Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 4.5 - Chapter 12

Groschel Nobles and the Printing Industry

That evening, we had dinner at the giebe’s estate. The soup had a proper umami flavor, which was probably the result of Count Groschel purchasing my recipe book and getting his chefs to master its dishes. I had to admit, though, Hugo’s food remained overwhelmingly more delicious.

I wish I was eating with everyone in the side building right now...

Even if casually chatting with the Gutenbergs was no longer an option, I could at least enjoy the atmosphere of the lower city by sitting back and listening as Lutz and the others talked. Here, the printing industry remained the topic of conversation even as we ate, and the abundance of noble euphemisms and constant probing from both sides was tiring, to say the least. I wished they would at least give me some respite from thinking during meals so that I could enjoy the food.

Once we finished our meal, it was time for the local scholars assigned by Count Groschel to report to me on the province’s printing and paper-making industries. I sipped my tea as they began.

“The printing industry has been established without any problems of note,” one scholar said. “A book was printed to test the process, and we found it was no different from the ones sold in the castle.”

“That means the craftspeople of Groschel are quite skilled indeed,” Elvira remarked. She sounded rather impressed, since she knew that the smiths in Haldenzel had repeatedly failed to meet Johann’s requirements, but this report seemed to contrast with what the Gutenbergs had told me.

Hmm? Didn’t they say there were a lot of problems to work on...?

I couldn’t help but blink in confusion, and it was then that Hartmut, who was sitting beside me, looked down at his notes and gave a short sigh. “That is not what the Gutenbergs noted in their report,” he said.

“What is the meaning of this?” Count Groschel asked, his eyes narrowing as he looked between Hartmut and the scholar.

Using his own notes as reference, Hartmut concisely listed the Gutenbergs’ comments. “Just as in Haldenzel, the smiths were unable to produce suitable letter types,” he said. “The materials we use for colored ink could not be gathered in this region, so research into an alternate recipe needs to be done. Furthermore, due to the low quality of the water here in Groschel, paper can be made, but its quality leaves much to be desired.”

Count Groschel grimaced. “So our commoners are incompetent, then?”

Nah, nah, nah. Your scholar is the incompetent one for giving such a false report.

I wanted to shoot back at the giebe, but I settled on responding in my head; as the archduke’s adopted daughter, such a comment would end up being a veritable death sentence for the incompetent scholar. He would no longer have a future here, that was for sure. I needed to tread carefully.

Okay. What can I say instead, to properly bridge the gap between the commoners and the nobility? At this rate, the nobles are going to blame every single problem on the commoners, and nothing will get fixed.

“Giebe Groschel. The commoners of your province are no less competent than the commoners of any other province,” I said.

Everyone understood the significance of my position, so all eyes gathered on me at once. Some looked at me in astonishment, surprised to see that I was defending the commoners, while others seemed to plead with me not to throw the meeting into chaos.

“Your commoners are on track to be successful; they simply need more time. My Gutenbergs have proposed bringing some of your smiths to Ehrenfest to train them over the winter. You would need to pay the costs of their stay, Giebe Groschel, but if given the proper time and guidance, the smiths will return more than capable of doing their jobs.”

“You would ask me to spend yet more money on commoners...?” Giebe Groschel asked, his brows tightly knit.

I knew better than anyone just how expensive it was to get the printing industry started in a new location, and while I understood his desire to avoid spending any more money, walking away now would mean wasting everything he had already invested.

“Letter types degrade much faster than you might imagine,” I replied. “If you do not have smiths capable of producing them, you will need to rely entirely on imports. In the long term, you are much better off paying for Groschel smiths to learn to make them, but the decision is ultimately yours to make, Giebe Groschel.” By giving him a choice of what to spend money on, I was subtly removing the option of simply placing all the blame on the craftspeople.

“Hmm...”

“As for the paper-making industry, I believe you will need to either bring water to the workshop on a regular basis or resolve the pollution issue here in Groschel. I must note, however, that neither solution can be done by commoners. Ferdinand maintains that putting a magic tool in place is necessary to purify water on such a large scale, and this can only be carried out by nobles.”

Giebe Groschel was deep in thought. I speedily made it clear that the problems facing the paper-making industry were not the commoners’ fault either, before he demanded unreasonable results from them as well.

“How your province approaches the future will depend on your thoughts, Giebe Groschel, so I will say no more on the matter,” I concluded, taking care not to be too pushy while nonetheless providing the commoners with my support. I still wasn’t entirely sure which turns of phrase would crush another noble’s pride.

I wish I was, though. I’d say something like, “Groschel is your land, so stop sitting around in your mansion, blaming everything on the commoners! Get out there and actually fix things!” Or maybe, “How about you take lessons from Illgner and Haldenzel and actually learn to communicate with your people?!”

As I made my way back to my guest room, I instructed Hartmut to organize the reports we had received from the Gutenbergs. We needed Elvira to understand the situation so that she could properly manage things here without offending the local nobility. I wasn’t known for my restraint, so it seemed much wiser to have her handle it.

“Understood,” Hartmut said.

Upon arriving at my room, I started on my usual preparations for bed. Brunhilde helped me bathe, then she dried and gingerly combed my hair while I sat in front of a mirror. She looked a little tense, as though she were psyching herself up for something, and then she finally seemed to steel her resolve.

“Lady Rozemyne,” she said, “I understand that your temple upbringing has afforded you rather unique perspectives, but I must ask you—why do you protect commoners so? Is it not clear that the report of a noble scholar should be valued more than that of the Gutenbergs, a collection of commoners?”

I could see her amber eyes through the mirror, and the genuine confusion in her expression that made it clear she genuinely believed she was correct. There was much I had refrained from saying during dinner, and the few things I had said were doused in sunshine and glitter to avoid wounding the giebe’s pride. Even so, to a normal noble, my behavior had been bizarre and incomprehensible from the moment I started prioritizing the Gutenbergs’ report over that of the scholar.

“I dispatched the Gutenbergs here to make the printing industry a success, and the decisions I made during dinner were intended to aid that goal,” I explained. “The Gutenbergs worked in Groschel’s lower city firsthand, while the scholar who spoke refused to go there at all... Is it not obvious which report would be more trustworthy?”

“But the Gutenbergs are commoners, are they not?”

“They are, but they are my arms and legs; they are the ones who spread the printing and paper-making industries in Illgner and in Haldenzel.”

Illgner was a peaceful country province where the commoners and nobles lived hand in hand, and this cooperation had aided them in inventing one new kind of paper after another. Giebe Haldenzel had similarly made his industries a success despite being an archnoble. My assumption had been that we would always see progress in giebe-ruled provinces, even if the nobles of the Noble’s Quarters didn’t understand these things, but it seemed that wasn’t the case.

Ah, screw it... My industries just don’t suit the provincial culture here.

“If your attitude is standard in Groschel, Brunhilde, then it may be wise to forgo attempting to establish printing and paper-making industries here entirely,” I said. “My mindset as one raised in the temple simply does not suit this place.”

Sure, they could probably manage for a while by giving up on the paper-making industry and buying the tools they needed for printing rather than making everything themselves, but that would make their operation costs skyrocket compared to the provinces that hadn’t taken the easy way out. Groschel would no doubt abandon printing entirely once more provinces adopted the industry and started contributing to the market, and the commoners would be lambasted as useless—or in the worst-case scenario, executed on false accusations of incompetence.

I may need to think of a plan to minimize the punishment they receive...

As I pondered the situation, considering the worst-case scenario, Brunhilde set down her comb with a clink and got onto her knees. “Lady Rozemyne, do you not see a bright future for printing here in Groschel?” she asked. “Why is that? How does my home differ from Illgner or Haldenzel? I pray that you might share your thoughts.”

I wished I could, but if speaking my mind were an option, I would have done it during my discussion with Giebe Groschel. All of my hard work smoothing things over at dinner would have been for nothing if I spoke bluntly now.

“It is very likely that my honest thoughts will wound and offend you,” I said. “As a Groschel noble, Brunhilde, you would surely not like to hear them.”

“I do not wish for Groschel to be the first failed attempt in Ehrenfest. If we still have time to remedy things, please, tell me how,” Brunhilde said, staring at me intently. I could sense the desperation in her voice, as though she felt she needed to make the province’s printing industry succeed, no matter what. We had started this endeavor because Brunhilde was my retainer and Groschel was on good terms with Haldenzel, which gave them an advantage; for them to fail despite all this would wound their noble pride.

Well... There are some things you can only learn with the help of other people.

It was hard to notice the disparities between oneself and one’s surroundings, and in that regard, some guidance from a third party was sometimes required. Putting aside whether the person in question would accept what they were being told, they couldn’t begin to change unless they knew what needed to be changed. I happened to be an expert on this subject, since I was so used to people telling me I didn’t understand even the most basic things about the nobility.

“Compared to the nobles of other provinces, I feel that the nobles of Groschel do not care for their commoners,” I said.

“That is not the case,” Brunhilde protested. “Father—”

“Giebe Groschel does not consider it his duty to protect his province’s commoners. He does not consider them people to live alongside. Am I wrong?”

“Well, they are commoners. It is only natural that we would not live alongside them,” Brunhilde replied, speaking as though this were the most obvious thing in the world.

I sighed. “In both Illgner and Haldenzel, the nobility celebrated Spring Prayer and the Harvest Festival together with the commoners. The giebes rested their pride as landowning nobles on their ability to protect those who live in their domain. However, I feel no such sentiment from Giebe Groschel. He seems less like a giebe protecting the land entrusted to him by the aub, and more like the nobles of the Noble’s Quarter.”

“But we are all nobles...” Brunhilde muttered, sounding bewildered. She failed to understand the difference between giebes ruling provinces and the nobles living in the Noble’s Quarter.

“I have been told that nobles who own land are different from the nobles of the Noble’s Quarter,” I explained, “and so I asked for the scholars in charge of each branch of the printing industry to be from the province where it was established. Mother said to me that the scholars would take their duties more seriously, to bring wealth to their province and guide their people.”

The expectation had been for the scholars to be selected based on their experience working with commoners and whether they would dedicate themselves to developing their province.

“And yet, the scholars here in Groschel display none of these attributes,” I continued. “They do not have a solid grasp on the business, they do not go to the lower city to see matters for themselves, and when any problems arise, they push the blame onto the commoners.”

“But commoners are...”

“Indeed. Commoners are unable to complain no matter how nobles treat them. They must endure no matter how unreasonable their workload is. They must stay silent even when they are accused of wrongs they did not commit. Nobles are not even aware they are being unreasonable to the commoners, because this is simply the way of the world to them.”

Brunhilde nodded. She seemed a little relieved to hear that I understood the distinction between nobles and commoners, but that relief would not last very long.

“However, that attitude will prevent the printing and paper-making industries from ever succeeding here in Groschel. They will inevitably fail.”

Brunhilde looked at me with wide eyes, making her utter lack of understanding more than clear, and then blinked several times. After a pause, she spoke up in a quiet voice, her face a bit paler than before.

“Why is that...?”

“Do you truly not understand, Brunhilde?”

She offered no answer. Instead, she gave me a troubled look, pressing her lips tightly together.

“Who makes the paper?” I asked. “Who makes the ink, or the metal letter types, or the printing presses? Who prints the books? Who sells the books? The answer to all these questions is the same: commoners. In this place where nobles make no attempt to observe or learn about the lower city and the printing industry, and where the commoners are blamed for any and all problems despite carrying out their roles with aplomb, the printing industry will never, ever succeed. You are a purebred noble to your core, Brunhilde, so I do not blame you for failing to understand how commoners feel. However, it is simply reality that the industries will not succeed if nobles turn up their noses at the lower city and make no attempt to understand it.”

Brunhilde quivered each time I stated that the industry wasn’t going to succeed. The fear—or terror, even—on her face was something I remembered well.

Aah, I get it. For a noble, the failure to adopt a new industry would serve as a stain on their reputation. And this failure would affect not just a single noble, but all of Groschel.

With that in mind, Brunhilde’s desperation made more sense. And on second thought, even when considering how desperate those from Illgner had been to revitalize their province, it was impressive that they had dared risk attempting to adopt the paper-making industry when they had not known how likely it was to succeed.

“During dinner, I offered Giebe Groschel solutions to the problems that the printing and paper-making industries are facing. Whether he listens to my advice or continues down the same path is up to him.”

Brunhilde stood up, her fists clenched. “Your perspective has been very helpful,” she said. “I thank you ever so much for speaking your thoughts.”

I climbed into bed, and even as Brunhilde made the final preparations for me to sleep, I could tell she was pondering all manner of things. I could see through her amber eyes that she was lost in a sea of thought.

“I can see that you are striving to protect your dignity as a noble and the pride of Groschel’s nobles from the wounds of a failed endeavor,” I said. “Your dedication is quite admirable, and something I am fond of myself... but one day, I would like for you to be dedicated to protecting not just the nobles of Groschel, but the land and the people who live there as well.”

Morning soon came. My schedule for the day was to check up on the tax official and, assuming there were no problems, bring the Gutenbergs back to Ehrenfest with me. Observing the tax official was part of my duties as the High Bishop, so I was only bringing Monika, Fran, and two guard knights. The Gutenbergs were getting their things together.

The tax official was checking the goods already brought to Groschel’s winter mansion as servants piled them onto the teleportation magic circle. I watched the goods be teleported away until Damuel, who had been observing our surroundings, spoke up.

“Lady Rozemyne, Giebe Groschel has arrived,” he said.

I turned to see Count Groschel and Brunhilde coming this way, accompanied by Elvira and Hartmut. Count Groschel wore a resolved expression, and when he reached me, he knelt down.

“Lady Rozemyne,” the giebe said, “I would be honored if you would train my province’s smiths. We cannot afford for the printing industry to fail.”

Behind him, I saw Brunhilde, Elvira, and Hartmut all drop their shoulders a little, as though the tension had immediately disappeared from their bodies. They had all no doubt fought to convince Count Groschel. I was unsure what decision he had made or how he intended to change things moving forward, but it was clear that he wanted the printing industry to succeed, in which case I was more than glad to provide any assistance I could.

“Certainly. I shall ensure that the smiths return to Groschel capable of creating metal letter types,” I replied. I left telling Johann about the giebe’s decision to Fran; preparations would need to be made soon if we were going to bring the smiths back to Ehrenfest with the Gutenbergs.

As I watched the tax official work, I began listing to Count Groschel what he would need to do to make the printing and paper-making industries a success.

“It may be wise to begin by cleaning the lower city so that nobles are not repulsed by the very prospect of going there. You might even be able to develop Groschel into a commercial town, as more merchants from other duchies are now visiting and traveling along the principal trade route which passes through the province. It is possible that you could make Groschel richer than any other province, but it all depends on your skill as a giebe.”

I had decided to add my last piece of advice free of charge, and Count Groschel blinked at me, evidently having not expected it. We did not have enough cities that could support merchants, and given that Brunhilde’s family wanted to spread trends, I would certainly like for them to do their best cleaning up and developing their lower city.

“Now then, begin loading the luggage.”

After lunch, I brought out Lessy in front of the side building and told the Gutenbergs to start putting their things inside. They moved smoothly and without hesitation, showing how experienced they now were with the process.

“We’ve brought them, Lady Rozemyne!” Johann called out. He had gone to the lower city smithies and returned with two smiths, who were now walking behind him.

“Fine work, Johann,” I replied. “Everyone, climb inside my highbeast. We may now return to Ehrenfest.”

Johann was used to riding in my Pandabus now, so he grinned as he watched the two young smiths nervously climb inside. As we headed up into the air, I heard Zack chuckle at the role reversal in the back seat.