Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 4.9 - Chapter 8

Evidence

We reunited with Ferdinand and the others, then hurried to the temple. Wilma, Fran, and Leonore welcomed us at the gate.

“Wilma, the gray priests are all safe, but their clothes are in tatters,” I said. “Please sort out some new robes for them, and allow them to spend the rest of today recuperating.”

“Understood. Lady Rozemyne, everyone... I thank you ever so much for saving them,” Wilma replied, giving everyone a smile so joyous that you would think she was the one we had saved. “We had all expected to be abandoned if something happened to us, so your actions today mean more than we can put into words. I thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

My retainers met this remark with conflicted smiles, and after Wilma returned to the orphanage with the gray priests, Damuel cheerlessly shook his head. “We were only obeying Lady Rozemyne’s orders. If something like this happens again and we aren’t told to intervene, then we unfortunately won’t. Still, it does feel nice to be thanked.”

“Oh my. But I will tell you to intervene next time. That much is guaranteed, so there’s nothing to be so disheartened about,” I replied, looking over my retainers. My eyes then came to rest on Leonore, who was waiting for a good opportunity to deliver her report. “So, Leonore, what in the world happened with Hartmut?”

“It might be best for you to see for yourself...” she replied with a tired expression. Then, she started leading us to the rooms for blue priests, which were located away from the High Bishop’s and High Priest’s chambers. She was being courteous enough to match my walking speed, so while the situation was exasperating, it must not have been especially urgent.

“Ah. You’re coming too, Ferdinand?” I asked.

“I am not uninvolved in this matter. Hartmut is using my attendants at the moment, and as none of them came to welcome us, I admit to some concern.”

It was heartening to know that he had decided to join us. “I will entrust dealing with Hartmut to you if whatever we find is beyond my control,” I said.

“He is your retainer. All responsibility falls to you,” Ferdinand dismissively replied just as we arrived at our apparent destination. There was a gray priest standing in front of the door, and, upon noticing us, he heaved a sigh of relief and allowed us to pass.

“Oh? Welcome back, Lady Rozemyne,” Hartmut said, looking up at me with an exceptionally bright smile. “I apologize that you must see this.”

The sight before me was far from normal. There was a tied-up blue priest lying on his front, and sitting on his back was Hartmut, holding what was presumably his schtappe in the form of a knife to the priest’s neck. Around them were several gray priests, struggling to tie up the restrained man’s attendants.

What the...

“High Bishop! Help!” the blue priest cried, flailing around in a desperate bid for freedom. “I was speaking to Lord Hartmut when he suddenly enacted this violence upon me!”

Hartmut curtly slammed the pommel of his dagger against the back of the man’s head. “Have you no shame, pleading to Lady Rozemyne, of all people?”

“M... M-M-My sincerest apologies!”

We were all watching in a daze when Leonore suddenly cried, “What are you doing, Hartmut?! You said you were just tying him up to keep any information from leaking! It sounded reasonable enough at the time, as keeping secrecy is indeed important, but...”

Hartmut had decided to visit the now bound priest unannounced, hoping to seize him before he could run away or seek help from any nobles. I understood that it was pretty brazen to hold a meeting without making an appointment, but to Ferdinand’s attendants, it was unthinkably disastrous. They had asked again and again whether what they were doing was truly okay, and Fran had complained that binding a blue priest was very emotionally burdening for gray priests.

“That is when I sent you the ordonnanz, Lady Rozemyne, but I never thought he would bind the blue priest and threaten him like this,” Leonore explained, then gave Hartmut a stern look. “Hartmut, what in the world are you doing? Have you happened upon some especially fruitful evidence?”

He looked down at the blue priest with eyes cold enough to chill one’s blood, then faced me and smiled. “There is no notable evidence to speak of. However, he used crude language not suitable for Lady Rozemyne’s ears, so I simply asked whether he understood the implications of his statements and whether he had any proof.”

Given that this was a blue priest of the former Veronica faction, I could guess that this “crude language” was him calling me a commoner. Most would receive this with an eye roll—almost as if to say, “Are you seriously still saying that?”—but with Hartmut in charge, such talk got you a pommel to the back of the head.

“How foolish...” Ferdinand muttered with a dismissive wave. “Hartmut, you were wise to be concerned about information leaking—especially in a situation such as this. That said, your methods are a touch too aggressive. Have the blue priests gather in the High Priest’s chambers, put them under surveillance, and then have them work. We do not have time to waste on this, and your interrogation over these insults can wait. Is that understood?”

“True,” Hartmut replied. He then obediently stood up, noting that the interrogation would instead take place later, when he could take his time with it.

Ferdinand quietly looked down at the blue priest, who was still collapsed on the floor. “You can stay here, restrained, until each blue priest has been questioned, or you can work in the High Priest’s chambers under Hartmut’s supervision. The choice is yours.”

The blue priest gazed up at me, pitifully seeking my help. I didn’t know what he expected. Both were harsh choices, but with Ferdinand and Hartmut this concerned about leaking information, I could only shake my head.

Sorry, but I can’t save you.

The blue priest gave a despairing look, then hung his head and weakly said, “P-Please let me do work...”

“Very well,” Ferdinand replied. “Hartmut, see to it that he completes whatever is assigned to him. I will question the other blue priests.”

Ferdinand’s attendants moved at once, unbinding the blue priest before taking him to the High Priest’s chambers. We then needed to offer the same choice to the other blue priests Hartmut had ordered to be bound. Things sure were busy.

“Have you learned anything else?” Ferdinand asked.

“At most, that people were moving through the halls during lunchtime,” Hartmut said. “I will say, however, that I now see just how little the blue priests understand Lady Rozemyne’s wondrousness and the value of the gray priests in the workshop. I will need to correct this as they gather together for work. The rest I leave to you.”

Ferdinand watched as Hartmut chased after the twitching blue priest, then turned to me. “Those who remain are blue priests likely to insult you. We have thankfully been given the opportunity to send Hartmut away before he sends them all traveling up a certain stairway, but where shall we begin...? There are three blue priests who were particularly close to Shikza’s family. All three come from houses in the former Veronica faction.”

He went on to list three names—one of which made my ears perk up at once. “It’s Egmont,” I said. “He’s definitely the culprit.”

“On what basis?”

“My womanly intuition. He once messed with my book room, if you recall.”

“Ridiculous. You are allowing a personal grudge to cloud your judgment. That argument does not hold water whatsoever,” Ferdinand said, his brow tightly furrowed as he fixed me with a glare. I knew it in my heart, though—Egmont was the only one it could possibly be. There was absolutely no way it was anyone else.

Cornelius shrugged. “Lord Ferdinand, why not question Egmont anyway? All this changes is the order in which we interrogate the blue priests.”

“Hm. You certainly are correct that this discussion is a waste of time.”

I gave Cornelius a grateful smile, since he had convinced Ferdinand to go to Egmont’s chambers. He grinned at me in turn and said, “Not to mention, I trust Lady Rozemyne’s womanly intuition. No matter how tiny she is, she is still a woman.”

“Sorry, Cornelius,” I interjected at once. “Forget everything I just said. Ferdinand is right—this is just me holding a grudge!”

Having him agree with me rather than play the straight man was so embarrassing that it made me want to bury my head in the sand—in fact, it made me want the earth to swallow me up entirely. I cradled my head in agony, while Cornelius fought back a smirk and gently patted my head.

“The High Priest and the High Bishop request an urgent meeting,” Ferdinand announced. “Open the door.”

“No such meeting is scheduled,” came a female voice in response. She was telling us to leave, but Ferdinand instead selected Eckhart and Cornelius from our guard knights, then pointed at the room.

“Breach this door, but not with enough force to endanger those on the other side.”

“Um, are you certain...?” Cornelius asked, looking troubled; but by that point, Eckhart was already standing in front of the door with his schtappe morphed.

“I can do this on my own, Lord Ferdinand,” he said, then swung his sword down. His confidence was clearly well founded, as a moment later, the door slowly fell inward. We all blinked in surprise, while Ferdinand just shook his head.

“I had intended to give Cornelius some experience here, but very well.”

Naturally, the absence of the door meant we could now see what was happening beyond it. A shrine maiden was staring in complete shock, looking uncertain as to what had just happened, and farther into the room, I could see a blue-robed and a gray-robed figure sitting atop a bench.

“I made it perfectly clear that this is urgent,” Ferdinand said, stepping over the door into the room and ignoring the nearby attendant. Eckhart and Justus casually followed, so I hurriedly did the same with my own guard knights.

On closer inspection, the two figures on the bench were actually Egmont and a shrine maiden, and they had clearly been engaged in something quite indecent. Egmont had cried out when the door first fell through, and he cried out again when he saw me enter behind Ferdinand.

“Th-Th-This is outrageous!” he snapped. “Is the idea of scheduling completely foreign to you?! Lowborns really are such animals!”

All at once, my retainers began to radiate killing intent. “Ah. It really is a good thing we didn’t bring Hartmut,” Cornelius remarked.

“Right,” Angelica added. “Even I nearly drew Stenluke.”

The two of them were cackling softly. Meanwhile, Ferdinand gave both Egmont and the girl now scrambling to cover herself up cold stares.

“You speak with such arrogance, but did you not go to the High Bishop’s chambers unannounced when you took on that gray shrine maiden as an attendant?” Ferdinand said with a dismissive scoff. He was referring to something that had occurred while I was asleep in the jureve, but I was already well aware of Egmont’s crude behavior. The incident with him impregnating Lily and then taking a new shrine maiden in her place immediately came to mind.

Egmont faltered, then puffed out his chest and pointed at me. “Your deception won’t last much longer, brat. We’ll tear off that disguise of yours soon enough.”

Wait, is that...?

My eyes were immediately drawn to the hand that Egmont had raised to point at me—specifically to the feystone-set ring on his middle finger. It was gleaming beneath the light and decorated with a family crest.

He didn’t have that ring before, right?

Normally, a ring on the left middle finger was an indicator that someone was a baptized noble—which made this particularly suspicious, as blue priests seldom underwent such baptisms or received the magecrafted rings that came with them. Some chose to wear rings passed down through their family, but Egmont certainly hadn’t worn one before, and the only other people I could remember seeing with rings like his were Devouring soldiers with submission contracts.

“Egmont, that ring...” I said, drawing the tiny band to everyone’s attention. An instant later, my eyes were covered as Ferdinand threw his cape around me. “Wha?”

I gazed up just in time to see Ferdinand simultaneously morph his schtappe into a sword and swing it downward. My vision was still obscured, but a collective gasp rang in my ears, followed almost immediately by a piercing scream and the spatter of what I could only assume was blood. The abrupt chaos was punctuated with a dull thud, which came from somewhere in front of me.

“Ah... GYAAAAAAH!”

Egmont screamed, then his attendants did as well. I could imagine what was happening, but the most I could see were Ferdinand’s cape and armor.

Ferdinand quietly began giving instructions while keeping his schtappe pointed at Egmont. “Eckhart, Justus, fetch the magic tool from Rozemyne’s workshop! Judithe, Leonore, take Rozemyne to the High Bishop’s chambers and ensure she does not leave before I call for her. Cornelius, Damuel, Angelica, bind all of this man’s attendants.”

“Sir!”

Eckhart and Justus moved at once. The former patted Fran on the shoulder and said, “Open the door to her chambers,” before briskly walking away, while the latter wasted no time in hefting me into his arms.

“Excuse me, milady, but we’re in a hurry. Judithe, Leonore, let us go,” Justus instructed, then started carrying me to the High Bishop’s chambers. Fran had already opened the door for us by the time we arrived, and Eckhart was waiting in front of the door to my workshop.

“Rozemyne, would you mind opening it for me?” he said. “I need the magic tool.”

I opened the door and permitted both him and Justus to enter. They retrieved the time-stopping magic tool and then promptly left.

“Are you feeling okay, Lady Rozemyne?” Leonore asked, looking at me with worry. “Seeing all that up close must have been disturbing.”

I shook my head. “I am fine; Ferdinand was covering my eyes the whole time. Are you and Judithe okay?”

“We are knights, you know.”

We exchanged smiles, at which point tea and sweets were served. “Hopefully these tasty treats cheer you right up!” Nicola exclaimed with her usual radiant expression. It really made me feel as though things were back to normal as I sipped my tea.

“So what happened, Lady Rozemyne?” Roderick asked, his voice tinged with concern.

“There was a blue priest with a suspicious ring,” I replied simply. “We are leaving his detainment to the High Priest and the guard knights. I will carry out my own job. Has there been any news from the lower city?”

I certainly wasn’t suited to capturing and interrogating criminals. And as I changed the topic of conversation, Philine produced some notepaper and started delivering her report.

“This is from a commoner by the name of Jutte who works for the Othmar Company. The lack of guards at the temple gate resulted in several drivers patronizing her business to buy sweets for those waiting in the carriages. The first of them arrived a bit before fourth bell.”

It seemed that this had all started right after we went to the Italian restaurant.

“Furthermore,” Philine continued, “it seems a man who appeared to be the servant of a noble arrived at the Italian restaurant requesting to eat. He was refused due to your meal with Lord Ferdinand, but some have mentioned seeing him linger outside nonetheless.”

“Perhaps that man was keeping an eye on our movements,” I mused aloud. “It really is suspicious that they knew precisely when we were absent.”

Roderick was next to deliver his report. “According to the Gilberta Company, a man appearing to be the servant of a noble arrived at their store between third and fourth bell, seeking cloth dyed in the new style. He introduced himself as a merchant, but his speech, mannerisms, and attitude toward the staff made him seem like someone who spent a great deal of time among the nobility. He seems to have asked what cloth you are interested in, Lady Rozemyne.”

It was common practice to seek out one’s own personal preference when dealing with new dyes. Most nobles who ordered cloth would request to be shown various examples, then select their favorite and ask for the name of the workshop or craftsperson who had provided it. Nobody in the Florencia faction would simply ask for the same cloth I preferred.

“What was his goal, though? Perhaps he was plotting to somehow tarnish the Gilberta Company’s good name...” I said. Tuuli worked there as a leherl, and we had to consider the possibility that she was being targeted as my hairpin craftswoman.

Justus returned while I was listening to the reports. “My sincerest apologies, milady, but Lord Ferdinand has asked for you to fly to the castle.”

It wouldn’t have been impossible to move the captured priests by carriage, but if one wanted to get Egmont’s attendants and the time-stopping magic tool to the castle as discreetly as possible, my Pandabus was the best option. Lessy could go straight into the castle, while carriages needed to be checked at the entrance gate.

I took my guard knights and prepared to leave for the castle. We were going to be transporting the four bound attendants and the time-stopping magic tool, so my knights put them all into my Pandabus for me. Ferdinand watched them work, then turned to me.

“I apologize for making you do this, Rozemyne...” he muttered.

“I don’t mind. This is all for the sake of getting my bible back,” I replied. It was easier for me to help than leave everything to Ferdinand and the guard knights.

“Your job is to move them to the castle. Return to the temple immediately after. There is much you need to do here; the orphanage must be looked over, and the blue priests working in the High Priest’s chambers need to be freed.”

And so, I started making my way to the castle, with Ferdinand flying in front. Judithe was sitting in the passenger seat of my Pandabus, while Angelica and Leonore were in the back to make sure the attendants didn’t try anything funny.

As we continued on our journey, I noticed that Ferdinand was heading somewhere other than the archducal family’s living quarters, which was unusual. Instead, there was another location coming into view—one that looked a lot like the training grounds where the knights gathered in preparation for the Lord of Winter hunt.

“Do you know where Ferdinand is heading?” I asked.

Angelica pointed at the numerous knights waiting below and simply replied, “A place where criminals go.”

We landed soon after, and while my guard knights were getting the attendants and the time-stopping magic tool out of my Pandabus, Karstedt came over and patted my head. “Sorry that you had to go through all that, Rozemyne. We’ll get the clues and evidence we need out of them now, so you can leave the rest to us and take it easy for a while.”

“But I can’t do that while—”

I attempted to protest, but Karstedt cut me off with a swift flick to the forehead. “You need to prepare for what’s coming next,” he said. “Capturing the blue priest isn’t the end of all this. If anything, it’s only the beginning.”