Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 5.6 - Chapter Ep

Epilogue

Lutz stretched, having returned to the Plantin Company after Rozemyne’s meeting in the temple. It was always tense when her retainers attended such gatherings. He had to wonder how the other Gutenbergs were able to endure it when they had even less experience speaking with nobles than he did.

“Whew. Talk about exhausting...” Benno grumbled.

“We are fortunate that none of the craftspeople earned the nobles’ ire,” Mark added.

They both stretched as well, then returned to their rooms to change; the formal clothes they had to wear when dealing with nobles always made their shoulders ache. Lutz had only needed to dress in his usual apprentice uniform, so he prepared tea while waiting for them to return to the office.

“Speaking of which... Master Benno, have you been told more about Rozemyne’s move?” Lutz asked. Very few details had been shared during their earlier gathering at the temple, but Benno had met with Rozemyne in advance of the meeting. Maybe he had learned something then.

Benno waved away the question and said, “The most I know is that she’s going to the Sovereignty.” He had also been told not to spread that news, especially to the laynobles they were working with in the printing industry.

“It seems like she’s caught up in something big...” Lutz commented.

“Still, don’t tell anyone, whether you’re here or at the temple. Who knows how it might spread.”

Lutz nodded; he was used to keeping secrets about Rozemyne.

“Also,” Benno continued, “plans involving Rozemyne always end up being accelerated. Accelerated and expanded. From today onward, make sure you’re ready to leave at a moment’s notice. The call could come whenever.” He was speaking from experience.

Lutz nodded again, sharing the same concerns; on plenty of occasions, they had suddenly found themselves with much less time than anticipated. Anyone who was used to being Rozemyne’s personnel knew to always be two steps ahead.

“After we leave, I plan to entrust business with the temple’s workshop to Damian and Milos,” Benno explained. “They’ve been taking care of your work whenever you’ve been away on business, so the handover should be a breeze. I’ll need you to give the place a thorough inspection, though. Make sure the right person’s still in charge and that everyone will continue to work well together. You never know when a noble might worm their way inside.”

Compared to the lower city’s workshops, the temple’s workshop was special in that it sometimes received visits from nobles. Hartmut was the most prominent example, but Justus had once frequented the place as well. Even the archduke had managed to sneak inside, though few actually knew this. A single mistake could easily lead to disaster.

“If you and Mark are both moving to the Sovereignty, who’s going to take over the Plantin Company?” Lutz asked.

“My little sister Milda. She moved back to Ehrenfest in the summer”—he gestured above them to the rooms where the employees’ families often stayed—“and we’ve already started handing things over to her.”

Benno had two younger sisters: Milda and Corinna. The former had married outside the city so that she wouldn’t be engaged to one of the guildmaster’s sons, but Benno had called on her right before Lutz’s baptism, when establishing a paper-making workshop in another city. From that point on, she had assisted in furnishing the Hasse monastery and welcoming merchants from other duchies, while also lending a sympathetic ear. Benno had ultimately decided that she and her husband could be trusted with the Plantin Company.

Lutz had met Milda several times before. She looked similar to Corinna and came across as very sweet, but a smile like Benno’s spread across her lips the moment she caught the scent of profit.

“Focus on your own move,” Benno said. “Rozemyne mentioned that her personnel can bring family with them. Speak to yours and find out what they intend to do. Once we’re gone, who knows when we’ll next have a chance to return to Ehrenfest.”

Lutz took a moment to let those words sink in. He really was leaving his home duchy to go somewhere entirely new. Being able to explore Ehrenfest’s cities as a Gutenberg was already a dream come true, but the thought of venturing beyond the duchy’s borders was enough to revive his boyhood aspirations and made him tremble with excitement. The path ahead of him was broader than ever before.

“No matter what happens, I will convince my family and accompany Rozemyne,” Lutz declared, his fists clenched in a show of determination. “Especially if Tuuli and her family are going. I won’t lose to them!”

Benno gave his enthusiastic leherl a flick on the forehead while Mark watched them with a wry smile. “I get your resolve and your determination to go all out, but have a real conversation with your parents, okay? I don’t want you throwing another tantrum and getting us summoned to the temple again.”

“Come on, that’s ancient history! How long has it even been now? One, two... Seven years! That whole thing was seven years ago!” Lutz found it immensely embarrassing that an event from right after his baptism was still getting mentioned, especially when he was due to come of age next summer.

Benno blinked a few times, either oblivious to Lutz’s frustration or merely ignoring it. “Seven whole years, huh? Feels as though it happened only the other day...”

“Because we have been so busy ever since, I would assume,” Mark ventured. “Months start to blend together when you spend all of your time working. That said, a simple glance should tell you how much Lutz has grown. He was so much shorter when that incident occurred.”

From there, Benno and Mark began to reminisce about the days before and after Lutz’s baptism. Myne had been an apprentice blue shrine maiden instead of the noble known as Rozemyne, and the duchy’s High Priest had been Ferdinand, not Hartmut. Looking back, Lutz’s height was far from the only thing that had changed.

Lutz wanted to close his ears to the entire conversation; now that he was a merchant, he understood just how insane his antics with Myne had seemed to Benno and the others. He couldn’t even protest about the incident with his parents, since his tantrum had gotten them involved in the first place. The atmosphere was as awkward as being watched over by an uncle.

“Please let it go already...” Lutz groaned. “I really have grown a lot since then. My mom and dad actually respect what I’m doing now.”

“I don’t doubt that,” Benno replied with a smirk. “I mean, why else would they have let a runt like you get engaged prior to coming of age?”

Lutz glared at him. In the lower city—especially in the poorer districts—it wasn’t uncommon for girls to get engaged before or just after coming of age. Boys, on the other hand, normally had to wait until their income was stable. Lutz had only managed to buck the trend and get engaged to Tuuli so soon because of their personal circumstances and the fact that he was already on a good salary.

“I’m gonna give you some time off work,” Benno said, “so have a proper conversation with your parents, okay? Oh, and before you go home—drop in on Tuuli, would you? I don’t think you’ve seen each other once since your engagement.”

Benno and Mark knew all about the couple’s family circumstances, both because they were aware of the Myne—Rozemyne situation and because they were providing all manner of support when it was needed.

“Have you prepared those presents for her?” Benno asked.

“Yeah. Everyone kept pestering me about them.”

For various reasons, the engagement had been arranged in a hurry—there was no knowing when they would need to leave Ehrenfest—but that didn’t make it any less legitimate. Everyone had told him time and time again to prepare gifts for his new fiancée.

“Be sure to keep her happy,” Benno teased.

Lutz rushed out of the room to escape their torment. His recent business trip with the other Gutenbergs meant he now had some time off, but that wasn’t the case for Tuuli—she was probably working hard to make new hairpins and clothes in time for Rozemyne’s return to the Royal Academy. Or maybe she was already preparing for her move to the Sovereignty. In any case, she was bound to be at her workshop, so that was his destination.

“Oh, Lutz. You’re back,” the receptionist said as soon as he entered. “Here to meet your cute little bride?”

“Can you get her for me? I need to give her a few things.”

“Oh my! Gifts? It really is adorable how close you two are. I’m so jealous!”

Even here, Lutz was getting teased. In the past, he would have argued that they weren’t actually together, but that wasn’t an option anymore. After all, they really were engaged.

It must be rough for Tuuli. She’s had to endure this nonstop.

Lutz hadn’t received much teasing at all since their engagement, owing to his being in Kirnberger, but poor Tuuli had probably been tormented on a daily basis. He was contemplating her trials and tribulations when footfalls drew him from his thoughts.

“Welcome back, Lutz,” Tuuli said, waving as she approached.

He took a sharp breath. Tuuli might have sounded the same as he remembered, but she was almost unrecognizable. She was wearing her hair up rather than in a braid, and dressed in a longer skirt. They were simple changes, but they made her look drastically more adult.

“Lutz,” she whispered, evidently conscious of the grinning receptionist, “I’m on my break, so why don’t we go outside? Heading to the plaza sounds like a good idea.”

Lutz was used to Tuuli leaning close and whispering to him, but on this particular occasion, the experience made his heart race. Maybe he was still at a loss after seeing her as an adult for the first time. As he was unable to remember what she had said to him, the best response he could manage was “Yeah. Sure.”

Tuuli waited not a moment longer before taking Lutz by the arm and dragging him out of the workshop. As they went, he couldn’t help but notice the pale nape of her neck, which was no longer obscured by her hair.

Huh? Something about this feels... strange.

Tuuli had grown quickly as a child—plus she was one year his senior—so Lutz had always needed to look up at her. Now, however, he could have sworn that he’d closed the gap. Had she stopped growing? Or was he going through a growth spurt of his own?

Are we the same height now? Or am I a bit taller?

As he continued to stare at her, he hoped it was the latter.

“Lutz, is your head in the clouds or something?” Tuuli suddenly asked, examining his face. “Is anything the matter? You aren’t falling asleep on me, are you?”

Lutz recoiled as he suddenly came back to his senses. At some point, they had arrived at the plaza, but he had been so absorbed in his thoughts that he hadn’t even noticed. Only now was he registering the sea of noise.

“I, um... I’m fine,” he replied, scratching his cheek. “I was just a bit surprised, that’s all. This is my first time seeing you, uh... with your hair like that.”

“Hm? Oh, I guess you’re right. An entire season has passed since I came of age, so this just feels normal to me now.”

Everyone who had seen her after the ceremony had apparently said she had “transformed into an adult overnight” and that she was now “clearly of marriageable age.” By now, however, everyone had already said their piece.

Tuuli giggled, her cheeks flushed, then pinched up her long skirt and bashfully asked, “Do I really look that much like an adult?”

“You do. For a moment, I didn’t even recognize you.”

Tuuli gasped, having not expected such an honest answer, then quickly averted her gaze. She took a seat on the edge of the fountain, patted the space beside her, and said, “I assume you heard about the Sovereignty.”

Lutz sat down beside her. “I promised to go with her, no matter how much of a struggle it might be to convince my mom and dad. In fact, I’m gonna speak to them when I get home.” He was pretty sure they would give their permission, but Benno’s mention of the past had made him less certain.

“You don’t have anything to worry about,” Tuuli said with a smile. “Dad was just telling Auntie Karla and Uncle Deid that we’ll take care of you, since our whole family is going.”

“Huh. I’ll need to give your dad my thanks,” Lutz replied. Gunther’s support would make things a lot easier. It was already doing wonders to raise his spirits.

“He said that since we’re already engaged, you’re pretty much family.”

“Family...?”

“Uh-huh. Kamil was looking forward to your return, and Mom plans to welcome you with open arms.”

An unexpected warmth spread through Lutz’s chest. He had gone to Kirnberger right after their engagement, so it still didn’t seem real to him... but that hadn’t stopped everyone from treating them as if they were already married.

I seriously need to shape up and change my mindset.

In the meantime, Tuuli brought him up to speed about her family. Kamil would start doing apprentice work for the Plantin Company after his baptism and was due to become the first leherl apprentice of their new store in the Sovereignty.

“He said that he was glad to have chosen to work for the Plantin Company. If he hadn’t, he would have needed to find a new job now or become a live-in apprentice, so...”

“Ah, right. That would have been a nightmare. You can’t just change jobs in a season or two.”

“Between you and me... he was pretty mad that Rozemyne almost put him in a whole heap of trouble.”

Lutz burst into laughter. The blood would have drained from Rozemyne’s face, had she been with them. Though she had needed to leave Kamil when he was only a baby, she still saw him as her little brother. Her love for him was so strong that even now, she continued to send him toys and picture books. If she found out that she had managed to anger him, she would probably end up depressed.

“So, tell me what’s been going on with you, Lutz. How was Kirnberger?”

“It was nice.”

The city had seemed empty—closing the country gate had caused a substantial decrease in its population—but the giebe had run a tight ship and made sure that they were comfortable. Better still, the people had all been so nice. They had assisted Horace with his attempts to gather rare ingredients for Heidi, and nursed any of the newbies who fell sick. In the end, not a single spat had taken place between the craftspeople.

“How was your coming-of-age ceremony?” Lutz asked. “Did you-know-who go nuts?”

During the Gutenbergs’ meeting in the temple, everyone had chuckled about Zack’s Star Festival receiving more blessings than any other. And if something like that had happened for Zack, then Rozemyne must have done something truly insane for her dear sister.

As expected, Tuuli looked outraged. “Of course she went nuts! It was such a pain to deal with!”

“I wish I could say that surprised me.”

“It was fine at the start. I’d asked for a normal blessing, so that was what she gave me. She has a surprising amount of control when she actually tries. But the moment the chapel doors opened and everyone started to leave, a huge blessing way bigger than the one from the ceremony started raining down on us...”

Lutz could guess from the explanation that Rozemyne had seen her parents when the doors were opened. Tuuli hadn’t said it aloud for obvious reasons; they were sitting in a plaza full of people.

“You know, even the priests were surprised. It was so obviously an accident, but she started trying to justify it as a bonus blessing. Like, what? I don’t know who she thought she was fooling.”

Lutz chuckled and said, “Yeah, that’s exactly what I expected.” He could easily imagine Rozemyne scrambling to come up with an excuse of some kind.

“I couldn’t help but think, ‘What are you doing?!’ Mom and Dad were holding back laughter, but I made sure to give her the glare of a lifetime.”

“Good call. That probably did the trick. You look real scary when you’re mad.”

“Don’t be mean, Lutz!”

Lutz apologized to the pouting Tuuli, then took out one of the presents he’d brought in an attempt to win her over. “Would this cheer you up? It’s some embroidery done in Kirnberger’s traditional style. I also have this painting of some flowers that are rare here in Ehrenfest but are blooming in Kirnberger as we speak. Dimo was kind enough to let me have it.”

Ingo’s carpentry workshop had Rozemyne’s exclusive business, meaning they were responsible for creating any bookshelves, book boxes, or whatever else she ordered and decorating them in a manner befitting the adopted daughter of an archduke. They had ended up needing to rush the doors and windows for the new inns in Groschel, so Dimo had started searching for herbs and the like that he could use in his designs, hoping to compensate with the furniture.

“You’re always saying that you want to see rare flowers with your own eyes, right?” Lutz asked. “Especially now that you see them incorporated into so many of the orders you receive from other duchies. I might not have been able to bring the flowers themselves back from Kirnberger, but I thought these gifts could at least serve as some inspiration.”

“Yay! They’re amazing! Thanks, Lutz! I always struggle to decide which flowers to use.”

In a predictable turn of events, she was most excited about the presents she could incorporate into her work. Her blue-green eyes sparkled as she closely examined the painting.

Lutz gave a wry smile, pleased to know that his struggle to convince Dimo hadn’t been in vain. “Also, could you read these?” He held out a stack of papers—stories from Kirnberger’s citizens which he had written down.

Tuuli started thumbing through them. They weren’t at all similar to the stories from Groschel. Some of them were downright absurd, maybe because they had come from foreigners back before the province’s gate had been closed.

“I really enjoyed the stories gathered from Groschel,” she said, “but I see that Kirnberger has some strong contenders.”

“Yeah. I wanted to rewrite them into a book over the winter, but with everything that’s happened since, I doubt that’s going to be possible.”

Benno had said that Lutz should prepare to leave Ehrenfest before anything else, since there was no knowing when their departure might be thrust upon them. Even then, he wouldn’t be ready until spring at the earliest—and now that he was back from Kirnberger, there was plenty of work for him to catch up on. He couldn’t risk being unprepared and subsequently left behind when Rozemyne’s plans were inevitably brought forward.

Tuuli smiled in response to Lutz’s complaining. “Why not make it your first job once you’ve moved to the Sovereignty?”

Lutz looked at the stack of papers. “I suppose the workshop there will need new books...” Saving the Kirnberger stories for the time being would probably be better than using them now and then arriving in the Sovereignty with nothing to print.

“First things first, though—you need to convince your parents.”

Lutz stretched, then stood up—with the help of a quick push from Tuuli. He watched as she went off with her new presents, then started making his way home.

But first: food.

He bought several buchlettes for dinner later, then packed a bag with some meat, honey, dried mushrooms, and the like for his family’s winter preparations.

Lutz soon arrived at the plaza outside his home, where his mom and several other women from the neighborhood were chatting by the well. It was a nostalgic sight, but he wasn’t looking forward to the barrage of questions that was sure to follow.

“Mom, I’m back.”

“Lutz!” Karla exclaimed, frowning the moment she saw him. “You always come home so abruptly. Haven’t I told you to give us some notice? I won’t have enough dinner for you!”

His elder brother Zasha, who was married and no longer lived at home, would sometimes drop by during work; when he did, he would always send a message or at least warn their father. But it wasn’t that simple for Lutz; he never knew when he was going to be home, so the most he could do was contact them once he was already back.

“It’s fine,” Lutz replied, then raised the bag he was carrying. “I got my own food.”

The women with Karla were quick to voice their opinions.

“Karla wants to give you a delicious meal, not that junk you’ve bought! She wants you to eat well on the rare occasions you return home, so you could at least send word.”

“Ah, but look at that bag. It’s much too plump to be dinner.”

“Must be winter prep. What a good son!”

Karla took the bag from Lutz so that she could peer inside, thrusting a bucket of water into his arms in the process. It was annoyingly heavy.

“Hey! Mom!”

“You rarely ever come home, Lutz. At least be a good son when you do.”

Lutz could only sigh and do as he was told; no matter how long he spent apart from his mom, nothing ever changed. It had been quite a while since he’d needed to carry a heavy bucket of water up six flights of stairs. From his time at the Plantin Company and in Kirnberger, he’d grown used to living on the second floor.

The voices of the neighbors grew quieter as Lutz made his way up the creaking stairs. By the time he had opened the door to his house and stepped inside, his mother had completely changed from the outspoken chatterbox down by the well. Now, she looked at her son with an unusually solemn expression.

“Welcome home, Lutz. You have something important to discuss with us, don’t you? Gunther told us a bit about it.”

Lutz swallowed. At the Plantin Company, they could have sat down to have a proper discussion while the servants prepared the food, but that wasn’t an option here. They would need to talk and make dinner at the same time. So, while helping his mom, Lutz explained that Rozemyne was going to leave Ehrenfest, and that he wanted permission to go with her.

“I won’t say no, since I know you’re a leherl,” Karla said, “but you’re still going to be underage at the end of spring. I’d feel more comfortable if you waited until after your coming-of-age ceremony in the summer, at the very least.”

“Mom, I—”

“But you’ve made up your mind, haven’t you? You’re already away for half the year visiting one city or another, and I can count on my hands how many times you’ve come back home each year ever since you turned ten and moved into your store. What I’m trying to say is... leaving the duchy won’t change anything. As far as I’m concerned, you went a long time ago.”

A wry smile crept onto Lutz’s face. His mom was never good at putting her love and concern for her sons into words. Though her response sounded more like bad-mouthing than anything else, she was giving him permission to leave.

“Tuuli’s family has decided to go with her. If you want, Mom, you and Dad can—”

“Not a chance. At this point, I can’t see a reason why we’d want to move. We have other sons here, not to mention some grandchildren.”

“Right,” Lutz said, nodding. He’d already assumed that they wouldn’t leave Ehrenfest unless something drastic happened. Plus, in truth, he was kind of glad to know that they wouldn’t be accompanying him; his business trips had taught him just how many issues arose from clashing cultures and perspectives. Their argument from seven years ago was a prime example; Lutz had cast aside the job his parents had suggested so that he could pursue his own dream.

“Do you think Dad will agree too?” he asked.

“After hearing about the situation from Gunther, the most he had to say was that crying won’t get you out of this one.”

“In other words, ‘stay strong and keep working hard’?”

“Sounds about right.”

Funnily enough, visiting other regions and speaking to nobles fluent in long-winded euphemisms had made it easier for Lutz to understand what his dad was trying to say. In this case, he had interpreted the response to his departure as praise—and if that turned out to be incorrect, he would simply blame his dad for not being clear enough. When he thought back to his days as a kid, misunderstanding things and getting hurt as a result, he couldn’t help admiring how much he’d matured.

“What’s so funny?” Karla asked.

“Nothing. I’m just glad that you’re both on board. Master Benno said he didn’t want me to throw another tantrum and get everyone summoned to the temple again.”

“Hah. That makes two of us,” Karla said with a frown.

Lutz laughed. The incident all those years ago had ended positively for everyone, but it had been so intense that none of them ever wanted to experience it again.

“At least we won’t need to send you off on your own this time,” Karla said. “It’s reassuring to know that Gunther’s family is going to be with you. I mean, we’ve lived near each other for a while, and we’re family.”

Because it was so common to marry within one’s local community, most people were related in one way or another. Gunther had grown apart from his parents after deciding to become a soldier rather than a carpenter, but his father and Deid’s mother were cousins. In other words, Karla was right: they really were one big family.

“Not to mention,” she continued, “you’re engaged to Tuuli now. You’ve got a partner, and a good enough salary to marry her whenever you’re ready. You’re far beyond the point of needing your mom to worry about you. My work as a parent is more or less done.”

It was said in the lower city that a parent’s job was only done when their child married. Lutz hadn’t made it that far just yet, but he was close enough that his parents couldn’t really complain. As Lutz looked at his mom, he could sense that she was trying to soothe her own heartache more than anything else. Having to part with one’s child was never easy.

“You chose this path,” Karla said. “Follow it all the way to the end.”

Accepting his mother’s feelings, Lutz gave a firm nod in response.