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Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 2.1 - Chapter 9




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First Time Outside 

“This place is pretty huge, huh?” Lutz began exploring the director’s chambers with an excited expression. The second floor had the main bedroom, rooms for female attendants who took direct care of their master, and a storage room. 

Gil didn’t want me to enter the rooms since they weren’t cleaned, but I nonetheless explored the first floor too. The door to the immediate right after entering the chambers had four rooms for attendants and a storage room. The left door led to a dining area with a kitchen large enough for multiple chefs to work at once, plus stairs to an underground storage area. 

“Once the kitchen is cleaned, it will allow you to offer tea to visitors. It would be wise to assemble a tea set, Sister Myne,” said Fran with satisfaction as he looked over the kitchen, but my eyes were locked on something else. In the corner of the kitchen was something that strongly resembled the oven in the guildmaster’s home. 

“Wait, is that an oven?” 

“Is it not normal for ovens to be in kitchens?” asked Fran, confused. The only kitchens in the temple were those assigned to blue-robed nobles, which made ovens a normal fact of life for those who grew up here, but they were still rare to me and Lutz. Rare, and desired. 

“Lutz! There’s an oven here! We have to tell Benno about this!” 

“Oooh!” Lutz, who was in the process of working with Benno and Mark to open the Italian restaurant, looked around the noble kitchen with sparkling eyes. 

“So, Fran. Would it be acceptable for me to bring chefs here after the kitchen is cleaned?” 

“Yes. It is normal for blue apprentice shrine maidens to bring chefs and other servants to their quarters.” 

As I began planning to train chefs here while simultaneously giving food to my attendants and those in the orphanage, Fran brought me back down to reality. 

“As you have not brought a chef with you today, Sister Myne, how will you choose to have lunch?” The temple operated on a system where blue priests brought chefs with them to make their food, the leftovers of which trickled down the organization. I couldn’t have lunch through conventional means without a chef. 

“I think eating out will be our best option. Please get changed, you two.” 

“Changed?” 

I returned to the second floor and took out some bundles from the basket Lutz brought. I placed them on the table and pushed them toward my two attendants. 

“This isn’t a gift from the divine or anything. This is a gift from me, to reward you two for working so hard. You don’t need to share these with anyone. They’re yours.” 

“Thank you, Sister Myne.” 

“Wait, wha? Really?” 

Fran and Gil opened the bundles, their expressions filled with anxiety, happiness, and anticipation. For a moment, I thought they looked entirely like children opening gifts for the first time — then I realized that this really was their first time. In a place of equality like the temple, it was hard to imagine many gifts being given or received. Although my family was poor, I still received gifts from my parents on some occasions, like my baptism or when I first went to the forest. Fran and Gil had nothing like that in their lives. 

“...Hey. These are clothes, yeah?” 

“Mhm. Change into them so we can go outside.” 

“Really?! I’ve always wanted to go outside. Gimme a sec, I’ll go get changed.” Gil smiled the brightest smile I had ever seen him make as he hugged the bundle of clothes to his chest. He dashed down the steps, going down multiple at a time. He was so obviously happy that I felt happy too just for giving him the gift. 

As I smiled I turned to look at Fran, who hadn’t said a single word. He was quietly looking at his clothes spread on the table, tracing his fingers along the green embroidery with a sense of awe. My heart was tickled at the sight of him embracing his happiness at his own pace. 

“Fran, would you change into the clothes, so I can see you in them?” 

“A-As you wish.” Fran’s cheeks flushed slightly with embarrassment as he quickly walked down the stairs, having noticed that I was looking at him. It was so rare to see the calm and collected Fran get flustered that Lutz and I laughed a little together. 

“Nice to see that they liked the clothes.” 

“Mhm.” 

Lutz glanced at the stairs, then lowered his voice. “...But what was that about Gil looking forward to leaving the temple? This place is pretty weird, huh?” 

“It is. But from their perspective, we’re the weird ones.” I took off my blue robes, folded them, and put them in the closet so that I could go outside. A hanger would be nice to keep them from getting wrinkled from the folds. I’ll ask Benno to get some made, I thought while picking up some of the donation money to fund our excursion. 

I left the temple, with my two attendants looking afraid to pass through the temple gates and enter the lower city. 

“Fran, you don’t need to worry so much. It’ll be fine.” 

As it was his first time wearing anything other than his gray priest robes, Fran kept messing with his sleeves and collar, but the dark-brown clothes matched his calm demeanor perfectly. Gil’s light-green clothes radiated energy and looked completely natural on him as he ran all over the place in excitement. 

“Woooah, we’re outside! This is just, man, now I’m really glad I became an attendant!” 

“In that case, you may express your newfound devotion by speaking more politely. You will embarrass Sister Myne at this rate.” 

“...Uuuh, sure, eventually.” He spun his head around to look at everything, racing toward whatever caught his interest. It was impossible for me to keep up with him while also maintaining my slow pace. In the end, Fran picked me up and carried me while Lutz held Gil back from running off on his own. 

“It feels strange to walk outside the temple.” 

“...Well, this is my world. You might want to loosen up a bit when you’re out here, Fran. You’ll stand out if you’re too polite.” 

“It is surprisingly difficult to change the way one speaks.” 

Lutz guided us to an eatery near the central plaza. It was a relatively expensive place, and apparently one that merchants favored. Rather than using large communal tables, it had several small tables for small parties, which was rare. I could see several groups of people having what looked like business discussions. 

Lutz had been to the eatery before, so he ordered his recommended food for us. Cheese and sausages boiled in salt were stacked high on plates with baskets of thinly sliced bread nearby. We each got our own bowl of vegetable soup, too. 

“Time to eat.” 

“Huh? That’s it?” When Lutz and I reached out for the bread, Gil gave us a sharp rebuke. We froze with our arms outstretched and looked at each other. 

“Did we forget something?” 

“You gotta pray before you eat, don’tcha? Take a listen. O mighty King and Queen of the endless skies who doth grace us with thousands upon thousands of lives to consume, O mighty Eternal Five who rule the mortal realm, I offer thanks and prayers to thee, and do take part in the meal so graciously provided.” 

Judging by how Gil fluidly chanted it with his arms crossed in front of his chest, I could tell that the prayer was something those living in the temple always said before eating. 

“...I dunno. Never heard that prayer before in my life.” 

“I guess I’m going to have to memorize that.” 

With Gil and Fran’s guidance, I tried repeating the prayer before eating. There was no way I’d be remembering it any time soon, though. I would need to write it in on my notepad when I got the chance. 

I shook off those thoughts and started eating with Lutz, but Fran and Gil made no move to join us. They just sat still in front of their food. 

“Wha? Aren’t you going to eat? Are you not hungry?” I asked out of curiosity, and in reply Fran slowly shook his head. 

“...As we are attendants, we cannot eat until you are finished, Sister Myne.” 

“But the food will be cold by then.” It looked like Gil wanted to dive in, but was holding himself back due to Fran’s presence. He was fidgeting so much he looked like a wind-up toy stuck in place. 

“Okay, this is an order. Eat your food while it’s hot and delicious.” They had to obey my orders, and so Fran reached for some bread with a reluctant expression on his face. Seeing that, Gil happily did the same. 

Fran ate with the kind of graceful posture one didn’t see much in the lower city. Gil, having been raised in the orphanage as well, also ate relatively politely. Lutz was much more aggressive with his food, as he was used to stuffing his cheeks while fighting with his brothers all the time. Perhaps this was the result of an environment where food was shared equally, and there was no fighting or stealing from each other. 

“You both have really nice manners. Were you taught them?” 

“The orphanage cannot expose the blue priests to unsightly or shamefully incompetent servants, and thus we are taught by our elders how to eat, walk, and so on.” 

“Yup, yup. The thing I hate the most is the purification we gotta do before leaving the orphanage. It’s not too bad right now, but man, it sucks in the winter. It’s like they’re tryna kill us.” 


“Thankfully, those who become attendants are given warm water instead of cold.” 

In my opinion, any institution that was concerned about appearances more than anything else was probably a bad place to be. But thanks to their efforts, Gil both looked clean and had good table manners. I continued eating while asking about how differently attendants were treated from orphans, when suddenly I noticed Fran’s eyebrows furrowing a bit. Fran was used to eating the food of nobles, leftovers or not, and it seemed the food served here wasn’t to his taste. He was scrunching up his face just a tiny bit as he ate. 

“Fran, I guess this food is a lot different from what you’re used to?” I smiled and tapped my brow to indicate that I noticed his expression, which made Fran cover his eyebrows with a hand while forcing a smile. 

“Very much so. My usual meals are much different from this. However, the soup being warm makes it much more delicious.” The food he had been getting from his noble master was of the highest quality, but due to it always being leftovers, he had never eaten freshly cooked, warm food before. 

“I don’t care about the taste as long as my stomach’s full. We get waaay less divine gifts now ’cause all those blue priests left, but a bunch of gray priests got sent back to the orphanage, so yeah.” Gil had eaten his fill of the food, but in the end he ate way less than Lutz despite being around the same age as him. It was possible that his stomach had shrunk from hunger after he was forced to eat less. 

“In that case, I think I’ll buy some extra food for your dinner, and to give to the orphanage. Me going home means you won’t get much for dinner otherwise, right?” 

“Really?! All right! Blessed be the gods!” It had been so long since Gil had been able to eat his fill of food that he stood up in excitement and struck the praying pose in the middle of the eatery. The once-bustling restaurant fell silent and all eyes fell on our table. 

“H-Hold up! Don’t pray out here!” Lutz hurriedly dragged Gil out of the eatery. I apologized to the store owner for the commotion and, after adding a little to the bill to compensate, fled from the premises. 

“Please leave the praying to the temple. Nobody prays out here. Okay? Just like Lutz and I don’t know anything about the temple, you and Fran don’t know anything about the lower city,” I warned Gil with a sigh and his shoulders slumped with visible sadness. 

“...My bad. Sorry.” 

“Just be more careful from now on and it’ll be fine.” 

“I’m not talking about now! What I’m saying is... sorry for calling you stupid and all that.” It seemed he regretted how he had acted at the temple. 

Lutz laughed and patted Gil’s back. “We’re both ignorant in our own ways. If Myne starts acting weird, tell her what she’s messing up. Just like the stuff about praying before she eats. I’ll keep an eye on you so you don’t do weird stuff either.” 

“Gil, some stands over there sell food for travelers. It’ll be a good place to buy dinner and a little food for the orphanage.” The east gate was connected to the city road, so business was very lively with plenty of travelers. But it was also less safe due to all the outsiders. We looked at the stands, hoping to finish our business as close to the central plaza as possible. I bought several sandwiches (thin slices of bread with ham and cheese stuck between them) and wrapped them in cloth before putting them in my tote bag. 

“Fran, how many people are in the orphanage? What should I buy for them?” 

“...There are around eighty to ninety people in the orphanage. Sweets are never given out, so perhaps a crate of easily distributed fruit would be ideal, or some amount of those small grain-like fruits.” 

With the extra height granted to me by Fran picking me up, I surveyed the food stands from above. There were three stands nearby selling fruit. We moved between them while I checked to see which had the lowest prices. 

“Oh, a divine gift,” said Gil, which made Fran instinctively turn around and me with him. There we saw him grab a fruit off a pile on a stand and start munching on it. Lutz, who had been holding his hand to stop him from running off, was frozen in place with his eyes opened wide in shock. 

“W-Wait, Gil?!” 

“Hey, you! Whaddaya think you’re doing?! You stealing right in front of me?!” The lady behind the stand punched Gil right in the face with a clenched fist. He looked at me, stunned, still holding a peach-esque fruit known as a prehre. I immediately had Fran set me down so I could get my money out. 

“I’m sorry, miss. This boy has been a shut-in his whole life and doesn’t even know what money is. I’ll pay for the fruit, so please don’t call the guards.” 

“Sorry, miss. I was supposed to stop him from doing stuff like this.” 

After I paid and apologized with Lutz, the lady shook her head in exasperation. “Good grief. I don’t know where this boy’s from, but keep a closer eye on him when he’s outside.” 

“I’m really sorry. Go on, Gil. You apologize too.” 

“Huh? Er, s-sorry.” At my encouragement, Gil stammered out an apology with a thoroughly confused expression. 

“Gil, did that prehre taste good?” 

“Y-Yeah...” Gil glanced at his half-eaten prehre, looking worried. I told him he could finish it since I paid for it, then took out two pieces of cloth and used them as bags by tying together two ends. 

“Miss, could you put five prehres into each of these?” 

“You got it.” I bought the fruits for the orphanage at the lady’s stand, partially as an apology, then returned to the central plaza. I had Gil carry them as punishment. He wouldn’t be able to do that kind of thing again with both his hands full, probably. 

“I’ll teach you how to use money once I pay you for the first time, but until then, don’t touch anything in stores or on stands.” 

“...Alright.” 

We walked north up the main street on our way to the temple. Fran was carrying me, and at some point Lutz looked up at me. 

“Hey, Myne. Mind if I tell Master Benno about the kitchen before we go back to the temple?” 

“Go ahead. He’ll need to get the ingredients and dishes ready, so the sooner he knows about it the better.” 

Lutz ran up to Benno’s store, which was busily preparing for the afternoon with lunch having just finished. I had Fran set me down so I could walk leisurely after him. Gil followed behind me while still holding the bags. 

“Hi, Mr. Mark.” 

“Hello, Myne. The master is waiting for you.” I greeted Mark after he came out to see me, then headed to Benno’s office with my two attendants. I could see Lutz standing in front of Benno’s desk, giving his report. 

The second Benno saw me, he stood up, strode in my direction, and lifted me right up. “Fantastic job, Myne! A kitchen actually used by nobles will be a perfect reference for the Italian restaurant!” 

Benno rustled my hair so hard that my head bounced back in forth. He was so excited that Fran, who only knew him from the temple, took an uncomfortable step back. I knocked aside Benno’s hand and had him set me on the floor so I could sit at the table like usual. 

“It’s apparently okay if I bring chefs to the chambers’ kitchen, so I came to discuss whether or not you could hire a chef soon and have him train there. The food he makes in practice will be the main source of food for my attendants, and the leftovers will be sent to the orphanage, so the ingredients won’t go to waste. It won’t hurt your wallet either if I pay for the food, so I think this is a perfect idea. Don’t you agree?” 

If it was the duty of blue priests to send food to the orphanage in the form of leftovers, I had no reason not to pay for a chef. And if the orphanage was filled with hungry kids like Gil, then personally I wanted to do everything I could for them. That said, after writing some stuff on a board and falling into thought, Benno slowly shook his head. 

“Nah, hold up. Paying for ingredients is part of training chefs. I’ll cover that. If I let you pay for everything, I won’t have any ground to stand on if you just take the chef for yourself.” Benno gave a very merchant-like reply and I just shrugged. If he wanted to pay, that was fine with me. Especially since I didn’t have any income at the moment thanks to the Myne Workshop being temporarily closed for business. 

“...Okay, in that case, I’ll pay for fitting the kitchen with tools while you pay for the costs of training the chefs?” 

“Yeah, I want to set it up so all I’m doing is borrowing the kitchen for training. Alright. Let’s go see it.” Benno cut the conversation and stood up, apparently wanting to see the oven pretty badly. He looked just like Gil did when he learned he could go to the lower city now. Honestly, that kind of worried me. 

“No, Mr. Benno, the kitchen hasn’t been cleaned yet.” 

“It is as Sister Myne says. She cannot invite a visitor to her chambers while we are still unable to serve proper tea,” Fran said, and Gil nodded firmly in agreement with me. However, Benno was so excited, curious, and invested in seeing the kitchen that he ignored our objections entirely. He put a fancy coat on over his normal clothes and grinned. 

“I’m not a visitor. I’m a merchant. A blue shrine maiden just got her own chambers and she wants to order some stuff to fill the place out. Nothing odd about a merchant dropping by while it’s still a little dirty. And more importantly, I want to see the kitchen before you all start messing with it.” 

“Are you saying you’ll help us clean it?” 

“Huh? You think I can’t clean or something? Well, you’d be wrong. The first job of an apprentice merchant is cleaning the store.” 

...Well, that’s it for us. I can tell he’s not going to change his mind no matter what we say. Benno craves knowledge about nobles so much he would never miss this rare chance to learn more about them and their kitchens. 

“...Fran, let’s give up. We’ll still need to order a tea set and such after we finish cleaning, so we might as well just take the opportunity to have Mr. Benno help us.” 

“Sister Myne?!” 

I had lost the motivation to try and think of ways to stop Benno. Every second spent having this pointless argument was a precious second I could have spent reading. 

“You may not know this Fran, but ‘waste not, want not’ is a pretty common saying. If Benno wants to help, let’s not waste the opportunity. I want to use the saved time to read books.” 

Fran looked at me with wide eyes, then put a hand over his mouth as if to hold back a laugh. “...Do forgive me for this, but you cannot enter the book room without me by your side. I do not believe you will have the opportunity to read books if we bring Master Benno to the temple.” 

“Nooooo!”

In the end, Benno blew off everything I said to him and basically kidnapped me, lifting me up and taking me back to the temple where I couldn’t even read books. Once we were there, he took off his coat and immediately began cleaning, just as he had said he would. 

Everyone else followed his lead. Benno and Fran covered the higher-up places which required height and arm strength, while Gil and Lutz took care of lower, smaller places. I had neither height nor strength, so everyone treated me like dead weight. 

As I wept wistful tears for the books I could be reading, I sat at the second-floor table and wrote out supply orders while Lutz informed me what we needed. 



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