Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 5.7 - Chapter 10

The Bible’s Key

“I must head to the temple,” I announced upon returning to my room. “The aub has asked me to complete a task for him. I would also like to meet with the Gilberta Company while I am there.”

Lieseleta’s eyes flashed with discontent. “If possible, could you come back to the castle tomorrow to have your measurements taken? I plan to ask Lady Florencia’s, Lady Charlotte’s, and Lady Elvira’s personal seamstresses to order your new clothes.”

Everyone else agreed that I couldn’t keep relying on garments lent to me by one of my retainers, so I approved the suggestion. To be honest, I didn’t have much of a choice—if my new clothes weren’t ready in time for the Archduke Conference, I would end up in the worst-case scenario of needing to head to the Sovereignty without anything to wear. Lieseleta and Ottilie had put themselves out to set all this up for me; I couldn’t let their hard work go to waste.

“Very well,” I said. “I shall return to the castle tomorrow.”

“Lady Rozemyne, might I join you for the measuring and such?” Bertilde asked. “I wish to be of use to you.” Her voice was tinged with sadness; because of my disappearance, she hadn’t been able to prove her worth to me at the Royal Academy.

I crouched down a little so that I was at her eye level. “From what Lieseleta and Gretia have told me, you did more to help Charlotte with her tea parties than even Melchior’s retainers. I am told you were a skilled attendant and that you succeeded in your attempts to spread our duchy’s trends.”

“But... I can only serve you until my sister’s marriage to the aub...”

Brunhilde was due to become Ehrenfest’s second wife, and it had already been decided that Bertilde would become her apprentice attendant when that happened. Bertilde’s desperation to assist me as much as she could before then was absolutely adorable.

“In that case,” I said, “tomorrow, I would ask you to select and order my summer clothes for me. Even I can tell that my aura and presence have changed. Please think hard about what might suit me.”

“I thank you ever so much,” Bertilde replied with a cheerful yet refined smile.

Next, I asked to see Brunhilde. “She must be busy enough preparing for her Starbind Ceremony, but I wish to give her a hairpin in celebration of the wedding and her retirement from my service. Bertilde, my apologies for the sudden request, but could you summon her for me?”

“Of course, Lady Rozemyne.” Bertilde rose from her seat without the slightest hesitation. “My sister will surely be overjoyed.”

I turned to my other retainers. “As I said, the aub has asked me to check something in the temple. I plan to return tomorrow, so please have Rosina, my musician, wait here for the time being. Hugo has been trapped in the dormitory kitchen for quite some time, so I will take him to the temple, then bring a replacement for him with me when I come back.”

Gretia went to contact the temple and my personnel. I watched her go out of the corner of my eye, then addressed my scholars.

“Hartmut, Philine, head to the temple together. Roderick, Clarissa, stay in the castle and transcribe the books that Lady Hannelore gave me. As for my knights... Damuel, Angelica, Matthias, Laurenz—I must ask you to accompany me to the temple. The rest of you, stay here for now; I suspect my grandfather or the aub will summon you soon enough.”

The Knight’s Order was going to be reevaluating and reworking its defense plans, so my knights were sure to be called upon. That was why I’d decided to leave Leonore and Cornelius behind—they were both archknights. One could make an argument for leaving Angelica in the castle as well, but I didn’t see much point.

As I gave out my instructions, Lieseleta and Ottilie made short work of packing my belongings. Now that I’d grown, my nightclothes in the temple wouldn’t fit me anymore, so I needed to bring some new ones.

“Welcome, Lady Rozemyne,” my temple attendants said. “We have been waiting for you to return.”

Once they had greeted me, they finally looked up... and immediately froze. I even heard a few gasps. They were watching me, but not in the way one would stare at something repulsive, nor in the way my retainers had quietly accepted my new form. Instead, their expressions were ones of reverence. They reminded me of the looks Melchior had given me after swallowing so much of Hartmut’s propaganda.

Eep. They’ve all been brainwashed.

“Thank you, everyone,” I replied.

“Indeed, welcome back, Lady Rozemyne,” Monika said, her eyes sparkling. “I see that Lord Hartmut was telling the truth—you really have received a blessing from the gods and grown into a beauty.”

I wavered, unsure how to respond. Hartmut had ranted nonstop about my safety and mana growth, and it was thanks to him that nobody was staring at me in disgust. Most had seen his constant blathering as a source of concern, but I couldn’t deny the role he had played in helping me live normally again.

I understand that—I really do—but it’s so hard to be grateful.

Fran spoke next: “I must admit, I am so used to your more youthful appearance that this comes as a surprise to me, but I am glad to see you have grown at last.”

“Never have I seen anyone more beautiful,” Gil added.

Fran was celebrating with a quiet smile, while Gil was praising me with clenched fists and a look of slight embarrassment. They had both served me from the very beginning—and at that thought, I couldn’t help but smile.

“I appreciate your kind words,” I said.

Gil worked with Fritz to unload my luggage from the castle while I started toward the High Bishop’s chambers. Along the way, I told Fran and Zahm about my plans for tomorrow.

“The winter coming-of-age ceremony is fast approaching...” Fran noted. “Will your new ceremonial robes be ready by then, or should we ask Lord Melchior to perform in your place?”

“My robes should not need to be replaced; they were designed so that I could continue to wear them even as I grew. The problem is that I won’t have anything else to wear until the alterations to my normal clothes are complete. I shall return to the castle tomorrow to have my measurements taken and to order new apparel. Please ask the Gilberta Company to join us.” Once my new measurements had been taken, they would alter my temple clothes accordingly.

“If you have business in the castle tomorrow, why have you come back to the temple?”

“To investigate the bible’s key. New discoveries require that I give it another look.”

We soon arrived at my chambers. Nicola had made me some tea, which I sipped while waiting for Fran to fetch the key.

“Damuel, Angelica—my apologies, but could you circle the lower city’s gates and ask whether anyone wearing silver cloth has entered the city?” I asked. “Tell the guards to be on the lookout for any such individuals but not to cause a fuss if any should appear. Instead, they should contact the Knight’s Order right away. If anyone does arrive wearing silver cloth, they are most likely to be a high-ranking noble, so I would advise against trying to arrest them on the spot.”

“Yes, my lady!”

Damuel and Angelica turned on their heels and immediately left the room, while Matthias muttered, “Lady Rozemyne, do you mean...?” We had first discovered the silver cloth in Giebe Gerlach’s summer estate, so it wasn’t hard to put the pieces together.

“Bad actors with mana might be infiltrating Ehrenfest. The feast celebrating spring ended just before I returned, did it not? The snow will soon melt, and we will need to be on guard against carriages.”

Matthias briskly stepped in front of me, knelt, and crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Lady Rozemyne, please let me travel to Gerlach. During our previous investigation, we uncovered several small cabins hiding magic tools. Lord Bonifatius set several traps so that we could tell if anyone tried to access them. I would ask to check those traps.”

“I shall ask Grandfather. In any case, the Knight’s Order will need to go with you.”

I sent an ordonnanz relaying Matthias’s request. Bonifatius was busy enough working on Ehrenfest’s defenses with Karstedt and Sylvester, so he would send someone from the Knight’s Order to Gerlach in his place.

Right...?

“I was just thinking that someone should check them,” he replied. “It only makes sense that I should do it; we can’t risk someone else triggering them all. Matthias, prepare plenty of rejuvenation potions. We’ll go there at once and return tomorrow.”

Bonifatius intended to fly straight to Gerlach and then straight back at maximum speed, chugging as many rejuvenation potions as necessary. I took several kinds of rejuvenation potions from my hidden room and gave them to Matthias, who looked to be in the fourth stage of grief.

“You may use these,” I said. “I can guarantee their efficacy. Still, are you sure about this? Keeping up with my grandfather will not be easy.”

“I made the request in the first place, so...” Matthias paused. “Yes, I will go. I do not want any more harm to come to Ehrenfest. I shall do all that I can to protect it.”

Then he graciously accepted the rejuvenation potions.

It was all well and good that Matthias was going to Gerlach, but Laurenz wouldn’t be able to guard me on his own. I started debating whether I should summon Judithe, but Matthias smiled and told me not to worry.

“I have already contacted Judithe,” he said. “We cannot leave you without sufficient protection, so she is coming to the temple with Lord Bonifatius.”

Wowee... My retainers are so extremely competent.

Just as the busily moving knights began to settle down, Fran returned. “Here is the key to the bible,” he informed me.

“Thank you, Fran,” I replied and rose from my seat. “I shall retire to my hidden room to inspect it. Judithe, Laurenz, there is no need for you to follow me inside. Please wait here for now.”

My two knights nodded their understanding while I stepped into my hidden room alone. I set the key down on the table with a quiet clack, then took out my schtappe and chanted, “Grutrissheit.” The Book of Mestionora appeared in the form of an electronic tablet, which I used to search for information about the keys used to unlock the country’s bibles.

“Let’s see...”

According to the text, each key was made to match the foundation of its respective duchy. On top of the registration feystone, there was another, much smaller feystone that bore the color of whichever duchy it belonged to.

Curious, I started inspecting the key. The tiny feystone was easy enough to find, but it wasn’t dark yellow—it was light violet.

“What? This isn’t our key! It’s Ahrensbach’s! But how?! We’ve used it so many times to open our bible!”

Frantic, I continued to read as quickly as I could. As it turned out, while each key was paired with a foundation, there were no restrictions on which bibles they could open. Zents made the keys with magic, so they were all physically identical. One could use any key to open any bible as long as the mana registered to them both was the same.

To the Zents of the distant past, the bibles for High Bishops had served as instructional textbooks covering the prayers and religious ceremonies one needed to perform to obtain the Book of Mestionora. Obtaining a schtappe-made Grutrissheit was the ultimate aim, as they were far more convenient than the heavy and easily damageable bibles.

Plus, there are times when the bibles need to be swapped around, so it makes sense not to have a unique key for each one.

Historically, whenever a duchy was formed or destroyed, the Zent would personally take care of its foundational magic and the key required to access it. Bibles and the divine instruments in the temple, on the other hand, were often preserved and reused.

Each of the keys made by the Zent was paired with a particular foundation, meaning they could only be used in the temples of their respective duchies. But as they were meant to be used in cases when the aub suddenly died, the keys didn’t need to be registered with the same mana as their foundations; anyone could use them as long as they were at the right door.

“So where in the world is Ehrenfest’s key?” I wondered aloud, in a daze—but the answer was already lurking at the back of my mind. Georgine had seized it long ago.

I thought back to when she’d stolen our bible. I’d noticed that its key had contained someone else’s mana, but rather than investigating further, I’d simply redyed it. It had never even crossed my mind that it might belong to another duchy, especially when I’d managed to open our bible with it.

“Now that we’ve figured out the truth, isn’t Ahrensbach vulnerable to having its own foundation stolen? I don’t understand why Georgine would do something so risky...”

I truly had no idea what she was thinking. Had she arrogantly assumed we would never notice the deception? Or did she just not care about Ahrensbach’s foundation? Maybe this was all part of some elaborate plot to trap us. I really couldn’t tell.

One thing was clear to me, though: Georgine was so obsessed with Ehrenfest’s foundation that she was willing to abandon her people and even her own daughters to reach it. Worst of all, I didn’t get the impression that she planned to treasure it; rather, it seemed to me that she only cared about taking it from Sylvester and possibly even destroying it with her own two hands.

And if destroying our foundation really is her ultimate goal...

The blood drained from my face. If she wanted to devastate Ehrenfest, not become its aub, then she was my most dangerous enemy. I wouldn’t be able to negotiate with her, nor would there be any way to appeal to her emotions. She would murder anyone in her path without the slightest hesitation. And as for the commoners... If she saw me try to protect them, she would probably view them as a weakness to be exploited and start attacking them relentlessly.

“Seizing a foundation can’t be too hard if you don’t care what happens next...”

Foundations were made of magic, and their role was as important as their name suggested: they were the literal groundwork upon which each duchy rested. As I’d learned during my Royal Academy classes, filling a foundation with mana enriched its land, while depriving it until it ran empty would cause its cities to fall apart and the land to morph back into a white desert. That was why one would normally either slowly replace the former aub’s mana with their own or go through the trouble of dyeing it all at once.

But if someone merely wanted to steal and destroy a foundation... they wouldn’t need much time or mana. They could prepare a bunch of empty feystones to suck out all the mana or just strike the foundation with a massive spell. In either case, draining Ehrenfest would cause not just the capital city but also the forests, farms, and such to crumble into white sand. It was unlikely that any of the commoners would survive, but if whoever was stealing the foundation didn’t care about that, they would easily be able to redye it from there.

It was normally forbidden to destroy duchies in such a manner, but the ruling Zent didn’t have a Grutrissheit, meaning he was unable to punish anyone who committed such crimes. Georgine understood that, which explained why she was being so forceful.

We need a Zent. A proper Zent with a Grutrissheit.

I already had most of the Book of Mestionora; if I could also obtain Yurgenschmidt’s foundation, I would easily be able to stop Georgine. Just as there existed a sizable gap between an aub with a foundation and an archduke candidate who had merely learned about them in school, there was much a Zent with a foundation could do that an heir apparent with nothing but a Grutrissheit could not.

I want to stop Lady Georgine.

But that motivation wasn’t enough; my version of the Grutrissheit was still incomplete, and the magic circles necessary for large-scale spells were obscured in my mind. I needed to either complete the Book of Mestionora or access the transcribed version for Zents located at the back of the underground archive.

How can I protect Ehrenfest? Surround the whole city with Schutzaria’s shield, maybe...?

It was an idea, but we didn’t know when Georgine was going to appear, and trying to maintain the barrier nonstop wasn’t feasible. There was also a chance she’d simply use Lanzenave’s silver cloth to slip through it. The best solution would be to capture Georgine before she could get close to the foundation; she would need to come here personally if she wanted it.

There was no point trying to come up with a solution on my own, especially when I was feeling so panicked; I was just going to end up running in circles. Reporting back to Sylvester was the smartest move, so I picked up the bible’s key and stepped out of my hidden room.

“I discovered something important and must return posthaste to the castle,” I announced. “For safety’s sake, I shall take the key with me. Fran, when Damuel and Angelica return, tell them to stand guard outside the temple’s front and back doors, respectively. Then go to Hartmut’s chambers and inform him that he must summon Melchior to the temple.”