Ascendance of a Bookworm

Volume 6, Chapter 16: An Ambush

Next morning, the High Priest met Baron Bron to give him one of the small chalices. We only needed to do that for the towns the nobles were in charge of. Things were different in the past when there were more priests and shrine maidens in the temple. The excess people would head down to these towns. But that was no longer possible with the shortage of mana Ehrenfest was facing and that we had to lend our mana to the other duchies,

The Central District was the land that the archduke ruled directly without the need of another noble as a proxy leader. The chief of the towns in these areas would gather at the Central winter mansions, where they would directly receive the large chalices from the temple. For the other areas ruled by nobles, they could handle the distribution of mana stored in the smaller chalices by themselves.

…If all the nobles had the mana to fill up the smaller chalices, why did the temple need to go out of the way to hold a Prayer Ceremony just to hand them the filled chalices? Even if there were some circumstances that prevented the nobles from filling it up themselves, why couldn’t we just pass the chalices to the nobles before they left the city, that would save so much time and energy? This all made no sense.

I pretended that I understood all these, but in actuality I did not. In the end I just chose to keep these thoughts to myself, they probably had their own reasons why they had planned all these troublesome things.

The High Priest returned from his meeting with the Baron, and we just spent the rest of the day visiting the large farming towns in the Central District, where the duchy primarily produced its grains. We performed the Spring Prayer at the five winter manors under the duke and another one ruled by a noble and we also stayed there.

We repeated this for 2 more days and we had finished the Spring Prayers for the Central District.

“As of tomorrow, we will only be visiting the lands ruled by nobles,” the High Priest declared with a serious expression.

Throughout the trip, our main mode of transport were the highbeasts, that was beyond my expectations, and we would rarely ride the carriages. Before we reached the noble mansions, we would board the carriages at a short distance from it to pretend that we had been riding them the entire time.

Everytime we visited the mansions, the High Priest would tell me to remain hidden under a veil made for noble girls. When the bumpy carriage stopped at the mansion, only the High Priest, Fran and me went in, while Sylvester and the knights would wait outside in the carriages. I thought that Sylvester would kick up a storm since he always wanted to be the centre of attention, but this time he would wait quietly in the carriage.

“We will be heading to Viscount Gellach’s mansion next, we will board the carriage later. Let’s move,” said the High Priest as we boarded the highbeasts.

It was still early in the morning, we had just passed the chalice to a noble and were off to catch up with the carriage that left first. The High Priest said that the carriages had a magical tool that acted as a tracking device, allowing him to track their location wherever they went.

We caught up with the carriages without any problems. We split up such that Karstedt and Sylvester sat together, while I sat with Damuel and the High Priest. This was the best seating arrangement to maximise our defense and offense power. There was no way I had experience in combat so I just followed their instructions

“Viscount Gellach might approach you with intentions, Myne. He personally requested you to carry out the Spring Prayer in his land. He has some connections with the High Bishop, so you best be careful around him.”

The High Priest seemed very worried and agitated about this, he even told me to pull the veil lower to cover more of my face.

As soon as we arrived, we were told to meet Viscount Gellach inside. The High Priest, Arno, Fran and I descended the carriage and made our way inside.

“Ah, my Brother Ferdinand! Thank you for travelling this far to visit my mansion. Is the rumoured apprentice shrine maiden I’ve heard so much about?”

He was probably trying to suck up to me, so his voice sounded super sticky and disgusting. His face was not in view because I was kneeling down and my vision was limited by the veil. I could only see his shin from my peripheral, that was enough to tell me that he was on the bigger side in terms of size.

“I take it that you will be spending the night here? I am glad to have you!”

“Unfortunately, we have a very tight schedule today and will have to take our leave now. Our accommodation for the night will be at Count Lesiegang’s estate.”

After presenting the chalice, the High Priest gave a curt reply and left the room. He finished the entire meeting without me even needing to see Count Gellach’s face.

We made a prompt leave from the mansion before noon, and we only arrived at Count Liesegang’s mansion late in the evening, which was in the next province.

Because I was so used to riding the highbeast, it was only now did I realise how slow the carriages were. The High Priests said that we had swapped to the carriages so that our attendants would have ample time to make sure our rooms are ready. But seeing how he kept looking behind the carriage, there was probably another reason.

The land Count Leisegang ruled over was the largest amongst the rest of the nobles in the duchy, but the room for priests that visited biannually was just as small, and my room was the one for the servants.

I was forced to drink of the High Priest’s hand-made potions to make sure that my exhaustion would not take a toll on my health. With the potion I fell into a deep sleep until the morning and felt much more refreshed.

That joyful morning, the High Priest had me summoned to his room and pushed over the magic tool that blocked out sound.

“Intruders were in Karstedt’s room last night,” he said, but it appeared I was the only one who was confused by this. Everyone else frowned and had a serious expression, so they probably knew what was going on.

“Intruders? Like thieves?”

“No, they were kidnappers with you as their objective,” Karstedt explained.

“There were two of them and they tried to leave when they noticed that the person sleeping was too big to be you. I got out of bed immediately and tried to subdue them, but…”

Karstedt didn’t finish his lesson and turned to look at me, as though he was hesitant to tell me the full story.

“Did they escape?”

“No. I managed to get one of them and handed him over to Lord Ferdinand before moving off to track the other, trying to gather all the information I could from his whereabouts. He rode away on one of the two horses in the forest to the east of the mansion, but when I took out my highbeast to give chase, there was an explosion and he died.

“Bweh?”

I was having a hard time processing what he just said. He exploded and died? What on earth is he talking about?

Sylvester noticed my shocked expression and continued, “Ferdinand was disarming the other man when he killed himself, and the other died from an explosion, that was everything that happened.”

“I was hesitant to tell you this, but since you are their target, you have the right to know about this,” the High Priest continued. “Only a few are aware of your whereabouts, so Viscount Gellach must be the mastermind behind this. Myne, be careful.”

He had pointed out the culprit in such a curt manner. I took a look at everyone else, clutching a hand close to my chest, feeling fearful and anxious.

“…So there is no way that Count Leisegang is the culprit?” I asked, but Karstedt shook his head.

“That is impossible. He and his family are relatives from my mother’s side, they would never endanger those around me.”

We all forced ourselves to swallow down breakfasts despite our poor appetites before leaving Leisegang’s mansion. We would spend the night in the residence at the province to the south of the duchy. Our carriages took its leave to the residence while we spent the rest of the morning and afternoon visiting the other noble mansions.

~~~

“We’ll catch up with the carriages now.”

We finished our work for the day without any issue. The High Priest rode his highbeast to follow the road that our carriages were travelling on towards the southern end of the duchy.

A minute later, a red light pierced straight through the sky. Everyone’s face turned grimmed because that was the signal for help from the Knight’s Order.

“Ambush!” Karstedt yelled with urgency. His highbeast sped up towards the source of the red light.

“Keep following!” the High Priest ordered as he raced past us.

Worried that we would lose track of them, I gripped onto the reins and looked towards Damuel.

“Sir Damuel, let’s hurry!”

“…My mana is too little to go that fast.”

“Then I’ll give you mine.”

I was desperate to catch up and gripped on tighter to the reins, sending my mana into the highbeast and it sped up instantly,

“Thanks!”

We dashed through the forest and a wide open field, and we soon saw a group of carriages far in the distance. Fran, Rosina, Hugo and Ella were sitting inside… but there was a weird black mist surrounding them.

“What’s that black stuff?!” I asked Damuel.

We had rejoined the others but it would be hard for them to hear me at this speed.

“That is the God of Darkness’s barrier. The barrier nullifies magic, so magic attacks are useless. Those that ambushed the carriages must have a noble behind them to carry out such an attack. It will be hard for us to enter the battle until we know what mana we’re up against,” Damuel explained in a tense tone.

Suddenly, a group of roughly a hundred people (who were probably farmers) carrying weapons came charging towards the carriages from the forest. My mind throbbed seeing Fran and the others in danger. I made Damuel ride his highbeast next to the High Priest.

“High Priest! Your magic doesn’t work on the barrier so please use it to subdue those men!”

“Hold up! Do you not realise they could be people from this duchy?!” Sylvester objected to my suggestion looking shocked, but I just glared back at him as harshly as possible.

These criminals were going to hurt those I cared about. Who on earth cared about who they were?!

“Fran and Rosina’s safety are my top priority! I need to chant my prayers to release magic, right?!”

I was deciding on which god I should dedicate my prayers to while releasing the mana I had built up. The mana started coursing through my body, and to the ring and bracelet I was wearing, making them glow.

“Ferdinand! Stop her from releasing her mana” Sylvester yelled urgently.

“She’s unstoppable now!” the High Priest shouted back in response.

“Is there nothing we can do?! Who knows how many fatalities there will be if she releases such a powerful attack! There might be a war if the attack hits the neighbouring duchy! For the bare minimum, just buy me time to strengthen the border’s barrier!”

“We can’t do anything about her, but we can redirect her target,” the High Priest muttered.

He flew his lion closer to the highbeast me and Damuel were on, turning towards me.

“Myne! If you want to protect those you care for, make a prayer to the wind!”

I easily pictured the Goddess of Wind who I imagined as Wilma because I had yet to decide on a god to pray to, and it was also because I had done my own research on the gods.

Schutzaria, the Goddess of Wind, was once the Goddess of Autumn. After the passing of the Goddess of Spring, the Wind shielded her sister, the Goddess of Earth from the revived God of Life. She summoned her shield of winter to block the God of Life’s ice and snow, holding him back until the end of the Autumn Harvest. She boasted the strength of her divine and impenetrable defence. Her defence protected the Goddess of Earth, unlike the Goddess of Water whose powers of melting the snow and ice only served to weaken the Goddess of Earth.

Praying to the Goddess of Wind was the best option for me. I turned my raging line of sight back to the black mist and took a deep breath.

…I will be the one to protect Fran and everyone else!

“O Goddess of Wind, Schutzaria, the divine guardian of protection. The twelve goddesses that act as her retainers…”

I began my prayer by saying her name and could instantly feel the mana swelling within me take shape—power meant to protect what’s important to me, not attack my foes, flowed from my entire body to my left arm, where it began to stir like a whirlpool.

Just by saying her name in my prayers, I instantly felt the mana in my body manifesting, this was the power to protect those I loved, and it will not injure my enemies. I allowed the mana to flow to my left arm and it began to take the shape of a whirlpool around my arm.

“Myne! Form the shield over the God of Darkness barrier, so that your mana isn’t consumed!” warned the High Priest.

“Myne! Put the shield around the mist so that your mana does not get nullified!” the High Priest gave his advice.

I gave a small nod while keeping my eyes on the mist beneath me. Thanks to the prayers I had been forced to memorize for rituals, the words flowed easily out of my mouth.

I nodded my head slightly and locked onto the mist swirling. It was because I had been forced to memorise all the prayers for the temple affairs that I could recite it easily.

“Please hear my prayer and lend me your divine strength. Grant me your shield of wind, so that I might blow away those who mean to cause ill.”

“Hear my calls for your divine powers - your protective wind that will gush away those who harbour malicious intents.”

The yellow feystone on the bracelet the High Priest had given me shone the brightest, for it was the divine color of Schutzaria the Goddess of Wind.

The yellow feystone embedded in the bracelet was shining the brightest because yellow symbolised the Goddess of Wind.

My mana was building up and it shot out a bright beam of light towards the carriages. I imagined my mana forming a dome over the black mist without making contact with it, the dome formed smoothly without any issues. With the finished dome, a sharp sound of metal clinking rach through the air. From the bird’s eye view, I saw that the carriages and back mist were encapsulated in a clear but red dome.

“HAAAAH!”

The attackers continued charging, completely oblivious to the newly formed shield, or maybe because they were too engrossed in trying to attack. The first ones to hit the barrier were all hit by a strong gust of wind and were launched into the air.

“Nguh?!”

“Huh?!”

“W-What just happened?!”

Some were sent flying far back, while some fell over and crashed into the others behind them. They just looked shocked and stared at the shield, confused by what just happened to them.

“…That’s amazing,” Karstedt looked down at what just happened with amazement. He approved of the shield I had set up to protect Fran and Rosina.

“Really?! You find this amazing right, Lord Karstedt?! This really is the Goddess of Wind’s shield! I offer my thanks to the goddess who has protected Fran and Rosinga!”

I yelled and shot my hands up in the posing position. I was well surprised how powerful the shield I made was.

“Enough with your prayers!” Sylvester roared when he saw all these.

…But isn’t it right to offer my prayers and thanks for the goddess who has granted me her power?

Of course, I didn’t say that aloud and just continued looking on below me, where the men kept charging back into the shield.

They were repeatedly sent flying back by the winds and the crashed into those standing behind them. They finally gave up after a few more tries.

“There’s mana coming from the forest,” Damuel said out of the blue and everyone looked at him. The fact that someone else’s mana was present meant that they were trying to tamper my shield or to assist the men in their charges against the wind.

I learnt that those with more mana had more difficulty detecting those lesser than theirs, as such Damuel, a laynoble with less mana could sense the mana that the others couldn’t. This made everyone’s gaze serious, just then the High Priest gave orders to each of us.

“Sylvester, Karstedt and I will enter the forest. Damuel, you will keep your position here and continue protecting Myne.”

Damuel nodded at his orders but Sylvester protested with a “No!”, shaking his head.

“Damuel, come closer!” Sylvester said as he stood up from the lion and he jumped onto our flying horse’s wings, like a swift and professional ninja.

“AHH! What are you doing! That’s so dangerous!”

Since the horse was made out of stone, it remained strong and sturdy in the air even with Sylvester on its wind. With his arms spread with for balance, made his way to us swiftly

“Don’t block me,” Sylvester said and squeezed his hands under my arms, pulling me up from my seat and I started to sway around.

I was still trying to process what just happened to me when I saw my vision swirl. I could do nothing but blink.

In the next moment, Sylvester yelled “Ferdinand, catch!” and I was thrown up into the empty air.