Diptychs and Cards
We left the smithy and went to a carpentry workshop. It was a short walk since both were in the craftsman’s alley. We passed by about three workshops before arriving at a large door with a carved design on the front, showing a chisel and a saw crossed in front of a large tree. Benno opened the door and walked in while still carrying me.
“I’m Benno from the Gilberta Company. Is the foreman here?”
“Sorry. The foreman is out right n— Wait, Myne?!”
“Oh, this is the workshop you work at, Sieg?”
There was a familiar face at the workshop. Lutz’s second oldest brother Sieg, who was just the perfect height to make eye contact with me in Benno’s arms, was standing with his jaw dropped.
“...You know this kid?”
“He’s Lutz’s older brother. Out of all three, he’s the second oldest.”
Benno set me down, at which point Sieg finally managed to notice Lutz. I could hear him whisper, “Is that really you, Lutz?”
Lutz always got changed in the room he was borrowing from the Gilberta Company. No doubt this was the first time Sieg had ever seen Lutz wearing his apprentice clothes with his hair brushed. He looked completely different wearing his work clothes than he did when wearing his normal clothes and hauling a basket to go to the forest and such.
“Hmph. Lutz’s older brother, huh? I’m here to make an order. “
“O-One moment, please. I’ll go get my supervisor.” Sieg hurriedly dashed into the store, and after a moment’s wait, a somewhat wider man came out.
“Heya, Benno. Welcome. What can I make for ya this time?”
Benno called for Lutz, who put the diptych I was making for Fran on the table. Benno then stated his order while pointing at it. “I want you to make a wood cover the same size as this. Put my store’s crest on the front, and carve my name on the back.”
The supervisor took out a low-tech tape measure and measured the diptych all over while writing measurements onto a board. As they began discussing what kind of wood to use, the spelling of his name, details of the crest, and the kind of lettering to use, Sieg popped back out to the front of the store, probably concerned about Lutz’s presence.
“Sieg, can I make an order too?”
“You, Myne...? Sure, I guess.”
“I want boards that are thin, but hard. All the same size, which should be about...” I started to estimate the size with my hands, so Sieg hurriedly went and got a tape measure. After deciding on the width and height, we determined the thickness. Then I told him, “I want seventy of these.”
“Seventy?! What do you need that many for?”
“Eheheh, I’m going to make (karuta) for the thirty-five letters of the alphabet.”
Gil and Delia were apprentice attendants. But they were illiterate, and apparently attendants needed to know how to read and write so they could do paperwork, write their master’s letters, and basically do a lot of things that Fran was doing for me. I could tell clear as day that Gil would get jealous if I gave Fran a gift but not him. When I thought about what gift I could get Gil, the first thing I tried to think of was something that would help him have fun learning to read.
Karuta were a kind of Japanese playing cards, and if I made them out of sturdy wooden boards, then all the kids in the orphanage could have fun playing with them. The orphans would have to learn to read eventually, so they might as well get a head start with something fun.
“Karu-what? Are you making something weird again?”
“Uh huh, I sure am. How long will it take?”
“...Won’t be too long, it’s basically just cutting them to be the same size.”
“Just cutting it won’t be enough. You need polish it so the corners and sides are smooth.”
“Like that hair stick of yours?”
I gave a big nod and Sieg scratched his head. Polishing each one individually would probably take a lot of time, but I wasn’t in that much of a hurry to finish the karuta boards.
“It’ll take about ten days for the other stuff I’m ordering to finish, so just finish them before then if you can.”
“Yeah? That’s plenty of time.”
“How about I pay twice as much for each board as I did for the hair sticks you made for us over the winter?”
“I’ll have to ask my supervisor about that. I’m not too good with prices,” said Sieg.
Sieg’s supervisor seemed to have finished his discussion with Benno a moment ago, and had been listening in on our conversation. “What’d he make for you before?”
“Sieg helped us make hair sticks for our winter handiwork. One middle copper each.”
“So that’d be two middle coppers each this time, huh? Not a bad price for a personal request, but it’s hard to say that’s a fair price for a workshop job, yeah?” The supervisor spoke with a grin, but I hadn’t actually offered a particularly low price. I knew the price of wood from buying lumber for our paper, and I knew the wages that craftsmen were paid.
Lutz must have noticed the same thing, because he looked at the supervisor with sharp eyes. “If we assume that this workshop’s handling fee is thirty percent, then given the price of wood and the pay of craftsmen, Myne’s offer was actually more than enough to cover this job. Especially since she’s not ordering just one, she’s ordering seventy. You’re looking down on Myne because she looks like a pre-baptism child, aren’t you?” finished Lutz with a smile closely resembling Mark’s, making the supervisor flinch.
“Lutz! What’re you doing?!”
“My job.”
Sieg yelled like he usually did when bullying Lutz at home, and Lutz replied without taking his eyes off the supervisor. It seemed that Benno and Mark had trained him extremely well, given that he could negotiate with an adult on equal terms. He had come so far from a year ago, when he wasn’t even able to read more than a few numbers and had rejoiced over learning to write his name. His growth was inspiring.
“Sieg, don’t interrupt, Lutz is negotiating with the supervisor right now. You just said you don’t understand prices much, didn’t you?” I threw Lutz a helping hand and Sieg looked between him and me with distress written on his face.
“But Myne, Lutz is... He’s...”
“He’s working really hard as an apprentice merchant. Just like you’re learning the skills necessary for your job, Lutz is leaning the wisdom and techniques necessary to be a merchant.”
In this world where practically all information had to be earned through direct communication, it was extremely rare for kids to successfully find jobs without their family’s help. I could imagine that Lutz’s family had continued to reject his employment without ever actually seeing him do his job. I was probably witnessing the first time any of them saw Lutz at work. Sieg looked at Lutz with a conflicted expression, like he wanted to say something but wasn’t able to.
“Sieg, why not be happy that Lutz is working hard and being successful?”
“......”
Lutz and the supervisor ultimately settled on the price I had first suggested. Benno, who had been fondly regarding Lutz’s personal growth, lifted me up with one arm and used the other to ruffle Lutz’s hair while walking out of the carpentry workshop. Over his shoulder, I could see Sieg frowning.
Ten days later, the styluses and the boards which would become karuta were finished. Naturally, the diptych frame Benno ordered was finished too. He took the ornately carved frame to his store, looking pleased, and poured wax into it to finish the job.
“So, Myne. How do you use this thing?” Benno held up his diptych, looking excited. Lutz was holding his own, and seemed interested too.
“These exist to make it easier to write notes on the go. You can write letters in the wax by using the stylus stuck to the rings. The frame is small enough to hold with one hand, and unlike paper, it’s firm enough to write on without pressing it against a surface. The good thing about diptychs is that you don’t need a servant holding ink following you around.”
Benno promptly held up the diptych with one hand and wrote on it. He carved into the wax with the pointed tip, leaving marks within. “...I get it. The marks stay in the wax.”
“That’s right, and they won’t go away when you close it, unlike how easy it is to accidentally rub the markings off of slates. But since there’s limited space, you should rewrite the notes on paper or boards once you get home. Once that’s done, you can use it again by smoothing out the wax... I think.” I had never actually used a diptych before, though I had read about them in books. They said that in the past, tax collectors had jotted notes on them while sitting on the backs of horses.
“Even if the wax inside starts breaking up, you can just dig it out and pour fresh wax inside. So... do you think these will be good products?”
“They’ll sell exclusively to merchants and nobles, since most commoners are illiterate. With that demographic in mind, we’ll need to work with a carpentry workshop that can deliver high-quality engravings. But the convenience of just being able to write on the spot without ink makes up for it.” Benno listed his thoughts on the diptych while stroking the engraving of his crest.
“Will they sell well?”
“Probably with merchants, but I don’t know about nobles. They have attendants carrying pens and ink at all times, after all. Though... no reason nobles wouldn’t buy them for their attendants, now that I think about it.”
“I actually thought of these while watching Fran work. The ones attendants use won’t need that much decoration, which should save on costs.”
“Alright, I’ll buy the rights.”
I promptly sold the rights to diptychs to Benno. The Myne Workshop couldn’t make them since they needed metal styluses, and in any case, I needed the money immediately.
“By the way, Myne. What’re you gonna use the boards for?” Benno asked about the boards currently stuffed haphazardly into a bag. The carpentry workshop didn’t offer any particular bagging services, so you brought your own bags to carry your order home. Once the karuta were done, it would probably be smart for me to ask Dad to make me a convenient carrying case.
“These are (karuta). They’re not finished yet; I’ll need to write on them first. Half of them will be picture cards, one for each letter of the alphabet, with the picture being something that has its name start with that letter. For example...”
I opened my diptych, drew a picture on the left side, then wrote the letter on the right side: a picture of a stylus and the letter S. That was basically half of what fully fledged karuta would be. I then added the line “Stylus: What you use to write on a diptych” beneath the letter.
I showed my creation to Benno proudly, but he looked at me with something closely resembling a horrified grimace. “...Are you planning on drawing all of these?”
“Yes? I don’t want to trust this to someone who isn’t familiar with karuta. After all, I intend to give them to Gil as a gift.” But for some reason, Lutz was cradling his head.
“Myne, let someone else take care of these. Especially the art. With skills like that nobody will even know what the drawings are supposed to be. Think about how Gil will feel getting these.”
“Yeah. Your handwriting’s great, but your art is awful,” Benno added.
Their merciless criticism made me gasp. I wasn’t that bad at drawing. At the very least, nobody had called me bad at art back in my Urano days.
“...M-My art’s not bad! It might look odd since I took some artistic liberties, but that’s what it means to be a trailblazer! The world will understand my talent sooner or later, it’ll be fine.”
“Yeah, you’re not fooling anybody. Give up and face the facts. You need to let someone else draw the art for you. Got it?”
I’m not bad...! I’m not!
Since I didn’t know whether Benno and Lutz’s appraisal of my art was accurate, I went to my temple chambers the next day and asked my attendants.
“...And that is what Benno told me,” I explained, showing Delia my art in the diptych. Her eyes widened.
“Well, it looks like he was right. Have you never seen a piece of art in your life before, Sister Myne?”
“Nah, she’s gotta have seen the art in the temple halls and stuff. She’s just bad at art, plain and simple.”
Delia and Gil launched spears through my heart. Wounded, I turned to Fran, only to seem him averting his gaze while furrowing his brows uncomfortably.
“...Well. In a manner of speaking, your art is very unique.”
My attendants had been raised in a temple where the chapel, halls, and so on were filled with high-class paintings and sculptures, not to mention the decorations in the blue priests’ rooms. To them art needed to be realistic and detailed, with my kind of cutesy simple art flying in the face of what they were used to.
“Sister Myne, might I suggest that you entrust the art to Wilma? She received art lessons from the blue shrine maiden she served in the past.”
“Really? Art lessons? Attendants can do art too?”
“...Different masters require different talents from their attendants.”
Upon being baptized, orphans became apprentice gray priests and began doing laundry, cleaning the chapel, sweeping the halls, and so on. During that time one might be chosen by an attendant to become an apprentice attendant thanks either to their hard work or the whims of circumstance. Once selected as an apprentice attendant, their home would move from the orphanage to the Noble’s Quarter. They would do work more or less like normal servants in the Noble’s Quarter while being taught by their elders how to become proper attendants.
“For that reason, all attendants are taught how to welcome visitors, but the exact details of their job depends on the priest or shrine maiden that they are serving.”
“Some apprentice shrine maidens are taught how to offer flowers,” chimed in Delia, “and some apprentice priests are taught to specialize in math.”
I nodded at their explanation, intrigued, and turned to Gil. Naturally, his opinion was the most important since the gift was ultimately for him. “What do you think, Gil? Should I ask Wilma?”
“Huh? Me? Why ask me?” Gil looked confused, so I explained that they would be a gift for him.
“...You snuck food to the orphanage children every day, didn’t you? You worked the hardest for them and I want to reward that.”
“A reward, huh? Eeeh...” Gil began to agonize over his answer the moment he learned the context. He blushed increasingly over time for some reason and ultimately cradled his head. “Guh. It’s too embarrassing, I can’t say anything...!” he mumbled to himself. He even started groaning while walking in circles.
Maybe he had some particular feelings for Wilma. I watched on warmly, thinking that he was probably too embarrassed to go talk to her, until eventually he lifted his head with his resolve steeled.
“The art’s fine with me either way. You should ask Wilma if you don’t have the time, but yeah. All I want is that you write the letters, Sister Myne. ’Cause, your letters are pretty, and, uh... gah, aaaaah!” Unable to bear the embarrassment, Gil dashed out of the room and down the stairs. I heard the loud slam of a door being thrown shut. He was probably holing up in his room, trembling with embarrassment.
“...What do you think, Sister Myne?”
“I think that Gil is not used to giving praise, and him fighting against his embarrassment to praise me was very cute. I would thus like to dedicate my all to making this karuta set..”
“In that case, I advise asking Wilma to draw the art,” said Fran while blatantly holding back a laugh, thereby deciding my course of action. The conversation trailed off and Fran started to get back to work, so I hurriedly called out to him.
“Wait, Fran. This is for you.”
“...For me?”
I took out the diptych I had made for Fran. It was larger than mine so that it would be easier for him to hold, but they were still a matching pair.
“You have the most work out of any of us, don’t you? You’re my only adult attendant, but now you have a lot more work since I went and became the orphanage director. It must be really rough on you, and I’m grateful that you’re working so hard for me. This is my way of rewarding you.” I explained to Fran how to use the diptych, and when I told him that I had thought of making it after seeing Fran troubled at the gate, he smiled with his brown eyes crinkling.
“To think you would make a new product for me immediately after the idea struck you... I would like to master the management of your health soon, Sister Myne, so I might honor your gratitude.”
I noticed Delia watching Fran hold the diptych, envy clear in her eyes. She was as easy to understand as ever. “These are for you, Delia,” I said. “You didn’t go to the orphanage, but you’ve worked hard keeping the first floor clean and greeting visitors while Fran and Gil were busy.”
“What are they?”
“A stone slate and a slate pen. Please practice the alphabet with them. Attendants need to learn to write letters for their masters, do they not?” I wrote Delia’s name on the slate and handed it to her. She pored over the letters with her eyes locked on the slate. I had thought that she might be somewhat literate compared to Gil, but it looked like she might not have been taught any of the alphabet at all while with the High Bishop.
“This is your name, Delia. You should start practicing by writing your name. Okay?”
Some time passed and Gil finally calmed down and came out of his room, so I gave him his stone slate and slate pen too. He immediately began competing with Delia over who could learn to read faster, and with their enthusiasm inspiring me, I began writing out the karuta while paying close attention to each letter. I selected exclusively words related to gods and the bible so that Wilma with her temple upbringing would have an easier time drawing the art.
When Benno saw the finished product with my letters and Wilma’s art, he immediately wanted to buy the rights to karuta, but I wanted to make karuta sets in the Myne Workshop for the kids. So even though Benno would normally buy total rights to a product so he could have full control, this time I made him incorporate that the Myne Workshop could continue making them, plus a thirty percent cut of profits for the idea. That meant that from now on I would earn some money each time a karuta set was sold.
I let out a sigh of relief with the knowledge that my metaphorical wallet would soon be heavier. Entertainment products and educational tools might sell pretty well.
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