Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 2.3 - Chapter 2

Johann’s Task 

Benno finished the paperwork while I chatted with Freida. It would take several days for the registration to be processed, which meant our business in the Merchant’s Guild was done. 

“Bye bye, Freida.” 

I waved goodbye to Freida and walked to the stairs myself, but the second floor had so many people that I needed Benno to carry me to avoid being crushed. The moment Benno took his first step onto the floor to begin pushing through, a loud shout echoed over the murmuring of the crowd. 

“Wait! Please, wait! Gilberta Company girl!” shouted the person. Benno and I looked at each other. 

“...Looks like Corinna has some crazy fans.” 

“Idiot. You’re in my arms, he’s definitely talking to you. Ignoring things you don’t like won’t change reality.” 

But I mean... I don’t want to talk to anyone shouting in a place with this many people. Especially if he’s calling me the “Gilberta Company girl” when I’m not even Benno’s daughter. 

“I don’t exactly like how everyone’s staring at us, so let’s go outside. He’ll follow us if it’s really that important,” I said, hurrying Benno on as we exited the Guild. 

As expected, the person followed us. Benno stopped in the central plaza outside the Guild and set me down. I turned around to see a younger guy with bright orange hair tied behind his head burst out of the Guild and start running this way. 

...Oh, that’s Johann. 

As I pondered the fact that I had always been wearing my Gilberta Company apprentice clothes when ordering things from Johann, he finally reached us. 

“What’s your business?” asked Benno from behind me. Johann, who was now gasping for air, knelt down in front of me and the fountain amid the large crowd of passersby going through the central plaza. 

“Please become my patron!” 

...Come again?! 

I could feel the crowd staring daggers into us. I could even hear some of them whispering about what was happening, which made me feel unbearably awkward. 

“Um, Johann, there are a lot of people here, so maybe we should go to your workshop?” 

“No,” answered Benno. “If you’ve got something to talk about, you can discuss it in my store.” 

Benno rejected the idea of us going to Johann’s store, instead saying we should talk at his. I had thought it would be best to avoid going there since Johann was mistaking me for Benno’s daughter, but he wasn’t letting that fly. 

“It’ll be better for you and me both if I know what you’re about to jump into next. Talk with me and Lutz there.” 

“Okay. In that case, Johann, would you come to the Gilberta Company with me?” I asked, and Johann stood up, a sparkle in his eyes. 

“Yeah, of course. What father wouldn’t be worried about sending his daughter to a workshop alone?” 

“He’s not my father!” 

“She’s not my daughter!” 

Benno and I shouted at the exact same time. As Johann’s mouth dropped and his eyes widened, I took a firm step forward and looked up at him. 

“I’m Myne. Benno helps me out a lot, but he’s not my dad, and I’m not even an apprentice at the Gilberta Company.” 

“Wha? But you wear their apprentice clothes, and you have a guild card...” Murmuring in disbelief, Johann paled and began to list out all the reasons he thought we were related. 

“Myne’s the forewoman of her own workshop and I’m her financial guardian. Given your age I’m guessing you want to talk about your test? Fair enough then, follow me.” Benno spoke with a resigned sigh, then hefted me up and started walking. That was exactly the kind of thing that made people think we were related, but he hated my slow walking speed too much to stop. He walked entirely at his own pace, forcing Johann to power walk to keep up and Lutz to break into a jog. 

“Hey, are those two really not related?” Johann quietly asked Lutz, refusing to give up on the matter. 

“They’re not. Master Benno’s a bachelor,” replied Lutz with exasperation. 

Benno heard their whispered conversation and glared at Johann, who jerked in fear and straightened up. I saw it all since I was looking over Benno’s shoulder.

When we entered Benno’s office, Lutz followed Mark upstairs to go make tea. Johann, as a simple craftsman in a smithy, had probably never been taken to the office of a big store owner before. He looked around timidly while sitting in the chair offered to him. It was hard to think he was the same person who had boldly shouted “Please become my patron!” in the middle of a busy plaza. 

“Benno, what was that test you were talking about?” I asked while leaning over the table, having climbed onto my chair. 

Benno’s eyes moved to Johann. “It’s your business, Johann. You explain.” 

Johann jerked and straightened his back once again as he was met by Benno’s glare. He looked between me and Benno several times while searching for words. Eventually, he took a deep breath and began. 

“...When a leherl in the Smithing Guild comes of age, they have to pass a test to be recognized as an adult.” 

Johann must not have been much of a skilled speaker, as he spoke in a quiet, deliberate tone while searching for words. The test was to get one of the customers who recognized your skill to fund your efforts as a patron; the patron would give the leherl a task which would have to be completed within a year. Some patrons would ask for weapons and others for everyday items. 

More important than the task itself, however, was the patron they found. Their satisfaction with the completed product was of course important, but what really mattered was securing continued support for the workshop in the future. If a smith failed the test, their leherl contract would be made null and void, forcing them down to the position of a lehange. 

“But you’re pretty good, Johann. Won’t it be easy for you to find a patron?” I asked curiously. 

Johann lowered his eyes before slowly shaking his head. “I... I always get so finicky about details that customers don’t like me too much.” 

Johann wanted precise details about his orders and would repeatedly ask questions to find those details out, which made customers conclude that he was so unskilled he couldn’t make anything without tedious handholding. In some ways, it wasn’t wrong to conclude that one mark of a skilled craftsman was the ability to make what a customer wanted based on rough instructions alone, but Johann had the skill to make precise instructions a reality, and had more or less been doing all the precise orders his workshop received by himself. 

Naturally, the foreman of Johann’s workshop didn’t want to let him go, but there was nothing he could do if Johann didn’t pass the Smithing Guild’s test. 

“I’m the only leherl in the whole Guild without a patron... And I’m coming of age at the end of autumn, so I’m really at the end of my rope here.” 

There was a baptism ceremony at the beginning of each season, and a coming of age ceremony at the end of each season. Given how late into autumn we were, Johann really didn’t have much time left to find a patron. 

“Sorry to keep you waiting, Master Benno.” 

Lutz and Mark climbed down the stairs holding tea. Mark distributed the cups before leaving and Lutz moved behind Benno, who took a sip of tea before glancing at Johann. 

“Myne may be a forewoman, but she’s still a kid. I’m sure your boss wasn’t a fan of that,” Benno said, making Johann shrink down a bit. 

“He wasn’t, but she’s our only customer who brings detailed blueprints for me...” 

It seemed that most people were opposed to someone underage like me being a patron, reason being there weren’t many kids with a lot of their own money to use. But I had a guild card, I respected Johann’s talent, and I had a history of making big orders. On top of that, I happily answered Johann’s detailed questions, praised his work, and asked specifically for him. 

It seemed that by requesting his work multiple times, I had become qualified to become his patron. But as I was underage, I would need the consent of a parent or guardian. 

“You’re the only one who could be my patron now. My foreman kicked me out of the workshop and told me it’d be a long shot, but I had to try.” 

It seemed he had assumed the daughter of a big store would be willing to become a patron for show while actually using her father’s money. On top of that, Johann would get the prestige of securing the Gilberta Company as a patron. 

“Turns out you aren’t actually related, though...” Johann slumped his shoulders. 

Due to Benno carrying me around in workshops and the Merchant’s Guild, on top of me making expensive orders while wearing Gilberta Company apprentice clothes, it seemed everyone had thought for sure that I was his daughter. Which reminded me that Otto had mentioned that we looked like father and daughter to everyone around us. Given the age gap, I could hardly blame them. 

But to Benno the bachelor, that was nothing but frustrating. He glared at me with harsh eyes. 

“Of course Myne’s not my daughter. I wouldn’t raise an idiot with no common sense like her. My daughter’d have at least as much sense as Corinna does,” said Benno, who had raised his little sister himself after his parents died when they were young. 

I pursed my lips into a sharp pout and glared at him as hard as I could. But sadly, Benno was ultimately more annoyed with being treated like my dad than I was for being treated as his daughter. 

“Guess that means you can’t be my patron, then...” Johann, picking up on the tense atmosphere, started to stand up with a defeated expression. 

But I grabbed onto his sleeve. I had something I wanted him to do regardless of all this guild test business. Him needing a patron was just an added convenience. 

“Benno, Benno. Eheheh. There’s something I want Johann to make.” I smiled at Benno while still holding Johann’s sleeve, and he rubbed his temples while letting out a sigh that told me he had already seen this coming. 

“Alright. I’ll give you my permission as your guardian and be the cosigner.” Benno granted his permission while waving a hand dismissively. The one most surprised to see him grant permission so casually was actually Johann. 

“Um, if the patron runs out of money, the cosigner will have to...” 

“You think a merchant doesn’t know what being a cosigner means? Don’t sweat it. I don’t need to worry about Myne running out of money. Cosigning for her hardly matters,” said Benno with a shrug. He knew that even if I did run out of money, I could get it all back by selling the books we were printing now, and my info about the candles would help to further smooth things out. 

“You just got your hands on a patron that won’t run out of money, y’know.” 

Every craftsman wanted a rich patron more than they could say. Benno’s words made Johann light up with glee. 

“That’s amazing! You’re really gonna be my patron, Myne? Uh, I mean... Miss Myne?” Johann faltered as he mused over what to call me, earning him a light smack from Benno. 

“Hey, don’t you know you gotta respect your patrons? I know she’s just a little girl in looks and age, but she’s paying to keep you alive. Call her Lady Myne if you know what’s good for you.” 

“Sorry. Lady Myne, then,” Johann hurriedly corrected himself. 

I smiled and waved my hand to say he didn’t have to worry about it—far be it from me to care what people called me. Titles weren’t important to me, but the task I was about to give him was. 

“Okay, Johann. I reckon I’ll have the catalog and detailed blueprints of what I want you to make at your workshop by tomorrow.” 

If I put my all into it, I could probably even iron out the production process and the finer details on the blueprints by the end of today. I clenched my fists with determination as Johann blinked in surprise. 

“Huh? Catalog? Like, multiple things? B-But the test is only supposed to be making a single thing.” 

“Well, it is one thing. The metal letter types all belong to one set.” 

The thirty-five letter alphabet in this world had uppercase and lowercase letters just like English did, but were otherwise similar to Japanese’s hiragana and katakana. Naturally, I would need letter types for both the uppercase and lowercase letters—after all, the terms “uppercase” and “lowercase” were historically derived from where the cases containing these letter types were organized in print shops. Fifty of each vowel sound and twenty of each consonant should be enough. 

“If I’m going to be your patron, I want you to make metal letter types. I imagine it’ll be a pretty arduous task since each one is uniquely detailed and there’s so many, but well, that’s how it is. Do you regret choosing me as your patron?” 

I gave a brief explanation of what letter types were, which made Johann blink in wide-eyed surprise. He looked to Benno and Lutz for help, and the two then looked at each other before exchanging light nods. 

“Listen to what people say more. I told you she’d be a good patron ’cause she won’t run out of money, yeah? You should’ve thought about why I didn’t say anything else,” said Benno. 

“If you don’t think you can keep up with Myne’s craziness, you should give up now and go find someone else. She’s always like this,” Lutz added. 

It was hard to say whether they were giving him warnings or words of support. Either way, Johann clenched his fists on his lap and shut his eyes tight. After a moment of deep thought he looked at me, eyes filled with determination. 

“...I’ll do it. Please become my patron.” 

I kicked things into high gear and finished the blueprints and detailed instructions before the day was over. I then brought them to Johann’s workshop the next morning. Judging by how surprised he appeared when I arrived, he must not have actually expected me to complete the blueprints so quickly, but they got him so pumped up that I was sure he would be fine. 

“Looks like we’re one step closer to movable type printing, Lutz.” 

“...You sure look like you’re having fun, Myne.” 

“If we can get over this challenge, movable type printing will be right around the corner. Once Johann has finished the letter types, I’ll modify a press to make a real printer. That’ll be in the spring, though. I need to spend the winter making a lot of money.”