Ascendance of a Bookworm

Volume 6, Prologue

<Lord Karstedt, your guest, Lord Ferdinand has arrived>

After receiving the announcement from one of his assistants, Karstedt made his way to the main hall. There he found his first wife, Elvira, and his oldest son, Eckhard, talking friendly with Ferdinand. Karstedt couldn't help but smile at the respect his family still had for that man; there were just a few noblemen who still respected Ferdinand after he was sent to the temple, and it was nice to see his family between them.

<Lord Ferdinad>, Karstedt gave his welcome, Ferdinand turned to him. after exchanging greeting and getting a seat, their assistants began to place the table. <I hate to interrupt your conversation but Ferdinand and I need to discuss things in private>.

Karstedt received displeased looks from Elvira and Eckhard, but when Ferdinand waved his hand and said <This is highly confidential>, both of them left at the same time. The way they both treated Ferdinand with more respect than him would have frustrated Karstedt if he weren't s used to it. *1

As soon as the wine and the food arrived it was placed on the table, and all assistants left, leaving Ferdinand and Karstedt alone in the room. Only when the door was tightly closed Karstedt relaxed, Changing to the informal tone he always used with his old friend.

"Sorry for making you come to my place instead of the palace, Ferdinand. Things are not so pretty over there"

Karstedt picked his glass and took a sip of his wine to show it wasn't poisoned and made a small gesture to Ferdinand, after which he took the glass with his hand and also took a sip. his mouth crawled his approbation, showing the wine was of his liking.

"I imagine it wouldn't be. The mother of Shikikoza is making a ruckus and is pestering everyone to be heard, no? and the High bishop has been making a tantrum about it". Ferdinand was correct, leaving Karstedt only able to nod with an ironic smile.

Ten days ago, during a standard Trombe extermination mission, Karstedt - the captain of the knight order - had assigned Shikikoza and Darmuel to watch over the blue shrine maiden. They possessed way less mana than the other knights present, and none of them had experience against Trombe, for that reason Karstedt thought it was the best to get away from the fight, protecting the people of the temple.

However, they had harmed the one they were supposed to protect which led to the growth of a second Trombe in what can only be described as a catastrophic disaster. For that reason, they were under house arrest in the knight's headquarters until their punishment was decided.

Shikikoza, however, managed to get in contact with his family with the hopes of a lighter punishment, and her mother was asking for help from any person with power that heard her.

"It seems like she even cried in presence of Lady Veronica, the reason for which I imagined it would be better if I returned that tool in your stead", said Karstedt while pointing to the box that contained the magic tool that Ferdinand had with him.

"Indeed, thanks, I'd prefer to avoid seeing her if I can help it"

The box, which was only able to be open by the archduke or a person with his authorization, contained the magic tool capable of reading another person's memories. It was lent to Ferdinand to see if the commoner made into a blue shrine maiden that has shown an enormous amount of mana in the recovery ritual was a potential threat to Ehrenfest or a blessing.

The apprentice blue shrine maiden had dark blue hair as the night sky as if she had received the blessing of the God of Darkness from birth, and her beautiful face was highlighted by two golden eyes like the moon. But the most peculiar thing was her small body, so thin and underdeveloped that it was hard to believe she had already been baptized.

But in contrast to her childish appearance, she had exploded with so much mana that dazzled the mind. She hasn't shown any signs of exhaustion after refilling the drained land, and by a glance, you could see she had way much more times the mana that Shikikoza, a laynoble who was only allowed to leave the temple because the country was experiencing a lack of mana.

That wasn't the normal quantity of mana that a normal blue shrine maiden has. How much would she has when she grows up and got to the majority of age ceremony

Karstedt himself had never made the ritual, nor touched a divine instrument, which made it difficult to judge the amount of mana the blue shrine maiden had. But it was abnormal enough that Ferdinand had immediately requested the archduke to determine if she was a threat or not, and the archduke gave the permission to use the mindreading tool.

"…So, how did it go?" Karstedt ask while taking the box

In a rare display of transparency, Ferdinand didn't make any effort to hide his face while rubbing his forehead.

"she doesn't have any trace of malice or deceit on her. Her mind was fill of nothing but books, in a tiering way"

He said with a completely upset expression, but Karstedt could feel that something was different in him. Ferdinand looked expressive and excited, maybe for the first time since the death of his father, when he said <I'm tired of handling the pressure of those around me. I don't care what happens to the world>, before renouncing everything and going to the temple with a dead expression.

"Truly", Ferdinand continued, "Myne is a girl that has memories of living as a high noble in another world". Despite her age here, she has memories of her past life as an adult"

"Huh? here we go again?"

The report from Ferdinand about Myne was so out of rule that Karstedt doubts his ears. Without even thinking about it. he asked Ferdinand to repeat it, and he did. Karstedt didn't hope that there was any mistake since the magic tool was made to get rid of all doubts, but the report from Ferdinand was still difficult to believe.

"I, eh… don't know what to say. It's absurd". Karstedt managed to make a response and Ferdinand nodded with his head.

"Even I believe it's absurd and I saw that world in her memories. I doubt many believe it, but is true. Myne's extraordinay behavior is due to living in the lower city in addition to keeping her memories of living on the other world. However, she has no malice nor bad intentions towards the city. But she only cares about books, it'll be necessary that the ones beside her, are able to guide her to make her usefull"

What interested Karstedt the most wasn't the ridiculous story about Myne living in another world, which he still could not believe, but how talkative was Ferdinand beeing. In spite of having to link his mind with another to see by force his memories. surprisingly he didn't look disgusted.

"Did you take a liking to her"

"What are you talking about?"

"Who else the blue shrine maiden apprentice called Myne?"

Karstedt knew very well the importance of a blue shrine maiden apprentice these days, where there was a drastic lack of mana and nobles, but Ferdinand was showing more interest than he would have thought to this low profile girl Myne. Ferdinand had allowed her to ride his own beast, he allowed her to bring not one but two assistants, and shown extreme overprotection by assigning two guards before the hunt, he had even given her a ring and a potion of his own creation.

And, above else, he had declared she was under her protection in front of all knights. Karstedt could remember how surprised he was when that happened, he'd never expected to hear Ferdinand said anything like that.

Karstedt observations led Ferdinand to make a girn with dissatisfaction.

"I haven't take a liking to her or anything like that. She is that valuable"

"Oh?"

When Ferdinand started to say how useful her abundance of mana was and her exceptional mathematical abilities were in the temple. on top of her constant discoveries and inventions, Karstedtfelt the urge to ask how was that different from liking her. But he deliberately kept that in silence. Ferdinand had the tendency to hide things that were important to him or distance himself apart from them, and that tendency had only intensified when he joined the temple.

…Ferdinand, in spite of all his stubborn and obstinate tendencies, finally had found someone he liked. There was no reason to make fun of him and risk it to mess it up - that was the conclusion Karstedt arrived to. having known Ferdinand since he was young, and thus knowing how susceptible he was to self-sabotage, Karstedt knew there were a lot of things he had to be cautious about.

"She has shown a great quantity of mana to everyone", Started Karstedt. "the rumors have extended like powder through the Noble district, with the knight order in the center of it, Myne will be in more danger than before"

"undoubtedly. Her mana was more extraordinary than what I had predicted. although I said she is under my protection, ultimately, I'm nothing but a simple priest. The noblemen that look for mana will pursue her, and one day they will put her in harm's way. It's impossible for me to say if I'll be able to avoid all their advances" Ferdinand quietly spoke, his face inexpressive as ever. There weren't many people that really know that he was making an expression of someone immensely frustrated with their lack of power.

"What will you do then?

"I'd like you to adopt Myne" Ferdinand asked, which made Karstead open his eyes with surprise. As captain of the knight order, Karstedt was an Archnoble. By suggesting him adopting Myne, Ferdinand insinuated that she had at least as much mana as an Archnoble.

"The sooner she is adopted by a noble the better" Ferdinand continued. "she has too much mana to be kept as a simple Blue shrine maiden. This means shell have to learn to control her mana in the Real Academy, but as a man of the church, I will not be able to support her with noble matters. I trust in few to defend her from the dangers that await her.

Karstedt considered the preposition. Who could Ferdinand trust so much as to leave Myne in their care despite her lower uprising and that would provide the proper education for someone with her amount of mana? he couldn't on anyone but him and his family.

"I have the intention of educating Myne so that she doesn't become a shame for your family. And Myne has enough talent to sustain herself economically, and I'll make sure that you don't have to strain yourself by adopting her".

"Is truly rare that you are so worried about someone else" reflected Karstedt

Ferdinand lowered his sight. he sank into his chair and kept silent, his long fingers intertwine while looking for something to say. He then started.

"Since she is a commoner, it's impossible to tell what's going to happen without a powerful ally who supports her. I wouldn't like anyone to though what I lived. That's all".

That wasn't everything. but at least Ferdinand was telling the truth talking from the hearth without trying to deceive anyone. Karstedt, knowing well the painful past of Ferdinand, let out a sigh and looked to the window.

"…I'm willing to adopt her, but someone will complain to you about asking my help first, no?"

Ferdinand could guess who Karstedt was referring to. His expression darkened and he tapped his forehead "it should be really difficult to manage everyone…?"

There weren't many who could tell that his dark expression meant he was really relaxed. Karstedt once more made an ironic grin at how difficult was Ferdinand to understand.