Ascendance of a Bookworm

“Filine and Roderich will be transcribing the documents while waiting in the head priest’s office. The guild should be returning soon, and I expect updates from downtown. Please compile all that information. Fran will stay here with the two of them, but Zaam and Monica should gather intel from the attendants of the azure priests. They might obtain information that Hartmut doesn’t have.”

Since I don’t intend to bring Filine and Roderich along, I instructed them to collect intelligence together with the temple attendants. Filine and Roderich nodded, and Zaam and Monica left the room to gather information.

After seeing that off, I glanced over the line of guard knights. I wanted to leave one knight in the head priest’s office. Angelica, the vanguard captain; Darmel, who can sense the mana of the self-eater soldiers; and Brother Cornelius, who has the greatest mana among the guard knights, were confirmed to accompany me. Now, which one to leave behind—Judith or Leonore?

“Judith will ride with me on my Mount and prepare for escort and ranged attack. Leonore, please protect this head priest’s office while coordinating communications from downtown, Hartmut, and us. If the situation changes or critical new information arrives, send an Ordnance immediately.”

“Understood.”

“Darmel, Angelica, and Cornelius, follow the high priest’s instructions.”

“Yes!”

By the time I finished issuing orders to the guard knights, the high priest, Brother Eckhardt, and Justox had prepared to depart and returned. Seeing their numbers, Leonore’s face clouded with worry.

“Aren’t there too few knights? Shouldn’t we contact Aub Ehrenfest and deploy the knights order?”

“Leonore, what is the reason for moving the knights order?”

“To recover the Sacred Scripture of Ehrenfest, so the reason would be...”

The high priest shook his head, interrupting Leonore.

“We only received information from downtown that the gray priests were abducted by a carriage, so we are going to rescue the gray priests. We only suspect the suspicious carriage that left the South Gate carried the gray priests, but we won’t know unless we go there. More importantly, our rescue target is the gray priests. This is not a matter to request the knights order for.”

The high priest concluded that there was no sufficient reason to move the knights order. Leonore lowered her indigo eyes briefly but then raised her chin and looked up at the high priest.

“However, we can request protection for Lady Rosemine and Lord Ferdinand. The knights order exists to protect the lord family.”

“Indeed, it is possible to request the knights order through Aub to increase protection for the lord family. But if we report this emergency through Ordnance, the old Veronica faction among Aub’s close retainers might learn the details. If possible, we should send a messenger, but we have no such luxury. Also, I do not intend to disclose the loss of the Sacred Scripture, which would be a serious setback for us.”

To avoid the loss of face from revealing the missing Sacred Scripture, we must resolve everything with only the people present.

“It would be ideal if the carriage we are about to find carries both the gray priests and the Sacred Scripture, but it’s more likely they are separate. Our opponents seek to gain multiple advantages. They probably transported the gray priests and the Scripture separately. I doubt the noblewoman who despises the gray priests would ride in the same carriage with them. They would likely use Mounts for transportation. Also, at this stage, the involvement of Viscountess Dardorf is only speculation without evidence. Remember that.”

Everyone nodded in agreement at the high priest’s words. Our primary objective is to locate and rescue the gray priests. We also want to obtain evidence linking the involved nobles.

Suddenly, Brother Cornelius lifted his gaze as if remembering something.

“Lord Ferdinand, do we have any measures to prevent the self-eater soldiers from exploding?”