Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 5.1 - Chapter 6

Music and Everyone’s Rituals

“Lady Rozemyne, which gods granted you their divine protection?” Roderick asked when I returned to the auditorium, sounding excited. He was holding his diptych at the ready but, unfortunately for him, I wasn’t quite sure if it was even big enough to write down all the names.

Not wanting to draw any unnecessary attention to myself, I waved away both Roderick and Philine, who had come away from her studies to take out her diptych as well. “Have you both memorized the prayer? Go perform your own ceremonies, then.”

“I... I haven’t yet,” Roderick replied.

“Then focus on that. I, myself, will study for tomorrow’s written lessons.”

I couldn’t leave until Rihyarda and my guard knights came to get me, so I returned to my studies while waiting for the others to finish. To be honest, I wanted to cast some spells—receiving divine protections apparently made them require less mana—but I could hardly go around firing off magic while everyone else was working hard trying to memorize the prayer. I would break their focus, at the very least.

“Memorized it,” Wilfried announced. “Guess it’s my turn.”

“Do you have any rejuvenation potions?” I asked.

“Yeah.”

Wilfried was the second to attempt his ritual, after me. As expected, he had memorized the text in no time at all, owing to his familiarity with the Mana Replenishment prayer. He went off with Hirschur, looking noticeably tense—and the sight of a second Ehrenfest student going to the Farthest Hall seemed to light a fire under those from the other duchies, who started working even more seriously than before.

“I did it, Rozemyne!” Wilfried exclaimed upon his return not much later, wearing a gleeful expression. He was approaching at a brisk walk, though I could tell that he wanted to break into a sprint. “I got the divine protections of twelve gods! Even Professor Hirschur was surprised.”

“Did he just say twelve gods?” a female student whispered.

“That sure is a lot...” Ortwin said.

A stir ran through the gathered students. This news hadn’t come as a surprise to me—Wilfried had six elements, and, unlike Angelica, he hadn’t been at risk of getting all the gods’ names wrong—but twelve was evidently enough for people to be taken aback.

“How about you, Rozemyne? You must have gotten a lot of subordinates too, right?”

Yeeeah... I can hardly say that I got, like, forty. I’m just going to keep quiet.

There was no need for me to depress Wilfried when he was so excited, nor was there any need for me to make the students drastically more shocked than they were already. Instead, I decided to take a page from Angelica’s book. I placed a hand on my cheek and gave an angelic smile.

“I did indeed receive protection from several subordinate gods, but is such a thing truly so rare?” I asked. “It is even written in the textbooks and reference documents that one will obtain such protections according to their deeds, so was this not to be expected all along?” The fact that we had both received so many made it seem nowhere near as rare as everyone was making out.

Hannelore gave a troubled smile. “It is normal to receive only one protection per element, Lady Rozemyne. Apprentice knights and Dunkelfelger students may receive several from the Fire subordinates, but, of course, Lord Wilfried does not specialize in combat. I would consider him receiving so many protections to be both rare and rather wonderful.”

So a lot of Dunkelfelger students receive divine protection from fighting-type subordinates... Yeah, that makes sense.

In true Dunkelfelger fashion, even Clarissa, a scholar, was said to be a deadly fighter. Maybe Hannelore would get protection from several fighting-types too.

“Is anyone else ready?” Gundolf called.

Ortwin paused for a moment, then said, “I am.”

“Hirschur, let’s switch. I should be the one to escort Ortwin.”

And so, Ortwin made his way to the Farthest Hall with Gundolf, an unmistakable glint in his eye. The news that Wilfried and I had both received protections from several subordinates had made him especially confident... but he returned looking disappointed. He had only gotten one protection for each element he possessed.

“I only got one of each...” Ortwin said—and he wasn’t alone. Most others also ended the ritual with no more protections than they had elements. In other words, despite my initial suspicions, receiving more than one per element truly was rare.

Soon enough, Hannelore returned from her own ritual, looking especially baffled.

“Did you not get the divine protections of any subordinate gods, Lady Hannelore?” I asked.

“No, I did. I received them from... Dregarnuhr the Goddess of Time and Angriff the God of War.”

“That sounds wonderful—so why do you look so troubled?”

Hannelore glanced all around us, her two pink pigtails swaying from side to side as she anxiously looked at everyone watching her. “I... I am glad, of course. But... I simply do not understand why I obtained them. I do not know what I could have done to warrant their attention.”

She then exited the room, seeming truly confused.

“Lord Wilfried, Lady Rozemyne, if you would excuse me...” said an archnoble with a light-blue cape, indicating that he was from Frenbeltag.

Once the archnoble was gone, only Ehrenfest students remained. As laynobles and mednobles, they had refrained from attempting the ritual sooner out of concern of overstepping the boundaries of their status. One by one and in order of social rank, they made their way to the Farthest Hall—and, like the others, they returned having obtained only as many protections as they had elements.

“This leaves just Roderick and Philine,” I said. “Go ahead, Roderick.”

“I would rather go second so that I can see what Philine gets.”

“I will go first, then,” Philine said, standing up. She was gripping the rejuvenation potion dangling from her hip with an expression full of worry.

“You will be fine as long as you put your heart into the prayer,” I said.

She nodded, and we watched as she went to perform the ritual. It wasn’t long before she returned, racing back to us with rosy cheeks and a look of scarcely contained joy.

“Lady Rozemyne, I received a new element!” she exclaimed, her grass-green eyes sparkling with delight. “Wind! Mestionora the Goddess of Wisdom granted me her divine protection! Praise be to the gods!” She then struck the prayer pose, indicating how much visiting the temple almost every day was influencing her.

I smiled in response, but everyone else was staring at her in shock. “What?!” cried good ol’ Katinka. “You got an element you didn’t have an affinity for?!”

“How did you do it, Philine?!” Roderick asked, standing up from his chair with a clatter.

“I do not know how or why it happened. I just used a rejuvenation potion to completely fill the circle with mana, as Lady Rozemyne instructed, and prayed.”

Our students weren’t the only ones excited to hear Philine’s unexpected report—Gundolf, our supervisor, leaned closer with bright eyes. “I should very much like to hear the details,” he said. “Philine, was it? Are you a laynoble? I suppose you only had one affinity to begin with, then, correct? Tell me, what element was it?”

Philine could only blink at this sudden barrage of questions, while Roderick looked on in frustration, wanting to ask his own questions before doing the ritual himself. Gundolf seemed to notice this, but he was too interested in the current situation to care; instead, he pointed toward the Farthest Hall and said, “You there. Boy. Go do your ritual already.”

Having no choice but to obey, Roderick started toward the Farthest Hall—though he continuously turned back to us as he went, as if wanting to ask something. Meanwhile, Gundolf returned to questioning Philine, all the while wearing the gentle smile of a kindly grandfather.

“So? Your affinity?” he asked.

“E-Earth.”

“So you now have Wind as well. Hm, hm... Mestionora often focuses her attention on those who carry out intellectual work. Tell me, what manner of work have you been doing, exactly?”

It seemed that, while Drewanchel was brimming with intellectual pursuits, few of its students actually received Mestionora’s divine protection. Gundolf evidently wanted to change this and ensure that more of the duchy’s students received protection from Wind, in the same way that those from Dunkelfelger often received protection from Fire.

“Professor Gundolf,” I said, “I understand how you feel, but please limit your questioning to that. We will need to go back to our dormitory when Roderick returns.” It felt as though he would continue all day otherwise.

Philine gave a relieved sigh, then attempted to answer the many questions thrust upon her. “In regard to intellectual pursuits, I suppose one could count the stories I have been gathering for Lady Rozemyne. I may have been granted this protection as a result of studying as hard as I could to make modern translations—or maybe it was because of my time spent helping Lord Ferdinand in the temple.”

Gundolf nodded along. After hearing Philine lay everything out like that, I came to realize just how hard she had been working.

“There are some in Drewanchel who are gathering and writing stories for Lady Rozemyne to purchase, and there are more studious ones among them as well...” Gundolf mused aloud. Intellectual pursuits on that level were common in Drewanchel, and nothing that Philine had said seemed to stand out to him. He clearly wanted to pinpoint what exactly had gotten her her protection, but before he could question her any further, Roderick reappeared.

“I am done, Lady Rozemyne,” he said. There was a smile on his face, but his eyes were wandering in a way that was somehow suspicious. He didn’t attempt to engage with the conversation about Philine’s new element like before—in fact, he actually looked to be inching away from us.

“Roderick, did something happen?” I asked. “You didn’t fail the ritual, did you?”

All eyes fell on him, at which point he frantically shook his head. “No, no! It was a success!” He then looked at us all, seeming even more troubled than before. “In fact, it was too much of a success... For some reason, I got protection from every element.”

“From every element?” I repeated, moderately surprised. “Wow, that really is something. Good work, Roderick.”

“You obtained all elements through the divine protection of the subordinate gods?!” Gundolf exclaimed. He sounded a lot more shocked than I, which was probably to be expected, considering that he actually had common sense. “To think that such a thing is even possible...”

“Is that rare?” I asked.

“This is my first time hearing of someone becoming an omni-elemental through the ritual to receive divine protections.”

Roderick obtaining new elements hadn’t sounded that strange to me—especially when Philine had gotten one just a moment before—but someone becoming an “omni-elemental” like this was, as it turned out, simply impossible.

“But why?” Gundolf mumbled. “What must one do to make this happen...?” He looked straight at Roderick, who then fumbled his way through an answer.

“I, uh... I personally have no idea. I just channeled mana into the circle, and, um... all the elemental symbols began to shine. It was as though I were omni-elemental to begin with...”

Roderick had possessed Earth and Wind since his baptism ceremony, and the pillars of light that had shot up from those had reached the highest, while the light from the other elements had only stood half as tall. He was omni-elemental, but it seemed that his new affinities weren’t particularly strong.

“And this was not the case at your baptism?” Gundolf asked.

“No, sir. I was told that I only had affinities for Wind and Earth.”

“Has anything of significance changed since then?”

“I... don’t know.”

“There must be something. I cannot see why someone with two elements would become omni-elemental otherwise.”

“It really is nonsensical that I, of all people, obtained these elements, but I truly do not know why it happened...” Roderick said, lowering his eyes in the face of Gundolf’s continued intensity.

I shook my head. “Roderick, you should not disparage yourself. It is disrespectful to the gods who gave you their protection.” I then turned my attention to Gundolf, resolved to keep him from troubling Roderick any further, as was my duty as his lady. “Obtaining the protection of every element is something to be celebrated, is it not? Perhaps you should be congratulating rather than interrogating Roderick. I understand your interest in such a rare occurrence, but your current approach will not produce any results. Please leave your questioning at that for today.”

“I suppose you are correct, Lady Rozemyne...” Gundolf said, letting out a sigh and allowing his shoulders to relax. He then congratulated Roderick and Philine on their new elements.

“Furthermore,” I continued, “while this is a rare event, these protections only make one’s mana easier to use; they do not change one’s life in any meaningful way, and they may be taken away if one grows complacent or arrogant. Roderick, Philine—consider this a sign that your efforts have been recognized. Now, shall we return to the dormitory to study for tomorrow’s written lessons?”

“Yes, Lady Rozemyne,” Roderick said, nodding with a brighter expression than before. But just as I was beginning to think we had wrapped things up nicely, Hirschur returned from cleaning the Farthest Hall and fixed me with a glare.

“Lady Rozemyne, I would not like for something this extraordinary to be passed over so easily.”

“Is that so, Professor Hirschur?”

“Although this does warrant celebration, it is also potentially disastrous. If news spreads that a student with only two elements became omni-elemental through divine protections, then the Royal Academy will be thrown into some degree of chaos. As such—everyone, keep this to yourselves.”

Judging by the excitement we had seen from Gundolf and the students who hadn’t received more protections than they had elements, I could absolutely see Roderick becoming an omni-elemental causing a panic. Thankfully, we were all from Ehrenfest, so it was just a matter of swearing a vow of secrecy.

“We shall carry out our own research on obtaining new elements, and, as we still wish to hear more about what happened, I will join you for dinner tomorrow.”

“Understood.”

It’s kind of annoying that we can’t just say, “You got more elements? Awesome!” and leave it at that. Sigh...

Even after returning to the dormitory, we needed to stay quiet about Roderick getting new elements—much to his disappointment. He looked especially frustrated over dinner, when everyone was exuberantly discussing Wilfried getting the divine protection of multiple subordinates and Philine receiving a new element. I could tell that he was dying to brag as well.

The next day, everyone passed their written lessons for the shared course, then I started preparing for music class in the afternoon. Rosina was helping me, since I expected the music professors to request another new song—and even if they didn’t, it seemed a good idea to have one in reserve.

“Now, this is the song that you must play this year,” the professor said once we had all arrived at class. Once again, we were being asked to play a song chosen for us and a song of our choice. I looked at the former and slowly exhaled.

This is nostalgic. I first played that song almost two years ago. Though, wait... How high of a bar did Ferdinand set for me? He kept making me practice with Rosina, and not once did he praise me or say that I could stop. Do both of my music teachers have hearts of stone, perhaps?

I started to practice, and it was then that I heard an Ahrensbach archnoble begin to play a familiar tune. I hadn’t realized it right away due to how it was arranged, but it was the song that I had given to Ferdinand.

That was... a love song for Geduldh, I think? It must have become popular in Ahrensbach after Ferdinand’s winter debut. I’ve got no doubts that a ton of people asked him to play a new song—and given that he wouldn’t really have been able to turn down such requests in Ahrensbach, he probably ended up playing it over and over again.

I strained my ears, trying to focus on the arrangement, only to have the Ahrensbach archnoble playing it shoot me something of a victorious smile. “This is a new Ahrensbach song composed by Lord Ferdinand,” she said. “It does not belong to you nor to Ehrenfest, Lady Rozemyne.”

Umm... I composed it. Ferdinand just arranged it, but... okay, whatever.

I decided to hold my tongue. Ferdinand was surely doing everything in his power to secure more allies, and there was no reason for me to interfere with that.

“I am truly fond of the songs that Lord Ferdinand composes,” I said. “If you are playing one, then I would very much love to hear it. It can only be heard in Ahrensbach otherwise, no?”

“I am still practicing it, but if that will do...” The girl sighed, evidently relieved that I had accepted the song as Ahrensbach’s, then readied her harspiel and started to sing.

Hmm... This isn’t a love song. It’s a wistful piece about one’s hometown.

It was a song about one’s Geduldh, following her departure after the sweet moons of winter. I could see why it might be interpreted as romantic, and those who sang it in Ahrensbach no doubt assumed that Ferdinand was singing about his fiancée, who had returned to the Royal Academy... but after hearing his parting words and promise, I understood it as a song of nostalgia.

Though I guess he wouldn’t want me to point this out, right?

I could already imagine Detlinde running to Ferdinand in tears and screaming, “You deceived me!” Of course, Ferdinand would then give a cool response like “You only deceived yourself.” It wasn’t a situation where he would come out on top, though. I wanted Detlinde to be as pleased as possible so that she would treat Ferdinand as well as possible in turn.

At the very least, I need to keep quiet until after the Starbinding Ceremony, once he’s been officially married into Ahrensbach!

Ferdinand was an outsider from a bottom-ranking middle duchy, and for as long as his marriage had yet to take place, the treatment he received was entirely up to Detlinde, Georgine, and so on. I wanted to do all that I could to make his stay as comfortable as possible.

The moment I steeled my resolve, however, Wilfried joined me in listening to the song. He seemed to recognize the hook, and his expression quickly became one of confusion.

“Uncle may have played this song first, but Roze—”

I cut Wilfried off with a firm thump on the shoulder and a broad smile. My silent cry for him to “shut up, shut up, shut up” appeared to have gotten through to him, as he responded with a quiet nod.

Soon enough, the Ahrensbach girl finished her performance.

“I am so glad to have had this opportunity to hear a song by Ferdinand,” I said. “Please do tell Ferdinand that he has composed yet another wonderful piece. Furthermore, should Ferdinand make any more new songs, I would love to hear them as well.”

I gave the girl my thanks, repeating “Ferdinand” as many times and as clearly as I was able. My aim was to make it apparent to everyone that he had made the song—although it made me feel very much like a sports announcer.

Hands together for Ferdinand, ladies and gentlemen! That was his work, through and through! Let’s all ensure his days are spent peacefully!

I wanted to go around shilling him to every Ahrensbach noble—though I also understood that he wouldn’t much appreciate it.

As I was lost in my thoughts, the Ahrensbach girl gave me a mischievous smile. “Lady Rozemyne, will you be playing any new songs this year? You are able to make them without your instructor, Lord Ferdinand, aren’t you? I am ever so eager to hear what you have written.”

Her taunting left me no choice; I needed to show everyone that Ehrenfest could do just fine even without Ferdinand.

Plus, I need to pass all of my classes the first time around. Ferdinand, I can see exactly why people call you the Lord of Evil!

“I am honored that you look forward to my songs so much,” I said with a smile. “I will gladly use this opportunity to play one that I composed myself.”

With that, I went over to the professor and asked to be graded. I took my seat, readied my harspiel, took in a slow breath... and then began to play. This year’s assigned piece was technically a love song—one that students our age apparently needed to know for when we went around searching for an escort. That had nothing to do with me, though, as I was already engaged.

I played the song without incident, having already learned it two years ago, then moved on to the song of my own choice. It was a piece dedicated to Schutzaria the Goddess of Wind—a wish to protect those dear to the singer’s heart. In my case, these special people were Ferdinand, who had gone to Ahrensbach, and the children who were losing their families in the purge.

As I sang and played the harspiel, I started to feel my mana slipping through my fingers. The next thing I knew, it was overflowing and shining as it turned into a blessing. It was yellow, the divine color of Schutzaria.

Surprised to be experiencing a repeat of my debut, I tried to stop the flow of my mana, but...

What? It... won’t stop?

For some reason, the flow of my mana wasn’t listening to me. I started to panic, but I couldn’t risk failing any of my classes, so I continued to play nonetheless. The blessing didn’t stop until the very end of the song.

There were two key factors that stood out to me here: I hadn’t been able to stop my mana, much like before, and nowhere near as much had seemed to be expended.

Wait... could this be because of my ritual yesterday?!

Everyone was watching me in a daze, our professor included. I wanted nothing more than for the earth to swallow me whole.

“Lady Rozemyne,” our professor said, “what in the world was that...?”

“That was, um... the Goddess of Wind’s blessing...” I replied. “It seems that yesterday’s ritual made it a little easier for my blessings to overflow. Ohohoho...”

Of course, my half-hearted chuckle wasn’t enough to smooth things over.

This wasn’t good. I would need to figure out how to control my mana all over again, else I ran the risk of sending out even more blessings than before. It hadn’t even occurred to me that the ritual might have such an effect. I despaired, conscious that I didn’t even have a guardian to help me.

What should I do at a time like this, Ferdinand?!

After passing music class, I sent Rihyarda an ordonnanz asking her to come fetch me, then fled back to the dormitory.

“Rihyarda, what can I do?!” I cried. “I want to be able to control my mana like before, but I just can’t anymore! I think the divine protections ritual is to blame...”

“I’m truly sorry, but I know of no solution to this problem,” Rihyarda replied, wearing a thoroughly troubled expression. “In my generation, we did not obtain our schtappes until after performing that ritual...”

It seemed that there had actually been a reason why the students of past generations had needed to wait until their graduations to get their schtappes. I cradled my head, having no idea how to properly control the flow of my mana or stop my blessings.

“Those in Lord Ferdinand’s generation obtained their schtappes in their third year,” Rihyarda continued, “but, again, this occurred after the divine protections ritual. They would not have experienced any significant changes in their divine protections or mana efficiency after obtaining their schtappes.”

In other words, not even Ferdinand would be able to advise me in this situation. The very thought made me teary-eyed.

Gaaah! Who arbitrarily decided that we should obtain our schtappes first?! Take me back to the old way of doing things!

“Professor Hirschur is going to be here tonight, so perhaps you could consult her?” Rihyarda suggested.

“...I’ll do just that.”