Sylvester didn't want to know.
He had decided upon seeing the goofy face of his niece as she poured over what appeared to be a completely blank book as she waited for the start of the noble's Starbind Ceremony, that he simply didn't want to know. Especially not after the clothing shop incident, when Sylvester found out that all three of Ferdinand's children had learned the 'Copy/Paste' spell and that it could be used to implant magic circles into clothing that was charged with mana, not just paper and parchment.
It usually would take days for a noble woman to add magic circles into a set of clothes by hand, but with Rozemyne and Tuulisa's method, they could make hundreds of sets a day, and without leaving any sort of visible sign of them with differences in threads, making them more beautiful than their counterparts. With Elvira's overwhelming endorsement, they would soon have a monopoly on the noble's clothing industry because of it.
He was still trying to wrap his mind around the implications of such a development.
Sadly, not everyone agreed with Sylvester's desire to remain in blissful ignorance.
"What are you dears looking at?" Elvira asked her god daughters, getting Rozemyne and Elfreida's attention.
"It's the Archbishop's copy of the scriptures, and it is amazing!" Rozemyne said, her usually golden eyes softly glowing all the colors of the rainbow as she looked at them with a cheerful smile. "I knew that every copy of the scriptures was different because of the attitudes of the time, but the original copies provided to the Archbishops are completely unique. It is a magic tool that hides its contents from anyone other than the registered Archbishop and those he gives permission to, and even they can only see what they are worthy of seeing based on the abilities of the viewer and the registered Archbishop. There are so many prayers, rituals and stories that didn't make it into the scriptures we use at the Temple."
"Is that so?" Elvira hummed as she looked down at the apparently blank book.
"It's true." Elfreida said from next to Rozemyne. "There is even a ritual that can melt all of the snow in a region and cause the end of Winter."
"What!?" Sylvester shouted, his mild interest suddenly turning much more attentive.
He wasn't the only one, all of his retainers, Lady Elvira and her attendants all became much more focused on the girls.
Ehrenfest had many places were snow was on the ground six months out of the year. It made farming difficult, and since Ehrenfest was a backwater Duchy with no specialty products until recently, it had made life very hard and was the reason why they were ranked so low in the standings.
If such a ritual did exist, it was revolutionary for them.
"Yeah, its right here." Rozemyne said, changing the book to yet another blank page before giving them permission to read the book.
Suddenly, the book was full of symbols, magic circles and pictures that hadn't been there before. "Incredible." The woman said as she looked over the section that Rozemyne was pointing to. "...I can't read it."
"Huh? Does Lady Elvira not have the water element?" Rozemyne asked.
"No, I can see it. I just can't read it. It is written in a dialect from over a thousand years ago." Elvira clarified.
None of the nobles could read the old language, even if they could see it. Rozemyne had no problem, given the amount she had already read and her father's teachings, and Elfreida could also make out a little bit of it.
"Oh, I see." Rozemyne nodded before explaining what was there.
It described a magic circle on a platform where a group of women had to recite a poem as part of a ritual to bring about the Spring. The ritual was dedicated to the Goddess of Thunder and upon completion, a powerful storm would come which would wash away the snow and afterwards the weather conditions would change to mid spring.
As it turned out, Elvira recognized the prayer used, as it was a song passed down in her hometown that was sung during the Spring Prayers Festival. But it seemed that since men joined in and it wasn't performed on the proper stage, the prayer was never answered.
"Why? Why didn't Bezewanst tell us about something this important?" Sylvester demanded angrily.
"I doubt he knew." Rozemyne told them. "The book only reveals this particular ritual to someone with a water element and as much magic power as a trained Mednoble. Bezewanst didn't have the qualifications to read it."
"I doubt he ever read the scripture at all. He didn't seem like the reading type." Elfreida commented. "I mean, the copy of the scripture he used had a bunch of cheat notes in the margins."
"What!? How could you have such an amazing book and not read it!?" Rozemyne shouted in shock, getting looks from the surrounding nobles.
"How much magic power would be needed in order to preform the ritual?" Sylvester asked.
"Um… Good question." Rozemyne said before holding up one finger. A copy of the magic circle was drawn in the air above her finger, something that caused eyes to bug out.
After enough practice, Rozemyne had learned to 'Copy/Paste' without a tangible surface for her magic circles, and could paste anything that she had stored within her magic circuits. The copies were not perfect and would only be temporary, but she could still use the magic circles she made like that.
Shirou had known that such a thing was possible and coached her through it, but was unable to do it himself. Said it was because he learned how to do it wrong and couldn't be retaught.
Tuuli and Freida had been learning as well.
Myne charged it until it was full and ready to activate as an experiment. "This is one twentieth the scale of the real thing, so… I'd say around one and a half small chalices worth for the real thing."
"That's too much." Sylvester said with a sigh of disappointment, scratching his head. He couldn't afford to spend that much mana on each and every Giebe that wanted the ritual, and playing favorites wasn't possible. "Well, it is something to think about once the mana shortage gets better."
"Why do you have the Archbishop's copy of the scriptures?" One of Sylvester's scholars demanded. He was one of the men who belonged to the Veronica faction, who were none too comfortable with Lady Rozemyne and the waves she was causing simply by existing.
The man flinched as Bonifatius glared at him, popping his knuckles just by flexing his hands, hands that could crack a human skull with trivial ease, like crushing a grape.
"I ah… I used magic to claim it without permission." Rozemyne admitted, embarrassed. "I just wanted to see what it had that the other scriptures didn't."
"Why did you think that it had more in it?" Elvira asked, curious, even as some people looked upset about the fact that the girl had effectively stolen a sacred artifact.
"Because of the number of pages. The Archbishop's scripture has a lot more pages than the others do." Rozemyne explained to them.
"You stole the Archbishop's scriptures just to satisfy such a childish curiosity?" Another one of Veronica's men said.
Once again, Bonifatius started to stare them down, but Sylvester interrupted.
"Enough. She's already proved that she is more useful with it than Bezewanst had been, and those in the lower city are calling her a Saint. If she wants the scripture, then she can have it." Sylvester said before pointing at his niece. "Rozemyne, I am appointing you as the new Archbishop of Ehrenfest. Congratulations on your appointment."
"...Huh?" Rozemyne said, not seeing that coming.
Sure, she'd wanted to read the Archbishop's scripture, but that didn't mean she wanted to be the new Archbishop. It was just a really unique book.
"Now, if no one has anything else to say, we have a starbind ceremony to hold." Sylvester said. "Rihyarda, please carry her. You'll be in charge of her so long as she is at the castle."
"Yes, Milord." The elder woman said before lifting Rozemyne up. Bonifatius pouted with jealousy, but didn't react defensively, so she was definitely safe.
Rihyarda had been both Sylvester and Ferdinand's wet nurse, and was now being assigned to keep track of Rozemyne as her noble attendant, for while she was visiting the castle.
Sylvester hoped that Rihyarda could keep Rozemyne under control, the way she had with him and Ferdinand.
Fat chance.
"May I pray for a blessing in appreciation of this serendipitous meeting, ordained by the vibrant summer rays of Leidenschaft the God of Fire?" Shirou said while kneeling before the Archduke of Klassenberg in his office, after the man had dismissed his attendants and guards in order to speak to Shirou absolutely alone. Not something he liked.
"Forget the pleasantries. I don't have time for them." Aub Kalssenberg said flatly. He was a thirty year old man with golden hair and eyes that gave him a regal appearance, his red cape hung over one shoulder, masking the fact that it was missing an arm. "Ferdinand, I wish for you to be engaged to my niece, Eglantine. Do you accept or not?"
"...May I ask why you would wish such a thing?" Shirou asked, not entirely surprised by the request.
"You are no fool Ferdinand. You know exactly why I am doing this. It is for the sake of peace." The Archduke said, narrowing his golden eyes. "My father might wish for Eglantine to marry back into the royal family and secure Klassenberg's position as the first ranked Duchy, but pushing her between the two elder princes and declaring that whichever one she marries will become the next Zent is just asking for another civil war."
"True enough." Shirou nodded his head. Relaxing quite a bit after the man spoke out about the foolishness of the current King. It meant Shirou himself was probably pretty safe, as if this got out, he and his Duchy would be in deep trouble. "What is the girl's opinion on the matter?"
"She already requested to be allowed to enter the Temple to escape the political situation, same as you did in Ehrenfest. But the Zent and my father will not allow it." Aub Klassenberg said. "Eglantine fears another civil war more than any of us."
Eglantine, the daughter of the third prince who had stood against the first prince who murdered the second prince in order to steal the throne in the first round of the civil war.
He had gained the support of a majority of the Duchies and won, only for him and his entire family to be poisoned to death right after the war had ended. All of them, save for Eglantine, who was too young to have been baptized, and therefore didn't eat dinner with the rest of her family.
Eglantine was nine and three quarters years younger than Shirou himself, turning eleven this Winter, where she would be a second year student at the Academy. It wasn't that large of an age gap by this world's standards, but it still made Shirou feel awkward.
"Why me?" Shirou asked.
"Do you have any other marriage partners in mind?" The Aub asked. "Your unusually large amount of mana means that you can only ever bear a child with an Archduke Candidate of a Greater Duchy. I doubt there are more than five girls in the entire country who could bear your child."
"...That's not quite true, but that only explains why it should be appealing to me. Why would you want to waste your niece's hand on me? Or did she at some point fall in love with me so passionately as to move your heart?"
"Hardly." The man huffed. "I suppose you didn't involve yourself in the war, but I remember it clearly. I remember seeing a group of farmers trying to defend their lands with nothing more than pitchforks against a Medknight. I remember having to stop that slaughter." The war veterian stared at Shirou with hard eyes. He didn't mention that the Medknight in question had been one of his own men. "That is what your Ditter match with Dunkelfelger reminded me of. The gap in power that exists between you and the Archknights of Dunkelfelger is the same as that between a noble and a commoner."
"I see. So it isn't that you are against selling your niece in a political marriage. You just have different priorities about what she should be sold for. Your father wants political influence, while you desire military strength." Shirou said, understanding why the man wanted someone with as little political power as him.
They didn't want Eglantine to marry into Shirou's family. They wanted Shirou to marry into hers and moved to Klassenberg to act as a Knight.
"Klassenberg's Knight Order has been understaffed for generations, even before the civil war. Why do you think we abandoned the golden mountains?"
The golden mountains had once belonged to a Duchy that had been half made up of what was currently Ehrenfest, but its Duchy attempted to rebel against the crown and was crushed. Klassenberg absorbed the mountains that contained valuable mining real estate, while letting the reminder of the territory form into Ehrenfest, since it wasn't worth enough to take.
However, the mines were said to have dried up and Klassenberg abandoned the territory. Now it was a wildland that was overflowing with powerful Feybeasts.
"I thought the mines dried up." Shirou said, remembering the history reports about old interactions between Klassenberg and Ehrenfest that Justus had given him.
"No. We just told everyone that to save face." The Archduke said, being surprisingly honest with Shirou. "So, what do you say?"
"...I have three concerns with this. First, I'm not about to engage myself to somehow who isn't willing. Unless Eglantine herself asks for it, I won't give my concent."
"Easily arranged."
"Second, if I leave Ehrenfest as it is now, it will completely collapse."
"You will be permitted to assist them with their Knights Order's duties."
"It is more than just the Knights Order. Ehrenfest currently has only four people who can assist with the foundation, rather than the normal seven. Five if you include me, though I haven't had the magic power to spare for it because of the terrible situation at the Temple. Even if Ehrenfest wasn't hit hard by the civil war, it has always been on the verge of collapse."
"...I didn't think it was that bad. Ehrenfest was even assisting its neighbors with mana."
"Something it was only able to do because of me and my children."
"Children?"
"That is my third concern. I have a blood daughter I had been keeping hidden until recently and two girls from the lower city I took on as students to help with the mana situation, who I recently adopted."
This got the man to bite his lip.
While for Shirou, who had never had any intention of marrying or gaining political office, these things were no big deal, having a child out of wedlock and adopting commoners was not something someone of high status was supposed to do.
To have his niece marry a man with these was a hard blow, but was it a deal breaker when you consider Shirou's individual military strength?
"So long as they are all girls, then it is fine. Students of yours are most welcome." The Aub eventually decided. "As for the mana situation in Ehrenfest, it will be four years before Eglantine comes of age. You have that long to prepare Ehrenfest for you leaving, if you wish to. Honestly, given the way they treat you, I can't understand why you would."
"You know, I don't really remember why myself." Shirou admitted. Given his own understanding of Ferdinand's personality, he couldn't understand what it was that made him care about Ehrenfest. The man had not trusted anyone, save for those who had sworn their names to him. Even family members and those who he had been close to for years, Ferdinand didn't trust or fully care for, at least out of the people that Shirou had met. So what was it that made the man so loyal to Ehrenfest?
The Archduke of Klassenberg watched Shirou's expression with interest.
The fact that Ferdinand was abused and taken advantage of by Ehrenfest's Archducal family was not a secret. Neither was his exile to the Temple, his near death from poisoning, or how he collapsed from overwork. Dunkelfelger had been especially vocal about getting Ferdinand out of Ehrenfest, without the man himself knowing.
This was the main motivation for this little meeting, as it was likely that one of the Greater Duchies would soon be made to marry one of their daughters to Ferdinand, to remove him from Ehrenfest. And if his power and skill went to one of the other Duchies, Klassenberg stood to lose in its standings.
Its influence was already in jeopardy due to various past incidents.
Which was why he was jumping the gun and arranging a marriage before anyone else could smart up get to him.
He was giving up on having his niece be the next Queen of the Country, but the political power that would give paled in comparison to what they could gain from Ferdinand and his teaching of their Knights.
In the end, it would all be worth it.
…Shirou felt his hairs stand on end and tensed up, the reaction to some unknown stimulus not going unnoticed. "Is something the matter?"
"...I think someone just violated one of my magic contracts." Shirou said before glancing towards the door. "I need to send some messages. Do you mind?"
"Not at all." The Archduke said, dismissing the man before breathing a sigh of relief.
He had been afraid that the momentary murderous aura had been meant for him.
He didn't envy whomever the true target of the man's rage was.
Happy New Year.