I pursed my lips in a pout, and Sylvester glared at me with his deep-green eyes. “Don’t whine about a single year’s difference. This is to ensure you fit right into noble society, and considering how young you look, we could honestly even get away with pushing the baptism back an entire year, no problem.”
“An entire year? Now you’re just being mean. I am getting bigger, you know...!”
Since it was essential for me being accepted into noble society, going back to the age of seven was already set in stone. They ignored my frustration and continued the discussion.
“Anyway, about your life after the baptism... You’ll be participating in noble affairs as the daughter of the archduke—me—and when nothing’s going on you’ll be spending your time in the temple. Just like Ferdinand, really.”
“Bwuh?!” That sounded like such a busy lifestyle that I actually felt my face twitch in fear.
“With all of our mana problems, it would be putting too large of a burden on Ferdinand to take you completely out of the temple. Not to mention your workshop. The plan is for us to take on your book production as official duchy business, but it’ll be people in the lower city who actually make the books. It’ll be easier for me to make things happen if you keep your existing connections to the lower city. I’ve already talked this over with the Gilberta Company,” Sylvester said with the sly grin of someone who had a ton of irons in the fire.
When did that happen?! I thought, then remembered Benno being dragged away by Sylvester during his workshop tour and how thoroughly worn out he had looked after. Good luck, Benno. You have my support!
“Umm, so in short, after my second baptism I’ll be playing three roles at once? I’ll be the archduke’s daughter, a blue apprentice shrine maiden, and a forewoman? That’ll be exhausting,” I said while counting my roles on my fingers.
Sylvester shook his head. “Not quite. You won’t be an apprentice shrine maiden anymore. You’ll be the High Bishop.”
“What?” I asked, tilting my head at Sylvester. I had probably just misheard him. I had definitely just misheard him. Ahaha, silly me, I really need to work on my hearing.
As I attempted to avoid reality, Sylvester let out a sigh. “Nobody’s going to want to succeed a High Bishop who abused his power and ended up getting executed. Everything they do will be under scrutiny, meaning no room for any legally questionable behavior. It’s a job with nothing to make it worthwhile. On top of that, it comes with the archduke’s daughter and half-brother—who would take up the job knowing it’d wear on their sanity more by the day?”
“Um. Um. But in that case, shouldn’t the High Priest be the High Bishop? He’s much better suited for the job than I am,” I said, shooting a glance towards him, but Sylvester just gave an exasperated shrug.
“From an outside perspective it doesn’t really matter which one of you takes the job, but the actual work that’s expected of you both is entirely different. Ferdinand is at his best doing the nitty-gritty work and holding all of the priests together. You would never last as a High Priestess, Myne.”
It was true that the High Priest’s duties covered a lot of ground. If you asked me whether I could do his job, the answer would be a firm no. But the High Bishop was the highest authority in the temple; those were shoes too big for me to fill.
“I can’t be the High Bishop. I’m a kid who only had her baptism last year.”
“My failure of an uncle managed it. You’ll be fine. All you have to do is sit around and let things happen. Honestly, considering that all my uncle ever did was break the law, you’ll be a better High Bishop than him just by doing nothing at all. Sure is nice to be following up a failure,” Sylvester said, but I didn’t think that was the problem.
As I floundered about nervously, the High Priest tapped his temple and began to speak. “It certainly will be a great deal easier to work without that oaf getting in my way; that alone is enough for me to welcome Myne as High Bishop. I myself will be handling the majority of the difficult work, but Myne is always more than willing to help when asked. I would much rather have her here than a certain someone who pushes all of his work onto others and then vanishes,” he said, all the while glaring directly at that certain someone.
Sylvester snorted and said he could feel free to keep working me to the bone like he had been already. I ignored Sylvester’s rude comment and decided to just thank the High Priest for his kind praise.
“Myne, you really think you should be treating me like that? I was gonna let you keep using the director’s chambers as thanks for taking on the job, and I was gonna turn a blind eye to you sometimes meeting commoners there, but I’m not so sure now.”
“Lord Sylvester, I love you.” I curled my fingers into a heart in front of my chest, eyes shining.
Karstedt poked Sylvester in the side of the head. “He’s making it seem like he’s doing you a favor, but don’t be fooled. He’s just planning to turn the temple into his base so he can wander around the lower city.”
“Bwuuuh?!”
“Karstedt, you make it sound so much worse than it actually is. I’m adopting my cousin’s beloved daughter. Why wouldn’t I want to come visit her?” Sylvester asked with a serious expression, but on significantly closer inspection it was written all over his face that he just wanted to go hunting again. No doubt his plan here was just to make it easier for him to go and play around in the lower city.
“Sylvester, you’re going to let Myne deal with commoners? I would think that is too dangerous, considering she’ll
