Chapter 3 (1/2)
03.PREMILINARY ARRANGEMENTS
Since that day, it has been five years.
After a long winter, spring finally came to Arcadia. This year in special, the winter had been very harsh and there were many people that died by starving and were frozen to death. Because of that, everyone was waiting for spring. There was n.o.body that didn´t become happy by the arrival of spring.
That wasn´t an exception to a certain bookstore of imported books that was located at some nook at the royal capital. In the winter, while they would still could sell books, they would hardly be able to get any new books s.h.i.+pped. Without new books, there were less reasons for the regular customers to buy books, and in consideration to the literacy rate, it was very rare to get new customers.
They would get new s.h.i.+pments at spring. It was a happy season for the book store.
“Hey, take that book from the thirteenth shelf. Uhh, that one that was an anatomy book from Mahs.h.i.+a. Ah, I forgot the name.”
The owner of the bookstore had received th from a customer and now called for his a.s.sistant that was at the back of the store.
“It should be the “advanced studies of anatomy”, the one written by Danvour, right? Is it the copy or the translated one?”
“That one, that one. Wasn´t that one still untranslated? I have the feeling that we received new books recently though.”
“Cough*, I translated it myself.”
Getting surprised, the owner´s eyes became wide. The customer, who had heard that, also had his eyes wide-open.
In order to write a “translated book”, it would at least be necessary to know two different languages and for the translation itself, it was required of one´s senses for word choice, which was extremely difficult. And in addition to all that, the book that was translated was one that had arrived only a few days ago.
“Then, I will have the translated version.”
“Thank you for the patronage. Hey, give me the translated one.”
“Understood. Please, wait a moment.”
While his a.s.sistant went to get the book, the owner was having a short talk with the customer. Entertaining the customers was also an important job.
“Ah, he is really talented, isn´t him? That boy.”
“The first time he came here, he couldn´t read even a single letter. But he desperately studied, read many books, and before I could notice, he was already even more knowledgeable about books than me.”
As if he was bragging about his own child, the owner showed a broad smile.
“Now, he can more or less handle the transactions of the shop, and he can even have a normal conversation with the merchants from the other countries. He is even better at foreign languages than me. Not that I am bragging about it though.”
Seeing how owner that clearly wanted to boast about his a.s.sistant, the customer could only show a wry smile to him.
“Well, but if you were to talk about his bad points…”
The owner turned his head to the back of the shop, wondering when his helper would come. The sound of footsteps coming closer. Finally, the a.s.sistant came.
“Here is the requested book. A translated version of the “advanced studies of anatomy”. Cough*, I sticked to the original as much as I could in my translation. If there are any parts that are difficult to understand, please, contact me, and I will immediately come to help you.”
It was a gray haired young man. His eyes were hidden by his unkempt long gray hair. His skin was pale. He was so full of dust to the point that it looked like he was covered in ashes. He had a bent posture. He wasn´t short, but he seemed so because of his bad posture. His appearance was dull, unattractive, and he didn´t stand out. He was a youth that gave an extremely weak impression.
“If only he kept up his appearance. When he was a kid, he used to be cute, but after he got absorbed by the books, he became like that. Well, he is very exceptional, so I can´t be complaining.”
As if the youth had already become used to people talking bad about his appearance, he didn´t show any signs of caring about being talked bad about it.
“Well, isn´t it fine? Thank you. I´ve been waiting the whole winter for this book. However, I don´t know the language of Mahs.h.i.+a. Even if I had the original book, I still would have needed to get a translator to translate for me. You saved me from some extra hards.h.i.+ps.. This really helped me.”
After saying that, the customer took out twice the price of the book from his pocket.
“This is the payment for your translations. Please, accept it.”
“Cough*, is it fine?”
The youth asked the owner. The shop owner nodded. This was something he had received directly from the client out of his own feelings.
“Thank you very much.”
The young man received exactly half of the price paid for the book. Seeing that, the client became content, and taking with him the translated book which was made with parchment paper, he left the bookstore. (TL note: Just to save your time googling what parchment is ^^ Parchment is paper made out of the skin of animals, usually it being the skin of sheep or goats.)
“Is it really fine for me to take this?”
“This is something you earned by your work. You should take it.”
The young man once again confirmed with the owner whether he could really take the money. It was only after the owner said he could that he accepted the money. But at that same time he took the money, he violently coughed.
The owner suddenly looked over at the young man´s face. His complexion clearly seemed to be worse than the usual.
“You´ve been looking a bit sick these last few days. It´s fine if you take a break today.”
“Cough*, sorry. I will gladly accept it.”
It was still early for the bookstore to be closed, but it looked like the owner was more worried about the young man´s condition. He started to prepare to close the shop. The young man was about to help him with that, but…
“I´m fine here. Instead of helping me, you should go rest. You are not allowed to read any books, and once you get to your home, you should just eat some food and go to sleep. Tomorrow, . Alright?”
“Understood. I will be going first then.”
The young man quickly bowed. And then, he left the bookshop from the backdoor.
“I hope it is only a cold.”
The owner worriedly looked at curved back of the young man as he left the book store.
The young man didn´t catch the attention of any person. He didn´t stand out; his existence was like mist.
Even if he was to broke off from the direction of the flow of people walking in the street and went to another way, n.o.body would notice. The customer from before probably already forgot about the young man´s appearance by now.
Going to a back-alley, the flux of people that were walking by was becoming smaller. Without losing his way, the young man continued to walk. Even at the royal capital, there were places that could be called “dead spots”. n.o.body would go through those places. They were places that there wouldn´t be anyone. At the empty back-alley, a small ditch flowed under the street.(TL note: I am not sure about where exactly the ditch is supposed to be…なんでもない裏通り、通りの下には小さな用水路が走る)
“You came. You are early.”