Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 1.3 - Chapter 16

Contract with Freida 

...Nooo! It’s raining. There’s no wiggling out of this one, it’s just objectively raining outside. 

I slumped my shoulders and ate while listening to the rain hit the windows. Freida’s smile, Benno’s groan, and Lutz’s sigh had all been justified. It was really raining. 

Oh well. Now that I knew for sure I was going to Freida’s house, I just had to do my best to extract as much valuable information from her as possible. I’d be safe with Lutz with me. 

I took my hard-to-chew bread and mopped it with last night’s leftover soup before biting down. I then wiped my bowl with the last of the bread to finish breakfast and sighed as I looked around. 

“I wish I could bring a gift or something, but I don’t think I own a single thing she doesn’t...” Freida’s home was styled after the residences of nobles and there was nothing I could bring her that she didn’t already probably have. Tuuli took a sip of water and tilted her head. 

“What about more simple all-in-one shampoo? She loved it when we brought some over earlier, right?” 

“Mmm, Benno’s started officially selling rinsham and he told me not to hand any out for free. Making some for my own use is one thing, but giving it out for free will disturb the market, or something.” 

“Oh, okay. It’s too rainy to pick any flowers, too. This is rough,” said Tuuli as she took a little bit of water from the jug to wash her bowl. Once she was done with that, she started busily preparing for work. Mom had already left and Dad was asleep since he had night shift yesterday. I quietly used some water to clean my bowl as well. 

“I wish we made this promise days ago so I could have picked fruit ahead of time...” Benno was lending a room to Lutz and helping me establish the Myne Workshop for my products, so I really really wanted to avoid upsetting him. I owed him a lot. It wasn’t on purpose that I blabbed about things and often succumbed to the temptation of making food for myself to eat. I didn’t want him to be mad at me, that’s just what kept happening. 

The problem was that avoiding Benno’s anger meant not giving away any rinsham. Nor anything involving paper. Freida and Leise would both love it if I told them a new sweets recipe, and I personally would love to eat said sweets, but Benno would definitely get mad at me. 

...Now that I’m not his apprentice, I think I’m free to spread recipes wherever I want, but that might end up biting me in the butt later. 

I groaned and fell into thought, trying to think of a gift to give Freida, when suddenly a knock came on the door. Tuuli, wearing a thick raincoat-esque jacket covered in oil and wax for waterproofing since she was about to go to work, looked up and headed to the door. 

“Yeees? Who is it?” I started pushing my dishes away, thinking that Lutz was just a little earlier than expected, but Tuuli’s shriek of surprise wiped that thought out of my mind. 

“Freida?! You’re here?!” cried Tuuli. 

I turned around in surprise and saw Freida standing in front of the door with a servant. She was wearing fine clothes despite the weather, as was her attendant, which meant they both stood out strongly in contrast to our poor housing. To be honest, they made us look even poorer than we already were. 

“I’ve been so eager to see Myne since waking up that I could bear it no longer and elected to come here myself to pick Myne up.” She smiled and I could hear the implied “I’m not letting you get away” in her words. A shudder ran down my spine. I wanted to turn right around and flee, but I couldn’t leave Tuuli behind like that. She turned around and said “Wow, Myne, she’s so excited to play with you that she came through the rain!” with a happy smile. 

...Tuuli, you’re an angel. Please never lose that innocence. 

“Far be it from me to make Myne walk in the rain with her ill health. My carriage is waiting on the main street.” She had likely predicted that I would turn her down by claiming I didn’t want to get sick by walking in the rain. I could shake my head in awe at how masterfully she was weaving her web around me. 

“A carriage?! Wooow! That’s so nice, Myne!” 

Freida, seeing Tuuli with her work equipment in hand, tilted her head. 

“Oh? Do you have work today?” 

“Uh huh. I need to get going soon. This sucks,” said Tuuli, but Freida briefly fell into thought and then clapped her hands with a meaningful smile. 

“In that case, would you like to ride partway to your destination?” 

“What?! I can go too?! I can ride the carriage?!” Tuuli’s face lit up. Normally, poor people like us would never in our entire lives get the chance to ride a carriage. I could understand Tuuli’s excitement. It seemed my only option would be to hurry up and get ready so we could leave. 

“Tuuli, you have to go get Lutz.” 

“Oh, that’s right. I’ll go get him.” 

“Hm, but if Lutz comes, there won’t be enough space for you to ride as well...” Tuuli set her stuff down and started to run off, but Freida regretfully stopped her. I needed Lutz to watch over me whenever I went outside. If Lutz coming meant Tuuli couldn’t ride, well, that was unfortunate for her. 

“Huh? What? I... I don’t get to ride?” Despair and disappointment feel that much worse if you once had hope. Tuuli hung her head, looking close to tears. I started to panic a little, not sure how to make her feel better, when Freida intervened. She took Tuuli’s hands and smiled so, so gently. 

“Dear Tuuli, I will take responsibility here and take care of Myne in Lutz’s place. I promise that I will not allow Myne to fall ill. You may rest easy and ride with us.” 

“Myne, you won’t get tired or wet thanks to the carriage, right? Will you be okay without Lutz?” No! I won’t! or so I said on the inside, but Tuuli’s desperate look was too much for me to refuse. I couldn’t say that I needed Lutz and that she would have to walk to work. She had been so happy to get the chance to ride a carriage, so what else could I do? I didn’t want to go to Freida’s alone, but my hands were tied. 

“...I’ll be fine. Let’s go, Tuuli.” 

“Thanks, Myne! I’ll go tell Lutz, and you get ready.” Tuuli dashed out of the house in excitement and headed to Lutz’ house. Once her footsteps faded, I could hear only the rain. Ultimately, Freida had exploited Tuuli to get rid of Lutz. I glared at her, eyes narrowed. 

“Freida.” 

“Your elder sister was happy, was she not?” 

“She was. Haaah... Fine. I dug my own grave here, anyway.” It was my own weakness that prevented me from cutting Tuuli off. There was no point in attacking Freida. I got my things ready while thinking about how mad Lutz and Benno would be at me for not thinking ahead again. 

“Sorry, I didn’t manage to find any gifts for you.” 

“You’ll be spending a day’s worth of time with me, Myne. I could not ask for a greater gift than that.” Her smile was that of a young girl excited to spend time with a friend, but I knew that Freida was no innocent child. 

“Myne, I left a message with Karla. Let’s go! We’ll be late.” Tuuli skipping back inside with a smile washed away the heavy atmosphere. 

“Let us go.” We walked outside and locked the door behind us. In general, people of the city wore thick mantles and wide hats to block the rain. Naturally, they weren’t actually waterproof, so spending a lot of time outside or under heavy rain would still get you wet with soaked clothing. That wouldn’t be a problem for us, though, since we were just passing through a narrow alley on the way to the main street. 

“Now then, hop inside.” We hurriedly got into the carriage waiting for us and took off our rain gear. The servant sat next to the driver, so it was just us kids inside. 

“Wow, so this is what a carriage looks like on the inside!” 

“Please sit, we’re about to leave. Will the plaza be a fine place to let you off?” 

“Mhm, I work really close to the plaza, at the close end of the craftsmen’s alley.” 

Tuuli was bouncing around in excitement while looking around, so Freida told her to sit down. I went ahead and sat in the middle of the bench. The carriage was built for two adults and had just enough room for three kids to sit comfortably next to each other. It bounced around a lot once it started moving, but unlike before I was actually sitting in my seat properly, so I wasn’t flung around anywhere. 

“Your baptism is coming up soon, isn’t it? What kind of outfit will you wear?” 

“Myne’s outfit is my outfit remade, but it’s so fancy now you wouldn’t think that!” answered Tuuli, puffing out her chest with pride as if she were talking about herself. She and Mom had been remaking the outfit more over the past months, making it look increasingly fancy with each attempt. 

“...Fancy?” 

“It’s not what you’d expect from remade clothes, it has a really weird design now. But Mom worked hard, so it looks super cute.” It was probably hard for Freida to imagine us having fancy clothes after seeing the poor state of our home. She looked confused, but Tuuli wasn’t lying. Though it was hard to explain exactly what we had done. 

“Freida, your baptism outfit was super fluffy and cute. I want to try wearing clothes like that someday.” 

“My my, thank you. Incidentally, does that mean you’ve made a new hairpin as well?” Freida smiled happily at Tuuli’s praise, then shifted the topic to hairpins. All the hairpins we had made outside of Freida’s had the same design and differed only by color. But she was probably curious about the one I had made for myself, figuring I would go the extra mile on it. 

“Uh huh, ’cause it’s Myne’s celebration. I worked really hard on it. I made three large roses, just like the ones on yours.” 

“May I assume, then, that our hairpins match each other?” Freida looked at me a little doubtfully, head tilted. Tuuli didn’t know what to say and pulled my sleeve nervously. 

“They both have large flowers, but Myne’s are white, and um, it shakes? They don’t really match, right Myne?” 

“The thread is actually more of a cream color, but it does look white from a distance. I put tiny flowers around the roses too, but it doesn’t look like yours, Freida. You’ll see when the day comes. Right, Tuuli?” 

“Uh huh. It wouldn’t be fun if we told you everything!” said Tuuli, putting a hand over her mouth and smiling mischievously. Freida broke into a smile as well. 

“My my, I will look forward to it then. I shall go all the way outside to see.” 

The carriage made good progress as we talked and soon enough I saw Tuuli’s workplace within the line of workshops. We stopped the carriage and Tuuli put her stuff back on. After getting her bag of tools in hand, she nervously glanced back at me. 

“Fear not. I shall see Myne home safely myself.” 

“Good luck at work, Tuuli.” 

“Thanks for letting me ride your carriage, Freida. Sorry, Myne, for being pushy.” She waved goodbye and ran to her workshop as the horses drawing our carriage resumed trotting. 

“Welcome back, Myne. A pound cake I baked is ready for you. Lemme know what you think.” When we arrived at Frieda’s, Leise was waiting for us. She took us to the parlor and immediately placed tea and cake on the table. I took one bite and was in heaven immediately. The dough was baked to be perfectly moist, and she must have mastered baking cakes with the oven as it tasted significantly better than last time. 

“So goooood! This is way better than last time. You baked it perfectly.” 

“Glad to hear it. I was wondering if I could improve it somehow.” 

“Improve it? Mmm, I think it tastes plenty good already.” I threw a piece of the cake into my mouth and fell into thought while enjoying the sweet flavor. There were some things she could do, like make it look fancier on the plate, add dry fruit, shave citrus peels to mix into the batter, etc, but Benno would probably get mad if I told her any of those things. 

...Mmm, Benno would definitely get mad no matter what I do, and while I would be fine with the simple cake here, I really want to support Leise since she’s invested in making better food. 

“I don’t know how much we can improve it, but... I’ll trade you ideas for a bag of sugar.” I suggested a trade, thinking back to the about one-kilogram heavy bag I had seen in the kitchen before. Leise looked at Freida, who had the ultimate authority here. 

“A bag of sugar... Is that a trade I can make, my lady?” 

“Yes, certainly.” 

“You heard her. Let’s hear the ideas!” I gasped a little at Leise’s intensity and opened my mouth. 

“If you add grated apfelsige peels to the dough, it should taste and smell different. Maybe better. The flavor can also be changed by putting different things in it, like dry fruit. Please experiment on your own to see what will taste the best. This is extra information, but if you’re serving the pound cake to nobles, it will look fancier if you add whipped cream and sliced fruit on top.” 

“Okay. Let’s give it a shot.” Leise sucked in air and stood up to leave immediately. Freida and I were left behind. After blinking in surprise, we smiled at each other. 

“Forgive me, Myne. To think she would behave like that in front of a guest. She’s normally much more calm, but when new recipes get involved...” 

“It’s good that she has a drive to improve her cooking. The harder she works, the better our food gets.” I could appreciate her enthusiasm. Tasty food spreading throughout this world would be nothing but good, so I would like her to experiment all she wanted. 

“Speaking of which, why are you working as an apprentice in the Merchant’s Guild? Aren’t you going to own a store in the Noble District when you grow up? You can be an apprentice even if you won’t work there?” I didn’t expect to see Freida working in the Merchant’s Guild when her future plan was to own a store. I asked what was up while eating cake and Freida answered while drinking tea. 

“I asked my grandfather to employ me. I need to learn and make connections if I am to hold a store in the Noble District. I will be all alone when the store opens. It will be necessary for me to be capable of running the store on my own, and the more connections I have the better.” 

“All alone? You won’t have, like, Jutte there to help you? No servants?” 

“Nobody but me will be permitted to reside in the Noble District. They will have servants of their own permitted for me, so I will not technically be alone, but I’m sure you understand.” It would be hard to expect any servants assigned to her to be wise in the ways of economics and business. Wouldn’t it be a little cruel to make a young girl who had just reached adulthood run a store all by herself? Couldn’t they at least let her bring a partner to work with and consult when necessary? 

“In truth, I will not be entirely alone. My family is permitted to enter the Noble District on business. They will not be with me at all times, but still, they are strong allies to have.” 

“...That’s true.” They wouldn’t necessarily be ideal allies, but I found myself unable to do anything but agree with Freida. She was charging forward and challenging her fate, how could I say anything else? Her sophisticated, mature way of speaking and thinking were her sword and shield in the noble district. She would have to train her skills now to survive an unfamiliar world. 

“I am working in the Guild and in my family stores now so that once my store opens, I will be able to deal with whatever may happen.” 

“That’s really impressive, Freida. I can tell you’re thinking really far ahead,” I said, which made Freida’s expression harden. She looked at me quietly, eyes serious, and opened her mouth. 

“There is something I would like to ask you as well. May I?” Well, here comes the main point. The thought crossed my mind. I knew what Freida would be asking me. I smiled and nodded. 

“What in the world are you thinking?” asked Freida. “A reasonable person would have cut off Benno and joined my side by now. I have been waiting for that, Myne. Waiting for you to come to me, seeking my help...” The guildmaster and Freida would be stronger allies than Benno when it came to seeking help from nobles to survive. Otto pointed out the same thing. Everyone would think the same. A store with deep connections to nobles would be able to negotiate more in my favor, there was no doubting that. 

“It is almost summer but you have made no moves. Are you thinking about your future? If you do not negotiate with a noble soon, you will...” Passion crept into her voice as she tried to convince me, firm in her beliefs from her own history. I could tell there was a restless sense of urgency boiling within her. As a fellow sufferer of the Devouring, she was worried about me. It would take time for negotiations to end and the contract to be signed. If Freida was wanting me to hurry out of fear of delaying the tools that would save my life, I would feel a little embarrassed for worrying her. 

I let out a dry laugh and looked into her eyes. 

“You know, Freida. I thought about it really hard, and decided that I want to die while living with my family.” 

Freida froze with eyes and mouth wide open. From her trembling lips came a slight whisper: “No way.” 

“I’ve mostly given up already. Tuuli cried and said we could search for a way to keep me alive, but there’s no way to survive the Devouring outside of signing my life away to nobles, is there?” If there had been another way, the guildmaster wouldn’t have had to use all the power and resources at his disposal to save Freida. He must have researched ways to cure the Devouring while gathering magic tools and buying time. In the end he didn’t find anything and had no choice but to give up, negotiate a deal with a noble, and sign Freida’s life away. How could I do any better? 

“...None that I know of.” 

“I actually do want at least one more magic tool so I can try to finish what I’m doing, but I’m not even considering signing myself to a noble. There’s nothing but magic tools that can cure the Devouring, right?” 

“If I knew of something, I would have used it myself,” said Freida, glaring at me in frustration. I shrugged. 

“What I wanted to ask you, Freida, was whether or not I could buy magic tools from someone other than a noble. Or could I make them myself...? Something like that.” Ideally I could make magic tools myself, but unfortunately, there weren’t any books about how to build them back on Earth. I had played games and read fantasy books that brought up magic tools, but they obviously weren’t useful here. And as far as I knew, there weren’t any workshops that made magic tools in this city. 

“Creating magic tools requires mana, so only nobles with mana can do so. Nobody who knows how to make magic tools lives on this side of the inner wall.” 

“Okay. I was thinking I could try making some myself if I knew how, but I guess that’s not happening.” If only nobles could create them with their mana, then the only magic tool workshops in the city would be in the Noble District. I had hoped that I could make things work with how much money I had now, but as expected, things didn’t pan out that way. 

“...I had not considered the idea of making them myself.” 

“That’s because you’re the daughter of a rich family. I’m poor and everything I’ve wanted I’ve had to make myself, so the first idea that came to mind was trying to make them myself.” I laughed to myself. Rinsham, hairpins, paper, soot pencils, chopsticks. Every time I wanted or needed something, I had to make it myself, with help or not. 

“Is your family that important to you? Are you not afraid of being consumed by the heat and dying?” murmured Freida. 

“Hmm, I don’t know. I want to live, but I’m not that afraid of dying.” I had already died and I remembered it. My life here as Myne was basically just a bonus life given to me by a whimsical god or whatever. Living here was fun now, but dying wouldn’t be a big deal to me. 

“...I don’t have access to books, so there’s nothing super important to me but my family. The people around me. I haven’t chosen to die, I’ve just chosen to be with my family.” 

“Books?” 

“Uh huh. I’ve saved up a lot of money by now, maybe I can buy one,” I said with a joking grin. Freida gave a troubled smile in return. 

“If you want books, why not go to the nobles’ quarter? There are plenty of books there.” 

“Aaah, maybe I would if the contract said I could read as many books as I want, but I don’t think a noble keeping me as a slave would let me touch their expensive, rare books.” 

“That would be unlikely, considering your social status.” From the perspective of a merchant, I was a poor commoner in a city with a low literacy rate. Even if I did know how to read, they wouldn’t want to let me touch their expensive and possibly irreplaceable books. It was likely they would have me killed if I touched them without permission. 

And suffice to say, I knew myself. I wouldn’t be able to hold myself back in the presence of books. It wasn’t hard to imagine myself lunging at the first book I saw and getting killed in moments. 

“...My plan was to try and establish a mass production line for books before I died, but that’s a bit beyond me now. I’ve basically given up. I just don’t have enough time left. So inside, I want to earn as much money as I can and leave it behind for my family, since I’ve been such a burden to them,” I said with a self-derisive laugh. Freida’s eyes flashed with a sharp light. 

“In that case, shall I buy the pound cake recipe from you?” I looked at Freida, who had shifted entirely into merchant mode, and fell into thought. Pound cakes were a basic sweet and although I wouldn’t mind her monopolizing them for a limited time, I didn’t want her to own all the rights to it like Benno did with the rinsham. That would seriously interfere with the growth of confectionery culture here. 

“...What would you say if I offered to sell you exclusive rights to sell it for one year at a price of five small golds?” 

“I would take that deal, of course.” She answered immediately, without a moment of hesitation. 

“...What do you mean, ‘of course’? Am I underselling it?” 

“Well yes, I believe you are. Much like plant paper, there is no precedent to pound cake, no similar product. Exclusive rights to sell it would generally be in the measure of large gold coins. After all, it will certainly earn that much and more in profit.” 

“Large gold coins...?” It seemed that I had been giving Benno information for much, much cheaper than I should have been. 

“So? Will your raise your price?” 

“No, it’s fine. We’re only talking about a year here. Five small golds is enough for me.” Despite being given the opportunity to raise the price, I shook my head. 

“Then I shall prepare the contract.” 

“What? Do you mean a magic contract?!” Would I have to live in fear again, bleeding onto the paper and worrying about people I didn’t know getting hurt? I started to subconsciously tremble and Freida let out an exasperated sigh. 

“...Myne, contract magic is not used so frivolously. It exists as a means of security for when you are dealing with those overwhelmingly more powerful than you in mana and authority. A standard contract on parchment will suffice for us.” 

“Oh, I see.” My first contract had been a magic one, so my sense of perspective was super off. But if Freida was right about that, why had Benno used a magic contract when dealing with me? Weird. 

“Actually, Myne, where did you even learn about contract magic? It is very rarely ever used.” 

“...Benno would get mad at me if I told you, so it’s a secret.” 

“Oh, I see you’re learning.” Freida giggled and reached for a bell on a nearby shelf. She rang it and Jutte entered the room nigh silently. 

“Please prepare a contract.” Jutte prepared a sheet of parchment and Freida ran a feather pen over it, recording the contents of the contract. The pen looked fancier than the wooden one I had bought, but as far as I could tell it was harder to use. Writing up contracts was a daily event for Freida given her work as an apprentice in the Merchant’s Guild, and even I had gotten used to it by now. After checking to make sure everything was in order, we tapped our guild cards together. 

“Might I ask why you went for just one year?” 

“A year will be enough for everyone to learn it came from your store, right? But once sugar spreads out a bit more, I want newcomers to have a chance to make it too.” 

“Newcomers?” 

“Once the recipe is made public, there will be people competing with your store and working out new recipes and sweets. I really like sweets, so my ideal is to have a lot of people making them and spreading them through the world.” 

“Haaah... You would not be a good merchant, Myne, as you do not prioritize your own profit above all else.” Freida and I signed the parchment that would soon be an officially recognized legal contract. With that, I had successfully sold to Freida the right to monopolize pound cake sales for one year. 

“But well, I guess it’ll only be publicized if I’m alive in a year. You can do whatever you want with it if I’m gone by then.” 

“I will prioritize my profits, so you would do well to survive and publicize it yourself in a year.” Freida looked away, close to crying.