Ascendance of a Bookworm (本好きの下剋上 司書になるためには手段を選んでいられません)

After Fran,

Main then managed to win over the hostile Gil and Delia, too.

However, she would soon come to face much bigger problems at the cathedral.

Ascendance of a Bookworm

Ascendance of a Bookworm

Chapter Eighteen Orphanage Reforms

Well, Lady Main,

I'll take the alms of the gods to the orphanage.

Yes, please do.

Huh? Did Fran leave already?

We have all this bread left over.

The alms of the gods are running low now, aren't they?

You should take the bread to the orphanage.

I'll do just that!

Hey, Gil.

Can I ask you for a favor?

I just want to see what the orphanage is like.

I'll take you there.

I know a shortcut.

Huh... Everyone eats together in the girls' wing?

Yeah.

Food's handed out to gray robes, apprentices, and then unbaptized kids in order.

Here we are.

The basement?

Yeah. You'll find the unbaptized kids and gray-robed priestesses here.

Wait...

Are they locked inside?

What's with this awful stench?

Alms... of the gods?

N-No!

I-I'll close the door now!

Lady Main?!

I can't believe you foolishly took her to the basement, you foolish fool!

How was I supposed to know it'd turned into that?!

Lady Main, you're awake?

Thank goodness.

I... I'm sorry.

Lady Main, I'm sorry you had to see that.

That's the "orphanage"?

That awful mess?

It used to be better when I was there.

But then they got rid of gray-robed priestesses.

They did what?

Because of that, nobody was around to take care of the kids anymore.

And with the drop in blue-robed priests,

there weren't enough alms of the gods to go around,

and plenty of really young kids started dying off.

And that was a year ago, so it's probably even worse now.

Lady Main, help them out.

Please.

You mustn't get involved.

What?

Why not, Fran?

Life downtown and life in the church are very different.

You've already experienced that firsthand, and run into trouble because of it.

It's too risky to carelessly stick your nose into this.

Delia! You wanna help them too, don't you?

I want nothing to do with it. I don't want to remember life down there.

I just want to forget it all.

Anything but going back to the orphanage, please...

I'd rather die!

She must've gone through hardships I can't even imagine.

Please, Lady Main, help them out!

I get to eat all I want now, but they're still...

Forgive me, Gil.

Fran's right. It would be too risky for me to make a move.

There's basically nothing I can do here.

What?

Instead...

I'll ask the head priest to do anything he can to improve the orphanage's conditions.

Lady Main...

Fran, could you get me a meeting with the head priest?

Certainly.

I have to turn down your request.

There's no need for improvement.

But really young kids are starving and on the brink of death.

We don't have money to spend on unbaptized orphans.

Moreover, the church doesn't recognize unbaptized children as individuals.

Are you saying it doesn't matter if they die?

If they do, it is because the gods willed it.

What's the orphanage even for, then?

Is it not to raise children who don't have families?

It is not.

It is a place to raise servants for nobility, by the grace of nobility.

A well-trained gray-robed priest can fetch a pretty penny.

The way they think here is completely abnormal!

If you want to help the orphans, then do it yourself.

Is there anything I can do?

You can take on the unwanted role of orphanage director

and take personal responsibility for their well-being.

Can you handle that responsibility?

I can't.

Don't you have the money?

If you feed them well, you won't have to see them die.

If I use my studio's capital, yes.

But I don't have any personal funds left.

So you can't take responsibility for them or spend any money?

If you can't do anything, then keep your mouth shut.

This isn't a matter you should meddle with out of a halfhearted sense of morality.

Lady Main, would you like to stop by the library?

It might help you feel a little better.

You saw this coming, didn't you?

Well, it was part of my job to always know what the head priest was thinking.

Please forget about the orphanage.

How am I supposed to forget about it?

I can't even read like this.

How'd it go, Lady Main?

The head priest denied my request.

Why?!

Gil, control yourself.

This is why it's pointless to expect anything.

I'm sorry, Gil.

You too, Lady Main!

Fretting about it isn't going to help you do anything, so just forget it all!

If you can't do anything, then keep your mouth shut.

It's not like I can't do anything.

If I use the Main Studio's capital, I can improve the conditions here.

Can you handle that responsibility?

Lutz!

What's wrong, Main?

What happened, Fran?

You see...

Kids on the verge of dying? Yeah, that stings.

All I want is for them to have enough to eat...

If they have nothing to eat, why not just go forage in the forest?

Oh, right!

Unfortunately, orphans aren't allowed out of the cathedral.

But aren't you and Gil out and about?

They're my retainers, so they're an exception.

Then just make all the kids your retainers, too.

That way, they'll get to go outside, right?

Lutz, you're a genius!

Just have them pull their own weight and gather foodstuff from the forest.

He who does not work, neither shall he eat!

He who does not work, neither shall he eat!

But what about in winter?

And it'd suck if the orphanage went back to square one after I'm gone.

Uh, Lady Main, you shouldn't rush to decide everything right now.

Fran, am I allowed to send retainers out on errands?

You can, yes.

Then I can have them gather the wood I need to make paper.

You thinking Main Studio, Orphanage Branch?

Exactly!

If I turn the orphanage into a branch of my studio and have them earn their keep,

then none of the kids will have to starve even after I'm gone!