Episode 14.1

"Eustachius's Incognito Operation Downtown" (ユストクスの下町潜入大作戦, Yusutokusu no Shitamachi Sen'nyuu Dai-sakusen) is a side story OVA that takes place at the end of the first season of the Ascendance of a Bookworm anime series.

It originally aired on March 10, 2020 as the first half of an episode-length feature. The second half of the episode was Visiting Missus Corinna.

This OVA was adapted from a short story in Part 3 Volume 2 of the Light Novel series: "Justus's Grand Lower City Infiltration".

Summary
Ferdinand, the Head Priest at the cathedral, orders his trusted associates Eckhart and Justus to investigate Myne, a commoner girl who will be granted the privileges of a blue-robed apprentice priestess. Eckhart is surprised that anyone would consider giving such high status to a commmoner, but Ferdinand explains that her wealth and business enterprises make her a very valuable candidate.

Justus and Eckhart go to downtown, where Eckhart is nauseated by the filthy surroundings, as commoners pour out their chamberpots into the road and have no waste disposal. They purchase some merchants' clothing at a store, and Justus inquires about the Myne Studio with the shop attendants. However, they become suspicious and claim not to know it. Justus realizes that collecting information will be difficult, since the downtown commoners watch out for their own.

After treading in some horse dung, Eckhart becomes ill. Justus takes him to an inn to rest and recover, then goes to the Gilberta Company to investigate. He narrowly misses Myne's departure, and is caught by Mark when he peers in the window at some hair ornaments.

Justus returns to the inn where Eckhart is resting, and disguises himself in the raggedy clothing of a farmer. He heads toward the south gate and the craftsmen's district, where he runs into Lutz's mother Karla. She immediately becomes suspicious at seeing a farmer so far from the market, and reacts angrily when he inquires about Myne and her studio, telling him to get lost.

He continues asking around, but is dismissed by everyone he approaches. Finally, he sees Fey, Ralph, and Tuuli returning from the forest and decides they look like easy marks. When he asks about Myne, Fey exclaims that he wants nothing to do with her, and Ralph explains that Myne once got angry at Fey for breaking something that was important to her. When Justus says Myne did him a favor, everyone is surprised and dubious. Ralph says that he must be thinking of Tuuli instead.

Tuuli is also surprised to hear that her sister treated someone kindly, and asks doubtfully whether the girl who helped him had someone tagging along with her. He says no. Tuuli tells him it couldn't possibly be Myne, since she's so frail she always needs someone around to manage her health. Justus asks if they know the "Myne Studio," and Tuuli immediately becomes suspicious.

On his way back to the inn, Justus passes Effa and Myne without realizing it. He regroups with Eckhart and they decide to tail Gunther, Myne's father who works at the south gate as a soldier. Justus and Eckhart follow him to a bar, where he and Otto celebrate the pregancy of Otto's wife, Corinna over drinks.

They break into the Merchant's Guild and read the documents of Myne's business dealings, and then go to question the craftsmen who did business with the Gilberta Company the next day. Justus reports back to Ferdinand with an ordonnanz and then goes to investigate the market with Eckhart. He sees a merchant who has a book on their shelf and asks to see it in exchange for a small gold coin. The merchant happily allows it, mentioning that he's the first person to be interested in the book since "that weird girl" who begged him to touch it. Justus purchases the book for another two small golds and takes it with him.

Translation Notes
This episode uses the following anime-specific translations:


 * "aides" for noble retainers
 * "downtown" for the lower city of Ehrenfest
 * "Priest Ferdinand" for Lord Ferdinand
 * "peasant" for commoner
 * "studio" for workshop