Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 3.2 - Chapter 15

The Night of Schutzaria 

Just as I was really getting exhausted from the quick succession of festivals, we arrived at Dorvan—a small city with a winter mansion, located further south than any other city I was visiting for the Harvest Festival. A forest located by one of the surrounding farming towns contained the autumn material ruelle, which was a key ingredient in the jureve potion I needed. 

There was a full moon on the Night of Schutzaria, and it was a night that supposedly had more autumn mana than any other. A ruelle gathered then would apparently be the best autumn material we could harvest within Ehrenfest, but that was still two days away. 

After informing Dorvan’s mayor that we would be staying for a few days after the Harvest Festival, we returned some of the food given to us as taxes as payment for our stay. 

It seemed that everyone else was fairly exhausted from the fervor of all the festivals as well. This was the perfect time to get some rest, and so I drank some energy potions and slept soundly to recover. I also spent my break checking out the winter mansion, walking around the grounds while considering whether it could function as a temporary temple classroom. 

I opened up the picture book Fran had read during the baptism and read it aloud again. This time, not just the baptized kids, but all the kids nearby listened intently. There really wasn’t much to do during the winter, and if we handled this right, I got the impression that it would be easy to raise the literacy rates in farming towns.

“Tonight is the Night of Schutzaria. Nap well this afternoon, Lady Rozemyne. The ruelle ripens from the full moon’s light, so the harvesting will continue late into the night,” Justus explained as we ate breakfast together. He, Damuel, and Eckhart would be going to look for a ruelle tree after lunch. They would mark it while it was bright outside, then come back and wait for the moon to rise before leaving again with me. 

“Okay. Preparing everything sounds like a lot of work, but I trust you to do it well.” 

In order to avoid being dead weight when the time came, I took a nap as requested. I slept so much that I wasn’t particularly hungry when I woke up later that evening, but I started eating dinner nonetheless. 

“We found a tree and can leave as soon as night comes. Are you feeling up to it, Rozemyne?” Eckhart asked. 

“Yes. I’m feeling fine,” I replied. 

An ordonnanz came flying into the room just as we were finishing dinner. 

It landed on Eckhart’s arm, then started to speak in Ferdinand’s voice. There had apparently been an issue with his schedule which meant he wouldn’t be able to join us. 

Eckhart let out a disappointed sigh, then whipped out his schtappe to remake the ordonnanz and send a response. “We found a ruelle tree without issue and shall gather the ruelle tonight as planned. Justus will gather some for you as well, Lord Ferdinand.” 

I went to my room to change clothes after dinner, putting on a simple, undecorated dress made out of particularly firm fabric. Underneath this I was wearing the same kind of pants that female knights wore so that I wouldn’t need to worry about my skirt lifting up. 

“This isn’t very cute, is it?” Nicola asked, the disappointment clear in her voice. 

Monika, on the other hand, shared Wilma’s love of simple things. She shook her head. “Decoration isn’t necessary when gathering in the woods, Nicola. What matters most is wearing something that is easy to move in. Isn’t that right, Lady Rozemyne?” 

“Exactly. The last thing I need are frills getting in my way tonight.” 

They rubbed a layer of gel into my hair to keep it together, then bundled it all up in a ponytail. Then, they switched out the short shoes I wore when walking around the winter mansion for knee-high leather boots that were perfect for moving through a forest. I could feel a burst of glee each time they tightened the strings. 

...It’s been a long time since I’ve been to a forest, and even longer since I’ve done some gathering! I need to put my all into this! 

Since entering the temple, I had barely ever gone to the forest. Apprentice blue shrine maidens were forbidden from doing work on their own, and my attendants—Fran especially—were opposed to me going to the forest at all. Not to mention that, even when I wanted to go, my stamina would end up making me dead weight to everyone else. In the end, I had always just stayed at the temple, watching Lutz and Gil head off to the forest as part of the workshop’s paper-making process. And now that I was the archduke’s adopted daughter, I spent all of my time traveling between the temple and the castle. 

Aaah, I’m so excited! 

Once my boots were on, I stood up and let my attendants put a leather belt around my waist. It had pouches with gathering gloves and space for the materials, plus a container for me to put a feystone in. They also put a second leather belt on me, this one holding the knife magic tool that Ferdinand had prepared for me. As far as I was aware, that was all I needed for the gathering. 

I looked down at the knife and all the gathering tools on my belt and giggled to myself. I might not have had any armor like Brigitte did, but my outfit definitely looked pretty cool and heroic. 

“How do I look, Monika? Nicola?” 

“I think you look wonderfully capable,” Monika said calmly. 

Nicola, in contrast, clenched a fist and looked at me with unmistakable excitement in her eyes. “You look super strong, Lady Rozemyne! And so cool!” 

Pleased that Nicola had given me the praise I was looking for, I exited my room and headed to where everyone else was waiting. 

“Eckhart, don’t I look like the strongest girl you’ve ever seen?” I asked, spreading my arms so that he and the others could see. 

Eckhart widened his eyes, then shook his head with a very disappointed expression. “You must not do anything but gather the ruelle. Understand?” he said, as if speaking to a child who always refused to listen. 

“...Fine.” 

Once everyone was ready, we went out. I had expected it to be a bit brighter thanks to the full moon, but it was actually pretty dark. I looked up in confusion and saw that the moon was a different color than I had ever seen it before. 

“I-I-Is it just me, or is the moon purple right now?!” I yelped, pointing up at the night sky. I was kind of creeped out by the color, but everyone else simply glanced up without so much as a reaction. 

“It is the Night of Schutzaria,” Justus said with a shrug. 

Meanwhile, Eckhart was giving me a surprised look. “Have you never seen this before, Rozemyne?” 

“Never. I don’t usually go outside when it’s this late, and in the autumn, I’m usually bedridden,” I explained. But even then, I had lived in this world for three years now, and not once had anyone mentioned anything about the moon turning purple. 

“The weather gets much colder after the Night of Schutzaria, so it’s said to be the day when Ewigeliebe the God of Life’s power finally surpasses that of Schutzaria the Goddess of Wind. In contrast, the moon is dyed red on the Night of Flutrane at the start of spring. Since this is when the snow begins to melt, it is said to be the day when Flutrane the Goddess of Water’s power finally surpasses that of Ewigeliebe the God of Life.” 

Tonight apparently wasn’t the only night that the moon changed color. It happened every year when the seasons changed, and since the relative strengthening of mana had nothing to do with poor commoners in the lower city, I concluded that my family simply hadn’t bothered telling me while I was bedridden with a fever. 

“Lady Rozemyne, ruelles bloom beneath the light of the full moon. Now should be a good time to begin,” Justus said before producing his highbeast, hopping on, and flying away. 

I did the same, following after him while looking uncomfortably at the shining purple moon. Brigitte and Damuel were on either side of me, while Eckhart followed from behind. 

We passed over the farming town, which was deserted now that everyone was traveling to the winter mansion, and advanced into the woods until we found the tree that Justus had mentioned at dinner. He had flown into the woods without any hesitation whatsoever thanks to knowing exactly where to go, though, despite him mentioning marking the tree, I had no idea how he found it. 

“Lady Rozemyne, that is a ruelle tree,” Justus said. 

The tree was tall and without leaves, instead having metallic branches from which dozens of flowers similar to white magnolias had bloomed. Each one exuded a powerful aroma. 

“The flower petals will peel off from the outside as the full moon shines on them, and the ruelle within will grow. It will be some time before they fully ripen,” he explained. 

I nodded, driving Lessy closer to one of the flowers. The smell grew even stronger as I approached, so I closed my eyes and slowly inhaled the sweet scent. It was, in a word, enrapturing. 

“Would the flower petals make good materials, too? I think you could make a really nice perfume out of them,” I said. 

Justus looked over the flowers with narrowed eyes. “Hm. Gotta say, I didn’t know ruelles gave off such a strong smell. The Night of Schutzaria might have a different effect on them than other full moons. Heck, let’s try it. I’ll grab one to take back,” he said, sounding more like he was having a conversation with himself than actually answering me. He excitedly pulled out his schtappe and, after muttering about how these ruelles were nothing like the ones he had seen before, chanted “messer.” 

Justus pulled his highbeast over, his schtappe now in the shape of a knife. He stood up on his stirrups and began cutting branches to retrieve some of the flowers. From there, he trimmed away any unimportant branch parts, leaving behind only the branches connected to flowers, which he delicately put into his pouches. 

“Justus, I want to try that, too.” 

“Huh? A-Ah, right. Forgive me, Lady Rozemyne,” he replied, raising his head with an awkward look before immediately putting on a noble smile. It seemed that he had completely forgotten about everyone else, becoming entirely absorbed in his own little hobby. “In that case, please fortify your knife with mana and attempt to cut the branches as I did.” 

“Okay!” I exclaimed, copying Justus and moving to cut a branch with the knife that Ferdinand had given me. It was a bit of a dry run, but I needed to confirm whether I could gather things with my own strength or not. 

With my knife magic tool in my right hand, I brought Lessy within touching distance of a flower and then leaned out the window. I gripped a thin branch in one hand and pressed the mana-filled knife against it. For a second, my heart pounded with worry over whether or not it would actually cut, but the knife slid through the branch like butter. 

“Wow. It went through so easily...” I murmured, looking at the ruelle branch in one hand and the knife magic tool in the other. The knife was very respectable, allowing even someone as weak as me to cut through a branch without using much mana. 

I’m sure I would have actually been useful in the forest back home if I had one of these with me, I thought, discarding the excess branches and putting the gathered flowers into one of my pouches. 

“Whew. Looks like you’ll do just fine with the gathering,” Eckhart said, having apparently been a little worried that I wouldn’t be able to handle it myself. 

“Lady Rozemyne, gathering the fruit will be done the same way. You need only cut the branches off so that only the fruit remains,” Justus explained. 

“Okay. I know what to do now,” I replied, letting out a sigh of relief. It seemed that I wouldn’t have any issues gathering the ruelle after all. 

“...Oh, the flowers.” 

Having apparently received enough moonlight, the sizable flower petals began to scatter. They peeled off one by one, fluttering away in the breeze and twirling down to the ground like leaves on the wind. The moment they touched the ground, they disappeared as if becoming one with the forest floor, an ephemeral expression of beauty that I couldn’t take my eyes off of. 

The magical sight didn’t last long at all. Before I knew it, the petals were all gone, and there wasn’t a single flower left on the branches. But there were small purple crystals that looked just like amethysts the size of my little finger now growing in their place. 

“Those are the ruelle fruits. They grow to be about this big when exposed to a full moon,” Justus said, holding his thumb and pointer finger about ten centimeters apart. His lips then curled into a tight frown as he looked at the ruelle. “Pretty sure these were light yellow when I gathered ’em before. First time I’m seein’ them be all purple,” he continued, clearly absorbed in his own thoughts. It was easy to tell since his tone had completely changed. 

“Does the fruit change color based on the color of the moon?” 

“They just might. I’m gonna grab some as well for my report to Lord Ferdinand. Er... That is, if you would allow me to do so, Lady Rozemyne.” 

“If they’re for your report and research, then I don’t see why not,” I replied. “Just don’t gather them all, I guess?” 

But my conversation with Justus on the other side of the ruelle branch was cut short by the sound of grass rustling—footsteps, coming this way. And not just one or two pairs of footsteps, either. The very moment I concluded that there must have been dozens upon dozens of them at the least, I saw a group of animals—some looking like large cats, others like squirrels—leap from the bushes and come rushing this way. They were small fluffy animals not even tall enough to reach Damuel’s knees, but their red eyes gleaming eerily in the darkness immediately removed all notions that they were cute. 

“Feybeasts!” Eckhart shouted, whipping out his schtappe and transforming it into a spear shape before leaping from his descending highbeast. 

Using the momentum from his fall, he thrust his spear through a rabbit-like feybeast that had horns in place of ears. The spear pierced through its stomach and out its back, revealing a glittering jewel stuck into its tip. A second later, the rabbit shape melted and disappeared into nothingness, while the jewel was absorbed into the spear. 

“They don’t seem very strong at a glance, but there are lots of them. Eliminate every last one!” 

“Yes, sir!” 

Damuel and Brigitte similarly leapt off their highbeasts, whipping out their schtappes and transforming them into their preferred weaponry. With one swing after another, they began mowing down the feybeasts. 

“Eckhart! There are more coming!” I cried. 

Since I was still riding my highbeast high in the air, I could see the feybeasts swarming around the tree. There were more gleaming eyes in the bushes than I could hope to count, all looking our way with clear malice. A shiver ran down my spine at the sheer hostility in the air. 

“Rozemyne, do not descend from your highbeast no matter what! Prioritize the gathering above all else!” 

Surrounding the ruelle tree with their backs to it, the three knights raised their weapons and began cutting down the horde. They swung their spears, knocking some feybeasts aside and stabbing others to death. Some melted away to nothingness, while others lay limp across the ground. 

“Eep?!” 

The horde of feybeasts swarmed the limp ones and quickly began devouring them. Seeing them prioritize eating each other over the armed knights gave me goosebumps. 

When the horde eventually spread out again, all of the limp feybeasts were gone. In their place was a single feybeast, now much larger than the others. 

“Damuel! Always aim for the feystone, even with the weaker feybeasts! If other feybeasts eat the weaker ones, the fight will only get harder for us!” Eckhart yelled, which was enough for me to piece together that feybeasts grew from eating feystones. And the larger feybeast was eating the weaker ones around it to grow even bigger. 

Upon hearing Eckhart’s warning, Damuel hurriedly stabbed the larger feybeast with his spear over and over until, finally, he managed to pierce the feystone. It seemed that things weren’t so easy for him, especially when the feybeasts could grow stronger through cannibalism. But above all else, it was clear that he was being pushed much, much harder than Brigitte and Eckhart. 

“I-I need to do something... But what?” In a panic, I racked my mind for something I could do, but Justus simply shook his head. 

“There is nothing you can do, milady.” 

So he said, but I still wanted to help. I thought as hard as I could, trying not to let the fear of being eaten by feybeasts overwhelm me. But when it came to battles, all I could do was pray to the gods. 

“Wh-What about a shield? I could surround the tree with Schutzaria’s shield and stop the feybeasts from entering! That would give them time to heal, and—” 

“No! A mana shield would stop the full moon’s light from reaching the tree! All of our efforts will have been for nothing if we can’t gather the ruelle,” Justus said, leading me to bite my lip. “Milady, you need only think of the gathering. Leave the fighting to the knights.” 

He was right. The smart course of action would be to let the experts do their jobs. But a seemingly endless stream of feybeasts were pouring from the bushes, and the three knights were being hopelessly overwhelmed. 

“Justus, do feybeasts always swarm in hordes like this?” 

“No, there were almost no feybeasts at all on the full moon I gathered ruelles on. This is abnormal. Ferdinand mentioned that the Night of Schutzaria was special, correct? An enormous amount of mana must be contained within the fruits to attract so many feybeasts. But suffice to say... we did not expect nearly this many to come,” Justus said through gritted teeth, making it clear that he was conflicted about the current situation. 

My gathering was the top priority here, and all we could do was watch as the ruelles slowly continued to grow. But their growth was so painfully slow that it was actually frustrating. 

“Justus, how much longer will this take?!” Eckhart cried from below, panic in his voice. 

Justus answered in a growl, still glaring at the ruelles. “They aren’t even halfway to full size yet!” 

“More feybeasts than we can count are targeting the ruelles! There’s no end to them!” 

Out of all three knights, Damuel had the least mana and was visibly struggling the most. His shoulders were heaving as he gasped for air. He was probably getting exhausted faster since he had to compensate for his lack of mana with raw physical strength. 

“Justus, if we can’t use the shield since it would block mana, then what about a prayer of divine protection? Can I pray to Angriff the God of War and give them a blessing?” 

Justus swung his head to look at me as though he had completely forgotten I could do that, then nodded with gleaming eyes. “Yes, that would be perfectly safe. Please bless them, milady.” 

“O God of War Angriff, of the God of Fire Leidenschaft’s exalted twelve, I pray that you grant them your divine protection,” I prayed, focusing mana into my ring. 

The blue light of the blessing scattered around the tree, raining down upon the three knights. Instantly, everything about their fighting changed; they were moving visibly faster and more nimbly than before, even cutting down more feybeasts at once as though their weapons had become sharper. 

“Lady Rozemyne, this divine protection is magnificent!” Brigitte exclaimed. It was clear from her tone that she was beyond elated, and there was a gleam in her amethyst eyes as she glanced over her surroundings. All of a sudden, she bent her knees, her skirt flourishing as she quickly changed position. At first, I didn’t understand why she had changed her stance, but then she suddenly swung a long glaive—a pole weapon with a slightly curved blade at the end. 

“HYAAAH!” she roared, her weapon whistling as it cut through the air. 

Every feybeast in her path instantly broke apart and melted away. Nearby feybeasts began to swarm around the weakened ones that had survived the blow, but Brigitte readied her weapon once more and took a step toward them. 

“BEGONE!” she roared again, stomping the ground as she swung her weapon down. Its long blade flashed, cutting the entire group to pieces in an instant. Seeing her continually swing her blade without pause was beyond heroic, and reminded me that Karstedt had mentioned she had more mana than Damuel. 

“This will make things easier,” Eckhart said, now having a much less arduous time killing the feybeasts with Damuel. 

“Lady Rozemyne, please firmly grasp this ruelle and pour mana into it. Continue to do so until its color changes completely,” Justus said, pointing out a now large ruelle. 

I responded with a nod, still distracted by what was going on beneath us. 

“Milady, their job is to hunt the feybeasts within the duchy. You need not fear for them,” Justus continued, giving me a firm look. “Please focus on your gathering. Their fight will not end until you’ve finished.” 

I nodded again, then reached out to grasp the sizable ruelle. Just as its crystalline appearance implied, it was hard and smooth to the touch. 

I need to get this over with as quickly as possible. 

The knights had to keep fighting until my gathering was complete. I glared at the ruelle in front of me as I started pouring my mana into it, but unlike the feystone I used to make Lessy, I had a hard time actually getting my mana to go in. I could feel resistance, as though it didn’t want foreign mana inside it. 

“You feel so much resistance because the feyplant is alive. You wouldn’t want the mana of others inside of you, would you?” Justus explained. 

That made sense. I could remember how gross it felt when Ferdinand tried pouring mana into me to cure my wounds during the trombe extermination. 

“Milady, I will gather some of the others while keeping watch,” Justus said, putting on his own mana-blocking gloves and collecting a bunch of still-pure ruelles for his own purposes. He was finished in no time at all since he didn’t need to dye them with his mana. 

I squeezed the crystalline ruelle in my hands, continuing to pour mana into it. Sweat was beading on my forehead despite it being a cool autumn night. The purple fruit started turning a faint yellow as I repeatedly bombarded it with mana, trying to overwhelm its resistance. 

...Just a little more. 

As I was gripping the fruit, one of the squirrel-like feybeasts evaded the knights’ attacks and started rushing up the tree, but Justus quickly kicked it down for Damuel to finish off. It hadn’t managed to hurt me or anything, but I was completely immobile while gripping the ruelle, and that knowledge filled me with an indescribable sense of dread. 

I kept pouring my mana into the fruit, chanting Hurry up! in my head. 

“Justus! Is this enough? Is it dyed completely?” 

“Absolutely. Please take it.” 

After checking with Justus that the fruit had finished changing color, I took out my knife and cut the branch it was attached to. “Got it!” 

“Alright, everyone! Retreat!” Eckhart roared, his voice echoing through the forest. 

Just as I started to relax a little, there was a loud screech, and a cat-like feybeast that had climbed another tree leapt toward me. Its mouth was open so wide that it looked like its jaw could dislocate at any moment. With its gleaming teeth bared and its sharp claws protruded, the creature lunged at me. 

“Eep?!” I defensively crossed my arms in front of my face and closed my eyes tight. 

“Milady!” Justus whipped the feybeast down with his schtappe just as I felt a jolt go through my hands. I reflexively opened my eyes and saw the feybeast falling to the ground, with my ruelle in its mouth. 

“My ruelle!” I cried, immediately trying to follow it with Lessy, but Justus stopped me with a sharp yell. 

“No, milady! Eckhart, get away!” 

Eckhart had tried flying after the feybeast himself, but before it even touched the ground, it exploded. Or... that’s what it looked like, anyway.