Ascendance of a Bookworm: Part 5 Volume 10 E-Book

Miya Kazuki

• Herausgeber: J-Novel Club
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Serie: Ascendance of a Bookworm
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Seitenzahl: 425

Beschreibung

Under the cover of darkness, Rozemyne, Ferdinand, and their Dunkelfelger allies set out to subjugate the Adalgisa villa. But when Gervasio’s absence and a betrayal within the Sovereign Knight’s Order come to light, the party must switch its focus to the Royal Academy’s library. The Divine Avatar of Mestionora goes on a rampage, the Lord of Evil pulls strings from the shadows, and the Zent’s sword is finally brought to bear!

The Battle of the Sovereignty reaches its climax in the newest volume of this biblio-fantasy as the wills of the royal family, the Sovereignty, Lanzenave, and Erwaermen all come to a head. Features more than a hundred pages of original content and four-panel manga by You Shiina!

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Cover

Color Illustrations

Characters

Prologue

The Royal Academy at Night

The Adalgisa Villa

Collaborator

Alstede’s Side

Rescuing Solange

The Road to the Garden of Beginnings

The Duty of a Zent

The Battle for the Auditorium

One Man’s Return from the Garden of Beginnings

The Battle atop the Altar

In the Garden of Beginnings

The Race to Become Zent

The Lord of Evil’s Machinations

Machinations Complete

Epilogue

The Battle for the Sovereignty

Map of Ehrenfest Duchy

Map of Yurgenschmidt

Map of the Royal Academy

Afterword

A Comfy Life with My Family by You Shiina

About J-Novel Club

Copyright

Landmarks

Color Images

Table of Contents

Prologue

The scale tipped and creaked under the weight of the herbs placed atop it. One scholar watched it settle through narrowed eyes before removing some of the herbs, while another set about chopping what remained with messer. Detlinde’s elder sister, Alstede, was stirring the pot they were brewing with.

Oh, how dull this is...

Detlinde couldn’t help but sigh. As part of her plan to obtain the Grutrissheit, she was staying in a villa on the Royal Academy’s grounds. She was waiting quite impatiently in its brewing room, watching her sister and retainers work.

Her boredom aside, Detlinde had known well in advance that it would take them many days to secure the Grutrissheit. She had no qualms about the villa’s bed and board; it was meant for princesses from Lanzenave, so the furniture and such were of the highest quality imaginable, and the rooms were outfitted with all the magic tools one would need to live comfortably. They had already brought chefs, servants, and provisions from the Lanzenave Estate, but that wasn’t all—Raublut, who had prepared the villa for them in the first place, had given them attendants and other supplies from his own home, meaning they even had servers tending to their needs.

On the night of their arrival—or perhaps the following day—something unexpected must have occurred, for Raublut had ordered everyone to stay in the villa. Some voiced their worries and concerns, but Detlinde was unfazed; being stuck in the villa meant she could spend each day as she pleased.

These really are tough times... Everyone expects so much from me.

Detlinde chuckled. The Lanzenavians had showered her with praise for teaching them to brew rejuvenation potions. They had watched longingly as she’d ridden her highbeast and then listened intently while learning to create their own. It was thanks to her that they could now make themselves full sets of armor and produce their own mounts. Yes, her knights had technically taught them how to shape their armor, but the accomplishments of retainers belonged to their charge.

The more she thought about it, the more favorable her circumstances seemed to be. Her jealous fiancé wasn’t around to complain about her relationship with Leonzio, and there were no scholars demanding that she get back to work. It was paradise.

Not that I’ve been wasting my time here. Each day brings me one step closer to becoming the Zent. Nobody can accuse me of resting too much.

It had taken Raublut three days to lay the groundwork necessary for them to leave the villa without drawing attention to themselves. Leonzio and the Lanzenavians had gone to fetch their schtappe stones, and just a day ago, Detlinde had circled the Academy’s shrines as part of the process to become the next Zent. Having to wait for Raublut’s permission to leave the villa was inconvenient, but there was no helping it, since they did not have the entire Sovereign Knight’s Order on their side.

But alas, not even Lord Raublut was able to keep us hidden.

Detlinde had just finished cleaning the last shrine and was eager to take her next step toward the throne when Raublut received a slew of ordonnanzes announcing that there were intruders at the Royal Academy. She and the others had needed to retreat into the forest and make their way back to the villa, where they were to wait until the Order relaxed its search.

Could the timing have been any worse?

It wasn’t the first time Detlinde had needed to wait in the villa, but that didn’t make it any easier; Leonzio was stuck in his room waiting for his schtappe to be absorbed, meaning she had no one to keep her entertained. She had attempted to have a tea party with her elder sister to ease her growing boredom, but her sister had refused, since she had already agreed to brew with the scholars.

She’s always like this.

Alstede was an honor student and a responsible young woman who always did exactly as their mother instructed. As commendable as that sounded, it meant she would outright ignore Detlinde until she was done carrying out whatever orders she had received.

Does she not realize that my demands take precedence? I will soon be the Zent, whereas our mother will only be Aub Ehrenfest.

Nonetheless, Alstede had cast aside the proposal of a tea party with her younger sister to make rejuvenation potions and magic tools for Lords Raublut and Gervasio. Detlinde was far from impressed.

Mother isn’t even here right now...

Their mother had departed to obtain Ehrenfest’s foundation. Detlinde had no idea why the woman was so obsessed with such a backwater duchy... but if obtaining what she desired would make her less unpleasant, all the better.

“Sister, that must be enough for now,” Detlinde said and rose from her seat. “We would not want to miss dinner.” Though she had come to the brewing room, she had not taken part; she had simply watched while one of the attendants worked on her nails.

“We have plenty of time,” Alstede shot back. She made eye contact with the scholars, then returned her attention to the pot she was stirring. She really did value her brewing above a member of her own family.

Detlinde turned away and pouted. “Oh, but you cannot go to the dining hall in your brewing clothes, can you? You will need to return to your room to change. Let us not drag this out; if you insist on continuing to brew, then please make extra rejuvenation potions for me.”

“For you? We are making them for everyone.” Alstede glanced at the scholars and said, “Is that not correct?”

The scholars confirmed that they had made potions for Detlinde as well.

“No, no,” Detlinde protested. “I want extra rejuvenation potions. Twice as many as anyone else should do. Those are my scholars brewing with you, remember; under normal circumstances, every single one of their potions would belong to me. The Lanzenavians are receiving some only as a result of my immense generosity. Preparing more for me should not be a problem at all.”

Her eyes tinged with concern, Alstede explained that they would not be able to make those arrangements while they were following such a strict schedule. “If you desire more potions, then you really should make them yourself... But we can prepare at least two more for you before dinner.”

“Oh my... That simply will not do. Having to cleanse every shrine was more exhausting than I can describe. To make matters worse, this is my only day of rest; I will need to resume work on obtaining the Grutrissheit tomorrow, no? As you are going to be staying here in the villa, it seems like the natural conclusion that you should make them for me.”

Though her feet weren’t aching—she had relied on her highbeast to take her from shrine to shrine—she had spent more time outside than she usually would. Spending her entire morning in bed had done wonders to refresh her, but that didn’t mean she was in the mood to brew. She had never really cared for the task and all the tedious labor it required.

“Tomorrow?” Alstede stopped stirring her pot. “Do you have Lord Raublut’s permission?”

Detlinde placed a hand on her cheek. “Not yet, but I must obtain the Grutrissheit posthaste. And you wish to return home, no? I shall ask for your sake as well; that will surely move him.” She was the next Zent, so she saw no reason he would refuse.

“Lord Raublut has the entire Sovereign Knight’s Order to oversee; let us wait here for him. You were spotted while circling the shrines, were you not? If you go outside without permission, I suspect you will get caught.”

“‘Caught’?!” Detlinde cried, her eyebrows raised in outrage. “I am this country’s next queen! To think anyone would mistake me for one of the intruders... Even for you, Sister, this is unacceptably rude!”

“I suppose so...” Alstede muttered.

Detlinde sighed. How could anyone make such a basic mistake? There were times when she had to wonder whether the woman before her now really was her sister.

“Do be more careful going forward...” Detlinde eventually said. “In any case, were you not desperate to return home? If we work together as sisters and ask Lord Raublut for this one favor...”

“Of course I want to return to Ahrensbach; Benedikta must be worried about how Lord Blasius and I are faring. But we cannot put Lord Raublut at risk over a little discomfort. Mother told us to follow his instructions when it came to matters of the royal family and the Sovereignty.”

Goodness... How dreadful. Even now, the most she can do is parrot Mother’s orders.

Benedikta was Detlinde’s niece. Any decent mother in this situation would want to rush home to her daughter, but Alstede was prioritizing Georgine’s instructions. It was unfortunate, really—they could easily have resolved the situation by emphasizing the importance of obtaining the Grutrissheit or asking Gervasio to order Raublut to let them proceed.

“Sister... You are always so obsessed with what Mother thinks...”

“That reminds me—has she responded to our letter yet? She should have arrived in Ehrenfest yesterday or earlier today.”

Detlinde had sent out an update as soon as they’d arrived at the villa. In response, Georgine had ordered her not to send another for the next five days, as she was going to be busy sneaking into Ehrenfest. Alstede considered it a fair enough request—a poorly timed message would reveal where their mother was hiding—but Detlinde could not help feeling slighted. It did not help that not even her elder sister empathized with her frustration.

“Have faith, Sister; she must be dyeing Ehrenfest’s foundation as we speak,” Detlinde said. Then she sighed again. “I am trying so hard to cement Mother’s position as the next Aub Ehrenfest, but she has forbidden me from contacting her, and Lord Raublut will not allow us to leave...”

Once again, Detlinde’s complaints were directed at Raublut. Only by obtaining the Grutrissheit would she earn her mother’s pride... yet the world was insistent on getting in her way. It was dreadful.

“Lord Raublut is very busy right now,” Alstede replied in the same tone one would take with a child. “He must attend to both the villa and the Knight’s Order, all while dealing with the royal family.”

“Goodness me! That much is obvious!”

“Is it?” Alstede asked with a smile. “You should know, then, that we must wait for him to contact us. Brewing rejuvenation potions is an important job, in case you weren’t aware; the Lanzenavians should almost be done absorbing their schtappes, and they will need quite a lot of tutoring to get used to them.”

Something clicked in Detlinde’s mind. Considering how long it had taken her to absorb her own schtappe, Leonzio would surely be finished soon—likely by dinner or breakfast the next morning. As bored as she was, the fun times were about to return.

“Here you are,” Alstede said. “Your share of the rejuvenation potions.” She must have been brewing them during their conversation, and the sight did wonders to raise Detlinde’s spirits.

Though she refused to have tea with me, I shall forgive her. The circumstances have been tough on her as well.

Perhaps two days ago, Alstede had completed the duties assigned to her and attempted to return to Ahrensbach only to find that the door to the Lanzenave Estate would not open. “It was like somebody locked it,” she had said. Having no other choice, she had tried to return through the Ahrensbach Dormitory... but it, too, had proved entirely inaccessible. She had asked Raublut to look into the matter, whereupon she had learned that someone had stolen their duchy’s foundation. That was the most the Sovereignty knew, so they had yet to identify the thief or receive any updates on the current status of Ahrensbach.

Ordonnanzes could not cross duchy borders, so Detlinde had sent a magic letter home in an attempt to get to the bottom of the situation. Their foundation might have been stolen, but her allies in the castle would send an explanation in short order. Or if the culprit intercepted the letter, Detlinde had assumed they would fear her status as the next Zent and immediately back away.

Contrary to these expectations, Detlinde had yet to hear from anyone, friend or foe. It was annoying—she wasn’t particularly fond of people ignoring her—but at the same time, it also motivated her to obtain the Grutrissheit no matter what.

“Stay strong...” Detlinde said. “We need only endure until the day I take the throne.”

“Hah. Indeed,” Alstede replied with a thin smile. “In any case, this seems a more appropriate time for us to leave.”

Detlinde had wanted more praise, but she was far from surprised; her sister had always been emotionally unavailable. Not once had she squealed or jumped with joy over Detlinde’s various achievements.

Leaving the cleanup to her scholars, Detlinde returned to her room with her other retainers and Alstede. The attendants opened the door for them, and they started down the raised corridor leading into the main building.

No matter how many times she saw it, Detlinde was taken aback by the villa’s strange architecture. A normal villa would comprise a large main building for the lord or lady of the house, a side building for baptized children, more side buildings for the second and third wives, and a training area for the knights. This one, however, consisted of a main building and only a single side building.

Though its strange design ended up convenient for me.

On the day of their arrival, Raublut had proposed that they all stay together in the side building—but it was unthinkable for an unmarried man and woman in love with one another to sleep under the same roof. Heeding a passionate explanation from Detlinde, Gervasio had said that those from Ahrensbach could instead use the main building.

“That building was for Lanzenave’s princesses,” he had said. “I do not mind if you would all prefer to stay there. I will stay here, however, in the room where I was raised.”

In truth, Detlinde had wanted to stay in the side building—it contained the teleportation circle to the Lanzenave Estate, the brewing room and materials, food and servants, and the dining hall. The thought of needing to move to the main building anytime she wanted to sleep or change sounded painfully inconvenient, so she had asked the Lanzenavians to stay in the main building instead... but Gervasio had refused to budge on the matter.

“The main building is for women,” he had continued, not a trace of warmth to his voice. “If you insist on our separation, then I must ask you to sleep there. The only alternative is that you stay in the side building with the rest of us, as per the original plan. Those who wish to sleep elsewhere may do so. Nobody else takes issue with the arrangement.”

Gervasio had then taken his attendants to his room. The certainty with which he’d navigated the villa was evidence enough that he had once lived there.

Not a single person had agreed that Detlinde should get to stay in the side building. Raublut had told her to make up her mind while he gave them all a tour, then led them through the dining hall, the brewing room, and the internal training room. She had not stood a chance against the previous occupants of a villa she had never seen before, so she reluctantly agreed to stay in the main building. Had it been any smaller or less glamorous, she would most likely have continued to protest.

To think everyone would simply ignore the problem of unwed men and women sleeping in such close quarters...

Detlinde was still seething about Gervasio when the end of the corridor came into view. An attendant opened the door ahead.

“One moment, Lady Detlinde, Lady Alstede. I will now open the next door.”

To enter the main building from the raised corridor, one first had to pass through a locked door and a small room. It was most unusual; such passages normally led into a second corridor or an entrance hall with stairs. Stranger still, the villa’s main building did not have windows on the side of the connecting corridor, so anyone who spent their entire life inside would not even know it existed.

“I wonder why there are so many doors for a simple raised corridor,” Detlinde mused. “It must have been terribly inconvenient for those living here on a day-to-day basis. Perhaps they wished to hide it from someone.”

“Goodness, what an amusing idea...” Alstede remarked with a chuckle. “From whom would they be hiding it and why?”

The group headed upstairs to the third floor, which contained three large rooms said to have belonged to the Lanzenave princesses. The first had a koralie as its emblem; the second, a schentis; and the third, a loeweleier. The doors and windows were decorated with elaborate latticework, and the furniture was so beautiful that one could easily tell it was meant for royalty.

Detlinde, Alstede, and Blasius were currently staying in the three rooms. Blasius was displeased with the feminine decor, but not Detlinde; she was actually quite satisfied. There were chambers for retainers connected to their rooms, but any men in their service were staying on the floor below.

“Let us change and then go to dinner,” Alstede said. She went into the koralie room, while Detlinde entered its loeweleier counterpart.

Once they were changed, Detlinde and Alstede returned to the side building and made their way into the dining hall. The head count had increased since lunch, and even Leonzio had made his return. He appeared to be enjoying one of many lively conversations.

“Oh, Lord Leonzio. I see you have absorbed your schtappe.”

“Lady Detlinde. Only two days have passed, yet it feels like an eternity since I saw you last.”

“Goodness... Were you really that eager to see me?” Detlinde’s cheeks went bright red in response to the obvious compliment; Leonzio must have spent the entire two days thinking about her.

“I would be positively delighted if you could arrange for me to start learning to use my schtappe tomorrow. My mastery of such a powerful tool would surely be of great use to you.”

“Indeed. Rest assured, for you shall be tutored by none other than Yurgenschmidt’s next Zent.”

Lanzenavians tended to have exceptional mana capacities; they would make for lethal combatants once they knew how to wield their schtappes. There wasn’t enough time for them to cover everything on the Royal Academy’s curriculum, but the fundamentals of combat wouldn’t take very long at all. Detlinde was convinced that even she could teach absolute beginners, and the thought of being showered with as much praise as when she had taught the Lanzenavians to create highbeasts made her feel giddy with delight.

“Incidentally...” Giordano, a Lanzenavian envoy who normally stood behind and attended to Leonzio, looked around the dining hall. “I do not see King Gervasio here.”

Detlinde was inspired to look around as well. As the man’s bewilderment implied, it was rare for Gervasio to be absent—especially when he fancied himself the lord of the villa.

“He is not here tonight,” Raublut’s head attendant interjected. “He has asked that we eat without him.”

Raublut’s head attendant was staying in the villa rather than his usual estate; his most important duty was maintaining a line of communication with his lord. It was common for nobles working in the castle to tell their head attendant when they intended to return home and when to prepare meals; Raublut was exploiting that to send orders and updates on the palace by ordonnanz. The head attendant’s duty was to convey his charge’s will to those in the villa and then return any information of considerable importance.

“King Gervasio circled the shrines with me just yesterday...” Detlinde said. “He served as a decoy for me during my retreat. Perhaps he is still weary from that.”

Gervasio had gone to the library with Raublut to draw the attention of the Sovereign Knight’s Order away from Detlinde. She considered it only natural that her safety as the next Zent should come first, but she still appreciated the heavy burden he had chosen to bear. His absence was accepted with great magnanimity.

“Might I ask you all to take your seats?” an attendant said.

Once everyone was seated, the attendants began serving food. It was a peaceful meal spent discussing the order in which they would cover the uses of schtappes.

“Before you can even attempt anything else,” Alstede began, “you must have a set form for your schtappe that you can maintain for a long time.”

“It is best to make a simple schtappe without any excessive decoration,” Detlinde added. “As complex as you might want yours to be, it will only make it harder to maintain.”

“My... Was that something one of your professors said to you?”

“Now, now, Sister—wherever would you get such an idea? I am just speaking common sense.”

Even after dinner, the Lanzenavians were eager to learn how to use their schtappes. By the time seventh bell indicated it was time for bed, they had come up with set forms and even managed to shoot mana from them.

“Now that you know how to make your schtappes, the next step is to learn the spells necessary to transform them into weapons and tools,” Blasius explained. “It shouldn’t take very long at all; by forming highbeasts and making armor, you have already demonstrated that you can control your mana.”

Detlinde looked over the Lanzenavians, who were still thirsting for knowledge, and made her schtappe with a broad smile. “To give you an example—messer!”

“Messer is commonly used when brewing and gathering materials,” Blasius noted.

The Lanzenavians listened intently and voiced their approval of the “outstanding” demonstration. Detlinde had spent her entire day agonizingly bored, but now she was overcome with the joy of having obtained what she truly desired.

And tomorrow is going to be even better.

Unfortunately for Detlinde, the dull yet peaceful tranquility of the villa was torn apart that very same night. Never again would she awake happy.

The Royal Academy at Night

“Kehrschluessel. Ersterde.”

Once the shimmering lights and the floating sensation were gone, I slowly opened my eyes. I’d cast the same spell that I always used to teleport between country gates, but my surroundings weren’t at all what I’d expected. There were no movable roofs or stairs; we were in an empty room with fully white walls and a single door. It reminded me a little of the teleportation halls that connected duchies and their dormitories, only the outer edges of the circle and the door glowed with the same faint rainbow light as the country gates.

The glow made me wonder whether the door in front of us could only be opened with the Grutrissheit. It appeared to be made of wood, so maybe a simple key would suffice, though I couldn’t tell at a glance.

“How strange... The same spell took us to an entirely new location...” Leonore mused aloud, seeming as curious as I was.

Matthias nodded in agreement. Then he turned to me and asked, “Is this truly the Royal Academy?”

I didn’t have an answer for him; this was my first time coming here as well. I could guess we were somewhere on the Academy’s grounds, but that was all.

Well, let’s investigate.

There was a chance that our current whereabouts would impact our plans moving forward. I used the Book of Mestionora to find our exact location... and discovered we were in the Royal Academy’s central building. We were farther back than where we usually went for the archduke candidate course, in an area that students were forbidden from entering.

Hmm... Ferdinand might know where we are.

I turned to ask him, only to remember that he wasn’t with us. He was still in Ahrensbach with the rest of the knights.

“I shall teleport our remaining knights,” I said. “Please step off of the magic circle and wait. Do not attempt to leave the room to investigate, and do not cause any fuss.”

I entrusted Cornelius with watching over everyone, then returned to Ferdinand with my other guard knights.

“Kehrschluessel. Ahrensbach.”

Once we were back in Ahrensbach, I told the remaining knights to line up on the teleportation circle. Then I whispered to Ferdinand, “This magic circle leads to a room in the Royal Academy unlike any of the gates. Do you know its location? Should we alter our plans?”

“No, there is no need. I teleported there before under... certain circumstances. But that does not matter right now. The knights appear to be ready.”

I wonder what circumstances would require someone to use the teleportation hall in a forbidden section of the Royal Academy...

Ferdinand’s past was as incomprehensible as always; I couldn’t even imagine what he must have gone through as a child and a student. I wasn’t going to complain, though. His experience had gotten me out of so many scrapes.

Relieved that there was no need to change our plans, I stood on the teleportation circle and said, “Kehrschluessel. Ersterde.” We arrived at the Academy in the blink of an eye, at which point Ferdinand cast his eyes over the knights.

“Do we have Verbergen’s seals?”

The scholars had rushed to make concealment charms at Leonore’s recommendation. The ones given to the knights used feystones, but mine was a magic circle drawn on fey paper.

“Let us head outside as quickly as we can,” Ferdinand said. “The last thing we want is to face more instant-death poison while we are in such close quarters.”

That much was true. The knights had fought in the Purge of Lanzenave and the Battle of Gerlach before coming here; though they were using cloth to cover their mouths, many of them didn’t have much jureve left.

“Do not speak until we are outside,” Ferdinand continued. “Rozemyne, is everything ready?”

At his signal, I pressed my Book of Mestionora against the door, which began to open with a low creak that echoed throughout the midnight Royal Academy. An eerie silence followed, and tension filled the air. Our immediate surroundings weren’t too dark thanks to the glow of the teleportation circle, but given the late hour, everything outside the room was pitch black. The darkness was so thick that it almost felt like it was seeping through the crack in the opening door.

Ferdinand gestured ahead of us with a firm chop of his hand, spurring Eckhart and Angelica to silently leave our front line and step into the hallway. Their armor stood out a little in the darkness. I enhanced my eyesight and stared intently at their backs while praying that we wouldn’t cross paths with the Sovereign Knight’s Order.

Once he’d taken a quick look around, Eckhart raised a hand, indicating that there weren’t any knights nearby. Angelica pressed onward in response until she reached a turn; then she shook her hand, signaling that there were people around the corner, and returned to us. This hallway contained the teleportation doors for all the villas and dormitories; of course there were Sovereign guards here.

“Is the conference building clear?” Ferdinand muttered.

Eckhart had already started advancing down the hallway. He confirmed that our second option was clear of any knights, then beckoned to Justus and quietly spoke his name. The attendant-slash-scholar approached one of the windows, intent on unlocking it.

A moment passed; then Eckhart waved again.

“Go in order and move without a sound,” Ferdinand instructed.

At once, the knights filtered out of the room. I was watching them go—one of my duties was to close the door again, so I needed to be the last person to leave—when Ferdinand suddenly whispered to me.

“If you wish to take your knights and return to Ahrensbach, now is your chance.”

I glared at him, unable to believe my ears. After everything we’d endured, did he really expect me to turn around and leave? Dunkelfelger had asked me to use the Grutrissheit to justify our being here. My complicated relationship with feystones meant I was even more of a burden than usual, but I could at least keep Ferdinand from having to expose his Book of Mestionora.

I eyed the teleportation circle, then shook my head and stepped out into the hallway. Ferdinand reluctantly came with me. Only once the door was locked did we regroup with the knights.

The familiar carpet beneath my feet told me we really were inside the Royal Academy’s central building. This was where one obtained the Book of Mestionora—where one could access the country gate and its teleportation circle. Though it had taken me this long to realize it, the truth was clear to me now: this really was Yurgenschmidt’s holy land.

Nobody spoke; we simply advanced through the ivory building lit only by reflected moonlight. The thrill of sneaking through a school put all sorts of strange ideas in my head, like skeletons leaping out of a science classroom. My limbs were trembling in anticipation of whatever was to come, and the silence made me want to cry out.

I watched as the knights climbed through the single open window one by one and vanished into the forest on their highbeasts.

“Are you sincere in your intention to come along?” Ferdinand asked.

“Would I be here otherwise?”

“Then I must ask you not to scream.”

Before I could utter another word, Ferdinand picked me up and jumped out the window. I nearly did scream but clapped a hand over my mouth in the nick of time. Ferdinand, in contrast, didn’t seem the slightest bit bothered as we plummeted toward the ground. He briskly formed his highbeast, sat me in front of him, and then flew off. The knights who had disappeared among the trees came out again to follow us.

I can’t believe knights do this like it’s nothing. They’re amazing!

“Rozemyne,” Ferdinand said. “Contact Dunkelfelger.”

If all was going as planned, then Dunkelfelger’s knights would already be stationed in their dormitory. We had been told to contact them after using the teleporter.

“Right...” I took out some fey paper Hartmut had marked with an Ordoschnelli magic circle and spoke into it. “Aub Dunkelfelger, this is Rozemyne. We have left the central building.”

Considering where we just were... and the fact that I can see the library over there... my target must be...

I used my stylo to write “Dunkelfelger’s common room” as the destination of my letter, then folded the sheet into an airplane and threw it toward the Dunkelfelger Dormitory. Its ivory hue tore through the night sky like a shooting star.

We were currently headed to the Ahrensbach Dormitory. Dunkelfelger’s knights would meet us there once they received word of our arrival. There wouldn’t be anyone inside, since the intruders were staying in the Adalgisa villa, and its location made it a much safer place to congregate than Dunkelfelger’s dormitory or the central building. Together, we would search for the Adalgisa villa, which was being kept hidden by Verbergen the God of Concealment.

“Are you really okay with going to the villa?” I asked Ferdinand. “If you think it might make you unwell, we can get someone else to lead the attack.” Everything I’d learned about the villa told me it wasn’t somewhere he’d want to return to, and it seemed unnecessarily cruel to make him relive what must have been deeply unpleasant memories.

Ferdinand heaved a heavy sigh. “You have suppressed your intense hatred of war to come here as an aub. Do you really expect me to run away? I would advise you not to fret about things that are best left alone, but I will say this: I relish the opportunity to tear that villa to pieces.”

“Hold it right there. What’s gotten into you lately? You keep saying all these violent and outlandish things, like when you proposed burning Ahrensbach to the ground and expressed your dismay that the royals and the Lanzenavians hadn’t wiped each other out.” He hadn’t rested much since his rescue, so maybe his exhaustion was getting to him.

“My thoughts have always been violent,” Ferdinand said with a wry smile. “I simply never went out of my way to voice them. You may rest assured that this is anything but a recent development.”

“How is that supposed to reassure me?!”

“Then believe whatever puts your mind at ease.”

Are you seriously acting like this doesn’t concern you?! These are your thoughts!

Ferdinand was far more violent than I’d previously assumed. Rather than avoid the Adalgisa villa out of discomfort, he wanted to utterly destroy it. His stony expression when speaking about Gervasio had worried me, but I could see that he was fully resolved to face his past.

“Speaking of which...” I said, “do you know where the villa might be? On the map, it was below and to the right of the Ahrensbach Dormitory... but it’s so dark out that even the dormitory seems invisible.”

By looking at the central and specialty buildings, I’d managed to get a rough idea of where we were, but our surroundings were a mess of darkness interrupted only by the dull shadows of the dormitories and the glowing cylinders that marked their gathering spots. I couldn’t even tell if we were headed in the general direction of the Ahrensbach Dormitory.

“If you failed to understand the map so spectacularly that even the Ahrensbach Dormitory is too hard to find, why did you assure Aub Dunkelfelger that you knew where the villa was?”

“Because I do—at least to some degree. I’ve just realized that the map and the territory aren’t one and the same, so I’m having trouble getting my bearings. It was down and to the right on the map... so we should go southeast, right?”

“Do you even know where southeast is? How can you be in such a sorry state when you wield the Grutrissheit and decided to lead this excursion?”

Ferdinand wasn’t impressed with my map-reading skills, but that wasn’t an issue—not when I could thrust the task onto someone else. “I do not need to know where southeast is when you are here to tell me. You located the Royal Academy’s shrines when investigating its twenty mysteries, did you not? The details were in Professor Hirschur’s documents. You could tell me their location even without a Grutrissheit.”

I must have won our little debate because Ferdinand grimaced and told me to face forward. I did as instructed with a victorious grin, and that was when I noticed the magic circle in the sky above. Even at night, it was easy to see.

The Ahrensbach Dormitory had at some point appeared in the distance. I could tell it was Ahrensbach’s because Dunkelfelger’s knights had taken up the space above it. They exuded such an immense amount of pressure that even birds and small animals in the forest retreated in fear of what they must have assumed to be mana-rich predators.

“I suppose it was unreasonable of us to expect some discretion...” Ferdinand muttered.

“Well, we are using Verbergen’s seal. I suppose it wouldn’t be fair to compare them to us. Not to mention, they’re loudmouthed—um, imposing—by nature. Ohoho...”

I tried to cover my slip of the tongue with an innocent laugh, but it was an awkward attempt at best. I was relieved, then, when an ordonnanz arrived to spare me any further embarrassment. It landed on my arm and spoke.

“Lady Rozemyne, this is Dunkelfelger. We have arrived above the Ahrensbach Dormitory. Where are your knights?”

The ordonnanz was partway through its second repetition when Ferdinand grabbed it and told me to look away. He sent a response while I stared into the distance.

“This is Ferdinand. We are using Verbergen’s seal, which has made us invisible to you, but we can see your forces. We shall rendezvous with you shortly.”

I watched the ivory bird soar through the night sky to deliver its message. Barely a moment later, our allies started to circle the dormitory. Were they searching for us?

They’re kinda like bees.

Indeed, rather than simply waiting for us, they were swarming like bees desperate to inform their fellows of an especially lovely flower.

“I see... Heisshitze is not the only one incapable of remaining still...” Ferdinand remarked, clearly exasperated. “Is this just part of their culture? Now that they are drawing so much attention to themselves, our attempts to be stealthy seem like a rather pointless endeavor.”

We had worn Verbergen’s seal so that we wouldn’t need to fight the Sovereign knights in the central building. Now that we were outside, however, it made sense to remove them; we didn’t want to risk Dunkelfelger hitting us by mistake.

Ferdinand stopped using his seal and then took his highbeast ahead of our front line. “Troops, remove your Verbergen seals!” he ordered.

Everyone did as they were told, and our allies roared in excitement when they saw us appear out of thin air. “They were right under our noses!” one cried. “I would never have noticed them!”

“Lord Ferdinand, where is the villa?” another asked. “Let us hurry there at once.”

“Heisshitze?” Ferdinand replied. “Why are you here? I see you came with more troops than we agreed upon...”

I was sure I’d recognized one of the voices, and now I knew why—Heisshitze had decided to join the fray. So much for my assumption that he would sit this one out after fighting in Ahrensbach and Gerlach. Maybe he hadn’t taken no for an answer.

“Lady Rozemyne, if you would guide us to the villa...” said Aub Dunkelfelger. As it turned out, he was leading his duchy’s troops. I went to greet him, but he raised a hand to stop me. “Traditional greetings are not necessary on the battlefield. I must ask that we make haste.”

The aub’s voice was bright, and... Yeah, he wasn’t even trying to hide his excitement. I turned to Ferdinand, convinced that one of us needed to say something to curb our allies’ enthusiasm. Otherwise, they would descend upon the villa the moment it came into view.

Ferdinand met my eye and took the matter into his own hands: “We will now move to the villa’s location and use magic circles of Anhaltung the Goddess of Advice to expose Verbergen’s concealment. Only once we have checked whether the villa’s barrier is active will we infiltrate it. Attempt to capture as many of the traitors as possible.”

Ahrensbach’s mana burden moving forward would depend on the number of criminals who survived this encounter. In other words, we needed these traitors to be held responsible for their crimes and imprisoned so that we could wring them for all they were worth.

“To elaborate,” Ferdinand continued, “we know that Detlinde, Alstede, and Leonzio are three orchestrators of this plot. Do not kill them unless it is absolutely necessary. Moreover, as they have antidotes and ways to counter instant-death poison, we should expect them to use it without hesitation. Are you prepared to deal with this?”

“Of course,” Aub Dunkelfelger replied. “We’ve used the intelligence from Hannelore’s sortie to make sure we’re ready.”

“Now, allow me to share what we know of the enemy. Detlinde and her entourage comprise roughly ten people, whereas Alstede and her husband brought only their attendants. There were twelve Lanzenavian envoys who greeted me, eight of whom wore feystone rings. These figures do not account for Gervasio, the king of Lanzenave.”

The king’s presence meant we could expect any number of retainers—that much was true in both Lanzenave and Yurgenschmidt. Leonzio was a Lanzenavian royal as well, Ferdinand explained, and would therefore be acting with several servants of his own. We had no idea how many Lanzenavians had come to Yurgenschmidt on Gervasio’s ship and relocated to the villa; Ferdinand had been poisoned at the time, and Letizia had been imprisoned.

“As it stands, we do not know precisely how many Lanzenavians are in the villa, but we know whom to expect: Ahrensbach’s former archducal family with their retainers, and Lanzenave’s royal family with theirs. There is a good chance they will be strong enough to escape bands of light made by the majority of our knights.”

“Worthy opponents, then. Excellent!” Aub Dunkelfelger boomed. He sounded very satisfied with this development, but I didn’t want to fight anyone powerful. In an ideal world, we would apprehend the intruders and then immediately tie them up.

“Rozemyne, form your Grutrissheit and make a show of pointing it over there,” Ferdinand whispered from behind me.

I shouted, “Grutrissheit!” and pointed my shining Book of Mestionora in the indicated direction. I wasn’t sure how, but Ferdinand must have decided that was southeast. “The villa we seek is this way!” I announced. “Let us go!”

“HRAAAAAAHHH!” the knights roared, sounding especially eager as Ferdinand took the lead.

The Adalgisa Villa

Ferdinand glanced around atop his highbeast, then slowed to a stop. We were above an expanse of trees as dark and empty as the rest.

“We have reached its rough location, Rozemyne. Use the—”

“I know. You can count on me.”

I pulled out the sheet marked with Anhaltung’s magic circle that Hartmut and Clarissa had made for me, then formed my schtappe and poured mana into it. “O Anhaltung the Goddess of Advice, subordinate to the Goddess of Light—reveal what has been hidden by Verbergen the God of Concealment.”

Light rose from the magic circle, brightening the forest around us, before concentrating on one spot in particular. An elegant ivory villa appeared among the trees. Its architecture stood out in comparison to that of the Ehrenfest Dormitory—the entire villa comprised two look-alike buildings and the raised corridor that connected them. I could also see remnants of a front garden, a fountain, a pond, and some flower beds, but they were all severely overgrown. I couldn’t even begin to imagine how long had passed since they were last tended to.

The villa must have been a sight to behold when it was in use. It was so much more impressive than the dormitories, which were used only during the winter and the Archduke Conference. There was no reason to give them fountains or flower beds; doing so would require nobles and servants to stay at the Academy all year round to maintain them.

So this is where Ferdinand grew up...

I shot a quick glance behind me. His eyes carried not a trace of nostalgia. Instead, he looked openly annoyed, like he really was ready to tear the place apart.

“So there is a villa here!”

“That’s where the foreigners are!”

The knights cried out in awe when they saw an entire villa appear out of nowhere. Aub Dunkelfelger got straight to barking orders at them.

“Find out whether the barrier’s active!”

One of Dunkelfelger’s knights—who was using a drivable highbeast, to my surprise—tossed a shining blue something through his open window. I watched it closely as it arced toward the ground and saw what appeared to be a glowing blue highbeast with a glowing blue child atop it. Before I could even think about rubbing my eyes, it started circling around.

“Huh...? It’s moving on its own.”

“Not on its own—with mana,” Ferdinand explained. “That appears to be a gewinnen piece, though its size is quite simply ridiculous.”

Gewinnen... That was the board game where you moved pieces with your mana. Memories of using the game to help Angelica understand her written lessons for the knight course came to mind; then it suddenly occurred to me what I was looking at.

“Isn’t that one of the decorative gewinnen pieces from Dunkelfelger’s tea party room? It brings to mind one of the twenty mysteries of the Royal Academy—the gewinnen pieces that challenge people to ditter, I think.”

“They are not just similar—they are one and the same. The event responsible for that legend happened not too long ago.”

I stared at him in surprise. “Hannelore didn’t know anything about it, though.”

“How could she? It happened before she was a student, and everyone involved was sworn to silence.”

“I have no further questions.”

The blue gewinnen piece—which was about as large as a recently baptized child—flashed with white light before shooting toward the villa. It smashed through a window with a resounding crash.

“There’s no barrier! ATTACK!” Aub Dunkelfelger roared. “I will strike from above! Heisshitze, strike from below!”

“Understood!”

The assault on the villa began with Aub Dunkelfelger’s charge. He must have thought it best to start with the closest point of entry, for he landed on a third-floor balcony, completely destroyed its sliding door, and then rushed inside. His troops followed suit with equal enthusiasm; half smashed through windows on the same story as the aub while the others crashed through balconies on the floor below.

“Commanders shouldn’t be rushing headlong into danger, should they?” I asked. My impression of aubs was that they stood regally in the background while their troops fought for them, but that wasn’t at all what I’d just witnessed.

“Why did he not leave anyone outside to watch the villa? Did he just assume we would do it...?” Ferdinand muttered with a grimace, then turned. “Strahl, take the first squad and investigate the Sovereign Knight’s Order. I wish to know why they have not reacted to any of the noise we have made.”

“Yes, sir!”

“We cannot allow Dunkelfelger to take all the glory, so let us strike the other building. Second through seventh squads, enter through the second-floor balconies! Focus your attack on the women’s rooms on the third floor! Gather your prisoners in the front garden!”

“Yes, sir!”

“Eighth squad, watch over the prisoners. You are the only ones who will be able to recognize Leonzio of Lanzenave.”

“Yes, sir!”

If the second through seventh squads were targeting the third floor, why were they being ordered to breach the second? I was about to ask, but then I realized that the third floor didn’t have any balconies. The windows had wonderful decorations of plants and animals, but each was covered with sturdy-looking bars.

“The two buildings are so similar, but this one doesn’t have any balconies on its third floor,” I mused aloud. “Why is that?”

“Because of their intended residents,” Ferdinand replied. “Do you think new members of the royal branch family would live under the same roof as those destined never to be registered as Yurgenschmidt nobles?”

Ferdinand went on to explain that the side building had traditionally been overseen by the husband and wife of a branch family. The future king of Lanzenave would be registered as their child, as would the girls to be raised as Yurgenschmidt princesses. The Lanzenave princesses and their children, destined to become feystones, would spend their entire lives in the other building. The bars indicated that neither escape nor infiltration were permitted and represented the stark reality of how those who lived in the main building were treated.

“I suddenly understand your desire to reduce this villa to rubble...”

“If only we could use your estate-destroying highbeast to accelerate the process. I suspect that creature of yours would complete the job in the blink of an eye.”

I spun around to look at Ferdinand, not best pleased about his teasing remark. “Don’t act like my Lessy is a creature of untold destruction! The damage done to Gerlach’s estate was the result of a series of very unfortunate coincidences! Nothing more!”

My tormentor chuckled—and at that moment, our first prisoner was thrown out of a window, bound with light. “This reminds me of when Matthias was flung out of the estate...” Ferdinand muttered as he brought his highbeast to the ground.

Our retainers landed as well.

“Stay here, Rozemyne,” Ferdinand said. “I will give further orders from within.”

“Ferdinand, I—”

“You will only be a burden on foot. Stay here with the others and watch the prisoners. If any of them escape their restraints, bind them anew. You have more mana than any of the knights.”

I was basically dead weight now that I couldn’t make my highbeast, yet Ferdinand had still managed to find a purpose for me. He started giving instructions to my guard knights as well.

“Clarissa, instruct Dunkelfelger to bring their prisoners out here.”

“At once!”

“Knights, protect Rozemyne. Do not let any harm come to her.”

“Sir!”

Ferdinand then headed into the villa with Eckhart and Justus. The relevant squads followed after them. I stood in the garden and watched them go.

Clarissa sent out an ordonnanz. A short while later, some of Dunkelfelger’s knights arrived with more prisoners: three in total, all tied up with light. They must not have expected an attack at this hour, as they were still wearing their nightclothes. Even if the light of the magic circle and the gewinnen piece’s loud entrance had alerted them to our presence, they wouldn’t have had time to get changed.

“It would seem the building Dunkelfelger chose contains more people from Lanzenave than from Ahrensbach,” one of the latter duchy’s knights observed while peering down at the newly arrived prisoners. All three of them were Lanzenavian envoys who had apparently been present when Leonzio had given his formal greeting. They looked up at us in complete silence, not even attempting to speak.

“Here come more of them,” someone said and pointed up at the sky.

I gazed up at the prisoners being brought over just in time to see one of them tear apart the bands of light restraining him and attempt to flee from Dunkelfelger’s knights. He must have had more mana than whoever had caught him.

“That’s Leonzio!” one of the Ahrensbach knights next to me shouted, spurring five of the eighth squad’s ten knights to fly up into the air to help with his recapture.

“Do not stand in my way!” Leonzio roared. “I will become the next king of Lanzenave!” He made a highbeast and immediately started brandishing a schtappe.