Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 4.7 - Chapter 3

Sylvester’s Order

Life in the castle was monotonous. I would start my mornings in the winter playroom, where I would read, write new stories, and practice the harspiel. Then, I would go to the knights’ training grounds for some light exercise and radio calisthenics. Of course, my education was too high and my stamina levels too low for the other children to join me, so I ended up having to do it all on my own. Rihyarda had said it was important for me to remain in the playroom nonetheless, but I didn’t really see why—it felt like nothing would change if I just stayed in my room.

“Am I not a bother to everyone else in the playroom?” I asked. “I stick out quite a bit, I feel.”

“Of course not,” Rihyarda replied. “The winter playroom was established specifically so that the archducal family could search for retainers. You have spent no time with the younger children due to your long sleep, milady. It is important that you socialize with them and come to learn their thoughts and personalities.”

It seemed that she was correct—one needed opportunities to determine whether someone was suitable before taking them as a retainer. Otherwise, more Traugott incidents were prone to happen.

“I feel that I have enough retainers already, though.”

“My, my, milady—what are you saying? Cornelius and Hartmut are due to graduate this year, then Leonore and Lieseleta the next. Your retainers in higher grades are going to leave the Royal Academy one after another, and if you do not replace them with younger students, you will not be able to function properly. You will need to pick at least two attendants, three guard knights, and one scholar from years below your own.”

That won’t be easy, though...

There were a surprising number of constraints here, like trying not to pick kids who were better suited as retainers to future giebes, or kids from other factions like Nikolaus. Personally knowing someone didn’t mean you could take them into your service. On top of that, I couldn’t select any kids who had already been chosen to serve Wilfried, Charlotte, or Melchior.

Is there anything I can do to make this easier...?

In the afternoon, I went to the archduke’s office and sat at the desk for Wilfried, where I read reports from the Royal Academy, sent replies when necessary, and assisted Sylvester with his work. It was my first time helping him, and it was actually a little bit fun.

Ferdinand had given me the impression that Sylvester abandoned his work at every opportunity, but it seemed that he was actually somewhat reliable now. His pride as a father had apparently kept him from running away once Wilfried came to work alongside him, and at this point, he had so much extra to do that he could no longer afford to ignore it.

“Being the archduke is not easy, I see,” I observed.

“You’re the reason I have so much work to do in the first place,” Sylvester replied, glaring at me despite my intention having been to praise him.

“Wilfried and Charlotte are both working hard, so it’s only natural that you do as well. The scholars will appreciate this too, no doubt.”

In truth, part of the reason I was here was to keep an eye on Sylvester; Ferdinand had said that he was less likely to neglect his duties when I was around. Incidentally, now that Ferdinand no longer needed to read my headache-inducing reports each and every day, he was dedicating himself to gathering intelligence through socializing.

“Hey, Rozemyne. Hartmut’s report for today contains something I think you’ll enjoy,” Sylvester said with a grin while handing over a reasonably thick stack of papers that he had just been reading. I read them myself and then let out a cry of excitement.

“That’s my Hartmut! He’s so skilled. I can’t believe he got love stories from Dunkelfelger this quickly. He’s even sent them right to me!”

One of the apprentice scholars who had accompanied Hannelore during our bookworm tea party had apparently been gathering Dunkelfelger romance stories. Hartmut had taken the time to send two with his report instead of waiting for me to return to the Royal Academy.

And the name of the Dunkelfelger romance author who worked so hard to get these stories for me is... Let’s see... Clarissa. Okay. I’ve memorized her name. I’ll talk to Mother about whether we can turn these into a book once I get back to my room. Right. Eheheh. Tralalala.

Desperately holding back the urge to start reading the love stories right away, I turned my attention to a report from Wilfried. He mentioned that he was busy competing with Ortwin of Drewanchel. As it turned out, he was having quite a peaceful time in the Royal Academy now that I was gone.

Not that I care which of them can make the cooler weapon.

I read Marianne’s report next, which informed me that the first-years had all finished their written lessons. It seemed they were struggling with their practical lessons, however. Charlotte was having a hard time in her schtappe-morphing class, since everyone was expecting her to start some new trend or another. I decided to take the opportunity to inform her about maternal symbols and suggested that she spread them among the first-year girls.

“Rozemyne, let’s put our work aside for a bit,” Sylvester said at fifth bell, which marked our break time. Having this opportunity to speak with him was perhaps the most valuable part of this winter because, after careful consideration, I realized that one-on-one time was something we had pretty much never had. It was actually pretty fun talking to him while sipping tea and eating sweets.

“Rozemyne, how’s the playroom?” Sylvester asked, munching on some tarts filled with fallolds soaked in honey. I thought back to my time there that morning while drinking the tea that Rihyarda had prepared for me.

“Professor Moritz is keeping things running smoothly even without any archduke candidates there,” I said. “The children’s studies are progressing well.”

“Nice. That’s good to hear. How’re you doing at building up your stamina?”

“Not as well... I’m putting my all into it, though.”

Then again, Ferdinand did say that I’m not showing enough effort...

I smiled as cover and swiftly changed the subject. “Speaking of which, Rihyarda told me this morning to select my future retainers from the playroom.”

“Yeah. You’re going to need more,” Sylvester replied. “You pick people based on your own inscrutable standards, but just be careful with your choices. We don’t want to end up with another Traugott.”

It seemed that other people couldn’t work out my thought process for picking retainers, especially when I had chosen laynobles like Damuel and Philine and was letting Roderick give me his name despite him being from the former Veronica faction.

“That is easier said than done. We have so many archduke candidates of a similar age that there aren’t many options. Melchior will need retainers too, no? Have you not already decided on the candidates?”

I was aware that Melchior was being baptized this spring. He would move to the northern building afterward and take on retainers, so we were more or less battling to secure the best ones.

“Once I’ve taken to someone, I’m willing to pick them regardless of their status, but I know I’m not in a position to say that,” I continued. I might not have cared about such things, but others certainly did, and status was essential when it came to diplomacy with other duchies in the Royal Academy. I needed at least one archnoble attendant, scholar, and guard knight. “So, I had an idea. What if Melchior and I were to share an archnoble retainer in the Royal Academy?”

Sylvester spat out his tea, and Rihyarda paused midway through serving to balk at me. “Milady, what in the world are you talking about?” she asked. “Sharing retainers?”

“Hm? I know that we cannot share attendants because we are not of the same gender, but Melchior’s apprentice guard knights and scholars won’t have any duties at the Royal Academy before he starts attending himself, no? Thus, I will take them into my service and train them in the process. Of course, they would only be serving me in the Royal Academy.”

“More crazy talk from you. It’s always crazy talk...” Sylvester grumbled, massaging his temples as one of his retainers wiped his mouth. It may have been an unusual suggestion, but in my opinion, it was very logical.

“I mean, there are only so many archnoble retainers in the Royal Academy, are there not? Melchior won’t be entering the Academy until my final year, so this would greatly benefit us both.”

“And what about that final year?” Rihyarda asked, exasperated. “All of your retainers will depart at once. Please do consider things a little more seriously.”

The last year certainly would introduce some complications, since I would need to return all of our shared retainers to Melchior, but I wasn’t overly concerned. “I don’t imagine we would encounter that many problems, since only the archnoble retainers would be leaving my service. I would still have my mednobles and laynobles,” I replied. Worst-case scenario, I could simply borrow archnoble retainers from Wilfried or Charlotte when I needed them.

Sylvester rejected my suggestion with a sigh. “If you were Charlotte, I might’ve gone along with this, but it won’t work with you, Rozemyne.”

“Why not?”

“In the future, Charlotte’s going to be married into another duchy, and since she’ll only be able to bring a few retainers with her, it wouldn’t be a big deal for her to share some scholars and guard knights with Melchior. But you? You’re going to marry Wilfried and stay in Ehrenfest forever. It’ll come back to bite you if you don’t raise retainers to support you now, while you still can.”

It seemed that one would get closer to—and therefore work better with—the retainers one went through the Royal Academy with, rather than the retainers one took on later.

“Well, I thought it was a good idea...”

“The idea itself sounds fine, but it’s not good for the future first wife of an archduke,” Sylvester said with a forced smile. I didn’t really think much of my engagement to Wilfried, since it hadn’t impacted my life at all, but it seemed that Sylvester already saw me as a soon-to-be first wife. It was kind of a strange thought.

Reports arrived from the Royal Academy on a daily basis. Hildebrand was no longer leaving his room, as students had found out about his visits to the library and promptly swarmed the place. Hannelore had apparently been seen stroking Schwartz and Weiss, causing other girls to try for themselves and receive quite a shock in the most literal sense. Raimund, meanwhile, had finished his new assignments from Ferdinand and wanted them to be reviewed.

“Rozemyne, this one’s from Charlotte,” Sylvester said as he handed me the report. “Drewanchel mentioned that royalty is looking to buy another hairpin from us. You can send the order to the Gilberta Company.”

Charlotte had received an invitation to a tea party with Drewanchel, during which they were going to discuss the first prince, Sigiswald, wanting to give Adolphine a hairpin at her graduation ceremony. They had planned to hold this tea party with me, but my return to Ehrenfest had come too abruptly.

This was a tricky situation. Drewanchel was asking for a hairpin at the behest of Prince Sigiswald, so we couldn’t refuse on the grounds of their duchy not being part of the trade agreement. We couldn’t outright say that we didn’t want Drewanchel researching our hairpins either.

“I have not received an order for a hairpin at a tea party before, so I would appreciate your advice, Sister. From Charlotte.”

Charlotte had gone out of her way to send this report to me; as her older sister, I needed to put my all into my response.

“Attend the tea party with Brunhilde and ask Lady Adolphine her favorite flower and what kind of clothes she intends to wear at her graduation ceremony. Pay close attention to their color and design. My attendants know what is needed to order a hairpin that will suit an outfit, so you needn’t worry about that. And fear not—I will speak with the Gilberta Company. From Rozemyne.”

Brunhilde could write up a proper order form without issue. It was those of the Gilberta Company who would struggle the most.

“I will contact the Gilberta Company in advance, as it will take a few days for Charlotte to attend the tea party and for Brunhilde to send the order form,” I said. “That will give the Gilberta Company time to check their thread stores and inform the craftswoman of the job.”

“Alright,” Sylvester replied. “It’ll be hard to send word out in this blizzard, though. Feel free to use a magic letter if you don’t need a response.”

His scholars immediately began preparing a magic letter. After writing my message, it would turn into a white bird that would fly even to commoners. Of course, a commoner wouldn’t be able to reply, since they lacked the necessary mana, but for nobles, one could include response paper that only needed a little bit of mana to be activated in a similar fashion.

Which reminds me—the letter that Lady Georgine sent to Bezewanst had some response paper with it.

I gratefully accepted the magic letter and wrote to the Gilberta Company, explaining that we would soon receive another order from royalty and that I would send the more detailed order form over to them in a few days. I also mentioned that I would need extra Library Committee armbands.

The royals are being extra pushy again this year. Sorry, Tuuli...

As I was internally lamenting my poor sister’s situation, fifth bell rang. It was time for tea.

“I didn’t think we would receive another order from royalty this year...” I said offhandedly.

“You’re surprisingly bad at predicting the future. The second prince gave his to Klassenberg. It’s not too hard to guess that the first prince would do the same for an archduke candidate from Drewanchel. You saw this coming at least a little bit, surely.”

I didn’t. Sorry...

“We’ve entered a business agreement with the Sovereignty, so I wish they’d communicated this in the summer through their merchants,” Sylvester said, “but if they were looking to make contact with you in the process, making the order at the Royal Academy is a surefire way of getting two birds with one stone.”

“This is all too sudden for the craftspeople,” I complained with pursed lips. “If only we’d received the order sooner.”

Sylvester laughed. “You seem pretty worried about this, but they made a great hairpin last year, didn’t they? What, do you not trust your own personnel anymore?”

“I do trust them. My personal hairpin craftswoman is the best there is.”

“Then there’s nothing to worry about,” Sylvester said and then downed his cup of tea. Somehow, his words convinced me that everything really would be okay.

My Tuuli really is the best, so yeah... It’ll be fine.

“By the way—I hear that you’re refusing to meet any of the giebes,” Sylvester continued.

“That’s right. I have nothing to say about the Haldenzel Miracle, and it is not up to me to decide which provinces I visit for Spring Prayer. I cannot have Ferdinand accompany me to every single meeting.”

“I heard about it from Florencia.” He set down his cup and then cleared the room; it seemed that it was time for a secret conversation. The scholars and the attendants left without much commotion. “Karstedt, Angelica—you leave as well.”

This was my first time seeing Karstedt be sent out of a private talk like this. I watched him go with wide eyes, then set down my cup and straightened my back. “Has something happened in relation to Haldenzel...?”

“Yep,” Sylvester replied, “and a few giebes are really intent on securing a meeting about it.”

Um... He cleared the room for that?

As I tilted my head in confusion, Sylvester awkwardly cleared his throat. “The provinces that only need advice from Giebe Haldenzel to revive their old ceremonies are fine. Instead, the problems come from provinces that already smashed their ceremonial stages for one reason or another. They can’t fix them on their own, so they want to discuss the matter with you, the High Bishop.”

“I mean, I don’t have a clue how to fix them either. And what kind of idiot would destroy stages used for ceremonies in the first place?” I asked, grimacing a bit despite myself. I struggled to believe that anyone would do something so moronic in a world where you could pray to the gods and immediately receive their blessings. The giebes who broke them deserved whatever happened to them as a result.

Sylvester, seeing my naked anger, let out a sigh. “You’re right; it was stupid of them. But religious ceremonies weren’t seen as all that important before you became the High Bishop.”

It was a giebe’s job to create and protect large-scale magic tools for their province. Repairing stages wasn’t my burden, and I didn’t have time to waste on giebes who couldn’t even carry out their own duties. I was busy transcribing the Dunkelfelger book I was borrowing from Hannelore, I still needed to research Professor Solange’s documents, and I wanted to reread Elvira’s new book a few more times—I simply did not have the leeway for a bunch of meetings.

“Unfortunately, the bible does not explain how to create the stages, nor is it the job of the High Bishop to maintain them,” I said. “The giebes will need to research their own histories and figure out how to recreate the stages themselves.”

“Hm. So you don’t know anything about them either, huh?”

“Not even the smallest detail. Although the bible contains some pictures of ceremonies alongside the stories of the gods, there are no instructions for making the stages or their magic circles. If there were, I would have told someone, and Ferdinand would gleefully be researching them as we speak. Do not expect so much from saints and the bible,” I said, waving my hand dismissively.

Sylvester nodded with a solemn expression. “Right. But you know, Rozemyne—these requests from the giebes are important, and while searching the bible for descriptions of the ceremonial stages may not be your job, this is an order from the aub himself.” He then leaned forward, his dark-green eyes gleaming, and added in a low voice: “At least, that’s the excuse I’ll give so that you can go back to the temple and secure some reading time.”

“Ooh!”

What a wondrous excuse.

“The past few days have made it more than clear enough that Ferdinand infected you with his work obsession. You need to relax a bit more while he’s distracted with socializing. I mean, we called you back from the Royal Academy so you could rest, yeah?” Sylvester grinned and then put on a serious face. “I hereby order you to pore over the bible at the temple. I pray from the bottom of my heart that you discover some information about the ceremony and its stages.”

“Your wish is my command, Aub Ehrenfest.”