Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume Short Story-1 - Chapter 3

Gunther — My Daughter’s About to Be a Criminal?!

A previously unpublished chapter that appeared in the web novel around the time of Part 1 Volume 1. Gunther has to cope with Myne going to the forest for the first time after building up her stamina. He impatiently awaits her return, unaware of all the trouble surrounding her clay tablets.

Author’s Note: I wanted to describe Myne’s eyes changing colors from someone else’s perspective and ended up choosing Gunther to narrate. It was fun writing as him.

I have a beautiful wife called Effa and two adorable daughters, Tuuli and Myne. My youngest, Myne, actually looks a lot like Effa, but she’s got an even prettier face. That’s how I know she’s loved by the gods. Her sickness was a result of that love too—I’m sure she’s always falling unconscious because the gods are inviting her over all the time.

Myne had pretty much always ended up with a fever the instant she pushed herself even a little too hard, but that wasn’t really the case anymore. All of a sudden, completely out of the blue, she’d started trying to get better. And it was working. Sure, she’d also begun doing and saying weird things, but she was doing her best to build up stamina in her own way. It hadn’t been too long ago when she’d needed to rest after taking a few steps outside, but after a season of dedication, she was able to walk all the way to the gate without stopping.

Impressive, ain’t it? My daughter’s a hard worker.

On top of that, Myne was real smart. Well, that’s what I was told, at least; I was never any good at judging that kinda stuff myself. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind about her being the real deal, though. Otto had always refused to hire any assistants—he called them “dead weight” and always said they’d just waste his time—but now he was pretty much begging me to let Myne work under him.

Otto had told me that Myne could spot calculation errors just from looking at finance reports and had mastered the alphabet after just a bit of studying. Now she was learning about forms and letter templates. He’d also said that she kept a good eye on her surroundings, noticed even the slightest changes, and adapted her thinking to accomplish her goals. Apparently, she was pretty much in a league of her own.

The heck does all that mean?

I only really followed about half of what Otto had said to me, but I understood the gist: my daughter was so smart that not even he could believe it.

That’s my daughter. She really is loved by the gods.

Today, Myne was going to the forest for the first time. I was on the noon shift, so I was planning to welcome her back... but I was real worried.

“Calm down, Captain,” Otto said.

“Hm? Ah... yeah.”

She could reach the gate without issue, but would she make it all the way to the forest? Even if she did, she wouldn’t get to rest indoors like when she came to help Otto; she’d be stuck outside the whole time. Maybe the sun would make her sick or she’d collapse with a fever. I couldn’t stop worrying about her.

“Captain, don’t just stare off into the distance,” Otto said. “Myne would be so disappointed if she saw you like this.”

“Otto, you... Don’t ever say that!”

“Then get back to work. She won’t be back until evening, right?”

The real irritating thing was that Myne called this smug dope her “teacher.” She really seemed to respect him.

Though she respects me a lot more, obviously. Heh.

After all, she’d said I was the best back when I made her a crochet hook and that stick for Tuuli’s hair ornament.

I tried to focus on my work and direct my subordinates, but I was nervous beneath the surface. The girls would come back soon, I was sure. Tuuli was responsible, and she’d promised to leave the forest early. Given that Myne was so weak and slow, maybe they’d even start heading back around noon.

Noon passed. It was still too soon for them to be heading back. That was obvious.

The sun was starting its descent. Still nothing. They’d probably show up soon.

More and more people were leaving the city... but there was still no sign of the kids.

“She promised to come back early, so it shouldn’t be long now,” Otto assured me. “Please, Captain—stop glaring at everyone passing through. It’s inappropriate.”

We’d reached the point of the day when there weren’t as many farmers leaving the city after selling their crops as there were people entering the city to return home or find an inn for the night. Myne and Tuuli should have been showing up about now too, but they were nowhere to be seen. So much for coming back early.

This is taking too long! Tuuli, weren’t you going to come back sooner than usual?! Has something happened to Myne?!

I could already picture Myne collapsed on the side of the road and Tuuli panicking over what to do. No way was I going to wait around.

“Otto, I’m gonna go search for ’em.”

“And abandon your post?! W-Wait, look! Isn’t that Tuuli?!”

“Where?!”

Otto was standing on tiptoe and staring in the direction of the forest. He was taller than me, so he could see farther. “She just joined the end of the line of people coming to the gate. Let’s work through them as quickly as we can.”

“You can count on me!”

Immediately I set about processing everyone trying to come through the gate, working at lightning speed so that Tuuli and the others could get back into the city as soon as possible. The line was moving a lot faster than before, and it wasn’t long before I could see the kids myself.

Wait, did they... just join the queue?! Gah! You tricked me, Otto!

But as they came closer, I noticed something—Myne wasn’t with them. My eyes darted all over the place. Tuuli was responsible; no way would she have abandoned her little sister.

“Tuuli, where’s Myne?!”

“Lutz is going to bring her back later,” she said. “I think they’ll arrive right before the gate closes.”

She turned back toward the forest, looking worried, but Myne and Lutz were nowhere to be seen. If they were going to be back as late as she’d said, then that meant they hadn’t left early.

“Didn’t you promise to come back early?” I asked. “What happened...?”

The other kids started exchanging conflicted looks. It was like they were all trying to hide something.

“Tuuli, what in the world...?”

“A lot happened,” Tuuli said. “Can I tell you about it later? We’re running kinda late, so everyone’s moms are probably worried. I need to get them all home.”

I wanted to stand my ground and demand that she spill it here and now, but she was gone before I could even try. The other kids followed after her, looking exhausted.

“The heck happened...?” I wondered aloud. “Otto, any ideas?”

“It can’t be anything serious or else they would have asked for help.” He sounded completely disinterested, but Tuuli usually told me everything—even when I didn’t ask her to. It was no wonder that I was so worried.

What’s going on with Myne?!

I paced back and forth in front of the gate, so anxious that I was starting to get frustrated. It wasn’t until right before the gate was about to close that Myne finally returned, pale and leaning against Lutz.

“Myne!”

“Sorry, Dad...”

She apologized so quietly that I could barely even hear her before collapsing into my arms. Lutz helped me to remove the basket from her back, which was empty aside from a shovel, then I hoisted her up.

“Lutz! What’s going on?!” I shouted. “What was she apologizing for?!”

“Uh... Probably for intentionally breaking her promise,” he replied, rubbing his head. “She started digging holes and making clay tablets all of a sudden... then she got really mad at Fey’s group and started crying. She was so all over the place that she’ll probably be stuck in bed for at least three days.”

My eyes shot open. “You didn’t stop her?!”

Lutz’s face twisted into a grimace. “Uh, Mr. Gunther... Do you not think we tried...?”

Ah. Obviously they’d done their best. It was because Lutz and Tuuli had such a good track record of looking after Myne that I’d felt safe leaving her in their hands to begin with. Lutz in particular was such a good caretaker to Myne that it was hard to believe they were the same age.

“Right. Of course... My bad.”

“Don’t yell at Tuuli either,” Lutz said. “She worked hard. Oh, but you can yell at Myne. I did. Though she basically ignored me.”

Myne’s fever was getting worse while she was slumped in my arms, and her pale face was beginning to turn red.

“Well, I’ll leave her to you,” Lutz said. “I need to hurry home.”

“Yeah. Thanks for looking after her. You were a big help.”

I took Myne into the waiting room and laid her down on one of the benches. It was pretty much her second home at this point. Her cheeks were even more flushed, and she was breathing heavily.

After speeding through the rest of my work, I picked Myne up again and hurried home.

“Welcome back, Gunther,” Effa said when I came through the door. “Myne collapsed, didn’t she?”

Without a moment’s hesitation, Effa got Myne changed and put her to bed. I took a seat at the table, directly across from Tuuli, eager to find out what had happened.

“So, what’s the deal, hm?” I asked. “Lutz gave me a rough idea, but I want to hear your side of the story.”

Tuuli shivered and gave me a wary look. She was such a diligent girl with a strong sense of responsibility. Maybe her desire to do everything perfectly was why she seemed so scared of messing up.

“Lutz told me not to get mad at you,” I explained, trying to calm her down. “He said you did your best. He also said I’ve got every right to be angry at Myne. So, come on—what actually happened?”

Once she knew I wasn’t going to shout at her, Tuuli softened up. Her eyes wandered around the room like she was trying to find the right words, then she said, “I don’t actually know that much. Myne was tired as usual when we arrived at the forest, so she sat on a rock to catch her breath while Lutz and I went gathering. I remember thinking that we’d need to be quick, since we were going to be leaving earlier...”

“Makes sense. And then?”

Tuuli frowned. “Just as I was going to ask about us heading home, I heard Myne scream. I rushed back to her, but by the time I arrived she was already crying and yelling. She kept saying that Fey and the other boys ruined something she made. I couldn’t even calm her down—that’s how mad she was. She just kept saying that she’d make them pay... Lutz got her to stop crying in the end, but only by saying that he’d help her remake whatever it was that got ruined.”

I closed my eyes, trying to piece together the scene from what Tuuli had told me.

Nope, I still don’t really understand it. Myne made something, Fey ruined it, then she got angry?

“What was it that Myne made?” I asked.

“I don’t really know. They’re called tab-somethings... I think they’re pretty much just lumps of clay? We were so late coming back because we were all making them together.”

I was still confused, but one thing was clear as day to me.

“So basically... Myne broke her promise not to do anything in the forest?”

“Um... Probably.”

Myne had ignored our promise in order to make something, then that something had gotten ruined. Everyone had gotten wrapped up in helping her fix it, making them late to return, then she’d ended up sick again. She couldn’t have been more troublesome if she’d tried.

“I’m not gonna let Myne go to the forest again,” I concluded.

“What?! No!” Tuuli exclaimed. “Myne will get really mad!” She had gone all pale for some reason, but I didn’t care how angry Myne got. I was angry at her for breaking the promise she’d sworn up and down she was going to keep.

“Too bad,” I said. “Kids who don’t keep promises don’t get to go to the forest.”

I needed to give Myne a good scolding too. It was dangerous for kids to break promises—especially ones they’d made so they could work alone while their parents were busy.

“Dad, please! Don’t do this!” Tuuli cried, clinging to my arm when I tried going to the bedroom. She was desperate to stop me. But as much as she loved her little sister, Myne needed a proper talking-to.

“No. I’m not letting Myne go to the forest again! This is what happens when you don’t keep your promises!”

Myne must have heard my voice because she looked up at me. Her face was still red and her eyes wet from the fever, but that didn’t stop her from speaking up.

“Dad... Once more. Just... once. Need to make... (clay tablets).”

I’d expected a “sorry” or at least some kind of self-reflection, but no. Apparently, she still planned on doing something in the forest. The blood rushed to my head in an instant.

“What’re you saying?!” I barked. “Absolutely not!”

Myne let out a weak sigh, then looked at Tuuli, who was now standing beside her. “Okay... Tuuli... I’ll do it here, then...”

“O-Okay...” Tuuli replied. “I’ll make sure to bring them back.”

Hold on, Tuuli... Why’re you just going along with this? And you, Myne—what are you planning to do here? Are you ignoring how furious I am?!

“What’s this you’re talking about?” I said. “It’s what made Myne collapse, isn’t it?! No way am I gonna let you bring it back here!”

Myne’s face became cold and expressionless. It was like something had switched in her; out of nowhere, she’d turned into a completely different person. Her golden eyes narrowed, then suddenly they weren’t gold anymore. They blended from one color into the next, like the surface of a thin layer of oil.

“Do you mean that, Dad...?” Her quiet voice was so intense all of a sudden that I got chills. She wasn’t acting anything like my daughter, and I instinctively took a step back.

“O-Of course I do!”

“I see...” Myne looked away as if she’d completely lost interest in me. “Then... I’ll need to squash Fey and the others like they squashed my tablets. Ahaha.”

Myne’s eyes kept turning all sorts of colors, and her thin, cruel smile sent a shiver down my spine. I couldn’t even imagine what the girl in front of me was thinking. Something was seriously off about her.

“Dad! You need to tell Myne she can go to the forest again!” Tuuli exclaimed, hitting my arm over and over again, her face as white as if she’d seen a monster.

“Myne, what are you planning?”

“Hmm? I’m just thinking of a way to make sure Fey can never go to the forest again either. Perhaps some (psychological trauma)? Something from a (horror movie)? Maybe I should pull a (Sadako) from (The R*ng)...”

Maybe it was just because of her fever, but she was mumbling words I couldn’t even understand. To make things worse, the words I was able to make out sounded pretty gruesome. Was it just my imagination? It had to be. Maybe they’d only seemed gruesome because her voice was so strained. My daughter wasn’t anyone that scary.

“Uh, what’s Fey got to do with this? Pretty sure he’s not important here.”

“What do you mean?” Myne asked. “He’s very important. Anyway, I understand what you mean. I understand completely.” She nodded over and over again, clearly struggling to breathe.

I’d ended up getting sucked into Myne’s weird aura for a bit, but it seemed like everything had worked out in the end. She was a smart kid, so she had to understand what she’d done wrong.

“That’s grea—”

“I’ll make them cry themselves to death. Okay, I’m going to sleep now.”

“Myne! You don’t understand at all, do you?! How is that what you took away from all this?!”

What was running through her head to make her say something like that? And make who cry?! Me?! I’m almost on the verge of tears already!

“Shut up” was Myne’s immediate response. “Leave me alone.”

“Dad, come on!” Tuuli cried, trying to drag me away by the arm. “Don’t make Myne any angrier!”

Both of my daughters clearly wanted me out of the room, so I let Tuuli pull me into the kitchen.

“Tuuli... was that really Myne?” I asked.

“This must be what happens when she gets really mad... She got like this when Fey and his friends stepped on her tablets too. Her eyes started glowing and went all terrifying. I remember she was also letting off some kind of yellow mist... Everyone was really scared.”

Yeah, I was scared too. Must’ve been even worse for the kids.

“Myne cheered up after we started making the tablet things again, and none of us dared to say we should stop and go home...”

After what I’d just seen, that was no surprise. I would have wanted to leave her alone too.

“I ended up having to plead with Myne that it was almost time for the gate to close,” Tuuli said. “She only stopped when Lutz said that he’d help her finish the tablets next time... The rest of us promised as well before we left.”

So... Tuuli had only managed to keep Myne under control by saying they’d go back to the forest another time. Then I’d come along and said that Myne was banned from going there ever again. Now I understood.

“Dad, can Myne go to the forest just one more time? It’s scary how angry at Fey and the others she is. What does she mean when she says she’ll squash them like they squashed her tablets?”

“What even are these tablet things?”

“I think she means she’s going to flatten them like they flattened her tablets... but how?” Tuuli muttered. “Will she actually stomp them to bits? And what’s she going to do to stop them from going to the forest again? How will she make them cry? Dad, what do you think’s going to happen to them?”

If she really was being serious, then the fastest way for her to achieve her goal would be to cripple Fey and the others or slice the tendons in their legs. The blood immediately drained from my face. Doing something like that would make Myne a criminal, no two ways about it! Just what was she planning?!

“Tuuli, what can we do to stop Myne?”

“I don’t know... Try asking Lutz. He’s the one who stopped Myne in the forest.”

The next day, I pulled Lutz aside when he was passing through the gate and asked him what Myne had meant. It was possible that Tuuli had just been taking her too seriously... but Lutz cut down my remaining hopes like they were nothing.

“I mean... she’s obviously gonna smash Fey and the others to pieces. Nobody can stop Myne when she’s got those rainbow eyes.”

“Wha?”

“Myne’s like a feybeast that’ll chomp your leg the moment you let your guard down and never let go. She’ll accomplish anything she’s set her mind on, no matter what she has to do or how long it’ll take her.” He puffed out his chest. “Impressive, right?”

Uh, Lutz? Is your head on right? That would make her real dangerous when she wants to hurt someone, wouldn’t it? And why are you acting all proud of her? She’s my daughter, not yours!

“It’s the same thing with the clay tablets. They’re the reason Myne spent three whole months building up enough stamina to go to the forest. Nothing can stop her from getting what she wants.”

“She cares about the tablets that much...?”

It really hadn’t occurred to me that Myne was so invested in making these tablet things. Maybe I’d been too quick to ban her from working on them... But just as I was starting to have a change of heart, Lutz dropped another bomb.

“Let’s see... Fey and his group ruined the tablets that Myne put so much work into making. This meant she had to remake them, which made us late to leave, then she came down with a fever on our way back. She got banned from the forest too, so now she can’t even go fetch the tablets she’s already made. That’s a lot to be angry about, and it’s all gonna be directed at Fey’s lot, huh? I wonder if they’re gonna survive.”

“Don’t say that! D’you want my daughter to be a criminal?!”

She’d said she was going to make them cry, that was all. Everything was going to be fine. I really wanted to believe that.

“Uh, well... you’re the one who’d be making her a criminal.”

“Huh? Me?”

“You’re the one who banned her from going to the forest and making her tablets, right? Y’know, the thought of Myne going all out on someone really scares me. I support her, but I don’t get in her way. And as for putting a stop to her efforts entirely? No way. Absolutely no way.”

“It... scares you?” I repeated, blinking.

Myne was almost six, but anyone who saw her would think she was only three or four. She was weak, sickly, and had barely any stamina to speak of. For those reasons, I’d assumed that her “going all out” wouldn’t actually mean much... but here Lutz was, in total disagreement.

“I mean, Myne’s brain doesn’t work like ours do,” he explained, looking completely serious. “Sure, if she went after them with a weapon, she’d be too weak to do any damage, but she’d never approach the situation like that. I don’t know what she’d do in any detail, but I can tell you one thing: she’d find out their weaknesses and target them when they least expect it. Real scary.”

I groaned. I’d never even considered that Lutz and I might have different opinions like this. I, for one, couldn’t even imagine Myne being so ruthless—but the unimaginable was terrifying in itself.

“Not long ago, she beat even Sieg. He actually had to beg her to stop. Myne says that strength isn’t everything—and she’s actually right. Lately, I’ve started beating my brothers too.”

Hold on, what?! This is the first I’m hearing about this! What’d she do to beat Sieg?! What’s my daughter been up to?!

“Er, Lutz... this is a serious question. How can I keep Myne’s wrath under control?”

“Pile a ton of clay in front of her. If you do that, all she’ll think about is finishing her tablets.”

After my conversation with Lutz, I very begrudgingly decided to give Myne permission to return to the forest. The last thing I wanted was for her to end up a criminal. But when I gave her the good news, she puffed out her cheeks in displeasure.

“Aw, but I came up with so many ways to get my revenge... Wouldn’t it be a shame to let them go to waste?” Even while battling a fever, she’d apparently made plans to stomp her enemies.

“Definitely not! Forget about revenge!”

“Tch...”

I wasn’t sure whether we’d ended up in this mess as a result of Myne being too smart or too angry, but we’d escaped by the skin of our teeth. I’d saved my daughter from a future as a criminal and Fey’s bunch from an untimely demise, keeping the peace and protecting my family’s happiness. Lutz deserved all my gratitude for having helped me resolve this.

I sighed in relief... but then something suddenly occurred to me.

Wait, what happened to punishing her for breaking her promise?