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Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 5.2 - Chapter 7




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The Royal Academy’s Dedication Ritual

Hildebrand and his entourage took their leave, then we did the same, entrusting the remaining preparations to Hartmut and returning to the Ehrenfest Dormitory.

While I was getting changed into my ceremonial robes, I received an ordonnanz from Hildebrand, who had since finished his report to the king. We were being summoned to explain the circumstances of the ceremony to the king himself, meaning we had to make our way to the auditorium sooner than planned.

And so, we started down the halls once again, Wilfried and everyone else looking sick to their stomachs. We met up with Dunkelfelger along the way.

“Oh my,” Hannelore said, surprised. “Lord Wilfried and Lady Charlotte are wearing temple clothes as well, I see.”

“These are formal outfits within the temple,” I explained. “My siblings have their own, since they perform religious ceremonies back in Ehrenfest. Under normal circumstances, all participants would need to be dressed in such robes, but we have relaxed the standards due to a lack of time.”

Hannelore merely blinked at my response.

Not long after we arrived at the auditorium, we met with the royal family and the Sovereign Knight’s Order.

Aren’t there a few too many royals here?

I could recognize Eglantine, Anastasius, and Sigiswald, for obvious reasons. Adolphine was also participating as the fiancée of royalty. However, there were two royals whom I was meeting for the first time. The first, an older man, was the king. The second, a younger woman, was presumably Sigiswald’s wife.

“Lady Rozemyne, Prince Hildebrand informed me that—”

“I understand your impatience, Raublut, but stand down,” the king interjected. “Greetings come first.”

The Sovereign knight commander clearly wanted to interrogate me, but nobles took formalities very seriously. First-time greetings were the priority.

Dunkelfelger performed their greetings, then those of us from Ehrenfest knelt before the king. I was acting as our duchy’s representative, since I was in charge of our joint research.

“Zent Trauerqual, may I pray for a blessing in appreciation of this serendipitous meeting, ordained by the harsh judgment of Ewigeliebe the God of Life?”

 

    

 

Just as archdukes and archduchesses were addressed as aubs, it was proper to put “Zent” before the name of a king. After finishing my greeting, I received permission to stand, then took a closer look at Trauerqual. He had silver hair tinged with blue, much like Hildebrand, while his facial features made him resemble Anastasius.

Though he looks extremely unwell and practically reeks of rejuvenation potions...

His obvious exhaustion and the cloy of rejuvenation potions hanging over him immediately brought my first time seeing Ferdinand to mind. They didn’t look very much alike, but when Trauerqual gazed downward, the resemblance was definitely there. Maybe it was their hair being a similar length.

I can tell at a glance that he’s pushing himself extremely hard.

As I continued to examine Trauerqual, he gave me a somewhat contemplative look and then said, “Ehrenfest, I ask for an explanation as to why guard knights cannot enter the ceremonial hall.”

“The reasons are as I described to Prince Hildebrand. I first proposed that the royal family take part because I sincerely believe it is important for you all to experience a true religious ceremony, but I am not trying to force your hand, by any means.”

“Rozemyne!” Anastasius barked. “This is not my villa nor the underground archive. You stand before the king!” He was telling me to dress things up more, like a noble should, but I could only tilt my head in response.

Um... How do you say, “Accept my terms or leave” in noble speech again?

I was planning to give all the mana we gathered to the royal family, so having them participate would make that part more convenient, but we didn’t actually need them. We could do the joint research ourselves—in fact, not having them present would make things a lot easier for us.

As I was mulling over what to say, the Zent waved Anastasius away. “We are the ones who asked to participate in the ceremony. I do not mind as long as those with malice can indeed be removed.”

“I implore you to reconsider, Zent,” came an unfamiliar voice. “I do not believe that a means of identifying those with malice truly exists.”

After seeing how Hildebrand and everyone else had reacted earlier, I wasn’t surprised. Even if the royal family wanted to participate, their guard knights would never allow it. I could just stay silent and wait for them to convince the king.

As I thought that, however, the Sovereign knight commander, Raublut, crossed his arms and looked down at me. “Lady Rozemyne, is this shield you speak of the translucent dome that appeared during the attack on the Interduchy Tournament last year?”

I nodded in response, seeming to recall just how much my Schutzaria’s shield made to protect the students had stood out back then.

Raublut continued, “This is the first time I’m hearing that the shield can detect those with malice, but I can confirm that it is impervious to attacks. The king should be perfectly safe inside it.” He had evidently seen the shield somewhere else before.

I stared at the knight commander in wide-eyed surprise. At no point had I expected the very man who knew that Ferdinand was a seed of Adalgisa and who treated everyone from Ehrenfest with suspicion to acknowledge the usefulness of my shield.

“Although your word as the knight commander holds much weight, we cannot act on it alone,” one knight said. “At the very least, please allow us to test this shield with our own attacks.”

The royal family looked to me for my response. I understood their desire to confirm that the shield worked as suggested.

“If doing that will convince you, then be my guest,” I said.

Thus, it was decided that the Sovereign Knight’s Order would provide a demonstration for the royal family. Everyone distanced themselves from me, after which I produced a shield just big enough for one person. I wasn’t sure how strong the knights’ attacks were going to be, so I put my all into maintaining it for the sake of my own safety.

“Go forth, Loyalitat,” the king said to his guard knight—the man who had suggested this test to begin with. “Do as you must.”

After morphing his schtappe into a sword, Loyalitat started with a noticeably restrained attack; his first blow must have just been to test the waters. He was immediately blown back by a gust of wind.

There were murmurs of surprise—and from there, the other knights started trying to destroy Schutzaria’s shield as well, using a variety of weapons. Gradually, more and more joined in, and their attacks became increasingly intense.

Thankfully, I was completely safe inside my shield, channeling my mana like it was nothing. I was genuinely more concerned about the knights, who were getting increasingly wounded as the shield continued to throw them back and deflect their attacks.

“As expected, Lady Rozemyne’s shield of Schutzaria is invincible! How absolutely wonderful!”

“I was informed that it blocked an attack from none other than Lord Heisshitze himself. Verily, I am moved to be seeing it with mine own eyes.”

Hartmut and Clarissa were trembling with excitement, while the Dunkelfelger knights were watching with bated breath, thoroughly enjoying this test as they would a game of ditter. I couldn’t decide who was worse.

Just how long is this going to continue, I wonder?

No sooner had that thought crossed my mind than Raublut gave an instruction to one of the knights, who then smoothly entered the shield.

“I see,” the knight muttered, looking around the inside of the shield with great interest. “Those without malice really can enter.” He then turned his schtappe into a weapon. “But what happens if someone attacks from within?”

I didn’t know the answer myself, but the brave knight quickly changed that. As it turned out, such a person would be blown from the shield the instant they drew their weapon and tried to begin an attack.

How interesting.

No matter what attacks they tried, how many offensive magic tools they used, or how much mana they fired, everything was repelled by my shield. The knights soon began to lose their will to fight, and it was then that Trauerqual intervened.

“Enough. We have seen what we needed to see. It is inconceivable that such a resilient shield would succumb to mere apprentices of the Royal Academy.”

Indeed, we had proven the strength of my shield, but those who had taken part were now in an absolutely terrible state. “Zent Trauerqual, I wish to grant Heilschmerz’s healing to those of the Sovereign Knight’s Order,” I said. “Would you permit me?”

“That would be appreciated, but do you not mind...? They are many in number, so it will require a lot of mana.”

“I shall use Flutrane’s staff, which will make the expense almost insignificant. We will soon need the knights to guard the auditorium, as I expect the retainers of other duchies to protest as well.”

Using my ring would require me to be close enough to the knights that I could touch them. Flutrane’s staff didn’t have that requirement, and it would allow me to heal a bunch of people at once.

After securing the king’s permission, I produced Flutrane’s staff and granted the knights Heilschmerz’s blessing. I then presented the potions we had prepared and attempted to hand them out, saying that I planned to distribute them to the participating nobles.

“You intend to give bottles of strange liquid to other duchies?!” Raublut exclaimed. This wasn’t the first time that someone had suspected foul play.

“It is our duty to be cautious,” Loyalitat said, “but we need only investigate them ourselves, as we did with the shield. I, myself, do not suspect Lady Rozemyne. Had she mixed something dangerous into her potions, then she would have given them out before healing us.” He then took one of my rejuvenation potions and downed the entire thing in full view of the other knights and the royal family.

“Well, Loyalitat? Feeling at all sick?”

“The potion is... wonderful. It rejuvenates so tremendously well that I can physically feel my mana recovering. Lady Rozemyne, was it not quite an ordeal to prepare so many rejuvenation potions of this strength?”

“I simply thought that, as we will be receiving so much mana from everyone, it only makes sense to help them recover what they spend. They have endured many hardships already, I am told, given that they were required to play ditter to participate...”

“There are many duchies that will consider these a great aid.”

With that, both Schutzaria’s shield and my rejuvenation potions had been tested—and approved—by the Sovereign Knight’s Order. Better still, Dunkelfelger and the royal family had been present to witness it.

Whew. Now we can do the ritual without incident.

After heaving a silent sigh of relief, I parted ways with the Sovereign Knight’s Order and moved to the Farthest Hall.

Dunkelfelger’s archduke candidates, Lestilaut and Hannelore, would not be participating in this Dedication Ritual; as per our agreement, they were going to spectate and nothing more. We were going to be relying on the other duchies for their assistance.

“Those of the royal family, please line up here,” I said. “I will produce Schutzaria’s shield at the entrance to detect anyone with bad intentions. We will then guide the participants ourselves, but they will each need to greet you all. Once those greetings have concluded, please move here, to the center.”

A voice then announced that the participants were gathering in the auditorium, and that everyone was to move to their specified positions.

First to be permitted entry was a Klassenberg archnoble. He saw the lined-up members of the royal family and went rigid with fear.

Buddy, I know exactly how you feel.

“Please do come over and greet them,” I said, urging him to come forward.

He came back to his senses, moved to greet the royal family, then followed Hartmut’s instructions immediately after. The next person came in right away.

The first person to face any resistance from Schutzaria’s shield was an Ahrensbach student, who was abruptly knocked back. As she blinked in confusion, Ehrenfest’s and Dunkelfelger’s apprentice knights moved to intercept her.


“This is Schutzaria’s shield,” one of the knights said. “It denies entry to all those with malicious intent. My apologies, but as guard knights cannot attend the ritual, we cannot allow those who may pose a threat to go inside.”

“This isn’t right!” the girl cried, glaring daggers at me as the knights took her away. “I’m not malicious in the slightest! It’s Lady Rozemyne! This is all a plot by Lady Rozemyne!”

In the end, two out of the five participating Ahrensbach students were denied entry. Things proceeded smoothly from there, though several students from duchies on the losing side of the civil war had to leave.

“I hold no malice!” they would desperately exclaim... but they were from duchies that had complained about their rank dropping and their lands being ravaged after they lost the civil war. Schutzaria’s shield had rejected them, so they could not enter.

“Perhaps your venom is directed at me rather than the royal family,” I said, trying to frame it as something more innocuous—though the royal family knew better than anyone that the civil war had earned them many enemies. “Either way, I must ask that you sit this one out. We cannot afford to have those who may be a threat in a ceremonial hall without guard knights.”

Once the royal family had been greeted by all of our participants, I directed them to move to the center. I then dismissed Schutzaria’s shield and took a rejuvenation potion from my belt as I moved to the door.

I should probably recover some mana, right? I’ve lost a surprising amount.

Naturally, the Sovereign Knight’s Order was made up of many strong individuals; taking so many of their attacks and then healing them had proven quite taxing. Screening all of the students had taken longer than expected as well. Maintaining the shield really did require a lot of mana.

And now I’m about to make a chalice. Creating a divine instrument takes a hefty chunk of mana, and today’s participants are archnobles and archduke candidates, so there’s going to be a lot of mana being offered, right?

Feeling anxious, I stealthily drank my personal rejuvenation potion, then stood by the door as I waited for my mana to recover. At the time, it hadn’t occurred to me what repercussions this might have.

At the center of the room, Wilfried, Charlotte, and Hartmut were giving an explanation about the ritual. They spoke of various things—that we had formulated a theory that rituals and prayer were important for obtaining divine protection from multiple gods, the number of protections that Wilfried and I had obtained, the fact that our mana expenditure had gone down as a result, that Dunkelfelger could now earn blessings through a ditter ritual, and that we hoped this ritual would change how everyone thought of the temple and religious ceremonies.

Hopefully this helps to diminish all the bias against temples.

Once the explanations were complete, Hartmut addressed all those in attendance. “The Dedication Ritual shall now begin. Please kneel where you are and place your hands on the red carpet. Then, you will need to repeat the prayer stated by Lady Rozemyne, the High Bishop of Ehrenfest.”

First the royal family, then the participants—who had been sitting as directed—took a knee. Hartmut confirmed that Wilfried and Charlotte were at the edges and adopting the same position, then took out a bell-adorned staff and rang it loudly.

“The High Bishop shall now enter!” he declared.

Right on cue, I made my way from the door to the center of the room and stopped in front of the shrine. I then offered a prayer to the gods while looking at the chalice in Geduldh the Goddess of Earth’s hands, and transformed my schtappe.

“Erdegral.”

It was a spell that I’d read in the underground archive. My schtappe transformed into a chalice without incident, but the feystone was entirely transparent—perhaps because I had been too focused on the shrine. There was now a divine instrument in my hands, but it hadn’t required much of my mana.

Mm... This is a bit unexpected.

Hartmut helped me to set down the chalice, then we knelt and put our hands on the red carpet as well.

“I am one who offers prayer and gratitude to the gods who have created the world...” I said, beginning the ritual. Everyone repeated after me and offered their mana.

In Ehrenfest, only a few people gathered to perform the Dedication Ritual, but here we had quite a sizable group. As we chanted the prayer together and our mana started to flow, it started to feel as though we had all become one. It elated me in the kind of way that festivals did.

And then, everyone’s mana shot up toward the ceiling in a pillar of light. It was red, the color of Geduldh.

“Wh-What is the meaning of this?!” Trauerqual exclaimed.

“I expect that a portion of our mana flew to some unknown point in the Royal Academy,” I said. “This always happens with rituals done here. It does not happen in Ehrenfest, so I expect it is something unique to the Academy.”

This was the king’s first ritual, so it made sense that he’d require a little reassurance. I was sure that Anastasius had already told him about Dunkelfelger’s ritual producing a blue pillar of light, but listening to someone else’s account of an event was incomparable to seeing it firsthand.

Seeing is believing, as they say.

I watched the light while continuing to channel my mana, but I was soon interrupted by an almost hysterical cry from Charlotte.

“That should be enough, Sister!”

“Everyone, please remove your hands from the floor,” I said. “I expect some are beginning to run low on mana.”

Things had been going so well. I was actually a little disappointed that Charlotte had called for the ceremony to end... but that feeling quickly faded when I was faced with the aftermath. First, the archnobles from the lesser and middle duchies stumbled forward and collapsed. The archduke candidates stayed in their praying stances, looking sick, and even those of the royal family appeared a little tired.

Charlotte intervened, but I still overdid it!

“Everyone, thank you for participating in the Dedication Ritual,” I said. “Those of the royal family and the archduke candidates here today are used to supplying mana to foundational magics, but this must have been especially hard on the archnobles. We have prepared rejuvenation potions to reward those of you who have given us your valuable mana. Hartmut, the potions.”

I wanted to speed things along as much as possible, but I still needed to consume a potion myself to prove that they weren’t poisoned. Saying something like “Oh, I’m already overflowing with mana” wouldn’t be enough to excuse me; it was about as weak as refusing to taste-test your own sweets at a tea party because you’re “much too full.”

Having no other choice, I drank another potion meant to significantly recover one’s mana.

This isn’t good...

And I wasn’t talking about the taste. The ritual hadn’t been as demanding as I’d expected; at this rate, my mana was sure to overflow. I watched with a smile as the king drank a potion and everyone else followed suit, showing surprisingly little resistance, all the while compressing my mana.

The rejuvenation rate of these potions is slower than what I’m used to, so I might be able to act fast enough...

I desperately compressed my swelling mana, wishing that I could share it with the students so exhausted from the ritual that they were having to sit down. However, compression alone was not enough; my mana was growing faster than I could contain it. Cold sweat beaded on my forehead as I observed Anastasius and Sigiswald place a net with feystones into the chalice.

What should I do?! I can’t stop recovering mana!

“Sister, is it just me, or is your bracelet shining?” Charlotte whispered, having stealthily approached me. We were on the cusp of repeating the blessing bomb incident.

“I am recovering too much mana,” I whispered back. “Either my charms are going to shine one after another, or I’m going to suddenly give out blessings. I need to expend a large amount of mana at once, but how?”

Charlotte looked at the royal family, who were peering at the feystones within the chalice, then at the students, then at my bracelet. “Perhaps you could bless everyone with healing. That would be a fairly natural way to expend your mana.”

I went with her brilliant idea immediately. If my mana was going to overflow and turn into a blessing bomb anyway, then I was better off taking the initiative. Rather than making an unexpected scene, I would make it clear that I intended to heal everyone.

But how do I go about this, exactly?

The best approach would be to produce Flutrane’s staff and heal everyone at once, but I still had the chalice out. Not to mention, it was still packed with mana; I was pretty confident that the feystones hadn’t finished absorbing it all.

I can’t make the chalice go away, but trying to heal people one at a time with my ring would take too long. I need Flutrane’s staff so that I can expend all of my built-up mana at once.

“I wish to produce Flutrane’s staff separately from the chalice,” I said.

“Is such a thing even possible?” Charlotte asked.

Surely it was, especially now that I was overflowing with mana. The old sovereign’s record had mentioned producing the divine shield and spear at the same time, and I’d once seen Ferdinand produce several shields of Wind.

Besides, I don’t really have a choice. Inaction would only result in my feystones lighting up in front of the royal family and all these archduke candidates, then a blessing would pop out. I need to expend my mana naturally. Do your best, me.

I opened and closed my fist, gathering my mana. It was recovering steadily because of the potions I’d imbibed, so time really was of the essence.

Another one of my charms began to shine.

Gaaah! Not another one! This is bad! So bad! Come, schtappe! Make another instrument right away! Even apprentice knights can use weapons and shields at the same time! I don’t know how it’s done, but it must be possible!

My desperate plea must have reached the gods, as another schtappe suddenly appeared in my right hand. At the same time, one of the feystones on my bracelet stopped shining.

Charlotte inhaled sharply.

“It seems to be time, so if you’ll excuse me...” I moved away from Charlotte and stood in front of everyone to make my announcement. “Your mana is recovering but not your stamina, correct? My mana has recovered as well, but I would not want you all to be stuck sitting on the floor, so...”

I produced my schtappe and chanted, “Streitkolben” to produce Flutrane’s staff.

“I must rely on Flutrane’s staff to heal so many people at once,” I continued with a smile, trying to sidestep the issue of my mana. “My inexperience is a great source of embarrassment.”

I really was telling the truth about my embarrassment; I hadn’t been able to judge how much mana I needed for the ritual.

“May Heilschmerz’s healing be granted,” I said.

I prayed while putting my absolute all into channeling my mana... and soon enough, green light overflowed from Flutrane’s staff. Light shot up into the air just as it had during the Dedication Ritual, and the rest of the mana rained down on all those gathered. Heilschmerz’s healing didn’t actually do much to alleviate exhaustion, to my knowledge, but I didn’t care about that; my top priority was expending my mana.

With that, I’d granted everyone healing. Gone was the threat of my feystones shining obnoxiously in front of everyone and a blessing bomb detonating out of nowhere again.

I got into a real panic over all this, but now that it’s over, everything feels... fine? The phrase “all’s well that ends well” was made for times like this. I wiped the sweat from my brow. Ferdinand, I’ve become a schtappe dual-wielder! Hopefully one day I’ll be able to make a ton of schtappes, just like you!

I could feel the satisfaction of now being even a step closer to my mentor. Clearly the best move here would be to inform him by letter and receive a showering of praise.

It was possible that the downed archnobles from lesser and middle duchies had gotten hurt when so much of their mana was sucked out of them. Still, although Heilschmerz’s healing didn’t do much to ease their exhaustion, it at least allowed them to get back on their knees.

I was just beginning to think how this differed from the time I’d healed Elvira in Haldenzel when I heard someone mumble, “Mestionora...”

“I concur, Lady Hannelore!” Clarissa exclaimed, her fists clenched passionately. “I received exactly the same impression! Lady Rozemyne’s actions clearly parallel Mestionora, who was permitted by the gods to use all of their instruments!” She was on the verge of another long-winded speech, but I wasn’t sure that I agreed.

Hartmut looked similarly doubtful. “I do not seem to recall such an idea being expressed in the temple’s bible...”

“It is spoken of within old Dunkelfelger books.”

“Mestionora is said to be the daughter of the God of Life and Goddess of Earth, is she not?” Eglantine suddenly added in agreement. “Some old books in Klassenberg say the same. To hide from the God of Life, she received hair as dark as the night sky from the God of Darkness, and golden eyes from the Goddess of Light. She then became the subordinate of Wind, the strongest defense of all the gods...” She gave a teasing smile. “Indeed, Mestionora is just like Lady Rozemyne.”

I had absolutely no idea how to respond.

“I speak in jest, of course,” she said. “Please do not look so troubled.”

“Anyone would be troubled to be compared to a goddess, Lady Eglantine...” I replied. How was I supposed to react to a member of the royal family—one so often mentioned in the same breath as the Goddess of Light, no less—comparing me to Mestionora?

Hartmut smoothly stepped forward. “I had no idea that such a tale existed... I find it fascinating beyond words and would certainly like to read it myself.”

After expressing his thanks, Hartmut brought the event to a swift close. I’d genuinely expected him to join Clarissa in freaking out and causing a fuss—a hasty conclusion that I was now ashamed of. From the bottom of my heart, I was grateful to have someone so competent on my side.



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