Chapter Text
Edited
My name is Ferdinand, the half-brother of Archduke of Ehrenfest. Its been four years since I was thrown into the Temple. The first three years used to be peaceful with plenty of time for me to enjoy and indulge myself in my hobby. Being put into the Temple seemed to be a blessing in disguised with how at ease I was in here compared to the aristocratic society.
After the political upheaval however, all peace were broken. With Sylvester’s order, I was given the position of the High Priest with the guise of searching for the misgivings conducted by the High Bishop even though both of us knew that mere corruptions will never be able to force Sylvester to move against his family members.
Acting as the High Priest, all the work that should be done by the High Bishop was passed down to me with the authority of the High Bishop. Although, I knew that is was yet another form of harassment, I could not deny the need to thank the dirty old men for aiding me in my task. I must say, he really needs to work on his prayer, especially to Mestionola, the Goddess of Wisdom because he seems to lack intelligence. Giving me immediate access to all documents in the Temple is not only a great way for him to harass me but also a magnanimous way to help me.
Needless to say, with the endlessly running deficit of the Temple along with the work forced upon me by my good brother from the castle, some sacrifices such as my sleep has to be made. Even though, I am accustomed in forgoing my sleep in exchange for extra research time, exchanging it for endless work were very much not appreciated. Alas, I promised my father to aid my brother in his reign over my Gedrulich, Ehrenfest.
Never would I have expected that my not-so-peaceful days would once again be broken by the Gods. Yes, the motherfu***** Gods. Excuse me, such words should not be uttered.
It was a not-so-peaceful sleep with the help of nightmare-inducing wake up call potion that I especially made in my House of Lords day. I knew I was in a dreamland because I took the potion myself but the effect should only manifest itself after one bell. My internal watch is telling me that one bell has yet to pass but here I am, sitting on a chaise lounge in a large library. I am very interested in the books showcased but I am much more alert to the people- no, Goddesses that was sitting in front of me.
As to how I knew that they are Goddesses, anyone with an ounce of magic would be able to sense the oppressing aura emitted by them. What made me curious was the fact that it does not affect me as much as I thought it would.
“Quinta.” The women, who I assume to be the Goddess of Wisdom, Mestionola spoke.
In normal time, I would have respectfully replied to her even if her way of addressing me made me feel disgusted as she was a superior but they just had to choose a time when I were in my most agitated mood with the piling work and the recent death of one of my aides because of that God**mned women.
“I. Am. Not. Quinta.” Maybe they sensed the deep hatred in my voice because the Goddesses seemed to be taken aback.
“As expected. Aevillebe without Gedrulich is the most dangerous.” The giggling voice of Ribesque Hilfe, Goddess of Marriage, rang out in the silence that I created.
“Huh. That is why we’re here aren’t we?” The only reasonable sounding Goddess, Goddess of Time, Draffangoar spoke.
“Let’s get this over with soon. We don’t want to keep Lord Schratraum waiting.” As expected. I am trapped in the God of Dream’s realm.
“Okay, Quin-Ferdinand. We need your help.” And why should I? Anyway, I choose to listen to them first because this might involves Ehrenfest in the future. It is better to be equipped with knowledge than being oblivious after all.
“There will be a little girl who will be involved with you in the future. We want you to protect her and help her in her journey to save Jugernshmith. She is someone from the future. Jugernshmith was destroyed, thus we decided to unravel the cloth with the help of Lady Venthuhito and she will reweave it again.”
Venthuhito, the Goddess who weave the cloth of fate with the threads spun by the Goddess of time, Draffangoar. Seems like a very unpleasant future had been created that the Goddesses decided to abandon the pattern and reweave it again. Truly troublesome.
“You, with my book is the only legitimate person with the capability of helping Jugernshmith with Myne. Together, fill the foundation and help Lord Airvermeen. As per my promise with Myne, we the Gods will fulfill your wishes after you succeed.” Without waiting for my response, the Goddesses kicked me out of the Library and I’m back into my chaise lounge.
---...---
My name is Ferdinand. I am a 19 years-old Archduke candidate of Ehrenfest, a middle-ranked duchy which raised in ranking because of its neutrality in the political change. I am tasked by the Gods to fill the country’s foundation which only the royal family had right to do because I have the Book of Mestionola that the royals failed to get. It was unfathomable to me as to how the royals failed to obtain it as all the information regarding its acquisition could be found in the underground library of the House of Lords.
Disregarding their inability to posses the book, are the royals so incompetent that they could not even fill the foundation of the country? Why do I and a little girl need to clean up after their blunder?
Myne, is the name of the little girls. Other than her name, I have no other information to seek her out. It might be possible to find her if she had had her baptismal ceremony but if not, nothing could be done. Especially, it was currently unknown as to which territory she belonged to. The Goddesses did say that she was a little girl.
Meeting her would be a long way to come.
Was what I thought when the next day, I received an invitation from Fran. A merchant, the Gilberta company would like to have an audience with me regarding their new products and the orphanage. The material of the letter requesting the audience was something that I had never seen which intrigued me. The fact that they wished to speak about the orphanage further convinced me to meet with them. I set the meeting time for five days later on the fifth bell.
Making necessary arrangement, I called for Eustocks to come to the Temple using Ordnantz. It had been a while since I last used him but he seems to be delighted to be called so, I’ll leave it to him.
“Eustocks, I want you to investigate a company called Gilberta from downtown. They had some interest in the orphanage and I am also quite fascinated by the products that they wanted to introduce.”
“Understood Milord.”
From Eustocks report, it seemed like Gilberta company dealt mostly with the lower nobles. They don’t seems to be bias towards any of the factions so, the anxiety factor dealing with them had lessen. In spite of the normality that was reported, there was one detail that made me raise an eyebrow.
Recently, the company begun to showcase products that had nothing to do with beauty such as the peculiar paper that was used as the invitation request. In addition, after much digging Eustocks informed me that products that had never been seen before was produced by the company one after another. A board like thing that is used by the company’s master’s main aide, knitted flower decorations, new type of paper and who knows how much more items that were still concealed.
This matter piqued my interest a lot.
On the fifth bell five days later, a group of people came in through the door. The matter was concealed from the High Bishop thus, the people in the room were all carefully chosen by me. The man in the lead, following after Fran was as reported by Eustocks. Other than the peculiar rumor about him having a boy-loving hobby, everything about his business ethics and personality was a clear from me. Although, the rumor was disturbing, it was merely a rumor. Some clarification would be needed.
Once everyone were in position, I noticed something abnormal. The presence of a boy with night colored hair that appear to have the stars shining in it. The smooth dark hair contrasted with the untarnished white as porcelain skin unlike any boys that I saw living in downtown, complimented with the bright eyes that reminded me of a full moon on the most refreshing night of the summer season. The boy look like the epitome of the product of The God of Darkness’ and The Goddess of Light’s love. The boy’s shoulder length hair were half tied up in low ponytail with the hair accessory that was sold at Gilberta company but it looked more exquisite and especially made just for him. The color of the hair accessory was dark blue with gradient gradually turning light blue. Thin golden thread were visible between the strings acting as complementary to add more elegance to it.
They might have noticed my gaze lingering on the boy as Benno, the master of Gilberta company, swiftly introduced me to the boy.
“High Priest, let me introduce you to the person with he most contribution in our products’ creation, Myne.”
Myne.
Benno said Myne. I did not misheard him. While I was stunned, the boy had already stepped forward and kneeled down with his hands crossed in front of his chest.
“Although I am yet to have my baptismal ceremony, would you please accept my greetings?” the boy spoke with a smooth, clear and high pitched voice.
“........Accept.”
“On a good day with the shining blessing of the God of Fire, Leidenshaft. I greet you for the first time. Hello, High Priest. My name is Myne. I am pleased to be made your acquaintance.” The greeting was done perfectly and elegantly. Unthinkable of a commoner child. Is this child really the one spoken by the Goddesses? This child is a boy though. Unless the Goddesses had mistaken his gender, which I doubted, Myne had disguised herself as a boy. As for the question why... I could always dig that out of her soon.
Done with the greetings, we move to the main point without any detours. The purpose of Gilberta company were to gain permission to use the orphanage as a workshop to make their products. This gave them the profit of free labor. As for the Temple, it could help us to get out of red annual report. The Gilberta company promise to donate 5% of the annual profit of the orphanage workshop to the Temple. Which from my calculation, were very big in itself.
The discussion was not something that were disadvantageous for me at all, but that’s what made me more worried. Such a good merchant as Benno would never forgo to reap some advantage for himself yet he had never mention it once. Remembering the rumor that I heard from Eustocks, I opt to ask him.
“By the way, Benno. I have something that I want to clarify.” I continued after receiving a nod from Benno who was sitting ramrod straight with attention.
“I heard some rumor that you had a boy-loving hobby, what does that mean?” My gaze swept past Myne for a moment.
The question might have shook him to the core as he almost spit out the tea that he drank. Fortunately, he managed to control himself and cough awkwardly.
“That.. I also did not understand as to why the people around me was saying that, but High Priest I have to clarify that the rumor is false!” I see. Then, that’s good. It would be bad if he’s involved with Myne in that way.
The air that was eased up by Benno’s flustered appearance once again tensed up when Benno raise his face to look at me directly. Myne standing at the back become unnaturally rigid and took a step forward. Although she’s tense, the movements were still very much elegant and well coordinated.
“High Priest, the real purpose of me coming here today was because of Maine’s request to enter the Temple. Actually, Maine is a devouring.” I see. So, she wants to take the initiative of contacting me.
When Benno stopped talking, Myne open her mouth. “High Priest, excuse me but would you please allow me to talk?” With a nod from me, Myne inhale deeply.
“High Priest, could we please talk with an eavesdropping prevention magic tool?” Well, it was confirmed then. She is the Myne that the Gods talked about.
I handed her the magic tool that I have at hand.
“Lord Ferdinand, please be my father.”
....What?
(To be continue...)