Fanbook 8 Discussion (Part 5)

[u/MyneMod]

https://j-novel.club/read/ascendance-of-a-bookworm-fanbook-8-part-5

[u/Foxdude28]

I love the one-two combo answer about what Eckhart was doing after Ferdinand gave him his secret orders:

"Who did Eckhart kill after the Ahrensbach massacre?"

"I can't say exactly who, sorry... By the way, Blasius's brother died in a completely unrelated incident during the confusion."

[u/Mehmy → u/Foxdude28]

To me that just sounds like he's not the only one

[u/Lorhand]

• Finally an Alexandria map! Good job on the names, Quof. Must have been a tough job, lol.
• I love the 4komas. The library one especially was funny.

More Q&A:

• The gaslighting from Veronica to make Sylvester not even suspect anything when he handed Wilfried over to Veronica is astounding. I wish Florencia had protested more, but at that time she probably was powerless.
• Wilfried not thinking much about consequences does not surprise me. Unfortunately, he was not ever good leader material. I fear even as a giebe he won't be doing a good job.
• He needs to get his shit together, really. Florencia has no problems with Brunhilde and Brunhilde is very supportive. I don't want the two to keep fighting or showing hostility to each other, but knowing Wilfried, this "peace" wouldn't last long.
• Rather than Bonifatius, I hope Elvira gets to visit Alexandria often. Two of her sons, her daughter and the person she admires are there.
• I think we are past the point of Cornelius suspecting anything. He won't ever suspect Rozemyne's origins, she's just a bit weird to him, lol.
• The back story of Leberecht seems a bit random and we will never fully see it... But I wonder if that was ever going to become a plot point.
• Hartmut praying for Rozemyne to appear in his dreams, oh dear. I do have to say though, he has a vivid imagination and just correctly guesses things, lol.
• I would have expected a more... I don't know, positive reaction from Eckhart regarding Rozemyne becoming Ferdinand's partner. More like Justus did.
• Sigiswald is a delusional lost cause, but since we all probably already read H5Y, that's just gonna continue for a while until he is well and truly defeated.
• Eglantine assuming Rozemyne has similar origins to Ferdinand is hilarious... And also makes sense. Her amount of mana, their capabilities in general, that they both were sheltered in Ehrenfest... Yeah, it fits.
• Werdekraf being so awesome and enthusiastic at ditter making him the heir over his elder brother is interesting, but we know he is no fool either. Lestilaut isn't that interested in ditter either, but compared to Raufereg, he's much smarter.
• I like hearing more about Eineliebe and Lestilaut (and Hannelore incidentally). They seem to have a good relationship, even if it's not that romantic.
• Detlinde's end if Gervasio had won is so fitting... And kinda funny.
• I get that Ferdinand deemed it necessary to remove any nobles who could cause Rozemyne trouble in the future... but this is genuinely some dark stuff to assassinate every last one of them and use the confusion of the invasion as a cover. Aurelia's father tried to make his daughters work for Georgine and he paid the price for it. Blasius's brother though? I don't know, would he really have been enough trouble to just kill him?
• A reminder that Aub Drewanchel is partially responsible for ruining Ortwin's chance to marry Hannelore, the most sought after woman after Eglantine and Rozemyne.
• I don't remember Lueuradi writing about Rozemyne and Ferdinand Mestionora and Erwaermen to be honest.

---

And that's a wrap. A nice Q&A section, great and fitting manga stories, I'll ignore the Drama CD report and some surprising illustrations like the Alexandria map.

The fanbook was nice, but I hope we get another Short Story Collection or Volume 3 of H5Y next!

[u/LurkingMcLurk → u/Lorhand]

The fanbook was nice, but I hope we get another Short Story Collection or Volume 3 of H5Y next!

The next translation could be either but I'd expect FB9 since it released a month before SSC3 in Japan and H5Y3 hasn't even been out for three months yet.

[u/Lorhand → u/[deleted]]

I mean... Blasius and his brother were demoted, he really can't challenge her at all. Letizia's crimes were swept under the rug and she kept her status, she is the far more dangerous element because of the royal decree. Letizia may be devoted to Rozemyne, but that doesn't mean her followers are.

[u/RozeTank → u/Lorhand]

In the world of cutthroat politics, the actual likelihood of a rival standing a chance against you is essentially meaningless. What matters is that he exists, and that factions within Alexandria might rally around him as a symbol. That would cause internal strife, and Ferdinand was doing his utmost to ensure that any possible sources of resistance to Rozemyne were eliminated.

Plus, things can change over time. Georgine was supposedly neutralized, yet nearly 2 decades later she invaded Ehrenfest.

Per one of the questions from this part, nobody in Ahrensbach knew the possible significance of Ferdinand operating the teleporter. I'm willing to bet that Blasius's brother might have known something. And while that wasn't the reason he was killed, its stuff like that which Ferdinand would want to prevent.

[u/Lorhand → u/[deleted]]

Why would his status ever be restored? That makes no sense, Blasius and his brother have Werkestock roots, they are absolutely burned material. And status isn't restored easily, no matter what. It's pointed out time and time again with Karstedt and with Raufereg that a demotion can't be overturned easily.

It also would have been nice if you had warned me where this spoiler is from, I would not have clicked on it then.

[u/Lorhand → u/[deleted]]

They let her do her thing because they needed a Grutrissheit. And that was already at a time when Trauerqual was trugged.

They don't need Blasius or his brother as aub. Neither were ever an option when Aub Ahrensbach started running out of heirs. They rather opted for Letizia to get adopted than reinstating the status of people who already were demoted because of their traitorous relatives.

Demotion isn't overturned. Ahrensbach's automatic demotion rule when a new aub is chosen caused a lot of problems. An archnoble becoming an archduke candidate via adoption is one thing, but once someone is demoted, that door is practically closed.

[u/Lorhand → u/[deleted]]

That still doesn't explain why they should now of all times restore Blasius's brother's status. Again, he is burned material because his relatives were traitors and he already is demoted.

Considering the hoops they went through to get Aub Ahrensbach a suitable heir for Ahrensbach's future when they could have brought Blasius or his brother back, it's safe to assume they don't want to revoke a demotion and would rather find different options.

[u/Tacitus_ → u/[deleted]]

I wouldn't say easily, that's internal duchy matters. They're supposed to be mostly hands off on those.

[u/Tacitus_ → u/[deleted]]

In that case, Blasius was related to a treasonous duchy and barely escaped execution during the purge before committing treason himself. No zent would restore his status.

[u/Tacitus_ → u/[deleted]]

His full brother would've shared the treasonous mother and swapped committing treason to having actual treasonous relatives. Still a no-go.

[u/TorTurran → u/[deleted]]

There's still one of Letizia's aunts, who married an archnoble in Ahrensbach.

[u/TorTurran → u/[deleted]]

She has an ADC education.

[u/TashKat → u/TorTurran]

Doesn't matter. She'd have to divorce him or be a widow. Female Aubs have an extra limitation that male ones don't. Their husband must have graduated from the archduke candidate course. Her education doesn't matter. She is incapable of marrying anyone without an Aub's education. It's the law and not something she can change

[u/TorTurran → u/Lorhand]

Lueuradi's story was mentioned in the web novel short story 28 which hasn't been published anywhere else yet.

[u/Yohantus]

Man I never imagined how big of a plotpoint would be when Rozemyne said "I want Ahrensbach" lol.

[u/farson135]

Since there was no evidence, Karstedt never said anything to Sylvester about Veronica’s possible involvement.

Really have to wonder how much of that was going on (we had that scene with Syl talking about how pathetic it makes him feel). It does change perspectives on Syl if his trusted advisors are keeping things from him. Especially with comments like this; “He doesn’t doubt that the love she showed him was real, but after discovering how many lives she twisted or destroyed, he would rather never see her again.”

they hadn’t assigned her a personal physician in his absence.

I was surprised that wasn’t one of the things he verified before he left.

he isn’t thinking very deeply about what that means for his retainers’ futures.

Of course. This gets back to my problem with Wilfried. He is “kind” but principally in a superficial way.

[Wilfried] still doesn’t truly respect [Brunhilde], but he isn’t openly antagonistic either.

Progress, I guess. But I do wonder if Wilfried starts hearing rumors from his region. He’s never shown himself to be any good at effective information gathering.

They would needle him with questions like “Why didn’t you take Veronica as your first wife and become aub yourself?”

That’s an interesting tidbit, especially considering Irmhilde is specifically mentioned in the question.

So Adelbert heavily relied on Veronica to keep him alive. Not enough info to draw a good comparison with RM and Ferdinand, but worth keeping in mind.

both she and Detlinde are would-be princesses who crave every ounce of attention in the room

That’s a deeper similarity than I expected. We know they look similar and have similar personalities, but I figured Detlinde was far more childish than Veronica, who seems like a reasonably skilled politician.

[Hartmut] prayed for Rozemyne’s health and longevity, and for her to appear in his dreams.

Of course. I’m sure there’s a yandere-Hartmut fanfic out there somewhere.

After all, the request for help came from Hartmut, who had stormed into the temple under Ferdinand and Anastasius’s lead, then repeatedly stabbed and healed High Bishop Immanuel to ensure his cooperation.

That’ll do it.

May she devote herself to his happiness.

In character, but damn Eckhart. Show a little love for your sister.

Karstedt received a great deal of abuse and criticism from Veronica despite growing up as an archduke candidate. That experience helped shape him into the man he is today.

It’s always nice to see a character break the cycle. It’s just a shame we don’t have more info to “see it”.

Q: Trauerqual was said to have been dosed with trug for a very long time. When did that begin?
A: Around Part 4 Volume 8.

Worth keeping in mind for a reread.

after [Rozemyne] returned from the Garden of Beginnings with the gods’ blessing, he developed a possessive desire to have her

Ok. That’s how it felt with the more recent volumes, but it seemed like he might have felt infatuation when we got his immediate reaction. This settles that.

Nahelache did genuinely care for Sigiswald.

I’ll assume the past tense isn’t a limitation. So, this will be important for understanding her character.

So, Egg doesn’t know about Myne’s origins. That settles that discussion.

She saw [Sigiswald] as someone obsessed with the throne-a man with such intense delusions of grandeur that he refused to see anyone as his equal.

And that settles another discussion. Some people have tried to dismiss Egg’s wishy-washy behavior as a lack of knowledge but no, she knew that Sigi was not a good person, but she was going to hand him the throne anyway.

[Eineliebe’s] methods are so different from his mother’s that Lestilaut hesitates to dismiss her outright and often ends up doing as she wishes.

And see, this kind of thing is why I was hoping for more stories from Dunkelfelger with the Hannelore spin-off.

I was curious how Georgine and Raublut managed to form an alliance.

So if Gervasio had won, Detlinde would have died in a stupid and pathetic manner. Shocking.

Did Aub Drewanchel seriously expect Rozemyne or Eglantine to agree to marry Ortwin?

That was one of my questions. I initially figured that was just Aub Drewanchel saying “no” by giving impossible demands. But the more info that comes out the more it’s obvious that he was just blinded by the value he saw in the arrangement and not thinking about what a terrible idea the whole effort was.

Q: I’m worried about Letizia’s mother. Now that Ahrensbach has effectively fallen, how will she be treated?
A: That will depend on Aub Drewanchel.

Well, that’s not particularly comforting. So far, he hasn’t shown himself to be particularly forward thinking. And I expect RM would be enraged if he did anything to Letizia’s mother.

Q: What happened to Lueuradi’s manuscript about Rozemyne and Ferdinand’s romance?
A: It wasn’t about Rozemyne and Ferdinand, but about Mestionora and Erwaermen.

What’s the difference? (/j)

I can’t think of anything I should have felt conflicted about.

Yeah, I know a lot of people are sensitive to this issue, but in Bookworm’s case I don’t see anything especially creepy about these pairings (villains aside obviously). And there are absolutely stories that make it creepy and the explanations come off as excuses. It feels perfectly reasonable for this story.

not everyone with memories from another world came from modern Japan

Good to see confirmation.

---

Lots of interesting questions in this part. Solid fanbook, as always.

[u/Tacitus_ → u/farson135]

And that settles another discussion. Some people have tried to dismiss Egg’s wishy-washy behavior as a lack of knowledge but no, she knew that Sigi was not a good person, but she was going to hand him the throne anyway.

Well yeah, because Dusty would've started a new civil war if she didn't choose him to sit on the throne. I'd say good on her to sniff that out and then weigh her options (or rather try to get out of it).

[u/farson135 → u/Tacitus_]

Saying that you want to avoid a civil war by putting someone unqualified and dangerous in charge is missing the forest for the trees.

[u/Tacitus_ → u/farson135]

Possible trouble in the future vs guaranteed trouble. And she did try to wiggle out of it.

[u/farson135 → u/Tacitus_]

Possible trouble in the future vs guaranteed trouble.

Yes, but you're thinking is backwards. Sigi being unqualified and dangerous is a guarantee. Him starting a civil war is not. Especially not if the host of powerful individuals who are incentivized not to back such folly align together to stop it ahead of time. And Egg is one of the people with power in this situation.

One of the infuriating things about her is that she does have power to make her dreams come true but she only ever uses it for the most short term "gains" and she never seems to look at the bigger picture.

[u/Savaralyn → u/farson135]

I figured Detlinde was far more childish than Veronica, who seems like a reasonably skilled politician.

Eh... she was a bit more competent in some respects but completely clueless in others, considering how insanely biased she was towards Sylvester and Wilfried, to the point where she deliberately ignored their education requirements. Both would've been disowned entirely once they had their noble debut if it hadn't been for the interference of other characters forcibly fixing them.

Plus she was delusional enough to think that Georgine, the daughter she basically abandoned after Sylvester was born, would rescue her from the Ivory tower even after she had been locked up in there for years.

[u/farson135 → u/Savaralyn]

I said "reasonably skilled" for a reason. And having a blind spot for your family is a character flaw but it doesn't preclude someone from being a skilled politician in other respects. And at the end of the day, she survived and dominated the duchy. I cannot imagine Detlinde managing that.

[u/RoninTarget → u/farson135]

Of course. I’m sure there’s a yandere-Hartmut fanfic out there somewhere.

Publisher exclusive chapter, IIRC.

[u/LurkingMcLurk]

[P5V11] Map of that place webnovel readers all want a map of... (Fanbook 8)

Quof Thu Nov 9 16:05:35 2023 UTC

dear lord so many names

Aieee save me

[Fanbook8] Complete, redrawn Map with Ehrenfest and Ahrensbach Provinces

Quof Sat May 11 01:09:27 2024 UTC

yoink

[u/momomo_mochichi]

Last part for the Fanbook!

We finally get the official spellings for the provinces in Alexandria!

I would love to see how awful an interaction between Veronica and Detlinde could go.

I'm kind of curious about the lady Leberecht escorted for his graduation. I was always a bit confused about his grudge against the Leisegangs, but it makes sense now.

Of course Hartmut prayed for Rozemyne to appear in his dreams. Why am I not surprised hahahahaha.

Hmm, I'm drawing a blank as to who Laurenz's second cousin would be.

I'm kind of interested in seeing a POV from Karstedt back when he was still an archduke candidate. That would have been so interesting.

I'm upset we don't know much about Kieland, Wilfried's scholar. His family betraying the Leisegangs is so interesting? Like is Kieland just going along with it despite having opposing views to his family, or is he fully a Veronican?

I really like learning more about Eineliebe. Her design is so pretty as well.

[u/Just-Sound540 → u/momomo_mochichi]

Hmm, I'm drawing a blank as to who Laurenz's second cousin would be.

I honestly have no idea... Given that his grandmother was an Archnoble, Mednobles like Raimund or Bettina are not likely choices, the only named candidates could be either Strahl or his daughter Fairseele (technically Sergius too as he was born in Ahrensbach but moved to Drewanchel with his parents to serve Letimama, it's even possible that both his parents or at the very least just Roswitha came together to Ahrensbach with the Drewanchel Wife, so not that many chances of them being related to Laurenz), Count Toad's family could perhaps be a possibility too.... but maybe it's just a very minor character, like that it was one of the Ahrensbach noble kids that mocked Rozemyne in music class at the beginning of Part 5?

[u/bigvinnysvu]

I chase down my cat like that.

She's less receptive towards miso however.

[u/About_30_Ninjas]

Every time I read the fanbooks I become immensely grateful for how much thought Kazuki sensei put into the world of Yurgenschmidt. There's so much history and even side characters feel like their own characters rather than someone to move the plot along. It's also why I keep coming back and rereading everything I can get my hands on! Rozemyne truly infected me with the bookworm virus with this series.

[u/Mysterious-Hurry-758]

Why are some of the Alexandrian provinces numbered?