Ascendance of a Bookworm

The autumn baptism ceremony ended without any issues. Afterwards, I made several trips to the castle to supply mana for the Entrinduge’s development. Since there was no tasty recovery potion with Brenlius in it, I relied on the gentler kind daily while accumulating mana.

Then, preparations for the harvest festival started bustling inside the temple. The blue shrine maiden apprentices were busy arranging carriages and supplies, selecting attendants to bring along, and confirming the rituals to be performed in the farming villages. They were meticulously preparing for their very first harvest festival.

Because civil officials accompany the harvest festival for tax collection, I hoped the children from the old Veronica faction wouldn’t have too unpleasant an experience. Although I intended to warn the officials firmly, there are limits to what can be controlled out of sight. A meeting was held to decide who would go where, and pairings of blue priests and blue shrine maiden apprentices were determined.

“As the orphanage director’s successor, Filine became a blue shrine maiden apprentice, but won’t she be attending the harvest festival?”

Melchior asked if Filine would be going, and I answered, “No, she won’t.”

“Yes. I appointed Filine as my successor intending to hand over my quarters and attendants to her. Currently, they are shared, so she doesn’t have attendants or a dedicated chef to accompany her to the festival. Besides, she’s still a minor, and unlike other blue apprentices, she doesn’t have to participate in the harvest festival to get through the winter.”

This time, minor blue apprentices were sent to the festival partly due to a shortage in numbers but mainly because it was absolutely necessary for their winter preparations. Otherwise, minors wouldn’t be dispatched for such rituals. Incidentally, Melchior is a lord candidate, so he travels the domains regardless of being a blue apprentice—he’s a special case.

“To avoid a situation where there’s no one at the temple at all, I intend to keep Filine at home to look after things.”

While we discussed this, Ordnance suddenly burst into the conference room. A white bird landed before me and then spoke in Foster Father’s voice.

“I have some free time, so we will hold interviews in three days. Submit a report on children who will be baptized as nobles this winter.”

The blue apprentices stared at Ordnance, repeating his words three times. Some had siblings at the orphanage, so they were probably curious about how children from the orphanage who become nobles are treated.

“There are two children from the orphanage who will be baptized as nobles this winter. The report will be entrusted to Roderich when he returns to the castle.”

I said this and sent Foster Father’s Ordnance away. Only Bertram and Dirk had a chance to receive the baptism this winter. There were other children of the same age, but one had returned to their parents, and another was rejected by Hartmut’s interview and didn’t receive magic tools. They didn’t qualify for noble baptism.

After the harvest festival discussions concluded, I returned to the head priest’s office. I sent Monica on an errand to inform Wilma of the interview schedule and to request reports on the two boys. Then, I called Laurenz, who was training with Ordnance. The important interview would decide whether his younger brother Bertram could be baptized as a noble. I thought he might want to say something to Bertram as his brother.

While I was reading Wilma’s report, Laurenz arrived.

“Lady Rosemine, Ordnance says the interview date is set…”

“Yes, that’s right. Please visit the orphanage and talk to Bertram. Since he is parentless and Aub is his guardian for the baptism, he won’t be considered a sibling publicly after. Still, I hope you watch over him as much as possible.”

By noble custom, baptism determines the parents. Bertram will be a parentless child in society and won’t be recognized publicly as Laurenz’s brother. Society naturally treats orphans like that.