Published: September 6, 2025
“Lady Rosemine, I was also able to participate this time. Please convey my thanks to Aub.”
Handing over a wooden tag detailing the materials needed to create magic tools like those used by Schwarz and his group in the library, Hilsure said this cheerfully. Since the content of the wooden tag and the topic she spoke about were completely different, I was a little confused about whether I should thank her or respond to the topic.
“Thank you for the wooden tag. Also, I’m glad to hear that your participation in the dedication ceremony has been approved.”
The dedication ceremony held at the noble academy was considered research, so it was limited to lord candidates who were students and senior bureaucrats. However, even the teachers with strong research enthusiasm seemed interested in the ritual, which increased blessings.
This time, it was decided at the lords’ council that the dedication ceremony would be held, but invitations were sent only to the Aub of each territory and their close aides; no invitations were sent to the teachers. When Hilsure expressed dissatisfaction, saying, “Again, the teachers are excluded,” I had Foster Father send ordnance to the royal family and requested that invitations be sent to the teachers who wished to attend.
…It’s better to have more participants. The royal family is very pleased as well.
“By the way, this time you’re bringing your own healing potions, huh? Gundolf was quite frustrated. The students said the healing potions distributed by Ehrenfest were very effective, so he wanted to test their effects on his own body.”
I thought, “So Drevannel was after the potions after all,” and chuckled lightly. Hilsure’s eyes gleamed as she looked at me.
“It seems the royal family aims to make the rituals at the lords’ council a regular event, but just reacquiring the blessing might cause some dissatisfaction.”
“Oh? Is that so?”
“It’s good that you can retry about once every ten years, but changes in mana usage only happen after receiving multiple blessings. Since the ritual can’t be retried without continuously offering mana, most territories that had their first or second years will hardly see an increase in blessing, right?”
What Hilsure said was true. To gain blessings, the amount of mana offered and the attention of the gods through one’s daily conduct are greatly related, so blessings don’t increase easily just by living casually.
Comparing the number of blessings gained by my close aides who came to the temple almost every day, competing foolishly to see who could convert their stave into a divine relic first while offering mana, with the number gained by Wilfried, who has been offering mana for about five years since I became immersed in Yureve for the prayer ceremony and foundation ritual, shows that frequency and amount matter.
“Those assigned the less favorable order to gain blessings will become the losing territories. Even though they already have scarce mana, they will hardly gain any blessing in the first reacquisition, and the next time, they won’t feel effects unless squeezed by the dedication ceremony for over ten years. Considering the future, this will create a gap with neighboring territories, so they can’t avoid participating. But thinking about the harsh decade ahead, some territories will harbor complaints. Therefore, Lady Rosemine, why not distribute healing potions to divert dissatisfaction?”
I pondered Hilsure’s point. Indeed, it might be important to provide immediate benefits to divert complaints. However, I thought that it was Hilsure’s place to advise the royal family, and the royal family’s place to think about it, not mine or Ehrenfest’s duty.
“...If you think it’s better to divert complaints, you should advise the royal family, and the central teachers should work together to produce healing potions. Surely one or two of the teachers have recipes for highly effective healing potions?”
When I smiled wryly and refused, saying, “It’s not Ehrenfest’s job to do that,” Hilsure shrugged her shoulders in boredom.