Ascendance of a Bookworm Chapter 55 - Lutz’s Tutor

Chapter 55: Lutz’s Tutor

As we work on our hairpin handicrafts, soone knocks on our front door. Tuuli and I exchange glances, then she gets up to see what’s going on.

“Yes, who is it?”

“It’s , Lutz. I’ve brought so pins with .”

“Alright, let open up for you.”

Tuuli unlocks the door, and it creaks open, letting in a gust of fresh, freezing air. Lutz walks in, snow still clinging to him.

“Whoaaa, it looks cold out there,” I say.

“Is it snowing hard?” asks Tuuli.

“The road to the well was completely covered, but it isn’t that bad out right now,” says Lutz.

As we talk, all the snow falls off of him, landing where he stands, just inside the entranceway.

“Here, so pins. Each of my brothers made three of them, so there’s nine here.”

He sets the pin parts of our hairpins out on the table. As he lines them up in a row, Tuuli stands up and goes to fetch the decorations that we’ve finished so far.

“Ah, so, how about we finish putting together the hairpins we can?” says my mother. “If we do that, though, we’re missing a few pins, you know?”

It looks like while I was out sick, she and my mother managed to finish quite a few decorations. I glance at the decorations she lines up on the table, and pose a question to Lutz.

“We’ve finished twelve decorations. You’ve brought nine pins with you. How many pins are we short by?”

“Oh? Umm… three.”

“That’s right! Good job. You’ve been studying hard!” Glancing down, I notice that he has a bag in one hand, carrying his slate and his calculator. “Mommy, Tuuli, can I leave you to work on the hairpins? I’m going to go help Lutz study.”

Tuuli blinks incredulously, tilting her head to one side. “I heard that you go do calculations at the gates, but do you really know how to teach it?”

“Um, yeah, I think I can teach basic reading and math.”

I pout, sullenly, at how little faith my sister seems to have in . Lutz, though, beams broadly.

“Ma?ne’s really amazing at reading and math! Well, she’s also really amazingly weak, too.”

You could have stopped after the first sentence, Lutz.

Even though I shoot him a nasty glare, my mother and Tuuli got a good laugh out of it, so it doesn’t make a difference.

Lutz starts pulling out his slate and so slate pencils from his bag, so I run to the bedroom to go get my own things. From the wooden box by my bed, I pull out my soot pencils and the little mo book that I managed to assemble from the usable parts of our slightly-failed paper prototypes.

I’ve been thinking that I could work on my book-making project under the pretense of helping Lutz study. Ordinarily, when my mother and Tuuli are working diligently on their handicrafts, it feels really awkward to sit next to them and play around with this by myself. If I’m doing it while teaching Lutz, though, then the both of us are writing on things, so I don’t think it would look too out of place.

Now then, let’s get back to working on this book!

Since I’ve worked on this whenever I’ve been able to find bits of free ti, I’ve gotten just a little bit of work done on writing down my mother’s bedti stories, but it’s still not fleshed-out enough for to really be able to call this little mo pad a proper book.

With my mo book, soot pencils, slate, and slate pencils held in my arms, I cheerfully start heading back to the kitchen. Before I get there, though, I hear my mother speak.

“Lutz, don’t Karla and the rest of your family not like the idea of you becoming a rchant? Are you sure you’re okay with that?”

The sudden, serious question makes stop dead in my tracks, my breath caught in my throat. Taking care to silence my footsteps, I slowly continue back into the kitchen.

Tuuli, seated next to my mother, is rigid and unmoving. Across from her sits Lutz, looking back at her with a stiff expression. As I sit down next to Lutz, my mother looks between the two of us, sighing, then opens her mouth to speak.

“I was wondering, you know, if Ma?ne was the reason you’ve been saying that you want to be a rchant. You’re such a kind boy, so I thought that perhaps Ma?ne said that she wanted to be one, and you’re following along to look after her.”

“No way!” he imdiately objects. “I said I wanted to be a rchant, and Ma?ne got an introduction. She’s the one getting dragged along, not .”

Lutz was thinking that he wanted to beco a trader, then he listened to what Otto had to say, learned about what citizenship ant, and decided he wanted to be a rchant instead. I honestly didn’t have much to do with that decision-making process at all.

My mother nods slightly, quietly staring at him. “I see. You’re the one who wants to be a rchant. But, if Ma?ne goes to the sa apprenticeship as you do, then you’ll continue to look after her like you’re doing now, won’t you? If you’re spending ti on her, then you’re not going to do a very good job at your actual job as an apprentice. You’re going to do sloppy work if you’re preoccupied with her all the ti.”

I think my mother’s warning hit Lutz right in the heart. Sitting next to him, I can tell that this unexpected revelation has caused his breath to catch in his throat. Her warning struck close to ho for , too. She’s not at all wrong.

While I worriedly grind my teeth, Lutz lifts his head determinedly to look at my mother.

“…I want to beco a rchant, no matter what. Since I have Ma?ne here with , I think that’s actually possible. So, while I do want to be as much help to her as I can, it’s not like I’m trying to beco a rchant for her sake.”

That’s right, Lutz has his own dreams, and being a rchant would put him in a much better place to let him do what he wants to do than being a craftsman would. Talking with Benno and Mark has only made him more sure of this. He may be doing everything with , but there’s no way he’s becoming a rchant solely for my sake. This is the fastest way for him to get where he wants to go.

“Then, if Ma?ne can’t be there with you―say, if she’s too weak and has to quit her job―would you still continue trying to be a rchant?”

Lutz clenches his fists together tightly on top of the table, looking steadily into my mother’s eyes. “Yes,” he says, nodding slowly. “Of course I would. My mom and dad are telling to stop and just be a craftsman, but I’m not going to give up now that I’ve made so much progress. Even if Ma?ne tells to stop now, I’m still going to do it.”

“I see,” she replies. “…Well, that’s good then! All I’ve heard is what Karla’s been telling , so I’ve been a bit concerned. Thanks for talking with about this, Lutz.”

To Karla, it probably looks like I’m making Lutz follow along behind . That isn’t entirely false, given how visible my condition is, but it seems like she barely even half-listens to what Lutz says and is punishing him for the warped view of his goals that she thinks he has.

And then, even though she told him to stop, he refused…

I actually kind of want to know just what it was that Karla said to my mother, but I have a feeling she wouldn’t tell if I asked. I’m pretty sure she’d just say that if I wanted to know so badly, I should go ask her myself.

“Mrs. Eva,” asks Lutz, “I have sothing I’d like to ask you too.”

“What is it?” she replies, tilting her head to one side. I can tell from the way she is looking quietly back at Lutz that she intends to answer seriously.

Lutz breaths a little sigh of relief before opening his mouth. “Why aren’t you fighting against Ma?ne becoming a rchant? My mom and dad keep saying that rchants are people that everybody hates, so why let Ma?ne be one?”

Well, rchants are people who always take their commission fees and pinch their profit margins, so I guess it’s understandable for a craftsman to think badly of the profession, but… isn’t saying that literally everybody hates rchants a little too harsh?

As if she heard my thoughts, my mother smiles wryly at , then frowns slightly, looking troubled.

“I think everyone has different ideas about what rchants are like, so I can’t say anything about an entire profession like that. But, to answer your question… I think the reason I’m not objecting is that Ma?ne’s always been very weak, you know?”

“Huh? It’s because she’s weak?” he replies, tilting his head uncomprehendingly to the side.

My mother smiles a little. “To be honest, I wasn’t sure if there was a job Ma?ne could do. I couldn’t imagine that anyone would be able to find a use for her. So, if she’s found herself a useful job where she can do the things that she’s good at, and she’s working as hard as she can to do it, how could I possibly object to that?”

My throat tightens a little when I hear those words. The motherly love she feels for makes my eyes grow hot.

“Oh, okay. …I’m trying my hardest too, but they still won’t accept , though…”

Hearing the bitter words he spits out, I reach out to put my hand on top of his.

“It would be good if they would, wouldn’t it?”

“Yeah.”

“So, let’s make that happen. Which starts with studying!”

“Yeah, you’re right!”

Lutz smiles, and the mood imdiately lightens. As the serious-talk atmosphere dissipates, Tuuli, who had been stock still the entire ti, lets out a huge sigh of relief as she relaxes. She gets her sewing kit out and starts working on attaching decorations to pins. As I watch all this through the corner of my eye, I tap my finger on Lutz’s slate.

“Now, let’s start by reviewing your basic letters. Try writing them out, let’s see if you rember them all.”

“Got it.”

After giving Lutz his challenge, I resu my book-making project, writing down the stories my mother told in my mo book. The soot pencils I’m using are much darker than a regular pencil would be, but they don’t cost any money to use, unlike ink.

As I work, I occasionally glance over at Lutz’s slate to see how he’s doing. When I do, I see him writing out each letter without hesitation.

Lutz’s studying is almost going too well. When we start our apprenticeships together at Benno’s shop, his ti to simply study is going to be dramatically reduced. Since he knows that this is going to be the most disadvantageous situation he could be in, he’s devouring information like he was starving.

Since his family’s displeasure at the idea that he might beco a rchant is straining the atmosphere at his ho so much, Lutz has been considering, in the worst case, leaving ho entirely. For that reason, it’s really obvious that he’s in a hurry to cram every bit of information into his head as he can.

“Nice, you’ve got all the basic letters morized, and you’ve written them out so neatly! That’s amazing, Lutz!”

“I’m just following your lead,” he replies.

Writing clean, legible letters is no easy feat without having practiced countless, countless tis. Lutz isn’t like , with my experience from my past life. Now that I think about that, I really do have to admire his raw perseverance.

“Since you’ve got your letters down, next let’s work on morizing so words. Let’s practice by writing out ordering forms, which I think is going to be the most useful.”

On my own slate, I try writing out a form for ordering lumber. Since this is sothing I wrote up countless tis while making paper, I can get it down with ease. When I finish that, I also write down the nas of Benno’s workshop and craftsman associates that I learned in the process.

“This is the na of the lumber rchant. This is where you put the na of the person making the order. When we were doing this, Mister Benno was doing the purchasing and then delivering it to us, so we’d put his na here. These are the kinds of lumber…”

Lutz watches closely, trying his hardest to keep his transcriptions in pace with my writing.

“When spring cos around, do you want to try filling out the order forms for our paper-making supplies, Lutz?”

“Uh?!”

“Let’s practice a lot so that you can.”

“…Yeah!”

Having a concrete goal like that seems to have fired up his determination even more, as he starts earnestly practicing writing these forms, making sure not to misspell any words. I watch him work for a little while, then open my mo book back up and resu writing down my mother’s fairy tales. It’ll still take quite so ti for to finish copying down all of these bedti stories.

“How about we practice math next?”

Having finally finished one story, I lean back and stretch my arms wide, calling out to Lutz. He looks up from his slate, where he’s practiced his vocabulary countless tis by now, then nods at , setting aside his slate and pulling his calculator from his bag.

“So, how about this for today?”

I start writing out math problems on my slate. Today, it’s addition and subtraction in three digits. After I get eight questions down, I look over and watch him as he uses his calculator. Unlike before, he’s barely hesitating at all as he flicks beads around on the device.

“Wow, you’re getting fast at that,” I say.

“I morized how to do the ones-digit calculations like you said, and that’s made this way easier to do.”

“Yeah. You’re getting faster at that than I am…”

The calculations that I’m teaching Lutz are simple enough that I can just do them in my head, so I haven’t really gotten any faster at using a calculator at all. As always, it’s much faster for to just do the math on paper than it is for to use a calculator.

It’s because I keep lending him my calculator so he can practice.

That’s the excuse I try telling myself. I don’t have a lot of ti to work with it, so of course I’m not going to get any faster. If I were to actually have a calculator on hand all the ti, though, it would… still be up for debate whether or not I’d actually practice as seriously with it as Lutz does.

“Your addition and subtraction is looking pretty good for now. When the number of digits starts growing, you’ll use the calculator the sa way.”

“Things start getting ssy when there numbers get big, though,” he says, scratching at his cheek.

He’s been using a calculator for just about a month, though, so this is fantastic progress.

“I don’t know how to do multiplication or division on this either,” I say, “so I guess we’re stuck there.”

Since I don’t know how to do it on the calculator, for now, the only way I can teach multiplication and division is through the tis table. The numbers here doesn’t flow off the tongue like they do in Japanese, so I’ll need to adapt how we’ll be reading the tis table out loud. It won’t be as easy to say, but as long as he can give a quick answer when given a pair of numbers, that won’t be a problem.

He’s also gotten good at reading large numbers and can accurately convert between currency denominations. With his absorption powers, if he tries hard during his initial training, I think he’ll be able to do just fine.

…Now, what the heck do I do?

What my mother said earlier is stuck very firmly in my mind. “If you’re spending ti on her, then you’re not going to do a very good job at your actual job as an apprentice. You’re going to do sloppy work if you’re preoccupied with her all the ti.”

I am going to be nothing but a hindrance to Lutz when he’s trying to do his job. I have no strength, have no stamina, and am fundantally useless. I guess I’ve got so use when it cos to product developnt, but since I don’t have any of this world’s common knowledge, without Lutz beside to help understand the situation, I’d wind up in a lot of trouble.

Now that I think about it, I made Benno worry, too.

I recall how he had asked if I, with my condition, could actually work. I hum to myself thoughtfully as I ponder the answer. Here in the dead of winter, I have nothing but ti to worry about this, so I absolutely have to think about this properly.

Can I actually work without being a hindrance to Lutz… or to the other employees at the shop? I wonder, what should I do?

***

The next day, I still didn’t have a good answer, so I continue thinking about it as I idly work with my crocheting needles.

As I work, my father calls out to . “Ma?ne, if you’re feeling up to it, do you want to go to the gates? The snowstorm’s let up for today.”

“Sure, I’ll go!”

I stand up with a clatter, imdiately rushing to get ready to head out. I put my slate and slate pencils in my bag, then put on as many layers of clothing as I can so that I can brave the cold outdoors.

Otto is at the gates. He’ll have a rchant’s perspective and he’s a relatively uninvolved third party, so I’m certain he’ll be able to give his unvarnished opinion if I ask him.

I’ll try asking him for advice about whether or not it’s actually alright for to beco an apprentice at Benno’s shop.