My name is
I've been with the Gilberta Company since the previous master's time—if you count my days as an apprentice, I've been in their service for thirty years. I entered the store as a hired hand the very year the master was born, so time has truly flown.
There are two kinds of apprentices for merchants and craftsmen: the hired hand and the apprentice. To put it simply, a hired hand is under an employment contract with the store owner, while an apprentice is under a contract of indenture with the goal of eventually being entrusted with a store or business operations. The contract fees and terms differ significantly, but there's no need to go into detail here.
The Gilberta Company basically takes in other stores' children as hired hands. A merchant's child spends a set period working at a different shop. The duration is decided through consultation between the store and the child's parents—usually three to four years.
There are various reasons: to broaden their horizons, to learn what it's like to serve in a subordinate position, to separate them from a pampered life, to build friendships with future store owners. In any case, these children serve as bridges connecting one store to another.
I, too, originally contracted as a hired hand, intending to return to my family's store once my employment ended. However, after my father passed away and my eldest brother took over, our attitudes toward business were so completely different that after renewing my hired-hand contract several times, I switched to an apprentice contract at the age of fifteen, when I came of age.
The apprentice period lasts eight years. Normally, after serving as a hired hand at another store, one would sign an apprentice contract somewhere around the age of ten to twelve. By the time one turns twenty, one would be entrusted with running the store in the master's place.
Because I was late in contracting, eight additional years were added to my training period after I came of age.
That said, I'd already been working as a hired hand for eight years and understood the operations of the Gilberta Company thoroughly. Thanks to the previous master's generosity, unlike a typical apprentice, I received a salary nearly equal to that of a regular adult employee, so the eight-year training period wasn't particularly difficult. I was simply happy that my treatment had improved compared to my hired-hand days, and I threw myself into work every day.
However, trouble arose just as I was about to finish my apprentice period: the previous master passed away. The master had only just come of age and was utterly unreliable as a store owner. Of the hired hands who had contracted with the previous master, quite a few refused to renew their contracts with the new one and left.
I still hadn't finished my training period, so in order to continue working at the Gilberta Company, I asked my family for financial support. But my eldest brother, who had taken over the store, not only refused to help but mocked the previous master's death and announced he was severing all ties with the Gilberta Company.
How can I describe the fury I felt at that moment? It was the instant I resolved to cut ties with my family and swore to protect the Gilberta Company and my master no matter what, to show them all. I can still vividly remember that moment to this day.
The master asked me whether I planned to return to my family's store once my apprentice period ended, but I had no place to go after cutting ties with them, and the Gilberta Company was the place that needed me most.
After telling the master I would stay, I worked alongside him day and night to rebuild the store. We quickly regained our momentum and grew even larger than before. What I did behind the scenes—using my family as a stepping stone to rebuild the store—is ancient history now.
The previous master's youngest daughter, Corina, had married off, but the eldest son—our master—had lost all interest in marriage itself after losing Lise. By the time I noticed, my own marriage prospects had passed as well. Things rarely go the way you plan.
Work is fulfilling, and the store's successor is being decided by Corina's children and the master, so for the time being, there are no major issues threatening the store's survival.
Now then—today, the master is away at a meeting where only the proprietors of major stores are in attendance. When that happens, matters requiring important decisions come flooding to me one after another.
"Mark, we've received word that the Rinshan delivery might be delayed."
"The leab shipment came in late this time, so it can't be helped. Have them deliver what's finished first, and tell the foreman to rush the rest as much as possible."
"Um, Mark. We've received a request from Baron Bron's daughter for Corina."
"She rarely places orders in the summer—it must be urgent. Deliver it to Corina right away."
Spending a slightly busier time than usual, I spotted the master returning with Mine in his arms.
"Mark, I need to talk. Come!"
The master strode toward the back without hesitation. Seeing his eyes blazing with motivation, Mine looking utterly exasperated, and
Preparing the workshop for Rinshan production, sourcing raw materials, securing craftsmen, opening up sales channels—then running all over town searching for materials for the tools Mine and Lutz needed for their Plant Paper, doing my best to ease tensions with the Parchment Association, having the Plant Paper workshop dumped on me with no support... Looking back, I'd been pushed into quite a bit of absurdity over the past year or so. What would it be this time?
"Mark, we're training pastry craftsmen! Get ready!"
Pastry craftsmen? Words that seemed to have absolutely nothing to do with any of our current operations. I had a very bad feeling about this. Given the abruptness, I was almost certain Mine was involved.
Glancing at the master, I saw him pulling out various wooden tablets and checking them with glittering, eager eyes. I was glad to see the master in such high spirits, but the effect on those around him would be devastating.
"When you say pastry craftsmen, what exactly do you plan to have them make?"
"Ask Mine."
Ah, so it was Mine after all. It seemed another impossible task had landed on us.
The Gilberta Company had originally started as a dressmaking workshop founded by the master's great-grandmother, Lady Gilberta. The business model was essentially the wife making clothes in the workshop while the husband sold them. The store owner was always registered under the husband's name, but in reality, the women were the ones who sustained the business.
Having dealt mainly with the city's wealthy class, the Gilberta Company had gradually begun infiltrating noble society when the master's mother's designs caught the eye of lower-ranking nobles. It had only been about ten years since the company started doing business with the nobility—quite recently, all things considered.
Corina's sense of style also seemed to have earned a certain reputation among the nobility, so the Gilberta Company's future appeared secure.
In other words, what the Gilberta Company dealt in was not only clothing but also accessories and beauty-related products.
The Rinshan that Mine had brought in was an excellent product as a beauty item, and the hair ornaments that would be produced in Corina's workshop were already gaining popularity as accessories in the city.
Given the quality of the thread and the designs, Corina was overjoyed that she'd secured excellent rights—she was confident the products would be accepted by noble ladies and their daughters.
However, on the other hand, the papermaking business Mine had introduced was a bit of a departure from the Gilberta Company's core operations, and training pastry craftsmen would be an entirely different line of work.
What exactly was the master thinking?
"I've told you over and over! It's impossible without sugar!"
"You can still bake bread without sugar. Shouldn't they practice using the oven first?"
"But there are already plenty of bakeries in the city, and the bakers' guild exists! Won't you clash with the established interests just for practice? And you—
"How can you start a new venture if you're afraid of established interests?!"
The exchange between the master, seated in his chair, and Mine, kneeling on a chair across the table to match his eye level, reminded me so much of the master's interactions with Lise. Whether you'd call it arguing because they were so close, or the easy back-and-forth that comes from deep trust...
The master seemed most alive when he was debating business matters with Mine. There must be a thrilling satisfaction in outwitting the eloquent Mine—the same kind of satisfaction he'd felt when he'd managed to win an argument against Lise. He'd never won against Lise, though.
"Lutz, could you set those two aside for now and explain the situation to me first? Why did the master suddenly bring up training pastry craftsmen?"
"Ah, yes."
Lutz, who had been watching the two of them argue from a distance, straightened up as if startled and began to explain. Having grown accustomed to being swept up in Mine's wake, Lutz was remarkably quick to shift gears. He was earnest, absorbed everything he encountered, and was hardworking and patient—an invaluable person. He seemed naturally sharp, too, laying out the day's events in perfect order.
According to Lutz's explanation, after the meeting at the commercial guild, there had been a tasting party for quatre-quarts, where it had devolved into a showdown with the guild master's chef. The master had declared that if pastry craftsmen didn't exist, they would simply train them.
Asking that competitive master to hold back was, of course, futile.
"Mine says that to make sweets, they need craftsmen who can use an oven with ease. Beyond that, they need people who are eager to research recipes and don't shy away from the effort of making things taste good. The master is already thinking about poaching from bakeries that have mastered oven use, but since they'll be making things other than bread, Mine says they might not succeed without people who have the passion to create new things..."
Hearing Lutz's account, I finally grasped the heart of the master's and Mine's argument.
"So the master has judged that these 'sweets' can be sold to nobility?"
"Yes. But..."
"Lutz, no 'buts.' Once the master has made up his mind, there's nothing to be done but proceed."
This might just be my own bias as the master's loyal supporter, but the master possessed an innate business instinct. When he decided something would sell and set his mind on it with full effort, he had never yet been wrong.
I clapped my hands to draw the master's and Mine's attention.
"Master, when you say you'll train pastry craftsmen, how long will it take for them to be ready? And will it be profitable?"
"...It will be profitable. I plan to poach people from the bakeries who can already use an oven to a certain degree and make them the instructors, so it shouldn't take that long."
The master nodded calmly at my question. His eyes were filled with confidence—he wasn't considering the possibility of failure for even a moment.
"Mine said that sweets can't be made without sugar. Has anything been arranged regarding the sugar?"
"If I reach out to all the distant relatives I've fallen out of touch with, I can get some with a bit of persistence. I believe Uncle Emil had some connections in the central district? And I've asked
"Hmm. So it's not entirely without a plan."
Since the master never entered a contest without a basic chance of winning, he had apparently already been considering channels for obtaining sugar from the moment Mine first told him about sweets.
Acquiring a workshop and arranging ovens involved complicated procedures, but they weren't that difficult. The biggest problem would inevitably be friction and negotiations with the established interests. The guild master would certainly have complaints, no doubt about that.
I squinted slightly, recalling the dispute with the Parchment Association over the distribution of Plant Paper. Arguing over side businesses like papermaking or pastry training was extremely troublesome from an operational standpoint.
"Mine, just as you once divided profits from paper usage with the Parchment Association, is there a proposal that could minimize friction with the existing bakers?"
"Huh!? I have to come up with one!?"
The master took a head-on approach and basically never yielded, while Mine—uncomfortable with conflict and preferring to avoid it altogether—was better suited to finding compromises. More importantly, pastry training was outside my area of expertise, and I simply lacked the knowledge to find a compromise.
"You're the one who knows the most about pastry among all of us here, Mine. You're better at finding the right landing point than the master, so please—share your thoughts on what would benefit both sides."
I knew I was making an unreasonable demand of a child who had just undergone her
"Wha—!? Erm... a landing point? You want something that benefits both sides? Hmm..."
"How about... something that's different from the usual bread, or something that uses an oven but isn't bread..."
I tried proposing it to Mine, who was deep in thought, by substituting "bread" for the "paper" compromise we'd reached before. I couldn't think of anything myself, but Mine had a track record of bringing up one strange idea after another, so I hoped she might have something.
My guess proved correct. Mine flipped her dark blue hair and turned to face me, her golden eyes sparkling, and raised her left hand straight up.
"I have one! I want to eat 'Italian'!"
"...Italian?"
An unfamiliar word. Both the master and Lutz tilted their heads, but Mine paid them no mind, chattering away.
"Even without sugar, cooking that uses the oven would be good practice, right? 'Pizza,' 'gratin,' 'lasagna'—those should be fine. Oh, and also, oven-roasted meat, 'quiche,' and 'pie' would work too. Wow, this is going to be so exciting!"
Mine's voice was buoyant as she rattled off names one after another, but with oven-roasted meat in the mix, I couldn't imagine these were all sweets.
Lutz, watching Mine's eyes sparkling and her expression dreamy as though she might drool at any moment, let out a small groan beside me and buried his face in his hands.
"It's no good. Mine's gone off the rails."
"Lutz?"
"She's picturing what she wants in her head. Once she sets a goal, she charges straight ahead... Master, can you even win?"
From Lutz's groaning voice, it was easy to picture how he was constantly being dragged around by Mine's runaway enthusiasm.
Mine and the master seemed to be two of a kind. Once they set a goal, they charged straight ahead, oblivious to everyone else's struggles.
"Benno, why don't you forget the sweets idea and just open a 'restaurant'—er, a somewhat upscale eatery instead?"
"Hey, wait! Don't just decide to quit on your own!"
"With sugar, you can make sweets as 'desserts' too. It'll work out. Let's make it an 'Italian' restaurant!"
"What do you mean it'll work out?!"
Just as Lutz had feared, the master was on the losing end.
Seeing Lutz being swept up by Mine reminded me of my own situation being swept along by the master, and I quietly wiped away a mental tear.
"Lutz, cultivate a strong heart. It's not just about being dragged around—if you can predict where the runaway train is heading and get there in advance, the mental strain decreases dramatically."
"Mark?"
"There's a certain art to being swept along."
Seeing Lutz's pure, shining green eyes as he looked at me with admiration, I made a silent vow. I would train Lutz myself so that he could withstand whatever unreasonable demands these two threw at him.
While we were quietly sympathizing with each other's struggles, Mine's mouth didn't stop. Facing the master, she rattled off the advantages of opening an eatery rather than a workshop one after another.
"Because if you can make not just sweets but also full meals, you have more leverage, right? If you serve customers, practice doesn't go to waste, and the craftsmen stay motivated too. Once they can make sweets, you can have customers in the shop try them before offering them to the nobility, gather their feedback, and improve the recipes!"
Her persuasion and manner of speaking—truly not something you'd expect from a child—were so compelling that I was genuinely impressed. Then Lutz looked up at me with a troubled frown.
"I'm starting to think... when I hear Mine's passionate arguments, there's a chance she might actually be right."
"The ability to make customers want to buy is a rare and valuable talent for a merchant."
When I nodded in agreement, Lutz shrugged and smiled faintly.
"...Though Mine only works that hard for things she herself wants."
"Observe carefully how she says things to make people feel that way. Everyone around you is a living example."
The power of persuasion that could make someone want to do something was a truly attractive talent, but since it would actually be me running the store, I couldn't let myself be swept up by Mine's enthusiasm.
"More importantly, Lutz. Is Mine all right? I think she might be a bit too excited."
"Whoa! Mine! Calm down!"
At Lutz's voice, Mine finally stopped talking—then slumped face-down onto the table. Sure enough, she'd overdone it.
Even so, seemingly not having said enough, Mine kept mumbling with her face pressed against the table.
"There's a world of difference between the food of ordinary rich people and nobility. If you serve delicious food, people will come even if it's a little expensive—I'm absolutely certain of it."
"A 'world of difference,' you say? Where did you ever see noble cuisine—ah, the guild master."
"See? You're interested now, aren't you, Benno? It really is different. But there's a chance we could compete—because I haven't given Ilse any information about cooking yet."
I could tell from Mine's little laugh that the master's heart had tilted considerably in her favor. But I couldn't just let him make a decision on impulse. We needed to cool down and carefully consider Mine's proposal. Anything with advantages inevitably came with disadvantages.
"It does seem like we should carefully consider whether we truly need to train pastry craftsmen, just as Mine suggests. Thank you for the wonderful proposal, Mine—it really helped. Perhaps you should head home and rest today? You must be exhausted after being dragged around by the master."
"Mmm, Mark's kindness really warms my heart."
I instructed Lutz to see Mine off—still slumped over the table—and saw the two of them out of the store.
After sending the children on their way, I returned to the back room and found the master slumped over his desk in the same position Mine had been in earlier.
"Master?"
"My word, Mine never fails to surprise me."
"Indeed. I never expected the compromise for avoiding friction with the bakers' guild to take such a different direction."
Scratching his hair with a rustle, the master slowly sat up. His reddish-brown eyes sharpened as he fixed me with a stare.
"...Mark, what do you think?"
"An eatery would be easier to realize than training pastry craftsmen. With an eatery, there should be no friction with the bakers' guild. If anything, we'd need to consider the restaurant association's position, but as long as we follow proper procedures, opening a shop itself shouldn't be difficult."
"Right."
What Mine had proposed was an upscale eatery. Since it wouldn't be a large company encroaching on the cheap market, the restaurant association probably wouldn't offer strong opposition either.
"An eatery isn't bad. Many wealthy families employ cooks, but cooks are basically commoners. Even if they spend more money, all that increases is the quantity of food—the actual meals themselves don't change much. Noble cuisine uses recipes that skilled chefs prepare only in noble households, so the taste and variety are fundamentally different. As long as we pay attention to ingredients and flavor, customers will come even if the prices are slightly higher."
I'd never personally tasted noble cuisine, so I couldn't say for certain, but the master had been invited to dine with nobility a handful of times. If he said there was a major difference between noble and wealthy-class meals, then there must be.
"But why does Mine know noble recipes? She was only at the guild master's house for a few days. How does she know the recipes for so many different dishes? And why does she keep coming up with oven-based cooking?"
"She's Mine."
I answered the master's questions with a sigh. He looked dissatisfied, but there was no other answer.
"Mark, honestly..."
"Wondering about it is a waste of time. You yourself said during the Rinshan affair that as long as Mine is useful from a merchant's perspective, it doesn't matter who or what she is. Revisiting the question now won't change a thing. In fact, it would be far more constructive to think about how to prevent Mine from leaking valuable information to outsiders."
When I deliberately shrugged in an exaggerated show of resignation, the master averted his eyes in embarrassment, then clapped his hands together in a transparent attempt to change the subject.
"Ah, about that... I've been thinking of adopting Lutz as my son. What do you think, Mark?"
"I believe that habit of blurting out impulsive ideas without thinking is being influenced by Mine."
"Oh!? How rude! Don't lump me in with that thoughtless girl!"
The master glared and snapped in outrage, but what else could you call the proposal to adopt Lutz if not thoughtless?
If the master, who ran the store, adopted a son and raised him, everyone would see it as naming an heir. We couldn't afford to plant the seeds of such conflict before Corina's children were born.
"Then might I ask you to share your well-considered reasoning for arriving at a proposal that would likely generate unnecessary friction with Corina?"
The master let out a light sigh, muttering that I was being needlessly sarcastic, but proceeded to explain his reasons for wanting to adopt Lutz.
"First, securing Lutz is absolutely necessary to maintain our connection with Mine. You understand that, right?"
"Of course."
Since Contract Magic had been exchanged stipulating that products from the Mine Workshop would be sold through Lutz, I understood the need to keep him secured.
And right now, Lutz's status was that of a hired hand. Once his employment period ended, he could go wherever he pleased of his own free will. The master wanted to prevent that.
"I considered making him an apprentice, but since I'm already thinking of eventually entrusting him with the store, I thought it might be better to adopt him and put myself in a position where I can guide him firmly."
"I think an apprentice contract would suffice. If anything, when Corina has a girl, couldn't he simply marry into the family?"
Rather than raising him as an adopted son, training him as an apprentice and having him marry in would invite far less resentment from those around us.
But the master just shrugged and waved his hand dismissively.
"Lutz won't work. He only has eyes for Mine. Besides, Lutz's dream has always been to become a traveling merchant—he's been looking for a chance to leave this city. That's exactly why I think it's going to be difficult to keep him tied to this store."
"A traveling merchant? That's quite..."
I was surprised—such an unusual dream for someone born and raised in the city. The master raised a shoulder slightly and the corner of his lips curved upward.
"The oppressive home environment is the biggest reason, I think, but if Mine is no longer around, Lutz has no reason to stay here either. Mine will almost certainly be taken in by some noble before long—whether it's a noble from this city, one from elsewhere who smooth-talks her into it, or one dispatched from the central district... At this point, we can't know, but the chances of Mine leaving this city are high."
For now, Mine was an apprentice under the master's protection, lacking knowledge and resources. But once she came of age and acquired various skills and knowledge, Lutz would recognize his own worth. And if Mine had left the city by then, rendering the Contract Magic meaningless, he'd certainly consider going to a shop in another town.
"I want to have Lutz in a position where I can take him along when Mine makes her move."
"Why are you going to that much trouble, Master?"
When I narrowed my eyes slightly, the master gave an awkward smile.
"The Gilberta Company's successor is Corina—I'm just the bridge. Mine keeps talking about making books, but bookmaking is in a different direction from our store. It's not immediate, but I've been thinking that once I hand the store over to Corina and Otto, I could strike out on my own and start a different shop."
The Gilberta Company was a matrilineal business, so having Corina and Otto take over the store was the natural order of things. The master's words weren't wrong.
Still, his hinting at independence and his actions toward Lutz didn't quite connect in my mind. When I looked at him, the master sighed lightly and then murmured, "Can't hide anything from Mark," with a nostalgic smile.
"Lately, when I see Mine and Lutz together, they remind me of myself in the old days—back when my father was alive and I lived without a care in the world... when I was with Lise."
The sight of Lutz and Mine tumbling over each other evoked the time when the master and Lise used to laugh together, so I could understand his feelings to some degree. If I lowered my gaze, the old scenes came flooding back—watching from the corner of my eye as they played at being adults behind the store, scheming mischief in whispers.
"Watching those two reminded me. After Father died, I was so consumed with protecting the store and the family that I'd completely forgotten about my own dream..."
"You wanted to become a merchant with influence across the world, if I recall."
When I said this, the master's eyes went wide in genuine surprise, and—amusingly flustered—pointed at me.
"Wh-why do you even remember that?!"
"Because I've known you since the day you were born, Master."
Please don't underestimate me. I've known the master since his birth.
When I puffed out my chest, the master grabbed his head and groaned softly. Having someone who knew the details of your childhood was truly inconvenient, wasn't it? I understood perfectly.
After clutching his head and groaning for a while, the master seemed to shake off his embarrassment and gave a small cough to clear his throat.
"Don't you think that if we keep turning the ideas in Mine's head into reality one by one, my dream is certain to come true?"
"...It's rather grand in scope, but if we could actually realize everything Mine talks about, you would indeed have influence across the world."
"To start, I'll head to the town where my younger siblings are and set up a Plant Paper workshop there, spreading Plant Paper from that base. ...Mark, what will you do?"
Folding his fingers in front of his chest and leaning back against his chair, tilting his head slightly, the master looked up at me. His expression, quietly awaiting my answer, made me want to laugh.
It was exactly the same posture, the same face as when he'd asked me whether I'd stay at the store after the previous master passed away and my apprenticeship ended.
"Teo would get along better with Otto than I would, so I'll follow the master, of course. You'll need someone to oversee Lutz's training, after all."
"...I see."
The master let out a breath of relief. Seeing him like that, I narrowed my eyes with fond nostalgia.
Mine, who had moved the master—who had stubbornly resolved to protect his family and store, who had forgotten his own dreams—into creating the Plant Paper Association and was now pushing him toward a new venture, was truly the Water Goddess who brought an end to the long winter in the master's life, just as Otto had said.
Thanks to her, I was able to remember my own dream as well.
If Mine was the Water Goddess, then I wanted to be the Fire God who would continue to help the master grow, from here on out.