Ascendance of a Bookworm

The next day I returned from Ilkner.

As usual, when I headed to the Cleric Chief's room on the 3 bells, I heard Brother Eckhardt was in the Cleric Chief's room after the takeover.

However, unlike my escort knight, who stands in front of the door and escorts, he appears to be made a helper in clerical work. This seems to be the usual landscape, even considering that blue clerics and side-services have not reacted at all.

"Chief Cleric, can I let the escort do the clerical work?

"You can't, but I don't mind.... I can handle the attack on my own to some extent. You don't have to be attacked to fall on your own. That's the difference."

It doesn't even make any noise.

As Darmuel said in person that he originally aspired to be a civilian, it's a shame that administrative work has aptitude but it doesn't take advantage of it.

"Yustokus should be here before noon today, too. We'll talk about the material, so we'll finish the errand as soon as we can."

"Yes!"

I do the computational work that I've been accumulating because I've been away for a few days.

It seemed mentally difficult in Irkner, where the living environment was different, and Fran, who laughed powerlessly, "I just thought it would change the environment a little bit, and I didn't think it would be as tiring," was returning to the temple to regain his liveliness.

As the Chief Cleric said, 4 bells rang faster, and Justkus came to the temple. Walk to the front of the concierge, gleaming with pleasure and looking around to find something interesting.

"Good morning, Master Ferdinand. And welcome back, Princess Rosemaine. How was Ilkner? Was there anything interesting about it?

Justkus, a light-footed guy who seems to be singing in his nose, says he's looking forward to lunch, he's looking forward to talking to me, and he's going to tour the workshop.

"I have trouble being told that all of a sudden. I'm going to the orphanage today, not the workshop."

"So may I visit the orphanage? I am very interested in the orphanage where Master Rosemaine exercises mercy. Sure, all orphans can read and write, right?

If you're an aristocratic opponent, you'll see that you're categorically refusing, but Justkus tries to make plans by pretending to be unfamiliar. If you're acting like a lady, it's a good orphanage you haven't seen yet, and I'm going to decide to come about it on my own, so I decided to say no to this one clarity instead of turning away.

"... when the Chief Cleric can be with you. I'm in trouble because they're going to walk around the orphanage on their own."

"Is there something like trouble when you're seen?

I stare at Yustokus as if he was even more intrigued. If you put a nobleman in an orphanage who runs into his interests with such a force, Burma's male hatred must accelerate.

"Some gray witches don't like men because of tyrannical blue clerics. The women's wing is off-limits, but Justkus can't because it doesn't look like it can be protected."

"Hmm, I see"

Yustox seemed convinced, but not at all convinced.

"I mean, if I dress like a woman, can I get in?

I mean my eyes. This guy is really going into an orphanage dressed as a woman.

"We will ban any access to the orphanage in Justkus!

"Holy shit!?

Isn't it terrible, this one surprises Yustox to say. You can't put a weird person in an orphanage like you try to get into an orphanage even if you dress like a woman.

The clergyman sighed at this sight when he was firmly determined that the orphanage would feed on Yustokus' strange interests if he, as orphan director, never avoided it as temple director.

"Don't worry about that. Later. Let's start with the real deal."

Waving gently, when the chief clergyman stops talking about us, he pays and puts his side service outside. All that remains are those who go to collect, including the escort knights.

Basali and the clergyman who spread the map pointed to the mountain to the south.

"This time we head to a mountain called Roenberg. The most suitable summer material collection is in five days' time. Tomorrow and the day after, we'll leave for collection."

If I hadn't come back from Ilkner, it seems the chief cleric was going to rendezvous in Ilkner.

"Chief Cleric, what's the material for this one?

"It's a Leeds Falke egg. Leeds Falke is said to be a bird quenching the wrath of the god of fire, Rydenshaft. That egg is the ingredient."

"Huh? Isn't it a holy bird to fetch bird eggs that quench God's wrath? Besides, you're an egg thief, right? Isn't that a huge punishment?

Whatever it was..., and when I groaned, the chief cleric shook his head.

"Don't worry. Leeds Falke is nothing like a holy bird or something. It's a kind of demon. Then we'll take action to quell Ryden Shaft's anger."

With that said, the Chief Cleric looked at me wonderfully.

"You call yourself an egg thief, but in winter you would have killed Schnetilm to get the demon stone, wouldn't you? Make it Spring Tall Crochet, Fall Zanze or Gorze, aren't there as many demons crusaded for your collection? What more are you saying now with one egg?

"... so is that"

Though demonic, now that I've done a ton of killing, I'm starting to feel like I'm nothing more than an egg thief.

"But if Roenberg's demons don't kill him as much as possible, Rydenshaft's wrath will explode. That's the hardest part of this collection."

"If you don't quell your anger, will something happen?

"Oh, when Ryden Shaft's anger grows stronger, the mountains erupt into flames."

... Doesn't that say eruption? Does Roenberg mean volcano?

But I find no connection between the eruption and keeping the demons from killing, and I lean my neck.

"Leeds Falke eggs accumulate and hatch the magic of Roenberg, so when the eggs are gone, there will be excess magic that the eggs were supposed to absorb"

Yustox nods at the word of the chief cleric, adding further explanation.

"If you have too much magic, the Ryden shaft will get angry and erupt fire. I've collected too many eggs once and I'm pretty sure it's because I almost exploded Ryden Shaft's anger"

"Ha!?

I thought I heard wrong, but I didn't seem to. The chief cleric held his temples and exhaled a deep sigh.

"... it was tough then"

"Really. I wondered what would happen"

The Chief Cleric and Brother Eckhardt were all together and far-sighted. Apparently, Justkus made a pretty big deal out of it. Excellent when it comes to gathering information, but for that matter, he seems dangerous in many ways.

"Well, isn't experience helping"

"I don't want to go through that again. Therefore, we intend to ensure that the measures are in place."

It would be fine if we left it to the clergyman, who has already experienced the handling of various disturbances.

"I will leave everything to the Chief Cleric, thank you"

And two days later, as soon as we finished lunch, we were set to leave for Roenberg by horseback. Accompanied by the Chief Cleric, Brother Eckhardt, Darmuel and Brigitte.

Yustox wanted to accompany him, too, but that didn't come true. The chief cleric dismissed him so badly that he turned his hand to the castle clerk to push the job in large quantities.

"You get flustered close to what interests you, and you have trouble getting disturbed. Justkus already has a history of disturbances in Roenberg, and this time it will be a battle against time."

The chief clergyman said so with a gentle smile on his shoulder.

This time there are no villages nearby and we want to emphasize the speed of movement, which means that we are not even to take side service and that we are to act in accordance with the march of the knights.

Meals are portable food, baths, cleaning magic does everything, and my ill health is forced to heal with medication.

I asked Ella and Hugo to at least have a decent meal for just one meal, and I had lunch cooked. And I talked to the clergyman about wanting to keep my lunch from rotting, and he lent me a little ice room for his magic equipment. For some reason, I also put my own lunch in the ice room, which already contained the lunch for the clergyman, and put it on the horseman.

To be able to miniaturize the horseman, the baggage has been increased by the clergyman who said to reduce it as much as possible. It's okay.

"Dear Rosemaine, please be careful. We look forward to welcoming you home with your medicine and bedside ready. Please come home soon."

Even from Fran's drop-off words, he seems certain to fall asleep. I wish I could finish this collection without much medication.

As soon as lunch was finished, we flew aboard the horseman, and we headed to Roenberg.

Brother Eckhardt at the beginning and I follow. Darmuel and Brigitte on my left and right, and the Chief Cleric is the last.

It's been hot the last ten days or so. It's really summery heat, and I'm just in the sun, and I'm about to get rid of it. In the meantime, I feel like the heat has increased and I don't like it because I get much closer to the sun than on the ground with a horseback.

And not only are the knights wearing armor of magic equipment that can relieve the heat. It's a little sloppy that they're not hot enough to raise my body temperature just to look at it.

Just a ridden beast rushing south into the sky. Jumping over the direct jurisdiction with lots of fields, the scenery shifted to places with lots of forests and hills, and gradually began to see the mountains. I can see that there are a few mountains in a row that are very tall.

... Is that it?

The Chief Cleric said the highest mountain in a row was Roenberg.

At the foot spreads blue, tall woods, and trees and grasses of short length stand out because they have erupted from the middle belly to the top. Near the summit there was no shadow of the plant, and only a bite of rock skin was visible. So far, however, there are no particular signs of eruptions like those blowing smoke.

Brother Eckhardt's horseman, like a wolf with wings, began to descend towards the ground. I also lower the altitude of the Lesser Bus in the same way.

We arrived at the foot of Roenberg at a time when summer sunset was approaching.

"We'll start the action early tomorrow morning. If possible, I'd like to collect it at the most sunny hour."

"Yes."

While we talk about the plans to collect, me and the Cleric Chief finish the meal with lunch and the other three with portable food. Afterwards, Brigitte and I were to purify ourselves with the magic of washing in the Lesser Bus.

"Okay, we'll wash it."

Brigitte, who took out the stamp, shrugged in some way, shaking the stamp. I didn't know when, and I picked my nose all over it, and I thought I would drown while I was wrapped in a large droplet and washed.

"This time everyone decides to sleep in your horseman. Spread the beast."

After the wash, I wanted to get ready for bed, and that's what the clergyman said. "I'd be in trouble if the same thing happened as in spring," I heard whining in a bitter tone. Apparently, it was very humiliating to have been exposed and unable to serve, if only women were put to sleep on horseback with care at the time of collection.

"Is this the beast of Rosemaine?"

When the Lesser Bus is made to a larger size, three men come in with their own luggage. Brother Eckhardt looked around inside, touched his seat, and looked at him as if surprised.

"You're soft."

"In the meantime, you can stretch your legs and sleep"

The knights set the watch order, but I just decided to go to bed. Tomorrow is a tough day. Rest must be taken care of.

time to see if the sun starts to rise. I was woken up to Brigitte to eat a breakfast of portable food.

"That's salty."

"Soak powdered grains, vegetables, etc., in liquor and salt, and then skip the moisture and round it to solidify it."

"Wouldn't adding some more salt make it even more conservative and flavorful?

The Knights' portable food is about a ping-pong ball of brown lump, something to fumble and eat in hot water. Not to rot, high nutritional value pursued, but never tasty.

"In a state where the water cannot be boiled for a long time, hunger is filled simply by squirting while drinking water. It's hard to eat when the salt is too tight. I'm sorry you put too much hot water in it."

As soon as we finish breakfast that's not good enough, we're leaving. Riding the beast, he headed for the fissure-like entrance in the middle of Roenberg. Even though it's a rip, it's big enough for an adult to afford it.

After this, after entering the cave, the knights will move on foot, as they will not be able to ride the horseman who will have to widen their wings greatly. I shall follow the horseman as minimally as possible.

"Ugh, come on..."

I've been prepared since I heard about the volcano, but it already smells like sulphur. As you can see from the darmuel that is distorting your face, the sulfur odor is terrible. That's also smelling from the back of the rift we're going to have to get in.

"One of these days I get used to it. Give it up."

The clergyman had distorted his face reluctantly, too, but he took the lead and just went into the cave. It continues in the order of Brigitte, me, Dermuel and Brother Eckhardt.

I jumped a little on the Lesser Bus, slowly descending on a short slope, laying my hands on a rock that had been swamped by everyone.

"Don't go down first on your own. You don't know what's out there, fool."

"I'm sorry."

The place where the lights on the ground arrive doesn't last that long. Soon there will be no light and it will be difficult to see your feet. At the same time, the convection of air seems to be gone. As soon as I went down the slope, the ambient humidity suddenly rose to a slightly damp air.

"From now on, there will be no lights. Use this."

As they all descended where they were flattened, the clergyman took out one medicine holder that was lowering to his waist. And when you put liquid in your own eyes like eye drops, you hand it to Brother Eckhardt. Brother Eckhardt put the same in his eyes.

After turning to all of them, the clergyman said, "Look, Rosemaine. Open your eyes," he says, offering you eye drops.

"I don't like eye drops."

"It's what you need to walk here. I'm not good or good at it. Eckhardt, hold him down."

I was forced to open my eyes and poured liquid. My eyes jingle about what's in the medicine. The back of my nose smells like a toon, and the back of my throat hurts.

"... Wow, these eye drops are bitter. I demand flavor improvement."

"Why do they taste like eye drops? Don't be silly, let's move on."

Eye drops seemed to be a magic tool to ensure vision even in the dark, and there was no longer any obstacle to moving forward even after the light had stopped reaching them. My vision is brown, or dark orange, it feels like I'm wearing a bean bulb in the middle of the night, but I don't see it at all.

After a while there was a fountain along the way. Isn't the sulphur-smelling spring a hot spring? He said that he would make a small pause, so I wanted to come near the fountain and stick my hand in it.

"Can I stick my hand in the fountain?

"Don't act unsolicited, you fool. What if there's some kind of demon in the fountain? Mostly, what are you gonna do with your hands in it? If it gets dirty, I'll use cleaning magic."

"... No, I didn't want to wash my hands, I just thought if it was warm, I'd want to take a bath"

If you think it's a hot spring, you'll want to try it in.

But my opinion was snorted and kicked over.

"What are you going to do in this stinking water? Your whole body stinks. Besides, Leeds Falke's eggs are in the deepest fountain, so I can put them in if I want. Wait a little longer."

"Huh? Are the eggs warmed in the hot springs?

... I mean, hot spring eggs?

Instead of this mission stealing bird eggs in my brain that quench God's wrath, it turned into something called getting hot spring eggs.

"Will Leeds Falke's eggs taste good?

"It's medicine material. Pour magic into demonic stones, and it's not food."

"... it was"

... Too bad. You wanted to try some.

The little pause is over, going deeper and deeper. As it progresses, the temperature and humidity increase more and more.

The temperature and humidity of the body changed as it moved from the rainy room to the bathroom stripper and the hot spring bath.

"It's hot,"

"Right."

On the second small pause, you wore full body armor, but it was returned to you in a cool voice by knights who didn't feel the heat. You're traveling by the Lesser Bus, but I'm the most hazy.

"Keep the towel in the ice chamber on your neck."

"Ha-hi..."

I wipe my face with the chilled towel I prepared last night and put it around my neck. The calm feeling made my head feel clear.

It seems to be a complete hot spring around here, and you can see the hot air coming out of the spring.

It seemed no mistake that he had been scolded earlier for trying to stick his hand in the fountain, and some of the hot springs looked like sleeping reptiles.

"If you don't attack me, leave me alone. We have to try not to kill him here."

"Why?

"The demons here are getting their magic from Roenberg. Too much hunting for demons would consume less magic, wouldn't it? And if too much magic accumulates in the mountains, the fire will erupt as the wrath of the Lyden shaft."

Yustokus must have also been knocking down demons when he got eggs. Otherwise, the Chief Cleric couldn't have known this much more.

"Leeds Falke eggs are the same as demons. Hatch with magic and heat here. So this time I have one demon stone of about the same size as an egg, then, although the size is not aligned, I am preparing more than one demon stone of the fire attribute. They're all things that are out of magic."

The clergyman turned his gaze to the leather bag attached to his waist. You can see the demon stone inside, even from the swell of every single one.

"What good is a demon stone with empty magic power?

"When you place a demonic stone without magic in a place with strong attributes, magic returns. Take advantage of its nature to take eggs"

"Uh, you mean you need something that absorbs the same amount of magic as an egg, more than taking an egg?

That's the thing, he nods, and the clergyman prepares to leave again. I put a warmed towel in the ice chamber and exchanged it for a cold towel.

Then he walked again for a while, becoming breathlessly hot and humid.

My nose seems to be used to the sulphur odor and although I think it stinks, I don't care that much anymore, I can't get used to this heat. It's more of a sauna than a bath anymore. When I breathe, I can't breathe because of the heat coming in to my lungs.

"Back there. Wait till the parent bird comes out."

That's what the clergyman said, pointing to a dark hole in the back.

In the gap where the parent bird flew to look for food, it looks like he's going to have to pick up an egg, which is going to be a speed battle. I'm already cut off by enthusiasm, even though I'm not at all confident in strength and speed, but will I be okay?

I waited a while.

I waited quietly so as not to irritate my surroundings in the heat that was going to cut my strength just to wait.

The sound of rust and wings swinging echoes from the back. The clergyman, who had heard it go away, stood up completely.

"Let's go."

"Yes!"

As soon as I ran out towards the hole in the back, the water surface of the side fountain swayed loosely and something popped up. Among the sights that looked orange because of the eye drops, they looked red as if they were burning up.

A demon the size of a clergyman, like Oosanshaw and Elimakitori lizard added and divided by two, inhibits his hand from going to try to protect his eggs.

"I'm not after your eggs, so I want you to clear the way."

Of course, there's no way the demon opponent can get the word through. The opponent is in a totally imminent state of war.

Perhaps it must be easier for the Cleric Chief or Brother Eckhardt to defeat him than it has ever been a strong enemy. But he said it was better not to take him down here.

"Eckhardt, you remember how to collect?

"Ha!"

As the clergyman stared at the lizard, he quickly removed the leather bag he had put on his hips with one hand and threw it at Brother Eckhardt.

"I'll keep this to myself so I don't take this down. Hurry up and fetch Leeds Falke eggs."

"Yes!"