Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 5.8 - Chapter 14

Choices

Letizia was standing on the ship with four women who appeared to be her retainers. Ferdinand brought his highbeast down beside them.

“Lady Letizia... I am glad to see you well,” I said. “You aren’t hurt, are you?”

I dismounted the lion and went to approach her, but Angelica and Leonore, who had also descended to serve as my knights, held out their hands to stop me. Evidently, I wasn’t allowed any closer.

“Is that you, Lady Rozemyne...?” Letizia asked, blinking. She hadn’t recognized me at first because of my sudden growth spurt. “Dunkelfelger’s knights informed me of your rescue operations. They said you stole Ahrensbach’s foundation to save Lord Ferdinand and smote Lanzenave. I do not even know where to begin. It is all my—”

“Lady Letizia,” Ferdinand interjected.

The girl stared up at him in utter shock. Her expression betrayed her relief, and the tension started draining from her body. “So you are safe, Lord Ferdinand... When Lady Detlinde told me you had died, I was so—”

“I am only here now because you were able to reach Eckhart and Justus,” Ferdinand said. He was wearing a smile, but the intensity in his eyes made it clear that he was telling her to shut up.

Letizia must have noticed, as she immediately fell silent.

“Rozemyne, who is now Aub Ahrensbach, knows everything about the incident,” Ferdinand continued. “Nonetheless, she made the decision to rescue you.”

Letizia’s surprise was once again directed at me. Her retainers wore the same look of astonishment. They must not have expected me to help the person who struck the first blow against Ferdinand. Or maybe they were just surprised that someone who had stolen a foundation was now showing compassion to a member of the previous archducal family.

“But, Lord Ferdinand, I... I...”

“Say nothing of the matter until we are somewhere private,” Ferdinand replied. “In fact, act as though nothing happened at all. Can I assume you will obey me this time?”

Letizia looked up at him, her face pale. Then she brought a trembling hand to her chest, squeezed it into a tight fist, and nodded. “I will. From the bottom of my heart, I am grateful for your and Lady Rozemyne’s consideration.”

“We intend to close the gates so that no more Lanzenavian ships enter,” Ferdinand continued. “Lady Letizia, return to the castle under guard and instruct your attendants to prepare somewhere in the grand hall for Dunkelfelger’s knights to rest.”

“Ferdinand, we just rescued Lady Letizia from imprisonment,” I said, unable to believe he was ordering her around already. “She needs to rest before you—”

“She has spent her time sitting still inside a ship. Should she not have more stamina than someone who was poisoned and a young woman who recently dyed a foundation and expelled the Lanzenavian invaders?”

“You may be right in that regard, but please consider the emotional side of things.”

Ferdinand sneered at the very idea. Then, looking down at Letizia, he explained our situation. To restore some order to Ahrensbach’s disarrayed nobles, she needed to announce in her capacity as an archducal family member that she had been rescued by Dunkelfelger and me, and that the danger of Lanzenave had passed.

The nobles are far more likely to believe her than they are any of us.

Seeing a young woman like Letizia working hard despite the great mental strain she was under would also do wonders to earn her the people’s sympathy. For the sake of her future, she would need as much support as she could get. At the same time, it would give Ahrensbach’s nobles hope; if Letizia had been spared, perhaps they would be too. The adults would surely be motivated to work just as hard.

“Furthermore,” Ferdinand continued, “unless one is particularly empty-headed and overoptimistic, doing nothing in an emergency situation should prove far more stressful than leaping into action to support those who need it.”

As if on cue, Letizia stepped forward and knelt before me. “Lady Rozemyne, it is as Lord Ferdinand says; I would much rather provide my assistance. I cannot bear the thought of doing nothing.”

“I see... In that case, please prepare somewhere for everyone to rest.”

“At once. Roswitha—”

Upon returning to her feet, Letizia had moved to address someone, only to pause mid-turn with a vacant look on her face. Another young woman—an apprentice, I assumed, since she wasn’t wearing her hair up—stepped forward and placed a hand on her charge’s shoulder.

“I will summon the attendants, Lady Letizia.”

“Fairseele...”

Their brief exchange and the pain in their eyes were enough for me to guess what was wrong. Something had happened to one of Letizia’s attendants—a woman by the name of Roswitha.

“Leonore, instruct the Dunkelfelger knights to take Lady Letizia and her retinue to the castle,” I said. “They are to ensure that she arrives there safely.”

Leonore nodded and went to carry out my order with great haste. Meanwhile, the girl named Fairseele turned to Ferdinand.

“Um, Lord Ferdinand... May I ask one question?”

“You may.”

“Did my father protect Ahrensbach’s nobles?” she asked, her hands clasped and trembling.

I reflexively looked up at Ferdinand. Fairseele’s concern about her father mirrored my own worries about Dad trying to protect Ehrenfest.

“Based on the reports I received—short though they might have been—it seems fair to say that Strahl minimized casualties as much as anyone could have,” Ferdinand replied. “He is currently rescuing others by the border gate.”

Tears welled up in Fairseele’s eyes as she said, “Thank you.” She took a moment to kneel, then returned to Letizia and the others who were about to leave with a group of Dunkelfelger’s knights.

As I watched them go, Ferdinand went straight over to the knights tasked with retrieving feystones and magic tools from the ship. “Heisshitze, have the knights remove the Lanzenavian soldiers’ silver clothes,” he said. “They will prove most useful for the upcoming battles in Ehrenfest and the Sovereignty.”

“Yes, sir!”

“Eckhart, work with them. Do not forget to retrieve the feystones.” Ferdinand then gave Eckhart a sound-blocker and said something I naturally couldn’t hear. It must have been an order, considering that Eckhart responded with a serious nod.

Once he’d given out his instructions and concluded an ordonnanz conversation with the knights working by the border gate, Ferdinand formed his highbeast and summoned me. “Rozemyne, we will start by closing the country gate.”

“But I won’t be—”

“Justus informed me that you used the gate to get here. You are the only one who can close it.”

I see. Ferdinand doesn’t want anyone else to know about his Book of Mestionora. Roger.

Indeed, I would need to be there so that Ferdinand could discreetly close the country gate. I climbed onto his highbeast, and we started making our way there. In the ocean below, only a portion of the ship blasted apart by Leidenschaft’s spears was still covered with frost, and the thick ice that had surrounded it was now just a bunch of shattered clumps. Ahrensbach’s warmth was working fast.

“There are soldiers swimming toward the country gate,” I observed.

“Leave them be,” Ferdinand replied. “Those without the mana to teleport on their own rely on registration feystones to activate the circle. They will end up trapped in their silver clothes or forever trek the white desert on the other side of the gate.”

I hadn’t seen past the gate when we’d arrived in Ahrensbach; it had been the dead of night, and we’d rushed straight toward the city. Now that I was here during the daytime, however, I could see a white desert just like the one by Ehrenfest. The ocean abruptly stopped at the teleportation circle, and everything beyond it was sand. It was like staring at a trompe l’oeil painting or some other kind of optical illusion.

“Rozemyne, did you not close the gate behind you...?”

“I mean... we really didn’t have time...”

The roof of the country gate was still open wide enough for Lessy to fly through. In my defense, I’d arrived racked with tension and fearing an attack from Ahrensbach’s knights; closing the gate hadn’t even crossed my mind.

“Hmm... It saves me the trouble of opening it, I suppose. Rozemyne, raise your right hand and open your bible so that everyone can see. We are about to enter.”

“Right.”

Ferdinand put his right arm around my waist. Anyone watching us would assume he was just trying to keep me from falling.

“Grutrissheit!” I shouted.

Ferdinand said the chant with me, speaking in barely a whisper. His Grutrissheit appeared in my lap where nobody else would be able to see it.

Wow, his Book of Mestionora is pretty thick. I wonder if I’m able to read it...

As everyone stared at my Grutrissheit, which I was holding as high as I could, Ferdinand plunged into the country gate. Only those who had the Book could enter from above, so Leonore was blocked when she tried to follow us.

“Lady Rozemyne! Lord Ferdinand! Please come back out!” she cried.

Ferdinand dispelled his Grutrissheit and highbeast. “Rozemyne, shut the roof. I will not be able to close the gate with an audience.”

I gazed up at Leonore and Angelica as they flew around, then pressed my Book of Mestionora against the gate.

“Allow me to use this opportunity to ask: Rozemyne, what would you like to do next?”

“Well, I wouldn’t mind returning to Ehrenfest and getting some rest...”

“I mean after that,” he said, looking up at the closing roof. “In a single night, you have dyed Ahrensbach’s foundation and purged the Lanzenave threat. You have also used the country’s border gates, which proves you are qualified to become the Zent. These things have given you options.”

As I wavered, Ferdinand started to count them on his fingers. One: I could give Ahrensbach’s foundation to someone else and, as planned, endure a miserable life married into the royal family. Two: I could give Ahrensbach’s foundation to someone else, then rule Yurgenschmidt as the Zent after my adoption. Three: I could give the magic tool Grutrissheit to the royal family and then spend my life here as Aub Ahrensbach. Four: I could give the magic tool Grutrissheit to the royal family and Ahrensbach’s foundation to someone else, then return to Ehrenfest for the rest of my days.

“There is more nuance than that, of course, but those are your choices. I must ask that you make your decision before I finish closing the gate; our next move will depend on the path you wish to take.” Ferdinand checked that the roof was fully shut, then gave me a poisonous smile. “As I recall, on the day of my departure for Ahrensbach, you said you would never allow me to spend my life in misery.”

“Th-That’s right.”

“Then I suspect you would never choose such a nightmarish marriage. Not when you have other options.”

He was using my own words against me, and with the most serious expression I’d seen yet. “You’re absolutely correct” was the only response I could give—and with that, my first option was removed from the equation.

“Good. Now, as for your second option... For you to rule Yurgenschmidt, either I would need to die so that you could complete your Grutrissheit, or you would need to be registered as a royal and obtain the magic tool Grutrissheit from the underground archive. The problem, however, is that you are not at all suited to the role—not when you would readily destroy the country for the sake of those you care about. If you choose to become the Zent nonetheless, know that I will do everything I can to stop you. To choose your second option is to choose my death.”

“I don’t want to rule Yurgenschmidt in the first place!” I shouted. The very idea was terrifying.

“As expected.”

Now that Ferdinand was safe, keeping Yurgenschmidt from collapsing had returned to my list of priorities. That didn’t mean I wanted to become the Zent—though it was true that the country needed a Book of Mestionora or a Grutrissheit to survive.

“Ngh... Ferdinand, could we not find a way for you to become the Zent...? I’m not the only one with a Book of Mestionora.”

“Are you asking me to kill you?” Ferdinand replied, his sharp eyes piercing through me.

I frantically shook my head. Against someone like Ferdinand, I wouldn’t stand a chance; he would end my life quickly and without ever opposing me directly.

“No, no, no!” I said. “I meant that, instead of the royals, I could give you the Grutrissheit after my adoption.”

“That might be feasible, but do you want me to rule?” he asked, staring at me intently.

I contemplated the question. As far as I was concerned, Ferdinand would make for an excellent Zent—but then I remembered that he had mentioned not wanting the role.

“No,” I declared. “I want you to retire and spend the rest of your days in Ehrenfest, living in peace.”

“Tsk. How old do you think I am?”

“Ow! That hurtsh!”

My well-meaning suggestion had earned me a fairly serious pinch on the cheek. This one actually hurt. I rubbed my face, fighting back the tears in my eyes, and decided to try again.

“Um, I mean... I said to you earlier that I can’t return to Ehrenfest right now, remember? That leaves only a single option...”

I would need to keep being Aub Ahrensbach.

To be honest, I wasn’t at all pleased about the idea. Raimund, Letizia, Sergius, and many others had shown me that not everyone in Ahrensbach was horrible, but my experiences with the duchy had been anything but positive.

It had all started during my days as an apprentice shrine maiden, when Count Bindewald targeted me for my mana. My altercation with him had resulted in my separation from my family.

Of course, the problems had only continued upon my becoming a noble. Georgine and the nobles name-sworn to her had caused plenty of trouble since my adoption—and still were, for that matter. Fraularm had antagonized me to no end at the Royal Academy, and my tea parties with Detlinde had proved both frustrating and torturous.

And then there was our current predicament. Ahrensbach had poisoned and almost killed Ferdinand, even though he’d assiduously helped them with administrative work, religious ceremonies, and even Mana Replenishment since his engagement.

I’d chosen to steal Ahrensbach’s foundation, so I did intend to carry out the bare minimum of the duties expected of me. On the inside, however, I wanted nothing more than to thrust the role on someone else.

“Now then...” Ferdinand said, forming his Book of Mestionora. “You are free to choose any of the four paths I mentioned, but I think we can both agree that the last two have the most appeal. I did say that Ahrensbach should be reduced to nothing. It would serve as an ideal playground for you.”

“Playground”?