Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 5.4 - Chapter 4

Melchior and Preparing for the Temple

“Rozemyne, what can I expect now that I’m helping out in the temple?” Melchior asked the instant we left the meeting room and started making our way back to the northern building. His indigo eyes sparkling with excitement for his new job, and it brought me peace to see him so motivated.

“Your life in the castle will stay mostly the same,” I replied, “but you’ll be working at the temple between third and fifth bells. Traveling on your retainers’ highbeasts should make the commute much easier. As for your tasks, you can memorize words of prayer in the High Priest’s chambers and offer up your mana. You won’t be able to participate in this year’s Spring Prayer, since you haven’t yet learned to control your mana, but if you start practicing now, then you might be able to help with the Harvest Festival in autumn.”

“Right!”

The plan had always been for Melchior to practice Mana Replenishment with Bonifatius during the spring Archduke Conference, then participate in the Harvest Festival. In other words, the only difference here was that he would memorize prayers in the temple instead of the castle.

“You’re going to be working to your existing schedule for the most part,” I noted, “but it really is important that you come to the temple and offer your mana to the gods.”

Hoping to make Melchior’s older retainers more receptive to sending their lord off to the temple, I started to explain how one obtained more divine protections at the Royal Academy depending on how often one prayed and the amount of mana one offered to the gods. This was now common knowledge among the students, but I wasn’t sure whether it had reached the older generations.

“Through our joint research with Dunkelfelger, we demonstrated that people who pray regularly and offer up lots of mana receive more divine protections,” I said. “Drewanchel seems to have begun looking into the most efficient way to obtain protections, and our plan for next year is to research religious ceremonies and harvests with Frenbeltag. These developments, coupled with the royal family’s participation in the Dedication Ritual we held at the Royal Academy, have brought a lot more attention to the temple and religious ceremonies. Ehrenfest knows more about these things than any other duchy, and my hope is that we’ll start taking more pride in that fact.”

“Oho...?”

The older retainers’ expressions changed. As expected, being stuck in the northern building due to the purge meant they hadn’t known much of what was happening outside. It probably hadn’t helped that most of Melchior’s student retainers were from lower grades, specifically so that they could continue serving him after he himself enrolled.

I did my best to shill the value of the temple so that Melchior’s retainers would be more open to their lord going there. I wanted to make them more cooperative and improve their attitude toward the gray priests, which would make them easier to deal with.

“Melchior, do you know that Wilfried was gifted divine protections from twelve gods?” I asked. “That was because he, unlike other archduke candidates, participated in Spring Prayer and the Harvest Festival.”

“Yes,” he replied. “Mother found out from one of your reports and told me over dinner. Father said that you earned even more protections, Rozemyne. They told me to work hard so that I could earn plenty like you.”

Wait, what? Like me?

That gave me pause. His phrasing seemed to suggest that the archducal couple was pleased about my divine protections, but they had said the complete opposite during our meeting.

“If I participate in religious ceremonies like you and Wilfried do, will I be able to obtain divine protections too?” he asked.

“Indeed. Performing duties in the temple will also help. I intend to look into whether those who have already done the ritual can perform it again here in Ehrenfest.” My retainers were all praying in preparation for this.

At once, the guard knights of the other archduke candidates all perked up. “The divine protections ritual can be repeated?!” they asked.

Melchior’s retainer nodded and said, “We have been told that the graduating students who participated in our joint research were given a second chance.” It seemed that they were aware that some graduates, such as Leonore and Lieseleta, had managed to get extra protections.

“We haven’t yet done any experiments,” I said, “so I am unsure whether we will see any success, but I plan to begin my research with my adult retainers. Obtaining many divine protections improves the efficiency of one’s mana, so it should benefit even those who have finished their growth period and struggle to increase their mana through compression.”

This topic wasn’t of much interest to Melchior, who still had mana compression and a growth period ahead of him, but it was captivating his adult retainers. They were older than Cornelius’s generation, and their growth periods had already come and gone by the time my compression method was first being spread. Of course, they would still receive some benefit from my method, but the younger generations were already ahead. The older adults had presumably been worried that this new revelation about divine protections would make the chasm even wider, but their eyes now gleamed at the thought of getting to repeat the ritual.

I continued, “But even if you do repeat the ritual, you will not receive any new protections unless you pray to the gods and offer your mana. My retainers do this already and are unlikely to encounter any issues as a result, but the same cannot be said for those who have done nothing of the sort.”

Without missing a beat, Melchior’s retainers began appealing to their lord.

“Lord Melchior, do bring me with you to the temple.”

“No, no. By all means, bring me...”

It was good to see them so eager to go to the temple. Even those serving Wilfried and Charlotte were listening with great interest.

I gave a satisfied nod, then suggested that Melchior’s retainers come up with a rotating schedule. No matter how much they all wanted to go to the temple, the guard knights also needed to train with the Knight’s Order. They would need to take turns.

“Lady Rozemyne, how do your retainers do it?” they asked—and, while Cornelius began to explain, Hartmut smiled at me.

“Lady Rozemyne,” he said, “I understand your need to convey the importance of visiting the temple, but there are other arrangements we must mention. I was able to use the High Priest’s chambers as they were when I took over from Lord Ferdinand, but Lord Melchior will need to make some additional preparations before he can enter the temple.”

“Would you care to elaborate?” Melchior’s attendant asked. Melchior was also looking at us, especially curious.

I’d simply inherited the orphanage director’s chambers, and all of the preparations for my room had been made while I was being baptized in the Noble’s Quarter. Now that I thought about it, though, preparing an entire room really was a huge endeavor.

I mused, “Blue priests from laynoble and mednoble families should have some leftover furniture in the temple, and we could use that to prepare a room at once... However, I was made to order brand-new furniture when I was adopted, so I doubt Melchior, a fellow archduke candidate, would be able to use hand-me-down stuff either...”

“Is the plan for Lord Melchior to visit the temple immediately after the feast celebrating spring?” the attendant asked, worried. There wasn’t much time until then.

“Milady, not everything needs to be newly made,” Rihyarda informed me. “There is unused furniture in the castle that would be appropriate, so why not send a few pieces to the temple? It would alleviate the problem of some furnishings taking too long to commission from scratch.”

Melchior’s attendant gave a relieved nod and promptly inquired about what they would need. I visualized the furnishings of my own room.

“He will be eating lunch at the temple, so the kitchen will need to be stocked and new chefs hired,” I said. “A closet or some boxes will need to be prepared to store Melchior’s clothing. Also some bookshelves and crates for storing documents. Otherwise, he should only need a bathroom and washroom. He will be studying in the orphanage director’s and the High Priest’s chambers for some time, so a work desk and such can come later.”

The attendant was wearing a serious expression. Saying that Melchior would assist us with temple work was easy enough, but actually preparing a room for him was a lot more complicated. They would need to go through the castle’s furniture and pick out pieces for him.

“Rozemyne, will I be able to eat lunch with you at the temple?” Melchior asked.

“Of course,” I replied. “Food tastes nowhere near as good when eaten alone. We will need separate chefs, though.”

Retainers were given leftovers and could never actually eat with me, so I was genuinely excited about having someone of equal status at the temple. I didn’t want him skimping on chefs, though—especially when we had to account for guests, clearly delineate the budget, and send more divine gifts to the orphanage.

“You could ask Sylvester to send one of the court chefs to the temple,” I suggested. “A skilled gray shrine maiden could serve as his assistant, or we could ask for a referral from an eatery I know. Blue priests are required to provide the orphanage with leftovers, so their chefs need to make food even when their lord or lady is absent.”

Melchior was free to bring one of the chefs he was used to from the castle, but he would need another who could stay in the temple. In that regard, it was better to hire someone new than use a court chef.

I continued, “Ceremonial robes will need to be ordered before the autumn Harvest Festival, and a bed will need to be prepared before winter. Trying to get through the heavy blizzards that occur during the Dedication Ritual to return to the castle is quite a nightmare.”

Carriages were out of the question, and riding on a retainer’s highbeast still wouldn’t do anything to alleviate the bitter cold. It was therefore inevitable that Melchior would need to spend nights at the temple to participate in the Dedication Ritual. The silver lining was that reusing furniture left behind by the old blue priests and shrine maidens would make it easier to prepare rooms for his retainers.

“This is getting expensive...” Melchior said.

“Indeed,” I replied. “We will need to consult the aub and arrange a budget for the temple. If only we had thought of this earlier, during our meeting.”

“Actually, you’ve timed this well,” Hartmut said. “We need to hold another, more targeted meeting with the aub about the purge having further reduced the number of blue priests in the temple. It was inevitable that some would need to leave due to family circumstances, but there are a number whom we want brought back.”

I was aware that we had fewer blue priests now, but I was surprised to hear that we’d lost enough to impact the running of the temple. Fewer blue priests meant less mana being offered and less food for the orphanage. It also meant more work for those who remained, and more gray priests and shrine maidens returning to the orphanage.

“To be honest with you,” Hartmut continued, “the temple has lost so many blue priests that it now lacks the mana to support Ehrenfest. We could rely on your mana, Lady Rozemyne, but that would make for an abysmal solution in the long term.” He was speaking from his perspective as interim High Priest and always took my future retirement as High Bishop into account.

I nodded. “Dedicating mana to the temple is one of my duties as the High Bishop, but doing that at the expense of supplying the duchy’s foundation is like putting the cart before the horse. The archducal family is meant to support the foundation above all else, so, rather than relying on me, we should prioritize coming up with ways to produce more blue priests and shrine maidens.”

“Lady Rozemyne is correct,” Hartmut said. “I expect more nobles to come to the temple and offer their mana in hope of obtaining more divine protections”—he looked in particular at the retainers who shared that motivation—“but that may not last, depending on the results of our future research.”

As he said, we couldn’t rely on people who would turn their back on the temple the moment they thought it stopped benefiting them.

“You know, Hartmut... what if we were to treat the children in the playroom as apprentice blue priests? If we use the money confiscated from their parents and get them to live in the noble section rather than the orphanage, they can continue to be treated as noble children, right?”

Hartmut blinked his orange eyes and put a contemplative hand on his chin. He had rejected the idea of taking them into the orphanage before, but now he seemed at least a little bit more receptive.

I continued, “They aren’t even students yet and will need to build up mana for their lessons, so there won’t be much they can offer us. I consider it better than doing nothing at all, though, and it will contribute to hiding them from the searching eyes of other nobles.”

Hartmut began to consider my suggestion even more seriously. The children’s rooms in the castle were already being funded by the money confiscated from their home families and the duchy’s budget, so it didn’t seem like my idea would require much extra cash.

“Like me, they would be both nobles and temple functionaries,” I said, “and a line will surely be drawn connecting them to the pre-baptism children in the orphanage. Above all else, it would be wonderful if we could educate them now and get them to regularly visit the temple to offer their mana.”

Hartmut was likely thinking exclusively about the mana shortage, but it would be a tremendous help to the orphanage to assign them attendants and chefs. Plus, if they were educated in the orphanage, the other kids there would have a clearer goal to work toward.

I continued, “Furthermore, the apprentice blue priests and shrine maidens would get to associate with Melchior when he visits the temple. Would that not make it easier for him to protect them from scorn or unreasonable treatment in the next playroom or at the Royal Academy?” I could pull out all the stops to prevent discrimination while I was a student myself, but we needed something in place for after I graduated. “If the children in the orphanage do not end up being baptized as nobles, then I think this would also be a good way to give them options in the future. Ideally, the blue priests would be able to live even without support from their houses.”

If we could come up with jobs for the blue priests or some other way they could support themselves, it would potentially open up a way for Dirk and Konrad to live as blue priests. Maybe more children like Konrad would start being entrusted to the temple.

After listening to all of my thoughts, Hartmut smiled. “You seem to have many ideas, but how will you convince the archducal couple to implement them when you were just told not to stand out any more?”

“Hm? I won’t be leaving the temple, so I shouldn’t stand out at all. And as long as I frame all this as a way to reduce the burden on Florencia, I am sure the archducal couple will accept.” But as I clenched my fists in determination, Charlotte, who had spent our journey thus far staring at her feet, looked up. Were those tears in her eyes?

“Sister...” she murmured. “As I said during the meeting, I do not believe you should increase your workload any further.”

“Thank you for worrying about me, Charlotte,” I said with a smile, “but replacing the blue priests we have lost, increasing the amount of workable mana in the temple, and providing a future for the children of the orphanage are my duties as the High Bishop. Also, remember that you’re going to be supporting Florencia. If we can save her even one job, we’ll be helping you in turn.”

“But I want to help you...” she replied. It was very cute.

“In that case, come visit the temple,” I said, offering a piece of very stealthy advice. “If you do, I am sure you will receive more divine protections next year.”

She smiled a bit.

“I intend to hole up in the temple, but I wonder... If I present this as my way of raising our duchy’s next generation of nobles, will people view me more favorably as the next first wife?”

Charlotte cast her eyes down again, her lip trembling. “How can you be so positive after being told such cruel things, Sister? And why are you still coming up with ways to help Mother?”

Because I want to spend all of my time between my library and the temple.

That was my resolve, but Charlotte seemed completely dissatisfied with the outcome of our meeting. She glared at Wilfried, her brow tightly knit, and said, “Brother, how could you agree with Father so readily? Do you think nothing of us being told to lower Ehrenfest’s rank?” It seemed that I wasn’t the only one who had found his lack of a reaction strange.

Wilfried glared back at Charlotte, then glared at Melchior and me as well. “I hate it!” he exclaimed. “Of course I do! Father and I both—”

He bit his tongue, then more calmly retorted, “I just understand that there are things we need to prioritize more.” And with that, he marched on ahead and returned to his room.

Charlotte sighed and shook her head. “I have no idea what he and Father are hiding, but I cannot agree with them, even if this really is the will of the Leisegangs. What are we supposed to say to everyone who has been working so hard at the Royal Academy?”

Wait... My resolve to hide away had cooled my head a little, but now there was something nagging me. “The will of the Leisegangs”?

“Father’s stance during that meeting was nothing like what he said to us at the Ehrenfest Dormitory and to Dunkelfelger and the royal family during the Interduchy Tournament. He encouraged us! I do not know how I can continue to believe in him...”

She’s right... This doesn’t add up at all.

It was the same feeling of dissonance as when I’d spoken with Melchior about divine protections. Sylvester’s actions were inconsistent and completely messed up. Something had surely happened between our return from the Royal Academy and that meeting.

“Charlotte,” I said, “it may be too soon to lose faith in him.”

“Sister?”

“We’re missing something... An important detail.”

Let’s raise our rank and make something happen, yeah?

Let’s teach everyone to act the way nobles from a top-ranking duchy should.

Let’s use the purge to get rid of all the dangerous people and unite Ehrenfest.

The Sylvester of the past was always saying things to push us forward. He was always ambitious and ready for change... but not the man I just met. It was like the Sylvester at the meeting was an entirely different person from the Sylvester we knew. And as for Wilfried, he had been the very best when it came to unifying the students in the dormitory and urging them forward. He had worked hard to lead them and rejoiced when they succeeded. I didn’t want to believe that his excitement back then had all been for show.

“‘The will of the Leisegangs,’” I repeated. “I think that phrase is the key to all this.”

Charlotte watched me closely. Her indigo eyes were desperately begging me to prove that those merciless, soul-crushing words hadn’t come from her own family.

“Let us go to our rooms and see what the Leisegangs have to say about this,” I said, but Charlotte shook her head.

“I am afraid we cannot invite Giebe Leisegang to the northern building.”

“We don’t need to—not when we have Leisegangs right here with us,” I replied, then looked up at Hartmut and Cornelius, who had attended the meeting with us. They were both adults, and neither one of them had attended the Royal Academy this term. Even if they had been busy sorting out the temple’s Dedication Ritual, I was sure they had participated in winter socializing to at least some degree.

I continued, “I will gather all of my Leisegang retainers to discuss this matter. I want to know what they think of the aub’s reference to their wishes. Do the students agree? Were my adult retainers already aware?”

Hartmut smiled at me and said, “Then let us hurry to your room.” The look on his face seemed to say, “I was waiting for you to notice,” which proved to me that there was more to all this than met the eye. “Leisegang awaits to see what decision you will make.”