“I intend to have the criminals dedicate their mana to Yurgenschmidt’s various duchies,” I said. “Dunkelfelger and the royal family can discuss how many each duchy should receive. Lady Eglantine will make the final decision when she becomes the Zent.”
By involving Dunkelfelger in the process, we would give them more authority moving forward and prevent Klassenberg from butting in. According to Ferdinand, at least; I was just reciting his script.
Trauerqual gave me a grave nod. “Consider it done.”
By making the royals do all the tedious work, I could devote my attention to destroying the medals and punishing the Lanzenave soldiers who had rampaged through Ahrensbach. I was relieved not to have been saddled with any of the emotionally exhausting duties.
“We will also need to discuss how Lady Eglantine will redraw the borders after becoming the Zent, as King Trauerqual and Prince Sigiswald need to be assigned duchies to rule,” I said.
Ferdinand formed his schtappe and used his mana to draw a map in the air. I gestured toward it and continued.
“The only land the Zent is supposed to rule is the centermost portion of the Sovereignty: the Royal Academy. To minimize the burden on Lady Eglantine, we can shave away the extra territory the royal family acquired for the sake of establishing their villas. The part of Old Werkestock under Ahrensbach’s management, all of Old Scharfer, and a portion of the current Sovereignty can be combined into a single duchy that King Trauerqual will oversee. Old Trostwerk and another portion of the Sovereignty can be merged for Prince Sigiswald.”
Ferdinand complemented my explanation by redrawing the borders as I’d proposed. Old Scharfer was combined with Ahrensbach’s part of Old Werkestock to its south.
“On top of that,” I said, “the land given to the duchies on the winning side of the civil war needs to be properly incorporated into their territories. The aubs cannot rule them otherwise. Dunkelfelger should take this opportunity to decide what they want to do with their portion of Old Werkestock. They could outright refuse it if doing so better suits their duchy’s interests.”
I turned to Dunkelfelger’s archducal couple for their opinion; they had contributed so much to our victory that we would respect whatever decision they made. A short discussion followed, and they elected to have their border redrawn to officially include the proposed section of Old Werkestock. Eglantine remarked that Klassenberg would probably make the same call with Old Zausengas, and that was that.
“As the new Zent, I wish to reward those who secured our win against the invaders,” Eglantine said. “Dunkelfelger, is there anything else we can give you? If you desire more land, we can make further changes to the map.”
The response came not from the aub but from Sieglinde: “We do not need any more land than we have been given. Instead, we request more authority than Klassenberg even after you rise to the throne. Let their rank be at least one place below ours for the entirety of your reign.”
Klassenberg hadn’t contributed to this war in the slightest, but its influence and authority would still grow when Eglantine became the Zent. Dunkelfelger wished to prevent that.
“But of course,” Eglantine replied with a calm smile. “Obtaining the Grutrissheit and taking the throne would never have been an option for me without you, Ehrenfest, and Lady Rozemyne’s Ahrensbach. Aub Klassenberg raised me never to let a debt go unpaid, so that should not be a problem at all. And as for you, Ehrenfest? You have no interest in receiving more land, so what can we give you?”
“Your word that the royal family will not proceed with Rozemyne’s adoption to King Trauerqual,” Sylvester replied. “It no longer makes sense, considering that one is the avatar of a goddess and the other is soon to be an aub. That said, we wish to keep everything we were given in return for agreeing to the adoption in the first place.”
In short, the adoption wouldn’t happen, but Ehrenfest would get to keep the magic tools for its children and the restriction that nobles could only marry into the duchy.
“I would not have been able to adopt an avatar anyway...” Trauerqual said, announcing that he was also content with abandoning the plan.
Eglantine nodded. “And what do you desire, Lady Rozemyne?”
“Your cooperation in the construction of my library city. To be more precise, once the printing industry has spread, I ask that all duchies be ordered to send copies of each new book they create to Ahrensbach.”
“Is that all...?” Eglantine looked at Ferdinand with concern. It was strange that she was consulting him; she had asked me what I wanted.
“Yes, that will do,” Ferdinand replied. “Let us be glad she did not order the construction of a new library equipped with a Zent teleportation circle in every single duchy.”
As much as I still wanted to move freely between the country’s libraries, I recognized that it wasn’t really feasible right now. I remembered getting shouted at over the idea, and there were some things I shouldn’t ask for while everyone was acknowledging me as an avatar of a goddess.
“As for me,” Ferdinand said, “I ask that Ahrensbach’s name and duchy color be changed after Rozemyne becomes its aub.”
“Your requests are acknowledged. Lady Rozemyne, please put some thought into the name you choose. We cannot have two Ehrenfests.”
Under normal circumstances, when a foundation was stolen, the duchy would take the name of the new aub’s house. I was adopted, however, which meant we would end up with a second Ehrenfest. Eglantine was letting me come up with another name to remedy this.
I wonder what I should call it... This is kind of exciting!