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

Epilogue 

“Lutz, the customers have all left,” Mark said. “You have a report to give Master Benno, no?” 

At that, Lutz headed to Benno’s office in the back of the store; he needed to inform him how much they had made from the harspiel concert. 

“The money brought in from the concert totaled twelve large golds, eight small golds, and six large silvers. The overall profit exceeded ten large golds after subtracting various expenses.” 

Lutz went through the totals that he and Rozemyne had calculated, and Benno’s eye twitched at the shockingly high numbers. Not even Lutz had expected her to earn so much. Rozemyne had asked him to print more before the concert, but he had been so certain they already had enough that he had deliberately slowed down production. 

...I really didn’t expect all the stuff to sell out. Sometimes it’s good to be wrong, I guess. 

“Sounds like we’ve gotta plan a second concert,” Benno said, wearing the confident grin of someone who was planning to make tons of money. 

“There likely won’t be a second one; the High Priest found out about the illustrations being sold and got really mad at her,” Lutz explained. Benno’s subsequent agonized groan made him hesitant to explain that Rozemyne had only been found out because she printed the name of her workshop on the back. “I believe she was told to never sell merchandise like that ever again. Lady Rozemyne begged him to reconsider, even offering him a portion of the profits, but he said that he didn’t need the money and firmly refused.” 

Ferdinand already had a stable source of income as a priest in the temple, he was compensated each time he helped the archduke or the Knight’s Order carry out their duties, and he was given money whenever he designed or sold a new magic tool. This was all in addition to the wealth that he had inherited from his deceased father. To Ferdinand, a portion of the illustrations’ profits was nothing; he had absolutely no need whatsoever to suffer for loose change. 

“Nobles sure are something, huh? You can show them over ten large golds of profit and they’ll still call it loose change,” Benno said, clearly impressed. But Rozemyne was also a noble, and she had cursed all of the rich people in the world after hearing Ferdinand declare that. 

Lutz wasn’t sure how to respond. “...But in any case, Master Benno—with this much money, we shouldn’t have any problems in Hasse, right? That’s what Lady Rozemyne was most concerned about.” 

Ingo and his wife—the owners of the carpentry workshop that Rozemyne exclusively gave business to—were currently living in the monastery in Hasse, working day in and day out to ensure it was ready for the orphans. Lutz’s own father, Deid, would also be heading there soon, having been contacted by the Gilberta Company. Even with the craftsmen from Hasse helping them, Rozemyne, Benno, and Gustav didn’t have enough people in their respective workshops, so they were in the process of gathering as many external carpenters and builders as they could. 

“It’s more than enough. With this money, we can get things ready a lot faster,” Benno said with a firm nod. “We just finished bringing daily necessities over to Hasse, so the craftsmen can live there while they work. There’s food, firewood, and the materials needed to make paper. Won’t be long before we can take some gray priests and shrine maidens there to make the place more livable. How are things on the temple’s end?” 

Lutz took out and looked over his diptych, into which he had written the words “workers selected,” “training started,” “request,” “winter preparations,” “hide glue,” and “hair sticks.” 

“The temple has finished selecting the gray priests and shrine maidens to go to Hasse, and is currently training them as chefs and workshop workers. They want us to let them know once we’ve settled on a date to take them. I also have a request from Lady Rozemyne—she would like to use a portion of the donations gathered from the concert for winter preparations, with the Gilberta Company helping to butcher meat and such like we did last year. Nobody lives near the monastery in Hasse, so she is considering making hide glue there.” 

Having been given a request from a noble, Benno nodded with a grimace. “Well, our high and mighty noble friend has given us a huge load of money; might as well help the temple out with their winter prep.” 

With the winter preparations matter sorted, Lutz somewhat hesitantly moved on to the next topic. “...Furthermore, Lady Rozemyne has said she would like to order more hair sticks, and she has requested that we keep bringing Tuuli to her chambers. Tuuli has not been fully educated in noble manners, but what do you think, Master Benno?” 

It was Benno’s job to decide whether they could keep sending Tuuli to the archduke’s adopted daughter as a craftswoman of the Gilberta Company. Meeting a single time for a reunion was one thing, but regular visits would require much better behavior. 

Benno frowned and didn’t answer, so Lutz pushed a little harder. “Lady Rozemyne has said that she strongly, strongly suggests we continue sending Tuuli there.” 

“‘Strongly’? Is she saying that knowing a commoner can’t refuse a noble?” Benno asked with a grimace. But Lutz could empathize with how Rozemyne felt, so she had his full support this time. 

“I believe that Lady Rozemyne doesn’t want to miss any opportunity that she might have to see her. The only time she gets to see her right now is when she’s receiving her hair sticks, and that only happens once a season at most. Hair stick orders made from her home in the castle or the Noble’s Quarter don’t count either, as Tuuli cannot go to these places for obvious reasons. Lady Rozemyne is aware of all of this.” She knew that her request was only feasible when she was in her orphanage director chambers. “Plus, Tuuli needs a place to practice her manners like how I do in the Rozemyne Workshop. She can’t practice at home, just like I can’t.” 

Benno fell into thought for a bit, then looked up. “...Alright, we can take her with us. She definitely does need a place to practice. Tell Tuuli to consider this an opportunity for her to improve her manners, and that she shouldn’t open her mouth outside of the hidden room.”

Two days later, Lutz, Benno, and Tuuli went to the orphanage director’s chambers. Once Benno had given the standard noble greetings, Rozemyne ordered the three to step into her hidden room alongside Gil and Damuel. Her aura drastically softened the moment they were inside, and while she looked at Tuuli with eyes full of nostalgia, she didn’t call out her name. Tuuli remained silent as well; the magic contract forbade them from addressing each other as family, and Benno hadn’t told Tuuli that she could speak yet. 

As the two looked at each other, Benno gave Tuuli the hard gaze of an instructor. “Tuuli, nobody’s gonna criticize you for loosening up a bit in this room, but you need to stay polite. You’ve gotta learn how to interact with nobles somewhere, so consider this a place where you can mess up a little without consequence.” 

Tuuli nodded, a serious expression on her face. She had learned a lot about manners and speech over the past season in her fervent attempt to become a craftswoman skilled enough to meet Rozemyne, but she wasn’t quite good enough to safely interact with most nobles. Not even Lutz was, which was why he couldn’t go to the Noble’s Quarter. 

“Rozemyne, if you want to keep having Tuuli deliver your hair stick orders, then help her learn while she’s here. She’s not presentable to the public at all yet.” 

Rozemyne’s expression tightened. She gave a big nod, then turned to face Tuuli on the other side of the table from her. At that, Tuuli nervously took out a bundle of cloth from a wooden box, opened it, then lined the hair sticks up on the table. 

Rozemyne held up a hand to stop her. “You mustn’t rush, Tuuli. Relax and take all the time you need. In fact, allow me to demonstrate how it should be done. Watch carefully, for I have been taught by experienced archnoble wives,” Rozemyne said, returning the hair sticks to their box before pulling it over to her. She then took a deep breath, and, once again, her entire aura seemed to change in an instant. 

She touched the box’s lid with a warm, peaceful smile. Each movement she made was careful and precise, yet her pale fingers moved with incredible grace. She slowly opened the box, following a practiced rhythm that drew everyone’s eyes and focus to her hands, then took out the contents with both hands and undid the cloth as smoothly as a stream of moving water. 

...What in the heck? Never before had Lutz seen such elegant movements. All she was doing was opening a box and removing its contents, but she was doing it so gently that he hadn’t even heard a noise when she set the lid down. The cloth had almost seemed to unfold on its own, and the hair sticks now resting on Rozemyne’s small white fingertips seemed all the more fancy just from being in contact with her. Lutz had just witnessed how much of an impact the way something was treated could have on how high-class it seemed, and it was such a shock to him that he felt as though he had been hit over the head. 

“What do you think?” Rozemyne asked. 

Lutz had no doubt that she was on an entirely different level from him. They had started at the same point, to be sure, and Lutz had even been working hard to improve his manners, but he was still nowhere even close to her. It seemed impossible that she could have grown so much over a single season. 

Benno looked impressed, too. “You sure do look like an archnoble when you do that. Gotta say, I’m amazed you’ve learned that much in such a short space of time. Even if you have good teachers, you don’t get that skilled without a lot of hard work. I figure you two can already guess this on your own, but fixing your movements up like that after you’ve grown up doing something else isn’t easy.” 

“I was quite desperate to learn since the High Priest had offered me the keys to the book room as a reward,” Rozemyne said with a smile. 

Everyone laughed a little, but she had put a great deal of effort into her studies and the results made that apparent. Lutz would need to train just as hard if he wanted to become a merchant capable of doing business with her. 

“Tuuli, try copying what Lady Rozemyne just did,” Benno instructed. 

Tuuli started taking out the flowery hair sticks while doing her best to copy what Rozemyne had done, and while her movements were a bit stiff, they were still a great deal better than what she had done just moments prior. Having an example to try and replicate in her head made a huge difference. 

Meanwhile, Lutz closed his eyes and tried remembering how Rozemyne’s fingers had moved. He replayed what he had seen again and again, trying to burn the image of her graceful white fingers into his brain. ...How much am I going to need to practice before I can move like that? he thought to himself. 

Before he knew it, Tuuli had lined up all of the colorful flowers on the table. 

“Lady Rozemyne, if you desire a ceremonial hair stick, then I would suggest one that uses larger and more extravagant flowers,” Benno said, getting Tuuli to repeat his words. “What do you think of these? If we make them the divine color of autumn, I believe it would suit the flowing night sky that is your hair quite well.” 

Lutz had never had Benno as a long-term teacher, nor had he ever gotten to see Benno do business with customers in the Noble’s Quarter. For this reason, he was fully focused on watching Benno do business with Rozemyne, his noble customer. Gil was doing the same. 

“A valid perspective. I prefer flowers that are closer to this size, but I certainly would like their petals to move like they did on the last hair stick.” 

“I am glad to hear that you liked it. In that case, we shall make flowers of this size in the divine color of autumn.” 

Through further conversation, they settled on the center of the flower being dark yellow and the petals being light yellow, but the way that they spoke to one another wasn’t anything like when Myne and Benno had used to discuss things; this was a noble and a humble merchant talking, and they were both making faces that Lutz didn’t recognize at all. 

It was only then that Lutz realized that Rozemyne had been relaxed and casual even outside of the hidden room. He had been sure that he could catch up to her one day, but now he knew that he was wrong. After just a single season, Rozemyne was wearing the face of the archduke’s adopted daughter; it wouldn’t be easy to reach her level at all. 

“And what about the other flowers, Lady Rozemyne? What color would you like for those?” Benno asked, referring to the smaller flowers on the hair stick. 

Rozemyne tilted her head and placed a hand on her cheek, then looked at Tuuli with a smile. “Given that this is an autumn hair stick, I believe it would be cute for there to be fruit decorations alongside the flowers. Please design an ornament that is reminiscent of a bountiful autumn forest.” 

It seemed that this was something they had already discussed when they were sisters, as Tuuli simply nodded in understanding and wrote down “autumn fruits” in her diptych. Her handwriting was still much too crude for anyone except her to be able to read, but given how she hadn’t even known how to read last year, that was still impressive progress. 

Am I making progress too? Lutz asked himself. He thought he had been. Everybody said that he was. But a feeling of unease spread through his chest nonetheless. 

“Not even vast stores of wealth can guarantee one the opportunity to learn how to behave like a noble. The experience that these young ones have gained today is priceless; I am sure this will help them enormously in their growth. Lady Rozemyne, I offer you my thanks from the bottom of my heart,” Benno said, before kneeling despite the fact that they were in the hidden room. Seeing that, Lutz and Tuuli copied him, kneeling in the same way. 

Rozemyne had previously said that people didn’t change that easily, and even Benno had asserted that she was still the same person on the inside. But even if that was true—even if people stayed the same on the inside—Lutz could feel a larger gap than he had ever expected forming between him and Rozemyne. He had slacked in his training, assuming that she wouldn’t change that much, but during that time she had steadily gotten even further out of his reach. 

Lutz could feel the cold sweat running down his back. The amount I’ve been working isn’t gonna cut it anymore... I’ve gotta push myself even harder.