Chapter Text
How to Compound without Self-Mutilation
“Don’t hold your knife like that, you will lose a finger!”
“You there, keep waving the knife like that and you will gouge someone’s eyes!”
“Don’t rush!”
“Ouch- professor I-”
An assistant professor rushed to that student, “Don’t touch your wound, I will heal it now!”
If Ferdinand ever had any expectation for the classes he would oversee as a professor, it would not be a terror-inducing job of keeping a bunch of ten years old from mutilating themselves with a knife. Was it so long ago he didn’t remember how hectic the beginner class for compounding could be?
Ferdinand grabbed a knife and stabbed it back into the blade holder. “Do not leave your knife lying around.”
“Ah, yes-”
A schtappe was convenient indeed; messer would keep these children from losing fingers. He had forgotten how much healing he had cast for one class alone.
“First cut the ingredient in a way so there’s a flat surface, then make a claw pose like this to hold it down. Like a zanze’s hand~” A voice, too young to be his fellow professor, cut through the commotion, Ferdinand turned to the side and found among Drewanchel students there was a young girl surrounded by her peers. “Then, cut slowly… don’t rush. Ensure the cuts are an even size, it will turn out better that way.”
As expected of a Drewanchel, there was a student that was properly educated in how to use a knife.
“For the herbs you cut it like this, one hand on the back of the knife and move your hand holding the handle like this.”
“Oh-”
“These knives are sharp due to magic, but keep in mind if your knife is not sharp, have it sharpened first. A dull knife is very dangerous!”
“Yes, Milady!”
Ferdinand approached the resourceful student, judging from her luxurious dress it was easy to tell that she was an archduke candidate. Her appearance was… notable, hair as dark as the night and moon like eyes. She looked like… the younger version of the young goddess residing in the library.
“Excellent work.” Ferdinand commented upon looking at her prep work, all cut well and evenly. “Ah, I believe you are Professor Gundolf’s grandniece.”
She blinked at him, confusion apparent in her young face. “Ah yes, I am Rozemyne of Drewanchel. Professor…”
“Ferdinand.”
“Professor Ferdinand.”
She was… small, notably looking younger than her peers from her age and chubby cheeks. Just like… when he enrolled in the Royal Academy. It seemed she had massive mana capacity if her young appearance was anything to go by.
“Zanze’s hand like this?” A student asked her.
“Yes-yes… curl your finger like this, nya~”
...Did she just let out a weird noise like a zanze?
“How adorable!” The assistant professor murmured.
Thanks to the young Drewanchel student the classroom was less chaotic, with the students slowly learning how to cut properly. After making rounds around the room, Ferdinand took a look at her potions. Much to his surprise, not only did she succeed in making all three potions for the course, they were all of superior quality.
“They are passable.”
“Thank you, professor! One step closer to the library!”
The girl beamed with the purest smile he had ever seen. Unfortunately she no longer needed to come to his class, it would have been helpful for her to assist the other students a while longer.
While she no longer was in his class, Ferdinand would hear about Rozemyne often from other teachers.
“The Drewanchel first years all passed as expected, but Lady Rozemyne received perfect marks in history and geography,” the professor for those courses said over dinner as Ferdinand chewed thoughtfully. “She’ll be top of her class for certain.”
“I believe she’s had your potion concocting class by now, Ferdinand?” Professor Gundolf said, a slightly teasing smile at his lips, doubtless remembering Ferdinand’s promise to treat Rozemyne exactly like every other student.
“Yes, she completed her potions on the first day to a passable standard and assisted the other students in not removing their own fingers,” Ferdinand answered with no additional inflection. He would not admit to Gundolf that she had been helpful and he missed her.
“Ah, yes, first years,” he said fondly.
“She did seem far more familiar with compounding than the usual first year,” he felt compelled to note, curious if Gundolf would add anything.
“Yes, Lady Rozemyne is somewhat frail, she’s crafted her own antipyretics and stamina rejuvenation potions for years,” Gundolf answered with a faint frown. “She has also been working on some magic paper research so I’d imagine her facility with tools has much improved since I saw her last.”
Magic paper? Ferdinand felt his curiosity pique at that, but he didn’t give Gundolf the pleasure of biting. “That would explain it then.”
“It does not explain her talent in music,” Pauline mused. “She was quite remarkable, even by archducal candidate standards, and supposedly she was even the composer of the song she played.”
“I still remember her winter presentation,” Gundolf reminisced, again with a fond smile on his lips. “She played her own composition to Leidenschaft at a quality you would find more among graduates than freshly baptized children. The songs are her own,” he said, removing the possibility she was simply taking advantage of a talented subordinate. “I’m certain you’ve already invited her to a tea party?”
Pauline smiled gracefully. “The true question is if Ferdinand will continue to be in attendance.”
Ferdinand wanted to sigh at the annoyingly backhanded invite. Pauline knew he was not a great fan of attending tea parties that were largely for women, but he had been a longtime fixture of the tea parties surrounding music for years and it made sense she would want to continue to invite him.
“I think it would be better to allow the focus to remain on students,” he answered, not even glancing over to Pauline. Of course he did catch the disappointed look from Justus who was mingling nearby with the other attendants. “But I suppose I can attend to at least patronize the arts.”
That’s Not a Snake
His last direct encounter with the rogue Drewanchel archduke candidate was when he’d been asked to proctor for the highbeast and feystone armor ‘examinations’. It was mindless as ever, since only a few students had any real practice with forming feystones by their first year. Dunkelfelgers generally were competent at forming feystone armor, while some knights were capable of forming highbeasts if they were particularly enthusiastic.
After a few Dunkelfelgers filed over to the appropriate teachers, Lady Rozemyne walked up to where he was now apparently the only professor left.
“Which of the tasks will you be attempting today, Rozemyne?” he asked after she came to stand in front of him.
“Both,” she answered firmly.
Interesting… “Armor first.”
She nodded and placed her hand to the feystone bracelet at her wrist, a common way to carry the needed stones for the fashion conscious who didn’t take the knight course. It was also common to carry them in a gauntlet, but it seemed for her highbeast she preferred to keep the cage configuration that he also preferred when he wasn’t working with knights. She then swiftly and effortlessly used the feystone to forge breastplate, greaves, bracers, and a helmet.
He spent a moment in shock before drawing out his schtappe, forming a knife, and giving the armor a cursory poke. “Acceptably done.”
She then removed the armor just as swiftly, and then held her hand by the feystone at her waist and then… a… monstrosity emerged.
“What… is that ?”
“ Tsuchi -kun!” That more enthusiastic reply than needed answered none of his questions as he inspected the… thing again. It could generously be called a snake, possibly , although he wasn’t particularly inclined to call it one. It had a bulbous head , and where eyes should have been there was instead a large, rectangular piece of what seemed to be glass, revealing what appeared to be seats and some wheel where the reins should be.
Beyond the front area there was a huge, even more extensive body area, with tiny wings that made a mockery of the entire concept of ‘wings’, and as he circled there was also a tiny tail, curled up in an apparent hook.
“That is not a highbeast.”
“It most certainly is!” She answered, and although she was a child it was quite easy to see she was also raised knowing a certain amount of how to get her way. “What aspect of ‘highbeast’ does it fail to meet?”
It was, admittedly, an animal. “I fail to see how you can ride such a thing.”
Rozemyne then went to the side of her highbeast’s head and placed her hand to it, where it produced a door similar to a carriage, where she climbed in and sat, apparently comfortably. The tail end then wiggled very slightly before it began to move, circling him twice before she came to a stop.
“It also flies very safely, and carries an exceptional amount of luggage,” she answered. “Please feel free to have a seat!”
He was very reluctant to enter such a thing, but when he circled around to the other side he found a handle similar to a carriage door, opened it, and sat down in the… very comfortable seat.
“Please fasten your seatbelt for safety!” Rozemyne said cheerfully, pointing to a hooked belt of some sort that came from the upper shoulder to his hip. He reluctantly complied.
The highbeast then slithered a bit more before increasing to rather exceptional speeds, exited the open door into the outer Academy area, and then it… flew. Those tiny little wings were apparently more than capable of taking flight.
“Wow,” Rozemyne said, craning her head to look out of the side of the highbeast. “The Academy is huge! Oh! Is that the library?”
“Rozemyne, pay attention and put us down,” Ferdinand snapped, perhaps a bit more harshly than he’d intended, but she pouted, did as asked, landing seamlessly without a single thud or bump before slipping back into the class area. She exited, and Ferdinand did the same, and Rozemyne then… walked him around the highbeast, showing the large secondary doors that revealed a massive interior.
“I carry any attendants this way, and an escort knight,” she answered. She then went around to the back and showed the hooked tail. “This can be used to hook up a specialty cart used for moving larger quantities of material.” And then she lifted at the tail and it produced another, enclosed cargo area. “And the trunk!”
“Not beautiful.”
“It’s a snake,” she argued back.
“It is completely out of proportion, the wings are comical…”
“But, Professor, what aspect of ‘highbeast’ doesn’t it meet? It walks, it flies, and it is far more convenient than a regular highbeast that can’t carry more than one safely and can’t carry any cargo. You can also ride without changing into highbeast gear as a lady.”
“How revolutionary!” Hirschur had come over and was inspecting the trunk and back area of the… thing. That woman! She then made her own from a shumil, and now several other girls were investigating Hirschur’s version of the thing.
He felt an exceptional headache brewing.
“I just need a pass,” Rozemyne said, voice bordering on desperate, especially for her station. “I can’t go to the library until I pass all my classes.”
As much as he wanted to fail that ugly monstrosity of a thing she had produced, he did have to admit that it was an animal - however malformed - it flew and walked, and did have several benefits as Rozemyne had said. It was just the most repulsive thing he had ever seen in his entire life.
“Your father allows you to… ride such a thing?” Aub Drewanchel let her distort the image of their herald animal to this ridiculous bloated figure and allow a Drewanchel lady to ride it in public?!
“I have used it for three years,” she answered confidently.
“… You pass.”
She clenched her fist happily and then put away the offending highbeast. “Thank you, Professor Ferdinand! I can go to the library now, it’s been so long.”
“You have been here two weeks.”
“And that is two weeks that I couldn’t go to my beloved library,” she answered. “I am going to read every book in the library, maybe twice!”
“I recommend you review feybeast anatomy for better pointers on how to form something aesthetically acceptable for your highbeast.”
She answered with an undignified ‘hrmf’. “No one in Drewanchel complains after they get to take all their luggage on a trip and camp inside him.”
Camp? He frowned, and Rozemyne took that as an excuse to answer.
“I can stretch him out and make enough room for eight or ten people to sleep.”
How horrifying.
Thankfully an older attendant came to fetch the girl nearly as soon as class was done and he didn’t need to think of her much at all after that.
*
Gundolf invited him to toy around with one of Ferdinand’s older inventions that he had been tinkering on and they chatted.
“Did you pass Glucklitate’s trial, Ferdinand?”
“I believe it was called a ‘tsuchi-kun.’”
Gundolf chuckled. “Yes, that is one of her quirks.”
“I was surprised how small Rozemyne’s entourage appears to be…” It was unusual for a teacher to see the full scope of an archduke candidate’s entourage but it still seemed minuscule.
“Ah, yes. I think she has… five? Quite small. You have to remember that we have so many options for lords to serve that the less ambitious have a much smaller pool to draw from.”
“Not ambitious?” She was a firm leader, brilliant, innovative as much as it pained him to admit.
“In a political sense? No.” Gundolf sighed. “However meritocratic Drewanchel can be, we do still prefer our own blood. Rozemyne is not my nephew’s daughter by blood. She is in a difficult position: older than Aub's oldest daughter, so between generations and too old to marry any younger nephews, but with innovation and intellect that merits an extensive following. Politically she is more astute than she seems on the surface… and so she is quite dangerous to my eldest grand niece by blood.”
“And so… what? A political marriage?” Assassination…? He was not blind to what happened to misplaced heirs.
“She is only a year older than Prince Trauerqual’s son,” Gundolf said. Ferdinand had never met the boy but he didn’t think well of royal blood. “Still, she tutors Adolphine, and has started to reform the education system in Drewanchel…”
A ten year old educating the oldest daughter of Aub Drewanchel who shouldn't be short of qualified educators?! Then again recalling her performance in class and flair in teaching, Ferdinand could see it. Ferdinand himself had known for all her brilliance, Hirschur was a terrible teacher as far as responsibility goes.
Gundolf went on, “She wants to be a librarian, so… she must live out her days, have the grades to enter Sovereignty service… and recommendations from more than just a doting greatuncle.”
That was Gundolf’s concern? A recommendation to the Sovereignty? Most Drewanchels could simply ask and receive one, but it seemed to Ferdinand he was being asked to guide the girl, at least a bit, and he didn’t know how he felt about that.
“I’ve long ago forgotten what it’s like to be young and clever, Ferdinand.”
“Well, I’m certain if she has the intellect for it, she will find her way to her heart’s desire,” Ferdinand answered noncommittally.
“Yes, I hope she does.”
He’d hoped to avoid thinking about the strange girl for a few days only for Hirschur to dangle a very tempting bit of information when they met up for a brief tea and conversation.
“You weren’t there for the compression class.” Hirschur sounded very irritated about his absence, “You should have been there.” There should be plenty of personnel to keep students from blowing themselves up. He’d had another class, regardless, and could hardly be expected to make an exception.
He said as much, and Hirschur frowned.
“Fine, it means you missed that girl, Rozemyne.”
“Ah, yes, the ever exceptional Drewanchel.” Was this how teachers had felt when he was a student? Didn’t they have anything better to talk about? “She seemed fine for highbeast class, she didn’t blow herself up or faint so badly she missed classes.”
“She broke a mana meter.”
Ferdinand looked up, curious. He didn’t think anyone had done that since him. “And so you pulled out the one you designed for me?”
“Yes, and she nearly broke that too,” Hirshur answered. “Objectively speaking, I would say she has mana that is even more compressed than your own was when you were her age.”
“I’d suspected that, given her small stature.” Still… “No other Drewanchel were so compressed, were they? I thought there were a few other cadets from the Aub’s family this year…”
“Three total, yes,” Hirschur answered without even seeming to care. “Gundolf was telling me she had too much mana to be properly managed by a childhood tool and just started compressing subconsciously as a child.”
Subconsciously? Ferdinand had done that somewhat as a boy, but not nearly so much as Rozemyne appeared to have. That was a natural consequence of having no near blood relatives to match mana with… “He just wants to talk her up.”
“When a Drewanchel with Gundolf’s pedigree and experience talks up someone’s intellect and mental strength, it’s not idle talk.”
He had no idea what Hirschur intended for him to do with this information, so simply tucked it away as one of the many oddities about the new student.
*
Lalala! Library, library! Rozemyne nearly spun around at the pure, unrestrained joy that she had finally passed all her classes, including the practical ones, and was now allowed by her adoptive father and aides to go to the library.
“Milady, slow down and walk with more grace, you will pass out if you continue at that pace.” Hrosvita, as ever, had to ruin her fun on that front.
She sighed and slowed down. She wished she could have brought her roller blades to get there even faster, but the First Lady Minerva banned her from rolling down the Academy halls. She was told it was one thing to use them in the castle back home, but another to show a less graceful way of moving in front of other duchies. What a shame.
They finally reached the library at the end of the hall, put the invitation in the slot, and were welcomed inside. Two librarians and a moving stuffed rabbit helped her register, after which she promptly scurried to one of the carrals. She had one of the stuffed rabbits locate her a chained book nearby, and read with the sort of rapt attention she could only give books.
“Not a feybeast book.”
She looked up, startled, to see Professor Ferdinand there with one of the many extensive scrolls in hand - which he passed over to a rabbit.
“There’s nothing wrong with Tsuchi-kun,” she answered with a slight huff. “I’d consider a [rabbit], I mean shumil, but I’m used to him now.”
She took a moment to really examine Professor Ferdinand, he was fairly young, maybe twenty or so, with long, sky blue hair that he kept in a braid. She’d heard he was a former archduke candidate from Ehrenfest, at least that’s what her great uncle had said, he was also top of his class in three courses. She only really expected to take two, but there was a bit of pressure to consider the knight course just to ‘match up’ to Ferdinand. In short he was a ridiculously impossible person, but had come to the Royal Academy rather than do something for his home duchy, she could sympathize!
“You don’t seem to be reading about feybeasts either,” she answered, nodding to the scroll that he’d picked up from what she thought was one of the research sections.
“Yes, non-restricted research. My idiot-- I mean Professor Hirschur and I are reviewing a few of her older works.”
Idiot? She knew Professor Hirschur was eccentric, so that was a bit understandable… still, rude! And prickly! Just like her greatuncle had promised. “Hmm… maybe I should research feyplants instead…”
Professor Ferdinand walked over to a nearby shelf and tugged one of the larger scrolls: “This is a good work for subjugation methods.”
“Oh?” Wow he actually… knew where that sort of thing was? She liked him already! “I meant more properties of the materials after the whole… subjugation part. As you can see, I’m not really the monster subduing sort.” She spread her arms slightly to indicate her very small size.
He smiled very faintly at that. “Too much mana, most likely. Hirschur mentioned you broke her mana meter.”
“I didn’t break her meter… just another teacher’s…” She smiled very awkwardly for a moment. “That’s been a problem for a while…”
“Yes, I can imagine. Decompressing your mana would help, now that you’re finished with your classes it should be safe to do so. It would help your growth.”
Her growth!? She could grow more? “Uh… not to doubt you, but, why hasn’t anyone else suggested it?” Alright maybe that wasn’t the best way to ask, but she’d really never been told to do that…
Ferdinand again seemed amused by her response. “It’s not a typical problem for someone your age. You’d need to decompress regardless, after your Blessing Acquisition.”
“And why is that?”
“As an archduke candidate, even the five or six blessings you’ll receive will increase your efficiency significantly, and if you are at all pious you could receive more.”
“What qualifies as… pious?” She had spent almost a year in the orphanage as a child before presenting with mana and being scooped up as a ‘fallen noble’ by her giebe father and then adopted by the archduke. She prayed fairly regularly, and performed all sorts of healing, greetings, blessed crops, and libraries… and still helped out over winter and spring… and other times too.
“I’m hardly a good source on the matter. Prayer at least.”
She pondered the new information he’d given her. “So the more gods who bless you the more your mana?”
“Mana consumption efficiency, but yes.”
She’d heard of that, but hadn’t paid it a lot of attention, it was in year three before getting the schtappe, she nodded thoughtfully. “I shall keep your advice in mind, thank you, Professor.”
Adolphine was six and already almost as tall as her!
Professor Ferdinand then indicated a scroll she should look at for feyplant properties, and even lifted it for her after he observed her standing and lifting her weak noodle arms to try to reach it.
“I am ever so grateful.”
He said nothing in return, retreating with his own scroll, and read over at another carrel. She decided she liked Professor Ferdinand, he liked books, he was fairly nice for an adult, and he seemed to understand at least some of the pressures of an archduke candidate, and he lived in the Academy.
Basically he was her idol. The only thing that could have been better was if he lived in the library!