Magic revolution of a Young Noblewoman Starting Over ~ The Executed Villainess restores her Ruined Family ~ Restraint? Prudence? I'm more interested in magic tools than that! - Chapter 12
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- Magic revolution of a Young Noblewoman Starting Over ~ The Executed Villainess restores her Ruined Family ~ Restraint? Prudence? I'm more interested in magic tools than that!
- Chapter 12 - The workshop chief's technical prowess
The workshop chief’s technical prowess
”What now?”
I looked back, and saw Duncan the workshop chief.
”That repair, let us do it!”
Duncan leans over the counter in desperation, and said so in a roaring shout.
——— you fell for it.[1]
I don’t reply immediately, but show a gesture of thinking instead.
”But, I can’t leave something like this to someone who treats customers like that…”
”Immediately, I’ll do it immediately! I’ll personally check the quality too![2] So please, let us do it!!”
A plea close to a shriek.
It’s his own job on the line, so I guess it’s only natural.
However, one thing’s still missing.
”Sorry, but I can’t trust you.”
”Wha-!”
Duncan’s face contorted.
”Had I not given my name, you wouldn’t have changed the way you treated me, would you? What is it that I’m supposed to believe about you?”
”Well, that’s…”
The workshop chief mumbled.
”I suppose, if no matter what———”
”Uh, uhm!”
”Huh?”
I gave an idiotic reply to the unexpected voice that interrupted.
The owner of that voice was the workshop’s kind-hearted young man.
”As the Boss said, that sword’s repair, let this workshop do it please. The quality check may have been omitted because of me. We’ve recently had our hands full with an influx of repair requests… Though that’s not an excuse, if we’ve caused the customer any trouble, we can’t not properly deal with it ourselves. So please, please!”
The young man bows his head desperately.
Furthermore, one other joined him too.
”Me too…”
The young boy with wiped blood remaining at the corner of his mouth.
”Since the clumsy repair was because of me. Give us another chance!”
Jack bit his lips in vexation.
”Uhm…”
I was perplexed.
I wonder, why were these guys defending this (power-harassing 𝚋𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚍 of a) boss?
Since a while back, I hadn’t been questioning the workshop as a whole, but only blaming the workshop chief. So I wasn’t blaming them.
So why?
….
Well, I wasn’t intending on taking away their work in the first place, so that’s just fine.
I faced the workshop chief.
”If you insist on redoing it, then [you] should please repair it [right now]. Whether or not you really did do it properly, I’ll confirm it myself!”
At my words, Duncan nodded his head.
”G-, got it. I shall now do the repair. I’ll get set-up, so please wait a moment… Roland, Jack, bring the jig here.”
””Yes!!””
”I’ll get the implements and the circuit inspection machine.”
Thus, the three began their hurried preparations.
Ten minutes later.
Placed on the counter was a jig for holding a sword while it was being worked on, with the broken magic sword on it.
Seated ahead on a chair, Duncan goes ahead with the work.
The sword was dismantled into its sword blade and hilt, and then the hilt was further dismantled into its guard and grip[3], with the magic stone kept in the end of the pommel taken out.
Duncan opened the cover on the guard, and did the dismantling work of the magic circuit’s circuit board embedded under it.
”… alright.”
Duncan inserts the dismantled circuit board’s terminal part into the circuit inspection machine.
Surprisingly, the work up till now had been carried out extremely skillfully. It was so smooth, as though to say he had fixed thousands of swords before this one.
Although there are various problems, I understood that he hadn’t been entrusted this workshop just for show.
As I thought this while watching, Duncan, who’d seen a reaction while operating the circuit inspection machine, shook his head.
”It’s disconnected inside, of all things… Oi, Roland.”
”Yes. What is it?”
”A circuit board replacement. Get a new guy out from the stock.”
Saying, [Understood], the young man, Roland, withdrew into the back.
”While we’re at it, I guess I’ll redraw the lines in the other parts. Jack, come take a good look.”
”… ‘aight.”
Perhaps remembering his own clumsy repair, Jack replies dejectedly.
While continuing with the work at hand, the boss speaks to the young boy.
”Can’t help what you screwed up. Watch the skilled guys, and remember how they move their hands.”
”Ye’.”
Jack nodded.
——— the heck. They’ve got a proper teacher-student relationship.
Violence is no good, though.
Duncan’s work was quite good.
He poured magic power into the pointed implement, and fixed the Mistreel[4].
The skill with which he finely changed the flowing magic power’s wavelength and drew out uniform lines, truly didn’t lose out to the skilled craftsmen at the Owleyes territory’s main workshop.
”That’s quite some skill, isn’t it.”
”Well, if it’s just repairs, I’ve been doing them for a long time.”
To my words, Duncan replied without taking his eyes off his the work in front of him.
”Now if you could just improve the customer service and the guidance, I’d have nothing to say.”
”Having been the only craftsman under my master since forever, it’s wrong to ask such a thing of me. No matter how few people there are, I can’t just suddenly take over from my master that’d collapsed.”
”But, your master managed to do it, didn’t he?”
”Only to keep up appearances.”
”Keep up appearances?”
”Yeah. I know ‘coz I’m in the same position. My master too, he couldn’t do anything more than the work I’ve done now. It’s normal for workshops elsewhere to split the managers for manufacture and the store. Having to take care of both parts since there’s no people, it’s an unreasonable request at best. Even at the best of times, since there’s too few craftsmen.”
I was at a loss for words.
He must’ve appealed for more staff to be hired, but probably got rejected by the superiors.
——— Ah, I see.
So that’s why, huh.
The poor-quality customer service.
And the toleration of child labour.
And the omittance of quality checks.
It all comes down to one problem.
There aren’t any people.
In other words, there’s no money to hire them.
Sales have fallen so there’s no monetary leeway, and wages are low so they employ and train children instead of hiring skilled craftsmen.
This is our family’s problem.
First of all, if we want to put an end to the corporal punishment and the arguments with customers, we’ll have to produce sales and profits.[5]
For that reason as well, I cannot afford to fail with the magic tool under development.
It was as I was thinking about such things.
”Alright, it’s done. Next is just to embed the new circuit board, but… that Roland guy, how long’s it gonna take you to fetch a circuit board?”
Just as the scowling Duncan was going to stand up, the young man Roland came back from the back of the workshop with a dispirited face.
”Y’slow”
Duncan barked.
The young man gave a flustered [I’m sorry], then looked at me and the workshop chief alternately and spoke.
”This type of magic circuit board… seems to be out of stock.”
”Huuh?!”
Duncan’s eyes opened wide.
TL Notes:
[1]hmmmmm… I don’t like this line one bit. I’m pretty sure there was a better way to put this. It’s supposed to mean “he got deceived and is going along with my plan”, but obviously not in so many words. But I can’t think of what the right words are, so it stays as such for now ↩
[2]but… that IS your job? Why the “too”? ↩
[3]I don’t know sword anatomy 🙁 ↩
[4]I think I might’ve translated this as magic metal line before. Sorry, didn’t notice the furigana ↩
[5]I don’t really follow the logic here. Sure, that kinda would work, but it’s like covering up a rotten wall with plaster. You’re not solving the underlying problem, you’re just hoping that it doesn’t show up again. ↩