Ascendance of a Bookworm

Volume 6 Chapter 9: Rosina’s Coming of Age Ceremony

It was almost the middle of Winter. I was on the way back to my chambers after finishing today’s offering for the Dedication Ritual.

“Sister Myne, what will we be doing for the Coming of Age Ceremony?” Fran asked out of the blue. I looked at him in surprise as I did not understand what he meant by that.

“Coming of Age Ceremony? But I just got baptized.”

“It’s not yours Sister Myne but Rosina’s” Fran replied with a hand over his mouth as he tried to stifle his laughter. But what he said still surprised me that my mouth and eyes went wide open.

“Rosina’s… Coming of Age Ceremony?”

“Yes. Rosina will come of age at the end of winter”

“I-I did not know at all…” My disappointment in myself was imminent as I felt that I had failed my responsibility as a master - I did not know the most basic things about my own attendants.

“Gray shrine maidens typically receive clothes by the temple. Those from the orphanage will only get that but it is quite a common for attendants to receive another gift from their master.”

Fran explained how the Coming of Age Ceremony went for the orphanage. Those reached of age would clean themselves in the early morning, put on their new clothes gifted by the temple, before offering their prayers and thanks in the chapel. This all took place before the lower city’s Coming of Age Ceremony that started at the third bell. So that basically meant that the Baptism Ceremony and the Coming of Age Ceremony will finish when I practice my harspiel.”

“I-I haven’t got the chance to congratulate any of the children in the orphanage…”

Was it fine for the orphanage director to act this way?

I know I had been quite busy with temple, but that was not an acceptable excuse. My face paled as blood drained from it, but my reaction only received Fran’s laughing.

“As an apprentice shrine maiden, you are not allowed to partake in the temple ceremonies, so it’s not your fault that you did not know of this. Additionally, you were sick in bed during the summer’s Coming of Age Ceremony and the Baptism Ceremony in Fall. Currently, our schedule has jammed packed with winter preparations. It would stir up feelings of dissatisfaction amongst others if you only celebrated the ceremony for a some.”

Matters in the orphanage had to promote equality as much as possible, so Fran always cautioned others against things that might be seen as unfair. However, I still wanted to congratulate the orphans even if I did not have any gifts.

“Sister Myne, please give up the idea of presenting the orphans with any gifts,” Fran repeated sternly, “It will cause more trouble in the long run.”

I understood the point he was trying to make. If I did choose to present gifts to the orphans during my term as the orphanage director, my successor might not do the same. Furthermore, it had been confirmed that I would attend the Royal Academy when I turned ten, so my tenure was temporary. That was why Fran wanted me to consider how my actions would impact the temple in the long run.

“Please take note, Sister Myne, I only said that the blue robes priest and priestess have gifted their attendants because I know that you would try to do so regularly even without anyone telling you so. Preparing gifts is not a necessary action.”

I probably would not have realised this myself, yet Fran had taken the effort to tell me when Rosina was coming of age because he knew that I would want to give her a present. Of course, he got that right. I did not know which seasons my attendants were born in. I knew Rosina was about to come of age, but I did not know when exactly.

“Fran, thank you for telling me. I need some help thinking about what to give to Rosina, may I ask what did the High Priest give you for your Coming of Age Ceremony?”

“A pen and some ink. I still have it now. I was very happy when I received it, it felt as though he finally acknowledged me as an adult.” Fran gave a mellow grin as he reminisced. Perhaps he told me about Rosina’s coming of age because he knew how happy he had been for his own.

Since I was her master, I had to think of a gift that Rosina would like. I always got it wrong in guessing what others liked, so I definitely needed to do some proper research on what would be suitable for Coming of Age ceremonies. First off, I need to consult those close to me. Lutz would be my obvious first choice, but I can’t meet him until this blizzard ended. Other than my attendants, the only one I was close to in the temple was the High Priest. So…

~~~

“High Priest, my attendant is about to come of age. May I ask what would be a suitable gift I could give her?” I asked after we completed our work.

He gave a surprised look and hummed under his breath a somewhat insulting comment, “Never quite expected such a reasonable question from you,” before clearing his throat.

“For a Coming of Age Ceremony, a good gift is one that lasts for a long time. A basic one will be one they will use for work. I typically give my attendants a pen and ink.”

“Something Rosina is able to use often for work… Hm, I can only think of an instrument,” I thought aloud, but that made the High Priest glare at me.

“Fool. Why would you give an instrument that costs a hefty price when you do not have one yourself? Get yourself one before you considering getting one for your attendant,” he said with some annoyance. Time for me to retreat.

“You are right. Thank you for your input. I will think of an alternative.”

~~~

It had been a few days since the High Priest’s lectures, the blizzard had finally died down, so Tuuli, Lutz and Benno all visited my chambers.

“How are you, Myne?” asked Tuuli.

“Tuuli, Lutz! Oh, and Benno.”

“I’ll be heading off to the orphanage to study, but they wanted to talk to you about something.”

Tulli left after saying hello, only Lutz and Benno stayed in my room. Benno saw Damuel inside and went stiff.

“Sister Myne, I would like to send an Ieherl here to be trained as a waiter under your supervision.”.

Benno wanted me to train an leherl, Leon, here. I peeked at Fran, who might be the one to train him.

“Do you think it’s possible for me to agree to this, Fran?”

“Now that I can delegate work to Rosina and Wilma, I have some time to teach how to wait on someone during lunch,” he said. I observed that his face was a little more frigid, I took note of that and looked back at Benno.

“Fine then, Benno. We will only train him how to be a waiter, so please send someone who has received proper training.”

“Proper training?” Benno was bewildered by my remark. While visiting his store, Lutz and I realized that his personnel were well-trained to deal with wealthy consumers. When we were led to Benno’s office, we were treated like honored guests, and because Benno respected our work, we never had anyone who treated us disrespectfully. So of course, Benno expected all his staff to be experienced enough to be trained here.

“Fran will be in charge of teaching your worker, but he is a gray priest and an orphan. We will have to turn away anyone that has sufficient training that they would disrespect or look down on him.”

According to Fran, all of Benno’s employees were polite to customers but only half of them were nice to servants. Apparently when I was in the back office talking with Benno, several in the store would glare at Fran.

“Oh, so you have witnessed such untrained employees in my store? Please accept my deepest apologies, it appears that I have trained them sufficiently. If by any chance, Leon belongs to this section of lacking employees, please notify me immediately so that I can terminate his leherl contract.”

“Fran, do you have any additional requests? Or is that everything?”

“Uhm… I have no qualms teaching Leon how to wait, but food will not be provided for him. The food here is only for Sister Myne.”

“Do not worry, I will take charge of that just as I have been for Lutz.”

Benno and Fran began discussing the terms of the contract, so I took the chance to call Lutz over and whispered.

“Lutz, I need to ask you something.”

“What? Do you have another crazy idea again?” Lutz exclaimed with a weary look, and Fran and Benno heard him and stopped midway to look at us.

“Crazy idea? That’s so mean, Lutz. I just wanted to talk about Rosina’s Coming of Age ceremony. Do you know what gifts are usually prepared for these ceremonies? It’s almost Zasha’s turn soon.”

“I think my parents will give him tools for work. The ones he received after his baptism are now too small, as they were for children.”

The tools for children after their baptism were usually lighter or smaller so that it was easier for them to carry. However, as the youngsters grew older, it became harder to use them. Some purchased new ones before reaching adulthood, while others received second-hand-ones, but they would receive new ones when they come of age.

“Crafting tools. I see… Benno, what do merchants give for Coming of Age ceremonies?”

“Accessories for my family and clothing for my leherls. Both are necessary when meeting nobles.”

“How about your lehanges?”

“I do not give them anything.”

Leherls were important and would attend meetings too once they came of age. On the other hand, most lehanges left after their contract ended, so they saw no point giving them any congratulatory gifts.

“Accessories and clothing will be wonderful… but I don’t think Rosina would wear either of them very often.”

“But won’t she start bunning her hair up?” Lutz recommended, “Maybe we can try getting her a comb or a ribbon.”

A pretty hairpin with decorations might be a lovely present for her. I noted it in my diptych.

“Please feel free to order a hairpin from Lutz if you require it.”

“Thank you for your advice.”

~~~

After ending his conversation with Fran, Benno returned to his store. I went to the orphanage with Lutz to visit Tuuli, while Fran and Damuel followed behind.

“Tuuli is putting forth a lot of effort,” Lutz noted. “Myne, you should send her a letter in simple words.”

“All right, I’ll do it. Thank you.”

Lutz appeared to have been teaching Tuuli sometimes. He said he was only repeating what I did for him the previous year, but she was still able to keep up with the orphanage children.

“Now please try to finish this problem.”

Today was a math day at the orphanage. In my peripheral, I noticed Tuuli glaring at her abacus as I walked over to Wilma. Wilma and Rosina had both previously worked for the same master, so I figured I could gain something from what Wilma received for her coming of age.

“Oh, now that you mentioned it, Rosina indeed is coming of age this winter,” Wilma said.

“Yes, but I have no idea what I should give her. What did Sister Christine give you for your coming or age, Wilma?”

Wilma gave a pained smile as she looked conflicted.

“Sister Christine left the temple before I came of age, so I did not receive anything special.”

“…What? If that’s so then I need to get you one too.”

I had never considered the possibility that Wilma had not been given anything, so I quickly offered to get her something too. But she only laughed back as her mouth upturned into a sweet smile.

“If you’re worried about that, Sister Myne, you’ll have to offer gifts to all of your other attendants.” She explained that neither Delia nor Gil received anything for their baptisms.

“Wouldn’t Delia feel less happy for her celebration if you present gifts for me, Gil, and Delia too? And Fran might feel lonely if he doesn’t get one too.”

“Mmm…” I just wanted to make everyone happy, but that seemed to be a difficult feat…

I was lost in thought when Wilma leaned forward with her normal calm grin on her face “Any present from our master brings joy to us servants. Not to mention that whatever Rosina wants will definitely be music related… Perhaps some new music scores will make her happy?”

“New music scores! That might be a good idea.”

“…But it would have to be quite rare for it not to be in Sister Christine’s collection.”

Let’s just say I’ll have no trouble finding new music for her…

I paid a visit to the High Priest the very next day.

“High Priest, For Rosina’s coming of age ceremony, I’ve decided to offer her new sheet music. Please teach me how I can go about making one.”

“What songs are you planning to write down?”

“Of course the ones I know.”

It would be almost impossible for me to find music here that Sister Christine, the art-obsessed shrine maiden, didn’t already have in her collection. So instead all I had to do was jot down some tunes from Earth. It probably wouldn’t be that difficult if I knew how to write music…

“Do you mean the ones you remember from your dreams?”

“Of course. I can’t think of any other songs Rosina didn’t already know.”

“Fran, fetch me the harspiel from her room.”

Fran gave an, “Understood.”

The High Priest showed me how to write music scores while Fran left to retrieve my instrument. Of course, it didn’t look anything like the sheet music I knew. I knew how to write scales using the other sheet music I used as a guide, but I did not understand their notations or signatures.

“I have returned.”

“Thank you, Fran.” I began strumming the small harspiel Fran brought over while trying to recall how the music went in my head.

“Oh? That ain’t it… Maybe like this? Oh, that’s it, right. It goes like this… Hm~hm~hm~~~” Once I finished working on part of the song, I transposed it onto the paper and asked the High Priest to check it.

“High Priest, is this correct?”

“…Enough of this. Hand me the harspiel.”

The High Priest had reached his breaking point at the fifth bar and took matters into his hand. He tried to adjust himself to the tiny harspiel for children and stared back at me.

“You will sing it. I will transpose the notes. It will be much faster for me to do the transposing than to wait for you to learn it.”

I started humming the song after being inspired by his stern expression. I kept going until the High Priest stopped me with a raised hand. When I did, he started playing the entire passage that I had just hummed. My mouth went wide open as he played around with the notes, arranging it into a way that it suited the harspiel as he went along, before composing it onto the paper.

…Is there anything the High Priest can’t do?

He had memorised the song from my humming and arranged it for the harspiel onto the sheet music instantly.

“Any other songs you know of, Myne?”

“…I can’t think of many right now, but if you only need to hear my humming, I can do a lot more.”

The High Priest nodded to show his satisfaction at my response. “Then hum it.”

“Wah?”

“I suddenly remembered I wanted some new music for myself now. Yes, three would be nice.”

I had no problems humming three more songs for him because he was the one who was troubling himself to arrange and transpose them for me. I even took advantage of the opportunity to transpose some anime music. It was entertaining to watch the High Priest so engrossed with arranging the song’s notes.

“You may copy them and give them to her.”

“Words cannot begin to describe how thankful I am.”

I hid the handwritten music sheets from the High Priest in my drawer and copied them in secret whenever Rosina and Fran were occupied with paperwork. After that, I had Lutz cut holes in the sides of the four songs and bind them together with string.

“It’s done!”

~~~

Time flew by and the coming of age ceremony took place on the last Earthday of winter. Delia and Gil toiled away early in the morning to get water for Rosina to wash herself in. After that, she changed into her new clothes provided by the temple. Her skirt used to be at her calves, but now it was long enough to reach her shoes, and now she also had her hair bunned on top of her head.

“It’s such a pity that you have to tie up your pretty hair now, Rosina.” I was a little disappointed that I would not be able to see Rosina’s lovely and wavy chestnut hair flowing behind her anymore. But Delia was only envious of Rosina’s new hairstyle.

“It’s not a waste! How I wish I could bun my hair up now.”

Wilma always wore her hair in a tight and simple bun, but Rosina preferred hers to be loose and more feminine looking. Rosina was mature looking for her age so having her hair bunned up now completed her look of that of an adult woman. Her slender neck was completely visible, having some stray locks of shining hair made her look more sensuous.

“You look so pretty, Rosina.” I sighed in a daze at Rosina’s mature looks, this made her smile with a blush.

“Geez!” yelled Delia. “I’ll look even better when I’m an adult.”

“Of course, I’m sure you’ll look amazing too, Delia.” I returned an entertained smile to Delia before congratulating Rosina and escorted her to the chapel for her coming of age ceremony.

“Rosina, I’ll see you soon.”

“Yes, Sister Myne, until then.”

I did not need to assist the High Priest with the paperwork today because all the priests would be preoccupied with the Coming of Age Ceremony. Rosina also not around to lead my harspiel classes too.

Since I had nothing to do, I made my way to the orphanage with Fran and Damuel to make some parue batter with Wilma. I was not going to teach Ella the recipe and the children would get curious if they smelt it from the girls’ building. So I asked her to prepare the batter first and cook it in my kitchen.

“Wilma, do you mind staying in my chambers for Rosina’s sake? There will be men around, but you are familiar with all of them. I believe Rosina would be happier if you were around to share her joy.”

“…I think I would like to come. I’m slightly more used to being around men since there have been gray priests helping out in the dining hall and workshop. I believe I should be fine in the celebration for a short moment.”

I returned to my chambers with Wilma, who carried a bowl of parue cake batter. Fran and Damuel were shocked to see her, but they chose to keep a comfortable distance for her.

~~~

“I am back, Sister Myne.”

“Welcome back, Rosina. We’ve been waiting for you.”

Rosina was back in my chambers after the Coming of Age Ceremony before the third bell rang. When she arrived at the second floor, I pulled her over to a chair.

“Sister Myne?”

“Sit down here, Rosina.”

“But I cannot sit down before my master.” Rosina insisted that she could not sit down. I looked at her in a loss, in the end Fran pulled back my seat and sighed.

“Rosina is right, Sister Myne. You must first sit down yourself if you want Rosina to do so too.”

I listened and sat down, and Rosina did the same with a troubled look. In the next instance, a sweet smell wafted across the room.

“Wilma?!” Wilma greeted her with a warm smile as she placed a platter of parue cakes in front of her. Delia seemed particularly solemn as she poured a cup of tea.

“You are today’s star of the celebration, Rosina,” Wilma replied. “I made these for you at Sister Myne’s request.”

“…They look good.” Rosina’s blue eyes welled up with tears as she glanced at the parue cakes and the poured tea, We all gathered around the table. I looked at Fran, who had gone to my desk to get the sheet music.

“These music sheets are a present from me to you. Please practice well and play them for me if possible.”

“…These songs, I know none of them. How did you…? Sister Myne, thank you so much. You brought everyone over for me, and… I… I-I don’t know what I can say to everyone…”

Rosina revealed a bright smile as she hugged the music scores to her chest.

“Congratulations on your coming of age, Rosina. We pray that the gods will continue to bless you and the bright future you have ahead.””