Passing Gundolf's Lecture

"Lord Rozemyne, you finish the Lord Candidate lectures so very quickly. I was truly surprised."

Eglantine said this with a gentle smile, then asked, "Since you've finished your lectures, would it be all right to invite you to a tea party?"

"I'm terribly sorry, but I still need to take the scholar course. I won't be able to make it right away."

"I see. Then let's have the tea party once you've finished the scholar course."

"Yes."

I nodded with a smile while thinking to myself that the tea party with Dunkelfelger took priority over the one with Eglantine. I needed to discuss joint research with Dunkelfelger, as well as have a conversation with Clarissa. I also needed to talk about the change of Schwarz and Weiss's master to Hannalore. It was when I got to that thought that I realized something.

"Um, Professor Eglantine, the management change of the magical tools in the Library was a matter involving royalty, wasn't it? When I had the management transferred to Professor Ortansia, it seems a witness was required..."

At my words, Hannalore, who was seated beside me, flinched and her shoulders trembled. She had a look on her face that said, "Nobody told me this involved royalty." On top of being a royal matter, Ortansia was the first wife of the central Knight Commander. Before talking to the Library, it would be best to first run things by Eglantine, who was royalty.

"Actually, I'm the one who manages Schwarz and Weiss for the Library..."

I explained that Hannalore had been supplying magic power before entering the reading room, that Solange had said she wanted the cooperative's help, that there had been no explanation from the Library's side, and that Hannalore had only cooperated out of the goodness of her heart but had ended up becoming the manager.

"Hannalore became the manager...?"

"I'm so sorry, Professor Eglantine. I had no idea this would happen..."

I supported Hannalore, who had gone pale, from beside her.

"Hannalore meant no harm."

"Yes, I can see that. Not just you, Lord Rozemyne, but Hannalore has been helping us a great deal as well. I can very well understand why Professor Solange was so pleased about the presence of a cooperative."

At Hannalore's apology, Eglantine smiled and said, "Thank you so much for supplying so much magic power." I could feel the tension leave Hannalore's shoulders, as she had been cowering at the thought of what rebuke might come from royalty.

"Professor Eglantine, I was a bit concerned after hearing Hannalore's story, but wouldn't Professor Ortansia's magic power be insufficient? If Schwarz and Weiss are receiving magic power every day, then no matter how excellent a Lord Candidate Hannalore is, she shouldn't have become the manager."

"There are many magical tools inside the Library, so perhaps there were tools that took priority over Schwarz and Weiss."

At Hannalore's words, I tilted my head with a hmm. Schwarz and Weiss were extremely important for Library operations. It seemed wrong to put them on the back burner. Especially since this was the period when management needed to be changed due to instructions from royalty.

"Thank you for your concern, Lord Rozemyne, Hannalore. I've heard that in the past, three or more Senior Librarians were required. One person would certainly have limits on their magic power. Let us ask the Library's librarians on our side what the current situation is."

"Thank you, Professor Eglantine. ...Could it be that this is something we should have reported to Prince Hildebrand?"

Hildebrand was enrolled in the Royal Academy as royalty, and when the management was changed, he had said something about being able to fulfill his duties.

"I'll handle the matter of Prince Hildebrand, so don't worry."

I entrusted Eglantine with handling Hildebrand as well. With this, as instructed by my guardians, I should have been able to keep contact with royalty to a minimum.

"I really appreciate you taking the time to talk, Professor Eglantine, Lord Rozemyne. I had no idea it was a matter involving royalty..."

Hannalore murmured that if she had reported it to the Library and then received a summons from royalty, it could have caused a huge fuss involving even the Aub. I felt terribly guilty.

"I remembered that there had been a royal witness present when the management was changed. Since we meet most often during lectures, I should have told Hannalore about what happened at the Library myself. I'm sorry."

"No, it's nothing like that. I should have entered the reading room and greeted the professors as well."

"Both of you, that's quite enough. The greatest fault lies with the Library for failing to notify us. You don't need to worry so much."

Eglantine, who had been watching the two of us apologize to each other, giggled.

"Um, Professor Eglantine. I know this is about something further in the future, but..."

With that preface, I told Eglantine that I intended to research the ceremony for obtaining blessings. I also conveyed to Hannalore that I wanted Dunkelfelger's cooperation.

"A joint research project with Dunkelfelger?"

Both of them widened their eyes in surprise.

"Yes. I've heard that Dunkelfelger has many Knight Apprentices who have received multiple blessings. I'd very much like their cooperation in learning about the situation outside of Ehrenfest. It seems royalty also believes it's important for nobles to obtain as many blessings as possible from the gods..."

I glanced at Eglantine while subtly hinting at the words Anastasius had given me, and flashed Hannalore a smile.

"Since this is about gathering information on what has been done in Dunkelfelger over many years and compiling it as research, I thought it would be best to take the form of a joint research project. Of course, I'll also need to consult with the Aub, so a response at the tea party would be fine."

"Understood. I'll discuss it with the Aub."

After laying this groundwork for the research, I dove into the scholar course. Having completed the Lord Candidate course, I returned to my room and sent out exam reservations to the scholar course professors one after another.

Since I had to prioritize the Lord Candidate course, I couldn't attend the first day of the scholar course, and therefore couldn't take the first day's exams. That meant I had to make individual exam reservations.

...If I don't finish quickly, I won't make it in time for the tea party with Dunkelfelger.

The purpose had been to bolster the Library's magical tools, but an unexpected research project had come up, so my time at the Royal Academy was shaping up to be quite busy. I should finish the lectures as quickly as possible.

The scholar course consisted of shared lectures on making magical tools, studying magic circles in detail, and reading through old documents, as well as elective lectures on things like information gathering, document organization, herbs and medicines, and topics close to medicine—lectures you could take to suit your own preferences.

Ferdinand and I had previewed all of them, so unless something extraordinary happened, I was confident I could pass them all.

...Please, let the professors have openings in their schedules.

If the professors didn't have time, they wouldn't give individual exams, so at times like these I could only pray to the gods. It seemed my prayers were answered, as I immediately received a reply from Gundolf. Since Gundolf handled three of the scholar course lectures, I wanted to finish them all at once.

"Thank you very much for taking the time, Professor Gundolf."

"Ahh, Lord Rozemyne. Please, come in."

I donned my crafting robe and had Philine and Loderich carry the materials needed for crafting, then stepped into Gundolf's research room in the Scholars' Building. Hirschur's research room had been cluttered, but this one was equally scattered with all manner of things. The desk for writing was in terrible shape, but the crafting counter was clean—perhaps that was the same in every research room.

"Then, let's begin with crafting right away."

In the shared practical exam, there had been a task of dividing magic power, but the scholar course went a step further, with practical work that involved separating magic power by attribute and then combining them, starting with the creation of materials. Since I'd been able to reduce my magic power using the magic stones Father had given me, I could craft with my Stab without any difficulty.

...Father, thank you so much!

I placed materials into the crafting pots one after another, and Gundolf watched intently, stroking his beard, as I made the required medicine. Even though I was used to crafting, a one-on-one exam was quite nerve-wracking.

"Lord Rozemyne, you even use a time-reduction magic circle?"

"Because my body is weak, recovery medicine is essential for me. Since I need to make so much, and my constitution makes long hours of crafting very difficult, Lord Ferdinand taught me how to do it."

Since I wanted to finish as many lectures as possible, I couldn't afford to spend too much time on a single crafting session. The time-reduction magic circle was a huge help.

"Lord Rozemyne, you make your own medicine?"

"Yes. Lord Ferdinand told me that I should at least be able to make my own medicine, and... Thanks to that, I haven't had any problems even with Lord Ferdinand heading to Ahrensbach."

I smiled, thinking that I couldn't keep leaving everything to my guardian forever, but Gundolf shook his head and said, "That's not what I meant."

"Crafting medicine is normally left to a scholar retainer. As a Lord Candidate, there are many things you need to do before making medicine, aren't there?"

...What!? Making medicine is a scholar's job!? First time I've heard that!

I'd always had Ferdinand make medicine for me. He'd always told me, "What would you do if you couldn't even make your own medicine?" So I'd assumed that making your own medicine was the norm. But apparently, the proper way was for Lord Candidates to leave it to their scholar retainers.

I immediately shook my head at the thought of having Philine or Loderich make medicine. It might be possible with Hartmut, but it was impossible for those two.

"The medicine that Lord Ferdinand crafted for me was a special recipe that required magic power and precious materials. It's the kind of thing that a Senior Scholar might barely be able to make."

"What kind of medicine is it?"

"...The recipe is a secret, of course. Ah, it's done. Is this acceptable?"

I brushed past Gundolf's question and showed him the finished medicine. One quick look and Gundolf nodded.

"Your movements are completely practiced, the magic power is perfectly stable even with the time-reduction magic circle, and there's not a single element that could lead to failure. Please continue with the rest in the same manner."

"Yes!"

As I worked through the crafting, I chatted with Gundolf. The thing he was most interested in seemed to be the blessing ceremony, and he asked all sorts of questions.

"As for those questions, there are instructions from royalty, and I'll be presenting at the Inter-Dterritorial Tournament, so please refer to that. Once I've obtained permission from Dunkelfelger, it will become a joint research project and be presented there."

I can't answer on my own authority—using the authority of a greater territory as a shield, I shut down Gundolf's questions.

"For research, Drewanchel would be more efficient..."

"If it were research on magical tools or magic circles, Drewanchel would certainly be better, but for the research on blessings, it seems there are few people in Drewanchel who have received multiple blessings..."

"Hmm. In that case, let's do research on magical tools."

I thought he'd given up, but he clearly hadn't at all. Gundolf tried to recruit me to come and go from his research room, and I vigorously shook my head.

"I've already decided to use Professor Hirschur's research room."

I planned to have Hirschur keep various things confidential, and above all, she was the dorm supervisor for Ehrenfest, so there was no risk of other territories stealing the research. Most importantly, Raimund, Ferdinand's apprentice, was there, so communication was easy, and I could work on the blessing research and the creation of Library magical tools simultaneously. I still hadn't given up on the plan to make a recording magical tool and send Lord Ferdinand a little scolding message.

"But Hirschur's research room is... No, this research room has more generous funding and higher-quality materials."

"Is that so? But for now, I'm not having any trouble with research funding."

From Gundolf's words, I gathered that Hirschur's situation was likely one of very limited research funds due to a lack of support from Ehrenfest. Ferdinand had said he was providing some assistance, but I didn't think Hirschur relied on it entirely. Rather than having her holed up in the research room, perhaps I should provide support from my end as well.

...I think it would be better to improve her living conditions, like food and sleep, rather than give money.

"Lord Rozemyne, your ideas are wonderfully eccentric and very tantalizing to the curious mind, but what a shame."

Gundolf sighed and gave up on the recruitment. Just as Ferdinand had told me, I felt a slight sense of fondness at the way he knew when to let go.

"I am interested in the paper used for magical tools. When I have the capacity to extend into that area of research, I would very much like to collaborate with Drewanchel."

"Oh my, paper for magical tools...? Something about what kind of magical beast skin would be suitable?"

"No, it's research into whether we can make magical tool paper from materials other than magical beast skin."

Gundolf's eyes sparkled. "I'm interested in that research as well," he said with a smile.

"I see. That research is indeed better suited to Drewanchel than Dunkelfelger. By all means, let's research together."

"But this year, I'm quite busy..."

Thinking that this year might be a bit difficult, I was about to consider it when Gundolf tilted his head with a puzzled expression.

"Ehrenfest has scholars other than you, Lord Rozemyne, doesn't it? Couldn't you give them instructions? It would be impossible for you, as a Lord Candidate, to carry out all the research yourself."

He said that aside from the blessing research, which had instructions from royalty... I stared at Gundolf with a sense of scales falling from my eyes. I'd always thought research was something you did yourself, but could you really delegate research to others?

"For a Lord Candidate, what's important is how to develop the territory. While it's true you should take the scholar course and conduct research yourself, you need to distinguish between research that only you can do and research that others can do as well—otherwise, no research will progress. Lord Rozemyne, you have many interesting insights. You should distribute the research itself among many scholars, review the progress reports as they come in, give directions, and think about how to apply the results."

Apparently, that was how they did it at Drewanchel. He pointed out that if a Lord Candidate took on everything, the other scholars would never develop, and I realized I was doing the same thing as Ferdinand.

"Let's do the paper research together with Drewanchel. I'm confident in the abundance of materials available for research."

"That's wonderful. In that respect, Ehrenfest still has a long way to go."

"Having taught at the Royal Academy for many years, I also have a great deal of crafting equipment."

When he told me that some older research equipment was also in working order, I beamed.

"I'd love to see that sometime. I'm interested in the old curriculum as well—what kind of lectures were given when Stabs weren't acquired in the first year?"

"Hmm, hmm. There are no students left at the Royal Academy who received that era's education."

"I'd like to know how the lectures were conducted. While there are reference books for students, there aren't any teacher-side materials in the Library. What kind of learning was done at what grade level, and how was it taught? I'd like to have the teaching guidelines written from the teacher's perspective as well."

"We could talk about that in between the paper research."

"Really? Well, that sounds lovely."

I was somehow persuaded along, and ended up agreeing to do research on magical tool paper with Drewanchel.

And so, having obtained a pass in one written lecture and two crafting exams, I left Gundolf's research room.

"...And so, we'll be doing joint research with Drewanchel as well."

"I don't understand!"

When I returned to the dormitory and reported today's exam results in the multipurpose hall, Wilfried shouted at me. Being glared at with narrowed eyes like that didn't help. I didn't really understand how this had happened either.

We'd been talking idly about wanting to do research on paper and wanting the teaching guidelines that had been compiled by a professor, and somehow it had turned into a joint research project.

"Brother Wilfried and Charlotte, you're involved in the printing and papermaking businesses, aren't you? This would be an extension of that—I'd like you to work on the paper research. How much of the paper made from magical trees in Ehrenfest can be used for magical tools, and what would be needed to use it as magical tools... I think it's a research theme that suits Ehrenfest, don't you?"

I looked to Wilfried's and Charlotte's scholar apprentices for confirmation. Ignaz and Marianne exchanged glances.

"...Rozemyne, you intend to have my scholars and Charlotte's scholars conduct this research?"

"Yes. Loderich and Philine are busy gathering stories and writing, and as mid- and low-ranking nobles who have received multiple blessings, they're essential to the blessing research—I can't spare them for anything else. Besides, I think this would be a good opportunity to show those around us that not just me, but also Brother Wilfried and Charlotte are deeply involved in the papermaking and printing businesses."

I couldn't keep monopolizing everything. To shake off the bad reputation of being an Aub who pushed all the work onto her half-brother and adopted daughter, it would be better to present to the public how hard her biological children were working and what kind of work they were doing.

"Of course, I'm not saying that scholars who are working on other projects should suddenly do this research instead. I simply think that since papermaking and printing are Ehrenfest's core industries, we should prioritize the Lord Candidates' retainers."

"What if my scholars and Charlotte's scholars refuse?"

At Wilfried's question, I looked toward Muriella, the retainer-appointee who had not yet been sworn in. She was reading one of her mother's books with a dreamy expression on her face.

"I'll place Muriella at the center of the paper research, and from there, distribute work to the former Veronica faction's scholar apprentices. They no longer need to swear their names, so they can't become retainers. But if they can contribute to research on a core industry and become indispensable to Ehrenfest, their future prospects would change dramatically."

Even if they escaped execution, they were still families of criminals. Inside the Royal Academy was one thing, but in Ehrenfest, where collective punishment had been the norm, the stares from those around them would likely be harsh. If people could see in a tangible way how much they were contributing to the territory, eventually the adults' attitudes would change too.

"Hmm..."

"If Brother Wilfried's and Charlotte's scholar apprentices are going to be the core, then it would be best to accept Bartold and Cassandra's names early. By assigning them work as retainers to the Lord's family, they can develop a sense of camaraderie with the other retainers. And if we can skillfully use their connections to the former Veronica faction to get the former Veronica faction's scholar apprentices to help with the research as well, that would be ideal."

At my words, Wilfried turned his gaze to Ignaz, who was standing nearby.

"What do you think? Do you have anything you're working on?"

"No. I'm still struggling with my graduation research and haven't settled on a good topic yet. I think this would be beneficial for Lord Wilfried as well, so I would very much like to work on the paper research."

Wilfried nodded at Ignaz's response.

"Very well. We'll have my scholar apprentices Ignaz and Bartold lead the paper research."

"Brother, please don't forget about my scholar apprentices either. Marianne, would it be all right to ask you?"

"Of course, Lady Charlotte."

Marianne smiled and nodded. With this, the joint research with Drewanchel could move forward as well.

"To proceed with the research, we'll need them to swear their names."

"I'll be going on Earthday to hunt for materials for Muriella's naming, together with my retainers. Why don't you have Bartold and Cassandra's guard knights accompany them as well? A scholar and an attendant alone would have difficulty finding materials suitable for a naming."

Especially now, when the other children of the former Veronica faction, who had been spared from the necessity of swearing their names, were keeping their distance. I advised that the soon-to-be masters needed to provide support.

"As expected of my sister—you're always so observant. ...Natalie, could you ask Cassandra about her schedule for Earthday? I'd like her to be invited to go material gathering for a naming."

Charlotte's guard knight Natalie headed off to find Cassandra, while Wilfried sent Alexis to find Bartold.

I was relieved that it seemed we could prevent the students from being left out in the cold, when Gretia approached Judith. The two of them walked a short distance away and began talking about something.

"Um, Lord Rozemyne."

Judith, who had apparently received a message from Gretia, came to stand before me with a slightly troubled expression, keeping Gretia at a distance.

"What is it, Judith?"

"Gretia says she'd also like to swear her name, and she'd like to join the gathering trip on Earthday."

"...Eh? But Gretia's family..."

They had been spared execution and no longer needed to swear their names.

"Richarda, Leonore, Brünhilde. I'd like to talk with Gretia. Would that be all right?"

"Since we have several guard knights, a simple conversation would be fine."

After laying several more pieces of groundwork, I headed into the scholar course.

For some reason, I ended up agreeing to do the paper research with Drewanchel.

The core of it would be Wilfried and Charlotte.

It was part of Ehrenfest's image strategy.

Next up: the naming and gathering.