Grandfather on the Day of the Baptism
My emotions were a violent storm. Why? Because my granddaughter Rozemyne was much too cute and talented. She had performed the baptism ceremony brilliantly despite her tiny, fragile body and the huge crowd of nobles watching her, and now she was heroically protecting Sylvester’s child.
Splendid work, Rozemyne! That’s my granddaughter for you! To think those nobles would dare bring such petty complaints to you about Wilfried... Had Karstedt and Elvira not told me to keep my distance to avoid accidentally endangering your life, and to avoid interfering with the baptism ceremony you’ve dedicated your all to for Lady Charlotte’s sake, I’d have stepped forth as your grandfather and demolished those hateful mednobles with a single bark!
Elvira had said it would be an issue for Rozemyne to start relying on her strength to solve all her problems like I did, since she had enough mana for that to actually be dangerous. That was just a pain though, as far as I was concerned. It was only natural that those who had power should be free to use it, so I didn’t see what all the fuss was about.
My son Karstedt maintained that this way of thinking was the reason I had been denied the position of archduke, but the reality was that I had intentionally avoided it—not because I wasn’t skilled enough to take on the role, of course, but because that whole business just seemed bothersome to me.
Still, who would have guessed that a child weak enough to have been knocked unconscious by a few snowballs would have enough mana to provide such enormous support to Ehrenfest...
Last winter, I’d stood watch with a large squadron of knights as the children threw snowballs at each other. It truly was a heartwarming sight—that is, until Rozemyne was targeted while trying to make a snowball herself. A few consecutive shots was all it took to knock her out, which terrified not only the knights watching but Wilfried and his friends (who had thrown the snowballs) as well.
After witnessing that shocking display of weakness, I was afraid of getting anywhere near Rozemyne.
Those pitifully small snowballs were enough to knock her unconscious! So much as a touch from me would probably kill her, just as Karstedt fears.
At seventh bell, Rozemyne began leaving the grand hall, saying her farewells to the archducal couple and those close to her along the way. I swiftly moved to the door that she and the children were heading toward, determined to have her speak to me as well.
“Good evening, Lord Bonifatius.”
“May you sleep well with Schlaftraum’s blessing.”
Indeed... My granddaughter truly is the cutest. It’s very frustrating that she can’t call me “Grandfather” in a formal setting like this, but oh well.
The only times Rozemyne had ever called me “Grandfather” were when we first met at her baptism ceremony and during the spring Archduke Conference when she had helped with the Mana Replenishment. Wilfried had never had enough strength to thank me after performing the Replenishment, but Rozemyne would always say, “Grandfather, thank you ever so much,” with that perfect smile on her face.
In retrospect, I hadn’t appreciated how precious my time spent with Rozemyne outside the influence of the public eye really was.
Aah, the next Archduke Conference can’t come soon enough. I hope it lasts longer than usual, too.
While I was deep in thought, one of Wilfried’s attendants rushed back into the grand hall with the boy in his arms, despite them having left just a moment ago. Lamprecht—my grandson and one of Wilfried’s guard knights—was also with them.
Their panic was a sure sign of danger. I instantly scanned the room while using enhancement magic to strengthen my eyesight; nobody I saw seemed to know what was going on.
“There has been an attack in the hall leading to the northern building! The guard knights are currently engaged in battle. At least one of the attackers was wielding a schtappe. Lady Charlotte and Lady Rozemyne are currently isolated on the northern building’s side. We request reinforcements at once!”
“Knight squadrons one through four, go!” Karstedt barked as the knight commander without missing a beat. “Everyone else, seal off the grand hall! Consider all nobles not here potential suspects!”
The knights present immediately started moving to secure the grand hall.
“Karstedt, I’m going to rescue Rozemyne!” I shouted.
Not only was I the son of the archduke from two generations ago, but I had also once served in the Knight’s Order. It was for those reasons that I continued to assist the archduke even during my retirement. I had admittedly used to avoid work, but now I was actively taking on as many duties as possible, all to ensure Rozemyne’s safety as best I could. She would almost certainly say, “Thank you, Grandfather. I love you!” in response to all my help, and I wouldn’t allow anyone to take that away from me.
“Father?!” Karstedt cried in a panic, but Sylvester shouted out before he could even try to stop me.
“Go with him, Ferdinand! Stop Bonifatius from going too far!”
Ferdinand sighed. “You would ask the impossible of me...?”
I ignored the conversation going on behind me, bursting through the doors of the grand hall as they were still being sealed and sprinting to the northern building. I used magical enhancement to strengthen my legs, blasting past the knights who had rushed to provide support ahead of me.
I may be sixty years old, but those young’uns won’t outdo me yet! I’ll arrive there before anyone else!
It was quite some distance from the grand hall to the northern building. As I sprinted down the halls with my enhanced legs, the thought crossed my mind that I could have moved even faster with a highbeast like Rozemyne’s.
“Rozemyne! Where are you?!” I shouted as I turned corner after corner.
Soon enough, I came across the knights fighting against black-clad enemies. I enhanced my eyesight at once, but I couldn’t see Rozemyne or Charlotte no matter where I looked. The other guard knights had most likely taken them to the northern building, but I wasn’t going to leave until I had confirmed their safety myself.
“ARE YOU SAFE, ROZEMYYYNE?!” I roared, leaping onto one of the black-clad attackers’ backs and crushing his skull with a single swing of my enhanced arm. He fell to the ground with a thump, and then his entire body blew into pieces. “Ngh?! What?! He exploded on his own!”
Blood and organs sprayed across the hall along with shreds of the attacker’s black clothes, the shock waves of the blast sending both the other assailants and the knights falling to the ground.
Some knights started to throw up as they were smacked in the face with chunks of meat, the foul stench of blood overwhelming their senses. I noticed their faltering out of the corner of my eye and instantly barked out an order.
“Don’t let your guards down, you idiots!”
My shout willed them back to their feet, but no sooner had they regained their footing than the remaining black-clad attackers started to explode one by one in a chain reaction of sorts. I was used to my enemies exploding when I punched them or struck them with weapons, but this was my first time seeing them blow up by themselves.
“What’s happening here...? I don’t understand it, but I won’t protest our enemies dying on their own. You there. Is Rozemyne safe?”
“...I don’t know. Lady Charlotte was kidnapped, and the last thing I saw was Lady Rozemyne chasing after her on her highbeast.”
“You useless idiot!”
I scolded the guard knight, then raced toward the flung-open window. There was no point in staying now that the enemies had self-destructed; my job wasn’t to gather information to pin down the culprits, but to rescue Rozemyne.
I reached the window just as Rozemyne’s guard knight Angelica returned, carrying a very pale Charlotte.
“Aah! It is good to see you safe, Charlotte. Where is Rozemyne?”
“She was kidnapped by someone. She used her own guard knights to save me, and...” Charlotte trailed off, her eyes welling up with tears.
I turned to Angelica with a wide-eyed stare. As a guard knight, she promptly explained the situation in practical terms.
“Cornelius is chasing after them now. I plan to join him once Lady Charlotte’s safety is assured. Lord Bonifatius, please take care of her for me.”
Angelica tried handing Charlotte to me, but I ignored her. It was somewhat of a struggle even with my enhanced eyes, but I could see Cornelius descending into the forest way off in the distance.
“Rozemyne is my granddaughter. I will go in your place!”
I pushed Angelica aside and leapt out the window into the night sky, creating my highbeast in midair and landing on its back. Having it flap its wings would create too much noise, so I glided through the night air while moving them as little as possible.
I focused carefully, trying to pick up every sound that I could. The forest spread so far that it completely hid the movement of servants, but I heard the hoofbeats of horses rushing toward the front gate some distance away from where Cornelius had landed.
There!
My eyes widened as I soared through the air, no longer concerned about making noise as my highbeast flapped its wings hard. I poured an immense amount of mana into it so that I could move at maximum speed, the cold night air whipping past me as I raced toward my destination.
As I closed in on the kidnappers, I started filling my schtappe with mana to prevent them from escaping any farther. White hot sparks flashed at its tip as more and more mana accumulated within.
By the time the ball of mana was bigger than my head, I had gotten close enough to see the running horse without even needing to enhance my eyesight. I swung my schtappe down, aiming in its path.
The ball of mana soared through the night sky with a tail of white light, then sank into the trees. A moment later, a loud explosion resounded through the air.
The forest was suddenly abuzz with the cries of animals and birds, all scattering away from the freshly formed crater among the trees. The horse began a mad dash as well, no doubt terrified by the sudden explosion.
“ARE YOU THE FOOL WHO KIDNAPPED MY ONLY GRANDDAUGHTEEER?!”
I dove down on my highbeast toward the horse, all the while unleashing a wave of mana. It froze in place, unable to move as it took my Crushing head-on, then started frothing at the mouth.
The man who had been gripping onto the horse’s reins was thrown from its back. I crushed his skull in anger and started searching for Rozemyne.
And then I spotted it—a bag tied to the side of the horse.
I cut the rope in an instant, then used my enhanced leg to kick away the horse as it fell toward me. It soared through the air before hitting a tree.
“Rozemyne, are you in there?!”
The bag was so light that I struggled to believe a child could be inside. But after shaking it about a little, there was no doubt in my mind.
“No matter how much I shake her, she isn’t responding! Don’t tell me she’s dead?! Rozemyne, I’m getting you out of there right now!”
Although I strained my ears, she gave no response at all. The blood draining from my face, I hurriedly grabbed the edge of the bag and shook it hard, desperate to get her out. The weight inside shifted around, then the bag began to open.
By the time I realized what would happen next, it was too late. The bag ripped open and Rozemyne was thrown into the air, rapidly spinning in a direction that I hadn’t anticipated at all. I reached out, but she was already too far away.
“Gwah?! Rozemyne is flying?!”
An instant later, Ferdinand—who had evidently been following me—caught Rozemyne in midair moments before she slammed into a tree. She was safe now thanks to him, but my heart had leapt so suddenly into my throat that I’d half expected it to shoot out my mouth.
Ferdinand determined that she had been forced to consume a strange potion that was lethally poisonous to her, then departed for the temple with her to prepare an antidote. In all honesty, I didn’t want to entrust my cute granddaughter to the temple; in fact, I didn’t want to entrust her to another man either, whether he was her guardian or not.
But even if I had taken her to my estate, I wouldn’t have known how much of the antidote to give her, and the castle was no doubt in such a state of confusion right now that her treatment would have been delayed for who knew how long. It was also true that, as my son Karstedt had warned, I might accidentally kill Rozemyne just by touching her.
That sure was dangerous a moment ago...
I wiped the sweat from my brow as the image of Rozemyne flying toward the tree flashed through my mind. The most I could do for her now was search for the other horse with Cornelius and identify the culprit.
“Cornelius! Follow me!”
“Yes, Grandfather.”
The other horse had gone berserk as well, so we were able to pin the criminal down quickly enough. But this man was also a servant, not a schtappe-wielding noble. Given that Cornelius had seen a mana net ensnare Rozemyne, there had to be a noble among them.
“Who ordered you to do this?” I asked.
“I do not know. A noble dressed in black told me to do as he said, and so I obeyed.”
I probed the area for the presence of others, but I couldn’t sense anyone. For now, we had no choice but to take this servant with us.
As we tied him up, the red light of a knight requesting assistance flew into the air. I exchanged a look with Cornelius, then hefted the servant over my shoulder and raced deeper into the forest on my highbeast.
Upon reaching where the rott had been launched, we found that Angelica had tied up a black-clad noble.
“Lord Bonifatius, he’s too heavy for me to carry. Could I ask for your assistance?”
“Excellent work, Angelica. Just leave it to me. Now... what fool dared to lay a hand on my granddaughter?”
I gripped the cloth covering the criminal’s face and forcefully tore it off. He let out a sudden yelp of pain; apparently I had managed to grab a chunk of his flesh as well. The man looked up at me with a pitiful expression. I recognized him.
“Viscount Joisontak...”
“Lord Bonifatius, I—!”
“Silence!” I barked.
Viscount Joisontak was related to Karstedt’s late third wife, Rozemary. We were the most distant of relatives, but the sight of someone connected to my family participating in this crime made the blood rush to my head. I gritted my teeth and tightly gripped my schtappe, stabbing it around to disperse the anger compelling me to beat this man to death. He shuddered with fear the moment I looked down at him.
“State your excuses to Aub Ehrenfest; I have no desire to hear them. I am just barely resisting the urge to rip your head from your shoulders and smash it into pieces.”
I bound Viscount Joisontak with magic, tied him to the servant, then brought the two of them back to the castle.
“Cornelius, report this to Aub Ehrenfest. I will keep watch so that this fool cannot escape. Angelica, stay with me. Not even I can risk moving alone.”
“Understood.”
Upon arriving at the prison, I tossed Viscount Joisontak into a cell made for holding criminal nobles and placed schtappe-sealing bracelets onto his wrists. Then, after listening to the basics of his story, I gagged him and finished locking him away.
“Angelica, we will be standing watch until Aub Ehrenfest summons him,” I said, dropping down into a nearby chair. She looked between our prisoners and me, then sadly slouched her shoulders.
“You’re so strong, Lord Bonifatius... I was using physical enhancements, but Lady Rozemyne was still kidnapped from right in front of me.”
“You rescued Charlotte though, right? From what I understand of the situation, Rozemyne is the most at fault for ignoring Cornelius and flying off on her own. She was too reckless for someone who knows not how to protect herself. It’s very possible that Charlotte would have died if not for your skill with your enhancements. You did well.”
Angelica was fairly strong for a mednoble, and she used physical enhancement magic at a higher level than most others. Her current technique was certainly wasteful, as she needed to fill her entire body with mana to strengthen it, but even then, she was doing very well for someone her age.
Her face clouded over at my praise. “Is that really true? When I dedicate my mana to enhancements, I rarely have enough left over for anything else. And even when I do, I can’t do any other magic at the same time. If only I were able to summon my highbeast while using enhancements... Then I could have saved Lady Charlotte on my own, and Cornelius could have dedicated his efforts to protecting Lady Rozemyne,” she lamented, biting her lip and regretfully lowering her blue eyes.
“Had you failed to do something that was within your capabilities, then that would absolutely be worth reflecting on. But there’s no use bemoaning something that you knew you couldn’t do from the very beginning, since no amount of thinking will change that fact.”
As a member of the archducal family, I had a greater mana capacity than most. On top of that, my many years of using enhancements had made me skilled enough to focus them, strengthening only the parts that I needed to. This now came as naturally as breathing to me, but using enhancements as a whole wasn’t easy. One could of course train to be more efficient, using the smallest amount of mana possible to enhance themselves, but it otherwise required one to have an enormous capacity.
Mastering enhancements was a staggering challenge, and so few archnobles bothered to use them, much less mednobles.
“If there’s something you cannot do, all you need to worry about is learning how to do it. The fastest route to improving enhancements is to increase your mana capacity, but that is an eternal struggle in itself...”
Angelica had more mana than the average mednoble, but it would be hard for her to increase her capacity any further than she already had. I grumbled to myself, trying to think of a solution, when she slowly began to shake her head.
“I’m currently increasing my mana capacity using the Rozemyne Compression Method. It hasn’t helped much yet, but it will in the future.”
“The Rozemyne Compression Method?! What in the world is that?!”
I balked as Angelica gave me an explanation; it seemed that Rozemyne had thought up a new method of compressing mana. A short while before winter socializing had begun, the guard knights of all those in the archducal family except Wilfried were taught it, in addition to a portion of the Knight’s Order. Wilfried’s guard knights weren’t yet included, since the Ivory Tower incident had occurred so recently and nobody knew what exactly was going to happen next.
“I haven’t heard anything about this mana compression method!”
“I really don’t think you need any more mana, Lord Bonifatius...”
“Shut up. As Rozemyne’s grandfather, it is absolutely necessary that I learn about this before others do. What manner of compression method is it?”
Angelica placed a hand on her cheek and tilted her head. “I’m bound by a magic contract not to tell anyone, so you’ll have to petition the archducal couple for Lady Rozemyne to teach you directly. She’s the only one who can answer your questions.”
Internally rejoicing over this new excuse to meet Rozemyne, I carved “Have Rozemyne teach me her mana compression method” into my mental schedule. Then, I began to stroke my beard.
“Alright, Angelica—if your mana capacity is going to increase, I’ll train you myself. I’ll spare no effort to ensure that Rozemyne’s guard knights can protect her well.”
“Really?” Angelica asked eagerly, her blue eyes shining with anticipation. “That makes me so happy, Lord Bonifatius. Please do!”
We exchanged a firm handshake, and just like that, I had acquired a new disciple.
“Since you can already do a full-body enhancement, how about you try using partial ones? It’s important to be able to focus your mana into a specific part of your body to minimize waste.”
“I see,” came an unexpected but familiar voice. “I would benefit greatly from my master conserving her mana, but is there a certain trick to doing these partial enhancements?”
For some reason, when I began to teach Angelica about enhancements, it was her sword who replied—and in Ferdinand’s voice, too. I couldn’t help but stare at it.
“What is that...?”
“Stenluke. He can speak now, thanks to Lady Rozemyne gracing me with her mana.”
It seemed that Angelica had obtained a talking manablade after Rozemyne had contributed to it. It could even memorize what it heard.
“Angelica, I would like that sword.”
“I cannot give it to you. Stenluke is my precious manablade, and I worked hard for Lady Rozemyne to donate her mana to him. Would you be so willing to give away a gift that you yourself received from her, Lord Bonifatius?”
“...Good point. My mistake.”
I understood how she felt in an instant; I would never be able to give away a present from my darling granddaughter.
That said, I would like a gift from Rozemyne as well. Perhaps I should raise a manablade myself and likewise have her pour some mana into it. Though I would much rather it speak in her voice than Ferdinand’s...
Just as I was starting to seriously consider building my own manablade, Cornelius came in to get us. “Grandfather, the interrogation room has been prepared.”
“Give your report first. What’s the situation?”
“Sir! Since the culprit has been captured, the aub has allowed the nobles in the grand hall to return home, acknowledging that they all have alibis. They got into their carriages and promptly left while the Knight’s Order kept watch for any suspicious movement. As for the nobles not in the grand hall... most were attendants serving the archducal family. They were all interrogated nonetheless, but as they were serving in the archducal couple’s chambers and looking after the archduke’s children, their alibis were quickly confirmed as well,” Cornelius reported. “I must also announce that Lord Ferdinand has just returned from the temple.”
“Angelica, enhance only your arm as best you can and carry this,” I said, standing up and handing her the bound servant. “Follow me.”
“Yes, Teacher!” she replied, accepting the man with a big nod. She tried enhancing just her arm, and while the mana still flowed throughout her entire body, it seemed to accumulate more in her arm than anywhere else. I considered that a success, at least to some degree.
“Teacher...?” Cornelius repeated, looking between us.
Angelica proudly puffed out her chest while carrying the criminal. “Lord Bonifatius has accepted me as a disciple. He’ll be training me from now on.”
“You’re training under him of all people? I can’t believe this. Are you insane?” Cornelius asked, completely aghast.
“Silence, weakling! You would dare say that when you always run from my training like a coward?!”
Cornelius faltered, then narrowed his eyes at me in annoyance. “On the contrary, I haven’t run from your training even once, Grandfather. In fact, have you ever allowed me to run away?”
“Hmph! Of course not. Ah, Cornelius. I will train you as well. Rozemyne has no need for guard knights who are incapable of protecting her.”
I wanted to protect Rozemyne myself, but being the son of the archduke from two generations ago meant that I was a member of the archducal family. My status did not allow me to serve as my granddaughter’s guard knight, so all I could do to help protect her was train her guard knights.
“Grandfather, does this mean you also intend to train Damuel and Brigitte?”
“Of course. The more strong knights Rozemyne has, the better.”
I thought about it for a short while, then realized that if Charlotte were kidnapped and Rozemyne’s newly trained guard knights went to her rescue, then Rozemyne herself would once again end up unguarded. That completely defeated the point.
Perhaps I should just retrain every single guard knight serving the archducal family...
I pondered how best to train them on my way to the archduke’s office, dragging the noble culprit behind me all the while. We soon reached a staircase, and he yelped in pain as his head beat against every single step. It was annoyingly loud, but I ignored him; I needed to focus on planning out a training regimen.
Rozemyne, I’m going to do all I can to make the guard knights serving the archducal family stronger.
When we reached the archduke’s office, a guard knight standing outside opened the door for us. “Lord Bonifatius has arrived,” he announced. Cornelius stepped in first, then me with Viscount Joisontak, then Angelica with the servant.
In the room were the brains of Ehrenfest: the archducal couple; Ferdinand; and Rozemyne’s parents, who were standing by the back wall. Along the right wall were five higher-ups of the Knight’s Order and one guard knight from each member of the archducal family, and along the left were Norbert and Rihyarda—the two managers of the castle’s attendants—plus the archducal couple’s scholar-officials.
I looked around at everyone gathered, noting that their eyes were all drawn to Viscount Joisontak. I gave Sylvester a nod.
“At your orders, Aub Ehrenfest, I have arrived.”
“Good work, Bonifatius,” Sylvester replied.
I looked toward Ferdinand. “Before the interrogation begins, allow me to ask... Is Rozemyne well?”
“Her life is no longer in danger, but I think it best that we refrain from discussing any details until the room has been cleared; there is no need for us to share undue information with a criminal.”
Ferdinand made it sound as though he were referring to Viscount Joisontak, but his eyes made it clear that he was actually suggesting someone gathered here might be involved with the criminals. Sensing that, I had no choice but to postpone asking about Rozemyne.
“Now then, Bonifatius—tell us what happened after you rushed out of the grand hall,” Sylvester said. And so began the interrogation.
I explained what had happened after I exited the grand hall, detailing how I had arrived at the battle before the other reinforcements due to my enhancements, crushed the skull of an enemy with a single punch, rescued Rozemyne, captured the servant, and then followed a rott to where Angelica had captured Viscount Joisontak.
“The servant appears to have only been following orders given to him by a black-clad noble. He knows only that he was to take a bag to a crestless carriage nearest to where he and the other servants work.”
“Aub, there were indeed such carriages located there, just as Lord Bonifatius says,” confirmed the knights who had observed the nobles going home.
Crestless carriages were for transporting attendants and servants. There were particular marks left on them so that the servants could still identify which carriage was theirs, but those marks were decided on an individual level, so outsider nobles wouldn’t be able to identify them.
“Once all the nobles in the grand hall were gone, only Joisontak’s crested carriage and three carriages without crests remained,” one knight continued. “We expect that he brought the black-clad attackers along with his attendants and servants.”
“...However, one of those crestless carriages was far removed from the others,” another added. “Even if he had successfully kidnapped Lady Rozemyne, it would have been quite noticeable.”
The knights all spoke as though Joisontak’s guilt was already confirmed. That was understandable, given that he had been the only noble absent out of all those in the grand hall. The viscount, however, was shaking his head hard with tears in his eyes, unable to speak due to his gag but nonetheless trying to protest their claims.
There was no denying that Joisontak was guilty of a kidnapping, but something about his desperation caught my attention. I looked at Sylvester. He seemed to share my confusion, and waved a hand to silence the knights.
“Wait. I would like to hear Viscount Joisontak’s perspective as well.”
No sooner was his gag removed than Joisontak frantically cried out. “Aub Ehrenfest, I have but one crested carriage and two crestless carriages. I know nothing about the carriage that was far removed from the others. Furthermore, I did not kidnap Lady Rozemyne. Is it not true that I only kidnapped Lady Charlotte?”
Viscount Joisontak was adamant that he was not involved in Rozemyne’s kidnapping whatsoever. In fact, he was so desperate to make that point clear that he spoke openly about everything he had actually done.
“Thoughts, Angelica?”
“It’s true. Viscount Joisontak kidnapped Lady Charlotte, not Lady Rozemyne. After he tossed her away, he escaped to the east, putting him a considerable distance away from the south where Lady Rozemyne was rescued. I believe it is unreasonable to say that he is responsible for both.”
A buzz ran through the room at Angelica’s words, and Sylvester’s expression hardened.
“In other words, there is another criminal among the nobility?”
“I suppose it would technically be possible that he turned south after fleeing to the east, captured Lady Rozemyne’s highbeast, forced her to drink the potion, handed her over to the servant, then immediately fled back east to the management building...” Angelica stated with a serious expression, but everyone there knew that was something no normal human would be capable of.
I thought back to where Viscount Joisontak had been captured. It certainly was far away from where Cornelius had descended into the forest. Given how difficult it was to use a highbeast with so many trees blocking its wings, it was impossible for Viscount Joisontak to have committed both kidnappings.
Perhaps I would have just barely been able to pull off something like that, assuming I used my enhancements to their maximum ability and sprinted at full speed, but it was flat-out impossible for Viscount Joisontak. Were he capable of that level of enhancement, he never would have been captured by Angelica.
“Viscount Joisontak, who did you work with?” Sylvester asked, lightly drumming his fingers against his desk as he turned his gaze from Angelica to him.
“I worked alone,” the viscount replied. “Considering the risk of someone else leaking the plan, I deemed that more reliable.”
So he said, but it was clear he had been manipulated into doing this by someone else. Viscount Joisontak simply did not have it in him to think up and execute such a large-scale plan.
“In that case, Viscount Joisontak, explain in detail all that you have done.”
The account that Joisontak proceeded to give was ridiculous enough to induce a room-wide headache. His thoughts were so foolish that even I, as someone who was not really known for thinking things through, found myself at a complete loss for words. It was no wonder then that Ferdinand, a person who actually specialized in concocting detailed plots whenever he wanted something done, had frozen in place with his hands pressed against his temples.
To summarize, Viscount Joisontak had planned to kidnap one of the archduke’s children and hide them in the management building he had discovered in the forest during the hunting tournament. After capturing Wilfried or Charlotte, he would have told Rozemyne about the building and joined her in rescuing them to earn her favor. In the case that he kidnapped Rozemyne herself, he would have arrived to free her before anyone else, thereby earning her gratitude.
It was unbelievable.
How did he intend to tell Rozemyne where they were when he hasn’t even been permitted to speak to her? And if she herself were kidnapped, I obviously would have arrived to rescue her before anyone else. What an idiot.
He had used black-clad Devouring servants to stall the guard knights, assuming that his involvement would go entirely undetected as he had hidden them in crestless carriages and planned to blow them up once he had escaped. It was a thoughtless, dead-end plan filled with more holes than I could count.
On top of that, this fool spent very little time in the Noble’s Quarter, so he hadn’t known that Rozemyne’s highbeast could fly through the air. Her chasing after him was something that he hadn’t even considered, so he threw Charlotte aside and fled in an attempt to avoid getting caught. But Angelica was able to apprehend him—another thing that he hadn’t predicted at all.
In the end, Joisontak really hadn’t thought that Rozemyne would love her adoptive sister enough to risk her life trying to rescue her, given that the two had only just met during the baptism ceremony.
My head ached as he described how the basic premise of his plot had been turned upside down. He had been stupid and reckless beyond words. With an imbecile like this rampaging about, the man who had kidnapped Rozemyne must have had an easy time hiding his momentary involvement.
Elvira let out a thoroughly exasperated sigh. “Rozemyne is the Saint of Ehrenfest—a compassionate young woman who shows kindness even to orphans. Did you not know that, despite proclaiming to be her family?”
“Lady Rozemyne is the daughter of my little sister Rozemary, which makes her my nie—”
“You are mistaken, Viscount Joisontak,” Elvira interrupted with an icy cold smile, her near-black eyes trained on him in a quiet stare. “You are not her family. Rozemyne is my daughter. I attended her baptism ceremony as her mother, and she respects me as such.”
Newborns were only recognized as noble children at their baptism ceremony, and those who interacted with them during it were firmly established as their mother and father. It wasn’t rare for an especially skilled and mana-rich child of a concubine to be baptized as the child of a first wife, for example, but the lack of a blood relation meant it was rare for them to develop a positive relationship.
“I am truly glad that Rozemyne was born with no connection to you whatsoever; it would simply be too sad for her to be related to someone who kidnaps and poisons her despite believing himself to be her uncle,” Elvira remarked. “She has no need for self-proclaimed family members who do nothing but harm her. Surely you understand how I feel as her mother?”
I could see the deep frustration lurking beneath Elvira’s composed smile as she firmly cut all remaining ties with Rozemary’s side of the family. Now that she had a just cause, she would no doubt eliminate them without mercy. Elvira had long suffered due to Karstedt’s third wife; I knew this for a fact, since she had often come to me to discuss matters while Karstedt was away.
Of course, I also had no intention of showing mercy to those who had endangered my cute granddaughter’s life. I was barely able to hold back from crushing the man’s skull to bits as we spoke. The sooner he was dead, the better.
“Given that you poisoned the adopted daughter of the archduke, I imagine you will be executed posthaste,” Elvira continued.
“I did not poison her, Lady Elvira! Why would I ever bring harm to Lady Rozemyne?! She is my niece!”
“She is nothing to you. Furthermore, regardless of whether or not you harmed Rozemyne, you attacked the castle and brought harm to Lady Charlotte, did you not?”
The viscount hung his head; his crimes were clear enough that having him executed was simply a matter of course. But we still did not know which noble had manipulated him from the shadows and harmed Rozemyne directly.
“Karstedt, did you confirm the identity of every noble in the grand hall after it was sealed?” I asked. As the commander of the Knight’s Order, he had most likely managed the knights there while I was gone.
He gave a serious nod. “Yes. Everyone was checked, including those who returned from the bathroom. Nobody else was outside.”
The knights lined up along the wall all nodded in agreement; the Knight’s Order had checked over every noble in the grand hall to confirm their alibis.
Sylvester fixed Joisontak with a piercing gaze that made it clear no lies would go undetected. “Viscount Joisontak, did you consciously work with any co-conspirators?”
“...No, my lord, I did not.”
It was then that Ferdinand slowly began to speak. He had been listening silently up until this point with a finger pressed against his temple. “What I am curious about are those who attacked the castle near the northern building. Were they truly your personal soldiers?”
“Lord Ferdinand, may I request permission to speak?” came a voice. It was Damuel, one of Lady Rozemyne’s guard knights, looking up with steeled resolve.
It was rare for layknights to even ask for permission to speak in a meeting like this, but Ferdinand immediately allowed it.
“There is no doubt in my mind that they were Count Bindewald’s personal soldiers,” Damuel explained. “I checked their rings in the middle of the battle, and while my word alone may not be enough, they are the same ones I saw at the temple.”
Count Bindewald was the criminal archnoble from Ahrensbach who had used forged documents from Veronica to enter the city without the archduke’s permission. He then attacked the archduke’s secretly adopted child, Rozemyne, and his half-brother, Ferdinand.
A stir ran through the room.
“Count Bindewald’s? Surely you must be joking...” a knight murmured, bemused.
“He is not,” Karstedt said, speaking up in support. “Damuel has served as Rozemyne’s guard knight since before her baptism. He was there when Count Bindewald attempted to kidnap her.”
Ferdinand nodded. “Did anyone else notice the rings?”
Some of the guard knights who had participated in the brawl did notice the rings on the black-clad attackers, but none had noticed the crest. What’s more, according to the knights who had gathered evidence at the scene of the crime, no rings had survived the explosions. The observation of a single laynoble in the heat of battle was hardly strong evidence, but it seemed to be enough for Ferdinand.
“Viscount Joisontak, where did you get those soldiers? Why were they in your possession? Given their rings, they should belong to Count Bindewald.”
“I-I have no idea. Giebe Gerlach gave them to me some time ago, saying that he no longer had a need for them. That’s all. I had no idea they were connected to a criminal from another duchy...”
Viscount Joisontak’s eyes were wide open in shock—he truly had just been a puppet manipulated into this. If we wanted any more worthwhile information from him, there was not much more we could do other than investigate his memories directly.
“...That is enough. We are done here. As you laid your hands on a member of the archducal family, your execution will not be up for debate,” Sylvester said. He gestured for Viscount Joisontak to be taken away, and two knights stepped forward at once to remove him. “Summon Giebe Gerlach to me tomorrow.”
“Yes, sir!”
Giebe Gerlach oversaw a province located next to that of Count Leisegang—the home province of my wife. I knew through her that the Gerlachs and the Leisegangs had been embroiled in an intense conflict for many years. I dug through my memories, searching for any other worthwhile information.
Now that I think about it, I remember my wife mentioning that Giebe Gerlach’s wife had invited Georgine to a tea party...
Giebe Gerlach was summoned for questioning the next day. Unlike the night before, there were considerably fewer people in the room: the archducal couple, Ferdinand, Karstedt, myself, and five higher-ups in the Knight’s Order.
“Now then, Giebe Gerlach—I have a question for you.”
“Yes, my lord?” Gerlach replied. While he seemed confident and at ease, I could see his slightly soft belly tremble slightly. He was no well-trained knight.
He’s a good height, though. He could be quite the fighter if only he trained a little. Good grief... What a waste of good youth. Take inspiration from my abs, young man!
As I placed a hand on my well-trained abs, considering whether the scholars needed to participate in my training as well, Giebe Gerlach blinked as though he didn’t at all understand why he had been summoned.
“Why were you in possession of Count Bindewald’s soldiers?” Sylvester asked.
“I do not recall having ownership of any such things.”
“You are aware of the attack near the northern building last night, correct? The soldiers used once belonged to Count Bindewald.”
“May I ask what that has to do with me?” the viscount asked, crossing his arms with a peaceful smile as though to say that he didn’t understand the line of questioning at all. He intended to play dumb for as long as possible.
Sylvester returned a smile of his own. “We captured the criminal responsible for the attack, and he said that he received the soldiers from you, Giebe Gerlach. It is only natural that I would call you over to be questioned. And I do believe that your province is on good terms with Count Bindewald, is it not?”
“Oho, did he now...? I must say that I am quite the victim here,” Giebe Gerlach replied, blinking dramatically. He then shook his head, looking around the room for sympathy. “It is true that I was on good terms with Count Bindewald and received soldiers from him, but at no point did I own them myself.”
“Oh? Continue.”
“As you wish. At the time, Count Bindewald had supposedly been permitted to enter the city, but it would have been improper for him to bring so many soldiers, so he decided to leave them in my province before his departure. He then committed a crime, as you know, and was imprisoned. Those related to him in Ahrensbach must have been punished somehow, as they stopped contacting me entirely.”
“And?”
“Feeding and housing his soldiers was a strain on my expenses, but I could not simply cancel their contracts while Count Bindewald still lived. And so, I offered them to Viscount Joisontak, informing him that they would still be fine servants even if their contracts limited their value. I did not even consider that he would use them to cause trouble within the castle.”
Ah. This man is a culprit as well...
The thought struck me out of nowhere. I couldn’t explain why, but my gut was telling me he was guilty. Beneath his peaceful-looking smile was something more malicious—a nasty smugness that filled me with extreme disgust. I could have alleviated that feeling by beating his head in, but I had spent my entire life being warned again and again not to act purely on instinct. It was important to first have some justification that would be deemed acceptable by noble society.
“It is true that I gave Viscount Joisontak the soldiers, but I have nothing to do with this incident. As the Knight’s Order has confirmed, I was in the grand hall. I knew nothing of the plan, nor that it would be executed last night,” Giebe Gerlach said confidently.
The knights had indeed verified that he was present in the grand hall during the attack. There was no doubting he had caused trouble by giving the black-clad soldiers away, but that alone wasn’t enough to accuse him of directly harming the archduke’s children.
An infuriating arrogance burned in Giebe Gerlach’s eyes, as though the matter were already settled. Everyone here surely had a bad feeling about him, but his alibi was genuine, so nobody here could challenge him further.
I knew he was the criminal, but how could I prove it...? I desperately tried to figure out how he could have been responsible for Rozemyne’s poisoning without compromising his alibi. Thinking like this wasn’t normally my job, but there had to have been some way for him to do it.
What would I have done if I weren’t capable of enhancing magic...?
I crossed my arms, trying to consider as much as possible: the grand hall being sealed, the viscount’s alibi, where I had saved Rozemyne, where Cornelius had initially entered the forest... In the meantime, the interrogation continued as I thought.
“Giebe Gerlach, was Viscount Joisontak the only person you gave Count Bindewald’s soldiers to?” Ferdinand asked.
The giebe replied with an immediate nod. “Yes, he is the only one.”
“So you no longer have any of his soldiers?” Ferdinand continued, deeply furrowing his brow.
“Of course. I no longer have any of the count’s soldiers in my possession,” he replied, his smile broadening and his eyes gleaming with a notable nastiness. Ferdinand gave a thin smile in return.
“That will do,” Sylvester interjected. He then jutted his chin toward the door. “You may leave,” he said to Giebe Gerlach.
The giebe gave a humble bow and then exited. Only once the door was completely shut did I turn to Sylvester.
“Aub Ehrenfest,” I said, my eyes flitting to the tapestry behind him. Through it was the Mana Replenishment hall; I was trying to signal that I wanted to discuss something with him that could be known only to members of the archducal family.
Sylvester noticed my gesture and stood up with a small nod. “I am going to enter the Mana Replenishment hall with Bonifatius. Karstedt, guard the office in my absence. Everyone else, please wait until we return.”
And so Sylvester and I entered the Mana Replenishment hall. The feystone containing the divine colors of the gods turned in the midst of the pure-white space. The moment we were inside, Sylvester dropped his solemn archduke expression and allowed his exhaustion to show on his face. I too dropped my formal airs, relaxing my shoulders.
“What’ve you got for me, Uncle?”
“You said that the grand hall was sealed, yes? Was the entire hall sealed?”
Sylvester, probably remembering Giebe Gerlach’s attitude from earlier, gave a frustrated nod. “Yeah, the Knight’s Order sealed off the entire hall. What’re you getting at here?” he asked, knitting his brow. There was a mix of emotions in his dark-green eyes—annoyance at being doubted, but also hope at the thought I might have noticed something important.
“Including the passages for servants and the secret exit known only to archdukes and their successors?”
Sylvester widened his eyes with shock, then looked up slightly as he tried to recall exactly what had transpired in the grand hall. “The servant passageways were sealed off, as I remember, but not the secret exit.”
Secret exits were generally known only to the archduke; they were such critical escape routes that not even the Knight’s Order was informed of their existence. As such, it was hard to imagine that any guards had been posted on either end of the passageway in the grand hall: while they had been ordered to secure it, they couldn’t seal off something that was unknown to them.
“I found Rozemyne around the area of the forest frequented by servants, but Cornelius had descended before me and found the feystone for her highbeast much farther away. If we operate under the assumption Giebe Gerlach handed Rozemyne to the servants and then had them leave by horse, he must have at one point been around where Cornelius descended.”
Once I explained precisely where Cornelius had entered the forest, a look of complete disbelief arose on Sylvester’s face. I continued.
“These are ancient memories, so I cannot be too sure of them, but... my father once told me there is a passageway leading from the grand hall to that area of the forest. Is this true?”
“It is. But isn’t that passageway supposed to be known only to archdukes?” Sylvester asked with a frown, admitting its existence while giving me a look that demanded an explanation.
“I’m a bit older than your father, remember? I too received a full archduke’s education.”
It had happened back when my little brother—Sylvester’s father who would later become the archduke—was still young. My father, the reigning archduke, had become critically ill, and while he did eventually recover after a hard-fought battle, I had received a full archduke’s education to preserve the line of succession in the case that he died before my little brother came of age.
“Is there any chance that Georgine leaked the information to the viscount? This is only a gut feeling, but it certainly could have happened...”
“Impossible! Georgine, knowing the existence of the passageway? Do you not remember how much she agonized over losing the archducal seat because of me?” Sylvester asked, his confusion clear on his face. It was then that I realized his understanding of the situation wasn’t quite the same as everyone else’s.
Sylvester seemed to think that Georgine had been married to another duchy instead of becoming the archduchess, much like many unremarkable members of the archducal family were. But to those who knew her from birth, she was a highly skilled woman who had been trained to take the archducal seat from the very beginning.
Georgine had only been wed to another duchy because she was so obsessed with becoming the next archduchess that the archducal couple at the time determined she would never work well with Sylvester, and so sent her to Ahrensbach.
At the time, they had hoped she would support Sylvester and use her abilities for the sake of Ehrenfest, just as I had done for my little brother. It was likely the previous archducal couple had such naive hopes because I hadn’t much cared about taking the seat, despite having received an archduke’s education myself.
“Sylvester, you knew Georgine for only a few years, after you were moved to the northern building. But before then—before you were baptized—she received an archduchess’s education right up until she came of age. It is safe to say that everything you know, she knows too.”
Sylvester squeezed his eyes shut, then nodded. “Do you have any proof that Georgine was involved? Or Giebe Gerlach? If so, I can—”
“As I said, this is only a gut feeling. I am certain he’s involved, though. I’d recommend discussing this with Ferdinand. Have him scrounge up some evidence, or lay out a trap of sorts. I’m not good at this kind of detailed work; my expertise only reaches as far as identifying enemies and crushing them. But rest assured, once you give me permission, his skull will be in pieces.”
“Come on, that’s not making it easy for me... But I have to admit, Uncle, your animal instincts are always too on the money for me to ignore. I’ll assume that Giebe Gerlach is indeed the culprit and have Ferdinand investigate him. He’ll probably complain about the extra work, but...” Sylvester trailed off, stroking his chin with a frown as he started to work things through in his head.
“Good. It’s best to leave the thinking to Ferdinand. This isn’t something that either of us should be taking into our own hands, obviously.”
If Sylvester made any moves, our enemies would figure everything out in an instant. It was best to leave this kind of work to Ferdinand and his pet scholars.
“That said, now you can safely refuse Georgine’s visit,” I continued. “Wilfried invited her back, but he’s now being punished, and the soldiers who rampaged in the castle belonged to an Ahrensbach noble. We have plenty of reasons to refuse her return on the grounds of security. Should buy us a few years, don’t you think?”
“You’re right. I’ll need to turn her down and buy us enough time to get Ehrenfest back on its feet.”
Sylvester needed to close the border to Ahrensbach nobles, who had now repeatedly exposed the archducal family to danger. He would then use that time to strengthen his retainers and Florencia’s faction, all while weakening the lingering Veronica faction.
“This is what it means to be the archduke. Do your job. I’ll beat some sense into the archducal family’s guard knights and do what I can to strengthen the Knight’s Order.”
“Thank you, Uncle.” Sylvester’s eyes gleamed as he looked toward the future.
I exited the Mana Replenishment chamber with newfound motivation, but when Ferdinand told me that the poison would put Rozemyne to sleep for at least a year, I barely resisted the urge to chase Giebe Gerlach down and smash his face into a wall.
“You’ll let me hit him at least once out of anger for denying me a year’s worth of time with my granddaughter, right?” I asked with a completely serious expression.
Sylvester’s eyebrows shot up in anger. “If you want permission for that, come to me with evidence! Your instincts aren’t enough! Until you’ve done that, then no!”
It’s beyond obvious to me that he’s a culprit, but I suppose real life isn’t always that simple...
In the end, it took not one year for Rozemyne to awaken, but nearly two. I had been denied entry to the temple despite wanting to check up on her, and so I repeatedly sent ordonnanzes to Ferdinand requesting updates, venting my worry and unease by training the archducal family’s guard knights as mercilessly as I could.
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