Ascendance of a Bookworm: Part 5 Volume 9 E-Book

Miya Kazuki

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

Seitenzahl: 474

Beschreibung

The Battle of Gerlach begins at last. Together with Matthias, Rozemyne must defeat the cold-blooded giebe Grausam—but an unexpected development makes that easier said than done. Body doubles, collateral damage, even more dark plots transpiring in the shadows... How does their inevitable battle play out, and what happens to Ehrenfest in the aftermath? Behold the full extent of the explosive war shaking Yurgenschmidt to its very foundation!

Time is running out in the newest installment of this biblio-fantasy. Once again, this volume contains more than one hundred pages of original content not featured in the web novel—and more four-panel manga by You Shiina!

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Cover

Color Illustrations

Characters

Prologue

Gerlach’s Front Line

Confronting Grausam

Victory and Return

Everyone’s Tales of Heroism

Celebratory Feast

A Sleepless Night

Late-Night Tea Party

Fitting

Following My Heart

Lunch Meeting

The Temple and Melchior’s Report

The West Gate and Groundwork

To Ahrensbach

Making the Bible

Dunkelfelger’s Request

Dunkelfelger’s Response

Prayers and the Departure

Epilogue

The Defense of Ehrenfest (Second Half)

Afterword

Map of Ehrenfest Duchy

Map of Yurgenschmidt

A Comfy Life with My Family by You Shiina

About J-Novel Club

Copyright

Landmarks

Color Images

Table of Contents

Prologue

Gong... Gong...

Inside his canopied wagon, Grausam grimaced at the chimes signaling third bell. Georgine’s boat was due to arrive in Ehrenfest at any moment, but he was running late; Gerlach’s summer estate was just coming into view.

“Lord Bonifatius certainly likes to interfere...” Grausam muttered, recalling the events that had put him behind schedule in the first place. He had stashed several magic tools within the province’s management cabins, which the giebe and their family used during their patrols. But when he had gone to confirm that his tools were still there, he had discovered numerous traps lying in wait. Dismantling them had delayed him, and amid his frustrations, he had theorized who was responsible.

I managed to retrieve some useful traps and hidden magic tools, but now there’s so much pressure on me. Am I going to make it in time?

As for how Bonifatius had known where the cabins were, Grausam knew without a shadow of a doubt that his son Matthias was to blame. He had told the boy about only a few of his hiding spots, and every single one of them had been raided. Moreover, Matthias was the only one who had missed the winter purge due to attending the Royal Academy. Rather than being swiftly executed as a traitor by association, he must have escaped punishment by leaking intelligence to the archduke.

“I will need to be somewhat wary of that...” Grausam added.

Matthias had not been of age at the time of the purge, nor had he sworn his name to Georgine. For those reasons, he hadn’t been told anything important—and as he’d only ever met the woman once, Grausam doubted the boy knew anything of consequence. Under normal circumstances, that would have been enough to assuage his fears, but now Bonifatius was involved. The man had an uncanny talent for discovering the truth through instinct alone, so who knew what he might unveil with Matthias by his side?

“For days, we have kept Lord Bonifatius running around Illgner and Griebel. Now we draw him here. I will not allow him to stand in Lady Georgine’s way.”

As he made his declaration, Grausam retrieved a magic tool from his breast pocket. It was paired with another tool elsewhere and served a very simple purpose: one could use mana to change its color, which would cause its counterpart to change color to match. Grausam had created it from the tools children used to practice channeling their mana, and while its function was limited, it was a fine way of conveying the success of an operation when wrapped in silver cloth and unable to rely on ordonnanzes.

Grausam’s feystone had originally been yellow. Now it was green.

“Lady Georgine met with my contact, then...” Grausam said. The man in question had gained access to the city of Ehrenfest since winter, so it was good to know they were together.

To help her remain undetected, Georgine had elected to travel with no more than two coconspirators: her attendant, Seltier; and a merchant with the Devouring. She was too vulnerable to resist capture, so her signal meant she must not have been detected. Their various ploys had worked, including their decision to employ two ships arriving at third and fourth bell, respectively.

Grausam removed the silver cloth he was wearing and channeled mana into his magic tool, returning its color to yellow. This would convey both that he had received her signal and that he had yet to reach the Gerlach estate.

“Well, now that Lady Georgine has arrived, I suppose I should get to work...”

Arrangements had already been made for knights of Old Werkestock to attack Giebe Gerlach’s estate; they were merely awaiting the arrival of a pre-written confirmation. The giebe would inform the aub that he, like Illgner and Griebel, was under attack, making for the perfect distraction. Ehrenfest wouldn’t expect Georgine to target their foundation through their temple, of all places.

“Hmm... They can follow instructions, at least...”

Grausam watched the knights flying out of the giebe’s estate. Highbeasts took to the sky in short order, each going as fast as their rider could make them. It was only natural that they were in such a hurry—from up above, they would see an army sporting Ahrensbach capes marching straight toward them.

“Take a right,” Grausam instructed his driver—a Devouring soldier bound to him by a submission contract. They were inside a wagon delivering food to the estate, hoping to take advantage of a secret entrance around the back.

So they did assign guards...

Grausam spotted three men stationed near the hidden entrance: a knight and two servants, from the look of things. They had presumably been tasked with checking anyone who approached the back of the estate.

“Stop!” the knight called—entirely as expected. “Your wagon must now be inspected.”

At once, the trio got to work; the knight asked the driver what store he belonged to while the two servants started inspecting their luggage. The knight seemed entirely unaware that there was an army approaching the estate and that his compatriots had just departed. He must not have been able to see them from where he was stationed.

The war started days ago, yet this is the best they can do...?

The new Giebe Gerlach—Grausam’s replacement—evidently knew nothing of warfare. There were plenty of openings to be exploited as a result, but even then, Grausam couldn’t stand the thought of someone looking down on him.

Poison should do the trick.

Grausam couldn’t risk the knight sending out an ordonnanz before he had a chance to attack. He exchanged a look with his driver, then quickly flexed his index finger, spurring the man to pull the string attached to one end of a silver tube. There was a small pop as a cloud of white dust shot into the air.

“Ngh...!”

For a few moments, the knight groaned and grunted, clearly in pain. Then he turned into a feystone.

Grausam’s eyes widened in surprise; to his knowledge, the poison should have worked instantly. Had it taken so long because of the cloth covering the man’s mouth, or had the powder simply dissipated in the outside air? He regretted that he hadn’t had much time to experiment with the poison during his stay at Georgine’s villa in Ahrensbach.

“H-How on...?”

“He vanished into thin air!”

The servants cried out in shock; from their perspective, the knight had simply disappeared. Grausam killed one of them while his driver dispatched the other—an easy enough task, considering their targets were commoners, but now they would need to dispose of the bodies. They couldn’t risk someone discovering them before their attack on the estate was complete.

Commoners are rarely useful.

Turning his attention away from the dead servants, Grausam took the late knight’s feystone in his prosthetic black hand and started to drain it. The man must have drunk a rejuvenation potion in preparation for the coming battle; his stone was practically full of mana.

Grausam continued to empty the feystone until there was no more mana for him to take, then crushed the worthless vessel in his hand. As he brushed away the fragments of stone that clung to his fingers, he turned to his Devouring soldier, who was quietly awaiting his next command.

“You will not be able to pass the barrier beyond this point. Get rid of the corpses, then come back and stay here until you receive further orders.”

Grausam watched the driver move the bodies into the wagon and leave, then went to the hidden entrance with his bag of magic tools and potions. There was a magic barrier not far into said hidden entrance. Under normal circumstances, only the giebe, his blood relatives, and members of the archducal family would be able to enter, but Grausam slipped through using his silver cloth. Suffice to say, Lanzenave’s invention had a variety of useful applications.

Once he’d made it through the barrier, the rest was trivial. Grausam made his way into the giebe’s estate without anyone seeing him.

“No obstacles of note, I see...”

Grausam’s estate would normally have been reconstructed following his removal as Giebe Gerlach, but Aub Ehrenfest must not have had the mana to spare. The layout was exactly the same, which made reaching the estate’s foundation a very simple task.

It was a known fact that only an estate’s giebe could enter the room containing its foundation, but again, Lanzenave’s silver cloth made short work of the problem. Grausam stepped inside, removed the cloth, and started channeling mana into the foundation. He was following the instructions Georgine had given him to reclaim ownership of the estate.

Once the foundation was his again, Grausam made the barrier protecting the estate as strong as it could get. This would prevent anyone but him, his relatives, and the archducal family from entering. The knights, attendants, and servants of Gerlach would have no trouble leaving the estate, but once they were outside the barrier, they wouldn’t be able to pass back through it.

Now we await Lord Bonifatius, who should make his way here upon learning of the assault on Gerlach.

Nobody in the estate posed a threat to Grausam. The knights had all taken to the air, and even when Bonifatius arrived, the barrier would prevent his troops from entering with him. He nodded, satisfied with the great step he had just taken toward victory. Then he took out his communication magic tool and checked its color. The feystone had turned red.

“Hmm... Lady Georgine has infiltrated the temple. I shall inform her of my status in turn.”

He changed the color back to green, indicating that he had gained access to the estate and stolen its foundation.

Now I just need to buy her time by distracting Ehrenfest’s Order.

Keeping his current objectives in mind, Grausam left the room containing his foundation. He used secret paths to traverse the estate, then paused outside an exit connected to the giebe’s office. Snippets of a male voice leaked through the door.

“Reinforcements from... are arriving this afternoon. Gerlach’s knights... endure.”

The voice must have belonged to the new giebe. He had called for—and was evidently expecting to receive—reinforcements of some kind, though Grausam couldn’t make out how many or where they were coming from.

I would assume he means Lord Bonifatius, who must be making his way here from Illgner.

Grausam placed his right hand on the door, which he unlocked with his mana and opened ever so slightly. The new giebe hadn’t even replaced the decoration covering it, from what he could tell; the same tapestry was visible through the crack.

“The knights are putting their all into protecting Gerlach,” the giebe continued, his voice much clearer now. “I want you all to evacuate the servants. I shall remain here and wait patiently.”

“But if we leave you on your own—”

“This room has hidden passages that can be used only by the giebe and their family. It is better that I remain here alone so that I can use them to escape if necessary.”

Grausam heard the patter of hesitant footsteps as the attendants and scholars ordered to evacuate took their leave. They faded into the distance, leaving the room in complete silence.

How many are still inside, I wonder...?

If the giebe was with others, using instant-death poison would prevent them from summoning reinforcements. But if the giebe was alone, Grausam wanted to keep him alive. Letting the man die would cause any ordonnanzes meant for him to fail, which would only arouse suspicion.

Now, which is it?

Grausam held poison in one hand and rope in the other. He was ready to react to either situation... but for now, he waited.

The giebe heaved a heavy sigh. “But when in the afternoon did they mean...? If our reinforcements don’t arrive soon, our knights won’t live to see them...”

A ruling noble would never speak so honestly or show weakness in the presence of others, which meant he must have been alone. Grausam stealthily opened the secret door, and the air that flowed through it caused the tapestry to move.

“Hm?”

A few quiet footfalls revealed the man’s suspicions. He must have been approaching the tapestry—and that was when Grausam struck. He leapt into the room at once, beating down and immediately restraining his target.

“Huh?! Y-You... How did you get there?!” the giebe cried, his eyes wide with terror.

Grausam said nothing in response; he grabbed the man’s jaw, wrenched it open, and poured a potion down his throat.

“Ngh! Gah...!”

Even while restrained, the man flailed about in agony. The potion had eaten away at his throat to the point that he could no longer speak.

“You wish to know how I used the estate’s hidden passageways?” Grausam said at last. “I simply stole its foundation. Good work keeping this place running while I was gone.”

The man was now a giebe in name only. His mouth opened and closed as he tried to speak, but the most that came out was a faint, strained whistle.

Paying his captive no mind, Grausam took out the magic letters he had prepared in advance and sent them on their way. They were addressed to the Werkestock giebes lying in wait in the forest and provided a brief summary of the situation: he had conquered the Gerlach estate and needed them to start draining the province’s mana into their chalices.

This should be enough to lure Lord Bonifatius.

Bonifatius had almost certainly realized that the knights and giebes attacking Illgner and Griebel were mere fodder meant to thin out Ehrenfest’s forces. It was good, then, that he took his duties as an archducal family member so seriously. He would never abandon a province on the verge of collapse, so there was no reason to believe he would ignore Gerlach’s call for aid.

I will need to be cautious, though. He has a tendency to act in the most incomprehensible ways.

According to field reports, Bonifatius had appeared in Illgner within a day of receiving word of the invasion there. He was like an omnipresent specter capable of materializing anywhere at any time. No matter how quickly he moved, however, there was no chance of him making it back to the city of Ehrenfest in time to stop Georgine; he had rushed to Illgner that morning and would surely devote his attention to liberating Gerlach.

I will not allow that nuisance to keep getting in our way.

Grausam clenched the black prosthesis replacing his left hand, which he had ended up losing that accursed winter. He had devoted so much time to making it specifically so that he could take down Bonifatius.

Georgine had driven the previous Aub Ahrensbach up the towering stairway and abused a royal decree to drag Ferdinand away from Ehrenfest. She had used the death of her husband as an excuse to hide away in her villa, securing herself the time and privacy she had needed to execute her plans. But then, on the day she had intended to use the key to the High Bishop’s bible to obtain Ehrenfest’s foundation, Bonifatius had suddenly raided Grausam’s estate. The man’s instincts, initiative, and combat potential made him the most formidable opponent one could ask for.

But he wasn’t the only threat we had to be wary of.

On countless occasions since Georgine had discovered that Ehrenfest’s foundation was hidden within its temple, Grausam and his accomplices had attempted to sneak inside. But with Rozemyne, the archduke’s adopted daughter, as the High Bishop and Ferdinand, another of Grausam’s unbearable adversaries, having returned to the archducal family without giving up his role as the High Priest, this had not been easy by any means. The pair had kept their guard knights with them at all times, and only a select few nobles had received permission to enter the temple.

In the past, gaining access to the High Bishop’s chambers would have been as simple as expressing an interest in flower offerings, but Ferdinand had made them one of his duties as the High Priest. In his words, there was no good reason for a mere child to oversee requests of such an unsavory nature. Even when the printing industry had required scholars to start visiting the temple, Ferdinand and the Leisegangs had gone to great lengths to vet the participating nobles, ensuring that nobody from Grausam’s circles was granted access. To make matters worse, the blue priests living in the temple had needed to get the High Priest’s approval for everything. There really hadn’t been any openings to exploit.

There is still time, however.

Ehrenfest must not have noticed that the key to the bible would open the way to their duchy’s foundation. If they had, they would never have made a commoner child their High Bishop. Thus, Grausam’s group had waited for a moment when both Rozemyne and Ferdinand were absent from the temple. Then they had infiltrated the temple, replaced the High Bishop’s bible and its key with duplicates to keep their theft from being noticed, and swiftly dealt with the gray priests who had seen them.

And yet, somehow, Ferdinand had deduced that someone had invaded the High Bishop’s chambers, that the bible had been replaced, and even that Gloria had played a hand in it all. Most shocking of all, he had barged into the Dahldolf estate and discovered the bible that had been moved to the castle.

How is one supposed to plan around that?

They had managed to deliver the key to Georgine but failed to pin the theft of the bible on Ferdinand, which would have allowed them to drive Sylvester into a corner. Even when Ferdinand was living in Ahrensbach, they hadn’t succeeded in any of their attempts to coax him into inaction or get him under Georgine’s control.

But with Lady Letizia’s poison, we were finally able to dispose of him. His interference will trouble us no longer.

Ferdinand was dead, and Bonifatius had been lured to the southernmost provinces. All relevant threats had therefore been accounted for.

Georgine’s plan was advancing unhindered... yet Grausam struggled to relax. He couldn’t shake the feeling he was missing something of critical importance. When he looked back, every single one of their past plans had proceeded without issue, only to fail out of nowhere as the result of unforeseen and sometimes even incomprehensible obstructions.

I gain nothing by fretting. Instead, I should come up with countermeasures.

Grausam stepped out of the giebe’s office with his bag of tools in hand and started setting up traps around the stairs, ensuring that nobody would be able to reach him. They were the same traps used to protect the cabins in the forest; he would receive a warning if any of them were activated or disarmed, meaning he wouldn’t need to worry about ambushes.

“You there! What are y—? Ngh!”

The occasional servant or attendant spotted Grausam, but he merely eliminated them before returning to his work. He had expected to encounter more trouble, but there were fewer people in the estate than he’d anticipated. They must have evacuated as per the old giebe’s instructions.

Good.

Gerlach was Grausam’s home. A few deaths were certainly necessary to wrest control of the province from Aub Ehrenfest and the Leisegangs, but he wanted to keep casualties to a minimum.

From there, Grausam returned to the giebe’s office. He was inspecting his remaining tools when an ordonnanz flew into the room and perched on the tied-up man now slumped in the corner.

“This is the knight commander. The invading force is larger than what Illgner and Griebel described. I cannot guarantee we will survive long enough to see the reinforcements... but we will do everything in our power to endure. If you send any ordonnanzes beyond this point, I doubt I will have the leeway to respond to them. May Angriff guide us both.”

The ordonnanz repeated its message twice more before turning back into a yellow feystone, which Grausam then crushed with his prosthetic hand; the knight commander wouldn’t need to worry about a response. The bound man merely stared at the shattered remains with frustrated tears in his eyes.

“Hm. Well, if you aren’t going to receive any more ordonnanzes, I see no reason to keep you alive.”

Grausam took out his sword and stabbed the man several times, aiming for spots that wouldn’t be immediately fatal; he considered it a waste to use instant-death poison on someone who could neither move nor call out for help. His target whimpered and struggled to escape, overcome with fear, but it was no use. There was nowhere for him to go.

Satisfied, Grausam nodded. If the Lanzenavians were to be believed, this man would turn into an exceptionally high-quality and mana-rich feystone.

The time has finally come.

Grausam turned away from the bleeding man and approached the nearby balcony. Outside, he could see the backs of the knights fighting to protect the estate, all unaware that a new giebe had taken control. A wave of light-violet capes was descending upon them, boasting such a great numerical advantage that the outcome was easy to predict.

The question, then, is how long the defenders will manage to survive.

Grausam smirked—and at that moment, he saw beyond the light-violet capes a much starker blue.

Gerlach’s Front Line

As our highbeasts approached the battlefield, a mass of Ahrensbach capes came into view. They weren’t marked with blue and yellow, which meant the nobles wearing them were loyal to Georgine. The only things stopping them from invading Giebe Gerlach’s estate were the barrier around it and the ocher-caped knights of the province’s Order.

“I would normally advise a pincer attack, but Gerlach’s knights will not last long enough for us to get in position,” Ferdinand said. “We must join forces with them at once.”

Indeed, the disparity between the two armies was immense. Even someone as inexperienced with combat as I could see that Gerlach was about to crumble. The knights were driven entirely by their determination to survive until reinforcements came.

“Rozemyne, heal Ehrenfest’s knights as soon as we break through,” Ferdinand instructed.

“Right.”

“I will take the vanguard. Rozemyne, Lady Hannelore—forge ahead no matter what happens to the knights around you. Do not slow down for anything or anyone until we are clear of our enemies.”

Ferdinand took his guards to the front of our group. Meanwhile, Dunkelfelger’s knights started surrounding Hannelore and me, moving into a formation designed to break through enemy forces. In no time at all, my view was limited at best; my own knights aside, the most I could see were the capes of those around me. Not even Ferdinand or Eckhart stood out among the vast swathe of blue.

“Cornelius, Leonore—have Matthias and Laurenz returned yet?” I asked. Trying to spot their capes wasn’t an option, and when I tried to peek above the crowd, I saw only a sea of indistinguishable helmets.

“Not yet,” Cornelius replied at length.

“We do not know the locations of the cabins they went to check, but they will most likely reunite with the tail of our group when we reach the other side of the enemy’s forces,” Leonore added.

I turned around on instinct. There were blue-capes behind us as well.

“Lady Rozemyne, Lady Hannelore,” one knight said, “once we have made it through the enemy knights, move as close to the summer estate as you can.”

“Guard knights! Protect your charges with your lives!” cried another. Then he held out his schtappe and chanted, “Geteilt!”

Hannelore and I nodded in response, then tried to match the speed of our escort as we pressed onward. I didn’t have a clue where we were in relation to the estate; my vision was a mess of blue capes and knights holding up their shields. It was precisely because I couldn’t see my surroundings or the enemy that I started to feel extremely tense. My hands began to tremble as I squeezed my steering wheel, and it took me all the restraint I could muster not to slam my foot down on the accelerator.

“Eep?!”

Bright flashes appeared all around me, each one accompanied by a loud popping sound. We must have entered our enemies’ attack range, prompting a barrage of magic that our knights were managing to block. My vision was still painfully limited, so I couldn’t even begin to guess how far away we were, but the chaos made my heart leap into my throat.

Th-This is sooo scary...

Our knights were managing to block the attacks when a volley of arrows joined the mix. The rational part of my brain told me not to worry—that my mana was too strong for any of the projectiles to breach my highbeast—but the rest of me was overcome with fear. I continued to grip my steering wheel as tightly as I could, feeling a rush of emotion as tears welled from my eyes.

That was when I still had the leeway to be afraid.

Out of nowhere, I witnessed a rainbow flash so bright that the knights in front of me became mere shadows. It was evidence of an attack containing a tremendous amount of mana—but had it come from us or the enemy? I could only squeeze my eyes shut in anticipation of the worst.

“Rozemyne! Keep up!” Cornelius barked.

Against my better judgment, I returned to looking at my surroundings. As it turned out, the attack had been one of ours. On more than one occasion, something shot past us and obscured the light, but our knights always shielded me from the subsequent shockwaves.

“HRAAAH!”

The knights roared as if caught up in the heat of the moment and slowly accelerated. I sped up at the same time, desperately worried that they might leave me behind.

“Keep going!” came a shout. “Do not hesitate! Follow Lord Ferdinand!”

In an instant, everything changed. The battle cries turned into aggressive roars, and the shriek of clashing weapons and armor rang out all around me. The din was enough to give me a splitting headache.

The sea of blue I’d grown so accustomed to was quickly marred by splashes of red. That was horrifying enough, but then a severed arm slammed into the front of my Pandabus with a dull thud. The impact sent a shudder through my highbeast, and moments later, the arm vanished somewhere behind me. I wanted to believe it had just been my imagination, but the red splatter across my windshield told me otherwise. My teeth chattered violently as I stomped down on the accelerator, feeling entirely as though I’d just run someone over.

“Eep!”

A knight in front of me must have been struck by a heavy attack of some kind; he was thrown from his highbeast and ended up directly in the path of my Pandabus.

Brake! BRAKE!

“KEEP GOING!” Cornelius roared at me before I could even attempt to slow down. “If you stop now, the rear guard will all die!”

My foot hovered above the brake. Was accelerating really my only option? I was about to concede and plow straight through the man, but then one of my knights—Angelica, from what I could tell—rushed ahead of me and thrust him out of the way. I was so petrified that I couldn’t even speak.

Parts of our formation started to crumble as our enemies continued their onslaught. More knights fell in front of me, but these ones weren’t so fortunate—they bounced off the front of my highbeast before disappearing somewhere behind me. I couldn’t even check on them; the moment I tried to turn my head, someone yelled at me.

“Don’t look back, Lady Rozemyne!”

I gritted my teeth and endured the impact of each collision, doing my best to keep forging ahead—and that was when somebody’s feystone struck the front of my Pandabus. The stone made such a loud clatter as it bounced around, but I was so terrified of lagging behind the others that I didn’t even acknowledge it.

“We’re through!” a voice called, bright and confident. “Turn around and attack!”

Dunkelfelger’s knights turned their highbeasts on a dime.

“Lady Rozemyne! Lady Hannelore! Keep going! Continue until you pass their rear guard!”

Immediately upon hearing those orders, I remembered what Ferdinand had said to me. “Go on ahead,” I told Hannelore. “I need a moment to heal everyone.”

I took my knights high up in the air, stuck my hand out the window, and then said, “Streitkolben” as I turned around. I wasn’t sure I had enough mana to heal all of Ehrenfest’s and Dunkelfelger’s knights without giving a proper prayer, so I thrust Flutrane’s staff as high as I could.

“O Goddess of Healing Heilschmerz, of the Goddess of Water Flutrane’s exalted twelve...”

Knights from Old Werkestock launched spells in an attempt to interrupt my chant, but the Dunkelfelger knights now supporting our front line blocked them without issue. My knights likewise had their shields at the ready. I continued the prayer, speaking a little faster than usual.

“Hear my prayers. Lend me your divine power and grant me the power to heal those who have been hurt. Play the divine melody and cast the blissful ripples of your pure divine protection.”

Green light flowed from the staff’s feystone and rained down on the knights below, eliciting cheers from the heavily wounded among Gerlach’s Order. I could practically feel the rise in their morale, and the knowledge that I was helping made me feel more at ease.

“Please leave the rest to the knights,” Leonore instructed me.

I nodded. Healing the knights had concluded my role in the battle for now; I would need to give my mana time to regenerate so that I could do whatever Ferdinand needed of me next. I made my way over to Hannelore, landed beside her, and then downed a mana-focused rejuvenation potion inside my highbeast.

“Perhaps because they are using highbeasts, the knights of Old Werkestock are neither wearing silver cloth nor wielding silver weapons,” Hannelore observed with a smile. “That makes this a traditional battle—not something my duchy’s knights will concede easily.”

As I reveled in yet more confirmation that Hannelore was a reliable gal pal, two knights wearing Ehrenfest capes approached us. The slender leopard-like cat with wings was Matthias’s highbeast, whereas the larger but similarly shaped tiger belonged to Laurenz.

“Matthias, Laurenz, I am glad to see you both safe,” I said when they reached us.

“Lady Rozemyne.”

Just as Leonore had predicted, the pair had reunited with the tail of our group as we broke through the enemy line. I was sincerely relieved to see my knights all together again.

“I thought to use an ordonnanz to pin down Grausam’s location, but not a single one took flight,” Matthias informed me.

“Is that to say he’s already dead...?” I asked, having seen far too many ordonnanzes refuse to fly in Ahrensbach. It was a surefire sign that the intended recipient had climbed the towering stairway.

“Perhaps he got caught up in a battle somewhere and died then, but I doubt a man skilled enough to see through Lord Bonifatius’s traps would meet such a simple end...” Laurenz said, his expression stern. “He is more likely engaged in some clandestine operation that prevents ordonnanzes from reaching him.”

Leonore gazed upon the Gerlach estate with sharply narrowed eyes. “The Ahrensbach knights mentioned earlier that those dressed in silver cannot receive ordonnanzes. The bird simply refuses to fly. And this was where the silver cloth was first discovered, was it not?”

The knights of Old Werkestock might not have been using silver clothes or weapons, but there was no reason to believe the same was true for Grausam. On second thought, it wasn’t particularly strange that ordonnanzes couldn’t reach him.

“In his eyes, these knights must be mere pawns to be disposed of...” Leonore continued.

Those from Old Werkestock hadn’t been given silver cloth or weapons, nor had they received any critical intelligence. Georgine certainly hadn’t told them they could reach their duchy’s foundation through their temple or that she was having them steal Ehrenfest’s mana for her own convenience. If she did succeed in her plans, her loyal vassals would replace our purged nobles, but I saw no reason to believe their lives meant anything to her.

“Lady Rozemyne, the commander of Gerlach’s knights wants to thank you,” Angelica said, having brought over a man wearing an Ehrenfest cape. “Please stay in your highbeast.”

The man in question had removed his helmet, allowing me to see his face. Heilschmerz’s healing had closed up his wounds, but he was still covered with blood, and there was a lifeless pallor to his skin. He wavered as he approached me but didn’t make it very far before collapsing into what could only loosely be described as a kneeling stance.

“Lady Rozemyne, your healing has given us a much-needed advantage in this battle,” he said. “I wished to thank you, even if only for this brief moment...”

“It was unnecessary for you to come all this way when you do not even have the strength to reach me,” I said. “Please rest and recover.”

Heilschmerz’s healing closed wounds and treated burns, but it didn’t put lost blood back inside the body. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that the commander had been fighting on the front line to keep his Order’s formation strong even while his injuries had wreaked utter havoc on him.

“Ah, I simply thought it most polite to keep my distance, given my somewhat dirtied countenance...” he replied. Not once during any of my etiquette training had such a rule been mentioned, but I decided to roll with his excuse; an immobile commander would weaken even the strongest Knight’s Order.

The man continued, “These reinforcements and your blessing have allowed us to avoid the worst-case scenario of our summer estate being stolen. I thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

Dunkelfelger’s knights really had done a lot to turn the tide of the battle. Their presence on the front line meant Gerlach’s Order could retreat to drink potions or even return to the estate to resupply.

“I struggled to believe my ears when the aub contacted us at noon, announcing that a mixed unit containing Dunkelfelger knights was coming to help us and that we would need to stand our ground until they arrived. The magic tools we had prepared ran out before we knew it, and with the invading army so much larger than our own, we deemed it safest to leave the giebe alone in his estate while the rest of us charged into battle.”

Gerlach’s knights had put everything on the line during this battle. As the enemies’ onslaught had continued, some had started to wonder whether the reinforcements would come at all—but then Ferdinand, Eckhart, and Heisshitze had carved a path through the invaders. The commander looked openly relieved as he recounted their arrival.

As we spoke, one of the knights tasked with entering the estate approached us on highbeast. “Commander—please excuse my interruption.”

The commander asked me for permission to stand up before addressing the knight. “Is something wrong?”

“We cannot get inside.”

“Excuse me?” The commander turned to look... just as something shot out of the estate.

“Um...”

It arced through the air as it approached the heart of the battlefield, moving fast enough that I could guess someone had launched it, not thrown it. A whistling sound repeated three times—then the projectile exploded with a tremendous bang.

“What the—?!”

A powdery white substance floated through the air. Those closest to it immediately disappeared, but not those who caught only the edge of the cloud—some of them vanished after a pause, others fell from their highbeasts, and still others began to move sluggishly. From what I could tell, there were more casualties among Old Werkestock than among our own troops. My knights and I were barely impacted, since we were so far away from the point of the explosion.

“Waschen!” cried a voice.

Before any of us could grasp what was going on, a huge wave of water swallowed us. Even my Pandabus got drenched and cleansed.

“I have washed away the poison!” Ferdinand roared again. “Drink your jureves at once!” It must have been the same kind of poison that had almost cost him his life in Ahrensbach’s Mana Replenishment hall.

But why did it come from the giebe’s estate...?

Overcome with unease, I started to scan the building from the bottom up. There was a strange figure standing on the second floor’s balcony—someone who hadn’t been there a moment ago.

“The poison was no less effective, but it produced fewer casualties than expected...” the person remarked, sounding as detached as a scientist performing an experiment. “Perhaps the wind really is to blame. It spreads the powder too thin.”

A chill ran down my spine. I recognized the man’s voice—he was the reason I’d ended up in a jureve all those years ago.

“You! What are you doing up there?!” the commander shouted. “You aren’t the giebe!” He leapt onto his highbeast and tried to apprehend the man, only to disappear as the result of another explosion.

As I stood in a daze, staring up at where the commander had once been, a feystone dropped down to the ground. My knights groaned, cast waschen without a second thought, and started to drink their potions.

“You fool,” the bony figure on the balcony spat. “Now that I’ve dyed this estate’s foundation, I am Giebe Gerlach. This province is mine once again.” On closer inspection, I noticed what appeared to be a single gauntlet on his left hand. He was also wearing a dirty ocher cape with silver on the inside.

“Grausam...” Matthias choked, having finished drinking his jureve. He knelt before my highbeast and said, “At its full strength, the barrier will prevent anyone except the giebe, his relatives, those with his permission, and members of the archducal family from entering the estate. The knights weren’t able to get in, but Grausam is my father; the barrier should accept me. Please let me go in their stead.”

“Matthias, wait. That’s...”

“It has to be me,” Matthias said, his cool blue eyes moving from me to the estate. He crossed his arms in front of his chest, then stood up and sprang into action.

“Wai— Eek!” Before I could even attempt to stop him, a golden net fell on me from above.

“Lady Rozemyne!” Matthias cried, having turned around to check on me. He rushed to help me, his schtappe drawn, as the bone-chilling voice rang out once again.

“Ah, I recognize that uniquely hideous highbeast. I can’t say I expected you to be here...”

A wave of awful memories came to mind unbidden. This wasn’t the first time Lessy had gotten caught in one of Grausam’s nets. In the past, this vile man had poured poison down my throat, requiring me to use a jureve. He had bested me before, but that wouldn’t happen again; this time, I just needed to stay inside my highbeast and trust that my guard knights would save me. I gripped Lessy’s steering wheel as tightly as I could, determined not to be flung out into the open.

“Rozemyne!” Cornelius shouted, his voice brimming with anger.

A moment later, the force pulling Lessy vanished; Angelica was dashing back and forth with Stenluke in hand, slicing the net into pieces.

“I recognize this trap...” Cornelius said, fixing the man above us with a stony frown. “So it’s you, Grausam.”

“I’ve heard about you through my master. How nice that I now have the opportunity to defeat you,” Angelica added with a smile, a vicious fire blazing in her blue eyes. She had gone from being dainty and ditzy to terrifyingly bloodthirsty.

Matthias reached me a moment later, only to recoil when he noticed the murderous aura radiating from his fellow retainers. “Lady Rozemyne, what in the world happened...?” he asked, looking more timid than usual.

“It would seem Grausam was responsible for the attack during the feast all those years ago,” I said. “The one that required me to use a jureve.”

“What?!” Matthias’s mouth hung open in disbelief. “He was summoned as a suspect at the time of the incident, but wasn’t he deemed to be innocent?”

Damuel had testified to seeing a Devouring soldier’s ring at the scene of the crime, but a plethora of witnesses had claimed that Grausam was in the grand hall the entire time. I didn’t want to burden Matthias with the knowledge of his father’s crimes, but this wasn’t something I could afford to keep from him.

“Back then, we didn’t have enough evidence to be sure—but there isn’t a doubt in my mind anymore,” I declared. “Still... It’s strange. I don’t remember hearing this voice when I visited the Gerlach estate as a shrine maiden for Spring Prayer.”

“He had at least three body doubles. I can’t believe it...” Matthias said, his voice pained and his eyes swirling with violent emotion. “And on top of that, he was the one who hurt you...?” He gripped his schtappe-made sword as he glared up at the balcony—but Cornelius and Angelica were already on the attack.

“Die, Grausam!”

Cornelius cried out as his and Angelica’s attacks fused together and shot toward their target. Grausam held up his left hand as if trying to protect his face. As a scholar, he was surely doomed...

But then the mana rushed into his hand and disappeared.

He absorbed the attack?!

Grausam lowered his hand and mockingly laughed at Cornelius and Angelica, who were both stunned. Then he swung his right hand, causing blue spheres made of powerful mana to shoot out. They targeted not only Cornelius and Angelica, but also the knights who had yet to recover from their jureves.

“O Schutzaria, Goddess of Wind...”

“Geteilt!”

Before I could finish the prayer to form Schutzaria’s shield, several knights shouted the abbreviated spell, charged toward Grausam, and deflected the incoming attacks. At the same time, a great white lion descended on the balcony.

“Lord Ferdinand!” the recovering knights called out, relieved. Then they began forming their own shields.

“Those of you still recuperating—get far away from the estate!” Ferdinand barked, maintaining several protective barriers of his own.

Many of the knights held up their shields and started to retreat. Those who were unable to move on their own—the poison had caused dense mana clumps to form in their bodies—had to be carried away by their comrades.

“You’re alive?!” Grausam shouted at Ferdinand, shaking his head in disbelief. “But we were so painfully thorough in our preparations! Could it be that Lady Georgine received a false report of our plan’s success? From her own daughter, no less? Such outrageous incompetence is simply unforgivable.”

Detlinde must have told Georgine that Ferdinand was dead. I suspected that Georgine and Grausam had enacted their secret mission not a moment later—and as they must have set out wearing silver cloth, no further ordonnanzes had managed to reach them. Grausam hadn’t known a thing about my rescue operation.

“Still,” he continued, a smile returning to his face, “what’s done is done. My own mission remains unchanged. I shall buy Lady Georgine enough time to claim Ehrenfest’s foundation, steal mana from its land to make the process easier, weaken its forces so that her control is absolute, and eliminate as many troublesome nobles as I physically can.”

The madness in Grausam’s gray eyes was terrifying. Even at a glance, I could tell that nothing in the world would convince him to stop.

“Lord Ferdinand,” he said, “you are one such troublesome noble. I must eliminate you here.”

“How can a scholar hope to eliminate me?” Ferdinand replied. “Your poison will work no longer.”

Eckhart stepped forward, his weapon at the ready.

“Oh, we scholars have our own ways of doing battle...” Grausam said. “And there is no longer any need to avoid ordonnanzes.” He grabbed the brooch fastened to his cape, then removed it and gripped something I couldn’t quite see. A storm of blue flames erupted all around him.

“What?!”

“Fire?!”

As we stared at the flames, struggling to process what was going on, a group charged Grausam all at once. It was Hannelore’s detachment. They launched mana at their target, even piercing the inferno with several arrows, but he blocked the lethal strikes with his left hand.

In the end, the knights’ attacks only strengthened Grausam’s flames. They raged even more intensely than before, yet their master didn’t seem at all bothered; he merely smirked at us from within the inferno. Then he swung his fire-covered right hand and sent what looked like creatures made of the same blue flames at Hannelore.

“Geteilt!”

Hannelore created her shield without the slightest hesitation, ready to block the attack... but she never felt its impact; Ferdinand had made his own shield at the same time and moved to intercept the flames. Her face went pure white as she stared up at him in shock.

Grausam cackled. “Aah, yes. With this much mana, I shouldn’t have any trouble at all. You have my sincerest gratitude, Dunkelfelger girl.”

Glaring at the blue flames all the while, Ferdinand sent out several ordonnanzes: one to Heisshitze on the front line; another to Strahl, who had returned from delivering our prisoners to Bindewald; and another to me.

“Rozemyne, you and Matthias are the only ones who can enter the estate,” my bird said in a quick, quiet voice. “I will draw Grausam’s attention here; we do not want him to use any hidden passages. The two of you must hurry inside and sneak up on him from behind. His prosthesis absorbs mana, so use black weaponry of your own when you attack him. Do not leave your highbeast under any circumstances—not even if Matthias dies.”

Matthias and I exchanged looks; I certainly hadn’t thought Ferdinand would order us to infiltrate the estate. The situation must have been dire.

“Let us hurry, Matthias. Do you know where we need to go?”

“I do. We can reach him from the giebe’s office.”

“Lady Rozemyne, wait,” Leonore interjected, having heard the ordonnanz as well. “This is much too dangerous.”

She was right—this was going to be dangerous—but we didn’t have much of a choice. Matthias and I were the only ones who could enter the estate—as Grausam’s blood relative and a member of the archducal family, respectively. And to add to the pressure, Ferdinand would only be able to distract Grausam for so long.

“I understand the danger, but the barrier surrounding the estate means I can’t bring any more guards with me,” I replied. “Moreover, only the aub can appoint a new giebe. I must go, as it falls to me as a member of the archducal family to detain those who would steal another’s foundation of their own accord.”

“But...” Leonore’s mouth hung open for a moment; then she closed it again and balled her hands into tight fists. “As a guard knight, I consider it disgraceful that I must leave the true battle to the archducal family. Please, may Angriff guide you.”

“Do what you can to keep Grausam on the balcony until we return.”

“As you will.”

Leonore climbed onto her highbeast and joined the fight against Grausam. Meanwhile, I sneaked into the estate with Matthias in tow.

Confronting Grausam

No sooner had we entered the giebe’s estate than Matthias charged ahead of me. Keeping up with him was tough even in my highbeast; this place had once been his home, so there wasn’t any hesitation in his footsteps. On more than one occasion, we passed a corpse slumped against the side of the hallway—servants unfortunate enough to have crossed paths with Grausam, I suspected.

Still running full tilt, Matthias turned his schtappe into a sword and then enchanted it with Darkness, as was taught in the Knight’s Order. I formed my schtappe, turned it into a water gun, and said the relevant prayer.

“O mighty and supreme God of Darkness, who rules the endless skies; O mighty Father who created the world and all things. Please hear my prayer and lend your divine strength; bless my weapon with the power to steal mana, all the mana which is yours by right; grant me your divine protection to purge the unnatural fey.”

“Lady Rozemyne,” Matthias said when he saw my black water gun, “please refrain from attacking. Instead, focus on blocking the door.”

“Matthias...?”

“I doubt Grausam knows what kind of weapons you use or which divine instruments you can make. If we plan to win this war, then we would do well to conceal such information for the perfect moment. Until then, I shall fight him alone.”

Matthias’s eyes were brimming with resolve, but they narrowed when he saw the staircase ahead of us. “There are traps on those stairs. Disarming them will take some ti—”

“Can we not simply fly over them? Get in. We don’t have time to waste with traps.”

I made Lessy large enough for two people and patted the passenger seat. Matthias glanced between the stairs and my Pandabus, then let out a small chuckle and climbed inside.

“Is something funny...?” I asked.

“Not exactly. I expected Grausam to put detection traps on this particular staircase, since there are no other paths to reach him. Knowing we can simply fly over them is just...”

The stairs in this estate weren’t broad enough for a highbeast to flourish its wings; my idea was only feasible because of my Pandabus’s unique shape and design. Matthias found it amusing that, because using a highbeast indoors was such an unusual concept, Grausam had never even considered what we were about to do.

“You always act outside of everyone’s expectations, Lady Rozemyne. I was speechless when you shattered the walls between factions in the Ehrenfest Dormitory and when you spared even the pre-baptismal children from the purge. Looking back, I am relieved that I get to serve someone who always does so much to save people instead of Lady Georgine, who would order a man to invade and subsequently destroy his own home.”

We flew over the stairs and soon arrived outside our destination: a room on the estate’s second floor. Matthias climbed out of my highbeast, his expression tight, and placed one hand on the door. Then he took a deep breath and—

“Now.”

His resolve steeled, Matthias rushed into the room. I did the same, violently slammed the door shut behind me with Lessy’s tail, and enlarged my Pandabus so that it completely blocked the entryway.

“So some of you were still able to pass through the barrier...” Grausam said as he turned around to face us. Blue flames coiled around him like a suit of armor. He swung his fire-infused right hand at those attacking him outside, then came in from the balcony.

I spotted someone slumped on the ground—the man assigned to replace Grausam as Giebe Gerlach, no doubt. Blood was still pooling beneath him.

“Healing—”

“It won’t work,” Matthias said, interrupting me. “He’s already turning into a feystone.” He then stepped in front of me, his black sword raised, and carefully stared down our opponent.

Grausam grimaced at the sight of my Pandabus and me, then approached us with his gleaming black prosthesis raised. “Are you not ashamed to be serving a commoner, Matthias? I realize your hands were tied, but still...”

“I consider it far more shameful to serve an invader,” Matthias replied, his voice calm but cold as ice. “Not only have you brought harm to your own duchy’s archduke candidates, but you’ve also turned your back on your home and its people.”

Grausam’s brow twitched; this must have been the first time one of his sons had spoken back to him. “Lady Georgine is an Ehrenfest archduke candidate, not an invader. Say it. Now.”

“No, she was an Ehrenfest archduke candidate until she became a member of Ahrensbach’s archducal family. And now that Lady Rozemyne has taken its foundation, she isn’t even that anymore.”

Grausam gave me a cruel smile. “I no longer care who holds the position of Aub Ahrensbach. Ehrenfest is Lady Georgine’s true prize.”

“She brings only chaos and destruction wherever she goes!” Matthias shouted, holding up his blade. “I will not allow her to become aub!”

Eyeing his son without the slightest trace of emotion, Grausam slowly raised his flame-covered right hand. “One must destroy the old to make room for the new. To think even that much was beyond your understanding... Of all my sons, why did the most useless and incompetent have to survive?”

For just a moment, Matthias pressed his lips together. Grausam was giving him a cold, disparaging look completely devoid of any fatherly love.

“I am now registered as an Ahrensbach noble, which means you are a son of mine no longer,” Grausam continued. “Cease wasting my time and die already. I will not allow you to stand in Lady Georgine’s way!”

He swung his right hand, and the blue flames leapt at Matthias as though they had a mind of their own. Matthias chopped them apart with his black sword... creating an opening large enough for Grausam to dart over and kick him in the stomach.

“Ngh!”

Matthias grunted in response to the blow. It was hard to believe that a scholar could fight at such a tremendous speed; Grausam’s movements were comparable to those of a physically enhanced knight, bringing even Angelica to mind. Matthias held up his sword again and took a step back in preparation for the next attack.

“Hmph. You were so arrogant before, yet this is the best you can do?” Grausam asked, oozing confidence. “Knights train their bodies, whereas scholars make complex magic tools. Let us see which is stronger.”

He crossed his flaming right hand with his black prosthesis, and in mere moments, the entire room was torn apart. The reception desk exploded and turned to ash, while the chair beside it split cleanly in two. We could see Laurenz at the balcony window trying to rush to our aid, but an invisible wall was blocking him.

Matthias was facing Grausam alone; he couldn’t rely on anyone coming to his rescue. An attack from his foe’s prosthesis would drain his mana, whereas an attack from his foe’s other hand would cause severe burns. And then there were the blue flames still darting about the room.

As his first move, Matthias desperately attempted to block Grausam’s right hand with his black sword. He was stuck on the defensive, unable to do much else against such an intimidating adversary.

“I designed these magic tools to vanquish Lord Bonifatius; someone of your level could never hope to compete with them,” Grausam sneered. He and Georgine had expected the former knight commander to arrive with his own troops and join the fray while Karstedt stayed put to defend the castle and the Noble’s Quarter. “That man’s instincts, initiative, and combat potential are all deserving of the greatest caution. He was the one who interfered that winter night when I planned to secure that commoner.”

As far as Grausam was concerned, luring Bonifatius away from the Noble’s Quarter had been the most crucial step in helping Georgine steal our foundation. Bonifatius was unpredictable. He had a talent for crushing schemes that neither Sylvester nor Karstedt shared.

And these magic tools were for taking him down, hmm?

I didn’t know what magic tools Grausam had made, and it was impossible to ignore how immensely strong they had made him. That didn’t mean he was going to win, though. He was only so arrogant because he hadn’t factored me into this fight.

Think, Rozemyne... How have you participated in battles before now?