Ascendance of a Bookworm

The snow began to dissolve and the sunny days began to follow.

Since the cold weather was still going on, but the family's permission was given that I wouldn't mind going as far as Benno's shop, I decided to go to the store with Lutz and do a winter hand job settlement.

I go to the store with bags and finished hair decorations that I left to put money in from everyone I worked with.

There were remnants of the winter when there were no snowmen in the middle of the boulevard, but not melted in one corner of the alley, or when you could see mountains of snow here and there that were retreated aside and frozen by the kachikachi.

The look on the faces of people in the spring is bright, the footsteps of people on the road are light, and there is a gushing increase in wagons and luggage trucks crossing the boulevard.

Benno's shop also seems to be getting more merchants in and out, and he seems very busy even though he has been targeting an afternoon with relatively few people.

Talking to Lutz about letting us go back out, Marc walked toward us. It seems that the clerk who has become familiar with us has found us and called Marc.

"Hello, long time no see, Mr. Marc"

"Oh, Lutz and Mine. Bless the snowmelt. May the Spring Goddess bring great grace"

Marc fisted his right hand in front of his chest and lowered his eyes gently as he put his fingers on the palm of his aligned left hand.

I don't know what the hell Marc is doing, and me and Lutz round our eyes and stare at Marc.

"Huh? What?

"... a greeting to life in spring?

I don't know why I don't know, but I know it's a natural greeting to Marc around here.

"I've never heard of it before. Lutz, you know what?

"No, I've never seen it either"

The fact that Lutz doesn't even know is probably just a greeting for this neighborhood in this city, or a greeting related to his profession.

"... Could it be a unique greeting from a merchant?

"I've been doing this all my life at home, so I've never really thought about it in depth, but since it's all the merchants you have at work, maybe so. Bless the snow melt, as the snow melts will increase the deal. May the Spring Goddess bring great grace."

That is what Marc said, and taught us the merchant's greeting. Apparently the only first time I saw him in the spring was to say hello. Happy dawn, I will interpret it as something like that.

As Marc was doing, I'll put my right fist in front of my chest against my left palm and try to practice greeting him.

"Bless the snowmelt?

"Yes."

"May the Spring Goddess bring great grace,"

I'll try to whine in my mouth a few times, but I'm confident I'll forget tomorrow. I want a notebook at a time like this. There's a tablet in the bag, but there's no notebook.

"My husband is in business right now, what can I do for you two?

To Mark's question, I counted what I would do today.

"Uh, it's the actuarial of winter handiwork. Then, since it is time to resume making paper, please check with the mechanic to see if there are larger girders (soaked). And I need to talk to Mr. Benno about the apprenticeship, but we're in business, right?

"Okay. Now let's do this from hand work actuarial. It will be over in time."

I am led to a smaller table in the store. Me and Lutz sat side by side, and Marc sat in the front.

"That's all the hand-worked hair decorations. Check."

While using polite language that Lutz was not used to, he offered a bag with hair decorations. Marc puts it out and counts.

"Here are 24. In addition to what you have kept during the winter months, are you sure with 186?

"Yes, I'm fine"

We nodded because the number we carved into the board matched the number Marc said was right.

5 medium copper coins per hair decoration. I'll keep the commission that Rutz and I decided to take from it in the guild. And have them put in another bag with each to make it easier to distribute other charges.

Lutz's brothers made it evenly for three, except for Lutz, so it's easy to tell with six big copper coins and two medium copper coins each.

We are a little troublesome because my mother made 83, Thuri 66 and I made 37 pieces in pieces. My mother's share is 1 small silver coin, 6 large copper coins and 6 medium copper coins, Thuri's share is 1 small silver coin, 3 large copper coins and 2 medium copper coins, and my share is 7 large copper coins and 4 medium copper coins.

"With all this number, we'll have it until the next winter. Hair decorations are pretty good for sale. With all the different colors, folks, you look like you're having fun choosing"

Imagine my parents and children choosing hair decorations for Marc's words, and I broke my mouth.

"Really? I'm glad. I made hair decorations for my own christening ceremony."

"What ornament is it?

"It's a secret until the day."

Hmph, laughing, Marc raised his eyebrows lightly.

"Oh, well, we look forward to seeing it that day. And then, uh, the business was to resume papermaking, right?

"Yes, I can't start again until Lutz goes to the woods and sees how the river is doing, but it's spring, so I'm hoping it's time to make it"

It's not until the baptismal ceremony in the early summer that you get Benno's investment. I would like to resume it as soon as possible. Marc nodded lightly.

"Okay. Ask the mechanic. You ordered two contract size girders, right?

"Yes, thank you"

At the end of the approximate story, it seemed that the business talks were over even in the back room, and several merchants were seen coming out.

"I will report to my husband. Please wait."

After Marc walks into the back room once, he is invited to the back room.

I put my right fist against my left palm in front of my chest in an attempt to give a quick freshly remembered greeting because I will see Benno first in spring.

"Mr. Benno, it's been a while. Bless the snowmelt. Um, of the Spring Goddess... of great grace? Is that it?"

I can't even remember what I just said without my notebook. And when I saw me, Lutz came out before me, as if I were frightened. Place your right fist firmly in front of your chest against your left palm.

"Sir, bless the snowmelt. May the Spring Goddess bring great grace"

"Yes, that! Bless the snowmelt. May the Spring Goddess bring great grace"

I recall properly thanks to Lutz, I greet him again. With a face like Benno had enjoyed laughing, he returned the greeting.

"Oh, bless the snowmelt. May the Spring Goddess bring great grace.... Still, that's a heck of a greeting. Be able to say it right."

Benno points at the table with a ton of laughter. Me and Lutz got to the table and talked about spring life.

"Mr. Marc just told me. Never heard of it at home, so tell me you can do it for the first time."

"... Really? Then you did a good job, Lutz. So, what's the story about an apprentice?

Only Lutz who could have properly greeted me was praised by Benno. Much bloated, I uttered the essence of today.

"I, after the baptism ceremony, will stop being an apprentice here"

"What?... Wait a minute. How did that happen? Because you didn't praise me? Didn't say it right, but Mine was working on it, too, huh?

He praised my greeting as he caught it, holding back his temple that Benno could not understand.

"No! It's none of my business."

"If it doesn't matter, why?

"Uh, I'm not physically fit, am I?

"I can't believe it."

Benno's companion stabs me in the chest with crispness.

"Ugh...... You were worried that Mr. Benno could work, too. I don't think it would be a good idea to have an apprentice take a good break from ill health or get a physically easier job, given the relationships in the store."

"Is that all?

Blinked with reddish brown eyes, I recall the concerns I told Otto.

"Besides, if you were benefiting from the product, you could be getting more money than a veteran who's been working for over a decade, right? Money is the most fragile relationship."

"Who told you that? You didn't think of that, did you?

I nodded heavily at Benno, whose eyes narrowed. I have basically narrowed my horizons, having only done the reading I wanted to do since Reino's time. Even this time I was only thinking about my health. For the first time since Otto pointed me out, I've come to think of relationships.

It's Mr. Otto.

"... right"

Is that it? I think my voice is a little lower... Finally, it seems to have a carnivorous atmosphere...... Are you out of your mind?

I speak of what I am most anxious about as I lean my neck toward Benno's condition, where the atmosphere has become fierce.

"And you know about my eating, don't you, Benno? I think it's better to stop hiring people who don't know what happens in a year."

The cost of education you put on me is likely to be in vain. A merchant shouldn't be able to waste that.

Benno stares at me with his sharpened eyes as he grips between his eyebrows.

"So what are you going to do without going into our store?

"I speak for letters and paperwork at home and Lutz does the development of new products on holidays and sometimes I go to help the gate...... I'm going to live much the same life as before. I talked to my family about not being physically burdensome."

"Okay. Looks like he's off the apprenticeship."

Benno's eyes and shoulders lost their strength. "I don't know what to do..." he begins to think while holding his temples down.

I called out to Benno, who began to say bumps.

"Um, Mr. Benno. Is there anything at home that you might be able to turn around on me?

In the meantime, Benno's eyes glistened. A seemingly serene carnivorous grin is on his mouth.

"Mine is beautiful. If you have a proxy, let's turn it around. So, like occasionally showing your face to the store with Lutz. Got it?

"Thank you"

I wonder why? I feel caught by a carnivore.

Now that my request had been fulfilled, I stopped thinking deeply, and I asked another question.

"Um, in that case, what happens to guild cards? I'm gonna sell it through Lutz, but my card won't be Mr. Benno's shop apprenticeship card, will it? Will it be open-air?

After the baptism ceremony, I planned to register for an apprenticeship at the Benno store, but what would happen to my guild card if I was no longer an apprentice? It's after the baptism ceremony, so it won't mean provisional registration. But I don't have a store to belong to, and I can't trade without registering.

"I don't know how much goods you're going to make, but why don't you just decide that the warehouse you're using right now is Mine Workshop and it's a factory manager's card? With our exclusive agreement, we'll be able to do business much the same way we are now."

"Workshop Manager!? Something cool. If that's not the same as before, please feel like it."

When I struck my hand and rejoiced, Benno laughed with joy and nodded several times.

"Then, I also spoke to Mr. Marc, and I'll see how the river goes and resume papermaking. Until our baptismal ceremony, we're both going to make it, but then Lutz starts his apprenticeship work, and I'm going to stop the apprenticeship itself, so I'd like to throw the paper round in the workshop that Mr. Benno chose, okay?

"A round throw would have been Mine to decide who to make it for, wouldn't it? Is that all right with you?

Contract magic was decided by me and Lutz to work safely and steadily in Benno's shop.

Since it will be a new business, it may be important for Benno, who makes the profits, and the workshop. But for me, I have no salary, no profit to multiply, so if the paper comes into circulation in large quantities, honestly, whoever makes it.

"Because I, I'm not familiar with the workshop at all, and I don't know anyone who wants to make paper. However, there is a process of exposing the skins of the trees to the river, so the workshop might as well have a river close"

"Near the river... that's hard. What's going on with you guys?

Lutz flashed his shoulders lightly at Benno's words.

"I work in Kawahara in the woods with tools, but I think the tool hauling is tight to make it my daily job...... I think"

"If I wanted to mass produce it, I don't think it would be possible to carry it because the tools would also be bigger? Well, thinking about the area is the work of Mr. Benno and the workshop people"

"... right"

Since Benno seems to have convinced me, I shall leave the choice of workshop and the installation of tools to all.

"Please finish choosing a workshop and installing equipment, deciding where to buy materials, etc. by the baptismal ceremony. Lutz will teach you how to make it when the christening ceremony is near."

"Me!?

Lutz opens his eyes wide and makes his mouth pucker.

I laughed nicely and nodded loudly.

"'Cause there are processes I can't do. It's best if Lutz does it and shows it to you. From now on, if you make it again and again during the spring, I'll remember it even if you don't like it, and if you're anxious, I'll go with you."

"That's a real round throw."

Laughing funny, I slipped away from my gaze. I know it's a round-throat in terrible shape myself.

But I want to move on to the next process, beyond making a paper prototype and improving the distribution to some extent as well, with the aim of mass production. I can't ever make a book if I'm just focused on making paper. If I make enough paper to use in the spring, I want to print it.

"Well, excuse me"

With my own ambition with a time limit in my heart, I went out of Benno's shop.

Marc, who works early, brought me a new girder to the warehouse the next day. As Lutz went to collect in the snowmelted, muddy woods when he heard about it, he was supposed to see how the river was doing.

"How'd it go, Lutz? You think you can make paper?

"There's a little more water in the snowmelting water, but I don't think the skin will be shed unless it's also heavy rain"

That's what Lutz decided, so he decided to resume making paper.

Earlier the next morning, I asked Lutz to pick up the keys and walk quickly to the warehouse. I give thought to today's work as I walk down an alley that would still be cold without my coat.

First, go to the warehouse and see if the trombe you are leaving with pruned and black-skinned at the end of the fall is okay. If it looks okay, I'll start working on white-skinning this.

At the same time, I want to start making paper using the white skin of the preserved phosphorus.

"I'd really rather wait till the water warms up more."

"Ah, well. But when you think about saving money, you have to do it early."

It's not until the baptismal ceremony that Benno has papermaking assistance. I want to make as much money as possible by then.

"Trombe black skin, are you okay?

"I guess I've been dry since then. It must be dry in the caracallas."

"It's not heavenly sun-dried, so I'm worried you're not growing mold or anything!

We left it there all winter, so I'm pretty sure it's dry, but the question is whether or not we're in the dry state we wanted.

"There's no such thing as a mold growing in a trombe."

Lutz flaunted his shoulder lightly, but he doesn't mind with me because he's completely soaked up the process of heavenly sun-drying.

I got to the warehouse and unlocked it.

Make a giggly noise and the warehouse door opens. The appearance of massive hangings of black walnuts and kelp likes from dim warehouse shelves, coupled with dusty warehouse backgrounds, looks terribly creepy.

"Are you sure you're okay?

"You're just getting a little worried"

When I touched the pinch and the black skin with my fingertips, it was completely dry or shiny. I can't tell if it's because it's black skin or if there's mold growing, just by the color.

"Shall I take it to the woods and expose it to the river for a moment"

"What are you taking with you today?

He called out, paying off the dust on his back that Rutz had left in the warehouse.

"Um, is Lutz pot and ash? After that, I don't need the size of a bathroom, but I think you should take one bucket. If we can't get firewood in the woods, we're in trouble, so why don't we take a little firewood? I'll take this black skin and the preserved white skin of Follin and the 'vegetable chopsticks'."

"I'm not sure about the bucket, but if you say you have mine, I'll take it"

I prepare the black skins of Trombe and the white skins of Follin, which were left to dry in the warehouse, and put in a cage a few of the vegetable chopsticks and rags that Lutz had made for me to scratch around in the pan.

When the two of us carried our bags, we hurried to the meeting point of the children heading to the woods.

When we reach the woods with everyone and scatter them for collection, we head to the river plains.

Right next to the river, Lutz began to prepare the pot. Place the pan in a stone assembled jar and draw water in a bucket.

"You can certainly draw water without going to the river with this. That's Mine."

If I tried to put water directly into the pan, I wouldn't be able to do it without going into the river, but Rutz didn't seem to think that far.

There's water in the pan, so light it with the firewood you brought. I want to expose the river if I can get the black skin while the water is boiling.

"Wow, that sounds cold."

Lutz shrugged as the snowmelting water stared at the flowing river.

I have to round up the stones in the river so that the black skins don't flow, but only about half of the stone circles I was making in the fall remain. We must start with the task of putting together stone circles so that they do not flow.

"Come on, Lutz!

"Uh-huh! Cold!"

Rutz goes in, sayin 'if there's any rutz in the river water like ice water.

Once I'm in, I'm sure I'll have a fever, and my family will stop letting me out of the house for a while. All I can do is basically support you.

Lutz's call echoed from the river as he picked up firewood falling into the river plain for Lutz working hard on the river and walked.

"Mine, take the black skin!

"Yes."

When he finished putting his black skin into the river, Lutz jumped out of the river and hit the fire in front of the Rub the bright red hands and feet against the fire.

And I took a cup of water out of the pan into a bucket, and put it out before Lutz.

"Put your hands and feet on this. If you don't rub it well, you'll be damned."

"... There it is. This feels good."

Lutz, with his hands and feet in hot water, exhaled in a ho. The hot water seems to have cooled quickly, but the fact that the foot water has been formed seems to warm up the body a little.

Simmer in the ashes and white skins in the guttering and boiling water, expose the stewed white skins to the river, and flush the ashes.

Today's work was completed by Lutz's hard work crying over the river's cold.