Ascendance of a Bookworm

I'm Otto.

Beautiful, pretty daughter-in-law, the man who loves Corinna the most in the world.

Grey eyes on cream-colored hair. Overall, the pale colors are sober and well suited to Corinna with a gentle atmosphere.

The nasal rinse is all the way through, but Corinna is cute because she has a round cheek and cares a little about being seen on the child's face.

I love Corinna for laughing and accepting me, saying she can't help it.

You can tell by the looks of it. Corinna is the best with big tits, fluffy if you hug her, and smells good.

I can scream at the heart of the world. My Corinna is the best in the world!

Today, in an introduction to Mine, my assistant, I met with a Lutz boy who said he wanted to be a traveler. I've just smacked reality gently and shattered Lutz's dreams.

"I'm home, Corinna. I just left. Benno's with us."

"Welcome back.... you can always come home with such a smile, annoying your pre-christening child"

"That lip pointing face is cute too."

When she stuck to the truth, Corinna sighed, ha, as if she were stunned.

Understanding that he was genuinely stunned, I flaunt my shoulders gently and excuse myself. I didn't mean to be harsh. I just taught reality to a kid who admires fairytales.

"I have no choice. There's nothing you can do to become a traveler. I did shatter hope, but that's better for him."

"That's right..."

Corinna's Gray eyes lay low, frowning painfully. Though a child, all the worrying faces for other men make my heart waver.

"Corinna is sweet. I can't believe I'm so heartbroken for a kid I've never even met..."

"Out of the way, Otto. Just get inside."

I held my shoulder and tried to mouth it on Corinna's cheek, and Benno put my back up from behind and kicked me all the way.

Corinna pulls me aside like she panicked and welcomes Benno in.

"There you are, brother Benno.... Sounds a lot grumpy. Are you guilty of turning me down?

I saw Benno with a deep wrinkle engraved between his eyebrows and no shards of the usual goodness of affection, and Corinna said so, but Benno didn't say no to Lutz, so of course, he couldn't possibly remember feeling guilty or anything.

"Corinna, no, no. Benno frightened Lutz into trying to get rid of him when he said he wanted to be a merchant apprentice, but he just couldn't get rid of him, or he was going to swallow the terms that Mine poked at him. Mine gave me back. That's why I'm upset."

"Otto"

Benno is awesome in a low voice, but I ignore it and go inside the house with Corinna.

I guess I feel like a kid did it to me.

It feels good. You should get a full taste of my mood, which is always amazing to Mine.

Holding Corinna's hips and dropping her lips on her cream-colored hair many times, she headed to the reception room and Benno dropped a "do it when I'm gone".

Don't interrupt the couple's leisure time, I suppose, but when I say it in front of Corinna, it pisses me off, so I put up with it.

The reception room is usually Corinna's room for business with guests. It's always cleaned up, like it's okay for customers to come whenever they want.

In the center of the room, unlike the dining room, there is a round shaped wooden table with four chairs ready. Since being able to use cloth other than clothes is proof of wealth, this reception room has the most cloth in our house.

For example, on the right wall there is a shelf, decorated with specimens that show the pattern of clothes that Corinna makes, or on the left wall there is a tapestry stitched together with the remaining pieces, bright in colour.

I don't really go into this reception room because I don't have anything for it, but it's decorated with Corinna's work here, which makes me feel like I'm just having fun watching it.

Sitting in one of my chairs, I laughed niggardly at Benno sitting in the front.

"Hey, you're surprised at that development. I didn't know Benno would be allowed to make concessions..."

"Huh? Brother Benno? Let me know more, Otto."

Corinna brightens Gray's eyes and talks sweetly. Lovely.

And after sitting in the chair next to me, he just pulls a little chair toward me. Really cute.

Corinna seldom comes along like this, so I let Myne hear me speak softly about the flow of the day as I applauded her in my heart.

I'm done listening. Corinna circles her eyes and stares at Benno.

"I can't believe you're as familiar as you can be to meet people and stay in the square and wait much sooner than the bell rings... Brother Benno, you've totally lost from the start"

"Shut up."

Benno's mood is getting worse and worse. Mouth on the alcohol served by Corinna does not loosen the wrinkles between the eyebrows.

It is normal for merchants to be at a minimum familiar and to wait at the meeting point sooner than the person you asked for. Whether it was done or not, I was going to look at his mind, but Lutz was clear of both.

Maybe Mine inducted it.

Given Mine's reaction when we found them in the square, I just think so.

Today's winner will definitely be Mine. Thanks to this, we were able to see the scene where Benno conceded.

"Hey, thanks to Mine, it was a funnier meeting than I expected."

"Mine, you're the squad leader's daughter, right? You said you were very smart."

"Oh, yeah. But I've been my assistant for over six months, and I still can't grab it. I wonder how she's going to grow up like this."

As a traveler, I have been dealing with different classes of people on different lands, and I see a remarkable difference in mine.

And that seemed the same to Benno, who accompanied us today. Benno, also as a merchant, knows different classes of people. If I know shallow and wide, Benno knows narrow and deep.

"Hey, Otto. What's that?

"I told you. He's my assistant."

"No. You know, don't delude me. Is that really the soldier's daughter?

"That's for sure. But I also think it's weird."

"What do you mean?

Corinna leaned her neck strangely.

I've never said anything about Mine being smart, or weak, or weird, although I've talked to him about what happened that day. Because I thought I'd never know how unusual Mine was until I actually looked at it.

"First of all, it doesn't look right. Mine is always so petite that I don't think she's the daughter of a soldier. The clothes you are wearing are not in themselves very different from the children around them. My skin and hair are too glossy even though it is a blurry garment that has touched the joint. Even though the squad leader is an old man just like the soldiers there, the two daughters are not thin or dirty, and their hair is glossy."

"Isn't your mother being taken care of?

Growing up as the daughter of a wealthy merchant, Corinna does not clearly understand, even if she sees and knows the lives of the poor. It takes time, money, and goods to take care of your skin and hair. If you're poor, you can't afford to put that on.

"... I saw it in the winter, but it didn't seem like my mother was taking the initiative to take care of it. She was a waste of beauty for the squad leader."

Mine had been deposited at the gate to pick Paru in the winter sunshine. I saw the mother who came to pick it up, but I don't have the impression that it was as beautiful as highlighting it.

I just thought you looked like Mine and you were beautiful.

"Huh, really?

Corinna's Grey eyes glow funny because I rarely compliment other women.

"Corinna is the best for me, of course. That will never change."

"Yes, sir. That's enough.... So, Mine thinks it's weird from Brother Benno?

Turning to Corinna, Benno lays down his cup and exhales slowly as he looks up at the beam of the ceiling.

"Ah. He had bright white, spotless skin on his glossy night-colored hair as the light rose, a hand that didn't make him feel labor and life. Your teeth were white, too. It was all boring clothes and a chisel impression, unnatural no matter what you think."

"The light is so glossy that it rises...... so!? What would happen if I did that!?

"Huh? Corinna's good enough as it is, right?

"Otto shut up. I'm asking your brother Benno."

For women, the gloss of hair seems to be of considerable interest. It's unusual for Corinna to show interest so far outside of sewing.

"You seem to be putting something on and taking care of it, but you couldn't tell me what you're wearing"

"They said it was a secret, Benno."

"Can Otto be taught?

"... maybe I'll be on guard from now on and I won't be able to hear it out"

For Corinna, who wants to know the glossy secrets of Mine's hair, I'll ask Mine the next time I see her.

"Regardless of the luster in your hair, your hands are beautiful because you're small and you don't have the arm strength to help out a lot. Besides, I think it's because Mine's skin whiteness is sick and she goes to bed quickly, so she never goes outside and rarely hits the day. In fact, it wasn't until after spring that I started going outside."

"... Speaking of which, my lady had a fever last time, so the meeting flowed"

I couldn't hide my fever for five days, remembering that the squad leader was tingling and having a hard time, and I nodded tirelessly.

"I mean, that's what Myne looks like, because she's sick, right? Isn't that enough to say you're changing?

Corinna listened and apparently decided it was no big deal. Benno shook his head at Corinna, who flaunted his shoulders, as if he had lost interest.

"No, it's not just the exterior. What bothered me was my posture and tone.... There's no way you can wear this unless you've been tossed. It's not like my parents are fallen aristocrats, is it?

I'm not that familiar with the family situation of the squad leader, but if you look at a family other than Mine, you know if there's a connection to the nobility.

"The squad leader has another daughter, but that's pretty normal over there. Although I have glossy hair and relatively beautiful skin. That's all. Unlike Mine, it's not enough to float around."

Benno, who nodded lightly at my words, said looking to Corinna.

"Corinna, that lady's anomaly isn't just about appearance. I don't lose sight of the gall power, the luster of my hair, the spinning of my head trying to carry things in my favor by laying low, even without the real thing, the courage, the negotiations that come with the terms... which are not very prechristening children's."

"What kind of kid wouldn't turn a blind eye to Brother Benno!? That kid's weird. Definitely, weird."

I opened my eyes and Corinna screamed.

Becoming intimidating, Benno becomes as sharp an eye as a carnivore.

With Benno as his eldest son and Corinna as his youngest, and Corinna's loss of her father at an early age, Benno was also Corinna's father's replacement. Corinna, who has been scolded since childhood, knows so much about Benno's fear that even adults want to turn away.

"Ahhh, you have amazing memory in your computational abilities. Speaking of which, I was also surprised when I gave him the tablet. There was nothing anyone could teach me, and I wrote it correctly with a stone brush. As if, you know how to write."

"Didn't you set an example?

Corinna leaning her neck realizes my cup is empty and pours me a change.

Well, I showed you, but I answered, and I took a sip of the booze Corinna put me in. I moisten my mouth with alcohol, but what can I say, I patrol.

"He says it's not that easy to even write as soon as you look at it. I know because I teach letters to apprentice soldiers who come in every season. I can't write unless I can teach you how to hold a stone brush and draw the line the way I thought."

"Speaking of which, yes..."

Corinna also often teaches things to apprentices, so I guess she knows better than to remember them if they show them.

"Mine also has strange computational abilities. He said his mother told him the numbers on the market, but he couldn't possibly have done the math just because he told me the numbers, could he?

"No, even apprenticeships who come to us can do a little calculation. If my parents were, I'd remember a little something, wouldn't I?

Since parents are basically merchants to become apprentices of merchants, not many children can read, write or calculate the letters somewhat during the baptism ceremony. Even I've been around about traveler parents since I was a little girl, so I was taught both calculations and letters.

But the calculation that Mine can do is different digits.

"It's not a little bit. Accounting reports calculate the number and price of equipment used at the South Gate, right? It's not just a small number like the one used in the market, but when you add it up, it's a pretty big number of digits. Take that for granted, we can calculate it. Without that or using a calculator, just write the numbers side by side on the tablet."

"... I thought you were acting as an assistant. I can't believe I let a kid like that help me with accounting reports."

Staring gently at Benno, I told him that I had never told anyone, to surprise them both.

"It's just for the record, I can handle 70% of the paperwork."

"... ha!?

"... 70%, you..."

You seem more surprised than I expected. His face, which opened his eyes and solidified for a moment, looked very similar, and he laughed unexpectedly.

"I still don't remember many words, and that's why. It's horrible. While I was away, I responded perfectly to noble references."

I was surprised by that.

Mine reported that he had a meeting on the day of his drowning daughter's christening ceremony and finished the meeting while groping at the squad leader who was softly annoyed. A merchant with a reference to a lower nobleman is waiting, he said.

Originally, guests referred from nobility to nobility are supposed to make it convenient to reach the walls as quickly as possible as soon as confirmation is obtained. You treat your guests like junior nobles, even civilians.

That day happened to be a meeting convened by senior nobles. If you ask me which one to give priority, I'm naturally a senior noble.

But when you misrespond, the customer says, "It's disrespectful!" and it will be outrageous, acting high-handedly on shields with the references of lower nobility, pushing me to a meeting to buy the anger of higher nobility, and outrageous.

In the meantime, Mine trickled the merchant's self-esteem by using a waiting room for lower nobility to merchants who were not aristocrats, and convinced him by explaining that it was a meeting convened by senior nobles. And having him report right after the meeting didn't even make a difference with the sergeant and he was able to handle it promptly.

At last, I was able to arouse a new soldier from the right to the left, saying that he couldn't seem to be taught by his children. Perfect.

"Wow, are you?

"Awesome or... abnormal. Weird. But maybe my father, Sgt. Gunter, doesn't realize Mine's peculiarity. If you look at the way the squad leader treats you, it's only against his sick, cute daughter. If I hadn't told you I wanted to be your assistant, you wouldn't have noticed excellence either, would you? I still don't think I know the unusually smart thing about" our kid, smart "level"

"I'm glad you're a dull parent. It's not weird being dumped creepy."

Corinna frowns sadly at Benno's words.

"Don't even joke about that. I don't want to imagine."

"It's okay, Corinna. Even if my parents throw it away spookily, Benno will pick it up. Mine's good enough to get Benno back."

When I laughed and said that, Corinna chuckled.

Yeah, Corinna is cuter laughing after all.

"Hey, do you really think that lady's gonna make it?

Look at me as Benno taps the table lightly with his fingertips. The reddish brown eyes had become the eyes of a merchant trying to read ahead.

"Paper not parchment, is it? I'll make sure."

"You trust me a lot, don't you?

"Hmm... I want it now, I want to make it, but he said he couldn't do it because he didn't have the power himself, isn't that it? If you can't do it yourself, let the others do it, and I'll burn it during this time. If Lutz can be as good as Mine asked, it'll be done."

He said regrettably that he had no strength or strength, but that means he knows how to make it.

I think Mine said he'd make the real thing because he had a chance. Maybe it's not haphazard.

"... the market will turn upside down once it's achieved. How do you treat that lady?

"Maybe you're willing to bring Mine in?

From Benno's words, Benno excitedly opened his eyes when he questioned him, speculating that he was going to hold him as an apprentice, not just Lutz, but even Mine.

"Naturally! Can you afford something like that!? How many products can that lady make on her own? That kansas, the glossy thing of my hair, the paper that's not parchment... that's all I found out today, but I definitely have a lot to hide. It would be a disaster that would turn the market upside down."

"Wait a minute! I'm my assistant. Don't take me anywhere."

There will be no mistake in Benno's claim, but there are objections.

Mine is a precious force I've spent six months building for the closing period. You can't just watch me get scratched from the side in silence.

But Benno laughs hun with his nose and fishes up the edge of his lips.

"The merchant is his second hope. He said he wasn't interested in assistants. You just planted it for six months, didn't you? Hit the other one."

"There's no way anyone else is going to be able to use that in six months! If Mine thinks about it and Lutz makes it, Mine won't have a problem working at the gate!

I can't give in just the closing times in particular. I gave it my full strength, but Benno doesn't try to give it away at all.

Put the cup down and I'll ride myself out in a good way.

"No! Make him sign with a commercial guild. I can't risk anything else being taken."

"Given Mine's strength, I can't have a commercial guild!

"Health?"

Lose momentum, as Benno has been emptied.

Seeing it as an opportunity, I folded it all at once.

"Surprisingly weak and sick, huh? I can't do a job like using my body!

"... so frail?

"Yeah, when Mine went to the countryside to treat the pigs and fell there and the squad leader brought him to the dorm room for the first time, it was the first time he treated him properly. It's a room with a fireplace, so I gave it a slate for free and let it go for one bell, and it was heating up and falling down."

"What?"

I had to stand guard, so I left it in a room with a fireplace, but when I went to see how it was, I had a fever and it was falling. The squad leader who picked me up said, "Never mind. It's the usual," he said, "so that frailty seems natural to his family.

"It was terrible when it was just spring. I couldn't walk from home to the gate."

"To the gate, you say?

"Wherever there's a house in the city, it's not that far from the gate, is it?

The outer walls surround the city, so the city itself, it's not that big. Even a child's leg, from the West Gate to the East Gate, should be able to walk with a minute of bell time.

"Yes, the squad leader's house is not very far from the South Gate. But I couldn't. On the way, after the squad leader held me, I fell in the dorm room and couldn't move until noon. Then I was definitely asleep for a couple of days"

"Hey, is that really okay? Wouldn't you rather die if I let you work?

I can't say I don't have that fear.

Especially since Benno's workplace, which is now gaining momentum, is busy for a lively time. I don't think it serves Mine's health.

"Um, I can finally walk to the gate by mid-spring, and the number of days I sleep is diminishing, and I can go to the woods by the end of spring, but I don't think I have the strength to do a normal job yet. That's why I was thinking of taking care of the gate exclusively for paperwork..."

"Mmmm..."

When I said sick and weak, I guess I didn't think I was that weak. Benno holds his eyebrows and thinks. I guess I'm going to change direction that I can't with the plan I've been thinking about.

Then maybe we should give him another piece of information.

"It's Lutz who's been taking care of Mein like that. Accompany the late Mine from the group of children to the woods. He seems to be dedicated and responsible, even though he was getting a little allowance for the squad leader."

A boy of his age who wants to run around accompanies the infirm Mine. It's not something anyone can do.

By the way, I'm not going to dedicate myself to anything other than Corinna unless I have more in-laws.

"... it's hard to understand hiding in that lady's anomaly, but the kid's pretty weird too"

"Hmm?"

Benno, who was gently stroking his jaw to try to remember something, gradually turns into a bitter face.

"It means you're not the only one who stood by my stare and said your opinion. Besides, normally that's all she took care of a sick lady, wouldn't she be eligible for asylum? You should try to step forward more fully and protect your daughter from me. Yet the boy took a step back, as the lady naturally did, once she started negotiating"

"Oh, speaking of..."

Indeed, Benno was right, once he declared it clear, he had given way to Mine to speak. It would not be seen in relation to ordinary parents and asylum subjects. What the hell kind of relationship is that?

"Few children can think of when to leave and when to give way. Besides, that lady who didn't give me any information, let the kid make what he thinks. Even if you're just a lady, it doesn't make sense if you can't pull the information out. It doesn't make sense if the lady just lets the other guys make it. We'd better keep it together."

All I can do is laugh at Benno's good looks as a merchant.

I realize firmly that Lutz's usefulness, which should look like Mine's besides in the eyes of a merchant, is only once face-to-face, so it's not like he has a good eye.

"Still sharp sense of smell...... Looks like the squad leader trusts Lutz, too. Rutz said he'd move Mine best. He said he could help or flush it well so he wouldn't let Mine run wild, wanting to do what was left in his hands."

"Phew, I'm confident that I'll make everything Mine thinks of."

Mine has always been, as much as he said. Besides what I know, I guess I did a lot of things.

"Something's weird, 'cause they were making it together. I thought you said Nendban or something.

"... weird? Damn, I have no idea what's coming out! Anyway, those two are a pair. I'll take it. I won't give you either."

So for once, we settled on the subject, so Corinna took a seat to prepare the meal.

Lamps are placed on the table, leaving a small barrel for replacement and a plate with dried meat on it as a knob.

While chewing the dried meat a little salty with crabs, I saw Benno putting in a liquor change.

"Hey, Benno. You, Myne, do you have any idea how sick the fever is in your body?

……

"I don't know of any disease in my body that makes me feel like I'm about to be eaten"

My reaction when I was questioned by Mine made me wonder if maybe I knew. He still seemed to know. Worried about whether I should say it or not, my gaze just goes up a little bit.

After thinking about it for a while, it's a hard voice to hear for Benno, and spills with blur.

"I thought I might eat myself. There's just no certainty."

"... eating? What's that?

"I'm not sick. If the magic increases in you, you can't do it, and the magic eats you to death."

"Ha!? Wasn't magic the only thing nobles had?

Words that I don't normally even hear come up, and I peeled my eyes off a bit.

Magic power seems to be a strange and powerful force that civilians don't have. It is said that we cannot move the country without magic, although we are not familiar with it because it is not something we rarely see.

That is why the aristocracy with its magic stands above the people and governs the country.

"... not so many, but there are other people besides nobility who have magic. You're right, however, that magic equipment to unleash magic is expensive, so you can hardly use magic except for nobility."

Benno is more knowledgeable about this country than I am when it comes to the Chamber of Commerce, where nobility is also associated.

"Huh, did Mine have magic powers? Is it because of that weird?

"I'm telling you there's no certainty, is there? But if you're eating, it would explain how the young lady collapses a lot tinier than her age."

"Is magic a dangerous thing?

I vaguely thought it was a strange and convenient thing, but if Mine's frailty is due to magic, isn't it pretty dangerous?

"If you were eating... I'm talking about. If you eat, if you don't have magic equipment, that young lady... will die soon"

"Become!?

A squad leader who drowns Mine floats behind his brain and stares at Benno in the same mood as he was exposed to cold water.

Benno's expression is serious, too, and he's not talking jokes or teases.

"He says his heart is devoured by the growing magic as he grows. Civilians who don't have the magic tools to release them often don't even get to baptism."

"Is there any way?

I wonder if Benno would know any good means. When asked in a tender mood, she scratched up her hair and sighed.

"With the patronage of the nobility, we can borrow magic equipment, so death is spared.... but it's a killer for life. Power will be used only for that nobleman, and he will live. I don't know if I'd rather die in my family like this, or kill someone for life."

……

Benno's words were neither salvation nor anything.

Surely I don't know which is better. I don't want to die, but I also sincerely think I'm sorry that nobles kept me to death.

"I don't know how long it will last, because the strength of the will makes it different, but it doesn't hold that much in the child's mental power.... What about that lady?

……

Looking at Mine, I think he's more mentally powerful for kids. I just don't know if that's the kind of thing that can suppress my magic of eating.

If it's suppressed now, but if it's going to grow and at the same time become more magical, no one will know when the limits will come.

"Otto, don't get too serious. I haven't decided I'm still eating. Mostly, if I really ate myself, I'd be dying. I'm not supposed to be able to walk around outside like that."

"Really..."

Slight relief and a lot of anxiety have pushed me to the chest at the same time.

Yes, Mine is dying many times.

I hear that it was the fruit of my efforts from spring that allowed me to walk around outside, and until then I was a child who could barely go outside.

Are you sure you're okay with this?

Should I report it to the team leader?

I poured my unspeakable emotions around my chest into the back of my stomach with booze.