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Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 4.5 - Chapter 8




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Pre-Meeting for the Dyeing Competition

The Starbind Ceremony ended without incident, and as expected, I ended up bedridden immediately after. When I eventually woke up, the first thing Ferdinand told me was that a planned ambush had been foiled thanks to the efforts of some children from the former Veronica faction.

“The would-be ambushers must have thought that we of the temple would be traveling by carriage,” he said. “The Knight’s Order reported that they detected a great number of people lurking among the trees close to the roads.”

“Traveling by carriage? For what purpose?” I muttered in confusion. “Having highbeasts means we can fly straight to our destination without having to worry about roads and the like. What were the ambushers even thinking?”

Ferdinand narrowed his eyes in a glare. “No doubt they did not expect you to travel with all of the gray priests in your highbeast. Only select nobles are aware that you can freely change its size, and a normal noble would never expect the adopted daughter of an archduke to allow such people to ride with her.”

“In other words... my freethinking spirit saved the day.”

“It would be more accurate to say that your incomprehensible abnormality was responsible.”

The ambushers had apparently lost sight of us due to how unpredictable my actions had been from a noble’s perspective. It was amusing to imagine them waiting in the forest for a carriage to pass by, completely unaware that we had already flown over them. They must have felt dumb, to say the least.

Unfortunately, the ambushers possessed so little mana that the Knight’s Order had struggled when searching for them. They had also scattered as soon as they realized their plan had been compromised, such that any traces of the mana being used to track them vanished in an instant. The knights ultimately lost sight of them in the forest and decided to strengthen the security around the border gate instead.

“The ambush may have been doomed from the start, but we must acknowledge that children of the former Veronica faction did all they could to warn us about it,” Ferdinand continued. “It is because of a letter we received from Roderick and those who informed him that we were able to learn of those hiding in the forest. According to Rihyarda, their hearts were moved by your efforts to bring everyone together in the Royal Academy, no matter their faction.”

That was unexpected. I had pushed for everyone to work together purely because I didn’t like how hostile things seemed in the dorm. My assumption had been that this cooperation would end as soon as we returned to Ehrenfest and parents got involved, but apparently not. Although my plan had been to absorb the other children into my faction once they came of age and could choose their allegiances for themselves, it seemed that those of the former Veronica faction were already a lot more proactive.

“So Roderick and the others worked up the courage to warn us, thereby displaying their loyalty to the archduke?” I asked. “Ferdinand, please join me in asking Sylvester to allow them into our faction. He must know all too well what an ordeal it can be to oppose one’s parents.”

In noble society, resolving to oppose one’s parents before coming of age was the same as throwing away one’s entire support base. And given that even apprentice work was normally done under the observation of one’s parents, these children’s futures would be indescribably bleak if new guardians did not come to assist them.

“You are the one they were trying to contact,” Ferdinand noted. “Should you not be the one to absorb them?”

“Is that an option? There are some I would even like to take as my retainers, but it would not be very commendable for me to lay claim to them first, would it?”

It seemed to me that it was best for Sylvester or Wilfried to take them, since their foundations were still weak. That said, if me taking them with the Leisegangs at my back was better for quashing the former Veronica faction, I would do so without hesitation.

“Hold on. You intend to take them on as retainers, not simply reward or praise them for their efforts? You are as hasty as ever. It would be dangerous to make such an abrupt move over this one incident.”

“This isn’t an abrupt move; I have seen their work in the Royal Academy. Hartmut and Brunhilde were far more abrupt, considering that they were selected without me having ever met them before.”

I knew that it didn’t seem abrupt from my guardians’ perspectives, since they had chosen my retainer candidates after much time spent combing through all of the options, but I had been prompted to choose retainers I had never met and knew pretty much nothing about. In contrast, I had observed these children’s behavior for a full season at the Royal Academy.

At first, the students of the former Veronica faction had been hesitant about working with those of other factions, but once I divided everyone into teams and we started on our studies, they worked flawlessly as a group. In no time at all, we were sharing resources and teaching each other. Even when it came to earning money through the gathering of intelligence, they had proved to be valuable allies by offering up information on Ahrensbach that only they could get access to, and aided us in preparing for the Interduchy Tournament in their own way. No matter how much nobles tried to put on masks, I found it easy to learn more about them after spending so much time living with them.

Putting aside the fact that I may not have a good eye for people, of course...

“I see. I suppose this would not be abrupt from your perspective, but that does not change the fact that it would be to everyone else,” Ferdinand said. “Any children from the former Veronica faction will need more time and more accomplishments to their names before you can take them on as retainers. I would still advise that you reward them and encourage this behavior, though. In that regard, what would you like to do?”

It was a hard question. I had already said that I wanted to take them on as my retainers. Was there some other reward that would actually make it easier for the children to enter our faction while changing the minds of adults as much as possible?

“If taking them on as retainers is not an option... I suggested it before, but how about adjusting the conditions of the magic contract and teaching them my mana compression method?”

“Your mana compression method, hm...?” Ferdinand mused.

At the moment, we were only teaching nobles who were already locked into the Florencia faction, but if we demonstrated that we were also willing to teach those from other factions who worked for our sake, it would potentially encourage even more cooperation going forward.

“The children of the former Veronica faction bemoaned that they could not choose their faction for themselves, and they stressed that a large gap would form between them and the others if they had to wait until they came of age to learn my compression method.”

“As they should; the compression method will dramatically impact one’s mana growth. One need only compare Lamprecht and Damuel or Angelica and Cornelius to the others in their respective generations to see that the difference is obvious.”

“Was your original intention not to spread the compression method to resolve Ehrenfest’s mana shortage?” I asked. “Signing contracts for the mana compression with children who will one day be our allies will allow them to develop more mana over their growth period.”

Ferdinand listened carefully, his brows knitted in a tight frown. The fact that he hadn’t refused the idea outright meant there was still some hope.

“I cannot say whether the others will agree to this, but absorbing the children into our faction is an immediate priority,” Ferdinand eventually replied. “The time will come when we must make a decision: absorb the children and then absorb their parents through them, or save only the children to avoid their talents being wasted and cut off the parents entirely. And I believe that time will be coming soon, whether we like it or not.”

“I agree. At this rate, the conflict between parents who wish to lean on Ahrensbach and the children who desire to pick their own faction will only intensify, and any underage children we absorb alone will need guardians,” I said. It was beyond me to look after all the children of the former Veronica faction myself—that was the job of Sylvester, the top dog of Ehrenfest. I wanted him, the archduke, to reward their efforts and resolve.

“I understand your position and shall convey it to the others.”

After making a full recovery, I returned to my normal daily life. A letter requesting meetings came from the lower city once Philine and Hartmut were back to visiting the temple regularly for work. It had been sent by the Gilberta Company, who were going to be managing the dyeing competition, and after settling on a date, I sent an ordonnanz to Brunhilde.

“Brunhilde, we will soon be meeting with the Gilberta Company in the temple to discuss the upcoming dyeing competition. What will you be doing? I believe you will find it much more agreeable than Groschel’s lower city.”

Her reply came swiftly: “Philine and Hartmut are already visiting the temple, after all. Worry not for my sake; I will be coming along too.”

It seemed that Brunhilde took no issue with visiting the temple. Her resistance toward it had faded considerably compared to the lower city, since she regularly spoke with her fellow retainers who visited the temple almost daily.

“Hartmut, what have you said about the temple?” I asked.

“That it is as clean and orderly as the castle, simply with priests in place of nobles, and that even the commoner gray priests are well-trained enough that spending time with them is not unpleasant in the least.”

“I’ve been telling Brunhilde about my work here too,” Philine added with a smile.

“Lady Rozemyne,” Hartmut said, “if the next meeting with the Gilberta Company is going to be a preliminary discussion on the dyeing competition, I would suggest contacting not just Brunhilde, but Lady Elvira as well.”

I followed his advice, and it was subsequently decided that Brunhilde and Elvira would attend my meeting with the Gilberta Company, alongside a number of guard knights and scholars.

Since we had Elvira and Brunhilde joining us, rather than using the orphanage director’s chambers as per usual, we were going to be using a newly renovated parlor that was as close to the temple’s front gate as possible.

“We are on our way,” Elvira informed me via an ordonnanz.

I asked Nicola to make tea and sweets, then headed to the front entrance with Fran, Monika, Damuel, and Angelica. I watched the sky and soon spotted several highbeasts flying toward us in formation, coming from the direction of the castle. There were more than I expected—as well as Elvira and Brunhilde, there were two apprentice scholars and three apprentice guard knights.

“So this is the temple...” Brunhilde muttered. But as she looked around curiously, taking in the sights she had never seen before, Elvira walked inside without the slightest hesitation, having visited my High Bishop’s chambers before. It was a sight that made Brunhilde widen her amber eyes in disbelief.

Nobody else hesitated either and Brunhilde soon found herself swept up in their march into the temple. She was trying to maintain a blank facade, but I could see her eyes wavering a bit.

“This is the parlor, which we shall use for meetings between noble scholars and the lower city merchants,” I said. We were using the furniture that had once belonged to Bezewanst and had otherwise been gathering dust in the temple storeroom, since his family didn’t want it, and the blue priests had sensed that politics were going to be changing.

Ferdinand had instructed that we use the furniture for the sake of efficiency. Bezewanst had already ensured that it was appropriate for his family’s status, and after reupholstering the chairs and polishing the wood, it was perfectly suited for a parlor being visited by archnobles.

Brunhilde twirled around once as she looked the room over, then nodded with satisfaction. Philine, however, seemed frozen to the spot. Perhaps the furniture was too fancy for laynobles, so she was hesitant about using it.

“Today’s sweets are fallold tarts. They are quite new,” I said, recommending the seasonal treats that Ella and Nicola had made. Fran poured tea in the meantime, and it seemed that Brunhilde rather liked his brew; she took one sip, then closed her eyes as if to savor the taste.

“This tea is quite good,” she remarked.

“Fran was trained by Ferdinand himself and received notably high marks.”

“Goodness...”

We enjoyed our tea and sweets for a while longer until, soon enough, Fritz arrived with our visitors from the Gilberta Company. I saw Otto swallow hard when he saw how many nobles were packed into our new meeting room. He then looked my way and put on a broad smile, probably to hide how unsettled he was.

Can’t say I blame him. There are ten nobles here.


After the long greetings, I directed Otto to his seat and prompted him to have some tea. “How is the lower city?” I asked him while sipping tea and eating tarts. “The merchants from other duchies are flooding in now, correct? A trip to the workshops and orphanage shows a bustle much busier than previous years.”

I needed to show the nobles that information from the lower city was still useful.

“The amount of activity there is unprecedented,” he replied. “The Merchant’s Guild and the large stores all have their hands full with business, and while there is much room for improvement heading into next year, things are currently going smoothly.”

More people meant more business opportunities, and it seemed that the large store owners who had come to my meeting at the Italian restaurant were already working to prepare for next year.

“Rinsham and hairpins are selling well in the Gilberta Company, and the Italian restaurant is developing a certain high-class prestige due to the introductions-only system limiting visitors,” Otto continued. “Even the Sovereign merchants were stunned when they tried the food for themselves. Ehrenfest is still lacking in many areas, but what we do have excels far beyond that found in other duchies, so we can do business with our heads held high.”

The image of Otto and Benno cockily doing business with Sovereign and Klassenberg merchants easily came to mind and was endlessly amusing.

“I am glad to know there have been no major problems,” I said. “Is the cleanliness of the city being maintained also?”

“But of course. The soldiers are continuing their patrols, but they have to warn people much less regularly now. You may rest assured, everyone has grown used to their new way of life.”

It seemed that passages and roofs were being built such that people could properly dispose of garbage and waste even when enduring the deep snow of winter. Construction workshops and lumberyards were apparently quite busy as well.

“Moving on—let us discuss the dyeing competition. How are the dyeing workshops?” I asked.

“They are exceedingly invested in the competition, since it is an opportunity to earn a title from the archducal family and secure exclusive business from the nobility. The young craftspeople are burning with passion to acquire a title equal in prestige to that of the Gutenbergs, and seasoned craftspeople are frantically working together in an attempt to remember what the foremen of their youth said of the techniques.”

The dyeing techniques may have been abandoned, but there were still old records and pieces of cloth in the Gilberta Company and scraps of documents in the storerooms of the Dyeing Guild, which were being used to revive them. Things were apparently quite lively.

“This is a list of the dyeing workshops and craftspeople due to participate,” Otto said, holding out a sheet of paper. I scanned the names, and one in particular immediately caught my eye: Effa. The very moment I confirmed that her workshop’s name was there too, my enthusiasm shot through the roof.

Aah! Mom’s participating! I’m gonna choose her to be my personal craftsperson for sure!

I struck a victory pose on the inside while otherwise maintaining a cool exterior, and Otto took this opportunity to turn to Elvira. “Lady Elvira, might I ask when the competition is planned to take place?” he asked. “The craftspeople must be given a set date.”

He and Elvira proceeded to iron out details such as when the goods would need to be delivered on the day, when the tea party would start, how large the party would be, how many people could be brought to the castle, and so on, with the occasional interjection from Brunhilde. I pretty much just nodded along as other people made the decisions, wondering what title I should give those working in the field of dyes and fashion. Otto had said that it was important to them, but a perfect name just wasn’t coming to mind.

The whole Gutenberg thing was pretty much a slip of the tongue, since I was so moved by Johann’s metal letter types. Plus, I mean, I don’t even care that much about dyeing. Printing is one thing, but fashion? Meh.

I knew a lot of names that cropped up in connection to libraries and the printing industry, but my only experience with dyeing in my Urano days had been when my mom invited me to try it out. I certainly couldn’t remember any relevant important people.

The number of books I had read was of little consequence when I struggled to remember what they said. To be clear, I only even thought about spreading dyeing techniques in response to Justus’s intelligence gathering. At no point had I expected that it would spawn an entire competition or that a new title would be involved.

Mm... I can’t come up with the names of any people, but maybe I could use the name of a dye? “Yuzen” was the first thing that came to mind back then, but I’m pretty sure the people here struggle to pronounce Japanese words...

Not to mention, the names given by nobles tended to be longer in this world. The craftspeople would almost certainly give me strange looks if they were rewarded for their hard work with a short title.

Oh boy. Maybe I should just, like, use a word that means the revival of technology or something. There was a word like that, right? I mean, I’ve forgotten so much by this point, but I’m pretty sure one existed. The revival of an entire era of technologies... The revival of a culture so rich it would be difficult to categorize...

“Oh, right! Renaissance!”

I shot my head up, beaming with satisfaction, only to realize that everyone was looking at me in utter bemusement.

“O-Oh. My apologies,” I stammered. “That would be, uh... I was just thinking of the title to give to the skilled participants of the competition. Ohoho...” I attempted to cover up my sudden outburst with a chuckle, but the strange looks I was receiving remained unchanged. Only after a lengthy moment of silence did Otto force a smile and glance around the room.

“Ah, Renaissance! Is that what you intend to call the dyeing craftspeople, Lady Rozemyne? You were making such a difficult expression that I feared I had made some blunder, but I see now that you were dedicating your formidable mental prowess to devising the perfect title.”

Holy cow... Otto is working so hard to fix the awkward silence. I can’t just tell him I was talking to myself like an idiot. What should I do?!

Brunhilde nodded. “I am glad you have found a title that you like, Lady Rozemyne,” she said.

“Renaissance...” I muttered, trying to figure out how to fix the situation. But the next thing I knew, everyone had settled on “Renaissance” being the dyeing-related title. Hartmut and Philine were already noting it down, and I could see Otto’s assistant Theo adding it to his diptych as well.

Oh no, no, no! It doesn’t even have anything to do with dyeing! At this point, Mom is going to be called a Renaissance. That doesn’t even make sense! And it sounds terrible! GAAAH!

The meeting came to a close shortly after, and our visitors from the Gilberta Company filtered out. Elvira then ordered the layscholars to exit. “You all may leave now,” she said. “Create records of today’s meeting and deliver them to Lady Florencia and Lady Charlotte. I have more to discuss with Lady Rozemyne and Lord Ferdinand.”

Elvira and Ferdinand had apparently agreed to talk after our meeting with the merchants. The layscholars departed, and as Monika went to summon Ferdinand, Fran poured me a freshly prepared cup of tea.

“What is there to talk about?” I asked. “I don’t recall being told about anything like this.”

“It is about what Aurelia has told us of Ahrensbach’s internal affairs,” Elvira replied. “Lord Ferdinand may not think it is necessary for you to hear this, but I believe you are better off knowing than not.”

I looked at my retainers. Brunhilde and Hartmut both seemed to agree; their relief at our previous meeting finishing had already vanished from their faces.

“Mother, what kind of person is Lady Aurelia?” I asked.

“You will generally be meeting her as the archduke’s adopted daughter, so address her only as ‘Aurelia.’ In any case... she has spoken with Lamprecht, and since she has only met with a careful selection of people, it seems that the former Veronica faction has yet to make contact with her.”

Since Lamprecht and Aurelia were living in a side building on Karstedt’s estate, Elvira and the others were able to monitor who went to see them.

“It seems that the other bride, Bettina, is already closely associating with the former Veronica faction,” Elvira continued. “That much was to be expected, of course.”

Freuden was apparently a mednoble in the former Veronica faction. Socializing with his family meant directly socializing with the former Veronica faction, so there was no avoiding this.

“One thing of particular note is that Aurelia appears to wear her veil at all times,” Elvira said. “I have yet to clearly see her face.”

“Ah, yes. I seem to recall Lamprecht saying that she wishes to avoid being misunderstood because of her sharp features.”

“I am sure that her continuing to wear an Ahrensbach veil will invite more misunderstandings than anything...” Elvira said with a sigh. However, if she had lived her life up to this point being subject to constant misunderstandings, it only made sense that she would want to avoid any further misunderstandings in this tense situation.

“Erm, Mother... Shall we invite Aurelia to the dyeing competition? I am not allowed to contact her at the moment, but we cannot just leave her out, can we?” I asked. Not inviting Aurelia to a competition being hosted by Florencia, Elvira, and me—the mother of her husband’s lord, her mother-in-law, and her sister-in-law, respectively—would give off the impression that she was being deliberately ostracized.

“Indeed. We must invite her. I will strive to remain with you at all times but have Brunhilde with you as well. You must also take care with all that you say.”

As I was heeding Elvira’s various warnings, Ferdinand arrived. “Elvira. Speak what you know,” he said.

Elvira prefaced her response with a, “Now, this is secondhand knowledge from Lamprecht...” before going on to explain the reason why Ahrensbach had lost almost all of its archduke candidates. “It seems that Aub Ahrensbach’s first wife was from Drewanchel, and his second wife from Werkestock. His third wife is Lady Georgine, as we know.”

“Werkestock... That explains that,” Ferdinand said. He had evidently inferred something crucial from Elvira’s answer, but I was still absolutely clueless. The most I knew was that Werkestock was a greater duchy that had been lost following the civil war.

“His first wife had three daughters and no boys, while his second wife had two boys,” Elvira continued.

Since both the archduke’s first and second wives were from greater duchies, it had been expected that one of his second wife’s sons would succeed him. Some of his first wife’s daughters had married into other duchies as a result, while one married an archnoble inside the duchy. However, the civil war had then occurred, and the first and second wives became politically divided. Aub Ahrensbach had supported the faction of his first wife’s family in Drewanchel, which had ultimately put him on the winning side.

“As you know, there was a large-scale purge following the civil war,” Elvira went on. She was referring to the purge of nobles that had been carried out by the new king and Klassenberg, through which the defeated greater duchy was severely punished. “Aub Ahrensbach’s second wife was executed for being the little sister of Aub Werkestock. Her sons were going to be executed along with her, but due to the desperate pleas of Aub Ahrensbach, their lives were spared on the condition that they would be reduced in status to archnobles.”

Thus, despite Ahrensbach being on the winning side, it quickly fell into a succession crisis. This was only made worse by the fact that they had been given a portion of Werkestock’s land to manage, thereby enlarging their duchy.

“By the time the second wife’s sons had been reduced to being archnobles, the first wife’s daughters had already been married away, meaning they were no longer of Ahrensbach’s archducal family. It seems that Aub Ahrensbach is attempting to increase his duchy’s number of archduke candidates by adopting his daughters’ children—that is, his grandchildren.”

Unfortunately, every duchy was suffering from a shortage of nobles, so he had only been able to adopt one of them. His plan was to raise this child as the next aub. Incidentally, when his first wife died, Georgine had taken her place.

“Lady Georgine’s oldest daughter had similarly wed an archnoble and is no longer an archduke candidate. That leaves only Lady Detlinde and Lady Letizia, the previously mentioned adopted granddaughter.”

“The archduke’s younger brother is a member of the archducal family, is he not?” Ferdinand asked. “If he has an abundance of children, could the aub not relinquish his seat early and prioritize regrowing the archducal family?”

Elvira slowly shook her head. “It seems to be tradition in Ahrensbach for all other members of the archducal family to lose their status. Aurelia’s father was given land and became an archnoble,” she said, making it clear that Ahrensbach truly was out of options. “And that is all I have heard from Lamprecht.”

“I still have many questions, but given that Aurelia is the daughter of a third wife from Frenbeltag, it is possible that she knows no more than that,” Ferdinand said. His brows were pulled into a frown, and he began to contemplate the situation with a look of thorough displeasure on his face.



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