#part5vol8

[readsquirrel]

I really love that given the invention of a magical recording device, Rozemyne’s use of it is to create a cute stuffed animal with quotes from someone you love who is far away

And Ferdinand’s was to start recording incriminating evidence

And yet Rozemyne is the one who used it to justify a little light coup

[readsquirrel]

I just keep having all the thoughts and feelings about Ferdinand in the most recent Ascendance of a Bookworm (part5vol8).

So many years of Ferdinand painting himself as the sensible one and Rozemyne as the loose cannon, when—

1. He’s been casually rocking 40% of the Book of Mestinora—not just having access to it since the academy but actively using it.

For example, previously it was mentioned that others were surprised by someone being able to do a large scale waschen on the lower city, and now we find out that the large-scale magic circles are all in the part of the Book of Mestinora that he has. What other of the crazy magic he’s been doing has come from there?

2. He outright offered to murder Georgine on demand, and it was only Sylvester’s good sense that stopped him from doing that.

3. He had all the Opinions about Detlinde being so shameless running around with the Langraeve dude, when she still had enough sense to not ride in a carriage with him. Then Rozemyne shows up looking like an adult and he’s flying her around on his highbeast in front of -everyone-. And looking ahead in the illustrations, this does not seem to be a one-time thing. Shameless!

4. Minor compared to this other nonsense, but when Mr. Let’s Summon Winter handed his cloak off to Rozemyne, she mentions that the magic circles started glowing. Presumably, that means he used her ink to add circles to his cape. Which, that’d be fine except that he didn’t mind making her look like some kind of god figure flying around with him on highbeast (again, shameless!) just to keep her fingers from getting a little cold.

Which is all to say, I love it. You keep doing you, Ferdinand.

[readsquirrel]

Still rolling the AoB revelations from Part5Vol8 around in my mind like a piece of hard candy…

So, Ferdinand has continually lectured Rozemyne about being out of sync with culture, and acting without thinking carefully… and yet…

He literally pissed off a god so much with his own rudeness that said god is telling other people they should go murder him…

Ferdinand, mr opinionated, mr I know the correct behavior, mr just follow my lead, went to ask for the other half of the book and got the answer -from a god- of “lol no, kill yourself”.

Oh, Ferdinand, you really put on a good front for Rozemyne.

[readsquirrel]

Spoilers for Ascendance of a Bookworm part5vol8 preprint halfway mark…

Sylvester and co did such a great job of keeping Rozemyne in the background when Georgine visited that Ferdinand successfully came off as the mastermind pulling her strings.

Detlinde was around for all of Rozemyne’s hijinks at the royal academy, all the she’s having tea parties with royalty and doing crazy magic and winning ditter and top of the class. But Detlinde is so self-absorbed she couldn’t be bothered to care.

So, we have Georgine who schemes but doesn’t have the information, and Detlinde with the knowledge but who lacks the foresight to use it or even pass it along. Detlinde didn’t worry about finishing the job, because who could possibly have the knowledge, power, or the driving motivation to do anything more than let Ferdinand die.

And because of that gap a duchy was lost.