[V7C3] Once Upon a Time, They Were Madly In Love, but as Time Passed, Their Love Grew Colder… (—Sophie’s Favorite Novel)
Translated by Jodas 7: To the NorthAs Tia and Wren sat in their classroom, waiting for their afternoon individual lesson to begin, Hütter and Sevil entered the room just as the class was scheduled to start.
Sevil had the same imposing attitude as always, but Hütter looked incredibly drained.
“Ah… How did the self-study go this morning? Was everyone doing their work?”
Tia and Wren nodded.
“Piyopp! I did it, I did! Ella and Julius taught me a whole lot!”
“Plus, Roswitha comes from a prominent Classical Magecraft family, and Rose is a foreigner, you know? Those perspectives added a lot to the discussion, it ended up being really interesting!”
Even though they all taught the same Imperial history; families with deep historical ties, specialized institutions, and municipal schools all had different ways of teaching it. Furthermore, those differences varied based on the region where one was born.
Because the Empire was formed from countless smaller countries, the content and biases of the history taught varied wildly between the North and the South.
On that note, Rukiye, a Southerner, said the following:
“When it comes to Imperial history, the North tends to glorify, while the South puts emphasis on its grievances.”
The Empire’s core — the ones holding the most power — had historically been the Northern nobility.
Much of the Southern regions had been incorporated into the Empire after coming under occupation from the North, so their outlook on history was quite different.
“But enough about that, The Prince of Darwock came and all the important people had a meeting, right? What happened? Is it something you can’t tell us Apprentices?”
In response to Wren’s question, Hütter groaned “Err…” and scratched his chin.
“Director Hegelich plans to inform you Apprentices of the situation tomorrow morning, but… I know Sevil’s going to tell you anyways so we might as well talk about it now. Monsters have appeared in the Darwock Royal Palace.”
That lined up with what Tia had overheard the night before.
Tia opened her Imperial history textbook to the page with the map.
The Kingdom of Darwock. A small country to the Northeast of the Empire.
The small countries to the Empire’s North had banded together to form a union known as the Northern Federation. Darwock was one member of that Northern Federation.
Wren asked cautiously.
“You’re saying the Monsters have taken over the Palace? Were the Royal Family taken hostage? …Were they killed?”
“As far as we know, that’s not the case.”
Hütter shook his head and turned to Sevil.
Sevil folded her arms and spat in a voice dripping with anger and exasperation.
“In order to make a new state religion, the King of Darwock has joined hands with the Monsters.”
Tia’s jaw dropped open
She knew now what had happened, but she could not for the life of her understand why.
‘Maybe Wren knows? He’s smart.’ Tia looked to Wren, but he was making the same face as her.
“Piyo… A state religion is… the religion of the state, right? Um… like the Ras Belsch Orthodoxy or the Spirit God Faith?”
“You are precisely correct.”
Her arms still folded, Sevil nodded.
Tia tried to sort out all of the ‘why?’s floating around in her head.
There were two points that confused her.
“Pevuvu… Why did the King of Darwock want to make a new state religion? Also, why does he need to join hands with Monsters to make a state religion?”
Since Tia was a Harpy, she was familiar with a great many hymns of all sorts, so she had a rough understanding of what the concept of ‘god’ meant to humans.
But, as a rule, Monsters had no religions or gods of their own.
Besides, all human religions taught that Monsters were an evil to be eliminated.
Despite all of that, was there a reason why cooperating with Monsters was necessary to make a state religion?
She could not understand what the humans or the Monsters in question were trying to do.
As Tia huffed “Pevuvuu, pevuvuu…” Hütter lifted up the textbook and spoke.
“Crucial to understanding this matter was none other than the assignment I issued you for today’s self-study. Would you look at that, what great timing I have…”
“Piyo? Today’s assignment was… ‘The Wonderful Relationship Between the Krewings and the Ras Belsch Orthodoxy,’ right?”
“Yes, that’s right. I guess now’s as good a time as any to review the results of your self-study… Question one: Can you briefly explain the connection between the Empire and the Ras Belsch Orthodoxy?”
Tia thought back to what the other Apprentice Mages taught her.
Then, she voiced the simplest answer she could think of.
“Piyopp! Once upon a time, they were madly in love, but the longer they spent together their love grew colder, so now they’re both in a weird relationship where they should break up but neither one of them can!”
Hütter suddenly burst out laughing while Sevil tilted her head back and cackled uproariously.
“Haha! Excellent, Tia! I shall give you a full hundred points!”
“You’ve surprised this pretty boy, too. Is it really okay to be saying something like that as a member of the Imperial Family? Is it?”
Wren criticized under his breath as Hütter straightened out his glasses and asked Tia:
“Um, Tia, who taught you that answer just now?”
“Sophie! Um… Then Rukiye said ‘Looks like you’ve been affected by that book you’ve been reading lately.’ to her!”
“…Well, it’s not exactly wrong on the grand scheme of things. Then, Wren next. Let’s hear your answer.”
Wren reached for the textbook and was about to start flipping through the pages, but stopped himself.
Then, his efforts to think back on the contents of today’s self-study showed on his face.
“Umm… The Ras Belsch Orthodoxy has existed since before the Empire took its present form, holding tremendous sway over many countries. Then, it was with the backing of the Ras Belsch Orthodoxy that the Empire became an Empire.”
“Correct. The Ras Belsch Orthodoxy originally held unbelievable influence. To the point that no one could be crowned Emperor unless they had the approval of the Ras Belsch Orthodoxy.”
Ella and Julius had explained that part for her.
In the Schwargald Empire, you couldn’t be Emperor unless the Ras Belsch Orthodoxy approved of you.
With that established, Hütter posed their next question.
“Alright, then, Question two: What is ‘Krewing’?”
“Piyopp! It’s that thing in Sevil’s name!”
“Indeed it is! For I am Adelheid Sevil Lamea Krewing! I shall give you full marks, Tia!”
“Yippee!”
Hütter glanced at Tia with lukewarm eyes as she celebrated.
Then, he pointed at Wren.
“Next, Wren. Give me the real answer.”
“Put super simply… It’s proof that someone has been approved by the Ras Belsch Orthodoxy? There’s people in the Imperial Family who have the last name Krewing and people who don’t, and only those who are approved can use the Krewing name… Or something like that?”
After Wren gave his response, Hütter mimed thinking over it for a second.
It seemed like, although his answer wasn’t wrong, it was missing something.
Hütter picked up a stick of chalk and drew a map of the Empire on the blackboard.
“If you dig a little deeper, you’ll find that Krewing is the name of a place in the Empire that’s owned by the Ras Belsch Orthodoxy.”
Slightly North of the dead center of the Empire, Hütter drew a small circle.
“This circle is the land the Ras Belsch Orthodoxy controls.”
Then, inside of that circle, Hütter added a much, much smaller circle.
“Inside of that, this tiny little place here is Krewing.”
“Pevuvu…” Tia grumbled.
To be honest, Julius and the others had tried to explain the same thing as Hütter was saying.
Even then, there were parts of it that just didn’t make sense to Tia.
“Piyo… Mr. Hütter, I don’t really get it. That’s a map of the Empire, right? Doesn’t all of that stuff belong to the Empire?”
“That part’s a little more complicated. When all those tiny little countries united into the Empire, the Ras Belsch Orthodoxy got up and said ‘Since we helped make the Empire, you guys need to give us some of your land!’”
Thus was created a region that, while being part of the Empire, was beyond the reach of the Emperor: the Holy See of the Ras Belsch Orthodoxy.
That was the territory in that circle drawn on the black board.
“So, inside the lands of the Ras Belsch Orthodoxy, there is a fiefdom that only the Imperial Family is allowed to inherit. That’s what Krewing is. Just as the Ras Belsch Orthodoxy demanded land from the Empire, they oh-so-graciously offered to give one piece of that land to the Emperor.”
As Hütter explained. Wren bit his lower lip and grumbled.
“Ugh, isn’t that just cheeky of them? After taking all this land from the Empire, they suddenly decide to ‘offer’ a piece of that land back to the Empire…?”
“Well, that’s just how incredibly powerful the Ras Belsch Orthodoxy was at the time.”
“Piroro… So basically Krewing is the Imperial Family’s land, inside the Ras Belsch Orthodoxy’s land, inside the Empire…?”
In response to Tia’s unconfident summary, Sevil nodded deeply.
“Precisely. Only those with the right to inherit this land known as Krewing are allowed to take on Krewing as their surname. Without Krewing as your surname, you cannot become Emperor.”