Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 4.02 - Chapter Aft

Q&A with Miya Kazuki

Here I’ll be answering some of the questions I received from readers on my Narou page between July 11 and July 20, 2017. Just like before, I was surprised to see how many questions were asked about super-detailed things that I’d never thought anyone would care about. Once again, I have done my best to answer as many as possible.

Miya Kazuki

About the Bookworm World

Q: In Part 1, Gunther and Otto go drinking on their way home from work, but it was nighttime by that point and presumably dark out. Are there streetlamps in the lower city?

A: There are iron fire baskets on poles outside of stores, but the way home would generally be pitch-black unless you had your own torch or something to carry.

Q: I’d like to know what each of the five expenses on the temple’s ledger refer to, namely divine will, offerings to the gods, flowers for the gods, water for the gods, and divine compassion. Divine will is described as being the greatest expense, so is that payment for the blue robes? I’m also interested in knowing how they differentiate sources of income. Do they write things like “budget from the archduke,” “taxes,” “the Harvest Festival,” etc.?

A: On the expenses sheet, “divine will” refers to payment for the High Bishop and the blue robes. On income sheets, it refers to the budget received from the archduke. “Offerings to the gods” are for ceremonial expenses, so flowers, incense, cloth, etc. “Flowers for the gods” refers to clothing and other fashion expenses for the flower-offering gray shrine maidens, which originated from the cost of preparing the temple for noble visitors. “Water for the gods” refers to hosting fees, such as wine, feasts, and the like. On the occasions when nobles would visit, those in the temple would get to enjoy the food as well, which led to priests actively trying to secure more visitors. “Divine compassion” refers to the expenses for the orphanage—robes for the priests, cleaning tools, etc.

Any income that doesn’t come from the archduke’s budget is referred to as a “gift from the gods.” These are differentiated using descriptions like: “Gift from X.”

Q: During the Healing Ritual in Part 2, Ferdinand declared that Myne is under his protection. How exactly was that statement understood by those present? Did they assume he planned to do something with her in the future and was warning others to keep away?

A: It didn’t have any kind of deeper meaning—he was quite simply saying that he would be acting as her guardian. Like, “If you wish to propose to her or some such, you must consult me. You may not do as you like with her.”

Q: Myne was baptized as Karstedt’s daughter, but from an outside perspective, that would mean she’d done apprentice work in the temple before being baptized. Isn’t that a big contradiction from a noble’s point of view? There’s also the point about how one can’t act publicly before being baptized, but she was helping the Knight’s Order. What groundwork and such did they need to establish to make that passable?

A: The work that Myne did was supposed to have been done by adults in the first place, and Sylvester and Karstedt had announced ahead of time that they were going to be bringing an underage apprentice to the ceremony for mana-related reasons. The knights simply ended up thinking: “Ah, I knew she was underage, but I didn’t realize they meant that underage.” The temple is understood to be a place for people who aren’t nobles, so they don’t really think too much about them doing things that aren’t considered noble-like.

Q: When Myne and Sylvester were attacked during Spring Prayer, it was shown that Devouring soldiers from Ahrensbach were involved. Does that mean the duchy barrier doesn’t react to those with as little mana as Devouring soldiers, and that they didn’t have to pass through the border gate?

A: They passed through the border gate with their master to reach a certain Ehrenfest giebe and then they received orders to launch their attack. That was why the duchy barrier didn’t react.

Q: From Sylvester’s perspective, is he spoiling Myne more than his own children? Particularly considering that he lets her stay in the temple and still see her family sometimes.

A: He doesn’t view it as spoiling her, since he assigned her to be the High Bishop and makes her participate in religious ceremonies. Leisegang nobles are certainly glaring daggers at him for having her stay in the temple though, so he does acknowledge that he’s being at least a little selfless.

Q: In Part 3 Volume 1, when Lamprecht asks Ferdinand what happened to Rozemyne, Ferdinand avoids the question. But what did he say in the coming days?

A: Everyone was so caught up in the Rozemyne Faceplant Incident that nobody followed up on it. If someone were to ask him again, he would in turn ask about Lamprecht’s shortcomings as a guard knight or about recent events to avoid answering. He had no intention of actually responding to anyone from the very beginning. (Hahaha.)

Q: Why did Ferdinand say “As expected” after seeing Rozemyne’s baptism medal?

A: She had described the drink as being sweet when he peered into her memories, so he predicted that she has all the elemental attributes, much like he does himself. That prediction was only strengthened when she forcibly used her mana to give a blessing of all the elements to her family.

Q: Has Sylvester ever gone to the Italian Restaurant on his own? This includes any times he might have sneaked inside.

A: No. He can simply have his own chefs prepare the food in the castle, and since one needs an introduction to enter the restaurant, he wouldn’t be able to sneak in. Rozemyne would also inevitably find out if Sylvester ever returned, and she has made it clear to him just how much of a pain that would be for her.

Q: If it went public that Myne hid those letters she thought were love letters, would she be punished for her crime? Or has Ferdinand already taken care of it?

A: Ferdinand has already taken care of it. He delivered them and simply said, “It seemed there were still more.” As far as the public is concerned, they were never hidden to begin with.

Q: The standard fashion for nobles is to wear clothes with an excessive amount of cloth, with it being considered shameless to show one’s legs, but what about Brigitte’s dress? Is it okay to show bare shoulders, arms, etc.?

A: Rozemyne’s mothers approved it, so there’s no issue—there existed clothing without shoulders before Brigitte’s dress, after all. That said, the initial debut of the dress at a faction tea party revealed that many thought the arms were too revealing, so that was adjusted a bit.

Q: In the Part 3 Volume 1 short story “One Stressed-Out Chef,” the cake Leise brought was put in the winter prep room. But no matter how cold it might have been in there, it was still summertime. Would it have been fine to eat despite it being a mille-feuille made with cream?

A: The summers in Ehrenfest aren’t the same as summers in Japan, and the winter prep room really is cold. It’s a common storage area for those in the lower city. Also, it wasn’t mille-feuille—it was mille crepe and sponge cake. And as indicated in the line about them making the finishing touches, cream hadn’t been added yet.

Q: Are those who aren’t knights taught to make armor from feystones? Wouldn’t Myne’s gathering have gone better if she had been taught?

A: It takes quite a lot of skill and experience to supply mana to one’s highbeast, armor, and gathering tools all at once without a schtappe. Highbeasts are required for travel, and so that was prioritized instead. Maybe they might have taught her if she’d had more time to practice, but Rozemyne’s schedule was becoming busier and busier, so they simply didn’t have the chance. There wouldn’t have been any helping that, anyway—the printing press is more important to her than armor.

Q: The average walking speed is four kilometers per hour, or thirty-two kilometers if one walks eight hours per day. Horses travel almost double that speed at sixty-two kilometers per day. It took several days to reach the Goddesses’ Bath from Fontedorf, and if we assume the journey takes ten days by horse (or twenty days by foot) then we end up with a distance of 620 kilometers. Even if we account for snowy and mountain roads, that would mean there’s an empty wasteland somewhere with a diameter of over two hundred kilometers. Could it be that the journey from Fontedorf didn’t take several days by horse, but actually several hours?

A: This is an entirely different world, so such calculations aren’t really applicable. First of all, they weren’t traveling on paved roads, and rather than moving over gentle hills, they were going through a snowy forest at the base of a mountain, which slowed them down even more.

It’s also important to keep in mind that the neighboring towns and farms were empty since everyone was gathered together in the winter mansions. Horses need rest just like humans do, but the absence of stagecoaches meant they couldn’t be swapped out. And with no inns to stay in, the group had to spend the daylight hours searching for suitable campground, setting up camp, etc. Not to mention, given the season, there were fewer daylight hours than usual, which meant they had fewer than eight hours per day for travel. On top of that, feybeasts that might be short work for a single noble can end up taking several commoners much longer to defeat, especially when you take the laying of traps into consideration. Feybeast hunting takes up a lot of extra time, which further decreases how much one can travel in a day.

Also—and this is incredibly important since it’s a Yurgenschmidt thing—their destination being the Goddesses’ Bath means the road will vary in complexity depending on the visitors’ gifts and attitudes. Not everyone would travel the absolute shortest distance and reach their destination in the absolute shortest time as Rozemyne’s group did.

Q: Prior to gathering her spring ingredient, Rozemyne and the temple group offered sweets to the statue. Did the sweets disappear after that, or did people eat them?

A: They vanished. Incidentally, the sweets that were spread out were eaten by small lights.

Q: Did the fantasy-like events of the Goddesses’ Bath occur due to Flutrane’s influence after all? Were the small lights being eaten the goddess’s way of interacting with the world?

A: The Goddesses’ Bath is a place where mana of the water element gathers more easily, and the tiny lights were mana clumps, which are a treat for feybeasts. Them being of the water element helps prayers reach the spring subordinate gods and allows the world to be more easily influenced.

Q: Lutz and the others ate river fish while living in Illgner. Was any served to Rozemyne during her stay, or was she not given any due to it being unidentifiable?

A: Fran and Monika were responsible for serving her meals, and so they only gave her food they deemed acceptable. Things they hadn’t seen before, that didn’t seem easy to eat with cutlery, or that would have been a problem for them as leftovers were not selected.

Q: What would happen to Wilfried if he got disowned?

A: He would be unable to remain as the archduke’s son and would be sent to the temple to signify that he is no longer a noble. Naturally, he would no longer attend the Royal Academy. If he were to publicly defy Sylvester in Veronica’s honor, a gentle punishment would be to send him to the Ivory Tower, while a more fitting one would be to execute him alongside Veronica.

Q: Lamprecht had some uneasy thoughts after seeing Rozemyne’s blessing at her debut. Is he not obligated to share them with Wilfried as his retainer?

A: Rozemyne was adopted due to her abundance of mana, and the blessing was a necessary move to show the nobles just how valuable she really is. Not to mention, it was the start of winter socializing—Wilfried’s retainers needed to protect him while dealing with other nobles, and one wouldn’t say anything to make their lord more depressed than he already was.

Q: Why is it that Wilfried looks forward to and enjoys spending time with his parents so much when, prior to his baptism, he spent almost all of his time with Veronica? Veronica seems like the type of person who wouldn’t praise anyone but Sylvester and Wilfried himself; surely she fed him all sorts of negative things about Florencia.

A: Do you not have any relatives whom you don’t see very often but always look forward to meeting up with because they always shower you with love when you’re together? Wilfried saw his grandmother as his main family, with his parents being more distant relatives, but he always looked forward to seeing them.

It’s the joy of a noblewoman to phrase insults in a way that makes them sound perfectly harmless. If Wilfried had sharper senses or had been a little more mature, perhaps he might have realized that Veronica’s words were always laced with hate and cynicism.

Q: Why didn’t Wilfried start to panic about Rozemyne causing so many revolutions?

A: Despite all the wealth her revolutions bring to Ehrenfest, Rozemyne is doing it all for her own purposes. Wilfried was more focused on making up for what he lacked than getting involved in the hobbies of others.

Q: Why was Wilfried’s reeducation handled so poorly? Florencia finally regained the opportunity to raise him and yet she doesn’t appear to do much with it. I don’t think her being too busy is a good excuse either. Did they assume it was fine to leave things so half-baked because he was already good enough as an archduke candidate?

A: Florencia isn’t to blame for her son’s half-baked teaching—his head attendant Oswald is. Entering the northern building puts someone in a state of semi-isolation, so the most Florencia could do was check up on him at regular intervals. The main priority when it comes to learning is checking whether the person can do certain things. Wilfried was fixed up right before his debut, but in terms of actual knowledge, he remained far behind. He could play one harspiel song but nothing more, for example.

Q: If Rozemyne hadn’t told Wilfried that Veronica was the true criminal, when would he have found out? It seemed like Charlotte had already been informed by her own retainers. Did they delay telling Wilfried to prioritize educating him for his debut and firing his existing retainers?

A: They were planning on waiting until everything had calmed down, so... maybe before he left for the Royal Academy? It ultimately would have depended on Sylvester. Florencia was unable to tell Wilfried because she would have invariably gotten emotional, which could have harmed their relationship moving forward.

Charlotte was able to deduce it because Florencia rejoiced over Veronica’s arrest. Florencia, for her part, felt guilty that she was relieved while her husband was so distraught over having to punish his own mother.

Q: Florencia had Hartmut’s father (Giebe Leisegang’s half-brother, sharing a father) among her retainers, so why didn’t she know anything about Wilfried’s education? I suppose Veronica just didn’t tell anyone anything.

A: It’s not like she knew nothing at all. She was aware that he was lagging behind in the same way that Sylvester did through regular reports. What surprised them was just how terrible the true state of affairs really was. She had believed Sylvester maybe seventy percent when he had said that he used to be the same as Wilfried, and she just assumed that, with Veronica raising him, Wilfried would end up as educated as his father. This belief was highly influenced by Florencia’s thinking that this was just standard behavior for members of the Ehrenfest archducal family.

Also, neither Wilfried’s retainers nor Veronica disclosed any details about Wilfried’s education. Would you if you were in their position? “Your son is such a failure that we are planning to get rid of him alongside Lady Veronica. We will raise either Lady Charlotte or Lord Melchior to be the next aub, so give up on Lord Wilfried.”

Q: As of Part 3, what do Cornelius and Angelica think of Damuel? They may have all known each other for a while by that point, but surely they’d have some thoughts on a laynoble being a retainer and receiving instructions for all the guard knights before anyone else. Or do they think nothing of him, assuming that he’ll be removed from service before long?

A: Brigitte accepted Damuel receiving instructions in the temple because he was used to the environment and she wasn’t. At times, she ended up frustrated with him, but she kept this to herself. Angelica has heartfelt respect for Damuel because she knows she wouldn’t have passed her classes without him. Cornelius is generally just in awe that Damuel so politely and diligently keeps up with Rozemyne’s unreasonable expectations.

Q: It seems to me that Damuel is better at doing simple desk work and following unreasonable demands from his superiors than normal scholars. Is he better at scholar work than Henrik, the actual scholar of the family?

A: Damuel was trained by Ferdinand in a situation where failure would quite literally cost him his life, so he was forced to become better whether he liked it or not. In some ways, the temple is the epitome of an evil corporation.

Q: During the Rozemyne rescue operation, Ferdinand says, “To think they would use that of all things...” about a potion. Is it a potion that hinders the flow of mana?

A: Yes. If you change the flow of mana using a potion, the person won’t be able to use their mana like they usually do, which prevents them from counterattacking. The potions are convenient enough that even a commoner could carry them around.

Q: How much of an impact does mental fortitude have on the effectiveness of the Rozemyne Compression Method? What would the before/after look like for Sylvester, Karstedt, and Ferdinand?

A: There’s a lot more to it than just knowing the mana compression method. Just like when women find efficient exercise-based diets, it largely depends on how serious they are about it, how strictly they adhere to it, and how long they keep it up for. My answer to your second question would vary pretty drastically depending on when exactly “after” is.

Q: I wanted to ask about the management of the parchment copies of magic contracts. The parchment for guild-related contracts was in a room that Freida could access. What kind of room are Ehrenfest contracts stored in? I would think the scholar in charge of them would have to be very high-ranking and able to deal with tight security. Are they bound by a magic contract too? Also, I’m curious about whether the country-wide contracts about the Rozemyne Compression Method are stored in a room inside the Royal Academy or whether they’re somewhere else in the Sovereignty.

A: Magic contracts simply burn up and disappear, so there are no copies unless someone goes out of their way to make them. Commoners who use magic contracts for business purposes—Benno included—are required to bring copies to the Merchant’s Guild, which is why there was a room there dedicated to them. Magic contracts between nobles are different, however. There’s a storeroom for those deeply involved with the running of the duchy that normal scholars manage, but not all of them have to go there. The proper magic tools for the Rozemyne Compression Method contracts were ordered, but there was no obligation to send copies anywhere.

Q: Did Georgine become the first wife of Ahrensbach through subterfuge, or was it just a coincidence?

A: The first wife of Ahrensbach is not such a trivial position that one can assume it by chance.

Q: Is there anyone other than Rihyarda who doesn’t believe Rozemyne is Karstedt’s child?

A: No—only those very close to Karstedt are able to notice his subtle tells when he lies. His mother might have noticed, were she still alive.

Q: Does Bonifatius truly believe that Rozemyne is his blood-related granddaughter?

A: He doesn’t think she’s Elvira’s child, but he does at least believe that Karstedt is her father.

Q: I know that all nobles make and carry their own jureve around, but do they also have a full bathtub of the stuff in their hidden rooms?

A: Knights and such store them because they serve as their lifeline.

Q: Rozemyne initially didn’t realize that two years had passed when she woke up from her jureve because Ferdinand hadn’t changed at all. Why didn’t he look any older?

A: A lot of growth happens between the years of eight and ten, or thirteen and fifteen, but this isn’t really the case for a twenty-two-year-old turning twenty-four. In fact, Ferdinand looked his oldest when Myne first met him, since that was when he was being completely drained of mana and having to endure an exhausting amount of work. Now that I think about it, that’s probably how he looked when Rozemyne woke up. (Hahaha.)

Q: How did Ferdinand feel when Rozemyne finally woke up safely after two years in the jureve?

A: “Awake at last, I see. Fool. You were away for much too long. Good grief... You certainly are a handful.”

Q: What is Lord Ferdinand’s birth season and mana color?

A: Publicly, his birth season is spring. His mana has all the elemental attributes, so it’s pretty much pure white like a pearl... but since there isn’t much bias for any one element, the color ends up pretty faint.

Q: It seems to me that Ferdinand is trusting Myne’s chefs somewhat blindly. Should he not be on guard against them, even if they’re commoners?

A: He didn’t trust them from the start—he closely examined the situation when Myne spoke about her lower city connections and recommended the food that her chefs made. To be honest, it would be more accurate to say that he trusts the judgment of his former attendant Fran rather than her chefs.

Q: If attendants need their own attendants, how did Ferdinand live before entering the temple when he could only trust Justus? Justus must have had his own retainers and servants, and I assume Ferdinand wouldn’t be able to trust them.

A: Just as Rihyarda’s attendants don’t make themselves known or interact with Rozemyne, Justus’s attendants and servants would never interact with Ferdinand unless he explicitly went to Justus’s estate. Attendants and servants only move between family members—like married couples, parents and children, etc. The main duty of Justus’s attendants is to keep his living environment in order, so their work never required them to be seen by Ferdinand.

Q: I thought Ferdinand gave up on marriage when he went to the temple, but his father gave him an estate to live with a potential future wife. What did he think about that? I recall him always mentioning to Myne that it is the duty of nobles to produce children, but he seems to be neglecting that duty himself...

A: He likely would have married someone had a suitable partner existed—there simply weren’t any houses with enough mana to match his own, nor was anyone willing to accept him while Veronica was in power. He said all that to Myne because her position in noble society was weak in more ways than one, and getting married and subsequently having children would have brought her safety. Women who have a great deal of mana and can bear children are treated quite well.

Q: Why didn’t Ferdinand kill Veronica with poison or something?

A: Veronica was his father’s wife; it would have been too risky for Ferdinand to kill her while his father was still alive. Subsequently, killing her around the time his father died would have been considered a declaration of war against Sylvester. Ferdinand joined the temple during that period, and it would have been far from wise to throw Ehrenfest into a panic after having withdrawn from politics—especially considering that there were overwhelmingly more nobles benefiting from Veronica than there were nobles benefiting from Ferdinand. He could have gone rogue and assassinated her on his own, but he wouldn’t have done something so reckless.

Q: When Ferdinand returned to noble society, it was said that no unmarried woman had a mana quantity compatible with his own. There was, however, one married woman. Was it Florencia?

A: It was Veronica. She’s the child of an Ahrensbach archduke candidate and the first-generation Giebe Groschel, who was at the time considered the most suitable person in Ehrenfest to become aub.

Q: I would like to know about Baron Blon. Given that he’s a baron, he must be a laynoble, but has he ever asked the Gilberta Company to introduce him to Rozemyne?

A: Nobles may recommend stores to each other, but commoner merchants are never put in intermediary situations where they introduce one noble to another. If the relationship soured, the merchant would be putting themselves at risk of being executed. Merchants live long only by interacting with noble society as little as possible.

Q: Freida signed a concubine contract with the laynoble Henrik, but due to her connection with Rozemyne, she ends up being in the presence of Aub Ehrenfest himself. If her contract continues as planned and she ends up a concubine kept out of sight, wouldn’t that be considered a slight against the archduke? I assume Henrik’s social position would be damaged as a result.

A: Why would it be rude when the archduke hasn’t ordered the signed contract to be nullified? It was the chefs who made the food, not Freida, and on top of that, Sylvester doesn’t even know about Henrik’s contract with her. Even if Sylvester did know, it’s normal for commoners to become concubines, so he wouldn’t consider it something that he needs to interfere with. The contract would ultimately be left alone.

Q: We already know that the Pandabus recreates the steering wheel, pedals, seat belts, and such, but does it recreate glass windows too?

A: The windows aren’t made of glass, but a membrane of mana that’s transparent and can be seen through while driving. Since the whole highbeast is a stretched-out stone to begin with, Rozemyne isn’t really concerned about what the materials are.

Q: Myne’s artistic sense is insulted at every turn. Is that because cartoonish art isn’t normal in Yurgenschmidt, or because her art really is bad and she just doesn’t realize it?

A: Both. Those in Yurgenschmidt struggle to accept her art because there’s no culture for the cartoony style, and as for her artistic sense, well... To give an analogy, it would be like someone on Earth today creating a cartoonish cockroach and driving around in it. Those who like bugs may find it amusing, but no matter how cartoonish it gets, most people won’t accept it. The problem becomes not whether the cartoonish style is cute or not, but rather why one would choose a cockroach in the first place. Everyone would essentially be like, “Why a cockroach?! Please, go with a rabbit or something instead!”

Q: Rozemyne sometimes thinks that she’ll be killed if she opposes Sylvester or Ferdinand, but what would they actually do if she defied them? Say she began seriously trying to become Aub Ehrenfest, for example.

A: If Sylvester’s own son would be punished for treason by being sent to the temple or being executed, then a former commoner like Rozemyne would undoubtedly lose her life. Ferdinand would take responsibility for having made Rozemyne a noble by using a loophole in the magic contract to execute her. Alternatively, if Ferdinand was unable to perform this duty for some reason, one of the archduke’s retainers who didn’t sign the magic contract would do it.

Q: There are several border gates across Ehrenfest, but how much traffic do the ones to Klassenberg and Ahrensbach actually see?

A: The gate between Klassenberg and Ehrenfest sees almost no traffic because those in Klassenberg view Ehrenfest as irrelevant. The gates to Frenbeltag and Ahrensbach, however, do see some traffic from merchants and nobles. Outsider nobles were forbidden from entering the Noble’s Quarter in Part 2, but despite the Ehrenfest leaders’ concerns, they didn’t forbid travel through the duchy in general.

Q: What do people in Yurgenschmidt think of swimming and bathing suits? Are knights the only ones who learn to swim, presumably as part of their training?

A: People don’t have opportunities to swim in the duchies that don’t border oceans, so there’s no real reason for them to learn. As for the bathing suits, if anyone went outside wearing one, everyone would just think, “How shameless!” Knights remain fully armored even when entering bodies of water.

Q: Both noble and commoner women change their hairstyles and the length of their skirts as they grow older, but do men change their clothing or such as they age?

A: Male commoners and nobles wear shorts until they turn ten, but from that point onward, they wear the same styles as adults. There aren’t really any clear changes like there are with women. In the past, when one only obtained their schtappe after reaching adulthood, they were given magic weapons at the age of ten.

Q: Are there any feybeasts other than shumils that lower city commoners are able to hunt? Perhaps the young of certain feybeasts?

A: Naturally, shumils aren’t the only feybeasts they can hunt. They go after the young of some feybeasts, as you say, but the fun ends when the parent feybeasts come out.

Q: Say Myne gathered a parue from a tree—would she get a special parue dyed with her mana?

A: If she gripped the fruit rather than the branch and poured her mana into it, she would get a feystone, not a parue.

Q: If Myne had regularly drained her mana by gathering parues and participating in the Star Festival, could she have survived without becoming an apprentice shrine maiden?

A: She has more mana than could be managed like that, so she would have died before coming of age—probably around ten years old at the latest. She might have even been detained as some kind of dangerous trombe-making person and executed. If you think about how Gunther would have felt having to arrest his own daughter, we can be thankful that she was able to join the temple.

Q: Were recipe books already available before Rozemyne started making and selling them, or are books considered too rare and valuable for that kind of thing?

A: Most chefs are commoners, so it’s safe to assume they’re illiterate. Also, even if a noble went into their kitchen, the chefs wouldn’t be able to give them detailed recipes or anything. No other recipe books exist as a result; chefs just learn how to make good food at home or observe others cooking and steal their techniques. Some families of chefs have diaries in which they make notes like, “I did X and it worked well,” but the whole recipe is never listed.

Q: If commoners continue to eat Rozemyne’s cooking, will more of them develop the Devouring? As others have stated, Rozemyne’s cooking methods will have an impact on the mana quantity of nobles—well, in the veeery long term, at least—so will the same happen to commoners?

A: If a family continues to eat the food for several generations then it will have some impact, but it’ll be trivial compared to how much more mana one gets from the compression method.

Q: Is there a reason why Schutzaria’s shield only blocks people who bear malice toward Rozemyne, rather than anyone Rozemyne doesn’t want to enter?

A: Because anyone who fails to enter Schutzaria’s shield will very likely die, and Rozemyne sees that as a pretty extreme punishment for those who aren’t actively trying to harm her. That’s also why she normally only uses the shield in very dangerous situations. During such times, Rozemyne will even allow those she doesn’t particularly like into her shield, so long as they have no malicious intent.

Q: Myne automatically learned some of the language spoken in Ehrenfest when she reincarnated; is she still relying on that auto-translation now that she’s a noble? It seems like she’s envisioning Earth numbers and then writing them in the Yurgenschmidt language.

A: The only words that Myne automatically picked up were those one would expect a sickly five-year-old who spends all day in bed to know, which means she was at most able to communicate with her family. There was a ton that she didn’t know and needed to learn herself. She memorized numbers by looking at the written prices of various goods and thinking things like, “This is zero! This is three!”

Q: Being able to find the entrance to the castle amid a blizzard seems unreasonable, even assuming that people have magnetic sensors or something. What method do you imagine they use to find their way?

A: It’s related to feeling mana—that’s why only the adults are allowed to do outside work during this period, like hunting the Lord of Winter. Also, knights are trained to manipulate the mana of surrounding enemies, so they’re more sensitive to mana than most.

Q: Retainers address each other without titles like “lord” and “lady” because they’re coworkers, right?

A: Yes. Incidentally, when meeting with a noble of an unknown rank from another duchy for the first time, it is customary to default to “lord” or “lady.”

Q: Are children not assigned scholars before attending the Royal Academy? We’ve known about Rozemyne and Wilfried having attendants and guard knights for a while, but I don’t think any scholars have been mentioned.

A: Nobles need the services of attendants and guard knights from the moment they’re born, but not so much the services of scholars. People only select scholars following their baptism.

Q: Where are Yurgenschmidt coins made? There are designs on the coins in the manga version, but are those something Suzuka-sama made on her own?

A: They’re made in the Sovereignty. The designs are Suzuka-sama originals.

Q: Do children of the archduke have any opportunities to spend time with children their age, other than siblings of the same mother?

A: Sometimes, if children of relatives on the mother’s side of the family are in the same duchy, or if their parents’ highly trusted friends have children. Generally speaking though, it’s difficult due to the status imbalance.

Q: I know that nobles have last names, but what would they be when formally written out? I would particularly like to know the full names for Myne, Sylvester, Elvira, Damuel, and Giebe Illgner.

A: Rozemyne Tochter Linkberg Adotie Ehrenfest. Sylvester Aub Ehrenfest. Elvira Tochter Gutheil Frau Linkberg. Damuel Sohn Bernett. Helfried Armbos Giebe Illgner.

Q: Why is Karstedt an archnoble despite being Bonifatius’s son? Are all children of archduke candidates archnobles by default?

A: When the next archduke hasn’t been decided, the children of archduke candidates are also raised as archduke candidates in the event that one of their parents becomes the aub, since their parents would subsequently need a successor. Despite another aub having been selected, his children were all girls and he did not plan on taking a second wife, so Karstedt remained an archduke candidate until Sylvester was born. That is why he is an archnoble now.

Q: On average, how differently are the children of a first wife and the children of a second wife treated?

A: There is no average, since it depends on the father’s personality, the relationship between mothers, the influence of the mothers’ families, the children’s mana capacity and talent, etc. In the event of the first wife being extremely powerful, the children of the second wife are basically ignored. Likewise, if the second wife marries in from a more powerful family, her children will be prioritized. That said, this all changes depending on the house in question and the generation. Had Veronica’s influence continued for another ten years, Elvira’s children likely would have been ostracized, with Nikolaus becoming the family’s successor.

Q: There seems to be a system of men having multiple wives, but is the reverse also true? Do female aubs ever have two or more husbands? And do the husbands of female aubs ever have second or third wives?

A: It’s rare, but sometimes female aubs do have multiple husbands. The husbands of female aubs never have second or third wives, although they do have concubines.

Q: How are noble children with too little mana to be taken into the family treated after becoming servants? Are they isolated from their parents and siblings?

A: They wouldn’t undergo a noble baptism, so they would publicly be equivalent to commoners. Whether they continue to interact with their parents and siblings depends on their family, but since they’re servants, there will inevitably be a master-servant relationship.

Q: Do commoners or nobles ever have twins, triplets, etc.? It feels as though it would be a rare occurrence, since commoners lack the stamina and nobles have mana problems, but do they exist in Yurgenschmidt?

A: They do exist, and things are just as you imagine. It’s rare for their births to be safe among commoners due to stamina and nutrition issues, and in the case of nobles, twins and the like are born with less mana, so they are rarely raised as nobles. Both twins tend to become servants for their family.

Q: What happens to the medal and citizenship of commoners who marry someone from another duchy?

A: Commoners living in the lower city send the temple a request for an interduchy marriage during the Star Festival. When the priests have an opportunity to process it, they give a letter of invitation to one of the merchants who regularly visit the temple. The commoner will then bring this letter with them on the day they are summoned to the temple (either the winter coming of age ceremony or the spring baptism ceremony) and receive their medal. Those living in the Central District or in the land of giebes give their moving request to the priests visiting them for the Harvest Festival, and they will then be given their medal at the next Spring Prayer.

Citizenship is attached to the medal, so anyone who loses their medal will also lose their citizenship, their home, and their job all at once. They will need to move to the duchy of their marriage partner at once and deliver the registration fee to a priest during the next Star Festival. The whole process is quite tedious, so no commoner marries someone from another duchy unless one sees an enormous benefit in doing so.

Q: What are the duchy medals like for traveling merchants?

A: They’re traveling merchants precisely because they don’t belong to a duchy. They have no medals, nor do they get baptized, have coming of age ceremonies, or receive graves when they pass away.

Q: I have a question about hidden rooms—does the size of the room have to do with the creator’s mana? Ferdinand’s hidden room is absolutely crammed with stuff, so I had to wonder if all nobles have hidden rooms of the same size, whether they be laynobles or archduke candidates.

A: The space is created using mana, so it does depend on one’s mana quantity. One can choose how big their room is when they initially make it, but after that, its size cannot be altered. Ferdinand made his on the smaller side because he never intended to allow anyone else inside. Also, at the time, he didn’t intend for his hidden room in the temple to accumulate so much stuff. He has an estate in the Noble’s Quarter, after all.

Q: How many places like the Ivory Tower are there? Is the tower Veronica is being kept in a special one that holds only her? Where is Count Toad being kept?

A: The Ivory Tower is for imprisoning members of the archducal family, but there is nobody else detained there at the moment. Count Bindewald is being kept in a jail for noble criminals.

Q: I understand that the disastrous state of the orphanage was the result of so many blue priests leaving following the purge, but in that case, what was the temple like before the purge?

A: When Bezewanst’s reign over the temple was at its best, flower offerings were at an all-time high. Even the blue shrine maidens had many lovers of carnality among them, since they had no expectations of ever leaving the temple.

Q: Does Ehrenfest have a red-light district, or any other form of prostitution as a business?

A: For nobles, that would be the temple’s flower offerings. In the lower city, waitresses fulfill that role, which is what Ella hated and ran away from.

Q: Is the baseline mana quantity of each noble rank different between greater duchies such as Ahrensbach and middle duchies such as Ehrenfest? For example, do mednobles in Ahrensbach have as much mana as archnobles in Ehrenfest?

A: The average mana quantity per noble rank is roughly the same, since any great disparities would impact Royal Academy lessons. The greatest change between greater and middle duchies is the number of people in each rank, which in turn changes what is deemed valuable. Mednobles are entrusted with mednoble work, and those among the top end of the laynoble rank may find it easier to live.

Q: I believe nobles shape feystones by visualizing things they’ve seen before. Does that mean all the animals used for highbeasts actually exist?

A: A clear image is necessary so yes, they use animals that actually exist.

Q: What was winter socializing like the year Elvira published that book containing the Ferdinand illustrations?

A: They weren’t sold officially through the Plantin Company, but stealthily by Elvira at tea parties. The last thing anybody wanted was for the books to be taken away like the illustrations were, so nobody speaks a word about them outside the tea parties. This contributed to the strengthening of the faction.

Q: What duchy was Georgine’s former betrothed from, and what was their relationship like? What did she think of him?

A: He was an archduke candidate of the duchy formerly known as Zausengas, and the son of a third wife. It was a normal political marriage, and while there was no love in the relationship, Georgine knew that he would support her when she became aub, so she liked him about as much as she liked any other noble in her faction.

Q: How did Justus meet his wife, what kind of person was she, why did they divorce, and did they have children? Is there any chance he might remarry in the future?

A: It’s important for nobles to marry for the sake of their house, and since Justus was just wandering around noncommittally, his parents eventually found a partner for him—a girl of the Veronica faction. When Justus resolved to serve Ferdinand, he divorced her largely in fear that she might indirectly bring harm to Ferdinand.

They had children, but since Justus didn’t attend their baptism as a father, they aren’t officially his. As for remarrying, well... who knows? He’s past the prime marrying age, and he doesn’t really care about getting married himself, so the woman in question would need to be very pushy with him to make it happen.

Q: When one comes of age and becomes able to sense those with an equivalent amount of mana, do the people they sense also have to be of age?

A: Yes, both people need to be of age to be able to sense the other’s mana. Also, they can only sense mana quantity. To check someone’s attributes, they would need to look at the color of their mana.

Q: In the previous fanbook, you mentioned that anyone’s potion would taste sweet to Myne because she has the Devouring. Does that mean even a laynoble could use the memory-searching magic tool and easily synchronize with her?

A: Her mana would be dyed rapidly if mana were to be poured into her, regardless of whether she drank the synchronization potion that makes mana easier to dye. If the mana was from another person, there’d be a little more resistance, but it wouldn’t stop the dyeing process.

Q: Are there 365 days in a Yurgenschmidt year? Likewise, is each day twenty-four hours long?

A: There are 420 days in a year, but there are twenty-four hours in a day to make things easier for me to keep track of.

Q: I’m curious about the calendar. The term “month” is often used, but how many days are there in a month? How many months are there in a year? Do the lengths of months change if Schutzaria excels and preserves the autumn for as long as possible, or if Flutrane devotes her all to ending the winter a bit sooner?

A: There are seven days in a week: Waterday, Sproutday, Fireday, Leafday, Winday, Fruitday, and Earthday. Then there are five weeks in a month: the Week of Water, the Week of Fire, the Week of Wind, the Week of Earth, and the Week of Life. The seasons change every three months on average, but as you imagine, the autumn extends when Schutzaria does better, and the winter shortens when Flutrane does better, so the length of seasons varies each year.

Q: Are calendar dates a thing in the Bookverse? When making plans, people always talk about things being “X number of days from now,” but they never seem to specify dates. There are seasons, so surely people have some way to tell when the season is about to change. Do they have calendars that show when the days of the baptism ceremonies and such are?

A: Rather than using dates like we’re used to, people might plan around something occurring on “the next Week of Water’s Sproutday.” They do have objects that are similar to calendars, though. Few commoners have them for personal reasons, but almost all workplaces have them to indicate when the next Earthday is, since Earthday is the official day off. The calendars are boards with five rows of seven holes, with a wooden peg moved from hole to hole each day to indicate the day of the week. When seasons change, the color of time-keeping bells are changed to the divine color of that season as an indication.

Q: In the first fanbook, you mentioned that you write what you want to write, but do you also visualize who you want to read it?

A: I’ve never tried to cater to a theoretical person or demographic. I didn’t even plan for my writing to end up in print! My three main concerns are whether I’m writing something that I want to write, whether I’m writing something that my husband says is entertaining, and whether I’m writing something that I’m fine with my children reading when they grow up.

About Miya Kazuki

Q: I would like to ask what Suzuka-sensei and the editor think about Kazuki-sensei.

A (Suzuka): My first impression was that she’s very stoic and consistent, and after meeting her in person, I’ve also started to think that she’s cute and funny. I want to peek inside her head just one time and see how her world develops in her mind. Maybe with the memory-viewing magic tool... No? Darn.

A (editor): She’s passionate about her goals like Rozemyne, and calculating in her decisions like Ferdinand. I just want to do my best serving her like a retainer!