Apprentice Shrine Maiden Volume 2 (Premium)

by Miya Kazuki

  Lutz’s jade eyes were already set on his next target. He had to keep conquering challenge after challenge to keep up with his ambition. I finally wiped away my tears and smiled back at him.

  “That’s right. I’m going to make so many books we’ll need a library. That’s a promise.”

  Missing the Harvest Festival

  Tuuli went to the workshop to teach everyone how to bind books. I wanted to go and help, but Lutz shot me down—I would just be getting in the way. No arguing with that.

  “Fran, is there anything that demands my attention before we go to the book room today?”

  “Not at all.”

  Fran and Rosina were in the process of recording how much food the orphanage went through in a month and calculating how much would be needed for the winter. Meat and harvested crops from farming towns would soon be transported into the city as everyone began their winter preparations. We would need to have at least a rough estimation of how much we needed before then. This was the first time the orphanage would ever be doing their own winter preparations.

  “I can visit the book room with Rosina if you are too busy to go yourself.”

  “It is fine, I was going to send Rosina to work with Wilma. And I can accompany you regardless of how busy I am, given that I can bring my documents to the book room.” Once Fran packed a bag with a ton of boards and ink, we headed to the book room together. Bright sunlight that still had a trace of summer’s warmth streamed into the chilly hall.

  As we walked I could see the exit leading to the Noble’s Quarter from the hall, and there seemed to be several carriages lined up. Judging by all the luggage packed into them, some blue priests were probably heading out.

  “...Might I ask why those carriages are lined up? Has something happened?”

  “Those are the carriages for blue priests heading to the Harvest Festival. Generally, blue priests go to the Harvest Festival around this time of year.”

  “Harvest Festival...? I have not heard of this festival before.”

  Autumn was the season of preparing for winter by gathering more in the forest while harvests from farming towns entered the market. I knew that there were tiny festivals in neighborhoods where everyone went off to butcher pigs together, but I had never heard of a Harvest Festival.

  “Is it a special festival for the temple? I don’t recall learning about it.” Fran and the High Priest had taught me some of the rituals performed in the temple, and the Harvest Festival certainly wasn’t one of them.

  “Oh? Do commoners not know of it?” A sudden voice rang out from behind.

  I jerked in surprise and turned around to see a noble-looking man looking down at me with mocking eyes. He wasn’t the blue priest I had met at the Star Festival, but since he wasn’t wearing any blue robes, I couldn’t tell if he was a blue priest or a noble that was visiting the temple on business.

  I immediately moved to a wall and knelt with my arms crossed in front of my chest. That was a sign of respect that those of lower status performed for those above them. I had been told I only needed to perform it for the High Bishop and High Priest since all blue robes were equal, but I was still a commoner. I would rather play it safe and be respectful than get wrapped up in a fight after treating a noble as my equal.

  “Hm, looks like you do know your place. The High Priest told the truth after all. I suppose I didn’t need to get involved, then.” The noble, satisfied with how I had immediately knelt before him, walked off with a few comments that left me a little curious.

  But anyway. It seemed I had managed to avoid trouble. Given that he said I “knew my place,” he was probably a blue priest. A normal noble would probably view any priest kneeling to them as normal.

  “Sister Myne, you are his equal here. You needn’t kneel.”

  “Technically yes, but I am no noble. His status is still overwhelmingly superior to mine. If I can avoid trouble just by kneeling, I see no reason not to.”

  Despite my reasoning, Fran still lowered his eyes with a look of vexation. “But if you do that, the other blue priests will look down on you, Sister Myne.”

  “I would expect nothing less. I am a commoner, after all. Would you prefer for me to earn their ire and put the orphanage in danger?”

  Given that the blue priests knew I had earned my position through overpowering the High Bishop with violence, they probably wouldn’t attack me head-on. But as I was the orphanage director, it was very possible that they would try to exploit the orphans to hurt me.

  “I understand your reasoning,” replied Fran, “but I believe that it is important for you to show firm noble pride.” He then resumed walking to the book room, looking discontented.

  But how could he expect me to have “firm noble pride”? If Fran wanted to serve a master that oozed confidence with a firm backbone, well, I could try, but it wasn’t so simple to just up and learn to carry yourself with majestic grace.

  “Allow me, Sister Myne,” said Fran as he opened the door. But the second I stepped inside, I felt my expression freeze over.

  “...What the heck?!”

  The book room was an absolute mess. Two of the bookshelves were completely empty, their contents scattered on the floor, which was such a mess of boards and scrolls that there was nowhere to step. This was clearly a level beyond someone dropping something by accident. Someone had intentionally knocked over everything on the shelves.

  I felt anger start boiling inside my chest. The book room existing at all was a miracle in this world that barely had any books or even things with words written on them.

  And yet, they had defiled it. Damaged it. I would need to smash those fools who didn’t understand the value of these documents with the iron hammer of justice.

  “Ahahahahaha. Just who would be foolish enough to do this, I wonder?”

  Mana boiled throughout my body and I encouraged it. Go ahead. Catch the villain who did this and splatter the halls with their blood.

  “S-Sister Myne! We must first report this to the High Priest. He will instruct us on what to do next. It might have been the last person to enter the book room,” said Fran in a panicked voice as he grabbed onto my shoulders from behind.

  The sight of him trying to avoid being hit with my mana head-on was enough to cool my head. I was finally learning to control my mana better. Nothing good would come from scaring Fran and hurting those uninvolved. I could save my anger and mana rampage for when I found the culprit. With a smile, I forced the mana back into its box.

  “You’re right. Let us visit the High Priest.”

  As we hadn’t scheduled a meeting, I waited in the visitor’s room while Fran requested an audience. I could hear people moving around the halls as I sat quietly. They were probably the blue priests preparing to leave. The second I thought that, I remembered what the blue priest I just met had said. “I suppose I didn’t need to get involved,” if I remembered correctly.

  ...It was him! I immediately stood up. I couldn’t just sit around now that I knew the culprit. He was getting ready to leave on some kind of trip. I had to catch him before he could get away.

  I grabbed the doorknob just as someone opened it from behind. The door swung in my direction out of nowhere and I fell backwards hard, swung back by the door.

  “Bwuh?!

  “Sister Myne?! What were you doing there...?” Fran held out his hand, looking stunned, and I pulled myself up with it. Once on my feet I immediately tried running out of the room, only to be hurriedly grabbed from behind by Fran.

  “What is wrong, Sister Myne?”

  “I figured out who messed up the book room. If we hurry, we can still catch them in time! Let go of me!”

  “Please discuss that with the High Priest. He is waiting for you.” Fran hoisted me up into the air, murmuring that I would run off the second he let go of me. He then walked to the High Priest’s room without listening to my protests.

  Upon seeing Fran carry me into his room, the High Priest raised an eyebrow. “What happene
d?”

  “Sister Myne attempted to run to the carriages after intuiting the culprit, so I had no choice but to carry her.”

  “Understandable. That was a very wise decision.” The High Priest praised Fran and, after gesturing for him to set me down, jutted his chin at the hidden room. At this point, it would be better to call it the “lecture room” than the “hidden room.”

  I followed the High Priest into the room while feeling a bit depressed about what awaited me. I moved aside documents and sat on the bench like usual, and the High Priest likewise brought over his chair like usual. He looked at me while rubbing his temples a little.

  “I heard from Fran that the book room was vandalized.”

  “That’s right. Two of the bookshelves were completely cleaned out. All the documents were spread on the floor, so much so that you couldn’t even step anywhere. Is this not a crime worthy of death?!”

  Despite the desperation of my plea, the High Priest shot me down with a wave of his hand. “Don’t be ridiculous. It is not worth the death penalty. But in any case, Fran said you intuited the culprit?”

  “Yes. I met a blue priest preparing to leave the temple on my way to the book room, and he said ‘I didn’t need to get involved.’ It was definitely him.”

  “I see, but there are five blue priests departing for the Harvest Festival today. Which of them was it?” There had been a lot of carriages, but I hadn’t thought that there would be five whole blue priests leaving.

  “I don’t know. But I know his face.”

  “They will likely return from the festival in ten days. Will you remember him for that long?” asked the High Priest doubtfully. I nodded hard.

  “I will never forget the face of he who attacked my books. Ever.”

  “It would be better for me if you did.” The High Priest glared at me with a sigh, but I wasn’t about to let a criminal of this magnitude just get off scot-free. I went ahead and changed the subject.

  “By the way, what is the Harvest Festival? I don’t believe you explained it when summarizing all the temple rituals.”

  “Indeed, because you will not be participating. The Harvest Festival is held throughout farming villages in a region, and was originally...” The High Priest began explaining the Harvest Festival. To briefly summarize his explanation, it was an event where taxmen and blue priests traveled to farming towns to snatch part of their harvest.

  “The farming towns must hate the festival if their crops are taken as religious offerings and taxes.”

  “Do not put it so bluntly. And furthermore, they perform religious rituals at the towns.” The High Priest glared at me with a cough. It seemed I should have framed my observation more positively. As always, mastery of the nobility’s roundabout way of speaking eluded me.

  “Are those rituals held in the autumn too?”

  “They are held after the harvest.”

  Ah, I see. Farmers generally had no spare time from the moment the snow melted to the day they finished harvesting their crops. They probably had more free time than they knew what to do with once they were locked up for the winter, but no priest would want to wade through blizzards to hold any rituals. It kind of sucked that the rituals were performed right after taxes were taken, but it did make sense.

  “Not to mention that if a couple does not participate in the Starbind Ceremony, they will not be recognized as husband and wife in the winter building, and they will not be given a home or fields when spring comes.”

  “What’s a winter building?”

  “The building where farmers spend the winter. Life in farming towns is very different from life in the city. During the summer they live in individual homes located at the center of their fields, but as they cannot farm during the winter, they pass time in a large building located within the center of town. I do not know much more about that myself, though.”

  It seemed that living in a farming town was entirely unlike living in the city. I couldn’t really picture their lifestyle from the explanation given, but if even the High Priest didn’t know the details, I probably didn’t need to go out of my way to learn more.

  “...I don’t participate in the Harvest Festival?”

  “Correct. There is a meeting held to decide who is sent where, and the High Bishop threw quite a fuss about not sending you anywhere so you would not dig into his cut.”

  I couldn’t help but smile at how obsessively antagonistic the High Bishop was towards me. My days were so busy that I was on the verge of forgetting about him, but he seemed as mad at me as ever. The other blue priests viewed the festival as a valuable chance to boost their income, so they agreed with the High Bishop.

  “Some farming towns are also far away, and it would weigh on your body to make such a long journey. The Spring Prayer will need your mana, but I saw no need to send you out for the Harvest Festival.”

  Something about the High Priest’s explanation caught me, and I reflectively tilted my head. “...Does that mean I’ll be going to farming towns once spring comes?”

  “Yes. You and I will likely be selected, given our high quantities of mana.” I knew that there was a Spring Prayer held to wish for a bountiful harvest, but I didn’t know that it was held in farming towns.

  “I don’t think I would survive a long trip by carriage!”

  “I know it will be difficult. But this job is of vital importance. We accepted your conditions for joining the temple largely because rituals such as these require mana. Have you forgotten that?”

  The temple accepted me as an apprentice blue shrine maiden specifically because they were experiencing a huge mana shortage. Given that they were letting me read books and even make them in the Myne Workshop, I couldn’t abandon my duty when it finally came time to pay them back.

  “...I haven’t forgotten.”

  “Good. It won’t be easy for you, but please remember the suffering I will endure while accompanying you as your guardian and supervisor.”

  ...Do you have really bad luck, High Priest? Or are you just the kind of person that cares so much they make life hard on themselves? I swallowed down the observation that nearly slipped out of my mouth and shut my lips tight. Saying something like that would just be poking the hornet’s nest.

  “Still, I would rather go myself than risk entrusting it to another blue priest.”

  “Thank you for your consideration.” I crossed my arms in front of my chest and bowed my head a bit.

  “...So. What do you intend to do about the book room?” asked the High Priest, leading me to grin and clench my fist.

  “Naturally, I will be hosting a (bloody carnival).”

  “What in the world is that?”

  “A festival of blood where the criminal is publicly executed. As they have made a clear declaration of war by vandalizing the book room, we will need to parade their head on a stick to restore the morale of our allies.”

  The blue priest I didn’t know the name of had given the most explosive declaration of war possible. If Fran wanted me to be firm and prideful, well, this was the perfect opportunity to show my backbone.

  “I will not have it! The blue priest only vandalized the book room so that you would be too distracted to go to the Harvest Festival! He did not destroy any documents, and attempting to hold a festival of blood or what have you is nothing but dangerous extremism!”

  I personally thought that my proposed punishment was equal to the crime. Too bad the High Priest and I didn’t see eye to eye here. “...All that, just to stop me from going to the Harvest Festival? After they agreed not to send me in the meeting anyway?”

  “Yes, I would assume so. The documents there were organized by the date of their revival, and with no markings otherwise they assumed you would be unable to clean up properly. Not that I remember every document stored there myself.”

  The second I heard the High Priest say “unable to clean up properly,” a switch flipped in my head. The blue priest had declared war on me in the form of a personal challen
ge. I wasn’t about to let someone think that I couldn’t clean up the book room.

  “...I accept his challenge.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “I will clean up the book room’s documents myself. But as I do not know when each document was made, please be aware that I will organize them in my own style.” Thinking about it, this was a perfect opportunity for me. It would be my best chance to turn the book room into a paradise designed specifically for me.

  ...Far be it from me to miss this opportunity to introduce a classification system to the book room. I’d organize the scrolls and boards by type, write up a catalog of everything there, and introduce order to the chaos. All to make the book room easier for me to use. And after all, the book room was in such a bad state that nobody else would want to clean it up. I could do whatever I wanted in there. Honestly, I kinda owed the culprit my thanks.

  “Would it not be unfair to force someone else to clean up when the destruction was caused due to me? And I believe I use the book room more than anyone else.”

  “I find your sudden excitement to be off-putting, but it is hard to imagine that you will treat the documents poorly. Very well. I will leave cleaning up the book room to you.”

  We returned to the High Priest’s room, and once there I made eye contact with Fran. He looked worried that I might have gone ballistic over the book room. But seeing him made me realize something: I was too short to reach the shelves, and even with my attendants to help, Gil and Delia were too short as well. Fran would be stuck doing everything himself.

  “High Priest, might I recruit gray priests from the orphanage to help clean the book room? Also, is there a catalog of sorts for the book room? It would help to know what kinds of documents are stored here.”

  “Hm. That would be too much work for Fran, so certainly. I have a list of the books I brought myself, but that is all. If such a catalog exists at all, the High Bishop must have it.” A list of books would definitely help classify them. I looked up at the High Priest with hope.

  “May I borrow it?”

  “Certainly,” said the High Priest, and Arno speedily took out two wooden boards which he then handed to me. He was as skilled of an attendant as ever.