by Miya Kazuki
I wonder if she’d get mad if I said that reminds me of Myne?
“I still can’t believe it! Mrs. Corinna actually said she would trust me with making Myne’s hairpins. I need to get better quick so nobody takes the work away from me,” Tuuli said with a proud smile, before quietly adding, “It’s all going so well thanks to Myne’s blessings.”
If you asked me, it had more to do with the Gilberta Company’s plotting than any blessings—they’d surely hired Tuuli so that they’d have another connection to Myne, now that she was the daughter of a noble and all. Still, Tuuli was just glad to have another thread connecting her to her little sister, who in her eyes wasn’t dead yet. It was clear that she thought that if she worked hard, she could keep meeting Myne. She was facing the future and charging forward in a display of hope so pure it was dazzling.
“You got Myne’s blessings too, right, Mom? You’re moving a lot easier than you were before. But still, you shouldn’t push yourself! You may not have birthing pains anymore, but you’re still going to be exhausted from feeding Kamil at night.”
I felt as though Tuuli was telling me that I needed to face the future too, especially since Myne’s blessings had cured me of the helpless pain and exhaustion I had felt ever since giving birth. I won’t lose to my own daughter here, I thought to myself, and as I put on my cooking apron, I found myself smiling for the first time since Myne had gone.
“I’ve been blessed by Myne, Tuuli—you don’t need to worry about me. And listen, there’s second bell. Have a nice day at work.”
After cheering up a bit and seeing Tuuli off to her apprentice work, I washed some dishes using a jar of water while keeping an eye on Kamil. I glanced around the house and noticed that Tuuli had already washed the clothes for me, but I would still need to draw more water. The market would also be opening later on today, so I would need to go shopping for food as well. We had already finished all of the food donated to us by our neighbors. It was tempting for me to just be satisfied with some leftovers for lunch, but with Gunther around, I needed to make something more sizable.
...Now, where should I start cleaning up? I thought just as Gunther trudged out of bed. He was up much later than usual, and it wasn’t as though he was working a night shift or anything. He stared at me through kind of narrowed eyes as I moved around the house, working in my apron.
“How come you and Tuuli can just keep on acting normal? Myne’s gone, y’know.”
“The funeral is over, and our neighbors have helped us enough. If Tuuli and I spent all of our time crying instead of working, who would give milk to Kamil, or make our food, or wash our clothes?”
No matter how sad we were or how great the loss was, it was already time for us to get back to work if we wanted to live—Gunther should have known that as well.
“Not to mention that we’re not like most families. Myne gave us a lot of blessings. She gave us the power to strive toward our goals, to deflect malice, to heal our pain, and to endure trials and tribulations—she gave it to all her loved ones. So, I’m fine.”
Gunther suddenly raised his head in realization. I smiled at him.
“Tuuli is striving to keep her promise to Myne and make the most of her blessings, but you’re just lazing around all day, not enduring this trial at all. I wonder if that means she doesn’t love you? Did you actually get blessed?” I asked, already knowing the answer.
Gunther’s eyes shot open. “Of course she does! We had all those final goodbyes, and the burns on my arm healed! Myne loves me for sure!” Seeing him overreact when it came to Myne and getting so pouty was kind of cute in its simplicity.
“In that case, why don’t you face the future and get back to living as well? There’s a mountain of things we have to do. If you have the time to skip work, you have the time to help. First comes drawing water.”
“‘First’...?”
“And then once that’s done, could you go shopping for me? The market’s up today, but I still can’t go that far with Kamil. Myne would get mad at me for sure.”
Myne hadn’t been able to keep quiet for a minute without telling us not to take Kamil outside until he was old enough to move his head, due to all of the sicknesses outside. Gunther seemed to remember that as well. He fell silent, searching for words.
“Ah, look. Now Kamil’s crying. It’s time for him to be breastfed.” I gave the mopey, frowning Gunther a bucket and shooed him out, then picked up the crying Kamil and opened the bedroom window. The room lit up in an instant thanks to the dazzlingly bright sunshine of a summer just beginning. A cool breeze blew inside, and that cheered me up even more, like the wind was blowing away the sad, heavy atmosphere that had built up inside.
“Here you are, Kamil.” I had kept him waiting a bit too long, and his small mouth moved desperately as he drank as much and as quickly as he could. That was when Gunther came back, carrying a bucket filled to the brim with water. He frowned harder as he poured it into the jug before going back out to the well.
It took Gunther several trips to the well to finish filling the water jug, after which he picked up the shopping basket and left for the market, all the while mumbling about how Myne definitely did love him.
I finished feeding Kamil, changed his diaper, and then looked around the brightened room as I put him to bed. In the corner, I noticed that dust was starting to pile up. Our bedroom was always ridiculously clean thanks to Myne’s desperate desire to sleep in a clean room, but now that she was gone, it had gotten dirty after just a few days of nobody cleaning it.
“I’ll have to clean while Kamil’s asleep. I want to keep things like they were when Myne was here, as much as possible.”
Once I had finished, I decided to start washing Kamil’s dirty diapers since there were so many. I spread them out to dry on the lines, at which point Gunther came back carrying a lot of stuff. He had bought a bunch of everything so that we wouldn’t have to go shopping again anytime soon.
“I’m back. I’m gonna put all this stuff in the winter prep room, alright?” he said, his bright tone a complete contrast to how miserable he had been on his way out.
“Did something happen out there?”
“On my way there, I bumped into Gil taking the orphans to the forest. I asked about how Myne’s doing. She’s gonna be going to the Noble’s Quarter soon, but she’s doing good and is mainly just worrying about us.”
Gil was one of Myne’s attendants. He was a kid who often walked her home, and Myne said he was a hard worker who kept the workshop in the orphanage running with Lutz.
“What did you say to him, Gunther? I’m sure you gave him a message for Myne.”
“I told him to tell her that we’re all facing the future and not to worry about us... Hey, what’s with that look? I couldn’t tell Myne I’m off work for a bit since I punched my commander in the mouth,” Gunther said quickly, stumbling over his words and looking generally quite awkward. He wanted to be a dad his kids respected, and especially didn’t want to look uncool in front of Myne.
“That means you need to go back to work so Myne doesn’t worry, now doesn’t it? So when are you going?” I asked with a teasing smile. Gunther’s brow furrowed in a deep, frustrated frown, and said “tomorrow” while avoiding my gaze.
But I could see traces of a smile creeping onto his face. There was life in his voice again, and he was looking up instead of down. That was definitely just him putting on a brave face for now, but I knew he had finally decided to face the future and stride forward, almost certainly because he had finally felt for real that he still had a thin connection to Myne. He knew he could tell her about us by talking to Gil, the kids from the orphanage, and Lutz.
Gunther slept soundly that night, not moving at all even when Kamil started crying. His mood changing so dramatically in a single day was so like him that I couldn’t help but feel a little happy.
“Gunther sure does love Myne, doesn’t he, Kamil? His mood turned around completely just from hearing about Myne through G
il,” I said, patting Kamil on the back after feeding him. He replied with a small burp.
Josef—Beruf Certification
“I heard the foremen are gonna eat with us today,” I said to the leherls, who were packing away their tools since work was over for the day. They all glanced warily at Bierce, then one whispered to me.
“Hey, Josef. That rich patron girl came today, didn’t she? Are things good again? We don’t wanna have a dinner like the last one ever again,” he teased, but I could sense the worry in his voice.
I clenched my fist and gave him a confident grin. “Don’t sweat it. Tonight’s gonna be a good night. For everyone except me, that is—I’ve gotta hold Heidi back.”
There was a moment of silence, then everyone started cackling. It’s been a long time since the workshop was cheery enough for us to joke around like this, I thought before a grinning craftsman came over and slapped me on the back.
“Oi, Josef. Looks like you’re gonna have to get to work before dinner.”
“Yep, yep. It’s already your time to shine. Go get Heidi to clean up. She’s still over there thinking to herself,” he said in a now-cheery voice, pointing over to Heidi, who was glaring at some materials while deep in thought.
I turned my back to the craftsmen and quickly walked over to where she was. She didn’t even notice me, and instead just kept mumbling to herself while glaring at a small bowl of materials.
“C’mon, Heidi. Give it a rest for today. We’re all stuck here until you clean everything up,” I said, poking her in the head before grabbing the bowl and lazily handing it over to a nearby lehange. She had been deep in thought, but not deeply enough to stop her from shooting out of her chair the moment the materials were taken from her.
“Gaaah! Josef, wait! Be careful! Don’t mix the materials!”
It looked like I had successfully brought her back to reality. I gave the bowl back to Heidi, which was filled with a powder that had been ground down to use for ink.
“If you’ve got time to complain, you’ve got time to clean up. The bell’s gonna ring soon.”
“Okay! I’ll clean up right away, so please, be gentle!”
“C’mon, I’m not you. I’ll treat the materials carefully.”
Everyone nearby was laughing and saying things like, “Yeah, leaving Heidi to Josef is always the best move,” but honestly it had been so long since I last heard them teasing us that even their lighthearted mockery was nostalgic. The workshop going back to normal was a huge relief.
“The Gilberta Company’s gonna help get the guildmaster on our side when it comes to selling ink to nobles,” Bierce announced. “We’ve also got a patron who’s helping fund Heidi’s research into colored ink, and we even managed to sell some, so drink as much as you want today, boys.”
This declaration caused the leherls to erupt in cheer, and they started chugging beer and munching enthusiastically through the food on the table. I myself downed my mug of behelle in one go.
We had made and sold the ink that the Gilberta Company wanted so that we could form a connection with them, which led to us being able to leave dealing with nobles to them and the guildmaster. Along the way, we had even found a patron for Heidi’s research. If we’re not gonna celebrate today, when will we? Our hard work’s finally paid off a little; we can save the rest for tomorrow. Heidi has a long, rough road ahead of her... That is, as long as we don’t tick off our tiny patron.
I thought back to the tiny girl who had helped us with our colored ink research earlier today. Lady Myne was kind of a weirdo herself, having quickly become friends with Heidi the research nut, but I couldn’t yell at Lady Myne when she did something weird like I could with Heidi. I had to show more restraint and work that out with her attendants. Not to mention, if I didn’t stop Heidi from researching day in and day out, we’d eat up all of Lady Myne’s funding and be in a real bad spot if she refused to give us more.
Even while drinking behelle among all the festivities, my head was still filled with thoughts of tomorrow’s work. Heidi and I had been entrusted with researching the new ink, which meant I would be doing all of the work except the research itself. It was probably obvious by now, but Heidi was utterly useless outside of research; it took her way too long to do anything, and her lack of progress would just end up annoying everyone around her.
“That’s some nice chugging there, Josef. You must be happy that the ink we made is selling so well, huh? I bet you wish we could eat with everyone like this every day,” Heidi said with a grin, taking a swig of her own behelle. She loved eating with a ton of people like this, especially the other leherls, but in our workshop, Bierce’s family and the leherls usually ate separately.
“How many times has Bierce told you that the boys need some time to relax without him being around? Give it up, this is only ever gonna be for special occasions.”
“I’m jealous of the leherls. I wanna eat where Dad can’t see me sometimes too,” she murmured while eyeing Bierce furtively. I laughed and looked his way too. It was true that the leherls wanted to at least relax and eat meals without him, their boss, watching them. His decision to normally eat separately from them was the right one to make.
That said, I had experience with both sides since I had married into Bierce’s family through Heidi, and well... It was safe to say that there was a big difference between what the five leherls ate and what we ate. Eating separately was convenient to Bierce in part to save on the leherls’ food costs.
There were a lot of reasons and excuses for us eating separately, but regardless of all that, we ate dinner together when there was important news for the workshop. It was the best and worst of times for the leherls, who loved the better quality food but feared Bierce’s news.
This time it’s good news, but last time it was because Mr. Wolf had died, so yeah...
The last time we had eaten with the leherls was when the former head of the Ink Guild, Wolf, had died under mysterious circumstances, and Bierce ended up unable to refuse the position of guild head. If this meant he had to pick up all the shady, underhanded deals that Wolf had been making, then it wasn’t strange to think that Bierce would have to start dealing with nobles himself.
Naturally, the leherls all paled after hearing that; the workshop would no doubt crumble without Bierce. The lehanges could run away when their three-year contracts ran out, but the leherls didn’t have it so easy. Their fates were tied to the workshop. His daughter and successor, Heidi, only cared about research, and since I, her husband, wasn’t qualified to be a beruf yet, everyone had been reasonably terrified.
...I gotta get my beruf certification as soon as possible.
One needed the title of “beruf” to be a workshop foreman. Anyone could inherit the workshop when a foreman died, but without this title, the successor’s position in the guild would weaken, and he’d have restrictions placed on him. Furthermore, he wouldn’t be able to hire any new leherls or lehanges, and lehanges wouldn’t be able to renew their contracts with him.
Everything was decided by skill in the world of craftsmen, and it was a harsh world indeed. You couldn’t own a workshop without being a beruf, since talentless people owning workshops would damage the reputation and development of the entire area. You could technically get around this restriction if you had friends in powerful places—a personal workshop not belonging to any guild, generally established by a rich merchant or a noble, could be run by a foreman who wasn’t a beruf—but that didn’t apply to most people, and in general the death of a foreman meant the death of a workshop.
...Like Wolf’s own ink workshop.
Since Wolf was the only one in his workshop who was a certified beruf, his workshop rapidly deteriorated after he died. Limits were put on trade, and due to rumors coming out about his dark past, several lehanges canceled their contracts once spring came.
I can’t let our workshop meet the same fate.
I was a leherl married to the workshop’s successor—I was tied to it no matter
what happened, and I didn’t have the luxury of slacking on getting my beruf certification, lazily watching Heidi go nuts over research. Bierce had been forced to become head of the Ink Guild after Wolf died, and in all honesty, it wouldn’t surprise me if he dropped dead under equally mysterious circumstances any day now.
I need to get my beruf certification as soon as possible.
Bierce had slapped me on the back and said, “Josef, I’m counting on you,” when he became the head of the Ink Guild, and I felt the true weight of that slap more than ever now.
“...Woah!” My heavy thoughts were suddenly interrupted by Heidi jabbing a finger between my eyebrows.
“Drop the frown already and eat up, okay?”
“What’s with you all of a sudden...?”
“I need your help for sure to develop the new ink. I won’t be able to make so many different kinds myself, so shape up. There’s gonna be a lot of stuff I want to try tomorrow,” Heidi said as she piled meat onto my plate. It took strength and stamina to mix oil and materials together for hours at a time while making this new ink, which meant Heidi would have a real hard time doing it by herself.
Am I just an ink-making machine to you, Heidi? Huh? I thought, but despite feeling a little frustrated at my wife for once again thinking about nothing but research, I ate the meat on my plate and drank my behelle.
“Isn’t this great, Dad? I’m so glad that little girl decided to be my patron. Everything’s going so well now thanks to that.”
Although our workshop was in a better spot than before, Bierce remained the head of the Ink Guild, and the deals with nobles made in the past were all resting on the guildmaster’s ultimate decision. The fact that Bierce was the only one in the workshop with a beruf certification was still unchanged as well.
The only things that’re going well are the new ink selling and you getting research funds. Is that all that matters to you?! Come on! I silently yelled at Heidi, who was beaming thoughtlessly as she finished her dinner.