Chatper 10: Proper connections
After finishing in Hirschur’s lab and getting through lunch, I departed for the meeting organized by Taranese.
Since Gretia had offered to escort me, this time I had even an attendant of proper status. Similarly, when it came to gifts, I dialed it down and brought something cheaper, or to be more precise, made by me.
These days I put most of my time into charm production, but those were considered to be more personal items, so I didn’t want to come across as too intrusive. The other common item in my hidden room was an explosive shell; we had a lot of those. Yeah, no. As such, I had just put together a set of rejuvenation potions for archnobles and called it a day.
At the very least, it should score me some points by referencing her family’s higher levels of mana and therefore higher station. And Caroline had arranged them into a nice gift basket, so it almost looked as if I had been gifting something extravagant like rinsham.
Was I ever invited for a real meeting of friendly socializing? I wondered as we approached Gaussbuttel’s tea party room.
It has always been practice, work, meetings with ulterior motives, heavy information gathering, and so on. Maybe I should keep my hopes down. Well, even just information gathering shouldn’t be bad. And hey, we managed to book a room at peak hours. I tried to find any positives.
When it came to the tea party rooms, the archduke candidates had the obvious priority since their connections were vital for the rank of their respective duchies. The archnobles followed, and it was lucky to get a normal time slot between so many mednobles.
We in Ehrenfest had it easier. Our socializing was so weak that our tea party room wasn’t even booked all the time.
Once we entered, I found out that the other participants were Nianne and Shickehr, making us a quartet. Honestly, I was surprised by the low turnout. The way the other students had dissuaded Taranese from inviting me had sounded as if they themselves had been invited.
Wait, did they avoid coming here because she had invited me? I didn’t want to be such a burden on her.
Taranese seemed unbothered, with a noble smile on her face. Though, that could have been just a facade.
“I am glad you could come.” She widened her smile after the greetings.
“Won’t the other students get offended that you invited me instead of them?” I asked cautiously.
For a second, Taranese stared at me with a confused look. “I invited them to different meetings.”
As I tried to suppress my awkward expression, she smirked. “I can organize more than one tea party.”
“Naturally.” I nodded with a fake relaxed smile. Can I start this conversation again?
“Didn’t you invite anyone?” she prodded me with her dark red eyes.
At this moment, they looked way more like my brother’s than Trillia’s.
It was embarrassing to admit it, but the answer to her question was a simple “no.” I didn’t want to bother people, so I was afraid to make invitations on my own. However, when others didn’t ask me to join, I thought they just actively avoided me and got depressed.
I’m a lousy friend. The other side had to be the one putting all the effort into setting up common plans.
If it was for work, then I was fine. I had no problem inviting even royalty for a meeting, but my personal socializing made me genuinely tense.
“How have the two of you met? During the fellowship gathering?” I tried to change the topic, looking between Tarenese and Nianne.
I had seen the former with Shickehr during classes, but the meeting of scholars had been the first time Nianne had popped on my radar.
“Actually, we only managed to talk at length because of Ehrenfest.” Taranese smirked. “Lady Nianne approached me during the second lesson on schtappe fundamentals as she had previously seen me talking with you.”
Yeah, right, the good old second lesson on schtappe fundamentals. Good times. If I were there. I wanted to grimace.
“Lord Shickehr and I passed the class during the second lesson, and a lot of students approached us about our connection to Ehrenfest,” Taranese explained.
Interesting. No one had initiated a talk with us besides the occasional adverse remarks. Gelune was the only one who had asked for help, and even that had happened only after I had approached her first during mana control class. Showing weakness must have still been too much of a barrier.
“Well, I didn’t actually give you any advice on schtappe usage.” I shrugged.
At best, our company had functioned only as competition, keeping them motivated.
“You said plenty of interesting things,” Nianne interjected, giving me a knowing smile. “Talking to others during the apprentice scholars’ meeting was quite illuminating.”
I widened my smile.
“Does your family consist of demoted archnobles somehow?” she wondered.
That’s a new one. I raised my eyebrow.
“Your brother is preparing for two courses, is he not?” Shickehr added, pointing at the apparent familial trend.
“Yes, but…” I couldn’t exactly advertise Rozemyne’s compression method. “He just compresses diligently to acquire enough mana reserves for both courses. Many of our mednoble neighbors are actually descendants of archnobles from Ahrensbach, but our province is an exception. I guess, on some level, we are trying to match them subconsciously.”
Shickehr nodded, seemingly content with the explanation, though Nianne’s violet eyes kept focusing on me. She seemed to have more knowledge on the topic, so I tried a bit of information gathering of my own.
“Lady Nianne, have you come across some rumors surrounding my person?”
“Do you think I ask foreign students for rumors surrounding nobles I have never met before?” she replied with a lukewarm attitude.
Taranese smirked her way. “Do you not?”
“Our talk was an exception.” Nianne glanced her way firmly before turning back to me. “I can only relay what I heard during the scholar meeting when you weren’t around, and some remarks in our dormitory.”
“That would be really helpful. I am grateful.” I smiled, trying to downplay my interest.
“The first time I heard something related to Ehrenfest was this silly gossip that your duchy ennobled a commoner. Though, it turned out to be a blue shrine maiden, currently in her fourth year.” Nianne slowly pushed her fingers into her hair. “Interestingly, she belongs to your household, does she not?” She looked at me.
“Yes, my sister Estelle.”
Nianne nodded, her expression becoming more uncertain. “Although, some at the meeting talked about you…” She frowned slightly. “I think the rumors evolved somewhat because of your name.”
“It’s understandable.” I shrugged, trying to keep my facade.
The fact that Nianne didn’t seem to believe the rumor made me want to grin. It was hard to stay still.
“You seem to take it quite well,” Taranese remarked with a conflicted voice.
“Well, I am aware that my name is short by noble standards. It’s pointless to be mad about something I expected to be an issue.”
The annoying part wasn’t the name—it was the commoner rumor spreading. It had turned everyone hyper-focused on the name and its connotations. I had wanted so much a clean new slate in the Academy, but in the end, it was just another repeat of the situation inside Ehrenfest.
“You can at least rest assured that this gossip circulates mostly among the lower-ranked duchies. Though…” Nianne paused.
“Though?” I repeated.
“In our dormitory, the biggest flaw of Ehrenfest seems to be your temple practices.” She grimaced.
What?! But that’s like the one thing we have better! And even if we hadn’t been better, it was strange that they would focus on something that was a reality in every duchy. Would someone really want to point a finger when everyone had a messy temple?
“Do not be alarmed, it isn’t a common talking point. The high grades of your first-years are mentioned much more when you are discussed,” Nianne added.
“Apologies, it is most likely the fault of some of my classmates.” Taranese pressed her lips. “Here, it is a much more popular topic than in Jossbrenner.”
I inadvertently looked at the girl who served as Taranese’s attendant to gauge her opinion. Was she judging me this whole time, or had Taranese chosen someone neutral on the issue? Her eyes hadn’t met mine, but that was kind of standard. She wasn’t supposed to interact unless prompted by us.
“In Immerdink’s dormitory as well.” Shickehr grimaced. “There’s a lot of talk about people from the temple being tainted. Especially the girls, with their colors mixed…”
I listened with a stone face. The mention of color-mixing made me nervous about myself.
Almost on reflex, my mana retreated from my body to my vessel, to the point my hands began to feel cold and my head a bit dizzy. I merely kept nodding as the other three talked about the rumors.
But the absolute worst was when I noticed Gretia’s uncomfortable expression as she was refilling my tea. Why did I bring her with me? I’m dragging down her reputation.
Was it really that important for so many nobles to strike me down? It felt so… Wait, I’m full of myself. It didn’t make sense to push for the temple narrative when there was already a much juicier “commoner” rumor circulating around. This wasn’t tailored to me. Estelle, likewise, was just a small fish.
Are they preparing ammo for Rozemyne next year?
Was this always destined to happen, or had I made it worse with my claims of Ehrenfest’s “clean” temple? The latter option was stressing me out. This kind of attack could derail our whole Saint of Ehrenfest scheme. I’m not helping.
“Did you not face issues for including me in this meeting?” I asked with a small smile, hiding my worries.
“I invited those who I had seen excelling in their practical exams, as I see great value in connection with everyone here,” Taranese declared as a matter of fact.
Better grades do attract respect! I wanted to shout with a grin. It felt really nice to be vindicated by my efforts. I almost forgot about all that other baggage.
“Lord Hildreth has also shown interest in this particular meeting,” she divulged. “Though, the way students from Drewanchel asked about you personally, I deemed it problematic.”
Building strong connections to students from top-ranked duchies could have been quite a boon to her. I was surprised she hadn’t jumped on the opportunity. However, to Taranese, it had looked like the Drewanchel students had seen me as too much of a curiosity, which could have derailed her tea party.
On the other hand, I had to praise those students for actually following the etiquette. Nothing was stopping them from inviting me directly, just like Hoflechen did. It would have been way more natural, with them being the same status as me. But we hadn’t interacted enough for that to be warranted, so of course, it was best to go through a middleman. Taranese’s tea party would have been ideal for socializing with me.
If they had known how little I had interacted with her prior to this meeting, they would have definitely invited me right then and there, during the meetup of scholars.
“I am grateful for your consideration.” I smiled.
The connections to nobles in higher-ranked duchies were more valuable than to those from lower-ranked duchies. It was just a fact. If one wanted to marry out, with all things equal, it was preferable to end up in a more prominent duchy and boost their station. I really appreciated that Taranese had prioritized my experience in her tea party over such a benefit.
She nodded with a weak smile. “At the scholar meeting, you made me doubt my own lessons. At first, I was completely overwhelmed to see you approaching students from all greater duchies as if you already had a connection with all of them.”
It was definitely pleasing to know that my plan had worked. To a random observer at the meeting, it really had seemed like I was highly connected. Obviously, the truth coming out had been unavoidable. Taranese’s duchy had many connections with Klassenberg, so she could just talk with them and find out. And to her surprise, she had learned that I had just approached them with a superficial excuse.
“Usually, you are supposed to be introduced by others to your new contacts, aren’t you?” Taranese said with an uncertain look.
Even after all her previous socializing, this was still her first year interacting with students from other duchies. My approach had made her really doubt even her own past dealings.
“That is correct.” I nodded. “However, I felt the need to apologize for those particular issues.”
A complete lie. But no way in hell would I admit publicly that I had just exploited the opportunity because I had been nervous about socializing.
“That was why I asked about your family circumstances,” Nianne divulged. “Those students from Klassenberg were advised to be wary of you.”
Yep, that sounds bizarre. “They might have acquired the wrong impression of me during our etiquette class,” I replied nonchalantly.
“Did they?” Nianne smirked. “You actually convinced your aub to send the protest, just like Professor Primevere asked of you. What mednoble could have done that?”
Before I even gave any excuse, Taranese joined in, “And Lady Raziella from Dunkelfelger mentioned that you had negotiated with their archduke candidate, and had taken part in a practice match against him.”
“Lord Hildreth divulged that you had produced a knife and a cleaning spell right after exiting the cave at the Farthest Hall,” Shickehr added, his expression betraying a bit of uneasiness.
“A student from Ahrensbach took an untested potion from you, without a single protest.” Nianne continued with the barrage.
“Though, from what I heard later, there was no preexisting connection between you.” Shickehr shrugged. “Apparently, Lord Raimund met Lady Mila for the first time that day.”
“Which makes it even more bizarre,” Nianne complained. “I thought it was because Ahrensbach and Ehrenfest are deeply interlinked, but he really just trusted you enough to drink an unknown potion from you?”
“Well, I haven’t poisoned anyone yet,” I replied jokingly.
Everyone gave me a deadpan expression.
You know what? I’m running with the joke. “This probably isn’t the best time to present my gift for the host,” I added without changing my expression.
“You brought a gift?” Shickehr got taken aback.
Such a thing wasn’t expected in these kinds of simple gatherings, so I understood why he might get annoyed, since neither he nor Nianne brought anything. Unfortunately for them, when it came to socializing, I was in complete bribing mode.
“Rejuvenation potions?” Taranese muttered.
She seemed surprised as well, but definitely intrigued.
As her attendant was putting the package away, I wanted to exploit this pause in listing my deeds.
“We spoke quite a lot about me. I would like to learn more about you as well.” I began. “Lady Nianne, since you have caught Lady Taranese’s eye during practicals, you must have a lot of mana yourself. Do you maybe have some archnobles in your family tree?”
She had been wondering about me descending from higher status. People usually took a guess based on what was familiar to them.
“No, I am an ordinary mednoble.” She shrugged. “Though, based on practicals, maybe on the stronger side,” she added with a pleased smile.
I know the feeling. It was always enjoyable when others assumed a better upbringing based on one’s performance.
“And do you live in your Noble’s Quarter or in the provinces?” I asked.
“My uncle is a giebe, so we do support him,” Nianne divulged.
Nice, something in common to talk about. “In Ehrenfest, living in the provinces allows for a lot of freedom, as you are not bound just to the Noble’s Quarter. Is it similar in Jossbrenner?”
“To be honest, I cannot say I share the sentiment. I find a farming province to be quite a dull place.” Nianne sighed. “The only positive I can think of is fresh erdmilk every summer.”
“What might that be?” I wondered.
“Juice from erdberis mixed with milk. I fancy it quite a lot.” Nianne smiled.
I had a few erdberis in Haldenzel during celebrations, and they tasted like strawberries. Only their look was different, being shaped like a bright pink round berry. Nothing weird or magical about them.
So, strawberry-flavored milk? I immediately pictured Nianne slurping a big cup through a curly straw. Though, those straws weren’t a thing in this world.
Either way, it was quite clear that Nianne found her place boring and would like to move away. It made me recall that Adeus and Erenit had been kind of bored before my arrival. The knight training had been at least a diversion for them, but an apprentice scholar like Nianne hadn’t had many opportunities to busy herself.
At least, now she had a schtappe and a highbeast, so there was the possibility of gathering ingredients around her province.
“I guess I understand your perspective.” I nodded. “This year, I spent most of my time in the Noble’s Quarter, and previously I had commuted a lot. My feeling of freedom seems to stem from being able to visit both.”
“Yes, that sounds more interesting indeed.” Nianne smiled. “Currently, I enjoy the level playing-field in the Academy. There is no risk of mentioning a novel topic only to find out that it has been discussed to death throughout the year.”
I could definitely feel the hidden frustration in her voice. The provincial nobles gathered their own information, which they could exchange during winter socializing. Although, that was more true for the adults, who had been involved in running the province rather than children that were just stuck inside their room.
Thinking about it, I had never had a problem with mentioning novel topics that were actually novel. Benefits of cheating with a past life. But I could definitely relate to being left out of the loop.
“I must agree with the notion,” Taranese remarked. “It is easier to talk with foreign students who do not possess home bias.”
I guess you have problems at home as well.
Hopefully, her “new clean slate” in the Academy worked better than mine.
We actually kept talking for quite a while, mostly about ordinary stuff, which felt refreshing. It was always nice to mention topics that weren’t breaking politics, analyzing interactions with archduke candidates, or debating harmful rumors. Not that we could avoid those completely with me in attendance.
It’s just weird. The three of them had pretty good connections with students from other duchies. Especially with greater duchies like Klassenberg or Drewanchel. As such, they could speak with them more thoroughly, beyond mere pleasantries and small talk, and find out that I had no actual connection to anyone. And yet, they were the ones more keen to see some higher status behind me.
Nianne divulged how, over the past week, she had come up with this whole speculation about my name. In her imagination, I had been born to a second wife, but with an abundance of mana that had threatened the status of the heir from the first wife. So a short name had been forced upon me to add a mark on my reputation.
That had worked, of course, until she had learned from Shickehr that there was no second wife and I shared a mother with my brother. I enjoyed listening to that speculation nonetheless.
Still, why were they so different from less-connected students, who were out of the loop and had no way of knowing that my connections at the scholar meeting had been superficial? Those other guys should have been the ones theorizing about what kind of hidden status I had when I had approached students from Klassenberg and Dunkelfelger. It was just… weird.
Not that I complained. It was definitely advantageous that there were multiple rumors, conflicting with each other and weakening their own potency. And of course, the talk of Ehrenfest’s grades took precedence. Everyone talked about those.
“Your duchy is pretty tight-lipped about how you achieved that,” Taranese remarked.
“Not really. We can just achieve better results because of support from our archduke candidates.” I shrugged.
“Yes, I heard that from multiple sources. You were also motivated by their achnoble retainers. Your older sister inspired you with her training for the practical classes…” She slowly regurgitated Ehrenfest’s talking points with a knowing look. “Am I forgetting something?”
Hearing her, it did sound a bit less organic and more like messaging. I mean, it is messaging.
It seemed that Ehrenfest’s seclusion had atrophied our skills at forming public narrative. That wasn’t exactly a comforting realization, as our duchy really needed to project a facade to cover for all our mess.
How come we have so many schemers and gossipers at home, but we are so bad at it at school?
“What can I say, most of it really is just better motivation and help from our archducal family.” It wasn’t like that part was a lie.
The children’s bibles were definitely our hidden edge for theology classes, but, for example, there wasn’t a printed history book (yet). And despite that, we had managed high grades in history as well. With enough focus and resources, it was doable even without printing.
“Really?” Taranese kept her doubting eyes on me.
“Do you not think you would have achieved better results if you had tutors and teaching materials meant for the archduke candidates?” I raised my eyebrow.
“Wait, your archduke candidates actually shared those?” Nianne interjected with wide eyes.
“Indeed.” I nodded.
“I knew it,” Shickehr muttered with a smirk.
“They really must have wanted you to succeed,” Taranese mused out loud, clearly taken aback. “I just don’t understand why they would push for all these achievements when they are still absent from the Academy. It hardly earns them any credit. Quite the opposite, it might diminish their image if they do not improve on your performance next year.”
Yeah, I made it harder for them with my selfishness. It was my fault for not tailoring our results to our status. All my classmates had mentioned that issue multiple times. Granted, they had soon come to like the taste of “better than average” results and remained quiet in that regard. But, of course, the issues with the status mismatch hadn’t disappeared just because we had stopped talking about it.
“It is just the nature of education,” I began matter-of-factly. “You cannot just cram in the dormitory for a few days before the exam and expect a laynoble to become an honor student. This winter is the third year our archduke candidates lead the winter socializing and education efforts back home. Naturally, their influence already shows with those who have just enrolled. The first-years would have to be ordered by our leadership to do badly on purpose.”
“That makes sen… wait, so the next year students should be even better than the current first-years?” Taranese got taken aback.
Previously, I had told her that we were the new normal, so maybe her expectation for the next round of students had been a bit lower. She definitely doesn’t expect new first-years with divine protections.
“Aren’t you glad you attend now, and not in a year below?” I smirked.
“Our year isn’t much of a win either.” Shickehr grimaced.
As if to add a silent agreement, both Nianne and Taranese sighed.
Come on, you are all mednobles, you didn’t expect to be at the top of the rankings anyway. On second thought, Merina, a laynoble, had pushed all the way to schtappe transformation during her first class on schtappe fundamentals, matching Taranese and Shickehr. It had kind of diminished their achievement. Ehm, but… you didn’t collapse afterwards like her. I tried to find some silver lining to ease my guilty conscience.
“I thought I was novel in arranging this group effort among fellow scholars, but your duchy is already far ahead in such regard,” Taranese added dejectedly.
I shook my head. “On the contrary, exactly because I see the results of cooperation back home, I am delighted that you suggested this kind of cooperation here. It should benefit us all.”
I tried to sound upbeat, hiding my feeling of guilt.
“I am glad to hear that.” She made a quick smile before returning to her neutral facade.
It really was quite unfair. As mednobles, they had no hope to compete against the resources of archduke candidates. At least, previously, everyone had understood that mednobles couldn’t be compared to archduke candidates. That’s what the status divide was for. But now?
With our mednobles having access to those resources and getting above-average scores, it kind of obscured all other mednobles who could have been otherwise above average. It had barred them from recognition among other duchies that could have led to job offers or marriage opportunities.
I pushed those thoughts out of my head. “Come to think of it, what are your goals that you want to achieve? If we all know that, it should be easier to tailor our support.”
“Weren’t you taught to keep your goals vague so the others couldn’t exploit you in that regard?” Nianne raised her eyebrow.
“It doesn’t have to be a politically sensitive issue like someone wanting to overthrow a neighboring household and trying to find secret support,” I replied jokingly. “For example, I would like to focus on the creation of magic tools and the study of complex magic circles, so if you come across some interesting tidbits, you might want to share them with me.”
Is it too soon to establish a group for sharing exotic ingredients from our duchies? Probably yes.
They had just gotten their schtappes, so only now could they visit gathering spots back home and acquire something interesting. OK, maybe next year.
Taranese smiled. “I have not brewed yet, so I do not have an exact vision in my mind when it comes to my studies. But the magic circles I have encountered so far were quite understandable, so hopefully, it will be an interesting path.”
“I do not have a specific goal in mind either. Mostly, I would like to distinguish myself as a researcher since it’s valued in my duchy,” Shickehr mused.
“I would like to improve at my information gathering, so I could find out specifics about the conspirators, who want to overthrow your neighbor,” Nianne teased me with a refined smirk.
Sure, find me more allies. I smirked back.