Ascendance of a Bookworm: Part 5 Volume 6 Part 1 : aobprepub

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I never really thought about it before, but the moment when Wilfried had the "What... I want?" moment made something finally click: Ever since his birth, Wilfried only ever lived out what others had planned for him. This is the first time in his life, when he is allowed to pick his own path.

He was caught and torn between what other people wanted of him, apparently not even noticing that he was only working and struggling to meet other people's goals for him, without even knowing what he himself wanted.

This makes his constant flip-flipping between good and bad, obedient and rebellious a whole lot more understandable and also why he is so easily influenced by others.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Yea, it really puts things into perspective. I'm not sure it does much to improve my opinion of Wilfred, but it certainly provides more context.

This will be his moment to step up and choose what he wants for himself. I'm curious to see what will become of him, hopefully he'll become a bit less insufferable with this change.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Wilfried hate train ended up being all for nothing in the end. His "evil plots" included "Make Rozemyne the Aub instead of me" and "I do not want to marry her".

Good to see the two getting along again. :)

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I’m really relieved. It was like watching a train crash in slow motion but I couldn’t end up hating Wilfried. I’m glad I’m the end, his own sincerity at least has never changed, despite Oswald and Barthold’s best efforts. I wont entirely forgive him for turning on Lampretch just yet, but from here on I do hope he takes a more minor role in the story and becomes a good kid once again

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Same here. I was annoyed to say the least about some of his actions, but it always seemed like he was a good boy, whenever he was making his own decisions and only messing things up royally, when he listened to his retainers (or his grandmother in the biggest screw-up of them all), making me not outright hate him at any point (but hating Veronica, Oswald and his crew all the more). Now we learn that even that wasn't entirely the case, and that he had a reason to play along with those infected by Veronica's poison.

That moment of them holding hands to be siblings again was heartwarming. Just what I needed after the drama of the previous book and the emotional meltdown.

Also props to Wilfried for keeping it bottled up until the main meeting was over, as Sylvester rightfully praised him for.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I think I owe Wilfried an apology. His active goal has been to sabotage their engagement and loose his spot for the Aubship. All of his recent self destructive behavior suddenly looks productive.

Having said that, I wonder if Rozemyne will give her retainer's another talk about loyalty. During the Trugote incident, Rozemyne dug into Hartmut for hiding things from her and acting behind her back. Now, she learns that basically all of her retainers were doing the same thing.

Still, a good reminder to her that she cannot always trust even her most loyal retainers.

Of course, Rozemyne is still sitting their thinking the problem with her Aubship is her past as a commoner, not her complete unsuitability to be in charge of anything important.

Rozemyne would surely rather spend time with her blood mother than her adoptive one.

This comment hit me hard. It's probably a good thing Rozemyne was not around to hear it. Especially because she can't even get visibly angry about it.

they were only daring to act in the first place because, without their aubs, their medals could not be used to distribute proper punishment.

Remember back when the Hasse executions happened. The J-Novel forums had pages of discussion about the mechanics of how it worked and would be applied to nobility. Now, books later, we have our answer in a throw away line. Conservation of pointless lore questions demands that new pendanticness takes its place: The execution magic is somehow tied to a specific aub, not merely knowledge learned in the AC lessons. Since Ferdinand was able to do it, it is clearly not specifically the aub. Maybe anyone registered with the foundation? For this to make sense, it would also mean that they have been unable to locate the foundations of the deposed duchies, as it should be possible to dye them and become aub, even without the G-book.

Were we not in our current predicament, she would not have shown so much resistence ... yet she had no choice

So, not even Florencia thinks that Rozemyne wants to stay in Ehrenfest. Rozemyne, who had to be pulled kicking and screaming out of the temple.

you can just tell that she's fundamentally different form the rest of us. I'm told she prioritized the things she wants to do and puts off whatever doesn't interest her.

Gee, doesn't this sound a lot the young Sylvestor we have heard about. Also, quite like the current Sylvestor, although less so now that he does not have Ferdinand to shove work onto.

She [Dedlinde] was no longer the only known Zent candidate

Thankfully, the Royal family only considers one of the Zent candidates to be credible, so no risk of a succession crisis.

I'd say I did a much better job as aub that last year, when Ferdinand met with the king behind my back and agreed to leave without securing Ehrenfest anything of value.

What do you mean you did better. As far as you are concerned, the exact same thing happened this year. Rozemyne met with royalty behind you back, and you agreed and you just accepted what she agreed to (minus what any reasonable person would assume was her sacrificial demand).

They weren't my requests, they were hers.

You're happy to take credit for the negotiations when it is a benefit to you. But as soon as someone objects, you point the finger at Rozemyne.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

What do you mean? Rozemyne even said it herself: She didn't actually negotiate, she just made some suggestions, while leaving the actual negotiating to Aub Ehrenfest. :P

But joking aside, he could technically have caved in the negotiations and allowed more of Rozemyne's terms to slip away, so I'm willing to let him have at least some credit for hanging on to all of them, except the bookroom. Though the main credit should definitely go to Rozemyne for laying the necessary ground-work for this to happen in the first place.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

The execution magic is somehow tied to a specific aub, not merely knowledge learned in the AC lessons.

Isn't it also possible that the access to the medals is restricted to the Aub? You can only enter the room where the medals are being held with permission from the Aub who holds the foundation? It is one of the two (access to medals or the spell working) but I don't think we know which one.

What do you mean you did better.

Rozemyne remembered to tell that she had no power to make decisions. She "only" made Ehrenfest's desires known, it was up to Sylvester to negotiate on them, so I would give Sylvester credit here too. Most of their demands that got accepted were also Sylvester and Florencia's ideas.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Ok the insert is super interesting, It makes me exited what Rozmyne will make in this volume.

Insert

I love the complex web of political and personal struggles in AoB. It makes my heart ache. The rozmyne ability to read others emotions never ceases to amaze me.

Wilfred got his freedom that he desperately wanted. But freedom to succeed is also freedom to fail.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

This insert reminds me that

Re: insert

Clarissa looks way too normal. She does not look like the wacko she is, at all. She should look weirder!

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Of course Barthold is the one keeping Oswald in the loop. This guy.

Flo bringing up embroidery again? These noblewomen...can't they see Roz is busy with a bunch of other important stuff? Though it'd be funny if later in the story Sigi mocks Roz for not being able to embroider, and that's when she finally snaps and crushes him.

Flo gets some flak for not properly educating Roz, but here we see that she wanted to, but it was de-prioritized in favor of Roz's other endeavors. Also reiterating her misunderstanding about Elvira going to the temple...I wonder if that will become a plot point.

Sylvester going to Ahrensbach alone makes me apprehensive. Also this talk of "if I die first Boni's here." Maybe you should stay home and let Ferdinand cover for you.

Wilfried...semi-redeemed? He wasn't really scheming or up to no good, just dissatisfied with his situation. Seems like he's still a good kid at heart.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

To be fair to Florencia, embroidery is one of the ways noblewomen defend themselves. They embroider their husband’s capes true, but also their own. We know Roz just brews charms for herself and her loved ones if needed but that’s a Ferdinand approach, a typical noble women would embroider magic circles, so it is quite important.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

There is one caveat to Florencia's failed attempts to educate Rozemyne though: She laments that she couldn't invite Rozemyne due to her being so rarely at the castle... but does that really matter? Between Ordonnanzes they can communicate at any time and with her highbeast, Rozemyne can hop between the temple and castle in a manner of minutes, so her being at the temple should not be a hurdle to inviding her for dinner or the occasional tea party.

Even when prioritizing Rozemyne's temple work, surely there would have been time to meet once a week or something.

I feel like Florencia is a bit too stuck in the traditional noble thiking and a bit slow and inflexible in her adaptation to the new situation.

I don't think Sylvester is in danger at the funeral. Getting him there, would be far too obvious and risky for Georgine.

Not to mention she doesn't just want to kill him, but also take over Ehrenfest. Assassinating him, while he's in Ahrensbach or in transit to or from the funeral, would likely put her further away from ever gaining Ehrenfest's foundation, since it would put Bonifatius in charge and give him very good reasons to take steps against any possible incursion... like moving the entrance of the foundation for example, which would completely foil any chance Georgine has to rule Ehrenfest in her lifetime. If she's going to strike, it will only be when she's in a position to also take the Foundation at the same time as she gets rid of Sylvester. I doubt even she is able to put in replacements for the groundwork that the purge smashes in such short order.

I fully expect her to try to undermine Sylvester's position and further ruin his reputation in front of everyone attending the funeral in any and all ways she can, but I don't think his life is in any immediate danger.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Tbh after the archive I doubt he as any expectations from her aside gbook, mana, and temple stuff after getting burned on the coals.

mine smug emoji

Side note aren’t first wives manly responsible for embroidery?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If I had to take a guess, I'd say it's the first wife's place to embroider the husband's cape, and with how mana mixing works, I doubt they'd make it a team effort. But I'm sure there are other things than the cape, that the other wives can work on. Also you never know when the first wife might suffer an unfotunate, untimely death... or find a way to make the divorce she's so desperately praying for happen, so it can't hurt to have the necessary skills of a first wife, just in case.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Good explanation 👍

On the bright side Siggy won't have to deal with that problem with mana and Gbook crisis looming.

Still it would be funny for Siggy to convince Roz for reasons to embroider and Roz finding excuses/work arounds (like mana dyeing).

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

I was caught really off guard about the king outright refusing to take the Lanzenave princess. What is going on here? Is he really so worried about their ally learning of the dire state Yurgenschmidt is in, that he'd risk a centuries old alliance over it?

I hope we'll get more insight into this whole situation in the future.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This is kinda a side thought do you think any retainer info leaks might happen down the line. For example could Barthold indirectly pull info about the out comes of Roz move to sovereignty?

I also currently wonder what the nobles outside the post meeting discussion actually think the "burden" is.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

To leak anything, he'd have to learn of it first, so the burden for the time being is on the archducal family. With Wilfried having risen out of his pit of despair, confusion and self-pity for now... I think he'd be well enough inclined not to give anything away willingly.

Even if they got the information, I don't see how it would benefit any of Wilfried's retainers to leak it, with one exception: Barthold. I'm still not sure whether he's just trying to ingratiate himself with Wilfried, to make his own life more comfortable and he ended up sabotaging Wilfried out of idiocy, or whether he's intentionally sabotaging Wilfried.

We know that Giebe Dahldolf for example is living freely, as if he had his own name, while his name is actually held by Veronica, so Wilfried being locked up in the Ivory Tower could be a rather attractive outlook for someone who only gave his name to him to escape punishment by association.

Alternatively, he could have hoped that should Wilfried be disinherited, he would be forced to give the names he got back. Not an entirely unrealistic theory, since they were meant to swear themselves to the archducal family, which in such an event Wilfried would no longer be a part of. Of course this carries the risk that Sylvester might insist that those who regained their names from Wilfried, pick a new archduke family member to swear themselves with, but with how much of a softie Sylvester is, and how the danger of the Veroncia faction is pretty much gone, there is definitely a non-zero chance he might just let Wilfried's ex-name-sworn keep their names.

If he wants to please Wilfried for better treatment, it would be in his own interest to keep quiet. But if he wants to sabotage Wilfried, he's sure to leak it, if he manages to glean the truth. To maximize the potential damage to Wilfried, he would need to rile up the Leisegangs, while they believe they still have a chance to keep Rozemyne in Ehrenfest, because those geezers very obviously have no clue how the nobility and royalty outside of their duchy actually works, as Rozemyne realized this very release.

*wrong name corrected

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Bertram

Bertram is Laurenz's brother. Barthold is Wilfried's namesworn.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I am irrationally happy to see Damuel on the cover. It’s been a long time

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I had to double take to make sure his face wasn't the one under the title card 😅

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

It's great seeing Wilfried step down from "guaranteed next aub". It looks like the contest for next aub will be between Charlotte, Malchiore, and the unborn baby. Sylvester said that the contest for succession will continue until he or Bonifatius dies though, which sound a lot like a death flag?

I don't see Sylvester going anywhere immediately, but... god it'd be so heart-wrenching if Bonifatius passed soon too. He's always just been the super kind grandpa who wants to dote on his grand-daughter.

Maybe I'm putting the cart before the horse though! 😅 There could even be something that triggers a need for succession that we're not privy to as readers yet, though I don't even know what that would be.

I just don't see him saying something like that and it truly being something that never becomes relevant within the scope of the series again. Really feels like a Chekhov's gun was loaded.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I'm still convinced that Winfried will fuck it all up. He is essentially on the same level as detlinde.

Also I'm so rooting for Charlotte, I'm waiting patiently for the moment that myne is like: "I'm sorry I broke my promise to you. I will support you in your quest for Aubhood"

Can't wait for next week's part. To think we're already at Volume 27 and it still keeps getting better and better.

Also huge probs to quof & co. Absolute Madlads there.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

Putting him on the same level as Detlinde is quite uncalled for in my opinion. Detlinde is soooooo much worse than Wilfried ever was. Wilfried has time and again shown small glimpses of having at least some decency in him, where Detlinde is utterly iredeemable in my eyes.

Just take the reward ceremony as an example. Despite having been involved in one of the two research projects, albeit in only a small manner, Wilfried refused to go up and take credit in front of the king, for what was primarily Rozemyne's accomplishment.

Detlinde on the other hand, had no issue at all with not just sharing in the praise for Raimund's accomplishments alongside him, but going up there and taking all the credit for herself and leaving Raimund completely out of it, dispite the sum all of her involvement being to chastise Fraularm a single time for getting between Raimund and Ferdinand's communcations and otherwise not even being aware of what exactly he was even doing, until right before the presentations.

Also with Wilfried, it's primarily his retainers that cause the problems, while with Detlinde, it's the retainers that are desperately working to prevent the troubles from happening, but being unable to contain that tornado of terribleness.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

I'm over the Wilfried hatred. I was upset because it looked like he was mad at Roz even after all she had done for him but he was acting that way he was because he was being forced into a situation he hated. He was aware of his situation enough to ask for Roz to be Aub. He doesn't know about her commoner origins so he couldn't understand why he was being forced to be the Aub. And I can't be mad at him for not wanting to be compared to Roz. She is just crazy out of his league.

I'm not saying Wilfried is a saint. There's definitely a lot of spoiled brat in his behavior. He could have tried harder to get along with Roz and done more to gain the Leisegangs' trust. But he's like, what, 14 or 15 now. It's a little much to expect him to able to manipulate adults who have been playing politics for decades but if he done less whining and more trying, he might not have been in so bad of a situation.

I think things are in a good situation for Roz's siblings now. Charlotte gets to try for Aub as she always wanted. Wilfried has time to decide what he wants to do with life and Melchior will get to spend time with his wonderful big sister and learn to be just as awesome as she is at being High Bishop. I'm rooting for Charlotte. She's always been the best candidate and I hope Wilfried is smart enough is realize that and decides to support her. He's much better off trying to Knight Commander, IMO. It's something he enjoys and he's good at.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

But he’s like, what, 14 or 15 now.

Just turned 13.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I'm not so sure on the Knigh's Commander thing.

Karstedt and Bonifatius might appear like pure muscleheads at a glance, but they are still quite skilled in sniffing out hostile conspiracies, even if it's more of an instinctual thing for Bonifatius, rather then intellectual.

He seems to be doing reasonably well in Gewinnen, so he might grow to be a good tractician, but that sounds more like a good vice commander to me, than a commander, who usually also doubles as the Aub's guard knight. Not to mention that in the Ditter match, he completely defered to Rozemyne and Leonore for the battleplan, which is again making me think he might be better at following orders than coming up with and giving them. There's also the whole naivity issue.

I guess it's possible he might develop those skills and instincts with time, but right now, he'd be a bad choice and will likely stay so for quite some time. Then again, Karstedt doesn't look like he's thinking of retiring anytime soon, so he has the time.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Rozemyne is the commander who you want at the back, keeping the strategy together and the healing and potions supply going. Wilfried is the leader who you want at the very front leading the charge at the enemy.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I think the Wilfreds' retainers will twist his wishes in worst possible way to drag him down. I am also curious how Rozmyne will "reapay" Charllote's kindness.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Rozemyne could do a lot for Charlotte simply by stating that Aub Charlotte would be a good outcome. Brunhilde and Charlotte were already planning to cooperate on making a new faction to support Rozemyne, that effort can easily be turned into a faction to back Aub Charlotte with Brunhilde's support. Said faction would have a main goal to focus Ehrenfest's domestic policies on growth and trade and printing, and the interduchy policies on supporting Rozemyne wherever she ended up.

PrePub - Ascendance of a Bookworm