Ascendance of a Bookworm

"Vilma, is it okay to have more people in the orphanage during the winter cage?

I asked Vilma if there was room for ten people, including Nora and the others. Right, and Vilma takes out last year's dossier and starts turning.

"We will be increasing our winter support from last year, but the number of rooms is particularly fine. However, if you don't carry futons, dishes and other household items, it's not enough"

Originally as a gray cleric or gray witch, I say that whatever the six minutes I had in this orphanage, I don't have enough for the four new and growing.

Winter cages together are only this year because they are for the life and education of the temple. If you're going to have a winter cage in Hasse next year, it would be better to carry household goods in than buy more.

"Yes, I'm still not sure how many there will be, but please proceed with the winter support in view of the increase of ten. I can afford the money and the time this year, so it'll be fine. It's what Vilma does."

"It was unfortunate that the clergyman banned you. Phew."

I have sales at the chief clergyman's charity concert, so I feel warm about nostalgia this year. It is Pokka Pokka. Thanks to Vilma's painted illustration of the clergyman sold out.

I intend to build an orphanage and workshop in the same way in other towns, so I don't think it would be a problem for me to use it if I were to use it for winter support in an orphanage, although I can't waste it.

"And then what about the summer family painting? Is it time to do this?

"Yeah, I almost did. There's one more piece left to finish, but it looks like we're starting printing today when it comes to finishing."

Reports had been received from Gill that the body was finished printing, but printing of the painting also seemed to have begun. As early as possible, the printing will be finished in a few days and we'll be in the bookmaking.

"... Hey, Vilma. By the winter social world, can't we even make autumn and winter family picture books?

"That seems a little difficult. I have winter plans, and I don't have enough time."

"Unfortunately, shall we give up?"

The main buyers of picture books are millionaires and aristocrats. I thought the winter social community would be a good place to sell, but I can't help but make it. Nothing, you don't have to sell it all, just make it next year's product.

"Dear Rosemaine, how about when it comes to hand work in the winter? Are you sure this year is the same as last year?

"Yep. Anyone can produce woodworking, so maybe we'll have a few more years to sell a lot of cards and reversi. Build, sell, and think about something else in bulk before everyone imitates it."

What an easy thing I think and make. It will be imitated soon. You just have to sell something new after calculating that it will be imitated.

"Master Rosemayne has a tough time being the head of the temple."

If I'm going to say it in the honor of my parents, unlike when I was a blue witch apprentice who also had to earn my living, now I get a good budget if I just live.

The golden measure is for the orphanage, and to expand the printing industry to make my books.

"The cost of running an orphanage is something you have to earn in an orphanage. Relying on aristocratic contributions is the way it is when you are gone. It is my task, the temple chief, to ensure that the orphanage can continue to live like this, even without me."

"I'm delighted to hear your words."

"... and that's why acceptance in an orphanage seems ok"

"Hmm. Then, after the harvest festival, we shall move it here"

I report to the Chief Cleric on my discussions with Burma. Finally, I decided to talk to him about whether I could sell my picture book at the castle.

"Chief Cleric, it's a biblical picture book, can I sell it at the castle?

"... wait. Where in the castle are you gonna sell it?

By selling the illustration on his own, the chief cleric, who became even more nervous about the sale, sees me with thin golden eyes.

"I just want to sell it somewhere in the castle. People who buy picture books are limited to millionaires such as merchants in need if they can't read the letters, if they're in lower town, but all nobles, right? I was just wondering if you could sell your children in the winter social world if they were noblemen."

To my word, the chief priest frowns a long time. "Is it better than being sold a strange painting," he muttered, promising me he would get permission to sell it at the castle at the end of winter.

"You should sell it at the castle as a souvenir when you return to your territory. If during the winter I attract the interest of my children with the first Great God picture books I made and the carta, and show them a new picture book on my way home, I can't say that neither can my parents. Your picture books are pretty cheap for the content."

"Ooh..."

I didn't expect the chief clergyman to get an opinion on the business relationship.

"… but it would be difficult if the child were not judged to be interested in the letters and useful for education. It's expensive for extras."

"Are children coming to the winter social world as well?

I said draw interest in picture books and cartas during the winter, so I guess I have kids. I was going to sell my picture books to my parents, but if I had children, my success rate would likely increase.

"He who has finished his baptismal ceremony will come. From an early age, it becomes a place to interact and teach sequences. For you, it's also a place to look for and nurture the future."

... Wow, it's going to be a troublesome place.

It doesn't seem like it would be a good idea to just think about the sales of picture books. The moment I thought winter seemed busy, I remembered my work last winter.

"... that? Winter's a sacrifice ceremony at the temple, right? Doesn't the social world have anything to do with me?

"I would be determined to join both. I am every year."

Apparently, the all-purpose clergyman comes and goes to the castle and temple every year. I have no strength. I have trouble being asked to do the same by a frail me. Even last year, when Fran was caged in the temple in a state of integrity where he could manage his health, he became the feather of taking the medicine of the Chief Cleric. I can't go back and forth with the castle.

"I, Chief Cleric, may die during the winter"

"Don't guide me. I won't let you die that easily. I'll get my meds ready."

The medication doesn't seem to reduce the burden, even if it prepares you. I sighed lightly.

"... make it a less bitter medicine"

Goosebumps deliberately stood around his two arms the moment the clergyman began to consider how much to prepare with a serious face.

…… Hiha!?

It wasn't cold. I suddenly felt sick because I felt like something was running up my back. At the same time, the word "small temple of Hasse" comes to mind all the time.

"Chief Cleric, something strange is going on right now..."

As I turned toward the chief cleric abnormally that had happened to me, the chief cleric also rose up as if he had noticed something.

"... Looks like someone is about to break into Hasse's little temple. I can feel a slight interference in the defense formation. You put magic into the magic of protection, so you must feel the same way."

Apparently, with magic in the chief priest who created the small temple with the magic of creation and in the demonic stone of guardianship, I can sense that there are those who attack the small temple.

"Rosemaine, come."

That's what the chief cleric says, walking toward the hidden room behind the bedroom. If Hasse's little temple is under attack, you should head right for it. I was about to get out of the room, and I blinked.

"Huh? Aren't you going to Hasse?

"There has been no major interference. Better see how it goes first."

And the chief priest said so, and opened the door, and I hastened into the den. It's been a long time since I've been in anything but preaching.

Out of the mess and the likeness of experimental tools placed massively on the table, the chief clergyman brought the likeness of a basin made of octagonal blackish trees and placed them on a low table. I do not sit in a bench as usual, but stand and peek into it.

It was a basin with yellow demonic stones attached to the eight horns and could also be seen as a magic appliance from the fact that intricate texts were carved like magic formations.

As the chief cleric lays his hands on one demonic stone and sheds his magic, the yellow light coming out of the demonic stone begins to run over the literature. The light that split left and right and poured out connected the demon stone to the demon stone, floating the literature and completing the magic formation.

At the next moment, something like a loose liquid springs up from there in the basin, filling the basin.

When the chief clergyman took out the glowing tact and hit the shaky surface of "Spiegellen," video floated up on the surface of the water, and a small temple of Hasse was seen. I frown a little on the magic equipment like a surveillance camera.

"... Chief Cleric, is this a peek anywhere?

"No way. Only where there is a demon stone of protection caged with my magic. Essentially what the Lords use to defend their cities and territories, not everywhere."

I thought it was also a peeping hobby, but it didn't seem like it. As I stroked my ho breasts down, I said, "What the hell did you think?" and he smiled terribly awesome.

"I haven't thought about it. Then show me the little temple of Hasse."

The small temple of Hasse, reflected on the water, saw less than ten men with farm tools about to break in.

Maybe the men the mayor ordered. No sign of the mayor, just a relatively young man. My spine shivers when I find out I'm here to get Nora and the others back.

"Chief Cleric, I have to go help you right away..."

"There doesn't seem to be any nobles either. You don't have to go out of your way. Watch."

As soon as the men reached out to open the door in a rambling motion, they grabbed their hands with a surprised face. Reach out a few times and I'll scratch. It was as if cats were putting forward their forelegs, wary of moving toys.

It doesn't look like I'm attacking from anywhere, and I lean my neck.

"... what are those people doing?

"To keep the malicious out, that little temple considerably strengthens its guardianship. Touch the door and the pain will run."

Saying so with a flat face, the chief cleric is watching the footage. I peered into the footage too, thinking it would be a lot more convenient for me to change my security level.

Watching the footage, the chief cleric tells us a little bit about the magic of creation. It seems that the chief cleric created the small temple to change the city's level of protection and security. When the lord makes it, the level of the city has to be raised together too. Then, they say, a lot of people who can't get into the city get out and obstruct distribution.

"The Little Temple is trying to play the malevolent on those inside, but if you put that much protection on the entire city of Aerenfest, if you're bad, there's a chance that those who fought with their parents and children and went out to the woods to collect them won't be able to return."

"That's dangerous."

It seems that the defense of the city of Aerenfest leaves the bulk to the soldiers, and that it is the attacks from the magic that the lords protect with their defensive magic that are predominant.

"... you've shaken your farm tools"

The men, who apparently understood that they could not touch themselves, shook up the farm tools they had and swung them down with great motion towards the door.

At the next moment, as the protection of the wind acted, all the men were blown away and rolled unnecessarily.

"In a prayer raid, it would look a lot like the carriage protected by your windshield. It incorporates the same action."

"Then don't worry."

The blown men marveled again as they changed their complexion in amazement. The result is the same. No matter how many times you attack, you cannot inflict a single scratch.

Gradually, the attacking arm also loses momentum and gradually becomes pale. As I looked at the creepy things, I saw the men looking up at the small temple going back to flee with one, one more.

"Looks like protection is working fine."

Hmm, squealing to gather and confirm the experimental results, the clergyman somehow began to make notes on the wood plaque. "Would it be okay to weaken it a little bit more," he says horribly.

"You can keep your protection like this. You can't mess with me on your own! Then let's go to the temple and make sure everyone's okay."

"Not now."

In my words the chief cleric answers instantly as he continues to write on the wood plaque.

"Why!?

"If you move poorly, the mayor will be erased, as he did when Wolfe"

In the quiet words of the chief priest, I was frightened, and I stopped my feet, which were about to leave the room.

Wolfe was the president of the Ink Society. He's an opponent who seems to zero out of memory because he's a man who died where I don't know, or even his face, but he's impressive in that he poked the value of the civilian to the aristocracy in a visible way. Wolfe had a dark connection with the nobility and was killed by a mouth seal when the chief cleric and father tried to wash out their relationship with the nobility.

Just like then, if you move poorly, you'll be killed instantly, the chief cleric advises. I intend to know that nobility thinks nothing of the lives of civilians, but my heart shook when it was made clear.

The mayor of Hasse thinks he's a nasty opponent, but not enough to want him dead. At least if you're going to die for moving, it's going to drag you back.

"... after all, life matters"

"Oh. He seems to hold a lot of testimony, so I want to make sure that one stays alive"

Apparently, what matters to the chief cleric is the information he holds, not the life of the mayor.

I think a completely broken thought circuit is really good for the traders. I guess you don't get flustered by emotions like I do, or run off and fail for books.

I exhaled lightly that the fundamentals were completely different. No matter how aristocratic I try to behave, I can't seem to be an aristocrat. If the plating peels off, he is just a small citizen.

"Wait until the day you promised to go see how things were going. You've figured out there's no problem getting attacked all of a sudden, right?

"... Yes"

I waited with a grudge. It will be the day I had promised in three days. I was busy thinking I could go check on the little temple.

Ask Vilma and Monica to calculate what they need for the winter support of the orphanage, and Fran to calculate the portion of my room. Gil and Rutz will be asked to make a plate from the number of handiwork last year, determine the number of minutes this year, and ask Ingo's workshop to arrange ink for the ink workshop.

I had to tailor my winter costume from Richarda, so that once I came back to the castle, Ordonanz flew in and Benno asked me to return the cook because he wanted me to open an Italian restaurant. Finally, this year, they want to sell out the technique of salt analysis that can reduce the odor to the wax workshop because they want to use a candle of beast fat with less odor.

In the meantime, Monica, who was supposed to be in the orphanage, came back to the room with a cloth wrap. They deposited a letter from the gray cleric at the back gate. The closest thing to the back gate is the orphanage, so it is often kept by those in the orphanage and delivered to the aristocratic area. I said a letter, but what Monica actually has is a wooden plaque.

"Dear Rosemaine, I am receiving your letter. I know he's not in the temple, but he wants it delivered to the former temple chief, but what do we do?

Few letters reach me when I become the new head of the temple. It seems that the Noble City has received a request for a baptism, but most of the items that arrive from the Noble City are processed before they reach me, as the Cleric Chief is blinding.

To the temple chief, I get a little invitation that I would like you to do something convenient. It is unusual for a letter to arrive at this time just after the city is finished, as they will mostly deposit a letter with me when the city of Aerenfest comes to coincide with the day it stands.

The letter addressed to the temple chief will be turned and processed by me, the temple chief, through my eyes.

"It's the first time you've been made clear to the former temple chief."

"I guess you didn't know where else to send it."

Although I have received many letters "addressed to the Temple Chief" so far, this is the first time I have received a letter that I have been told "to the former Temple Chief". Does it mean that outside of this city it has begun to spread that the temple chief has taken turns?

He must have sent me a letter in order to know that the temple chief had been replaced, but not that the former temple chief was dead. Regardless of who is in the aristocratic city, no one is the first to know that in the margins the temple chief has lost his legs and is already dead.

"What should I do with the letter addressed to the deceased, because the gatekeeper was in trouble, so I brought it here. Would you like to be sent to your parents' house in the aristocratic city?

To Monica's question I slowly shook my neck to the side.

If it were meant to be, I might even send it to the temple chief's home, but the temple chief doesn't have a home anymore. The mother of the lord, the sister of the temple chief, is locked away with no contact with the outside world, and it seems that she has a home inherited by her half-brother, but she was originally unfriendly while she was replacing her. Regardless of the mother of the lord, it seems clear from the Lord that the temple chief, who did not even perform the baptism ceremony, is not in the number of clans. The chief cleric said.

"We'll have to process the letter to the former temple chief here. I'll take care of it as usual, so tell the messenger to come and get a response tomorrow."

"Yes, sir."

Watching Monica leave the room, I took a wooden plaque wrapped in cloth.

Untie the cloth and look through the wooden plaque. What a mayor of Hasse it was to send a letter in a rattling letter that you can easily see that you are unfamiliar with writing.

"Uh..."

As the clergyman speculated, the mayor of the town does not seem to know that the temple mayor has lost his legs and is already dead, and writes that it is hard, such as "I want you to do something about the small temple," "your men are doing something extremely tyrannical," and "I was deprived of an orphan who made a contract to sell it to the civilian Lady Cantona".

I thought it was a trinket, but it's too bad for words. The only thing that comes out of my mouth is a sigh.

"Fran, let's go to the Chief Cleric."

I visited the Chief Cleric with Fran with a wooden plaque that would serve as a powerful clue to my connection to the nobility.

"Chief Cleric, this is what arrived. Reply, what should we do?

When I handed over the wood plaque, the chief cleric narrowed his eyes and deciphered the letters, exhaling a sigh as weary as mine.

"... the former temple chief is dead, you should reply. Then determine how it moves. If you are not hostile, you may leave it for a while. There won't be much impact here."

From now on, the mayor's attitude and actions will determine the conduct of our prayer ceremony, the chief cleric said.

"Is it a prayer ceremony? Not a harvest festival?

"In towns dominated by agriculture, if cleric protection is not obtained, there will be a clear difference in the harvest. Even if we manage for a few years, the land is getting thinner and thinner. Does anyone want a temple chief who can protect Hasse, or a nobleman who can earn a small fortune for a little evil...... It's that mayor who chooses."

That's what the chief cleric said and waved gently.

"If we make the wrong choice, the mayor of Hasse will lose his legs at will by the townspeople and the rural people who will no longer have access to daily food. Besides, they are named for it. Let's prioritize Cantona and find out."

"Regards"

And I left the plaque with the chief cleric, and when I returned to the room, I wrote back to the mayor of Hasse.

The temple chief is already dead, so there is no more shield behind you. From now on, I tried to decorate the euphemism like a nobleman. Can the mayor decipher it?