Cleaning Up the Orphanage
After eating lunch, we immediately went to work cleaning the orphanage. But the cleaning had to be done by the people who lived there. The temple had an excess of orphan gray priests, and although they had been doing laundry in the morning and then cleaning in the afternoon up until the past few years, in recent times they consistently ran out of work to do by noon. Thus we decided to start the cleanup in the afternoon, when there would be a lot of idle priests.
On the surface we would be framing the cleanup as a way to avoid shaming me, the orphanage director and blue-robed shrine maiden, with a filthy place of work. Apparently, having a reason like that would make the people of the orphanage more willing to go out of their way and do work they usually didn’t do.
My goal with cleaning the orphanage was actually twofold. Getting it clean was the obvious part of it, but I also wanted them to learn that they would get paid if they worked hard. To that end, I had a chef making soup to reward those who helped clean, and I was planning on presenting buttered potatoffels to the thirty priests who worked the hardest.
The priests split into multiple groups before beginning work: those who would wash the children when it was warm outside, those who would clear the floor where the pre-baptism children were, those who would clean the rest of the girls’ building, those who would help transport the workshop tools, and those who would clean the boys’ building and other miscellaneous areas.
Fran and Gil had been really surprised when Benno and I suggested it. In general, the work of temple servants involved washing clothes, cleaning, and praying. Everyone did laundry together in the morning, everyone prayed together, and so on. Everything was always done together, and they were never split into groups. I explained that splitting into groups would speed up the process of cleaning such a large area, and that a group of stronger adults was important for carrying in the tools and such.
“Will they listen to me and do their work if I tell them to split into groups?”
“It’ll be fine. Everyone still considers Fran to be one of the High Priest’s attendants.”
To the gray priests and apprentices in the orphanages, Fran being trusted by the High Priest made him their superior. Gil explained that if he took the lead, the orphans would do their work even if they weren’t too happy about it.
“Though there are some number of children who will likely disobey,” said Fran while glancing at Gil. Although Gil now took his work seriously, in the past he was apparently quite the problem child and really wore down the caretaker priests. He avoided eye contact with Fran, which made me giggle.
Fran and Gil patrolled the orphanage, making sure everyone was doing their job and checking to see who was working hard while reporting the details and the overall progress of the cleanup to me. Lutz was in the boys’ building, monitoring the cleaning and getting the tools from the Myne Workshop where they needed to be. He would then make buttered potatoffels there once everything was done. Delia was cleaning my chambers while keeping an eye on the chefs.
“I believe I shall patrol as wel—”
“You’re staying here, Myne. Don’t want you collapsing out there somewhere.” Lutz stopped me before I could even finish my sentence and gave me an exasperated look as I fell silent with a frown.
“Y’know, Sister Myne. We’re cleaning the orphanage so the apprentice blue shrine maiden who’s becoming the orphanage director can go inside. What do you think’ll happen if you go there before the cleaning’s done?”
“Oh right, I didn’t think about that...” I sighed, since without Fran I couldn’t even go to the book room. Seeing that, Fran gave a smile filled with compassion and set a piece of parchment in front of me. It was filled from top to bottom with methodical handwriting that reflected Fran’s personality well.
“There is much for you to learn, Sister Myne. You must first memorize this entire greeting, which you will need to recite this evening when you go to the orphanage in an official capacity for the first time. Take particular care not to mistake the names of the gods.” He had written it on paper so I could cheat by looking at it if necessary, but in general I would need to memorize these kinds of things.
I sighed as I looked at the parchment. Seeing that, Fran continued to smile and presented board after board to me.
“If you have the time, here is a list of the teas and varieties of milk we have at the temple. Here is your preferred kind. Here is Master Benno’s, here is Lutz’s, and here is the High Priest’s. You would do well to memorize the preferences of your guests.”
I doubted the High Priest would ever come to my chambers, but I didn’t say that. I could at least understand the principle of understanding the tastes of your boss.
Lutz, barely holding back a fit of laughter at the stack of boards in front of me, gave me a thumbs up (a gesture that might just be universal across all worlds). “Good for you, Myne. You’ve got lots of stuff to read now.”
“I like reading, but I don’t like memorizing things.” Excluding things I was very interested in, my brain always forgot the last thing I read as soon as I started reading something new, which sucked. I slumped my shoulders sadly as I took the stack of documents that Fran had organized for me.
After fifth bell rang, Fran returned to write names on a board. They were the names of the kids who had proactively worked hard and the names of those who had hid to avoid work.
“The pre-baptism children that you were especially worried about have been cleaned head to toe, Sister Myne. The soap and towels prepared beforehand were put to use as soon as it was warm enough outside. They are now wearing the secondhand clothes you bought and stuffing fresh hay into sheets.” They were making their own mattresses out of cheap used sheets and the hay I had bought from a farmer.
“Are any of them sick, or too weak to move?”
“No, they are all quite fine, entirely thanks to Gil bringing them food so consistently. The children now revere him as a savior. And likely you as well, since he told them he acted on your orders.”
Hearing that honestly made me kind of fuzzy on the inside. I was just happy that the kids were feeling better.
“A few of the shrine maidens and apprentices who were in the kid washing group made mattresses, while the rest left to assist the other groups. That is all I have to report right now. I will be getting back to my patrol now.”
“Thank you, Fran. This is all going so well thanks to you.”
Fran gave a slight nod, then returned to the orphanage. A bit later, Lutz came back.
“Myne, the basement of the boys’ building is all clean now, so we’re gonna start bringing in the workshop tools.”
“Okay. Thanks, Lutz.”
“These people are crazy, y’know. Cleaning is like breathing to them. Never seen anyone clean as fast as them.” Lutz gave his report somewhat excitedly, then speedily walked back to his post. Almost immediately after, Fran returned, wrote down the names he heard from Gil, then power-walked back outside.
Everyone was so busy, but I was stuck at my work desk (that had arrived just a few days ago), staring at Fran’s handwriting. The names of the gods were long, and there were a lot of them. I honestly wanted to suggest nicknames to the High Priest to make them easier to remember and more friendly sounding. Like, what about Flue or Rane instead of Flutrane? Haha... He’d shoot me down in a second.
The door to the kitchen was left open so Delia could glance inside while cleaning, which meant that eventually the smell of the reward soup cooking in the kitchen started wafting into my room. It seemed that the cleanup was finishing on pace while I thought about silly things.
“Sister Myne, the boys’ building is all clean.”
“Good work, Gil. That just leaves the girls’ building, right?”
“Yeah. But boys can’t go into the girls’ building other than the dining hall, so yeah.”
“Maybe you should start preparing to distribute the soup in the dining hall?”
Gil nodded and left excitedly, right as Lutz was walking inside.
“Hey, Myne. The workshop’s all set up and ready, so I started steaming the potatoffels. Is that alright?”
“Why are you asking permission after starting...? But well, Gil just went to get the dining hall ready, so now’s as good a time as ever to start the potatoffels.” I giggled, but Lutz leaned in and lowered his voice.
“These people have never even seen potatoffels. They’ve only seen eaten food that’s already cooked. They all gathered around me when I started steaming them. It was a pain in the butt.”
“...That makes sense. They only eat divine gifts, so the orphanage doesn’t cook meals itself. I guess it’s reasonable that they’ve never seen ingredients before?”
Speaking of which, back in my Urano days I saw an article in a magazine saying that many kids couldn’t recognize wild carrots — they only knew the cleaned ones with the leaves cut off. If that was the case in Japan with the internet and such, it wasn’t hard at all to imagine the priests here not knowing anything that they didn’t directly encounter in their day-to-day lives.
“Alright, I gotta go teach them how to work the butter in.” Lutz left again with butter, knives, and a grin on his face. This time, Fran entered after him.
“As expected, the basement of the girls’ building, where the pre-baptism kids were, is proving difficult to clean. Currently, everyone assigned to cleaning the girls’ building is working together to finish it. I imagine they will be done before long. In addition, unlike the boys’ building, there are not many people presently living in the girls’ building. I have decided to give the empty rooms to the pre-baptism children, with the understanding that this is consistent with your wishes. We are currently taking their clothes and hay-stuffed mattresses to the rooms.”
Fran’s report made me sigh in relief. It was great that the kids would have decent places to sleep.
“Sister Myne, have you finished memorizing the greeting?”
“...Somewhat, but I’m not entirely confident in my memory. Could I bring this piece of paper with me?”
“Certainly. With that done, I will call for you when everything is prepared. Delia, please get Sister Myne ready.”
Delia took Fran’s place and started doing my hair. She sat me in front of the mirror and pulled out my hair stick. As she held a brush in her hand, she looked at me through the mirror with a sad, pained expression.
“...Did you save them?”
“Right now, they’re healthy enough to stuff straw into their own new mattresses.”
“Ah.” Despite my positive report, Delia’s expression didn’t brighten. She furrowed her brow and looked away, as if she had just swallowed something bitter.
“...Delia, you look down. What’s wrong? Isn’t this what you wanted?”
“I’m happy, but frustrated. Why... Why couldn’t you have saved me too, when I was there?”
“I wasn’t even at the temple back then, that’s kind of unreasonable...”
“I know that! I know, but...” Delia yelled out, knowing her frustration was unjustified but unable to do anything about it. Tears were on the verge of dripping out of her light-blue eyes. It was clear just how much suffering she had gone through before her baptism, just how many times she had begged to be saved to no avail. It hurt my heart to see.
“I wasn’t in time to save you, but if you’re ever in trouble again, I’ll be there. I’ll save you next time, so please... don’t cry.”
“I’m not crying!”
“S-Sorr—”
“Don’t apologize to your attendant!” Delia aggressively rubbed her eyes while rejecting my apology. She was a proud girl and probably didn’t want to admit to crying. But still... Delia sure is being unreasonable here, isn’t she? What a cutie.
My introduction as orphanage director was something of a special occasion, so I wore the special hair stick I had made for my baptism ceremony. It alone was enough to make even a commoner look like the daughter of a rich merchant at the very least.
“I’ve never seen a hairpin like this before.”
“I made it for my baptism ceremony. The Gilberta Company has started selling them recently.”
“...You made it? Yourself?”
“I had help, but I could make it on my own if I needed to. All I need are the materials.”
“The materials...” Delia looked at the ornament like a carnivore that had just found its prey as she brushed my hair before I put the hair stick in myself. She wasn’t used to weaving hair around a hair stick yet, so there was no helping that.
“Sister Myne, the preparations are ready.” The fresh soup was split into several pots, which were put onto a cart. There were many gray priests I had never seen before with Fran standing behind them. “These are the priests that will help carry and distribute the soup.”
“Thank you all. I appreciate the help.”
“It is we who should be thanking you. They will surely be very grateful, as there have not been many divine gifts lately.”
“Oh, but this soup is not a divine gift. It is a reward.”
“A reward...?” The priests blinked, not really understanding what I meant, but I just responded with a smile.
Fran carried me through a hall and eventually we arrived in front of the orphanage. It was a surprisingly long walk since we had to loop around the building while matching the slow pace of the cart.
Fran set me down in front of the door and checked to make sure my hair and clothes were still neat. Once that was done, a gray priest opened the door and spoke loudly so that his voice echoed to all those within.
“With the divine protection of the mighty King and Queen of the endless skies and the mighty Eternal Five who rule the mortal realm, the shrine maiden newly appointed as the orphanage director has arrived.”
The door opened straight into the orphanage’s dining hall. It was a bit surprising to see rows of long tables right at the entrance, but given that divine gifts had to be delivered here daily and that boys could only enter the dining hall, it was overall fairly efficient.
Although the rows of gray robes had been sitting on the benches, they all stood up upon my arrival and faced my way. The sheer number of eyes on me and the people clearly sizing me up made me want to look at the floor, but before I could...
“Let us welcome her with a prayer to the gods. Blessed be the gods!” It was impossible for me to look away from the sudden sight of a mass group of people making that ridiculous praying pose.
“Sister Myne, this way.” Fran took my hand and guided me to a podium resting on a square of carpet. The older priests closer to the entrance were making sharp poses, but the smaller kids further back were struggling to maintain their balance. It would be hard to say which of us were worse at it.
As everyone’s eyes returned to me after finishing their prayers, Fran set me on the podium and whispered into my ear, “Please give your speech like a noble, with dignity and authority.”
It seemed that leaving a strong first impression would be an important step toward getting the gray priests to obey me. Just like Gil said, the gray priests and shrine maidens here all knew that I was a commoner despite being an apprentice blue shrine maiden. If I showed a lack of confidence or authority here, they would look down on me in a snap. I needed to exude the confident majesty of a noble, to keep my chin up and never lower my gaze. Keep smiling and maintain my composure. I just had to keep in mind what Benno had warned me about when we were going to give the donation.
On our way here, Fran had said with a smile that if things got bad, I could just lightly Crush them with my mana so that they would learn their place whether they liked it or not. I didn’t exactly want to rule by fear, so ideally that wouldn’t be necessary.
I somehow managed to memorize the long greeting, but the only experience I had talking in front of large groups was when I won some award for an essay I wrote and had to give a humiliating acceptance speech. That, and presenting my graduation thesis.
I took a deep breath, trembling in fear from all the eyes on me, and touched the swaying flowers on my hair stick. I felt more confident with this hair stick on, since I had made it with my family.
“Greetings, everyone. I am Myne, the one whom the High Priest selected to be the orphanage director on this vibrant summer day blessed by the God of Fire Leidenschaft. From the bottom of my heart, I express my joy for your warm welcome and future service.”
The speech began with framing them as welcoming and serving me in a positive light, then ended with a prayer. I paused and took a breath so I wouldn’t mess up the names of the gods.
“O mighty King and Queen of the endless skies, O mighty Eternal Five who rule the mortal realm, O Goddess of Water Flutrane, O God of Fire Leidenschaft, O Goddess of Wind Schutzaria, O Goddess of Earth Geduldh, O God of Life Ewigeliebe! We offer you our prayers and gratitude.”
Fran had apparently written for me the standard greeting for formal affairs in the temple. The gray priests responded immediately. “Blessed be the gods! Glory be to the gods!”
Fran and the High Priest had forced me to practice praying at least once a day since I started coming to the temple, so naturally I had gotten more used to it. Nobody could call me a master at it, but I wasn’t losing my balance or falling over anymore. Honestly, I’m striking a pretty mean pose right now, if I do say so myself.
Once the greeting was over, it was time to distribute the rewards. “Most of you worked together to clean the orphanage for my sake. I have brought a reward for those of you who did. Fran, please give the hard workers their reward.”
“As you wish, Sister Myne.” Fran took out a wooden board and began listing off the names of those who didn’t work. The gray priests distributing the soup skipped over those who had their names called, giving food only to the others. This looks like lunches being handed out at school, I thought absentmindedly while watching, until suddenly a boy about the same age as Gil who hadn’t been given food stood up and glared at me with his face bright red.
“This isn’t fair! Divine gifts are supposed to be given out equally! You’re a commoner and you don’t eve—”
“Indeed, divine gifts are given equally.” I smiled brightly at the boy who was acting entirely like Gil had at first. “But these are not divine gifts. Did you not hear me when I said these are rewards given to those who worked hard for my sake? Rewards are not equal. Unfortunately, those who do no work will not be rewarded. There is a saying that ‘he who does not work, shall not eat.’ You would all do well to remember this saying.”
The boy probably hadn’t expected me to argue back. He looked at me, stunned, as if he had forgotten his anger entirely. “...A-A reward?”
“Yes, a reward. Do your work next time. Also, I have brought further rewards for those who worked especially hard. Those who have their names called, please come to the front with your plates.”
Gray priests opened the steamers that Lutz had put the buttered potatoffels into. The scent of butter drifted through the dining hall. As Fran listed off names, priests and shrine maidens timidly came to the front while glancing at those around them. A gray priest placed one buttered potatoffel onto each plate.
“I heard that you raced to where the children were and began cleaning before anyone else. Thank you.”
“I was told you cleaned exceptionally fast. Lutz praised your work.”
“You proactively carried the heaviest loads yourself, yes? Fine work.”
I was just reading off the memo that Fran and Lutz had written about the hardest workers, but all of them looked at me with emotionally stricken expressions. Some of them even looked like Gil had, a sign that they had never been praised even once before in their life.
I couldn’t help but realize just how blessed I was to have a family like mine. Visions of my family heaping praise on me for every little thing I managed to do ran through my head. I felt that from now on I would need to search for the good points in the priests and give them my praise as the orphanage director.
“Please continue your hard work. But for now, eat.”
The following day, I held a cooking class. Groups were split into those washing vegetables, those cutting vegetables, and those lighting and maintaining fires beneath the pots. Participants were being taught by Tuuli and Ella. Hugo, meanwhile, was working hard to make dinner by himself.
Ella and Tuuli primarily taught how to cut the vegetables. Adults used large chopping knives while kids used smaller multi-purpose knives. The fresh soup would be their reward and dinner, so everyone took their learning seriously. They were full of curiosity for the raw meat and vegetables that they had never seen before, and awkwardly chopped them up with inexperienced movements.
I observed as everyone made the first meal produced by the Myne Workshop. Fran told me that it would be fine to watch, but as a blue shrine maiden, helping at all was strictly forbidden. I felt eyes on my back and turned around to see the boy who had skipped out on work yesterday glancing my way while proactively chopping as many vegetables as he could. His intentions were so clear it was adorable, so I gave him extra reward fruit.
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