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Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 3.2 - Chapter 8




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Discussing How to Improve Hasse 

With the Italian restaurant business taken care of, I wanted to focus on taking care of my mission in Hasse. And since the Gilberta Company was already in my hidden room, now was the perfect time to ask them for help. 

“Where do you all think I should start?” I asked. “Now that I know Hasse could be burned down at any moment, I’m having a bit of a hard time focusing on anything else.” 

Benno lowered his dark-red eyes for a moment while rubbing his chin. “The biggest problem with Hasse is that the people there just don’t know enough about nobles; they don’t understand how grave the sin they’ve committed is. Fixing that should be your first step.” 

People living in the city of Ehrenfest knew not to complain even if a noble killed their daughter, so they certainly wouldn’t dare to act over some orphans who didn’t matter much to them being taken away. And never in a million years would they be dumb enough to attack a building owned by the archduke. 

“But just to be clear here—you messed up too. If the mayor there already had a contract to sell those orphans to scholars, then this little incident’s going to get him a lot of complaints from nobles. His connections are as good as dead.” 

“Assuming he was selling them to support the city over the winter, that was money he could not afford to lose,” Mark added. “For commoners, whether or not one has connections with nobles can be the difference between life and death.” 

Seeing the situation from a new perspective, I couldn’t help but empathize with Hasse a bit more. Maybe I really was a brutal tyrant for stealing the orphans away from them. 

“I can probably only tell all this because I’ve been going to the temple’s orphanage a lot, but...” Lutz prefaced, before going on to explain how much the orphans raised in the temple differed from other orphans. 

Here, kids born to gray shrine maidens were raised in the temple, along with those who lost their parents before they were baptized. But orphanages outside the temple were part of an independent community—a community that the orphans were still a part of, only they were raised by the city authorities rather than their parents. For this reason, they were also seen as the community’s property—they were fed on the city’s dime, then forced to work to make that money back. If need be, they could even be sold wholesale to an outsider. 

“I heard that from Ferdinand. He said the mayor has the right to sell the orphans since he took them in and raised them. In the temple, that’s what the High Bishop does.” 

Which meant the temple didn’t care what I did with the temple orphanages. I could lavish the orphans with unearned comforts, or I could work them to the bone to save some money—either way Ferdinand wouldn’t be able to do anything but complain. The final say went to me, the High Bishop. That was precisely why Ferdinand had been largely unable to do anything back when he served beneath the previous High Bishop. 

“Plus,” Lutz continued, “the temple orphans end up as gray priests and shrine maidens, but they stay in the orphanage even after growing up, right? Well, the men in Hasse are given fields once they’ve grown up.” 

In the temple, some orphans were sold as servants to nobles and others became the attendants of blue priests and shrine maidens, but most did indeed stay in the orphanage. 

In Hasse, however, orphans were given independence as citizens when they came of age. But women were given such small plots of land that it was impossible for them to survive alone, forcing them to find a marriage partner. Men without parents were considered a great catch since the woman’s family could add him to their own without losing their daughter, but since women without parents had no funds for a dowry, they tended to end up in miserable marriages. According to Lutz, they either ended up as the second wives of older men who needed to be cared for, or trapped in abusive marriages. 

“Everywhere in the world, people without support end up suffering,” Benno spat out, shaking his head as if symbolically shaking off his painful past. “You’re the archduke’s daughter so, diplomatically speaking, you’re well within your rights to take the orphans. But if you think of the orphans as products, this basically looks like a noble using their authority to steal away merchandise someone invested a lot into. They can’t complain publicly, but you can be sure they’ll hold a grudge. You need to tie up the loose ends here so they don’t come back to bite you later.” 

Benno went on to say that I needed to use my position as the archduke’s daughter to talk to the scholar, cancel the contract, and then pay the mayor what the orphans were worth to stop him and the city from resenting me. I wrote it all down on my diptych; this was much more practical and understandable advice than anything Ferdinand had given me. 

“Also, don’t just agonize over these things on your own. If you’re not sure about something, ask the High Priest. Tell him the conclusions you’re coming to and he’ll give you concrete advice and corrections, no doubt about it. He did say he’d teach you, didn’t he?” 

I looked up from my diptych, my gaze shifting from Benno to Lutz to Mark, then nodded slowly. 

“On top of all that, you’ve been stuck inside for so much of your life that you’re lacking a lot of common sense. Plus, the common sense you do have is coming from a number of clashing lifestyles—your experiences as a merchant, a shrine maiden, and now a noble are all fighting for dominance, which has made your perspective on things weird in literally everyone else’s eyes. If you don’t make it clear what your thought process is, then the High Priest isn’t going to understand what’s going on in your head.” 

Much like everyone else, Ferdinand couldn’t grasp what I was thinking on his own. He only knew the life of a noble, so Benno was telling me to use my words to bridge that gap. But no way could we have a conversation like that using confusing noble euphemisms; we’d need to have a one-on-one in a hidden room. 

“Either way, you should check how much time you have to do something about Hasse. Ask if you can save the rest of the city by only having the mayor executed, and whether that’s what he’s expecting from you. Talk to the scholar who tried to buy the orphans, pay the mayor for them ahead of time, and then talk to the townspeople themselves once that’s all done.” 

I gave an affirmative nod, writing everything that Benno was saying down on my diptych. 

“And one more thing—ask him if you can spread a rumor using merchants,” he continued. 

“What kind of rumor?” 

“Let’s see here... A rumor that the merciful, compassionate High Bishop is grieving over Hasse, as an attack on the monastery has put the entire city at risk and made it likely that even those not involved will be executed,” Benno said. 

Mark gave a smile. “That will not only emphasize your merciful nature, but also make people aware of both the mayor’s stupidity and how terrifying nobles truly are. The news that outsiders are distancing themselves from the city will worry them, and they will stress over who is going to take responsibility for the attack. We shall stir fear and discontent, establishing a deep-set and ultimately long-lasting fear of nobles among the populace.” 

Strangely enough, thinking up what rumors to spread seemed to have made Mark even livelier than usual. 

“If we spread this rumor to the owners of big stores and warn caravans leaving through the east gate to be careful around Hasse, every merchant in the city’s gonna know by the end of the day. If there’s one thing merchants have, it’s a crazy good information network,” Lutz added, placing a contemplative hand on his chin. “Pretty sure they’ll all believe it too, since they just met you and Master Benno in the Italian restaurant. Anything the Gilberta Company says about the High Bishop’s gonna have a lot of credibility.” 

I hadn’t expected that my connections to store owners would prove so valuable so quickly. My eyes started to shine with excitement, but Benno raised a hand to calm me down. 

“Lutz is right, and spreading these rumors will be easy. The problem is, they’ll also make it public that Hasse attacked the monastery. Not sure whether the High Priest wants that information getting out.” 

“Please contact us as soon as the High Priest gives you an answer; battles of information such as this are my specialty. That mayor deserves neither mercy nor compassion, and this is an opportunity for me to destroy him using everything I have,” Mark said. His eyes were gleaming with life, and a dark smile had spread across his face. 

He was normally such a kind butler that I recoiled a bit in surprise, and as I looked at him with wide-open eyes, Benno laughed and muttered that Mark had been offended by how rude the mayor had been to them. 

Oh, right. They did say that the mayor and scholars had treated them terribly. I guess this is the perfect opportunity for Mark to get revenge. 

 

With the discussion about Hasse now settled, we moved on to talking about this year’s winter preparations. 

“I would like to do the orphanage’s winter preparations alongside the Gilberta Company’s. Would that be okay?” 

“That’s fine with us, but don’t you guys have to prepare the orphanage for winter way early?” Benno asked, stroking his chin and thinking back to last year. 

I shook my head. “Last year we had to keep things hidden from the blue priests and the High Bishop, and we just barely finished before the Harvest Festival ended. But I’m the High Bishop this year, so we don’t have to worry about the dates like before. We can do it all at the same time you do.” 

Mark nodded and started writing that down on his diptych. “Those of the Rozemyne Workshop are all hard workers, and their help will more than make up for the extra labor this requires. If you can make a list of what you need, adapted to the current population of the orphanage, then we can make arrangements at once.” He was as speedy and competent as ever, and I was sure that everything would be fine if we left it to him. 

“Thank you. Also, please send a carriage to the monastery around the time of the Harvest Festival. The priests in Hasse will be staying in the temple over the winter as well, and we would like to bring them back here before winter preparations actually begin. We’ll get the soldiers to guard you again.” 

“...We’ll be busy then, but sure,” Benno responded once he’d thought things over. “Work on the monastery and the Italian restaurant has settled down now, so things are pretty calm compared to how busy I’ve been lately.” 

He definitely seemed less overworked than before. It seemed that the peak of his busyness had finally passed.

With the results of my talk with the Gilberta Company recorded on my diptych, I made a list of everything I needed to do. Chief among them was discussing things with Ferdinand. 

“May we hold our discussion elsewhere today?” I asked, looking toward the hidden room. Ferdinand lowered his gaze for a moment, then stood up and said “Very well” before opening the door. 

Once we were inside, I sat on my usual bench and looked over my list. 

“You look much better than Fran’s report suggested,” Ferdinand said, his brow slightly furrowed. Fran had apparently been so worried about me that he’d reported it to Ferdinand. 

“He wasn’t exaggerating—I really hadn’t been able to sleep over the past few days, and I looked so sick that even my guards were suggesting I cancel plans. I only managed to start sleeping again after meeting with the Gilberta Company, talking the situation over, and getting a new perspective on things.” 

“...I see,” Ferdinand muttered without much energy. 


Honestly, he looked a lot sicker than I did. Ferdinand used the same potions he often made me drink on himself as well, forcing himself to stay active at all times. He was always of the opinion that any weakness you showed would be exploited by others, so it was rare for him to look so visibly off. 

“It seems to me that you’re the one who’s exhausted right now, Ferdinand.” 

“That is because I have heard no end of complaints about how I am being too harsh on you.” 

He had apparently discussed my exhaustion with others, only to have Karstedt and Sylvester yell at him for going way too far. Even Fran had complained, albeit indirectly. 

“They gave me the unreasonable request to cheer you up with something other than books, but now that you’ve recovered, I imagine that won’t be necessary anymore,” Ferdinand continued dismissively, averting his eyes. It appeared that he hadn’t been able to think of anything besides books that I would like. 

Ferdinand was normally capable of doing anything with a cool and unfazed expression, but here he was at the end of his rope. It was a rare sight indeed. 

Ohoho... Far be it from me to miss this opportunity to have some fun. 

“Oh, it will be necessary—it’s your mission to cheer me up. Go on. Do it.” 

“I have determined it to be absolutely unnecessary. Though if you have some particular ideas in mind, report them to me at once,” he said with a glare. 

I sharply pursed my lips in response, before moving on to say that Benno and Mark had explained to me what a dangerous position Hasse was in, and that Lutz had told me how the temple orphanage differed from the ones in cities. 

“Hold on, are you telling me you did not understand the significance of the monastery being attacked?” Ferdinand asked, completely taken aback. 

“I mean, it was just a building... They didn’t even scratch it. Like, I knew that we needed to protect the orphans, but I didn’t think that an attack on the monastery would count as sedition,” I said, floundering as I tried to explain what I had just gone over with the Gilberta Company. “Benno told me this earlier, but what we see as common sense is just too different.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“Benno said I have the common sense of poor people, merchants, shrine maidens, and nobles all clashing in my head, but... most of my perspective is actually based on my old life. Before I came here.” 

Ferdinand had used a magic tool to see my memories of my life as Urano, so I imagined that he’d understand my culture was completely unlike the culture in this world. 

“It’s been about three years since I woke up here and started living in this world,” I continued, “but in that time I’ve lived as a soldier’s daughter, the upcoming apprentice of a merchant, and then an actual apprentice blue shrine maiden. Now I’m an archnoble and the archduke’s adopted daughter, but I don’t have a full grasp on noble culture. And to make things even more complicated, my overall perspective and mindset isn’t anything like that of anyone born in this world.” 

“...I do not fully understand. What are you trying to say?” Ferdinand asked. He had spent his entire life in noble society, so it made sense that he wouldn’t immediately grasp the concept of there being different perspectives and values. I paused for a moment, trying to think of a good example, then remembered Ferdinand grimacing at the orphans in the monastery. 

“Ferdinand, think about what would happen if you were suddenly banished to the lower city and forced to live there. You grimaced when you saw the orphans eating without using cutlery, right? Well, you would have to look around you and copy them, all while being made to think that your manners and everything you know is wrong.” 

Thinking back to the orphans, Ferdinand frowned with displeasure. 

“You’d think about how dirty it was and how much you hated having to copy those around you, wondering why they acted like that at all and why you were the odd one out. But no matter how you felt, you’d have to start eating food with your hands and adapting your speech and lifestyle to match theirs. That’s what I had to do to survive in the lower city, at least.” 

“...That certainly would be a challenge. Good on you for surviving,” Ferdinand said, his praise carrying more weight than any compliment I had received from him before. But I just shook my head with a smile. 

“It’s still a challenge, and I’m not out of the woods yet. It’s gotten easier for me to live as my environment has improved, but my culture is still entirely different from the culture of nobles. I don’t have the same common sense that you do.” 

“You seemed to be living well in your past life, judging from those memories. Were you not an archnoble there as well?” Ferdinand asked. To my surprise, his experience exploring my memories had made him think I was an archnoble there. Though, to be fair, I did seem to recall comparing life in Japan to everyone living like a noble. 

“There wasn’t a rigid class structure. There were a lot of small differences if you looked hard enough, like between a big store owner and a small stand owner, but there were no nobles where I lived.” 

“That is... certainly something. It seems that I will need to rethink your education plan from the ground up,” Ferdinand said with a sigh, placing a hand on his forehead. He had apparently designed my education under the assumption that I already knew at least some of what an average archnoble girl would know. That explained why he had been so brutal from the start. 

“So, what conclusion did you come to regarding Hasse? If the matter is beyond you, I can handle it myself.” 

“No, that’s okay! I already thought up a plan with Benno and the others,” I announced, holding up the list. 

“...Hard to believe those are the words of someone who was losing sleep over this. For what purpose did I endure being yelled at, then?” he muttered bitterly. 

“I’m sorry. But it’s true that I didn’t want to do this, and that I was losing sleep over it.” 

As I started listing out what Benno and Mark had told me, Ferdinand leaned forward with great interest. “I see. This is a solution that only someone with deep connections in the lower city could come up with. Interesting... I will allow you to use the merchants to spread rumors; do just as they suggested. As for discussing matters with Kantna in the Noble’s Quarter, I shall accompany you so as to teach you how to deal with nobles. This will be somewhat of a nonstandard method, but you shall grow stronger by learning from a variety of sources.” 

It appeared that Ferdinand really intended to get as much learning value from this Hasse mess as he could. 

“Um, Ferdinand... Don’t you think it would be wise to teach Wilfried this stuff as well? Given that I’m adopted, Wilfried would become the archduke even if I married him, right?” 

“That is indeed the case,” Ferdinand sighed. “As you know all too well by now, Wilfried greatly resembles Sylvester, both in appearance and personality. This means it will be necessary to train someone who can serve as his right-hand man—or, in this case, right-hand woman. Such is the end goal of your education. Now that you are the archduke’s child, you must become someone who can cover for the next archduke’s weaknesses.” 

In the end, Ferdinand was telling me to live exactly as he had. I couldn’t say for certain whether he had worked so hard to support Sylvester because he was trying to earn his place in Ehrenfest as a half-brother scorned by his other mother, or he was just trying to meet the expectations placed on him by those around him. But one thing I knew for sure was that I didn’t want him pushing his values on me. 

“I don’t believe that’s right, Ferdinand.” 

“What?” 

“Wilfried and Sylvester may resemble one another, but they are not the same person. At the current moment in time, it is impossible to say whether Wilfried will grow to be capable of putting on a mature archduke act like Sylvester does.” 

Ferdinand frowned and jutted his chin up a little, urging me to continue. 

“I think it makes sense for a future archduke to receive a strict education, then have his weaknesses compensated for by those around him. But what need is there to make a kid who runs from his studies and abandons his responsibilities an archduke? He has siblings, so I think the position of archduke should go to someone who’s actually trying to learn and grow.” 

As the archduke’s adopted daughter, I didn’t mind doing my best to support a future archduke who worked hard each day and dedicated themselves to their studies. I could even respect someone like Sylvester, since he knew to take his archduke duties seriously. But Wilfried was just a spoiled brat; his sense of responsibility was weaker than that of the lower city children taking on apprentice work after their baptism. I wasn’t about to respect some dumb kid who spent all his time running away, and if Ferdinand expected me to train just to back him up then he had another thing coming. 

“I think you should focus on educating Wilfried rather than me, seeing as he is related to Sylvester by blood.” And given that Ferdinand was of roughly the same status as Wilfried, he’d be able to tie him to a chair and force him to endure an intense education, traumatizing him more by the day. There was no doubt in my mind that such extreme measures were the only way to make Wilfried realize just how soft everyone had been on him his entire life. 

But Ferdinand slowly shook his head. “Unfortunately, that won’t be possible.” 

“...Why not?” 

“I despise foolish layabouts,” Ferdinand answered firmly, his expression deadly serious. “Whenever I see Wilfried and his pathetic attempts at escapism, I wish for nothing more than to freeze his heart and push him into the valley of despair. I once mentioned this to Sylvester, and he begged me to stay as far away from his son as I could.” 

I could understand why Sylvester wouldn’t want a walking trauma dispenser anywhere near his beloved son. I really could. But future archdukes needed a strict education. I started thinking about what I could do to get Ferdinand to agree to teach Wilfried, only to see him flash me the same venomous smile that had kept me up at night. 

“But in stark contrast to Wilfried, you are very much worth teaching. You provide results, and your point of view is always as unexpected as it is intriguing. I am filled with the desire to have you do all sorts of things.” 

“N-No thanks. I want to do the bare minimum and spend as much time as possible reading books.” 

“The bare minimum, hm...? Indeed. I am very interested in seeing where your infinite source of energy for books comes from. More than anything, I would like to dissect it.” 

Th-This isn’t right! He’s supposed to be freezing Wilfried’s heart, not mine! 

As it turned out, whenever that terrifying smile filled with poison crept onto Ferdinand’s face, it was a sign that he was in an exceptionally good mood. It was safe to say that he wouldn’t be winning any children over to his side any time soon. I scooted down the bench to get as far away from him as I could, rubbing my arms in shivering fear. 

...Ferdinand looks kindest when he has a robotic, deadpan expression on his face. His smile is the scariest thing about him! 



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