Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 4.3 - Chapter 9

Justus and Preparing for the Interduchy Tournament

“Justus has said that he will be accompanying you for all of today, milady. Lord Sylvester and Ferdinand may have ordered it, but are you certain you’re fine with this?” Rihyarda asked me first thing in the morning. She had a strict look on her face; Traugott and I were switching attendants for the day, and she was no doubt experiencing a sizable headache knowing that her own son was cross-dressing to serve as a female attendant.

“I am a bit concerned about this myself, but the information Wilfried and I have simply isn’t enough. We have no choice. Not to mention, Justus was recommended to me by Ferdinand himself. He has my full faith.”

Also, I hate to say this when Rihyarda is so worried, but I kinda want to see Justus cross-dress. Out of morbid curiosity, of course—in the same way one might want to see a horror movie.

I would be spending my morning at the library replenishing Schwartz’s and Weiss’s mana; then, in the afternoon, I was going to meet with Anastasius. Justus was due to be accompanying me as my attendant, which meant Rihyarda would be serving Traugott.

“Justus always focuses on the work he likes doing most, so he’s probably leaving dealing with Traugott for last. I’ll have to make sure he’s doing his attendant work properly...” Rihyarda said, her dark eyes gleaming. There was no doubt in my mind that her check was going to be very thorough.

After breakfast, we discussed the Interduchy Tournament in the common room until the library opened. In Earth terms, the tournament was like a combination of a sports festival, a cultural festival, and a career fair, during which students would show off their skills to their guardians, the aubs, and Sovereign royalty. Some people would spin their wheels trying to prove themselves to their significant other’s parents, while some professors used the occasion to publish their research, despite it supposedly being a place for students. All in all, it was a time and place for all sorts of wacky happenings.

For apprentice knights, the Interduchy Tournament was all about the ditter, when they would compete to defeat feybeasts produced by the professors’ magic as quickly as possible. It was the star competition of the tournament, since you could tell who won at a glance and it involved flashy battles during which everyone played distinct roles.

There was a blatant disparity in power between the greater duchies, who were populous enough to choose the very best knights for their games, and the lesser duchies, who were forced to send out all of their knights no matter their skill levels. However, that too was part of a duchy’s strength.

Despite its size, Ehrenfest was much closer to being a lesser duchy than a middle duchy in terms of population. We had to compensate for our lack of manpower with individual skill, though judging by what I had seen of our apprentices, we were doing a rather poor job—or rather, that is to say, we still had much room to grow. Our ranking would surely rise as our apprentices increased their mana through compression, studied more feybeasts, and practiced coordinating in fights.

“Angelica and I will lead the fighting this year, with Leonore instructing us based on past tournament results and the weak points of whatever feybeasts we’re up against,” Cornelius said. “Unfortunately, we still aren’t yet capable of anything resembling proper coordination.”

Angelica nodded. The games with Dunkelfelger had taught everyone the importance of working together, but practice had only just begun. We would probably do better next year, since Bonifatius had said that he would train the apprentices for me once spring came.

“Incidentally, I plan to give Angriff’s blessing to the apprentices before the ditter game, but would that be considered cheap or unfair?” I asked.

“Your blessings will be a key part of our strategy,” Leonore replied. “There is nothing more confidence-inducing than you blessing our victory in the dormitory before we leave.” Her implication that it was something best done out of sight of the other duchies was enough for me to guess it was on the darker side of being morally gray.

Well, given that Dunkelfelger already calls me a scheming trickster, I suppose it’s fine...

For apprentice scholars, the tournament was a place to announce their research on magic tools, improved potion recipes, and other such inventions. One would sell their technology to the Sovereignty with the compiled research results and completed products in hand. Ferdinand had earned a literal fortune announcing his original magic tools here and selling them to the Sovereignty. Ever since his graduation, those from Ehrenfest had considered this part of the tournament little more than a place for Hirschur to announce her research results.

“Hartmut, will you be announcing anything?” I asked.

“You are my subject of study at the moment, Lady Rozemyne, but I currently lack any conclusions worth announcing.”

Is it just me, or was that response genuinely terrifying?

“To be more precise, I am researching the difference between the magecraft we learn in the Royal Academy, and the blessings and divine protection you use, Lady Rozemyne. In the Royal Academy, we learn to use the divine protection of the gods only upon acquiring our schtappes, but you can use them even without one, correct?”

“Do we not all give blessings during our greetings?” I replied. Even without a schtappe, everyone could perform blessings using the feystone for expelling mana they received during their baptism ceremony.

Hartmut widened his orange eyes. “I’m referring not to blessings that simply expel mana, but to prayers made in the name of a god that carry potent divine protection. These are separate things in my eyes, but I see now that they are the same to you.” There was the joy of discovery in his voice, and this information was just as new to me. Greetings, prayers in the temple, and requests for divine protection all came from saying the names of gods and expelling mana; as far as I was concerned, they were all just prayers dedicated to the gods.

Aah, but I guess there are minor differences... like when I feel the mana getting sucked out of me on its own versus when I actually need to work to push it out. I don’t really get it, so I’m just going to stop thinking now.

“In any case, I would like for you to work on some more productive research, Hartmut.”

“I am planning to research something more publishable next year. My research on you will likely take more than a lifetime, so I would like to begin more thoroughly following my graduation,” Hartmut said, his smiling eyes locked on me.

No! Don’t make me your life’s work! Please, no!

“Ah, Lady Rozemyne,” Philine said as I cradled my head, “I just remembered—Professor Hirschur’s announcements this year will be centered around her research on Schwartz and Weiss.”

The outfits had thus far required a great deal of research, and everyone from Ehrenfest was having to work together in order to make them. For these reasons, Hirschur had decided to make them her main focus.

“That must be why she was so enthusiastic about getting those documents from Lord Ferdinand,” Philine continued, her voice tinged with awe. “I was so surprised by her reaction yesterday.”

Upon being informed of my return, Hirschur had burst into the dormitory like a cannonball. She had then sped right up to me with a look intense enough to bore holes into the wall—hardly the expression one would expect from a teacher retrieving packages from her old disciple.

Justus had been the one to step forward and deal with Hirschur. Just as he had proposed, he had used the research on Schwartz and Weiss as a bargaining chip to get her to refuse the Dunkelfelger match for us, deliberately emphasizing that I was not to be personally challenged again. He had then handed her only half of the documents, stating that he would “deliver the second half once the cancellation is confirmed.”

Hirschur had of course acted immediately, and she was back to collect the rest before even a single bell had passed. She had rushed in like a hurricane and then left just as quickly.

“I never would have thought Professor Hirschur could talk Professor Rauffen down so extremely quickly. Yesterday I learned that she has a talent for something other than research...” Hartmut muttered in a daze. Everyone else nodded in solemn agreement.

Seriously, with people like Sylvester and Hirschur, Ehrenfest culture could be defined as weirdos motivated only by their primary interest rampaging around. When will they learn to calm down a little? Good grief.

To attendants, the Interduchy Tournament was a place to push trends and lavish guests with excellent hospitality. Up until now, Ehrenfest had received almost no visitors outside of the students’ own guardians; without anything that was new or garnered much interest, other duchies wouldn’t bother to come over. The Interduchy Tournament wasn’t very long overall, so it was a matter of course that people and attention would be centered around the most fascinating things.

Even the students’ guardians and the archducal couple would immediately leave for other duchies to socialize; nobody would come to them, so they had to actively venture out. Brunhilde had found it exceedingly frustrating that she had honed her hosting skills to such an incredible degree but had never had the chance to actually show them off.

This year, Ehrenfest had garnered much attention with its rinsham, hairpins, pound cakes, and plant paper. Brunhilde was also putting her all into polishing up the girls by cleaning their hair with rinsham, exactly as we had done before the advancement ceremony.

There were still some concerns, however. For one, Lieseleta was worried that we didn’t know how many visitors would be coming—a problem born from all the new trends and the fact that both Wilfried and I were here. Justus had apparently told her that those of us from Ehrenfest would need to prepare to the absolute best of our ability, unlike during previous years. It was good that our students were getting a chance to prove their skills, but it ran the risk of things becoming too much for them to handle, which could make things even worse than usual.

“Oh...? And who is that?” I asked. A woman I didn’t recognize had suddenly entered the common room. She looked a lot like Rihyarda, but since the actual Rihyarda was behind me, it had to be someone else. As I wondered who, I noticed Traugott with a pathetic look on his face, seeming like he wanted to be anywhere else. I turned around on instinct and saw that Rihyarda was wearing an exceedingly displeased grimace.

Oh snap! It’s cross-dressing Justus! Holy cow! He totally looks like a refined middle-aged lady right now!

He advanced slowly, receiving suspicious looks from all those in the common room, and then knelt gracefully before me. No longer were there any traces of Justus, whom by now I knew well; instead, there was a woman who looked much like Rihyarda, albeit middle-aged. The winter cold meant everyone was wearing clothes that covered the neck, and so his Adam’s apple was completely hidden away. His hands were also hidden beneath gloves, which meant the only area where his skin was exposed was his face.

Justus already had a bit of an androgynous face, so it had taken just a little makeup to completely change how it looked. His shoulders were slightly broader than Rihyarda’s, maybe due to the layers of clothing he had on, but it was actually scary how normal it all seemed. He must have dyed his hair too, as it was now brown instead of gray.

“My apologies for the wait. How is it, milady?”

“You can change your voice, Justus...?”

“One need only alter how they speak.”

As it turned out, he could make a feminine voice just by... changing how he spoke a little. And either due to him having observed the mannerisms of women, practiced a lot himself, or cross-dressed all the time, it was very believable indeed. Perhaps I was praising him too highly, but he reminded me of the male actors playing women in Noh theater or kabuki who, through rigid practice and careful attention to their every move, could end up more feminine than the actual girls.

“If you take no issue with this state of dress, I would like to accompany you to your tea party for girls,” Justus said.

“That is fine, provided that you do not mind remaining dressed like that for the entire day.”

“Certainly not. Now, I must ask that you call me ‘Gudrun’ when I am dressed like this.”

“‘Gudrun’?” I repeated, tilting my head just as Traugott let out a pained choke.

“Uncle, please! Do not use Mother’s name when dressed like that! Are there not a variety of female names similar to your own, like ‘Justine’ or ‘Justina’?!”

“Goodness, Traugott. Must you panic so? Do calm down. Only a shallow-minded fool would use a fake name so easily connected to their real one. That you are one such fool is why your life is but a string of failures,” Justus said with a giggle. He apparently looked just like Traugott’s mother, Gudrun, when he cross-dressed. Those wearing clear grimaces rather than looks of surprise were probably those who knew Gudrun personally.

Traugott cradled his head, weeping for mercy as he was forced to endure having his cross-dressing uncle as his attendant. The looks of judgment and scorn he had previously been receiving from the others steadily became conflicted stares of sympathy. No words were spoken, but it was clear how many people were feeling bad for him.

Wait... Did Justus deliberately walk into the common room like this to earn Traugott some sympathy? No, surely not. Justus wouldn’t go that far for him.

Upon seeing Justus retain his feminine grace even while dealing with Traugott’s emotional breakdown, Hartmut looked at me with the troubled expression of someone who had been given an impossible task. “Lady Rozemyne, ah... Is it expected for scholars serving as retainers to learn to cross-dress? I truly apologize, but I do not have a talent for such an art. If you insist that I learn, however, I will dedicate my best efforts to doing so.”

I had told him to learn from Justus, but that certainly didn’t mean I expected him to cross-dress. I immediately rejected the idea.

“You do not need to learn to cross-dress, Hartmut. There are surely many other ways to obtain the information you want, such as training a female assistant scholar or cooperating with others. Cross-dressing is merely an interest of Justus’s, and not a talent I see in you.”

The apprentice scholars all seemed visibly relieved to hear my explanation. Justus, on the other hand, appeared somewhat dissatisfied. “This is no interest of mine, milady—it is simply the most effective method for achieving my goals,” he said. “Would you not agree that it is most reliable to gather information with one’s own eyes and ears?”

“Is it really that effective...?” Hartmut asked.

“Hartmut, no! Don’t let him corrupt you!” I cried, already sensing the danger as Hartmut began to look contemplative. Despite my efforts, however, Justus stopped me with a smile and then began to profess the glorious practicality of cross-dressing to not just Hartmut, but the entire student body.

“Milady, he is not being corrupted; he is simply being educated so that he can make an informed decision. If one considers how information obtained personally is leagues more reliable than information obtained through others, then cross-dressing is a skill that anyone should dedi—”

“SHUT YOUR TRAP, JUSTUS!” Rihyarda yelled. “I will not let you keep blabbering such nonsense! And you will not drag Ottilie’s precious son down with you! He has such a bright future ahead of him!”

Justus winced when his own mother unleashed her fury on him. She had contained her rage for as long as possible, since she was serving as my attendant, but she had finally lost her patience. And so began her enraged lecture.

On the outside, Justus looked a lot like his mother, so one could easily have assumed there were two Rihyardas present... except one now wore the stern expression of a mother, and the other the sullen look of a boy who had gotten caught midway through a prank. The whole situation was messing with my head.

“There is nothing I dislike more than being forced to witness this!” Rihyarda shouted. “I have only tolerated you working for milady because Ferdinand and Aub Ehrenfest ordered it. I have been given explicit permission to send you back home if at any point you risk damaging Ehrenfest’s reputation with your antics. Do not forget that. Now, do I make myself clear?!”

“...Of course, Mother.”

Thanks to Rihyarda stopping Justus, we could finally leave for the library. Rihyarda and Traugott saw us off, the former looking worried and the latter gripping his stomach in agony as I departed with “Certainly Not Justus in Disguise” Gudrun and my retainers. This was going to be my first time seeing Schwartz and Weiss in a while.

“Milady. You’re here.”

“Welcome back, milady.”

Schwartz and Weiss tottered over and then began hopping circles around me, chanting “welcome” over and over again. It was heartwarming to receive such an enthusiastic greeting. I gazed around the library as I stroked the feystones on their foreheads to replenish their mana. There were more gaps in the bookshelves than I remembered; in fact, they were practically filled with holes.

“The bookshelves certainly look lonely right now, Professor Solange...” I observed.

“Welcome back, Lady Rozemyne. That would be because final exams are approaching. Everyone is quite desperate. The shelves may seem much emptier than usual, but the carrels more than make up for it.”

As Solange had said, the library was filled with visitors. It was quite unlike what I was used to. Nobody was engaged in conversation, but the waves of sound produced as the students moved about was unceasing. The study resources and carrels were apparently being reserved far more often than usual; those who hadn’t yet completed their exams were finding themselves driven by fear as those around them steadily began to finish. The prickly tension one felt before a test was clear in the air. Nobody here was relaxed.

“I might recommend you spend today reading in your own chambers,” Solange said.

“In truth, I have been absent from the Royal Academy for so long that I must spend all of my time socializing from now until the graduation ceremony. I would much rather read at my leisure in the library, but it seems I will simply have no opportunity to do so.”

“Oh my. Socializing is quite an important learning experience in the Royal Academy. I am sure you will do just fine,” Solange said with a refined chuckle.

Hearing this, Gudrun tilted his head and placed a thoughtful hand on his cheek. “I believe you will have an opportunity to read once you have finished your socializing for the day,” he said to me. “Shall we borrow a book?”

“Really, Gudrun?!” I exclaimed.

Justus is a weirdo, but he’s a good man! A good, competent man!

As if sensing my rising affections for him, Gudrun gave a small smirk. “I am aware that small rewards are key to keeping you motivated, milady.”

“Indeed they are. Shall we search for a book at once?”

“There is no time for that. Schwartz, Weiss—please fetch and borrow for us a book that milady has not read before,” Gudrun said, clasping my shoulders so that I couldn’t escape. His gloves made his hands look feminine, but they were bumpy and rough, and he gripped with the unmistakable strength of a man. It was certainly more than I had come to expect from Rihyarda.

I watched as Schwartz and Weiss began to toddle away.

“Okay. One book.”

“We’ll borrow.”

I waited for the two shumils to finish going through the book-borrowing process and then returned to the dormitory, feeling elated. The sight of Gudrun walking along in a feminine manner reminded me of something he had told me in the past.

“Gudrun, where is that forbidden archive?” I asked. “You mentioned it to me in the past, did you not?” He had specifically mentioned it to keep me awake during the Night of Schutzaria. Much had changed with the librarians and the books, but surely the archive itself still existed. Perhaps it had gone from being forbidden to being open to all, but that didn’t make a difference to me.

“I’ve never heard of such a thing. Is it in the Royal Academy?” one of my retainers asked. They were intrigued by the mystery of the archive, but Gudrun simply put on a peaceful smile and shook his head.

“I do not know where it is. Its existence was mentioned to me by the librarian who served while I was attending the Academy. He said there exists a book storage room that can be opened only by royalty.”

“Wait, what? If only royalty can open it, that means I can’t go inside!” I exclaimed. It was just too cruel; he had gotten my hopes up for nothing.

Gudrun widened his eyes as I puffed out my cheeks. “Did you intend to enter that which is literally referred to as ‘the forbidden archive’? Do you know what ‘forbidden’ means?”

“If there are books in there, it is only natural that I will desire to read them.”

“I cannot imagine there are many who would think the same...” Gudrun said, again tilting his head in confusion. I truly couldn’t believe it; Justus would cross-dress and mingle with commoners to get the information he wanted, but he was looking at me like I was the weird one. How did he not empathize with me here? Surely he wanted to know what books were in that room too.

“Are you not curious about what books are in the forbidden archive and what is written within them?”

“I would certainly like to know, but any normal person would give up on ever going inside the moment they learned that only royalty can enter. It is not like a tea party, which is reasonably simple to sneak into,” Gudrun said, entirely pretending to be a normal person. I glared at him.

“Gudrun, you speak as though I am not normal.”

“Milady, please. Do you have no self-awareness?” Gudrun asked, looking at me with equal parts amusement and genuine concern. I couldn’t help but falter; I wasn’t completely blind to my own shortcomings.

“Ngh... I-I am aware that I am a bit unusual...”

“That is a relief,” Gudrun said with a smile, while Cornelius let out a shocked, “Just a bit?”

What...? I’m just a bit weird, right...?