Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 5.4 - Chapter 13

She Arrived Immediately

My ordonnanz was en route to the west gate, as were Damuel and Angelica. Hearing my order would probably stop Clarissa from making any unreasonable demands of the soldiers or turning this into an even bigger mess. And with the gate’s emergency dealt with, next up was tackling the nobility’s side of things. I would need to send word to Sylvester.

“Hartmut, contact Aub Ehrenfest,” I said.

“Understood,” Hartmut replied with a brisk nod, then exited the room. This was a matter to do with his fiancée, and his recent work with Sylvester meant that he was better equipped for the task than anyone else. If an ordonnanz didn’t work, Hartmut would likely head straight to the castle.

That was the most I could do for now. I shook my head to dispel any lingering thoughts of Clarissa, sat up straight, and then resumed our meeting with the merchants. I couldn’t leave until we had covered everything of importance.

The guildmaster met my gaze and then searched for words while eyeing the surrounding scholars. “Lady Rozemyne, it appears that something urgent has occurred; shall we take our leave?”

Some of the scholars almost nodded in response, but I firmly shook my head. “No, let us finish our discussion now. You are all going to be very busy preparing for the merchants visiting this summer and the second stores in Groschel, are you not?”

“We are grateful for your concern, but...” He hesitated, then continued in a more reserved tone, “I do believe I heard the name ‘Dunkelfelger.’”

A scholar nodded. “This man is entirely correct, Lady Rozemyne. A noble from Dunkelfelger clearly takes priority over a meeting with merchants. We can summon them again later.”

“No,” I repeated. “Groschel’s renovation is already fast approaching. If we wish it to succeed, we cannot waste the valuable time of those who will actually be carrying out the preparations. Failure will harm not only the merchants with stores in the lower city but Aub Ehrenfest and Giebe Groschel.”

Brunhilde looked up with a start. She understood, but many of the scholars were still unconvinced, set in their belief that nobles should be prioritized over commoners. I sighed, then looked at her. She nodded in response before addressing the room.

“Everyone, Lady Rozemyne is not acting out of mere deference to the merchants; Aub Ehrenfest is directing the reconstruction of Groschel, and any discussions about it will require Lady Rozemyne and me—as well as many others—to be present. Her point is that, with Ehrenfest in its current state, there is unlikely to be a time when our schedules overlap again.”

Brunhilde needed to arbitrate between Giebe Groschel and Aub Ehrenfest, work with Charlotte to assist Florencia with her duties, and prepare for her own ascent to second wifedom. She would greatly benefit from making friends in the right places before coming into power.

“To my knowledge,” she continued, “Lady Rozemyne is going to be quite busy with religious ceremonies moving forward. By royal decree, she is also due to attend the Starbind Ceremony of the coming Archduke Conference. By the time she has returned from all that, the merchants from other duchies will already be arriving. There is absolutely no need for Lady Rozemyne, an archduke candidate, to change her current plans for the sake of an archnoble—especially one who has appeared on such short notice. Is that not the case?”

And with that brilliant performance, Brunhilde won the scholars’ agreement. My way of phrasing things meant I always struggled to convince nobles, but she had succeeded with aplomb. I would need to learn her talents myself.

At the same time, however, I wanted the scholars to understand that not giving the merchants enough time to complete their jobs would cause Giebe Groschel and the aub to fail spectacularly.

“Clarissa of Dunkelfelger will manage just fine with my retainers hosting her,” I said. “Furthermore, Aub Ehrenfest has been contacted. I expect he will ensure that something is done about all this.”

I was sympathetic to the soldiers manning the gate who were now having to deal with Clarissa, but they wouldn’t need to hold out for too much longer. Damuel and Angelica weren’t the type to lord themselves over commoners, so their arrival would make things a lot more manageable.

I continued, “I shan’t bring this meeting to a premature end, but I would appreciate a swift conclusion. Gustav, I must ask that you report on concrete solutions to the problems mentioned in autumn.”

In the autumn, the merchants would put forward any issues they had experienced, then they would propose their solutions come spring. It was wonderful to see how much they improved each year. I asked them what changes they hoped to make this time, their sales figures for last year, and their goals for this year. Freida always seemed overjoyed when she met the targets that were set for her; seeing her enthusiasm each summer was heartwarming.

“Oh, also,” I said, “I have an important message for the Plantin Company.”

“And what might that be?” Benno asked. His tone was polite, but I could tell from the way he was leaning forward that he was expecting the worst. I didn’t think he needed to be so on edge about a simple message.

“The other day, the aub informed me of the will of our duchy’s nobles. I have accepted it and hereby permit you to sell the many educational materials that were previously forbidden from being distributed to nobles of other duchies: picture-book bibles, karuta, playing cards, and so on.”

Ehrenfest no longer wanted to climb the duchy rankings, and this decision seemed ideal for supporting the adults’ decision without wasting the hard work and enthusiasm of the students. If the general consensus was for us to reduce the gap between our grades and those of the other duchies, then we simply needed to bring them closer to our level. Scoring between ninety and a hundred on every test only made us stand out when the average score was like seventy.

In short: rather than dragging ourselves down, we’ll pull everyone else up. Eheheh.

“In the right hands, I expect these products to generate enormous profits,” I said.

“I have known that since the day I purchased the rights to them from you,” Benno replied with a grin, his eyes like those of a capitalistic carnivore about to pounce on its gold-plated prey. He might as well have cackled, “I’m gonna be rich!”

Seeing him so enthusiastic, I couldn’t help but grin in response.

Thus concluded our meeting. Brunhilde’s group returned to the castle, while I went to my High Bishop’s chambers.

“Lady Rozemyne, we have word from the High Priest,” Monika said upon my arrival; she hadn’t accompanied us to the meeting.

As it turned out, Hartmut had departed for the castle after all. That was understandable; he needed to report the current situation to the archduke, figure out why his bride-to-be hadn’t waited at the border gate, consult his parents on what to do with her, and get the aub’s permission for her to enter the city. Even if we went to meet her, we wouldn’t be able to get her through the gate on favoritism alone; Sylvester’s authorization was absolutely essential.

“Then let us wait for Hartmut to return,” I said. “The soldiers would only be thrown into disarray if we headed to the gate without the form necessary for Clarissa to come through.”

I sent Hartmut an ordonnanz, informing him that our meeting with the merchants was over and stating that I wanted him to return to the temple before going to fetch Clarissa. His response came immediately.

“I am on my way with my parents.”

“Our apologies for the trouble, Lady Rozemyne,” Hartmut’s parents said upon their arrival. It seemed more accurate to say that I was causing them trouble, though, since Clarissa was only here to become my retainer.

“Hartmut, what did the aub say?” I asked.

“He was unaware of Clarissa’s arrival when I sent my ordonnanz. The Knight’s Order had gone to investigate a tool-produced rott sent up by the soldiers of the west gate, and my correspondence arrived just as they returned to give their report.”

Hartmut had ended up questioning Frenbeltag and Dunkelfelger about the matter, and his search for whichever scholar had permitted Clarissa to pass through the border gate had kept him very busy indeed.

He continued, “According to Frenbeltag’s knights, Clarissa appeared at the gate between their duchy and Old Werkestock with only a single guard knight.”

Clarissa had a travel permit from Aub Dunkelfelger, but she was an archnoble marrying into another duchy. Most would travel with their parents and an entire procession of carriages containing their things; it was unthinkable that she had arrived at the border gate alone and with just one guard. Dubious, the Frenbeltag knights had contacted Dunkelfelger, asking whether this archnoble named Clarissa truly was from their duchy and whether she really had permission to marry into Ehrenfest.

Dunkelfelger had responded simply: “Clarissa is indeed an archnoble from our duchy, and she does have permission to marry the Ehrenfest archnoble Hartmut.” We would never know if the suspicious Frenbeltag knights had worded their questions poorly or the Dunkelfelger scholar who had received them hadn’t known about Clarissa’s departure.

After receiving the confirmation they had wanted and checking the medal that Clarissa had brought to prove her identity, the Frenbeltag knights had concluded that there was no reason to prevent the bride-to-be from continuing her journey to her new home duchy. They had given her permission to pass through their gate—though, due to the extremely suspicious circumstances, they had also assigned a guard of their own to watch her.

From there, Clarissa and her guard knight had flown straight to the Ehrenfest-Frenbeltag border gate, not stopping even once. The brutal journey had pushed the knight to his absolute limits, to the point that he had collapsed almost immediately upon arriving at the gate. In his last moments before losing consciousness, he had declared only that Clarissa’s legitimacy was confirmed.

Of course, this assertion had done painfully little to help Clarissa’s case—especially when there was no bridal procession awaiting her at the gate. Frenbeltag’s and Ehrenfest’s knights had all watched Clarissa and her guard knight with skepticism as the two chugged rejuvenation potions.

Hartmut continued, “They questioned our castle as well, asking whether Clarissa truly had permission to marry into Ehrenfest and whether the fact that nobody had come to welcome her indicated some kind of problem.”

By this point, Clarissa’s name had come up almost nonstop during emergency meetings, so a response had come immediately: “We have indeed received word from Aub Dunkelfelger that Lady Clarissa departed for Ehrenfest.”

Outside of extremely urgent scenarios, such communications were compiled and then reported all at once; after all, one could not inform the aub of every single ordonnanz. Plus, the news that nobody had come to welcome Clarissa came as no surprise to the scholar in correspondence with the border knights—Hartmut and his parents had only been informed of her departure last night, so it was obvious that a bridal procession hadn’t yet been put together.

“The guards at the border gate, having determined that the aubs were in contact and agreement, decided to let Clarissa through,” Hartmut explained. “Only when she reached the city’s west gate was she finally stopped—as a noble from another duchy and without an entry permit from the aub, she did not have the necessary clearance to go any farther.”

Ever since the Count Bindewald incident, Ehrenfest had exercised a lot more caution when it came to letting nobles from other duchies into the city. That, coupled with the fact that we were all on high alert because of the winter purge, meant that not even nobles of top-ranking duchies were being allowed through. If not for these circumstances, Clarissa might have gotten all the way to the temple.

Everyone thought Clarissa was suspicious as heck, but she still got all this way. In a sense, that’s kind of amazing.

As I was admiring her exploitation of so many imperfect human systems, Hartmut’s father, Leberecht, frowned and sighed. “Our hands are tied now that she has come with both aubs’ approval. Sending her back would be equivalent to calling off the engagement entirely and dishonoring all parties in the process. All we can do now is welcome her into Ehrenfest and propagate the story that she raced here out of concern and respect for Hartmut and Lady Rozemyne.”

As he had said, sending Clarissa away now would shame both aubs who had permitted the marriage, the border guards who had put their suspicions aside to let her through, the scholars who had responded to the guards’ questions, Clarissa’s parents for having let their daughter race off to begin with, and Hartmut’s parents for having not been there to welcome her.

“Make no mistake,” Leberecht continued, “we will thoroughly scold Clarissa for what she has done and send a formal complaint to Dunkelfelger. For the good of us all, however, we should disguise her arrival as a passionate quest to aid her fiancé in need rather than a misguided rampage performed during a fit of madness.”

His position was the result of much discussion with Sylvester and Florencia, so I had no reason to refuse. He was also the head of the household that would be deciding whether to accept Clarissa.

“As we have decided to welcome her,” he said, “we have no choice but to suffer the consequences. The question is how we shall treat her going forward. During our discussion at the castle, we concluded that it would be best to embrace her as a proper fiancée, give her a place in our estate, and entrust Ottilie with looking after her and bringing her home each day.”

Hartmut would continue frequenting the temple, while Clarissa would instead accompany Ottilie to and from the castle.

Leberecht concluded, “We cannot send an archnoble daughter from another duchy to the temple. We hope you understand this, Lady Rozemyne.”

“I do,” I replied. “It was already my intention to have Clarissa work in the castle as a scholar. The archducal couple is tragically shorthanded, no? Leberecht, I must ask that you train Clarissa and Philine to help lessen their burden.”

Leberecht gave a slight frown. He was Florencia’s scholar and already had more than enough on his plate, so this request to train not just Clarissa but Philine as well must have come as an unpleasant surprise. This called for an explanation.

“If all of my scholars are working in the temple, it is highly unlikely that Clarissa will agree to work in the castle. Plus, Clarissa is sure to feel more comfortable in the castle if she has at least one person she knows there with her. She and Philine worked together at the Royal Academy during one of our joint research projects. They will also serve as good rivals for one another; Philine is a laynoble without too much mana, but she was trained by Ferdinand and is excellent at paperwork.”

Philine had generally focused on temple work, so having her work in the castle would surely be a good experience for her. My aim was for her to carry out various jobs in the castle while keeping an eye out for motivated, promising youths.

“Lady Rozemyne,” Hartmut said, “I think Clarissa may lose her mind if she is unable to spend time with you...”

I paused for a moment. One solution would be to visit Clarissa at the castle on a semi-regular basis, but that would undo my efforts to prove that I didn’t want to become the next aub.

And then it hit me.

“In that case, every three days, I will listen to a report from her in my library.”

That should also give me a good excuse to sneak in some reading time.

Thus concluded our discussion. I sent an ordonnanz to the west gate, announcing that I would soon arrive, then made my way there in my highbeast. Gathered on the lookout was a large crowd consisting of Angelica, Damuel, Clarissa, her guard knight, and many soldiers.

Dad?!

I got out of my highbeast, trying to keep a smile from forming. Clarissa made to race over to me, but I raised a hand to stop her and then tapped my chest twice in salute to the lined-up soldiers.

“You have done well to stop an outsider noble from entering the city without a permit,” I said. “Your dedication to your duties is wonderful. As a member of the archducal family, I am proud of you all.”

Dad gave me a dutiful nod. “We managed simply because, when word of the emergency was sent, the commanders of the gates were all gathered together for our spring meeting about our posts being reassigned.” He then looked at the other commanders. “Had she arrived any later, it would have been my problem to deal with.”

It was pretty clear what was going on here—Dad wanted me to stress that we nobles were satisfied with the soldiers’ response to this problem and wouldn’t be handing out punishments. One man in particular was quite obviously holding his stomach, though he was making an honest effort to pass it off as a salute. I could only assume he was the current commander of the west gate.

I took Clarissa’s entry permit from Hartmut, then presented it to the nervous commander. “This is a permit for Clarissa, approved by the aub himself.”

“So it is,” he replied. “She may now enter the city.”

“You soldiers have worked hard to protect Ehrenfest, and we would never punish you for that. In fact, I believe some praise is in order.” I took two large silvers from my pouch and put them in the commander’s hand. “It may not be much, but use it to reward the soldiers who have worked so hard for your sake. The aub has been informed of all you have done.”

I was trying to reassure the commander, but the mere presence of nobles was enough to keep him on edge. Thankfully for him, it was time for us to leave.

I tightened my expression and turned to Clarissa. No longer was her braid swaying freely at her back; it was now coiled behind her head, making her look more like an adult. It was a shame she wasn’t acting like one.

“Let us go, Clarissa,” I said. “We have much to discuss about the future.”

I didn’t intend to take her to the temple, so we went to my library instead. Lasfam welcomed us upon our arrival and poured us some tea. This estate had once belonged to Ferdinand, so it seemed like the perfect location for a Ferdinand-style scolding.

“Now, then...” I began. “Allow me to ask frankly: Why have you come here?”

Clarissa stiffened and said, “Because I thought I could be of use to you, Lady Rozemyne.” This evidently wasn’t the warm welcome she had expected.

Meanwhile, the guard knight waiting behind Clarissa was wearing an expression that screamed, “I told you so.” I could imagine she had tried time and time again to stop her charge’s rampage before ultimately accepting defeat and accompanying her as a guard.

“Was the plan not for you to come during the Archduke Conference?” I asked.

“I could not bear to wait that long. Plus, I heard Aub Dunkelfelger say that my early arrival would benefit you.”

“So you decided to set off on your highbeast and come here without warning? Not only that, but you brought no luggage, carriages, or attendants, and didn’t even think to meet with your parents on the way?” Saying it all out loud made me realize the true craziness of our situation.

Clarissa slumped her shoulders and hung her head, seeming to realize the true severity of her actions now that the moment had passed. “My apologies. People always tell me that I lose sight of my surroundings when I get invested in something... but, once again, I failed to heed their warnings.”

Ngh... I’ve said those very same words on so many occasions!

I went quiet. How was I meant to scold Clarissa for doing something I was always guilty of myself...? Ottilie must have noticed my sudden hesitancy because she continued on my behalf.

“Changes of plan trouble all those involved, so be sure to provide plenty of notice in the future,” she said. Then, she explained that this early departure would have forced us to gather at the border gate just as Spring Prayer was beginning and we needed to circle the Central District. “Hartmut was agonizing over how to resolve this overlap. As the High Priest, he could not afford to miss Spring Prayer; doing so would only increase Lady Rozemyne’s burden as the High Bishop. Far from helping her, you were about to make things worse.”

Clarissa paled. To most nobles, there were no important religious ceremonies between the spring baptisms and the Starbind Ceremony. She hadn’t thought to consider what other duties the temple might perform.

“Furthermore,” Hartmut said, “when you sent word of your arrival at the west gate, the archducal family was in the middle of a critical meeting with Ehrenfest’s merchants. We had you wait so that it could continue, but I was required to leave midway through to question the aub and confirm the details of the situation. That prevented me from performing my duties as Lady Rozemyne’s scholar. Do you now understand the pain you caused me?”

Clarissa somehow went an even ghastlier shade of white, and she nodded over and over again. “I feel your pain as though it were my own,” she practically chanted.

“I do not know what kind of understanding Hartmut and you have reached,” Leberecht said, “but I hope you are aware just how many people you have troubled. A normal bride-to-be does not intimidate border guards or appear so suspicious that the castle officials of not just one but two duchies are consulted about her legitimacy. Both aubs were forced to deal with the consequences of your actions, as were so many knights.”

“The aubs were...?”

“Aub Dunkelfelger used the method of emergency communication between aubs to inform us of your departure. You will need to apologize to him and Aub Ehrenfest both in the future.”

“My, erm... My sincerest apologies...”

Only after Clarissa had completely shrunk into herself did Leberecht inform her that she would be allowed to stay in Ehrenfest and not be turned away. Then, as we had discussed, he said that she was to move into Hartmut’s estate as his fiancée and commute to the castle with Ottilie. There, Clarissa and Philine would work under Leberecht as scholars.

“May I work in the temple instead?” Clarissa asked. “I wish to be useful to Lady Rozemyne.”

“You may not,” I replied without missing a beat. “I require not a blue shrine maiden but a skilled, top-ranking scholar who can take on the work done in the castle.”

Clarissa froze, taken aback by my immediate rejection, then looked at Hartmut. “But I heard that the temple needed more people.”

He shook his head. “No matter how great the demand for new priests and shrine maidens may be, we could never have you serve as a blue shrine maiden—not with how other duchies view their temples.”

Clarissa had come to Ehrenfest as Hartmut’s fiancée, so it was easy to imagine how her parents would react to her being made a blue shrine maiden and thereby unable to get married. Sending an adult woman from another duchy to the temple would also cause more bad rumors about Aub Ehrenfest to circulate.

“Tell me, Clarissa—what would society say about Hartmut’s parents if they sent you to be a blue shrine maiden?” I asked. “By entering the temple, you would cater to nobody’s interests but your own. Furthermore...” I paused to look between Clarissa and her guard knight. “Ferdinand, who is still only a guest in Ahrensbach, has received an order from Lady Detlinde to perform Ahrensbach’s Spring Prayer. That is no way to treat someone from another duchy who is waiting to be married, is it?”

Clarissa’s guard knight looked especially shocked. It was as if she couldn’t believe that Ferdinand wasn’t being treated as a proper guest and groom-to-be.

I continued, “Aub Ehrenfest is infuriated that Ferdinand is receiving such poor treatment and is preparing to protest during the upcoming Archduke Conference. We cannot risk acting like hypocrites before then.”

“But nothing is being forced upon me,” Clarissa protested, fixing me with a determined stare. “I am requesting this.”

“Such minor details would not matter to outsiders; they would see only that you have been forced into the temple, and any attempts to explain the situation would fall on deaf ears. If anything, they would assume that we told you to deny it. I experienced this myself during tea parties at the Royal Academy.” My failed attempts to dispel the bad rumors plaguing Sylvester were still fresh in my mind.

Clarissa was all too familiar with noble tea parties and the persistence of the rumors that spread through them. She bit her lip, cast her eyes down, and murmured, “I truly wished to be useful to you, Lady Rozemyne...”

“And I truly appreciate that fact. Ferdinand himself acknowledged the quality of your research; I do not doubt that, when it comes to scholars, you are among the best of the best. Please join Philine in the castle as one of my own scholar retainers.”

Clarissa stared at me for a moment. Then she stood up, came over, and respectfully knelt before me. “Your wish is my command. I came to Ehrenfest to be useful to you, and that is what I shall do.”

“Though you are forbidden from visiting the temple, I will create opportunities to meet with you. Barring the time I am away for religious ceremonies and the like, we shall convene here every now and again, and each time you shall give me a report. I will prepare delicious sweets as well.”

“Yes, my lady!”

And so it was decided: after barging her way into Ehrenfest, Clarissa was to be looked after by Hartmut and his family.

“Incidentally...” Ottilie interjected, “when is your luggage going to arrive, Clarissa?”

Nobody had an answer.