F: Having learned that treating the Devouring requires a lot of money,
F: Main sells some of her knowledge from her old world to Benno.
F: But while discussing business with him,
F: she suddenly collapses and falls unconscious.
Mk: Master, I got in touch with the guild master.
B: Let's go, Lutz!
L: Yeah!
F: Main's social circle comes together in a bid to save her.
Title Card: Ascendance of a Bookworm
Title Card: Ascendance of a Bookworm
Ep Ep Title: Chapter Eleven Life-or-Death Choices and Family Meetings
M: Not again.
M: Stupid fever.
M: Stay away!
M: I haven't finished any books yet!
M: Huh? What's that ball?
M: It's sucking up the fever.
M: Whatever! Take it all away!
M: Huh?
M: Where am I?
M: Such a nice bed...
M: What's this thing?
F: Have you come to?
M: Freida!
M: Is this your place, then?
F: Yes. How do you feel?
M: The fever's gone, and I feel a lot better than usual.
F: Figures.
F: It's broken, after all.
F: You must've overloaded it with your fever.
M: Freida, what is this?
F: A magical item.
M: A what?
F: It absorbed your fever for you.
M: This bracelet did?
F: It was barely holding together,
F: and absorbing the fever must've made it fall apart.
M: Did I only survive because of this thing?
F: That's right.
F: Remember what I said last time we met?
F: The Devouring can't be cured, but it can be controlled.
M: Oh, this is what you meant.
M: I'm really gonna be okay now, huh?
F: Listen carefully, Main.
F: All this magical item did
F: was take away some water from a cup that was about to overflow.
F: The cup's not exactly empty yet,
F: and it'll only fill faster as you grow.
M: What? You mean...
F: It'll start overflowing again soon enough.
M: How soon is "soon enough"?
M: Answer me, Freida.
F: A year, at most.
M: Only a year?
M: Where can I get these magical items?
M: How'd you get this bracelet, then?
F: Magical items are the exclusive property of nobility.
F: The only ones we can get our hands on are the ones considered faulty or useless.
F: And Grandfather already went around buying those up for me.
F: You won't find any, no matter where you look.
M: What?
F: Even if you do find one, it won't be long before you'll need another.
F: Those of us with the Devouring can't live without these items.
F: There's only one way to survive.
F: Entering into an agreement with a noble.
M: An agreement?
F: Yes. In return for having them buy you magical items,
F: you will agree to work exclusively for them...
F: Just as I have.
F: I've agreed to become a noble's concubine after my coming-of-age ceremony.
M: C-C-Concubine?
M: You mean, like, you'll be his m-mistress?
F: Yes.
F: Grandfather does frequent business with nobles as the guild master.
F: Many offered to take me to form a bond with him or gain his backing,
F: and he made a deal with the person who made the best offer.
M: I'm amazed you could accept that.
F: It's the only way for a commoner with the Devouring to survive.
M: What if I want no part of that?
F: That means choosing to die.
F: So, Main, think long and hard before you decide.
F: Will you live life chained to a noble
F: or perish by your family's side?
M: Thank you so much for giving up one of your precious magical items for my sake.
GM: Excuse me?
GM: Benno told me that you would pay for it.
GM: He asked me to lend a magical item if it came down to it.
M: Is that so?
M: I understand. I'll pay.
GM: It'll be three small gold coins.
M: Three small golds?!
GM: You can't afford it?
M: No, I can. I was just surprised by the price.
F: You can pay up, Main?!
M: Is it a problem if I can?
GM: A huge one.
GM: The agreement was that I could register you as my apprentice if you couldn't.
M: What?
F: Looks like we missed out.
M: Thank god my past self sold the AIO Shampoo improvements for three small golds!
M: Good job, me!
All: Main!
M: Dad, Mom, Tuuli!
M: A while later, my family and Lutz came to check up on me.
M: It seems Freida had let them know.
T: I'm so glad you woke up!
L: How do you feel?
E: I felt my heart stop when Lutz said you'd collapsed.
M: Sorry I worried you.
M: But I'm fine now.
G: That's good. Can you come home, then?
F: We'll watch over her tonight.
F: She's not completely stable yet.
G: But...
F: I can tell because I have the same illness.
E: We're sorry for the trouble, but please take care of her.
L: I'll go let Master Benno know.
E: Sure. Thanks for everything, Lutz.
E: We can rest easy if she's in that young lady's care.
T: Freida had the Devouring too, huh?
G: Devouring?
T: Yep. That's what Main's illness is called.
T: She told me about it recently.
E: I've never even heard of it.
G: Who cares what it's called?
G: I'm just glad she's cured.
M: Just one more year...
M: After they left,
M: Freida and I decided to indulge in some girly playtime.
F: This is Liese, our cook.
I: So, what are we making?
M: Er...
M: Do you have sugar?
I: We do. And also flour, eggs, and butter.
M: Then we can make pound cake.
Bo: Pound cake?
M: It's as easy as making a mix of even quantities of the ingredients and baking it.
M: Whipping the eggs and sugar is the most important part.
F: I'd like to try.
M: Next, you mix in the sifted flour.
F: Main, switch.
F: Making sweets is harder than I thought.
M: After that, you put in the melted butter...
M: and b*at it all together...
M: Please switch, Miss Liese.
I: You two are too frail.
M: Perfect. It's baked all the way through.
M: This is bliss!
F: Main!
M: Uh?
M: I somehow shook off Freida and Liese's passionate gazes,
M: and girly playtime moved on to Part II.
M: Amazing!
F: Grandfather copied the bath he'd seen in a noble's mansion.
F: He said I should get used to it before entering high society.
M: He sure dotes on you.
F: It's just an investment for the future.
M: Deep down, you don't want to leave your family, do you?
F: When I'm a concubine, I'll get to run my own store in the nobles' district.
F: I'll get to run a business after I'd given up on it due to the Devouring.
F: I can't wait!
M: Freida, you're strong.
M: And then I washed Freida's hair with the AIO Shampoo I'd asked Tuuli to bring.
F: You're good at this, Main.
M: Tuuli... My sister and I wash each other's hair often.
F: Incredible! My hair feels so silky!
M: Consider it thanks for the magical item.
M: We were supposed to have a nice, long chat while in bed,
M: but thanks to the bath,
M: the two of us fell asleep immediately.
M: Freida gets baptized tomorrow.
GM: How marvelous!
GM: You look like an angelic messenger,
GM: or perhaps the Goddess of Sprouts, bringing spring with her!
M: Huh? Why?
Jutte: Miss Main, do you feel sick?
M: Oh, no.
M: It's just, looking at Freida suddenly made me want to see my family.
G: Main, I'm sure you missed me.
G: I sure missed you!
E: You're going to put her off.
M: I missed you a little.
G: I see. You missed me, huh?
F: Since you're here, Grandfather would like to invite you to join us for dinner.
M: I wanna eat your cooking, Mom. It's been a few days.
T: Man, I wanted to eat some rich people food!
M: Sorry, Tuuli.
G: Well, Eva's cooking is the best in the world!
T: There he goes.
Bo: Dad's singing Mom's praises again!
M: That's when it hit me.
M: At some point, this had become my home.
Eyecatch: Ascendance of a Bookworm
Eyecatch: Ascendance of a Bookworm
L: Master Benno was really worried while you were over at the guild master's place.
L: He thought they might try to steal you.
M: I fought them off, but...
L: But?
M: Not saying, because I'll get yelled at.
L: You can tell me!
M: No. Never.
L: Wait, Main.
L: Wh-What?
M: I was just thinking how grateful I am to have you.
L: Is that so?
M: My second winter in this world had arrived.
B: Three small golds?!
B: That old fart! He told me it was two!
M: So that's why.
M: They were shocked when I paid up.
B: Really? As long as you pulled one over on them.
M: Thank you for everything.
M: By the way, Mister Benno...
M: I have a question.
B: You made a snack using sugar?!
M: Is sugar that rare?
B: It's only recently that we started getting imports of it.
B: It's considerably popular among the nobles.
B: So they got their hands on the whole recipe.
B: You gave away a product nobles would love for free.
B: Those people are hyenas!
B: Why would you poke your head out of hiding?!
M: I'm sorry...
Mk: I'm glad you're better now.
M: I'm sorry I made you worry.
B: Just one more year, huh?
L: I refuse to believe it.
L: Main's always made the impossible possible.
L: I know she'll find a way again.
M: Business is thriving, huh, Mister Benno?
B: Winter is the busiest time for us.
B: You'd be surprised at how willing people are to splurge on things
B: that'll keep them occupied while they're snowed in.
M: Thinking of quick, casual games,
M: there's card games, karuta, shogi, and reversi, I guess?
M: Can I make them by next winter?
Flashback,F: A year, at most.
Flashback,F: Will you live life chained to a noble
Flashback,F: or perish by your family's side?
M: Time passed mercilessly by as I couldn't bring myself to tell my family the truth.
M: Before long, my outfit for the baptism ceremony was finished.
G: I'm home.
M: Welcome back, Dad!
M: How do I look? Ready to take my baptism by storm?
G: Wow, Main!
G: I bet people will mistake you for a high-class girl!
M: We reworked Tuuli's ceremony outfit.
E: I just did what Main said.
E: Now she looks like some kind of rich girl.
M: Why? Because I'm that damn cute?
E: Please. It's because I'm that damn good.
G: Main's baptism, eh?
G: It was unthinkable back when she was tiny and feverish all the time.
G: How you've grown, my little girl.
M: Dad...
E: Seriously.
T: And her illness is cured, too.
G: What's wrong, Main?
M: Dad, Mom, Tuuli.
M: We need to talk.
M: It's about my illness.
G: What are you talking about? Wasn't your illness cured?
M: The Devouring is incurable.
M: I just borrowed a magical item from Freida and suppressed its fever temporarily.
G: Magical... item?
M: Yeah.
M: Apparently, you have to keep using magical items to control the Devouring's fever.
T: Main did say before that treating it takes a lot of money.
G: Is that true?
E: How much was it, Main?
M: Don't worry about it. I already paid.
E: No keeping anything from us. Spit it out.
M: Three small golds.
E: Three small gold coins?!
E: How'd you have so much money?!
M: I sold my paper and the formula for the AIO Shampoo to Mister Benno.
G: What's done is done. Forget that.
G: I want to know what's in store for us.
G: You said you only suppressed the fever temporarily.
G: Does that mean it'll come back for sure?
G: That's why you didn't bring it up, right? You were trying to avoid the question.
M: How could you tell?
G: Of course I can. I'm your father.
M: I'll only last another year at most.
T: No, Main! You can't die!
T: Never!
M: Tuuli... I don't wanna die, either.
M: I don't wanna die!
G: Is there anything we can do other than using those magical items?
M: There is, but I'd have to go off to the nobles' district.
E: But then, you wouldn't...
M: I probably wouldn't ever see you again.
T: No! You can't go!
M: Yeah, I don't wanna live a life without you all.
M: I'd sooner die.
M: Dad.
M: Mom.
M: Tuuli.
M: Can I stay right here with my family?
T: You'll always be with us.
G: Of course.
M: Thank you!
Next_Chapter ,Title: Next Chapter Baptisms and Divine Paradises
B: What about your apprenticeship with me?
M: Gah! I'd forgotten all about that!
M: I'm sorry!
B: Good grief.
B: Just how thoughtless can... one... lass... be!
M: Ow!
M: That hurts, Mister Benno!
B: You'd better come up with a solution by next episode!
M: I get it, so let me go already!
01x11 - Life-or-Death Choices and Family Meetings
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Anime series based on a light novel and manga series written by Miya Kazuki and illustrated by Yō Shiina.
Anime series based on a light novel and manga series written by Miya Kazuki and illustrated by Yō Shiina.