I’m unsure of how to feel about Raufereg. Should I be annoyed that he thinks only of ditter and doesn’t consider the if, when and how to do things, as well as the consequences of his actions? Should I feel sorry for him, since with the archducal pair needing specifically an archnoble and not an archduke candidate if Hannelore is to marry within the duchy, taking him out of the game from the very start? Or should I feel endeard that his obsession isn’t only with playing ditter himself, but also protecting Hannelore from the “horrible fate” of not being able to play ditter anymore, should she marry out of the duchy?

Probably more of the former two, with only a light smattering of the third. ^^

With Kenntrips on the other hand, it’s a lot more straightforward. He’s a really nice guy, so much so, that part of me kind of wishes, he’d end up with Hannelore, since that much care for her is something rare in Yurgenschmidt’s noble society, and would probably bode well for a pleasant marriage, even if his feelings turn out to be non-romantic.

Unless of course he turns out to be a particularly cunning villain, who’s just been playing a really long-perspective game of ingradiating himself to her for some nefarious purpose, but I really don’t think that’s the case, even though I can’t fully rule out the possibility.

To be honest, I’m more interested in Hannelore meeting Wilfried again. Her relationship with Rozemyne is… more or less known to us already, and I don’t expect any particularly big upsets there. Hannelore might have some worries, but Rozemyne will surely do her best to keep their friendship, despite the changed circumstances her new rank bring with it, as unchanged as she can make it.

With Wilfried on the other hand, there are probably more unknowns and we also get a chance to not only see what she does and says, but also what she thinks and feels, since it’ll be from her perspective. Does she still have a crush on him? Has she given up entirely on marrying him, or is there a lingering desire, that she only doesn’t act on, because she doesn’t want to bother Ehrenfest? Did Kenntrips words about supporting her attempt to marry into anther duchy, should she make one, set some thoughts in motion?

What I wonder is, what’ll happen to Ehrenfest’s rank. They were locked in place for one year, when they would have gone up from their efforts, if Sylvester hadn’t negotiated to avoid that. But now, there are two new places created above them. So does that mean they went down 2 spots, or that they held their spot, with the two ahead of them being put below them?

Even if you put all of Rozemyne’s actions to Alexandria, Ehrenfest still lent support to the defense of the Royal Academy, so if they were allowed to keep their rank and have two other duchies pushed below them, nobody could really complain (too much), what with even Klassenberg falling lower and Dunkelfelger also being rewarded for what they did in the invasion… but would Sylvester want that?

Wait… Ehrenfest was #8 before… so if they held their place and Alexandria just inherited Ahrensbach’s place, plus push down from the two new duchies, Alexandria would be one spot behind Ehrenfest…

Anyway, Alexandria has a lot of kudos to coast on for defeating the traitor duchy Alexandria, at the side of Dunkelfelger and Ehrenfest and the return to the country’s religious roots, thanks to Rozemyne. Plus having a Grutrissheit (well, technically a full one and another one with 60ish %, but that’s under wraps) would surely make a good justification for a higher rank too.

But on the downside, Ahrensbach coasted on the imports from Lanzenave for a long time now, which is a thing of the past with the country gate closed and never going to be reopened to Lanzenave. Maybe it’ll be reconnected to a new area, but that would mean having to build relations with the locals, or forming farming/harvesting camps if it’s uninhabited, which will take time to have any effect on Alexandria’s economy.

But then again, Rozemyne revitalized both the land and ocean, meaning that their agriculture and fishing industry will soar to levels that haven’t been seen since the civil war, or maybe even beyond that. And while the printing industry will take some time to fully take off, they’ll surely be able to get at least one printing workshop up and running in pretty short order, which means that they are one of only two duchies with printing… though for a little while they’ll be playing catch-up with Ehrenfest’s numerous established workshops.

So many unknowns…

I would imagine that it’s handled like Blumenfeld and Korinthdaum, that it’s initial rank is just a temporary stand in, that will be properly evaluated at the next archduke conference. I also think that most likely they took over Ahrensbach’s rank, minus the two positions for the new duchies, as their temporary rank, which would put them at #8, since they were #6 before.