A Contrary Heart

Author: Iwashi-zukushi
Raw: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n3388fm/13/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

“Well then, we’ll be off. Ah, I’ll let our people know.”

After a while of small talk, Nasti left.
For an instant, she glanced toward the workshop.
We waved her off, and once she was out of sight, I let a mutter slip.

“Nasti… was she perhaps keeping watch around this workshop?”
“Hm? Why did you think that?”

Gerda turned a puzzled face on my sudden murmur.
It was not as if I had grounds; it had only been a feeling.

“Just a feeling, but. The way she appeared, it was as if she had waited for the right moment after you and I arrived.”

And besides.
The profile she showed as she left, looking at the workshop, had been lonely, as if she were reluctant to part.

“I wondered if she was trying to protect it from people who might do it harm, or something.”
“That itself is not an impossible story.
Nasti and Granny Dia were quite close.” Continue reading →

Granny Dia’s Workshop

Author: Iwashi-zukushi
Raw: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n3388fm/12/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

With the shopping done, we headed for the workshop in earnest this time.
Along the way, something occurred to me.

“Come to think of it… the streets in this town are awfully clean.
Could it be there’s sewerage?”
“Ah. Now that you mention it, that seems to be rare on the continent over there.
While we’re at it, there’s running water as well, you know?”
“I see. So those fountain-like things are the water supply.
That’s impressive… but in that case, it helps a great deal.”

I had thought this world had no such conveniences as plumbing.
At the very least, neither the village I had lived in nor even the royal capital had.

And yet this town had sewers and running water both.
Well, by the standards of modern Japan, one could not call it complete.
The water was not piped into each household; you drew it from public squares.

To be honest, drawing water from a well was fairly heavy labor.
You were hauling up a bucket reasonably full of water from several meters down.
If it sat at ground level, or a little above, you could scoop it easily, splash splash.
…Well, you still had to carry it to each house after that.

Continue reading →

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 →