Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 5.9 - Chapter Ep

Epilogue

Warm sunlight streamed into the Royal Academy’s forest, where Gervasio was resting a hand against the door of a dimly lit shrine. He had finally obtained the last tablet he needed. It might not have equated to obtaining the Grutrissheit, but the most essential part of the process was now complete.

Gervasio let out a hushed sigh, only to have Detlinde hurry him on from behind. “Lord Gervasio,” she said. “Please be quick, if you would.”

The woman’s urging aside, Gervasio had yet to finish playing the role assigned to him. He made his schtappe, cleaned the shrine’s door with waschen, and then descended the steps so that Detlinde could take over.

“Expertly done,” Raublut said, having elected to wait near the bottom of the shrine.

Despite the circumstances, Gervasio looked somewhat displeased. “I should not need to say it, but your words have cost me a lot of mana...” he groused.

At the very start of their shrine tour, Raublut had explained to Detlinde that Lady Rozemyne had simply washed the shrines with waschen and then prayed. It was a necessary lie, since Detlinde wasn’t able to enter the shrines, but Gervasio had needed to waste so much mana to uphold it.

“And that’s that!” Detlinde exclaimed, sounding as pleased as ever. Her voice rang out just as an ordonnanz came into view.

“This is Hirschur, Ehrenfest’s dormitory supervisor. It would seem that outsiders have gained access to the Royal Academy. A report indicates they were last seen near the scholar building. I am requesting that the Sovereign Knight’s Order look into and capture them.”

Everyone paled. Someone was nearby.

“Hide in the trees. Now,” Raublut snapped while the ordonnanz spoke its message again. The forest would shelter them from anyone patrolling the sky. “We need to return to the dormitory without being seen.”

Raublut then clucked, outraged that someone had ventured outside the dormitory—against his orders, no less. He picked up the ordonnanz’s feystone and said, “This is Raublut, the Sovereign knight commander. We will search for them at once. Return to your dormitory until further notice.”

The others had already moved away from the shrine to retreat into the forest. Raublut urged them to go deeper when another ordonnanz arrived.

“This is Rauffen, Dunkelfelger’s dormitory supervisor. It has come to my attention that there are intruders on the Academy’s grounds. Please allow me to serve as a guard or join the fighting. I will demonstrate my worth.”

“This is Raublut. Though your consideration is appreciated, it is the duty of the Sovereign Knight’s Order to find and imprison outsiders. I must ask that you wait in your dormitory.”

It was bad enough that Rauffen was trying to get involved—but then another ordonnanz arrived. Raublut shot his arm out for the bird to perch on, annoyed to be dealing with yet another interruption.

“This is Solange. Professor Hirschur just informed me that outsiders have infiltrated the Royal Academy. Could she have mistakenly been referring to your retainers? The ones you brought to retrieve Hortensia’s belongings, I mean. Would you allow me to explain to Professor Hirschur that Hortensia passed away?”

Indeed, Raublut had told the librarian that he needed to collect his late wife’s possessions—the perfect excuse to head straight to the library once Gervasio had visited all the shrines.

“This is Raublut. Thank you for your message. I intend to announce my wife’s passing during the next Archduke Conference, when I shall ask the Zent to send you another archlibrarian. My apologies, but please continue to keep this a secret. I will contact Professor Hirschur to explain things.”

Once the ordonnanz had departed, Raublut groaned in frustration. If only Solange had contacted him first, he thought; then he could have wrapped Hirschur into the deception.

“In any case... we have finished circling the shrines,” Raublut announced. “We should hurry along to the library. As I said, I must collect my late wife’s belongings. Lord Gervasio, would you care to meet Professor Solange?”

“The name does ring a bell,” Gervasio replied. “Greeting her sounds like a worthwhile endeavor.” They had gone over their plan well in advance, so he knew their next step was to head to the underground archive.

“Oh my...” Detlinde murmured. “Allow me to come with you, then.”

Everyone started. Letting her tag along would ruin their cover story.

“That isn’t an option, I’m afraid,” Raublut finally said. “Lord Gervasio is a fresh face here, so I can claim he is my attendant. But someone as famous as Yurgenschmidt’s next Zent would never go unnoticed.”

“Yes, that certainly is true.” She gave a proud nod, suddenly convinced. “My status as a Zent candidate is known so widely that I stand out wherever I go.”

“Consider our trip to the library a distraction for you—the means by which you can safely return to the villa. Everyone, ensure she makes it there without incident.”

Having dealt with Detlinde, Raublut gave Gervasio the signal that it was time for them to go. They headed to the library with his attendants, who were disguised as knights.

“Raublut, those ordonnanzes seemed concerning...” Gervasio said.

“Professor Rauffen might be wise to us, in which case Dunkelfelger will question the Zent and start calling for aid. The threat of that happening is precisely why we need to obtain the Grutrissheit now, before they come charging in.”

As far as Raublut was concerned, there was a good chance Dunkelfelger would take their side once Gervasio had the Grutrissheit. The greater duchy seemed far more open to negotiating than Klassenberg, whose greatest priority had been returning Eglantine to the royal family.

“I see. Then let us hurry.”

Raublut and those disguised as members of the Sovereign Knight’s Order formed a circle around Gervasio, and the group started toward the library. Anyone who spotted them now would think the Order was marching a captured prisoner.

“This place is exactly as I remember it...” Gervasio murmured, watching the scenery beyond the forest with a warm look in his eyes. “The memories are all coming back to me.” The blooming flowers—a pleasant reminder of spring—drew his attention to the gazebos dotting the land near the scholar building. There had been a time when he would eat lunch and enjoy tea in them between study sessions at the library.

Raublut chuckled. “I remember being told to go with you to the library not long after receiving my initial assignment.” He had just come of age, and his features had betrayed that youth.

“Yes, I can still picture the shock on your face. Not that it was warranted. There’s nothing strange about having to guard your charge on a day out.”

“Well, I was unaware of the villa’s circumstances. I thought I was being assigned to guide Lady Valamarlene after her baptism, not serve House Loeweleier in its entirety.”

There were three special rooms in the Adalgisa villa, each bearing the name of a Yurgenschmidt flower: Koralie, Schentis, and Loeweleier. Those born there were moved from the main building to the side building once they were baptized. Because paternal half-sisters weren’t recognized as family in Yurgenschmidt, the children were divided into three separate groups, each with its own mother.

Legitimate members of the royal family had their own guards, but those assigned to the Adalgisa villa had to serve one of its three groups. There was no need to give the villa’s residents their own knights; they seldom went beyond its grounds and needed guards only when going to the Royal Academy. As a new recruit of the Sovereign Knight’s Order, Raublut had been ordered to serve Loeweleier after Valamarlene, Gervasio’s younger sister of the same mother, was baptized.

“You would do well to know that I acted for your sake,” Gervasio remarked. “Outside of winter, you knights had nothing to do but watch the villa. I thought a new recruit would find it suffocating.”

“Is that so? Was it not because you thought a younger knight would be more lenient and allow you more peace?” Raublut was nearly the same age as Gervasio, so he had always accompanied the boy when he’d traveled to the royal palace or the Royal Academy’s library.

Even once he was ten years old, Gervasio had been forbidden from attending the winter Royal Academy for a number of reasons: the next king of Lanzenave didn’t need the full education of a Yurgenschmidt noble, there was nothing to gain from letting him get attached to the country he was due to leave upon coming of age, and the existence of the Adalgisa villa needed to be kept private. Instead, he had studied during other seasons, with royals or members of a branch family as his instructors.

Gervasio hadn’t socialized with any nobles outside the royal family, but he had been encouraged to associate with the Zent and their children at the time. It had been necessary to learn of the villa’s history and purpose and to keep it alive as time marched on.

“I remember it clear as day...” Gervasio said. “You told me time and time again that I was better suited to becoming the Zent than Prince Waldifrid, did you not?”

“I stand by those words even now,” Raublut replied, one eyebrow cocked in surprise. “In fact, King Gervasio... I would say that nobody is better suited to the role than you.”

Raublut had disliked the power struggles within his house—a branch of Gilessenmeyer’s archducal family—and aimed to become a Sovereign knight to escape them. He had come to believe it was better to judge people based on their talents than the circumstances of their birth, so it had frustrated him to no end when Yurgenschmidt’s royal family had mistreated Gervasio, a man of such great mana and intellect.

“For years, I’ve worked under King Trauerqual,” Raublut continued. “I understand his struggle and the heroics of his continued dedication to Yurgenschmidt, but my time in his service has only reinforced my conviction that a Zent must have the Grutrissheit. He who wishes to rule must have the means to do so, which is why I pray from the bottom of my heart that the seat becomes yours.”

“I see. Then I shall reward your loyalty.”

The two exchanged smiles as they arrived outside the entrance to the Royal Academy’s library. Raublut took out and presented a feystone, and the door opened in response to Hortensia’s mana.

“Hortensia is back.”

“Welcome, Hortensia.”

The black and white shumils came over, having also reacted to the feystone’s mana. Solange was with them. She had aged considerably from when Gervasio had seen her last, but the same went for him as well. If nothing else, he was relieved to see that her bright smile and peaceful blue eyes hadn’t changed.

“Solange. Ah, how much time has passed... It is I, Gervasio, of the royal branch family. Do you remember me?”

“Goodness! It really has been a while! I was told your sickness required you to go somewhere far away. It warms my heart to see you well.”

Solange’s words reminded Gervasio of the cover story Yurgenschmidt’s royals had given him. To hide the existence of the Adalgisa villa, they had said that he was part of a royal branch family but couldn’t attend the Royal Academy due to his poor health. Out of sympathy for the boy’s situation, the Zent had permitted him to use the library during the offseason. Then, when it had come time for Gervasio to leave for Lanzenave, they had declared that his deteriorating health had required him to leave the Sovereignty. Oh, what a farce it had been.

“I am here to gather Hortensia’s things,” Raublut said, holding up a folded teleportation circle. “We do not have long before the Royal Academy closes. Might you take me to her room?”

Solange nodded, then took her guests into her office. She opened the door to the librarians’ dormitory and called to her attendant.

“Catherine. Lord Raublut is here. Please take him to Hortensia’s room.”

The attendant arrived in short order and gestured the knight commander inside. “Thank you for coming. Please follow me,” she said.

“Lord Gervasio, wait here and speak with Professor Solange,” Raublut said, then headed into the dormitory with those disguised as Sovereign knights. Though he claimed to be retrieving his late wife’s belongings, his actual objective was to search for the keys to the underground archive. It was necessary that each key be assigned to a separate archnoble, so they were most likely being kept in the archlibrarians’ rooms.

“Lord Gervasio...” Solange said. “I thought you would never return. But to see you here—and with Lord Raublut as well... This really is just like old times.”

“Yes, it would seem we have a mutual attachment to one another—because I was his first assignment as a Sovereign knight, I would assume. I could not help but accept his invitation.”

Raublut had served Gervasio until the latter’s departure for Lanzenave. He had even fought to honor his charge’s last request—that he protect and, if possible, marry Valamarlene. Had the suggestion come from anyone else, Gervasio would not have even considered returning to Yurgenschmidt to obtain the Grutrissheit.

“You were such a bookworm back then, weren’t you?” Solange reminisced. “Always with your nose in a book. Do you still read, even now?”

“There is one book I wish to obtain. One that cannot be found anywhere else.”

“Well, this library contains books not found anywhere else in Yurgenschmidt. If you tell me what you’re looking for, I can have Schwartz and Weiss find it for you.” She moved toward the reading room, evidently unaware that Gervasio was looking not for some ordinary book but for the Grutrissheit.

“Professor Solange...” came a voice.

“Oh, Lord Raublut. Were you unable to find something?” Solange asked, confused as to why the knight commander had returned so soon.

Gervasio could guess from Raublut’s expression that he hadn’t found the keys to the underground archive; they must have been taken out of the dormitory and stored somewhere else. He didn’t want to hurt his longtime friend, but they had to find those keys at any cost.

Raublut reached down to his waist just as an ordonnanz flew into the room.

“Oh my. Another one?” Solange mused aloud. “There have been so many today. I wonder whom it came here for...”

The bird flew in a circle and then landed on her wrist. “This is Hirschur. Solange, are you safe? I’m concerned that you didn’t respond to my last message.”

“What...?” Solange murmured, looking increasingly concerned as the ordonnanz repeated its message. She turned to Raublut. “Um... Were you not going to reply in my stead...?”

“I received so many ordonnanzes that I might have forgotten,” Raublut said. He maintained an unfaltering calm even as he once again moved to take something from his waist.

Solange reached for the yellow feystone, but Raublut was faster; he seized her arms and clapped schtappe-sealing bracelets on her wrists.

“Lord Raublut! Are these what I think they are?!”

Gervasio gave Solange an apologetic look. “Forgive us, but we cannot risk you contacting the outside and causing a stir—not right now. If we let you respond, who knows what you might say?”

“Hortensia’s room didn’t contain the keys to the underground archive,” Raublut added. “Tell us where they are.”

“The underground archive...?” Solange couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Lord Gervasio, do not tell me you are here to...”

“Might I ask you to be up front with us?” Gervasio interjected, admonishing her gently. “I cannot bear the thought of harming an old friend, but I must warn you—that sentiment does not extend to your attendant.”

“What have you done with Catherine?”

“She is bound and unable to use her schtappe,” Raublut answered. “No harm has come to her. Not yet. But that might change depending on your response.”

Solange paled as Raublut took out his schtappe and transformed it into a sword. She watched its glimmering blade for a moment, then cast her eyes down and said, “Very well. I will fetch them for you.”

To avoid a repeat of her past struggle to retrieve the keys, Solange had elected to store them in her desk. She took them out, then lined them up with trembling hands.

“So these are what we’ve been looking for...” Gervasio accepted the keys and, alongside his companions, overwrote the mana within them—mana belonging to Hortensia and two members of the “Library Committee” who had agreed to assist her. “Is there nothing else we need to enter the archive?”

“Take this key to the second closed-stack archive, and this one for the door inside.”

“I see. Wait here while we are gone,” Raublut said, taking the keys before binding Solange in place. They couldn’t allow her to run away and contact someone while they were in the archive.

“I will come back to unbind you once I’ve obtained the Grutrissheit,” Gervasio promised. “I ask only that you remain here in silence until then.”

Now prone and unable to move, Solange made no attempt to meet the man’s gaze. Instead, she spoke to the shumils in a quavering voice: “Schwartz, Weiss—guide them to the underground archive.”

Gervasio followed the shumils out of the office. They went from the reading room to the second closed-stack archive, then through a door leading into the underground archive. The dull patter of footsteps accompanied their journey downstairs.

“This leads to the Grutrissheit, then?” Gervasio asked. “I am impressed you were able to discover all this.”

“In truth, it was largely the work of an Ehrenfest archduke candidate—though Lady Seradina’s son was pulling her strings.”

Gervasio thought back to Seradina, his elder sister by blood. He could still envision her light-golden eyes and perfectly straight silver hair, and the sagacious features that complemented them. People had often said they looked very much alike.

Gervasio had spent about two years with Seradina after being baptized and moving into their side building—yet he had interacted with her far less than one normally would with a maternal sister. Upon coming of age, she had returned to the main building as the Loeweleier flower, whereas Gervasio had departed the villa as the next king of Lanzenave. Compared to his little sister, Valamarlene, he’d spent barely any time with her. In fact, he hadn’t seen her at all since she’d taken leave of the villa.

“Do you mean that rare seed who escaped the villa?” Gervasio asked. “Ferdinand, was it?”

The children born in the Adalgisa villa were assigned roles based on their gender, birth order, and mana capacity. Girls could serve as flowers, buds, gardeners, or seeds. Boys were always seeds.

Flowers were girls who returned to the main building after coming of age. This role normally went to the eldest daughter of each of the three houses, which was why Seradina had served as the flower of Loeweleier.

Buds were girls with the potential to become flowers. They were treated as members of a royal branch family after their baptism but would be returned to the main building if anything happened to the flowers there. Otherwise, they had to find marriage partners, else they would end up being turned into feystones.

Valamarlene had once been a bud of Loeweleier.

Gardeners were girls who served the villa after coming of age. They were baptized not as members of a royal branch family but as the children of the villa’s head attendant and subsequently worked under her as archattendants. One of Gervasio’s siblings had been a gardener, but due to the timing of their baptisms, he did not remember her.

Last of all, there were seeds—children destined to become feystones before their baptism. Gervasio had been raised as one before being chosen to become the next king of Lanzenave. He had escaped being turned into a feystone only because he had possessed the most mana out of all the boys in the villa. Ferdinand was an exceptionally unusual case, having escaped the villa without being selected to rule.

“Indeed,” Raublut said. “The loss of that seed was the reason Lady Valamarlene was summoned back to the villa to serve as Loeweleier’s new flower.”

Gervasio had doted on Valamarlene, and she had loved him dearly in turn. That was why he had asked Raublut to protect her—and even marry her, if possible—before his departure for Lanzenave. Of course, such a request was much easier said than done; though Raublut was a member of an archducal branch family, he was still an archnoble, whereas Valamarlene’s family was associated with royalty. It was only through blood, sweat, and tears that he had managed to secure the engagement.

Valamarlene had then come of age; but while her marriage to Raublut was still on the horizon, Seradina’s son had been taken from the villa. Raublut hadn’t been told the reason, only that it was “the guidance of the Goddess of Time.” The loss of a boy had meant the loss of a feystone, so Seradina had become one in his place—and Valamarlene, who had just come of age, had been sent back to the villa to take over as Loeweleier’s flower. Those were the rules, meaning they were unavoidable, but Raublut’s pain when the Zent at the time had dissolved his engagement had been too intense to describe.

After the civil war, when the Adalgisa villa was sealed off, Valamarlene and all the other occupants had ended up being executed. Raublut had failed not only to keep his promise to Gervasio but also to protect the woman he loved most.

“That man does not understand his place as a seed of Adalgisa, nor does he understand the harm he caused so many by leaving the villa,” Raublut spat, hatred oozing from his every word. “I will not let him have the Grutrissheit.”

Gervasio gave a wry smile. Raublut’s loyalty was founded in a complex maelstrom of emotions: memories of their past together, his regret over Gervasio’s younger sister, and even his resentment of the royal family. That was what made him such a trustworthy ally. He wasn’t someone who would change sides or resort to betrayal without excellent reason.

The group reached the bottom of the stairs to find themselves in a pure-white room, the farthest wall of which gleamed as though it were made of metal. Three equidistant ornaments stood out on its surface.

“Three, line up.”

“Lock will open.”

The keyholders did as instructed and slid their keys into the slots. Their mana formed magic circles, which caused the glimmering wall to start rotating in three pieces. They moved one hundred and eighty degrees, almost coming close enough to connect again, and then disappeared, revealing the previously hidden archive.

And this is where the Grutrissheit is held...?

Gervasio inhaled sharply at the fantastical sight, and the white shumil took his hand. “Guide you, Gervasio,” it said, then continued into the archive.

“King Gervasio,” Raublut said, “as I understand it, only members of the royal family can pass beyond this point. Now that you have returned to your branch family, I am sure it will...” He fell silent, seemingly in prayer.

Gervasio turned slightly and nodded; it was because Raublut had involved the Sovereign temple that he had already been reregistered to a royal branch family. He saw no reason why he wouldn’t be allowed into the archive.

I will obtain the Grutrissheit.

His resolve steeled, Gervasio passed through the invisible barrier, entered the archive, and followed the shumils to a door even farther beyond. But even he was repelled when he reached the magic circle.

“Not registered, Gervasio.”

“Cannot enter.”

Being in a branch family wasn’t enough. Gervasio couldn’t ignore the humiliation he felt as he was once again reminded that in Yurgenschmidt, he wasn’t true royalty—something he hadn’t been able to ignore during his youth. His mana and elements were far superior, yet the country’s leadership depended entirely on one’s birth.

“King Gervasio...”

“The circle repelled me. Being in a branch family was not enough.”

There was a deep furrow in Raublut’s brow. He said nothing in response, but his clenched, trembling fists spoke volumes.

“We have no reason to stay here any longer. Let us return,” Gervasio said, giving Raublut a light pat on the shoulder. As they ascended the stairs, he continued, “That archduke candidate from Ehrenfest was on the right path. There is not a doubt in my mind that she was approaching the Grutrissheit. I am told she went missing—do you know what else she did or what she might have found?”

Raublut looked up with a start. “According to Prince Sigiswald, she went missing after going to the library’s second floor. Perhaps there is a clue there.”

Gervasio’s group returned the keys to the shumils and then briskly made their way to the upstairs reading room. Once there, they began searching for anything that might lead them to the Grutrissheit.

“Ah. That must be it,” Gervasio said.

“What must be?”

“That statue of the Goddess of Wisdom.”

Gervasio had recognized it at once, but Raublut didn’t seem to understand. He simply eyed the statue with a look of confusion. Was it because Gervasio had seen such statues nonstop during his circling of the shrines or because statues were so common in Yurgenschmidt’s castles that its nobles no longer even noticed them?

“Is the Grutrissheit not a copy of Mestionora’s divine instrument?” Gervasio said.

“Aah, I see.”

“I suspect I will need to pray to Mestionora, but the statue isn’t draining my mana automatically as the shrines did. What should I do?”

Gervasio examined the statue with his arms crossed. Mestionora was often depicted as a child, so she was the one and only goddess who wore her hair down. The statue was ivory—like all the others at the Royal Academy—with the exception of the divine instrument in its hands; that alone was colored and adorned with feystones. Recreating the divine instrument would give one the Grutrissheit.

O Mestionora, Goddess of Wisdom... I pray that you grant me your divine instrument.

Gervasio touched the divine instrument, mentally reinforcing his desire to create it, and suddenly felt his mana being sucked out. His eyes widened in surprise, but he didn’t resist it.

Soon enough, Gervasio lost track of how much mana he’d channeled into the tool. It felt close to the amount the shrines had taken from him. As he started to think he might need a rejuvenation potion, a magic circle and word arose in his mind.

“Grutrissheit,” Gervasio said—and with that, he disappeared.