Wilfried’s Day as the High Bishop

Wilfried’s Day as the High Bishop

Wilfried’s Day as the High Bishop

I hate how Rozemyne gets everything she wants. I’m her older brother and I finished my baptism back in spring, but she’s the one who gets all the attention. Lamprecht says she’s having it rough in her own ways, but that’s gotta be him lying to protect his little sister. I mean, a bit of running was all it took for her to fall over and almost die. How could she do anything?

Rozemyne’s the only one who gets to leave the castle whenever she wants, doesn’t get stuck with teachers, and gets complimented by Father at dinner. I’m not even allowed to go to his office since I’ll “get in the way,” but he lets Rozemyne in... It’s just not fair!

When I told Rozemyne how I felt, she suggested we switch places for a day. That was the best idea I’d ever heard. I’d get to leave the castle and all my annoying retainers, and go to the temple where I could do whatever I wanted just like Rozemyne did. Meanwhile, she could enjoy being surrounded by a bunch of teachers.

“Shall we go, Lord Wilfried?” Lamprecht asked, before spreading the wings of his highbeast and soaring up into the air. I was sitting in front of him, and the feeling of rising into the air and flying filled me with complete giddiness. It really wasn’t fair that Rozemyne had gotten to experience this first.

“Lamprecht, when I make my highbeast, is it going to be a lion like Ferdinand’s?” I asked, looking ahead at Ferdinand, who was guiding us to the temple.

Lamprecht nodded. “Yes. Children of the archduke use single-headed lions, and when you become the archduke yourself, you can make one that has three heads like the duchy’s symbol.”

I had never seen Father’s highbeast myself, but it sounded super cool. Of course he’d have a super-cool highbeast. And it was while I was thinking about the awesome lion I was going to have that I realized—

“...Rozemyne’s highbeast didn’t look like a lion, though.”

“It was peculiar, wasn’t it? I’ve never seen a highbeast like that myself, either,” Lamprecht replied.

It wasn’t long before the temple came into view. It was located right between the pure-white Noble’s Quarter and the brown, messy other side of the city. I’d heard about it being on the other side of the Noble’s Quarter, but it was a lot closer than I thought.

“Lamprecht, what’s that brown, dirty-looking area?”

“The lower city, where commoners live. It’s not a place you will ever have anything to do with, Lord Wilfried.”

A man wearing gray robes was there to welcome us when our highbeasts landed at the temple, and his eyes widened when he saw me. Ferdinand immediately got down from his highbeast and gave him a letter.

“Fran, read this. It’s from Rozemyne. The two of them are swapping places for the day,” Ferdinand said. “Wilfried, this is Fran. He’s Rozemyne’s head attendant in the temple. While you are here, you will do exactly as he says. Fran, I imagine that dealing with Wilfried will be quite the task. I shall join you at a later time.”

“Understood, High Priest. A pleasure to see you, Lord Wilfried. Shall we go and get you changed?”

“Very well,” I replied.

I was taken to the High Bishop’s chambers that Rozemyne lived in. Once there, Fran told Rozemyne’s other attendants that I was going to be the High Bishop for a day, at which point they put me in white robes. This was apparently what the High Bishop wore.

“What tea do you prefer?” an attendant called Nicola asked while Fran was reading Rozemyne’s letter. She then made me some delicious tea and served me sweets that I’d never eaten before. As they broke apart in my mouth, I was overwhelmed by an amazing sweetness.

“I’ve never had sweets like this before. Rozemyne gets all the luck. I wish I got to eat things like this all day,” I complained while taking another one.

Upon hearing that, Nicola beamed a smile. “Lady Rozemyne invented the recipes for these sweets, so if you would like to eat sweets you’ve never tasted before, I suggest you do the same and come up with the recipes yourself. Do you have any ideas? I love making things. I love eating them more, though!” she said with a chuckle, her eyes full of anticipation. But how could I know any recipes for sweets I hadn’t eaten before?

...Rozemyne invented these sweets? Is that even possible? How do you just think up sweets? I thought, stuffing my face with another as I struggled to work it out. By the time Lamprecht asked whether I was going to hand any down, I’d already eaten all but a few. I regretfully passed the rest to him.

While I was sipping the rest of my tea, Fran said something to the attendant called Monika that made her hurriedly leave the room. Ferdinand entered shortly after, almost like he’d deliberately timed it so that I’d just be finishing my drink. He was wearing the blue High Priest robes that I’d seen at Rozemyne’s baptism.

“According to Rozemyne’s chart, your schedule for today is to receive a report at the orphanage, then look over the workshop. Lamprecht and Damuel will accompany you as guards, while Fran and Monika will serve as your attendants,” Ferdinand announced.

At that, Rozemyne’s female knight who had entered with Ferdinand saluted and stepped aside. I then accompanied Ferdinand out of the room, through some hallways, and over to another building.

“This is the orphanage where children without parents are gathered. Beyond these doors is the dining hall,” Fran said, before opening them to reveal a sizable room with large but crude-looking wooden tables lined up beside one another.

I looked around, curious, and that was when I noticed all the people kneeling inside. They were all wearing the same gray robes. It was probably like the uniform that scholars wore.

“High Bishop and High Priest, please take your seats,” Fran said.

I wasn’t that eager to sit on a plain wooden board, but Ferdinand sat down like it was nothing at all, so I didn’t have much choice but to do the same.

“Getting straight to the point—I have heard there is a report for the High Bishop. Would the one responsible for the report please come forward and begin?”

An orange-haired woman stepped forward, faced me, and started giving a report that I couldn’t understand at all. Ferdinand nodded at times, while Fran was writing some stuff down on a weird board he had.

“...What are you even saying?” I asked.

“I am giving this month’s financial report,” the woman replied.

“What does that have to do with me?” I asked, and in the next instant, Ferdinand struck me on the head with a smack. The shock was the worst part, and I held my head in surprise while trying to process what had just happened.

Lamprecht was just as surprised, and he looked at Ferdinand with wide-open eyes. “Lord Ferdinand?!”

“Wh-Wh... What?!”

I could barely even speak. There was a hot, stinging pain building up where he’d hit me, but the only thing I could do was shoot him a dumbfounded glare.

“You fool. Rozemyne is the High Bishop and orphanage director. You have swapped places with her, which means that this has everything to do with you. Even if you do not understand, sit still and keep your silence. Such is Rozemyne’s duty.”

Even though I was clearly annoyed, Ferdinand just glared back and scolded me. I decided to scowl at the woman giving the report, hoping that’d make her finish this boring thing as soon as possible, but she just giggled and continued, not even skipping anything on her sheet. It sucked.

...Does she seriously not realize that I’m mad? What a dense woman.

The report was so boring that, about midway through, I decided to go and wander around instead. But when I tried to jump down from my seat, Ferdinand shot his hand down and pinched my leg.

“That hurts! Ferdinand, what’re you doing?!”

“Did you not hear me when I said to sit still, or was it simply beyond your comprehension? Are you stupid, or are you simply deaf? Perhaps even both,” Ferdinand remarked, looking down at me with cold eyes like he wholeheartedly thought I was an idiot.

Blood rushed to my head. I’d never been so humiliated in my life. I stood up to punch Ferdinand, but I’d barely even balled my fists when he clamped a hand over my forehead and thrust me back into the chair.

“Shut up, sit down, and listen. Understand?”

“Nghh... Lamprecht!”

I called the name of my bodyguard, who was making no move to help me, but Ferdinand just squeezed my head even harder.

“How many times must I repeat myself? Shut up. Sit down. And listen.”

Some of the kids started giggling as they watched Ferdinand hold me in place. I could hear them saying things like “What doesn’t he understand?” and “He just needs to listen.”

“I-I’ll listen, okay?! Just let go!”

“You fool. Do not waste the time of others with such pointless tantrums,” Ferdinand said with a derisive scoff before releasing his grip.

Pain radiated from my head as though his fingers had left permanent marks. I spent the rest of the report glaring at Ferdinand from the side, unable to stand up or do anything but stew in my anger.

Gah! Curse you, Ferdinand!

“That concludes this month’s report. I have a bit more to discuss with Fran and the High Priest, so why don’t you spend some time playing karuta with the children, High Bishop?” the woman suggested.

My ears perked up at the word “play.” I quickly looked at Ferdinand, who glanced over the orphan children before returning a slow nod and saying “Very well.”

I leapt off the bench in an instant, stretched a bit, and then followed Lamprecht and Damuel to where all the other kids were.

“So, what is karuta?” I asked.

“I’ll teach you,” one kid said. “We can play together.”

Playing against adults was one thing, but I’d never lost to any of the kids who came to play in the castle. I needed to use this opportunity to prove to all the kids who had laughed at me how amazing I really was.

“First, someone reads the written card. Then, everyone else tries to grab the art card that has the same first letter as that written card. Whoever gets the most wins,” the kid continued. “Since this is your first time playing, High Bishop, you can have one of your guards help out.”

I hadn’t played karuta before, so teaming up with Lamprecht was probably a good idea. Plus, this kid was the one who’d suggested it, so it wasn’t unfair at all.

I sat next to Lamprecht and started playing. I’d assumed Damuel would be the one reading the cards, but instead it was a kid about as old as me.

“You can read? That’s really impressive. Not even I can read yet,” I said, awestruck. But rather than appreciating the praise, the kids all gave me a confused look.

“...Huh? You’re the High Bishop, but you can’t read?”

“Thanks to the karuta and picture books Lady Rozemyne made, everyone in the orphanage can read.”

“Oh, but not Dirk! He’s just a baby,” one of the kids added, pointing at a baby crawling across the floor. It was apparently normal for all the kids in the orphanage to be able to read, and the only one who couldn’t was a baby smaller than my little brother Melchior.

...So I’m basically the same as that baby? I thought, completely taken aback. In the end, Lamprecht was only able to get the single card that was closest to us; the other kids took all the others.

“What a miserable defeat. This is what happens when you are challenged by children not instructed to lose by their parents,” Ferdinand said.

“Lord Ferdinand! You can’t just say that—” Lamprecht began, only to be interrupted.

“It is the truth, and one he needs to face,” Ferdinand said, giving another derisive laugh before moving on. “Follow me.”

Ngghhh...! Curse you, Ferdinand!

We next went through the boys’ building of the orphanage to reach the workshop. There were adults there and kids as young as me, all wearing cruddy-looking clothes, and whatever they were making had made their hands and faces all dirty.

“This is Lord Wilfried, who is serving as the High Bishop in Lady Rozemyne’s place for today,” Fran said to introduce me. At that, two young boys stepped forward, knelt down, and began their noble greetings.

“I pray for a blessing in appreciation of this serendipitous meeting, ordained by the fruitful days of Schutzaria the Goddess of Wind,” they said.

I poured mana into my ring—though I wasn’t too good at doing it yet—before I replied. “May this meeting be blessed.”

This time, I actually did pretty well. I nodded to myself, then looked up at Lamprecht, who gave me a smile and returned my nod in approval.

“Lutz, Gil—you may stand. You called Rozemyne over today, I believe. What is your business? Wilfried shall be handling it in her place.”

“We finished a new picture book and wanted to give her a copy. Please deliver this to Lady Rozemyne. And here is one for you, Lord Wilfried. Please accept it as a gift celebrating our meeting,” the green-eyed kid said before handing me two books. They were shoddily made—basically nothing more than bundles of paper. They were thin, tiny, and didn’t even have covers; it was hard to imagine that they were actually books.

“Picture books? What kind of books are those? What do you do with them?”

“You read them. Rozemyne recently started making them, and she was looking forward to the completion of this one.”

...Rozemyne made these, too?

I started flipping through one of the picture books, looking at the large black-and-white illustrations inside. Some pages had text, just like the karuta. I then glanced at the two kids, who both looked about my age. They were holding their heads high, and their eyes were full of confidence.

“...Can you two read this book?”

“Of course. We wouldn’t be able to work if we didn’t know how to read. I studied really hard to learn!” the purple-eyed kid said with a proud smile.

“It may be rare for commoners to know how to read, but even they can learn when it’s necessary for work. It may be rude to present someone who can’t read with a book the first time you meet them, but as you’re a noble, I’m certain that we don’t need to worry about that,” the green-eyed kid said nervously, glancing over at Ferdinand for confirmation.

Once again, Ferdinand smirked, looking down at me with cold, mocking eyes. “Yes, anyone who has received a noble’s education will know how to read. It would be quite unlikely to ever meet a noble who couldn’t.”

“That is a relief.”