by Miya Kazuki
“I’ll get sewing kits ready if you’re willing to teach, Tuuli. I’m not allowed to work here, and I’m not good at sewing anyway, so...”
“That’s true. They definitely wouldn’t get better with you teaching them. I think even just teaching them to sew the cuffs of their sleeves would make a difference, so okay. Those sewing kits would be great.” It was probably hard for Tuuli to believe that someone could grow up without learning to cook or sew given how important those skills were in life. She looked like a cooking teacher worried about her students.
“The orphanage kids can make their own soup thanks to you and Ella teaching them, and now you’re moving on to sewing lessons. Maybe you should have been a teacher, Tuuli.”
“Do you want me to teach them or not?” Tuuli pouted a little at being called a teacher, then lowered her eyes. “But... they know how to read, a little. They were reading some when making the books. I didn’t expect that little orphan kids would know how to read.”
“They’ve been playing with the karuta set I made for them. You should play with them sometime, Tuuli.” The karuta seemed to be teaching the kids to read somewhat effectively. Since I had put all the karuta words into the children’s bible, it would be easier for them to read. But it wouldn’t be that easy to read for someone not in the temple. I wanted to show one to Benno and see what he thought.
“Lutz, do you have a book ready to give to Benno?”
“Yeah, I got enough for everyone who helped us.” Lutz held up four bound books proudly.
“Yay, thank you! Let’s go deliver one to Benno tomorrow.”
“Yeah.”
We could basically just waltz into Benno’s store whenever we wanted, and even if he wasn’t there we could give the books to Mark. But to meet with the High Priest properly I first had to write a letter requesting a meeting.
“...Looks like I have to write another letter. Dealing with nobles proves to be a pain in the neck once again.”
“Sister Myne,” said Fran, “shall I have Rosina write it for you?” Despite asking a question, Fran’s expression and the nuance of his timing made it clear he wanted to see whether Rosina could manage to write a proper letter yet. An attendant’s duty involved writing letters for their master, and there would be no better practice than writing letters to the High Priest. He would no doubt thoroughly correct any mistakes that she might make and then send it right back to her.
“That sounds like a good idea. I shall leave it to her.”
Rosina twitched in fear, but nodded with a graceful smile. I could really learn from her, I thought, then noticed that Delia was looking at Rosina full of envy over her being given a new job. Gil was being given all sorts of new work thanks to his involvement with the workshop, and Fran’s work depended entirely on how active I was. Rosina wasn’t skilled with paperwork, but she could manage it and thus Fran was giving her increasingly large portions of his work. Delia probably thought she was being left behind, stuck in a rut of cleaning my chambers and not much else.
...She is working pretty hard to learn to read and do math, though. Gil learned faster since he had the orphanage kids to compete with. Meanwhile, Delia felt like she wasn’t getting better no matter how hard she worked, which was honestly something I could sympathize with. I often felt like I wasn’t getting any better and Lutz was leaving me behind despite both of us being the same age.
Maybe I’m not praising her enough? It was easy to compliment Gil since he always asked for it whenever he did something, but Delia did her daily work without any big fuss at all, which made it hard to find opportunities to compliment her. Taking one’s daily duties seriously was definitely important and impressive, but in the moment it’s kind of hard to just say, “Thanks for continuing to do what you always do.”
“Delia, I would like to deliver this book to the High Priest later. Please store it in my desk drawer.”
“Certainly.” Delia took the book, and then I gave her another one.
“Could you leave this somewhere in the hall? I would like for you to read it first and give me your thoughts before anyone else. “
“...Me, first?” Delia blinked in surprise. I nodded.
“Yes. Gil’s working hard in the workshop, but my chambers would fall apart without you, Delia. I would like you to see the completed product first.”
“Th-That’s right. It’s all thanks to me!” Delia lifted her chin high and raced up the stairs with her arms wrapped around the books. Everyone watched her go with warm smiles.
A Book for Benno and First Fitting
I was wearing my apprentice outfit since I was going to the Gilberta Company today. But since it and all my other nice clothes were fairly thin with long sleeves, they were naturally a bit cold for late autumn. The hooded poncho that Benno gave me last winter was serving me well here, but I didn’t want to wear it for the rest of my life.
“I think it’s about time to buy some winter outfits.”
“You mean for when you go north?” asked Tuuli, and I nodded. Nowadays I only really spent a lot of time at home when I was bedridden, which meant I didn’t need most of my normal clothes. But in return I was going to the temple and the Gilberta Company all the time, and I would need fancy northern clothes to fit in.
“Invite me when you buy some. I’ll definitely win this time!”
Oh yeah, Tuuli and Lutz tied when trying to pick out clothes for me last time, I remembered. Ever since then, Tuuli had started to look at clothes more carefully and wander around the city to observe fashion trends.
“Um, Tuuli. I was thinking about going to get clothes today after giving Benno his book...”
“Wha? But I have work today.” Tuuli helped out at the Myne Workshop yesterday since she had the day off. But since apprentices had work every other day, she couldn’t go shopping today.
I smiled at Tuuli and put some finished picture books in my tote bag while she glared at me. “Don’t worry, I’ll wait. We can go on a day we both have off, since I need to get winter clothes for my attendants too. And you’ll need a pair yourself since you’ll be holding sewing classes in the orphanage, right?”
“Wha?! You’ll buy one for me, too?!”
Despite how much Tuuli was helping me—teaching the orphans to cook and sew, taking them to the forest, and so on—I had never paid her for her work. Lutz was being paid a little extra from the Gilberta Company to help me, not to mention his cut of what my new products earned. It was about time Tuuli got rewarded for her efforts too.
“Think of it as your pay for being a teacher.”
“...That’s a bit much when I’m not teaching them anything special.” Tuuli was pursing her lips and pouting, but she looked happy and her cheeks were blushing a little red. If she was happy, I was happy. I’ll spend as much as it takes to get a cute outfit for her. No cost is too great!
“Let’s go, Myne.”
Lutz came to get me, so I grabbed my bag and went outside. I could feel how much cooler the air had gotten.
“Morning, Lutz. I see you’ve learned to love the poncho too.” Lutz was wearing his poncho, which happened to be a different color than mine. He had grown so much over the past year that he hated how tight it felt, but it seemed that even he could no longer stand the cold. “I was just talking to Tuuli about going to buy fancy winter clothes on the next day we both have off.”
“Yeah, makes sense. We need some clothes.” Lutz looked down at his small poncho and sighed.
By the way, I had grown a little too. The poncho which used to make me look like a bedsheet ghost was now just a little baggy on me. All my growth was no doubt thanks to me consistently donating my mana, which led to far fewer instances of me collapsing from my Devouring. I was as weak as ever, but collapsing less meant eating normal meals more often. Not to mention that at the temple I always ate extravagant meals fit for the nobility. Collapsing less and eating my fill of nutritious food both led to me growing a little. Thank you Leidenschaft, God of Fire and ruler of growth!
“Praise be to the gods!”
“What the heck?! Where’d that come from?!”
“Oh, sorry. It just kinda came out.” It seemed that the customs of the temple were really rubbing off on me. Before I knew it, I was making the goofy praying pose in the middle of town without even thinking about it. I broke into an embarrassed sweat at all the passersby staring at me, and we hurried on to the Gilberta Company.
“Mark, there’s something I want to show Benno. Is he here?”
“Yes, the master is in his office. Please wait just a moment.” Mark sorted things out and took us to Benno’s office. Benno was sitting at his desk and blasting away at writing something.
“Good morning, Benno.” I greeted him after his writing speed slowed down, and he set aside his pen to greet me back. He then looked at Lutz while stretching his back.
“Understood, Master Benno.” Lutz must have understood what that look meant, as he told me to sit down and then disappeared behind the door that led to Benno’s floor of residence.
“What was that about?”
“He went to tell a servant to start getting tea ready.” Benno walked to the table where I was. He wasn’t making a big deal about it, but this was the first time I had seen Lutz climb the stairs behind the door.
“Is he allowed to go up there?”
“He’s a leherl, y’know? He’s still living at home and only eating lunch here, but once he’s an adult he’ll be living here just like Mark is.”
“Oh, I see.” Since I ultimately didn’t become an apprentice merchant, I didn’t have a clear idea of how leherls and lehanges differed. I was just thinking of one as a contract employee and the other as a future administrator.
“How do you know so much and so little at the same time?” Benno sighed in exasperation right as Lutz came back. Lutz faltered for a bit, not sure if he should stand behind Benno or beside me.
“You made this with me, Lutz, so sit next to me this time.” I patted the chair beside mine, and Benno nodded. Lutz sat next to me and gave a small smile.
“So, what’ve you got for me?”
“Tadaaa! This! A picture book bible for kids.”
“...You finished it, huh?” Benno murmured in disbelief, then took the picture book I held out to him. He looked at the front, the back, and narrowed his eyes at the string binding it all together.
“You’re keeping it together with just string? You aren’t using any glue?”
“We haven’t made any hide glue yet. I thought about making some starch glue, but that would raise the base price even more, and the orphanage kids didn’t want to waste the flour on it.” They said they would rather eat it than use it to make glue. It was hard for me to argue with that, given how I had seen them starving to death not too long ago.
Benno felt the plants in the front cover. “Not often you see a book cover not made of leather. This is the same kinda flower paper you made for me a while ago, yeah?”
“Yes. I put a little extra effort into it since it’s the cover. I think it would be even prettier with some coloring. I thought of getting pigments from fruit, but the orphanage kids always prioritize eating.”
In the first place, the kids started working since they wanted to have enough to eat. Food was naturally more important to them than books. This time I had them prioritize finishing the books, but in the future I would need to search for pigments that I could get from inedible fruit, plants, stone, and bark.
“You did this much with just black and white?” asked Benno while opening up to the first page. Wilma’s art was positioned such that it was the first thing you saw when you opened the book. Benno widened his eyes and looked at the art. “...This art’s pretty impressive. How’d you get this done?”
“Eheheh. I cut thick paper with a precision knife and put ink on top of it. That’s called stenciling. Wilma worked hard to learn this new art style. Isn’t she amazing?” I puffed out my chest with pride for my attendant, but Benno just cradled his head for some reason.
“An entirely new style of art... You just keep making new things without telling me.”
“Now now, Benno. You don’t need to get so upset. Plant paper itself is so new that really, it doesn’t matter what else I introduce here.” Books made with parchment already existed, but this was the first time plant paper was being used to make books. Why complain about me tacking on a new style of art on top of that?
“It doesn’t matter...? Seriously?”
“I mean, I’m using newly developed ink on new plant paper with art drawn in a new style and printed on paper using new technology that ultimately gets bound together in a new book-binding technique. This picture book bible for kids is built on a mountain of new inventions. Honestly, no part of it isn’t new.”
Benno looked at the book with a grimace, then scratched his head. “Now I’ve got a headache. But anyway. What’re you gonna price it at?”
“Considering that we need to cover for the initial investment, I was thinking a small gold and five large silvers would be a fair price. The initial investment will matter less and less the more books we make, so ultimately the price should settle down to about eight large silvers.”
We gathered the soot this time ourselves, but consistently making ink from soot would cost money. Considering the initial investment, the cost of materials, the cost of labor, and the handling fees, a small gold and eight large silvers seemed like the best price to go with. That was on the cheaper side, too, since we were using the paper we made ourselves without going through Benno.
“Oh...?”
“Volrin paper will get cheaper too once more of it’s in the market, right? That’ll lower the price of the books too. But ink, well... No helping that unless linseed oil gets cheaper. The books are just going to be expensive,” I said with defeat. But Benno shook his head slowly.
“The kinda books that nobles buy run them four to five large golds. Yours are a lot cheaper. Dirt cheap, even. And they’re good for kids, since the writing’s so easy to read.”
“You can add a leather cover if you want it to look more fancy, too. I’m just personally more concerned about the quantity and quality of the contents than the cover.” Books were expensive enough that you had to be as rich as a noble to buy one. But if they were made even a little cheaper, there would be status-hungry people out there ready to seize the opportunity. And particularly vain rich people would no doubt jump on them if we added on some fancy covers.
“Makes sense. Rich people would definitely want these. Do you have any plans to make other books?”
“I intend to make several more picture books like this. Carving out stencils for the words is hard enough that I want to keep the text short. Also, my artist has very limited experience. She’s a caged bird who’s never left the temple and can basically only draw religious figures.”
Things were getting better in the orphanage now that they were making their own soup, but most of them still didn’t really understand what uncooked food looked like, and they still lacked a lot of things important to living life outside of the temple. Their lack of baskets and knives for going to the forest made that clear, not to mention sewing kits and all that.
“...That’s pretty extreme.”
“Her upbringing was just that different. Right now, the best thing is for her to keep drawing what she’s best at. I just need to think of stories that allow for that, which shouldn’t be hard since there’s a ton of stories about the gods.”
“True, but if you stick to just religious stuff...”
“It’ll get pretty boring,” interjected Lutz. I shrugged. The orphanage kids liked religious stories the best, but people in the city didn’t seem to like them at all.
“If it comes to making books with just text and none of Wilma’s art, there’s two possible things I’ll want to make first to help with mass production and efficiency.”
“Yeah? And what are those?”
“First, the stencil paper for the mimeograph. You
have to make a sheet of plant paper thin enough to be seen through, then cover it with a super thin layer of mixed wax and resin or something, but to be honest, it requires an extremely high level of skill to manage that. And since we don’t have any machines for it, I think we’ll need to get the help of a wax workshop at the very least.”
I really didn’t expect making stencil paper to go smoothly. It would no doubt be a painful journey of forking over failed pieces of plant paper, going through enormous trial and error involving the ratio of mixed waxes, and utterly failing to get the proper thin coating over it all. But if we got it done, things would be a lot easier for us. One could just cut the letters directly into the stencil paper with a sharp pen, no carving out necessary.
“Wax, huh? That’s not gonna happen this season. The workshops are too busy.”
“Agreed. The other thing is movable type printing. I’m still thinking about whether I should start making stencil paper, or if I should start making punch letters for movable type printing.”
“What’s the problem with that one?” Benno looked confused, as did Lutz.
“Making letter punches will be easy with Johann from the smithy’s help. But movable type printing requires as much arm strength as using a compressor. It would be a little rough for the orphanage kids.”
The printing presses were named as such since you literally had to press down with force to get the printing done. Movable type printing would require a lot of hard manual labor.
“Making the stencil paper for the mimeograph will be hard, but once it’s ready even children will be able to do the printing without much effort.”
“Huh. This is a tough one.” Both Benno and Lutz crossed their arms and fell into thought.
“But well, either way, I’ll need to save up money before I can do anything. I’ve already spent a lot of my savings on this. I won’t be earning anything off these books, either, since they’re going to be textbooks for the orphanage...”
