Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 5.3 - Chapter 2

Preparing for the Interduchy Tournament

The very thought of Georgine being connected to someone in the Sovereignty filled me with unease, but Leonore gave me a smile. “Lady Rozemyne, I can understand your nervousness,” she said, “but this is a matter for the aub to deal with. Your focus should be the upcoming Interduchy Tournament, should it not? It crept much closer while you were bedridden.”

Brunhilde nodded. “Indeed. The Dedication Ritual has afforded us a connection to the Zent himself, and we are engaged in joint research with three greater duchies. We are sure to have more visitors than last year, which means our preparations are going to be even more arduous.”

“They’re right,” Wilfried added. “Let’s leave the trug incident to Father and focus on getting ready for the Interduchy Tournament. How’s the research with Ahrensbach going?”

They were all making an excellent point; I needed to focus on what was right in front of me. To that end, I did my best to change my mindset.

“Our joint research with Ahrensbach will resume once I read the letters that arrived and Rihyarda permits me to leave the dormitory,” I said. “For the most part, Ahrensbach is going to be presenting our findings, so there won’t actually be much for me to do.”

Included alongside my letter from Letizia was one from Ferdinand regarding our joint research. I wanted to go to my hidden room and read the parts written in invisible ink as soon as possible, but I still couldn’t risk getting too excited, so I was being made to wait until my health was back to normal.

“Speaking of which, how is our joint research with Drewanchel going?” I asked.

Wilfried provided an answer: “We’ve settled on what we’re going to present. First is how to improve the quality and attributes of Ehrenfest fey paper, and second is how we’ve been using it.”

“Also,” Charlotte interjected, “when it comes to using fey paper as magic tools and the like, we have decided that each duchy will present its own discoveries.”

This agreement with Drewanchel sounded very similar to our agreement with Dunkelfelger—an understandable outcome, since Wilfried had participated in our meeting with the latter before leading talks with the former. Presenting our own findings was advisable because it prevented the higher-ranking duchy from taking all the credit for itself.

“It’s good that we’ve managed to avoid Drewanchel publishing everything themselves,” I said. “So, what ideas did we actually come up with? I don’t remember receiving any reports.” My first instinct was to look to Marianne, to whom I had suggested self-playing instruments, but she quickly averted her gaze.

“Drewanchel started working on instruments that play themselves,” she confessed. “We tried researching them ourselves, but we could not make anywhere near as much progress.”

In other words, Drewanchel had ended up stealing the idea. Marianne and Ignaz both slumped their shoulders as they revealed that all of our research was inferior to that of our collaborator.

Ignaz continued, “You granted us such a valuable opportunity to collaborate with a greater duchy, Lady Rozemyne, yet our results were subpar. We apologize.”

“Sister, please do not rebuke them too much,” Charlotte said, coming to their defense. “This is their first time doing research with a greater duchy, and they did their best. It is simply the case that Drewanchel did better.”

“Rebuke them?” I shook my head. “The thought did not even cross my mind.”

My only aim had been to increase the quality of our fey paper and the value of paper made in Ehrenfest. As long as we had something to present, I didn’t see an issue.

“Still,” I said, “it would be a shame if we had no notable discoveries to draw attention to ourselves. Let us focus on making books that automatically return to their shelves. Improve the quality of nanseb paper as much as you can. All we need to do is create moving books; we already have the magic circles needed to complete the process from there.”

Combining nanseb paper with the magic circle that Raimund had devised would surely be enough to produce movable versions of the light, thin books made in Ehrenfest, if not also the thicker ones used in other duchies. Creating a demonstration of the books returning to their shelves would surely turn a lot of heads during the Interduchy Tournament.

“Moving on...” I continued. “If we assume that Drewanchel is intent on making its self-playing instruments out of the best paper available, then perhaps we could make ours more accessible. Our magic tools should require so little mana that even commoners will be able to use them.”

Even commoners could get their hands on low-quality feystones thanks to the feystone stores in the lower city—and if we could produce something similar to a music box, then it would even be possible to have music playing in places like the Italian restaurant, which were generally too high-class for wandering minstrels who came and went like the wind. Perhaps we could have visiting customers buy feystones and select their own songs like a jukebox; that way, the Italian restaurant would be able to provide music without needing to open its pockets.

We could technically make music boxes without relying on magic, but, well... I think Johann would die if I ordered one now.

Johann was currently spending more than half of each year in other provinces, teaching craftspeople how to make printing presses and metal letter types. Maybe I would ask him to make a music box when his workload started to relax, but spreading the printing industry was still a lot more important in my eyes.

“We could combine sheet music with feystones that even commoners are able to use,” I mused. “In an ideal world, one low-quality feystone would play one or two songs.” I was casually listing off one idea after another, like I did when speaking with Raimund or Zack, but Wilfried quickly raised a hand to stop me.

“Rozemyne, this is too much for them,” he said. “You’re being too abrupt.”

On closer inspection, Marianne and Ignaz were looking a little queasy. But, well... I was an entire year below them. All these ideas had come to me with relative ease, so two fourth-year apprentice archscholars were sure to breeze through their new assignment. At least, that was my assumption.

I instinctively turned to my own apprentice scholars. “This is straightforward enough, right? You can minimize the mana cost by using a simple magic circle alongside some supplementary circles, and we already know that sound will play if you run a feystone across sheet music.”

Roderick and Philine had been making notes on their diptychs, but they both fell into thought when they met my gaze.

“As you said, Raimund has already designed the magic circles, right?” Roderick asked. “In that case, although the task ahead may seem complicated due to the involvement of commoners, it would actually be rather easy to realize.”

“Perhaps we could write the sheet music with better quality ink to make the feystones more efficient,” Philine added. Both she and Roderick had observed Raimund and me in Hirschur’s laboratory, so they were positively brimming with suggestions.

Marianne and Ignaz exchanged anxious looks when they saw how easily my apprentice scholars were coming up with solutions, but they ultimately faced me and said, “We can do this.” If they were successful, then our joint research with Drewanchel wouldn’t appear entirely one-sided. I was looking forward to seeing their results.

“Sister, how is our joint research with Dunkelfelger progressing?” Charlotte asked. “It seems that your scholars made progress while you were asleep.”

Philine and Muriella stepped forward, whereupon Philine announced, “We have finished organizing the results of Dunkelfelger’s part of the research. All that remains is Ehrenfest’s ritual. We intend to include the thoughts and impressions of those who attended the ceremony—thoughts and impressions that you so graciously gathered for us during tea parties, Lady Charlotte. We also found out yesterday that an apprentice archscholar who participated in our research ended up receiving the divine protection of a subordinate god. This information has since been worked into our results.”

“An archscholar who received divine protection after the Dedication Ritual...?” Charlotte asked, surprised. “Can you give me their name?”

Muriella smiled. “Lady Lueuradi of Jossbrenner. As far as I am aware, she was the only third-year who participated in the Dedication Ritual without having performed the ritual for obtaining divine blessings. She took the advice of others and prayed nonstop in the run-up to her final exams.”

Archnobles were relatively quick studies, so everyone who had participated in the Dedication Ritual had already finished their classes—that is, with the exception of Lueuradi, an apprentice archscholar. She had yet to take her final exam by the time of the ceremony and prayed until the very last moment.

“Lady Lueuradi seems to have taken inspiration from the Drewanchel students, as she made a charm and prayed to it sincerely. Her focus was... Bluanfah the Goddess of Sprouts.”

“That is quite a rare goddess to pray to...” I said. “Lady Lueuradi is a scholar, so I would have assumed she would pray to Mestionora the Goddess of Wisdom, as those from Drewanchel do.”

Bluanfah the Goddess of Sprouts appeared extremely often in Elvira’s love stories, but she seemed too minor to dedicate a charm to.

Muriella smiled again, this time appearing especially amused. “She prayed from the bottom of her heart to encounter more wondrous love stories.”

She prayed for more stories, not for her own romance to blossom?

I suddenly felt some kinship with this Lueuradi. Like me, she must have been a failure at life who valued books more than reality.

“Perhaps she prayed faithfully—or obsessively—for her own desires,” I pondered. “Or maybe, because she’s an archnoble, she was able to pour a lot of mana into her charm. She might even have an affinity for Water. In any case, Lady Lueuradi obtained the divine protection of Bluanfah the Goddess of Sprouts in no time at all. I consider these results wonderful.”

Lueuradi was proof that even archnobles of other duchies could obtain divine protections by offering their mana and praying diligently. We would need to find out more from her and add the details to our findings.

Muriella nodded. “Those who know Lueuradi apparently wish she would have obtained divine protections from other gods, but the individual herself seems very satisfied with the outcome. She even joyously stated that she wishes to thank you in person, Lady Rozemyne.”

I was getting the impression that Lueuradi was probably a bit weird in the head, but all bookworms were good people by default. She was bound to be lovely and sweet. We had only spoken briefly during our tea party together, so I didn’t remember her face, but I did remember the book she had allowed me to borrow—it was a love story written in ancient language that featured even more gods than Elvira’s own tales of romance. It had been extremely difficult to comprehend, since the actual events had been indistinguishable from the metaphors.

Lueuradi must love romance stories to the very core. She would get along well with Muriella...

No sooner had that thought crossed my mind than I quickly corrected myself—they were presumably close friends already. That was why Muriella had been the only one privy to her new divine protection.

“Lady Rozemyne, may we lend Lady Lueuradi the new volume of Royal Academy Love Stories to thank her for aiding our research?” Muriella asked, her voice quavering a little.

Now that I thought about it, Lueuradi hadn’t received the latest installment of Royal Academy Love Stories during our most recent tea party together; we had needed to prioritize archduke candidates of top-ranking duchies, while she was only an archnoble of a middle-ranking duchy. She was presumably dying to get her hands on a copy.

I understood the allure of a new volume all too well—and how exciting it was to read one with your friends and share your thoughts with them. That kind of thing had been so common back on Earth, so it was weird to think that it was rare here.

I could already imagine Muriella and Lueuradi pressed shoulder to shoulder as they read the new release together, sharing the occasional giggle. A warm, fuzzy feeling soon spread through my chest. As the person who had brought these books into the world to begin with, nothing made me happier.

“We are going to be asking Lueuradi to help us while her duchy is busy preparing for the Interduchy Tournament,” I said. “Of course you may lend her the new volume. I am sure she will feel Bluanfah’s divine protection while she reads it.”

Once our discussion about our joint research projects reached its natural conclusion, we decided to have Wilfried write a letter of questions regarding trug. I then returned to my room.

“Philine, please bring me my letter from Ferdinand.”

I can’t believe he’s making me do annoying homework like writing a response in noble parlance when I’m already busy preparing for the Interduchy Tournament.

I puffed out my cheeks a little, but it wasn’t every day that I received a letter from Ferdinand, so I was still excited to read it. Philine had read me the part written in normal ink when I was unwell and unable to go to my hidden room, so I already knew what that half said. He had instructed us on how to use graphs for our research presentation, repeated the instructions he had given Raimund, and detailed his plans from the Interduchy Tournament until the graduation ceremony. His intention was to spend the night of the tournament in Ehrenfest’s tea party room.

“Rihyarda, we have permission from the aub to use our tea party room, right?” I asked while Philine was off retrieving the letter. Ferdinand was going to be staying with Justus, Eckhart, and one of his Ahrensbach retainers.

“The letter was inspected at Ehrenfest, and the aub gave his permission then,” she replied. “Lord Sylvester would have rather given them a room in the dormitory, but that will not do when Lord Ferdinand is bringing an Ahrensbach retainer. We are busy preparing benches for them instead.”

Ferdinand was caught in an awkward position: he lived in Ahrensbach, but as he was not yet married, he was still technically an Ehrenfest citizen. Thus, Detlinde had instructed him to stay in the Ehrenfest Dormitory.

Though that wasn’t the real reason... The truth is, Detlinde heard about Mother’s Royal Academy Love Stories and was enraptured by the thought of her escort arriving at her dormitory on the morning of the graduation ceremony to sweep her away.

Ahrensbach’s nobles had protested—Ferdinand was already involved in their administrative work, so they feared that he might leak information to us—but Detlinde had flashed her engagement feystone and obstinately stood her ground. “Lord Ferdinand promised to grant my wishes, did he not?” she had argued.

“I more than welcome Ferdinand getting a chance to spend time here,” I said, “but I can’t imagine he’ll get much rest sleeping on a bench in our tea party room...”

Rihyarda shook her head. “This is the only way we can quash Ahrensbach’s suspicions that he might leak information. Anything else would risk worsening his position there.”

Indeed, our tea party room was the only place where his Ahrensbach retainer could accompany him. If those plans had fallen through, then Ferdinand would have had to spend the night in Hirschur’s laboratory—an outcome he had written he was glad to have avoided.

Yeah... They absolutely would have stayed up all night discussing research. Ferdinand might even have forgotten about the graduation ceremony entirely.

“Is there anything they need other than benches?” I asked. “I want to make things as comfortable for Ferdinand as possible.”

As I considered our options, Rihyarda gave a wry smile. “They will need separating screens and boxes for their luggage, but you can leave such preparations to their attendants. More importantly, milady... when you write your response to Lord Ferdinand, do not forget to mention that he should bring the time-stopping box. We will get the castle chefs to bring him food to take back to Ahrensbach.”

I noticed that she seemed more motivated than usual—perhaps because this was a rare opportunity for her to see her son, Justus. She was going to be carrying out these preparations alongside the other adult attendants accompanying our students, since the rest of us were busy getting ready for the Interduchy Tournament.

“Lady Rozemyne, here is the letter you requested,” Philine said upon her return.

“Philine, everyone, prepare for our research presentation,” I said. “I will be spending some time in my hidden room.”

“Understood. I will do my best to learn our graphs.”

According to Ferdinand, our use of graphs was going to be as revolutionary as I expected. He even predicted that we would receive many questions about them. Of course, it was down to the apprentice scholars giving the presentation to provide any answers—as an archduke candidate, I needed to prioritize socializing instead. For that reason, Ferdinand had made one thing particularly clear:

“I do not mind you using these graphs. However, venture no further than what your apprentice scholars can fully understand.”

Apparently, it was possible that our graphs might receive more attention than our actual research.

Though I doubt that, since the royal family participated in our ritual.

With that in mind, I took the letter into my hidden room and reread the section on the front, despite Philine having told me what it said once already. Ferdinand had written a lot about our joint research with Ahrensbach; it had taken quite a while, but the report we had given to Fraularm had finally reached him.

But he’s more focused on what we discovered about Schwartz and Weiss than on our actual research.

He was evidently starved for research, but there wasn’t much I could say in response to his questions; I was leaving all the Schwartz and Weiss stuff to Hirschur. I made a mental note to go to her laboratory once Rihyarda permitted me to leave the dormitory. From there, I would find out exactly what Ferdinand wanted to know.

I turned my attention to the part of the letter written in shining ink.

“You guided the royal family to the underground archive, I assume? And you did not enter yourself, correct? Furthermore, how is your joint research with Dunkelfelger and Drewanchel going? Your letters stopped arriving all of a sudden. Do not tell me something happened that you dare not report.”

I could already imagine Ferdinand tapping a finger against his temple.

Oh no...

Now that I thought about it, I had stopped sending letters around the time I guided the royal family to the archive. What had started as something so small was escalating by the day, and now I found myself unsure of what to write at all.

Though I was also not writing to him because I didn’t want to get yelled at.

“Hmm... Should I send an honest response now and face his fury at the Interduchy Tournament, or wait until the Interduchy Tournament to explain and face his fury then...? Wow, talk about an illusion of choice... Both paths lead to exactly the same outcome. I guess I’ll start by writing what’s most likely to earn his praise.”

My aim was to focus my letter on all the things that would warrant his praise. Then, at the Interduchy Tournament, I would explain the events sure to earn me a scolding. It was the only way to avoid him complaining from the very start of our reunion to the end.

For the non-shining portion of the letter, I stuck to harmless events that were already widely known: that we had donated mana to the royal family during the Royal Academy’s Dedication Ritual, that I now knew how to use two schtappes at once, that I’d worked my hardest during our ditter match against Dunkelfelger, and so on. I also noted what I wanted him to bring on the day of the Interduchy Tournament, as Rihyarda had suggested.

“That should do it,” I eventually said. “None of this will get me yelled at, right? Yeah, I think I’m safe.”

My response to Letizia was a simple, formal letter, meaning it would go through the proper channels in Ehrenfest. But my response to Ferdinand needed to be delivered speedily through Raimund, since it had to do with the upcoming Interduchy Tournament.

Actually... this is good timing.

After all, I was already planning to go to the Hirschur Laboratory tomorrow. There, I would meet with Raimund to discuss our upcoming research publication and retrieve the book containing research on Schwartz and Weiss.

“Not many days left. I need to hurry.”