Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 5.8 - Chapter 11

The Aub’s Protection

We flew out of the castle on our highbeasts. Ahrensbach was much warmer than Ehrenfest, so although it was only around the time of Spring Prayer, it felt humid enough to be the start of summer. The duchy had been shrouded in darkness when we’d arrived, but now the sky was turning from purple to faint yellow, casting light on the white port and the Noble’s Quarter. There were no walls or gates around the lower city as there were back in Ehrenfest.

Atop the ocean, which was one shade darker than the sky above, three slow-moving silver vessels made for the border gate. A fourth was still sitting at the port; its crew hadn’t yet finished preparing to leave, I gathered.

Ferdinand sent an ordonnanz to the Ahrensbach and Dunkelfelger knights keeping an eye on the Lanzenave Estate, instructing them to stay in position. Then he sent several more.

Word of our situation had reached the knights still in the castle, and those carrying out rescue operations all over the Noble’s Quarter were gathering back together. They couldn’t believe their eyes when they caught sight of my Pandabus. One of them shouted, “A grun!” and produced his schtappe, but the others quickly intervened.

“No, that’s not a feybeast!” they cried. “That’s the new aub’s highbeast!”

L-Lessy’s not a grun...

“Eckhart, Heisshitze,” Ferdinand said, “form squads of ten knights each and assign them captains. Each squad is to receive its own orders. Captains, commanders, and their retainers are to land on the gatepost of the outer wall. Everyone else, remain airborne.”

“Sir!”

Eckhart and Heisshitze received their orders while flying their highbeasts and got straight to work organizing their squads.

“Rozemyne, over there is the gatepost I mentioned,” Ferdinand continued, nodding at the wall ahead of us. “Once we land, distribute magic tools to each squad.”

“Can do,” I replied. “Matthias, Laurenz, Leonore, Cornelius, do what you can to assist me. Angelica, remain on guard duty.”

“Understood!”

The captains and commanders slowed down as we neared the wall around the Noble’s Quarter. Then everyone who wasn’t using a drivable highbeast packed with luggage dismissed their mount. We distributed flash-bangs to Squads One and Six, area-enhancing tools to Squads Two and Seven, and so on, doing as Ferdinand instructed.

“Lady Hannelore,” he said, eyeing her drivable shumil-shaped highbeast, “you are more than welcome to return to the castle and rest with your guard knights.”

Hannelore gave a troubled smile and shook her head. “I came here to restore my honor and wipe away the shame of my surrender during our previous ditter match. Running away again would not be acceptable. At the moment, I am contemplating whether the wolfaniels we acquired in the Noble’s Quarter could be brought into the Lanzenavian ships.”

She gestured to the back of her highbeast, where three wolfaniels were lying with their heads down. They looked very similar to dogs and were, like shumils, rather popular pets among the nobility.

She wants to send pets into the ship?

I wasn’t at all sure what Hannelore was planning, but Ferdinand realized straight away. “An interesting idea,” he muttered. “I can see them being an excellent counter to Lanzenave’s soldiers. You truly are a Dunkelfelger woman.”

I couldn’t tell whether that was a compliment, but judging by Hannelore’s shy smile, she certainly saw it as one. I decided to do the same.

“In that case, Lady Hannelore,” Ferdinand continued, “you can deal with the ship still at the port. Take the first and second squads with you to rescue the prisoners and serve as guards.”

“As you will.”

Ferdinand pointed to the ocean, where the silver vessels in motion were slowly accelerating. “As you know, mana does not work on those ships, but you might not have considered that mana is needed to teleport. The ships will need to turn black when they reach the gate, and that is when we will strike.”

We needed the Lanzenavians to believe they were going to get away. For that reason, we intended to keep our highbeasts a sensible distance behind the ships—just far enough that we could speed up and catch them when the moment was right.

“Rozemyne, once the ships turn black, I want you to grant the prisoners within the aub’s protection,” Ferdinand continued. “Then we will strike the ships and reduce them to nothing. The black material still absorbs mana, so a half-hearted attack will not do. Go all out.”

“‘Reduce them to nothing’?” I exclaimed. “But what about the prisoners?!”

“As I said, the aub’s protection will ensure their safety. We can retrieve them once they have been flung into the ocean.”

You only ever care about results!

But at the same time, he was right to be so cautious; if we allowed the ships to return to Lanzenave, we would render ourselves powerless. Fighting here on our home turf was vastly superior than trying to wage war in unknown territory.

“Rozemyne... I must give you my thanks,” Ferdinand said. “Such forceful means are only available to us because you are the aub and we have so many capable knights at our disposal.”

From there, he gave each squad instructions on when to attack. I was directed to take out my box of rejuvenation potions.

“Once the battle begins, you will not have the leeway to fly around and distribute potions,” Ferdinand noted. “Leave them and the magic tools to the apprentices. Assign one of your guard knights to oversee them.”

“Allow me, Lady Rozemyne,” Laurenz volunteered. “I now know how to enhance my vision, so I won’t have any trouble seeing who needs supplies and sending the apprentices to them. Plus, I’m an apprentice myself.”

That made sense to me.

“Rozemyne, dispel your highbeast,” Ferdinand ordered. “You shall ride with me.”

“Hm? Why?” There was no longer any luggage inside my Pandabus, but that didn’t mean we suddenly had to ride together.

“Your highbeast looks like a foolish grun to the people of Ahrensbach. Just a moment ago, a knight went to attack it, and attacking the aub is an act of treason. Would you like to have more executions to perform?”

Indeed, most of Ahrensbach’s knights had never met me before, so it stood to reason that they weren’t used to my highbeast. My Pandabus was cute, but riding it wasn’t an option.

“Your so-called drivable highbeast will complicate my instructions and make it harder to close the border gate. Moreover, it will prevent others from being able to see you during this excellent opportunity to flaunt your status.”

Ferdinand wanted to make it abundantly clear that I was Ahrensbach’s new aub. I couldn’t help but think back to how many blessings I’d needed to give when being adopted into the archducal family. Now that Hartmut and Clarissa were operating at full capacity in the castle, I was bound to end up even more swamped.

As I wavered, not wanting a repeat of that situation, Leonore stood protectively in front of me. “Though I understand your argument, Lord Ferdinand, it would be improper for Lady Rozemyne to ride your highbeast. She can have a seat on mine.”

“That’s right,” Cornelius added, likewise moving to protect me. “Lady Rozemyne should ride with a female knight. Few people here recognize you as her guardian. For her sake, allow her to travel with Leonore.”

Ferdinand raised an eyebrow and simply said, “No. Leonore is not an archduke candidate, so a problem of some kind will surely occur.”

Magic used by the archducal family needed to be kept secret. That was why archduke candidates being taught at the Royal Academy couldn’t even have their retainers in the room with them. The professors of the course were historically members of the royal family or an archducal family who married into it. Were I to ride with Leonore, I wouldn’t be able to use certain archducal spells despite the urgency with which I needed to close the border gate and protect the citizenry.

“Rozemyne’s only other option would be another female archduke candidate,” Ferdinand concluded.

Cornelius looked around, urgency in his eyes. “Ah, what about Lady Hannelore?”

Hannelore cast her eyes down, looking especially awkward. “Um, my sincerest apologies, but my highbeast is also drivable. I would encounter the same issues as Lady Rozemyne. Plus, as I plan to infiltrate an enemy ship in my capacity as a commander, Lady Rozemyne will struggle to stay with me...”

Obviously. Making such a request of an archduke candidate from a greater duchy is just ridiculous.

“Cornelius, that was very rude of you,” I said. “My deepest apologies, Lady Hannelore. It was unacceptable to put you on the spot like that.”

“Oh no, no. It is only natural that your guard knights are concerned. But at the same time... I understand why Lord Ferdinand demands such caution. We cannot risk Ahrensbach’s knights attacking their own aub. You have dyed their foundation, Lady Rozemyne, but you have yet to establish your rule.”

Hannelore expressed understanding for both parties. No matter what, I couldn’t risk riding inside Lessy.

“Rozemyne, let me warn you as your older brother: if you ride with Lord Ferd—”

“Shut it, Cornelius,” Eckhart said, fixing his younger brother with a glare. “Who cares how it might look? Rozemyne has already become Ahrensbach’s archduchess to save Lord Ferdinand, and our enemy’s ships have started to move. We don’t have time to worry about appearances. Rozemyne, as your older brother, this is an order: do as Lord Ferdinand says. Now!”

“Right!” I replied. “Let’s go, Ferdinand.”

Eckhart’s phrasing had been kind of cruel, but I wasn’t even going to think about saying no when he looked so intense. I rushed over to Ferdinand and held out my hand.

“Do not delay us for trivial reasons,” he said, taking my hand and pulling me up onto his lion. It was hard and not very secure. He was also wearing armor, so unless I was careful, I would continuously bang my head against his breastplate.

“Your highbeast is less comfortable than mine,” I said. “And are you sure I won’t fall...?”

“Do not be so foolish. You could have made a normal highbeast to begin with. Furthermore... you have grown too much. Your head is obscuring my vision.”

Um, excuse me? I’m being foolish? Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.

I was still thoroughly unconvinced, but Ferdinand paid me no mind; he took us up into the air and then accelerated in the direction of the port. Of the four silver vessels I could see, only two were advancing toward the country gate; one had stopped a short distance from the shore for some reason, while the other had still yet to depart.

“Ferdinand, the stalled ship might be the one our knights infiltrated,” Heisshitze shouted, and pointed below. “They could be seizing the deck as we speak.”

Indeed, the ship had probably stopped moving because there was a battle raging on inside. It was hard to imagine Dunkelfelger’s knights losing to Lanzenavian soldiers in close-quarters combat.

“Still, I don’t understand why the fourth ship hasn’t even departed yet...” I muttered. Its swaying back and forth looked very unnatural.

I enhanced my vision to take a closer look. The silver-clad Lanzenavians weren’t the only ones on the port; I could also see commoners dressed in rags. They were tanned, burly fishermen from the look of things, and they were swinging around nets and overturning wooden crates with furious expressions.

As the scrap continued, I noticed several small explosions. Were the fishermen pelting their opponents with spresches? Lanzenave’s soldiers were fighting back with swords and shields in what could only be described as a free-for-all.

“Ferdinand, it looks like the fishermen are fighting the Lanzenavians,” I said. “Someone dressed in silver cloth was just dragged out of the ship.”

“The commoners are stalling them? Then using wolfaniels would pose too great of a risk... Lady Hannelore! We must change our plans! There are too many commoners by the vessel; I must ask that you infiltrate it only after Rozemyne has granted them the aub’s protection!”

“Yes, sir!”

Hannelore paused her descent, while Ferdinand gave me further instructions: “Rozemyne, grant Heilschmerz’s healing to any Ahrensbach citizens who have sustained injuries in the battle. Then grant the aub’s protection to that entire section of the port.”

“On it!”

I created my schtappe, then turned it into Flutrane’s staff. Green light overflowed from the tip and rained down around the ship as I granted the commoners Heilschmerz’s healing.

The fighting stopped as everyone stared skyward, and shouts of confusion rang out across the port. The injured fishermen cried out, “It’s a miracle!” as their wounds quickly faded; then I returned my schtappe to its usual shape.

The aub’s protection.

I took a deep breath, then started pouring mana into my schtappe. This spell was exclusive to aubs, and as the name implied, it protected the citizens of one’s duchy. It would work only for a short while, but in that time, it would negate attacks of every kind. I’d witnessed the spell as an apprentice shrine maiden, though I hadn’t known anything about it at the time; Sylvester had used it during Spring Prayer to protect his people.

“Vollkowesen,” I said, and swung my schtappe. A large yellow bird shot forth and scattered golden dust over the port before slowly crumbling away. Ahrensbach’s citizens—and only Ahrensbach’s citizens—were now completely safe.

“This protection...”

“Lady Rozemyne truly has become the aub.”

Ahrensbach’s knights stared in wonder at the dust falling upon them. Only those registered as citizens of the duchy could receive the aub’s protection, so while faint yellow light enveloped us all, neither Ferdinand nor I, nor our retainers, nor Dunkelfelger’s knights, nor the pre-baptized children were affected.

“Squad Six, flash-bangs!” Ferdinand shouted. “Squad Seven, large-scale waschen! Sweep the enemy soldiers away!”

Because those on the port were still gazing up at the lights of healing and protection, the thrown flash-bangs exploded right before their eyes. The Lanzenavians recoiled, and the waschen that followed swept them straight into the sea.

The ships tied to the port swayed and bumped into each other as the water crashed over them. Others lost their mooring lines and were carried out to sea. But amid this chaos, Ahrensbach’s citizens were safe; they merely stared up at us, their mouths agape.

“Squads Three through Five, change of plans!” Ferdinand roared. “Order the commoners to return home while they are still under the aub’s protection! Bind the Lanzenavians, rescue any hostages, and then follow Lady Hannelore’s instructions for retrieving feystones!”

“Sir!” the three squads wearing light-violet capes chorused. Then they flew down to where most of the fishermen were crowded.

“Squad One, Squad Two!” Hannelore barked. “Come with me!” Together with the blue-capes, she headed down to the moored ship. Those standing nearby retreated a short distance, giving them space to land.

Upon touching down, Hannelore took the wolfaniels out of her shumil-shaped highbeast. In the blink of an eye, they went from being medium-size dogs to great big wolves and tried to pounce on the nearby commoners.

“No. Bad,” Hannelore said, binding the wolfaniels with light moments before they could sink their teeth into the fishermen and then pulling them closer. They obeyed without question.

From there, Hannelore said something to the wide-eyed commoners. Then she instructed the knights, and together they charged into the ship. Given that the Lanzenavians were still preparing to leave, its door was wide open.