And Then, the Spoils

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

“Right then, let’s have Doctor Asha accept this as a welcome!”

What Elma brought out as she said it was a hot sandwich.
Butter spread between the bread, bacon in the middle, apparently fried in a pan.
Something like a panini, perhaps.

“Y-you went out of your way to make this!? Thank you!
This butter and bacon are domestic too, right? So there are cows as well.”
“Ah, on the outskirts of town. Water buffalo too.”
“Heh… ah, then, is there cheese and such as well?”
“Ah, of course. When it comes to food, this town doesn’t want for much.”

I answered Elma’s proud smile with a smile of my own, and putting together everything I had seen and heard so far—
the climate and what they could get seemed close to Italy.
Not identical, surely, but for now it seemed safe to think of it as quite close.
I had heard mozzarella was made from water buffalo milk, too.

Thinking that, I took a sip of the lemon water—and my eyes went wide despite myself.

“Eh, that’s sweet—is there sugar in this!?
W-wow, I never thought you’d have even that.”
“Heh. You know the taste of sugar, then? As expected.
I never put it in my mouth till I came to this town, sugar.”
“That figures, it’s precious…” Continue reading →

A Date, or Market Research

Author: Iwashi-zukushi
Raw: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n3388fm/10/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

“Nngh~~!!
It’s been so long—I never thought sea air could feel this good!”

So saying, I stretched, large.
I stretched my arms and my back, then drew in a deep breath, and fresh air rushed into my lungs.
I felt it mix with the carbon dioxide that had pooled in the depths of them, felt the air change over, and slowly let it out.
That alone seemed to refresh my mood; a strange thing.

“Fufu. I feel as if this is the first time I’ve seen a face that looks like you.”

Gerda’s voice came from behind me, sounding amused.
I turned, and I was probably wearing a slightly sheepish look.

“Sorry, I got a bit carried away.
And I made an unreasonable request when you have work besides.”
“No, I would rather you not mind that. It was assigned as work by Her Majesty as well, after all.”

I bobbed my head, and Gerda laughed and waved it off.
That unguarded smile let me relax, a little.

“I’m glad to hear you say so.”
“Yes, you’re welcome.
Now then, where shall I show you.
You said a date, but you want to look around town and investigate, I take it?”

Her perceptiveness was sharp enough that I could not help laughing.
The Demon King went without saying, but Gerda, too, picked up quite well on what I meant to say.
…The Demon King picked up a little too well, I thought.

“Yes… all sorts of things.
The atmosphere of the town, what’s sold at the market, what’s easy to get hold of.”
“I understand wanting to know what’s sold, but do you need the atmosphere of the town as well?”
“Yes, actually. I’ll explain that later.”

I winked at Gerda, who did not seem quite convinced.

Continue reading →

At the End of a War of Attrition

Author: Iwashi-zukushi
Raw: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n3388fm/9/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

It was a long, long battle.

“And then, and then, at that moment, Grace, you see—”

A charismatic beauty, giggling and doting as if she were a schoolgirl.
I could hardly commit lèse-majesté against that opponent, so to return the right responses at the right moments I could not miss a single word.
Thanks to that effort, at least, I did gather that Grace was the person in charge of education.
Smiling all the while, concentrating as if my whole body had become an ear—how long did I last like that?

“Your Majesty, the talk is inexhaustible, but you have another appointment before long.”
“Oh, that is so.
Asha, thanks to you I have had a worthwhile conversation. You have my thanks.”
“Y-yes… I am honored.”

Dizzy from concentrating too hard, I still put on a smile and answered Her Majesty.
Out of the corner of my eye I could see Gerda giving me a look of sympathy.
I nodded, small; whether it got through, I did not know.

“Oh, that’s right. You have given me a fine tale, so I must give you something in return.
Asha, is there nothing you want, or nothing you would have me do?”

The Demon King, who had been about to stand, suddenly asked that.
Hearing it, I found myself blinking.

For an instant the Japanese person in my heart tried to decline out of modesty, and I crushed that impulse.
Given the Demon King’s character, I had a feeling that clumsy modesty would be ruder.
That said, asked so suddenly, it was not as if I had something I wanted.

“Eh, e-er, I’m sorry, may I think a little?”
“Yes, of course. Think it over thoroughly.” Continue reading →

The Loser (?) Speaks

Author: Iwashi-zukushi
Raw: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n3388fm/8/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

“Now then… where to begin, and how to tell it…”

Having resigned myself to talking, I groped for words.
What I was being asked was where my way of thinking came from.
And that, one could say, was a product of the school education I had received.
If I explained from the beginning, there would be no end to it…
After turning it over, I decided to dump a fair amount of it out.

“First, I swear I will tell you the truth.
It is considerably absurd, so I do not know if you will believe me.”
“It is fine, it is fine. How to judge it, truth included, is our problem.
You, first, should say what you think ought to be said.”

The Demon King was still in high spirits.
To be honest, what I feared most was telling a clumsy lie, being seen through, and souring her mood.
And, well… I also did not much want to sadden her by lying.

“The truth is. I have memories from before I was born—from a previous life.”
“Hoh.”
“The me of that previous life was, I believe, not even in my original country, nor in this world at all, but in a completely different one.”
“Ho hoh?”
“In that world there was no magic. In its place, learning and clockwork devices had advanced.
Thanks to that, even those without special powers could enjoy all sorts of blessings.
For example, a stove would light at a touch of the fingertips, and one could keep a light on all day.”
“Hoh hoh.”
“All of those blessings were supported by learning.
And so a great deal of effort was put into education.
Moreover, it was not only a matter of receiving teaching and memorizing it; there was also training of thought, to become a power that could create new things.
The matters Your Majesty pointed out are, I believe, products of that.”
“Hoh hoh hoh. I see. Most interesting.
The contents of that education in detail… no, that would be better with Grace present.”

Continue reading →

A Secret Talk

Author: Iwashi-zukushi
Raw: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n3388fm/7/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

“Hmh. Chris is skilled at sewing. Granny Stella’s has been short of needlewomen.”
“Kira can use magic, I see. I shall leave her with Dominas; have her sent where she can be of use.”

The Demon King’s voice as she sorted us one after another passed in one ear and out the other.
In this town, me. Alone.
Those words went round and round in my head.

In modern Japan, there were about two hundred physicians per hundred thousand people.
In highly specialized modern medicine, even that was said to be not enough.
Even at fifty thousand, the calculation called for a hundred.
In other words, I would have to do the work of a hundred people.
There were limits even to how brutal a workplace could be.

Apothecaries were a rare commodity, so few had likely been sent here.
I had been sent because of that church decree, whose timing I still could not call good or bad.
Perhaps more would come in the future, but for now, it was me alone.

Even with the conditions that the severely ill would be handled with healing magic, and that I would be spared demonfolk and monsters, we were still badly short of hands.

“How did it come to this…” Continue reading →

A Mission and a Resolution

Author: Iwashi-zukushi
Raw: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n3388fm/6/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

“Now then. With that, it is settled that all of you will be taken in.
As I said earlier, this country is desperately short of hands, so I must have you work as soon as tomorrow.
I shall assign and sort you, so tell me your origins, your skills, what you did for a living, and so on.”

Just as we had all asked to be taken into the country and things had settled, the Demon King suddenly said that.
The remark left me bewildered; Gerda gave a wry smile; and the aide looked troubled.
After a moment’s hesitation, I raised my hand, a little.

“U-um, Your Majesty, may I ask something?”
“Hm? I do not mind. Speak.”
“Thank you. Then, if I may be so forward…
I understand, of course, why you would wish to confirm our skills and the like… but I had thought this was the sort of thing a responsible official would handle.
I never imagined Your Majesty would do it in person, and I must confess I am rather at a loss.”
“Hmh?
Hmh. I see. That is a fair point, Asha.”

The Demon King nodded, magnanimous, at my frank words.
I thought hm?—and it must have shown on my face, because hers turned somehow amused.
…Was it my imagination, or had Gerda’s wry smile deepened?

“Ku ku. You have a rather quick mind, it seems.
That face of yours is asking, ‘How do you already remember my face and name?'”
“Eeh!? Ah, no, I… I’m sorry. That was rude of me.”
“It is fine, it is fine. It is rather entertaining, if anything.”

I hurriedly bowed my head, and received, as her words promised, a cheerfully given pardon.
That was the thing.
Just now she had been greeted by more than ten of us, and yet the Demon King clearly remembered the face and name of me, who had introduced myself first.
She had said my name as naturally as if we were already acquainted, and that very naturalness had felt off—and it had shown. Continue reading →