The Night of Schutzaria

The Night of Schutzaria

The Night of Schutzaria

Just as I was really getting exhausted from the quick succession of festivals, we arrived at Dorvan—a small city with a winter mansion, located further south than any other city I was visiting for the Harvest Festival. A forest located by one of the surrounding farming towns contained the autumn material ruelle, which was a key ingredient in the jureve potion I needed.

There was a full moon on the Night of Schutzaria, and it was a night that supposedly had more autumn mana than any other. A ruelle gathered then would apparently be the best autumn material we could harvest within Ehrenfest, but that was still two days away.

After informing Dorvan’s mayor that we would be staying for a few days after the Harvest Festival, we returned some of the food given to us as taxes as payment for our stay.

It seemed that everyone else was fairly exhausted from the fervor of all the festivals as well. This was the perfect time to get some rest, and so I drank some energy potions and slept soundly to recover. I also spent my break checking out the winter mansion, walking around the grounds while considering whether it could function as a temporary temple classroom.

I opened up the picture book Fran had read during the baptism and read it aloud again. This time, not just the baptized kids, but all the kids nearby listened intently. There really wasn’t much to do during the winter, and if we handled this right, I got the impression that it would be easy to raise the literacy rates in farming towns.

“Tonight is the Night of Schutzaria. Nap well this afternoon, Lady Rozemyne. The ruelle ripens from the full moon’s light, so the harvesting will continue late into the night,” Justus explained as we ate breakfast together. He, Damuel, and Eckhart would be going to look for a ruelle tree after lunch. They would mark it while it was bright outside, then come back and wait for the moon to rise before leaving again with me.

“Okay. Preparing everything sounds like a lot of work, but I trust you to do it well.”

In order to avoid being dead weight when the time came, I took a nap as requested. I slept so much that I wasn’t particularly hungry when I woke up later that evening, but I started eating dinner nonetheless.

“We found a tree and can leave as soon as night comes. Are you feeling up to it, Rozemyne?” Eckhart asked.

“Yes. I’m feeling fine,” I replied.

An ordonnanz came flying into the room just as we were finishing dinner.

It landed on Eckhart’s arm, then started to speak in Ferdinand’s voice. There had apparently been an issue with his schedule which meant he wouldn’t be able to join us.

Eckhart let out a disappointed sigh, then whipped out his schtappe to remake the ordonnanz and send a response. “We found a ruelle tree without issue and shall gather the ruelle tonight as planned. Justus will gather some for you as well, Lord Ferdinand.”

I went to my room to change clothes after dinner, putting on a simple, undecorated dress made out of particularly firm fabric. Underneath this I was wearing the same kind of pants that female knights wore so that I wouldn’t need to worry about my skirt lifting up.

“This isn’t very cute, is it?” Nicola asked, the disappointment clear in her voice.

Monika, on the other hand, shared Wilma’s love of simple things. She shook her head. “Decoration isn’t necessary when gathering in the woods, Nicola. What matters most is wearing something that is easy to move in. Isn’t that right, Lady Rozemyne?”

“Exactly. The last thing I need are frills getting in my way tonight.”

They rubbed a layer of gel into my hair to keep it together, then bundled it all up in a ponytail. Then, they switched out the short shoes I wore when walking around the winter mansion for knee-high leather boots that were perfect for moving through a forest. I could feel a burst of glee each time they tightened the strings.

...It’s been a long time since I’ve been to a forest, and even longer since I’ve done some gathering! I need to put my all into this!

Since entering the temple, I had barely ever gone to the forest. Apprentice blue shrine maidens were forbidden from doing work on their own, and my attendants—Fran especially—were opposed to me going to the forest at all. Not to mention that, even when I wanted to go, my stamina would end up making me dead weight to everyone else. In the end, I had always just stayed at the temple, watching Lutz and Gil head off to the forest as part of the workshop’s paper-making process. And now that I was the archduke’s adopted daughter, I spent all of my time traveling between the temple and the castle.

Aaah, I’m so excited!

Once my boots were on, I stood up and let my attendants put a leather belt around my waist. It had pouches with gathering gloves and space for the materials, plus a container for me to put a feystone in. They also put a second leather belt on me, this one holding the knife magic tool that Ferdinand had prepared for me. As far as I was aware, that was all I needed for the gathering.

I looked down at the knife and all the gathering tools on my belt and giggled to myself. I might not have had any armor like Brigitte did, but my outfit definitely looked pretty cool and heroic.

“How do I look, Monika? Nicola?”

“I think you look wonderfully capable,” Monika said calmly.

Nicola, in contrast, clenched a fist and looked at me with unmistakable excitement in her eyes. “You look super strong, Lady Rozemyne! And so cool!”

Pleased that Nicola had given me the praise I was looking for, I exited my room and headed to where everyone else was waiting.

“Eckhart, don’t I look like the strongest girl you’ve ever seen?” I asked, spreading my arms so that he and the others could see.