Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 1.1 - Chapter 2

Exploring My Home 

Three days had passed since I became Myne. Those were three very intense days. I had survived several brutal battles I couldn’t talk about without crying. 

First of all, I snuck out of bed to try and look around the house for books, but Mom found me and forced me back into bed. She got super mad. I tried several times to escape but failed every time. Every single time. It got so bad that she’d put me back in bed every time she saw me unless I was using the bathroom! 

In the end, I didn’t get any chances to look for books. Not only that, but even though using the toilet was the only freedom offered to me, it too ended up as a terrible struggle. The “bathroom” in this place was a chamber pot in the corner of the bedroom. 

To make matters worse, Myne apparently couldn’t use the toilet on her own before now, so I had to relieve myself while a family member watched. No matter how much I screamed “I can do it on my own! Don’t watch!”, nobody budged. They got mad at me, asking what I’d do if I got pee everywhere. 

I ended up using the pot while crying, and believe it or not, Tuuli complimented me. “Wow, Myne! You’ve gotten really good at this. Soon you’ll be able to do it on your own,” she said. I could appreciate that she was happy for her little sister growing up, but my pride, dignity, and self-respect as a human being were in tatters. 

By the way, not only did my family use the bathroom in a chamber pot, they even dumped it right out the window. Unbelievable. 

Changing clothes was a fearsome struggle as well. I tried doing it on my own, but my dad, who I barely knew all things considered, took charge and changed my clothes for me. That was so embarrassing I actually started to cry, insisting I could do it on my own, but he just interpreted that as me throwing a tantrum. Absolutely unbelievable. 

Since my original dad had died when I was young, I didn’t really understand how to interact with a father. Although Myne’s memory told me I loved him, I could only see him as a mean-looking muscular guy. He was super strong thanks to working as a soldier, and all my resistance was crushed before his might. 

Three days of constantly losing to my family resulted in my young maidenly heart and sense of shame getting torn to shreds. 

I’m a young girl. My family has to take care of me. This is just how things have to be. ...If I don’t think like that, I’ll just die! I can’t take this any longer! This life is too much! Or so I screamed in my head, but there really was no helping my situation. Even if I ran away from home, a weak and sickly girl like me wouldn’t be able to do anything on her own. I’d just end up running through the streets in search of a shower, screaming in horror amid the waste raining from above, until I eventually died miserably of hunger. 

Although it may have sounded like I’d experienced nothing but failure here, that wasn’t the case. I had my own small victories. For example, after being unable to bear my own filth, I asked Tuuli to wipe my body over with a warm cloth each day and she accepted. I mean, if I'm going to get stripped anyway, why would I not have her wipe me clean? I'm past the point of shame here. 

I wonder if the people of this world have something against wiping each other’s bodies. Tuuli looked at me really weirdly each time she did it, but I felt great. The hot water in the bucket ended up filthy the first day, but lately it always ended up a lot more clear. That said, my head was still itchy. I knew we didn’t have any, but I wanted shampoo. 

There was something else I managed to get, too: a hair stick to keep my hair together! I asked for a wooden stick to keep my long, straight hair from getting everywhere, and Tuuli actually carved one out of a piece of wood for me. 

Well, the first thing I did was find Tuuli’s doll and ask if I could snap it’s leg off, which made her cry. I do feel bad about that. But to be fair, even though it was precious to her with pieces carved out of wood by Dad and clothes sewn by Mom, it just kinda looked like a cheap toy to me. I didn’t know it was so important at a glance. 

Anyway. I rolled my hair into a bun, but Tuuli told me that only adults wore all of their hair up like that, so I settled on a half-up hairstyle. This world’s culture sure is different. 

I was stuck humiliating myself every day, so the only thing left for me to do was get on my two feet and improve things however I could. To that end, I needed books. 

The first step to improving my life here would be getting books. With books, I wouldn’t mind spending my whole life in bed, and I could deal with the harsher aspects of life. I could, and I would. 

So, I decided to explore my home today through any means necessary. I hadn’t read any books in a long time and withdrawal symptoms were beginning to show. It wouldn't be long before I started screaming “Books, give me boooks! Waaah!” while sobbing and flailing. 

“Myne, are you asleep?” Tuuli opened the door and popped her head in. After seeing that I was still quietly lying in bed, she nodded to herself in satisfaction. 

Over the past three days, I had constantly snuck out of bed after waking up and tried looking for books, so both Mom and Tuuli — who had been taking care of me most of the time — were completely on guard. Tuuli in particular was desperate to keep me in bed while Mom was at work throughout the day, since she had been entrusted with babysitting me. My small body was incapable of beating Tuuli, no matter how hard I tried to run away. 

“One day, I’m gonna (ascend) out of here.” 

“What was that, Myne?” 

“...Mmm? I just said that I can’t wait to grow up.” 

Tuuli, naturally not noticing the true intent behind my sugar-coated words, gave a troubled smile. “You’ll get a lot bigger once your sickness goes away. You’re sick all the time, so you barely eat. Sometimes people think you’re three years old even though you’re already five.” 

“What about you, Tuuli?” 

“I’m six years old, but a lot of people think I’m seven or eight, so I think I’ll be okay.” 

We were born a year apart and there’s this much of a difference between us? Looks like my ascension might end up being a little harder than I thought. But I won’t give up. I’ll clean this place up, eat carefully, and get healthy in no time. 

“Mom went to work, so I’m going to go wash the dishes. Don’t get out of bed, okay? No matter what. You won’t get better if you don’t sleep, and if you don’t get better, you won’t grow.” 

I had been acting nice for the past day in order to loosen up Tuuli’s guard, quietly waiting in bed for the moment she left. 

“Okay, I’m going. Be good while I’m gone.” 

“Okaaaay.” I gave Tuuli the answer she wanted and she shut the bedroom door. 

Heh... Heh heh heh...! Now, hurry up and leave. 

I quietly waited for Tuuli to gather the dishes into a basket and take them outside. I didn’t know where she washed them, but I knew she generally went outside for thirty minutes when doing so. Our home didn’t have water, so I could extrapolate that there was a shared source of water outside somewhere. I heard the clink of the lock and then listened as Tuuli’s footsteps disappeared down the steps. 

Okaaay... It’s hunting time. Tuuli’s definitely old enough to have a few picture books around the place. I’ll find some books in no time once I start looking. Definitely. No way there’s a house without books in it. I probably won’t be able to actually read the book, but I’ll be able to imagine what’s going on from the pictures and guess what the words mean. 

Once Tuuli’s footsteps had completely vanished, I stealthily slipped out of bed. I winced a little after my feet touched the floor; it was covered in dirt and felt grimy. My family had made it filthy walking around with their dirty shoes, and although I dreaded walking on it with my bare feet, Tuuli had taken away my clog-like wooden shoes to prevent me from going anywhere. I had no choice. 

Well... Finding books is more important than keeping my feet clean, anyway. 

The bed which I had been locked in for days due to my unrelenting fever had a basket beside it filled with children’s toys made from wood and straw, but no books. “It would be a lot easier for me if they were just in here...” 

I could feel dirt rubbing against the bottom of my feet each time I walked. It was normal in this family to keep shoes on in the house, so I knew nothing would come from me complaining. I knew it, but I couldn’t help myself. 

“Would someone bring me a broom and rag, pleeease?” Naturally, no one responded to my call, and neither a broom nor rag magically appeared from nowhere. 

“Ngggh! Am I already in trouble?” To me, the biggest hurdle to exploring the house was the bedroom door. I could kind of reach the doorknob if I stretched really, really hard, but actually turning it was a lot harder than I expected. 

I looked around the room for something I could step on, and noticed the large box that contained my clothing. “Nmmn...!” I would have had no problem moving it back in my Urano days, but my hands were so small now that I couldn’t make it budge no matter how hard I pushed. I thought about turning the toy-filled basket upside down and standing on it since I was so small anyway, but I was still probably heavy enough that it’d end up crushed. 

“I need to grow up fast. There’s so many things I can’t do with this body.” 

I looked around the room and, after thinking about what I could move, settled on balling up my parents’ comforter to use as a stepping stool. I would hate putting my own comforter on this dirty floor, but as my parents were used to living in this filth, I was sure they wouldn’t mind me using theirs. Definitely. Um... I’m sorry, Mom. Dad. There’s nothing I won’t do if books are on the line, even if it means I’ll get yelled at later. 

“Oof.” I got on the balled-up comforter and somehow managed to turn the doorknob using all of my body weight. 

The door opened with a creak. toward me. 

“Bwuh?!” 

I had been pulling down on the handle with my body weight, and the door shot toward me. I hurriedly let go before it hit me in the head, but it was too late. I fell backwards and rolled down the balled-up comforter before hitting the floor with a loud thump. 

“Oooow...” I stood up, holding my head, and saw that at least the door had stayed open. This head pain is a means to a noble end. 

I slipped into the open crack and shoved the door all the way open, sliding my parents’ comforter across the floor. It looked like that part of the floor had suddenly gotten cleaner, but I pretended I hadn’t seen anything. I hadn’t intended to make the comforter that much dirtier. 

I’m... I’m really sorry. 

“Oh, it’s the kitchen.” I left the bedroom and saw that there was a kitchen right outside it. Well, it wasn’t exactly fancy enough to be called a kitchen. It was like a place you could choose to cook, but wouldn’t really want to. 

There was a smallish table in the center of the room with two three-legged chairs and a long box that likely also served as a seat. On the right was a cabinet with a handle, probably with dishes stored inside. The wall closest to the bedroom had nails in it with metal pots, ladles, and pans hanging off of them. There was a furnace near them that probably worked as a stove. A string connected two walls and had dirty rags hanging off of it — they looked so dirty they’d probably make whatever they touched even more unclean. 

“Yuuuck. I think I know why I’m sick all the time.” 

The corner opposite from the furnace had a large water jug and a sink-like water basin. As expected, there was no running water. To top things off, there was a large basket filled with potatoes, onions, and other food products. There were a lot of things I didn’t recognize, so it was possible that the potatoes weren’t actually potatoes at all. 

“Hm? This one is... kind of like an avocado. I wonder if I can get oil from it?” I looked through the food and found one fruit in particular that interested me. If I could extract oil from it, I might be able to do something about my itchy head. 

My mom from back in my Urano days had a habit of getting obsessed with one random thing after another. She could only be described as whimsical to a fault. She made whatever was in front of her at the time the focal point of her life: TV shows about saving money, magazine articles about living in nature, foreign activities in a cultural center, anything. She always dragged me along with her, saying she “wanted me to get interested in something other than books,” but I knew she only ever got involved with things that interested her. Having no other choice, I tagged along every time, and thanks to that I might’ve learned just enough to make shampoo on my own. 

...Thank you, Mom. I think I might just survive over here. Encouraged by my findings, I looked around the room and saw that there were two doors other than the bedroom door. 

“Eheh. Left or right door, which one’s the prize?” The kitchen didn’t look like it had a bookshelf anywhere. I saw that one of the two doors was cracked open, so I pulled it all the way. 

“Mmm, a storage room? Guess this isn’t it.” It was a room packed with stuff I didn’t really understand the purpose of. There were shelves with stuff on them, but it was a real mess and it didn’t seem like the kind of place that would have a bookshelf. 

I gave up on it and tried opening the other door. It made a clicking sound when I pulled on it, signaling that it was locked. Minutes of trying to open it yielded no results. The door would not open. 

“...Wait. Is this the door Tuuli left from? Wha? Is that all?” If this door led outside, then our home had no bathtub, no toilet, no running water, and no bookshelves. It had nothing. No matter how hard I looked, I couldn’t find any other rooms. 

...Um, God, do you hate me? Is this a cruel joke? I asked to be reborn so that I could keep reading books even after I died. I didn’t intend to be transported to another world with my Japanese memories and customs, forced to live in a home with no bathtub, no toilet, and no water. I thought for sure you’d take me to a world filled with books. 

“...Maybe books are expensive here?” According to my knowledge of history, books were extremely expensive until the invention of the printing press led to their mass production. Those not born into a rich or noble life would generally never read a single book in their lives. In which case, this wouldn’t be the kind of world where you give your neighbor’s kid a picture book as a birthday gift. 

“Ngh, fine. I’ll start looking for letters first instead.” I didn’t absolutely need books in order to study this world’s writing system. Posters, newspapers, manuals, calendars, and all sorts of things naturally had letters written on them. Or they did in Japan, at least.

“...Nothing. There’s no letters anywhere! Not a single one!” 

I had walked around the rooms searching every shelf and cabinet I could find, but not only had I not found any books, I didn’t even find anything with a single letter on it. I couldn’t find letters or paper. 

“What’s going on here?” My head started to hurt, as if a fever had burst up within me out of nowhere. My heart throbbed and I could feel it screaming out, valves tightening. I dropped to the ground like a doll with its strings cut. My eyes burned on the inside. 

Well, okay, I got crushed by books. No helping that. That was basically my dream of dying buried by books. Fine. And it was true that I myself had asked to be reincarnated. I understand all that. 

...But you know, there aren’t any books here. There aren’t even letters. Not even paper! Can I really live in a place like this? Do I have any reason to live? 

A tear dripped down my cheek. I had never even once thought about a world without books. Such a thing was unfathomable to me. And yet here I was. Unable to think of a single reason to live on in this world as Myne, I felt my insides go hollow. I couldn’t stop crying. 

“Myne! Why aren’t you in bed?! Don’t walk around without your shoes on!” Tuuli had gotten home at some point and, seeing me on the kitchen floor, shouted with her blue eyes open wide in anger. 

“...Tuuli, there aren’t any (books)?” 

“What’s wrong? Are you feeling okay?” 

“Tuuli, I want (books). I want to read (books). I want to read them so much, but there aren’t any (books).” 

Tuuli called out to me, worried, as tears dripped down my cheeks. But she was completely used to a world without books. She wouldn’t understand my pain no matter what I said to her. 

...Is there anyone out there who can understand me? Anyone who knows where I can go to get books? Someone, tell me. Please.