I'm
Today, to receive the evaluation for the assignment I'd been given by Dapro, I'm heading to the
"Don't look so dejected, Johann."
"But what if the evaluation is low, after everyone pitched in to help me…"
My work tends to get low evaluations from clients. Because I ask so many detailed questions, they tell me that a certain level of quality is only natural, and no matter how faithfully I complete the order, my satisfaction score is never high.
If the patron's evaluation is low, then naturally the Blacksmith Guild's evaluation drops too. What matters most is whether the client is satisfied, yet my satisfaction scores are always low.
This time, the patron who took me on, Lady Mine, is still a young girl. She said she's the Workshop Head of the Mine Workshop and has completed her
And though she looks young, Lady Mine's words and actions are nothing like a child's. Her answers to questions during the order, the design drawings she provides, and the way she budgets for required materials—all of it is far beyond what you'd expect from a child.
She's on such good terms with the master of the Gilberta Company that I almost mistook her for the young lady of the house. I'd been puzzling over what their relationship could be, but when I recalled the eccentric items Lady Mine had ordered, it clicked. For a shrewd merchant like
What precious asset could possibly want with this particular assignment, I had no idea. The craftsmen in the workshop were scratching their heads over what it was for, too.
"Welcome."
"Yo,
Arriving at the shop tense and nervous, I was led to the back room—the same one I'd been shown before—and served tea. This was the room where top clients who brought profit to the shop held their meetings. With its spacious dimensions, luxurious carpet, and tapestries, it was a room someone like me could never normally enter, and I felt intimidated.
"Benno, is the girl here yet?"
The master of the shop, Benno, and my master seemed to be on familiar terms. While I sat rigid with tension, unable to even reach for my teacup, my master beside me drank his tea without a trace of nervousness.
Benno, seated to my master's right, picked up his cup and glanced at the empty chairs.
"Ah, the carriage has been sent around. She'll be here soon."
"A carriage? What kind of lady is she?"
My master's blustering voice made me secretly breathe a sigh of relief. Lady Mine apparently wasn't the Gilberta Company's young lady, but she was certainly the daughter of a wealthy family.
"My lady has arrived."
The shop employee called Mark opened the door and, with a deferential posture, ushered the visitor in. Behind him, a young girl walked in with an elegant bearing, trailed by three attendants.
"I've kept you waiting."
Lady Mine wore brightly colored, warm-looking clothing with long, fluttering sleeves—like something a noble girl would wear. Completely different from when she'd worn the Gilberta Company's apprentice uniform, her poised demeanor was so unlike the person who had come to the Gilberta Company to commission work that I stared, eyes wide.
Genuinely doubting whether this was the same person, I sat there dumbfounded as Lady Mine took the seat directly across from me. Then one of the armed attendants standing behind her—a guard-like figure—shot me a sharp glare.
…Scary!
After the greetings were exchanged, I took out the box of metal movable type that had been at my feet. My arms were trembling with nerves, and the metal type inside rattled with sharp clinking sounds.
Worried that this might be a blunder, I watched Lady Mine's reaction timidly—but she was gazing at the box with an expression of rapture.
Despite her snow-white skin that looked as though it never saw sunlight, only her cheeks were flushed with color. Her moon-like golden eyes shimmered and swayed, as though stars were floating within them.
"I'm surprised you finished so much faster than expected. I never imagined you could do it so soon…"
The way she pressed a hand to her chest and let out a soft breath was like something out of a lovestruck maiden—an alluring quality you'd never expect from a young child.
Realizing I'd been captivated by Lady Mine, I hastily shook my head. I was just happy, because no one had ever placed this kind of expectation in something I made.
"…Everyone helped me out because they found it interesting."
As I said that while averting my eyes from Lady Mine, my master slapped me on the shoulder from the side and launched into a description of how things had gone in the workshop. He was pretty much saying whatever he wanted, but the words about it being the guiding hand of Valcanift, the God of Smithing—those I genuinely felt too.
If I hadn't met Lady Mine, I never would have been able to take on this assignment in the first place.
"Johann, show it to her."
"Yes, master."
Prompted by my confident master, I removed the cloth covering and presented the metal movable type Lady Mine had ordered.
"Wow…"
Lady Mine's moon-like golden eyes brimmed with emotion as she looked overwhelmed. Timidly, she picked up a single piece of metal type and turned it over in her small hands, examining it from every angle, as though gazing upon a precious treasure.
…At this rate, will she be satisfied?
I let out a quiet sigh of relief—but in the very next instant, Lady Mine's dreamy, glistening eyes turned suddenly calm and severe.
She took another piece of metal type from the box and laid it on the table, then moved her face to eye level with them. Squinting, she began scrutinizing the differences in thickness and height of the type.
…This is fine, right?
I had never before been scrutinized this closely by a client, checking whether the fine detail matched the order.
A tension like having my chest squeezed seized me, and a clammy, unpleasant sweat broke out.
"Well, little lady? Is it what you wanted?"
My master's words made my heart leap. Was she satisfied, or not? Clammy-palmed, I waited intently for Lady Mine's verdict.
Lady Mine clenched both pieces of metal type in her small hands and lifted her face with determination.
"It's magnificent! You're truly
"Huh?"
I could tell from her sparkling eyes and excited voice that she was praising me, but I had no idea what she was talking about.
"I hereby bestow upon Johann the title of Gutenberg!"
Not understanding the meaning, I stood there with my mouth hanging open like an idiot, staring at Lady Mine. The delicate young-lady air about her had vanished in an instant.
…Gutenberg… title… what?
Her refined, ladylike demeanor was nowhere to be found. Lady Mine shot to her feet with an excited expression and launched into a rapid-fire tirade.
"Because this is the dawn of the printing age! Everyone, you're witnessing a moment that changes history! Gutenberg! And Gutenberg's real name was Johannes—just like Johann! What a wonderful coincidence! A miraculous meeting! Let us pray to the gods!"
From start to finish, I couldn't understand a single thing Lady Mine was saying.
Lutz tried to calm her down, but it was completely futile, and she began offering prayers to the gods—the same ones she'd been made to perform at her coming-of-age ceremony in the
Looking around, Benno was pressing his temples and sighing, two of the attendants wore troubled smiles and exchanged glances, and only the guard-attendant stood frozen, as though seeing his master's outburst for the first time.
"…Ah, little lady. What's a Gutenberg?"
My master's voice, too, seemed to lack its usual force—he clearly couldn't keep up with the situation.
But Lady Mine was in peak form, brimming with energy. Her eyes blazed brilliantly as she interlaced her fingers before her chest and delivered a passionate speech.
"He was a great figure who achieved a godlike feat—completely transforming the history of books! Johann is this city's Gutenberg!"
Somehow, I felt like I'd been given an incredibly heavy title. And while I was thinking how rude it would be to refuse, Lady Mine assumed a somewhat chastened posture and—for reasons I couldn't fathom—expanded the Gutenberg designation.
"I'm sorry. It's not just you—it's everyone. Everyone's a Gutenberg. We're all Gutenberg comrades!"
"I don't want to be part of any such group!"
Even if I said I didn't want in, Benno was one of them. As Lady Mine's guarantor, there was no way he'd let just me opt out. Besides, if anything, such a weighty title suited the master of a major shop far better than a lowly craftsman like me.
"Once the metal movable type is done, next up is the printing press! We'll order it from a woodworking workshop. Wow, we can really print! This is amazing, incredible!"
From the expressions on Benno and Lutz's faces, I could practically hear their silent exchange: "What do we do about this?" / "There's nothing we can do."
…Someone, please do something about this suffocating atmosphere.
I turned my gaze to the attendant standing behind Lady Mine, and almost simultaneously, Lady Mine began praying to the gods once more.
"Thank you,
The next instant, Lady Mine collapsed with a blissful smile still on her face. She didn't move a muscle, and a stunned silence filled the room.
"L-Lady Mine?!"
"Hey—! Little lady!"
"What happened?!"
Only three of us—my master, the guard-attendant, and I—were startled enough to leap to our feet.
The guard-attendant rushed to kneel and check on Lady Mine. Seeing him fuss over her, the rest of us—everyone besides my master and me—let out a collective sigh.
"She finally collapsed, huh. Now it's quiet."
Benno, who hadn't moved from his chair and appeared completely unruffled, said this, and I couldn't help but stare. But Lutz, who had been trying to calm Lady Mine, and the attendants seemed equally unfazed.
"
"My apologies. Lord
The attendant called Fran lifted the limp Lady Mine and carried her to a long chair that had been placed near the fireplace for some reason. He gently laid her down and draped a thick, warm-looking cloak over her.
The smooth efficiency of this, as though they'd predicted it would happen, made my eyes widen. Benno tapped the table lightly with his fingertips.
"Well then, shall we begin the evaluation? Mine has lost consciousness, so I'll render the evaluation as her guarantor in her stead. All right?"
"Huh? …Is it really okay to leave Lady Mine like that?"
Even for me, it felt wrong to just leave a young girl who had suddenly lost consciousness lying there and casually carry on with the assignment evaluation. I glanced toward the long chair where Lady Mine lay sleeping.
"What do you think, Lutz?"
"She'll probably wake up around sunset, I'd say. She'll have a fever from all the excitement, but since she couldn't calm herself down, there's nothing to be done about it."
The way Lutz shrugged and declared it couldn't be helped suggested he was quite accustomed to dealing with Lady Mine's episodes.
"How long will she be out this time?"
"…Depends on how long the excitement lasts. Can't say."
From Fran and Lutz's manner of speaking, it was clear that Lady Mine collapsing was nothing unusual. I understood that, but it was still bad for my heart. I thought mine was going to stop.
"Well, for now, we can just evaluate it as 'the patron was so pleased she fainted.' That should do."
"Sure, her excitement was obvious enough. It's no problem to have Benno, the guarantor, sign in her stead. …I was hoping to ask what all this is for, though."
As my master said this while looking at the metal type, the boy among Lady Mine's attendants—the one called
"I'll do a demonstration. Lady Mine told me to prepare for this."
"Gil, what are you going to do?"
"Apply ink and print, obviously. Heh heh."
Gil seemed somewhat buoyant as he pulled tools from the luggage with practiced ease.
It was the roller I had made previously, now stained jet-black, which Lady Mine had ordered. Gil began applying ink to the roller.
"Lady Mine said to arrange the metal type to form text first. Once that's done, you apply ink like this."
Without waiting for anyone to stop him, Gil ran the roller over the metal type. Black ink coated the previously silver-gleaming type in a thick layer.
"Hey—!"
I let out a cry of dismay at seeing the metal type—my metal type—get smeared with ink without so much as Lady Mine's permission. But Gil paid no attention to me as I gasped in horror. He carefully laid a sheet of paper on top.
"Apparently, you're supposed to use some kind of pressing machine to squeeze it down and transfer the ink, but this time I'm just going to show you how the metal type is used, so I'll rub it from above with this baren thing."
Gil explained with a smug air as he pressed a round, flat disc—called a baren—over the paper, rubbing firmly with rhythmic strokes.
I was the only one turning pale. Everyone else was peering at Gil's hands with keen interest.
"Once you've applied the ink like this, you peel it off and let it dry."
Gil peeled the paper away with a flourish, revealing crisp black letters lined up in neat rows. Using the same process, he produced a second sheet with identical text.
Then, with a pleased grin, Gil held up a sheet in each hand and unfurled them.
…So what? What does this amount to in the end? It's just a waste of paper. What a shame.
I seemed to be the only one who looked at the paper and thought that. Benno, my master, and the guard-attendant all changed color at once, their expressions turning grave.
The guard-attendant named Damuel took the papers from Gil's hands and compared the two with a stern gaze.
"A single page, finished in that short amount of time. Unbelievable."
Then my master took several pieces of un-inked metal type, rearranged them in his palm, and let out a low murmur.
"…Since each piece of metal type is a single character, assembling text is straightforward."
"Lady Mine said it's much faster than cutting each character into a printing plate one by one," Lutz added.
At Lutz's words, everyone's brows furrowed even more.
"This really is going to change history, just as Mine says."
Benno let out a soft breath as he explained that while he was aware of the printing technology itself, he hadn't expected text to be assembled this easily.
"That girl really does come up with some outrageous things…"
Benno's words seemed to capture everyone's feelings, as all eyes turned in unison toward Lady Mine, still unconscious on the long chair.
Everyone else seemed to understand, but I had no idea what was going on. All I knew was that by taking Lady Mine on as a patron, I was being swept along by a current entirely beyond my control.
"Mine mentioned she wants to build a printing press next, so things probably won't move for a while yet."
Benno said this in a slightly optimistic tone, but my master shook his head with a troubled expression.
"She said she'd order it from a woodworking workshop, so she must have some kind of design in mind. If she can bring Johann detailed blueprints like she has before, the printing press won't be that far off."
The designs Lady Mine brings are extraordinarily detailed. If anything, they've only gotten more precise to match my own attention to detail. If she prepared blueprints that meticulous, any craftsman could build one quickly.
"No, even once the printing press is operational, the impact won't be immediate. The Plant Paper Workshop is still the only one in this city, and we only just finished signing the contract to have Special Ink made at the workshop for Plant Paper. Materials are overwhelmingly insufficient. …Well, it's only a matter of time, though."
Benno said this, scratching his head vigorously. Then his eyes locked onto me with a glint—nothing like his usual mild demeanor, his aura was fierce, and I gasped.
"Johann, you are Gutenberg. You were personally given the title. Don't think you can escape from Mine."
Glared at by Benno, my mind went blank and I could only nod repeatedly, over and over.
I was scared. Please, I'll make anything, just spare me. Perhaps my desperate feelings got across, because Benno nodded with satisfaction.
"In that case, good."
"Now then, Johann. Please take this. It's from Lady Mine."
At that moment, Fran stepped forward with a gentle smile, offering several sheets of paper folded in half.
Tilting my head, I rustled the paper open—and found it was an order form loaded with detailed design drawings.
"What!?!"
But it wasn't for the characters I'd been making before. The pages were packed with blueprints for blank spaces, punctuation marks, and all manner of symbols in metal type. Never having imagined that the metal type would have a follow-up, I gripped the paper with trembling hands.
"What is this?"
"Lady Mine was very excited, saying that if Johann delivers the goods as ordered, she'll place additional orders. After the symbols are done, she plans to order metal type of different sizes."
I was told to "do your best," but I felt anything but happy. It looked nothing like encouragement—more like the unpleasant smile of someone dumping a troublesome burden on me.
"You've really landed yourself one heck of a patron, kid."
My master's hand landing on my shoulder felt impossibly heavy. When I turned to look at him, his eyes were filled with an amused gleam.
"Churn out the orders like a madman, and you'll definitely carve your name into history, Gutenberg."
"Master, please stop calling me that title!"
At this rate, everyone in the workshop would start teasing me with it, and it would stick in no time. Looking at me clutching my head in despair, Lutz gave a casual shrug.
"Being noticed by Mine is where your luck ran out. Give it up, Gutenberg."
"You were the first one to bestow the title. Johann, you're Gutenberg."
Benno said this with a straight face, delivering the terrifying statement far too casually. If I didn't push back here, those two would slip away. There was no way I was letting my fellow companions—no, my comrades—escape. I sensed this instinctively and opened my mouth.
"Lutz and Benno are both Gutenberg comrades too, aren't you? Lady Mine said so herself!"
I got a tsk of irritation and a glare, but I had absolutely no intention of shouldering this title alone.
"In that case, considering age and status, the Gutenberg representative should be Benno, right?"
"Too bad for you, Johann. First come, first served."
"What kind of logic is that?!"
In the end, we never settled who the Gutenberg representative was on the spot.
Later, when I subtly suggested to Lady Mine that Benno should be the Gutenberg representative, I received a characteristically off-center response: "Don't worry. Everyone's a Gutenberg comrade. There's no hierarchy among us."
…No! That wasn't the answer I was looking for!
Thus was born in the city of Ehrenfest a group known as the Gutenbergs—as the Goddess of Wisdom Mestionora's agents, destined to spend their lives inventing the printing technology and flooding the world with books, according to later historians.
After Mine collapsed, Gil and Fran carried out their roles admirably.
The members who get pushed around by Mine's bookmaking come to be called the Gutenbergs.
Next time: notice of an extended stay.