Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 5.3 - Chapter 6

Socializing with Ahrensbach

Hannelore was visibly torn, unable to decide whether she should give in and read the next volume as soon as possible or wait until the last volume was complete. Meanwhile, Dunkelfelger’s first wife moved on to discussing sales methods with Sylvester.

From what I’ve heard, the Interduchy Tournament is treated as a prelude of sorts to the Archduke Conference... so I guess this is what the actual conference is like.

I turned my attention to the surrounding scholars when a sudden cheery voice pulled me from my thoughts: “You all appear to be having such fun, so I do apologize, but I must interject.”

It was Detlinde, with Ferdinand in tow.

The corner of Sylvester’s lips twitched into a partial smile at the arrival of none other than “Fernestine” himself. This was usually when Ferdinand would ask, “What are you plotting?” but he just stayed silent, maintaining a fake smile while standing half a step behind Detlinde.

He looks so... so sick! Geez!

His face was pallid, and it was clear at a glance that he was sleep-deprived. Not even his fake smile was properly masking his true feelings; he looked angry beneath the surface, which was probably because Detlinde had done something to offend him.

Detlinde continued in a droning voice, “I must greet each duchy with my fiancé. Oh, I am just so terribly, terribly busy... How convenient that Dunkelfelger’s first wife is here.”

Aah... Ferdinand just smiled even wider.

Detlinde began speaking with Sieglinde and Hannelore, ignoring Sylvester and me completely. She was asking about our joint research.

“Your research with Ehrenfest is exceedingly interesting and appears to have drawn much interest... but Ahrensbach’s research spearheaded by the disciple of my fiancé Lord Ferdinand is wonderful as well. Do have a look.”

Ferdinand shot her a glance, leaving his thoughts about her shameless advertising unspoken, then started approaching Sylvester and me. I sped over to meet him halfway—after gaining Sylvester’s approval to stand and while taking care to remain elegant, of course.

“Ferdinand, it’s been so long— Ow, ow, owie!”

For some unknown reason, he had pinched my cheeks the very instant I was within his reach. I rubbed my cheeks and stared up at him, teary-eyed at the pain I had almost forgotten... only to notice that his fake smile had vanished entirely. He was now looking down at me with chilly eyes, his brow tightly knit.

Why is he so furious?! I avoided reporting anything that would make him mad, didn’t I?!

“There is a mountain of things I wish to say to you,” he remarked, “but I will refrain for now.”

“Then refrain from pinching my cheeks as well, please.”

“Hm. I will consider your input later.”

“Don’t consider it; conform to it,” I shot back with a glare, but Ferdinand just sniffed dismissively. I could sense I wasn’t going to be free from danger anytime soon.

“We decided to come over when we saw Dunkelfelger,” Ferdinand said. “Do you have the cape?”

“Of course.”

I turned to Rihyarda, who immediately presented the cape. Ferdinand took it, then headed over to the knights standing at the ready behind Sieglinde and said, “Could you call over Heisshitze?”

One of the knights sent off an ordonnanz, and barely a moment passed before Heisshitze rushed over. He looked so very excited, even though there was zero chance of them playing any ditter.

“Lord Ferdinand, congratulations on your engagement. I was overjoyed to hear that you have been freed from the temple. In fact, I must admit, I was the one who proposed your union and convinced the Zent to enforce it.”

You did the most unnecessary thing anyone has ever done! was what I wanted to cry out. Instead, I merely forced a smile, taking care not to let my anger show.

Ferdinand was likewise wearing a very gentle grin as he replied, “Ah, yes. I am told that Dunkelfelger and many others worked together to grant me the greatest reprieve imaginable. It is thanks to all of your efforts that I am now engaged to Lady Detlinde, Lady Veronica’s granddaughter. The emotions I feel truly cannot be put into words.”

“Oh my, Lord Ferdinand,” Detlinde said shyly. “You always shower me with such praise.”

The others all started offering their congratulations as well, but Heisshitze just froze. His skin had turned ashen, and there was a marked change in his expression.

He must know. He knows that Ferdinand was abused by Lady Veronica.

I continued to focus on Heisshitze, the one stony face among all the knights. I was familiar enough with Ferdinand to know that he’d never tell anyone else about his abuse. It was possible that Heisshitze had found out about it through Justus or Eckhart, or maybe even Hirschur. At the very least, the news had surely come from someone close to Ferdinand—from one of the select few people who were in the know.

“As my duty is now to support Lady Detlinde in Ahrensbach, I am no longer in a position to play ditter with you,” Ferdinand said. “Thus, I shall return this. I cannot wait forever.”

“This is...” Heisshitze looked from Ferdinand, who was wearing a bright smile, to the blue cape that was being so deliberately pushed into his hands. He was in a daze; it must have occurred to him why Ferdinand was going out of his way to return the cape now, when he hadn’t upon entering the temple.

“Isn’t this great?” one of the knights said to Heisshitze, clapping him on the back. “I know how much that cape means to you.”

“Your wife’s gonna be over the moon,” another said, grinning.

Little did they know. Heisshitze had turned ghastly pale.

Ferdinand smiled at his friend, whose face had gone stiff. “You have finally reacquired the cape that was stolen from you all those years ago. I would expect a little more delight, Heisshitze.” His last words sounded so cold that they almost came across as an order—like, “Be as ecstatic as you were over my engagement.”

Heisshitze cast his eyes down, squeezing the cape in his fists, then put on a tremulous smile. “I never thought I would regain this cape in such a way. My wife will... truly be overjoyed.” He finally understood that, though he had meant well, he had put his friend in the worst situation possible. Ferdinand had even demanded that he act jovially without allowing him an opportunity to apologize.

Before the two could exchange another word, someone got between them. “Oh my! And why did Lord Ferdinand have a cape so precious to that man?” Detlinde asked. She was looking up at Heisshitze, her eyes sparkling with wonder, entirely oblivious to the tension in the air.

The surrounding knights battled to explain, until eventually...

“And so, ever since their days at the Royal Academy, Heisshitze has been battling to retrieve his cape.”

“My!” Detlinde exclaimed. “How cruel, taking a cape embroidered by one’s bride-to-be! I did not think Lord Ferdinand was capable of such coldness.” She had taken the knights’ humor very seriously indeed, which made them all swallow hard and forced them to correct themselves.

“Er, actually... Lord Ferdinand offered to return it, but Heisshitze insisted that it be won back through ditter.”

To the knights, Heisshitze’s situation was probably a regular source of amusement, but most other people couldn’t empathize with the idea of gambling a precious gift from one’s partner on a game of ditter.

“Still,” Detlinde muttered, “to have the cape you put your heart into embroidering be stolen away like that...”

“It’s fine. A man of Dunkelfelger would never give up the fight to retrieve it.”

I wasn’t sure whether “fine” was the right word, but the knights swiftly moved on to explain the so-called “romance of ditter” to Detlinde. Ferdinand took a casual step back, leaving his fiancée in their hands, and returned to the table—whereupon he apologized to Sylvester for causing a fuss, then greeted Sieglinde and Hannelore.

“Lord Ferdinand, if you will,” Brunhilde said. She had prepared a seat and some tea and sweets for him the instant she saw that Detlinde was busy. Sylvester’s tea and sweets were refreshed at the same time, then he partook of them both.

Ferdinand took a sip of tea himself and then said, “Aah, the flavor of Ehrenfest...” From the earnestness in his voice, I could gather that the varieties he had access to in Ahrensbach were very different.

We had also prepared some of the tea-leaf pound cake that Ferdinand enjoyed so much, but he immediately handed it down to his retainers. “Justus, Eckhart, you have also gone a long time without the flavors of your home. Here.” He must have wanted them to get all the rest they could while they were in Ehrenfest’s space and could relax.

“We thank you,” they both replied as they accepted the plates and retreated a step.

Ferdinand sipped from his cup again, his guard knight from Ahrensbach still at attention behind him, then looked at Sieglinde. “Moments ago, I observed Ehrenfest and Dunkelfelger’s joint research, and I must say—I am surprised that such an old ceremony remains in your duchy to this day. I consider it wonderful that the research has resulted in students obtaining more divine protections.”

I could only blink in surprise. “But, Lord Ferdinand, Professor Rauffen was teaching when you were a student. Did you really not know about Dunkelfelger’s ritual...?”

Ferdinand replied with a simple “I did not,” at which point Hannelore stepped in to explain.

“I only learned this over the course of our research, but Professor Rauffen did not begin teaching the ritual until another professor of the knight course retired and he was put in charge.”

“It is like a dance known by all those of the current generation, in every duchy,” Ferdinand said. “The adult knights visiting are saying they wish to learn it, as it might help with feybeast hunting as well. Perhaps this will further strengthen Dunkelfelger’s influence.”

Sylvester nodded. “Ehrenfest would similarly like to learn it before next year’s Lord of Winter hunt.” Our knights had apparently tried it out after we informed them about it, but they hadn’t managed to get the blessings. It made sense that they would need more time; most of the knights serving as our primary firepower had needed to start by learning how to actually do this dance.

“Even in the Dunkelfelger Dormitory, the success rate of the ritual is only eighty-some percent,” Sieglinde explained. “The adults of our duchy have largely succeeded with it, and we expect that the outcome has to do with the amount of mana offered during the ritual.”

It seemed that even those in Dunkelfelger had started performing the ritual for blessings after learning about it from the Royal Academy. This had resulted in many ditter matches, as well as an incident wherein their aub led a band of knights into the temple, hoping to touch the divine instruments so as to learn to recreate them with their schtappes and make their mana offering more efficient.

“I extend my sympathies to those of your temple,” Ferdinand said. “I assume you sympathize with them as well, Rozemyne. They must have been busy with their Dedication Ritual, after all.”

I tried to put myself in the shoes of Dunkelfelger’s High Bishop. Their temple had been completely ignored by the nobles, only for the aub and a crowd of knights to suddenly demand the divine instruments partway through the Dedication Ritual. With the stress that had no doubt caused them, I was surprised they hadn’t climbed the towering stairway to the distant heights.

“That truly was a time of great conflict for me,” Sieglinde said, a distant look in her eyes. “I was almost struck with the urge to resent you, Lady Rozemyne.”

I’m sorry. I’m really, truly sorry. I didn’t mean for that to happen... I thought, offering silent apologies both to Sieglinde and to Dunkelfelger’s High Bishop, wherever they were.

Ferdinand shot me a glare. “And what did Rozemyne do to earn that ire, might I ask?”

“Eep! I, um...”

My mind went blank, but Hannelore swiftly came to my defense. “Lady Rozemyne did nothing wrong. It was simply a case of our duchy losing control.”

I was so moved that I wanted to hug her—but my relief was painfully short-lived.

“In fact, it is thanks to Lady Rozemyne’s accomplishments that Dunkelfelger learned to obtain such blessings in the first place. She mimicked our ritual, which was but a shadow of its intended form at the time, and offered mana with Leidenschaft’s spear, causing a pillar of light to shoot up into the sky. The resultant blessings were so powerful that we immediately began striving to return the ritual to its true state.”

Nooo! Lady Hannelore, stoppp! I... I can’t take the look Ferdinand is giving me! It’s terrifying!

“Oh...?” Ferdinand replied, curious. “Rozemyne did not include such details in her letters. I see now that she played a significant part in all this.”

“That’s right. The Dedication Ritual she performed was wondrous as well. Even the Zent was overjoyed after participating.”

Please. I’m already dead.

I had gone out of my way to write only innocuous details about the Dedication Ritual, so I really didn’t want her giving Ferdinand more reasons to be mad at me before dinner.

“F-Ferdinand!” I cried. “You have to greet every single duchy here today, correct?! You must be so, so busy! It would be a shame to keep you here any longer, so please—”

“Fear not, Rozemyne. Lady Detlinde is still speaking with the knights, so I am obligated to stay. More importantly, I would like to know more about what you have been doing. There seems to be a great deal that was not mentioned in your letters.”

I could tell from the look in his eyes that he knew how much I was hiding from him, and the blood drained from my face as he sought more information from Sylvester and Hannelore. The former had received my uncensored reports on the incidents in question, and the latter had actually been there for most of them.

This is bad... Someone, save me!

“So, what are you all discussing?” Detlinde asked as she came over to the table. Her conversation with the knights had evidently concluded.

Hannelore smiled and gave an honest answer. The very instant Detlinde heard the words “joint research,” her dark-green eyes began to shine.

“Ahrensbach’s research was performed by Lord Ferdinand’s disciple and started with an attempt to make the library’s magic tools as mana-efficient as possible. You see, after the civil war, the task of supplying the library’s tools was left entirely to Professor Solange, a mednoble, who could not manage on her own. The research has garnered much attention from the royal family due to its use in preserving documents.”

That’s almost word for word what my report said, except it’s missing the most important part—that the research is absolutely essential for any individual who wants to maintain a library on their own.

“Please excuse me, Lady Detlinde, but we were discussing our joint research with Ehrenfest,” Sieglinde said. She was making it pretty clear that none of us had asked about Ahrensbach.

Detlinde’s eyes widened. “Oh my! Lord Ferdinand, I must ask that you properly explain Ahrensbach’s research. You cannot be so slack.”

Er, what...?

We were all taken aback when Detlinde, who was supposed to be “so terribly, terribly busy” greeting all the duchies, urged Ehrenfest’s apprentice attendants to prepare a seat for her. She then joined us around the table and began bragging about Ahrensbach’s joint research.

“So, to continue—we improved upon the magic tools for recording voices, and then I received the most wonderful surprise! Such tender words of love were whispered straight into my ear. Ohohoho!”

Yeah, words of love from a stuffed shumil.

I made sure to keep my little remark to myself, but Sieglinde did not hesitate to speak her mind. “Should you not be referring to it as your joint research with Ehrenfest? Trying to withhold credit would appear quite unscrupulous.”

“Oh, but the research was all done by a disciple of my fiancé, Lord Ferdinand. That makes it equivalent to Ahrensbach’s research, does it not?”

Sieglinde gave me a subtly troubled smile as if to ask, “Is this your research being stolen?” She was presumably wondering what was going on—and after we had already been so firm with Dunkelfelger, we couldn’t just let Ahrensbach walk all over us.

I smiled back at Sieglinde. “If you wish to know how Ehrenfest’s joint research with Ahrensbach developed, I would recommend you see it for yourself. My apprentice knights and attendants worked very hard on it.”

“Not your apprentice scholars...? This is joint research, correct?” Sieglinde asked, now looking even more confused.

Under normal circumstances, it was the apprentice scholars who performed the research presented at the Interduchy Tournament. In our case, however, Lieseleta had turned the magic tool into a cute stuffed animal, and Laurenz had provided the voice recording.

“Cute shumils are the symbol of Ehrenfest,” I said.

“Ah, that reminds me!” Detlinde called out, clapping her hands together. “There is something I wish to ask of Lord Ferdinand.”

Ferdinand had stopped paying attention to Detlinde at some point during her insufferable bragging and was instead asking various questions of Sylvester and Hannelore. After his fiancée called out to him, however, he had no choice but to turn back to us and say, “Yes?” with a smile.

“As I requested previously, I desire that shumil for my own,” Detlinde announced. “Both you and Raimund said it belonged to Lady Rozemyne, yes? Then use this opportunity to have her give it to me. You will grant my wish, yes?”

All eyes fell on Detlinde. She wanted the love-whispering shumil. And after being refused once already by Raimund and Ferdinand, she had decided to try again.

“That is the prototype that Ehrenfest prepared, correct?” Sieglinde asked, dubiously.

I gave a firm nod to clear up any misunderstandings, then looked at Detlinde. “My sincerest apologies, but the shumil is already spoken for.” I was planning to give it to Letizia after the demonstration, so I didn’t want anyone asking for it.

“Then I will negotiate with whoever is due to receive it,” Detlinde said, unwilling to back down. “Tell me, who might this person be?”

“Um, Lady Detlinde...” Hannelore said, her voice quavering a little. “Could you not simply have your attendants make you one of your own?”

“Or do you mean to say that nobody in Ahrensbach can make the product of your own research?” Sieglinde asked.

Detlinde averted her eyes, then pridefully stuck out her chin. “I would make such a request for a normal stuffed animal, but this is a magic tool, and an exhibition item at that. Lady Rozemyne took the rights and schematics from Raimund before I, Ahrensbach’s next aub, could even react. Although it may be joint research, it was highly troubling for her to have done such a thing without a word of consultation.”

“I did not take them from Raimund,” I protested. Holding my tongue would have made her twisted interpretation of events the truth. “I paid him in full and through the proper channels. Plus, the person responsible for the research is free to decide what they do with it; they do not need the permission of an aub, let alone a future aub.”

Sieglinde was looking very displeased.

Ferdinand, upon seeing everyone’s reaction, adopted an especially sweet smile. “Lady Detlinde, if that toy has already been promised to someone, then asking for it will only trouble everyone.” It was a rather courteous way of telling her to read the room and stop being so selfish, but Detlinde, completely oblivious to his intentions, shot him a dissatisfied glare.

“Lord Ferdinand, I am saying that I desire this shumil. If you are my fiancé, then at least try to grant my wish.”

“If your wish is to have an identical magic tool, then I promise to make you one after I obtain a workshop in Ahrensbach. Rozemyne, my apologies, but can you send me the schematics when that time comes?”

So, in other words: “If you want that magic tool, give me a workshop already.”

I gave a smile in support. Ferdinand may have seemed as though he was caving to Detlinde’s selfishness, but he actually had his own interests at heart.

“Of course,” I replied. “Lady Detlinde, do contact me once Lord Ferdinand has a workshop. I will send the schematics by letter without delay.”

“Oh my...” Hannelore said. “How wonderful it must be to have your fiancé go to such lengths to make you a gift. I cannot contain my envy.” She was trying to settle the topic with a smile, but Detlinde just shook her head.

“Lord Ferdinand will obtain a workshop only after the Starbinding. That is terribly far away. I desire the shumil now, before anyone else obtains one. Lady Rozemyne already has the schematics, so can she not simply make another?”

And with that, our budding resolution was swiftly torn to shreds. Ferdinand sighed, tapping a finger against his forehead, while Sieglinde and Hannelore exchanged uncomfortable looks.

“Lady Detlinde, do you always make such demands of Ehrenfest?” Sieglinde asked.

“But of course. I am the next aub of Ahrensbach, you know.”

Sieglinde placed a hand on her forehead, Ferdinand raised an eyebrow, and Sylvester shrugged. Meanwhile, Lieseleta crouched down behind me and whispered quietly enough that only I could hear her.

“Lady Rozemyne, might I suggest offering the exhibit shumil to Lady Detlinde? I will simply make another.”

“Lieseleta...”

“It hurts to see Lord Ferdinand so troubled, does it not?”

I nodded. Making another shumil wasn’t something I could do myself, but with Lieseleta so generously offering her assistance, giving in to Detlinde and saving Ferdinand the headache was the best approach.

“You may have it once the Interduchy Tournament is complete,” I said. “As you say, we can simply make another.”

“Oh my!” Detlinde replied, raising her voice in delight. “How splendid.”

“Apologies, Rozemyne,” Ferdinand added.

I shook my head. “This is nothing for you to worry about, Lord Ferdinand. My attendant is skilled with her hands and is willing to create a new one.”

“However...”

Ferdinand pulled a face, but I didn’t think there was anything else I could do. I was racking my brain, trying to make sure there was nothing I’d overlooked, when Hannelore gave me a smile.

“I have yet to see this shumil myself, but perhaps it will become a new Ehrenfest trend.”

She was trying to ease the tension in the air.

“Certainly,” Sieglinde said with a nod, also smiling. “And one cannot speak of Ehrenfest trends without thinking of hair ornaments. Will you be wearing one, Lady Detlinde? I saw the ornament that Lestilaut ordered this morning. It was truly wonderful.”

“Naturally. Lord Ferdinand has gifted me some. I intend to show them to everyone during tomorrow’s graduation ceremony, so please look forward to it. Wearing them today would have ruined the surprise.”

I don’t think it should be a “surprise” to begin with...

“I shall be attending the graduation ceremony in clothes fit for a future aub,” Detlinde continued, puffing out her chest with pride—but before she could say anything else, an ordonnanz arrived. There were so many of us here that it was impossible to tell who it was for at first glance, so we all presented our arms... and it landed on mine.

“LADY ROZEMYNE!” came Fraularm’s loud, shrieking voice, so piercing that it made me want to cover my ears. “What is the meaning of this... this... Ehrenfest plot?! There was no mention of your exhibit containing such an unacceptable message! You intentionally deceived Ahrensbach, didn’t you?!”

The ordonnanz repeated Fraularm’s rant twice more, but I didn’t have a clue what she was referring to.

“Did you slack on some report?” Ferdinand asked.

“No, I am quite sure I gave her every relevant detail... I wonder what happened.”

“Um, Lady Rozemyne,” Lieseleta said, “may I have your permission to speak?”

I granted it, and she looked once at Ahrensbach’s spot. “This is just an assumption, but, erm... perhaps they are referring to the final message we recorded. As the shumil was brought for the exhibition just this morning, Professor Fraularm might not have listened all the way through to the end.”

“And what was this final message?” Ferdinand asked. “Raimund explained the tool to me this morning, and I was simply exasperated to hear that it has been filled with such fool—strange messages.”

After hearing that the shumil was full of romantic phrases and contained ten messages in total, Ferdinand had apparently decided not to waste his mana on listening to them all.

“Each phrase was handpicked from Royal Academy Love Stories,” I explained, “so I decided to make the final message an advertisement for the book and for Ehrenfest books in general.”

“An advertisement?”

I repeated the message as I remembered it, and immediately Detlinde’s eyebrows shot up. “For such an advertisement to come from Ahrensbach’s exhibition... If you will excuse me, I must take my leave! There are still many duchies for us to greet! Let us go, Lord Ferdinand.”

She hurried away in a daze. I was wondering why Ahrensbach hadn’t checked all of the messages to begin with when Ferdinand stood up and chuckled.

“So an advertisement for Ehrenfest books played while Ahrensbach was so openly and consistently bragging about the tool being their own research... Good grief, Rozemyne. You truly are unpredictable.” He placed a hand on my head and, before turning to leave, said, “Very good.”