The Next Aub and the Foundational Magic

At the end of spring, Dunkelfelger’s archducal family and everyone of captain rank or higher in the Knight’s Order had assembled for an emergency meeting. The knights veritably erupted from the gathering, sending out ordonnanzes to summon their subordinates to the training grounds while hurrying there themselves. Even Hannelore, who usually waited until the meeting room was nearly empty before leaving, sped out with equal urgency.

“You seem to be in quite the rush, Lord Lestilaut. What in the world was said during that meeting?”

My retainers approached me with questions the moment I returned to my chambers. The meeting room had been too small to accommodate the full retinue of each member of the archducal family, so we had settled on just three adult retainers apiece. Father had done his utmost to keep the information just revealed from Mother, which explained why none of us had found out sooner.

I understood my retainers’ desire to be brought up to speed posthaste, so I gestured to the scholar who had accompanied me.

“Wingert, relay what we were told.”

“Aub Ehrenfest reached out to Aub Dunkelfelger through means of emergency communication, requesting immediate aid,” my scholar said, reading from his notes. “It seems that Ehrenfest and Ahrensbach will face each other in true ditter tonight.”

“What? True ditter?!”

“Are they insane?! The country is in dire enough straits already! What would drive them to declare war?!”

“A request for aid? Whom are we sending?”

My retainers met the news with the same disbelief the knights had expressed during the meeting. Never before had I seen them kick up such a fuss. It would take far too long to address each of their concerns.

“Quiet!” I snapped. “As surprising as this development might be, you must listen. Wingert is no ordonnanz; he will not repeat himself.” Again, I gestured to my scholar, urging him to continue.

“Lady Detlinde appears to have poisoned Lord Ferdinand in Ahrensbach’s replenishment hall. Lady Rozemyne has resolved to steal the duchy’s foundation to gain access to the hall and rescue him. She has requested Dunkelfelger’s assistance in this matter.”

“What? And Lady Sieglinde permitted us to respond?” asked Rasantark, his chestnut eyes wide as saucers. Anyone without the full picture would be surprised that Mother allowed such a thing to happen. In his shoes, even I would have had doubts.

“She did, yes,” I said. “Lady Sieglinde agreed to provide aid—but only if Lady Rozemyne arrives via the country gate with proof of royal approval.”

“The country gate?! Wait... Wouldn’t that mean Lady Rozemyne has found the Grutrissheit?!”

My retainers stirred again—and who could blame them? No one would have expected the Grutrissheit to be found not by royalty, but by an Ehrenfest archduke candidate.

After working in the Royal Academy’s underground archive during the previous Archduke Conference, Hannelore had reported that the repository of ancient knowledge contained many documents about the Grutrissheit left by Zents of long ago. We knew that Rozemyne had been translating them alongside her—and that the royal family had once asked my sister to step outside so they could speak with the Ehrenfest archduke candidate in private. No doubt Rozemyne had discovered the path to the Grutrissheit amid her work.

Hannelore had also reported that Rozemyne ended up bedridden for weeks. If securing the Grutrissheit had been the obsessive bookworm’s aim, that would have given her plenty of time to follow through.

Still, acquiring the Grutrissheit was only the first step. Dunkelfelger’s ancient texts described many cases where a Zent candidate secured the sacred tome but found themselves unable to master its use. For some, the process took so long that another was chosen as Zent in their stead.

“If a Zent candidate wielding the Grutrissheit desires our aid, then it is best that we respond,” Wingert continued. “Not to mention, this attack on Lord Ferdinand constitutes attempted obstruction of a royal decree. Lady Detlinde is allegedly abetting treason. There is a chance the Sovereignty might be drawn into the fray, in which case Dunkelfelger has accepted the duty of contacting the other top-ranking duchies. The aub determined that refusing to get involved would prove harmful, considering our joint rule over Old Werkestock.”

Understanding dawned on my retainers’ faces. More than a few had already been wary of the dangerous activity recently observed in Ahrensbach: first, the collusive relationship with a foreign power that Detlinde had demonstrated during her father’s funeral, despite proclaiming herself a Zent candidate; then the scorn she had shown her royally decreed fiancé; and now... this.

“If we have reason to suspect treason—enough reason to rush to Ehrenfest’s aid—then should we not consider an attack on the Sovereignty inevitable?” Kenntrips asked, his attention fixed solely on Wingert. “To which front does the aub mean to send us?”

Though his phrasing was roundabout, his intent was clear: would the aub prioritize Rozemyne over King Trauerqual, who famously lacked the Grutrissheit?

“We shall provide assistance on both fronts, but the aub himself will mobilize only if the Sovereignty calls for aid. As it stands, Lady Rozemyne is still merely an archduke candidate; Aub Dunkelfelger will not act as her subordinate.”

“So we’re sending only knights, then?”

“Not quite. An archduke candidate must be present to shoulder the blame if Ehrenfest’s claims prove false, if the Zent rebukes us for acting without sufficient evidence, or if we lose against Ahrensbach.”

Kenntrips frowned. “Are you saying Lord Lestilaut will serve as a scapegoat, to be cast aside if necessary?”

“No, Lord Lestilaut will not be participating at all,” Wingert said. “He has been instructed to guard the foundation.”

My retainers’ shock reached even greater heights.

“The foundation?! Lord Lestilaut, does this mean you’ve been chosen as the next aub?!”

“Truly?! The decision has been made?!”

“If you were entrusted with the foundation, the situation must be even more grave than we imagined.”

Though most of the blame fell on Hannelore, who had turned against her duchy for personal gain, I was frequently criticized for my role in Dunkelfelger’s defeat against Ehrenfest. Coupled with the proposal made during the most recent Archduke Conference—for students to receive their schtappes much later into their Royal Academy education—it had seemed almost inevitable that the position of aub would go to the progeny of our duchy’s second wife. How could my sister or I compete when our divine protections would pale in comparison?

Yet, despite the increasingly common opinion that we should not be hasty in choosing the aub’s successor, the decision had suddenly been made to entrust me with the foundation. My retainers, who had fought alongside me at the Royal Academy, could hardly believe their ears.

“When will the handover be? Will we not need to prepare for it?”

“We should act quickly before the other nobles interfere.”

“Calm yourselves,” I said. “The handover will most likely take place after Father has contacted the Sovereignty and the other top-ranking duchies. As we speak, he must be working to secure a chance to move freely. It should not be long before I am summoned.”

At last, my retainers ceased their chattering—though I could tell they were still agitated.

“But, Lord Lestilaut... who is going to lead our troops into Ahrensbach?” Rasantark asked with a quizzical tilt of his head. “It cannot be you, if you are to inherit and guard the foundation. Could it be my father instead?”

Rasantark’s father—my uncle—was a member of the archducal family, making him a fine candidate for the role. Though he was often called upon when both Father and I were indisposed, he would not be the one taking our knights to Rozemyne’s aid.

“No, Hannelore shall go to Ahrensbach,” I said, prompting another round of cries from my retainers.

“Lady Hannelore?!”

“She’s hardly suited to the role!”

The knights’ reluctance to entrust their lives to my sister was only natural, given what she had done. If she had only secured an engagement with Ehrenfest, the mere mention of her name would not have provoked such scorn.

I recalled the sight of Hannelore’s back as she had raced out of the meeting room. On the one hand, I felt guilty about her predicament, for it was the ditter I had forced upon her that led to her current disgrace. On the other, I remained outraged by her foolish reluctance to assert her desires after betraying her duchy.

I could not stand my sister’s half-baked resolve—yet Wilfried and Ehrenfest incensed me even more. They had extended a hand to her, only to shamelessly withdraw it.

“The shame of one ditter match can be cleansed only by the glory of another,” I said. “If things go poorly, Hannelore will take the fall. If they go well, she will have her redemption. She has already agreed to the arrangement; we have no right to question it.”

Hannelore and Rozemyne had always struck me as similar. A common thread seemed to run between them. They both had a strong tendency to swallow their desires based on others’ demands—to put themselves at risk for the sake of saving others.

“Are you truly fine with this?”

I thought back to the question for Rozemyne that had almost passed my lips during the awards ceremony. Her blithe agreement to tell the royal family everything she knew had put her at great risk of being absorbed into their ranks, to say nothing of the treatment she received as an adopted daughter. As far as I could tell, she was fated to be exploited by both her duchy and her country, then cast aside when she had nothing left to give. She strove to give credit for her achievements to Wilfried as though it were the most natural thing to do, yet grimaced when Detlinde stole the glory for the results of their joint research. In every regard, she seemed to put others’ needs above her own.

Or so I thought.

As it turned out, Rozemyne wasn’t simply being exploited. She had resolved to steal Ahrensbach’s foundation for the sake of someone she cared about, even using the Grutrissheit to support her cause. Blazing within her was the drive to secure her heart’s desires—desires she had both the status and strength to realize. It felt as if she had thrust into my face the fact that I did not need to rescue her, whether from Ehrenfest or the royal family.

To my continued surprise, the same held true for Hannelore. Far from trembling behind others, as she had been wont to do, she was charging ahead of her own accord, doing as she pleased rather than as she was told. Even knowing the steep cost of defeat, she had marched to meet her fate, no longer the girl who would tearfully beg for my help.

“Heisshitze will accompany Lady Hannelore as her commanding officer,” Wingert continued. “As we speak, he should be at the training grounds, deciding which of the knights will go with them.”

At once, my knights’ eyes lit up with a hunger for battle. Those too old to have participated in the Royal Academy’s ditter match looked especially ravenous. I gazed over them all and sighed.

“Knights who wish to join for the purpose of gathering intelligence may do so,” I said. “Head to the training grounds at once.”

“Is this not the time to instruct us to mingle with Lady Hannelore’s guard knights?” Kenntrips asked. “I would imagine you are more concerned with increasing her guard than gathering information.”

“Enough, Kenntrips.”

Perhaps because we were cousins, Kenntrips, more than any of my other retainers, had a tendency to voice the things best left unsaid. His unwarranted interjection had my knights all regarding me with irritatingly warm looks. I glared at him, but he paid it no mind.

“Fear not, Lord Lestilaut!” Rasantark exclaimed. “I shall protect Lady Hannelore!”

“Think before you speak,” I said. “You have yet to come of age; there is no chance of you being sent to another duchy.”

Rasantark and the rest of my underage guard knights grimaced in disappointment. My older knights, in contrast, looked all the more eager. How glib of them, considering their attitude toward Hannelore mere moments before.

“Lord Lestilaut, I shall negotiate with Lady Hannelore’s knights,” Wingert said. “I suspect she lacks adult guards, so I see no reason they would refuse our assistance.”

When selecting retainers, archducal family members prioritized those within their age group, as it meant they could attend the Royal Academy together. In need of adult knights as she was, Hannelore would surely agree to borrow some of mine.

“Inform them that we shall also lend them any scholars they might need for their battle preparations,” I said.

With that, the adults took their leave. My underage guard knights watched them go, their faces clouded with envy and dejection.

“As the next archduke, I must bid my sister farewell,” I announced. “Those who wish to accompany me, be ready for a night march. We shall head to the country gate under cover of darkness, so minors will need their parents’ permission.”

Minors were highly restricted in what they could do of their own accord. Rasantark and the others shook their heads in frustration, then rushed off to contact their parents.

I wonder... Just how many will gather tonight?

For roughly a decade, our country gate had remained inert. If Rozemyne truly did have the power to make it move, then her arrival would be a spectacle for the ages. No doubt the commoners would cause just as much of a stir as the nobles.

The guard knights who would accompany Hannelore were chosen, and the scholars set off to brew magic tools and rejuvenation potions. My retainers had permission to assist them, but I still needed the bare minimum to remain by my side.

I waited in my chambers with the retainers who would join me when Father sent his summons. Those who would stand with me when I inherited the foundation had to be equivalent to those I would permit entry to Dunkelfelger’s Mana Replenishment hall, meaning they needed to be archnobles from an archducal branch family.

It was impossible to relax, knowing I might be summoned at any moment. My retainers must have felt the same, for we all inhaled sharply when the ordonnanz finally arrived.

“Lestilaut, come to the archducal living quarters at once,” it said.

“It would seem Father has found a free moment,” I mused. “Reginald, Rasantark, Kenntrips—let us go to the foundation.”

Together with my assembled retainers, I departed my chambers and left the northern building for the main building’s archducal living quarters. The knowledge that I would soon be inheriting the foundation racked me with tension the likes of which I had never experienced before.

Fully aware of my torment, Kenntrips smirked and said, “To think you truly are going to be the next aub, Lord Lestilaut.”

“Do you take issue with that fact?” I asked.

“No, not at all. I was simply not expecting it, owing to your early acquisition of a schtappe and your defeat at the hands of Ehrenfest. I am relieved, I think—or perhaps still grappling with surprise.”

Certainly, making up for my shortcomings would not be easy. Circumstance had brought me this far, but it would not secure my inheritance. Yet at the same time, I was the only one who could carry out this role. If Rozemyne truly had obtained the Grutrissheit, the entire country would soon be shaken to its core.

“This way, Lord Lestilaut. The aub awaits you.”

Father’s head attendant greeted us upon our arrival and guided us to the archducal living quarters, the appearance of which I could scarcely remember. We passed the room I had stayed in until my baptism, then Mother’s room, before finally reaching Father’s door. His guard knights stood outside in the same formation as whenever we entered the Mana Replenishment hall.

“Aub Dunkelfelger, Lord Lestilaut has arrived.”

“Let him through,” my father said, “but he must come alone. I ask that his retainers not accompany him.”

Though I was permitted to enter, my retainers were stopped at a partitioning screen. Father watched as his own retinue fell back to join them, then moved to the far end of the room. I followed in silence.

“This door,” he said, knocking lightly on one of several in a neat row. The magic circle on its surface brought to mind the entrance to a hidden room. “Open it with this key.”

Father tapped the feystone embedded in the bracelet he always wore, causing a key to materialize. Using it, he opened the door, revealing a pitch-black void. Again, a hidden room came to mind.

“Only those with the key may enter,” Father continued. “Place your hand here.”

He rolled the key into his palm so that we could enter the room together. I pressed my own palm against his, and we stepped inside. It felt strange holding my father’s hand at my age. Our hands were nearly the same size, though I could not hope to match his strength or calluses.

In an instant, we were standing in a narrow white space, empty save for the white walls surrounding us. A surprised gasp escaped me; I had expected to see the magic of our foundation, just as I had been taught during my lessons.

“Do not touch anything without good reason,” Father warned.

I nodded, careful to move only my head as I looked around. Still, I saw nothing but white.

“The bracelet can get you this far, but no further,” Father said. “If the key were all one needed to access the foundation, any brazen fool could steal it by killing the aub. Imagine their surprise when this is all that welcomes them.”

I glared at Father. Was he teasing me for my own surprise, in a roundabout way?

“When a Zent builds a new foundation, its first aub chooses the means required to reach it,” Father explained. “I doubt the entrances to any two duchies’ foundations are the same.”

That made sense. There must have been no shortage of simpletons during the civil war and purge who murdered the aubs of deposed duchies, thinking the key alone would grant them access to their foundations. But without a Grutrissheit, not even the Zent could reach them—which was why managing deposed duchies was such a nightmare.

“To reach our foundational magic, you must register your mana to the key,” Father said. “Here.”

He pressed the key into my hands. Our mana must have been especially similar, for I dyed it quickly and met with little resistance.

“Now, take the key in your left hand and press it against the left wall, channeling mana into it all the while.”

I did exactly as instructed. My ring shone, and a magic circle started to form at the center of the wall.

“What happens if someone touches another wall?” I asked.

“Spears shoot out. It’s a death sentence if your reflexes aren’t good enough—and even if they are, you wouldn’t survive here for long. I keep the bracelet on my left wrist so I never forget.”

It was a rather brutal trap, I thought—though I expected no less for protecting the duchy’s foundation. As I watched Father roll his left wrist, I resolved to wear the bracelet on the same arm.

Once the magic circle was complete, text appeared before my eyes. It was written in the ancient language, which I parsed and translated without delay.

“‘Swear to Leidenschaft, the God of Fire.’”

I glanced at Father. His red eyes narrowed, and a grin curled his lips.

“This is why Dunkelfelger archduke candidates are taught the ancient language,” he said. “Go ahead—write your answer with your schtappe. One who cannot respond is unfit to be the next archduke.”

I needed no instruction on what to swear. I formed my schtappe, turned it into a pen, and started writing my answer in the ancient language:

“Dunkelfelger is the Zent’s sword. We uphold the peace and smite the foes of the gods’ chosen.”

The wall in front of me vanished as soon as I finished writing, replaced by an iridescent film.

“Oho...” Father chuckled. “A much faster response than I expected. I see you took your studies more seriously than your rebellious streak led me to believe.”

In truth, I had doubled down on my studies after Rozemyne casually translated Dunkelfelger’s history and Hannelore was summoned to assist the royal family in the underground archive—not that I was about to admit it.

“Is this question not too simple for an archducal family member?” I asked. “It could become a grave security risk if ever there’s disharmony among the archduke candidates.” Every member of the Dunkelfelger archducal family was taught the ancient language and required to recite this vow to Leidenschaft daily. With the key in hand, any one of them could access the foundation.

“Any squabbles over succession can be settled through ditter. Keeping the key safe is far more important. If the test were too difficult and an aub died before their handover, it could lock the foundation away for good. As it is, it strikes the perfect balance—easy enough for our archduke candidates, but not for those from other duchies.”

“I see.”

“Now, come with me. The foundation is through there.”

Father pointed ahead, and through the iridescent film we went. Beyond it stretched a broad, windowless white room, within which several rather large feystones swirled. The scene reminded me of the Mana Replenishment hall.

“Those feystones, bearing the divine colors, are connected to the replenishment hall,” Father explained. “Any mana the archducal family supplies is transformed into golden dust, which falls from them onto the foundation. It’s a beautiful sight to behold.”

I followed his finger from the revolving feystones down to a sizable orb embedded in the floor. It resembled the magic tool we had experimented with in class, only on a much larger scale. I could see blue liquid inside, glowing faintly.

Dyeing this will not be simple. Not at all.

Rozemyne seemed determined to complete her invasion in just two bells, but I could not imagine her dyeing another duchy’s foundation with entirely foreign mana that quickly.

“Father... do you think Rozemyne will be able to steal Ahrensbach’s foundation?”

“It was her own declaration that she would. We doubted she could win her ditter matches, but she proved us wrong there. I suspect she has some trick up her sleeve; my only regret is that I won’t be around to see it. The situation in Ahrensbach will be far more interesting than in the Sovereignty. Curse you, Sieglinde...”

His displeasure with Mother’s choice aside, Father seemed convinced that Rozemyne would succeed. Was that why he was focused on the Sovereignty?

“Do you expect to be summoned to the Sovereignty?” I asked.

“Ahrensbach is said to be aiding a foreign power. Ideally, we’ll catch Lady Detlinde and the Lanzenavians there—but if their goal was to remove Lord Ferdinand from the picture and secure the Grutrissheit for themselves, it’s very likely they’ll be headed to the Sovereignty.”

So, he anticipated an attack. Whether he would receive a summons depended on if the Sovereign Knight’s Order could manage the situation alone.

“Lestilaut—the key.”

I returned the key to Father, having neglected to do so earlier. He squeezed it, then touched the feystone of his bracelet. The key vanished in the blink of an eye.

“Now, if I am summoned to the Sovereignty, I need only hand you this bracelet to complete the handover,” Father said. “You are still so inexperienced with politicking that it wouldn’t be a decision made lightly, but I trust you would manage, especially if you called upon the rest of the archducal family for support.”

I swallowed hard, unable to tear my eyes away from the bracelet on Father’s wrist. I could feel the moment approaching when I would need to accept it. The thought of becoming the next aub brought me no regret—it had been my life’s purpose, after all—but the vastness of the foundation and the heavy responsibility soon to be placed on my shoulders made me tremble.

Does Rozemyne truly intend to steal one of these, all to save Lord Ferdinand...?

If given the chance, I would want to insist that she accept reality and give up—though I knew such advice would be both unwelcome and unnecessary.

“Lestilaut, there is something I must tell you.” Father held me in place with a measured look, his red eyes burning with a deadly serious light. “If Lady Rozemyne appears at the country gate, then she can only be a Zent candidate with the Grutrissheit.”

“I understand,” I replied with a nod—but Father shook his head.

“No, you don’t. Your rude words, your forceful insistence on bride-stealing ditter masquerading as bride-taking ditter—you’ve made it painfully clear you don’t respect her. Rozemyne must think poorly of your behavior, but she has overlooked it because it came from her dear friend’s elder brother. Now, though, you are Dunkelfelger’s next aub. For the sake of our duchy’s future, you must exercise the utmost courtesy when speaking with a Zent candidate. Is that clear?”

I was being urged to reflect on my own poor attitude. Thinking back, I hadn’t even used the proper style of address when speaking about her.

Ah. Well then...

Rozemyne and I were no longer merely archduke candidates of a middle duchy and a greater duchy, respectively. I was now the next aub of Dunkelfelger, and she a Zent candidate; things could no longer remain as they were.

“Understood,” I said. “I will show Lady Rozemyne the respect her station deserves.”

Assuming the gate truly activates, that is. Call me a sore loser, but I won’t believe she wields the Grutrissheit until I see it with my own eyes.

Newly Written Narrations for Season 3 of the Bookworm Anime

Written by Miya Kazuki, these passages were read out live in a 2022 broadcast.

Myne (VA: Iguchi Yuka)

When my life as Urano Motosu came to an abrupt end, I was reborn as Myne, a girl too weak and sickly to even move. Two years have passed since then, and at long last, I’ve created my very first book.

On my own, I couldn’t do anything. Chopping wood was too much for me, and something as simple as shaping clay tablets felt like a major achievement. During my worst days with the Devouring, I almost gave up on ever making a book—but with the help of my family, Lutz, Benno, and everyone else, I pulled through. I really have come a long way, haven’t I?

Speaking of the Devouring—there’s something called “Devouring heat.” It happens when one’s mana is about to overflow. Normal commoners don’t have any mana to begin with, but I seem to have quite a bit. The only reason I’m still alive is because Freida gave me one of her magic tools.

Oh, and I also got to join the temple as an apprentice shrine maiden.

Normally, a commoner would enter the temple as a gray shrine maiden, but having mana meant I was allowed to become a blue shrine maiden instead—a role otherwise reserved for nobles. Apparently, the duchy’s facing some kind of mana crisis, so I guess it’s a good time to have mana!

By offering mana to the temple’s divine instruments, I was able to keep my Devouring heat at bay—but not everyone there was so fortunate. I came across the orphanage and soon learned about the awful conditions the children were being kept in. Determined to save them, I took the position of orphanage director and set up a workshop in the temple, giving them a way to work and earn money.

By selling the plant paper the orphans made to the Gilberta Company, I not only enabled them to buy their own food, but I also sped up my bookmaking! We even managed to make black ink all on our own. Eheheh...

But even with paper and ink, making a book was no simple task. The orphans, priests, and shrine maidens had almost no knowledge of the world outside the temple. They didn’t even understand “The Three Little Pigs” or “Cinderella”!

I mean, what good are books if you have no stories to put in them?!

After some thought, I decided to teach the orphans to read using a picture-book version of the bible that everyone in the temple seemed to know so well. If I wanted to read books, then I needed people to write them. And to make that more likely, I had to improve the duchy’s literacy rate.

So, I put together some stories, and a talented artist named Wilma drew some wonderful illustrations to go with them. My very first picture-book bible was complete—and there were many more to come! Woo-hoo!

Well, I thought we’d release more, but the orphanage’s winter preparations had to come first. I was even rushed to help the Knight’s Order deal with a trombe. Restoring the land afterward required so much mana that only the High Priest and I could manage it—and since the High Priest had just hunted with the knights, the task landed squarely on my shoulders.

Nobles used mana like it was nothing. They sent messages using white birds called ordonnanzes and traveled around on animals made from feystones. I practically recoiled the first time I saw it... and got scolded by the High Priest for “letting my commoner side show.”

As nice as it would’ve been to enjoy a stress-free adventure in a magical wonderland, reality had other plans. One of the knights assigned to guard me didn’t take too kindly to my being a commoner. He pulled a knife, threatened to gouge out my eyes, and even ruined my new robes. It was awful.

The High Priest saved me in the nick of time, but not before I came to a harsh realization: Nobles are terrifying. Seriously.

As chaos gave way to calm, the High Priest told me to demonstrate my might to the gathered nobles. So, I poured my absolute all into praying... and ended up overdoing it a little. It wasn’t fair, really—I’d only done as I was told—but the next thing I knew, the High Priest was scouring my memories to see whether I posed a threat to the duchy.

And of course, that meant he saw my memories from when I was Urano.

Though I seemed to have been given the all clear, I still felt uneasy. Visiting the temple as an apprentice blue shrine maiden meant I couldn’t avoid nobles, no matter how much I wanted to. It would have been one thing to spend time with those who were considerate of me, like Lord Karstedt and Lord Damuel... but not the scary ones who sided with the High Bishop.

Aah, but enough about that! Let’s focus on the good things instead. For example: come spring, I’m going to be a big sister! Whether it’s a boy or a girl doesn’t matter to me, so long as I can raise them into a fellow bookworm.

I can’t make bedclothes or sew like Tuuli can, so I’ll make books and toys for the baby instead. Focus on what you know, as they say! I’ve already made a picture book for babies and the picture-book bible... What should I make next?

Color ink seems like the best next step—Wilma’s art would look even more wonderful in color. But where would I even begin? I wonder if Benno has any ideas...

Just thinking about making books is so much fun. I wish I could do this forever!

Lutz (VA: Tamura Mutsumi)

Myne’s been thinking weird thoughts again—I can tell just by the look on her face. What’s running through that head of hers this time? I can’t just ask, ’cause she barely even hears me when she gets in one of these moods. The most I can do is wait for her to figure things out.

To be honest, even just walking Myne home from the temple feels weird. Normally, kids my age only find work through their parents or relatives, and I’m the son of a carpenter. Becoming a merchant was never in the cards for me, yet here I am, apprenticing at the Gilberta Company. And it’s all thanks to Myne and Otto.

It was always my dream to become a traveling merchant. I even resolved to run away from home over it. Looking back, I must’ve just been upset over how my family was treating me. But talking things out with my folks at the temple cleared everything up. Rather than wander from city to city on my own, I’ll travel as part of the Gilberta Company—whenever I get the chance, that is.

So many exciting things have happened in my life lately, and they all trace back to Myne. As much as I want to keep her close, I can tell she’s been getting more and more wrapped up with nobles ever since she started going to the temple. She’s been told to fix how she speaks and acts, and now she’s even learning to play music.

Things haven’t been easy for Myne. She had a terrifying experience with the Knight’s Order. I wish she could just quit being a shrine maiden, but going to the temple’s the only way she can keep her mana under control. She wouldn’t be able to survive anywhere else. Myne told me the High Priest is looking out for her—that he came to her rescue and yelled at the knights who threatened her—but I’m still worried about her safety.

Ferdinand (VA: Hayami Show)

Myne is a commoner with the Devouring. Under normal circumstances, her low status would prevent her from becoming an apprentice blue shrine maiden, which is why she had to prove her worth by restoring the land after the trombe hunt. The knights needed to see a reason for the archduke to recognize her value.

Although Myne was successful, her mana capacity far exceeded even my expectations. We could not simply ignore it; for safety’s sake, she would need to be adopted by a noble and trained to control her mana at the Royal Academy.

Alas, Myne’s astounding mana capacity was not my only cause for concern—her words and actions were just as baffling. She displayed an unusual obsession with books and possessed far more knowledge than any commoner should reasonably have access to. Determined to uncover the source of her expertise, I used a magic tool to search her memories—and quickly discovered that she had lived a previous life in another world.

Now, bringing Myne into the noble fold is more necessary than ever. The simplest solution would be for Karstedt to adopt her—after all, he is the most trustworthy noble I know. Ideally, such an arrangement would be approved without issue...

But I can already envision a certain someone requesting to see her, driven purely by his own amusement.

Sylvester is a tough man to refuse, but yielding to his wishes would bring its own slew of problems. If there exists a way to keep him from pestering Myne, I shall go to great lengths to ensure it. Even merely delaying their first encounter should suffice.

To that end, I shall instruct Sylvester not to approach Myne until the Dedication Ritual is complete. Surely, even he has the common sense not to interfere with the filling of the chalices, given its tremendous impact on the duchy’s harvest.

Sylvester (VA: Inoue Kazuhiko)

You’re telling me Ferdinand, of all people, asked Karstedt to adopt someone? How very strange. And the adoptee is that commoner shrine maiden, right? Consider my interest piqued.

Ferdinand only took her in to help ease Ehrenfest’s mana shortage. After the Sovereignty’s civil war, so many of our blue priests and shrine maidens were taken that we haven’t had enough mana to properly conduct our ceremonies, and our harvests have suffered as a result.

Myne’s no ordinary commoner. She even joined the temple as an apprentice blue shrine maiden. She knows things a girl of her background shouldn’t—and the way she’s making books is, frankly, unheard of. Ferdinand asked to use the memory-searching tool to figure her out, but I refused. The tool places a heavy burden on anyone who uses it, and while she seemed suspicious, how dangerous could a recently baptized girl really be?

But then Myne revealed the true extent of her mana capacity right in front of the Knight’s Order. If she doesn’t learn to control it, the entire duchy could be at risk. With no other choice, I granted Ferdinand permission to use the memory-searching tool. Turns out Myne remembers living in another world.

Another world, huh? Is she a threat to Ehrenfest or not? I’m itching to see this girl for myself, but Ferdinand insists I keep my distance. The Dedication Ritual must be truly serious business. I’ll concede for now—winter’s a hectic season anyway—but don’t think I’ll forget. Come spring, I’m gonna see what this Myne is really about!

Ascendance of a Bookworm
Drama CD 6 Post-Recording Report

By Miya Kazuki

On a certain day in 2021, I attended the recording of yet another drama CD. Just like last time, I traveled to the studio by car instead of using public transportation, though this time, my husband drove me instead of my editor. He works remotely, so he can do his job from anywhere—and he’s a big fan of Inoue Kikuko-san. (Haha.)

As before, the recording sessions were spread over three days. Most of our voice actors recorded individually, with exceptions made only when two people—and only two—truly needed to be in the booth together. In such cases, a transparent vinyl sheet was hung between them.

Each time a new voice actor arrived, the booth was aired out and disinfected without fail. When we were recording last year’s drama CD, the state of emergency was nearing its end, and normalcy was gradually returning, so progress was frequently halted as everyone double-checked to make sure they were following the guidelines correctly. We had since become used to them, so we could proceed uninterrupted.

Considering that we managed to record the fifth drama CD last year around the end of the first state of emergency, and this one just before the third state of emergency was declared, I couldn’t shake the feeling that we were remarkably fortunate with our timing!

Like the booth, the control room had a strict limit on how many people could sit inside at once. The sound director, recorder, and recorder’s assistant manned the equipment at the front of the room, while my husband and editor took chairs a safe distance behind them. Suzuka-san, Kunisawa-san—the scriptwriter—and I sat at a table at the very back.

Suzuka-san and I hadn’t had a chance to see each other during the previous recording session, so it felt like I was seeing her for the first time in ages. The last time we’d met was during a thank-you party a year and a half prior.

“Hello again, Suzuka-san. How have you been?”

“Well enough. It sucks not being able to go on a proper vacation, though.”

TO Books had a few new employees in its planning department—people who had joined the company through working on the anime, my editor informed me—which meant it was time to exchange business cards. Suzuka-san apologized for not bringing hers, though I couldn’t blame her—we’d already met pretty much every staff member involved with the CDs by that point.

I dug through my bag for my own cards, to no avail. It was strange, because I was certain I’d packed them. Thankfully, I had some backups in my wallet.

“You have some, Kazuki-san?” Suzuka-san asked.

“Don’t act so surprised. Aren’t you the one who taught me to always keep spares in my wallet?”

“Oh, really...?”

But as I stuck out my chest, overcome with pride, one of the new employees said, “Um, this card is all creased...”

Ah! Noooooo! How could this be?!

“Well, I guess I should include this in my report,” I conceded.

“You could always leave it out,” Suzuka-san mused. “The readers might not find it very interesting.”

“Or they might find themselves in awe at how many ways you two manage to mess up a simple exchange of business cards,” my husband chimed in.

Who asked for your opinion?

Day 1

Inoue Kazuhiko

The Archduke Conference played a central role in this CD, meaning Sylvester had more to say than in any of the previous releases. Poor Aub Ehrenfest gets batted to and fro in his dealings with Rozemyne and the royal family, but he has plenty of cool lines befitting his station.

“On page X, try to sound a little more bemused. Emphasize ‘private’ when you say ‘public and private.’”

“On page Y, try to sound more exasperated.”

“On page Z, try to sound like a father watching over his child.”

As always, we started with a few tests: the sound director would choose parts of the script for the voice actor to read, and we would give our feedback, which the sound director then summarized and passed along. Ever the professional, Inoue-san worked our requests into his performance without delay. Such talent impresses me no matter how many times I see it.

Inoue-san also played one of Sigiswald’s retainers, though the character had only a single line of dialogue. I requested an older-sounding voice, and that was exactly what I got. We must have blazed through the whole recording in less than half an hour. Speed. Skill. Superbness!

“Sylvester is making his debut in the third season of the anime,” the casting director told Inoue-san before the latter took his leave. “I look forward to your work then as well.”

Indeed, the third season would mark Sylvester’s first appearance in the anime! I’d attended so many recording sessions for the drama CDs that I’d taken his presence for granted. Knowing how much his character changes between Parts 2 and 5, I wondered whether Inoue-san would struggle to voice the more devious Sylvester of Part 2. (Haha.)

Inoue Kikuko

My husband almost lost his mind when he heard who was playing Elvira and Eglantine, and he wasted no time showing me some of Inoue-san’s past anime performances. She seemed to voice a lot of gentle characters, so I was surprised she had been picked for Elvira. I couldn’t wait to hear her take on Ehrenfest’s model noblewoman.

“Oh, Inoue Kikuko-san has arrived,” we were told. “Would anyone like to greet her before she steps into the booth?”

“I would.”

My husband answered before I could even open my mouth. I wasn’t sure why. It wasn’t like he’d actually speak with her—at most, he’d just grin like an idiot, hanging about behind me as though he were my manager or something.

“As I recall,” my editor said, “Inoue-san is known as the eternal sixteen—”

“Seventeen-year-old,” my husband interjected, again without missing a beat. There was a serious glint in his eyes.

“You must be a really big fan.”

When we were all ready, the casting director called for Inoue-san and introduced her to us.

“This is Inoue Kikuko-san, soon to play Elvira. She’s the... eternal eighteen-year-old, was it?”

“Seventeen!”

This time, the outburst came not from my husband but from Inoue-san herself. It must have been a running gag among her fans, and for good reason—seeing the adorable pout that accompanied her protest, I reflected that Inoue-san’s true age really was hard to pinpoint. Even when I quietly asked my husband how old she actually was, he insisted she was seventeen. Figures.

Inoue-san’s natural voice was just as warm and gentle as her appearance—a perfect match for Eglantine, I thought. Better yet, she seemed to be a fan of the series!

“I was moved to tears reading Elvira’s scene,” she told me. “I’ll give this performance my best, but don’t hesitate to critique anything that doesn’t feel right to you.”

The manager warned us that Inoue-san could get a little teary-eyed. It was sweet—our second voice actor of the day seemed more worried about her performance than anyone.

We were just about to begin when the recorder’s assistant cried out, “Wait! The ventilation fan’s still running!”

“Huh? Really?”

“Oh, he’s right!”

I had to hand it to the assistant—he was the only one who’d noticed the low hum of the ventilator. Trust someone who works with sound all day to have such a remarkably keen ear!

The fan was turned off, and our work resumed. Inoue-san’s first line as Elvira earned her a round of applause from everyone in the control room. She was the quintessential noblewoman, her voice bearing all the strength and authority expected of the character.

As the knight commander’s wife, Elvira is stern and strict. She’s also profoundly sentimental and mischievous enough to fantasize about how best to depict Philine and Damuel in her collection of love stories. Inoue-san got so into the role that I almost cracked up.

“On page X, ‘commoner’ was mispronounced as ‘commonor.’”

“You did an excellent job switching from enthusiastic to serious and back again.”

“On page Y, can you read this kanji the other way?”

The casting director had been certain that Inoue-san would make the perfect Elvira, so much so that he had long intended to offer her the role. I had to respect his acute insight; her practice of the emotional climax between mother and daughter was so good that it almost brought me to tears.

Next, Inoue-san provided the voice of Eglantine. Her calm, gentle tones were perfect for the character—the eternal seventeen-year-old, indeed—and betrayed not a hint of malice when she said, “You will help us, no?” just as a princess might. It was perfect.

As a treat for us all, Inoue-san brought some shrimp crackers to the studio. They were handed out in the control room, and I—well, my husband—was even allowed to take the leftovers home. They were delicious.

Lunch

For lunch, we could choose between Hamburg steak and yakiniku bentos. I’m hardly the picture of health, so I went with neither and sent my husband to a convenience store to get something better for me. Boy, do I love onigiri. Nom nom.

Once we’d eaten, Suzuka-san and I took turns signing autograph cards.

“I wish I could keep one of these,” she said.

I nodded in agreement. “But it’s not urgent, and we can’t ask on such short notice. I think I’ll ask for one from the drama CD for the last volume of the light novels.”

“Wait, has it been confirmed that the last volume is getting a drama CD?”

“Oh, no, not at all,” I said, waving my hands. “But it’s bound to happen—unless sales suddenly plummet, the series gets canceled, the drama CDs stop selling, or TO Books goes bankrupt.”

“Wah! Don’t jinx it!”

“I meant to say that you can rest easy, since it would take a lot to stop it from happening...”

A completely original long-form series might have unstable sales, but the growth of the web novel—in terms of bookmarks and reviews—mirrored the increasing sales of the books, so I doubted Bookworm would get canceled midway through Part 5. Not to mention, there were plenty of dramatic scenes in Part 5 Volume 7 and beyond that I really wanted to hear voiced. Deciding which ones Kunisawa-san should script was always a headache, and I suspected many readers were looking forward to them.

“In the worst-case scenario, I suppose I could start my own company and release them,” I said.

“If that happens, I do hope you’ll hire me.”

On that note, I turned to my editor. “Please do your best to ensure TO Books doesn’t collapse.”

Seki Toshihiko

Our next voice actor played Raublut, Giebe Kirnberger, and a terrorist. We started with Raublut, a role that Seki-san had played before, so we had only a single request to make.

“For this line on page X, could you sound a little more intimidating?”

Raublut didn’t have much dialogue in this CD, so we soon moved on to Giebe Kirnberger. He might only appear briefly in a recollection scene, but he’s way too cool not to rave about! I remember being amazed by how stern and manly he looked when he was first illustrated, and I was just as impressed when I heard Seki-san’s performance. It’s a great time to be a Giebe Kirnberger fan.

Despite both Raublut and Giebe Kirnberger being older men, the voices Seki-san created for them sounded entirely unique. As I always say, voice actors are something else!

To conclude his session, Seki-san voiced one of the terrorists who interrupted Rozemyne’s second-year awards ceremony. It was another minor role—a single roar during a recollection scene.

Overall, I think Seki-san was in and out of the booth in about ten minutes. Superbly done.

Terasaki Yuka

For this CD, Terasaki-san played two characters: Wilfried and Attendee 3. The former’s emotions run high in this drama CD, and Terasaki-san’s voice work perfectly captured his rebellious attitude. There were no comments in the control room. Please look forward to hearing his heartfelt cries.

The casting director informed us that Terasaki-san had come to the studio determined to play Wilfried perfectly. She had apparently asked him when the character would appear in the anime, noting that she really hoped the anime would make it as far as the drama CDs had gotten so far. It was a nice thought, but the anime was still a long way from bridging the gap.

For the most part, our post-lunch session comprised voice actors without much to record, so we alternated between ten minutes of voice work and five minutes of airing out and disinfecting the booth. Suffice to say, the staff members were pretty busy.

Hayami Show

Hayami-san was a comfortable regular by this point, and the voice he provided for Ferdinand was as good as ever. Fans of the character would surely have been devastated to hear that he didn’t appear in the CD, so I devised a way to give him some lines despite his move to Ahrensbach: a letter!

Truth be told, Ferdinand still didn’t end up with much to say this time around, so Hayami-san was done in a brisk five minutes. Maybe six. My editor and I went to greet him as he set about signing autograph cards.

“How are you feeling, sensei?” Hayami-san asked me.

On instinct, I said that I was fine, the truth about my health concerns momentarily escaping me. In hindsight, it reminds me of that trope where someone insists they’re okay no matter how clearly they seem not to be. Maybe it was for the best, though—he might have felt uncomfortable learning I had been bedridden until the day before.

“I look forward to your work on the third season of the anime,” I said.

“Thank you for the opportunity.”

Uchida Yuma

Uchida-san voiced four characters this time: Hartmut, Leonzio, and two of Anastasius’s retainers. We started with Hartmut, a character who isn’t especially relevant to the drama CDs but makes his presence known through sheer intensity.

“This feels somewhat... lacking for Hartmut,” Suzuka-san said.

Kunisawa-san nodded. “It’s missing a certain something.”

“His enthusiasm in the second half was good,” I mused. “Maybe he should speak like that from the get-go.”

As always, the sound director gathered our thoughts and passed them on to the voice actor. A second take soon followed.

“Oh, that’s better—but could we push it a little further?”

“Right? Just an extra dash of that Hartmut charm.”

“You make it sound like a recipe...”

Even so, Uchida-san knew exactly what we were looking for. His next attempt was perfect.

From there, we moved on to Leonzio, a Lanzenave royal who’s set to have a greater presence in the main series going forward. Though I can’t say how much of that will make it into the drama CDs...

For his debut scene, Leonzio employed every weapon in his arsenal to seduce Detlinde. I can’t quite put my finger on why, but his being a disembodied voice made him even more alluring. Yet more proof of the amazing talent of voice actors.

Last were Anastasius’s retainers, who had only two lines of dialogue between them.

“Sensei, can we assume Anastasius’s retainers are both in their forties?”

I gazed down at the script and tilted my head. “I don’t mind the second one sounding like that, but the first is in his sixties. He’s like a butler.”

“What?! He’s that much older?!”

On the character list, the elderly butler in question was labeled simply as “Anastasius’s retainer,” so the team had assumed it wouldn’t matter how old he sounded. Maybe that was why they asked Uchida-san to voice him.

“It’s the head attendant, Oswin, who welcomes the first prince to Anastasius’s villa,” I said. “That’s why he needs to sound older.”

“He’s a named character?”

“He might not be important to the drama CDs, but he’s always the one to welcome guests to Anastasius’s villa in the main series,” I explained. Fans would surely find it strange for the head attendant to welcome Rozemyne, an archduke candidate from a middle duchy, but not the first prince.

“My apologies, Uchida-san, but the first line is meant to come from an elderly man. Can you try an older voice?”

“I’ll do my best.”

And indeed, he did! A lovely old man’s voice prompted applause from everyone in the control room. Please look forward to hearing it.

Break Time

We had an hour to rest before the next voice actor was scheduled to arrive. It was a fairly long break, so some people stepped outside to get some work done, while others took the opportunity to stretch their legs. The recorder and his assistant spent the time reviewing their database.

“Oh, what’s this?” the recorder asked.

“A collection of voice clips from various cast members,” his assistant answered. “I put it together roughly a year ago as a way of showing voice actors what we want from them.”

We were all impressed—it sounded exceptionally convenient. The recorder’s assistant met our praise with a bashful smile.

“Truth be told, I’d forgotten all about it.”

“You should use it more! Especially when you went to all the trouble of making it.”

“Maybe we can use it for the rest of today’s voice actors.”

Once the excitement had settled down, we all jumped straight into work mode. My editor took out his iPad.

“Kazuki-san, could you check these emails for me?”

“Sure. Saves me having to do it when I get home!”

The emails covered a range of topics, from a new comic anthology to the manga adaptation. By the time I’d gone through them all, our break was over.

Wait... Weren’t we supposed to be resting?

Morikawa Toshiyuki

Morikawa-san played Karstedt, Bonifatius, and Immanuel. Karstedt was the first character we tackled, but his presence in the anime meant our esteemed voice actor already had the role locked down. There wasn’t a single thing about his performance I wanted to change.

Next, we moved on to Bonifatius. In truth, I was worried about the same person voicing both him and Karstedt—their relationship as father and son meant we could get away with their voices being similar, but I didn’t want them to sound identical. However, as always, my worries proved completely unnecessary: Morikawa-san blew me away with his range.

“Ges...etz...ket?”

“It’s pronounced ‘Gesetzkette.’”

“Excuse me, but the official accent dictionary includes two forms of ‘lovesick.’ Which should I use?”

“Wait, what? It has two pronunciations?”

In the control room, we took turns deciding which pronunciation felt most natural to us, then went with the majority vote. Given how often the word was going to appear in the series going forward, I expected many more voice actors to ask us the same question.

Hondo Kaede and Iwami Manaka

Hondo-san—voicing Charlotte, Hildebrand, and Schwartz—and Iwami-san—voicing Brunhilde, Lieseleta, and Weiss—did the last recording session of the day together. A vinyl sheet separated them.

“Now, we’re going to play some examples from a previous session,” the recorder announced. The assistant’s samples were about to prove most useful.

“Let’s start with Schwartz and Weiss,” the sound director said.

And with that, we were hit with a double whammy of cuteness! Hondo-san and Iwami-san provided the most adorable voices, which made it all the more jarring when they had to say “Milady, dangerous” and “Milady, eliminate.” It was perfect! Their mechanical delivery really stood out.

Hondo-san’s Hildebrand and Charlotte were excellent—nothing about them needed to be changed. Iwami-san was just as amazing as Brunhilde, who came across as sharp and cool, and Lieseleta, who was as charming as ever.

“Can we make this part a little more heartwarming?”

“Imagine watching over someone you care about, beaming from ear to ear.”

The end product was a very moving scene. Please look forward to it.

And with that, our first day of recording came to an end.

Day 2

I returned to the studio to find Suzuka-san hard at work on her iPad. Those little devices sure are convenient for working on the go—not that I could imagine them being much use for me. I can’t write a single sentence when there are other people around; the most I can do is iron out plot details and work on characters’ backgrounds.

“Kazuki-sensei, do you have a moment?” Suzuka-san asked. “I want to show you my plan for the next chapter.”

“Sure, sure,” I said. “Let’s see it.”

And so, we started discussing the plot for the next chapter of the manga adaptation. Well, the next-next chapter, since work on the art for the next chapter had already begun. This line of work involves juggling multiple things at once, so it can get pretty hectic. Because the manga needs to effectively condense the original story, Suzuka-san checks with me whenever changes are necessary.

By the time I’d answered all of Suzuka-san’s questions, it was time for the first voice actor to begin.

Yamashita Seiichiro

Yamashita-san played Anastasius, Cornelius, and Attendee 1. The second prince appeared in the CD’s prologue, so we decided to start with him. Yamashita-san mastered the voice on his first attempt, aided by the recorder assistant’s voice clips of his previous performance.

“Sensei, how does page X begin, exactly? Does someone enter through a door?”

“No, the underground archive has only a transparent wall created with magic. I think numerous sets of hasty footsteps would be an appropriate way to open the scene.”

At once, the sound director passed my response along to Yamashita-san: “Could you start page X as if walking at a brisk pace?”

I’m sure most people who received a request of that nature wouldn’t know what the heck was being asked of them—but not a professional voice actor! Yamashita-san added a slight waver to his performance and worked with volume in such a way that it sounded like he was getting closer as he spoke.

“The last line on page Y was spoken too softly, don’t you think? It sounded more like Cornelius than Anastasius.”

“And the lines on page Z were spoken too harshly. He should be applying light pressure.”

Yamashita-san worked our requests into his performance, and that was that. It was time to move on to Cornelius. Again, the recorder started with a voice clip from his assistant’s very useful database, which Yamashita-san quickly matched.

“Page X sounded too stiff.”

“On page Y, I think the last word came out at a higher pitch than it should have. It sounded a bit too casual...”

Cornelius didn’t have much dialogue, so it didn’t take Yamashita-san long to finish his scenes. He wrapped up his session by voicing Attendee 1, but it was such a tiny role that I don’t have much else to say about it.

Iguchi Yuka

As you surely know by now, Iguchi-san provided the voice of Rozemyne. My editor and I greeted her and exchanged the usual pleasantries: “Nice to see you again” and “We look forward to your work on the third season of the anime.” Though we hadn’t seen her in quite a while, she had still been working on the series in the form of the audiobook.

“Her voice for Rozemyne sounds just fine.”

“Let’s see... The audiobooks are up to Part 3, this drama CD is for Part 5, and the anime is at... Part 2? What a headache.”

“I know what you mean. Jumping around the timeline hasn’t been easy.”

The light novel was deep into Part 5, the manga adaptation was covering Parts 2, 3, and 4 simultaneously, and the anime was focused on the second half of Part 2. Then there was the Junior Bunko adaptation, which had only recently been in Part 1, and the comic anthologies, spanning Parts 1 to 3. Whenever I write a short story or review some content, I need to make sure everything fits that point in the story—the relationships between characters, hairstyles, clothes... It’s pure chaos.

Iguchi-san was going to record alongside Umehara-san for the long-awaited merchant saint scene. We had scheduled her to record all her solo lines before Umehara-san arrived, but as the protagonist, she had a whole heap of dialogue to get through. It certainly didn’t help that this CD included the circling of the shrines, which meant tons of tricky katakana terms to say—like the names of the gods and the words they bestowed upon Rozemyne. As you can imagine, this led to a lot of stumbling over lines. Sorry, Iguchi-san.

“You dropped an honorific on page X. Please remember to address her as ‘Lady.’” (This happens all the time.)

“Please leave a space on page Y. Ferdinand will pick up where we left off.”

“This line on page Z seemed to meander a bit. Let’s adjust it.”

There were quite a few lines that made me pause and ask for slight changes after hearing them. And as Iguchi-san had so much to record, she had the most corrections of this kind.

“Sorry, should I say ‘less’ or ‘fewer’ here?”

“Please use ‘fewer’ for spoken dialogue. Otherwise, ‘less’ is fine.”

Indeed, Rozemyne’s choice of words had to suit the scene, like how she’d say “thank you” as a commoner but “I thank you ever so much” as a noble.

“Um, on page X, I think Iguchi-san used a different pronunciation of ‘lovesick’ than Morikawa-san.”

“That’s something we’ll need to check. Can we go back to Bonifatius’s scene?”

It was easy to keep the pronunciations consistent when everyone recorded together, but not when our voice actors performed on their own. The assistant pulled up Morikawa-san’s recording in no time at all. What a pro!

“I don’t think Iguchi-san’s performance matches Terasaki-san’s intensity.”

“Wilfried was pretty intense, wasn’t he? Maybe we should play his scene for Iguchi-san.”

Keeping the pronunciation consistent wasn’t our only concern. Since the voice actors couldn’t hear each other, they also had trouble maintaining a consistent tone throughout each scene.

“Rozemyne’s excitement might clash with Elvira’s somber mood.”

“Can we play Inoue-san’s performance too, then?”

We played Wilfried’s rant and Elvira’s tearful speech for Iguchi-san, who then adjusted her performance to better match the tone. Seeing her struggle underscored the importance of recording in groups.

Once all of Rozemyne’s solo lines were recorded, we had a short break before Umehara-san was due to arrive.

“Anyone who wants to eat lunch—the next ten minutes are your only chance!”

We picked from sandwiches and onigiri a staff member had brought from a nearby convenience store and ate quietly. It wasn’t long before we had to get back to work, beginning with Iguchi-san and Umehara-san’s “merchant saint” scene.

“I’m glad we get to record this scene together.”

“Forgive me if I stumble over some of the fantasy terms.”

As the two voice actors exchanged greetings, the booth’s ventilator was switched off, and two mics were set up with a vinyl sheet separating them.

Umehara Yuuichirou

Umehara-san played Damuel, Sigiswald, and Attendee 2. Funnily enough, Sigiswald featured so heavily in this drama CD that he could very well be called the deuteragonist.

As always, we began the session by reviewing the first of Umehara-san’s voices.

“Sigiswald sounds too low and rigid. What do you think, Kazuki-sensei?”

“He needs to sound more peaceful. Slower too.”

Suzuka-san and Kunisawa-san joined me in contemplating the profound subject of the first prince’s voice.

“Personally, I think Umehara-san’s voice for Damuel is closer to what I envision.”

“I doubt Damuel and Sigiswald will appear in any scenes together, so maybe we can get away with their voices being similar.”

“Are we sure about changing it? Umehara-san’s current voice still manages to stand out from the rest of the sizable cast.”

I agreed with Kunisawa-san—Umehara-san’s voice certainly made a strong impression. But even so...

“I don’t deny that it’s unique, but I want him to speak more calmly and with greater composure. Right now, he sounds too scholarly and not noble enough.”

“He’s over-inflecting his words. It doesn’t feel very royal.”

“How can I put this...? He shouldn’t come across as arrogant or forceful. From his perspective, he’s just stating obvious truths; there’s no malice in his words.”

Once we’d all shared our thoughts, the sound director relayed them to Umehara-san in the booth. In the meantime, the rest of us pondered the concept of noble speech.

“It’s easy to talk about in theory but tough to actually pin down. If you asked me how nobles would speak in modern Japan, I don’t think I’d have an answer.”

My editor chimed in, saying the anime staff had run into the same problem. The third season marked the first real appearance of nobles. Knights could speak casually in the heat of battle, but they needed a more refined tone during slower, dialogue-heavy scenes.

“Do you have any examples of noble speech the voice actors could use as reference?”

“How about the emperor of Japan? His voice isn’t a perfect match—and his slow speaking style isn’t ideal for a drama CD or the anime—but he’s always polite and composed. Keeping him in mind might help the voice actors speak in a way appropriate for nobles.”

Through trial and error, we finally settled on the perfect voice for Sigiswald.

“Can we tweak this part on page X?”

“I think Rozemyne mispronounced ‘archducal family’ on page Y.”

“On page Z, Sigiswald needs to give a proper sigh.”

Once we finished the merchant saint scene, Iguchi-san was done. “Good work, everyone. I’ll take my leave now,” she said.

The next five minutes were spent ventilating and disinfecting the booth. Once that was done, Umehara-san, now alone, moved on to recording the rest of Sigiswald’s dialogue. He wrapped it up in barely any time at all.

Damuel was the next character we worked on. Technically, this was Umehara-san’s main role, but he only had a single line this time around. We were done before we knew it. I still remember what the casting director told me:

“The last time I saw Umehara-san, the topic of this drama CD came up. He said, ‘It’s funny that my main role has only one line.’ I wasn’t sure how to respond!”

“Well, Damuel might be a popular character, but he doesn’t have much screentime in Part 5.”

“He steals the show when he appears, but the drama CD has to condense things... He’s still a fantastic character!”

Suzuka-san and Kunisawa-san did their best to defend poor Damuel. And they were right—though his presence was limited in the drama CD, he remained a fan favorite, consistently ranking fifth in the Bookworm character polls.

In hindsight, the sixth drama CD was probably set at the right point in the story to include the scene where Damuel and Philine discuss Konrad’s future. But we didn’t. Oh well.

“Damuel gets most of his screentime in Part 3 and the latter half of Part 2, so anyone craving a Damuel fix should check out the anime.”

The sixth drama CD was packed full of nobles who hadn’t appeared much before Part 3, so voice actors kept asking me to notify them when their characters made their anime debuts—if they hadn’t already.

“If you ask me, he’s lucky Damuel said anything at all.”

“Is that so? I’ll be sure to pass that message along!”

“I’m not sure he’d appreciate it... (Haha.)”

Jokes aside, Damuel really was lucky to have had something to say in this drama CD. I’m just glad we managed to include him—after all, Seki-san didn’t get a single word for his main role, Justus.

Han Megumi

Han-san provided the voices for Detlinde and Clarissa. We started with Detlinde, once again using the recorder assistant’s database for reference. She had two scenes in this CD: one in the library, and another supporting Leonzio.

“Doesn’t she seem too... compliant?”

“That’s fine, as long as it’s clear the trug is affecting her and she’s being manipulated.”

Detlinde always charged forward on her own terms. Even without the trug, she would have forged her own path—but that’s another story. Han-san recorded the character’s lines without any trouble.

Next, we moved on to Clarissa, Hartmut’s fiancée.

“Isn’t she cute?”

“She’s so full of energy. It’s adorable.”

Thinking about it, Detlinde and Clarissa were both adorable. Considering they were about the same age, I was amazed at how Han-san managed to make their voices so distinct from each other. Truly remarkable.

That marked the end of our second day of recording. The schedule had been so packed that we hadn’t even managed a proper lunch break, and our bookish protagonist had so many lines that we had to keep pace for hours. We might have wrapped up earlier than on the first day, but it ended up being far more exhausting.

Day 3

Suzuka-san couldn’t join us for the third day—she’d reached a critical point in her manga work, it seemed. Good luck, Suzuka-san!

(Though I must admit, it might’ve been wise for me to stay home too. My workload was really starting to pile up.)

Miyazawa Kiyoko

Once again, Miyazawa-san was voicing Solange. We played a short clip from one of her past performances—a calm, gentle voice befitting a grandmother—then got straight to work. She was so familiar with the character by now that there’s not much else to say!

Morohoshi Sumire

We began Morohoshi-san’s session by playing one of her previous performances as Hannelore from the recorder assistant’s database. She slipped effortlessly into character, and the voice she produced was truly adorable—even my husband said so!

Tamura Mutsumi and Nakajima Megumi

Tamura-san and Nakajima-san recorded together, Tamura-san voicing Lutz and Magdalena, and Nakajima-san voicing Tuuli, Martina, and Hortensia.

We started with the epilogue, which opens with a conversation between Lutz and Tuuli. Both characters needed to sound older and more mature than they currently do in the anime, but I didn’t want to lose all traces of their younger selves. Striking that balance was a challenge.

Character growth is a major theme in Bookworm, but it brings plenty of complications. I know Shiina-san struggled to keep up with all the jumping around we were doing, and the same was true for the voice actors. Still, Tamura-san and Nakajima-san are absolute pros. Nearly two years had passed since their last performance, but you’d never have known it—they slipped back into their roles almost instantly.

Then we moved on to Magdalena. This time, Tamura-san was playing a woman instead of a young man, so her approach had to change completely. The voice she delivered was cool and composed, perfectly suiting the character. I remember it carrying a dangerous edge—as one might expect from a woman of Dunkelfelger.

Next up was Martina, Detlinde’s apprentice attendant. She had only a single line in this drama CD, but that didn’t stop Nakajima-san from agonizing over it in the booth.

“Aah, why does she sound so much like Tuuli...? I thought making her voice a little younger would help distinguish them, but... They even appear back-to-back here!”

“Um, it’s okay for them to sound a bit similar,” I said. “Actually, I’d recommend it—Martina is meant to echo Tuuli in some ways. The subtle difference we have now is perfect.”

The sound director relayed my comment to Nakajima-san: “Kazuki-sensei says they’re quite similar in the story, so your current voice is fine.” That brought a look of surprise from our anguished voice actor, who managed to deliver the perfect take moments later.

Last up was Hortensia. She hadn’t appeared in any of the previous drama CDs, so Nakajima-san began by creating her voice. Knowing how the story was going to progress, she devoted extra care to capturing the meaning behind the character’s dialogue.

“Is it just me, or did she say ‘Hannerole’ instead of ‘Hannelore’?”

“On page X, could you speak in an intentionally raised voice? She wants Rozemyne’s group to hear her from behind the nearby shelves.”

We wrapped up the session with only a few minor corrections. Excellent work, everyone.

“Even while writing the script, I was worried everything might not fit within the runtime,” Kunisawa-san said as the workday came to a close.

The recorder and his assistant reviewed the audio, then gave us the all clear: “Looks like we should be fine!” It was a huge relief.

From there, Kunisawa-san and I discussed what the next drama CD might focus on. Even if we had a general idea, there were still important parts of the lore that hadn’t made it into the light novels, so I was grateful for the chance to speak with her in person.

“Kazuki-sensei, I’ve been wondering—who sent those letters to Detlinde?” Kunisawa-san asked.

She must have been referring to the ones mentioned in Part 5 Volume 5 and its bonus story. And she certainly wasn’t the only one curious about them, since the main series never actually revealed the senders.

“Oh, right,” I said. “The letter Ferdinand intercepted before it reached her was from Anastasius, while the one she actually received was from Georgine.”

And with that, our third and final day of recording came to an end. Please look forward to the completed drama CD.

Ascendance of a Bookworm
Drama CD 7 Post-Recording Report

By Miya Kazuki

On a certain day in 2021, we began work on the seventh drama CD. This one’s special in that it’s being released as two discs!

Normally, I specify which scenes I want the drama CD to include, and Kunisawa-san organizes them into a script, identifying the connective tissue that makes the whole thing flow from start to finish. I was doing my bit when something suddenly occurred to me.

“We’re focusing this CD on Ferdinand’s rescue and the fight against Lanzenave, right? We can make that the main event, then add some other scenes from Part 5 Volume 7. We just have to include Letizia’s descent into despair after accidentally betraying Ferdinand, and we also need to show Rozemyne being forced to age. Oh, and the story won’t make sense without her getting the Book of Mestionora. Wait, is there even enough space for all this?”

There wasn’t anything we could cut, so I contacted Kunisawa-san through my editor. The response came quickly:

“Indeed, we might be hard-pressed to fit everything on one disc. Let’s use two.”

But that solution came with its own problems: two CDs meant twice as much content, which meant twice as much time reviewing scripts and twice as much time in the studio! The first draft of the script I received was so dense that I nearly exhausted myself trying to check it all in one go. Still, thanks to all the extra work, we secured plenty of space for the crucial scenes.

There was another way this CD stood out from its predecessors—in a shocking twist, I was participating remotely! We usually met in person, but with the coronavirus situation as it was, there was a strict limit on how many of us could be in the studio at once. So, I sat at home, my iPad connected to my home stereo so I could listen to the voice actors’ performances.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank my husband, who set up my remote workstation for me. If not for him, I wouldn’t have been involved at all. Thank you!

It was my first time attending one of these recording sessions remotely. Suzuka-san was also participating from home, while my editor and Kunisawa-san were at the studio. Not being together made it hard to speak as casually as we might have in person.

“How am I supposed to get material for my report when I can’t talk to people in the studio or notice things during breaktime...?” I mused.

“You can hear both the control room and the booth, so just do your best to find things to write about where you can,” my editor said, trying to reassure me.

Because I couldn’t see anyone’s face, there were plenty of times I couldn’t even tell who was speaking. Breaks were even worse, as there was too much background noise for me to hone in on any one conversation. How unfortunate.

It was so chaotic in the control room that I worried I wouldn’t be able to hear the voice actors. Fortunately, the booth was insulated just as well as one would expect, so the characters all sounded clear as crystal. It was excellent news for my report.

Because this CD was due to be longer than usual, we recorded it over four days instead of three. Iguchi Yuka-san, Inoue Kazuhiko-san, Hayami Show-san, Sanpei Yuko-san, and Umehara Yuuichirou-san were all scheduled for the first day.

Iguchi Yuka (Disc 1)

Once again, Iguchi-san played Rozemyne, the protagonist. She was booked for two sessions this time, owing to the enormous amount of content she had to record, which meant she would need to come in on another day as well.

Her first line was the title of the CD, which prompted a very important question from the sound director.

“We’re going to have two discs this time, right? Should we call them ‘Disc 1’ and ‘Disc 2’?”

I wasn’t sure how to respond, so I left the decision to Kunisawa-san and my editor, whose experience with these things far surpassed my own.

“How do other series handle this? Kunisawa-san, do you remember?”

“No, unfortunately not. Going with ‘Disc 1’ and ‘Disc 2’ might be best.”

If nothing else, it was an easy way for listeners to tell which disc was which. Plus, we could use the same approach if we ever ended up using two discs again!

Thanks to her work on the anime and audiobook, Iguchi-san is something of an expert at playing Rozemyne. Little wonder her test phase lasted only a minute or two. We forged ahead at an impressive pace, adopting the mindset that if anything needed correcting, it could wait for a second pass.

“Should we turn this dialogue on page X into narration?”

“Her response on page Y sounded a little too energetic for someone in class.”

“The prayer on page Z should say ‘all beings,’ not ‘all people.’”

This time, Iguchi-san’s greatest challenge in pronunciation was the name “Letizia.” She wasn’t the only one who struggled—the “zia” part is tough to say in Japanese, so she had to psych herself up before starting. “Zia, zia, zia...” I remember hearing her chant. “Letizia!”

But even that paled in comparison to the real test of her mettle: portraying Rozemyne as an “adult,” so to speak. Iguchi-san began the practice run with her best idea for the voice.

“She certainly sounds older, but it doesn’t seem like much of a change,” Kunisawa-san said. “Do we want something more dramatic? Should she be a lot more composed and mature?”

I paused in thought. “She needs to sound older—that’s all. The change is purely physical, so she doesn’t need to be more composed or anything like that.”

“In that case, tweaking the voice too much might seem strange.”

“But at the same time, it needs to be clear that she’s changed.”

The sound director expertly relayed our thoughts to Iguchi-san, who gave the voice another try. Even then, something about it didn’t feel quite right.

“Could she sound less excited when performing the monologue?”

“She should sound more mature than what Iguchi-san currently has in mind.”

“Her first line should exude the feel of an adult, at least—to say nothing of the rest of the scene.”

In a scene devoted to Rozemyne’s sudden growth spurt, it was obvious she needed to sound more mature. But we didn’t want the change to be so drastic that listeners might mistake her for another character. It was hard to explain, and even harder for Iguchi-san to perform.

“Each time her voice rises in excitement, the change in pitch makes her sound too young.”

“I don’t mind. That’s just Rozemyne for you.”

It took some work, but Iguchi-san eventually found the sweet spot between a mature young woman and the Rozemyne we know and love. I couldn’t be more grateful to her.

Inoue Kazuhiko

Soon after Iguchi-san finished her solo parts, Inoue-san joined her in the booth. The first CD features a lengthy conversation between Rozemyne and Sylvester, so we thought it best to have them record together.

“On page X, the word ‘swapped’ is used twice in the same sentence. Can we fix that?”

“Let’s change Sylvester’s phrasing on page Y to sound more casual.”

“On page Z, the pronunciation is feystone, not faystone.”

“There was a mispronunciation on page Y as well.”

Sylvester really is cool when he’s doing his thing as an aub. There’s a far more serious air about him than we’ve seen in the anime so far. You could say even he’s grown, in a way.

Once the scene was over, Iguchi-san took her leave. Inoue-san stayed, as he was scheduled to record Sylvester’s parts for both discs that day. He blazed through them exactly as you’d expect from a veteran.

Next, Inoue-san helped us with some background characters. It was easier said than done.

“Didn’t that sound too much like Sylvester?”

“That won’t do—not when their lines are so close together. Hmm... Let’s ask someone else to voice this particular background character.”

The sound director’s concern reminded me that I didn’t have much of an ear for this kind of work—the moment a voice actor changed their voice even slightly, I couldn’t recognize them. If my input was so unreliable, why was I even participating? To answer questions about the story, of course!

“How old is this character?”

“He’s a student participating in the Royal Academy’s Dedication Ritual, so make him sound young.”

“Wait, young?”

“Sensei, how old is this Ahrensbach noble?”

“Late thirties or early forties—old enough to have a daughter close to coming of age.”

“How many knights are present?”

“There are a hundred from Dunkelfelger alone, plus Rozemyne’s guard knights and the knights of Ahrensbach... Oh, and not to mention the knights performing other duties. Let’s say at least one hundred fifty in total. We’ll want quite a lot of background noise for the battle against Lanzenave.”

Yup—even something as simple as background noise demanded a lot of attention this time around. The Royal Academy’s Dedication Ritual and the fight scenes all involve tons of people.

“So there are crowds everywhere, huh?”

“Talk about a lot of voices to record...”

Every fight scene from this point on will involve large groups of people. My apologies, everyone. It shouldn’t be too hard to find voices for future drama CDs, but good luck nonetheless.

Inoue-san played a few Lanzenave soldiers and Ahrensbach nobles, then departed with a calm “Good work, everyone.”

Hayami Show (Disc 1)

Hayami-san returned to play Ferdinand. He was performing alone, with plans to record alongside Iguchi-san for Disc 2.

As an experienced cast member, Hayami-san breezed through the test run and went straight into his actual performance—which he conquered just as masterfully. He struggled with a certain name just like Iguchi-san, but hearing his exchange with the sound director warmed my heart.

“Letisha? Sia? Or is it ‘zia’?”

“The last one.”

“Letizia.”

“That’s it!”

Ferdinand’s near-death scene involved a lot of coughing. Hayami-san made it sound so real that I thought he actually had something in his throat and needed a glass of water. It’s a good thing I was muted during his performance and couldn’t interrupt him—Suzuka-san would surely have teased me about it!

Sanpei Yuko

Sanpei-san, who voiced Georgine, arrived at the studio ahead of schedule. Everyone in the control room was surprised to learn she had shown up so early.

“If we have time, can we record something for the anime? It’s not much—just four lines from Gil.”

“Sure.”

The same people in charge of the drama CDs also oversaw the anime, so they made the absolute most of having Sanpei-san in the booth. By the time I’d recovered from my shock at how quickly they adapted to the circumstances, they had already finished preparing to record. They really were amazing.

“We’ve still got some time on our hands. Guess we’ll start recording for the drama CD before Umehara-san gets here. It shouldn’t take long—Georgine only has two lines.”

“Even Gil had more than that.”

As soon as she finished Gil’s lines for the anime, Sanpei-san moved on to playing Georgine. She listened to a few clips from the recorder assistant’s handy database, then got straight to work. Her voice was perfect—just as cunning as I’d hoped—so she finished in the blink of an eye. She was so fast, in fact, that she wrapped up before the time slot we’d set aside for her even began!

Umehara Yuuichirou

For this drama CD, Umehara-san played Sigiswald, Damuel, and Matthias.

We started with Sigiswald, so the recorder played a snippet from Umehara-san’s previous performance. The sample came from the merchant saint scene, which gave us a good chuckle. You could really tell that Rozemyne and Ferdinand were treating him lightly for a first prince. Poor guy!

Next, we focused on Damuel. Because he’s been playing such an active role in the anime, we didn’t need to show Umehara-san any samples before starting. It amazes me how much the character has grown since Part 2. Damuel might not have many lines, but he’s an important presence in the series nonetheless.

Then we moved on to Matthias, once again relying on the recorder assistant’s database. Matthias is a more reserved character, so he doesn’t always have much to say, even when he’s present in a scene.

Perhaps the hardest part of the session was the prayer for summoning winter. It was long, and everyone needed to speak at exactly the same pace, so it was a shame we couldn’t have everyone together in the booth.

“Let’s start on the count of three,” the sound director said. “That should make it easier to align the voices later.”

And that’s exactly what they did.

“Um, should we change ‘extol’ to ‘glorify’?”

“Let’s go with ‘praise.’”

Once we finished with Matthias, Umehara-san assisted with some background voices. He tended to play quieter, more reserved characters—at least in Bookworm—so I was completely taken aback when he launched into voicing someone rough and rowdy. I’d never thought he could sound so crude. It was neat.

“Could you cough a bit louder, please?”

“Oh, and we need two death cries.”

There was something funny about Umehara-san being asked for more variety in his grunts and screams.

Iguchi Yuka and Hayami Show (Disc 2)

On the second of the four days we’d scheduled, we recorded Iguchi-san’s and Hayami-san’s lines for the second disc. Ferdinand wouldn’t appear until a bit later, so we started by focusing on Rozemyne’s dialogue. Thankfully, we didn’t forget to add “Disc 2” at the start of the recording.

“On page X, say ‘egress’ instead of ‘exit.’”

“Your performance on page Y was a tad too emotional. Try to sound calm—or cold, like you’re shutting someone out completely.”

“On page Z, can we remove the ‘subsequently’ from the start of this line?”

It was during the rescue scene that Hayami-san really got to flex his voice acting muscles. The fact he could sound half dead at the drop of a hat was impressive, to say the least. He even made gradual adjustments to his voice as his character’s health started to improve.

“Can we have some more heavy breathing?”

“Should we add some reactions to the monologue on page X?”

“On page Y, Ferdinand should say ‘cease’ rather than ‘stop.’”

“Let’s shorten Rozemyne’s part on page Z.”

“On page X, can we change ‘that thing’ to ‘that necklace’?”

The rescue scene is mandatory listening for any Bookworm fan. I’m so glad Iguchi-san and Hayami-san got to record it together. Their characters’ dialogue carried on into the Battle of Lanzenave, yet they weren’t fazed in the slightest. They even finished ahead of schedule.

“Good work, everyone.”

As soon as our break began, I posed a truly important question to Suzuka-san.

“Suzuka-san, Suzuka-san. Effa or Tuuli?”

“Hold on. What are you asking me?”

“Would you rather read a story from Effa’s or Tuuli’s perspective?”

“That’s not nearly enough information. What do you have in mind?”

Hmm? She really has her guard up for some reason.

“I’m writing a short story about the Defense of Ehrenfest,” I said. “Would you prefer one from Effa’s or Tuuli’s perspective? Don’t be shy!”

“This is an enormous responsibility! I must choose carefully.”

I was perfectly fine with either choice. I’d even thought about simply drawing a name from a hat. The fact that it was causing Suzuka-san such anguish fascinated me.

“There’s no wrong answer,” I said. “Either story will cover the same beats: the lower city’s evacuation, Damuel giving out charms, the state of Rozemyne’s library... I just want to know your preference.”

“Hmm... In that case, Effa. As a wife and parent, she’s bound to have a more interesting take on the situation. We’ve had enough Tuuli-focused short stories that I can guess what she’d think.”

And so, with Suzuka-san’s assistance, I settled on writing the story about Effa. I happened to share the above exchange with my daughter, only for her to say...

“Mom, you shouldn’t have put Suzuka-san through all that trouble.”

Maybe she’s right...

Seki Toshihiko

For this drama CD, Seki-san provided the voices for Justus and Heisshitze. We started with the former, once again relying on the recorder assistant’s database.

“You said your lines on page X with a little too much malice. Can you try to sound more neutral?”

“On page Y, can you make your voice crack when you exclaim, ‘Lady Letizia?!’”

There were several corrections to make, but we moved through them quickly. Being an attendant and scholar, Justus had plenty to say—a lot more than Eckhart, that’s for sure.

We then moved on to Heisshitze, a knight of Dunkelfelger.

“On page X, could the character sound a bit more overbearing?”

“Overbearing?”

“Well, he’s hot-blooded. I don’t think his current voice exudes the passion expected of a knight of his duchy.”

There were a few chuckles in the control room, and my request was passed along. A knight of Dunkelfelger had to be overbearing!

We were continuing through the scene when Seki-san paused to ask a question:

“My apologies, but on page X, what does Heisshitze mean when he says, ‘It’s not enough’?”

“He means his opponents aren’t worthy of going up against him. Imagine him looking forward to the fight, only to find that his enemies are far weaker than expected.”

The hard-to-say name this time around was “Flutrane.” We also had to work out how to pronounce “Schneeahst,” which had never been spoken in the series before.

To conclude the session, Seki-san played a few background characters—namely fishermen and Lanzenave soldiers. Voice actors with range never cease to impress me.

Konishi Katsuyuki

As a new addition to the cast, Konishi-san voiced two characters: Erwaermen and Sergius. I found that both voices stood out from the rest in this drama CD.

We started the session with Erwaermen. Because he hadn’t appeared in the anime or previous CDs, we needed to create his voice from scratch, which meant it was time for me to answer any questions the others had.

“So, what kind of character is Erwaermen? Do we have any visuals we can use as a foundation?”

“I’ve got a picture on my computer.”

My editor showed everyone in the control room an image along with a document containing lore about the character.

“Kazuki-san, how would you describe Erwaermen?”

“Well, he’s something of a god.”

“A god?! Was he originally human before becoming a deity?”

“No, he used to be a god and remains comparable to one. He’s not human.”

“Not human...”

And with that, Konishi-san set about creating a voice.

“The second part was good, but the beginning felt a little too human. Can we make him sound more godlike? Maybe by changing the intonation.”

“‘Too human’? Well, Konishi-san is human.”

A few chuckles followed, then the sound director asked Konishi-san to give the scene another go, this time sticking to the style of speech he’d used in the second part. Konishi-san paused to consider the request before asking a question.

“Would you prefer a more grounded, weighty voice, or something lighter and more delicate?”

“The latter.”

We made a few more adjustments until the voice sounded perfect, then breezed through the rest of the scene. Before long, we moved on to Sergius, an Ahrensbach archnoble who serves Ferdinand as an attendant.

“He doesn’t have a design, so just go with what feels right. He’s in his late twenties.”

Konishi-san’s first attempt sounded a bit rough for an attendant—but given that it contrasted with Erwaermen’s more delicate voice, and Sergius didn’t have much dialogue anyway, I felt it was appropriate.

After finishing his main roles, Konishi-san lent his voice to several background characters, including Letizia’s guard knights. It didn’t take long, and with that, the second day came to a close. On day three, we were set to record with Ueda Yoji-san, Watanabe Akeno-san, and Iwami Manaka-san.

Ueda Yoji

Ueda-san was another newcomer to the Bookworm cast. He played Strahl, Aub Dunkelfelger, and the golden shumil.

We began with the shumil.

“How was that, sensei?”

“Hmm... A touch too mechanical. He speaks fluently, unlike Schwartz and Weiss, so try to avoid sounding so stilted.”

The correction was made, and the shumil’s new voice received immediate approval. It was dry but natural—emotionless without feeling too rigid. Needless to say, we sped through the rest of his lines.

Next up was Aub Dunkelfelger. I already had a clear idea of how I wanted the character to sound, so I gave Ueda-san instructions right from the start:

“Please make him as gruff as you can.”

“Oh, okay.”

The first test got my full approval. I was especially impressed by the second part of Ueda-san’s performance; it felt like Aub Dunkelfelger was right there in the room with me.

The next character to be voiced was Strahl, Ahrensbach’s former knight commander. To avoid overlapping with the archduke, he was given a much kinder voice than one might expect from a knight.

“Page X should start calm, then gradually become more anxious.”

“For page Y, imagine taking a moment to relax before delivering the report.”

A few parts of the performance were adjusted, but Ueda-san still made quick work of the scene. He wrapped up the session by voicing several younger Dunkelfelger knights and Lanzenave soldiers.

Watanabe Akeno and Iwami Manaka

Watanabe-san and Iwami-san recorded together, with the former playing Hirschur and Fraularm, and the latter voicing Lieseleta and Weiss. We started the session with Hirschur and Lieseleta, and showed our two voice actors snippets of their previous performances.

“On page X, say ‘the very back’ instead of ‘the far end.’”

“Can you sound more admonishing on page Y?”

We then moved on to Fraularm and Weiss. Watanabe-san’s “Goodness!” was superb—as was everything else about our wonderful voice actors’ performances. Since they didn’t have much dialogue between them, the scene ended rather quickly. I wish I had more to say, but that marked the end of day three!

As I reflected on another fine day of work, I remembered that Lieseleta had come of age, so it might have been better to give her a more mature voice. It was a shame the thought only occurred to me then, rather than while Iwami-san was still in the booth.

Maybe we should consider making Hannelore and Charlotte sound older as well. I’ll try to remember to propose the idea tomorrow.

The fourth and final day would feature a whole bunch of voice actors: Uchida Yuma-san, Yamashita Seiichiro-san, Nakajima Megumi-san, Terasaki Yuka-san, Kobayashi Yusuke-san, Morohoshi Sumire-san, Morikawa Toshiyuki-san, Hondo Kaede-san, Naganawa Maria-san, Han Megumi-san, and Okai Katsunori-san.

Uchida Yuma and Yamashita Seiichiro

Uchida-san voiced Hartmut, Leonzio, and Lestilaut for this drama CD, while Yamashita-san took on the role of Cornelius. Because Hartmut appeared more in the second part than the first, we decided to start with Leonzio, the Lanzenave envoy who both instigated Detlinde and deceived ten-year-old Letizia. What a fiend.

To help refresh Uchida-san’s memory, we played a clip from his performance in the previous drama CD.

“Hmm... He sounds too nasty here. Since he’s speaking with a child, he shouldn’t come across as outright malicious. Start with a kind tone, then slowly grow colder, finally ending with sneering condescension.”

Uchida-san’s portrayal of Leonzio sounded too blatantly villainous, so we asked for some adjustments. That kind of venom fit his interactions with Detlinde in the previous CD, but it felt a bit much when he was speaking to Letizia. (Haha.)

Next up was Lestilaut. He only had a single piece of dialogue, so... You know.

Afterward, Uchida-san and Yamashita-san recorded together as Hartmut and Cornelius, respectively. Hartmut’s drunken fervor while reporting on Rozemyne’s disappearance was simply marvelous. I’m surprised the sound director even felt the need to check if I approved such a wonderful performance.

“Oh, it’s great. No changes from me.”

“Really?”

Really. Hartmut was amazing.

The most important part of the joint session was the prayer for summoning winter. Uchida-san and Yamashita-san had to match the exact pace Matthias had set on the first day. We started with a countdown, but it didn’t quite line up with Umehara-san’s performance, so we had to start over. Then some of the gods’ names were mispronounced, leading to yet another take. Getting a scene like this right when not everyone’s in the booth is tougher than you’d think.

In hindsight, I would have loved to hear Eckhart and Cornelius record together. Their dialogue in this drama CD is genuinely funny, and it would have been great to catch their back-and-forth in the booth. But I understand why Hartmut and Cornelius were paired instead—the prayer scene would have been even more of a headache otherwise. I pray the completed CD arrives soon.

“Director, there’s a line on page X of the first disc where Rozemyne’s retainers speak in unison. Both Hartmut and Cornelius are listed as being there.”

“Hmm? Oh, right.”

A quick glance at the script revealed a line that read, “Retainers: Understood!” Next to it were the names “Cornelius,” “Hartmut,” and “Lieseleta.”

“I, uh, didn’t get the script for the first disc...” Yamashita-san said, clearly troubled. Because the line was meant for Rozemyne’s retainers rather than Cornelius specifically, it must have slipped through the cracks.

“You won’t need to say much,” the sound director explained. “Uchida-san, could you show Yamashita-san your script?”

I heard someone in the control room whisper, “It’s like when a student forgets his textbook and has to share with the person next to him.” Not being able to see the booth or join their banter was one of the major drawbacks of working remotely.

To wrap up the session, Uchida-san and Yamashita-san recorded a few background voices, appearing as Dunkelfelger knights, Lanzenave soldiers, and even fishermen. When the CD goes on sale and their voices are mixed in with the rest, see if you can figure out which ones are theirs. I certainly won’t be able to.

Nakajima Megumi and Terasaki Yuka

Returning from the previous drama CD were Nakajima-san, playing Tuuli and Martina, and Terasaki-san, playing Wilfried. Our first scene of the session was Martina and Wilfried at one of the Royal Academy’s fellowship gatherings—but before we could even show Nakajima-san her previous performance, she confessed she felt a little nervous.

“Last time, I only had one line as Martina. I never thought she’d get this much dialogue...”

In the main series, told mostly from Rozemyne’s perspective, Martina is largely a background character. But as Detlinde’s apprentice attendant, she plays a more prominent role in scenes involving her lady. She had only two lines this time—but to Nakajima-san’s credit, they were anything but short.

“She’s like Tuuli, but she’s not Tuuli...!”

Even without a video feed, I could practically see Nakajima-san with her head in her hands. Of all things, she struggled most with pronouncing “Mana Replenishment.”

“She just... didn’t say it, did she?”

“Yeah, that won’t do. Can we try again?”

“I just can’t do it. It comes out all jumbled... Blehhh.”

Nakajima-san kept trying until she finally got it right. I was cheering her on from home the whole time. Martina didn’t have much else to say after that, so we wrapped up her scene before long.

Next, we recorded Tuuli before the measuring. It went smoothly—perhaps because Nakajima-san was used to playing her from the anime. If only Iguchi-san had been in the booth with her; hearing Rozemyne banter with her big sister would have been wonderful.

As for Wilfried, most of his lines were in Disc 1, after Rozemyne’s return to the Royal Academy. It was funny—even though Nakajima-san and Terasaki-san recorded together, their characters rarely interacted.

Disc 1 ended with a speech from Wilfried, which I consider one of his finest moments in the story.

“Page X sounds too much like a monologue. Let’s change that.”

“Can we make his exasperation on page Y more obvious?”

“On page Z, try speaking with more intensity.”

By the end of the scene, Wilfried was sounding very cool indeed.

Kobayashi Yusuke

Kobayashi-san played Eckhart. He didn’t have much of a role in this drama CD beyond shouting “At once!” and other such responses, which the control room found amusing.

To start the session, the recorder played a short clip of Kobayashi-san’s previous performance to refresh his memory. Naturally, our talented voice actor adapted with ease.

“Can we tone down the monologue on page X? It needs to stand out from the rest of the scene.”

“On page Y, change ‘opened’ to ‘will open.’”

“Let’s aim for a brighter mood on page X.”

“Try to sound more emotional on page Z. Eckhart should plead, almost; the life of his one and only lord is at stake.”

“‘Hannelore’ was mispronounced on page Y.”

After a few tweaks, we finished with Eckhart and moved on to the background characters. Kobayashi-san provided generic chatter and voices for some Lanzenave soldiers. At one point, he was asked to sound “more radiant.” I wasn’t even sure what that meant, but Kobayashi-san, being the pro he is, delivered without hesitation.

“I must have had more to say this time than ever before.”

“Right? Your parts in the drama CDs are notoriously short—you barely spoke a word in your last one. Oh, but you said a lot in the OVA.”

Kobayashi-san sounded rather pleased as he chatted with the control room. Eckhart doesn’t get many opportunities to speak; most of the time, his responses are just knightly grunts of acknowledgment. This time, though, we included part of an online Eckhart-focused short story, meaning he had narration and everything!

I can’t think of many other scenes that give Eckhart such a chance to shine. So if you’re a fan of the character, this drama CD is definitely one to look forward to!

Morohoshi Sumire

Morohoshi-san began her session by voicing Hannelore. She has a greater presence than usual in this drama CD—especially on Disc 2—so expect plenty of her adorable voice. Even a heroic “At once!” sounded extra cute coming from her.

We moved through her scenes smoothly.

Next, we turned our attention to Leonore. Though she remains at Rozemyne’s side throughout Disc 2, she has surprisingly little to say. That’s typical for guard knights—they usually speak only when their lord or lady is in danger. Leonore reminds me a lot of Eckhart in her dedication to her role.

Morohoshi-san is such a cute and cheerful person, but her attitude shifts the moment she steps into the studio. She gets this serious look in her eyes, and nothing can break her focus. Even though I couldn’t see her this time, I could still hear that change in her voice.

Morikawa Toshiyuki

Morikawa-san returned to voice Bonifatius. He also plays Karstedt, Bonifatius’s son, in the anime. If voicing two generations wasn’t impressive enough, he does a fantastic job of making them sound distinct.

“Starting on page X, this is Bonifatius’s first time seeing his beloved granddaughter after her unexpected growth spurt. Make sure he sounds elated.”

Morikawa-san delivered a very enthusiastic performance, then hesitated. “Was that too much?” he asked.

I assured him it was perfect.

“No, no—that was very true to his character.”

“Ah, but there was a small mispronunciation on page X.”

“Could you put more weight behind your voice on page Y?”

As the eldest member of Ehrenfest’s archducal family, Bonifatius is notably traditional. In stark contrast to Rozemyne, who carries memories of a past life and strives to protect those close to her, and Sylvester, who indulges her unconventional ideas and wishes, he won’t hesitate to cut ties with even those who matter to him if it serves the duchy’s best interests.

Bonifatius played a key role in emphasizing that attempting to rescue Ferdinand wasn’t the right course of action for a member of the archducal family. It was essential that his words carried enough weight, since he represented the views of most nobles—and our esteemed voice actor more than succeeded.

Morikawa-san also provided voices for a few background characters. As expected from a seasoned professional, he completed them quickly and effortlessly.

Hondo Kaede and Naganawa Maria

Hondo-san and Naganawa-san didn’t have any scenes together, but they were scheduled in the same session nonetheless. Hondo-san voiced Charlotte, Schwartz, and Angelica, while Naganawa-san—a newcomer to the cast—took on Letizia and Gretia.

We started with Schwartz, making excellent use of the voice clips compiled by the recorder’s assistant. The collection proved invaluable not only for the lovable shumil but for all of Hondo-san’s returning characters. Schwartz couldn’t have sounded more adorable while welcoming Rozemyne to the library and guiding her to Gramps.

Next, we recorded Charlotte. Hearing her warmly welcome her now grown-up big sister back was truly touching. I didn’t have any corrections for Hondo-san, though I made a mental note that next time, it might be wise to have Charlotte sound a little older.

Before long, we moved on to Angelica. We breezed through her relatively few lines in Disc 1 and saved those in Disc 2 for later. First, we needed to settle on Letizia’s voice. Naganawa-san’s other roles were all so young and cute that I was confident she’d manage without issue.

“How was that, sensei?”

“The voice was fine, but the way she spoke was too childish. She almost had a lisp.”

“Shall we ask her to sound more mature, then?”

The sound director relayed my request, but the voice still didn’t feel quite right. Letizia sounded older, yet her manner of speech remained unchanged.

“How was that?”

“It’s fine for Letizia to have a young voice. I just want her to speak normally.”

Even then, nobody seemed to understand what I meant. I racked my brain for a clearer way to explain.

“Let’s see... As it stands, Letizia sounds too much like a spoiled child. Freida and Tuuli are both seven in the anime, but their enunciation is clear, right? Letizia is two or three years older than them. Her current voice just doesn’t suit a young noblewoman about to enter the Royal Academy.”

This time, my request got through, and the perfect Letizia voice was born.

“On page X, this line should come from Letizia, not Rozemyne. Also, should we change ‘I was tricked’ to ‘I was deceived’?”

“The tone of the narration turned very somber all of a sudden. Can we keep it more neutral, please?”

As we proposed changes, the sound director made a keen observation—Letizia’s narration had gone all gloomy, almost like a student reluctantly reading from a textbook. We tried to clarify what we wanted, but Naganawa-san struggled to grasp our request.

“Naganawa-san, try to speak as though you were the character,” the sound director finally said.

“Oh, that’s what you meant!” she exclaimed, brightening instantly.

With that cleared up, we had no further comments and quickly moved through Letizia’s remaining scenes. Getting your point across isn’t always easy.

Soon enough, we shifted focus to Gretia.

“Can you give her the same dreary voice you used for Letizia’s narration?” I asked. The sound director looked uncertain, but Gretia isn’t exactly a cheerful character to begin with.

“You made her falter too much on page X. Just a brief hesitation will do.”

Gretia didn’t have many lines, so it wasn’t long before we returned to Angelica.

“We need some quick shouts for when Angelica’s fighting. Maybe a sharp cry or two.”

“For page X, can her voice sound farther away? She’s on a separate highbeast.”

“And when she says, ‘It seems to work, though,’ can she sound prouder and more pleased with herself?”

Please look forward to hearing Angelica at her coolest.

Han Megumi

Han-san voiced both Detlinde and Clarissa. We began the session by showing her clips from her previous performance, then went through the script to work on the katakana.

“On page X, please replace ‘archduke candidate’ with ‘archducal family member.’”

“She should say ‘Ehrenfest’ on page Y, not ‘Ehrensfest.’”

In the main series, Detlinde poisons Ferdinand without hesitation—not out of hatred, but as a means to an end. Han-san excelled at portraying a character who could commit such an atrocity without provocation.

From there, we moved on to Clarissa, once again making use of the recorder assistant’s database. Though she’s roughly the same age as Detlinde, the two couldn’t be more different. Han-san conveyed that contrast brilliantly through voice alone.

At one point in the drama CD, Hartmut and Clarissa had to say “You may count on me” in perfect unison. Uchida-san had already recorded his part, so we played it for Han-san to help her match the pacing.

“So, my aim is to exude an aura of love and worship for Lady Rozemyne?” she asked.

“Precisely. Try to match Hartmut’s intensity, if you can.”

“Understood.”

And she did. Thanks to Han-san, Clarissa sounded exactly as one would imagine.

Okai Katsunori

Okai-san is no stranger to Bookworm—he played Zahm in the fourth drama CD and various background characters in the anime. This time, he took on the role of Laurenz.

Naturally, the first step was to create Laurenz’s voice. It didn’t take long; Okai-san’s first attempt perfectly matched my mental image of the character, so I didn’t even need to propose any changes.

“Laurenz doesn’t have many lines, does he?”

“No, but the ones he does have are pretty long. Take the prayer, for example. You know the one.”

“Oh... Well, I’ll do my best to see it through.”

I’d feared lining up the prayer would be too difficult, but it came together surprisingly quickly once everyone focused on it. From there, we moved on to background characters. After voicing Lanzenave soldiers and a few others, Okai-san provided the clamor and snarls of the wolfaniels.

“Could you make that howl a bit longer?”

“We also need some growls and the sound of gnashing teeth.”

Okai-san made for a spectacular wolfaniel. Truly spectacular!

I had been looking forward to hearing the voice acting for the ternisbefallen in the third drama CD, only to find out it had been replaced with generic sound effects. This time, I hope Okai-san’s wolfaniel noises actually make it in. And if they don’t, at least I got to hear them!

And so, the last day of recording came to a close. We jumped around quite a bit to accommodate the voice actors’ various schedules, so I can only imagine how the finished product will sound. I can’t wait to find out!

Q&A with Miya Kazuki

Here are my responses to another round of questions—this time, those put to me between April 28 and May 8, 2022.

Miya Kazuki

Q: What exactly is “divine protection” from the gods’ perspective? Is it comparable to dividends paid to those holding their “stocks,” so to speak? Or is it more like a show of support, similar to someone liking or favoriting a post on social media?

A: What a fun way to think about it! The gods see their protection as returns on an investment, much like your first example. There’s a proper form and amount of protection dispensed based on how much mana their worshippers offer. If someone provides an exceptional amount of mana—or contributes during times when few others do—they’re added to that deity’s “favorites.”

Q: Beischmacht was identified as the God of Child-Seeking. Do both men and women receive his divine protection? Can men receive protection from Entrinduge the Goddess of Childbirth?

A: Both men and women can receive divine protection from Beischmacht and Entrinduge. Women often pray to Beischmacht hoping to conceive, while men might receive Entrinduge’s protection when praying for their wives or sisters to give birth safely. Because the proper form of prayer is to pray for others rather than oneself, it’s generally easier for men to receive Entrinduge’s protection when praying for their wives or daughters.

Q: It’s said that the phases of the moon change because of the gods’ power. In the same way, does the movement of the stars depend on Sterrat? If so, how do commoners at sea figure out their location? I assume celestial navigation isn’t possible.

A: The stars vary widely. Some are tiny and dart across the sky, while others are large and never move. Commoners likely rely on the latter as reference points for navigation.

Q: Who was the first person to call Erwaermen “Gramps”? I’m guessing it was whoever created Schwartz and Weiss, but wouldn’t that imply the old Zent candidates had a pretty close relationship with him?

A: Rauchelstra was the first. In the past, Zent candidates visited the Garden of Beginnings not only to obtain the Grutrissheit but also to seek counsel from Erwaermen or the gods when facing significant challenges. They had a closer and more respectful relationship with Erwaermen than the Zent candidates of the present.

Q: Does Geduldh care for Mestionora? Was giving her to Schutzaria a decision made for Mestionora’s safety? Would she have preferred to keep her close and raise her with Ewigeliebe as a family of three?

A: If Geduldh didn’t care for Mestionora, she wouldn’t have tried to protect her; she would have simply let Ewigeliebe do as he pleased. I don’t think they’re apart enough to say Geduldh “gave her away”—with the help of her parents and siblings, Geduldh spends time with her from spring to autumn—but maybe that’s just me. Even if Geduldh wished for the three of them to live together as a family, it wouldn’t matter, since both Ewigeliebe and Mestionora reject the idea.

Q: Aren’t magic users outside of Yurgenschmidt, such as those in Lanzenave, at risk of being discovered by Ewigeliebe? What happens if they’re found?

A: Those discovered by Ewigeliebe have their mana stolen and perish. That’s why the country gates exist, and why Erwaermen strives to protect them. Lanzenave is an exception; its ivory buildings, built by Tollkuehnheit from a design Erwaermen first conceived to hide mana users from Ewigeliebe, allow the country’s mana users to live in peace.

Q: The gods seem to recognize people by their mana, but when do they first associate someone’s mana with the name they’re given at birth? If it’s when they’re baptized and their medals are registered, why would the gods know Ferdinand as “Quinta”? Is he faking his age like Myne, or was his medal registered in the Adalgisa villa?

A: The gods first take notice of a mortal when their mana is registered to a medal, and those born in the Adalgisa villa are registered immediately after birth. The process is carried out by the Zent without temple involvement, so their medals aren’t mixed with those of the general populace—they’re kept separate to track their numbers, to make it easier to turn them into feystones at the appropriate age, and so the Zent can trace the family trees of Adalgisa royals. Ferdinand isn’t unique in this; the same process was used for Gervasio, female infants, and so on.

Q: When Rozemyne and Ferdinand each performed their divine protections ritual and opened the Farthest Hall, did the gods mistake them for the same person?

A: Erwaermen can only identify others by their mana, but the gods can clearly see that Ferdinand and Rozemyne are different people. They do find the similarity in their mana somewhat confusing, though.

Q: The duchies’ temples seem to house only the primary gods’ divine instruments. Where are the subordinates’ instruments kept?

A: The subordinates’ instruments are kept in the Royal Academy’s shrines. There are others depicted in art and legends, but they can’t have mana channeled into them or be wielded as the temple’s divine instruments can.

Q: If we divide the Royal Academy’s professors by course, what proportion does each group represent? And roughly what percentage of the professors are married?

A: It varies by generation—the civil war shook things up considerably. As of Part 5, the ratio is roughly 3:4:3 for the knight, scholar, and attendant courses, respectively. The scholars have the most professors because, due to increasing specialization, many of their subjects are taught in smaller classes. The archduke candidate course is excluded from this count because its teachers are royal branch members or archnobles who married into the royal family. About sixty percent of professors are married.

Q: Angelica sought help from Stenluke when reacquiring her divine protections in Part 5 Volume 4. Are students allowed to bring notes or other aids with them?

A: Yes, students are free to “cheat” during the ritual at the Royal Academy. They should mind they don’t become too dependent on study aids, though; their prayers are unlikely to reach a god whose name they haven’t even memorized.

Q: Have the other duchies changed much since learning they can obtain more divine protections through prayer? Did the students in Charlotte’s year at the Academy receive more protections from subordinate gods than those before them?

A: Since the revelation is fairly recent, not much has changed in the other duchies yet. Some especially hardworking students have managed to earn more protections, and indeed, some of them were in Charlotte’s year.

Q: Wilfried and Charlotte brought mana-filled feystones to the library in Rozemyne’s absence. Whose idea was that, and whose mana were they using?

A: I wouldn’t exactly call it an idea. During a tea party, Hannelore mentioned that with both Rozemyne and Professor Hortensia absent due to poor health, the library desperately needed mana. Wilfried and Charlotte then asked Rozemyne’s retainers if feystones containing her mana would suffice—and that settled it.

Q: How does the golden shumil judge people? Were there no large-scale wars before Garansorg?

A: It judges individuals based on their lust for knowledge and whether they harbor destructive impulses. Anyone willing to destroy Yurgenschmidt, a place created by Erwaermen to protect mana-wielders, could never be considered worthy of becoming the Zent. While large-scale wars were rare before Garansorg, there was no shortage of interpersonal conflicts, some of which turned violent.

Q: Rosina and Wilma both enjoyed the arts as part of their educations. We already know about music, but are there any other creative subjects taught at the Royal Academy?

A: Yes, but only within the attendant course. Students learn about the arts through classes on room coordination, matching accessories to outfits, etc.

Q: Apprentice attendants seem to have ways to boost their grades outside of class. Is the same true for knights, scholars, and archduke candidates? If so, what are they? Rozemyne didn’t seem to know that her apprentice attendants were being marked on their performance outside of class. Is that something archduke candidates are expected to recognize? Is preparing things for one’s lord or lady without their knowledge part of the test?

A: Yes, each group is evaluated on activities beyond the classroom. Apprentice knights earn grades through hunts conducted at their gathering spots and in coordination with other duchies. Apprentice scholars receive points based on their research and the information they manage to gather. Archduke candidates are assessed on their interduchy relationships, the unity of their dormitory, and how well they get along with their retainers.

It’s neither normal nor advisable for a retainer to ask their lord or lady to do something solely to boost their own grades, as that would be seen as exploiting the relationship for personal gain. Only the professors know the exact grading criteria, but students can often guess through rumors and observations. Rozemyne was professional throughout her court etiquette class, but her intense focus on the library kept her from realizing she was being evaluated outside of class. Unfortunately, she’s likely to graduate without ever knowing.

Q: I assume students from deposed duchies moved to the victorious duchies. Did the victorious duchies have enough space in their dormitories to accommodate them?

A: If there wasn’t enough space, they would need to use an entwickeln to create more. Accommodating students from deposed duchies is an enormous burden for the greater duchies.

Q: One of your answers in the previous fanbook seemed to imply that something abnormal occurred when Rozemyne obtained the names of the supreme gods. What happens normally?

A: Normally, a suitable name is simply engraved in the recipient’s mind, and that’s all. No more mana than the circle requires is taken.

Q: As it stands, it seems that only archduke candidates perform the ritual to learn the supreme gods’ names—presumably because they’re necessary to perform an entwickeln. Does that mean it’s currently impossible for an archnoble or lower to obtain the Book of Mestionora?

A: Correct. The ceremony is exclusive to the archduke candidate course, so only archduke candidates can become Zent candidates and acquire the Book of Mestionora.

Q: Can anyone—even a laynoble using rejuvenation potions—learn the names of the supreme gods by supplying enough mana to the circles?

A: No. The ceremony to obtain the supreme gods’ names is reserved exclusively for the archduke candidate course. To even stand a chance of qualifying, a laynoble would need to be adopted into an archducal family by an aub.

Q: In the Garden of Beginnings, Rozemyne found a library when the darkness faded, whereas Ferdinand saw brewing instruments. Does the Garden show people what they care about most?

A: It shows what most interests a person or what they consider the site of their most precious memories. If what appears manifests as scenes of others being abused or ditter—that is, war—the golden shumil will immediately remove the person.

Q: We know Angelica isn’t the only student at risk of not passing her course, but how many others are there? Is it normal for professors to lend them a hand when they’re able to? Do the students ever “choose” to drop out to avoid the shame of having failed?

A: Some students need extra lessons outside the usual academic term, but outright failure is rare. Graduating is essential for those striving to be nobles, to the point that anyone who couldn’t manage it could expect to be cast aside entirely. They wouldn’t be treated quite as harshly now, with the noble shortage being so severe, but a student who failed their course would still bring great shame to their duchy.

Even with supplementary classes, most struggling students only pass by the skin of their teeth. Those who drop out aren’t considered failures, but they never formally become nobles. Their schtappes are sealed, and they live out their days as servants of their houses.

Q: There are nine duchies that border Yurgenschmidt’s seas. We’ve been told there are maritime boundaries in place for duchies that share a sea, but are there also restrictions on who can cross them?

A: Yes. Merchant and transport vessels must adhere to regulations on shape and color, and crossing from one duchy to another requires proper documentation. If a fishing boat strayed over a boundary by mistake, nobody would complain—so long as it returned at once. But venturing too far into neighboring waters risks knights arriving on highbeast to sink the vessel or detain everyone aboard.

Q: Who decided the duchy rankings during the civil war? I assume the Zent normally has the final say on the matter, but he wasn’t around anymore, and the princes must have been too biased to come to any sort of agreement after splitting the duchies between themselves. Under such circumstances, I might have thought the rankings would remain unchanged—yet we know that Ehrenfest’s rank rose and then fell as Ferdinand entered and then graduated from the Royal Academy.

A: The ultimate decisions are made at the Archduke Conference, meaning they’re determined collaboratively rather than solely by the Zent. Bias was rampant during the civil war, so grades at the Royal Academy were given much greater weight for being clear-cut and objective.

Q: Veronica’s tyranny has been blamed for Wilfried and Charlotte having fewer archnobles of their generation to take as retainers. Were adult archnobles actively choosing not to have children?

A: Yes. Branches of the archducal family might not have been overly concerned, but Leisegang nobles were wary of attracting Veronica’s attention and concluded that having more children would only invite trouble. For most, an heir and a spare were enough. Only after Veronica’s detainment did more archnobles begin having children, whose baptisms should start occurring two or three years after Part 5 Volume 8.

Q: Sylvester is the seventh Aub Ehrenfest, but Gabriele married into the duchy during the reign of the fourth aub seventy-odd years ago. That means the first aub was in power roughly thirteen decades ago. Did any of the aubs rule for an obscenely long time before passing the seat to their grandchildren, as was the case for Giebe Emeritus Leisegang? If my math is correct, one of the aubs must have ruled for two or three generations. Giebe Kirnberger said the country gate was being opened for the first time in two hundred years, meaning the whole situation with Eisenreich must have been about two centuries ago.

A: Both the first and second aubs had unusually long reigns. The first was chosen by the Zent of the time, who needed someone of royal descent to wield royal authority freely and fully dominate the locals. The second was the first aub’s grandchild. During this period, there was an exchange of nobles, Eisenreich had already become a thing of the past, and peace reigned thanks to the first aub’s expert use of his ties to royalty. By the third generation, those ties had naturally weakened, but the aub still ruled for a considerable time. It wasn’t until Gabriele’s era that Ehrenfest had to pass on the torch due to the whims of other duchies.

Q: What kind of relationship do Dunkelfelger’s nobles have with the duchy’s commoners? Clarissa knew about commoners selling feystones, so I assume they must interact in some capacity. Do the commoners like ditter?

A: Their relationship is fairly standard. Dunkelfelger’s land is rich in mana, making its feybeasts more powerful than those in less fortunate duchies. Its commoners need to be stronger than those of other duchies just to survive, and this frequent combat produces a steady supply of high-quality feystones. Naturally, the volume and value of that trade have drawn the nobles’ attention.

Dunkelfelger’s commoners don’t have much of an opinion on ditter; they seldom get the chance to watch it, and participating without highbeasts isn’t an option. Still, the ruling nobles’ influence is unmistakable, so commoners take an interest in other sports, which they use to settle disputes among themselves.

Q: Klassenberg and Dunkelfelger seem to have existed since Yurgenschmidt’s founding. Is there anything special about them that the greater duchies they outlasted didn’t have? They must have accumulated a vast collection of books and tablets over the years—do they have libraries or similar places to keep them?

A: What made them special were important rituals, like the dance Dunkelfelgerians perform before and after ditter matches, that have survived through the ages. Both duchies do have libraries, but their archives aren’t complete; they’ve lost many works through factional conflicts and have given numerous others to the royal palace’s library.

Q: Rozemyne’s retainers used the sword of Ewigeliebe during the fight against Lanzenave. Would any of Dunkelfelger’s knights be able to wield it?

A: There are stricter restrictions on Ewigeliebe’s sword than on Leidenschaft’s spear, making it less convenient to use. Combined with the fact that most Dunkelfelger knights would prioritize Schutzaria’s shield, I doubt any of them could have wielded the sword at that time.

Q: How well was the translation of Dunkelfelger’s history received by other duchies?

A: Only the first wave has been released so far, and the general reaction has been: “What gives? I only bought this book because Dunkelfelger went to such great lengths to promote it, yet it’s mostly just a theology textbook rewritten from their perspective.” Meanwhile, history professors are envious of Rozemyne, eager to see the source text for themselves.

Q: Gieselfried’s and Letizia’s retainers seem far more relaxed compared to Eckhart and Justus. Are Ehrenfest’s—or rather, Veronica’s and Georgine’s—training methods stricter than usual, or has Ahrensbach become too lax since the civil war?

A: Both factors are at play. Ahrensbach wasn’t as closely connected to the royal family as Klassenberg, so although they sent knights into battle during the civil war, they never faced a direct invasion. Some members of Ahrensbach were caught up in the purge that followed, but during the war itself, the average noble wasn’t truly at risk. As a result, they never developed a particularly strong sense of danger.

Q: Roughly what percentage of Ahrensbach’s nobles have been won over by Hartmut’s and the others’ brainwashing? I suspect most of the castle supports Rozemyne, but even among those not brainwashed, how many nobles would welcome her as their new aub?

A: I’d estimate about three in ten nobles working in the castle would support Rozemyne becoming their next aub. There’s less resistance from those connected to Letizia, who was attacked by Detlinde and had to be saved, and more opposition from nobles related to those executed for treason. Additionally, Letizia’s faction lost a significant portion of its members during the Lanzenave riot.

Q: In the past, could Ahrensbach’s aubs travel freely to the Adalgisa villa using the teleportation circle in the Lanzenave estate? Or would Sovereign knights stationed at the other end turn them away? I assume their status would guarantee them easier access.

A: The teleportation circle wouldn’t work without permission from the villa’s side, so the aubs couldn’t travel there freely. Even if they could, the teleporter leads not to the main building with the flowers but to the side building where princesses being raised as future royal branch members were kept, meaning plenty of guard knights would have been present to turn them away. Only with an invitation were the aubs granted access to the villa’s main building.

Q: Lanzenave’s three factions are named after flowers that bloom in Yurgenschmidt. Is the loeweleier, one of those three, based on a real-world genus?

A: You can think of the loeweleier as a large carnation or marigold.

Q: When new princesses were sent from Lanzenave, what happened to the princesses they were replacing? Were they turned into feystones or kept as spares?

A: The older princesses were sometimes kept around while their replacements adjusted to their new home, and pregnant “flowers” were afforded roughly half a year after giving birth. Beyond that, they were indeed turned into feystones.

Q: You mentioned that princesses in the Adalgisa villa gave birth under truly harsh conditions. What if one had died while giving birth, and there weren’t any other princesses (or daughters of theirs) to take their place? Would they simply need to wait for new princesses to be sent?

A: There are buds kept in the side building as “spares” in case new flowers are needed.

Q: It was said that princesses unable to find a marriage partner before their graduation were returned to the villa, but under what circumstances would that ever happen? As a last resort, could they not demand to marry into a lesser duchy? Or would that be forbidden?

A: Even for a princess, simply demanding to marry into a lesser duchy wouldn’t be enough. She would need approval from both the Zent and the relevant aub.

Q: What color were Werkestock’s capes?

A: Dark purple, I’d say. Somewhere between black and purple, for sure.

Q: It was mentioned in Part 1 that commoners can’t get jobs without citizenship. How, then, was Karin, a Klassenberg merchant, able to work for the Plantin Company? Was it unlawful employment, or was some special clause invoked?

A: Karin had citizenship. Her father, a prominent merchant from a greater duchy, brought her medal from Klassenberg and paid Gustav a hefty sum to move her into Ehrenfest.

Q: Karin must have joined the Plantin Company sometime during summer, yet Rozemyne wasn’t informed until winter. How come?

A: That was Benno’s decision. He feared that if Rozemyne found out and lost her temper, it could spark an interduchy incident. So, he planned to keep his head down while the merchants were visiting and quietly return Karin to her father in autumn.

Q: Are there any strict, by-the-book laws for commoners? I take it murder and theft are obviously forbidden, but the rules seem loose enough that I just wonder where the lines are drawn. To be precise, I want to know how the law is upheld among commoners; involving nobles would only confuse things.

A: Hmm... The Merchant’s Guild sets regulations for the various other guilds, but there isn’t a formal, written code that all commoners in the lower city must obey. If a deal between two commoners goes wrong but no contract was signed, there’s no legal authority to intervene. If someone gets scammed, they can’t expect the city to help them—which is why some take matters into their own hands. In those cases, people often assume the criminal got what they deserved, so there are times when even murder goes unpunished.

If someone is a regular troublemaker, starting brawls in the main street, damaging merchants’ goods, or littering despite repeated warnings, their citizenship can be revoked, and they can be thrown out of the city. Alternatively, the soldiers might just rough them up. Generally, which group you turn to for everyday issues depends on which well you frequent, while work-related problems are handled by the relevant guild.

Q: Fatal poisoning seems to be a very real concern for nobles in the world of Bookworm. Have Ella and Hugo been taught ways to keep Rozemyne’s food safe? As much as commoners can, at least.

A: Yes, Ella and Hugo were taught preventative measures to keep Rozemyne’s food safe, both by Fran in the temple and by the court chefs in the castle.

Q: Are all the nobles who serve giebes below them in status? Even among mednobles, some rank higher than others. Do things ever get mixed up enough that a high-ranking mednoble ends up serving a low-ranking mednoble giebe?

A: There’s no rule that giebes must outrank those who serve them, but that’s how it tends to be. Exceptions do occur, however.

Q: How thoroughly does an attendant wash their lord or lady in the bath? I understand that the attendant is always the same sex as the person they mean to bathe, but does Rozemyne, who wasn’t born into the world of nobles, ever feel embarrassed about it?

A: An attendant washes their lord or lady from head to toe. Rozemyne doesn’t really mind; after all, she went through much worse in the lower city. No sooner had she awoken as Myne than she was having to defecate in a bucket with Tuuli cheering her on, and allowing a man she barely recognized as her father to change her clothes. Having her retainers bathe her is nothing in comparison, especially since she was already accustomed to Delia and Rosina washing her at the temple. Becoming a noble didn’t change much for her in that respect.

Q: What happens to the feystones of enemies slain during wartime? Are they returned to the deceased’s remaining family? Are they taken by the victor’s duchy? Or is the God of Darkness’s magic circle used to deny them access to the distant heights?

A: Normally, the feystones fall under the aub’s jurisdiction and are used for the benefit of the duchy.

Q: How would a noble who lost their first and only spouse to war or divorce find a new partner? Would they attend Starbind Ceremonies, then go to matchmaking events held afterward? Or would they need to lay the groundwork and make formal proposals, as expected when seeking a second or third partner?

A: They might be introduced to potential partners through family, friends, or superiors, or they might meet someone through their own efforts. Only those who have never been married can participate in the events held after Starbind Ceremonies. To get around this, some people attend with younger family members, hoping to spot a suitable partner to approach later.

Q: For a woman who’s finished child-rearing to become an aub, would her husband need to be an archduke candidate?

A: Yes, for her rule to be formally recognized. But if she has finished raising a child, that child would normally be made the aub instead.

Q: If a female knight were gravely wounded in battle, would it have a serious impact on her future? Would she be unable to find a husband, or would facial scars prevent her from participating in social events? I can’t imagine many parents wanting their daughters to take up such a dangerous profession.

A: There wouldn’t be scarring as long as she received prompt treatment. And even if she didn’t, it wouldn’t affect her marriage prospects; a person’s house and mana quantity matter far more.

Q: Ferdinand mentioned at one point that it was acceptable for paternal half-siblings to marry. What about maternal half-siblings? Would it impact the mana of their children?

A: Paternal half-siblings aren’t usually raised together, so they don’t really “feel” like family—at least from a noble perspective. In contrast, children of two maternal half-siblings would inherit especially rigid elements and would find it exceptionally difficult to develop new ones through prayer.

Q: When someone with a large capacity is almost drained of mana, can they sense those with smaller capacities they wouldn’t have been able to detect before? For example, if an archnoble fired off a bunch of spells, would they be able to sense a mednoble?

A: No. Mana-sensing depends on the size of a person’s mana organ, not on the amount of mana they currently have.

Q: After color-mixing, a couple starts dyeing each other’s mana. What happens to the color of their mana when the husband takes three wives?

A: It becomes a complete jumble that depends largely on the husband. For those without the Mark of Ewigeliebe, mana returns to its original color after about a month without interaction, so you can imagine a constant cycle of small changes happening and reverting.

Q: When two people finish dyeing each other’s mana, can the change be seen in any capacity? For example, if someone with pure-yellow mana mixed with someone with pure-green mana, would their mana turn into some combination of the two?

A: Mana can only be seen through the use of magic tools. Though mana-sensing allows a person to detect others with capacities close to their own, it doesn’t reveal the color of their mana, how close they are to being dyed, or anything similar.

Q: When those who have completed the archduke candidate course are demoted to being archnobles or enter general employment, does the fact they haven’t taken the knight, scholar, or attendant course impact them negatively? Would a female archduke candidate reduced to the rank of archnoble be limited to the duties of a wife?

A: If she married into another duchy, she would receive many invitations to tea parties from those interested in the information she could share. By building a good rapport with her new home’s archducal family, she might be asked to accompany them to the Archduke Conference, where she could sit in on meetings between her current and original duchies and introduce friends from her days at the Royal Academy. She could also serve as a tutor of whirling, etiquette, or the archduke candidate course. Some even go on to teach music.

Q: When a noblewoman is pregnant, the father of her baby is meant to help channel mana into her belly. How is that done, exactly? Does he need a magic tool, or can he just put his hands on her? Do they have to do you-know-what?

A: The father can provide mana by holding his wife’s hands, touching her belly, or even kissing her. They use synchronization potions; there’s no need to do “you-know-what.”

Q: As we know, when two parents are expecting a baby, they both channel their mana into the wife’s belly. Does the fact that siblings can have different capacities and aptitudes imply that there’s an element of skill involved in the process?

A: “Skill” is too broad a term. The results depend on factors such as how frequently mana is supplied, how much dyeing has occurred, and more. If a father has been dyed with one of his other wives’ mana, he will always face extra resistance, no matter how often he channels mana into his pregnant wife’s belly.

Q: How does the status of an Ehrenfest blue priest change upon their return to noble society? We’ve seen that Ferdinand regained the ability to get married, but how else does life change for them?

A: For the most part, a blue priest or shrine maiden is viewed as “a member of House X who belongs to the temple.” Upon returning to noble society, they become simply “a member of House X.” Those who return in time to attend the Royal Academy become full-fledged nobles upon graduation. Inversely, those who have already come of age cannot acquire schtappes and thus cannot become nobles. It depends on the reasons for their return, but some become servants whose purpose is simply to recharge magic tools, while others are offered to other houses as concubines. In any case, only nobles are permitted to marry.

Q: Leonore told Theodore to address Judithe by name during work. Is this not unfair, knowing that Hartmut still calls Ottilie “Mother,” and Lieseleta addresses Angelica as “Sister”? Is the rule that you can address those of your profession by name but need to be respectful toward those of other professions?

A: Guard knights must use names because nonspecific terms like “Brother” can cause confusion in urgent situations. For the other professions, this isn’t an issue; they can address one another by name if they wish.

Q: Myne’s name was changed to Rozemyne because “Myne” was deemed too short for a noble. If that’s true, why wasn’t Dirk’s name changed too?

A: Myne was to be baptized as the blood daughter of an archnoble and then adopted by the aub; a short name would have raised suspicions that she wasn’t an archnoble from birth. Moreover, she had already been proclaimed dead—keeping her name risked exposing her commoner origins. Dirk, on the other hand, is an orphan being sheltered by the aub. His background doesn’t need to be hidden, and too many nobles already know him by name. Changing it now would draw more attention than leaving it be.

Q: Are princesses from the Adalgisa villa at risk of their aubs or husbands discovering their origins based on their appearance and their being from a branch family? Would a man who learned his fiancée was a princess cancel their engagement over it? Are the women treated poorly for their origins?

A: Their origins can’t be deduced from appearance alone; aubs and royalty mix blood so frequently that many ordinary princes and princesses resemble those from the Adalgisa villa. Not to mention, as the Zent is involved in the marriage of any branch royal, treating such a princess poorly would not be good for one’s duchy.

Q: Philine was baptized as the daughter of her late mother, so why wasn’t Ferdinand baptized as Irmhilde’s son? Was there a political reason?

A: Philine’s parents were married, and as their biological daughter, her relation to them could easily be confirmed through her mana. In Ferdinand’s case, his parents were unmarried, and his connection to Irmhilde couldn’t be established by mana. The relationship wouldn’t have been recognized unless she had served as his mother at his baptism, so he had to be baptized as an illegitimate child.

Q: It was written that people can obtain new elements through the ceremony for receiving divine protections. Wouldn’t that make their mana fundamentally different from when they were baptized? Could this lead to problems? Does only the “new” mana count for identification purposes?

A: To avoid such problems, students reregister their mana after graduating. If any unforeseen issues arise, policies will almost certainly be implemented to require reregistering immediately after the protections ceremony.

Q: As we know, all the nobles of a duchy gather in the castle for winter. Doesn’t their absence raise security concerns in the giebe-run provinces? The giebes and their first wives obviously need to attend, but could some nobles actually be left behind to hold the fort? Are the “officials” mentioned sometimes entrusted with that role?

A: While all the nobles gather in the castle, many servants and relatives who failed to become nobles stay behind to oversee the provinces in their absence.

Q: Rozemyne has the Mark of Ewigeliebe, which is why Ferdinand was able to dye her completely. Am I right to assume that if she married someone else, she would be equally influenced by their mana? Or would she need to find someone with more mana than Ferdinand? We know those with the Devouring are easily dyed, but does having the Mark of Ewigeliebe make it hard for Rozemyne to spread her mana thin?

A: Those with the Devouring tend to have mostly clear mana, but Rozemyne’s mana organ and mana clumps were dyed over by Ferdinand, making her mana largely identical to his. Because her mana organ has been dyed, she won’t ever have clear mana again, but her base color could always be overwritten by someone with more mana than Ferdinand.

Anyone in a relationship can expect their mana to be dyed to some degree, though it typically returns to its original color over time. For a regular person with the Devouring, this means their mana returns to being clear. For Rozemyne, it should revert to the color of the person who last dyed her. All those with the Devouring—even those with the Mark of Ewigeliebe—are easy to dye without synchronization potions, but their base mana color doesn’t change. Any alterations to their mana’s color are only temporary.

Q: Why wasn’t it an option for Rozemyne to take an archnoble groom—that is, an archnoble who would marry into Ehrenfest’s archducal family. Is that not something archnoble men do?

A: It was technically an option, but it rarely happens in practice. Adoption into an archducal family is based on the value the individual brings to the duchy. For that reason, they frequently marry one of the aub’s biological children or marry into another duchy to strengthen interduchy relations. The only time an adopted daughter might take an archnoble groom is when an aub with only female children wants her to stay within the archducal family.

Many nobles unaware of Rozemyne’s background want her as the next Aub Ehrenfest, and marrying an archnoble would completely remove her from the running. The Leisegangs would definitely object!

Q: Do archnobles who live in the archduke’s estate keep at least the bare minimum number of servants and attendants at their own estates? Also, when Gudrun left her estate to get married, where did Rihyarda get a successor? Or is her house just fated to die out?

A: Rihyarda’s house is unlikely to continue. As a member of a branch family serving the aub, she can’t bring in successors from outside. Eventually, her duties will be absorbed by Bonifatius’s grandchildren and others.

Q: If you have to be part of an archducal branch family to be stationed in the archduke’s office during Mana Replenishment, will Cornelius be the only one present when Rozemyne performs the ceremony as Aub Ahrensbach?

A: As of Part 5 Volume 9, Rozemyne can rely on Ferdinand and her elder brother Eckhart to assist her. Because she was originally part of the Ehrenfest archducal family, those permitted to enter the archduke’s office in Ehrenfest, like Justus, are also eligible. By marrying into the archducal family, Leonore and Angelica should be allowed to attend as well.

Q: Let’s imagine Rozemyne’s star was bound to Wilfried’s—or even to Sigiswald’s. They would dye her mana, but neither of them is omni-elemental. Would this cause Rozemyne to lose the blessings of the elements her partner lacks? Or would those blessings remain, however faint?

A: The color of one’s mana is separate from the divine protections received through the protections ceremony. Even if a person’s mana is dyed and its color changes, their affinities and the number of protections they have remain the same.

Q: Are there any forbidden spells? Curses, perhaps? Or maybe resurrection, mind control, or homunculus creation spells?

A: No spells are explicitly forbidden by law or society, but certain actions could incur punishment from the gods. Those pursuing specific lines of research or using certain spells might receive a warning from the Goddess of Order, have their schtappe seized, or face other divine consequences.

Q: Just how potent can waschen be? If one considers a corpse to be unclean, can a waschen be used to destroy it?

A: Waschen can only cleanse impurities; it can’t dispose of a whole corpse. However, if the mana organ is removed, liquefying the corpse, that liquid can then be purified. Priests are usually summoned to funerals to ensure all the mana is properly transferred into the deceased’s feystone.

Q: Rozemyne has a vast mana capacity, but her small stature makes me think she must have a pretty tiny mana organ. Erwaermen made her grow because her vessel was too small, so could it be that she was cramming a ton of mana into a smaller-than-average mana organ?

A: There’s no strict correlation between the size of one’s body and the size of one’s mana organ, but it’s true that Rozemyne had condensed a vast amount of mana into a relatively small vessel.

Q: Those with the Devouring are described as faintly omni-elemental. If they performed the divine protections ritual without praying at all, would they still receive protection from the primary gods? Also, if they developed their own color through the ritual, would they lose their trait of being easily dyed? What exactly does it mean to be faintly omni-elemental?

A: Those with the Devouring don’t naturally possess enough of any single element to obtain divine protections without praying. If they performed the ritual without having prayed at all, not one primary god would grant them their protection. Even after developing their color through the ritual, their trait of being easily dyed remains unchanged.

Q: Can someone with the faintly omni-elemental mana of the Devouring obtain an omni-elemental schtappe of the primary gods? Or is their mana faint because they’re only tied to elements through the subordinate gods?

A: They can’t. Being only faintly omni-elemental means their mana is lacking in each element.

Q: When someone says “I’ll dye you in my color,” do they mean the same thing as when someone dyes a magic tool or feystone in their color? For Rozemyne or Wilfried, would that mean dyeing them light yellow or light green, respectively?

A: The meaning isn’t quite the same. Dyeing a feystone or magic tool is different from dyeing another person’s mana.

Q: For those born to nobles, the color of their mana depends on their parents and the season of their birth. In contrast, the mana of those with the Devouring depends on the land. Why is that?

A: Perhaps because the gods are hiding them in Yurgenschmidt.

Q: When an archduke candidate is reduced to being an archnoble, what happens to the spells they learned as part of the archduke candidate course? Do they stop working? Can they still be spoken? Is using them considered a crime?

A: As an archnoble, they’re free to use the spells, but only a few will actually work. Many have specific requirements, such as the caster being registered with the foundation or as a member of the archducal family. Some also require the archduke’s approval.

Q: Is the curse that Erwaermen mentioned an offensive spell? How are curses given in Yurgenschmidt? Are they taught at the Royal Academy?

A: Blessings and curses both originate from prayers to the gods: blessings come from positive prayers, while curses arise from negative ones. Curses aren’t taught at the Royal Academy, but they are described in the High Bishop’s bible. Using chalices to steal mana from the ground is considered a curse, for example.

Q: It was mentioned that even Aub Ehrenfest forgot about the teleportation circles used for traveling to the country gate. Are the circles just as neglected in other duchies, or was it only in Ehrenfest that they fell into obscurity?

A: I believe some duchies still remember their teleportation circles, but even they don’t use them regularly. The circles require a huge amount of mana and can only be activated when the aub is present. They might be used in emergencies—such as when an aub needs to quickly mobilize a large force—but otherwise, traveling by highbeast is more than sufficient.

Q: Sylvester used two spells in Part 2 Volume 3 that took the shape of birds—one red and the other yellow. We know from Part 5 Volume 8 that the yellow bird was vollkowesen, but what about the red one that strengthened the barrier?

A: That was sichhark.

Q: At first, nobles resisted the Dedication Ritual because they thought their mana was being “stolen.” How much mana does one naturally recover overnight?

A: It varies from person to person. Those who have compressed their mana significantly tend to recover it faster than those who haven’t.

Q: Name stones seem to hold immense power, so I find it interesting that names aren’t used in spells outside of name-swearing. If our resident bookworm were to start her prayers by saying, “My name is Myne,” would that make them more effective? Or is name-swearing unique?

A: Name-swearing is unique. Other spells work with or without the inclusion of one’s name.

Q: What exactly causes magic tools to break down? Do their feystones stop working, or do their magic circles’ sigils wear away over time?

A: Both happen. The mana used to draw the magic circles weakens over time, the feystones wear down, and the metal parts can break.

Q: Is there a risk of sound leakage when several people use sound-blocking magic tools in close proximity?

A: Nope. Each primary tool pairs exclusively with its corresponding secondary tools.

Q: Can personal sound-blockers be used inside an area-affecting sound-blocker?

A: Yes.

Q: Is drinking liquid mana considered a lewd act? Are there any situations where it might serve a practical use? Could a parent give some to their child when the child is close to running out of mana?

A: Transferring mana by hand or mouth is lewd, but not drinking mana that’s been made into a potion. In emergencies—like when a scholar tries to brew something beyond their limits or a knight pushes themselves too far in battle—a person might give even a stranger their mana, despite the risk of rebound.

Giving liquid mana to one’s children isn’t unusual; kids often overexert themselves when learning to use mana and give blessings in greeting. Attendants caring for children in their parents’ absence usually keep some on hand.

Q: How does one make the liquid mana used to create magic tools or given in emergencies when someone runs out of mana? Is it derived from blood or another bodily fluid? I was curious because you mentioned in one of your previous answers that when a mother dies in childbirth, the father feeds their baby liquid mana instead of milk.

A: To create liquid mana, excess mana and other impurities are first removed from water. Then, the creator uses their schtappe to channel their own mana into the purified water. The resulting liquid can be made as thick as desired.

Q: Can schtappe-sealing bracelets be turned into gold dust? If not by regular mana, then what about divinely charged mana? How difficult would that be?

A: The bracelets do degrade over time, but turning them completely into dust is virtually impossible. They’re specifically designed to drain the wearer’s mana down to a small, set threshold, redirecting the excess to supply the foundation of whoever put the bracelets on them.

Q: Assuming Schwartz and Weiss were modeled after the golden shumil, why are they black and white, respectively? Are they meant to resemble the God of Darkness and the Goddess of Light, or does it have something to do with duchy colors?

A: Their creator chose those colors purely for aesthetic reasons.

Q: If the current royal family had received the Grutrissheit manual thing, would they have tried to learn the ancient language themselves? Or would they have entrusted the task to their retainers?

A: I assume you mean the magic tool Grutrissheit. Yes, they would have naturally striven to learn to read it themselves. They wouldn’t have entrusted it to a retainer, lest that retainer end up becoming the Zent instead.

Q: Is there a reason highbeasts haven’t been replaced by magic tools? I would have thought nobles could repurpose ordonnanzes for transport or use green feystones in some capacity. It seems especially taxing for knights to spend mana both on fighting and maintaining their highbeasts’ forms.

A: Green feystones still require mana to produce water, so they wouldn’t be any more efficient than highbeasts. As for ordonnanzes, they can only fly in a single, fixed direction, making them impractical for knights engaged in combat. Were you imagining a highbeast magic tool that’s preformed and only needs to be topped up with mana, like filling a car with gasoline? Nobles wouldn’t be able to reshape such tools at will—their size would depend on the attached feystones, much like the pitchers with green feystones—so carrying them around wouldn’t be feasible. And while it might be cute to have rows of highbeasts waiting outside the knight dormitory or castle, how would nobles leap from balconies or windows in emergencies?

Also, highbeast magic tools that work with anyone’s mana would be at serious risk of theft. That’s less of a concern with highbeast feystones, which are designed as the optimal means to move freely. Nobles have total control over how much mana they expend, and if they run out, they can just drink a rejuvenation potion.

Q: Am I right to assume that Lessy’s windows aren’t transparent? What happens when Rozemyne closes them?

A: Rozemyne imagines pulling blinds down to cover the windows. From the outside, the windows seem to disappear.

Q: During one of the Royal Academy’s classes, it was said that even those dyed with a synchronization potion would see their mana return to its original color after a month. Yet you mentioned in the fourth fanbook that a person’s mana is forever changed after marriage. What’s the difference?

A: Hmm... I’d say the key difference is the Starbind Ceremony. Under usual circumstances, if a married noble couple goes a month without dyeing each other, their mana will mostly return to normal. I say “mostly” because as long as they remain together, some of their influence on one another will remain. Divorce makes it much harder to receive blessings from the supreme gods, but in that case, each person’s mana fully reverts to its original state. The effects of the synchronization potion used when peering into someone’s memories aren’t permanent, regardless of marital status.

Q: It was said that when someone with a schtappe containing enough mana passes away, their knowledge is recorded in the Book of Mestionora. Is this true even if their schtappe ends up being destroyed?

A: The Book of Mestionora would record their knowledge only up to the point when their schtappe was destroyed.

Q: How much mana does a person need for their memories to be recorded in the Book of Mestionora, and how much is actually saved? Are their thoughts recorded, or just things they can sense? What happens when their perspectives clash with existing entries in the Book? From what we’ve seen, it seems the information is consolidated.

A: For their memories to be recorded, a person needs enough mana to make the selection magic circle shine fully. The Book captures knowledge from the moment they obtain their schtappe until their death, but it doesn’t save their thoughts or emotions. If new information conflicts with what’s already in the Book, it’s up to Mestionora to decide what to do. She might discard it with a “How boring. I’ve already seen this,” merge it with the existing accounts, or keep the differing versions if she finds the contrast interesting enough.

Q: We know there are maps and schematics in the Book of Mestionora. Are there also photos or videos—of past Zents, for example? Has the Book ever contained a lewd scene that caused a stir among the gods? Ferdinand developed a way to record videos; could that be added as well?

A: Yes, the Book of Mestionora can store pictures and videos, provided the owner of one approves and the Goddess of Wisdom sees no reason to remove them. This isn’t common practice, however, as even a short video would consume a tremendous amount of mana.

Q: Was the ink Georgine gifted to Bezewanst connected to their code and secret exchanges? The trap magic circle in Ahrensbach’s foundation wasn’t hidden, so I doubt it was invisible ink, but could it have had any other special effects?

A: No—the ink had nothing to do with their clandestine communication. They relied on a cipher Georgine devised when she was still a girl.

Q: The anime made it clear that the boundaries of an area-affecting sound-blocker are visible when the tool is in use. Are there measures to prevent unwanted guests from stepping in and intruding on a private conversation? Could someone as powerful as Ferdinand force their way through?

A: There’s nothing physically stopping someone from entering a sound-blocker—it’s simply understood that anyone who does so will promptly be shooed away. In practice, attendants stand guard to keep others from getting too close and signal those inside if someone approaches.

Q: Could you view a dead person’s memories using their feystone, assuming their mana was extremely similar to your own?

A: No. As a feystone, they no longer have a head on which to place the memory-searching magic tool.

Q: Could one keep several of the same species of feybeast as pets?

A: It depends on the species. Wolfaniels, for example, can be kept together, since they follow a strict mana hierarchy. They only fight each other if those with less mana refuse to submit to their superiors—at which point the stronger ones think, “How dare you not respect our rank?” and try to teach the others a lesson.

Q: We know taues turn into trombes when given mana, but would Crushing them work too?

A: It depends on their maturity. Crushing a taue might promote its growth to some extent, but it’s neither as effective nor as reliable as touching it.

Q: Are nobles ever punished for breaching countrywide laws? If the criminal is bound with schtappe-sealing bracelets, are they also made to wear a gag? Do prisoners have human rights?

A: Every noble in Yurgenschmidt—even royalty—must obey The Book of Laws, though it isn’t especially detailed. Regarding your second question, there are magic tools that could fairly be called gags. As for the third, there’s no concept of human rights in Yurgenschmidt; how a prisoner is treated depends entirely on their attitude and the nature of their crimes.

Q: Roughly how many nobles in Yurgenschmidt are born omni-elemental? Is it super rare—maybe only one case every decade?

A: It wasn’t all that rare before the civil war, but times have changed. These days, I’d estimate only one person is born omni-elemental every few years.

Q: As we’ve been told, those with the Devouring are faintly omni-elemental and influenced by the mana of the land they were born in. When exactly does this happen? Let’s use Ella as an example: if she became pregnant in Ehrenfest, registered in Ahrensbach while expecting, and then gave birth at the Royal Academy, would the baby be influenced by Wind, Darkness, or Light? Also, am I correct in assuming that in duchies without a gate, those with the Devouring are influenced by the element of the duchy their land originally belonged to when Yurgenschmidt was founded?

A: Your theory is correct. Ella would never give birth at the Royal Academy, but if she did, the baby would be influenced by Life. If she gave birth after moving to Ahrensbach, the baby would be influenced by Darkness.

Q: Are those with the Devouring born purely by chance, or are there factors that influence their birth? Could genetics, such as having blue priests as ancestors, play a role? Or is it tied to the mana a baby is exposed to in the womb? Does the frequency of the parents’ prayer have any effect?

A: In the temple, those thought to have the Devouring are often assumed to have inherited it from their blue priest ancestors. In reality, that’s just inherited mana, which isn’t the same as the Devouring. True cases are completely random—though if pressed, I’d say they occur more frequently the closer one is to the country gates.

Q: The light novel adaptation expanded on the royal family’s history, but how far back does that history actually go? Specifically, when was the royal family formed, and when did they start using a magic tool?

A: Even the Royal Academy’s historical records lack concrete dates or years. What’s known is that the royal family was established during Zent Rauchelstra’s generation—but beyond that, the details are unclear.

Q: I thought Schwartz and Weiss were meant to restrict access to the underground archive to Zent candidates who possessed the necessary elements, prayed enough, and circled the shrines, but they let in candidates who didn’t meet the last two requirements. Why was that?

A: You’re thinking of two different eras. The creation of the black and white shumils marked the birth of the royal family, and entry was allowed only to royals with enough elements and prayer. The royal family itself includes only those whose medals were registered as part of the main line, so members of branch families aren’t counted.

Q: If a Zent was able to obtain the Grutrissheit from the underground archive without circling the shrines, does that mean it was possible to acquire copies without praying before the black and white shumils were made?

A: Yes—back in Garansorg’s era. By offering mana to the statue of Mestionora, one could receive the “shell” of the Grutrissheit and then transcribe the manual into it.

Q: Eglantine is omni-elemental, right? Could she not channel mana into Mestionora’s statue to obtain the shell of the Grutrissheit, then transcribe the manual into it?

A: She could, but only if she finished circling the shrines. Neither Rozemyne nor Ferdinand would tell her, though, as it could risk another catastrophic collapse of Yurgenschmidt’s line of succession. If she were to find out on her own by looking into the country’s history, her subsequent choices would reveal whether she’s truly worthy to become the Zent.

Q: In the shrine of Life, the Goddess of Earth’s slate is placed as if to prevent it from being touched. What would happen if someone touched it anyway? Rozemyne was too cautious to even try. Has anyone ever touched it before? If so, what happened to their corpse? Did their retainers and the royals accompanying them just declare them missing?

A: If someone touched the slate, the God of Life’s sword would swing down at them. If they managed to dodge, they’d be safe; if not, there’s a high chance the injury would be fatal. This has happened before, but anyone foolish enough to reach toward the Goddess of Earth in full view of the God of Life clearly wasn’t fit to become the Zent. Anyone who dies inside the shrine is quickly ejected, and those waiting outside would see them suddenly collapse.

Incidentally, there’s no way to enter the shrine with one’s retainers. An omni-elemental retainer might theoretically enter, but only alone as a Zent candidate.

Q: You need to be omni-elemental to enter the Garden of Beginnings through the altar, but could anyone reach it by following the path students take when acquiring their Divine Wills?

A: No. Even if someone reached the end of the path, the ivory stairway wouldn’t appear, and they would have no choice but to trek all the way back to the entrance.

Q: Are there schools of anatomical medicine in Yurgenschmidt covering dentistry, C-sections, dissections, and other such specialties? I recall Grausam lost his hand because he wasn’t treated with healing magic quickly enough. Does that mean, if employed in a timely manner, healing magic can reattach severed appendages?

A: Among commoners, such knowledge is passed down through generations, but there’s no formal school dedicated to the study of anatomy. Grausam chose to remove his own hand to escape Bonifatius, so reattachment was never his intention. Generally, nobles who want to reattach a severed part but don’t have it on hand can continuously heal the stump with magic to keep it from drying out.

Q: Do the country gates affect the climates of the duchies they belong to? From what we know, I suspect the gates’ elements are to blame for the more extreme environments.

A: That’s correct. Klassenberg, home to Geduldh the Goddess of Winter, is the coldest of all the duchies, while Dunkelfelger, home to Leidenschaft the God of Summer, is the hottest.

Q: Is there a way to shrink or expand Yurgenschmidt’s territory? If the land were portioned out based on the number of nobles with plentiful mana, perhaps the mana shortage after the civil war could have been avoided.

A: Zents can redraw borders to enlarge or reduce individual duchies, but that’s all. Erwaermen created Yurgenschmidt, so its overall size can’t be changed.

Q: Are there any ancient ruins in Yurgenschmidt? If so, are they preserved as cultural treasures or achievements?

A: The Royal Academy and country gates have existed since Yurgenschmidt’s founding, so they’re about as ancient as it gets. But if you mean structures that have fallen out of use, then no, there aren’t any. Everything is remade anew with entwickeln. Moreover, when a duchy changes its name and receives a new foundation, all the ivory buildings made by its previous aubs lose their mana and crumble into white dust, leaving no ruins behind.

Q: Why were some duchies that lost the civil war deposed, while others weren’t? Were the deposed duchies ruled by families directly related to the defeated princes, whereas the others had only offered their support?

A: Duchies that led the civil war in support of a failed prince—or that tried to assassinate the victor afterward—were destroyed. Duchies that backed the losing side but accepted the war’s outcome and showed obedience were spared.

Q: Could a person extend their expected life span by developing their mana or obtaining more divine protections? Would having the protection of the God of Longevity, as Sylvester does, help in that regard? In the same vein, has the implementation of a sewer system helped to increase the life expectancy of commoners? I suspect they’d also benefit from their duchy having more mana, as it would mean better harvests.

A: Divine protections have little effect on a person’s life span. For commoners, conditions have certainly improved, but their life expectancy has risen by less than ten years.

Q: What are the requirements to enter the temple’s book room mentioned in Part 1 Volume 3? Is it just swearing the oath of fealty?

A: Yes, as that’s required to join the temple. A noble with a schtappe can also enter if they have a permit from the High Bishop.

Q: Back in Part 2, Ferdinand seemed to be speaking from experience when he described the process of someone dying from their mana going rampant. Did he see it happen in the Adalgisa villa?

A: Yes.

Q: Could anyone enter Ahrensbach’s temple, assuming they had a permit? Rozemyne couldn’t access the book room in Ehrenfest’s temple without becoming a shrine maiden, but could she have circumvented that requirement with a permit?

A: Commoners must join the temple to enter, but nobles with schtappes can use a key and the High Bishop’s permit instead.

Q: At the end of the Purge of Lanzenave, during the ritual to summon winter, Ferdinand wrapped his cape around Rozemyne, and its magic circles immediately started to glow. We know it caused quite a scene. What was going through the heads of their retainers and the volunteers from Dunkelfelger?

A: “It’s shining?!” “What’s he doing?!” “What in the world did the Lord of Evil put on his cape?!”

Q: Part of me suspects that, during the ritual to summon winter, Ferdinand took Rozemyne into the column of white on purpose so he’d have an excuse to wrap his cape around her. Did Rozemyne not find it suspicious? Couldn’t they have watched from outside the magic circle’s range?

A: No, she didn’t find it suspicious. From outside the circle, they wouldn’t have seen much through the raging snowstorm and blinding white light, and they needed a clear view of the ship to give their orders.

Q: Were the riding clothes Rozemyne wore into Ahrensbach newly made or prepared in advance? Could they have been hand-me-downs from Brunhilde?

A: After returning from the Royal Academy, Rozemyne wouldn’t have had enough everyday clothes if she relied solely on Brunhilde’s hand-me-downs. She also wore altered ones from Florencia, including her riding clothes.

Q: Is our protagonist’s habit of getting so immersed in a book that she becomes oblivious to the world around her something she developed after reincarnating? I assume Urano would have looked up whenever Shuu called her name.

A: No, she was exactly the same as Urano. Shuu knew shouting to get her attention was pointless, so he resorted to other methods: yanking her arm, smacking her shoulder, or thrusting a hand in front of her face.

Q: I remember at one point, the plan was for Karstedt to adopt Myne. In that scenario, who would they have said was her true father? Wouldn’t it have been strange for the knight commander to adopt a random girl?

A: They likely would have kept her true father a mystery. The knight commander adopting a seemingly random girl wouldn’t have been too unusual if he could explain it as an order from the archduke—which was why Ferdinand involved Sylvester in the first place. Of course, speculation would have run rampant. Some might have assumed Sylvester sired a bastard and foisted her on Karstedt, or that Karstedt sired a bastard and was trying to hide it by adopting her. People might even have thought Rozemyne came from the same mysterious place as Ferdinand, whom the previous aub seemed to produce out of nowhere. Whatever the case, most would conclude that Rozemyne’s history was complex and closely tied to the archducal family.

Q: We know that Rozemyne’s first High Bishop robes were altered from those of her predecessor, but we never hear about her ordering her own. Did she never buy new ones? Wouldn’t the robes have worn down, given how often she wore them? Or was the purchase of new robes simply not mentioned, as Rozemyne didn’t consider it interesting?

A: The previous High Bishop had several robes for regular use, so they were all altered together to give Rozemyne a suite of options. Not long after Hartmut began frequenting the temple, he declared that he couldn’t accept her wearing hand-me-downs forever and sought out some cloth for her, which Fran then took to the Gilberta Company to be made into new robes.

Q: Rozemyne’s growth spurt was brought about by Anwachs’s power. If she somehow lost or ran out of that power, would she suddenly revert to her previous form?

A: Rozemyne has finished growing, so she wouldn’t revert to her younger form unless another deity’s power was used to turn back time or something.

Q: How much stamina does Rozemyne have now that she’s matured through Anwachs’s power? Sure, she slept for two whole days once Ferdinand was safe, but that was after stealing Ahrensbach’s foundation, nursing him back to health, and fighting to claim Lanzenave’s ships. The fact she managed all that without collapsing makes me think she now has at least as much stamina as most Ehrenfest scholars.

A: Even now, Rozemyne is weaker than the average person. Yes, she fought in consecutive battles, but she traveled mostly by highbeast—her own or someone else’s—so she didn’t need to move much. She spent a lot of mana fighting Lanzenave but used very little stamina, and she even had time to rest in the Mana Replenishment hall.

Q: Is Rozemyne sensitive to blood and death because of something from her past life?

A: She was just as sensitive to them as Urano.

Q: Given that Rozemyne made a tablet-shaped Grutrissheit, can we assume she read ebooks when she was Urano?

A: Urano enjoyed all kinds of books, including ebooks.

Q: When Erwaermen remarked on the growth of Rozemyne’s vessel, was he referring to her entire body or just her mana organ?

A: Just her mana organ.

Q: How did Myne know that a lot of the lower city’s waitresses were involved in sex work on the side? She didn’t sit by the well enough to have heard it from the women, and I can’t think of anyone else who might have spoken about it when she was in earshot.

A: It’s a fairly common topic among soldiers. Lutz, Tuuli, and Benno also brought it up when explaining why Ella disliked the lower city and wanted to become an apprentice chef.

Q: During the farewell scene, did Eckhart and Justus receive Rozemyne’s omni-elemental blessing? Did the charms she gave them end up being useful?

A: Yes, Eckhart and Justus also received the blessing. The charms proved useful during the fight against Lanzenave.

Q: Rozemyne said she would join her mana with the royal family’s after obtaining the Grutrissheit from the underground archive. Did she understand that doing so would mean dyeing them and being dyed in turn?

A: She understood that Trauerqual adopting her would make a political marriage with Sigiswald inevitable. Still, if accepting that fate would save Yurgenschmidt, she was prepared to go through with it—no matter how much she hated the thought of marrying a bookless prince.

Q: Rozemyne seems to have her diptych with her at all times, but how does she carry it? Does she keep it in a simple pocket, or do her retainers carry it for her? Does she ask someone to hold it while she uses it?

A: She keeps it in a pocket. Her retainers would present her with paper and ink, not a diptych.

Q: When Myne became Rozemyne, did she borrow someone else’s childhood magic tool? Would her attendants unaware of her situation not have found it suspicious otherwise?

A: She never received one, but her retainers assumed she had one among her many charms.

Q: Did Rozemyne’s sudden growth spurt cause her to develop mana-sensing?

A: No, it didn’t.

Q: If the king had adopted Rozemyne as originally planned, would she have gained more adult retainers? It seems that most current royals have exclusively adult retainers.

A: If she had joined the royal family, then yes, Sovereign nobles would have been added to her retinue. It’s likely that people from Ehrenfest would also have been chosen for the role.

Q: In the replenishment hall, what was Ferdinand about to say when Rozemyne gave him back his name stone?

A: “Do you not need me?”

Q: In Part 5 Volume 8, what order did Ferdinand give Eckhart?

A: “Eliminate anyone who stands in our way.”

Q: We’ve seen Ferdinand drink alcohol. Does he ever get drunk, or does he use some kind of magic tool to stay sober?

A: It’s not easy for him to get drunk, but alcohol does affect him. When he’s drinking with someone but needs to keep his wits about him, he uses magic tools or circles to keep himself steady.

Q: How many Ahrensbach retainers does Ferdinand have?

A: At the castle, he has about twelve: four guard knights, five scholars, and three attendants. Plus Eckhart and Justus, and Raimund at the Royal Academy. That’s on the lower side, since he’s only engaged, not married. A greater duchy would normally provide a few more guard knights and attendants.

Q: In Part 2, when Myne asked about rubber, Ferdinand said it sounded a lot like gummika bark. When did he come into contact with it?

A: During his student days, in a laboratory. Those labs traded tons of resources because of the many research-obsessed professors there. Just as he obtained valuable ingredients by crushing Heisshitze at ditter, he also exchanged newly invented magic tools and circles to get ingredients from professors of the scholar building.

Q: Ferdinand called Rozemyne’s name when he was dying in Ahrensbach’s Mana Replenishment hall, but that was before he realized that “equivalent to family” meant “actually family.” If anyone, wouldn’t he have felt closer to Sylvester? Why did he reach out to Rozemyne instead of his brother?

A: Because her charm activated the moment he was poisoned.

Q: When did Ferdinand give his name to the previous Aub Ehrenfest?

A: During his fifth year at the Royal Academy.

Q: What does Ferdinand think about what Georgine did to Sylvester in his youth?

A: He doesn’t know the full story, so not much. “As my knowledge of the events comes solely from Sylvester, I cannot speak with certainty, but her methods seem identical to Veronica’s. Like mother, like daughter, I suppose.”

Q: Why does Ferdinand use “beautiful” to refer to things one wouldn’t normally describe that way?

A: There are two reasons: First, his exposure to a very nitpicky Veronica, who would gripe that his bad posture or attempts to leave midway through a meal weren’t “beautiful.” And second, his time among the professors of the scholar course, who would praise magic circles as “beautiful” or the harmony between components as “beautifully aligned.”

Q: What was Ferdinand thinking when he pinched Rozemyne’s cheek after seeing her all grown up?

A: “Not as nice to squeeze now.”

Q: If Rozemyne hadn’t been quick enough to save Ferdinand, what would have happened? What decision would she have made for Yurgenschmidt?

A: If she had found him dead in the Mana Replenishment hall, she would have absorbed his feystone and completed her Book of Mestionora. Then, ignoring Letizia’s capture and Ahrensbach’s defeat at the hands of Lanzenave, she would have charged straight to the Royal Academy to confront Detlinde. Naturally, Detlinde and her allies would have shown no remorse and fought back, leading to a veritable bloodbath. In the end, Rozemyne would have been defeated by Gervasio.

Q: You mentioned that sex education is taught in the Sovereign temple for boys who develop mana-sensing at the Royal Academy. Is that something Ferdinand went through?

A: Naturally.

Q: Ferdinand described Rozemyne’s sudden growth spurt as “a transformation so abnormal that it could no longer be understood through human reasoning.” Was he just in awe, or is Rozemyne’s beauty so great that it could only have been sculpted through divine power?

A: She didn’t become a completely different person—Anwachs simply ensured she grew into the most beautiful version of herself.

Q: When did Ferdinand invent his ultra-nasty potions?

A: He began researching them in his fifth year at the Academy and finished them in his sixth.

Q: Some people who learned about Ferdinand’s regular checkups on Rozemyne have called them scandalous. Why is that?

A: Normally, it’s inappropriate for someone who isn’t a doctor to touch the skin of a member of the opposite sex—especially once they’ve come of age. Students of the archduke candidate course can’t become real doctors, remember, so Ferdinand is merely imitating one. While his checkups might have become somewhat routine in Ehrenfest, people from other duchies would be very shocked to hear about them.

Q: Why does Sylvester know how to sword dance?

A: Because he thinks it’s “cooler” than whirling. He said he’d rather sword dance than whirl, so Karstedt offered to teach him one minute of sword dancing for every minute he practiced whirling.

Q: When his dad became a criminal, Matthias stopped calling him “Father” and switched to “Grausam” instead—so why does Sylvester still call Veronica “Mother”?

A: Matthias changed how he addressed his father not just because Grausam became a criminal, but also because he became an enemy to Matthias’s duchy and his lady. Using his given name emphasized the severing of ties between them. Veronica might be a criminal, but Sylvester doesn’t consider her his enemy.

Q: In Part 2 Volume 4, the sight of Fran carrying Myne reminds Sylvester of something from his childhood. What was it?

A: He remembered Karstedt carrying a limp Blau.

Q: Was Sylvester never as disgusted by the temple as other nobles? He visited his half-brother there and even involved his children in religious ceremonies despite his wife’s protests. Did he propose sending Ferdinand there without realizing the social implications?

A: Sylvester’s uncle was the High Bishop, and his mother got along well with him, so Sylvester was definitely less opposed to the temple than most nobles. He understood the implications of sending Ferdinand there but prioritized protecting his life over concerns about his reputation. The most naive part of his decision was believing his mother’s neurosis was only temporary and would eventually settle.

Q: Sylvester’s pretty good at playing the harspiel. Did he, unlike Wilfried, actually enjoy practicing it?

A: He didn’t particularly enjoy it, but he had a clear goal to work toward. To offer a love song to Florencia, he needed to be good enough to match his upperclassmen. Despite all the challenges of being two years her junior, he spared no effort to succeed.

Q: Before Rozemyne set out to rescue Ferdinand, Sylvester gave her a magic tool as a “permit” from Prince Sigiswald. What was going through his mind at that moment? I find it hard to believe he didn’t know it was a courtship magic tool. Did he tell her the wrong thing on purpose?

A: Sylvester was annoyed at Sigiswald for trying to insert himself between two people who were clearly in love. Unlike a proposal feystone, which is given for political marriages, a courtship magic tool signifies romantic affection and can be accepted or refused depending on whether the feelings are mutual. However, because Sigiswald presented the tool to Sylvester as a royal permit, Rozemyne had no choice but to accept it.

As someone who poured his heart and soul into courting Florencia, Sylvester’s first thought was “Seriously? If you’re gonna court her, do it yourself! No way am I recognizing this as a courtship magic tool. You said it was a permit to go to Ahrensbach, so that’s what I’m gonna call it.”

Q: When Oswald was dismissed, did Sylvester and Florencia clearly explain the reason to Wilfried?

A: Absolutely. They said, “Oswald is not suited to serve the current archducal family. His thinking remains rooted in the height of Veronica’s power, and he has been driving a wedge between your and your sisters’ retainers. Since we don’t have proof of any crimes that would justify his removal, we are allowing him to resign, but he is effectively being discharged for his incompetence.”

Of course, because Oswald was allowed to resign, only Wilfried was told the real reason, and several others ended up resigning alongside him. After being consoled and gently steered by Barthold, Wilfried eventually came to believe that Oswald had been dismissed not for clinging too closely to Veronica’s methods but for being in the wrong faction after the purge.

Q: Has Florencia not repeated the divine protections ritual? It wasn’t mentioned in the books.

A: She hasn’t. She believes it’s best to pray sincerely to the gods first.

Q: Bonifatius told Rozemyne to give up on saving Ferdinand, but what were his actual thoughts on the matter? Did he think there was no need to save him?

A: He didn’t think there was “no need” to save Ferdinand. He thought it couldn’t be done, and that there was no point in going to such absurd lengths for something impossible.

Q: I imagine Florencia’s retainers before the purge were split among the Frenbeltag, Leisegang, and former Veronica factions—not to mention those who tried to remain neutral. Did she end up deeming those of the former Veronica faction untrustworthy?

A: They were connected to Veronica, so yes.

Q: How did Wilfried earn the money to pay for Rozemyne’s mana compression method?

A: Mostly through transcription work. Since his retainers took considerably longer than Rozemyne’s to finish their classes, he ended up with plenty of downtime in the dormitory. He used the opportunity to write out documents for their second-year study guides by hand and transcribe books that scholars borrowed from the library. He also sold intel he picked up during tea parties.

Q: Did Wilfried’s retainers infer from the fact that Rozemyne wasn’t counted among Ehrenfest’s defenders that she was being transferred to another duchy and that her engagement to their lord was going to be canceled?

A: No, they had no idea. They only found out after the knights from Kirnberger arrived. Rozemyne assumed she wasn’t counted among Ehrenfest’s defenders, but she was actually assigned to lead a “mobile combat unit.” Since she spent most of her time at the temple or her library, most nobles assumed she would either be protecting the temple alongside Melchior or managing the lower city. They also accepted that a mobile unit was needed to cover gaps during Spring Prayer. When Rozemyne received Ferdinand’s last testament, her unit was simply redirected to Ahrensbach.

Q: Did gaining more divine protections cause Charlotte’s elements to change from what they were when she was baptized? Where in the Farthest Hall did she obtain her Divine Will? I’m particularly interested in how she compares to Wilfried and the archduke candidates of other duchies.

A: Charlotte obtained her Divine Will during her first year, so it aligned with the elements she was born with. The place she found it was fairly standard for an archduke candidate from a middle duchy. In terms of protections, though, she’s far ahead of the pack. Not only did she start participating in Mana Replenishment and ceremonies earlier than Wilfried, but she also went through a period of very earnest prayer, believing she was responsible for Rozemyne needing to enter her jureve. On top of that, she had a full year to prepare after learning that prayer would affect the outcome of the divine protections ritual.

Q: How many divine protections did Charlotte get in class? Can you name them?

A: She received the protection of twenty-one subordinate gods, including the God of Deliverance, Goddess of Healing, Goddess of Flowers, God of Guidance, and Goddess of Endurance. She has more goddesses than gods.

Q: Wilfried and Sylvester both seem to have a tendency to irritate people without knowing it. Is this an inherited trait passed down from Adelbert?

A: Well, his personality certainly was similar enough.

Q: Adelbert seemingly saw Veronica as someone he needed to protect, but was he truly unaware that she was poisoning her enemies and coercing others—more than even her daughter—into giving her their names?

A: Yes, he was unaware, at least until the Georgine incident.

Q: Did Adelbert ever intend to make Georgine the next aub? What were his thoughts on his potential successors?

A: Adelbert didn’t particularly mind who became the next aub, so long as they carried Veronica’s blood. That said, he believed men were better suited to the role, given the burden of pregnancy and childbirth on women. Coupled with Veronica’s being so assertive, he was perfectly content with Sylvester taking his place.

As for Georgine, her desire to become the next aub seemed to Adelbert like the product of youthful naivety, set in motion when Veronica, before Sylvester was born, told her she should aim for the position instead of Karstedt. After all, who would want to become the aub of a weak duchy like Ehrenfest, especially with the greater duchy of Ahrensbach looming over them. He thought Georgine’s ambition stemmed from a lack of understanding of both the gravity of the role and the hardships of childbirth.

Q: After Sylvester was born, did Adelbert ever consider making Georgine an interim aub? Was it something he ever discussed with her?

A: He didn’t, no. Ehrenfest already had Bonifatius available as a potential interim aub, so there wasn’t much need to consider Georgine for the role. At most, she might have been a backup option or an assistant of some kind. Once she was no longer being considered as the next aub and her former fiancé requested to end their engagement, even the possibility of her serving as a spare was off the table.

Q: Veronica seems to have retainers in the Ivory Tower. Do they keep her abreast of current affairs? What does she think about Ehrenfest’s rank going up?

A: Veronica has an attendant to look after her, but they aren’t allowed to discuss what happens outside the Ivory Tower.

Q: If Charlotte had been born a boy, making her a threat to Wilfried’s chances of becoming the aub, would Veronica have allowed her to survive until her baptism? Surely even Veronica wouldn’t go so far as to assassinate a full-blooded sibling, right?

A: No, Veronica wouldn’t have gone so far as to assassinate her—not at first, anyway. In uncertain times, keeping a backup option is always important. Problems would only have arisen when Veronica noticed that Wilfried was too far behind in his studies to become the aub—if she noticed at all—by which point years of abuse would have soured her relationship with Charlotte beyond repair. She probably would have shifted her attention to making Melchior the aub instead, and only then would she have started working to remove Charlotte from the picture.

Q: Before the purge, many members of the former Veronica faction held important positions in Ehrenfest, with some serving Wilfried and the aub as retainers. How did they perceive the incidents within the archducal family, the archducal family’s attempts to distance themselves from the former Veronica faction, and the subsequent purge? How did they feel about their own faction in response?

A: It depends on who you ask and at what point in the story. Some of Florencia’s and the aub’s retainers had long been irritated by Veronica’s constant interference, even before her downfall. Others—particularly those serving Wilfried—couldn’t come to terms with the purge even when it occurred.

Q: Did Veronica know about trug? I expect so, considering she’s about as old as the scholar who recognized it. Did she get any from Ahrensbach, or otherwise tell them to use it? Was it through Veronica that Georgine learned how to use it?

A: Veronica knew about it but never actually used it. Georgine learned about its existence and uses through Lanzenave, then worked with Raublut to put her plan into action, since he knew about the Adalgisa villa.

Q: I used to think Veronica was soft on her close blood relatives in general, but after reading Georgine’s recollections, it feels more like she unconsciously doted only on her male relatives. If Bezewanst had been her younger sister instead of her brother, would she have refused to cover for him and instead sent him to be someone’s mistress or something?

A: Their relationship wouldn’t have been exactly the same, but Veronica still would have cherished him as one of her precious few remaining family members. Though she might seem to have a clear preference, she went to great lengths for Georgine, strictly educating her so she could succeed as an aub despite her sex. Even when Georgine’s hatred for Sylvester was fully apparent, Veronica managed to negotiate for her to marry the aub of a greater duchy. Those aren’t things you do for a person you don’t love.

Q: Did the previous Aub Ehrenfest’s decision to make Irmhilde his second wife lead to her death?

A: Yes.

Q: In Bindewald, Fraularm started shouting about scandals when she saw Ferdinand giving Rozemyne a checkup. What did Rozemyne’s retainers think?

A: To them, it was business as usual, whether it looked scandalous or not. Rozemyne needs her health checked, and Ferdinand is the only one who knows how to do it.

Q: When did Cornelius tell the other retainers that Rozemyne is only his half-sister? I thought Sylvester was the only one meant to know she isn’t actually Elvira’s daughter.

A: He never told them. Why would he? They reached that conclusion themselves through remarks Florencia made to Charlotte, such as how Elvira has “raised only boys,” but they don’t ever mention it. Some Leisegangs suspect she’s the daughter of Karstedt’s third wife, since she wasn’t brought to their family gatherings when she was young, but they also hold their tongues. All that really matters is that Elvira performed Rozemyne’s baptism.

Q: Initially, Rozemyne was introduced to Cornelius as Rozemary’s daughter. Does he still believe that after having served her for so long?

A: Yes. He can’t think of any other reason Karstedt and Elvira would have taken her in.

Q: Is Hartmut able to form all the divine instruments, considering he’s spent so long in the temple as the High Priest?

A: Not all of them, but he can form Leidenschaft’s spear.

Q: In one of the drama CD short stories, Hartmut sees Rozemyne’s mana as a fine net of white light that binds Roderick during his name-swearing. I assume her mana far exceeds his own, so how was he able to see it? Was he using a special technique, or can nobles generally see mana regardless of differences in capacity?

A: He saw her mana because it was a name-swearing. Rihyarda was there too, and she also saw it.

Q: Did Hartmut ever consider qualifying as a doctor for Rozemyne’s sake? Did he take any classes or do anything else to acquire the knowledge he might need to help her?

A: He thought about qualifying as a doctor, but not until he was finishing his fifth year at the Royal Academy, by which point it was already too late. Until he saw Ferdinand serving as Rozemyne’s personal physician, taking care of everything from diagnoses to medicine, he hadn’t even considered the possibility of becoming a doctor to a member of the archducal family. Even so, he studied relentlessly, hoping he could at least be trusted with brewing Rozemyne’s potions. He might not be formally certified, but as of Part 5 Volume 8, he and Lieseleta together are capable of performing the duties of a single doctor.

Q: Where does Hartmut keep the illustrations of Rozemyne he commissioned from Wilma? I assume they’re in a hidden room, but is that in the temple or at his family’s estate?

A: He keeps them in his hidden rooms at both locations, and also proudly displays them in his room at home.

Q: Hartmut had to cover for Rozemyne when she faltered after Countess Bindewald called her a commoner. Although she’s gotten much better at maintaining her noble facade, was that slip enough for Leonore to figure out the truth? (Cornelius seemed none the wiser.)

A: Nope. Her comment came right after the reveal that Fraularm had been involved in poisoning Ehrenfest’s bible—something none of them had noticed—so everyone was still reeling from that. Besides, nobles of the former Veronica faction had long been backbiting Rozemyne as a former commoner and member of the temple, so while it was important to deny those claims to avoid confusion among nobles from other duchies, it was nothing new. Leonore was more surprised that anyone still clung to such ideas and that their hatred ran so deep.

Q: Among the retainers of the former Veronica faction who swore themselves to Rozemyne, some must have heard their relatives say she was a commoner. Did that spark any suspicions about her origins? I’d like to know the views of those who swore their names to Wilfried and Charlotte, though I’m especially curious about Barthold and Matthias.

A: For the most part, noble society doesn’t view those in the temple—even the blue priests and shrine maidens—as true nobles. There’s a strong belief that anyone raised in the temple is a commoner, whether they have noble blood or not. Bezewanst, the former High Priest, was viewed in much the same way. He was considered a commoner who would never become a real noble due to lacking a schtappe, no matter how much Lady Veronica doted on him. Barthold and Matthias simply saw the “commoner” label as another insult tied to Rozemyne’s temple upbringing. It never once crossed their minds that she might actually have been born and raised in the lower city.

Q: As the only surviving member, has Matthias succeeded Grausam as the head of his family?

A: Neither Matthias nor Laurenz is the head of a household. The families they once belonged to have been dissolved.

Q: It was said that everyone in Dunkelfelger, even the archduke candidates, trained in the mornings. That means Clarissa took part as well, right? Has she been allowed to train with the Knight’s Order since moving to Ehrenfest?

A: Yes, she participates so she doesn’t grow rusty. Bonifatius had already made it mandatory for all archducal family retainers, even attendants and scholars, to take part in knight training so they wouldn’t hold the others back in an emergency. As a result, Clarissa has no trouble joining them.

Q: What happened to make Gretia despise Laurenz’s father and elder brother? She seemed used to pain when she gave her name to Rozemyne, so I’m wondering if they cruelly forced mana into her or something.

A: It’s as you suspect. Gretia was effectively sold by her father, and mana was forced into her as part of her abuse. She wasn’t even permitted to decide her own future; instead, she was destined to serve Bettina.

Q: In Part 5 Volume 3, when casting healing magic to gain Heilschmerz’s divine protection, did Lieseleta heal only Ehrenfest’s apprentice knights?

A: Lieseleta went to the knight building and healed anyone who was injured, not just those from Ehrenfest.

Q: Did Philine develop mana-sensing by the end of her fourth year at the Royal Academy? If so, which of Rozemyne’s retainers can she sense?

A: Yes. Among the men, she can sense Damuel and Roderick clearly, and Laurenz just barely. Among the women, she can sense Judithe and Gretia.

Q: After Konrad’s abuse at the hands of his stepmother was revealed, could Philine have reconnected with her late mother’s family?

A: Her adult retainer at the Royal Academy is from her late mother’s side, so they aren’t completely estranged. Unfortunately, her relatives are laynobles eager to curry favor with the archducal family. Rozemyne’s other retainers are wary of them, and for that reason, reconnecting with them wouldn’t produce any fruitful results.

Q: What did Damuel think about Rozemyne’s sudden growth spurt, considering he’s known her since she was young. Was he glad to see her finally looking her age?

A: He knew how jealous she had been of her peers who actually looked their age, so yes, he was glad to see her finally catch up with them.

Q: As I understand it, most of the retainers who gave their names to Rozemyne had to cut ties with their relatives or came from families whose assets were confiscated by the duchy. Are any of them struggling financially as a result? Have arrangements been made to support them?

A: It depends on the individual. Rozemyne provides temple allowances and other support, but Laurenz and Matthias came from particularly wealthy houses, so their current lives are much less comfortable than before. Gretia, Roderick, and Philine are more at ease, and since retainers often trade belongings among themselves, they’re doing a lot better than before.

Q: During the winter Rozemyne was absent from the Royal Academy, Hartmut told Sigiswald they would cover it up by saying she was bedridden. However, when Leonore relayed this to Wilfried and Charlotte, she claimed it was a royal command. Was she part of a scheme to trick Wilfried and Sylvester into complying? Or was Hartmut acting alone, deceiving even his fellow retainers?

A: Hartmut was acting alone, though his primary concern was enforcing stricter discipline among the Ehrenfest students rather than manipulating Wilfried and Sylvester specifically. Since the archduke was going to order them to keep Rozemyne’s absence secret from the other duchies anyway, Hartmut thought invoking the extra authority of a royal command would minimize the risk of any leaks.

Q: How well can Rozemyne’s retainers read the ancient language? I assume Hartmut and Clarissa are the most passionate about it, and therefore the most proficient, whereas Philine and Damuel are just getting decent.

A: As of Part 5 Volume 8, Hartmut has studied the most and therefore has the highest proficiency. Clarissa, Philine, and Damuel are in joint second. As for “how well” they can read it, it’s hard to quantify.

Q: Hartmut knows Rozemyne used to be a commoner, but what about her other retainers? Have any of them figured it out but chosen to keep it to themselves?

A: Not really.

Q: Rihyarda often scolds Ferdinand for being too strict on Rozemyne. Did she also used to scold Georgine for how she handled Sylvester’s education? If so, did Georgine listen, or did she dismiss Rihyarda as a “traitor” for siding with Sylvester? Could it be that Rihyarda refrained from saying anything because she regretted what happened to Georgine?

A: Georgine’s approach wasn’t as harsh as what she herself endured, and Sylvester was often at fault for trying to run away or prank his attendants. So while Rihyarda sometimes intervened, it was seldom because Georgine was too strict. Rozemyne, in stark contrast to Sylvester, accepts even the harshest demands without question, which is why Rihyarda scolds Ferdinand for her sake.

Q: As we know, Karstedt, a former archduke candidate and the knight commander, managed to have a son with Trudeliede, who was formerly a mednoble. Does she just have an unusually large mana capacity? There were descriptions of Rozemary having a lot of mana, so it wouldn’t surprise me. Or was Karstedt decompressing his mana considerably when Nikolaus was conceived? Is their mana still compatible at this point in the story (Part 5 Volume 9)?

A: Trudeliede had more mana than most mednobles, but she still only had the bare minimum necessary to marry Karstedt. Because of that, it took an exceptionally long time for her to get pregnant. The same went for Rozemary. Now that Karstedt is using Rozemyne’s mana compression method, they don’t match at all.

Q: How was Karstedt’s demotion to an archnoble during his third year at the Royal Academy perceived by the other duchies?

A: It’s not unusual for a member of a branch family to be reduced to archnoble status when a potential male successor is born into the main family, so most people just thought, “Poor guy,” and gave him a pat on the shoulder for his bad luck. It might have been a blessing in disguise, though. If he’d completed the archduke candidate course, demoting him would have been much harder, which could have made him a target for assassination.

Q: Elvira’s grandfather was a son of the fourth Aub Ehrenfest—doesn’t that make her part of an archducal branch family? Traugott seemed to think that having a mother from a branch family made his lineage superior to Rozemyne’s. Was that just ignorance on his part?

A: Elvira does have a slight trace of archducal branch blood, but she’s primarily the daughter of Haldenzel nobles with strong Leisegang roots. For that reason, she isn’t considered part of the archducal branch families. In contrast, Traugott’s paternal grandfather is a member of the main archducal family, and his mother is from a branch family, along with Rihyarda and her husband. His bloodline is more firmly rooted in the archducal family than not just Elvira’s, but even Cornelius’s and Rozemyne’s.

Q: From what I can tell, Karstedt’s demotion to an archnoble was what drove Professor Hirschur to sever her ties with Ehrenfest, which implies they were close. Was she one of his retainers? Have any of Karstedt’s other former retainers appeared in the story so far?

A: Wait, what? You’re right, but how you figured that out is beyond me. Hirschur joined Karstedt’s retinue roughly half a year before he entered the Royal Academy and was dismissed the moment Sylvester was born. Her disillusionment with the archducal couple at that point steeled her resolve to become a Sovereign noble. Of Karstedt’s other former retainers, only Norbert has been named so far. Rihyarda took over as his head attendant and educator for a time before she returned to serving the aub.

Q: Oswald pressured Charlotte to cede credit for her achievements to Wilfried, but we never saw him try that with Rozemyne. Was that because Rozemyne wasn’t living in the castle, so he couldn’t get to her?

A: Not only was Rozemyne absent, but she’s also much worse than Charlotte at picking up on noble euphemisms. On occasions where Oswald did try, Rozemyne’s Leisegang retainers mocked him mercilessly, saying things like, “Our lady is truly magnificent, so we understand your worries about Wilfried having to rely on his own merits. Perhaps he should simply step down due to incompetence.” Their constant back-and-forth only deepened the rift between their retainers.

Q: Was Oswald’s insistence on making Wilfried the next archduke motivated at least partly by a desire to improve Veronica’s circumstances?

A: Absolutely. Wilfried’s rise to power is Veronica’s only hope of being freed from the Ivory Tower.

Q: In Part 5 Volume 8, Eckhart and Justus took their names back from Ferdinand to carry out his final order. Did Lasfam also take his name back, or did he let Ferdinand keep it, trusting that Rozemyne would succeed in the rescue?

A: He let Ferdinand keep it. Justus brought Lasfam’s name stone into Ahrensbach and returned it to Ferdinand while he was changing in the archduke’s office. It was then that Justus and Eckhart returned their names to Ferdinand.

Q: Lasfam was assigned to serve Ferdinand as a form of harassment due to his meager mana capacity. Has he since been taught Rozemyne’s compression method? If so, has it made using magic tools easier for him?

A: Yes, he was taught it alongside the other archducal retainers. He practiced so diligently that he now has a lot more mana than he used to.

Q: Who escorted Muriella during her graduation? She had given up on romance or marriage, but is there a chance she might appear in one of Lady Elantura’s love stories?

A: Muriella’s escort was an older man who appeared to be her relative. Elvira arranged it for her. Muriella’s position certainly would make it tough for her to find a partner; as she gave her name to Elvira to avoid punishment by association, it’s hard to say whether the aub would ever permit her to marry. Noble weddings inevitably involve factions and politics, so while she might become someone’s mistress, a wedding would probably be out of the question.

Q: Aurelia’s personality seems fairly divorced from her reputation. Could the same have been true for Lady Gabriele? Was she actually fairly normal, at least compared to the image we have of her?

A: She greatly resembled Detlinde and would pursue her desires with just as much enthusiasm.

Q: After Dirk’s baptism ceremony, did Delia dispose of the adoption contract between him and Rozemyne?

A: It was a submission contract, not an adoption contract. That aside, though, she’s keeping it safe in case it’s ever needed. Having someone to turn to if Dirk can’t get by as a noble in Ehrenfest could make all the difference.

Q: Reading Part 4 of the manga made me realize—since Rosina serves as the personal musician of an archduke candidate, she must spend a lot of time around nobles. I imagine she’s expected to dress well and conduct herself with grace and decorum. Did Rozemyne provide her with etiquette training, clothes, and accessories, or was Rosina expected to arrange those things herself? Are the personal musicians of archduke candidates paid well?

A: Rosina learned etiquette from Christine, her previous lady, and her manners are on par with a mednoble or even an archnoble. In fact, she was the one who taught Myne how to behave during her temple days. It was thanks to Rosina’s guidance that Elvira later assessed Myne as having the manners of a mednoble. In short, Rosina naturally carries herself with more elegance than Judithe or Philine. When attending events or performing in public, she’s provided with attire and accessories that are essentially a personal musician’s uniform.

Q: After being baptized, was Dirk given a room in the temple as an apprentice blue priest, or will he need to stay in the orphanage until he turns ten? If he was given a room, does that mean he can’t see Delia anymore?

A: Yes, he has already been given a room. Because Delia can’t leave the orphanage, the only times they can see each other are when Dirk comes to visit.

Q: Will Freida and Myne continue to associate?

A: Not once Rozemyne leaves Ehrenfest, no.

Q: What was Freida doing during the most recent events of the story? Did she evacuate with Tuuli’s group?

A: She came of age at the end of winter. So, if we’re talking about mid-spring, she would be moving into Henrik’s estate.

Q: During Part 3, it seemed Henrik’s house and first wife saw Freida mainly as a source of money and mana. Did her experience running the Italian restaurant and her connection with Rozemyne improve her perceived value or reputation?

A: She’s more valuable in the sense that there’s more reason to exploit her, but Henrik and the guildmaster both took steps to keep her reputation from rising too much. It would be dangerous if a commoner concubine gained more influence than a noble first wife.

Q: Will Freida live in a side building as Henrik’s concubine, or does she commute to the Noble’s Quarter so she can continue to manage the Italian restaurant? Does she have a shop in the Noble’s Quarter?

A: Everything remains as agreed in Part 1.

Q: Rozemyne never pushed to know who Freida signed with, and Freida never tried to tell her. Was there a reason for that?

A: Freida understood the role of a concubine before her baptism and elected not to elaborate. Back then, Myne had no power against a noble, so there was no point in Freida sharing Henrik’s name. Of course, that changed when Myne became Rozemyne, but she simply saw no reason to look into Freida’s arrangement. They only ever saw each other at the Italian restaurant and during merchant meetings, and as not even Lutz and Tuuli can speak about personal matters on such occasions, there was no chance of them discussing the matter.

As for why Freida didn’t tell Rozemyne, one could say it was because she’s a merchant to the core. She knows—perhaps all too well—how people might try to exploit her new position if given the chance. The guildmaster warned her not to reveal too much to Myne after her becoming an apprentice blue shrine maiden, as they had no way of knowing which nobles she was connected to. She even kept her distance from the others in the Merchant’s Guild. Suffice to say, Freida was reluctant to get too close to Myne after her adoption into the archducal family.

Q: In the short story for Part 3 Volume 5 of the manga, we learn that Ryza has been secretly bathing with hot water. Is that something everyone in the orphanage does? I can’t imagine Wilma would approve.

A: During the season when the hearth is lit, everyone does it. Otherwise, it’s a luxury reserved for those who help clean the kitchen.

Q: During the short story “Engagement Circumstances,” Tuuli worried about whether she was good enough to become the matriarch of the Plantin Company, but Lutz seemed pretty unconcerned. Isn’t he going to take over the business? Benno doesn’t intend to marry, so isn’t that the plan—especially considering the whole adoption thing?

A: Lutz isn’t guaranteed to inherit the Plantin Company. His father, Deid, refused to allow Benno to adopt him, and Benno accepted that decision.

Q: Is there a reason Meinard wasn’t given a magic tool for children? Did it have something to do with his family’s circumstances?

A: His family already had a successor, so there were no spare magic tools to give him. Meinard was raised to be a servant instead.

Q: Why did Thorsten cut his long hair when he came of age?

A: It was his way of declaring he was no longer a member of the former Veronica faction.

Q: Kazmiar’s attitude and the way he protects his lord remind me of Hartmut. Is there more of a connection between them than just the handover? Like, is Kazmiar a Leisegang or related to him somehow? Or is that just how all archscholars behave?

A: What they have in common is that they were both trained as scholars by Leberecht. Kazmiar worked under Florencia before becoming one of Melchior’s retainers.

Q: Who did Traugott escort during his graduation? Was he able to secure a marriage partner, or has being effectively relieved of duty kept him from finding one?

A: He escorted an archnoble from another duchy who wants connections with Ehrenfest. She hasn’t been named.

Q: Isn’t it strange that the former High Bishop’s ceremonial robes bear a lion crest, which usually signifies the wearer is a child of the archduke...?

A: Was there an illustration, manga chapter, or anime episode showing Bezewanst’s ceremonial robes with a lion crest? That’s an error, if so. The robes should be plain white and crestless.

Q: Did the second prince, Waldifrid—who died during the civil war—have an overwhelmingly larger mana capacity than the other princes? Or was the first prince not chosen as the successor purely for political reasons?

A: The deciding factors were his mana capacity and personality. The first prince was somewhat short-tempered, harsh with others, and often arrogant.

Q: Did Magdalena and Trauerqual first meet as student and teacher on the archduke candidate course?

A: Yes.

Q: In retrospect, Rozemyne oozed cynicism and irony when speaking to Anastasius during her first fellowship gathering, but her remark about rumors being interpreted conveniently must have been particularly scathing. How did Anastasius interpret it?

A: “I see you have nothing but incorrect information. The royal family must be lacking for only distorted rumors to reach them.”

Q: Despite taking Adolphine as his first wife, Sigiswald fathered a child with Nahelache, which delayed when he and Adolphine could start their marriage duties. Was that intentional?

A: To Sigiswald, it was merely a coincidence. Nahelache was the one who actively sought to conceive.

Q: Were the princess who had tea parties with Ferdinand and the one rumored to have ruined her reputation his sisters, either older or younger?

A: The princess he had tea parties with was his younger sister of the same mother. The one who became the subject of rumors was from another flower.

Q: It was said that Eglantine’s older sister got engaged when Eglantine was six. That would make her around thirteen or fourteen at the time—about the same age Rozemyne is now. Does that mean she attended the Royal Academy at the same time as Ferdinand? Did the two of them ever interact?

A: As a princess, she would certainly have known Ferdinand by name, given all the impressive rumors about him. However, Ehrenfest was far too low in the duchy rankings for her to have associated with him directly. And since he didn’t have a fiancée, she had to be careful about showing an interest in him, lest rumors start to spread. They might have been in the same room for fellowship gatherings or tea parties with professors, but she never invited him anywhere personally.

Q: Although his enthusiasm seems largely one-sided, Heisshitze went toe to toe with Ferdinand and was assigned to fight on the front lines alongside a member of the archducal family. Is it fair to assume he’s strong enough to be Dunkelfelger’s future knight commander?

A: As a high-ranking knight, he’s remarkably capable—even by Dunkelfelger’s high standards.

Q: After the fight against Lanzenave, Hannelore asked Rozemyne about her plans for Ahrensbach—a question that seemed a bit insensitive, considering Letizia was with them. How did Letizia feel at that moment? Did Hannelore immediately regret asking such a harsh question, or was she unfazed due to her Dunkelfelger background?

A: Letizia saw it as a warning not to act recklessly. Hannelore, on the other hand, viewed it as a necessary inquiry to determine their next course of action. Though she embodies the Dunkelfelger mindset, it was a perfectly reasonable question for an aub who had just stolen a foundation.

Q: Initially, Professor Gundolf suspected Rozemyne after the ternisbefallen attack in Part 4 Volume 6. What were his thoughts of her during the subsequent meetings and investigations?

A: “I see. It seems she was not involved in the ternisbefallen incident after all. Still, she possesses knowledge beyond that of a regular noble.”

Q: Were Raublut, Georgine, and Fraularm involved in planning and executing the ternisbefallen attack that interrupted the awards ceremony during Rozemyne’s second year at the Royal Academy?

A: Georgine and Fraularm were involved; Raublut wasn’t.

Q: Georgine’s original plan was for Detlinde to marry Wilfried, as Detlinde made abundantly clear. Why would she want her daughter to marry her nephew, who so closely resembled the brother she hated with a passion? Was it to benefit her husband, since Wilfried wouldn’t prevent Letizia from becoming the next Aub Ahrensbach? Or was there some personal gain for Georgine?

A: Georgine would find great satisfaction and comfort in hurting Wilfried, whom Veronica and Sylvester loved so dearly.

Q: Did Laurenz’s father and Grausam become giebes to support Georgine’s eventual return as Aub Ehrenfest? If Sylvester hadn’t replaced her as the next aub, would they have stayed in the castle as retainers instead?

A: Yes, that’s basically correct. Georgine’s removal led Grausam and the others to become giebes. She already had other name-sworn retainers working in the castle, so she thought they would be more useful as the giebes of provinces that bordered Ahrensbach. After some... family strife, they took those roles.

Q: Just as Charlotte’s retainers asked Florencia for help when their lady was removed from the aub candidacy, did Georgine’s retainers appeal to the archducal couple at the time? Were they ignored?

A: They did request support for Georgine, and what they received was her engagement to the aub of a greater duchy. Georgine not only forced Ehrenfest nobles to give her their names and attempted to divide the duchy through factional conflict, but she also had a poor relationship with Sylvester, the new successor, making her painfully unfit to support him. Even so, the archducal couple gave her their fullest support.

Q: If Wolfram had lived to become the aub of a greater duchy, would Georgine have felt she had surpassed Veronica and given up on Ehrenfest? Or was she obsessed with becoming an aub herself?

A: Georgine had no interest in being the mother of a greater duchy’s aub, so she wouldn’t have cared about that. She was solely fixated on becoming Aub Ehrenfest.

Q: Where were Martina’s father, her other relatives, and Blasius’s brother when Ahrensbach was being invaded? What were they doing?

A: They couldn’t go outside, as Lanzenave’s forces might have attacked them, so they marked their estates with sigils and stayed inside, waiting for the chaos to end.

Q: What did Letizia’s retainers think about Rozemyne stealing Ahrensbach’s foundation?

A: They couldn’t quite wrap their heads around what had happened or how she’d managed it, but they eventually concluded that it must be something only someone with the Grutrissheit could do.

Q: Do Letizia’s retainers know what she did to Ferdinand? If so, how much do they know?

A: As of Part 5 Volume 9—yes, they know. Although it’s generally believed in the castle that Detlinde was to blame, Letizia had to explain why she was so cautious around Rozemyne and Ferdinand and why she was following their orders.

Q: Everything in Yurgenschmidt has mana, from living things to inanimate objects. What led you to make that decision when creating the world of Bookworm?

A: It was necessary for the story.

Q: Are there any characters or families with cool-sounding titles? “Sword Saint,” “Hero,” “Strongest,” and “Pioneer” come to mind—anything to signify their countrywide importance.

A: Dunkelfelger being the Zent’s sword might be the only example. I don’t go out of my way to create titles that don’t serve a narrative purpose, but one might spring up if it feels natural to a description of another duchy.

Q: Are there any character design documents for Ottilie? I don’t think she’s appeared in any of the fanbooks to date.

A: There are! She makes appearances in the manga adaptation of Parts 3 and 4, and in one of the illustrations for Part 5 Volume 6. However, as she was designed by Namino-san—the mangaka for Part 3—and the fanbooks’ character design documents are more focused on Shiina-san’s designs for the light novels, she’s unlikely to appear in them. The same goes for any other character designed specifically for the anime or manga.

Q: How involved are you with the Bookworm IP overseas? Do you decide which companies to work with, the terms of the contracts, the payments, the due dates, and so on, or are you just involved with the light novels? Do you review translations of the anime, manga, drama CDs, and other content? How much do you need to check?

A: I’m not very involved with the overseas releases. The contracts are handled entirely by the publishers, and I don’t check the translations beforehand, since I can’t read the languages they’re being released in. If I get translation-related questions, I reply by email or other means. And if the publishers request signed items or comments for promotions, I do what I can. The most I reviewed for the anime translations were the character names used in the subtitles. Other than that, I sometimes tweet when I receive sample copies, check overseas publishers’ Twitter accounts when writing my blog updates, and share information I get from international readers.

Messages from the Creators

Miya Kazuki

COVID-19 interrupted our work on this fanbook and gave us all quite a scare. I’m glad we were able to finish it without any issues. Take care and stay healthy, everyone.

You Shiina

We’re already on the seventh fanbook?! Normally, I give the illustrations a wintry feel, but this time I went for a more summery vibe.

Suzuka

We have reports on the sixth and seventh drama CDs this time. Shiina-sensei made adult Rozemyne into such an adorable beauty. I hope I did her justice.

Ryo Namino

The seventh fanbook! This one sure is dense, with more pages than you can hold in one hand. How exciting!

Hikaru Katsuki

I can’t think of any other series that releases so many fanbooks so quickly. I’m glad to be involved, though! I particularly like the colorful end card by Akira Yato-sensei.