Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 5.8 - Chapter 16

Rumors and a Departure

Where am I...?

It was dark, the mattress below me was too bouncy to be my usual bed, and when I groped around, I realized that I was trapped inside something.

Oh, wait. I’m inside Lessy.

It had taken me a moment to remember my situation. I’d slept with the windows of my Pandabus closed to eliminate the risk of any of my male retainers seeing me in such a state of disarray. The rejuvenation potion I’d taken before bed had worked like a charm; my stamina and mana had both fully recovered.

I’d gone to sleep immediately after my waschen, so I was still wearing my riding clothes. I made a half-hearted attempt to put my hair up and cracked open one of the windows to see the back of Angelica’s head right in front of me.

“Good morning, Angelica. Might I ask you to summon an attendant to prepare me for the day?”

“At once.”

Angelica sent an ordonnanz and then shooed my male retainers out of the room. Leonore entered shortly afterward with an apprentice attendant.

“Good morning, Lady Rozemyne. How are you feeling?”

“I seem to have fully recovered and thus feel wonderful.”

Leonore heaved a sigh, and a calming smile spread across her face. “Two whole days have passed since you took the potion. Your lack of response had us worried.”

“Excuse me?!”

I’d used up so much of my mana and stamina that my sleep had been more like a coma. My retainers had all been deathly anxious, but Ferdinand, who had told them how much potion to give me in the first place, had assured them that I would wake up in two or three days.

“And what is Ferdinand doing now?” I asked. “I doubt he saw my slumber as an opportunity to rest.” A lot could change in two days; no way was he still waiting around in Ahrensbach.

Leonore nodded, indicating that my assumption was correct. “He went to Ehrenfest leading a group of Dunkelfelger knights.”

“So he left me behind...?” I asked for emphasis. He’d told me to drink the potion if I wanted to join him, so it seemed a little cruel that he’d rushed off without me.

It wasn’t easy drinking twice my usual dose!

“To be precise, Dunkelfelger’s knights became too rowdy to be kept in the castle,” Leonore explained. “Lord Ferdinand had no choice but to leave with them.”

In the heat of battle, the knights followed their commander’s orders to the letter, but their composure quickly faded when they didn’t have anything to do. During my absence, they had apparently tried to hold more feasts and challenge Ahrensbach’s already busy knights to ditter under the guise of “training for the next battle.” Ferdinand had taken them to Ehrenfest to put a stop to their troublemaking.

“Hold on a moment,” I said. “Does that mean Ferdinand didn’t have any time to recover?”

“He spent an entire day in his hidden room, so I assume he got some rest,” Leonore said, then asked me to step out of my highbeast so that she could clothe me. I did as instructed and was promptly seated in front of a mirror.

“I am here to help dress you,” said the apprentice attendant. “You may call me Fairseele.”

“You were rescued alongside Lady Letizia, were you not?” I asked. “Were you both able to get some rest?”

“Yes,” she replied with a gentle smile. “Lady Letizia is doing especially well. I... thank you ever so much for saving her.”

Fairseele continued to thank me while preparing to wash my face. First I’d sent Letizia sweets to help her through the grueling education Ferdinand was giving her. Then I’d rescued her from one of Lanzenave’s ships, having elected to treat her not as a member of a rebellious duchy but as a victim and a prisoner. To get more people to accept me as the new Aub Ahrensbach, the nobles targeted by Lanzenave were now being made to mingle with those Hartmut and Clarissa had successfully brainwashed.

Ferdinand gave the order, but that shouldn’t detract from how hard Letizia has been working.

“Lord Ferdinand told us you would be asleep for three days or so, but we were still worried...” Fairseele continued. “Lady Letizia in particular was terribly frightened that you would not wake up at all. Would you care to have your next meal with her and Lady Hannelore to ease their concerns?”

I turned to look at Leonore. Given the circumstances, I wanted to know whether it was acceptable for me to agree. She gave a small nod.

“Then we shall make the necessary arrangements,” Fairseele said. She sent an ordonnanz out of the room, then swapped out the tools she’d used to wash my hair for a brush and started arranging my tresses into braids. “You truly are blessed by the God of Darkness; like Mestionora the Goddess of Wisdom, you have hair as dark and as captivating as the night sky. I see those two retainers of yours were telling the truth.”

Someone please stop them... They’re only doing as Ferdinand instructed, but still... Please...

She continued, “They have been so passionate in teaching our nobles how wonderful you are and warning them how closely our situation resembles that of history’s Eisenreich. Our nobles are shaking with trepidation as we await the royal family’s judgment.”

Ahrensbach had faced a severe purge as a result of the recent civil war, so it was terrifying to imagine what would come of a rebellion with a foreign power. Hartmut and Clarissa had done an excellent job of stirring up fear among the nobles.

I’m sure they’ve exaggerated a little, but... the nobles really should be worried. Like, seriously.

“You truly are the avatar of Mestionora, Lady Rozemyne—a savior come to Ahrensbach in its time of need, returned to us after all this time to receive the Book of Wisdom and deliver the Grutrissheit to the royal family.”

Um...

“Are you not here to rule as one chosen by the gods and purge the Goddess of Chaos’s influence from Ahrensbach?”

Waaaaaah! What the heck is going on?! Only one person could have done something like this... Curse you, Ferdinand!

As much as I wanted to give him a piece of my mind, he wasn’t here anymore. I also wanted to cradle my head, but I couldn’t while Fairseele was doing my hair. The most I could do was let out a quiet groan.

As I stared in the mirror, I noticed that Fairseele was wearing a light-violet cape over her work clothes. It was marked with a large “X” drawn in blue and yellow lines, the purpose of which was unknown to me. “Fairseele, do Ahrensbach attendants normally wear capes when working?” I asked. “Yours seems to be getting in your way...”

“No, but these are special circumstances. Those whom Lord Ferdinand deemed not to have any malice toward you or Ehrenfest were given these marked capes to wear. Anyone seen without one is captured on sight and detained until they have been judged as well.”

To my surprise, Ferdinand had formed Schutzaria’s shield over Lessy while I was asleep and checked the malice of the Ahrensbach nobles.

I sure hope they had a way of knowing if anyone was just hostile to gruns...

Once I was dressed and presentable, my retainers flooded into the room; they had been ever so worried as a result of my sudden, prolonged slumber. Cornelius peered at my face and triple-checked that I was safe, while Matthias and Laurenz just slumped over in relief.

“I am fully recovered,” I assured them all. “How are things in Ehrenfest...?”

“As much as I would rather you continue to rest, I’m just as worried about the situation back home...” Cornelius said. “If you want to go, I won’t stop you.”

I smiled and nodded. We needed to check on our home duchy and tell Sylvester how we were faring.

“Lady Rozemyne,” Laurenz interjected, “Lord Ferdinand said that if you insist on going to Ehrenfest, you should confirm his location with an ordonnanz before using the teleporter.”

Perhaps to make up for leaving me behind, Ferdinand was permitting me to exercise my authority as an aub and use the duchy’s teleporter to catch up with him. That was good to know.

“An ordonnanz arrived earlier informing us that Lord Ferdinand and the Dunkelfelger knights were about to reach Seitzen, where the border gate is located. They will consult the guards there and spend the afternoon resting before continuing into Ehrenfest.”

“Then I shall use the teleporter to reach the border gate first,” I said.

“Please don’t!” Matthias shouted in response. “That’s much too dangerous!”

At my knight’s frantic encouragement, I sent an ordonnanz to Ferdinand telling him that I’d woken up and that I intended to activate the teleporter to the border gate. He replied that he would contact me when he arrived and that I shouldn’t use the teleporter before then. There wasn’t much I could do but sit and wait.

Having observed the ordonnanz exchange, Cornelius approached somewhat hesitantly. “Rozemyne... Are you planning to stay here as Aub Ahrensbach? That’s what the rumors and even Lord Ferdinand claim.”

“Indeed,” I said. “If possible, I would like to create my own library city.”

“What?” Cornelius stared at me, positively bewildered. “That’s your reason for staying here? Not to rule Ahrensbach with a just hand...?”

I nodded. “The library city is my foremost desire, but everything will depend on our negotiations with the royal family. As it stands... few things in my life have gone as I wished.”

My dream of making books with Lutz while supplying mana as an apprentice blue shrine maiden had been crushed by my adoption into the archducal family, and my wish to spend the time until my tenth birthday with my lower-city family had been cast aside by Count Bindewald. We’d also put aside two years for my education, which had ultimately been devoured by my time in the jureve. I could still remember waking up to find that everyone had grown up without me. And now that I’d finally caught up with them, I was receiving all manner of strange looks.

But of course, the list of unfortunate twists didn’t end there. I’d never wanted Ferdinand to move to Ahrensbach, and when I’d prayed that he would at least stay safe, he had nearly died in an attempt on his life. I also wanted to stay in Ehrenfest, but there wasn’t a place for me there anymore.

“By settling into the position of Aub Ahrensbach, I should be able to lead the duchy as Ferdinand suggested,” I said. “But as it stands, with my adoption into the royal family looming over me, I do not expect my wish to come true.”

“Rozemyne?”

“Grutrissheit or no, do you really expect the royal family to let me go so easily? Ruling as Aub Ahrensbach is like a dream within a dream...” I was glad that Ferdinand had suggested it, and I wanted it to come true, but I sincerely doubted it would.

“I see...” Cornelius rested a hand on my head with a conflicted expression. “How unusually realistic of you.”

Following my conversation with my retainers, I was taken to the dining hall. I would technically be eating breakfast while the others ate lunch. Letizia, Hannelore, and their retainers were waiting for me inside.

“How do you feel, Lady Rozemyne?” Hannelore asked.

“As good as can be.”

“We have prepared some healthy dishes for everyone,” Letizia said.

“I thank you ever so much.”

Letizia and her retainers were all wearing capes adorned with blue-and-yellow crosses. I hadn’t thought much of it when it had just been Fairseele, but now it was abundantly clear what the marks represented: subjugation by Ehrenfest and Dunkelfelger.

“This mark is also being worn by the knights Lord Ferdinand is leading to keep them from capturing or attacking each other by mistake,” Letizia said with a smile as if she had read my mind. “It is purely for distinguishing friend from foe.”

As I enjoyed some spicy and very flavorful soup, Hannelore told me what I’d missed while I was asleep. “Our knights finished their search of the Lanzenave Estate, and as Lady Letizia said, there was a door within that could be opened only by the aub. Lord Ferdinand said it was connected to a villa for housing the Lanzenave princesses.”

The estate had since been sealed off. Now that I was Aub Ahrensbach, those who had gone through the door wouldn’t be able to return without my approval.

Hannelore continued, “The teleportation circle to the Royal Academy and the door between the central building and the dormitory require both the aub’s mana and registration brooches. Lady Detlinde’s group should not be able to return by teleporter.”

“I thank you ever so much, Lady Hannelore.”

“Think nothing of it. I would expect nothing less from Dunkelfelger’s knights, considering how much they ate and drank. I am more concerned about the burden on Lord Ferdinand, who had so little time to rest.”

The knights had apparently been champing at the bit to help Ferdinand while he was sick, but not one of them had suggested that he take some time to rest.

And that’s the problem with Dunkelfelgerians!

“As we speak, Ahrensbach’s scholars are performing the rote task of pressing the numerous feystones we retrieved against registration medals to determine whom they belonged to.” Letizia cast her eyes down. “Lord Ferdinand said the casualties were minimized, but... there were still a great many.”

I wasn’t sure how best to console her.

“If Ferdinand said they were minimized, then this really must have been the best outcome. You warned Strahl of the danger, did you not? Then he did as you instructed and protected the nobles. It was so gracious of you to order him to prioritize saving the others when you were in Lanzenave’s clutches.”

“But Lady Rozemyne, I...”

I pressed a finger against my lips, urging the teary-eyed Letizia not to say another word. She had promised Ferdinand that she would act as though nothing had happened.

“We can discuss the details of your situation when we reunite with Ferdinand,” I said. “I must return to Ehrenfest after we’ve eaten, so I ask you to be patient.”

Letizia nodded, one hand clapped firmly over her mouth. Meanwhile, Hannelore blinked at me in confusion.

“Lady Rozemyne, what of the foundation here? As the aub, it is your duty to protect it. That you would abandon your treasure partway through the match to travel to Ehrenfest is unthinkable.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle. “Lady Hannelore, if someone wishes to steal Ahrensbach’s foundation, they are welcome to it. But I cannot think of anyone who would want to claim a duchy mid-rebellion without the royal family’s authority.”

If anyone was foolish enough to make such a bold move, I wouldn’t get in their way. They would need to take on the standard duties of an aub and all the work Ferdinand was doing for the duchy’s sake.

“And even if someone were to take it,” I continued, “my life would not be at risk. Those who steal a foundation customarily destroy the medals of the archducal family they have supplanted, but my medal is still in Ehrenfest. Not to mention, I know how to reach Ahrensbach’s foundation. If, for some reason, I need it back, I can always just steal it again. I doubt anyone would defeat me in a test of mana.”

Hannelore paused in thought before giggling. “That certainly is true.” Then she announced that she would come with me to Ehrenfest.

“Wait, really?” I asked. “Were you not told to stay here for the sake of your safety?”

“Not quite. Lord Ferdinand instructed me to guard you, our team’s greatest treasure, for the remainder of the match.”

Once we’d eaten, I was taken to another room to draw a teleporter large enough for us all to travel together. Ferdinand had already decided who would accompany me in the event that I decided to rush to Ehrenfest: my retainers, Hannelore’s squad, and five Ahrensbach knights. They were all gathered and ready.

As I got to work on the circle, one of the knights stepped forward and said, “I cannot put into words how fortunate I am to have been blessed with an opportunity to guard the avatar of Mestionora. We are grateful to no end that you are heading into battle to save our compatriots. Praise be to the gods! Glory be to Lady Rozemyne!”

“Eep?!”

Hearing someone praise me as though I were equal to the gods made me step back on instinct. It was a pretty tame reaction, all things considered—especially when I caught Hartmut nodding his approval. How had Ahrensbach’s nobles changed so drastically in only two days?

“I, um...”

“Our preparations are made, so we shall depart for Seitzen as soon as we hear back from Lord Ferdinand,” Laurenz announced with a smile before sending an ordonnanz to the man in question. Was he pretending not to notice my displeasure, or was this all part of some devious plan?

A response arrived in short order: “Teleport to Bindewald, not Seitzen; it has come to our attention that a flood of knights crossed its border into Ehrenfest last night. We have just entered the province ourselves, and its summer estate should soon come into view. I would rather we rendezvous first and then proceed into Ehrenfest together. Hurry.”

I gazed around at a sea of tense faces. “Everyone, put your hands on the circle and channel your mana into it.”

They all did as instructed and joined me in pouring mana into the teleporter. As light and darkness swirled around us, I produced my schtappe and tapped it against the circle.

“Nenluessel. Bindewald.”