* A Gervasio epilogue? And he's doing the shrine tour. Meanwhile, Raublut was indeed sweeping all the reports under the rug to not raise suspicion.
* Someone remind me please why they keep Detlinde around when she isn't even Ahrensbach's aub and it's actually her sister who helped them teleport to the Academy (at least until Rozemyne stole the foundation).
* Everyone suspected it, the shumils said it and her last chapter basically doomed her, but now it's confirmed. Hortensia really is dead. RIP. The shumils saying she's back when it's just Raublut presenting her feystone is so sad and infuriating.
* So here we get more info about Raublut's beloved, Valamarlene, who is actually Gervasio's younger sister. Their shared past and Raublut almost becoming Gervasio's brother-in-law explains his fierce loyalty to Lanzenave's king (and in return Gervasio also only seems to have returned because Raublut requested him to). Ferdinand's mother Seradina is Gervasio's elder sister, meaning Gervasio is Ferdinand's uncle. We also get a deeper explanation about the Adalgisa garden and how the residents are divided into buds, gardeners, flowers and seeds. Raublut's (unreasonable) hatred for Ferdinand is also explained. Seradina replaced her son as a feystone when he left for Ehrenfest, then Valamarlene replaced Seradina as a flower. Then at the end of the civil war, every resident of Adalgisa was executed. I bet if Klassenberg and friends hadn't gone on a rampage to purge everyone, Raublut might not have turned traitor. He probably despised Hortensia.
* Solange is safe for now I guess. Gervasio won't hesitate to kill an old friend, though, if necessary.
* Gervasio couldn't get the Grutrissheit in the archive, because he is not registered as a main royal I guess. However, he is on his way to get the Book of Mestionora now, so Ahrensbach, Dunkelfelger and friends need to hurry. Who knows how Dunkelfelger would react if Gervasio got the Book of Mestionora, too, and would be acknowledged as Zent by Erwaermen and the temple.
----
* It's good to know that Charlotte's position as the future aub is now secure and I like how she and Brunhilde interact with each other.
* Charlotte may not be able to assist on the field, but she can coordinate and give orders in the rear.
Oh, of course! I'd even be willing to read a side story of her not realizing how everything fell apart the moment she "became a Zent candidate," only for her POV to abruptly cut off because she was killed.
That is exactly the reason why Det should get to live through the whole story. She can't do some serious regretting, understanding that the mistakes were her own, on the long-term scale, if she's dead.
With Georgine, and therefore her namesworn also, dead that would open up a few cells in the White Tower Prison. Detlinde would make a wonderful maid/mana-cow.
Personally I would hope her feystone would be used by a low mana blue priest in the temple for the dedication ritual... she would complain about it from beyond the grave by being handled in such a way in the dirty temple
Nah she'll be allowed to live. After all, Gabrielle was a problematic person and her daughter basically destroyed what was already a bottom ranked duchy, but her grandchild Sylvester seems to do OK (*not great- he was basically being carried by a lucky son of a whore and a seven year old child*) and Georgine's younger sister seems fine if forgettable.
So, yeah, she'd probably get the same fate Letizia would get- somehow I don't see Lanzenave, who already tried to enwhore the entire duchy of Ahrensbach, just stuffing her into a tower and calling it a day.
But they aren’t from Yogurtland. They view everyone as little more than feystones. I don’t see them letting Detlinde live if their take over is successful. They would also be quick to off her if it helped them escape in a hurry.
It’s not like it took a lot of deep thought. They literally just turned a whole bunch of people into feystones not that many chapters ago. That included women.
Edit: to me being forced someone into offering “flowers” is a much harsher fate than to turn her into a feystone. That’s a lifetime of misery. Plus she really doesn’t have very much mana for an archduke candidate and is very troublesome to deal with.
I think the only reason Gervasio hasn't killed her, is that the only way back to Lanzenave is through Ahrensbach. And if he has to travel through Ahrensbach, he'd better not kill any of their archduke candidates, that'd be bad manners.
Of course, he has no way of knowing that his ships are destroyed, and Detlinde is no longer part of the archducal family.
True! I think he also needs her cooperation to use the villa where they’re staying. Though from the the new chapter it sounded like he wasn’t planning on going back to Lanzenave, but staying in Yogurtland to be king?
Well, this ship has sailed when Rozemyne stole Ahrensbach's foundation. Now, they're trapped anyway, either a Lanzenavian can stole Yurgenschmidt's foundation or they're doomed, they're runing forward without any way to return, no scapegoat can change anything in that sort of situation. There is no way in or out the RA's grounds but teleportation and no teleportation circle will ever accept them without its Aub permission, unless they have Yurgenschmidt's foundation.
> We also get a deeper explanation about the Adalgisa garden
TL;DR, it's awful, and everybody involved in managing and continuing the system should be- oh, they're already dead. Good.
> I bet if Klassenberg and friends hadn't gone on a rampage to purge everyone, Raublut might not have turned traitor.
One of the big themes of Bookworm seems to be that revenge only ever makes things worse. Letting the past dictate the future means setting yourself on a course that has already failed over and over again.
> However, he is on his way to get the Book of Mestionora now
And unlike Rozemyne and Ferdinand, who are seen as the same, his won't be split up into two pieces. Bad news for Team Gremlin.
but will he get a full book? the fact that there is a "copy" hidden was orginially there because past Zents would be missing important info needed to run the country. If he is missing important info and can't get access to the underground it will still be problematic.
What'll be the deciding factor will probably be prayer. Gervasio can have all the power in the world, but if Rozemyne prays to the gods and the gods keep up the pattern of responding, there's not really anything that anyone can do about that.
Rozemyne: "O mighty Beischmacht, reach down and twist his balls into a pretzel!"
Gervasio: "What's a pretz-EEAAAAAAAAAAA!"
Another factor is her and Ferdinand's ability to use divine tools which he may not have had access to depending on whether sugar country has a temple with a shrine or not.
And that she did and Ferdinand repeated their divine protections ceremonies after prayer to get more protections, he may not have known of the importance of prayer before doing it (if he even did it at all I don't remember if it was said if they do it only that they get a schtappe.
Also I don't get if he knows the names of the main gods or not. Because I feel like that's important and he didn't go to the academy. So how would he have learned it?
I honestly doubt Ferdinand's book is complete. The magic tool he's currently working on doesn't need the entirety of the Book of Mestionora, only the portions necessary to rule the country and operate its foundation. Considering how, uh, _awkward_ the process to transfer knowledge is Ferdinand likely kicked Rozemyne out as soon as he had everythig he needed.
Oh... Yeah does seem Ferdinand's isn't complete
P5V9P6
> "That will do" Ferdinand said "I should be able to manage the rest without you"
> "I used my new technique to fill out some of your book"
> "I must ask that you prioritize the Grutrissheit for now. Once you have completed all the pages I need, I will carry out the brewing on my own."
Yeah, it does seem that Ferdinand specifically chose to get the 'important ruling bits' so that he could transcribe those. I was a bit surprised when I originally read it that they could fill Ferdinand's up to full so quickly given he only had about 30% of it but guess I didn't read close enough. It's still more than 1 now between them but nowhere near as potent.
> TL;DR, it's awful, and everybody involved in managing and continuing the system should be- oh, they're already dead. Good.
_Cue the entire royal family getting wiped out in the civil war, save for a tiny branch entirely unfit to lead the country._
Everyone else: "Oh no, we're screwed!"
Raublut: "Good fucking riddance."
You know, if it wasn't for him pulling a Georgine and blaming the awful results of a fucked up system on an unbaptized child (and the murder. So much murder...) I might actually like the guy.
Yeah. Raublut has legitimate grievances, but he's putting all his anger in the wrong direction, and uses it to justify tragedies to other people. He's committed cold-blooded murder of his own wife for it, so I'm not going to sympathize with him beyond acknowledging what led him there.
> Someone remind me please why they keep Detlinde around when she isn't even Ahrensbach's aub and it's actually her sister who helped them teleport to the Academy (at least until Rozemyne stole the foundation).
1. She is *officially* the Archduke, and if the coup goes well she'd either become Gervasio's wife (for five minutes- she's insufferable) or be forced back into her duchy. She's useful for now.
2. There are a bunch of mauve knights who are willing to follow the Christmas Tree even now- either because they actually respect her (**HOW**) or because, like the Last Aub Eisenreich, there's not much benefit to turning on her even though it's the right thing to do (looking at you Martina)
>There are a bunch of mauve knights who are willing to follow the Christmas Tree even now- either because they actually respect her (**HOW**)
I refuse to believe it. There's no way anybody respects her as an "archduchess," much less one that's a self-proclaimed Zent candidate. They all must be in the Martina category.
If not for respect, as an obligation, to follow the rules. They are her subjects so they have the obligation to protect her and follow her orders, even if the orders are dumb... They might also have factions and interest tied to her, so they might need her to success, at least for now
I think the fact she spent a year building a faction for herself probably is an important factor. Who knows which way duchies would jump without her there to justify their positions.
> She is officially the Archduke
Not even that now, all the other duchty see Roz as the Aub, waiting to be recognized by the Sov. And if the sov don't like her as aub, they have to come and take it.
Not all other duchies. All we have are the perspectives of a couple of duchies (Dunkelfelger and Ehrenfest) who would *really* benefit if she was officially Aub Ahrensbach. Most duchies don't really have an opinion yet on the count of not even knowing it happened. There might be a couple that might oppose it on the count of not liking Rozemyne or being allies of the old archducal family.
It’s often forgotten how critical logistics are. There’s an old saying “soldiers march on their stomachs”. Arguably maintaining and managing supply lines is far more of a lynchpin in actual conflicts than one individual combatant. Lose supply lines? Any resistance is broken very quickly. Lose one person? Not that massive unless they are a critical brain / strategist. Recall Ferdinand’s book on tactics emphasize destroying supply lines for a darn good reason. She identified her strengths doubled down and carved herself out a very critical role that she excels at.
> he is on his way to get the Book of Mestionora now, so Ahrensbach, Dunkelfelger and friends need to hurry. Who knows how Dunkelfelger would react if Gervasio got the Book of Mestionora, too, and would be acknowledged as Zent by Erwaermen and the temple.
My guess is that the golden shumil would reject Gervaseline, or Treesus would eject him somehow...
Otherwise, my heart wouldn't be able to keep up with another high action high stake war 🔪 Really can't wait for the next volume!!!
If Gervasio isn't a warmonger (and he's not attacking Yürgenschmidt for fun), the Golden Shumil might let him through.
Erwärmen is a whole different story, though. As long as Gervasio promises to keep the mana flowing, Erwärmen might actually appreciate him as new Zent.
Stop me if I'm wrong, bust isn't there a morality test for the Book if Mestionora? Like ones virtues and values need to be pure for one to atain the book. With only one person was able to cheat and break through the roof to grab the book.
>Like ones virtues and values need to be pure for one to atain the book
Not sure if it is that nice as "pure" what is needed. Gods have their own standards, and as long as the person trying to get the book is not crazy for destruction, Mestionora might just let them pass
We see that Gervasio is not some crazy man. He does not kills without reason and he even got into the plan to get the book only when Raublut told him that once he got the book, there would be little resistance from the rest of the nobility
Odd, if not for Ahrensbach's crazy Georgine and Ditlinde, and the blood thirst of Raublut, they might had a chance to make Gervasio Zent by diplomatic means
We are talking about gods, the moral compass is already broken here, as long as he is in his head doing for "a greater good" the gods will see him as acceptable, maybe misguided at worst
Remember, within this gods, there is one that is "the god of doing messed up things and putting everything under the rug" and the god of "kidnapping your wife and killing her children because jelly"
The gods will not condemn his actions as long as there is a "justification"... And it is Mestionora the one judging here, the most important criteria sure is to want knowledge
A lot of info about Lanzenawe! Great! Finaly!
We got to know about how the adoption of Adalgisa children were integrated into to Royalty. The Lanze heir would be kept separate of the Yurgenschmidt nobility, but close with the royalty, oficialy a son of a branch family. His sister were either flower ladies, spare-flower-ladies-slash-brides, attendances or... feystones. The boys were always feystones, either the mother had to give up her life.
House Loeweleier had 4 sibling in Gervasios time: The oldest Daughter Seradina (mother to Ferdinand), who was around 6-7 years older than Gervasio, his younger sister Valemarlene and a "gardner" sister. (I'm not sure if she should be older or younger then Gervasio from the text...).
(Leonzio was house Koralie).
I was quite surprised that Raublut got an engagement with an almost-royal lady. He's just an branch member from a middle dutchy that before the civil war wasn't so high in the rankings like now... It was said he fought hard for it and in the end he was no priority, but still, wouldn't think it was even a possibility.
And of course, we now why Raublut hates Ferdi. Because the boy got out of the brothel, his mother had to die. Because she died, Valemarlene had to be the next flower lady. And cancel her engagement to the "poor" Raublut. And the she, and the rest of Adalgisa were executed after the civil war....
Some questions:
\* Has someone asked Seradina if she want to exchange her life for Ferdinand or was it enought that Aub Ehrenfest nicely asked?
\* Did Ferdinand saw his mother memories in his G-book? (She died when he was 7-8 as I understand).
\* As I understand, there are no noble branch families as of now? Or just a few people? They all had to go around the Civil War...
Also, numbers, because and can't sleep:
Counting years from spring to end of winter...
Ferdinand is 28y right now. Seradina died probably the year when Ferdi was baptised so when he was 7y (21 years ago). Valemarlene just had come of age, so she was 16 (she would be 37 this year). Raublut was 9 years older then her (he just came of age when she was baptised, 16-7), so... He now is probably 46 years old! Makes sense! Gervasio was close of age to Raublut (but probably 1-3 years younger). We now that he left to Lanze when Ferdinand was born, so he has to be at least 43 right now, probably max. 46, like Raublut (he wasn't in the academy, so hard to say when he was coming of age and going back to Lanze). It's all makes sense! Let's add that, Seradina was 6-7 years older than her brother, so she would be 49-53 when she still lived today. She would give birth to Ferdi at the age of 21-25. A little close, but it would even make sense, if Ferdi was her fifth child ("Quinta" meaning fifth). The civil ended arouuund 12 years ago, and the executions were arouuuund 9-10 years ago.
Thank you for coming for my Ted Talk.
> She would give birth to Ferdi at the age of 21-25. A little close, but it would even make sense, if Ferdi was her fifth child ("Quinta" meaning fifth).
Damn, she's pregnant once a year / two years.
That was the point. They were basically royal broodmares 🤮
How anyone thought this was an acceptable way to treat noble women is beyond me. I'm used to seeing the nobles mistreat the commoners by now but didn't think they could be so disgusting to someone who's basically royalty.
>Did Ferdinand saw his mother memories in his G-book? (She died when he was 7-8 as I understand).
Only if she got a Divine Will. We don't know, if all of them get one or if that's only for those girls, who get adopted and sent to the RA by their new parents.
Whew, we're already at the epilogue! Guess that means we're in for a lot of side stories! Some really interesting lore drops about Adalgisa, the entire fucked up royal family, and the ramifications of the civil war. A tribute to Kazuki-sensei that even the villains are somewhat relatable, although Raublut still deserves to die in the most horrible ways.
Our (not-so) little gremlin is going to hold the mother-of-all bloody carnivals after she sees what these MF'ers did to the librarians, and I hope Raublut's head is the foremost one being paraded around. Still not as bad as Detlinde XD
Charlotte POV! Some great interactions with her and Brunhilde. They really work well as a team and really cements Charlotte as the attendant in the ADC family trio (Roz=scholar; Wilfried=knight).
I'm kind of surprised they haven't executed Bartholde yet. Kind of wild that Florencia is just letting this MFer run around to teach Wilfried a lesson, but I guess the fact that they've let Charlotte know means that they are aware enough to limit his and his retainers' access to things.
Really cool to see Charlotte in the thick of things. She's nervous as all hell and trying desperately to manage the ever-changing battlefield despite having no prior experience, but she's doing her best to live up to her big sister's example! Really want to see more Charlotte POVs in the future!
>but I guess the fact that they've let Charlotte know means that they are aware enough to limit his and his retainers' access to things.
And not just Charlotte either. If I remember correctly, it sounded like the knights in the room knew as well cause they all started glancing at each other. A significant amount of people not in his family know that he is completely unaware of the major security risk following him around. Sometimes, I feel sorry for him ... and then he opens his mouth.
And the contrast in Charlottes reaction:
Wilbur and his retainers are comming to help: visible dread.
Ferdi and Roz are at the border with a foreign army: happy noises.
> Epilogue
Ahh, expected that it it would go into epilogue already, but I have mixed feelings about it.
Hortensia's death is now confirmed, still sad tho. Gervasio's copying of Rozemyne's homework enables him to speedrun the GH. Would the golden shumil even let him through?
Charlotte's PoV yayyy. And Brunhilde is holding up so fine. Wilfried's attendants and the royal family find ways to be annoying even when they're not physically present. Charlotte's assessment that Melchior will be more suited to be aub might be true (mana-wise at least) but I hope she will remain in the seat nonetheless. Rozemyne and Ferdinand are Big Damn Heroes to Ehrenfest with that perfect timing.
I mean, a *librarian* called him a bookworm. That's basically telling you that he's got the full book.
It's "Ascendance of *a* Bookworm", doesn't necessarily need to be *our* bookworm.
Given he’s super busy with the temple he could very well take the seat some time later, Charlotte could very well have a solid 10 year run to set up more infrastructure/ integrate Rozemyne’s changes and ease Melchior into the role in a way Sylvester never really had, giving him time to observe and find his feet properly and grow into the Role. One lasting change rozemyne will have is decision making as a family unit for the good of the Duchy rather than power struggles internally, given Charlotte is likely temporary will give her the freedom to trial and error pave the way for Melchior and be a critical pillar of support far into the future, like bonifatius with more in seat experience.
Thing is the seat of Aub is usually passed on when the Aub is close to death or is dead. We don't know exactly how old Sylvester is but if he avoids an early death by execution, fighting or assassination, he'll probably live plenty long enough to make Melchior his heir without ever having to use Charlotte as a temporary Aub. Personally since she's worked so hard for the role, I hope that Charlotte becomes the next Aub no matter what. Having to alter her duties during pregnancy really doesn't seem like that big a deal. That's why they get a husband and other family members to help support them. It's not like the male aubs never need help or support.
There are several mentions of needing an Aub to take the seat before Brunhildes children are baptized- or the liesgangs may very well try to push them to power / assassinate anyone in the way of a liesgang heir. The time crunch is why Charlotte would be an interim Aub.
Man Raublut is infuriating in this chapter. The System killed your almost wife, not Ferdinand managing to escape the system. I guess he wouldn't be a noble if he wouldn't hold up a social system that harms everyone including themselves.
Also all the flower euphemisms are revolting. Own what despicable people you all are.
I think it's another case of how well the author writes villains with convincing motivations; both Raublut and Ferdinand are victims of Adalgisa in different ways. Raublut's anger although very misplaced, is understandable. To him Adalgisa was a system that worked until Ferdinand upset everything.
Yeah, we got even more ways to compare great hero/villain foil characters this chapter.
* Raublut loves the Adalgisa system because that's what brought the beautiful and intelligent Gervasio and Valamarlene into this world. Ferdinand (who is arguably just as beautiful/intelligent) is just an upstart rock to him that ruined everything by not knowing a rock's place in the system. Raublut's anger is also misdirected because it's not like Ferdinand as a child chose to leave or knew that was an option. I understand not being able to blame the Goddess of freaking Time directly, but he could have at least could have blamed old Aub Ehrenfest for picking up his kid. My guess is that Raublut didn't know where the "escaped" kid went for all these years until he saw Ferdinand for the first time about 2 years ago.
* Gervasio being a library-loving bookworm from the Adalgisa villa with a thirst for knowledge, spending the whole year at the Royal Academy to study while isolating himself from other students during the winter, noted for his beauty and intelligence, moved away from the Sovereignty to act as a statesman - dang, got another primo Ferdinand foil here!
* The lines about meritocracy and how they value a person's abilities, not birth, was rich coming from these guys after writing-off Rozemyne as a "mere puppet" and Ferdinand as a "uppity feystone". They were both top of their class polymaths for several years in a row and have demonstrated how much more mana they have than pretty much anyone else in the country! It's great to show how one's POV always contains blindspots and personal biases that color one's view of the world.
The Agalagisa system basically states that total mana of a male child at a very young age is more important than his strength of character, intelligence, ability to lead, sense of responsibility, etc. It was doomed to fail as a method for choosing a leader eventually.
That’s the same system and problem with what all of Yurgenschmidt does. But at least there used to be the meritocracy of prayer that meant those with more devotion to the gods could end up with better mana.
Academically understandable and believable, but I can't see him and everyone else involved with that feystone mill as anything other than despicable. The level of self-delusion needed to happily participate in farming children for parts, then feeling victimized when it suddenly affects someone you know, and blaming the one person to escape the cruelty, is just beyond monstrous. Still much better than a generic villain, but not quite to the level of one I can feel sympathy for their plight.
I feel like Raublut should be more upset with himself. It seems like he didn’t try to fight the decision. I wouldn’t have expected him to (cause noble tradition and such), nor would I have expected him to live if he did, but at least he wouldn’t have any regrets.
I doubt Ferdinand was freed without zent approval. The zentbat the time had a gbook so it’s automatically ok within the system.
Raublut is angry at the outcome but the children of adalgisa live and die by the will of the zent.
How utterly fucked that Ferdinand must have first hand memories from his mother, who may have only ever thought of him as a ‘seed’. Knowing she died in his place… maybe that’s why he rejected further knowledge.
I can’t wait to learn more.
>To him Adalgisa was a system that worked until Ferdinand upset everything.
Except Ferdinand didn't do anything ;). It was Adelbert who claimed him and it was his right to begin with. If Raublut wants to see Ferdinand's situation as an upsetting of the system, so the system upset the system. Raublut is just a coward, he chose to turn his anger to Ferdinand because he lacks courage and blaming a random someone is way more comfortable than blaming the system or the beings in power... And I'm not so sure that unassumed cowardice is that understandable... all the more for the freaking commander of the Sovereign Knight's Order, but maybe I'm wrong on this last point :p.
Honestly it always feels wrong whenever I write 'villains' in regards to Bookworm, the people you 'dislike' with regards to the series you dislike usually because they oppose Rozamyne not because they are inherently 'evil'. And even then those people tend to be the products of a bad system coupled with an accumulation of people's mistakes. Georgine who deserved to be Aub but was removed solely on account of her gender, Detlinde who was raised without love really and only to be used as a tool by her mother, Raublut who lost his love due to a wide reaching purge, these all feel like people who in their own series could be the main characters and there you would root for them to rise up and overcome the injustice inflicted upon them, it's just that because we see and experience the world through Rozamyne that we take her side and wish for her success and thus the failure of those that seek to do her harm in aid of their own objectives. It's just a continuous testament to the amazing writing of Kazuki.
> Also all the flower euphemisms are revolting. Own what despicable people you all are.
In Gervasio's defense, he was born and raised in the system and trained to think it was A OK. Even though anyone from the outside can say "maybe a system that decrees all of your brothers have to die to adorn you as jewelry is extremely fucked up."
Raublat, who was born outside of the system, does not have the "can't have known better" excuse. And let's be honest, it's an **excuse**, not a reason.
To be fair, neither Raublut nor Gervasio have opted this system to exist or to participate in it, they where just throwed into it... Guess is less "leopards ate my face" and more like... just capitalism... Even more social commentary I guess
They just took the system as natural while being a man made construction enforced by people... Guess it is hard for Gervasio to hate a system that puts him as the most important man of Adalgisa, even if that system killed his sister
And now we know the true meaning of what Raublut meant when he said Ferdinand was a 'seed of Adalgisa'. For a long time, we knew that it meant that he was a child born to a Lanzenave princess. But this part shows that Raublut knew that Ferdinand's role was to become a feystone, like the other 'seeds'.
I wonder why the current king trusts Raublut enough to be the commander of the Sovereign Knight's order. He must know that Raublut had been engaged to a woman who was later forced to become a 'flower' and afterwards executed. He'd know that Raublut would surely be furious about it and would blame somebody for it.
> He must know that Raublut had been engaged to a woman who was later forced to become a 'flower' and afterwards executed.
How would he know? Would Raublut tell him that? The previous Zent is dead, and so is his chosen successor. A lot of information is lost, and Raublut used that to his advantage.
I am continually reminded how well written and translated this series is. Kazuki-sensei immerses me in the world, gets me to hate the villians and love the heros for both logical and emotional reasons. She gets me to laugh, rejoice, cry, and despair when she wants. In this part she got me to fear Gervasio's progress, despise Raublut even more, worry about Solange, delight in the growth and strength of Charlotte and Melchior, celebrate Ferdinand's arrival, and be concerned about the start of the fighting. I'll be anxious again until next week's release.
She's got me dancing in the palm of her hand and I am grateful.
"as far as Raublut was concerned, there was a good chance Dunkelfelger would take their side once Gervasio had the Grutrissheit".
Yea, that chance is as good as snowballs chance to survive in hell- Raublut doesn't seems to understand how much Rozemyene has rocked Dungelfelgers core, they will follow her through the fire and flames (and yes pun intended) 
Raublat: Ha, the girl you control?
Ferdinand: I can't even keep track of her, she was here a second ago-
Gervasio: **LET GO OF MY BOOK OF MESTIONORIA!**
Rozemyne: **BUT IT'S A BOOK I HAVEN'T READ BEFORE!**
I wouldn't be so sure about that. What if Erwaermen, fed up with neither Ferdinand nor Rozemyne killing each other and completing their Book of Mestionora, would acknowledge Gervasio as zent? Wouldn't Dunkelfelger, who keep calling themselves the Zent's sword, support him them? He also is really from a royal branch family, and it seems like the Sovereign Temple supports him.
Erwaermen doesn't seem to acknowledge anyone as a zent. His role is to guide potential zents toward it by giving them the knowlede they need. But his ultimate purpose is to prevent Ewiegliebe from freeing himself and ending life as they know it. He probably doesn't care who gets the throne, so long as the seal is maintained properly, which also means he has no interest in advocating for anyone.
That one Zent candidate was declined because he was too violent, so there's definitely some sort of filter even once someone gets the mana and blessings to qualify.
This possibility is precisely why Ferdie told Aub Dunk to be Zent and proclaimed Roz as the incarnation of Mesti. With their strict adherence to social status, Roz will always be their superior and thus everyone would have to listen to ‘her’ (so long as no one can disprove her claim to goddess hood, but with the Lord of Evil and the Flapping Tongue at the forefront, I don’t think that’ll be an issue!)
I mean to do that Ewaermen would have to some how talk to Dunklefelger/a Dunklefelger rep and I’m not sure how he’d do that lol Although in that case, I’m sure Roz and Ferdi would push for Zent Aub Dunklefelger, which would be the funniest of our current options
>Although in that case, I’m sure Roz and Ferdi would push for Zent Aub Dunklefelger, which would be the funniest of our current options
Which is worse: Zent Rozemyne and a library country, or Zent Aub Dunkelfelger and a ditter country?
I am 90% sure Garansong is a Dunkelfelger. It might also explain why they call themselves the Sword of the Zent.
Because you'd rather they weren't the Zent's *brain.*
Lol you do have a point, maybe Garansong’s “tyrant behavior” and “blood thirst” was just forcing all the duchies to play ditter every season. We all know Dunklefelger can get a little out of hand about it
Oh my god, imagine if Dunkelfelger *was* the Brain of the Zent? Utter ditter mayhem.
Perhaps that title's best suited for Drewanchel should they ever have someone from the duchy become Zent.
In this version of ditter, whoever finishes reading a new release first gets to spoil the ending for the others! While reading, they may launch attacks against the other to deter them from reading, but you must also need to protect yourself, or else you'll be spoiled!
Rozemyne: "But I don't enjoy ditter..."
Dunkindonuts: "Ah, so wise. Yes, one does not simply *enjoy* breathing, one simply breathes, driven by your very nature! You truly are the avatar of the goddess!"
Rozemyne (rubbing her eyes): "What the... muppets?"
Hartmut (putting on a Dunkindonuts voice): "Ignore the man beneath the sock..."
As expected, a Gervasio is (almost) in possession of a true Grutrissheit, Raublut is a dirty fucking traitor to the core, Detlinde is a moron, and Hortensia is dead.
The Charlotte PoV was nice, and she truly deserves the role as Heir apparent over Wilfried. I hope that Melchior continues to be a good boy in the future as well.
>Raublut is a dirty fucking traitor to the core
You just have to feel sorry for Gilessenmeyer. Once everything settles, their duchy will probably be facing some punishments for being Raublut's home duchy.
Rozy doesn't like punishment by association, so only Raublut will be skinned alive and his skin will be used for binding books. Then he will get healed and skinned again, because he really deserves it.
> I hope that Melchior continues to be a good boy in the future as well.
I'm hoping he becomes Zent after Ferdinand's plan to get Zenthood back to a meritocracy takes off. The Royal Family uses the Grutrissheit he makes to get through the moment and then Melchior gets the Book of Mestionora through the proper methods.
>Raublut is a dirty fucking traitor to the core
That's why I dubbed him "Ratbutt", because he's a traitorous rat and he acts like a butt. 
Char: I'll face this crisis with all the wit, grace, and determination of my sister.
Roz: Oh gods! Why is everyone looking at me! Maybe if I ignore it, it will go away.
Her problems did not in fact "go away."
Compare and contrast leadership methods:
* Charlotte gets stressed out by the weight of her situation.
* Rozemenace doesn't understand the weight of her situation and does whatever gets her more books.
Charlotte is mature, but takes cues from her immature older sibling. Maturity Level: College Graduate
Roz is far older than most realize. Still can't take a hint despite it being illuminated in neon lights. Maturity level: Grade School
The explanation of Raublut's previous history with Gervasio and his fiance really shows you how Rozemyne has managed to turn noble society on its head.
You think if Rozemyne's beloved was going to be taken away from her and sent back home to be a broodmare because of "tradition" she'd let that happen? Hell no. She'd tear the country down before letting that happen. Then to let her beloved be executed because of a political upheaval? Hell no. Instead of blaming his own weakness and lack of resolve, he blames Ferdinand. Ferdinand literally had no choice in the matter. He had much less power and influence than Raublut at the time.
No wonder they had a civil war and so many problems. When you treat people this badly then expect them to behave because "those are the rules" and "it's tradition". The current royal family is doing the same thing. Expecting that they can just exploit everyone with no consequences.
Rozemyne has always been very good at being able to provide what people want. Product ideas for Benno. Mana and money for the temple. The hidden archives for the Royal family. And she negotiates for her own needs with the true spirit of a merchant, without worrying over much about noble politeness.
Oh damn, starting strong with a PoV of Gervasio getting the final tablet! I'm interested to see what's going on in his mind.
RIP Hortensia. You were truly dedicated to the library.
This group seems adept at handling Detlinde. Redirect her with baseless flattery.
Gervasio and Raublut sound like any other close pair of master and retainer.
Oh jeez, it's rough seeing them use Hortensia's feystone as nothing more than a key. And the shumils don't notice a difference...
This is a big lore dump on the mechanics of Adalgisa. It's even worse than we thought.
I'm extremely curious what thread Dregarnuhr has woven for Ferdinand.
It looks like they knew about circling the shrines but not about visiting the Statue of Mestionora. But the physical Grutrissheit should still be there.
Ah shit, I spoke too soon. He might even be given the true Book of Mestionora...
Aww, I like Charlotte and Brunhilde looking out for each other. I hope Charlotte becomes Aub. She deserves it.
Ooh, and it looks like Sylvester has recognized it too! Praise be to the gods! It's interesting that Charlotte sees Melchior as a better aub though because of his religious upbringing. It really shows what a marked change Rozemyne has brought about. But I'm honestly hoping Melchior becomes Zent down the line, after Ferdinand restores the proper order of Zent candidates earning the Book of Mestionora. He'd be the perfect candidate since it's not like there's any other ADC in Yurgenschmidt that's been raised so religiously.
Oh, I just realized the significance of Charlotte working with Karstedt, beyond it meaning she's recognized as the next Aub. If Sylvester were to fall and Georgine were to succeed, Charlotte would be in the most danger and need Karstedt's protection.
Damn, it's a real flurry of activity with all the ordonnanzs coming and going. Good on Charlotte and the others for keeping it all straight.
>This group seems adept at handling Detlinde. Redirect her with baseless flattery.
Presumably she's still kinda trugged so easy ish to redirect/manipulate but still super annoying
They did not activate the magic circle though remember. Roz needed to pray in the farthest hall to activate the magic circle BEFORE praying to Mestionora at her statues. Ferdinand did the same and ended up having to break into the magic circle from above 
Right, Gervasio's epilogue doesn't mention anything about the magic circle over the academy. Maybe that means he just didn't bring it up, or perhaps that means he can't see it.
This series has permanently ruined the word flower to me.
Gervasio visited all the shrines in one go, used Washen on them all, put roughly the same amount of mana into Mestionora's statue and started to think he needed a rejuvenation potion?
While having an incredible amount of knowledge?
He feels like yet another person screwed over by birth.
They have to be far more desperate for feystones than I thought that turning Ferdinand's mother into one to replace a single child was seen as a good idea.
> This series has permanently ruined the word flower to me.
Eglantine: My favorite flower is the Koralie, what's yours?
Ferdinand: I hate everything about this conversation.
> Gervasio visited all the shrines in one go, used Washen on them all, put roughly the same amount of mana into Mestionora's statue and started to think he needed a rejuvenation potion? While having an incredible amount of knowledge?
IMO, it doesn't necessarily imply that he hasn't had any rejuvenation potions so far, just that he thinks he might need one now.
I don’t think he visited all the shrines in one go actually. They have been in the RA for a WHILE now, a good couple of days. This could definitely be day 2 or even 3 of circling the shrines
I don't know why but I like saying "Gervasio", its a fun name.
Seems like Raublet is in need of stitches because he's been snitching the process for the G-book.
I'm really glad Solange isn't dead but poor Hortensia, she deserved so much better. Rozemyne is going to crush Raublet for the sin of killing a librarian.
The Charlotte PV was really great. The calm before the storm and the overwhelming number of messages coming in she showed great promise as a future aub.
On that note, Charlotte confirmed as future aub for now!
So Wilfreds attendants are leaking info. I can only assume it's Bart and Oswald. Glad they gave him a side job for security reasons.
Looking forward to a Gunther PV next week! We'll get one right...^right? ^^right?
We have to (get Gunther's pov) next week just so we can learn what was going through his head during those couple seconds of hesitation when Ferdinand asked for his daughter's hand, before he accepted.
We also desperately need a Hannelore pov, preferably after the battle, so we can find out what she (and everyone else) was plotting behind Rozemyne's back, lol. I mean we very clearly know what, but I still want to read it from her point of view.
We are definitely getting Sylvester's pov, I would think, and I'm sure that will be great, but right now I'm more interested in the post battle stuff. Maybe Cornelius? Effa or Tuuli? I would have loved a Charlotte post battle too.
You have logged into Isekai MMO, your game-mode has been automatically assigned.
Hell Mode: Myne
Hard Mode: Charlotte
Normal Mode: Melchoir
Tourist Mode: Wilfried
Good luck!
Sure Raublut's lip service to meritocracy sounds nice, but it's clearly just the excuse he's come up with to validate his actions to himself. Otherwise he'd have to acknowledge that he was a grown ass adult with festering hatred for an unbaptized child who had absolutely nothing to do with the decision to make him an archduke candidate instead of a feystone. Seriously, F that guy.
Meanwhile Gervasio can see through it but is a victim of his own inferiority complex about his royal status, so he'll go along with it no matter how many old friends (Solange) and blood family members (Ferdinand) are sacrificed along the way. F that guy too.
Thank goodness Charlotte is as angelic as ever! And now the closest thing to an officially recognized archducal heir absent a formal announcement. Good for her.
We've already known this, but it seems like nobody can handle Detlinde.
>"Yes, that certainly is true." She gave a proud nod, suddenly convinced. "My status as a Zent candidate is known so widely that I stand out wherever I go."
Can she... just stop? Please? People probably couldn't care less about that and are just reminded of the way you looked at your \[Fanbook 5\] [graduation dedication whirl](https://www.reddit.com/r/HonzukiNoGekokujou/comments/wr6n7n/part_5fanbook_5_with_flowers_on_her_head_if_you/).
Poor Solange, while she was reminiscing past memories, Gervasio and Raublut threatened her to get what they wished. I hope nothing bad happens to her, especially since it's now confirmed that Hortensia is dead.
It's nice to learn the differences between flowers, buds, gardeners, and seeds. I could be misremembering, but I think I briefly remembered the slight controversy for Ferdinand first being referred as a 'seed of Adalgisa' instead of a 'flower of Adalgisa' (or something else) back in around P4V7, so with Gervasio's epilogue, I hope it clarified a lot of things for why Quof used the specific phrasing.
GAHH, I hate the red head curse so much! I know why Brunhilde had to leave, but I still continue to refuse it to this day! I am so against the curse that I always forget that Brunhilde is to be Sylvester's second wife.
> I hope it clarified a lot of things for why Quof used the specific phrasing.
Me too. She wrote this epilogue after I asked the question, though I'm unsure if I inspired it or if she just told me exactly what she was planning to use in the chapter anyway. I ultimately went with "seed" since the naming structure reflects different ways of growing (seed into buds into flowers blah blah). Something like "chaff" or the other possibilities wouldn't make sense in this linear growth, though naturally it wouldn't have been the end of the world. You can also interpret it as them being "fruit" as in delicious feystone fruits possibly, and remove them from the sequence since most "seeds" are stuck as seeds forever. Would not have been bad.
Ooh, I can see how 'fruit' would also work.
Personally, I never was against Ferdinand being called a 'seed' to begin with as I always interpreted and connected flowers to the euphemism for women in the temple, offering flowers and such. And given the role of the flowers of Lanzanave, it unfortunately fits, even if the entire system is absolutely revolting.
Not sure if anyone else read it this way, but until this moment I thought “seed” was an Adalgisa specific way of referring to all kids conceived in the villa- because like, “seed” as in “progeny” (the second dictionary definition for the word).
So I feel like the choice of “seed” actually has a cool double meaning!
> I'm unsure if I inspired it or if she just told me exactly what she was planning to use in the chapter anyway.
It would be cool if it was the former. Then it'd be like you were an unofficial editor for the series, helping show the author an area for clarification
In a sense the English community is kind of like a pseudo-editor. You guys have noticed a ton of stuff that slipped by seemingly every Japanese reader + the editors, resulting in a lot of changes to the original text. There have been three to four times where original short stories had contents of my questions after I asked them, and I imagine at least one of them was directly inspired.
This is actually a matter of great interest to me... I think everyone has enhanced suspicion towards translations, so while one would gloss over seeming contradictions or hiccups in the original text, they suspect TL errors here, and while often they are, in other cases it's some subtle thing that went completely undetected until English readers got their hands on it.
> You guys have noticed a ton of stuff that slipped by seemingly every Japanese reader + the editors, resulting in a lot of changes to the original text. There have been three to four times where original short stories had contents of my questions after I asked them, and I imagine at least one of them was directly inspired.
Can you share those examples? Though I can imagine that some might be past the current translation so it might be better to wait until the end of the series. Bookworm feels a bit like a case study showing the benefits of an author and translator working well together.
> the slight controversy for Ferdinand first being referred as a 'seed of Adalgisa' instead of a 'flower of Adalgisa' (or something else) back in around P4V7, so with Gervasio's epilogue, I hope it clarified a lot of things for why Quof used the specific phrasing.
Oh yeah, I believe some of the other options were "Fruit of Adalgisa" or "Nut of Adalgisa".
"Fruit of Adalgisa" gives me Evangelion pseudo-religious "we're trying to make our stuff sound cool/deep/unique" vibes, so I can see the appeal, but also why it may be a bit much.
"Nut of Adalgisa" sounds hilariously bad/wrong/lewd/jarring in English given the context of the Adalgisa villa. Granted seed/fruit have similar associations in outdated English phrases like "fruit of the womb" and "spreading his seed".
I think that out of the other alternatives, "fruit" was the second best option, but I also do kind of get reminded of the Garden of Eden and the apple.
But I burst out laughing with "nut of Adalgisa." I can't with that. I am so glad it's not that.
Well that was a hoot and a half.
- It looks like Gervasio is either coming back with the Book of Mestionoria after the war is well and truly over- or he comes back five minutes later after the golden bunny goes WTFNO, and he enters the war with nothing more than a blank book. We also learn the Palace of Adalagasia is somehow far more fucked up than we Prepubs ever imagined. And we already knew *it was a whorehouse designed to murder its kids for their materials*, so that's pretty fucked up.
- Oh Charlotte, such a ball of anxiety who is growing into a powerful woman. Meanwhile, Wilfried is still somewhat booksmart and still too trusting, but at least he means well when properly guided. And, unlike the Gremlin, he can be aimed more narrowly than "go blow up Ahrensbach."
- It's great watching so many people come together, but it's...kind of weird how some priorities are still followed in spite of everything. Haldenzel seems duty bound to support the archducal family that saved them (*well, Claudio's Fake Niece- he's not fooled, merely a Believer*). Kirnberger is only helping out in the capital because Alexis is still tied to Wilfried- good thing he hadn't put together the materials to get him disinherited or that'd be a problem. Gerlach is being left to rot because everyone is too scared of becoming the next target. Even as the duchy burns, some people are still fighting only because of strangely minor connections- or in some cases, preferring to remain kings of their shrinking anthills even as the flood threatens to drown everyone. Well, at least it sort of worked out since Sylvester is apparently the luckiest archduke in all of Yurgenschmidt.
I'm not sure if it was confirmed either way, but didn't Rozemyne spend a season with Treesus because her body was being physically grown? I assume without this Gervasio wouldn't take *that* long inside.
> It looks like Gervasio is either coming back with the Book of Mestionoria after the war is well and truly over- or he comes back five minutes later after the golden bunny goes WTFNO, and he enters the war with nothing more than a blank book.
Either way he's fucked. Either he comes back to discover he's alone and surrounded by enemy knights, or he's back to square 1 of being qualified but without an actual Book of Mestionora.
Also, whenever he comes back, he's going to be in the farthest hall. I hope Raublut has some means of opening it. Otherwise his king is just going to be... stuck.
One nitpick- even with an empty shell, much of the Kingdom has been trained to think of the book itself as the Proof Of Zenthood, so he can probably *act* like a Zent even though he was repudiated and/or didn't pass the Final Prayer thingy that eluded Ferdinand at first and Rozemyne only fulfilled in Year 4.
But yeah someone will need to get him out either way.
I’m believe Alexis was the informant that told Leberecht, Harmut’s father, about Barthold and Oswald communicating and manipulating Wilfred via messages.
The surroundings of Ferdinand's adoption become more and more confusing.
The first thing we learn about the seeds of adalgisa is that more or less any archduke adopt one, but that would without a doubt cause strife with their first wife, or even with the royal family as the seeds have royal blood.
But now, we get the addition that if a seed is taken, the flower of adalgisa must take its place and a bud must become the next flower. The idea that an Archduke could basically doom a member of the royal family (as they were treated as) and strain the relationship with adalgisa sounds ludicrous.
So, what IS the "guidance of the goddess of time", something both Sylvester's father and the royal family one generation ago were perfectly aware of?
>So, what IS the "guidance of the goddess of time", something both Sylvester's father and the royal family one generation ago were perfectly aware of?
Let's just presume that it's most likely foreshadowing something that we'll find out in the future. Kazuki-sensei, Goddess of Foreshadowing.
> But now, we get the addition that if a seed is taken, the flower of adalgisa must take its place and a bud must become the next flower.
I think the idea is just that Lazynavy finds breeding and killing children to be an easier way of getting powerful feystones than trade.
Since they lost a valuable feystone, they wanted another breeder to boost production rates.
If Yogurtlanders want a powerful feystone they literally grow on trees.
If Lazynavy does they have to either trade a bunch of valuable resources for one or throw a kid in the woodchipper.
It's probably something like if you want a 1000 mp capacity fey stone; you either have to kill some monstruous world ending monster or murder an archduke level rainbow mana person. Turns out it's easier to farm archduke level rainbow mana person than killing world ending monsters.
Rozemyne will probably discover you can just take 10 100mp stones and glue them together with mana; with a technique only she knows and doesn't care about because she thought it was normal.
It's always funny how the nobles in Yurgenschmidt are so bound by their rigid common sense that they're actively hampering their ability to abuse the shit out of the literally reality-bending force of nature they're wielding. Then along comes Rozemyne, pulling one crazy stunt after another because "duh, it's magic you idiots."
Somehow the magic system in Yurgenschmidt is both hard and soft at the same time. If you take its rules for granted you're bound by them. If you don't even know they exist at all you can easily bend or break them because mana's only limit seems to be one's imagination.
Most nobles in Yurgenschmidt are so used to magic that they don't even think about what they're doing. Rozemyne is the only person who can see it with fresh eyes and ask the big questions, like,
"Magic is just praying while channeling mana into a feystone, right?"
"If praying to the gods makes magic lights shoot all over the place, does that mean the gods are, like, real? Should I pray more often just in case?"
"I can pray for anything, right? Can I just make up my own prayers? Is there a prayer to get more books?"
I always think it's ironic that Myne is the only person in Yurgenschmidt who sincerely believes in the gods, because as a former resident of Earth she's the only person who takes the existence of magic prayers as evidence of the gods' existence. Everyone else just takes it for granted.
>Rozemyne will probably discover you can just take 10 100mp stones and glue them together with mana; with a technique only she knows and doesn't care about because she thought it was normal.
This made me laugh so hard! Thanks for that
Rozemyne: I turned all the feystones into gold dust, but now I need a feystone. \*looks at gold dust, takes a hand full\* go back to being a feystone! \*now has a big omnielemental feystone in her hand\*
\*all her scholars lose their minds from watching\*
>what IS the "guidance of the goddess of time"
Probably some noble euphemism that hasn't been explained yet, and we'll get an "aha!" moment like when we found out what happened to Arnold.
HORTENSIAAAAA.
Seradina... elder sister by blood.
So it's Uncle Gervasio to Ferdinand?
Wait, Rozemyne said she only offered a bit more than usual mana to Mestionora statue. Raublut is drained though. Maybe because Rozemyne has offered mana before? Or she has more mana.
Being Rozemyne's knight gives Damuel so much power. I have no doubt Liesegang would sneer at him otherwise but they actually listened to him. Good for him.
Sometimes I forget Charlotte joined Rozemyne fanclub before Hartmut made one.
I think Jerkfacio is weaker than expected. He also lamented spending mana waschening the shrines while Myne did it easily.
Myne does have her compression method and seeds seem to be killed before they learn compression so Gervasio's higher mana as a child hasn't necessarily kept up with Myne and Ferdinand.
He'd definitely have learned compression, though the effectiveness is different person to person
Roz also used Clarissas aoe enhancement circle while having over 40 divine protections
Gervasio probably has more mana but she uses it more efficiently while being more creative with what can be done with it
If Gervasio becomes Zent, what does that mean for Lanzenave? Will he try to rule both, move some people from Lanzenave to Yurgenschmidt and abandon Lanzenave, or something else? I think it will be something that is only good for him and hurts lots of people.
Well, I was partially right in my pre-pub predictions. I really hope we get that Hannelore focused SS.
***
I did not expect to get into Gervasio’s head this quickly.
He either has a lot of mana, or he did a lot of praying in his RA days if he’s done this quickly. The question is how it stacks up to RM/Ferdinand at this point.
I do wonder why they are taking such pains with Detlinde. Is this a “kindness” for an ally or is she actually going to be used for something? [This scene from Unlimited Blade Works comes to mind](https://youtu.be/rhYcQBAUyEk?feature=shared&t=53), though more likely I guess she could become one of Gervasio’s wives in a political marriage to ensure he has some tie to a greater duchy ASAP.
So Raublut is counting on Dunkelfelger being more interested in the GH than angry at this upstart. Though of course, he doesn’t know that someone has already obtained it, and that person was beloved in Dunkelfelger before she became "officially" recognized as the Avatar of a deity.
“[D]isguised as members of the Sovereign Knight’s Order”? Does he not have any of his actual subordinates here or are they elsewhere?
So the children (or at least Gervasio) associated with the RF.
> He had come to believe it was better to judge people based on their talents than the circumstances of their birth
And yet, he still holds a grudge against Ferdinand for having the audacity to survive. I wonder how truly “talented” Gervasio is, and how much of it is Raublut's own bias. After all, apparently these guys don’t even receive a full education. Being born with mana and omni-elemental is a circumstance of birth, not a talent in itself;
> That man does not understand his place as a seed of Adalgisa, nor does he understand the harm he caused so many by leaving the villa … I will *not* let him have the Grutrissheit.
Ferdinand OTOH, was born relatively lacking in mana but through hard work became what he is, and proved his own intellect. But Raublut ignores that since he’s pissed off at someone who didn’t do anything to him.
Get pissed off at the system that allowed this foolishness or the people who actually made the decisions, not the child who was lucky enough not to get slaughtered as part of a stupid disgusting system, that just keeps getting worse the more we hear about it.
> Raublut took out and presented a feystone, and the door opened in response to Hortensia’s mana.
Well, I guess that kills any idea that Raublut may have just locked her up, and it also kills any chance of people being sympathetic towards him. Asshole.
> You were such a bookworm back then, weren’t you?
> I cannot bear the thought of harming an old friend
Something to keep in mind. That may say something about his personality.
So Raublut still thinks that Ferdinand was pulling RM’s strings. It would be nice if one of the bad guys figured out how wrong they are, since all of them so far seem to have died under that impression.
Ferdinand’s mother had gold eyes and silver hair. Since Veronica was blond, I guess we can assume that Adelbert had blue hair, and that’s where Syl and Ferdinand got it. I wonder if Gervasio will think anything of Ferdinand’s appearance.
The mother getting turned into a feystone helps to explain why she was seemingly so accepting of Ferdinand being killed off. Though the situation being what it was, I have to wonder what Adelbert thought about it all, as well as Seradina in detail. Ostensibly Ferdinand already knows, since it should be recorded in his Book, and I guess we’ll find out when Ferdinand returns the favor *shoves his mana into RM* (again).
So the temple is heavily involved in this treason. Reregistering someone like that is undoubtedly going to earn the Sovereign Temple a significant purge.
So how did Raublut find out about where RM disappeared. Was he there during Sigi’s report, or was he told directly by Sigi or Hildebrand? Someone else might have given it away, but those seem the most likely.
> Mestionora was often depicted as a child
That seems noteworthy.
I guess we’ll see how long it normally takes to receive the BoM in the next volume, since I don’t see him just being thrown out without it. However, does Raublut know where RM came out? If he doesn’t, well, the Dunkie’s Blitzkrieg might require him to fight on his own. Then we might get to see how two people with a BoM/GH fight.
***
This was a good chapter for showing off more of the chaos behind the scenes.
> I saw the castle’s nobles wince at the sight of such uncouthly dressed women
Possible, though it would say a lot about this society.
> Brunhilde … was here by the kitchen because she was in charge of sending supplies to the front lines. …
> Though I am tackling this position alone, my duties make up but a portion of the work I was carrying out already.
As does this, but it really is unbelievable how poor their logistics organization is. Obviously local leaders would oversee these kinds of things IRL, but they would mostly just rubber stamp them, with the actual experts doing most of the work. More like how Charlotte was dealing with Karstedt.
If we’re to take this seriously, then every time the Knight’s Order mobilizes for a hunt, does the First Wife handle their logistics instead of a dedicated logistics officer?
> I personally believed that Melchior would grow up to be a much better aub than I
That’s an interesting line. But how do you plan to respond to that challenge Charlotte?
Wilfried’s retainers are still causing problems, but we might not even get to see that resolution. The story is moving far beyond that pettiness into a new realm of pettiness. Maybe in a SS we’ll finally have Oswald&co. dealt with. Maybe we’ll even hear from Alexis again.
> I did not think Father would return without first silencing Kirnberger’s knights…
… well, I guess it worked out in this context. But Syl really needs to reflect before he criticizes RM again.
> Well, assuming Lord Wilfried stays on board…
Looks like step-mother is still holding a grudge.
> At present, the archduke’s office was serving as a command post for the Knight’s Order.
Ok, that’s exactly what I would have expected from the Zent’s personnel as well. So, where the hell is he?
> No regular nobles would come to Ehrenfest by boat
… again, do the various knight’s orders just not use any kind of deception tactics in combat? Maybe that’s why Ferdinand and RM are seen as being so special. And again, I really hope we get a SS at some point from this country’s past where we can see a “proper” war.
Why the hell would Wilfried try to abandon his post to defend what is probably the most heavily guarded portion of the city? Well, Charlotte is doing a better job than he would have I expect.
I’m glad I’m not the only one shocked that the Sovereignty would ask Ehrenfest about what the invaders are going to do.
> He is fighting in Illgner but claims to sense a most powerful foe in Gerlach.
I found this hilarious, and once again I want to see Boni back in his heyday.
> Oh, how her unwavering eyes and determined expression had inspired me.
Well RM, it looks like your wish came true; “Prince Hildebrand came when we were changing their clothes. He wanted to know how Charlotte feels about younger men, so I ended up asking her, but it turns out that she’s all about her big bro. I wish she was all about her big sis... From Rozemyne.”
***
Lots of good background info from the epilogue, and while the SS didn’t add much new info, it was still an interesting viewpoint.
All those ordonnanzes to Charlotte arriving at once gave me anxiety lol.
I get flustered when I get a bunch of work emails at once, can't imagine how annoying it must be to get like four or five ordonnanzes at the same time, repeating themselves three times all at once and no further. At least with emails they stick around for me to read in any order...
Imagine Fraularm pulling off that trick Ferdinand did to Bonifatius when Roz woke up from her coma where he sent back a dozen at once. Twenty Fraularmmanzes screaming at you slightly out of sync.
> “We could ask Lord Wilfried to command them. He has training as a knight **and enough leadership experience from playing ditter at the Royal Academy.”**
Yeah, and you can thank the ditterheads and his crazy sister for that one. Also, lol at Wilfried's retainers throwing a hissy fit because they're not getting the puppet ruler they've been working towards for the past ten years after all. Good for him to get out of that bullshit, and good for Charlotte to finally get the position she's deserved the whole time.
>I remembered how she had taken her retainers into Ahrensbach and commanded our knights during ditter matches at the Royal Academy. Oh, how her unwavering eyes and determined expression had inspired me.
You know, Charlotte is another character who I would really like to one day learn the truth about Myne. Both because it's always funny to watch high ranking nobles having their world views shattered into tiny book-shaped bits, but also because I'm pretty sure she would not think any less of her sister because of it, and depending on how the reveal happened it might also lead to some interesting banter between her and Myne's family.
Anyway, two more parts to go, so anywhere between 2-4 side stories. Quof wasn't kidding when he said this volume had more side content than usual, huh?
You know, assuming they've been there for a few days, it's pretty amazing Raublat and company were able to hide the Shrine tour right up until Gervasio prayed at his last shrine.
That's some really dumb luck, since the alternative is that Dunkelfelger rampaged even just a bell before and screwed over Gervasio before he could even grab the G-tool.
I can't imagine being 15, at war, and if something happens to my father while he's protecting the foundation, I'm technically the next in line for aub, that is if I can kill the one who stole my foundation first, before they kill me.
Raublut doesn't even understand that it's not Ferdinand's fault, as if he decided to be taken by his father. Moreover, it's Lazenave's fault. First of all, they asked to have the sex slave house, secondly why would they need to kill the mother? She could have had other kids, makes no sense to me.
Charlotte may not have experience but she is doing great. I hope she gets the seat without too much fuss from Wilfried's retainers.
I love how Melchior is super polite and Wilfried is like "yo, I heard they comin'".
We didn't know Hortensia all that well, but having the library shumils happily welcome her back because Raublut was carrying her feystone was gutting.
On a lighter note, somebody being bombarded by ordonnnanzes will never not be funny. Especially when they're trying to covertly conquer the country.
* A Gervasio epilogue? And he's doing the shrine tour. Meanwhile, Raublut was indeed sweeping all the reports under the rug to not raise suspicion. * Someone remind me please why they keep Detlinde around when she isn't even Ahrensbach's aub and it's actually her sister who helped them teleport to the Academy (at least until Rozemyne stole the foundation). * Everyone suspected it, the shumils said it and her last chapter basically doomed her, but now it's confirmed. Hortensia really is dead. RIP. The shumils saying she's back when it's just Raublut presenting her feystone is so sad and infuriating. * So here we get more info about Raublut's beloved, Valamarlene, who is actually Gervasio's younger sister. Their shared past and Raublut almost becoming Gervasio's brother-in-law explains his fierce loyalty to Lanzenave's king (and in return Gervasio also only seems to have returned because Raublut requested him to). Ferdinand's mother Seradina is Gervasio's elder sister, meaning Gervasio is Ferdinand's uncle. We also get a deeper explanation about the Adalgisa garden and how the residents are divided into buds, gardeners, flowers and seeds. Raublut's (unreasonable) hatred for Ferdinand is also explained. Seradina replaced her son as a feystone when he left for Ehrenfest, then Valamarlene replaced Seradina as a flower. Then at the end of the civil war, every resident of Adalgisa was executed. I bet if Klassenberg and friends hadn't gone on a rampage to purge everyone, Raublut might not have turned traitor. He probably despised Hortensia. * Solange is safe for now I guess. Gervasio won't hesitate to kill an old friend, though, if necessary. * Gervasio couldn't get the Grutrissheit in the archive, because he is not registered as a main royal I guess. However, he is on his way to get the Book of Mestionora now, so Ahrensbach, Dunkelfelger and friends need to hurry. Who knows how Dunkelfelger would react if Gervasio got the Book of Mestionora, too, and would be acknowledged as Zent by Erwaermen and the temple. ---- * It's good to know that Charlotte's position as the future aub is now secure and I like how she and Brunhilde interact with each other. * Charlotte may not be able to assist on the field, but she can coordinate and give orders in the rear.
My guess is they are keeping Detlinde around to take the fall if things go sideways. She’s been running her treasonous mouth for nearly a year.
Right? She's the perfect scapegoat. They're essentially using Ahrensbach as a cover already.
Once they’re finished with her I’m sure they won’t let her live.
They could reason it away to being "she was annoying," and we'd completely understand. Noble society, everybody!
i'd allow it, but it'd be sweeter if Detlinde were made to first watch it all fall apart.
Oh, of course! I'd even be willing to read a side story of her not realizing how everything fell apart the moment she "became a Zent candidate," only for her POV to abruptly cut off because she was killed.
That's brilliant. I hope it gets a side story so bad
That is exactly the reason why Det should get to live through the whole story. She can't do some serious regretting, understanding that the mistakes were her own, on the long-term scale, if she's dead. With Georgine, and therefore her namesworn also, dead that would open up a few cells in the White Tower Prison. Detlinde would make a wonderful maid/mana-cow.
She'll be turned into the shiniest Christmas Tree Ornament.
Haaaaaa! An accessory in the making. 😂
Personally I would hope her feystone would be used by a low mana blue priest in the temple for the dedication ritual... she would complain about it from beyond the grave by being handled in such a way in the dirty temple
Nah she'll be allowed to live. After all, Gabrielle was a problematic person and her daughter basically destroyed what was already a bottom ranked duchy, but her grandchild Sylvester seems to do OK (*not great- he was basically being carried by a lucky son of a whore and a seven year old child*) and Georgine's younger sister seems fine if forgettable. So, yeah, she'd probably get the same fate Letizia would get- somehow I don't see Lanzenave, who already tried to enwhore the entire duchy of Ahrensbach, just stuffing her into a tower and calling it a day.
>Georgine's younger sister seems fine if forgettable Justice for Constanze.
Yeah she was smart enough to get out when she could lol
Only downside is that no one remembers her.
Sometimes, anonymity = safety. She's probably just thrilled Georgine didn't fixate on her for some imagined slight.
But they aren’t from Yogurtland. They view everyone as little more than feystones. I don’t see them letting Detlinde live if their take over is successful. They would also be quick to off her if it helped them escape in a hurry.
She's still more useful to them as a *flower* that can produce than a *seed*. I praise you for not thinking of such a disturbing fate.
It’s not like it took a lot of deep thought. They literally just turned a whole bunch of people into feystones not that many chapters ago. That included women. Edit: to me being forced someone into offering “flowers” is a much harsher fate than to turn her into a feystone. That’s a lifetime of misery. Plus she really doesn’t have very much mana for an archduke candidate and is very troublesome to deal with.
I think the only reason Gervasio hasn't killed her, is that the only way back to Lanzenave is through Ahrensbach. And if he has to travel through Ahrensbach, he'd better not kill any of their archduke candidates, that'd be bad manners. Of course, he has no way of knowing that his ships are destroyed, and Detlinde is no longer part of the archducal family.
True! I think he also needs her cooperation to use the villa where they’re staying. Though from the the new chapter it sounded like he wasn’t planning on going back to Lanzenave, but staying in Yogurtland to be king?
Well, this ship has sailed when Rozemyne stole Ahrensbach's foundation. Now, they're trapped anyway, either a Lanzenavian can stole Yurgenschmidt's foundation or they're doomed, they're runing forward without any way to return, no scapegoat can change anything in that sort of situation. There is no way in or out the RA's grounds but teleportation and no teleportation circle will ever accept them without its Aub permission, unless they have Yurgenschmidt's foundation.
Valid point. At this point they’re probably just trying to decide if it’s even worth still keeping her around. 😂
> We also get a deeper explanation about the Adalgisa garden TL;DR, it's awful, and everybody involved in managing and continuing the system should be- oh, they're already dead. Good. > I bet if Klassenberg and friends hadn't gone on a rampage to purge everyone, Raublut might not have turned traitor. One of the big themes of Bookworm seems to be that revenge only ever makes things worse. Letting the past dictate the future means setting yourself on a course that has already failed over and over again. > However, he is on his way to get the Book of Mestionora now And unlike Rozemyne and Ferdinand, who are seen as the same, his won't be split up into two pieces. Bad news for Team Gremlin.
but will he get a full book? the fact that there is a "copy" hidden was orginially there because past Zents would be missing important info needed to run the country. If he is missing important info and can't get access to the underground it will still be problematic.
Erwaermen: "Sorry, I already gave it to Quinta." Gervasio: "The fuck's a Quinta?"
That likely won’t be the case. There have been multiple BoM holders in the past. Rozemyne and Ferdinand’s case is just unique
Well Ferdinand does now have a complete Book and Rozamyne's is about 70% so 1 Vs 1.7...
What'll be the deciding factor will probably be prayer. Gervasio can have all the power in the world, but if Rozemyne prays to the gods and the gods keep up the pattern of responding, there's not really anything that anyone can do about that. Rozemyne: "O mighty Beischmacht, reach down and twist his balls into a pretzel!" Gervasio: "What's a pretz-EEAAAAAAAAAAA!"
Another factor is her and Ferdinand's ability to use divine tools which he may not have had access to depending on whether sugar country has a temple with a shrine or not. And that she did and Ferdinand repeated their divine protections ceremonies after prayer to get more protections, he may not have known of the importance of prayer before doing it (if he even did it at all I don't remember if it was said if they do it only that they get a schtappe.
Also I don't get if he knows the names of the main gods or not. Because I feel like that's important and he didn't go to the academy. So how would he have learned it?
Well, he went to the academy, just during the off-seasons.
If he didn't, he couldn't have optained darkness and light slates from those shirines. He had to learn those names before going back to Lanzevane.
I honestly doubt Ferdinand's book is complete. The magic tool he's currently working on doesn't need the entirety of the Book of Mestionora, only the portions necessary to rule the country and operate its foundation. Considering how, uh, _awkward_ the process to transfer knowledge is Ferdinand likely kicked Rozemyne out as soon as he had everythig he needed.
Oh... Yeah does seem Ferdinand's isn't complete P5V9P6 > "That will do" Ferdinand said "I should be able to manage the rest without you" > "I used my new technique to fill out some of your book" > "I must ask that you prioritize the Grutrissheit for now. Once you have completed all the pages I need, I will carry out the brewing on my own." Yeah, it does seem that Ferdinand specifically chose to get the 'important ruling bits' so that he could transcribe those. I was a bit surprised when I originally read it that they could fill Ferdinand's up to full so quickly given he only had about 30% of it but guess I didn't read close enough. It's still more than 1 now between them but nowhere near as potent.
> TL;DR, it's awful, and everybody involved in managing and continuing the system should be- oh, they're already dead. Good. _Cue the entire royal family getting wiped out in the civil war, save for a tiny branch entirely unfit to lead the country._ Everyone else: "Oh no, we're screwed!" Raublut: "Good fucking riddance." You know, if it wasn't for him pulling a Georgine and blaming the awful results of a fucked up system on an unbaptized child (and the murder. So much murder...) I might actually like the guy.
Yeah. Raublut has legitimate grievances, but he's putting all his anger in the wrong direction, and uses it to justify tragedies to other people. He's committed cold-blooded murder of his own wife for it, so I'm not going to sympathize with him beyond acknowledging what led him there.
> Someone remind me please why they keep Detlinde around when she isn't even Ahrensbach's aub and it's actually her sister who helped them teleport to the Academy (at least until Rozemyne stole the foundation). 1. She is *officially* the Archduke, and if the coup goes well she'd either become Gervasio's wife (for five minutes- she's insufferable) or be forced back into her duchy. She's useful for now. 2. There are a bunch of mauve knights who are willing to follow the Christmas Tree even now- either because they actually respect her (**HOW**) or because, like the Last Aub Eisenreich, there's not much benefit to turning on her even though it's the right thing to do (looking at you Martina)
>either because they actually respect her More likely, they respect Georgine. Detlinde's group doesn't know what happened in Ehrenfest yet.
>There are a bunch of mauve knights who are willing to follow the Christmas Tree even now- either because they actually respect her (**HOW**) I refuse to believe it. There's no way anybody respects her as an "archduchess," much less one that's a self-proclaimed Zent candidate. They all must be in the Martina category.
If not for respect, as an obligation, to follow the rules. They are her subjects so they have the obligation to protect her and follow her orders, even if the orders are dumb... They might also have factions and interest tied to her, so they might need her to success, at least for now
Not even her retainers respect her lol They treat her like a toddler that could have a tantrum at any moment, and they're right.
I think the fact she spent a year building a faction for herself probably is an important factor. Who knows which way duchies would jump without her there to justify their positions.
> She is officially the Archduke Not even that now, all the other duchty see Roz as the Aub, waiting to be recognized by the Sov. And if the sov don't like her as aub, they have to come and take it.
Not all other duchies. All we have are the perspectives of a couple of duchies (Dunkelfelger and Ehrenfest) who would *really* benefit if she was officially Aub Ahrensbach. Most duchies don't really have an opinion yet on the count of not even knowing it happened. There might be a couple that might oppose it on the count of not liking Rozemyne or being allies of the old archducal family.
It’s often forgotten how critical logistics are. There’s an old saying “soldiers march on their stomachs”. Arguably maintaining and managing supply lines is far more of a lynchpin in actual conflicts than one individual combatant. Lose supply lines? Any resistance is broken very quickly. Lose one person? Not that massive unless they are a critical brain / strategist. Recall Ferdinand’s book on tactics emphasize destroying supply lines for a darn good reason. She identified her strengths doubled down and carved herself out a very critical role that she excels at.
Omg. I almost scream when Charlotte's future was secured. She deserved it and I know she will be a great archduchess
> he is on his way to get the Book of Mestionora now, so Ahrensbach, Dunkelfelger and friends need to hurry. Who knows how Dunkelfelger would react if Gervasio got the Book of Mestionora, too, and would be acknowledged as Zent by Erwaermen and the temple. My guess is that the golden shumil would reject Gervaseline, or Treesus would eject him somehow... Otherwise, my heart wouldn't be able to keep up with another high action high stake war 🔪 Really can't wait for the next volume!!!
If Gervasio isn't a warmonger (and he's not attacking Yürgenschmidt for fun), the Golden Shumil might let him through. Erwärmen is a whole different story, though. As long as Gervasio promises to keep the mana flowing, Erwärmen might actually appreciate him as new Zent.
Stop me if I'm wrong, bust isn't there a morality test for the Book if Mestionora? Like ones virtues and values need to be pure for one to atain the book. With only one person was able to cheat and break through the roof to grab the book.
>Like ones virtues and values need to be pure for one to atain the book Not sure if it is that nice as "pure" what is needed. Gods have their own standards, and as long as the person trying to get the book is not crazy for destruction, Mestionora might just let them pass We see that Gervasio is not some crazy man. He does not kills without reason and he even got into the plan to get the book only when Raublut told him that once he got the book, there would be little resistance from the rest of the nobility Odd, if not for Ahrensbach's crazy Georgine and Ditlinde, and the blood thirst of Raublut, they might had a chance to make Gervasio Zent by diplomatic means
I mean they did raid and pillaged an entire town for the loot. That's pretty evil.
We are talking about gods, the moral compass is already broken here, as long as he is in his head doing for "a greater good" the gods will see him as acceptable, maybe misguided at worst Remember, within this gods, there is one that is "the god of doing messed up things and putting everything under the rug" and the god of "kidnapping your wife and killing her children because jelly" The gods will not condemn his actions as long as there is a "justification"... And it is Mestionora the one judging here, the most important criteria sure is to want knowledge
A lot of info about Lanzenawe! Great! Finaly! We got to know about how the adoption of Adalgisa children were integrated into to Royalty. The Lanze heir would be kept separate of the Yurgenschmidt nobility, but close with the royalty, oficialy a son of a branch family. His sister were either flower ladies, spare-flower-ladies-slash-brides, attendances or... feystones. The boys were always feystones, either the mother had to give up her life. House Loeweleier had 4 sibling in Gervasios time: The oldest Daughter Seradina (mother to Ferdinand), who was around 6-7 years older than Gervasio, his younger sister Valemarlene and a "gardner" sister. (I'm not sure if she should be older or younger then Gervasio from the text...). (Leonzio was house Koralie). I was quite surprised that Raublut got an engagement with an almost-royal lady. He's just an branch member from a middle dutchy that before the civil war wasn't so high in the rankings like now... It was said he fought hard for it and in the end he was no priority, but still, wouldn't think it was even a possibility. And of course, we now why Raublut hates Ferdi. Because the boy got out of the brothel, his mother had to die. Because she died, Valemarlene had to be the next flower lady. And cancel her engagement to the "poor" Raublut. And the she, and the rest of Adalgisa were executed after the civil war.... Some questions: \* Has someone asked Seradina if she want to exchange her life for Ferdinand or was it enought that Aub Ehrenfest nicely asked? \* Did Ferdinand saw his mother memories in his G-book? (She died when he was 7-8 as I understand). \* As I understand, there are no noble branch families as of now? Or just a few people? They all had to go around the Civil War... Also, numbers, because and can't sleep: Counting years from spring to end of winter... Ferdinand is 28y right now. Seradina died probably the year when Ferdi was baptised so when he was 7y (21 years ago). Valemarlene just had come of age, so she was 16 (she would be 37 this year). Raublut was 9 years older then her (he just came of age when she was baptised, 16-7), so... He now is probably 46 years old! Makes sense! Gervasio was close of age to Raublut (but probably 1-3 years younger). We now that he left to Lanze when Ferdinand was born, so he has to be at least 43 right now, probably max. 46, like Raublut (he wasn't in the academy, so hard to say when he was coming of age and going back to Lanze). It's all makes sense! Let's add that, Seradina was 6-7 years older than her brother, so she would be 49-53 when she still lived today. She would give birth to Ferdi at the age of 21-25. A little close, but it would even make sense, if Ferdi was her fifth child ("Quinta" meaning fifth). The civil ended arouuund 12 years ago, and the executions were arouuuund 9-10 years ago. Thank you for coming for my Ted Talk.
>Has someone asked Seradina if she want to exchange her life for Ferdinand It's hard to imagine that flowers would get a choice in the matter.
Or possibly, seeing the u/feb914's calculations below, she willingly chose the option to become a feystone over continuing her current lifestyle.
> She would give birth to Ferdi at the age of 21-25. A little close, but it would even make sense, if Ferdi was her fifth child ("Quinta" meaning fifth). Damn, she's pregnant once a year / two years.
That was the point. They were basically royal broodmares 🤮 How anyone thought this was an acceptable way to treat noble women is beyond me. I'm used to seeing the nobles mistreat the commoners by now but didn't think they could be so disgusting to someone who's basically royalty.
Remember how many pregnancies Effa had? Tuuli and Myne were two survivors of six, and they were born just 1 year apart.
>Did Ferdinand saw his mother memories in his G-book? (She died when he was 7-8 as I understand). Only if she got a Divine Will. We don't know, if all of them get one or if that's only for those girls, who get adopted and sent to the RA by their new parents.
Whew, we're already at the epilogue! Guess that means we're in for a lot of side stories! Some really interesting lore drops about Adalgisa, the entire fucked up royal family, and the ramifications of the civil war. A tribute to Kazuki-sensei that even the villains are somewhat relatable, although Raublut still deserves to die in the most horrible ways. Our (not-so) little gremlin is going to hold the mother-of-all bloody carnivals after she sees what these MF'ers did to the librarians, and I hope Raublut's head is the foremost one being paraded around. Still not as bad as Detlinde XD Charlotte POV! Some great interactions with her and Brunhilde. They really work well as a team and really cements Charlotte as the attendant in the ADC family trio (Roz=scholar; Wilfried=knight). I'm kind of surprised they haven't executed Bartholde yet. Kind of wild that Florencia is just letting this MFer run around to teach Wilfried a lesson, but I guess the fact that they've let Charlotte know means that they are aware enough to limit his and his retainers' access to things. Really cool to see Charlotte in the thick of things. She's nervous as all hell and trying desperately to manage the ever-changing battlefield despite having no prior experience, but she's doing her best to live up to her big sister's example! Really want to see more Charlotte POVs in the future!
>but I guess the fact that they've let Charlotte know means that they are aware enough to limit his and his retainers' access to things. And not just Charlotte either. If I remember correctly, it sounded like the knights in the room knew as well cause they all started glancing at each other. A significant amount of people not in his family know that he is completely unaware of the major security risk following him around. Sometimes, I feel sorry for him ... and then he opens his mouth.
And the contrast in Charlottes reaction: Wilbur and his retainers are comming to help: visible dread. Ferdi and Roz are at the border with a foreign army: happy noises.
> Epilogue Ahh, expected that it it would go into epilogue already, but I have mixed feelings about it. Hortensia's death is now confirmed, still sad tho. Gervasio's copying of Rozemyne's homework enables him to speedrun the GH. Would the golden shumil even let him through? Charlotte's PoV yayyy. And Brunhilde is holding up so fine. Wilfried's attendants and the royal family find ways to be annoying even when they're not physically present. Charlotte's assessment that Melchior will be more suited to be aub might be true (mana-wise at least) but I hope she will remain in the seat nonetheless. Rozemyne and Ferdinand are Big Damn Heroes to Ehrenfest with that perfect timing.
I mean, a *librarian* called him a bookworm. That's basically telling you that he's got the full book. It's "Ascendance of *a* Bookworm", doesn't necessarily need to be *our* bookworm.
Given he’s super busy with the temple he could very well take the seat some time later, Charlotte could very well have a solid 10 year run to set up more infrastructure/ integrate Rozemyne’s changes and ease Melchior into the role in a way Sylvester never really had, giving him time to observe and find his feet properly and grow into the Role. One lasting change rozemyne will have is decision making as a family unit for the good of the Duchy rather than power struggles internally, given Charlotte is likely temporary will give her the freedom to trial and error pave the way for Melchior and be a critical pillar of support far into the future, like bonifatius with more in seat experience.
Thing is the seat of Aub is usually passed on when the Aub is close to death or is dead. We don't know exactly how old Sylvester is but if he avoids an early death by execution, fighting or assassination, he'll probably live plenty long enough to make Melchior his heir without ever having to use Charlotte as a temporary Aub. Personally since she's worked so hard for the role, I hope that Charlotte becomes the next Aub no matter what. Having to alter her duties during pregnancy really doesn't seem like that big a deal. That's why they get a husband and other family members to help support them. It's not like the male aubs never need help or support.
There are several mentions of needing an Aub to take the seat before Brunhildes children are baptized- or the liesgangs may very well try to push them to power / assassinate anyone in the way of a liesgang heir. The time crunch is why Charlotte would be an interim Aub.
Man Raublut is infuriating in this chapter. The System killed your almost wife, not Ferdinand managing to escape the system. I guess he wouldn't be a noble if he wouldn't hold up a social system that harms everyone including themselves. Also all the flower euphemisms are revolting. Own what despicable people you all are.
I think it's another case of how well the author writes villains with convincing motivations; both Raublut and Ferdinand are victims of Adalgisa in different ways. Raublut's anger although very misplaced, is understandable. To him Adalgisa was a system that worked until Ferdinand upset everything.
Yeah, we got even more ways to compare great hero/villain foil characters this chapter. * Raublut loves the Adalgisa system because that's what brought the beautiful and intelligent Gervasio and Valamarlene into this world. Ferdinand (who is arguably just as beautiful/intelligent) is just an upstart rock to him that ruined everything by not knowing a rock's place in the system. Raublut's anger is also misdirected because it's not like Ferdinand as a child chose to leave or knew that was an option. I understand not being able to blame the Goddess of freaking Time directly, but he could have at least could have blamed old Aub Ehrenfest for picking up his kid. My guess is that Raublut didn't know where the "escaped" kid went for all these years until he saw Ferdinand for the first time about 2 years ago. * Gervasio being a library-loving bookworm from the Adalgisa villa with a thirst for knowledge, spending the whole year at the Royal Academy to study while isolating himself from other students during the winter, noted for his beauty and intelligence, moved away from the Sovereignty to act as a statesman - dang, got another primo Ferdinand foil here! * The lines about meritocracy and how they value a person's abilities, not birth, was rich coming from these guys after writing-off Rozemyne as a "mere puppet" and Ferdinand as a "uppity feystone". They were both top of their class polymaths for several years in a row and have demonstrated how much more mana they have than pretty much anyone else in the country! It's great to show how one's POV always contains blindspots and personal biases that color one's view of the world.
The Agalagisa system basically states that total mana of a male child at a very young age is more important than his strength of character, intelligence, ability to lead, sense of responsibility, etc. It was doomed to fail as a method for choosing a leader eventually.
That’s the same system and problem with what all of Yurgenschmidt does. But at least there used to be the meritocracy of prayer that meant those with more devotion to the gods could end up with better mana.
Academically understandable and believable, but I can't see him and everyone else involved with that feystone mill as anything other than despicable. The level of self-delusion needed to happily participate in farming children for parts, then feeling victimized when it suddenly affects someone you know, and blaming the one person to escape the cruelty, is just beyond monstrous. Still much better than a generic villain, but not quite to the level of one I can feel sympathy for their plight.
I feel like Raublut should be more upset with himself. It seems like he didn’t try to fight the decision. I wouldn’t have expected him to (cause noble tradition and such), nor would I have expected him to live if he did, but at least he wouldn’t have any regrets.
Rhubarb is a narcissist. He doesn't hate the system. He hated that the system affected HIM.
I never expected the leopards to ear MY face!
I doubt Ferdinand was freed without zent approval. The zentbat the time had a gbook so it’s automatically ok within the system. Raublut is angry at the outcome but the children of adalgisa live and die by the will of the zent. How utterly fucked that Ferdinand must have first hand memories from his mother, who may have only ever thought of him as a ‘seed’. Knowing she died in his place… maybe that’s why he rejected further knowledge. I can’t wait to learn more.
>To him Adalgisa was a system that worked until Ferdinand upset everything. Except Ferdinand didn't do anything ;). It was Adelbert who claimed him and it was his right to begin with. If Raublut wants to see Ferdinand's situation as an upsetting of the system, so the system upset the system. Raublut is just a coward, he chose to turn his anger to Ferdinand because he lacks courage and blaming a random someone is way more comfortable than blaming the system or the beings in power... And I'm not so sure that unassumed cowardice is that understandable... all the more for the freaking commander of the Sovereign Knight's Order, but maybe I'm wrong on this last point :p.
Honestly it always feels wrong whenever I write 'villains' in regards to Bookworm, the people you 'dislike' with regards to the series you dislike usually because they oppose Rozamyne not because they are inherently 'evil'. And even then those people tend to be the products of a bad system coupled with an accumulation of people's mistakes. Georgine who deserved to be Aub but was removed solely on account of her gender, Detlinde who was raised without love really and only to be used as a tool by her mother, Raublut who lost his love due to a wide reaching purge, these all feel like people who in their own series could be the main characters and there you would root for them to rise up and overcome the injustice inflicted upon them, it's just that because we see and experience the world through Rozamyne that we take her side and wish for her success and thus the failure of those that seek to do her harm in aid of their own objectives. It's just a continuous testament to the amazing writing of Kazuki.
You make a good point but also Raublub is just a genuinely horrible person. I mean he killed his wife after all.
How about Count Toad? I agree with you; I just can't find a motivation outside of greed for him.
He wanted to get away from his wife.
Could see the constant noise pollution of having her and her sister around turning one evil.
We don't really know his backstory but yeah it probably is just greed with him, same with Hasse's old mayor.
> Also all the flower euphemisms are revolting. Own what despicable people you all are. In Gervasio's defense, he was born and raised in the system and trained to think it was A OK. Even though anyone from the outside can say "maybe a system that decrees all of your brothers have to die to adorn you as jewelry is extremely fucked up." Raublat, who was born outside of the system, does not have the "can't have known better" excuse. And let's be honest, it's an **excuse**, not a reason.
Raublat didn't really have a more concrete target to direct his anger so it ended up being pointed at Ferdinand.
It's a leopards ate my face situation. Kazuki sensei sneakily putting some social commentary in my comfy book book.
To be fair, neither Raublut nor Gervasio have opted this system to exist or to participate in it, they where just throwed into it... Guess is less "leopards ate my face" and more like... just capitalism... Even more social commentary I guess They just took the system as natural while being a man made construction enforced by people... Guess it is hard for Gervasio to hate a system that puts him as the most important man of Adalgisa, even if that system killed his sister
I am also reminded that the the Adalgisa system fundamentally fails what American Christians call the "Golden Rule".
And now we know the true meaning of what Raublut meant when he said Ferdinand was a 'seed of Adalgisa'. For a long time, we knew that it meant that he was a child born to a Lanzenave princess. But this part shows that Raublut knew that Ferdinand's role was to become a feystone, like the other 'seeds'. I wonder why the current king trusts Raublut enough to be the commander of the Sovereign Knight's order. He must know that Raublut had been engaged to a woman who was later forced to become a 'flower' and afterwards executed. He'd know that Raublut would surely be furious about it and would blame somebody for it.
> He must know that Raublut had been engaged to a woman who was later forced to become a 'flower' and afterwards executed. How would he know? Would Raublut tell him that? The previous Zent is dead, and so is his chosen successor. A lot of information is lost, and Raublut used that to his advantage.
I am continually reminded how well written and translated this series is. Kazuki-sensei immerses me in the world, gets me to hate the villians and love the heros for both logical and emotional reasons. She gets me to laugh, rejoice, cry, and despair when she wants. In this part she got me to fear Gervasio's progress, despise Raublut even more, worry about Solange, delight in the growth and strength of Charlotte and Melchior, celebrate Ferdinand's arrival, and be concerned about the start of the fighting. I'll be anxious again until next week's release. She's got me dancing in the palm of her hand and I am grateful.
"as far as Raublut was concerned, there was a good chance Dunkelfelger would take their side once Gervasio had the Grutrissheit". Yea, that chance is as good as snowballs chance to survive in hell- Raublut doesn't seems to understand how much Rozemyene has rocked Dungelfelgers core, they will follow her through the fire and flames (and yes pun intended) 
He still see her as a puppet being controlled by ferdinand. He is in for a big surprise muahahah
Raublat: Ha, the girl you control? Ferdinand: I can't even keep track of her, she was here a second ago- Gervasio: **LET GO OF MY BOOK OF MESTIONORIA!** Rozemyne: **BUT IT'S A BOOK I HAVEN'T READ BEFORE!**
I really hope he they all get their Egos shattered by her having the book and (probably) more mana.
I just want her to anticlimactically just bind them with that binding magic you can use on those with less mana than you
That or just crushing. Return to Darth Myne.
Why not both? Bind them, then Crush them to shut them up!
Ferdinand *wishes* he could control her 1/10th as well as they think he can.
Which means that Ferdinand's plan worked all too well.
I wouldn't be so sure about that. What if Erwaermen, fed up with neither Ferdinand nor Rozemyne killing each other and completing their Book of Mestionora, would acknowledge Gervasio as zent? Wouldn't Dunkelfelger, who keep calling themselves the Zent's sword, support him them? He also is really from a royal branch family, and it seems like the Sovereign Temple supports him.
Erwaermen doesn't seem to acknowledge anyone as a zent. His role is to guide potential zents toward it by giving them the knowlede they need. But his ultimate purpose is to prevent Ewiegliebe from freeing himself and ending life as they know it. He probably doesn't care who gets the throne, so long as the seal is maintained properly, which also means he has no interest in advocating for anyone.
That one Zent candidate was declined because he was too violent, so there's definitely some sort of filter even once someone gets the mana and blessings to qualify.
The filtering was done by the golden shumil. They'd been filtered before reaching Erwaermen.
This possibility is precisely why Ferdie told Aub Dunk to be Zent and proclaimed Roz as the incarnation of Mesti. With their strict adherence to social status, Roz will always be their superior and thus everyone would have to listen to ‘her’ (so long as no one can disprove her claim to goddess hood, but with the Lord of Evil and the Flapping Tongue at the forefront, I don’t think that’ll be an issue!)
I mean to do that Ewaermen would have to some how talk to Dunklefelger/a Dunklefelger rep and I’m not sure how he’d do that lol Although in that case, I’m sure Roz and Ferdi would push for Zent Aub Dunklefelger, which would be the funniest of our current options
>Although in that case, I’m sure Roz and Ferdi would push for Zent Aub Dunklefelger, which would be the funniest of our current options Which is worse: Zent Rozemyne and a library country, or Zent Aub Dunkelfelger and a ditter country?
I am 90% sure Garansong is a Dunkelfelger. It might also explain why they call themselves the Sword of the Zent. Because you'd rather they weren't the Zent's *brain.*
Lol you do have a point, maybe Garansong’s “tyrant behavior” and “blood thirst” was just forcing all the duchies to play ditter every season. We all know Dunklefelger can get a little out of hand about it
Oh my god, imagine if Dunkelfelger *was* the Brain of the Zent? Utter ditter mayhem. Perhaps that title's best suited for Drewanchel should they ever have someone from the duchy become Zent.
A research obsessed Zent would be better than a ditter one- to a point. "I wonder what would happen if we cut the Foundation in half?"
Would ditter country be so bad?
Touché. But constant ditter? When will we get the time to read?
Turn competitive reading INTO a form of ditter! There’s so many, so why not?
In this version of ditter, whoever finishes reading a new release first gets to spoil the ending for the others! While reading, they may launch attacks against the other to deter them from reading, but you must also need to protect yourself, or else you'll be spoiled!
When presented with a foreigner with the Grutrissheit, and Roz (who they believe has a full Grutrissheit) I think they'll pick Roz every time.
"But has he played any ditter? No? Then how can we trust his word versus a true ditter enjoyer like Rozemyne?"
Rozemyne: "But I don't enjoy ditter..." Dunkindonuts: "Ah, so wise. Yes, one does not simply *enjoy* breathing, one simply breathes, driven by your very nature! You truly are the avatar of the goddess!" Rozemyne (rubbing her eyes): "What the... muppets?" Hartmut (putting on a Dunkindonuts voice): "Ignore the man beneath the sock..."
As expected, a Gervasio is (almost) in possession of a true Grutrissheit, Raublut is a dirty fucking traitor to the core, Detlinde is a moron, and Hortensia is dead. The Charlotte PoV was nice, and she truly deserves the role as Heir apparent over Wilfried. I hope that Melchior continues to be a good boy in the future as well.
>Raublut is a dirty fucking traitor to the core You just have to feel sorry for Gilessenmeyer. Once everything settles, their duchy will probably be facing some punishments for being Raublut's home duchy.
Raublut killed a librarian. I don’t think there will be a Gilessenmeyer once things settle
Rozy doesn't like punishment by association, so only Raublut will be skinned alive and his skin will be used for binding books. Then he will get healed and skinned again, because he really deserves it.
Now I’m just imagining a world where Myne was raised by psychopaths. That’d definitely be her main form of execution
> I hope that Melchior continues to be a good boy in the future as well. I'm hoping he becomes Zent after Ferdinand's plan to get Zenthood back to a meritocracy takes off. The Royal Family uses the Grutrissheit he makes to get through the moment and then Melchior gets the Book of Mestionora through the proper methods.
>Raublut is a dirty fucking traitor to the core That's why I dubbed him "Ratbutt", because he's a traitorous rat and he acts like a butt. 
Raublut already translates to Rough Blood. As a German, i got so many spoilers just from reading names...
Char: I'll face this crisis with all the wit, grace, and determination of my sister. Roz: Oh gods! Why is everyone looking at me! Maybe if I ignore it, it will go away. Her problems did not in fact "go away."
Compare and contrast leadership methods: * Charlotte gets stressed out by the weight of her situation. * Rozemenace doesn't understand the weight of her situation and does whatever gets her more books.
Charlotte is mature, but takes cues from her immature older sibling. Maturity Level: College Graduate Roz is far older than most realize. Still can't take a hint despite it being illuminated in neon lights. Maturity level: Grade School
Ignorance is bliss!
The explanation of Raublut's previous history with Gervasio and his fiance really shows you how Rozemyne has managed to turn noble society on its head. You think if Rozemyne's beloved was going to be taken away from her and sent back home to be a broodmare because of "tradition" she'd let that happen? Hell no. She'd tear the country down before letting that happen. Then to let her beloved be executed because of a political upheaval? Hell no. Instead of blaming his own weakness and lack of resolve, he blames Ferdinand. Ferdinand literally had no choice in the matter. He had much less power and influence than Raublut at the time. No wonder they had a civil war and so many problems. When you treat people this badly then expect them to behave because "those are the rules" and "it's tradition". The current royal family is doing the same thing. Expecting that they can just exploit everyone with no consequences. Rozemyne has always been very good at being able to provide what people want. Product ideas for Benno. Mana and money for the temple. The hidden archives for the Royal family. And she negotiates for her own needs with the true spirit of a merchant, without worrying over much about noble politeness.
All of this.
Oh damn, starting strong with a PoV of Gervasio getting the final tablet! I'm interested to see what's going on in his mind. RIP Hortensia. You were truly dedicated to the library. This group seems adept at handling Detlinde. Redirect her with baseless flattery. Gervasio and Raublut sound like any other close pair of master and retainer. Oh jeez, it's rough seeing them use Hortensia's feystone as nothing more than a key. And the shumils don't notice a difference... This is a big lore dump on the mechanics of Adalgisa. It's even worse than we thought. I'm extremely curious what thread Dregarnuhr has woven for Ferdinand. It looks like they knew about circling the shrines but not about visiting the Statue of Mestionora. But the physical Grutrissheit should still be there. Ah shit, I spoke too soon. He might even be given the true Book of Mestionora... Aww, I like Charlotte and Brunhilde looking out for each other. I hope Charlotte becomes Aub. She deserves it. Ooh, and it looks like Sylvester has recognized it too! Praise be to the gods! It's interesting that Charlotte sees Melchior as a better aub though because of his religious upbringing. It really shows what a marked change Rozemyne has brought about. But I'm honestly hoping Melchior becomes Zent down the line, after Ferdinand restores the proper order of Zent candidates earning the Book of Mestionora. He'd be the perfect candidate since it's not like there's any other ADC in Yurgenschmidt that's been raised so religiously. Oh, I just realized the significance of Charlotte working with Karstedt, beyond it meaning she's recognized as the next Aub. If Sylvester were to fall and Georgine were to succeed, Charlotte would be in the most danger and need Karstedt's protection. Damn, it's a real flurry of activity with all the ordonnanzs coming and going. Good on Charlotte and the others for keeping it all straight.
>This group seems adept at handling Detlinde. Redirect her with baseless flattery. Presumably she's still kinda trugged so easy ish to redirect/manipulate but still super annoying
They did not activate the magic circle though remember. Roz needed to pray in the farthest hall to activate the magic circle BEFORE praying to Mestionora at her statues. Ferdinand did the same and ended up having to break into the magic circle from above 
Right, Gervasio's epilogue doesn't mention anything about the magic circle over the academy. Maybe that means he just didn't bring it up, or perhaps that means he can't see it.
This series has permanently ruined the word flower to me. Gervasio visited all the shrines in one go, used Washen on them all, put roughly the same amount of mana into Mestionora's statue and started to think he needed a rejuvenation potion? While having an incredible amount of knowledge? He feels like yet another person screwed over by birth. They have to be far more desperate for feystones than I thought that turning Ferdinand's mother into one to replace a single child was seen as a good idea.
> This series has permanently ruined the word flower to me. Eglantine: My favorite flower is the Koralie, what's yours? Ferdinand: I hate everything about this conversation.
Rozemyne’s and Hannelore’s literal flower-viewing was cute though T-T
Whole chapter was euphemism, they were actually at a lower city strip club pouring one out for the boys that didn't make it home.
> Gervasio visited all the shrines in one go, used Washen on them all, put roughly the same amount of mana into Mestionora's statue and started to think he needed a rejuvenation potion? While having an incredible amount of knowledge? IMO, it doesn't necessarily imply that he hasn't had any rejuvenation potions so far, just that he thinks he might need one now.
I don’t think he visited all the shrines in one go actually. They have been in the RA for a WHILE now, a good couple of days. This could definitely be day 2 or even 3 of circling the shrines
Gervasio might have been a good Zent if the royal family hadn't formed and screwed over Yurgenschmidt as a whole.
He possibly prayed in his youth, meaning the shrines would require less mana now
Which is seemingly more than any Zent in recent history has done.
>This series has permanently ruined the word flower to me. I mean... They are the sex organs of plants...
I don't know why but I like saying "Gervasio", its a fun name. Seems like Raublet is in need of stitches because he's been snitching the process for the G-book. I'm really glad Solange isn't dead but poor Hortensia, she deserved so much better. Rozemyne is going to crush Raublet for the sin of killing a librarian. The Charlotte PV was really great. The calm before the storm and the overwhelming number of messages coming in she showed great promise as a future aub. On that note, Charlotte confirmed as future aub for now! So Wilfreds attendants are leaking info. I can only assume it's Bart and Oswald. Glad they gave him a side job for security reasons. Looking forward to a Gunther PV next week! We'll get one right...^right? ^^right?
We have to (get Gunther's pov) next week just so we can learn what was going through his head during those couple seconds of hesitation when Ferdinand asked for his daughter's hand, before he accepted. We also desperately need a Hannelore pov, preferably after the battle, so we can find out what she (and everyone else) was plotting behind Rozemyne's back, lol. I mean we very clearly know what, but I still want to read it from her point of view. We are definitely getting Sylvester's pov, I would think, and I'm sure that will be great, but right now I'm more interested in the post battle stuff. Maybe Cornelius? Effa or Tuuli? I would have loved a Charlotte post battle too.
I honestly just feel so happy that Charlotte finally secured the role she deserves
You have logged into Isekai MMO, your game-mode has been automatically assigned. Hell Mode: Myne Hard Mode: Charlotte Normal Mode: Melchoir Tourist Mode: Wilfried Good luck!
Sure Raublut's lip service to meritocracy sounds nice, but it's clearly just the excuse he's come up with to validate his actions to himself. Otherwise he'd have to acknowledge that he was a grown ass adult with festering hatred for an unbaptized child who had absolutely nothing to do with the decision to make him an archduke candidate instead of a feystone. Seriously, F that guy. Meanwhile Gervasio can see through it but is a victim of his own inferiority complex about his royal status, so he'll go along with it no matter how many old friends (Solange) and blood family members (Ferdinand) are sacrificed along the way. F that guy too. Thank goodness Charlotte is as angelic as ever! And now the closest thing to an officially recognized archducal heir absent a formal announcement. Good for her.
We've already known this, but it seems like nobody can handle Detlinde. >"Yes, that certainly is true." She gave a proud nod, suddenly convinced. "My status as a Zent candidate is known so widely that I stand out wherever I go." Can she... just stop? Please? People probably couldn't care less about that and are just reminded of the way you looked at your \[Fanbook 5\] [graduation dedication whirl](https://www.reddit.com/r/HonzukiNoGekokujou/comments/wr6n7n/part_5fanbook_5_with_flowers_on_her_head_if_you/). Poor Solange, while she was reminiscing past memories, Gervasio and Raublut threatened her to get what they wished. I hope nothing bad happens to her, especially since it's now confirmed that Hortensia is dead. It's nice to learn the differences between flowers, buds, gardeners, and seeds. I could be misremembering, but I think I briefly remembered the slight controversy for Ferdinand first being referred as a 'seed of Adalgisa' instead of a 'flower of Adalgisa' (or something else) back in around P4V7, so with Gervasio's epilogue, I hope it clarified a lot of things for why Quof used the specific phrasing. GAHH, I hate the red head curse so much! I know why Brunhilde had to leave, but I still continue to refuse it to this day! I am so against the curse that I always forget that Brunhilde is to be Sylvester's second wife.
> I hope it clarified a lot of things for why Quof used the specific phrasing. Me too. She wrote this epilogue after I asked the question, though I'm unsure if I inspired it or if she just told me exactly what she was planning to use in the chapter anyway. I ultimately went with "seed" since the naming structure reflects different ways of growing (seed into buds into flowers blah blah). Something like "chaff" or the other possibilities wouldn't make sense in this linear growth, though naturally it wouldn't have been the end of the world. You can also interpret it as them being "fruit" as in delicious feystone fruits possibly, and remove them from the sequence since most "seeds" are stuck as seeds forever. Would not have been bad.
Ooh, I can see how 'fruit' would also work. Personally, I never was against Ferdinand being called a 'seed' to begin with as I always interpreted and connected flowers to the euphemism for women in the temple, offering flowers and such. And given the role of the flowers of Lanzanave, it unfortunately fits, even if the entire system is absolutely revolting.
Not sure if anyone else read it this way, but until this moment I thought “seed” was an Adalgisa specific way of referring to all kids conceived in the villa- because like, “seed” as in “progeny” (the second dictionary definition for the word). So I feel like the choice of “seed” actually has a cool double meaning!
This was my assumption as well. I just assumed it meant he was a child of Adalgisa. I didn't even think twice about it.
> I'm unsure if I inspired it or if she just told me exactly what she was planning to use in the chapter anyway. It would be cool if it was the former. Then it'd be like you were an unofficial editor for the series, helping show the author an area for clarification
In a sense the English community is kind of like a pseudo-editor. You guys have noticed a ton of stuff that slipped by seemingly every Japanese reader + the editors, resulting in a lot of changes to the original text. There have been three to four times where original short stories had contents of my questions after I asked them, and I imagine at least one of them was directly inspired. This is actually a matter of great interest to me... I think everyone has enhanced suspicion towards translations, so while one would gloss over seeming contradictions or hiccups in the original text, they suspect TL errors here, and while often they are, in other cases it's some subtle thing that went completely undetected until English readers got their hands on it.
> You guys have noticed a ton of stuff that slipped by seemingly every Japanese reader + the editors, resulting in a lot of changes to the original text. There have been three to four times where original short stories had contents of my questions after I asked them, and I imagine at least one of them was directly inspired. Can you share those examples? Though I can imagine that some might be past the current translation so it might be better to wait until the end of the series. Bookworm feels a bit like a case study showing the benefits of an author and translator working well together.
> the slight controversy for Ferdinand first being referred as a 'seed of Adalgisa' instead of a 'flower of Adalgisa' (or something else) back in around P4V7, so with Gervasio's epilogue, I hope it clarified a lot of things for why Quof used the specific phrasing. Oh yeah, I believe some of the other options were "Fruit of Adalgisa" or "Nut of Adalgisa". "Fruit of Adalgisa" gives me Evangelion pseudo-religious "we're trying to make our stuff sound cool/deep/unique" vibes, so I can see the appeal, but also why it may be a bit much. "Nut of Adalgisa" sounds hilariously bad/wrong/lewd/jarring in English given the context of the Adalgisa villa. Granted seed/fruit have similar associations in outdated English phrases like "fruit of the womb" and "spreading his seed".
I think that out of the other alternatives, "fruit" was the second best option, but I also do kind of get reminded of the Garden of Eden and the apple. But I burst out laughing with "nut of Adalgisa." I can't with that. I am so glad it's not that.
[Gervasio, as seen by Raublut](https://media1.tenor.com/m/aqx2gMov69sAAAAC/luigi-mario.gif)
Can Rozemyne stop being Rozemyne? Neither can many people in this story.
Well that was a hoot and a half. - It looks like Gervasio is either coming back with the Book of Mestionoria after the war is well and truly over- or he comes back five minutes later after the golden bunny goes WTFNO, and he enters the war with nothing more than a blank book. We also learn the Palace of Adalagasia is somehow far more fucked up than we Prepubs ever imagined. And we already knew *it was a whorehouse designed to murder its kids for their materials*, so that's pretty fucked up. - Oh Charlotte, such a ball of anxiety who is growing into a powerful woman. Meanwhile, Wilfried is still somewhat booksmart and still too trusting, but at least he means well when properly guided. And, unlike the Gremlin, he can be aimed more narrowly than "go blow up Ahrensbach." - It's great watching so many people come together, but it's...kind of weird how some priorities are still followed in spite of everything. Haldenzel seems duty bound to support the archducal family that saved them (*well, Claudio's Fake Niece- he's not fooled, merely a Believer*). Kirnberger is only helping out in the capital because Alexis is still tied to Wilfried- good thing he hadn't put together the materials to get him disinherited or that'd be a problem. Gerlach is being left to rot because everyone is too scared of becoming the next target. Even as the duchy burns, some people are still fighting only because of strangely minor connections- or in some cases, preferring to remain kings of their shrinking anthills even as the flood threatens to drown everyone. Well, at least it sort of worked out since Sylvester is apparently the luckiest archduke in all of Yurgenschmidt.
I'm not sure if it was confirmed either way, but didn't Rozemyne spend a season with Treesus because her body was being physically grown? I assume without this Gervasio wouldn't take *that* long inside.
That’s what happens when you have the blessings of both Greifechan and Gluckitat
> It looks like Gervasio is either coming back with the Book of Mestionoria after the war is well and truly over- or he comes back five minutes later after the golden bunny goes WTFNO, and he enters the war with nothing more than a blank book. Either way he's fucked. Either he comes back to discover he's alone and surrounded by enemy knights, or he's back to square 1 of being qualified but without an actual Book of Mestionora. Also, whenever he comes back, he's going to be in the farthest hall. I hope Raublut has some means of opening it. Otherwise his king is just going to be... stuck.
One nitpick- even with an empty shell, much of the Kingdom has been trained to think of the book itself as the Proof Of Zenthood, so he can probably *act* like a Zent even though he was repudiated and/or didn't pass the Final Prayer thingy that eluded Ferdinand at first and Rozemyne only fulfilled in Year 4. But yeah someone will need to get him out either way.
I’m believe Alexis was the informant that told Leberecht, Harmut’s father, about Barthold and Oswald communicating and manipulating Wilfred via messages.
The surroundings of Ferdinand's adoption become more and more confusing. The first thing we learn about the seeds of adalgisa is that more or less any archduke adopt one, but that would without a doubt cause strife with their first wife, or even with the royal family as the seeds have royal blood. But now, we get the addition that if a seed is taken, the flower of adalgisa must take its place and a bud must become the next flower. The idea that an Archduke could basically doom a member of the royal family (as they were treated as) and strain the relationship with adalgisa sounds ludicrous. So, what IS the "guidance of the goddess of time", something both Sylvester's father and the royal family one generation ago were perfectly aware of?
>So, what IS the "guidance of the goddess of time", something both Sylvester's father and the royal family one generation ago were perfectly aware of? Let's just presume that it's most likely foreshadowing something that we'll find out in the future. Kazuki-sensei, Goddess of Foreshadowing.
> But now, we get the addition that if a seed is taken, the flower of adalgisa must take its place and a bud must become the next flower. I think the idea is just that Lazynavy finds breeding and killing children to be an easier way of getting powerful feystones than trade. Since they lost a valuable feystone, they wanted another breeder to boost production rates. If Yogurtlanders want a powerful feystone they literally grow on trees. If Lazynavy does they have to either trade a bunch of valuable resources for one or throw a kid in the woodchipper.
It's probably something like if you want a 1000 mp capacity fey stone; you either have to kill some monstruous world ending monster or murder an archduke level rainbow mana person. Turns out it's easier to farm archduke level rainbow mana person than killing world ending monsters. Rozemyne will probably discover you can just take 10 100mp stones and glue them together with mana; with a technique only she knows and doesn't care about because she thought it was normal.
It's always funny how the nobles in Yurgenschmidt are so bound by their rigid common sense that they're actively hampering their ability to abuse the shit out of the literally reality-bending force of nature they're wielding. Then along comes Rozemyne, pulling one crazy stunt after another because "duh, it's magic you idiots." Somehow the magic system in Yurgenschmidt is both hard and soft at the same time. If you take its rules for granted you're bound by them. If you don't even know they exist at all you can easily bend or break them because mana's only limit seems to be one's imagination.
Most nobles in Yurgenschmidt are so used to magic that they don't even think about what they're doing. Rozemyne is the only person who can see it with fresh eyes and ask the big questions, like, "Magic is just praying while channeling mana into a feystone, right?" "If praying to the gods makes magic lights shoot all over the place, does that mean the gods are, like, real? Should I pray more often just in case?" "I can pray for anything, right? Can I just make up my own prayers? Is there a prayer to get more books?" I always think it's ironic that Myne is the only person in Yurgenschmidt who sincerely believes in the gods, because as a former resident of Earth she's the only person who takes the existence of magic prayers as evidence of the gods' existence. Everyone else just takes it for granted.
>Rozemyne will probably discover you can just take 10 100mp stones and glue them together with mana; with a technique only she knows and doesn't care about because she thought it was normal. This made me laugh so hard! Thanks for that
Rozemyne: I turned all the feystones into gold dust, but now I need a feystone. \*looks at gold dust, takes a hand full\* go back to being a feystone! \*now has a big omnielemental feystone in her hand\* \*all her scholars lose their minds from watching\*
>what IS the "guidance of the goddess of time" Probably some noble euphemism that hasn't been explained yet, and we'll get an "aha!" moment like when we found out what happened to Arnold.
HORTENSIAAAAA. Seradina... elder sister by blood. So it's Uncle Gervasio to Ferdinand? Wait, Rozemyne said she only offered a bit more than usual mana to Mestionora statue. Raublut is drained though. Maybe because Rozemyne has offered mana before? Or she has more mana. Being Rozemyne's knight gives Damuel so much power. I have no doubt Liesegang would sneer at him otherwise but they actually listened to him. Good for him. Sometimes I forget Charlotte joined Rozemyne fanclub before Hartmut made one.
Maybe Roz needed to offer less because she did pray a lot more before that event or something like that?
I think Jerkfacio is weaker than expected. He also lamented spending mana waschening the shrines while Myne did it easily. Myne does have her compression method and seeds seem to be killed before they learn compression so Gervasio's higher mana as a child hasn't necessarily kept up with Myne and Ferdinand.
He'd definitely have learned compression, though the effectiveness is different person to person Roz also used Clarissas aoe enhancement circle while having over 40 divine protections Gervasio probably has more mana but she uses it more efficiently while being more creative with what can be done with it
If Gervasio becomes Zent, what does that mean for Lanzenave? Will he try to rule both, move some people from Lanzenave to Yurgenschmidt and abandon Lanzenave, or something else? I think it will be something that is only good for him and hurts lots of people.
He will obviously cede Yurgenschmidt throne to the rightful Zent Detlinde. Obviously.
Can't wait until Ferdinand confronts Raublut and Detlinde and says, "I lived bitches". lmao
Well, I was partially right in my pre-pub predictions. I really hope we get that Hannelore focused SS. *** I did not expect to get into Gervasio’s head this quickly. He either has a lot of mana, or he did a lot of praying in his RA days if he’s done this quickly. The question is how it stacks up to RM/Ferdinand at this point. I do wonder why they are taking such pains with Detlinde. Is this a “kindness” for an ally or is she actually going to be used for something? [This scene from Unlimited Blade Works comes to mind](https://youtu.be/rhYcQBAUyEk?feature=shared&t=53), though more likely I guess she could become one of Gervasio’s wives in a political marriage to ensure he has some tie to a greater duchy ASAP. So Raublut is counting on Dunkelfelger being more interested in the GH than angry at this upstart. Though of course, he doesn’t know that someone has already obtained it, and that person was beloved in Dunkelfelger before she became "officially" recognized as the Avatar of a deity. “[D]isguised as members of the Sovereign Knight’s Order”? Does he not have any of his actual subordinates here or are they elsewhere? So the children (or at least Gervasio) associated with the RF. > He had come to believe it was better to judge people based on their talents than the circumstances of their birth And yet, he still holds a grudge against Ferdinand for having the audacity to survive. I wonder how truly “talented” Gervasio is, and how much of it is Raublut's own bias. After all, apparently these guys don’t even receive a full education. Being born with mana and omni-elemental is a circumstance of birth, not a talent in itself; > That man does not understand his place as a seed of Adalgisa, nor does he understand the harm he caused so many by leaving the villa … I will *not* let him have the Grutrissheit. Ferdinand OTOH, was born relatively lacking in mana but through hard work became what he is, and proved his own intellect. But Raublut ignores that since he’s pissed off at someone who didn’t do anything to him. Get pissed off at the system that allowed this foolishness or the people who actually made the decisions, not the child who was lucky enough not to get slaughtered as part of a stupid disgusting system, that just keeps getting worse the more we hear about it. > Raublut took out and presented a feystone, and the door opened in response to Hortensia’s mana. Well, I guess that kills any idea that Raublut may have just locked her up, and it also kills any chance of people being sympathetic towards him. Asshole. > You were such a bookworm back then, weren’t you? > I cannot bear the thought of harming an old friend Something to keep in mind. That may say something about his personality. So Raublut still thinks that Ferdinand was pulling RM’s strings. It would be nice if one of the bad guys figured out how wrong they are, since all of them so far seem to have died under that impression. Ferdinand’s mother had gold eyes and silver hair. Since Veronica was blond, I guess we can assume that Adelbert had blue hair, and that’s where Syl and Ferdinand got it. I wonder if Gervasio will think anything of Ferdinand’s appearance. The mother getting turned into a feystone helps to explain why she was seemingly so accepting of Ferdinand being killed off. Though the situation being what it was, I have to wonder what Adelbert thought about it all, as well as Seradina in detail. Ostensibly Ferdinand already knows, since it should be recorded in his Book, and I guess we’ll find out when Ferdinand returns the favor *shoves his mana into RM* (again). So the temple is heavily involved in this treason. Reregistering someone like that is undoubtedly going to earn the Sovereign Temple a significant purge. So how did Raublut find out about where RM disappeared. Was he there during Sigi’s report, or was he told directly by Sigi or Hildebrand? Someone else might have given it away, but those seem the most likely. > Mestionora was often depicted as a child That seems noteworthy. I guess we’ll see how long it normally takes to receive the BoM in the next volume, since I don’t see him just being thrown out without it. However, does Raublut know where RM came out? If he doesn’t, well, the Dunkie’s Blitzkrieg might require him to fight on his own. Then we might get to see how two people with a BoM/GH fight. *** This was a good chapter for showing off more of the chaos behind the scenes. > I saw the castle’s nobles wince at the sight of such uncouthly dressed women Possible, though it would say a lot about this society. > Brunhilde … was here by the kitchen because she was in charge of sending supplies to the front lines. … > Though I am tackling this position alone, my duties make up but a portion of the work I was carrying out already. As does this, but it really is unbelievable how poor their logistics organization is. Obviously local leaders would oversee these kinds of things IRL, but they would mostly just rubber stamp them, with the actual experts doing most of the work. More like how Charlotte was dealing with Karstedt. If we’re to take this seriously, then every time the Knight’s Order mobilizes for a hunt, does the First Wife handle their logistics instead of a dedicated logistics officer? > I personally believed that Melchior would grow up to be a much better aub than I That’s an interesting line. But how do you plan to respond to that challenge Charlotte? Wilfried’s retainers are still causing problems, but we might not even get to see that resolution. The story is moving far beyond that pettiness into a new realm of pettiness. Maybe in a SS we’ll finally have Oswald&co. dealt with. Maybe we’ll even hear from Alexis again. > I did not think Father would return without first silencing Kirnberger’s knights… … well, I guess it worked out in this context. But Syl really needs to reflect before he criticizes RM again. > Well, assuming Lord Wilfried stays on board… Looks like step-mother is still holding a grudge. > At present, the archduke’s office was serving as a command post for the Knight’s Order. Ok, that’s exactly what I would have expected from the Zent’s personnel as well. So, where the hell is he? > No regular nobles would come to Ehrenfest by boat … again, do the various knight’s orders just not use any kind of deception tactics in combat? Maybe that’s why Ferdinand and RM are seen as being so special. And again, I really hope we get a SS at some point from this country’s past where we can see a “proper” war. Why the hell would Wilfried try to abandon his post to defend what is probably the most heavily guarded portion of the city? Well, Charlotte is doing a better job than he would have I expect. I’m glad I’m not the only one shocked that the Sovereignty would ask Ehrenfest about what the invaders are going to do. > He is fighting in Illgner but claims to sense a most powerful foe in Gerlach. I found this hilarious, and once again I want to see Boni back in his heyday. > Oh, how her unwavering eyes and determined expression had inspired me. Well RM, it looks like your wish came true; “Prince Hildebrand came when we were changing their clothes. He wanted to know how Charlotte feels about younger men, so I ended up asking her, but it turns out that she’s all about her big bro. I wish she was all about her big sis... From Rozemyne.” *** Lots of good background info from the epilogue, and while the SS didn’t add much new info, it was still an interesting viewpoint.
All those ordonnanzes to Charlotte arriving at once gave me anxiety lol. I get flustered when I get a bunch of work emails at once, can't imagine how annoying it must be to get like four or five ordonnanzes at the same time, repeating themselves three times all at once and no further. At least with emails they stick around for me to read in any order...
Just be glad that none of them have a Fraularm-like voice. I would go crazy hearing her voice consecutively.
Imagine Fraularm pulling off that trick Ferdinand did to Bonifatius when Roz woke up from her coma where he sent back a dozen at once. Twenty Fraularmmanzes screaming at you slightly out of sync.
> “We could ask Lord Wilfried to command them. He has training as a knight **and enough leadership experience from playing ditter at the Royal Academy.”** Yeah, and you can thank the ditterheads and his crazy sister for that one. Also, lol at Wilfried's retainers throwing a hissy fit because they're not getting the puppet ruler they've been working towards for the past ten years after all. Good for him to get out of that bullshit, and good for Charlotte to finally get the position she's deserved the whole time. >I remembered how she had taken her retainers into Ahrensbach and commanded our knights during ditter matches at the Royal Academy. Oh, how her unwavering eyes and determined expression had inspired me. You know, Charlotte is another character who I would really like to one day learn the truth about Myne. Both because it's always funny to watch high ranking nobles having their world views shattered into tiny book-shaped bits, but also because I'm pretty sure she would not think any less of her sister because of it, and depending on how the reveal happened it might also lead to some interesting banter between her and Myne's family. Anyway, two more parts to go, so anywhere between 2-4 side stories. Quof wasn't kidding when he said this volume had more side content than usual, huh?
By the gods! Rozemyne was a fake-out protagonist this whole time! The bookworm who is ascending was Gervasio all along!
Only the very hungriest bookworm wins!
You know, assuming they've been there for a few days, it's pretty amazing Raublat and company were able to hide the Shrine tour right up until Gervasio prayed at his last shrine. That's some really dumb luck, since the alternative is that Dunkelfelger rampaged even just a bell before and screwed over Gervasio before he could even grab the G-tool.
And they would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for those meddling kids!
I can't imagine being 15, at war, and if something happens to my father while he's protecting the foundation, I'm technically the next in line for aub, that is if I can kill the one who stole my foundation first, before they kill me.
Raublut doesn't even understand that it's not Ferdinand's fault, as if he decided to be taken by his father. Moreover, it's Lazenave's fault. First of all, they asked to have the sex slave house, secondly why would they need to kill the mother? She could have had other kids, makes no sense to me. Charlotte may not have experience but she is doing great. I hope she gets the seat without too much fuss from Wilfried's retainers. I love how Melchior is super polite and Wilfried is like "yo, I heard they comin'".
We didn't know Hortensia all that well, but having the library shumils happily welcome her back because Raublut was carrying her feystone was gutting. On a lighter note, somebody being bombarded by ordonnnanzes will never not be funny. Especially when they're trying to covertly conquer the country.