Still the Same Troublemaker

「Lutz, Lutz! I need to talk to Boss.」

Before the second bell rings, an out-of-breath Kamil rushes into the Plantin Company. Only the Dapla, the live-in employees, have begun preparations for the opening, and none of the commuting Dalua have yet to arrive. Unlike me, who lives in Plantin Company as an apprentice dapla, Kamil commutes from his house near the south gate. Something terrible must have happened.

「Kamil, what’s wrong? What happened?」

The fight with the other noble has ended, and before we could even exhale, the Gilberta Company had to do a fitting, which got reported last night. The store and the staff are safe, and the Plantin Company is back to its normal routine of preparation for the move until after the Archduke Conference. I had a bad feeling about Kamil’s appearance when he came in a hurry, probably because I had talked with Benno and the others last night that everything was going without a hitch until the Archduke Conference.

「I heard something from Dad, so I need to talk to Boss as soon as possible. Mom told me to check on everyone else to make sure they know too…」

Breathing heavily, Kamil mentioned Uncle Gunther, a soldier at the west gate. It seems that Rozemyne-sama and Melchior-sama visited the west gate yesterday afternoon to thank the soldiers.

……What did she do at the West Gate this time!

Just when I thought that peace is coming, I feel a sense of disturbance. Something terrible is going to happen. I’m sure of it. From my experience, this wasn’t something I wanted to hear alone.

「I’ll get Boss right away.」

I consult with Mark-san and take Kamil to Benno’s office. Leaving the rest of the staff to prepare the store, we gathered the ones who would be moving.

「Kamil, talk to me.」

「Dad told me that Rozemyne-sama and Melchior-sama came to the west gate yesterday…」

「Kamil, use “visited” rather than “came”.」

As soon as Kamil started to speak, prompted by Benno, Mark-san corrected him. Even though I had taught him little by little, Kamil was not yet accustomed to using polite words. Therefore, he is often corrected for his language at the store.

「Mark, we’re getting nowhere. Save the education for later.」

「Yes, sir. I will save it for later.」

Benno stopped Mark-san with a wave of her hand. But “later” meant that Mark-san would remember all the mistakes he had made. Kamil glanced at Mark-san with a nervous look on his face as he proceeded to talk.

「Well, Rozemyne-sama visited the west gate, and I think she said she was going to be Aub Ahrensbach. Oh, that’s wrong. Was it Ferdinand-sama who said that? Anyways, the important thing is that they said they were moving to Ahrensbach, instead of the Sovereignty. When I came home, Dad asked me what was going on in the Plantin Company… but I couldn’t answer anything. Because I didn’t hear anything about it at the store yesterday.」

「I didn’t hear anything either. What’s going on?」

Just two days ago, the day of the battle, we were at Rozemyne-sama’s library. There were the noble attendants of Rozemyne-sama, and there was a group of Gutenbergs and others traveling together, but they told us nothing. Yesterday morning, the Gilberta Company visited for a fitting, and although we received a report that the fitting had been completed without incident, there was no word about any change in destination.

「Could they really have suddenly changed the destination yesterday afternoon?」

「……I can’t say it’s impossible, Boss.」

Rozemyne-sama’s sudden idea of a business turnaround or a change of direction has happened before.

「Whether we move to the Sovereignty or Ahrensbach makes a big difference in our mindset and future business strategy. If they’ve already decided this, we need to take action now.」

「Yes, that’s right. In the Sovereignty, we were told that we could only get involved in the business after Rozemyne-sama has reached adulthood, so we were planning to take some time to prepare our store in order to minimize conflicts with others. But if she becomes Aub Ahrensbach, the business could start immediately after we move there.」

Mark-san’s frightening prediction made me and Benno pale at once. It’s very possible. Rozemyne-sama, who would not hesitate to break through all barriers for the sake of her books, would not wait until adulthood if she’s the highest authority in the duchy.

……The schedule is getting pushed ahead by two years!

「Boss, shall I run to the Temple now? Melchior-sama accompanied Rozemyne-sama to the west gate, which means that Rozemyne-sama must have stopped by the temple. Her attendants at the temple might have heard something.」

By the time the second bell rings, Gil will have unlocked the workshop and gotten ready to work. Since Gil is going to be traveling with us, he should be able to give us some information.

「Please, Lutz. Kamil, you bring Corinna or Tuuli with you. We should check if they noticed anything during the fitting yesterday.」

「Corinna-sama or Tuuli?」

I grab the arm of Kamil, who is surprised at the sudden change in everyone’s behavior, and run out of Benno’s office. I take Kamil and run out of the store as the staff preparing to open the store look on in amazement.

「Kamil, you’d better go to Corinna-sama’s workshop rather than the Gilberta Company at this hour. Probably neither of them are in the store anymore.」

Pointing to a shortcut to Corinna-sama’s workshop, I advised him before turning in the direction of the temple, the opposite direction of Kamil.


The second bell already rang while we were listening to Kamil. On the main street, I saw stores and workshops getting ready to open, and people carrying goods. It is hard to believe that there was a battle only two days ago.

I ran through the gate of the temple to the workshop in the men’s wing of the orphanage. Gil and Fritz are in front of the workshop preparing for work.

……Ah, Gil has grown taller again!

When seeing him standing side by side with Fritz, it is obvious how much taller Gil has gotten. When I first met Gil, there was not much difference in our heights, but Gil has grown a lot during his growth spurt. It is frustrating, but we are now quite far apart.

……No, I’ve already passed Tuuli’s height, and I’m still growing too.

Tuuli, who is one year older than me, is well-developed and has been taller than me ever since we were little. When we got engaged, our eyes were in line, and lately I’ve exceeded her a little. Still, I can’t keep up with Gil.

「Hey, Lutz, you’re early. What’s up?」

Gil notices me and waves. I wave back. Fritz seems to realize that I need to talk to Gil, and smiles quietly before walking into the workshop.

「I’m the one who wants to know what’s going on. I heard that Rozemyne-sama is moving to Ahrensbach.」

Gil says, “Hmmm?”, looking like he didn’t care much about it.

「I don’t think it’s official yet, but that’s what they said.」

「Hey, that other duchy that invaded a couple of days ago is Ahrensbach, isn’t it? Should Rozemyne-sama really be moving there? What about the rest of us who are moving with her?」

「I don’t really get it either.」

I don’t know why, but Gil, who is moving with us, looks like he doesn’t care. If they talked about it in the temple, I wish he would have asked for more details.

Gil saw my criticizing look and went into the workshop with a sigh. He comes out with a wooden box and puts it in front of me. Fritz also came out with a crate. Gil probably told him the talk was nothing important.

「Lutz, since you’re here, why don’t you help out too?」

While taking tools out of the box with a practiced hand, I thought of gathering as much information as I could. I can’t leave with such a cryptic answer.

「Gil, don’t you think you could say a little more? Why would Rozemyne-sama go to Ahrensbach?」

「Because the former high priest…… uh, Ferdinand-sama? And Hartmut-sama decided it, didn’t they?」

「No, Gil. I heard from Hartmut-sama that it was because Rozemyne-sama took the foundation of Ahrensbach.」

Fritz corrects Gil’s statement. It seems that Hartmut-sama had informed him of this. However, there was a word that was unfamiliar to me.

「What is a foundation?」

「I don’t know it well myself, but it seems to be important for the duchy. I heard that the person who has it will be approved by Zent at the Archduke Conference and become an Aub.」

「Ferdinand-sama and Hartmut-sama were talking about going to Ahrensbach, so I thought it was almost a done deal, just not officially decided. This Zent is just a big old guy, I guess. I hope he’s not a nasty old man like the old high bishop.」

「It will be officially decided at the Archduke Conference. Transfers to other domains are always decided at the Archduke Conference, and Hartmut-sama also said that the transfer would be made after the Archduke Conference.」

It seems that the gray priests in the service of the nobility are going to move to Ahrensbach because of a special situation, which they did not understand very well. It is not yet finalized, but I judged that this is the most likely scenario.

「Hey, Gil, what about Rozemyne-sama herself, did she really want to go to Ahrensbach?」

……If she decided that she wanted to go to Ahrensbach, I think she would have contacted us first.

She has always been told to discuss things before doing anything. When she comes up with an idea, she always gathers the merchants and says, “I’m going to do something like this,” and considers the impact on the common people. In this case, there was no contact at all, even though it would have a great impact on her specialists moving with her. This makes me think that the people around Rozemyne-sama wanted the change rather than Rozemyne-sama herself.

「Rozemyne-sama told Ferdinand-sama and Hartmut-sama that she did not want to spread a rumor that had not yet been fully decided.」

「But it’s not like Rozemyne-sama doesn’t want to go, right? Hartmut-sama was really happy about it, so we can rest easy.」

……What? Is that really reassuring?

Hartmut-sama is a dangerous person. He is the one who made Rozemyne-sama say, “I have to hold him back because he’ll try to do anything”. He is a kind man, but all his judgments are based on “if they respect Rozemyne-sama” and “if they are useful to Rozemyne-sama”.

……All gray priests and gray priestesses call him “a good person”, but he gave me a scare a while back.

It was when Rozemyne-sama started going to the Royal Academy and all the nobles except Damuel-sama and Justus-sama started coming in and out of the temple. Hartmut-sama probed not only me, but also the Plantin Company and Gilberta Company constantly. I cannot trust him unconditionally or approach him because I know the time when he looked at me with a smile, but with his eyes not smiling at all. I don’t think he is a bad nobleman, and he is competent and very supportive of the printing business, but I don’t trust him as fully as the gray priests do.

……Ferdinand-sama seems to be with them this time, so they should be okay, right?

Ferdinand-sama will do what Rozemyne-sama doesn’t like if it is necessary for her education and common sense. He gives me a sense of security that he won’t do anything illogical. I know he works to understand the complicated inner workings before taking the reins.

……But, if Ferdinand-sama is also choosing to move to Ahrensbach…

「Sigh, I guess we’ll have to rethink our business strategy. After almost a year of preparation… I don’t want to see a sudden change of direction in the middle of spring.」

Since the official decision will be made after the Archduke Conference, it is highly likely that we will be informed late. It could literally be just before the move. Rozemyne-sama wouldn’t fail to understand how difficult this would be for the commoners, but there is not a single letter from her. I am a little worried that something terrible is happening. I still need more information.

「Well, I’m still moving wherever she goes, and my job is the same. Wherever Rozemyne-sama wants to go, she can go there.」

Gil was optimistic, and Fritz and I looked at each other and laughed. Unlike Gil, who only needs to think about paper making and printing, the Plantin Company has to consider the impact of sales and the presence of competitors when they open a store. The influence of the Sovereignty, where they can deal directly with the royal family, and a greater duchy in the corner of the country, is very different.

「I will stay in the workshop and I am not a merchant, so I cannot sympathize with the difficulties of you Lutz, but I understand your impatience and the difficulty you feel when a year of preparation may go to waste. If I get any information, I will let you know.」

After looking into the calm and relaxed dark brown eyes of Fritz, I thanked him and decided to go back to the store to report to Benno.


「Hey, is that you Kamil?」

Kamil comes staggering down the main street toward the temple with a dejected look on his face. He had gone to Corinna-sama’s workshop, but what had happened to him that he was walking here alone without going back to the store?

「What’s wrong?」

「Lutz, what should I do? I couldn’t get Corinna-sama or Tuuli.」

Kamil started to cry and whine that he couldn’t do the job Benno had told him to do. It doesn’t seem like much of a failure to me, but Kamil, who has just started his apprenticeship, doesn’t have much to work with yet. One failure must seem like a big deal to him. I patted Kamil on the shoulder to turn him around and started walking toward the store.

「Boss sent you on an errand because he thought you could get Tuuli as her brother. Did something happen to Tuuli?」

「Corinna-sama was angry with me.」

In the workshop, all the seamstresses have finished the fitting of Rozemyne-sama, and it seems that all the seamstresses are working at a furious pace with no time to spare before the Archduke Conference. When Kamil called, Corinna-sama said, “You can’t just show up at a moment’s notice! If you want to talk to me, you tell Brother to come himself.” I pat Kamil on the head and say, “It’s okay.”

「Corinna-sama was not angry with you, but with Boss. I’ll go to Corinna-sama’s workshop. Your apprentice education is starting soon, right? Go back to the store first.」

「Thanks, Lutz.」

I pushed Kamil out of the corner in the direction of the Plantin Company and headed straight for Corinna-sama’s workshop. Even though Corinna-sama would be angry with me, I needed to gather and share information.

「Oh, Lutz… didn’t Kamil tell you what my mother said?」

I thought I saw an apprentice being trained at the workshop reception desk, but it turns out to be Renate-sama, Corinna-sama’s daughter. Renate-sama, the heiress of the Gilberta Company, has started her apprenticeship at the workshop and at the Gilberta Company.

「I know Corinna-sama is busy, but Boss is also busy adjusting to the new location. I can pass along what you guys have to say, but I can’t take over for Milda-sama.」

Since Benno, the owner of the store, is moving with Rozemyne-sama, it is necessary to hand over the store to the next generation. Benno’s sister, Milda-sama, has agreed to take over the Plantin Company in Ehrenfest, but it is not easy to transfer in a short period of time.

The Plantin Company has been in existence for a few years, but it has been in and out of the castle and has a branch office in Groschel. From now on, we are supposed to establish branches in other territories. I have heard Milda-sama complaining that there are too many nobles to deal with and that we have to keep an eye on too wide a range of areas.

「Ask Corinna-sama for a meeting.」

「Fine, but be prepared for her anger.」

Renate-sama shook her hair, which was a similar shade to Benno’s, and went into the back. After a while, she shows me in, saying, “She says you can come in”. Instead of the reception room where she usually takes me when I come here for business, she takes me to her workshop where she is working.

「I thought I told Brother to come in himself if he wanted to talk?」

Corinna-sama says without stopping the needle. Her eyes are fixed on the fabric and thread, and she is not looking at us at all. There are many fabrics and knick-knacks lined up around us, and several seamstresses are sewing quickly with their needles. Their faces are serious and scary. Among them was Tuuli.

「Boss is too busy with the transfer to Milda-sama.」

「We are really busy too. I don’t even know if I will be able to finish all the items in time for the Archduke Conference. Please tell Brother not to call me until the Archduke Conference, because I’m being rushed to finish even a single item as soon as possible.」

Rozemyne-sama’s body shape has suddenly changed, and she is having to make everything over again, which sounds like a lot of work. Looking at the current state of the workshop, it is clear that Corinna-sama has no time to spare.

「I’ll tell him that, but please tell me about yesterday’s fitting. Was there any discussion about the movement of Rozemyne-sama’s specialists?」

「Tuuli, I’m sorry, but may I ask you to explain it to Lutz? I don’t think he’ll be satisfied with the answer of “we didn’t talk about it that much”.」

Tuuli glanced at me in frustration when Corinna-sama approached her and replied, “I’ll go to the central square when I’m done.” Corinna-sama laughed and said, “Lutz, go prepare a drink for Tuuli who is taking time out of her day and wait for her,” then I got kicked out of the workroom.


I went to the central square as Corinna-sama told me and bought a drink from a stall. After working so hard in that stuffy atmosphere, she must have at least one sweet treat. I bought some sweet corde and wrapped it in a cloth.

「Sorry for the wait, Lutz.」

I hand her a glass of water with titrine in it, and Tuuli drinks it and exhales.

「I’m sorry for bothering you.」

「You should be. I finally got a part of the clothes-making process.」

Tuuli’s reputation as a hair dressmaker keeps her from participating in the costume making process. I know that she always laments, “I promised to be a good seamstress and make her a costume, but my sewing skills haven’t improved at all.” Understanding the reason for Tuuli’s anger, I apologized again, saying, “I’m sorry for ruining the opportunity for you.” I had no choice but to ask her what I needed and send her back as soon as possible.

「I’m sorry to call you on such short notice, but it’s very important.」

「If it’s just about the change in destination, which has not been officially decided yet, wouldn’t it be enough to send a letter instead of calling me?」

Tuuli looked as if she didn’t care much. Corinna-sama wasn’t moving so I could understand her stance, but I didn’t think that Tuuli herself, who was moving with us, was not concerned about the location at all. Unlike Gil, I had assumed that Tuuli would be sympathetic to our sensibilities as merchants.

「If the destination is uncertain, the Gilberta Company will be in trouble along with us, won’t they?」

「Not really. The Gilberta Company will be the same whether they are going to the Sovereignty or Ahrensbach. Unlike the Plantin Company, they have no competitors.」

「No competitors? Oh, I see. Rozemyne-sama doesn’t have an exclusive contract with another store where she’s going. That’s a totally different position.」

Rozemyne-sama’s business is exclusive to the Gilberta Company. Unless Rozemyne-sama appoints another store, no stores in the new location will be their competitor. The Gilberta Company would have to hire and train people at the new location while accepting Rozemyne-sama’s requests, and establish a cooperative network that would be able to spread information about trends and ask for support on short notice, but it would not have to worry about competing stores.

In contrast, Plantin Company’s printing business is expected to have competitors very soon in the new location. Rozemyne-sama’s goal is to promote books, so she is willing to have others join the market. The more places that produce books, the better, she said. In fact, there are many places and stores making books in Ehrenfest too.

However, there is a difference between starting and expanding a printing business in Ehrenfest where we have connections, and starting a printing business in a new place you have just jumped into. It is easy to start a printing business in a new place, but when a store that already has a local connection enters the printing business, the Plantin Company is at a huge disadvantage because of the lack of horizontal connections among stores. We could be challenged and crushed in the market. Although we have the protection of Rozemyne-sama, the difficulty of doing business will be incomparable to Ehrenfest’s market. If we were to move to the Sovereignty instead, we would have two years to build relationships with others before Rozemyne-sama comes of age.

「The Gilberta Company is fine as long as Rozemyne-sama is there. It’s not so much about where we move as it is about how many outfits we can get done by the Archduke Conference. If we can showcase the costumes at the Archduke Conference and spread the new trend, our business will definitely expand more than before, no matter where we go, right?」

When we discussed each other’s situation in detail, our goals and priorities in business were quite different.

「I understand your situation. Anyway, tell me what you and Rozemyne-sama talked about at the fitting. You can’t say they didn’t talk about anything, can you?」

When Rozemyne-sama and the others went to the Temple and the West Gate in the afternoon, the move had already been decided in Ferdinand-sama’s and Hartmut’s minds. There must have been some talk about it in the morning.

「Hmmm. I guess they mostly talked about love?」

「What?」

I widened my eyes. This was totally different from the change of destination and the word could not be connected to Rozemyne-sama at all.

……Love? Coming from the girl that only cared about books?

「It was reported that Hannelore-sama of Dunkelfelger was there at the fitting, right? Hannelore-sama was a friend of Rozemyne-sama’s, and she was very pretty.」

Tuuli was asked for a hair ornament and suggested that they be matched for the occasion. Commoner girlfriends make the same things as their friends or exchange things they have made for each other. Although Tuuli was not sure if the trend would be accepted by the nobility, Hannelore-sama and Rozemyne-sama were both willing to wear the same flower hair ornament.

「It was fun to hear about Rozemyne-sama’s excellent grades at the Royal Academy, and about the kind of reckless things she did, things that I don’t hear from Rozemyne-sama’s mouth.」

「Wait, wait, Tuuli. You said something about love? About Rozemyne-sama, not Hannelore-sama? Is it about the fiance her parents decided to marry her to?」

I was more interested in this topic than the request for the hair ornament or Rozemyne-sama’s current situation. It wasn’t in the report that such a topic had come up during the fitting last night.

「Hannelore-sama said that she would support the fulfillment of Rozemyne-sama’s love for Ferdinand-sama, whom she has been in love with since she was a child.」

「What? Ferdinand-sama? That Ferdinand-sama?」

I was surprised because I didn’t feel such an atmosphere at all. It is not uncommon for people to fall in love with an older person around them; Tuuli’s first love was Benno after all.

……I see. So that’s how they grow up.

「It was someone other than her fiance, who was with her since she was a little girl pre-baptism, and constantly supported her while walking by her side…… Apparently, the only noble fitting these circumstances was Ferdinand-sama. But from my point of view, I think it fits you more, Lutz.」

Tuuli looks at me with a teasing look, picks up a piece of corde and puts it in her mouth, and smiles amusedly.

「That’s not just me. Also Boss who was suspected of taking her as his water goddess, Mark-san who is always praised as a nice gentleman, and even Fran and Gil who have been serving her since she was an apprentice blue priestess. Is Rozemyne-sama’s first love really Ferdinand-sama?」

「Well, I don’t think so. She wore the same face as when she was trying really hard to cover up the lies she told Mom after getting caught. I think she was just trying to look good in front of her friend. And since the man of her dreams is still Dad…… You know……」

She looks so grown up, but she still acts and speaks just like she did as Myne. I couldn’t help but laugh. She lied to Hannelore-sama in the presence of nobles, but I bet she didn’t think that Tuuli would find out about it. “Stop it. Don’t tell Tuuli!”, she would shout, and I can easily imagine her panicked face.

「But I heard that Ferdinand-sama would be the most ideal match for her if she considered a political marriage. Since he has a lot of books.」

「That’s terrible. He can’t be happy getting chosen for such a reason.」

After laughing, I scratch my cheek and say, “This is certainly not something worthy to report.” It was not worth calling Corinna-sama and Tuuli to ask them at this busy time.

「Oh, by the way, the love story started with Hannelore-sama asking Rozemyne-sama which position she would choose, archduke candidate, Aub, or next Zent candidate.」

「That’s super important! Which did Rozemyne-sama choose!?」

This is extremely relevant to the change of destination. Tuuli looked at my flustered look and shook her head quietly from side to side.

「She said she wasn’t allowed to pick. So, I don’t think Rozemyne-sama could chose for herself.」

「Oh…」

If Rozemyne-sama wanted to do something, she would have asked us first. It seems that I was not mistaken in my first line of thought. The move to Ahrensbach must have been decided by those around her after all.

「But you know what she said? If she could do what she wanted, she would build many libraries to make and read a lot of books, and live in a library as a librarian. How does she stay the same after all these years?」

I’m half disgusted that her wishes haven’t changed, and half happy and nostalgic at the same time. Yet, I’m also sad she’s not in a position to make choices again. Nothing has changed since she decided to become a noble in order to protect everyone. Still, I smile in response to Tuuli’s smile.

「She’s way too unchanging. She said that in front of other nobles, right? How did they react?」

「They were confused. But Hannelore-sama and Rozemyne-sama’s entourage changed their minds when she said the next thing. She apparently didn’t care if she was Aub or Zent, it was just the difference between building a library city or a library nation. I guess that was no laughing matter for the nobles. I heard Ferdinand-sama also scolded her saying that a library city is fine, but not a library nation.」

「Well, that’s true considering the size. I hope we can limit the scale as much as possible.」

Even I, a member of Plantin Company which plays a part in Rozemyne-sama’s ambition, has to agree.

「Yeah. Hannelore-sama and the entourage said that Ferdinand-sama was right… but that led to them saying it’s best if she married Ferdinand-sama for some reason, and that they should brainstorm how to make Ferdinand-sama willingly accept the political marriage. So they started taking about love again.」

「That’s gotta be it. I don’t what they said to Ferdinand-sama after the fitting, but maybe her talking about her ambition was the reason for the change of destination.」

I am sure of it, because Ferdinand-sama announced at the west gate this afternoon that they were going to Ahrensbach. In the end, it was actually the people around Rozemyne-sama getting caught up in her antics again. I feel bad for Ferdinand-sama getting dragged along, but everyone must have decided that this was the best outcome.

「Now we know what caused the sudden change of direction. Well, it only made my head hurt even more. Boss will be furious when he finds out.」

「She’s really a troublesome girl, isn’t she?」

Not only Ferdinand-sama and Hartmut-sama, but also Hannelore-sama and Rozemyne-sama’s entourage are pushing for a move to Ahrensbach instead of the Sovereignty. No doubt that’s where we’ll end up going. Things are really not going as planned. This always happens when she’s involved.

「Hey, Lutz. If they’re both going to Ahrensbach, doesn’t that mean Rozemyne-sama and Ferdinand-sama are really getting married?」

「Dunno. If Ferdinand-sama is the ideal partner for a political marriage, that’s fine, isn’t it? Let’s get back to work. We’re going to be busy as hell until the Archduke Conference.」

The Plantin Company has to rethink its plans to go to Ahrensbach. Maybe I should stop at the commercial guild along the way to gather information on the new duchy too. Tuuli and I throw the remaining corde into our mouths, before standing up.

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