Volume 7, Prologue
Spring had just begun and the Spring Prayer was over. The green shoots were getting greener by the day, they no longer resembled their once withered form. The morning sun was shining bright but a rain shower had started right after noon, this was truly a rain of blessings. The farmers thanked the Goddess of Water Flutrane for helping to water their fields. After their lunch, they spent their time on craftwork.
Down the road in the middle of the now empty fields was an opulent looking carriage. The side of the door had a metal carving of a family crest, displaying to the outsiders that the passenger was of high status. It was just that today was an unlucky day because the bad coincidence of the rain had made the roads muddy which made it hard for the carriage to move. And inside the carriage was someone who was frustrated at how the roads here were much slower than that of the city’s stone pavement.
“…I guess Flutrane doesn’t feel like being amicable today.”
Out of all the possible days, why would you choose to make it rain on the day I leave? Bezewanst lamented to Flutrane and also cursed at the shaky carriage.
He arrived at Klaus’s summer manor just before the fifth bell. The manor was located near the border of the Central province of Ehrenfest.
“Welcome to my humble abode, Lord Bezewanzt,” Klauz greeted Bezenwanzt who was making his way down his carriage. His large belly would sway every time he stepped down.
He was guided to the large dressing room that was filled with the chatter of about ten nobles. It was just that the vicinity was clear of any other carriage, so he must have been the only one to have taken one. The others here were full-bred nobles that had used their highbeasts as their mode of transport, they did so probably to avoid anyone (including their own servants) from finding out about this secret meeting,
Bezewanzt saw Klauz’s shifty eyes and knew that he had been forced by Noble Gherlach to be the host of the meeting at his own manor. It was quite common for archnobles and midnobles to make the lower-ranking nobles host meetings in their own territories.
Bezewanst didn’t find any of this unusual and made his way down to the highest seat of honour and sat down like this was the most expected thing to do. While receiving the greetings of the other nobles, he noticed that Klaus was talking to a noble he hadn’t seen before.
“Count Biendewald, the man over there is Bezewanzt, he is the High Bishop of Ehrenfest,” Klaus gestured over.
“Oh, the High Bishop, is that so…?”
In actual fact, Bezewanzt wasn’t a real noble because he was sent away to the temple. If this was a normal case, the nobles in this mansion would never let a man from the temple sit at the highest seat of honour, but they yielded it to Bezewanzt because his mother and father were once candidates to inherit the archduke position, in other words, Bezewanzt had the blood of a pure archnoble.
The sole reason why Bezewanzt was sent to the temple was because he was ordered to by the previous head of this land, Leisegang. Bezewanzt had a surprisingly little amount of mana for someone in his family and his mother died shortly after giving birth to him. Now that there was no one left to protect him, Leisegang, who was from the same family as his father’s current wife, had asked his father to send him to the temple. As such, he wore the robes of a priest since he was a baby. Ever since he was a baby, he was raised to be a priest, not a noble.
It was just that his older sister from the same mother saw him as his only blood-related family so she greatly treasured him. That was why the nobles here dared not to mistreat him as his trust was necessary to gain connections to his older sister.
“Lord Bezewanzt, this is Count Biendewald from Ahrensbach. He is a supporter of our faction.”
Despite being introduced as a count, Bezewanzt knew that this individual was an archnoble in his own duchy. Bezewanzt knew that he was a fairly large individual, but he realised that Biendewald was not that dissimilar in figure. He had very shifty looking eyes, he had the look of an impulsive criminal.
Bezewanzt ignored how Biendewald was not trying to hide how he was looking down on him even though he was the High Bishop, and he tried to return a polite nod. He was the most powerful person here today, so it was natural that guests take the initiative to greet him.
“May I offer you a blessing in thanks of this honourable meeting that has been decreed by the iridescent streams of the Goddess of Water Flutrane.”
“Please do.”
The ring on Biendewald’s left middle finger began to grow a faint green light. This ring was something every noble had because the parents would give one to their children after their baptism.
Bezewanzt’ felt his heart tighten when he saw the ring. If it wasn’t for the Leisegans, he wouldn’t be in the temple, and he would have a ring of this himself. The one he had now was from his older sister who gave it to him after this coming of age ceremony, but that did not change the fact that he didn’t get baptised in the Noble’s District and that he didn’t get to go to the Royal Academy.
Bezewanzt could see the blatant difference between him and Biendewald glaring back at him, this greatly infuriated him, but it also made him feel good to see nobles like him kneel before him (even though he knew that they just wanted to win his sister’s favour).
“Count Biendewald is the one who has been helping to deliver the letter from Lady Georgine.”
The nobles gathered here had told him that Biendewald was the intermediary between him and his niece who had been married to a noble in Ahrensbach, located to the south of Ehrenfest. His niece had asked him to help fill some chalices with mana, but he had only heard from her through middlemen from Ehrenfest. He had never met a noble from Ahrensbach before.
“I pray that our meeting will be blessed by the Goddess of Time Dregarnuhr.”
None of them were truly sincere with their prayers. Nevertheless, the prayers continued until the start of lunch and some well-brewed whisky was brought out. The reddish-brown liquid was poured into everyone’s cup, filling the room with its sweet scent.
Klaus took a sip first to show that the whiskey was not poisoned. After that, Bezewanzt lifted up his heavy silver cup. The smooth liquid effortlessly flowed down his tongue and it left behind a stinging sensation. He licked the insides of his cheek to relish in that feeling before swallowing it down. That burning feeling in the back of his throat made him sigh with satisfaction. Klauz had really gone out his way to acquire such an exquisite whiskey for his guests’ enjoyment.
“Excuse me, Lord Bezewanzt. May I know if the commoner shrine maiden is here?” Gerlach had asked after seeing that everyone had taken a sip of their drinks.
Bezewanzt took another sip while everyone shifted their gaze towards him. They had asked for the commoner with Devouring because they wanted to buy her, but she was not in sight.
“I did not bring her here.”
“W-why?”
Bezewanzt returned a contemptful gaze to the nobles that had a surprised look.
“Why do I have to ride a carriage with a commoner like here? I will not stay in the same space as her, let alone prepare another carriage for her.”
“I would have been glad to prepare a carriage if asked…”
The nobles were disappointed at this, but Bezewanzt found it difficult to take away Myne without getting caught by the High Priest first. He had intended for Delia to bring her out, but that was impossible because the meticulous attendant that used to serve the High Priest never left them together. That plan would definitely fail and it would make it harder by raising the High Priest’s guard.
Why on earth does someone like me, who carries the blood of an archduke, have to put myself in danger for them? Bezewanst was pensive and thought out his excuse to put the blame on Gerlach
“In fact, they have tightened their security because of the failed attack during the Spring Prayer. It is already a blessing that I managed to avoid their suspicions.”
“…I see, that is a shame. The plan to attack her using Count Biendewald’s soldiers with Devouring was not successful.”
Their attempt to kidnap Myne during the Spring Prayer had failed miserably. It would have been a trivial task for nobles with mana to kidnap a commoner shrine, but their failure was no doubt attributed to the intervention of the High Priest Ferdinand. Afterall, he was a noble who had mana too.
“It’s all because of that annoying High Priest.”
“What bad luck. I want to make that peasant girl suffer, make her and Lord Ferdinand writhe in pain,” Viscountess Dahdolf cursed Myne and Ferdinand with deep hatred. It was all because of Myne that her beloved son was punished after the trombe extermination.
Bezewanzt had condemned Ferdinand and asked for his sister to lessen Shikza’s punishment on her behalf, but truthfully, he cared not for the man at all. Bezewanzt hated Shikza for getting the chance to leave the temple during the political confusion in the government.
“Lord Ferdinand appears to be a more formidable opponent than we had hoped for. If Myne had stayed at the Leisegang’s manor during the kidnapping attempt, we could have put the blame on them instead…” Gerlach trailed off and he looked at Bezewanzt with a bitter look.
Useless imbecile, Bezewanzt cursed him on the inside. He wanted them to kidnap Myne during the Spring Prayer, doing so would wash him clean of that troublesome commoner and he could use the chance to condemn the High Priest. Bezewanzt was eagerly anticipating the news of the attack from the temple, but they had returned without any harm. That greatly annoyed him.
“We instigated the residents living near our borders to join in on the attack but none of them returned. They had all been obliterated in the fight, even though half of the force consisted of Ehrenfest people,” Biendewald added on. His words made Viscount Snitzern, the noble of the neighbouring land Garduhn, knit his eyebrows in worry.
“Even so, Viscount Garduhn did not say anything about the mass disappearance of his people. Was it possible he didn’t see the attack because it was off to the border…?”
“That does sound quite strange…”
Was the attack only directed at those from the other duchies? Was that even possible? They wanted to find out more but Viscount Garduhn was close to the Leisegangs. He did not attend the gathering and was unaware of what unfolded during the Spring Prayer. With no living witnesses at hand, they had no way of finding out what happened that day.
“The commoners were not the only casualty. Half of my Devouring forces perished. There were even a couple of them who could wield mana and its tools at the level of a lower-ranking noble. They were a crucial force to do work on the hidden side that helped me keep myself clean. It is such a shame to lose them. I wanted to acquire that shrine maiden to increase their numbers,” Biendewald gave a hefty chuckle, and it sounded awful, like a croaking toad.
Bezewanzt frowned at this, showing his dispreference to selling Myne to him. They nobles around Biendewald exchanges looks and moved to flatter him with fake smiles.
“Lord Bezewanzt, it would be a tremendous honour if you could assist me as the High Bishop in making that commoner shrine maiden sign a submission pact with me. Having your wisdom and power would be tremendously helpful,” one of the nobles said.
“We all understand how irritating it must be for you to be near that arrogant commoner. A partnership between us will be mutually beneficial, no?” another noble chipped in.
Indeed, Bezewanzt did find Myne annoying and dangerous, having her disappear would settle his nerves and he would love to see the reaction of Ferdinand, who was supposedly her ‘guardian’ when that happened. But Bezewanst knew not to be the one to take action. Ferdinand would surely try to get back at him for forcing Myne to sign a submission pact, and he would need lots of luck and the brains to avoid him.
“We are only dealing with a commoner anyways. She’s not that different from a gray orphan, don’t you think so?” one of the nobles asked.
“That is not so, she might be a gray apprentice maiden, but she had the mana of a blue robed noble. It is unusual for a commoner to have the ability of Crushing.”
Bezewanzt had been a victim to Myne’s Crushing, so he was clear on how much mana she possessed. He did admit that he had put down his guard, but it didn’t change the fact that she did not have a pathetic amount of mana a Devouring commoner her age would usually give. Her vast mana was further proven when she assisted Ferdinand in the Dedication Ceremony. That was a ritual that could only be performed by two individuals with a similar amount of mana.
“She is a precocious thing, I do not wish to experience her Crushing again. All of you have sufficient magic tools at hand to protect yourself, but I do not possess the resources to defend myself against a Crushing. Why would I ever endanger myself to sell a commoner?”
Biendewald stroked his thick chin and he thought to himself, after that he fished out a round thing wrapped in a cloth from his hip pocket. He proceeded to carefully unwrap its contents.
“What is this…?”
‘This is a darkness-attributed manastone that absorbs mana. The Crushing of a commoner will be rendered useless with this. May I present this to you in commemoration of our meeting?”
Bezewanzt smiled at the dark and opaque stone. There was no way a mere commoner child could do anything to him with this. He would make her sorry for offending a man of an archduke’s descent.
Biendewald saw that Bezewanzt was very pleased with this stone, he smirked at this and raised it towards him.
“Will I take that as a yes?” he asked him with a wicked look in his eyes. He knew that this was enough to convince Bezewanzt to sell Myne to him.
Bezewanzt didn’t like to bend to someone else’s demands, but he had been driven to the edge by Myne who wanted nothing more than to sell her to another duchy. He also wanted to push her parents (those disgusting imbeciles who dared to stand in his way) into the darkest abyss of despair. So of course he was tempted to take the black mana stone Biendewald offered.
Bezewanzt tried to alter his way of thinking; he wasn’t bending to Biendewald’s demand, but he was just doing this for his sister.
Ferdinand had publicly declared to the Knight Order that he would take Myne under his protection. There was no doubt that taking her away would deal a big hit on Ferdinand’s pride, his sister would surely be overjoyed to see him duffer. Furthermore, that would appease the mourning Viscountess Dahldolf
Furthermore, the nobles with me would surely be happy to see me strengthen my relationship with Count Biendewald.
Now he had no qualms with taking the stone because he had a valid reason for doing so. Bezenwanzt gave a nefarious smile to Bienwald’s craft gaze.
“I will be glad to welcome you at the temple whenever. My older sister will support us too.”
Bezewanzt consent at this alliance made the nobles burst out in happy chatter. Some expressed their delight at this matter. Bezewanzt was aware that they were excited to be associated with his sister’s authority, but he paid it no heed.
“Ah, I can’t wait to see what the future holds for us,” Bezewanzt made a cheering motion with his cup. He shifted his gaze out the window and saw that the rain over Ehrenfest was getting heavier. But the sound of the upcoming storm pleased his ears.
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