Once the Dedication Ritual was over, preparations for the Lord's Conference kept me busy with meetings. At the Italian restaurant, I held discussions with the Plantin Company, the Guild Master, and the proprietors of various major shops about the lower city's situation—reflecting on last year's shortcomings, what improvements had been made, and what acceptable thresholds would be this year.
On top of that, I finalized the requests and minimum requirements regarding printing and publishing with the Plantin Company. These would be submitted to Mother, who was attending the Lord's Conference as a civil official handling printing affairs, so she could incorporate the Nobility's perspective and revise them accordingly.
Once the discussions about the lower city were finished, I returned to the castle for a meeting with Father.
"For the negotiations with
We had gone into considerable detail with the Plantin Company about when borrowing materials, when printing, when selling, and translation royalties, among other things. It all started with my knowledge, adapted to fit the methods suited to this world, and I thought it was fine for things to change little by little.
"Also, regarding trading partners—Ehrenfest basically cannot accept any more merchants from other territories. According to the commercial guild, they'd prefer we not increase the number of trading partners."
Last year, we had accepted eight companies from the Central Province and
"But we can't very well refuse to increase trade when negotiating printing matters with Dunkelfelger."
Father grimaced at the difficulty of refusing Dunkelfelger, even though we could turn down others. I nodded in agreement.
"I conveyed the same to the merchants in the lower city as well. While I was thinking about whether there was a good solution,
"Reduce the number of Klassenberg merchants? How would that work?"
When Father asked, I relayed Benno's ideas.
"As I already reported, a merchant from Klassenberg who left a daughter behind when returning from a concluded trade has already been reported. The Plantin Company took her in, so the girl is currently safe. However, protecting someone who hasn't made their Winter Preparations for over half a year is extremely burdensome for Ehrenfest."
When winter drags on, you have to prepare enough food for an entire season, including reserves. Even one extra person significantly changes the amount of food and firewood needed.
"He said things like, 'If people think Ehrenfest will protect merchants they leave behind, or that they can just come pick them up the next year, and that they might even gain information about new products, that would be a problem.' Since trouble has already occurred, some kind of response toward Klassenberg merchants is necessary. Wouldn't it be wise to implement measures such as limiting the number of merchants to prevent those who abandon their families, or reducing the number of companies we trade with? By reducing Klassenberg's share, we could make room for Dunkelfelger's merchants.'"
Last year, we accepted eight companies from the Central Province and Klassenberg. If the Central Province continued with eight and we reduced Klassenberg—where the trouble occurred—to six, we could bring in six from Dunkelfelger.
Benno had said with a rather intimidating smile that we could turn Karlin's incident to our advantage by pressuring them while securing slots for Dunkelfelger. He seemed quite fed up with the Karlin affair.
"The final decision is yours, Father. We could set it so each territory gets an equal six companies, or include
"...I see. I'll think about it."
The reason restrictions were necessary was that there were no other towns that could accept merchants. The lower city of Ehrenfest alone had reached its limit, and I wished they would somehow develop other towns as well.
"Is it still not possible to accept merchants in Greschel? If we could accept them in other towns too, it would make things so much easier."
"An application has been filed for Entwicken, but it won't happen anytime soon."
"I see. Then how about selling the rinse recipe at a high price in exchange for not doing business this year? Drewanchel seems to be doing various research as well, but compared to researching Plant Paper or bill of exchange certificates, rinse would have the least impact on Ehrenfest's profits."
The ideal would be to spread various trends, develop the towns as quickly as possible, and advance Ehrenfest's trade while increasing the flow of people, even if only slightly. However, since Ehrenfest had historically accepted few outsiders, problems were piled high, and honestly, rapidly developing trade was difficult.
"After all, it would be impossible for Ehrenfest to supply all of
As far as I was concerned, even if we handed over the rinse recipe, I wanted Ehrenfest to maintain a monopoly on the printing industry for a while. Just as early printing in Germany eventually gave way to Venice as the city of books, the center of printing and publishing would eventually shift wherever people gathered. Even so, I wanted to keep Ehrenfest as the center of printing and publishing for as long as possible.
I informed Father of the market price derived from the profits so far regarding the selling price of the rinse recipe. I also added that if the recipe was discovered and copied in other territories, it would become unsellable.
"I'll take that into consideration. On another note, what happened with sending the Italian restaurant's chef to the Lord's Conference?"
"When I asked the
In addition to exchanging Ilse's new recipes with my own, I had also asked Frieda whether Dunkelfelger's laurel could be obtained. When I told her it made quatre-quarts delicious, she arranged to have it imported along with a wine called Wiese.
"Is that so? We'll think about the buying and selling of new recipes in due time. Right now, the priority is making sure we have enough chefs."
For partners who couldn't accommodate trade deals, we would host them with food, sell recipes based on what they could afford, or sell the rinse recipe and call it done. Since many parties would be seeking contact, we needed to have sufficient chefs on hand.
If there were too few Attendants, we could contact the regional governors and gather them from among Ehrenfest's Nobility. However, chefs couldn't be handled that way—they had to be people I could vouch for as being able to replicate my recipes to a reasonable degree without any issues in skill.
Last year, I had heard they were understaffed and struggled greatly, so I had asked Frieda to put effort into chef training as well. This year, preparations were fully in place.
"Perhaps there will be many proposals for
Father's mouth twisted slightly, as though he found the topic less than amusing. If Ehrenfest was going to continue setting trends rather than just being a passing fad, it was only natural that territories would want to form connections.
"If there are multiple proposals and we have the luxury of choosing, please try to respect Charlotte's wishes as much as possible."
Father looked at me as if he wanted to say something, his mouth briefly opening, but he lowered his eyes and slowly nodded. "Understood."
The petty meetings continued right up until the moment of departure for the Lord's Conference.
The first to leave through the teleportation circle were the Attendants. This year,
Next to depart were some of the knights, followed by the civil officials.
I went to the teleportation circle to see off the civil officials. This year, Hartmut had come of age and would be attending alongside Mother as a civil official handling printing affairs.
"I am Lady
I had asked Hartmut, who made this bold declaration, to assist Mother. Since the printing-related civil officials were mostly lower-ranking officials who could speak with Commoners, Mother had told me that having the higher-ranking Noble Hartmut present would be a great help during negotiations with officials from other territories at the Lord's Conference.
"Please take good care of Mother's assistance. Hartmut is highly capable, so I have high expectations."
"I'll do my best to live up to Lady Rozemyne's expectations."
"With this level of detailed planning and these materials in place, there shouldn't be a problem. I'm deeply invested in the publication of books as well. Leave it to me, Lady Rozemyne."
Mother was very enthusiastic about the negotiations this time, since she would be deeply involved in purchasing manuscripts from other territories for the romance novels being printed at Hardensel. I was confident she would do well.
After the civil officials headed for the Royal Academy, the last to leave were the lord and his wife. While I was saying goodbye to Father, who served as their guard knight,
"We are entrusting you three with the Magic Power supply during our absence."
"Yes, Father. We'll practice a lot."
Seeing Melchior nod with a bright smile, Wilfried and Charlotte shared a small laugh.
"When I did Magic Power supply for the first time, I was so exhausted I could barely move afterward. It's hard to practice a lot, Melchior."
"You should increase the amount you can handle little by little."
The way the two of them said it made Melchior look up at his parents with some worry, but he stiffened up just as I had when told to be careful not to overdo it.
"As long as you listen to what
Father pinned down the Chief Priest—who turned everything into Spartan training based on his own standards—before he and the others departed for the Royal Academy through the teleportation circle.
"Rozemyne will be taking two courses simultaneously starting this year, so you should review as much as you can beforehand. Once you return for the Dedication Ritual, you won't have any time for socializing."
With that single remark from the Chief Priest, my life in the castle this year was decided to center on studying the third-year Royal Academy lectures in advance. The Spartan training began right after Father had told him not to run things based on his own standards, but since it was based on my standards rather than his, apparently there was no issue.
...The Chief Priest is really skilled at spouting sophistry with a straight face.
For the classroom portion of the civil official course, I had already studied it, so there was no problem. Apparently, the lectures reserved exclusively for lord candidates were much tougher. When Charlotte heard that I was going to study lord candidate materials, her eyes widened slightly.
"Uncle, I want to be taught together with my sister."
"I'd like to join too. There are absolutely no materials for lord candidates, so there's no way to review in advance."
It seemed the Chief Priest hadn't expected Wilfried and Charlotte to both want to study together, as his eyes widened slightly before he tapped his temple thoughtfully.
"I intend to proceed at Rozemyne's pace, so it will essentially be an observation session for you. If that's acceptable, I will permit your entry."
He said it was review to prepare me for the Dedication Ritual and that he had no intention of teaching at a level the others could understand, but he granted permission all the same. When Wilfried and Charlotte's faces lit up at being allowed in, Melchior chimed in that he wanted to observe too.
"Uncle, please let me observe as well."
If it were up to me, I would have granted Melchior's request immediately, but the Chief Priest disliked having his schedule disrupted. With Wilfried and Charlotte, whom he had worked with for years and whose level of obedience he understood, it was one thing, but Melchior was practically a stranger, and he clearly didn't want to let him in. He looked down at Melchior with deep furrows between his brows.
"I promise I'll be quiet and won't bother my brother or sister."
"...The moment you cause trouble, I'm throwing you out."
Despite his cold tone, the Chief Priest granted permission. Watching Melchior beam with innocent joy at being included, I couldn't help but soften my expression. The Chief Priest let out an exasperated little sigh. The fact that he granted permission despite the hassle showed just how much he had mellowed.
...If it were the old Chief Priest, he would have shut it down with a single word: "You're a nuisance."
Just as lectures at the Royal Academy were held with aides excluded, the lord candidate review sessions at the castle were apparently off-limits to aides as well. The Chief Priest stationed one guard knight from each person outside the door and dismissed the rest, telling them to come pick everyone up when the fourth bell rang, since any others would just be in the way.
"Come to think of it—since lord candidates can't transfer to the Central Province, who teaches the lord candidates? Are there teachers who can impart the lecture content?"
Now that the lectures were exclusively for lord candidates, I found it puzzling that there were teachers available to teach them. My question made the Chief Priest tilt his head while preparing several magic stones.
"In my time, it was the
The political upheaval should have drastically reduced the number of Royal Family members. Even the Chief Priest didn't seem to know who would be teaching now.
"That's something we'll find out once we go to the Royal Academy. Today, we'll start with separating Magic Power by attribute. If you can't do this, you won't be able to move on to practical exercises for lord candidates."
Separating Magic Power by attribute was apparently a common assignment for third-year students. It involved combining or separating Magic Power by its respective attribute.
"Magic Power of your compatible attribute is easier to handle. You know that, right?"
According to the Chief Priest's explanation, lower-ranking Nobles had many attributes they didn't possess, making both combining and separating Magic Power equally difficult. Those who only had one attribute were often quite skilled at isolating that single attribute.
"Higher-ranking Nobles and lord candidates have many attributes, so combining the Magic Power of their own attributes is something most can learn with relative ease. However, they struggle when it comes to separating their Magic Power, which is normally always mixed together."
He had us prepare magic stones of each attribute, touch them, understand the sensation of having only that attribute's Magic Power pulled out, and try to create magic stones where as little of the other attributes' Magic Power leaked in as possible.
"Once you can handle your Magic Power with complete freedom, you'll be able to create pure attribute magic stones by filling an emptied magic stone with only that attribute's Magic Power. Those with enough dexterity will even be able to repaint the attribute of a magic stone."
It would also become possible to separate magic stones obtained from hunting magical beasts by attribute. I touched the magic stones and focused on separating my Magic Power by attribute.
"It's mixed. Start over."
All three of us were made to start over, time and again. Charlotte, who had barely progressed in her Magic Power compression and had little Magic Power to work with, dropped out first. Wilfried tried his best, but he started feeling unwell and the practical session ended for him.
"Drink a recovery potion and restore your Magic Power. There's Magic Power supply after dinner, remember."
"Oh, right," Wilfried muttered softly as he reached for the recovery potion hanging from his belt.
"Rozemyne, focus."
Scolded by the Chief Priest, I concentrated on the magic stone. Adjusting the quantity and adjusting the attribute felt completely different, making it quite difficult.
...Isn't there some way to separate things that are all mixed together?
Having even a slight image in mind made Magic Power easier to handle. I groaned as I thought desperately.
...Separation, separation... Centrifugal separator? Come to think of it, we learned about paper chromatography in high school biology.
As a result of thinking along those lines, I ultimately settled on a method of waving my hands to output Magic Power of different attributes from each finger, and managed to master the separation of Magic Power.
"Rozemyne, what is that hand-waving motion?"
"It's my personal visualization of separation."
"...It's not elegant."
The Chief Priest was thoroughly unimpressed, but since I could now separate them perfectly, there was no issue.
That evening's Magic Power supply after dinner must have been quite taxing, because from the next day onward, Charlotte observed all practical exercises involving Magic Power use and actively participated only in things that didn't require Magic Power.
"Once you've learned to separate and combine Magic Power, the next step is to saturate magic stones with Magic Power to create gold dust—but since you've already done that countless times, there's no need to teach you. We'll practice Entwicken."
Apparently, lectures also involved building a miniature town inside a small box containing the same type of magic stones used in foundational magic. The real challenge here was the blueprint. To build a town as envisioned, a blueprint was essential.
"When actually building a town, you typically make use of existing buildings while incorporating small modifications—because preparing a blueprint from scratch is too demanding."
Blueprints could be drawn with the help of civil officials, but since it was a large-scale magical endeavor, failure was not an option. A lord absolutely needed enough knowledge to verify that their own blueprint had no errors.
And so, all of us were made to practice drawing blueprints. The first assignment was designing our ideal room.
"I'm good at blueprints."
Saying this, Wilfried began designing his room with evident enthusiasm.
Charlotte was eagerly sketching her current room as-is, filling in details like furniture. Melchior said he wanted to design one together, but judging by the shakiness of his lines, completing it as a proper room would be quite difficult.
...An ideal room, huh.
The first thing that came to mind was a space filled with books, surrounded by books on every side—the library in my home from my final days in the Miune era. I accidentally recalled everything right up to the moment of my death and was left with an odd feeling, letting out an involuntary groan.
"Rozemyne, is it really that difficult?"
"There is a room that came to mind for my ideal room, but there were so many books that I ended up imagining books raining down on me and killing me, so I'm not sure it really qualifies as ideal."
"...In any case, have the blueprint finished by tomorrow."
I was given the assignment and essentially told to wallow in my own distress, and the day's lesson came to an end.
The fourth bell rang, and everyone moved to the dining hall for lunch. Grandfather was doing his official work alone, which must have been tough, but apparently he was cooperating because "it can't be helped if Rozemyne is to maintain top marks while working at the
"I'll do my best to live up to Grandfather's expectations."
Even while eating lunch, my mind was increasingly filled with the ideal library I had been assigned to design. A room where books wouldn't fall on you even during an earthquake. That was more important than anything.
Lost in thought, I heard the dining hall door open. A voice announced that someone was requesting an audience.
"It appears there is an urgent summons to the Lord's Conference. Ferdinand, please proceed to the Royal Academy immediately."
Last year, despite various shortages, there had been no summons to the Lord's Conference. The Chief Priest's expression turned severe in an instant at the urgent call. While
"This is terribly rude, but I will take my leave."
"You can leave things here to me. Go."
"I'm in your care, Lord Bonifatius."
The Chief Priest strode briskly out of the dining hall. The atmosphere abruptly turned hectic, and voices could be heard from people hurrying through the corridor beyond the dining hall. That commotion set my heart racing.
The Chief Priest's severe expression looked remarkably similar to the one he had worn when confronting the Central Province's Knight Commander at the Royal Academy's library, and an indescribable unease began to spread through me.