All morning, Sylutia and the other students listened as Scholar Heide explained the key points and precautions of the "Bonfire and Dance Steps" ritual.
"You've more or less memorized the relevant details, but did you pay attention to the tune they hummed last night and the beat of the drums?"
"Well..."
Many of those present glanced at one another. A few noble students had some experience with music, but not much. Memorizing something after hearing it just once was still too difficult.
Sylutia sat on a stump to one side, recalling the tune carefully. She could remember some of the rhythm, but couldn't make it out clearly. She hadn't studied music in her previous life, and while she might have learned it in this one, she had no memories of doing so. It wasn't of any use to her for now.
"Hehe, you see? This is why it's important to master several different skills," Scholar Heide said, stroking his beard.
"Rituals involve a wide range of subjects and skills. Some even require the officiant to perform a certain kind of dance. The most famous example is the elves' 'Corolla Dance,' performed during the Spring Dew Festival. It demands exceptional skill from its dancers, but its effects are just as remarkable. This ritual can make flowers bloom and the land flourish. It's one of the few rituals that can change the environment."
"All right, that's all for today's lesson. I'll have you copy down the sheet music for the tune and drumbeat in 'Bonfire and Dance Steps' later. But the best way to pass them down is still to listen to the elders hum them yourself. That's the only way to remember their unusual rhythm, atmosphere, and emotion."
Class ended, and the afternoon was set aside for free time. But before the students could go out and enjoy themselves, a light rain began to fall.
Fine droplets trickled from the thatched roof, dampening the ground. The village roads, unpaved with stone, soon turned muddy.
"So we can't go out." Comia stood behind the doorway, gazing out at the gray world.
Inside, Sylutia sat by a window in the front room, reading a book. Karen sat by the workbench, maintaining her tools and longbow. Nearby, Valenie folded her arms and watched the rain with an irritated look. As for Iona, she was still in her room.
The five girls all lived in this house. Normally, nobles and commoners rarely interacted, but today they had no choice but to stay under the same roof.
Comia leaned against the doorframe for a long while, watching the rain and counting the splashes as they fell, as well as the tiny streams running between the stones in front of the threshold. At last, she grew bored and turned around.
She looked at the others in the front room, then wandered over to Karen to ask about the purpose of her various tools. Next, she went to Sylutia and secretly peeked at the book the girl was reading. After that, she returned to the bedroom and tried to take another nap, but no matter how much she tossed and turned, she couldn't fall asleep.
"I must've slept too well last night." She came back to the front room, discouraged, and complained to the others.
Sylutia and Karen only smiled at her complaint, finding it amusing without taking it seriously. Sure enough, before long Comia was wandering around the house again, looking everywhere for something interesting.
"Creak." Another door, shut along the hallway, opened.
At the sound, Valenie, who had been growing restless, immediately brightened and hurried over. Sure enough, Iona had just stepped out of her room.
The blonde young lady kept her short hair neatly styled, with a thin red ribbon tying back one side. Its color complemented her eyes. Her uniform skirt and jacket looked utterly unlike those worn by ordinary students: practical in cut but elegant, made of excellent fabric, and cinched at the waist with a small leather belt. She wore leather boots suited to outdoor activities.
Even though her circumstances were no longer what they had once been, Iona still cared a great deal about her appearance. She simply couldn't afford to wear a different set of luxurious clothes every day as she had in the past.
Her crimson eyes swept briefly over the others in the room. Iona glanced at the rain outside, then went to sit at the table in the front room.
The house itself was small, and the front room had little space. There were only two things that could be called tables: a workbench against the wall and a wooden table by the window, where Iona and Sylutia sat on opposite sides.
"Lady Iona." Valenie hurried after her.
When Iona sat down, Valenie glanced at Sylutia, who was sitting at the same table, feeling jealous and annoyed. What right did this girl have to sit beside Lady Iona?
But she felt that shooing Sylutia away now would make her look bad, as though she lacked grace and good manners. So she glared at the girl several times instead.
But Sylutia was busy turning the pages of her book and didn't notice the pointed looks coming from the side.
Valenie's little tricks had no effect, and she could only pace back and forth in frustration, uncertain whether to go over and directly tell Sylutia to get up.
"Just stay there. Stop pacing." At last, Iona impatiently waved a hand, telling Valenie to be quiet for a while.
At the order, Valenie immediately stood by the wall, full of pride. Her eager obedience left Comia baffled; she thought it seemed rather foolish.
Is she not very bright? Comia wondered silently, though she didn't dare say it aloud.
The room fell quiet for the moment. Sylutia continued reading. Comia sat beside Karen, watching her oil the tools and adjust their fittings, then turned her gaze to the others. Valenie stood still with her mouth shut, while Iona rested her head on one hand and gazed out at the rain, lost in thought.
Time passed slowly. The only sounds in the room were the occasional turning of Sylutia's pages and the ceaseless patter of rain outside.
Half an hour later, perhaps tired of the unchanging gray curtain of rain, Iona turned her gaze to the quiet girl across from her.
Her name was Tia, wasn't it? Iona recalled what she knew about the girl, but there wasn't much. She paid little attention to her classmates in the first place, and this girl had always kept such a low profile that she seemed forgotten in a corner.
The only thing that stood out in her memory was the first time she'd met Scholar Heide, when she'd noticed a bespectacled figure standing beside him.
At the time, she'd thought the girl was Scholar Heide's granddaughter or formal apprentice. Later, she'd learned that she was merely an ordinary commoner student.
It wasn't easy for a commoner to devote herself to her studies. Iona's gaze shifted again to the book in Sylutia's hands.
The Mountain Kingdom in Wind and Snow. Written in the style of a travelogue, the book recounted the author's travels through the Winter Land several hundred years ago. It was a frigid country north of the Regas Kingdom, situated entirely among the mountains, where wind and snow raged without end and few people lived. Yet it had stood for nearly a thousand years. Its national Winter Knights were renowned across the continent and revered by countless knights and martial artists.
A girl reading this kind of book? That was unusual. Iona wasn't interested in it herself, but it was strangely familiar to her, probably because her father had always been so fond of the country it described, especially the legendary Winter Knights.
The Regas Kingdom had many ties to the Winter Kingdom. Its founding monarch, Regard Buwelly, had come from the Winter Kingdom, and the national Fir Knights of the Regas Kingdom also bore many traces of the Winter Knights' influence.
Still, compared with the Winter Kingdom's harsh geography, the Regas Kingdom was far more hospitable, with a more plentiful food supply.
As she pondered this, Iona turned her gaze to the girl reading. The girl wore glasses and had delicate features. Looking closely, her skin was lovely, perhaps even fairer than Iona's.
I've probably gotten tanned from practicing for the tournament lately. She's so pale because she's always sitting in a corner reading, Iona reassured herself.
She was actually competing with a country girl. The realization made Iona feel miserable, like the gloomy curtain of rain outside that showed no sign of letting up.
Iona took a deep breath and steadied herself. She was about to return to her room and be alone.
But before she left, she couldn't help speaking to the bespectacled girl, who had ignored her the whole time and remained immersed in her book.
"Can you really understand it?" She knew the book had been written several hundred years ago, and its vocabulary and wording differed considerably from those of today.
"Hm? Are you asking me?" Sylutia looked up, then answered.
"I can understand most of it. I read The Rings of the Fir Tree: Tales from the Mountain Kingdom a while ago. The two books were written around the same time, so I can use one to help make sense of the other."
Iona still wasn't convinced. When she was little, her father had read both books to her, and even he had needed to consult other texts to explain some of the words.
"Then let me quiz you." Iona stood up, and Valenie perked up excitedly.
As expected, Lady Iona is so impressive when she's like this.
"When the Winter Knights were founded, where was it, and which Class did they primarily study?"
"When the order was founded, it was led by an elderly priest who had spent many years living on a snow-covered peak. He was skilled in the secret arts and abilities of the Winter Slumber Aspect, and the order was established in his small chapel."
"The first members of the order were only five young people. They hadn't yet reached the First Order, but the old priest taught them with extraordinary patience. In the end, all five reached the strength of the 'Third Order—Winter Slumber,' and their primary Class was Frost Swordsman."
"With these five knights at its core, the original order was established. They spread their beliefs through the mountains, uniting the scattered settlements across the snowy peaks and organizing patrols to protect the peace of the region. The organization gradually grew until its forty-seventh commander, Pelein, a man of great ambition and talent, united the lands protected by the order and established a country. He himself advanced to the 'Sixth Order—Winter Slumber' Class, Winter Crown Knight, upon founding the kingdom."
The founding of the Winter Kingdom was quite similar to that of the Regas Kingdom. Or rather, the Regas Kingdom had modeled its own history on that of the Winter Kingdom when it expanded and established itself.
Sylutia's concise yet detailed explanation left Iona speechless. She even had the impression that the girl knew more about history than she did. But how could that be? Iona had been steeped in such knowledge since childhood. Even if she'd neglected her studies later on because she was so absorbed in social gatherings, she still couldn't be compared to a country commoner.
She hadn't managed to establish any distance between them. Instead, she'd made herself seem less knowledgeable than a country commoner. The thought stirred up an inexplicable irritation and anxiety deep within Iona, leaving her unsettled.
She silently watched the girl before her, her fingers twitching slightly, but then she let her hand fall.
A few seconds later, Iona finally spoke. "You've read quite a lot."
No. I can't lose my temper here. I don't want to create unnecessary complications and ruin the impression I've made on Scholar Heide lately.
Iona then shut the door behind her and returned to her room, not coming out again. The gesture greatly surprised Valenie, who also came to resent Sylutia.
Watching Iona return to her room in anger, Sylutia pressed her fingers to her brow. It wasn't as if she hadn't realized what had just happened.
It seemed she still hadn't kept a low enough profile. She'd made the young lady lose face.
But pretending not to understand when she clearly did would have been too awkward and forced. She was easygoing by nature, but she wasn't the kind of person who could constantly twist herself out of shape to please others.
Hopefully the young lady wouldn't pay too much attention to her. Otherwise, her life would be needlessly troubled from here on out.
Before you continue