Ascendance of a Bookworm

Sylvester and Karlstedt reacted with amazing speed, diving inside the shield and immediately closing the door.

Mana burst out from the Glowing Baton, swirling and colliding. The force was vastly uneven, and under the pressure of the high priest's mana, the count was thrown flying.

Suffering burns similar to my father’s, the count writhed on the floor. His croaking sounds genuinely resembled those of a toad.

The head priest was still alive, wrapped tightly in bands of light by the high priest, sparing him from death. Witnessing such a fierce clash of immense mana up close was evidently terrifying—his eyes were wide open, his face frozen in shock.

However, the gray shrine maidens and the men who had collapsed, caught in the mana explosion and unable even to defend themselves, had disappeared without a trace.

“Myne, this is how you eliminate evidence. If you want, we can erase this as well. After all, you should never have been in this city to begin with.”

The high priest looked down coldly at the toad-like count croaking desperately, unwavering as he pointed the Glowing Baton at him.

The count cried out pitifully and tried to retreat desperately, but the high priest closed the distance in just a few steps. His relentlessness was reassuring when on our side—but absolutely not something to be trifled with as an enemy.

“Ferdinand, that’s enough. Myne, cancel the shield. It’s no longer necessary.”

As he said this, Sylvester dramatically tossed his cloak and stepped forward from the wind shield. He lightly tilted his chin, signaling the high priest to fall back.

Following Sylvester’s instructions, I stopped channeling mana into the ring and dispelled the wind shield. The high priest also deactivated the Glowing Baton, stepped back a few paces, crossed his hands over his chest, and knelt.

“...Huh?”

I stared, stunned, as the high priest knelt. I had been taught that azure priests were not required to kneel inside the temple due to an official lack of rank differences. The high priest’s behavior was clearly not directed at Sylvester, who was an azure priest.

...Isn’t Sylvester an azure priest of higher rank than the head priest? A fake priest?

From the friendly atmosphere I’d seen during the prayer ceremony, I knew the high priest and Sylvester had a long history, but neither had previously shown such obvious signs of rank disparity.

If their behavior at the prayer ceremony was a private interaction, then this was clearly a public performance.

In other words, Sylvester is not an azure priest and holds a rank that even the high priest, who claimed to be the highest-ranking priest in the knights order, had to kneel to.

...Could it be that I’m about to become the adopted daughter of an absolutely extraordinary person?

Cold sweat trickled down my temple.

He’s someone capable of restraining the head priest and making the high priest kneel. If not for that, maybe he couldn’t have helped me and the others around me. My heart began pounding loudly from the unexpected turn of events.

“Oh, Sylvester. You’ve come at just the right time. Order this insolent man to lift his restraint.”

The head priest, still wrapped and rolling on the floor, looked alternately at the high priest and Sylvester. Sylvester glanced briefly at the kneeling high priest but did not order him to remove the restraint.

“If you hurried back at the request of the knights order, what is all this commotion?”

“...Who are you?”

The toad-like count nervously shifted his eyes between Sylvester and the head priest. He was completely unable to keep up with the changing situation.

Karlstedt stepped forward in front of Sylvester, standing firm and glaring at the count.

“This is Aub Ehrenfest.”

“N-No way...”

Shaking all over, the toad muttered, pointing at Sylvester, “No, that can’t be... that’s a lie.” Confused, I tilted my head.

Behind me, my father knelt suddenly.

I quietly approached him and whispered, “Father, do you know who that is?”

Pale, he whispered back hurriedly, “There’s only one person with this city’s name. It must be the lord.”