Ascension

So is called the ceremony in which a noble transits from his youth to adulthood. In theory, this ceremony should be a ritual rather than a ceremony itself, but being the daughter of a ducal family, that couldn’t be done.

"What the heck?! Is this to be a banquet or some sort of torture device? "

I was currently sitting on a long table with my side, Mael, and a girl from the Faucher’ family, inside a giant room, which was the reception room of the castle. That said, the room was surrounded by hundreds of pompously dressed nobles coming from every corner of the Duchy. We were in the middle of the room. They were quite a distance away from us, but also made us look like we were the spotlight of some freak show.

"Lower your voice, people will hear, and no, this is not a torture device. You’ve already been warned what this banquet and party would consist of. You’re the one who kept ignoring its existence up until now. "

Just as Mael ended up scolding me, a group of people approached us from among the onlookers. There were three of them.

The trio were obviously a father, a mother, and a son, who looked no older than us.

"May the bountiful blessing of Sora, Daughter of the Mountain, be upon us." The three of them greeted while assuming a half-knelt, solemn stance.

"May be it." The three of us said.

"Lady Ramia Aubrecht, Lady Aerya Faucher, Lord Mael Edouard." We, humble ones, are the son, Thomas, wife, Christa, and grandson, Domas, of the Dubois Family from the middle city of Solvege. We came today to congratulate the three of you, Milord and Miladies, on your Graces' Ascension. We sincerelly wish the three of you a safe journey to the Holy Capital. "

Once the husband was done talking, this time the wife took the speech, "Miladies, Mylord, we brought today along with us a humble present which we hope will please you."

Three attendants came and deposited the previously stated gift in front of us.

Disposed within three similar boxes were three different ornamental golden necklaces encrusted with what I believe were diamonds, each had the emblem of ours on it.

For mine, it was a wolf.

For Mael’s it was a snake.

For Aerya it was a falcon.

We hope that these gifts convey our heartfelt intent and goodwill, and that our family's grandson would be in Myladies and Mylord's care, as we were by your parents and our grandparents by your grandparents.

"We appreciate your family’s intent and concern for us. We shall take care to never forget it, and take good care of your Dubois family’s grandson. Thomasn was it?" I said on behalf of Mael and Aerya.

"Yes, My Lady."

"Thousand thanks, Miladies, My Lord. We can only, but, rest assured. "

With these words said, they left, went back to the crowd they came from.

"Gneu-.gneu- gneu OuR SoN wIlL bE iN yOur CaRe, What does they take us for? Babysitters?"

"Sigh,… Ramia."

"What?"

"You know what, forget it, Just keep your act until the end. There are only twelve of them left."

Six! " Seriously?!"

"Yes."

"Raaaa! I was in a good mood this morning, and now it’s all been ruined. What’s the point of all of this."

"Why would you even ask, You already know, don’t you? It’s for us to make acquaintance with those who would depart with us to the Aurora Academia. "

"Yeah, yeah, but what’s the point of all of this? I mean, it’s not like I will take care of any of them in any way. "

"Oh sure, you will."

"Hein?"

" Did you forget what Uncle Matthew said about factions in the Aurora Academia?"

"It has been almost one year, since then, but pretty much yeah."

"Fractions exist in the Aurora Academia, just like they do in noble society. Among the existing factions, The Ruling Family faction is the second strongest, only preceded by the Seven Great Noble Family Faction. You, being born from the Beaumont Duchy ruling, are and will naturally become a representative for every noble from the Duchy of Beaumont, so basically they will be in your care. "

"Eh, shouldn’t it be Elliel since he’s like the rightful heir to the Ducal throne?"

"No, it will be you. The Aurora Acadiamia isn’t on the Altaira Kingdom territory, but on the Erstermesch Theocracy territory. There you will be regarded as much as an heiress to the throne as your brother would be."

"Eh?"

"You don’t seem thrilled by it. I thought you would like this. Weren’t you the one who, a few years ago, wanted to be chosen for your capabilities rather than some "old" and "patrorial" rules? "

"Ah… Please spare me that. I was young. I now realize that this isn’t for me. "

"Sorry, but I’m glad that you changed your thoughts on that matter."

"You are?"

"Yes… Anyway, just hold on a little bit. We only have twelve noble families to greet and it will be done."

"Twelve, huh? Aren’t you two tired of seeing all those pompous fake mannerisms and having unknown people introduce themselves one after another? "

This time I didn't direct this question to Mael’s alone, but also to the girl who sat beside me.

It was a pretty girl with long, silky chocolate hair and green eyes.

"Eh, me? My Lady? "

"It’s Ramia, just Ramia. And, Yes you."

She went by the name Aerya Faucher. She came from the Faucher family, one of the five great families of Beaumont, which is why she was allowed to sit at our side, Mael and I.

"I… I’m not really bored with this. After all, I’ve done this kind of meeting plenty of times already. I’ve already met most of them. Thanks to my family so…."

"You knew them?"

Seriously, most of these people who came to introduce themselves to me earlier came from parts of the Duchy’s map I’d never heard about before today.

"Most of them, if not all."

"Oh, impressive, as expected of a Fauc-" Before I could finish my sentence, I was interrupted by Mael.

"So that you’d know, so it is also the case, though there were families I’ve never heard the name of. I could at least recognize most of them and the city or domain they came from. "

"Seriously?"

"Yes."

"In my case, Lady Ramia, I did at least interact with most of them at least once." added Aerya.

By "interacting", you mean?

"There are few to no noble families at all, that don’t involve themselves in commerce, so, in one way or another, they’ll have to go through our family. So while helping my father with his work, I’m showered with the opportunity to meet with nobles from every corner of the Duchy. "

"Wait? Helping your father with work? You? "

"Euh, yes."

"That’s a surprise, I always assumed that most of what you girls were doing was, you know, drinking tea? Talking about rumors and stuff? "

With a chuckle, she said, "We certainly do that, but we do a lot more than just that."

"Oh… That’s new to me. "

"Sigh… Seriously, Ramia. Well, I guess I can’t really blame you for that one. "

"What do you mean?"

"I suppose that even that you didn’t seem to notice. You know, even as a female descendant of a ruling family in the Altaira Kingdom’s standard, you’ve pretty much been exiled from noble and diplomatic affairs. Have you ever noticed how free you were wandering here and there between your family’s castle and ours."

"Hein, but isn’t that, like, normal, If I were exiled from a noble's affair, then wouldn’t that mean that you too?"

"In a way, yes, but my Edouard family is special. First, we aren’t a ducal like yours, nor are we a house dealing with commercial activities like the Fauchers, which require a high degree of diplomacy. Most importantly, we remain what we are: healers and doctors. If someone were to be sick, he would come to our establishments, not the other way around. We do interact with a lot of people, but before that, we are given time to train in our art for pretty much as long as necessary. My father is a good example of that, and so am I, I’m free because that’s how our family is supposed to work. But in your case, the level of freedom you have had access to these past 15 years is on a whole new level. You, unlike most girls your age, were prohibited, no, I would even go as far as to say that you were spared from attending "tea parties", or any event involving a big gatherings of nobles, which a girl born from the ducal family should be. "

"Lord Mael is right, Lady Ramia, I … not many of my friends who appeared today, even knew what Lady Ramia looked like before today; all they knew was through rumours."

"To put it simply, you didn’t make many public appearances for someone of your stature."

"So you guys are saying that I've been kept away from noble society by... my family? Is that it? "

"Yes, and knowing you personally, I can’t say I don’t understand why they did that?"

Understanding the subtle meaning behind his words and the obvious mocking it was hidden under, I sent out my fist onto his side, only to be interrupted by the next batch of nobles coming to give us, yet again, their felicitation.

Their sight made me sigh internally.