That Time a Bookworm Got Ascended in Tensura

Ch.1 A Merchant and A Visitor

Myne's pov:

I think the most annoying thing about traveling must be being unable to clean yourself as much as you can when you are settled down somewhere. My hair had lost it's signature sheen because I hadn't been able to treat it for a couple days now. I'd change that as soon as I could though, we were approaching the capital of Blumund. We had been traveling for several days now, luckily it was the majority of our journey through. Though we believed the next part would be harder, Jura is a dense forest and travel through it is difficult. Though luckily we could spend a few days in Blumund to prepare, and do all our necessities. Our food while traveling was poor, so I couldn't wait to get a good meal once we were inside the city. Travel really does make one gluttonous.

I was sitting in a cart, across from me was my mother, and sister. Tuuli had decided to come with mother, she did not want to spend the time with father, and was also curious in the cloth Ferdinand had bought. Though she was cautious as well. She had a heavy distrust of Tempest's claims of being human friendly. While next to me was Lutz, he had heard about us leaving and had insisted to come along as well. We had managed to stay in contact when I needed to stay in the cathedral for long periods largely, which was great. Though he had gotten weird lately, he seemed to not want to look into my eyes. That was a bit annoying but he was still as protective as ever, so I didn't mind too much.

Outside on the sled on the cart were three people, Ferdinand, Fran, and Benno. The cart was bought by Ferdinand for this, and he was in a luxury seat on the sled, while Fran and Benno were steering and keeping watch. We had two horses pulling the cart and they were both pretty bulky.

It was nearing noon by the time we got to the gates of the city, after the cart was inspected and Ferdinand showed off a ledger of some kind, we were allowed inside. This city was far more developed than the towns in Ehrenfest. Honestly it was incomparable, most of these buildings even in the lower district were coated in stucco and were clearly insulated by the thickness of the walls. Everyone was in relatively nice looking clothes. Some people were even armed, and well armed at that. There were adventurers wondering around in a few places, and crowding around restaurants and Inns. By far the nicest building in this lower district though, was the Freedom Association building. I believed it was some form of adventurers guild, lots of people armed in various ways were crowding around it specifically. I was curious how being an adventurer worked, though I don't think I'd be able to have the heart for it.

The cart stopped, and Benno told us to get out, as we were at an Inn. Though we'd have the rest of the afternoon to wander the district, while Ferdinand went up to the higher district to talk to some baron he simply referred to as "Velyard." Apparently the man had a meeting with the slime Ferdinand was so interested in, so I guess he wanted to speak with him about it, along with some matters relating to Ehrenfest assumedly.

My mother talked to Benno for a moment, before Fran walked up to the two of them. This left Lutz, Tuuli, and me standing alone just the three of us. It was Lutz which was fidgeting in place while looking around and down the street, while Tuuli was glancing at the shops with clothes in the windows with sparkles in her eyes. There were many stalls crowding every street, many serving food and other commodities. I was most interested in finding more imports from Tempest personally.

My head felt warm today, but I was still intent on finding out as much as I could. I wanted to find out if they two had begun making paper, most of all.

Suddenly Benno walked to the three of us, and kneeled slightly to talk to us at face level. "You, boy. I want you to find anything you think we could sell back home. I will look over your list at the end of the day." He looked to Lutz first and gave stern instructions, as well as smiling lightly. 

Lutz nodded confidently and then immediately glanced around to spot any stalls he thought may be of interest. "I won't let you down, Sensei." He then confidently started to walk away. 

Benno stopped Lutz by taking hold of his shoulder, "Calm down, I wasn't done talking yet." He seemed a little annoyed, tapping his boot on the ground a bit. After Lutz had stopped, Benno then turned to me and started again. "You, I know you don't exactly work for me anymore. Though I still want you to take notes. You are good at that. He has improved but he isn't great at writing yet, so you will do that. I'll pay you if the list is good, alright?" Benno then took a dead stare while waiting for the response, hitting me with a full poker face. 

I put my thumb under my chin while closing my eyes, then puffed my cheeks a bit and smiled brightly. "Benno-san, you wouldn't underpay me, would you?" I said it in a higher pitched tone than my normal one with a cutesy wobble. 

Benno's dead eyes wavered a bit and he tried looking away, at which I smiled and stared directly into his eyes. He coughed a bit while looking down, "I suppose at least a bag of ten silvers would be in order, as a small thank you of course." His voice wavered and he hung his arms a bit in a defeated way. 

I waved my arms up in the air at my victory, and jumped a bit. 

Tuuli stared on with a bit of an aghast expression then swatted me on the head. "Don't take advantage of Benno-san, he's been very nice to us!" She shouted a bit. Then she took my hand and pulled me closer. 

I whispered into her ear, "I will buy you whatever you want, just let me have this." While pulling her into a soft hug and smiling brightly. I didn't wanna let this opportunity go now that I had a hold of it, really Fran would be so angry with me if he were here right now. 

Tuuli tried to resist for a moment, pulling away from me. Though soon she sighed and just resigned herself to this. 

I let go of her and turned back to Benno, and smiled brightly. "That would be great!" Then I took out my chalk board and a piece of chalk, I had it tight into a small holder satchel on my hip. I also corrected my hairpin and bun from the hug with Tuuli. 

Benno then stood up and turned to Tuuli. "You, watch them. Make sure they don't wander off somewhere. Also make sure you are the one suggesting fabrics, the other two are very bad at judging them." Benno looked more casual while talking to Tuuli. 

Tuuli simply nodded softly and then gave a sharp look at both me and Lutz. "You heard him, don't wander off." She seemed to focus on the watching us part more than the fabric, I think she already planned to talk about fabrics. 

After getting the nod from Tuuli, Benno quickly walked off himself. He made his way back to the cart with the others.

I turned to look at the market around us and made a quick list of places I wanted to go in my head while tapping the chalk lightly on my forehead. 

Lutz grabbed my hand, seemingly to get my attention. "Hey, let's just go to each one. We could get lucky." He smiled confidently again while puffing his chest out a bit. 

"No, no. We'd be here all day if we did that. Just the places that have the stuff you know will survive the trip." I chided him a bit and looked around. I wasn't exactly sure about this myself, I'd need him. The only thing I was sure about was the one store I saw with the high potions in their window seal. 

Lutz waited and watched me. He then tracks where my eyes are looking. "You want to go there? What are those bottles you are looking at?" He raised an eyebrow while turning to me. 

"Those are high potions. I think at the price they have them, Benno can probably afford  a few. " I wasn't exactly lying, though I did want to get there quicker. 

Lutz' eyes lit up at this and he smiled brightly. "I have never even heard of a high potion, though I suppose that should be sorta obvious with low potions being a thing." Lutz then held my hand a bit tighter and started pulling me toward the store. 

I had to walk a bit faster than I was used to, to keep up with him. Though the walk was not long, so I didn't get winded. 

Tuuli kept up with us and seemed to get stars in her eyes when she saw some of the fabric in the window of the store we were going to enter. She also looked at me with a concerned glance when she realized I was a bit uncomfortable. 

I re-adjusted my speed to something I was a bit more comfortable with when Lutz slowed down near the window of the store, looking through the window I saw two people inside, one looked like a pretty husky man with a mustache, and brown hair with a blonde streak through it. He was wearing a fur lined vest with a blue shirt. The other person was a lady with brown hair and a formal looking blue dress. 

I was the first to go inside the store, though I caught the toe of my shoe on the foot-mat and tripped, falling face first into the wooden floor. 

Lutz was fast to run to me and help me up, lifting me to my knees by my shoulder and looking at me with a worried expression. "Myne! Are you alright?.." His voice trailed off as he looked at my face. His eyes went wide. 

I felt a little tear form in the corner of my eye and I brought my hand to my cheek instinctively. I rubbed it and winced. I had fallen on the left side of my face, luckily not slamming my nose. Though I could feel as my heart rate increased and blood rushed to my left cheek as it swelled up. 

It wasn't much longer after Lutz has rushed to me that Tuuli was kneeling next to me while pulling out a rag to clean my cheek, which she immediately began tending to. 

At this point the man who was standing in the room had walked over to us. He seemed to have a bit of a worried look on his face while staring down at me. "Young miss, I am terribly sorry. I will make sure to get that mat nailed down after this. Though would you like some ice for that?" He was quick to make sure to assure me this wouldn't happen here again. 

I nodded softly while looking at him and wincing as Tuuli cleaned my cheek off. 

The man then walked to the lady at the counter and asked for something I didn't hear before coming back, holding a small glass with a few cubes of ice inside a few moments later. He handed them to Tuuli, seeing that she was treating me. 

Tuuli took the ice cube out of the glass and wrapped her rag around it. She then softly pressed it to my cheek, handing it off to me before finally being satisfied to stand up and step away. She turned to the man. "Thank you sir, my sister has been bedridden for most of her life, so she can bruise easily." She quickly explained my situation. 

The man smiled, and then nodded. "It was my fault, I should have gotten that mat nailed down early. Thank you for not making a fuss about it." He then chuckled lightly and decided to introduce himself. 

I had stood at this point and took Lutz' hand again and gripped it with my free hand to assure him I was alright. Only then did he calm down. 

"My name is Mjöllmile, Gard Mjöllmile I am a merchant here in Blumund, It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance." He smiled brightly then looked to me, and seemed to raise his eyebrow a bit. "You have a very similar hair color to the leader of Tempest, you know?" He then laughed loudly and waved off the thought he must have been having.