Benno is quite an interesting character. He basically gives nothing for free, but he gives Main (and Lutz on the side) excellent opportunities to earn coin and learn a lot in the process. I'm not sure if he actually had any means to save Main, per se, although I imagine he would have the means to help her somewhat immediately, for the time being. But he doesn't want to, as long as he figures Main can do it on her own, with a few pointers. Seeing how he suspects he could get a whole lot of crazy ideas out of Main, it's intriguing he is doing this, instead of trying to bind her to his business more directly.