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

Epilogue

Hildebrand stood in front of the teleportation door. Today, he would be going to the Royal Academy! He looked up, quaking with excitement, only for his head attendant Arthur to brush aside the bangs that had fallen onto the young prince’s forehead.

“Do remember you are attending the Academy as royalty,” Arthur stressed.

“I know. This is my first duty as prince, ordered to me by Father,” Hildebrand replied. He tried to form a serious expression as he nodded his understanding, but he couldn’t contain his curiosity for this new, unknown place he was heading to. Just what awaited him beyond that door?

“Now we may go,” Arthur said.

The door opened before the prince’s bright purple eyes. His retainers encouraged him forward, and when he took his first step, he found himself enveloped in silence. A hallway stretched into the distance, its walls lined equidistantly with doors with letters and numbers written above them. It was completely unlike anything he had seen in the villa where he and his mother had stayed prior to his baptism or the villa he lived in now.

But there were so many people when I first went to the royal palace...

As a child of the king’s third wife, Hildebrand had been raised in his mother’s villa, and he had not ventured outside its walls prior to his baptism. His mother’s family had on occasion come to visit, but he was used to little more attention than that. Thus, he could remember the overwhelming crowds of people he had seen during his visit to the royal palace as though it had only been yesterday.

Hildebrand knew that the Royal Academy was a place for royal and noble children to learn from their tenth year to their coming-of-age, and he had implicitly assumed that everyone would greet him with enthusiasm. An empty hallway was completely unexpected.

“There’s nobody here...” he muttered.

“The advancement ceremony is under way, so the students and professors are all in the auditorium,” the guard knight taking the lead replied, making the prince realize he had spoken aloud. “This is a welcome respite for us guard knights, as there is less danger to fear.”

It seemed that everyone was gathered elsewhere. It was only logical that Hildebrand wouldn’t be attending the advancement ceremony, considering that he wasn’t a new student, but it was like he was being left out.

Feeling a little disappointed, Hildebrand walked down the murky hallway with the equally spaced doors until he reached another hallway, this one with windows. There was a lot of snow outside, much more than he was used to seeing outside his own villa. He pressed his lips together; the piling snow was almost like a metaphor, signifying that he was going to have far more duties here in the Royal Academy.

“Are you nervous?” Arthur asked, seeming worried for him. “You appear quite rigid.”

“I simply feel the weight of my responsibilities,” Hildebrand replied with a nod. “I am here as royalty even though I was only recently baptized.” He thought back to when the king—his father—had instructed him to attend the Royal Academy. It had been near the middle of autumn.

“It will be a heavy burden, but I ask that you oversee the Royal Academy as royalty.”

Hildebrand received this request from his parents, who were visiting the villa they had granted him. He knew not how to respond, so his head attendant Arthur spoke up in his place, albeit with a troubled tone.

“Prince Hildebrand has just been baptized. He has yet to even have his debut.”

After a child was baptized in the royal palace, it was standard procedure for them to be debuted as new royalty during the next Archduke Conference. There was no precedent for a royal carrying out public duties before their debut.

“In truth... I spent much time debating whether to send you or Anastasius,” the king said to his son. “However, Anastasius has much more important work to do than standing in position at the Royal Academy. I would like you to do this job for me, Hildebrand.”

If this was the conclusion the king had come to after a lengthy internal debate, there was no way that mere retainers could protest. They could only accept the order in silence and support their charge as best they could.

Though, in the end, I will mainly be restricted to my villa.

Hildebrand was told to avoid contact with the students as much as possible; he was too young to determine good or bad on his own, so it was possible the students would attempt to exploit him to some end or another. Royalty simply had that much authority to their name—not that Hildebrand fully understood this. He had spent his life in his mother’s villa and rarely interacted with the outside world, so he did not completely grasp the power he wielded.

It seems to me that Mother and my retainers have much more power than I do, but they say otherwise, so...

“This is the Small Hall,” Arthur told Hildebrand as they entered the room where the fellowship gathering was going to be held. There were tables all around, and the prince was led to the one nearest the back, where royalty sat.

“There are more tables than duchies...” Hildebrand observed.

“Indeed. That is because some duchies have more than one archduke candidate,” Arthur explained. There was one table per candidate. It was not uncommon for half-siblings to oppose each other and wish to hide information from one another, and this allowed each candidate to sit at their own table with their retainers.

“Will you be sitting beside me, Arthur?” Hildebrand asked his head attendant.

Arthur shook his head. “Much like when you have your meals, Prince Hildebrand, I will remain standing behind you. From there, I can offer advice and serve you your food.”

The guard knights weren’t going to be seated either, but perhaps the scholars would. Hildebrand looked up at his scholar Dankmar, who answered that he would indeed be seated, but underneath the table. Apparently, this would allow him to discreetly provide information about the duchies and tell the prince what to say to the candidates.

“I already memorized the greetings and what to say to each duchy,” Hildebrand said. He had been completely immersed in his studies ever since being baptized; he didn’t need anyone hiding beneath the table, telling him what to say.

“I understand just how hard you have been working, Prince Hildebrand, but it is possible that your mind will go blank while you are actually carrying out your first public duty,” Arthur said. “It would be best for the fellowship gathering to end without you needing Dankmar’s assistance, but it is the job of retainers to formulate triple-layered plans to ensure that failure does not occur under any circumstances.”

“Very well, Arthur,” the prince replied. “Still, I will ensure that I finish the fellowship gathering without Dankmar’s help.”

Hildebrand steeled his resolve and started repeating his lines to himself until word eventually came that the advancement ceremony had concluded. Dankmar immediately got into position. He was an instructor who usually wore a strict frown, so seeing him hiding under the table was a source of great amusement. Hildebrand couldn’t help but keep glancing down at him.

“Prince Hildebrand, face forward, not down at Dankmar,” Arthur warned. “You will only embarrass yourself should the students discover his presence.”

Hildebrand faced forward just as the door to the Small Hall opened.

“Lord Hensfen of Klassenberg the First has arrived.”

People wearing black clothes and red capes entered the room. It was Klassenberg’s archduke candidate and his attendants.

“Lord Lestilaut and Lady Hannelore of Dunkelfelger the Second have arrived.”

After a brief moment, the blue-caped students from Dunkelfelger appeared. They had more people than the duchy they followed, likely because they had two archduke candidates.

The entering archduke candidates all widened their eyes upon seeing Hildebrand; it was likely that few duchies even knew he existed, since he hadn’t yet been debuted. The stir of surprise only intensified as more people entered the room, and it showed no signs of calming. Hildebrand adjusted his posture, feeling a little uncomfortable, only to have Arthur immediately whisper in his ear. As the attending royal, he was not to move, since all eyes were on him.

I’ve been scolded, and the greetings haven’t even started yet...

Hildebrand was stricken by worry over whether he actually would be able to perform the greetings properly, but fleeing was not an option. He just had to sit with as much royal grace as possible.

Once all of the duchies’ representatives were seated, Hildebrand was introduced to them. The prince’s circumstances were explained, and once the archduke candidates learned he was a royal who had not yet been debuted, their searching looks turned into ones of curiosity. Perhaps because they were young students, their gazes were much more direct and emotional than those of the Sovereign nobles—not that this made Hildebrand feel any less uncomfortable.

And so, the greetings began. The archduke candidate from Klassenberg, the highest-ranking duchy, was the first to stand and approach Hildebrand’s table with his retainers.

“Prince Hildebrand, may I pray for a blessing in appreciation of this serendipitous meeting, ordained by the harsh judgment of Ewigeliebe the God of Life?”

“You may.”

As the third prince, Hildebrand was used to being the one to receive rather than give blessings during first meetings. His replies were short and impossible to mistake, but he couldn’t help but smile in relief when he delivered one properly.

“You may raise your head.”

“It is an honor to meet you, Prince Hildebrand. I am Hensfen of Klassenberg, here to learn to become a proper noble fit to serve Yurgenschmidt. May the future be bright.”

Right. Klassenberg is Lady Eglantine’s duchy.

Hildebrand had no issue recalling who Eglantine was—she was engaged to his half-brother Anastasius and had attended the third prince’s baptism. She was kind, beautiful, and positively exuded grace.

“Lady Eglantine participated in my baptism ceremony,” Hildebrand said. “I anticipate that Klassenberg will do its part as family of royalty and act with the responsibility that the first-ranked duchy must hold.”

“I am honored.”

The group of red-capes left, this time being replaced with blue-capes. Hildebrand’s mother had been born in Dunkelfelger the Second, and her family had at times visited the villa where he once lived, so the prince knew Lestilaut and Hannelore. They had likewise attended his baptism ceremony.

This was not a first meeting for them, so Lestilaut said the words for an entirely unexpected but nonetheless pleasant encounter: “I am overjoyed that our threads were woven together once again, despite Ewigeliebe the God of Life wielding such power.”

“I am surprised to see you in the Royal Academy, Prince Hildebrand,” Lestilaut continued. “We had not been informed of this.”

“I had not yet received Father’s orders at the time of my baptism ceremony,” the prince replied. “My mother has asked me to look first to my family for help, should anything happen.”

“Let us pray no such incidents occur.”

Hildebrand wasn’t particularly close to Lestilaut or Hannelore, but it came as somewhat of a relief to see people he had met before and considered family.

Next was Drewanchel the Third, and a group of emerald-green capes approached. This duchy had four archduke candidates, but Hildebrand only knew one of their names. Dankmar and the others had said that he only needed to remember Adolphine, the fiancée of his half-brother Sigiswald.

Still, I might actually need Dankmar this time!

Hildebrand swallowed nervously, but Adolphine was the one to step forward for the greeting. Dankmar did not need to provide any assistance.

“I am told we will meet quite regularly due to your engagement with my brother Sigiswald, Lady Adolphine,” the prince said. “I imagine I will be in your care on many an occasion. May our threads be woven together.”

“Indeed. May our threads be woven together,” Adolphine replied with a smile. She then headed to the side of the hall with the other archduke candidates.

Students of the other duchies came up in groups, one after another. Hildebrand greeted the greater duchies and higher-ranking middle duchies without much effort due to their closer relationships with royalty, but over time, his knowledge became increasingly fuzzy. By the time the ninth duchy had come up, he needed Dankmar to provide some assistance from beneath the table, but he managed to give a royal greeting nonetheless.

Oh? There’s a child about as old as me here...

Hildebrand blinked in surprise when the archduke candidates from Ehrenfest the Tenth stood up; one of their archduke candidates was a girl who looked as though she had been baptized last season, like he had. It was heartwarming to see her older brother and sister slow down to match her walking speed.

“What were Ehrenfest’s years again?” Hildebrand asked.

“They have two second-years and one first-year,” Dankmar replied. “The second-year female archduke candidate is the Lady Rozemyne we discussed.”

Hildebrand thought back to what he knew about Ehrenfest. It was a duchy notable for having Rozemyne, known as a wild card figure of sorts. She had supposedly attacked a professor with her highbeast, revived the heirlooms of royalty, thrown the royal palace into chaos by guiding Anastasius and Eglantine into a relationship, and missed both the Interduchy Tournament and the graduation ceremony due to her abnormally poor health. Anastasius, the only royal who had met her personally, had even described her as “a dangerous individual who comes up with unthinkable ideas that cannot be dealt with normally.” But underneath all this madness, she was extremely competent; she had come first-in-class the year before and was supposedly the source of all the trends coming from Ehrenfest.

How bizarre...

Hildebrand had struggled to know how much he needed to remember when he was learning about other duchies with Dankmar and the others. Anastasius had given detailed reports on the incidents this Rozemyne had caused, but most of what he had written was in relation to his time with Eglantine, so the scholars hadn’t known how trustworthy it really was.

I think Lady Eglantine’s hairpin was made in Ehrenfest too.

Hildebrand recalled the unusual hairpin that Eglantine had worn at his baptism ceremony and looked over the Ehrenfest group. It was then that he realized all the girls were wearing hairpins, even the retainers.

The three archduke candidates knelt down, crossed their arms in front of their chests, and performed their first greeting. Hildebrand had been warned to stay on guard against Rozemyne’s blessings, but nothing in particular happened. His attention was more drawn to how glossy their hair was.

That’s another of their duchy’s trends, as I remember.

Hildebrand recalled that, prior to his baptism, his mother had wanted this rinsham product and had instructed the Sovereign merchants heading to Ehrenfest to return with some before the end of summer. He smiled at the memory and instructed the three archduke candidates before him to raise their heads, after which the boy—Rozemyne’s brother—spoke as their representative.

“It is an honor to meet you, Prince Hildebrand. We are Wilfried, Rozemyne, and Charlotte of Ehrenfest, here to learn to become proper nobles fit to serve Yurgenschmidt. May the future be bright.”

This light-haired, indigo-eyed girl must be Rozemyne.

Hildebrand looked at the three Ehrenfest archduke candidates, deducing their names by order of their apparent ages. Both his parents had advised him to take care with the unusually influential Rozemyne of Ehrenfest, and Anastasius had warned him that it was possible she would reply to him with blatant hostility at their first meeting. If she did that, Anastasius had said for him to settle things peacefully, if possible.

I wonder what I should say if she does seem hostile, though...

Despite his fears, Hildebrand put on as peaceful of a smile as he could, all while taking care not to stare specifically at Rozemyne. “I am told that Ehrenfest’s archduke candidates are exceptional—that one came first-in-class and another achieved the rank of honor student, all while aiding their classmates in raising the overall grades of their duchy,” he said. “King Trauerqual has high hopes for all of you. Do continue your efforts.”

In the end, the three candidates left without incident, much to the prince’s relief. He noticed that he had tensed up without realizing it, so he let his body relax back into his chair.

Well, that ended without anything serious happening.

Now that the lengthy greetings had been exchanged and everyone had eaten lunch, the fellowship gathering was finally over. Hildebrand was the first to rise from his seat and exit the Small Hall with his retainers. He started to relax once there weren’t so many eyes on him—which, of course, earned him a quiet rebuke from Arthur.

“You must remain regal.”

Hildebrand straightened his back again, recalling that he had been told to maintain his royal demeanor without fail even as he returned to his villa. He walked down the hall with the doors enchanted with teleportation magic, looking for the one that led to his own villa.

It was easy to tell the doors to the duchies apart, since they were numbered based on rank. The royal villas, however, were marked with the elements of the various gods, and the third prince—young as he was—found himself unable to distinguish them. It wasn’t that he couldn’t read them, but rather that reading them took him some time. The words were also written above the doors, so he had to keep looking up as he walked, which quickly made his neck ache.

“Arthur...” Hildebrand said, seeking help, but Arthur shook his head.

“You must be able to return to your villa through your own power.”

“I remember everything and I can read them; it just takes me a while,” Hildebrand protested, clearly frustrated. He then returned to looking at the letters above the doors. “Darkness marks my father’s villa, Light marks his first wife’s, Water marks his second wife’s, Wind marks my mother’s, Fire marks Sigiswald’s, Life marks Anastasius’s, and Earth... Earth marks the villa they gave me.”

Hildebrand was struck with the temptation to visit his mother in her villa—to tell her how hard he had worked today—but now that he had been baptized and given his own place to live, he could no longer see her without requesting a meeting first.

Soon enough, Hildebrand found the right door and returned to his villa. He let out a heavy sigh, unable to ignore the loneliness he felt, but Arthur didn’t chastise him this time; instead, he simply chuckled and prepared a glass of warm milk, into which he stirred a dollop of honey. The sweet taste made the prince feel as though he were back home.

“Did I handle the fellowship gathering okay...?” Hildebrand asked.

“Indeed,” Arthur replied. “You handled the greetings quite well.”

Hildebrand had worked hard to complete the first duty his father had ever given him, but at the same time, he had been terrified that he might fail. Only after receiving approval from his head attendant did the prince allow the emotions stirring in his chest to finally surface.

“The Small Hall sure was filled with people...” Hildebrand remarked.

“Only the archduke candidates and their retainers were in attendance,” Arthur replied, “so the turnout was actually rather small in comparison to the total number of students.”

It seemed that there were more mednobles and laynobles than there were archduke candidates and their retainers combined. Hildebrand couldn’t even imagine that.

“Arthur, I should have been wearing black too. I was the odd one out,” Hildebrand muttered, looking down at his clothes. Everyone in the Small Hall—students and teachers alike—had worn black, which had made him feel exceptionally ostracized.

“You are not yet officially attending the Royal Academy, Prince Hildebrand, so you cannot wear black. You must be satisfied with the royal black cape.”

“That reminds me... There was someone else who looked like me. If she hadn’t been wearing black, she wouldn’t have looked like a student at all,” Hildebrand said, thinking back to the abnormally young-looking girl who had greeted him alongside her older brother and sister. She had hair like the night sky and eyes like the moon—a very distinctive appearance—and she had worn a dark-yellow cape, from what he remembered.

What duchy wears that cape again? Ehrenfest, was it...?

He then remembered that Rozemyne had also been at the gathering. She hadn’t seemed anywhere near as dangerous as Anastasius had said, but then again, lessons hadn’t started yet. Who knew what would happen this winter?

“I wonder whether the young girl is as skilled as her older sister...” Hildebrand muttered, unaware that he had mistaken Charlotte for Rozemyne.