01x11 - Life-or-Death Choices and Family Meetings

[bunniefuu]

F: Having learned that treating the Devouring requires a lot of money,

F: Main sells some of her knowledge from her old world to Benno.

F: But while discussing business with him,

F: she suddenly collapses and falls unconscious.

Mk: Master, I got in touch with the guild master.

B: Let's go, Lutz!

L: Yeah!

F: Main's social circle comes together in a bid to save her.

Title Card: Ascendance of a Bookworm

Title Card: Ascendance of a Bookworm

Ep Ep Title: Chapter Eleven Life-or-Death Choices and Family Meetings

M: Not again.

M: Stupid fever.

M: Stay away!

M: I haven't finished any books yet!

M: Huh? What's that ball?

M: It's sucking up the fever.

M: Whatever! Take it all away!

M: Huh?

M: Where am I?

M: Such a nice bed...

M: What's this thing?

F: Have you come to?

M: Freida!

M: Is this your place, then?

F: Yes. How do you feel?

M: The fever's gone, and I feel a lot better than usual.

F: Figures.

F: It's broken, after all.

F: You must've overloaded it with your fever.

M: Freida, what is this?

F: A magical item.

M: A what?

F: It absorbed your fever for you.

M: This bracelet did?

F: It was barely holding together,

F: and absorbing the fever must've made it fall apart.

M: Did I only survive because of this thing?

F: That's right.

F: Remember what I said last time we met?

F: The Devouring can't be cured, but it can be controlled.

M: Oh, this is what you meant.

M: I'm really gonna be okay now, huh?

F: Listen carefully, Main.

F: All this magical item did

F: was take away some water from a cup that was about to overflow.

F: The cup's not exactly empty yet,

F: and it'll only fill faster as you grow.

M: What? You mean...

F: It'll start overflowing again soon enough.

M: How soon is "soon enough"?

M: Answer me, Freida.

F: A year, at most.

M: Only a year?

M: Where can I get these magical items?

M: How'd you get this bracelet, then?

F: Magical items are the exclusive property of nobility.

F: The only ones we can get our hands on are the ones considered faulty or useless.

F: And Grandfather already went around buying those up for me.

F: You won't find any, no matter where you look.

M: What?

F: Even if you do find one, it won't be long before you'll need another.

F: Those of us with the Devouring can't live without these items.

F: There's only one way to survive.

F: Entering into an agreement with a noble.

M: An agreement?

F: Yes. In return for having them buy you magical items,

F: you will agree to work exclusively for them...

F: Just as I have.

F: I've agreed to become a noble's concubine after my coming-of-age ceremony.

M: C-C-Concubine?

M: You mean, like, you'll be his m-mistress?

F: Yes.

F: Grandfather does frequent business with nobles as the guild master.

F: Many offered to take me to form a bond with him or gain his backing,

F: and he made a deal with the person who made the best offer.

M: I'm amazed you could accept that.

F: It's the only way for a commoner with the Devouring to survive.

M: What if I want no part of that?

F: That means choosing to die.

F: So, Main, think long and hard before you decide.

F: Will you live life chained to a noble

F: or perish by your family's side?

M: Thank you so much for giving up one of your precious magical items for my sake.

GM: Excuse me?

GM: Benno told me that you would pay for it.

GM: He asked me to lend a magical item if it came down to it.

M: Is that so?

M: I understand. I'll pay.

GM: It'll be three small gold coins.

M: Three small golds?!

GM: You can't afford it?

M: No, I can. I was just surprised by the price.

F: You can pay up, Main?!

M: Is it a problem if I can?

GM: A huge one.

GM: The agreement was that I could register you as my apprentice if you couldn't.

M: What?

F: Looks like we missed out.

M: Thank god my past self sold the AIO Shampoo improvements for three small golds!

M: Good job, me!

All: Main!

M: Dad, Mom, Tuuli!

M: A while later, my family and Lutz came to check up on me.

M: It seems Freida had let them know.

T: I'm so glad you woke up!

L: How do you feel?

E: I felt my heart stop when Lutz said you'd collapsed.

M: Sorry I worried you.

M: But I'm fine now.

G: That's good. Can you come home, then?

F: We'll watch over her tonight.

F: She's not completely stable yet.

G: But...

F: I can tell because I have the same illness.

E: We're sorry for the trouble, but please take care of her.

L: I'll go let Master Benno know.

E: Sure. Thanks for everything, Lutz.

E: We can rest easy if she's in that young lady's care.

T: Freida had the Devouring too, huh?

G: Devouring?

T: Yep. That's what Main's illness is called.

T: She told me about it recently.

E: I've never even heard of it.

G: Who cares what it's called?

G: I'm just glad she's cured.

M: Just one more year...

M: After they left,

M: Freida and I decided to indulge in some girly playtime.

F: This is Liese, our cook.

I: So, what are we making?

M: Er...

M: Do you have sugar?

I: We do. And also flour, eggs, and butter.

M: Then we can make pound cake.

Bo: Pound cake?

M: It's as easy as making a mix of even quantities of the ingredients and baking it.

M: Whipping the eggs and sugar is the most important part.

F: I'd like to try.

M: Next, you mix in the sifted flour.

F: Main, switch.

F: Making sweets is harder than I thought.

M: After that, you put in the melted butter...

M: and beat it all together...

M: Please switch, Miss Liese.

I: You two are too frail.

M: Perfect. It's baked all the way through.

M: This is bliss!

F: Main!

M: Uh?

M: I somehow shook off Freida and Liese's passionate gazes,

M: and girly playtime moved on to Part II.

M: Amazing!

F: Grandfather copied the bath he'd seen in a noble's mansion.

F: He said I should get used to it before entering high society.

M: He sure dotes on you.

F: It's just an investment for the future.

M: Deep down, you don't want to leave your family, do you?

F: When I'm a concubine, I'll get to run my own store in the nobles' district.

F: I'll get to run a business after I'd given up on it due to the Devouring.

F: I can't wait!

M: Freida, you're strong.

M: And then I washed Freida's hair with the AIO Shampoo I'd asked Tuuli to bring.

F: You're good at this, Main.

M: Tuuli... My sister and I wash each other's hair often.

F: Incredible! My hair feels so silky!

M: Consider it thanks for the magical item.

M: We were supposed to have a nice, long chat while in bed,

M: but thanks to the bath,

M: the two of us fell asleep immediately.

M: Freida gets baptized tomorrow.

GM: How marvelous!

GM: You look like an angelic messenger,

GM: or perhaps the Goddess of Sprouts, bringing spring with her!

M: Huh? Why?

Jutte: Miss Main, do you feel sick?

M: Oh, no.

M: It's just, looking at Freida suddenly made me want to see my family.

G: Main, I'm sure you missed me.

G: I sure missed you!

E: You're going to put her off.

M: I missed you a little.

G: I see. You missed me, huh?

F: Since you're here, Grandfather would like to invite you to join us for dinner.

M: I wanna eat your cooking, Mom. It's been a few days.

T: Man, I wanted to eat some rich people food!

M: Sorry, Tuuli.

G: Well, Eva's cooking is the best in the world!

T: There he goes.

Bo: Dad's singing Mom's praises again!

M: That's when it hit me.

M: At some point, this had become my home.

Eyecatch: Ascendance of a Bookworm

Eyecatch: Ascendance of a Bookworm

L: Master Benno was really worried while you were over at the guild master's place.

L: He thought they might try to steal you.

M: I fought them off, but...

L: But?

M: Not saying, because I'll get yelled at.

L: You can tell me!

M: No. Never.

L: Wait, Main.

L: Wh-What?

M: I was just thinking how grateful I am to have you.

L: Is that so?

M: My second winter in this world had arrived.

B: Three small golds?!

B: That old fart! He told me it was two!

M: So that's why.

M: They were shocked when I paid up.

B: Really? As long as you pulled one over on them.

M: Thank you for everything.

M: By the way, Mister Benno...

M: I have a question.

B: You made a snack using sugar?!

M: Is sugar that rare?

B: It's only recently that we started getting imports of it.

B: It's considerably popular among the nobles.

B: So they got their hands on the whole recipe.

B: You gave away a product nobles would love for free.

B: Those people are hyenas!

B: Why would you poke your head out of hiding?!

M: I'm sorry...

Mk: I'm glad you're better now.

M: I'm sorry I made you worry.

B: Just one more year, huh?

L: I refuse to believe it.

L: Main's always made the impossible possible.

L: I know she'll find a way again.

M: Business is thriving, huh, Mister Benno?

B: Winter is the busiest time for us.

B: You'd be surprised at how willing people are to splurge on things

B: that'll keep them occupied while they're snowed in.

M: Thinking of quick, casual games,

M: there's card games, karuta, shogi, and reversi, I guess?

M: Can I make them by next winter?

Flashback,F: A year, at most.

Flashback,F: Will you live life chained to a noble

Flashback,F: or perish by your family's side?

M: Time passed mercilessly by as I couldn't bring myself to tell my family the truth.

M: Before long, my outfit for the baptism ceremony was finished.

G: I'm home.

M: Welcome back, Dad!

M: How do I look? Ready to take my baptism by storm?

G: Wow, Main!

G: I bet people will mistake you for a high-class girl!

M: We reworked Tuuli's ceremony outfit.

E: I just did what Main said.

E: Now she looks like some kind of rich girl.

M: Why? Because I'm that damn cute?

E: Please. It's because I'm that damn good.

G: Main's baptism, eh?

G: It was unthinkable back when she was tiny and feverish all the time.

G: How you've grown, my little girl.

M: Dad...

E: Seriously.

T: And her illness is cured, too.

G: What's wrong, Main?

M: Dad, Mom, Tuuli.

M: We need to talk.

M: It's about my illness.

G: What are you talking about? Wasn't your illness cured?

M: The Devouring is incurable.

M: I just borrowed a magical item from Freida and suppressed its fever temporarily.

G: Magical... item?

M: Yeah.

M: Apparently, you have to keep using magical items to control the Devouring's fever.

T: Main did say before that treating it takes a lot of money.

G: Is that true?

E: How much was it, Main?

M: Don't worry about it. I already paid.

E: No keeping anything from us. Spit it out.

M: Three small golds.

E: Three small gold coins?!

E: How'd you have so much money?!

M: I sold my paper and the formula for the AIO Shampoo to Mister Benno.

G: What's done is done. Forget that.

G: I want to know what's in store for us.

G: You said you only suppressed the fever temporarily.

G: Does that mean it'll come back for sure?

G: That's why you didn't bring it up, right? You were trying to avoid the question.

M: How could you tell?

G: Of course I can. I'm your father.

M: I'll only last another year at most.

T: No, Main! You can't die!

T: Never!

M: Tuuli... I don't wanna die, either.

M: I don't wanna die!

G: Is there anything we can do other than using those magical items?

M: There is, but I'd have to go off to the nobles' district.

E: But then, you wouldn't...

M: I probably wouldn't ever see you again.

T: No! You can't go!

M: Yeah, I don't wanna live a life without you all.

M: I'd sooner die.

M: Dad.

M: Mom.

M: Tuuli.

M: Can I stay right here with my family?

T: You'll always be with us.

G: Of course.

M: Thank you!

Next_Chapter ,Title: Next Chapter Baptisms and Divine Paradises

B: What about your apprenticeship with me?

M: Gah! I'd forgotten all about that!

M: I'm sorry!

B: Good grief.

B: Just how thoughtless can... one... lass... be!

M: Ow!

M: That hurts, Mister Benno!

B: You'd better come up with a solution by next episode!

M: I get it, so let me go already!