Ascendance of a Bookworm

I'm Gunter.

I'm 32 years old and I'm still a gatekeeper at the South Gate today to protect my beloved family.

Otto is very depressed today. He's smiling and nibbling, and he's not at work. Probably something good happened to my drowning wife. Even if I know, do it like I want to punch you several times in the face.

"Otto, tighten your face for a second. Does a gatekeeper act like that!?

"I'm tightening, for once"

I point out, Otto slaps himself on the cheek with his bread and tightens his face, but it doesn't work at all. Her cheeks are a little red, but her face remains crumbly.

Behind me sighing in awkwardness, I could hear a cookly low laugh. Looking back, the sergeant stood there shaking his shoulders.

"Do my men look like my bosses? You look just like you when something happened to my daughter."

"Huh!? No, Sergeant, I..."

"You listen to him for a second. What, it's just the opposite."

Pom pom and slap me on the shoulder, and the sergeant leaves.

I get depressed at Tulli's baptism ceremony, sometimes they listen to me on things about Mine, and occasionally Otto has a little sense of care.

I can't help it. I'm heavy, but do you really want to hang out with Otto today?... but when you talk to Otto's guy, you really have a long cursory story.

Sighing, I never thought I was being given the same rating around me, and I had no reason to know that family love wanted me to get along with two depressed people.

When he finishes his shift and handover, he takes Otto and stretches his legs toward the East Gate.

The East Gate is the gate that leads to the streets, the most crowded, and the streets where inns and restaurants connect. There are also shops in alleys and back streets close to the main street, and residents of this city generally have a destination store.

It's summer, so every store has its entrance and exit doors wide open, and you can hear a fuss over it drinking inside. While avoiding hitting on the people we were going to meet, we headed to a destination tavern where the soldiers at the gate could gather easily.

Stepping inside a liquor and cooking smell, the two lined long tables, almost in the middle of the store, are occupied by the group's guests, and a dozen people say something out loud. At the wall there were several round tables available for a small number of people, most of them buried.

"That's a lot"

"Let's go."

Speak to the shopkeeper pouring liquor at the back counter through the back of a wow and fussy organization.

"Ooh, Evo. Berea for two. After that, ask for some proper salt boiling of the bowels"

"Aye."

Order Berea for two from Evo, the store owner. For me, who has been a gatekeeper as a soldier apprentice since the christening ceremony, it's mostly like being a familiar person in this city, except for millionaires and nobles who travel by carriage without showing their faces.

When I put two glasses of Berea and one large piece of copper coin on the counter for the bowel stuffing, Evo poured Berea into the wooden cup for me. Holding the cup carefully to avoid zeroing, he searches for an empty table and moves to the round table at the back.

There were still dishes left for the previous guests, but the waitress, who noticeably spotted us trying to sit down, quickly took away the wooden cups, forks and other dishes.

The only thing left on the table is a stiff bread instead of a dish that sucks gravy and is a little fuzzy. If you zazzle wipe the top of the table with that bread and drop it on the floor for each bread, the store dog comes along waving his tail and starts guffing the bread.

We put the cup we brought on the cleaned up table and sat in the chair making a rattling noise.

"Thank you Van Tor."

Expressing gratitude to the god of liquor, he carried Berea to his mouth as he showed the wooden cups to each other lightly.

Drink goku goku and most of the cup all at once pouring it down your throat. I think this is the best way to drink Berea. Berea's sobriety passes through her dry throat on her way home from work. The irritation of the soggy carbonation and the unique bitterness and aroma of Berea spread into my mouth momentarily late.

"Puha, it's good!... So? What the hell happened?

Put a ton of empty cups on the table to encourage Otto, who is wiping the bubbles in his mouth. Otto asked for a replacement for Berea for two while receiving a salt boil of intestine from the servant.

Otto flaunts his shoulder lightly with a delicate, yakitori face as he takes his bowels over the stiff bread he uses instead of a plate.

"Hey, Corinna tells me not to say this yet, so I can't talk to her, no matter how much the squad leader is against her."

"What, did you have a baby?"

"Hey, how did you figure that out?!?

"No, you can tell by your state and your wife's words about not saying anything else, right?

Otto scratches his cheek.

Okay, because I did the exact same thing and they pointed it out the same way around me, but I wouldn't say that extra.

Still, Otto is the father. Are you okay with this floating guy? And the words that made me think for a moment were also the words that I was told, if you think about them.

Yeah, having kids and being able to float should make a loving good father. No problem at all.

After saving ourselves, I am so convinced.

"Yes, change! Wait a minute."

Don and the cup were placed vigorously on the table, the contents swayed and Berea's bubbles splashed slightly. But no clerk or customer cares about such details.

When I gave the waitress the medium copper coin, Otto and I put our mouths on the cup so that we could get into the hustle and bustle around us. Unlike the first cup, it does not pour in with momentum, but drinks with gokuri as it rolls over the tongue to taste the complex flavours of the wheat, mixed with bitterness, sweetness and flavour.

Speaking of which, Otto's wife was an admirable seamstress for Aefa and Touri, who said that Touri would do his best to move to Otto's wife's workshop once the Dalua contract for the current workshop was over.

And your wife's brother is the husband of the Chamber of Commerce where Mine is taken care of. Though I'm only connected to Otto myself, I feel surprisingly deeply related when I look at him as a whole family.

"Otto. You, your wife and kids take care of him. I guess your kid's gonna succeed the big store, huh? Mine said that before."

"... that's what I need to talk to you about, squad leader"

Otto's atmosphere changed dramatically. The face that was burning in tightened, his gaze searching for words and wandering the sky. I saw my shoulders stretched just like I did when I tried to tell my family what Mine was carrying, and in an instant I was drunk and I was cold.

I just drank it but feel like my throat was dry on the crisp, slowly swallowing Berea in my mouth.

"... good, talk"

"Ah, well, it's not about right now.... I think it's going to be a few years, but I think I'm going to quit my soldier."

Otto took up the soldier's position in order to get permission to marry his grand store trail daughter.

The person a traveler fell in love with was the big store's trail daughter. Everything is different between a traveler and a city merchant. There's no way a traveler can suddenly be a merchant in a major store in the city.

Finally, people around my daughter told me that I was leaning on my daughter for merchant status in the city craving, and the beginning and end of being distrustful of my daughter at heart. Otto proved his feelings by buying citizenship in the city and holding a position that was not a merchant.

But I was seriously surprised then. Since it was when I was a gatekeeper at the West Gate, would it have been about 4 years ago?

A traveler who was supposed to tell me that if I sold goods here, I would go to the city where my parents lived and open a store, but only a few days later, I bought citizenship in this city to dictate to a woman, and I used all my property, so I asked her if she had any handouts for a job other than a merchant. I couldn't believe my ears as much as I listened back several times with the other gatekeepers.

But I knew Otto had spent time as a traveler with his father since he was a child, and I could understand that the man who said he was going to his parents had fallen in love at first sight enough to wear all his fortunes and buy citizenship.

Otto had lived as a travel merchant, thanks to his calculations, his ability to read documents and his skill there. In the end, I was the one who introduced Otto to the soldier position, mainly on the condition that he did paperwork.

Soldiers are many men who neglect paperwork, even enthusiastically, in their workouts. Since Otto came in, it was very easy to interact with merchants in and out and with them with aristocratic references.

That otto quits the soldier? As a merchant, you mean recognized by his wife's house?

Beside my profession as a soldier, I know I'm being helped with my wife's shop. I also know that I interact as a merchant with vendors entering and leaving the gate to avoid blunting my prospects. If Otto's efforts have borne fruit, I congratulate him, but his complexion has a dark color of confusion and bewilderment.

"Did my brother-in-law finally recognize me when I had a child?

"... No, I don't think so because there were stories like that from time to time before that. Mine's the reason."

"What!?

My daughter's name came up unexpectedly, and I put the cup on the table with Don. Otto, on the contrary, loosened his expression slightly and took a sip of the cup to his hand.

"Sergeant, as a non-merchant position, I chose the soldier best to connect my face with the inhabitants of this city. To make the people of the city remember their faces, so that they can remember the faces of the people of the city. And I chose soldiers to gather information to know the merchants and nobles entering and leaving the city."

"Hmm."

"I've been meaning to be a soldier for a while now, but things are changing in the store. Mine has a great product with great phosphors and hair decorations, and the Gilberta Chamber of Commerce is growing all at once."

"Ho. There's something Mine brought in?

I'm glad Mine is being praised, and there's something I'm proud of as a parent but a little unconvinced about.

From my eyes, it's Thuri who's making the linseen, and even the hair decorations make something prettier with Aefa and Thuri. Mine isn't strong enough to make it, and he's more likely to see it fail, or tilt his neck because he can't do it right.

"But the Gilberta Chamber of Commerce is basically an ornament, and the plant paper that I made and held with Lutz... although it has a lot of profit and influence, it's in a different direction. Benno wants to expand what he deals with. Corinna is basically only interested in clothing, so we talked about not wanting to spread the deal..."

"Is it possible that Mine's possession has become a seed of scorn?

If I accidentally flaunt my face, I wave and deny it like Otto panicked.

"No, it's not so much a snort. In my eyes as a merchant, it's amazing. I also know Benno wants to get his hands on it. I just can't handle Corinna. So it looks like Benno wants to give up the Gilberta Chamber of Commerce to Corinna earlier than planned, put me as an assistant, and have his own shop... I'm building a new store, and I'm trying to expand what Mine has to offer to other cities."

The fact that my husband at the big store is trying to sell and expand until he builds a new store should mean a huge amount of money is in motion. Touri was excited before, and Mine tried so hard to explain that he was rich, but I guess he's saying it in a big way, I duly thought. I don't think it was the kind of amount the kid just had after the christening ceremony.

"... Was it true that Mine was making a hell of a lot of money"

"It's true. But who taught me, I don't think I'm a kid. I manage my gold so thoroughly. The proper squad leader wouldn't have taught you the gold account, and where the hell did you remember that?

I glanced gently at Otto, who raised one eyebrow so that he could snort at me.

There's only one existence that likes our cute daughter, gives her magic such an extra thing, and gives her too much knowledge.

"You must have been taught by God. Mine is God's beloved daughter."

"I thought you were just a pro idiot, but you're strangely persuasive and scary."

Otto chuckled and clasped his shoulder, hitting his bowel. I go back to talking, scratching my bowels the same way.

"So when are you going to quit? There's no one to take over your job, is there?

"I think it will be about two to three years, because it can't be just a quick change. I'm hoping to grow a successor who can do the math. It was a miscalculation to take Myne to the temple."

Otto recalls that Mine was recommending working from home by blowing up weaknesses and the difficulty of relationships so that he would not become a merchant apprentice.

How good would it have been if Mine could have lived working at home and going to work with me to the gate from time to time, as I decided then. I didn't even think about getting Mine taken by the temple then.

"It was a miscalculation for me, too. He said he didn't want to be near nobility, because Mine suddenly said he wanted to be a temple witch. I don't know how many books I want to read..."

Remember when Mine said he wanted to be a temple witch apprentice and so on, and he felt much more powerful in the hand holding the cup.

"Looks like Benno was gathering a lot of information and turning hands, too, but is the squad leader convinced?

"You think I am?

"No, not at all"

With a glance at Otto, Otto gently raised his hand and shook his head to surrender. There's no way I'd like to let the temple go thru Mine where I've been given good terms.

"There's no way you can be convinced. I say we treat them on par with nobility, but given their sense of privilege, there's really no way to treat them like that"

"... right?

Just the tip of my mouth. Before the building, blue clothes may be given, but I know enough that Mine can't be treated in the true sense of the word on par with nobility, etc.

"Still, being thrown into an orphanage could have been avoided. If you come home, you'll still get my eye. Nobles are the opponents. I just can't get it fully covered, but I'm glad."

"But it's a pretty dangerous position, isn't it?"

"... ah"

Mine's magic ran wild and he stopped the temple chief because of intimidation, so he just became Ariel free, and the temple chief was going to throw Mine into the orphanage even if he sentenced me and Aefa to life. Even if my life saved me and Mine just got through from home, it would be a huge concession on the cleric's side. It's no use wanting any more favors.

Instead, they must be hated and neglected by the temple chiefs intimidated by civilians. It's horrible just to think about what happens after Mine starts going to the temple.

"Squad Leader. This is what Benno said, but perhaps it's about five years at most for Mine to be at peace in the temple. Now that there are few aristocrats, magicians will be treasured, but they risk being treated like troublemakers if more aristocrats grow."

"... only five years. Still, I guess it's better than not entering a temple and dying in less than six months"

The purpose of passing Mine through the Temple is to extend Mine's life. That's all I can do. I need my magic gear, but I don't have enough handouts or money to get it. It's too impudent to be a father.

"If you don't think you can stay in the temple, you just have to make a pact with the nobility. Mine is worth a lot. I have magic, and I have the power to make money. If we can show the existential value before the danger looms, the terms of the contract may change from being hunted down."

"Mine said he didn't want to make a pact with nobility because he wanted to be with his family, but... I want him alive as a parent's mood"

I want you to live the way you want me to because I've been suffering from fever and I'm finally able to do what I want.

But whether or not to sign with nobility for the desire for life. If it were to be a contract, what kind of aristocracy and under what contract terms would it be? Everything depends on Mine.

Being a father, the extent to which I can get my hands on it is really small. I wonder how much better for Mine is Benno, who has personally consulted me and collected various information, than himself, my father, the guild leader, who sold me the magic equipment he collected for his granddaughter.

"... what the hell can I do to be my father? No money, no handouts. No matter how important you are, you're a soldier who can't even protect his own children. That's hilarious."

Leave it to the booze and divulge the stupidity that won't let you leak it at home. Great, I told you there's nothing I can do to protect every family in the city.

Otto, who was listening to my stupidity, tilts his neck loose.

"No, it may be God's extraction that Mayne's father is a soldier guarding the gates of this city"

"... what do you mean?

When I narrowed my eyes, Otto whispered a little after looking around the hustle and bustle.

"Benno's dedication has kept him somewhat in contract magic in this city. At least there are a bunch of people trying to protect you, Mine. He said the scariest thing Benno predicted was that the other nobles would scratch him."

"You think they're gonna scratch me?

Gokuri breathed in the noisy words. I had assumed somewhat about the nobility in the temple, but never thought that Mine could even be targeted by the extra nobility.

"They say if you leave the city, contract magic will expire. If the nobility of this city is the opponent, if the guild chief or Benno moves, we may be able to ask the lord to wish and find out. But there's a chance that the other nobles won't even reach out to the lord."

I felt like I had been hit in the head by the husband of a big store that looked like a great power, the head of a commercial guild, and even the lord of this city, who told me that where that power extends is limited.

There's no way I can do what the lord can't do. How the hell am I supposed to handle the extra nobility?

To me holding my temples down, Otto crooked his lips and laughed challengingly.

"In order for that not to happen, we need to examine the priests in the temple who do not have good feelings for Mayne and the nobles associated with that priest. And we have to keep an eye on the nobles who come in from the margins to determine if there are any problems. Then the job of a gatekeeper who looks at all references and invitations is a great job to protect Mine."

A few moments and I think back to the gatekeeper's job. Indeed, the job of gatekeeper is great in order to know the trends of the aristocracy.

The nobility of the margin never comes in without the noble references and invitations of this city. Aristocrats who use vehicles to enter the city, such as carriages and horses, are bound to travel through the gates, to the walls of the castle on the basis of references, and into the aristocratic district.

There is no great nobleman wandering around in a civilian city. If you pay attention to nobles who stop carriages in the city or head directly to the temple, there is a good chance that kidnapping will be prevented.

Assuming the aristocrats hire rogues to try to kidnap them, if they are gatekeepers, the remainder will soon know. Especially those who make it a business to have dark things behind them.

Speak up to the city dwellers, see if there are any suspicious people, deepen the ties between the gatekeepers, and be prepared from time to time to move quickly when an anomaly occurs. This is all my job as a soldier.

"Didn't the squad leader say he became a soldier to protect his family from every city? As always, you just have to protect Mein from every city."

"If you think about it, you'll be lucky to move to the East Gate next spring."

Soldiers make gate transfers from squad to squad every three years. They aim to prevent strange adhesion, deepen bondage between soldiers, and homogenize work, but I don't care about the details. I just need to know that my squad is moving from South Gate to East Gate this spring.

Because the East Gate faces the streets, it is the most crowded gate of all gates, with easy access to information. For a lot of leftovers to come and go, it will be where you need to be most vigilant.

"Be very vigilant, there's no need to collect information, is there? You may also want to review how you communicate so that you can use the connection between soldiers to move once you perceive any danger at all. I'll work with you. My family has nothing more to do with it than Benno sticking his neck in there."

That's what Otto said, and when he gripped his fist, he bent his elbow to make a force kobu. Laughing challengingly, he shows how soldiers do things when they wish each other good luck.

"Squad Leader. We'll definitely protect you."

I similarly grinned back, sipping down the feeling of crunch with Berea in the cup and putting the tan and the cup on the table.

Grab a tight fist, bend your elbow, and gently hit Otto's fist with your fist.

"Oh, my family's in this city, I'll protect it"