Result of the Meeting with the Vested Interests

Result of the Meeting with the Vested Interests

Result of the Meeting with the Vested Interests

I felt terrified of the danger that magic contracts had introduced. Lutz and I just wanted job security, we didn’t want to hurt anyone. I went home with Lutz, trembling in fear. My stomach was churning, as if I had swallowed a whole boat that was floating around.

“You don’t gotta worry so much. Benno’ll do something.”

I nodded at Lutz, but I just couldn’t stop thinking about how someone I didn’t know might soon be hurt or worse because of me. I was so, so worried. My stomach ached. What was I afraid of? Forcing people I didn’t know to get involved in my business and hurting them as a result.

I really wanted to just shut myself inside my home, but Lutz basically forced me outside each day, saying that he had no idea what I would do if left alone. I hated that we could only wait for Benno’s contact while going to the forest and making paper.

But in the end, even after several days passed, Benno didn’t say anything to us. He never mentioned anyone dying a suspicious death. Everything was normal. Too normal.

Several more days passed and my fear turned into distrust towards Benno. Would the contract magic really kill someone? Maybe he was just exaggerating. I thought back to exactly what Benno had said to find any clues. Even his tone and expression might have hinted at something.

“...You know, isn’t it a little weird?”

“What is?” Lutz frowned at me while angling the suketa to make volrin paper. I turned to look at him after putting fresh paper onto the draining bed.

“That contract magic would affect people who don’t know the contract in question exists.”

“That’s not weird. It’s magic, what do you expect?” replied Lutz casually as he put his finished paper on the draining bed on top of mine.

I pursed my lips while scooping up water and shaking it. “I expect it to make sense somehow. It’d be weird if it didn’t. I mean, think about it. What if someone signed a magic contract about a product that’s already on the market? People all over would break it. And what if someone signs a magic contract in a city far away from ours? We’d have no idea.”

I kept pondering this while shaking the suketa. If contract magic was used to enforce the equivalent of patent rights, there was probably a patent office or something that managed them. Someone had to inform the public what magic contracts were in effect. It’d be too dangerous otherwise.

“I think contract magic has a bunch of conditions and a limited range that we don’t know about. And anyway, don’t you think magic this dangerous would be restricted a little more?”

“Alright, I can tell you’re building up to something. What’re you nervous about?” said Lutz, which made me reflexively stop shaking the suketa. He picked it up from the side and continued for me. “You always talk faster when you’re trying to hide how you feel.” Lutz jerked his head, urging me to spit it out. I couldn’t hide anything from him.

“...I’m scared of hurting people we don’t know with our magic contract. I want to think that Benno was joking or lying. Nobody’s been hurt yet, right? Maybe he was just trying to scare us. I want to think he was just trying to scare us.”

“It’d be nice if he was just joking, but why would he do that? What would he gain from tricking us?”

“Ngh... I-I mean, he’s tricked us a lot already. I get the feeling that he’s hiding something from us again to test us or something.” I was about to say that he probably had some secret reason for distancing us from him when suddenly I heard a familiar voice from behind us.

“Wow. I didn’t know you had so little trust in Benno, Myne.”

Lutz and I, surprised that someone else was in the storage building, spun around. There we saw a grinning Otto in his normal clothes, raising both a hand and an eyebrow.

“Mr. Otto?! Why are you here?!”

“Why else would I be here but to deliver a message from Benno?”

Benno had indeed said that he would contact us through Otto, but I had expected him to wave us down on our way through the gate. I never thought for a second he would come visit us in the storage building.

“Seems like everything’s over.”

His short message didn’t tell me anything. I lurched towards Otto, desperate for any information that would calm my aching stomach. “What’s over?! How did it go?!”

“Well, it sure sounded like a big deal. He really broke his back making things work.”

“What do you mean by that?! What happened?!”

Otto just shrugged, not giving me any hard answers. I had no idea if he actually didn’t know or if he was just pretending not to know. “Benno didn’t tell you anything?”

“He told us some stuff, but not much. He said that it would be really bad if people who didn’t know about our magic contract started making paper on their own. Then he said that we shouldn’t go to his store until he was finished dealing with the Parchment Guild, partially to keep the manufacturing process for paper safe.” I summarized what Benno had said and Otto stroked his chin.

“Hmm. Sounds like he told you the bare minimum, at least.”

“Did anyone get hurt from the contract magic? That’s what I’m really worried about...”

“You two hid so the process wouldn’t get out, right? Nobody’s been hurt. Everything else you should hear from Benno. Want to go together once you’ve finished your work here?”

“Okay!” The weight on my chest was lifted by his confirmation that nobody had been hurt. Feeling lighter than I had in days, I got back to rocking the suketa.

“Shaking that thing makes paper? What even is it?”

“That’s a secret.”

“Looks like there’s some gooey stuff inside. What’s it made of?”

“That’s a secret.”

Otto watched us, full of curiosity and questions, but I just kept working without giving any answers.

“We’re on the same side here, Myne, you can tell me.”

“Benno will get mad if I tell anyone. Right, Lutz?” I direction the question to Lutz and he shrugged with a grin.

“He gets mad at Myne for not thinking before she talks all the time. Keeping quiet is the best call for her.”

“Hahaha... You tell people this kinda thing without thinking? I can picture Benno now, so mad his veins are bulging.”

“It’s less that he gets so mad his veins bulge and more that he just gets really exasperated.”

We cleaned up our tools and headed to Benno’s with Otto. By the time we got out of the alleyway and onto the main road, Otto was looking down at me while rubbing his temples.

“Hey, Myne. Do you always walk this slow?”

“...Um, yes?”

“I’ve gotta hand it to you, Lutz. You’re a better man than me. I couldn’t take this. Which meeeans... up you go.”

“Hyaaah!”

Otto, saying he couldn’t take my slow speed, hefted me up with his arms. He then power-walked forward. I got the feeling that lately Benno and Mark had been carrying me around everywhere too. It seemed that my walking speed was so slow that adults felt compelled to pick me up.

We arrived at Benno’s store and Mark came out to greet us. “Hello, Myne and Lutz. Thank you for your help, Otto,” said Mark, lowering his head in thanks.

“No biggie. This was pretty fun. Is Benno there?” replied Otto casually as he walked inside. He held me up with one arm and used his other hand to open the door to Benno’s office.

“Benno, your Goddess of Water has arrived.”

The moment Otto walked into the room and said whatever that weird comment was, Benno glared at him with such a forceful gaze that I could feel murderous intent radiating from him. Since he was looking in my general direction, I got hit with the gaze myself and jerked in fear.