01x04 - Forests and Clay Tablets

[bunniefuu]

M: {ED}

F: Main began crafting paper as the first step in her book-making process,

F: but her attempt to make pseudo-papyrus ended in failure.

F: "I'll go to the forest and make clay tablets in the spring."

F: Main now had her sights set on a new goal.

Title Card: Ascendance of a Bookworm

Title ,Title Card: Ascendance of a Bookworm

Ep Ep Title: Chapter Four Forests and Clay Tablets

T: Wow, what a feast!

G: Did you cook all of this, Main?

M: Yeah, since it was my turn to cook today.

M: Well, eat up before the food goes cold.

E: I don't know... I'd never seen anyone cook like that.

Flashback,E: What are you doing with the water we used to boil the veggies?

Flashback,M: Don't worry about it.

T: Let's eat.

GT: Delicious!

T: This pome soup is really great!

M: "Pome" being the unholy lovechild of paprika and tomato.

E: You're right. This is delicious.

M: In this world, it's standard practice to dump the water used to boil veggies.

M: Isn't it? The veggie flavors really pack a punch, right?

G: This wine-steamed chicken is great, too.

T: You must have a talent for cooking. The paruecake was just as good, too.

G: Maybe you could become a chef when you grow up.

E: We'll have to find a place that'll take her as apprentice.

conveyor-right,SignR: Apprentice Chef

conveyor-left,SignL: Making Books

M: Crap! I won't get to make my books!

M: I need to go to the forest and make clay tablets already!

conveyor-right,SignR: Apprentice Chef

M: B-But I already have a goal in mind!

G: And what is it, Main?

M: I want to go to the forest.

T: "Go to the forest," she says!

E: Main, we're talking about work right now.

M: I'm serious!

M: I wanna make clay tablets! That's why I need to go to the forest!

G: Clay tablets?

M: Yep! I'll write on them and make a book!

G: Write...

T: You, going to the forest? No way.

M: Yes way! I haven't fallen sick lately!

T: But you can't walk as far or as fast as the rest of us.

M: I'll be fine! I can go all the way to the well without being out of breath now!

T: And what if you're only able to walk part of the way?

T: You'll be a burden to everyone.

M: Well...

E: Tuuli goes to the forest all the time. She knows best.

E: You should listen to her.

M: What can I do to get your permission?

M: Build up your stamina and strength. No forest until then.

M: Got it.

M: With no means of going to the forest,

M: my desire for books could only simmer inside.

M: But then, one day...

M: Mister Otto's assistant? Who, me?!

G: He wants your help with files that need lots of calculations.

T: Can she even handle that job?

G: Yeah. She has worked with him once before, apparently.

G: He said she was a huge help.

T: She did?

G: But it's against the law to employ an unbaptized child,

G: so officially, you'll be going there to learn how to read and write.

M: What? Really?

G: Yeah.

G: He has to teach the apprentice soldiers, and he'll teach you with them.

G: You should learn everything you can from him.

G: You're a frail girl, Main.

G: But Otto said you were really smart,

G: and that you could make a good scrivener.

M: Scrivener?

G: Someone who helps people with paperwork to send to nobility or public officials.

G: The work pays well and isn't too demanding physically.

M: Dad!

G: Otto was in the traveling trade before he became a soldier,

G: and he still has connections with merchants.

G: The jobs your mother and I can refer you to wouldn't suit you.

G: So try to maintain a good relationship with Otto.

M: Thank you, Dad.

G: Oh, before I forget, these are the terms of employment.

G: You'll be paid in slate pencils and be allowed to take time off when sick.

G: Otto was stressing how favorable these terms were for him, budget-wise.

G: How can he be so petty with a kid?

M: He'll reap all the benefits of an assistant without burning a hole in the pocket.

M: Once a businessman, always a businessman.

G: Anyway, walk to the gate for a while,

G: and once you're able to keep up with the other kids, you may go to the forest.

G: Does that sound good to you?

M: Yep! I'll do my best!

G: Don't force yourself, okay? Take your time.

M: Yeah, I know.

M: Ultimately, Dad had to carry me to the gate from midway.

O: Let me introduce your new classmate.

O: This is Main, the chief's daughter.

O: Don't you boys dare mess with her.

All: Yes, sir!

O: Okay, let's begin.

O: The basic alphabet consists of letters.

O: Let's start with practicing how to write them.

O: You really do learn these letters quick.

M: I much prefer this to physical activities.

M: That aside, Mister Otto,

M: I think it's time to move on from the alphabet.

O: What? Already?

M: Look, they're starting to fidget.

M: It shows that they've lost focus.

M: You should switch to a different subject.

O: Oh, but...

M: That does it for the alphabet.

M: Next up is numbers.

M: That's all for today.

M: Be sure to memorize all the letters and numbers you've learned today by next time.

M: If you come unprepared, you won't be going home until you get everything down pat.

All: Okay!

M: They got out of here fast. Boys will be boys, I guess.

O: Main, they won't learn anything if I make it easy for them.

M: Oh, it's not that easy.

M: If they don't do their homework, they won't get to go home at all.

O: Yeah, but...

M: Mister Otto, you shouldn't compare them to me.

O: That's right.

O: Guess I'll do things your way for a while and see how it goes.

M: Thank you.

O: Now, it's your turn.

O: You should learn how the alphabet works in practice.

M: Yahoo! Letra!

M: So many new things to learn!

M: New words!

M: I meet up with Tuuli and g*ng on the way back from the forest and head home with them.

L: What are you even doing at the gate?

M: Paperwo... I mean, learning how to read and write.

L: What? You can write?!

M: Only my own name so far, but yeah.

L: You're awesome! You can write your own name!

M: You think?

L: There are so many letters, right?

M: In this world, just knowing how to write is a big deal.

L: Must've been hard to figure out how "Main" is spelled!

M: Of course Otto would want me for an assistant.

L: Do you know how to write "Lutz," too?

M: You guys... walk too fast.

L: You can take your time.

M: But...

L: Your father and Tuuli asked me to take care of you.

L: I'll walk you all the way home, so don't worry.

M: Thanks.

M: Why am I so tired when I've only come this far?

L: I'm here with you.

M: Lutz...

L: Hang in there.

M: 'Kay.

M: And so, my days of commuting to the gate began.

M: At first, I would go one day and spend the next three in bed,

M: but later, I could go three days and only take one day off.

M: And finally...

M: I went to the gate on five straight days this week!

M: Dad, may I go to the forest now?

G: Yeah.

M: Yay!

E: She's on cloud nine.

T: Well, she deserves it for her efforts.

F: Found some over here!

K: Same here!

K: What? Where?

K: You're right!

K: We found a lot!

M: I wanna go... to the forest...

E: You won't get any better if you don't sleep.

E: Let me tell you a bedtime story.

E: A long, long time ago, there lived some little stars in the sky.

E: Those little stars...

M: I remember this.

M: Mom told me this story soon after I became Main.

E: They liked coming down to the earth.

E: On land, they met all kinds of people.

M: When I finally got to go the forest, it was the end of the spring:

M: three months after I started commuting to the gate.

Eyecatch: Ascendance of a Bookworm

Eyecatch: Ascendance of a Bookworm

M: It's the forest!

L: We're gonna gather firewood. You rest up here.

M: Got it.

M: I finally made it.

clay,Sign: Clay Tablets

M: I can finally make clay tablets now!

M: Yahoo!

M: As if I'd come all this way to go home empty-handed.

M: Show yourself, clay soil!

M: Rock hard!

M: I'm not giving up!

M: I'm not finding anything.

L: What do you think you're doing, Main?!

L: Did you forget the promise you made your father?

Flashback,G: The only goal today is to make it to the forest and back.

Flashback,G: When you get there, rest up and aim to come back with the others.

Flashback,G: Got that?

Flashback,M: Yeah!

Flashback,M: My goal for today will be to go to the forest, rest up, and come home.

M: I-I know, but uh...

L: Bringing that thing means you never had any intention of keeping your word, did you?

M: You see, I finally got to the come to the forest, so I just...

L: You just?

M: ...planned this.

L: So you lied, then?

L: Mister Gunther said that out of concern for your health!

L: But look at you.

L: I never knew you could be so untrustworthy.

M: Sorry...

L: So what were you trying to do, anyway?

M: When I told Lutz I wanted clay soil,

M: he took me to a spot with very little vegetation or drainage.

M: Why are you helping me out?

L: You made me those paruecakes when I was starving, remember?

L: I made up my mind to help you then.

M: That's it?

L: Yeah. I said I'd be there for you, didn't I?

L: But you need to tell me what you're trying to do.

L: Just trust me.

M: Okay. Thanks.

L: Here. Is this what you wanted?

M: Yeah, this is it!

M: Amazing, Lutz. This would've taken me days.

L: No boy could ever be weaker than you.

L: So, what will you do with all this?

M: Make a book.

L: A book?

M: Watch this.

L: Are these letters?

M: That's right.

M: When you write things down,

M: you can turn moments—words, thoughts,

M: and events that you'd forget— into permanent ones,

M: and read them over all you want.

L: Huh...

L: A book is something that's full of writing like that.

L: Books, huh...

M: Yeah.

M: With books, you can learn what people in the past were thinking,

M: and experience so much more than you normally could in an average lifespan.

M: Aren't books amazing?

L: Well, I gotta get back to firewood.

M: Okay. Thank you so much, Lutz.

L: Sure!

M: I did it.

M: Long live Mesopotamia!

M: I made more than I thought. Wonder if they've dried yet.

K: Hurry up!

F: Hold up!

F: Whoa, what are these?

M: Oh, they're...

F: Hup!

K: Me, too!

M: No...

M: Stop!

F: What's wrong, Main?

M: My clay tablets...

M: Fey and him ruined them.

F: What? Those were important?

K: Hey, something's up with her.

M: Do you have any idea what it took me to get here?

M: I went to the gate so many times, had Lutz and Tuuli help me...

M: And yet... How could you do this, Fey?!

F: I'm sorry. I didn't know.

M: I'll never forgive you!

L: Calm down, Main.

T: You know they didn't do it on purpose.

L: I can see why you're upset.

L: You worked so hard to get here.

L: Main...

L: Let's dig up the soil and make these again.

All: O-Okay...

All: Do the rest tomorrow and finish it off.

M: Yeah...

M: However, I was bedridden with another fever,

M: and it continued to rain for a few days straight.

F: Th-The rain did this, all right?

M: I know that.

F: If you have the time to cry, you have the time to give it another try.

M: Yeah.

M: The rest of them went to gather firewood,

M: but Lutz stayed behind to help the whole way.

L: Say, Main, is this what you wanna do in life?

M: Well, what I really want is to live a life surrounded by books.

L: Surrounded by this stuff?

M: Wrong.

M: Real books are too expensive to buy, so I'm using these as a substitute.

M: What do you want to do in life, Lutz?

L: Me?

M: Yeah. I'm sure you have a goal in mind, too.

L: I...

L: I...

L: I want to travel to other cities.

M: Other cities?

L: I wanna become a traveling trader and see the world for myself.

M: A journey sounds good.

L: What? Do you really think so?

L: It'd mean leaving the city, y'know?

M: Yeah. It sounds fun.

M: You see, my dream at one point was to visit libraries across the world.

L: Libraries?

M: Yeah. Places with lots of books.

M: That dream can never come true now, though.

L: Whatever it is, I'm sure you'll do what you want to.

M: You should just do that, too.

M: All done.

M: It's a book.

M: At first, I thought I wasn't meant to live in a world without books.

M: But... I've found things I hold dear here, too.

M: Now if I have my books, I'll be fine.

M: I feel like I've finally found a path of life for myself in this world.

T: Main, what did you write?

T: It's the story about the little stars.

T: The story Mom told me on the first night.

F: The first night?

M: Yeah. The earliest story I can remember.

M: Unable to accept that I was now Main,

M: I found Mom's affection all too oppressive.

M: Even then, when I decided to make a book,

M: this story was the first thing to came to mind.

M: I wanna turn all of Mom's stories into books so I never forget.

M: That way, I'll be able to read them whenever I want.

M: I feel like this is the first time I've been able to smile genuinely as Main.

M: Now if I bake and harden them, they'll be done!

white,Sign: {\fad( , )}Clay Tablets expl*si*n

E: Main?!

M: No!

Next_Chapter,Title: Next Chapter Baptisms and Strange Fevers

M: Clay tablets were a dead end, too, but that's not enough to make me give up!

T: What will you do next?

M: Next? Next...

M: O-Oh, right. Next up is your baptism.

F: If we're speaking of baptism, it's my time to shine.

M: Sorry, Head Priest. No screen time for you.

T: Main! You shouldn't talk to weird strangers!