Ascendance of a Bookworm

Thanks to the magical contract I signed, wishing for a stable future, people might start dying.

Benno’s words have me terrified. There’s no way I would have wanted to put other people in harms way just so that Lutz and I could secure our future employment. Trembling and shivering, I walk home with Lutz. There’s a pit in my stomach, like I’d swallowed a chunk of lead, and it churns within me.

“You don’t have to worry so much,” says Lutz. “It’ll be okay. Master Benno’s taking care of it.”

I nod at Lutz as he tries to reassure me, but after I get home, I start thinking about how people I might not know might start dying and how we might face some kind of punishment, and all I can do is worry and worry. My stomach ties itself in a knot.

If you were to ask me what’s so scary, it’s dragging completely unknowing outsiders into this.

What I really want to do is lock myself in my house, but Lutz practically drags me out of the house, telling me that staring blankly at the wall made me look like I was thinking some strange thoughts. We keep working on making paper and keep going to the forest, but apart from that the only thing we can do is wait to hear back from Benno. However, even after a few days, no matter how many times we’ve passed through the gates on our way to and from the forest, we haven’t heard a single thing from Otto. I haven’t heard anyone talking about any mysterious deaths, either. Everything seems to be basically the same as it always has been.

As even more time passes, my fear starts to be replaced by suspicion. Would people really start turning up dead? Couldn’t Benno have just been exaggerating? Thinking along those lines, I try to recall exactly what he said, and what his facial expression and attitude had been like.

“…If you think about it, it’s kinda weird, right?” I say.
“What is?” replies Lutz, furrowing his eyebrows. He peels a fresh, wet sheet of paper off of the bamboo mat and spreads it out on the paper bed.
“The fact that contract magic can affect people who don’t know about it,” I remind him.
“Why?” he replies, in a casual tone of voice. “It’s magic, isn’t it supposed to be mysterious?” He finishes laying down his sheet of paper, and I start working on mine.
“I think it’s kinda weird that magic is supposed to be mysterious. Or, rather, what if someone writes contract magic about some basic technique or some wide-spread commodity? Wouldn’t there be fallout from that everywhere? And if it was used in a faraway city, then there’s no way we’d ever hear about it in this city, too…”
“Huh, I guess you’re right.”

I continue thinking about it as I spread pulp over my paper mat. If contract magic were used as some kind of patent enforcement system, then that means there would need to be some kind of patent office controlling it. It would be dangerous to the public if nobody knew whether or not a particular product was protected by contract magic.

“And, because we don’t know about it, I’m thinking that there have to be limits to the range or the effects of contract magic. Besides, wouldn’t there be much stricter protection in place around the use of such a dangerous kind of magic?”
“You’re kind of talking in circles around it, but, really, you’re anxious, aren’t you?”
“Anxious…”

I unintentionally freeze up when he says that. Lutz, sitting next to me, takes the bamboo mat from me and keeps working.

“When you’re trying to hide what you’re really feeling from yourself, you always start talking a lot,” he says. He lifts his chin a tiny bit, then urges me on, saying, “if you keep it all down I won’t understand any of it, so just spit it all out already.”

“…I’m scared that people who don’t know about our magic contract might get put into danger. I want to think that Mister Benno was joking or even lying to us. Like, nobody’s in danger right now, right? He just wanted to scare us, right? …That’s what I want to be thinking.”
“Well, if he is joking, what’s the point? What does he get out of deceiving us?”
“Urgh… I, I mean, before now he’s deceived us a lot. I’m thinking that maybe he’s trying to cheat us, or maybe he’s keeping secrets, or maybe this is some kind of test.”

As I wonder aloud why Benno could be trying to keep us away, I suddenly hear a very familiar voice come from behind me.

“Hm? You mean to tell me you don’t trust Benno, Maïne?”

Having thought that there was nobody else in the workshop but the two of us, Lutz and I instantly snap our heads around to see who we had just heard.

“Mister Otto?!”
“Why’re you here?!”

Otto waves at us, eyebrows raised in an expression of mild surprise. He’s dressed in civilian clothes.

“I’m here to deliver a message from Benno, remember?”
“A message?!”

Certainly, Benno had said that he’d contact us through Otto, but I’d thought that would have involved flagging us down when we passed through the gates. I certainly didn’t think he’d just show up at our storehouse like this.

“It’s finally done, he said.”

Such a simple message doesn’t tell me anything. I, who suffered through a constantly churning stomach as the result of a lack of information, immediately jump on him, pressing for details.

“What’s finally done? How’d it get done?!”
“It seems there were some difficulties with it.”
“Some difficulties? What happened?!”

Otto merely shrugs, refusing to give any sort of answer that actually answered anything. I have no idea if he actually doesn’t know what’s happening or if he’s merely pretending not to.

“Benno didn’t explain anything to you?” he asks.
“He didn’t tell me much. I know that if people who don’t know about our magic contract make or sell paper on their own then something bad will happen, and that he doesn’t want us to come around the shop until he’s done with his negotiations with the parchment makers’ association, since he wants to keep our manufacturing methods hidden. That’s all.”

As I explain what little Benno had told me, Otto gently strokes his chin.

“Hmm, so he’s told you the barest minimum amount for now, hasn’t he?”
“Our contract hasn’t done any damage to any unknown people, has it? That’s the thing I’m most worried about…”
“He kept your manufacturing methods hidden so that wouldn’t happen, didn’t he? There really hasn’t been any damage. Anything more than that you should probably ask Benno about. When you get to a good stopping point, how about we go there together?”
“Okay!”

Hearing that nobody’s been hurt takes an enormous weight off my chest. With my body suddenly feeling much lighter, I diligently go back to spreading pulp over the paper frame.

“Ah, so is this how you make paper? What’s this thing here?”
“A trade secret.”
“This syrupy sort of goo, what’s it made of?”
“Trade secrets.”

Even though Otto seems very interested in how paper actually gets made, I refuse to answer any of his many questions as I continue my work.

“We’ve got a great working relationship, Maïne. It’s alright to tell me about this stuff, isn’t it?”
“Mister Benno will get mad at me if I start carelessly telling you everything. Right, Lutz?”

I pass the conversation on to Lutz, who smiles, shrugging.

“Right, because you never think, you always just start talking. You should probably keep your mouth shut.”
“Ahaha…,” chuckles Otto. “Talking without thinking? I can imagine how thick the vein popping out of his forehead gets when that happens.”
“Oh, his veins don’t pop out that often. He usually just gets really, really shocked.”

After we tidy up our tools, the three of us head towards Benno’s shop. As we walk through the alleys, Otto, faster than we are, pulls ahead. He stops, then looks down at me, rubbing his temples.

“…Do you usually walk this slowly?”
“…Yes…?”
“Whoa, you’re amazing, Lutz. You’re way more patient than I am. I respect that! …Anyhow, pardon me.”
“Whoa!”

Otto, confessing his own impatience, abruptly picks me up, then starts walking briskly forward. Now that I think about it, recently, both Benno and Mark have insisted on carrying me every time. It seems that, somehow, my walking speed is so slow that adults can’t help but feel like they absolutely have to carry me around. This is kind of a shock.

When we arrive at Benno’s shop, Mark comes out to greet us.

“Maïne, Lutz, good afternoon. Master Otto, you have my deepest gratitude for everything you have done for us.” He bows to Otto.
“It wasn’t a big deal,” replies Otto, offhandedly. “It was actually pretty fun! Is Benno in?”

He immediately heads inside. Still holding me in one hand, he uses his other hand to push open the door to the back room.

“Benno, the water goddess has arrived!”

The instant Otto enters, saying something strange, Benno immediately shoots him a glare, a bloodthirsty gleam in his eyes. The sheer intensity of Benno’s glare is such that I, still carried in Otto’s arms, am hit by the shockwave.

“Shut up, Otto. You don’t want Corinna to divorce you, do you?”

It seems that Benno, as Corinna’s substitute father, might have the authority to force the two of them to get a divorce. Otto’s basically his son-in-law, then, so it seems Benno’s something like the head of the family.

I’m not the only one who puts Benno’s sharp glare and his low growl together and realizes how serious he really is. Otto, who’s built his entire life revolving around Corinna, frantically starts apologizing.

“Whoa! No way! That was a little joke, you know?!”
“It’s not a joke if it’s not actually funny.”

Benno, wearing an expression such that I can’t quite tell if he’s joking or serious, starts reaching out as if to crush Otto’s skull. I, suddenly scared of being dropped, would like this to stop.

“Mister Benno, what seems to have you in such a bad mood?”
“It’s this asshole’s fault.”

Although Benno scowls at him, Otto doesn’t seem to act like he cares that much as he sets me down on the floor.

“Benno,” he says, “looks like Maïne doesn’t trust you! I caught her grumbling about you a little while ago. She was worried you might be deceiving her, keeping secrets from her, or even testing her, she said.”

I’m pretty sure he knows exactly how angry Benno is. He’s absolutely saying something unnecessary right now. I have no doubt that he’s saying these things because Benno’s mad.

“Mister Otto,” I object, “don’t say that!”

I’m positive that Otto’s words will only make Benno’s mood worse, so I worriedly look over to see how Benno’s reacting. However, instead of seeming any angrier, Benno just looks down at me, then lets out an exhausted sigh.

“Haahhh… are you getting too perceptive? Or maybe just too doubtful? Or maybe you just have a bad personality? I’ve been doing all of this hard, pain-in-the-ass work for you, and all I needed you to do was to just stay away and be quiet, and still…”
“But,” interjects Otto, “not just blindly swallowing whatever someone tells you is a very important skill for a merchant to have, so trying to figure out the real meaning behind their words and actions is the right thing to do!”

He gives me a big grin and a thumbs-up.

“Well, whatever,” says Benno. “I’ll answer your questions. Sit.”

We sit down at our usual table, facing each other and, with the very first words out of my mouth, I ask Benno about the thing that I’m most worried about.

“Can contract magic really affect uninvolved people?”
“Based on what’s written in it, yeah, it’s happened before. This time, if we’re not careful, it could happen again. I explained this to you already, right?”

Certainly, he had said that. He’d explained it, but I just hadn’t accepted it.

“But, if it were used for some basic craft, or some product or technique that’s already wide-spread, wouldn’t there be all sorts of damage everywhere? If someone were to write a magic contract in some far-off country, then we’d have no way of knowing about it at all… there’s got to be some sort of limit on its effects, or a maximum range, isn’t there? Also, shouldn’t there be some sort of control on the use of magic contracts, or something like that…”

Benno nods, looking slightly amazed as I lay out my thoughts.

“Yeah, magic contracts only really work in the city they were signed in. Small-scale magics that happen inside the city can’t make it out of the magical barrier built into the walls around it.”
“Magical barrier?! Whoa, what’s that?!”

The mention of a previously-unheard fantasy setting term sets my heart alight, and I instinctively lean forward and start asking for more information, but all I earn is another glare from Benno.

“It’s the foundation of a town, but that doesn’t matter right now. So, are we all done with questions and explanations for today?”
“Ahh, no, wait! So if contract magic can affect people who don’t know about it, then that’s really dangerous, isn’t it? It’s weird to just be able to casually use it for whatever, isn’t it?”

Benno raises one eyebrow, looking a little uncomfortable, and stares at me.

“No, you can’t just ‘casually use it for whatever’. The magical tools you need for it are given only to specifically approved merchants, and they’re so expensive your eyes would pop out of your head if I told you. And also, like you thought, contracts that can affect people besides the signatories absolutely must be declared to the lord of the land. If any damage were to happen without us declaring it, then we’d be the ones who get punished.”
“Huh? Then…”

The instant I start to panic about forgetting to declare the contract and damage happening, Benno flicks my forehead.

“Gyah!”
“Don’t misunderstand. I told the lord of the land about this a long time ago.”

He guessed what I was going to say before I could even open my mouth. As I groan, rubbing my forehead, Benno snorts, the corners of his mouth turning up in a triumphant grin.

“And, when I declared the contract, I was told that I needed to inform the merchant’s guild that I had signed a magical contract relating to a new commodity, and register it with them.”
“…So in other words, you declared it to the guild as well?”
“Of course I went! I declared it and registered it. Then, I went to get approval to start a new trade association.”
“What?”

Start a new trade association? What does he plan to do? Isn’t he doing something incredibly over-the-top?

Hearing those unexpected words, my eyes widen in surprise and I tilt my head to one side. Seeing this, Benno puffs up his chest, looking extremely self-satisfied.

“Plant-based paper is something that could turn into an enormous enterprise, right? So, I went to start a papermakers’ association, like the parchment makers’ association, so I can spread my business wide, even to other cities.”
“…This is news to me, though?”

Stunned, my face freezes. Benno nods emphatically.

“It’s the first time I’m telling you.”
“W… wait a minute. So that means, you were planning on competing with the parchment makers right from the beginning weren’t you?! You never wanted to have a peaceful talk with them at all!”

Why he’d race straight towards such a stubborn conclusion, I have no idea. I can’t see any room for laying any groundwork, making concessions, or finding any points of compromise anywhere in there.

“It’s not my fault that it didn’t end nice and quietly. It’s that old bastard’s fault.”
“Are you just shifting the blame?” I reply.

As Benno glares at me, growling, Otto, sitting next to him, starts laughing uproariously, clutching his sides. I have no idea just how that got set off, but Benno and I just glance at him, mutually deciding to leave him alone.

“I’m not shifting the blame. I went to the merchant’s guild to get everything declared, but because I didn’t have any of the actual product on hand when the contract was signed, I was told that I couldn’t actually register it. So, when the prototype was finished, I went again to go register it.”
“Ah…”
“But, the guild master decided he didn’t like the idea of me registering a new trade association, so he gave me this long-winded speech, and then even though I got my application in, it seems like it’s still not done being processed, even though the seasons have already changed entirely.”

Come to think of it, back when Lutz and I went to get our temporary registrations, the guild master interfered with that too. He eventually allowed us to be registered, since he wanted to be able to do business with me for a hairpin, but I remember him being extremely reluctant about that.

“That happened before, when Lutz and I needed temporary registrations, but could the guild master hold back your registration or reject it for totally personal reasons?”
“If he could come up with some plausible pretext for it. Remember, when we got you registered, his reason was that you weren’t my blood relatives, right? This time, he said he felt like the parchment makers’ association already was a paper organization, so there wasn’t a need to make another association solely for plant-based paper.”

Judging by the deeply unpleasant expression on Benno’s face, he must be reliving the mood he’d been in during his meeting with the guild master. I feel like it must have been a dangerous struggle, with the guild master constantly finding fault with him.

“I can imagine how that discussion went,” I say.
“I’d filed my application back in the autumn, so I started selling paper now thinking that there’s no way I still wouldn’t actually be registered. It’s obvious that I wasn’t cautious enough, but do you really think I’m shifting the blame here?”

He glares at me, and I frantically shake my head.

“Ummm, no, I think it’s the guild master’s fault for procrastinating.”
“That’s right. So, when I sold paper without that registration, then the parchment makers’ guild went to lodge a complaint. But that old bastard played it totally innocent, and then he even started by siding entirely with the other guys…”

It’s looking more and more like Benno’s rival isn’t actually the parchment makers’ association. It’s the guild master.

“So, the magic contract still isn’t done being registered, even though the lord of the land himself told me to go do it. If something bad were to happen to some unknown person because of that, then what do you think would happen?”

Failing to register after being explicitly told to would either leave an extremely bad impression or be treated as an outright felony, I think.

“I think the lord of the land would get very angry,” I say.
“Yeah. He’d confiscate my tools for making magical contracts, and then, he’d restrict all of my dealings with the nobility, and then he’d punish all of the signatories. If that happens, I think that would probably be that old bastard’s best possible outcome! So, until registration finished, there was no way we could let anyone know about how your paper-making methodology worked.”
“Ah, I see…”

Now that I know how vigilant Benno’s trying to be against the guild master, I can understand how strict he was being.

“However, there’s no way I could get the two of you tangled up in the enormous pain in the ass that is a negotiation between adults, right? Especially you, Maïne, since you don’t pay any attention to your actual surroundings, and then just because some acquaintance saves your life, you just start carelessly blathering on about all sorts of sensitive information.”
“Whaaat?! You trust me that little?!”
“There’s an abundance of evidence. Reflect on your own actions a little.”
“Ngh…”

Reminded of the various things I’d wound up doing at the guild master’s house, I can’t come up with any retort. Certainly, from Benno’s standpoint, he has no idea what I might wind up doing, so keeping me isolated is the best course of action.

“I think I understand the gist of it,” I say. “So, were the negotiations with the parchment makers’ association very difficult?”
“That was all just making the necessary arrangements, so that wasn’t particularly difficult. No, the only bothersome part of that was dealing with that old bastard.”

The guild master really is the last boss, huh? I never thought that Benno would be treating the parchment makers as trash mobs. This is a development I hadn’t even considered, back when I was making paper with a huge knot in my stomach.

Otto, who had been quietly listening to our conversation, grins broadly, then opens his mouth to speak.

“I was taken along to that meeting. We worked out an agreement on a compromise plan.”
“Compromise plan?”
“The one where we’d distinguish kinds of paper based on usage,” says Benno.
“Ahh…”

Benno’s words reminds me of the fact that I’d suggested it to begin with, and I clap my hands. With that compromise, we’d be able to distribute paper far and wide while preserving, for now, the parchment makers’ market territory. This is a big step forward for my book-making project, isn’t it? As paper becomes more widespread, the price will drop, and just through that alone books will become way easier to make.

It looks like I finally don’t have to worry about paper anymore when it comes to making books.

Once Benno establishes a workshop for mass production, all my paper-related worries will disappear. My next issue will be finding ink, and then printing… and as my thoughts take off into the clouds, even Otto looks like he’s somehow enjoying himself.

“And now everyone’s shocked! Who’s this guy, and what did he do with that totally uncompromising Benno we know?! So now there’s this rumor going around that the water goddess came to visit him.”
“The water goddess?” asks Lutz, speaking up now that the conversation has digressed from the troublesome tales of the meeting and the mood of the room has softened somewhat.
“The springtime herald of the melting snow,” explains Otto. “The goddess who brings an end to the long winter.”

Otto’s words snap me back to my senses. Now that I think about it, I really don’t know any of the mythology of this world at all. I already found one mention of a god in the new year’s greeting, so it’s likely that there’s more of them hiding around in day-to-day life around here.

“…This water goddess, is she different from the goddess of spring that we talk about in the new year’s greeting?”
“Different, hmm… well, the goddess of melted snow, the goddess of new buds, and all of the other spring-related goddesses are all called goddesses of spring, you know?”
“Huh…”

Is it just me, or does calling it “polytheism” make it sound a little more relatable? At least, this doesn’t look like a world where I’d be forced into the same kind of monotheism that I was kind of coerced into in my Urano days. I’m feeling a little less anxious about my baptism, now.

“…That’s it?” says Otto, looking blankly at me. It seems that, after he took the effort to explain all of that to me, responding with a single “huh…” might have been a little rude.
“Hm? Oh, umm… I’m happy to know a little more about the goddesses now. I’ll be sure to ask you more about the gods next time!”
“Oh, that’s not what I meant, O wa—”
“Otto, do you want to be kicked out?” growls Benno, giving him an extremely irritated look.

I have a feeling that my incorrect guess might have somehow been the cause, but I can’t really tell how just from seeing Benno’s angry expression, and I’m still pretty sure I was correct.

“Mister Benno, now that I think about it, why did you bring Mister Otto to the meeting?”

I toss Otto a lifeline in order to stop Benno from talking about how he was going to kick him out of the family, and it seems like I successfully manage to shift Benno’s attention to me. He quickly lets go of Otto and turns to me. Otto gives me an extremely thankful look.

“When the paper makers’ association gets off of the ground, I plan to have him help me with it.”
“Oh? Wait, then, you mean Mister Otto will get to be a merchant?!”

Has the day come where Otto, who had abandoned the life of a merchant so that he could marry Corinna, could finally become one again? As I think that happy thought, though, Benno shakes his head at me.

“No, Otto’ll be a soldier til the bitter end. I’m just using him in his free time.”
“Whaaaat?! That’s really mean, isn’t it?!”

To have to work all day as a soldier, and then be used by Benno as a merchant when his soldier’s work is done, that really is a pitiable state to be in. Lutz, sitting next to me, nods in agreement. However, Benno just snorts, then looks at Otto with a cruel grin.

“Oh, it’s only natural that he work to pay me his share of the rent. For Corinna’s sake. Right, Otto?”
“I think I’d be earning a little more than just rent money, though?”

The two of them stare at each other with dark smiles, now completely ignoring me and Lutz. I have no idea how long it’ll take for them to be finished with this staring contest, so I tap lightly on the table.

“Mister Benno, I’ve got a follow-up question. What eventually happened with the guild master?”

Benno turns his gaze away from Otto and focuses on me. He shrugs his shoulders, then grins triumphantly.

“Since we found some common ground, the parchment makers’ association agreed to the creation of a paper makers’ association, so the guild leader reluctantly approved of it too.”
“He was forced to approve of it, you mean?” interjects Otto.

Otto’s phrasing is probably a little more accurate, I think. Lutz and I nod in understanding. Seeing this, Benno clucks his tongue at us.

“I’ve filled out every necessary form exactly, I’ve negotiated everything with the parchment makers’ association, and I’ve done so with nobody getting injured. The fact that everything’s being dragged out so long, even with all that, is entirely because the guild master is dragging his feet.”
“Yeah, that’s about right,” says Otto. “But, maybe, you might not have needed to say things like ‘if you’re so senile that you can’t read paperwork anymore then you should just retire already’ or ‘how about you just let me do it if you are so damned inclined’? Just a thought.”

I squeak as my breath catches in my throat.

“It’s because you say things like that!” I say. “If you’re being that… brazen, then of course things are going to get difficult! You made the guild master mad, didn’t you?”
“Oh, his face was bright red, he was so mad.” says Otto. “I didn’t think a person’s face could even get that red!”

Otto is talking like this is somehow kinda funny, but this is absolutely not a laughing matter. Benno adds, “that was a sight to see,” and Otto nods emphatically.

“I don’t care how much I piss off that old bastard. This time, thanks to all of his pestering, not pissing him off would have been even harder.”

It seems like the gulf between Benno and the guild master has grown even wider and deeper thanks to these events.

“Anyhow, this time for sure I’ve confirmed that our registration is complete. Now, it’s time to put everything into making and selling some paper. First off, I’ve got to decide on a workshop in the city.”

Now that the complicated problems have been solved, Benno starts talking about how he’d like to decide on a workshop for putting paper into production.

“I’d like to get mass production going at a workshop shortly after this summer’s baptismal ceremonies are complete.”
“Why?” asks Otto, tilting his head curiously.
“After doing a lot of profit calculations, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s best to get started after Lutz is baptized and starts his apprenticeship here. At that point, I don’t need to pay these two anymore. Plus, by the time I find a workshop, have the equipment made, procure the raw materials, and have the staff learn the manufacturing technique, it’ll be around that time anyway.”
“Hm, you’re right,” I say.

It had been hard for Lutz and I to secure our own tools as well. It’s only natural that getting however many large-scale tools he’d need for mass production would be incredibly difficult.

“In any event, Maïne, Lutz. I’ll be consulting with you on picking out a workshop, and you’ll tell me everything you know about the manufacturing process.”

It seems that now it’s Benno’s turn to ask the real questions. Lutz and I exchange a glance, and let out tired sighs.