Published: September 6, 2025
“Finally, it’s over.”
That evening’s dinner, after the lords’ council ended, was to be shared with his mother, Magdalena. Since Hildebrandt was underage and couldn’t participate, he had asked her to tell him about the dedication ceremony.
In truth, it would have been enough to send one of his close aides to observe and then ask about the event, but Hildebrandt couldn’t spare his guard knight from keeping watch over him. The priority was to allocate more personnel to guard the central area, which became thinly staffed as everyone else attended the dedication ceremony.
“Mother, how was the dedication ceremony? Did a pillar of light really rise as they said?”
Hildebrandt looked eagerly at Magdalena, who had attended the ceremony as a noble from the central district rather than standing alongside the king as royalty.
Both the dedication ceremony at the noble academy and the starbinding rite at the start of the lords’ council—conducted by Rosemine as head priest—were rituals unlike any he had heard before.
Magdalena moved her cutlery and took a bite of the herb-wrapped young bird before slowly glancing around. Perhaps because Hildebrandt was so excited, the attendants serving them and the guard knights standing behind also looked on with interest, waiting for her answer.
“There was no pillar of red light like the one the royal family witnessed in winter.”
“Eh? Really?”
Hildebrandt, who had expected something unusual to happen when Rosemine performed the ceremony, felt somewhat deflated by that answer.
“Whether the divine relic is made from the stave or an existing one from the temple is used affects the outcome. Also, the dedication ceremony is originally a winter ritual, so the change of season likely played a role,” Magdalena explained, quoting Lady Rosemine.
“It’s disappointing since you wanted to see the red pillar too, Mother.”
Magdalena had missed the previous dedication ceremony because she had to stay at the royal palace for her duties. After hearing the stories from those who attended, she had wanted to see it with her own eyes.
“Unfortunately, the pillar of red light, the noble color of winter, didn’t appear. But the Holy Grail shone a noble red, and the way the red light rose slowly and waveringly upward was truly a fantastical and beautiful sight.”
Magdalena smiled mischievously, narrowing her red eyes. Hildebrandt felt exhilarated and said, “So something unusual did happen after all.”
“Tell me more, please, Mother.”
Unlike the winter dedication ceremony at the noble academy, this time no red pillar rose. But as the initially scattered prayers gradually aligned, the participants felt a unity of spirit, and immersing themselves in the flowing mana from behind was as pleasant as he had heard.
Watching Magdalena talk happily, Hildebrandt’s regret at not being able to join the ritual because of his age grew even stronger.
“It was the first time a ritual was performed with so many people. It was an indescribable, ecstatic feeling. Even the fatigue afterward felt agreeable.”
Apparently, many nobles collapsed during the noble academy ceremony, but Rosemine ended this ceremony early enough that no one fainted from mana exhaustion.
“The azure priests and blue shrine maidens from the Central Temple collapsed, you see. The mana flow was too fast, and they couldn’t stop at the right time. Rosemine said she had already told Immanuel that ritual participants with such large mana differences can’t perform the ceremony together,” Magdalena said, looking troubled.
It was natural that the mana capacity between the untrained blue priests and shrine maidens and the aub and their close aides supporting the domains differed greatly. Even at the Ehrenfest Temple, Rosemine seems to conduct separate dedication ceremonies from other blue priests.
“The Central Temple probably never held dedication ceremonies together with nobles, so it’s understandable.”
Magdalena chuckled softly. She seemed to harbor some feelings about the Central Temple, which had recently been insisting on recreating ancient rituals and selecting next Zent candidates, arrogantly presenting many new demands to the royal family.