“Can’t you use that talent of yours for anything but food and other pleasures?”
“Hey pal, I’m always going all-out, whether it’s for pleasure or not.” I put as much effort in as I could when it came to sneaking away from work underneath Ferdinand’s nose, or plotting about how to delegate all of my work to others so that I could relax. I’m offended that he’d think I only go all-out for food and stuff.
Our conversation was interrupted by the chime of seventh bell; it seemed our discussion had continued for a fairly long time. I stood up, and so did Ferdinand and Karstedt.
“That’s all for today. We can discuss the baptism ceremony’s details when the Archduke Conference is over. I need to get back to the Sovereignty.”
Karstedt and I had snuck out of a dinner party celebrating the beginning of the conference, and would need to have returned before tomorrow morning when the conference itself would begin.
“Could I ask you to take the vice-commander of the Knight’s Order as your guard?” Karstedt asked, his tone formal and respectful. “I would like to stay here and prepare for Rozemyne’s baptism ceremony, if possible.”
“Sure. Later Ferdinand, Karstedt. Get that physical examination done, and once Karstedt has everything ready, move her to the Noble’s Quarter.” Those in the temple would need to prepare for receiving Rozemyne as the new High Bishop in the meantime. “Ferdinand, I entrust you with explaining the circumstances to Benno and preparing the temple for the upcoming changes. Karstedt, I entrust you with preparing the baptism, and enforcing the punishment of the criminals we imprisoned today.”
Having received my orders, they both knelt out of respect.
Arno—Fran and I
It was yesterday that an outsider noble had entered the temple, caused a stir, drawn the attention of the archduke, and then been sent away to prison with the High Bishop. The High Priest had sent all of his attendants out of the room, including me, his head attendant, and thus I spent the night not knowing the details of the situation at all.
“Arno, tell Myne’s attendants to take this to the Gilberta Company. This is a top priority,” the High Priest said.
“As you wish.”
It was after breakfast and right around second bell that the High Priest gave me a letter of invitation to deliver. From the way he looked, and from the fact that he had prepared a letter like this so early in the morning, I could tell that he had spent all night working without sleeping much at all.
“If anyone else asks about what happened last night, tell them I’ll give an explanation to everyone some other day,” he said before leaving his room.
Yesterday, Fran had come on urgent business while the High Priest was in his workshop. The High Priest had told me to inform visitors that he was absent, and while it would have been easy for me to contact him from outside, I instead chose to ignore Fran, which led to quite the fuss in the hallway. In the end, he thought I was just being inflexible. I wonder what face he would make if he knew I had ignored his needs on purpose.
“Good morning, Fran.”
I had found Fran and Gil drawing water from the well. Myne’s chambers must have really been lacking in personnel if her head attendant was doing such menial chores. Delia’s absence was putting quite a strain on him, and I couldn’t help but leak a faint smile at that fact.
Fran looked at me with surprise after pouring the water he had drawn into Gil’s bucket. He had a tall and muscular body that would have disappointed Sister Margaret to no end, but when he widened his eyes like that, it was easy to remember what a frail little boy he had been while serving her.
“Good morning, Arno. What brings you here this early...?”
“An errand from the High Priest. He would like you to deliver this letter of invitation to the Gilberta Company as soon as possible.”
Fran took the letter from my outstretched hand, then immediately passed it to Gil. “Understood. Gil, please change, then go and deliver this.”
“Got it. Be right back.” Gil rushed back to Myne’s chambers, the letter in one hand and the bucket of water in the other. It was nothing short of bizarre to see what was once the greatest problem child in the temple doing his duties as an attendant so eagerly.
“It must be rough, having so few attendants now.”
“We will be taking on two new attendants today. I would like to think things will get easier once they’re here.”
It seemed that they were replacing Delia. What a shame. I would much rather you continue struggling for a bit longer, I thought as I turned my back to Fran. “Until next time.”
On my way back to the High Priest’s room, the blue priest Brother Egmont spotted me and immediately came rushing over. “Arno, what in the world happened yesterday?! The High Bishop’s room is locked, there are no gray priests standing by the door, and nobody I’ve asked knows what has happened. Surely the High Priest has some idea of what’s going on!” he yelled, spit flying out of his mouth. He was one of the High Bishop’s cronies, and would sometimes even act haughty around the High Priest when he had the High Bishop there for protection.
I resisted the urge to wipe my face while repeating what the High Priest had instructed me to say. “He will explain the circumstances to everyone when the time comes. Unfortunately, I was cleared from the room and so do not know the details myself.”
“That means you know something though, right?! Come now, tell me!”
“I do not know the charges, but the High Bishop was imprisoned by the archduke and the
