Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 5.4 - Chapter 6

Speaking with the Aub

After getting Rihyarda to deliver my request for a meeting with Sylvester, I reunited with Charlotte, who had presumably been asking her own retainers about the will of the Leisegangs. She explained that she hadn’t actually learned much from them—she had considerably fewer Leisegangs in her service than I did in mine, so that was probably why—but she had received a lot of very important information from Florencia’s retinue. As it turned out, extremist nobles were actually hoping to assassinate Wilfried, believing that the best way to make me Ehrenfest’s next aub was to remove him from the picture entirely.

In response, I mentioned that the Leisegangs were giving Sylvester and Wilfried secret demands to complete. This made Charlotte look very worried.

“Is it possible that the Leisegangs are tricking them?” she asked.

Well, it does seem more suspicious alongside that claim of them wanting Wilfried dead. I can’t say for sure, though.

“I expect the Leisegangs are pressuring them and making demands they cannot refuse. Thus, I believe the things they said to us during our meeting were not their true opinions.”

“It is frustrating that we were not made privy to these details...” Charlotte murmured, apparently feeling left out. “Is it because we are unreliable?”

“No, you are as reliable as can be, Charlotte. Perhaps they chose to keep us in the dark as a way to protect us during these uncertain times.”

“Sister...?”

“Were I not the figurehead of the Leisegangs, I imagine Sylvester would not be caught under their thumb and stuck having to lower Ehrenfest’s rank at their demand. At the moment, I feel that he is protecting me.”

Sylvester obviously knew that Florencia’s retainers were feeding Charlotte information. It would have been so easy for him to kill me and put an end to all this chaos—I was a mere commoner, so that was entirely within his power—but instead he was protecting me and trying to complete the Leisegangs’ demands.

“For that reason, I want to help Sylvester in turn,” I said, then revealed our plan to speed up the generational shift and create a brand-new faction for Sylvester and Wilfried. “Please assist me with this, Charlotte. It is only an idea for now, but would it not make their position so much more stable?”

“I agree that it would be effective, but... it will be quite some time before the younger generation can operate as Father’s faction. On their own, they will not have the influence necessary to restrain the Leisegangs.” She was calmly asserting that, while our desire to make use of the chaos was admirable, our actual plan wasn’t good enough.

“Furthermore,” she continued, “concern about and resistance to the changing climate are not felt exclusively among the adults. Even within the Ehrenfest Dormitory there was opposition to the children of the former Veronica faction being treated on the same level as everyone else, and to the idea that archnobles should earn their own money.”

The laynobles and mednobles had accepted my suggestion that those who wished to learn my mana compression method should earn the money themselves, but archnobles who had never done such work before had openly despised the idea. Charlotte had found out about this through her retainers.

“Their resistance waned only as a result of your archnoble retainers leading by example, so we will need to guide them again. We must extend a hand to those who are struggling to keep up with all these dramatic changes.”

Charlotte was very talented when it came to reconciling the perspectives of others, so I took her advice to heart. I also asked how we could get everyone to accept the coming revolution.

“Above all else,” she replied, “I think Father should take a Leisegang as his second wife.”

“Why is that?”

“The Leisegangs have always secured their power through marriage, have they not? By taking an especially progressive member of their faction as his second wife, Father could simultaneously appease the Leisegangs and support the generational shift. I expect this method would settle things more peacefully than any other”—she cast her eyes down—“but Mother’s pregnancy means it is no longer an option.”

Babies were very sensitive to mana, so Sylvester wouldn’t be able to take a second wife until at least a year after Florencia gave birth. In fact, he would probably end up needing to wait two—while a newborn was mostly dependent on its mother’s mana, the father’s played a role as well. It was all too far down the line to remedy any of the chaos currently affecting the duchy.

Charlotte gave me a self-deprecating smile. “Unlike you, Sister, I am unable to come up with novel ideas; I cannot see beyond the customs of noble culture that have been hammered into me since birth. And since I can provide no better options, I shall do my best to help Father and Wilfried obtain a new faction.”

I spoke with Melchior’s retainers as well, but they couldn’t offer anything that I didn’t already know. Right now, it seemed that I was more knowledgeable about the Leisegangs than anyone.

Melchior’s retainers were most concerned about the temple, and they bombarded me with all sorts of questions. I assured them that I would use my meeting with the aub to secure them a budget as well as permission to move existing furniture to the temple.

I also spoke with those serving Wilfried, but it was a complete waste of time. They offered absolutely nothing in the way of new information, repeating only that their lord was working hard and that I should support him as his fiancée. I responded that, as his fiancée, I was going to advise the aub to create a new faction and that I was going to be too busy in the temple to do much else.

The next day, Matthias and the others went with the Knight’s Order to investigate the giebes’ estates. They were aiming to be back before the feast, which meant they didn’t have much time at all. Karstedt hadn’t gone with them—he needed to guard Sylvester—but he had made good on his word and emphasized that the retainers were to be treated well.

“These students gave their names to the archducal family and serve them as retainers,” he had said. “Do not look down on them.”

The following days were all spent busily despite the fact we had to stay in the northern building—and eventually it came time for my meeting with Sylvester. He was coming to me, in part because I wasn’t allowed to go to him but also because there was a barrier here and a sizable portion of the Knight’s Order was absent for the investigation.

“Bonifatius wanted to join; is that alright?” Sylvester asked upon his arrival. I’d wanted this to be a secret conversation, but maybe Bonifatius was continuing his role as a monitor for the Leisegangs.

Well, he’s part of the archducal family too, so it would make sense to get him on our side.

There was no reason to consider him an enemy. Sure, he was going along with the Leisegangs, but that was because he was concerned about me and wanted to save me from the temple. He wasn’t part of the group that was absolutely dead set on making me into the next aub.

“I think my being here is reasonable enough,” Bonifatius said. “Now that Ferdinand is gone, I’ve needed to come out of retirement to help with paperwork. You have nothing to hide, right?”

I smiled, shook my head, and gestured for him and Sylvester to sit opposite me. “You are more than welcome to join us, Grandfather. It must be tiresome doing all of that work. We have no secrets to keep from you, and if anything comes up that we would rather not have our retainers know, we will simply use sound-blocking magic tools.”

Karstedt was standing behind Sylvester, as always.

It was strange having Bonifatius here instead of Ferdinand. He was so much broader and more muscular that the chair looked tiny in comparison, and the air he exuded was a lot more oppressive.

No sooner had I sipped my tea and eaten one of the sweets from the table—the usual routine to prove that nothing had been poisoned—than Bonifatius began to dig in. “It’s been about a year since we had tea like this,” he said to me.

I thought back to our breaks together during last year’s Archduke Conference. Tea parties like this were a much simpler affair, since I didn’t need to hold his hand and risk losing limbs in the process.

“Sorry to say this, but we won’t be able to spend time together like this during this year’s Archduke Conference,” I noted. “I was asked to assist the royal family. Though... if you were to come to the temple, we could always have tea there.”

Bonifatius frowned and muttered, “The temple...” It seemed that he really did find it unpleasant.

“Melchior’s retainers will soon start going there on a regular basis, as will mine,” I said. “I will not force you to come, but I would suggest that you drop by at least once; the temple is not what you might expect. I will welcome you with sweets, and I am sure Angelica would be overjoyed to see you.”

Bonifatius continued to knit his brow but said that he would consider it. I really wanted to change his impression of the temple, no matter how long it might take.

I turned to Sylvester. “Now, about Melchior entering the temple...” This was the primary reason I had given for our meeting. I explained what preparations Melchior would need and asked that he be given a budget. “I must also ask that you give us permission to take some of the furniture being stored in the castle for use in the temple. Oh, and we require a cook from the court kitchens. We can offer a gray shrine maiden to serve as an assistant. You could even hire a new one and have them train to one day work in an Italian restaurant.”

“You want to train a cook in Melchior’s kitchen...?” Bonifatius asked, his light-blue eyes widening. Using already trained chefs was common practice, but he had never even considered training one from the ground up.

Sylvester nodded on my behalf and noted that this was normal in my kitchens.

“The lower city’s Italian restaurant is a place that merchants of all duchies wish to visit at least once,” I said. “If we are to open an Italian restaurant in Groschel after performing its entwickeln, then we will need to start training chefs now. Otherwise, we will not have time.”

Naturally, I intended to train chefs in my own kitchen as well. Ella had already made it clear that she wanted to have children, so this would give her a chance to take some time off.

“Also,” I continued, “Charlotte has informed me that the children of the playroom were mostly abandoned over the winter.”

“I don’t think that’s true,” Sylvester protested at once. “They were given food, looked after by the playroom’s attendants, and allowed to meet with any of their parents who came to visit.”

I shook my head. “I don’t mean their living conditions were poor. I was told that, because the teachers were all going to the northern building for Melchior, the children in the playroom received no education whatsoever. You must keep in mind that they no longer have parents to hire family tutors for them. If something does not change, their education will end up in a truly dire state.”

Bonifatius was blinking in disbelief, but Sylvester merely said, “And?” I could tell that he wanted me to get to the point.

“I intend to host them in the temple as apprentice blue priests and shrine maidens.”

“Hmm? Why?”

“To educate them, supply the temple with mana, and distance them from the malice of the gossiping nobles. Of course, this will all come at a price, and the expenses will need to come from the children’s parents, but I think it will do the children a lot more good than staying in the playroom. What do you think?”

Sylvester stroked his chin in thought. Meanwhile, Bonifatius gave me an incredulous look and said, “Rozemyne, why are you going to such lengths for the children of criminals?”

“They did not commit any crimes themselves, and it makes no sense to punish the innocent,” I replied plainly. “Further, Ehrenfest is already suffering from a lack of nobles. Yes, crushing these children would be simple, but why would we deny ourselves such valuable manpower? Though it may require some effort, we are much better off aiding them, educating them, and getting them to work for the duchy.”

Bonifatius stared at me, bemused. “So you’re acting out of self-interest?”

“As I always do. I evaluated the situation as a member of the archducal family and determined that this is the best response. Others may call me a saint, but I am nothing of the sort, nor do I presume that I can save everyone for free.”

I explained that Ehrenfest had a small population for a middle duchy and that we had to pay close attention to the rituals and mana that supported our harvest. Bonifatius might not have realized it yet because he didn’t attend the Interduchy Tournament, but the general consensus about religious ceremonies was changing all across Yurgenschmidt.

After returning my attention to Sylvester, I continued, “Taking the children left in the playroom as apprentice blue priests and shrine maidens would give Florencia one less job to do. It would help both her and Charlotte. So, how do you feel about it?”

“I don’t mind, but... what will the Leisegangs say?” Sylvester adopted a thoroughly exasperated expression and turned to Bonifatius, who was presumably his window into the Leisegangs’ collective mind.

“Oh, have the Leisegangs already offered to look after the children?” I asked. “I cannot think of any other reason why the aub would need to be concerned about the opinions of giebes.” I gave a very exaggerated sigh and then said, “It seems that you’ve been carrying out many unreasonable tasks for the Leisegangs in return for their support and cooperation. My existence has caused so many issues, dear adoptive father, and I thank you ever so much for shouldering the burden of dealing with them all.”

“Rozemyne, how do you know that?!” Bonifatius exclaimed. He looked at Sylvester, who hadn’t reacted anywhere near as much, and then at Karstedt, who put up his hands as if to say that he wasn’t to blame. It was a likely sign that Bonifatius had been keeping a close eye on his and Elvira’s movements after completely cutting off my contact with Sylvester.

“Sylvester acted so unlike his usual self during our meeting the other day, and it was easy to infer that something must be happening beneath the surface. Thus, I gathered intelligence from my Leisegang retainers. I do not know the details but, Sylvester—you and Wilfried were given some manner of tasks to complete, were you not?”

This time, Sylvester reacted strongly. His features hardened into a look of complete outrage, which he directed at Bonifatius as he shouted, “What’s the meaning of this?! I was told that, as long as I accepted their conditions, my children wouldn’t be dragged into this! Explain!”

“I was unaware of this,” Bonifatius replied, frowning. It seemed that we were all relying on mere fragments of the whole picture.

“As I understand it,” I said, “extremists within the Leisegang faction are trying to divide the archducal family. Charlotte is worried that the tasks being forced upon Wilfried are part of a plan to make me the next aub.”

“What in the...?” Sylvester muttered, the blood draining from his face. Bonifatius wasn’t looking too good either. It seemed that they had different information from the Leisegangs.

“Rozemyne, have you told Wilfried about the danger of his tasks?” Sylvester asked.

“His retainers weren’t willing to communicate with me. It’s possible that one of the tasks he was given was to make me act more like a first wife, considering that they kept telling me to support him as his fiancée. They must consider me a latent enemy because I already have the Leisegangs’ support.”

I’d assumed this was all par for the course, but Bonifatius was far from amused. “They would treat you, his fiancée, as an enemy?!” he roared.

I raised an eyebrow at him. “But are you not behaving like our enemy too, keeping an eye on Sylvester and me at the Leisegangs’ request? You have had a scary look on your face ever since I returned from the Royal Academy.”

“Th-That’s not true! I’m not scary, right? Do I look scary?” Bonifatius stammered, clapping his hands against his cheeks. It was such an unexpected sight that Sylvester burst into laughter, and the tension in the room immediately dissipated.

“You don’t look scary anymore,” I said, chuckling as well. “You’re just worried about me, right? You’ll always be on my side?”

“Of course!”

“Then know that Sylvester is not treating me poorly in the least, and try not to look so terrifying in the future.”

“R-Right...”

I smiled at Bonifatius, who gave me a conflicted nod, and then looked back at Sylvester. “I only know what Hartmut and the others have told me, so I cannot say whether my understanding of the situation is the truth. I was told not to be intrusive in meetings, and I was worried that this discussion might be seen as meddlesome, but...”

“Nah, I owe you one,” Sylvester said, shaking his head in all seriousness. “Now that Ferdinand is gone, my information network is crippled.”

In the past, it had apparently been common for Ferdinand to compile Justus’s intelligence into curated reports, which he would send to Sylvester alongside a few notes on how to react. Sylvester really was struggling without him.

“I’m impressed that Hartmut knows as much as he does,” Sylvester added.

“Well, Justus did teach him in the temple. Hartmut hasn’t managed to cast as wide a net, but he certainly does know a lot about the Leisegangs.” I promised to pass his findings straight on to Sylvester going forward.

Bonifatius gave me a stern look. “Rozemyne, why do you trust Sylvester this much? Do you not worry that he’s trying to deceive you?”

“Of course not. Were he so cruel, he would have simply killed me to save himself the trouble. Or he could have ended my adoption and returned me to the rank of an archnoble, stripping me of my claim to the archducal seat. He’s done neither of these things; on the contrary, he’s shouldering all of the Leisegangs’ demands for my sake. Why would I not trust him when he’s doing so much to protect me?”

One could argue that getting rid of me wasn’t even an option for Sylvester; my mana contributions to the archducal family were too essential now that Ferdinand was gone. Still, he was dealing with the problems that I was making instead of giving up on them, and that deserved praise in itself.

“Yes, Sylvester complains about his work and tries to shirk his duties on a regular basis,” I said. “He can also do some very doltish things, like impregnating my adoptive mother during these chaotic times. But when it counts, he really does put his neck on the line to protect me. I won’t hesitate to help him when I can.”

“Rozemyne...”

“In truth, I’m far more troubled by the Leisegangs, who are stirring up chaos while claiming to be my supporters.” And that brought me to the true focus of our meeting: our plan to enact a generational shift that would snuff out the will of the Leisegangs for good. “I understand why people might be opposed to sudden change, but the Zent himself asked us to begin acting like a proper top-ranking duchy. We might as well consider that a royal decree, no?”

Sylvester grinned. “Yeah, you’re not wrong.”

“Thus, I believe we should establish a clear delineation of roles within the duchy.”

“A delineation of roles?” Bonifatius repeated.

“Yes, Grandfather. Ehrenfest’s rise through the rankings is unlikely to affect the giebes overseeing our duchy’s crops, so I think we should have some of our most conservative nobles replace those who were removed during the purge. Giebes Gerlach, Wiltord, and the others started complete pandemonium with their decision to give their names to Lady Georgine, but there were no problems with their leadership. To my knowledge, their harvests were always bountiful as well.”

I was familiar enough with the crop yields of every province because I reported them to the aub after the Harvest Festival. The giebes in question had done fine jobs.

“For that reason,” I continued, “we should replace the removed giebes with people who value consistency and are likely to follow exactly in their predecessors’ footsteps—people who know the struggles of sudden change all too well. That should make the transition of power easy on the farmers and servants of those provinces.”

Sylvester gave an amused smile. “Makes sense, but there are always some hiccups when taking on a new role. Plus, we don’t want to officially make them giebes and then discover they don’t have what it takes, so I’ll give them each a three-year trial period. You archduke candidates can speak with the farmers and servants when you visit the provinces for Spring Prayer or the Harvest Festival; if you discover that the new giebes are doing well, I’ll allow them to keep their positions. This should ensure that they work hard to prove themselves and aren’t unfair to their people.”

“As for the more ambitious and forward-thinking nobles, let us assign them duties in the castle, no matter their faction.”

“No matter their faction?!” Bonifatius cried. I didn’t consider any of my suggestions to be particularly strange, but he was taken aback by them all. It just went to show how much my way of thinking differed from that of standard nobles.

Now that I thought about it, were Ferdinand and Sylvester strange for actually listening to my ideas and adopting the ones they agreed with?

“Those who committed crimes have already been punished or distanced, have they not?” I asked. “The former Veronica faction is as good as gone, and we cannot afford to cast aside talented and motivated individuals. That said... Charlotte did identify a weakness in this plan.”

I went on to explain Charlotte’s concern, on top of what we had discussed with my retainers.

“I see,” Sylvester murmured. “It’s a good idea but doesn’t stand strong enough on its own. Charlotte has a keen eye.”

“Indeed, she does. She also said that taking a second wife from Leisegang would serve as the most peaceful resolution. This seems to overlap with Dunkelfelger’s advice that we should have a first wife who focuses on interduchy diplomacy and a second who keeps our nobles under control.”

In response, Sylvester gave a bit of a gloomy expression.