Ascendance of a Bookworm

I also wrote the mirror lettering in the body of the picture book on the printed tree that I had Vilma paint. I'll ask Lutz to take the finished printed wood home and have it carved.

It's a pretty fine painting, but I was worried it would be okay, but Rutz said so lightly over his shoulder, "If you give me the money for an order from Mine, Ralph or Sieg will take the lead."

While Lutz and his brothers were carving the imprint tree, I decided to show the Cleric Chief the story of wanting to apply for an interview to make a biblical picture book and the text I fixed for my children to get permission. Though it would be easier for children, they thought it might be better to get permission once they made a picture book that altered the Bible.

When I thought about doing something new, I seemed to want to listen properly, and I was designated for a meeting day, and I was once again put through to a hidden room. I suppose all I need is an anti-bugging magic device, but they can't tell if it's actually good or bad for someone else to see what I'm taking.

"Is it a scripture for children? … it seems useful to remember letters and sentences."

"Yes, I plan to make it out of picture books, and now I'm going to make the orphans learn to write too"

"To the orphans? What the hell is this for?

The Chief Cleric narrows his eyes surprisingly, but for no good reason. I was just going to increase the literacy rate from close quarters.

"Sooner or later, if it serves, it's something to remember, and it's hard not to seem to be able to read the book, which is a product, to the artisans at Mine Workshop who are going to make the next book"

"... your idea as a merchant?

"Right. I also want to increase the number of customers..."

"Well, that would be nice," shrugged the chief cleric, who glanced at the sentence he had fixed for children. And he gazed upon me, and narrowed his golden eyes, which were close to the orange.

"Mine, where the hell did you get your education?

"Huh?"

The word of the Chief Cleric strikes me too hard, I can't disappear the smile I was straining, my face is stretched. Bakun Bakun and his heart started making unpleasant noises, and the dodgy blood flowed faster.

"I don't know what you mean."

I really don't know. I have no idea where the hell you got that question from.

Without taking his gaze off to explore my reaction, the chief clergyman played with his parsley and fingers a piece of paper spelled out with a sentence that he had fixed for the child as it remained in his hand.

"... the text is too neat. It is never easy to read a scripture with many long and difficult rhetoric, grasp the main points, and fix it into simple words that even children can understand. At least, I don't think it's something I could do for someone who touched on the contents of the Bible for the first time at the Baptist ceremony and didn't even get the word out of me when I read it."

The back of my chest twitches deliberately. Apparently this was the first time I had shown the Cleric Chief a sentence I had thought of myself.

The help of paperwork was exclusively computational because I was not yet familiar with the exchange of nobles, and all the documents and letters to be submitted were made under the guidance of Fran.

Although he was taught to write to become a merchant apprentice, the word he uses on a daily basis would mean that it is too unnatural for a sentence to be written by a civilian toddler girl who also needs to add a franc to send out a single letter.

"... you mean you did well?

"Oh, you're doing great. It's like someone from another country who's been educated in a different language, but just didn't know the letters to use here."

I draw my lips and tie them in my vigilant eyes as if I were a spy. Is it amazing that the clergyman who led you that far with one sentence, or am I stupid for not having any idea that my writing skills are unusual?

... both, I guess.

Exhale slowly, desperately circling your thoughts. Unlike Lutz, I don't trust the Cleric Chief enough to tell you everything.

The clergyman seems to think a little differently than the blue clergyman here, but that's because the clergyman thinks and acts from a noble point of view, not a clergyman's point of view. I have no idea how a man of great power would handle a foreign object called me.

"Chief Cleric, I was born and raised in this city. I've never been out of the gate, except to go collect in the woods. It's the first time I've ever known there were other countries."

Mine has never really left this city. How rare it was to even get out of the house at a young age. It is obvious that you do not have the opportunity to be educated.

Neither did my words seem to erase suspicion from the eyes of the chief priest, who frowned and looked to me.

"Oh, I know. There was nothing suspicious about the results of the investigation I conducted. … but I can't solve it"

If this kind of suspicious eye is held in relation to the chief priest, who has previously maintained some good, there will be no blue priest in the temple who is likely to take my side. The clergyman is also able to operate without face-to-face contact with other blue clerics because he is in between them.

Right now, it's like losing a safety net on a crossing in a temple society that the chief priest doesn't know yet, right or left.

... That's troublesome. I'm in terrible trouble.

What has to return the only answer to the Cleric Chief, but lying to the Cleric Chief doesn't make sense. Unlike the good memory of the Chief Cleric, I am not headstrong enough to remember forever the lies I vomit, so there is bound to be a bore somewhere. So long as you're more suspicious, you just have to delude yourself to the extent that you're not lying.

"... I've been told the same thing about recipes for cooking. How do you know such a recipe? Where'd you find out? I was asked."

"And what did you say?

In return for the clergyman's sharp gaze, I opened my mouth.

"In dreams, and. That's what I answered. I found out in a dreamy place, not here, where I could never go again.... If I say so, will the Chief Cleric believe?

I don't know what the chief cleric will react to, but I can't answer any more. As I look back on the Chief Cleric, I bite off my back teeth and put all my strength into my fists.

... I have returned my answer, and I have not vomited a lie.

Only time passes in a state of stare.

I'm not sure how much time I have, myself. However, even though a hint of sweat floated on his back and he was hot in his body, the surface remained cold and uncomfortable.

"... I can't tell you anything"

After a while, the Chief Cleric sighed like that with his sigh. With wrinkles carved between the eyebrows, however, the sharpness of his gaze eased only slightly.

I thought my gaze would be sharper and I'd be pissed off like, "Don't be ridiculous" or "Answer me seriously". Then I was going to reopen, "I'm not throwing up any lies," but I'm more confused by the unexpected reaction.

"I know it's absurd, but it's not that Tsuji doesn't fit at all. At least, my prediction that I may have been educated elsewhere will be correct.... Besides, you're a lousy hider and a lousy liar and you get everything on your face. There's no such thing as nobility who can't fool you or read your complexion."

"Ugh..."

When I pressed my cheek not to be read any more of my complexion, the chief clergyman gently slapped his temples with a ton of fingertips.

"But that's why I'm confused. I need time to think, too.... you can go for today"

"Yes."

Returned a piece of paper spelling out a scripture for children, I leave the hidden room alone. I felt a sore gaze stabbing me in the back.

The next day I took a break from going to the temple. I asked Benno to go shopping to get all the tools I needed for my wooden prints. I didn't just say I cheated because I had difficulty face-to-face with the Chief Cleric. Definitely not.

"Shopping, what the hell are you buying?

"You want the 'rollers' and brushes you need to make prints,"

"Roller? What, that?

Lutz and Benno tilted their necks. I try to explain the roller as plainly as possible.

"Er, this is the kind of cylindrical cylinder with this kind of grumpy handle, and this is the kind of thing that you can gobble on."

"... I have no idea"

He doesn't seem to understand it at all where I worked so hard to explain the rollers to Benno and Lutz. We both took a deep sigh. If it's a tool used in architectural relations, Lutz should know, so it might not be around here.

"Why don't you just go to the store"

I was taken to a shop that deals with painting tools that Benno taught me when he went to the painting workshop. They also aligned the finishing boards and the finishing sticks here.

So I searched for rollers and brushes. I did the same to the shop owner with the roller blanket, but I didn't seem to know. Although there was a wide range of brushes, the rollers unfortunately are not for sale.

"Hey, Mine. I don't think I see a roller, but what are we gonna do?

"Well, I'll try it once with a brush. If it doesn't seem possible, I'll order it at the blacksmith's."

Even if you can't explain it with your mouth and understand it, if you draw a diagram or specify the size in detail, Johann from the blacksmith workshop will surely understand it.

"I really wish I could tell by your description."

Finishing my shopping with Benno laughing with his nose, I go home with Lutz.

As the two of us walk hand in hand, a cool breeze blows through that makes us feel autumn. "Looking forward to tomorrow," Lutz said as he walked toward the house in a relaxed mood.

"Huh? Why?

"The board I was asking my brothers for, because I carved it up.... Didn't I tell you?

"I didn't ask!?

When I shouted unexpectedly, Lutz struck Pong and his hand.

"Oh, if I excited you before shopping, I thought the rest would be a hassle. I'll take it home when I get home."

"Wow!

Lutz came to us with the imprint tree that Lutz's brothers had carved for him.

If you look at the printed tree that was given to you, it carves you exactly as specified, but there are places where it has failed by the way.

"Mine, message from your brothers. This job is too detailed and tough."

"... yeah, if you look at the imprint tree, somehow you get it"

Rutz said the message in such a way that it was difficult to say.

You've been sharpening too much momentum, the lines are sticking out a little bit, they're goofy. The finesse of Burma's paintings probably adds to the difficulty, partly because he is unfamiliar with the task of making prints.

"My brothers have worked hard, so I'll be more excited about the price than I thought."

"Oh, that helps."

But your reluctance to work in a woodworking workshop, Ralph or Sieg, means it's not going to be easy to make a picture book page count.

"Um, if this imprint makes it look good, should I even think about asking Ingo to carve it in his workshop?

"... right. You should make it a proper job through the workshop. Looks like the job description is too detailed for me to make a little penny."

While I nodded at Rutz's words, I felt the cost of the picture book become even more connected, and I felt heavier.

"So, how do you use brushes?

Looks like Rutz is already on his way to the printer. I took the brush I bought out of my bag and started messing with my hair tips.

I bring my own horse and failing paper out of my crate and explain how to do the woodcut.

"First of all, this is how you're going to lay the paper of failure underneath. Put the prints on top of it. Next, moisten the paper with a brush coated with water and include water in the printing tree as well. Then you can paint it with petapetta and ink. Try to imprint with the tips of your bristles this way and be careful so that the ink is even."

Rub a brush on the board with nothing on it, and I'll show Rutz. Lutz looks at how to do it, taking notes on the bookboard.

"At this time, I want a roller. I'd like to apply it evenly, but not this time, so give it up. So, when the ink is painted, you put the paper down so gently from the top, you put the paper on it, you rub it like you're going to twirl it with this' horse 'and you stick the ink tight. Rub it with full and even force."

"I thought you were making strange things again, but you needed them," Rutz murmured as I rubbed a circle as I twirled on paper with my own horse union.

"Now, peel it off slowly and dry it up"

"... I know how to do it. Tomorrow, you're gonna do it fast, right?

"Yeah."

The next day I went by surprise to the temple, face-to-face with the chief priest, but the chief priest said nothing. He gives a pale executive instruction with no expression as if nothing had happened at all.

I was able to finish my help without being told anything until the end, and I exhaled ho.

... Okay, the biggest difficulty has been crossed. And then there's the print.

"Now, if you'll excuse me for today,"

I fill my head with the wood prints I'm going to make, and I leave the Cleric Chief's room in a mood that's going to pop out even with my nose. I had no idea there was a leak in the grunt across the closed door that said "... not to think that was the end of the whole story".

"Master Mine, you seem in a much better mood"

"The help of the chief cleric has been successfully completed, and from now on, I will be making books in the workshop."

When I was answering that to Fran, there was a light rhino, after lunch, and by the time I got to Mine Workshop, I was in a good mood and a little excited.

"Thank you for waiting. Quickly, start printing. Come on, Lutz. Do it."

Going to Mine Workshop, Lutz had already almost finished preparing for the woodcut. I can see the paper of the failures laying on the table and the imprint trees on it. The children were surrounded by an intriguing face around the table.

And when I went to the platform, the seemingly privileged seats were vacant. You have vacated a place for me, so I will watch Lutz's work there.

"Dear Mine, what happens to this?

"Ugh, look forward to it"

As Lutz inks the brush and turns the board black, the children raise their voices of excitement.

"Wow, black!

"I don't see anything anymore!

Lutz just raised a few eyebrows to the cheers of the children and proceeded to work lightly. Softly place the phosphorus paper on the imprint tree on which the ink is mounted, apply the paper as described yesterday, and rub it with the horseradish.

"Ah, that sounds interesting. I want to try."

"Me too, me too!

The horse company stopped, and the paper retreated, and Lutz's finger rested on the edge of the paper. I gently and politely peel them off as I watch them excitedly. The glistening paper had ink on it as I thought it would, and the wood prints I knew were up.

"Wow, it's a picture!

"It was black, but there's a white line!

From the blackened board, the children laughed with a full smile that the painting was floating, and shouted with a crisp and happy voice.

When I give the children instructions to go back to the paperwork and dissolve them, I stare at Rutz and the painting they imprinted.

"What do you say, Mine?

"... subtle"

Excited, my first thought waiting to flip the paper was that.

Unlike what I made in elementary school drawing during Reino, it is somewhat hands-on and artistic. I think you were more right to ask your brothers than me or Lutz would carve.

"If you look at it as a wooden print, I don't think it's a failure. It's just not for picture books, is it?

"Right. I can't even read the letters, but is it a little hard to read white letters on black?

White letters on a black background were still difficult to see, and some mirror letters had failed. This is my failure, but I've done the painting and the letters on a single board, so if I want to fix it, I have to fix the whole thing.

Then, by the way, I'm afraid of a failed painting. It's partly because I'm not used to carving, and partly because I'm not very good at describing the woodcut itself in detail. Even if I make a picture book with this, I find it quite difficult to attach.

"Letters are better for the umpire, right? Should I have the full text carved in a verdict state?

"... but even though they say there are too many details, and they don't fit the bill, you can't put the full sentence in a verdict state, can you?

"That's right..."

Carving on the street of a letter would be completely different from carving around a letter to make the letter float with effort and time.

"Looks like you should rethink it some more. Looks like wood prints aren't for picture books at least. There's a lot of black parts in the painting, and I'm a little scared."

"... right"

Place the printed paper on the wall shelf and Lutz starts cleaning up the tools. It doesn't make sense to imprint any number of things that I thought were subtle.

... um, if it was a Vilma painting, copper printing would look better...

I don't know if you can easily get a pandler or nitric acid or other corrosive agent to start copper printing. It's also a pain in the ass to look for substitutes yourself, to be honest. And I don't want to use dangerous drugs in a workshop where young children come and go, if possible.

... What shall we do?

Until now I have not been greatly depressed where I have failed, but this time I asked Vilma to paint and my brothers to carve me failed. It's hard to report that it didn't work, and with no prospect of success, it's hard to ask for help the next time.

"What are you thinking?

After cleaning up, Lutz came back.

"Let's not paint anymore, shall we? Even if there's no painting, if it's written, isn't it enough as a book?

"... I'm not very thoughtful about books, so that's fine."

When Lutz stopped the words and leaned his neck, he looked at me.

"You call a book without a picture a picture book?

"I won't tell. So I think we should make it a normal book, not a picture book anymore"

"... but didn't you say that your first picture book was your first gift to your adorable siblings?

"Ha! That's right! No compromise! I definitely need to make it a nice picture book!

Don't snag at me for one or two failures. I need to figure out a way to do it other than wood printing.