Chatper 19: Archducal inquiry
After the awards ceremony, I was pumped on positive energy. Even though the summons loomed over me, it felt as if nothing there could stop me. I could probably just smile intently at Sylvester, and he would be the one apologizing.
OK, maybe not. I smirked while listening to the talks of excited students around me.
Even when we returned to the dormitory, we still kept blabbering on everything about the awards. With so many honor students around, there was always someone who made a remark with an eager voice, and the rest immediately followed. I wasn’t an exception. It was fun.
Sadly, instead of following the others to the common room, I had to depart for a meeting room to have a different kind of conversation.
Once I entered, I was immediately taken aback by the full room. I had expected a private talk with Sylvester and Karstedt. Instead, there was Sylvester with his retinue and Florencia with hers. With so many people, it felt like a public event.
Wait, am I actually in trouble?
Sylvester began with a dignified tone, praising me for my first-in-class award, which confused me. What is going on? I tried to figure out the reason, but with no luck.
He also mentioned in passing how overwhelming it must have been for me to interact with a member of Frenbeltag’s archducal family.
But you were the one who asked for me, oh… Talking about a “regretful” hardship while he was the known source. It had a clear implication: an admittance of guilt. Wait, is this actually an apology?!
I had to force myself not to blink at him in disbelief. Even though it was a mere passing remark, these kinds of things didn’t happen in public. There was no reason for an aub to acknowledge any wrongdoing of his to a mednoble. I was floored.
After Sylvester’s quick speech, Florencia gave him a noble smile. “It seems I can depart now. A report tied to dealing with a greater duchy might contain sensitive information.”
Sylvester nodded with a neutral expression, and Florencia left the room with all her retainers. Was she the one who forced him to do this? After her group left, Sylvester used her justification to dismiss everyone else besides Karstedt, so we sat in my expected arrangement.
As I took a sound-blocker, I was clearly showing my confusion.
Sylvester merely gave me an awkward smile. “Sorry about that talk with my sister.” His voice was completely casual, quite a contrast to a few moments ago. “You always act in such a manner in my presence that I forgot there for a moment that you didn’t have the same status as Rozemyne. It was my fault.” He scratched the back of his head.
Apparently, back home Charlotte, Rozemyne, and even Wilfried had referenced me so many times in their own reports that it had almost made me sound like a close relative. The printing industry was to blame. Now that Rozemyne was awake, she was trying to fill the position at the helm, and learn about everything she had missed in her absence. And well, because of that, I was being mentioned a lot.
“Well, thank you for acknowledging it.” I shrugged, not knowing how to react. “Though, if you wanted to avoid me looking out of place, that apologetic remark in front of both of your retinues probably made it way worse.”
“Florencia wanted me to acknowledge the weirdness.” Sylvester sighed. “While ambivalence is generally useful, it might cause problems if some retainers interpret it negatively and get antagonistic towards you.”
Thinking about it, I could see how the staff’s confusion about a random mednoble interacting with everyone as if she had belonged might have led to all sorts of conspiracies and hostile behavior. This way, Sylvester pretty much acknowledged: “Yes, this is weird, I am aware. It is my decision, not her overstepping.”
And hey, by her gesture, Florencia had pretty much given me her tacit approval as the first wife. She was the one who had mentioned the need for privacy, leaving the room. Now, no one could even point at some “scandalous” angle based on me meeting Sylvester alone, with a mere one guard knight as a witness.
“Alright, I get it. Relay my thanks to Florencia as well.” I smiled.
That Sylvester’s slip-up might have been annoying, but if it had forced the archducal couple to give me more backing, I was pretty content with the outcome.
“What did you want to talk about? I guess it wasn’t about me being an awesome first-in-class, right?” I smirked.
“Congratulations,” Sylvester produced a quick fake smile, before getting more serious. “Rozemyne is acting crazy again. She wants to organize an excursion to the temple with the whole playroom. I am running out of excuses for clearing the rooms to have these direct conversations.”
It wasn’t easy to do that with so many retainers around. Not with me, and definitely not with Rozemyne. Apparently, because multiple undertakings were currently progressing simultaneously, he was saving the excuses for private meetings with her in case of some consultations on major, far-reaching topics.
It was kind of funny that with so many issues, taking the whole playroom to the temple wasn’t considered major anymore. Though, probably not funny to Sylvester.
“What’s the problem? Charlotte and Wilfried have already visited. We do want to improve the temple's reputation.” I shrugged.
“Yes, but not this fast. It would cause a lot of resentment from the parents of those children. We cannot just force them; it would be an abuse of authority.” Sylvester ground his fist against the right side of his head.
Well, it was true that he didn’t have much political support because of the current power balance between the factions. Rozemyne could technically push it on her own and burn some of her political capital in the process, but her doing things alone would make her stand out too much. I didn’t want to end up with: “Rozemyne does all the reforms, why isn’t she the aub?”
“Then make it completely voluntary.” I turned my hands upside down.
This didn’t feel like something disruptive to the work of others. Definitely less than launching a new workshop, establishing a new class, or taking a trip halfway across the duchy. The temple was just there, on the edge of the Noble’s Quarter, so it wasn’t a logistical challenge. As such, I was on Rozemyne’s side.
“They will all refuse,” Sylvester replied as if it was self-evident.
“Then lean on that and respect the authority of parents over their children. Make it so that a written approval of the children’s guardian is needed.” I smiled nonchalantly. “And to not burden anyone with the cost of parchment, the guardians will merely need to add a signature on one common document in the castle, where they could choose whether their child should participate or not.”
Coming personally and making a public refusal sounded like way more social pressure than simply not sending their children on a trip with some flimsy justification.
“Make a list of all participants on a single sheet of paper, with two clearly distinctive columns for signatures. As such, it will be clear at a first glance which column has more.” I pulled out a piece of treated paper and drew a small example.
Both Sylvester and Karstedt leaned closer.
“Of course, you go first, and have Florencia sign for all your children.”
I filled the three boxes tied to the most important players. There was no one above archduke candidates, so that alone made it really hard for anyone to put their signature in a completely empty column instead of the one giving consent for all of Sylvester’s children.
“The next ones should be those easily influenced, and then those willing to let their children go with some encouragement or bribes in the background.”
There were plenty of ways to make that visit look more valuable and exclusive. Charlotte and Wilfried had already chosen many retainers, but more could always be added, and Rozemyne had yet to announce her picks. A few remarks on how the archduke candidates might observe the children in the new environment and decide on “something,” and some parents might even demand for their children to go.
“Once you fill the sign-up column with enough names, start inviting the undecided. They will see all those signatures on one side and be compelled to follow the trend out of fear of missing out.”
Not wanting to stick out was a powerful tool. There was a clear example at my winter debut. A few claps from Giebe Haldenzel and those around him with a few claps from my family, and suddenly a wave had been formed. A whole room of nobles had clapped to an alleged commoner.
Any ridiculous concept could be sold to the public if it was bolstered by enough trendsetters.
“You can always add additional remarks, something like, ‘I want to give my child a chance to get more divine protections,‘” I mused out loud, hinting at the connection between prayers and protections.
When I had been departing in the middle of the winter, the playroom had seemed pretty fired up about the topic. I didn’t know how much of that attitude had filtered from children to the parents, but there must have been at least some small effect on them.
“Just like with the compression method, nobles don’t want to fall behind. They might have a distaste for the temple, but did it stop them from signing a contract with the High Bishop?” I asked, though Sylvester seemed in thought, so I continued, “The longer the list, the harder it gets for anyone to be the first to refuse, out of simple fear to be left alone in such a position. No matter how much they hate the temple, being singled out is even more scary.”
“This might work.” Sylvester nodded with a grimace. “I would prefer if you had come up with something that would have stopped Rozemyne, but at this point, I take whatever help that I can get.”
“Is it really that bad?” I wondered.
I wasn’t used to Sylvester making slip-ups in public. He had always seemed so solid with his public persona.
“It was already that bad before someone told my children about this curious new discovery of how praying might help with gaining protections.” He looked at me knowingly. “I feel as if they compete in who comes up with the most disruptive idea on that topic.” Sylvester placed his hand on his forehead and sighed. “Rozemyne is winning,” he mumbled.
I pressed my lips. With the way Charlotte had speedily pushed forward when I had presented the idea, I could see how she might have actually competed for real. When it came to Rozemyne and Wilfried, I wasn’t sure. The former had seemed just happy that the reputation of the temple could radically improve, and the latter had looked quite excited about the blessings in the playroom.
“But you do get why this is a good thing, right?” I smiled weakly. “If my prediction is correct, it will bring us such a great improvement in mana. And since there is a hard deadline for the divine protections ritual, it is vital to move fast. Rozemyne is the High Bishop. She will probably light up the circle easily, but what about the others? You don’t want Charlotte and Wilfried to fall behind in number of protections and create even more openings against them.”
“Yeah, I guess.” Sylvester sighed again. “It’s just, the number of new endeavors keeps rising. Every time we solve one, two more arise.”
I guess I won’t get much praise for finding a way into a hidden archive with valuable knowledge. I tensed my smile.
Sylvester looked at me. “We found the plans for the entwickeln of the lower city. For once, Rozemyne shrunk the scope of the original proposal. Should I be aware of something else?”
His eyes were pleading with me to add nothing, but well, I had been waiting years for this renovation.
“Well, there is still enough time,” I tried to sound casual about it. “We can ask the commoners for their input and improve some additional things. For example, if you decided on the underground water pipes, I require one modification in their elevation to give me a waterfall.”
“An underground waterfall? That’s your priority?” Sylvester stared at me in disbelief.
“I mean, in schematics, it’s basically adding just one tread, not even a whole staircase. That should be a negligible addition compared to everything else.” I smiled innocently.
It seemed my nonchalant attitude wasn’t working.
“Negligible?” Sylvester raised his eyebrow before smirking at me. “Sure, give me the required ingredients, and you can have it.”
“Alright.” I nodded.
“What do you mean, ‘alright’? That was a joke. Are you storing mana-rich dust for building reconstructions?” Sylvester frowned.
“In fact, yes.” I shrugged. “It sounded valuable in the books, so I have been dusting small feystones for years just in case.”
Thankfully, Estelle had taken over the dust production; otherwise all of my hard-earned dust would have been inside our shells by now.
Sylvester shook his head with a chuckle. “You know what…” He gave me a look that said, “I might as well try it.”
It made me grimace as I didn’t know what to expect.
“We are in the middle of planning the visit to Haldenzel. You said only women can participate in the ceremony. Any way to include all visitors?”
It was quite clear he didn’t want to exclude Wilfried from the arrangement. The “Haldenzel miracle” was a powerful marketing tool. Not only could it bring the gratitude of the whole province, the reputation boost from such an exceptional feat—bringing a new season—would carry far and wide.
Since this time they had been forewarned, the whole procedure was supposed to play out differently. Originally, Rozemyne had made a remark, and Claudio had decided to run with it, making it half coincidence and half credit for Rozemyne.
In our version of the story, the archducal family had decided to help the province after Rozemyne had made the discovery in the temple. That would make it half credit for Rozemyne and half for the archducal family for enabling and supporting her in this “uncertain” endeavor.
At the very least, the benefits from their involvement should validate the visit of Charlotte and Wilfried to the temple, showing the usefulness of participating in the ceremonies. Though, I didn’t know how to get around the ritual’s restrictions.
Charlotte could follow Rozemyne on the stage and gain similar publicity, but Wilfried obviously couldn’t.
I don’t think putting him in a bag would work.
I put a finger on my cheek. “Well, the other men are excluded as well, so let’s use that.”
Nothing I could do about the ceremony itself, but there was a lot that could be done about PR.
Sylvester’s eyes seemed already full of expectation.
“Judging by my visits to Haldenzel, men there won’t like putting all the burden of the ritual on women. As you iron out the details of the visit, mention that Wilfried wants to support both of his sisters and is filling up feystones for them. Haldenzel may have a bad impression of Wilfried because of Veronica, but I can’t picture their husbands and brothers hearing about his initiative and ignore it out of spite. More likely, they will get inspired and prepare their own feystones for relatives.”
Honestly, I almost felt like I had read about them doing that on their own. My memories of such details were just too hazy. Either way, it felt like something they would have done.
“As such, he might be credited for such a trend, and share some solidarity with all those excluded,” I mused.
“That might work.” Sylvester nodded.
“And the most important part.” I looked at him firmly. “Don’t just tell Wilfried to do it! Ask Florencia to have a tea party with him, using a sound-blocker if necessary. She should talk with him about his experience from the Dedication Ritual and how tiring it was. Maybe ask him about the difference between offering one’s mana and using a prepared feystone, and then remark how hard it might be for Charlotte and Rozemyne on the stage to do it without such aid. Make him arrive at that conclusion by himself.”
This was nonnegotiable. If they failed to pull it off, I didn’t want them to use this scheme. “I don’t want him to accidentally blurt out that he was told to do so and turn the whole province against him.”
“Noted,” Sylvester uttered before mentioning some other tangential issue.
None of his problems seemed particularly hard, but I knew from experience that if too many issues piled up, especially with the more important ones looming on the horizon, it was really hard to focus even on those minor ones.
And of course, when one postponed solving the smaller problems, they usually returned as bigger problems.
I kind of want to stay in the Academy. Listening to Sylvester felt like there was a lot of work waiting in Ehrenfest.
“Can you also fix the rewards budget for the honor students?” Sylvester asked teasingly.
“Sorry about that.” My smile tensed. “Though, with the increased productivity of the Central District, your tax revenue should be way up,” I added more quietly.
Wait, this is my chance to sell our discovery.
“Actually, we managed to access an archive in the library, and one of Charlotte’s retainers found a ritual that enriches the land.” I smiled proudly.
“There is already Spring Prayer, isn’t there?” Sylvester raised his eyebrow.
“I think this is not one to bring about a better harvest, but to replenish the minerals in the ground instead. I mean, I’m not sure, but from the context, it sounds like it. It should benefit us greatly.” I widened my smile.
Sylvester scratched his chin. “But Ehrenfest doesn’t have a substantial mining industry. Our predecessor lost their mining region to Klassenberg after… what?” He must have noticed my confused stare.
“Sorry, I’m just surprised.” I smiled. “I didn’t expect you to be knowledgeable about the geography of a random region in another duchy.”
To be honest, I was just picturing his younger self shouting “boooring!” when reading those study materials.
“I am the aub, so naturally, I will know these things,” he replied matter-of-factly.
“Someone else mentioned it recently, right?” I narrowed my eyes.
Sylvester’s eyes flicked for a moment. “Are you trying to distract us from the fact that your potential ritual might not be useful with our lack of mines?”
I mean, we do have some mines. It wasn’t enough to call it industry, but still.
“Then enjoy it as leverage in some future negotiations with Klassenberg. I bet they would be willing to pay a lot of money and give us a lot of favor to restore their depleted mines.”
Having such a card could be crucial if I somehow screwed up Rozemyne’s involvement with Eglantine. Backing of the greater duchies was vital, and I wanted to retain it in this timeline as well, intact despite my meddling.
“Do you think they will even talk with us?” Sylvester asked with a skeptical voice.
I kept my poker face. “Maybe not this year. The next one, once we begin releasing all those trends, they will definitely show interest like everyone else. You saw our stand today, right? I was told it used to be way more empty during previous tournaments. We grabbed a lot of attention just by our first-years passing unusually fast. Now, imagine how it will look when we provide actual marketable trends.”
Good, he doesn’t look spooked. I had been a bit uncertain whether to acknowledge that the greater duchies would be dealing with us, but he took it pretty well.
I thought it was important to set up higher expectations because I remembered that Sylvester, and everyone else, had been quite overwhelmed with all those interactions with greater duchies and royalty. This way, they shouldn’t be so surprised by the interest from those at the top. It should also make it easier for them to deal with the change. I hope.
“I guess you are right.” Sylvester smiled, his expression a bit unsure.