Ascendance of a Bookworm Part 1 Volume 3

Vested Interests

The next day came and it was time to peel the black bark to turn it into white bark, so we brought a pan, a tub, and a bucket with us. We peeled the bark with knives while occasionally holding our hands up to the fire and dipping them into hot water to warm up.

"You know, I really don't want to do this outside of summer. It's so cold my fingers are all tingly," I said.

"Yeah. Going into the river is real killer."

We complained to one another while continuing our work and getting white bark from all the trombe wood. I didn't see any moldy spots on the white bark, which made me sigh in relief.

"...Looks like it didn't get moldy. Whew."

"Didn't I tell you that? Maybe the volrin wood, but the trombe wood's definitely fine."

"Trombes sure are dangerous plants, aren't they?"

Once the bark was peeled, it was time to gather in the forest. There were some herbs that could only be foraged in this season, and I picked them up with Lutz while he taught me what to look for. Along the way, I noticed that Lutz was actively avoiding red fruits about the size of an adult's thumb. Maybe they were poisonous. I pointed at one, making sure not to touch it, and asked Lutz.

"Hey Lutz, why don't you pick up these red fruits? Are they poisonous?"

"Ah, yeah, you don't need to bother with tau fruit. They're basically just water inside. Can't eat'm and the water dries up eventually if you take them home. Nothing you can do with them right now."

The phrase "right now" implied they would be useful later, so I gave Lutz an inquisitive look. So he explained, "Once summer comes, they end up about as big as your fist. They'll explode if you throw them at someone, so we can have fun tossing'm at each other."

I concluded that they were nature's water balloons. They would just dry out at home and they wouldn't get bigger if not left on the ground. Weird.

"Kids and adults end up having big wars in town. I mean, you remember the Star Festival, right?"

I had lived in this world for over a year, but I didn't remember any festival like that. "Um, Lutz. I've never heard of the Star Festival. Has there always been a festival in the summer?"

"Last year you were close to dying when the festival came around. I went to your place so we could go together and your mom told me your fever wasn't going down at all. I went to get the bamboo after the festival was over," said Lutz, establishing that I had been on the verge of death back then. That had been the first time I fully understood that the Devouring heat was actually trying to swallow me up. I was unconscious for days in a row and ended up in bed for a while afterwards, so going to a festival was the last thing on my mind.

"Tuuli must have wanted to go and play too. Did I make her stay home to look after me?" It was possible that I had stolen away nice childhood memories from Tuuli. The thought of that made my shoulders droop, but Lutz just shrugged and shook his head.

"Nope, Effa was looking after you and let Tuuli go to the Star Festival. She and Ralph fought to see who could gather the most taus in the forest."

"Oh, okay. That's a relief."

"Hope you can go too this year, Myne."

I promised Lutz I would watch my health this year so I could go to the festival, and before long, we had finished our gathering. But well, promise or not, I didn't know if my parents would let me go to a festival that involved getting pelted with water.

Starting from the next day, we had to work in front of the storage building. The water was so cold that we had to repeatedly dip our hands into hot water while we worked, but nonetheless, we swished around volrin pulp in the contract paper-sized suketa. While the pulp dried over several days, we started making paper from the trombe bark.