Bride-Stealing Ditter — Part One

"Finally, the day has arrived."

On the day of the Ditter, when we headed to the designated arena from Dunkelfelger, Luefen greeted me with a sweltering smile that looked refreshing at first glance. He seemed absolutely delighted that they could hold a Treasure-Stealing Ditter at the Royal Academy.

"I never imagined we'd actually be holding a Bride-Stealing Ditter at the Academy, though."

Incidentally, this Bride-Stealing Ditter apparently occurred from time to time in Dunkelfelger. When a man proposed marriage and the woman's parents refused, relatives would hold a Ditter to win the bride — that was the Bride-Stealing Ditter.

Since the groom's side had nothing to lose besides giving up if they lost, they were apparently surprised that Ehrenfest had attached conditions to their victory this time. Ehrenfest didn't have such a custom, so there was no way they'd hold a Ditter without something to gain.

...Well, I supposed it was important to have a way to get persistent Dunkelfelger men to give up.

Luefen said with a smile, "Lady Rozemyne, we would truly love for you to visit Dunkelfelger." Hirschur, shouldering past him to glare down at me with an unmistakably foul expression, cut in before I could respond.

Hirschur was apparently serving as Ehrenfest's judge, overseeing the match from the spectator seats above. Luefen would be flying around the arena on his ridebeast to serve as referee. Pulled out of her research lab during a period of heightened research enthusiasm with the inter-duchy tournament approaching, and unable to refuse her duties as student hall supervisor, Hirschur was in a terrible mood.

"Lady Rozemyne, I asked you not to interfere with my research, so what exactly is the meaning of this?"

"I was put in a position where I couldn't refuse Dunkelfelger's challenge. Please direct your complaints to Dunkelfelger."

"I've already filed my complaint."

Even though she understood the situation, she clearly needed to say something to feel better about it. Wilfried and I both apologized in unison, saying "We're very sorry."

"My research environment has only just started coming together. If Ehrenfest loses now, it'll be a real problem for me."

This was probably Hirschur's way of cheering us on. "...We'll do our best," was all I could manage.

Looking around at the spectator seats, students from both Dunkelfelger and Ehrenfest had turned out in full force to cheer. I spotted several Dunkelfelger students in the stands holding large Magical Tools. I turned to Hannalore, who — though not wearing a helmet — was clad in full armor like the apprentice knights.

"Excuse me, Lady Hannalore. Why do people in the spectator seats have Magical Tools? Participation from the stands is prohibited, isn't it?"

"Those were given to them by the Archduke, who wished to observe the battle. They're Magical Tools for recording the Ditter. Since they pose no hindrance to the fight, I'd appreciate it if you didn't worry about them."

He had wanted to enter the Academy to watch the Bride-Stealing Ditter, which had given Luefen quite a headache. By using these Magical Tools, they had managed to talk him into waiting in the stands.

"So the Archduke of Dunkelfelger gave them these Magical Tools? Does that mean he's actually eager about this match — on which Lady Hannalore's marriage depends?"

I had harbored hopes that Restlaute's reckless charge would prompt the Archduke to call things off, but Hannalore lowered her eyes sadly.

"Once a match has been decided, we cannot engage in the unsightly behavior of calling it off. 'No matter what, you must win!' — that is his order."

"If he did call it off, it would have been a tremendous help to us as well, but..."

Neither of us, the prizes being wagered, actually wanted this fight. Things rarely went the way one wished.

"Well then, let's be off."

At Luefen's lead, the apprentice knights mounted their ridebeasts and descended into the arena. I waved goodbye to Hannalore and climbed onto my own ridebeast. Mine was loaded with a box full of Magical Tools and recovery potions.

"Brother, Sister — please do your best!"

Receiving Charlotte's encouragement, I looked around at the younger students surrounding her. Today, all of the senior apprentice knights with strong combat abilities were participating in the Ditter, leaving Charlotte's guard inevitably thin. I called out to Theodore, who was stationed nearby.

"Theodore, please protect Charlotte. I'm counting on you."

"Leave it to me. From here, I shall pray for your and my sister's success."

With Charlotte and the others cheering us on behind us, I landed in Ehrenfest's camp within the arena. All the participants dismissed their ridebeasts and lined up. Once I confirmed that Eigidore and Brünhilde had retrieved the box from my ridebeast, I dismissed mine as well and fell into formation.

At the front stood the upper- to middle-rank apprentice knights with abundant Magic Power. Matthias, Laurenz, and Traugott all stood in the first row. In the second row stood Leonore, who would be directing overall strategy alongside the middle-rank apprentice knights.

Behind the two rows of apprentice knights were the two Attendants wearing simplified armor designed to protect only vital areas — not full-body armor. Incidentally, I was wearing simplified armor as well. Since it was made of magic stone, there was no weight, but full-body armor was difficult to move in without practice. It was like wearing cardboard armor — even if it was light, it restricted movement in all sorts of ways. For someone already slow like me, becoming any slower was out of the question.

Between Eigidore and Brünhilde stood Wilfried, solidly clad in full-body armor. And at the very rear was Judithe, who would protect me — the treasure of this match — while carrying out long-range attacks.

...Whether I could erect the Shield of Schutzaria right at the opening would be the key to victory.

My heart pounding, I mentally reviewed the tactics we had agreed upon.

Leonore had instructed me to raise Geitilt the moment the start signal sounded, then chant the prayer while hiding behind that shield to complete the Shield of Schutzaria.

The apprentice knights had predicted that Dunkelfelger would definitely try to interfere to prevent me from raising the wind shield. However, at the start, both sides were in their respective camps, which were separated by a significant distance, so long-range attacks were inevitable.

Therefore, all of Ehrenfest's apprentice knights would raise Geitilt to block Dunkelfelger's attacks and buy chanting time, while Wilfried, Eigidore, and Brünhilde would unleash a wide-area Waschen at Dunkelfelger's camp.

Eigidore, who would be the first to use a Magical Tool to assist with the wide-area spell, nervously touched the belt at his waist. Until the starting signal, neither staves nor Magical Tools were permitted.

"Both sides, step forward!"

At Luefen's voice, Wilfried advanced with his helmet tucked under one arm. From Dunkelfelger's camp, Restlaute stepped forward in the same manner.

It was only then that I turned my gaze toward Dunkelfelger's camp. Enhancing my vision, I could see their position clearly. I noticed that some of them also had large boxes at their feet. They seemed to have brought along plenty of Magical Tools and recovery potions. Since they all appeared to be in full-body armor, I had assumed everyone from Dunkelfelger was a knight, but perhaps they had martial-oriented Attendants among them as well.

...Were we thinking along the same lines? Or was this simply how Bride-Stealing Ditters normally went for them?

The possibility that they'd received advice and cooperation from their duchy's people, just as we had, was quite high.

...I hope we're okay.

My body trembled slightly with tension. Dunkelfelger had been given a copy of the Ditter chronicle, so some of Ferdinand's tactics had leaked. If they had received advice from knights who had fought in the past, there was a chance our strategy had been compromised in multiple areas.

I absolutely cannot lose. Hartmut had been sent practically every day to that effect, and my adoptive father had provided full backing by lending us a divine instrument. Grandfather and Father had also offered various tactical advice. Losing was not an option.

With Luefen at the center, Wilfried and Restlaute faced each other.

Luefen drew his staff while the two glared at each other. Wilfried and Restlaute drew their staffs as well, extending them forward and raising them high in sync with Luefen's movement.

"Let us battle with honor and dignity."

"We, too, have been told by our Archduke to protect Rozemyne no matter what. We will not lose."

Exchanging words, they turned their backs and returned to their camps. Luefen kept his staff raised.

Once both had returned and donned their helmets, Luefen made his staff glow blue and swung it down with a resounding whoosh.

"Begin!"

"Geitilt!"

Ehrenfest's apprentice knights drew their staves and raised their shields in unison. I did the same, summoning a round shield with Geitilt, and began chanting the prayer from behind it.

"O Wind Goddess Schutzaria, who governs protection!"

As I began the prayer, Eigidore gripped the Magical Tool at his waist and hurled it high into the air. Multiple magic circles materialized in the sky — a wide-area spell amplifier that Hartmut had crafted. It was originally based on Clarissa's research.

"O twelve goddesses, kin who serve by her side!"

The moment the magic circles expanded across the sky, Wilfried and the other two raised their staffs high, and Matthias's voice rang out: "Dunkelfelger has thrown something! Everyone, brace yourselves!"

"Hear my prayer — bestow upon me your sacred power!"

In the next instant, a blinding light illuminated Ehrenfest's camp. Fortunately, I was positioned behind several apprentice knights, and above all, I was conspicuously shorter than everyone else, so the light barely touched me, allowing me to continue chanting. However, the apprentice knights in the front row appeared to be completely blinded — I could hear them screaming, "My eyes! I can't see!"

"Waschen!"

Wilfried and the others chanted their spell while shielding their faces with one arm. As long as water rushed toward Dunkelfelger's camp, that was all that mattered. Even with their vision impaired, they could manage that.

In terms of pure Magic Power, the three of them — Wilfried, Eigidore, and Brünhilde, who ranked among the top in the Ehrenfest dormitory — unleashed a Waschen at nearly full power. A massive torrent of water surged toward Dunkelfelger like a waterfall.

"Whoaaa!"

"What the—?!"

While Ehrenfest's forces were blinded, the Dunkelfelger apprentice knights had been mounting their ridebeasts to launch a preemptive strike, or raising their swords and gathering Magic Power for an all-out assault. They were swept away by the undulating, dragon-like deluge, rolling across the ground in disarray.

If this had washed Hannalore out of the camp, the match would have been decided right then and there. Unfortunately, the apprentice knights protecting the treasure had braced themselves and held their ground within the camp.

The Waschen that the three of them had packed with massive amounts of Magic Power was powerful, but its effects lasted only about ten seconds. Waschen simply washed the area clean before vanishing completely, so there was no lingering weight from soaked cloaks.

The Dunkelfelger apprentice knights, swept away by the sheer force of the water and stunned, were ordered to "Hurry back!" and regroup. The entire sequence bought us roughly twenty seconds — more than enough time for me to complete the Shield of Schutzaria.

"Keep those with malicious intent away — Wind Shield, come to my hand!"

A sharp, metallic ring sounded, and the hemispherical Shield of Schutzaria materialized. At the same time, a pillar of yellow light shot up from the shield.

"Wha—!?"

The pillar of light was a common occurrence when performing rituals at the Academy, but it had never appeared when I created the shield before, so I was thoroughly startled. Staring up at the pillar of light in shock, I realized — I normally infused the ring with Magic Power to create the Shield of Schutzaria. This was the first time I'd chanted the prayer after forming a shield by transforming my staff with Geitilt.

"...Considering that Dunkelfelger also received a blessing, maybe it's important to perform rituals using a staff and chant the prayer after all?"

As I murmured to myself while gazing up at the pillar of light, Leonore was directing the blinded apprentice knights to take shelter inside the shield, then turned back to me and Judithe.

"Lady Rozemyne, quickly perform the sea ritual! Judithe, buy us time! The knights are useless right now!"

I immediately drew a second staff and, using the technique I'd researched in the library and practiced, created the staff of Feulfuremeere, Goddess of the Sea. I made the staff glow, inscribed the symbol of Feulfuremeere in the air, and chanted "Streitkolben." I needed the extra step to avoid confusing it with the staff of Fliutreine.

"O Goddess of the Sea, Feulfuremeere!"

Chanting the prayer to Feulfuremeere that I had only just committed to memory, I began slowly swinging the staff in wide circles. I was returning the blessings that Dunkelfelger had been granted for this match back to the gods.

While I was producing the staff, Judithe cried, "Here I go!" and leaped onto her ridebeast. As Wilfried and the other two fell back to drink recovery potions, Judithe's ridebeast charged forward.

"Haah!"

Using a sling, Judithe launched a softball-sized Magical Tool toward Dunkelfelger's camp, where they were struggling to regroup.

"Something's incoming!"

"Knock it back!"

"No good! Catch it with a net!"

An apprentice knight who had signaled the possibility of an explosion caught the incoming Magical Tool with a net formed from his transformed staff. The moment the Magical Tool touched the net, it burst apart, scattering a faintly reddish smoke-like haze and fine powder across the surrounding area.

"Aaaagh! My eyes!"

"Cough! Cough! My throat—"

"Don't inhale it! My limbs are going numb!"

The Dunkelfelger camp descended into chaos as apprentice knights thrashed and writhed in agony while trying to regroup. They were in no condition to go on the offensive.

"Impressive. Hartmut truly shows no mercy to Lady Rozemyne's enemies," Brünhilde remarked admiringly as she drank a recovery potion to restore her Magic Power. The Magical Tool had contained Negaroshi — white-and-red mottled fruits that Hartmut had made the apprentice knights gather at a collection site, then crushed into powder and loaded into the explosive device.

When it got in your eyes, the tears wouldn't stop. Inhaling through the nose caused deep nasal pain and a runny nose, and inhaling through the mouth made the throat burn. Depending on the person, it could cause fever or numbness in the limbs. Hartmut had said that Waschen could wash away the eye pain and that the discomfort wouldn't last too long. Still, compared to Dunkelfelger, who had merely been dazzled by light, Ehrenfest's Magical Tool was positively underhanded.

"Tch! Rozemyne using underhanded and cowardly tactics that make it hard to think of her as a saint — we've known that for two years now! Don't flinch! This powder can be washed away with Waschen!"

...It wasn't me who came up with that, though. It was Hartmut.

As I thought this, I channeled Magic Power into the body-enhancing Magical Tool and swung the staff of Feulfuremeere in wide, sweeping circles. The sound of crashing waves began to resonate, matching the staff's movement. As it did, the blessings began to drain from the bodies of the Dunkelfelger apprentice knights.

Their blessings were being forcibly stripped away. I could see the apprentice knights, who had grown accustomed to carrying their blessings, stumbling in surprise. Incidentally, the ritual also stripped away the fighting spirit of the Dunkelfelger knights, who had been burning with competitive fire, calming their hearts. It would take time to rebuild their fighting spirit to where it had been.

"The Ditter isn't over yet — what are you doing!?"

Restlaute's shout rang out from Dunkelfelger's camp. However, this ritual was originally meant to relieve the heat and wasn't the sort of thing that was forbidden to perform outside of a Ditter.

...Well, it wasn't something you'd do in the dead of winter, either.

"To the gods who bestowed their blessings upon us — with prayers of gratitude, I offer my Magic Power!"

Chanting the prayer, I raised the staff of Feulfuremeere high toward the sky. A pillar of light shot up with a resounding boom, and the stolen blessings surged upward from everyone below. The Dunkelfelger apprentice knights, who had barely begun to fight before having their blessings taken, stood in stunned silence. But at least this should bring us closer to even.

By the time Dunkelfelger's apprentice knights re-entered battle formation, Ehrenfest's knights had recovered their sight. They had mounted their ridebeasts and assumed battle positions.

"Lady Rozemyne may have stripped away their blessings, but don't let your guard down. Dunkelfelger still has Rahltralc. Matthias and Laurenz — you two must work together to counter Rahltralc. Understood?"

At Leonore's command, Matthias and Laurenz answered in unison, "Yes, ma'am!" The two were among Ehrenfest's top close-combat fighters, and yet even both of them together were needed to match a single Dunkelfelger opponent.

Compared to two years ago, when they had been scattered in an instant, Ehrenfest's apprentice knights had improved their coordination, grown their Magic Power, and become stronger. Even so, Dunkelfelger remained in a class of its own. "Lately, Ditters have been getting more frequent as people compete for blessings through rituals," Matthias had told me.

In terms of combat strength, if you compared it to shogi, Ehrenfest had assembled their pieces with a mix of pawns and other units, while Dunkelfelger had so many pieces that they could afford to select only non-pawn pieces. On top of that, since it took two of their best just to hold Rahltralc, one could say his individual skill was comparable to a promoted rook from the very start.

"I bestow upon all of Ehrenfest the blessing of Angriev, God of Martial Valor!"

I infused my ring with Magic Power and sent the blessing of Angriev. I wanted to give us at least a fighting chance, but having performed rituals in quick succession, I was starting to run low on Magic Power myself.

...Wilfried would be using the Sword of Ewigeliebe soon, so I'd need plenty of Magic Power to maintain the shield.

After testing various scenarios, I'd found that when the Sword of Ewigeliebe was used nearby, the strength of the Shield of Schutzaria weakened. Mythologically, the Sword of Ewigeliebe was supposedly stronger than the Shield of Schutzaria. I suspected Dunkelfelger's countermeasure against my shield operated on a similar principle.

"Lady Rozemyne, please mount your ridebeast and focus on recovery inside. Lord Wilfried, please prepare to use the Sword of Ewigeliebe as soon as you receive the signal. Brünhilde, Eigidore — watch your remaining Magic Power and take turns handing Judithe Magical Tools charged with Magic."

According to Leonore and Matthias, to bring the fight to an even footing, it was crucial for Judithe to carry out long-range attacks, forcing the enemy to commit more forces to defense, thereby reducing the number of attackers they could field.

"To let Matthias and Laurenz focus on Rahltralc, Natalie and Alexis, move to support them. Matthias, I'm counting on you to hold the upper area."

"Yes, ma'am!"

At Leonore's orders, the apprentice knights rushed out of camp. As Ehrenfest moved, Dunkelfelger responded.

"Even if you've stolen our blessings, there's no way Dunkelfelger would lose to Ehrenfest's apprentice knights! Go, Rahltralc! Crush Ehrenfest!"

"Yes, ma'am!"

At Restlaute's command, Dunkelfelger's apprentice knights charged forward on their ridebeasts.

From there, it was a battle between knights. I sipped a gentle recovery potion inside my Lesser Beast and watched the battle unfold.

Just as Leonore and the others had predicted, Judithe's Magical Tool bombardment had succeeded in forcing Dunkelfelger to commit more forces to defense than Ehrenfest, reducing the number of attackers they could field. Even so, it was a razor-thin margin when considering that each Dunkelfelger knight was as strong as an Ehrenfest senior knight.

...Wow, they're fast.

Even though their blessings had been stripped away, the Dunkelfelger apprentice knights still moved faster than Ehrenfest's.

"Losing your blessings doesn't mean your swordsmanship would deteriorate that much!"

I could see Laurenz desperately blocking Rahltralc as he charged in with his sword raised.

"You're one to talk — you were sniffling after taking Judithe's Magical Tool straight to the face!"

"S-shut up! Wasn't it your lot who were blinded by our Magical Tool and couldn't move?!"

The aerial battle above began with a shouting match of mutual taunting.

--- The opening clash of the Bride-Stealing Ditter had been overwhelmingly underhanded on Ehrenfest's part.

Yet Dunkelfelger's fighting spirit remained unbroken.

With Rozemyne recovering, the clash of knights had begun.

Next time: since we couldn't reach the intended end of Part One, it will continue as Part Two.