Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 1.3 - Chapter 15

Preparing for Lutz’s Apprenticeship 

“Myne, what’s your plans for today?” asked Lutz. “The weather’s bad.” 

I looked out the window and saw thick, dark clouds that signaled a bad day for paper-making. I had the option to go to the forest just to gather, but if rain fell along the way, I’d be the only one who would struggle to get home. It would be smarter for me to just sit today out. 

My spring had been spent making paper on sunny days and walking around the city with Mark on cloudy days to help get the workshop ready. But the workshop was mostly finished and they knew how to make paper themselves now. The other day they had made a prototype that I checked and confirmed to be a success, so there was really nothing left for us to do. 

“Benno said our baptism is next Fireday, so I wanted to finish making our last batch of paper. But it looks like the weather’s not cooperating.” 

“Hey, even without a last batch of paper, I’m so rich right now I can hardly believe it.” 

Each sheet of paper was worth a small silver, and whenever we sold paper, we brought some of the money back for our families. We bought enough to improve our food situation and not much else, but we both had a stunning amount of money saved in the Merchant’s Guild. That was thanks to the high price of trombe paper and the overall good weather that helped us make a lot of batches. 

After the last batch we sold, my savings had surpassed two large golds. Lutz was just about to hit two large golds himself. No matter how you thought about it, that was too much money for pre-baptism kids to have. But well, once our baptism’s over, I won’t be earning much money for a while. 

I started to think about if I had forgotten anything we needed to do before our baptism ceremony, when suddenly I realized something. “Lutz, let’s go to Benno’s today. We totally forgot something.” 

“Huh? We didn’t promise to go there today.” 

“Our baptism is next Fireday, right? We should check now to see what you need to be an apprentice. Your parents aren’t merchants, so they won’t have any tools to give you.” 

“...Ah!” 

Apprentice work began after the baptism, so it was customary for parents to give them work clothes and tools as a baptismal gift. It was to encourage their children and give them a head start on their journey down the same career path that their parents once traveled themselves. Tuuli, for example, had been given work clothes and a sewing set after her baptism since she was becoming a seamstress. 

But in Lutz’s case, his parents wouldn’t prepare anything for him. In part since his father was still against him becoming a merchant and in part because his parents didn’t know what tools to get him, since they weren’t merchants themselves. 

On top of that, we didn’t know how much money it would cost to prepare Lutz for his merchant apprenticeship. Benno had said clothes were important and ordered us outfits, but that alone probably wouldn’t be enough. It was likely that Lutz would need tools and other things beyond clothes to be a merchant. Luckily, he had enough savings that he could buy what he needed on his own. All we had to do was ask Benno or Mark what we needed. 

“I don’t know what tools you would need, really. Maybe a calculator and a stone slate, since you’ll have your apprentice lessons, but what else?” 

“I can buy pretty much anything right now. You were right, Myne. Saving up money was the right idea.” 

Karla was on Lutz’s side now, but she still didn’t know what one needed to be a merchant. She didn’t have any connections with merchants, and his dad was as unsupportive as ever. Though Lutz said that he was more comfortable at home now that his mom was telling his brothers off. 

“Benno’s going to be your guardian more or less once you become an apprentice, so I think it would be best to ask him.” 

I picked up my tote bag and we headed to Benno’s store beneath the heavy clouds. 

“Oh, was it not several days until the next batch of paper would be ready?” Mark blinked in surprise after seeing us, having now grasped the schedule our paper-making followed. 

“We realized we need to talk to Mr. Benno about something. But maybe we can just ask you first.” If I remembered correctly, Mark was in charge of teaching the apprentices here. “We want to know what tools apprentices need. Lutz’s parents aren’t apprentices and won’t know what to get him after his baptism, so he needs to buy his stuff himself.” 

“Oh, that is true. I did not consider that.” Mark shook his head at himself and placed a finger on his temple. 

“The baptism is really soon, do we still have time? And maybe we should talk to Mr. Benno about this, since he’ll be Lutz’s guardian?” 

“Hmm. I believe it would be best to act after discussing things with the master.” 

Mark took us to Benno’s office as always. Inside we saw Benno writing furiously on something with stacks of boards and paper surrounding him on his desk. He looked busy. 

“Sir, Myne and Lutz are here to see you.” 

“Why?” asked Benno without looking up or stopping writing. I pushed Lutz’s back to encourage him to ask on his own. 

“Master Benno, we have arrived to discuss the tools I require to be a merchant apprentice,” said Lutz shakily, having probably rehearsed the smart-sounding line in his head on the way here. 

Benno, having probably just found a good stopping point, put his pen down and looked up. He looked confused, so I added on an explanation. 

“I think parents normally provide these tools, but Lutz’s parents aren’t merchants, so they don’t know what to get him. What does Lutz need to be an apprentice? He doesn’t just need the clothes, right?” 

“Yeah, now that you mention it. You can go shopping with Mark. I just got notice that your apprentice outfits are done. Order some changes of clothes on your way to pick them up.” 

“Okay.” I nodded, but Lutz blinked in confusion beside me. 

“Changes of clothes? Multiple?” 

“Obviously. You think you can work in the same outfit all week? It’d get dirty, stretched out, and you’d stink. That’s not happening here.” 

Benno ran a shop that also catered to nobles, so appearances were fairly important. An employee couldn’t be presented to customers with dirty, stretched-out clothes with wrinkles. This was reflected by the fact that all the employees I could see working in Benno’s store looked neat and clean. 

“I have to change clothes every day...? Really...?” 

Tuuli only washed her clothes once a week, on the day Mom had off work. I could imagine the same for Lutz’s brothers. Nobody changed their work clothes every day. Generally a worker only had a couple outfits at best, and they’d wear the spare while the other dried. Washing clothes damaged them, so most avoided doing so for as long as possible, outside of underwear. 

Unlike Benno who had servants working for him, Lutz was at the bottom of his family hierarchy. It would be hard for him to ask his mother to wash his clothes frequently enough that he could have a daily change of clothes. But it was necessary for him to do his job. 

“If you can’t ask Karla to do that for you, maybe you should wash your own clothes? Apprentices have days off, so...” 

“Ngh...” 

“I mean, you’ll have to wash your own clothes no matter what if you end up as a live-in apprentice.” 

“I know that this different way of life is surprising for you, but you have to get used to it. If you don’t do this, you’ll gross out customers and get fired. Merchants and craftsmen just aren’t the same.” 

Lutz nodded, and I saw that Benno was experiencing some culture shock too. He blinked slowly and murmured, “Wow. Our lives really are fundamentally different.” 

“Uh huh, which is why I’d like you to point it out if we ever do anything weird. We just don’t know any better.” 

“Yeah, I’ll keep an eye out. Mark... they’re in your hands.” 

“Yes, sir.” We waited for Mark to finish up work and then left to get the clothes together. It was customary by this point for Mark to pick me up on our way to the workshops, and I had completely given up fighting it. 

“Welcome.” An employee greeted us and realized why we were here the second she saw Mark and us. She took Lutz and me to a room inside. 

“Please, try them on.” 

The employee gave me a simple blouse and skirt with a vest just like Mark’s. I had been measured closely enough that the clothes naturally fit like a glove. The mere fact that I was getting new clothes that weren’t hand-me-downs was enough for me to get pumped. I wiggled my arms around, squatted and stood up, and did all sorts of things to get a feel for the clothes. Not once did they squeeze me or feel uncomfortable. 

“Wow! I like this outfit. It’s comfy and easy to wear.” 

“I’m glad to hear that. Mark said that you’ll be wearing those clothes out today, so we will wrap your old clothes.” 

While I was testing out my clothes, Lutz had apparently gone to order two more outfits with the same design and size. Once I walked out, Mark and Lutz headed my way. 

“Very cute. A simple change of clothes, and now you look like the daughter of a wealthy family.” 

“Yeah, you look super rich now.” 

Their compliments made me feel even more pumped. I tried lifting up the hem of my skirt in a fancy bow. “Really?! I’m cute? I look like a rich girl? And not just because of the clothes?” 

“When you’re quiet and not being a dork, yeah.” 

“Hmph. But... you know, now that you’re trying to keep yourself clean, you look kind of like a rich boy yourself, Lutz.” 

Since Benno had lectured Lutz about looking clean, he had started semi-regularly using rinsham on himself. His blonde hair was silky and sparkly. Ever since I’d mentioned using Mark as an example for dignified behavior, Lutz had started paying attention to his posture and general body language. The change of clothes was all it took to complete his transformation into a rich boy. It didn’t feel like the clothes were wearing him at all. 

“We can go shopping in other stores now, huh?” It wasn’t rare for stores to turn people away based on their clothes. After we paid with our guild cards, Mark took us in our new fancy clothes to the next store. 

It was a stationery store. Mark opened the wooden door with a pen mark on the front and inside was a counter with a pleasant-looking old man polishing something on top of it. The walls had shelves with products on them, but not many. There was one example per product on the shelves and nothing else. Which was, in fact, normal in this city. There was only a small space for customers and most of the actual store was the storage rooms containing the products. Although I knew it was necessary to ward off thievery, the fact that I couldn’t browse through the products made me sad. 

“What do we need here, Mark?” 

“A few things. Ink, a pen, and parchment to sign the employment contract. He already owns a stone slate, slate pens, and a calculator, yes? Other than that, he will need several wooden boards,” said Mark, which made me sigh. All that was too expensive for Lutz’s parents to buy. We now had enough money to buy it ourselves, but ink and parchment were too expensive for those in our class to easily afford. 

“I want some ink too.” I took the opportunity to buy ink and a pen for myself. Buying my own ink was an emotional experience for me, since in the past it had been too expensive for me to even consider getting on my own. 

The older man put my ink and pen on the counter. I paid with my guild card and took them. 

“Yaaay! My own ink and pen!” I spun around in circles with a grin on my face, overjoyed to hold the ink and wooden pen in my hands, but Lutz looked less happy. 

“The money I saved up is just slipping away. Didn’t know being a merchant would be this expensive.” 

Had Benno’s store been smaller, it would have been less expensive to join. A lesser store wouldn’t sign its employment contracts on parchment. They would just use wooden boards. 

“It’s only expensive because Benno’s store is so big. And you still have lots of money to spare, right?” 

“Yeah, but I lost this much in a single day. I’m getting kinda nervous. I can’t ask my parents for anything. Let’s try and make more paper before the baptism.” 

“There’s not much time left, but we can try if it’s sunny out.” 

We returned to the store and informed Benno that we had bought what we needed. He told us to always come to the store wearing the apprentice clothes from now on. I took that as a stamp of approval from him. We looked just like proper apprentices. 

“So, Lutz. Where should we put your stuff? In our workshop?” 

“That’d be safest...” 

It would be a bit annoying, but we started discussing whether we should borrow the key and put his apprentice stuff in the workshop, when all of a sudden Benno shrugged. 

“Why not just put it in your room? Why bother with the storage building?” 

“We don’t have our own rooms. We only have boxes to put our stuff in.” 

Benno’s eyes widened at that revelation. Judging from what I had seen of Corinna’s house, they had plenty of spare rooms. It seemed that since he had been raised as the successor to a large store, Benno hadn’t known anyone who didn’t have their own room. 

“My place is kinda worse than Myne’s. I’ve got a box for my stuff, but everyone just goes through it and takes what they want.” 

“Wait, seriously?” Shock washed over Benno’s face. He blinked, unable to comprehend that, so I explained to him what Lutz’s life was like. 

“Lutz is the youngest of four brothers. So he’s basically at the mercy of his three siblings. He has it really rough.” 

“But still, they would steal their brother’s stuff?” 

“They’re fine with it, since he’s their little brother. What he owns, they own. What they own, they own.” 

Benno rubbed his temples as he learned about how Lutz lived. It was likely that things were so different from his own life that he could hardly imagine it. Benno had spent years working hard to support his family after his father’s death, but he had never gone through their stuff and he had never worried about where to put his things. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. 

“Why not put your stuff in one of the upper rooms? I’ll rent you a live-in apprentice room for cheap. Things will get a lot harder for you if anyone steals your work stuff or you lose it before your baptism, and the storage building is too far for you to go to regularly before work.” 

“...Thank you.” Thanks to Benno’s good graces, Lutz could now rent out an apprentice room for cheap to use as a storage room. As long as he remembered to lock the door, he wouldn’t have to worry about his stuff getting stolen. 

“You can change there before entering the store from now on.” 

Lutz, having gained his own personal space for the first time in his life, nodded with a broad smile. I decided to put my stuff there too before going home. We couldn’t go home right away since Benno was planning to take us to the Merchant’s Guild. 

“If you don’t learn about the Merchant’s Guild first, you won’t even be able to do errand work.” 

The children of merchants visited the Merchant’s Guild frequently while helping their parents, so dropping by to deliver paperwork was normal for them. The first work that merchant apprentices usually did was running errands at the Merchant’s Guild. Which brings us to the fact that Lutz hadn’t gone to the Merchant’s Guild since the time we sold Freida’s hairpins. He naturally couldn’t run errand work there, since he had never done it before. 

“Wonder what else you could do.” Benno thought about what other basic jobs any merchant’s child would do while putting a bunch of request forms in Lutz’s hands and heading to the Merchant’s Guild. I went with them so I could read the boards on the Guild’s bookshelf. 

“Oof...” 

“This is pretty bad.” 

There were tons of carriages lined up in front of the Merchant’s Guild by the plaza, with some passengers getting off to deliver their own forms to the guild while others got back in their carriages. It was a mess of people. 

“It looks like the second floor will be crowded.” 

“Yeah, since market day and the baptism ceremony are both so close.” 

Judging by the number of carriages, I could only imagine how many people were on the second floor. Lutz struggled to the inner staircase, keeping close behind Benno as the crowd crushed him. Benno was carrying me like usual, so I avoided the crowd crush. 

Benno showed his guild card to the guard, and the moment we started climbing stairs, all the loud noise vanished. The fence probably had some magical properties that blocked sound. 

“Seems like running errands will be a pretty rough job.” When on errands, Lutz would have to push through the crowd without Benno taking the lead. He sighed hard. 

“Sometimes people try to steal your paperwork or you lose it in the rush, so be careful. Anyway. First of all, this form is about...” Benno set me down and headed to the counter while explaining to Lutz what the paperwork was. I turned around and tried to go to the bookshelf, but a hand grabbed my head and pulled me back. 

“Where do you think you’re going, huh?” 

“...The bookshelf is calling for me.” 

“It’s not. You’re imagining things. After your baptism you’ll be a forewoman, so you need to listen too.” 

It would be smart to have Benno teach me how the Guild worked. So he proceeded to teach us both how the counters worked and where to deliver certain paperwork. 

“If you deliver a request here, you can browse what magic contracts have been registered. You’re going to be making a lot of new products, Myne, so you need to learn what magic contracts are in effect.” 

“Oh, is really that you, Myne?” A girl with light-pink twintails came running this way from behind the counter. There was no mistaking her; it was Freida, the guildmaster’s granddaughter. She was clearly wearing her apprentice outfit. 

While I was in the middle of trying to process what was happening, Freida put her hands on her hips and pouted unhappily. “Spring’s almost over and you haven’t come over to play once, you know.” 

“Oh, sorry. I’ve been really busy lately.” I wasn’t lying, either. I had been busy making paper and getting the workshop ready. I had fulfilled my promise to make sweets with her, so I had kinda just thought I didn’t need to go over anymore. Her place was filled with traps and she wouldn’t stop trying to get me to join her store, which wasn’t exactly my idea of a fun time. 

I apologized and Freida shook her head, said it was okay, and smiled. “I have tomorrow off, so you could come visit then.” 

“Bwuh? But if the weather’s good tomorrow, I’m going to—” Benno’s hand tightened around my shoulder for a second. I was about to say “make more paper,” but it was still a secret that I was the one making paper for Benno, so I hurriedly closed my mouth. 

Freida glanced at Benno’s hand and smiled. “I will come get you if it’s raining tomorrow. You may be busy if it’s sunny out, but what would be better on a rainy day than visiting a friend? You promised to visit during the spring, but spring is almost over.” 

“Ngh...” It was hard to say no to an offer like that. It was true that I couldn’t make paper on rainy days, and I would have the spare time to visit her. 

As I fell into thought, Freida advanced the conversation further. “I would like to discuss more about the Devouring and whatnot with you, given the chance.” 

“Oh, I think there’s some things I wanted to ask about too.” Freida was more informed about the Devouring than anyone I knew. There was still a few things I was curious about, and an opportunity to talk with her would be welcome. 

Hearing that made Freida’s face light up and she clapped her hands together. “This is all if it rains, of course. I will be waiting with a pound cake ready.” 

“Okay. If it rains, I’ll go.” The allure of a pound cake made me agree and the moment I did, I felt Benno’s fingers dig into my shoulders. I looked up and saw that Benno was smiling with veins bulging over his temples. 

“Myne.” 

“Mr. Benno, we are merely discussing what we will do if it rains. Nothing is set in stone.” 

“That’s right. I’ll only go if it rains tomorrow.” Freida extended a helping hand and I jumped right on it. I tapped on Benno’s hand so he would let me go and I heard him murmur “this unbelievable idiot” in a low voice. 

“It’s raining tomorrow.” 

“Bwuh?” 

Freida’s smile deepened and Lutz let out a sigh. It seemed that even without a weather channel, everyone knew there would be rain tomorrow. 

The rain started falling in the evening, and it didn’t stop when the sun rose again.