Ferdinand/Story

Ferdinand is the priest who registers Myne’s citizenship medal during her baptism.

When Myne returns to the temple to inform the High Bishop that she changed her mind about becoming a shrine maiden, she meets Ferdinand as the High Priest for the first time. He is assigned to read to her from the High Bishop’s temple scriptures. Ferdinand praises her fast learning ability and comments that he would love to have her as a student, if only she were a noble.

After the High Bishop arrives, Myne explains that her parents refused to allow her to join the temple because her Devouring makes her too frail to handle the duties of a gray shrine maiden. The priests test her mana capacity using the temple’s sacred chalice. Realizing that she is valuable for her mana as well as her money, they ask her to bring her parents to the temple for a meeting.

On the day of the meeting, Ferdinand stays silent when the High Bishop tries to pressure Effa and Gunther into sending their daughter to the temple. He believes the High Bishop’s methods, while deplorable, are the most efficient option. However, he later regrets his inaction when Myne loses her temper and nearly kills the High Bishop with her mana. Ferdinand intervenes at the last moment, convincing her to stop before her family become complicit in her crime. They move to his chambers to begin a proper discussion. Impressed by the depth of her family’s love for her, he accepts all Myne’s conditions for joining the temple.

Before Myne formally enters the temple, Ferdinand instructs Eckhart and Justus to gather information about her in the lower city. When their attempts to question the local commoners meet with little success, they break into the Merchant's Guild to check her official documents. They later report their findings to Ferdinand, who is satisfied that Myne is not a threat.

When Myne joins the temple, Ferdinand claims “full responsibility” for her care, education and management, intending to keep her as far away from the High Bishop as possible. He assigns her Fran, his own gray priest attendant, to help her learn to adjust to temple life, and he guides her through her fealty ceremony as a apprentice blue shrine maiden.

Ferdinand briefs Myne on her new temple duties and temple’s dire financial straits. As he requests, she, Benno and Mark bring her promised donation to the temple later that day. During the meeting, Ferdinand asks Benno about Myne’s background and character, and asks for clarification on the rumors that she is Benno’s "Goddess of Water.” The merchants also give him introductory gifts, of which he finds plant paper the most impressive. At the end of the meeting, Myne collapses, startling Ferdinand.

After Myne returns to her temple duties, she scandalizes Ferdinand by changing into her blue robes in his office. When she points out that she has nowhere else to change, Arno suggests assigning her the orphanage director’s chambers, to which Ferdinand agrees.

Later, Myne discovers the true condition of the orphanage and resolves to ask Ferdinand for his advice on how to handle it. However, when she meets with him, he rejects her proposal out of hand. He explains that unbaptized children are not recognized as humans by the temple, and says that if she wants to change the orphanage conditions, she should take responsibility herself as orphanage director.

Dismayed and disappointed, Myne begins thinking of other options and eventually comes up with the idea of a self-sustaining orphanage workshop. Fran encourages her to go to Ferdinand, saying that he is just as frustrated with the treatment of gray priests as she is. When they meet in Ferdinand’s secret room, he explains that it was a dangerous mistake to criticise the High Bishop in public and scolds her to be more aware of noble expectations. They then discuss her plans for the orphanage. Satisfied that she has thought it through carefully, he gives his approval and permission.

Myne asks permission from Ferdinand to celebrate the lower city’s Star Festival, and he grants it on the condition that they thoroughly clean up the taue fruits before the blue priests return from the Harvest Festival. When he inspects the area afterward, he finds the paving stones and dirt that were displaced by the trombe. Myne refuses to give an explanation, so Ferdinand sentences her to one day in the temple’s repentance chamber to reflect on her actions. However, she falls asleep in the cold room and soon develops a fever. Stricken by guilt, Ferdinand sends her home to recover.

Ferdinand notices that Myne is distracted and calls her to his hidden room to discuss what’s bothering her. She explains that Lutz ran away from his family and that Benno is considering adopting him. To her surprise, Ferdinand summons everyone involved to the temple and mediates a family discussion. After hearing his parents’ true feelings, Lutz chooses to stay with his family, and Ferdinand expresses relief that the family was able to resolve their differences.

When autumn arrives, Ferdinand and Myne are summoned by the Knight's Order to assist with a trombe extermination. Because Ferdinand is needed to serve as a knight, Myne is responsible for filling the land with mana after the battle to allow plants to grow again.

After meeting the Knight's Order in front of the Noble's Gate, Ferdinand introduces Myne to Karstedt, the commander of the Knight’s order. He carries Myne on his highbeast to the extermination site, where he leaves her in a safe location. At his request, Karstedt assigns Damuel and Shikikoza to guard her, and he warns them not to let any harm come to her. Ferdinand fights the trombe using a bow blessed by the God of Darkness. Damuel says that his ability to divide his arrows into many attacks at once is evidence of his high mana capacity, and adds wistfully that he wishes Ferdinand would return to the Knight’s Order.

During the battle, Shikikoza threatens Myne with a blade and inadvertently cuts her. The mana in her blood causes a second trombe to grow around her. Furious, Ferdinand rushes to intervene. He calls the Knight’s Order, then uses his schtappe to close her wound. Because he has to release the blessing to heal her, he has to wait for the Knight's Order to arrive and save her. Once she is safe, he expresses his anger to Damuel, who failed to protect her, and Shikikoza, who caused her harm. As the highest-status noble present, he reminds them that his orders should take absolute precedence.

Once both trombes are exterminated, Ferdinand gives Myne a mana recovery potion. He orders Shikikoza to attempt the restoration ritual, planning to make an example of him; as expected, Shikikoza is unable to heal more than a small area of the land. When Myne makes the next attempt, her remarkable mana capacity suprises all of the nobles present, including Ferdinand. Concerned that she will be targeted by other nobles as a result of the demonstration, Ferdinand announces that she is under his custody and protection.

When they return to the temple, Ferdinand apologizes to Myne for allowing her to be put in danger, and says that he never imagined the knights would disobey his orders.

While Myne recovers from her fever after the trombe extermination, Ferdinand requests permission from Aub Ehrenfest to use a memory-viewing magic tool to determine that she is not a threat to the duchy. He calls her to his hidden room and gives her a mana synchronization potion, which she says has a sweet taste. When she puts on the circlet, she falls asleep and he prepares to view her memories.

Although Ferdinand thinks regretfully that she will never forgive him for invading her privacy, Myne understands his reasoning and is happy to be able to explore her old memories from Earth. She shows him various locations, including libraries, bookstores, craft shops, her old school, and her family home. Eventually, she is overwhelmed by nostalgia and her regret at not appreciating her family’s love in her first life. Because their emotions are linked, Ferdinand is overwhelmed and he breaks their mental connection. When Myne awakes, she sees his distress and gives him a hug to calm him down. After initially trying to push her away, he gives in and accepts the hug.

Later, Ferdinand returns the magic tool to Karstedt and reports that Myne is not a threat. He explains that, unbelievable as it sounds, she has memories of life in another world and can bring great prosperity to Ehrenfest. He also says that Myne will need to be adopted by a noble to ensure her safety as an adult. As a priest, Ferdinand cannot adopt her himself, but he Karstedt to adopt her as a favor to him.

Karstedt agrees, although he warns that someone else will probably be displeased that Ferdinand didn’t go to him for help first. He also reflects that Ferdinand, who is usually slow to trust others, seems surprisingly fond of Myne.

Benno suspects that Myne may be in danger from Wolf, a senior member of the Ink Guild. He alerts Ferdinand, who decides to bring Myne to stay at the temple sooner than originally planned.

While she is staying at the temple, Ferdinand explains that he plans for her to be adopted by Karstedt for her own safety. However, Myne refuses. Her shock and panic cause her to lose control of her mana, so Ferdinand brings her to his hidden room and tries to calm her down. She eventually asks for a hug, and is soothed somewhat when he obliges. She explains that she is frightened of losing her family, and Ferdinand eventually agrees to let her postpone the adoption. However, he warns that she must be adopted by age ten, which is the age when noble children go to the Royal Academy.

When winter arrives, the dedication ritual is held in the temple. Ferdinand and Myne dedicate their mana together as they have a balanced amount of mana, but he warns her to do a poor job and undersell her abilities to the High Bishop. However, the High Bishop unexpectedly demands that she fill extra chalices and she is forced to demonstrate the true capacity of her mana. Ferdinand later complains about the extra chalices to Aub Ehrenfest, who assures him that it won’t hapen again.

During Myne’s extended stay in the temple, Ferdinand summons her parents to discuss the adoption and plans for her future. He explains that he is worried for her safety, and Effa is convinced by his his explanation and gives her consent.

When spring arrives, Ferdinand and Myne are required to travel the duchy and bless the land for Spring Prayer. Sylvester, the archduke of Ehrenfest and Ferdinand’s half-brother, accompanies them in the disguise of a blue priest, intending to gauge her character and gather evidence of Veronica and the High Bishop’s criminal activity.

Ferdinand is exasperated by Sylvester’s antics, as he continually pesters Myne and demands to explore the temple. He accompanies him on an orphanage tour and finds it interesting; he listens attentively to Gil and Myne’s explanations. At the end of the tour, Sylvester is convinced of Myne’s character and plans to adopt her, but he does not inform Ferdinand.

When Count Bindewald attempts to kidnap Myne, Ferdinand is initially not informed of the crisis by his attendant Arno. However, he intervenes at the end of the battle to capture Bezewanst and severely injure Count Bindewald. He is the one to write the two magic contracts severing Myne from her family and changing her name to Rozemyne.

Ferdinand works with Karstedt, Elvira, and Sylvester to develop Rozemyne’s fake backstory and facilitate her entry into noble society. Even after she is baptised and adopted, Ferdinand continues to serve as her guardian, teacher, physician and mentor.

With Karstedt’s approval, Ferdinand examines Rozemyne’s mana pathways and determines that growing up with the Devouring has caused her mana to scar and harden. He explains that those “lumps” are the main reason for Rozemyne’s fevers, frailty, and stunted growth, and that the only way to treat them are by gathering rare ingredients to brew a jureve potion.

Before Rozemyne’s baptism, Ferdinand gives her one of Tuuli’s hair ornaments as a gift. He is dismayed when she bursts into tears, and he clears the room and gives her a hug until she calms down. Afterward, he heals her swollen eyes so she can appear presentable in public.

Ferdinand leads the baptismal ceremony, attracting a small crowd of female admirers eager to see him in temple robes. He directs Rozemyne to give a blessing to the audience as part of his and Sylvester’s plan to make her a saint.

Afterward, Ferdinand allows Wilfried to drag Rozemyne out of the baptism to play. She collapses due to her poor consitution, and Wilfried is deeply upset at the sight of her seemingly lifeless body. Ferdinand later admits he planned for that to happen so he would understand her frailty, a lesson Rozemyne thinks was too harsh.

Ferdinand is among the guests who visit the Italian Restaurant with Sylvester. Rozemyne observes that he seems to enjoy the food, and he is especially fascinated by the simple beauty of the double consommé.

After the meal, Ferdinand draws the blueprints for Rozemyne’s planned monastery. When he finishes, the party travels together by highbeast to Hasse, where he uses the magic taught to archduke candidates to build the monastery from white stone.

Tasked with raising funds for the monastery, Rozemyne suggests hosting a “charity concert” and asks Ferdinand to perform harspiel for her. He initially rejects her, even when she offers him new songs and recipes as a trade, but is eventually badgered into helping her by Rihyarda.

To vent his annoyance at Rozemyne, Ferdinand begins her magic training at a ruthless pace; he gives her a large collection of books on magic but ensures she has no time to read them. Determined to get her own revenge, Rozemyne begins plotting to make and sell detailed illustrations of Ferdinand at the harspiel concert.

When Rozemyne finishes her highbeast, Ferdinand is dubious of the unconventional design of her Pandabus, which uses a drivable (rather than rideable) design and bears an unfortunate resemblance to a grun.

On the day of the concert, Ferdinand is dismayed at the number of attendees. The performance is a rousing success, both as a performance and as a sales opportunity: Rozemyne sells out of all 300 illustrations she prepared. However, Ferdinand tracks her down as the culprit, scolds her, and puts an end to her illustration business.

On a visit to Hasse, Ferdinand and Rozemyne take four of the town’s orphans from the mayor and move them to the monastery. Ferdinand is disgusted by the commoners’ poor manners and impatient with Rozemyne’s reluctance to discipline them. After they return to the temple, both Ferdinand and Rozemyne sense a disturbance at the monastery and determine that Hasse’s citizens attempted to break in.

To deal with the ongoing hostility, Ferdinand assigns Rozemyne to gather evidence on the mayor, politically isolate him and his allies, and execute him. However, she is deeply frightened and sickened at being asked to harm another person. Over the next few days, Rozemyne’s attendants and family notice her losing sleep over her worries, and Ferdinand receives several complaints and worried reports from Fran, Karstedt, and Sylvester. He promises to try to cheer her up somehow. Although Rozemyne is already feeling better by the next time they meet, she insists that he owes her a “cheering up” anyway.

Rozemyne explains that what is “common sense” for Ferdinand, like eliminating one’s political enemies, is completely different from “common sense” of the world she knows. He is shaken by the realization that their perspectives are so different, but praises her for managing to adapt. In turn, she assures him that she plans to take responsibility in Hasse.

Rozemyne tells Ferdinand she thinks he should focus on his nephew Wilfried’s education, rather than hers, since he’s a blood relative. However, he has no interest in training an unmotivated pupil like Wilfried. He comments that Rozemyne is a far more worthwhile student, because she provides results and offers an interesting point of view.

When Rozemyne loses patience with Wilfried’s jealousy and decides to switch places for the day. Ferdinand is reluctant and only agrees after she calls in her “cheering up” favor. Within a few hours of the switch, he is infuriated by his nephew’s laziness and demands that Sylvester remove him from the line of succession. Rozemyne and asks Ferdinand to give Wilfried one more chance and do his best to frighten him into studying. As she hoped, Wilfried is able to memorize the prayer he was assigned, and Ferdinand concedes that he can be taught.

During the switch, Rozemyne realizes that Sylvester has no clear idea how much work she and Ferdinand have been doing at the temple, and warns him that “if you work him too hard, he will just die.” Sylvester agrees to ease off their schedule. Ferdinand is initially appalled to learn that Rozemyne told the archuduke that she couldn’t handle the work she was given, but she tells him that open communication with one’s superiors is important.

Ferdinand calls Kantna, the scholar-official of Hasse to a meeting and pressures him into voiding his contract to buy some of the orphans. Intimidated by his skill at blackmail, Rozemyne assures him that she will never in her life make an enemy of him, no matter what.

When they return to Hasse with the contract, mayor, who is under the mistaken assumption that the former High Bishop is still alive, treats them arrogantly. Ferdinand is coldly furious and makes it clear to Rozemyne that, were this not a good learning opportunity for her, the mayor would already be dead.

With the autumn Harvest Festival approaching, Ferdinand assigns Justus and Eckhart to accompany Rozemyne in collecting the first ingredient for her jureve on the Night of Schutzaria. Ferdinand and Rozemyne travel separately to spread out the work and limit the toll on her health. Due to a problem with his schedule, he is unable to meet her in Dorvan as planned, and she has to begin gathering the ruelle without him.

When Rozemyne’s ruelle is eaten by a zantze that grows into a goltze, Justus sends an ordonnanz to Ferdinand requesting help. He instructs her to contain it with a reverse shield of Wind, and rushes to join them. He then works together with Eckhart to kill the goltze in one blow. After the battle, Ferdinand comforts the disappointed Rozemyne and assures her that she can try again next year.

As Rozemyne suggested, Ferdinand begins turning down Sylvester’s requests for help, telling him to get permission from the High Bishop. When Sylvester tries to complain to Rozemyne, she says she has no intention of handing Ferdinand over to do someone else’s job. With less work on his plate, Ferdinand relies less on potions and seems in better health. He spends his extra time cheerfully putting the blue and gray priests through intensive training.

When Rozemyne accidentally gives a blessing during her debut harspiel performance, Ferdinand recovers from his surprise quickly and uses the opportunity to promote her as the Saint of Ehrenfest.

Later, Rozemyne passes out from shock when Brigitte informs her that archduke candidates do not typically study as scholars or work as librarians. Deeply exasperated, Ferdinand informs her that all she needs to do is take the scholar and archduke candidate courses at the same time, as he did.

Ferdinand and Rozemyne return to the temple for the Dedication Ritual. He explains that while they’re still expected to fill extra chalices for Frenbeltag this year, he insisted that Sylvester and Florencia take responsibility for providing the mana. As a result, the ritual progresses much more quickly.

When Lord of Winter appears, Ferdinand and Karstedt lead the Knight’s Order in battle. As soon as the schnesturm is sufficiently weakened, Ferdinand carries Rozemyne on his highbeast and helps her deliver the finishing blow with the spear of Leidenschaft so she can claim its feystone as the winter ingredient for her jureve.

At the end of winter, Ferdinand and Rozemyne go to Hasse to announce the town’s punishment for attacking the monastery: They will be given no mana to bless the land this year and will have taxes raised for ten years.

While the conspirators are questioned in public, Ferdinand puts on a deliberately harsh attitude so Rozemyne will look merciful and saint-like in comparison. He then casts the Door of Judgement, a variation on Schutzaria’s shield, to determine which of the citizens still have hostile intent. Those who cannot pass are judged to be traitors and sentenced to death.

As a former archduke candidate, Ferdinand casts the execution ritual. He destroys their citizenship medals and the conspirators crumble to dust. Ferdinand warns Rozemyne not to avert her eyes from the execution, no matter what, and despite her horror and pity, she does as he asks. Afterward, she can’t help but flinch away from him when he checks on her.

Recognizing that he is not the right person to comfort her, Ferdinand allows her father Gunther, who is serving as a soldier in Hasse, to give her his cloak for the night.

After they return to the temple, Ferdinand and Rozemyne sit down to discuss the lessons she learned from Hasse. She warns him that, while she can learn to behave like a noble, she will never lose her deep-seated belief in the value of human life. Ferdinand is dubious of her plans to invest in public education, but she persuades him that it is worth it to at least teach civic officials how to interact with nobles.

Ferdinand and Rozemyne travel together during Spring Prayer to avoid the unexpected problems that arose during the Harvest Festival. Justus and Eckhart once again accompany them. They plan to go to gather the nectar of a rairein flower on the Night of Flutrane near the town of Fontedorf.

As they travel, Ferdinand eats lunch with Rozemyne regularly. While Rozemyne reflects that this is just an excuse to eat Ella’s delicious cooking, Eckhart is somewhat shocked by Ferdinand’s willingness to trust someone else’s chef without fear of poisoning.

When they locate The Goddesses’ Bath, Ferdinand commands the knights as they battle the toad-like talfrosches. With the feybeasts defeated, they return to camp to rest and regroup for the night before gathering the nectar at dawn. In the middle of the night, however, the women who sleep in Rozemyne’s Pandabus are carried away by the forest trees to The Goddesses’ Bath.

The male knights take off in pursuit, but they are prevented from entering The Goddesses’ Bath by a magic barrier. Ferdinand watches in dismay as the women seem entranced by the spring’s magic, performing music and having a picnic, and Rozemyne climbs up a leaf to collect her rairein nectar. He pounds furiously on the barrier with his mana until it explodes, allowing him to rush in and catch her when she falls into the spring.

<Ferdinand