Page | 350 But once there, he was asked whether he was going to be lending them money, and was then promptly ordered by the noble to hand over his coin. The book had apparently been forced onto him as collateral for the loan, and when the due date for the return came, the shopkeep visited the noble... only for the house to have since changed hands. A noble he didn’t recognize at all came out, said he didn’t know the merchant, and then kicked him out. “In short, they go out of their way to call merchants like me over to fund their escapes. The owners of big stores can afford contract magic, so they target poor merchants like me looking to start our own stores,” the man continued. The financial hit was apparently severe enough that the man had petitioned the guildmaster for payment, but he had simply responded that it was a necessary step in the process of getting a noble-funded store and paid only a small consolation fee. “Nobles teaming up to trick commoners, huh? That’s not uncommon, but you’ve got my sympathy,” I replied. Despite being a noble myself, I didn’t feel the need to defend their actions at all. I absent-mindedly replied to his complaining while looking at the book’s cover. ...Still, a laynoble had this book? It’s way too fancy for a laynoble. It had an elaborate cover that one would expect to see on the book of an archnoble, and most books with that sort of cover were usually about magic. That was strange, though, since a noble with money problems selling a magic-related book to a commoner would really need to buy it back. They tended to have the crest of the noble that owned it emblazoned inside, so one look would have likely been enough to tell me exactly who had pulled such a dirty trick to rip off the shopkeep.
Page | 351 “Hey, shopkeep. My boss is a real booklover, and he’s got a bit of a collection. Mind letting me look at the book? You can hold this for insurance,” I said, setting a small gold on the table since I knew he’d be afraid of me stealing the book otherwise. His face lit up as though he had finally found hope, at which point he unlocked the case and delicately took out the book. “I’m just gonna pray that it’s a book your boss doesn’t already own. The only other person who’s wanted to see it was this weird little girl who crossed my stand way back when I was still holding it as collateral.” “A weird little girl? What kinda girl?” I asked on instinct, since I had been asking people for information on a weird little girl over and over all day. “At first she asked to look at the book, but then she suddenly threw herself on the ground and started begging to smell it and rub her cheeks against it. That was as surprised as I’ve ever been. Never met a kid that weird in my life.” I couldn’t help but snort. That was exactly how Ferdinand said Myne always acted. ...Wait, is he talking about Myne? Is this Myne here? I wanna see this. I wanna see this weird girl. “What, do you know this girl?” the shopkeep asked. “Nah, but I’ve heard of another weirdo just like her. Not sure whether it’s the same person, but I know of a girl who was trying to pay a large gold to the temple just to see a book.” “You’ve gotta be kidding me. That’s just ridiculous. With that much money, you could just buy a bunch of books yourself.” “I didn’t hear her mentioning the smell of ink or anything, though. Probably a different person,” I said, exchanging another chuckle with the shopkeep.
Page | 352 But in reality, I was confident they were the same person. No way were there two kids in the world who were so desperate for books that they would lose their minds over them. “Alright, let’s take a look,” I said, picking up the book and opening it carefully. The last page, which normally had the noble crest on it, had been sliced off—a sign that whoever had sold the book didn’t want it being seen. There was a chance it was a stolen book, but either way, it was indeed a book about magic, which wasn’t something best left with commoners. I wanna buy this, but the price might be a little high. I glanced at the pouch of money that Ferdinand had given me. I had two more small golds on top of the small gold I had handed over as collateral, but that wasn’t enough to buy a book with a cover this elaborate. “So? Does your boss own it?” “Nope, this is a new book. I’d like to buy it, but this is all I can offer you,” I said, taking out the other two small golds. I would have liked to cover all the money that the trickster noble had taken from him, but I would need to go back to the Noble’s Quarter to get more for that. “This stand only goes up on market day, right? I’m gonna be leaving the city today, so...” “Nah, that’s more than enough! I never thought I’d get the opportunity to sell it at all, so yeah...” the shopkeep replied. Considering the quality of the book, buying it for three small golds was an incredible steal, but the shopkeep seemed more than happy with the exchange. The next day, I was summoned to Lord Ferdinand’s estate to report what I had learned in the lower city.
Page | 353 “...And so, the only thing I learned from the people around her was how weak she is. But those who have done business with the Myne Workshop all recognized her as a weird but talented child,” I said. “I knew that she was weird from the first time I met her,” Ferdinand murmured in response. “Furthermore, I believe that this is the book she said she wished to smell the ink of,” I said, explaining how the shopkeep of the stand had mentioned a weird little girl interested in the book. Ferdinand had a distant look in his eyes. “Now that you mention it, when first faced with the bible, she leaned forward and smelled its ink.” ...She did the same thing in front of Ferdinand?! What kind of mad girl is this Myne? “Lord Ferdinand, shall I bring this book to the temple library?” “You said yourself that it is a magic book. Deliver it to the library in my estate,” Ferdinand said, placing three small golds in front of me. And so the book I had purchased from the lower city was stored on one of Lord Ferdinand’s bookshelves, forever escaping Myne’s inksniffing clutches. “So you’re the tax official assigned to Rozemyne, Justus? Impressive, considering that you are Lord Ferdinand’s attendant, not a scholar,” Eckhart said with an exasperated tone. I snorted and shook my head. “I’ve got scholar qualifications, and I’ve been doing scholar work in the castle ever since Lord Ferdinand entered the temple. He said that he doesn’t have any other scholars he can trust, and with the aub’s orders backing me, there’s nobody who can argue with me being here. Especially when Rozemyne’s father, Lord Karstedt, agreed to it.”
Page | 354 Eckhart and I were waiting in a meeting room for Ferdinand and Rozemyne to arrive. This would be my first time meeting her. My first time meeting the fabled Myne, who had risen from a commoner to a blue shrine maiden thanks to her mana, only to then displace Bezewanst the High Bishop and be adopted by the archduke. I know she’s a weird kid, but let’s see just what kinda fancy noble girl she’s turned into. “Information on her was considerably hard to find, and she’s so special that Lord Ferdinand willingly took her into his custody. I’m real interested in seeing just what kind of a kid she is. Whaddaya think about her, Eckhart? Now that you’re her big brother and all.” “I am just glad that Lord Ferdinand seems to be enjoying himself. Though personally, I would rather never go to the lower city again,” he replied with a scrunched up face. And that was when the door opened. “Eckhart, Justus—I appreciate you both waiting for us.”
Page | 355 Afterword Hello again. It’s me, Miya Kazuki. Thank you very much for reading Ascendance of a Bookworm: Part 3 Volume 2. In this volume, four new orphans joined Hasse’s monastery. Their lives were very different from those in Ehrenfest, and the situation between them and Hasse proved to be very problematic. Rozemyne gained a lot of authority through Sylvester adopting her. But by using that authority without understanding the impact it would have on her surroundings, she ended up coming across as a greedy property-stealing tyrant despite just trying to save orphans from being abused. Ferdinand gave her a task to teach her how to plot the downfall of others, leading her to tearfully request the help of the Gilberta Company. As expected, it was Lutz who saved her as she broke out into tears. Meanwhile, Rozemyne hatched a plan to teach Wilfried a lesson after he repeatedly called their situation unfair, despite how miserable of a time she was having with Ferdinand’s task. She spent a day of absolute bliss in the castle’s library after they switched places, whereas Wilfried had a very bad time in the temple. This volume also marked the beginning of Part 3’s overarching goal: the gathering of materials that form the ingredients for a jureve potion. In this book, they went to gather a purple ruelle on the Night of Schutzaria, a wondrous event that happens only once a year. I hope that this volume captured the feel of a fantasy adventure. This volume’s cover art features Sylvester and Wilfried, father and son. Sylvester’s personality isn’t especially cool, but since it’s the cover art, I asked for him to be making a pose befitting an archduke. Isn’t it wonderful? Thank you, Shiina You-sama.
Page | 356 And finally, I offer up my highest thanks to everyone who read this book. May we meet again in Part 3 Volume 3. October 2016, Miya Kazuki
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Page | 362 Copyright Ascendance of a Bookworm: Part 3 Adopted Daughter of an Archduke Volume 2 by Miya Kazuki Translated by Quof Edited by Kieran Redgewell This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental. Copyright © 2016 Miya Kazuki Illustrations by You Shiina Cover illustration by You Shiina All rights reserved. Original Japanese edition published in 2016 by TO Books, Tokyo. This English edition is published by arrangement with TO Books, Tokyo English translation © 2020 J-Novel Club LLC All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. J-Novel Club LLC j-novel.club The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.
Page | 363 Ebook edition 1.0.1: August 2020
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