Gunther/Story

Gunther forgets something for work, and Tuuli and Myne have to take it to him.

Gunther decides Myne can head to the forest, only after building up her stamina by demonstrating she can reach the south gate with other children. During the time Myne is gaining strength to make it all the way by herself, Myne meets Otto, and he teaches her how to read and write.

At her baptism, Myne stumbles upon a bookroom in the temple and without thinking further tries to apply for a shrine maiden apprenticeship on the spot. After a talk with her family and learning how poorly the priests in the temple that are not nobles are treated, she tries to talk her way out of it, but upon learning of her Devouring, the temple won't let her go.

The High Bishop summons her parents, and upon learning they are not just commoners but poor as well, starts to treat the family very harshly. When Gunther and Effa refuse to just turn over Myne without some assurances, due to their well-grounded fears that Myne would not survive the work expected of a grey shrine maiden for long, the High Bishop loses his temper and sends his attendants to take Myne by force. Gunther - fully knowing that resisting a noble like this is punishable by death - uses his soldier's training to fight off the priests, who never learned how to fight and were taught that violence is wrong, with relative ease, knocking them out.

This makes the High Bishop even more furious, and he screams that he will have Myne's entire family executed for defying him, which makes Myne's mana rage out of control and crush him. In her rage, Myne almost kills the Bishop, but High Priest steps between them and eventually manages to calm her down. With the High Bishop unconscious, the High Priest takes over the negotiations and agrees to the demands by Myne's family that she be treated as a blue shrine maiden and be allowed to commute home, rather than having to live at the temple.

During Myne's time as a blue shrine maiden apprentice, Effa gives birth to the newest member of the family, a body they name Kamil. Despite the fears and worries that Effa's two miscarriages, the death of their firstborn son, and Myne's poor health caused in Gunther, the boy is brought into this world healthy and grows up fine. It is also in this time that Gunther's guard team is rotated to the east gate, putting him in a better position to assure his daughter's safety, since the east gate is where most foreigners arrive from.

While the Archduke is absent from the city due to attending the Archduke's Conference shortly after Spring Prayer, Damuel, a layknight assigned to guard Myne following an incident when the blue shrine maiden accompanied the Knight's Order on a Trombe extermination, warns Gunther that people may be out to harm her and to keep an eye on which nobles go through the gates, especially those from other duchies. He takes this very seriously and is quick to call all the gate commanders together to inform them of this and that the information and order come directly from a noble knight.

All the gate commanders, except for the one of the east gate, take Gunther's message seriously and immediately spring into action. His own superior though procrastinated, and this delay enables a foreign noble to enter the city with several of his soldiers with a forged permit, provided to him by the High Bishop.

These soldiers turned out to be Devouring soldiers, equipped with magic tools and taught to use magic. A small group of them attacks Myne in the streets of the commoner's quarter also wrapping up her sister Tuuli who was with her at the time, but this ambush is foiled by Gunther, Damuel, and Otto. After the enemies are defeated, Gunther tells Otto to bring Tuuli to the Gilberta Company's store for shelter, while he accompanies Myne and Damuel to the temple to get help from the High Priest. On the way, Myne stamps her blood on a talisman that the enigmatic Blue Priest Brother Sylvester had given to her should she ever be in trouble, but beyond a spot on the neckless beginning to glow, it does not seem to have any immediate effect.

When this first kidnapping attempt fails, the foreign noble - Count Bindewald of Ahrensbach - intercepts and attacks Myne personally along with the High Bishop and his remaining devouring soldiers, before Myne and her protectors can reach the High Priest's chamber. In the ensuing fight, Gunther, Damuel, Myne, and even Myne's attendant Fran fight fiercely and manage to take out all the Devouring soldiers, but stand no chance against the overwhelming magical prowess of an archnoble. The three men are all knocked out, with Damuel and Gunther receiving serious injuries, and Myne is pinned on the floor by one of the High Bishop's attendants. Thankfully, their determined resistance bought enough time for the High Priest to arrive in time to prevent Bindewald from getting any of Myne's blood on the submission contract he had prepared for her. The High Priest initially moves to restrain Myne for attacking a noble, since regardless of who started the right, a commoner attacking or trying to fend off a noble is a criminal act. But upon seeing the activated talisman, he goes to restrain the High Bishop and personally defeat Bindewald in a mana duel.

Once the dust settles, Sylvester also steps out of the High Priest's room and reveals himself to be none other than the Archduke of Ehrenfest and that by stamping her blood on the talisman, Myne signed an adoption contract, making her the daughter of the Archduke. This meant she was already no longer a commoner when Bindewald attacked her, and thus had every right to defend herself. Furthermore attacking her - a member of the archducal family - was a grave crime, regardless of whether the attackers were aware of her status or not.

Sylvester then sends the stunned and injured Gunther to gather his family and bring them to the temple. Once he returns with them, they are informed that Myne's name has been changed to Rozemyne and that the official story is that the commoner Myne died just now and her body has been stolen by a foreign noble. They are forced into signing a magic contract that will prevent them from telling the truth, forbids them and Myne from treating each other as family, and forces them to treat Rozemyne like they would any other noble.

In a heartfelt and tearful good-bye, the newly rechristened Rozemyne pours her heart into a final blessing by beseeching all the seven gods at once. The resulting magic completely heals the injuries of Gunther, Fran, and Damuel, and makes Effa fully recover from the weakness following her recent giving birth to Kamil.

As part of the cover-up, the family holds a funeral for Myne, writing "To our beloved daughter" on her grave-marker, making her grave somewhat special since the vast majority of poor commoners can't read or write and thus most grave markers in that part of the graveyard don't have any writing on them.

Not long after the incident is over, Gunther is promoted to be the new commander of his team. It is not explicitly stated what happened to the previous commander, but considering that he disobeyed an order by Damuel - a noble - and how even the High Bishop was sentenced to death, it is very likely he was executed.

He is still supportive of his daughter, now Rozemyne, with his family when they are able to, often checking on her at the various ceremonies from the door of the temple. He later gets to interact with her, when she requests city guards to accompany her to Hasse. Rozemyne always requests him to lead the attachment of soldiers and talks to him and his soldiers during the meal, if the situation allows it. Due to the presence of the other soldiers and Rozemyne's guard knights and the effects of the magic contract, they have to be careful of their words and actions, but even so these small interactions help to ease both their hearts.

< Gunther