Chatper 21: End of the first year
Since all the ceremonies were behind us, the preparations for the move-out began in full. While Caroline worked on our regular luggage, I visited Hirschur’s lab to give my goodbyes.
“Honestly, I wish I could keep you around the whole year,” Hirschur remarked with a slight smirk. “My productivity definitely improved.”
“Shouldn’t you base it on how much I improved? With you being the teacher and such.” I raised my eyebrow.
“Who knows, your brewing is all over the place.” She waved her hand. “Sometimes, it’s so simple even a second-year could follow up on it; sometimes I am completely taken aback by your methods.”
I kept staring at her with crossed arms, demanding a better appraisal.
“I guess you did improve quite a lot with your circle designs. All those materials on ancient magic circles that Solange and I prepared for you were put to good use.” Hirschur shrugged carelessly.
Close enough. I smiled. “I am grateful for your role of Erwachlehren, and I am looking forward to the next year.”
“Very well. I look forward to the new interesting circles you will manage to acquire. Maybe one that brings spring to an area?” Hirschur said knowingly.
My smile widened. “Anything is possible.” I didn’t deny or confirm anything and took my leave.
My side of the room in the dormitory was halfway emptied, so I set up to do the same in the hidden room. Estelle had already left with a bag of shells after our little talk, so I divided the rest of the ordnance between Adeus, Henrietta and me for easier transport.
Thankfully, there was no “airport security” when it came to traveling through the teleportation circles, but I still felt a bit paranoid about someone suddenly checking my bags and then asking why I have so many “interesting” magic tools with me. Splitting it into multiple bags, carried by different people, seemed safer.
I put the bags beside the door and returned to my table. What next? I took a box beside the table, peeked inside, and put it down near the bags at the door. First batch done, really hard work. I smirked.
After I opened the door, I got admonished by Caroline for taking so long.
“Apologies.” I smiled weakly.
She had already finished her preparations. Together with Diana, they cleaned the whole room while I had merely brought three bags and one box.
I got too complacent after my practice ended. It was a bit shameful, so I put my all into the task and cleaned the rest of my hidden room in a speedy fashion, moving all ingredients and magic tools outside. Though, I had still left enough shells for my return next winter. I liked that feeling of safety—just coming here, and already being covered by a nice, safe blanket. Honestly, I was already looking forward to distributing the rest in various locations in Ehrenfest.
Once all our luggage was accounted for, Caroline called me to the teleportation room. As I came through the adjacent room, Adeus and Estelle waited there to see me off. The attendants and servants alike continued with their preparations for the departure of the other students.
“Enjoy the dormitory without my interference,” I remarked jokingly.
“One day isn’t enough.” Adeus smirked.
“You were supposed to say how saddened you are,” I complained.
My brother looked at me, thought for a moment, and then shrugged. “One day isn’t enough.”
“Sure, bye,” I replied casually, and stepped on the circle.
After my vision cleared, my little sister welcomed us with a big smile. With this kind of welcoming committee, it was always nice to return.
“First in class,” I declared proudly, reinforcing my older sister status.
“Wow, great, I… ehm, we managed to win the playroom competition this year,” Erenit tried to come up with something as well.
“Congratulations.” I smiled. “Though, I’m behind on awarding prizes. This collection of charms is for placing first in the chess tournament among normal nobles.”
“Lady Mila, I understand that you have specific arrangements, but please, refrain from speaking in a manner that could accidentally insinuate provocation to a member of the archducal family.” Caroline glared at me with a threatening smile.
I hear you loud and clear. My smile tensed. We weren’t in the Academy anymore, so she most likely wanted to put back the guardrails right from the start.
“I merely stated the obvious, him being far more competent, compared to regular nobles,” I replied nonchalantly, while glancing at the knights on guard duty.
“Of course, my apologies.” Caroline didn’t change her threatening smile a bit.
I placed a small tool, in the shape of a throwing knife, in Erenit’s hands. It was mostly red, except for the colorful hilt, which contained all the charms for the respective gods in the form of thin circles on top of each other.
Each circular layer with its tiny magic circle could be detached if one supplied enough mana to the right spot. Since the layers were quite thin, one needed really precise mana control to achieve that. Although, Erenit had trained hard, so this shouldn’t be much of a challenge for her.
“It seems so complex,” she remarked in awe, while inspecting the knife with her mana.
“Yes, ‘seems’ is the right word.” I smiled.
Seventy-nine “plates,” each with a single circle, placed next to each other. It was basically equivalent to a pile of simple charms. But yeah, at first glance, it might have looked complex.
Caroline had to stay behind to deal with the transport of our luggage, so Erenit and I headed to the playroom.
“Every charm in the hilt is a simple magic tool with a single magic circle,” I continued with the explanations. “Can you imagine how stupidly complex and mana draining it would be if it were all just one single tool, containing sigils of all gods?”
Even Rozemyne would have a hard time powering that.
“The knife is a mere conductor.” I tapped on the blade with my finger. “I based it on the red carpets we use in the temple. You don’t even need to touch the hilt to activate your desired charm. And naturally, there is nothing stopping you from reinforcing the blade with mana, adding a blessing, and using it as a regular weapon. The required magic circles are, of course, included.” I knew my target audience, so it had seemed proper to tailor the design in such a way for an apprentice knight.
“I thank you ever so much.” Erenit beamed another smile before muttering to herself, “Erika won’t complain about a knife under my sleeve if it’s a prayer charm.”
Once in the playroom, my sister immediately began showing her new present, even detaching some of the charms so others could try them. Unsurprisingly, she was swarmed by multiple children.
“Does it contain only one Angriff’s charm?” Theodore asked with a disappointed look as another boy had already taken it.
The boys especially were interested in the fighting gods, so while Erenit had enough charms for two whole playrooms and then some, the most desirable charms were gone in an instant. Many kids were just staring at those who had been faster.
Guys, you are not adult archnobles. I shook my head at their disappointed faces.
If they genuinely offered enough mana in a prayer, it would force them to rest and recuperate for the rest of the day. Like sure, I hazily remembered that Charlotte had been talking about distributing rejuvenation potions. Those could compensate for the mana lost from their siphoning tools, so the children would still have enough to save up for their classes but even then, I couldn’t see them expending so much mana multiple times a day. One charm could be used by dozens of people.
On second thought, the whole room waiting for one charm might feel a bit undignified for many nobles since charms were kind of personal items.
“I might prepare a couple of additional charms dedicated to Angriff, Leidenschaft, and their likes,” I uttered.
“Really?” A bunch of eager faces turned my way.
“Absolutely not!” Charlotte declared on my right, which froze everyone in their place. “Mila’s time is too valuable to produce multiple copies of the same tool.”
Under normal circumstances, such a declaration would have made me feel quite important. But since I had spent a large chunk of the winter brewing the same parts over and over to make multiple copies of our exploding shells, it made me feel rather awkward.
“It is the responsibility of the archducal family to provide educational materials for the playroom,” Charlotte continued with a serious face. “As such, I will commission the castle’s scholars to produce additional charms. If you have preferences, list them to Vanessa, and we will make an order based on your input.”
The other kids unfroze, eager smiles back on their faces. They followed Charlotte to a nearby table, where Vanessa began writing a list.
She does try so much. I smiled in their direction.
Funnily enough, it wasn’t, in fact, the responsibility of the archducal family to provide educational materials for the playroom. Charlotte simply wasn’t familiar with anything before her time, as she had begun attending the playroom only after Rozemyne. Her first experiences of the place were all centered around solving the lack of aid because of Rozemyne’s absence.
“Isn’t my little sister amazing, taking charge with such a mature facade?” Rozemyne remarked.
She was the only child remaining.
“Certainly.” I nodded.
I was glad they had figured out their cooperation in the playroom. Even if it seemed mostly like Charlotte throwing herself at any new initiative in a desperate bid not to get completely outshone. All while Rozemyne just stood there innocently as if she wasn’t the cause.
“I will be helping Ferdinand with certain paperwork in the temple. Would you be able to visit the High Bishop’s chambers in three days’ time?” she invited me in a nonchalant manner.
Normally, one would expect these kinds of invitations to arrive through attendants, but I wasn’t one to complain about communication being direct and efficient.
“Of course, I would be honored as always.” I smiled politely.
“He feels really sorry about our last meeting,” Rozemyne added with a quiet voice.
“Lady Rozemyne, there is no need to concern yourself with me,” I replied with a big “I don’t care” smile.
The way I had openly declared my wish to be kept alone, it would have made me feel really pathetic if I had obsessed about the other person’s circumstances. I didn’t wish for the other side to do badly, struggle, “see the error of their ways,” or hope for me to return. I just wished to not know anything at all.
“Um, that’s… good.” Rozemyne smiled wryly. “Because I might have embellished that sentence a bit.”
“Yes, I figured.” I snorted.
“Hopefully, you will not get mad at me for the content of the meeting,” she added, her smile tensing a bit.
What exactly are you planning? “I legally can’t be mad at you in public.” I smirked, glancing at Damuel.
He was standing beside us, sporting a stone face.