Published: August 10, 2026
"Lord Ferdinand, before we head to the noble academy, I would like us to compare the information we have. Would that be all right?"
As if restraining an aub who seemed ready to leap into action at any moment, the principal wife smiled.
Ferdinand answered, "Of course."
Seeing the two of them exchange those polished social smiles, I couldn't help thinking they seemed like the type who would work well together in covert scheming.
"Since Arensbach has closed its dormitory due to the aub succession, information from the Central Building and the noble academy can only be obtained through Ehrenfest. And the source of Ehrenfest's information is Professor Hilsure, whose research takes absolute priority."
Everyone knew the well-established fact that Hilsure was a research fanatic and a dormitory supervisor in name only. It was clear at once just how poorly informed we were about the noble academy and the Central Building.
The principal wife looked as though she understood everything, and she explained the situation in the Central Building as relayed by Rufen.
"The day Lady Rosemine invited you to a true ditter match, Aub Ehrenfest spoke with the royal family, correct?"
"Yes. He met with Prince Sigiswald and should have told him about my going to Arensbach. I was also given a permit."
The chain had begun to turn into gold dust, so I wasn't wearing it now, but a gift was still a gift.
"After that, Zent heard the situation from Prince Sigiswald, ordered the Central Knights Order to protect the noble academy and guard the entrance to Arensbach's dormitory, and informed the dormitory supervisors at the noble academy to remain in their respective dormitories."
...Professor Hilsure never told us that, did he?
He must have decided on his own that as long as he didn't go outside, it was fine, and then holed up in the civil officials' building instead of returning to the dormitory.
"We were busy preparing the knights heading to Arensbach and the knights waiting for orders from the Central Building, so at the time we still hadn't contacted Rufen."
The principal wife seemed to have had a very hard time keeping the fired-up Dunkelfelger men under control after they got excited about the true ditter match and their meeting at the national border gate.
With no word from the royal family, the time came for the volunteers heading to Arensbach to depart, so they went to the border gate. But even after returning, it seemed there had still been no request from the royal family.
"While we were getting impatient, I received a message from Hannelore. It was a letter saying that Lady Rosemine had gained Arensbach's foundation, and that she wanted permission to lead Dunkelfelger volunteers in order to protect Ehrenfest's foundation. We tried to send a direct message from Dunkelfelger to Zent to report that the battle in Arensbach was over, but the connection wouldn't go through."
Aub Dunkelfelger said that if Zent was leading the battle, then of course he wouldn't be in his office, so the principal wife apparently hadn't found it particularly strange at the time that communication failed. Since the emergency water mirror used magic stone contact to function when an aub used it, the same would apply to communicating with Zent. Unless he was in a position where he could return immediately, they could not speak.
When she heard from civil officials that the emergency communication magic tool had reacted, she thought they would be contacted eventually.
But even after a whole day, no reply came from Zent. Frustrated by the complete silence, Aub Dunkelfelger apparently contacted Rufen.
"Rufen, who had been ordered to remain shut up in the dormitory, had no useful information either. He only replied that he was remaining in the dormitory on the king's orders."
For some reason, Rufen had always given the impression that if he ever had a chance to fight, he would disregard orders and rush out saying, "I'll fight alongside the Central Knights Order too." But it seemed he had properly stayed in the dormitory as ordered.