What They Deserve
Fran looked at me and Gil, then slowly began to speak. “It is the duty of blue priests and shrine maidens to distribute divine gifts to those beneath them, with those divine gifts being food, clothing, and shelter. When blue priests and shrine maidens enter the temple, they give their attendants clothes and a room, such that they can live with their master.”
“And since I have no chambers in the temple, Gil has remained in the orphanage despite becoming my attendant?” I asked, and Fran nodded in return.
“Additionally, regarding food, it is customary that food is cooked for the master. The leftovers are given to their attendants and apprentice attendants, then what is left over beyond that is given to the orphanage as a divine gift. It is natural that the gifts given to attendants are greater than what those in the orphanage receive.”
My goal had been to avoid being separated from my family and put in the orphanage, so when I was allowed to commute to the temple from home, I rejoiced without ever thinking about how my attendants would suffer from me breaking customs.
“Did you get sent back to the orphanage from the High Priest’s quarters due to becoming my attendant, Fran?” If so, it was even more understandable that he had felt like he was being punished. He was going out of his way to help me, but for nothing in return. Worse than nothing, even. I had intended to give him his first pay soon, but perhaps I would need to talk to the High Priest about his living conditions first.
“No, my room is still within the High Priest’s quarters, and I imagine that Delia has not been moved either. I am helping the High Priest with his paperwork while you are absent, so I am eating there as well.”
That reminded me. The High Priest was flooded with work and had mentioned he didn’t have enough workers to help him. There was no chance he would let Fran sit around doing nothing while I was absent, skilled as he was. I sighed in relief, glad to hear that Fran hadn’t descended into suffering for my sake.
“So in short, only Gil is suffering right now?”
“I believe that he had been hoping for his living condition to improve, and now is angry because it has remained unchanged. Divine gifts are given to those in the orphanage regardless of whether they do work. But one can improve their situation by working as an attendant. I feel somewhat frustrated that he thought that he would receive more divine blessings despite not properly doing his job as an attendant,” said Fran, who clearly felt pride in his job, while glancing at Gil.
“...Fran, if you are not having any problems, I think I will keep things with you as they are, and if at some point you begin having problems, I will think of a solution then. What do you think?”
“If that is what you wish to do, then so be it,” replied Fran with a quiet nod after pausing to think for a moment, probably comparing his current living situation to what it would be like to live in my chambers. Just when I thought that signaled the end of the conversation, Gil started barking again.
“Fran this, Fran that, what about me?! I’m your attendant too!”
“...That’s weird. I seem to recall you stating that you don’t consider me to be your master. Why would I provide you with divine gifts when I am not your master?” Gil’s behavior was hard to understand if he really wanted me to improve his living situation.
“That’s what blue shrine maidens are supposed to do! A-And anyway, if you’re not gonna give me food or a room, why would I work for you?! What’s in it for me?!”
“Wages.” I considered it important to pay my attendants a fair wage, just like Benno and Mark were paying Lutz. Naturally, the payment would depend on the quality and quantity of their work. As things were, I would never pay Fran and Gil the same.
Gil blinked in surprise several times, then murmured “What’s a wage?” with his head tilted.
Lutz laughed and basically repeated what Gil had said to me. “You seriously don’t know that? It’s just common sense that you get wages for working.”
“N-No it isn’t!”
“A wage is one’s payment for working. I’ll be paying money to the attendants who do work for me.”
“Money...? A-Ah, yeah, money. Hmmm.” It seemed that Gil didn’t know what money was. His eyes wavered, then, after making eye contact with Lutz, he nodded while pretending to know what it was.
“Fran’s working hard for me, so I am more than willing to extend a helping hand on his behalf, but I have no intention of bothering to negotiate with the High Priest to help an attendant who isn’t even working for me. That will take away from my reading time.” My reading time was already limited due to having to help the High Priest in the morning and eat lunch afterwards. I didn’t want to waste any more of it. “Now then, Fran. Would you please take me to the High Priest? I must assist him with his paperwork until noon.”
“As you wish.” Fran took the lead with Lutz and I following behind, and Gil even further behind.
“Hey, if I do my work, things’ll actually change?”
“Of course. I pay a proper wage for good work.”
“Excuse me, High Priest. Sister Myne has arrived.”
“Ah, there you are. How are you feeling?” The High Priest looked up from his desk.
“Sorry for worrying you. I’m fine now. It seems that I collapsed due to the offering ceremony. Is one’s health affected by whether or not the body is completely filled with mana?”
“You might die if you are completely drained of mana, but I have never heard of anyone getting sick due to not filling their body with mana. Perhaps this is a trait unique to those with the Devouring?”
The High Priest put his pen down and briefly shut his eyes, searching through his memories for an answer.
“It is very rare for children with the Devouring to be discovered. In particular, those with great amounts of mana die incredibly young, so they have not been well studied. You are beyond a rare case. To my knowledge, not a single commoner child with as much mana as you has survived to reach their baptism, if any have been born at all. I would like to investigate this at some point.”
The High Priest stared at me with eyes resembling that of a mad scientist who had just discovered a perfect test subject, which sent shivers down my spine. In order to escape his curiosity-filled gaze, I quickly changed the subject.
“I have other questions. Are there any religious events where only blue priests are summoned to the Noble’s Quarter? If there are any special clothes I need to prepare, knowing now would be for the best.”
“There are throughout the year, but not many that you as an apprentice will be called for. Still, you will want to prepare ceremonial blue robes ahead of time. Speaking of which... Where are your robes?” said the High Priest, which finally made me realize I hadn’t put on my blue robes yet.
“I was told it’s dangerous to wear them outside of the temple, so I was planning to put them on once I got here.”
“Dangerous?”
“Criminals might think I’m the child of a noble and kidnap me. One second, please.” I stuck my hands into the basket by Lutz’s feet and dug out the blue robes and sash.
“Myne? What’re you...”
“Putting on the robes.” I pulled the blue robes over my head like always, taking care to not catch them on my hair stick. When my head popped out of the top, I found myself looking directly into Fran’s eyes. He had started kneeling, and he looked troubled since his raised hands had nowhere to go.
“What’s wrong, Fran?”
“...Allow me to help you dress.”
“Um, well then... Can you put on my sash for me?” It was probably best to not tell him that I could do it myself. I held up my arms and allowed Fran to tie my sash, whereupon I made eye contact with the High Priest, who was cradling his head.
“Myne, change clothes in your own room. That was shameless.” The topic had shifted to rooms at an unexpected point. Since I would be changing every day, I had been hoping to ask to borrow a changing room or a closet or something.
“...Will you be giving me my own quarters?”
“No, I misspoke. I convinced the High Bishop to allow you to commute from home by telling him that it was better than giving you a home in the Noble’s Quarter. There will be no going back on that decision.” The only one here who would support something as convenient as me commuting was the High Priest. It seemed that he was breaking his back for me in various ways without me realizing it.
“Um, High Priest. Do you have any homes not in the Noble’s Quarter?” That questioned seemed to be unexpected for him. He furrowed his brows and narrowed his eyes, making it clear that he couldn’t understand my proposition. I hurriedly elaborated to clear his suspicions.
“As you know, I am not a noble despite being given blue robes. I therefore do not pretend to want a room in the Noble’s Quarter. I would just like a room to change clothes and store some belongings, one that visitors can be directed to. Do you have a closet or something like that I can borrow?”
“You would invite visitors to a closet?! Do you have no grasp of how rude that would be?” The High Priest raised his voice with his eyes open wide. That definitely would be rude to visitors, but it wouldn’t be that much different from the current situation, in my opinion.
“Forgive my impudence, but at the moment I do not even have a closet. Lutz is being made to wait at the gate for me. Is making a visitor wait at the gate not rude in itself?”
“It is better than guiding a visitor of a blue robe to a closet. I will... inform the guards to at least take your visitors to a waiting room.” According to the High Priest (as he explained while rubbing his temples), guests of blue priests and shrine maidens were treated entirely differently from commoners with unknown reasons for visiting. It was clear that the High Priest was considering me an apprentice blue shrine maiden in full, not a pauper girl in rich clothing.
“High Priest, what about giving Sister Myne the orphanage director’s chambers? They are far from the Noble’s Quarter, and given that a blue shrine maiden was already using them years prior, it will not injure a guest’s honor to be invited there,” said Arno, which sent a stir through the gray priests present. The High Priest didn’t seem bothered, however, and nodded after some thought.
“Very well. I will give Myne the orphanage director’s chambers. Henceforth you will change clothes and meet visitors there. Once your work for the morning is done, Fran will guide you there.”
“This is an extraordinarily rude request, but may I be taken to the chambers first? Lutz is here to teach Fran about how to manage my health, so I need a place for them to talk.
“The director’s chambers have been long unused, so they are not well-kept enough to be used immediately. You will be working here, so they can talk here as well. Fran, use the table over there.”
“Understood.” Fran and Lutz moved to the table the High Priest directed them to. I watched them go and saw Gil following them despite having nothing to do there.
“High Priest, I would like to go to the chambers even more so now that I know they are unkempt. I will have Gil clean them while I work here.”
“Huh? Me?” Gil pointed at himself and looked around the room, caught off guard by suddenly being given work. The other priests in the room also looked at me with surprise. I could hear them quietly whispering. “She would trust him with work?” said one, and “I heard he keeps getting sent to the repentance chamber for not cleaning the chapel.” replied another.
“...Oh? Do you not know how to clean, Gil?”
“Everyone knows how to clean!”
“Perfect. Then I will look forward to seeing just how skilled you are. Good luck.” With my encouragement, Gil left the room alongside a gray priest apprentice who the High Priest had given a key.
The door shut, and the High Priest narrowed his eyes in its direction. “Myne, was it wise to trust him?”
“If I don’t give him opportunities to work, I won’t be able to judge his worth effectively.”
By the time the apprentice came back with the key, Lutz was talking to Fran about how to manage my health, and I was helping the High Priest with his paperwork. My job today was to work my way through a ledger. He said it would be easy for me if I had merchant experience. Math was my specialty, but I didn’t want him thinking that I knew enough to handle a ledger all on my own. Especially when I barely knew anything about the temple’s inner workings.
“The math will be the same, but there’s a lot different about this ledger than what I’m used to. What does this ‘divine will’ column represent? It looks like more money is being spent here than anywhere else.”
The other expenditure columns were titled: Offerings to the gods, flowers for the gods, water for the gods, and divine compassion. There were so many strange religious terms that I didn’t feel confident going through the entire ledger.
The High Priest looked at me expressionlessly for a bit, then shook his head and pointed to one part of the ledger. “...For today, you can focus on doing the calculations.”
“Understood. Lutz, could you lend me your slate? I forgot to bring mine.”
“Uh? Oh, yeah, sure.” Lutz rifled through the basket and took out his slate. I borrowed it from him and did the math in the section that the High Priest had pointed out. He looked over shoulder curiously, but since he asked no questions, I continued my work in silence.
“...Hm, very fast. And accurate, too,” observed the High Priest, sounding impressed. But I was just used to this kind of thing since I had been going through ledgers at the gate for so long. Grinding through simple math really made me yearn for a nice electronic calculator.
As I poured my undivided attention into doing math, fourth bell eventually rang to signify noon.
“That will be all for today.” The moment the High Priest spoke, the gray priests in the room began cleaning up their work.
“Myne, leave the key to the director’s chambers with Fran so that you do not lose it. Furthermore, here is your share of the donation you brought.”
The High Priest handed me the key to the director’s chambers, one large silver, and six small silvers. It felt weird to receive a portion of my own donation, but since all donations were distributed in part to all of the blue priests, I was told to accept it anyway. (And reminded yet again that shrine maidens were often lumped in with priests, supposedly to save the effort that would be spent on continually distinguishing the two professions.)
“And incidentally, take those goods with you to your chambers.” I followed his gaze to see Benno’s gifts lined up on the shelf. They had been left there untouched, perhaps due to me collapsing. The high quality cloth, bottle of rinsham, and bundle of plant paper were all still wrapped up in cloth.
I had Lutz and Fran carry the gifts, so I only held the key to the room on my way to the orphanage director’s chambers. Fran explained the significance of my new living quarters on the way there.
“The orphanage is split into two three-story buildings on either side of the main chapel. One building is for boys and one is for girls. The director’s chambers you’ve been given are located in the boys’ building.”
“What? Weren’t these chambers last used by a blue shrine maiden? Why is it located in the boys’ building?” I asked, confused.
Fran hesitated, eyes wavering, before eventually smiling. “That is not something you need to know, Sister Myne.” Him hiding it only made me more curious, but judging by how his lips were shut in a tight line, there was little chance of him telling me.
“The orphanage is on the way from the gate to the Noble’s Quarter. That’s a good spot for you, Myne. You get to change right after getting here,” said Lutz.
“Uh huh.”
“Sister Myne, the entrance to the director’s chambers is on the opposite end from the gate, and the front end from the Noble’s Quarter. Take care not to enter through the doors the orphans use. There are different entrances for the orphanage at large and the director’s chambers. I request that you do not use the wrong one.” Fran’s warning made me put an anxious hand on my chest. The High Priest granting me the chambers at Arno’s advice despite having been so opposed to giving me a room, them being located in the boys’ building, the entrance to the chambers being separated from the orphanage entrance... Everything pointed to the chambers having an unpleasant history, so to speak.
“This way, Sister Myne.” The door to the chambers was slightly ajar, probably due to Gil cleaning. Fran opened it and there was Gil, waiting with his chest puffed out with pride.
“Heheh, how’s it look?”
The door opened into a wide hall that also served as a parlor, with a set of stairs at the end. Half of the parlor was perfectly clean, while the other half felt incomplete.
“This side of the room is really clean,” I said while going inside. But when I went to open the door on the right side of the parlor, Gil stopped me, saying he hadn’t cleaned there yet. I went for the door to the left instead, but he stopped me again. Those were the only doors I could see on the first floor.
“Gil, what in the world did you clean?”
“Your room, obviously! You think I would clean your servant rooms first? No way! I’ve cleaned the whole second floor and half of the hall leading to the stairs, don’t keep trying to go to the dirty parts.” Gil angrily climbed up the stairs. It seemed that he had prioritized me when cleaning the chambers. Maybe he was actually more sweet than I gave him credit for. I let out a small smile as I looked at the sparkly clean staircase, polished to a shine.
I climbed the stairs and ended up in a room clearly meant for the nobility. It was incredibly large and still had several pieces of furniture within it. There was an ornately decorated table with four chairs in the center of the room. There was a closet with shelves nearby, and an impressive trunk carved skillfully out of wood. The corner of the room had a large bed, although one without cushions. Judging by the fact that the furniture was placed in a roughly similar fashion to the High Priest’s room, and that the furniture was expensive and skillfully made, it was easy to tell that the room’s prior resident had been a noble daughter.
“Why did nobody take the furniture? It all seems fairly expensive.”
“That is because the previous owner was who she was.”
“The previous owner being... Ah, nevermind. I won’t ask. I will merely be grateful to use the furniture for myself.” I had no intention of wasting money by buying replacement furniture, so it was better to not ask questions I didn’t need to know the answer to. I put Benno’s gifts on the neatly cleaned shelves and my clothes in the closet.
“Thank you, Gil. The room is very clean.”
“Huh?! Uh, yeah. I cleaned it, ’course it’s clean.” Gil was puffing out his chest proudly again, but his expression was thoroughly embarrassed. He wouldn’t make eye contact with me, but he was grinning like he had never been complimented in his life before. When he glanced my way, his eyes were practically begging for more praise.
It was easy to tell that he wasn’t used to being complimented for his efforts. The fact he was enough of a troublemaker to be assigned to me out of spite was probably an indicator that most of his time was spent being yelled at, not complimented. Luckily, the core principle of discipline was praising someone a lot when they did good.
“Gil, crouch a little so I can praise you more.”
“Huh? Like this?” Gil got down on one knee. Remembering that he had been raised to instantly make such postures in times of prayer and worship, I reached out for Gil’s dirty blond hair, which was now lower than my own head. He followed my hand with dubious eyes, having no idea what I was planning to do.
“There there, good boy. You did a very good job.”
Lutz always got embarrassed and told me to stop treating him like a kid when I patted his head, but Gil’s eyes widened, then his face scrunched up like he was holding back tears. He immediately lowered his face to the floor, which made me pull my hand back reflexively, but then he whispered “Keep going...” quietly at me.
“It’s really, really clean. You did a good job all on your own.” Gil’s ears went bright red as he quietly let me pat his head. I was hit with the urge to crouch and look at his face, but I held it back since I could imagine him yelling at me angrily not to look.
I made a firm mental note that what Gil deserved and needed more than the divine gifts was praise and gratitude.
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