Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 5.1 - Chapter 2

The Fellowship Gatherings (Third Year)

“The ceremonies are tomorrow, archduke candidates—and just like last year, I was not informed that all of our students have arrived.”

Hirschur had stormed into the dormitory while we archduke candidates were eating with our retainers—and upon seeing her, Wilfried and Ignaz had exchanged glances that seemed to say, “Crap! We forgot again!” In truth, it had slipped my mind as well; dealing with the children of the former Veronica faction had naturally taken priority.

“My sincerest apologies,” Wilfried replied, rising to his feet at once. “We have our own circumstances, however, and—”

He fell silent, unsure how to proceed without mentioning the purge. Hirschur was looking at him with raised eyebrows, clearly suspicious, so I quickly stood up as well.

“We sincerely apologize for having once again failed to communicate with you. Would you care to eat with us? There is much I want to know about the year ahead, and we have some news that may interest you.”

Hirschur scanned the plates on the table, then smiled. It seemed that the delicious meals on display had worked to assuage her frustration.

“Rihyarda, please prepare a seat for Professor Hirschur.”

“Understood, milady.”

As she waited for her meal to be prepared, Hirschur told us about Ehrenfest’s ranking this year and what to expect in the upcoming ceremonies. One of Wilfried’s retainers passed this information on to the students in the common room.

“Professor Hirschur, has Raimund or Ferdinand contacted you?” I asked.

“Ferdinand sent me one letter, which I received at the end of autumn. In it, he informed me that he would soon be leaving for Ahrensbach, and asked me to look after you. Raimund has not yet come to my laboratory, so I have not heard from him.”

Royal Academy professors were kept up to date on the results of the Archduke Conference, so she had already known that Ferdinand was engaged to Detlinde—but she had not expected that he would get so little time to prepare for his departure. Finding out about this in his letter had come as quite a surprise to her.

“It is ironic that Ferdinand, whom Lady Veronica despised so much, would end up being the one to realize her dream of connecting with Ahrensbach,” Hirschur said with a sigh.

A smile played on my lips. Outside of those particularly close to Ferdinand, most nobles seemed to be celebrating the marriage with Ahrensbach. I was glad to know that Hirschur wouldn’t have been fooled by the fake enthusiasm that Ferdinand had shown—that she would have immediately seen that he didn’t actually want to go.

“Professor Hirschur, Ferdinand gifted me his estate and said that I may turn it into a library. There are many magic tools that I want to make in preparation, and to that end, I intend to join Raimund in your laboratory this year.”

“Oh yes, Lord Ferdinand was your guardian, wasn’t he? Hm... Did he give you his research documents, then? Or did he take those with him?”

Hirschur was obviously more interested in the research documents than anything else, so I thought back to what Ferdinand had taken with him to Ahrensbach. As I recalled, he had been so pressed for time that he had packed only the essentials. He had also said that there was little need for him to bring his more important items right away, since he didn’t expect that he’d have a chance to use them.

“I imagine they are still somewhere in Ehrenfest,” I said. “Ferdinand is staying in a guest room in Ahrensbach at the moment, no? The plan is to send the rest of his belongings over when he is given proper chambers after his Starbind Ceremony.”

“You did not bring any of those documents with you, I presume?”

“The thought didn’t occur to me...”

Only then did I realize that I hadn’t prepared the documents necessary to bend Hirschur to my will. Last year it had been as simple as packing the documents that Ferdinand picked out for me, but now that he was gone, I would need to do all that myself.

He really was thorough, wasn’t he?

I wasn’t anywhere near as capable; I hadn’t even thought to inform Hirschur that the students had all arrived at the dormitory. What would I do if I needed to ask for her help this term?

“Still, why are you archduke candidates eating separately from the other students?” Hirschur asked, looking around the dining hall.

Wilfried and Charlotte were struggling to find an answer. We couldn’t risk leaking information about the purge when we didn’t know what the situation was in Ehrenfest. The risk of sensitive information getting out was too great.

“We determined that it would be best for us to keep our distance this year,” I explained. “That said, I am sure we will start eating together again before long.”

“What’s going on in Ehrenfest...?”

“We shall tell you when it has been resolved,” I said with a smile.

Hirschur eyed me intently for a moment, then seemed to grasp that I had no intention of answering any further questions. “I see. In that case, I look forward to you visiting my laboratory once everything is over. I imagine you will not have an easy time until then, but do take care of yourself, Lady Rozemyne.”

“Hm?”

Thanks to my second jureve, I was feeling stronger by the day. I was no longer sickly enough to warrant anyone telling me to get some rest or what have you.

Hirschur noticed my confusion and made a face, clearly exasperated. “The air here in the dormitory has grown heavy once again; the feelings of unity and cooperation that developed over the past few years are gone. Perhaps that is because even the Saint of Ehrenfest is wearing such a troubled frown.”

I pressed my hands against my cheeks. I wasn’t frowning or looking the slightest bit forlorn. No, I was smiling—I was sure that I was. But as I tilted my head, Hirschur placed her hands over mine and pressed against my face. I could feel the warmth seeping from her skin into mine.

“You are free to push yourself beyond your means,” she said in a quiet voice, “but do not lose sight of who you are in the process.”

Hirschur then got up and exited the dormitory as quickly as she had come. I was at a loss for words. My head was full of questions that I didn’t know the answers to.

What did she mean, lose sight of who I am...?

The day of the advancement ceremony and fellowship gatherings had arrived. I got dressed, put on my cape and brooch, and then slid my rainbow hair stick beneath my hairpin just as third bell grew near. It was time for us to leave for the auditorium.

I got into my highbeast and went down to the second floor, where I met up with my male retainers, Roderick and Theodore. Brunhilde waited until my other retainers had gathered as well and then turned to me.

“Lady Rozemyne, we have decided that Leonore, Judithe, and Theodore will serve as your guards, I as your attendant, and Roderick as your scholar. Will this do?”

“Indeed, Brunhilde. That will do just fine.”

Considering everyone’s status, that was about the only selection they could have made anyway. It really made me feel my lack of archnoble retainers.

We continued down to the first floor to find Charlotte speaking with the first-years. “You will not be able to return to the dormitory without your cape and brooch,” she said, “so make sure you do not forget them. Now, is everyone here? Oh, are we still missing those of the former Veronica faction? Marianne, Rudolf, can you check on them for me?”

Marianne and Rudolf passed me as I arrived at the bottom of the stairs, set on carrying out their order.

The gathered children were all dressed in mostly black clothes with capes and brooches, and the girls were wearing hairpins as well. The first-year girls were wearing the hairpins we had given them, but many of the older students now had ornaments they had bought themselves, so not everyone was matching like last year.

I wasn’t wearing my hairpin from last year either. I couldn’t wear three hair ornaments at once, so I had prioritized the two that mattered most: the rainbow feystone charm that Ferdinand had given me and a fancy hairpin from Tuuli.

I put away my highbeast—I was only permitted to use it within the dormitory—and then made my way over to Wilfried.

“Hm? Is something up, Rozemyne?”

I tilted my head to one side and ran my fingers along the rainbow feystones dangling from my hair stick. “Ferdinand gave me this charm, but I think we should act as though you gave it to me. Make sure you play along when we are in public.”

“Why?”

“Otherwise people will say that his present to me is better than the proposal feystone he gave to Lady Detlinde, and rumors will spread. Brunhilde told me as much.”

In my eyes, one ornament with rainbow feystones was no different from another. Plus, Ferdinand hadn’t mentioned any potential issues when telling me to wear the charm, so I had assumed that everything would be fine. Not everyone seemed to agree, however, and after quite the lecture from Brunhilde and Lieseleta, I was starting to see why. It was like giving a diamond ring to one’s partner, then giving another girl a necklace with five bigger diamonds of a higher quality. The jewelry was worn in different places, sure, but that didn’t make it any more acceptable.

“Lady Detlinde would not be pleased to learn that Ferdinand gave me this hair stick. You understand that, yes?”

“I guess? I’m not a girl, so I can’t say I really follow.”

“It’s really very simple!” one of Wilfried’s attendants suddenly exclaimed, his head in his hands. “Please try a little harder!”

There was no denying that Wilfried and I were pretty romantically oblivious as far as couples went. It was difficult to say whether that was a good or bad thing.

“The easiest solution would be for me to go without the hair stick on occasions when Lady Detlinde might see it,” I said, “but given the state of the dormitory and the suspicions of other duchies, I cannot take that risk.”

“Right. Uncle gave you that charm specifically because he expects you to be in enough danger to need it. And you were actually attacked by an Immerdink archnoble back then.”

Said archnoble had actually been aiming for Hartmut, but that didn’t change the fact that I had ended up being hit. And then there had been the terrorist attack so soon after. Nobody could guess what would happen moving forward. The more charms I had, the better.

“Our cover story is going to be that my guardians—Father, Ferdinand, the archducal couple, and you—each gathered one stone, which Ferdinand then designed into this charm,” I explained. Brunhilde had said that this would also serve to protect Ferdinand’s honor when Lady Detlinde’s hairpins made everyone question his taste in fashion. “I just do not want Ferdinand to be looked down on or Lady Detlinde to become outraged. Keep in mind that how Ferdinand is treated in Ahrensbach will change drastically if people think he is treating me better than his fiancée.”

“Uncle always worries about the people around him, but never about himself...” Wilfried said with a sigh. He then pulled up his sleeve to reveal two charms hanging from his wrist. One blocked physical attacks and the other mana attacks. Ferdinand had apparently given charms to Charlotte, Sylvester, and Florencia as well. “Alright. I’ll say that we all prepared the feystones together, then Uncle designed the ornament.”

All of a sudden, there came a tremendous crash from somewhere above us. Several thumping noises then followed, like somebody was flailing around.

“Leonore!”

“Natalie!”

“Alexis!”

The guard knights whose names were called all rushed upstairs at once, while the others formed a defensive line. The commotion stopped a moment later, and it wasn’t long before Laurenz appeared with a first-year boy wrapped in bands of light.

“Laurenz, what was all that noise?” I asked.

“As we expected, one of the students was going to use the fellowship gatherings to warn his family about the purge. He intended to ask someone from another duchy to deliver this correspondence for him.” Laurenz then held out a sheet of paper, on which was written a message seeped in despair.

“Everyone who has given their name to Lady Georgine or committed crimes is going to be detained and punished. You haven’t done anything wrong though, right, Mother? Father? We’ll meet again, won’t we?”

This student had so much love for his family—I could feel it in every word he had written, and the thought alone made my heart ache so much that I wanted to cry. Part of me wanted to ease his worries and send him home to his parents, but I was on the side of those doing the purging. There was nothing I could say or do, so I simply gritted my teeth.

“Laurenz, what do you intend to do with this boy?” I asked.

He gave a thin smile. “We have decided that no students from the former Veronica faction will attend the advancement ceremony and fellowship gatherings. Matthias has asked that you inform Professor Hirschur that an infectious sickness has swept through the dormitory, and that we will need several days to recover.”

“Laurenz, that is—”

I had intended to say “not what I asked,” but Wilfried grabbed me by the arm and pulled me away before the words could pass my lips. “We agreed to leave the convincing to them, Rozemyne,” he said. “We can’t let Father and everyone else know that one of the students tried to leak information to the suspects and to other duchies, especially when we just gave them an opportunity to escape punishment. If you care about them, walk away.”

“Wilfried...”

“We predicted that at least one person would try something like this, didn’t we? And you know what we said we would do in that case,” he continued, looking between the tied-up child and me. We had two choices: punish everyone by association, as per tradition, or pretend that we hadn’t seen anything. “Your compassion spared me before when I committed a crime out of love for my family. I’m going to offer this student the same opportunity that you gave me—but only this once.”

“I wish to save as many of the children as possible, so I will also look the other way. Laurenz, those of the former Veronica faction are in your hands.”

“We’re off, then. Take care to watch your expressions and posture, everyone. We can’t let those of the other duchies know what’s happening.”

Wilfried ordered for the main door to be opened, then we all started filing out into the hallway. We were much smaller in number now that the children of the former Veronica faction were staying behind. It wasn’t even third bell, yet I was already exhausted.

“Are you well, Sister?” Charlotte asked.

“I understand the intense love for one’s family all too well, so it pains me to think what that boy is going through.”

“His suffering may be hard to bear, but the alternative would see him forfeit his life entirely.” Charlotte reached out to me, and we exited the dormitory hand in hand. I could feel the warmth of her touch, and she gave my hand a reassuring squeeze.

The number above our dormitory’s door was now an eight, and we were closer to the auditorium than before. Our rise through the ranks also meant that our seats for the ceremony were nearer to the front.

I could hear muttering as we took our places in the auditorium, but I was too preoccupied with the boy in the dormitory and what would happen if we failed to win over those of the former Veronica faction to pay it any mind. I merely did my best to keep a noble smile plastered on my face while some higher-up gave basically the same speech as last year.

I was still dazed even when the advancement ceremony came to an end, and everyone started dividing themselves into laynoble, mednoble, and archnoble groups for the fellowship gatherings. We archduke candidates left the auditorium and made our way to the Small Hall with our retainers.

“Lord Wilfried, Lady Rozemyne, and Lady Charlotte from Ehrenfest the Eighth have arrived,” came an announcement as we entered.

I noticed that Hildebrand was seated at the far end of the room. Evidently, he was once again having to oversee the Royal Academy as a member of the royal family. I smiled at him, and he smiled back. I had been told not to interact with royalty, but surely that much was okay.

Once everyone was gathered, it was time for the usual greetings. The students of each duchy would first speak with Hildebrand at the front, then slowly work their way through all the duchies ranked above their own. Those of a lower rank would come to them.

Klassenberg, then Dunkelfelger, then Drewanchel... The first seven duchies offered their greetings, and then it was our turn.

“Once again, Dregarnuhr the Goddess of Time has woven our threads together and blessed us with a meeting.”

Wilfried spoke to Hildebrand as our representative. I was standing between him and Charlotte, and I could tell that they were both particularly tense—maybe because they had been told to avoid getting involved with the royal family.

Hildebrand, in contrast, seemed to be excited beyond words. His purple eyes were wrinkled in a smile that made me surprisingly envious.

If only I could be so happy.

I wasn’t sure why I was feeling this way. Seeing someone else smile hadn’t affected me like this last year.

“Rozemyne, I look forward to us spending more time together in the library this year,” Hildebrand intoned.

“I am honored.”

Naturally, I couldn’t say that I was going to be keeping my distance from him to avoid being scolded again or that I planned to hole up in Hirschur’s lab instead. That was why I had settled for an innocuous reply delivered with a smile.

After greeting the prince, Wilfried, Charlotte, and I made our way to the next table. Now we needed to speak with Klassenberg. It appeared that the duchy didn’t have any archduke candidates this year, so Wilfried exchanged greetings with an archnoble representative whom I didn’t recognize. The archnoble apologized for the trouble their merchant had caused, then said, “I hope that our relationship may continue to be long and fruitful.”

Unfortunately for him, no matter what he says, we don’t have the space to do more business with Klassenberg.

There was no helping the fact that the lower city was completely packed. Really, we expected that Ahrensbach would try to use the marriage between our two duchies to secure business slots.

That said, this purge is going to give Ehrenfest much less mana to work with, so we won’t be able to help Groschel to use entwickeln and become a trading city. I wonder what we’ll do about that...

“Lord Lestilaut, Lady Hannelore. Once again, Dregarnuhr the Goddess of Time has woven our threads together and blessed us with a meeting.”

Wilfried repeated the usual greeting when we arrived at Dunkelfelger’s table. Hannelore was there, and the smile she gave when she saw me worked to improve my mood a little.

“I am glad to see that you are well, Lady Hannelore,” I said.

“And I you, Lady Rozemyne. I just heard from Professor Rauffen that an illness has kept so many Ehrenfest students from attending today.” She had clearly expected me to be among them.

Charlotte smoothly stepped forward with a smile. “This occurred after my sister was bedridden. There is no need to worry about her health. That aside, when shall we deliver your hairpin? Rozemyne will not need to return to Ehrenfest for the Dedication Ritual this year, so we could even give it to you during socializing season.”

I applauded Charlotte on the inside, impressed that she had changed the topic so masterfully, then turned my attention to Lestilaut, who had ordered the hairpin in the first place. “The design is based on flowers native to your duchy, correct? The hairpin craftsperson was taken aback by the fine artistic sense of the designer. The final design was wonderfully put together.”

“Heh. It certainly was. I see that even a backwater duchy such as Ehrenfest has some vestiges of taste,” Lestilaut said, his lips curving into a grin as though he thought my praise had been for him.

No way...

I decided to ask who had come up with the design.

“My brother,” Hannelore said. “He is a natural-born artist, having been skilled at matters like this since he was young.”

“That is quite a surprise.” I never would have imagined that the shouty guy who had led a platoon of duchies to steal Schwartz and Weiss from me had the spirit of an artist.

“That rainbow feystone ornament of yours is not bad either,” Lestilaut said. “From whence did it come?”

“My guardians worked to gather the stones, Lord Ferdinand designed it, then Wilfried gave it to me. Lord Ferdinand is very talented, is he not?”

“Turn around. I wish to examine it more closely.”

I was about to oblige Lestilaut, but Hannelore hastily tugged on his cape. “Brother! No matter how wondrous the hair ornament may be, it is rude to have Lady Rozemyne put herself on display like that.”

I stopped in my tracks, having already begun to turn around, then slowly eased back into my original position. Whew. That was close. I almost did something unladylike.

“My sincerest apologies, Lady Rozemyne,” Hannelore continued. “In any case, once socializing season arrives, you may deliver the hairpin to us and we can exchange books. You have more new books this year, yes? I am looking forward to reading them ever so much.”

“Indeed. Have you finished the book on our duchy’s history?” Lestilaut asked me. It was one thing to discuss such matters with a fellow bookworm like Hannelore, but I hadn’t expected that he would express an interest as well. There was a distinct sparkle in his red eyes.

Pleased about this unexpected development, I gave a firm nod. “Dunkelfelger has so much history that it was impossible to cover it all in a single Ehrenfest book. Instead, we intend to publish it across several volumes. The first is ready to be delivered during this year’s book exchange—and if everything is satisfactory, then it should be available to purchase following the next Archduke Conference.”

“I see. I shall look forward to our tea party, then.”

Wait... what? Lestilaut intends to join the tea party too?

I was so used to him looking down on Ehrenfest that I couldn’t even imagine him agreeing to sit with us. Had something happened to cause this change in him? As we moved on to greet Drewanchel, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I had been transported into a bizarre new world.

Once again, I decided to leave the speaking to Wilfried, since he was good friends with Ortwin. “Many of our students are having to miss classes due to illness,” he said, “so I don’t think we’ll pass all of our classes on the first day this year.”

“I see. That is unfortunate indeed. Our competition won’t be affected though, I trust?”

“Of course not.”

They renewed their promise as rivals, then the conversation turned to my hair stick. I gave the same explanation that I had given to Dunkelfelger.

We greeted Gilessenmeyer and Hauchletzte next, then it was time for us to see Ahrensbach.

“Lady Detlinde,” Wilfried said. “Once again, Dregarnuhr the Goddess of Time has woven our threads together and blessed us with a meeting.”

Detlinde appeared to be in an exceptionally good mood. “Lord Ferdinand is always wearing the kindest smile,” she remarked. “He is also dedicating himself to his administrative work so that I can be here at the Royal Academy.”

Yeeep... That’s a fake smile.

It all sounded harmless enough, but Detlinde’s report made me worried all of a sudden. I got the feeling that Ferdinand was neglecting food and sleep, instead relying on potions to get him through his work. I decided that I would write to him via Raimund when classes started.

“During the Feast of Beginnings, Lord Ferdinand played the harspiel for all the gathered nobles,” Detlinde continued. “It was a new song—one overflowing with love and passion that he made just for me. I plan to have it played during tea parties this year.”

I’m glad to hear that he went with my suggestion, but... a love song? Ferdinand, making a love song?

I certainly hadn’t expected him to do something so cliché. Perhaps there had been no need for me to teach him a method for making allies.

Wilfried came back to his senses—hearing Detlinde go on and on about Ferdinand being so kind and wonderful had put him in a stupor—then discreetly poked my shoulder. “Rozemyne, is she actually talking about Uncle...?”

“It sounds like someone else entirely, but it must be him. I imagine he’s really pushing himself.”

Detlinde went on to declare that she was holding another tea party for cousins this year—and that I was actually invited this time. The plan was for us to use that opportunity to deliver her hairpins and listen to Ferdinand’s new song. I was looking forward to hearing what he had come up with.

We greeted the seventh-ranked duchy and then returned to our seats in time for the other duchies to start greeting us. The archduke candidate for Immerdink made a point of apologizing for the actions of the archnoble during last year’s Interduchy Tournament. In truth, I wasn’t really bothered about the attack; it had given us an additional reason to refuse the Sovereignty’s requests and for me to wear my rainbow charm. Immerdink had no doubt suffered a great deal more than we had—though I hoped that this hadn’t been the reason they had gone down in the rankings.

I accepted the apology with a smile, hoping not to earn any more ire from Immerdink in the future.