Ascendance of a Bookworm: Fanbook 7 (eBook)

Miya Kazuki (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2025
250 Seiten
J-Novel Club (Verlag)
978-1-7183-4469-3 (ISBN)

Infos

The seventh official Ascendance of a Bookworm fanbook has arrived, recommended to be enjoyed after finishing the final volume of the light novels. This edition is packed with fresh content: new character design sheets, exclusive manga, stunning artwork, and coverage of two more drama CDs. Featuring the first full map of the Royal Academy and another enormous Q&A with author Miya Kazuki, there's plenty for fans to sink their teeth into!

Textauszug

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...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 3.11.2025
• Reihe/Serie: Ascendance of a Bookworm: Fanbook
• Illustrationen: Suzuka, Ryo Namino, You Shiina, Hikaru Katsuki
• Übersetzer: Quof
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Fantasy / Science Fiction ► Fantasy
• Schlagworte: book loving • books • Reading • Reincarnation
• ISBN-10: 1-7183-4469-4 / 1718344694
• ISBN-13: 978-1-7183-4469-3 / 9781718344693