The Weight of Legacy

Chapter 53 - On Matters of Grandparents

Malwine had turned four years old in this world.

Name: Malwine Rīsanin ⊛

Kind: Human

Inherent Aptitude: The Weight of Legacy | Inherent Flaw: The Fog of Lore

Age: 40 months

Final Stage of the Early Esse | Level 61

Lifetime Skill levels: 526 (S)

It was a strange realization to be having while walking through Beuzaheim as a grown woman, but she defended herself with the reasonable explanation that, , she had had bigger concerns when The Fire came.

As she no longer believed she had definitely been born during The Fire of 5798, it was a bit bittersweet, but Malwine figured the age itself was probably right. That much seemed consistent.

Shaking her head as if that would actually help with refocusing, Malwine sighed. She had arrived at Beuzaheim, and she’d already had an altercation. Granted, she had technically been on the winning side of it—for once!—but it did not bode well for this endeavor.

She could only hope any and all assholes she encountered were isolated incidents.

Beuzaheim itself was… quaint. If anything could even be a textbook case of that ‘quaint little town’ stereotype, it would probably be this, nevermind that it was in a different world to the widow’s. The streets were made of stone, but they lacked the uniformity of brick roads. If she had to guess, she’d have said it looked like someone had just placed rocks there and sort of squished them all together.

Considering all sorts of magic existed, she figured that was probably exactly how they’d been made, and would continue to think so until presented with evidence to the contrary.

As for the buildings, they were… . There was much more variation there. Some were seemingly built from wood while others appeared to have been formed from the same type of stone as the city’s paths. With a few, it was impossible to make a guess.

There was also the matter of a lack of signs that labeled locations—some stores had them, but others did not, and Malwine could tell they weren’t residences because they had other, smaller signs listing their wares. Maybe there was some ‘unofficial business’ going on, for all she knew.

Unfortunately, it was becoming clear that this was type of place. The type that would be an absolute to navigate if you were new to it, because everyone there just already knew where everything was and didn’t bother working around how confused outsiders might be.

Malwine fell back on the ever-reliable act of huffing to soothe her irritation as she walked the rest of the way to the archive, following Maria and Heinrich’s directions. The building itself was not labeled——but it somehow managed to convey its administrative nature. Maybe it was the boxiness, because it sure looked like a storage box expanded into building form. Even the columns and other architectural features looked like they were barely attached to it.

Upon entering, she could have sworn she heard a chime. She looked in each direction but couldn’t identify where the windchime was. . Either that or a ward. She still had only the barest understanding of how those worked, so maybe they could also announce visitors.

“Good day,” a secretary spoke from behind her desk. This area was relatively plain, a simple faded red carpet with swirly designs leading to the front of the desk itself. The same type of feylight scones the estate had adorned the wooden walls, each with an end table under it. That setup seemed to serve as divider between the archways, three on each side, and all behind where the secretary sat.

“Good day to you as well,” Malwine smiled. “I have come to inquire on what the process for viewing records here would be. Specifically marital records, but all are welcome. Heinrich and Maria at the guardhouse were kind enough to point me in your direction, saying this place could help.”

She really hoped neither of them were disliked because she was going to namedrop them to lend herself some additional credence. If it came to that, she’d regale this random woman with Kunegunda’s ever-growing backstory.

“Of course. It’s simple enough. Most books that are ten years or older get moved here. You can browse as you wish, but the books stay in this building,” the secretary explained with a matching smile. “If you need anything more recent than that, you’ll have to go to the city hall and potentially file some paperwork, depending on what it is. Any questions?”

“No, thank you,” Malwine nodded. “That was an exceptional explanation, young lady. I’m overjoyed to see the city being so forthcoming.”

At that, the secretary mumbled, “Oh, the city itself barely helps with anything.” She shook her head, eyes closed, before continuing. “Anyway, one last thing. I need your name for the visitors’ log.”

It almost caused her physical pain to do so—nevermind that her real body literally wasn’t even here—but Malwine managed it, keeping a completely straight face as she looked the secretary in the eye. “Kunegunda fon Rōsenkrantzin, at your service.”

Malwine did not regret it one bit, though the reaction was more subdued than she’d hoped. The secretary gave her an odd look and wrote something down on what Malwine guessed must have indeed been the visitors list, but she didn’t comment.

After taking her notes, the secretary looked back up to Malwine with a smile. “Alright. That’s all. Good luck searching! Marital records will be on the second archway to the left from where you stand. Enter through there and look to the right, the entire shelf is lined with them.”

“Thank you once again, dear.”

Trying her best not to betray her bafflement at how ultimately easy this had been, Malwine scurried into the archive, almost getting tangled in the translucent chiffon curtain that separated the rooms. The fabric was quite atrocious, for what that was worth, so she wouldn’t have minded if it had tumbled to its doom from the act.

No such thing happened, to Malwine’s continued disappointment.

But there was admittedly no more time to waste on fooling around, no. She was on a timer, and there were records to be seen! If she didn’t want to ruin her own chances by disappearing from running out of [Toll] capacity, she needed to make sure she left while she still had enough time. That left her with around sixty-five minutes to play around before she had to exit the building. With how isolated it was, however, she was pretty confident in the idea of just dismissing the double in the nearest alleyway. That’d likely be enough as far as stealth went.

She’d half expected she’d have to use [Remote Reading] on the place later, or that some measure of bureaucracy would slow her down. This was a pleasant surprise, of course, but it took her a moment to accept it.

Taking a deep, long breath, Malwine stared at the modest shelves before her. It wasn’t bad—archives did not need to be gigantic to be useful. This was what she had, and so she would work with it.

Malwine was still grinning like a madwoman as she started perusing the book spines.

It was time for the widow to do what she did best.

her . It was almost comical—the real Margaret Smith would have likely snapped like a twig if she so much as thought of leaning to examine a book.

Two-sided shelves stood attached to each wall that had contained a light scone on the other side, while the back wall was lined with more shelves and some chairs. To look on the flip side of the shelf, she could either loop around through the archways back there, or walk through the space left between the shelves that were perpendicular to each other.

The marriage records were exactly where the secretary had told her they would be, but Malwine gaped at them.

…

. This was a treasure trove. Or it would have been, had Malwine’s family actually been from Beuzaheim since its antiquity. The wide ranges in years also lined up with what Anna Franziska had told her—it seemed marriages were infrequent enough that well over a century could be covered by a single tome.

If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

Malwine almost caught herself bemoaning the fact that the earliest numbers still meant there were two millenia worth of records missing, but this duration alone was ridiculous. Well over three thousand years of records remained, all while having such a sizable chunk of dates missing. In her old Earth, this would have been unthinkable.

Sure, that gap in years was tragic, but if she ever actually managed to cultivate her way to immortality, she could always go back and try to see if she could dig that information up with her Skills.

Malwine had gotten sidetracked already. Before any of those thoughts returned, she reached for and settled down on one of the comfortable chairs on the back wall. It was oddly leathery while still feeling soft. As for the book itself, it was as well-preserved as everything in the family library had been.

Everything about reading in this place felt novel, but Malwine couldn’t afford to let herself be distracted by basking in the details, with the time limit looming over her. Tempting as just reading the entire book was, she similarly couldn’t, so she started in the year 5750. This way, it should have been impossible for her to miss Kristian and Katrina’s marriage—assuming it would have been registered in Beuzaheim.

If it hadn’t been, she’d have to walk into the birth records blind.

Malwine noticed a few people with the surname, but skipped them for now. If and when she knew what Bernie’s relation to them might be, she’d bother looking into them, even if she could guess they were her family members.

Having an index would have significantly sped up her progress, but the act of searching by itself was pleasant enough to her.

The entries were separated by month and year, and though the individual entries did not list specific days—nothing ever seemed to—they also repeated that fact in its text.

Soon enough, she came upon it. This was the right book.

The first detail Malwine noticed was ironically the name of the person who registered the marriage, but here it was, right at the start of both its year and month.

Malwine did a double take, and not just because OBeryl had been mentioned by name in the first place.

It wasn’t even the tidbit about OBeryl being from the surface that got her—it was the implication that there was a surface in the first place. And if there was, how the fuck would OBeryl have ended up here? With everything everyone said about the sea, it didn’t sound like something that could be crossed.

Katrina’s casual land ownership somehow didn’t surprise her. The family did seem to own a veritable village-sized chunk out there, despite everyone’s bizarre insistence on it being some nameless plot of land.

If Malwine was interpreting those terms right, Kristian had been considered a foreigner. .

Out of curiosity, she carefully flipped the pages all the way to 5786 and started browsing. She thought there was a good chance his second marriage would also be in this book—she that was the case, given how complicated the secretary had implied looking for it would be if it wasn’t.

It was there, and it was weird.

The registrar—if it had been added by the registrar—remained unnamed, and the entry itself was unsigned. . And despite her dislike of it, Malwine doubted the age gap could be the reason for that. Even if she wanted to throw shade at her grandfather for marrying the equivalent of an eighteen-year-old.

Bringing up a panel, Malwine transcribed both entries. She also took the time to update her family tree for what she suspected would just be the first time this day.

Unknown (Rīsan?) + Unknown (Rīsanin?) - - - - Someone with {Ore}?₁ + Beryl Skrībanin₂

\ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . /

Kristian Rīsan + Katrina Skrībanin †

|

Beryl Rīsanin

₁Isn't dead???

₂Might have died around The Fields of 5750

---

Children born to Kristian Rīsan + Katrina Skrībanin (

1. Beryl

2. Thekla

3. Anselm

4. Kristoffer ₃

5. Alaric

₃Born on either 5781 or 5782.

Children born to Kristian Rīsan + Bernadette fon Hūdijanin

1. Matilda

2. Paul₄

3. Adelheid

4. Benedikt

₄Born on either 5794 or 5795.

Bernadette had been 22. At least Matilda’s birthmonth fit the post-marriage timeline well enough.

With her panels ready, Malwine held off on searching through the birth records just yet. There were dispensation records elsewhere on the shelves, and the marriage between Katrina and Kristian had provided her with a date for theirs.

She admittedly skimmed over it even as she found it, once she had confirmed the witnesses were labeled as random residents of Beuzaheim who had all declared they were unrelated to the couple. The crux of the file lay on the core statement they had each been asked to verify.

Latest content publıshed on novel•fire.net

All the power to him, but Malwine still would have answered ‘no’. That man was a menace.

Sighing, she brought panel up.

Malwine almost mumbled aloud as she found herself updating the family tree panel again .

Unknown (Rīsan?) + Unknown (Rīsanin?) - - - - Someone with {Ore}?₁ + Beryl Skrībanin₂

\ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . /

Kristian Rīsan + Katrina Skrībanin †

|

Beryl Rīsanin

₁Isn't dead???

₂Might have died around The Fields of 5750

---

Children born to Kristian Rīsan + Katrina Skrībanin (

1. Beryl

2. Thekla

3. Anselm

4. Kristoffer ₃

5. Alaric

₃Born on either 5781 or 5782.

Children born to Kristian Rīsan + Bernadette fon Hūdijanin

1. Matilda

2. Paul₄

3. Adelheid

4. Benedikt

₄Born on either 5794 or 5795.

Once she got into the births, she’d have to hold off on updating that to add them all at once, for her sanity’s sake.

Maybe that was why they listed her first in their marriage while Kristian was the first on his second one? Either that or the fact that they outright stated that she hadn’t been mortal.

That made the general impression people had about this being a family of mortals much weirder. Had Kristian and Katrina really gone and had five children while not once wondering why none of them had Affinities when she had?

Something wasn’t adding up to Malwine.

Putting that on the backburner for now, she returned the book to where it belonged and started browsing the tomes corresponding to birth records.