Ascendance of a Bookworm

Volume 6, Chapter 2 Johann’s Task

Benno finished the paperwork while I talked with Freida. The registration would take a couple of days to be done, which meant our business in the merchants guild was over.

“Bye Frieda”

I said goodbye to Freida and started walking toward the stairs, but the second floor was filled with so many people that I needed Benno to carry me, to not end up crushed. The moment that Benno gave his first step, a loud shout was heard above the mumbling of the people.

“Wait! Please wait! Gilberta Company Girl!”, shouted a person, Benno and I look at one another.

“… Looks like Corina has some crazy fans”

“Idiot, you are in my arms, He is definitely talking about you, ignoring reality won’t make it go away”

But, I mean… I don’t want to speak to someone that shouts in a place filled with people. Especially if he calls me <Gilberta Company Girl> when I’m not even Benno’s daughter.

“I wouldn’t like that everyone kept looking, lets go outside. If it is truly important he’ll follow” I told Benno while we head out.

As expected, the person followed us. Benno stoped in the central plaza and put me down.

I turned around to see a younger guy with bright orange hair tied behind his head come out of the Guild and start running here.

Oh, that’s Johann.

As I reflected on the fact that I had always been wearing my Gilberta Company apprentice clothes when ordering stuff from Johann, he finally contacted us.

“What’s your business?”, Benno asked behind me. Johann, who was now out of breath, knelt down in front of me and the fountain in the middle of the large crowd of passersby passing through the central square.

“Please become my patron!”

… Here we go again?!

I could feel the crowd glaring daggers at us. I could even hear some whispering about what was going on, which made me feel unbearably uncomfortable.

“Um, Johann, there are a lot of people here, so maybe we should go to your workshop?”

“No,” Benno replied. “If you have something to talk about, you can discuss it in my store.”

Benno rejected the idea of us going to Johann’s store, instead, he said we should talk in his. I thought it would be best to avoid going there since Johann was confusing me with Benno’s daughter, but I wasn’t letting that fly.

“It will be better for you and me if I know what you are about to jump to next. Talk to me and Lutz over there.”

“Good. In that case, Johann, would you come to the Gilberta Company for me?”, I asked, and Johann stood up, with sparkling eyes.

“Yes, of course, what father wouldn’t be worried about sending his daughter to a workshop alone?”

“He’s not my father!”

“She’s not my daughter!”

Benno and I screamed at exactly the same time. When Johann’s mouth dropped and his eyes opened, I took a firm step forward and looked at him.

“I am Myne. Benno helps me a lot, but he’s not my father and I’m not even an apprentice in the Gilbert Company.”

“What? But you’re wearing apprentice clothes and you have a guild card” Muttering in disbelief, Johann blanched and started listing all the reasons why he thought we were related.

“Myne is in charge of her own workshop and I am her financial tutor. Given her age, I assume you want to talk about your exam, right? then follow me.” Benno spoke with a resigned sigh, then picked me up and started walking. That was exactly the kind of thing that made people think we were related, but I hated my slow walking speed too much to stop him. He walked entirely at his own pace, forcing Johann to walk briskly to keep up and causing Lutz to run.

“Hey, are those two really not related?” Johann asked quietly to Lutz, refusing to give up on the matter.

“They aren’t. Master Benno is single,” Lutz replied in exasperation.

Benno listened to their whispered conversation and looked at Johann, who jerked in fear and straightened up. I saw it all since I was looking over Benno’s shoulder.

When we entered Benno’s office, Lutz followed Mark upstairs to go make tea. Johann, as a simple craftsman in a blacksmith’s shop, had probably never been brought into the office of the owner of a large store before. He looked around sheepishly as he sat in the offered chair. It was hard to think that this was the same person who had boldly shouted, “Please become my patron!” In the middle of a busy square.

“Benno, what exam were you talking about?”, I asked as I leaned over the table, climbing into my chair.

“It’s your business, Johann. You explain.”

Johann jerked and straightened his back once again as he was met by Benno’s gaze. He looked between Benno and me several times as he searched for words. Finally, he took a deep breath and began.

“When a leherl in the Blacksmith’s Guild comes of age, he has to pass a test to be recognized as an adult.”

Johann must not have been much of a skilled speaker, since he spoke in a quiet, deliberate tone as he searched for words. The test was to obtain one of the clients who recognized his ability to fund his efforts as a sponsor; the patron would give the leherl a task that would have to be completed within a year. Some customers would ask for weapons and others everyday items.

More important than the task itself, however, was the patron they found. Of course, their satisfaction with the finished product was important, but what really mattered was ensuring continued support for the workshop in the future. If a smith failed the test, their leherl contract would become null and void, forcing them into the position of a lehange.

“But you’re pretty good, Johann. Won’t it be easy for you to find a patron?” I asked curiously.

Johann lowered his eyes before slowly shaking his head.

“I, I’m always so bothered by the details that customers don’t like me too much.”

Johann wanted precise details about his orders and repeatedly asked questions to find out those details, leading customers to conclude that he lacked the necessary skill so he couldn’t do anything without a tedious grasp. Somehow, it was not wrong to conclude that a mark of a skilled craftsman was the ability to make what a customer wanted based only on rough instructions, but Johann had the ability to make precise instructions come true and had more or less been doing all the precise orders his shop received alone.

Naturally, Johann’s workshop foreman didn’t want to let him go, but there was nothing he could do if Johann didn’t pass the Blacksmith’s Guild test.

“I’m the only leherl in the whole Guild without a patron, and I’m coming of age in late fall, so I’m really at the end of my rope here.”

There was a baptism ceremony at the beginning of each season, and a coming of age ceremony at the end of each season. Given how late in the fall it was, Johann really didn’t have much time left to find a patron.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, Master Benno.”

Lutz and Mark came downstairs with tea. Mark distributed the cups before leaving and Lutz moved behind Benno, who took a sip of tea before looking at Johann.

“Myne may be a client, but she’s still a child. I’m sure your boss wasn’t a fan of that,” Benno said, making Johann shrink a little.

“He wasn’t, but she’s our only customer who brings me detailed plans”

It seemed most people were opposed to having someone minor like me as their sponsor, and there weren’t many kids with a lot of money to use. But I had a guild card, respected Johann’s talent, and had a history of placing large orders. On top of that, I happily answered Johann’s detailed questions, praised his work, and specifically asked about him.

It seemed that by applying for his work several times, I had qualified to become his sponsor. But since I was a minor, I would need the consent of a parent or guardian.

“You’re the only one who can be my sponsor now. My foreman kicked me out of the shop and told me it would be a long shot, but I had to try.”

It seemed he had assumed that the daughter of a big store would be willing to become a sponsor for the demonstration while using her father’s money. On top of that, Johann would gain the prestige of securing the Gilberta Company as a patron.

“To think you weren’t really related” Johann dropped his shoulders.

Because Benno took me to the workshops and to the Merchants’ Guild, as well as placing expensive orders while wearing Gilberta Company apprentice clothes, it seemed everyone had certainly thought I was his daughter. Which reminded me that Otto had mentioned that we looked like father and daughter to everyone around us. Given the age gap, I could hardly blame them.

But to Benno, the bachelor, that was nothing but frustrating. He looked at me with harsh eyes.

“Of course Myne is not my daughter. I wouldn’t raise a senseless idiot like her. My daughter would have at least as much common sense as Corinna,” said Benno, who had raised his little sister after their parents died when they were little.

I pursed my lips into a sharp pout and glared at him as hard as I could. But sadly, it bothered Benno more to be treated as my father than it did me as his daughter.

“I guess that means you can’t be my sponsor, then” Johann, picking up on the tense atmosphere, started to stand up with a defeated expression.

But I grabbed his sleeve. I wanted something for him to do regardless of all this guild testing business. He needing a patron was just an added convenience.

“Benno, Benno. eh, eh, eh. There’s something I want Johann to do.” I smiled at Benno while still holding Johann’s sleeve, and he rubbed his temples as he let out a sigh that told me he’d already seen it coming.

“Fine. I will give you my permission as your guardian and I will be the cosigner.” Benno granted his permission as he waved a hand dismissively. The one who was most surprised to see him grant permission so casually was actually Johann.

“Um, if the sponsor runs out of money, the cosigner will have to-”

“You think a merchant doesn’t know what it means to be a cosigner? Don’t worry. I don’t need to worry about Myne running out of money. Cosigning for her hardly matters,” Benno said with a shrug. He knew that even if I ran out of money, I could make it up by selling the books we were printing now, and my information about the candles would help smooth things over even more.

“You just got your hands on a customer who won’t run out of money, you know.”

Every craftsman wanted a rich patron more than they could say. Benno’s words made Johann light up with joy.

“That’s amazing! Are you really going to be my patron, Myne? Uh, I mean Miss Myne?” Johann hesitated as he pondered what to call me, earning him a light smack from Benno.

“Hey, don’t you know you’re supposed to respect your customers? I know she’s just a little girl in looks and age, but she’s paying to keep you alive. Call her Lady Myne if you know what’s good for you.”

“I’m sorry. Lady Myne, then.” Johann hastily corrected himself.

I smiled and waved my hand to say that he didn’t have to worry about that – I don’t worry about what people were calling me. Titles were not important to me, but the task I was about to give him was.

“All right, Johann. I think I’ll have the catalog and detailed plans of what I want you to do in your workshop by tomorrow.”

If I put my all into it, I could probably finish the production process and the finer details on the plans by the end of today. I clenched my fists with determination as Johann blinked in surprise.

“Huh? Catalog?” what, various things? B-But the test is only supposed to be doing one thing.”

“Well, it is one thing. All metal punch letters belong to one set.”

The thirty-five-letter alphabet in this world had uppercase and lowercase letters just like English, which were similar to Japanese hiragana and katakana. Naturally, it would need letter perforations for uppercase and lowercase letters; after all, the terms “uppercase” and “lowercase” were historically derived from where cases containing such perforations were arranged in print. Fifty of each vowel sound and twenty of each consonant should suffice.

“If I’m going to be your sponsor, I want you to make metal punch letters. I imagine it will be quite an arduous task since each one has unique details and there are so many of them, but hey, that’s the way it is. Do you regret choosing me as your sponsor?”

I gave a brief explanation of what the punch-lettered ones were, which made Johann blink in surprise. He looked at Benno and Lutz for help, and the two looked at each other before exchanging slight winks.

“Listen to what people tell you. I told you she’d be a good sponsor because she won’t run out of money, right? You should have thought about why I didn’t say anything else,” Benno said.

“If you don’t think you can keep up with Myne’s craziness, you should give up now and find someone else. She’s always like that,” Lutz added.

It was hard to tell if they were giving him warnings or words of support. Either way, Johann clenched his fists in his lap and closed his eyes tightly. After a moment of deep thought, he looked at me with eyes full of determination.

“I will. Become my sponsor.”

I got things up and running and finished the plans and detailed instructions before the end of the day. I then brought them to Johann’s workshop the next morning. Judging by how surprised he seemed when I arrived, he shouldn’t have expected me to complete the plans so quickly, but they got him so excited that I was sure he’d be fine.

“Looks like we’re one step closer to mobile type printing, Lutz.”

“… It sure looks like you’re having fun, Myne.”

“If we can overcome this challenge, movable type printing will be just around the corner. Once Johann has finished the stroke lettering, I will modify a presser foot to make an actual printer. However, that will be in the spring. I need to spend the winter making a lot of money.”