"But they told me my Magic Power was so thin that Yurgenshmidt would collapse, and yet
"Since you have more, you were essentially told to hurry up and die so the Book of Mestionora could be completed, weren't you?"
...Erwärmine, how despicable!
"Ferdinand, forget about Erwärmine for now — couldn't we start by verifying whether we really need to complete the Book of Mestionora? If we supply Magic Power to the Border Gate, it seems like we could buy a little more time."
"There you go again with your carefree optimism... You're the one who ruined my plan, you know."
Ferdinand, who had been lying face-down, turned only his face toward me and glared with a resentful expression.
It turned out Ferdinand had gone to Erwärmine to supplement his knowledge in order to create the
"If you'd been thinking about something so important, you should have just told me! I was planning to become the Zent's adopted daughter and obtain the Grutrissheit from the underground archive. I had no idea about your plan, so it's unfair to complain to me about it."
"I don't need to hear that from someone who fails to report important matters. When I first drew up my plan, it was when the various provinces started suggesting you be made High Priest of the Central
Ferdinand's words, spoken as he slowly sat up with deep furrows between his brows and leaned against the wall, left me momentarily speechless. Ferdinand hadn't told me either, but I hadn't been sharing important information with Ferdinand either. I sat down next to him and tried to explain.
"...My lord father and the royal family told me to keep it a secret. I had mountains of things I wanted to consult you about, Ferdinand, and even more complaints that I could only voice in the hidden room!"
"I don't care about your complaints. Remove these manacles."
...They're not unimportant! Listen to me!
I was brushed off just like that, but I understood that removing the manacles, discussing the Grutrissheit, and the current state of
"If I could remove them, I would do so immediately, but how do you take these off? I don't have a key! Do you know where the key is, Ferdinand?"
As I searched the manacles from every angle looking for a keyhole, Ferdinand gave me an exasperated look and said, "Can you see the keyhole?"
"That's exactly why I'm searching for it!"
"What on earth is your Holy Book for? If you don't know, look it up. It's not a key — you use an unlocking magic circle. I have several from different eras on my side, so compare them, fill in the missing parts of the magic circle, and improve it."
"...That sounds like an incredibly difficult request."
Since I had been avoiding using the Book of Mestionora too much to keep it from being discovered by others, the idea didn't occur to me at all. Perhaps Ferdinand used his on a daily basis. While pondering this, I chanted "Grutrissheit" and brought out the Book of Mestionora, then searched for how to remove the manacles.
"What is with that shape? Something unconventional again... Between your riding beasts and your Holy Book, everything you own has such unusual forms."
Ferdinand looked at my Book of Mestionora, which was shaped like a tablet, and said those words in a dismissive tone while slowly shaking his head.
"The shape may be unconventional, but my Book of Mestionora is high-performance! The 'screen' lights up so I can read in the dark, and if I input the word I want to look up, it's easy to search. Impressive, right?"
I puffed out my chest with pride at how superior my Book of Mestionora was. As I stood there with a self-satisfied "hmph hmph," Ferdinand's expression turned curious.
"The Book of Mestionora exists to look up the knowledge you want, so when you open it, the knowledge you desire appears. The text itself glows, so reading in the dark is possible. If you have to input the word you want to look up, wouldn't your Holy Book be rather inconvenient?"
"...Wh-what?"
As I was stunned by his unexpected words, Ferdinand leaned over slightly to peer at my Book of Mestionora and said, "This magic circle here. Draw it with a Stilo." Although I couldn't distinguish them, apparently Ferdinand's side had magic circles from older eras while mine had ones from newer eras.
"Copy and paste!"
Since drawing with a Stilo seemed tedious, I used Copy-Paste Magic to transfer the image onto magic paper I had on hand, then flowed Magic Power into it to activate. With a clank, the manacles fell to the floor.
...That should do it.
"Rosemine, what on earth did you do?"
This time, I truly puffed out my chest with a "hmph hmph" at Ferdinand's dumbfounded expression.
"It's the Copy-Paste Magic that I created. There are various restrictions, but this is convenient, isn't it?"
"It's utterly unconventional, but there's merit to the word 'convenient.' Teach me the principle and pronunciation."
"...We're in an emergency right now, so let's put that aside for later."
There was no time here to research Copy-Paste Magic. I pointed this out, and Ferdinand grimaced and started repeatedly clenching and opening his hands. As Ferdinand went through his rehabilitation, I began telling him about Ehrenfest. Since
"I see. So Ehrenfest's defensive preparations had already begun?"
"Yes. The territory's nobility had rallied their full efforts. I also created combat-specialized Magical Tools using the different-colored Shumil of Schwartz and company to strengthen the Temple's defenses."
"You remain incomprehensible as ever. Was there really a need to make combat-specialized Magical Tools out of Shumil?"
"Lieseloretta was the one who made them into Shumil. They're cute, so what's wrong with that?"
As we talked about Ehrenfest, Ferdinand's fingertips — which hadn't been moving much — gradually increased their range of motion. His ability to raise and lower his arms seemed to improve as well, but the frustration of his body not cooperating was clearly etched in the furrows between his brows.
"Rosemine."
"Yes? If there's anything else you want to know, feel free to ask away! Or do you need more medicine?"
"No. Offer your cheek. Did I not say I could pinch you?"
I couldn't fathom what he was saying with such a grave expression all of a sudden. He wanted to pinch my cheek? I didn't think I had done anything to warrant scolding. What was this about out of nowhere? Did this really need to happen in the middle of this emergency? I couldn't understand what Ferdinand was thinking at all.
"Well, you did say that... but your hands still aren't fully mobile, are they?"
"They're not fully mobile, but they've started working. At this point, it won't hurt much."
"I was planning to wait until you could move them fully, but... fine, I suppose."
I tried to protest, but not being hurt by the pinch was a relief. I repositioned myself to sit directly in front of Ferdinand, between his legs, and offered my cheek saying, "Go ahead."
His still-sluggish fingertips touched my right cheek. His fingers were moving, giving a sort of squishy, kneading sensation, but he wasn't really pinching at all. I wasn't sure what to make of it, but perhaps he was satisfied with this? As I tilted my head in confusion, Ferdinand's hand moved downward, below my cheek.
"Ferdinand, that's not really my cheek, is it..."
Ferdinand's left hand moved from the cheekbone to the jawline. With just his thumb moving, the motion became more pinch-like than before. Had he changed his hand position for this purpose, or had he wanted to pinch me that badly? As I was having these odd thoughts, green light began to overflow from his ring.
"Lungschoener's healing for Rosemine..."
The discomfort around my neck vanished instantly. It seemed he had erased the marks of the chain on my neck. I was happy, but also not happy.
"Ferdinand, what are you doing at a time when you need to recover your body and Magic Power?! Your recovery is the top priority! It didn't even hurt that much, so my healing could have waited..."
"It was simply a good opportunity to confirm whether my Magic Power is flowing properly. ...Ah, the Stab comes out without issue too."
Ferdinand averted his gaze from me with a huff, removed his hand from my cheek, and this time began bringing out his Stab and transforming it.
...He wasn't listening again! How infuriating!
Standing up and walking around still seemed difficult for him, but Ferdinand was recovering steadily. I wanted to tell him to rest more, but his attitude made it perfectly clear he had no intention of listening to anything I said.
"It seems like you're recovering, Ferdinand, so I'll step outside to report to everyone and search for the registration magic stone."
"Rosemine."
As I was about to stand, he called out to me, and I knelt down, peering into Ferdinand's face. "What is it this time?"
"...Tell me your Gedululih."
"Huh? Um, is that something that can't wait? Everyone's waiting outside..."
The question I had pushed to the back of my mind was suddenly thrust upon me, and I became flustered and hesitant. Ferdinand's gaze fixed on a single point.
"I thought your Gedululih was the same as mine — Ehrenfest. But it seems you've been courted by the royal family and accepted. I want to know what your Gedululih is now."
"Huh?"
I couldn't quite understand what Ferdinand was saying, but his gaze was directed at the necklace given to me by Prince
"Now that you mention it, marriage to the prince was your dream, wasn't it? I recall you wrote about something absurd at some point and said as much. I never imagined that would actually come true, though..."
"Wait a moment! I object! Marrying Prince Sigiswald is not my dream! Marrying a man who doesn't even own a single book and already has a wife and children is more of a nightmare, if anything! There's no way I'd call an 'advantageous marriage' that would actually lower my standard of living!"
Being torn away from the library and sent somewhere with no new books, or being put in an environment where I couldn't participate in the printing industry until I came of age — I refused to call any of that an advantageous marriage.
"For starters, my ideal husband is my father! Someone who helps me charge toward what I want to do, treats me as precious regardless of social standing, and protects me from everything. Prince Sigiswald doesn't even compare! This necklace is proof that the royal family has approved the plan to rescue you this time, Ferdinand. It has absolutely nothing to do with a marriage proposal. Look carefully — it doesn't have all the attributes, and there's no inscription either!"
Then I launched into an explanation of how far Prince Sigiswald fell short of my ideals and described my ideal future.
"I want to shut myself in a library and spend all day reading. I want to eat delicious meals with family and close friends, read books I love, and wander around searching for books I've never read in other libraries. I want to become a librarian working in a library — helping patrons find the books they want, restoring old documents to bring them back to life, researching Magical Tools to build a library 'network' with other territories and gather books from all over... That's what I want to do! The idea that marrying a prince who won't give me a single book and will make me wait until I come of age to enter the printing industry is my dream... that's a terrible misunderstanding even as a misunderstanding!"
I let out a deep sigh and slumped to the ground, all the tension draining from my body. Ferdinand, who had been listening intently to my impassioned speech, gave a bitter smile.
"I understand. Judging from the passion behind your argument, it seems I was under a terrible misunderstanding."
"It was a misunderstanding in terms of ideals and dreams, but not in terms of reality, so please don't worry about that."
"...What do you mean?"
To Ferdinand, I smiled as lightly as I could — trying not to make the atmosphere too heavy — and said, "It seems that before the Lord's Conference, I'll be becoming the king's adopted daughter and marrying the next Zent, who is far from ideal." Whether I hid it or not, it was going to be decided at the Lord's Conference not long from now anyway.
"...You're going to marry Prince Sigiswald?"
Clearly shocked, Ferdinand asked with an expression that seemed to have drained of all emotion. Perhaps he was recalling when he himself had been forced into a marriage by royal command.
"Well, what Prince Sigiswald wants isn't me, but the Grutrissheit and my Magic Power. A commoner-born girl like me marrying a prince — laughable, right? The prince would prefer me not to do anything unconventional that falls outside noble norms, so he wants me to stay out of the public eye as much as possible. It seems he also doesn't want to disrupt the current balance of power between territories."
"...You accepted being treated that way?"
Ferdinand's expression hardened, but I pursed my lips tightly and nodded. Yes, I accepted it. What mattered to me was protecting Ferdinand from being implicated.
"If my precious Gedululih — my family in the lower town,
So it was fine. With the collapse of Yurgenshmidt approaching, I absolutely needed to either complete the Book of Mestionora or obtain the royal family's Grutrissheit from the underground archive, and becoming royalty was a necessary step toward that.
"Once I become royalty, I will use every bit of power at my disposal to protect the people I hold dear. I won't let you be implicated, Ferdinand, and I will use every means possible to ensure you can return to Ehrenfest, your Gedululih. Please rest assured."
"...So you intend to leave all the people you hold dear in Ehrenfest, just as I did? And you're telling me to protect them?"
Ferdinand said this with an expression of deep bitterness. He was probably reliving his own past of heading to Ahrensbach. To reassure Ferdinand, I gave him a bright smile.
"Don't worry, Ferdinand. I'll be fine. My family in the lower town has dedicated slots, and
Then I remembered that I needed to return Ferdinand's nameswearing stone. I took out the white cocoon-like nameswearing stone from the leather pouch and placed it in Ferdinand's right hand.
"I'm returning this. I'm sorry for taking your name without permission, even if it was to save your life. Now that you have your own hidden room, it would be more secure to keep it there, wouldn't it?"
Having received the nameswearing stone, Ferdinand's right hand trembled as he tried to clench his fist tightly, and he lowered his eyes.
"...You... me..."
"What is it?"
"No, you say you'll easily send me back to Ehrenfest, but that's impossible. Someone will need to handle the aftermath. I can't leave Ahrensbach. That's why you don't need to become the king's adopted daughter."
Hearing Ferdinand's voice, which seemed drained of strength and tinged with despair, I revealed a future plan I hadn't intended to share.
"Well, this is a secret, but once I become the king's adopted daughter and obtain the Grutrissheit from the underground archive, I'm going to redraw the territorial lines. So it'll be fine. Until then, my attendants and I will manage somehow..."
Ferdinand, with trembling fists and eyes that seemed to waver slightly in color, looked at me. I couldn't tell the cause, but Ferdinand was furious. It was unusual to see such visible emotional turbulence in Ferdinand's eyes at a glance — this wasn't something that happened to just anyone.
...Huh? Where did I flip the Demon Lord's switch!?
The Demon Lord rose.
The Demon Lord's genuine fury.
Rosemine is confused.
Next time: Aub and Zent.