206 - Aurelia's Legacy
"Still, it really is well made."
"What I can make is still only really simple patterns, deshu kedo ne."
Since Alf said he wanted to see it, I held out the ribbon that would someday become Mirshe's. Alf, who knew Aurelia's lace, seemed to find it strange that I was really starting to be able to make bobbin lace. I could still only make ribbons with simple patterns, but I had Salisa bring over the lace that Kalisa had sent recently, saying that at the Mandez Residence they had begun making various things like coasters and detachable collars. The coasters used thread of not very high quality, meant for everyday use, but the detachable collar used good thread so it could match my going-out clothes.
"I think the things made at the Mandez Residence could sell well enough, deshu ga..."
I also told Alf about what I had been thinking recently, that they were not suitable as merchandise. Even with my insufficient head, no good ideas had come to me, but I thought Alf might lend me some good wisdom. About how to distribute bobbin lace as a general commercial product.
"In the first place, things like ribbons themselves are luxury goods, so I think there is no problem even if the price is high."
I had been worried that in the end it would become a price ordinary people could not reach, but Alf taught me that since they were luxury goods to begin with, there was no need to worry about the price. Not just lace, but even ribbons were luxury goods, and if one pursued it further, even hair ornaments were luxury goods.
"Ribbons are luxury goods, deshu ka? But..."
In my previous life there were some that cost a decent amount, but cheap ones could be bought for as little as a hundred yen. Things that even I, a commoner in my previous life, could easily buy were hard to think of as luxury goods.
When I tilted my head, unable to be convinced, Alf lowered his voice so Mirshe would not hear and pointed out, "You are not judging the price of ribbons based on your previous memories, are you?" What Alf called 'previous memories' meant 'memories of my previous life.' He had lowered his voice, but probably deliberately obscured it so that even if Mirshe accidentally heard, it would be fine.
"Now that you mention it, that might be so, deshu ne."
If one thought of something cheap for tying up hair, in my previous life rubber bands were mainstream. With a hundred yen you could get enough length that you would not need to buy new rubber bands for several years. The same went for lace. In this life, it took so much time and effort that you could finally make a single ribbon after days of hand-weaving, but in my previous life, incredibly intricate lace made by machines was instead sold cheaply. The idea that things would not sell unless they were cheap enough was ingrained in my head.
But once it was pointed out that ribbons were luxury goods to begin with, there was no need to forcefully keep the price down.
I had only started having ribbons tied in my hair after Leonardo took me in. Before that, I either tied it with string or did not do anything at all. I had a ribbon tied for the first time at Aurelia's house, but Aurelia made her ribbons herself, and although she sequestered herself in Waiyakku Valley, she had enough savings to procure good thread. Leonardo also readily bought and gave me similar ribbons that differed only slightly in design, but he was a highly-paid fortress lord.
I think my sense had gone numb.
Because of my memories of cheapness in my previous life, and because my guardian bought and gave them to me without hesitation, the idea that hair ornaments themselves were luxury goods never occurred to me at all. Once I realized my perception was off, one thing after another came to mind.
Elke and Petrona were from good families too, after all.
I had seen both of them wearing ribbons, but Mirshe and the other girls in the classroom were not wearing ribbons at all. It was either tying their hair with string or keeping it short, those two options.
This is not Japan, where things overflowed, so I do not need to think about low-profit high-volume sales, huh.
If bobbin lace making was in the realm of hobby, then the buyers would also be in the realm of taste for luxury goods. Whether it was the nature of Japanese people with their otaku tendencies, or that no one grudged money for hobbies and tastes, I was able to accept it smoothly.
"The merchant (Petrona) showed interest, did she not? If so, she must have sensed that it could work as a business."
It was fine to teach the weaving method to a friend, but if you planned to make it a business, you should charge tuition, Alf continued. Rather than scattering the technique for free, you should profit from it.
"Why, deshu ka? Originally it was a weaving method Aurelia-san taught me out of goodwill, you know?"
"Because the technique that Aurelia brought has value."
Lace knitting had existed before, but lace weaving was something Aurelia had brought. Cursed as a useless reincarnator, and in her later years living as a wise woman sequestered in Waiyakku Valley, this was the only thing Aurelia brought to and left behind in this world. Perhaps Alf did not want to lose even a single thing that Aurelia had left.
"If you are going to teach someone, please teach them properly. People tend to misjudge the value of things they get for free and let them go in one ear and out the other."
If you charged tuition to teach, the learners would also put their hearts into the lessons because they were paying a cost. Bobbin lace was not a skill that could be mastered by hearing an explanation once or twice. Kalisa, who was good at calculations and memorizing things from the start, was special. I thought it was more normal to practice the basic weaving methods over and over like me. Rather than giving the same explanation for free many times, it should be less trouble in the end to charge money and make the listeners take it seriously.
"Also, I think this lace weaving is Aurelia's legacy to Tina."
"I received several patterns and pieces of lace as keepsakes, deshu kedo, the bobbin lace weaving method itself was Aurelia-san's legacy, deshu ne."
Feeling fond, I stroked the lace ribbon with my finger. It was a clumsy self-made lace, but thinking of it as Aurelia's legacy made me faintly proud. Saint Yuuta Hiraga's secret arts had mostly been lost with Aurelia's death, but the bobbin lace technique that Aurelia had possessed since she was born could be passed on to me and Kalisa.
Aurelia was cast out from her family's circle in this life as a heretic, but she was able to leave herself behind in this world.
Since this is the part I could not finish writing yesterday, it is short today. And like this, the number of chapters keeps increasing from the planned count orz.