Apprentice Shrine Maiden Volume 4

by Miya Kazuki

  “Rosina, I must go and clean up the High Bishop’s room with Gil. Please take care of Lady Rozemyne while I am gone. She will no doubt be absorbed in her book, so you will need to observe the time and tell her to drink water when necessary.”

  “Understood,” Rosina replied, her eyes not leaving the harspiel for a second. I could understand that she was overjoyed to rise from a gray shrine maiden to a noble’s personal musician, but she still had much to do, including teaching Monika and Nicola; I could not trust two newly taken on apprentice attendants with taking care of Lady Rozemyne.

  “Rosina, please take care to do your job. If Monika and Nicola are not trained to take your place, it will be longer before I can inform the High Priest that you are ready to leave for the Noble’s Quarter.”

  As Lady Rozemyne was a woman, there were many duties that only gray shrine maidens could perform—for one, it was their job to wash her and then change her clothes. In the past, I had assumed I could teach them since I had learned to do both while serving the High Priest, but was forced to change my attitude upon seeing Rosina teach Delia. The work was the same, but there were many different expectations between the genders.

  “I am to some degree capable of teaching them how to change her clothes, store her clothes, help her bathe, and assist her in preparing for rituals, but doing her hair, selecting ornaments, and other such forms of upkeep are beyond me. You must teach them both what you know so that Lady Rozemyne will not suffer when staying here in the temple as High Bishop. Remember that while you may have finished teaching Delia, she is no longer here.”

  Rosina blinked in surprise, then let go of the harspiel and went off to fetch Monika and Nicola; that warning would likely be enough for her to teach them properly. I myself went to get Gil, who was busy cleaning on the first floor, and together we exited the director’s chambers to meet the High Priest.

  “Ah, there you both are. Let us head to the High Bishop’s room. Zahm, inform Fran of our current situation.”

  Zahm, one of the High Priest’s attendants, brought me up to speed as we walked. It seemed that the blue priests had still not been told the details of the incident—all they knew was that the High Bishop had passed away, and those who had deep connections to him were trembling in fear over whatever had brought him down.

  “Fran, Gil—put away the altar. We will handle the paperwork.”

  “Understood.”

  The High Bishop’s personal belongings had to be removed so that his room could be prepared for Lady Rozemyne. Inside, the High Priest’s attendants were busily moving around, though I found it strange that I couldn’t see Arno among them. Gil and I began using cloth to delicately wrap up the bible, the candles on the altar, and so on before moving them to a wooden box for storage. I also measured various pieces of furniture, writing my findings on a diptych to use as a basis when ordering new furniture for Lady Rozemyne.

  “Man, I bet when she’s the High Bishop, Myne’s— Er, I mean, Lady Rozemyne’s gonna be pumped. Er, going to be pumped,” Gil said, trying to speak properly now that there were people around. I gently corrected him, noting that “pumped” should be “very pleased” instead, but I too could rest a little easier knowing that Lady Rozemyne would be able to find solace in having new books to read as everything else about her life changed.

  “Is that all of the paperwork? There’s not as much here as I expected,” the High Priest observed.

  “We found several wooden boards on one of the shelves,” one of his attendants responded.

  Since the High Priest would be taking on almost all of the High Bishop’s duties, he and his attendants were prioritizing the paperwork over everything else. But since the High Priest had already taken so much work from the High Bishop to circumvent his laziness and incompetence when it came to doing his job, there wasn’t actually much paperwork there.

  “I will now take these to the orphanage director’s chambers to organize,” I said, gesturing toward a number of wooden boxes filled with paperwork and equipment. Gil and I picked up the first one, but as we went to leave, the High Priest called out to me.

  “Fran, come to my chambers after noon. We must discuss transferring the High Bishop’s furniture, as well as the High Bishop duties that Rozemyne will need to perform.”

  “Understood.”

  I returned to the director’s chambers, where I compared my measurements with ones Rosina had taken earlier. As the daughter of the archduke, Lady Rozemyne’s furniture would need to be fashionable, expensive, and of course, precisely measured.

  Fourth bell rang. I took Lady Rozemyne’s book away from her so that she would eat, and then went to the kitchen to eat whatever food was leftover, as was customary for us attendants. But it felt strange to be here without Delia, her former role having been taken by Monika and Nicola.

  “How is your learning going?” I asked them. “Do you think you can manage as attendants?”

  “Not everyone is lucky enough to be taken on as apprentice attendants. We don’t have much time to learn, but we’ll try our hardest,” Monika said with a serious expression. Nicola nodded with a smile, adding that with food this good, she would work as hard as was necessary.

  Her putting her stomach above everything else made me smile; with enthusiasm like that, they would both be masters of their jobs in no time. According to Rosina, they had been trained in the orphanage by Wilma ahead of time, so their training here was progressing faster than anticipated.

  After our meal, I took the divine gifts to the orphanage. Once Wilma and Fritz had hurried over to get the gifts, I looked around. Everything seemed to be running as normal.

  “How are things, Wilma?”

  “Well... I am a little worried about Delia. She is looking after Dirk all by herself, accepting help from no one. I feel that it won’t be long before she collapses...”

  I lowered my eyes a bit upon hearing Delia’s name. To speak frankly, she was not someone I was fond of. Both her using her womanhood as a weapon to get the High Bishop to accept her, and prioritizing the orphan Dirk over her own master did not sit well with me. I personally did not care what happened to Delia now that she had betrayed her master for the High Bishop, but Lady Rozemyne would still worry if something happened to her or Dirk—she had pleaded with the archduke himself to spare their lives, after all.

  “I do not believe there is much we can do but let Delia continue on until she collapses. She is in such torment right now that she would likely not listen to anything we have to say to her. Our best course of action is to prepare someone to look after Dirk and someone to look after Delia once she collapses.”

  “...I see. Very well then.” Wilma sent a worried glance toward the back of the dining hall, then nodded.

  Upon returning to the director’s chambers, I found Gil anxiously waiting for me. “You’ve gotta go to the High Priest’s room, right? I’ll go check up on the workshop. We’re gonna be going to the forest tomorrow,” he said, so worried that his speech was falling apart. I gave him a warning, and he corrected himself after sucking in some air.

  “I shall check up on the workshop.”

  “Gil, I feel as though there are times where you overload yourself with work that only you can do, to secure your place among Lady Rozemyne’s attendants. However, if you are to be the High Bishop’s apprentice attendant, you must learn to delegate your work to other gray priests. Lady Rozemyne is not the type of person who would cut you off while you work so hard to serve her.”

  Gil frowned and raced off to the workshop, while Rosina resumed instructing Monika and Nicola. I gave Lady Rozemyne another book so that she would not leave her bed, then went to the High Priest’s room. Once inside, I found the High Priest busily sorting through boards and paperwork. They had likely all been taken from the High Bishop’s chambers.

  “I appreciate you coming, Fran. How is the girl doing? I heard her fever was lasting longer than usual.”

  “It’s almost entirely gone now. However, I belie
ve she is still emotionally unstable. She spoke of worrying about her family and feeling anxious about her current position,” I reported, and the High Priest’s expression softened a bit with relief.

  “We do not need to worry if she is comfortable enough to share her anxieties with you. The potion I gave her this time does not restore much mana, and given how much she spent, her mana should be fine for quite some time. Though do tell me if you notice any changes.”

  The High Priest’s attendants and I discussed what to do with the furniture taken out of the former High Bishop’s chambers. His family did not care to have it, so it would instead be distributed among the blue priests. Once we had finished arranging the order in which we would put this furniture on display and who would look after it, the High Priest waved a hand.

  “I will now discuss a ritual that Rozemyne shall perform as High Bishop. Return to your work,” he said, and his attendants all immediately distanced themselves from his desk, leaving only myself and the High Priest there. I took out my diptych once they were all gone to write down what he had to say, at which point he glanced at me, then lowered his voice and seemingly forced his next words out. “Fran, I heard about your circumstances from Arno.”

  Goosebumps rose on my skin, and I swallowed hard. Arno had said that he would inform the High Priest about my past if asked, but now that it had actually happened, I felt as though I wasn’t even fit to stand in the High Priest’s presence. I instinctively took a step backward.

  “Although I did not know at the time, I can imagine the pain you felt when I ordered you to serve a blue shrine maiden. Fran, do you wish to continue serving Rozemyne? Can you view her as your master, as you did me in the past?” he asked, fixing his golden eyes on me, speaking not a word of my past. It felt as though he had indirectly said that the past did not matter, and I could feel the burden on my heart lighten.

  “You are correct in assuming that I was depressed at first. Nothing could have been worse for me than returning to the orphanage director’s chambers in service of a blue shrine maiden.”

  Lady Rozemyne had been given the chambers with the furniture and cutlery unchanged from its last owner, which forced me to remember my past there. But I was shocked to see just how big of a difference a new master could make.

  Lady Rozemyne took gray priests to the lower city when normally they weren’t permitted to leave the temple, and she taught those in the orphanage and the workshop the ways of commoners. I could see my environment changing before my very eyes. She started one new thing after another, and I was so caught up following Lady Rozemyne as she changed the temple using her outsider influence that I didn’t have the time to think about my past.

  “Lady Rozemyne is nothing like Sister Margaret. She does not use the orphanage for her own benefit. Instead, she fights to improve it as much as she can.”

  She could have treated the orphans like tools to exploit. She could have embezzled the orphanage’s budget to line her own pockets. She could have done no meaningful work beyond accepting the payment those who directed the orphanage were given. But she didn’t, and that was what made Lady Rozemyne entirely different from every orphanage director who had come before her. Instead, she used her own funds to save the orphans, giving them work and the means to survive on their own. Only someone raised in the orphanage could truly understand just how wonderful and important Lady Rozemyne’s impact had been, doubly so considering that she had needed to do it all under the noses of the High Bishop and the blue priests.

  “All those in the orphanage, from the youngest child to the oldest gray priest, respect and thank her. She often baffles me, but even so, I would like to continue serving and being of use to Lady Rozemyne however I can.”

  “I see. Good, then. I have distanced Arno since his own actions had been unduly influenced by his past experience with blue shrine maidens, but I hope that you continue to serve Rozemyne well.”

  I exhaled, understanding the intent behind the High Priest’s short, coded message. I had thought it strange that Arno was not among the High Priest’s other attendants, but it seemed that he had climbed the towering stairway.

  And given that his past with blue shrine maidens was mentioned, I can guess that Arno was also one of Sister Margaret’s victims.

  “In noble society, even the smallest of errors can lead to permanent stains. Keep that firmly in mind as you serve Rozemyne. It is not enough to just diligently follow orders down to the letter; you must be firm in your guidance, such that she produces results befitting not just any noble, but the daughter of an archduke,” the High Priest said, telling me what we would need to do as attendants of Lady Rozemyne, and how we would need to prepare ourselves for serving the daughter of an archduke.

  “Understood. I will serve her well and true.”

  The High Priest gave a firm nod, then waved a hand. I knelt down, my arms crossed over my chest, and then left the High Priest’s room to return to the orphanage director’s chambers.

  ...He wanted results befitting the daughter of an archduke. Lady Rozemyne lacked the knowledge that all nobles shared, and was inexperienced as an apprentice shrine maiden. Supporting her such that she would produce results befitting a High Bishop adopted by the archduke would require much work, and the weight of such a responsibility sent a shiver down my spine.

  Lady Rozemyne will first stand before the public as High Bishop during the Starbind Ceremony. Before anything else, I must ensure she does not fail there.

  “Rosina, Monika, Nicola—your assistance, please.”

  I called everyone over and had them begin summarizing all of the rituals on wooden boards so that it would be easier for Lady Rozemyne to memorize them later. Each year had a number of rituals, each requiring things to be memorized. She had to perform her High Bishop duties flawlessly, and we all had to support her as best we could to ensure that under no circumstances would she fail.

  Gil was deeply involved in what interested Lady Rozemyne most—book-making—and was proving quite useful in that regard. In which case, as Lady Rozemyne’s head attendant, I would need to focus on supporting her High Bishop duties as much as possible.

  While watching the boards steadily pile up, I shifted my gaze to the bed where Lady Rozemyne was resting. Now then, how shall I have Lady Rozemyne memorize all of these when she will most likely ask to go to the book room instead?

  “In order to teach her, it seems I will first have to learn a way to stop Lady Rozemyne from always charging straight toward books,” I muttered. Rosina heard and glanced toward the bed as well.

  “That will likely prove quite difficult,” she said with a quiet giggle, and I couldn’t help but nod in agreement.

  Effa—Facing the Future

  I awoke in the middle of the night to the sound of Kamil crying. Rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I picked him up. It was time for him to be breastfed. His hair and eyes were a similar color to Myne’s, so thoughts of her surfaced in my mind as I was giving milk.

  Myne had always been so quick to get fevers or become bedridden that, for her entire life, I had feared that she might die—that each fever could potentially be the one that was too much for her. And then, when she had finally gotten healthy for the first time, she was taken far away from me, where I would never be able to reach her.

  But... she hasn’t actually died, I thought, trying to cheer myself up the same way I always did when I found myself getting sad. Myne was still alive, and even if she couldn’t treat us like family anymore, we still had a thin connection to her. That was enough to make just a little bit of my sorrow go away.

  I wonder if Gunther’s okay. I looked at the large lump beneath the blankets beside me, twisting and turning as if unable to sleep. Before I knew it, I had let out a heavy sigh.

  It was important to continue life as normal once the funeral had ended. Gunther had to go back to work, no matter how devastated he was, which was why he had gone to the gate yesterday. He had begrudgingly left for his day shift at third bell, but f
ourth bell hadn’t even rang before he came trudging home.

  Apparently, he had punched his boss—the gate commander—in the face, and while the others sympathized with his plight, they had told him to go home and cool it. The commander had allegedly said something to him about Myne. Nobody knew what exactly, but several people heard Gunther scream, “That outsider noble got in ’cause you didn’t tell the guards what I told you! It’s your fault I lost Myne!” before diving at the commander and going to town. That was what Otto, one of his subordinates and the person who had walked him home, had told me.

  Gunther lived for his children, and he cared for Myne more than anyone, especially through her sick health. He regretted beyond words that he hadn’t been able to stop the noble from breaking into the city—that he hadn’t been able to protect Myne, and in the end, had been protected by Myne himself. He was so depressed that it felt as though he was on the verge of throwing his whole life away.

  ...I think I should leave him be for a little while longer.

  I patted Kamil’s back lightly to help him burp, then checked his diaper. As I slowly drifted back to sleep, I hoped more than anything that Gunther would recover as soon as possible.

  “I think it’s because of Myne’s blessings,” Tuuli said out of nowhere the next morning while preparing for work. She was beaming a smile that said she was excited at her realization, but I had no idea what she was talking about.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Me getting a contract with Mrs. Corinna yesterday. I wasn’t scared of going to the north part of the city at all since I was going there to keep my promise to Myne, and I wasn’t scared of asking Mrs. Corinna to hire me. That’s definitely thanks to Myne’s blessings.”

  Yesterday, Tuuli had gone to the Gilberta Company with Lutz and managed to get an agreement to move to Corinna’s workshop when it was time for her lehange contract to be renewed. It came completely out of the blue for Tuuli, who had previously been anxious about going to that part of the city whenever she had to.