Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 1.1 - Chapter 8

Learning to Respect Egyptian Culture 

Now, despite resolving to make my own books no matter what, I couldn’t manage to procure paper. My Japanese spirit suggested that I go to a department store and buy five hundred sheets of copier paper for two hundred yen, but in this world, a month of my dad’s wages would disappear buying a single sheet of parchment. 

To make a sheet of parchment, one would have to peel the skin off an animal, shave off the fur, and then cut the animal-shaped skin into easy to use rectangles. The sheet of parchment I saw at Dad’s workplace was about the size of an A4 piece of paper. No matter how I cut it, I’d get about five to eight smaller sheets of paper at best. 

In other words, parchment was so expensive that a poor commoner such as myself would never be able to buy a book’s worth of it. To sum things up: Before I could make books, I needed to learn to make paper. But the only real experience I had with making paper was recycling milk cartons. Everything else I had just read about in books. 

You would think learning something from a book would be enough to just do it, right? But think hard about that, and you’ll realize that things really aren’t that simple. 

As far as I knew, there were no machines in this world for making paper. With no machine, I had to do all of the paper-making work by hand. And yet I was a sickly girl as weak as a three-year-old. There was little I could do on my own. The first step toward making paper was wood, and that alone was already a huge hurdle for me. 

In conclusion: It was impossible for me. But it was also too soon to give up. 

Since records were important both economically and politically, Earth had a very extensive recorded history. Records were kept for millennia, but it was only recently that humans developed machines for making paper. In short, the further back in history we went, the more likely it was that I would be able to recreate the methods used for recording information. 

Mmm... What did civilizations without machines do...? I opened my hands as wide as possible and glared at my palms. Ancient civilizations, ancient civilizations... You can’t talk about civilized ancient cultures without mentioning Egypt! And you can’t talk about Egypt without mentioning papyrus! Long live Egypt! 

Through connecting the dots in my existing memories, I realized that I could make faux-papyrus with Egypt as my guide. It was invented in a society about as technologically advanced as the one I was in, so perhaps even my small hands would be enough to make it. 

It was made using some kind of plant... I wasn’t sure which, but I think it was just, like, made from the fibers of especially straight trees and plants... or something. 

This world had plants too. I bet if I went to the forest, it’d be filled with plants perfect for making into paper. 

...Okay, the forest. Let’s go to the forest. I’m a woman who was both admired and lamented by my family and friends for how fast my footwork became when books were involved. I act the moment a thought comes to me. 

In this case, I immediately asked Tuuli to take me with her to the forest. 

“Tuuli, I want to go to the forest too. Can I come w—” 

“Wha?! You, Myne? No way.” 

She shot me down before I even finished. Her reaction speed indicated she didn’t even need to think about her answer. And the force of her “no way” probably reflected that she wouldn’t budge no matter what I said. Ouch. 

“Why not?” 

“You can’t walk that far, can you? There’s no way you could walk to the forest if you can’t even make it to the gate. And once we get to the forest, we need to pick up firewood and gather fruit. There’s no time to rest. Plus, you can’t climb trees. Could you walk home carrying a lot of heavy stuff while tired? We need to make it back before the gate closes, so you couldn’t rest no matter how tired you got. See? There’s no way you can go to the forest.” 

Tuuli rattled off all the reasons I couldn’t go to the forest one by one, counting on her fingers. There were a lot of reasons, but they could all be summed up as “You’re too weak.” 

“Plus, winter’s coming soon, so there’s less stuff there...” According to Tuuli, it was likely that I would exhaust myself reaching the forest and then find nothing there I wanted. That would definitely be rough. 

I either had to go to the forest accepting it might be fruitless, or give up on making paper. There was no easy way out. 

“What do you want? I don’t think there are many meryls left.” Tuuli tilted her head as she thought hard about it. 

As meryls were the main ingredient of my simple all-in-one shampoo, we were using all of them for oil without eating any. We would then use the oil to moisturize our hair every now and again. I did appreciate all the meryls, but I cared more about books than my looks. I needed plant fibers in order to make my faux-papyrus. 

“Ummm, are there any (plants with easily removed fibers)?” 

“Huh? What?” Tuuli gave me a confused look. Something I said there had definitely been in Japanese. 

Mmm, I thought, and tried to come up with a simpler way of saying that. “...Is there a plant with really straight, thick stems? I just want the stems.” 

Tuuli put a hand on her head and thought about my question. Did I ring any bells? I waited patiently for her answer. 

After a brief pause, Tuuli shrugged. “I know, I’ll just help Ralph and Lutz out.” 

“Wha? You’ll help them, not get them to help us?” I tilted my head in confusion, which surprised Tuuli for some reason. 

After blinking multiple times, she said “Haven’t we talked about this before? Ralph’s family raises chickens, so they need lots of animal feed to last the winter, remember?” 

Um... No, I don’t remember. Tuuli sounded like she was saying things I should know, so I replied “That’s true” while hiding my ignorance. 

“So I was thinking I would try asking them for stems if I help them gather the plants and stuff. But the season where lots of plants grow is already over, so I don’t think there’ll be many.” 

“That’s fine. Thanks, Tuuli!” 

Just like always, Tuuli’s being a great older sister. I’m so lucky to have her. 

The next day, I went with Tuuli down the stairs and tried asking Ralph and Lutz for help. Thankfully they accepted, but I couldn’t leave everything to other people. I went on my own quest for plants. 

Luckily, there were plants growing by the well, aside from the paved part. Maybe I could use those stems. 

“Mom, I’ll go with you to the well.” 

“Oh my, do you want to help?” 

“Nuh uh. Not that. I want to gather plants.” I showed her the small basket that Tuuli had made earlier. 

“Okay, do your best.” I had straight-up declined to help her, but Mom still let me go with her, excited that I was healthy enough to be moving around. 

I climbed down the stairs again, this time with Mom carrying a bunch of laundry. As that was my third time climbing down the stairs, I naturally ended up out of breath by the time I reached the bottom, which left me in no condition to be hunting for plants. 

I rested next to Mom as she drew water from the well and rubbed our clothes with strongly-smelling animal soap that produced no bubbles whatsoever. Tuuli was right. If I didn’t get stronger somehow, I’d never make it to the forest no matter how much I wanted plants from there. Isn’t there any way to get this body a little stronger? 

“My my, if it isn’t little Myne.” 

“Good morning,” I said. I didn’t recognize her, but a middle-aged woman named Carla called out to us sounding friendly. 

“Oh, hello, Carla. Morning. You’re up early.” Mom smiled back and continued the conversation, so this was definitely someone Myne knew. But who? I searched my memories, making sure not to make it obvious I didn’t recognize her. 

Indeed, it was someone I knew. My memories told me it was Ralph and Lutz’s mother. She was a somewhat, er, sizable woman that seemed more or less dependable. 

Ummm... Should I say something like, “Thanks for always taking care of me?” No, no, a five-year-old child would never say that. What kind of conversations do friendly middle-aged women have with neighborhood children?! Someone, help me! 

Carla began easily drawing water from the well and washing her clothes without looking at me despite my spinning thoughts. As expected, she used that stinky animal soap. 

“Are you feeling well today? It’s rare to see you outside.” 

“I’m getting plants. Ralph and Lutz said they needed them for your birds.” 

“My, you’re doing that for us? Sorry for the trouble.” Carla responded lightly enough that it was clear she didn’t feel particularly sorry. 

The band of neighborhood moms, mine included, talked amongst themselves without stopping. Their hands never stopped no matter who was talking. It was really impressive. 

Seriously though, the soap really did smell bad. I felt sick just resting near it. I wonder if it’d get better if I used some smell-blocking herbs? Or maybe the smells would combine and make something worse? 

While thinking up a countermeasure to the awful smell, I stood up to escape it and began pulling up some nearby plants. I wanted to pull out the thick-stemmed plants with firm-looking fibers, but I wasn’t strong enough to pull them out on my own. 

...I can’t do this with my bare hands. Someone, bring me a sickleee! Of course, nobody would bring me a sickle, and my weak arms weren’t going to get stronger in a day. 

Okaaay... I give up. I’ll just put all my hopes on Tuuli, Ralph, and Lutz. I quickly gave up on pulling plants for my own needs and instead selected those with soft-looking leaves and sprouts for the chickens. They were easy enough for me to pull despite my weakness. 

“Myne, it’s time to go home.” Mom finished the laundry pretty fast. She called for me, holding the tightly-packed tub of laundry. I had only filled up about half of the small basket, but Mom had work today, so I couldn’t ask her to stay. I went home carrying the tiny basket.

“Ready? Alright, let’s go.” 

“Okay.” I had been sick ever since becoming Myne, with Mom taking days off for me and such, so I didn’t know that when I was healthy, she would send me to a neighborhood babysitter for the day. 

Makes sense. Tuuli can’t go to the forest when I’m at home. 

“Myne, be a good girl while I’m at work. She’ll be in your care, Gerda.” 

“Yes yes. Come now, Myne.” Gerda the babysitter was watching over several children other than me. Most of them were toddlers who were just old enough to walk on their own a little. 

In this city, once a child passed the age of three and grew stronger, they’d go with their older siblings to the forest or otherwise be old enough to help around the house and be left at home. In other words, my family trusted me so little I was the same age as a toddler who couldn’t be left home alone. 

Um, what’s that’s supposed to mean?! As I stood, shocked by my family’s lack of faith in me, I saw a young boy pick up a toy off of the floor and start putting it in his mouth. Beside him another boy smacked a little girl, making her cry. 

“Hey, that’s dirty! You’ll get sick if you put that in your mouth!” 

“My my.” 

“Don’t smack people for no reason. Why would you do that?” 

“Oh dear.” 

Stop with the my mys and oh dears! Do your job, Mrs. Gerda! Despite how I was another child being babysat, I was the largest kid around and thus ended up taking care of everyone else. 

While putting small children to sleep, I thought about how best to make faux-papyrus with the soon-to-be-delivered stems. 

...Honestly, I don’t remember the proper method for making papyrus. I mean, it never came up on any tests, so how can you blame me? 

Anyway. I remembered reading that papyrus is surprisingly stiff. It was made by placing plant fibers vertically and horizontally together, but you could only really write well on one side since the fibers are horizontal on the front and vertical on the back. There was a warning that it wasn’t very bendable, either, but the book naturally hadn’t mentioned how to actually make papyrus itself. 

The main problem was that, despite having seen pictures of it, I couldn’t think of a single way to make papyrus. I got the feeling that the fibers were lined up right next to each other, but I couldn’t think of how to get them to stick together. Does it need sticky plant starch like washi does? Or maybe there’s some special way to put them together. 

I thought back to the history book I had read and tried to wring out any useful information I could despite how few important details it contained. For now, I figured the best thing to do was take the fibers from the hardest-looking stems and try weaving them together in a plaid-like pattern. That should make usable paper even without some kind of glue to stick them together. 

As long as I can write letters on it, I’ll be fine. 

“Myne, Tuuli’s here for you.” 

“TUUULIII!” 

Tuuli came to get me that evening after returning from the forest. I’m saved. Thank goodness she came to get me. Overjoyed, I clung to her. 

Gerda’s style of babysitting hadn’t been to take care of the kids, but rather to leave them on their own unless things got dangerous. If they peed themselves, she wiped them with a wet cloth and that was it. The room smelled of waste. It was hard for me to bear watching kids get treated like that, especially with my Japanese values still intact. 

I can’t believe she’s getting paid for doing this. The worst thing was, no matter how much I wanted to help, it was a problem too big for my hands. I couldn’t babysit children myself, and Gerda’s style of babysitting may be normal for this world. People might end up considering me the weird one if I complained too much. 

I had spent all my time waiting desperately for someone to come get me, wanting to escape the horrid conditions as soon as possible. 

“Did you get lonely, Myne? I guess it has been a long time since you’ve stayed here.” 

“You could go with us to the forest if you were just a lil’ bit stronger.” 

“Hope you can come with us by the time next spring comes, Myne.” 

As Tuuli patted my head and both Lutz and Ralph consoled me, I realized that I absolutely did have to get stronger, no matter what. I needed to take it seriously. Being this weak was causing me nothing but problems. 

“Oh right, we got those plant stems you wanted.” Ralph grabbed some of the stems from his basket and showed me. 

The moment I saw them, everything about Gerda vanished from my mind. Books were more important than her, and paper meant books. 

“That’s a lot. Thanks! Um, I gathered some plants for you at the well, too.” I puffed out my chest with pride, but for some reason all three of them just patted my head. Not only that, but Lutz even said “You did good” with a warm smile while looking down at me. 

Um... Just how useless do people think I am? I mean, it’s true that I never do anything, and I’m useless almost all of the time, but still. 

Tuuli went and got the tiny basket so we could exchange all our plants for the stems they gathered. 

Okay. It’s time to make some faux-papyrus!