Ascendance of a Bookworm

Volume 7 Chapter 11: The Noble from the Other Duchy (Part 1)

Dad carried me all the way back to the temple and to our surprise, Fran was waiting for us at the gate.

Why is Fran here? We didn’t tell him we were coming back.

“Fran? Why are you here? Did something happen?”

“I saw the beacon for the Knight’s Order in the sky and I had a feeling you would be returning to the temple. Never would I have imagined it would happen though…” Fran said as he looked behind us. He probably knew that the situation was bad since Lutz and Tuuli weren’t with us and Dad had brought me back to the temple instead of Damuel.

“Fran, we need to see the High Priest.”

“He isn’t in the temple.”

“What…?”

“Let us return to your chambers first. Gil, sorry to trouble you but please stand by here for Damuel’s return. Please tell him to head to Sister Myne’s chambers instead of the High Priest’s.”

When we got back to my chambers, Fran got Dad a cup of water to refresh himself after all that running with me in his arms. After that we moved back to the hall to continue our conversation with Fran being the first to speak in a grim voice.

“Everything happened after you left the temple, Sister Myne.”

It was after I left the temple to return home did Dad arrive at my chambers. He came to the temple to instruct Fran to pass the message to the High Priest that the suspicious noble had entered the city, after that he ran back to the city to find me.

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“I wasted no time approaching the High Priest about this but to my dismay, Arno said that he was absent. With that I returned to your chambers but that was when I ran into Delia.”

“Delia? Did she say something?”

“She said that Dirk now had an adoptive father who was looking for you to ask about his health since you acted as his guardian, but I told her you were absent. Thank goodness you had left the temple since the High Priest isn’t around, it’s just that…”

Fran creased his eyebrows to show his concern now that I was back, but I had my own reasons too.

“I wasn’t any better off outside.”

I recounted everything that unfolded when I was on the way home. Fran cross his arm in silence for a moment before responding.

“With what happened here and outside, it is very likely that the High Priest left because of the Knights’ Order. He and Damuel might return together. The archduke is always escorted by the knights whenever he leaves the duchy, so the Knights’ Order might be low on manpower now,” Fran analysed.

“Sister Myne, please wear your blue robes before Sir Damuel returns.”

I was assisted back into my robes with Rosina’s help. Rosina had a very concerned look. Just after that did Gil return with Damuel. Apparently Damuel was ordered to continue guarding me now that the incident in the lower city had been resolved. Fran served them a glass of water and told them everything that happened.

“…That’s odd,” Damuel responded, looking perplexed.

“I did not see Lord Ferdinant present with the other knights. In fact, I was instructed to report to him here. Are you positive that he is not here?”

What Damuel said threw us into deeper confusion, we decided to confirm this by visiting the High Priest’s chambers again. We could try pushing Arno a bit more on his whereabouts. Damuel had reassured us that it would be acceptable to do so video the severity of this situation.

“Apprentice, please take this.”

Damuel seemed to have recalled doing this as he took out and gave me a ring from the bag tied around his hip. The ring was a small one and had a dull gem on top of it.

I”I retrieved this from the man that attacked you. Do you see the crest on top of it?”

“I can’t take something this important!”

“This is nothing much and it’s not that expensive, it only has a feystone in it. Take it with you just as an extra precaution. Unfortunately, I am unable to give you any great feystones like Lord Ferdinand.”

Damuel was a lesser noble, so he did not have enough money and resources to give feystones to someone else. Nevertheless, I still kept the ring that came from a bad guy, afterall it was better off than having nothing. Unlike the ring the High Priest gave me, this particular ring didn’t change in size when I put it on so it was not a magic tool.

“…It seems to be broken. Well, we can still keep it for evidence, you don’t need to wear it since it doesn’t work. Could you try channeling your mana to it?” Samuel asked.

I did as he asked. “Well, it does work a little.”

Again, as expected, the ring was completely different from the one the High Priest lent me, in the sense that it could barely absorb any of my mana.

“This is a low-quality feystone. Be careful not to put too much in it or it might break.”

I tightened my fist so that I wouldn’t drop the faulty ring and followed Fran who lead us to the High Priest’s chambers. I would walk right behind him while Dad and Damuel guarded my sides.

“Gil, I entrust my chambers to you.”

Gil was just a child who couldn’t fight, so it was best for him to stay behind. Throughout his entire life, he had been taught that violence was bad so witnessing someone get killed just now had taken a toll on him. His face was pale, it was clear that his mental state was fragile now. I wanted to stay behind to comfort him, but the present situation would not allow it. We left the room, leaving behind the disturbed Gil.

“Please stay safe, Sister Myne. I will pray for your safety.”

We walked into the noble section of the temple. It was in the hallway did we see the High Bishop and his entourage. There was a toad-looking and plump man next to the large bodied High Bishop. He wasn’t wearing the temple robes, but he resembled a typical corrupt and evil politician or a government official of sorts. Behind them were a few gray shrine maidens and some attendants dressed in plain clothes, the entire group summed up to ten.

Fran swiftly turned at the next corner so we could avoid the High Bishop, and we continued walking through the hallway till we reached the gate to the Noble’s Quarter. This was a longer route to the High Priest’s chambers, but it was necessary to avoid the High Bishop. Dad carried me up while Damuel watched our surroundings, Fran took the lead and we walked as quickly as possible to the High Priest’s chambers.

“Sir Damuel, do you know who was that man with the High Bishop?”

“That is Count Bindewald. He is a noble that came from the neighbouring duchy. He was the one who used a forged pass to enter the city. He might be after you,” Damuel whispered with a serious tone which made Dad squeeze me in his arms.

“If the Knights’ Order or Lord Ferdinand were here, we could apprehend him, I lack strength to take him down myself. He is a noble of a higher status and has much more mana than mine. He likely lacks the skills to fight us knights, but he is very much powerful enough to take me down with just his mana.”

We were about to reach the Noble’s Gate and made a turn to the High Priest’s chambers, but were stopped by the High Bishop’s entourage standing in the middle of the hallway. We had gone out of the way to avoid them, but apparently they had seen us and taken another route to intercept us.

“Count Bindewald, meet Myne, she is the blue apprentice shrine maiden I mentioned about,” the High Bishop said with a nasty grin and pointed at me. Bindewald twisted his lips up into a horrible toad-looking grin and examined me up and down.

“Ah, so she is the one…”

That nasty look of his made me shiver all over and I was so scared that I tightened my grip onto Dad. I should get an award for resisting my urge to yell back “Take your filthy eyes off me!”

“What a surprise. We were told she had left but she is back here now. Those imbeciles must have failed to get her. Useless idiots,” Bindewald grumbled to himself, after which he stretched out his hand towards me.

“Myne, rejoice, I am here to offer you a contract.”

“…I have to respectfully turn it down. I will be signing a contract with someone else.”

“Ha. Someone else might have promised to take you in but the contract has not been signed. I can just force you to sign on with your blood.”

The ugly toad burst into a horrible laughter and I watched his belly flop up and down.

“Will you be adopting Sister Myne too, Count Bindewald?”

Apparently, Delia had been standing carrying Dirk behind the High Bishop the entire time. She spoke in a delighted tone, which was a huge dichotomy from the current situation.

“That’s great, now she and Dirk can be a family together. They will both be grateful to be taken in by nobility.”

The toad just laughed cynically at Delia and replied, “Me? A noble adopting these disgusting commoners? That will never happen.”

“But my lord, you have already adopted Dirk.”

“There was no adoption, that baby has signed a slave contract.” The count snickered and pulled out a parchment sheet. At a quick glance, it seemed like a normal adoption contact, but if you looked closer you could see that there was another contract hidden underneath it. He broke out into a large grin and peeled off the top later and underneath it was another contract titled ‘Slave Contract for Children with Devouring.”

“What? That will mean… Dirk is…”

“He is now Bindewald’s slave and will be used to charge his magic tools for the rest of his life,” I responded.