A Secret Tour of the Library

by Miya Kazuki

“Philine, come to the retainers’ room when you finish cleaning up,” Leonore said after Rihyarda and Lieseleta took Lady Rozemyne to the bath.

Have I made some kind of mistake?

I promptly cleared away the stationery and such that I had been using to make study guides, then made my way to the retainers’ room as instructed. “Excuse me,” I said as I entered, my quavering voice betraying my nerves.

Leonore and Brunhilde were the only other people in the room. Leonore was seated, her brow drawn into a slight frown, while Brunhilde was briskly preparing tea for the trolley, signifying that she was working.

“You may sit,” Leonore said, gesturing to the seat opposite her.

“U-Understood!” I replied, so anxious that my eyes were brimming with tears.

“There is no need to be so worried,” Brunhilde interjected with a giggle as she took the seat beside me. “Leonore’s deep in thought, not stewing in anger—though her resting expression can be a bit intimidating. She just wishes to discuss our plans for tomorrow.”

Leonore placed a hand on her cheek. “Was I really making such a scary face? My apologies,” she said with an embarrassed smile.

I suddenly felt a lot less tense. This was my first time speaking to two archnobles directly without Judithe or Angelica close by.

“Brunhilde and I intend to go to the library tomorrow morning to speak to Professor Solange,” Leonore explained to me. “Would you like to accompany us?”

“I certainly appreciate the offer,” I replied. “Hartmut has been suggesting that we go to the library before Lady Rozemyne starts to frequent it, and that we get permission from Professor Solange to distribute crest-certified work. That said... is it really acceptable for us to go there while Lady Rozemyne cannot?” She was so enthusiastic about going but was being denied access until she finished all of her classes, and it didn’t feel right for us to go without her.

“Empathy like yours is very important for a retainer; Lady Rozemyne would doubtless be impacted if she learned of our trip,” Brunhilde noted. “However, that is no excuse for us to give up on laying the groundwork expected of us. To be a skilled retainer, one must be able to effectuate a thorough investigation in secret, stash it within one’s heart, and then utilize the acquired intelligence when necessary.” She was using some pretty big words—maybe because she was an archnoble—but I desperately tried to keep up with her.

“U-Um, so... we’re going to the library without Lady Rozemyne knowing?” I asked. “And keeping it a secret?”

“Your understanding is... not incorrect,” Brunhilde said with a nod, though her brow was somewhat furrowed. Had I mixed something up, perhaps? I glanced at Leonore for confirmation, but she didn’t seem mad. On the contrary, she was looking at me warmly.

“Will we be the only ones going?” I asked, not fully understanding why the others hadn’t been called as well.

“The second-, fourth-, and sixth-years have practical lessons to attend in the morning. I am the only exception, as I passed music in my most recent class. Of the first-, third-, and fifth-years, Hartmut and Cornelius are both free, but the latter has prioritized getting Angelica to pass her written lessons, and the former is going to stay with Lady Rozemyne in your stead.”

“Hartmut seems to have borrowed many books that Lady Rozemyne has yet to read from the library,” Brunhilde explained. “Rihyarda will give them to her and get her to read while we are gone, so our absence will not disturb her.”

I was in awe; who else but Hartmut could conceal our absence while at the same time pleasing Lady Rozemyne? He was simply on another level.

“In that case, I will not let Hartmut’s kindness go to waste,” I said, expressing my resolve. “I will make good use of the opportunity that he has made for us.”

Brunhilde met my comment with a faraway stare. “Did you hear that, Leonore? ‘Hartmut’s kindness,’ she says.”

Leonore had an equally distant look in her eyes. “His motivations aside, we cannot deny that he is fulfilling an important role.”

After breakfast, the students with classes to attend exited the dormitory, while Hartmut lured Lady Rozemyne into the common room. He and Rihyarda would take things from there, allowing Leonore, Brunhilde, and me to make our way to the library in secret.

We left the central building and walked down the hall until we reached a door. One simply needed to hold up their hand to open it—assuming they were registered. This led to a hallway, which in turn led to the library’s hall, where Professor Solange was waiting.

“Ah, Lady Rozemyne’s retainers. Good morning.”

“As mentioned in our recent ordonnanz,” Leonore began, speaking as our representative, “we would like to examine the library for ourselves before Lady Rozemyne begins to visit. Our intention is to check for any dangerous places or individuals, or other unexpected occurrences.”

Professor Solange nodded with a smile. “I shall spare no effort with assisting you. I would not want Lady Rozemyne to face any dangers—especially not after she brought life back to Schwartz and Weiss. We have no other visitors today either. Although, with all that said... I cannot imagine you will find anything dangerous here.” She pointed at the door we had come in through. “The library is built such that only those who are registered or who have the permission of a librarian such as myself can pass through the end of that hallway. No unfamiliar faces ever enter the library’s grounds, and those who attempt acts of violence while inside will be captured by Schwartz and Weiss.”

One even had to be registered to enter the basement and the first floor that the servants used—and there were no servants working in the library at the moment anyway.

“The security here certainly is strict,” Leonore observed.

“It reflects the value of our reading material. We also have a statue of Schutzaria the Goddess of Wind—she who protects all knowledge within the Royal Academy—carved into the wall over there.”

Leonore headed in the direction that Professor Solange had indicated. There was a statue of the Goddess of Wind at the far end of the hall, opposite the office, holding up a shield and looking very serious. I was so enraptured that I couldn’t help but sigh in awe, but Leonore simply wore a stern expression. She looked between the statue, the door to the reading room, and the door to the office.

“Professor Solange, what is behind this carving?” Leonore eventually asked. “Given the library’s size, there must be a room of some sort.”

“On the other side of that wall is a storage room for magic tools related to the library. It can be accessed via a staircase in the reading room. Unfortunately, as I am the only librarian currently working here, the bulk of the magic tools are not operational,” Professor Solange explained, looking quite disparaged. She then said, “Shall I show you the office next?” before turning around and starting toward the other end of the hall.

“Please do,” Leonore replied, following her. “In particular, I wish to check the door connecting it to the reading room.”

This wasn’t my first time entering the office—we had already been there once before when registering with the library—so I didn’t feel particularly nervous. As I remembered, there were some benches right by the entrance, a round table to the right, and an administrative desk beyond it.

“The desk looks rather large,” Brunhilde said, looking curious. “Does it also function as a work table? I imagine there is a rest area behind that partition.”

Professor Solange stroked the desk wistfully. “It surely looks too large for me to use alone, but back when there were so many more librarians here, it was actually troublesomely small,” she explained, then led us to the other side of the partition and gestured to the large table there. “I also use this table here as a work desk.”

Just as Brunhilde had predicted, behind the partition was a rest area. As well as the large table, there were three chairs in the far corner that had presumably once been used by the other librarians. The chairs looked quite old, and seeing them empty made the room feel somewhat lonely.

“We used to have our meals in here,” Professor Solange said, “but as I do not like to make my attendant bring food all this way for me alone, I now eat in the staff dining hall instead. We would also listen to the concerns of the professors, but there is so much work to be done that I no longer have the time. I rarely eat in this room nowadays.”

“Does that mean the library has facilities for making tea, then? I had been wondering what to do about Lady Rozemyne’s drinks when she stays here for extended periods,” Brunhilde said, her voice brightening.

Solange thought for a moment, then shook her head. “Our tea-making facilities are through that door, in the librarian dormitory,” she said, pointing. “I cannot permit a student to enter.”

“I see. Then my only option is to push a cart from the Ehrenfest Dormitory,” Brunhilde said, her joy from moments ago giving way to disappointment. It would be no small feat to bring so many different kinds of tea all this way.

“Might I suggest consulting Lady Rozemyne about her preferences before you come?” Professor Solange said. “I am sure she would not complain about only having one blend if you speak with her in advance.”

“Indeed, she would not. However...” Brunhilde rested a hand on her cheek and sighed. The library was a public space, visited at times by professors. If said professors saw her and concluded that she was slacking or being inconsiderate as a retainer, then they would deduct points from her during her attendant course practical lessons.

“I see...” Professor Solange said, understanding the situation. “That is difficult, indeed.”

“Attendants judge each other even during tea parties with other duchies—and the inadequacy of an attendant is seen, by extension, as the inadequacy of their lady!” Brunhilde exclaimed, getting more and more heated.

Professor Solange let out a small chuckle and remarked that Lady Rozemyne was very fortunate to have such dedicated retainers. In response, Brunhilde’s cheeks colored red with embarrassment.

“Professor Solange, that shelf over there is where Schwartz and Weiss were sitting the last time we came here, isn’t it?” I asked, trying to change the topic. “Do they return there for the night?”

“Oh, no. I get them to stay in the librarian dormitory to keep them from being stolen,” Professor Solange replied, opening its door ever so slightly. Working alone in the office sounded very isolating—living alone in the dormitory even more so.

“Do you not get lonely living all on your own?” I asked.

“My attendant, Catherine, stays there with me, and with Schwartz and Weiss now active again, things are actually quite lively. So, to answer your question: no, not anymore,” she replied, chuckling to herself as she closed the dormitory door again.

Next, Professor Solange led us into the reading room. Immediately through the door was the administration desk where visitors could take out books. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest, perhaps because entering from the office was such a rare opportunity.

“This is where documents and carrel keys can be borrowed,” Professor Solange said. “Please avoid touching the shelves here. This is where we store collateral, and an errant touch could result in Schwartz and Weiss coming after you.”

There were no visitors in the reading room, since most students were busy with their classes. Schwartz and Weiss were sitting in chairs, paying us no mind. It was a little unusual, considering that they followed us around when we were with Lady Rozemyne, saying “milady” this and “milady” that. She received special treatment, it seemed.

“Oh my,” came Leonore’s voice. “The light from the hall is illuminating those carrels over there.”

I turned to look. Carrels were personal study spaces, and the ones here were nestled cozily between the large pillars lining the room’s perimeter. Leonore seemed to be looking specifically at the carrels along the north wall, which were basking in the light streaming in through the room’s long windows. They were surprisingly bright for desks on the north side of the building.

“Those carrels are a lot less popular than the others, since they look out on the hall,” Professor Solange explained. Students often found the bustle of people coming and going and the exposure to wandering eyes distracting.

“I suppose we will need to look at each carrel,” Leonore said. “I want to know which ones are best to recommend to Lady Rozemyne when she comes to use them.” She then started examining the carrels with a very stern expression, weighing up their structure, windows, distance from the entrance, and so on. The work of an apprentice guard knight looked very challenging—and, to be frank, completely beyond me.

“In that case, let us circle the first floor, starting from the west side,” Professor Solange said.

We passed the administration desk and traveled a short distance along the west wall until we reached another door. Professor Solange rapped it a few times while noting that it led to the Second Archive.

“This archive contains old documents,” she explained. “It remains locked unless something needs to be taken out, and even then, I relock it as soon as the documents have been removed. I possess the key, so we have little cause to worry about intruders.” She turned the knob to prove that it was locked, then allowed Leonore to check for herself.

“The Second Archive...” Leonore muttered. “Does that mean there is a First Archive?”

“Indeed. The documents of professors are stored there, so it exists in the central building. I can guide you there as well, if you wish—though I will need some time to prepare, as it is a fair distance away.”

“There is no need. I am concerned only with the possible entrances and exits to the library.”

“Understood. Let us continue, then.”

The carrels near the archive had no windows to speak of, so they were darker than the others. Light would instead come from several magic tools above the tables.

“Those magic tools require mana, so these carrels are ill suited for laynobles,” Professor Solange said. “That said, when finals approach, visiting students are desperate to secure any carrel at all.”

After reaching a certain point along the west wall, the carrels started to have windows again; the Second Archive evidently didn’t span the entire length of the building. Light streamed in from outside, and we could see the snowy landscape of the Royal Academy. Leonore, who had been checking the carrels, inspected the scenery through slightly narrowed eyes.

“Professor Solange,” she said, indicating some steps that were visible through the window, “where do those stairs go?”

“Into the archive we just passed. New documents should be detoxified and safeguarded with a preservation spell prior to being stored, but this process requires open space, so it became standard practice for us librarians to use our dormitory’s garden. Circumstances meant that quite a few documents never underwent this procedure, but with Schwartz and Weiss active again, we can reregister them properly.”

Professor Solange gazed out the window, her eyes crinkled in a nostalgic smile. It seemed that Lady Rozemyne waking Schwartz and Weiss was doing more good than we had imagined.

“So many lovely flowers bloom in the garden around the time of the Archduke Conference, and the tea parties we librarians had there were ever so delightful...” Professor Solange said.

“As students, we only attend the Royal Academy during the winter, so I cannot imagine the grounds without their familiar blanket of snow,” Brunhilde replied. I nodded in agreement; I couldn’t even begin to picture the pure-white expanse before us being awash in color.

Professor Solange giggled. “It certainly is rare for students to witness springtime at the Academy. If you are able to gain enough status, then you may be able to attend the Archduke Conference and witness it for yourselves.”

Leonore chuckled as well as we started eastward along the south wall of the building.

“Professor Solange,” Brunhilde said abruptly as we passed one of the many windows, “we of Ehrenfest wish to use the library to advertise Lady Rozemyne’s crest-certified work to other duchies.”

“Oh my. You do?”

“Indeed. Our intention is to have others start gathering stories, and to spread the word as soon as possible so that Lady Rozemyne is not seen as poor or miserly for visiting the library herself,” Brunhilde replied with a look of concern.

The library was largely seen as being for laynobles and mednobles without their own finances, and, with the exception of apprentice scholars, normal archnobles and archduke candidates rarely ever visited it. They would instead send members of the lower classes to fetch any documents they needed—not out of arrogance or as a means to be exploitative, but as a way of assisting those beneath them. It was the duty of archnobles and archduke candidates to give minor tasks to other students—particularly laynobles—so that they could earn enough money to get by at the Academy. It would be problematic beyond words if people came to assume that Lady Rozemyne was too frugal to send laynobles to the library.

“There can be no denying that retainers with eccentric lords and ladies face their own unique struggles,” Professor Solange said. “Can you tell me more about this crest-certified work?”

Brunhilde glanced at me. I was already doing crest-certified work as Lady Rozemyne’s scholar, so I would need to take care of the negotiations.

“Um, uh... Professor Solange,” I said, so anxious that I couldn’t keep my voice from cracking. “Lady Rozemyne is requesting transcriptions of any books not yet stored in Ehrenfest’s book rooms and of tales passed down in other duchies. We will provide the pens and ink; our only request is that we be permitted to use the library.”

Solange listened with a warm smile, then said, “I do not mind that—outside of when the library is busy before final exams.”

“Are there any carrels that are better for negotiating with students of other duchies?” I asked.

“Hm... The carrels in this area are visible from the entrance when you look between the bookshelves. Perhaps that will make it easier for those interested in the work to find you. However, this is also a popular location, so you may want to ensure you have an archnoble present who can secure your place.”

Mednobles were able to claim a laynoble’s carrel for themselves simply by asking for it, no matter where their duchies placed in the overall rankings. I could only slump my shoulders at the thought; as a laynoble myself—and one of such a low grade—there was surely no way for me to keep a carrel.

Brunhilde gave me a reassuring slap on the back. “There is no need to look so down. You are going to be accompanying Lady Rozemyne, an archduke candidate, when you come to the library. There will not be any issues to speak of.”

Leonore nodded in agreement, much to my relief.

We then made our way along the carrels on the east wall. Leonore checked between the bookshelves as she continued her hunt for the best study space for Lady Rozemyne, noting that there were far too many blind spots.

“Professor Solange, there is a doorway under that staircase over there,” I said as we neared the reading room’s northeast corner. “Is that the entrance you told us about before...?”

“Indeed,” she replied. “It leads to the magic tool storage room. Like the Second Archive, it remains locked at all times. I see no way for an intruder to gain access or hide within.”

Soon enough, we took the wide staircase up to the library’s second floor. Instead of carrels, there were bookcases with desks attached to them.

“The books here are chained to the shelves,” Professor Solange explained, “so you will need to go to the relevant desks to read them. Few students use the second floor, though, so I cannot say whether Lady Rozemyne will want to come up here.”

“What do these books cover?”

“They are collections of professor-led research that earned royal recognition. I expect you will find more from Drewanchel than anywhere else.”

Professor Solange went on to provide a few examples, though her brief summaries were enough to make my head spin. I could understand why not many students came to this floor.

Still, I know for a fact that Lady Rozemyne will gleefully read them all.

“The ceiling has magic tools that indicate when it is closing time,” Professor Solange continued.

“Yes, the color-changing lights. Rihyarda was relieved when Lady Rozemyne noticed them.”

I gazed up at the ceiling. There was light shining in through the glass, but it wasn’t colored. I also made a mental note that the second floor was much smaller than expected, owing to the large atrium in the center that kept the lower floor illuminated.

We followed an ivory handrail south to where the shape of the bookshelves changed. The desks here were slanted, and one could put documents and such on them for a more comfortable reading experience. Beneath them were books stored in neat piles.

“These are the bookrests. Many old works and documents that were never made into books are stored as scrolls, and these desks have magic tools that help with reading them. Beneath the bookrests are the books too large to fit on the nearby shelves.”

The books were so big that just picking them up looked difficult. As an apprentice scholar, I would need to be prepared for the moment that Lady Rozemyne asked to read one. I was hopeful that I would manage... but they looked really heavy.

“This back area is where we keep boards, scrolls, and other, less uniformly shaped documents,” Professor Solange said, leading us to a series of shelves on the west side of the room. There were more old documents than new here—and the smell of dust was much thicker than anywhere else in the library. “Professor Hirschur does not like devoting her time to making books, so many of these are her research results. I sympathize with her disciple, who has to scour the shelves in desperate search of what they need.”

“Oh my...”

We all giggled and continued along until we came to a statue of a goddess. Given the large book in her hand, it was surely Mestionora.

“This is a statue of the Goddess of Wisdom,” Professor Solange explained. “Here, one can pray for many more books to gather at the library.”

“I expect that Lady Rozemyne will pray to it quite fervently...” I said.

“Philine, keep its existence close to your chest,” Leonore said. “We cannot have Lady Rozemyne find out about it, else she will start going on about erecting statues of Mestionora all over the place.”

I could already imagine Lady Rozemyne putting holy statues all over her room, and the thought made me giggle. “I will keep it a secret,” I said. “Oh... Professor Solange, what is that door?”

“It leads to another magic tool storage room. It similarly remains locked at all times.”

“There certainly are a lot of magic tools here...” I muttered. There was the other magic tool storage room on the first floor—and, of course, Schwartz and Weiss. Just how many magic tools did the library have?

“There are some in the pillars and others in the ceiling as well, so if one wanted to run them all at once, one would require far more than a single mednoble librarian such as myself. Only the very bare minimum of tools are being used at the moment.”

I could only imagine how frustrated Professor Solange felt, loving the library so deeply but only having enough mana to keep the most necessary magic tools running. As a laynoble retainer serving the archducal family, I could relate to her well.

I, too, wish that I had enough mana to carry out my duties... I need to earn money so that I can learn Lady Rozemyne’s compression method.

Leonore was asking Professor Solange several follow-up questions when we were bathed in colored light, signifying the end of the class period.

Professor Solange briskly led us back down to the first floor, then said, “Do return to your dormitory now, dears. Students and professors with an interest in Schwartz and Weiss have started to come by on Earthdays and during lunch. Some speak poorly of your duchy, arguing that it has stolen royal heirlooms, and some even wish to take ownership of the two shumils. You may end up in conflict with them if you stay.”

We followed Professor Solange’s advice and exited the library at once, beginning our walk back to the dormitory.

“Lady Rozemyne becoming Schwartz and Weiss’s master certainly has lit a fire under a lot of students in the Academy...” Brunhilde said, sounding worried. “At this rate, I have to wonder if the archduke candidates of greater duchies won’t formally complain once socializing season begins.”

“If we do receive complaints, we would just need to give up the shumils, wouldn’t we?” I asked. Ehrenfest was ranked very lowly, and surrendering to those ranked above us was an easy way to prevent things from escalating. As a laynoble, I was used to such compromises. Maybe the idea just didn’t occur to archnobles.

“Indeed, Philine. You are correct.”

We arrived at the central building right as fourth bell rang. Several classroom doors opened, and students began to stream out into the corridors. We went with the flow of people returning to their dormitories for lunch and were soon back in the Ehrenfest Dormitory.

As we made our way up the stairs, Brunhilde looked at the first-floor common room. “Giving them up to a higher-ranked duchy would, of course, be the correct choice... but I expect that Lady Rozemyne will end up losing control and prioritizing the library over interduchy relations.”

I couldn’t help but remember Lady Rozemyne’s obsessive enthusiasm about the library—and the way she had forced all of us first-years to study and pass each of our classes on the first day so that she could start going there. Just thinking about it made me break out in a cold sweat.

“Philine... my words a moment ago—let us keep them between us,” Brunhilde then said. I realized that she was doing this for my sake, and a warm feeling spread through my chest.

“Understood,” I replied. “I will keep it a secret.”

It was only a short while later that Brunhilde’s fears were realized. At the time, nobody had expected that Lady Rozemyne would crush the complaining Dunkelfelgerians in treasure-stealing ditter and gain the official approval of royalty in the process.

Q&A with Miya Kazuki

Here I’ll be answering some of the questions I received on my Narou page between July 2 and July 16, 2018. There were some very specific ones this time that had me wanting to say, “You’re asking about that?!” Once again, I did my best to answer as many as possible.

Miya Kazuki

Q: Is the royal family’s crest also the crest of Yurgenschmidt?

A: It is now—but in the distant past, it was a crest that only the king could use.

Q: Based on the map of Yurgenschmidt, it seems to me that the losing and dismantled duchies are concentrated on the east side of the country. I imagine that Ehrenfest was invited to join them, so why did it remain neutral?

A: Ehrenfest received invitations from Werkestock, Zausengas, and Frenbeltag but was at the same time restrained by Ahrensbach and Klassenberg. On top of this, the previous Aub Ehrenfest was confined to his sickbed and could not make any major decisions for his duchy. When the time came for Sylvester to take his place, his mother obstinately stuck with Ahrensbach, as she already had its backing. Sylvester didn’t want to act against Frenbeltag—his wife’s home duchy—and ultimately couldn’t bring himself to pick a side, so Ehrenfest ended up staying neutral.

Q: The Royal Academy sounds like it’s located on a snowy mountain range, but how far is it from the Sovereignty’s cities? How big are its grounds?

A: The Academy is somewhere that can only be accessed by teleportation circles, so I couldn’t tell you how far it is from the Sovereignty’s cities. It’s about the size of a lesser duchy.

Q: Regarding the Yurgenschmidt map—am I right in assuming that duchies like Hauchletzte, Jossbrenner, and Klassenberg are connected to oceans in the same way as Ahrensbach?

A: That’s right. Ahrensbach is the only duchy that has its country gate open, though, so the oceans of the other duchies are steadily shrinking.

Q: I feel like the duchy rankings are there in part to forestall war. Lower-ranked duchies generally can’t go against the orders of top-ranking duchies, but how much pressure is there, exactly? Would a lower-ranked duchy really need to listen to top-ranking duchies that are physically so far away from them?

A: Things rarely develop further when it’s a personal offense between two individuals, but at other times, the person from the higher-ranked duchy might retaliate by spurning the offender during information-gathering sessions or what have you—which would earn the offender some cold glares from their fellows. In especially bad cases, the aub of the duchy will receive complaints and insults from the higher-ranking duchy during the Archduke Conference, which would result in the offender having their parents summoned for questioning (and, of course, receiving much scolding and punishing after the fact).

In cases where the incident occurs on a larger scale—namely between duchies—the most it normally leads to is some tension and some cold shoulders at the Royal Academy and during the Archduke Conference. Given the physical distance between most duchies, there wouldn’t be a sudden invasion or anything—but trade and the like can be impacted.

Q: The divide between nobles and commoners is fairly harsh in Ehrenfest. Is this true in other duchies?

A: The divide is only really that harsh between the Noble’s Quarter and the lower city; even in Ehrenfest, there are places like Illgner and Haldenzel where the giebes are fairly close with their commoners. It’s not rare for nobles and commoners to live in separate areas, though.

For the most part, it depends on how much interest the nobles ruling a duchy’s Central District take in the lives of commoners—but either way, the divide between nobles and commoners is present all throughout Yurgenschmidt.

Q: Do nobles ever move duchies for reasons other than marriage and its associated duties? For example, a researcher moving after retirement to pursue a field that he’s interested in.

A: It would certainly be possible, assuming that the person has the permission of both duchies’ archdukes. The more talented they are, however, the less likely they are to receive permission from the duchy they wish to leave. Any credit for their work would end up going to their new home, so being able to leave would come down to their negotiation skills.

Q: Is Ehrenfest the only duchy with a Lord of Winter? Is there a Lord of Summer or some such in another duchy?

A: Another Lord of Winter appears someplace between Gilessenmeyer and Jossbrenner. A Lord of Summer appears in Dunkelfelger.

Q: Are there any cities with commoners in the Sovereignty? It was said that the children of Sovereign nobles go to the dormitory of their parents’ duchy, but does that mean there are no families of pure Sovereign nobles who live in the Sovereignty for generations?

A: There are cities for commoners in the Sovereignty, but they are not on the Academy’s grounds. Royal Academy commoners are attached to one dorm or another as servants. The only noble family that lives in the Sovereignty generation by generation is the royal family.

Q: Are there any higher education systems that go beyond what’s taught in the Royal Academy? Is the only way to learn specialized knowledge to finagle someone into serving as your teacher?

A: There are no higher education systems. You have to learn from your parents, Royal Academy professors, or seniors at work.

Q: Are there any livestock like chickens and dairy cows on the Royal Academy’s grounds? If so, what level of government is responsible for them?

A: There aren’t, no. Food is teleported in from the duchies.

Q: Privacy doesn’t seem to be respected much at the Royal Academy. Does this extend even to the rooms for the archducal couple? Given that Rihyarda’s shouting was heard a floor below, I would assume that they are close to the stairway, and that the doors are not made of particularly thick wood. Cornelius was also once told to speak through the doors, so it seems safe to conclude that they do not block sound very well.

A: Given that they have retainers with them at all times, members of the archducal family have almost no privacy whatsoever. Everything they do is seen or heard by someone unless they draw the curtains around their bed or go into their hidden rooms. As for the doors, though—they are, in fact, made of thick wood. Rihyarda’s voice was audible because Traugott stopped letting her into his room after the first scolding—which meant she started shouting at him from outside instead. Furthermore, when trying to contact someone from outside their room, you would inform the person’s attendant of your business. You wouldn’t shout to them through the door.

Q: I would like to know who lives in the Royal Academy dormitories. We know about the students and their adult attendants, but nobles can’t dress themselves alone, so what about those adults’ attendants? And what about the guards? Are there any commoner servants there aside from the chefs?

A: The adult attendants do not have their own personal attendants; they have a shared work room, which they use to dress each other. The servants in the dormitory assist with all aspects of everyday life.

Q: Do the attendants of the archducal family’s retainers follow the archducal family members too? I wish to know more about the average workload expected of students’ attendants.

A: The job of one’s attendants is to maintain one’s living quarters, so the attendants tend to stay in the dormitory—aside from those serving members of the archducal family. Even in the duchies themselves, attendants not serving a giebe or someone from the archducal family usually won’t follow their lord or lady around. At most, they are summoned with the ring of a bell when needed.

Attendants are expected to help their lords or ladies to wash their face and change clothes. They also serve them food, keep their rooms clean, sort out their baths, make their tea, prepare their beds (there is a magic tool similar to an iron for warming the sheets), and so on.

Q: Is there someone like a principal or head professor at the Royal Academy?

A: The king and the royal family are the highest authorities at the Royal Academy.

Q: How are honor students decided at the Royal Academy? It seems like the number of archduke candidates in each grade varies, so I’m curious to know whether the system is based on a relative scale, student count, or just reaching a specific milestone.

A: It’s based on reaching a particular milestone. You have to achieve a certain score to be an honor student, and the person with the highest scores becomes recognized as first-in-class. In an extreme case, it would be possible for every single student to be an honor student.

Q: Does the Royal Academy have report cards or anything similar?

A: Students are only told their grades for the tests they’ve taken. Their overall grades are sent to their archduke, who uses them to determine where each student will work, among other things.

Q: What arrangements are necessary when a noble moves to the Sovereignty? Do they need their archduke’s permission or just the Sovereignty’s?

A: Once a person has achieved something worthy of decoration and received a recommendation from the teacher in their specialized course who chose them as a disciple, said teacher can send an inquiry to the royal family about the subject. If the royal family approves, then they will probe the relevant archduke for their permission during the next Archduke Conference. In cases where the archduke agrees, the exchange occurs. Many archdukes are reluctant to agree, though, since doing so means losing a valuable resource. It’s up to the individual to convince the archduke to agree to their leaving.

Q: Do the teaching personnel not serving as dormitory supervisors assist students with gathering information and whatnot?

A: They may invite students to their research rooms to exchange information or give them personal advice. Such conversations would never take place in the dormitories, though; having an aim that clashes with that of a dormitory supervisor in one way or another would only cause problems.

Q: Is it set in stone that a certain professor will always teach a certain lesson in a certain subject each year? Are there other classes they have to teach?

A: Any professor could teach the common subjects for the lower grades, but a professor of the scholar course would never teach a lesson in the knight course, for example.

Q: We see dormitory supervisors serving as professors, and unnamed servants appearing as Royal Academy staff, but I imagine at least several of them are young research assistants. How do the assistants and other servants come to be hired?

A: There are also professors like Solange who are not dormitory supervisors. It’s just that, when writing a story like this, it inevitably becomes the dormitory supervisors who get the most attention. Young staff members and research assistants become Sovereign nobles at the recommendation of the teacher who took them on as a disciple in the first place. The royal family always lives there and oversees the Royal Academy, so there are no need for introductions. The royal family also decides whether they will accept the recommendation or not. Servants are chosen haphazardly from the servants in the Sovereignty’s palace. Both the palace and the Royal Academy are at the very center of Yurgenschmidt, but the commoners view it as being temporarily assigned to a remote area.

Q: In Part 4 Volume 3, the graduating students enter based on their duchies’ rankings. If a male student is escorting a female student of a higher rank, who receives priority?

A: The graduating student. If they are both graduating, then whoever is of a higher rank.

Q: What role did Ferdinand perform during his graduation ceremony? Given his talents, I would expect him to have been the God of Darkness—but given his duchy’s rank, I imagine he was either on reserve or played the God of Life, a role I would expect to be unpopular.

A: He played Ewigeliebe the God of Life. And as he is a member of an archducal family—the leaders of a duchy—Ehrenfest’s ranking is also considered among his “talents.” With that in mind, it would be incorrect to say that he was better suited to playing the God of Darkness.

Q: When the former blue-robes went to the Royal Academy at an older age to cram and swiftly graduate, was the program based on their age so that they would all graduate as soon as they came of age, regardless of when they enrolled?

A: The special rules put in place meant that students weren’t kicked out even after passing fifteen years of age. They could repeat a year, but since graduating is like coming of age to nobles, doing so would impact their work and marriage prospects considerably. The former apprentice blue priests and shrine maidens attended the Royal Academy year-round until they managed to pass.

Q: Did Lady Rozemyne raising the average for the Ehrenfest first-years affect where their divine wills were located?

A: I’m not sure what you mean by “raising the average.” Her raising their written lesson grades did not affect their mana quantities. Mana compression would have changed where their divine wills appeared, but the students only learned that after their first year. Nothing in particular changed for them.

Q: When was getting one’s schtappe changed from a third-year to a first-year event? Ferdinand and Eckhart got theirs during their third year, while Rihyarda’s generation received theirs upon graduating?

A: It was changed so that Prince Sigiswald could get his schtappe as soon as possible. Ferdinand and Eckhart did indeed get theirs during their third year, but Rihyarda’s generation received theirs before their graduation. It was a bit after Solange’s day that this was changed to during one’s third year.

Q: What work do members of the Knight’s Order do outside of guarding various places in the duchy and hunting feybeasts like trombes and the Lord of Winter?

A: Hunting and guarding is more or less all that they do. There are some places where the feybeast population can surge, so they keep an eye on those. Training is also an important part of their job.

Q: What do people think about male attendants who aren’t serving as retainers going to the Royal Academy, despite them having normal work to do? It isn’t maternity leave, but is it seen as a vacation of sorts for the season?

A: They’re attendants, so accompanying a student to the Royal Academy is part of their job description. In almost all cases, the attendant is from the student’s house. In the other cases, parents will negotiate to borrow them from their normal workplace.

Q: Am I right in assuming that the Veronica faction are the ones who would have suffered most if Wilfried’s inadequate education had resulted in him being disinherited and his retainers fired? Did Sylvester not want to seize the opportunity to persecute them further? Or did he just not want to change his son’s environment so suddenly?

A: From Sylvester’s perspective, the former Veronica faction is his own faction—it was the one he belonged to, after all. Diminishing its power is one thing, but he doesn’t want to crush it entirely; he accomplished his goal of detaining his mother and just wants things to be peaceful. He also overlooked those whom he couldn’t prove had engaged in crimes like forgery and embezzlement alongside Veronica.

Q: In the previous fanbook’s family tree, “Seradina” is listed as Ferdinand’s mother. Is she his actual mother or just an in-universe decoy?

A: She is his actual mother.

Q: How is Lady Veronica looked after in the Ivory Tower? Does she have an attendant who doubles as a guard? Are the attendants working there and in the jails commoners?

A: She has attendants and knights serving as both caretakers and guards. There are commoners there, but since one needs mana to use the teleportation circle for delivering food, one of them has mana.

Q: How do children of the archduke spend their time before they are baptized? We know that they spend the day in a big room for children, but do they each have their own room to return to? How much time do they spend with their parents?

A: There is only the one room, and they all use it. They can be with their parents from after breakfast until the start of work at third bell, and when they say their goodnights at dinner. Also on days off.

Q: How long does pregnancy last? Does it take longer the more mana you put in?

A: Mana doesn’t have an effect on how long it takes. It’s the same with commoners. There’s some individual disparity, but it takes around nine months.

Q: Is it not a crime for someone outside of a family to overtake another’s noble house?

A: If they killed the patriarch or what have you to accomplish it, then it would be a crime, but that’s about the only case. It would otherwise be the patriarch’s fault for failing to protect his house.

Q: Nobles are separated into archduke candidates, knights, scholars, and attendants—but what exactly is the ratio between them?

A: At the moment—that is, as of Royal Academy Stories: First Year—about fifty percent of nobles are knights, thirty percent are attendants, and twenty percent are scholars. Of course, there are also the two archduke candidates. This ratio can change significantly from generation to generation, though. Since adult attendants are brought to the Royal Academy, one could say that, in an extreme case, life can go on with no apprentice attendants whatsoever. You could also pass Royal Academy classes without any apprentice scholars. However, without enough knights, a duchy wouldn’t be able to protect its archduke candidates in the Royal Academy. In Ehrenfest, the existence of a female archduke candidate will result in more female knights. In generations with fewer female knights, there are more apprentice attendants.

Q: Laynobles, mednobles, and archnobles from different duchies all share the same mana baseline, as we saw through them sharing classes. Is it still safe to assume that high-status archnobles and archduke candidates have more mana on average than their counterparts in lower-ranking duchies? For example, an archnoble from a top-ranking duchy might have almost as much mana as their archduke, and therefore more mana than an archduke candidate of a lower-ranking duchy.

A: It is normal for Klassenberg archnobles from branch families to the archducal family to have more mana than Ehrenfest archduke candidates.

Q: Do nobles ever change profession? Like a knight getting hurt and becoming a scholar, or an attendant becoming a scholar.

A: Given that one’s profession depends on the course(s) one chooses in the Royal Academy, such changes are an unusual occurrence. That said, someone who takes and receives acceptable grades in more than one course could work in either profession. Knights do not become scholars after being injured, though; they start doing paperwork and such in the Knight’s Order.

Q: What is the relationship between the Veronica and Georgine factions in Ehrenfest? What about the Sylvester faction?

A: Veronica inherited the faction belonging to her mother, Gabriele. Her marriage to the archduke brought the neutral faction into the mix, and when Georgine was planned to be the ruling archduchess, the combination of the Veronica faction, the Georgine faction, and the neutral faction came to be known as “the Veronica faction.” Then, through Sylvester being baptized, Georgine being married into another duchy, and the previous archduke passing away, the late archduke’s faction partially joined the Veronica faction as well—prior to Myne’s adoption, at least. Some members of the Veronica faction were arrested alongside Veronica herself.

Sylvester’s retainers were chosen by his mother, so nobles at this point in time considered the Veronica faction equivalent to the Sylvester faction. A portion of the Georgine and Veronica factions worked in the shadows to prop up Wilfried. They were the anti-Sylvester faction—and later the anti-Rozemyne faction. At the moment, the Sylvester faction is a portion of the previous archduke’s faction and a portion of the Veronica faction—which, to be honest, means they are not really to be trusted.

Q: In the books, Illgner briefly lost its local nobles, then they returned—but where did they go? I can’t imagine they would have been able to go to the aub, so did they perhaps go to another giebe? Is it easy for nobles to change positions within a duchy?

A: Yes, they went to other giebes. It’s fairly easy to change your workplace as long as you aren’t venturing outside your duchy. Changes of power often result in factional changes, so nobles cut off giebes rather quickly when it becomes apparent that their goals no longer align.

Q: In a hypothetical timeline where Sylvester was never born, or was born as a girl, would Karstedt have been married to Georgine due to having been raised as a member of the archducal family? Or, alternatively, could he have become the archduke?

A: Yes. In that case, Georgine would not have been educated to be the next archduchess, and Karstedt would have become the archduke with her as his first wife. There would have been conflict between the Leisegang and the former Veronica factions over his second wife, but all in all, things in Ehrenfest would have stayed relatively peaceful. They would not have remained neutral during the civil war, however, and there would have been even less support for Ferdinand, who would in this case be the aub’s only son. Myne would most likely never have become Rozemyne.

Q: In the second fanbook, it is mentioned that Justus’s former wife was a member of the Veronica faction, and that he divorced her to avoid causing Ferdinand any problems—but Ferdinand said that he would have wanted Justus to adopt Rozemyne, were Justus not already divorced. Does that mean he would have let Rozemyne be adopted by a member of the former Veronica faction?

A: Ferdinand was speaking in terms of convenience for keeping secrets and sharing intelligence. He meant that, if Justus had been married, he would have sent Rozemyne to him without a second thought. Given that Justus was divorced and without a partner by that point, though, Ferdinand was not speaking with particular factions in mind.

Q: It seems like having a larger body is good for having more mana. Does it also change based on, say, how much fat a person has? Would a thinner person have less mana than someone fatter? Would a curvier person have more than someone less curvaceous?

A: That meaning is only used to indicate that Rozemyne as an adult would have a larger capacity than she would as a child. The actual size of one’s body is irrelevant. Mana compression matters a lot more than one’s shape.

Q: Kashick and Jonsara’s actions came across as quite immoral, and it seems to me that doing something like that even without a faction backing them would cause some issues with their interpersonal relationships. How will they get through that? Since people now know about it, I assume that they’re already being affected.

A: Konrad was their primary victim, but the public are largely indifferent to the struggles of unbaptized children. There would have been more serious repercussions if, as an example, they had tried to murder Philine for her inheritance, but their current actions have only earned them some bashing from Philine’s family on her mother’s side, with Rozemyne’s distaste for them keeping them distanced from mainstream nobles. The former Veronica faction would most likely be the only faction willing to accept them.

Q: It’s mentioned in the novels that even attendants have attendants, but how do the attendants of attendants take care of themselves? Assuming that nobles get other nobles to attend to them, would there not be an infinite chain of nobles? Would everyone in Ehrenfest not need to be an attendant?! Aah!

A: Only the archducal family, the giebes, archnobles, and a portion of mednobles have noble attendants. Only archnobles and above have their own noble attendants, while mednobles tend to have just one for the entire household. For mednobles, the rest of their attendants are family members who failed to become nobles themselves. It is rare for laynoble houses to have noble attendants.

Q: Do you have to be a child of the aub (adopted or otherwise) in order to become an archduke candidate? Does this include the grandchildren of the current aub, or underage children born to an aub before their retirement?

A: It depends on the duchy and generation. Children of the archducal family can become archduke candidates with the archduke’s permission, even when they aren’t his—like how Karstedt was an archduke candidate for a time.

Q: Do archduke candidates other than the one accepted to become the next aub learn how to rule a duchy and the like? Both boys and girls.

A: They’re given an introduction to running a duchy in case they are married into another, but the next archduke learns far more in comparison.

Q: Do any nobles outside of the archducal family hire their own guard knights?

A: Only the archducal family and giebes have their own guard knights. They sometimes hire guards on a personal level when going on long trips.

Q: When archduke candidates become archnobles, how are their house names chosen?

A: They form new houses, so the archduke decides.

Q: Are nobles buried in mass graves like commoners? Do family estates have their own cemeteries?

A: The body disappears after the funeral, when the blue priests take the person’s feystone. Only their belongings and their feystone get buried—although the person’s feystone is sometimes used instead.

Q: When luggage is being moved around, people referred to as “servants” are used. What status are they?

A: Commoners, though some were born in noble estates and were never baptized as such. They are bound to the estate where they were born, but they are guaranteed room and board.

Q: The guildmaster reacted to the word “Klassenberg” in the scene when Rozemyne was explaining the events of the Royal Academy to the merchants. Do the merchants have a way of tracking the duchy rankings without Rozemyne telling them? Furthermore, do the rankings influence the decisions they make?

A: They don’t receive immediate updates, but a customer might make a passing comment like, “I want something appropriate for a higher class, since we went up to rank X this year.” Additionally, merchants who are from the top-ranking duchies are quite vocal about it when doing business. Traveling merchants tend to know more, since they move from duchy to duchy, so city merchants sometimes get updates from them. The lower one’s duchy places on the rankings, the more sensitive one is to the rankings in general. Naturally, one acts with them in mind.

Q: It seems pretty normal for students in the Royal Academy to have their uncles, aunts, or what have you serving as their attendants. From an Earth perspective, however, it feels a little unusual to have family members serve children, who are socially “beneath” them. Do nobles tend to put familial status aside in these situations and view being an attendant more as a profession?

A: It’s a job, and they’re paid to do it. Family members are more agreeable and tend to share the same goals as the person they serve, which is pretty much the ideal. Either party could refuse the arrangement if they really wanted to, though.

Q: For how long do nobles wear the magic tools they receive as children? Konrad’s magic tool was taken after Philine entered the Royal Academy, so what happened to hers?

A: Philine still uses hers. Nobles generally keep them their whole lives, since they are important for when their emotions stir or their mana is at risk of going berserk.

Q: Is the “mother’s feystone” that was mentioned as being used in Konrad’s magic tool the one taken from his mother’s corpse? If so, does that mean the tool was made with the feystone?

A: That’s correct. Such feystones need a large enough capacity to take mana from growing nobles, which means the family members who fail to become nobles do not leave usable ones. This makes it difficult to obtain feystones from the deceased that will suit a magic tool. Furthermore, they are hard to make without archnoble levels of mana or above.

Q: In the chapter “Philine’s Family Circumstances,” Ferdinand uses a card that is described as being very similar to a guild card. These cards don’t seem to come up during business deals between nobles, though. Does Rozemyne just not notice them because she’s underage and can’t use them yet?

A: That’s right. You can’t use them when you’re underage, so Rozemyne doesn’t notice them. They aren’t the same as commoner cards, so the books sold in the castle are purchased with coins. However, when Damuel gets paid for helping Ferdinand at the temple, the noble cards are used.

Q: Are there any rules that prevent people from signing conflicting magic contracts?

A: A magic contract that conflicts with another simply won’t burn.

Q: What happens when a magic contract conflicts with something like a name-swearing order?

A: The person who signed the contract would most likely die, as they would have been well aware of the conflict.

Q: Does embroidering something not make the reverse side look less appealing? Is there magic that makes it so that only the nice-looking side is visible?

A: We might be picturing different stitches. Embroidered magic circles use outline and satin stitches, meaning they look the same on both sides. The deceptive patterns added to confuse others are made with various other stitches, though, so there are some parts on the underside that look messy.

Q: Is the divine color of a ring’s feystone important? Would it affect your ability to use mana if the feystone didn’t match your birth season?

A: The divine color of a feystone determines which elements are easier for the wearer to use. One generally has the element of their birth season, so it’s the safest feystone to give to a child who is not yet able to consciously control their mana.

Q: After the first jureve failed to dissolve Rozemyne’s mana clumps, why didn’t they immediately start making a second one?

A: She had more retainers than before, and gathering the ingredients without attracting any unwanted attention would have been that much harder. Plus, Rozemyne would inevitably learn how to make one herself anyway, so Ferdinand thought it best to let her gather higher-quality ingredients in the Royal Academy (aka the Sovereignty) with her retainers.

Q: Are there any other spells that are convenient for everyday life, like the cleansing ones? I’m specifically asking about spells activated using chants.

A: The options available can vary drastically depending on one’s elements, so “convenient” might not be an accurate description. To prevent people without certain elements from being too inconvenienced, magic tools were developed that were simply accessible to anyone with mana. It’s normal for magic tools to be improved and made more mana efficient over time, so most nobles will find them more comfortable than using spells.

Q: I want to ask about charms. Are they often thrown away after a single use? If reusing them is possible, how would one go about doing that? Also, could you wear a ridiculous number of charms at once?

A: Whether or not a charm is thrown away depends on how it was made. Some can be used multiple times, but most need to be recharged with mana to be used again. It is possible to wear many at once—Rozemyne wears several given to her by Ferdinand, for example—but there are risks. Charms that are able to be recharged will suck out their wearer’s mana after being used, even during battles and when being attacked, so they can be dangerous to those who are low on mana.

Q: How did Karstedt and Ferdinand become friends when Ferdinand trusts so few people?

A: Karstedt was Sylvester’s guard knight when Sylvester was overly excited about his new little brother, so he saw Ferdinand getting dragged around and swore to assist him. The young Ferdinand actually trusted Karstedt more than he trusted Sylvester, since Karstedt stopped Sylvester from getting too carried away on such a regular basis.

Q: What kind of person was Karstedt’s third wife, Rozemary? We know that she was in a conflict of sorts with his archnoble second wife, Trudeliede, as well as that she was from a mean-spirited family. She must have been quite a colorful character.

A: As you might expect, she was a mischievous imp who changed her attitude depending on the person she was talking to. She was exceptionally skilled at acting sweet. I would say that she was the type of person men really like but other women really hate.

Q: Has Jonsara bought a magic tool for her son?

A: Not yet. If she is intent on raising him as a noble, then she also has the option of giving him her own magic tool and effectively becoming a servant, dedicating mana to the household tools when necessary. If she had done this with Konrad instead of abusing him, then Philine might have come to love her as a mother and vowed to protect her new half-brother. That said, if Jonsara does choose to give up her own magic tool, then she won’t live for very long due to how much she has compressed her mana and increased her capacity.

Q: Now that Philine and Konrad have abandoned their inheritance, I assume that their house doesn’t have a proper leader. Will Jonsara be registered as such with the archduke? Or will Kashick remain in charge in the former patriarch’s place?

A: The children are still underage, so Kashick remains the current patriarch. Konrad entering the temple made him completely renounce his rights, but Philine simply entered Rozemyne’s protection and is still a noble. If she chooses to be vocal about her rights upon coming of age, then she can become the house’s matriarch. Otherwise, Kashick will possess full ownership of the house.

Q: Who will serve as Philine’s attendant at the Royal Academy from next year onward now that she has renounced her family?

A: As her guardian, Rozemyne will arrange for someone to take the role. Philine could ask to have Isberga fill the position. Isberga would appreciate that more than she would being asked by Kashick.

Q: If Konrad’s mother hadn’t died, how would they have gotten him a magic tool?

A: By saving up money while having him channel his mana into household family tools, then making a new one using one of their ancestor’s feystones. Such feystones are kept somewhere only the owner of the estate can access, so Kashick would not be able to touch them, as he is not the official patriarch. Philine would inherit them after coming of age.

Q: Does Gudrun know that Justus is using her name when he cross-dresses?

A: Justus has many names that he uses while in disguise, and she knows that he uses her name on occasion. Gudrun finds valuable information from what she collects and passes it on to her lady, so there’s some give-and-take.

Q: What does Gudrun (the real one) think about Justus cross-dressing as her?

A: “Just do not cause any trouble for me.”

Q: Rozemyne got pretty heated during her rant about raising scholars for the printing industry, but how many technicians will they actually require? How long will it take to train them? Does she know these things?

A: The technicians are commoners, so she was talking more about raising scholars to deal with sales in the castle, make contact with the Printing Guilds in the lower city and various provinces, understand and explain the process to others when spreading the relevant technologies, and so on. The number they need would depend on how large the industry becomes, and the training process would take about two years. Her intention is to have them become just as capable as the gray priests she entrusts with work.

Q: How come Ferdinand was so displeased in Part 4 Volume 3 when he was compared to a bench?

A: He devoted so much time and effort to looking after Rozemyne in his own way, only for her to seem so dissatisfied.

Q: Does the fact that Ferdinand’s birth season is only “publicly” known as spring mean that nobody knows what it really is? Could they not figure it out by asking him which colored feystone he finds easiest to use?

A: Ferdinand possesses all elements, so none are any easier to use than the others.

Q: Why does Ferdinand’s hidden room have a mana requirement to enter? Hidden rooms already have a registration system, so was there a particular reason for this extra security measure?

A: Someone could always get through the registration system by using the feystone that would be acquired after his death. The mana requirement largely prevents that.

Q: How did people in the Royal Academy react to Stenluke, the talking manablade? Did any of the professors notice that he sounds like Ferdinand?

A: Stenluke doesn’t speak much in the Royal Academy, as Angelica focuses her mana on training and growing him. He generally only speaks in her room while reflecting on the day’s training. Those who hear him would probably treat her as a weird child who had figured out how to throw her voice or something of the sort.

Q: Why didn’t Hartmut say his mother’s name when first introducing himself to Rozemyne? Wouldn’t he have wanted to show that he was trustworthy or something of the sort?

A: One states their house name when greeting someone for the first time, and Hartmut gave the traditional greeting. He hadn’t expected Rozemyne to only recognize the name “Leberecht” on a basic level, despite Leberecht being Florencia’s retainer and married to her attendant. It hadn’t even occurred to him that she might just think, “Mm, I feel as though I’ve seen that name in the Leisegang faction’s ledger. Not really sure, though.” It’s a shame; he was really trying to sell himself as a retainer.

Q: Who did Sylvester bring as an attendant during his Royal Academy days?

A: The father of Wilfried’s head retainer, Oswald—but he has already passed away.

Q: How competent is Oswald on the whole? He doesn’t seem especially capable, considering what he said after Wilfried was at risk of being disinherited.

A: To Veronica, he was an exceptionally loyal and competent attendant who never disobeyed her.

Q: How skilled/competent is Wilfried compared to other archduke candidates in the Royal Academy? Given that he’s an honor student, I assume he’s better than average, but I can’t help but feel that he’s living in Rozemyne’s shadow when it comes to the work itself...

A: Well, he’s only a first-year, and it isn’t rare for archduke candidates to be honor students in their first year. People can tell that he worked hard on his studies before coming to the Royal Academy. They probably think something like: “So he’s getting the same grades as archduke candidates from top-ranking duchies? Good, good.”

Q: I would like to know what Rozemyne’s guardians think about the mana gap between Rozemyne and Wilfried now that they’re engaged.

A: Their highest priority is preventing other duchies from taking Rozemyne, since she has full control over all their trends. Ferdinand thinks: “Rozemyne’s capacity is the result of a commoner compressing her mana while on the verge of death. As an archduke candidate, Wilfried should have a much easier time growing his mana. He knows her compression method, and now that they are engaged, it is obvious that he should put a great deal of effort into using it.” Meanwhile, Sylvester and Karstedt think: “If they don’t match, then Wilfried just needs to take a second wife whose mana is more compatible with his own.”

Q: Rihyarda once served Veronica and Georgine. Were Ferdinand and Sylvester abused in such clever ways that even a sharp woman like her missed it?

A: Rihyarda knew about the abuse to some degree, but Veronica had ordered her not to interfere, saying that someone working to become the future aub needed to develop the strength necessary to eliminate others. That said, when Rihyarda believed that things were especially bad, she reported what was happening to the archduke at the time and got his permission to rescue them.

Q: Before the civil war, how close was Florencia to the seat of Aub Frenbeltag?

A: As the child of a third wife, she was far from becoming the next aub for many reasons, including her age. She was in the same generation as the first wife’s granddaughter.

Q: What kind of grades did Bonifatius, Sylvester, Florencia, and Georgine get at the Royal Academy? Like, how many times were they honor students, etc.?

A: Bonifatius’s grades as an archduke candidate were average; he took an especially large number of knight classes and focused his energy on those. Sylvester was an honor student twice in his later years at the Academy—specifically when he was trying to impress Florencia. Florencia was the daughter of a third wife, so she carefully managed her grades such that she was always just a few points away from being an honor student, so as to avoid any unnecessary jealousy. Georgine was an honor student when she was being raised to be the next aub but largely stopped caring about the archduke candidate course after she was taken out of the running. Instead, she managed her time such that she could also take the scholar course.

Q: What faction is Christine in? I thought maybe the Veronica faction, given that she’s had no contact with Rozemyne, but it feels like the Veronica faction is primarily made up of mednobles. She’s an archnoble, so is she in the Elvira faction after all?

A: She’s in the Veronica faction. Mednobles serve as the core of the Veronica faction, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any archnobles whatsoever. Christine was summoned back to noble society when the Veronica faction was at its zenith, when archnobles were swearing loyalty to Veronica one after another. As the daughter of a mistress, she was to be married to a noble from the Veronica faction.

Q: What’s happened to Christine since the last time we heard about her? Has she suffered any repercussions for being in an opposing faction, or is she quietly living as a background character? Or did she marry into another duchy, or even start playing in the Sovereignty as a musician?

A: She has yet to be eliminated or anything of the sort. She is living quietly as a background character in the former Veronica faction.

Q: How does Rosina spend her time at the Royal Academy? I know there’s practice and teatime, but outside of that, I’m curious if she hangs out on the first floor with commoners or just sits in the corner providing BGM.

A: Dormitory musicians are all tasked with playing in the dining hall during mealtimes. Outside of that, they play music when their lord or lady requests it. In Rosina’s case, she spends a lot of time composing songs in her room on the first floor.

Q: In Part 4 Volume 3, Fritz talked about Gil’s and Zahm’s loyalties. What does he think about Fran’s?

A: Fritz thinks that Fran is personally loyal to Rozemyne, unlike Zahm. That said, Fritz still feels that Fran is more loyal to the High Priest.

Q: Back in Part 2 Volume 2, when Delia was feeding information back to the former High Bishop, did she tell him about Ferdinand giving Myne bedding? Did that invite any misunderstandings?

A: She did, but it didn’t result in any misunderstandings. Ferdinand had already asked to use temple funds to make Myne’s room fit for an apprentice blue shrine maiden, but the former High Bishop had refused, barking that Ferdinand should use his own or Myne’s money instead. The former High Bishop pushed everything on Ferdinand.

Q: What did Ferdinand receive from the all-element blessing at the end of Part 2 Volume 4? It wasn’t explained in the text like it was with Damuel, so I was curious.

A: Ferdinand wasn’t seeking any divine favor in particular, so he didn’t receive a visible one. He will surely be blessed when the day comes that he prays to the gods.

Q: Who did Ferdinand escort during his graduation ceremony? Rihyarda, maybe...?

A: He asked a former Ehrenfest archduke candidate who was visiting Ehrenfest at the time due to the previous archduke’s illness. She was more or less an old woman, from Rihyarda’s generation. She had married a Werkestock archnoble, so she was executed not long after.

Q: Ferdinand seems to have a much less positive reputation in Ehrenfest than he does everywhere else. Is that because most people in Ehrenfest feared Veronica too much to discuss his achievements?

A: Due to the awards ceremony following the Interduchy Tournament, everyone knew that he was juggling several courses and consistently coming first-in-class. People like Henrik and Eckhart spoke about him normally at home, but yes, his reputation in Ehrenfest was far from good because people feared Veronica. Some even tried to curry favor with her by seeking reasons to dislike him.

Q: Ferdinand knows about Myne’s past life as Urano, but does he know how old Urano was when she died? Since people in Japan “come of age” at a different time than people in Yurgenschmidt, I would assume he doesn’t realize that Urano was actually older than him.

A: He doesn’t know how old she was when she died, and it’s unlikely that he’ll ever ask, since that information wouldn’t be useful to him. If at some point in the future he does find out, he won’t see Urano as being his elder; she was twenty-two when she died, and he’s been older than that since Part 4 Volume 1. He might have found this information more interesting if she had died at, say, eighty.

Q: At the end of Rozemyne’s first year, who had more mana: Rozemyne or the adult Eglantine?

A: Eglantine.

Q: Hannelore didn’t leave much of an impression in her first year at the Royal Academy, but did she get grades befitting a greater duchy’s archduke candidate?

A: She did. Rozemyne aimed to pass her classes as soon as possible so that she could start holing up in the library, but it’s not like you get extra points for passing quickly. The only thing that matters is scoring as high as one can on the final exam. Consider the fact that Philine was forced to pass as quickly as possible, but Judithe still ended up with better grades.

Q: Where is Professor Solange from? Is her attendant Catherine a laynoble? Are they both widows, or have they always been single?

A: They are from Klassenberg. Catherine is a laynoble. They’re both widows, but Catherine has children. Solange does not.

Q: Does Professor Solange know that Rozemyne has made her own songs?

A: She found out from chatter in the staff dining hall.

Q: Was the princess executed for sleeping around the same princess who invited Ferdinand to play for her at the Royal Academy?

A: A great number of princesses were executed. The princess executed for sleeping around and the princess who invited Ferdinand to play for her are separate people—but they were publicly known as sisters.

Q: The value of gray priests has shot up due to the Rozemyne Workshop and the orphanage’s education system, right? Are laynobles who need non-noble servants struggling as a result?

A: About five years ago, the previous High Bishop sold gray priests for cheap en masse to lower the population burden on the temple. It will be some time before laynobles start feeling the burn. I imagine that when houses like Philine’s struggle to buy live-in servants, they will turn to hiring commoners rather than gray priests.

Q: Back when Myne first became the orphanage director, why was the basement door they found sealed off and boarded up? Was there an incident of some kind there? Were you imagining anything in particular?

A: In the past, the basement was where pregnant women or new mothers lived with pre-baptism children. It was sealed off so that nobody would fall and injure themselves. The incident was the death of a child.

Q: Nobles seem to treat the temple like a brothel, but are flower offerings still done now that Rozemyne is the High Bishop?

A: Blue priests have had connections like that for a long time, and, if requested, they still lend their attendant gray shrine maidens to visiting nobles. That said, nobody tries to acquire such services through the High Priest or the young High Bishop anymore.

Q: Are there any other places for bachelor nobles to vent their lust? Do they use the commoner servants at their estates?

A: Those who can’t use the temple’s “services” either have to make do within their estate or wait for a friend with that kind of woman at home to invite them over.

Q: The noble almanac on the third floor of the Merchant’s Guild seemed fairly expensive, but how much does it actually cost? Is a new one published each year? Who sells them? How do the contents look? I imagine it would be hard to decide who should go on what page. Do they mention the faction affiliations of those listed?

A: They aren’t sold, so they don’t have a price. Each one is made using information shared between merchants attached to the guild who do business with nobles. As an example, if a merchant is given an order for clothes and such for the Starbind Ceremony, they’ll note down who is getting married. And while preparing for the baptisms, they’ll write down who has had children.

Q: I think that Myne and the gang drank herbal tea in the lower city, while Benno drank something that was a different color and more like coffee. Nobles seem to have so many more options, but do they only drink black tea?

A: It’s not black tea that nobles drink; it’s herbal tea. Or, like, I’m visualizing Chinese tea here. There are many different kinds.

Q: What are the average life expectancies of commoners and nobles in Yurgenschmidt? Their medical technologies don’t seem especially advanced, but healing with magecraft seems powerful. Still, it seems to me that the average life span is much shorter than what we’re used to; successors are decided fairly early on, and the previous Aub Ehrenfest passed away while still quite young. At the same time, though, the former High Bishop was old, and Veronica must have been up there as well.

A: Nobles usually live to about sixty-three, while commoners live to about fifty. The former High Bishop’s looks reflected a lifetime of poor self-care. In reality, he was only about fifty.

Q: I know that having similar mana quantities is important for those having children, but are their elements important too?

A: They’re important too, since they have an impact on what elements the baby receives.

Q: How many different kinds of instruments are there? We’ve seen harspiels, flutes, and drums, but are there any others?

A: There are different flutes, drums of various sizes, and some instruments similar to bells. I don’t plan to write about the instruments in any more detail than I already have, though.

Q: “Devouring soldiers” show up a lot, but I’m suddenly curious about how they find Devouring commoners who have survived long enough to fight.

A: There are those born in the temple and in noble estates, but they also buy unrecognized children and children without magic tools from mistresses.

Q: If you regularly drained the mana from someone with the Devouring, would they live as long as your average commoner? Or would they live as long as nobles do?

A: If they lived like a commoner, then they would live as long as a commoner. If they lived like a noble, then they would live as long as a noble. Assuming that one’s mana is being dealt with properly, all that matters is nutrition.

Q: Granny Gerda looks after the kids who don’t have aunts, uncles, or any other family. Does this mean that neither Effa nor Gunther have any siblings?

A: Family members have jobs to go to, remember. Babysitters are just people who make their living by looking after kids. Effa and Gunther have family close by. Lutz’s house is a bit farther away, but it wouldn’t be wrong to call them family as well.

Q: Is there a connection between one’s mana and one’s life span? For example, the previous Aub Ehrenfest died young. Could that have been because he spent a lot of mana in his youth, thereby shortening his life?

A: There’s no connection. Life span varies from person to person.

Q: If there are 420 days in a year, then there are twelve months, right? Do the months have names?

A: No. I also decided against numbering them, since I thought readers might draw comparisons to the modern Japanese calendar. For the most part, I try to avoid referencing months directly.

Q: What season is considered the end of the year?

A: That’s a difficult question. In noble society, the Archduke Conference is seen as the “end point” of sorts. To commoners, the year starts with the coming of spring. The start of the Royal Academy school year serves as something of a barrier between the end of autumn and the start of winter.

Messages from the Creators

Miya Kazuki

We’ve finally increased the page count for the fanbooks too! (Haha.) There’s just so much we want to include in them. At this rate, there’s bound to be a fourth one.

You Shiina

We’ve managed to release another fanbook this year. Hooray! Hopefully it can become a yearly tradition—like a festival! ♪

Suzuka

I provided an illustration of the Goddess of Wisdom for this volume. Her design was actually finalized a while ago, but I could never find an opportunity to draw her. I look forward to you reading Part 2 of the manga as well!

Ryo Namino

Greetings! I’m in charge of the manga adaptation for Part 3. For this volume, I illustrated a short manga about Lady Rozemyne. Her status may have changed, but her love of books remains as strong as ever. I hope you enjoyed my contribution!