Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 4.5 - Chapter 15

Leaving for the Royal Academy

Once winter socializing began, the adults became busy with socializing—as one might expect. We spent the days leading up to our departure for the Royal Academy in the playroom, as per usual, where I was greeted by the children who had just been baptized. I then asked Hartmut to delegate the task of teaching them to play cards and such to the Royal Academy seniors.

“Have them tactfully lose at times so as to motivate the children,” I said. “The seniors will need to navigate working with crafty old nobles after they graduate, so I am sure they will manage to manipulate the feelings of newly baptized children with ease.”

“Putting it like that will certainly stir their pride as seniors,” Hartmut replied. As he went to carry out his new task, I asked Wilfried to take charge of the second-years and play games with those who already had some experience.

“Isn’t Charlotte better suited for that?” Wilfried asked. “She was here last year. I don’t know a lot of these kids.”

“Charlotte is busy studying with the other soon-to-be first-years,” I replied. “Furthermore, you are much better than Charlotte when it comes to riling up the students and making the games more exciting.”

Once it was decided that he would focus on motivating the students with sweets and the like, I went to speak with Moritz.

“Professor Moritz,” I said, “I ask that you teach the first-years history and geography today. Here are the textbooks we compiled last year.”

“I covered parts of those subjects last year,” Moritz replied.

“It is important that we place an even greater focus on them this year, so that the Better Grades Committee may remain fair and neutral.”

I had Charlotte gather the new first-years, whereupon I explained to them what the Better Grades Committee was doing in the Royal Academy and encouraged them to try their hardest, since the older students were already making their moves.

The playroom’s population decreased by the day as the students gradually departed for the Royal Academy. I passed the time by speaking with Moritz about what the playroom’s lesson plan should cover in our absence, organizing requests for new teachers to cover topics that were lacking proper instructors, and reading new stories to the children.

The book we had received from Dunkelfelger, which I had now translated into modern vernacular, proved surprisingly popular with boys aiming to be knights. Who would have guessed that a hot-blooded tale about knights fighting tirelessly until they wrenched victory from the jaws of defeat would end up being so well received?

I should ask Lady Hannelore if she would mind me selling this book in Ehrenfest... I’d market it as being from Dunkelfelger, of course.

The dinners I had during this brief period turned into meetings with all of my guardians, since Ferdinand and Bonifatius were also in attendance. There were a lot of things that Wilfried and Charlotte had discussed that I was still completely in the dark about, so I used this time to ask questions and make requests.

“Understood,” I said. “That will not be an issue, as I am once again bringing Ella and Hugo with me to serve as chefs. Hugo can be ready tomorrow, while Ella will travel with me, as she did last year. And, incidentally, Sylvester... Are there any court chefs who know how to cook fish?”

“I’ve already heard about all this from Ferdinand,” Sylvester replied. “I don’t mind having the court chefs teach your chefs how to prepare and cook fish, once we make sure the stuff you’re getting from Aurelia isn’t poisoned or anything. It’s about time I pay you back for all the recipes your chefs taught mine last year.”

I could sense that he was urging me to teach his chefs even more recipes this year, which reminded me of all the dishes Ella and Hugo were coming up with themselves. There were no magic contracts restricting the distribution of these recipes, so I saw no issue with giving them away. Some of them would spread regardless as Ella and Hugo cooked in the Royal Academy kitchens with the other chefs.

“That said, though—this’ll need to wait until after you come back from the Royal Academy,” Sylvester noted.

“Quite.”

“Anyway,” Sylvester said, moving the topic of conversation swiftly along. “Thanks to all your hard work raising our duchy’s grades and spreading trends last year, we have more of a budget to use at the Royal Academy.”

Doing business with other duchies had increased the amount of wealth coming into Ehrenfest, which in turn meant we had more money to spend. Sylvester was taking the opportunity to reinvest in the Royal Academy, since our efforts there were the reason for the new business agreements being made in the first place.

“Use this wealth to continue improving the students’ grades, spreading trends, and locking existing trends into place,” Sylvester said. “Or at least, that’s what I said to Wilfried and Charlotte. Rozemyne, what’s your plan? You’re not gonna use the whole budget on the Interduchy Tournament, right?”

“I plan to distribute ink and paper to the laynobles,” I replied.

Just as Damuel had said, laynobles would generally write on wooden boards during lectures, then shave away their notes so that the boards could be reused. The writing was sometimes lost for good, depending on how the students went about the shaving process, and as time passed, the boards became harder and harder to repair.

“I would like for them to have paper, such that the details of their lessons may be preserved,” I said. “To raise the grades of not just individual students, but all those from Ehrenfest, it is essential that we strengthen our weakest links.”

Archnobles were likely to secure good grades even without my assistance, since their pride was on the line. They were unlikely to slack off, and they could prepare plenty of parchment and ink for themselves. They also had the luxury of being able to preserve their written material, so many archnobles were able to use lecture notes given to them by their parents or older siblings.

“The laynobles need the most help precisely because they are less able to pass down records of their studies,” I explained. “Of course, I will continue personally paying for the transcriptions I am requesting of other duchies.”

It was important that I personally buy the transcriptions so that I could claim ownership of them. This was not something I was willing to budge on.

The concept of spending the increased budget to pick up our weakest members made Charlotte blink her indigo eyes curiously. “Sister, what about aid for the archnobles?” she asked. “Would it not be unfair to assist only the laynobles?”

“I will provide aid equally. I fully intend to give paper to all those who ask, whether they be archnobles or laynobles. It only comes across as unfair in practice because no archnoble would dare ask for help and give off the impression they are too poor to afford their own stationery.”

To be frank, I saw no need to waste any of our budget on archnobles; they were rich enough without our help.

“Furthermore, Sylvester,” I continued, “I intend to bring with me other printed goods—that is, nonacademic knight stories, romance stories, sheet music, and the like. Is that acceptable?”

“Won’t next year’s Archduke Conference be a mess if people learn about printing?” Sylvester replied.

“We will only bring one copy of each outside of the Ehrenfest Dormitory. To other duchies, they will seem to be very neatly written materials and nothing more. I don’t believe knowledge of the printing industry will spread at all.”

There was also the fact that mimeograph printing had been used for some of the books. To an outsider, they looked entirely handwritten.

“I wish to casually introduce these materials as new styles of books made with Ehrenfest paper and use them to get more bookworm allies,” I said. “I am investing in our future customer base.”

Now that we had more printing workshops at our disposal, there would be increasingly more printed goods within Ehrenfest. That was why I needed to start lending out books and making note of who took the bait. By doing this, I could secure more potential consumers while encouraging prospective authors. If one wanted books for nobles, it was best to have nobles write them; I had learned that at the cost of sacrificing my own romance novel.

“‘Casually introduce’?” Ferdinand repeated. “I find it hard to imagine you doing anything but raving about them until you turn blue in the face and drop unconscious. Perhaps someone else should introduce the books in your stead.”

“I’m with Uncle,” Wilfried added with a nod, reinforcing the verbal attack on my suggestion. “Nobody is going to take an interest in books if the person distributing them passes out in the process. You wouldn’t want to make Lady Hannelore cry again, would you?”

The absolute last thing I wanted was for Hannelore to associate our book-lending with something negative. I wanted her to be my friend forevermore.

“In that case, I will write introductions for the books and leave my involvement at that,” I conceded. “Wilfried, Charlotte, I ask you to do the rest.”

“Excellent,” Ferdinand said with a nod. Wilfried and Charlotte exchanged glances before nodding as well.

I couldn’t help but purse my lips, which elicited a chuckle from Sylvester. “Don’t get so down, Rozemyne,” he said. “I managed to look into your requests and have approved a new bookcase for the dorm. Cheer up.”

“A new bookcase?” I asked. “I suddenly feel so much better.”

I had said that it was unthinkable for a place of learning like the Royal Academy dormitory to be so utterly devoid of bookcases, and in that regard, I had asked for some to be made and a little reading corner to be established. As it turned out, my words had not fallen on deaf ears.

“We need to have textbooks in places where everyone can read them, and we’ll also need to make sure we have copies of the books we’ve printed here in Ehrenfest,” I said. “In other words, we need to fill those shelves with as many books as we can!”

I’ll have them add more and more bookcases until, before they know it, the reading corner has evolved into a full-on library!

“You can have your bookcase, but I’m refusing that request you made to put a Goddess of Wisdom statue in the castle’s book room,” Sylvester said.

Professor Solange had told us that praying to the statue of Mestionora the Goddess of Wisdom would encourage books to gather there. There was supposedly a statue in the royal palace’s library as well, so I had asked for one to be put in the castle’s book room, thinking that daily prayer would help us to secure more reading material.

“Getting books matters more than the goddess statue, right?”

“In that case, Sylvester, please dedicate a portion of our increased budget to the purchase of new books,” I said.

Sylvester grimaced. “How much do you think a single book costs? We don’t have that much to spare. Just have faith in your new legal deposit system and the book room will fill up on its own in no time.”

Long live the legal deposit system! I’m a genius for making sure it was implemented. I’m so excited for there to be more printed books.

“Now that we have a reading corner, and with how hard everyone worked to make textbooks, I believe you can expect great things from the Ehrenfest students,” I said. “Our grades will be even higher than they were last year.”

We were already acing our written lessons, and if we kept it up, we were bound to be in the highest ranks before long. Our plan now was to switch our focus to the practical lessons. It was true that we were already increasing the amount of mana we had available, but I had no idea how much the students were growing on an individual level. There was also the fact that having a lot of mana was entirely separate from being able to effectively use it, so I didn’t really know how our grades were going to be impacted.

Now, as for the other areas that still need some improvement... Ditter is the main one that comes to mind.

I wanted to know how the apprentices’ training was holding up, so I turned my attention to Bonifatius. He was listening to our conversation with a grin while he ate.

“Grandfather, have the apprentices grown any better at coordinating?”

Bonifatius instantly leaned forward, as though he had been waiting for me to ask just that. “I’ve trained the heck out of them, Rozemyne. Just like you asked. They’ve still got plenty of room to improve, but compared to last year, they’re doing a little better.”

“Oh my!” I exclaimed. “I thank you ever so much. That should help us improve our ditter ranking.”

Last year, our apprentices had proven that they didn’t even know what the word “strategy” meant, but now they could formulate and execute strategies right from the start of the year. If they could get enough practice done and used the boosted mana of the archducal apprentice guard knights effectively, there was an excellent chance that we would reach a higher ranking.

“Has anyone in particular stood out to you, Grandfather?”

“Hmm... The archducal family’s apprentice guard knights are getting more mana faster than anyone, as you’d expect, and so are the others who learned your method. It’s not making those from the other factions any happier, though.”

The children of the former Veronica faction were struggling to keep up no matter how hard they worked, and mana had a big impact on one’s strength.

“Sylvester, I recall there being a discussion about rewarding a select few with the mana compression method, but what conclusion did you come to?” I asked, still uncertain how the children of the former Veronica faction were going to be thanked for warning us about the ambush planned for Lamprecht and Aurelia’s wedding. I needed to keep my question vague, since I wasn’t sure how many people knew the exact details of the planned attack, but Sylvester understood nonetheless.

“I praised them for their deeds, compensated them for the intelligence, and told them that you wish to teach them the mana compression method,” Sylvester said. He lowered his dark-green eyes for a second, then looked up and faced me directly. “I also gave them a condition for learning the method.”

“And what might that condition be?”

“They must name-swear themselves to the archducal family first.”

There came a gasp, and then a few heavy swallows. Everyone looked at Sylvester with wide eyes while I alone blinked in confusion.

“Erm... I don’t think I’m familiar with the term,” I admitted.

“It’s the process of sealing your name into a feystone and then offering it to someone, thereby giving them your life and swearing complete loyalty to them.”

“Um...”

“In fact, there are people in this very room who are name-sworn,” Sylvester said, acknowledging my surprise. He gestured to Justus and Eckhart, who were standing behind Ferdinand. “Those two pledged their allegiance to Ferdinand. That’s why they were treated as his retainers even after he joined the temple.”

Justus and Eckhart had apparently been called fools for name-swearing themselves to a man so intensely scorned by Veronica while she was still in power. Apparently, by swearing your name to someone, you gave them complete control over your very life—you lived or died according to their whims, and you could not serve another without first getting permission from them.

That sounds a bit too extreme for me, but when Ferdinand was surrounded by enemies, I can see why he would value such indisputable loyalty.

There certainly wouldn’t be a problem with teaching my mana compression method to someone loyal enough to entrust their life to the archducal family, but such a severe form of expressing loyalty would no doubt be hard on laynobles and mednobles, who generally survived by switching factions depending on who had more power.

As thoughts of name-swearing swam through my mind, the day of my departure for the Royal Academy seemed to come overnight.

“We have clothes for Schwartz and Weiss, as well as our book from Dunkelfelger,” I said, running through my mental checklist. “There’s also a book printed in Ehrenfest to lend to Lady Hannelore. I don’t believe I’m forgetting anything...”

All of my retainers who were going to be attending school with me had gone to the academy on their respective days. Now, only my adult retainers remained—Ottilie, Rihyarda, Damuel, and Angelica. Once again, it was decided that Rihyarda would accompany me as my one adult attendant.

“What will you do while I am gone, Angelica?” I asked.

“Train. Master was training the apprentices again this year, so I didn’t get much time with him. I’m hoping to remedy that,” she replied, a gleam in her blue eyes. Meanwhile, Damuel stared vacantly into the distance and muttered something about another year of short-term, high-intensity training.

“Um, Angelica... Is there nothing else for you to do?” I said. “You are engaged now. Do you not need to socialize with Eckhart?”

“As his second wife, I would not be going to any social occasions with him. Aside from my training, I plan to embroider my cape and pour mana into Stenluke.”

In short, she doesn’t want to do anything but boost her battle capabilities.

An ordonnanz arrived when it was my turn to go to the Royal Academy, at which point I made my way to the teleportation room with my retainers. My belongings were going to be teleported first, so I said my farewells as the servants loaded my things onto the circle.

“Try to keep things peaceful this year,” Sylvester said.

“My, my, Sylvester... I always strive for peace,” I replied.

He responded with a doubting look, but it wasn’t like I spent my days trying to cause chaos. I wanted to hide away in the library and spend all my time reading. Things just never seemed to go according to plan.

“Rozemyne,” Ferdinand said, “I have given Hartmut several books to tide you over in the interim period between you finishing your lessons and your retainers finishing most of theirs. Spend that time in the dormitory.”

“Why Hartmut?! Shouldn’t you give them to me or Rihyarda?” I asked, my eyes wide.

He scoffed. “Were I to give you these books, you would not wait until you had finished your lessons and would instead spend many a sleepless night reading through them. Then, you would no doubt charge to the library, desperate for more, thereby defeating the entire point. I elected to give them to Hartmut rather than Rihyarda because not even an archduke candidate can break tradition and enter the boys’ rooms on the second floor.”

“You’re right about that, my boy. You know milady well,” Rihyarda interjected with a nod.

Gaaah! My new books!

“I have given some empty feystones to Rihyarda, but feystones are limited, and your enthusiasm is boundless,” Ferdinand continued. “Take care not to trouble Dunkelfelger’s archduke candidate any further.”

But, I mean... It’s only natural to get excited when books are involved, right? What exactly should I be taking care not to do?

As I tilted my head curiously, Ferdinand gave me a thin smile. “Do not cause any incidents that would force me to forbid you from ever entering the library again,” he said.

“Your wish is my command.”

It seemed that all of my luggage had been prepared while Ferdinand was talking to me. Rihyarda urged me onto the circle.

“I will join you tomorrow, Sister,” Charlotte called out.

“Indeed. I am looking forward to your arrival,” I replied. “Farewell, everyone.”

With that, the magic circle began to shine, and my vision started to contort.