Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 3.3 - Chapter 8

Gathering the Winter Ingredient 

I anxiously waited for the Dedication Ritual to end, knowing that I needed to tell Ferdinand what had happened. Up until this point, all of the letters and such addressed to the former High Bishop had been from commoners looking for favors, never nobles. This was probably because every noble in the duchy of Ehrenfest had been immediately informed upon his execution, Bindewald’s arrest, and Veronica’s imprisonment. But such a huge political shift would no doubt indicate instability, so it was possible that a gag order had been placed on this information so that other duchies wouldn’t find out about it. The very thought made the blood drain from my face. 

...I might have just done something that I really shouldn’t have. 

My anxious waiting was eventually interrupted by a white bird flying in. It resembled an ordonnanz, though it was smaller than the ones I was used to. And instead of relaying a verbal message, it turned into two letters before my eyes which fluttered down onto my desk. 

I picked them up to find that one was the reply I had written, while the other was the response to my reply. It was a brief, polite letter expressing the writer’s regret over Bezewanst’s death and thanking me for informing them. I let out a sigh of relief at the fact that they hadn’t angrily demanded to know more details about what had happened, and the lack of any paper to write another response led me to conclude that they didn’t expect another letter. 

“Lady Rozemyne, the Dedication Ritual has concluded for today,” Fran said. 

I could hear the blue priests walking down the hall. Ferdinand soon came in with some gray priests, all of whom were carrying the chalices that we had filled with mana during today’s ritual. Fran opened the door of a cabinet for them, and the multiple gray priests worked together to line the chalices up on a shelf. I used that opportunity to speak to Ferdinand about the letter. 

“Um, Ferdinand... A letter addressed to the former High Bishop arrived, and...” 

Ferdinand must have been tired; rather than listening closely as he usually would, he waved his hand dismissively, like the question wasn’t important enough to warrant his attention. “Another one? Just inform them that Bezewanst has passed away, as per usual.” 

“I did. They then sent a reply expressing their regrets and thanking me.” 

“I see. Then the matter requires no further consideration.” His brow was deeply furrowed, a sure sign that the blue priests who had been on good terms with Bezewanst had given him a hard time during today’s Dedication Ritual. 

While it probably would have been wise for me to avoid bothering him too much, I needed to settle this potential emergency now. I sucked in air, then spoke once again. “Ferdinand... There’s one thing I want to double-check.” 

“What? You still aren’t satisfied?” Ferdinand asked, now staring daggers at me. 

Despite the sudden fear that had washed over me, I nodded. “Has there been a gag order to prevent other duchies from learning of Bezewanst’s death?” 

“No. There is a gag order regarding the punishment Veronica has received, as that would indeed be a weakness to exploit, but no such limitation has been placed on news about Bezewanst’s execution. Have you not already been mentioning his death when responding to letters? Why ask this now, after so much time?” 

“Oh. Well, I just wanted to be sure. That’s fine, then. Thank you for the answer, especially when you’re already so tired.” 

...Whew. Seems like I didn’t make the blunder of the century after all, I thought, sighing in relief at the fact that it was totally okay for me to inform Bezewanst’s possible secret lover of his death. I’m just glad that Ferdinand was too tired to ask me for all the details. 

Revealing Bezewanst’s pure romance to Ferdinand would have made my heart hurt, like whipping an already dying man to make him suffer even more. Ferdinand always exploited everything he could, and this would have been no exception; it terrified me just trying to imagine what kind of torture this nameless girlfriend would have potentially been forced to endure. 

I had panicked due to the appearance of a magic tool that I had never seen before, but Ferdinand was right in that many letters had already been sent to the High Bishop before that point. The letter magic tool, despite being an outlier, was just one of many correspondences if you looked at the big picture. Thinking about it like that eased the burden on my shoulders.

As Ferdinand had predicted, the Dedication Ritual came to an end three days later. A terrible blizzard raged as we finished pouring mana into the last of the chalices, just like last year. 

“Rozemyne, double-check every chalice, then securely lock them within their cabinet. Kampfer and Frietack, have the gray priests remove the altar from the ritual chamber, then observe that the divine instruments are brought back to the chapel.” 

“As you wish,” the two men replied. 

At that, we all started doing our tasks. The gray priests once again lined up the mana-filled chalices on the shelf within the High Bishop’s chambers. Once I had made sure that they were all accounted for, I had Fran and Monika look over them with me, and then locked the door to the cabinet. 

As I gave myself a satisfied nod, acknowledging a job well done, a bell rang from behind the front door. It was the bell that Ferdinand’s attendants used. 

“Lady Rozemyne, the High Priest wishes to enter,” Fran informed me. “How shall you reply?” 

This formality was probably just to ensure that the chalices were securely locked away before my door was opened again. 

Upon giving him permission to enter, Ferdinand strode into the room carrying a spear, which he then held out to me. “Rozemyne, fill this with your mana,” he commanded. “This needs to be done as soon as possible.” 

On my second look, I realized that this was a divine instrument that was supposed to be on its way back to the chapel—the spear representing Leidenschaft, the God of Fire. Stunned, I hurriedly gripped onto the instrument, instantly feeling my mana start being drained into the small feystones dotting its hilt. 

“Uh, Ferdinand... Why am I doing this? Why do you need me to fill this spear with my mana?” 

During the Dedication Ritual, all of the mana that had previously been offered up to the divine instruments was poured into chalices, so by the time the ritual was over, each instrument was completely devoid of mana. It would consequently take a significant amount to refill the spear, and while I could personally manage that, I didn’t understand why this was something I needed to do at all. 

“This spear shall be your weapon, since you do not yet have one of your own, correct? And in order to use this spear, you must first fill it with your mana,” Ferdinand replied, giving a shrug as he removed the gloves that he had put on to stop his own mana from flowing into the spear. 

He was making this sound like it was entirely obvious, but we weren’t crossing channels on a fundamental level here. As far as I was concerned, it made no sense whatsoever for me to suddenly start using a divine instrument meant to decorate altars as a personal weapon. 

“I’m aware that I don’t have a weapon, but this is a divine instrument, isn’t it?! This is Leidenschaft’s spear! Should I really be using it as my own personal weapon?!” I exclaimed. 

“We have no other magic tools capable of serving this purpose. I would have had you use a weapon from the Knight’s Order if possible, but you lack the stamina and strength of a regular person. As such, you will have to make do with the divine spear for your gathering,” Ferdinand explained, going on to note that, since my autumn gathering had ended in failure, he wanted to ensure that my winter one succeeded no matter what. This, of course, meant that I needed a weapon, and the only one that he knew I would be able to use was Leidenschaft’s spear. 

“...But this is a divine instrument. Are you sure it’s okay?” I asked, still in disbelief. 

“I have the aub’s permission. And what could possibly be wrong with the High Bishop using something that belongs to the temple? You need a weapon. I provided one. Stop complaining and keep filling it with mana.” 

Honestly, at that point, I genuinely started to feel that I was being the weird one here. I mean, if Sylvester himself was giving his permission as the archduke, then surely this was indeed okay. 

Shrugging off my misgivings, I dedicated the next few hours to pouring my mana into Leidenschaft’s spear. Though I couldn’t help but feel that I was committing a sin of some sort by doing so. 

...O mighty Leidenschaft, I’ll be borrowing your spear for just a little while. I promise to give it back, so please, don’t get mad at me! 

Once the divine spear had been filled with mana, I headed to the orphanage. Ferdinand had mentioned that we would be returning to the castle as soon as was feasible once the Dedication Ritual was over, so this was my only opportunity to go. 

“Gil, Fritz—how is the winter handiwork going?” I asked. 

Once they had both reported on the status of the printed picture books, the karuta, and the playing cards, I went on to tell them about the kids in the playroom. This naturally led to Wilma telling me how the orphans had been doing. 

“The karuta and playing cards are starting to become popular with the noble children, and the picture books were positively received as well. They all loved your art, Wilma. The noble women in particular, of course...” I said, trailing off deliberately. 

Wilma, my co-conspirator who had proven instrumental to the shuriken illustrations, offered a small smile. “May they go undiscovered this time.” 

“Ahaha. And, actually, I’ve thought up a few more tricks.” 

“Why, Lady Rozemyne, the High Priest won’t be at all happy about this,” Wilma said teasingly. 

I returned a wide grin. “It’s okay. I already have strategies to deal with him.” 

“Oh my!” Wilma exclaimed with excitement. By this point, she had an almost impish look in her eyes, a sign that she had fully embraced our mischief. 

While we were talking things over, some nearby girls were busy knitting cloth. They were being taught by Nora, one of the orphans who had moved here from Hasse, since knitting was a staple of winter handiwork there. Marthe was also a skilled knitter despite her young age, and she was teaching Delia beside her. 

Wilma followed my eyes, then smiled warmly. “They are all working hard so that the winter will be a warm one. Nora is much more relaxed, having progressed from needing to be taught everything to being comfortable teaching others.” 

From what I had heard, out of the four orphans from Hasse, Marthe was the one who had adjusted to temple life first, most likely due to her young age. Thore and Rick, on the other hand, had gotten better used to things once they started going out to gather and make paper in the workshop. 

As it turned out, it was Nora, the eldest, who had struggled the most with adapting to the drastic change in environment; the older someone was, the harder it was to break habits. And on top of everything else, being put in a position where she was being taught by kids far younger than herself day after day had completely destroyed her confidence at first. She couldn’t even spend much time with her brother due to the temple’s communal lifestyle, and Wilma mentioned that she had found the girl sitting alone with a sad look on her face more than a few times. 

“She feels a sense of purpose now that she can teach others to knit, and with that, she has finally secured her own place in the orphanage. She smiles a lot more regularly now,” Wilma explained. 

“That’s good. I’m glad to hear that everyone’s getting along just fine. And I hope to hear more good news in the future as well.” 

“Of course, Lady Rozemyne.”

Leidenschaft’s spear had been filled with mana as instructed, and my visit to the orphanage was complete; everything on my to-do list had been checked off. I informed Ferdinand that I was ready to return to the castle whenever, and while we discussed making the move tomorrow, an ordonnanz flew into the room and landed on the desk. 

“Lord Ferdinand, please return at once,” came Karstedt’s voice, carrying an audible sense of urgency. “The Lord of Winter has appeared. It is a schnesturm this year.” 

The ordonnanz repeated the message three times before returning to its feystone form. At that, Ferdinand whipped out his schtappe, tapped the feystone, and chanted the word “ordonnanz.” 

“I shall leave the organization of the hunt to you. Iron out the preparations. I shall be there soon,” Ferdinand said, before swinging his schtappe and sending the ordonnanz off again. His schtappe then disappeared, and he looked at me with a grim expression. “Rejoice, Rozemyne. You might just be harvesting a feystone of the highest quality here. Prepare at once so that we may return to the castle. Dress as you did when gathering in autumn, and take extra care to wear enough warm layers.” 

I raced to my room, paling at the thought that one of the requirements for my winter gathering was to hunt a feybeast. Fran called Ella out of the kitchen and informed her of our upcoming departure, while Rosina also began preparing to leave. My guard knights, who had been with me when I heard the message, were wearing serious expressions as they briskly moved about. Brigitte guarded me as I was changed, while Damuel went to put on his armor. 

Monika and Nicola were the ones changing my clothes. I was dressed in several layers of underclothes to stay warm, a coat, and pants similar to the ones I had worn during my autumn gathering. The coat alone was a bit hard to move in, since it was so thick and warm, but I went ahead and put on another layer regardless; I would be going out to gather my ingredient in the middle of a blizzard that, as far as I could tell, was going to continue for days. The more warm clothes I had on, the better. 

“...Brigitte, what’s the Lord of Winter?” 

“Out of all the feybeasts that appear each winter, the dominant one that grows strongest is called the Lord of Winter. Its mana is remarkably strong and causes blizzards to form all around it. Its presence delays the arrival of spring, so as soon as it appears, almost every knight in the Knight’s Order departs to hunt it, with only a bare minimum of personnel remaining in the castle.” 

Apparently, each year, a strong feybeast called the Lord of Winter appeared. There were many potential feybeasts that could become it, and out of them all, the schnesturm was a particularly nasty one. The fact that I needed to gather its feystone probably meant that the knights would have to hunt it with weapons, like they had done during the Night of Schutzaria. 

“...Am I also going to be hunting the Lord of Winter?” I asked. 

“I believe that we of the Knight’s Order shall weaken it first, at which point you are to land the finishing blow and retrieve its feystone. Fear not, Lady Rozemyne. There will be nothing to worry about with all of us there with you,” Brigitte said with a smile. 

But that didn’t make me feel much better. I really couldn’t imagine myself successfully fighting like Brigitte and Eckhart had back then. 

“All good, Brigitte,” Damuel said once he returned, fully clad in his armor. Brigitte then left to prepare as well. 

Monika and Nicola did my hair, pulled a fluffy fur hat over my head, and then slid the leather gloves that Ferdinand had lent me onto my hands. They were apprentice gloves from the Knight’s Order, designed to allow mana to flow through them, and they morphed to perfectly fit my hands just as the ring magic tools always did. 

“What do you think about the Lord of Winter, Damuel?” I asked. “Do you think that I’ll be able to hunt it?” 

“...Unfortunately, since I was demoted to being an apprentice last year, I have not yet gone on a Lord of Winter hunt. But those who have been assure me that it is quite a fearsome beast.” 

The Lord of Winter hunt occurred while the apprentices were in the Royal Academy, so only adult knights ever participated. But Damuel had been demoted to the rank of an apprentice last autumn, right before his first winter as a knight, and had consequently spent that time guarding me in the temple instead. For that reason, this would be his first time hunting the Lord of Winter as well. 

Everyone finished their preparations quickly, at which point I headed to the exit closest to the Noble’s Gate with Leidenschaft’s spear in hand. It didn’t feel particularly heavy now that I had filled it with my mana and made it my weapon. 

There was a bit of extra space inside, right by the door, where Ferdinand had already formed his highbeast. “Fran, Zahm—open the door on my signal,” he instructed. “Rozemyne, bring forth your highbeast and take everyone with you. Brigitte, ride with her.” 

Fran and Zahm sped to the door where they awaited his signal, while I made my Pandabus and got inside with Ella, Rosina, and Brigitte. 

“Rozemyne, the blizzard will worsen as the Lord of Winter rampages, to the point where it will become nigh impossible to see. I will attempt to fly close to you, but take care not to lose sight of me. Brigitte, do what you can to assist her.” 

“Yes, sir!” 

Ferdinand spun around, his cape whipping behind him, then jumped onto his highbeast more nimbly than I would ever expect from someone wearing a full set of plate armor. He raised his chin and faced the door, before loudly declaring: “Open it!” 

Fran and Zahm put their hands on the doors, pulling them open just a little. Heavy winds and ice immediately burst into the room, blasting the doors all the way open with an enormous cracking sound. 

Ferdinand launched his highbeast outside, facing the blizzard head-on, and I quickly followed suit, my eyes locked on his blue cape. 

We raced out of the temple, and as soon as we had passed the Noble’s Gate, Damuel sped past Lessy to line up next to Ferdinand. Their respective dark-golden and blue capes flapped in front of me, which I used as markers while driving my Pandabus. White snow whipped down from the heavy-looking gray sky, coming at me from every direction and making it impossible to tell which direction the wind was blowing. I probably would have plummeted right toward the ground had it not been for their capes. 

“Lady Rozemyne, please turn slightly to the right. We’re almost at the castle,” Brigitte said, assisting me as navigator from the front seat. Thanks to her help, we arrived safely at the castle without losing sight of our guides. 

I saw Ferdinand send off an ordonnanz, and Norbert opened up the door for us a second later. 

“Ella! Rosina! Hurry into the castle at once! We shall be joining with the Knight’s Order,” Brigitte instructed, and the two women hurried inside through the door that Norbert had opened. 

Once the door had closed behind them, Ferdinand signaled to Brigitte by moving his left arm up and down. We then got back on the move. 

“It seems that the knights have already arrived, so we shall be heading straight to the primary training grounds,” Brigitte said, following Ferdinand’s signals. There were many training grounds being used by the Knight’s Order and each one was sizable, which made sense given that they had to practice fighting on highbeasts. It was impossible for me to distinguish them from one another, however, since they were all as white as the snow blasting through the air. 

Ferdinand descended down onto one of the training grounds. Damuel was waiting by the door on his highbeast like a landmark, so we went inside first. 

“I have arrived,” Ferdinand announced, at which point everyone inside knelt. 

I stepped out of Lessy and stood next to Ferdinand. The claim that the Lord of Winter was dangerous enough to require practically all of the knights in the duchy except the bare minimum left behind for guard duty had apparently been no exaggeration; the training grounds were already packed with rows upon rows of knights. I had heard that there were fifty stationed within the city of Ehrenfest at any given time, but since we had sent a duchy-wide message, there were now about two hundred and fifty gathered here. 

“The Lord of Winter has appeared once again. Archknights, focus all of your energy on severing its limbs. Medknights, eradicate its servants. Layknights, take formation around Rozemyne’s highbeast and dispose of any stragglers.” 

“Yes, sir!” 

“Brigitte, ride with Rozemyne. Once she is in position, join with the medknights. Damuel, operate with the layknights.” 

“Yes, sir!” Damuel replied, immediately racing to join the lined-up knights. 

Ferdinand, watching him go out of the corner of his eye, looked down at me. “Rozemyne, stand by on your highbeast until I come to summon you. Under no circumstances are you to move from your position.” 

“Understood. Um, Ferdinand. May I pray for their success in battle?” I asked. There wasn’t a whole lot that I could do to help, plus it would be easier for me to pray here while it was calm than on a chaotic battlefield. 

Ferdinand looked at the knights with a frown, then gave a slow nod. “I would rather you preserve as much of your mana as possible, but since we are going to be taking the feystone for ourselves this year and depriving them of resources, I suppose it would only be fair.” 

After confirming that I had permission, I poured mana into my ring and prayed that the knights would succeed in defeating the massive feybeast—a creature so strong that the entire Knight’s Order had to join together to fight it. 

“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 soared up into the air from my ring before raining down upon all the knights. It used more mana than I had expected, since there were simply so many present. 

“All knights, prepare!” Ferdinand declared. 

The kneeling knights stood up sharply and began readying their highbeasts, and as I moved to get into mine, Ferdinand called out to me. 

“Rozemyne, that prayer required a considerable amount of mana, did it not? Drink this before the battle begins. Furthermore, keep your highbeast small to preserve your mana.” 

I shrunk Lessy so that he was just big enough for Brigitte and myself, climbed inside, and then looked at the potion that Ferdinand had given me. Mana was absolutely essential for hunting feybeasts, and so he had given me the awful-tasting one that had sacrificed taste for maximum effectiveness. 

I gulped the potion down, holding back tears all the while. In an instant, my exhaustion faded and my mana recovered. The taste was unbearably bitter, but preparing my body for the hunt was much more important. 

“Now, move out!” Ferdinand declared. 

Karstedt and the archknights were the first to leave, with Ferdinand taking the lead as their vanguard. The medknights followed close behind, while I joined them in the middle. 

The knights of the Order could sense powerful mana radiating from the north, and thus approached it together. We were racing our highbeasts toward the source, pushing forward as if taking on the violent blizzard itself. At times, I could hear the clatter of armor as nearby knights turned to look my way; I could guess that they were just trying to get a peek at Lessy, but the noise that their helmets made spooked me every time. 

The closer we got to the powerful mana, the stronger the blizzard became. Eventually, a massive shadow could be seen in the midst of the swirling snow, at which point Ferdinand immediately ordered me to stop. 

“Rozemyne, stay here. Grip your spear and be prepared to jump out at any moment,” Ferdinand said. 

Upon hearing that, Brigitte leapt out of my Pandabus and formed her own highbeast in midair, nimbly landing upon it. As she flew to join the other medknights, Ferdinand whipped his blue cape and joined the line of archknights, while the layknights gathered around me.