Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 3.1 - Chapter 6

Reunited at Last 

I tried running to the book room the instant Ferdinand gave me the key, only to be stopped by Fran. 

“Lady Rozemyne, you have been absent for quite some time; there is much I need to report and much we must discuss. The book room is not going anywhere and, while it was only briefly, I am certain that your Crushing of Brother Egmont as the new High Bishop was more than enough to stop him from disturbing it again any time soon. You may read at your leisure once we have finished our urgent business.” 

I looked between Fran and the door, then scanned the room for anyone who might prove to be an ally. Monika was standing behind Fran; Rosina was polishing the harspiel, showing absolutely no intention of getting involved; Damuel was avoiding eye contact, as to avoid getting wrapped up in the situation; and Brigitte was watching over the proceedings with a frown. It seemed that no one would be willing to support me. 

“But Lutz and the others are coming tomorrow, so I want to get as much reading done today as I can,” I pleaded. If the Gilberta Company was busy enough to earn sympathy from Ferdinand, then there was no doubt in my mind that I would end up hopelessly busy as well. Today would surely be the last day I could relax and read at my own pace. 

But my pleading only earned me a smile from Fran, similar to the one that Ferdinand would always give me. “Rest easy, Lady Rozemyne—there is much for you to read here in this very room. Before you browse the shelves in the book room, please look through and memorize these, all before the Starbind Ceremony.” At that, he began piling boards onto my desk. They had apparently been organized by Fran and my other attendants, and detailed a wide range of prayers and ritual proceedings. 

But I wasn’t the one who recoiled upon seeing the huge stack of boards—Brigitte was. “Wait just a moment—there are simply far too many boards here for her to read. Lady Rozemyne is still young, and this is too much to load onto a child who has only just finished her baptism ceremony.” 

Fran grimaced slightly. He was no doubt stressed that a noble was contending with him, but nonetheless returned Brigitte a calm look and stood his ground. “Lady Rozemyne must participate in the Starbind Ceremony as the High Bishop. If she were to fail at her first ritualistic ceremony, it would serve as a stain that would tarnish her reputation forevermore. Surely you understand, Dame Brigitte, what happens to those in noble society who have poor reputations.” 

Fran had learned from Ferdinand how noble society worked while serving as his attendant. He remembered what Ferdinand had needed to be cautious of, and what judgments he had laid down upon others. 

“...I understand. It seems I spoke out of turn,” Brigitte conceded, before taking a step back. The stress vanished from Fran’s face almost instantly, and he held out a board to me. 

“Here you are, Lady Rozemyne.” 

“I wrote that one!” Monika exclaimed, her eyes glittering as she looked down at me. “I worked hard for your sake, Lady Rozemyne.” 

Not only could I not refuse the innocent smile of someone who had given her all for my sake, but I had approximately zero chance of escaping from Fran, who was standing behind her wearing a smile of his own. Once again, I was reminded that Fran had been trained by the one and only Ferdinand. 

Geez, Fran... You’re letting him influence you way too much! 

“Ngh... Okay, I’ll memorize them. To reward both of your efforts, I too will put my all into learning.” 

“Isn’t this great, Fran?” Monika exclaimed. “It looks like putting everything together for Lady Rozemyne really wasn’t a waste of time!” 

“Lady Rozemyne would never ignore the hard work done by her servants. Now then, Lady Rozemyne, please start by reading the ritual proceedings described here.” 

Having given up on going to the book room, I tearfully took the wooden board from Fran. Hmph! These are tears of happiness. I’m just sooo happy to have attendants who care about me so much. Sigh... Soon, my sweet book room... Soon... 

And so, my day was spent learning about the Starbind Ceremony and the duties expected of the High Bishop.

As I ate breakfast the next morning, Gil informed me that Ferdinand and I would be meeting with the Gilberta Company later that day to see how their work on expanding the printing industry was progressing. Ferdinand apparently wanted to receive the report before the scholars had a chance to fudge the data. Once Gil had finished his own breakfast, he burst out of the room to go and let the Gilberta Company know that they would be seeing the High Priest. His trip with the scholars had supposedly been quite the ordeal, but during it he had developed strong bonds of companionship with Benno and Lutz. 

Gil had also become a lot better at reading and writing while I was gone, to the point where he could now write reports on his own. His frantic hard work since being thrown in the midst of merchants and scholars had finally paid off. I had patted Gil’s head and praised him like I usually did, only for Brigitte to very uncomfortably inform me that it wasn’t proper to interact with attendants like that. 

Well, it seems that an archnoble girl patting her attendant’s head isn’t looked upon very favorably. I suppose I could’ve guessed that much, though... 

The Gilberta Company was due to arrive at third bell, and would be staying for lunch once they had given us their report. To that end, Ella and Nicola headed to the orphanage director’s chambers once they had finished preparing breakfast in my new chambers. Fran went with them so that he could prepare tea for us, leaving Monika behind to take care of me and accompany me as I walked through the temple. It was standard practice for music to be played during meals attended by the nobility and so, once she had finished breakfast, Rosina also went to the orphanage director’s chambers, harspiel in hand. Meanwhile, I stayed behind in the High Bishop’s chambers to continue yesterday’s memorization. 

“Rozemyne, it is time to go.” Ferdinand came to my chambers, accompanied by an attendant named Zahm instead of the usual Arno. I was ready to go, and so departed from my chambers with Monika. 

“Rozemyne, I understand that you may be excited to be meeting your commoner associates for the first time in such a long while, but remain in control of yourself until I have finished speaking. In return, I will turn a blind eye to whatever occurs in your hidden room afterward, so you may soothe your aching heart as much as you like,” Ferdinand muttered as we walked. I could gather that he was allowing me some time to hug Lutz so that he could escape my hugs himself, but honestly, that was more than fine by me. 

“Understood!” 

We passed through the halls until we arrived at the orphanage director’s chambers, at which point Monika opened the door for me. It had been so long since I had visited my old chambers that I was immediately filled with nostalgia. Even seeing the familiar furniture brought peace to my heart. 

“I’m glad to see that not much has changed here,” I said. 

As we waited for third bell, Ferdinand and I discussed the Starbind Ceremony at a table on the second floor. It was going to be a busy day, for sure: the lower city’s festival would take place in the morning, followed by the Starbind Ceremony in the afternoon. We also talked about what the orphans would be doing on that day and, following some relentless negotiations, Ferdinand agreed to let us play like we had done last year—so long as Lutz had the time and Wilma stayed behind to keep things in order. 

Third bell rang. It wasn’t long at all before Gil brought the visitors from the Gilberta Company over, who had been waiting at the gate to the lower city. There was Benno, Mark, and also Lutz. 

It looked like Lutz had gotten a bit taller since I had last seen him. His face looked a little more grown up, too. I had been surprised by how much Gil had grown, but it seemed Lutz was maturing fast as well. I pushed down the urge to leap into his arms, instead just offering a little wave. But the second my hand even twitched, Ferdinand glared at me and murmured “Rozemyne” in a low voice. 

...I’m sorry. I’ll control myself. 

“Now then, Benno—I would like for you to tell me what you saw and what your thoughts were during the trip. Hold nothing back; I desire a report that is not from a scholar-official.” 

“As you wish.” 

It was only when Benno started talking that I learned that Ehrenfest was the only city that had a temple. Ferdinand noted that it would be ridiculous for provinces to be filled with blue priests as though it were obvious, but I was thinking about things from an Earth perspective, where every city usually had at least one church. 

But here, there was only one big temple in the entire duchy; everywhere else had shrines and whatnot dedicated to individual gods. Stores in the lower city worshiped the God of Trade and the Goddess of Water, smithies worshiped the God of Smithing and the God of Fire, and those at the gates worshiped both the Goddess of Wind and the patron deity of travelers. In farming towns, there were small chapels in the winter mansions where all gods were worshiped, but there were no smaller shrines as a result. 

As for orphanages, these were generally run by mayors and the leading powers of cities. To preserve peace and order, an archduke several generations ago had commanded that orphanages be constructed near the estate of the mayor. Orphans who were found would be taken in, and in return for giving them food and shelter, the mayors were granted the right to use them like slaves. The orphans were more or less like gray priests and shrine maidens, only with their masters being the mayors and city authorities rather than blue priests. 

“The orphanage in Hasse was in a horrifying state,” Benno said. It was at this point that Gil stood up to begin his report, wherein he compared the orphanage to how the temple’s orphanage had been before the workshop was established. Unlike in Ehrenfest, the orphanages in other towns and cities were not built into a temple. This meant that the orphans living there were not given divine gifts, and, as mayors weren’t rich nobles, barely any money was sent to support them. That said, while these orphans lived in unhygienic filth, none of them had been completely abandoned like the children in the cellar had. 

“The children aren’t locked in the orphanage, so they survive by scavenging for food while gathering in the forest. I think their circumstances should improve at least a little if we can get a workshop running over the summer, before autumn,” Gil said, concluding his report. 

He had grown so much since his days as a cheeky little brat... Overcome with the same sense of pride that a parent would have looking over their child’s straight-A report card, I smiled at Gil and gave him a nod. He nodded back, grinning in satisfaction. 

Once Gil had sat back down, it was Lutz’s turn to stand and give a report. 

“Given that their orphanage does not have divine gifts like in the temple’s orphanage, we will need a lot more money to improve their living circumstances. The most problematic aspect here is that the farming towns’ orphanages do not consider all orphans equal like the temple’s orphanage does. I can’t imagine that improving their living conditions will be as peaceful of a process as it was here.” 

Lutz had grown up in an environment where it was the survival of the fittest, even among family members. For this reason, he had been beyond confused upon seeing how thoroughly equal things were in the temple’s orphanage. That equality was the reason everything went so well, but Lutz maintained that it would be wrong of us to assume other orphanages followed a similar system. 

“Furthermore, the orphanage director there was much like the blue priests here; should the orphanage start making a profit, there’s a good chance that he’ll simply steal it for himself.” 

“In that case,” I began, “it might be wise for me to make an entirely new orphanage prior to making the workshop. That way, we can teach them the temple’s way of life from the very beginning.” 

Those who were used to a dog-eat-dog world instinctively knew to obey those stronger than them, so it would probably be easier to use my authority to create an entirely new foundation from which to start. Any city authorities butting in to steal profits would, by extension, be getting in the way of our work on the printing industry—in other words, they were enemies of books, and I would not hesitate to use my authority to eliminate them. 

“If we are incorporating the orphanage into the Rozemyne Workshop, I do not mind putting money toward the building costs. But if we make this new orphanage a government-owned business instead, then the duchy will pay for it, right?” 

“Is that not obvious?” Ferdinand asked with a raised eyebrow, but Benno shook his head. 

“...It may be difficult to make this a government-owned business.” 

“And why is that?” 

“The scholars seem to want to crush the printing industry before it even begins,” Benno said, his gaze harsh. Mark quietly nodded beside him. “I do not know what the scholars were told when they were given this job, but they seemed to hate doing it. It was as though they had been forced into doing a job that no one wanted.” 

Lutz and Gil nodded in firm agreement as Benno spoke. The scholars who had gone with them had apparently given them an extremely hard time. 

“Since you asked for my honest opinion, I will say this: it is hard to believe that those scholars were truly put in charge of beginning a new business under the archduke’s authority. As a humble merchant, it is impossible for me to determine whether they did not understand the archduke’s intention, whether they intentionally want the business to fail, or whether they are simply unintelligent, but with them in charge, the plan will fail without any doubt whatsoever.” 

Benno had looked annoyed when I wanted to build a branch of the Myne Workshop in the orphanage, but even then, he hadn’t told me it was impossible; he had just advised me on the best way to proceed. The situation was seemingly so bad this time that Benno, a merchant with a keen nose for financial success and failure, was convinced that disaster awaited us. 

I gasped a little, fearing how likely it was for the printing industry to crumble before it had even been born. But Ferdinand looked nowhere near as concerned; there was a slight grin spread across his face. 

Aaah... Yep, there’s his evil villain smile. He’s probably deviously plotting inside his head right now. 

I could already tell that the scholar-officials who had accompanied Benno and Gil were going to be eaten alive. But since I didn’t want the printing industry to be sabotaged, I merely looked on, silently giving Ferdinand my full support. 

“I see. Your perspectives will no doubt prove useful. Coming here myself was a wise move after all. Now then, moving on—the Starbind Ceremony is fast approaching. How stands the eatery?” 

We were approaching a dinner that was not only being attended by the archduke, but his brother, his adopted daughter, and the commander of the Knight’s Order as well. My head hurt just thinking about how high Sylvester’s hopes probably were. 

Benno, however, gave an invincible grin. “Things are proceeding quite well. Construction of the restaurant itself has finished, our chefs are getting more skilled by the day, and we have more trained waiters at the ready. Most of our workers already have a lot of experience with nobles, so I predict that the meal will conclude without any problems.” 

“Good to hear. Anything else?” 

“...That is all I have to report, honorable High Priest. That said, there are some matters regarding the Italian restaurant that I would like to discuss with Lady Rozemyne,” Benno said, sharply glancing my way. 

Goodness, Benno... What’s with that scary look in your eyes? It’s not my fault that I couldn’t contact you. 

“In that case, I shall have Rozemyne help organize your reports and calculate the initial costs of the venture. As the adopted daughter of the archduke, she will need to learn the significance of establishing new industries.” 

...So you’re saying that I need to understand the struggles of those actually doing the work, so that I don’t make unreasonable demands like Sylvester? I hear you loud and clear. That said, I won’t hold back at all if it brings me closer to getting my books. 

“Rozemyne, you may discuss these matters in your hidden room. Damuel will guard you. Brigitte, stand guard here for the time being and finish your lunch.” 

“Sir!” 

At Ferdinand’s orders, Monika began preparing Brigitte’s lunch, while Fran guided Ferdinand and Zahm out of my chambers. Once I had seen them off, I pressed a hand against the hidden door and poured a small amount of mana into it. The mana flowed from my ring, and the door opened once it had confirmed that the mana was indeed mine. Unlike Ferdinand’s workshop, I had no mana restrictions for passing through the door, so anybody would be allowed to enter as long as they had my permission. 

“Will those of the Gilberta Company please accompany me? Damuel may guard me as Ferdinand suggested, and Gil can accompany me as my attendant. Monika, in the meantime, please serve Brigitte her food. You may press the feystone on this door if you need me.” 

Once everyone was inside, I gently shut the door. Inside, my hidden room had a table and chairs like a parlor, and was about three and a half meters per side. It wasn’t particularly large as far as hidden rooms went; the more mana you put into one, the bigger the room became, but since mine only existed for me to talk to people about things I didn’t even want my attendants to hear, there was no need for me to make it any bigger. 

I checked to make sure that the door was tightly shut, then exhaled. I didn’t need to hold back any longer. I turned around, ran straight toward Lutz, and leapt into his arms. 

“Aaaah! Lutz, I wanted to see you soooo badly!” 

“Woah!” 

I squeezed him tight, nuzzling my head into his chest as I tried to push out all of the frustration that had built up inside of me. 

“I already hate being a noble! I’m stuck spending all day studying etiquette and all sorts of other stuff. It sucks. I’m exhausted. When I pass out, they force me back on my feet by making me drink nasty potions that make my head spin. Most of the people I meet are malicious schemers. There’s nothing to brighten up my day. My family’s not there. You’re not there. My new ‘mother’ and ‘father’ won’t give me any hugs. And, and, and...” 

I listed all of my complaints about living in the Noble’s Quarter as I clung to Lutz, and he rested his head against mine as if to say he didn’t know what else he could do. 

“...Uuuh, Myne?” 

“No, Lutz, you can’t mix that up. You have to call me ‘Rozemyne’ now.” Despite feeling a rush of emotions rise up in my chest at being called “Myne” for the first time in ages, I had to shake my head. “Lutz... Give me a hug since my family can’t. I need more. A lot more.” 

Lutz obliged, wrapping his arms around me like he used to. A big, satisfied smile spread across my face, but everyone watching us was grimacing hard. But that wasn’t enough to stop me. I wasn’t satisfied yet. 

I looked up at Benno, my arms still tightly wrapped around Lutz. “Benno, Benno—I have a request.” 

“...What?” Benno asked, his exasperated frown turning more cautious as he looked down at me. 

“Could you scold me for a bit? Just a little?” 

“Wha?!” Benno exclaimed, no longer looking at me with the guarded expression he always gave nobles. That alone was enough to make me feel happy. 

“It might be because of my high status, but nobody is willing to scold me in Karstedt’s estate. Everyone praises me no matter what I do, and it’s honestly kind of gross. I’m not even doing anything praiseworthy!” 

Both my etiquette instructor and my personal tutor put me on such a high pedestal that it was actually uncomfortable. Not even Karstedt or Elvira would scold me, either; whenever I messed something up, they just smiled as though they were going to cut me off entirely, which was genuinely terrifying. 

Benno listened to me with his head down, trembling all the while, then suddenly shot back up. “You’re letting your guard down too much, you idiot! You’re already a thoughtless airhead who walks into trouble like a dumb baby; don’t make things worse! They’re gonna exploit the hell outta you!” he yelled, unleashing his thunder on me. 

“Yes, that’s it! That’s what I wanted! Aah, that’s much better!” 

The fact that even Benno’s rage was enough to make me giddy with nostalgia showed just how much I had been suffering lately. I let out a sigh of satisfaction, which Lutz met with a heavy contrasting sigh of exhaustion. He slumped his shoulders, then leaned against me a little. 

“Man... You haven’t changed at all, huh? You’re a noble now, but it’s still the same old you on the inside.” 

“I mean, people don’t change that easily, do they? What’re you even saying, Lutz?” 

Surely it would be more surprising if I wasn’t the same old me. I had certainly gotten better at hiding my true self, and I was holding myself much more like a noble, but I was the same as ever on the inside. 

“See? I told you,” Benno said to Lutz in a somewhat defeated tone. “Going from being a commoner to an archnoble isn’t enough to change her at all.” 

Lutz ground his teeth in frustration and glared at me. “Dang it... Give me back all the tears I cried over never being able to see Myne again!” 

“Okay. I’ll give them all back and more through hugs.” 

I thought that was a pretty good idea, but Lutz immediately turned me down. Weird. But either way, I had treated my Lutz deficiency, and I felt great. 

“If you’re done there, can we get back on track? I want to talk about the fluffy bread we’re gonna sell in the Italian restaurant,” Benno said, his eyes gleaming with the enthusiasm of a merchant.