Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 5.3 - Chapter 9

Socializing with Frenbeltag

“Lady Rozemyne, might we ask for another blessing this year?” Leonore asked, stepping forward as representative of the apprentice knights playing ditter this afternoon. “There is a chance that Professor Fraularm will obstruct us again this year.”

At once, I recalled our previous struggle against the hundertteilung. The apprentice knights all looked uneasy, but I shook my head at them and said, “You came in sixth during training even without my blessings, no? You have the strength to succeed, and depending on me will only stifle your growth.”

In other words, I had no intention of blessing them again.

“Understood,” Leonore replied, backing down at once. She had asked only to be sure, but Cornelius lacked that context.

“Why aren’t you blessing them this year?” he asked, blinking at me. “Dunkelfelger will be using their blessings, so should we not use ours? Your decision here will have a significant impact on how we perform.”

“We do not want Ehrenfest to rely on me forever. Those from Dunkelfelger have learned to obtain blessings themselves by cooperating with one another.”

Not to mention, we’ve agreed to keep Ehrenfest from rising any further up the duchy rankings, so...

I chose to keep that to myself, though. It was something we had discussed in private within Anastasius’s sound-blocking field, and the news probably would have impacted everyone’s morale.

“Dunkelfelger’s adults are going to perform a demonstration of the ritual after the last ditter game, are they not? Every duchy will be able to learn from their example then. They will need to cooperate to earn their own blessings, so I must ask that Ehrenfest strive toward the same; otherwise, our apprentice knights will end up being the only ones who do not obtain divine protections despite this being our research to begin with.”

The king had promised that those who wished to repeat the ritual for obtaining divine protections could do so after the graduation ceremony, and we could do the ritual again once we returned to Ehrenfest. However, those retakes would be meaningless if the knights didn’t pray enough and offer up a lot of mana.

“The amount of mana offered is the key to success,” I said. “Learn to obtain blessings on your own.”

“Understood!” the apprentice knights declared in unison.

Seeing that, Angelica muttered, “Lady Rozemyne, will I also become stronger by doing this ritual...?” The idea of everyone becoming more capable by learning to obtain their own blessings had evidently caught her interest.

“Obtaining blessings will make you stronger for that particular moment,” I explained. “Dunkelfelger’s ritual grants blessings from multiple gods at once, so it is especially potent. And on top of that, if you perform it sincerely on a regular basis, it will become easier for you to obtain divine protections. You will still need to memorize the names of the gods, though, Angelica.”

“Memorize...” Angelica really must have hated the studying she did in the temple because her expression turned pensive. “Can Stenluke do it for me?” she sighed, stroking the feystone at her hip. As always, Stenluke’s sheath only looked big enough for a dagger; few who saw it would expect him to be a longsword.

“If you obtain many divine protections, then you will be able to use your mana more efficiently, and Stenluke will grow more,” I said. “As you are a manablade user, this opportunity could grant you more strength than it would most others, but, well...”

“What?! It makes me use less mana?!” Angelica asked, looking at me like nobody had ever told her that before. Apparently, even while redoing her studies, it had never occurred to her that memorizing the names of the gods was to her own benefit.

“Damuel explained this to you before, Angelica!” Cornelius exclaimed.

“Mm, perhaps... Either way, I will start taking my efforts to memorize the names of the gods seriously.”

“I’m glad to see you’re finally motivated,” I said.

“If you had found this drive a bit earlier, Damuel wouldn’t have suffered even half as much...” Cornelius added, clearly sympathizing with his fellow retainer. Trying to teach Angelica when she wasn’t interested was said to be torturous.

It was soon time for the Interduchy Tournament to recommence, so we made our way back to the arena. En route, Cornelius continued to tell me how much Damuel was struggling⁠—now with Hartmut chiming in as well.

During the morning section of the tournament, the top-ranking duchies would mobilize to greet duchies they were on good terms with or wished to grow closer to. Ehrenfest hadn’t mobilized at all in that time, and if we wasted the afternoon as well, we wouldn’t be able to visit anyone.

“Should we not start greeting others?” I asked Sylvester, looking around at the duchies preparing for afternoon mobilization.

He glared at me. “You think we should go around greeting others at the same time as the bottom-ranking duchies? Even when we’ve been told to start acting like a top-ranking duchy? Do you expect us to go back to the top-ranking duchies we’ve already spoken to and reopen business discussions?”

I frantically shook my head; the last thing I wanted to do was reignite those business discussions. My intention had only been to peek at the other duchies’ research and see what their socializing was like.

“Take a break and watch some ditter,” he said. “Now that you’ve met the king, you can’t skip out on the awards ceremony.”

“But the bottom-ranking duchies are going to be greeting us, right? Will I even have time to rest?” A repeat of this morning would hardly be revitalizing.

“Based on last year, I’d like to think you’ll at least have some, but it depends how much of an impact your joint research had.”

“Ngh...”

We were only crediting the participants as helpers, but I was told our research had broken new ground in both its scale and the fact that it had afforded people the chance to have their name listed next to royalty. It had been very impactful as a result. Duchies that had needed to send apprentice scholars instead of archduke candidates were even acting like the scholars had received an otherwise unattainable honor.

“We also need to consider that the duchies knocked away by Schutzaria’s shield probably hate and resent you,” Sylvester continued, his voice quieter than before. “Naturally, I don’t expect anything to happen here, especially with all the guards around, but... you never know.” He looked around at the nearby Sovereign guards. Anyone who caused a fuss when the Knight’s Order was already so on edge about an attack would surely face a much harsher punishment than Immerdink had last year.

The Sovereign Knight’s Order really is tense. Even the king himself will view them as incompetent if the Interduchy Tournament is interrupted two years in a row.

“Ditter shall now recommence!” Rauffen announced. “This second half will be a tad more elaborate than the first. Everyone, please enjoy!”

In short, the professors were going to be using more niche enemies for this round, having been inspired by Ehrenfest’s battle against the hundertteilung last year. They believed it was also important to know how to deal with rare feybeasts upon encountering them.

“This will put Ehrenfest at a significant advantage,” I said. “Last year’s hundertteilung spurred everyone to study hard in case Professor Fraularm attempted another trick.”

“But perhaps the other duchies prepared as well, fearing the same fate,” Cornelius said.

I paused for a moment to consider his words. It was possible that Dunkelfelger had made such preparations, but to my knowledge, they had focused entirely on increasing the efficiency of their pillar-forming ritual.

“Ahrensbach!” came a call. They would be playing the first game of the second half, and Hirschur was in charge of summoning their feybeast. I was very curious to see what she would produce.

“May I go watch?” I asked Sylvester.

He paused for a beat and then said, “Sure. I’ll call you back if we get any important visitors, so go spectate with your apprentice guard knights.”

As instructed, I went with my retainers to the audience stands. Just like last year, Rihyarda prepared something for me to stand on—and the moment I climbed up onto it, I realized that my line of sight was higher than before.

Aah! I’m growing!

I watched the grounds below, still smug that I could see more than last year. The light-violet-capes were all standing in position while Hirschur produced her schtappe and channeled mana into a magic circle. The circle flashed, and atop it appeared a massive talfrosch.

“A talfrosch?!” I exclaimed.

“You recognize it, Lady Rozemyne?” Angelica asked.

“Erm, well...” I gave a vague nod; they were the frogs I had encountered when collecting ingredients for my jureve. I couldn’t give any details, since that hunt had been a secret, but I remembered our battle well. They even split apart when attacked. Goose bumps rose all over my skin as I remembered the tiny, warty frogs raining down on us, and how I had almost been swallowed alongside Brigitte.

“They have similar attributes to the hundertteilung from last year,” I explained.

It was clear that Ahrensbach’s apprentice knights were unsure what to do with this new foe. To make matters worse for them, this was speed ditter; their floundering was costing them precious time.

The knights eventually decided on a preliminary attack, but it didn’t appear to do much damage. Weaker blows were just reflected back at them.

“Let’s do it!”

“Right!”

They must have sensed that their efforts were going nowhere because two apprentice knights started directing mana into their swords, which began glowing all sorts of colors. They were going to strike the talfrosch with a massive attack.

Everyone else readied their shields as the two apprentice knights swung their swords, unleashing attacks of all the hues of the rainbow. Two beams of mana swirled and twisted toward the talfrosch, then erupted in an ear-splitting explosion that caused a shockwave.

“We did it!”

“Not yet! The circle’s still glowing!”

The magic circle would fade when all of the feybeasts were dead, but it was still shining. One knight honed his senses, conscious that the battle wasn’t over yet, only for a deluge of tiny talfroschs to rain down all over the arena.

“G-Gah!”

“Get all of them! Don’t leave a single one!”

The apprentice knights began flying all over the place, killing as many of the tiny talfroschs as they could. Their targets being small made them easy to defeat, but it also made them hard to find, especially when they were spread over such a wide area.

“This is the same situation that Ehrenfest was in last year,” I mused. “Professor Hirschur’s revenge, perhaps?”

“This is still a much easier battle,” Leonore said. “Hundertteilungs must be reduced to their smallest size before they can be defeated, and they re-fuse with ease, but these are not concerns when fighting talfroschs.”

Judithe nodded. “If she was trying to get revenge, she should have given them a hundertteilung too. That thing was a real pain.”

“But hundertteilungs are native to Ahrensbach,” Matthias added. “We can conclude that she chose a feybeast that shares its attributes but is still unfamiliar to the students.”

Everyone was satisfied with that explanation, and we all returned to watching the match. From the look of things, it would still be some time before they eliminated all of the frogs.

“Lady Rozemyne,” came Lieseleta’s voice; she had just come over. “The aub is calling for you. Frenbeltag’s archducal couple have arrived. Please return to the socializing spot.”

As I went to inform my guard knights, I noticed that Hartmut was no longer with us. Even as I looked around, he was nowhere to be seen.

“Oh?” I said. “I don’t see Hartmut.”

“He went to greet Clarissa’s parents,” Lieseleta explained. Evidently, he had gone to see Dunkelfelger while I was watching the ditter match.

“Do you think he’ll be able to convince them safely?”

“There is no need to worry. Prince Anastasius and the first wife of Dunkelfelger have forbidden them from playing ditter, and their discussion will primarily focus on what to do if Clarissa forces her way into Ehrenfest alone.” Hartmut had to be ready in case the engagement was canceled and Clarissa went rogue, so there was a lot to be discussed, including how to contact her parents, how to return her, and what arrangements to make if a visit to Ehrenfest proved necessary.

Lieseleta continued, “Her parents have been at a loss ever since deducing that Clarissa’s main interest is you and not her relationship.”

Upon arriving back at our table, we found Sylvester sitting with Frenbeltag’s archducal couple. “Rozemyne,” he said, “these are Aub Frenbeltag and my elder sister Constanze.”

So this is Lady Constanze, huh?

She was Sylvester’s second-eldest sister and one of the rare few individuals whose personality I already knew even though this was our first encounter. After all, in Royal Academy Love Stories, she had played a major role in mediating her brother’s romance. Her facial features reminded me more of Sylvester than Detlinde or Georgine—she was even giving me the same intrigued look that Sylvester had given me when we first met. They weren’t completely alike, though; Constanze might have resembled the previous aub, but she had blonde hair and blue eyes.

Beside her was Aub Frenbeltag, who looked so much like Charlotte that one might have assumed he was her father. He had a kind expression on his face, from what I could see.

I knelt in front of our two guests and performed first greetings.

“I am Rozemyne. May I pray for a blessing in appreciation of this serendipitous meeting, ordained by the harsh judgment of Ewigeliebe the God of Life?”

“You may.”

Once I was done and seated, Aub Frenbeltag looked at me with a gentle smile. “We always come here during the Interduchy Tournament, but this is our first time speaking with you.”

“Rudiger is sad that you two so rarely get to meet,” Constanze added, likewise smiling. “There is much about the temple and religious ceremonies that he wishes to discuss.”

My impression of Rudiger was reasonably positive; he had called for me to be allowed to attend the tea party for cousins, plus he had apparently gone to the temple and helped improve his duchy’s harvest. Had I not returned to Ehrenfest for the Dedication Ritual, I surely would have spoken with him more than Detlinde during our tea party.

“I cannot see Lady Florencia here. Is she not feeling well?” Constanze asked in a hushed voice, paying close attention to her surroundings. Florencia was Aub Frenbeltag’s younger sister, so not seeing her here was a natural cause for concern.

“This is not something I can make public yet, but... it might be important for you to know. In truth, she has started to show signs of pregnancy, so we are being more careful with her health. We are keeping an eye on her for now and plan for her to participate tomorrow if she feels well enough, but...”

“WHAT?!” I exclaimed, my eyes wide. That revelation had come out of nowhere!

Sylvester glared at me and said to keep quiet. Nobles generally kept their children a secret until they were baptized, and on the rare occasions when they did tell someone sooner, it surely wasn’t during the Interduchy Tournament. I was glad to have a new little brother or sister on the horizon, but I couldn’t celebrate here. Instead, I settled for wiggling in my seat, my hand clapped over my mouth to keep all the things I wanted to say from spilling out.

A new little brother or sister! Now I’ve really gotta make more black-and-white picture books for babies! I’ve gotta!

But while I was starting to get baby fever, Constanze looked at Sylvester in exasperation. “A pregnancy now, of all times...? Do you truly intend to take no other wives? I acknowledge your dedication to loving only Lady Florencia, but you are both too old and your duchy is too highly ranked for you to continue this little fantasy. How long will it be until you grow up?” She had suddenly become the embodiment of an elder sister chastising her little brother.

“It wasn’t intentional,” Sylvester responded with a sulky pout. “It just happened. I expect this is Liebeskhilfe’s divine protection, bestowed upon me so that I don’t need to take a second wife.”

“You always cling to the most convenient interpretation...” Constanze sighed, resting a hand on her forehead.

Aub Frenbeltag gave a wry smile. “I, for one, am relieved that you still care so deeply for Florencia, even with your duchy’s new rank.” His little sister’s position was precarious enough already, so he had feared that her treatment would worsen or that there would be drama with a second or third wife as Ehrenfest pulled further ahead of Frenbeltag in the duchy rankings.

“I heard that Lord Rudiger is participating in Frenbeltag’s religious ceremonies,” I said, “but how exactly is your duchy faring?” Frenbeltag had decided not to play ditter against Dunkelfelger, so none of their students had participated in the Dedication Ritual. I wanted to know how they were doing since, unlike other duchies, they had participated in rituals on their own.

“Our harvest improved considerably after Rudiger started performing the temple’s ceremonies, so we have since been having other archduke candidates and their retainers accompany him, while the giebes actively fill the chalices to enrich their land as much as possible. And thanks to your joint research with Dunkelfelger, we will likely be able to perform the rituals more efficiently.”

“That’s wonderful to hear,” I said. “But did you not face a lot of resistance when you proposed that archduke candidates start entering the temple and participating in rituals? Our Dedication Ritual here in the Royal Academy taught me that the temple is looked down upon all over the country.”

“It was disfavored in Frenbeltag as well,” Constanze said with a smile. “However, our situation was dire enough that we were willing to try anything to improve things. Anything.”

Aub Frenbeltag smiled as well. “Constanze was the first to accept Rudiger’s suggestion. Those with Ehrenfest blood make the most surprising decisions at times, such as assigning one of their archduke candidates to be the High Bishop or having their own children perform temple ceremonies. And with your trend of doing one new thing after another, Lady Rozemyne, I must conclude that you are the quintessential Ehrenfest archduke candidate.”

He went on to explain that Frenbeltag’s temple was being reformed so that nobles could enter and everyone would find themselves more at ease there.

“Distaste for the temple has certainly gone down since the royal family performed that religious ceremony,” Constanze said. “We believe this might be a good opportunity to teach the nobles of duchies that lost the civil war to participate in their Spring Prayers and Harvest Festivals.” Frenbeltag’s previous attempts to convince them had proven unsuccessful, but the newfound interest in religious ceremonies would surely make them more willing to listen.

“Perhaps next year,” she continued, “Ehrenfest could do research with Frenbeltag. Our duchies could examine changes in a duchy’s crop yield after sending its archduke candidates around its Central District and having them participate in Spring Prayer and the Harvest Festival. Our own harvest has increased two years in a row, so I am convinced that our findings would be worth spreading far and wide. What do you think, Sylvester?”

“Research is done by the students, Sister,” Sylvester replied with a half-smile.

“What do you think, Lady Rozemyne?” she asked me, her blue eyes brimming with anticipation.

Frenbeltag and Ehrenfest were the only duchies that had witnessed the effects of one’s archduke candidates touring their Central District. I didn’t mind the thought of our duchies collaborating—if we provided evidence that this technique resulted in a greater harvest, then we could motivate more duchies to reform their temples—but I wanted to dedicate my time to researching new magic tools for my library.

“This was my only uninterrupted year in the Royal Academy,” I said. “Thus, it would be better to have Wilfried or Charlotte lead the research instead. I will provide what assistance I can from the side.”

“In that case, we must speak with Lord Wilfried and Lady Charlotte at once. Do excuse us, Lady Rozemyne.”

And so, Frenbeltag’s archducal couple went to Wilfried and Charlotte’s table. I watched them go, then whispered to Sylvester, “Lord Rudiger has been frequenting the temple for some time, but as soon as the royal family changed public perception of religious ceremonies, they chose to propose this research that only they can do... Frenbeltag may have dropped in the rankings, but it sure is a former top-ranking duchy.”

“Aub Frenbeltag has always been a smart one,” he muttered in response. “Once their harvest is more stable and their population recovers, they’ll climb back up in no time. We’ll need to bring our nobles up to speed so we don’t lose our own position in the process.”