Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 4.2 - Chapter 4

Preparing a Tea Party for Solange 

After getting what was more or less a scolding from Rihyarda, I finished lunch and started heading back to the library for the afternoon, thinking over what I had been told on the way. I needed to contain myself, which meant not forcefully closing the distance between Solange and me, speaking only of what Rihyarda had permitted me to mention, and studying noble conversations and socializing based on Rihyarda’s criticisms of my performance once I arrived back at my room. 

There were only two questions I was permitted to ask Solange: whether she had time to participate in tea parties, and whether she had participated in tea parties with anyone else. That was my limit for the day. 

“Milady’s back,” Schwartz said when I arrived at the library. 

“Milady. Welcome,” Weiss added. 

“I’ve come to continue my reading from before; may I have the key to one of the carrels?” I asked. I then greeted Solange, who was in the work area by the counter. “Good afternoon, Professor Solange. I do apologize for troubling you with my selfishness earlier. My excitement for the library caused me to forget myself.” 

“Think nothing of it, Lady Rozemyne. I understand just how invested you are in this humble library,” she replied, glancing up from her writing with a smile and the kindly eyes of a grandmother looking at her grandchild. I sighed in relief, glad that she had accepted my apology. 

“Erm, Professor Solange... You manage the library yourself, correct? Do you ever have the time to attend or hold tea parties?” 

“I do have more time than usual at the moment, given how few students are using the library. However, things will get increasingly busier as some finish their classes early and begin to socialize, while others prepare for upcoming final exams. During that time, I will neither participate in nor hold tea parties. I could have done so in the past when there were multiple librarians, but...” She trailed off, then looked at Schwartz and Weiss with a smile. “Thanks to Schwartz and Weiss helping me now, my work has become much easier, and I am not nearly so lonely. I owe you much, Lady Rozemyne.” 

Whew. It’s nice to hear I’m not just being a pain in the neck. 

It was true that my awakening of Schwartz and Weiss had been purely coincidental, and I wasn’t actually being all that useful myself, but still—I had been worried about making a bad impression, so knowing that she thought at least a little well of me was a massive comfort. 

“If you are able, I would very much appreciate an opportunity to speak with you leisurely,” I said. “Are you available at any point? There is much I wish to discuss, such as Schwartz and Weiss, as well as the books I am making...” 

“The books you are making...?” Solange asked, her blue eyes widening in surprise. “You truly do love books, don’t you, Lady Rozemyne?” 

I nodded with a grin. “I am in the middle of compiling the knight stories sung by minstrels and the stories that Ehrenfest mothers tell their children.” 

To be more accurate, I had already finished one knight book, which was now being both printed and sold, but I was still collecting more stories, so my statement wasn’t entirely untrue. In any case, I was mentioning it to catch her interest as a Royal Academy librarian, and to hopefully encourage her to come to my tea party. 

“Oh my. You love stories as well as study resources? We have a few stories here as well, though there aren’t all that many, I must admit. Shall I take you to them?” 

“Please do. I would love to read them.” 

Solange led me past all the first-floor bookcases filled with study resources and over to a corner where some old, rarely used documents were being kept. On the way there, she mentioned that not many students read storybooks, since they only cared about studying for finals or getting money by transcribing resources for archnobles. Royal Academy lectures were held during the winter, and since most students had their schedules packed with socializing and their school curriculum, few had the time to read for fun. 

“Here are the storybooks,” Solange said when we reached the corner. “This is also where you will find transcribed copies of the bible.” 

“I thank you ever so much,” I replied. “Schwartz, please go and open a carrel for Philine and me.” 

I stepped inside our carrel the moment it was ready, with Rihyarda following close behind, carrying a number of storybooks. I read through them and organized their names and summaries into my ever-growing register. 

Most knight stories followed the same beats of the protagonist going on an adventure to defeat a feybeast or multiple feybeasts, but that wasn’t to say these were the only ones available. Some focused on the friendship between knights, while others featured the trials and tribulations of a lesser duchy’s Knight’s Order upon earning the ire of the Knight’s Order of a greater duchy. All in all, there was a good variety of content. 

The only problem with these books was that the language they used was considerably old. This made the stories hard to read, and some had evidently been transcribed so hastily that making out even the letters was near enough impossible. 

“Lady Rozemyne, I am finding this quite difficult... I think I need to study more,” Philine said. She was summarizing the storybooks the same as I was, but her slower reading speed was stalling her progress. 

I personally wasn’t struggling with the knight stories too much, since I was used to reading the much more elaborate and euphemism-ridden bible, but the same couldn’t be said for Philine. She was more accustomed to studying with the simple text of my rewritten picture bibles, and she didn’t yet have much experience with older books. 

“You will need to find a book on older language that you can study, Philine. If you cannot read old documents, you will struggle with scholarly work in the future.” 

“Indeed. I will do my best.” 

And so, we spent the rest of the afternoon reading knight stories in the library. I decided to borrow one to take back to the dormitory with me; if possible, I wanted to use it as inspiration to write a story myself. 

“Weiss, I wish to borrow this book.” 

“Okay. Deposit, milady. Three large golds.” 

I was well aware that books were expensive, but the cost of the deposit still caught me by surprise. Only in retrospect did I truly appreciate how incredible the libraries back on Earth were for lending out books for free. I wanted to pray in honor of the mighty Ranganathan, who had established free lending with his five laws of library science. 

I need to spread printing far and wide before free lending can even be considered a pipe dream... Why must the road ahead of me be so long?! 

The next day, Cornelius and Hartmut were going to join us in the library. They were surprised to learn that it contained any knight stories to begin with; apparently they had thought it stored only study resources and research notes. 

“It makes sense for them to store more than just study resources,” I said. “The book room in Ehrenfest’s castle contains documents related to the work done in the castle, so would it not be logical for the library to contain documents related to other aspects of the Royal Academy? It only seems like the library contains nothing but study resources because those kinds of documents are the most popular and dominate the first floor for the sake of convenience. I mean, the storybooks I mentioned were tucked away in a corner.” 

Hartmut noted that he wanted to see documents on past Interduchy Tournaments, if possible. When he explained that they might contain records of previous battles and the feybeasts fought during them, both Cornelius’s and Leonore’s eyes started to sparkle. 

By the time harspiel practice came to an end at third bell, a good number of students were interested in going to the library. I decided to bring them all with me. 

“Milady. Good morning.” 

“Schwartz. Weiss. Good morning to you both.” 

“You love books?” the two shumils asked in unison. 

“I do. My love for them is why I shall try to visit the library every day from now on. I also wish to return the book that I borrowed yesterday. I hope you’ll both continue to work your hardest,” I said, stroking their feystones. 

The students who were seeing Schwartz and Weiss for the first time made surprised noises. “So it’s true that the library has two large shumils now...” one muttered. 

“How adorable! I cannot wait to put my all into designing clothes for them,” added another. 

I paid no mind to their whispers as I asked Rihyarda to handle the book return process with Schwartz, and then said good morning to Solange. 

“And good morning to you as well, Lady Rozemyne. You have brought many others with you today, I see.” 

“They’re in search of particular documents, and they were hoping that you could tell them where those might be.” 

Solange tilted her head curiously, at which point Hartmut stepped forward with his request. “Do you by chance have any documents about old ditter games played during the Interduchy Tournaments? I would appreciate the opportunity to read about which duchies fought which feybeasts, or anything along those lines.” 

“We do not have records of all previous ditter games, but there are some strategy books on treasure-stealing ditter among our older documents,” Solange replied. “We also have records of the winners of past Interduchy Tournaments, as well as a list of each year’s honor students.” 

Hartmut and Cornelius exchanged glances, their eyes gleaming with interest. In terms of strategy, the notes by Eckhart and Ferdinand would suffice; what they really wanted were the documents about the past winners of the Interduchy Tournament. 

“We would like to see the documents regarding the Interduchy Tournament,” I said. “Can you tell us where you store them?” 

“You always want the strangest resources, Lady Rozemyne. Most students care only about study resources for their classes or books that are profitable to transcribe,” Solange said with a smile as she turned around. “The reading room prioritizes the study documents that are most regularly used. Archival records and the like are stored in separate rooms. Please wait just a moment.” 

Solange disappeared for a short while, and then she returned with delicately bound documents not from the bookshelves in the reading room, but from a storage room. They were clearly being treated differently, and so I looked up at her with a curious expression. 

“Could it be that we are forbidden from borrowing these?” 

“Correct. These materials may not leave the library; after all, we would be in quite the pickle if someone refused to return them. You are free to read them here as you like, however.” 

I went to take the thick, heavy documents from Solange with a few words of gratitude, but Hartmut immediately stepped forward from beside me and took them in my stead. “Lady Rozemyne, I shall transcribe these documents. There is information not related to ditter that I wish to know as well. May I borrow Philine to help me?” 

“Certainly. I shall trust the transcription to you, Hartmut.” 

It would take Hartmut too long to transcribe them all on his own, so he had smartly decided to spread out the workload. He looked around the library, then gave Solange a bemused frown. “Professor Solange, I was hoping for a larger table so that we can transcribe next to each other. Do you have anything other than the carrels?” 

“You could always line up desks on the second floor, but as those are documents that cannot be borrowed, I would rather they stay as close to me as possible. All the new students have now been registered, so you are welcome to use the registration table in my office.” 

“Thank you,” Hartmut replied. “We will work as fast as we can.” 

With that, Solange guided Hartmut, Philine, and two other apprentice scholars into her office. Hartmut immediately got to work telling everyone their roles as he skimmed the documents, while Philine and the others hurriedly prepared the ink and paper I had provided them with. Solange was fondly eyeing the four when she returned to the counter, such that it took her a moment to realize the rest of us were still waiting here. When she did realize, however, an amused smile crept onto her face. 

“Is there anything else I can help with?” she asked. 

Leonore made eye contact with Cornelius, then stepped forward. “Ahem. Do you have any documents about feybeasts? I am particularly interested in those detailing how to hunt the feybeasts in this area, what the strengths and weaknesses of various species are, and so on.” 

“If you are looking for something more in-depth than the basic resources, there is a scroll on the second floor that covers those topics. It is quite old, but detailed. A professor who specialized in making magic tools once wrote it based on his experiences collecting materials,” Solange explained as she gingerly began climbing the stairs, still wearing the same amused smile. “I must admit, this feels quite strange. It is oh-so rare for anyone but professors to ask for documents from the second floor.” 

The professors apparently used students who were likely to remain in the Royal Academy as assistant professors to carry documents, and such students were often instructed to read all the resources from one section or another. Solange mentioned that she could tell which students would remain in the Academy after graduation based on what they did in the library. 

“Most students who come here seek nothing more than the study resources,” Solange explained. “There is a tendency in the Royal Academy for socializing and diplomacy to be prioritized over studying.” 

Studying could always be done in one’s home duchy, but only in the Royal Academy did the opportunity arise to interact with those from other duchies. As a result, it only made sense that socializing would take priority, regardless of the students’ own interests. It seemed this hadn’t always been the case, though. In the past, students would receive their schtappes only at graduation, which had resulted in many being a lot more enthusiastic about their studies. 

“Still, to think that so many are capable of coming to the library despite it being not even a month since this term began,” Solange mused. “Ehrenfest certainly has its fair share of excellent students.” 

Upon reaching the second floor, Solange made a beeline for the bookshelf she wanted. The scrolls stored on it looked a lot like the wrapped-up bundles of cloth one would see in art stores, especially considering that the tiny wooden tags hanging from them looked a lot like price tags. Rather than listing any prices, however, these tags were used to identify the scrolls. 

One by one, Solange checked the tags of all the scrolls on one shelf. She then pulled out one scroll in particular, which she promptly set up on a reading desk for us. Scrolls naturally couldn’t be transcribed while they were rolled up, so they needed to be kept open on a reading stand. 

“Everything is so easy to understand. It even has art,” I observed. The scroll written by a past professor covered not just feybeasts, but feyplants as well. It also contained various illustrations, though these weren’t particularly “good” in any sense of the word. I wanted to read it myself when my retainers were done. 

The scroll was spread out enough to show two feybeast descriptions at a time, allowing them to be transcribed simultaneously. As the apprentice knights were the ones who needed information on feybeasts, it was one such apprentice knight who began preparing the ink and paper. 

“Leonore, could you copy this picture for us? You’ve got much better drawing skills than me,” Cornelius said, trying to unload the work onto her. 

“I do not mind. Is drawing something that you struggle with, Cornelius?” Leonore asked, intently staring up at him. 

“It’s definitely not a specialty of mine,” Cornelius replied, averting his gaze out of embarrassment. The smile that Leonore gave him in turn was so warm and gentle that it made something click in my head. 

Wait... Could it be? Is Leonore in love with Cornelius? 

As soon as I realized that, everything fell into place. I remembered Leonore asking about Angelica’s marriage prospects and smacked a fist against my palm. 

Ah, I see! Leonore doesn’t want to be a fine lady like Mother; she wants to be Cornelius’s first wife! 

I silently cheered Leonore on. Maybe it was a bit strange of me to say, but the family Bonifatius had created took too much influence from its male members. Their style was very much brawn over brains, so I wanted nothing more than for Leonore to wed into the family as a much-needed injection of intellectual thought. 

In any case, everyone had found the resources they needed, so I returned to the first floor to continue reading stories. 

When the afternoon came around, Philine left for her practical lessons. Traugott also took Leonore’s place as my guard. He and Cornelius fought a little over who would do the transcribing work, with Cornelius ultimately taking up the mantle. I stealthily glanced at his drawings out of curiosity, but they weren’t bad at all. Assuming he hadn’t just been acting humble before, my art skills really were in a disastrous state.

“Lady Rozemyne, I would also like to have a leisurely talk at some point soon,” Solange said as I was on my way out of the library. It took me a second to realize what she was talking about, since my mind was so focused on books, but then it hit me—after all, we had discussed the matter just the day before. 

“If you cannot leave the library, Professor Solange, could we perhaps hold the tea party in your office? If you want, I could bring the sweets and tea to lessen the burden on you.” 

“That would be exceptionally helpful, but are you truly willing to do such a thing...?” Solange asked with a surprised expression. Following her gaze made it clear this was more a question for Rihyarda, since she would need to make the necessary preparations. 

Rihyarda gave a brisk nod. “It is no trouble at all. Milady has told us all the details, and this is her way of making things more manageable for you. We are more than willing to prioritize your needs above all else.” 

“You are busy managing the library alone, are you not?” I asked. “I thought about what I could do to make a tea party more feasible for you and decided on bringing the sweets and tea myself, as though I am preparing for a picnic.” 

Rihyarda had been surprised when I first suggested the idea, since it apparently wasn’t normal to provide the sweets and tea while borrowing a room from someone else. Still, when I explained to her that it was a solution I had thought up to lessen the burden on Solange, she ultimately understood. 

“I am aware of how busy you are, and my intention is only to reduce the sudden workload a tea party might impose upon you. If my approach is too forward, however...” 

“No, no. You are being quite helpful, Lady Rozemyne,” Solange replied. “I do believe I might take you up on your offer. The library gets more visitors on Earthdays, since that is when everyone has the day off, so if possible, I would prefer to hold the tea party the day before on a Fruitday.” 

“Of course. I am looking forward to it.” 

In accordance with Solange’s needs, the tea party was scheduled for the morning two days from now, and it was going to be held in her office. I told my attendants the plan the moment I returned to the dormitory, which caused Brunhilde to gawk in surprise. She had never expected a tea party with Solange to be scheduled even before the tea party with the music professors. 

“It was necessary to accommodate Professor Solange,” I explained. “She wanted to hold it as soon as possible, since more students than usual are visiting the library to see Schwartz and Weiss.” 

Rihyarda had told me that, in order to get the Library Committee established, I would need to exhibit friendliness rather than overwhelming enthusiasm during the tea party. While we were there, it was also important that we arrange a date on which to measure Schwartz and Weiss, plus I wanted to bring the rough drafts of my manuscripts and speak to Solange about her hometown and the stories she knew. 

“I suppose it might be a good thing after all to hold the tea party with Professor Solange first...” Brunhilde mused. Her words caught me by surprise. 

“Professor Solange mentioned that she does not interact with the other professors much due to being stuck in the library all winter,” I said. “Will it not be a fruitless tea party for you, Brunhilde, considering that you want to push trends and fashions?” 

“She may be stuck in the library for the duration of winter, but she will socialize during the other seasons like everyone else, no? Also recall that she was aware of our first-years having exceptional grades; she must be socializing to some degree. This tea party will allow us to see how a Sovereign noble reacts to our methods, as well as what they think about our clothes, hairpins, and sweets before the larger tea party with many more professors.” 

To Brunhilde, this was the perfect opportunity to gauge how Sovereign nobles would react to Ehrenfest culture, which would in turn allow her to better prepare for the tea party with the music professors. 

“I simply wanted to discuss books, stories, and the clothes that are going to be made for Schwartz and Weiss,” I said, but this only made Brunhilde reproachfully narrow her eyes. She glanced at Rihyarda, then bent forward slightly so that we were at eye level. Following our discussion from before, my attendants had elected to more immediately inform me of my mistakes when it came to socializing. 

“Lady Rozemyne, you will want to prepare as many topics in advance as possible. If you do not prepare and focus on other topics, you are likely to speak of nothing but books for the entire tea party. Please do not forget to discuss other matters as well. Professor Solange is a mednoble, so she will have no choice but to listen to you with a smile no matter what you say. It is for this reason that you must take great, great care to observe how the people you are speaking to react.” 

Lieseleta gave a worried nod of agreement. “Lord Wilfried often mentions that you lose sight of everything else when books are involved. Let us work together so that you can become an archduke candidate who never forgets to be graceful and who always acts wisely. Do not worry—you guided my sister to graduation, so nothing is beyond your ability. I believe in you,” she said, her eyes now full of such intense hope and trust that it honestly hurt to see. I would need to plan well so that I didn’t mess up at the tea party—if not for my sake, then for hers.