Ascendance of a Bookworm

The snow in the woods began to melt, and plant sprouts began to appear by the way. That's what Thuri said when he went to the woods.

The fact that the children are now able to go to the woods to collect means that the winter cage, which gave me the experience of not being able to read and having time and leeway, is over.

I can finally make a clay plate!

I also want to go to the woods and make clay slabs.

Touri said there's still a lot of snow left, bad scaffolding, difficult walking, and not a lot of stuff to collect. But it's not a big deal whether I have a lot or a lot of stuff to collect.

What I want is clay soil, so I can dig it.

As long as I go to the woods, I win.

Of course, there's no way I can let you go to the woods alone, so I need a touri to be your guest of honor.

First of all, I decided to rub it against Tulli and try to sweeten it in order to have a good time.

"Please, Touri. I want to go to the woods, too, and I want to get along with everyone. Take me with you to the woods."

"Mine can't walk, so I can't"

Thuri's reply is no different than it was before. As usual, there is no trust in me, but if you give up here, the game is over.

"I'm a little physically fit. If you can't make it, I'll wait at the gate. Please."

Touri was reluctant, but he did radio gymnastics every day, paid as much attention as he could to food, even went to the well about Touri washing dishes, and I tried to increase my strength. I think it's time to go.

"... if I said my father would be nice"

Tulli gave up on getting rid of me himself and threw the whole acceptability at the Father.

In fact, if you're not strong enough and you're going to wait at the gate, you can't keep talking to my father, so you won't have a choice.

Next, I fell upon my father to speak up.

"Dad, can I go to the woods too? You don't even have much heat anymore, do you?

"Right......"

During the winter, I was quite concerned about my health, so I had a fever and fell, what a mere five times.

Oh, not a lot, huh? Because you've lost so much.

My family praised me for "wow, wow," too.

The fact that I didn't get much heat increased the number of times I could have a decent meal. Then, naturally, my nutritional status got better and my body got a little bigger. Although it still doesn't reach the average of my age, maybe I'm gaining strength, too.

"If you really can't, I'll take a break at the gate. Right?

Um, my father's thinking. It won't be rejected with an instant answer, so unlike Thuri, there must still be hope.

I eat down desperately to get permission.

"If you get used to it, you'll figure it out. Even if you're 3, you've got kids taking you to the woods, right? Then you can't go to me."

"Ahhh, well, I do... those 3 year olds are thugs who can't stay quiet at home, so we're gonna get them out there, okay?

"... you mean you'll let me out if I get busted?

"There's no need to get violent. Don't think stupid."

If I don't get permission from my father for anything, it's spring and my mother's work will start soon. Then you'll be able to keep it at Grandma Gerda's again.

That one is mentally tough. I really don't like it. I never want to go. I don't want to see an abandoned child.

"Dad, you're worried because you don't have the strength, right? How can I go to the woods? What makes you think Dad's gonna be okay?

"Right......"

My father closes his eyes gently and thinks.

I waited still for my father to come up with an answer.

"... go through the gate for a while"

"To the gate? For a while. How long?

"Until I can walk to the gate by myself. You can go to the woods if you can walk to everyone without delay"

After all, they don't seem to let me out in the woods that easily. I feel like the clay slab of my ambition has gone a little far.

But gaining strength by passing to the gate, which is my father's workplace, would be the greatest concession to me with less trust.

Yeah, I wanted to go to the woods. My clay plate......

I can't go to the woods, but at least I won't have to go to Grandma Gerda's, so this area would be the drop point.

"... ok. I'll do what Dad says."

Once I was convinced and nodded, I softened my expression as my father had appeased. Did you think that if you weren't convinced, I would storm out?

"Hey, Dad. Walking to the gate means coming and going to the gate?

"No, you should ask Otto to teach you how to write"

"Huh?... okay?

What the hell kind of change of heart came to my father, who hated Otto for baking so many jerks to teach him how to write?

To me leaning my neck, my father lowered his eyebrows only slightly.

"Mine would be weak, wouldn't he? But Otto said he was smart. If you're looking for a job, it's the right job to use your head. Let me remember the letters and put on a little bit of a physically easier job,"

Otto is too nice to convince me to do that to my father-in-law with brain muscle, and the tears are going to cut a little.

I had no idea that Otto would be able to teach me letters with my father's approval.

"Mine is clever with his hands, so he thought he should do that kind of work, but he seems to be more fruitful with a head job and less burdensome on the body"

"What do you do with your head? Like what?"

The brainwork of this world does not occur to me at all. Is there some kind of brainwork you can do without your strength?

"Right. You said you could only do it at home when you're feeling better if you were a substitute for paperwork to be served to the bureau and nobles."

Does writing documents instead mean something like an administrative clerk? If that was the case, I do think it was a job I could do at home once, provided I was qualified. I don't know much about it because I've never qualified.

"Otto is a soldier, but he's a former traveler. There is still a connection to the commercial guild. You should take care of connecting with Otto because the work that your father or mother can introduce isn't very good for Mine."

...... I was baking a jerk on Mr. Otto, he looks like a very good father to me!

"Thank you, Dad. I'll do my best."

Pompom and lightly slapped my head, the Father turns to Touri.

"Thuri, can you help me?

"... Mine can't do that."

I shook my head sideways as I sifted. My sister's favor is to ask me pretty much anything. I would never shake my neck vertically just for Thuri to take me to the woods.

Nor did my father seem willing to deny Touri's opinion, and he nodded heavily.

"I know. But if we don't make it to the woods, it's Mine who's in trouble."

"That's right... but I'm in the way..."

"That's right. It's in everyone's way as it is."

I told him it wasn't just Touri, but even my father was clear to get in the way. Even if I know for myself, it just hurts when I'm assured in front of you.

"If we don't at least be able to walk at the same speed, we can't act together as far as the forest, so we go to the gate first. Until I can walk to the gate, my father will go with Mine. So when Mine can walk to the gate, I want Touri to help too"

"... then, good luck"

The responsible Touri nodded loudly, but I drop my shoulders a bit. My health rating, which is recognized in my family, still seems to be crawling at the bottom.

Really? I don't think I can even walk to the gate. I haven't been to the well lately, but I haven't been breathing that much.

The next morning, when the sun was getting a little higher, I was to go with my father to the gate. The only time I go to the gate is when my father is on his day shift.

The gatekeeper's job is on a three-shift basis, breaking up with morning shifts before opening the door to noon, noon shifts before noon to closing the door, and night shifts before closing to opening the door.

Until I can walk to the gate, they will either walk with my father on the day shift to the gate and return with Touri and the others back in the woods, depending on their physical condition, or wait until the work of my father is done to return with me.

"You don't seem too pushy. Dad, look closely at Mine."

"Oh, I know. Let's go, Mine."

"I'm coming"

I wave to my mother, who drops me off with a worried face, and I walk to the gate holding my hand with my father.

I managed to take it off the condition that I needed a break just down the stairs, but I went out on the main street and walked a little and my breath ran out.

Speaking of which, I've never had you carry me, it's a luggage car, it's a shoulder car, and on second thought, I've walked on my own feet to the gate.

"Mine, are you okay?

"Not yet, hey... Ki..."

If I retire here, I might not let you go to the woods for the rest of your life.

Due to such an obsessive attitude, I tried to say "fine," but my body is not fine at all. As much as I want to sit out here already, my whole body is heavy.

"You don't look okay at all.... Oops."

When my father stopped my leg at his discretion, he lifted me up. In the meantime, I bring it to my father and repeat my rough breath.

I can't! I'm dying!

My family is right. I can't get to the woods.

Traveling about half the distance my father holds me, I rest early in my quarters. Honestly, I don't think I can do anything else. My father seems to have left me asleep on the bench in the dormitory because I am so grumpy.

After lunch, I finally got up.

"Hey, Dad. Me, Mr. Otto, I'm supposed to teach you how to write, but are you okay with me taking time for that? What's Mr. Otto's job?

Otto should have a job as a gatekeeper too. I don't think teaching me letters is my job as a soldier, no matter what you think.

"Otto's job is to teach letters. Newcomers."

"New?"

"I have about 5 apprentices who have finished their spring baptism. It's Otto's job to teach them how to write."

Soldiers are asked to read and write a single word. Because if a person's name or title cannot be read or written, he cannot stand as a gatekeeper.

"You mean I'll be taught with you?

"Well, you are. But from the standpoint, you're not a soldier apprentice, you're Otto's assistant."

"Assistant?"

Can I treat a child like this as an assistant? I don't know what to say to myself, but I'm a young girl who looks about 3 years old. I don't think anyone would be convinced by what they say about assistants.

"Mine. You, you helped Otto do his job, didn't you?

"If it's an accounting report and a budget... but it's just a calculation, right?

I only helped Otto do his job once. It was something I was asked to do with shame, so I decided I shouldn't speak out, and I didn't report it to my father. But Otto may be scolded, but he seems to have reported it.

"Oh. Otto, I've been told for a long time that leaving that job to just one person is a burden, but there's no one I can help. Otto taught you how to write and told you he wanted to be your assistant."

He paid me to teach him the script, but he didn't joke about wanting to be his assistant.

"It's like Otto was hired as his personal assistant, but don't let the pre-baptism child do the job. So, in the name of teaching the letters, I decided to let them go through the gate. Salary is stone brush. Rest when you are not feeling well. Otto used to argue that there were no gentler assistants on the budget."

Apparently, it is required of me to help with paperwork while learning to write to Otto. Cloth stone to next year's budget season?

And that's the merchant around getting the payroll stone brush out of my budget by talking to my boss and treating me like an assistant. I feel familiar with how to benefit without hurting my nostalgia.

"Mine, it's time to start, okay?

"Yes."

Otto came to call, so I took my tote bag and moved it from the inn to the training room.

There was a wooden table and chair at the corner of the training room, with five boys sitting. It would be the soldier apprenticeship my father used to say.

"Mine is the daughter of the squad leader here, and he's asked me to help him with his paperwork. This time I wanted to learn the letters, so I decided to join. Don't give me an extra little"

Introducing me that way, Dr. Otto's class began.

On the tablet, write basic letters like alphabets. For starters, I need to remember all this, there's nothing I can do.

"That's all the basic letters."

Out of a total of 35 characters, today I write on the tablet, pronouncing five. Some letters were remembered without so much bitterness because they had been taught a little before.

"... Mine is really quick to remember"

"Because I prefer this kind of thing to moving my body"

Unlike children in this world, I'm sure I'm used to studying, and my own lack of resistance to studying leads me to remember well. It's what you like that makes you good.

It's the first time I've even had a stone brush, and if I compare them to me as a novice as I have to start with a run, they're pathetic.

"Mr. Otto, it's time to finish studying the letters"

"Huh? Already?

It's probably about 30 minutes, given the physical time, but for the boys, the task of sitting still and writing is painful. I just started moving my body. It's evidence I'm getting tired of.

"Because I can't concentrate for long on someone with a stone brush for the first time. After practicing the letters a little, let them do the math next. Let them write the city's plans. Teach the soldier how to understand. I also pinch exercise. It's better to let them experience a little bit of different things in a day."

You should also refer to the timetable for elementary school students at their age. Even Japanese elementary students will not be able to stand to be taught Hiragana alone all day long in Mandarin. Children in the world who are unfamiliar with sitting.

"Let's do the math next. From where I count the numbers."

Sometimes I go shopping, so all the numbers up to about 10 were counted. However, some kids are a little suspicious, so I write numbers from 0 to 5 on the tablet as I speak up and count.

This was also where everyone began to pull their bodies back together, and they decided to cut them up and drive them away to physical workouts.

"That's it for today's study. Remember all the letters and numbers you learned today by the next time. Because if you don't remember, your study time will grow only for that child. It's important to remember letters and numbers."

With that said, I broke up the children early.

Otto looks sinister as he takes me to the inn where I no longer need to be in the training room.

"Mine, the way you do it so sweet, then you say you can't really remember"

"Hmm? But when you're not comfortable, it takes extra time, so that's enough to teach you at once. Don't compare yourself to me."

"Ah... well"

Apparently he unconsciously realised he was comparing himself to me, and Otto scratched his cheeks with Polypoli.

"Besides, if you didn't remember by reviewing it, you wouldn't be able to go home until you remember next time, would you? Because it's my responsibility. It's not that sweet, is it?

"I see. It's tough on a chick who's just getting to work."

I exhale softly, laughing together to match the bitter laughing otto.

I haven't even heard of helping you with your rookie education, and if those kids were here, my studies wouldn't go on, would they?

Back in the dorm room, Otto made the rest of his time my personal class.

I ask Otto to to write a word and practice it on the tablet. Otto does paperwork during practice hours.

"Well, Mine seems to have learned the letters, shall we learn the words? I'm going to teach you from what I use a lot."

"Yes!"

Thus, I was to learn the words in Dr. Otto's personal class, but all the words that would teach me were about equipment and gatekeeper work. Apparently, he's seriously going to let me help him with the paperwork.

Maybe when I get a little more usable, I'm going to be stuck in paperwork without waiting until next year's budget season.

'Cause the first words you taught me were People Inquiry, Nobility, Reference Letter, and Petition, right? I don't use it at all on a daily basis, do I? At the very least, if you would have started with the equipment items, you would have remembered the names of hay, food, weapons and protective equipment......

As I spelled the letters on the cuttlefish and the tablet, my father came to call me. They came back from the woods because it was a little before the door closed.

I decided to put the tablet in my bag and go home with everyone.

"Touri!"

"Mine, let's go home"

He bears a cage for collection, and sees me hanging around with only one tote bag, with tools, collections, and several children of all sorts.

"Huh? Mine?

"Touri's sister? I've never seen it before."

Tulli laughed bitterly as he hid behind Tulli unexpectedly in the indiscreet gaze of the thin dirty children.

"It's rare for Mine to go outside, so I can't help it."

Apparently, Mine, who was rarely able to show his face for every local event, is being treated like a rare monster among the children.

Touri says, "It's okay because I'm not just annoyed by being seen," but my gaze hurts, although I follow her.

"Is Mine coming home with you?

"Lutz!"

I was heartfelt that there was a face I knew, and I also looked for Ralph's face. But he's in good shape and has no noticeable Ralph appearance with red hair.

"Is that it? Is Ralph not here today? Sick?"

"Ralph turned 7 this spring, so I'm working today"

"Heh..."

Ralph was only seven. For once I knew in Mine's memory that he was in good shape, well looked after, and I thought he was about 8 or 9 years old on his own.

Is that it? Is Lutz getting pretty tall and big during the winter, too? After all, maybe there's a law of heredity here too.

I started walking toward the house, thinking about that with a hard time. After collecting in the woods, the kids with a lot of luggage will naturally and feet faster if they want to get home a little faster.

It is Touri and Lutz who follow me who are likely to be left out of such a group.

"Guys, don't panic!

"Are you okay, Mine?

I intend to walk hard too, but keep getting pulled apart by the group. The children are relentless. Do not wait for me late.

"Guys, fast......"

"Sorry, Lutz. Mind if I ask for Mine? I'll see everyone."

Tulli will be the oldest in a group of pre-christening children, so he prioritized taking care of everyone over his sister.

"Okay. Mine, slow down. I can't carry him today because I have luggage, even if it's on the way."

"Mmm."

Lutz is the only one who walks slowly with me left behind. I can't take any more trouble with Lutz, so don't hesitate to slow down and walk.

"What was Mine doing at the gate?

"I was taught the letters."

"Letters? Can you write!?

He looked at me, as Lutz was so surprised.

I feel Lutz's eyes shine with respect for me, but I still don't remember the words so much that I can write them. It's troubling to be seen with such glittering eyes.

"I can only write my name satisfactorily. We're going to practice."

"Awesome, Mine. I can't believe I can write my own name!

Is that it? Sounds like your respect's completely settled?

I didn't think you'd be respected just because you could write your name.

But when I think about it, I remember a peasant saying that only a village chief could read and write letters, and even a father at the level said that he could write people's names was amazing enough.

First grade level, I thought, is a level of respect in this world...

I kind of understand how valuable it is to be able to help with paperwork. Mr. Otto should be interested in raising me before the soldiers around him.

If you're satisfied where people can write their names, there's no way you can teach them to do paperwork.

"hey... hey..."

"Mine, are you okay?

For me, it is easy to remember the letters, but difficult to gain strength.

I was so exhausted that when I got home I couldn't even utter a word, accompanied by a worried Lutz.

I had a fever and went to bed for about 2 days.

"So don't push it, I told you!

My mother is puffy and angry, but she seems to be steadily gaining strength and is usually able to go out on the third day where she sleeps for about 5 days.

My father and I went out to the gate, and after about half a walk, my father held me and moved. Help practise and calculate letters from noon. I walk home with everyone, I'm immediately pulled away, my breath is constant, and I'm worried about Lutz. When I get home, I'll go back to sleep.

I've been in that state repeatedly for about a month, but my health has improved properly.

I went for one day and took three days off, which was two days off, and went to work every other day after I took a break. By then, though still slow, I had managed to walk to the gate.

Of which, I went for 2 days and took a day off, went for 3 days and took a day off.

When I was able to go to the gate for the first time for 5 days, my family celebrated with a grand celebration.

"You did it, Mine. It's the first time you've been able to go all the way without taking a break."

"You've got a lot of strength, Dad's happy!

"Looks like it's time to go to the woods."

My family celebrated me, but then I had a fever and slept for two days. Doesn't look as good as I thought.

When I started going to the gate and it was March, I finally got permission to go to the woods. It was about the end of spring when I started to see signs of summer.