Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 5.2 - Chapter 3

Talking and Tallying

“Rozemyne, what do you mean you will be leaving today’s report to everyone else?” Wilfried asked.

“Well, given that practically everyone in the dormitory was at the training grounds, your and Charlotte’s apprentice scholars included, I don’t see there being any confusion about what to write. Anyone can do it. I would rather spend this time preparing for tomorrow.”

There was much to report about today, but only my retainers could tally up all the answers we’d collected. Our follow-up on the questionnaire had been very abruptly scheduled to take place tomorrow in our tea party room, meaning we had to prepare tables and chairs. Plus, even though it wasn’t going to be an actual tea party, we were still going to be hosting Hannelore, an archduke candidate, to some degree.

“You may inform our father that I will write to him the day after tomorrow,” I continued, “and that my letter will be regarding our joint research with Dunkelfelger. I entrust the more urgent report to all of you.”

After assigning my attendants to prepare the tea party room, I went over the procedure for tallying the answers with Leonore, Judithe, and my apprentice scholars.

“I-Is that my sister doing scholar work?!” came an exclamation. “I can’t believe it!”

“Theodore, you only embarrass yourself when you make such remarks,” Judithe replied, puffing up with indignation. “I went to the temple as a guard all the time, you know. I may not be on Philine’s level, but I can do some work.”

In truth, back then, she had stealthily asked Philine and Roderick to submit her completed tasks along with theirs so that she wouldn’t have to be in the presence of the terrifying Ferdinand. There was no need to reveal that heartwarming secret here, though.

After all, she’s finally getting Theodore to look at her with respect. I need to help her protect her big-sister pride!

“Lady Rozemyne’s guard knights help with paperwork in the temple,” Leonore said. “Matthias, Laurenz, you will need to do the same when spring comes, whether you want to or not. You may use this opportunity to observe the process while guarding us.”

“Ngh... I’m so bad at scholar work,” Laurenz muttered, the color draining from his face. “That was one of the reasons I became a knight in the first place...” Something told me that he and Angelica would hit it off right away.

Matthias simply responded with a calm nod. He didn’t seem particularly averse to doing scholar work.

“Milady, do start teaching the others how to tally on your behalf,” Rihyarda said. “You will need to host Lady Hannelore tomorrow.”

“But I am leading the joint research, am I not?” I replied. My intention had been to do some of the tallying myself, since I was something of an apprentice scholar too, but Rihyarda was evidently against the idea. We certainly couldn’t ask Hannelore to join us in doing such menial work, nor could we leave hosting her to my attendants, since I was going to be present as a fellow archduke candidate.

“Will you not need to discuss the details of that final ritual with Lady Hannelore?” Leonore asked. “It seems to be unique to Dunkelfelger, unlike the song taught to the apprentice knights.” She wanted to know what kind of prayer Hannelore had chanted in the arena, but she hadn’t been able to hear it properly. The prayer had also been spoken in an ancient language, which had only made it harder for her to understand.

Leonore continued, “It is quite impressive that Lady Hannelore could speak the ancient words so fluently—especially when she was not raised in the temple with such easy access to the bible as you were, Lady Rozemyne.”

I nodded along with her praise, at which point Lieseleta held out a sheet of paper listing tomorrow’s topics of conversation. “Their history book was thick and old, as we all saw,” she noted, giggling to herself. “I am sure that Dunkelfelger is filled with such ancient documents. Perhaps you could consult them about that? It will be a thrilling topic for you two bookworms.”

“That is a wonderful idea, Lieseleta.”

I had just been made aware of what she had actually meant by that statement: “Leave the tallying work to your scholars and gather intelligence that only an archduke candidate can obtain.” It really was a wise suggestion, so I nodded my assent.

It was coming up on second-and-a-half bell when we finished preparing the tea party room. We had secured space for the scholars to work, as well as a separate table at which Hannelore and I could talk. I’d ensured that we had plenty of cookies, since they were easy to grab and eat, while my attendants were prepared to pour tea at any time.

The ringing of a bell prompted Gretia to open the door, allowing a group of Dunkelfelger students to enter. Leading them was Hannelore.

“Good day, Lady Rozemyne. I thank you ever so much for hosting us.”

“Good day, Lady Hannelore. We should be the ones thanking Dunkelfelger for assisting us. I thank you ever so much for everything.”

Brunhilde guided Hannelore and her retainers to a table where tea had already been served, while Gretia guided the apprentice scholars to the table where the tallying was being done.

“Lady Rozemyne, we have this from Lady Clarissa,” Gretia said upon her return, presenting me with a thick letter. “It is for Hartmut and describes yesterday’s ritual.”

I nodded. “Check its contents and then send it straight to Ehrenfest, if you would.”

“As you will.”

It wasn’t an urgent task by any means, but Gretia was clearly stressed about serving students from a top-ranking duchy like Dunkelfelger. I thought this would give her a chance to take a much-needed breather, and it seemed that I was right; a faint smile arose on her lips when she heard that I was giving her permission to leave.

“Now then,” came Philine’s voice, “allow me to explain how to do the tallying.”

Everyone was listening to her intently.

As we watched the apprentice scholars work, I sipped the tea that Brunhilde had poured for me and then bit into one of the cookies, demonstrating that they were safe for Hannelore to eat.

Philine was positively blazing through the answer sheets, working much faster than any of Dunkelfelger’s apprentice scholars. Clarissa was watching her all the while, wearing an amusing look of surprise.

“You are rather good at this, Philine,” Clarissa eventually said.

“I cannot even compare to Hartmut, but I did spend a lot of time training under Lord Ferdinand, so I have developed something of a talent for paperwork,” Philine replied with a proud giggle.

Clarissa made a face that seemed to betray her vexation, then said, “As one who will soon be Lady Rozemyne’s scholar, I cannot fall behind.” She then started on the tallying with a look of grave seriousness; her pride as the archscholar of a top-ranking duchy must have been challenged.

Hannelore forced a smile. “Had I known that Clarissa could be this focused, I might not have needed to come at all...”

To nobody’s surprise, Clarissa usually became uncontrollably excited when learning new information about me or getting the opportunity to participate in our joint research.

Hannelore continued, “Her excitement has been particularly intense this year. At times, I even thought it might be part of an act—that perhaps she was emphasizing her position as your vassal so that she would not have to be separated from her fiancé in the temple. But no—what we see now is the real truth.” A dreamy smile arose on her face. “Her love is pure, and this is its unyielding strength.”

One of the attendants behind Hannelore sighed. “Milady, I do not imagine Clarissa is considering things that deeply...”

I agree. Clarissa is just like Hartmut; she didn’t pick her partner based on love.

“That is what my attendant, Cordula, always says, Lady Rozemyne, but what do you think? I am of the opinion that one must be truly in love to stay up all night writing letters, even to the point of sleep deprivation.”

Royal Academy Love Stories contained a similar tale of a young apprentice scholar. To guarantee that her correspondence reached her fiancé, due to her duchy’s situation, she had to give them directly to his lord; and to ensure that she never missed these opportunities, she would write long into the night, even after everyone else had gone to sleep. Hannelore had evidently fallen in love with this mindset.

“I pray with all my heart that Clarissa’s affections are rewarded and that she is forever bound to her one true love,” Hannelore concluded.

It’s cute that she’s supporting them so innocently...

I couldn’t be so blissfully naive, though—not when I’d found out how Clarissa first proposed to Hartmut. I certainly agreed that they were suitable for one another, but “true love” didn’t even factor into it.

The attendant named Cordula moved a few sweets onto a plate and then poured some fresh tea for her lady. Hannelore sipped it calmly, then changed the subject.

“Ehrenfest’s apprentice scholars truly are skilled. They aren’t at all inferior to our own.”

“I thank you ever so much for your praise,” I said.

Philine wasn’t the only one demonstrating her skills; Roderick and Leonore were doing an excellent job as well. Judithe and Muriella were fumbling a bit, since they still weren’t used to the paperwork, but they were still putting up a good fight against Dunkelfelger’s apprentice scholars, who were completely unaccustomed to this new tallying system.

“Um, though it does seem that some of your guard knights are among them as well...” Hannelore continued in a troubled voice. She had most likely recognized Judithe and Leonore, considering the frequency with which they accompanied me to tea parties.

“Indeed,” I said with a smile and a nod. “Our guard knights assist with paperwork in the temple, so they are perfectly capable of assisting us here when the need arises. To my knowledge, Clarissa is an apprentice scholar who can perform the duties of a guard knight; perhaps it would be best to view this as a similar occurrence.”

“Similar to a scholar of the sword...” Hannelore muttered, uncertain. “A knight of the quill, then, perhaps?”

Clarissa had said that most Dunkelfelgerians wanted to be knights. As such, while the duchy had many scholars of the sword, there were no “knights of the quill,” as Hannelore had so aptly described it. The situation was quite the opposite among my retainers, with most of my guards also carrying out scholar work under Damuel.

“Lady Hannelore,” I said, “I wish to ask you a few questions about the ritual you performed yesterday.”

“What manner of questions?”

“Lord Lestilaut mentioned that the staff you used belonged to Verfuhremeer the Goddess of Oceans. I must confess, it was my first time hearing of that particular divine instrument. Can you tell me more about it?”

“Our duchy’s archduke candidates see the aub present it during rituals, and we learn to make it ourselves. However, while we describe it as Verfuhremeer’s divine instrument, I cannot say whether that is accurate. The spell we use to morph our schtappes is the same as the one taught in the knight course for creating normal staves.”

In short, like Lestilaut, she didn’t know much beyond that.

“I remember hearing the crashing of waves as you swung the staff, so I do believe it belongs to Verfuhremeer,” I said. “Would it be right to say that Dunkelfelgerians have been morphing their schtappes without knowing that they are creating a divine instrument?”

“By ‘the crashing of waves,’ are you referring to the abrupt sound that started during the ritual...?” Hannelore asked. “It was my first time hearing it, and I was unsure what it was at the time, but do you mean to say it has a connection to the Goddess of Oceans? Dunkelfelger is a landlocked duchy, so I must express my doubts...”

According to Hannelore, on no other occasion had the ritual returned any blessings, and what I had interpreted as the sound of waves was to her a bizarre and unpleasant noise. She wanted to know the reason for this strange occurrence more than anyone.

“Lady Hannelore, could you perhaps repeat what you said at the time?” I asked. “I might be able to deduce which god you were praying to.”

“Certainly.”

Hearing the prayer only confirmed my suspicions: the ritual was for offering mana to the Goddess of Oceans.

“There was information about this ritual on one of the ivory slates in the underground archive we visited the other day,” I said. “Its purpose is to dispel extreme heat, but given what happened yesterday, we can conclude that the mana offered also provides a calming effect. Perhaps its ‘cooling’ properties apply to more than just actual temperatures.”

Could we have used this ritual to steal a riesefalke egg without the risk of Mount Lohenberg erupting? As I pondered that question, Hannelore muttered about wanting to go back to the archive to check that slate. She considered this a matter of great importance, as the distinction would confirm whether the ritual purely removed blessings or whether it could use mana to calm the excitement of all those within a certain area.

“Still, to think there are divine instruments that even you do not know about, Lady Rozemyne... You can deduce whom a ritual is for just by reading its prayer, so I thought you knew everything about the gods.”

“I am familiar only with the information found in the bible. Most of my knowledge is about the two supreme gods and the Eternal Five, who are worshipped in the chapel, and Mestionora the Goddess of Wisdom, whom I personally admire. With all that said, the extent of my understanding is that the first king received a Grutrissheit from her.”

There were a ton of subordinate gods, but the bible didn’t list their divine instruments or anything like that. Instead, it focused on the two supreme gods and the five primary gods.

“In that case, perhaps you will learn something new from the Dunkelfelger book I decided to bring to this bookworm tea party,” Hannelore said with a small, happy smile. “It is an old collection of stories about gods not discussed in the bible. Some of them may have been added by later generations without oversight, but there is also one about Mestionora. I expect that someone as well informed on divine matters as you will enjoy them.”

“Why, I greatly look forward to it.”

My excitement was through the roof. I would read any and all books that were bestowed upon me!

“Lady Rozemyne, the tallying is done,” Philine announced as she handed me the results. A quick look revealed that the apprentice knights who had earned divine protections were overwhelmingly from Dunkelfelger, and most of said protections were from fighting-type gods.

“So, each year, only a few students receive none at all...” I commented. “This explains why Dunkelfelger receives special treatment from the professors during the ceremony for obtaining divine protections.”

Here in the Royal Academy, news of a student from Dunkelfelger receiving multiple divine protections or the divine protection of a god whose element they did not possess was considered anything but interesting. Ehrenfest had received so much attention for accomplishing the unexpected, but it seemed strange to me that nobody had looked into the duchy where this was a regular occurrence before now.

Though I suppose any attempts to investigate would soon deteriorate into nonstop ditter talk.

Ditter was an essential part of our joint research; perhaps the other duchies had chosen not to broach the subject because they knew what it would entail.

“That said, I wonder how many apprentice scholars and attendants receive divine protections...” I muttered. It had only been intended as a passing remark, but Hannelore actually replied.

“Our scholars of the sword and attendants receive divine protections as well, so, um... I expect we contribute to the total number more than any other duchy.”

Now I wanted to know even more about Dunkelfelger’s internal affairs. Just how many of their scholars and attendants had divine protections from fighting-type gods?

“I wish to research your apprentice scholars and attendants as well,” I said. “Clarissa, could you conduct the questionnaire and send the results to me?”

“Ah, is this a job for me specifically? Understood. I will pour my heart and soul into this task so that I may be of even the slightest use to you,” Clarissa declared, clenching her fists gleefully. I told Roderick to give her the papers she would need.

“Looking at the results here, the apprentice knights of other duchies really did not receive many divine protections,” I observed. “And seventy percent of those who did are from Dunkelfelger.” This was an enormous disparity, even when one accounted for Dunkelfelger being a greater duchy with more apprentice knights than average.

Incidentally, not a single person from Ehrenfest had received the divine protection of a fighting-type god. I could only assume this was because the apprentice knights hadn’t taken the song and dance seriously—which was understandable, as they hadn’t understood their purpose—and because my blessings had stripped them of their need to pray to the gods.

In effect, all those blessings I gave were akin to me babying them. That’s no good.

I needed to have the apprentice knights pray more so that they could obtain divine protections through their own power. They could learn a lot from Philine, who had even obtained protections outside her elements.

“Um, Lady Rozemyne... we have not been offering our mana when performing the ritual...” Hannelore said. “Should we have still received protections for it?”

Their most recent performance had returned significant blessings because of all the mana I’d donated through Leidenschaft’s spear, but that wasn’t what happened normally. Those from Dunkelfelger hadn’t offered their mana during the ritual, and no blessings had rained down on them after it.

“The ritual is essentially a large-scale prayer,” I said, “and you were using a schtappe transformed into a spear, so perhaps some mana was provided inadvertently. This seems even more likely when you consider that the divine protections most Dunkelfelgerians receive are from the gods named in the prayer.” It was entirely possible that they had been making offerings to the gods even without the expected blessings to prove it.

“Furthermore,” I continued, “as the rituals are performed before and after ditter, it may be that playing more often makes one more likely to receive the divine protections. This data here shows that the apprentice knights who obtained protections from multiple subordinates also participated in many games.”

My conclusions weren’t immediately apparent from the numerical results we’d gathered, so we would probably want to make a graph of some sort for when it came time for our presentation. As I considered which was the best way to display our data, Hannelore spoke up timidly.

“Lady Rozemyne... last night, we were discussing whether even Dunkelfelger could obtain those blessings if we were to transform our schtappes into Leidenschaft’s spear.”

In the Ehrenfest Dormitory, we had spent our time seriously contemplating the best ways to stop my rampages and to keep the greater duchy from asking anything of us. In the Dunkelfelger Dormitory, however, their greatest concern had been returning the ritual to its proper, original state. I could understand why they had taken such an interest in the matter; the performance they had so recently seen had ended up being very blatantly different from what they were used to.

“I expect you will be able to recreate the divine instruments by touching the real ones and channeling your mana into them until you can clearly visualize them in your mind,” I said. “My retainers were able to do this at our temple. I should note, however, that the process uses a surprising amount of mana. I would assume that only archnobles and above will be capable of maintaining the divine instrument all throughout the ritual, and those who offer their mana during the performance will not be left with enough to play.”

Hannelore and her retainers nodded, unfazed. Dunkelfelger’s nobles were prepared to venture even into the temple if doing so would secure them blessings for their ditter games. Each duchy had its own standards and perspectives, so it was hard to predict these things.

That said, I’m pretty sure the real spear from the temple would suffice as long as you offered up enough mana; no need to make one from your schtappe.

I decided to keep that thought to myself. I wanted them to help change public opinion of the temple, and what better way than to have them start going to their own temple and improving the conditions there?

“The blessing changes depending on how much mana is offered, so if you desire many blessings, then you will need a great deal of mana,” I said. “Rather than having one person try to shoulder that burden alone, I believe it would be best for a large group to provide their mana collaboratively. The prayers in the temple are for the benefit not of oneself but of others, so no matter how much mana a person offers, they will personally receive nothing in return.”

Hannelore stared at me with wide eyes. “In that case, Lady Rozemyne... you provided that much mana, and yet...”

“Indeed. I did not receive a blessing from yesterday’s ritual. That is why I was able to move without issue while the apprentice knights were falling over themselves.”

It seemed to me that the ritual was intended not for one person, but for a group of people, who would contribute their mana in small bits to form a large collective whole. Hannelore seemed to agree with that.

“However,” I continued, “do take care if you perform the ritual with any laynobles present. There is a chance that they might lose so much mana that they collapse.”

“Pardon?”

“Having several people perform a ritual in tandem allows their mana to flow more freely. Thus, if there is too wide of a gap in their mana capacities, then those with less to give will soon end up in danger. I understand that your duchy is bold enough to leap straight into doing things, but do be careful.”

Dunkelfelger would try basically anything for the sake of ditter. It was crucial that I give them these warnings now; otherwise, they were going to end up in too much of a state to even play.

“I am aware that, in the past, the ritual was performed the day before a ditter game rather than on the day of,” Hannelore said. “Could there perhaps be a reason for that?”

“I would assume it was so that those due to play had time to recover their mana or to grow accustomed to the blessings. Either way, I am sure there was a good reason. Small changes can lead to massive alterations over time; I would advise that you carefully research the ritual so that the custom you have preserved for so long does not collapse.”

“We thank you ever so much for your advice,” she said with a nod, a pleasant smile on her face. “We will take great care.”

Once our meeting was over and the Dunkelfelgerians had taken their leave, we returned to the common room.

The next task on my to-do list was turning the data we had collected into graphs while teaching Philine and the others how to do the same. As expected, I was more fond of working than I was of sitting around discussing things. It didn’t feel like I was actually involved in the research when I wasn’t physically doing anything.

It wasn’t long before we had all of our findings neatly arranged. I marveled at our work, satisfied with how much easier the information was to interpret—and it was then that other apprentice scholars started coming over and asking what we had made. It seemed that documents with graphs weren’t yet a thing here in the Royal Academy.

“Rozemyne, won’t that cause a fuss during the Interduchy Tournament?” Wilfried asked.

“I would hope so. Besides, isn’t our joint research causing a fuss already?”

Despite my response, I suddenly began to feel uneasy. As much as I preferred our data with graphs, I decided to write to Ferdinand and get his opinion first.