Toward the End of Winter

After we defeated the Lord of Winter, the number of pleasant days gradually increased. That said, there were still days when snow fell, and the cold remained just as harsh.

By this point, students returning one by one from the Noble Academy had also grown more numerous. Those who had finished their assigned lectures and assignments were making their way back.

Knight apprentices participated in knight order practice or showed up at knight gatherings, while scholar apprentices helped with official work or attended scholar gatherings. When they had no such engagements, they would sometimes visit the children's room, and before long, the older children's faces became a common sight.

Right now, the students who had returned from the Noble Academy were locked in a heated game of karuta against Wilfried and the others. Having brushed off their younger siblings as illiterate, the students now wore grim expressions after being utterly defeated.

"...Yes! I won!"

"That's right, Lord Wilfried. You beat your brother!"

The students had taken the game lightly at first, but were now stunned to find they could barely claim any picture cards. Between experienced players and complete beginners, there was simply no contest.

Some students had even been trounced by their own younger siblings, and I could see them holding their heads in their hands.

"See? Everyone's gotten strong enough to beat their older brothers and sisters, haven't they?"

In karuta, I remained undefeated. When Wilfried started sulking that no matter how many times they played, he could never beat me, I decided to prepare opponents whose pride could be satisfied.

"Since your older siblings can already read, once they memorize the picture cards, the wins and losses could flip in an instant. But I won't lose during this winter, so please do your best as well."

For Wilfried, the Lord's son, losing to his younger siblings was one thing, but for the others, it was a matter of their reputation as elder siblings. The students who had returned took the karuta surprisingly seriously as a result.

"Lady Rozemyne."

Since we were in the children's room where others could see, even Cornelius addressed me with the formal suffix. I tilted my head slightly.

"There seem to be multiple sets of this karuta—are they for sale? I don't think I've seen them before..."

"Oh? You haven't seen them before, Cornelius? Wilfried brought them into the castle in mid-autumn as teaching material to help him learn the alphabet."

My guard knights had not been allowed into Wilfried's room and had waited outside, so Cornelius had apparently never laid eyes on the karuta.

"You say it was for learning the alphabet, but the children all seem to have memorized the gods' names as well."

"Yes. Of course they know the gods' names, and I believe they also know whose subordinate each god is and what domain they govern."

I showed him the picture books and karuta while explaining what we had done over winter.

"This... is content I'll be studying at the Noble Academy next year," Cornelius said.

Looking around at his words, I spotted several students who had drooped their shoulders upon seeing the karuta. Apparently, what they had studied at this year's Noble Academy involved the gods, and memorizing them had been quite a struggle.

"Then the children who've played karuta this winter should see quite a boost in their grades. I had planned to sell these at the castle at the end of winter, but would it be better to move the schedule up a bit and sell them to the Academy students first?"

When I murmured that without competition there would be no improvement, Cornelius nodded vigorously. He clenched his fist, thinking, "This will make next year easier." I suddenly worried about Angelica, who had once declared she hated studying and became a knight to avoid it.

I requested a meeting with my foster father to apply for a sales permit.

He said he had something to discuss as well, so the meeting was arranged immediately.

"Ah, Rozemyne. Good to see you."

It had been a while since I last met with my foster father. During winter, I had been invited to dining events and banquets for nearly every meal, so we had hardly seen each other at all.

Behind my foster father stood my father, and behind the Chief Priest was Brother Eckhart. This was also my first time seeing Brother Eckhart working in the castle as the Chief Priest's guard knight. Since I needed to discuss delicate matters, my guard was Damuel.

"Rozemyne, I heard you performed quite admirably during the subjugation of the Lord of Winter. Karstedt told me all about it."

"It wasn't me—Lord Ferdinand was the one who performed admirably. All I could do was pour Magic Power into the divine instrument."

I had stayed on standby on my lessabus, protected by the knights. Pouring Magic Power into the divine instrument had required magic stones, and all I'd done was deliver the finishing blow to the weakened magical beast with the Chief Priest's assistance. I couldn't proudly claim I had "performed admirably."

"No, you received the Blessing of Angerief, god of war, and you finished it off. That kept the casualties to the knight order and the expenses remarkably low."

Father burst into laughter, and the Chief Priest nodded with satisfaction.

"We got a top-quality magic stone out of it, which made sacrificing the other materials worthwhile."

Normally, they would gradually weaken the magical beast together, and once it was near death, they would begin dismantling it to collect materials. Apparently, once you remove the magic stone, the body melts into sludge and disappears, so they had to be careful to extract fur, meat, bones, and everything else usable while leaving the stone in place.

This time, since we prioritized quality and aimed to extract only the magic stone to prevent different types of Magic Power from mixing, there had been no harvest besides mine. Since the money from selling materials was a valuable source of income for the knight order, I had agreed to compensate for the loss. If I thought of it as payment for the magic stone and my guard detail, I didn't mind.

"Now then, let's hear what you have to say, Rozemyne. Something about selling picture books?"

"Yes. As I've already reported, this winter all the children in the children's room studied together using karuta, picture books, and cards. All of us followed the same curriculum, including the preschool children."

"Mm. And how did it turn out?"

Sylvester leaned forward eagerly as I explained the results of the children's classroom, which I had started with the goal of raising the level of all children in the territory.

"As a result, everyone can now write the basic alphabet, has memorized the gods' names and domains through karuta, and can perform single-digit addition and subtraction. The lower-ranking noble children, who had no access to good teachers, have also significantly improved their Feischpiel skills."

"Oh..."

The lower-ranking noble children, who understood this was their only chance to study under a good teacher, had practiced desperately. Seeing their dedication, the middle-ranking and upper-ranking noble children refused to be outdone and practiced just as hard. In the end, the overall level rose dramatically.

"Also, I heard from Brother Cornelius that there's a lecture at the Noble Academy on memorizing the names of the gods."

"Ah, yes. It's tedious and difficult, and even after you've memorized them, you quickly forget the gods that have little connection to you."

Apparently, the studying tended to become rote memorization just to pass the lectures. My foster father said this indirectly, shrugging his shoulders. Father and Brother Eckhart wore similar smiles—they clearly knew the feeling.

"At this point, Lord Wilfried actually knows more about the gods than the students who attended those lectures."

"...What?"

My foster father's eyes went wide in shock. Well, that was understandable. Who would believe that Wilfried, who could barely write half the basic alphabet at the start of autumn, now knew more about the gods than Noble Academy students?

"The students who returned from the Academy are now trying hard to beat Wilfried and the others. They refuse to lose to their younger siblings and are desperate about it. Right now, with so many rivals, everyone improves faster, so I'd like to sell the karuta and picture books as soon as possible. Could I receive permission to sell them within the castle?"

I had brought in three sets of karuta so the children could play. Now the competition was fierce and everyone scrambled for them. And naturally, the ones who won out in the scramble were the older siblings.

"That should be fine. Will the sales take place in the children's room?"

"Yes. Also, it wouldn't be appropriate for me to handle the sales personally, so I would also like permission to have the Gilberta Company act as my merchant."

For the Feischpiel performance, I had mobilized all the attendants as salespeople, but that wasn't part of their regular duties, and I couldn't burden them with extra work during winter when guests were plentiful and there was already so much to do.

"The Gilberta Company... Very well. As for the dates and arrangements, discuss them with the children's room caretakers. Once everything is finalized, report it to me. Public notice will be needed, I expect."

"I will report, but no public notice should be necessary. This time, I plan to limit sales to nobles with children, so word of mouth from the children should be sufficient."

At my words, not only my foster father but also the Chief Priest and Father raised their eyebrows slightly.

"Why not? Don't you want to sell as widely as possible?"

"I would like as many people as possible to purchase them, but since they're handmade, there's a limit to how many I can produce. I can't have nobles seeking connections with me all showing up at once."

I had made more than the number of children, but I couldn't prepare enough for every noble to buy one. If they were purchased purely to build connections and those who truly needed them couldn't get any, that would be a problem.

"Mm. You've proven yourself through the children's education. Very well—I'll leave it to you. Handle it as you see fit."

"Thank you."

With the sales permit secured, I would need to return to the Temple to retrieve the merchandise. I should also contact the Gilberta Company while I was at it.

I jotted a note on my writing board, then looked up.

"That's everything I had to discuss. What did you want to talk about, foster father?"

"Ah, your recipes have become quite popular..."

"Then I take it the noble ladies were impressed."

Since Wilfried and I were strictly limited in which nobles we could interact with, we hadn't attended the dinners. So I didn't know firsthand how the nobles had reacted to the food, but those who had been invited seemed to have taken a great interest in the dishes.

With the Lord's wife's fall from grace combined with the cuisine, it seemed more people than usual had sought invitations to dinners hosted by the Chief Priest's household and my father's household.

"There are quite a few who desperately want to know your recipes."

They had probably leveraged the recipes to gain favorable positions in various dealings. My foster father said he wanted me to think of a way to distribute the recipes more widely.

"Delicious food is the foundation of daily life, after all. Perhaps we should just publish a recipe book? ...A recipe collection containing the same recipes I taught your cooks and Father's cooks, for two large gold coins."

Sylvester's eyes bulged. He had paid three large gold coins for thirty recipes.

"Rozemyne, that's cheaper than what we paid!"

"Well, of course. Information that no one else has and information that people already know differ in value. Besides, even if I sold a recipe collection, there's no cook who would come teach just because I covered their travel expenses."

My foster father still looked unconvinced, so I gave a slight shrug.

"My recipes are troublesome—some of the cooking methods are different from what's been done before, and there are many prep steps. You can't just look at the recipes and immediately make the same thing. Even if I sell a recipe collection, I can enjoy a few years of envy and admiration. And if you need new recipes to attract even more praise, I'll be happy to sell them to you."

My foster father raised an eyebrow—did I mean to take money from him again? But that was natural. I would collect payment properly. I needed to earn the money to compensate the knight order.

"Either way, it won't be something we can do right away, so publishing and selling a recipe book is a matter for next winter. If you're going to use it as a bargaining chip, it might be better to raise its value as much as possible. Why don't we make it a limited run of one hundred copies for the first buyers, and raise the price?"

Adding a premium feel might work. If everyone else would have to wait another year to get their hands on the recipes, perhaps the price could be pushed even higher.

Hmm, I mused, thinking about the price for the recipe book, when my foster father fixed the Chief Priest with a penetrating gaze.

"...Ferdinand, is this your doing as well?"

"That would be the Gilberta Company's doing. Commerce is not my area of expertise."

The Chief Priest glared at my foster father as if to say "Don't pin everything on me," and gave a sharp snort.

Even with the glare, my foster father just waved his hand lightly with an "Ah, my, my" expression that clearly showed he didn't think he'd done anything wrong. Then his face suddenly grew serious, and he looked at me.

"There's one more thing we need to discuss—Hassé. I've received a preliminary report from Ferdinand, but what do you intend to do with Hassé?"

I straightened my back, glanced at the Chief Priest, and then turned my gaze to my foster father.

"Well, the most important thing is what conclusion Hassé reaches. But I want to have the townsman faction bear responsibility for the Temple attack and make them change their attitude toward nobles. As for how they should treat nobles, I've been having the Gilberta Company spread information through rumors and personal accounts."

"Mm. But are you planning to settle the attack on the small Temple with just a single punishment? Not sending priests is painful for the farmers, but it's not a great hardship if it's only once."

My foster father regarded me steadily, indicating that the punishment was far too light for an attack on the Lord's family.

"If the person responsible for managing the town fails, that becomes the community's responsibility. The crime is too heavy to settle with merely skipping the Dedication Ritual once."

I gulped under the same pressure and tension I had felt when made to consider punishment for Deria.

An attack on the Lord's family was a serious crime. Was there a punishment that would make that clear to those around me while also satisfying my foster father?

"...W-What if we raised the tax rate for about ten years? Farmers are necessary for tax revenue. Destroying Hassé might be easy for you, foster father, but when I think about the long term, wouldn't it be better to squeeze them slowly over time?"

A gradual extraction was far better than having a large number of people executed for treason. I thought it was a remarkably mild punishment, but my foster father's face tightened slightly.

"...I can't tell if you're being kind or harsh."

When he made the alarming suggestion that it might be better to just kill them all at once rather than slowly torment them, I shook my head vigorously. From a noble's perspective, eliminating them entirely to prevent future complications might be simpler and quicker, but death meant the end of everything.

"Well, fine. I welcome the increase in tax revenue. Let's settle the Hassé matter with the townsman faction's punishment and a ten-year tax increase."

"Then may I go and conduct the Dedication Ritual? Without a harvest, there can be no increased tax."

"No. We won't send anyone this year. That's final."

His deep green eyes glinted. I couldn't overturn the Lord's decision. I nodded in acceptance.

"You should go to Hassé yourself and make the punishment public. Spread the word that the punishment was reduced thanks to the Saint's mercy. ...However, if the people of Hassé don't understand the gravity of their crime—you know what that means?"

"...Yes."

Apparently, having to publicly proclaim myself a merciful saint was my own punishment for trying to impose such a light sentence. The Chief Priest's lips twisted as if to say it served me right.

"One more thing. About the Dedication Ritual..."

"Yes?"

"It seems there was a difference in harvest between the land I personally blessed and the land that merely received a small Holy Cup."

My foster father brought out several wooden tablets and laid them out. They appeared to be tax collector records noting harvest quantities and items collected. I looked them over, but the differences didn't seem all that significant.

"...They don't look that different?"

"The point is that they're no different from the other years. Over the past several years, as the number of priests and Shrine Maidens decreased, blessings during the Dedication Rituals dropped sharply, and the harvest in the directly governed lands fell noticeably. But this year, the harvest exceeded that of the surrounding nobles' territories."

In addition to the small Holy Cups, nobles reportedly poured their own Magic Power into their territories to ensure bountiful harvests. Because of this, during the past few years when the quality of blue priests had declined, there had been a stark difference between nobles' territories and the directly governed lands.

"...Rozemyne, I'm sorry, but I'd like you to handle this year's Dedication Ritual as well."

This was probably because I had previously complained about being too busy. My foster father spoke with a pained expression.

"Sylvester," the Chief Priest called with a sigh.

"Rozemyne only needs to handle the directly governed lands, correct? Leave the small Holy Cups for the nobles' territories to the other blue priests. Otherwise, she'd be taking all their work and hindering the spring material collection."

"That's fine. The directly governed lands only. I'll take care of it."

"Mm," the Chief Priest murmured while lightly tapping his temple. He was probably calculating the Dedication Ritual's schedule.

"That's all I have to discuss."

"Then when I sell the Gilberta Company's merchandise, I'll bring along the small Holy Cups you've been storing for me."

"Very well."

I bid farewell to my foster father and the Chief Priest, who still seemed to have more to discuss, and headed to the children's room on my lessabus.

"Everyone, I've received permission from Aub Ehrenfest. I'll be selling karuta, picture books, and cards in this room. If you'd like one, please discuss it with your parents."

I called out to the children playing in the room. Their faces lit up, and they straightened their backs before walking over.

"If we buy karuta, can we keep playing when we return to our summer homes?"

"Yes. Make sure you practice thoroughly before next winter."

"Okay!"

The boy who had beaten his brother for the first time nodded with a grin full of motivation. "Once I buy karuta and practice, I'll be beating him in no time," his brother said with a sly smile.

"Lady Rozemyne, will all the picture books be sold?"

"Of course."

In fact, spreading the picture books was my primary goal. I was even thinking about selling new picture books if possible. The text was already done, and Wilma's illustrations were nearly finished. If I pushed her, they might be ready in time to sell as new picture books. I should build some buffer time into the sales schedule and have her make at least as many copies as there were children.

While I was thinking about this, a young lady who was Cornelius's classmate approached hesitantly.

"Lady Rozemyne, I'm thinking of memorizing information about the gods before next year's lectures. Do you have picture books for the autumn and winter subordinates?"

"...Actually, those aren't ready yet. If I ask the workshop to make the autumn subordinate picture book, they should be finished by the time everyone returns. But the winter subordinate picture book will have to wait until next year."

I would ask Lutz and Gil, but I couldn't promise whether new picture books would be ready in time for the sale. It was better not to promise what I wasn't sure about.

"They were such wonderful picture books, so I was hoping..."

"I'm glad you're looking forward to them. Let's see—I think they should be ready by the Star Binding Ceremony, so I'll ask Aub Ehrenfest to arrange the sale around that time."

The Star Binding Ceremony itself was a coming-of-age festival, but if I set the sale date around then, students with magical beasts should be able to come and buy them.

"That way, they'll arrive in time for winter at the Academy."

The young lady smiled gracefully and stepped back, while another exclaimed in a bright voice that she would have to convince her parents to buy everything for her.

The children chattered happily about what they would ask for.

Watching them from the corner of my eye, I discussed the date and time for selling teaching materials with the caretaker attendants assigned to the children's room.

I noticed Philine, who wore a somber expression.

The Lord of Winter has been defeated, and winter draws to an end.

Last time was a battle, so this time was a relaxed chat with Lord Sylvester.

Next time: the teaching materials sale.