The Road to a Meeting
Two days had passed since I pushed thoughts of my dark past into the corner of my mind and swore never to think about them again. Dad finally gave me permission to go outside again, barring that I did not go further than the gate, which meant I could see Otto again.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Otto. You went out of your way to set up a meeting for me, but I just got sick...” Indeed. Otto’s day off passed while I was bedridden with a fever, so I missed the opportunity to introduce Lutz to him.
“I heard from the captain that your fever didn’t go down for five whole days. Are you feeling better?”
“Uh huh, thanks to you.” I smiled, but Otto just furrowed his brows and gave me a hard look.
“Are you really feeling better? You don’t look so good.”
I didn’t look good, but not because of the fever. It was because I couldn’t make paper no matter how hard I tried. “I have a problem that I’m having trouble solving. Would you mind telling me what you would do if you were in my situation?”
“Wha? You don’t mind telling me your problem?” Otto opened his eyes wide and peered toward me.
I nodded hard. He had surely experienced things I could never imagine as a traveling merchant, and it was more than possible that he could think up a solution I couldn’t. “I don’t mind. There’s something I want right away, but I don’t have the strength or stamina to make it by myself. I could maybe make it by myself after growing up, but I don’t know if my body will be healthy enough to grow like a normal person’s. I might not even be alive for much longer. What would you do if you were me, Mr. Otto?”
Otto, who had been nodding as he listened, immediately replied with raised eyebrows. “If you can’t do it yourself, just hire someone who can. Is that all you’re worried about?”
“Wha?!” The scales fell from my eyes. I hadn’t even considered hiring someone else to get what I want for me. That was just the kind of insight I expected from a former merchant. I could easily imagine others hiring me to do things, but I had never even considered hiring someone else to do things for me.
“...I think that’s a really good idea, but I couldn’t afford that.”
“Yeah, you’re a bit too young for that. Well. If I were you, I’d find someone capable and guide them into doing whatever it is you want out of their own volition. That’s no easy feat, but it’s no sweat off your back if they willingly do it for free.”
Yup... there’s a former merchant for you. His warm smile belied his wonderfully dark ideas. He’s definitely “guiding me” into doing what he wants already. I remember him saying that paying a mathematically skilled assistant in slate pens is nice for his budget.
“...I’ll keep that in mind.” Find someone who would do the work for me, get involved with them, and make them do it of their own volition. That would be pretty hard for me. But I could worry about that later.
Otto patted me on the shoulder and held out a slate. Talking time was over. This was his way of silently saying “Let’s start studying.”
“Oh, right. Now that you’re healthy again, could you tell that kid that we can meet up the day after tomorrow? We can go to, let’s see... The central plaza. How does the central plaza at third bell sound?”
“You mean Lutz. I was just about to ask you about that myself. Thank you.” I didn’t think I would forget, but nonetheless I wrote “central plaza, third bell.”
I looked up and saw that Otto was grinning while rubbing his chin. His smile made a shudder of danger run down my spine for some reason, so I instinctively straightened up and looked back at him.
“Yep. I’m betting any kid you wanna introduce me to will be real interesting. I’m looking forward to a fun meeting.”
Well... I think I can interpret that as him saying “Don’t introduce me to someone boring. I’m spending my precious day off on this, y’know.” Um... Otto? Isn’t this just going to be a casual meeting where you talk about what it’s like to be a traveling merchant? I swallowed my inner panic and nodded with a smile before dropping my gaze back to the slate.
I burst into a cold sweat. Oh no. The meeting was so soon but I didn’t understand what this “meeting” really meant. And it was too late for me to say that, considering I was the one who started it all to introduce Lutz. I desperately tried to piece together the implicit meaning of the meeting while scribbling away on my slate.
“Myne, we’re going home.”
It was a bit early to go home, but Dad came calling for me, so I got my stuff together and left the room.
“Hey, Dad. I told Mr. Otto I wanted to introduce Lutz to him. Do introductions like that have any special meaning?”
“Given his age, I’m guessing he’s looking for apprentice work? I figured he was gonna follow the family line of work, is he hoping to be a merchant instead?”
...Looking for work?! No no no, this isn’t anything that serious! I mean, we’re just kids, come on.
“We’re going to meet up so Otto can tell him what it’s like to be a traveling merchant.”
“Yeah, that’s definitely gonna be interpreted as him hoping Otto can introduce him to some apprentice work. Though any friend of yours is gonna have a hard time with that, Myne.”
“Why’s that?”
“Think about it. Taking on an apprentice means looking after them for the rest of their lives. Even if they split and go independent, there’s still gonna be a connection between’m they can’t cut.”
Things were more serious than I had anticipated. It wasn’t just a meet up for chatting; it was Lutz wanting the former traveling merchant Otto to introduce him to someone that would take him on as an apprentice merchant.
...Aah, which means tomorrow’s meeting will be like a job interview, right?! I can’t believe I was setting up something so serious!
The day after I got home and realized just how serious the situation was thanks to Mom and Dad explaining the details about apprentice work, I went to the forest with a fully loaded basket. On the way there I apologized to Lutz about how the bamboo he gave me had been mistaken for banhit wood and told him that the meeting was set for tomorrow.
When he heard about the bamboo, he sighed and said, “Banhit, huh? Those get mixed up a lot, yeah.” When he heard about the meeting, he said, “Thanks, Myne,” and looked pretty happy.
Everyone split up to do their gathering once we reached the forest. I took Lutz’s hand and headed to the river. “Okay, Lutz. This is the perfect spot. Let’s get you clean.”
“Wha?”
Otto took pretty good care of his personal hygiene, perhaps due to his background as a merchant. Reason being, he understood how much first impressions mattered. And I knew from seeing Otto’s calculating nature at work that we didn’t want to go to the meeting unprepared. If he decided after the first meeting that Lutz wasn’t worth the effort, he wouldn’t have introduced him to even a normal merchant, much less a traveling merchant.
“The first impression you give someone when meeting them is really important. Especially if you’ve been given an opportunity to prepare ahead of time. I don’t want him to look down on you just because of your appearance.”
“I don’t think a wash will change that much, really.”
The ideal would be to borrow the clothes Ralph wore at his baptism, but I didn’t know if he would be willing to lend them. Neither I nor Lutz had any special clothing and would thus need to go wearing our normal outfits, but I wanted to dress things up where I could.
Thus, while explaining to Lutz about the effects one’s appearance have on others, I washed his hair with my simple all-in-one shampoo. I had brought rags, a comb, and a bucket with me to really clean him up until he shined. I put river water and shampoo into the bucket before washing his hair over and over just like I normally washed Tuuli’s hair. Of course, I wouldn’t stop there. I fully intended to wash his entire body.
“Hey, Lutz. I can think of you wanting to talk to Mr. Otto as you wanting to become a traveling merchant, right? You want an introduction so you can become a traveling merchant’s apprentice?” I talked to Lutz while washing his hair, feeling kind of like a hairdresser talking to a client.
“Eh? Yeah.”
The more I wiped Lutz’s hair with a rag, the more his golden blonde hair gleamed. It was such a pretty yellow color that I wanted to trade hair with him. I combed it to increase its luster and, feeling a little bit jealous, continued my questioning. “So, what do you want to do after becoming a traveling merchant? Do you just want to travel the world?”
“Where’s all this coming from?”
“You really need to think this through.”
“Why?”
“Mr. Otto doesn’t know anything about you, Lutz. He’s not like a parent or family member who’s known you their whole lives. You need to really think about this if you want him to introduce you to someone.”
According to what I heard from my parents yesterday, the kids of this city almost universally began apprentice work with an introduction from their parents or a family member. Due to that, they generally followed their parents into a similar profession. For example, Tuuli became an apprentice seamstress after Mom, who works as a dyer, introduced her to a friend’s workplace.
Apparently it was rare for kids to go to the same workplace as their parents, in order to prevent nepotism. But kids still worked in similar jobs near their parents, both so parents will worry less and so that the kids will take their jobs more seriously. It was very rare for someone to get an introduction from someone outside of the family due to wanting a job their parents would certainly reject, like Lutz was doing.
“Mr. Otto’s meeting you this time as a courtesy, but he’s not that forgiving. He’s a former merchant and as calculating as you would expect. If you haven’t put enough thought into this, he won’t waste his time meeting you a second time.”
The meeting tomorrow would be like a job interview. If you don’t clean yourself up and prepare a good reason for why you want to get hired, it was very possible that the interviewer wouldn’t even consider you for the position.
“...What about you, Myne?”
“Wha?”
“Could you give an answer right away if I asked what you would do as a merchant?” Lutz, pouting a bit in frustration over not being able to think up an answer on the spot, glared at me with his jade eyes. I nodded and responded immediately.
“Uh huh. I want to sell paper. If I were a merchant apprentice, I’d teach someone how to make paper and have them make it for me.”
I wanted books for myself. If possible, I didn’t want to involve other people and instead make a book on my own using the tools and materials available to me. But I was at my limit. Everything I did ended in failure. At this point I just wanted to give my knowledge to someone and have them do everything for me, from start to finish. I was sure someone would be willing if I handed over the ownership rights in return for an information fee.
“Paper? Not books?”
“I need paper to make books. And here, nobody but me wants books, really.”
“I guess if you’re the only one who wants them, nobody’s gonna buy them, huh?” muttered Lutz, exasperated.
I nodded with a smile. “Uh huh. I don’t think books will sell that easily. But paper made from plants will be cheaper to produce than parchment, so I think it’ll sell just fine. I’m sure there’s a profit-savvy merchant out there who will see the value in my knowledge and pick me up.”
“...Huh. Guess you did think this through, Myne. I’ll give it a shot too.”
“I think ‘a friend of Otto’s assistant’ is a weak enough connection that most people will reject it. But if you make your intentions clear and show that you can bring value to them, I think a merchant would be willing to take care of you too.”
As Lutz glared at the water’s surface and fell deep into thought, I urged him forward and made him clean himself. Lutz... This will take too long if you don’t wash while thinking.
Lutz asked Ralph if he could borrow his special outfit, but got rejected for fear of it getting dirty, apparently. Therefore, he and I were walking to the central plaza in our normal clothes, though he was a lot more clean than usual.
“Hey, isn’t the meet up at third bell? We’re super early.”
“That’s the idea. If we get there after them, we’re done for. You really want to get there first. Time will fly by if we sit down and talk.”
In this city, time was told by the temple’s bell ringing once every two, three-ish hours. Being late wouldn’t be as big of a deal in this city without clocks, but emotionally speaking, I didn’t want us to arrive last; we were already in a weaker position.
“Y’know, my mom asked what was up with my hair last night. It took forever to get her off my back.” Lutz pulled on his now-glossy hair with a pitiful look on his face. I understood Karla’s feelings. I’d get curious too if my son’s hair got silky smooth without warning.
“Girls really do care about beauty and stuff.”
“I went ahead and told her you did it for me. ‘Go and ask Myne this stuff,’ I said.”
“Bwuh?!” The thought of getting pinned down for questioning by Karla, the kind of mother with a loud voice, forceful personality, and stubborn nature made my head hurt. “I’ll teach you guys how to make it on your own, so don’t ask for mine. I don’t have much myself.”
“...Oh, my bad. I made you waste some of your stuff on me.”
“It’s okay. I owe a lot to you, Lutz.” I didn’t mind giving Lutz some shampoo considering how much he had been helping me. But resources were limited and Tuuli worked hard to make it, so I would rather not give Karla any. As it stood I was already having to suffer with washing my hair only once per five days, with just water to tide me over in the interim.
“But y’know...”
“If it bothers you that much, you can make some extra for me. I’m so weak it’s hard for me to squeeze out the oil.”
“Oh, that’s your problem?”
We talked to each other for a bit and eventually Otto walked into the central plaza. He stood at the entrance, looking around, and upon seeing us grinned widely enough that I could see it despite being so far away.
Aaah... He was definitely testing us. I’ve been careful ever since he gave me that dangerous-looking smile and that was definitely the right call. He was definitely testing to see if we would come before the bell rang.
Otto smirked, looking impressed, and waved his hand in another direction, whereupon a different man appeared and started walking this way with Otto. I felt a cold sweat run down my back. Instinctively, I grabbed Lutz’s hand. He was beside me.
“He’s here, Lutz. Remember to be polite.”
“R-Right.”
I could tell from the way they were casually chatting that the other man was Otto’s merchant friend. And when that friend looked in our direction, his eyes gleamed sharply, like a predator sizing up its prey.
...Um, I thought this would be an interview between Otto and us! I didn’t hear anything about a third person! Ngggh, this is Lutz’s interview, but I’m the one getting nervous now!
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