Apprentice Shrine Maiden Volume 4

by Miya Kazuki

  I glared at Ferdinand, since I was her adoptive father and therefore deserved it more than him, but he just glared back at me.

  “Enough already. How many times have I said this now? Myne could use magic from the start.”

  The trombe extermination mission had been Myne’s first ever ritual, and to help her, Ferdinand had given her a magic tool in the form of a ring that amplified and strengthened her mana—that much I understood. But apparently, Myne had suddenly blessed the entire Knight’s Order with a prayer to Angriff the God of War. She herself had said that seeing the trombe scared her, and that she just wanted to pray for their good luck in battle. The reports were clear, but they just didn’t make sense.

  “She said she just made up a line that sounded like something a noble would say and was surprised when it turned into a blessing, but I was more surprised than anyone when it happened,” Ferdinand continued. “I have not taught her how to use magic whatsoever.”

  “She seemed pretty experienced to me. To think that was a blessing she gave by accident,” Karstedt said while rubbing his chin, having received that blessing himself.

  To be frank, it was completely insane that she had managed to compress her overflowing mana all on her own, without teaching or assistance. And it was insane that she had prayed for their good fortune and given a divine blessing without meaning to.

  “It’s hard to believe she didn’t mean for it to be a blessing, but even putting that aside, how is she so good at using her mana at that young of an age?”

  “I believe it is because she has the mind of an adult, and a high capacity for learning. The mind of a child cannot control mana properly, but despite her youthful body, Myne has memories of reaching adulthood in another world. That must have been enough for her to control it,” Ferdinand proposed. “She grew used to the flow of mana while making her offerings to the divine instruments as an apprentice blue shrine maiden, and although it was by chance, she gave a blessing by stating the name of a god. That was enough for her to know that she could control her mana freely if she had a feystone. And furthermore, she saw knights giving their weapons a Darkness blessing before proceeding to pray with a divine instrument to grant a sizable blessing of her own. It was then that she learned how to give blessings by praying to the gods.”

  “Still. Learning to pray is one thing, but how do you explain her just blasting out the whole prayer like that?” The prayers necessary for earning the blessings of the gods were unbearably long—you had to memorize their names and which god gave which blessing. Apprentice knights were taught to pray to the God of Darkness early so that they could bless their weapons for trombe missions, but most struggled to do even that.

  “If you were to ask Myne, she would say that she had only needed to memorize the lines for a single prayer. From there, she just needed to mix in the names of gods and lines of scripture, both of which she had learned from reading the bible.”

  Thinking back to the Spring Prayer ambush, Myne had absolutely said “I just have to pray to the gods to make magic happen, right?!” without even realizing how blunt that was. She wasn’t wrong, but nobody educated in the Royal Academy would waste mana like that.

  “...Starting today, Rozemyne will be a noble girl who uses magic tools in her day-to-day life. I get the feeling that it’d be smart to teach her a little about magic before she enters the Royal Academy,” I said. Magic tools were an essential part of noble life. Most kids would be fine just carrying around a tool that could absorb their excess mana, but since nobody could predict what messes Rozemyne might end up in, we intended to give her feystones that could expel mana, too.

  “Sylvester’s right. It’s more dangerous to keep using self-taught magic. Who knows what she might see and draw wrong inspiration from,” Karstedt added, nodding in agreement.

  Ferdinand furrowed his brow and began tapping his temple. That was his thinking pose—something I was all too familiar with, and a sign that he was in the middle of constructing a brutal education plan that he would enforce on Rozemyne without a shred of mercy.

  ...Heh. Sucks for her.

  “Ah, right. Ferdinand, give Rozemyne a physical examination. You mentioned that there was something suspicious about her poor health, right? If she has a problem with her mana flow, I trust you can make a potion for it.”

  Given that she was now my adopted daughter, there would be a huge fuss if a doctor found something wrong with her. If she was sick with something particularly rare, I’d have to fend off weirdos wanting to use her for research. Giving her a checkup now and keeping it private before moving her to the Noble’s Quarter would be best.

  “I do feel that when it comes to Rozemyne, nothing can ever be simple. I will do as you suggest, Sylvester, and examine her here in the temple.”

  It seemed that not even the Ferdinand could make predictions when Rozemyne was involved. He never would have believed that she had the mind of someone from another world without that magic tool. There’d be a lot to gain if we used her knowledge properly, but the more about her we kept a secret, the better.

  “Oh yeah, and get this to Benno from the Gilberta Company.”

  “What is it?”

  “An introduction to Rozemyne and our future plans.” If all three of us firmly said that Rozemyne was Karstedt’s daughter who had been raised in the temple for safety’s sake, we would be able to strong-arm noble society and the temple into believing it. But none of us knew the lower city well enough to know how well known she was down there.

  “Lower city matters are best left to those in the lower city. Benno seems like a competent tool; with these instructions, he should take care of things just fine for us.”

  Ferdinand took the documents with a dubious expression, since I usually dumped my instructions on him instead of anyone else. He skimmed the documents, then his eyes shot wide open. “Sylvester, I can understand getting him up to speed, but what is this matter about a dinner meeting at the Italian restaurant?!”

  ...Tch. Here comes the annoying lecture. Look at Mr. Logic Man, all serious and stubborn, and as flexible as a stone wall. Why’d we let him grow up to be like this? He acts so old and mature because he doesn’t appreciate fun in the slightest.

  “Are you listening, Sylvester?”

  “Look, think about it—we’ve got a lot to talk to Benno about, don’t we? Like all that stuff about spreading the printing business,” I said, which also earned me a raised eyebrow from Karstedt.

  “Just summon him here. What need is there for the archduke himself to visit the lower city?!”

  “Oh, there’s a big need, and that need is located in my stomach. I’m gonna eat that food no matter what.”

  “At least think of a good excuse!”

  Don’t become an archduke, kids. You can’t even walk through your own city without needing a thousand layers of excuses and an elaborate plot. It’s a pain, but I probably should think of a good reason for this.

  I dug a pinkie around in my ear as I thought up an excuse. “Well, uh, how about I say that a merchant from the lower city can’t do proper business with a bunch of stuffy scholar-officials surrounding him? I wouldn’t be able to hear the actual opinions of an already successful merchant, so we wouldn’t be able to come to a mutually agreeable conclusion and the discussion would essentially just end with me giving him an order.” It was hard for a commoner to answer questions honestly when surrounded by scholar-officials, which in turn meant that it would be nigh impossible for me to get the honest opinions I wanted. “I’ve already talked to Benno about this printing business. At the very least, this won’t be coming out of nowhere for the Gilberta Company.”

  Seeing Benno while touring the orphanage had come as a complete surprise for me; I hadn’t expected anyone there to know that I was the archduke. I asked for his opinions as a merchant while making sure he kept quiet, and in the process learned that Ferdinand and I weren’t the only ones who knew that the printing business would change history. Benno thought the sa
me.

  There would always be enormous resistance to rapid change, but this rapid change was happening due to Myne’s otherworldly knowledge. I had asked Benno a simple question: “If, worst-case scenario, I were to kill Myne, would that stop the change from happening?”

  Benno had slowly shaken his head in response. “No, it’s too late for that. Plant paper that can be mass-produced is already on the market, and now that we’ve taught the Ink Guild how to make ink suitable for printing, their workshops are starting to mass-produce that as well. There’s also the fact that the Smithing Guild has seen a demonstration of the metal letter types needed for printing, and finally, while it is still a prototype, a printing press has been completed. All of the pieces are in place, and are spreading outside this city. There is even an apprentice merchant who knows everything about book-making, and who says that his dream is to sell books throughout the country. Even if Myne were to die now, the ripple she made has turned into an unstoppable wave.” That was precisely why he had hidden Myne’s existence and carefully selected which of her inventions to sell. “The wave will spread even faster with Myne alive; it is astounding how dedicated to making books she is.”

  It would only be a matter of time before printing spread throughout the world. I may have been the archduke of Ehrenfest, but not even I could easily crush the Plant Paper Guild, the Myne Workshop, the ink workshops, the smithies, and the Ink Guild all while simultaneously wiping out everything they knew about printing. If stopping the wave wasn’t possible then my only choice was to ride it, and use it to benefit the duchy as much as possible.

  “I’ve already told the Gilberta Company that Ehrenfest will sanction the printing business, with Myne at its center, and to prepare for its acceleration once she becomes a noble. The first step of our plan is to make another workshop in the orphanage of a nearby town.” I would need to send the Gilberta Company and a scholar there to see how big of a workshop could be made, how many workers they would need, and what tools they would require. “In any case, Rozemyne can only return to the outside world once her baptism ceremony and inauguration as the High Bishop are over. We have some time. Tell them to ensure that the workshop investigation and Italian restaurant are finished before then. ...Aaand there we go. Is that a good enough excuse for you?” I asked, looking at Ferdinand. His brow furrowed harder, and his expression twisted into a grimace.

  “Can’t you use that talent of yours for anything but food and other pleasures?”

  “Hey pal, I’m always going all-out, whether it’s for pleasure or not.” I put as much effort in as I could when it came to sneaking away from work underneath Ferdinand’s nose, or plotting about how to delegate all of my work to others so that I could relax. I’m offended that he’d think I only go all-out for food and stuff.

  Our conversation was interrupted by the chime of seventh bell; it seemed our discussion had continued for a fairly long time. I stood up, and so did Ferdinand and Karstedt.

  “That’s all for today. We can discuss the baptism ceremony’s details when the Archduke Conference is over. I need to get back to the Sovereignty.”

  Karstedt and I had snuck out of a dinner party celebrating the beginning of the conference, and would need to have returned before tomorrow morning when the conference itself would begin.

  “Could I ask you to take the vice-commander of the Knight’s Order as your guard?” Karstedt asked, his tone formal and respectful. “I would like to stay here and prepare for Rozemyne’s baptism ceremony, if possible.”

  “Sure. Later Ferdinand, Karstedt. Get that physical examination done, and once Karstedt has everything ready, move her to the Noble’s Quarter.” Those in the temple would need to prepare for receiving Rozemyne as the new High Bishop in the meantime. “Ferdinand, I entrust you with explaining the circumstances to Benno and preparing the temple for the upcoming changes. Karstedt, I entrust you with preparing the baptism, and enforcing the punishment of the criminals we imprisoned today.”

  Having received my orders, they both knelt out of respect.

  Arno—Fran and I

  It was yesterday that an outsider noble had entered the temple, caused a stir, drawn the attention of the archduke, and then been sent away to prison with the High Bishop. The High Priest had sent all of his attendants out of the room, including me, his head attendant, and thus I spent the night not knowing the details of the situation at all.

  “Arno, tell Myne’s attendants to take this to the Gilberta Company. This is a top priority,” the High Priest said.

  “As you wish.”

  It was after breakfast and right around second bell that the High Priest gave me a letter of invitation to deliver. From the way he looked, and from the fact that he had prepared a letter like this so early in the morning, I could tell that he had spent all night working without sleeping much at all.

  “If anyone else asks about what happened last night, tell them I’ll give an explanation to everyone some other day,” he said before leaving his room.

  Yesterday, Fran had come on urgent business while the High Priest was in his workshop. The High Priest had told me to inform visitors that he was absent, and while it would have been easy for me to contact him from outside, I instead chose to ignore Fran, which led to quite the fuss in the hallway. In the end, he thought I was just being inflexible. I wonder what face he would make if he knew I had ignored his needs on purpose.

  “Good morning, Fran.”

  I had found Fran and Gil drawing water from the well. Myne’s chambers must have really been lacking in personnel if her head attendant was doing such menial chores. Delia’s absence was putting quite a strain on him, and I couldn’t help but leak a faint smile at that fact.

  Fran looked at me with surprise after pouring the water he had drawn into Gil’s bucket. He had a tall and muscular body that would have disappointed Sister Margaret to no end, but when he widened his eyes like that, it was easy to remember what a frail little boy he had been while serving her.

  “Good morning, Arno. What brings you here this early...?”

  “An errand from the High Priest. He would like you to deliver this letter of invitation to the Gilberta Company as soon as possible.”

  Fran took the letter from my outstretched hand, then immediately passed it to Gil. “Understood. Gil, please change, then go and deliver this.”

  “Got it. Be right back.” Gil rushed back to Myne’s chambers, the letter in one hand and the bucket of water in the other. It was nothing short of bizarre to see what was once the greatest problem child in the temple doing his duties as an attendant so eagerly.

  “It must be rough, having so few attendants now.”

  “We will be taking on two new attendants today. I would like to think things will get easier once they’re here.”

  It seemed that they were replacing Delia. What a shame. I would much rather you continue struggling for a bit longer, I thought as I turned my back to Fran. “Until next time.”

  On my way back to the High Priest’s room, the blue priest Brother Egmont spotted me and immediately came rushing over. “Arno, what in the world happened yesterday?! The High Bishop’s room is locked, there are no gray priests standing by the door, and nobody I’ve asked knows what has happened. Surely the High Priest has some idea of what’s going on!” he yelled, spit flying out of his mouth. He was one of the High Bishop’s cronies, and would sometimes even act haughty around the High Priest when he had the High Bishop there for protection.

  I resisted the urge to wipe my face while repeating what the High Priest had instructed me to say. “He will explain the circumstances to everyone when the time comes. Unfortunately, I was cleared from the room and so do not know the details myself.”

  “That means you know something though, right?! Come now, tell me!”

  “I do not know the charges, but the High Bishop was imprisoned by the archduke and the Knight’s Order. I truly do wonder what happened...” I said in a curious tone, all the while observing Broth
er Egmont, who paled on the spot. His haughty behavior had only been permitted thanks to the High Bishop’s protection, and now that he was gone, the High Priest would no doubt be the next High Bishop.

  What miserable fate now awaited Brother Egmont? I could not wait to find out. There was nothing quite so refreshing as trash getting what they deserved.

  I started making my way back to the High Priest. Just as I was approaching his room, I saw him leaving with Zahm, another of his attendants. I walked over to them.

  “High Priest, where might you be going?”

  “I believe today is the funeral, and I would like to be at the chapel for it. Arno, prepare to welcome the Gilberta Company.”

  Funerals that involved going to the temple’s chapel tended to be for commoners, and the High Priest practically never went to receive the report of death himself. So why is he going out of his way to attend this time? I wondered as I returned to his room and began preparations.

  Not long after, I received a report that the Gilberta Company’s carriage had arrived at the back gate. I headed to the entrance to welcome them inside.

  “Thank you for coming today,” I said, guiding them to the room and then leaving. The High Priest seemed to want to proceed with as much secrecy as possible, and was once again clearing the room of all attendants. Truly, what had happened last night? I knew nothing outside of the fact that we would be visiting Sister Myne’s room in the afternoon.

  “It’s time, Arno.”

  “Understood.”

  Once their meal was finished, I followed the High Priest’s orders and headed for Sister Myne’s room with the sheets of plant paper he had handed me. The High Priest knit his brow tighter than usual; his heavy frown made it quite clear that he was conflicted about something, but since I knew nothing of the circumstances, I decided there was no need for me to think any more about it.