I had resolved to make ink, but I couldn't start right away. First, I needed to go to Sig's woodworking workshop and have the master introduce me to a different woodworking workshop.
When we arrived at the workshop, the assistant who had been there before was doing some detailed work at the counter. He looked up, then put on a friendly smile.
"Hey,
"Call the master out for us."
At Benno's words, the assistant immediately turned and headed to the back. A faint cry of "Master!" was heard, and then the broad-right-armed, shaggy-bearded master emerged, brushing wood shavings off his clothes.
"Hey, Benno. Sorry, but the bed frames aren't all finished yet."
"Yeah, today I'm looking for you to introduce me to a different woodworking workshop."
"...What do you mean by that?"
The master's eyes sharpened as if he'd taken offense. Benno watched his reaction and gave a slight shrug.
"I'm not saying we're cutting ties. Our order delivery is running late, right? You probably can't take on any more jobs. Do you know any woodworking workshops you have connections with where I could hand off work? I want to commission this kid's job."
As Benno spoke, he pushed me forward, and the master's expression relaxed in relief. He then looked me up and down while stroking his bushy beard.
"Hmm. Then I'll send you over to
The master said this and led us to a workshop belonging to someone named Ingo. The master insisted on going personally so that, by introducing us directly, he could make it absolutely clear that I was originally his customer. Apparently, there are various power dynamics between workshops.
Ingo seemed to be a young master who had only recently started his own business. Young or not, he was a bit older than Benno, but considering that most people called "master" tended to be forty or older, someone in their thirties was quite young by comparison.
"I can't handle this one at my place this time. Ingo, what do you think?"
"Come to think of it, you guys had that big order coming in, huh? You gonna cut me in on this one too?"
"Of course it's a separate deal! This little lady here is your customer. Take care of her."
With that, Sig's master left. The man called Ingo looked down at me with an openly disappointed expression. I was a little miffed, but since I looked like a child who hadn't even finished the
"I want to prepare boards for winter handcrafts at the orphanage. So please, you absolutely must meet the deadline."
I specified the board sizes and placed my order.
This year at the orphanage, the winter handcrafts would be making Reversi and playing cards. For the Reversi boards, I just needed to draw lines and make a grid on thick boards using the ink I'd be making, and for the pieces, I'd cut small boards and paint ink on one side only. As long as they fit within the grid squares, it didn't matter if they weren't round—the game would still work fine.
While I was at it, if I made chess pieces, they could play with the same boards. However, chess pieces were too complex to carve, so I rejected that idea. It would be too advanced for the "First Woodworking Class" I planned to hold at the orphanage. I'd substitute shogi pieces instead. I just had to write the names on boards, so the simpler the better.
Shogi and chess were different? Nobody here would know that, so I could make up whatever rules and names I wanted for the pieces. Yes, I was the rule.
I had considered making playing cards from paper, but boards were cheaper than paper for this purpose. Plus, what Mine Workshop produced was Japanese-style paper, which would need some modifications or processing to be suitable for cards. If I made them from thin boards, they'd hold up even if the children handled them a bit roughly.
The colors and suits might be fine as they were, but I should probably think about how to handle the J, Q, and K cards. Drawing pictures would be far too much trouble.
"Seriously though, what are you going to use all these boards for?"
I paid Ingo an advance using my guild card. The fact that I was carrying a Workshop Head's guild card and could pay immediately seemed to earn me more trust, because Ingo's attitude became a bit more casual.
"Like I said, for winter handcrafts at the orphanage. The details are a secret. It'll be a surprise once they're done. If they sell well, I'll be back to order again next year."
"...Next year too? Doesn't he have exclusive rights?" Ingo jerked his thumb in the direction Sig's master had left.
"Benno's exclusive workshop is over there, but I haven't made any firm decisions yet. I'll judge based on the quality of work and reliability with deadlines."
"Ah, I see..."
"Then please arrange delivery to the
"Sure. Likewise, I look forward to working with you."
With the board order completed, I was carried back to the shop in Benno's arms.
Once back at the shop, I was seated at a table in the back room. Benno and
"Alright, spill everything."
Seeing Benno glowering at me while slamming the table, I thought it looked exactly like an interrogation scene from a crime drama.
"What do you mean? I haven't done anything wrong. I'm innocent. Falsely accused."
"What are you babbling about, you idiot? Of course we're talking about what you're planning to do from here on out! What are those boards for? What about the ink? How are you going to make it? What do you need? Tell us everything!"
Lutz leaned in from the side, trying to calm Benno's intensity. He furrowed his brows with a troubled look and offered his input.
"We also need to consider the papermaking schedule at Mine Workshop. It's a problem if plans can't be set in advance. For what we're making this time, do we need to go into the forest to gather anything?"
"Um... wait a moment. Let me get my thoughts organized."
I took out a writing tablet and started listing what I needed to make and the materials required. Toys needed boards and ink. Making ink required... By writing it all out like this, I could feel my thoughts coming together.
While I was sorting through my ideas, it seemed Benno and Lutz had also prepared their own notes—wooden tablets and ink were laid out.
"For winter handcrafts, I'm planning to make 'Reversi,' 'Shogi pieces,' and 'Playing Cards.' The materials needed for these are boards and ink."
At my words, Benno furrowed his brows in puzzlement and tilted his head.
"...What exactly are those things you just listed?"
"They're games like karuta. Oh, but unlike karuta, adults can play them too."
"Oh?"
"I think they'd be perfect for passing time next winter."
During the snowstorms, everyone would be cooped up indoors, and they'd need something to fill the time. Just doing handicrafts would get boring. Commoners did handicrafts to earn a little money, but what did wealthy people do to pass the time?
"Regardless of what I make, ink is essential, so I'd like to make the ink as soon as possible."
"You said you wanted to make different ink at the ink workshop, didn't you?"
"Yes. If it's made with a completely different process from what the workshop currently produces, then I wouldn't need permission to make it on my own, and nobody could complain, right?"
If the manufacturing process was kept secret or if it was produced only at workshops with guild approval, you could potentially run afoul of Contract Magic. Making something without authorization could violate regulations and result in penalties.
"Well, that's true. If it's a new product whose process isn't known, then there shouldn't be any Contract Magic restrictions, and you wouldn't need anyone's permission. You might get some minor complaints, but you can just laugh them off. The problem is that because you went and told the ink workshop master extra things, the probing and intelligence-gathering is now coming our way..."
"Huh? Did I really say anything unnecessary?"
I thought I had only shared the minimum information needed, so something didn't add up. As I tilted my head, Benno's eyes narrowed sharply.
"You told them you knew the manufacturing process of the current ink, and moreover that there were other inks whose processes you also knew! If that isn't unnecessary, what is!?"
"But the process for the current ink was only to identify ink types, and the information about new ink was just to give them time to prepare mentally. I'm thinking that once the prototype is done, I'd sell the manufacturing process to the ink guild and have them mass-produce it, so it wasn't really that unnecessary!"
Benno pressed his fingers to his temples with a deep frown. He shook his head several times as if he couldn't comprehend it, then glared at me.
"Wait a moment. Sell the manufacturing process to the ink guild?"
"Yes. Because when you were setting up the Plant Paper Association, you ran into entrenched interests and it was really tough, wasn't it? Even now,
The Plant Paper Association had been established without my knowledge, and it still seemed to be managing with just enough hands, so I could accept that.
However, Lutz had told me that Benno had been running around visiting relatives in other towns to set up Plant Paper Associations and workshops there, and it was a real ordeal. The Italian restaurant started to compete with Ilse was outside their area of expertise, and
"...Listening to your opinions sometimes gives me a headache. What do you think profit is?"
"Well, I'm not a merchant—I'm a Shrine Maiden Apprentice! If they're not going to raise a fuss about a small amount being made at Mine Workshop, then I should spread the manufacturing process as widely as possible and have it produced in various places to lower the unit cost."
Lutz, who had been listening to our conversation, let out a slow sigh. Then he steered the discussion back on track.
"Mine, Benno—maybe you should save the talk about the ink business until after the ink is actually finished? What do we need to prepare in order to make the ink?"
"Um, the things I can think of that could become ink are 'sumi,' 'oil-based paint,' '
"Like always, I have no idea what you're talking about, Mine. So what do I need to prepare?"
I looked down at my writing tablet.
"The materials used to create color are called pigments, and the easiest pigment to obtain for making black is soot.
If you use soot as the base, any ink can be made black, so first we need to collect soot."
To make sumi, you mix soot with animal glue and fragrance, then knead it. For oil-based paint, you knead soot with drying oil. What I'd been calling "Gutenberg ink" for convenience—a high-viscosity early printing ink—could be made from boiled linseed oil and soot.
"The 'sumi' I know is made from soot collected from rapeseed oil, sesame oil, or pine resin smoke, but we can't be picky for a prototype, can we? For now, couldn't we just clean out everyone's stoves and chimneys and collect the soot? ...Come to think of it, we did this last year too, didn't we?"
Memories flooded back of being forced to clean by my mother while wearing dirty work clothes to make the Soot Pencil. In the end, Lutz must have cleaned his own house too to collect enough soot.
"Yeah, we did. But Mom and the others are happy about it, and we get materials, so it's a good deal, right?"
"In that case, I'll handle the soot from our house too, so come over and clean."
Benno was quick to jump on the opportunity. Before winter, the chimneys and stoves had to be cleaned regardless. If it also produced materials, that was fine.
"Benno, are you going to pay me for chimney cleaning too?"
"Yeah. I'll double your soot supply with zero effort on your part."
I wasn't sure what he was scheming, but Benno gave a sly grin. I couldn't quite figure it out, but if it meant more materials, that was fine.
"Once we've collected the soot, then what? What else do we need?"
"Soot collection," Lutz wrote on his own tablet, then looked at me. I glanced down at my tablet and confirmed that sumi required soot and animal glue.
"Next is animal glue. It's a strong adhesive made from the skin or bone marrow of animals like cows or pigs. It's used to knead the soot for making 'sumi,' and it's also used to harden the spine of books when you bind them."
"Skin and bone marrow from animals, huh... Winter Preparations season is almost here, and if the orphanage does pig processing, couldn't we collect some?"
"Ugh... Yeah."
I recalled the image of a pig being slaughtered and hung up in the village, and flinched for a moment. Nowadays I was more or less used to it and could endure without fainting or crying, but lacking the strength for meat processing, I still hadn't built up much tolerance.
"Pig processing at the orphanage? Have you ever done that before?"
Benno tilted his head. I thought about it too, but the children at the orphanage, who had never even seen a karfe potato—all their food was a blessing from the gods—couldn't possibly have experience with pig processing.
"I really don't think any of them have."
"Then since we'll be doing Winter Preparations at our place anyway, should I place an order that covers the orphanage's share too?"
"That would be a huge help! Thank you so much."
Every year I'd end up bedridden with fever, and I'd never participated in the neighborhood pig processing, so I had no connections at the butcher shop and no way to secure the smokehouse. At Benno's words, I pressed my hands together in gratitude.
"With those skins and bones, can you make glue?"
"I have a rough idea of how to make it, but I've never actually made 'animal glue' before. But since it has so many uses, I really want to succeed no matter what."
Animal glue is made by soaking animal skin or bones in lime water to remove unwanted materials like hair, then boiling it down to concentrate it, and finally solidifying and drying it. Glue made from skin apparently has better water resistance than glue from bones.
Ideally I'd extract it from skin, but the top priority was to actually produce it.
The main component of animal glue is collagen, a type of protein, so ink made by an amateur with handmade glue would rot if left out for too long. It spoiled easily in warm, humid summer conditions, and if it was too cold it would solidify, so it was surprisingly tricky to work with.
"And to make the animal glue, we need 'lime.'"
"What's that?"
"You know, the stuff they use when building houses? The white stuff on the walls..."
"Oh, lime."
The local word for lime came naturally from Lutz's lips.
Lime was also used in mortar, so Lutz's father, who worked in construction, should know where to buy it.
"So, Lutz, could you ask your dad Diedle where to buy it?"
"Got it. ...Lime. This is like the ash from when we made paper—just a small amount is fine, right?"
"Yep."
Compared to when we first made paper—when Lutz could barely write, his parents hadn't yet even tentatively approved of him becoming a merchant, materials had to be gathered without spending money, and we'd had almost no freedom or usable resources and had just been spinning our wheels—things had changed dramatically in a little over a year.
As I was reflecting on this, Lutz, who had been scribbling away, looked up at me.
"Is there anything else we need?"
"Um, for just 'sumi,' soot and 'animal glue' are enough. For 'oil-based paint,' we also need 'linseed oil,' but Benno might know more about that?"
When I turned to look at Benno, Lutz followed my gaze. Benno scratched his head vigorously while thinking, then slowly shook it.
"...I've never heard of it. What's it like?"
"The shop carries linen fabric, and they sell hemp thread too, right? So 'linseed oil,' which is pressed from flax seeds, should be sold somewhere as well."
"Oh, linseed oil. If that's what it is, then I know it... but oil isn't exactly cheap."
At Benno's words, I gave an ambiguous smile and answered. Even if it wasn't cheap, we had no choice but to buy it.
"We'll just have to buy it. We can't exactly start cultivating flax to get the seeds, and even if we bought the seeds, we don't have a press. I think it's better to just buy it rather than purchase a machine and press it ourselves. We'll need to compare the price of seeds to the price of a press and reconsider what to do next year."
"I see."
There were other drying oils I could think of, but linseed oil, which was produced for making cloth, would be easier to obtain than safflower oil or sunflower oil. I'd never seen either safflower or sunflower around here.
"With just these raw materials, I can make the simplest, most basic ink. After that, it's the equipment. The best method is to knead it on a hard surface like marble using a grinding rod."
"Like when we made paper—you need some weird tools?"
At Benno's question, I shook my head.
"No, the equipment needed isn't that extensive. A kneading board, a grinding rod, airtight storage containers, and a palette knife or similar tool would be enough to start. The tools are probably available through a painting workshop, so maybe I could ask there? My mother works at a dyeing workshop too, so I could check with her."
"...Got it. Then everyone prepare your materials and bring them to Mine Workshop."
With Benno's concluding words, we dispersed.
Collecting soot made both my mother and
"Just like Benno said—double the soot, zero effort!"
Lutz reported when he came to visit me.
Apparently, Benno had told Corina all sorts of exaggerated stories about Lutz cleaning stoves and chimneys to collect soot, and had then used Otto to collect soot from his own house and given it to Lutz.
"Otto is really a slave to love, isn't he? I don't think he could ever go against Corina."
"On top of that, the Gray Priests really went all out for us."
"Huh?"
When the Gray Priests heard about Lutz collecting soot, they figured they had to clean before winter anyway, so they cleaned the Blue Priests' fireplaces and the ovens and chimneys in each kitchen, and collected all the soot.
"Thanks to that, Mine Workshop has already collected a pretty large amount of soot."
"...Really?"
"And Benno bought the linseed oil, and I asked my dad to buy the lime. I also asked at the painting workshop about the tools, and we ordered them from a workshop that sells them, so they should arrive soon."
While I had been laid up with fever, materials and equipment had been steadily piling up at the workshop. The power of crowdsourcing was amazing.
"Then since Winter Preparations are still a ways off, let's put the animal glue on hold for now and try making the ink we can make with the oil. We'll use that to make woodblock prints and print with it. Oh, oh, I need to order boards for the woodblocks too. But since the ink is still a prototype, maybe stamps would be better? Lutz, what do you think?"
"...Mine, don't get so excited. First you need to bring down your fever—without that, nothing else matters, right?"
"Nngh..."
Once the fever went down, I'd try making oil-based paint.
While Mine was laid up with fever, preparations progressed steadily.
Next time, we make ink.