Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 4.8 - Chapter 3

Discussion with the Plantin Company

I was in the winter playroom, advertising the upcoming book sale. Our star product was doubtless going to be the Rozemyne Workshop’s collection of Ahrensbach knight stories, as told by Aurelia. I was really looking forward to the whole event, since I expected that it would lead to a huge spike in stories from other duchies gathered at the Royal Academy next year.

“Stories from other duchies? That sounds delightful.”

“After reading so many tales set in the Royal Academy, I’m dying to attend myself.”

Such praise came from the children too young to be students themselves. Most of them were taller than me, but it was still cute to see them chattering in excitement.

“Ehrenfest books are starting to have an influence even in the Royal Academy,” I said. “Do read them carefully before you attend. And if you share the books you have with your friends, then you can read an even greater selection.”

Books were expensive, even for nobles. Few houses could afford to purchase several volumes at once, so instead, they would save up to buy one and then exchange it for others. Plantin Company sales could only be increased so much in Ehrenfest, which was why I needed to sell to other duchies as well.

“Hartmut, Sylvester’s scholars will contact the Plantin Company when the date is set, correct?” I asked. “Add a line to today’s message requesting that they see me in the morning on the day of.”

“Is there something about the castle’s yearly book sale that you need to discuss with them?” he asked. “I believe they are quite busy that day due to their meetings with the giebes...”

This year, the Plantin Company was having to speak with Haldenzel and Groschel too, since they were going to be selling the books printed in their provinces. I needed to attend those meetings as well to ensure both that the Plantin Company wasn’t bullied into submission by the giebes and that the giebes weren’t scammed by Benno.

“I intend to inform them of our printing deal with Dunkelfelger, for it will be discussed at the Archduke Conference,” I said. We needed to speak with the Plantin Company about the book rights we had won from our ditter game against Dunkelfelger and about our plans for the future. We required this information before we could discuss it at the conference.

“Understood,” Hartmut replied. “I will go to the archduke’s office.”

“It is time for your meeting with the Plantin Company, milady.”

After receiving this news from Rihyarda, I exited my room with my scholars in tow. Charlotte was already waiting outside the door, while Wilfried was standing at the bottom of the stairs.

“We must discuss things with the Plantin Company before the books can be sold, correct?” Charlotte asked. “This will be my first time attending such a meeting. I have asked your knights to contact them before, Sister, but it was always your knight and attendant in the playroom who dealt with everything.”

I already knew from Ferdinand that Damuel had worked exceptionally hard while I was asleep in the jureve, but Charlotte was the one who had actually taken up the task of running the playroom. According to her, my guard knights had provided a great deal of assistance.

Charlotte turned to Damuel and said, “You were such a great help.” He gave a humble nod in response.

“Damuel is very skilled at paperwork as well,” I declared from inside Lessy, “and even in the temple, he is often invaluable. Ferdinand entrusts more work to him than to just about anyone.”

“I see,” Charlotte replied. “His efficient delegations and precise instructions truly moved me.”

Back when Charlotte had first come to the winter playroom, she had proven to be entirely clueless, unable to give proper orders even to her own retainers. She explained that my guard knights had done much to support her at the time.

“I was surprised that all of your guard knights are so capable when it comes to scholar work,” Charlotte continued, staring at me in admiration. I glanced over at Angelica, tempted to point her out as the lone exception to my sister’s compliment, but I chose to hold my tongue and smile instead.

By the time we arrived at the meeting room, discussions between the giebes and the Plantin Company were already underway. I could see Benno, Mark, and Damian. We exchanged noble greetings, and after confirming that the book sale would proceed just as last year, Damian left with the playroom attendants to prepare.

“Now, regarding the sales of any books not made in the Rozemyne Workshop...” Benno said. He then went on to explain things for my siblings’ scholars, who had never attended one of these meetings before.

All of our books had thus far been made in the Rozemyne Workshop, but we were now building new printing workshops in other provinces. Today, they were discussing the commission that the Plantin Company would charge for selling books made in Haldenzel and Groschel until they could establish their own bookstores, and the Plantin Company would serve as a sales channel into other duchies. These first deals were going to be crucial.

Our negotiations began with us considering the many stages that were going to be involved in the sales process, such as how the books were going to be transported to the castle, when they were going to be sold, and where we intended to store them.

“I can see that you charge quite a lot more to have the Plantin Company collect the books...” Giebe Groschel said, fixing Benno with a doubtful, searching look.

“Transportation costs are significant,” I replied with a smile. “We nobles can use teleportation circles, but commoners primarily use boats or carriages to transport goods. The time investment and amount of manpower required are by no means small, and the speed at which they can travel will depend on how far the locations are from each other and whether the roads are well paved. All of these variables must be considered when working out the cost, which is why Haldenzel would need to pay more in transportation fees than Groschel.”

Sending the books to the castle using the teleportation circles used to move taxes would require mana but not cost any money. Alternatively, using commoners to transport goods would remove the mana cost, but it also introduced the risk of goods being damaged on the bumpy roads. There was also the transportation fees to consider, which would reduce the amount of potential profit unless the price the goods were being sold for was raised to compensate.

“For now, we can send the books alongside our taxes to reduce the mana expense, but that option will not last forever,” Giebe Haldenzel said with a grimace, aware that Elvira’s Love Story Authors Squadron was growing in power and selling increasingly more books. Eventually, there would be too many to make teleporting them worthwhile.

“At the moment, I am researching teleportation circles and experimenting with lowering their mana expenditure,” I said. “By the time every province has a Printing Guild and printing workshop, teleporting books should be quite affordable.”

“You certainly have great foresight, Lady Rozemyne.”

“Wait, when did you start doing that?”

The giebes were looking at me with wide eyes, as was Wilfried. It seemed that, unlike Ferdinand, they hadn’t realized that I was doing this entirely for my own benefit. I deepened my smile, keeping that knowledge to myself.

“The research is being done by someone so talented that Ferdinand took them on as a disciple, so we can expect them to provide excellent results.”

Once the matter of transportation costs was settled, the commission for selling the books was decided without issue. The tension drained from the room at once.

“That settles the discussion between Haldenzel, Groschel, and the Plantin Company.” I turned to the two giebes. “You, Wilfried, and Charlotte may depart.”

“What are you planning?” Wilfried asked, his green eyes sharpening as he looked between those of the Plantin Company and me.

“I have further matters to discuss with the Plantin Company,” I said. “I must report upcoming plans, and I have other personal questions as well.” I needed to ask about the young Klassenberg woman they had taken as a lehange and about the Gutenbergs in general, if time permitted.

“Is there something that you don’t want me to hear?”

“Not in the least. You are welcome to stay if you have the time and interest.”

“I, too, wish to hear more about the printing industry,” Giebe Groschel said. And so, he, Wilfried, Charlotte, and Giebe Haldenzel stayed. It meant that I couldn’t bring up anything too personal, but there was no reason I could give to refuse them.

I turned to Benno. “At the Royal Academy, we are borrowing books to transcribe and getting apprentice scholars to gather stories from other duchies. I expect that books containing these stories will spread throughout the Royal Academy next year.”

“Throughout the Royal Academy next year, you say?” Benno asked. I could tell that he was doing a bunch of calculations in his head.

I gave a nod. “They won’t actually be sold until next summer, and since picture-book bibles are so useful for improving one’s grades, we do not intend to spread them yet. Our focus is primarily on knight and romance stories. Those in the Royal Academy seemed quite receptive to them this year.”

Benno’s dark-red eyes gleamed, like those of a predator eyeing its prey. The air in the room sharpened, and as the discussion turned into a bloodthirsty business meeting about profits, I couldn’t help but grin.

“During the Interduchy Tournament, we won the rights to publish books from Dunkelfelger the Second,” I said. “The details are going to be settled at the Archduke Conference, and the deal shall serve as our basis for the contracts we make with other duchies. I thought it best to discuss these terms with you before the conference itself.”

I couldn’t just leave everything to Sylvester’s scholars, considering how inexperienced with printing they were. We needed to decide the terms and conditions we would give Dunkelfelger in advance, so they could serve as a foundation for future deals.

“Lady Rozemyne, are you truly making books containing stories from other duchies?” Giebe Haldenzel asked.

“Indeed,” I replied with an enthusiastic nod. “The bulk of our duchy’s knight stories are based on those I gathered from children in the winter playroom. They were exceptionally delighted to see their own tales published. If we are to start selling to other duchies, we are more likely to garner their interest by having stories from their homes.”

“I see. Then you will need love stories from other duchies as well...” Giebe Haldenzel murmured. Hearing the words “love stories” come from such a stone-faced man was strange, to say the least, but he clearly visualized such tales purely as products to be sold for profit. It seemed that he also understood commoners, and an instant later, he was thinking about how to involve his province’s printing industry in my plans.

Giebe Groschel, in contrast, appeared to be lost. He sat still, his brows drawn together in a deep frown.

“Haldenzel is making the books Elvira and the others write, so I imagine there are many manuscripts to be printed,” I said. “Groschel does not have any writers of note yet, as I understand it, so if you like, you can print the stories we gather ourselves.”

I wanted to compile knight stories from all over Yurgenschmidt into a single collection, and Roderick’s ditter story wasn’t yet printed either. At this point, there were more stories than there were printing workshops, so having Groschel take some was more than ideal.

Giebe Groschel stared down at me with a start. “Yes, I would very much appreciate the opportunity,” he said, taking the offer immediately.

“Furthermore, Lady Rozemyne,” Benno noted, “we have a report from the Gutenbergs. According to Johann, the smiths from Groschel are improving considerably. He expects to return them home in spring. As for Zack, he says that he has finished the job you gave him. He wants to know whether he should deliver it to your room in the temple or the castle.”

The job he was referring to was the mattress. I smiled; my comfy bed was finally complete.

“Have it delivered to the temple,” I said. “We may settle the details when you give your next financial report.”

“And finally, regarding the Klassenberg merchant that we are hosting for a year...” Benno said, bringing up Karin before I even needed to ask. “Her work as a lehange is spectacular. There have been many occasions when I have had no choice but to bow to the power of a greater duchy merchant, and we are looking to incorporate many of her ideas into our store. As it turns out, she also learned much about other duchies on her way to Ehrenfest. I pray that this is of some use to you.”

This prompted Mark to hold out a stack of papers, which Hartmut accepted and then gave to me. A quick leaf through the pages was enough for me to glean that the information was from not just the Plantin Company but from the guildmaster and other major store owners as well.

“You have my gratitude, Benno,” I said. “Aub Ehrenfest will surely rejoice.” As there were so many eyes on me, I couldn’t say anything more personal than that.

“You gather intelligence from commoners as well, Lady Rozemyne?” Giebe Groschel asked, blinking in surprise. There was a very firm and clear line drawn between the Noble’s Quarter and the lower city in his province. They were striving to listen to their workers when it came to the printing industry, but they hadn’t expected that there was anything else for them to learn from commoners.

“Merchants have many connections and can therefore acquire very valuable intelligence,” I replied. “They often know things one could never learn in the Noble’s Quarter. Wilfried, Charlotte, you learned a great deal while performing Spring Prayer and the Harvest Festival, did you not?”

They both nodded, having spent a great deal of time outside the Noble’s Quarter to oversee religious ceremonies. “Indeed. There is much one could not learn without seeing it with one’s own eyes,” Charlotte said.

“The commoners thanking us when we use our mana for their sake motivates us to work harder,” Wilfried added. “It reminds me that I need to become a good archduke one day.”

It was Giebe Haldenzel who blinked in surprise this time; then, his expression softened. “Commoners cannot live without our mana, but we nobles would suffer without commoners. If you understand this and work with it in mind, then you will surely become a good archduke.”

Wilfried was regularly mocked from the shadows for the irremovable stain on his reputation, and cruel rumors claimed that he was becoming the next archduke not because he deserved it but because he was engaged to me. He was so familiar with insults that the giebe’s praise came as a genuine comfort, and with a proud smile, he said, “Thank you. I shall do my best.”

Charlotte was watching all of this very carefully indeed.

During the book sale that afternoon, the love stories that Elvira and her friends had written proved to be overwhelmingly popular and were selling like hot cakes. The Ahrensbach knight stories printed in Ehrenfest were a distant second, and those of the former Veronica faction came in cheerful droves to buy them. I purchased one as well, but not for myself.

“Lamprecht, do give this to Aurelia,” I said, offering the book to him. He was attending with Wilfried, serving as his guard knight. “Consider it my thanks for her giving us the stories in the first place.” She had so graciously shared these tales with us during the dyeing competition, so it seemed only natural that she should get to enjoy them as well.

Lamprecht accepted the book with a smile. “Thank you. My wife will surely rejoice at the opportunity to read your book, Lady Rozemyne.”

It was only slight, but out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Damuel avert his gaze the moment he heard the word “wife.”