the offices as well?”
“…Indeed. If one unified applications and that sort of thing, the processing after would be unified as well and could be cleared faster.”

As expected of Lady Grace and the Demon King; they noticed for themselves what I had meant to propose.
That is so, you see: thinking of government work and the like, being able to make a great quantity of documents in the same form is very important, I think.
I do not want to think it, but even tax processing would become considerably easier. I do not want to think it.

While the Demon King and Lady Grace were exchanging opinions—we want this sort of document, that sort as well—Dorothea opened her mouth.

“Indeed, if resident information could be gathered in a unified form, the work would be much easier.”

Very smilingly.
And the Demon King and Lady Grace stopped moving with a force as if a pishi of sound had been made.
Ah~… as expected of Dorothea, she noticed.
The Demon King and Lady Grace had probably noticed as well, but deliberately not touched it.

“U-um, that is certainly so.
It would take time to put the information together again.”
“It is as you say.”

The Demon King in a slightly trembling voice, Dorothea answering smilingly.
The Demon King was still wary. And that wariness was correct. There was no salvation, though.

“Then, if someone who already has the information gathered were to write it out, it would be very efficient, would it not?”
“Do-Dorotheaaaaaa!!
You, to say a thing that must not be said, how dare youuuuu!!”

That is so, you see… the most efficient is for the Demon King to write out the present resident information.
At the least, far more so than interviewing every resident and writing it out.
With one exception: that the Demon King’s load would be nothing to sneeze at.

“With respect, Your Majesty, you understand that is the most efficient, do you not?”
“Khh, th-that is, so, but… no, for me to do it alone, however one thinks, would take too much time!”

That is certainly so.
If the Demon King alone could write at a rate of one person a minute, a thousand people would be 1,000 minutes. Just under sixteen hours.
About two days’ work. That times 150,000 is 150 times. 300 days.
…Wait? If it is humans alone, it would take 100 days…?

“Wait, Asha, stop that face.
It is impossible, me alone, it is impossible, you hear?”
“That, is so, as one would expect…”

That is so. Even the Demon King could hardly continue work without rest.
I had been thinking that forcing a hard line here and spoiling her mood would be…

“Your Majesty. When you said, ‘I am the King of Wind; in speed none may stand as my equal!’—was that a lie…?”
“Wait, Dorothea, that is a thing of youthful folly; do not take it in earnest!”

At Dorothea’s follow-up blow the Demon King flustered at once.
I-I see, the Demon King had an unexpectedly chuuni sort of dark history…
All the more, I want her left unmentioned! But I cannot stop this!

And Dorothea was, how to put it… one can only say, as expected.

“But Your Majesty. The memory of that day still shines brilliantly in my heart.
Surely you will not say that brilliance was a lie…?”

So saying, Dorothea put on a sad expression. With a naturalness that would make any actress turn pale.
Is this the skill of a capable secretary!? As expected of a capable secretary, dirty! (That is a compliment.)

“S-surely I would not tell a lie!”

Yes, decided: she has fallen into the pit.
Ah, Lady Grace sighed with a wry smile. I understand your feelings very well.
But as expected of the Demon King, she was not merely pushed through.

“But, you see, even I have physical limits.
Here, I shall have Dominas take it down from dictation.”

She presented a compromise.
It is true Lady Dominas apparently drew maps at an amazing speed, and is said to be good at shorthand as well. But.

“Eh. I would refuse if I could.”
“Dominassss!! You are too freeee!!”

Lady Dominas, a refusal against all expectation.
Yes, I understand the feeling that makes the Demon King shout. But I understand Lady Dominas’s feelings as well.
Is this being caught in the middle!? …Yes, I know it is not.

“But there are improvements to the printing press and various other things.”
“Khh, that is, certainly so, but…”
“Also, I want to adjust Lady Grace’s typewriter often.”
“Dominasssss!!”

Wait, stop, Lady Dominas. I am about to burst out, so stop that sort of thing!
And stop putting up a thumb, gu, noticing I am holding in a burst!!
It is bad, it will break!

In that extreme situation, in various senses, the Demon King raised her face as if she had suddenly noticed something.

“Th-that is it, the typewriter!
If Dominas’s dictation will not do, I too demand a typewriter!”

Ah, indeed, I found myself convinced.
It is without mistake faster than handwriting, and the Demon King would master it before long.
I thought, but.

“Eh. A bother.”
“Dominassssss!!”

Stop, I will truly burst, stop!!
What is this sketch, Nora’s shoulders are shaking purupuru as well!
Me? Various places have long since gone into spasm!

At this rate Nora and I are in danger! And incidentally the Demon King is in a pinch too!
And so I decided to put out a rescue boat.

“L-Lady Dominas, that much is… it is actually necessary, so here, one, yes?”
“If Asha says so, it cannot be helped.”
“Dominassssss!!”

The Demon King piled on again at Lady Dominas, who had nodded readily at my words.
Yes, I understand your feelings. But, yes, I am sorry, I felt a little superiority. I am truly sorry.

At any rate.
It was decided that a typewriter exclusive to the Demon King would be made, for putting in order the resident register—that is, a family register.