Eckhart

Eckhart (エックハルト Ekkuharuto) is the oldest child of Karstedt and Elvira, and the older brother of Lamprecht, Cornelius, and Rozemyne.

He currently serves as Ferdinand’s guard knight. He also helps train new recruits to the Knight's Order, alongside his grandfather Bonifatius.

Eckhart has his mother’s dark green hair and his father’s blue eyes. He is tall and muscular with a generally impassive expression.

Compared to the average retainer, Eckhart is single-minded in his devotion to Ferdinand. He was devastated when Ferdinand left for the temple and has sworn to serve him out of deep, genuine respect.

In most situations, Eckhart is quiet, diligent, and not easily perturbed. He is generally polite to his family and associates, but is said to have become more withdrawn after the death of his first wife, Heidemarie. He also worries over Ferdinand’s health and occasionally enlists the help of Rozemyne to ensure he looks after himself.

During his time at the Royal Academy, Eckhart grew to deeply admire Ferdinand and dedicated himself to serving him as a guard knight. While Ferdinand was slow to trust him, he eventually proved his loyalty. Justus, Ferdinand’s scholar and attendant, did the same.

His service ended abruptly when Ferdinand joined the temple to escape Veronica's abuse, because he could not serve a priest in an official capacity. However, he refused to serve another master and continued to help Ferdinand whenever he could, albeit unofficially. The rest of the time, he served in the Knight’s Order with his father, Karstedt.

He was married to his first wife Heidemarie, whom he loved deeply. However, she died unexpectedly at a young age and the couple had no children. Ever since then, he has been reluctant to remarry.

Eckhart first encounters Myne directly during the trombe extermination mission with the Knight’s Order, although they do not meet directly. Eckhart participates as a knight, while Myne is assigned as an apprentice blue shrine maiden to perform the Healing Ritual following the feyplant's eradication.

Due to the incompetence of Shikikoza, Myne is attacked by a second trombe and has her mana drained. However, she escapes safely due to Ferdinand’s intervention and impresses the knights by easily completing the healing ritual. Eckhart, along with the others, is struck by her remarkable mana capacity, which is on par with most archnobles her age.

Eckhart is first introduced to Rozemyne as his younger sister just before her baptism, when he is 18 years old. He picks her up and is surprised to remember her as the same shrine maiden who healed the land after the trombe extermination. .

When Rozemyne goes to gather ruelle fruit during the Harvest Festival, Ferdinand assigns Eckhart and Justus to accompany her in addition to her usual guard knights.

Predicting that Rozemyne will be invited to receptions involving alcohol and women, based on expectations set by the the previous High Bishop, Ferdinand preemptively instructs her to refuse all invitations and tells Eckhart to accept them in her stead.

While they are in Hasse, Rozemyne learns from Eckhart that, while she had decided not to make Ferdinand her enemy out of fear, he and Justus resolved to serve him out of sincere respect. He tells Rozemyne not to lump herself together with them.

Later, Eckhart becomes suspicious of Richt, who is acting nervous, and escorts Rozemyne back to the monastery as a precaution.

On the Night of Schutzaria, the last full moon of autumn, Eckhart is present with Rozemyne’s party in Dorvan. He, Damuel and Justus go out to look for a ruelle tree during the day and mark it for the return mission at night. He attends Rozemyne as a guard when she goes to collect the ruelle, and battles the horde of feybeasts that gather around the tree.

When a zantze eats the ruelle dyed with Rozemyne’s mana and evolves into a goltze, Eckhart leads the battle against it.

It is later revealed that Eckhart had been sent to investigate Myne in the lower city alongside Justus shortly before she entered the temple and long before she was baptized as his sister. However, Eckhart is quickly overwhelmed by the unpleasant smell and unsanitary surroundings. While he rests to recover from his nausea, Justus disguises himself to question commoners around the south gate.

After the investigation is unsuccessful, Eckhart and Justus break into the Merchant's Guild to investigate her official records. They eventually gather enough information, and Eckhart reports to Ferdinand while Justus visits the Lower City market.

When Ferdinand returns to noble society, Eckhart is overjoyed and serves him as a guard knight once again. Although it is not technically required of a guard knight, Eckhart also helps Ferdinand with his paperwork at the temple.

Because Bonifatius views Angelica as a prized disciple, he insists that she marry into his family. Because Lamprecht was already in a relationship, Cornelius had feelings for someone else, and Traugott was disgraced after being dismissed as a retainer by Rozemyne, Eckhart was the only viable candidate for her fiance.

Angelica’s parents tried to prevent the engagement, concerned that their daughter was not suited to be the wife of an archnoble. Eventually, the families agreed that she would be engaged as Eckhart’s second wife, and therefore would not be expected to appear in public as a representative of the family.

Both Angelica and Eckhart are inclined to postpone the marriage as long as possible, and both are happy to use the engagement as an excuse to avoid social obligations. Angelica agrees to the engagement mainly due to her blind trust in Bonifatius. Meanwhile, Eckhart remarks that a girl uninterested in love and romance is a perfect match for him. He visits the Royal Academy to serve as Angelica’s escort during her graduation.


 * Like his father, Eckhart’s highbeast has the shape of a winged wolf.


 * He is one of the few people who know that Rozemyne was the commoner Myne.
 * He lives in the knights' barracks.
 * He has looked up to Ferdinand since their time in the Royal Academy.
 * He and his deceased wife, Heidemarie, bonded over their admiration of Ferdinand.
 * He sold information on Ferdinand to his mother for pocket money during their time in the Royal Academy.
 * His name was previously translated as "Eckehard" but was adjusted in Part 3 Volume 1.
 * Eckhart is surprised by Ferdinand's trust in Rozemyne, since nobles are normally very cautious when other nobles are involved. When they went to gather ingredients for her jureve, Rozemyne was in charge of all the cooking, which was normally unheard of due to a fear of poisoning.