Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 4.7 - Chapter 8

The Bible Inspection Meeting

At fifth bell on the day before the meeting, Ferdinand arrived at the Royal Academy with Eckhart and Justus to begin preparations. The welcoming students were waiting nervously in the common room, and after looking them over, he began to give his instructions.

“Rihyarda, prepare a room in which I can speak to Rozemyne.”

“Understood.”

Rihyarda left at once with Brunhilde in tow, at which point Ferdinand turned to Wilfried and Charlotte, who were standing at the center of the gathered students. “My being summoned here is connected to the ternisbefallen incident,” he said. “As it remains a secret that Ehrenfest slew the beast, my arrival will not be widely known. You may rest easy and continue to socialize as I unilaterally resolve this situation. Keep the dormitory in order.”

“Thank you, Uncle,” Wilfried replied. “We will.”

A guardian being summoned to the Royal Academy was indicative of there being an issue too great for the children to resolve themselves. Wilfried had stressed to the point of shivering about how massive the problem must be, but upon hearing that Ferdinand would handle it, a calm smile spread across his face.

“Justus,” Ferdinand said, “once my room is ready, ensure that preparations for the Interduchy Tournament are progressing smoothly.”

“As you command.”

As requested, Justus went to prepare a room for Ferdinand to spend the night in. Ferdinand glanced at him, then immediately focused on Hartmut. “Hartmut, as the oldest archscholar of the apprentices, I ask you to take command of a team and prepare documents such that you may bring Justus up to speed at once.”

Hartmut and Philine turned at once, having become used to doing tasks for Ferdinand while helping him at the temple, but the other apprentice scholars seemed dumbfounded and simply watched with wide eyes. Hartmut clapped a hand on Roderick’s shoulder on the way to his room.

“Shape up, Roderick. We need to hurry. Lord Justus works faster than you’d ever believe.”

Roderick came back to his senses and started chasing after Hartmut—and a beat later, so did the other apprentice scholars. Rihyarda returned to inform us that our room was prepared just as the common room was getting busy.

“Rozemyne, come with me,” Ferdinand said, and we both followed Rihyarda to a small meeting room. He told me to be seated opposite him, so I took the chair that Lieseleta pulled out for me.

Guh. He’s going to get mad about me causing more problems for him.

I placed a hand on my stomach and furtively glanced at Ferdinand, whose face showed no emotion. This wasn’t my fault—not much, at least—but it was still an unshakable fact that Ferdinand was now wrapped up in nonsense he shouldn’t have had to deal with in the first place.

“As this has to do with the bible that only the High Bishop may use, those unrelated to the temple must depart,” Ferdinand said. “Guards may remain at the door.”

“Ferdinand, my boy!” Rihyarda exclaimed, her eyebrows raised in a sudden flare of anger. “You must not be alone in a room with milady!”

“Stand down, Rihyarda. This is not for others to hear, and every moment is valuable.”

“My boy! She is an engaged woman! You must not put her in such a compromising situation. Allow her retainers to stay, at the very least.”

From the position of a noble, her argument made perfect sense—it was actually quite strange that we had gotten away with so many one-on-one meetings in the temple. However, I could guess that Ferdinand wanted to talk about the magic circle that had risen into the air above the bible. It was a topic of conversation much too dangerous for our retainers to hear.

Ferdinand thought for a moment, his brow tightly knit, then nodded. “Very well. Eckhart and Cornelius may remain, but nobody else,” he said, waving the others away.

“I would much rather you keep another girl with you, but... I suppose family is more comfortable,” Rihyarda agreed and then exited the room.

Once everyone else was gone and the door was firmly shut, Ferdinand turned to the two guard knights. “Both of you, stand facing the door.”

“Yes, sir!” Eckhart said and complied at once. Cornelius, however, blinked and froze up. His training had instilled in him a habit of always keeping his eyes on the one he was guarding.

“Hurry up!” Ferdinand barked.

“Yes, sir!”

Cornelius turned to the door as well, and with that, both he and Eckhart were standing with their backs to us. Ferdinand took out sound-blocking magic tools and proffered one to me, and it was then that I truly understood the order he had given to the two guard knights—it seemed that he didn’t even want to chance our lips being read. He was being so intense that I couldn’t help but feel even more anxious.

“Ferdinand, I truly am sorry. I was, erm, unable to oppose their decisions to investigate our bible and summon you here...” I said as I grabbed the magic tool. My aim was to establish my innocence before Ferdinand started grinding me to dust, but no sooner had I started to apologize than he waved a dismissive hand at me.

“No matter. It was well within expectations that I would receive a summons. In fact, I instructed you to include my name in your answers specifically to bring about this outcome. This is much preferable to the alternative of you facing the meeting alone.”

Apparently, Ferdinand had predicted that one of my guardians would end up being summoned. I exhaled, relieved to know that he wasn’t angry at me, and shifted my focus to the coming meeting.

“Still...” I said. “This has turned into quite a serious problem, hasn’t it?”

“I am unsure what is problematic about it.”

“Wha? But, erm... what if someone else sees the magic circle?” He had sounded so very serious when ordering me not to tell anyone about it; surely there was a disaster on the horizon.

Ferdinand crossed his arms and watched me through slightly narrowed eyes. “That will not warrant any concern if we cannot see the circle ourselves. In other words, you need only keep your mouth shut and say nothing unnecessary. I am here precisely to ensure that outcome.”

As not even Justus had managed to see the text and the magic circle, Ferdinand was under the impression that only those who met certain requirements could view them. Perhaps these requirements were to do with elemental affinities, divine protection from the gods, or mana capacity. He also assumed there were entirely different requirements on top of those, since there was no other explanation for why both Ferdinand and I could suddenly see them.

“I imagine that nobody else at the meeting will be able to see it for themselves.”

“And if somebody does, what should I do?”

“Nothing at all, for we cannot see it ourselves. Those who can see it might foolishly read it aloud and make an enemy of royalty to no gain, or they might keep silent and just as foolishly aim to take the throne themselves. But that is their choice to make, and it does not concern us. You need only focus on not bringing harm to Ehrenfest. Now, feign surprise and say, ‘You can see something in the air?’”

It was then that I realized—I already knew someone who had the potential to see the magic circle, and who was honest enough that they would mention its presence outright.

“Prince Hildebrand attended the ternisbefallen inquiry,” I said. “As a member of royalty, he is expected to oversee the resolution of any problems that arise in the Royal Academy, so he will presumably be attending this meeting as well. Do we need to worry about him potentially seeing the circle?”

“Tell me, what issue is there with the son of a king being recognized as a true king? An outcome like that is trivial compared to completely unrelated persons such as us suddenly receiving that kind of attention. On the chance that both Prince Sigiswald and Prince Hildebrand can see the circle, they may fight among themselves for the seat. If only one of them can see it, that individual can become king. If neither prince sees it, things can continue as they are.”

I was still confused. Hildebrand had spent his entire life thus far being raised as a vassal. Learning that he had the qualities of a king would enliven his retainers and force him into a conflict with Sigiswald, who was already so close to being named the official successor to the throne. It would be disastrous, surely.

“So you say... but Prince Hildebrand was raised as a vassal,” I said.

“He was only recently baptized and has yet to even be debuted. Should the investigation reveal that he has the qualities of a king, there is still time for his education to be adjusted, and as a child with Dunkelfelger blood, he has powerful allies. Prince Hildebrand would need to acquire the Grutrissheit, of course—I am sure the current king can speak to how extraordinarily hard running the country is without it.”

“Is it hard for a king to rule Yurgenschmidt without the Grutrissheit, then?”

“I would imagine it being similar to a new archduke coming into power after the abrupt death of their predecessor without having been taught about the foundational magic. The new archduke would need to mobilize their entire house to search for it while supplying it with mana from the hall. One can maintain the existing state while supplying mana, but that is all—one could not repair or do anything else to it whatsoever.”

The lower city’s entwickeln had required direct involvement with the foundational magic, and Hasse’s monastery had similarly been built with Sylvester’s permission. An archduke without knowledge of the foundation was hardly deserving of the title and would not be able to use the magic entrusted only to archdukes.

“You sure are well informed, Ferdinand.”

“As an archduke candidate yourself, you will also learn about the foundational magic soon enough. I highly doubt that Sylvester has every word memorized, but even he knows it.”

Ferdinand didn’t seem at all uneasy about the upcoming meeting. Although it was comforting to see, at the same time, I couldn’t understand it. It was for this reason that I asked, “Are you not concerned about the bible inspection meeting...?”

“We need only demonstrate three things: that the Ehrenfest bible contains a prayer for the God of Darkness’s blessing, that said prayer is not identical to the spell for creating black weapons, and that Ehrenfest students did not violate the king’s law. As the bible does indeed contain the prayer, we need only show it.”

His words reminded me that the true reason for the inquiry was to understand the ternisbefallen incident. This investigation into our duchy’s bible had only come about from the squabble between the Sovereign High Priest and the Sovereign knight commander.

“The state of the Sovereign bible has nothing to do with Ehrenfest,” Ferdinand continued. “You need not concern yourself with the actions of the Sovereign temple or the Sovereign knight commander—it is the king’s duty to contain them both or stir the conflict. To be honest, my only real concern here is you.”

Knowing exactly what we needed to do came as something of a relief. I had worried the situation was out of control, but it seemed that everything would turn out fine so long as I entrusted the meeting to Ferdinand.

“Very well,” I said. “I’m electing to leave absolutely everything to you, while I spend the entire meeting in silence.”

“I could not hope for more.”

Our discussion had come to an end after we ironed out some more details, and at precisely third bell the next day, our meeting with the Sovereignty began. The desks were lined up in the same formation as during the previous inquiry, but this time, the Sovereign High Bishop was sitting next to Immanuel. There was no mistaking him, since he wore the same white robes I was so accustomed to. Hearing the phrase “High Bishop” always brought Bezewanst to mind, but this man only looked to be about forty and was more or less in his prime.

“This is Relichion, the Sovereign High Bishop,” Immanuel said. “He has brought with him the Sovereign temple’s bible.”

Once greetings were exchanged, the meeting could begin in earnest. Raublut stood up and explained in a booming voice that my statements during the previous inquiry had necessitated this investigation, to see whether the Sovereign temple’s bible was indeed missing anything.

“Now then,” Raublut said, “to begin, show us Ehrenfest’s bible.”

“I wish to object,” Ferdinand replied, standing up with the bible in hand.

“You what?” Raublut asked, blinking.

“The invitation I received said this was a meeting to ensure that no Ehrenfest students violated the king’s law during the ternisbefallen incident,” Ferdinand continued with a very noble-like smile. “Our intention today is not to investigate any potential shortcomings in the Sovereign temple’s bible. It seems that I have mistakenly attended an entirely different meeting.”

Hm... If it were me up there in place of the knight commander, Ferdinand probably would have said something like, “Have you forgotten our reason for being here, fool?”

Ferdinand stared down the knight commander with a smile, making it clear that Ehrenfest had nothing to do with the Sovereign temple’s bible.

Raublut scoffed, but he quickly conceded the matter. “You’re not wrong. Now, show your bible, so that we might prove Ehrenfest did not violate the king’s law.”

“As you wish,” Ferdinand replied, stepping forward and setting the bible down before Raublut. He was wearing a thin, fake smile for dealing with other nobles, but to me, it looked absolutely terrifying. “Rozemyne, open the lock.”

After borrowing Hirschur’s hand to get down from my chair, I stuck my key into the bible and opened it. The text and magic circle rose up into the air, as they had done before.

“Blank pages,” Raublut said plainly and with a grimace as he flipped through the bible. Hirschur, who was standing here under the guise of assisting me, wore an almost identical expression. I could guess that she wasn’t able to see the contents either.

“Goodness!” Fraularm shrieked. “We’ve come this far and you’re bringing fake books?! How sacrilegious!”

“I see...” Ferdinand said, making no attempt to hide his displeasure as he shot Fraularm a glare. “I was starting to believe that the quality of graduates dropped following the civil war, but I see now that the teachers are where the problem resides.”

I agreed with his assessment but wished that he had dressed it up a little more. Fraularm would no doubt take her frustrations about this insult out on me, as his disciple.

“Remain silent,” Ferdinand continued. “Incompetent fools who cannot stay quiet until the facts have been explained to them are nothing but a bother. Now, to return to the matter at hand... It is only natural that these pages would appear blank, as temple bibles can only be read by those with the relevant High Bishop’s permission.”

“Then grant all those here permission,” Hirschur said eagerly.

“That will not be possible,” Ferdinand replied, crushing her hopes with a gentle smile. “Only those who are part of the temple are qualified to read these bibles.”

“Excuse me? Whatever do you mean?!”

“Goodness!” Fraularm added.

Ferdinand gazed across the surprised professors and then continued in a quiet voice. “These bibles are not meant to be taken from their temples.”

“But—”

“I am confident that showing them to a select few will suffice. Prince Hildebrand, as the arbitrator, Commander Raublut, who participated in the hunt and already knows the spell, and those who serve the temple.”

“Lord Ferdinand!” Hirschur exclaimed. I could tell from the desperation in her eyes that she was more or less on the verge of crying out, “Don’t be so mean!”

Ferdinand sighed. “As the God of Darkness’s prayer grants similar effects to black weapons, it would not be wise to spread knowledge of it so freely. It is wonderful for professors to be so inquisitive, but that is another issue entirely.”

The spell for black weapons was taught only to the knights of duchies where it was absolutely necessary—even scholars who wished to research the spell could not learn it without the king’s permission. In other words, Ferdinand was being entirely reasonable, and the mad scientist professors were unable to protest, no matter how much they wanted to.

“Rozemyne,” Ferdinand said. “Your permission.”

I nodded and then said, “I permit Prince Hildebrand, Lord Raublut, Father Relichion, Immanuel, and Lord Ferdinand to read the bible.”

Now... how is Prince Hildebrand going to react?

I watched the prince out of the corner of my eye. As a member of royalty, perhaps he would see the magic circle. Ferdinand had said that this wouldn’t be a problem, but I couldn’t help my worrying.

“Ah. I can see text now,” Hildebrand said.

“Hm,” Raublut added. “I didn’t realize these bibles were magic tools...”

Despite my concern, it seemed that Hildebrand was unable to see the floating text or magic circle—his purple eyes contained no surprise as he quietly waited for the page to be turned. Raublut’s expression barely changed at all, suggesting that he couldn’t see them either.

“Now, I would request that you open the Sovereign temple’s bible and grant them permission to read it,” Ferdinand prompted the Sovereign High Bishop.

Relichion set down a bible that looked identical to ours, unlocked it, opened it to the same page, and then granted permission to the same people. I was included among them, of course.

Oh? I don’t see a magic circle or the text...

The text written in the bible was the same, but nothing rose up from the pages and into the air.

“They’re identical,” Hildebrand observed as we went through the two bibles’ pages one by one. He was right, aside from all the notes scribbled next to the prayers for the baptism ceremony, coming-of-age ceremony, and such in the Ehrenfest copy.

“Ehrenfest’s bible certainly contains many additions...” Immanuel said, squinting as he looked down at the pages.

“I believe the previous High Bishop wrote those,” Ferdinand replied before I could even open my mouth. “Old language often proves too complicated for commoners of the lower city to understand, so many parts were rewritten in common vernacular.”

Indeed. Like cue cards for a TV show.

“So, where’s the prayer for the God of Darkness’s blessing?” Raublut asked.

I turned to a page that was pretty far into the bible, where the lesser-used prayers were generally found. “Here. This part details the prayer in question.”

Immanuel examined the page for a moment and then said, “Where? I see nothing at all.” The Sovereign High Bishop looked equally as confused, so I assumed that he wasn’t able to see anything either.

“It’s right there,” Raublut noted. “Hard to read, since the language is so ancient, but the words can’t be missed.”

“Yes, I can see it too,” Hildebrand agreed. “Although, I would struggle to read it as well.”

“How far can the two of you manage?” Ferdinand asked the Sovereign High Priest and High Bishop. They looked at the bible again and then indicated a section about halfway through, where the notes in the Ehrenfest copy began to increase in density. “As these bibles are magic tools, it is possible that some sections can be seen only by those with enough mana and the right affinities. Perhaps the Sovereign bible is not incomplete, and this is instead a problem of mana. In which case, it is only natural that an archduke candidate such as Rozemyne would be able to read more.”

“Makes sense,” Raublut said. He started flipping through the Sovereign bible but then paused halfway through, presumably because he could no longer see the contents of the pages. I was also unable to see past where he had stopped.

“Given that no single person here can understand more of the Sovereign bible than the rest, we can assume that the Sovereign High Bishop’s elements and mana capacity are responsible, as he is its owner,” Ferdinand muttered, now completely in scientist mode. “There is much we might be able to learn if we gather all the bibles together and investigate them directly.”

I tugged on his sleeve and pointed at Hirschur. Aren’t you the one forgetting why we’re here now, Ferdinand? We need to prove Ehrenfest’s innocence, not start comparing even more bibles, right? You look just like Hirschur right now.

My silent prodding must have been heard, as Ferdinand coughed once and then seemed to regain his composure. The others were still focused on comparing the bibles.

“I can read Rozemyne’s bible up to this point,” Hildebrand said. “Hm? But I can actually read a little more of this part here. I wonder why?”

“There’s a small spot here that I can’t see, but everything else on the page is visible. It stops here for me,” Raublut added. It seemed that he could read a little further than the prince, but they both saw blank spaces on the pages.

Hm... Maybe they lack an affinity for Life?

As I tried to speculate what elemental affinities they had based on the blank spots, Hildebrand smiled at me and said, “How far can you read, Rozemyne?”

Erm... All the way to the end.

I got the feeling that such an admission would only cause problems, so instead, I rested a troubled hand on my cheek and took a step back. Ferdinand stepped forward in my place. “Both Rozemyne and I can read up to the same point as the Sovereign knight commander,” he said, “so perhaps the limitation is not his, but Rozemyne’s.”

“Oh?” Raublut replied, raising an eyebrow as he compared the two of us. My heart started pounding in my chest. Perhaps he had realized that I was trying to leave all the actual speaking to Ferdinand.

Ferdinand casually turned back to the page with the God of Darkness’s prayer. “I believe we have established that the Sovereign temple’s bible lacks the prayer not because it is incomplete, but because the Sovereign High Bishop does not have the required affinities or enough mana to see it. This is further evidenced by the fact that our High Bishop, an archduke candidate, has managed to confirm its existence.”

Raublut shook his head. “Unfortunately, the language here is so ancient that we can’t yet say how it differs from the spell we normally use.”

“I will assist with this investigation myself. Rozemyne is an archduke candidate, not a knight; there is no need for her to learn the black spell.” Ferdinand then held out a sound-blocking tool to Raublut. Once they were both gripping them, he took out his schtappe and morphed it into a knife, then turned it into a black weapon while covering his mouth.

“Oho. So, that’s a black weapon? This is my first time seeing one,” came but one of many mutterings from those gathered. It seemed that even among Sovereign professors, many didn’t know the spell themselves.

Ferdinand and Raublut spoke for a little while longer before Ferdinand canceled the blessing. Raublut then turned to the rest of us and declared that Ehrenfest’s blessing was not the same as the black spell, meaning that the Ehrenfest apprentice knights and I would not be punished for using black weapons. I revoked the bible permissions I had granted, then closed the book and locked it again.

Okay. Done.

We had safely navigated the meeting. I gazed up, relieved, only to make immediate eye contact with Immanuel, who was staring at both me and the bible with fervorous intensity. “Would it not be more fitting for Lady Rozemyne to serve as the High Bishop in the Sovereignty rather than in Ehrenfest?” he asked. “We should have gotten Ehrenfest to send her over in place of those sorry blue priests from before.”

His gaze was so intimidating that I turned around, grabbed Ferdinand by the sleeve, and tried to hide behind his arm. Ferdinand noticed what was going on and immediately stepped forward to shield me. “Rozemyne is an archduke candidate and cannot be taken by the Sovereignty,” he flatly replied, staring down at Immanuel with cold eyes. “If you do not know even that much, priest, then you would do well to remain silent on noble matters.”

“I see...” Immanuel whispered, his eyes lowered. “Archduke candidates cannot be brought to the Sovereign temple.”

Meanwhile, Relichion was watching Immanuel with harsh eyes—an expected reaction, considering the man’s indirect suggestion that he should give up his position as High Bishop. The professors of the Royal Academy were similarly regarding Immanuel as though he were an outsider, while Raublut was looking between him, Ferdinand, and me in apparent consideration. The atmosphere was so prickly that I was eternally thankful to have Ferdinand to hide behind.

Thank goodness he’s here. There was something terrifying about Immanuel just now. Talk about scary.

As I continued to hide behind his sleeve, ready to dash behind his back at any time, Raublut and Rauffen briefly summarized the differences between the spell and prayer. Then, once Hildebrand had granted his permission, the meeting was brought to a close.

“We are finished here, Rozemyne,” Ferdinand said, turning with the bible in his arms. I agreed with the sentiment that we should leave at once and promptly started following after him.

“One moment, please,” Rauffen called out, interrupting our escape. “I wish to have a conversation about Lady Rozemyne attending the knight course.”

“No,” Ferdinand replied, shooting him down before the discussion could even begin. “Rozemyne has learned practically all that the knight course offers through her efforts in getting the one and only Angelica to graduate. There is no point in her attending classes.”

“But what about ditter?” Rauffen protested.

After not even a moment, Ferdinand flicked a sound-blocking tool toward Rauffen, who deftly caught it. Ferdinand then said something before extending a hand and retrieving the magic tool.

Rauffen stared at me, his jaw dropped. “No way...” he muttered. “That can’t be true.”

“I have no cause to be untruthful,” Ferdinand said. “Now, speak of this to no one, and cease inviting her to the knight course. You will never receive permission from Ehrenfest. Never.” And with that, he spun back around and briskly walked away. I was, of course, hot on his heels.

“Ferdinand, what did you tell Professor Rauffen?” I asked once we were back in the dormitory.

“I simply mentioned that, because of the jureve, you are still unable to function without the assistance of magic tools. I also said that, for various reasons, you have charms that must be kept on at all times. Unless he is quite the staggering fool, he will not attempt to recruit you again.”

A normal person would easily conclude that someone entirely dependent on magic tools was no match for the practical lessons of the knight course, but there were some who would reach the nonsensical conclusion that they were perfectly viable candidates so long as they could move. That was why Ferdinand had also mentioned that I needed to wear several charms at all times. They would activate during training and inevitably expose other students to danger, and we had no plans of removing them.

“Professor Rauffen will give up now, right?” I asked. I was still feeling a bit uneasy, since I was painfully aware of what a stubborn man he was.

Ferdinand raised an eyebrow, then scoffed. “Fear not. If necessary, I will put an end to his days as a teacher.”

How is that supposed to put me at ease?

His words made me even more fearful, if anything. But as it turned out, Rauffen was no fool after all. He never pushed me to join the knight course again.