Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 4.9 - Chapter 5

A Stolen Book

After finishing our enjoyable meal, we returned to the temple.

“Ferdinand, won’t the snow be troublesome when you head to Ahrensbach at the end of winter? I can’t imagine you’ll be able to transport your luggage by carriage, so what are you going to do?” I asked. He and his retinue could simply fly through the air, but there was only so much they could carry with them.

“They have already prepared somewhere in Ahrensbach for us to live, I imagine. Elvira and Lamprecht prepared space for Aurelia, and while this engagement came at such short notice, that burden falls on Ahrensbach. We will send spring and summer clothes alongside niceties of little importance now, while there is no snow to worry about, then have the aub send the rest of my luggage once the snow melts. I, myself, will depart after the Royal Academy’s graduation ceremony with little on me.”

The second trip was usually when the more valuable items were transported, and it was common for the owner to travel with them. Ferdinand didn’t have enough leeway to wait for the snow to melt, though; he needed to complete all the necessary preparations for his marriage before the next Archduke Conference.

“Would you like me to use Lessy to move your luggage to the border gate?” I asked.

“I may end up asking as much, depending on the time and circumstances. At the very least, that would reduce the risk of anything dangerous being mixed into the food or valuables,” Ferdinand muttered, turning his eyes to the horizon beyond which Ahrensbach lay.

“High Bishop, High Priest, we have been awaiting your return,” came the voice of a gate guard, loud enough to reach inside the carriage while the gate was being opened.

I started to feel strangely unsettled—perhaps due to how relieved the man seemed to sound—and fixed my eyes on the carriage door. “I wonder if something happened in the temple...”

“What do you mean?” Ferdinand asked.

“The guards don’t usually speak to us like this. I wonder if something happened that they can only report to us.”

Ferdinand drummed a finger against his temple. “If even the gray priests serving as guards know, then that attendant of yours in charge of the orphanage surely has a report ready. Continue to your chambers and wait there. Under no circumstances are you to open the door to the carriage and ask the gray priest directly.”

I stopped leaning forward, sat back down, and straightened my back as we passed through the gate and arrived at the front entrance. Nicola was waiting there for us with Ferdinand’s attendant.

“Welcome back, Lady Rozemyne.”

I started walking with Nicola, all the while eyeing Fran and the others who were busily unloading our cutlery, Rosina’s instrument, and such from the carriage. They would probably catch up with us before we reached the High Bishop’s chambers, so I decided to use this opportunity to probe into what had occurred in my absence.

“Nicola, it must have been a challenge having to welcome me all alone.”

“No, my lady. Not at all. Ella prepared sweets yesterday, so the most I need to do is make tea. It was more of a challenge carrying the divine gifts to the orphanage.”

Hugo and Ella had taken today off; there was no point in them being here when we were all eating at the Italian restaurant. Anything else they might have been needed for, they had prepared in advance the day before.

“Without Monika and the others here, I needed Gil and Fritz to help with lunch, which we delivered to the orphanage as early as possible,” Nicola explained. “We then ate there with the adults.”

The number of children in the orphanage had increased prior to the harsh winter. Nicola had spent much time at the orphanage and heard about the new children from Wilma and Delia, while also helping to prepare dinner for them.

“Has anything changed there?” I asked. “Are the gray priests the same as always?”

“Now that you mention it, one of Brother Egmont’s attendants came to the orphanage, which is very rare. He wanted to speak with Wilma about Brother Egmont securing a new attendant.”

Egmont wanting a new attendant immediately led me to a certain conclusion. “Has he impregnated one of his attendants again?”

I didn’t have a single good thing to say about Egmont, the blue priest who had once trashed the temple book room, and who had sent his attendant Lily to the orphanage after getting her pregnant during my two-year sleep. Nicola must have noticed my sharp tone, as she hurriedly corrected me.

“No, my lady. He wanted to take on another priest capable of doing paperwork, as Lord Hartmut becoming the new High Priest means that he has more than twice as much to do as before.”

To my relief, he hadn’t impregnated another attendant after all. In fact, he seemed to be taking his new work seriously. Perhaps I was treating him too harshly because of the tragic ordeal with Lily and the sorrow she had gone through.

“We are currently unsure whether this is a matter for the current or the new High Priest,” Nicola said. Both were sharing the workload during the handover process, so I could understand the confusion, but I was sure we could entrust the task to either one of them.

“Hartmut already holds Egmont in low regard due to my own distaste for him,” I noted, recalling that his saint obsession knew no bounds. “Egmont is sure to receive a more favorable response from the current High Priest.”

“Understood. I will inform Brother Egmont’s attendant. Lord Hartmut does tend to exaggerate, but he’s rarely wrong about things, so it’s hard to correct him,” she said with a giggle.

“How have Gil and Fritz been doing?”

“They both rushed through their dinner with the gray priests. There is printing that must be finished before winter socializing, so the workshop is quite busy right now.”

This was the final stretch that would determine how many new books could be brought to the Royal Academy. They had chosen to speed through their orphanage work rather than leisurely eat in the High Bishop’s chambers.

“Fran will protest if word spreads to him, so please do keep this a secret,” she said. Apparently, it was normal for Fran to chastise them and say that they needed to prioritize eating in their lady’s chambers and acting like proper attendants over saving time. But as she said that, a chill swept through the room.

“I can hear you, Nicola,” came a voice.

“Eep!”

Nicola and I almost jumped out of our skins. We turned around to find Fran carrying a box and wearing a cold smile, while Damuel stood nearby with a hand over his mouth as he fought back the urge to laugh.

“Goodness, everything falls into disarray the moment I so much as look away...” Fran said. “Do take care, Lady Rozemyne; a lady’s slovenly behavior is soon reflected in those who serve her.”

He was insinuating that the current state of things was my fault, since my attendants were prioritizing work over their daily lives in the same way that I prioritized reading over mine. This was all news to me.

Nicola opened the door for me, and I made my way into my room, feeling awkward all the while. As soon as I was inside, however, a lingering fragrance caught my nose. I instinctively stopped and looked around, but I couldn’t see anything that would explain it. And soon enough, the sweet scent faded away.

“Is something the matter, Lady Rozemyne?”

“No, no... It must have just been my imagination, surely.”

I turned to the side, got Nicola and Monika to help me change, then gave permission for my attendants who had accompanied me outside to change into their priest clothes. Meanwhile, I drank the tea Nicola had poured for me and gazed around the room. Something felt strangely off. I couldn’t say what, exactly, but something was nagging at me.

The sensation reminded me of a time in my Urano days when my mom had gone into my book storage room and taken the second volume from a completely unorganized pile. If she had tidied them all away then I would have noticed in an instant, but such a minor change hadn’t even caught my attention. I was stuck in an uncomfortable limbo, feeling like something was peculiar but being unable to put my finger on it.

What could it be...?

I continued to sip at my tea, unable to settle the discomfort swirling inside of me. Soon enough, Fran returned wearing his gray priest robe. He immediately called out to Nicola and said, “Did you enter my room while I was away?”

Nicola received his question with a look of utter confusion. “No. You were away, and there was no reason for me to. Even if a reason had existed, I cannot enter a man’s chamber; I would have asked Gil or Fritz to go in my stead.”

“I... see. Understood.”

I noticed that Fran looked unsettled at that answer. I decided to talk to him, feeling that perhaps he shared my concerns.

“Fran, is something wrong?”

“I am sure I smelled a woman’s perfume in my room.”

“I, too, detected a faint sweetness upon entering. Something feels off, and it seems entirely possible that someone came here while I was absent. I shall consult the High Priest about the matter once my things have been put away and we have confirmed whether anything was stolen.”

“Understood.”

Fran went to fetch the key, Zahm left to report my suspicions to Ferdinand, and Damuel immediately sent an ordonnanz to resummon the guard knights who had returned to the castle following our meal at the Italian restaurant. All at once, the High Bishop’s chambers had gotten extremely busy.

“You say that someone may have infiltrated your chambers?” Ferdinand asked me with a frown.

“I performed a quick check, and it does not seem that anything is missing or misplaced, but... something is wrong. I’ve had that feeling ever since we returned.”

Ferdinand paused for a moment in thought, during which the scholars and guard knights summoned by ordonnanz arrived.

“Lady Rozemyne,” Monika said in a quiet voice, having approached while I was explaining things to Ferdinand. “Wilma is requesting an urgent meeting.”

“Perhaps this is about the guard you found unsettling...” Ferdinand mused. “We will want to hear this. Let her in at once.”

I nodded, permitting Wilma’s entry. Her eyes shot open the moment she stepped inside, and she froze at the sight of so many men. I had thought that she would be fine, what with how regularly she had been visiting the High Bishop’s chambers lately, but her fear was presumably dependent on the number of men present and whether they were near to her.

“Over here, Wilma,” I said, gesturing her over to a corner of primarily women. “It must be urgent for you to have come to me now instead of waiting for your report later tonight.”

She knelt before my chair, white as a sheet, her eyes flitting between Ferdinand and me. “The gray priests who were guarding the gate this afternoon have all disappeared.”

The next set of guards had apparently arrived to relieve them of duty, only to find that there was nobody there. It was standard practice for there to be four guards at the back entrance to the lower city, and when carriages with business in the Noble’s Quarter passed through, they would first have to state whom they had come to see and what business they had. Two of the guards would then go to open the gate, one would go to the Noble’s Quarter to announce their arrival, and the last would remain at the gate with the guest. It was a rule for at least one guard to attend the gate at all times.

“This is the first time this has ever happened. Furthermore, according to the gray priests who came after lunch to take their place, the gate was not properly shut,” Wilma continued. To be more precise, it had been shut differently than usual.

“In short, visitors with a carriage arrived while we were away?” I asked.

“And in secret, at that,” Ferdinand added.

“Surely there is nothing secret about this,” I said with an exasperated sigh. “They have taken four gray priests; that we would notice is inevitable.”

Ferdinand shook his head. “Before you became the orphanage director, the gray priests in the orphanage had no way of speaking with blue priests. In the past, removing these guards would not have been of any consequence whatsoever.”

The gray priests were formerly in a position where they couldn’t speak until spoken to, no matter how many suspicions they had. Today’s infiltrators were skilled enough to have noticed our absence and completed their task swiftly. They had employed trained methods and made it so that we couldn’t tell what was taken, even when we knew that something was amiss. According to Ferdinand, back in the old days of the temple, such foul play wouldn’t even have been discovered.

“You said that you felt only slight discomfort,” Ferdinand said. “If not for Wilma’s report, it would have faded from your mind over the course of only a few days. Such minor concerns rarely stick without something to ground them.”

He was right—it was the kind of uncomfortable feeling that I would have readily dismissed as my imagination. Had I decided to sleep on it, I was sure that it would have faded into obscurity come the very next morning.

Ferdinand frowned so deeply that his eyebrows almost met above his nose, and once again, he started tapping a finger against his temple. “I expect that our perpetrators had with them a noble with the power to make our gray priests disappear without a trace, relying on the established wisdom that nobody would even bat an eye.”

A chill ran down my spine as I recalled how Ferdinand had “disposed of the evidence” when dealing with Bezewanst’s attendants. Had the four guards met a similar fate?

Were the culprits here right now, I wouldn’t be able to control my anger.

“They must be connected to a blue priest within the temple, but not one who is aware that the person in charge of the orphanage reports to you daily,” Ferdinand said. “It would be wise to investigate which blue priests have received visitors and whether anyone has seen any carriages enter the premises. The culprit likely believes they have bought themselves time with their otherwise flawless subterfuge.”

I stood up and turned to Damuel and Angelica; I wasn’t about to let our intruders get away. “Damuel, Angelica, split up and inform the soldiers guarding the lower city’s gates. Tell them that I am searching for a criminal who infiltrated my chambers, and that I wish to know what carriages have been seen today. In fact, have them bring me all records of carriages that have entered or exited the city. I expect that Commander Gunther of the north gate will cooperate at once. This is a battle of time. You must hurry.”

“Yes, my lady!”

Damuel and Angelica raced out of the room without even the slightest hesitation.

I returned my attention to the still-kneeling Wilma. “I am incredibly grateful for your report,” I said. “Inform Gil that there has been an infiltrator. Have him contact the Merchant’s Guild, as well as the Othmar, Gilberta, and Plantin Companies. I wish for him to ask whether they have seen any carriages that nobles might be riding in.” The Othmar Company, in particular, was in close proximity to the temple, so there was a chance that they might have seen something.

Wilma nodded at my orders and stood.

“Furthermore, ask everyone in the orphanage similar questions,” I continued. “Did they see any carriages enter while cleansing themselves or drawing water? Did they see any gray priests going to the Noble’s Quarter to inform anyone of a visitor? Was anything discussed that might shed some light on the situation? Our intention is to pinpoint when these events happened. Anything will help.”

“Lady Rozemyne, I will go to the orphanage as well,” Philine announced, stepping forward with stationery clutched to her chest. “Wilma will struggle to ask everyone on her own, and this kind of questioning is the duty of scholars.” Her grass-green eyes were focused on the task at hand, but at the same time, I could sense the worry deep within them. She presumably wanted to confirm that Konrad was safe and sound.

“Very well, Philine. Please check that Dirk and Konrad are not scared.”

“As you wish.”

Philine didn’t see herself as being entirely detached from this situation; there was a very real chance that the same thing could one day happen to Konrad. She gave a somewhat rigid smile, then left with Wilma. Roderick, uneasy to see her go, picked up his own stationery.

“Lady Rozemyne, I should—”

“No, Roderick. You have not visited the orphanage before, so your presence there would only serve to frighten the priests. They are more used to seeing Philine. Leave this to her.”

The gray priests couldn’t risk speaking out of turn in the presence of a noble who was overwhelmingly higher in status than they were. As a result, they tended to maintain complete silence unless they could determine with absolute certainty that the person before them would permit them to speak and actually listen to what they had to say. Roderick being there wouldn’t help at all.

“Ah...” Roderick mumbled, the blood draining from his face.

“Have I not already told you this?” Hartmut said as he picked up his own stationery. “The orphanage, the workshop, the lower-city merchants... These are Lady Rozemyne’s arms and legs, and if you do not acquaint yourself with the temple in its entirety, then you will not be of any use to her.”

“What do you intend to do?”

Hartmut grinned with confidence. “I could similarly speak with those in the orphanage, as my relationship with those there is already one of trust, but there is other work that only I can do. I must be present as the High Priest to summon and question blue priests.”

It was true that only the High Priest and the High Bishop could summon blue priests. Plus, blue priests always took a very long time to arrive and spoke very leisurely. Hartmut, whose aptitude for scholarly work was impressive even among the nobility, was the perfect man to deal with them.

“I’m counting on you, Hartmut,” I said.

“I shan’t let you down. Lord Ferdinand, I place Lady Rozemyne in your care, as I still do not know how far her influence in the lower city reaches.”

Ferdinand grimaced. “It feels as though the most troublesome duty has been forced upon me, but very well. You may use my chambers and attendants as you wish.”

“I am honored. Let’s go, Lothar.” Hartmut gestured over one of the attendants that Ferdinand had brought with him and then swiftly exited the room.

“Fran, let us thoroughly investigate these chambers to see what has changed,” I said. “Our intruder had an objective that they were desperate to achieve, even at the cost of eliminating several gray priests. We have reason to believe that your room was infiltrated as well, correct? Was anything missing or moved about?”

“I cannot imagine anything in my room that nobles would—”

Zahm raised a hand, cutting Fran short. “Perhaps they were after the box in which you store your keys. That is just about the only valuable thing that you own as Lady Rozemyne’s head attendant. In other words, it seems reasonable to assume they were after an item that is locked away somewhere.”

“We have checked once already, Lady Rozemyne, but we shall check the location where the keys are required once again,” Monika announced, then shot Fran a prompting look. He went to his room at once and returned a moment later with the storage box in question.

I was more determined to find the culprit than ever, and with that thought in mind, I stood up to once again check the bookshelves. Before I could actually get anywhere, however, Ferdinand told me to wait. “Leave what can be seen to your attendants,” he said. “You should instead investigate that which cannot be seen.”

“Like what?” I asked, blinking.

Ferdinand waved a hand. “I mean to say that, assuming our unwanted guest is a noble, they may have set up dangerous magic tools instead of stealing anything. Search for those.”

The idea of the perpetrator being a thief was so deeply rooted in my brain for some reason that I hadn’t even considered that they might have come here to set up dangerous magic tools. A simple look around didn’t seem to reveal any new or missing things.

“Um, Ferdinand... how can I search for magic tools?”

“Spread your mana through the room like a very, very thin web. You will be able to detect any foreign items, such as magic tools filled with another’s mana, or anything with traces of mana on it. The process is similar to detecting other people’s mana within ingredients.”

The example he had chosen was something we had covered quite recently, so I knew just what to do.

“There are some magic tools that activate immediately upon detecting enough mana,” Ferdinand continued. “You will want to spread your own mana imperceptibly thin. Try to imagine diluting it with water, for example.”

“I am impressed that you know how to use mana in that way, Lord Ferdinand,” Cornelius said, having been listening in awe alongside my other retainers. “Normally, one would not have any need to carefully check for the magic tools of others.”

Ferdinand met his remark with cold eyes, then said, “There was a time when I needed to check for them quite regularly.” It was immediately obvious who had put him in such an environment, so I couldn’t help but sigh.

“Now then, if my retainers would all stand by the wall...” I said. Their mana would naturally be considered foreign as well, so it was best to have them all clumped in the corner and out of the way. Once that was done, I took a deep breath, then spread out my mana as thinly as possible. I tried to picture diluting it with water, as instructed, and started my search with the floor.

I could feel mana that wasn’t my own from my retainers by the wall, and also from Eckhart and Justus, who were standing behind Ferdinand. Even with my mana spread so thin, I could detect resistance from them. Strangely enough, I felt almost no resistance from Ferdinand, who was sitting right in front of me. Maybe I was simply used to his mana thanks to the hair stick he had just given me and all the other magic tools on my body.

Nothing on the floor reacted to my thin web of mana, so I slowly began working my way upward. Eventually, I started to feel resistance that wasn’t coming from Ferdinand or my retainers. I stared at the source and slowly approached it.

“Lady Rozemyne?” Fran asked.

I was staring at his storage box; the resistance was coming from somewhere among the many keys inside. There was something else as well, though. I gazed up at the shrine and tightly pursed my lips.

“Ferdinand... I’ve found something.”

“Tell me where,” Ferdinand said, taking out and putting on a mana-blocking leather glove as he approached.

“That bible and this key are not mine.”

It was hard to tell what exactly had changed—the items looked identical to how I remembered them—but they were registered with somebody else’s mana. Both the bible sitting normally on the shelf and the key lying so casually among the others resisted my mana.

“The bible and the key?” Ferdinand repeated. “Why in the world would they take those?”

“I do not know their objective, but I certainly know mine.”

Whoever’s behind this is going to pay.