Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 4.4 - Chapter 13

Entwickeln

Philine, Lieseleta, and the others returned to the castle, but since there was no point in us bringing the Gutenbergs there too, they rode with Angelica and me back to the temple. I landed my Pandabus in front of the main gate, where carriages for the Plantin Company were already prepared, and then turned to face Benno.

“I will contact you again once we have decided where you will be going next.”

“Thanks to your assistance, things went quite smoothly this time,” Benno replied with a satisfied smile. The trip had proved considerably less stressful than the year before, when he and the others had spent days traveling and found work much more of a struggle, plus Zack and Johann were pleased with having gotten an opportunity to productively work with the smiths. “We shall await your next summons, Lady Rozemyne.”

“I’ll work on my explanation skills so I can do a better job teaching the smiths about the blueprints next time,” Johann said.

“Same here,” Zack added. “I’ll do my best to bridge the gap between Johann and the smiths.”

I saw the Gutenbergs off and then turned back to the temple, where I found my attendants waiting for me. Ferdinand was with them, rubbing his temples.

“Welcome back, Lady Rozemyne,” Fran said.

“And so I have returned.”

“Indeed you have, Rozemyne...” Ferdinand replied with a glare. “You have something to report to me, do you not? I have already received ordonnanzes from Giebe Haldenzel, Elvira, and Karstedt. And yet, strangely enough, I received no such correspondence from you, the person most involved.”

I inhaled sharply. My understanding of the events at Haldenzel was simply that I had pointed out how the ceremony was done in the bible, and that the goddesses had worked hard for our sakes when we followed the correct procedures, but it seemed that the others had interpreted the situation differently. As it turned out, those developments were something I should have sent a report about.

“I shall send for you once I am changed,” I said.

“Quite. Your chambers are better for discussing matters concerning the High Bishop’s bible,” Ferdinand replied. He then turned around and walked away.

I entrusted my luggage to Fran and Zahm before returning to my chambers with Monika and changing into my High Bishop robes. In the meantime, Angelica sent an ordonnanz to Damuel, requesting that he come perform guard duty in the temple.

After asking Nicola to prepare tea and sweets, I let out a heavy sigh. “I am not enthused to ask this, but please summon the High Priest.”

“Understood.”

Zahm went to call Ferdinand, while Fran prepared the ornate bible passed down through generations of High Bishops and the key required to open it. Once that was done, I turned to the relevant page.

“Now then, Rozemyne. State your case.”

“What exactly do you want to know?” I asked Ferdinand. “I simply pointed out that the song the men in Haldenzel were performing during Spring Prayer was, according to the bible, originally sung by Geduldh’s subordinate goddesses.” It was Giebe Haldenzel who had decided to have the women sing it, Karstedt who had pushed me onto the stage, and the goddesses who had brought spring to Haldenzel. As far as I was concerned, I hadn’t done anything myself.

“There exists such a page? This is my first time hearing that the High Bishop’s bible differs from the others.”

“Have you not read it already? I seem to recall you reading from it for me when I first visited the temple...”

“One cannot see the text of that bible without the High Bishop’s permission. At the time, I read only the opening pages, as Bezewanst had instructed,” Ferdinand replied. Of the few pages that he had initially read, it seemed that nothing had differed from his expectations.

As it turned out, the bible passed down through the High Bishops was a type of magical device. It wasn’t decorated with gemstones, as I had initially thought; rather, it was protected by feystones. This protective magic was linked to the key that was also passed down from one High Bishop to the next.

“It’s quite common for the content of religious scriptures to be changed over time, whether it be to simplify the transcribing process, replace archaic words with ones that can actually be understood, or censor problematic content under political pressure,” I explained. “One must compare books thoroughly to notice these differences.”

“In short, you compared the bibles thoroughly?”

“Indeed. It was clear to see that the old bible contains more pages than the new one, so I checked to see the differences.” The bible used by the High Bishop was heavier and much thicker than the bibles in the temple book room, even when accounting for the lack of gemstones, and the sizes of the bibles both shrunk and grew over the years. “It was how I passed my time in my blue shrine maiden days, when acquiring new books was more difficult. For the record, I also investigated the prayers that someone—most likely Bezewanst—had scribbled in the margins of the High Bishop’s bible.”

“There are prayers scribbled in the margins?”

“He added them so that he could pray during ceremonies even when he forgot the words. I investigated the other bibles to see if they likewise contained those notes and discovered that the scribbles tended to be on pages the newer bibles lacked.”

“Show me the results of your investigation. You doubtlessly made notes as you compared them, no?” Ferdinand asked. He had a perfect grasp on how I thought, and as annoying as it was, he was right—there were several things I noticed and wrote down.

“Will you not be investigating the bible yourself...?” I asked. “If you need my permission, I am more than happy to grant it.”

“I will if the opportunity presents itself. Because of a certain someone, however, there is a veritable mountain of other things that I must research first,” he said, fixing me with a harsh look. I decided to play dumb; those who want to dwell on things instead of simply accomplishing their goals and moving on without a care in the world sure have it rough.

“This recent discovery might just save Ehrenfest,” Ferdinand continued. “There are many provinces that would benefit enormously from Spring Prayer hastening the arrival of spring.” Ehrenfest was a brutally cold duchy, and many of its provinces were forced to endure long winters buried under deep snow. Managing the arrival of spring would apparently be a huge help to both farmers and the nobles collecting their taxes.

“I see. Giebe Haldenzel certainly was overjoyed. He gave me blenrus fruits as thanks.”

“Blenrus fruits, you say? Those are rather rare,” Ferdinand said, his eyes widening. They were Earth materials from a feyplant that was rarely seen.

“Giebe Haldenzel said the same. I received two; would you like one?” I asked, pulling one of the golden fruits out of my luggage.

Ferdinand glanced between the blenrus and me, his suspicions clear on his face. “What are you planning?”

“I am told it can be used to improve rejuvenation potions, so I thought you could possibly use it when making another batch.”

“...Very well. I shall accept your gift. Sylvester and the others will need rejuvenation potions to store mana in the foundation’s magic for entwickeln.”

Although I hadn’t requested it outright, Ferdinand seemed to understand that I wanted him to add a little more “kindness” to his rejuvenation potions. It seemed that the entire archducal family was going to be surviving on them for a while as we offered up all of our mana.

“We shall go to the castle once the improvements to the potions have been made. Spend the time until then storing as much of your mana in these feystones as possible,” Ferdinand continued, handing me a pouch of empty feystones and some potions.

And so, as requested, I got to work filling up the feystones.

You know, this is actually harder than the Dedication Ritual and Spring Prayer. A lot harder!

Ferdinand spent several days in his workshop finishing the improvements, after which he informed me that we were going to the castle. We put the improved potions and my bag of feystones inside Lessy before setting off.

Norbert was already waiting for us when we arrived at the castle. He guided us to the archduke’s office, where we were going to be discussing the entwickeln.

“You stored up more mana than I thought,” Sylvester said after seeing all of the mana-filled feystones I had brought. “Using these, we should be able to do the entwickeln after just two more days of saving up.”

It seemed that while we children had been traveling around the Central District for Spring Prayer, Sylvester and Florencia had been busy storing up their mana, downing as many of Ferdinand’s ultra-nasty potions as was necessary.

“Please do remember to inform the lower city of the exact date and time the entwickeln is due to be performed,” I said. “Once the soldiers and the Merchant’s Guild are told, they can pass this information on to the commoners. It will no doubt take some time for the news to fully circulate, though.”

“Makes sense. I’ll settle on fifth bell, three days from now. Karstedt, inform the soldiers. Elvira, contact the Merchant’s Guild.”

“Understood.”

From there, we went to the Mana Replenishment hall, where we were going to be pouring mana into the foundation’s magic. It was a fantastical room that contained a massive floating feystone with an armillary sphere-like arrangement of glowing magic circles spinning around it. We had each brought a cup so that we could drink the rejuvenation potion; I could see Ferdinand preparing it in the corner as he set down a pitcher. The pouch of feystones was also ready so that Wilfried and Charlotte could use them to participate.

“Alright. Wilfried, Charlotte—you’re up first,” Sylvester said. “Ferdinand and Rozemyne will go next, then me, Florencia, and Bonifatius.”

Having multiple people gather together and expel their mana while offering the same prayer resulted in an increase in the flow of mana. This made the offering process more effective, but in cases where there was a significant mana disparity between those praying together, it also ran the risk of gravely endangering those with less mana. Splitting into teams wouldn’t have been necessary if we had instead worked at a more comfortable pace, offering our mana only once per day, but we needed to pour in as much as possible and this was the most efficient way to go about that.

“I am one who offers prayer and gratitude to the gods who have created the world,” Wilfried and Charlotte said together, kneeling atop a magic circle and praying with the feystones containing my mana in hand. They had similarly used feystones to replenish the foundation’s mana for the Archduke Conference during the two years I was asleep, so they already had experience with the process.

I stood by the wall in silence; this was my first time watching someone else offer a prayer like this. Their mana wavered such that it looked as though colored steam were rising from their bodies. A light-green mist was coming from Wilfried, while a light-red mist was coming from Charlotte. I assumed those were the colors their feystones would have turned had they dyed them themselves. The thought reminded me that Lutz and my family had mentioned a yellowy mist coming off of me when my mana had gone on a rampage.

“There,” Charlotte eventually said, at which point she and Wilfried let go of their feystones. She then stood up slowly and walked over to the wall, her breathing so labored that her shoulders were heaving. Wilfried seemed to look a little less drained, as though he could have kept going.

“Cups,” Ferdinand said, readying the pitcher. Charlotte and Wilfried needed to drink the rejuvenation potion to recover their mana, but they recoiled at the thought nonetheless, having already endured its taste during Spring Prayer. Once they were holding out their cups, Ferdinand poured them each a dose of the potion.

Wearing an expression of pure resolve, Wilfried took a large gulp of the potion... and then looked at the half-empty cup in surprise. “This is actually pretty sweet,” he said. “It doesn’t burn my throat at all.”

“I improved it using a blenrus fruit,” Ferdinand explained. “Extend your gratitude to Rozemyne, who gifted the valuable ingredient to me.”

“Good job, Rozemyne! I’ll give you my blenrus too, Uncle, so please make more of these potions for next time.” It sounded as though the new concoction was exceptionally pleasant to drink, and the beaming smile Wilfried wore as he downed the rest attested to that.

Charlotte brought her own cup to her lips before swallowing with widened eyes. “With potions like this, Mana Replenishment is not bad at all,” she said.

Sylvester’s and Florencia’s expressions softened as they watched their children rejoice over the improved potions. They had just finished chugging the ultra-nasty version, so the flavor being improved was good news for them as well.

“We are up, Rozemyne.”

“Right.”

I performed the Mana Replenishment with Ferdinand and then drank the improved potion. It was sweet with a somewhat medicinal taste, much like the children’s cough syrup I was used to from my Urano days, but compared to the revolting bitterness of the previous recipe, it was rather easy to chug down.

Holy cow, blenrus fruits are something else! Giebe Haldenzel, thank you so much!

As I was mulling over the new potion, Sylvester, Florencia, and Bonifatius started performing the Mana Replenishment themselves. Once they were done, it was time for Wilfried and Charlotte to start again, and we repeated this process one team after another. It was when we reached our third cycle that my head started to spin. I crumpled down, no longer able to stand, and started gripping my head.

“Given your stamina, I assumed that you would reach your limit around this point,” Ferdinand remarked as he held out a cup to me. “You should stop for today.”

I nodded and took a generous swig of the potion. Although I had enough mana to continue, my body simply couldn’t keep up. Wilfried and Charlotte were much livelier, since they were just using feystones.

“Ferdinand, is Rozemyne okay?” Bonifatius asked.

“She will be fine once she finishes her potion and gets some rest,” Ferdinand replied, although his assurance wasn’t enough to ease the anxious eyes peering down at me. He glanced between the two of us before taking my now-empty cup and setting it aside. Then, out of nowhere, he picked me up in a princess carry and proffered me to my surprised grandfather.

“Bonifatius, please extend your arms like this. I will hand her to you.”

“What?!” Bonifatius examined Ferdinand closely and then attempted to replicate how he was holding out his arms. “L-Like this...?”

Ferdinand then haphazardly dumped me onto them. Bonifatius’s arms twitched. “Bonifatius, I shall entrust Rozemyne to you, as there are other things I must carry. You may leave the Mana Replenishment hall first, although do take care not to move your arms. She is going to be fine once Rihyarda has her.”

“I-Indeed. Understood. I will take great care. Here we go, Rozemyne.”

I nodded in response, sweating nervously as Bonifatius started toward the door with uneasy steps. I-Is everything going to be okay, Grandfather...? I couldn’t help but wonder. It felt as though he was going to drop me.

Our retainers were waiting for us outside the hall, and they balked upon seeing me in Bonifatius’s arms.

“Lord Bonifatius?!”

“Milady!”

Rihyarda shoved through the crowd and over to Bonifatius, who immediately held me out to her. Once she had pulled me from his arms, he gave the heroic smile of a job well done and said, “Rihyarda, Rozemyne is not well. She has already taken her potion, but Ferdinand said to have her relax in her room. I leave the rest to you.”

“Grandfather... I thank you ever so much,” I said with a kind smile. Contrary to my fearful concerns, he hadn’t dropped or thrown me anywhere.

“Hm? Indeed. Rest well,” Bonifatius replied with a grin. He then cleared his throat and put on a stern face, returning to the Mana Replenishment hall while Rihyarda carried me straight to bed.

It was the day of the entwickeln. We had apparently stored up enough mana now, so Sylvester announced during lunch that the spell was going to be performed at fifth bell, as we had planned. My time spent resting had allowed me to recuperate and recover my mana, so I promptly made my way to the archduke’s office. Since only archnobles with archduke blood were permitted to enter, Rihyarda accompanied me inside.

“It seems like the soldiers and the Merchant’s Guild did their jobs. According to the knights we had watch over the lower city by highbeast, come fourth bell, every building had its windows shut and all street activity had vanished,” Karstedt informed me.

We entered the replenishment hall with the same group as last time, sans Sylvester, who was instead going to where the actual foundation was to perform the entwickeln as the archduke. Rihyarda saw us off, remaining in the office. Our job as the archducal family was to resupply the foundational magic with mana once the entwickeln had almost drained it dry.

“Is everything ready?” Florencia asked.

As we waited kneeling atop the magic circles, a cute chime came from a bell that was hanging at Florencia’s hip. It was a signal from Sylvester that he had finished preparing.

“I am one who offers prayer and gratitude to the gods who have created the world,” Florencia began, prompting us to begin praying in turn. I could feel my mana steadily being sucked out, perhaps because the foundational magic was getting used up.

“That’s enough!” Charlotte shrieked, prompting us all to immediately stop offering up our mana. Since we no longer had to stockpile as much mana as physically possible, our plan from this point onward was to slowly replenish the foundation’s magic over time.

Once we were outside the Mana Replenishment hall, Sylvester came back to the office looking exhausted. “Thanks for all your help,” he said. “The entwickeln was a success. The question now is what the commoners will do.”

“Fear not—they’ll keep things clean and presentable,” I said. And since I had both mana and stamina to spare today, given that we were prioritizing speed over quantity... “Sylvester, I would like to see how the lower city has changed for myself.”

“Hm... The Knight’s Order are going to be heading to the gates to tell the commoners that the entwickeln is done. They should do a good enough job serving as your guards,” Sylvester said, giving me his approval while chugging another potion. “Karstedt, take Rozemyne with you to the gates; the vice-commander can guard the rest of us here.”

“Understood.”

And so, I went to the lower city with Damuel, Angelica, and about ten knights. Ferdinand was also accompanying us after saying in no uncertain terms that he couldn’t even comprehend what sort of trouble I might cause alone. All the windows and doors were still shut tight, and while the streets were completely devoid of people, they didn’t actually look any cleaner.

“It seems to me that nothing has changed...” I commented.

“Naturally. The modifications were almost entirely underground, meaning there is very little to see on the surface,” Ferdinand replied. “That said, if you look closely enough, you will notice the locations that were added for disposing of waste.”

I squinted with magically enhanced eyes and spotted manhole-like covers at the edges of the roads. They weren’t particularly hard to see, since they were the only parts that were so white and clean.

“That said, this defeats the purpose,” Ferdinand muttered. “It is as I thought—we should have changed it all.”

“Wait, wait, wait. Hold on a moment,” I interjected. The last thing I wanted was him deciding that all our mana offerings and efforts in the lower city had been for nothing. “We just need to clean the place, right? We can do that right now.”

“What are you getting at...?”

“There’s nobody here, see? We can just... Waschen!” I took out my schtappe and engulfed a portion of the city in a ball of water. It promptly ended up cleansed, a sight which caused Ferdinand to blink in disbelief.

“Rozemyne... Do you truly intend to cleanse the entire lower city with waschen? How foolish can you be?”

“It might be hard work, but it’s a better option than uprooting the entire lower city with another entwickeln!” I protested. The soldiers and those from the Merchant’s Guild had all promised to keep the city clean, and I wanted everything to be ready for them to do just that.

“Wait.” Ferdinand interrupted me as I started pouring more mana into my schtappe. “Your method is far too wasteful.”

“Oh?”

“If you wish to spread your mana over such wide areas, it is more efficient to use magic circles. Karstedt, tell Aub Ehrenfest that we are going to be using wide area magic. Rozemyne, pour your mana into these. Stylo.”

Ferdinand gave me five feystones before taking out his schtappe and starting to draw a magic circle in the air. The chants for spells had been tweaked and shortened over the long course of history to minimize the time spent casting them, but it was apparently more advisable to use magic circles when one wished to use large-scale area magic. I continued pouring mana into the feystones as Ferdinand finished up the magic circle with his schtappe. The feystones weren’t particularly large, so it didn’t take me very long to dye them.

“Rozemyne, are the feystones ready?”

“Yes.”

I handed the feystones back to Ferdinand, who grouped them together with eight of his own and started tossing them into the magic circle one by one. Each of the thirteen feystones flew to a particular location around the circle as though it had been pulled there by a magnet and then began to shine.

“O Goddess of Water Flutrane, bringer of healing and change. O twelve goddesses who serve by her side. Please hear my prayer and lend me your divine strength. I offer to you our joy and songs of glee. I offer to you our prayers and gratitude, so that we may be blessed with your purifying protection. May your cleansing waves wash upon this land so that it might return to its intended form.”

The feystones shone brighter as Ferdinand prayed, and a green light started to streak around the magic circle. An instant later, the circle split apart, leaving thirteen separate circles in the sky above the lower city, each with their own feystone in the center. Water poured from them all at once, raining down on the lower city like a deluge, rushing down the alleys so fiercely that I thought the entire city was going to flood.

Despite my concerns, however, the water didn’t even last ten seconds. It disappeared in an instant, and the lower city was gleaming once again. The ivory stone parts of the buildings were as white as the Noble’s Quarter, and even the wooden stories the commoners had added on top were no longer covered in a layer of grime.

“Wow! Ferdinand, that was amazing!” I exclaimed.

“It was your mana that I used.”

“But I never could have done something like this without you! Isn’t that right, Father?” I asked, turning to Karstedt with giddy excitement over the now-sparkling lower city.

“I thought the two of you were exhausted of mana after that entwickeln,” Karstedt replied with a wry smile. “Seems like I didn’t have to worry after all.”

“Ferdinand deserves all the credit for that. The blenrus fruit made his potions easier to drink, meaning they’re now even more amazing than before. Eheheh.”

“And yet your stamina is as lacking as ever,” Ferdinand remarked. “You are too excited to notice it now, but you are going to feel the consequences if you do not rest soon.”

Once we had informed the gate soldiers that the entwickeln was done, I returned to the castle in an excellent mood. The feeling was short-lived, however, as soon after I went back to my room and started to relax, I collapsed. It was just as Ferdinand had warned.