Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 2.1 - Chapter 13

Discussion With the High Priest and My Resolve 

I was given permission to meet the High Priest at fifth bell, so I went to his room with Fran when the time came. The High Priest, who had apparently heard the details from Fran, spoke as soon as he saw my face. 

“I reject your proposition. There is no reason to divert more funds or manpower to the orphanage.” Not only did he reject my request without even letting me speak, he did so in a way I couldn’t understand. I hadn’t expected in the least that he would say that there was “no reason” to help the orphanage, despite knowing how horrible the situation was there. 

“What do you mean, no reason? As we speak, small children are starving to death. That is simply no environment a child should be in, and...” Maybe he just didn’t know how bad things really were. I nervously tried to explain to the High Priest what I had seen. But he raised a hand and interrupted my explanation. 

“Putting aside our working priests and apprentices, we do not have the money to spend on pre-baptism orphans. You may not know this since you were raised by your parents, but pre-baptism children are not recognized as humans by the temple. They will be treated as humans only after being baptized.” 

I had expected something like that to be the case, since people couldn’t enter the temple or be given jobs until they were baptized. But still, even without recognizing them as human, it wasn’t right to treat children like that. 

“...Are you saying that you don’t care if the children die?” 

“Yes, because their deaths would be a part of the gods’ plan for us. To put it in harsh terms, the temple will be better off without them.” 

I wanted to him to deny my question, but instead he accepted it like it was nothing. I stood there, stunned, and the High Priest began to explain the situation. 

“In the past, there were twice as many blue-robed nobles here. Mathematically you can deduce that there were twice as many attendants and apprentice attendants. On average, a blue robe will have five to six attendants. Can you guess how many attendants were left behind when the blue robes returned to noble society?” 

If ten-some nobles left, that would mean sixty to seventy attendants were left behind in the temple. Considering that the temple kept the attendants fed and such through the donations and leftovers of blue robes, it wasn’t hard to imagine that their mass departure would financially ruin the temple. 

“We sold about thirty gray shrine maidens and priests to the nobles as attendants, but there are still far too many priests on our hands.” 

“Could you not send those priests to take care of the children?” 

“Things will only get worse with more mouths to feed. Why do you think the High Bishop disposed of so many gray shrine maidens? It seems that you do not understand what I am telling you.” 

It was clear that as the number of blue robes increased over the coming years, the temple needed to have excess gray robes on hand to serve them. But at a time without enough divine gifts for everyone, the High Priest wanted to prevent the population of gray robes from increasing. 

“...Can’t you at the very least keep them clean? It’s likely that disease will break out in an environment that filthy.” 

“Hm. So you suggest killing them all now, before sickness spreads? A logical solution, but not one that would reflect well on us.” 

“No! That’s not what I meant.” 

I wanted to yell “What’s wrong with you?!” at him, but swallowed the urge. The High Priest and I were not only in completely different positions, we had been raised in entirely different environments. His view of the world was as alien to me as mine was to him. We spoke the same language, but understanding each other was another matter. 

“High Priest, why is the orphanage here if not to raise children without parents?” 

“You misunderstand. The orphanage exists to train abandoned children into servants for the nobility.” 

My and his understandings of what orphanages should be couldn’t be more different. The High Priest was completely unmoved by concepts such as pity or compassion. He let out a sigh that made it clear he was getting frustrated with my lack of understanding too. 

“If you want to help those who are about to die, do as you wish. Do you want to become the director of the orphanage, a position no other desires, and shoulder full responsibility for the orphanage?” 

His unexpected offer made me gasp. I wanted to help the orphans, but I didn’t have the resolve necessary to direct the entire orphanage with all the responsibility. That was too terrifying. 

“...I couldn’t do that.” I clenched my first and shook my head slowly. 

The High Priest nodded, then continued while looking me in the eye. “In that case, the present ratio of blue and gray priests provides enough divine gifts to feed roughly forty of those in the orphanage to a satisfactory level. You have more disposable income than any other blue robe in the temple. Will you pay for the food of the forty plus remaining orphans?” 

“I can’t. I don’t actually have control over most of the workshop income.” I had already spent too much money on refurbishing my room and paying my attendants. I was just barely staying even by selling recipes. The Italian restaurant wasn’t open yet, and I hadn’t established anything that would be bringing me stable income. Supporting the orphans wasn’t feasible with my current income. 

“You won’t shoulder responsibility and you won’t spend your money. If you aren’t willing to do anything, keep your silence. A half-baked sense of justice does not give you the right to speak on the matters of others. You need merely read your books quietly, without thinking about things beyond you.” 

The High Priest was so right I couldn’t even argue. I didn’t have the right to complain when I wasn’t willing to do anything myself. In many situations, it was better to do nothing than to give a half-hearted attempt at helping. 

“...I’m sorry for wasting your time.” I left the High Priest’s room with my head hung low. With his rejection, there was nothing more I could do. I had to just keep my silence. Or so I tried to tell myself, but the excuses just made me feel sick, like I had swallowed a brick. 

“Sister Myne, would you like to go to the book room? Perhaps it would brighten your mood.” Fran knelt and peered into my face. In contrast to his reluctance earlier, his tone was gentle and considerate. 

“...Did you know this would happen, Fran?” 

“My job was once to understand and serve the High Priest. I did expect that discussing this matter with him would leave you unhappy. Please, forget about the orphanage.” Fran took my hand and guided me to the book room while I sluggishly walked behind. When reading books, I could absorb myself in the written word and forget my worldly troubles.

Unfortunately, sixth bell rang and Lutz arrived to get me in what felt like a matter of moments. I had to leave the book room and go to my room to get changed. Whether I wanted to or not, I could see the orphanage from the corridors on the way to my chambers. The moment I did, I remembered what I saw and the urge to vomit lurched within me. 

“Ngh...!” I felt the vomit rushing up my stomach and held my mouth shut with my hands. I fought back hard to stop myself from throwing up. Fran hurriedly picked me up and ran to a closet, where he produced a cleaning bucket for me. As I threw up into the bucket, I felt the urge to burst into tears. 

I would never forget what I had seen. Maybe I could avoid thinking about it if I kept reading, but the memories would definitely surface whenever I was doing anything else. In my Urano days, Africa was so far from Japan that none of the suffering there had anything to do with me, and I could remain calm by donating a hundred yen or so when the chance arose. I would think That’s so sad while watching TV and eating, then forget within an hour. But my chambers here were directly connected to the orphanage. It was impossible for me to live with any peace of mind knowing that there were orphans suffering like that just a wall away from me. 

“Sister Myne, how’d it go?” Gil came rushing up to me. His purple eyes, dark enough to almost be black, were shining with so much hope that I had to look at the floor. 

“I’m sorry, Gil. The High Priest refused to help.” 

“B-But why?!” Gil looked at me in a panic, almost stunned with disbelief. Not only had I failed to help save the orphans from their suffering, I hadn’t even been able to meet Gil’s expectations. I kept staring at the floor, my heart hurting, and prepared to endure whatever insults Gil would throw my way. 

“Gil, contain yourself.” 

“Geez, don’t be stupid. I told you not to expect anything, didn’t I?” 

Fran and Delia both warned Gil off. He looked like he wanted to say something, but tightened his lips instead and looked at the floor like I was. Delia gave a knowing shrug as she began preparing to change my clothes. 

“This whole thing is really happening because the High Bishop cuts off his shrine maidens once they have children, calling them useless since they can’t do their job. There’s nothing the High Priest can do about it.” 

“Delia.” 

“It’s true! Normally shrine maidens that just gave birth or have big bellies would take care of the orphans, but since the High Bishop doesn’t want more priests to take care of, he disposes of them first. That said, since he needs gray shrine maidens to offer flowers to visitors, and he has to replace girls with big bellies, he can’t get rid of all the gray shrine maidens. He needs some extra ones just in case.” 

The shrine maidens and apprentices left in the orphanage to clean and do laundry were all young and relatively attractive, according to Delia. Shrine maidens that gave birth were “disposed of,” unattractive ones were sold to nobles as attendants, leaving only the cute ones who could offer flowers when necessary. Such was the result of the blue priests leaving so many of their attendants behind. 

Men could work for a long time without any fears of pregnancy, so well-trained gray priests were sold to nobles as personal attendants for a high price. But since there were fewer nobles in general at the moment, there was less demand for them. There were currently more unsold gray priests than shrine maidens in the temple. 

“Wait, does that mean the kids in the orphanage are the children of blue priests? They have noble blood?” 

“At least half of them, uh huh. Myself included,” said Delia casually. 

“Bwuh? Delia, you have mana?” 

“Apparently it’s hard to have children with someone with way less mana than you. That means only blue priests with barely any mana could get their gray priests pregnant, and I’m pretty sure you can’t return to noble society if you have children in the temple.” 

Which meant, in turn, all those still at the temple were those with barely any mana. The temple’s self-centered modus operandi made my head hurt. 

“The High Bishop makes all the final decisions about how the temple is run, so it’ll be more effective to make him like you than to try and fight him. Now then, would the men please leave? I need to get Sister Myne changed.” Delia waved her hand to shoo Fran and Gil out of the room, then reached out to change my clothes. 

“Geez! Smile a little, Sister Myne, it’s not like you’re going to die too. Just forget about them. There’s nothing you can do for them, after all,” said Delia as she speedily changed my clothes. 

But she was wrong. I could do something. I could improve the orphanage’s situation if I used all of my funds from the Myne Workshop. But the High Priest and the High Bishop didn’t care, and the moment I ran out of money, things would go right back to how they were before. And most of all, I was scared to shoulder the responsibility of so many lives. It wasn’t that I could do nothing. It was that I was too afraid to do anything, to bet my life and money on them. 

“Lutz! Lutz!” When Lutz came to get me, I jumped into his arms and hugged him tightly. I was just relieved to be back in a world where people understood me and I understood them. Tears flowed out of my eyes as if a dam had burst. 

Lutz reflexively patted my head and looked at Fran, who was seeing me off. “What happened, Fran?” 

“I will explain as we walk.” Fran glanced at the gate guard, then began to walk. He explained what had happened today as we traveled along the bustling city street. 

“She then sought help from the High Priest. I advised that she give up after he refused, but Sister Myne’s heart continues to ache.” 

“...Yeah, seeing dying kids is pretty rough. But there’s nothing you can do, Myne. Don’t worry about it. Just forget about them.” 

I had lived a fairly peaceful life here despite my poverty, so what I had seen was far too intense for me to forget so easily. “I wish I could forget them. Ignorance is bliss. But now that I know there are kids starving to death behind the walls of my own room, I can’t pretend I don’t know anything,” I said while sniffling. 

Lutz stopped and peered into my eyes. “You don’t like how messed up the orphanage is right now, yeah? What do you want changed?” 

I envisioned what I had seen, thought about how I thought the orphanage should be instead, and then spoke. “...I want those kids to eat until they’re full, and then grow up healthily. I want them to sleep on at least clean sheets instead of that dirty, stinky, moldy hay that’s probably getting them sick.” 

“Huh? Eat until they’re full? That’s something only rich people get to do. You gotta be satisfied with them eating enough to move around. Not even I get to eat until I’m full at home.” 

Upon hearing my dreams, Lutz said I was hoping for too much. I thought back to my own home and suddenly realized something as I compared my old life to my faux-noble life in the temple. I had forgotten about it lately since I was eating tons of tasty food in the temple and my family’s budget had gotten more comfortable, but barely any kids in the lower city got to eat until they were full. Even Lutz had struggled with food for his whole life, constantly losing to his older brothers in fights over the dinner table. 

“Oh, okay. Just getting enough food at all would have to do.” 

“And anyway, where’s the sense in you trying to give them all that food yourself? They should go gathering their own food first. What’s the point in sitting around when you’re hungry? What’s gonna come from that?” 

I had been thinking about the temple’s situation in a vacuum since it was such an isolated institution, but if I shifted my goal to getting the orphans on the same level as the children of the lower city, the costs necessary would drop down immensely. They could just go to the forest and gather their own food to supplement what I bought for them. 

“Unfortunately, orphans are not allowed to leave the orphanage,” said Fran with a troubled tone. The orphans were generally kept locked in the orphanage, to prevent nobles from seeing them before they were baptized and probably to prevent them from learning more about the world on their own. I fell silent, not knowing what to say about that, but Lutz hadn’t spent much time in the temple and thus just shook his head. 

“Who made that rule up? If the kids are dead weight, what’s the problem with letting them go to the forest? You and Gil are leaving the temple, so yeah.” 

“They’re my attendants, it’s different.” They were only allowed to leave because their job now involved going in and out of the temple on business for me. The same was true for gray priests going to the Noble’s Quarter. They weren’t free to leave as they pleased. 

“Alright, then why not make all the orphans your attendants? That’ll let them go outside, yeah?” 

I looked up at Lutz, blinking in surprise at his unexpected idea. 

“Wait just a moment,” interjected Fran. “That is simply out of the question. In the first place, surely Sister Myne would not be able to afford to provide all of them with the food, shelter, and clothing that masters are expected to give.” 

“Since they’re just going to the forest, she could buy a bunch of clothes from our poor secondhand shops for cheap.” 

I tried calculating in my head how much it would cost to buy enough knives and baskets for them to go to the forest. Naturally, there were enough chores in the temple that they couldn’t all go to the forest at once, but if I assigned them groups and rotated through them daily, I wouldn’t have to buy as many tools. 

“...About fifty to sixty pairs of hand-me-downs, some knives, and some baskets should be cheaper than the fancy clothes I bought for you three, Fran.” 

My words shocked Fran and he opened his eyes wide, looking down at the clothes he was wearing. I had bought high quality clothes for my attendants. They were incomparably better than the clothes I normally wore at home. 

“Take them to the forest and let them gather everything edible to sort their own food problems out. The orphanage not having money just means they’re poor like me, y’know?” Lutz was being blunt, but he was right. When in need, you shouldn’t wait to be given stuff, you should be doing what you can to get it yourself. 

“Fran, I can send them to the forest if they’re my attendants, right? Like how I’ve sent you and Gil to the Gilberta Company before?” 

“That is the case, yes.” 

“So I could have them go gather volrin wood for me too?” I suggested, which made Lutz’s eyes shine. 

“You wanna make the orphanage a branch of the Myne Workshop?” 

“Uh huh. If I make the orphanage a branch of the Myne Workshop, I can give the orphans an avenue for making money through making products. Even if I leave the temple in the worst-case scenario, they might be able to sustain themselves independently.” 

Though getting them to the forest and gathering ingredients to cook would come first. Lutz and I began discussing efficient methods and where changes should begin, at which point Fran reluctantly interrupted us. 

“I believe this is a fine idea. However, Sister Myne, it is also entirely unlike how the temple has operated up until this point. The High Priest will once again ask if you are willing to bear the responsibility of so many lives. Will you be able to answer?” 

I felt the blood drain from my face. Fran was right. It was hard to think that the temple would look lightly on an outsider like me ignoring traditions and turning the orphanage up on its head. That would cause friction with the High Bishop, the High Priest, and even the blue robes. Not to mention that earning money through work would inevitably introduce inequality. 

“Sorry, Lutz. I’m just too scared of being responsible...” 

“Alright then, Myne. Are you more scared of responsibility than of letting the orphans die?” 

I was scared of both. If I abandoned the orphans, I knew I would feel the weight of their lives on my back for the rest of my life. But I also just wasn’t prepared to shoulder the responsibility of so many people either. As I clung my head miserably, Lutz shrugged. 

“Y’know, Myne. Why think so hard about it? Just give it a shot and stop if it doesn’t work.” 

“Lutz, it’s not that simple. There are lives on the line here.” I glared at Lutz and he gave a snort just like Benno might. 

“It’s just a fact of life for workshops with no customers and stores with no sales to go out of business. But with the orphanage, your workers aren’t relying on you for everything.” 

“...They’ll still have a place to stay, and there will still be the divine gifts.” 

“Yeah. Why do you have to be so responsible for people who will always have a place to stay? Not to mention, I’m part of the Myne Workshop too.” 

There would be points where I would need to bear responsibility. Benno would probably give a different perspective if I asked about my duties as forewoman. But... for some reason, Lutz being with me took all my worry away. I’d be scared to do everything by myself, but if Lutz stayed with me, I somehow thought that things would be okay no matter what. 

“Let’s do it together, Myne. You want to save them, don’t you?” 

“Yeah!” I grabbed onto Lutz’s held-out hand. 

Seeing that, Fran smiled in defeat. “I will assist you as well, Sister Myne.”