Apprentice Shrine Maiden Volume 2 (Premium)

by Miya Kazuki

  Before long, Lutz came back from the workshop, brought by Rosina. “What’s up, Myne?”

  “Quick question. I don’t know this since I’ve never really been involved with it, but do you think we can finish butchering the pigs within ten days?” I told Lutz about what the High Priest had to say about our plans, which made him grimace.

  “You don’t think that’s rushing it too much? I don’t even know if we’ll be able to rent a smoke room.”

  “It’s definitely rushing too much, but right now while the blue priests are gone is our only chance. If it’s not possible we can make the hide glue in our old storage building, but it’s small and bringing tools there would be a pain, wouldn’t it?” The storage room was only about ten square meters large, not nearly big enough for the work we’d be doing. Lutz wrinkled his nose at the thought of that.

  “I’ll go to the store and see what Master Benno thinks. If it’s gonna come down to us working in the storage building, I’m sure he’ll at least check with the farming towns about doing this fast. Have Fran walk you to the store on your way home.”

  “Okay. Thanks a lot, Lutz.” After watching Lutz dash off to the Gilberta Company, I looked down at my diptych and got back to writing. My presence here really did have a significant impact on how much stuff we needed to order. Even a little girl needs a lot of food to survive several months.

  ...This is bad. I might not actually have enough money for this. I need to hurry and finish Cinderella.

  “You’ll need new clothes too, Sister Myne,” chimed in Delia.

  “Don’t worry, I was actually planning to go clothes shopping as soon as possible. It hit me that the orphanage kids and my attendants will need them too. Mmm, but if I’m going to be buying clothes for that many kids, maybe I should take my attendants with me?” I thought aloud and heard Delia let out a loud cry of excitement. It seemed she was very interested in shopping for winter clothes.

  In contrast, Rosina seemed a bit unenthusiastic. She would no doubt rather stay at home playing her harspiel. “...The orphans have their divine gifts,” she observed. “I do not believe they will need winter clothes when they do not need to go outside.”

  It was true that they had survived up until now on divine gifts, and if they stayed inside the temple they would probably be fine. But I wanted them to go gather parues on sunny winter days.

  “There are some winter days where they will need to go to the forest, which means they will need hats and gloves.” I had at my disposal a large group of people who were used to gathering in the forest. How could I not take advantage of this? Especially considering that my mom couldn’t go to the forest this year, due to being pregnant. I fully intended to have Tuuli lead the children in a heroic charge to secure our fair share of parues.

  ...I’m abusing my power? Say whatever you want, sweet food is rare in the winter and I’m not about to miss out on parues.

  They would need warm clothes for this, and sleds to carry their sweet loot. Metal sheets and spatulas for cooking the parue cakes would be nice too. I wrote down everything that came to mind onto my diptych. After adding up the prices, I confirmed that I didn’t have enough money for it all.

  “Sister Myne, it seems that Ella will be willing to stay over the winter if you have a room for her.” Fran had successfully negotiated for Ella to take the lead as head chef while we were snowed in, with orphanage kids who were interested in cooking helping her.

  “Rosina, please ask Wilma who would be good helpers for Ella. She’s always the one who makes the soup. Fran, Lutz went to the store ahead of us. Please take me there.”

  “As you wish.” Rosina and Fran both replied at the same time.

  I noticed Delia kind of fidgeting behind them, and apparently she had been waiting for us to finish talking. She piled on question after question while undoing my sash and pulling off my robes.

  “So, Sister Myne. Where will you be shopping? Will you buy winter clothes for me too? Will you pick out your own clothes? How much will you buy?”

  “You’re getting too excited, Delia. At this rate you won’t be able to sleep tonight.” I couldn’t help but smile at Delia’s overbearing enthusiasm.

  “Geez! Of course I’m going to get excited! This is shopping we’re talking about!” declared Delia, her light-blue eyes shining.

  “Delia, you need to hurry and finish changing Sister Myne. Fran is waiting down below,” chided Rosina. Delia hurriedly got back to changing my clothes and finished as soon as possible.

  “Now then, I believe we will be going shopping for winter clothes tomorrow. I would like for all of you to come to the Gilberta Company at third bell. Wilma can come as well if she wishes, but I do not believe she will.” I explained to Delia my plans while climbing down the stairs, and after opening the door for me she spun around with a broad smile.

  “Third bell tomorrow? As you wish. Have a good evening, Sister Myne!”

  Fran and I smiled at how excited Delia was, then left. I felt the cool evening air on my skin as I talked to Fran about what I had written on my diptych.

  “Fran, could you tell Gil to bring five of the children’s bibles in the workshop to the Gilberta Company tomorrow?”

  “...Certainly, but may I ask why?” asked Fran, blinking in surprise. He knew how firm I had been about using the books as textbooks for the orphans. Given that he was basically my secretary at this point, I decided it was best to tell him everything.

  “I won’t have enough money unless I sell them.”

  “...Pardon me?”

  “The High Priest didn’t seem to think it was a big deal, but me needing to stay in the temple over winter came completely out of left field for me. I need to order everything from Benno as soon as possible, but there’s not enough time to make the second batch of picture books, and I can’t sell the paper or ink we have since I need them for the picture books... My hands are tied.”

  Fran didn’t seem to know how to reply to my brutally honest confession. He froze up, his mouth opening and closing with no words coming out. He sure freezes up like the High Priest does when he’s confused, I thought while looking up at him. Fran shook his head.

  “Is that fine? I mean, not having money. I don’t, erm, fully understand what it means to not have any money. Does it mean... we cannot go shopping?”

  As someone who had been raised in the orphanage and served a noble wealthy enough to bring five books with him to the temple, Fran had apparently never ran out of money before. He said that only after beginning to serve me did he learn that not everyone got what they wanted, that even his master would have to settle for less without money, and that one had to work to earn their money.

  “It will be fine, Fran. We’ll be selling Cinderella soon, and I’m confident we’ll earn everything back through winter handiwork. It’s just right now that I don’t have the money to spare. And Delia was so happy to go shopping. So don’t tell the others about us running out of money. Just say that Benno really insisted on us selling some since the picture books were that good. It would be a shame to spoil the shopping mood, wouldn’t it?”

  “...As you wish.”

  The Gilberta Company came into distant view just as our conversation wound down. I could see someone standing in front of the store. He turned this way and waved, at which point I realized it was Lutz.

  “Sorry to keep you waiting, Lutz.”

  “No prob. Let’s go home.”

  “Thank you for coming with me, Fran. Please return to the temple once the sun begins to set. See you tomorrow.”

  Fran nodded with a conflicted smile, then crossed his arms in front of his chest and gave a tiny bow before turning around. Lutz and I headed home while talking about how his discussion with Benno went.

  “Master Benno said he’s gonna try and work something out with a farming town. All depends on how many of the smoke rooms are reserved.”

  “Okay. I sure hope we can finish the hide glue before the blue priests get back...” I trailed o
ff with uncertainty, which made Lutz shake his head with exasperation.

  “Myne, you should be more worried about the pig butchering than the hide glue. It’s gonna be a bunch of newbies, yeah? The store’s winter prep comes later, so there’s not gonna be many people with experience to help out. Master Benno asked a butcher to send some help, but it’s gonna be rough without some more experienced people.”

  Our initial plan had been to do our winter prep with the Gilberta Company, but now that we had to speed things up, we would be doing it all separately. That alone meant there would be a lot fewer experienced people to help. We would have a bunch of people who didn’t know what to do, almost all of whom had never seen a pig killed before. It was hard to think they would be that helpful, especially considering how little help I tended to be.

  “...I’ll try and get Dad’s help, but it’s kind of hard to ask when we don’t even know when the butchering will happen.” Mom was out of the question due to her pregnancy, but it would be nice if Dad and Tuuli could help. The only thing was that I couldn’t even bring it up with them until I knew when it was happening.

  “Yeah, true. But, uh... are you gonna be okay? Pretty sure Gunther’s gonna get ticked about you staying in the temple all winter.”

  Indeed. After dinner today would be our first family meeting in a long time. They wouldn’t have any choice but to accept it, but I could already picture how worried and angry they would be. It kinda made my stomach hurt.

  “Don’t sweat it, though. Your job’s offering mana. I think you’re gonna be better off staying in the temple too. Your chambers are a lot warmer than your family’s place, which’ll help stop you from getting colds, and Fran’s gotten a pretty good grasp on your health by now.”

  “Thanks, Lutz. I’m going to tell them you said that. My family trusts you waaay more than me, for some reason.”

  “Good luck,” said Lutz, and we split ways at the well. I reluctantly climbed my way up the stairs.

  “So, Myne. What happened?”

  The moment I said I had something to talk about, everyone’s expression darkened in an instant. Thinking about it, I never really brought any good news home. It was always stuff like the limit of my lifespan, me entering the temple, the letter from the temple... I could hardly blame them for being anxious.

  “Ummm, well, the thing is... the High Priest had some bad news for me. The temple has an important ritual during the winter, and they can’t afford for me to miss it due to blizzards. He wants me to start staying in the temple once snow starts to fall.”

  “What’s the big idea?! He said you could stay at home!” As expected, Dad hit the table and exploded with anger. Tuuli and Mom both nodded alongside him.

  “He did, but the Dedication Ritual is really important. If we don’t fill up the divine instruments with enough mana, next year’s harvest won’t go well. Less crops would hurt a lot of people, wouldn’t it?”

  “Wha? The temple does stuff like that?” asked Tuuli, full of surprise, and I nodded. I hadn’t known any of the rituals performed by the temple until I became an apprentice shrine maiden. Most people in the temple didn’t really go to the lower city, and most people only ever went inside for their baptisms and adulthood ceremonies. The temple itself didn’t publicize everything it did, either, so most city people didn’t think very highly of it.

  “Still, your health’s more important. You might die if they just lock you up in the temple.”

  “Lutz said that Fran has gotten really good at watching my health now. And you’ll be allowed to come check up on me. The High Priest said letting you in the temple to see me was the biggest compromise he could make.”

  Dad ground his teeth together. It was painfully clear that although he understood the importance of the ritual and that the High Priest was doing everything he could, he still didn’t want to give his permission.

  “What do you want to do, Myne?” asked Mom, rubbing her stomach gently to calm herself down. I already gave the High Priest my reply and had multiple people helping me to get my winter preparations done. I only had one answer for her.

  “...I want to stay in the temple. It’s my job to be there.”

  “Myne!” shouted Dad, but I just shook my head slowly.

  “Dad, don’t forget that I’m the orphanage director now too. I have to take care of the orphans. And they only let me be a blue robe at all because I have mana, remember? If not for this, I would be forced to do hard labor.”

  Dad clenched his fist tightly. He ground his teeth, swallowed his words, and shut his eyes tight.

  “The High Priest accepted all of our conditions. I have to keep my word and go to the ritual that needs my mana. You know how I haven’t been collapsing from the Devouring at all lately? That’s because I’ve been donating my mana. This is for my sake too.”

  I would probably be dead or close to it by now if not for the temple’s magic tools. I was only alive thanks to offering my mana up to the divine instruments in the temple.

  “What’ll you do if you get sick there?”

  “I have a bed in my chambers, and my attendants will make sure I’m not left all on my own. Though I’ll want Tuuli to teach them what to do when I get a fever.”

  “That bed really is fluffy and nice,” murmured Tuuli, who had been in my room in the temple before.

  “I can do that,” said Mom. “I’ll want to look over your room there, too.”

  “You can’t move around much right now, can you? Please don’t push yourself, Mom.”

  “I’ll be fine. Pregnancy isn’t a disease, you know. My morning sickness has been getting better too.”

  Mom decided all on her own to look over my chambers and introduce herself to my attendants once she was feeling a little better. She was already operating on the assumption that I would be staying there, now that she knew I wanted to. It was too late for us to go against decisions made by the nobles in the temple.

  Dad scratched his head, a look of defeat on his face. “...You said we can go check up on you, yeah?”

  “Uh huh. And please do, I’ll miss you.”

  “I was gonna go to the orphanage over the winter anyway since I’m the sewing teacher, so that’s fine! I’ll still see you all the time!” Tuuli talked about her plans in the orphanage with a bright smile, which made Dad give a sullen frown and glare at me.

  “Why are you always asking Tuuli for help, Myne? You should ask your dad for help sometimes.” He was starting to get pouty since he wanted me to rely on him more. I hurriedly searched for something he could do.

  “Umm... Could you help me teach the orphanage how to do winter handiwork, then? Like cutting wooden boards, carving grooves into them, and all that. It’s too much for Lutz to do all on his own.”

  “Alright, you can count on me. Anything else?”

  He wasn’t a professional, but he was good with his hands, so I asked him to teach the orphans the art of woodcrafting. He accepted with a grin. If he was that eager to help, well, there was no end to the things I could ask him to do.

  “Also, um, we haven’t settled on a day yet, but I would like your help butchering pigs for the orphanage. Nobody in the orphanage has done it before, and that meat will be our food for the winter.”

  “Sounds pretty serious. I’ll see if I can get the day off work once you settle your plans.”

  “Also, could you tell me more about what we need for winter? I don’t really know what winter preparation is like since I’m usually sick during it. Who knows what my chambers might be missing...”

  After that, we all started talking about what I would need for winter and things to check. Most of what they said had to do with my poor health, and I wrote it all down with an exasperated smile.

  Off to Buy Winter Clothes

  The plan was to meet up at the Gilberta Company at third bell, then go clothes shopping. Benno called me and Lutz over a bit earlier than that so we could talk about winter prep.

  “What do you want to do, Tuuli?” I
asked. “Won’t this conversation be boring to you?”

  “She can talk to Corinna about winter handiwork,” said Benno, which made Tuuli’s blue eyes sparkle with happiness. Benno rang his bell and a maid came out from the inner door, who then took the excited Tuuli upstairs.

  “...Anyway,” continued Benno, “as of this morning, I’ve got two pigs and two butchers ready to go. You’d have a lot of problems with just a bunch of newbies around, yeah?”

  “Really?! Already?! You’re so fast, Benno! I can’t believe it!” I clapped and showered Benno with praise, to which he responded with a confident grin and his head raised in pride. I was about to order a bunch of tools from him, so now was the time to butter him up. “You’re amazing, Benno! Incredible! You’d be even more amazing if you lowered the price!”

  “Not a chance, idiot.”

  “You gotta be more subtle than that, Myne,” added Lutz. My attempt to lower the handling fee had ended with both of them looking at me like I was an idiot.

  “Seems like the smokehouses are mostly gonna be empty for the next ten days. Most people wanna smoke their meat as late as possible to make it last longer. When do you want this to happen?”

  When it came to preserving meat for winter, there definitely weren’t many people who wanted to start early. In my neighborhood, most people didn’t start until right before the first sign of snow. With our storage room being chilly somewhat like a refrigerator, the main problem was less the food spoiling and more just using it for meals too early. The food might run out halfway through winter if you weren’t careful.

  “Three days from now, please. That’s when both Dad and Tuuli have a day off.”

  “Alright. I’ll plan around it happening three days from now, then. I ordered the tools way back when we decided to do this together, so I have most of them ready. Use what you have at home and I’ll lend you whatever else you need.”

  “Thanks. Also, this is what the orphanage will need for winter outside of firewood and food.” I handed Benno a board. He glanced over the list, then groaned with a grimace.