Ascendance of a Bookworm

Now I am being held up by Benno to a commercial guild.

At first I was walking properly on my own, but Benno, irritated by my walking speed, said, "Slow! It's a waste of time," he yelled, hugging him a little.

And if you are preached extensively about the importance of time, you cannot even defy it.

"Speaking of which, Mr. Benno. What is a commercial guild?

It's best to hear more about not knowing what the difference is with what you know.

"What, you don't know?

"I've never been there. Do you know Lutz?

"The guy who does business is going, right?

I tried to talk to Lutz about what anyone in this city knew, but what came back was to such an extent that I could tell.

Benno gives me an explanation, sighing lightly.

"... well, yeah. Your main job is to give you the permits you need to open a store in this city, or punish you where you do malicious business. I can't open a store without permission from a commercial guild, and I can't expand an outdoor store in the market. And everyone involved in business needs to be registered, and doing business without registering will be severely punished"

Listening to Benno, is it like a bureau related to business? Guess. If I don't get permission, I won't be able to open a store, and I'll be registering for an apprenticeship, so I wouldn't be too wrong.

"Sounds like a pretty powerful organization."

"Right. I have power, I stick to gold. If you have an apprenticeship, it's a registration fee, if you want to start a new business, it's an expansion fee, if you do something, it's a commission."

It may be the same thing in every world that costs money to do anything. It is an unpleasant world for the poor.

"Either way, if you finish your baptism ceremony and become a merchant apprentice, you'll be registered. Everyone who works in the store will be in a position to buy and sell. In your case, it will be tentatively registered until the baptism ceremony, but if you do not register, you will not be able to buy or sell paper or hair decorations..."

"Does that mean that Mr. Benno needs to register to buy out paper today?

"Yes."

I see. It seems that Benno is in a hurry to try to register to buy out the prototype.

Ho ho, and when I was convinced by myself, Benno frowned in a hurry.

"I hope I'm sooo done with my registration, but I'm talking about that damn thing. Anyway, I'm determined to be obsessed again."

"Difficult?"

Something uneasy came up. I thought Benno was a great commercial guild, but isn't he? Or is it like factional strife?

"It's my shop that's gaining momentum and expanding its business. You can't help it if the guild leader wants to peel it off at all, can you? You guys, don't say anything unnecessary."

"Yes."

Lutz and I reply with our voices together. The merchants of the dealers will go on with each other, I'm not going to imitate them pinching beaks in the forgery of foxes and foxes.

"Yeah, Mine, about the hair decorations you brought in."

"Is this it?

When I opened the tote a little and showed the hair decoration, Benno nodded small and then looked at me with a sharp reddish brown eye.

"How soon can you make this?

"If I had all the ingredients, and Lutz had made me a tree part, then, when I was in good health... er, if it's just this flower part, if you work hard, it's a day, maybe, somehow..."

It depends on the amount of flowers, but if it's my speed, I work all day. If my mother was a good seamstress, she'd be able to make two bells.

"How's Lutz?

"Just sharpen the tree, brush it, so I guess if I had time for one bell, I could make it?

"Hmm, good."

Benno says that in a superior voice, but only his eyes emit a glittering and sharp light.

"What would you like?

"Enjoy the rest of this."

With a targeted carnivorous grin, Benno stared ahead at the building of a commercial guild.

The commercial guild was a building standing large on the corner facing Central Square. They say it's all a guild building, even though it turns out to be an organization that has quite a bit of money just that, but they don't lend it to anyone from top to bottom.

"I thought the money I earned was poured out here, and you're pissed off, right?

"Yeah, but you're in trouble if you don't, right?

"That's right. That makes me even more angry."

In front of the door stands a watchman with a weapon, and after seeing us from top to bottom, he asks about the matter.

"On what business?

"This is their provisional registration."

"Go ahead."

When you open the door and go inside, suddenly you face the fact that there was a staircase. Slightly spacious stairs, but I don't see the first floor.

"Mr. Benno, what's going on on on the ground floor?

"Oh, the ground floor is a place for travelers to put carriages and luggage. It would be annoying if they didn't line up on the main street. If you go around the back, you'll see a carriage lined up."

Upstairs, there was a large hall.

A lot of people come and go through it. I'm so impressed with the hustle and bustle that there were so many people in this city.

"I don't need you here. We're going down the back stairs to the third floor."

As I was held by Benno, I headed to the back stairs, so I was safe, but Lutz, who walks behind Benno, is messed up.

"Lutz, are you okay?

"I'm fine... but it's like a festival"

"You're about to get permission to sign up for a market dewstore or a traveler arriving in this city to do business here. This is what happens when the city approaches. When the city's over, it'll be quiet for a while."

"Heh."

The back staircase was fenced with disappointing metal, before which the watchman stood again.

"Registration card, please"

"The three of us are going up"

"I'm in awe"

When Benno took out something like a metal card and gave it to him, the watchman put it on something.

When I wonder if the white light ran the fence, the fence disappears to melt.

"Huh!? What is this!?

"It's magic equipment. Lutz, don't let go of my hand. They're gonna play it."

"Oh, wow."

Benno holds me with one hand and with the other he pulls Lutz's hand and starts going up the stairs.

"Didn't magic only work for nobles?

"The upper echelons of these organizations are more or less connected to aristocracy. Many nobles do not hesitate to give magic equipment if they think it is profitable"

"I've never seen it before"

Though I thought it during contract magic, I, apparently, am in a more fantastic world than I expected.

Going up the stairs, Benno let go of Lutz's hand and let me down.

There's been a white wall from up the stairs for a while, and I can see a counter-like place in the back. The second floor is a place where you work about the market's outdoor stores, and the third floor corresponds to the shopkeeper who owns the store, so compared to the hustle and bustle upstairs, the third floor is quiet and people are sparse.

The second floor was a thin, dirty place with wooden floors and dust on the edge, but the third floor was carpeted and well cleaned. The atmosphere was like it was costing money to furnish and maintain. It's an unequal society at a glance.

"Beyond this wall is the conference room. You're not the first to use it."

Point at the white wall and start walking towards the counter as Benno explains. I'll follow Rutz with my hand, too. I just get a little carried away by the luxury I don't see in my normal life.

Passing the conference room, there was a counter from the wall to the wall, and inside the counter, apparently apprenticeship children entering and leaving the commercial guild, reading wooden plaques in the back or using a calculator to calculate.

"Lutz, you have to learn to write and calculate during the winter."

"... right"

Across the hallway, on the other side of the counter, there is something like a couch, more of a place to relax like a reception room than a waiting room.

Looking around, there was one at the wall, a shelf lined with wooden plaques and parchment.

"Is that, maybe, a bookshelf!?

Benno looked at me in wonder when the tension had soared and tilted his neck.

"Oh, that's a bookcase lined with rules to get the store out, a simple map of the area, and an aristocratic yearbook or something.... Are you interested?

"It's possible!

I want to rush right into the bookcase, but it won't let me go with all the strength in the hand Lutz is holding.

When he saw me softly, Benno laughed bitterly.

"When you're done signing up, you can take a look. It's a long wait anyway."

"Is it true!? Yay!

"Mine, calm down. I'm so excited."

Can I discover something that looks like a book that I can read and not be excited about? No, I can't stay. There is no way this heartwarming sensation will stop when you hear Lutz stop.

Though I thought so, in a word of Lutz, I had to be quiet.

"If you're too excited, you're gonna fall before you read it"

... That's troublesome!

I say, "Come", knowing that Benno, who looked at our exchanges in an interesting way, set a line.

Walking to the counter, an official who apparently knew Benno laughed lovingly.

"Oh, Master Benno. What can I do for you today?

"These are the two provisional registrations. Mine and Lutz, please."

"Provisional registration?... It's not your child, is it?

"No. But I need to register. Just give me a second."

It seems provisional registration is like a way out of the law that merchants knit out to let pre-baptism children who should otherwise be unable to register or work help with their family business.

Since it is not possible to employ pre-baptism children, and there is normally no such thing as such children being involved in trafficking as requiring registration without parents, it is unlikely that children who are not of blood origin will be provisionally registered.

While the official looked suspiciously narrow, he asked me and Lutz questions and started writing something across the counter.

All I was asked was a regular item if I thought it was an office job. My name, my father's occupation and name, where I live, age, etc.

"Is the soldier's daughter provisionally registered to the carpenter's son?

The official who finishes the question looks even more surprised and looks at me and Lutz alternately. He's not even a merchant's kid, but he's exploring the implications of provisionally registering, which is not a very pleasant eye.

"That's right. If you're done listening, finish your registration. I'm not that free either."

"Yeah, I'm home. Please wait there."

I looked up at Benno, holding down my desire to rush, as the staff pointed out with their hands the space for leniency.

"While we wait, can I see the bookcase?

"Ah. I'll let you know if I need to know. Bring it. Lutz, keep your eyes on Mine."

"Okay."

I'm going to the bookcase with Lutz, who won't let me go. Try spreading the parchment that was lined up, or taking out the wooden plaque, to see what kind of things were lined up, and it was all practical, like maps, graphical and aristocratic yearbooks, commercial laws, and a wattle-like collection of information around it.

"Wow, this is a map!

It's a pretty messy map, but I've never seen it in this world.

With a map I don't even know where I am, I head to the couch where Benno is sitting.

When I normally sat down with the intention of sitting on the couch, there was just a board under the cloth even though it was beautifully clothed, not as elastic as I had expected, and I hit my butt.

"There he is..."

"How excited are you, 'cause you're going to sit there with so much momentum, Azuma"

Benno sees me with a frightened eye, and, uhh, groans small.

The odd thing is, I was fooled because of the luxurious sofa. If it was a bench with wood, I wouldn't have sat like this.

Spread the map over a bench with just a cloth on the board, excusing myself in my heart alone.

"Which city is this, Mr. Benno?

"Right here. Aerenfest. The lord's family name remains the name of the city"

I first learned the name of the city. Finally, I also found out the name of the lord.

If you didn't have to go out there, you didn't have to know the name of the city, and "lord" was all you had to do about lords.

Looking at the map, rural and forest stretches south of Aerenfest, and further down, they say there's a small city.

There is a large river to the west, relatively close to the city of the neighboring territory, and the lords are friendly with each other, so the commute seems to flourish.

The north had a large blank because of the aristocratic city with its lords.

There are streets to the east, and they say they have the most travelers.

"Well, even if you guys are going out for a buy or something, it's probably not going to be like getting out of this map."

After they give me the names of some neighboring cities, I will return the map and read the bookcase from one end again. At the bottom step there was also a book for apprenticeships to learn letters and numbers by hand. I glance through to study with Lutz.

In addition to what I remember, the letters came out with many words about commerce. I want to remember this.

"Mr. Benno, I'd like one tablet and a calculator to study Lutz..."

"Oh, I'll deduct the money from what I pay you today. Study hard."

"Finally, tell me. How well can you read and write about apprenticeships for merchant children?

After the christening ceremony, he begins to work as an apprentice with the merchant's children. By then, I want to be able to do some of the things other kids can do.

"That's a simple read, write and compute. When it comes to reading, it depends on the object and size handled in that house because the product name is predominant. You can calculate more or less the amount of silver from copper coins."

Not good.

I don't know my currency very well. I know there are big and small copper coins and small silver coins, but I have no idea about the exchange or the market.

Because when you use it at home, it's basically just copper coins.

I rarely even see a currency other than copper coins. Besides, at the gate, just the calculation of the numbers, I've never seen the scene where Otto actually spends his money.

"I think what's most missing from you guys is a response to the customers. Other kids look at their parents' work every day, and they know it by the skin."

"It's..."

We can't.

For a long time I have never turned to the service I receive, to the service I provide. Lutz probably doesn't know what a merchant is up to.

What should I do?

From the counter before getting into the maze of thought, the voice of the officials echoed.

"Dear Benno, the guild chief wants to see you."

"... that damn thing, you know what I expected?"

With a small, low voice that we can only hear, Benno growls and rises up as he roars.

I found Benno in an overall combat posture, with his glittering eyes and his fists gripped tightly on both sides.

"Let's go, both of us"

"Yes."

As Benno headed to the counter, the plate at the far end of the counter fell patchy, allowing him to pass to the back.

In the back there was another staircase, and up the stairs, the door opened automatically. Not that big, but I see a room that looks cozy.

A carpet that looked warm was laid in front of the fireplace, which had already been burned red, and there was a desk for housekeeping on top of that carpet.

It was a gentle man in his 50s or so who was sitting there a little bit of a perfect width. I imagined my grandfather because of what a guild leader he is in, but he still looks a little past his work.

"Hey, welcome. I need to talk to you for a second."

The guild chief got up laughing at Nicole.

"Well, Benno. Quick, but I want you to tell me. I'm not even a blood family, what do you mean, let a kid like this do a provisional registration? It's not like the owner of the outdoor shop wants to keep my kid registered to get his store number, is it?

Benno's insistence on registering without waiting for the baptism ceremony is the same thing that me and Lutz said they were holding on to a product worth just registering, the guild leader said with a grin.

"... unless the purpose is clear, we can't allow you to register. There is no precedent in this Aerenfest, such as the provisional registration of children who are not of blood either"

Watch me and Lutz hang out with a smile that won't let you read at all what the guild chief is thinking.

He seemed nice at first sight with a smile and atmosphere, but not at all. If you don't answer the question clearly, you're threatening to sign up.

I was anxious to see how the guild leader was doing as I wanted to say, and asked him how Benno was doing.

But Benno stares at the guild leader with a black smile that makes him sure he wins, grinning niggardly.

"You want to know what these kids brought in?

"Well, yeah. Depending on the item, you might want to handle it in a different store. You've got your hands a little too wide."

If it's going to be gold, you mean you want to embezzle it. You're not hiding the truth, are you?

"These kids said they wanted to sell it to us. I'll sell it to you. Hey, Mine? Isn't that right, Lutz?

"Don't say anything extra," Benno threatened me with his eyes, and me and Lutz nodded cocklessly. Apparently he cared about it. Benno deepens his grin and looks down at me.

"Mine, show the guild leader the hair decorations you're going to sell."

"... ok"

Apparently, he's still going to keep it hidden about selling paper.

I don't know what judgment Benno is making, so I stuck my hand in the tote bag, keeping my mouth as shut as possible so I wouldn't say anything extra.

Take out the Touri hair decorations and give them to look like guild lengths.

As soon as that happened, for some reason, the guild leader changed his complexion.