Having received an invitation that gave me a bad feeling, I turned to the Chief Priest for help.
"C-Chief Priest..."
"Given your status, I trust you understand that you cannot refuse the invitation?"
"Y-Yes..."
This was a dinner gathering attended exclusively by members of the nobility. As a commoner, I had no right of refusal. I knew that. I just thought I'd ask.
"Come here, Mine."
Even though the Chief Priest had gone out of his way to set a seat apart for me,
As I fretted over what to do without a seat, Karstedt and
"Mine, go around from the other side like Damuel and sit next to Sylvester."
I probably couldn't refuse this seating rearrangement either. The Chief Priest gave me a sympathetic look and gently nudged my back.
"P-Please excuse me."
I made my way around the large dining table and reluctantly sat down next to Sylvester. With Karstedt on his other side, I shuffled across my chair as far toward Karstedt as I could.
Across from Sylvester sat the Chief Priest, and across from me sat Damuel.
"Mine, why don't we swap cooks? I won't be taking them from you, so it should be fine, yes?"
There was no way that was fine. If I agreed to some unauthorized trade,
"They are cooks we have taken in from outside. I cannot swap them at my own discretion."
"Then let me negotiate with whoever is in charge. Who is it?"
Benno had been ordered by the nobility—there was no way he could refuse. If the Italian restaurant they had spent so long preparing couldn't open due to a missing cook, what would Sylvester do then? Benno's and
"Lord Sylvester, if the other party is a merchant, they would be unable to refuse a request from someone of your noble standing. That would no longer be negotiation—it would be an unreasonable command."
"I see. So that's how it works with merchants."
Sylvester's eyes gleamed with interest as he murmured those words. It seemed the Chief Priest's assertion that "he's not rotten at heart" was correct—Sylvester did not fly into a rage at my pointed remark, but instead gave a slight nod of his chin, encouraging me to continue.
I looked to the Chief Priest, and I could see him give a small nod as if to say, "Go ahead." Damuel, seated next to the Chief Priest, was deathly pale and trembling.
"My cooks are going to become the chefs of a restaurant that will be opening soon. There has been a lengthy training period, and a great deal of money and manpower has gone into both their education and the preparations for opening. While the amount may not seem like much to nobility, for commoners it is a sum that determines life or death. With that in mind, are you telling me to abandon our plans to open the restaurant? If you enjoy their cooking that much, rather than destroying our plans, you should become a patron of the restaurant."
"Oh? A restaurant? Commoners would eat that food?"
With Sylvester's eyes widening as if he could hardly believe it, I seized the opportunity to advertise.
"The prices are set so that only those considered wealthy even in the lower town can afford to dine there, and entry is refused without a proper introduction. The dining hall is built in the style of a noble's mansion, and we serve meals like those nobility enjoy—no, meals that even nobility have never tasted before."
"Oh? And who would provide this introduction?"
"...Well, if you are interested, I would be happy to provide one."
To be honest, introducing Sylvester—whose behavior was often incomprehensible—seemed like it would be a heavy burden down the road, but it was still better than having the cooks taken and the plans ruined.
"Very well. Then introduce me. I shall make the trip."
"I am most grateful. ...Lord Karstedt, Chief Priest, would you also care to accompany Lord Sylvester?"
Hoping to have people who could rein him in if he went off the rails, I looked at them pleadingly. Both men hung their heads in unison.
"Yes. ...I suppose we have no choice but to go."
...Well, Sylvester was technically a guest from the noble class, so would Benno be pleased? Or would he hold his head in his hands? Which would it be?
Either way, I wanted credit for having prevented the cook trade peacefully.
Just as I was breathing a sigh of relief, the Chief Priest, holding a small plate of simple appetizers like cheese and ham along with some wine, raised his head as though he had just remembered something.
"Mine, why don't we have Rozina play the feschpiel for us?"
Come to think of it, I had been told to bring her along, since her music would be a welcome diversion during the long evening.
I caught
"A commoner owns a feschpiel?"
"The Chief Priest told me to learn to play it."
When I told him the story of how the Chief Priest had told me to "cultivate my education," Karstedt murmured, "That sounds like
"You have quite a talent, Mine. You haven't been skipping practice, have you?"
"Rozina is very diligent about making me practice."
The Chief Priest praised me, but my practice time was rigorously managed by Rozina. No matter how much I wanted to skip, she would never allow it. If you practiced every day, anyone could learn to play to a certain degree—piano was no different. The reason I hadn't improved during my time as Reina was simply because I hadn't been able to practice daily.
"You sent for me, so I have come."
Rozina arrived carrying the feschpiel. A chair from the dining hall had been set out for her, and Rozina settled the feschpiel into her lap with a radiant smile. Then she began to play one piece after another that Sylvester requested.
"That is magnificent. Where on earth did a gray shrine maiden acquire such skill?"
"My previous mistress, Lady
"Oh, I see... Well then, Mine. You're next."
Being told "You play too" right after being captivated by Rozina's performance seemed terribly unfair. I'd be compared to her. I frantically searched for an excuse to decline.
"I, well, I can't play an adult-sized feschpiel, so..."
"Oh my? I anticipated this, so I brought Lady Mine's feschpiel along as well. I'll go fetch it from your room."
...Nnngh, Rozina, why did you have to do that?
Karstedt, who was desperately trying not to laugh, gently patted my drooping back in consolation. Sylvester grinned and shifted his gaze from me to the Chief Priest.
"Good. In the meantime, Ferdinand, you play."
I thought he might refuse, but the Chief Priest simply let out a sigh, rose to his feet, and took up the feschpiel. What was remarkable was that his playing was in no way inferior to Rozina's.
However, the piece he chose was one of the anime songs I had taught him. The arrangement was so different that the original was barely recognizable, and the lyrics had been turned into hymns to the gods, but at its core, it was still an anime song.
The people around us listened in rapt admiration, while I fought to keep from bursting out laughing. I never imagined that something I had done on a whim because it seemed like a bit of fun would come back to me in this way.
"That's a piece I've never heard before."
"Well, I suppose you wouldn't have."
Sylvester furrowed his brow at the Chief Priest's casual response.
"Who composed it and where is it from?"
"...That's a secret."
The Chief Priest shot me a brief glance, then let out a smug little laugh, and I sucked in a sharp breath. Beside me, Sylvester raised an eyebrow, his deep green eyes sparkling.
...Aaahh, having it made public would be a problem, but having him stir up interest in this weird way was even worse! Now this man was intrigued.
While a storm raged inside me, Rozina brought over the small feschpiel.
"Here you are, Lady Mine."
"Thank you, Rozina."
I played and sang a safe, familiar piece I had been practicing. After all, I wasn't going to dig my own grave by playing a song from my Reina days in front of everyone. I had grown.
"...Still a long way to go."
"Then it's Lord Sylvester's turn next. I would love to hear him play."
Everyone around me—the Chief Priest, Rozina,
"Hmph. You want to hear me play? Very well. I shall oblige."
Sylvester held the feschpiel with a self-assured air. Given his behavior up to this point, I never would have guessed he was skilled in the arts. Yet the notes he plucked were surprisingly soft, with a resonant tone that carried well—far better than I had expected.
...Whoa. The noble standard was absurdly high.
I had wanted a sample to show that the Chief Priest and the others set an unreasonably high bar, but instead I had confirmed just how high the noble standard actually was.
"Lord Karstedt, would you play as well?"
"I'm not particularly skilled with the feschpiel. I'm better with the flute, but I didn't bring one this time."
Apparently even Karstedt, who looked every bit the rough-hewn military officer, could play an instrument. He preferred the flute, producing music with his trained lung capacity rather than plucking thin strings. What was that? Kind of cool, actually.
"But since everyone is showing off their talents, I suppose I can't just do nothing. ...Let me think. If we're talking about something impressive that can be performed on the spot, it would have to be a sword dance."
"A sword dance!? I've never seen one before. I'd absolutely love to watch!"
Even during my Reina days, I had never seen a real sword dance. My eyes lit up with excitement as I looked up at Karstedt, and he called Damuel over.
Then he produced a glowing tact and murmured, "Schwert," and the glowing tact transformed into a sword.
Each wielding a one-handed sword, the two faced each other and lightly touched the tips of their blades together, then snapped them upright. That seemed to be the signal to begin—their expressions hardened, and the swords began to slice through the air with swift, humming arcs.
This was a dance composed of linking together the fundamental forms drilled into sword trainees as basic technique—something any member of the Knight's Order was expected to be able to do.
However, in an impromptu performance like this one without any prior coordination, you had to carefully watch your partner's movements and gaze, anticipating their forms, or the two dancers would fall out of sync and risk injury.
Their sword dance, with its gleaming blades and dynamic shifts in tempo, was refined and beautiful, without a single wasted movement. Sweat beaded on Damuel's forehead as his breathing grew labored. Seeing this, Karstedt withdrew his blade with a composed expression.
"That will do..."
"That was wonderful! Both Lord Karstedt and Lord Damuel were amazing! I was on edge the whole time thinking someone might get hurt, but you both looked incredibly cool!"
When I praised both men without reservation, Sylvester, competitive as ever, declared, "I can do at least that much," and began a sword dance with Karstedt as his partner.
...So, um, could I go back to my room now?
I had to admit, Sylvester looked cool performing his sword dance with a serious expression. He was faster than when he'd done it with Damuel, and I could tell he was pulling off more advanced techniques. But he was insufferable.
"Hmph. Impressive, wasn't it? Come on, praise me."
Being told that with his chest puffed out in pride, I thought once again from the bottom of my heart: truly insufferable. The sword dance was over, and the moment passed. In an instant, all admiration and emotion had evaporated.
"...Lord Sylvester, you were also very impressive."
"There's no emotion in that. Do it again."
After making me redo my praise three times, I found Sylvester so exhausting that I pretended to feel unwell and slipped away to the room I had been given.
The following morning, the Chief Priest held an audience to present Baron Brun with a small Holy Cup that had been empowered during the consecration ceremony. It seemed that for the past few years, simply visiting the villages governed by the nobility had been sufficient. When there were enough priests and shrine maidens to spare, they would travel to each noble's villages as well, but the Chief Priest said this year there was a particular shortage.
It seemed that only the villages in the Lord's direct territory were required to have the Chief Priest personally visit the winter halls—where people from several villages gathered—and bestow the blessings of the Holy Cup upon the village heads using a large Holy Cup. Since small Holy Cups were already filled with magic power, even nobles could activate them.
...Filling a small Holy Cup with magic power was something any noble with magic could do, so why go through the trouble of holding an offering ceremony at the
I listened to the explanation with an expression of understanding, but I didn't really get it. There must be some reason they went to the trouble even if it seemed inconvenient, I thought to myself, keeping that inner voice from escaping, and simply nodded along.
After the Chief Priest finished his meeting with Baron Brun, he flew all day through the granary district where the largest clusters of villages in the territory were located. After visiting five winter halls and conducting the blessing ceremonies, he headed to the villages under noble governance to stay overnight. Then, at the time of departure, the Chief Priest held an audience and presented each noble with a small Holy Cup.
The next day and the day after that, he continued visiting winter halls and conducting blessing ceremonies in the same manner. That seemed to cover all the villages in his direct territory. "Starting tomorrow, we'll be visiting only the mansions of the nobility," the Chief Priest said, and his expression had grown somewhat stern.
For the most part, we traveled to the nobles' lands by mount. Yet there seemed to be some pattern to it—some destinations were reached by carriage while others by mount. Periodically, we would rendezvous with the carriage and arrive at a noble's mansion looking for all the world as though we had been traveling by carriage the entire time.
Each time, the Chief Priest would instruct, "Mine, cover your face with this," and in the rattling carriage, I would be made to don the veil worn by noble ladies. Only the four of us—the Chief Priest, Fran,
The knights and Sylvester remained behind in the carriage. I had worried that the attention-seeking Sylvester might cause a fuss, but he raised no objection to waiting quietly in the carriage.
"We'll be going to Viscount
Early in the morning, after presenting a small Holy Cup to one noble, the Chief Priest took off on his mount and said this before steering toward the carriage that had already departed for Viscount Gerlach's mansion. It seemed there was a magical tool installed in the carriage, as the Chief Priest could apparently sense its location.
We rendezvoused with the carriage without difficulty. The carriage party was split among myself and Damuel with the Chief Priest, and Karstedt with Sylvester—that was supposed to be the best arrangement for combat readiness. I didn't really understand, so I left it to them.
"Viscount Gerlach has taken quite an interest in you. He said he would very much like you to visit during the spring blessing ceremony, but he is closely connected with the High Priest. You would do well to be on your guard."
The Chief Priest, in a state of considerable alertness, told me to wear my veil more deeply over my face.
We arrived at Viscount Gerlach's mansion, but since we were leaving immediately, the carriage remained as it was, and only the Chief Priest and I, accompanied by Arno and Fran, went in for the audience.
"Welcome, welcome, Lord Ferdinand, all the way from so far. And might this be the apprentice shrine maiden I've heard so much about?"
Perhaps it was just my preconceptions, but his voice sounded cloying and unpleasant. With the veil over my head and my knees on the ground, I could not see Viscount Gerlach's face at all. I could just barely make out his feet, and he looked rather stout.
"You'll be staying tonight, won't you? I shall give you a grand reception!"
"No, we're pressed for time and will be departing shortly. Tonight we'll be staying with Count Leysegang."
With that, the Chief Priest handed over the small Holy Cup, wrapped up the conversation, and left promptly. The Chief Priest handled everything from start to finish, so I never came face-to-face with the Viscount, and everything ended without incident.
Though we were supposed to have left Viscount Gerlach's mansion in the morning, by the time we arrived at Count Leysegang's summer residence—his neighbor—it was already evening. The mounts were so fast I hadn't noticed, but the carriage's progress had been considerably slow.
I had heard we were traveling by carriage because arriving before the attendants preparing the rooms would inconvenience Count Leysegang, but the way the Chief Priest kept glancing behind us suggested there was another reason.
The farmland managed by Count Leysegang was reportedly the largest among all the nobility in the territory. But since the guest wing for priests who visited only twice a year could not have been very large, I slept in the servants' quarters as usual.
Fatigue had finally caught up with me, and I was beginning to worry about my condition, so I took some medicine the Chief Priest had prepared—one that hadn't sacrificed taste. Because of that, I slept soundly until morning and woke feeling refreshed.
"Late last night, intruders broke into Karstedt's room."
I was summoned to the Chief Priest's room first thing on that bright spring morning, handed a magical tool that prevented eavesdropping, and told those words. But I was the only one tilting my head in confusion. Everyone else gathered there already seemed to know, and their expressions were grim.
"...Intruders broke in? You mean thieves or something?"
"No. There were two men. They may have been trying to kidnap you. They seem to have noticed it wasn't you from the shape of the futon and were immediately trying to move on. I leaped from the bed to apprehend them, but..."
There, Karstedt trailed off and looked at me with difficulty.
"Did they escape?"
"No. I caught one and turned him over to Lord Ferdinand. I pursued the other, intending to let him go a little further to lead us to his accomplices. There were horses tethered in the forest east of the mansion, and the man mounted one and galloped off. The moment I sent out my mount to give chase, the man and the horse both exploded."
"...What?"
My mind refused to process those last words. Being told that a man and horse both "exploded" made no sense to me.
Seeing me freeze, Sylvester let out a light breath.
"The captured prisoner committed suicide while Ferdinand was disarming him, and the one Karstedt was trying to follow ended in an explosion."
"I considered not telling you, but since you are clearly the target, I judged it best for you to be aware of the situation. Given that the attackers knew we would be staying here, it's most likely Viscount Gerlach. Mine, be careful."
The Chief Priest declared the culprit's identity in a tone that brooked no argument. I pressed a hand to my chest as unease and dread spread through me, and slowly looked around at everyone gathered there.
"...Is there no possibility that Count Leysegang is the culprit?"
At my question, Karstedt shook his head firmly in denial.
"None. This is my mother's family home. It's unthinkable that they would harm anyone traveling with me."
After finishing a breakfast that went down with difficulty, we departed from Count Leysegang's mansion. The next place we would stay was the mansion of the noble located furthest south in the territory. The carriage set off in that direction, and by mount, we were to visit one noble's mansion each in the morning and afternoon.
"Now, let's rendezvous with the carriage."
We had completed the schedule without issue and were approaching the point nearest to the territory's border. The Chief Priest called out that it was time to rendezvous with the carriage and steered his mount in that direction.
No sooner had we taken to the air than a single streak of red light shot straight up into the sky. The crimson pillar of light—used among the knights to call for emergency aid—made everyone's face change color.
"Ambush!"
With that shout, Karstedt kicked his mount into high gear. His griffon-like creature plunged toward the red light.
"I'm going ahead!"
Shouting that, the Chief Priest surged past us. Panicking at being left behind, I gripped the reins and turned back to Damuel.
"Lord Damuel, hurry!"
"...To catch up to that speed, my magic power isn't enough."
"Then please, use my magic power as well."
I clenched the reins tight in my urgency. In that instant, I felt magic power flowing through me, and the pegasus's speed surged upward.
"That helps!"
We began to see the cluster of carriages stranded in the middle of the road that ran along the boundary between the forest and farmland. Fran, Rozina,
"What is that black thing!?"
I shouted back to Damuel behind me. We had finally caught up to the Chief Priest and the others, but since we were traveling at high speed, I figured my voice probably wouldn't carry.
"It's a barrier of the Darkness God. It absorbs magic power. That means magical attacks become ineffective. The fact that someone can do that means there is a noble among the attackers."
Damuel's voice grew tense as he added that it would be difficult to attack without knowing the enemy's magic power.
About a hundred attackers—perhaps peasants?—emerged in droves from the forest, weapons in hand, and ran toward the carriages. The blood drained from my face, and I drew up alongside the Chief Priest and shouted: "Chief Priest! If magic won't work on the carriages, then use a magical attack to scatter those men!"
"Wait! They could be the local villagers!"
I glared with all my might at Sylvester, who had protested in shocked surprise. I didn't care what happened to that motley crowd of attackers whose faces I didn't even know.
"Forget about them—Fran and Rozina are more important! If I pray to a god, it becomes magic, right!?"
As I called to mind the god most appropriate for prayer, I began releasing the magic power deep within my body. Magic power surged through me until my bracelet and ring began to glow.