bookworm

“I am glad to be your friend as well, Lady Hannelore. I... Oh...?”
All of a sudden, everything went black.

When I woke up, I was already in bed. I sighed at how familiar this whole experience was.
“It feels like a while since I last messed up like that...”
It seemed that I had gotten too excited about finding a new best friend and had fallen unconscious. The massive quantity of mana raging through me had not had any form of release, whether through prayer or a feystone, so even my jureve-expanded capacity hadn’t been enough to contain it.
Once I’m feeling better, I’ll have to bring Hannelore that book and apologize...
Interduchy Tournament
Once I had properly recompressed my mana and regained the ability to move normally, I reached out for the bell sitting on the table beside my pillow. Before I could even ring it, however, Rihyarda pushed through the curtains around the bed; she must have heard my rustling around.
“Finally awake, milady? You were asleep for two whole days, so we were truly starting to worry. We even just finally managed to convince that stubborn Ferdinand to come give you an examination.”
When Justus had reported to Ferdinand that I had collapsed from overexcitement, the only response he had gotten was to push empty feystones against me and wait for my mana to calm down. Even I was exasperated by the fact that I had gotten worked up enough to fall unconscious for two full days. At the same time, I wondered how Ferdinand was going to react when, after having begrudgingly made the trip here, he found that I was already awake. The blood drained from my face as I imagined him glowering at me and unleashing a storm of criticisms.
“Rihyarda, I would like to pass out again. Until Ferdinand arrives, if possible.”
“What are you saying, milady? Everyone’s worried to death about you. If your mana has calmed down, we should be heading to the dining hall for breakfast.”
And so we made our way to the dining hall. The very moment I arrived, everyone turned to look at me.
“Lady Rozemyne!”
“Awake at last, huh?” Wilfried said. “Uncle said you’d be fine, but I was still worried.”
“What happened with the tea party?” I asked as I sat down and started to eat breakfast. Due to Gudrun having been at the tea party, Rihyarda had immediately moved to direct my attendants and take care of me, so she hadn’t been able to tell me what had happened next—or rather, when I had asked, she had just told me to check with those who had actually been there.
“Not like anyone could just calmly keep drinking tea and enjoying conversation after the host collapsed,” Wilfried noted. I had put my weakness on display for all the attending archduke candidates and their retainers to see, and the tea party had been brought to an immediate close, giving everyone the impression that I would collapse if so much as touched without warning.
“Lady Hannelore had it the worst of all, since you collapsed right after she held your hands,” he continued. “You’ve gotta go apologize to her. She was trying her best to stay composed, but she ended up in tears.”
Hannelore had apparently fallen into panic, entirely unsure of what to do. Wilfried had done his best to console her, having endured a similar trauma in the past—namely the time he had taken me by the hand and ran off during my baptism ceremony, which ended with me unconscious and somewhat bloody. There had also been another incident during the winter that same year, when a single snowball had knocked me out, which had terrified his friends and guards too. It was safe to say that my health had spawned many legends in Ehrenfest.
“I told Lady Hannelore over and over that she doesn’t need to feel bad, since no matter how shocking it looks, you’re always just fine when you wake up. Your retainers also told her that it wasn’t her fault, but it just came off as superficial. It didn’t help her feel better at all,” Wilfried explained. “I ended up walking her all the way to the Dunkelfelger Dormitory, explained to Lord Lestilaut what had happened at the tea party, and then carefully apologized for having disturbed Lady Hannelore. Understand what that means?”
The tea party had been held not long after our treasure-stealing ditter match, so Lestilaut, who had bitterly called me a trickster and described me as far from being a saint, had apparently glared at Wilfried and the others with some overwhelming intensity.
“Ngh... I’m sorry for putting everyone through that.”
“I didn’t think it’d take you two whole days to wake up; the Interduchy Tournament’s tomorrow, you know. Besides, why did you even collapse this time? It didn’t look like anything happened.”
It’s simple—Lady Hannelore is such an adorable cutie that I got all heated. I opened my mouth to tell him just that, but then I paused. Wait a second... Doesn’t that make me sound a little bit like a pervert? I should probably dress this up a little. Mm... I could say I was really glad to have made a new friend. No, no... I showed way too much excitement for something like that.
As I struggled to find a nice-sounding answer, a low, melodic voice came from behind me. “I, too, would like to hear why you collapsed, Rozemyne.” My heart skipped a beat, and such an intense chill ran down my spine that I could have sworn it had turned to ice.
“F-Ferdinand...?!” I was so taken by surprise that my voice cracked, and I whipped around to see the man himself glaring down at me. His eyes were filled with irritation and practically screamed, “You would dare cause problems while I’m so busy?” Eckhart was there too, serving as his guard knight.
“I reluctantly came at Rihyarda’s dogged insistence,” Ferdinand continued, “but I see now that you have recovered on your own.”
“She woke up right before breakfast,” Rihyarda soothingly informed him.
At those words, Ferdinand went from a frosty smile to his usual flat expression. “I will hear the details regardless. Come,” he said to me.
“Um, but... the Interduchy Tournament is tomorrow, and there’s a lot I need to prepare.” I was indirectly asking Ferdinand to save the lecture for another time, but he just looked around the dining hall and made a dry announcement.
“There is no need for you to worry about the Interduchy Tournament. It has been decided that you will not be attending.”
“Wait... what?”
“You will not be attending the Interduchy Tournament,” he repeated. “This is the aub’s decision, and one that we will now discuss. Rihyarda and Justus will suffice as your attendants. Everyone else, prepare for tomorrow.”
Dazed, I allowed Rihyarda to push me into the side room for discussions. Eckhart stood outside the door; only Ferdinand, Rihyarda, Justus, and I went inside.
“Do check up on milady before you start your talk, my boy.”
“I know. Come, Rozemyne.”
I walked up to Ferdinand, who had slowly sat down on a chair. From there, he acted like my family doctor—he touched my neck, my wrists, and investigated me all over.
“I see your mana has already calmed,” he said. “Do you understand what happened to you? According to Justus’s report, they could only assume that you became too excited over the proposed lending and borrowing of books.”
“...That’s basically it.”
It had been my first time befriending a fellow bookworm, and my excitement had gotten the better of me. Books were rare and expensive in this world, so it followed that very few made a hobby of reading. I had doubted that I would ever find another girl my age who was both a lover of books and of a similar enough status to me for us to interact casually. To me, Hannelore was a precious friend whom I could not allow to slip through my fingers under any circumstances.
“I was so thrilled about making a bookworm friend that I started to offer a prayer. Justus stopped me, since praying and giving blessings is abnormal behavior at a tea party, but the mana had already been unleashed within me. It raged through my body until, out of nowhere, everything went black.”
“So it surpassed your allowance. As expected. That should be fine, now that your mana has calmed. The problem will be this new friendship of yours. Who is this girl, exactly?” Ferdinand asked, fixing me with another glare. I recalled what I knew about Hannelore.
“She’s Lady Hannelore, an archduke candidate from Dunkelfelger. Her (rabbit)-like features make her absolutely adorable, plus she’s an avid lover of reading. We promised to exchange books. I have a friend with whom I can discuss books now! Aah, this is amazing!”
“Fool. You are getting too excited,” Ferdinand said, his frustration clear in his voice. He pulled me forward, pressed a feystone against my head, and then promptly replaced the feystone with another. “It seems to me that you should avoid this friend. At this rate, you are going to lose consciousness again.”
“Ah.” I watched as the feystone rapidly changed colors, a clear sign that I was indeed too worked up. Rihyarda shook her head as if to say that I was hopeless.
“Lady Hannelore was quite troubled when you collapsed, milady. It might be wise to keep your distance for her sake as well.”
“...I will contain my excitement, so please do not say such cruel things. Do not take my first bookworm friend away from me.”
“Have you never had a friend who loves books before?”
I had been close with a number of weirdos back in my Urano days, all of whom had had different but respectably strong obsessions. Since coming to this world, however, I hadn’t made any such friends, neither as Myne nor as Rozemyne. Even Lutz, who had spent so much time making books with me, couldn’t be described as a bookworm. To him, books were products, not things to read and enjoy.
“This is the first book-loving friend I’ve made since moving here,” I replied. “Books are so expensive that even nobles tend not to keep very many, no?”
A mutual appreciation of reading was the reason I was on good terms with Philine, but I was an archduke candidate and she a laynoble; we couldn’t see each other eye-to-eye, nor share books with one another. She was my retainer, and I couldn’t treat her as anything more than that. From her perspective, I was her lady and someone she had to be very careful around; she needed to keep an eye on her surroundings at all times and avoid getting too close. We weren’t friends, but rather a lady and her obedient servant.
“Lady Hannelore, however, is a Dunkelfelger archduke candidate; she almost certainly has an impressive library. I will need to keep on making as many books as possible so that I might be able to lend her just as many.”
“It seems that you are not going to calm down for some time. Rihyarda, drain her with feystones whenever she gets excited so that her mana does not overflow,” Ferdinand said as he set a leather bag on the table. I could tell from the visible lumps in the material that it contained three large feystones.
“That reminds me, Ferdinand—why has it been decided that I won’t be attending the Interduchy Tournament? I feel perfectly well again.”
“The aub decided such after reading Justus’s report. Aubs from other duchies and royalty are going to be attending the Interduchy Tournament, and considering that you could not even make it through your own tea party without ingloriously falling unconscious, he has concluded that it is best for you to remain in bed and avoid causing any further problems.”
The Interduchy Tournament was like a cross between a sports festival and a cultural festival, to put it in Earth terms. It was the biggest event of the year and something that everyone looked forward to. Not being allowed to attend was just plain cruel.
My dissatisfaction must have shown on my face; Ferdinand crossed his arms and shrugged at me. “Rozemyne, the Interduchy Tournament can politically be considered the first stage of the Archduke Conference, and to be honest, with so many uncertainties this year, we do not wish for someone as unpredictable as you to be involved. It would be best for you to develop socializing skills and stamina first. If an aub from another duchy speaks to you, are you confident in your ability to handle yourself appropriately? And would you be able to avoid collapsing in spite of your proven affinity for spontaneously falling unconscious?”
Ferdinand paused to look at me, awaiting an answer. I took a deep breath; I wasn’t confident that I could do either of those things. Just a few days ago, my way of speaking had been enough to make Justus cradle his head in agony.
“Are my socializing skills really that bad...?” I asked.
“Justus says that you are largely competent and that you can socialize while keeping up proper appearances. However, there are times when you say such bizarre things that one feels compelled to ask what in the world inspired them. The fact that you think and act on entirely different bases is likely to blame for that.”
I sadly hung my head; as always, my common sense was not so common here. To make matters worse, I couldn’t even tell what it was about my thought processes that everyone else found so strange, and without that knowledge, I couldn’t be careful and avoid making similar mistakes moving forward.
“Ferdinand, my boy... milady is doing the best she can with her poor little body. Her grades are so incredibly high that one would doubt she had actually spent two years in a jureve, she completed the Dedication Ritual, and she even took part in some socializing. What more could you ask of someone who has so recently awoken from a coma?” Rihyarda asked, stepping forward protectively.
Ferdinand regarded her with his usual flat expression. “I am asking her to rest. Rozemyne easily completed all that the archduke requested before she entered the Royal Academy—or more precisely, she surpassed our expectations far more than is reasonable. We had no plans for her to socialize with royalty, nor did we expect her to form this many connections with greater duchies. At this rate, if she attends the Interduchy Tournament tomorrow, we can expect her to bond even further with royalty and the aubs of other duchies. Those around her cannot keep up with that any longer, and that is why I ask that she rest, and avoid contact with royalty and the aubs of any higher-ranking duchies.”
Ferdinand turned his attention back to me before continuing. “Justus’s report also included the suggestion that you collapsed due to exhaustion from socializing and preparing for the Interduchy Tournament. I thus opted to bring with me several books for you to read while you rest, out of consideration for your health, but would you still rather attend the tournament?”
Several books, you say? That means... WOOHOO! A whole day of reading!
Resting on one pan of my internal scale was the Interduchy Tournament, and resting on the other was an entire day of reading in my room. Considering that I had been forbidden from even entering the library due to socializing and the tournament, there was only one answer I could give.
“I am still of poor health, so I believe from the bottom of my heart that it would be best for me to rest in the dormitory with Rihyarda. However, what will my retainers do? We expect to be short on hands, and I would like for them all to participate in the Interduchy Tournament.”
My resting meant that some of my retainers would need to stay in the dormitory, and that certainly wasn’t ideal when we were so short of people and resources.
“I will remain in the dormitory as your supervisor, so you will not need retainers. You should be able to survive the day with just Rihyarda.”
Wait, what? Ferdinand supervising me? No thanks.
That was a surefire way to turn my day of reading into a day of nonstop lectures. I thought as hard as I could of ways to get rid of him.
“Ferdinand, shouldn’t you be attending the Interduchy Tournament? Please, don’t feel compelled to stay here with me.”
“The plan was for me to attend the tournament as your guardian and to support you during any negotiations with higher-ranking duchies, but it seems that things have gotten too troublesome for that,” he said with a glare, but I returned only a quizzical look. What was so troublesome about our situation?
“Justus has informed me of the headache-inducing reality that bizarre legends of my past are circulating the Academy,” Ferdinand continued, answering my question before I could even ask it. “It has reached the point where he believes my casual appearance at the tournament might cause quite an incident, which is utterly absurd. What in the world did you do?”
Aah. The Legends of Ferdinand.
“Please do not try to blame me for every little problem,” I replied. “Professor Hirschur publicly referred to me as your disciple, and so everyone began to speak of your student days in the Royal Academy. I will not deny that the legends have gotten a little mixed up, with the exploits of others now being attributed to you and the like, but I am completely uninvolved.”
“I am told that you instructed the students to gather stories about Lord Ferdinand, as you expected him to be an easy topic of conversation at tea parties, milady.”
“Justus! Shh!” I frantically tried to shut him up, but it was too late—Ferdinand was already staring daggers at me.

It was the day of the Interduchy Tournament—and more importantly, my first day of reading in a very long time. Everyone finished breakfast early and then rushed to continue preparations.
A sweet aroma had been pervading the dormitory for several days now as those in the kitchen prepared a copious amount of sliced pound cake. The same heavenly scent also wafted from a number of pound cake-filled boxes; we had recently been receiving a consistent stream of packages from Ehrenfest containing supplies for the Interduchy Tournament. The apprentice attendants checked each one, sent out any necessary instructions, and then had the servants carry them where they needed to go.
Wilfried was currently out by the stadium where the tournament was due to be held, likewise giving instructions.
The apprentice scholars were diligently writing down the key points Ferdinand and Justus were giving them about the research presentations. The most important one of all, apparently, was to hide the fact that Ferdinand was here: “Professor Hirschur will abandon her presentation and rush to the dormitory to discuss research if she learns of my presence, so speak of me to no one.”
The apprentice knights had exited the dormitory through a side door and were now receiving something of a lecture from Eckhart about the weak points of various feybeasts and how to attack them. It seemed the students were easier to deal with now that they had overcome their ignorance and recognized their complete lack of cooperation skills. Eckhart was pretty pleased about that, since he was in charge of training new recruits in the Knight’s Order. These apprentices humbly listened to his teachings; they would apparently be a lot more skilled next year once Bonifatius trained them in the spring.
“Aub Ehrenfest has arrived!” came an announcement.
First the archducal couple, then the guardians of graduating students arrived in the busy dormitory. They were all wearing extravagant clothing for socializing and passed right through the dormitory on their way to the stadium. They had all previously graduated from the Royal Academy and so they did not need any guidance.
“Finally awake, Rozemyne?” Sylvester asked. “You should spend the day resting here in the dorm. You still look a little sick.”
“I thank you ever so much for your concern,” I replied. I personally thought I was looking healthier than ever—the sheer bliss of now having an entire day to read had worked wonders—but if Aub Ehrenfest said you looked sick, then you looked sick, no questions asked. I would be resting in my room.
“Ferdinand, take care of Rozemyne. Don’t let her leave the dormitory.”
“As you wish.”
The dormitory calmed somewhat once the visitors had all passed through, but then the apprentice knights returned. It seemed they had to start standing by in the stadium now.
“Lady Rozemyne, may we ask for a blessing?”
“If you would be so kind as to kneel then certainly; I will grant you all a blessing from Angriff.”
The apprentice knights knelt in rows and bowed their heads, with Angelica the sixth-year at the front. Just like always, I conjured my schtappe in my right hand, raised it into the air, and started filling it with mana.
“O God of War Angriff, of the God of Fire Leidenschaft’s exalted twelve, I pray that you grant them your divine protection.” Blue light shot from my schtappe and rained down upon the apprentices. “I ask that you all use what you have learned to the best of your ability—that you keep an eye on your surroundings and work with one another. I pray that Ehrenfest is able to secure the best results possible.”
“Understood!”
Once everyone had gone, I spent my time leisurely reading the books Ferdinand had given me in the common room. Aside from the apprentice scholars and Justus popping in to ask Ferdinand for instructions, it was peaceful. Ferdinand was reading reports from Justus, of course, as well as various documents that had been organized by Wilfried, Charlotte’s apprentice scholars, and my apprentice scholars. The papers were apparently “homework” that Ferdinand had given them through Justus as part of their scholar training.
Third bell rang and a delicious smell began drifting in from the kitchen. It wasn’t long before the scholars and attendants returned in staggered groups to eat lunch.
“Lady Rozemyne,” one said, “the tournament this year is proving to be quite something.”
“I’ve never seen Ehrenfest receive so many visitors before,” replied another.
The returning students excitedly told me about the Interduchy Tournament. As it turned out, even researchers from the Sovereignty had approached us with gleaming eyes to discuss the research on Schwartz and Weiss. Hirschur had happily explained what she had learned, and they had engaged in lively discussion about solutions to the gaps that remained in the magic circles.
It seemed that the shumil variation of my drivable highbeast had also been put on display, and the idea of not having to change into riding clothes had drawn the attention of many women.
“Even though you were not there, it felt as though your name is known to all, Lady Rozemyne.”
“The commander of the Dunkelfelger knights came too, asking for the archduke candidate considered to be Lord Ferdinand’s disciple.”
I wasn’t the only one to grimace at that news—Ferdinand did too. His frown seemed to suggest that he knew exactly who this knight commander was. Maybe they had attended the Academy together and this was the man Ferdinand had beaten to a pulp using his devious strategies.
“It seems that I was wise to not attend,” Ferdinand said.
“Since we have not yet spoken of your recovery, Lady Rozemyne, Klassenberg’s and Dunkelfelger’s archduke candidates came with their guardians and offered us gifts to help with your illness. Aub Ehrenfest was quite tense as he handled them.”
Woo! Fight, Sylvester, fight!
As we talked, the apprentice knights all returned at once; it seemed their battle had ended. The atmosphere was somber, not excited, and everyone but Angelica looked at me with a conflicted expression. Had the blessing not been enough to help them?
“Cornelius, how did the game of ditter go?” I asked.
“Still not as good as one would expect for our rank, but compared to previous mock battles, we slew the feybeast incredibly fast.”
“You all seem rather solemn for an achievement like that.”
Cornelius glanced at the other apprentices and then grimaced. “We had to fight a grun, and considering that you use one as your highbeast, it was a bit...”
“I do not actually know what gruns are. What manner of feybeast are they?”
“They are foul-smelling and truly vicious.”
“Wait. They smell...?” I was hit with a sudden wave of regret, but Ferdinand interjected before I could speak again.
“Apprentices, save the grun discussion for later. Finish lunch and then assist the attendants. I am being told there are so many visitors that they do not even have the manpower to properly turn people away.”
The apprentice knights snapped to attention; they wolfed down their lunches and then rushed back outside again. Once the dining hall calmed down a bit, Ferdinand and I started eating lunch ourselves, with Rihyarda serving us.
“I do feel that this has been unfair for you,” Ferdinand muttered as we ate.
“What do you mean?”
“Forbidding you from attending the Interduchy Tournament. Missing the tournament means you will also miss the awards ceremony.”
According to Ferdinand, the competition part of the Interduchy Tournament ended around fifth bell, at which point they would announce each year’s honor students.
“Hirschur said in a letter that you are likely to be first-in-class. Under normal circumstances, you would be receiving direct praise from the king and basking in the praise of all; and yet, due to our circumstances, you have been denied this.”
“I’m glad that I’m missing it, actually... I couldn’t speak to the king as I am now.”
I would practically die speaking to the king after being crowned the top of my class in a place where all the royalty and archducal couples were in attendance. Just thinking about all the ways I could mess up was terrifying.
“I hope that you will be able to attend the Interduchy Tournament next year, but thinking of ways to educate you is quite the struggle. Your thinking and culture differ fundamentally from ours, and I do not know what to do about it. I have tried already, and the results are as you see.”
“Milady was raised in the temple, so it’s only natural that she would think differently from most nobles. She just needs to get used to it. Time heals all wounds,” Rihyarda said with a calm smile. “She’s lived as an archduke’s daughter for a year and a half since being baptized, and then she slept for two years before entering the Royal Academy. If you subtract the time she spent in the temple, she’s only lived as a noble for about half a year. Everything will surely get better soon.”
Ferdinand had quite a precise memory; he began counting the number of days I had actually spent in the castle as a noble. “Hm... It is more than half a year, but she certainly has spent only a short amount of time in the castle. It did not feel that short to me, as I also educated her in the temple, but...”
“You’re the only noble in the temple, my boy—the blue priests technically don’t count. Milady won’t ever learn how to think like a noble while she’s there. The castle, on the other hand, is filled with nobles.”
“I see,” Ferdinand said with a nod.
“You always want immediate results, but raising people takes time. Take your time.”
Rihyarda was right—raising people took time, and the temple wasn’t like the castle at all. There, I didn’t have to be tense at all times, since there weren’t nobles surrounding me. I could guess, then, that any recreated education plans from Ferdinand would have me spending a lot less time in the temple.
That sucks...
I knew that Rihyarda was right, and that I needed to sort out my socializing skills... but if the solution involved taking away the one place I could feel at peace, then I felt nothing but miserable about it.
Angelica’s Graduation Ceremony
The graduation ceremony would take place the day after the Interduchy Tournament. The archducal couple had rooms in the dormitory, but all the other parents would need to return to Ehrenfest for the night.
That explains why so few came to watch the tournament.
So many consecutive days of teleporting required a lot of mana. For this reason, mednoble and laynoble guardians wouldn’t come unless they already knew that a relative would have a position of honor or unless their relative wanted to marry someone from another duchy.
Angelica’s father was more concerned about seeing her sword dance at the graduation ceremony than the game of ditter, so he would be coming tomorrow after taking a day off work. Incidentally, Angelica’s mother served as Florencia’s attendant, so she had seen the game today alongside her lady. Lieseleta had said that she would have tomorrow off.
Angelica really is the lone knight in a family of excellent attendants...
The graduation ceremony was due to begin at third bell; there would be dedication whirl and sword dance performances, and then the High Bishop of the Sovereign Temple would come to give a blessing. It was also a coming-of-age ceremony, though that was treated as just a part of the day’s events. In the afternoon, the graduating students would gather in the hall for the graduation ceremony while wearing their best clothing.
“I’ll be staying home for that too, right?” I asked Ferdinand in the common room after dinner. He had said that he’d be staying in the Royal Academy overnight, so I assumed he was going to be supervising me tomorrow as well.
“The same important figures who attended the tournament will be attending the ceremony. Your attendance would make all that we did today entirely meaningless. Or what, are you dissatisfied with reading books in the dormitory?”
I knew there was no chance for me to participate in the graduation ceremony after missing the tournament, but still, I was really curious to see Eglantine dedication whirl and Angelica sword dance at maximum power, the latter of which I had never seen since sword dancing was practiced in a separate location from whirling. The fact that these were once-in-a-lifetime dances only served to intensify my enthusiasm.
“I am quite happy to be reading, but I would have liked to see Lady Eglantine’s dedication whirl and Angelica’s sword dance. If only we had a (video camera)...”
“And what is that, exactly?”
“Something which would record the performances and then allow us to view them again later. Hm... Remember the magic tool that Professor Hirschur uses in her lectures? Think of it like that, but it captures motion as well.”
Ferdinand marginally raised an eyebrow. “Hirschur does have a recording magic tool; she used it once during a lecture, I recall, but it took such a ridiculous amount of mana that she shelved it soon after. If you were to move your mana to a feystone and activate it, perhaps it would last long enough for the sword dance and the dedication whirl.”
“Really?!” I exclaimed. I can’t believe there’s already a magic tool that works like a video camera!
I gazed up at Ferdinand with hopeful eyes, spurring him to take out his ordonnanz feystone with a displeased grimace. “The problem is, doing this will inform Hirschur of my presence,” he said, “although I suppose it cannot be helped if it is for the sake of keeping you docile. Pour your mana into these feystones; the recording will cut out partway through if you do not provide enough.”
Ferdinand handed me some feystones and then began sending his ordonnanz to Hirschur. In the meantime, I dutifully carried out my task as a battery; I gripped the feystones one after another and filled them with my mana. It was easy work, since my excitement was making mana course through my body.
Tralala. Tralalalala. I get to see the sword dance and the dedication whiiirl.
Just as I was beginning to wonder when we would hear back from Hirschur, I received my answer. Her response did not come via an ordonnanz, however; she threw open the dormitory door and rushed inside, carrying a magic tool and a bundle of documents in her arms.
“Ferdinand, why didn’t you tell me you were here sooner?! There’s so much we must discuss about the documents you sent me!”
“I imagined you would say that and abandon the Interduchy Tournament, so I opted not to contact you despite how rude that may have been. It is good to see you again, Professor Hirschur. Does the magic tool still work?” Ferdinand asked. His tone was more polite than usual, but he still plucked the tool from Hirschur’s hand and started fiddling with it.
“What do you need it for after all this time? I tossed it away long ago due to how much mana it requires.”
“The need arose to record tomorrow’s performances. Rozemyne will provide the mana, which eliminates that problem... Good, it still works. I appreciate your continued dedication to performing regular magic tool upkeep. If only you would send reports as regularly...”
Hirschur didn’t respond; it seemed that she had ignored everything that wasn’t convenient to her. Instead, she started spreading the documents she had brought out onto the table.
“Getting back to the library tools—these are all the theories I’ve crafted alongside the many researchers who approached me at the Interduchy Tournament,” she explained. “Some of them were researching the royalty’s magic tools in the Sovereignty and were familiar with what they saw, which would mean this part of the magic circle likely has to do with the God of Life. However, the magic circles they recalled did not seem to match completely.”
“Hmm, interesting... What manner of magic circles were they?”
And so the discussion between mad scientists began. The scholars listened on with interest, although their expressions gave away that they understood nothing of what was being said.
Once I had finished pouring mana into the last feystone, I swiftly exited the room; I cared more about the books that Ferdinand had brought for me than their incomprehensible ramblings about magic circles. I went back to my room, read, took a bath, and then went to sleep.

I headed to the common room after breakfast the next day, only to find Ferdinand and Hirschur still discussing things in the exact positions they had been in the night before. Only the increased number of strewn-about documents revealed how much time had passed.
Eckhart was leaning against the nearby wall with a determined grimace, presumably having stayed up all night with them. It seemed that even when Ferdinand had these overnight research talks, his guard knights were forced to accommodate him. Maybe this had been a regular occurrence for them when they were attending the Academy?
“Ferdinand, Professor Hirschur—good morning to you both. Are you still talking? Would it not be wise to at least eat breakfast?”
“Ah, Rozemyne. Morning already, then? Professor Hirschur, today is the graduation ceremony. I believe we should end this here for now.”
“The graduation ceremony, hm? And we were making such great strides too...” Hirschur said with a look of genuine vexation.
Ferdinand shook his head, exasperated. “You will have to make do for today. You were weeping about having no successor, but you have found a promising disciple, no?”
“Indeed. It took much longer than I would have liked, but there’s a promising student in this term’s batch of second-years. It’s unfortunate that they’re a mednoble with so little mana that they’re almost a laynoble, but in terms of improving designs, they’re quite excellent indeed.”
Ferdinand was a genius when it came to coming up with ideas and finding things to focus on, and this had led to him developing all sorts of unique, one-of-a-kind magic tools. However, because he had so much mana, he often invented things that only he could use. Hirschur’s new potential apprentice was currently absorbed in researching whether there was a way to reduce these mana costs.
“Thanks to this apprentice, I feel as though I’ve returned to my glory days. My time is filled with lively research and discussion. You said that nothing but boredom and melancholy awaited you following your graduation, Ferdinand, but did that come to pass? Have you found at least a little joy in Ehrenfest?” Hirschur asked, her expression swapping from that of a mad scientist to that of a teacher concerned about her pupil.
In a rare development, Ferdinand faltered. He gazed into the distance, a deeply nostalgic look in his eyes, and then answered with a hint of wryness. “My days are quite lively now. They are anything but dull.”
“That’s a relief. I will be waiting to hear from you, whether it be about new magic tools, research results, or even attempts at romance,” Hirschur said. She then gathered up her documents and swiftly left for the dining hall. It seemed that she needed to hurry and prepare for the graduation ceremony after breakfast.
Justus came in from the dining hall, as if swapping places with her. “What will you do now, Lord Ferdinand?” he asked. “Will you prioritize sleep?”
“Yes. Wake me up at second-and-a-half bell.”
“As you wish. Rest well... Eckhart, shouldn’t you get some sleep too? I got plenty since I’m stuck with Traugott, but it must’ve been rough for you having to deal with those two again.”
Eckhart glared at Justus and then followed after Ferdinand.
“Why did you leave the dining hall, Justus?” I asked.
“Aah. I was serving Traugott when Professor Hirschur came in, so I knew their research discussion had finally wound down.”
“Does that mean you abandoned Traugott in the middle of his meal...?”
“What choice did I have? Lord Ferdinand is much more important. He takes priority.” After that casual statement, Justus smiled and returned to the dining hall.
“Traugott is only allowed one adult attendant in the Academy like everyone else, and they’re prioritizing someone else,” Judithe whispered. “I’m starting to feel kinda bad for him, knowing that his meals and baths are being ignored for Lord Ferdinand’s sake.”
As students finished their breakfast and started filtering into the common room, the parents of graduating students began teleporting in. The apprentice attendants who had been waiting for them guided them to their children’s rooms as they came out of the teleportation hall. The parents needed to help their children prepare for the graduation ceremony—or rather, they wanted to see for themselves that everything was in order.
“Father. Mother.” Lieseleta welcomed her parents but they ignored her, moving to greet me before even thinking of going to Angelica’s room.
“Lady Rozemyne, it is good to see you. On this day, we—”
I waved a hand to interrupt them. “No need for a formal greeting. There is not much time today. Lieseleta, guide your parents to Angelica’s room—her laziness will no doubt cause her to slack in her preparations, and she will need the three of you there to keep her in line. This is an order from me.”
Her preparations for the sword dance might have been perfect, but she would slack on her formal outfit for the graduation ceremony and pick a plain hairstyle for the dance without giving any consideration to looking flashy. She just couldn’t be trusted to prepare on her own. With her parents and little sister watching over her as three skilled attendants, however, not even she could get away with slacking.
“Understood.” Lieseleta gave me a half-smile and then took her parents out of the common room. That solved the Angelica problem. I nodded to myself, only for Damuel to enter the common room for some reason. He looked around, walked over to me, and then knelt.
“Damuel... why are you here?” I asked.
“Lord Ferdinand sent an urgent request last night—due to most of your retainers leaving for the graduation ceremony, he asked me to serve as your guard today.”
It seemed that Ferdinand had planned to nap in the morning after spending an entire night discussing research with Hirschur from the very beginning.
“Now that Damuel is here, you can all go prepare for the graduation ceremony,” I said to my attendants. They got to work on their respective tasks, and after seeing them off, I turned back to Damuel. “How has the castle been? Is Grandfather doing well?”
His eyes turned vacant and the smile disappeared from his face as though he had remembered something terribly unpleasant. “Yes,” he answered after a pause. “Lord Bonifatius has been very, very lively. He charged into the Knight’s Order and spoke with the higher-ups about training the recruits. I imagine the apprentices will have quite the painful spring.”
Damuel spoke sympathetically, but I was glad that Bonifatius was so motivated. I could expect good things from this.
Second-and-a-half bell was when all the students, save for the graduates and their escorts, would be leaving the dormitory together. They would be preparing the hall before the graduating students arrived. Amid the crowd of attendants seeing their lords and ladies off, I saw Justus disappear to wake up Ferdinand. As expected, he was prioritizing him over seeing off Traugott.
“Rihyarda, this is just too sad,” I said. “Could you please help Traugott for a moment?”
“I’m afraid not. Putting aside that you have no other attendants right now, I cannot leave your side with so many people passing by,” Rihyarda explained, flatly rejecting the idea. I gave a curt nod; if she said no, that was that.
A short while after the students had departed, Ferdinand arrived back in the common room. He was with Justus and Eckhart, and to my surprise, Eckhart was wearing formal clothes that were unfamiliar to me.
“That is an unusual outfit for you to wear on guard duty, Eckhart...” I observed. “Is something happening?”
“I can hardly wear my armor when escorting Angelica, can I?”
“Whaaat?! You’re escorting Angelica?!” I widened my eyes in surprise, which made Eckhart widen his eyes in turn.
“You didn’t know? Hasn’t everyone in the dormitory been gossiping about who’s escorting whom?”
“Lieseleta seemed to know, but nobody else. We were all trying to guess who it was going to be, but Angelica only ever stared at us quizzically when we asked, so most of us just concluded that her parents had made a decision for her without telling her. When did you two get so close?”
Eckhart had come to the dorm with Ferdinand yesterday, but he hadn’t had any friendly conversations with Angelica since then, nor had they seemed to exchange any furtive glances. No matter how you looked at it, they didn’t look like a couple in love.
“We didn’t. Grandfather has been thinking about marrying Angelica to someone in the family ever since he took her as a disciple. He didn’t make his decision before the deadline, so she might not actually know who was chosen. She simply said to Bonifatius, ‘I’ll leave it to you, master.’”
Aah... Of course she left everything to Bonifatius and then stopped thinking entirely.
“This winter sure was a struggle, what with Grandfather demanding that Angelica be wed into our family...” Eckhart sighed.
Marrying one of Bonifatius’s descendants meant wedding into a family that was closely connected to the archducal family. It was a great honor under most circumstances, but it was also far more status than a mednoble like Angelica would normally receive—not to mention, while she was strong as a knight, she completely lacked the personality and socializing skills expected of an archnoble’s first wife. Her parents had desperately searched for any way whatsoever to avoid the marriage, but it was far beyond them to overturn a decision from someone like Bonifatius.
Exhausted, defeated, and anxious about their daughter’s future, they had suggested to Elvira that Angelica become second wife to one of Bonifatius’s grandchildren of a suitable age. They had initially tried pushing for her to become a third wife, but Bonifatius simply wouldn’t tolerate the idea; and in the end, after some backbreaking negotiations, she was secured a place as a second wife.
“The question was, whose second wife would she be?” Eckhart continued.
The plan had initially been for her to become Traugott’s second wife. Angelica had no thoughts of marriage herself—she was a somber, beautiful young woman who cared only about getting stronger—and so her parents had thought she would be better with a younger boy who wouldn’t marry her right away, unlike an adult man. Traugott had also been planned to become my guard knight, which would have made them a good pair.
Unfortunately, Traugott had resigned from serving me, and not under pleasant circumstances, considering that I had pretty much fired him. He had earned Bonifatius’s wrath and in turn lost any chance of marrying Bonifatius’s beloved disciple Angelica.
“We didn’t just have to talk about Traugott’s future at the family conference; with the graduation ceremony looming over us, we also had to rethink Angelica’s marriage partner. It ultimately came down to a decision between my brothers and me.”
“Given that they wanted someone younger, I guess Lamprecht and Cornelius were the first picks?” I asked. Eckhart must have been last in line, considering Angelica’s age.
“That’s right. But we didn’t want to involve Lamprecht while the Ahrensbach business is still going on, and Cornelius had said previously that he didn’t want to escort Angelica because he has feelings for someone else. It ended up falling on me, the widower.”
After so many years of sticking to his guns about not taking a wife until Ferdinand did, it seemed that Eckhart would finally be getting married. It was time to pay the piper... or rather, maybe it wasn’t? Realization struck me.
“And since Angelica has no intention of getting married for some time, you can avoid Mother pestering you about marriage without having to take any action yourself.”
“Precisely,” he replied with a smile. It was evident that he still didn’t intend to get married for years to come, so in a way, he and Angelica were a good match. The only problem was that Eckhart had agreed largely for his own personal gain, while Angelica had most likely agreed without spending so much as a single second thinking about it.
“Lord Eckhart. Thank you for waiting.” Angelica’s parents returned to the common room with a dressed-up Angelica in tow. She was clad in Leidenschaft blue to symbolize her strength, and while one might have assumed she was wearing a skirt at first glance, she was actually wearing culottes—the same piece of clothing used for riding gear. Their hem was long enough to hide her shoes, due to her having come of age.
I balked a little, especially when I saw her bundled-up hair in the style adult women wore. Angelica, with the added benefit of a light layer of makeup, looked so stunning that not even I, someone who had already spent so long basking in her beauty, could believe my eyes.