Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 2.3 - Chapter 11

Completion of the Metal Letter Types 

After asking the High Priest if I could let a merchant visit my chambers, I requested that Benno bring a shoemaker to me as soon as possible. 

“Blessed be the melting of the snow. May the Goddess of Spring’s boundless magnanimity grace you.” Benno, saying the greeting that celebrated the arrival of spring, entered my chambers with a couple of shoemakers. 

“May you have the blessings of Flutrane the Goddess of Water and her subordinates,” I welcomed them in turn, remaining seated in the hall. 

With my bodyguard Damuel giving them hard looks, Benno, the shoemaker who looked to be of a similar age, and the shoemaker’s assistant measured my feet and asked me what kind of design I wanted, plus what material I wanted to use. 

“Hm,” Rosina thought aloud. “Our highest priority is preparing shoes for Spring Prayer. She will need tall boots made of horse leather.” 

“White horse leather it is, then,” Delia chimed. 

“Delia, think well about this. The Spring Prayer will demand that she walk through farming towns. A darker color would be more suitable for this purpose.” 

Rosina and Delia began discussing it among themselves without giving me a chance to speak my own mind. Fran was listening to them with a stiff expression because I had asked him to watch over them. 

Delia loved cute, pretty things—the fancier the better, in her eyes—and whenever shopping was involved her excitement got out of control. There was no mistaking that she would make the shoes increasingly extravagant if left to her own devices. 

Rosina, on the other hand, had a good fashion sense and knew what I would need thanks to her time spent serving Sister Christine, but her sense of scale was a bit off. If she approached this like Sister Christine did, spending endless amounts of money to buy everything she wanted according to her tastes and mood, I would end up broke. And just as I expected, she was adding to the order bit by bit, saying things like “These are quite wonderful” and “We may as well use this opportunity to order these as well.” 

It was Fran who put a firm stop to their madness. 

“Delia, the shoes do not need more decoration than that. Rosina, Sister Myne is still growing, so she does not need such a large number of shoes. It would be best if we just purchased new ones over time as she grows.” 

Fran had previously been the High Priest’s attendant, so he knew well the bare minimum of dress that was necessary to satisfy society’s demands. But both he and the High Priest were men, so their appreciation of cute and pretty things could not compare to Rosina’s. He would simply rein Rosina and Delia back while they made the important choices, with my job being to make the final order. 

“Sister Myne, will these do?” 

“Yes, I believe these three pairs will do just fine.” 

In the end, we ordered a firm pair of tall horse leather boots that reached up to my knees and a soft pair of short pig leather boots for the Spring Prayer. The third and final pair would be fancy cloth shoes for wearing inside the temple and in the Noble’s Quarter. 

Once the order was finished and the shoemaker was preparing to leave, Benno glanced my way. 

“Forgive me, but I have something important to discuss with Sister Myne. Fran, could you take these two gentlemen to the gate?” 

“Delia can handle that, actually. Fran, please have her escort the gentlemen out. Rosina, please prepare some tea.” 

Fran nodded at Benno, then told Delia to escort the shoemaker and his assistant to the gate. She enthusiastically guided them out the door, in a good mood thanks to all the shopping. 

“So, what do you want to talk about?” 

“Sister Myne, Johann came to my store the other day. It seems he has finished the task you gave him.” 

I blinked in surprise. I had agreed to be the patron of the young smith Johann at the end of autumn. He needed to complete a task to finish his leherl apprenticeship, and I had given him one in the form of completing a catalog of metal letter types. 

“Wha? Um... Benno. When you say ‘the task,’ you mean the letter types, correct? Um... I didn’t think he would finish them so fast.” 

I had ordered both uppercase and lowercase versions of the thirty-five letters of the alphabet, and Johann’s task had been to make me fifty types for each vowel and twenty for each consonant. Never in my wildest dreams did I expect he would finish them all over the winter. 

“It seems that he would like you to appraise them, Sister Myne.” 

The task the apprentice smiths needed to complete was ultimately an order from a customer. It was necessary that they first show the finished product to the customer and hear their appraisal. 

“It would be preferable if you could come to my store to see them, but if that is not possible, may I bring Johann and the smithy’s foreman here with me?” 

“...I will ask the High Priest.” 

“Very well.” 

Damuel and the High Priest were both very sensitive about people entering my chambers, so I couldn’t answer Benno without first receiving their opinions on the matter. 

“I informed Johann that you would be unable to visit the store as long as the snow remained, so I ask that you proceed extremely carefully and keep the High Priest informed at all times.” 

In other words: You better friggin’ talk to the High Priest. 

And so I immediately requested a meeting with the High Priest. He had gotten through most of his built-up work over the winter, and maybe due to all that extra time he now had, it didn’t take long at all for him to set up a meeting. 

“Um, High Priest. Would it be okay for a smith named Johann and his foreman to visit my chambers?” 

“...The fact you refer to him by name leads me to infer that he is an associate of yours.” 

“That’s right. As his patron, I need to appraise what he has made for me.” 

The High Priest nodded, lightly tapping a finger against his temple. “Myne, does this smith know that you are an apprentice blue shrine maiden?” 

“No, I have not mentioned it. Given that Johann thought I was Benno’s daughter, I would imagine that Benno hasn’t told him either.” 

“I see. In that case, do not invite him to the temple. It would be wise to go to Benno’s store instead.” 

“Why could the shoemaker come, but not Johann?” I asked, tilting my head in confusion. 

The High Priest sighed. “The shoemaker visited the chambers of an apprentice blue shrine maiden at the Gilberta Company’s introduction. But Johann would be visiting the temple to show Myne of the Gilberta Company what she ordered.” 

“...Ah.” I put a hand over my mouth, and the High Priest narrowed his eyes. 

“I gathered as much information as I could from various places over the winter, and it seems Benno has been hiding you quite well. Exceedingly few know that the child with connections to the Gilberta Company is the same person as the temple’s new apprentice blue shrine maiden, and likewise few know your true identity.” 

That reminded me—I had mentioned Benno always talking about keeping me out of public view. If even the High Priest’s investigation led him to conclude not many people knew about me, Benno must have been working really hard all this time. 

“You may go to the store. I would not like to publicize that you are an apprentice blue shrine maiden.” 

“Okay. I’ll go to the Gilberta Company.” 

It was my first time going outside in a long time. I felt a giddy smile of relief creeping onto my face at the prospect of getting to leave the temple, but I desperately tried to hold it back so as to hide my emotions like a proper noble would. Sadly, the High Priest trashed my efforts with a single comment: “The twitchy smile on your face is unsettling and disturbing.” 

“Damuel, you will protect Myne while she is gone. Myne, it is essential that you prepare a carriage to take you to the store. Do not just walk about outside. You can contact Benno about the carriage. Furthermore, take care to minimize how much you are both seen in public.” 

“Understood!” 

“I’ll be careful.” 

I nodded at the High Priest’s list of warnings, letting my smile show freely. Just wait, my pretty little letter types! I’ll come visit you as soon as I can! 

Naturally, I couldn’t go straight away just because the decision had been made. It was first necessary that I call Lutz from his work in the orphanage to send a message to Benno and ask that he prepare a carriage for me. 

Benno contacted the smithy and set up a date for our meeting. Since bad weather and blizzards would stall the carriage, it was possible that the meeting would be delayed. 

“If these types match what I want, I’ll need to order blank types and symbol types as well. I may as well write supply orders for them now.” 

I wrote out my next supply orders before the meeting came. At the same time, I prepared what I needed to visit the store. If possible, I would want to demonstrate printing there. 

“I think I should bring the ink, paper, baren, and rag just to be safe. It would be wise to show them how the types are used. Fran, please ask Gil to have the workshop prepare what I need.” 

“Understood.” 

“Um, Sister Myne. Why in the world are you visiting a lower-city store?” asked Delia with an exasperated expression as she watched me excitedly talking to Fran about what I needed for my visit to the Gilberta Company. 

I had absolutely no idea how much information Delia was feeding back to the High Bishop, so I just smiled. “I will be appraising goods. I am a patron of the arts, as fate would have it.”

My companions this time were Damuel and Fran, as well as Gil, who felt an odd sense of rivalry toward Lutz. He kept talking about how business with the Gilberta Company was part of his domain as manager of the workshop, so I decided to bring him along. I could give a brief explanation of how to use the letter types in the store, but since I couldn’t do any work myself, I would have Gil do the honors. 

The four of us headed to the Gilberta Company, rattling inside the carriage Benno had sent to pick us up. Damuel’s face scrunched up the second we passed through the temple gate and were assaulted by the smell—he had never visited the lower city before. 

“What in the world is this stench?” 

“This is just how the lower city smells. You have to get used to it.” 

That’s the face of someone who’s only ever known the pretty Noble’s Quarter and the well-kept temple. I understand, I really do. 

I had probably made the exact same face the first time I stepped out into the lower city after becoming Myne. But it hadn’t taken long for me to get used to it and accept it as a natural part of everyday life. Humans were creatures of adaptation, and it really was amazing how we could get used to and endure just about anything. 

“I am afraid this is a part of the task the High Priest has given you, Sir Damuel. Guarding me will necessitate that you visit the lower city.” 

“...I see. That is one cruel task.” 

Damuel still had his face scrunched up as we arrived at the Gilberta Company. Mark exited the front door of the store to greet us. 

“Thank you for visiting our humble establishment, Lady Myne. Everyone is waiting for you inside.” 

“Hello, Mark. Thank you for having me.” 

“Apprentice, your hand.” 

Damuel held out his hand like it was the most natural thing in the world, but I had no idea what to do. A rich girl would normally allow him to escort her, but I lacked the experience to know how to gracefully allow myself to be escorted down from the carriage. 

The carriage steps were narrow, and like, the gap between them was massive for me. Even if I took Damuel’s hand, it was possible I would fall over on my way down. 

“Sir Damuel, Sister Myne is still too small to be escorted safely.” 

As I stood frozen with a cold sweat running down my back, Fran took it upon himself to inform Damuel of the situation and carry me down himself. 

“Ah, of course. My mistake, apprentice. I haven’t spent much time around young ones and don’t know how to properly accommodate them.” 

“Worry not, Sir Damuel. It is I who must hurry and grow so that I may be escorted like a proper lady.” 

Though the road to ladyship is hard enough that I’m not sure I’ll be a proper lady even when I grow up, I added silently as we entered the store. 

Mark guided us to the usual office. 

“Master Benno, Lady Myne has arrived.” 

Johann, the smith foreman, Benno, and even Lutz were waiting inside for me. 

“I hope you have not been waiting long,” I said while entering the office. 

Both Johann and his foreman gasped with wide eyes. I couldn’t blame them for being surprised, though; unlike how casual and normal I had been before, I was now talking in a dignified tone with three companions following behind me. 

“Lady Myne, I thank you for visiting.” 

Benno greeted me, after which Johann and the foreman hurriedly did the same. 

I sat down in a chair that Fran had pulled back for me, then smiled directly at Johann, who was sitting across from me. 

“Good day, Johann. I was told that you had finished the task I gave you.” 

“I did, but...” 

Johann, looking nervously between the three people behind me and the foreman, set two cloth-wrapped boxes down onto the table. I heard the clinking of metal as the letter types inside knocked against each other. That sound alone was enough to make my heart rate go up. 

“...There were too many to fit in a single box without it being too heavy, so we had to split them between two.” 

Making letter types started with making letter punches—pieces of hard metal with the pattern of a letter protruding from the end, sculptured by filing and chiseling. It took extremely precise work to make one; you needed to carefully chisel and file down the end of a piece of metal around a single centimeter in width and height, which necessitated the precise craftsmanship that Johann specialized in. 

Once the letter punch was finished, you pressed it into a softer metal to make a matrix, which was what the molds used to cast a letter were called in letterpress printing. The raised letter on the letter punch would be imprinted into the metal matrix. Then, you would put said matrix into a hand mold and pour alloy into that. Once the alloy cooled it was removed from the hand mold, giving you a letter type for the exact same letter as the letter punch, and the mold could then be refilled to make more letter types for that letter. By repeating this whole process, you could make a set of letters all the exact same shape and size 

“I am surprised you finished so quickly. I never thought they would be done this soon...” 

I felt an indescribable excitement in my chest just from staring at the cloth-wrapped boxes. Blood rushed to my head and I let out a tiny sigh while holding a hand against my pounding heart. Feeling like Juliet looking for a vanished Romeo, I stared hard at the cloth, hoping to see through it and into the box. 

Johann, not noticing my urgency, scratched his cheek while giving a little embarrassed laugh. “...Everyone helped a little since they found it so challenging and fun.” 

Johann had made the letter punches and matrices for all the letters, but the other craftsmen—bored as they were with nothing to do over the winter—helped him produce the letter types themselves in volume. 

The foreman, grinning, slapped Johann on the back. “We fought over who could pour the alloy the best and talked about ideas to do it all faster while laughing our butts off at how hard the work was for a leherl task. ‘Of course a patron who’d take Johann would want something like this,’ we’d laugh. It’s the guidance of Vulcanift, God of Smithing!” 

He was teasing Johann, but it seemed that the foreman really did think that Vulcanift the God of Smithing had brought me and Johann together. I needed precise work done, and Johann had the skills I was looking for. I too was eternally grateful that we had met. 

“These letter type things are the fruit of all our hard labor. Johann, show’m to her.” 

“Yes, sir.” 

At the foreman’s urging, Johann untied and removed the cloth. Beneath were two thin boxes the size of a sheet of A4 paper, and within those were lines of silver metal blocks that, while dull in appearance, seemed to twinkle and glitter as the light reflected off their sculptured letters. The sight of all the letters lined up before me was indeed overwhelming. 

“Wow...” 

I picked up one of the letter types, my hand trembling with literal awe. It was a thin piece of silver metal about two point five centimeters long, with the firmly indented letter resting on one end. The metal was weighty despite its small size, and I held it up to look at it from every angle. 

I then took out another letter type and lined them up next to each other, narrowing my eyes as I confirmed whether they were the same height; any difference in height would have an enormous impact on printing. But the letters were exactly the same height, better than anything I could have expected. A smile spread across my face before I could even think about stopping it. 

“So, ma’am? Are these what you wanted?” 

The foreman’s voice knocked me back to my senses. I looked around and saw that Johann was waiting for my appraisal with bated breath. I looked between Johann and the boxes packed full of letter types, then gave a firm nod with a letter type in my hand. 

“They’re wonderful! You truly have become Gutenberg!” 

“Wha?” 

“Johann, I award you the title of ‘Gutenberg’!” 

“Huh?” 

Everyone stared at me with baffled looks on their faces—everyone except Lutz, who had gone completely pale and rushed over to shake me by the shoulders. 

“Calm down, Myne!” he said. 

I looked up at him in protest, still sitting down. “How could I be calm?! This is Gutenberg we’re talking about!” 

“Idiot, you’re getting too excited!” 

Lutz was kinda freaking out, but I couldn’t stay calm with a completed set of letter types right in front of me. No way. 

“You’re just not excited enough, Lutz. This is going to change history, you know. Isn’t that exciting?! Doesn’t that just make you giddy? Go ahead, let your emotions out! Let us share in these feelings of joy!” 

“Sorry, Myne, but I’m not following at all.” 

It seemed that Lutz couldn’t empathize with my excitement. I looked around and saw that everyone else looked just as confused, like they didn’t realize the significance of this at all. Was there anything more sad than being the only excited one in the room? 

“I mean, this is the beginning of the printing age! You’re literally bearing witness to the exact moment history was changed forever!” 

I stood up with a clatter and explained the glory of the letter types as passionately as I could, but the reaction I got was subdued at best. 

“This is the second coming of Gutenberg! His first name was Johannes, and now he’s changing history as Johann! What a splendid coincidence! A fateful meeting of legend! Praise be to the gods!” I shot my arms up in the praying stance as Lutz cradled his head. 

“Err, ma’am? Who’s this ‘Gutenberg’ you’re talking about?” asked the smithy foreman, blinking in confusion. 

Happy that at least someone was trying to understand, I clasped my hands together and looked right at him. “Gutenberg is a legendary craftsman on the level of a god whose work changed history and books forever. Johann is indeed this city’s Gutenberg!” 

As I explained, it occurred to me that letter types weren’t the only things used in printing. You needed paper, ink, and a printing press too. Perhaps everyone was reacting so poorly because it was odd of me to give all the credit to Johann. 

“...Oh, I get it. There are a lot of people involved here. The people making the ink, those helping construct the printing press, Benno making the paper, and Lutz selling the books. I shouldn’t leave anyone out, you’re right. Sorry. You’re all Gutenberg. You’re all members of a big Gutenberg family!” 

“I don’t wanna be a part of that family.” Benno immediately refused my companionship. 

“What do you mean, Benno?! That’s disrespectful to the Gutenbergs, who are going to print books and influence the entire world! You should be happy about this, really. Your heart should be pounding with glee. Okay?” 

Benno gave me a half exasperated, half defeated look before glancing at Lutz, who waved his hands as if to say “I’ve got nothing,” and then sighed. 

“Now that the letter types are done, we can finally get started on the printing press! Let’s order what we need from a wood workshop right away. Aah, we’re actually getting on to printing! Wow! Just wow! Praise be to Metisonora, Goddess of Wisdom!” 

As I struck the pose again to praise Metisonora, my glee climaxed and knocked me unconscious.