Delivering the Hair Ornaments
I sewed the pin parts onto the flowers and finished the hair ornaments. The sight of them made even me let out a gasp of awe. The ones I’d made for Freida had ended up much more gorgeous than I had expected.
Each had four dark-red roses surrounding white flowers which made the red stand out more. The green thread shaped into leaves were scattered around by the small white flowers, accenting the colors.
“...Hey, Myne. These look pretty dang different from Tuuli’s. They’re, uh, real flashy.” The completed hairpins looked so good that Lutz actually flinched upon seeing them.
They looked better for two simple reasons. One, the thread was better. It was thinner and more silky, so the completed flowers in turn looked more delicate and, of course, silky. Two, the craftsmanship was on another level. I mostly made Tuuli’s hairpin by myself, but this time Mom and Tuuli helped, which resulted in much more finely crafted flowers.
“Don’t you think hairpins like this will look way better on her than something like Tuuli’s, considering the kinds of clothes she’ll be wearing and all that?”
“I dunno what would or wouldn’t look good on her.”
As Lutz shook his head, I crossed my arms and fell into thought. “Mmm, you’ll have to learn more about that. Benno’s store mainly deals in clothes and the like, and it seems like he’s been increasingly aiming his stock at nobles.”
Lutz’s eyes wavered. People tended not to like looking at their weak points head on. “Uuuh, Myne. What’re we gonna do with the hairpins now that they’re done?”
“I’ll show them to Benno and then deliver them to the guildmaster. Let’s go to Benno’s.”
I put the hairpins into a small basket and covered them with one of our more clean handkerchiefs so that other people couldn’t see them.
“You carry the basket, Myne. I’ll take the bag.”
My tote bag that was filled with the supply order stuff, a stone slate, and a slate pen was surprisingly heavy for me, so Lutz’s help was appreciated. I handed my tote bag to Lutz with sincere thanks and held the small basket myself.
“Oh, what brings you here today?” said Mark after seeing us.
“We finished the hair ornaments. I wanted to show them to Benno before delivering them to the guildmaster, but...”
“Alright, let’s see them,” said Benno from behind me out of nowhere, causing me to jump with a tiny shriek. I turned around and saw Benno, wrapped in regal clothing from head to toe. He must have just gone to visit a noble.
“Welcome back, sir.”
“Yeah. Follow me, you two.” Benno gave Mark a nod and then headed to his office with us in tow.
“So, where are they?” he said right after we sat down. I took the handkerchief off the small basket and held it out to Benno.
“What do you think?”
Benno took one of the hair ornaments out of the basket, looked at it, put it back, and then gave a heavy sigh. “...Myne, you didn’t have to give a discount on the second one.”
“Huh? But we were really overcharging them. Since thread is the only material we need to buy for these, we would have ended up with three whole small silvers of profit.”
“Learn more about the value of products, idiot. All the things you’ve brought me are luxury items. If you don’t understand how high-quality luxury items are priced, you’re going to disturb the market.”
“...I’m sorry.”
I knew by now that my sense of value conflicted with this world’s, and I understood that Benno was protecting me from sending the market into turmoil. I really did understand that clothes and fashion accessories were expensive, but I didn’t know how many of them were sold in the city and for how much since I didn’t have the strength to explore stores around the city. Especially since upper-class stores rejected entry based on age and clothing.
...Anyway. Luxury items, huh? The things I had brought him — shampoo, paper, hairpins — were just normal everyday items to me, but not to him. Not to this world. I knew that in theory, but it was hard for me to really understand it given my Japanese upbringing. All I was thinking about is: I want part of my old life back, and if it’s not available, I’ll use something in its place or make it myself.
“Mr. Benno, I want to deliver this to the guildmaster, but I don’t know how I should go about doing that. Right now I’m thinking I should set up an appointment to meet him.”
“Alright. This is a good opportunity for a lesson.”
He took out my supply order set and wrote on a board that I wanted an appointment with the guildmaster, as well as my name and my business with him.
“Hand this to the receptionist on the third floor of the Guild. When the appointment is settled, the receptionist will write the meeting time on the board and give it back.”
“Okay, I’ll deliver it on my way home.”
“Aaah, hold it. You two will be eaten alive if you go there alone. I’ll go with you.”
Surely he was exaggerating? We were just going to make an appointment.
After Benno changed clothes, we headed to the Merchants’ Guild. This time I used my own guild card to reach the upper floors. We reached the third floor with no issues. It felt like I had moved up in the world a little.
Subsequently, as taught by Benno, I handed the board to the receptionist. Lutz and I smiled at each other, filled with the satisfaction of a job well done, and started to leave. But before we could, the receptionist stopped us.
“One moment please. The guildmaster said that if children by the name of Myne and Lutz were to come, let them in immediately.”
“Bwuh?!”
The receptionist instructed us to go into the guildmaster’s room and as I panicked I heard Benno murmur “Figures.” If we had been alone, we really might have been eaten alive. Oooh, Benno, you’re a genius! I’m so glad you came with uuus!
We went to the guildmaster’s office, and although he grimaced a bit at the sight of Benno, he let us all in. “What brings you here today?”
“We finished Freida’s hair ornaments and are ready to deliver them.”
“Let’s see them, then.”
I took out my little basket and moved the handkerchief aside, then set it on the guildmaster’s desk and pushed it his way so he could see inside. I knew it would be fine since Benno gave them a passing grade, but my heart was still beating really fast.
The guildmaster peered into the basket, took one of the hairpins out, and investigated it with a serious look. He raised an eyebrow and looked at me. “...This hairpin is quite different from the one you showed me earlier.”
“I put extra effort into these so they would be worth their price. Do you think the other one is better? I talked with Freida and tried making them match her hair and outfit, but...” I paled, fearing that he didn’t like them, but the guildmaster shook his head.
“No, I am just surprised. I didn’t expect them to turn out so splendid. These will surely suit Freida perfectly.”
“I see. I’m glad.” I sighed in relief over not being rejected, and the guildmaster’s eyes shone with a sharp light. “Myne, you really should come to my—”
“We’re done here, Myne. Let’s go.” Benno grabbed Lutz’s and my arms and stood up before the guildmaster could even finish his sentence. I followed after him, thinking that it would be fine to leave now that our business was done, but the guildmaster stopped us with some degree of desperation.
“Now now, wait a moment. I would like you to deliver them to Freida directly. She was very happy to have befriended a girl her age. I myself was overjoyed that she finally made a friend in her age group.”
Wow... Freida made her first friend, huh? I don’t know who it is, but congratulations, I thought to myself, not really thinking about it too hard, when suddenly Benno crouched next to me and whispered into my ear.
“...You ended up friends with that geezer’s granddaughter?”
“Bwuh?! Me?! Umm... I wonder about that.” I knew that she had developed one-way affection for me, but I didn’t think you could call that friendship. But the guildmaster was so clearly happy about his granddaughter making a friend that I didn’t want to flatly deny it.
“I believe that she is waiting with snacks prepared so that you can visit at any time.”
“...Snacks, you say?” I said on instinct, seconds before Benno flicked my forehead. I knew he was saying “don’t show any openings,” but I couldn’t help but react to the sweet temptation of snacks.
“Perfect. I will take you to Freida.” The guildmaster must have been used to carrying Freida, as he picked me up with little effort and left the room.
“Hey, hold it. I’m going too.”
“If Myne’s going, I’m following.”
Benno and Lutz chased after us in a panic, having seen me being kidnapped before their very eyes.
Everyone had basically decided on us going to the guildmaster’s house, but it was pretty close to the inner wall and even farther away from my home than Benno’s store. To be honest, if we went all the way there, I didn’t think I’d have the strength to walk home.
“...Guildmaster, I’m really weak and I don’t think I can walk anymore today.”
“You don’t need to walk. We’ll be using a carriage.”
“A carriage?!” I hadn’t even considered riding in a vehicle. I knew that merchants and farmers had animal-pulled wagons that traveled along the main road, but in my demographic it was normal for each family to have only a single wagon, and only adults ever used them. Naturally, rubber tires didn’t exist here, so to pull a cart carrying a child would take an adult a lot of strength. No children could hope to pull one. Or really, no kid would be allowed to use the family’s precious wagon on their own in the first place. We just walked everywhere on foot. That’s how it worked.
Not to mention that horses were expensive. Donkeys were largely omnivores, but the feed horses ate was expensive enough that owning one was quite the financial burden. Ngh... Curse you, rich people.
While cursing the guildmaster’s wealth on the inside, we reached the first floor of the Merchants’ Guild and got into his carriage. By the time I snapped out of my fog of envy, Benno and Lutz were both in the carriage and we were all heading to deliver the hair ornaments to Freida together.
I had ridden in a wagon during last year’s winter preparations, but this was the first time I was riding a vehicle drawn by an animal. Lutz and I looked eagerly around the carriage, making the guildmaster’s lips curve slightly into a smile.
“Ohoh. First time in a carriage, Myne?”
“I’ve seen them passing by the gate and going along the main road, but nobody Lutz or I know owns a carriage.”
The carriage was sized to fit two adults, so there wasn’t much space inside. The two adults were sitting in the proper seats, whereas Lutz and I were barely squeezing onto a raised bump on the floor meant for placing luggage. We only managed to fit since we were kids, but even then, it was tight.
“...There’s not enough space. Benno, get out.”
“In that case, I’ll be taking Myne with me.”
Benno and the guildmaster glared at each other for a bit, and eventually, the carriage began moving with us all squeezed inside. It bounced along the road so much that it was impossible to sit still. Lutz was safe since he could cling to the handle meant for helping passengers step out, but I had nothing and thus came close to flying off my seat with each bounce.
“Uwaah, aaah!”
“Myne, c’mere.” Unable to keep watching, Benno sat me onto his lap and wrapped his arms around my stomach to hold me down so that I wouldn’t keep bouncing. The bounces were still enough to send me into the air, though, and if either of us let our guard down there was no doubt that my head would be sent flying up into Benno’s jaw for some critical damage. I had known that the carriage would bounce around a lot due to lacking suspension, but I hadn’t expected it to be this bad. Ngggh... Carriages aren’t graceful at all.
“Freida, Myne’s brought your hairpins.”
“Oh, Myne. Welcome.” Freida walked up to us with a gentle smile, her light-pink hair fluttering.
“Hi again.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Freida. I am Benno. Myne has told me much about you.”
“My my, I wonder what she said?”
...They’re both smiling, but this feels so terrifying! As my back trembled with fear at Benno and Freida’s greeting, Lutz squeezed my hand. I glanced at him and saw that he kinda looked pale. Neither he nor I could yet join the invisible war being held between merchants. I wonder if one day I’ll ever be able to gently smile at someone while sparks fly between us.
“Freida, I have business with Benno here. You can take the hairpins from Myne and pay them.”
“Understood, Grandfather.”
The guildmaster left it at that and headed to his room with Benno, while Lutz and I were taken to the same parlor as last time. Sweet drinks and snacks were immediately brought inside and the table was soon wrapped in a delectable scent.
“I know that we girls love sweet things, so I prepared to have this candy ready at any time in case you visited. Feel free to come play whenever you have the time, Myne.”
“Okay!” I answered with a huge smile, and then Lutz pinched my hand under the table.
...I can’t let her sweet temptation defeat me. I must stay strong. I must... nmmm, they smell so gooood...! There were honey-soaked nuts baked atop what looked like thin pizza dough on the table.
“Now then, Myne and Lutz, eat to your heart’s content.”
“Will do!”
Nom nom. There was plenty of honey and it tasted as delicious as it was sweet. What luxurious candy this was. Am I in heaven? While thinking about the nut tarts I had eaten in Japan, I indeed ate to my heart’s content. Eating sweet things made me as happy as I expected it to.
“Thanks for the snacks. It was really, really good.”
“I’m glad you enjoyed it so much. I’ll inform the chef of her success.”
Wooow... Hear that, Lutz? They have a chef. In other words, when the guildmaster said “she is waiting with snacks prepared,” he meant that she had a chef prepare snacks while she waited doing nothing. Talk about a gap between the rich and poor!
“So, may I see these hairpins you’ve made?”
“Uh huh. But first, I’ll give back the thread we had leftover.”
“...My my, you don’t have to do that.”
“I insist. This thread is too expensive for me to just take.” My experience with the guildmaster and Freida had led me to know one thing for certain, from the bottom of my heart: There was nothing scarier than something free. You couldn’t let yourself casually take free things. You had to resist their tricks and temptation.
“Now then, I hereby present to you, Miss Freida...”
“Myne, we’re friends now, you don’t have to be so formal.” With a cute, adorable little girl smiling at me like that, I couldn’t just say that we weren’t friends. I searched for an escape route while floundering.
“But you’re my customer.”
“I see. Then with this, I am no longer your customer.” With a smile, Freida pulled the basket toward her. She then placed six small silvers in front of Lutz and me.
“I’ve accepted the products and paid their price. Now we can become friends without any hesitation.”
With my escape route blocked off completely and Freida’s clear unwillingness to accept no for an answer weighing down on me, I gave up and nodded. Really, thinking about it, there wasn’t any reason for me to feel bad about making a friend just because she was a little weird and had a deceptive appearance. I was pretty weird myself, too. I should be optimistic and happy about this. Mmm... I guess I should be a bit more casual around her then.
“Umm, okay, Freida. Want to take a look at the hairpins?”
“But of course.” Freida pinched the handkerchief and pulled it aside. She took a hairpin out of the box and her eyes widened. Her cheeks flushed with joy and a smile arose on her face.
“My my! How splendid! My baptism is in the winter after snow has fallen and there are no flowers or plants to use as hair ornaments, so I’ve been jealous of kids born in the summer and autumn for all my life. I’m truly glad that I will now be able to adorn my body with vibrant greenery despite the cold winter.”
“I’m glad you like them.” Speaking of which, I remembered Tuuli mentioning that she had planned on just using a random flower she would find somewhere to decorate her hair. These hair ornaments might end up selling better in the winter.
“Try putting them on. I want to see how they look on your hair, Freida.”
“I’m not sure how to put them on. Would you do it for me, Myne?”
“Sure. Lend them here.” I stuck the pins of the ornaments by the pieces of string bundling her hair up into the aforementioned twintails. The deep red roses looked good on her light-pink hair, and her air of maturity instantly shot to the next level. Mhm, mhm. I knew roses were the right idea.
“You look cute, Freida. Almost like a flower fairy.”
“You exaggerate. You’re like my grandfather.” Freida blew off my compliment with a giggle, but I wasn’t exaggerating. Freida looked so cute that I wouldn’t be surprised if someone kidnapped her, assuming they didn’t know about her hobbies.
“I’m not exaggerating. You’re cute and they look really good on you. Don’t you think so, Lutz?”
“Yeah. I didn’t think they’d look this good before I saw them on you. But now I know Myne knows her stuff here. You look crazy cute.”
Freida puffed out her cheeks and blushed a little, making it clear she wasn’t used to being complimented much. It was the kind of thing that made me certain that she really didn’t have any friends or siblings.
At first, situations like this would have made me freeze up, but living here had gotten me a lot more used to functioning in society. I exchanged compliments with my friends and family all the time. I complimented Tuuli to death and Tuuli complimented me too. Even Lutz would compliment me when I did something well, so yeah, I had gotten used to praising others. Freida’s behavior was a little weird to me.
“Still though, to think you could make such realistic flowers with mere thread...” Freida took a hairpin out and investigated it thoroughly, just like Benno and the guildmaster had done. Her eyes now had the sharp look of a merchant’s.
“It’s not that hard. Even I can do it.”
“...Discovering the way to do something is very important, Myne.” Freida let out a sigh and gave me a surprisingly serious look. “Wives and daughters of wealthier nobles at times wear colorful, tightly woven veils, and some wear true flowers stopped in time with magic. But no one has ever worn a hair ornament sewn like this before.”
Maybe this kind of thing was never discovered because nobles, those who bought most luxury goods, just compensated with magic. I hmmed to myself in thought and Freida continued to describe how amazing my hairpins were.
“We have much embroidered clothing in our home, but nothing that pops like these flowers. They are all flat. It is not an understatement to say that realistic flowers made of thread such as these are revolutionary,” said Freida, making me realize for the first time why Benno had been so dumbfounded at me charging half price.
These hairpins were made with fundamentally new techniques. They stood out among all other hair ornaments in the world, and honestly in almost a bad way. Um... Have I maybe made a huge mistake here? As the blood drained from my face, Freida squeezed my hand.
“Myne, it seems that there is surprisingly much about the world you don’t know. From now on, I would like you to come visit me to talk, not for business. I’ll have plenty of sweet snacks ready for you, so let’s have fun chatting as just girls.”
“Oh, that sounds like—” Fun, I was about to say, before someone pulled my hair. I reflexively turned around and saw Lutz shaking his head with a grim look. Ngh... That was close. I nearly agreed on the spot after hearing “girls’ talk.”
If I had agreed there, it was very possible that Lutz and Benno would be eliminated from my life, so to speak. I fell silent, not knowing what to say, so Lutz answered for me.
“We’re gonna be real busy from now on. Sorry, but she won’t have the time to come play.”
“My, I don’t believe I asked you, Lutz,” said Freida with a smile, but really, I needed Lutz to go with me in the first place.
“Myne’s family doesn’t let her go anywhere outside without me. She can’t come here if I don’t go too.”
“...Ah, I see. There’s no helping it then. You can come with her, Lutz,” agreed Freida with a nod, understanding the situation on the spot likely due to her past of being sick with the devouring.
But Lutz didn’t nod back. He was standing firm in rejecting her offer. “Like I said, we’ll be busy. It’s about time for winter preparations to start for real. Our families will be working together to survive the winter, so nobody’s gonna have the chance to go out alone for some chatting. Plus, once snow starts falling, Myne won’t even be able to go outside. You can understand that, right?”
Indeed. Unlike Freida’s rich family that could just buy all their firewood, we poor people had a really hard time preparing for winter. We needed to collect a lot of wood, make candles, and all sorts of things. It seemed that Freida wasn’t entirely ignorant of that, as she slumped her shoulders and gave up on inviting me over. “...It’ll have to wait until spring, then.”
“Won’t you start apprentice work in the spring, Freida? You gonna be alright?”
“That won’t be an issue. I won’t have apprentice work every day, after all. Once spring comes I’ll have plenty of candy waiting, so please visit when you can.” We would probably be busy with paper-making come spring, but Benno seemed to be hiding that from the guildmaster, so I couldn’t mention it carelessly. I nodded and looked at Lutz.
“You know, Lutz, you didn’t seem too tempted by the candy. Why’s that? Normally you would be all over food.”
“Benno told me to keep my eyes open, and anyway, the parue cakes you make taste a lot better. I like constant good food more than having sweets only sometimes. I don’t want them to steal you away, Myne.”
Lutz, hungry as he tended to be, valued a lifestyle filled with regular meals more than one with occasional sweets. It might be a good idea to thank him for his help here by bringing him a new recipe.
“I’ve never heard of a parue cake before. If that’s a kind of sweet Myne developed, I would quite like to taste one.”
“Wha? Um, well...” I naturally couldn’t offer a rich girl like Freida a meal made from parue leftovers, known to most as bird food. Her doting grandfather would probably go mad with anger, and the chef likely taking care of her diet would flip out.
“Are you saying you will cook for Lutz, but not for me?” Freida lowered her eyes in sorrow and a critical tone came into her voice, which made me worry a little, but parue cakes seriously weren’t fit for a rich girl.
“The ingredients are just a bit iffy... I don’t think they’re something a high-class girl like you would want to eat, Freida.”
“This isn’t fair,” said Freida, pouting so hard her lips were pointing straight out.
But even with pouting that cute, reality wouldn’t change. I didn’t have any food that I could bear to let Freida eat. Not to mention that I would need help making the food. There wasn’t much I could do on my own. The only reason I thought up so many new recipes for Lutz was because there were four boys there willing to work hard to eat. Making something for Freida would be out of the question without proper ingredients and help. Anyone hoping for strength out of me, a girl suffering from the devouring, or Freida, a rich girl who once suffered from the devouring, just didn’t understand how things worked.
“Ummm, how about, when spring comes, we make candy together using the ingredients you have in the kitchen? With your chef helping us. That way I don’t have to worry about cooking with low quality ingredients and we’ll have someone strong to help us. What do you think?”
“My, how wonderful! It’s a promise.” Once we settled on when we would make sweets together, a knock came on the door, followed by Benno and the guildmaster entering the room.
“Hey, you three done here? We’re leaving.”
“Uh huh. And, um, Mr. Benno. About this money...” The six small silvers Freida paid us was actually a lot of money. I was honestly scared to carry them on my own. When I held them out to Benno, he looked at the guildmaster.
“Would you mind us borrowing this room for a minute? I want to finish sorting this money out before we leave.”
“Certainly. I’m the one who forced them to come here in the first place. Take your time.” Benno waited for Freida and the guildmaster to leave the room, then took the silvers and started lining them up against the table.
“Three of the small silvers go to me for the handling fee and materials, the rest go to you two. If only you hadn’t made the second one half price, both of you would’ve gotten two small silvers. Too bad, huh?”
“...No, this is fine. If we made more money on these hairpins than we already have, I would feel bad selling the future hairpins for cheap,” I said, making Benno snort and take out his bag of money, which functioned as this world’s equivalent to a wallet.
“How do you want to split the money? Will you take it all home?”
“I’ll store the small silver in the Merchants’ Guild and take home the five large coppers.”
“Same.”
As if having expected us to do that, Benno took out his guild card and the large coppers. I pressed my card to his, wrapped the five coppers in a handkerchief, and put them in my tote bag.
“The guildmaster said he’d give you a ride to the Guild in his carriage. Go along with him.”
“What about you, Mr. Benno?”
“I’ll walk to my store. That carriage is too small for all of us. Come see me tomorrow afternoon, since the thread’s being delivered then. We’ve gotta decide on a price for the hairpins.”
What had Benno and the guildmaster talked about in there? He seemed a lot less on guard than he used to be.
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