Chapter 42 - The Struggle of the House Scribe Elias (Part Two)
"Me, my lady?"
The next morning, Scribe Elias Krugart, who had been summoned from the study of the royal capital villa to the drawing room, asked the young mistress.
"Yes, you. I want you to go to the Ministry of Agriculture in the Government Administration and assist the scribe there."
Ariarein responded.
"From when would that be?"
"From the morning of the day after tomorrow. For now, with an eye toward two weeks."
"—That is quite sudden. What about the work at the mansion?"
"Those who remain will take it over. Hand over your work today and tomorrow to the extent that there are no immediate problems."
"Is it just me alone?"
"No. —Arveil."
"Yes," the retainer answered, placing a document with four names written on it on the table.
Elias, who glanced over the document, nodded.
"May I hear the circumstances and the specific details?"
"That's a reasonable question," Ariarein replied and briefly explained the situation.
A small lord from the eastern part of the kingdom had mentioned that the administrative work of the Government Administration was stagnating.
Upon investigation, it was found that the administrative work was indeed stagnating.
The cause was thought to be a labor shortage in the Government Administration.
The proposal to increase personnel for a solution had been rejected by the Crown Prince and the lords.
"That's how it is, so we have to do something about it."
"I see," Elias nodded.
"I understand the circumstances. What are we to do at the Government Administration—the Ministry of Agriculture in this case?"
"There must be documents for instructions and reports that they create, right? I want you to help with those. Anyway, if we don't lighten their load even a little, I think it's only a matter of time before they collapse."
There was a hesitant pause. Elias looked down, putting his hand to his mouth as he thought about something.
After a short while, Elias looked up and spoke.
"Why do you seek to help the Government Administration, my lady?"
"Oh?" Ariarein tilted her head slightly.
"In a few years, I will become a member of the royal family. Right now I don't have much of a connection, but the scribes and administrative officers of the Government Administration should be the ones who will support the future me. I believe that helping them now will lead to helping my future self."
At Ariarein's fluent answer, Elias's cheeks relaxed.
"In other words, my lady, I am—"
"That's right. You are a person suitable for helping my future self. Can I count on you?"
Elias, laughing softly, nodded.
"Of course, my lady. There is likely no one in this mansion who would refuse after being told that much."
※ ※ ※ ※ ※
The chosen members spent that day and the next on handing over work and making preparations.
And on the morning of the day after next, Ariarein visited the Government Administration accompanied by her four subordinates and Arveil.
"You are probably the only ones who can examine and analyze reports and make plans, but what about beyond that?"
After finishing the greetings, Ariarein cut straight to the point.
After thinking for just a moment, the scribe—Appointed Scribe Radmir Hasheck—answered.
"If we no longer had to create the documents, I think things would change considerably. Right now, that is eating up the majority of our duty hours."
Ariarein, laughing softly, nodded.
"Then, please use these people. For now, until the work piled up in this room is cleared. Beyond that... let's discuss it again."
Having said what she needed to say, Ariarein nodded to Elias.
"I leave the rest to you. In your own way, be of help to the scribe. Arveil, let's head back."
When Ariarein and Arveil exited, four civil officials were left in the room.
"Now then," Elias turned back to Radmir.
"By the instructions of our house's representative, we shall assist in your duties. First, I would like someone to tell me the flow of work—or so I'd like to say, but..."
Elias, turning his head around, stopped his gaze at the mountain of documents piled on the desk.
"What kind of documents are those?"
"Ah," Radmir responded with a look as if he were seeing something he didn't want to see.
"Those are reports summarizing crop conditions and stockpile amounts that have come from all over. We must read those, summarize them, and make plans for stockpiling, releasing, and transporting."
"I see," Elias nodded and asked once more.
"May we go ahead and organize them?"
"—Of course."
Hearing Radmir's answer, Elias turned his gaze toward the apprentice scribe and the footman he had brought as general labor.
"Bartel, you team up with Wendel and first organize the documents there. For now, group them one by one and prepare them for binding."
"Just summarizing them seems like it will take a full half-day, though."
"Yes, that's why we're doing it now. I'm counting on you."
The apprentice scribe called Bartel nodded with a "Yes" and spoke to an administrative officer.
"I would like to borrow a place and some tools."
Of course, there was no way he would be refused. Glancing at the two who had started organizing the documents, Elias spoke to Radmir again.
"In order to create the documents, I would like to see several actual documents. A few of the reports being sent from here, and a few of the documents for instructions."
Radmir, of course, had no reason to refuse. Several documents were handed over.
"Radim, read through them and tell me the parts common to each later. It'll be impossible to think of everything from scratch, so let's make the molds first. Then we can just pour the information in, or something like that."
Elias said while handing the documents he had been given to the young scribe called Radim.
"Understood."
Radim took out a large wax tablet, prepared to take notes, and began reading the documents he had been handed.
Confirming that much, Elias spoke to Radmir once again.
"Then, Scribe Hasheck, could you please teach me the overall flow of the work?"
※ ※ ※ ※ ※
From the afternoon of the first day, the effects gradually began to show.
Newly brought-in documents were temporarily organized and summarized by Wendel and placed on shelves divided by date.
Radim, who had grasped the general 'form' of the documents, conveyed it to everyone, sharing the shape of the documents to be made.
As it passed evening and was about to reach late at night, Elias spoke to Radmir again.
"Shall we close up shop for today? If we continue any further, it will only result in fatigue building up."
Radmir thought. Deep inside his body, a fatigue that wouldn't leave was coiling. He couldn't bring himself to just throw aside the mountain of documents that only continued to pile up and go home, so he had been dragging out his work until dawn, eventually missing the chance to go home and staying overnight. Radmir had been continuing such a life for a while now.
It's certainly as this civil official from the House of Marquess Mares says, Radmir thought.
—Resting when one should rest is also part of the job, I suppose.
Radmir had been able to handle a larger amount of documents today than the amount newly brought in.
If they could keep this up, eventually that mountain of documents would be cleared away to where it should be.
"—Yes, I believe you are correct. Everyone, let's rest for today. We should rest our bodies at least a little and continue again tomorrow."
Saying so to his subordinates himself, Radmir felt a little bit brighter.
It was because for the first time in a long while—a truly long while—he was able to not just be chased by work, but to form a outlook for the future.
That concludes the three stories in this collection of short stories.
I wrote the first and third ones to give a sense of the additions and revisions, and the second one to give a sense of the bonus short stories.
Thank you for your company. I hope to provide another collection of short stories like this when the next volume is released.
[Author's Note]
The book version (Volume 1) of this work, "The Exile of the Marquess's Daughter Ariarein," was published by Earth Star Luna on March 3rd. There is a special feature page on the label's official website, so please take a look.
The cover, frontispiece, a preview (up to the end of Chapter One), character introductions, illustrations, maps, and so on are all available.
Also, it comes with first-edition limited short stories, so I hope you will pick up the book version as well!
https://www.es-luna.jp/bookdetail/53aria_luna.php