kscans

Chapter 111 - Various Stories of Paper ~The Paper Situation in Another World~ - 2. At the Bookstore (Part 1)

After finishing his order at the general store, Helman glanced over at Yuri, who understood the signal and finished his browsing to leave the shop. He was probably already in the carriage. Helman recalled his exchange with his master that morning.

"What? I am to take Yuri-sama to a general store and a bookstore, you say?" "That’s right. I’m sure you’ve noticed as well, but that boy is somehow lacking in what you might call social common sense. No, he is far too lacking." "Well…" "I hear that since he was old enough to remember, he lived alone with his grandfather, and after his grandfather’s death, he secluded himself in an abandoned village on Salt-Sour Mountain… but even taking that into consideration, for his perception of the current situation to be so skewed, one has to suspect that he has some kind of personal defect." "I believe that is going too far… but emotionally, I support you, master." "Right? I mean, this is a child who treats Thrustboars and Greed Wolves as pests, and Monocorn Bears and Gambit Grizzlies as potion ingredients. Well, the Adventurer’s Guild can worry about that part." "Frankly, I feel a little sorry for them. A mere child who isn’t even an adventurer is subjugating B-rank magical beasts." "That aside, from our perspective as merchants, we absolutely must have the writing instrument and paper he uses. But before that, he must be made to realize that the tools he is using are far removed from the general standards of the world." "...It would be a major incident if he were to distribute them with his usual attitude." "Exactly. Fortunately, he himself asked about paper and writing implements. I think we should take this opportunity to have him learn the standards of the common paper and pens that are in circulation."

Recalling this exchange from time to time, Helman answered Yuri’s questions. As they did so, the carriage approached their destination, the bookstore.

"So paper is sold along with books."

Helman felt a sense of suspicion at Yuri asking something that would be common knowledge to anyone in this country, but on second thought, this boy was a recluse who had been cooped up alone on Salt-Sour Mountain of all places. It might be better to treat him as if he were a foreigner. With that in mind, Helman explained the situation, breaking it down for him… In essence, it was this.

First, in this world, letterpress printing was not yet widespread, and probably had not even been invented, so the demand for and circulation of books was not large. Consequently, paper was still positioned as a luxury item and had not become a daily commodity. The main use for paper, which was not a daily item, was for records, followed by manuscripts. So, why was such paper sold at bookstores?

First, as for paper for records, in this world, or at least in this country, what was used for diaries and memoranda were all thick, leather-bound "diaries" that looked for all the world like hardcover books. Since they were identical in format to ordinary books, just without any writing, it was not strange for a bookstore to handle them. Next, as for paper for manuscripts, in this world where letterpress printing was not widespread, books were fundamentally handwritten or copied. Sometimes they were copied into pre-bound "diary" like items, but it was also not uncommon for things written on paper to be bound later. For such cases, unbound paper itself was also kept in bookstores. Other cases included paper for contracts and the like. Parchment was used for official state documents, but with parchment, it was possible to make corrections by scraping off mistakes, which, in other words, meant that the content could be altered. To avoid this, there was a growing trend to replace parchment with paper for business contracts. In the case of paper, if one tried to erase the ink, traces of the erasure would remain, making alteration difficult. Incidentally, things like correction fluid or ink erasers did not exist. Such contract paper was also handled by bookstores, apparently for the reason that there was no other suitable store.

"...I see, I understand perfectly now."

"I seem to have been rather long-winded. My apologies."

"No, you’ve been a great help in teaching me various things."

"Well then, as we have just arrived, shall we enter the store?"