Ascendance of a Bookworm

After the meeting ended and until one week before the prayer ceremony, I was to stay at the castle.

I talked with Wilfried and Charlotte about the places they would visit during the prayer ceremony and the order in which they would go, having each of them make the necessary preparations. This time, the attendants from the temple would come from the head priest's attendants.

“The places we’ll be visiting have been divided as previously discussed.”

“...Lady Rosemine, your schedule is unusually short compared to the others,” Charlotte remarked.

“That’s because I’m using a mount,” I replied.

My prayer ceremony schedule was about half the length of everyone else's. It wasn’t that I had fewer places to visit, but because I used a mount, I could cover several places in a single day, making the schedule shorter.

“Then surely I could shorten my schedule as well?”

“That won’t be possible for Brother Wilfried.”

“Huh?”

“My mount can carry passengers, and since I’ve been doing this all along, I can bring along my own attendants—the gray priests and gray shrine maidens. But Brother Wilfried’s mount is a normal single-rider type, and the nobles wouldn’t like having gray priests ride along, right?”

Without the Holy Grail, the prayer ceremony couldn’t be held, but if the gray priests who manage the Holy Grail couldn’t ride with him, the schedule couldn’t be shortened. Unlike Darmel, who was used to seeing me bring along attendants while coming and going from the temple, Wilfried’s close aides would dislike bringing along an orphan gray priest. When I mentioned bringing Gutenberg along for travel, there was already a surprised reaction.

“Besides, neither Brother Wilfried nor Charlotte have enough mana to perform blessings multiple times in a day, do they?”

“Hm... that’s true.”

We would perform the blessings using mana stones infused with my mana. I had no experience with this, but I heard that using someone else's mana is more tiring than using your own.

“I have less stamina than mana, so I want to finish the prayer ceremony as quickly as possible. After that, I’ll rest at the temple until everyone returns. The total days required for the ceremony will probably be about the same.”

Although I was somewhat refreshed at Yureve, I would probably be bedridden after the prayer ceremony. Wilfried and Charlotte both sighed in unison at my schedule, which included recovery days before I got sick.

...But including recovery days in the schedule is important.

The day after discussing the prayer ceremony, I had a tea party with Mother, Foster Mother, and Charlotte. As instructed by the head priest, I had to report to the faction leaders—Foster Mother and Mother—about the dyeing project.

...I must show that I can remember what I’m told and put it into action!

I reported that the Gilberta Trading Company and the Dyeing and Weaving Association would lead the revival of the dyeing craft, and that a competition would be held near the end of summer.

Proud that I hadn’t forgotten to report properly, I puffed out my chest, but Foster Mother looked at me puzzlingly, tilting her head gently.

“Lady Rosemine, why has such an event come about? I don’t see the connection.”

“It just happened. Somehow it developed that way without me realizing.”

“Lady Rosemine, please report in detail and be accurate.”

Mother glared at me with a stern smile, making me flinch.

“Lady Rosemine, here,” Filine, who had been waiting behind, quickly handed a document extracted from Fran’s report regarding the dyeing. She was an excellent secretary.

When I handed it to Foster Mother, she and Mother immediately began reading it.

“...Because of this development, Gutenberg, who became my personal craftsman, has become envied in downtown. The Gilberta Trading Company has requested that if the old techniques are revived, the dyeing workshop should select a personal craftsman and grant a title.”

“Choosing a personal craftsman is normal, but your actions always have grand effects, Lady Rosemine. It’s surprising,” Charlotte commented.