Ascendance of a Bookworm (Light Novel), Part 1 Volume 1

by Miya Kazuki

“Complain all you want. A little pain is a lot better than getting hit by a truck and dying, yeah?” “That’s true. I wouldn’t want to die from anything but an avalanche of books.”

live her entire life surrounded by books. If possible, she wanted to spend her whole life inside a book storeroom, where there’s no sun to damage the pages but just enough airflow to keep things comfortable.

withdrawal symptoms were beginning to show. It wouldn’t be long before I started screaming “Books, give me boooks! Waaah!” while sobbing and flailing.

“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.”

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

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

...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.

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.

temple. It sounds like religion is enforced here, which sucks. I’ll try to avoid that place as much as possible.

the literacy rate that low? Or does writing itself not exist in this world?

There were ten distinct symbols for what

am I going down the child prodigy path here? At age ten I’ll be God’s gift to mankind and at age fifteen I’ll be a genius, but once I hit twenty I’ll just be a normal person. Oh well.

“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.

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.

Tuuli would be more forgiving than Mom was, but her strong sense of responsibility prevented her from letting me go outside without as warm an outfit as possible to keep me safe.

frequent trips to the forest with other kids and all the chores Mom gave her to do around the city. I lacked both stamina and speed. All I had was the weight of my clothes.

Seriously though, it’s really hard to walk on cobblestone. It was bumpy and I’d fall right over if I didn’t watch my feet. I

“Thank you, Mr. Otto! I’m so glad you’re going to teach me letters!” As I beamed a broad smile, Dad looked between me and Otto with a fairly pathetic look on his face, but I pretended not to notice. I was very excited to learn letters and

You would think learning something from a book would be enough to just do it, right? But think hard about that, and you’ll realize that things really aren’t that simple.

to actually make papyrus itself.

Does it need sticky plant starch like washi does? Or maybe there’s some special way to put them together. I thought back to the history book I had read and tried

Men fix the tools they use at work, I suppose? If we intend to make new tools or furniture, we need to gather the materials ahead of time.” “So it’s like work we do over the winter while stuck inside?”

In sharp contrast to my depression over being unable to avoid seeing pigs get butchered, Tuuli was wearing a bright, full smile as she pushed the cart. “There’s lots of fun stuff about

for the first time in a long while I remembered that air could taste good.

only I had a manual.

She would unplug the TV from the wall to save on the electricity bill, and yet fall asleep with it still on. She’d cut off the water when brushing her teeth to save on water, but leave it on when washing dishes. In other words, my mom taught me the importance of self-satisfaction.

It’s not like I’m that happy about being good at making baskets. I just want books. I watched Tuuli’s basket weaving and gave her advice while glancing at my failed faux-papyrus. If papyrus

Once the snow melts and spring comes, I’m making clay tablets!

You can only pick parues before noon.” Tuuli handed the drained parue to Dad and picked up

“Tadaaa! (Simple Okara Pancakes)!“ I held the plate and puffed out my chest with pride, “eheh”-ing once again.