Ferdinand and Hirschur’s Gifts
After looking over the orphanage and workshop, I started compiling all my newly gathered information. I would be having a meeting with Giebe Haldenzel after the Dedication Ritual and heading to Haldenzel in the spring, so I needed to use everything the gray priests had told me.
“Zahm, could you request a meeting with the High Priest for me? Also, ask him to lend me an ordonnanz. Monika, organize today’s reports. The gray priests have gotten much more valuable over the past two years thanks to their hard work, so I will need to update some documents. Fran, bring me the Haldenzel documents that Gil organized.”
After distributing work to my attendants, I started reading through the Haldenzel documents Fran brought me. I needed to suss out what would come up in negotiations, how much work the Gutenbergs had done, where the work pipeline might get clogged, et cetera. Still, I had to wonder if Giebe Haldenzel knew exactly what kind of stories Elvira was printing. Was she the only one making books? I was suddenly very curious.
Haah... I really want to read the other book Mother made.
I couldn’t calm down when I had a book in my possession that I hadn’t yet read. The temple was a more relaxing place for me than almost anywhere else, but I wanted to rush back to the castle just to delve into those stories. My mind quickly wandered, only snapping back to reality when Zahm returned from Ferdinand’s chambers with a troubled expression.
“Zahm, did something happen?” I asked.
“It seems the High Priest has holed up in his workshop ever since his return to the temple yesterday. His attendants say he has not yet eaten, even though we are now approaching fifth bell.”
Ferdinand had told me to spend the day checking up on the orphanage and workshop, and now I knew why: he had clearly just wanted to hide away in his workshop. I could imagine he was losing his mind right now researching the gifts Hirschur had included among all our luggage.
“He endured an endless stream of work while I was asleep, correct? I see no issue with letting him have his fun for one day.”
“He has been in his workshop since yesterday, so a full day has passed already,” Zahm noted, his expression clouding with worry as he glanced at the door. Fran was looking equally concerned about Ferdinand not having eaten in so long. This was nothing new, but once again I was reminded just how much Ferdinand’s former attendants still cared for him.
“Should I go check up on him?”
“We would greatly appreciate it. You are the only one in the temple with higher authority than the High Priest, Lady Rozemyne.”
Yet I somehow doubt he would acknowledge an order from me to leave his workshop...
I stood up in any case, thinking about what I could do to ease their worries. Zahm opened the door for me, and I started for the High Priest’s chambers with him and Fran in tow.
“Rozemyne! Thank you for coming!” Eckhart said, greeting me with a smile. He was, for some reason, doing paperwork at Ferdinand’s desk. When I glanced around the room, I realized that Justus wasn’t anywhere to be seen.
“Eckhart, where’s Justus?” I asked. “Don’t tell me he forced all the work on you and is locked up in the workshop with Ferdinand.”
“No, he went back to the castle after finishing his half of the work and the blizzard died down a bit. He was looking forward to Hirschur’s gifts, but Lord Ferdinand wouldn’t let him in the workshop.”
Ferdinand’s temple workshop was made such that one needed an enormous amount of mana to enter, specifically to prevent Sylvester from barging in and causing problems. Justus had ultimately had no choice but to gaze at the workshop door with envy before finishing the bare minimum of his work and leaving for the castle.
“Not to mention, he is not forcing the work on me. I am willingly doing this work so that Lord Ferdinand may dedicate as much time as possible to his research.” Eckhart continued. He was willingly helping out, but even then, I could see he was reaching his limit. “You can enter his workshop, can’t you, Rozemyne?”
“I cannot open the door on my own, as my mana is not registered with its feystone,” I said. It perhaps wasn’t the fairest situation, considering that Ferdinand was registered with and could enter my workshop in the High Bishop’s chambers.
Eckhart slumped over at my response before looking at the magic tool for speaking into the workshop. “Could you at least try talking to him? Lord Ferdinand has stopped responding to anything I say, but he should respond to a visitor.”
Having no other choice, I touched the communication feystone and spoke. “Ferdinand, it’s Rozemyne.”
“Now you, hm? I am busy. Unless it is urgent, save it for later.”
“It is urgent. You need to eat. Eckhart and your attendants are worried sick!”
“Understood. You may rest easy with the knowledge that I will eat when I find an ideal stopping point with my work,” he said, flatly rejecting my concerns. Why couldn’t he just come out already?
I sighed, stepped back from the feystone, and then turned back to Eckhart. “He says he will eat when he finds a good place to stop. He won’t die from going a day or two without food. Would it not be fine to just let him do as he pleases until the Dedication Ritual?”
His obsessive focus was something I understood all too well; in fact, I could remember holing up on a regular basis back in my Urano days whenever I got absorbed in a book. I saw no reason to interrupt him before the Dedication Ritual posed an actual problem we would need him for.
I was pretty satisfied with this conclusion, but Eckhart knelt in front of me alongside Ferdinand’s servants. “Rozemyne, Lord Ferdinand has been saying that since morning. Is there nothing you can do? Surely you of all people have something that can draw his interest,” he said, looking at me with such desperation that one might think the world was ending and only I could save him.
I couldn’t help but grimace slightly. I could tell I needed to drag Ferdinand out of his dark cave now, else Eckhart would continue pleading with me until the end of time.
“Baiting him out is a simple matter, but it would result in him yelling at me, which is hardly ideal. I just emerged from a harsh scolding and would not like to receive another any time soon...” I muttered.
“Do you mean to say that you did something to earn the High Priest’s ire, Lady Rozemyne?” Fran asked. Zahm began giving me encouragement, saying that he would join me in getting scolded so I wouldn’t have to be alone.
Either way, Ferdinand is going to be really ticked off about having been torn from his work. I don’t want to willingly throw myself to the dogs by volunteering information that will make him even angrier.
Eckhart paused for a moment before clapping a hand on my shoulder. He leaned closer, his blue eyes gleaming with satisfaction, and whispered in my ear as if disclosing a secret.
“The sooner you get this over with, the less he’ll complain, Rozemyne. Not to mention, you can calm his wrath at least slightly by shifting the topic of conversation to magic tool research. You might even be able to distract him completely.”
“Okay. I’ll do it. You’ve convinced me.” I raised my head with firm resolve and spoke into the magic tool again. “Ferdinand, come out. Let’s eat dinner together.”
“You’re still here? No. Leave me be.”
“I was thinking we should discuss mana compression. Are you uninterested in the new fourth stage of my process? All those in the temple—that is to say, you and my guard knights—know of my compression method already, so I imagine it is safe to discuss over dinner.”
Ferdinand fell silent, no doubt weighing his interest in continuing his research against discussing the mana compression method. He needed one more push, and while I was apprehensive about the idea, I knew just what to say.
“Furthermore, there is something I wish to consult you about. I plan on teaching the children of the former Veronica faction my mana compression method and taking them in. I—”
“Have you lost your mind?!” Ferdinand roared, bursting through the door to interrupt me. I had succeeded in getting him out of his workshop, but the blue vein bulging on his forehead told me he was moments away from unleashing his thunderous wrath. His face was worn from what was quite clearly sleep deprivation, but his eyes were as sharp as ever, presumably because he had spent that time absorbed in what he liked doing most. To be honest, it was a pretty scary look.
“You scolded me about not communicating so here I am, communicating. You are going to listen, aren’t you?”
“I suppose I have no choice. Good grief...” Ferdinand tapped a finger against his temple, making no attempt to hide his displeasure.
“In that case, once sixth bell rings, you can—”
“We will eat in my chambers. Do not bother me until then.”
He’s absolutely grasping for as much research time as possible.
I had figured out what Ferdinand was thinking the second I saw him look back at his workshop. This had to be the easiest he had ever been to read.
“That is acceptable. I will return at sixth bell,” I said with a smile. Ferdinand returned to his workshop with a frown, and as his workshop door closed once again, I gazed across the assembled attendants. “And so it is done. I will be joining you for dinner tonight.”
“We thank you, High Bishop. It is an immeasurable relief to know the High Priest is going to eat,” his attendants said as they busily started preparations for an extra portion.
“Lady Rozemyne, shall we return to your chambers?” Fran asked.
My eating dinner here meant my attendants would need to prepare my cutlery and the like. Those accompanying me would also need to split into groups, with some having an early dinner and the others eating after me.
“Farewell, Eckhart. I will come back at sixth bell,” I said.
“I await your return. I imagine Lord Ferdinand wouldn’t have left his workshop without you here. I’m glad to have a little sister capable of moving a mountain like him.” He praised me with a smile that made him look a lot like Karstedt, but I had to admit, his words didn’t make me all too pleased.
I returned to the High Priest’s chambers after sixth bell to find Ferdinand waiting with an irritated frown, having already come out from his workshop. I would need to endure his frustration while our attendants prepared our plates; meanwhile, Eckhart looked completely unperturbed as he stood just out of sight. It was quite honestly kind of annoying.
“Ferdinand, you are letting your emotions show. That is not proper for a noble,” I noted.
“I am doing it deliberately, because I am well aware you would not understand a fraction of my displeasure otherwise. Consider my honesty here special treatment for you in particular,” he replied, not that I was particularly interested in any “special treatment” that involved being on the receiving end of such a nasty glare. “In any case, what was that nonsense about teaching members of the former Veronica faction your compression method? Did you not say you would refuse to give this knowledge to those who would oppose you?”
“I am not going to teach it to future enemies, that much has remained unchanged, but it was only when I spoke with the children of the former Veronica faction in the Royal Academy that I realized just how large the faction was, and just how little communication there is between factions. It was previously the largest faction, correct? It is not possible to simply eliminate them all, so would you not agree it is important that we bring some to our side?”
Ferdinand listened quietly and then motioned for me to continue. The look in his eyes was not one of approval, however, but slight irritation.
“Furthermore, there are many children who regret tricking Wilfried, having not realized what they were doing at the time,” I continued. “Some anguish over being automatically considered part of their parents’ faction.”
“It is true that only adults can choose their faction.”
“But their most substantial mana growth period will most likely be over by then, will it not? It seems to me that many are upset to be missing out on so much potential mana growth purely due to a decision made by their parents, and these feelings are only exacerbated when they see Angelica and Cornelius advancing so rapidly before their very eyes.”
“It is true that one’s mana capacity grows the most while attending the Royal Academy,” Ferdinand muttered, his eyes closed in contemplation.
“Would it be possible to change the details of the magic contract such that we can bring at least the children over to our side?”
“You say that as if changing the details is easy.”
“I shall entrust the fine-tuning to you and Mother, since you are more familiar with the minutiae of faction politics than I am. We must act with caution, but we do not want to lose this many people.”
Ferdinand pondered the situation before fixing me with a piercing stare. “What is your ulterior motive here? Speak honestly.”
“Ngh... I am also hoping that binding them with a magic contract will make it easier for Sylvester to accept me taking a retainer from the former Veronica faction.”
His eyes shot wide open, and onto his lips crept a smile so cold that it practically negated the heat from the nearby furnace. “Just how much of a fool are you?” he asked in a hushed voice. “Have you forgotten what they did to you? It has been two years for the rest of the world, but only a single season for you. Surely your memory is not that poor.”
“I may be a fool, but there are promising children among the former Veronica faction. Would it not be a waste to let them rot?” I asked. Roderick was highly valuable to me for his proven ability to collect and create continuations to stories I struggled to even remember. “Not to mention, it is unpleasant to live in a dormitory so largely overcome with despair and dismay.”
“That is simply the way of the dormitories. Such animosity between factions is a matter of course,” Ferdinand replied, scoffing as though to say I really was an idiot.
“But it doesn’t have to be that way,” I explained. “As part of the Better Grades Committee, we split everyone into teams based on courses. Those within these teams ultimately helped each other pass their written classes without paying mind to faction politics.” Things had naturally been as awkward as one would expect at first, but as the students shared their thoughts and tutored each other, the atmosphere in the common room ended up more peaceful and welcoming than ever.
Once again, Ferdinand stared at me in wide-eyed disbelief. “You were doing such things at the Royal Academy?”
“Yes. Sylvester ordered me to raise our duchy’s grades, after all. I was able to increase overall performance by establishing rewards and making everyone compete, much like I did in the winter playroom. Did you not receive reports from Wilfried on this...?” I thought this was more than important enough to warrant mention, so if not, there really was a problem with his reports.
“He sent me nothing but questions about you, though it seems there is a great deal of valuable information among the matters he did not consult me about,” Ferdinand said, eyeing me with suspicion.
I averted my gaze at once. Was it just my imagination, or was he going to lecture me about something again?
“In any case, I understand there was enough diplomacy in the dormitory for the children of the former Veronica faction to speak freely,” Ferdinand continued. “I will consider whether changing the contract and attempting to absorb some from their faction is an ideal move. If you succeed in recruiting the children on their way to adulthood, the power balance among factions will shift yet further. Of course, this carries with it a heavy risk, and caution should remain our highest priority. Do not make any rogue moves before we have come to a clear conclusion on this matter.”
“Naturally.”
During dinner, we discussed Hirschur’s gifts and the like. I took the opportunity to ask what magic tools she had wanted Ferdinand to fix.
“They are magic tools used in her classes. They are around a decade old, so I was sure she would have made new ones by now, but apparently not.”
Ferdinand went on to explain their purpose, and my personal interpretation led me to conclude they were pretty much projectors. If you poured mana into the feystone, it would project words written on a sheet of paper onto a white cloth, much like a slide.
“As I’m sure you saw, Hirschur loathes to put effort into anything but her research,” he began. “It frustrates her beyond measure to repeat the same explanations in class, but it is only natural for students to ask questions when they did not quite catch her explanation in full. To make matters worse, the instructions get more complex and thus harder to memorize as one moves up in years. I made her a projection magic tool so that she would not have to repeat the steps in her brewing class.”
He had apparently been driven to do this after Hirschur would consistently return from her classes in a foul mood. She was overjoyed to receive the magic tool, since she needed only to write the instructions once and that was that, and it became integral to her lectures from that point onward.
“From what I can glean, Hirschur has not changed from when she used to teach me.”
“She said the same thing when I mentioned you were overdoing mana compression to the point of getting sick. You really pushed yourself while you were attending the Royal Academy, didn’t you?”
“I would not say I am necessarily overdoing anything. Now, what is this about a fourth step?” he asked, having been so busy thinking about the former Veronica faction that he had forgotten to ask about what mattered most: the mana compression method.
At his request, I explained what had happened during the mana compression class. My misunderstanding that I needed to compress my mana further had resulted in me thinking things over and taking another look at my method.
“Your thought process continues to be incomprehensible, but I must admit, there is wisdom within it as well. Combining two existing methods rather than starting afresh was clever. You redid your compression after first decompressing all your mana, but I see no reason why you cannot simply boil down the mana while it is compressed. Why add a step to the beginning? Simply incorporate it at the end.”
“This was just the easiest way for me to visualize it.” My third step was flattening a bag to the point that it was practically airtight, and it was beyond me to imagine boiling a bag. Maybe it was easier to picture drying it to a crisp. I shut my eyes and tried just that, only for Fran to exhale in exasperation.
“Lady Rozemyne, High Priest, you have ceased eating. Might I ask that you save such strenuous thinking for once you have finished...?” Fran asked. It was then that I realized everyone, including our guard knights, were furrowing their brows as they attempted the new compression step themselves. I gave a small shrug and continued my meal.
“Combining compression methods is a very Rozemyne idea,” Ferdinand commented. “Will you be teaching this step to everyone?”
“...I will teach it to my retainers. I am sure the leaders of Ehrenfest will want to learn it as well, but as for everyone else... I suppose slow and steady wins the race. It would be nice to save it as a trump card of sorts.”
As we continued our dinner, I tried asking about Schwartz and Weiss’s magic circles. I mentioned that their charms included something that reversed attacks from enemies, which earned many nods from Ferdinand.
“One of the charms I gave you functions similarly, but this is my first time seeing a magic circle capable of reflecting multiple attacks at once,” he said. “They require a considerable amount of mana though. It is worth researching them, but I do not expect them to be very useful to you on a daily basis.”
As it turned out, Ferdinand was planning to research their charms in part to strengthen mine. I was effectively his guinea pig.
“Who else has enough mana to fuel magic tools while attending practical lessons?” he continued. “Incidentally, Rozemyne... How much have your muscles and stamina recovered since the jureve?”
Not much, since I prioritized reading in the library above all else...
Here I was, faced with a question that I couldn’t answer honestly without getting shouted at. I put on a smile and changed the subject, as Eckhart had taught me.
“Professor Solange said it must be tremendous work for me to pour so much mana into Schwartz and Weiss. Is my mana capacity truly that abnormal...? I don’t have much of a reference point.”
“...You effortlessly compress your mana and are steadily adding more steps to the process as time goes on. Your mana capacity is incomparable to that of others your age, and it will grow even larger as your body does.”
“The only thing that kept Professor Hirschur from snatching up Schwartz and Weiss was Professor Solange continually pouring mana into their charms,” I said. “She was overjoyed when I gave her the opportunity to draw the magic circles while we were taking measurements. What have we learned so far? Have you made any new discoveries?”
“Ah, yes. They have been quite fascinating.”
It seemed that I had succeeded in changing the topic. Ferdinand went on to describe the great beauty of the magic circles embroidered onto their torsos, speaking a bit quicker than normal. The circles were apparently complexly woven and maintained a delicate balance between several elements.
“Professor Hirschur mentioned that the circles are riddled with holes. Do you believe you can fill those in?”
“I have not yet given it a try, but I would certainly like to. There will not be any other opportunities for me to study the personal research of royalty while in Ehrenfest—I can say that without a shadow of a doubt. Though things would have turned out differently had I been able to move to the Sovereignty...”
I could guess that Ferdinand had wanted to move to the Sovereignty but was prevented from doing so by his position as an archduke candidate. I was facing exactly the same problem, since I couldn’t move to the Sovereignty and work in the Royal Academy’s library no matter how much I wanted to.
In which case, I’m even more sure of my decision that it should be fine to let Ferdinand have his fun here.
“Ferdinand, I am required as Schwartz and Weiss’s master to prepare new clothes for them. According to Professor Hirschur, this is a task so demanding that all those in Ehrenfest will need to band together so that we do not shame ourselves. The making of charms will require many valuable materials. Would it be possible for you to provide assistance also?” I asked.
“Hm... Challenging both those of the past and those to come, hm? Fascinating. We should start by improving the magic circles,” Ferdinand muttered as he began considering what to improve first and how to improve it. I could tell we would end up with some incredibly powerful clothes if we left things in his capable hands.
Ferdinand really can do everything!
As I internally clapped in approval, Fran let out another thoroughly troubled sigh. “Excuse me, but you have both stopped eating again. The orphanage will never receive dinner at this rate.”
Oops. Sorry.
We finished our meals, and then Eckhart and I immediately banded together to stop Ferdinand from retreating back into his workshop.
“Ferdinand, you have two choices here: leave your workshop when called for, or allow me to register my mana such that I can enter your workshop myself. There is no room for debate. I do not want Eckhart and your attendants pleading with me for help every single day.”
“Good grief... I would rather leave when summoned than allow you to stroll in and out as you please. I must say, you are beginning to resemble Rihyarda with your forcefulness.”
“I was dragged out of the library every day at the Royal Academy. Now it is your turn to know the pain I endured,” I said, resting my hands on my hips as Rihyarda often would when she was about to lecture me.
Ferdinand shook his head and deeply exhaled. “Rozemyne, do not give Rihyarda so much trouble.”
“I will repeat the same warning to you: do not give your attendants so much trouble.”
Damuel quickly put a hand over his mouth as he tried to contain his laughter, earning him a glare from Ferdinand. The moral of today’s exchange was that a closed mouth gathers no feet... but also that an open mouth can be used to redirect attention and anger.
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