Ferdinand shook his head. “Looking at these instructions, it would suit our needs better to keep the materials as they are—especially when this constitutes a single use. Moreover, as we have neither the time nor the resources to experiment, we should recreate the original magic circle as faithfully as we can. We cannot risk failure.”
Before I could even respond, Ferdinand set about writing. His pen moved at an exceptional speed, producing a long list of disconnected words. A memo, perhaps?
“Rozemyne,” he continued, not even looking up from his paper, “after breakfast, dismiss your highbeast and come with me to the castle. I need you to ‘place’ this magic circle inside the fragments of Erwaermen stashed in my hidden room. Otherwise, preserve your stamina. My scholars shall spread the word to the giebes while Hartmut returns the divine instruments to the temple. Order Roderick and Clarissa to inform those of the Noble’s Quarter.”
“As you wish.”
“Leonore, Eckhart—station knights from our guard at each border gate. You may decide who is best suited to the task. Once you are done, inform the other retainers that we are returning to the castle after breakfast.”
“Yes, sir!”
Ferdinand was giving out a fresh wave of orders when his voice started to sound distant. An uncomfortable heat was spreading through me. I clapped my Book of Mestionora shut, conscious that I must have overused it.
A look of concern on his face, Ferdinand touched my forehead, then my wrist. His features twisted in a grimace. “Though I can prepare the border gates on my own, I will need your divine mana and your duplication spell when we make the magic circle. The process would take far too long otherwise. That said, no matter how quickly we work, it will not be ready for activation until tonight. Can you endure one more day...?”
“Of course,” I replied with a smile. “Compared to when I thought I might be stuck like this forever, a single day is nothing.”
Ferdinand knit his brow. “Do not overtax your strength. We will need to brew when we reach the castle, so get some rest before then. I will need some too.”
His words hung in the air for a moment before he briskly started putting away his paperwork. Eckhart provided some assistance. I’d gone to bed straight after dinner, so I wasn’t feeling too tired, but what about Ferdinand...? He hadn’t slept, from what I could tell, and would probably resume his work as soon as he’d eaten breakfast.
He said the circle wouldn’t be ready until tonight, at the earliest. I just worry he won’t sleep at all.
For all my lounging in bed, I wasn’t able to get much rest. My mana had recovered, as expected, and the sensation reminded me of the days I’d spent battling my Devouring heat. I remembered the pain and discomfort I’d endured, unable even to leave my bed as my mana swelled. But for some reason, I couldn’t remember anyone else who might have been around at the time.
When, oh when will my memories come back...?
Ferdinand had said they would return with the new Zent’s coronation, but that was before the gods plagued me with their divine power. My recovery was more important—I understood that—but I wasn’t getting any better. The pain racking my body had found a friend in my starvation. I didn’t want to die without remembering those I cared about.
Well, today’s the day! I’m getting rid of this divine power, no matter what!
To keep fear from taking over, I urged my thoughts in another direction. Was the requirement for nobles to keep their emotions under control at all times a hangover from when they were closer to the gods and rampaging mana was more dangerous?
After breakfast, I returned to the castle. My retainers started carrying out their instructions while I worked with Ferdinand in his hidden room. He used a Lanzenave knife to shave down and gradually flatten Erwaermen’s white branches, onto which I would paste our healing magic circles.
“Those branches sure are small...” I mused aloud. “Maybe we could use normal-sized magic circles and then figure out a way to shrink them down.” Just the thought of needing to draw super tiny circles made my head ache.
Ferdinand gave me a chilly look. “Are you even more of a fool than I thought? There is no time. Give up and draw them.”
I don’t wanna! I’m bad with precise, detailed drawings! This is your area of expertise, so why don’t you do it?!
As much as I wanted to complain, Ferdinand was busy enough pouring feystones, gold dust, and expensive-looking ingredients into his brewing pot. I couldn’t ask him to draw the circles for me. My only choice was to manage on my own—but as I steeled my resolve, a piece of fey paper flew my way.
“See if you can duplicate this,” Ferdinand said, having thrust the paper toward me.
“Woo-hoo! I knew I could count on you, Ferdinand!”
Overjoyed, I accepted the paper—a completed magic circle—and got straight to work duplicating it. As the basis of our grand creation, I would need to prepare some circles for healing and others that would allow us to use Erwaermen’s branches. In my current state, it took barely any time at all.
“All done.”
“Then start preparing the feystones. They will serve as receptacles for the divine power and need to be in contact with Erwaermen’s fragments for the spell to work.”
I see, I see. So I just need to stick them together, right? That should make them easier to carry.
I gathered together the omni-elemental feystones for the border gates, channeled my divine mana into them, and then mashed them into disks. I needed a way to keep Erwaermen’s branches stable, and no better shape had come to mind.
I took the branches and started inserting them into the disks. They looked comfortable enough, and there was no way they would come apart from the feystones now. In my opinion, it was a huge success.
To create our giant circle, we would place a large feystone at the foundation, the center of our magic, and a smaller one at each of the border gates. We had already crushed the feystone I’d used to make Rainbow Lessy. It would serve as our main receptacle, so we’d turned it into a large plate and pierced it, too, with one of Erwaermen’s branches. All that remained was to draw the magic circle on its underside.
“Done,” I announced. “I used the feystones to lock the divine branches in place. Is that good or what?”
“Somehow, I doubt that was mentioned in your Book of Mestionora. Your methods continue to be as lighthearted and as abnormal as ever. I would never have come up with such an idea.”
“Your praise truly honors me,” I replied. For the sake of my mental health, I would interpret his remarks as a compliment.
“If you are done, rest on the bench. You look terribly unwell. I would rather you return to your room and spend some time in bed, but you did not bring enough retainers with you.”
By holing up with Ferdinand and assisting him with his work, I was giving my retainers a bit of a break. For as long as we stayed put, everyone but the few guards by the door could rest.
“You need sleep a lot more than I do,” I said.
“I do not have the luxury. There is too much I must prepare before we can drain the last of your mana. If all goes to plan, I will get a bell to rest before the circle’s activation. I should not need any more than that.”
I strongly disagree, but okay.
Ferdinand must not have slept a wink last night; he had dark bags under his eyes and a weary look on his face. Yet he continued to work, darting from one brew to the next even as our retainers took breaks. Given that he now had the royals under his thumb, he could easily have cast me aside and returned to Ehrenfest. Instead, he had chosen to bear these hardships with me.
“Ferdinand, why are you doing all this for me?” I asked.
“Come again?” He sounded genuinely bewildered, so I did my best to elaborate.
“You haven’t sworn undying and maddening loyalty to me like Hartmut. And when you gave me your name, it wasn’t to escape death like Matthias. You know I’d return it in a heartbeat, so why haven’t you asked for it back yet? I can’t grasp the meaning of you doing all these things for me.”
“The meaning?” Ferdinand seemed to ponder the question. “I chose to stay with you because we are like family. Is that not obvious?”
I didn’t know what to say. In what world would someone do all this for their family?
“But... isn’t that strange? My father, Karstedt, would do anything for Sylvester as the knight commander. And my brother Eckhart would do anything for you. But I can’t imagine either one of them going to such great lengths for my sake. I could see Mother or Cornelius getting involved to some extent, but they would still need to conform to the standards of noble society.”
No matter how much you cared about someone, your house and duchy came first. It was unthinkable that someone would pick a fight with the gods or give their name for the sake of another person.
“Besides,” I continued, “you put me under your protection all that time ago, didn’t you? That puts you even further from being my true family.”
Ferdinand grimaced. “Speaking of true family...”
“Yes?”
“No, never mind...” he said at length, shaking his head. He looked wounded.
“Um, Ferdinand...?”
“Having kept a close eye on the expenditure and recovery of your mana over the past few days, I can say this with all certainty: activating a magic circle that covers all of Alexandria will drain whatever remains of your mana. Go rest in your room. You no longer need to fear sleep.”
Ferdinand contacted the guards stationed outside, told them to summon Angelica, and rushed me out of the room.
He’s chasing me out?!