Published: July 26, 2025
I am Ferdinand, serving as the high priest at the temple in the city of Ehrenfest. People often mistake me for being around 25, or even as old as 30, but I am only 20 years old.
My half-brother often tells me that I lack youth or that I seem withered, but that is due to my living environment.
I was raised in noble society until I came of age. Although I was the child of a concubine, I possessed enough mana to handle foundation magic tools. Also, I was good at my studies and didn’t find them burdensome, so I was raised to assist my half-brother. My relationship with my half-brother was not bad, despite the presence of my father’s legal wife.
However, the legal wife didn’t like me assisting my half-brother, and after my father's death, I began to be openly ostracized. The adults who flocked to power agreed with the legal wife’s opinion, and my real mother was unreliable. As I began to feel my life was in danger, my half-brother suggested I enter the temple.
Entering the temple is, from the perspective of noble society, tantamount to declaring that you are leaving the political world. But the temple also uses mana and conducts divine rituals, so it is closely connected to politics. Moreover, the upper ranks of the temple are occupied by priests and shrine maidens from noble families, and their ranks form a class society based on their family status.
My half-brother laughed as he ordered me to take control of the temple. The current high priest was someone connected to the legal wife’s family, with a large attitude and a troublesome opponent, so I shrugged my shoulders thinking he spoke too easily, then I entered the temple.
Life in the temple was peaceful. Some handled finances, managed orphanages, or dealt with nobles, but I was not entrusted with such tasks. Thus, I had little work except for infusing mana into divine relics and found myself with too much free time.
With so much time on my hands, I asked my half-brother to send books and wooden tags that were kept at my family home. I thought it would be good if nobles struggling financially could also use them, so I arranged them in the library. However, the blue-robed priests and shrine maidens in the temple were mostly those who could not return to noble society, and none were interested in studying. The only one who cried out loudly wanting to read books was a poor little girl, which was lamentable.
Then, a political upheaval occurred in the central government, drastically reducing the number of nobles. First, young apprentices of an age to attend the noble academy were called back to their family homes one after another. Next, young priests and shrine maidens who were eligible for marriage returned to noble society. Furthermore, priests and shrine maidens with sufficient mana, even those older than marriageable age, were requested to move to the central temple.
Now, no shrine maidens remain in this temple. The priests are mostly those who can no longer return to their families and who lack the mana capacity required by the central temple.
With the key personnel gone, I was forced to take over all the work in the temple, and the peaceful time disappeared from my life. Because of the amount and quality of work, my family status, and my half-brother’s earnest requests, I, still young and new to the temple, became the high priest.
"The high priest, the temple head is calling for you."
Hearing the words of Fran, my attendant, I sighed and stood up. If only the temple head could stay in bed a little longer, I could get more work done, I thought, as I left my room and headed toward the temple head’s office. Although the temple head doesn’t get involved in hands-on matters, he always interferes verbally, so I always hope he stays asleep during work hours.
On the way, the library came into view. The face of Myne, the child who caused the commotion to read these books, appeared, and I pressed my temple with my fingertips. It had been a recent headache, and likely the reason for this summons.