Isaac and Birger were currently sitting around the press, Birger was just idle, while Isaac was currently sxaming his note, trying to figure out...what went wrong?
Isaac was wearing Grandpa's glasses, clearly inspecting any detail...until his hands rubbed together on the note...and he realised...
"Hey, Birger? Close your eyes." Said Isaac.
"...what." blurted our Birger, clearly shocked at what Isaac said.
"Dude, just close your eyes, I just want you to...identify the fake." Said Isaac.
"You're still stuck on that?" Asked Birger.
"Please...just...do this once." Pleaded Isaac.
"Okay..." Birger closed his eyes, as Isaac handed him two notes, Birger held them in his hands, letting his fingers runs over the note, trying to findany difference...
"This one." Said Birger as he handed Isaac the note.
"Do you get it?" Asked Isaac.
"What?" Said Birger with an exasperated tone.
"It's the paper." Said Isaac.
"...huh?" Asked Birger.
"Don't you get it? We've been using the wrong paper!" Said Isaac.
Birger just sat in silence...there was a way to perfect their bill even more.
"We just need to find the best paper! And...we all know you're the best when it comes to paper...aren't you?" Said Isaac with a grin on his face.
Birger...just sat in silence...and then...nodded.
__________________________________________________________________
Isaac and Birger started to shift through every pamphlet and book they could find, the printing press already had a ton of that in store...
But they'd already gotten through half of it, and hadn't found any success. Isaac knew more about how the note was made, and while the Kingdom's Bank and Finance sector didn't make these things clear, he knew it was between 45 to 50 GSM.
Birger was done feeling the pages of a booklet no luck, too much like cloth to trick anyone into thinking it was a note. "Nope. Another bust here." Said Birger as he tossed the book aside.
Isaac approached him with what seemed to be a pretty hefty pamphlet in hand, "Hey Birger...feel this." Said Isaac as he passed the pamphlet over to Birger.
Birger felt it...and then the note...and then the page again
"The feel is right...but it won't work. It's too thin." Said Birger.
Isaac gestured at him to take a look at the whole pamphlet, Birber obliged and saw...it was pretty hefty, it could possibly make double to amount of notes they had made with their previous roll of paper.
"Fucking hell!" Said Birger, exhausted from the work he deemed meaningless, at least he was doing something with Grandpa, but now what? He was destined to be a protector of the forest and his people, not be buddies with a noble who got kicked out, in a closed printing press.
"Let's discuss this..." said Isaac as he leaned toward Birger.
Birger just looked at him, giving him a look to just begin speaking.
"Okay...we'll use this paper...we'll bleach it...and it's too thin right? So what we'll do...is that we'll print the front on one sheet of paper, and the rear on another and then paste it together!" Explained Isaac.
"Like a...Sandwich Note or something?" Asked Birger.
"Exactly." Said Isaac.
Birger thought for a moment before slight smile came on his face, "This could work..."
"Of course, it will!" Said Isaac in excitement.
"But there's another problem..." said Birger.
"What now?" Asked Isaac.
"OVI!" Said Birger.
"Hm?" Asked Isaac.
"Optically Variable Ink?" Said Birger as if it was a well known term.
Isaac's eyes widened and then he said..." I don't need you to explained that to me right now...so...what about it?" Asked Isaac in a slightly intimidated tone.
"We'll need a colour which doesn't do that much harm to the note, while still covering any problems...How about Metallic Ink?" Asked Birger.
"What will it do?" Asked Isaac.
"It'll give it the colour changing effect the note has right?" Asked Birger.
"It's colour shifting but okay...what about the crispness of the note?" Asked Isaac.
"Lacquer? A coat of lacquer should make it stiff..."said Birger.
"And then final touch..." said Isaac, as he had a smile on his face, wanting to let Birger find the answer.
"Tea!" Said Birger with an equally big smile on his face.
And so they got to work, making all the necessary changes and extra processes they need to better their note...and now they relaxed...as a new batch of notes dried in front of their eyes.
___________________________________________________________
Isaac and Birger were outside again, and they were staring...at the place they wanted to test their new and improved note...and where better than to do it in the same place they tried before.
"Hey, I don't wanna go in this time! And plus it was your idea! You should be testing it out yourself!" Whined Birger.
"Fine, fine, don't crib. Just grip my hand tightly." Said Isaac, as the both of them started to approach the liquor Store.
"Hold my hand." Ordered Isaac, as Birger did so, as Isaac made his way to the counter, the new note in hand, as Birger stood behind, a safety line if things went wrong again.
Isaac went to the front of the counter, and held out the hand with the Finn."One Citrus! One Citrus!" He yelled out, as the store owner grabbed it from his hands.
It was only a few seconds, but it felt like an eternal dread, he'd get beaten up again, he'd had perfected this note again! And then he saw...in his hands...
A bottle of Citrus Beer, with change.
He looked at it for a short moment, a silent shock on his face.
He immediately dipped back to Birger...who on seeing the beer in his hands...also was in that same state of silent shock.
Isaac quickly handed him the beer and change, as he immediately started to walk and led Birger along with him, patting his back as if to say "keep calm."
The walk back home felt like forever, their excitement was boiling, they'd done it...they'd gotten a beer from nothing.
When the reached home, they quickly closed the doors...and then let out a roar of victory, at least for Birger, Isaac yelled out a victorius yell, as they hugged each other and danced along...
Not processing the gate they had opened up....