Ferdinand

Ferdinand (フェルディナンド Ferudinando ) is the high priest of the Ehrenfest temple, as well as the guardian and educator of Myne in the temple. Ferdinand teaches and guides her to become a 'proper' blue-robed apprentice shrine maiden and noblewoman. He becomes a main character in Ascendance of a Bookworm at the start of Part 2.

Personality
Ferdinand is described as a sharp-minded, calm, and dignified individual, so he comes across as a lot older than he really is, leading many people to be surprised by his real age.

He has a bit of a fussy personality, leading him to take on all sorts of responsibilities, including Myne's education. Ferdinand is meritocratic in spite of his social status, despising incompetence and laziness the most, and earning him the reputation of a harsh disciplinarian who would cut off anyone who couldn't meet his standard. The same trait leads him to favor Myne ever since their first interaction, calling her worthwhile to educate but nonetheless having high standards for her as for anyone else.

Due to his harsh past, Ferdinand tends to be secretive and distant to anyone, especially women, and even to his companions. He is also poor at showing his emotions, and interacting with Myne helps him to be more expressive and human at times. He reasons his actions to always be for his benefits when he helps others.

Although he seems to have a cold nature, he actually yearns for a warm and open relationship like he sees Myne's family practice even developing a feeling of jealousy.

History
Driven into a corner feeling that his life is threatened, Ferdinand joined the temple following the suggestion of his older half brother Sylvester to escape the terrible bullying of his stepmother. He had very little to do and requested Sylvester send him books to read and items to construct magic tools. After the purge of the nobility, many blue priests and shrine maidens were summoned back to their families. This causes the main temple in the country to summon any blue priests and shrine maidens with mana. This lead Ferdinand to become the High Priest due to his social rank and handling almost all of the temple's affairs due to his ability.

First Encounter
Ferdinand is the priest who assists Myne to register her citizenship during her baptism ceremony. They meet properly for the first time when Myne visited the temple to discuss her apprenticeship. He was assigned beforehand by the High Bishop to read the bible to her. Observing her high learning ability and dedication to read, he remarks teaching her would be worthwhile.

During the discussion, it is found out that Myne has the Devouring and brought up the sacred chalice to test her. Confirming her possessing a certain amount of mana, Ferdinand requests her to bring her parents for a meeting. During the that meeting, Ferdinand decided to stay silent, thinking that the high-handed approach of the High Bishop, while deplorable, is more efficient. He regrets his inaction when Myne's mana got out of control and nearly crushed the High Bishop to death. He stopped her before she killed him reasoning that she wouldn't want her family becoming criminals. They move to his chambers where they begin a proper discussion where he eventually accepts all of Myne's demands on joining the temple.

Before Myne joined the temple he insructed Eckhart and Justus to gather information about Myne. Therefore, before mentioned two went undercover and investigated Myne in the lower city. They reported their findings to Ferdinand saying that there should be no issues concerning Myne joining the temple.

New Blue Shrine Maiden
When Myne joins the temple, Ferdinand assigns her one of his own retainers, Fran, to help and guide her in becoming a "proper" blue robed priestess. When he informs the High Bishop Bezewanst, Bezewanst decides to assign Delia as Myne's retainers, as she is near Myne's age and could act as spy. He also asked that the biggest troublemaker would be assigned to Myne. Gil is nominated to become said retainer. Following Myne's inauguration ceremony he introduced Fran, Delia and Gil to Myne.

After Myne announced to bring her donation to the temple he meets with Benno and Mark. Then he additionally discussed matters he heard from Justus, Myne being Benno's "Goddess of Water" and asked for his impressions of Myne. He also received presents from the Gilberta Company from which he was most interested in the plant paper. From there on he seemed to use rinsham which was also among the presents.

As Myne's guardian in the temple he is involved in most of Myne's actions. He helped her improving the orphanage, giving her the orphanage director's room, appointing her the role of the orphanage director, lectured her in his hidden room, lent her instruments and much more. After he threw Myne into the repentance chamber once, he was the one repenting his actions because of Myne fainting in the detention room. He also acted as judge when Lutz ran away from home and mediated between him and his family during a meeting. He expressed relieve that Lutz's family didn't fall apart.

Over the time he became suspicious of Myne's behaviour and knowledge she showed. He also learned what her book obsession entails.

Trombe Extermination
When autumn arrived he was called by the Knight's Order to help out with the trombe extermination and was also asked to bring someone who could restore the place after the battle is over. He immediately prepared for his depature and instructed Myne on her role as the one to restore the place after the battle. After joining the Knight's Order in front of the Noble's Gate wearing his magic armor and blue cape, he introduces Myne to the Knight's Order. Then he called his highbeast, which looks like a white stone lion, lifted Myne onto his highbeast and flew to the extermination area leading the Knight's Order. They landed at a safe spot where he told Myne to wait for the battle to end. He commands the Knight's Order's commander Karstedt to choose two knights to guard Myne. Damuel and Shikikoza are assigned to Myne. Ferdinand then took off to fight the trombe. He fought using a bow which had received the blessing of the God of Darkness. Meanwhile Damuel talked with Myne and told her that Ferdinand is impressive for being able to shoot several arrows at once. Shikikoza didn't like Damuel's friendly talk with Myne and interfered. Myne got into trouble and when she saw Ferdinand's highbeast she reached out and received a wound. Her blood dripped onto the earth which made a trombe grow and entangling her body. Ferdinand rushed to help with obvious anger in his voice. He called the Knight's Order using rott, closed Myne's wound using his schtappe and instructed Damuel to cut the trombe. Ferdinand had to release the blessing to heal Myne and couldn't reacquire it for the day, so he had to wait for the Knight's Order to arrive and rescue Myne. After the rescue Ferdinand's anger was over the top and when everyone gathered he began his lecture. He makes clear that he is the one with the highest status and authority there and that Karstedt, Damuel and Shikikoza should be prepared to be punished by disobeying Ferdinand's order. The trombe extermination was over and the restoration ritual followed. Ferdinand plotted and let Shikikoza begin the restoration ritual. As expected Shikikoza utterly failed and following him Myne's attempt looked like heaven and earth. Showing Myne's abundance of mana and making her position as blue robed apprentice shrine maiden clear, he declared in front of everyone that he had taken Myne under his wing. Ferdinand felt really bad about his failure to protect Myne and even having Myne getting injured. He never expected that any knight would disobey his orders.

Dream World
Ferdinand summoned Myne immediately when she returned to the temple. They entered the hidden room where he told Myne to lay down on the chaise longue she usually sat one. Then he gave her a red liquid to drink which she perceives as sweet. Ferdinand being surprised by her statement handed her a magic tool which could investigate Myne's memories. Myne understands Ferdinand's reasoning and takes him to the world of her dreams. She shows him around Japan and explains things to him they see which intrigued him. In mere moments Myne shifted here attention towards books which made his investigation more difficult. Eventually he stopped the investigation himself due to Myne's overflow in emotions he couldn't handle anymore. He has tears in his eyes and a shocked and speechless expression and stated that he was too synchronised with Myne. Myne awoke after him and hearing his murmurs. She walked towards him and embraced him. Ferdinand tried to push her away but gave in eventually.

Sometime after the investigation Ferdinand visited Karstedt's mansion to report to him and return the magic tool for searching memories. Ferdinand stated that Myne has nothing else in her mind than books, and if she is used correctly she can bring immesurable wealth to the duchy. She had memories of another world and a past life where she lived as an adult woman which seemed unbelivable to Karstedt and Ferdinand wouldn't believe it himself if he hadn't seen it for himself. Karstedt remarked that Ferdinand seemed to have taken quite a like to Myne after hearing him reporting and asking him to adopt Myne. Ferdinand realised that himself already but denied Karstedt's remark. Karstedt mentions that a certain someone will be displeased that he wasn't asked for help when his cute little half brother needed help.

Adoption Plans and Dedication Ritual
Myne was in danger due to Wolf, the former head of the ink guild, investigating her that Ferdinand investigated Wolf himself. That let to the sudden death of Wolf which brought more suspicion onto the situation that other nobles might be involved. When Benno delievered Myne's new ceremonial clothes they discussed the matter and exchanged informations. At the time where Damuel was assigned to be Myne's bodyguard Ferdinand revealed his plan to make her marry a noble. The situation escalated with Myne's emotional outburst so he rushed to his hidden room with Myne. There he tries to calm her down eventually suggesting to hug her. After Myne calmed down he began explaining why Myne has to be adopted be a noble and gave her a deadline.

With the change of seasons the Dedication Ritual was hold in the temple during winter. Ferdinand and Myne dedicated their mana together as they have a balanced amount of mana. He tells her to do a poor job because he faked Myne's abilities when reporting to the High Bishop. Unexpectedly the High Bishop visited around the end of the dedication ritual bringing more chalices to fill and leaving them no choice but to dedicate more of their mana. At a later time he confronted Sylvester and declared that this extra work was a once only matter.

Ferdinand extended Myne's stay in the temple to protect her from the forthcoming danger of nobles trying to abduct her. Therefore, he summoned Myne's parents to discuss matters of extended stay and adoption with them. Ferdinaned conveyed his worries concerning Myne's well-being and future. Effa understood his intentions and consented Ferdinand's decisions.

Spring Prayer and Tour
When spring came it was time for the Spring Prayer. This year Ferdinand and Myne are accompanied by Sylvester, who disuises himself as a blue priest, Karstedt, Damuel, Rosina and the other attendants. Before they dispatched for the Spring Prayer, Sylvester was introduced to Myne and teased her. Ferdinand and Karstedt made their schtappe appear and both hit him on his head. Sylvester demanded a tour through the temple and Ferdinand took that opportunity to accompany them and he finally visits the orphanage and workshop himself. Ferdinand seemed most interested in the work of the workshop and listened attentive to the explanations of Gil and Myne. At the end of the tour Sylvester gave Myne a necklace without letting Ferdinand know.

Kidnapping & Adoption
When Count Bindewald attempts to kidnap Myne, Ferdinand intervenes at the very end capturing Bezewanst and severely injuring Count Bindewald. He is the one to write the two contracts severing Myne from her family and changing her name to Rozemyne.

Rozemyne's Guardian
Ferdinand keeps regular tabs on Rozemyne as she trains in the Noble's Quarter and continues to strictly train her in the temple when she returns. After being bullied into performing a harspiel concert, he adds magic training to the schedule as well. Ferdinand uses every opportunity to grow Rozemyne as a noble.

Trivia

 * He serves as the narrator for the anime.
 * His principle is to only start a fight he can win.
 * He is a research nut and workaholic.
 * His ring has a green feystone which indicates he was born in spring.
 * He returns debts at least two times the amount he received.
 * He doesn't like to lose and re-matches until he wins.
 * He is the only one in Ehrenfest wearing a blue cape.
 * His favorite cookies are the ones made with tea leaves.
 * He is the 2nd most popular light novel male character from 2020.