Ascendance of a Bookworm: I’ll do anything to become a librarian! Part 3: Adopted Daughter of an Archduke, Vol. 4 by Miya Kazuki, You Shiina
Series Name: Ascendance of a Bookworm: I’ll do anything to become a librarian! (Light Novel)
Genres: Fantasy, Isekai, Magic
Intended Age Group: Teen
Publisher: J-Novel Club
Edition: Paperback
ISBN: 9781718356108
Rating: 4/5
Amazon Barnes&Noble Crunchyroll ThriftBooks
Description from the Book
Love blooms in Spring! Rozemyne’s retainers are bursting with energy as they sew new clothes, attend their debuts, and thrive in the new season. The improved printing press has finally been completed in the temple workshop, and new types of books are steadily being produced. Knight stories, picture books, sheet music collections, and more are all now being sold! Their next goal is to further develop the paper-making industry in preparation for spreading printing across the entire duchy. To achieve this, Rozemyne’s party travels to Illgner to teach the people there how to make paper and also to research new materials. Rozemyne’s environment slowly improves, but unease spreads throughout Ehrenfest when the archduke’s older sister arrives for a visit…
Personal & Info
The Cat-Eared Maid is my favorite bonus comic in the back, but all of them are pretty good.
Characters
The Archduke’s Family
Rozemyne, is the main character. Now that her Devouring is under control, she mostly just suffers from poor health and low stamina. Her memories of her past life, and her upbringing as a commoner with merchant experience, give her unique ideas and perspectives unlike anyone else in Ehrenfest.
High Priest Ferdinand is Rozemyne’s guardian at the temple, and the illegitimate younger brother of the archduke. He handles the majority of the work that keeps the temple running, and must also occasionally assist the Knight’s Order.
Sylvester is the eccentric archduke of Ehrenfest and Rozemyne’s adoptive father.
Florencia is Sylvester’s wife, Rozemyne’s adoptive mother, and mother to Sylvester’s three children.
Wilfried is Sylvester’s oldest son and Rozemyne’s older brother. He is supposed to become the next archduke of Ehrenfest.
Charlotte is Sylvester’s daughter and Rozemyne’s sister.
Melchior is Sylvester’s youngest child and Rozemyne’s younger brother.
Bonifatius is Sylvester’s uncle, Karstedt’s father, and Rozemyne’s grandfather. He covers for Sylvester while he is away at archduke meetings.
The Knight Commander’s Family
Karstedt is the captain of Ehrenfest’s Knight’s Order. He’s also Ferdinand and Sylvester’s cousin, as well as Rozemyne’s noble father.
Elvira is Karstedt’s first wife and Rozemyne’s noble mother.
Eckart is Karstedt’s oldest son. He works in the Knight’s Order, and he is a big fan of Ferdinand.
Lamprecht is Karstedt’s second son. He works as a knight serving as Wilfried’s guard.
Cornelius is Karstedt’s third son. He works as an apprentice knight serving as Rozemyne’s guard while she is in the Noble’s Quarter.
Rozemyne’s Retainers
Damuel is a knight and laynoble from Part 2, Volume 2, currently assigned as Rozemyne’s guard. He is Henrik’s younger brother. Henrik is the laynoble to whom Freida has a contract.
Rihyarda is Rozemyne’s head attendant in the castle. She is an archnoble who previously took care of Ferdinand, Karstedt, and Sylvester when they were children.
Brigitte is a knight and mednoble serving as Rozemyne’s guard alongside Damuel. She is the younger sister of Giebe Illgner.
Angelica is an apprentice knight and mednoble serving as Rozemyne’s guard alongside Cornelius. She hates studying and wants other people to think for her.
Ottilie is an attendant at the castle. She is an archnoble and friends with Elvira.
Lower City Family
Gunther is Myne’s father. He works as a soldier who currently guards the city’s East gate.
Effa is Myne’s mother. She dyes clothes for a career.
Tuuli is Myne’s sister. Her current occupation is apprentice seamstress and she strives to move up in the industry.
Kamil is Myne and Tuuli’s baby brother.
Temple Attendants
Fran is Rozemyne’s head attendant in the temple. He is in charge of managing the High Bishop’s chambers and making sure Rozemyne learns everything she needs to know for her job by the time she needs to know it.
Gil is one of Rozemyne’s attendants in the temple. He is in charge of running the workshop inside the orphanage.
Wilma is one of Rozemyne’s attendants in the temple. She is in charge of running the orphanage and therefore does not reside in Rozemyne’s own chambers. Wilma also provides the art for anything the workshop makes.
Monika is a cook who also helps in the High Bishop’s chambers. She admires Wilma and does her best to emulate her to learn from her example.
Nicola is a cook who also helps in the High Bishop’s chambers.
Fritz is one of Rozemyne’s new attendants. He helps Gil run the workshop to lessen his workload and cover for him when he needs to travel for business.
Zahm is one of Rozemyne’s new attendants. Like Fran, he was trained by Ferdinand. He helps manage the High Bishop’s chambers.
Personnel
Ella is Rozemyne’s personal chef.
Hugo is Rozemyne’s personal chef.
Rosina is Rozemyne’s personal musician.
The Gilberta Company
Corinna is Benno’s younger sister. She is the head seamstress of the Gilberta Company.
Otto is the new head of the Gilberta Company, and Corinna’s husband.
The Plantin Company
Benno is the merchant in charge of the Plantin Company. He assists and advises Rozemyne in her merchant endeavors.
Mark is Benno’s right hand man. He helps manage the store and train the apprentices, as well as cover anything Benno might miss.
Lutz is a leherl apprentice. He helps make sure the Rozemyne workshop is in order and acts as a go-between for scheduling merchant relevant visitors. Lutz also helps the workers at the orphanage understand how to use and make the things Rozemyne thinks up.
Damian is Freida’s older brother and Gustav’s grandson.
The Othmar Company
Gustav is the Guildmaster of the Merchant’s Guild.
Freida is Gustav’s granddaughter with a nose for money. She has a contract with a laynoble to manage her Devouring.
Leise is Freida’s personal chef. She also assists with any projects the company has involving cooking.
Other Nobles
Oswald is an archnoble serving as Wilfried’s head attendant.
Moritz is Wilfried and Rozemyne’s instructor.
Justus is Rihyarda’s son, and one of Ferdinand’s estate attendants. He serves the role as scholar and tax official when necessary. Justus gathers both magical materials and information as a hobby.
Giebe Illgner is Brigitte’s older brother.
Georgine is Sylvester’s eldest sister and the first wife to the Duke of Ahrensbach.
Veronica is Sylvester’s mother, currently in prison.
Viscountess Gloria Dahldolf is the mother of Shikza, the noble who suffered execution as a result of harming Myne instead of protecting her.
Gutenbergs
Ingo is the foreman of a carpentry workshop. He has Rozemyne’s exclusive business for her carpentry needs.
Johann is a smith talented with fine detail work. He can make otherwise impossible ideas a reality.
Zack is a smith good at coming up with ideas in the form of schematics. He can come up with several usable schematics of varying difficulty using abstract descriptions.
Other
Kampfer and Frietack are blue priests receiving training from Ferdinand to help lighten his workload.
Richt is Hasse’s new mayor.
Dirk is a Devouring baby abandoned to the temple. In part 2, he was forced to sign a submission contract with Count Bindewald of Ahrensbach.
Delia is Rozemyne’s former attendant from her days as a Shrine Maiden. She takes care of Dirk like he is her own brother.
Story & Thoughts
Everyone is thinking ahead in this volume, except Rozemyne. Benno, Mark, and Lutz are making business decisions based entirely on how Rozemyne’s life proceeds, ready to uproot at a moment’s notice. Tuuli, who wants to make Rozemyne’s clothes someday, wants to be able to follow her wherever she might end up, too.
My favorite thing in this book is the romance. Back during the previous Starbind events, we learned both Damuel and Brigitte are seeking marriage partners. If you’re like me, you might think they should just marry each other, but there’s the issue of him being a laynoble, and her a mednoble. Their mana difference makes it an impossibility due to societal expectations.
Nothing is for sure, but the start of a potential romance between them blooms. It’s so cute and sweet. I ship them so hard. We’ll have to wait until next Starbind to see what happens.
After part two, there has been a long break from major political issues. The story is circling back around to politics. However, it doesn’t seem like the people supporting Georgine have thought anything all the way through. Their thoughts seem based on what they want, rather than what Georgine might want.
If you consider Georgine’s rank for her current status, her intentions can’t possibly be what they think. After all, why would anyone with a higher status intentionally throw that away to take something of a lower status? There has to be something more elaborate going on in Georgine’s mind. I don’t think she would throw away her current rank. She seems like the kind of person who likes to have power. We likely won’t see the full culmination of whatever her plans are until somewhere in part four. Needless to say, the whole thing is ominous.
Tea Party
This is Florencia’s experience during Georgine’s visit. She attends a couple tea parties with Sylvester and Elvira to discuss the previous High Bishop’s death and learn more about Georgine. Florencia apparently never met Georgine, until now. She is more familiar with Sylvester’s other sister. We also get to see her side of Wilfried’s blunder. She has nothing but praise when it comes to Rozemyne. Florencia doesn’t speak much during the main story, but it’s clear she’s a kind person with good intentions, who has been treated unfairly in the past.
Damuel’s Proposal
If there’s a bonus chapter you’ll want to read, it’s going to be this one. Rozemyne was not present for the events of the actual Starbind socializing, so this chapter covers what actually happened, without any embellishment. Damuel’s goal is unheard of, but I’m rooting for him. Brigitte and Damuel are so cute together.
Staying in Illgner
This last bonus chapter is in Gil’s perspective. It takes place over the summer in Illgner, while they’re experimenting with new types of paper. Things are very different in Illgner. There are no stores, no thieves, and everybody has to work. Damien doesn’t like it there one bit. He was sent because he has experience with nobles, but really that has little to no significance in Illgner. I’m pretty sure I did not see the feybeast wood mentioned here, so they may not have tried it yet. This chapter’s resulting paper is the stuff Rozemyne uses to make her fan.