Tools and Selecting a Workshop
Benno had been all like “spit it out” with total self-assurance, but I figured that this was a good opportunity to ask for an information fee, just like with the rinsham.
Observing him carefully, I began to speak. “Since we won’t be seeing any of the profits earned by the Plant Paper Guild, I would like to receive an information fee for teaching you the manufacturing process of paper.”
“...Alright, sure. How much do you want?” Benno grinned and tapped the table. To be honest, I had no idea what the proper price for this kind of information would be.
“Ummm, how much are you willing to pay, Mr. Benno?”
“Name a price and I’ll pay it. How much?” Benno, knowing exactly how I was feeling, grinned and threw the ball in my court.
The only frame of reference I had for information fees was the three small golds he paid for the rinsham information. The fact that Benno went out of his way to make a guild for this paper made it clear he expected it to sell extraordinarily well for a very long time.
“Ngh, I... I want twice as much as you paid me for the rinsham information.”
“Sure. C’mere.” Benno took out his guild card and waved it in the air. He accepted my price with his grin not faltering for a moment. Maybe I should have asked for more money? I just didn’t understand how much the information was worth. Still uncertain, I took out my guild card and tapped it against Benno’s.
I fell into thought, groaning a little, when Otto crossed his arms and looked at Benno. “Even supposing you decide on how many tools to get, how big to make them, and so on after asking Myne for details, shouldn’t you still take the tools in the storage building and start making paper now, as soon as possible?” said Otto.
I gasped at the idea. “Those are property of the Myne Workshop! We won’t be able to make our own paper if he takes them! No!”
“...I mean, the storage building itself belongs to Benno, so...” butted in Lutz. I pursed my lips, pouting, and looked at Benno. We would be in trouble if he took our tools away to use himself. And in any case, those tools weren’t fit for mass-producing paper.
“Still, it’s not right. The Myne Workshop’s tools aren’t made for mass production.” Benno raised an eyebrow, confused, so I started to explain. “Our tools were built with completing prototypes in mind, and they’re smaller, lighter, and simplified so that we kids can use them. They aren’t fit for mass production. There’s also a lot of alternative tools we’re using to avoid making you pay too much.”
“Huh? Why are you holding back when he signed a contract to fund you? Shouldn’t you take advantage of that and get all the best tools you can?” said Otto, his tone making it clear he thought we were being stupid. But I hadn’t even considered exploiting someone else’s money for my own benefit. At the time, it was hard for me to get my hands on a single nail. My mind was focused entirely on minimizing expenses.
“I’m not that kind of person. Or maybe I am now, a little, but I didn’t used to be.”
“Hey, you don’t need to be greedy with me. But anyway, why aren’t your tools fit for mass production? Just ’cause they’re smaller?” asked Benno, so I tried thinking of the simplest example.
“The smaller the tools get, the less efficient they are. For example, we’re using a suketa that makes one contract sized piece of paper, but an adult would be able to use a larger suketa. It would just be a waste of time to make one piece of paper at a time when you could be using larger tools and making four pieces of paper in the same time frame.”
“Yeah, sounds like using the same tools as you would be a waste.”
“Also, Lutz and I are just using a tub, but you’ll want something called a ‘sukibune’ to hold more water. And we’re using chopsticks Lutz made in place of a rake, but I can’t recommend that you do the same.”
“Those sure are a lot of tools I don’t recognize.” Naturally, since I hadn’t ordered any of them. Benno tapped his temples while glaring at me. But no matter how hard he glared, I wouldn’t hand over my current tools.
“Mmm, I think it will be hard for you to understand what our tools are and how we’re using makeshift tools to compensate for what we don’t have unless I physically show you what we’re doing while explaining.”
“Alright, I can make time tomorrow. I’ll come watch. This’ll be a good opportunity since I’ve never seen what you two have done with the place.” He settled on that instantly, but I hurriedly tried to remember what part of the paper-making process we were in.
“The thing is, we just finished making the paper today. Tomorrow we’re just drying the paper and don’t have anything in particular to do, so I was planning to go to the forest to get more materials.”
“Oh? So in other words, you’re starting with step one?”
“That’s right. We’re going to chop wood, steam it, and peel the bark off. Then we dry it in our workshop.”
Benno nodded as he listened. “Alright, I’ll send Mark with you,” he said, so I tried visualizing Mark going with us to the forest.
...Mr. Mark, chopping wood and peeling bark in the river? That doesn’t suit him at all. Rejected.
“Mr. Mark is a gentleman too pure for rugged nature. He wouldn’t look right at all cutting wood and peeling bark. But... you would be fine working with us, Mr. Benno.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?!”
“You’re the one who wants to know what we’re doing, so I think you should come with us.”
“That’s not what you just said.” Benno frowned, but since he really did want to see the whole paper-making process for himself, he decided to go with us. Before I knew it, we had agreed to go to the forest and work together tomorrow.
The next day, when Lutz went to get the storage building key from the store, he found Benno there waiting in a work outfit. Lutz stealthily told me that Mark came out to say goodbye and was very worried that Benno would go on a rampage or something of the sort.
“Surprised you two can work in a cramped place like this,” said Benno after entering the Myne Workshop and looking around. He was used to working in a large store with plenty of space, so a storage building just barely big enough for two kids to walk around must have seemed tiny to him.
“It’s fine when it’s just us, but it does feel cramped when you’re in here too. Well, we do most of our work outside, so that’s not a big deal.”
As usual, we prepared the tools we needed to harvest raw materials and whatnot before heading to the forest. We had a pot, the steamer, a bucket, and some firewood. This time my basket had nothing but the chopsticks, a board to use as a plate, potatoffels, and butter.
Benno offered to carry some of Lutz’s stuff, but Lutz shook his head. “I’m used to it, uh... sir. It’d be a bigger help if you carried Myne.”
“You carry all of this stuff each time, Lutz? That must be rough,” said Benno, impressed, as he picked me up, basket and all, to put on his shoulder.
“Hyaaah?!”
“Hold on tight. And at least give me that wooden frame thing. You look like you’re about to get crushed, it’s hard to watch.” Benno took the steamer in one hand and started walking. I bounced on his shoulder as he took wide strides forward. Shaking in fear, I clung to his head for dear life.
“Um, we settled on a pot this small so Lutz could carry it, but smaller pots means less wood steamed per trip. You should consider whether you want a much bigger pot, or if you want to set up a bunch of tiny pots. A workshop near the river would be best so you don’t have to carry the pots to it.”
“Hmmm...”
We had an adult with us today, so we didn’t have to leave with the group of pre-baptism kids like usual. We skipped by the meeting place and went directly to the south gate from the storage building. There we saw Dad and Otto talking about something.
“Hi Dad, Otto. Be back soon.” I waved at them as we passed and they both looked at me with surprised eyes, then came jogging over.
Dad narrowed his eyes at Benno. “Myne, who’s this?”
“It’s Mr. Benno, the merchant who’s been helping me a lot. This is my dad, Mr. Benno.”
Otto’s shoulders trembled as I introduced my dad to Benno.
“What’s wrong, Mr. Otto?”
“Nothing, it’s just... Benno totally looks like he’s your dad right now...”
“Shut it, Otto. I’m a bachelor.” Benno dropped a fist of anger on Otto’s head and resumed walking, a little faster than before.
...Wow, Benno’s single? That’s surprising, he’s kinda old. Definitely close to thirty. People married young here and even my dad was thirty-two years old. It was odd that Benno was close to thirty and still hadn’t married.
“Mr. Benno, are you not going to marry anyone?”
“...Yeah, probably not.”
“Would you mind if I asked why? I’m just curious, you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”
“Well, not like I’m keeping it a secret,” replied Benno with a forced smile. “When I wanted to get married, I had my hands full supporting my family. By the time my mother died and Corinna was married, the girl I wanted to marry was dead and gone. There’s not a girl in the world better than her, so I won’t get married. It’s that simple.”
...He said it was simple, but that sounded like a heavy and complicated story to me. I slowly let out a sigh. Benno’s reason involved a person close to him dying. I couldn’t dig further or joke about it. I just silently patted his head, which made him force another smile.
“What’s with you all of a sudden?”
“Nothing really. I just thought a lot of people must be bothering you about marriage and successors since you run a large business.”
“Yeah, pretty much. But things have calmed down a lot now. I’ll train Corinna’s child to be my successor. That was my condition for letting those two marry.” Oof... Good luck, Otto.
As I prayed for Otto in my heart, we exited the dark tunnel passing through the gate, and the paved road turned into a bumpy dirt road. The air became fresh, the landscape spread before my eyes, and overall I felt like a bird being set free from its cage.
“Mm. Been a while since I’ve gone to the forest.”
“That reminds me, you mentioned going parue-gathering before. I thought that merchant children didn’t go to the forest. Freida was suggesting she only even went there on picnics, or something like that...” I still hadn’t forgotten the shock of her saying us going to the forest every day was like having a picnic every day.
Benno let out a laugh and gave a nostalgic smile. “It was back when I was an apprentice. I snuck out of my house on my days off, y’know, all secret-like.”
“You snuck out...?”
“All the kids my age who came to the store as apprentices talked about going foraging in the forest. How could I not be interested? And aren’t there still kids like that sneaking out?”
“...Aaah, now that you mention it, when apprentices come with us there are some new faces now and then.”
Even baptized apprentices sometimes went to the forest on their days off to gather or hunt. Unlike pre-baptism kids, they could go to the forest and back on their own, so many of them left without joining the group. Some apprentices brought their friends to the meeting place. That was how Benno had gone to the forest, it seemed.
“How do merchant kids pass the time?”
“At my place, I basically just studied. Studying how to interact with customers. Going to the market, looking at the prices, and calculating expenses. Learning to tell who was from the city and who wasn’t. Judging the quality of the products, from good to bad...”
His entire lifestyle had been built around trade and business, so I couldn’t understand it from a brief explanation. All I knew was that his childhood had been entirely different from ours. “That’s is pretty different from how we live.”
“I’m guessing the children of smaller stores have different lives too.”
We carried everything to the riverbed. Lutz checked the hearth, then placed the pot on top of it. He drew water from the river and poured it into the pot, then set the steamer on top. Today I was throwing in some potatoffels, too.
“I’m gonna go cut some wood. Benno, maybe you can...”
“Lutz, you’re gonna be my apprentice. Call me Master Benno. Also, keep yourself clean, using rinsham or whatever. Don’t come into my store dirty.”
“Alright. What are you going to do, Mr. Benno? Wait here with Myne or come chop wood with me...?”
“I want to see what kind of wood you gather, so I’ll go with you.”
Lutz and Benno went looking for wood, so I gathered up sticks near the pot to add to the fire and waited. Soon they returned with arms full of branches. Benno raised an eyebrow at the sight of me just sitting next to the pot.
“You’re not gonna do anything, Myne?”
“What do you think I can do, Mr. Benno? My job is to sit here and rest. If I collapse here, there won’t be anyone who can carry me all the way back.” I had been told to do the bare minimum of movement when Lutz wasn’t around. Me acting solo caused more problems than not most of the time.
“...Lutz, you’re surprisingly patient with her.”
“That’s right. Lutz is amazing.”
“Quit it, Myne. I’m gonna go gather some more wood.” Embarrassed, Lutz glared at me and fled the area.
After we watched him go with smiles on our faces, I took out my knife. I separated the wood they got into volrin wood and firewood, then chopped up the volrin wood to fit in the steamer while talking to Benno about Lutz.
“I’m telling you, Lutz really is amazing. I wouldn’t have survived this long without him. He saved me the first time the Devouring almost swallowed me up. And he even looked after me before all this stuff ended up being worth money. He’s been making things with me for a while.”
“...Yeah, so I’ve heard. Is that why you’re backing him up?” For both the winter handwork and paper-making, I could have monopolized all the profits for myself. Benno, as a merchant, couldn’t understand why I was splitting the rights and profits with Lutz.
“Mhm. Lutz helps me out, so I want to help him out too, however I can. All I can do is think up new products, and that’s just turning into money because you buy them for us.”
“...I see. Looks like I’ve really gotta make sure Lutz joins my store.”
“Thank you.”
Benno put a hand on my head. That felt like a subtle way for him to say to trust him, which was relieving.
Lutz came back once I was finished chopping the volrin wood into equal length parts. I added water to the pot and took the potatoffels out of the steamer while putting the volrin wood inside.
“Lutz, I need butter! Right now!”
“I know!”
Lutz put butter in the potatoffels. Benno looked at the potatoffels lined up on the board we were using as a plate and frowned, just like Lutz had.
“Mr. Benno, Myne’s cooking tastes great. Even ‘buttered potatoes’ are something else.” Lutz grinned and bit into a potatoffel, so Benno shrugged and grabbed one himself.
“...Not bad.”
“Eheheh. The steaming packs them full of flavor and they taste even better when you eat them hot while you’re outside in the cold weather.”
Benno was taking a look at the pot after eating the potatoffel, so Lutz and I went foraging. We found some herbs and wild vegetables. Lately it was much more rare for me to pick poisoned food. Things were looking up.
Once the wood was steamed, we dunked them in the water and started peeling the bark. Benno helped with the bark-peeling, but since he wasn’t used to working with his hands, he was surprisingly inept and the bark ended up all crumbled. At this rate, his help would make us run out of our black bark.
“Mr. Benno, that’s enough bark-peeling. Could you please help Lutz clean up?”
Once I finished peeling the black bark, we returned to the workshop and set it up to dry. Benno scrunched his nose as he helped us put the bark onto the nails to dry. Unlike us, he was tall and didn’t need to use a stool to reach the shelves. I was jealous.
“The bark won’t dry like this if there’s too much. You’re normally supposed to dry them on drying rack like this.” I drew examples on my stone slate to explain what tools we lacked. Benno nodded, asked questions, and examined our tools.
“We let the black bark dry until it’s all crackly. If you don’t dry it properly, mold will start growing. Then we dunk the dried bark in the river. We leave it there for a whole day.”
“Sounds easy to steal.”
“It would be. That’s my biggest concern with it. As long as you know how to make paper, the bark is a good source of money. That’s another reason why I think the workshop would best be located by the river,” I explained while tapping the bag of ashes in the corner of the storage building.
“We peel off the black part of the bark after dunking it in the river, then boil it with ashes, then dunk it in the river again for another full day. Boiling it with ashes softens the fibers.”
“Oh hoh.”
“After that, we pick off all the dirt and broken fibers in the wood and beat it with this wooden club thing until it gets all fluffy. We also bought this one to match Lutz’s size, so an adult could use a larger and heavier one to be more efficient.” I pointed at the stand and the square lumber used as a club. Benno picked it up and swung it around experimentally.
“Yeah, you’d definitely want a heavier one to crush stuff.”
“Then, you take the fluffy fibers and mix them with a sticky substance called ‘tororo’ and water to make pulp water. Right now we’re using a tub with this suketa, but an adult will want a bigger suketa and a bigger tub called a ‘sukibune’ to make more pieces of paper at once. Right now we can mix the pulpy water around using the chopsticks Lutz made for me, but with a larger tub you’ll want basically a large rake or comb to mix it all together.”
I drew examples on my slate as I explained and Benno stroked his chin, nodding.
“Then, we shake and angle the suketa to get paper of equal thickness and size. Once that’s done, we pile them onto the draining bed. They dry naturally, like you can see over there. Tomorrow we’ll put a weighted stone on them to dry them further. That gets rid of the sticky tororo. Once that’s done, we’ll stick each individual piece of paper on that board and dry them in the sun. Then we peel the dry paper off the board and that’s that.” I finished explaining the process and Benno let out an impressed sigh.
“Gotta say, this is more complicated and time consuming than I expected.”
“Since you can do other work while the paper is drying, it doesn’t feel like it takes that much time. And you’ll be busier than us since you’ll be mass-producing it. Also, it’s really hard to go into the river this season.”
Benno, who had gone into the river to help get water in the bucket, nodded firmly. “This is gonna be one workshop that closes during the winter.” The river froze during the winter and wood became too hard to be useful for paper-making.
“You can’t make paper without a river, so think carefully about where you want to set up the workshop.”
“Yeah, I got it. Seems like things are gonna get busy for me.” Despite talking about being busy, Benno looked more than excited. I smiled and wished him good luck.
At the time I was thinking that would be all Benno’s problem, but in reality, it was Lutz and I who ended up busy after Benno used his newfound knowledge to seek out a workshop.
Mark visited us while we were making paper to accompany us to craftsmen all over so we could give them details on the tools. We had no choice but to follow after he mentioned that the information fee included our help here.
By the time the tools were made, the people were gathered, Benno had the process down pat, and a workshop was more or less ready, spring had started turning into summer.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login