At the Student Council (Work)

At the student council.

Today, as always, Koleha worked diligently. Despite being a villainess.

She watched Summer and the prince act friendly as usual. Whether they were hiding it or simply mindful of her presence, they only conversed like a superior and subordinate, but Koleha knew better. She'd played through that part in the VR game!

That aside, Koleha had a complaint about the work.

"I've been thinking. Calculations are a pain, aren't they?"

"Hm? What's wrong, tired of work already? Heh, you've still got a long way to go, Koleha."

"Hah? Didn't anyone teach you to let people finish? Ah, right, you were raised by that strange tutor at that age. Oh-ho-ho, pardon me. One should let people finish, Your Highness～"

"Kuh! B-but how else was I supposed to take those words if not as a complaint about work!?"

Koleha wagged her index finger.

"No no! It's a proposal. Like when a merchant asks housewives, 'Has your kitchen knife gotten dull lately?'. Just a lead-in. Ooh-ho-ho-ho, how unbecoming for royalty to jump to conclusions!"

"Kuh! Kuuuh!! Too accurate for me to refute!"

Harks' face twisted in frustration, yet he looked oddly pleased. Still, if left alone, the conversation would go nowhere, so Kurushu cut in.

"A little banter among colleagues is fine, isn't it? … But do you really need to provoke him at every turn? So, Lady Nyarlathotep, what's your proposal?"

"Ah, Lord Kurushu, of course."

Clapping her hands, Koleha returned to her original point.

"Right now we do all our calculations by hand… with an abacus at best, yes?"

"… That's normal, isn't it?"

Harks and the others tilted their heads. That's how every civil official did it.

But Koleha slapped the desk repeatedly and waved it off.

"Normal! If you're satisfied with normal, progress stops!"

"T-then what do you suggest!?"

"In fact, I had this developed!!"

What she brought out was a piece of magitech.

An abacus was attached to it in a clunky fashion.

"What is that? An oversized paperweight? Looks too hard to be a pillow."

"If that looks like a paperweight or pillow to you, you need to get your eyes checked. This is a calculator! A magitech device for calculations."

"A magitech calculator!?"

A magitech calculating device was also under development in the royal research lab, but it consumed vast amounts of mana for even simple sums and had been all but shelved. It was supposed to be room-sized, but…

This one was small enough to sit on a desk.

Looking closer, it had a few small six-digit abaci attached, and a normal-sized abacus on the right.

"It only does addition and subtraction of multiple numbers, but you input about five numbers on the small abaci, press this button… and the total appears on the right abacus!"

"No no no! Hold on… hold on, Koleha, that alone is outrageous!"

"Lady Nyarlathotep!? That's already at the level of state secrets!"

"!?"

"Ah!? President Tsuvan just fainted, Lady Koleha!"

The council room erupted at the calculator's demonstration.

"Eh? It's basically just an abacus made into magitech… No need to make such a fuss."

"Koleha. Do you not understand its value…?"

"Oh, few understand its value as well as I do. It makes work easy! So convenient!"

Harks held his head.

"By the way… how much mana does it take to run it?"

"Terrible fuel economy… Apparently a single goblin-class magic stone only runs it for about a month."

"That's incredibly low consumption! In other words, it's amazing…!?"

"Eh? Isn't that short? I'd prefer to swap stones at most once a year. They're working on improvements as we speak."

Thinking of calculators from her previous life, Koleha's baseline expectations were on a completely different level.

"Who on earth made that magitech!?"

"I said I had it made, didn't I? Did you already forget?"

"No, the magitech craftsman! Which genius master artisan made it!? House Nyarlathotep's retainers!?"

"Ah. In that sense… yes, a retainer. Campbell, whom Roborovski-sensei took in, made it."

"Roborovski Hastur!? That man… wait, took in? Another one from the orphanage!? What's going on with your orphanage!?"

"I mentioned that calculations are annoying, and Roborovski-sensei and the others made me this add/subtract calculator."

He really was a genius, she thought.

On a whim, she had taught him about base-2 and the bit concept of on/off. He'd gotten hooked, saying things like "This is amazing! You can count to 31 on one hand! To 1023 with both!"

Starting the day after she'd complained about calculation work, he'd roped in Roborovski-sensei, and the calculator had been completed just the other day. It had come together more easily than she'd expected.

And a system born from the digital concept of just 1 (ON) and 0 (OFF) had far better operational efficiency than the analog calculating magitech the royal house was developing.

"Huh. So the yappy loudmouth Campbell actually has a use."

"… Oh, Hiiro? You know our boy well enough to mock him?"

"Ah! No! I only heard about him from a friend of a friend of a friend… I-I'm sorry! Forgive me, Lady Nyarlathotep!"

Hiiro bowed her head frantically to apologize for the near-slip. Fortunately, the princes didn't notice…

But it was a scene that, depending on how you looked at it, could easily be mistaken for bullying. Koleha smiled and took advantage of the opportunity.

"Hmph! Only I am allowed to disparage the children under my care! Even if you're capable enough to be selected for the council as a commoner, I won't have you belittling my children! Apologize about three more times!?"

"Yes! Thank you! I was wrong! I'm sorry! Excuse me! Love you! I sincerely apologize!"

Koleha made Hiiro bow her head several more times. To anyone watching, this would look exactly like bullying.

But she could claim the moral high ground as a noble: protecting the pride of her people! Thus today, another round of pseudo-bullying was achieved.

Koleha lifted her nose proudly and leaned back.

"S-so, Lady Nyarlathotep, could I use that calculator too…? Ehehe, I also think calculations are a pain."

"Oh-ho-ho, how pitiful! It does feel good～! Very well, you may use it. In fact, I prepared enough for everyone. Use them and let me know what you think."

"Y-yes, I am grateful for Lady Nyarlathotep's magnanimity!"

Hiiro prostrated dramatically on the council room floor. Perhaps she overdid it? Koleha thought. In any case, she handed out calculators with Hiiro's help.

The development was so shocking that Harks and the other capture targets were frozen, unable to interject. By the time they recovered, the conversation was over, and it was simply too late.

Afterwards, as they nervously used the calculators, they seemed to bemoan their fate, holding their heads, perhaps thinking of Hiiro, whom they couldn't save just now. Surely this too would be added to the condemnation episodes.