Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 4.8 - Chapter SS4

Q&A with Miya Kazuki

Here are my responses to questions taken between July 15 and July 22, 2019. I wrote these while working on Part 4 Volume 9, which made things a little confusing for me. It was hard to tell what might constitute a spoiler.

Miya Kazuki

Q: Where was Myne taken when she collapsed during her baptism ceremony?

A: She was taken to an empty room for laynobles in the temple’s noble section. If you have the map included in Part 2 of the manga adaptation, it was the second room from the left along the southernmost wall.

Q: It sounds like Myne learns Ferdinand’s name for the first time at the end of Part 2 Volume 1. Is that really the case? Do his attendants address him exclusively as “High Priest”?

A: Yes and yes. They called him by his name before he took the role but switched to “High Priest” afterward. In the same vein, Bezewanst was only ever called “High Bishop” in the temple, which was why it took Myne so long to learn his name. Only blue priests without important roles use their names, such as Brother Egmont.

Q: Ferdinand’s name was embroidered on the handkerchief he lent Myne in Part 2 Volume 1. Did he embroider it himself? If not, who did it for him?

A: In the temple, clothes and accessories need to be embroidered with names and/or crests so they don’t get mixed up in the laundry. Ferdinand commissioned a seamstress to embroider his. 

Q: In Part 2 Volume 2, Ferdinand gets Myne to learn the harspiel as part of her noble education. She doesn’t comment on the sheet music. Is it written the same as ours?

A: It isn’t, but that might not surprise you when Yurgenschmidt’s language and culture are so distinct. It’s also worth noting how much musical notation systems vary even within our own world. Compare the sheet music for the piano to that of some Japanese instruments, for example. Myne doesn’t remark on it because she has a limited interest in sheet music to begin with and isn’t at all surprised when she finds some she doesn’t understand. If she came across a book that she couldn’t read, however, she might have had a lot more to say about it.

Q: During the trombe hunt in Part 2 Volume 2, Myne spots a winged rabbit among the knights’ mounts. I assume it belonged to a female knight who loved shumils, but Myne made no mention of the rider’s sex. Is that because she couldn’t distinguish the men from the women? Does everyone’s armor need to look the same?

A: It’s much easier to spot a woman clad in armor when she has a large chest. The design is uniform because that’s how students are taught to make it when they attend the Royal Academy.

Q: Back in Part 3 Volume 1, what drove Ferdinand to mingle during the Starbind Ceremony? I thought priests couldn’t get married.

A: Ferdinand wanted to know what others thought about Veronica being deposed and Sylvester adopting Rozemyne. He also aimed to draw the ire of the former Veronica faction’s nobles so they wouldn’t bad-mouth Sylvester or Rozemyne. To that end, he strutted around the ceremony like he owned the place, despite having been ostracized under Veronica’s rule.

Q: There’s a point in the story where Rozemyne says she needs to “relearn” self-restraint, but she never seemed to show any as Myne or Urano. Has there ever been a time when she’s had discipline?

A: From an outside perspective, it might seem like she charges from one rampage to another, but she holds back in her own way. Then, in Part 3 Volume 1, she abandons her self-restraint in her quest for revenge against Ferdinand.

Q: For her debut, Rozemyne played a song dedicated to Leidenschaft the God of Fire. How did the song come to be associated with him in the first place? Did someone ask Myne what it was about? If so, how did she reply?

A: Yes, Myne was asked to describe the song. She said, “It’s about fighting and growing stronger. Like, um... coming out victorious, no matter what. Aiming to be the very best. You know, hot-blooded things like that.” So it came to be associated with the God of Fire.

Q: Rozemyne praised Ferdinand so much when their cleansing of the lower city went according to plan, but nobody else reacted that much. Were they stunned silent? Were they in work mode? Or were they simply used to what they saw? I was wondering how much it clashed with noble “common sense,” if at all.

A: They were too stunned to speak. Rozemyne’s proposal that they use a waschen on the entire city had already seemed crazy to them, so imagine their surprise when Ferdinand actually pulled it off. It also took place right after the entwickeln, and many of them were still wondering if all adults who passed the archduke candidate course could manage the same feat. You could say they weren’t sure what to believe.

Karstedt had already known what to expect, so he was silent for another reason. He watched the spectacle with a distant look in his eyes, thinking that he had nothing to say and that he should simply let them get on with it.

Q: Who does Rozemyne mistake for Aurelia’s mother during Lamprecht’s Starbinding? We learn in Aurelia’s side story that her mother is already deceased.

A: That was Aurelia’s father’s first wife.

Q: Tuuli made extra Library Committee armbands before Rozemyne even requested them. Was that because Rozemyne said she planned to give them to her friends?

A: That’s right. Tuuli has lots of friends, so she figured a few armbands wouldn’t be enough.

Q: Throughout the series, Rozemyne has used analogies to describe all sorts of people. How would she describe Charlotte?

A: That’s a good question. In addition to being cute, Charlotte means a lot to Rozemyne and always inspires her to try her hardest. So... like a pretty hair ornament for a formal occasion, maybe? Rozemyne doesn’t have too many chances to wear it, but when she does, she strives to be on her best behavior. That’s their relationship in a nutshell.

Q: During her first year, Rozemyne was forbidden from entering the library until everyone had passed their classes. Did that rule persist into her second year? It caused a lot of problems when Wilfried introduced it, and the Better Grades Committee made a lot of progress with the students’ grades, so I wouldn’t imagine it was necessary.

A: No, that particular ban wasn’t in place during Rozemyne’s second year. The only stipulation was that she needed to pass her own classes. Archduke candidates can’t visit the library alone, and even Rozemyne agreed that she would start slacking on her studies without some kind of rule in place.

Q: What would Ferdinand have done if Rozemyne had said she wanted to become the Zent when they were discussing the bible’s magic circle in his hidden room?

A: He could have done plenty without even needing to oppose her directly. I suspect she would have climbed the towering stairway by the end of the Dedication Ritual.

Q: During the tea party in Part 4 Volume 7, when Rozemyne was discussing love stories with Hannelore and Charlotte, who inspired the tale about the apprentice knight who refused to accept defeat?

A: Heisshitze.

Q: On the topic of gazebo trysts, what does it mean for the God of Darkness to spread his cape to envelop the Goddess of Light? Does it mean to embrace someone or get close to them?

A: It can mean many things, depending on the situation and the “maturity” of the listener.

Q: Back during Part 4 Volume 7’s ditter match, Hannelore’s attack against Ferdinand was deemed physical. Does that mean she threw something? Did she use her hands or perhaps a launching tool of some form?

A: Rozemyne couldn’t see it, but Hannelore launched a magic tool at him using a sling like Judithe’s.

Q: Did nobody find it suspicious that Ferdinand’s mana didn’t resist Rozemyne’s when ternisbefallens attacked the Interduchy Tournament?

A: Nobody else knew; Ferdinand was the only one who could feel it. People might have questioned Rozemyne’s decision to first cleanse his wounds—they were up against rare feybeasts, and she thought the black sludge needed to be washed away—but nobody found the healing suspicious.

Q: How did those who investigated the Werkestock Dormitory know that its teleportation circle had recently been active? Did they use knowledge from the archduke candidate course? Or was it a matter of them having more mana than whoever used it and tried to cover their tracks?

A: Completing the archduke candidate course was important, but they also needed a keen eye. Anastasius’s group was only able to confirm the circle’s use because of Gundolf’s report. If not for him, they might never have noticed.

Q: How was Old Werkestock’s teleportation circle still usable when the duchy’s foundation was lost? Did those who operated it have authorization feystones from the former Aub Werkestock, or did someone new dye the foundation? Could the circle have been used some other way?

A: The foundation’s whereabouts are still unknown. The Sovereign Knight’s Order determined through their investigation that individuals with authorization feystones operated the circle. It is unclear whether the stones came directly from the aub or whether they were passed down until they ended up in the hands of terrorists.

Q: In terms of complexity, was translating Dunkelfelger’s history book into modern language like translating kobun or kanbun into contemporary Japanese?

A: Dunkelfelger is one of the oldest duchies in Yurgenschmidt, so a more appropriate comparison might be translating man’yougana.

Q: Rozemyne’s translation of the history book was well received, but did it clash with the translations written by Dunkelfelger’s archducal family?

A: Study the source material—that’s the Dunkelfelger way! They were just glad to have an easier version to read.

Q: Are there any correlations between a noble’s height and their status or birth duchy? Perhaps due to the food they eat.

A: No, not really—but nobles do tend to be seven or eight centimeters taller than commoners. Gunther and Benno are especially tall for their status, which makes them as tall as the average noble.

Q: Back in Part 2, Myne remarked that the plush toy Tuuli made looked a lot like a white bear. Do white bears actually exist in Yurgenschmidt?

A: That was just Myne’s impression. It might have been something else entirely.

Q: Do you need to be a certain age to drink alcohol in Yurgenschmidt?

A: No.

Q: What does Hugo’s ex think about him now?

A: Nothing at all. He was but one of many men she dated. She would remember him if you asked, but she swiftly married someone who met her needs and now lives an ordinary life.

Q: Are all of Rozemyne’s personnel and the Gutenbergs literate?

A: No, not all of them. Johann and Zack learned only as much as they needed to understand schematics. Heidi cares about the names of the materials she uses and nothing more.

Q: As I understand it, letterpress printers have to set clear standards; they can print only a certain number of characters per line and so many lines per page. Are there procedures in place to help Elvira’s writers work within those limitations? Like how Japan has manuscript paper separated into four hundred squares, each for a single character. If not, do they write freely and trust the workshop to arrange the text for them?

A: As of right now, the workshops arrange the text.

Q: Does someone in Effa’s family manage the Heuss Workshop? I was shocked when she chose expensive white cloth for the archducal family and even took it home with her! Her boss gave her permission, I imagine, but it must have been worth several times her annual salary. Surely only a relative would allow something like that.

A: People only extend workshop invitations to those they can trust, so yes, a lot of workshops end up being family-run. I should note, however, that it’s fairly commonplace for those entrusted with expensive materials to continue their work at home. Nobody batted an eye when Effa and Tuuli took home expensive thread to make Myne’s hairpins.

Q: Now that Effa works as a Renaissance, does the Gunther household enjoy a higher standard of living than its neighbors?

A: Enough that, under normal circumstances, they would probably have moved into a new home by now.

Q: Lutz’s family owns chickens—we’ve seen them give their neighbors eggs in exchange for other goods—but does their lack of modern equipment not cause issues? I would imagine there’s a smell problem, for one thing. That might have been okay in the past, but would people not complain now that the lower city needs to be kept clean? It must have been hard for Karla to tend to the chickens on her own, so maybe they were moved elsewhere.

A: No, the chickens haven’t moved from their attic. The lower city might be cleaner now than it was before, but that doesn’t mean we should start judging it by the values of our modern society. There are odors everywhere. Plenty of people raise even worse-smelling livestock, and there are butchers who turn that livestock into meat. As for Karla, while she might be doing the brunt of the work, don’t forget that she has Ralph there for assistance. Once he gets married, he or one of his brothers will propose moving back home with their parents.

Q: Do commoners turn into feystones when they die? If not, would the same be true for Myne?

A: Commoners have some mana but not enough for a feystone to form. Myne is an exception; she has lots of mana even by noble standards, so her feystone would be relatively large and packed with condensed mana.

Q: Nobles turn into feystones when they die. Is the same true for commoners? If so, where is Liz’s feystone being kept? If not, do they leave corpses?

A: Unless they die in certain ways, such as during combat, nobles don’t turn straight into feystones—they leave behind a corpse from which their feystone must be removed. The duty falls to a blue priest, who carries out the procedure with Ewigeliebe’s sword, which can essentially be considered a funeral. Nobles who have passed away do not leave behind feystones otherwise.

Liz was a commoner, so her mana returned to Geduldh’s womb.

Q: When a blue priest or child with mana dies in the temple, what happens to their feystone? Does their family claim it, or does it remain in the temple?

A: Their family has first claim to the feystone. Otherwise, it becomes the property of the temple.

Q: Do blue priests ever have children with gray shrine maidens, then secretly take the children as attendants?

A: As unlikely as that sounds, I can’t say it’s never happened.

Q: Did the blue priests who returned to noble society have debuts? If so, were they held in private, alongside the winter debuts, or not at all? I’m curious whether those who hadn’t come of age yet mingled with the other children.

A: They debuted alongside the baptized children in the grand hall. It was necessary for them to carry themselves as nobles, and problems would surely have arisen if they hadn’t made their family ties known.

Q: Are blue priests and those who become servants due to lacking mana counted as commoners? What happens during their baptisms, and where are their medals kept?

A: They can be nobles or commoners. Some blue priests and shrine maidens receive income from the Harvest Festival and other such events. They might also get funding from their relatives, in which case they might be baptized prior to entering the temple to reinforce their connections. If, during that baptism, they manage to make the mana-measuring tool shine to a level that suits their house, they’re considered nobles. If not, they’re deemed commoners. Those who might one day return to noble society are baptized without fail. Others among the blood-related servants never get baptized and don’t have medals.

Q: If a laynoble family loses even more mana and produces heirs without any mana at all, do they lose their house and start being treated the same as commoners? What if they can’t even raise their manaless heirs in the temple?

A: Those without mana cannot become nobles. They could spend their lives as commoners, but they would probably be unregistered. If most of a noble family’s children fail to make the mana-measuring tool shine, then yes, their house will only fall apart in the near future. They might choose to move out of the Noble’s Quarter to a province, have their mana-devoid children baptized as commoners, and then slowly integrate themselves into commoner society. Otherwise, to stay in the Noble’s Quarter, they would need to adopt an appropriate successor from a relative. Some refuse to face reality and cling to the Noble’s Quarter when they have no place there, dooming their entire house to ruin.

Q: We’ve seen that people can change their name in secret, like when Myne became Rozemyne, but can they do it without having to take on a whole new identity? If so, how?

A: Are you imagining someone whose parents gave them a joke name? If they haven’t been baptized, they won’t have any trouble changing their name, as they won’t even be registered with their duchy. If they have been baptized but haven’t yet enrolled at the Royal Academy, they can still change their name with the aub’s consent—though they’d end up being refused in the vast majority of cases. Things get a lot harder once they’re a student, as by that point, any name changes need permission from the throne. Would the Zent go to such trouble for the sake of one noble? There’s a chance, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.

Q: Are there records of anyone with the Devouring attending the Royal Academy? Other than Rozemyne, of course.

A: Rozemyne had already been adopted when she enrolled, so there aren’t any records of her having the Devouring. Freida would probably have attended the Academy if she had signed an adoption contract with a noble prior to her baptism, but again, there wouldn’t have been any records to speak of.

Q: It was mentioned that Margaret, the former orphanage director, made use of a hidden room. That means she had a ring and was baptized as a noble, right?

A: Yes, she had just enough mana to be granted a ring. Her father didn’t have the money to raise her as a noble, though, so he sent her to the temple with several goals in mind. If not for the shameful acts she went on to commit, she might have returned to noble society with the other priests and shrine maidens when the civil war ended.

Q: Would an archduke’s first wife from another duchy ever be prevented from interacting with their children? I mean, to minimize the influence of her home duchy on them.

A: No, a mother will raise her own children until their baptisms. Veronica disregarded this practice when she took Wilfried away from Florencia.

Q: The terms “nurse” and “wet nurse” appear throughout the series, much to my confusion. I thought feeding a baby outside your family would cause problems, as the wet nurse’s milk would (at a guess) contain her mana. But as it turns out, some wet nurses in the Bookworm universe don’t breastfeed at all. Have the terms taken on a new meaning in Yurgenschmidt?

A: Yes, the terms refer to someone a mother trusts to tutor her unbaptized child. The wet nurse spends almost all of her time with the child and could easily be considered their second mother.

Q: For a time, Hartmut was like Roderick’s personal editor, bringing out the best in his work and reminding him when his stories were due. Are there editors working for Rozemyne or for Elvira’s group of writers?

A: Rozemyne’s books go through her workshop before they’re finalized. In the same vein, Elvira’s writers always get someone else to review their completed works. The task is normally assigned to the printing workshops.

Q: Rozemyne once included production notes on her posters. Does she do the same with her picture books and whatnot? And as a follow-up question, what’s her stance on reprints? I assume this applies only to her more popular volumes, but does she use the opportunity to introduce more Japanese customs? Denoting the reprint version is one example that comes to mind. Then there’s marketing the series, publicizing future copies, and so on.

A: Colophons are standard practice for a reason—they help with categorization, among other things. I’m not sure about marketing, though. It probably wouldn’t be done unless there was ink and paper to spare.

Q: Do nobles celebrate their birthdays? Do they even know the day they were born?

A: No on both counts. At most, they celebrate their birth season for their baptism or coming-of-age ceremony.

Q: If nobles don’t have set birthdays, at what point are they considered ten years old and eligible to attend the Royal Academy?

A: They have their baptism ceremonies and receive their capes at the start of winter socializing. Those born between the beginning of spring and the end of the subsequent winter are put in the same grade.

Q: Is there a way to tell someone’s status in noble society without speaking to them? Like wearing indoor shoes of a certain color, or what have you. If not, would you need to guess based on the quality of a person’s clothes and the way they carry themselves?

A: You can’t tell a person’s status by their appearance alone, which is why a good noble treats everyone with respect—at least until they’ve deduced the status, relationships, and duchy of whomever they’re speaking with. Philine is a laynoble, for example, but any mednobles who get too overbearing with her might find themselves face-to-face with her archnoble coworkers.

Q: We’ve seen archducal family members reduced to archnobles—Karstedt and the first Giebe Groschel come to mind—but was that really the best approach? Would it not have been less problematic to adopt them?

A: Not all adoptions are good; one’s new parents might be abusive or act with certain cruel objectives in mind. Descending to a lower status—whether through marriage or adoption—is much easier than trying to ascend.

Q: If someone graduates the archduke candidate course only to be reduced to the rank of an archnoble, are they at least guaranteed to become a giebe?

A: No. Most people in that situation would remain in the castle and support their aub.

Q: Within the privacy of their dorms, do the boys of the Royal Academy say things that would make the girls blush?

A: Quite a lot comes up. They’re at a curious age.

Q: Are most of the Royal Academy’s professors single?

A: One could describe them all as the weirdest, most obsessive nobles in the Sovereignty—so yeah, many of them are single. Some of the women became Sovereign nobles to avoid arranged marriages in the first place.

Q: Does the aub need to be present each time someone teleports between their duchy and the Royal Academy? Can anyone provide the mana required to activate the circle?

A: The aub might need to open the door to the teleportation hall. Otherwise, there’s no need for them to attend. Students teleport to the Royal Academy over the course of a week, remember—imagine the aub having to stand around the entire time!

Using the teleportation circle requires the aub’s permission, so the knights in attendance have authorization feystones. The mana to activate the circle comes from those who wish to teleport.

Q: Are the knights in the Royal Academy’s teleportation hall stationed there all the time, or does the entire Knight’s Order participate on a rotating schedule? The lack of remarks about their capes leads me to believe they’re from Ehrenfest, but where do they live?

A: The entire Order participates. They normally live in Ehrenfest and use the teleportation circle to reach their place of work—the dormitory.

Q: Knights use schtappe-made weapons in combat, but where do their shields come from? Feystones?

A: Both come from the person’s schtappe. You learn how to make them as part of the knight course.

Q: Who was the bigwig speaking at the advancement ceremony?

A: One of the professors. They weren’t involved with Rozemyne’s year, so she didn’t recognize them.

Q: Do the duchy rankings apply to those working at the Royal Academy?

A: Not officially—though some people still cling to their status.

Q: Are there emergency rooms near the knight building? The students taking the knight course must get injured all the time. Do the apprentice scholars trying to become healers practice on them?

A: Yes, there’s a medical room, and the professor who runs it uses patients as teaching fodder. It’s mostly for knights like Damuel who have a hard time healing themselves or paying for rejuvenation potions...

Q: Could the Dunkelfelger students excluded from becoming knights not have taken the course anyway? Alongside the attendant or scholar course, I mean. Manawise, it must have been viable for the archnobles, and they’ve got no shortage of passion.

A: The duchy forbids it. Only a certain number of students are allowed to become knights, and those who fail the selection exams are made scholars or attendants of the sword against their will. The knight course would only distract them and cause problems. That said, they’re still allowed to train with the apprentice knights in the dormitory.

Q: Did everyone participate in the welcoming of the new students during Rozemyne’s first year? Were those of the former Veronica faction focused on Roderick?

A: Everyone attended, and there were more than enough upperclassmen to entertain the first-years. As for who focused on whom, many of the older students drew lots.

Wilfried already had retainers by the time he enrolled, so he depended on them to host him. Rozemyne hadn’t decided on anyone but Cornelius and Angelica, so she stayed with their family and those who wanted to serve her. Factions played an important role as well. Philine was welcomed by the neutral students, Roderick by the former Veronica faction, Gregor by his fellow retainers, and so on.

Q: As I understand it, having a schtappe is required to prepare a name stone. Do you need a schtappe to accept someone else’s stone?

A: Anyone who’s baptized and able to control their mana can accept a name. That said, there’s no precedent of anyone without a schtappe actually doing it.

Q: Could a person give their name to someone with less mana?

A: Yes, but it wouldn’t be easy. The person being bound would need to undergo an excruciating amount of pain.

Q: For the graduation ceremony’s dedication whirl, what happens when there isn’t enough of one gender? Do men ever whirl as goddesses or women as gods?

A: No, archduke candidates would never whirl as gods or goddesses of the opposite gender. Fifth-year students would fill the vacancy.

Q: We know there are substitutes for the dedication whirl. Do they receive a chance to introduce themselves? If there aren’t any vacancies for them to fill, do they sing in the chorus with those not chosen to play an instrument?

A: Because they’re only substitutes, they aren’t introduced. They stay in the chorus when they aren’t needed.

Q: We’ve seen rings, armbands, and necklaces throughout the series so far. Does anyone in Yurgenschmidt wear earrings or other piercings?

A: Because their accessories double as magic tools, nobles tend to prefer things that are easier to remove and much harder to lose. Pierced ears do exist in Yurgenschmidt, but most would opt for ear cuffs instead.

Q: What counts as formal dress in Yurgenschmidt? I’m particularly curious about accessories.

A: Like in Japan, it varies depending on the occasion. You wouldn’t wear the same clothes to weddings, funerals, and graduation ceremonies. Should people wear the divine colors of the season, their black Royal Academy uniform, their cape...?

As far as actual requirements go, wearing a ring on the left middle finger is a must for any noble. Engaged or married women also need to wear their feystone necklaces. Otherwise, tweak your fashion as you please! I don’t specify anything beyond the absolute essentials, so you won’t always see the same accessories in the series’ drawings.

Q: Yurgenschmidt culture requires adult women to wear their hair up and underage women to leave theirs down. How does this work for women with short hair? I was also wondering about haircuts. Do commoners cut each other’s hair while nobles entrust the duty to their attendants?

A: Women don’t cut their hair any shorter than their shoulders. Otherwise, it’s as you say.

Q: The series’s artwork shows capes in various sizes. What happens when a person’s cape no longer suits them? Do they order a new one?

A: The first cape is given freely. Subsequent capes need to be purchased.

Q: Roderick described the ternisbefallen as having eyes where a dog would. Do nobles keep dogs as pets? The only one we’ve encountered was in a lower-city restaurant.

A: Just because they’re nobles doesn’t mean they only keep feybeasts as pets. Some have normal dogs.

Q: As part of her proposal, Clarissa forced mana into her victim (lol) to see whether they were compatible. Was she testing his capacity? Or was she able to check his elements too?

A: It was more about his capacity. That said, while you can’t exactly feel another person’s elements, there are some subtle indications: the resistance you feel, the wavelength of their mana, its color, its firmness... and, of course, how well it mixes with your own mana.

Q: How far apart can two people’s mana be before marriage is out of the question? Like, say the first person’s mana was at 100.

A: I’ve never had to put it into numbers, so I’m not really sure. Maybe a range between 70 and 130. It depends on whether they can sense each other’s mana.

Q: Couples mix mana by holding hands and exchanging fluids, right? Could you use the same method to absorb someone else’s mana and regenerate your own?

A: You can’t touch a person’s mana without first concentrating mana in your hand as if you were forming a schtappe. Simply holding their hand won’t do anything. As for absorbing another’s mana to regenerate your own, unless you’ve dyed that person’s mana, your body will try to reject it. You’ll technically have more mana inside you, but the sensation would make your skin crawl.

Dyed married couples could use your proposed absorption method, as could parents and their biological children. But unless they’re on the verge of death without any rejuvenation potions, they wouldn’t even attempt it. They would simply stick to medicine.

Q: Is the sole purpose of mana-mixing to see whether two people’s capacities align? Do people want their partner to have elements they don’t so their kids have more mana?

A: Capacities are important, but mana mixing is mostly about checking the color of a person’s mana. Though you could get them to dye a feystone, it wouldn’t be an accurate representation. The method also measures the resistance the couple might encounter when trying to dye each other and whether their mana is likely to, well, mix.

The tool most commonly used during mana mixing is a board with button-like feystones on either end. Two people touch the buttons and channel mana into them. The speed at which the mana meets, how it reacts, how easily it bleeds together, and the like are all measured.

Q: It was mentioned that Leonore and Cornelius pushed their mana into one another. Does that kind of thing lead to a prickly, tingling feeling?

A: They didn’t use potions to dye each other’s mana, so yes. The resistance made them feel all prickly inside.

Q: Back when the Royal Academy’s “special arrangements” were being made, the question came up of whether the jureve user had a partner. Was that in reference to how one’s mana gets dyed through marriage? Does dyeing a person’s mana impact their personality?

A: Quite. After marriage, their mana will not be the same as when they were born.

Q: What decides the color of a noble’s mana at birth? Assuming it’s a combination of their parents’ colors, won’t everyone’s look the same after enough generations?

A: Although it does come from a fusion of the mother’s and the father’s mana, there’s variation even among brothers and sisters. A noble’s color also depends on the amount of mana they received, their birth season, and many other factors that would prevent homogeneity. As one grows and obtains divine protections from the gods, the color changes even further.

Q: Are the royal children’s retainers all adults? Do the kids not have confidants their own age?

A: Yes, they’re all adults. Royals attending the Academy might sometimes poach students they’ve befriended and take them to the Sovereignty, but not before they’ve graduated.

Q: As we know, retainers are sometimes passed down from parent to child. Are any of the Zent’s or Magdalena’s retainers with Hildebrand at the Royal Academy?

A: Yes. Royals are given retainers when they’re baptized and only choose their own when they enter the Royal Academy. Hildebrand was raised away in a villa, so his parents chose people they could trust to be his head attendant and whatnot.

Q: Assuming they weren’t retainers and graduated from the Royal Academy with their current grades and mana capacities, what jobs would Philine, Roderick, Hartmut, Lieseleta, and Brunhilde be suited to?

A: Philine and Roderick would sort and record the taxed goods teleported to the castle during the Harvest Festival or perform other writing-based tasks that wouldn’t require much mana. Hartmut would probably become a tax official, meaning he would travel the provinces to activate their magic circles and converse with the giebes. Lieseleta would serve as a castle attendant, hosting visitors, preparing for the seasonal feasts, helping out during the archducal family’s tea parties, and managing the playroom. Brunhilde wouldn’t be working in the castle at all; instead, she’d use the leadership skills her mother taught her to support Giebe Groschel.

Q: Is seeing a man and a woman go into a hidden room together the Yurgenschmidt equivalent of seeing two people sneak into a love hotel?

A: Ehhh... There’s nowhere more private than a noble’s hidden room. Anyone inside is completely separated from the outside world—from anyone who could intervene in an emergency—which makes the space exceedingly dangerous. If you want a Japanese equivalent, imagine being in a room with someone of the opposite sex, knowing full well that their parents are out for the rest of the day. Though hidden rooms can be put to indecent use, that isn’t their sole purpose.

Q: Can you channel mana into parts of a noble not attached to their body—stray hairs, nails, or even severed fingers—to turn them into feystones? I ask because we’ve seen it work with feybeasts.

A: Indeed, some parts of a feybeast are easier to turn into feystones. The same is true for nobles.

Q: Do nobles need to wear their magic rings on a certain finger?

A: Their left middle finger—unless it’s been severed.

Q: About the rings nobles wear—are they tools with their own magic circles? Or are the feystones just catalysts?

A: They’re magic tools with circles necessary for shooting out mana.

Q: Is it hard to use the memory-searching magic tool on someone with more mana than you?

A: Mana compatibility is more of a concern.

Q: Would the price of the magic tools given to kids increase if Ferdinand put his ultra-nasty rejuvenation potion on the market?

A: The tools’ prices vary depending on their use. The ones designed to receive mana from a laynoble child cost less than those meant for the son or daughter of an archduke.

Q: In battle, knights must put a lot of strength behind their swings. Do their schtappe-made weapons ever break?

A: Yes, they do. The unlucky knight(s) would need to retrieve and reabsorb the pieces.

Q: During the era when nobles obtained their schtappes as adults, how did they learn to use ordonnanzes and the like?

A: Through observation. They spent years watching their seniors and professors easily complete tasks with their schtappes and took lessons with a magic tool that served as a practice schtappe. Lessons weren’t even necessary by the time they obtained the real thing.

Q: Are there things that absolutely can’t be done without a schtappe? Could you perform a waschen with a ring or feystone?

A: There are, but I can’t elaborate—not yet, at least. As for your second question, there are magic tools dedicated to performing waschens. Many laynobles find them more reliable than relying on their schtappes.

Q: Some rejuvenation potions have been shown to heal wounds. Is this true for the most common variety? If a potion is strong enough, does it heal the user instantly?

A: It depends on the kind of wound, but yes, even standard potions can heal. Bear in mind, though, that any blood the person lost won’t be returned to their body. You’d need to clean it away with a waschen.

Q: Nobles have protective magic circles on their capes, right? Could they further improve their defenses by adding the same circles to their clothes, underwear, and socks?

A: Only for as long as they kept those circles full. Most nobles would rather preserve their mana in case they need to fight or flee, so while your idea does work, it wouldn’t be the best choice for everyone.

Q: How did Hartmut learn to make name stones? I doubt it was taught as part of the scholar course.

A: Name stones are common enough that each of Rozemyne’s retainers has an opinion about them. Creating them isn’t part of the Royal Academy’s curriculum, but a scholar who limits himself to the magic tools covered during his classes would make for a third-rate retainer. Hartmut wants to be Rozemyne’s head scholar, so he’s studying a great breadth of subjects. He hates that he can’t compare to Ferdinand and can’t stand how little reading Roderick has been doing despite being an apprentice medscholar. The methods for making commonplace magic tools are recorded in books found in the Royal Academy’s library and the professors’ laboratories.

Q: Would it cause problems if a person’s name stone were of poor quality or their mana changed after they’d given their name?

A: An insufficient stone would prevent the person’s name from being completely sealed, rendering their name-swearing incomplete. A change in mana could outright destroy the stone, but only in the most extreme cases.

Q: As I understand it, only the recipient of a name can touch a name stone they’ve dyed—but what if someone else tries anyway? If another person obtains the stone, can they hurt the name-sworn and their master?

A: Name stones are enveloped in a white cocoon of the master’s mana, meaning they can’t be touched at all. If someone else obtained the stone, that same cocoon would prevent them from giving any orders. Only by removing it would they be able to steal the name for themselves.

Q: Do name stones need to be returned in a certain way? Like, does the master need to remove their mana?

A: It requires the involvement of the person who gave their name or the person to whom the name was given.

Q: We’ve seen empty feystones absorb Myne’s mana simply by being touched to her forehead. Were they magic tools? Regular feystones don’t seem to have the same properties, considering how much Roderick struggled to fill one in class.

A: The feystones don’t do that on their own; Ferdinand channels Myne’s leaking mana into them in the same way that he would transfer mana between ingredients. Feystones naturally reabsorb mana they’ve lost, so an empty feystone will gradually absorb mana of its element, but the process is too slow to be used in an emergency.

Q: You need permission to read the High Bishop’s bible, so why was Myne able to see its contents when Ferdinand read to her? Was permission granted to everyone in the room?

A: Ferdinand was ordered to “read the bible to a girl named Myne when she arrives,” so the text was visible to them both.

Q: Are there any other spells that are shortened versions of prayers, like how the Knight’s Order uses a short version of the Darkness prayer?

A: Of course. Prayers are so long that generations of researchers have worked on shortening them.

Q: Is there a logic to where black feybeasts are found in Yurgenschmidt? Their presence in Dunkelfelger makes me think it has nothing to do with the country gates. Did the Dunkelfelgerians know the black-weapon spell before Werkestock was split apart?

A: As we explored in Part 3, certain regions are associated with certain elements. Black feybeasts appear in regions where the Darkness element is strong. The people of Dunkelfelger know the black-weapon spell because of their duchy’s long history. Using the spell might be forbidden, but that doesn’t mean they stopped passing it down.

Q: What does Damuel think of Rozemyne, considering how long he’s been serving her?

A: He thinks she’s an exceptionally hard worker, that she’s grown so much since they first met, and that she’s got a good handle on things—though he wonders how long their peace is going to last. He knows better than anyone that Rozemyne only enjoys her current freedoms because she has Ferdinand protecting her. In a sense, he’s actually quite worried.

Q: As of Part 4 Volume 7, how does Adolphine feel about Rozemyne? Did she protect her from Detlinde out of camaraderie?

A: Adolphine doesn’t dislike our protagonist, but I wouldn’t go as far as to call it camaraderie. She just sees value in staying on good terms with Rozemyne.

Q: What does Raimund think about Rozemyne? She gives him food and always prods him about living a healthier life, so does he see her as a nagging little sister?

A: He was moved to tears that she got him in touch with Ferdinand, especially because he never thought an archduke candidate would assist a mednoble from another duchy. Sure, he thinks she’s weird, but he also knows she’s a good person. Though he envies her abundance of mana and the fact she can perform as many experiments as she wants, he’s glad that his talents can be of use to her.

Q: On the one hand, Rozemyne is so extremely knowledgeable that she dominates the Royal Academy’s tests and classes. On the other, her social education (regarding socializing and mana nuances) is so abysmally lacking that she’s a source of constant problems. How did this contradiction come about?

A: Oh, where to begin? Nobody explains social matters in a way Rozemyne would understand. Her intuition and common sense from her previous life are always getting in the way. Ferdinand doesn’t care about changing Rozemyne’s mindset as long as she can at least pretend to be a good noble—a thought process that came from his twisted past. Her true and adoptive parents watch on in silence, assuming the others will take care of any issues. There’s an overwhelming lack of time... And so on. 

Q: What does Clarissa’s family think about her marriage?

A: “No sooner did she give up on becoming an apprentice knight than she started spouting nonsense again. Shouldn’t an apprentice scholar think things through a little more? She isn’t even in love—she’s acting out of respect and admiration for Lady Rozemyne. What’s going to happen when her passion cools?”

Q: How did Clarissa approach Cornelius about a potential engagement?

A: She learned while gathering intelligence that he was Rozemyne’s elder brother, so she outright asked whether he had a political engagement lined up. He replied that things were “going in that direction.” Hartmut was on good terms with plenty of girls and spread the fact he was single, so Clarissa changed targets and moved in for the kill.

Q: It was said that Clarissa couldn’t become an apprentice knight because of her small stature, but she lines up pretty well with Hartmut, who’s described as being tall. Did she suddenly shoot up between the test and the most recent volume?

A: I wouldn’t say that. Dunkelfelger’s selection exams take place between a child’s baptism and their enrollment at the Royal Academy. Clarissa was already a fifth-year when she was introduced to Rozemyne. To put it in Japanese terms, her growth started when she was an elementary schooler, and now she’s old enough to be in high school.

Q: I thought people used to consider Georgine the best candidate to rule Ehrenfest, but there was no sign of that in the third fanbook. At what point in her life was she considered the duchy’s next aub?

A: From her birth until Sylvester’s baptism.

Q: How were Karstedt and Bonifatius treated when Veronica was at her peak?

A: Bonifatius was her brother-in-law who trained to be an archduke. He wasn’t at all interested in becoming Aub Ehrenfest, so she saw him as a potential ally. Her thoughts about Karstedt were a little more complicated. She hoped that he would marry Georgine or agree to be lowered to the rank of an archnoble, fearing that he might try to rule the duchy despite only being the grandson of a past archduke. Karstedt didn’t much care for the role and thought Veronica’s constant aggression was tiresome, so he did what he could to avoid it. This contributed to her growing ego and taught her that she could simply bully and manipulate to get what she wanted.

Q: Veronica has an exceptionally large mana capacity. Shouldn’t she have been adopted into the archducal family?

A: Ahrensbach might have pushed for her to become the next aub or, even worse, tried to force a groom from another duchy onto her. Making her a first wife was the more acceptable option.

Q: I’m curious how Ferdinand felt when asked what “please dye me in your colors” meant. How did he respond?

A: “Fool! Ask someone else!” Then he wrote essentially a textbook on mana peculiarities.

Q: Did Ferdinand sword dance and dedication whirl? He must have had the grades to be chosen as a sword dancer.

A: Archduke candidates don’t take part in the sword dance. They only dedication whirl.

Q: So, is Sylvester completely oblivious to where Ferdinand came from?

A: Correct. He sees Ferdinand only as his half-brother whom his father brought home one day.

Q: Traugott seems a little young to be Justus’s nephew. Is there a reason for that?

A: Traugott’s father was sickly. It took him a while to have children.

Q: Justus is divorced, but what are his ex-wife and child doing now? Was the latter baptized under his ex-wife’s family?

A: His ex-wife received a handsome sum of money from the divorce and now spends her time in a villa on her house’s estate. Their child was baptized as a noble.

Q: If she had the mana capacity for it, would Heidemarie have aimed to marry Ferdinand instead of Eckhart?

A: I doubt it. She would have accepted a proposal from him, but not with any real enthusiasm. Admiring someone to the point of worship isn’t the same as wanting to spend every day with them as a married couple.

Q: Is there any friction between Eglantine and her uncle, the aub? Like, maybe they seem to get along but are secretly disgusted with each other. Did he have the same dynamic with her mother?

A: I wouldn’t say they’re disgusted with each other; they’re distant because of their social standings. The previous aub’s rant about how to properly treat Eglantine caused some blowback, and now her uncle is a tad noncooperative. He was on good terms with his sister.

Q: Was Eglantine adopted by Klassenberg instead of Trauerqual because the civil war stretched on for too long?

A: That factored into it, but there were other reasons too. The previous Aub Klassenberg was so concerned about another assassination plot that he didn’t want to let Eglantine out of his sight. Her adoption into the royal family would also have set her up to become the next Zent. Trauerqual won the civil war largely thanks to Klassenberg’s involvement, so he was politically considerate to its archducal couple.

Q: Lady Detlinde spins her wheels a lot during tea parties. Is she, by any chance, a bit thick?

A: She doesn’t pay as much attention to her words and surroundings as someone her age and with her status probably should. She’s not entirely to blame, though. As the third child of her duchy’s third wife—and a girl, to boot—she had a perfunctory upbringing and was never expected to amount to much. That’s why she’s so proud about her mother becoming the first wife and why she always boasts about being Ahrensbach’s next aub.

Q: Was Rudiger baptized an archnoble, then elevated into the archducal family when his father became an aub?

A: No, he and his parents were archducal family members to begin with.

Q: How did Detlinde act around Rudiger before Rozemyne and Wilfried entered the Royal Academy? Did she see him as a country bumpkin but treat him like family nonetheless?

A: They never interacted.

Q: Where was Arthur, the third prince’s head attendant, born?

A: Gilessenmeyer. He’s often troubled by the teaching philosophy of his charge’s Dunkelfelgerian mother.

Q: Why did Professor Rauffen join the Royal Academy instead of the Sovereign Knight’s Order?

A: Because he wanted to be a teacher. Or, as he would probably explain it, “So I can show those kids true ditter!” He joined the Royal Academy to proselytize educate his students.

Q: Has working with Professors Hirschur and Fraularm changed Professor Rauffen’s perspective on women? Did he use to think none of that mattered in the face of ditter?

A: Well, what can I say except that he learned women have a lot going on too? (Haha.)

Q: If Professor Gundolf had children or grandchildren, would they be archduke candidates?

A: Yes, assuming they were talented enough for the aub to have recognized and adopted them.

Q: Did Professor Gundolf take the scholar course as well as the archduke candidate course? Or did he just happen to take a lot of extra classes?

A: The latter. Rozemyne wants to be a librarian, so she’s taking classes relevant to that goal. Gundolf, on the other hand, took whatever classes caught his attention.

Q: Are Letizia’s maternal half-siblings attending the Royal Academy as archduke candidates?

A: Yes, with her paternal half-siblings. Her father is an archducal family member, but her brother would have been an archnoble. Only by working hard to display his excellence and securing an adoption by the aub and his second wife was he able to become an archduke candidate.

Q: Are the gods, their subordinates, and the religious tales in Ascendance of a Bookworm all your own creations? Did you base them on any real-world examples?

A: They are. I took inspiration from Grecian, Roman, and various Japanese myths, but mostly came up with my own ideas to better complement the story.

Q: What’s the significance of the Goddess of Earth being at the very center of the altar?

A: The events that led to Yurgenschmidt’s creation were all centered around her. She was the one Ewigeliebe wanted more than any other, spurring her siblings to hurry to her rescue. Her treatment by the God of Life was the reason Erwaermen flew into a frenzy. And it was her daughter, the Goddess of Wisdom, who bestowed the Grutrissheit upon the first Zent.

Q: The moon turns red on the Night of Flutrane in spring and purple on the Night of Schutzaria in autumn. Does it also change color during summer and winter?

A: No. There’s neither a Night of Leidenschaft nor a Night of Ewigeliebe.

Q: In the world of Bookworm, each year is 420 days long—roughly two months longer than years as we know them. Does that mean someone who’s twenty in Yurgenschmidt would actually look twenty-three to Rozemyne?

A: Everyone looks as old as I would expect—which is pretty tough to explain, now that I think about it. Anytime I’m describing a character to Shiina-san, I say whether they should appear younger, older, or the same as their depicted age and then leave the rest to her.

Q: It seems that Yurgenschmidt doesn’t have clocks. How do people judge the time? Do they use their internal clocks?

A: Bells, the position of the sun, and their own circadian rhythms.

Q: Would a giebe and their family have more status than other nobles of the same rank?

A: Yes, they would. Because they’re in charge of managing their province, they tend to have more mana than the others of their rank. 

Q: Are winters in Klassenberg dramatically colder than in Ehrenfest?

A: Yes. That’s why their underground cities are so advanced. Long live magecraft.

Q: As I understand it, the civil war comprised savage kidnappings on both sides, skirmishes in the form of ditter matches, and then two large, climactic battles similar to the Siege of Osaka’s winter and summer campaigns. Was it actually more like the Onin War, with major battles being fought over a longer period of time?

A: After the second prince died and the Grutrissheit disappeared, there were kidnappings and drawn-out skirmishes between factions on either side of the ill, dying king. He was unable to name a successor due to the missing Grutrissheit, so upon his death, the first and third princes immediately deployed their troops in what would turn out to be a climactic battle. The third prince won, but the first prince’s faction refused to accept the outcome and put his assassination in motion. Klassenberg secured the third prince’s last surviving child, Eglantine, and continued to fight in his honor. Well, for revenge, really. The fourth prince and unwilling fifth prince became the leaders of either side, and what followed were more abductions and skirmishes, which stretched on for a very long time. In the end, Dunkelfelger allied with the fifth prince, swiftly securing his victory. All that remained was the cleanup—but while its scale was being discussed, the fourth prince’s faction kidnapped and murdered the fifth prince’s daughter, inspiring a purge even greater than expected.

If you think about it from start to finish, it was a pretty long war.

Q: How many doors connect the Royal Academy to the Sovereign villas? Part of me thinks that if each branch royal received their own villa, there wouldn’t be enough doors for them all. How would they deal with that problem?

A: The Academy has doors for the supreme gods, the Eternal Five, and their subordinates, which allow access to the royal palace, the villas, each duchy’s dorm, and the tea rooms. As it stands, many of the doors aren’t being used. Problems would arise if there were too many branch royals to deal with, which is why their growth is carefully managed. They’re moved into the duchies through adoptions and engagements or made to marry each other to combine their houses. 

Q: I have a question about the Royal Academy’s written lessons. Giving students a test on their first day and allowing anyone who passes to skip the class sounds like a fresh—and pretty logical—approach to education. Are there any real-world countries that use this system?

A: Not to my knowledge. I came up with it to improve the pacing. Grade skipping is the closest example I can think of. 

Q: I noticed “Hirsch” among Ehrenfest’s provinces. Was that the in-universe inspiration for Hirschur’s name, or is it purely a coincidence? Maybe they aren’t so alike in Yurgenschmidt’s language.

A: It’s a coincidence. Back when I outlined the plot, she was just “Dormitory Supervisor.” It wasn’t until later that I had to give her a name. Nothing in the dictionary I was browsing stood out to me, so I ended up taking the name of my daughter’s homeroom teacher, turning the kanji into German, and then taking out a snippet. I took a similar approach when naming Primevere, though Klassenberg’s names are taken from French, not German.

Q: Why does Raublut look so... brutish despite being an archnoble? Ferdinand said that nobles of a higher rank are naturally more beautiful.

A: Shiina-san probably wanted to make sure his villainy shone through. I gave her the okay. He’s not a prince, so there’s nothing wrong with him looking brutish.

Q: Was your main focus the setting or the characters when you first wrote Bookworm? Did you ever consider someone other than Myne for the protagonist?

A: Neither. I started with the story and then created the characters and the world around it, so to speak. The thought of someone else being the protagonist never even crossed my mind.

Q: The Tokyo Printing Museum collab, the anthologies, the anime adaptation—there sure are a lot of Bookworm-related events going on at the moment! Is it TO Books that arranges them all or what? Please explain the process in as much detail as you can!

A: Before we started work on the adaptations—the manga, the anime, and the drama CDs—I was asked whether I wanted to sell the series as part of a media mix. “It’ll mean entrusting aspects of your work to other people, and no matter how hard you try to keep them all consistent, they’re bound to grow apart,” they told me. “Some creators find this too stressful, so we want to check with you first.” I gave the go-ahead and set the wheels in motion!

One of my own proposals was the merchandise. “I was thinking about getting a key chain made for my car keys,” I wrote in an email to TO Books. “I want a custom one with the Myne Workshop’s crest, but I can only order them in bulk. Do you think we could sell the spares?” They soon got back to me: “That’s a great idea. I want one too. We can make them ourselves and sell them on our online store.” Thus began the creation of Bookworm merch!

As for our collaborations, such as with the Printing Museum, the other party sends TO Books a document explaining what they have in mind. My editor then passes the information along to me, and my battle with my ever-busy schedule begins. If everything works out, we accept, but there have been a few that we’ve had to turn down.

Truth be told, the editor has it worse than anyone else. Whether an idea comes from me or someone else, they have to get involved. It can’t be easy! (Haha.)