Chapter Text
The Aub's Decision
I felt the sweat beads forming on my forehead as I struggled to regulate my breathing at the same time I frantically parried the seemingly endless barrage of attacks before me. I heard the beat of my own heart in my head as the attacks suddenly became faster and more forceful. I grit my teeth and strengthened the grip on my wooden sword, my thoughts focused solely on deflecting, not even considering the possibility of a counter attack. The very unequal trade continued for what seemed to be hours, but in reality, was probably only a few short minutes. Finally, my skinny seven-year-old legs folded under the incessant battering and I crumpled to the floor, desperately gasping for air. The man before me withdrew his sword as well and chuckled, then offered me a helping hand.
"Very good Lord Octavius, your swordsmanship has gotten much better in the last season, if I do say so myself" he said, giving me a pleased smile.
I huffed, still trying to recover but took his hand anyways and hoisted myself from the ground.
"However, you still went easy on me, Baldemyr" I replied, as I gave him a slight frown. The knight smiled nonchalantly and brushed his sand-colored hair out of his face
"You're still too young for me to go all out on you. Now, if you would." Baldemyr made a gesture with his hand and, out of nowhere, a white stick appeared in his hand. I quickly plugged my nose and closed my eyes as I recognized the cue for the spell.
Waschen
I felt my body and become surrounded by water as the familiar feeling of weightlessness overtook me. The spell only lasted a few seconds though, as soon my small frame was back to where it had once stood.
"I thank you" I said, as I felt the stickiness and general sensation of discomfort disappear from my body.
Spells are just so neat and handy I thought to myself in secret.
I had already been living in this world for 7 years now and I still found the general notion and functionality of mana and magic to be just so damn cool. This, I thought, was something to be expected from someone who had previously lived in a world where magic was just a concept in anime and children's books.
As we walked and talked around the training grounds to give our bodies enough time to cool down I heard the sudden flitting of wings around us as an ivory bird made its way into the waiting arm of Baldemyr.
"This is Lord Joaquim, Aub Immerdink has returned from the Royal Academy. All members of the archducal family of suitable age please report to the main castle's meeting room"
The bird repeated the message three times and then turned into a familiar looking stone. Baldemyr caught the small stone in his left hand and lightly tapped it with the right. The stone immediately morphed into the same ivory bird as before and opened its beak.
"Understood, this is Baldemyr, I am with Lord Octavius, we're heading over now"
The bird closed its beak again and then with one swift motion from his wrist Baldemyr sent it on its way and turned to me.
"Let us be on our way, my lord".
The two knight guards who had been watching us from the side lines saw us moving towards the castle and swiftly joined our flanks. I sighed ever so slightly and took my place in the middle of my retinue. My baptism and debut had just recently taken place and I knew I was now indeed considered "of suitable age" to be a part of the archducal family discussions, but the concept itself was completely alien and somewhat nerve racking to me. Immerdink didn't have the best fraternal relationships between its archduke candidates, so just thinking about having to face my annoying half siblings in the meeting was enough to produce a massive headache.
Nghh, they really do make my memories of dealing with that super monster bookworm seem like a walk in the park.
I smiled to myself as I remembered my hopelessly narrow sighted friend, Urano.
I hope she's doing better in the world...wherever she is.
I slowly made my way into the room with my two knight guards and head attendant. The air in the room was cold as I entered, my nervous eyes unconsciously scanning the room. There was a big round table at the center of the spacious room with people already sitting all around. I took a moment to bow respectfully at the door, then went to my designated seat at the table beside my mother while my retainers took their places behind me. The room was silent but the air was dense. For some reason, the children of my father's first wife always seemed to have the idea that I would someday plot to come to power and forcefully remove my brother from his position. I sighed, thinking about how absolutely moronic this was in the first place. The children of the first wife would always be prioritized over the second wife's children. My father had produced two healthy young men and a daughter with his first wife. And, although my mother was from Drewanchel, she had been demoted to an archnoble before coming to Immerdink, so even though she had loyal retainers, they were still very much considered a minority. I didn't understand the root for the sheer animosity these people held towards my mother and I, but it was easy enough to ignore when I didn't have to see their faces often. I had only ever lived in the eastern wing of the castle with my mother, and even after being baptized I was not made to mingle with her or my half siblings and was swiftly put in the southern part of the castle where the Aub's children birthed by second and third wives stayed before coming of age. I carefully wondered my eyes to get a glimpse of everyone around. At the right of my father's corresponding seat at the head of the table was the oldest son, Lord Faustus and to his right was his first wife, Lady Lucilla. Beside them was the second son and his first wife, Lord Lambert and Lady Euphemia. Directly across from my elder brother and his wife was my sister, the daughter of the first wife and her husband, Lady Innocencia and Lord Adalbert. They all tried to ignore our presence but every now and then they'd sneak a harsh glare or two our way. As the minutes dragged on, we all waited in silence for any indication of arrival. Finally, after a while of unperturbed silence, we heard footsteps coming down the hall at last. Before the door could open, we swiftly rose to our feet and bowed our heads slightly. The door opened with a click as the sound of footsteps flooded the room.
"Sit" the Aub instructed as he took his own chair. We all did as we were told at once, raising our heads in the process. The Aub had a tired look on his face, as if he'd aged 10 years from that sole visit to the Royal Academy. Lady Edmunda, his first wife, looked no better at his side, her face betraying a deep sense of concern.
"Father, please tell us what happened" Lord Faustus pleaded as he broke the silence in the meeting hall. Father pinched his temples as he waved him down and gave a long sigh.
"As you know, the Aubs of various duchies contacted one another because of the strange anomalies occurring all over Yurgenschmidt and the rumors of a foreign invasion in sovereignty"
We all nodded our heads in unison, as the atmosphere in the room seemed to be turning more and more severe.
"Well...It seems like the Gutrissheit has been acquired"
I heard sharp intakes of breath and gasps go all around the room.
"Father... Is this true?" Faustus asked, seemingly unable to believe what he'd just heard. The Aub merely gave him a tired look and nodded.
"Only a fool would jest about such a delicate matter. Although.... However hard this is to believe, I can assure you it pales in comparison to the rest" the Aub paused, looked around the room and issued an order "Clear the room except for the Knight commander and the archducal family".
One by one, all the retainers in the room started to flood out into the hall until only those who were asked to stay remained, and with a quick gesture, the on area sound blocking magic tool was activated.
"Father please, what could be more important than the acquisition of the Gutrissheit?" Lady Innocencia asked, almost leaning in anticipation.
The Aub sighed, paused for a moment as if steeling his resolve, and then spoke "The goddess of wisdom, Mestionora herself, descended upon the saint of Ehrenfest and asked her to bestow the Gutrissheit onto the new Zent"
The room was dead silent for a moment, as if everyone had simultaneously held their breath. Then, after a beat longer, the icy expectation was finally broken.
"Father?! What are you even saying?!"
It was not Faustus nor Innocencia that had spoken up this time, but Lambert, the second eldest son. Father sent a stern glare his way, an indirect order for him to sit back down and said "Do you doubt the words of your Aub?" in the most authoritarian voice he could muster. Lambert flinched and corrected his stance at once.
"I... I apologize father but, is such a thing even possible?".
The Aub chuckled. It was a small and ironic sounding laugh "If I hadn't seen it myself, I would have been just as skeptic as you."
There was a quiet gasp from beside Faustus, as another feminine voice who had not yet spoken, was heard.
"So you saw the goddess descend onto the Saint of Ehrenfest, Aub Immerdink?" Lucilla asked shyly. At this, the Aub slowly shook his head.
"No, I did not see the moment it happened... However, I did have the chance to see Lady Rozemyne briefly after the incarnation."
"Is that enough to conclude that this story is true, though?" Lambert pressed.
The Aub gave him a serious face and nodded once “It is.” He turned his eyes away, gazing into the distance as if his mind had completely reverted back to that moment “The power and radiance which Lady Rozemyne exuded were not a thing of mortals, but of the gods. Of that much, at least, there is no doubt in my mind.”
Everyone at the table looked at him with wide eyes, their mouths hanging open ever so slightly. I peeked a look at my mother, searching for her reaction as well. The calm and gentle mask that she always wore was now replaced by a look of astonishment, a rare sight in my ever so proper mother. From what I remembered from my studies I knew that the current Royal Family had come to power as a result of the civil war that had occurred within the kingdom a few years back. Essentially, the king and the second prince who had acquired Gutrissheit both suffered an untimely end and climbed the towering stairway, a very noble-ish way of saying that they’d both kicked the bucket nearly at the same time. As a result of this, the Zent’s sons went into an all-out battle seeking their father’s position. In the end the winning prince fifth prince, Zent Trauqueral, was crowned King, but of course, since the only two people that even knew how to acquire the Gutrissheit were both seven feet under, the current Zent had some major problems when it came to ruling the country. For one, if someone didn’t have the Gutrissheit, it was impossible to open and close borders. As a border country ourselves, we felt the repercussions of this way too close. Aside from that, when the political turmoil had subsided, the Zent just pushed the purged duchies’ territories onto greater duchies on the winning side. The Aubs ruled over the land as they were told, but soon it became painfully obvious to everyone that these lands were heavily neglected by the duchies in their charge. And really, who could blame them? The land that they were caring for couldn’t even be considered an extension of their own because the duchy borders could not be redrawn and on top of that, the mana that they required for their upkeep was much more than the average noble was willing to spare out of goodwill.
Suddenly, my father’s voice brought me back to reality from my daydream and I corrected my posture again.
“Lady Eglantine has been chosen by Mestionora’s Avatar as the new Zent of Yurgenschmidt and all of the Aubs have been invited to witness a true coronation ceremony as designed by the gods.”
Everyone stiffened up at once as the realization that a new political shift was taking place before their eyes. The Aub cleared his throat to break the silence, and in a horrifying turn of events, shifted his gaze to look straight at me.
“Lady Rozemyne has declared that, in the hopes of showing the benefits of prayer and rituals, she will allow young children of baptismal age to attend the ceremony. As we cannot afford to further fall from Lady Rozemyne’s grace, I have decided on kindly taking upon her kind offering.”
I felt the cold sweat slide of my back under my clothes as I quickly grasped just what direction this conversation was spiraling into.
“Octavius, ready yourself. You will be attending the new Zent’s coronation with me and the first Lady”.
As all of the eyes in the room fell on me, I felt my hands under the table start to tremble. My mind was sent into a frenzy, as I tried to fathom how I was supposed to go from living a normal and quiet life in the castle to being in the presence of an incarnated goddess and the country’s next ruler. Suddenly, as if responding to my silent cries for help, a warm touch surrounded my shaking hands and gave them a gentle squeeze. I sneaked a glance at my mother, surprised to see her lovingly, proud eyes upon me. I slowly released a breath I had not realized I was holding and raised my head with all the dignity I could gather.
“I shan’t embarrass you, father”