Kazuki Ascendance of a Bookworm: Part 3 Volume 1

1. Auflage 2020
ISBN: 978-1-7183-4614-7
Verlag: J-Novel Club
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 387 Seiten

Reihe: Ascendance of a Bookworm

Following a disastrous encounter with a noble, Myne finally resolves to say goodbye to her family and friends in the lower city, changing her name to 'Rozemyne' and beginning her new life as the adopted daughter of Ehrenfest's archduke. However, her days as an archnoble in noble society are brutal, as she is put through rigorous etiquette and magic training on top of her duties as High Bishop and forewoman. It all proves too much for a weak little seven-year-old girl... Or it would have, had the High Priest not offered her the keys to the temple's book room as a reward. If she could get her hands on those, she'd be able to read all sorts of precious books! Her name may have changed, but Rozemyne's passion for books remains the same as she charges into a whole new world!
The detailed setting expands as the printing industry grows in size. Here begins Part 3 of this bibliofantasy for book lovers everywhere!

Autoren/Hrsg.

Kazuki, Miya

Weitere Mitwirkende

Shiina, You

Quof

Leseproben

Prologue

After seeing Sylvester off to the Archduke Conference, Karstedt headed to the High Bishop’s now-vacant room. Together with Ferdinand, he took all of the criminal evidence from inside before sealing off the room.

Then, they proceeded to discuss Rozemyne and the fake backstory they would use for her in greater detail; it would have been a bit of a stretch to use the one Sylvester had improvised on the spot. The idea was to say that Karstedt would let the archduke adopt his beloved daughter for her own protection since, like her mother, she had been born with an enormous amount of mana. But mana alone wasn’t enough to earn one the prestige of joining the archducal family. They needed one more push.

Ferdinand tapped a finger against his temple, deep in thought. “Perhaps we can use the fruits of her workshop. Rozemyne, pitying the horrific state of the orphanage, gave the orphans food and work. Her dedication and novel business ideas drew the attention of the archduke,” he proposed.

“Weeping over the orphans and then saving them by providing food and work, hm? That’s practically the work of a saint,” Karstedt murmured, leading Ferdinand to nod in satisfaction.

“Ah yes, a saint indeed. That should do just fine. And if we add on some embellished tales of Rozemyne’s feats, it should be easy to justify giving her the position of High Bishop... What? Karstedt, do not give me that look. There is nothing dishonest about this. Rozemyne truly did create her workshop to save the orphans. Her ultimate goal may have been to reach a point where she could read books without a care, but that does not change the noble results brought about by her efforts.”

Karstedt had heard from Ferdinand that Rozemyne had established a workshop in the orphanage, but after meeting the girl himself, it had been hard to think of her as being anyone capable of something that great.

“As you know, she is skilled in granting large-scale blessings, and as long as she does not speak off-script, she should look just like a saint,” Ferdinand continued. “All she needs to do is what she did when healing the earth during the trombe extermination mission.”

As he thought back to the healing, Karstedt recalled that Rozemyne had stunned every knight who was present by showing her overwhelming amount of mana—a display that appeared even more impressive because she had immediately followed up Shikza’s failed attempt. She was certainly too young to be called a saint, but he couldn’t deny that she looked like one—her flowing midnight-blue hair was well kept, silkier than even the hair of most archnoble girls, and her moon-like golden-yellow eyes were like windows into her emotional heart. She had a pretty face as well, and would no doubt grow up to be a true beauty.

Rozemyne had pale white skin largely untouched by sunlight, and soft hands that weren’t at all worn down by labor. While this was perhaps simply due to how sickly she was, these were desirable traits rarely seen among commoners. Plus, thanks to Ferdinand educating her, she now moved and spoke so gracefully that it was hard to believe she was a commoner. She wasn’t quite refined enough to pass as an archnoble yet, but it would only be a matter of time.

...In any case, the backstory was a little farfetched to say the least. Calling her a saint to convince the nobles that she was worthy wasn’t a bad idea, but she would need to cast a powerful blessing or two to seal the deal.

As Karstedt nodded to himself, Ferdinand knitted his brow. “That will be enough to justify her accomplishments, but is it not unreasonable to say that you hid her in the temple for fear of your wives’ bullying? Elvira is not foolish, and I find it hard to believe she will cooperate with a cover story like that.”

“A fair point, but it’s true that Elvira shunned Rozemary.”

Both Karstedt’s first wife Elvira and second wife Trudeliede had shunned his third wife Rozemary, treating her as a black sheep. The emotional exhaustion this caused was no doubt one of the factors that had led the already-weak Rozemary to collapse.

“You heard that from Rozemary herself, yes? Did you confirm both sides of the story before passing judgment?” Ferdinand asked, eyeing Karstedt closely. He knew that Karstedt had a tendency to side with Rozemary since she was the victim in this situation.

“...I have heard that the root cause was antagonism between Trudeliede’s and Rozemary’s families. But Elvira, the most influential person in the family at home, deprived Rozemary of any peace by giving her support to Trudeliede, despite the fact that Rozemary was the one she needed to protect.”

The dispute had at least been manageable while Elvira was neutral, but everything had fallen apart the moment she picked a side. Karstedt found that frustrating above all else.

“Did you not ask Elvira why she sided with Trudeliede?”

“...I did, and she said it was because I always protected Rozemary. But how could I not have when I saw her being insulted? I have no idea why Elvira gave Trudeliede her support,” Karstedt explained, and Ferdinand rubbed his temples with an exasperated expression.

“If Elvira supported your second wife because you were protecting Rozemary so much, perhaps she was just attempting to maintain balance? I was right; it would be best for us to reveal everything to Elvira in order to earn her support. She will determine everything about Rozemyne’s future in the female side of noble society.”

The largest female faction in ladies’ society had been the one led by the archduke’s mother, but now that she was gone, the faction that Elvira and Sylvester’s wife were in would take its place. Ladies’ society was not something that men could easily enter, being off-limits even to Sylvester, so joining this faction would be Rozemyne’s best chance at living a peaceful life. But even knowing that, Karstedt couldn’t help but feel apprehensive about asking Elvira for help.

“...Ferdinand, would you accompany me when I go to explain this to Elvira? Her attitude will change dramatically depending on whether you’re there with me or not.”

Ferdinand was the archduke’s little brother from another mother, and it was precisely due to his impressive talent that Veronica, the archduke’s mother, had treated him coldly since his birth. Karstedt, however, had not only accepted Ferdinand into the Knight’s Order, but had also gone out of his way to protect him from malice, treating him with as much respect as he would the proper son of an archduke.

But when the former archduke fell ill and it came time to pick his successor, Veronica’s cruelty only intensified. In the end, Ferdinand declared that he had no interest in becoming archduke and joined the temple instead. But even then he continued to help Sylvester with his work, and supported the Knight’s Order whenever it was lacking in numbers. Elvira frequently lavished him with praise, saying that if not for Lord Ferdinand, Ehrenfest would have collapsed long ago, so her reaction would no doubt vary depending on whether it was Karstedt or Ferdinand who provided the explanation.

“Very well. Invite me to dinner tomorrow, then. My schedule is packed until tomorrow afternoon.”

“Alright. That works well for me too, since we of the Knight’s Order still need to conduct our investigation.”

Karstedt left the temple and returned to the Knight’s Order, where Damuel—who was looking fairly queasy—was being questioned by another knight. He had been carried out of the temple unconscious, but was now sitting up and talking just fine. Apparently, the Order had sent him someone capable of using healing magic.

“Once Damuel’s questioning is finished, that will be all for today. We will investigate our prisoners tomorrow,” Karstedt declared. As commander of the Knight’s Order, he received a round of crisp salutes in response.

In the midst of all that, Damuel timidly asked Karstedt a question. “Lord Karstedt... erm... is the apprentice...?”

“She is fine. You did well protecting her for as long as you did given the disadvantage you were at.” A laynoble like Damuel naturally had much less mana than an archnoble like Count Bindewald, so Karstedt was genuinely impressed by how capable he had shown himself to be.

At those words, Damuel slumped over in utter, exhausted relief. “I’m honored,” he managed to force out.

The Knight’s Order dispersed once Damuel’s interrogation was over, and Karstedt headed to the knight dorms to rest. He thought going home unannounced would cause problems since, as far as they were concerned, he was attending the Archduke Conference in the Sovereignty. he assured himself, before swinging his hand to retrieve his schtappe and tapping it against a yellow feystone.

“,” he said, and the feystone morphed into the shape of a white bird. “Lord Ferdinand will be visiting for dinner tomorrow. Please prepare for his arrival.” Having spoken his message, Karstedt swung his schtappe, mentally ordering the bird to go to Elvira. It returned in no time at all.

“Oh my, Lord Ferdinand? Say no more,” it said in a bright, eager voice three times before returning to the shape of a stone. Inviting Ferdinand had been a good idea after all.

The next morning, Karstedt went to interrogate...