"
Only adult knights would be heading out for the subjugation of the Lord of Winter. Apprentices weren't allowed to go along. Even
I was ordered to remain on standby with the apprentice knights, and after Geibe Ilgner and the others left the room, I sat back down. Richalta immediately went to fetch my cold-weather gear.
"If I could take the Knight Academy apprentices to observe, it would be a good learning experience, but..."
"Something that dangerous would never be permitted, Lady."
"You're right. We'd just be dead weight, putting an extra burden on the knights."
Showing the knight order in actual combat would be educational for the apprentice knights who still hadn't learned to coordinate properly, but there was no way they'd bring along apprentices who'd only get in the way during such an intense battle.
Wishing at least for a video camera or something, I drank my tea and waited.
Damuel returned in full armor with his mantle fastened. After him, the Chief Priest came back wearing armor and a mantle as well.
"Sorry to keep you waiting. Let's head to the knight order's training grounds."
I had Richalta and the apprentice knights mount up on lesser buses, and we raced through the blizzard, making sure not to lose sight of the Chief Priest's and Damuel's mantles.
When we arrived at the training grounds, the knights were already lined up in rows. I could see Father,
"Sorry to keep you waiting."
At the Chief Priest's words, everyone knelt in unison. I dismounted from the lesser bus and stood beside him.
"The Saint of Ehrenfest will pray to the gods and bestow their blessings upon us."
I stepped forward before the kneeling knights, drew my staff, and raised it high. Pouring magic power into it so the blessing would reach everyone, I offered a prayer to the God of Courage.
"May the Fire God
Familiar blue light shot from the staff and rained down upon the knights. Due to the large number of people, I used more magic power than I'd expected, but I felt less fatigued than during the previous battle with Schneetilum. It seemed my magic power had truly increased after being released at Yurêvêve.
"We thank the Saint for her blessing. Until the subjugation is complete, do not leave the northern wing. Keep a close watch on the apprentice knights.
"Yes, sir!"
"Understood, Lord
I was told to return to the castle ahead of them, so I mounted the lesser bus with Richalta. We'd need the apprentice knights to lead us back. Spotting the mantles of Brother Cornelius, Angelica, and
Since most of the knight order was heading out for the subjugation, the number of guards would be reduced, so
Being confined to the northern wing wasn't a problem for me, so I spent my time reading and having tea with Charlotte... It was probably the most relaxed I'd felt since awakening.
Right now, I was having tea with Charlotte. She'd told me so sweetly, "You'd just come back from the
Come to think of it, this was the first time Charlotte and I had a tea party alone together since
"Father and Mother would both be home for these few days, so I used to look forward to when the subjugation of the Lord of Winter began."
It had apparently been a precious few days when her parents, usually busy with socializing, could spend time at home. Charlotte shared those memories with me.
"It must be lonely, having such different relationships with your siblings."
"...I always took it as the natural order of things, so I didn't feel all that lonely. But how strict Grandmother was with me while being so very kind to my brother—that was something I deeply envied."
Apparently, her attitude toward Charlotte—who resembled her adoptive mother—had been harsh. Since my backstory was that I'd grown up in the Temple, I couldn't say much. I didn't know my mother's face, and the story was that the Chief Priest had looked after me at Father's request.
Worried I'd slip up no matter what I said, I answered in sparse words while trying to remember my cover story. Charlotte seemed to sense it was a painful topic I didn't want to dwell on, and she changed the subject.
"Please tell me more about the Temple another time. But more importantly—Sister, if you became a Lord, what would you want to do?"
"I'm not going to become a Lord, you know?"
"...I didn't mean it like that. My teacher asked me as an assignment what I'd want to do if I became a Lord, so I was curious how you would answer, Sister."
It was probably like children discussing their future dreams—"What do you want to be when you grow up?" Hmm, I thought as I listened to Charlotte.
...If I were to rule, what kind of territory I'd create was already decided!
"If I became a Lord, I'd turn my territory into a land overflowing with books. It'd be a city of books with printing workshops everywhere, where manuscripts requesting to be printed would pour in from all over. Every day, every month, new books would be produced at some workshop, and I'd mandate that every new book be presented to the Lord first—meaning I'd be the very first to get my hands on all of them. The library would have to keep expanding and expanding, and I'd teach the commoners to read, spread the joy of reading to everyone, and create a territory where anyone could read whatever they wanted... Ah, how wonderful! How blissful! That would be my ideal world."
...Wha—!? Oh no! I've freaked her out!
Charlotte was staring at me with a stunned expression. I might have gotten a bit too carried away.
"O-Of course, this is just a dream. I don't expect it to come true anytime soon. ...Though I do intend to work toward making it a reality."
"You really do love books, don't you, Sister?"
Charlotte's face had broken into a giggling smile that said "What am I going to do with this sister of mine?" The apprentice knights and attendants looked like they were suppressing laughter, and Richalta had adopted an expression of complete exasperation.
...Aaagh, I messed up. I should've given a cooler answer! Not that I can think of a single cool answer! Somebody, please, give me the model response!
Over tea, I talked about the Academic Improvement Committee's activities at the Royal Academy and heard from Charlotte about this year's children's room.
When Richalta realized Charlotte and I would be spending time together, she arranged for us to practice for the festspiel as well as lace-making and embroidery as part of our bridal training. This prompted me to get competitive, determined to impress Charlotte.
I had a vague sense I was being manipulated, but there was nothing to be done. I wanted to be a wonderful big sister to Charlotte. I wanted her to think, "My sister is amazing."
As I pricked away at my floral embroidery, wishing I could be reading instead, I was reminded of my days as Urano. "Come now, let's get to it. Close that book!"—I'd been forced to do embroidery like this. The memory resurfaced: thinking that clothes were things you bought, that with printed fabric and a sewing machine you could embroider easily, so why bother doing it by hand?
...Who would have thought the "old lady art" I'd thought was useless would turn out to be so handy.
After several days of what could be called either elegant or tedious, the subjugation of the Lord of Winter seemed to come to an end, and we could visibly see the skies clearing.
The exhausted knights returned, and Brother Cornelius told us they'd been given rotating days off. Several more days passed.
By the time everyone was back to normal, I wanted to be ready to act. I wrote letters about several matters—that Geibe Ilgner had agreed to cooperate with expanding the papermaking workshops, that we'd be building a printing workshop in
Additionally, I submitted a report to my adoptive father detailing the discussions at the Temple and the results of my meeting with Geibe Ilgner. I was sure the Chief Priest had already reported in, but I'd been told to report, communicate, and consult, and there was a possibility that the Chief Priest's report and mine—written from a merchant-oriented perspective—would differ.
Even though they'd been called for negotiations,
...If my adoptive father made unreasonable demands in his usual forceful manner and Benno and the others failed, it wouldn't just be a merchant's failure—it would be Ehrenfest's failure.
This was different from the past, when you could just swap out the head of a failed merchant's operation or shut down a shop and hand it to someone new. If they failed while dealing with royalty or
...Oh boy, that's terrifying.
All the knights had returned, and daily life in the castle resumed. I was permitted to enter and leave the main building about a week after I'd given the blessing to the knight order.
I was summoned to my adoptive father's office regarding the report.
"Rozemyne, when it comes to socializing, everyone is at their wits' end—but you're truly formidable in commercial matters."
"People have their strengths and weaknesses."
...It was so much easier when we could just speak bluntly like we did in the lower city. Noble socializing was hard.
The phrasing was so roundabout that I still sometimes didn't understand the meaning or took things slightly wrong. After reflecting on tea parties with the other mothers, I realized I'd been interpreting things at odd angles more often than I'd thought. The truly terrifying part was that because both sides used indirect language, conversations could proceed smoothly even when the interpretations were completely off.
"Two territories can be contracted as trading partners at most. Can't we increase that number?"
"For the hair ornaments, it seems some workshops have already been added since they've become popular among Ehrenfest's nobility. But if we were to sign a contract with a large territory, we have no way of knowing how much demand would increase."
We'd had rough estimates made based on the proportions of Royal Academy students, but with few contracted territories and a product that was fundamentally in short supply, many merchants would try to stockpile more, seeing a business opportunity.
"Creating a shortage and frustrating our contracted partners would be counterproductive. Furthermore, regarding Plant Paper, the restrictions from the Contract Magic have prevented us from increasing the number of workshops. If trading partners increase too rapidly... wouldn't that be tantamount to violating the contract between Lords?"
My inner thought—"I'm pretty sure the Aub Ehrenfest would be called out at the next Lords' Meeting"—seemed to have come through loud and clear.
My adoptive father nodded, as did the court officials who would presumably be accompanying him to the Lords' Meeting.
"I understand the reason for being selective about contract partners. Now, the other matter... since it's merchants who actually handle the goods, the proposal to include the lower city as an information-gathering venue for the Lords' Meeting..."
"Yes."
"I agree with what you wrote in your report. But the court officials say that merchants will do as they're told if given orders—no need to meet with them beforehand. They claim it's never been a problem before, and they're resisting gathering information from the lower city."
"...A court official who willingly goes to the lower city would be quite the unusual sort."
I knew of only one court official who went to the lower city with any enthusiasm, and that was saying something. I could understand why nobles would never want to set foot in a place that smelled bad and was dirty.
"Gathering information in the lower city would certainly be beneficial, but I think we should begin improving it under official leadership as soon as possible. From what I've heard from the merchants who visit Mine Workshop, Ehrenfest's lower city is seen by merchants from other territories as dirty and lacking in appeal."
"...Are other territories' lower cities beautiful?"
Lower cities were supposed to be dirty. Commoners lived there, so that was just how it was. My adoptive father narrowed his eyes—clearly, that had been his assumption too. The court officials standing by his side felt the same.
"I wouldn't know, as I haven't seen other territories. The information comes from Traveling Merchants who visit other towns as well, so I don't think it's entirely wrong."
"...Hmm."
"Until now, very few nobles or merchants from other territories visited, so everyone already knew Ehrenfest's condition. But if merchants from the Central District or Klassenberg start coming, what will they think...?"
I tried to argue that having the Noble District right in the Lord's seat of power while the lower city looked like this could even drag down our product evaluations, but it didn't seem to resonate with the court officials.
"The lower city and the Noble District are separate things. Can't we simply continue hosting nobles in the Noble District as we always have, Lady Rozemyne?"
Unlike the court officials, my adoptive father had actually walked through and seen the lower city for himself. He seemed to understand what I was getting at, and with a slight smirk, he looked around at the officials.
"What would people think of a noble who has attendants that greet guests with disheveled appearances, insufficient quantities of promised goods, and a home where the garden, entrance, and hallways are covered in mud? If only the meeting room and the lord himself are presentable, would they be properly evaluated? That is what Rozemyne is saying."
The court officials turned to my adoptive father with a look of sudden realization.
Anyone coming from another territory had to pass through the lower city to reach the Noble District. The locals might call them the Noble District and the lower city separately and think of them as completely distinct places, but from an outsider's perspective, they were all one city—Ehrenfest.
My adoptive father's apt analogy tightened the officials' expressions.
"We understand perfectly. It will need to be beautified promptly."
...Yes, yes.
"Wouldn't we need to kick all the commoners out and rebuild the city from scratch?"
...What? Come again?
"Rebuilding the city would be too difficult given how tight we are on magic power. For now, let's start by designing how we'd go about the changes."
...Oh no. If I left this to my adoptive father and the officials, even the city improvements felt dangerous!
"Wait. Let's start with things that are actually doable—like paying commoners to clean out the waste, having them sweep the streets, mandating the use of latrines and bathing facilities, and getting them to tidy up their appearance."
"You're right. As Rozemyne says, we don't have the luxury of a major overhaul for the lower city. This magic power shortage is quite the problem."
...Wait, I never said anything about magic power?
Thanks to Ehrenfest's magic power shortage, we managed to avoid a dramatically sudden before-and-after transformation of the lower city, and the discussion settled on a gradual improvement approach.
I let out a sigh of relief. I never imagined such a small suggestion would lead to this kind of development. I'd nearly caused a repeat of the small temple at
Several days after I thought I'd had some small success in getting the court officials to recognize the lower city as part of Ehrenfest, the merchants arrived at the third bell.
Because they'd received materials from the Plantane Trading Company in advance, reviewed them, and requested an audience, the Plantane Trading Company was already in the castle from the morning. The rest would arrive in the afternoon.
"Several court officials will be in attendance. They say they want to see how you deal with merchants."
Even though they knew gathering information from the lower city was necessary, they'd only ever issued orders before and apparently didn't know how to go about it.
"They probably also want to verify that a young girl isn't being manipulated by the merchants. It would have been strange to refuse, so I agreed. Be extremely careful about your facial expressions and emotional control."
The Chief Priest murmured in a voice so quiet no one else could hear, "The lower city is your greatest weakness."
"If they touch on that, there's no telling how you'll react. Just as
When he asked, "Can you imagine what someone who harbors ill will toward you would do if they learned your weakness?" I gave a small nod.
"Until we return to the Temple, you must absolutely keep your emotions in check."
"...Yes."
When the Chief Priest and I entered the room with our guards and attendants, four court officials were already lined up inside. Geibe Ilgner and Victa had apparently been summoned as well, and I could see them seated and waiting.
After the lengthy greetings were over, I received the materials I'd requested from the Plantane Trading Company and looked them over. In the meantime, the Chief Priest had arranged to purchase Nançay paper through the Plantane Trading Company.
Benno's materials carefully detailed the preliminary work for Haldenzel as well as the procedures he'd followed when setting up his own workshop. The neat handwriting was
"Thanks to the Plantane Trading Company's materials, I can determine where to establish the next printing workshop and understand how to prepare the papermaking workshops. This has been very helpful."
"I'm glad I could be of assistance, Lady Rozemyne."
"The Gutenberg artisans will move to Haldenzel in time for the Spring Prayer. Then, to establish papermaking workshops in various locations, we'll need to send three artisans as teachers to each prepared workshop and arrange personnel for the Ehrenfest Paper Association. Ilgner, Hasse, and the orphanage will each send three people as teachers—is the Plantane Trading Company all right with this?"
The papermaking artisans would be sent only after the workshops and equipment were ready. Making Screen Frames and assembling tools and craftspeople couldn't be done overnight. They'd likely head to the papermaking workshops after returning from Haldenzel.
"That will be fine. Thank you for your consideration."
Then I informed them that I'd requested the number of contracted territories be limited to two, based on the production quantities listed in the materials.
Feeling the court officials' serious gazes on me, I went through the discussion with Benno. Since I'd already communicated most of it by letter, the exchange went smoothly—until Benno hesitantly asked, "Will the Contract Magic be dissolved?"
"Yes. When considering that we need to spread the industry across all of Ehrenfest and sell to other territories, the current contract no longer fits. The Aub Ehrenfest agrees."
Being careful not to let my face stiffen, I gave a bright smile.
The very first contract would undoubtedly be dissolved. When trying to grow something into a territorial industry, having workshop establishment require my personal approval rather than the Lord's, and mandating that all sales go through the Plantane Trading Company where
We discussed the payment to be made in place of the contract cancellation and the Plantane Trading Company's handling going forward.
"I cannot express enough gratitude for the Aub Ehrenfest's consideration."
"They have great expectations for the Plantane Trading Company going forward."
There was no emotion visible on Lutz's face as he stood behind Benno. He was watching me with a merchant's polite smile he'd picked up at some point.
The afternoon meeting with the addition of the Guild Master,
"Now, please sign here."
The last thing brought out was the Parchment for dissolving the Contract Magic. It had just two contract numbers and a brief statement declaring their dissolution.
Just as when we'd first signed, we inscribed our names and pressed the Blood Seal. After Benno and Lutz, only I was given a pen that could sign using magic power from a court official, and I wrote my name—not "Mine" as when the contract was made, but "Rozemyne."
When I finished signing, the Parchment was engulfed in golden flames and burned away. The contract between Mine, Lutz, and Benno was consumed by the flames in an instant.
It felt like thin threads were snapping one by one, like something precious was being torn away, and my heart trembled with an indescribable anxiety. I wanted to ask Benno and Lutz, "Even without the contract, our bond hasn't changed, right?" I desperately wanted a definitive answer that it hadn't changed.
Remembering that I'd been told to keep my emotions in check until we returned to the Temple, I braced myself.
"Hmm. With this, the papermaking and printing industries can be expanded without issue."
"The cause of the stagnation in workshop establishment has been removed."
The Aub Ehrenfest's voice and the officials' voices of agreement grated harshly on my ears.