Justus

Justus (ユストクス Yusutokusu) is an attendant and scholar who serves Ferdinand as a retainer. His mother is Rihyarda.

Justus has gray hair and brown eyes. Although he is slightly on the shorter side and has a slender build, he has an “ordinary” appearance that helps him to blend in with crowds when gathering information.

When dressed as a woman, he looks “like a refined middle-aged lady” with brown hair. Because he has an androgynous face, Rozemyne comments that it doesn’t take much makeup to change his appearance. He bears a strong resemblance to his mother, Rihyarda, and his sister, Gudrun.

Justus’s prevailing trait is his insatiable curiosity. He loves to gather information, rumors, strange magical materials, rare spells, and anything that is new and unusual to him. Once he has collected something, however, he doesn’t have any particular interest in researching it further.

He goes to great lengths in pursuit of his hobby and is willing to disguise himself as a woman or a commoner when needed. His single-minded enthusiasm can even override his survival instinct, putting himself and his companions in danger.

In most situations, Justus has a friendly and easygoing personality. He tends to speak his mind and is not intimidated by status, occasionally even teasing Ferdinand. Despite his familiar attitude, he has a strong sense of loyalty and feels contempt for those who shirk their duties, including his own nephew Traugott.

When Justus was a child, he noticed that attendants and servants often spoke in an entirely different manner when away from their masters, saying things that they otherwise wouldn’t have. That led to him developing an interest in collecting information.

Eventually, his mother Rihyarda scolded him that he should become a scholar if he loved gathering information so much, and use his enthusiasm to collect valuable intelligence for Sylvester. He did as Rihyarda suggested and enrolled in both the attendant and scholar courses at the Royal Academy. (When Ferdinand later wanted to take multiple courses, Justus was the one who told him it was possible .)

However, Justus found that the information he brought to Sylvester usually ended up being put to good use by Ferdinand, his right-hand man. He came to admire Ferdinand’s ability to connect seemingly irrelevant facts and use them to defeat the nobles who opposed him. Ultimately, Justus went against his mother’s wishes and chose to serve Ferdinand instead, alongside the guard knight Eckhart.

When Ferdinand abandoned noble society and entered the temple, Justus could no longer officially work as his attendant. However, he continued to assist Ferdinand in a reduced capacity, helping to gather intelligence and serving as a tax official when needed.

Not long after Myne joined the temple, Ferdinand assigned Justus and Eckhart to investigate her activities in the Lower City. After he was unable to gather information by disguising himself as a commoner, he and Eckhart broke into the Merchant's Guild building at night to investigate her official records.

When Rozemyne goes to gather ruelle fruit for her jureve during the Harvest Festival, Ferdinand assigns Justus to accompany her as a tax official. (Eckhart also accompanies them as Rozemyne’s guard.) When he meets Rozemyne, he tells her that he knows her true background and explains how he disguised himself to gather information in the Lower City.

When they visit Hasse, Justus provides Ferdinand with information that he uses to manipulate Kantna, the local scholar-official. Later, Justus’s interest is piqued by the mayonnaise used in the sandwiches made by Rozemyne’s chefs, and he begins pestering her for the recipe. She deflects him in a ploy to drive up the price.

Justus accompanies Rozemyne’s party during the ruelle gathering on the Night of Schutzaria. When feybeasts swarm the tree, Justus stays next to Rozemyne and advises her. He protects her from an attacking zantze, but fails to prevent it from stealing the ruelle dyed with her mana. Later, he helps Rozemyne stay awake and maintain the Shield of Schutzaria by telling her stories about the library at the Royal Academy, buying enough time for Ferdinand to arrive.

Ferdinand calls Justus and Eckhart to a meeting where he explains that he and Rozemyne will soon be punishing the mayor of Hasse for the crime of attacking the monastery. When Rozemyne explains that she prefers to tax the commoners rather than execute them, Justus praises her for her pragmatic attitude toward “squeezing them dry”.

Justus is present at Hasse’s public execution, where he serves as a scholar and selects the identification medals of the condemned citizens. He is thrilled at the opportunity to witness the ritual for executing traitors, explaining to Rozemyne that it is only taught to archduke candidates and rarely performed in public.

When Rozemyne continues her travels for Spring Prayer and her ingredient collection, Justus is reluctantly obliged to return to Ehrenfest with the box of citizenship medals. He laments that he wants to follow Rozemyne wherever he can, because “there is hardly ever a dull moment” with her around.

When Ferdinand returns to noble society, Justus is happy to return to service as his attendant and scholar. Although he now can visit the temple freely, he forbidden from visiting the orphanage and workshop in the temple because his curiosity is likely to cause problems.

Later, Justus helps Ferdinand, Eckhart and Rozemyne prepare for their expedition to pick up Riesefalke eggs at Mount Lohenberg. Although he wants to accompany them, Ferdinand strictly forbids it, saying that he is too risky a companion in such a dangerous environment.

Justus once again accompanies Ferdinand and Rozemyne as a tax official during the Harvest Festival. He and Eckhart travel with her to Dorvan to assist in her second attempt to gather a ruelle on the Night of Schutzaria.

While they wait for nightfall, Justus inquires about Rozemyne’s interest in making children’s bibles. When she talks enthusiastically about wanting new books, however, he warns her never to say such a thing in public, because her words will be interpreted as a request for bribes. Later that day, he stays beside Rozemyne as she gathers her ruelle.

When Rozemyne is asleep in her jureve, Ferdinand is overburdened with work and reluctantly asks Justus for help managing the paper workshop at the temple. Justus only visits the temple occasionally, but he impresses the temple attendants with his ability to finish multiple days of work on each visit.

Rozemyne becomes impatient with the noble scholars’ contempt for commoners and resolves to train her own scholar who can manage the printing industry. Ferdinand mentions that Justus is familiar with printing and paper-making, but refuses to lend his services to Rozemyne because Justus is too useful to him.

When Rozemyne returns to the Royal Academy, she is surprised to find that Justus is present as his nephew Traugott’s attendant. He is assigned to educate Traugott on the proper behaviour of an archnoble, as well as punish him for his previous blunders. More importantly, the position gives him an excuse to report on Rozemyne’s activities at the Royal Academy, gather information, and advise the Ehrenfest students on how to prepare for socializing and the upcoming Interduchy Tournament. As a personal request, Rozemyne asks Justus to help train her scholars to manage the printing industry.

Justus disguises himself as a woman (using the name "Gudrun") to accompany Rozemyne to a tea party with Prince Anastasius. Being able to lip-read, he follows along with the conversation and is horrified at Rozemyne’s lack of self-awareness while socializing.

When Ferdinand arrives for the Interduchy Tournament, Justus completely ignores Traugott in favor of serving Ferdinand. The other students feel slightly bad for Traugott.

Because he already knows her Lower City background, Justus serves as a stand-in for Rozemyne’s scholar when she has her final meeting with the Plantin Company in the hidden room.

Justus's highbeast takes the form of a feybeast called a bahelm.


 * As Justus explains, his line of work demands that he be able to “mimic men of all statures.” He is able to adapt his speech patterns, movement, lifestyle and attitude as necessary to gather information.
 * Justus is able to disguise himself almost perfectly as a woman. He wears gloves and a scarf or high collar to cover his Adam’s apple and rough hands, and can change his voice and mannerisms to create a convincing disguise. Despite being familiar with him, Rozemyne mistakes him for a woman at first glance.
 * Justus is able to read lips.


 * Justus and his mother, Rihyarda, are the only two characters in the series to use the terms “milady” (hime-sama, literally “princess”) and “my boy” (bochama, a “young master” or a young man from a rich family). They both often use “milady” to refer to Rozemyne.
 * His name was previously translated as "Eustachius." It changed to "Justus" in Part 3 Volume 2.


 * Justus is banned from traveling in Rozemyne's Pandabus, because he asks too many questions and makes it hard for her to concentrate.
 * While Ferdinand can use Justus’s information effectively, Rozemyne reflects that no one else could make sense of the random details and gossip he collects.
 * Justus has no particular interest in cross-dressing other than when required to gather information.
 * Justus and Eckhart both own a complete set of the forbidden illustrations of Ferdinand sold at Rozemyne’s harspiel charity concert. He presumably acquired them due to his love of collecting.
 * He once nearly caused Mount Lohenberg to erupt by stealing too many Riesefalke eggs.
 * Justus and Hartmut have a similar way of speaking.