Unshakeable Resolve

“You have already been giving me that which I desire most,” Lady Rozemyne said to me. “I will accept your name alongside your stories.”

Her words entered my ears and diffused through my very being. Back when I had first voiced my desire to give Lady Rozemyne my name, her golden eyes had clouded over with concern and reluctance, but now they were brimming with compassion and resolve. They crinkled softly as she regarded me with a warm smile.

She accepted not just my stories, but me as well.

Ever since the Ivory Tower incident, I had spent years in isolation. My father beat me, and even those of my own faction ostracized me. My only respite was the book that Lady Rozemyne had made with my story—it gave me greater joy than absolutely anything else.

How should I express this happiness...?

I wanted to put my feelings into words, but none came to mind. Perhaps that was to be expected; surely no one else could understand the relief and sheer depth of emotion that was coursing through me. I simply wanted to relish the joy... but whenever Lady Rozemyne asked me about my family, I remembered my father—I remembered the way he had so suddenly turned his back on me and resorted to physical abuse. A sense of panic crawled up my spine and seized me by the heart.

Please, stop...

I could tell that Father and the others were trying to exploit me to get closer to the archducal family, now that they had lost their places in the former Veronica faction. It was disgusting and an affront to the compassion that Lady Rozemyne had shown me.

“I ask that you allow me to leave my home upon receiving my name,” I said. Lady Rozemyne accepted my request, and for a moment, I could feel at peace. I wouldn’t let Father do as he pleased again; I would ensure that Lady Rozemyne didn’t get wrapped up in his putrid schemes.

“Isn’t this great, Roderick?” Philine asked. “I’m so happy for you.”

“Thanks, Philine,” I replied, genuinely appreciative. I had spent so long selfishly envying her, such that even when she had worried about me, I hadn’t been able to accept how she felt. But now, I could accept her congratulations without any hard feelings. I was more surprised at this change of heart than anyone. I no longer viewed things through the bitter lens of cynicism—I simply felt happy.

However, to my regret, it seemed that Philine was the only one who was pleased for me. Most of Lady Rozemyne’s retainers were associated with the Leisegangs, who were so untrusting of the former Veronica faction that they suspected even those who gave up their names. I was summoned to a conference room during Lady Rozemyne’s bath, when she would not notice their absence or what they were doing. Four archnobles—Lord Cornelius, Lord Hartmut, Lady Brunhilde, and Lady Leonore—looked upon me with harsh expressions. There wasn’t a single mednoble in the world who wouldn’t cower at least somewhat before this lineup.

I swallowed hard, and the joy that had filled my heart soon gave way to worry. Would it even be possible for me to get along with Lady Rozemyne’s retainers after giving her my name?

“There is still time, Roderick,” Cornelius said. He was the first to break the silence and watched me with hard, dark eyes. “Won’t you rethink this decision to give Lady Rozemyne your name? There are a lot of people who won’t take kindly to the idea of you doing this to become her retainer. It seems to me that you just aren’t thinking straight.”

His attempted intimidation was presumably because he didn’t like me, but I wasn’t going to surrender so easily. Others had said the same things to me countless times before.

“Lady Rozemyne has agreed to accept my name,” I replied, “and I have no intention of changing my mind. If you would rather this not happen, speak with Lady Rozemyne.”

Lady Brunhilde drew her eyebrows together in a look of displeasure. “I can see nothing but problems arising from this,” she said. “I shan’t oppose it openly, for Lady Rozemyne has made her decision, but I would very much like to.”

“Oh my...” Lady Leonore added. “I personally consider him preferable to someone like Traugott, as he will at least be name-sworn. However, even without this faction business, I imagine that Lord Wilfried will not appreciate his being here; I can only hope it will not sow seeds of conflict in his engagement with Lady Rozemyne. Hartmut, what are your thoughts?”

I glanced up with a start. I was the one who had guided Lord Wilfried to the Ivory Tower—albeit at my father’s orders—so I had been made to take full responsibility for his fall from grace. In other words, there would be no better source of discord between him and his fiancée. I hadn’t thought about things from that perspective, so concern suddenly flared in my mind. Although I didn’t intend to stop the name-swearing, I had no idea how my relationship with Lord Wilfried would develop. I peered at Lord Hartmut, whom Lady Leonore had asked for an opinion.

In truth, I was more worried about Lord Hartmut than anyone. He was a skilled archscholar and would act as my boss, assuming that I became Lady Rozemyne’s apprentice medscholar. Out of all her retainers, my relationship with him was the most important. He would often narrow his orange eyes at me whenever I spoke with Philine and seeing how sharp they were right now reminded me of that.

The other day, Hartmut had advised me to voice my true thoughts and feelings to Lady Rozemyne, as only then would she accept me. It was a kind gesture, but I suspected that his motivations weren’t wholly altruistic. A breath later, he had said, “You’ll only get in our way if you continue to drag your feet. Make your choice now and get it over with.”

Will this be okay...?

I was perfectly aware that I wouldn’t be welcomed with open arms, but I didn’t want to be blatantly ostracized or bullied. I was at an overwhelming disadvantage here in terms of status.

Upon noticing my gaze, Lord Hartmut smiled. “Lady Rozemyne does not consider factions; she sees only individuals,” he said. “For that reason, why would I ever oppose someone she has decided to accept?”

“My, how surprising. To think you would offer so little resistance,” Lady Brunhilde said, widening her eyes and placing a hand over her mouth in shock. I was just as taken aback—I had assumed that he would be more annoyed than anyone.

Lord Hartmut raised an eyebrow and turned to Lady Brunhilde, offended. “You find this surprising?” he asked. “Once I graduate, Lady Rozemyne will only have Philine, a laynoble, as an apprentice scholar. I would rather she have an apprentice archscholar here, but there is nobody who would suit the role. So, what choice do I have but to raise Roderick before next year? His mana quantity may be closer to that of a laynoble, but he is a mednoble all the same.”

“The lack of apprentice scholars certainly is an epidemic. If you wish to raise him, Hartmut, I will accept that—especially as it seems that his resolve has not shattered even in the presence of so many archnobles,” Lady Brunhilde said with resignation.

Lady Leonore giggled, and with that, the girls became a lot more welcoming. I wondered if they had been testing me to see whether my resolve was strong enough, and as I considered the likelihood of that being the case, Lord Hartmut and Lord Cornelius stepped forward. Lord Hartmut was holding out a small slip of paper.

“Roderick, you said that you don’t know how to make a name-swearing stone, right?” Lord Hartmut asked. “I’ll teach you later, so gather everything that is listed on this paper as soon as possible. The Royal Academy has a lot of good ingredients that Ehrenfest does not.”

“Thank you, Lord Hartmut.” I accepted the paper with trembling hands. It was like a test that I needed to pass in order to become Lady Rozemyne’s retainer.

“Listen well, Roderick,” Cornelius said. “We retainers won’t help you with your gathering because we don’t want others who wish to offer their name asking for our help too. Hire some apprentice knights to accompany you to the gathering spot and gather the ingredients you need on your own.”

“Understood. It will be done, Lord Cornelius.”

I had spent an entire year writing new stories to give to Lady Rozemyne, and she had said that she would accept my name. They would teach me how to make the stone so long as I gathered the ingredients.

Just a little more to do!

Although the finish line was in sight, the final stretch wasn’t easy. Collecting the ingredients that Lord Hartmut had told me to fetch was too hard for me to do alone as an apprentice scholar. Some of the feystones described needed to be taken from hunted feybeasts, which meant I would need to hire some apprentice knights to kill the feybeasts and then give me the stones, but I didn’t have the money to pay them. My earnings from transcribing books had already been spent on basic necessities, and with my focus having been on writing stories for Lady Rozemyne rather than doing much transcribing work, I hadn’t earned all that much in the first place.

This isn’t good...

Not knowing what else to do, I spent the following days working to transcribe books so I could earn as much money as possible. On one day in particular, the dormitory was abuzz with news that Professor Hirschur had taken an Ahrensbach apprentice scholar as a disciple. Lord Ferdinand would apparently be coming from Ehrenfest and Professor Hirschur from her laboratory in the scholar building to have a discussion. Even we regular students could tell how big of a deal this was—those two were never in the dormitory, and now they were both going to be here at once.

Seems like the archducal family is a long way away from trusting Ahrensbach again...

The nobles of the former Veronica faction were hoping that two brides from Ahrensbach being wed into the duchy would renew our relationship with Ahrensbach, but judging by how the archducal family, their retainers, and Lord Ferdinand remained so cautious, that future would not be coming anytime soon. It would take a lot more for them to lower their guard.

I viewed the impromptu meeting as something that wasn’t my problem—and it wasn’t, until Lord Hartmut called me over.

“Roderick, have you gathered the ingredients yet?”

“No, not yet.”

I wanted to gather all of the ingredients I needed in one go, since paying for guards was so expensive. To achieve this, I had spent my time thus far researching the ingredients; I had yet to even step foot in the gathering spot.

“In order to minimize contact between Raimund and Lady Rozemyne, we scholars are going to be acting as a bridge between them. There’s now a lot more that you need to learn before next year, including how to gather information on Ahrensbach and how to watch out for what information Professor Hirschur might be leaking. We can’t just sit back and wait until next year to begin anymore. Get your ingredients gathered, fast.”

“That’s much easier said than done. Archnobles may have a great deal of money on hand, but I cannot afford to hire guard knights to protect me or hunt feybeasts. I will not be able to gather my ingredients until after I have earned enough from my transcribing.”

“You must be dull in the head,” Hartmut said, fixing me with a scornful glare. “Status has nothing to do with it. If you don’t learn to use all of your knowledge and connections to make money, you will never survive as Lady Rozemyne’s scholar. I’ll teach you what to do this time, but learn to use your brain from then onward.”

Following Lord Hartmut’s instruction, I gathered the apprentice knights of the former Veronica faction who were looking for a means to speak with Lady Rozemyne’s retainers and deliver a letter to the archduke by the end of summer. Lord Matthias and Lord Laurenz were among them.

“Lady Rozemyne has elected to accept my name,” I said. “I must now gather ingredients for my name-swearing feystone, and to that end, I wish to hire you as guards and as hunters. However, I will not be paying with money. Instead, I will instruct you on how to make your own name-swearing feystones and will vow to serve as your liaison with Lady Rozemyne upon becoming her retainer.”

As expected, the apprentice knights grimaced in response. I continued to speak, straightening my back to look more imposing and taking care not to let my voice shake.

“Is it not in your best interests to prepare your ingredients sooner rather than later? Did we not write our letter to the aub with resolve in our hearts, knowing that we were contradicting our parents?”

“Roderick, are you blackmailing us?!” Lord Laurenz exclaimed.

“Calm yourself, Lord Laurenz. I am merely offering some advice,” I replied, almost disgusted at my own sophistry. From their perspective, I was obviously threatening to tell their parents what they had done unless they came gathering with me.

Lord Matthias, who had been listening with crossed arms, narrowed his blue eyes at me. “Roderick, those aren’t your words, are they?” he said. “Out of all Lady Rozemyne’s retainers... I suppose Lady Leonore or Lady Brunhilde might have told you to say that? No, considering how you wove threats into your euphemisms, it was probably Lord Hartmut.”

“You are as astute as ever, Lord Matthias,” I remarked. After spending so long at the bottom of the former Veronica faction, I hadn’t even considered threatening them. I didn’t specify who exactly had given me the instructions, but Matthias understood anyway.

“We don’t want to go up against Lord Hartmut,” he said. “Let’s do as he says and go gathering.”

“But, Matthias!” Lord Laurenz protested.

“Part of our compensation is Roderick serving as our liaison with Lady Rozemyne. Given the current incident with Professor Hirschur’s disciple, it isn’t a bad idea for us to prepare an emergency exit.” Lord Matthias then looked at me again, his eyes more scrutinizing than before. “But make no mistake, Roderick—I told you to be careful. You should stop after you get your ingredients. You can’t give your name to someone on a whim like this.”

His warning came to mind, but I had no intention of changing my decision. “I understand that you are concerned for me, Lord Matthias, but that advice is not applicable,” I said. “It may seem I am doing this due to inertia, but I have spent an entire year searching for a way to serve Lady Rozemyne. If giving her my name will earn me her trust, then that is what I shall do.”

Lord Matthias’s eyebrow twitched. “And what will you do when politics change? Regrets won’t save you then.”

“Are you again referring to that man? I doubt he regrets giving his name simply because the political landscape has shifted. I imagine that his loyal heart did not falter even when the one he is sworn to left for another duchy. He presumably spends his time thinking of what he can do for them and whether there is any way he can prove himself to be useful.”

The word “frustration” couldn’t even begin to describe how someone would feel if their lord or lady were taken from their position as the next archduke and sent to another duchy. True, there would be a great deal to think about—such as whether their service had truly been enough or whether there was something else they could have done—but their loyalty would never change. They would remain dedicated no matter the situation, for that was simply how much resolve was needed before a person offered their name.

“Have you not considered your family...?” Lord Matthias asked in what was almost a low growl. I thought back to my family and gave a bitter smile. There was my selfish, violent father, and my mother, who had readily changed to match. There was no place for me back home. Had there been one, I wouldn’t have so desperately sought for somewhere with Lady Rozemyne.

“Do you think they would do anything for me?” I asked. “I intend to cut my family off soon. I will not forgive them bringing misfortune to my lady.”

“But, that would...” Lord Matthias began, his blue eyes hardening. He had gone pale, and it was clear that he had more to say, but I was fully resolved to give Lady Rozemyne my name. Our conversation was going nowhere, and there was no point in us talking further.

“I wish to give my name, and that wish is who I am,” I said. “Nobody can change that except Lady Rozemyne.”

“Roderick’s right,” Lord Laurenz interjected, patting Lord Matthias on the shoulder. “Leave things at that, Matthias. Name-swearing is supposed to be a private matter. It’s not right for us to get in the way of something they’ve decided for themselves.”

“Laurenz...”

Lord Laurenz turned his orange eyes to me. “I think it’s a good thing that Lady Rozemyne resolved to take your name. We can watch you to find out a lot of the things we want to know—how the archducal family views students of the former Veronica faction, how they intend to treat us, and how people will react to that. What’s important here, Matthias, is where Roderick ends up, and that’s not something for us to interfere with. Am I wrong?”

“Are you telling me to exploit him...?” Lord Matthias asked.

“Hey, he’s exploiting us for his gathering. Birds of a feather, right? And either way, it doesn’t look like there’s anything we can do to change Roderick’s mind.” Lord Laurenz was looking at me carefully as he spoke, seemingly trying to observe even the most minute reaction.

He was right—at this point, it frustrated me to no end to be exploited, but I was already exploiting them to gather my ingredients, so we were indeed birds of a feather. If they wanted to exploit me, they were more than welcome to. I would just keep working to achieve my goals.

“Alright, then. Let’s go.”

That Earthday, I produced my highbeast at Lord Matthias’s signal. I took to the skies with the apprentice knights consisting mostly of those from the former Veronica faction, and together we flew into the gathering spot... not noticing the long black line that was leading into it.

Investigating the Former Werkestock Dormitory

“Ah, Professor Rauffen?”

I had knocked on the door to Hirschur’s laboratory, only to be met with a boy dressed in brewing gear and wearing an Ahrensbach scarf. He was presumably Hirschur’s disciple. He wasn’t in any of the years I taught, so I didn’t recognize his face or know his name.

“Professor Hirschur, it’s Professor Rauffen,” the boy said. “Doesn’t that mean it’s time?”

“One moment,” came Hirschur’s voice. “I’m currently on a roll.”

“My apologies, but if you would wait just—”

Before the disciple could finish, I threw the door open and stepped into the laboratory, which was a complete mess. Hirschur’s attendant was nowhere to be seen.

“If you’re her disciple, you’ll need to remember this well: you can never believe Hirschur when she says that she’ll only be a moment,” I said. “She might as well have said that she’ll never be ready. You can trust me, because I’ve been through it all myself. Besides, I came here expecting to have to drag her out, so I’m not gonna be doing any waiting.”

“P-Please don’t,” the disciple stammered as I marched deeper into the room. “The professor is in the middle of some very important brewing.”

Even as I approached, Hirschur continued to stir, her focus unbending. There were several magic circles floating above her pot, and I immediately determined that it would be dangerous to interrupt things by pulling her away.

Alright... How am I gonna deal with this?

“Hirschur, it’s your job to clean up after the Ehrenfest students’ messes,” I said.

“I know, and that is why I made preparations to do just that. Now, I believe that we agreed on third bell. Do not interrupt me until it rings, if you will.”

It was clear to see from the fact that Hirschur’s attendant had cleaned her up that she hadn’t forgotten her schedule. I had wanted us to arrive at the central building before the bells rang, but there was no helping that now.

“It’s on you when Fraularm screeches at us for being late,” I warned.

“Her screeching does not impact me, so I will simply ignore her.” Just the thought of those shrieks ringing in my ears made me miserable, but Hirschur didn’t seem bothered in the slightest.

“You can ignore those awful sounds...?”

“I find you infinitely more annoying, Rauffen, as you are interrupting my brewing.”

I suppose she needs to have such a thick skin when she’s always doing what she wants like this.

After being shooed away by Hirschur, I asked her disciple where I could wait. In this disastrous laboratory, all of the seats normally reserved for visitors were piled with wooden boards.

“You’re going to wait here...?” the disciple asked. “There’s nowhere proper to sit since Lady Rozemyne’s been too sick to visit for days now, and her attendants don’t usually come in until Professor Hirschur finishes her brewing.”

I grimaced and looked around. The closest thing to a proper seat was the chair that Hirschur seemed to use herself. “I can’t leave, otherwise she’ll start on another brew,” I said. “I’ve got no choice but to wait here. Again, speaking from experience.”

I sat down on Hirschur’s chair, but it was hard to believe that this place could accommodate visitors at all. Even the men’s waiting room in the knight dormitory was better kept than this mess. Hirschur’s laboratory was just awful all around.

I used my time spent waiting to think over today’s schedule. We were going to be investigating the Werkestock Dormitory, since ternisbefallens lived in old Werkestock, and there was a trail leading from its sealed-off dormitory to Ehrenfest’s gathering spot. That was enough evidence for the king to grant his permission for us to investigate the dormitory under the watch of the Sovereign Knight’s Order.

Three possible explanations for the ternisbefallen’s sudden appearance were being considered—someone had deliberately brought one onto the Academy’s grounds, there was a nest near the dorm, or some ungodly series of coincidences had resulted in the beast activating the teleportation circle in the old Werkestock Castle. As far-fetched as that third option sounded, they were feybeasts, which meant they had mana. And according to those managing the old Werkestock Castle, although it was unlikely, it couldn’t be completely discounted.

Hopefully this problem solves itself once we’re there, but I can’t imagine it will.

It was hard to believe that we’d see any results, considering that the selection of professors for this mission was absolutely terrible. First was Hirschur. We were already fighting tooth and nail just to get her involved, and since it meant stepping away from her research, she wasn’t interested at all. Of course, she didn’t really have a choice in the matter, since this ternisbefallen incident was connected to Ehrenfest.

Next was Fraularm, who was furious that Ahrensbach was being considered a suspect just because they managed the old Werkestock Dormitory. She had shrieked in protest during our meeting, and I could tell that she was going to be just as furious for the duration of our investigation. I didn’t even want to get close to her, since just having to endure her voice was enough to tire me out.

Third was Gundolf, the dormitory supervisor for Drewanchel and a professor of the scholar course. We hadn’t spoken much before, owing to the fact that we taught different years and courses. He had enthusiastically volunteered for this mission because it involved a rare feybeast that he wouldn’t normally have a chance to see. I got the feeling that he was going to prioritize researching it over investigating the cause of the incident.

And finally, there was me. Renatus would normally have been involved in the investigation, since he was the one who had gotten Lady Charlotte’s ordonnanz, but he was the oldest professor on the knight course. I was taking his place for the on-site investigation with the Sovereign Knight’s Order, but I knew better than anyone that I wasn’t suited to a brainy mission like this. I could hunt feybeasts with my eyes closed, but investigating a dormitory for clues was another story entirely.

In other words, this group was doomed to squabble and make no progress whatsoever. It didn’t take a genius to figure that out.

“It’s third bell, Hirschur. Let’s go. I’m not waiting any longer.”

“Good grief. Your impatience is the reason women are so keen to avoid you, you know.”

She didn’t need to say that...

Hirschur made no attempt to hide her bitter expression as she stepped away from the brewing pot, but it seemed that she actually had managed to finish before the bells rang. Her talent and general competence made it hard to get mad at her, which was irritating. Still, it didn’t stop me from pretty much dragging her out of the laboratory. Even as we started on our way to the central building, I noticed her glancing back enviously at her research-focused disciple.

“I’d rather you didn’t keep wasting my time like this,” I said as we walked.

“Oh my. Such a selfish remark. I think you’ll find that I am the one having my time wasted. The ternisbefallen is dead and buried. If more arise, we need only slay them as well, and that is that.”

I may not have been all that impressed with how she always pushed her work onto other people, but I agreed with her in principle. If a feybeast shows up, kill it. Life would be so much easier if things were that simple.

“I can tell you’ve already settled your thoughts on the matter, but we’ve still got to figure out how this happened,” I said. “That’s why we asked the king through the Sovereign Knight’s Order to unlock the door to the old Werkestock Dormitory. Not to mention, there are a lot of questions that Lady Rozemyne never answered, and we still need to question her. You need to be here as the dormitory supervisor.”

“Oh yes, another issue that you lot keep droning on about. Just how much of my research time do you intend to waste? Can we at least postpone the inquiry?” Hirschur grumbled.

“The inquiry has already been postponed once for Lady Rozemyne’s tea party, since Prince Hildebrand refused to budge on the matter. We’re not gonna put it off even longer.”

“How unfortunate,” Hirschur replied with a smirk that made her true feelings more than clear.

We continued through the central building and eventually reached the corridor lined with doors. The nearest door led to the dormitory of the First, the one beside that to the Second, and so on. Soon enough, we reached the doors without numbers. These led to the fallen duchies, and one of them belonged to the old Werkestock Dormitory. A Sovereign knight was standing in front of it.

“The other professors have already arrived. Do come in,” the knight said and opened the door for us. We went inside and found that there was already an argument going on. There were two Sovereign knights, Gundolf, and Fraularm.

“What’s going on here?” I asked.

Gundolf was stroking his beard and staring at Fraularm through narrowed eyes. “As soon as we entered the dormitory, Professor Fraularm cast waschen,” he said.

“She what...?”

We were here to look for traces of the ternisbefallen and any criminals related to its sudden appearance. Casting waschen would erase all of our potential evidence.

“What in the world were you thinking?!” I exclaimed.

“Goodness! How can you expect me to enter such a filthy place without cleansing it first?!” she screeched at me. “My clothes would have been ruined!”

That was far from being a good enough excuse. If she couldn’t tolerate her clothes getting dirty, then she was just getting in the way. I wanted to insinuate that she should get out, but I knew that she would just explode at me about how she was going to clear Ahrensbach’s name, no matter what. It was obvious now why Gundolf and the Sovereign knights looked so vacant; Fraularm was beyond communication.

However, it seemed as though Fraularm was feeling the same irritation as we were. She looked to Hirschur, who was keeping her distance in an attempt to remain uninvolved, and sought her agreement as a fellow woman.

“You understand my feelings here, do you not?!”

“In truth, this place doesn’t seem particularly dirty to me,” Hirschur replied.

No wonder. This is nothing compared to the garbage heap where you live.

There was no point in seeking camaraderie from Hirschur, even if an average noblewoman would normally agree. She had an even greater tolerance for filth than I did.

“If you are that concerned about cleanliness, then you need only wear brewing clothes or some other garments that you would not mind getting dirty,” Hirschur continued. “Casting waschen will only make it seem that you are destroying evidence.”

“Goodness! I refuse to accept that from someone who could not even arrive on time!”

Hirschur was in the right here, but Fraularm was driven entirely by feelings—facts just wouldn’t get through to her. And she would only become more emotional the more she spoke with Hirschur, so I signaled Gundolf to help me defuse the situation.

“We’ll never finish if we spend all day arguing among ourselves,” I said. “I say we split into groups.”

“Indeed,” Gundolf agreed. “You may work with Professor Hirschur, and I with Professor Fraularm. Ideally, we could have one Sovereign knight overseeing each group.”

The Sovereign Knight’s Order had sent knights to watch us not just to make sure we didn’t conceal any evidence, but also to ensure that we didn’t try to pocket the rare tools and materials littered about the dormitory. Professors generally put their research above everything else, and for that reason, they needed someone to keep a close eye on them.

“We shall cover the first floor, now that it is clean. Those who care not about filth may wallow in the kitchen, the cellar, and the like,” Fraularm said, smugly puffing out her chest for some reason. Arguing with her would only be a waste of time, so Hirschur and I walked away in search of stairs to the basement.

Fraularm’s waschen had cleaned only the entrance hall and the first floor’s hallway, so the rest of the dormitory was still in a complete state. We opened one door and found that the room behind it was thick with dust. The furniture was either broken or collapsed, and there was a door to a hidden room that was still registered despite its master no longer being alive.

“This place sure is a mess...” I said.

“Well, Werkestock fought until the bitter end,” Hirschur replied. “Such is the power of a greater duchy.”

All of a sudden, I recalled a friend of mine from my school days. We had faced each other in ditter until our graduation, after which he had joined the Sovereign Knight’s Order and then died as a guard knight serving the fourth prince. The faces of dead friends came to mind one after another, reopening old wounds that I usually kept stuffed into the corner of my mind.

“Reminds me of all the students I saw one year but not the next...” I muttered. After Werkestock fell, its land was split between Ahrensbach and Dunkelfelger, but not all students ended up in one duchy or the other. A lot of them died.

“Could you not get all emotional on me?” Hirschur said. “Now, I understand that we’re here to investigate why the feybeast appeared, but I’m not entirely sure what you are expecting. No ternisbefallens live on the Academy’s grounds; they would not be here unless someone brought them from old Werkestock.”

As she spoke, Hirschur discovered an old staircase. We checked it for footprints—of which there were none—and then checked with the knight that there was no evidence resting on the dust. Once that was done, we started descending into the basement.

“In any case,” Hirschur continued, “as I said during our staff meeting the other day, I believe we should be most suspicious of the students from Ahrensbach and Dunkelfelger.”

“Hirschur,” I said, my tone cautionary. The very idea of students from Dunkelfelger being involved was preposterous, but it seemed that my glare meant nothing to her.

“I understand that dormitory supervisors are prone to being emotional when it comes to their own duchies,” Hirschur said in a dry voice, “but it remains the most likely possibility. A student from another duchy would need to have purchased one in advance to have brought it here.”

“Buying a ternisbefallen? You can do that?”

Transporting black feybeasts was no simple matter—you had to be well-trained and very familiar with them just to handle the little ones, and ternisbefallens were so rare that some professors hadn’t even recognized the name during our meeting. The idea of students from some other duchy buying them hadn’t even occurred to me. I exchanged a glance with the Sovereign knight accompanying us.

“Of course, one small mistake is all it would take for the student bringing the beast to sustain injury, but it’s more than possible,” Hirschur said as we continued into the basement. “This very thing happened to us ten-some years ago.”

“Did it?” I asked. Both the Sovereign knight and I met this claim with doubtful expressions, but she nodded.

“There was a student who bought a ternisbefallen from a Werkestock student and set it on Ferdinand. It was around the time when students were leaving the Royal Academy in droves to return home, and since Ferdinand’s little group managed to slaughter it, the event was never publicized. It was, after all, an internal dispute within Ehrenfest. This issue is no doubt of the same colors.”

Hirschur seemed to know something that I didn’t, and I soon found myself interested in what this research-crazed laboratory woman was thinking.

Basements were usually seen as commoner territory, but it seemed that knights had charged into this particular one to capture hiding nobles. The doors were broken, drawers hung open, and spiders had formed great nests among the remains of shattered pots. Everything was covered in dust, and there were no signs of anyone having been here since the dormitory was sealed off.

“Hirschur, what do you mean, ‘of the same colors’?” I asked.

“I mean that this was done by someone who resents Ehrenfest.”

“And why do you think that?”

“Have you forgotten that the trail of the black feybeast made a direct course from here to the Ehrenfest gathering spot? Dunkelfelger, Ahrensbach, Frenbeltag, the Sovereignty—it wouldn’t have been strange for the ternisbefallen to head to any of these gathering spots, especially considering how much richer in mana they are, but the beast didn’t seem to hesitate for even a moment.”

“Well, I seem to remember Ehrenfest’s gathering spot having tons of mana.”

“That would be because Lady Rozemyne healed it. From what I remember, our gathering spot was never particularly bountiful.”

I thought back to when we had followed the trail. It surprised me to learn that Hirschur was actually thinking over our situation, despite having done nothing but grumble about wanting to get back to her research.

“As for why they resent us, we can never know for sure unless we speak to them,” Hirschur continued. “Perhaps they are displeased that we overtook them in the ranks, they have a personal grudge against one of our students, or there is another reason entirely.” She sighed and counted each explanation on her fingers. Although she seemed disinterested and as though she would rather be anywhere else, at the same time, she looked weary from thinking the matter through as thoroughly as she could.

“Do you have any idea who the culprit might be?” I asked.

“I can say nothing for certain, of course... but I do count Fraularm among my suspects. Even compared to the students, she would have the least trouble bringing a ternisbefallen to the Academy.”

“Careful, Hirschur. This isn’t the place to be making accusations like that.”

She glared up at the ceiling as though she were looking through to the floor above, searching for something. “I found this out only recently, but the divide between Ahrensbach and Ehrenfest has grown quite severe as of late. They are even treating my disciple, Raimund, as an immense security threat.”

Professors in the Royal Academy had very few opportunities to learn about current interduchy relations. Most were reliant on what they could glean from listening to the chatter among students in the dormitory and observing their behavior in classes.

Upon noticing that I was hanging on her every word, Hirschur gave a comically exaggerated shrug. “Good grief. Why can I never simply take apprentices as I see fit?”

“You take them anyway, don’t you? And the disciple you’re talking about is the Ahrensbach student I met earlier today, right? You must be exaggerating. Besides, any problems between two duchies can be settled with a good ol’ game of ditter.”

“Dunkelfelger solutions are hardly going to work for us,” Hirschur said with a grimace as she opened the door to the laundry room. Inside were the magic tools that attendants had used to receive dirty clothes from the upper floors and then return them once they were clean. It was pretty interesting to look around, since I normally wouldn’t enter this kind of place.

That said... There’s nothing left here.

“Putting aside our relationship with Ahrensbach,” Hirschur said, “I pray that this incident was carried out by a lone actor with a grudge against the duchy.”

“Hrm?”

“If we are dealing with a single criminal, they will surely not use the same method again; the incident has already drawn so much attention that even the Sovereign Knight’s Order is on guard.” She looked at the Sovereign knight. “However, if they have other goals and motivations, and Ehrenfest was simply a test subject for their plans, then we can expect to see more ternisbefallens on the Academy’s grounds. And no matter how many apprentice knights there may be here, black feybeasts cannot be defeated without black weapons. Any students unfortunate enough to encounter them will need to wait for the Sovereign knights to arrive. They are powerless otherwise, and it is crucial that the Sovereign Knight’s Order understands this and resolves to arrive in such situations as swiftly as possible.”

She may be a maniac when it comes to her research, but she’s still a teacher, huh?

I had assumed that Hirschur was entirely focused on getting to the bottom of this incident, but here she was, thinking of ways to deal with a subsequent attack. It hadn’t even occurred to me that she was acting with her students’ safety at heart, and it felt as though she was asking whether I was doing my part as a professor and thinking about how best to protect my own students.

“Think we’ll be able to set up precautionary lines of contact and get approval from the king for all professors of the knight course to use black weapons in times of emergency?” I asked.

“That’s the spirit. I would rather not have any more of my research time wasted.”

“Oh, c’mon!”

No sooner had I started to see Hirschur in a whole new light than she proved to me that she was the same old scientist. That said, her perspective was still valuable. As annoying as it was, I would look into improving our lines of communication.

“The kitchen was still covered in dust, and there was no sign of the stairs having been used,” I explained. “We also removed registration from all the hidden doors we passed along the way. Naturally, we found no traces of anything connected to the ternisbefallen. What about you two?”

Fraularm, who had been investigating the upper floors, puffed out her chest. “We found no traces of any ternisbefallens either, and there were no places for anyone to hide. Isn’t that right, Professor Gundolf?”

“...Indeed.”

As it turned out, there were no signs of ternisbefallens having used the dormitory’s teleportation circle. If someone had brought the beast in, they must have used teleportation circles from the other dormitories—that was our conclusion.

“I shall assist the Sovereign knights in writing our report to the king,” Gundolf continued, “so the rest of you may leave. Oh, but not you, Professor Rauffen. You have a responsibility as the one who summoned the Sovereign Knight’s Order, unfortunately.”

“Thank you, Professor Gundolf,” Hirschur said with a smile, practically leaping at the opportunity to leave. And with that, she made her exit.

Gundolf next turned to Fraularm. “You must be tired yourself, Professor Fraularm. You even had to investigate the second and third floors without using waschen. But thanks to your efforts, it is safe to say that Ahrensbach has been spared of any suspicion.”

“Indeed!” Fraularm replied, her mood improving dramatically. “I am quite relieved. I must go and report this to the aub and first wife.”

Gundolf saw Fraularm off with a smile, but no sooner had the door shut behind her than his expression turned gravely serious. “I decided it would be best for neither Hirschur, as the Ehrenfest dormitory supervisor, nor Fraularm, who cast waschen as soon as we entered, to hear what I am about to say.” He looked to the two Sovereign knights and said in a low voice, “The king must be warned.”

I swallowed hard as an immense pressure bore down on all those still present. What in the world had happened...?

“There were traces of the teleportation circle having been used,” Gundolf said.

“What?!” I shouted and then clapped a hand over my mouth, surprised by the loudness of my own voice. I turned to the knight who had accompanied Gundolf, still unable to contain my shock... but it seemed that he was just as taken aback.

“I was with you, but I noticed nothing of the sort,” he said questioningly.

“I was an archduke candidate once,” Gundolf said. “I took archduke courses at the Academy. There are things I know to look for that others would not—things that you and Professor Fraularm would not have noticed.”

The knight blinked several times; it seemed that he really hadn’t noticed anything.

“I cannot speak the details, for it pertains to the syllabus of the archduke course,” Gundolf continued. “If you wish to confirm it for yourselves, you will most likely need to bring a member of royalty who has graduated from the Academy as an archduke candidate with you.”

Both the Sovereign knights and I nodded. Prince Hildebrand was the first person who came to mind, considering that he was a royal, but he wasn’t yet old enough to have taken any lessons, let alone graduated. He wouldn’t be able to help us in these circumstances.

Gundolf sighed and started stroking his beard in thought. “Lady Rozemyne’s inquiry holds more meaning now than ever. She knows black spells that no person from the temple should even be aware of, and she performed healing on the gathering spot. These peculiarities, along with several others, mean there is much to be suspicious of.”

“Wasn’t Ehrenfest the victim here?” I asked, blinking in surprise. I was convinced from listening to Hirschur that the culprit was someone with a grudge against Ehrenfest.

“I do not think that Professor Fraularm was right about everything, what with how emotional she became, but her point that Ehrenfest has not suffered from this incident certainly was food for thought.”

A ternisbefallen had gone on a rampage, the apprentice knights had slain it with black weapons granted to them by Lady Rozemyne, and the damaged gathering spot was healed to be even more bountiful than those of other duchies. If one looked at the results, it was true that Ehrenfest hadn’t really been victims.

“We cannot discard the possibility that Ehrenfest was using the ternisbefallen to perform some experiment or another,” Gundolf continued. “That dormitory has no supervisor present, which means the archduke candidates have complete power there.”

Everyone knew that Hirschur was never at the dormitory, and although the students were tasked with reporting any goings-on, there was no way to know whether what they said was the truth. A chill ran down my spine; I hadn’t thought about that at all.

“It may be wise to have one of the king’s retainers attend Lady Rozemyne’s inquiry... Perhaps his head scholar or the Sovereign knight commander,” Gundolf suggested. Not a single man disagreed.