Published: September 6, 2025
During the preparations for the territory competition, my role was to handle the civil official course, but the one really giving the orders was Hartmut, an upper-class noble and the senior student. I mostly just observed Hartmut’s work to take notes for next year.
Watching him efficiently assign tasks and check things, I could see he was heavily influenced by the high priest and Justox. When I pointed this out, Hartmut’s face lit up with happiness.
“Last year, Lord Ferdinand and Justox gave me a lot of advice. Being praised by Lady Rosemine, who knows those two well, for working similarly to them is truly gratifying.”
Splitting the chain of command among the three lord candidates made the preparations proceed very smoothly. It allowed me to focus purely on what the civil official apprentices were doing without distraction, and I was able to directly gauge the skill level of Wilfried’s and Charlotte’s attendants, which was a great gain for me.
...In conclusion, our civil officials shaped by the high priest really are outstanding.
Of course, being outstanding means a heavy workload, but they are completely different in usability. Especially since Filine is a lower noble, seeing her bustling around as Hartmut’s assistant clearly showed remarkable growth.
Watching Filine nervously was Roderich, who just joined as an attendant. Although he was being bossed around by Hartmut with only a bit of handover, his pace was still very different from the two of them.
“I have to work hard and catch up too,” Roderich said, highly motivated. So I encouraged him, “If you spend a year under Lord Ferdinand in the temple, you’ll grow whether you like it or not.”
Charlotte, who entered this year, seems to be taking advice from her attendants and Brynhildr, who is helping with preparations, quite earnestly. Wilfried is guarding me and Charlotte, and he’s also doing his best to support the knight apprentices who couldn’t attend practice or meetings. We just occasionally check in on progress, and preparations are going along without any major issues.
“Alright, let’s start moving the equipment into the venue. Follow the procedures we discussed yesterday.”
“Understood.”
Before I knew it, the day of the territory competition had arrived. After finishing breakfast early, setup began immediately. At my command, the civil official apprentices sprung into action.
“Brynhildr, is everything going well over there?”
“Yes, Lady Rosemine. The Otmar Trading Company’s quatre-quarts from Ehrenfest has arrived, and the kitchen is baking sweets one after another for the hospitality.”
As Brynhildr said, the dormitory was filled with a sweet scent. Charlotte was busy checking teaware and directing its delivery. I couldn’t spot the knight apprentices, so I casually looked around until Cornelius, my guard knight, told me.
“Lord Wilfried and the knight apprentices are doing final checks on the weaknesses and strategies for the demonic beasts expected to appear as opponents, and also distributing healing potions to restore mana.”
“Cornelius, aren’t you joining the final checks?”
I looked up at Brother Cornelius and asked. He gave a confident smile and said, “It’s fine.”
“We’ve practiced repeatedly, and we know the weaknesses and strategies. Now it’s just about following the orders.”
“So, are you saying you’re so in sync with Leonore, who gives the commands, that you don’t even need to coordinate?”
“That’s not it. How do you interpret my words to arrive at that conclusion!?”
...Eh? That’s definitely a boast about how close they are.
With Cornelius as guard knight and Richarda as attendant, I headed to the venue with the civil officials. The territory competition would be held in the largest training ground in the knights’ quarters.
The oval-shaped training ground, designed for mounted combat on mounts flying around, was the same type used for last year’s ditter duel. The sky was covered with gray clouds drifting snow, giving the impression of an outdoor arena, but no wind or snow was felt. It was as if there were a transparent roof. The difference was the size: last time the arena was almost circular; this time, two circles made the overall shape an oval.