Ascendance of a Bookworm Part 2 Volume 2 (Manga Review)
Ascendance of a Bookworm: I’ll do anything to become a librarian! Part 2 (I’ll even join the temple to read books!)
Honzuki no Gekokujou: Part 2
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~ 第二部 「本のためなら巫女になる! 」

Wow. Things certainly took a dark turn in this latest volume of the manga. Without further ado, let’s get it on.

–> Buy Ascendance of a Bookworm Part 2 Volume 2 from Amazon.com!

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis

Gil shows off his work on Myne’s bed chamber in the temple. She rewards him and Fran with civilian clothing. Both are deeply touched, since the warmth of human gratitude is absent from the temple. She takes them out to lunch with Lutz. Gil has some difficulties dealing with protocol outside the temple. Myne buys food for the people in the orphanage. She then reports to Benno about the kitchen facilities as part of her chambers. He’s excited and goes to help clean the kitchen as a training place for the Italian chefs.

Delia shows up, frustrated that the High Bishop kicked her out. When she learns she needs to work, she attempts to seduce Benno. He refuses and Myne tells Delia that no sex work will be done by her attendants. Delia is crushed, and in desperation, offers to keep Myne’s bedroom clean and prepare her clothing. Myne accepts and gives Delia civilian clothing as well. This greatly pleases Delia.

Myne accompanies Gil to the orphanage to deliver the “Divine Gifts” of extra food. The conditions of the girl’s dorm at the orphanage horrify Myne. The girls are starving and the stench is overwhelming. Delia recounts her time at the orphanage, but it has gotten worse since she left. Gil pleased with Myne to do something. She reaches out to the High Priest, but gets nowhere.

Lutz has the idea to make the kids in the orphanage employees of Myne’s Workshop. The High Priest meets with her in his secret chamber. He agrees to her plan after hearing her motivation.

Acts of Charity

As a Christian, charity (love) is the greatest thing we can do for others. That said, the temple in Ascendance of a Bookworm Part 2 Volume 2 does not appear to have any notion of charity at all. I’ll discuss the orphanage in a bit, but for now, I’ll focus on Myne’s attendants. As the former attendant to the High Priest, Fran was treated well. And yet the High Priest never did anything special for Fran. There were rules for the temple. That meant that as an attendant, Fran had to eat cold food. Only the noble Blue Priests got to eat hot food.

I understand that for servants, they serve their masters first and then get to eat. But in history, as I understand it, the servants and staff still ate warm food, even if it were simple fare. That aside, it was interesting seeing Fran’s and Gil’s reaction to eating a hot, fresh meal. For Fran, it was the joy of a hot meal. For Gil, it was actually getting to eat plenty of food. Just that moment reveals so much about how jacked up this temple world is.

Then there’s the civilian clothing rewards for Myne’s attendants. For the gray priests, I can understand that there would be no need for them to have civilian clothing. Under normal circumstances, they would never leave the temple. However, Myne’s simple reward of civilian clothing was an act of charity unheard of in the temple. No one gives these “trash” people (gray priests) anything. So Myne is really dropping bombs on this society with her simple acts of charity.

As an aside, it was really adorable seeing Delia’s reaction to getting civilian clothing.

Temple Sex Workers

In my review of the previous volume, I stated, “I don’t get the sense that the High Bishop has had sex with her (Delia) yet. I’m guessing that would happen once she hit puberty.” However, considering the events of Ascendance of a Bookworm Part 2 Volume 2, I now suspect that’s not true. Otherwise, why would an eight year old girl try to seduce Benno. His immediate response was that he wasn’t there for “flower offerings.” And Myne stated that such work would not be done by her attendants.

I give Kazuki-sensei props for inventing new terminology for dealing with this. Still, wow. I understand that in this world, things are different. And in my mind, a human who’s reached puberty would be more understandable than one who has not. After all, 18 is a very modern adult threshold marker. In the past, a human was an adult when they hit puberty and could reproduce.

Still, if I didn’t hate the High Bishop enough before, I do now. Before, he was just an arrogant smeg head who looked down on Myne and people like her. Now, he’s just a vile scum who has a harem of young women and prepubescent girls to pork. If he knocks one up, well, sucks to be them. Not only that, but it seems the nobility and blue priests all partake in these “flower offerings”, based on what Benno said. So this has to be a common practice in this world, and it is jacked up.

Orphanage Horrors

When I lived in Japan, I had the honor of going to a Japanese orphanage. It was probably the best experience I had in country. But that was 180º different from the orphanage depicted in Ascendance of a Bookworm Part 2 Volume 2. It is unfathomable that most of the people in this temple have no empathy beyond their own, shallow noses. The story tries to redeem the High Priest by saying his hands were tied. I have a hard time accepting that. He could have done SOMETHING.

Instead, we have Myne to the rescue. Or rather, we have Lutz come up with the idea that allows Myne to come to the rescue. So now, Myne is the Director of the Orphanage. And the poor, malnourished, filthy children will also work for Myne to earn money so they can have proper food. Outside of Myne, there is no charity in this temple, and man, I hate pretty much every blue priest and snob in the place.

It will surely take time to get these neglected, abused orphans into any kind of condition to help Myne. Lutz’s plan is a good one and at least the High Priest signed off on it.

Omake

The main, omake manga chapter deals with Fran’s journey as Myne’s chief attendant. The short story is from the High Priest’s perspective on Myne’s discovery of the horrendous conditions of the orphanage. We have the usual notes from Suzuka-sensei and Kazuki-sensei. Then there’s a one-page manga, depicting how Fran has to get Myne’s attention when she’s absorbed in a book. Finally, there’s an illustration showing Gil, hard at work cleaning Myne’s residence.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

Let me wrap up my review of Ascendance of a Bookworm Part 2 Volume 2 with some final thoughts.

• While Myne is dropping bombs of charitable change at the temple, I fear her training to be a noble may “corrupt” her to some extent. I don’t mean she’ll become evil. However, this whole notion that she cannot speak with her chefs is bonkers. And yet to keep the wheels turning, Myne has agreed to following these noble protocols.
• Speaking of chefs, I got a kick out of how excited Benno got once he learned that Myne’s temple residence had a private, noble-level kitchen. And now Myne gets to have folks make pizza and stuff. Pretty cool.

In the end, there’s a lot of dark stuff in  Ascendance of a Bookworm Part 2 Volume 2. It is strongly implied that even though she’s only eight, Delia is sexually experienced, thanks to the High Bishop and this disgusting temple. Further, there’s the neglect and abuse of the orphans who reside in the basement of the temple. Very dark waters, but hopefully, things will be brighter in the next volume.