Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 1.2 - Chapter 16

Lutz’s Training Curriculum 

Just as Lutz predicted, I caught a fever while I sat around in bed. It was a slight fever born from exhaustion, so the worst part of it was just my body feeling heavy. It wasn’t like the devouring heat that came close to eating me alive, so it would probably get better after a little bit of rest. 

Or so I thought, before three entire days passed. I was getting annoyed at the unending fever, but I would just get yelled at if I left the bed, so I had no choice but to keep lying around despite feeling groggy from sleeping too much. Aaaaah, I’m so boooored. 

It was pig day. Unlike last year, my family trusted me just enough to leave me home alone, so they left early in the morning without me. They had left a sandwich for lunch and a bunch of cups of water by the bed, so I didn’t end up hungry or thirsty. I could have gotten out of bed if I wanted to, but I knew that would just make the fever last longer, so my only real choice was to stay quiet in bed. But without anyone to talk to I was just so, so, so bored. I wish I had a boooook... 

Although I had plenty of failed experimental paper lying around, I hadn’t gotten the opportunity to do anything with it, so it was just packed in the bottom of the wooden box I put my clothes into. Reason being, we had been really busy ever since completing the experimental paper, and I wanted to take my time with my first book so it would be as good as possible. Most importantly, though, the paper was experimental and thus varied wildly in quality, size, and so on. I had paper nearing perfection and paper so bad it would fall apart if I picked it up too fast. Some paper was so thin and flimsy I could see through it, some paper was so hard it would crack if I held it too hard. 

It’d be easy to just use the paper that ripped a little when we were peeling it off the drying board, but it had big holes in it and it was a little hard for me to cut off just the usable parts with a knife. I wished I had two thin, sharp blades that could be used like scissors. 

Making books with paper like this would take a lot of time. It seemed that this winter would be a busy one for me. ...Oh! That reminds me, it’s not a book, but Benno gave me that board thing to read. I remembered that Benno had given me a wooden board and told me to read it after getting home. Reading while in bed wouldn’t pose any problem at all. I got out of bed, opened the box containing my clothes, and took the wooden board about the size of an A4 sheet of paper out of my tote bag. I then read it while lying in bed. 

“...This is a curriculum for training new apprentices.” On the board was written the bare essentials that a newly hired apprentice had to learn. If split into six broad sections, it would look like this: 

Know the customary greetings and how to dress well. 

Be capable of writing the alphabet and all numbers. 

Know how to use a calculator. 

Have a reasonable grasp on how to count money. 

Memorize which products our store deals in. 

Memorize the names of our suppliers. 

“Mmm, out of these, I think the only things we can learn together over winter are writing, math, and counting money. I think every apprentice will have to learn those last two things, so they shouldn’t be our priority,” I murmured to myself while setting up a study plan for the winter. 

Now then. I wondered how many letters and numbers Lutz had memorized by heart by now. It was easy to forget if you didn’t use them after first learning them. Once I confirmed how much he knew, I could start teaching him again starting with what he had forgotten. Maybe instead of using example sentences, I could teach him to write supply orders and letters about meeting reservations? Those would involve words he would use for work, so learning them now wouldn’t hurt. 

To be honest, I also only knew words related to work, for the most part. There were no dictionaries in this world and I had learned to read and write from Otto, someone trying to train me into his assistant accountant, Benno, a merchant, and Mark, the former’s right hand man. Thanks to them, I had learned a lot of practical words that related to business and the like. But I didn’t know a lot of common verbs and nouns. 

“I know how to add and subtract with a calculator, but I’ll have to ask Mark how to multiply and divide with it.” I could teach Lutz math through writing on my slate, but I needed to learn to use the calculator as well if I didn’t want to stick out among the other apprentices. If possible, I wanted to be capable of everything the others were. 

“I want to teach Lutz elementary school math up to a third grade level, but that’ll be hard without a textbook or worksheets. I should prioritize teaching him to count numbers and convert numbers into units of money, starting with thorough lessons on one-digit addition and subtraction. Once that’s done, I can move on to trying to get him to at least understand the concept of multiplication and division... Well, I might need more than this winter for that.” 

Naturally, teaching three years’ worth of math in a single winter was a bit much, even when cutting out the fat and focusing on core principles. I let out a sigh and felt the heat within me stir. Feeling the pressure of the devouring heat trying to force its way out, I tensed up my temples and gritted my teeth. 

...Get back down, I wasn’t calling for you. I pushed it down into me, visualizing a cover being put onto a pot, and let out another sigh. 

It hadn’t lasted long, but pushing down the devouring heat had made me hungry. I picked up the sandwich my family left for me and took a big bite, chewing while thinking about dressing well and greeting customers. 

“This category’s the biggest problem for me. Dress well, and know the customary greetings. I don’t know how ‘well’ they want us to dress, and neither I nor Lutz know what kind of specific phrases merchants use when greeting each other, customers, and so on.” 

I knew from seeing Benno’s employees and those on the third floor of the Merchants’ Guild that we would have to buy new clothes for work. But I would have to check with Benno to see how expensive those clothes were. 

He would also have to tell us about the greetings. I knew it wasn’t customary in this world to bow one’s head, but I didn’t know what they did instead. Up until now I had just been bluffing my way through with a smile. That said, it didn’t seem like Benno or the guildmaster had exchanged any special greetings. 

I started drifting off while looking at the board Benno gave me, and when I opened my eyes, my family was home and carrying the butchered pig meat into our winter storage room. 

“Welcome home.” 

“Oh, you’re awake? How’s your fever?” 

“...It’s gone down, I think.” I felt pretty good after waking up, so I could assume that my fever had gone down. Tomorrow would probably be spent inside to test the waters, but after that I would finally be free. 

A day passed. Lutz, wearing a scavenging basket on his back, came to visit me before heading to the forest. We couldn’t talk for long, despite me feeling better, since I had to stay in bed to make sure I would recover, but still I was really happy to see him. 

“Heya, Myne. I heard your fever’s gone down? Tuuli told me when we met up downstairs.” 

“Uh huh, it went down last night. After another day of rest, I should be able to walk around.” 

“Alright. I was worried, it’s been a while since you’ve been stuck in bed for that long.” Both Lutz and my family had gotten very worried about me since, indeed, it had been some time since one of my fevers had lasted for multiple days. 

“Heard you couldn’t go see the pigs get butchered this year, either.” 

“Aaah, well, I can’t help it in this season.” I had gotten more used to seeing animals get butchered, but I didn’t exactly consider pig day an exciting holiday like my family did. In fact, I thought it was pretty lucky that it came and went while I was sick in bed. “I looked at the board Benno gave us the other day and made a study plan for us. Do you think we could go to Benno’s tomorrow? I want to give the board back and buy a calculator.” 

“...Oh yeah. What was written on it, anyway?” Lutz snapped to attention and leaned forward, remembering that Benno had lent us a board. He was ready to listen. 

“It’s about what his apprentices learn. How many letters and numbers do you remember?” 

“All of the ones I’ve been taught?” he replied, as if it were completely natural. 

I was so surprised that my eyes widened. “Wha? Really?! You didn’t forget them even though you never use them?!” 

“...I don’t get many chances to learn that kinda stuff, and I didn’t want to forget what I already knew, so I wrote them on the ground with my fingers to practice. Once you got me the slate, I started practicing with that instead.” 

“Wow, Lutz, that’s great! Good job! So clever!” 

Lutz was a harder worker than I had imagined. Or maybe my perspective had just been biased by my upbringing where public schools were natural and I could easily get my hands on any information I wanted. At no point in my life had I worried about forgetting something. If I forgot, I could just read another book. I could relearn anything as long as I remembered which book I read about it in. There was no need to memorize every little thing. 

“I’m not that great. You’re a lot more impressive than me, Myne. You can read all those big numbers.” 

“Okay, then I’ll teach you how to read big numbers. Grab my slate for me, okay?” 

One, ten, a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand... I taught him the words for increasingly big numbers. He could read up to a hundred easily since those numbers were used in the market, but the rest were a mystery to him. I pointed at the slate, counting along the factors of ten, and Lutz soon joined me. Once I went over each unit several times, I wrote a random number on my slate. 

“Okay, quiz time. How would you write six-hundred twelve-thousand four-hundred and thirteen?” 

“Uuuh, it’s one, ten, hundred, thousand, ten thousand, hundred thousand, million, ten million, so...” Lutz folded his arms with a pretty serious look, and before I knew it he could count up to ten million. He could focus harder or perhaps had a better memory than your average person, but either way, he was smarter than I expected. He would probably learn a lot over the winter. 

...If he gets smart, I’ll lose the one advantage I have over him. I thought, getting depressed on the inside, when suddenly Tuuli came back with a bucket of water. 

“Wait, Lutz?! Weren’t you going to the forest? Everybody’s already left!” 

“Woah! Sorry Myne, I’ve gotta go. Thanks for teaching me.” Lutz hurriedly stood up and ran off. At his speed, he would probably catch up with the others before they reached the gate. I waved as he left. 

The day passed, and my parents gave me permission to go outside, so Lutz and I left to go see Benno in the afternoon, when he was the least busy. The door was shut and a guard was standing in front of it. 

“I guess it’s still noon break.” 

“Want to go back to the plaza and sit around for a while? Standing for too long’s not going to do you any good.” 

“That sounds good. I think I should try to sit more often today.” 

We started to kill time by talking, but the guard recognized us by now and gestured us forward. “I’ll ask the boss if I can let you two in. Wait here for a bit, please.” 

“Thank you.” 

The guard went into the store, then returned in a snap and held the door wide open for us. He led us through the dim store, darkened by the drawn curtains blocking sunlight, and opened the door to an inner room for us. The room was bright thanks to the open windows and a sizable fire in the fireplace. Benno, who had apparently been working, set aside his pen and ink to stand up. 

“Feeling better, Myne?” 

“Mhm. We came to give the board back. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions about it?” 

“Nah, go ahead. I’ve got something to talk about too, but you can start,” said Benno, gesturing us toward the same table as always. 

“Thank you for lending me this. Using it, I’ve managed to put together a study plan for us.” 

“Oh?” 

“But there were a few things I wanted to ask about. I know that we need to dress well, but what do you specifically mean by ‘well’? Also, neither of us know if merchants have specific greetings and so on that they use.” 

Benno nodded and looked at us. “Basically, neither of you look too dirty despite being commoners who live near the south gate, so you just need work clothes and new pairs of shoes. You’ll be able to buy everything you need with about ten small silvers, so if you start saving now, you should have enough by summer.” 

“Ten small silvers... Glad I copied Myne and saved my money,” murmured Lutz, seeming dazed. All of Lutz’s clothes were hand-me-downs sewn by his own mother, so it was probably shocking for him to hear that he would need to pay at minimum ten small silvers just for clothes and shoes. It was surprising to me too, but I knew that clothes here weren’t mass produced, so I had expected that made-to-order clothes would be about that expensive. And expensive as they were, we would be able to afford them if we worked hard and made enough paper by spring. 

“Moving on. You’ve got to work on how you talk to people, Lutz. If you don’t learn to talk more politely like Myne does, I won’t be able to let you interact with customers,” said Benno, making Lutz freeze. It was hard to learn polite language without having people around you who used it. I tried thinking about who spoke the most politely out of anyone who Lutz knew. 

“I think you could learn a lot from how Mr. Mark speaks.” 

“...Eeeh, that feels kinda weird.” 

I could imagine that changing the manner in which you spoke could feel a little uncomfortable and strange, like changing your very personality. But if he didn’t do that, he wouldn’t be allowed to interact with customers. Especially in a store like Benno’s which was increasingly shifting its demographic toward the nobility. Interacting with noble society forced one to dress well, speak well, and uphold proper manners. 

“Don’t worry. You can do it if you try. Mr. Benno’s all gruff and mean when he’s with us, but he’s perfectly polite with customers, so all you have to do is learn to shift around based on who you’re talking to.” 

Benno hadn’t been particularly polite with even the Merchants’ Guild’s guildmaster, but I knew he could do it if he wanted to. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have made it this far as a merchant. 

“You won’t have to be polite with me or your family or anyone like that. And you’ve heard me talk differently when I’m with Benno, the guildmaster, and stuff, right? Did you think I sounded weird?” 

“...Now that you mentioned it, nah. You talked so normally I never thought it was weird.” 

If you switched on a dime, nobody would really notice you changed at all. It might feel weird at first, but over time, you get used to it. 

“So how about you learn how Mr. Mark talks and mimic him just when you’re working? You can start by saying sir, ma’am, and so on.” I offered some examples and Lutz nodded. 

“Alright, yes sir.” 

“No, no! Sir is for boys, not girls!” 

“Pff! Ahahahaha!” Benno, who had been listening in on our exchange, burst into laughter and hit the table while choking out laughs. Tears formed in his eyes and he held his stomach while laughing like an idiot. “Pfhaha, I dunno how far you’ll get with him over the winter, but hey, good luck.” 

I glared at Benno, but he didn’t even flinch. I clenched my fist and swore with an iron resolve that I would get Lutz speaking politely in no time. Which reminded me to ask about something. 

“Oh, right. Mr. Benno.” 

“Yeah?” 

“I would like a calculator for us to learn with. We won’t ever get used to using one without practice.” Mark’s fingers danced as he used the calculator, moving rapidly without pause as they enacted his thoughts without a single hitch or error. We probably wouldn’t reach his level with it, but even abacuses needed practice to learn. 

“A calculator, huh... If you don’t mind a used one from my store, I can sell you one for six large coppers. You just want one for the both of you, yeah?” 

“Yes, please.” We tapped guild cards with Benno, each of us giving him three large coppers. He then gave us the calculator. 

“Now we can practice using a calculator, Lutz.” 

“Yeah.” 

“Got anything else to ask?” questioned Benno, which reminded me. 

“Oh, we need to order a contract-paper-sized suketa before the spring, but...” 

“Just write your supply orders. Mark already knows where to take them, so leave them with him.” 

“What? But...” Mark had said that, if I didn’t deliver the supply orders myself with accompanying details, I would have only myself to blame if a mix up happened. I shouldn’t just leave it all to him. 

“There’s something else I need you to work on. C’mon now, write the supply orders.” At Benno’s encouragement, I took out the supply order writing set from my tote bag. I only had one more board for writing supply orders on. 

“Mr. Benno, I’m out of boards for the supply orders...” 

“Yeah, ‘cause you ordered a lot of stuff. Have some more.” 

“Thanks! Also, I’m almost out of ink.” We had used a lot of ink both writing a bunch of supply orders and testing how well it worked with various experimental pieces of paper. 

Upon hearing my request, Benno’s mouth twitched. “...I want to charge you for it, but eh, sure. Consider it part of my initial investment,” he said, which reminded me. Otto said that ink was expensive enough that children generally couldn’t use it. I had never heard its actual price, though, so I timidly asked Benno for it. 

“This may be rude of me, but if you were to charge me for it, how much would ink cost?” 

“About four small silvers.” 

“Bwuh?!” Lutz and I couldn’t afford that even if we pooled our savings together! 

“Don’t waste it.” 

“R-Right. Of course not!” I wanted to use ink for my book-making, but I would have to give up on buying some myself. Using my leftover soot pen would be much better. 

I scratched out my supply orders. I was used to writing them by this point. The tip of my pen ended up rounded in no time, so I had Lutz shave it into a point. We then asked Benno for an average-sized piece of contract paper, measured it, and then wrote more supply orders based on that information. 

Benno looked at the supply orders I had just written and his eyes widened. “Not a single grammar error or misprint. I’ll give these to Mark. And Myne... I’ll be in as much trouble as you if this paper doesn’t get made. So don’t look so worried, I’ll make sure this works out.” If Benno said he would make sure it worked out, well, I could trust that. I let out a slow sigh of relief and packed my things. 

“...Is that all you came to talk about?” 

“Yes.” I nodded, and immediately Benno sat up straight, his expression hardening. Lutz and I both straightened up as well, sensing that he was about to talk business. 

“Alright. Myne, I want to talk to you about the hair-cleaning liquid you told me about.” I had told Benno how to make the simple all-in-one shampoo while we were experimenting with paper and borrowing the key for the workshop. Since I had completely given up my rights on the shampoo through contract magic, I had no idea why he would be bringing it up now. I tilted my head in confusion and Benno continued, sounding troubled. 

“You said those meryls had the best oil for it, so I waited until this season to start making it.” 

“But meryl season is almost over, isn’t it? You haven’t started yet?” Lutz and I exchanged glances. Indeed, meryl season was almost over. My family had already gathered plenty of meryls and were in the process of making more shampoo. Benno was so profit-obsessed that I had assumed he had already made and sold plenty of it. 

“You’re misunderstanding. I bought a large number of the fruit and had a certain workshop start making the liquid, but even following your instructions, the stuff doesn’t end up like what you had. Got any ideas as to why?” said Benno, making my brows reflexively furrow. To make shampoo you just had to crush fruit, wring out the oil, and add some herbs. I had no idea where there was room for error in that process. Lutz had helped me make it enough times that even he was confused. 

“...I don’t know what to say. The process for making it isn’t that complicated.” I could think of various ways to improve the shampoo with certain ingredients, but I couldn’t figure out how one could fail to make it in the first place. Tuuli and Lutz could both make proper shampoo on their own without any guidance from me. 

“I didn’t want to send you out there where people can see you, but if I don’t finish that liquid, it’ll be a breach of our magic contract. Would you mind coming with me to the workshop?” 

Breaching a magic contract carried with it severe penalties and, worst-case scenario, you might die. Fearing for my life, I immediately said “Okay,” but Lutz grabbed my arm. 

“Myne, you’re not healthy enough for that right now. You aren’t in a great condition right now, remember?” Lutz was right, but it was rare for me to ever be in a good condition around this time of year. When it was this cold I could get a fever anytime, anywhere. I would never get anything done if I didn’t just settle for “not having a fever” being healthy enough to go places. 

“But we don’t know how long it’ll take for me to be in good condition, and there’s already a little faint snow falling, so we should go now while I’m not sick with a fever.” 

“I get that, but...” Lutz began to worry and Benno gently rapped his head to calm him down. 

“Don’t sweat it so much, Lutz. She won’t be walking, I’ll be carrying her. Not like I could bear to slow down to her pace anyway.” 

“...Well, uh, I guess that’d be fine,” said Lutz, so Benno once again ended up carrying me. 

...Why had the shampoo making process failed? I had no idea, it had never failed for me before. Would I be able to figure it out?