Dedication Ritual

The Dedication Ritual is a winter ritual where mana is contributed by the temple to be distributed throughout the duchy to ensure good harvests in the fall. It is held in the ritual chamber where only priest and priestesses may enter.

Ritual Procedure
To contribute mana, blue priests and shrine maidens place their hands onto a red magic carpet and let mana flow through them. Placed on top of the carpet on an altar are several small chalices representing Geduldh's divine instrument, in which mana is stored.

Having a group of varying levels of mana can be dangerous if the disparity is too great, because the carpet can cause them to unwillingly release more mana than can be done safely.

Story
The Dedication Ritual was the primary reason given by Ferdinand to Myne as to why she has to stay in the temple over winter, rather than letting her commute to the temple as agreed upon earlier, fearing that a blizzard could have stopped Myne from contributing mana in the dedication ritual..

On the day the ritual begins, Ferdinand informed Myne that he wants her to limit her contributions. When Myne asks if this will cause issues for him regarding the High Bishop, he informs her that he will tell the High Bishop that he deceived the High Bishop if they bring it up, assuring her that doing so is the best decision for them at that point.

When they get to the ritual, Myne observed that the only people present in the room are her and Ferdinand, when she asked why, he states that if the other blue priests were to see her contribute, they might get jealous due to her mana capacity, and that due to the nature of the dedication ritual, they might get compelled to contribute lethal amounts of mana because of said capacity. Ferdinand then stated that he alone has the mana to keep up with her when she contributes.

After several days of contributing mana, they got close to having filled all the chalices, then the High Bishop brought in ten more chalices under the premise that the Archduke wanted Myne to fill them. Ferdinand stated that he had heard no word of such. The High Bishop questioned whether Myne will obey Ferdinand but not him, causing her to divert the answer to Ferdinand. Ferdinand stated that with the High Bishops permission, they could fill the additional chalices the next day. Once the High Bishop left, Ferdinand stated that the Archduke likely was not responsible for the additional chalices, and that he would investigate once the snow had cleared, and that for the time being they would feign obedience. He then asked Myne if she would continue to help him, to which she agreed.