In the end, I was carried to my foster father's workroom like a small child in Grandfather's arms. Standing before the door were Father and the Deputy Commander of the Knight's Order, both blinking in surprise at the sight of me being held in Grandfather's arms.
...Well, I suppose they didn't expect me to make my entrance being carried, now that I'm this size?
Father glanced briefly at
"Lady Rozemine, the Aub of Ehrenfest is waiting for you."
"Yes. ...Grandfather, thank you very much for bringing me this far."
I had Grandfather set me down and carefully walked on my own toward my foster father, who was waiting alone inside the workroom. The sound of the door closing made me glance back involuntarily, and immediately after, my feet tangled together and I took a spectacular tumble.
"Argh! I'm sitting here waiting nervously for an important discussion, and what exactly do you think you're doing?"
"Ngh, I'm still not used to this bigger body. Would it be all right if I rode a flying tool to get around the castle for a while?"
My foster father apparently let out a snort of laughter. He walked over with a smile and offered me a hand. With his help, I got back on my feet and this time proceeded much more carefully.
"This morning too, my feet got tangled and I fell while changing clothes, and when I tried to walk with Grandfather, my knees kept buckling. It's been a real ordeal."
"As for your flying tool—it's that one, isn't it... Will you still use it with your current appearance?"
"My Lesser Bird is adorable. It doesn't look anything like Grün at all."
My foster father made a disgusted face, which annoyed me. My Lesser Bird is cute and incredibly useful. I have no intention of switching to a different flying tool.
"It's not just the flying tool—your speech and behavior don't match your appearance at all. If we're going just by looks, you really do look like a saint now, you know?"
"
I gave him a meaningful smile that said "You haven't changed much on the inside either, have you?" and my foster father gave a wry smile as he nodded. "...Well, I can't really press you on that."
We sat down facing each other properly, and I let out a slow breath. My foster father's expression also became more serious.
"So, about your sister... What do you mean you've figured out a way to take the Foundation?"
Having the Foundation stolen is the worst possible scenario for an Aub. It's not just the territory that gets taken—one's life is lost as well. Naturally so. The previous Aub knew the location of the Foundation, so whoever stole it would be immediately killed by the new Aub, who would guard against it being taken back.
The wife and children would likely lose their lives too. They might leave one child alive and force a marriage with the new Aub's child to make it easier to control the existing nobles. But in
"I don't have conclusive proof. But when I think about the Holy Book theft incident, I'm certain of it."
"The Holy Book theft? Not information about a secret passage or some new Magical Tool?"
My foster father looked at me with a puzzled expression. Whether or not there were other secret passages aside, when I considered what I'd learned about the
"I'll get straight to the point. The Foundation of each territory is located directly beneath the worship room of the Temple."
"...What!?"
My foster father went completely still for several seconds. Then he shook his head vigorously and said "What?" again. He was clearly shaken.
"Of course, it's a room surrounded by white walls, and the space is divided by magic power, so it's not a place just anyone in the Temple can enter."
"That may be so, but... for it to be in the Temple rather than the castle..."
"What gets passed from Aub to the next Aub is a Magical Tool that serves as the key needed to teleport to the Foundation, and there's a door in the Aub's chambers that leads to the Foundation. So it's hardly surprising that everyone assumes it must be somewhere within the castle. For those throughout history who searched for the Foundation and ransacked the castle, it was simply a blind spot."
My words made my foster father's face become extremely bitter.
When an Aub dies without passing on the Magical Tool that serves as the key to the Foundation, the next Aub has to start from scratch searching for the tool needed to reach the Foundation. In most cases, the Aub would have it on them or kept in a hidden room, but since you don't know what it looks like or anything about it, it's quite a struggle.
"But there was a backup key meant to be given in advance to the next Aub, so they could fulfill their important duties as Aub even if the key connecting the Aub's chambers and the Foundation was lost. So they could carry out their duties while slowly searching for the other key..."
There was never supposed to be a need to frantically search for the Foundation's location while desperately supplying magic power through the Supply Room.
"Rozemine, I know nothing of any backup key meant for the next Aub, nor have I received one. Could it be that Father gave it to my sister—"
"No."
I shook my head to deny it as my foster father's expression darkened.
"Do you remember the Founding Myth?"
"Well, somewhat..."
My foster father looked at me as if bewildered by the sudden change of topic, wondering what this was about. But I hadn't intended to change the subject abruptly.
"Then you're aware that the first king was the High Priest? For the first king, who placed the Foundation in the Temple where prayers are offered to the gods, it was only natural."
The Foundation was built alongside the Temple so that not only one's own prayers, but all prayers offered at the Temple could flow into the Foundation, making it easier to convey prayers to the gods. To add, the divine tools and Holy Books kept in the Temple are also created by the Zent when the Foundation is installed. Since this is written in the duties of the Zent, anyone who hasn't obtained the
"Furthermore, for a time, the next Aub of each territory served as High Priest. As you, my foster father, should understand—performing religious rites, increasing one's divine blessings, and accumulating magic power made it an extremely important role."
"I see."
As time went on, while the next Aub was performing religious rites at the Temple as High Priest, another lord candidate who could access both the castle and the Temple gained influence by rallying the territory's nobles. Even after the High Priest next Aub became Aub, they were treated as nothing more than a figurehead who offered magic power and performed rites. Religious duties and politics gradually drifted apart, and lord candidates began refusing to enter the Temple. In this way, the system created by the first king was gradually forgotten, losing sight of its original purpose.
"Enough with the history. What's the bottom line?"
"In other words, it is the Holy Book's key—which the High Priest, who is also the next Aub, must inherit—that opens the door from the Temple to the Foundation."
That's why, in ancient times, it wasn't such a crisis if the Aub died first.
"Lady Georgine exchanged intimate letters with the previous High Priest, so the information may have leaked through that channel. The only person among Georgine's associates who possessed the Holy Book was him."
Ordinary nobles never came near the Temple. So their knowledge of the Temple came only from casual lectures at the Noble Academy. They never entered the Temple, and since it was essentially a place they looked down upon, they never sought to learn much about it.
I don't know whether Georgine herself had ever approached the Temple, but the previous High Priest had apparently visited the castle and the Noble District frequently, and the letters that remained showed how fond he had been of Georgine.
"But if she had that information, my sister would have tried to steal the Foundation much sooner. Before she married into
"It depends on when Lady Georgine learned about the Foundation. If she obtained the information after I became High Priest, it would have been much harder to get the Holy Book's key..."
"...Ah, I see. There was a time when I granted her permission and she took home some of Uncle's letters as keepsakes. Most of the letters were ones she had sent, but there were also a few that Uncle had failed to deliver. One of those letters must have contained the information."
My foster father clutched his head with an utterly exhausted expression. He said he had checked to make sure the letters contained nothing problematic before handing them over. He'd reasoned that the previous High Priest, who wasn't a noble, wouldn't be capable of any magical tricks—but one doesn't need Magical Tools to convey a message through codes.
"The Holy Book's key—is it currently in your possession, as the High Priest?"
"It's stored in the Temple. But the most important thing is that there exists a way to obtain the Foundation without coming to the castle or extracting its location from you. When I consider the Holy Book theft committed by Viscountess Daldorf, who had devoted her name to Lady Georgine, I believe Lady Georgine is targeting the Temple's entrance."
My foster father let out a deep sigh at my speculation.
"That does seem likely. I've been on guard about the Foundation in the castle, and together with
If the Temple were attacked, it would only be a matter of time before the Foundation was stolen. Since it's primarily managed by the Blue Priests who have relatively little magic power, it would be easy for Georgine to seize the key.
"When
My foster father swallowed hard with a gulp. When you think about it this way, the Temple is far too vulnerable. There are guards to protect the lord candidates in residence, but the only thing protecting the Foundation is a single key.
"Please think carefully about how to handle the Foundation's location and the transfer of the Holy Book's key, my foster father. How to conceal the Foundation's existence in the Temple, and how much information to release for defensive purposes—I'll leave that to you. If you suddenly began bolstering the Temple's defenses, people would find it suspicious. But you can't simply do nothing either, can you? How you draw up the Foundation's defense plan is the Aub's job."
At the very least, once Spring Prayer is over, I'll be leaving Ehrenfest, so it's not my place to get involved. I wanted him to consider whether it was wise to entrust the Holy Book's key—which grants the ability to access the Foundation—to Melchior, who hadn't been designated as the next Aub.
"The Temple will take the Foundation's defense into consideration as well. If my sister is going to act, the timing around Spring Prayer seems most suspicious..."
"Why? It might not be spring—it could be autumn, or winter. It might be next year, or the year after that?"
I pouted at my foster father's words, which sounded suspicious but were practically a declaration. If he became too fixated on that assumption, he could be caught off guard. But my foster father's deep green eyes glinted as if he'd become certain of something.
"It's common knowledge across the entire territory that you've been bedridden for a long time. There was even a commotion and a teacher was dismissed because they thought you might have ascended to the highest echelons. And news of your return hasn't yet reached the other territories. They would judge the Temple's defenses to be thin. Above all, I think she'll make her move before
...Come to think of it, Ferdinand had written in his letter that it had become difficult to obtain information.
"I'm grateful for this valuable information, Rozemine. This is the first time I can get ahead of my sister's move."
"If Spring Prayer is the target, she could already be nearby without anyone finding it strange. With that silver cloth, crossing the border is easy."
My foster father closed his eyes tightly for a moment.
"The envoy from Lanzanave was draped in silver cloth. I don't know if it's the same thing or just silver in color. But if a large quantity of that cloth can be procured from Lanzanave, then we can assume my sister's preparations for battle are already complete."
Mestionora's knowledge doesn't include silver cloth. There was no knowledge about Trunks, either. Was it too recently created, or is foreign knowledge simply not included? Or does Ferdinand have it?
"By the way, Rozemine. Where exactly did you obtain such knowledge?"
As I stood up to leave, my foster father asked me. I responded with a question, "...Where do you think?" and gave him a smile.
After staring at me for a while, my foster father made an indescribable expression.
"...Could it be, you really did obtain it?"
He didn't ask "obtain what." I didn't bother asking either. But I understood well enough.
"It's not even seventy percent complete, there are significant gaps in the crucial parts, and it's quite difficult to use," I said as I carefully walked toward the exit. Just before leaving the workroom, I spun around.
"I'll be heading back to the Temple immediately. First, I want to verify the key. Since the Holy Book was swapped, there's a possibility that something besides poison was tampered with on the key as well. I can tell whether a book like the Holy Book is genuine by its smell, appearance, and weight, but I have absolutely no confidence when it comes to the key."
When I said this proudly, my foster father clutched his head and groaned.
"Please check it carefully. If there's some strange trap in the key we've been protecting with our lives, it would be too terrible to contemplate."
"Yes, yes. Well then, I'll take my leave."
A discussion in my foster father's workroom.
Actually, Lady Georgine did try to attack the Temple, but she's been thwarted at every turn.
Rozemine, who's been unknowingly foiling Lady Georgine's plans.
Next time, back to the Temple.