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Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 3.3 - Chapter 11




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Selling the Materials 

I asked Gil to contact Benno upon my return to the temple, and he took a letter to the Gilberta Company on the next sunny day. It seemed that Benno did not have as much work in the winter, so I got a nigh immediate response stating that he would be ready to meet with me that same afternoon. 

“In that case, I shall prepare the orphanage director’s chambers for his visit. Please inform Lutz of this.” 

“As you wish,” Gil replied. 

Lutz went back for lunch with my reply, and at fifth bell, the Gilberta Company arrived. Benno, Mark, and Lutz were all in attendance. We headed straight into my hidden room, at which point I leapt onto Lutz, having barely seen him over the winter. Then, while my internal batteries recharged, I mentioned to Benno that I wanted him to sell my teaching materials in the castle. 

“Sorry, what? You want to sell them in the castle?! Hold on a moment!” 

“But we don’t have a moment to spare! They need to go on sale as soon as possible.” 

“Quit thinking so literally! What I was going to say was, my current employees aren’t well-trained enough to go to the castle right now.” 

The Gilberta Company was primarily doing business with laynobles, while slowly spreading out to mednobles and archnobles. My connections had already secured them one high-ranking customer in the form of Elvira, but as one could guess from the fact that only Benno and Mark ever brought goods to her, they barely had any employees who were capable enough to visit the castle. Even those who had manners hurriedly beaten into them in preparation for serving in the Italian restaurant weren’t completely ready. 

“...Employees, hm? What if you were to bring some of my attendants and gray priests dressed as servants, then? We’re just selling products here, not taking orders, so anyone who can do math should be just fine.” 

When doing business with nobles, it was standard for everything to be made to order. Outside of consumable goods like plant paper, one would never just bring and sell premade products. Even the rinsham was being specifically catered to the archnobles using it; Benno would bring them various samples made from seasonal ingredients and scrubs, then take orders based on their preferred combinations. I personally just purchased the samples, but to maintain my archnoble pretenses, I filled out the order form and pretended they were being tailor-made for me. 

“You’re just gonna outright sell what you’ve been making as winter handiwork? You’re not gonna take custom orders from the nobles in the castle?” Benno asked, his eyes wide. 

I nodded. “Yes, we’re just going to sell them as is. But we need to act quickly. You and Mark can handle the orders from nobles who want more customized products, but we’ll sell the books outright to those who’d rather have them right away. For that, any gray priests who are good with math will be acceptable.” 

“...Alright. On our end, we’ve got Mark, Leon, and me. We’ll need you to choose two adult gray priests to help out, though, and you’ll want clothes prepared for them before taking them to the castle, right?” 

We naturally couldn’t take the gray priests to the castle in their robes; instead, we would need proper sets of clothing for them to wear so that they would blend right in with the Gilberta Company. 

“Gil, who do you think would be good for this job? Fran is already going to be carrying the chalices, so we’d only need one more person.” 

“Fritz once served a blue priest, so he should do just fine.” 

“In that case, I shall ask Fran and Fritz for their help.” 

Having settled on our new salesmen, it was time to determine the price and quantity of our products. 

“I think we can price the picture books at one small gold each, the karuta sets at five large silvers, the black-and-white playing cards at three large silvers, and the colored playing cards at one small gold,” I suggested. 

Given that we had successfully lowered the cost of plant paper and ink since selling the initial picture books aimed at rich people, we could reduce the price of our new books without issue. The karuta sets used mimeograph printing, as Wilma naturally could not draw them all herself, and as these were made from wood, they were cheaper to produce than books. As for the decks of playing cards, these had even fewer components than the karuta, which was why the black-and-white variant was our cheapest product. The ones that were in color, however, while very pretty, were a lot more costly due to the rarity of the ink. For this reason, they were targeted toward archnobles who wanted to make their high status clear. 

“For now, let us prepare a hundred of each. That should be enough, considering how many kids there are.” 

“Got it. I’ll load wooden crates with a hundred of each.” 

With that matter sorted, we started discussing the best way to go about selling our goods. The biggest problem was that we were dealing with nobles here, which meant the sales methods used on commoners might not work. Mark left partway through to begin preparations early, and once we were done, Benno got Fran’s and Fritz’s measurements for their clothes and started showing them the ropes. Meanwhile, Gil and Lutz went to the workshop to check the products and start boxing them up. 

As this went on, I noticed that Damuel was wearing a tight frown, looking down a little in silence as the Gilberta Company busily moved about. It was the same depressed expression that I had seen on Philine’s face back in the playroom. 

“What’s wrong, Damuel?” I asked. “If you have noticed something important, please feel free to tell me. It is possible that you know things that none of us do.” 

There was still a lot about this world’s culture that I did not know, and while Benno was doing business with nobles, the fact that he was a commoner meant that this would be his first time entering the castle. Assuming that Damuel had picked up on an issue that only nobles would notice, it was possible that we would end up making a huge mistake while doing business unless he said something here. 

“Well, what I noticed is that... while your picture books are quite lovely, Lady Rozemyne, and cheaper than other books, they are still too expensive for a laynoble family to comfortably afford. I am just worried that there are going to be many children who feel frustrated and inferior to the others. I say this as someone who personally comes from a noble family on the poorer side.” 

It was common knowledge here that poor laynobles generally had even less money than rich commoners, and I bit my lip in frustration at having not remembered such a simple fact. The picture books made learning easy, but the kids who needed them most were those who were too poor to hire skilled teachers. Even here, the amount of money that one’s family had would have a huge impact. 

“I understand that not all of the nobles are going to be able to buy the books, but we cannot lower the price any further than we already have,” I said politely, noticing Benno shoot me a glare mid-sentence. He would never approve of reducing prices for nobles, and considering our future business plan, it would not be wise for us to sell them at a loss from the very start. 

“It is true that the price is already much lower than it could be,” I mused, “but I think it would be smart to think up a way for everyone who wants a book to be able to get one. Lutz, do you have ideas?” 

“I think the only solution is to lend books to those who can’t buy them.” 

Books were expensive—so expensive that just owning them was a sign of one’s wealth. For that reason, both buying and borrowing them was no simple matter. The temple’s book room was made such that only members of the temple could enter, and one not only had to be a blue priest or a blue shrine maiden to borrow from it, but they also needed the High Bishop’s or High Priest’s permission. 

To enter the castle’s book room, one first needed to provide evidence that they were of a high enough status. Those who wanted to borrow a book would then need to pay a large deposit, which would be used as collateral to cover the costs of any damages such as the pages being torn or dirtied. Earth’s ideal of a library lending books out for free was just unthinkable here. 

“Right now, borrowing books isn’t easy. But what if we thought about this as a challenge to change that culture and make the process more accessible?” Lutz suggested. 

I paused in thought for a moment. “...If the problem is the collateral being too high, perhaps we could just lower it.” 

We could make the rental fees cheap and have the parents agree to pay money in the event of damage. This would be somewhat of an abuse of authority, but I could imagine that the parents would ensure the books were treated well, since they were borrowing them from me, the archduke’s adopted daughter. This would also guarantee that they paid up in the case that any books unfortunately did get damaged. 

“Perhaps we could make the rental fee a small sum and the exchange of a new story?” I added, thinking back to the tales that Philine and the other girls had told me. Were I to pay for the stories, it would probably allow even those too poor to buy the books to rent them instead. 

“I think you should consider the length of the story here, too. Some might be a lot longer than others.” 

“True. I’ll consider that when purchasing them,” I said. By calculating the payments based on the length of each manuscript and having the kids write them out, everything would hopefully work out; I would get new stories, and the kids with poor handwriting skills would get an opportunity to practice and earn money. I was killing three birds with one incredibly clever stone. 

But just as I was starting to pump myself up, I noticed Benno’s mouth twitching. “Lady Rozemyne, we are dealing with considerable sums of money here; I do not believe it is wise to change established practices based on sudden whims. Please settle on an idea only after discussing it with the High Priest and making the proper preparations,” he said, his dark-red eyes brimming with an anger that seemed to say, “Don’t give me extra work when I’m already so busy I could die.” 

I had more than enough experience by now to know that I was about five seconds away from being on the receiving end of some miraculous indoor thunder—thunder that no doubt would have already been unleashed had I not been the oh-so-noble adopted daughter of the archduke. 

“I suppose I should give the idea of paying for manuscripts some more thought before implementing it. For now, we can simply lower rental fees. Ohohoho,” I said to avoid Benno’s anger, writing all that down into the diptych in my heart. I would consider renting the materials to laynobles as the foundation for a future book rental business or my private library.

The day that we were due to sell our products came in what felt like the blink of an eye. I formed my Pandabus at the temple’s front entrance and watched as everyone piled luggage into it, and soon enough, it was packed full of wooden crates containing a hundred each of the karuta sets, picture books, and playing card decks. 

Since Fran and Fritz were going to be accompanying us as merchants from the Gilberta Company, Benno had given them clothes similar to what Mark and Leon had on. But while Fran was used to wearing normal clothes when visiting the lower city, Fritz looked uneasy and uncomfortable in them. 

“Rozemyne, do you truly intend to have those of the Gilberta Company ride in this?” Ferdinand asked, frowning as he looked at my dear, sweet Lessy. 

“Well, it’s snowing outside. The carriages might get stuck along the way if we send them out, don’t you think?” I said, pointing at the thick layer of snow covering the ground. 

Ferdinand crossed his arms and looked between the snow and the merchants. “Your argument is a sound one, but no other noble in Ehrenfest would allow merchants and their products to ride on their highbeast.” 

“That’s okay. I’m fully prepared to become a trailblazer in everything I do, remembered in history forevermore as the source of all trends.” 

“No future nobles are going to follow your example; you shall stand alone in history,” he shot back with a sigh, before looking over to the others. “Fran, Fritz—I imagine it is not easy being forced to accommodate the whims of your master, but I trust you both to do your best. As for you, Benno, I understand the stress you feel better than anyone. But to walk with Rozemyne is to deal with the countless ideas she spouts forth from seemingly nowhere. This is a fate you chose yourself, and you must resign yourself to it.” 

At that, everyone glanced my way, then gave solemn, defeated nods. 

...Should I be concerned about how easily everyone just accepted that? I mean, you’re all sticking with me because you want to, not because you’re resigned to your fates or whatever... right? 

I puffed out my cheeks in a pout, but nevertheless opened the doors of my Pandabus for them. “If you’ve all finished with your preparations, please feel free to enter.” 

Fran climbed in first since he was already used to doing so, followed by Benno, who was wearing the grimace of someone who had just seen something downright creepy. Mark had his usual smile on his face, while Leon started touching Lessy all over and making surprised noises as soon as he was inside. Fritz, in contrast, looked extremely fearful as he got in, even yelping in surprise when I shut the door. 

“Everyone, please fasten your seatbelts. Fran, teach them how to.” 

“As you wish,” Fran replied. And while he showed them, Brigitte climbed into the front passenger seat. It was apparently essential that I bring a guard with me, since I was traveling with merchants. 

Once we were soaring through the sky in Lessy, the back seats got noisy. It made sense, given that it was normally unthinkable that a commoner would ever have the opportunity to fly, but most of them were saying things like “I feel sick” or “I’m getting dizzy.” Based on how overjoyed Gil and Nicola had been when they rode in my Pandabus, it was safe to say that the negative reaction was due to today’s riders mostly being hardheaded older men. 

“Welcome home, Lady Rozemyne,” Norbert began upon our arrival, only to stop and widen his eyes when he saw just how many people were coming out of my highbeast. As expected, to a regular noble, the idea of my highbeast being full of commoners was genuinely shocking. He watched them unloading the crates, closed his eyes, and then took a very deep breath. “Lady Rozemyne, are these the men from the Gilberta Company?” 

“That’s right. This is the permit given to me by Aub Ehrenfest. Norbert, we shall be heading straight to the playroom. Please guide us there, if you would.” 


Norbert paused for a split second, then smiled. “As you wish. Please follow me.” 

Ferdinand, having just finished putting away his highbeast, massaged his temples and let out a heavy sigh. “Rozemyne, this is not the door for commoners. There is a separate entrance for merchants and the like.” 

Ah. Of course commoners wouldn’t use the same entrance as members of the archduke’s family, I thought, dejectedly hanging my head. That was something I should have known by now. I used a different gate than the merchants when entering the Noble’s Quarter, so it only made sense that I would also use a different one to enter the castle. Merchants were supposed to enter through the commoner door that was used by servants and such. 

“Um... Sorry? I, ah...” I trailed off, not even knowing what to say. 

Ferdinand shook his head. “Apologies, Norbert. I did not realize that Rozemyne intended to fly the merchants here in her highbeast until I saw her preparing to do just that moments prior. It was too late to arrange for carriages, and now, here we are. Rozemyne, you can be forgiven this time, but take care not to repeat this mistake in the future. My apologies again, Norbert, but I ask that you take them through this door just this once.” 

“As you wish, Lord Ferdinand.” 

I got into my one-person Pandabus and followed Norbert and Ferdinand. The members of the Gilberta Companies were close behind me, carrying the crates of merchandise. 

“Good morning, Lady Rozemyne,” the kids all said once I arrived. 

“Good morning, everyone. It will take some time for us to prepare, so you are welcome to play among yourselves until we are ready.” 

The kids were looking at me with the same hopeful eyes as always, and I could see that there were many parents here as well. They had probably considered this a perfect opportunity to establish connections with me. 

“You’re late, Rozemyne,” Wilfried said with his arms crossed and head held high. I had asked him to help me with selling the goods today, and since it was his first time being entrusted with work, he was getting a little too excited about it. 

“Wilfried, please play karuta with the others as a demonstration for the adults. This is a very important job, since they are more likely to buy something when they understand how to use it.” 

“That makes sense to me. Let’s play, then!” Wilfried exclaimed to his followers, who all energetically agreed and started lining up the karuta. 

The nobles gathered around and watched the boys’ karuta demonstration with great interest. This meant that the girls were being left with nothing to do, however, so I called out to them. 

“May I ask you all to read the picture books aloud to your fathers and mothers?” I asked. “That way, they will see just how much your reading skills have developed.” 

“As you wish, Lady Rozemyne!” 

The girls, chattering with gleeful voices, raced over to their parents with the picture books hugged to their chests. Then, they started to read aloud. I could hear the tension creeping into their voices as they began, since they were used to being read to rather than the other way around. 

“And Cornelius, please play a game of cards with your friends,” I said, handing him a pack. 

“But I am your guard,” he said, looking at them unhappily. Unfortunately for him, though, out of all my retainers present, he was the only one able to mingle with the students. 

“Since Angelica is not here today, you are the only student I have. I’m counting on you here.” 

“...Okay, I understand. I suppose I am the only person for the job, then. I shall do as you wish.” 

Angelica had yet to return from the Royal Academy, so I had nobody else to ask. Cornelius did as instructed, pulling aside some students and starting a game of blackjack with slightly modified rules, at which point the nearby adult nobles gathered around to watch. 

While they were focused on the demonstrations, I shifted my attention to the Gilberta Company and signaled for them to begin preparations. I could see that stands had been set up in one corner as we had requested, so I took the opportunity to thank the attendants in charge of the playroom. 

“I see the stands are all prepared. Thank you. Now, Benno—line up the products, if you would be so kind.” 

“As you wish, Lady Rozemyne.” 

Benno lined up the products on the stands as we had previously discussed, then readied enough change to make the payment process easier. There were two chairs and a table by the stands, which was where Wilfried and I would be sitting to speak to the nobles who wanted to buy the teaching materials. 

At the far end of the room was a chair for Ferdinand, placed so that he could see the entirety of the room and observe the sales process. He would be watching all of us like a hawk, keeping track of the nobles’ behavior, whether the Gilberta Company was good enough to return to the castle at a future date, and whether I was about to make a foolish mistake. While we were in the preparation phase, he walked around and observed each demonstration with great interest. 

Leon was standing at the playing cards stand, Fran at the picture books stand, and Fritz at the karuta stand, while Benno and Mark stood behind my table, ready to speak to any nobles who wanted to engage in more detailed business discussions. 

“Lady Rozemyne, everything is ready,” Benno said. 

I nodded, waited for Wilfried to win his current game, and then addressed the room. “Thank you for your patience, everyone. The Gilberta Company will now begin selling the teaching materials.” 

At that, Wilfried pushed the responsibility of clearing up the karuta onto the kid beside him, raced over, and sat in the chair beside me. 

“Those of you interested in making a purchase, please come right over,” I continued with a smile. “As we are selling teaching materials here, we shall prioritize customers who have children with them.” 

It wasn’t long before the nobles started to approach our stand, naturally coming forth in order of their status. The first kid walked over with her father; then they both kneeled. The children had all introduced themselves to me previously, but the parents had not, so they all needed to open with the appropriate long greetings. These greetings were so long that I would not be able to handle them all myself, which was why I had asked Wilfried to help out. 

It became evident rather quickly that there were more boys with their parents lining up in front of Wilfried, while more girls were queuing in front of me. They had probably figured that this gave them the best chance of eventually becoming our retainers. 

Once the first long introduction was over, I instructed the father and daughter to stand, then held out an order slip. “What would you like to buy today, Giebe Groschel?” 

“My daughter assures me that your picture books are beyond lovely, Lady Rozemyne, and she believes her little sister would be interested in the karuta and cards as well. Who am I to deny my beloved daughters what they so desire? I shall buy them all,” he said, taking a pen and smiling as he looked down at his daughter, who was poring over the order slip. 

The girl gave a proud grin, her distinctive crimson hair bobbing up and down slightly as she giggled in satisfaction. “Lady Rozemyne, your picture books are very easy to read. You may read them as well, Father.” 

I smiled broadly at her for praising the books, checked the form, and then handed it to Benno. 

“Here are your goods,” Benno said, handing Count Groschel’s attendants the ordered products in exchange for the required amount of money. And that was that. 

“I pray that they will assist you in your learning.” 

“Thank you, Lady Rozemyne.” 

Once Count Groschel had left, the next noble stepped forward. I glanced to the side as I listened to another greeting to see Wilfried handling the noble before him with a confident attitude. He took the order slip and gave it to Mark. 

“Giebe Kirnberger, everything being sold here is perfect for studying. Thanks to these materials, I learned all my letters and the names of the gods. Keep your kids focused and they’ll learn too.” 

“Thank you for your advice, Lord Wilfried.” 

Gradually, the long lines waiting to be served by Wilfried and me started to go down. As expected, only the archnobles with their riches could afford to buy all the teaching materials. When we reached the mednobles, most seemed to be primarily interested in the karuta and cards, because all their children could play together with them. Fewer of them purchased the picture books, given how expensive each volume was, instead prioritizing the karuta as a cheaper option for learning about the gods. Then, when it came time for the laynobles, most only purchased one product, seemingly having struggled to afford even that. It all appeared to be worthwhile, though; the kids were burning with motivation as they clutched their karuta or playing cards, determined to win next year. 

But then there were the several children who had nothing at all, forced to enviously watch the kids who had been bought teaching materials by their parents. It seemed that those who knew from the start that they would not be able to afford anything had not wasted time asking their parents at all. 

Among the sad-looking kids was Philine. 

“Philine, did your parents not come today?” I asked. 

“...No. They were busy today, it seems,” she said with a forced smile. The nearby kids without parents all looked away, not wanting to admit the same. 

“I see. Well, at the end of winter we shall be loaning out the picture books and karuta presently in use, so now is the time to discuss borrowing them with your parents.” 

“Lady Rozemyne, I appreciate the thought, but...” Philine trailed off, her lips trembling a little as she struggled to say that she did not even have the money for that. 

“Just so you know, you won’t need money to borrow teaching materials from me.” 

“What?” everyone asked, looking up with surprised expressions. 

I smiled a little at their expected reaction, then put a hand over my mouth and lowered my voice to make it sound like I was sharing a secret. “What I want are stories that I don’t already know. Please gather all kinds for me.” 

“Um... Would... Would stories like the ones my mother told me count?” 

“Yes, Philine. You have already taught me three stories. Thus, I shall lend you three picture books.” 

First Philine, then all the other laynoble children, lit up with joy. 

“Lady Rozemyne, will you lend me a karuta set as well in exchange for some stories I know?” 

“Of course. As long as I don’t already know the story, consider the karuta set yours. But take care not to get the materials dirty or break them; you will be charged if something happens to them.” 

“Okay!” 

I would have the parents sign an agreement saying that they would treat the goods well and pay for any damages. And in return for being told new stories, I would lend them the teaching materials from spring until next winter. 



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