Ascendance of a Bookworm

While feverish and delirious, I was thinking about how to plunge Fey and the others into terror.

I was so close!

Just a little more, and I would have gotten the book!

If I can’t go to the forest and am forbidden from bringing in clay, I’ll probably never get the book.

After all, inviting them to experience Japanese-style horror seems like the most traumatizing idea.

I have no idea what scares people in this world, but what if I let my hair down, dressed like Sadako, and kept on voicing grudges and curses, or counted clay tablets like in banchō sarayashiki… How’s that? Scary, right?

Just when I had thought it through, the morning I woke after the fever broke, my father, with a complicated expression, unexpectedly canceled the forest ban.

“...Tomorrow.”

“Hm?”

“Tomorrow, you can go to the forest.”

“Huh? I can go to the forest? Why?”

“...You seem dissatisfied.”

I was glad to be allowed to go, but my well-planned Japanese horror scheme was ruined.

I had even practiced murmuring grudges and thought of ghostly-looking clothes. I was about to focus on the stage and setting. Should it be near the well? Or appearing from an alley...?

“I’m not unhappy, but...”

“But what?”

“...Isn’t it a waste after all the planning I did?”

“Not at all! You’ll just discard that plan immediately!”

“Tch...”

Well, if I can go to the forest and finish the clay tablets, I don’t need a plan. It’s a waste to play around with Fey and the others, so once in the forest, the plan will automatically be thrown away.

Still, why did he suddenly change his mind?

“We’ll decide after checking your condition, so it will be tomorrow. That’s non-negotiable!”

“Okay.”

Of course, I wouldn’t recklessly go to the forest right after getting over a fever. I know better than anyone how fragile my body is.

I was told if my fever didn’t rise today, I could go to the forest tomorrow, so excitedly I started preparations.

I put some unknown boards from the storeroom into a basket as a base. Then I stuffed in a bunch of ragged cloth my mother saved for cleaning rags. I planned to wrap the clay tablets with these for protection.

Alright, clay tablets, I’m going to make tons of you!

I forced myself awake, but it was pouring rain.

And not just any rain—record-breaking downpour for this area, like a typhoon storm.

Even with the wooden shutters closed, I could hear the fierce wind and rain.

“Whaaa?! Rain!?”

In a world without weather forecasts, I hadn’t paid attention to the weather. More accurately, since I was often collapsed from fever, and my family wouldn’t let me out unless they judged it okay, I never cared about the weather.

Visions of clay tablets collapsing and crumbling in the rain raced through my mind. No matter how well hidden under bushes, they wouldn’t survive such a storm.

Nooo!

My clay tablets! They’re going to be a soggy mess!

“Wait, Myne! Where do you think you’re going!?”

“The forest!”

I tried to run outside, but my mother stopped me by grabbing me tight.

“You already get fevers so easily, and you want to go out in this storm? What are you thinking!? You can’t even get to the well right now!”

The storm’s pounding on the wooden shutters echoed through the house, showing how fierce it was.

Normal people wouldn’t dare go to the well in this weather, so there was no way I could go outside. I slumped to the floor, utterly defeated.

“My clay tablets... ugh...”

“Myne, it’s okay. Everyone said they’d help this time, so it’ll be much easier and faster than before.”

Tulli comforted me, stroking my head. She really was a wonderful big sister.

The rare heavy rain lasted two days, and the kids were only allowed to go to the forest two days later.

On a clear morning, everyone’s face shone brightly, excited to finally go to the forest.

Since there were no apprentice jobs today, more older kids came than usual. Lutz’s older brother Ralf was coming too, carrying a large basket and a bow.

“Hey, Myne. Fever down?”