Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 5.2 - Chapter 13

Intruders

“What are those...?”

“We are in the middle of ditter!”

I was starting to wonder whether the new arrivals had mistaken this for a training session when several offensive magic tools rained down on the battlefield. This was an attack, no two ways about it. The apprentice knights raised their geteilt-made shields above their heads to protect themselves.

The figures who swooped into the arena weren’t just from a single duchy. Among them were orange- and dark-purple-capes, all armed and armored.

“The Saint of Ehrenfest belongs to the victor!” one of the intruders announced. “We won’t let Dunkelfelger have her!”

“HOW DARE YOU INTERFERE!” Lestilaut roared, furious beyond words that our game was being interrupted. His comrades shared in his outrage; they gripped their weapons and shot up into the sky on their highbeasts.

“Have you forgotten that your previous union of middle and lesser duchies failed to even scratch us?!”

The intruders’ bombardment continued. It was impossible to tell what they were thinking or how much they had prepared. We also couldn’t predict whether Dunkelfelger would immediately return to attacking us after stomping them. For that reason...

“Ehrenfest, return to base!” I called. “Bring the wounded with you!”

Healing comes first.

The battle against Dunkelfelger had taken a toll on our apprentice knights; some were lying on the battlefield, unable to move. Helping them took priority over dealing with the intruders. Besides, we weren’t much of a fighting threat at the present moment.

In response to my call, our apprentice knights started returning to the safety of our shield. Those who were able to move freely retrieved those who were not. Judithe was brought in as well, still restrained; the bands around her could only be cut by someone with more mana than their caster. I swiftly used messer to free her.

“I’m so sorry...” Judithe said. “I—”

“That can come later,” I replied, interrupting her. “For now, hurry to make sure no wounded have been left behind.”

Her violet eyes, which had just moments ago been stripped of their luster, suddenly lit up again. Any thoughts of her shortcomings had been pushed aside now that she had a job to do. After sharply voicing her acknowledgment, she flourished her cape and went off on her highbeast.

It wasn’t long before Wilfried returned as well—though he wasn’t alone. “Rozemyne, can we shield Lady Hannelore here too?” he asked. “Her own duchy abandoned her in their base.”

“You are more than welcome here, Lady Hannelore,” I replied. “What were your knights thinking, leaving an archduke candidate on her own?! Your safety clearly comes before dealing with the intruders.” I glared up at the blue-capes still dealing with the rain of magic tools, all the while making space for Wilfried and Hannelore.

“This must be enough to warrant putting our game on hold,” Wilfried said. “We can’t keep up like this.”

“I expect that Dunkelfelger intends to continue the match after crushing them, but you are right—we are in no position for that. We have used most of our magic tools and consumed too many of our rejuvenation potions.” I cast streitkolben to turn my schtappe into Flutrane’s staff and then spoke the prayer necessary to heal everyone in the shield at once: “May Heilschmerz’s healing be granted.”

A pillar of green light shot up into the sky. By now, this was a familiar sight for Dunkelfelger’s and our own apprentice knights—but not for our intruders. They immediately began to stir.

After analyzing our situation with cool composure, I turned to those safely inside our shield. Brunhilde was finally regaining consciousness. She shakily returned to her feet, grimaced at the dirt and grass clinging to her hair, then swiftly cleaned herself with a waschen.

Oh, right... Nobles don’t brush themselves off with their hands.

In mere seconds, Brunhilde was looking like her usual self again, carrying herself so gracefully that it was hard to believe there was a battle raging around us. Once again, it was clear that she was the superior noblewoman and that my instincts betrayed my absolute lack of elegance.

All of a sudden, for the briefest moment, my vision began to flicker.

“Wha...?”

It really had only lasted for an instant, but the message was loud and clear: my body was protesting the way I was mistreating it. I wouldn’t be able to cling to consciousness for too much longer; we needed to end this chaos as soon as possible. I moved to address the apprentice knights. They had been healed, but their mana hadn’t yet recovered.

“Everyone, use your rejuvenation potions,” I said. “Then check to see how many magic tools and potions remain, and—”

My instructions were cut short by a sudden “No!” from the audience, followed shortly thereafter by high-pitched screams. I turned to the source of the commotion and saw one of Dunkelfelger’s apprentice knights without their highbeast, plummeting toward the ground, unconscious. He struck the earth with a dull thud, then remained eerily still.

“I must help him!” I shouted. “Guards!”

Upon seeing me touch the feystone for my Pandabus, Judithe instantly created her shield. Leonore produced and mounted her own highbeast, then looked around and started scolding the guard knights who had yet to spring into action.

“Matthias, Laurenz! Do not idle!”

I climbed into Lessy, then made my way over to the unconscious knight. Ideally, I wanted to bring him into Schutzaria’s shield. Feystone armor offered a lot of protection against sudden impacts, but he had fallen from a great height; he had probably taken a blow to the head, and moving him in that state would be dangerous.

“Lady Rozemyne, you would risk your safety to help a Dunkelfelger apprentice?!”

“Of course! There is a wounded person before me—someone I can save!”

After reaching the knight, I climbed out of my highbeast and used my ring to grant him Heilschmerz’s healing—with my own knights guarding me with their shields, of course. A small green light rained down on him, at which point Laurenz muttered, “Someone tell me this isn’t happening...”

Not just Laurenz, but every single one of my guard knights was gazing skyward. I tried to follow their eyes, and that was when I realized—even the Dunkelfelger students here to spectate our game were starting to join the free-for-all.

“Give me a break...” Matthias sighed, almost sounding fearful. “Those from Dunkelfelger can hold their own, sure, but what if the rest of the audience gets dragged into the fight?”

No sooner had the words left his mouth than the intruders’ offensive magic tools started targeting the spectator seats.

“They’re not part of this!” I shouted.

Dunkelfelger had scholars and attendants of the sword who were capable of protecting themselves—in fact, most of them had already created shields—but the Ehrenfest spectators weren’t combatants. Some were exhausted apprentice scholars who had pushed themselves to their limit brewing magic tools, others were apprentice attendants who knew how to make shields but didn’t have enough combat training to use them, and still others were the younger apprentice knights who knew a bit about fighting but hadn’t yet been able to play ditter. And, of course, there was also Charlotte, our third archduke candidate.

“Charlotte!” I cried. But just as I was getting hysterical, Wilfried started giving out orders from within the shield.

“All recovered apprentice knights, move to protect our duchy’s spectators! Bring them here! Those who have yet to recover, stay here and guard our base!”

“Understood!”

The apprentice knights who were battle-ready mounted their highbeasts and rushed to the stands with their shields in hand. I told myself that everything was going to be okay—that our noncombatants would be much easier to protect once they were inside Schutzaria’s shield—and focused on healing the wounded person in front of me.

“I... I...”

The unconscious apprentice knight began to murmur. He came to, then leapt to his feet so suddenly that it startled me.

“You’ve been unconscious for some time,” I said, tugging on his cape. “You need to rest, and...”

“You need not worry,” he interjected. “Your saintly blessing has healed my wounds. I thank you from the bottom of my heart.” He knelt to show his appreciation, then climbed onto his highbeast and returned to the sky.

On the one hand, I was glad that he was better... but on the other, I was a little dazed. He was so eager to leave the safety of our shield and return to battle that I had to wonder whether he had needed healing in the first place.

As I watched his retreating back, my vision flickered again. This time, everything had turned monochrome, like the world had been sapped of all color. It was probably the result of my rampant mana usage, on top of drinking two different kinds of rejuvenation potion back-to-back.

“You do not look well,” Leonore said to me. “Let us return to the shield. Ride with me.” She picked me up and started toward our base, her expression stiff. “Do you need a rejuvenation—”

“No, I have already consumed too many.”

Leonore held me a little closer. Abandoning the fight and taking me back to the dormitory wasn’t an option; Charlotte and the other noncombatants were being taken to our base, and their safety depended on Schutzaria’s shield.

We returned to find that Wilfried was trying to stop the free-for-all going on above us by any means necessary. “Lady Hannelore, it seems inevitable that this game of ditter is going to be nullified,” he said. “Can you ease everyone’s fighting spirit with the ritual of the Goddess of Oceans?”

“Indeed,” she replied, having been watching the sky with a sorrowful expression. “I see no issue with that; this game is as good as over.”

“In that case, Lady Hannelore, while you are performing the ritual, we will produce a large-scale waschen to ensure that no attacks interrupt you. Isidore, Brunhilde—your mana has recovered, right?” He got Isidore to fetch the support magic tool that Hartmut had made for us based on Clarissa’s research, then asked some of the nearby knights to start guarding Hannelore.

The next thing we knew, there was a loud, metallic clang.

“Eep!”

“Wha?!”

Wilfried and I cried out in surprise, while the surrounding apprentice knights all readied themselves and stared upward. Even the knights who had been fighting in the sky stopped and straightened their backs.

“ATTENTIOOON!” boomed Rauffen’s voice, echoing throughout the arena. “Why is the Sovereign Knight’s Order here at the Royal Academy?! And interfering with a game of ditter, of all things?! We didn’t ask you to come, and we’ve confirmed via ordonnanz that the royal family didn’t either!”

His outrage was unmistakable—and, indeed, a closer inspection revealed that there were several black capes among the rainbow that made up our intruders. I’d thought that interfering with one of Dunkelfelger’s ditter games was a pretty bold move, but they evidently had the support of the Sovereign Knight’s Order.

“The royal family was concerned about Dunkelfelger potentially taking the Saint of Ehrenfest,” one of the black-caped knights explained, his voice commanding. “Dealing with such concerns is the duty of the Sovereign Knight’s Order.”

Knights from the lesser and middle duchies that had evidently been rallied into joining the battle voiced their agreement.

“This is what the royal family wants.”

“If we win, we obtain the Saint of Ehrenfest.”

“You would attack on such a flimsy basis, without a royal decree?!” Rauffen yelled, in complete disbelief. “This is clearly abnormal!”

“The Sovereign Knight’s Order serves the Zent himself,” the black-caped knight declared. “We work to ease his distress. We eliminate all those who oppose him. And that includes you!”

At once, the overconfident knight moved to strike Rauffen. The very sight of a Sovereign knight attacking a professor of the Royal Academy—someone who had similarly moved to the Sovereignty and wore the same black cape—had stunned us all. Rauffen alone was lucid; he dodged the attack, then turned to the invading students.

“Everyone, stand down at once! I’ve personally confirmed that this attack is not part of a royal decree! If you support the Sovereign Knight’s Order knowing this, then you will not be protected! Flee before the royal family arrives!”

It was clear now that the attackers weren’t acting on behalf of the royal family and would most likely be punished for their actions. Upon hearing this, the invading apprentice knights from middle and lesser duchies scattered like baby spiders, clearing the sky in an instant. All that remained were three black-caped Sovereign knights and the blue-capes of Dunkelfelger.

“Interrupting ditter without a royal decree is unprecedented behavior!” Lestilaut shouted. “Bind them at once! Have them explain themselves before the Zent!”

Dunkelfelger’s apprentice knights acted without hesitation, fighting to capture the black-caped knights... but the Sovereign Knight’s Order was made up of the country’s very best—those who had been allowed to move to the Sovereignty after having their skills recognized. Against such capable opponents, not even Dunkelfelger’s apprentices stood a chance.

In addition to all this, to restrain someone with a schtappe, one needed to have more mana than the person being captured. The only person here able to restrain the rogue knights was Lestilaut, an archduke candidate approaching adulthood. He waited for one of the knights to be cornered by Rauffen and several of the apprentices, then swiftly bound him with light.

“Lady Rozemyne, could you not bind them too?” Hannelore asked.

“Unfortunately, that would require me to get closer. I also don’t have the mana to spare, since I need to maintain Schutzaria’s shield.”

There was no reason for anyone to expect anything of me at this point. I might have been able to help if my mana were replenished, but right now, I couldn’t even bear to keep focusing on our shield. I was starting to feel uncomfortably nauseous, like I might hurl at any moment. To be frank, I didn’t want to expend a drop more mana.

And as I glared up at the sky, several more black-capes arrived. Their uniform movements were no doubt those of the Sovereign Knight’s Order. I tensed up on instinct, thinking that perhaps they were reinforcements.

“I came here at once upon receiving Rauffen’s ordonnanz, and what do I see?!” came Anastasius’s voice from among the new arrivals. “What is the meaning of this?!”

It seemed that the intruders really had been acting without orders from the royal family. Anastasius bound the two remaining rogue black-capes, who had since been cornered, without even breaking a sweat. That was a prince for you; he had tons of mana.

“I wish to hear your cases,” Anastasius said. “Archduke candidates of Dunkelfelger and Ehrenfest, stay here with your retainers and dormitory supervisors! Everyone else, disperse!”

I would have rather he scheduled this for another day, but he had received an urgent summons from Rauffen and wanted to get a clear picture of what had taken place here.

Anastasius’s appearance had brought the battle to an immediate end, which was a relief—but at the same time, the calmer atmosphere allowed my weariness to surge. I tried getting rid of Schutzaria’s shield, dispersing the last thing that was draining my mana, but doing that just made me feel worse. Nothing was working to make me better.

Collapsing in front of the royal family isn’t good, right? What should I do?

“Milady!” Rihyarda shouted the moment she saw me, having come down with Charlotte and the others. She raced over and said, “Oh, there is death on your face. We must return to the dormitory at once. Leave things here to Wilfried and Lady Charlotte.”

“But Prince Anastasius ordered me to stay. Leaving now would mean defying an order from the royal family.”

Rihyarda shook her head, looking stern. “Collapsing in front of the royal family once again would be even worse. Let us explain our reasoning first, then return.”

At her prompting, I asked Anastasius if we could return to our dormitory. He grimaced the moment he saw me, as if recalling an unpleasant memory of some kind, then shooed me away.

“I can tell from looking at you that you are unwell,” he said. “Hurry back to your dormitory.”

“I thank you. Your magnanimous heart fills me with gratitude,” I replied, kneeling while holding back the urge to vomit.

Anastasius gave an even more irritated look. “Someone, take her away already!”

Rihyarda picked me up at once.

“Leonore, Matthias, Brunhilde, Roderick... Between you, you witnessed the game from the battlefield, our shield, and the stands... Speak to Prince Anastasius in my stead...” I ordered while being carried away. I could see Anastasius’s exasperated expression from over Rihyarda’s shoulder.

Upon our return to the dormitory, Rihyarda launched into a scolding.

“I saw from above; you used more than the agreed number of rejuvenation potions, didn’t you? I understand that you couldn’t afford to lose, but you must be more careful. The apprentice knights can depend on your healing and their rejuvenation potions. You can only depend on the latter, and even then, there are limits to how many you can consume.”

The apprentice knights could chug several rejuvenation potions, since they found even the weaker versions to be plenty effective. In contrast, I was limited to using Ferdinand-brand potions; anything less did effectively nothing to replenish my mana. On top of that, I could only drink so many in quick succession, as too many potions would make me feel sick.

“As you have likely drunk more rejuvenation potions than your body can manage, I cannot allow you to drink any more,” Rihyarda concluded. “All you can do now is rest until your symptoms go away.”

Rihyarda and Lieseleta quickly helped me to get changed, then forced me into bed. I slowly shut my eyes; at last, after such an exhausting day, I was able to get some rest.