After spending the morning hours examining several materials in the Library, I concluded that it would be best to go talk to
"Lizelote, do you happen to know when it would be alright to visit Professor Hirschur's research room?"
I asked, thinking that Lizelote—who knew Hirschur's schedule because she had been arranging clothing for Schwarz and the others—might be able to tell me. Lizelote looked troubled and showed a measure of hesitation.
"I'd like to talk to her about a magical tool I'm considering."
"I see. If it's about a magical tool, then perhaps it would be better to head to the research room after all."
Lizelote, who had been looking down in thought, raised her head.
"...I think you should settle your business with Professor Hirschur before the clothing arrangements for Schwarz and the others. Once her mind is consumed by research, Professor Hirschur won't be willing to discuss anything else with you."
Having witnessed Hirschur's state when she became absorbed in her research, I nodded deeply at Lizelote's words and asked, "Please arrange an appointment so I can meet with her as soon as possible."
That afternoon, I again spent my time in the Library, going through books and materials related to magical tools. I wanted to ask whether the improvements and magic circles for magical tools were correct. I also wanted to inquire whether there were any magical tools that would be convenient for managing the Library.
"
"Huh? A royal's magical tool?... Are you talking about Schwarz and the others?"
At dinner,
"Rozemyne, Lord Wilfried is referring to Prince
...Come to think of it, I may have greeted him.
At
"Rozemyne, don't tell me you've forgotten...?"
"Well, he's royalty. How could I forget? The memory simply rolled into a hard-to-reach corner of my mind, that's all."
"You're saying you forgot?" Cornelius muttered under his breath, but I ignored it. I hadn't forgotten. I just wasn't particularly interested, so the impression was faint.
"I didn't do anything besides greet him. I immediately hid myself so as not to disturb what seemed to be an incognito prince. Prince Hildebrand appeared to be moving during times when students weren't around, and since I've declared that I visit the Library daily, I doubt we'll meet again."
If I've declared I visit the Library daily, a prince who wants to remain hidden certainly wouldn't come there. It was an unavoidable coincidence, I argued, and Wilfried furrowed his brow and made a complicated face.
"I feel like last year you also increased your interactions with royalty through unavoidable coincidences..."
"Brother Wilfried, the healing of Frutalene and Rungschmel are two different things."
When I firmly stated that last year was last year and this year was this year—that
"I'm talking about royalty who basically said he never leaves his room, and yet you ended up face to face with him. There might be more to come."
"There might be, or there might not be. Thinking about it won't change anything—it all depends on the royal."
I shrugged at Wilfried's troubled expression. Trouble had a way of finding you whether you wanted it or not. There was no point worrying about things that hadn't happened yet.
"More importantly, let's talk about upcoming plans. The day for Schwarz and the others' clothing fittings has been set for the afternoon three days from now. This time, they've agreed to lend us a room inside the Library. The girls who helped with the embroidery will be given priority, so I'd like you all to help out."
The girls cried out with delight, and
"Sister, may I join as well? I've finished all my desk studies, so I have time in the afternoon."
"Of course, Charlotte."
Since it would be a problem if too many people came, we decided to coordinate among my attendants and Charlotte's, choosing girls who had free time.
"Lady Charlotte, I helped with the embroidery too!"
"Hey, Brünhilde, I'd like to come along as well..."
As I watched them discuss who would accompany us in a lively atmosphere, Lizelote quietly approached and reported that she had secured an appointment with Hirschur.
"Rozemyne, when I asked Professor Hirschur about her schedule, she said she could make time tomorrow morning. She also mentioned there's a student she'd like to introduce to you. Apparently, the student is her disciple."
"Understood. Let's go to Professor Hirschur's research room tomorrow morning."
"After you've finished speaking with her, please let Professor Hirschur know about the schedule for Schwarz and the others' clothing fittings."
I nodded vigorously at Lizelote's thoughtfulness, worried that we might lose the opportunity to discuss the main topic.
The next day, I headed to Hirschur's research room in the civil officials' specialized building. I brought along books borrowed from the High Priest and magic circles I had drawn myself, to ask about how to improve them.
Accompanying me were
"Professor Hirschur, Rozemyne of Ehrenfest has arrived."
"She's calling for you."
"You're closer. Open the door."
From inside, I could hear a boy's voice and Hirschur's voice. Just as I was wondering what they were arguing about, the door swung wide open and a boy stuck his face out. He had unkempt black hair, and his mixing robe was dusty. He looked sleepy and tired, and was generally rather disheveled. Seeing his appearance, I couldn't help but furrow my brow, but when I saw the state of Hirschur's research room, I understood immediately.
Large tables lined the walls, covered in a forest of equipment and stacked materials. On the floor, scattered papers and food scraps suggested that a pile of stored materials had caused an avalanche at some point. Only the table in the center of the room was clean—likely because that was where mixing was done. It was meticulously organized to prevent foreign materials from getting mixed in.
"Please, come in."
When I took a step forward at Hirschur's call from deeper in the room, Lizelote stopped me.
"Professor Hirschur, this is not a room for receiving guests. Didn't you say yesterday that you would tidy up so Lady Rozemyne could visit?"
"Because this isn't a room for receiving guests—it's a research room," Hirschur said without a trace of shame.
Seeing this, Lizelote sighed lightly, saying, "This is exactly why I didn't want to bring Lady Rozemyne here."
"Professor Hirschur, please arrange the necessary materials on the table. As Lady Rozemyne's attendant, I cannot bring my lady into such a place."
When Lizelote took out an egg-shaped magical tool and smiled brightly, Hirschur and her assistant's faces changed, and they began sweeping up the materials scattered on the floor.
"Lizelote, what is that magical tool?"
When I asked, Lizelote smiled and explained. It was a magical tool that swallowed everything within a designated area and cleaned that section. Originally, it was designed to knock all the dust from upper areas down to the floor, then clean up all the debris in one go. Everything on the floor would be considered debris.
"It's the first tool we use when cleaning a room that has been sealed off for a long time."
Thanks to Lizelote, the floor was now clean. The table was still a mess, but since cleaning that wasn't Lizelote's job and it would be quite a hassle, it was left as is.
"You two, please tidy yourselves up to a presentable degree."
As Lizelote said this while clearing the clean center table, Brünhilde began setting out snacks and tea with the simple tea set.
They probably hadn't been eating properly due to being consumed by research. Their stomachs growled at the sight of light meals being prepared alongside the tea snacks. To cover this up, Hirschur used Vasshen.
In a few seconds, Hirschur had become neatly presentable and offered me a seat. Once seated, I turned my gaze to the boy, whose eyes were glued to the food on the table.
"Professor Hirschur, I would appreciate it if you could introduce him to me."
"Oh, how rude of me."
Hirschur gave a small smile and introduced me to Raimunt, a disciple after the High Priest's own heart. During a second-year practical mixing class, Raimunt had been struggling to find a way to mix without using even a speck of magic power, and Hirschur had taken notice.
"In terms of conceptual thinking, Lord
"Please allow me to offer a prayer of blessing for this rare meeting, brought about by the strict selection of the Goddess of Life, Eveline."
Raimunt knelt before me and delivered his greeting upon our first meeting. When I said "Permission granted," a light of blessing flew toward him.
"I am Raimunt, a middle-ranking civil official apprentice from
At Raimunt's self-introduction, my attendants' expressions changed and they assumed defensive postures. Cornelius stepped between Hirschur and me as if to protect me.
"...Ahrensbach? Professor Hirschur, are you mentoring a student from Ahrensbach as your favored disciple?"
"Yes. I am. Is there a problem?"
"Don't you know the situation between Ahrensbach and Ehrenfest over the past few years?"
"I do. And?"
At Cornelius's words, Hirschur's expression tightened, and she slowly tilted her head. Cornelius clenched his fist and glared at Hirschur.
"Professor Hirschur, are you still the dormitory supervisor of Ehrenfest despite this?"
"I am from Ehrenfest, so I was appointed as Ehrenfest's dormitory supervisor, but I am a
Hirschur's purple eyes flashed, and she spoke with a stern expression.
"But Rozemyne has ties to Ahrensbach..."
"Good grief... Either your head is stiff despite your youth, or you can't take the long view because you're still young. Nurturing rare talent is my duty as a teacher. The time available for nurturing is truly short in the span of a person's life, and considering the state of the world, losing opportunities is tantamount to crushing talent."
Hirschur looked around at my wary attendants and let out an exaggerated sigh.
"You say loudly that it's about 'the situation,' but the situation changes on a whim in just a few years. Isn't an individual's talent far more precious and important than something so uncertain?"
Then, folding her fingers on the table, she looked around at the attendants before fixing her gaze steadily on me.
"If I were to give the most clear-cut example, it would be Lord Ferdinand. When I took him on as my disciple, I received the same warnings from the mainstream members of Ehrenfest about 'the situation,' and every week I received nasty letters from Lady
Protecting the High Priest from Veronica's meddling, Hirschur had trained him as her disciple. The disciple who should have become a researcher of rare talent graduated from the Royal Academy and entered the
"Neither the situation nor life follows any predictable course. If I hadn't trained Lord Ferdinand as my disciple back then, the Rozemyne who exists today might not exist either."
Unconcerned with the political situation, trusting her own instincts, and believing in her disciple's talent—Hirschur had a firm conviction born from these principles, and she had carried them out in practice.
"I shall once again direct the words I gave Lady Veronica to Ehrenfest. I am a noble of the Central District and a teacher at the Royal Academy. Ehrenfest has no right to meddle with whom I take as my disciple or how I educate them."
As I reflected on how she had protected the High Priest in this way, I gently tugged at Cornelius's sleeve.
"What Professor Hirschur says is correct, Cornelius. She is free to take whomever she wishes as her disciple. ...However, we are also free to be wary of Ahrensbach. We have sufficient reason for it."
Cornelius, without relaxing his guarded expression, gave a small nod and stepped back.
"...The mood may have cooled a bit."
To change the tense atmosphere, I took bites of the tea and snacks I had brought and offered them to Hirschur.
Hirschur popped a cookie into her mouth and immediately handed it to her assistant. Then she picked up a plate with several crepes on it. The assistant ate a cookie, his blue eyes lit up, and he began eating them one after another. Despite being nobles, their movements were graceful, but their eating was reminiscent of starving children.
"Even so, it's rare for Lady Rozemyne to have business with me."
As Hirschur spoke while eating crepes filled with sautéed vegetables and ham, she settled into a listening posture. Watching the two of them eat, I sipped my tea. This research room was truly unhealthy. The High Priest's growth process was laid bare before my eyes.
"I'd like to learn various things about magical tools. I'm thinking of creating magical tools that can be used in the Library."
"...When you say Library, do you mean a voice-recording magical tool?"
"Huh?"
"The other day, I received an inquiry from
It seemed Solange had also been sending orduances to various researchers, asking questions in hopes of obtaining magical tools she wanted.
"I want more than just a recording tool. I'd like to improve them so they're easier to use. Also, I created a magic circle based on Lord Ferdinand's books—could you check whether it's correct?"
As I turned my gaze toward Hartmut, the assistant—who had been handed a crepe—opened his eyes wide and looked up at nearly the same moment.
"Lord Ferdinand's books!?"
It seemed he had blurted it out involuntarily, and the assistant hurriedly covered his mouth. Having spoken up while everyone was on guard, it was natural that he drew attention. Hirschur, with a wry smile, spoke as if to shield Raimunt.
"Raimunt is passionate about improving the magical tools and magic circles that Lord Ferdinand created and then abandoned. The recording magical tool that Solange wanted—one that could be used multiple times—was improved by Raimunt."
Knowing full well that he was being scrutinized, he didn't say it aloud, but Raimunt's eyes were fixed solely on the book Hartmut was holding, and his gaze was practically screaming "I want to read it, I want to read it, I want to read it." I couldn't bring myself to turn away someone so desperate to read.
"Hartmut..."
"No. This is Lord Ferdinand's research, so I cannot lend it out without his permission."
The moment I spoke, I was refused with a smile. My shoulders slumped as if I had been the one turned down, and I held out the paper with the magic circle I had drawn to Hirschur.
Hirschur stopped eating with her fluid movements, spread out the magic circle I had drawn, and ran her eyes over it. After staring at it for a while, she pressed her fingertips to her temple.
"...Rozemyne. What is this?"
"It's a magic circle to forcibly return books to the Library when they aren't returned by their due date. Can it be used?"
"It cannot be used. A magic circle like this is completely unusable."
Hirschur said this with an exasperated expression. I had thought it was theoretically correct, but apparently it was a magic circle worthy of exasperation.
"What's wrong with it!?"
"It's not that anything is wrong—it simply can't be used. You really are Lord Ferdinand's disciple, aren't you? You created a magic circle based on your own magic power and expected someone else to be able to activate it? It's completely impractical."
According to Hirschur's critique, the magic circle I had designed was far too wasteful. Additionally, it had too many steps.
"Why are you trying to fit everything into a single magic circle? When the element of Life is involved,
"Consolidating everything into a single magic circle was Lord Ferdinand's challenge."
"That exercise might be valid for learning theory, but..."
Hirschur sighed at this. Then she handed the paper with the magic circle to Raimunt.
"Raimunt, modify Rozemyne's magic circle so that it can actually be used. ...Rozemyne, it would be good for you to watch his process of improvement as an example."
At Hirschur's words, I watched Raimunt's hands intently. Staring at the magic circle, Raimunt murmured, "Impressive how much you crammed in here," then took out a pen and began writing out revisions.
"The basics of improvement: keep it as simple as possible. For example, with this magic circle, returning overdue books to the Library and moving books within the Library should be separated into different magic circles."
"Why?"
"Because it wastes magic power. As long as the book is back in the Library, Solange can handle it alone, and if there's excess magic power, another magic circle could be activated to return it to the shelf with magic."
I was warned to distinguish between essential functions and functions that were either-or.
"If you design it based on your magic power, Rozemyne—the strongest among the lord candidates—it will become a magical tool that Solange can't use even if she brings it to the Library."
"That's certainly true."
"A lot of magical tools became unusable after the Purge because so many of them required the magic power of royalty or higher-ranking nobles to operate. I think it's better to separate functions as much as possible, so that middle-ranking or lower-ranking nobles can operate them when needed."
As he spoke, Raimunt also separated the theft-prevention magic circle from mine.
"If I separate this into its own magic circle, it won't need this Earth and Wind anymore."
The magic circle grew simpler and simpler. For a beginner like me, apparently the best approach to reducing errors was to keep magic circles as simple as possible.
"By simplifying the magic circle as much as this, you achieve significant magic power savings. Also, by carefully selecting the materials used in mixing, you can save magic power. For example, if you use the moveable paper invented in Ehrenfest for the paper on which you draw this Library return magic circle, you can save a considerable amount of magic power."
"...Why does Raimunt know about moveable paper? Check paper should only be distributed to the Central District and
When I blinked in surprise, Raimunt tilted his head with a blank expression.
"During a lecture, Professor
"Professor Gundolf?"
I had no idea how information was circulating or from where. As I asked warily, Hirschur gave me the answer.
"He's the dormitory supervisor of
Hirschur turned to me with a mad-scientist-like grin.
"Rozemyne, please sell me Ehrenfest paper and check paper."
"Professor Hirschur, you're a noble of the Central District, so I can't sell you check paper."
When I said this, Hirschur froze with a shocked expression. But she quickly recovered and began repeatedly begging, "Rozemyne, please, for the sake of our shared homeland."
Sensing this would drag on for a long time, I let out a light sigh.
"...If you're too persistent, I won't invite you to Schwarz and the others' clothing fittings."
Hirschur immediately fell silent.
I visited Professor Hirschur's research room. The professor's disciple is a middle-ranking civil official from Ahrensbach. Next time, Professor Hirschur's disciple.