Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 5.1 - Chapter 10

Hirschur’s Meeting with the Aub

Securing a passing grade in whirling class had proven to be a hard-fought battle, but I had come out on top. Rather than feeling accomplished, however, I was terrified by how everyone had looked at me. Wilfried and Charlotte took me to a meeting room as soon as they returned from class themselves, whereupon I asked them to debrief me, quaking with fear. They both shared a sigh in response, their expressions unreadable.

“You contained the blessing but were unable to keep the feystones on your body from shining...” Charlotte said. “All who saw the sight are surely convinced of your sainthood. Isn’t that right, Brother?”

Wilfried nodded. “Yeah. It was so bright that I got distracted from my own whirl. You really stood out, Rozemyne.” It came as no surprise that people had been stunned, but it hadn’t even crossed my mind that other students had stopped whirling themselves to stare at me.

Just trying to suppress any blessings was hard enough!

“A-And what did the others think?”

“Not sure; nobody was really willing to talk about it,” Wilfried replied. “Everyone seemed to shake themselves out of their stupors after you left and then returned to practicing.”

“They are all archduke candidates, so everyone is skilled at hiding their true thoughts and emotions,” Charlotte added with a sigh. “It will take some time before we learn what people thought and what manner of reports they gave to their aubs.”

Since dedication whirl practice was attended only by archduke candidates, not many had seen the incident, unlike during my music class with the archnobles. However, as every single person who had witnessed the scene was more or less near the very top of their respective duchies, we could not yet determine the repercussions.

“I see... In any case, we just received this letter from Ehrenfest,” I said, presenting a board. “Sylvester will be coming at dinnertime two days from now to meet with Professor Hirschur. I sent an ordonnanz to her already.”

Wilfried and Charlotte exchanged worried glances. “I see. Father is coming...” Wilfried mumbled.

“I suppose it is important that we discuss what we have learned about divine protections before making that information public,” Charlotte agreed. They both wore clouded expressions, doubtless because we were also going to find out the results of the purge.

There was still some time before Sylvester was due to arrive, so we took everyone—the children of the former Veronica faction included—to our duchy’s gathering spot. The students all collected as many ingredients as possible, then I regenerated the spot with a blessing. It was a gesture both to help with the Lord of Winter hunt and to indicate that things were still well in the dormitory.

“Miladies,” Rihyarda said to Charlotte and me, “we have received word from the guard at the teleportation circle. It is time.”

Charlotte and I gazed up at her. We were free to meet with Sylvester—I had finished my afternoon class early, and Charlotte had already finished all of her written lessons—but this was happening much sooner than dinner.

“I suppose a pre-meeting talk is necessary,” I said. “Rihyarda, if you would prepare a meeting room...”

“One has already been prepared,” Rihyarda replied. She had apparently made all of the necessary arrangements while directing the younger apprentice attendants in the dormitory. I hadn’t noticed, since I had been reading in the common room at the time.

And so, we headed to the teleportation hall. Three guard knights came out first, then stood at attention while waiting for their lord to follow.

“Mother is here too?!” Charlotte cried out in shock. We had only been expecting Sylvester, but Florencia was suddenly standing before us, her indigo eyes which so closely resembled Charlotte’s focused on us both.

Florencia rested a hand on her cheek. “This discussion with Professor Hirschur is going to prove crucial for the future of our duchy. I must participate as well, you see.”

“I was busy with other things, so Florencia read all your reports this year,” Sylvester added with a shrug. He had apparently been drowning in work ever since Matthias’s warning had required the purge to be sped up, which was why Florencia had gone through our messages from the Royal Academy in his place.

We went to the meeting room that Rihyarda had prepared and got ready for our pre-meeting. Our attendants poured us some tea, and, as things started to settle down, Wilfried joined us. He had just finished his practical lesson.

“Sorry for the wait. I’m here.”

“We have yet to begin, Wilfried,” Florencia said. “As your mother, I am glad to hear that you have been working so hard.”

“I didn’t expect you to be here too, Mother.”

“Everyone truly says the same thing...” Florencia replied with a refined giggle. “You all sent highly critical reports so soon after your arrival at the Royal Academy, correct? That certainly made Sylvester and all of the Knight’s Order very busy. Thus, I took on the duty of reading all of your reports—and, I must say, I was truly astounded by what I discovered as they poured in day after day.”

On the first day of our third-year practical lessons, only those with connections to me had earned divine protections in spades. These same divine protections had caused me to lose control of my mana, then, the very next day, a blessing had shot out of me while I was playing the harspiel. Hirschur had sent her request for a meeting not long after—an unusual development in itself, considering her long streak of saying there was absolutely nothing to report. And as the cherry on top of this already strange sundae, the meeting was going to be about revealing a way to increase one’s divine protections.

After reading these reports, Florencia had immediately determined that this was not something she could deal with alone. To this end, she had consulted Sylvester, Karstedt, and Elvira.

Florencia had thanked her lucky stars upon learning about my plan to deal with my mana using the gathering spot on Earthday—but then she had received my request for as many feystones as Ehrenfest could provide the very next day. She had apparently found the whole situation a real struggle to manage.

“Furthermore, the feystones were filled with mana and returned almost immediately, were they not?” Florencia continued. “I spent that afternoon asking the Knight’s Order to gather empty feystones, having my attendant clear my schedule to make time for meeting Hirschur, and getting my scholar to write letters.”

Then, after making these arrangements, Florencia had sat there worrying how my whirling would go. Of course, she hadn’t needed to wait that long—a report had soon arrived saying that, while I had managed to prevent a blessing from shooting out, all of my feystones had started to shine and attracted just as much attention anyway.

Hearing about all this from a more objective viewpoint, it certainly does sound like an incomprehensible mess.

“In any case, Rozemyne, what do you think about publicizing what we know of the divine protections?” Florencia asked.

“Revealing a portion of our knowledge sounds wise. I mean, for Professor Hirschur to have actually gotten involved and given direct advice, the situation surrounding Ehrenfest must be dire. She said that our continued rise through the duchy rankings has caused our reputation to plummet.”

The archducal couple hardened their expressions, as did the scholars and attendants around them.

“Is it not important for top-ranking duchies to assist the bottom-ranking duchies?” I asked. “Every duchy is experiencing a mana shortage to some degree or another, so would it not be in our best interests to improve our relationships with them by teaching them how to get more divine protections and increase their mana efficiency?”

Of course, any duchy that wished to make use of this mana would need to improve its relationship with its temple. If nobles had to start begrudgingly visiting temples for ceremonies, then I imagined that the temples would improve for the better.

“I have heard that Frenbeltag has seen better harvests ever since it copied us and started getting its archduke candidates to go through its Central District,” I continued. “However, I don’t believe that this knowledge spread much more than that, as they are hesitant to say that their nobles visit the temple.”

Rudiger had mentioned during the fellowship gathering that he was participating in temple ceremonies and filling his duchy’s land with mana, but I doubted that he would ever admit it during a tea party or what have you. At the very least, such news hadn’t reached my ears.

“Yeah. During our male socializing events, Lord Rudiger never once mentioned that he had gone to the temple, nor that he was grateful to Ehrenfest,” Wilfried said.

“I, too, have attended tea parties with lesser and middle duchies, but not once has a Frenbeltag noble mentioned their archduke candidates participating in rituals,” Charlotte added. “That said, it did come up briefly during one of the familial tea parties that Lady Detlinde hosted.”

Sylvester exchanged a glance with Florencia and then said, “The same goes for the Archduke Conference. My sister Constanze thanked us during a family dinner, but she didn’t say a word about going to the temple during the actual archduke meetings.”

“Frenbeltag no doubt wishes to avoid any further suspicion from greater duchies now that it ranks among the lowest middle duchies,” Florencia lamented. She then turned to Sylvester. “That said, if my brother and your sister had only mentioned this, then they could have helped us to clear some of the poor rumors shrouding Ehrenfest.”

Frenbeltag’s archducal couple was Florencia’s brother and Sylvester’s sister, and these familial ties had a considerable impact on relations between the two duchies, for better and worse. It was only natural that a bottom-ranking duchy would prioritize its own reputation above all else, exactly as Ehrenfest had done up until recently.

“Thus, I believe it best to publicize how to get more divine protections—in part to help clear the bad rumors around you, Sylvester. Of course, we won’t reveal everything. I think that sticking with the more obvious, uncontroversial elements will suffice.”

“Makes sense,” Sylvester replied. “I’ll let you work out what that’ll be, then.”

“Aub Ehrenfest, Professor Hirschur has arrived,” announced a voice once we had finished discussing the major elements of the meeting.

Hirschur entered, took the seat across from Sylvester, and said, “It has been a long time, Aub Ehrenfest.” The air between them felt especially tense.

“Indeed,” Sylvester replied. “We don’t tend to see each other at the Interduchy Tournament.”

Florencia leaned forward with a smile, perhaps hoping to soften their hard expressions. “Your request for this meeting came as such a boon to us, Professor Hirschur. Due to the rules of the Royal Academy, we could not have involved ourselves in these matters otherwise.”

“Yeah. We appreciate it,” Sylvester continued. “And, on that note—I’ve been meaning to properly apologize to you, face-to-face. How my mother treated you was unacceptable. I did not know the half of what was happening here before Ferdinand told me, and it makes me feel so pathetic.”

Hirschur sighed and shook her head. “You have already apologized by letter, Lord Sylvester. An aub should not be so quick to bow in front of others.”

“I offered to provide financial support now that Ferdinand is no longer able, but you made it clear that you do not want help from Ehrenfest... Doesn’t that mean you don’t intend to forgive me?” Sylvester asked, wearing a rather pitiful expression.

Hirschur smiled, then shook her head again. “I can accept your apology but not your financial support. My assistance extends only as far as concealing more problematic matters; I am not helping with solutions, so I will make do with financing myself.” Her gaze wandered to me. “Accepting money from you will only cause me more issues than I am willing to endure. In fact, I am offended that you would think me willing to work for you after being left on my own for so long. Financing me is a long-term commitment, not something to be done only when you desire my services.”

Through that small glance alone, Hirschur was clearly marking me as someone who would cause a mountain of problems for her. Sylvester must have noticed this, as he was looking at me as well.

“What about after Rozemyne graduates, then?”

“Hm. I may reconsider when the time comes.”

She changed her tune that fast?!

“Professor Hirschur!” I exclaimed. “Shouldn’t you have acted all cool and said that your principles will never change or something?!”

“Oh? You should know my principles by now, Lady Rozemyne: all is for the sake of research,” Hirschur replied, an unmistakable glint in her purple eyes. I couldn’t help but slump my shoulders; she really was set in her ways.

Sylvester cackled and slapped me on the back. “Can you blame her, Rozemyne? You’re somehow managing to cause bigger problems by the year.”

“Wait, really? I thought things were staying about the same,” I said. There were always daily reports, but I’d never even considered that the problems were getting worse.

Everyone stared at me in a daze, then Wilfried grabbed me by the shoulders. “Rozemyne, did you even think before saying that? Things seemed pretty bad in our first year, sure, but nobody had to be called to the Royal Academy. In our second year, Uncle had to force his way in for a few days, and now, within a week of our third year, our dormitory supervisor has requested a meeting with the aub. Can’t you see that the problems are getting bigger and bigger?” He was almost pleading.

His explanation kind of made sense to me—but at the same time, I had some disagreements. “It’s not like I’m causing problems because I want to, and the ones this year were completely out of my control. I got so many divine protections as a result of my being the High Bishop, and my blessing during music class was because my schtappe couldn’t control my mana anymore. As for what happened in whirling class, I stood out even more precisely because we all worked together to try to prevent any issues.” I clenched my fist and shot it up into the air. “If you ask me, the real person to blame is whoever changed the school curriculum!”

Hirschur rubbed her temples in a way that immediately brought Ferdinand to mind. “This may be a private meeting, but you would do well not to openly criticize the king and his policies,” she said.

“Wait, I’m struggling right now because of the king?! It’s his fault?!”

Sylvester waved away my complaining. “Rozemyne, she told you to shut up. You’d do well to listen.”

“Er, right... My apologies.”

I’ll keep those kinds of criticisms to myself going forward. Still, though—you’re such a jerk, Mr. King!

Soon after Sylvester had apologized to Hirschur and things had settled down, dinner began. A more detailed discussion would continue once we had all eaten. As the archducal couple was here, we of the archducal family were eating separately from the other students.

“Okay, what I’m about to say isn’t a criticism of the king but an honest request,” I said, looking up at Hirschur after ensuring that I wouldn’t be misunderstood. “Experiencing a great change in the flow of one’s mana and mana efficiency after obtaining a schtappe causes severe problems when it comes to mana control. I believe that students should obtain their schtappes and divine protections right before their graduation, as it used to be.”

“You are the first person to experience such problems, so it will take quite some time before any such changes are made,” Hirschur replied. She then went on to describe the benefits of obtaining one’s schtappe early. Students without one would need to prepare so many magic tools for class, and the mana costs were much higher as well.

As schtappes greatly improved one’s mana efficiency and expanded what one could do, they allowed for even those who were still underage to assist their duchy. It had been tremendously beneficial, back when the number of nobles plummeted following the civil war; in particular, it had been important when former blue priests and shrine maidens had attended the Academy under special circumstances.

“That said,” Hirschur continued, “these pros will not outweigh the cons forever. Ehrenfest is changing through its new mana compression method, and students will soon obtain more divine protections through their deeds and prayers. I am confident that more and more students will struggle as a result of obtaining their schtappes before their growth period ends.”

In that regard, Roderick was going to be our greatest concern. Giving his name to me had resulted in him becoming omni-elemental, and he was naturally still in his growth period. It was very likely that his mana growth would stop his current schtappe from being able to do its job properly.

“If we allow students to reach the end of their growth period and receive their divine protections from more subordinate gods first, then the schtappes they receive will surely be of a much higher quality. And, most importantly, one can only obtain a schtappe once. As such, students who end up with ones poorly suited to their final mana capacity will experience problems for life.”

As it stood, there were still records of the old curricula, and professors who knew how to teach things the old way. But as time passed and new generations of professors replaced the old, this kind of information could easily be lost. A time would eventually come when we wouldn’t be able to go back to how things were even if we wanted to.

“I am aware that brewing can be done without a schtappe—I once did it under Ferdinand’s supervision before obtaining mine—but not Wilfried, Charlotte, or even my scholars know how,” I said. “Naturally, the means to create magic tools necessary for brewing are being forgotten more with each passing day. I view this as a significant problem.”

Hirschur paused for a moment and then said, “I shall convey something to that effect to the king.”

As our discussion about my suggestion—which definitely wasn’t a criticism—came to an end, so too did our meal. Now we were going to resume our meeting. Most of our time would no doubt be spent going over Ehrenfest’s current situation and discussing the publicizing of our findings about obtaining more divine protections.

Hirschur knew a great deal about Ehrenfest’s reputation in the Royal Academy and the Sovereignty, and she showed no intention of mincing her words. “As we know, the war was a long and violent one; those who won and those who lost all came away with very deep wounds. In the midst of all this tragedy, Ehrenfest might as well not have suffered at all, so it comes as no surprise that others feel inclined to look upon it more harshly.”

From our perspective, we were struggling more than enough as a result of the Sovereignty’s demands. But even if we wanted to complain, the other duchies surely had things much worse.

“I would like Ehrenfest to prioritize improving its relationship with other duchies above all else, but I have one concern in that regard,” Hirschur noted.

“What’s that?” Sylvester asked.

“The Sovereign knight commander seems to have quite the bone to pick with Ferdinand,” Hirschur said with a worried sigh. The fact that she had specifically said “Ferdinand” rather than “Ehrenfest” earned her many a dubious look.

“Have Ferdinand and the Sovereign knight commander even met?”

I decided to keep my mouth shut. Sylvester didn’t know that Ferdinand was a seed of Adalgisa and that he knew the Sovereign knight commander from back in those days. Hirschur probably didn’t know either, considering that she shook her head in response.

“I do not know where his animosity comes from,” she said. “Many probe me about Ehrenfest as a whole, whether it be about our trends, expanding our business slots, the secrets to our improved grades, or the truth to various rumors surrounding the duchy... but the knight commander alone asks about Ferdinand and Lady Rozemyne in particular. You should take great care with him.”

I recalled our meeting with the knight commander in the library. He had called Ferdinand a seed of Adalgisa, and it had probably been during that brief encounter that he had developed the suspicions that had spurred him to advise the king to separate Ferdinand from Ehrenfest. Since then, he had gotten his wife to infiltrate the Royal Academy as a librarian to spy on me more.

“In short, we are surrounded by enemies, so I would advise that we reveal the method for obtaining more divine protections and prove ourselves useful to society. Just so you know, this is something that Prince Anastasius indicated we should do as well.”

Given our duchy’s current rank, we were supposed to be socializing as a top-ranking duchy, but we were still acting like a bottom-ranking one.

“It seems that Ehrenfest is one of only a few duchies that offers prayers during temple rituals and Mana Replenishment for the foundation,” Hirschur continued. “Our findings are well suited for Lady Rozemyne, the High Bishop, and if they are handled well, then we can expect Ehrenfest’s reputation to improve dramatically overnight.”

I sighed in relief—but this only made Hirschur harden her expression.

“However,” she went on, “I do not believe that other duchies will trust Ehrenfest in its current state. That is why I would recommend another approach. We have already confirmed that so many Dunkelfelger students receive Angriff’s divine protection due to their custom of praying to him, and their dormitory supervisor, Rauffen, is up to date on these matters. Perhaps you could publish this as joint research.”

“Professor Hirschur, we thank you for all your advice,” Sylvester said.

“Be cautious, though, else Dunkelfelger might claim all of your research as its own. You should also be wary of swallowing the words of a Sovereign noble such as myself so easily. You are an aub, not a student,” Hirschur concluded, sounding so much like a professor.

Sylvester gave a half-smile. “Now, what kind of brother and father would I be to not trust the person who protected Ferdinand for so long and is now protecting Rozemyne too?”

Hirschur was stunned for a moment, then she relaxed into her chair and returned a small smile. “You are as soft as ever, I see. I am glad that, even so long after your graduation, you are still the same man on the inside. Lady Florencia, do look out for Lord Sylvester. He has been unpredictable and full of energy ever since he was young.”

She then began to regale us with stories of Sylvester’s student days, though she was cut short when the archduke in question cried out, “Stop, stop!” They really were behaving like a professor and her student, which made Wilfried and Charlotte cover their mouths as they tried to suppress their laughter.

“Professor Hirschur, Sylvester has his hands full dealing with children even more unpredictable than he,” Florencia said. “I am sure that he understands your struggles a tad more now.”

“Florencia...” was all that Sylvester could manage in response.

“You are as weak to Lady Florencia as ever,” Hirschur said, allowing her amusement to show for a moment before returning to a more serious expression. “Lady Rozemyne has already demonstrated her value to the archduke candidates of other duchies, having shown how many divine protections she has obtained and that her mana capacity is large enough for her to trivially give blessings. The likelihood of Lord Wilfried being targeted has increased dramatically—after all, Lady Rozemyne will once again be available if she loses her fiancé.”

None of us had expected the conversation to take such a turn. We all gulped and turned to Wilfried... who merely shrugged and smiled in the face of our concerns.

“I’ll be fine,” he said, the picture of confidence. “Uncle warned me about that too and gave me some charms, so I can keep myself safe, at least. Rozemyne received a bunch from him too, so she should be fine as well.”

Florencia put her head in her hands. “Wilfried, only when you can protect your fiancée through your own efforts can you be considered a man.”

Hirschur nodded in agreement, her head also in her hands, then looked at Sylvester. “It is an aub’s duty to protect the treasure of their duchy. I look forward to seeing what you can do, Lord Sylvester.”