Myne
She would curse Shuu if she didn't miss him so much. Of course his wish that she reincarnated to a place without any books would come true. But that was simply unacceptable. She needed books and she would get them.
Eventually.
She just needed to remember how to make plant based paper, ink, and a printing press first.
And her new body was only five years old, and not very healthy. In fact she was tiny for her age, and barely looked three.
Fortunately for her tiny tiny body and non-existent health, there was Lutz. He was her arms and legs, and with the way he ate, possibly her stomach too.
She plied him with cheap, easy to make foods and he built whatever she asked for. At the side of the river she told him her dream to live a life surrounded by books. He told her he wanted to travel, and that to do it he was going to become a traveling merchant. Talking to her father's co-worker Otto quickly told her that his dream was ill-advised, but wanting to support her best and only friend she arranged an introduction.
Otto’s brother-in-law was an up and coming merchant, smart, and ambitious. They met with him in the plaza on the north side of town. Before the meeting ended both she and Lutz had a conditional deal to become Benno’s apprentices.
But first they had to prove they could make the product she promised.
It was hard work. A lot of trial and error. Myne's memory was full of story fragments and thousands of unrelated facts, filtering through her memories to find the bits and pieces that would actually be useful in her new life wasn't always easy.
While her biggest priority was the paper prototype, Myne proved her worth to the ambitious young merchant Benno by selling multiple other products, whether to him or through him.
Then they delivered on the real money maker.
Crisp, clean, and white the trombe paper was so perfect Myne nearly cried when they produced the first sheet. The volrin paper was also good, but not as pretty. But it was enough, Benno agreed to take Lutz on as an apprentice once he was baptized. The deal with Myne however was a little different, with her poor health she wouldn't be able to work for Benno in the typical sense, but something Myne said while talking to herself resulted in the creation of the product development branch of the Gilberta company of which Myne would be the only employee.
They couldn't fully become apprentices until they were baptized, but their temporary guild licenses allowed them to work with Benno for the time being. The plan was to spend the time until her baptism perfecting the paper production process.
Benno had explained that the paper would start off as a high priced luxury product, much to Myne's annoyance, and as such would mostly be sold to nobles and prosperous merchants. People like that had high standards and low patience. To satisfy the customers they would have to be prepared.
By the time Myne was ten they had streamlined the process and identified a few more plants that made good paper. Benno was able to acquire wood samples from all over Ehrenfest resulting in a dozen paper types. The trombe paper was still the best and hardest to get material for, but they had built up a reasonable stock of it.
When the time finally came for her baptism, Myne wore her sister's dress that had been adjusted for her much smaller frame by her mother, Effa. The result was delightfully fancy looking, she looked like a rich merchant's daughter. She had gotten relatively healthy. While she still lost consciousness occasionally, she had learned that she could pass some of her fever into taue fruits, which then turned into trombe. Unfortunately she was never able to fully empty the box of heat inside of her but the fruits were enough to make it possible to always keep a lid on the box. And had the added benefit of being paper material. She was worried though, from what Benno told her it was unlikely to be a permanent solution. He didn't know much about the devouring, but what little knowledge he had he shared with her.
Tuuli put the flower hairpin she had made for her sister into her hair. Myne looked like a beautiful and rich seven year old instead of the sickly and poor ten year old she actually was. Her father walked to the church with her in his arms before turning her over to Lutz’s care.
Once on the church grounds they got in line like the other children. When they reached the front of the line a beautiful man with a stern face took Lutz's hand. With efficient movements and without ever fully looking up, he took Lutz’s name, pricked his finger and pressed it to a small card. Myne moved closer to the table. As she did, the priest's head shot up, he searched around as if suddenly scenting something before his eyes fell on Myne.
“One moment child. Stand here” He said, signaling to a palace behind him. Myne wondered what the man could want from her, but did as she was told nonetheless. Lutz followed her and refused to leave her side. They huddled close together and watched as the priest took the next child in line.
It felt longer than it actually took for the lines to finish. Once the final child passed through the door the priests that manned the other tables followed them. Meanwhile the blue haired man led Myne and Lutz through a side door into what appeared to be a waiting room.
“Stay here.” Before she knew what had happened, her and Lutz were alone in the well appointed room. They whispered to each other, both of them confused, frantically trying to come up with a theory of why they had been pulled aside, too scared to make too much noise and attract even more attention than they already had.
The man came back with a jeweled shield. “Touch it.” He instructed. Myne's hand trembled slightly as she reached out. When her finger brushed the edge of the shield she felt her fever rush out of her. The sensation made her pull back for a moment then reach out to take the shield from the man. She cradled it against her chest and felt the heat pour from everywhere her skin touched the item. The jewels decorating the rim filled with color and lit up.
“I knew it. I knew I smelled an omega. But you can't be an omega without mana. And judging by the way you've filled up Schutzaria's shield you have quite a lot of mana. How did that happen? A devouring child shouldn't be able to survive to this age with so much mana…” The man was looking at her but seemed to be talking mostly to himself.
Suddenly he focused on her, his gold eyes bore into her own. “Who are you?”
“M-Myne.” She responded nervously. “And this is my best friend Lutz.”
“Well Myne, do you know what the devouring is?”
“Only a little. I know I have it. I know it means I have something called mana, and it acts like a fever that will grow bigger and bigger as I get older until it kills me.” She responded soberly.
“Typically only nobles are born with mana. The devouring is what it is called when a commoner is born with mana. Unless you either use or remove that mana, it will eventually kill you. I can provide you with a way to remove the mana safely. Would you like that?” The man said calmly, he sounded very much like a teacher giving a lecture on a topic he was only mildly interested in.
“Would she like to live? What kind of question is that?” Lutz scoffed before paling as he realized the man might have been insulted by his words.
Myne stepped protectively in front of him, asking, to bring attention back to herself, what giving the mana would entail.
“You would have to come here at least once a week and pour mana into an item I give you, just like you did today.”
Myne looked down at the shield she was still holding. Once the stones had filled, the feeling of heat rushing out of her had gone away. If she wanted to she could push more into it, but the item was no longer pulling it from her. She closed her eyes and felt for the box where the fever was stored. For the first time the box wasn't completely full: It wasn't empty either, but the feverish heat it normally contained felt more like a soothing hearth fire.
“Come back in one week, present this to the guard.” He said as he handed a wooden board to her. A summons was neatly written and signed with the name Ferdinand. “And bring your parents, there will be much to discuss.”