Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 5.10 - Chapter SS1

Anastasius — The Royal Family’s Position

“Anastasius, this is Ralfrieda. Lady Magdalena reports a battle at the royal palace. She has called on Dunkelfelger for assistance, but keep your villa sealed so that no enemies break in. Stay safe.”

My mother, the Zent’s first wife, had contacted me in the dead of the night. I sprang out of bed, scaring Eglantine so much that she screamed.

We had recently been warned that Lanzenavians and Ahrensbach nobles were coming to the Sovereignty to obtain the Grutrissheit, and my dear wife had been a mess ever since. She spent every night as scared as a little girl, fearing the battle to come. Her screams, born from the terrors of the civil war now dominating her thoughts, drowned out the repeats of my mother’s message.

I pulled my trembling sweetheart into my embrace, all the while noting the night watch on the other side of the bed-curtain. “Eglantine, take deep breaths. Look around. You’re not alone this time. I’m here. I won’t let any harm come to you or our beautiful daughter Stephareine. You have my word.”

“Anastasius...”

The attack that had scarred my wife so deeply had occurred late at night, and its echoes lingered even to this day. Ehrenfest’s warning had put her on edge, so to help her cope as best we could, we had tripled my villa’s night watch, sealed its entrances every night, and started sleeping not in nightwear but in clothes we could wear outside.

“Thanks to our increased guard, we can move without needing to worry about anyone invading the villa,” I said. “There is nothing to fear. You need only watch over Stephareine. As her father, I will protect the villa without fail.”

“Stephareine... Yes, you are right. Our villa has not yet been attacked.”

Eglantine stood tall and repeated that she had nothing to fear—that she was no longer alone, that she had a daughter to protect, and that she could use her schtappe to defend herself. At the same time, she touched her light feystone armor, formed and dispelled her schtappe, and put on shoes. She would not let her traumas and anxiety win.

She seems calmer now.

I gave my brave wife a kiss, hoping to comfort her further, and then turned to one of my attendants on night watch. “I’m going out to take a look. I leave Eglantine and Stephareine in your care.”

I exited the room, bringing only my knight Mergitor; the guards on watch had told him about Mother’s ordonnanz while I was calming Eglantine. There were knights rushing up and down the corridor, sending messages this way and that. My head guard knight, Haland, was among them.

“Haland,” I said, “are the teleportation door and the gates secure?”

“Yes, Your Highness. The teleportation door is sealed, and no intruders have been seen approaching the gates. There is no movement in the duchies either.”

The villas under royal management were positioned at the border between the Sovereignty and its surrounding duchies. Thus far, we had primarily needed to be wary of our neighbors, but an attack from within the palace meant we would need to keep an eye on that direction as well. For now, at least, nobody was advancing on us.

“If Lady Magdalena has called upon Dunkelfelger, then defending this villa should be as simple as denying all teleportation requests before the fighting concludes in the royal palace. Focus your attention on defending the gates.”

“Yes, Your Highness!”

Haland left to start giving orders, at which point Mergitor advised me to return to my room. “The villa does not seem to be in danger at the moment, so perhaps you should get ready to join the fight. You are equipped to go outside but not to do battle, and the royal palace could summon you at any moment. Now is the best time to prepare.” He gestured at my hair for good measure; I’d rushed out of bed so suddenly that it was still unkempt.

Heeding his advice, I returned to my room—where my head attendant, Oswin, began cleaning me up. “Still, where in the world could the invaders have come from?” he mused. “I thought the royal palace was sealed again yesterday when those intruders were found at the Royal Academy.”

I ruminated. Once sealed, the royal palace was immune to intrusion except through its villas. It blocked magic tools, so contacting those inside by letter or water mirror was out of the question. Not even correspondence from the Royal Academy would make it through; it was solely the villas’ duty to communicate with the palace while it was sealed and keep those inside up-to-date.

Though I could not guess the reason, the royal palace was equipped specifically to fight an invasion from the Royal Academy.

“The other villas must also be on high alert,” I replied, “so I doubt our foes came through any of our neighboring duchies. Maybe they struck when the guards stationed at the Royal Academy changed places.”

“That is most likely. Once you have changed into your armor, shall we go to the palace to provide our support?”

I paused and said, “No. I will aid them only at their request. Otherwise, I would rather not leave my villa understaffed.” The sparks flying at the royal palace could ignite a battle here as well, and staying inside would make the villa infinitely easier to defend.

A second ordonnanz arrived just as I finished changing.

“This is Ralfrieda. Lady Magdalena reports that Raublut is behind the attack on the palace! The Sovereign Knight’s Order is fighting itself!”

“Lord Raublut?! The knight commander?!” exclaimed all those who heard, their eyes wide open.

My eyes shot open too. “Was he sheltering the traitors while he claimed to be watching over the Royal Academy?!” He had spent most of his time there the past few days.

My blood started to boil. Our true enemy had manipulated us. Back when Ehrenfest warned Sigiswald of the coming invasion, Raublut proposed sealing the palace and ordered us to take shelter in our villas. Had he asked Hildebrand and me to check the Royal Academy so he could reduce the number of guards there? He had also advised sealing the palace a second time when one of the professors spotted intruders.

It had seemed only natural that Raublut, the Sovereign knight commander, would oversee the defense of the palace. Not a single person had questioned his orders.

“Prince Anastasius, what shall we do?” Mergitor asked. “Given their status as Sovereign knights, Raublut and those with him can easily enter the palace. The villas, on the other hand, should not be as at risk. We will need to adjust our defense arrangements and seriously consider giving the palace our aid...”

Raublut wouldn’t have access to this villa without permission from Eglantine or me. If we closed the teleportation door connected to the palace, he would need to approach us by land—not that we were likely to be attacked in the first place. If anyone, Sigiswald would be next on the firing line, as he was the heir apparent.

“Rather than open the teleportation door to the palace, we should go through the door connected to the Royal Academy. Taking a detour should minimize the risk to the villa.”

First bell rang as we reconsidered our defenses, and another ordonnanz soon followed. We were all on tenterhooks as we waited to hear what it would reveal.

“Prince Anastasius, this is Ferdinand. To prevent our Lanzenavian invaders from stealing Yurgenschmidt’s foundation, I need a royal to open the Farthest Hall. As you should know from the aftermath of the civil war, in the event that our enemies succeed, the usurped royals—your family—will immediately be sought out and executed. I would ask that you come immediately and make great haste.”

“What?!” came a shout. “Invaders from Lanzenave are going to steal the foundation?!”

“The Farthest Hall, not the royal palace? Just what is going on here?!”

The ordonnanz caused an immediate stir. It repeated its message twice, making no mention of the rebellion in the royal palace.

“Does this mean the fighting in the royal palace is a diversion?” one knight asked, anxious. “Is their true objective the Royal Academy?”

I took in a sharp breath. The shrines Rozemyne had circled to obtain the Grutrissheit were located at the Royal Academy, and the magic tools in its library had acknowledged her success. For days, Raublut had stood guard over its grounds, forbidding anyone else from even getting close.

“We shall march not to the palace but to the Royal Academy’s Farthest Hall,” I announced. “Mergitor, consult Haland. Find out how many knights we can bring and tell them to gather outside the door to the Academy.”

“At once!”

I went to the playroom and called for Eglantine. She came out with Stephareine in her arms... and stared at me in surprise.

“Prince Anastasius,” she said, “you are armored...”

“The enemy seems to be targeting the Farthest Hall. As a royal, I must join the fight against them; I cannot let an outsider steal Yurgenschmidt’s foundation. I ask that you wait here for my return. We are leaving as many knights as we can to guard you.”

She looked at me with pleading eyes, then hesitantly said, “May Angriff guide you.” Her arms trembled as she held Stephareine, but this was something I needed to do. Both their lives were at stake.

As I turned around to leave, my dear wife called out again:

“I shall await your return.”

I threw open the door to the Royal Academy’s auditorium, having taken Rozemyne’s advice and covered my mouth with cloth. For reasons I couldn’t understand, all those inside were fighting with their feet squarely on the ground. There wasn’t a single highbeast in sight, which made it harder to gauge how many knights were doing battle and which of them were against us. More people wore silver capes than black, likely because the traitors of the Sovereign Knight’s Order were concentrated in the royal palace.

And those with silver capes are the foreign invaders Raublut aligned with...?

The battle was more of a free-for-all than expected. I stood at the door, scanning the room in a hopeless attempt to identify our foes, and it was then that I noticed the unusual appearance of the auditorium. The stage for dedication whirls, the audience seats, and the altar were all visible—as would normally be the case for the graduation ceremony.

Who did this and why?

A sudden feeling of dread swept through me. To change the auditorium, one needed royal permission and the proper feystone.

“Prince Anastasius, why are you here?!” one of Dunkelfelger’s knights shouted. “Please wait outside!”

“How fares our aub in the royal palace?” asked another as they moved to protect us.

“The Divine Avatar of Mestionora decreed that royals should stand on the front line, so here I am. More importantly... there might be a traitor in my family. The auditorium could not have taken this form unless Raublut was granted the necessary feystone.”

“Impossible...” my guards muttered, shuddering at the thought. The significance of this rebellion would change dramatically if a royal was behind it, but one of Dunkelfelger’s knights put our minds at rest.

“It was likely Prince Hildebrand who gave him the feystone. He was manipulated—one of the traitors testified to it.”

I suddenly remembered my half-brother with the feystone for opening and closing the auditorium; he had used it when the Sovereign priests visited the Royal Academy to prepare for a ceremony. I thought back to the proud smile on his face and then the ordonnanz announcing he would take his leave while I patrolled the Academy.

It was then?!

Raublut had come to me soon after and said that he would patrol as well, having escorted Hildebrand to the teleportation door.

The nerve.

Anger surged within me. What would have happened to Hildebrand if the attempts to manipulate him hadn’t worked and Raublut had elected to take the feystone by force? Nobody would ever have expected the commander of the knights dedicated to protecting the royal family to use such methods against them, but that didn’t matter; even just being tricked would tarnish the young prince’s reputation.

“Raublut!” I roared. “You will pay for this!” I raised my weapon and sprinted toward the whirling stage, where he was doing battle with Ferdinand’s group.

“Prince Anastasius! Wait!”

Together with my guard knights, I tried to push through the foes ahead of us. Our mana attacks were almost always blocked, and our schtappe-made weapons merely bounced off of our opponents’ bodies.

“Beware the silver capes and weapons!” our allies shouted. “Mana can’t penetrate or defend against them! And don’t use your highbeasts—our foes have weapons that can pierce straight through them!”

Again, I inspected my surroundings. Nobody was using schtappe weapons or even attempting to make their highbeasts.

Seriously, Rozemyne?! You could have warned me!

We changed our approach, this time wresting the weapons from our enemies’ hands. We wouldn’t be able to fight without first procuring usable alternatives to our schtappes. But even once we’d rearmed ourselves, our foes were too numerous for us to easily reach their leader.

Have all these Sovereign knights turned their back on Father?

To my frustration, not all of our opponents were foreigners; I recognized several faces from the Sovereign Knight’s Order. They wore silver capes instead of black and stood defiantly against me, a member of the royal family.

Ridiculous!

With the support of my knights and our Dunkelfelger allies, I finally reached the stage. I raced up its stairs, driven by my anger.

“Oh, Prince Anastasius...” Raublut said, taunting me. “I thought you would either hole up in your villa with your beloved wife or charge the palace in a righteous fury... To think you came here instead.” He threw something at Ferdinand’s group and then barked orders to those nearby: “Defeat the king’s enemies! Don’t let them near this place!”

The black- and silver-capes with Raublut moved at once, knocking away my allies but completely ignoring me. My knights tumbled down the stairs while Ferdinand’s group was blown back by the explosive winds of a magic tool. Soon enough, only Raublut and I remained on the stage.

“Schwert,” I said, my eyes fixed on my opponent. Knowing he served my father had always brought me comfort, but not anymore. “How could you betray your king?! Your duties as his knight commander?!”

Neither my words nor my sudden lunge broke Raublut’s composure; he batted me aside as easily as when he had used to train me in swordplay. “I do not consider this a betrayal. My loyalties have always lain with King Gervasio. Those who thought otherwise have only themselves to blame.”

I was rattled. The Sovereign knight commander had just named a man other than the Zent—my father—as his lord. He declared that the foreign invader was not merely his co-conspirator but the one to whom he had sworn his allegiance. It made no sense.

I took a step back and pointed my sword at him again. It trembled in my hand; I was too shaken to stop it. “As a Sovereign knight, you are duty bound to serve the king. How can you side with someone from another country...?”

“King Gervasio is a member of Yurgenschmidt’s extended royal family. He was the first man I served.”

Raublut had been the knight commander for as long as I could remember; I’d never stopped to consider his life before he took the role. As I understood it, my mother had put him forward because he was from her home duchy of Gilessenmeyer, and she believed my father would be safest with a Knight’s Order led primarily by those of a shared origin. She had spoken to his experience serving a branch royal—and the fact that said royal was no more.

“I thought your lord passed away,” I said.

“I once served Lady Valamarlene. The previous Zent spread word that she had died, then Trauerqual made it so during the purge that followed the civil war. My true lord, King Gervasio, left the country to rule Lanzenave, but he returned just recently.”

Raublut’s reddish-brown eyes lit up as he spoke. He didn’t consider me a royal; both his speech and this playful sparring match conveyed more than anything that he saw me as beneath him. I gritted my teeth and blocked his swing with my sword.

“You had a hand in that, I assume. Exchanging words with Lanzenave is no easy feat. How long have you been planning this?!”

“It was during a trip to Ahrensbach that I finally succeeded. From there, Lady Georgine served as our go-between.”

After the ternisbefallen attack at the Interduchy Tournament, an investigation team had noticed signs that Old Werkestock’s teleportation circle had been used. The Sovereign Knight’s Order had followed up on the matter by visiting the two duchies responsible for its territory: Ahrensbach and Dunkelfelger.

The knight commander turned coat at the instigation of a first wife... It almost beggars belief.

“So were you the one who used trug on the Sovereign knights?” I asked. “The ones who interfered in a Royal Academy ditter match and suddenly became violent during Ahrensbach’s funeral.”

“Yes. To dispatch those in my way and reward Lady Georgine for her continued cooperation.”

From Lanzenave to Ahrensbach to the Sovereign Knight’s Order—the flow of trug was all too clear to me now. Raublut, who had deemed the incidents unacceptable and demanded their immediate investigation, was actually to blame for them. Ehrenfest had been right all along.

No matter how long this fight went on, I doubted I would ever win. I also doubted we would ever come to understand each other. But as a member of royalty, it was my duty to stand my ground and defend my country.

“You’ve spread trug through the ranks of the Order, incited a rebellion in the royal palace, and transformed the auditorium. What are you plotting?!”

“My lord received an invitation from the Goddess of Wisdom. I merely set the stage for the return of a true Zent.”

Raublut’s response made no sense to me. His reference to Mestionora’s invitation and a true Zent made it clear he was trying to obtain the Grutrissheit, but the strongest theory claimed it was in the underground archive beneath the Royal Academy’s library. He had no reason to be in the auditorium.

“Do you think I would believe that?!” I shouted. “Only the royal family can enter the underground archive! State your true intentions!”

“One need not be a royal to be recognized by the Goddess of Wisdom. I am here to welcome my lord when he returns.”

Was that why he stole the feystone key from Hildebrand, or was that all part of some other scheme? There was no end to my questions, but my anger would do nothing to answer them; I could neither stop nor imprison Raublut on my own. I was so powerless that I almost wanted to cry.

“As always, you let your emotions get the better of you,” Raublut said, sounding like both a sword instructor and someone mocking an opponent so far beneath him. He dodged my thrust, slammed one foot against the floor, and then used the momentum to launch a kick. It caught me while I was off-balance and sent me flying.

“And as always,” he continued, “it leaves you wide open.”

Raublut sneered as I scrambled to my feet, but his expression changed when I raised my sword. He was looking right past me, his eyes locked on something else entirely. He had not flinched once when facing me in combat, but now he looked tense and quickly moved to grab something.

“Just how much will you endure...?” he murmured. “As the Sovereign knight commander, I must protect the true Zent. There is no future for those who would oppose King Gervasio!”

He was speaking not to me but to Ferdinand’s group, who were trying to pull a maneuver on the enemy knights surrounding us. I realized then that Raublut was holding a magic tool. I didn’t know how long he had been channeling mana into it—the entire time we were fighting, maybe?—but it seemed ready to explode.

“Brace yourselves!” Ferdinand roared, an intense look on his face.

“Jump down! Hurry!” his guard knights shouted alongside him.

I sprinted away from Raublut and leapt down from the stage just as he threw his magic tool, which arced through the air toward Lord Ferdinand and me. It must have been especially dangerous because the knights around us formed their highbeasts to escape, disregarding the risk that they might be shot down.

“Prince Anastasius!” cried one of my knights. He caught me with a band of light, then yanked me out of my fall and away from where the magic tool was about to land. It almost seemed to be moving in slow motion.

“Anti-explosion defensive formation!” came a shout.

I pulled my cape over my head—it was embroidered with defensive magic circles—then covered my ears, opened my mouth, and crouched as low as I could. An earth-shattering explosion shook the auditorium moments later. Despite our best attempts to retreat, we hadn’t made it very far; we were flung back so violently that we could no longer move.

As I groaned in agony, feeling on the verge of death, Rozemyne’s group rushed into the auditorium. I could no longer hear properly, but I saw the door open and the light from the corridor shine through. We barely had time to react before a bafflingly large magic circle appeared and showered the entire room with healing light.

Rozemyne’s arrival turned the tide of battle in our favor. Wounds from a magic tool powerful enough to have killed us all were healed in an instant, and she flatly declared that anyone who was omni-elemental would see the statues atop the altar move. The religious solemnity in the air vanished at once. No wonder Raublut moved to eliminate Rozemyne first.

“Crush them before they reunite! They are most vulnerable when they are apart!”

Rozemyne gave large-scale healing and granted us blessings even while under heavy fire. It brought to mind the ritual the adult Dunkelfelger knights had performed during a past Interduchy Tournament. Her prayers caused extravagant pillars of light to appear, enrapturing us all to the point that we forgot to fight.

That was, until a voice came from atop the altar.

“What in the world is happening here, Raublut?”

“Aaah, King Gervasio!”

A man had appeared seemingly out of nowhere, his countenance leaving not a shadow of a doubt that he was a member of extended royalty. Yurgenschmidt’s archducal families sometimes bore children who looked regal—remnants of generations-old royal blood coursed through their veins—but it was uncanny to see those features on a foreign invader.

I suppose it isn’t that strange—he was born and raised in Yurgenschmidt before leaving for Lanzenave—but still...

Part of me wished Gervasio looked more foreign. Anything to make others deem him unworthy to rule. Yet his appearance was unquestionably that of a Zent, and now he stood between the supreme gods.

“I beg of you,” Raublut said, his arms outstretched, “reveal your gods-given Grutrissheit here for all to see! Show everyone you have become a true Zent!”

“Grutrissheit.”

Gervasio answered the knight commander’s plea and made the Grutrissheit appear in his hands. It was my first time witnessing such a feat, but it lined up with my father’s and others’ discussions of what a proper Zent could do. The knights fervently crying out should have irritated me, but they seemed to be in a world of their own.

I swallowed hard. Rozemyne had said she could bestow the Grutrissheit upon others. That slim hope had spurred me to join the front line—to restore the royal family’s honor and worthiness to receive the holy book—but now it was gone. Before me stood a man who had obtained the Grutrissheit through his own power, directly from a goddess.

Have Ferdinand’s worries come true? Is a foreigner about to become the Zent?

Speaking honestly, I had never thought the Grutrissheit would end up in the hands of someone not only outside the royal family but outside Yurgenschmidt nobility in general. If a new Zent took the throne, what would happen to the current royals? The faces of Eglantine and our daughter flashed through my mind.

“Grutrissheit!”

Rozemyne’s voice tore through my despair. I turned to see her holding up a Grutrissheit of her own, though its shape wasn’t quite the same as Gervasio’s.

“No, look closely! Hers is too small to be genuine! King Gervasio has the real one!”

“What are you talking about?! Lady Rozemyne’s Grutrissheit is the real one! She opened country gates with it!”

Ignoring the clamor among the knights, Rozemyne began layering on blessings. Their light rained down on me as well. The battle wasn’t over; Gervasio had yet to steal the country’s foundation.

“Lady Rozemyne has received the blessings of countless gods,” one of her retainers announced. “As the Divine Avatar of Mestionora, she has been tasked with bestowing the Grutrissheit upon the next Zent. She will choose a worthy candidate from among the people of Yurgenschmidt. There is no need for an intruder from Lanzenave to take the throne.” His fanatic tone and expression sickened me, but his words were strangely inspiring.

“Rozemyne’s retainer is correct!” I declared. “We have no reason to let some foreign menace take the throne! Raublut! You betrayed my father, Yurgenschmidt, and everyone who put their faith in you as the Sovereign knight commander! I shall have your head!”

Spurred on by Rozemyne’s blessings, we raced to the shrine to capture Raublut and the others. We defeated those closest to us with relative ease, but our dominance was short-lived; Gervasio also started praying for his allies.

The Grutrissheit makes it that easy to grant blessings?

Bitterness washed over me; the reality that true Zents acted with the gods’ acceptance was being thrust into my face. Father spent decades supporting Yurgenschmidt, neglecting his body and soul in the process, and came not a single step closer to obtaining the Grutrissheit. This foreigner, on the other hand, had acquired it in a matter of days. One had to question what the gods truly cared about.

I gritted my teeth and continued taking down the Sovereign knights who opposed us. To protect the royal family’s position, I needed to fight Raublut and Gervasio with all my might.

“Hear my— Mmph?!”

Gervasio’s prayer was abruptly cut short. He must have been attacked. Raublut looked up at the altar and shouted, “Where did that come from?!”

I turned to my knights. “We need to get as close as we can while Raublut is distracted. Capture Gervasio, no matter the cost.”

“Understood!”

As we focused on pushing through the enemies around us, Raublut shouted again. I instinctively looked up at the altar and saw Ferdinand attacking Gervasio with a weapon I didn’t recognize.

Ferdinand must be trying to eliminate him. We share a common goal.

He couldn’t have had a single good thing to say about the royals who had made him marry Detlinde and take on the crushing burden of supporting Ahrensbach... yet he still refused to side with Gervasio. He seemed to believe that there was no place in Yurgenschmidt for our foreign invaders. My only choice was to gamble on his support.

Leaving Gervasio to Ferdinand, I elected to focus on Raublut. Before I even made it up the first step of the stage, however, lightning began to strike across the auditorium. I reflexively moved my cape to protect my head, but the bolts fell only on our enemies. It must have been an attack of some kind, as the charms our foes were wearing launched counters at the magic circle in the air.

“Is that the Grutrissheit’s power?”

“Most likely.”

Relieved that the fresh assault was on our side, I raced up onto the stage. Raublut was sprinting toward the altar, directing his troops to block the lightning with their silver cloth, when—

“What?!”

Out of nowhere, the knight commander was thrown back. I thought the gods had deemed him unworthy and refused to let him near the altar, but that couldn’t have been true, could it? Surely I was overthinking. Should the same thing not have happened to Ferdinand, who was still fighting Gervasio?

There must be something that distinguishes them.

I raced up the stage with my knights, keeping one eye on the altar as we closed in on Raublut. But before we could reach him, Rozemyne cried out, and the auditorium flooded with water too fierce to resist. The torrential downpour had come out of nowhere, and all of us—Raublut included—were helplessly swept away.

Uh...

By the time I realized this was no normal waschen, the water was already swirling around the room. We weren’t the only ones caught in the sudden whirlpool; Rozemyne and her retainers were being dragged around with us.

It made no sense; the deluge had targeted everyone, friend or foe. I couldn’t see. It felt awful. And even though this was a waschen, it didn’t end quickly.

What’s going on?! Rozemyne, what in the world have you done?!

Amid the panic, I could only hold my nose and entrust my body to the current. Then the water vanished just as suddenly as it had appeared. I gazed around and realized that I was in the audience seats; I must have been thrown pretty far. I wasn’t hurt—I was clad in armor, and the seating was high up enough to have broken my fall—but some others were dropped all the way from the ceiling.

“At least warn us before you act!” I snapped, leaping to my feet and angrily searching for Rozemyne. I’d yet to spot her when the door flew open once again, and the blue-capes of Dunkelfelger flooded into the auditorium.

“Support Lord Ferdinand and Lady Rozemyne!”

“Raublut, you dared to poison King Trauerqual despite serving as his knight commander. For that, you will not be spared my wrath. As his wife, I will strike you down in his stead.”

Aub Dunkelfelger and Lady Magdalena led the charge. They must have finished suppressing the rebellion at the royal palace. Their presence meant the palace was safe, which meant Eglantine and the others were safe too.

Lady Magdalena intends to get Raublut, so I’ll capture the other rebels.

Again, I turned my attention to the altar. Rozemyne had at some point formed a shield of Wind, and Ferdinand swung a rainbow-colored sword. Gervasio, meanwhile, was hiding behind a geteilt, his flank wide open. It was the perfect chance to strike.

I readied my weapon, mounted my highbeast, and shot toward the trio—but I was too late. Ferdinand unleashed an attack, the statues of the gods flashed, and then everyone atop the altar disappeared.

“What?!”

I continued my ascent, trying to glean some more information, but collided with the same invisible barrier that had stopped Raublut. The shock rendered me speechless. I simply stared up at the altar in disbelief.

Rozemyne and Ferdinand passed through so easily, but I...

A cold sweat ran down my back. An impassable chasm separated the chosen from the excluded, and my status as a royal seemed to slip through my fingers.