Myne/Story

After being crushed by her book collection during an earthquake, recent college graduate Urano Motosu wakes up in the body of Myne, a five-year-old girl who is suffering from a life-threatening fever. Their two sets of memories combine, and Urano begins her life in a new and unfamiliar world as Myne.

Myne soon learns that she is the sickly daughter of a commoner soldier in Ehrenfest, a city with a strict class structure and medieval-era technology. Her family — comprising her father, her mother, and her older sister — lives in a dirty townhouse without plumbing. Most distressingly, there seem to be no books at all.

Her new family is mostly illiterate, and the only writing in the entire lower city is the numerals used to list prices at the market. While she eventually discovers that writing, parchment and ink do exist, all books are handwritten and prohibitively expensive. Undeterred, Myne resolves that if there are no books, "I'll make them myself!"

When Myne and her sister Tuuli visit their father Gunther at the city gate, she meets his fellow soldier Otto, a former merchant who can read and write. She also learns that her father is actually somewhat literate, though he's not very good at reading and writing.

Myne is eager to learn from Otto, and on subsequent visits to the gate, he gives her a stone slate and shows her how to write her own name. She volunteers to help Otto manage his paperwork and accounting, using the math skills she developed in her Urano days. In exchange, he teaches her to read and write, and gives her a steady supply of slate pens.

Determined to make her life as a commoner slightly easier, Myne uses her knowledge from Earth to reinvent a variety of basic products and recipes, including homemade shampoo, a hairpin, salted candles, and broth.

Because parchment and ink are far too expensive, Myne resolves to make her own paper substitute. She practices strengthening her frail body to be able to go to the forest outside the city. There — together with her friend and neighbor Lutz — she collects materials and tries to make a variety of writing materials, including clay tablets, wood strips, and papyrus. However, all attempts end in failure.

Lutz, who wants to become a traveling merchant, asks Myne to introduce him to Otto as a personal favor. At the meeting, Otto brings along his brother-in-law Benno, the owner of the Gilberta Company in Ehrenfest. They discourage Lutz from becoming a traveling merchant and suggest he become a city merchant instead.

During the conversation, Benno's attention is caught by Myne's hairstick and glossy hair, as well as her plans to make plant paper. He tells her and Lutz that if they can make a working prototype of the paper before their baptism, he will take them on as apprentice merchants.

Determined to finish her prototype and secure an apprenticeship with Benno, Myne and Lutz begin trying to make paper using the washi technique. To her chagrin, she soon realizes that she doesn't even have the materials to make the tools she needs to make paper. To secure some basic supplies, she makes a deal with Otto to exchange nails for the simple all-in-one-shampoo for his wife Corinna.

When Benno hears about the deal, he summons Myne and Lutz to a meeting where he explains that he'll cover all expenses for their paper-making in exchange for buying the sales rights to her shampoo. They also settle on the ownership and profit of any paper produced using Myne's method. The deal is sealed with contract magic.

Lutz is assigned to look after Myne's help and prevent her from collapsing. However, as they work together to make paper, he becomes suspicious of her strange behavior and too-mature outlook for her age. He eventually confronts her, asking if she really is the old "Myne" he knew.

Although she fears losing his friendship, she tells him the truth about her circumstances. She explains that even if she could return Myne's body to her, the original Myne is most likely dead. Eventually, Lutz realizes that the "new" Myne is still the one he shares his memories with and made friends with, and accepts her for who she is.

Benno takes Lutz and Myne to the Merchant's Guild to get guild cards, which will allow them to do business and sell products before being baptized. To secure the approval of the Guildmaster, Myne agrees to make and sell decorative hairpins for his granddaughter Freida's baptism outfit.

When they meet to discuss the hair ornaments, Freida guesses that Myne's illness is actually the Devouring, the same illness she herself has. Although the illness is usually deadly, the Guildmaster was able to cure her symptoms by buying expensive magic tools from nobles. In the long term, Freida plans to stay alive by signing a contract with a noble and becoming a mistress as soon as she turns 15 and comes of age.

As Lutz and Myne prepare for their upcoming apprenticeship, they begin to learn merchant's etiquette, wear nicer clothing, and improve their reading and math skills. Myne also learns how to negotiate business deals from Benno, and successfully haggles with him to charge more in exchange for information on how to produce rinsham. They also begin researching a new kind of paper made from trombe.

However, Myne's Devouring continues to worsen, and it becomes clear that she will not survive much longer. Despite Lutz's efforts to prevent her from overexerting herself, she eventually collapses during a visit to Benno. They rush her to the home of the Guildmaster, who still has some magic tools that can save her life.

After the Guildmaster and Freida sell a magic tool to Myne to save her life, Myne spends time in their home recovering until Freida's baptism. She is able to use the money she earned by selling products to Benno to cover the cost of the magic tool. The Guildmaster, who wanted to use her debt to make her his apprentice, is disappointed.

Myne returns home to be with her family. Over the winter, they prepare for her baptism by adjusting Tuuli's old dress and making her a fancy flower hair ornament.

Faced with the increasing likelihoood that she will die within a year, Myne chooses not to pursue an apprenticeship at the Gilberta Company after all. After discussing her options with her family, she decides she would rather accept an early death in the lower city than sign a contract with a noble that would force her to leave her family. Instead, she will continue to work as Otto's assistant as long as her health holds out.

When spring comes, Myne and Lutz return to paper-making after discussing Myne's future with Benno. Their ventures in paper upset the Parchment Guild. While Benno is eager to take them on directly, Myne advises him to compromise. The result is Benno making a Plant Paper Guild and agreeing that only parchment can be used for official contracts.

Benno accompanies Lutz and Myne on a paper-making trip in order to discover what is needed to set up a workshop. Afterwards, they start preparing for Lutz's apprenticeship by buying new clothes and ink. He also rents a room among the live-in apprentices to store his new things. Later, Myne sells Freida a contract for the pound cake. She also learns the starting price for normal contract rights, and realizes that she's been underselling her products to Benno.

When Myne and Lutz's baptism arrives, Myne enters the temple for the first time. After registering for citizenship, she is excited when the High Bishop reads them passages about the gods from a large book of scriptures. Then, he starts to pray in a posture reminiscent of the Glico pose from Japan. Myne bites back her laughter, but eventually collapses from it and is taken to a different room to recover.

Upon recovery, she leaves the room to look for the bathroom and discovers the temple book room instead. Immediately, she begs to be allowed to join the temple as an apprentice shrine maiden to get her hands on books, and is taken to meet the High Bishop. Mistakenly believing her to be a girl from a wealthy family, he encourages her to ask her parents for permission.

Myne's family is horrified when she asks to become a shrine maiden, explaining that the only commoners who join the temple are unwanted orphans. She eventually agrees to give up on her plans, and returns to the temple to give her refusal to the High Bishop.

When she arrives, she meets the High Priest, who reads to her out of the temple scriptures. When she explains that she has the Devouring, however, the High Bishop and High Priest realize that her mana will be extremely valuable to them and insist that she bring her parents to the temple for a discussion.

Benno realizes that she will almost certainly be forced to join the temple, and begins setting up failsafes to help her negotiate for better treatment. He has her register the Myne Workshop and uses a magic contract to secure her access to Lutz. He then instructs her what conditions shse should negotiate for, including treatment as a blue shrine maiden rather than a gray shrine maiden.

When the High Bishop realizes that Myne is actually a poor commoner and not a rich merchant's daughter, he drops his kindly act, ignores her demands, and arrogantly demands that her parents give her up to become a gray shrine maiden. When he tries to take her by force, her parents fight back and he threatens to execute them. Myne is outraged and loses control of her mana, nearly killing the High Bishop. The High Priest steps in and persuades her to spare his life. He then apologizes for her earlier treatment, praises her family's loyalty, and accepts all her conditions for joining the temple as an apprentice blue shrine maiden.

After a month of preparation, Myne begins her apprenticeship as a blue shrine maiden at the temple. Once the fealty ceremony is over, she is assigned three attendants: Fran, a former attendant of the High Priest, Delia and Gil. The High Bishop, who still holds a grudge against Myne, chose Delia to act as his spy, and Gil, a troublemaker, to cause her as much trouble as possible.

Myne is eager to head to head to the book room as soon as possible, and, once there, she refuses to stop for lunch and reads for the entire day. After Lutz arrives to pick her up, Myne heads to Benno so that he can help her take her donation to the temple. Upon her arrival, she sees how much effort Lutz is putting into his merchant apprenticeship, and she resolves to take her own duties more seriously.

During Benno's meeting with the High Priest, Myne works harder to use formal manners and speech, and Fran feels much more comfortable helping her as an attendant. Near the end of the meeting, Myne collapses due to having donated mana and skipped lunch. Worried, Benno picks her up and rushes her out of the temple to rest.

When she returns to the temple with Lutz, Gil lashes out at her in anger for not providing him with food or accommodations as her attendant. Myne stumbles and falls over, causing Lutz to tackle Gil on her behalf. Fran breaks up the fight, saying that fighting is forbidden in the temple and explaining why Gil is upset with Myne. In the end, she decides to uphold her duties as his master if he does the work expected of him as an attendant.

After Myne scandalizes the High Priest by changing into her blue robes in his office, she is assigned the orphanage director's chambers to use as her living quarters during the day. She assigns Gil to clean up as a test of his willingness to work, and he proves his dedication by doing a thorough job.

Myne gives Fran and Gil clothing to wear in the lower city, and the attendants realize how different life is outside the temple. Both sides gain a greater appreciation for how difficult it is to adapt, and Gil begins to respect Myne as his master.

As the orphanage director's chambers have a kitchen, Benno uses the opportunity to train cooks for his planned Italian Restaurant. Delia begins to do her work as well.

After some time, Myne discovers the horrifying conditions of the orphanage. Driven by her own conscience and Gil's pleas for her to intervene, she goes to the High Priest for help. He initially turns her down, pointing out that she has no clear plan to help the orphans in the long run.

She works with Lutz to develop a more effective plan: Setting up a paper-making workshop in the orphanage that can fund food, supplies and education for the children. After a secret talk with the High Priest in his hidden room, he approves her plan and officially assigns her to the position of orphanage director. The orphanage is cleaned, and Myne provides the orphans with food and rewards for their hard work.

Myne invents the diptych and meets with Johann the smith to create a stylus for it. In addition, she orders boards to make a karuta set.

She secures permission to hold a Star Festival for the orphanage and they go out to collect taue fruit. She discovers that taue turn into trombe when they absorb mana, and decides to create some trombe to make more valuable paper. Howver, the fast-growing plants damage the white tiles of the temple. Afterward, the High Priest punishes Myne by placing her in the repentance chamber, but is dismayed when she falls ill and develops a fever.

Lutz runs away from home when his family continues to reject his dreams of becoming a merchant, and Benno considers trying to adopt him. When Myne discusses the situation with the High Priest, he tells her that it's possible to permit an adoption through the orphanage. He sends a letter of invitation to Lutz's family and Benno to discuss the matter at the temple.

Thanks to his mediation, the family resolves their misunderstandings and Lutz decides to return home. Myne bursts into tears of relief. When the High Priest offers her his handkerchief, Myne notices the embroidery on it and learns his name (Ferdinand) for the first time.

Effa, Myne's mother, becomes pregnant. Thrilled at the thought of becoming an older sister, Myne resolves to make picture books for the new baby. She enlists the help of Wilma, an artist in the orphanage and eventually hires her as an attendant. She also assigns her to be the caretaker of the orphans.

The High Priest thinks her musical education should take priority over art, since nobles and blue priests are expected to be able to play harspiel. He assigns Rosina, a gifted musician, to be her attendant. However, Rosina previously served the art-loving blue shrine maiden Sister Christine, who allowed her to focus only on harspiel without handling any manual labor. Her seeming laziness causes friction between her and the other attendants.

Myne discusses the situation with Wilma, who also served Sister Christine, and eventually is able to help Rosina understand that her expectations are different from those of her previous mistress.

The preparations for the Italian Restaurant continue with interior decoration, Myne takes Rosina and Fran with her in order to get their opinions on noble culture. She also helps Benno plan the details of the restaurant, including an invitation-only system, menus, and waiters. She is forbidden to use the gray-robed priests as waiters, but is allowed to have her attendants help train the restaurant staff.

Myne visits an ink shop, but realizes that they don't sell the right kind of ink for her purposes. She decides to make her own as soon as she can gather the materials.

After she recovers from a fever, she makes her first batch of ink for her picture book. As Wilma can only draw religious art, they decide to make it an illustrated children's bible. She initially tries woodblock printing, which turns out to not be precise enough for her needs.

Myne acquires a precision knife from Johann and begins attempting to use stencils for mimeograph printing. Wilma also refines her art into a simpler style that is more feasible for printing. Finally, after many more illustrations, and a binding session, the first picture book is completed.

Right before the Harvest Festival, a blue priest attempts to harrass Myne by causing a mess in the temple book room. She is initially dismayed, but soon cheers up when she realizes she can invent her own library classification system to rearrange the books.

Myne also begins to hand out the picture books to her attendants so that they might learn how to read. After giving a picture book to Benno and getting fitted for her ceremonial clothes, she considers the next story to print. However, when the High Priest learns about her success in printing, he soon realizes that it will have have a critical implications for politics and history.

Myne discusses winter preparations with him and learns that she would have to stay in the temple during winter for the Dedication Ritual, complicating her preparations immensely.

Due to having little money, she is forced to consider selling some books. Lutz ends up buying her winter clothes. While everyone else is away on the Harvest Festival, Myne makes hide glue. Winter Preparations finally come to completion and Myne's ceremonial clothes are complete.

The Knight's Order calls for assistance exterminating a trombe. As a blue shrine maiden, Myne is required to help fill the land with mana again after the feyplant is defeated.

After accidentally giving a blessing to the knights, Myne is warned to stay out of the way and is assigned two guards: Damuel and Shikikoza. However, Shikikoza resents her for being a commoner and threatens her with a knife, while Damuel, a lower-status noble, is unable to stop him. She ends up getting hurt, and her blood causes a second trombe to appear and grow around her.

The High Priest heals her wound with his mana, but he loses his blessed weapon in the process and is forced to wait for the Knight's Order to rescue her. Once she is safe, Myne takes a recovery potion and then astonishes the knights by performing a powerful healing ritual.

Afterward, Myne requests new ceremonial robes as recompense and tells the Knight Commander, Karstedt, that Damuel had tried to help her in an effort to lessen his punishment.

After Myne returns home and recovers from her fever, the High Priest uses a potion and a magic tool to peer into her memories. He is suspicious of her strange inventions and products, and he wants to ensure that she is not a threat to Ehrenfest.

She happily takes him on a tour of her memories, showing him libraries, bookstores, shops, her old school, and even her home. As she grows nostalgic for her old life and feels sorrow at losing her family, the High Priest becomes overwhelmed by her emotions and breaks the connection. When Myne wakes up, she sees him visibly distressed and gives him a hug to help him calm down.

Myne and Benno decide to start a Printing Guild, and she also sells one of her new picture books to Freida. On the way out of the Merchant's Guild's office, she encounters Johann, who asks her to become his patron. She eventually accepts with Benno as her cosigner, and assigns Johann to make movable letter types as his introductory project.

Her homemade ink begins attracting attention from the Ink Guild, and guild representatives visit to purchase it from her with a magic contract. When it emerges that the Ink Guild has been asking questions about Myne and even pressuring the Gilberta Company apprentices for information, Benno and Ferdinand agree that it will be better for her to move to the temple for the winter sooner than originally planned.

Over the winter, she organizes a temple school to teach the orphans reading, writing, and mathematics. She also finishes making playing cards and Reversi.

When Benno delivers the remade ceremonial clothes, he meets with the High Priest to exchange information.

Afterward, the High Priest, Karstedt, and Damuel use a sound-blocking magic tool to discuss the aftermath of the trombe incident. Damuel was demoted and assigned as Myne's guard and Shikikoza was executed. The High Priest also tells Myne that she will need to be adopted by Karstedt and join the nobility to ensure her survival.

Myne is deeply upset at the prospect of being separated from her family and loses control of her mana. When she recovers in Ferdinand's hidden room, he agrees to let her postpone the adoption for a few years. However, he insists that she must be adopted by age 10, which is when noble children enter the Royal Academy.

Winter life progresses and parue season arrives, as does the Dedication Ritual. Because Myne and the High Priest have more mana than the other blue priests, they do the ritual separately.

With Rosina coming of age, Myne wants to make her a present. She asks the High Priest to arrange the songs that she remembers from her time as Urano and gives them to Rosina, who is delighted.

When Johann completes the movable letter types, Myne is exceedingly pleased with his work and awards him the honorary title of Gutenberg. She then collapses due to overexcitement.

Wolf is discovered dead, and due to the increasing danger of being attacked or kidnapped by nobles, Myne is ordered to stay in the temple until the end of Spring Prayer. Myne's parents are informed of her proposed adoption by the age of ten, and Effa accepts.

Myne memorizes her ceremonial prayers for the upcoming Spring Prayer. Before they are due to depart, the High Priest informs her that they will travel by highbeast and will be accompanied by a blue priest named Sylvester.

During Spring Prayer, they visit farming villages to bless the land and distribute the chalices that they filled with mana during the winter. Myne struggles to adjust to the expectations of noble culture, and is surprised by the skill both Sylvester and Karstedt demonstrate in harspiel and sword dancing.

On their way to Leisegang from Gerlach, the carriages are ambushed. Myne casts a barrier by praying to Schutzaria. While Sylvester, Damuel, and Karstedt head out to deal with the attackers, she stays behind with Ferdinand and prays for a blessing from Angriffe. However, Karstedt wasn't expecting the blessing and ends up accidentally destroying his opponents instead of capturing them. She falls ill after the battle, and the High Priest scolds her for letting her mana overflow.

Upon returning to the temple, Sylvester decides to tour the orphanage and visit the lower city forest with the orphans. He is startled by the education level of the orphans and both he and the High Priest are impressed with the newly constructed printing press.

After Sylvester returns from the lower city forest, he gives Myne a necklace with a black stone for her protection. He warns her that if she is ever in a dangerous situation, she should mark it with her blood, and he'll come to her aid.

The High Priest discusses the implications of the printing with Myne and warns her that it is too dangerous to print sizable books while she is still a commoner. He tells her that she can only print picture books and children's books until she is adopted by Karstedt and has the backing of the nobility herself.

Myne returns home just in time to witness the birth of of her baby brother, Kamil.

Myne stays home with her family and does her best to help Effa recover from the birth and care for Kamil. When she returns to the temple, she learns that a new baby has been dropped off at the orphanage and, because there are very few gray shrine maidens, no one knows how to handle it. Myne decides to entrust Delia with his care, asking her to care for him like an older sisters. She immediately forms a bond with the baby and decides to name him Dirk.

Before long, Myne discovers that Dirk has the Devouring. The High Priest checks his mana and estimates that he is around the level of the average mednoble child. At Myne's request, he agrees to look for a way to get Dirk safely adopted as a noble.

Myne meets with the new head of the Ink Guild, Bierce, who asks for Benno's assistance with selling the ink, as Wolf was the only one among them with contact with the nobility. Myne agrees to help them convince Benno in exchange for help designing colored ink. Heidi, Bierce's daughter jumps at the chance. They depart for Heidi's shop to begin research. Upon their success, Myne awards them the title of Gutenberg.

Myne wants to improve mimeograph printing, so she heads to a wax workshop for wax and Johann's place for tools.

Myne makes a few baby toys for Kamil and Dirk and delivers them to the orphanage. Delia is persuaded to visit to see Dirk, but leaves quickly due to her traumatic memories of living there. On the way back, she hears from Arno that the High Priest's attempt to find an adoptive parent for Dirk was unsuccessful, and Delia is furious that he seems to be trying to separate her family. However, Myne explains the situation and calms her down.

After visiting Johann's shop to make bells for another child's toy for Kamil, Damuel sees a red alarm beacon. He brings Myne home and then heads off to meet the Knight's Order. Myne makes Kamil a small white rabbit with bells while grounded at home, and later learns that noble had attempted to enter the City of Ehrenfest without a permit.

When Myne returns to the temple, she finds that Delia abandoned her for the High Bishop and took Dirk with her. She admits her actions cheerfully, saying that Dirk was adopted by a noble from an outside duchy. Myne is unhappy with the situation, but acknowledges that it is out of her hands. She hires Monika and Nicola as Delia's replacements.

Tuuli comes to pick up Myne from the temple, although Myne scolds her that her presence will make it harder for Damuel to focus on protecting her if something happens.

On the way back, they meet Otto, who tells them that a noble carriage has just been let through the city gates. Shortly thereafter, the group is attacked by Devouring soldiers. Gunther, Myne and Tuuli's father, arrives in time to help fight. Eventually, Myne uses her mana to help fight off the soldiers and free Tuuli. She also presses her blood against the black necklace that Sylvester gave her, reasoning that it is a real emergency.

The High Priest is absent when they return to the temple, and they try to go to his rooms in an attempt to stay safe. However, they encounter Count Bindewald and the High Bishop just outside his door.

It is revealed that Dirk was not adopted, but forced into a submission contract, and that Bindewald intends to force Myne into one too. He begins attacking her, and Myne is forced to use her mana and a ring taken from a Devouring soldier to block the attacks.

Using Dirk as a hostage, the High Bishop tries to distract her while his attendant Jenni sneaks up on her to grab her. Gunther kicks her away, but is then attacked with mana. Myne loses control of her emotions and Crushes them. They use a black feystone to absorb the force of her mana, but are shocked when it crumbles away into powder after being saturated with mana. Injuries assemble on both sides, leaving only Myne and the count unharmed.

The High Priest opens the door from his room and is shocked and dismayed at the ongoing battle. He tells Myne heavily that he is powerless to defend her since she a commoner who attacked a noble; however, when he sees the black necklace given to her by Sylvester, he realizes that there is still hope.

The High Priest gives her a ring to use mana and tells her to make a shield. She gathers her allies and people who do not wish her harm, such as Dirk and Delia, behind a shield of Schutzaria. The High Priest draws his schtappe and subdues Bindewald with a single all-out blast of mana, just as Sylvester arrives at the scene.

It is revealed that Sylvester is actually Aub Ehrenfest, and that the black necklace Myne had signed with her blood was an adoption contract, making her the adopted daughter of the archduke.

Myne explains what happened and asks that Delia be spared from punishment, since she was misled by the High Bishop. Eventually, they agree that Delia will be placed under house arrest in the temple orphanage, but that she will be able to continue living as a family with her brother Dirk.

Sylvester, the High Priest, and Karstedt meet with Myne and her family. For her safety, she now must join the nobility sooner than originally planned. She will also have to break ties with her lower city family, fake her death as Myne, and take on the new persona and background of Karstedt's daughter.

Myne says her final goodbyes to her family. Overwhelmed by emotion, she gives them a final blessing that invokes the names of all the gods. To the shock of all present, the blessing scatters not only on her family in the room, but also to Lutz, Benno and even Damuel all around the city.

Finally, she and her family sign the magic contract and swear to no longer treat each other as family, and Myne becomes Rozemyne.

See Rozemyne/Story

< Myne