Ascendance of a Bookworm

The morning’s lectures were over. Having free time in the morning now, I wanted to go to the library, but it still wasn’t the day I had promised Solange. At times like this, I really disliked how things were done strictly by the ranking order at this noble academy. Even though I was so eager, I had to wait.

…Two more days feels so long! Someone, give me a book!

With a sigh, I called out to the first-year students and started making next year’s study guides with them. The idea of preparing in advance so that next year wouldn’t be so tough was something everyone agreed with.

“Please organize it carefully. Once completed, I will buy it from you.”

“Yes!”

The responses from the middle and lower nobles were good, but the upper nobles were just not into it.

“Because Lady Rosemine has requested it, I shall assist, but please do not think that I, an upper noble, enjoy doing things like saving up money on my own, as a lower noble would.”

…Oh? Earning money on your own is something only lower nobles do? And it’s not something you’d do willingly?

“I, even as the adopted daughter of a lord, earn my own living.”

“…Ah.”

“If I didn’t have that income, I wouldn’t have been able to hand out sweets in the children’s room or prepare multiple printed materials for it. You know how to spend money, but you don’t know the difficulty of earning it—you only spend your parents’ money, don’t you? Perhaps you should study money matters a bit more.”

“…I apologize.”

Though they apologized verbally, their eyes and expression said they believed they were not wrong. Is this the norm for upper nobles?

I looked at Wilfried.

“Brother Wilfried, do all upper nobles think like this?”

“…Yeah. Since they live off the income from their lands and the lord’s annual salary, they probably don’t think about earning money themselves. I was taught by Chief Attendant Oswald how to manage the budget allotted to me, but if I hadn’t had to manage the winter children’s room in place of Rosemine, I wouldn’t have realized that Rosemine actually earns money to increase the budget herself.”

Wilfried was astonished when he learned that even while he was asleep, the budget available to me was increasing because I was earning money. Until then, he had never considered the idea of increasing the budget.

“But upper nobles don’t do those shameful things like running around trying to earn money.”

“Are you familiar with Gibe Haldenzel, an upper noble who expanded the papermaking and printing industries in his territory and benefited from them?”

“Gibe Haldenzel!?”

My mother’s family is upper nobility. There was no way he wouldn’t know. The upper noble’s eyes widened in surprise, and I nodded slightly.

“Managing land means moving commoners, not oneself, to earn money. If you dismiss earning money outright, you cannot become a shrewd noble. You must learn to think of ways to earn money fitting for upper nobles.”

“Moving others, not oneself…?”

“Yes. For example, I don’t make the books myself. All the ink, picture books, karuta, playing cards, and pumps are made by workers in the workshop. But every time they make and sell something, I get money. So, even when I’m asleep, my budget increases, allowing me to have sweets made, buy information, or commission manuscript copies to get books for everyone.”

I plan to pay for information and manuscripts, but with the upper nobles’ mindset, it might be hard to gather information from them. Even worse, if manuscript copying and gathering information are labeled as shameful, fewer will cooperate.

If I want to get as many manuscripts as possible, I must somehow change their mindset or make them eager to actively earn money.

…I have to make upper nobles see the need to earn money.

Mulling over this, I threw myself into making the study guides. While working hard, the bell for the fourth period rang, and the upperclassmen returned.

…I want not just the first-years, but the upperclassmen too, to help with manuscript copying.