Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 3.5 - Chapter 4

Damuel’s Growth 

As I waited in my highbeast for the ruelle to finish growing, I watched everyone fighting below. The knights were stationed around the ruelle tree in a circle, with Damuel positioned between Ferdinand and Karstedt so that they could follow up on any feybeasts that slipped past him. He had the smallest area to protect out of anyone, but that much made sense—it was too risky to give him more than he could handle. 

Tiny feybeasts rushed forward from all directions. 

After having traveled all over the duchy and having fought all sorts of feybeasts while gathering my seasonal ingredients, I was better able to judge their relative strengths. With this knowledge, I could confidently say that the zantzes, fetzes (which were slightly larger than zantzes), and eifintes racing toward us weren’t much of a threat at all. Their strength came only from their numbers, and while this had proven dangerous last year when we had only a few knights, we now had the mana-rich Ferdinand and Karstedt on our side. It seemed like this would be a piece of cake. 

“Here I go!” 

The first to strike was Eckhart. He rushed a few steps forward, lowering his hips a little before thrusting his spear out with tremendous force. A sharp whistling noise tore through the air, the weapon’s tip gleaming beneath the purple moon. His blow had pierced the feystones of several feybeasts, all of which melted away into nothingness. 

A single strike—that was all it took for him to kill multiple feybeasts. 

“Haah!” 

Eckhart pivoted, turning his thrust into a wide swing that swept down all the feybeasts nearby. Some were knocked to the ground by the blunt force of the shaft, while others weakly collapsed after the spear tip sliced through them. Nearby feybeasts moved to attack not Eckhart, but those weakened feybeasts, promptly devouring them. They were trying to eat the feystones to gain even a little bit of strength. 

His blue eyes fiercely fixed on the horde, Eckhart next adjusted his grip on his spear, stabbing into the group over and over again. The rapid thrusts sliced through the air, killing feybeast after feybeast. 

Wowee... Eckhart sure is cool. He’s, like, half as cool as Dad is. Well, maybe more like a quarter as cool. Or an eighth. 

As I continued to watch Eckhart fight, I let out a whistle of admiration. I had mostly just seen him helping Ferdinand with paperwork, but when he fought like a knight, he was honestly a sight to behold. 

While I was internally praising Eckhart’s heroic visage, I heard Brigitte let out a ferocious battle cry. I adjusted the position of my highbeast slightly to look at her. 

“Graaah!” 

She roared again, stamping one foot down before swinging her halberd in a wide arc. It audibly cut through the air, then through the surrounding feybeasts, all of which immediately began to melt. 

“Next!” 

Brigitte’s amethyst eyes locked onto her next targets without even pausing to watch the already slain feybeasts fully disappear. She lowered her hips into a battle stance, then spun and twisted to swing her halberd from side to side, her skirt flapping about as she moved. 

Her weapon followed her movements exactly, never lagging behind no matter how much she twisted her hips. And each time it flashed, its long, slightly curved blade swept through and tore apart several of the feybeasts rushing this way. Brigitte looked so alive as she ceaselessly swung her weapon, exuding beauty and heroic grace in equal parts. 

Aaah... So wonderful. I wanna be strong like that too one day... 

While I knew that I wouldn’t ever be exactly like Brigitte, I wanted to be all cool and knightly too. My dream was to be a wonderful older sister who everybody could count on. 

Incidentally... I wonder how Father fights? 

I had technically been there to see Karstedt fight during both the Spring Prayer raid and the schnesturm hunt, but he had always been too far away. The former event had also ended after a single major attack, while there were so many knights present for the latter that I couldn’t get much of a grasp on his particular fighting style. 

And so, I scanned the area for where he was positioned, feeling a small wave of excitement wash over me. 

Soon enough, I spotted him. In my eyes, it looked like he was just lazily swinging around a scythe larger than his own body. It didn’t even seem like he was putting that much strength behind his attacks; he was cutting down the horde of oncoming feybeasts with casual swipes, much like one would leisurely cut grass. 

Aaah! Father! You’re so strong! That’s the knight commander for you! 

Even with how nonchalant he seemed, each swing of the massive scythe resulted in a powerful slashing sound, loud enough that I could hear it clearly from all the way up by the ruelle. It was like the very air was being torn apart, and the number of feybeasts reduced to mist with each attack was simply incomparable to Eckhart’s and Brigitte’s efforts: at least a dozen were killed with each swipe, if not more. It certainly wasn’t my imagination that, despite Karstedt having been given such a large area to protect, he had far fewer feybeasts around him than the others. 

He did come all the way from Ehrenfest just to help me with my gathering... Okay! Dad is still the coolest, but Father gets to be second coolest! 

I slapped my knees in excitement while praising Karstedt, when the thunder of a loud explosion suddenly tore through the air. 

“Eep?!” 

It admittedly wasn’t that loud, but it came so out of nowhere that I couldn’t help but flinch and reflexively cover my ears. I swung my head around wildly, trying to find out what had happened. 

Then I saw Ferdinand. 

The designated area for him to guard had a gaping circle in the middle completely clear of feybeasts. There was no mistaking it—he was the one behind the explosion. But what could he have done to completely wipe clear his surroundings? It was so unsettling that I couldn’t take my eyes away from him, curiously watching to see what would happen next. 

Ferdinand simply stood there, watching casually as more feybeasts scurried forward to fill the empty space. I couldn’t help but wonder whether I was the only one who got the sudden urge to yell, “Run! Turn around and run if you want to live!” at them. 

Soon enough, Ferdinand tossed something at the approaching feybeasts. It shone brightly in the air for a moment, then rapidly began to spread out. A second later, it seemed to have vanished completely. I couldn’t see it anymore, at least. 

Was that... a net? 

As it turned out, it hadn’t actually vanished after all—it had simply landed on all the feybeasts. As they started to struggle and flail about in a desperate attempt to escape, Ferdinand bent down and pressed a palm against the ground, carefully eyeing the trapped creatures. 

“Disappear,” he said quietly. 

I could see him pouring mana into the net. Its strands shone with the light of mana, and an instant later, I heard the same explosive boom as before. All the feybeasts within the net disappeared, just as Ferdinand commanded. 

That’s terrifying... That’s so, so terrifying. 

I could guess that only someone with an overwhelming mana capacity like Ferdinand could manage an attack like that; pouring mana into a net that wide would require both a ton of mana and great skill in manipulating it. 

Ferdinand exhibited such overwhelming strength compared to everyone else that my unsettled awe turned into just plain fear. I decided to shift my gaze and focus on Damuel instead. 

His fighting style was a lot more drab than everyone else’s in the sense that there wasn’t anything flashy about it: he simply thrust his sword into each feybeast, one after another. But it was clear that he had grown since last year. He wasn’t having to rely on his stamina and strength to preserve mana, he wasn’t gasping for air, and he wasn’t anxiously scanning his surroundings. Instead, he was facing straight forward, fighting without any hesitation. 

Having taken my advice seriously and incorporated it into his training, Damuel now knew how to vary the amount of mana he used in combat: he was using a little more when taking on the larger fetzes, and less when fighting the smaller ones. 

“Damuel, it’s been some time. Take a step back and drink a potion.” 

“There is no need, Lord Karstedt. I am doing just fine,” Damuel said, shaking his head as he stabbed a zantze with his sword. Maybe it was due to him being positioned between two absolute powerhouses this year, but he was swinging with a lot more confidence and making sure to confirm each kill. 

“There’s no need to push yourself.” 

“I truly am fine,” he replied quietly, not taking his eyes off the feybeasts for even a moment as he continued to swing his sword. 

The battle continued for quite some time before Damuel eventually announced that he was falling back. This time, however, he was doing it on his own terms. Leaving the area he had been protecting to Karstedt and Ferdinand, he took a step back and leaned against the tree, downing a recovery potion. He would be resting until it took effect. 

“Damuel, you’re so much stronger now,” I called down, leaning out the window of my Pandabus. 

He looked up in surprise, then gave me a small smile. “Thank you.” 

A short while later, I noticed that he had closed his eyes. I could tell from his careful breathing that he was checking how much mana he had. When he opened them again, his gaze was immediately fixed on the feybeasts. He morphed his schtappe back into a sword, then leapt into battle once again. It seemed that his limits had increased enough to give him a newfound confidence, and now he was fighting with much more leeway than before. 

He must have been taking his training really, really seriously. 

I knew how much Damuel had wished to grow stronger, so seeing his hard work bear fruit filled me with pride like I was watching my own son. His recent growth was a powerful reminder of just how significant of a driving force love really was. 

As I was admiring how much Damuel had grown and grinning about his love life, Justus suddenly called out to me. “Milady, it’s time! I believe you should now pour your mana into the ruelle!” 

After taking a deep breath, I leaned out of my Pandabus and reached for the ruelle fruit, which looked a lot like a purple crystal. Dyeing it with my mana was no easy task: all living things had an instinct to reject outside mana, so they violently resisted the process. 

I gripped the hard, smooth ruelle in my hands and started pouring in my mana all at once, visualizing myself smashing its resistance to pieces. The fact that I could feel slightly less resistance than last year likely meant that I had grown a little myself too. 

I continued adding more and more mana, focusing my gaze on the ruelle as I steadily overcame its resistance. It wasn’t long before it started turning from a translucent purple to a light yellow. Last year, it had felt as though my mana was being pushed back, but there wasn’t anything like that now; my mana flow was fast and uninterrupted. 

“Justus, will this do?” I asked, looking around just in time to see him cut down an eifinte on his way over. 

Once the threat was eliminated, he flew up to the ruelle, staying on guard. “That was fast, milady... But yes, it’s done. Upon removing it from the tree, please place it inside your bag at once.” 

The ruelle had now completely changed color. I held it in my left hand as I cut the stem attaching it to the tree with my magic knife, then trimmed away all the excess parts before putting it into my bag. It was a bag that blocked the flow of mana, so I didn’t think I needed to worry about feybeasts snatching it away anymore. 

“She’s finished her gathering!” Justus called. 

Karstedt responded with a firm nod. “Then we retreat!” 

“Not yet!” I shouted back. “Wait just a little longer! Damuel needs a ruelle too!” 

Ferdinand blasted a crowd of feybeasts to bits, then shot me a fierce glare. “What are you thinking, Rozemyne?!” 

“Doesn’t he need a sizable feystone for his proposal next summer? He won’t have any opportunities to gather one himself while he’s guarding me, so he might as well grab it now. I learned all about this from the knight stories,” I said, proudly puffing out my chest. 

Both Ferdinand and Karstedt smirked at my remark, almost as if to say, “Look at this kid who can’t even distinguish fiction from reality.” I couldn’t help but blink in surprise. 

“Did I misread them or something...?” 

“No. However...” Ferdinand trailed off, then directed a meaningful glance at Brigitte. I immediately understood. You were obviously supposed to prepare the feystone stealthily, not in front of the very person you planned to propose to. 

Gaaah! I thought I was being considerate, but was I actually just making things awkward for him?! 

As I cradled my head in sheer horror, a wide grin spread across Karstedt’s face. “Go get one, Damuel. You won’t find feystones of a higher quality than those. They’ll be perfect for your proposal,” he said, continuing to cut down feybeasts all the while. Perhaps it was just my imagination, but I could have sworn I also heard him say, “Elvira really is looking forward to seeing what happens next.” 

Having the approval of the knight commander had sealed the deal, so both Eckhart and Ferdinand told Damuel to hurry up and get it over with. I peered over at Brigitte and saw that she was silently continuing to hunt feybeasts, intentionally not looking this way at all. It was a little hard to notice since it was dark and she was so far away, but it seemed that her ears had gone a bit red. 

Sorry, Brigitte... I really didn’t mean to embarrass you like this. 

Damuel flew his highbeast up to a ruelle, then chanted “messer” to morph his schtappe into a knife. While I needed a high-quality feystone dyed completely with my own mana, Damuel needed a feystone meant for proposals. He wouldn’t have to dye it with his own mana right at the tree like I did. 

He speedily chopped away some branches and gathered two nearby ruelles, one for the proposal, and one presumably for his own purposes. Then, with a pleased smile, he delicately placed them both in his own leather bag. 

“This is my first time ever getting such a high-quality feystone,” he said. “I’ll bring it home and take my time filling it with my mana.”

Upon returning to Dorvan’s winter mansion, I slept as soundly as could be, filled with a mix of pride and satisfaction at having finally finished gathering all the materials I needed. 

When morning came, I practically skipped down the hall toward Ferdinand’s room. He had told me to come and see him after eating breakfast, presumably to continue the paperwork we hadn’t finished the day before. I was planning to put my all into it so that we could start making the potion as soon as possible. 

I’m going to be healthy soon! I’ll get strong and everything. I’m finally going to be a normal girl. Eheheh... Eheheheh! 

Damuel had headed to Ferdinand’s room ahead of time, so I was currently being accompanied by Fran and Brigitte. I bounded along until we eventually arrived, at which point one of Ferdinand’s attendants waiting outside opened the door to let us in. 

“Good morning, Ferdinand! What do you need help with today?” I asked, greeting him in a bright and lively tone. But the atmosphere in the room was so heavy and serious that I hurriedly shut my mouth. Nobody was working—that is to say, everyone but the attendant waiting by the door had been cleared out, leaving nobody to do the work. It was just Karstedt, Ferdinand, and Eckhart, all regarding me with deep frowns, and Damuel, who met me with a pitiable stare like he was begging for help. 

Um, Damuel...? What did you do? 

“Brigitte, Fran. Leave.” 

I fought back the urge to cling to Brigitte and Fran as they sped out of the room, instead just blinking in utter bemusement. That gave Ferdinand ample opportunity to glare at me. 

“I imagine you know why you are here, Rozemyne,” he said. “What exactly did you do to Damuel?” 

I honestly had no idea what he was talking about. Were they mad at me because I had treated Damuel wrongly as my guard knight? I desperately tried to recall everything that I had done recently. 

“Um, um... What did I do to Damuel...? Do you mean when I suggested that he gather ruelles last night? Or when I gave him sweets while he was on guard duty the other day? Oh, but I gave those to Brigitte too, so—” 

“No! Nothing like that at all. I am inferring that you are responsible for the unnaturally large increase in his mana capacity.” 

“...His mana capacity increased as the result of his own hard work. I did give him a little advice to help him out, but nothing would have happened without his rigorous training and dedication.” 

Upon finding out that this was simply about Damuel’s recent growth, I let out a sigh, relieved that they weren’t actually mad at me. But Karstedt looked down at me with a stern expression. 

“What in the world was that advice you gave him, Rozemyne?” he asked. “His growth is outright abnormal. A laynoble like Damuel at the end of his growing period should not be displaying such a considerable increase. It’s unprecedented.” 

“I just taught him my mana compression method with a visual example, in the same way that he used gewinnen pieces to help Angelica understand tactics,” I said. 

Karstedt and Eckhart frowned in confusion. Ferdinand, however, regarded me with angrily raised eyebrows. “Your mana compression method? I was not told of this.” 

“Hm? I mean, you’ve never asked me about it, Ferdinand. It hasn’t really come up in conversation. Also, I developed it myself, so I don’t even know whether it’s a good thing for people to do. Maybe it just happened to work well with Damuel,” I said thoughtfully, but Damuel slowly shook his head. 

“I believe anyone going through puberty would see an exceptional increase in their mana capacity by using your mana compression method, Lady Rozemyne. I simply didn’t report it because I did not want to return to being below average after finally getting more mana. Forgive me.” 

If everyone learned the same method and increased their mana capacities, then the average would rise with them, putting Damuel back at the bottom. 

“I understand why you would want to hide it,” Eckhart said. “It would make perfect sense to keep such a method a personal secret, or even have it passed down through one’s family.” 

It seemed that Damuel wasn’t getting scolded for keeping the technique a secret, but then why were we even here? I turned to look at Ferdinand, who was watching me quietly with his light-golden eyes. 

“Rozemyne, it seems that, unlike Damuel, you did not intend to keep this a secret. Why, then, did you not think to spread this method throughout Ehrenfest, knowing that we are experiencing a mana shortage?” 

“Well, I mean...” 

It was true that Ehrenfest was currently suffering from a shortage of mana, and that most people probably took great interest in finding ways to help increase the amount of mana available. But I wasn’t most people. I was wholly focused on spreading books, so it never really occurred to me that I should try to spread my method. 

“Compressing my mana is something that I constantly needed to do to survive while living on the brink of death. I didn’t really consider it something worth teaching to nobles with magic tools, and it’s possibly a dangerous method that might actually kill people. I don’t want to spread something that dangerous.” 

Karstedt gave an understanding nod, but Ferdinand pressed a finger against his temple. “Then why did you teach it to Damuel?” he asked. 

“Damuel knows of my origins, so he understood the true meaning and weight behind me saying it was something that I did while on the verge of death.” 

Everyone else here also knew about my origins, and they all seemed to be wearing the same difficult frown. 

“I see,” Ferdinand eventually responded. “I understand your perspective, and why you did not feel motivated to make your technique more widely known. I will, however, ask you to spread it nonetheless. I wish for this mana compression method to be taught to other nobles in Ehrenfest. The mana shortage is a problem that must be solved as soon as possible, and nothing could be better for us than increasing the mana capacity of the children who shall support Ehrenfest in the future.” 

I could sense the slight urgency in his voice, but my understanding was that, for the past two years, Ehrenfest had managed to meet its mana quotas and yield bountiful enough harvests thanks to me performing Spring Prayer. As much as I could understand him wanting to increase the mana capacities of the blue priests who helped us to offer up mana, I didn’t understand why he would so fervently want to increase the mana capacities of all nobles in general. 

“It seems like you’re in a big hurry to do this,” I observed. “Is there a reason for that?” 

“Not particularly. It is just one more way to prepare for Georgine using her position as Ahrensbach’s first wife to harm Ehrenfest. Raising the average mana capacity of our nobles would aid us considerably.” 

If Ferdinand needed my help for some plan or another, then it would probably be wise for me to provide it. But my mana compression was hardly a reliable and safe process; I didn’t want to just throw it out there in its current state. 

“I don’t mind spreading my method to help the duchy,” I said. “But I do have some conditions.”