by Miya Kazuki
“Volrin is the only kind of paper we’re gonna be using for a while, so why not just make colors that look good on that?”
He was right. The Myne Workshop was only making trombe paper and volrin paper at the moment. If we wanted to make the picture books any time soon, we’d need to focus on making colors that were suited to volrin paper.
“This red color was really pretty before, but now that it’s on paper and has dried, it’s more like a dark-blackish red. It would be good for drawing blood.”
“We don’t need a color that’s only gonna be good for that!” Lutz yelled.
I pursed my lips. Maybe we would need an ink that’s only good for blood. It wasn’t uncommon for religious myths to get bloody.
“...This stuff’s real tricky,” Heidi murmured as she glared at the changed ink, her arms crossed. “I think I understand why art workshops keep their paint recipes secret.” It really wasn’t easy to make colored ink independently.
According to Benno, paint production wasn’t bound by any magic contracts, so any workshop could make it as they pleased, but the production methods themselves were kept secret by the workshops and none were on sale in the lower city. The workshops making paint for art-loving nobles delivered their goods directly—I knew this from Rosina, who had been the attendant of one such art-loving shrine maiden. You couldn’t get certain colors anywhere except from the workshop that made them, so apparently Christine had favored a number of workshops at once.
“Lady Myne, let’s figure out why it’s changing colors.”
“Like I said, the results are the important thing here.” I could appreciate her dedication to discovery, but my goal was to make picture books for Kamil; I didn’t have the time to waste on superfluous research. I wanted usable colored ink as soon as possible.
“Let’s try layering the colors next. Gil, would you?”
“As you wish, Sister Myne.” Gil drew a blue line across the colors we had already put on the paper, and the overlapping parts darkened significantly. It wasn’t pitch-black, more of a really dark version of the mixed colors. Not a single one of the combinations could be described as bright or vivid. If we had a “Danger: Do Not Mix” sign on hand, this would be exactly the right time for it.
“...What’re we gonna do?” Gil asked, holding up the sheet of discolored paper. The result was so unexpected that we were all at a loss for words. All we could do was stare in silence at the dark colors.
Josef eventually broke the silence. “Guess we should just stick to separate colors for these,” he said with a shake of his head.
“But I’m pretty sure you gotta mix colors to paint things properly. Seems like there are still a lot of secrets behind the paint that art workshops use.” Heidi was right. If our ink turned black when mixed with other colors, we wouldn’t be able to draw anything like the paintings in the temple’s noble section. The paint used in this world definitely had a secret to it that I didn’t know about.
“Let’s stop for today. No matter how many colors we make, it won’t matter if they change over time and turn black when mixed.”
Maybe there’s some way we can sneak the secret to making paint out of an art workshop, I thought, slumping my shoulders in despair over the ink-making being stalled. The fact that we hadn’t made any usable colored ink meant we had failed.
I returned home with my head hung low, and reported the day’s results to Tuuli as I helped her make dinner.
“...Which means the colored ink doesn’t work. I don’t know what to do about it.”
“Mhm, you definitely don’t want mixed colors to turn black.”
“Right. It’s a big problem. It just wouldn’t be usable for printing, no matter how hard I tried.” I stirred the pot of soup while pursing my lips in a pout.
Mom, who was watching us cook while breastfeeding Kamil, put a hand on her cheek in confusion. “You’re not using a fixing agent when putting the ink on paper?”
“...What’s a fixing agent?” I had read about fixing agents for photos and art back in my Urano days, but had no idea what kind of fixing agents were used here.
Seeing my confusion, Mom returned her gaze to Kamil and continued. “A fixing agent is a liquid used to stabilize colors. We use them when dyeing to stop the color from fading over time.”
“Mom, could I ask for specifics? How exactly do you make a fixing agent?” I looked at Mom with gleaming eyes, but she just furrowed her brow in concern.
“Is this something I should be telling you?”
“I’ll check to see whether it’s bound by any magic contracts later.”
“...Well, I suppose it won’t be a problem then. I trust you to make sure it’s safe for you to make,” Mom said with a somewhat uneasy tone before continuing.
You could apparently make the base of a fixing agent by putting the sap of a tree called a gnade into the stem of a flower called heirein, then boiling it until it went all gooey. When actually using it, you would want to dissolve it with about twenty times as much boiling water.
“Be careful. I’m sure there’ll be differences between using it on cloth and paper.”
“Thanks, Mom. I’ll give it a shot.”
Now that I knew about fixing agents, I immediately asked Lutz to get the necessary materials for me. He seemed to have not known about fixing agents either, judging by how his eyes widened in surprise.
“I didn’t know there was something like that. We might’ve never figured it out if Mrs. Effa didn’t work in a dye workshop.”
“Uh huh. I want to get the materials together and try making it right away, especially since Mom went out of her way to teach me how to make it.” I started humming in excitement at our new discovery, but both Lutz and Gil stopped me.
“You should just teach us how to make it.”
“Yeah, we’ll make it. You shouldn’t do it yourself, Sister Myne.”
If we were going to make it in the Myne Workshop, then I wasn’t allowed to do any work. I pursed my lips at being the only one left out, but no one backed me up.
I had Benno look up the magic contracts through the Merchant’s Guild and search for materials, setting the stage for us to start making a fixing agent. When the time finally came, both Lutz and Gil were bouncing with excitement over the new challenge. I handed them both boards with detailed instructions on them, and that was that. My job was done.
I didn’t like being left out, so after harspiel practice with Rosina, I told her about the colored ink in order to vent my lonely frustration.
“And now Lutz and Gil are making the fixing agent without me as we speak. Do you not think that is just cruel?”
But Rosina was less sympathetic for my plight and more just surprised that I didn’t know about fixing agents. “Oh, you did not know about fixing agents, Sister Myne?” she asked, her eyes wide. “They are essential for drawing. Without them, no colored art could be done at all, really.”
In a shocking twist, the temple also had someone who knew about fixing agents. Apparently they were essential for art. But since Rosina had only ever used finished fixing agents, she didn’t know how to make them.
“...Do you by chance not know how to use fixing agents either, Sister Myne?”
“I do not. May I ask you to teach me?” Mom only knew how to use it for colored dye. I would need to know how to use it for art when making the colored picture books.
Rosina gave a refined giggle at the immediateness of my request. “You must put the fixing agent on the paper ahead of time and allow it to dry. That way, there will be no discoloration even when layering different colors of paint. Sister Myne, you seem to know a shocking amount about everything, but I see there are some simple things that escape your grasp.”
“I have simply never taken the time to draw with paint or ink before.”
“Indeed,” Rosina murmured before clapping her hands together and smiling. “In that case, would it not be wise to have Wilma teach you how to draw once you have finished the fixing agen
t and colored ink? Art is an important cornerstone for any woman of culture to learn.”
“I shall think about it.” I gave an ambiguous reply, but already had a clear response on the inside. No thanks, I don’t want to lose any more free time than I have already.
That said, some part of my heart told me that it might be smart for me to learn it now, since in two years’ time I would be a noble’s adopted daughter whether I liked it or not.
Using the fixing agent production process I had learned from Mom and applying it as taught by Rosina resulted in us being able to layer multiple colors without them becoming black or discolored. The colored ink was complete.
Challenging Wax Stencils
We had finished something that at least resembled proper colored ink. It required us to use a fixing agent or else the ink would turn black when we layered the colors on top of paper, and they would still turn black when mixed together on the palette, but still—progress was progress.
“Aah, we sure finished that in no time...” Heidi murmured, sounding like a kid who had just had their toy taken away from them. Personally, I was just relieved to have finished the colored ink, but Heidi seemed disappointed that we hadn’t figured out what made the colors change like that.
Josef poked her cheek, an exasperated look on his face. “Now that the ink’s done, she’s not gonna be paying for the research anymore. Playtime’s over.”
“Well, considering how much of a success this was, I don’t mind paying a bit more if you want to continue your research.”
My offer made Heidi beam a full-faced grin, and Josef spun around to look at me in complete disbelief.
“I think further research will be important if we want to make more vibrant colors and just generally increase the number of colors at our disposal. I had prioritized just finishing some form of color ink due to time constraints, but I don’t mind you continuing your research.” And since I didn’t feel like investigating why the colors changed myself, I was more than glad to let someone else do the job for me.
“Lady Myne, you’re the best!”
“Please, you’re spoiling her!”
“Heidi, Josef—as far as I am concerned, you are both now Gutenbergs.” I grinned, having found more Gutenberg allies to propel my dreams forward. Ink was essential to the development of printing and now I had it.
Lutz cradled his head, mumbling something about there being more of them now, while Heidi and Josef just blinked in confusion.
“Guten... huh? We’re a what?”
“Gutenberg. The name of a heroic—nay, godlike—being whose legendary accomplishments changed the history of books. As it stands, Johann is the Gutenberg of metal letter types, Benno is the Gutenberg of plant paper, and Lutz is the Gutenberg of selling books. There’s also Ingo who helped make the printing press, and now you two are the Gutenbergs of making ink. It is only natural that I would fund the Gutenbergs who are making my dreams of reading a reality.” I proudly puffed out my chest as I gave my explanation, but Josef’s baffled expression remained.
Heidi, on the other hand, was jumping for joy. “We’re Gutenbergs, Josef! She has work for us! She’ll fund us! She’ll let me do research! Yahoooo!”
We had already made colored ink; I had no objections to Heidi continuing to research it on her own time. “I’m sure that knowing why the ink changes color will prove useful in the future, so please, keep up the good work.”
“You can count on us!” Heidi exclaimed.
“However, your highest priority should be making the ink. If you don’t finish an order before the due date, I’ll cut off your funding without a second thought.”
“Eek!”
“You’re the kind of person who loses sight of their surroundings when they get absorbed in their research. I need to make it clear what your priorities should be, and lay out a punishment for when you fail to stay on track,” I said to Heidi as firmly as I could.
“Birds of a feather sure know how to clip each other’s wings, huh? Looks like you know exactly how to keep her under control,” Lutz said with a chuckle, while Josef plopped a hand over his own mouth to hold back his laughter. He seemed like he would be able to keep Heidi in check.
“Well, that takes care of colored ink. I think I want to start working on the wax stencil next.”
The next thing I needed to get ready was the wax stencil, an essential part of mimeograph printing. We would first need to make thin wax paper, but then we would be able to make stencils by writing out what we wanted to print using a metal stylus, which would be much faster and easier than cutting out the text parts like we would for normal stencils or setting up rows of letter types. This would also allow us to print more detailed art, which would let Wilma’s work shine even brighter.
“The stencils we’re using now aren’t any good?”
“It’s not that they aren’t good at all—they can make picture books, after all. But with wax stencils, we’ll have a wider range of expression available to us. It’s way easier to just write on wax paper using a metal stylus than it is to cut each individual letter out of normal paper, and it’ll let us use more precise lines.”
To make wax stencils, we first needed paper thin enough that one could see through it. But while Lutz and I had spent the past two and half years making paper, those in the orphanage didn’t even have a year of experience. The thick paper we used for picture books wasn’t so hard to make, but getting thin paper of equal size was a little rough. They were already trying in the Myne Workshop, but were failing a lot more than they succeeded. Apparently the paper kept ripping when they were taking it out of the frame or putting it onto a board to dry.
“This would be a lot easier if we could just use trombe wood.” Lutz crossed his arms and frowned. Trombe wood fibers were thinner and longer than volrin fibers, which made it easier to swish them into an equally thin sheet of paper. But trombe wood was too rare and valuable for us to make into stencils.
“It’ll end up really pricey if we can’t make these out of volrin.”
“...Yeah.”
All I could do was leave Lutz and Gil to keep trying to improve the paper. As the workshop continued to make paper for the picture books, they gathered the people with the most dexterous hands and set them to work making thin paper. Days passed as everyone worked hard to see what could improve their success rate, until one day Lutz came to my chambers after lunch.
“Myne, a message from Master Benno. Sounds like he got in contact with a wax workshop. They’re free if you’re available tomorrow afternoon.”
“Really? Perfect. Now Gil can have his own diptych.”
That night, I asked Dad to make a diptych the same size as Lutz’s for Gil. All it needed now was some wax inside. My own diptych was running low on wax, with most of what was remaining having hardened to an inconvenient degree. This was a good opportunity to fill mine up as well, so I went ahead and scraped the remaining wax out.
“Good morning, Benno.”
“Heya. Let’s get going.” Benno hefted me up on the spot and started walking. Over his shoulder I could see Lutz and Gil racing to keep up with him, Gil hugging the diptych frame I had given him close to his chest.
Damuel faltered for a second at seeing Benno roughly pick me up out of nowhere, but it didn’t take long for him to realize that I never would have been able to keep up with Benno’s strides. He followed after us, trying to match Benno’s pace.
“Benno, if I had a method for making wax not smell, how much could I sell that for?”
I had to have a quick business discussion with Benno before we reached the workshop. I didn’t want him yelling at me for being out of control or doing things I shouldn’t have later.
“It’s better to sell that kind of info to the whole guild like we did with the ink production process. A single workshop doesn’t have the funds to make a deal like that.”
“Oh, I see.” It seemed a lot of money was involved in these kinds of deals; I would likely end up funding th
e research, development, and refinement that each of my Gutenbergs needed to perform.
I began thinking about how the negotiations would go when Benno interrupted me in a low voice. “I’ll handle the negotiations for this later. Don’t put yourself front and center here. They might have someone like Wolf in their guild.”
“...Okay.” I let Benno take care of the negotiations for the salting-out method. We could talk later about our cut of the profits and how the negotiations would go down.
“If we’re putting off negotiations, is there any point in us even going to the wax workshop today?”
“I want to fill my and Gil’s diptychs. Also, I want to buy different kinds of wax.”
“Just buy?” Benno asked, and I nodded. I wanted to first see if we could make wax stencils without needing to improve the wax. It would be a stroke of luck if we could. And if we couldn’t, only then would I have to try to improve the wax.
“I hope we can make wax stencils using just normal wax, but if we can’t, I’ll try to get the wax workshop’s help improving the wax. I would want them to add resin similar to (pine) resin to make it a little stickier.”
Wax used for mimeograph wax stencils had pine resin or paraffin mixed into it, but since they definitely didn’t have any paraffin made from crude petroleum here, I wasn’t sure how far that knowledge would take me here. Given the strange coloration that we had seen with the colored ink, it was more than likely that weird stuff would happen to the wax as well, so I really wanted the help of a professional.
“Hmm. Alright, we’re just buying stuff today. We only need to get involved if you fail at whatever it is you’re doing, right?”
“Right.”
Benno entered the wax workshop with me in tow. The heat inside was oppressive, and the stench of what seemed like animal fat was so thick that it made me want to hold my nose.
The foreman came to see us right away since Benno had sent word of our arrival ahead of time.
“Good to see you, Benno. What business brings you here today?”