The Archduke Conference has come to an end, but Ehrenfest’s archducal family is still reeling from the troubles it brought. Rozemyne has one year before she must depart for the Sovereignty, and those in her service have an important choice to make.
Yes, the master dying instantly kills everyone sworn to them. But does Barthold know the terms of the contract?
If I remember correctly, with Ferdinand out of Ehrenfest, they are missing one signatory, which means they can’t set up any new magic contracts for the same method (since it would breach the original contract). With there being no way for Barthold to sign the contract and learn the Rozemyne compression method, I doubt anyone would bother to go over the exact terms with him, making it very likely he isn’t even aware of them.
It’s also a bit nebulous whether any kind of contract breach is fatal. Back when Benno told Rozemyne about it he said something like “it can even be fatal,” but didn’t elaborate any futher. The wording would suggest that it’s possible to be punished in a non-lethal way too, probably depending on the severity of the breach. So even if Barthold knows the terms, maybe he’s betting on causing Wilfried to only commit a minor enough breach for the consequences to be non-lethal. Though I lean far more toward Barthold simply not knowing the terms of the contract… or failing to consider it.
Kinda weird Barthold (I think he is name sworn to Wilfred), tries to completely turn Wilfred against Roz under these circumstances.
If the contract fried Wilfred then would Barthold be toasted as well (not sure if the death of master auto kills name sworn retainers).
Yes, the master dying instantly kills everyone sworn to them. But does Barthold know the terms of the contract?
If I remember correctly, with Ferdinand out of Ehrenfest, they are missing one signatory, which means they can’t set up any new magic contracts for the same method (since it would breach the original contract). With there being no way for Barthold to sign the contract and learn the Rozemyne compression method, I doubt anyone would bother to go over the exact terms with him, making it very likely he isn’t even aware of them.
It’s also a bit nebulous whether any kind of contract breach is fatal. Back when Benno told Rozemyne about it he said something like “it can even be fatal,” but didn’t elaborate any futher. The wording would suggest that it’s possible to be punished in a non-lethal way too, probably depending on the severity of the breach. So even if Barthold knows the terms, maybe he’s betting on causing Wilfried to only commit a minor enough breach for the consequences to be non-lethal. Though I lean far more toward Barthold simply not knowing the terms of the contract… or failing to consider it.
Good point