Isekai Nonbiri Nouka

In this world, there are many kinds of media used to record written characters.

First is animal paper, made from the hides of animals or demon beasts. Yes, that parchment.

The rolled-up sheets that appear in medieval stories are this type.

Because the material is hide, it is difficult to fold, and it can crack.

Long-term storage also requires care.

If you are careless, it can grow mold.

Since the raw material is animal hide, stable mass production is difficult, and manufacturing itself is only possible in suitable environments.

Also, the written surface can be scraped and reused… technically, it can.

Because of that, it is easy to tamper with.

Though traces of tampering tend to remain.

In any case, it comes with many problems.

Its one major advantage is………………………………………………its appearance?

Parchment maps, for example, look cool.

-0-

Next are wooden boards.

There are wooden slips called mokkan, made by bundling thin boards, but in this world, flat wooden boards are the mainstream.

They take up more space than animal paper, but they are surprisingly easy to store… depending on the environment.

The problem is the size of the boards.

It varies greatly by location.

The thickness is also different.

And they are heavy to carry.

Very heavy.

Storage is also troublesome.

If they are stacked, taking out the boards at the bottom becomes annoying.

-0-

And we must not forget plant paper.

This is made by dissolving plants and forming them.

The most famous example is papyrus.

The washi(Japanese paper) made in Village One also falls into this category of plant paper.

It is light.

Easy to write on.

It has the weakness of being easy to burn, but that is true for animal paper and wooden boards as well.

So, the drawbacks are… insects that eat paper, perhaps.

And storage.

Paper alone is hard to store, and bundling it takes some effort.

Items that bundle plant paper together, sometimes with animal paper and others, are books.

That is why books in this world are valuable items.

-0-

Beyond those… there are also methods like carving into stone, or filling a flat tray with sand or clay and carving letters into it.

Because it is hard to carry, you do not see this very often.

In the Demon King’s Kingdom, seakins and similar groups use such methods.

Well, animal paper, wooden boards, and plant paper are all weak against water.

That likely matches the lifestyle of seakins.

However, aside from the seakins, animal paper and wooden boards are the mainstream in the Demon King’s Kingdom.

Plant paper is also used, but it is mainly centered around Big Tree Village, Village Five, and the Royal Capital.

-0-

And when thinking about paper, there is something you must not forget, ink.

Having paper alone is meaningless if there is no pen.

The basic ink in use is inkstick.

I do not know the details, but it is made by adding glue or oil to soot left after burning wood.

The type of wood burned, the kind of glue added, and the type of oil affect the darkness and how easy it is to write.

Current ink is made by further adding dyes, resins, and similar materials to that inkstick.

I do not know the details.

Even if I wanted to investigate, there are several dye shops in Village Five and Shashaato City that handle ink, but their production methods are said to be strictly secret.

「I will go and look into it」

Wait, Reginleif.

You do not need to pry information out of them.

They have their livelihoods, and keeping techniques secret is understandable.

If anyone could make it, it would no longer be a business.

That said, the reverse is also true. Even if we make ink freely, they should not complain.

Research on ink is already finished.

We can even mass-produce it.

They will not complain, right?

Are such techniques protected by the Merchant Guild?

「It will be fine. However, to avoid trouble, it would be better to purchase a certain amount from existing shops」

One of the civil servant girls offers that advice.

That makes sense.

There is no need to produce everything ourselves.

At first, we will place normal orders, and for quantities they cannot handle, we will make the rest ourselves.

The problem is…

「The quality may become less consistent, but we will adjust that」

Yes, I am counting on you.

「Yes」

One of the civil servant girls replies firmly.

-0-

Now then, the reason I am thinking about paper and ink is because I was asked by Versa, the wife of ancestor-san.

Originally, Versa and her friends gathered and planned to start a new business.

The new business was papermaking and printing.

Simply put, making plant-based paper and printing.

The goal was to mass-produce books.

At first, I thought she wanted to mass-produce books written by Versa herself, but that was not the case.

Apparently, the goal was to spread all kinds of stories.

I found myself impressed.

However, that’s new business.

They had been moving forward with preparations, but the scale grew beyond what Versa and her group of friends could handle.

In truth, if they really tried, they could probably manage somehow, but Versa’s friends disliked the idea of her losing time for writing.

So, with no other choice, Versa entrusted… no, transferred the new business to me.

Even if it can be considered as a mere taking over, it is still troublesome for me, but Versa had already cleared it with Youko, and her friends had approved the transfer as well.

On top of that, she had secured the cooperation of the civil servant girls.

To the point that one of those civil servant girls had even resolved herself to become the person responsible for the new business.

After going that far, I could not just turn it down.

Let’s cooperate.

Eh?

Cooperating is not enough?

I am the representative?

What about the talk of someone else becoming responsible?

……Acting representative, huh.

I see.

Well, it’s not like we will only be producing books written by Versa.

The spread of culture in Village Five is a good thing, so I will cooperate… no, that’s not it.

As the representative, I will work on it within what I can do.

-0-

「As for the printing press, improvements are progressing with the cooperation of the Mountain Elves-sama」

Previously, to make books to donate to an orphanage in the human kingdom, we created a printing press that lined up letter stamps.

Now, by creating stamps for commonly used words and combining them, the creation of the master plates has become much faster.

In addition, a function was added that allows the same page to be printed continuously.

We tested it by printing about one hundred sheets, but there was no difference between the first and the hundredth.

The Mountain Elves say it would be fine even for a thousand consecutive prints, but since we have no plans to make a thousand books, we have not tested that.

Paper is valuable.

Ink is not cheap either.

Even if it is fine, continuous printing is limited to one hundred sheets.

After printing one hundred sheets, we have them perform a thorough inspection.

「The remaining issue is the printing of illustrations. However, through trial and error in Village Five, we have found several effective methods. Please rest assured」

That sounds reassuring, but if effective methods have been found, is it still an issue?

「The cost is unavoidable…」

Ah, I see.

If we did not have to worry about cost, it would be easier to use magic to transfer only the illustrated parts.

「Such mages are valuable, and relying on mages makes the business unstable」

That’s true.

If that mage were injured or fell ill, a business that stops functioning would be a problem.

Ah, that applies to technicians as well.

A business that stops just because something happens to one person is a problem.

「Yes. That is why, in papermaking and printing, we want to simplify the work as much as possible and manage it by increasing manpower」

When we recruited people in Village Five to cooperate with this new business, it seems a considerable number gathered.

「Once people learn to read, the next thing they want is books」

The improvement in literacy rates in Village Five seems to have created a positive ripple effect.

「The number of writers is increasing as well」

That means we will need even more paper.

「Yes. However, regarding the papermaking workshop… no, the papermaking factory, Youko-sama had already been taking action before this」

The land to build the papermaking factory has already been secured, and construction of the factory and warehouses is currently underway.

One factory building has already been completed, and trial operations have begun.

In addition, the collection of raw materials for paper is progressing, so it is unlikely that we will be unable to print due to a lack of paper.

Youko is pleased that new employment has been created.

Papermaking is quite demanding work, though.

「It seems the Mountain Elves-sama have also created some kind of large machine for that as well…」

Ah… if I remember correctly, it was a crusher for turning wood into paper material.

「They are very pleased」

That is good to hear.

「I have heard from Youko-sama that it would be nice to have about two more」

Hahaha.

I’ll make sure to ask at the right time.

The Mountain Elves like creating new mechanisms, but they do not really like mass-producing things they have already made.

Also, winter is a season of research for the Mountain Elves, so they stay in their workshops working on various things.

With the multi-purpose humanoid mobile heavy machine(Arti Horse) and the airship projects as well, asking for additional machines will probably have to wait until around spring.

As the representative of the business, I intend to make sure I do not forget to ask.

-0-

Mountain Elf:「If it’s fine as an improved version, we can start right away」

Village Chief:「Improved, huh……………………That’s a hard call」

Youko:「Order the same thing」

-0-

Versa’s Friend A:「We let go of papermaking and printing, but……」

Versa’s Friend B:「We are handling book distribution and sales」

Versa’s Friend C:「Fufufu. And we also hold the authority to decide which books get printed……」

One of the Civil Servant Girls:「Excuse me, but since Village Chief is involved, we will be participating to a certain extent」

Youko:「Hmm. We will keep an eye on you. We won’t let you create new regulations on your own.」

Versa’s Friend A:「W-we will sell them without bias」

Versa’s Friend B:「We will also handle zoning properly」

Versa’s Friend C:「Spreading culture, the best!」