Meeting of the Minds
Three days after I started living in the temple, a letter arrived from the High Priest asking whether the ceremonial robes ordered from the Gilberta Company were ready yet. Disappointed that he hadn’t written to establish a meeting, I had Rosina call for Lutz. He arrived in no time, since he was at the workshop teaching the orphanage kids to do their winter handiwork.
“Did something happen, Myne?”
“The High Priest sent me a letter asking when the ceremonial robes will be ready. Sorry, but could you ask Benno about them when you drop by the store for lunch?”
And so he did, returning with the answer that they would take three days to finish at the absolute minimum. To give them a little leeway, I sent a reply to the High Priest saying the robes would take five days to finish if they worked their absolute hardest. That would hopefully prevent him from rushing them too much.
When Fran brought me the High Priest’s response, he also had with him a letter of summons for Benno. I passed this on to Lutz when he visited my chambers to say goodbye and give me an update on the workshop.
“It looks like he’s calling Lord Karstedt over seven days from now, and he wants Benno to deliver the finished robes then,” I said, clinging to him all the while.
“Alright. I’ll give it to him on my way home. But y’know, Myne... You haven’t gotten better at all. Are you doing okay?”
“Not really. I want to go back home at least once before the snow falls.”
Far from getting used to the loneliness, my homesickness was actually getting worse. It was pretty clear too, as I gradually spent more and more time clinging to Lutz and Tuuli whenever they came to my room. And Mom not being able to visit due to her pregnancy definitely wasn’t helping either.
“You know I won’t be able to visit every day once the snow starts, right?” said Lutz with a sigh while gently patting my head.
Dad was busy enough with his afternoon shifts that he could only visit once a week, while Tuuli could only visit every other day. I would get even more lonely when Lutz stopped being able to visit every day to watch over the workshop and their winter handiwork.
“I wish snow just didn’t exist.” My arms around Lutz tightened as I thought about how cold it was, cold enough for snow to start falling at any moment.
On the day of the meeting, snow began to fall just before third bell. It wasn’t enough for the snow to settle, but everyone knew that winter had begun for real.
“Do you think it’ll settle?”
“Not yet, Sister Myne. There will be nothing to interrupt your meeting,” assured Rosina.
After finishing harspiel practice, I was instructed on how to properly greet Karstedt. Rosina had been forcing me to repeat a beautiful curtsy over and over again.
The road to being elegant is not an easy one...
“Sister Myne, Benno will be arriving this afternoon. There is not much time left to practice.”
Today’s meeting was scheduled for fifth bell. Benno would be coming to see me in my chambers beforehand, under the guise of thanking me for giving him a connection to an archnoble. In the meantime I had to learn a greeting respectable enough that I wouldn’t embarrass myself in front of Karstedt. And so, I put my all into practicing.
“Hi Benno, Mark. Oh? Where’s Lutz?”
Benno and Mark entered my room, the former wearing winter clothes with long sleeves in the style of nobles and the latter carrying a box. I pursed my lips in a pout, having expected Lutz to come with them.
“It started snowing, so I’m having Lutz prioritize his work in the Myne Workshop. He should arrive with the finished handiwork soon—one copy of each. Make sure you bring them to the meeting.”
“The winter handiwork? But why?” I tilted my head in confusion, not understanding why Benno would want me to bring toys to a meeting with the High Priest and an archnoble.
“My gut tells me those things are gonna make a big splash. I figure now’s a good time to hear what the High Priest and an archnoble think about them before we put ’em out for the public.”
“Mmm, assuming there’s never been anything like them before, I think they’ll have a really big impact,” I answered after thinking back to how playing cards and reversi had impacted Earth, and Benno glared at me with dripping displeasure.
“...A really big impact? You blasted out paper and printing without considering the consequences at all, and yet you’re warning me about how important a few toys are gonna be?”
“Well, to be clear, I do know that paper and printing are significant enough that they’ll change the course of history. But my main reason for making those was because I needed them.”
It was hard not to know just how huge of an impact printing had on past civilizations and culture in general. And yet, to me, they were just necessary steps I had to take to get my books.
“What’s wrong, Benno? You look kinda sick.”
“I am. Of you. We’re gonna be talking to the High Priest and an archnoble, y’know?”
Benno sure has a sensitive side, I thought while Benno bent over with a hand on his stomach. I had always thought of him as a hardboiled guy who loved to pick a fight with anyone, so it was a little weird to see him so nervous.
“Why are you so nervous, Benno? You’ve never had any problems antagonizing the guildmaster and all the vested interests. These two are actually nice people. You’ll be fine.”
“Don’t put the guildmaster on the same level as an archnoble! Whose fault do you think all this is?!” shouted Benno before collapsing onto the table and pressing his forehead against it.
A strand of his milk-tea hair, previously slicked back with what was presumably some kind of hair gel, drooped onto the table.
“Master Benno, please do not beat your head against the table. Your hair is getting disheveled,” noted Mark with an amused smile.
Benno hatefully slicked the hair back into place before glaring at me with his dark-red eyes. “...Bah. It’s at times like this—and only times like this—that I really wish you could give me some of your blissful ignorance.”
“Wha? But you’re just delivering some robes, aren’t you? I remember how happy you were to gain a connection with an archnoble.”
“Idiot! Use your head and think! In what world would they summon me to the temple just to deliver an order? They’re gonna be drilling me for all the information I have on you,” ranted Benno with a glare, compelling me to point at myself in surprise.
“Um, me? What exactly would they want to learn about me?”
“I can expect that we’ll share all the information we’ve dug up on the head of the Ink Guild, and then we’ll talk about what to do with you. I have information from the lower city, the archnoble has information from the Noble’s Quarter, and the High Priest wants to know everything we do.”
Speaking of which, the High Priest had also talked about gathering information. And that I should stay inside my room until he had finished doing so. I guess this meeting meant that he was indeed done.
“Benno, has anything else happened with the head of the Ink Guild?”
“No, nothing yet. The colder it gets, the more strange people loitering about outside a store stand out. Either they don’t want to push things, or they’ve already found out what they wanted to know and are waiting for the winter socializing to find out more.”
While the city was blocked in by snow, the nobles who had traveled to farming towns over the Harvest Festival would return to the Noble’s Quarter. The archduke would be staying in the Sovereignty—the central region which held the highest position among the regions ruled by archdukes, known as duchies—for a couple of weeks at the end of spring, but the primary time for land-owning nobles to socialize was the winter. That was where they met to exchange information with nobles of other provinces and strengthen old bonds.
“Sister Myne. Master Benno. It is time.”
“Thank you, Fran. Then let us depart.”
I nodded at Benno and had Fran carry the finished sets of winter handiwork that Lutz had brought. After double checking Mark’s box containing the robes, we left my chambers. The corridors to the High Priest’s room were cold and unforgiving. So cold that I really didn’t want to leave my room at all.
When we arrived, Fran rang the bell and watched the door open. Karstedt had already arrived, and I could see him gracefully drinking tea at the guest table.
“High Priest. Lord Karstedt. I am glad the gods ordained we meet again. To me this is an auspicious day blessed by Geduldh the Goddess of Earth’s warmth, and I pray that you feel the same.”
I had only ever seen Karstedt clad in full plate armor, but now he was wearing the fine clothing of the nobility. His reddish-brown hair was slicked back with the same kind of gel as Benno’s, and I could see at a glance that he had kind of a wide forehead.
His silky velvet-esque shirt had long, drooping sleeves that I had come to expect from nobles, and I could see they were made from layers of various cloth with fancy lace holding them together.
His back was wide and his body visibly muscular thanks to his training, which made him a presence hard to ignore. But his fierce aura seemed more gentle now than when he had been wearing his armor, and his light-blue eyes appeared a little softer today.
“I am glad to see you well, Myne the apprentice shrine maiden.”
“I bless you from the bottom of my heart, Lord Karstedt.” I finished my greeting without messing anything up, and Benno introduced himself in turn.
We then sat down in the seats offered to us by the High Priest, with our servants standing behind us. The High Priest was seated at one end of the table with Karstedt to his left, me to his right, and Benno at the other end.
“Thank you all for coming,” said the High Priest. “First, we shall see the ceremonial robes.”
Mark took one step forward and handed the wooden box to Benno, who opened and held it out to Karstedt. Its insides were lined with cloth that enveloped the ceremonial robes, which were as deep ocean-blue as the last ones. Its wavy embroidery glimmered under the light of several candles that lit up the otherwise dim room.
“These are Sister Myne’s ceremonial robes.”
Karstedt glanced over them, then asked me if they were what I had ordered. I nodded and confirmed that they were, having already seen the finished product and been fitted for them.
“In that case, I present the robes to you, Sister Myne.”
“I shall be eternally grateful.”
I took the robes, and once I had them, Karstedt jutted out his chin to signal something. It was then that I first noticed that the person behind him was not his attendant but was in fact Damuel, the knight from before, perhaps serving as Karstedt’s page. He handed Benno a bag with gold inside.
After checking the contents, Benno handed the bag to Mark.
“Benno, I am told you worked exceedingly fast to complete this order. You have done well. Karstedt. Damuel. Your sentences have now been fulfilled.” At the High Priest’s words, everyone—Benno, of course, but Karstedt and Damuel as well—let out sighs of relief.
I asked Fran to take care of the box containing my robes. He nodded and removed it from the table.
“Attendants, step back,” commanded the High Priest while putting in place a magic tool meant to prevent eavesdropping. It was a wide-range tool that affected a wider area rather than just individuals, since Benno lacked mana and could not power a tool of his own. The High Priest placed four feystones around us, then chanted something which sent a wall of faint blue light bursting out of the tool and enveloping us in a cube.
I could see the attendants standing back behind the wall of light, but couldn’t hear anything from behind it. It was easy to guess that they couldn’t hear anything on this side either.
There sure is a magic tool for everything, I thought to myself as Benno flinched beside me. I had gotten pretty used to seeing this kind of stuff, but to people of the lower city pretty much anything magic was cause for surprise. That said, Benno wasn’t the owner of a large store for nothing. All he did was give a slight flinch, without shouting or looking around like I would have in the past.
“Now then, Benno. We have much to discuss.”
Benno crossed his arms in front of his chest. “...My knowledge is yours.”
“I heard that the Ink Guild began investigating Myne immediately following the signing of a magic contract between them, with Lutz being their first target. Is that correct?”
“Yes. In general, information is gathered before a contract is signed in order to influence the proceedings as favorably as possible,” explained Benno. “I cannot imagine why they would begin gathering information after the contract was signed.”
The High Priest nodded and looked at me. “Have you met the head of the Ink Guild before, Myne?”
“No. Benno hid me while the contract was being negotiated, so I know neither his name nor his face.”
“The head of the Ink Guild has deep connections with nobles,” began Benno, “and not much good is said about him. I determined that minimizing Sister Myne’s contact with him would be ideal, and had her wait in another room while he visited.”
He explained why he hadn’t let me meet the head of the Ink Guild, which made the High Priest let out a laugh with a slight grin of approval.
“You are a wise man indeed, Benno. I applaud your decision. The man you are speaking of is Wolf, correct?”
“What rumors have you heard? What led you to conclude he would bring harm to the apprentice shrine maiden?”
The High Priest and Karstedt asked Benno a stream of questions. I knew nothing about the head of the Ink Guild and thus had no choice but to remain silent.
“Wolf is the head of the Ink Guild, yes. I have heard that he is willing to engage in criminal acts to strengthen his relationships with nobles, but I know not whether these rumors are true, so please forgive my lack of details.”
Karstedt, his brow furrowed, rubbed his chin. “In that case, I would assume he started gathering information so brazenly because the contract has been signed, and so he no longer cares if your relationship suffers.”
The suggestion made Benno widen his eyes. It wasn’t easy to void a magic contract, which necessitated significant preparation before one was signed. But thinking about it another way, that also meant it didn’t matter how blatantly antagonistic the Ink Guild were now that it was signed. After all, even if they escalated things to the point of harming me, the contract couldn’t be voided without the consent of all parties involved.
Karstedt surmised the Ink Guild had exploited that, and for a second I saw an extremely bitter grimace on Benno’s face.
“Benno, what do you think Wolf stands to gain from gathering information on Myne? I would like to hear your perspective as both a merchant and one who lives in the lower city,” asked the High Priest.
Benno chose his words carefully. “To us merchants, Sister Myne’s value is her knowledge of seemingly infinite new products, though few know how much she is truly worth. If Wolf were one of those few, he would no doubt seek to bring her into the Ink Guild. But Sister Myne has already joined the Merchant’s Guild and my Gilberta Company. In which case, he likely intends to either rely on money to gather what knowledge he can, kidnap her to extract her knowledge, or take those dear to her hostage to blackmail her.”
Karstedt looked at me dubiously. He was no doubt thinking it impossible that a girl as young as myself would have knowledge that valuable.
“However, it is my belief that he would not be able to learn everything she knows, even through kidnapping and blackmail,” Benno continued. “To maximize the amount he gained from her, he would need to keep her confined in an isolated location for extended periods of time, which would be exceedingly strenuous.”
I shuddered at the thought of that coming true, having not considered the possibility that someone would kidnap and imprison me for my knowledge. I finally understood just how well Benno had been treating me, and the thought of what could have happened had I met someone else instead sent more shivers down my spine.
“Why would keeping her confined be strenuous?” Karstedt asked casually. “It should be simple so long as the kidnappers have a spare room or country mansion. Surely the kidnapping itself would be more of a challenge.”
The fact he spoke about confining people so knowledgeably scared me.
“If her kidnapper is not fully aware of Sister Myne’s poor health, she will die under their care in a matter of days. In Sister Myne’s case, the confinement will be more strenuous than the kidnapping.”
“Yes, I must agree. She spent days bedridden with sickness after only half a day in the repentance chamber. If treated as a standard prisoner, she would die before being able to teach them anything of value.” The High Priest agreed with Benno on the spot; it seemed that the repentance chamber incident had really stuck with him.
I wished he would just forget it, though. I got fevers like that all the time. It wasn’t anybody’s fault. Also, while he was at it, I wished he would forget that I was the only blue shrine maiden to ever be put in the repentance chamber.
“It’s likely, then, that Wolf plans to sell her off to nobles after learning what he can from her,” concluded Karstedt.
Benno furrowed his brows in confusion. “...I know that Sister Myne suffers from the Devouring, but is there another reason why nobles would want her?”
The High Priest exchanged a glance with Karstedt, then gave Benno a nod.
“I do not intend to inform you of all the details, but yes, there is another reason. As mentioned, it is most likely that Wolf intends to sell Myne to nobles after getting his hands on her. But it is also possible that a noble has ordered Wolf to kidnap her so that they can stage a rescue and indebt her to them. Once she’s rescued, they might even claim that she was their child all along. It is also possible that a wider quest for vengeance plays a part in this, which means the threat of assassination must be considered.”
...Gaaah! I can already hear Benno demanding to know what I’ve done! I can already hear the yelling! Not the thunder, anything but the thunder!
Prior to the High Priest listing out every possibility one by one, I had just thought that the Ink Guild probing for information about me was kinda gross and nothing more. It hadn’t even occurred to me that I was in that much danger. Now I could understand why the High Priest had ordered me to stay in my chambers.
“Benno,” began the High Priest, “you will continue to hide information from your business associates. Myne will not be leaving the temple over the winter. When she leaves her chambers, it will only be to perform rituals or visit the orphanage. With gray priests accompanying her, she should be safe. Our true problems begin in spring.”
His words earned him nods from both Benno and Karstedt.
“Because they too will be gathering information and allies over the winter,” Benno elaborated.
“We must think of a plan at once. Benno, what means are there to control this thing?” said the High Priest, referring to me.
Everyone looked in my direction.
Eventually, Benno shook his head slowly with an exhausted expression. “I do not know. She can escalate something to a ridiculous degree in a matter of moments, and if you take your eyes off her she could be on death’s door by the next bell. If I knew a way to keep her under control, I would already be using it.”
“As expected. I suppose keeping her within arm’s reach is all one can do.”
The High Priest and Benno both looked at me and gave heavy sighs in unison. They then looked at each other with wry smiles. It seemed they had bonded.
“Myne, you cause problems every time you do anything. From now on, you will get my or Benno’s permission before taking any new course of action, or developing any new product,” said the High Priest, reminding me of the orphanage’s winter handiwork.
Benno’s keen acumen had once again saved me. I picked up the bundle of winter handiwork that Fran had left on the floor for me.
“...I imagine you’ll want to see these, then. It’s the winter handiwork I’m having the orphanage do.”
“Ah, I do remember you mentioning something like that. Show me.”
I pulled out the playing cards, reversi, and faux-chess, lining them up next to each other along the table. Benno leaned forward to look at them too, since although he had heard me explain each one before, he had never actually seen them.
“What are these?”
“Those are playing cards. There are a lot of games you can play with them, but I intend to start off by teaching the kids in the orphanage to play a game called concentration. You mix the cards up and then lay them on the table with the art side facing down. You then flip over two cards, and if both are the same number you keep them. Whoever has the most cards at the end of the game wins.”
It was hard for the younger kids to hold a full hand of wooden cards in their small hands, so concentration was the only game I was planning on showing them for the time being.
The rules intrigued Karstedt, and so we started playing, using only half of the deck to save time. Suffice it to say that the High Priest with his superb memory absolutely crushed us.
“Like I said, there are a lot of games you can play with them. They’ll be easier to use once we’ve worked out a formula for thicker paper and can make them out of that instead of wood.”
I taught them about blackjack, poker, and hearts, among other games, and it looked like Karstedt was pretty pleased by the cards overall.
“We have fortune-telling cards that are activated using mana, but no cards made for amusement. And most of all, it’s good that you can play so many games with just one deck of cards. No doubt these will grow very popular with nobles.”
“They’re also good for learning numbers. I made them so the kids in the orphanage can learn to do math,” I explained.
The High Priest nodded before pointing to the reversi board. “What about this, then?”
“This is reversi. There are tiles called ‘stones’ painted black on one side and white on the other. You place the stones in the boxes, and when stones of one color get stuck between stones of the other, they change color. Whoever has the most stones of their color in the end wins.”
The High Priest seemed the most interested in reversi. We started playing, me as his opponent, and I explained the rules as we went. Stones were placed, stones were flipped, and after all the squares were filled the board was covered in white. I had won.
“...I lost?”
“It’s hard to win right after learning the rules. I’m sure you’ll start beating me after we play a few more games.” I shrugged as the High Priest stared at the board in a daze.
I had beat the High Priest since he was playing reversi for the first time and didn’t know any of the strategies, but he was smart enough that he would work them out for himself before long. I had gone all-out on him specifically because I knew this was my only opportunity to beat him.
“Then we shall play again. I will win this time.”
“High Priest, let’s save the rematch for next time. I’ll play you again if you buy the game.”
“Very well. Consider it purchased.”
Benno’s shoulders trembled just a little bit after seeing the High Priest buy it instantly. He gave me a subtle good job sign beneath the table.
“Ahem! And finally, what are these?”
“Um, these are (chess) pieces. They’re played on the same board as reversi. Each type of piece moves in a different way, and you win by moving one of your pieces onto your opponent’s king.”
I cleaned up the reversi stones and explained how each chess piece moved while Karstedt looked at the board with narrowed, contemplative eyes.
“...This looks like gewinnen.”
“Oh, so another game like this exists? Should I make some changes so they’re not as similar?”
My understanding was that even on Earth, board games had existed for a very long time. It was only natural that this world would have something similar.
“No need. It’s a game played among nobles and it requires mana. The goal is to take territory and the fighting strategies are completely different. This game will do just fine in the lower city, I imagine.”
“I don’t think they’ll sell much at all if nobles aren’t buying them...”
There weren’t many people in the lower city rich enough to spend money on something that was purely for entertainment; just about everyone had their hands full just keeping their families alive. My safest bet would be to bundle chess with reversi and market it as an alternative way of playing gewinnen.
With our discussion on the winter handiwork over, the High Priest took down the soundproof barrier. He and Karstedt summoned their attendants, then purchased the reversi board, the stones, and the playing cards respectively.
I sold them at four large silvers—a premiere price since we weren’t planning to sell them until spring started. Considering that I anticipated their market price to start at around five to seven small silvers, we kinda ripped them off.
“Our association continues to be fruitful, Benno; I approve. May you be blessed with the divine protection of Geduldh the Goddess of Earth.”
“I thank you for your time, honorable High Priest. If you will excuse me, I will now take my leave. It has been a pleasure, Lord Karstedt. Sister Myne.” Benno crossed his arms before his chest and exited, Mark doing the same behind him before following suit.
After seeing them go, I looked at the High Priest. “In that case, I believe I will depart as well. It has been a—”
“We have more to discuss with you. Take this.”
He set four of the sound-blocking magic tools he often used down onto the table. The High Priest, Karstedt, and I each took one, with Damuel reaching for the one remaining.
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