History, Geography, and Music
After talking a bit about the past with Hirschur, she asked me to repair the magic tools Ferdinand had made as a student. I naturally refused in an instant; I didn’t want her viewing me as the same as Ferdinand.
“More importantly, what did Ferdinand write in his letter to you, anyway?” I asked. “It seems like you know things that are being kept secret, so...”
“Everyone here knows that you were attacked in your own duchy and put to sleep in a jureve. The doctor observing your recovery noted that you might not wake up before winter, which would delay your entry to the Academy. During last spring’s Archduke Conference, Ehrenfest provided documents from the doctor and requested that a special environment be prepared for you in such a case.”
Noble children needed to enter the Academy once they turned ten, where they would then study until they came of age. This process was necessary for them to be officially accepted as nobles, and for this reason, there were special accommodations that could be made for those with extenuating circumstances. These would allow the student to attend for an entire year rather than just the winter, and they would need to accomplish various things before coming of age. To that end, a professor had to be stationed in the Academy, and the archduke needed to petition for it ahead of time.
These special accommodations had seen the most use right after the civil war, when the apprentice blue priests and shrine maidens returning to noble society were allowed entry into the Royal Academy to replace the immense number of nobles who had been lost.
“What I personally know is that Ferdinand is your guardian; that you have magic tools attached to your body that allow you to move; that said tools may interfere in your practical magecraft lessons, which I have been asked to account for; and that you have an innovative mind that will likely come up with quite interesting ideas,” Hirschur explained.
“Interesting ideas”? Really? I appreciate that Ferdinand is trying to be considerate, but for some reason, I just can’t find it in me to thank him.
“I have heard from many Ehrenfest students that their saint is to thank for everyone’s written grades having risen so much over the past few years, and even Ferdinand himself gives you his approval. Consider me excited to see what you come up with in your second year when we begin covering how to make magic tools.”
It took me a long time to get used to finely controlling my mana. When I eventually exited the auditorium, I found Rihyarda and Cornelius in the nearby waiting room with exceedingly concerned expressions. It was late enough for Cornelius to have already finished his work for the day.
“That took you quite some time,” he said. “I know you are perfectly capable of controlling your mana, so I was worried something had happened.” It seemed that, much like Wilfried, he had been convinced I would pass the lesson without issue.
I slowly shook my head. “Due to my enhancement bracelets, I am unable to properly control my mana.” It was probably more accurate to say that I simply wasn’t used to my capacity after the jureve had melted my mana blockages, but the bracelets had almost certainly been a factor too.
“Ah, I didn’t realize they would interfere like that... I suppose I didn’t really consider it, since you’re moving normally now. Have you spoken to Professor Hirschur about any solutions?”
“She said that I just have to get used to it,” I replied, slumping my shoulders sadly. Cornelius’s expression turned from that of a guard knight to that of a caring brother, and he gave me a friendly pat on the back.
“Alright. Let’s get back to the dormitory.”
And so we returned to the Ehrenfest Dormitory through the thirteenth door. As soon as we were inside, Angelica came rushing over, her blue eyes brimming with tears.
“Lady Rozemyne, please assign me to guard you again. I have so many more chances to protect you now that you’re here at the Academy, but I’ve done no work at all.”
To the untrained eye, she was a young beauty so passionate about fulfilling her duties that she had been brought to tears, but I wasn’t going to be fooled that easily. What she actually meant was that she had been looking forward to skipping out on her studies by guarding me, and now she was agonizing over the fact I wasn’t accepting that as an excuse. Everyone was working hard to study as much as they could, but all Angelica was thinking about was escaping.
I looked up at Cornelius, who looked back down at me with his dark-brown eyes and nodded. The message written across his face was clear: “Finish her.”
“In that case, Angelica, I order you to pass your written exams as fast as is humanly possible. That is your most important duty. I too look forward to the day when you can guard me again.”
“Lady Rozemyne...”
“You heard her, Angelica. That was an order, and knights need to prioritize orders above all else, remember?” Cornelius said, shutting her down in an instant. “Come on, let’s go study. Sorry, Leonore, but could you swap places with me?”
He dragged Angelica away, and in the blink of an eye, Leonore was standing guard beside me. I took out my highbeast, climbed inside, then started heading to my room to get changed. Angelica’s wails could be heard as I went up the stairs, and when I glanced back, I noticed Leonore was already looking toward the source of the noise.
“You and Cornelius certainly are close with Angelica, aren’t you?” she asked. “It seemed at first that you were simply being harsh with her, but the truth of the matter is that you are desperate to ensure she does not fail her classes or get expelled.”
“Angelica is my guard knight, after all. I could never allow her to fail while I am here with her in the Academy,” I said, proudly puffing out my chest.
Leonore continued looking down the stairs with an exceedingly envious look, then lowered her eyes. “Are the rumors that Angelica will be marrying one of Lord Karstedt’s sons true? She is Lord Bonifatius’s treasured disciple, after all, and everyone cares so much for her...”
“This is my first time hearing about this...”
Angelica, marrying one of my brothers? That’s crazy. I can’t even imagine it.
“No matter how much mana she has, Angelica is still a mednoble. Even if Grandfather did wish for her to marry one of his descendants, surely she would end up with one of his grandsons born to a second or third wife, like Traugott. She would also be more suited to being a second or third wife.”
Of course, nobody would be able to oppose the union if Bonifatius put his weight behind it, but status-wise, marrying the son of the knight commander himself would put a huge amount of strain on a mednoble. Angelica was also a notoriously bad thinker, and she tended to act purely on instinct—two very undesirable traits for a first wife.
“A second or third wife, Lady Rozemyne? What sort of person do you think would make a suitable first wife, then?”
“My three brothers are all guard knights of the archducal family, remember. An ideal first wife is someone who can support her husband through his deep involvement with the archducal family, manage the estate during his regular absences, and socialize for the benefit of the house. My mother is incredible, you know; I truly hope to become as capable as her one day.”
Elvira had not only been willing to hear out her husband when he had arrived with some random girl who he claimed was his daughter, but also baptized said girl as her own child, taught her to be a proper archnoble, and treated her as the archduke’s adopted daughter when necessary. Not everybody could accomplish such feats.
“She secures that which benefits her, pays back into society as an archnoble should, receives praise from all around her, and is unrelenting when it comes to hobbies,” I continued. “She is my ideal role model, and I say that from the bottom of my heart.”
“In that case, I too will consider Lady Elvira a role model,” Leonore said with a smile. I couldn’t think of anything better; as two fellow noblewomen, we could work together in hope of one day reaching Elvira’s level.
I got changed and headed to the common room, where I found everyone throwing themselves into their studies. The first-years were the only ones who looked like they were fighting a desperate battle to the death, but their enthusiasm seemed to have infected the other years as well. It really was the ideal situation.
Wilfried, who had been watching everyone study, looked up. “Sure took you a long time to finish your practical lesson today, Rozemyne.”
“Indeed. The magic tools were interfering with my mana control and proved to be quite troublesome. But in any case, how is everyone progressing?” I asked, walking around the room to check up on the students. Philine responded that she was doing her best, while all the other first-years were facing down the cheat sheets I had made to help cover for their weaknesses.
Hm... If they keep this up, it looks like they’ll all just barely manage to pass.
“Speaking of which... Wilfried, do I need to have everyone pass their practical exams now as well, or will just the written ones suffice?” I asked.
Everyone looked at Wilfried, who recoiled in fear before hurriedly shaking his head. “J-Just the written ones! That’s all you said we would be focusing on this year, remember? And with the gap between our mana capacities, there’s no way we can teach them practical lessons ourselves. Passing the written lessons is more than enough,” he repeated as clearly as possible.
The first-years let out a joint sigh of relief, and in all honesty, I understood the feeling. Not having to focus on the practical exams right now meant I was closer than expected to accessing the library.
“If everyone is on track to pass their written exams, then I should be able to go to the library in just a matter of days. Let us all work together and do our best to ensure everything continues smoothly.”
Wilfried and I split up to start tutoring the students, at which point Brunhilde returned. In her hand was a wooden board, which she promptly held out to me.
“Lady Rozemyne, Professor Solange of the library has given her reply.”
“Oh my!”
I swiftly took the board and started to read it, overjoyed at having received a response so soon. On it, Solange informed me that she preferred to register all the students of a duchy at once, and for this reason, she wanted me to bring all of our new students to the library during lunch four days from now. She also told me what the registration fee would be, and mentioned that there was an additional deposit for those taking out books. With so many expenses, I doubted many students would actually be able to use the library.
“It seems the registration fee is one small gold per person,” I said. “That’s fairly expensive...”
“I certainly can’t afford that...” Philine murmured, looking overcome with despair.
“I am more than happy to lend you the registration fee, and you can repay me by collecting stories and transcribing books. You are going to have much free time once your written classes are done, no?”
“Lady Rozemyne,” Roderick timidly interjected, “would you be willing to buy the books I transcribe too?” I noticed that the students of other years were looking my way as well, and so I turned to look at them all and gave a big nod.
“Of course. Their value transcends faction squabbling. My goal is to gather as many books and stories as I can while in the Royal Academy, so I am willing to buy anything transcribed from the library that does not already exist in the castle book room. That said, the amount you receive will depend on the quality of your handwriting and the number of mistakes in your work.”
My intention had always been to put the money I earned toward bringing more reading material into the world, so when there were people willing to transcribe entire books for me, I would spare no expense.
“I will provide ink and paper for the purpose of transcription, but as both are expensive, I intend to record exactly how much is provided to each individual and how much is used in the transcribed books they return to me. By doing this, I can ensure that the materials are not being stolen or sold.”
The eyes of the laynobles shone once they heard I would also be providing them the materials for transcribing books. It seemed that the money I had paid them on the first day for stories and information had ended up having a huge psychological impact.
“Rozemyne, how will you tell whether the books transcribed are already in the castle’s book room?” Wilfried asked.
“I made a catalog of every book already available to us, so we need only consult that.”
“Wait, what? When did you do that?”
“Is it not normal to record a book after reading it? I have catalogs of all the books in both the temple and castle book rooms, in addition to the ones in my father’s estate. It was necessary for the creation of the Rozemyne Decimal System, after all.”
As I proudly puffed out my chest, Wilfried shook his head in disbelief. “Have you really been asleep for two years? You weren’t sneaking out to read, were you?” he muttered.
Oh, how blissful it would have been if those two years had actually been spent reading in secret. If only reality weren’t so harsh...
“In any case, let us work to ensure all the first-years pass before we must register at the library four days from now,” I said.
“...Right.”
Cornelius later told me that the older students had all watched the desperately studying first-years with pity in their eyes, while Angelica had even begun praying to the gods, thanking them that she wasn’t in the same year as me.
That night, we studied until seventh bell, then did some last checks over breakfast before heading to our exams. The dead-eyed, somewhat sleep-deprived first-years were muttering the names of various kings and duchies as we walked. The older students said they looked less like they were preparing for their first class in a subject, and more like they were psyching themselves up for the final exam that would determine whether they passed or failed. This was only made even more apparent when we started seeing the students from other duchies, most of whom were simply excited about starting their first year of school.
“Today begins the true final battle,” I declared. “Everyone, you have put your all into your studies. I am sure we can succeed.”
If they passed their history and geography exams, all that remained was an easy magecraft exam covering feystone elements and their respective colors. I couldn’t see that being a problem in the slightest.
“Right. We’ll do our best.”
The history exams were set in front of us, and with our magic pens in hand, the battle for our fates began. I was going to be handing the papers in once we were all done, but Philine and Roderick were taking quite a bit longer to finish. It seemed there was a particular question they were struggling with.
“I-I’ll go with this one!” Philine stammered nervously. The exam was almost over by the time she finally settled on an answer, but there were still plenty more laynobles from other duchies agonizing over their tests, so she wasn’t much of an outlier.
“Philine of the Thirteenth, please come forward,” the professor called through his voice-amplifying magic tool.
Philine did as she was instructed, completely pale in the face about having been singled out. I couldn’t hear her conversation with the professor, though I did see her shake her head a few times.
“What happened?” I asked, looking at Wilfried.
“Dunno...”
The both of us watched on with worry until Philine eventually returned. She was resting a hand on her chest and looked notably relieved.
“Philine, what did the professor say?”
“It is embarrassing to admit, but I was a single point away from failing the exam,” she explained. “The professor suggested that I retake it after attending lessons. I told him that I appreciated his concern, but that I wished to be passed anyway, since I needed to have passed in time for the library registrations three days from now.”
It seemed that the professor had noticed how desperate Philine looked and determined that there were some extenuating circumstances at work. He had allowed her to pass, but told her that she was free to attend classes anyway.
“I truly am glad to have passed,” Philine said, and that was when the professor’s voice echoed through the auditorium again.
“All passing grades for Ehrenfest.”
A stir ran through the other students. Our results in the math and theology exams hadn’t been surprising since everyone in Ehrenfest had been passing those for years, plus the other duchies had pretty high passing rates as well. History and geography, however, were subjects that mednobles and laynobles infamously struggled with, such that many failed each year. It wouldn’t have been an exaggeration to say that the classes existed almost entirely for the sake of teaching these students, but even all the Ehrenfest laynobles had passed their history exams on day one. It was no wonder that we were the center of attention.
“We sure are standing out...” Wilfried muttered.
“That was not my intention, but the library demands sacrifice,” I replied. “We must accept these stares with pride. Next is geography. Everything has gone well so far, and we need only keep up the good work.”
Roderick anxiously chewed on his lip as he read over his notes, having particularly struggled at geography.
“I can’t believe how obsessed you are with this library...” Wilfried said.
“Hm? I mean, what else could be more important right now?”
I had never gone to the Royal Academy’s library before, and it was said to have more reading material than any other library in the country bar one. There was nothing more important to me at the moment than going through every single book it had to offer.
“So this is what Uncle meant when he said the library would serve as both medicine and a deadly poison...”
“What nonsense has Ferdinand filled your head with this time?”
“He said that using the library to control you would be as difficult as administering the right amount of a potion. ‘An incompetent fool handling it carelessly will only end in disaster’—those were his exact words, and only now do I understand just how right he was,” Wilfried said, his respect for Ferdinand clear in his voice.
I pursed my lips. “And what do you mean by that, dear brother? We have all passed every exam so far. How is this a disaster? In fact, is it not the best outcome? It sounds to me like you’re just being rude.”
“How is it not a disaster...? You should reflect on all this, just as I am. Your weird priorities always lead to you having dumb misunderstandings.”
Dumb misunderstandings or not, everyone’s dedication to working themselves to the bone soon paid off again. Ehrenfest received passing marks across the board in the geography exam as well, though Roderick had just barely scraped by and ended up having the same exchange with the professor as Philine.
Our last exam was for magecraft, and it wasn’t long before we heard what was now a familiar announcement from the professor.
“All passing grades for Ehrenfest.”
With that, we Ehrenfest first-years had passed all of our written lessons on the first day. Everyone from the other duchies stared at us with shock as we rejoiced and collectively fist-pumped.
“I can already feel my appetite returning!” Roderick said, his fists happily clenched over having managed to conquer his weakest subject. I shuddered to think how painful his life here in the Royal Academy would have been had he been the only one to fail, especially considering that he was from the former Veronica faction.
“In celebration of your efforts, I will instruct my chefs to make desserts for all of the Ehrenfest first-years tonight,” I announced.
“Truly, Lady Rozemyne?!” came excited cries from among the students.
“Indeed. After all, it is thanks to you that the library is now finally within reach.”
It was true that I had put my all into this and pushed the first-years to work as hard as possible, but I hadn’t actually expected everyone to pass on the first go. My assumption had been that the laynobles would need at least one more try to make it, but they had surpassed my expectations. If a dessert was enough to make their hard work feel worthwhile, then I would spare no expense.
“We passed! We all passed!” the first-years proudly told the older students when we returned to the dormitory for lunch. The fact we had all passed our written lessons meant the first-years were now locked in place as the fastest team, but none of the other teams seemed particularly envious; instead, they all just praised our efforts.
“Congratulations,” said one of the seniors. “All of you really did work hard.”
“I’m so glad to hear it all went well,” another added. “I feel moved just to have witnessed it happen.”
“I suppose we’ll need to work twice as hard so as to not be shown up,” a third chimed in.
Hearing so much praise from the senior teams despite them being our opponents honestly made me feel a little moved myself.
After lunch was our first practical music lesson. Nobody was particularly worried—in part because harspiel lessons were a standard part of the winter playroom, but mostly because everyone was still so happy about having passed their written lessons. The first-years all wore beaming smiles as they ate their lunch.
“You mustn’t let your guard down too much, Philine; there are still practical lessons for us to conquer.”
“Yes, Lady Rozemyne.”
“Music, hm?” Hartmut mused. “Lady Rozemyne, you’ve already shocked all the other duchies by having every first-year pass their written lessons. You should land the final blow by giving a blessing alongside your harspiel performance in music class. Everyone will instantly recognize you as a saint,” he said, his orange eyes sparkling with excitement.
“I refuse. There is an enormous difference between us improving Ehrenfest’s reputation and me causing disturbances entirely on my own. I will not pray to the gods during my performance.”
“It truly is unfortunate that we don’t see eye to eye here. This is such an excellent opportunity too...”
I didn’t yet understand how much mana I had, nor was I able to properly control it, so who knew what could result from me giving a blessing? Just thinking about it was way too scary, so I rejected Hartmut’s repeated badgering until it was finally time to go to the music hall.
Much like practical magecraft lessons, practical music lessons were held according to status. It would be difficult to have too many students in one class, and there was a blatant difference in both instrument and teacher quality between those of each status rank.
“I would like to judge your individual abilities, so I want to begin by having each of you play the song you are best at,” the professor said.
The students played their songs one by one in order of their duchy ranking. Those of similar skill levels tended to choose the same songs, so it was hard not to compare people. As I watched the performances, I decided it would probably be best to pick a song that not many people knew, so as to give the professor something more refreshing to listen to.
Geez, Ferdinand. Your training is brutal. Just how far ahead did you push me?!
Ferdinand and Sylvester were both great at the harspiel, and even gray shrine maidens like Rosina and Wilma had played with ease, saying it was only natural to appreciate the arts. I had assumed they were about average for nobles and set my standards accordingly, training my hardest to reach their level, but now I knew they weren’t average at all.
Ferdinand was naturally on a level of his own, able to play and sing so well that he actually caused women to pass out, and the fact that Sylvester sounded only marginally worse showed that he was insanely good too. Christine’s obsession with art was abnormal enough that some still referred to her as “the artistic shrine maiden,” and this obsession had led to her favored shrine maidens Rosina and Wilma becoming unusually skilled as well.
I should have noticed that Sylvester and Rosina were abnormally good the second they showed they could play on equal terms with Ferdinand, of all people! How did I not realize this sooner?! How?!
My unexpected two-year coma meant that my going above and beyond had ultimately paid off, and I truly did appreciate that. However, the realization that I could have had more reading time instead was more painful than I could bear.
Ngh! I could have slacked off so much!
As I despaired over how much more skilled my musical role models had been than anyone else, it came time for Ehrenfest to play, starting with our archnobles.
“I’ll go first. You go last,” Wilfried said tersely as he stood. I nodded, having no reason to argue, and watched as he went up to play. Once he started, I took my harspiel and sat in the nearby seat for the next performer.
“Hey, isn’t that the girl who can’t control her mana?” came a whisper from the Ahrensbach corner. “Do you think she even knows how to play properly?”
“You shouldn’t say that,” another voice replied. “She spent two years sleeping in a jureve, so we need to be supportive. We can’t expect her to play any better than her appearance would suggest.”
It might have seemed like the second voice was trying to defend me, but they might as well have said, “She’s as immature on the inside as she is on the outside, so don’t expect anything from her.”
I don’t really care what people have to say about me, but I do wonder how they know about that... Has Detlinde told all the first-years about what happened?
As I fruitlessly pondered Detlinde’s goals, it came time for me to perform. I had decided to play the song I was most familiar with and that not many other people knew—the anime song that Ferdinand had arranged for me. I had initially taught it to him so that I could laugh at his expense, but I had played it so many times by this point that it was like a brother-in-arms to me.
It’s fine. Nobody’s going to laugh. It’s not like they know where the song is from, plus the arrangement almost makes it sound completely original.
I was thankfully able to finish my performance without issue, having taken care not to accidentally give a blessing midway through.
“I am told you were asleep for the past two years, but your performance far exceeded my expectations,” the professor said. “If you continue to practice, you will surely become a master harspiel player.”
“Thank you,” I replied with a smile, though I had no intention of ever becoming a master harspiel player, and I only showed so much promise because my standards had been skewed by the unreasonably talented pros who had surrounded me back in Ehrenfest.
I tried going back to my seat, but the professor stopped me before I could. “Lady Rozemyne, I have served as a music professor in the Royal Academy for almost twenty years now, but I have never before heard that song. What in the world is it called?”
“It’s a summer song dedicated to Leidenschaft, and... it has no name,” I began. My intention was to claim it had been composed by an unnamed musician, but Wilfried interrupted me with a sly grin.
“The Saint of Ehrenfest composed this song to express her gratitude to Leidenschaft. She has made many original songs dedicated to the gods, several of which I know myself.”
Nooo! A surprise ambush, and from the person I least expected!
As I blinked in shock at the unexpected attack, the professor looked at me with gleaming anticipation. “I certainly would like to hear these other songs.”
“P-Perhaps one day, if Dregarnuhr the Goddess of Time ever weaves our threads together...”
Wilfried! You’re such a big, stupid dummy!
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