Benno/Story

Benno is first introduced to Myne when his brother-in-law Otto asks him to meet with her and her friend Lutz. Lutz wants to talk to Otto, a former traveling merchant, to learn how to become one himself. Otto brings Benno in hopes of encouraging Lutz to become a conventional merchant instead. When Benno sees Myne, he immediately notices her hairstick and unusually glossy hair. However, when he presses for more information, she intentionally gives only vague answers.

During the meeting, Benno and Mark teach the children about city citizenship. They explain that giving up citizenship to become a traveling merchant is a risky and foolish decision, and encourage Lutz to become a city merchant instead. Myne, who already suspected that this was the case, is glad that Lutz can hear it from someone who has firsthand experience. In the end, Lutz agrees to try to become a city merchant instead.

Myne tells Benno about her plans to make paper out of plants, and he agrees to take both Lutz and Myne as Gilberta Company apprentices if they can develop a working prototype before their baptism. Then, Myne asks Benno and Otto if they’ve heard of about an illness characterized by sudden fevers that occur without warning. Benno starts to suspect that she is be suffering from the Devouring, but he keeps his guess to himself for the time being.

After Myne asks Otto for help acquiring nails for paper-making, Benno is upset that she didn’t ask him first. He calls her and Lutz for a discussion. Myne explains that she thought Benno intended for them to make everything on their own as a test of their resourcefulness. However, Benno explains he wanted to test their abilities as merchants, not craftsmen. He instructs Myne and Lutz to come to him for resources and tools in the future.

During the discussion, Benno also secures the recipe and sales rights for Myne's simple all-in-one shampoo. He offers a contract that guarantees them cut of the profits in addition to their apprentice salaries. However, Myne re-negotiates a deal that gives Benno full rights to the shampoo, but retains the right for her and Lutz to sell plant paper. She wants to be able to produce paper independently if she and Lutz are fired or leave Benno's shop. The deal is then sealed with a magic contract.

While working on the plant paper prototype, Myne collapses due to illness. Benno realizes that she does have the Devouring, and becomes concerned about her frailty. He forbids her from coming to the store on her own and assigns Lutz to manage her health.

When Myne presents Benno with the first plant paper prototype, she also shows him the hair ornament that she had made for her sister Tuuli, and asks him whether it would sell. Benno recognizes it as the ornament that the Guildmaster has been searching for and agrees that it’s a promising product. He takes Lutz and Myne to the Merchant's Guild building to aquire temporary guild registrations, which will allow them to make and sell hair ornaments before they are baptized. Gustav is initially resistant because temporary registrations are usually reserved for the children of merchants. However, he relents when they show him the hair ornament, which he hopes to give to his granddaughter Freida as a baptismal present.

Gustav offers to buy Myne’s sample hair ornament, but she refuses because it belongs to Tuuli. Instead, she agrees to make him a new hair ornament, and Benno negotiates a much higher purchase price. Myne convinces Gustav to ask for Frieda’s input on the design rather than give her one she won't like. He arranges a meeting between Myne and Freida. While Benno is not allowed to join the meeting, Myne is allowed to take Lutz as her escort.

With the temporary registrations secured, Benno teaches the two children about their new Guild Cards. Being registered with the guild will allow Lutz and Myne to make hair ornaments as winter handiwork and sell them to Benno.

After the meeting with Freida, Benno recieves confirmation that Myne’s illness is the Devouring and learns that Frieda has the same condition. He meets with Gustav in secret to negotiate the sale of a magic tool that can extend her life. Gustav says that, in the case of an emergency, he would be willing to sell one of the magic tools reserved for Freida. However, because magic tools are both expensive and rare, he intends to charge a very high price.

In the meantime, Benno attempts to produce Myne’s shampoo recipe in his workshop. When the first batch is a failure, he contacts Myne and asks her to come inspect the process. As they go to the workshop, Benno and Myne settle on a more marketable name for the product: rinsham.

During her inspection, Myne quickly identifies the manufacturing problem. She agrees to sell Benno the information, as well as other suggestions to improve the product. His initial offer is three small golds, the same as the price Gustav set for a magic tool. However, Myne negotiates for a higher price, using Benno’s own lessons against him. Bemused, he agrees to the higher price, reasoning that rinsham will be a worthy investment.

Not long after, Myne collapses from the Devouring with a fever far worse than those she had before. Benno rushes her to Gustav’s house for treatment.

Myne recovers from her fever by using one of Frieda’s magic tools. Benno is infuriated when he hears that Gustav charged her a higher price than the one he quoted before. However, Myne was able to pay the whole sum because she had negotiated for a better deal with Benno for the rinsham information. Gustav, who intended to use the debt to force Myne into joining his company and secure her research for himself, is disappointed at the results. Myne also admits to Benno that she gave Frieda’s head chef Leise a recipe for a new dessert called Pound Cake. However, she did earn some compensation in the form of a bag of rare and expensive sugar.

Later, Benno attends a pound cake taste-testing event organized by Freida. He gets into an argument with Leise, and resolves to open his own restaurant to monopolize Myne's recipies. After discussing the idea with Myne, they make plans to open an Italian restaurant.

Myne's first two products, rinsham and hair ornaments, don't cause significant disruption in the Ehrenfest market, because they align with the Gilberta Company’s core business lines of clothes and beauty products. However, when they begin selling plant paper, the Parchment Guild starts to view them as a threat to their existing business. Benno intends to fight them head-on, but Myne manages to convince him to agree to a compromise. They decide on an agreement that only parchment can be used for official documents, guaranteeing that the Parchment Guild will maintain a share of the market even as cheaper plant paper begins to spread.

As Myne’s baptism approaches, she begins to doubt whether becoming a merchant apprentice is the right choice. Eventually, she decides to turn down the Gilberta Company’s offer of apprenticeship, and Benno instead makes her the forewoman of the Myne Workshop so they can so they can continue doing business together.

After her baptism, Myne explains to Benno that she caught the attention of the church and will be forced into becoming a shrine maiden apprentice against her wishes. He advises her on how to negotiate the situation to her advantage and secure the rank and treatment of a blue shrine maiden. To prevent noble interference and keep Myne connected to the Lower City, Benno tells her to sign a a magic contract giving Lutz exclusive sales rights to the products she invents. The contract also secures Lutz's place at the Gilberta Company, since his connection to Myne will make him indispensible.

Lutz is accepted as an apprentice in the Gilberta Company and given a lehange contract.

After becoming an apprentice blue shrine maiden, Myne walks to Benno's store wearing her temple robes. He and Mark are shocked, and explain to her that wearing high-status clothing in the city could cause her to be kidnapped. Myne then tells them that she told the High Priest that Benno would bring her donation to the temple when convenient. Due to her lack of familiarity with euphemisms used by the nobility, she inadvertently gave the impression that they would come right away. Benno rushes to get dressed, ready a carriage, prepare gifts and the donation money, and hurry to the temple.

During the meeting, the High Priest asks Benno about Myne’s character. He answers truthfully, but tries his best to cast her in as positive a light as possible. .

When Myne is given the position of Orphanage Director, she also recieves new living quarters in the temple with a kitchen and oven. Benno is pleased to have a high-class kitchen where he can train chefs to use an oven and learn noble dining preferences all in one place. Due to the temple’s poor reputation, most chefs are not willing to work there, but Benno eventually manages to hire Hugo as a chef and Ella as his assistant.

Benno tries to get permission from Lutz's parents, Deed and Carla, to allow him to come on a journey to a nearby town. However, they vehemently refuse. Lutz and his parents get into a fight, and he runs away from home. As a temporary solution, Benno rents him a room at the Gilberta Company. However, he tells Myne that he’s also willing to adopt Lutz and upgrade his contract to a that of a leherl. After seeing his dedication and hard work, he believes Lutz would be a worthy successor.

Myne tells the High Priest about the situation. To her surprise, he summons everyone involved to the temple for a discussion, saying that it will be a good learning opportunity for her. Benno, Lutz, and his parents discuss the issue at the temple and realize that the root of the issue was just a failure to communicate properly. Lutz reconciles with his family and they all visit the Merchant's Guild to sign his new leherl contract.

To make sure the design of the Italian Restaurant is suitable for the nobility, Benno consults Myne's attendants Rosina and Fran, who have experience serving nobles. Likewise, they arrange for Myne’s attendants train future waiters at the orphanage director's chambers. Myne proposes an invitation-only system to limit guests, and makes suggestions about how to handle plates and cutlery.

After realizing that the acidic ink used for parchment is too harsh for plant paper, Myne and Benno visit an ink workshop in search of alternatives. However, they learn that there is only one kind of ink on the market. Myne questions the workshop’s foreman and is able to figure out which type of ink is being made, but the foreman becomes suspicous of her. Since they can't buy the ink they need, Myne starts experimenting to make a her own ink out of finely ground soot and linseed oil.

After experimenting with wooden print templates, Myne succeeds in printing her first book, a children's bible. Benno receives one of the books as a thank-you gift for his help. Myne plans to reserve all of the first batch for the children in the orphanage, but she is forced to sell a few of the books to finance the orphanage's winter preparations.

Since the orphanage has no experience in winter preparations, the Gilberta Company and the orphanage work together to save costs and share the workload.

The Gilberta Company recieves the order for Myne's ceremonial robes, which will be made from the high-quality cloth that Benno gifted to the temple. Under Myne's guidance, Corinna hems the robes in a way that they can easily be extended once Myne grows.

The Gilberta Company is summoned by the Commander of the Knight's Order, much to Benno's consternation. They later learn that during a trombe extermination mission, Myne was attacked by a noble and her original robes were damaged beyond repair. Since the robes need to be finished before the Dedication Ritual starts in winter, Benno charges a hefty rush fee.

With the first successful run of printing completed, and the concept proven to be viable, Benno files for the creation of a Printing Guild to facilitate the production and sale of books and other printed goods. Myne also orders parts for a new printing machine called "metal letter types" from the smith Johann.

During the early winter, people associated with the Ink Guild begin to cause trouble around the Gilberta Company. They question people in the Lower City and harass Lutz and other apprentices in an effort to dig up information about Myne. Thanks to Benno’s caution and preemptive efforts to keep Myne hidden, they aren't able to find much information. However, both Benno and the High Priest are alarmed by the increasing aggression. They take steps to keep Myne hidden until the start of winter, at which point she will begin living at the temple, out of reach of unauthorized commoners.

As Benno continues to launch Myne’s new products, manage the Gilberta Company, establish the Printing Guild, and prepare to open the Italian Restaurant, Myne feels he is stretching himself thin by going into too many businesses outside of his expertise. His workload increases further when Aub Ehrenfest announces his plan to spread plant paper production as a government-backed business.

When the Rozemyne Workshop begins to expand its line of products, Benno founds the Plantin Company to exclusively sell printed goods. He leaves the Gilberta Company to Otto and Corinna.

When Prince Anastasius places an order for a new hair ornament through the Gilberta Company, Benno is surprisingly unperturbed by doing business with royalty. He reasons that there is no practical difference between the different echelons of nobility, because even a laynoble from the lowest of duchies has absolute authority over commoners. In other words, failure was never an option to begin with.

Returning home after the meeting, Benno talks to Lutz about the impending nullification of the old magic contracts signed before Myne entered the temple. When Lutz wonders if Rozemyne cares about him anymore, Benno points out that she seemed deeply shaken despite her smile. He worries how her mental health will be affected as more and more connections to her old life are cut off.

The exchange also reminds Benno of the time when his fiancé Liz was afflicted by the Devouring and eventually succumbed to it. He reflects that the memory of her screams of agony will never leave him.

Late during Rozemyne's coma or shortly after her awakening Benno's sister Corinna gives birth to her and Otto's second child. They name the boy Knut.

Spoiler from Part 4 Volume 7 During the summer following Rozemyne's first year at the royal academy, one of the visiting Klassenberg merchants tries to arrange a marriage between his daughter Karin and Benno, which Benno outright refused.

Soon after the merchant departed for his home, Otto invites Benno to a meeting with Gustav, where Benno learns that the merchant had left Karin behind in Ehrenfest and that she apparently didn't know the route her father would take back to Klassenberg, rendering her unable to intercept him and leaving her effectively stranded without funds beyond the value of her personal effects. She nevertheless appears determined to sell off her clothes and accessories to try anyway to return home on her own.

Between Otto's knowledge from his traveling merchant days and Benno having lost his father to bandits outside the security of the city-walls, the two of them are very opposed to her leaving alone. For this reason they arrange for Karin to temporarily work as a lehange at the Plantin Company until the next summer, when her father is due to return.

Benno is taking care not to leak any valuable information to her, to make sure she can't pass anything important on to outside of Ehrenfest. If that ever happened it might even be necessary to take responsibility by marrying her, to make sure the information remains in the family. This has led the two to be in a more or less constant battle of wits, with Karin desperately trying to gather information to force Benno into a marriage and Benno equally desperately trying to keep her in the dark.

Though Benno tells Otto in the worst case he would even be willing to eliminate Karin and told him to pass this information on to Rozemyne and the archduke.

Spoiler from Part 4 Volume 8 In a meeting before the spring book fair at the castle Benno hammers out the details of sales for books from other Ehrenfest provinces with Count Groschel and Count Haldenzel under Rozemyne's supervision and is also informed that Aub Ehrenfest intends to sell story-books to other duchies soon. He also reports the current situation with his temporary Klassenberg lehange Karin and begrudingly admits that she is an excellent merchant and that he will incorporate many of her ideas in his own store in the future.

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