“I heard a merchant was looking for me? A human one no less,” a blond man slowly descended the flight of stairs at the back of the workshop.
Adjusting his glasses, the man weaved through the workshop floor which had multiple pieces of ubiquitous wood and metal. Tools and shavings littered the stone floor, with inventions and contraptions lying around the side. Multiple forges and workbenches were also scattered throughout the floor. Numerous muscular men were active at work, and their noises filled the room.
“That’s correct. I’m searching for Vampire-5-Inventor,” standing by the entrance, I answered him.
The man reached my position. Contrary to the majority of the workers in the room, his build was fairly lean. He wore a dirtied white shirt with dirtied brown pants. Black ink stains were all over his body. He examined me for a moment, sizing me up with his eyes.
“You look like a capable one. What is it you need?” he inquired.
“My name is Human-273-Merchant. You may call me Argent. I’m here to inquire about your invention,” I bowed to him as I spoke.
“Ack, sorry. I forget my manners. I did not sleep well last night,” the man returned my bow with one as well, “You may call me Gutenberg.”
That name sounds a bit foreign.
“No worries, Mr. Vampire-Gutenberg. I also didn’t sleep well last night.“
“It is forgiven then,” he paused before continuing, “What may I help you with regards to my invention then?”
“About the printing press, I wish to inquire about it.”
“You should have gone to the city’s invention department for that. They manage all inquires about them.”
“I did, and they sent me here to talk to you.”
“Ack- how could I forget? The meetings are still going on now. The chiefs probably cannot entertain you at the moment.”
“A meeting?”
“Do not worry. It is nothing of concern. They will end eventually.”
The man placed his hands on his head and rubbed his temples.
“Come on in then. I apologize but the sunlight is a bit tough at the moment,” Gutenberg spoke as he pointed to the workshop interior.
Oh, it is nearing noon after all.
He weaved through the busy floor once again and I followed him close by. The smell of sweat assailed my nostrils. We made our way to the second floor.
I was greeted by a scene contrasting the one of the previous floor. The second level was relatively deserted. The dimmed interior was also nearly spotless. Stacks of paper were neatly organized on the wooden floor. Tools were placed on tables and arranged by use. Shelves with different bottles of ink were on the walls. On the center of the room was an eye-catching contraption.
The machine was mainly made of wood. Four legs supported its body, and a flat surface lay on top. A metal plate with indentations was hanging a distance over the flat surface, supported by a frame. A lever and screw allowed the metal plate to lower itself onto the flat surface.
So this is the printing press.
“I am terribly sorry for the mess. Anyway Mr. Human-Argent, what about this machine do you wish to inquire about?” Gutenberg rubbed his chin while asking.
“May I look at it more closely first?”
“Go ahead as long as you do not damage it.”
I walked towards the apparatus. In addition to what I noticed earlier, the metal plate had letters jutting out of the bottom. On closer inspection, the letters seemed to be removable. A case containing other letters and numerals was placed on a table next to the device. The contraption also had some sort of sliding mechanism which allowed paper to move smoothly along the machine’s flat surface.
“So you just slather the bottom of the plate with ink and stamp it on the paper, huh?” I commented.
“That’s right. With the device, you can produce prints with remarkable ease. No need to write them anymore,” Gutenberg nodded at me, “The removable letters allow you to print multiple different words without having to etch a new metal plate!”
“Can you remove the entire plate and easily replace it with a new one?” I inquired.
“Definitely, if the old plate gets damaged in any way, you don’t have to disassemble the machine change the plate.”
“It seems marvelous. How many pages can you print in a day using it?”
“If you’re printing without changing the plate, you can probably do above 4000 in a day. Compared to writing a full page, it’s a hundredfold more efficient.”
All the time while explaining his invention, Gutenberg slightly raised his arms and closed his fists. His eyes were incredibly focused. A loud and cheerful tone came from him.
“Could you demonstrate it for me?” I asked him.
“Sure thing!”
Gutenberg went towards the machine. He picked up a bundle of paper from the floor and placed it on flat surface of the device. In one smooth motion, he lowered the inked metal plate, raised it, and removed the paper using the sliding mechanism. He picked up the paper and handed it to me.
The paper has crisply printed words on it. The blocky letters looked odd, but they were readable. I stowed the paper in my cloak. It would take time for the general populace to get used to non-handwritten texts, but once they do…
“Alright, I would like to buy it,” I said with conviction, “I believe your invention will be something that will change the world.”
Gutenberg’s eyes lit up after he listened to my words. He clapped his hands and jumped, smiling. His glasses almost fell off his face.
“Good! About the price, It is only right that you pay me a tota-“
“Wait!” I interrupted him, “I’m not here to buy just the machine.”
The vampire raised an eyebrow and adjusted his glasses. He placed his hand on his cheek and tilted his head.
“I am sorry, but what do you mean?”
“I would like to purchase the rights to the invention.” I answered, “The machine is credited as yours in the city’s invention department, yes? Thus only you and your chief can sell this device.”
“That is correct.”
“I’d like you to agree to transfer the credit to my own name. That is, the machine becomes my invention.”
Gutenberg’s jaw dropped, and he leered at me. He brought his two hands together and cracked his knuckles.
“Why would I even think of doing that? It is my own invention! I will not just sell that fact!”
I reached into my pocket and pulled out a piece of paper which I had previously written a number on. I bowed and presented it to Gutenberg with both hands.
“This is!?”
“It is no joke. It’s definitely in gold. We may still negotiate if you find the value small.”
“This amount is...”
“So do we have a deal?” I grinned at him.
---
I opened the door to my room in the Midas Inn. Inside, Puella was sitting on the double bed. She was tapping her feet on the floor, her hands on her waist. Having noticed that I had entered, she flicked her ebony-colored hair and glared at me.
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“It took you long enough!” she shouted in an extremely loud voice.
I covered my ears in response and shook my head.
“Negotiating deals with people isn’t exactly easy, you know?” I replied.
“You had me going around town looking for something, then you have me wait here for an hour?” she pouted, “I wanted to go to the merchant district.”
Hey, hey, you had the EASY job.
“And what did you find out?” I ignored her disdain and proceed to ask.
“Hmmph,” she grunted, “The main town square was filled with some people. Some sort of anti-sound spell was cast over it, so I couldn’t hear what they were talking about.”
“That must be that elusive meeting that we’ve been hearing about. Have you tried to enter the boundaries of the spell?”
“I tried to, but some senti-somethings were guarding the edges. I couldn’t get in even with my female charms,” Puella touched her lips with her index finger as she spoke.
I shook my head once again.
“You mean, sentinels,” I corrected her, “It definitely is important considering that they didn’t let you in. We can presume that those attending are the owners of the establishments here.”
“Oh so that explains why Mr. Yama’s boss wasn’t here yesterday,” Puella’s snapped her fingers, “I wonder what they were talking about. It has to be something if they want to conceal it to us.”
“Rather, I think they’re concealing it from the visitors only. Not that there are a lot of us here anyway,” I spoke, “And for good reason too, they’re talking about something which they don’t want visitors to hear.”
“How do you know?” she inquired.
I produced the piece of paper I got from the printing press and gave it to Puella. On it was a notice of meeting for all heads of establishments in the town.
“I figured that they would need some way to inform those concerned about the meeting topic, time, and place. Naturally, the printing press would be one of those ways to inform everyone via giving them individual notices. Fortunately, the letters used for the notice was still on the press.”
“Smart.”
“Killing two birds with one stone, and for the record, I did secure the deal. Albeit, we need to proceed to some sort of bidding before we can purchase it.”
Puella began to sift through the paper. Her eyes sharply moved through the text. She read out loud.
“ “
DO NOT LET OUTSIDERS SEE!
VIOLATORS WILL BE DEALT WITH!
WHO: Establishment owners
WHAT: Disappearance of caravans
WHERE: Town square
WHEN: 5th of Rokmonth
-THE SENTINEL
There’s really something more in this town than meets the eye.
“This is… Argent, your caravan!” her voice increased in volume.
“It seems that they do know something about what happened to my venture,” I agreed, “Plus we need the invention chief to start the bidding process. Either way, this meeting affects us.”
“So what’s our plan then?”
“I suppose we have to get into that meeting. We have valid reasons anyway,” I proposed, “The problem is with the guards.”
“We’ll barge in! We’ll force them to let us in whether they want to or not,” Puella suggested.
For a moment, I saw a smirk appear on her lips. I started to break into a cold sweat.
“No no no no no, That’s a bad idea,” I raised my hands while speaking quickly.
Puella frowned and glanced away. She clicked her tongue, muttering “boring”. I brought out a map of the city and spread it on the table.
“Can we use stealth magic to pass the guards? This alley over here seems discreet enough for us,” I pointed towards a certain area on the map.
“I doubt it. The senti-guards will probably have a sensor or a mage among them. Unless we can use tremendously high level magic, I don’t think we can pass them even here.”
My mind pictured the image of a certain white-hatted mage. Her expertise would have been more than welcome in this situation. I knew that she would be able to fend off for herself, but I still felt a small pang of worry for her.
“Can we sneak past them normally then?”
“Using the roofs and timing the jumps correctly, I could perhaps, but as for you… I think you would have a hard time.”
She got me there. I’m no acrobat.
“The sewers are probably also patrolled. I checked the tunnel entrances and saw some guards go in and out of them periodically,” she added.
“That means we’re stuck outside unless we’re invited in,” I remarked.
Puella nodded to me. She brushed her hair and placed her index finger on her cheek. Her black eyes looked perfectly straight at the map. She frowned for a moment before her lips changed back to a straight position.
From what I saw, I had to conclude that Puella was actually deep in thought. I jumped backwards, mouth agape at this revelation. Interestingly enough, Puella didn’t notice me at all. She continued to stare at the map. Suddenly, she burst into action.
She pulled out a handful of copper coins for her pockets and spread them on the map, placing them between alleyways, on top of buildings, and on main thoroughfares.
“These are the locations of the guards around the town square. The only probably way we can get through is if we create a situation they can’t ignore, like a thief or something. Afterwards we can use this alley here.”
I was speechless at her actions.
“Is it no good? Did I forget something?” she raised her eyebrows at me inquisitively.
I shook my head.
“It’s the opposite. I didn’t expect you could think up of something like this.”
“What?” she growled, “Did you think of me as some sort of idiot?”
“Yes,” without blinking, I replied instantly.
“An instant answer…” Puella fell on her knees.
“But at least for now, your plan was ingenious, so let’s go with that,” I smiled at her.
Her face brightened up and she leaped at me. She grabbed both of my hands and continued to jump up and down. Puffing her chest, she returned by smile. Surprised at her abrupt actions, I faced away from her.
“A-anyway, let’s set the plan into motion. I have an idea on what to use as the distraction.”
---
AUTHOR'S NOTES:
I was working on this chapter a bit earlier, so I decided to release it before all hell breaks lose here in my RL, so please forgive me if I don't release any more soon. Anyway, enjoy the story.
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