Ascendance of a Bookworm

Johann took down my order for the tools to make the wax stencils, and we agreed on the deadline. It seemed like Wilma’s art for the next picture book would be ready before the tools. This time the book will be set on the coming of spring, centering around Goddess of Water Flutrane and her twelve attendant goddesses

“Lutz, since the tools will take some time, should we start our plans for the next picture book?”

Wilma was already working on the art even before we finished making the coloured ink, so we had made the stencils for drawings in black and white. In other words, we had planned to just produce books in black and white.

Black and white paintings could be completed with simple stencils, so we didn’t have to wait for the tools to be made. Though our paper supply was a little low since we just resumed production in spring, we could purchase the rest from Benno’s plant paper workshops.

“Now that we have a printing press, I can use it to—”

“Hold your horses, please remember what the High Priest said. You aren’t allowed to use the press, just focus on cutting out the stencils.” Lutz wasn’t going to let me have my way. I gave in with a sigh and went back to cutting.

It was such a shame that I couldn’t do any work after going the mile to make the metal letter pieces and the printing press.

“There are other stuff you could do instead of insisting on using the printing press that you were told not to use, right? You need to tell Fran and High Priest that the coloured ink is done, as well as Wilma so that she can prepare the art needed for your next book. She will need time to think about what to draw so that it will accommodate to the new print.”

“I guess so. I haven’t found the time to have a proper discussion with Wilma because she’s been too preoccupied with Dirk. I should try to meet her tomorrow afternoon at the orphanage.”

While Lutz and I continued chatting, I noticed a mother piggybacking her child which made me recall something. I dug through my basket and took out a little pouch with two wooden cups that had some stones inside. Dad helped to carve the cups and I made sure the stones were well cleaned.

“Lutz, do you mind putting the stones inside these cups before sealing them?”

“…Alright, but can I ask what for?” Lutz looked utterly bamboozled that I had handed him something he had never seen before. The two cups looked the same, with the stones inside, they would serve as rattles.

“These are toys for babies, one’s for Kamil and the other for Dirk. Whenever you shake them, they’ll make a rattling sound.”

“Oh, I know what you’re talking about, but the ones I know look different.”

“I want to colour them so that they’ll look prettier, but putting ink on something a baby might put in their mouth doesn’t sound safe.”

Young babies like Kamil and Dirk still couldn’t see colours well, so I thought of dying the rattles to a bright red. But I didn’t feel comfortable letting a baby have something with ink on it. Though I could try using edible ink, there was still the issue of bacteria in the ink.

“I don’t think the rattles will last that long anyways. We could try using the ink made from edible stuff. The ink serves no other use other than printing, might as well use them after all that effort. And we aren’t going to use them anytime soon.”

“Alright then. Could you help me with them then, Lutz?”

“No problem, I’ll return them to you in the afternoon.”

We separated at the door to the workshop and returned to my chambers. I was greeted by Rosina who was waiting for me with her harspiel.

“Good morning, Sister Myne.”

I responded to her enthusiastic greeting with a bewildered smile. I spoke to Delia who was playing with Dirk.

“Delia, may I have some of your time? I would like to change my clothes.”

“As you wish. Dirk, stay still, alright? I’ll be back as soon as possible.”

It took Delia everything to tear herself away from Dirk, after which she quickly helped me with my clothes. She slipped on my blue shrine maiden clothes faster than she ever did, and ran back to Dirk after tying on my sash.

“I have returned, Dirk,” Delia spoke to Dirk with a gentle and fawning look that I had never seen on her before. She was totally obsessed with Dirk.

…What am I seeing? She’s never smiled like that before.

Delia was already a beauty, so her smile absolutely blew me away. Seeing her eyes filled with so much adoration for Dirk made me a little jealous.

“Sister Myne, I think Dirk’s ready to roll over by himself soon. He’s truly my little boy, he’s great at everything he does.”

Delia plopped onto the ground next to Dirk, she patted his head as he did his best to roll over. She was totally absorbed with his role as his sister. It hasn’t been ten days since Dirk’s arrival at the temple, but it already felt like they were blood siblings.

“Sister Myne, Delia will look after Dirk, we should start our harspiel lesson.”

With Rosina’s words, I took up my harspiel that was smaller and began practice. I was in the midst of a piece I was learning for the last few days when the door opened. The orphanage was done with breakfast and the children were in the workshop so Wilma came over to pick up Dirk.

“Good morning, Sister Myne. I am here to pick up Dirk.”

“Good morning Wilma. Thank you for doing all this. Since you are here, I should tell you that I will be at the orphanage this afternoon to update you on the picture books.” 𝐟re𝐞w𝐞𝒃𝓃𝒐𝐯𝚎𝒍.c૦𝚖

Wilma responded to my arrangements with a nod of her head before turning to talk to Delia about Dirk. She asked her about his night and how much goat milk he had so that she would know how much milk to prepare for his next meal.

“The situation is looking gloomy without any gray shrine maidens with experience with child-rearing. If we don’t figure out what to do with babies offered to the temple, the orphanage will lose its purpose.

The orphanage did not have any gray shrine maidens who could look after the newborns. Knowing how these children came about, it would be better off not letting these gray shrine maidens getting pregnant. The High Priest needed to know about the situation in the orphanage. It would be too demanding to let my attendants look after all the future babies in the orphanage.

“I feel so lonely whenever Dirk isn’t around,” Delia mourned as she unwilling handed Dirk over to Wilma.

Delia’s face always turned sour whenever Dirk was carried away to the orphanage. Though this made her gloomy and depressed, Rosina, on the other hand, would look relieved. Their reactions were completely different.

After my haspiel practice, the third bell had struck, Fran and I made our way to the High Priest’s room to help him with his duties until lunch. After lunch, Fran and Rosina returned to their rooms to rest. Their complexions had improved with the daily afternoon naps, but I could still see that they were exhausted.

“Take plenty of rest, the both of you.”

“Pardon our absence.”

Without Fran and Rosina, Delia was the only attendant on duty. She was done with the cleaning and was in the midst of practicing some arithmetic. I took the time to carve out some stencils while waiting for Lutz. He must have finished his lunch quick because it didn’t take long for him to return from the Gilberta Company with the completed baby toys.

“Hey, Myne. The toys are done.”

“Sweet! Thanks.”

The deep red rattles made a crackling-like sound when Lutz shook them. I couldn’t wait to give them to the babies and see their reactions. I didn’t think Kamil would be able to appreciate the toys yet because of his age, so I wanted to see Dirk’s reaction first.

“I told Mister Benno that we would like to purchase some paper from him. He said that they’ll be ready when we start printing.”

“You’re so efficient, Lutz.”

“No way, I still have lots to work on. Mark keeps nagging that I spend too much time and energy on everything I do.” 𝑓re𝘦𝔀𝗲𝘣𝘯𝘰νℯ𝒍.c𝗼ｍ

Mark seemed to be an outstanding mentor, thought Lutz kept putting himself down by saying that he couldn’t hold a candle to Mark, Benno or Leon, he was doing exceptionally well for someone his age.

“Myne, remember to get the stencils Wilma made. While you’re busy with that, I’ll make sure the workshop gets all its tools ready for printing”

“Don’t worry, I got this.”

Lutz and I parted ways again. I packed one of the rattles into my basket and carried the other with me as I made my way down to the first floor hall to find Damuel.

“Sir Damuel, I need to head down to the orphanage.”

“As you wish, Sister Myne,” he responded. I took quick strides towards Damuel who was holding the door for me, but I stopped dead in my tracks when he turned around with a furious look.