The Light Novel series is the source material for the adaptation of the Anime and Manga series. The information and terminology on the article will be based on the source material rather than the adaptions. |
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Immanuel (イマヌエル, Imanueru) is the Sovereign High Priest of Yurgenschmidt[2].
Appearance
To Rozemyne, he appears to be someone prideful, but weak[2].
Personality
Immanuel is a rather blunt and impolite, often ending up insulting members of the nobility, both directly and indirectly by implying shortcomings in the form of pointed questions. Especially talks between Immanuel and the Sovereign Knight's Commander Raublut tend to escalate into acidic verbal spats.
Immanuel is a devoted member of the bilblical fundamentalists, to the point of being seen as a fanatic by large parts of the nobility[3].
History
Story
Rozemyne first meets Immanuel at an inquiry into the ternisbefallen attack on the Royal Academy grounds during her second term at the Royal Academy, where he participates as an expert on matters related to bible on account of Rozemyne stating that she learned the prayer to grant the blessing of the God of Darkness from the bible and of his expertise on both the healing ritual and Divine Instruments.
At Prince Hildebrand's request, Rozemyne transforms her schtappe into a copy of the Staff of Flutrane, much to Immanuel's amazement.
After this proof that she had indeed been telling the truth and explaining that she was able to perform the entire ritual on her own due to having considerably more mana than most blue priests and using numerous high-grade rejuvenation potions, she is cleared of most of the suspicions. However, this still leaves the issue of being able to grant the God of Darkness blessing.
Despite being very familiar with the bible, Immanuel has never seen this particular prayer in it, thus he initially doubts Rozemyne's honesty. When Rozemyne's words lead to the possibility of the Ehrenfest's and Sovereignty's bibles having differences, other members of the inquiry suggest to compare the two bibles with each other, which Immanuel eagerly supports, and so it is decided to adjourn the inquiry and continue in three days. Since much of what Rozemyne told about her past leads back to the local High Priest Ferdinand, he is also summoned[2].
Naturally, since only he can grant permission to read the Sovereignty's High Bishop's Bible, the Sovereign High Bishop is also invited. Together the gathered people find out that parts of the High Bishops' bibles are protected by enchantments that hide certain passages of text, even from those granted permission to read the bibles. While the precise triggers are not known, Ferdinand speculates that, in all due likelihood, it is tied to a combination of mana capacity and elemental affinities.
While the Sovereign blue priests are unable to see any text in the passage pointed out by Rozemyne, both Prince Hildebrand and the Sovereign Knight's Order Commander are able to clearly read the words of the prayer in question, albeit due to the ancient dialect, both doubt they would be able to accurately understand said text. This clears Rozemyne from all accusations.
During the meeting, Immanuel questions why Rozemyne is just the High Bishop of Ehrenfest and suggests she should really become the Sovereign High Bishop, at which point he is curtly reminded by Ferdinand that, as an archduke candidate, this is not possible. The suggestion also earns Immanuel a rather displeased look from his superior the Sovereign High Bishop[4].
Part 5 Volume 5
Since their meeting at the inquiry into the Ternisbefallen incident, Immanuel is very open in his attempts to win Lady Rozemyne for the Sovereign Temple. The next year the royal family arranges for Rozemyne to hold the Starbind Ceremony, in which Prince Sigiswald and Lady Adolphine are to be married. In the preparations for the ceremony, Immanuel gets a first-hand demonstration of Rozemyne's ability to morph her schtappe into multiple Divine Instruments simultaneously and effortlessly read ancient dialects, which makes him even more determined in his pursuit. After she leaves the chapel, he somehow manages to get ahead of her and intercept her. He tries to convince Rozemyne to visit the Sovereign Temple to read the ancient texts stores there and proof to the royal family that they have not been lying about the contents, but Rozemyne claims to be too fatigued by the ceremony and that any questions about such a visit would need to be decided by Aub Ehrenfest anyway. When Immanuel tries to move close to her, under the pretext of guiding her to a comfortable resting spot nearby, one of Rozemyne's guard knights draws her weapon and threatens to cut off his hand, if he doesn't back up. This gives Immanuel pause and while he and his subordinates hesitate, Rozemyne is whisked away by her knights[3].
Part 5 Volume 10
Spoiler from Part 5 Volume 10 |
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Due to Relichion refusing to cooperate with Raublut, the Sovereign Knight's Commander has him assassinated with poison, which results in Immanuel being promoted to Sovereign High Bishop. With the promise of forcing Lady Rozemyne to join the Sovereign Temple and getting a true, god-chosen Zent on the throne, Raublut is able to gain the support of Immanuel for his insurrection[1]. |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Ascendance of a Bookworm. Part 5 Volume 10. Immanuel — The Returned Branch Royal
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Ascendance of a Bookworm. Part 4 Volume 7. Chapter 7: The Ternisbefallen Inquiry
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Ascendance of a Bookworm. Part 5 Volume 5. Chapter 3: The Archduke Conference’s Starbinding
- ↑ Ascendance of a Bookworm. Part 4 Volume 7. Chapter 8: The Bible Inspection Meeting