Bible

The **Bible** (聖典, *Seiden*) is the holy scripture of the local religion of the country of Yurgenschmidt.

# Origin and History

According to legend, when the first king was chosen by the Gods, he was also allowed to transcribe Mestionora's original bible, the Grutrissheit. All bibles throughout the entire land originate from this first transcription of the Grutrissheit, even though many have changed to various degrees due to being copies of copies of copies made over the course of centuries.

# Content

The Bible contains stories about the Gods, the creation of the world, and finally the creation of the country and its religion.

The first sentence of the Bible starts with the words "Here be words granted by the Gods..."

## Creation Myth

The lonely God of Darkness encountered the Goddess of Light, and they gave birth to the Eternal Five, thus creating the world. The god of life Ewigeliebe fell in love at first sight with Geduldh and asked the God of Darkness for his permission to marry her. He gladly agreed in hope they would give birth to many children. Ewigeliebe was quite possessive, even feeling jealous of their unborn child. Therefore, he froze Geduldh, trapping her in ice which made her lose her power. Winter was created. The Goddess of Light began to worry about Geduldh after their contact broke off since the marriage. She found Geduldh and melted the ice, which Flutrane then flooded away with Ewigeliebe, who lost his power. Flutrane and her subordinate goddesses' strengthened the children, the seeds. Spring was created. The God of Fire Leidenschaft and his subordinate gods further strengthened the plants. Summer was created. Ewigeliebe's power also returned, and he began searching for Geduldh. The Goddess of Wind Schutzaria wanted to protect Geduldh, so they joined forces, so that the plants are harvestable. Autumn was created. Due to the extensive use of power, Geduldh's siblings were weakened, leading to Ewigeliebe gaining the upper hand again, and the story follows the same trail as before. The seasons were created. Being unable to kill Ewigeliebe as that would prevent new life from being born, the winter was the season of endurance until they regained their power to rescue Geduldh again.

# Ehrenfest Temple

Apart from the High Bishop's Bible, the temple also contains multiple other transcriptions of the Bible made at later dates. Some are nearly identical to the High Bishop's Bible and are still written in ancient dialects and speech patterns few people are still able to decipher these days, while other versions have been adapted to modern speech, so that new blue priests have an easier time learning the sacred texts without having to first learn ancient language. Several transcriptions also shortened some sections, leading to varying page-counts among the various bibles in the temple, with the older ones generally being thicker, both on account of having more content and using more complicated and longer phrases.

## High Bishop's Bible

This book is the oldest copy of the Bible in the duchy and the possession of the current High Bishop.

To an outsider, it looks more or less like a regular book, but decorated with all sorts of gems and having a belt attached at the sides with a lock locking the belt on the cover side. Only the High Bishop owns the key to open the Bible. When Rozemyne becomes the High Bishop, Fran is tasked to look after the key. The Bible used parchment which had beautiful letters written on it and showed signs of aging as the edges are yellow. The Bible is stored in the High Bishop's chambers, displayed on the altar between the god's statue and a candle, making it the center of the altar.

Unbeknownst to most people in Ehrenfest - nobles and commoners alike - and even some of the Royal Academy professors, these bibles are not just regular books, but are magic tools. The gemstones, rather than being mere decoration like with many other valuable books, are actually feystones that store and supply mana for its enchantments.

Only the High Bishop and those granted permission are able to see the ink on the pages. To everyone else, the bible appears to be entirely blank. To grant or revoke this permission, the High Bishop merely has to state so out loud.

### Hidden Content

In addition to the ink-written text, the bible also hides further content. If the current High Bishop's mana contains certain qualities - the specifics of which are currently unknown - that would qualify a member of the royal family to become king, a magic circle on the first page becomes visible and makes hidden text made out of pure mana float above the pages. Starting with the words "Ye who wish to be Zent, read on," the hidden text contains instructions on how an individual can prove themselves worthy for the position of Zent, though in a rather value and incomplete manner, and obtain the gods' divine mandate to rule. The vague nature of the instructions led Rozemyne to theorize that this hidden text was meant as a general guideline and supplement to information passed on orally to king-candidates in ancient times.

Certain pages within the high bishop bibles are also hidden by enchantments and only visible to people who meet certain requirements. At this point, it is not certain what those requirements are, though in Ferdinand's opinion, it is either mana capacity or elemental affinities. This opinion is apparently shared by the Sovereign Knight's Commander. If those requirements are not met, not even the high bishop who owns the bible will be able to read these passages. On the other hand, other viewers would not be able to see more content than the owner of the bible, even if they fulfill the condition.

One such restricted content is the blessing of the God of Darkness.

## Children's Bibles

Among the first books Myne makes via printing was a set of children's bibles. The first part is about the seven higher gods, and following books deal with their respective subordinate gods. To be more suitable for children, Myne simplified the more complicated language used in the regular bible. It also contains black-and-white illustrations drawn by Myne's attendant Wilma.

Initially, the children's bibles were only used to teach the orphans and young grey robes to read. When Rozemyne introduced them in the winter playroom, they quickly spread among the nobility, too. On top of helping children to learn to read in the first place, the books also help noble children to learn about the gods. This knowledge is important for performing blessings and certain other forms of magic and thus a subject at the Royal Academy. With the children's bible, noble children have an easier time learning the theological basics than with the much dryer learning style of the Royal Academy.

# Trivia

* The former High Bishop Bezewanst scribbled words of prayers into the bible instead of memorizing them.
* As Rozemyne only had to give blessings while leaving the recitation to Ferdinand, who had everything memorized, she basically doesn't need the bible at ceremonies.
* Rozemyne is able to see all contents in her bible.

# Navigation

1. ↑ Ascendance of a Bookworm. Part 4 Volume 7. Chapter 4: Investigating the Bible
2. ↑ Ascendance of a Bookworm. Part 4 Volume 7. Chapter 8: The Bible Inspection Meeting