Printing Guild
The High Priest used a magic tool to look into the memories I had of my past life. That really surprised me, but I understood his reasoning fairly well. There was no better way to prove to him that I was innocent and not a threat. And as it turned out, the magic tool proved to be beyond incredible. Using that tool, I could read any book I had read in the past simply by visiting the world of my mind.
I asked the High Priest to use the tool on me again, but he shot the idea down hard.
...I know he only looked into my memories to determine my worth and see whether I’m a threat, but still, what would be the harm in doing me a favor and playing around sometimes? High Priest, you big meanie.
I was complaining a bit, but in truth I really was grateful that the High Priest ultimately decided I wasn’t a threat and that I could continue inventing new products under Benno’s supervision. Thanks to that, I could keep living my life as usual without anything really changing.
...Not to mention, I learned a lot from all that.
I learned how well my old mom had cared for me, and how much my current family is caring for me now. I wanted to pay my family back in this life, to make up for how I hadn’t managed to in my past. I wanted to value my time with them, rather than simply treating it as a normal and insignificant part of my everyday life.
“Myne, we started printing picture books yesterday, making them alongside the paper.”
It was the day after my dream experience, and Lutz was telling me about how the Myne Workshop was holding up as we walked to the Gilberta Company for what felt like the first time in quite a while.
“So, Lutz. How many picture books do you think you can make? How much paper did you end up finishing?”
“I think eighty books is the best we can do, and that’s if we also use the paper we’re making now. We can make seventy-five books with what we have at the moment—seventy-six at best—but I know you said you wanted to make as many as possible at once.”
“Uh huh, thanks. I know it’s harder now that it’s getting cold, but I’m counting on you.”
According to Lutz, the second printing of the children’s bible would end up producing about eighty copies. They wouldn’t take that long to finish, since the gray priests who had learned how printing worked last time would be handling it together. With that sorted, I just needed to think about selling the picture books.
I looked at my feet and muttered, “Maybe we should make a new guild for this.”
“A new guild?”
“Uh huh. Like a Printing Guild, or a Publishing Guild... The books we’re making in the Myne Workshop are unlike any of the books nobles have, right?”
The books that existed prior to our own were bundles of parchment, each individually written by hand. Colorful and detailed illustrations were added to the pages and the leather covers were studded with gold and jewels, making the books into works of art worth their extravagant cost.
“The books we’re making can hardly be called art, yeah,” noted Lutz. “They’re picture books for kids, after all...”
“And the production process is entirely different. I only know this because the High Priest told me, but it turns out that other books aren’t just made in a single workshop.”
Up until now, every step in the process of creating a single book had required contributions from craftsmen of numerous different workshops—someone to write the text, someone to draw the art, someone to gather the paper and bind it into a book, someone to make the leather cover, someone to embed the gold and gems into that cover, and so on. Due to that, no single workshop dedicated to books existed in the world.
However, the books made by our own Myne Workshop used printing technology, and thus a single workshop could make multiple copies of the same book all at once. It would introduce an entirely new line of work. The bookmaking profession had been born overnight, so a guild was necessary to secure rights to the technology and profits, and to organize workshops to maintain a certain standard of quality.
“First I need to talk to Benno, but... Well.”
If I started selling books, I would need to go through Lutz to sell them to the Gilberta Company. In which case, it was Benno who would need to add making a Printing Guild to his list of work. After all, it was hard to imagine him entrusting that kind of work to someone else. Maybe it would be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.
“The Gilberta Company’s a clothing store, right? Then there’s the rinsham workshop, the Plant Paper Guild and its workshops, the Italian restaurant we’re hoping will be done by spring...” I listed off every job I knew Benno had, shocked by how I was involved in basically all of them. “There’s so much to do, and we’re adding the Printing Guild on top of all that. I’m scared Benno will get so busy he just collapses.”
If Benno died from overwork, would I be responsible? Lutz shook his head as I paled with worry.
“Master Benno’s busy ’cause he wants to be. It’s not anything you need to get anxious about. We only need to worry when Mark starts stepping in.”
Considering that Benno took on extra work out of choice while Mark simply followed from behind to make sure everything went well, I decided that I should worry about Mark dying from overwork first.
“Myne! What the hell did you do this time?!”
Benno’s lightning struck the second I stepped into his office. I hadn’t even mentioned the Printing Guild yet—in fact, I had come to talk to him about it before doing anything myself, so I had no idea why he was so mad. All I could do was shake my head, blinking in confusion and trembling with fear.
“Wh-What are you talking about?! I haven’t done anything yet!”
“I got an order from an archnoble—he’s telling me to make new ceremonial robes for you as soon as physically possible. Of course you did something! So spit it out! What happened?!”
I immediately understood what Benno was referring to and clapped my hands together. “Ooh, by an archnoble you mean Lord Karstedt, right? He’s the captain of the Knight’s Order, you know. I’m glad he kept his promise. I was kinda worried that he wouldn’t... What a relief.”
“Not for me! My heart almost stopped when an archnoble summoned me outta nowhere, idiot!” scolded Benno. “Tell me when stuff happens!”
After imagining myself in his place, the blood drained from my face. Being summoned by an archnoble you didn’t know out of nowhere would be nothing short of terrifying.
“I-I’m sorry! I was bedridden with a fever and forgot all about it.”
Not to mention that I had been told not to discuss matters of the Order with anyone, so I hadn’t even given details to Lutz or my attendants. The idea of reporting anything to Benno hadn’t even come to mind.
“Well, whatever. I nearly had a heart attack, but now I’ve got a connection to an archnoble. I’m gonna exploit this opportunity as much as I can. Anyway... Didn’t we just finish your ceremonial robes the other day? What happened to those?”
“I was told not to say anything since it involves the Knight’s Order, but long story short, they got completely ruined.” With thoughts of the ripped-up robes in mind, I slumped my shoulders and made an “X” with my arms in front of my chest.
Benno scratched his head. “No helping that, then. I can guess this is one time I’ll be better off not knowing. But with that said, if you’re not here about the robes, what’ve you got for me?”
“We’ve started the second round of bible printing, and I thought it would be best to talk to you about how we’ll sell them. You made a Plant Paper Guild for the plant paper we made, so I was wondering if you might want to make a Printing Guild for the books.”
I explained why I thought a Printing Guild might be necessary while looking at my diptych, and Benno nodded while rubbing his chin.
“A Printing Guild, huh? That’ll be necessary sooner or later, and we don’t want anyone stealing away the rights to your inventions, so we might as well go ahead and make one now. Myne, how many books do you have right now that you can sell?”
“...I can use some of the ones we’re about to make as textbooks, so we can sell the twenty I made earlier if necessary.”
I ultimately hadn’t needed to sell any books when I was buying clothes. I had given away five as gifts and left another five in the dining hall, but the other twenty were still sitting stacked in the workshop.
“Lutz,” said Benno, “go get them from the workshop. We won’t get permission to make the Printing Guild without real-life examples.”
Lutz ran off to the temple, leaving me behind to answer any questions Benno needed to know for the guild-establishing paperwork. He seemed so busy scrawling on the wooden boards that I couldn’t help but watch with my brow furrowed, worried that I really was giving him too much work.
“...Benno, won’t making a Printing Guild on top of everything else be a little too much work for you?” I asked, worried. “Will you be okay?”
He glanced at me and gave a snort. “That’s nothing for you to worry about. And we may be making a guild here, but it isn’t gonna lead to many other printing workshops popping up.”
“Wha? Why not? I need more printing workshops to appear so they can fill the world with books.”
“First of all, the market’s too small; not many people buy books. Second of all, there’s still not many plant paper workshops out there. Nobody even knows how to make the printing ink you use either. Things just haven’t developed enough yet for more workshops to be possible. That’s why going ahead and making a guild now won’t lead to much extra work.”
Benno had been extremely busy when he made the Plant Paper Guild since he had to combat vested interests while also establishing workshops before anyone else could. But in the case of the Printing Guild, not much would happen since the components needed for printing hadn’t been assembled or spread yet.
“I can’t believe I worked so hard to make printing happen and it’s not even leading to more books. I’m glad you won’t be busy, Benno, but I’m not happy at all to hear the Printing Guild won’t be flourishing.”
“Whether the Printing Guild will end up busy or not depends on how much people like those books you’re making,” muttered Benno while scribbling away at the paperwork.
I began to muse on our customer base and the country’s literacy rate. “I think that the children’s bibles will be well-liked by nobles with young kids... particularly laynobles and mednobles, since they aren’t that wealthy overall. For that reason, I’m planning to keep making picture books about gods and knights and so on for a while.”
I had thought a lot while sick in bed. Particularly about the magic weapons the Knight’s Order had used while fighting the trombe, divine blessings, and the Healing Ritual. The glowing batons they all had were likely catalysts for using magic, so using mana to change their shape was pretty easy. But when it came to blessings, rituals, and other large-scale uses of magic, it became essential to use the names of the gods. All the difficult prayers I had to memorize involved them, as did the one used by the knights to enchant their weapons with the God of Darkness’s blessing. I had even given a blessing accidentally just by mentioning one god’s name in my prayer.
Put simply, in noble society, it was absolutely vital to learn the names of the gods to perform any kind of significant magic.
“Nobles have to learn the names of the gods, no matter what. And large store owners with connections to nobles need to memorize the names of the gods too, right? I remember you said a god’s name when greeting the High Priest, Benno. I think that we could sell our books to both nobles and rich store owners if we put emphasis on how productive they’ll be for learning.”
“...You’ve been learning more about nobles bit by bit over there. If that’s what you think, I’d say you’re probably right. But they just don’t look good the way they are right now. You really should work on getting leather covers for them,” said Benno.
But I shook my head. “No, they’re fine as they are. I think it would be better for anyone who wants a leather cover to just order one themselves from a leather workshop that already makes book covers.”
“Your reasoning?” Benno’s gaze sharpened, his dark-red eyes shining with curiosity.
I held up a finger, pointing it straight toward the ceiling. “First, to spread the workload. If you order the leather covers yourself through the Gilberta Company, you’ll have to order them all from the same workshop. I don’t think putting that much strain on a single workshop is good for quality or for timely deliveries. The principle of economic competition is really important here.”
“Oh yeah, you hate exclusivity and all that.”
Benno seemed to have interpreted from our discussions about the Italian restaurant that I hated having dedicated workshops. However, I didn’t hate the idea itself.
“I actually think it’s fine to have a preferred workshop you stick to, but not when it prevents you from ordering from another workshop even when you know your preferred workshop won’t be able to handle all the work. Not to mention that I think letting one workshop monopolize work will lead to a lot of conflict.” I pursed my lips, and Benno let out a snort.
“Next?”
“Second, to let customers tailor books to their own tastes,” I continued, now with a second finger raised. “If they’re going to be spending so much money on a book, they’ll want it to be exactly how they like it, right? I think customers will end up more satisfied if we just let them order the kind of covers they want. That way they won’t have to remove the ones we make to put their own covers on. The books made at our workshop are just bound with string, so it’s easy to take them apart and customize them.”
While I explained, I thought about our second batch of books. My intention had been to use the hide glue I had gone out of my way to make, but if we were making the books with the understanding they would be customized, it would probably be better to stick with binding that used only string.
“Third is time. It will take a lot more time to make books if each one needs a fancy leather cover. The Myne Workshop’s key strength is that it can produce a big batch of identical books in a short period of time, which would be undermined by the time it takes to make leather covers. I would rather spend that time making other kinds of books.”
I was more concerned with the quantity of books in the world than making sure each was a beautifully wrought work of art, so I would hate for each book to take a long time to make. That was purely a personal bias, but still. I wouldn’t budge on it.
“Fourth is the price. If the books aren’t cheap, our already small customer base won’t grow, and the most important thing for us is getting the books sold in the first place. Not to mention, even poor nobles who just want the pride of owning books can make excuses about the lack of a cover by saying their preferred workshop is busy, and I’m sure there are customers out there who are only concerned with the contents of the books, not their appearance.”
Benno frowned as I finished listing off all the reasons why I didn’t want to give the books leather covers.
“I get that you want to sell the books as cheap as possible to circulate them as much as you can. Too bad that’s the exact opposite of what a merchant would do. I want to jack up the price as far as it’ll go and get all the profit I can.”
According to Benno, it was common practice to focus on visual aesthetics to boost the value of a product. The price would then be increased until customers could just barely afford it to make as much money as possible.
“...Will my way not work?”
“If you’re only sticking to this town then probably not, but it’s actually not too bad of an idea if you’re thinking about selling them all over the country. You’d just need to focus on how they’re different from existing books.” Benno closed his eyes briefly, then looked at me with the opportunistic gaze of a merchant.
“I’m talking from my gut as a merchant here, but... I get the feeling that when it comes to books, I should let you do what you want wherever possible. I just wanted to hear your reasoning, since this is new territory for everyone,” he said, thereby granting me permission to sell my thread-bound books as they were.
“Okay then, let’s price them as low as we can while still breaking even.”
“Nah, we’re still gonna turn a profit here. Spread the books while still making money, idiot.”
...Grr, it always comes down to profit with Benno.
Lutz returned with a bag full of books right as we were finishing the paperwork. I sold them to Benno, and just like that I had three large gold coins. On one hand I was sad that it would still be quite some time before books could be sold cheaply, but on the other I was relieved to have a decent amount of money again. I could use it to buy a little more food for myself and the orphanage before the snow started to fall.
“Myne, we’re heading to the Merchant’s Guild.”
Benno had Lutz carry the books and picked me up as he always would when we headed to the Guild. The moment we set foot outside we were greeted by the sight of various carts passing by, loaded with crops. Farmers were selling their produce as the city began to prepare for winter, and since a lot of people were buying in bulk, the streets were far busier than usual. The air reeked with the stench of people all over making fatty candles.
“Actually, Benno—do you think nobles would buy candles that don’t smell?”
I had heard that rich nobles used candles made from beeswax, but maybe nobles who wanted a cheaper alternative would be interested in regular candles that didn’t smell. I asked Benno his thoughts while thinking about the herb candles we had made at the orphanage, and his eyebrow shot up as he looked at me with disbelief.
“Candles that don’t smell, you say?”
“Oh, Myne, are you talking about the candles you salted out then mixed herbs into? I haven’t used any of them myself yet, but the candles themselves sure smell less than normal ones.”
“Lutz! You didn’t tell me about those!” yelled Benno, which made Lutz’s jade eyes widen.
“What...? I told you about them when I gave my report on the orphanage’s winter preparations. I think you probably ignored them since you were so focused on the hide glue.”
“Aaah... That’s possible.”
Hide glue was a lot more interesting to Benno than candles, so much so that it had dominated his attention. Hide glue did already exist in this world, but people usually only bought what they needed when they absolutely had to, and nobody made it themselves outside of workshops that needed glue for their products.
“In my neighborhood nobody salts out their candles because they’re poor, but I was wondering if rich people salted their candles out at all. Are the candles you use yellow, Benno? Or are they white?”
“They’re a light yellow, ’cause they’re half fat and half wax.”
“That means even rich people don’t salt them out, then.”
Benno had mentioned that he used money to take care of as much of his winter preparations as possible. If he wasn’t familiar with salted-out candles, it was safe to say nobody in the city was.
“I just buy my candles instead of making them, so you should probably sell that info to a candle workshop or a guild.”
“Okay, I’ll go to a candle workshop in the spring to sell the information, then have them help me make waxed stencil paper.”
As we continued talking about paper, we passed through the busy second floor of the Merchant’s Guild and ascended to the third. As Benno spoke to the receptionist there about registering the Printing Guild, Freida came out of a back room wearing her apprentice outfit, her pink twintails fluttering as she gave a small smile. Perhaps due to her having grown since I last saw her in the summer, she looked a lot more like an adult than I remembered.
“Ahah! It’s good to see you, Myne.”
“Long time no see, Freida. How are the pound cakes selling?”
The last time I had seen Freida was during the pound cake taste-testing event in the summer. It had been a huge success, with both the name “pound cake” and its various flavors spreading through the upper class like wildfire, shooting up Freida and Leise’s reputation in the process.
“They are selling magnificently—even the nobles love them. Many are even asking if I have any other sweets up my sleeve. Myne, would you like to answer their calls? I will buy the recipes at a fair market price,” said Freida with a smile.
I looked up at Benno. The moment we made eye contact, he gave me a solemn stare that I immediately understood as a firm “no.” Though, to be honest, I probably would have sold her a few recipes on the spot had I still been broke. Having financial leeway is very important.
“I think Benno might kill me if I do that, and I have enough money right now, so maybe next time.”
She must have expected that Benno wouldn’t give his permission, as she simply put a hand on her cheek and said “Oh well” without really looking that disappointed.
“...I grew quite worried when I heard you had entered the temple, but I can see that you are doing well. Has your Devouring heat calmed down? Have you found a noble to sign on with?”
“Thanks for thinking about me. My Devouring is fine now, but I’m definitely not going to sign on with a noble either way. I would rather be with my family.”
“Oh, really? Surely there have been many petitioning for you,” said Freida, her head tilted in confusion.
I was likewise confused; not a single noble had petitioned for me or anything of the sort. “Nobody’s petitioned for me, and I don’t intend to sign on with anyone anyway. Because I mean, I’m going to get a little baby sibling in the spring. How could I sign on with a noble when I’m going to be an elder sister?” If I signed now, I wouldn’t even get to see the baby’s face. That would just be too much.
“My my, congratulations. Tell your mother she has my well wishes. Incidentally, do come over to visit when you have the time. Leise is waiting for you.”
“...Mm, I think I’ll be busy for a while. There’s just so much I need to do.”
I had been extremely busy ever since I started going to and from the temple. Excluding days I had off due to being sick, I was so busy that there simply weren’t any days where I could just relax around the house.
“Does this new guild you’re making have something to do with why you’re so busy, Myne?”
“Uh huh. It’s what I want to do most, so...”
We were using thick paper as stencils now, but I wanted to move on to proper mimeograph printing. And if possible I wanted to dabble in movable type printing as well. I still had a lot of work to do on improving the paper, not to mention the ink. My mind was fixated on books, and even though I was busy, I was having a ton of fun.
“It’s what you want to do most...? Does it involve books, then?”
“Yep! I finished my first book. I’m going to make and sell a lot of them now. You should buy some too, Freida.”
“I’m afraid I can’t promise anything without seeing one first,” replied Freida with a slight smile and a shake of her head.
Not even our friendship was enough for her to buy a book on word of mouth alone. Just what I would expect from an apprentice merchant who put even Benno on guard.
I took a children’s bible from the bunch Lutz had brought and held it out to Freida. She had the business acumen of a rich girl raised to be a merchant, and I wanted to use this opportunity to hear what she thought about them.
“Here, one of the books. What do you think?”
Benno must have been just as interested in her opinion as I was, as he stopped writing on a form and shifted his gaze toward Freida. She looked at the book with narrowing eyes, appraising it from a merchant’s perspective.
“...This certainly is a book,” Freida observed while flipping through the pages. “But only the inside of one, it seems?”
I had put flowers into the cover pages, but it seemed that as far as people used to books were concerned, a paper cover was as good as no cover at all.
“That flowery page is the cover page. The plan is for customers to order the kind of covers they want from their preferred workshops. Those without a preferred workshop can ask the Gilberta Company for an introduction.”
“It’s nice that one does not have to rely on the Gilberta Company’s preferred workshop,” noted Freida while glancing at Benno. “How much does this book cost, then?”
I looked at Benno to answer for me. I didn’t know how much of a profit he intended to make from the books.
“One small gold and eight large silvers. Interested?”
“Yes, of course.”
Freida immediately tapped cards with Benno to purchase the children’s bible. I was impressed that she was willing to buy the book on the spot, but even more so that Benno was aiming to make three large silvers off each individual book. Maybe I should have increased the price to get a little bit more money for myself, too.
As I slumped in disappointment, upset at myself for not being a good enough merchant, Freida shut the picture book and smiled.
“Myne, I would recommend that your next picture book be about the gods of each season. I am having quite a rough time memorizing the gods subordinate to the Eternal Five.”
The picture book I had made discussed the king and queen gods, plus the five central gods that formed the seasonal cycle. The multiple subordinate gods beneath each of the Eternal Five hadn’t shown up at all. By letting me know what she wanted from books, Freida was telling me what all children of nobles and rich people would probably want to know. Requests like that made it easy to decide what book to make next.
“Thanks for the idea, Freida. My next picture book will be about the subordinate gods.” I noted that down on my diptych, which made Freida widen her eyes a bit. She peered over, with her eyes soon locking on the stylus.
“Myne, what is that? Does Benno have the rights to it already?”
“...You sure have a nose for profit, little girl.” Benno let out a sigh of rugged admiration as he looked down at Freida, who in turn exhaled in disappointment.
“My greatest regret is that you found Myne before I did, Benno. A sharp nose means nothing when the treat is out of reach.”
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