Published: September 6, 2025
“For now, since my book is missing, it’s only natural that I search for it. I’m going out.”
As I moved toward the door, the high priest lightly raised his hand.
“Where do you intend to go? Do you have any leads?”
“No, I’ll follow the same approach as before and use mana to search the entire city blindly.”
When I insisted on searching both downtown and the Noble District using mana, the high priest looked at me with a weary expression.
“Searching with mana only reveals whether the mana is yours or someone else’s, but you can’t pinpoint your own mana. The Noble District is full of other people’s mana. It will be utterly useless. It’s a waste of mana, you fool.”
“Ugh…”
“More importantly, think about the culprit’s motive. If you can narrow down their goal, you might get closer to finding them.”
…The culprit’s motive? There’s only one, isn’t there?
I tilted my head, wondering what the high priest was saying when it was obvious without thinking.
“There can only be one motive for wanting the Sacred Scripture, right? They obviously want to read the one and only precious Sacred Scripture in Ehrenfest!”
If they had asked for permission upfront, I might have granted them access. But someone who eliminated the gray priests, trespassed without permission, and switched the Scriptures illegally—there’s no way I would allow that.
My perfect reasoning was dismissed by the high priest with a sigh.
“If their only purpose was to read the Scripture, there would be no need to sneak into your room and swap it. The copies in the temple library should suffice, and they could ask the azure priests to make copies.”
“Ugh… But maybe they want to read parts not included in the copies in the library, like the dark blessing incantations, or the sections about the miracle of Haldenzel. There are all sorts of possibilities!”
Desperately, I tried to find something superior about my own Sacred Scripture compared to others. It covers more than the Scriptures chosen by the high priest from other territories’ azure priests. I believe many would want it.
…Because my Sacred Scripture is amazing!
“As you say, the motive could be that the nobles want to know more about the miracle of Haldenzel, or the Central Temple desires to learn the dark god’s blessing incantation. But I don’t see any reason for swapping the copies, and since your mana is registered with the Scripture, it can’t be read without permission, so it wouldn’t make sense.”
“Can’t they just re-register the owner?”
Since I re-registered the key after becoming the head priest, it shouldn’t be that difficult.
“That would change the range of what can be read.”
“…So, they swapped it because they wanted to read parts that fall outside their own mana’s range?”
Because we compared it to the Central Temple’s Scripture, we know that the range depends not only on the owner’s mana but also on the viewer’s mana. However, this is not widely known.
…Is there anything that becomes inconvenient without the Scripture?
Honestly, though I bring the Scripture to the chapel during ceremonies, it’s more for show in my case. The blessing incantation can be performed fine without it. I don’t use the Scripture outside of ceremonies, so it mostly just decorates the head priest’s office. I can’t think of anything I need it for that would cause trouble if it were missing.
On the other hand, is there anything impossible without the Scripture? Thinking about this, I recalled something unusual about my Scripture.
…Could it be that the culprit was after the floating magic circles and characters?
Though the Scripture could be considered a kind of guidebook for becoming king, only the high priest and I can see the floating magic circles and characters. Even Hildebrandt, who is royal family, couldn’t see them, so no one else likely can.
“Could it be that the Ehrenfest Scripture itself is the goal?”
I looked up at the high priest without mentioning the magic circles. He slightly extended his index finger from his chin to his lips, signaling me to be silent. It seemed he understood what I wanted to say.