Rewarding Hartmut’s Hard Work

Rewarding Hartmut’s Hard Work

Rewarding Hartmut’s Hard Work

After our visitors from Ahrensbach departed from Ehrenfest, I worked toward advancing my studies for the archduke candidate course under Ferdinand’s supervision. Time passed in the blink of an eye, and before I knew it, the summer coming-of-age ceremony had arrived. I finished it without incident while Hartmut “babysat” me. It was actually kind of scary seeing him with a look of such complete satisfaction. All in all, the ceremony was more than enough for me to resolve to learn to do everything myself so that I wouldn’t need his help anywhere near as much in the future.

The autumn baptisms came soon after, and a meeting was held about the Harvest Festival. One key topic of discussion was which blue priests would be going where. It was a task that Ferdinand would normally deal with himself, but as he was busy preparing documents for his successors, Hartmut and I were doing it instead.

“The Harvest Festival, yes?” Hartmut asked. “I wish to travel with you, Lady Rozemyne.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. You have your own duties to perform as a blue priest, Hartmut. You obviously cannot accompany me.”

“I am aware, but that is still my wish. Otherwise, what reason was there for me to have remained behind during Spring Prayer and focused on learning tax work? Ngh... I was a fool!”

Oh yeah. He stayed at home last spring and said that he’d accompany me in the autumn as a tax official.

The Archduke Conference had taken place after this Spring Prayer, and that was when Hartmut had been assigned to take over from Ferdinand as the High Priest. I understood the disappointment of knowing that one’s hard work had ultimately been for naught, but I had grown tired of his impassioned speeches.

“I wished only to burn into mine unworthy eyes the sight of you baptizing the common folk, performing their coming-of-age ceremonies, and binding their stars all at once. How I yearn to once again experience Groschel, where the sparkles of great blessings and stunned awe on the faces of the commoners gave way to eternal praise for your works, and...”

Something tells me we’re going to be here a while...

Still, no matter how annoying he was being now, I was certain that he would adopt the role of a future High Priest to perfection when it came time to hold the meeting with the other blue priests and depart. I placed a lot of trust in his talents... but I still wasn’t interested in hearing his various complaints and excessive praise for me.

“Fran, Zahm, let us put Hartmut aside and focus on preparing a list of which blue priests we can potentially send out.”

“Understood.”

I ignored Hartmut as he continued his incomprehensible speech and instead returned to the task at hand. We were going to be sending the blue priests who took their jobs seriously to the locations with the biggest harvests. Years of this had apparently led the blue priests of the former Veronica faction to start doing a bit of work themselves.

Once our list was complete, I asked Hartmut and Zahm to deliver it to the High Priest’s chambers. “Assuming he approves, all we need to do now is announce our choices during the meeting. You will be in his chambers preparing to succeed him henceforth, right, Hartmut? Best of luck.”

Thankfully, Hartmut had given up on his speech and joined our discussion the moment serious talks began. He had a bit of madness inside him, but all things considered, he was a very diligent person. It was also important to consider that he had only lost the chance to accompany me because he had volunteered to serve as the next High Priest. He was working hard for my sake, so it only seemed fair to reward him.

The problem is that I don’t really know what Hartmut would want. His last request was for a coming-of-age blessing, so...

I racked my brain for ideas, thinking back to all the times I remembered seeing him happy or excited.

Hm? Um... Huh. How strange. Is it just me, or did all of these events have something to do with me?

From an objective point of view, his obsession was creepy to the point of being deeply unsettling. Far from rewarding him, I wanted to put as much distance between us as physically possible.

Nah, nah, nah. I assume there’s just a side of this I’m not seeing. I’ll ask someone closer to Hartmut about it; I’m sure they’ll put my mind at ease.

I was only familiar with the “retainer” side of Hartmut, but he had a more private side as well—as proven by the fact that he had started dating Clarissa without my knowing. There were bound to be many other things he liked; I just wasn’t aware of them.

Cornelius might have an idea...

I turned to Cornelius. Apparently, he and Hartmut had been socializing since before their baptisms, since Elvira and Ottilie were both family and close friends.

“Cornelius, does Hartmut have any interests other than me?” I asked, staring up at him in anticipation. “I am conscious that he isn’t able to accompany me for the Harvest Festival, despite having so diligently learned tax work on top of his various other duties as my head scholar and the future High Priest, so I wish to give him a reward of some kind. The problem is that nothing comes to mind...”

He fell into thought for a short while, but then his expression became one of complete despair. “I... apologize for not being of any use,” he said, looking at me intently, “but nothing comes to mind. That said, I am once again steeling my resolve to stay on guard against Hartmut—even more so than before. I will protect you no matter what may happen.”

So not even Cornelius can think of anything...

“Philine? Roderick?” I asked. They spent time with him as apprentice scholars, so maybe they knew something. “Anyone...?”

“Unfortunately, although over half a year has passed since I first began speaking with Hartmut, I have yet to see him take an interest in anything unrelated to you...” Roderick said apologetically. It really, really wasn’t something I had wanted to hear. “However, Hartmut is a skilled scholar, so I must imagine he is fond of magic tools and circles.”

It was true that he had joined Ferdinand and Raimund in their conversation at the Interduchy Tournament, and the gathering spot’s healing magic circle had made him excited enough to start taking notes. These things might have been indirectly related to me, but I was sure that his interest went beyond that.

As I was deep in thought, Philine came up with something. “Hartmut wishes to become a scholar you can rely on,” she said, “so perhaps you could consult him when making magic tools or circles?”

“Can that really be considered a reward...? It sounds more like adding to his workload.”

“This is Hartmut we are talking about; I am certain he will adore it,” she said confidently and with an innocent smile.

The most I could say in response was: “I have learned so much.” I then fell into thought for a bit—at which point Damuel made a hesitant suggestion.

“This is not unrelated to you, Lady Rozemyne, but he is very interested in learning about blessings, religious ceremonies, and the divine instruments. Perhaps you could permit him to view especially precious documents?”

“That is a good idea. There are many such documents in the temple.”

Perhaps giving Hartmut the means to research blessings and the divine instruments would inspire him to lock himself away in his hidden room like Ferdinand. Either way, it was sure to stop him from obsessing over me.

After finishing his administrative work with the High Priest, Hartmut returned to the High Bishop’s chambers. I wasted no time in putting my plan in motion.

“Hartmut... do you want to try making the divine instruments?”

“You intend to give me the divine instruments, Lady Rozemyne?! If even that is within your power, then you are even greater than a saint. A goddess, perhaps? Splendid! Truly splendid! Praise be to the gods!” Hartmut exclaimed, offering a prayer. His eyes were sparkling more than ever, but his delight was entirely unfounded—I certainly hadn’t said whatever he was going on about.