Ascendance of a Bookworm

I wish the clay plates had been baked and even preserved. Ha.

I didn't think it was going to explode.

At least if I had a knife, like Thuri, I could do a wooden Jane.

There was a small explosion in the “, clay slab making was banned, book making got stuck, and while I was thinking of the next way, Touri turned seven.

I have a habit of celebrating my 7th birthday here in a grand way.

It's not exactly my birthday, it's my birthday season. Baptism ceremonies are held in the temple every season, and all children aged 7 go to the temple to receive the baptism ceremony.

Does that mean I can work as an apprentice from now on, so I can count as a member of the city?

I feel fine if I think it's something like 753, even though I feel somewhat bad about religious rituals. Strange.

I and my father are not taking part because there are no children under the age of 7 allowed in the temple.

By the way, I am a non-participation decision at my age, but my father is a compulsory non-participation. What bad luck, my father says there's a meeting on Tulli's baptismal day that I can't get out of.

Besides, this meeting was decided upon after being summoned by a senior nobleman, and if he doesn't go, his neck will fly physically.

Scared!

Yet this father complains about it early in the morning and doesn't quite try to get to work.

"I don't like it. I don't want to go to a meeting. It's Thuri's christening, isn't it? Why do we have a meeting that doesn't matter on such an important day?

It is true that the baptism ceremony is an important day. Nobles should have children, too, and I think they have some regard for daylight saving if they're going to be at the baptism ceremony.

"Is that it? Could it be that your aristocratic children don't have baptisms?

"... I've heard you call a cleric home instead of going to the temple. That's why nobles don't know how to feel."

Well, I've been listening to you since last night if you just feel like saying stupid things in the house, but I'm persistent. Is the sadness and depression of a daughter loving father, whose work overlapped with children's sporting events and 753, common to the whole world?

I carefully combed Thuri's hair and exhaled as I divided it in the middle.

"Dad, I'm coming with you, so let's go to work. You can go with Touri until you're on your way. Anyway, only the Turi and the children are allowed inside the temple, and the adults wait in the temple square, right?

Interacting with the queue halfway through and seeing Thuri clear would be a bit of a relief. That's what I thought, I suggested it to you, and my father says I'm still good with it.

"Waiting in the square is my role as a father..."

"I think it's my father's job to go to work and make money, though?

"Ugh!"

"If you don't like going to work with me that much, why don't you go with your father alone?

I can't stand it anymore, and if I stick it away, I'll look at you with my crying eyes even now that I've made a petition.

"... go to work with Mine. I'll be home as soon as the meeting's over. We're definitely gonna celebrate tonight."

As I was braiding my hair, Touri laughed nicely at my father only with her gaze so that he wouldn't move his head.

"If you're a father already. I know. We're all gonna celebrate, aren't we? I'm looking forward to coming back soon."

"Ah."

Then I laughed, and saw the responsive Father's mood soar, and I said in my heart, "That's Touri. Our angel," he applauds.

Such an angel remained smiling and did me a favor, too.

"Mine, keep an eye out for your father to do his job properly."

"Leave it to me! I'll do my best to get Thuri out of the baptism without worrying."

"Hey Mine!?

Touri finally laughed in his voice at the look of his pitiful father.

Yeah, that's a good smile.

If you find yourself so hot and bitterly loved, Touri won't miss you even if his father can't come to the baptism.

"Yes, done.... Yeah, Touri, she's cute"

"Thanks, Mine"

When the hair was split in half and braided half up from left to right, a stirrup was inserted into the finish.

Made in winter with small flowers of lace, the same colour of flowers used for sunshine looks like small bouquets. Hair decorations with a collection of tiny colorful flowers are well suited to the flamboyant and soft atmosphere of Thuri.

"Well, Touri. You got it cleaned up."

"Huh... Mother?

My mother, who goes to the temple with Tulli, wore a stretch of clothing today and was flattered. The simple dress to the ankle length where the shoes look critical looks thin blue and cool.

I just changed my clothes a little and pulled the red that just crushed the red grass fruit and didn't think I'd be beautiful this far.

Our mother, the material is too good. Seriously beautiful.

"Mother, sit here too."

"I'm fine. When Mine ties, something that looks very luxurious. 'Cause you can't decorate more than the kids in the lead."

"Oh well."

I didn't even think it would be greatly extravagant because I didn't put any decorations on it, but if that's what my mother would say, I can't help it. I don't know what the sunshine looks like around here, so there's a chance it's definitely too much.

I got out of the chair that was up to tie my hair.

"Well, let's go."

Along with the decorated Touri, I also leave the house with a tote bag to go to the gate. My mother, who accompanies Tulli, and my father, who wore work clothes, are with me.

My mother, who normally walks with Stasta no matter how much she holds her luggage, raises her hem with her hands to avoid dragging her skirt down. Touri also imitated it, lifting her skirt gently and starting to descend step by step.

I was rarely faster than the two of them in my everyday clothes, and I went out one foot ahead.

"Wow..."

There were plenty of people in the square with the well. Apparently, this christening ceremony is to be celebrated throughout the city. It shouldn't have anything to do with today's baptism ceremony, but I also saw Ralph and Rutz. Everyone around us is coming out and putting a word of blessing on today's lead.

There should have been a baptismal ceremony in winter and spring, but it was the first baptismal ceremony I saw today because I wasn't in the physical condition to go outside.

"Congratulations, Faye"

"You got a man up there."

Pink-headed Faye seems to be baptized today, too. I can see the white tightening the green sash on the top and bottom with embroidery on the edge in the same tone as the Touri.

... Oh, I see. That's important. A sewing arm.

It's all handmade, so the difference in arms is noticeable. I didn't particularly need a sewing arm in Japan, and I still wear it all worn out here, so even if my seamstress was said to be a condition of beauty, it didn't really pin.

However, the difference is clear when wearing clothes that have just been newly renovated in this way.

I didn't know because there was no comparison before, but my mother's sewing arm, it's amazing. I'm so proud of you. I can't even marry a lover here, that's a decision.

"Well, Touri! How cute!

He praised Touri, loud enough to sound all over the square, holding his cheek as Aunt Carla was thrilled to find Touri out.

As soon as that happens, Thuri gets noticed and the words of blessing fly from the people.

"Congratulations, Touri"

"Tie your hair up nicely, you look like a princess."

Touri, praised by Aunt Carla, dyed her cheeks shyly and laughed. My mother's prized white sundress flutters her blue-green hair with cubic angel rings that no other child has.

Our Touri, Seriously Angel. Dad's going to be a real fool, I know that.

"Mine tied me so hard."

"Well, Mine? There was something else going on besides the unusual dishes."

Aunt Carla, it's terrible.

But I was a little horrified. I had something to recognize in this world.

"It's so complicated, this. How do you tie it?

"Which one?

Women of all ages peek at Touri's head.

Hino, it's just braids, so don't look too closely! I didn't have a proper comb, so there's something a little rattled about my share.

"Nice, Touri. I have a baptism ceremony in the winter too, so I want it that way."

When one girl said that in a sigh of envy, she raised the same opinion. "Me, me," when someone follows, there is no cutting ahead from there.

"Everybody wants Mine to do it, right? Why don't you do it for him?

Touri laughed happily and suggested, but I instantly shake my head and refuse.

"I can't do this."

"Why?"

"Because I don't know when I'm going to have a fever. This is the first day I've seen a baptism, right?

I can't tie the hair of a strange child who is bad for Touri, who laughs like he brags about his sister, but doesn't know her well every baptismal ceremony.

Because I can assure you it will never be like Touri.

Their hair, with the old Thuri, has not been taken care of at all. I don't want to touch my hair now that I have to start taking care of it.

"Oh well. You're getting a little better, but you don't know when you're gonna have a fever, do you? Mine's amazing, and I wanted to brag about it."

It's basically useless and leggy, so I feel like asking you for Thuri's favor, but I can't physiologically.

"... as long as I can show you where I'm knitting Touri's hair, I can. But I don't want to promise to tie that kid's hair."

"Yeah, yeah, don't make promises you can't keep, and your father said it during this time, didn't he? Guys, if Mine can show you how to tie my hair, I can teach you!

Tulli's proposal, satisfied with the compromise I had made, led to a hair tie classroom to be held at a later date in the well square.

I didn't think braids would get this much attention. My mother refuses to tie her hair.

"So what's this hair decoration? Who made this?

"Mine"

"No, Touri. The whole family! Flowers are me and my mother. He's my father."

"Oh, you did"

So much so that my mother, who is a good sewer, didn't know. Lace knitting still seems unusual here. This one has awesome aunts eating.

"Hey, Mine. Why don't you tell me how to make it?

"It's easy to teach, but you have to make a thin needle, okay? Besides, I think my mother should teach me how to make hair decorations. You're better than me."

I don't like strangers, I don't know common sense here and I might say weird things, and I don't know what to tell my aunt around here. I think getting distance would be the best way to get along with a neighbor.

Karan Karan...... and the temple bell rang. When the central temple rings the bell, it rings all over the city, clinging.

The people who were making noise in the square of the well mumbled for a moment.

The next moment, someone screams in cheer.

"Let's go! We're going to the boulevard!

If we had gotten out to the main street with all the children to be baptized at the beginning, the children and the spectators coming out of the alley here and there to the main street would have come out in the same way.

From the edge of the city toward the central temple, a queue leads the way down the main street with children in white clothes. The queue consists of a child to be baptized and his entourage, and the others will be dropped off from the boulevard.

This sight resembles me.

There are people waving along the road and saying blessings, and it seems like New Year's Station tells you where the queue is progressing, with the feeling that the queue is moving forward in between and the cheers coming up step by step.

From afar, the cheer of wow approaches me step by step.

When I asked him how Tulli was right next door, he seemed nervous and his face was a little tense, so I stretched out as far as I could and poked Tulli's cheek with my index finger.

"Huh? What?

"I'm smiling. If you're laughing, Thuri is the cutest. Really?

After I rounded my eyes once, I had my usual smile on Thuri's face, which slowly narrowed my eyes.

"If I Mine Anymore"

"That's right. Touri would be the cutest, even if he wasn't laughing."

What am I going to do, you father?

While we were having such an exchange, I could see the queue. With loud cheers, applause, and whistles ringing, children dressed in the same white sunshine walk in with a sunny smile, a slightly hardened face, a look they seem to be good at, an anxious face, and each face.

Touri and Faye advanced a step forward from the spectators lined up on the boulevard. Proceed in a light foothold as you watch the queue flow and join the children at the back of the line. After checking the two men in the queue, Faye's family and we joined the line of parents behind us.

Every time there is a bend on the boulevard, the number of children increases slightly. By the time you get to the temple, which seems to be in the center of the city, you have no idea how many more people there are.

Some parents are already tearing with emotion just walking in line. For example, with my father?

I also walk through the loud cheers, running slightly to avoid lagging behind the queue.

Voices fly from all sorts of places, so I just looked around and saw the people watching through the windows of the houses lining up on both sides of the boulevard and the people throwing little white flowers to celebrate whether they had picked it somewhere.

The white flowers thrown from the tall room windows seem to descend from the blue sky. A happy voice rises from the children in the queue.

From me, which is quite short compared to my surroundings, I could only see the hands of the children stretching out toward heaven to take flowers.

At an intersection with a fountain where boulevards and boulevards intersect, the queue stops once. The queue increased at once, joining the children who had moved on from another street.

That's all I and my father can walk with.

"Dad's over here."

I pulled my father's hand, who was totally in the mood to head to the temple with the queue, and once out of the queue. Stop by the edge of the boulevard and drop off the queue with the spectators so as not to disturb the queue.

"Touri......"

He said, "Dad's over here."

When the queue passes, the tourists also begin to wander home. I turned toward the south gate with such a wave of people.

I have looked back on the queue many times, unfortunately, but is the meeting time okay?

"Squad leader! It's too late!

When I got to the gate, there was an otto with his eyes hoisted. Send my father to the conference room and I will practice my letters on the tablet as usual.

Oh, my God, I'm supposed to remember my name from a heavily in and out item so that I can read the merchant's luggage list from today.

It is the first everyday word I learned from Otto. All the words today are seasonal vegetables of this season.

Although vegetables used in regular dishes such as Pome (tomatoes that look like yellow paprika), Vel (red lettuce) and Fuchsia (green eggplant) are easy to remember, vegetables that do not appear on the table cannot imagine the item, so it takes time to remember.

I'd like to go to the market once and tie the word to the real thing. But you're still not good at butchers.

As I practiced tricks and letters on my own, a relatively young soldier took the paperwork and jumped in.

"Don't you know, Mr. Otto?

"I'm in a meeting today, though?

"Oh, I did! What shall we do..."

He can't read the letter of the paperwork very well today's gatekeeper.

"Shall I read it?

"What? You?

"I'm Otto's assistant for once."

They looked so frigid. Well, you won't look like you can read a letter like this, so you can't help it. I'm used to this kind of gaze.

That's what I said with kindness, so if you're not willing to show me anything else, that's fine.

Since there was no reaction, I decided to keep practicing my words with my gaze pointed at the tablet.

"... can you read it?

Absolutely legible, confidence is poor depending on the type of paperwork. I still can't say I totally remember.

"Uh, you can read the person inquiry form and the aristocratic references without any problems. The merchant's luggage list is not very confident of the item, even if the numbers can be read."

"Well, it's an aristocratic reference, please"

Although the aristocratic references have a lot of annoying rhetoric, they don't say it's that hard to get rid of decorative texts.

The point is, all you have to do is read who's introducing who and whose seal you need.

I sucked the smell of parchment and ink into my chest and glanced indulgently.

... Ah, the chief is in a meeting too, right? It's an introduction to junior aristocrats, so should we wait until the meeting is over?

"Uh, with an introduction from Baron Bron, he's going to Baron Graz's. You need the sergeant's seal."

Remembering Otto's work, I return parchment. If the corresponding manual is in my head, even I can do this much.

"Please guide the merchant who brought this to the waiting room for lower nobility. Since today's meeting is a meeting of senior noblemen, the chief's seal should wait until the end of the meeting, so if you explain why properly, I don't think Baron Graz's customers are the ones who can't."

"Thank you. Thank you."

I was saluted by slapping him twice in the chest, so I also jump out of the chair and return the salute. While I was Otto's assistant, I was able to do it as normal.

Um, if it stays like this, I'm going to get you a job as a clerk here.

By the time I started my apprenticeship job next year, I was going to make paper and be a bookstore, but I couldn't see ahead, and I'm going to be frustrated.

Continuing to practice letters on the tablet, my father jumped in after the meeting.

"We're leaving, Mine."

"Ah, just now..."

"I'll listen to you on the way home. Tulli's waiting."

When my father put the tablet and stone brush in his tote bag, he lifted me up and began to walk with his luggage.

"Dad!? You know what! I have a report..."

"We're leaving before Otto catches us."

"Wait! Mr. Otto has a report!

While we were talking, Otto caught up.

"Ah, Mr. Otto. A merchant with a letter of introduction from Baron Bron to Baron Graz is here. The sergeant is also waiting in the waiting room for junior aristocrats, so please respond as soon as possible."

"That's my assistant. Well done."

"My daughter."

Otto held his temples to his father's words and sighed.

"Orders an important assignment to a good assistant. Go home with this squad leader right away. My lifespan has shrunk when senior nobles stared at me because of a squatting and restless squad leader during the meeting."

"... father, life has to be taken care of"

"That's what Otto says, too, and we're leaving."

My heart is totally at home. If I go home held by my father, that night will be my family's birthday celebration of Thuri.

In me, when I said celebration, the cake was attached, but we don't have that. When I saw the ingredients available, the substitute prepared for me was French toast.

Slice some pretty stiff grain bread into the eggs and milk that my mother has been getting from Rutz's in exchange for the recipe. My mother baked me in butter and I can do it. I don't have any honey or sugar, so I added a little jam of woody fruit.

There is another thing I could have done for Thuri. Cut the vegetables from the soup. Thuri delighted to find the hearts and star-cut vegetables cute.

"Look, Touri. It's a present."

"Wow, thanks, Dad, Mom"

Touri got his work clothes and work tools, and when he turns 7 and is baptized, he gets an apprenticeship job. There is also a place to live, but the apprenticeship of the needle that Thuri goes through.

You're going to be a good seamstress and you're going for beauty.

You want Ralph to say, "Touri's a real good woman," you know.

"You don't work every day, do you?

"Well, you can't do a big job at first, about half a week"

"I can't take care of my apprenticeship all the time."

Indeed. The day I teach letters and calculations to soldier apprentices, my studies will not go far, and I remember Otto's work being increased.

"And this is Mine's"

My parents placed an elongated object wrapped in cloth on a table with a gotton.

blink my eyes, and I lean my neck. I do not know why I am given a gift, which is not a baptismal ceremony.

"I'm not a baptist, am I?

"Instead of Tulli starting work, I'll be picking up firewood from now on. You're gonna need it."

When I opened the wrapped cloth, there was a dull, shining knife there. The blade is thick and weighs heavily on the hand.

They may say in Japan that it seems such a sharp danger, that it is dangerous to give it to a child, but this common sense doesn't even allow me to protect myself if I don't have this much. I can't help you or anything. Treat me like a baby.

Knife, I got it.

Until now I have been completely baby-treated. Help with Touri to help. Instead, foot clumps that do all the extra stuff?

But I guess Touri's start of his apprenticeship forced me to give him a knife, too.

But now you can make a wooden Jane!

I'll make some wood!