Published: September 6, 2025
…The ceremony itself ended without any issues, but everything else was quite challenging.
In the innermost chamber, there was fierce opposition to excluding the Guard Knights. However, many lord candidates each brought their own close aides, and there simply wasn’t enough space for everyone. Besides, since everyone would be channeling mana simultaneously in the same space, if the guards absorbed mana the same way, they would become useless as protection. More importantly, even when supplying mana to the foundation magic within the territory, the Guard Knights only guarded the room with the door and were not allowed inside the supply chamber. It was a similar situation.
It was expected that the shield of Shutzelia would be distrusted, but only the central knights order commander said, “No attacks can harm that shield.” Apparently, he had seen Shutzelia's shield before.
No matter how much the knights order commander vouched for it, a single word like that wouldn’t convince the entire royal family or the knights order. So, I demonstrated the strength of Shutzelia’s shield before the royal family, enduring a variety of attacks—physical, mana-based, and those using magic tools—launched one after another by the knights order.
The condition for the Guard Knights standing by the door was this: I had to endure the attacks from the central knights order. Yet, with each strike, the knights were blasted away, attacks rebounded, and they ended up injured. Honestly, I was more worried about the knights, who were all battered, than myself inside the shield, which remained unharmed.
…Aside from that concern, it was quite interesting that when a knight, without any malice, entered the shield and tried to attack me, they were suddenly thrown outside the shield. That was a first.
However, the knights of Dunkelfelger watched the shield’s strength test with curiosity akin to watching a Ditter match, and Hartmut and Clarissa trembled with excitement, exclaiming, “Lady Rosemine’s Shutzelia shield is the best!” which was a bit annoying.
As the knights repeatedly struck and were repelled, their fighting spirit gradually waned, and the knights order’s confirmation continued until the king said, “Enough.”
Because the knights order ended up in such a terrible state, I asked the king for permission to use Flutlene’s Staff to cast Lungshmeil’s healing on the knights. While healing with a ring requires getting very close to almost touch someone, using the staff allows healing many people at once without contact.
While at it, I distributed mana recovery potions, which were planned as participation gifts for the ceremony, saying, “These will be distributed to participants from other territories.” This caused the central knights order commander to suspect foreign substances in the potions and conduct various inspections.
…Well, it seems doubting is part of the commander’s job, and since both the shield’s strength test and the potion’s inspection were conducted by the central knights order before the royal family and Dunkelfelger’s knights, both got their seal of approval, so to speak.
Thus, the use of Shutzelia’s shield and the recovery potions was authorized, the central knights order was positioned before the door, and the royal family and I were able to enter the innermost chamber.
With the king and knights order commander giving the go-ahead, the ceremony proceeded without problems, and I felt relieved. However, as expected, the central knights order were skilled, and my mana was considerably depleted after enduring several powerful attacks during the shield’s strength test.
…Well, it was still manageable for a single dedication ceremony.
Afterward, while still enveloped by Shutzelia’s shield, we accepted participants, which took surprisingly long. However, producing divine relics requires quite a bit of mana. Feeling a bit uneasy, after the royal family moved and Shutzelia’s shield was withdrawn, I secretly drank my own recovery potion and waited for my mana to recover by the door.