I woke up early today, so I hurried to the workplace while rubbing my sleepy eyes. I didn't even have time to eat bread because I overslept.
I believe the work at the Gatten Type Foundry is my calling.
Above all, it's great that I can read books. The foundry's job is typesetting, but there are the Gatten Printing Workshop, the Gatten Paper Mill, and the Gatten Bookbinding Workshop—all managed by Viscount Gatten to produce books. If I go to the library inside the workshop, I can read the printed and bound books. They also lend them out, so I spend my holidays immersed in reading. They're written only in hiragana, which makes them difficult to read, but it's still fun to be able to read books. In this world, books are still expensive. A commoner like me can't afford to buy them.
"Sheila. I'll leave this to you. Once you're done, there's more,"
As soon as I entered the room, I was handed several sheets of paper.
There are four typesetting rooms. I enter the room marked '3'. The numbering is the same as in my previous life, and it's the same for nobles and commoners alike. Until recently, I had been in room 4. I had heard that rooms change once your typesetting skills are recognized, so this means I've been promoted. A promotion means a pay raise.
"Yes, I understand."
The number of characters on a single sheet of paper has definitely increased since yesterday. I wonder if they were just testing the waters until yesterday.
Now the real work begins. I've got to do my best.
Since it's only hiragana, it's a piece of cake. However, if I'm honest, I always wish the type were arranged in alphabetical order—or rather, the *aiueo* order.
People dressed just like me are typesetting in the same way.
Because the type is stained with ink, our clothes and hands would turn pitch black if we didn't wear aprons and gloves. The aprons are like the *kappogi* from my previous life, protecting us all the way to our arms.
Typesetting is simple. I have a good memory. (This is something I had since before I was reincarnated, not some cheat ability granted by reincarnation.)
Since I can remember everything after reading the paper once, all I have to do is pick the characters.
(Hmm-hmm~)
I hummed in my head as I gathered the characters. It's a truly enjoyable job. And I get paid for it. This job is truly my calling. The only thing is these gloves. The gloves are a bit too large for me, leaving extra fabric at the fingertips, which makes it difficult to pick up the type. If I'm careless, I feel like I'll drop them. If I do that, it won't end with just a scolding. They'll hit my hands with something like a ruler.
Apparently, the type is very expensive to make, so if a character chips, it has to be discarded. If I drop one, I'll be beaten; if it chips, I'll have to borrow money to compensate for the loss. I signed a contract when I started working here, so there's no escaping it. As an orphan, I wouldn't have even been able to get a job without signing that contract, so it couldn't be helped.
Basically, just don't drop them.
(Ah...)
Just as I thought it, a piece of type slipped.
Instinctively, I thought *'Float'*. The character remained suspended in mid-air. It's something that defies common sense. I opened my hand and grabbed the type.
I quickly scanned my surroundings, but no one had seen me. I breathed a sigh of relief.
It would be terrible if I were found out using magic. Only a limited number of people can use magic. Unless you attend a school that teaches it or study under a tutor with a First-Class Mage license, you cannot use magic; that is the common sense of this world.
Why can an orphan like me use magic? I believe it comes down to the fact that I know kanji.
The first time I used magic was when I was ten. It was by accident.
I was trying to clear away a plate I'd used, and just as I was about to drop it,
"Stop,"
I had thought. I simply thought *'Stop'*.
I never expected it to actually stop in mid-air, so I was so surprised that the plate, which had stopped, subsequently fell perfectly. It wasn't porcelain, so it didn't break. Still, the pounding of my heart at the time was so loud it echoed in my head.
From then on, I spent all my time wondering why I could use magic. But I had no idea what the cause was.
That was revealed through the existence of a certain person.
One day, a new companion arrived at the orphanage. It was common for new companions to join the orphanage.
But that boy was different from the others. His atmosphere was clearly different.
The boy's name was Alec. He was a child who had no choice but to come to the orphanage because his parents had died. Unlike me, he hadn't been abandoned.
I had one person who was like an older brother to me. Van, who was four years older than me, had looked after me since I was very young. I had told only him about my magic. Though it was just a pathetic little magic that could make things float for a second. When I told him this, Van strictly warned me never to tell anyone else.
I was surprised when I heard that he had told Alec.
"Do you know kanji?"
"Kanji?"
"Yes, kanji. You cannot use magic without knowing kanji."
I hadn't known. I didn't know that kanji was required to use magic. Kanji existed in this world too.
So that's why the plate stopped in mid-air back then—because I was using kanji.
"Why do you know kanji? Are you of noble birth?"
"Noble? No. I've lived here since I was a baby."
Alec tilted his head.
"No, you must be of noble birth. There are children who cannot be raised for various reasons and are left here. This orphanage takes in many such children. That's why the treatment here is better than at other facilities."
That was shocking news. Not that I was born a noble, but I was surprised that the treatment at this orphanage was supposedly better than others. Bread and tasteless, thin soup. A room where five people slept huddled together. I couldn't see where the treatment was good.
"No, no, are you focusing on that? You're more concerned about the tasteless soup than the fact that you might be of noble birth. Just as Van said, you're strange,"
It seems I had spoken my thoughts aloud, and Alec chuckled. Yes, a chuckle. Alec's laughter was somehow refined. He must have been the one with noble blood.
Alec stayed at the facility for about two years. Then, someone came to collect him.
During that time, I learned many things from him.
To prevent magic from going out of control (I hadn't imagined it could actually run wild), I learned all the necessary magical knowledge from him.
I told Alec about my life in Japan in my previous life. At first, he looked skeptical, but as I spoke in more detail, he began to ask questions.
"Your stories sound genuine. You can answer my questions smoothly. I believe you."
Alec told me this about a month after we started talking. It seems Alec had spent a month investigating whether there were any inconsistencies in my stories. For a month, he had been checking for holes in my narrative.
But I was simply telling the truth about what had happened, so no matter how how many questions he asked, the answers remained the same.
But I know. The real reason Alec believed me was in my notes. This otherworldly world is not a place where books are expensive—wait, no, books are expensive, but paper is sold normally. Though a commoner living in an orphanage couldn't afford it, Alec gave me a notebook, a quill, and ink, which he had obtained from somewhere, and asked me to write about my previous life. There were questions from him written there, and I was wrote the answers to them.
正直羽ペンはとても書きにくい。 (Note: The source text had a fragment here: '正直羽ペンはとても書きにくい' which I translated as 'Honestly, the quill was very difficult to write with.')
In this orphanage, they taught us hiragana, katakana, and arithmetic, but we didn't use quills or paper. We studied using a small version of the blackboard and chalk, like in my previous life.
It was very difficult to write, but as Alec asked, I wrote about the events in Japan. I answered his questions.
Unfortunately, the quill and ink didn't glide as smoothly as a ballpoint pen or a mechanical pencil, but I wrote extensively, mixing in kanji.
Seeing that, Alec believed me.
"Since you can write kanji and hiragana so fluently, I have no choice but to believe you."