Even after my fever went down, I wasn't immediately given permission to leave my bed. According to Richarada, it was the Chief Priest's order. He was apparently holding my books hostage, saying I needed to stay quiet for two days after the fever subsided. I was told, "If you don't behave, your books will be taken away."
Of course, being the good girl that I am, I spent my time lying quietly in bed reading. The book was about the fundamentals of magic circles — symbols for attributes, symbols representing the gods. It felt like learning an entirely new language. It was less of a book and more of a dictionary. Judging from the handwriting, it was something the Chief Priest had written himself.
...It's really amazing that the Chief Priest can draw magic circles in the air so smoothly without even carrying a dictionary like this.
"
"...This is really incredible."
I called Philine, who hadn't yet received any training in magic circles, over to my bedside, and we studied the symbols together while enjoying two leisurely days of reading.
"Now then, My Lady. Please hurry and finish your preparations. If we leave now, we might just make it in time to see off the Lord and his wife."
It seemed the Chief Priest would be checking whether I was allowed to move about freely before the Lord's send-off. I was told to go to the meeting room closest to the northern detached wing. The Chief Priest was waiting there.
With a serious expression, he touched my forehead and neck, then let out a soft breath.
"Your complexion looks fine. Body temperature and Magic Power are both stable. It should be fine for you to move about. Ah, the Lord and his wife have already left for the Lord's Conference, but they were worried about you."
Apparently they had already departed for the Lord's Conference. Richarada had been fretting about whether we'd make it in time for the send-off, but it seemed we hadn't made it.
Everyone heading to the conference was impeccably polished with Ringshine, the women wore hair ornaments, the civil officials were loaded up with loads of Plant Paper, and several of the castle's cooks were brought along — all to head off to the battlefield that was the Lord's Conference.
"...Doesn't Lord
"This year, I've left things in the care of the Attendants and Kamfe and Fritter. I intend to remain at my office during the day as much as possible. There might be an emergency summons from
The Chief Priest said with a light glare that this year's Lord's Conference had far too many worrying factors. It was true that I was involved in matters related to both the trend and the marriage, but in both cases, the final decision had been made by my Adoptive Father. It couldn't be entirely my fault.
For me, the worrying factor wasn't my Adoptive Father, who had a large number of civil officials in coordination with him and could call the Chief Priest in an emergency. It was the Chief Priest being called.
"So, Lord Ferdinand, you'll be here during the day... Does that mean you plan to return to the Temple at night?"
When I glared at the Chief Priest, wondering just how unreasonable a lifestyle he intended to lead, he gave a slight snort.
"Don't worry about me. You should focus on deepening your bonds with your attendants and your siblings."
He said I needed to make an effort to learn noble common sense through these interactions, so my attendants could discover how far off I was from the norm. Neither of us would be able to correct anything if we didn't know to what degree we were out of sync, he murmured.
"Lord Ferdinand, how should I go about deepening interactions with other nobles?"
"...Perhaps it would be better to ask
"Understood. I'll ask Mother."
It seemed my task for this stay was to deepen my bonds with my attendants while never missing my daily Magic Power deliveries. I was told I had to report the day's events to the Chief Priest at dinner each evening. Even the Temple didn't require that kind of thing, I thought, but I nodded anyway.
Upon returning to my room, I sent an ordonnance to Mother. I asked how I should go about deepening bonds with my attendants. Her reply was, "Working together on things and having conversations works well."
There was something we could work on together — making the clothes for Schwarz and Weiss. This was something
We had to embroider along the faintly drawn lines that
The cloth and thread had already been dyed with my Magic Power, and at the Chief Priest's instruction, magic circles had been drawn with disappearing fluffy ink. I'd been told that if I touched them, the magic circles would light up and float to the surface, so I should avoid touching them as much as possible. Apparently, it was best if the existence of the disappearing ink remained as unknown as possible.
"Since Charlotte-sama and Philine haven't studied magic circles yet, we'll have you three work on this embroidery over here," I said.
Philine, Charlotte, and I were assigned the embroidery for what would become the apron pockets — the sections with fake magic circles where a few mistakes wouldn't matter. The complex magic circles where errors were not permitted were given to those skilled at detailed work. Right people for the right jobs.
"Count Reigen Gang has apparently given up on making you the next Head of the Province for now, based on what Lord
I looked at Charlotte. "Did something happen?" I tilted my head, and our eyes met. Charlotte gave a slight shrug and answered on my behalf.
"I think it had a lot to do with showing that we prioritize and support our older brother. My brother and sister are on good terms, so perhaps that put his mind at ease a bit."
"Oh? I see.
As I nodded in agreement with Charlotte's words, Charlotte let out a soft sigh.
"It seems that supporting my older sister in social matters will be my role."
The ones most enthusiastically embroidering were Liselote and
"Liselote and Angelica are both skilled at embroidery, aren't they?"
"Oh my, you're certainly not hopeless at it either, My Lady. Though you don't seem to particularly enjoy it."
Liselote chuckled but didn't stop embroidering. She said that as part of bridal training, all noble women were made to practice embroidery, so very few noble women were truly bad at it. If you were going to be the first wife of the next Lord, a certain level of embroidery skill was apparently essential.
"
"Yes. This is a rare opportunity, and I'd like to memorize the design. It's not often one gets to closely observe such advanced magic circles..."
As Leonore murmured while embroidering the magic circle, Brunhilde's amber eyes sparkled brightly.
"Leonore, do you plan to gift a magic circle to someone? Or have you perhaps already made a promise to embroider on someone's mantle?"
The moment Brunhilde said this, everyone's gaze except Angelica's snapped toward Leonore. The atmosphere of eagerly awaiting her expression and answer was something I remembered even from my Tsuruya-era life. Romance talk. Was it universal that people bloomed with excitement over romance?
Leonore, with everyone's eyes on her, smiled awkwardly.
"That is, well... I would certainly like to be in a position where I could embroider on a mantle, but there's no special promise or anything. It seems someone is already interested in him, after all..."
Leonore was beautiful, intelligent, born of good high-ranking noble stock, and if she tried, she might be able to win him over. However, things in this world's romance weren't something that could be resolved by personal feelings alone, so I couldn't make irresponsible comments. I'd stop fanning the flames and prioritize clearing up the confusion.
"Is it special to be able to embroider on a mantle?"
"Yes. The only people you can embroider a mantle for are yourself, your parents, and your spouse."
Apparently, embroidering on a cloth like a handkerchief and giving it to someone you liked was a woman's confession of love. It was said to contain the sentiment, "I can embroider magic circles like this. I want to embroider on your mantle." Apparently, embroidering on a mantle was something that could only be done between husband and wife, and embroidering on a husband's mantle was a wife's privilege.
...Ah, so that line from the Academy romance novels about "I want you to embroider on my mantle" had the same weight as a proposal. Romance novels really were complicated.
"You'll need to sharpen your skills if you want to embroider on
"If it's you, My Lady, you'll surely produce wonderful magic circle embroidery. I'm looking forward to it already."
...No, no, please don't pile that kind of expectation on me.
"Judith is also embroidering so enthusiastically, but does she already have someone she admires?"
"No, I'm going to follow Angelica's example and embroider my own mantle. I'm a middle-ranking noble with less Magic Power than others, so I want to boost myself however I can. And I want to grow stronger by cultivating a magic sword like Angelica does."
As Judith insisted firmly, her ponytail swayed. Her hairstyle was also imitating Angelica. Angelica had come of age and wore her hair in a single braid wrapped around, so their hairstyles were no longer the same.
"I wouldn't recommend aiming for Angelica as your model, Judith. It would be better to find your own strengths and develop those."
When Liselote said this, Angelica herself nodded vigorously beside her. Angelica was the result of developing only her strong points. All her weaknesses had been left completely behind.
"Why do you admire Angelica so much?"
"Because she wields a magic sword that My Lady gave Magic Power to, was chosen for the Academy's sword dance, is called the dear disciple of
In Judith's violet eyes, I could see a sense of urgency. I tilted my head and studied her.
"You keep emphasizing your admiration for Angelica, but to me, it seems more like anxiety. What are you so anxious about?"
"Huh?"
After widening her eyes, Judith smiled awkwardly.
"That is... well, of course I'm anxious. I'm a middle-ranking knight among many high-ranking knights, and Angelica has Magic Power equivalent to a high-ranking knight, and even Daumuel, a lower-ranking knight, currently has more Magic Power than me. ...Plus, I was left alone at the Academy, and I haven't been able to take on many guard assignments..."
Even among middle-ranking knights, there was a huge gap between her and Angelica. Judith was an older sister with several younger siblings, and she needed to perform well to earn recognition for their sake, yet she apparently had the lowest Magic Power among the guard knights. She would grow, and eventually she thought she could surpass Daumuel, but apparently that wasn't enough.
"Daumuel, despite being a lower-ranking knight, has been trusted by My Lady since their Temple days, and he was the first to be taught Magic Power compression, wasn't he? His Magic Power has grown to nearly middle-ranking levels, and My Lady trusts him more than anyone. Angelica too."
"When it comes to focusing on guard duty, Daumuel is extremely dependable," Angelica said with a grin.
I could hear the hidden meaning behind her words — "Since he can take all the thinking work and dump it on someone else" — but it seemed Judith couldn't.
Judith's violet eyes glinted as she clenched her fists and stood up.
"He's trusted by Angelica this much! First, I'll defeat Daumuel! I won't lose to Daumuel!"
The goal Judith aimed for as a middle-ranking knight was Angelica, and her rival was Daumuel. Her declaration of rivalry felt like a puppy barking at a large dog that had no intention of fighting, and it was honestly endearing. I wanted to say, "Sure, sure, do your best."
"I — I won't lose either! I won't lose!"
Suddenly, Philine stood up and declared as much.
"Daumuel proved that even as a lower-ranking noble, you can grow your Magic Power to match a middle-ranking noble. I'll do my best too. I'll work to earn trust the way Daumuel has, so that I won't be a disgrace as My Lady's attendant."
"Oh my," everyone around murmured with a chuckle as they watched the impassioned declarations of Judith and Philine. When the two noticed the surrounding gazes, they blushed, looked embarrassed, sat back down, and resumed their embroidery.
"All of my attendants are such hard workers. Keep up the good spirit and push each other to improve. However, Judith, copying Angelica won't make you stronger. And a magic sword is probably a waste of Magic Power for you."
"Huh?"
"Because your strength isn't the sword, is it? You're skilled with the bow and throwing weapons. Rather than imitating Angelica and honing your sword skills, I think it would be better to refine your throwing skills and aim for perfect accuracy."
The reason Judith had been able to feed Ruel fruits to the magic beasts during the Ditter match was her skill. There was no need to train in a weapon that wasn't her specialty.
When I said this, not just Judith but the other guard knights also looked at me in surprise. The student apprentices, who generally carried swords, apparently assumed that knights were sword-wielders.
"If you master throwing, you can throw stones even without Magic Power. And if you hit someone while they're focused on channeling Magic Power, their concentration will break. Fill a leather pouch with sand and hit an enemy with it — you can make them flinch, and with good aim, you can take away their vision. A sword isn't the only tool for fighting. Since we have the opportunity, let's develop our strengths."
At my words, Charlotte's cheeks tightened.
"...Sister, that's not really how knights fight..."
"Oh my, Charlotte. A guard knight shouldn't be particular about how they fight."
"Huh?"
"What a guard knight must do is protect the person they're guarding. They don't need to fight beautifully. They should have as many hidden tricks as possible."
Whether fighting magic beasts or people, what mattered was protecting the target. When you didn't know what methods your opponent would use, fighting like a proper knight was meaningless.
"Lord Ferdinand uses whatever is appropriate for the situation. When exterminating Trombe, he used a bow whose arrows split apart. When facing numerous but weak magic beasts, he used throwing nets. Of course, he uses swords too — I've even seen him wielding a scythe. He also told me he could throw magic stones while using weapons and make them explode. Not many people can do as much as Lord Ferdinand on their own, but I think it's perfectly fine to primarily use weapons other than swords."
At my words, Judith murmured, "I'll think about it."
That evening at dinner, I reported that I had embroidered on Schwarz and Weiss's clothes that day, and that "all of my attendants are such hard workers." Charlotte then declared to the Chief Priest, "I will assist with my older sister's social engagements as much as possible."
Of course, what we did with our attendants wasn't limited to embroidery. We also practiced fey instrument songs, and for my rehabilitation, I went to the knights' training grounds.
While the apprentices trained, Angelica — an adult with different training hours — stood guard at the door while watching the apprentices' training.
I removed my Magical Tools and slowly moved my arms and legs, doing rehabilitation exercises. But it was frustrating how difficult movement was, and I really wanted to use body reinforcement.
"My Lady, there's a tiny amount of Magic Power flowing. Please don't secretly use body reinforcement."
The one monitoring me was Daumuel. He could detect even minuscule amounts of Magic Power, so he always accompanied me during rehabilitation like this.
"Has
My grandfather, who was watching over my rehabilitation, said with widened eyes. It wasn't unconscious. I was very deliberately trying to cheat. I quickly averted my gaze.
"How are the students doing, Grandfather? Are they starting to coordinate a bit?"
"No, not yet. All they think about is attacking. They give no thought to defense at all. That won't work for guard duty. ...The only thing they have going for them is motivation."
He said that unless they learned to fight while being conscious of the person they were guarding, they wouldn't be promoted to guard knight. We couldn't produce more knights like
Since I and Wilfried were enrolled at the same time, it would be a problem if even the non-guard-knight knights couldn't handle guard assignments.
"Shall we observe the training a bit?"
Grandfather told me to move to a position where I could see the training grounds without using body reinforcement, so I slowly made my way to a position with a view. Through the window, I could see the apprentices training. Mounted on riding beasts with weapons in hand, the apprentices flew about.
"Myne, aren't you going to increase your guard knights? I heard from
"Angelica has come of age, so adult women are no longer necessary. If anything, I'll need guard knights for after Cornelius graduates. Traugott has resigned."
Guard duty at the Temple required someone who could get along well with the Grey Priests and their Attendants. For now, Angelica and Daumuel were sufficient.
What I needed were guard knight apprentices at the Academy. With Traugott gone, I needed someone to fill that gap.
"But guarding me is very difficult."
"Because you're frail and could collapse at any moment?"
"No. The knight I've worked with the longest and trust the most is Daumuel. So anyone who can't get along with Daumuel would be a problem."
At my words, Grandfather narrowed his eyes as if considering something.
"You're not thinking of dismissing Daumuel? Both Karstedt and Ferdinand shook their heads..."
Grandfather said there was still a strong opinion that, given there was no precedent for appointing a lower-ranking knight as guard knight for a Lord's family, it would be better to replace him with a high-ranking or middle-ranking knight.
"I am the High Priest and the orphanage director. If there were a high-ranking knight who could enter the Temple and orphanage and cooperate with the Temple's Attendants in their work, I would happily make them my guard knight. But realistically, that's difficult. Many people make a face at the mere mention of the Temple. Since I grew up in the Temple, seeing such expressions doesn't make me feel very good. Lower-ranking and middle-ranking nobles who think about advancement are much more useful to me."
"I see..."
Grandfather exhaled slowly. "That's difficult," he murmured. Even though he had a granddaughter who was the High Priest and had grown up in the Temple, he apparently shared the same aversion to it.
"From now on, civil officials will be coming and going for meetings about the printing industry. I plan to negotiate with my Adoptive Father so that even guard knight apprentices can enter and exit the Temple. Knights who can't enter the Temple are of no use to me."
It was probably because Daumuel, Angelica, and Cornelius had experience entering the Temple that Leonore and Judith never showed any open distaste for it. That was exactly how I wanted things. I couldn't afford to have someone disrupt this atmosphere.
"So I plan to look for middle or lower-ranking knights. And there are other conditions for my guard knights as well."
"There are more?"
"Yes. At the Temple, they need to help the Chief Priest with his work. Eckhart does it too. Angelica clings to the door and won't leave her guard post, but I don't need two or three of those. My guard knights will also need to handle a minimum amount of civil official work."
Grandfather let out a suppressed laugh and looked toward Daumuel.
"So Daumuel is suitable because he excels at civil official work as well?"
"Yes. He works extra hard to cover for Angelica too."
"I'm not working hard because I want to cover for Angelica!"
When Daumuel insisted, Grandfather laughed even louder.
At that moment, Angelica called out that Judith was requesting permission to enter. I granted it, and Judith burst in with a near-tearful expression.
"We're out of recovery medicine! Please give me permission to go foraging, My Lady! At this rate, I won't be able to receive any more special training!"
Due to Grandfather's special training, the training for the apprentices had become extremely intense. As a result, recovery medicine was being consumed rapidly, and Judith said she had already used up all the ones she'd made during the Academy lectures.
She'd considered buying some from other knights, but they all wanted to keep theirs for personal use. The demand for recovery medicine in the Knight Order was currently high, she complained. Without making them herself, she had no way to obtain them.
I could give her permission, but I was genuinely puzzled.
"Foraging? Where would you do that? Apprentices aren't allowed to leave the Noble District, are they?"
When I tilted my head, Judith said, "The forest in the castle grounds."
Apprentices like Daumuel and Judith, who had grown up in the Noble District and never left it, apparently went foraging for basic ingredients used in the Academy's compound medicines in the forest within the castle or in the nobles' forest where commoners were forbidden.
...Foraging. That sounds nice.
Memories of going into the forest with
I clapped my hands and looked up at my grandfather.
"Grandfather, let's make this a guard duty practical exercise."
"Hmm?"
"I'll go foraging too. The apprentice knights will forage while protecting me. If you come along as the supervisor, there should be no worry about any worst-case scenario, right?"
Embroidering and gossip about romance.
Daumuel was declared a rival by Judith.
Daumuel was looked up to by Philine.
...Mm, this is a good trend.
Next, Part Two. We're going to the forest. Flag planted! Don't break! Hang in there!