Mightier than the Sword is a side quest in Kingdom Come: Deliverance. Ask someone whether they can teach you to read, and they will send you to the Scribe of Uzhitz.
You will need 50 
to pay the scribe.
You'll need to be literate to begin the quest Last Will and Testament and for the Honeyed Words quest of the DLC The Amorous Adventures of Bold Sir Hans Capon. It is also valuable to get the best result in the quest Pestilence.
Since Last Will and Testament has to be finished before starting the DLC From the Ashes, it prevents the acquisition of the Trial-and-error achievement. The Hans Capon DLC can be played a lot later however, so Henry can still learn to read after finishing Pribyslavitz and still get the achievement.
Synopsis[]
They say the pen is mightier than the sword. Maybe it's time I learned to read.
Objectives[]
- Visit the scribe in Uzhitz
- Read the book
- Go back to the scribe
- Read the Latin text
- Go back to the scribe
- Read the Latin text
- Go back to the scribe
- Read the book
Walkthrough[]
Attempting to read while illiterate
Like most lowborn people (and some highborn ones), Henry cannot read, as it would have been highly unusual for a commoner in that era to be literate. Nevertheless, it can prove a useful skill to have.
In order to read the various books he comes across, he needs to ask one of the locals in the region who can teach him to read. They will point him to the Scribe of Uzhitz. The scribe will agree to teach you to read in return for 50 , and warns you that the process takes several days.
First, he will ask to read The Golden Egg (due to said illiteracy, as with all other books, the words appear scrambled), and challenges Henry to deduce the moral of the story, which is that "being greedy doesn't pay."
Reading at level 20
Next, he will ask Henry to read the Latin text. Though the words are legible, being able to pronounce words doesn't mean one understands the text itself. What it says is "Nullus est liber tam malus, ut non aliqua parte prosit." Roughly translated, it means: "There is no book so bad that it is not profitable on some part. Books are silent teachers. The best speaker is one who speaks most with few words."
After that, Henry will gain the first reading skill point. Reading as a skill will still be difficult at first, with the letters scrambled, but the higher the skill level gets, the less cryptic the text will appear. Importantly, once this skill is acquired, Henry can begin reading skill books to raise his other skills, as well as lore books to help improve his Reading skill itself.
Notes[]
- This quest is one of the few quests that can be done before meeting Sir Radzig in Awakening. Although the jog to Ushitz takes about 5 hours, it may pay off to do this quest right after being healed as it opens up the option of raising stats by reading. It also enables alchemy training. Alchemy is a very good early way to earn money.
- Lore books are an excellent way to raise the reading ability as they don't actually have to be fully read. Just quickly leafing through them from start to finish earns 30 reading XP. Reading recipe books earns reading XP too.
- A good way to get a lot of reading material is to enter the usually unguarded chamber of the Scribe of Rattay. He sleeps until noon and can easily being stealth knocked out. As an added bonus, you can loot the Scribe Friedrich's study key from him, which gives you access to the record room, which you will need for the quests Money for Old Rope and Thick as Thieves - Peshek. While the scribe is out of it, you can loot all sorts of lore books from his study. Just don't let the guards stop and search you.