Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 4.6 - Chapter Ep

Epilogue

Every day, reports came from the Royal Academy. Sylvester cleared his office of retainers to read them alone with Karstedt and Ferdinand.

The reports up until classes began were peaceful—Rozemyne rejoiced over the dormitory’s new bookcase and was more grateful to Wilfried than ever before, and although Charlotte expressed some concern over Rozemyne’s bizarre style of greeting that prioritized books above all else, such things warranted little more than a chuckle. Students of the former Veronica faction had requested to offer their names to Rozemyne, but Rozemyne was exceedingly reluctant to carry such a heavy burden, so that was on hold for now.

Even after the fellowship gatherings, the reports that arrived were still relatively peaceful. It was a surprise that Drewanchel had already managed to emulate rinsham, but that had been expected to happen eventually. There was also a report about how Bettina from Ahrensbach was leaking information, but that, too, was expected—it was the very reason she had married into Ehrenfest in the first place. The only point of worry was that the third prince had attended the fellowship gathering despite having not yet been debuted, but the actual risk was minimal, since he was going to be staying in his room.

“If we do find ourselves with another problem on our hands, it will no doubt be due to Rozemyne somehow getting involved with him,” Ferdinand mused.

“Don’t say that, Ferdinand!” Sylvester barked. “The prince is staying in his room. They’ll never meet. It’s just not going to happen! Ever!”

Naturally, Sylvester shared the same fears as Ferdinand. Given how Rozemyne had ended up interacting with royalty the year before, it was impossible to imagine her finishing her second year at the Royal Academy without incident.

Of course, once lessons began, the reports that arrived in Ehrenfest became anything but peaceful. Rozemyne dragged a Dunkelfelger archduke candidate into her so-called “Library Committee,” supplied mana to several magic tools within the library, formed divine instruments in her schtappe-morphing class, attacked a teacher with one of the charms that Ferdinand had given her, and tore apart the canopy of her bed with a toy she had powered up.

Sylvester, Ferdinand, and Karstedt all sighed wearily as they read the incoming reports one after another. There were so many that simply reading them was exhausting.

Sylvester put a hand to his forehead and started massaging his temples. “Ferdinand, why is Rozemyne always so... extreme?”

“Do not ask me. It seems that Rozemyne’s understanding of the word ‘peaceful’ differs considerably from our own. We will need to correct this,” Ferdinand replied, heaving another sigh as he scratched his head. He seemed to be extremely drained.

Karstedt was similarly spent from the daily reports. “To think she’d cause this many problems in less than a week...” he muttered. “I think it’s safe to say she has a talent for troublemaking at this point, which is the last thing we need.”

Sylvester suddenly realized something terrible. Indeed, despite them having received so many reports, not even a week had passed. That explained why they hadn’t yet heard from Hirschur.

Reports continued to flood in. The second-years had all passed their written lessons on the first day, there was a request for advice on dealing with a tea party invitation from Drewanchel, Rozemyne had resolved to accept Roderick’s name, and much was learned from the music professors during their tea party.

The questions regarding tea parties and socializing were sent not just to Sylvester, but to Ferdinand, Florencia, and Elvira as well. Men and women tended to have different perspectives on such matters, and Sylvester believed that having a variety of answers would prove useful.

Ehrenfest’s rise through the Royal Academy’s ranks and its association with new people had made the Archduke Conference a struggle for the adults, so it naturally followed that the children in the Royal Academy would struggle as well. It seemed as though they were better at managing Rozemyne’s words and behavior than they had been the year before, but the troubling reports continued to flood in. They were received with the usual concerned smiles... but everything changed when Rozemyne encountered the third prince again.

“Rozemyne went to the library to arrange when to change Schwartz’s and Weiss’s clothes, and while she was there, she seems to have met with Prince Hildebrand. Is this normal? From Charlotte.”

“Rozemyne isn’t worried, and she says they’ll never see each other again, since the prince is avoiding other students. Even so, somehow, I’ve got a bad feeling about this... From Wilfried.”

Your dad does too, Wilfried. I’ve got a really bad feeling about this...

“So it finally happened...” Ferdinand said.

“Why are you so calm about this?!”

“So far, they have met with one another, but nothing has happened. The problems are yet to come, and that is why you must calm down, Sylvester. If we panic now, we will not survive the upcoming reports,” Ferdinand replied, waving his hands dismissively. But how could Sylvester remain composed when Rozemyne was somehow meeting with a prince who wasn’t even supposed to be attending the Royal Academy?

“How can I stay calm when you’re saying the bad times have only just begun?!” Sylvester exclaimed. “Now I’m even more worried...”

“Problems will now be occurring at a highly accelerated rate,” Ferdinand continued. “After what we experienced last year, this much should be obvious. Just look at this report from Hartmut if you wish to be terrified even further.” He held out a report with a thin smile. It seemed that he was equally disturbed on the inside; he was just exceptionally good at hiding his emotions.

“Lady Rozemyne began reading immediately after greeting the prince, but he appears to have taken an interest in her, no doubt because she looks as young as he does. He went out of his way to climb to the second floor to watch her read. From Hartmut.”

Sylvester wanted to scream, “Please, can’t you leave my kids alone?!” but he somehow contained the urge. “Ferdinand, do you know a way to keep Rozemyne from ever meeting with the prince again?” he asked.

“As I am sure you know, we cannot just prevent her from going to the library—gaining access to it was the very reason that she passed all of her classes on the first day. Trying to contain her would have too great of an impact on other things. You do not want to make the same mistake that Wilfried made last year, do you?”

“Ngh...” Sylvester fell silent, recalling how disastrous it had been for everyone when Rozemyne had been kept away from her precious library.

Karstedt shrugged. “There’s no stopping her from visiting the library, and we can’t do anything about the prince’s actions. All we can do is pray to the gods that he contains himself and stays in his room like he should.”

“Praise be to the gods! Prayers to the gods!”

“Aub Ehrenfest, we have an urgent message from the Royal Academy.”

Rozemyne wasn’t the only one causing unnecessary chaos—Hirschur, the Ehrenfest dormitory supervisor, was raising an Ahrensbach student as her primary disciple.

“We were planning to invite Professor Hirschur to the changing of Schwartz’s and Weiss’s clothes the day after tomorrow, but what should we do? From Marianne.”

“This is a very dangerous situation, as Ehrenfest secrets could be leaking to Ahrensbach through Professor Hirschur’s disciple. Are there any problems with the documents we have already given her? From Ignaz.”

“Is there any way we can turn her disciple, Raimund, into an information source for ourselves? He associates with Professor Gundolf, so I believe he may be leaking our research to Drewanchel as well. From Hartmut.”

“Raimund is very skilled when it comes to modifying magic circles—he improved one of mine and even taught me how to do it myself. Also, he really wants to read Ferdinand’s book. Can I lend it to him? From Rozemyne.”

Sylvester was dumbfounded. Rozemyne, why are you the only one not worried about this?! Aren’t you the one Ahrensbach ambushed?! At once, he was struck with the overwhelming urge to scream and poke her cheeks to infinity.

“I understand that she’s moved to the Sovereignty, but I’d rather Hirschur showed our duchy a little more consideration,” Karstedt said. It was an extremely normal reaction for an Ehrenfest noble, but Ferdinand met the remark with a harsh glare.

“Why should she, when Ehrenfest shows her no consideration?” he replied. “Do not be so self-centered.”

“What do you mean?”

Ferdinand grimaced and then explained. It seemed that back when Hirschur had taken Ferdinand as a disciple, she had ended up being exposed to Veronica’s cruelty as well. She had no longer been able to rest peacefully in the Ehrenfest dormitory, and it was for this reason that she had started sleeping in her laboratory even more regularly than before. Ferdinand dryly noted that the financial support usually given to the dormitory supervisor had promptly been stolen away by those serving Veronica, such that Hirschur received no help whatsoever.

These events had taken place after Sylvester had graduated from the Royal Academy, so he knew very little about Ferdinand and Hirschur’s past. He struggled to believe that Ferdinand had endured so much, considering the man’s achievements—he had come first-in-class every single year, received direct praise from the king himself, formed personal connections with greater duchies, and made an extraordinary amount of wealth for a student by selling magic tools and materials.

“My mother took away the dormitory’s help?” Sylvester asked. “If you knew this, why didn’t you say anything when we imprisoned her? How many years has it been now? How can you be so passive about this when your own teacher is struggling?!”

“Hirschur made it clear that she neither wants nor needs help, as it would only obstruct the raising of her apprentices. It was how she protected me while I was in the Royal Academy,” Ferdinand said. That was why, out of respect, he had supported Hirschur with some of the earnings he made from his magic tools.

Sylvester finally understood why Ferdinand was so close with Hirschur even after his graduation, but at the same time, he felt helpless. “Ferdinand, please... You need to tell me these things sooner,” he said. “I may be the archduke, but I can’t act on a problem I don’t know about. It makes me feel pathetic.”

“The things your mother did are nothing but unpleasant, and I have no wish to remember them. Forgive me,” Ferdinand replied, his voice cracking slightly as he spoke. His eyes were downcast, and his brow was slightly furrowed. Sylvester could hardly press him any further after that.

“You’re forgiven.”

Ferdinand exhaled and then stood. “I will go to the Royal Academy.”

“Wait, Ferdinand! Adults can’t just up and get involved—you know this! That’s why these reports are so painful...” Sylvester was limited to venting his frustrations through replies, as they all presumably were, but Ferdinand waved a hand to dismiss the idea.

“It will not be an issue,” he said. “It is understood that magic tools must be dealt with by those who created them. I will simply exchange a few words with my teacher while I am there. Hirschur will not listen to anyone else. You know this to be true.”

In short, Ferdinand intended to go to the Royal Academy under the guise of retrieving some magic tools he had left with Hirschur.

“Fear not,” Ferdinand reiterated. “We will not bring harm to Ehrenfest.”

“That’s not what I’m worried about,” Sylvester replied. “I thought that speaking with Hirschur might bring back some memories that you’d rather not remember, but... Alright. I’m leaving this to you.”

“A wise choice.”

That same day, Ferdinand sent word that he would soon be coming to the Royal Academy, and the next afternoon, he departed with Eckhart and Justus. He returned at night looking extremely refreshed, and there were a great number of magic tools with him.

The next day, Sylvester learned that his prayers had not reached the gods. Just as he had feared, a report arrived to say that Rozemyne had met with the prince again.

“Today, we changed Schwartz’s and Weiss’s clothes. I was able to touch them for the very first time, since Lady Rozemyne granted me her permission. The new clothes suit them very well. Prince Hildebrand came to watch midway through, and the next thing we knew, he had agreed to become an assistant for supplying the shumils with mana. From Marianne.”

The prince had arrived midway through the changing... and ended up an assistant?

“Wait a moment!” Sylvester exclaimed. “Rozemyne’s their master, and the prince is her assistant?! It’s supposed to be the other way around!”

“It was just yesterday that I went to the Royal Academy to settle problems. How are there new ones already...?” Ferdinand muttered. There was a distant look in his eyes that Sylvester could fully understand. “Karstedt, read these. This situation is beyond headache-inducing.”

Karstedt accepted the stack of reports; then, he pressed a hand to his forehead and groaned. Sylvester took the reports from the man’s weary free hand and, after pumping himself up, started reading them in turn.

“Rozemyne and Prince Hildebrand were being quite friendly with one another. It seems to me that the prince thinks highly of Rozemyne—his expression when speaking with her was entirely different from when he spoke with Wilfried. She seems to like him in turn; in fact, she was staring at him as intensely as she would stare at a book. She ended up asking me what I thought of younger men. I’ve attempted to guide her back to Wilfried, but he will need the courage to agree that she can do whatever she likes with her own library. From Charlotte.”

“The prince appears to like shumils, but it seems to me that he is more interested in Lady Rozemyne. She, in turn, became enamored by the prospect of the palace library. We must be careful; it seems that the prince mistook Lady Rozemyne for Lady Charlotte, and now, Lady Rozemyne has mistakenly concluded that he is romantically interested in her sister. Afterward, Lady Rozemyne was asked to relinquish her position as the magic tools’ master. She avoided this by pointing out that Prince Hildebrand would struggle to provide the shumils with mana while he is still unable to act publicly and that he would end up being called ‘milady’ despite being male. The prince ultimately settled on helping with the provision of mana as an assistant. From Hartmut.”

“We changed Schwartz’s and Weiss’s clothes today. It turns out that Professor Solange lives in the library. I’m very jealous. I want to live in a library too one day. Oh, also—Prince Hildebrand came when we were changing their clothes. He wanted to know how Charlotte feels about younger men, so I ended up asking her, but it turns out that she’s all about her big bro. I wish she was all about her big sis... From Rozemyne.”

“Is it just me, or does Rozemyne live in an entirely different world from everyone else...?” Sylvester mused aloud. Her report had seemed to be mostly about Solange’s living conditions—which nobody else had even mentioned—and her own plans for the future. The prince’s arrival came across as an afterthought more than anything.

“Rozemyne simply cannot socialize,” Ferdinand said, rubbing his temples.

“And she’s going to be interacting with royalty like this?” Karstedt asked, his hands similarly on his head. “Give me a break. Please.”

“Ferdinand, can you bring Rozemyne back?” Sylvester asked. “At the very least, we need to wait things out until the prince stops visiting the library.”

“She has only recently been allowed to start visiting the library herself, so no. Hm... I suggest we threaten her by saying that we will order her home the next time she does something.”

The three cradled their heads, but this was only the beginning of the chaos.

“Rozemyne sent me these questions,” Ferdinand said.

“I’ve ended up inviting Prince Hildebrand to a tea party in the library. Would it be safe for me to let him borrow some Ehrenfest knight stories? Is there anything I should watch out for? From Rozemyne.”

“How and why did she end up inviting a royal to a tea party?!” Sylvester cried. “Is she just being cocky or what?”

Ehrenfest only ever invited royalty to tea parties during the Archduke Conference. Inviting someone to a tea party was more draining and required a lot more effort than simply being invited, so doing everything to the appropriate standard was going to be impossible for someone like Rozemyne, who couldn’t even manage regular socializing.

“I can imagine her being so focused on her bookworm friend that she ignores the prince entirely...” Ferdinand said, evoking an image that Sylvester could see all too easily. It would be unimaginably rude, but Rozemyne would do it without fail. “Have her decide on discreet signals with her attendants, to be used when she is neglecting the prince too much, the topic needs to be changed, and the like. It would also be wise to bring an abundance of feystones, since her emotions are sure to flare out of control the instant the conversation turns to the exchange of books.”

Together, they wrote up all the plans they could and sent them to Rozemyne’s retainers, making sure to explain in no uncertain terms that Rozemyne was not to neglect the prince in conversation. Soon after they had sent all of their replies, however, they received an emergency letter from Charlotte. This year, it felt as though they were receiving nothing but emergency letters.

“The children of the former Veronica faction left to hunt feybeasts, but Roderick returned injured. Wilfried departed to help the apprentice knights while Sister tended to Roderick, and when she asked Roderick what had happened, we learned that a ternisbefallen was responsible. Sister has since left with her guard knights to grant the apprentices blessings of Darkness. We’ve contacted the professors, but is there anything else I should do? From Charlotte.”

“A ternisbefallen? What even is that?” Sylvester asked, having never heard the name before.

“This is problematic...” Ferdinand muttered and promptly started on his response. He warned the apprentice knights not to attack the ternisbefallen, to take turns provoking it, and to buy time until the Sovereign Knight’s Order arrived. “They are trombe-like feybeasts that appear around Werkestock. Only black weapons work on them.”

“Come again?!” Karstedt exclaimed. “That’s terrible! We must go at once.”

Ferdinand shook his head. “No, Karstedt. We cannot send our own knights. All we can do is rely on the Sovereignty.”

A duchy could only send its Knight’s Order to the Royal Academy at the request of the Sovereignty—doing so under any other circumstances was tantamount to invading Sovereign territory. Karstedt could only watch with gritted teeth as Ferdinand wrote his reply.

As soon as Ferdinand was done, he briskly walked to the teleportation hall and instructed the knight standing guard to deliver his letter. Charlotte’s reply came immediately—likely an indication that she had been waiting by the teleportation room. “We have already informed them. The ternisbefallen was attacked when it was first encountered and grew as a result, but the apprentices have split into groups and are now stalling for time. From Charlotte.”

“So, someone there knows of ternisbefallens, hm? They must be quite the academic,” Ferdinand remarked, exhaling in relief.

The three guardians agonized as they awaited the next update, and after what felt like an age, another report arrived. “They defeated the ternisbefallen, but Sister collapsed. Nobody else was hurt. From Charlotte.”

“As long as the ternisbefallen was defeated, we must be satisfied. As worried as I am about Rozemyne, her collapsing is nothing new,” Karstedt said. He had waited on tenterhooks, itching to leap up and rush over with reinforcements, but now the tension drained from his shoulders. Sylvester, too, was relieved.

A new day brought with it new reports.

“I made the necessary preparations and headed out as soon as Roderick told us what happened. Matthias said we needed to buy time until the professors arrived, so I suggested that we take turns dealing with the ternisbefallen. Rozemyne arrived while we were doing that, and she blessed our weapons with Darkness, enabling us to start attacking. The beast was hard to hit, since it moved so fast, but Rozemyne managed to block its vision with a black cloth midway through the fight, allowing us to launch a massive attack all at once. It was my first battle, but my contributions came in second place. From Wilfried.”

“Lady Rozemyne truly is a saint. Her expression was impeccably heroic as she blessed the weapons with Darkness, and the words of her prayer were as fluid and majestic as if she had been playing an instrument. The ternisbefallen was clearly more on guard against Lady Rozemyne than anyone else; it carelessly took blows from the other knights but was fixated on avoiding her water gun. Upon deducing that her attacks would continue to be evaded, Lady Rozemyne restrained the ternisbefallen with the God of Darkness’s divine instrument. If not for her contribution, we would not have been able to defeat the beast. And that is not all—Lady Rozemyne also produced Flutrane’s staff and, through a ritual, completely repaired the gathering spot. I saw a divine miracle with my own eyes, and it was extraordinary! Praise be to the gods! From Hartmut.”

“By the time the professors and the Sovereign knights arrived, the battle was already over. They sent out inquiries regarding the details of the hunt and Ehrenfest’s temple affairs, and it seems that the ternisbefallen came from the direction of the Werkestock Dormitory. Students should not be able to use the Darkness blessing, so publicly, the story is that the Sovereign Knight’s Order defeated the ternisbefallen. From Charlotte.”

“Are you sure these reports are all about the same thing...?” Sylvester asked.

“There is no doubting it, considering that the ternisbefallen is mentioned in each one,” Ferdinand replied. But even then, it was hard to believe.

“Well, they did a good job,” Karstedt said. “That much is for sure.”

“Yep. That’s not a feybeast students should normally come across. Seems like they’ll make good trombe hunters when they grow up,” Sylvester agreed with a nod, but Ferdinand was rubbing his temples and grumbling.

“Sylvester, call Rozemyne back as soon as she recovers,” he said. “We must discuss things at once.”

“Hrm?”

“The blessing. I expect that Rozemyne used the prayer directly from the bible, which differs somewhat from the spell taught to knights. I wish to speak with her regarding this before she is questioned.”

And so, as per this suggestion, Sylvester ordered Rozemyne to return.

Despite Rozemyne having been ordered to return as soon as her tea party with the prince was complete, what came through the teleportation circle was instead a stack of papers. Ferdinand thumbed through them, then squeezed his eyes shut and said, “Let us return to your office, Aub Ehrenfest,” with a smile that did not reach his eyes. It seemed that more problems had occurred.

Once they were in Sylvester’s office, Ferdinand started reading a report from Hartmut aloud. Dunkelfelger’s archduke candidate was registered as an assistant before the tea party began, the prince wanted a Library Committee armband, and Rozemyne had promised to get him one.

What is Rozemyne thinking...? Last year, there was the whole thing with the hairpins, and now she’s taking business orders from royalty again. Gah, of course. She isn’t thinking.

Sylvester vigorously massaged his forehead as he read the reports, but it seemed that Ferdinand wasn’t content to let their suffering end there. “As they were peacefully discussing books, Rozemyne suddenly suggested that the prince send out ordonnanzes telling students to return their overdue books.”

“Whaaat?!” Karstedt shouted on instinct.

“She dumped work on royalty?!” Sylvester cried out at almost the same time. “What was she thinking?!”

“Everyone else there no doubt thought the same,” Ferdinand said. “I shall continue reading the report.”

“I don’t wanna hear it, but”—Sylvester took a moment to brace himself—“alright. Go on.”

A member of royalty would normally be enraged to receive such a brazen request, but the prince had rejoiced over Rozemyne’s nonstandard suggestion and said that he would consult the king. It was all so sudden and so bizarre that nobody on either side had been able to comprehend what was going on, let alone stop them.

“Even the prince’s retainers were dazed, it seems. We are lucky that Rozemyne avoided a rebuke here,” Ferdinand said.

“Lucky, sure, but am I the only one who’s starting to think this Rozemyne-prince combo is dangerous?” Sylvester replied. Maybe because Prince Hildebrand was raised as a vassal to begin with, he didn’t have much of the dignity or pride that one expected from royalty. Otherwise, he never would have rejoiced over Rozemyne’s insulting proposition.

“The more dangerous we believe the situation is and the more we try to pull them apart, the closer Rozemyne will end up becoming with him,” Ferdinand warned.

“At the moment, I’m just grateful that I’m not one of the retainers having to attend these tea parties,” Karstedt said. “Though, in an ideal world, I wouldn’t even have to read these reports.”

“We would not allow you, alone, to escape this burden. Give up and endure; this is your daughter,” Ferdinand replied with a scoff.

Sylvester wanted to say, “Yeah, and you’re her guardian,” but he stayed quiet and simply listened as Ferdinand continued to summarize the report.

“It seems that Rozemyne needed to use a feystone while exchanging books with Dunkelfelger, as Lady Hannelore praised the quality of our duchy’s books.”

“She needed a feystone after just a little praise?” Sylvester asked. “Good thing we made sure she had them on hand.”

“I recall that simply becoming friends with Lady Hannelore was enough to make her pass out last year.”

Sylvester grimaced. “She passed out because of that? I’ve gotta say, this Lady Hannelore must have a pretty strong spirit. I wouldn’t want a friend who could collapse at the drop of a hat.”

“She is from Dunkelfelger—her fearlessness should come as no surprise.”

Karstedt’s expression turned contemplative. “It’s hard to tell whether Rozemyne is maturing or regressing. She’s passing out more often than she used to before the jureve,” he said.

“Her body is stronger, but she has more mana as well. She is not collapsing any more or less frequently than before,” Ferdinand said with a slightly bitter expression and then returned his attention to the report. “Hm... It seems that, when Rozemyne and Lady Hannelore were exchanging books, Prince Hildebrand grew somewhat envious and mentioned that he wished to be involved as well. One of the prince’s retainers suggested that Rozemyne be invited to the palace library, and in that instant, Rozemyne fell unconscious.”

“She collapsed in front of royalty again?!”

“She collapsed while hosting a tea party again?!”

Sylvester and Karstedt shouted at the same time, while Ferdinand frowned and glared at the report.

“How on earth did the tea party continue from there?” Sylvester asked, impatiently snatching the report from Ferdinand. “How was it suspended, and what happened during the aftermath?”

“The Sovereign retainers were in disarray, the prince wept, and Lady Hannelore repeated that she was fine as she attempted to stifle a sob. We sought assistance from Lord Wilfried and Lady Charlotte, who swiftly arrived to handle the matter. From Hartmut.”

Wilfried and Charlotte, huh...? I get the feeling that they’ve aged a few years just from dealing with Rozemyne.

“That was one heck of a tea party...” Sylvester muttered. “So, what’s our plan?”

“We must demand a mountain of answers from Rozemyne before we can decide what action to take,” Ferdinand replied. “For now, have her apologize to those involved and order her to return. If we do this immediately, we can use her collapsing as an excuse. My intention was to send her back to the Royal Academy after hearing the circumstances, but that idea is now dead in the water. We will keep her in Ehrenfest until the Dedication Ritual concludes.” His tone made it clear that he had almost given up and was throwing things at the wall to see what stuck, if anything.

Sylvester wanted to give up too; his head ached worse than last year. Karstedt seemed afraid to speak at all, which Sylvester likewise empathized with.

How...? How does Rozemyne cause so many problems like this?

Peaceful—if a word existed that was an antonym to Rozemyne, it was “peaceful.”