Chapter 496: Papapa-tt!

“Julius, what have you made this time, I wonder? If you don’t mind, do teach your mother as well.”
“O–of course. I’ll show it to you later, Mother.”
“Julius, could you show it to me too?”
“Julius-niisan, I want to see it as well!”
It looked like I was going to have to show it to the whole family. I would’ve preferred to keep it a secret among just the four of us, but clearly, that wasn’t going to happen.
Does Alex-niisan have something in mind? If this were something truly troublesome, he would have surely stopped me.
Perhaps he wants Father and Mother to learn this calculation method as well. Their work would undoubtedly become faster. Even when Alex-niisan and Sister-in-law Daniela are away, things would still run smoothly. Maybe that’s the true aim here.
In the end, dinner turned into a discussion about the calculation method I had come up with.
Since everyone was gathered, I had hoped we could have a more cheerful conversation, but…
After the meal, it was decided that I would unveil the abacus.
Dessert and coffee were brought to the dining room, and during that time, I asked Nero to fetch the abacus from my room.
“This is the tool I spoke of in the company office. It’s called a abacus.”
“A abacus. I don’t know where the name came from, but the arrangement of beads is just as you explained in the office.”
“So this is the shape that existed in Julius’ mind. I wonder how it’s used?”
Alex-niisan and Sister-in-law Daniela peered at the abacus with curiosity. They weren’t the only ones—Father and Mother were also tilting their heads, as if to say what is this thing? At first glance, it certainly didn’t look like anything useful.
Meanwhile, Rosalia leaned forward with Mira in her arms. Mira seemed a little uncomfortable, yet her tiny hand never stopped reaching for the dried fruits. She really liked them, it seemed. Well, the head chef kept inventing new flavors, so there was no risk of her getting bored.
“First, you line up the beads like this, in one direction…”
And so, my abacus lecture began. There were only two of them, so one went to Alex-niisan and Sister-in-law Daniela, while the other went to Father, Mother, and Rosalia. If I’d known this would happen, I would’ve made one for everyone in advance.
The servants, curious as well, observed us from a distance.
“This is amazing! With this, even I can do calculations easily!”
“Rosalia, you’ve always struggled with arithmetic, haven’t you~?”
“T-that’s not true! I can solve arithmetic problems just fine!”
Mother gently scolded the flustered Rosalia. Apparently, she wasn’t very good at math.
That could be troublesome. When making magic tools, one often has to calculate mana consumption and output. She would definitely need to be trained properly.
“Let us set aside for now how Julius came up with this calculation method. This tool is excellent. Once mastered, calculations become faster, do they not?”
“Yes, that’s right. Shall we try it? Father, please write any number you like on this paper. I’ll calculate it for you.”
Since there was still some doubt, we decided to give it a practical demonstration. Not only Father, but Mother and Rosalia also wrote down numbers. There ended up being quite a lot, but it was no problem. If anything, the real difficulty would be double-checking whether my answers were correct.
I calculated the numbers on the abacus. In my head, the calculations were already done, so it was a little frustratingly slow, but I endured it, flicking the beads quickly.
“What incredible speed. Julius, you’re saying you usually do this in your head?”
Alex-niisan let out a voice of disbelief. It seemed he hadn’t imagined it could go this far. Still, because I was using the beads, the speed was actually slower than what I could truly do. That much, though, I couldn’t reveal.
“Once you get used to it, anyone can do it. Here, this is the total.”
Everyone compared their own calculations with my result—it matched perfectly. They were astonished at both the accuracy and the speed. It seemed they had all come to understand just how useful this was. Not that I invented it myself… which made me feel a little guilty.
“Julius, could you make one for me as well?”
“I’d like one too. In fact, everyone looks like they want one. Why not sell them through the company?”
“That’s a splendid idea, Mother. In that case, we’d need to hold abacus classes to teach people how to use them.”
Just like that, Mother and Sister-in-law Daniela grew lively with excitement. This momentum wasn’t something I could stop. All I could do was prepare for what I could handle.
“Very well, I’ll make several more, including ones for Father and Mother. I’ll also draft up the design plans.”
“Julius-niisan, I want to help make them too!”
“Then let’s make them together tomorrow.”
“Yay!”
Rosalia threw her arms around me. Poor Mira, caught in between, squealed happily, thinking it was all part of a game.
The abacus was nothing more than a wooden craft, after all. Even the company employees could make them. The work was a bit intricate, so who knows—maybe they’d even acquire the ‘Craft’ skill through it. That would be wonderful.