Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 1.1 - Chapter 5

Lifestyle Overhaul 

If there aren’t any books, I’ll just have to make them myself. My mood brightened with optimism after I came to that conclusion. 

But unfortunately, there was no paper in my home. I had confirmed that while searching it for books. In short, I had to go buy paper, but I didn’t know where it was sold. And once again, there were unfortunately no convenience stores, department stores, supermarkets, or office supply stores in this city. 

So, where might paper be sold? Since the older man back at the pawn stand said that each book had to be copied by hand, it was possible that books with blank paper inside were sold somewhere. But where might that be? 

Maybe there was a store that only sold paper. If I were in Japan, I could bind sheets of loose-leaf paper, write in notebooks, staple together copier paper, or do any number of things to quickly make my own makeshift books, but things were not so easy in this world. There was simply no paper at all in my home, so to make books, I first had to begin a search for paper.

We arrived home from the market as those thoughts spun through my mind, and coincidentally, Tuuli had just gotten back from the forest. Apparently, she had gone to get firewood, nuts, mushrooms, and various herbs to use for seasoning the meat. 

“Hey, Tuuli. What’d you get? Lemme see, lemme see.” I peered into the basket containing Tuuli’s spoils and soon found one of the things I was looking for. She had gotten several of the avocado-like fruits I had found when searching the house earlier. I saw Mom crushing it for oil, so I knew for sure I’d be able to get fruit oil from it. “Wow! Can I have one of these?” 

Tuuli thought about my request for a second before saying, “You want a meryl? Okay, you can have a couple,” and giving me two of them. 

“Thank you, Tuuli!” I rubbed my cheek against the meryl while going into the storage room to grab a hammer. I can make shampoo with this! 

Excited, I brought the hammer down. Slam! The meryl exploded with a heavy squish, spraying juices all over both me and Tuuli, who had followed me to watch. 

“...Hey, Myne. Why’d you do that?” Tuuli, without even wiping the juices off her face, gave me a bright smile with cold eyes. 

I jerked a little in fear of her blatant anger. Uh oh, this isn’t good. Tuuli looks really, really mad. “U-Um, Tuuli. You see, ummm, well. I wanted oil, so...?” 

“That’s not how you get oil from fruit! What’s wrong with you?!” 

Geez... I can’t help that I don’t know the proper method. The Myne in my memories would always look away whenever Tuuli tried teaching her. Everything she’d said ended up so distorted I couldn’t understand it. Myne was apparently jealous to the point of frustration at Tuuli, who was healthy, energetic, and capable of doing everything she couldn’t. 

So many of Myne’s memories were buried in her thoughts of “no fair,” it made me kind of not like her. I mean, Tuuli’s such a nice older sister. She takes good care of me and teaches me what I did wrong even when she’s mad. 

I started to clean up the exploded meryl while Tuuli complained to me, but before I finished, Mom came back from the well and went red with anger after seeing what a mess the walls were. She doesn’t care about the floor no matter how dirty it gets, but she cares this much about the walls? I later learned that nobody really cared about dirt or soot, but fruit juice would eat into the wood of the walls and hurt them, which was a big deal. 

After I finished cleaning, I looked between the crushed meryl, Mom, and Tuuli. I wanted oil as soon as possible, but I wasn’t sure if I should ask Mom or Tuuli for help. When in doubt, go for whoever’s less angry. I stealthily whispered to Tuuli. “Tuuli, Tuuli. How do you get oil from the fruit? Will you teach me?” 

“Mom, can I teach Myne?” Despite my whispering, Tuuli just let out a loud sigh and called out to Mom. 

“Haaah. Who knows what she’ll do if you don’t teach her. Go ahead,” said Mom while pointing at the storage room. 

Really, I don’t think I can be blamed for messing up things I was never taught to do. If Myne’s memories were better, I wouldn’t make so many mistakes like this. 

I followed Tuuli into the storeroom so she could teach me. The tools for extracting oil were all in there. 

“The fruit’s juices and oil will seep into our table since it’s wood, so you can’t just crush it like that. You need to put this metal stand down first. Start by putting a cloth over it. Then wrap the fruit in the cloth. If you don’t, the oil will spray everywhere. But since most of a meryl can be eaten, we usually get oil from the core after eating the rest. I’ll teach you how to extract the oil after we get the seed out.” 

“I know why you only want to use the seed for oil, but I don’t know how much of it I’ll need. I can’t wait that long. I’ll get oil from the rest of the meryl too.” 

With that declaration made, I wrapped the meryl in the cloth as instructed and started hitting it with the hammer on top of the metal stand. The hammer was so heavy I could barely lift it, but after some hard work I felt the fruit gradually breaking apart. Wow... Am I maybe amazing? 

“Is this how it’s done? Eheheh.” I squeezed the cloth to get the oil out, twisting it with lots of enthusiasm. A dark stain spread throughout the cloth. But that was all. A single drop of oil dripped through, but there seemed to be exactly no chance of me getting as much oil as I needed. 

“Myne, that’s not good enough. Your aim is bad, you’re not hitting it hard, and your swinging posture is all wrong. You crushed the fruit, but the seed’s definitely not broken at all.” 

“Awww... Tuuuuulii...” I did my best, but it just wasn’t enough... I looked at Tuuli for help, and she took the hammer from me after sighing in exasperation. 

She tightened her grip around it and lifted it up high. Slam! Slam! With each heavy thud, the fruit and seed were crushed much faster and more thoroughly than when I hit them. “Dad can use juicing weights to get lots of oil without using a hammer, but they’re too heavy for us, so we have to break up the fruit bit by bit like this.” Apparently, growing boys became entrusted with work for adults once they became strong enough to use juicing weights. 

“Once the seed’s completely crushed, you just squeeze the cloth like this, and...” The cloth had only gotten damp for me, but once Tuuli started squeezing, oil dripped steadily out of it into the small bowl below. I felt my respect for Tuuli grow three sizes as I watched the oil build up. 

“Wooow! Tuuli, you’re amazing! Thank you!” 

“Remember to clean up once you’re done, Myne. Come on, clean up.” 

I mean... I don’t know what you mean by clean up, here. After seeing me kind of flounder in confusion, Tuuli shook her head and started showing me how. 

She really does like taking care of people, I thought to myself while putting the tools away. Once I was done cleaning up, I peered into the bowl of thick, white oil and inhaled deeply. The stronger the scent, the better it would be for shampoo. 

“Hey, Tuuli. Can I have some herbs too? Whatever smells the best.” 

“Just a little, okay?” 

“Okay!” With Tuuli’s permission, I took out some of the herbs from her basket and sniffed them one by one, picking the best ones and crushing them between my fingers over the bowl. If I could get their scent into the oil, the shampoo would probably end up smelling great. Once the smell carries over, add a little salt... 

I started to think about how best to make the shampoo when I noticed Tuuli suddenly take the bowl of oil and start carrying it over to where Mom was making dinner. 

“Tuuli! No, don’t! What’re you doing?!” I hurriedly snatched the bowl of oil away from her and squatted down, holding it close to my stomach protectively. 

Tuuli, seeing that, put a hand on her hips. She was clearly angry. “It’ll be ruined if we don’t eat it soon, right? The oil will taste nasty if too much of the herb smell gets in it.” 

“You can’t eat this!” I’m going to make shampoo with it, I won’t let anyone eat it! No matter what Tuuli said, I had no intention of giving up my one shot at making shampoo. I had suffered with dirty hair for too long. 

“Myne! Tuuli went out and gathered those herself! Don’t be selfish!” Mom got mad alongside Tuuli, but I had gotten her permission for both the meryl and the herbs, so they were mine. They weren’t hers anymore, they were mine. 

“I’m not being selfish! She gave them to me!” I shook my head and prepared to defend my oil to the death. My head was so itchy I couldn’t bear it any longer, and a way to make shampoo was right in front of me. Nothing would get between it and me. 

As if sensing that I wasn’t going to give it up no matter what, both of them sighed in exasperation and turned around. I inhaled deeply in relief at having protected my oil and mixed a pinch of salt into it. With that, the shampoo substitute I had made with my old mom when she got addicted to “natural living” was complete. 

“Mom, can I have some hot water?” I laid out a waterproof cloth, usually for use when bathing, and put the bowl of oil onto it before bringing a bucket to Mom. I had been asking for some of the hot water she made with dinner each day, so she nodded and filled the bucket, which I then put on top of the waterproof cloth as well. 

I reached out, ready to start washing, but stopped at the last moment. I wouldn’t be able to rinse my hair after rubbing the shampoo in like normal, since I only had one bucket. How should I do this? 

“Mmm, I guess I’ll just try diluting it first.” My only choice was to dilute the shampoo until leaving some of it in my hair wouldn’t be an issue. I haphazardly poured the completed faux-shampoo into the bucket and stirred it up. 

“Myne?! What’re you doing?!” 

“Er? Washing my hair?” 

Tuuli looked completely baffled. But given how I hadn’t seen any of them use shampoo once since I got here, I could assume that shampooing one’s hair wasn’t really a thing in this world, and thus she wouldn’t understand no matter what I said. Instead, I would just show her what I’m doing. Seeing is believing. 

I pulled my hairpin out, dipped my hair into the bucket, and began cleaning. I rubbed my hair within the water and repeatedly splashed water onto my head so that it would get all the way to the roots of my hair. 

Then, I began gently massaging my head. My hands were weak and my arms short, which made it difficult. But even so, I repeated the motions until I was satisfied before squeezing my hair and wiping my head with a flimsy cloth that was a towel in name only. 

After wiping my head several times to get as much shampoo off as possible, I ran a comb through my hair. My hair had gotten almost black with filth, but now it was closer to its original dark blue color. 

Wow, this is actually looking pretty good. I ran my fingers through my hair and sniffed. It smelled slightly of jasmine. My life recently had involved living in the midst of body odor reeking of sweat and mud. The mere act of smelling something other than my own stink made me a little happy. Mission success. 

“What? Huh? Myne, your hair’s all pretty and dark blue now. It’s like the night sky. And your eyes are like moons!” 

Hm... I guess my eyes are gold or yellow, then. Now knowing the color of my eyes, I looked at Tuuli’s blue ones and briefly thought about hereditary genetics before deciding it would be a fruitless waste of time. 

“Myne, what’s this?” 

“Mmm, it’s (simple all-in-one shampoo). Do you want to try it too? There’s enough for us both.” I noticed Tuuli’s curious gaze and gestured her over to the bucket. We both slept in the same bed and it’d be better if we were both clean. Plus, her pretty face was wasted underneath all that dirt. I wanted Tuuli to be clean and maybe this would encourage her to make more shampoo for us. 

“You’re the one who gathered the meryl and herbs, Tuuli, so don’t worry. You even squeezed out the oil for me.” 

Tuuli gave a bright smile at my urging and began undoing her braid. She must have been watching me the whole time, as she immediately dunked her hair in the bucket and began washing it just like I did. 

...Aaah, she’s missing a spot. I stuck a hand into the bucket and scooped up some hot water to put on a hard to reach part of Tuuli’s head. Clean, clean, get super cleaaan. 

“Tuuli, I think that’ll be enough.” I handed her the rag and she wiped her head repeatedly before running a comb through her hair, just like I had done. Her green hair had gotten super silky. It rippled down in natural waves that looked like they’d been styled, and the light made an angel's halo on the top of her head. Basically, her cuteness had multiplied in an instant. 

“Wow, your hair’s super pretty now. And you smell nice.” Mhm. Cute girls deserve to be nice and clean. 

Tuuli kept combing her hair as I nodded in satisfaction. We didn’t have enough for me to wash her hair every day, but maybe it was now my duty to wash her hair every few days and keep it clean. 

I started to clean everything up since we were both done, but Mom rushed forward, said “Stop right there,” and started using it herself. 

At this rate, I’m guessing Mom and Tuuli won’t mind me taking some meryls to make shampoo with. My goal is to keep my family clean. 

I fell asleep, satisfied at how not itchy my head felt.

Ever since coming here, the first thing I saw after waking up each day was a spider web. I had gotten myself clean, and next I wanted my surroundings to be clean. But despite getting all pumped up about cleaning my room, it was too much for me. The best I could do with my tiny, weak body was attempt to clean my own bed. 

Since Dad had taken the day off, I asked him to dry my blanket on the window. “Dad, once the blanket’s dry, can you clean that spider web up?” 

“The spider web? What’s the big deal...?” He was so used to spider webs that he didn’t even consider them dirty. 

After a bit of hard thought, I squeezed Dad’s pant leg a little. “I-It’s scary.” That wasn’t a lie. If I ever woke up to that spider hanging right above my face, I would scream so hard all those present would liken the sound to a miniature Vast Glub. Just thinking about it scared me. The sooner that dangerous web was gone, the better. 

“You’re afraid of spiders, Myne? Alright then. Let Daddy take care of it.” 

“Yaaay! Thanks, Dad. I’d be really happy if you cleaned around it, too.” 

“Yeah, yeah. You just want all the spooky spiders out, right? Leave it to me.” 

Okay, ceiling done. Dad brushing the ceiling down took down the one obstacle I really had no chance of dealing with myself, which meant that from now on I just had to do what I could where I could, bit by bit. 

“Mom, where’s the broom?” 

“Right here. Why? Did you spill something?” 

“I want to clean our room.” 

“Okay. If that’s what you want to do, feel free.” 

I gripped the broom and started sweeping it across the bedroom floor. Dust puffed into the air. As someone who grew up in a culture where nobody wore shoes inside, it was baffling to see a bedroom with a floor so dirty the filth was visible. 

I really wanted to sleep in a clean bedroom, no matter what it took. I kept sweeping the broom back and forth, pushing a growing mound of dust forward. The sweeping itself wasn’t a big issue, since our home barely had anything in it. 

Ngh... I really need to get stronger. Just sweeping a little was enough to make my head feel dizzy. I gave up on cleaning for the moment and took a break. At this rate, who could say how long it would take until I could live in a clean home? 

“Now now, Myne. Why clean the bedroom if you’re going to leave a pile of filth by the kitchen? You need to sweep it out the front... Myne, you look sick.” 

Mom peered into the bedroom after seeing the pile of filth I had swept into the kitchen and sighed. She then put me into bed and took the blanket out of the window to cover me with. “I appreciate the enthusiasm, but you need rest right now. If it’s just going to get dirty again, why worry about cleaning it now?” 

Mom... That’s exactly why I need to clean right now. I need to stop it from building up. But despite my determination, my body just couldn’t keep up. I was stuck lazily cleaning up what little I could each day. I rolled to my side in bed and touched my hair after it flowed down in front of my face. 

Well... Now that my hair’s clean, I need to focus on finding paper.