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Translator: Kazumi
Editor: Kabur & Silavin
Seeing Collete enter the relaxation space, Kousuke, who had been resting, stood up.
“How was it?”
Collete had a stack of papers in her hand.
It was the magic book about Spirit Arts that Cecil and Arisa had completed the other day.
Collete smiled and replied.
“To be honest, I’m surprised.”
Kousuke grinned at Collete’s straightforward answer.
“So, does that mean it was a good result for them?”
“Yes. There are a few mistakes, but once those are fixed, it should be more than usable enough.”
“Oh, is that so? That’s good.”
Kousuke was aware of the extra work he had put them through.
He didn’t want it to be a total waste.
If he had Collete’s endorsement, he could make full use of it.
The two people who were assigned the work by Kousuke would not consider it superfluous, though.
“Anyway, if anything needs to be reworked, please let them know and have them fix it.”
“Of course I’ll do that, but what about after that?”
Kousuke nodded, thinking that Collete’s question was an obvious one.
“Well, to be honest, I didn’t think we could make something this useful from the start, so I haven’t really thought about it yet.”
Kousuke’s answer made Collete look dumbfounded.
“You’re saying you haven’t thought about what to do with it…”
“No, I mean, do you think one would be able to create something this complete for the first time in a normal writing process?”
“…I don’t think so.”
“Right? That’s why I thought I’d let you make it a few times and perfect it.”
“So now that you’ve got something good, you’re having trouble handling it?”
At Collete’s concern, Kousuke waved his hand.
“No, no. It’s not that, it’s just that it doesn’t seem like something that can be easily sold to others, so I was wondering if there was any way we could mass produce it.”
“You’re going to make copies?”
Books, which were precious in this world, were mostly one of a kind.
In order to make a large number of copies, there would be people hired to copy it in order to increase the number.
Of course, the effort would cost an enormous sum making the value of the book very high.
“That’s fine, but… Do you think it will sell?”
“Hardly.”
The two of them had written something so technical in some of the words that even copying it would take a lot of time and effort.
“Right? That’s why I was wondering what to do with it.”
There was also no such thing as a letterpress printer in this world.
The literacy rate itself was not very high, so even if a book were to be made, there were only a limited number of people who could read it.
The people often read were mostly wealthy merchants or nobles, and even if they learned magic or divine arts as a hobby, they rarely study spirit arts.
Elves who on the other hand that use spirit arts were not in the habit of writing the process down on paper, as it was basically passed as an oral tradition.
In addition, even if the Elves did write it, their writings ended up like codes from a human’s point of view, making it hard for normal humans to decipher.
Incidentally, Kousuke did not intend to get involved in creating a letterpress printer.
Although he had an image of printing using a woodblock-like device, he did not know the detailed mechanism on how to create it.
He thought that even if he described it to someone, they would have a hard time trying to build it.
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Kousuke presented the book to Schmidt, which had been corrected by Collete.
“…This is?”
When Collete was checking it before, it looked like a bundle of paper, but now that it had been arranged and corrections had been made, it was now tightly bound.
Schmidt lifted the book quizzically.
Schmidt was here not for a meeting or anything, but to check on a new Magic Tool that Kousuke created.
He was rarely presented with anything new these days, but he still came from time to time.
Schmidt tilted his head as it was just a book by all appearances and did not look like a Magic Tool at all.
“It’s a book on Spirit Arts written on it by Cecil and Arisa. I’m wondering what to do with it.”
“Those two?”
Of course Schmidt knew about the two who had already stepped into the ranks of high-ranking adventurers.
“Yes. When they were free, I went to visit them and asked them about Spirit Arts, and the way they explained it to me was quite interesting. So, I encouraged them to try writing about it.”
“Huh.”
Schmidt nodded his head, not thinking about why they were made to write a book, but why Kousuke was showing it to him.
Kousuke also understood Schmidt’s confusion, so he continued.
“It’s okay, I simply let them write it, even if it was just to pass the time when they were free. I was surprised when I saw the finished product they created though.”
“You mean?”
“Well, you can tell by reading it, to see how well it’s done. It’s hard to believe that this is the first time they have written something like this.”
Schmidt’s eyebrows twitched as he heard Kousuke say this, somewhat taken aback.
That was just because he could hardly believe it when he was told that it was a book written by two slaves but ended up considerably complete.
“Well, I understand that you might be confused, but you’ll understand what I mean when you read it… anyway, won’t you?”
“Me, huh? I’m not an expert in the Spirit Arts, but you want me to?”
“I’ve had Collete check the technical descriptions, so don’t worry about it. You can simply read through it to check the contents.”
Schmidt tilted his head, not understanding what was being said.
“Reading material? Not a technical book?”
Schmidt assumed that if it was a book about Spirit Arts, then of course it was going to be a book about technical matters.
“Well, for now, you should take it home and read it once as if you’ve been fooled.”
“Haah. I understand.”
Schmidt, who had known Kousuke for a long time, fully understood that he should listen to Kousuke when he was this direct.
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It was a week after handing over the book that a bloodthirsty Schmidt came to Kousuke.
It took that long because Schmidt, who was busy as the head of the department, did not have time to read books and the like.
Conversely, he still managed to finish reading the book written by Cecil and Arisa in just one week.
“Kousuke-sama! What are you going to do with this book?!”
Schmidt said in a panic, to which Kousuke chuckled.
“Schmidt, don’t panic. I gave you that book so that we could talk about what to do with it.”
At Kousuke’s words, Schmidt seemed to have calmed down somewhat.
“What did you think of the book?”
“…I was surprised. To be honest, I couldn’t believe it was written by a slave.”
“Right? I don’t know how on earth they knew how to write like this.”
Cecil and Arisa’s book was written in a very clear and basic manner.
Even Schmidt, who knew very little about Spirit Arts, found it easy to follow.
Moreover, the book started from the basics, and at the end, there was a section that dealt with higher levels of Spirit Arts.
It was the best book for beginners.
Incidentally, the two who created it did not expect it to be rated so highly.
They simply wrote the book while consulting with each other, and they went over a lot of things that they thought were difficult to understand or that needed more detail.
They thought that they were just writing what Yuri and Collete had taught them so that it would be as easy to understand as possible.
Whether the teachers were good or the two of them were good enough to understand it, it was a fine line between the interactions of student and teacher.
“It’s so good, I honestly don’t know what to do with it, I am really having trouble on how I should deal with it.”
Schmidt’s face turned curious at Kousuke’s words.
“You want to sell it, don’t you?”
“To whom though?”
Schmidt’s face turned into a look of surprise at Kousuke’s answer.
“You know? I’m really in a lot more trouble than what I thought, you see? That’s why I wanted to talk to you.”
“…It’s certainly a troublesome thing.”
Schmidt, who completely understood what Kousuke was trying to say, replied with a snort.
“Can I ask you to make a copy of the book, so I can keep the original for now, and you can think about what to do with the rest? I’ll think about it over here as well.”
Both of them were seriously thinking about what to do with it.
Unbeknownst to Cecil and Arisa, the book they had written was about to become a very important book.
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