The Wild and Uncontrollable Blue Priest
Once I had recovered, the Spring Prayer continued with us visiting the remaining noble mansions. Nothing particularly out of the ordinary occurred, and we all got back to the temple safely.
“Welcome back, Sister Myne,” said Wilma with a warm smile.
“I see you didn’t mess up or anything!” Delia added.
“Thank you both for watching my chambers while I was gone. How is everyone?”
Delia and Wilma welcomed me as I returned to my chambers, and a sense of relief washed over me. I felt as though I was back to where I was meant to be.
Fran and Gil began unloading the luggage packed in the carriages while I changed from my noble traveling clothes to my normal shrine maiden robes—with Delia’s assistance, of course.
“I’ll get a bath ready for you once the water heats up.”
“Thank you, Delia.”
Delia, Wilma, and Rosina were all working hard to unpack and organize the luggage being brought in, but it was piling up much faster than they could unpack it. My chambers were quickly becoming just as messy as they had been before I left.
“Sister Myne, my sincerest apologies, but the High Priest is calling for you on urgent business. It seems to be about you returning home,” said Fran, a tinge of worry in his voice. He had taken a momentary break from moving luggage and power walked up the stairs to where I was.
I had been worrying about when I would finally be able to go home now that Spring Prayer was over, so hearing that the High Priest wanted to talk to me about exactly that made me jump from my chair with joy.
“I shall depart at once.”
“Rosina, please accompany Sister Myne. I must continue unloading her luggage.”
On the way down I saw Fran and Hugo carrying luggage together, having seemingly gotten closer over the journey. Ella, perhaps due to her experience carrying heavy pots as a chef, had strong arms and could easily manage even my heavy bags. Gil was surprisingly strong for his size too, maybe thanks to him eating more food and doing manual labor in the workshop and forest.
“I shall be departing for the High Priest’s room,” I announced. “I leave my chambers in your care, everyone.”
Outside the entrance to the noble section of the temple, a line of carriages was still being unloaded. The gray priests in the workshop were helping too, and I saw a familiar face from the workshop walking by holding a large box.
“I have returned. How fares the orphanage?” I asked, and after blinking in surprise, the gray priest gave a small smile.
“Welcome back, Sister Myne. The children have grown much. They will be overjoyed to see you at the orphanage again.”
“I will be overjoyed as well.”
The gray priests moved to the side to give me space. I nodded my thanks to them and walked quickly so as to minimize my interruption of their work.
“You called, High Priest? Wait... Brother Sylvester?”
“There you are, Myne.” Sylvester was lounging about in the High Priest’s room like he owned the place, lying on the bench and munching on the fruit placed on the table for visitors.
Meanwhile, the High Priest was completely ignoring him, giving instructions to the gray priests who were carrying his luggage.
“Um, High Priest. I was told you called for me,” I said.
The High Priest turned around, a thoroughly exhausted expression on his face, and asked me to sit down. I nodded and followed him over to the table.
The moment I sat down, Sylvester leaned forward toward me. “I’m the one who called for you. I wanna take a look around and you seem like just the girl for the job, Myne. Be my guide.”
“...What in the world do you mean by that?” I looked up at the High Priest for an explanation, but before he could reply, Sylvester answered in exasperation.
“What else is a guide gonna do but guide me? First, to the orphanage. Then, your workshop. I also need to take a look at this forest the orphans are going to,” he said casually.
I reflexively tensed up. Not a single blue priest had shown any interest in the orphanage or the workshop before now; even the High Priest had only ever heard about them through reports, having never actually visited the places himself. Furthermore, Sylvester had appeared from nowhere and I had no idea what he was thinking.
I subconsciously clutched onto the High Priest’s robe.
“You may calm yourself, Myne. I will be coming to the orphanage and workshop as well. I have long thought it would be wise to see the changes you’ve made myself.”
I put a hand against my chest in relief. Sylvester probably wouldn’t cause too much trouble with the High Priest holding his reins.
“As for the forest, however...” the High Priest continued. “The forest in the Noble’s Quarter should suffice for you.” He glared at Sylvester as he spoke, the exhaustion from our journey clear on his face.
“Nah, I’m going to the forest. I’m gonna check out her restaurant too.” Sylvester continued to list each place he intended to visit.
“The restaurant is not finished; I believe I mentioned that the chefs are still in training. But more importantly—High Priest, are blue priests even allowed to go to the lower city’s forest?”
Going directly to the Italian restaurant in a carriage was one thing, but I had never before heard of any blue priests going to the lower city’s forest. There was a forest by the Noble’s Quarter that only nobles were allowed to enter. It had overseers, and any commoner wandering in from outside the city would be killed with impunity. If Sylvester wanted to go to a forest, he could just go to the nobles’ forest like the High Priest said.
“I’m interested in seeing what a commoner’s forest is like. It’ll be fine; most people in the lower city won’t even recognize us as nobles. And I can protect myself from anyone who does, no problem.” Sylvester then slapped his flexed bicep, wearing a confident grin. I could tell he was enthusiastic, but letting him do what he wanted would definitely backfire on us.
...High Priest, I’m counting on you to hold him back. I silently pinned all my hopes on the High Priest, but he just looked at me while rubbing his temples, as if containing a headache.
“...Fine, do as you wish. Myne, all I ask is that you report exactly what he does.”
In sharp contrast to Sylvester’s seemingly boundless energy, the High Priest was exhausted, looking like he didn’t want to think about anything anymore. I looked between the two of them, confused; before I knew it, I had been assigned to be Sylvester’s guide.
I feel like “babysitter” would be a more accurate way to describe it, really.
“You two may leave.”
The High Priest wanted us gone, but I tightened my grip on his sleeve. Why had I come here if not to hear about going home? It certainly wasn’t to have guide duty forced on me.
“High Priest, I was told you wanted to talk about me going home. When may I leave the temple?”
The High Priest’s eyes wavered before he looked down at me. “Yes, well... You only recently expended an enormous amount of mana. Your family would have no means of helping you if you were to collapse. Rest here for three days, and if you haven’t fallen ill by the fourth day then you may leave that morning. Inform your family of this. Also, do us all a favor by resting well today.”
“Okay!” I gave an enthusiastic response before moving to leave the room with Rosina. For some reason Sylvester stood up too, along with the gray priest behind him who was probably an attendant.
“Alright. Let’s get going, Myne.”
“Brother Sylvester?”
“Come to my room.”
“Um... But I must rest...?” I looked back to the High Priest for help, but he simply shrugged and jutted his chin toward the door, gesturing for us to leave. Sylvester happily obliged.
I had no escape. After sharing a defeated look with Rosina, I followed after him.
“C’mon, it’s this one.”
It seemed that Sylvester’s room was right next to the High Priest’s. He opened the door for me and I found the inside was almost entirely barren. I felt it odd that his room had only the bare minimum of furniture; I would have thought that an overgrown elementary-schooler like Sylvester would have his room packed with stuff relating to his hobbies and tastes.
“Myne, I know you’re taking the orphanage kids to the forest. Take me too if you don’t want me to tell the High Bishop about everything.” Sylvester wore a cocky grin as he attempted to blackmail me. Everyone in the temple knew that the High Bishop hated me, which was why no blue priest up until now had ever approached me.
I furrowed my brow, not understanding what Sylvester was thinking. “Why do you want to go to the forest anyway...?”
“To hunt.”
I blinked in surprise at his answer. “To hunt? Where have you been hunting before now?” I still couldn’t see why he would want to go to the lower city’s forest.
“In the Noble’s Quarter forest, of course.”
“Then you can continue going there.”
“That place is way too boring,” Sylvester sighed, before going on to list every single problem he had with the nobles’ forest. Not only did you need to have your hunt approved by the overseer ahead of time, you were only allowed in at a preassigned time. It wasn’t somewhere you could just wander into when the mood struck.
Furthermore, there was a sizable hunting competition held there every year. Everyone’s position was defined by their status in the noble hierarchy, and you had to hunt while making sure not to overstep the bounds of your strata. It was more of a place for nobles to flatter and butter up the archduke than to do any actual hunting.
Overall, the nobles’ forest did sound like too rigid of a place for someone like Sylvester—a man with the heart of a little boy who wanted a genuine test of skill, honest praise, and a place he could run off to with his bow whenever he felt like hunting.
“I understand now, but you can hardly go to the lower city’s forest in clothes that clean.”
“Bring me some dirty clothes from the lower city, then.”
“...I don’t know how many people you intend to go with, but do you plan to make them all wear dirty clothes as well?”
It would be easy enough for me to buy cheap clothes in a secondhand store for them, but I had no idea how many sets of clothes he would need.
However, my question just made Sylvester look confused. “What’re you talking about?”
“I’m asking how many people you will be going with.”
“Nobody. The temple’s one thing, but I won’t need any attendants in the lower city.”
I looked between Sylvester and the gray priest attendant who was preparing tea for us. “...Does the High Priest know about this?”
“Why would I need Ferdinand’s permission? You might be a commoner he took custody of, but I don’t need anybody’s permission.” He punctuated his declaration with a firm “Anyone should know that.”
I hung my head. Of course an adult blue priest wouldn’t need to get permission from the High Priest for everything they did. That said, I did feel as though a person like Sylvester would need someone to constantly watch over them just as much as I did.
“Anyway, we’ll go to the orphanage and workshop first. We’ll do that the day after tomorrow.”
“...Um, Brother Sylvester. Are you going to the orphanage to search for a shrine maiden to take flowers from?” I asked, unable to think of another reason why a blue priest would want to go to the orphanage.
Sylvester grimaced, his brows pushed together with disgust. “Myne, kids like you shouldn’t talk about that kind of thing. Want to start chirping ‘pooey’ again?”
“No. It’s just, I am the orphanage director, so...”
I had considered stealthily hiding the shrine maidens old enough to offer flowers if Sylvester intended to seek them out, but judging by his reaction it was hard to think that was his aim. That was all I needed to know.
“Do you think I’m so starved for women that I’d need to search the orphanage for one?”
“Bwuh? I thought that was a normal thing for blue priests to do.” I had always assumed that they settled for the nearby gray shrine maidens because they so rarely left the temple, but maybe I was wrong. I tilted my head, curious.
Sylvester bit his lip for a second, then coughed. “...Men of my charisma and charm can find women in the Noble’s Quarter too.”
“I’m sure.”
If it meant he wasn’t going to go after the shrine maidens in the temple, I really didn’t mind Sylvester bragging about how easily he could find girls in the Noble’s Quarter. I promised to find him a pair of secondhand clothes and exited the room with Rosina.
Once I returned to my chambers, I called out to all of my attendants as they put away my luggage, gathering them together. I needed to tell everyone about Sylvester and the High Priest’s plans.
“The day after tomorrow, the High Priest and a blue priest will be visiting the orphanage and the workshop.”
“The day after tomorrow?!” they exclaimed in unison. Everyone looked very understandably surprised, aside from Delia, who didn’t go to either place. That was simply too sudden for the plans of a noble; usually thorough preparations would be made and a warning given long in advance. But given that Sylvester had spoken the date himself, it would be safe to assume that it was set in stone.
“Please ensure that the orphanage and workshop are thoroughly cleaned. As for everything else, you may proceed as usual.” We weren’t doing anything in the workshop we didn’t want other people to see. Not to mention that, knowing myself, trying to hide things would never end well. I might as well just be open from the start.
“Sister Myne, does a blue priest visiting mean that...” Wilma trailed off, her face pale.
I gently shook my head. “Don’t worry, Wilma. Neither of them will demand an offering of flowers. They just want to see the workshop and the changed orphanage.”
“I-I see.” Wilma nodded, but looked no less anxious. In fact, she was now trembling. I felt awful for her, but Sylvester’s mind had been made up. There would be no avoiding his visit to the orphanage.
“As much as I would like to say that you may stay in your room, as you have been entrusted with running the orphanage, you may be needed to answer any questions they may have.”
“Understood.” Wilma tightly laced her fingers in front of her chest, squeezing them together. I was disappointed in myself for not being able to do anything but watch her tremble.
“Gil, is Lutz or Leon in the workshop? If so, please call them over. It would be wise to inform the Gilberta Company of this visit.”
“They’re both there; I’ll go see whether either of ’em are free,” said Gil before turning around and leaving.
I moved to the hall on the first floor so that Lutz or Leon could join us while my other attendants started moving the empty boxes strewn about to the nearby male attendant rooms, freeing up space and making the place look more presentable.
“Heya, Myne. Good to see you back.”
“Lutz! It’s been so long!”
I ran up and gave Lutz a hug. I had been away from him longer than ever before thanks to the Spring Prayer.
“So much happened I don’t even know where to start,” I continued. “I’m exhausted.”
“Sounds rough,” said Lutz, but before I could go on a displeased voice sounded out from behind him.
“Can you leave that for later and explain why you called me over too?”
“Oh, you’re here too, Leon?”
“I’ve been here from the start.”
Leon was a Gilberta Company leherl who had been trained as a waiter by Fran over the winter. He was about to come of age, but since he was a little short he kind of came across like a younger kid trying to talk big for his age. And while there was no doubting his competence when it came to work, given that Benno had signed a leherl contract with him, he always got harsh whenever I tried healing my soul with Lutz, so I didn’t have the greatest opinion of him.
“I don’t have anything to talk to you about, Leon. Feel free to leave.”
Lutz patted my head. “Myne, relax. I’m guessing it’s something important to do with the Gilberta Company?”
I nodded and looked up at Leon, still clinging onto Lutz. “The day after tomorrow, the High Priest and a blue priest will be visiting the orphanage and the workshop. Please tell Benno about this. I’m sure he wants connections with the nobility, and the blue priest is interested in the Italian restaurant.”
“Understood.” Leon smoothly knelt down and crossed his arms in front of his chest. Despite being prickly whenever I was hugging Lutz, he was dedicated to his work.
“That’s all the Gilberta Company stuff I needed to talk about. The only thing left is a personal request I have for Lutz,” I explained.
Leon stood up. He shot one annoyed glance at me clinging to Lutz, then left after saying “I’ll go on ahead.”
“What’s your request?”
“Well, I’ve got to rest here for three days until I feel better, but the High Priest said I can go home on the fourth day as long as I don’t fall sick before then. Could you tell that to Mom and everyone else?”
“Sure. But man... that sure took a while, huh?” murmured Lutz, his voice wavering as he tried to hold back a flood of emotions while he endured my affectionate attack. I had only survived living away from my family for so long because Lutz and Tuuli had visited me so often, letting me hug them each time.
“Also, I want a pair of secondhand clothes, big enough to fit Deid. They’re for a muscular guy who’s a bit on the tall side.”
“...And who’s that?” asked Lutz. It was a natural question—one so natural that anybody else in the entire world would have probably asked too. But since I had no idea whether it would be wise to answer aloud, I stood on my tippy toes and stretched my back to whisper stealthily into Lutz’s ear.
“The blue priest visiting us the day after tomorrow.”
Lutz made an impossible to describe expression and then, after a minute of silence, let out a murmur. “He’s a weirdo, isn’t he...?”
“Yes. A big weirdo. He said he wants to go to the forest to hunt.”
Any blue priest who wanted to hunt in the lower city’s forest bad enough to wear dirty secondhand clothes was weird, plain and simple.
Lutz grimaced upon realizing that it’d be his job to take the priest to the forest, and honestly, I felt for him. It was a position I wouldn’t want to be in either.
“Well, no point crying over what’s done,” he sighed. “I’ll go clothes hunting tomorrow so it’ll all be ready for when the day comes.”
“Thanks, Lutz.”
With that conversation settled, Lutz started telling me about the progress that had been made on the printing press and Johann’s letter types while I was gone. The Myne Workshop had resumed making paper as well, so we had more on hand again.
“I want to start printing books again as soon as possible. Do you think the Ink Guild has started making our ink yet?” I asked. Even if you had all the paper in the world, you couldn’t print without ink, and if we needed to make our own we’d have to start by gathering soot again.
“Yeah. I heard from Master Benno that they’ve started hiring craftsmen just to make the plant paper ink. Oh, and there’s a new head of the Ink Guild.”
“I know that. The High Priest told me that the previous one died,” I said before falling silent and hugging Lutz tighter. There was no way I could tell him that nobles hunting for me had killed him.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nobles are scary.”
“Huh? Are you talking about the blue priest who’s coming over tomorrow?” Lutz asked, making me laugh. Sylvester was scary, but for reasons completely different from the nobles hunting me.
“Kinda, since he’s a weird noble. It’s scary not knowing what he’s going to do next. When we first met, he poked my cheek and told me to ‘chirp pooey.’”
“The heck?”
I told Lutz all about the weird things Sylvester had done at our first meeting, then I talked about the things he had done over Spring Prayer.
Lutz listened while laughing, until eventually forming a mischievous grin and poking my cheek.
“C’mon, Myne. Try chirping it again.”
“Lutz, you big bully! Pooey!”
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