Enlightened Empire

Inside the 'Tipsy Tradesmen', Alcer was shocked by Mallku's sudden invitation towards the man in the corner.

Wait, the drunkard?

Before Alcer could rue his decision, the aforementioned drunkard, who had been slumped in the corner of the ale house up until now, had already stood up and staggered up to his and Mallku's table.

"What do you want now, you rube?" he asked. " I just had a lie down and you are bothering me again already." Although the stench from his mouth unmistakably labeled him as a drunk, his voice was surprisingly clear, and his choice of words surprisingly polite, despite his rude tone.

Now that Alcer got a good look at this drunkard, he seemed young as well. Although there were dark spots under his unfocused eyes, there weren't any wrinkles, and his attempt at an unkempt beard amounted to no more than a stubble. With such an unreliable look, Alcer became more and more suspicious of Mallku's recommendation. Was this guy really supposed to help him with his burgeoning business?

"Wait, 'just'?" Mallku asked back, with an obviously fake look of shock on his face, wide-open eyes and all. "Last time I talked to you was yesterday evening. Friend, did you spend the whole night in here?"

"Night?" The young man's shaky voice trailed off as he looked around the room, until he eventually got caught on the brightly lit windows. By the time he looked back at Mallku, he no longer pursued his own missing time. Maybe he was embarrassed. "So why did you call for me? What do you want?" he asked instead.

"I want nothing," the blacksmith emphasized. With a gloating grin on his face, he pointed sideways at Alcer. "This hero here wants to hear your story. Tell him what happened to you. You know, bother him like you've been bothering everyone in here these days."

"What, so another one can make fun of me?" the drunkard furrowed his brow. Maybe he was contemplating the option for a bit, before he waved his hand in a vaguely dismissive manner. "No thank you, I would rather sleep another round."

When the drunkard tried to return back to his corner, Mallku finally stopped grinning. Instead, he half stood up and grabbed his guest by the shoulder.

"Wait," he said, finally in a serious tone. "This guy wants to build a manufactory, and he needs an administrator. Just stay and tell your story. Don't worry, friend, no one will laugh at you. Maybe there'll even be some work in it for you."

Again, the drunkard looked like he was thinking.

"Come on, we even prepared some drinks to moisten your throat," Mallku said, and nodded towards the three tankards of wine on the table.

Seconds later, the wordless guest had dragged another chair to their table and sat down. Now he was chugging the first of three wines, as Alcer watched in astonishment. Would this drunkard really be helpful to him? Rather, was he fine drinking this much wine first thing in the morning, and on an empty stomach no less? When he glanced over to Mallku with a concerned look, the blacksmith just waved away his concerns and motioned Alcer for patience.

Finally, the drinker slammed the empty tankard back down onto the table. Maybe Alcer would have been shocked, had he not gotten used to sudden noise over the past few years. Thus, he just patiently waited until the man was ready. Today, he had nothing better to do anyway, and he got used to waiting in his last employment. Meanwhile, the drinker brushed his mouth clean and rubbed his eyes for a bit, before he stared at Alcer. Despite his drinking problem, those eyes looked surprisingly clear as they observed him.

"So you want to build a manufactory, do you?" the drunk finally asked, to break the uncomfortable silence.

"Yes, I do," the veteran replied, while suppressing the urge to lean backwards, away from the stench. "My name is Alcer, by the way. I heard you are Kyunya?"

"You heard that right, master. Are you really looking for an administrator?" Again, Kyunya's voice was surprisingly polite, and hopeful. However, Alcer wasn't really ready to leave his new business in the hands of a drunk.

"I am. So I'm guessing you know someone you can refer me to?" he asked instead. Although Mallku had implied that this Kyunya was the man to help him, Alcer wouldn't be so silly to rely on him. Anyways, if he was an administrator, surely he would know more more in the field, preferably ones without a drinking problem. When Kyunya hesitated, Alcer added another incentive. He grabbed a few coins from his pocket, held them out to the drunkard and said: "I can certainly make it worth your while."

In response, Kyunya frowned, only for a split second. Maybe he felt insulted, or maybe he contemplated the offer, but in the end, he didn't grab Alcer's outstretched hand.

"If you are looking for an administrator, I am certainly who you want. I guarantee that you will not find anyone better for the position," he said instead. "However, I do have certain conditions before I join your venture."

"What? Wait one moment." Alcer said, confused at the drunkard's leap in logic, as much as his confidence. "Why'd you think I would hire you in the first place? I don't know anything about you. And no offense, but your appearance does not inspire my confidence."

"Please excuse me, master. It seems I skipped a few steps. A bad habit." Kyunya bowed his head as he apologized. His politeness was wholly unsuited to his current sloppy appearance, as was his decorum. "First, I should introduce myself, properly this time."

Kyunya righted himself a bit, before he continued: "My parents gave me the name Kyunya, though since the last census it has become Kyunya Argo, as I hail from Arguna."

Everyone who had been in Saniya during the last census had added a family name to their title. Most people thought it was their king's gift to them, to make commoners and nobles more equal in status. However, Alcer was convinced that it had been the idea of some paper pusher in some lower government ministry.

Most likely, it would have simply been too difficult to differentiate between the hundreds of Kyunyas in the city without a second name. While Alcer was still thinking about all the other Kyunyas, the specific Kyunya in front of him tried to distinguish himself from them.

"During my time in the capital, I was already apprenticed to Master Rimaq, the best papermaker in all of Arguna. Several years ago, Master Rimaq was hired by the miracle king's men to come to Saniya and ply his trade here. We received outstanding accommodations, respect from the king, and even secret recipes for the fast and cheap production of high quality paper. By now, Master Rimaq operates the largest papermaking manufactory in all of Medala. Now he is no longer outstanding just in quality, but also in volume, the pinnacle of his craft. Throughout all this time, I was his head apprentice. In the manufactory, I was mostly in charge of handling the books, and overseeing everyday operations on the production side. On threat of repeating myself, I am your best choice, whatever position you need administering in your new business."

While it seemed like he was bragging, Kyunya's voice sounded low and his face looked bitter. Somehow, it convinced Alcer that he was telling the truth more than any confident speech ever could. However, he also noticed the problems with the drinker's self-introduction.

"But you're a papermaker, not an administrator," he remarked. "Wouldn't your main focus have been paper?"

"Yes, I am also familiar with paper making methods, though something tells me that this is not a service you will require, master." Kyunya glanced at the bayonet still lying on the table. "However, if you are worried about my lack of ability, you should rest at ease. Master Rimaq left all the unpleasant work to me. He was too busy being a big man in front of all the important people in the city. So while he entertained them in his new manor, I was stuck with these less desirable tasks. Pushing paper, rather than making it, you see."

By now, Alcer could smell the bitterness from across the table, and it wasn't just coming from Kyunya's clothes. Clearly, something had happened between master and disciple, and it was more than an unjust work distribution. Although Alcer only had the opinions of one party to go on, he still tried to get to the bottom of the conflict. If this desperate drunk in front of him really wanted to get hired, he would need a damn good story.

"Since you're so irreplaceable for your master, doing all the work on your own, why are you here drinking alone on an ordinary work morning?" Alcer asked. There was no point being polite. If this papermaker couldn't handle some scrutiny, there was no point continuing this talk in the first place. Apart from Kyunya and Alcer, the only people in the ale house — including Mallku — all seemed to be workers from the steel mill. After all, the steel mill only operated for about a third of the year and lay cold the rest of the time. However, a papermaker had no such excuse to spend his time drinking early in the morning while everyone else in the city was at work.

"Because I disagreed with Master Rimaq on how to run the manufactory from now on," Kyunya replied. He sighed and took up a second tankard now that the first was empty. As he drank, more restrained this time, he looked out the window. Finally, he put down the half-empty drink and sighed. "In truth, I have been antagonizing Rimaq for quite some time now, so I should have been prepared for this. The first grain was in the run-up to the lightning miracle."

"Do we need your life story?" Mallku asked. "We're just trying to recruit someone to help us run a manufactory, we don't need playwrights."

Confused, Alcer looked at Mallku. This Kyunya had been his recommendation, why was he so abrasive all of a sudden? However, when he looked over, he saw the blacksmith wink at him. Maybe this was the strange craftsman's way of helping out. If Alcer were to side with Kyunya against Mallku, it would surely lower his guard and bring them closer to the true story. After all, if they wanted to work together in the future, he had to find out if the young papermaker was reliable.

"No, I want to hear it. Please continue," Alcer thus said.

However, Kyunya was silent for several seconds as he stared at the table again. Finally, he took another big swig from his second tankard, before he continued.

"Did you know that those pamphlets full of lies were printed in our shop?" he finally asked in a low, shaky voice, as if he was confessing to a murder. However, Alcer was just confused.

"What pamphlets?" he asked.

"He is talking about the papers the priests from the north were handing out before the winter solstice," Mallku added, and his sneer revealed what he thought about the priests and their message. "You know the ones, about our king being cursed by the gods because of all the lightning and such."

Right, those hawkers.

Back then, those fake priests had been all over the promenades and bridges of Saniya to sell a fake future to them. Of course, Alcer also wasn't a fan of theirs.

"They were slandering the king, under order of those rebellious lords, who were trying to take the city away from him. And after the great king had done so much for me and Rimaq," Kyunya continued. His hands around the tankard clenched, but he didn't raise the drink. "I didn't want to take the priests' orders, but master just wanted the money and didn't care about anything else. So in the end, we did the dirty work for them. If you have ever been handed a pamphlet slandering our lord, I probably oversaw its printing."

"Wait, I thought you were making paper?" A confused Alcer asked. "You're running a printing press now?"

"The press just provides some additional income," Kyunya explained. "Since we already produce all kinds of paper, it was cheap to just buy a press and make some additional money with it. But there are too many presses in the city these days, so profit margins are low. As a result, it has never been more than a side business for us. Rather, the manufactory is still focused on papermaking as its core business, since profits in that regard have seen a significant increase."

That part didn't surprise Alcer. Even during the war, he had used paper cartridges every day. Though he wasn't too interested in pursuing this line of thought.

"If you were really the ones to make those pamphlets, I'm honestly surprised you're still around," he said instead. "Didn't you guys get arrested for treason after the Lightning Miracle?"

"No. Apparently, we didn't break any existing laws, even though we technically helped the rebels. At least that's what I was told by a judge in the least friendly tone you can imagine." Again, Kyunya sipped his drink after a miserable smile. "Rimaq also claimed that he didn't know what the pamphlets would be used for. He bribed a few people, donated some more money to the crown, and so we mostly got away with it. Though that's also why we had to move our operations to Sillu Island. We lost the trust of Rapra Castle, and it was easier to monitor us here. That was one of the conditions to keep master out of the labor camps."

"And that's only the first grain?" a shocked Alcer asked. If this was only the first problem, then how much worse would things have gotten until Kyunya lost his employ?

"After the start of the war, I wanted to enlist in the army." The papermaker nodded his head and continued his story. "I should have been more steadfast from the start, should have been tougher when denying the priests. Even more, I should have stood up to Rimaq, and threatened to leave if he insisted on taking the order. I know all that." Again, Kyunya drank from the wine. Just when Alcer wanted to console him, he slammed the empty cup onto the table and continued. "I wanted to make up for our previous mistakes, atone for my weakness, so I wanted to help our king win our war for us. I know it's silly, I have no military training. But I thought at least I could do some work behind the front lines. I could carry supplies, or help build things. I'm good with my hands."

"You shouldn't be too hard on yourself. At least you owned up to your faults and tried to correct them. I've seen greater men than you show less bravery in simpler times." Alcer offered some advice together with an understanding smile. Even among the soldiers, he had seen many who felt inadequate in their efforts. "Though I'm guessing your master didn't let you go."

"That's right. Master Rimaq just wanted to keep me around, since I ran a lot of the business by that point. And we also had to relocate our manufactory onto the island, which was something I was responsible for as well. Since Rimaq is my guardian, I would have needed his permission to go to war. Even if I had run away in secret, I would never have been allowed to enlist. So there was nothing I could do. I couldn't go, so I had to stay."