Night at the Small Temple

「Ryza and Idna will be washing the dishes. Nora and the others will use these to dry the dishes and put them here. I will put them away.」

After dinner, the gray priestess Lilla explains things to the four of us. She is our teacher. Men and women can work together during the day, but they generally live divided into the men’s wing and the women’s wing. Lilla is going to teach the women’s side and Joshika is going to teach the men’s side.

「…Marte, can you do it too? Make sure you don’t lick the plate.」

Lilla turned to me with a very worried face. That’s because we left some soil when we washed the calfe potatoes, and missed some skin when we peeled them, and licked the plate of sauce at mealtime to make sure we didn’t miss the last drop.

……I’m so full now, so there’s no way I’ll lick a plate anymore.

I say it in my mind, but it never comes out of my mouth. If I talk back, I’ll get yelled at or punched. As I slump my shoulders and lower my head, Thor and Onii-chan took a stand in front of me as they yelled at Lilla.

「We’re not going to lick a plate with no taste!」

「All of these mistakes are just because everything is so different between here and the mayor’s place!」

At that moment, Idna gasped in fright. The dish she was about to wash fell out of her hand and splashed into the water. Ryza, who was washing dishes next to her, raised her eyebrows in sadness.

「Thor, Rick. You don’t have to shout so loud to be heard. Besides, this is the temple. Would you please refrain from being so abusive?」

Ryza is the most senior of the gray priestesses. She’s said to be the one who writes the daily report on what happened to Rozemyne-sama. With Ryza’s warning and Idna’s frightened look, Thor’s blue eyes widened and Onii-chan looked troubled. When they defended me and Nora, the mayor slapped them for being “cheeky” and told them to “do everything yourselves”, but no one called them scary or violent.

「What do you mean by abusive?! We’ve never done nothing violent!」

「These two just wanted to protect Marte…」

Thor and Nora, who reflexively tried to argue back as usual, were told by the gray priest Joshika to “speak more quietly, please.” As he fills the tub with boiling water, he tells us in a tone so polite and quiet that we can hardly believe he is a man.

「Idna is very uncomfortable with the yells of males because she was always yelled at by her former master. Thor, you only wanted to voice your opinion, not frighten Idna, correct?」

「…Eh?」

「Some of the gray priests and priestesses had abusive masters. Even after coming back to the orphanage when their masters returned to the noble town or died, they are still not comfortable with loud voices or angry words. Let us ensure we speak calmly enough to avoid frightening them.」

I always thought the gray priests and priestesses were at peace, protected by the nobles. I never thought that some of them had a past like that.

「Um, I’m sorry. We just wanted to protect Marte, not scare Idna. I thought abuse meant hitting or kicking…」

When Onii-chan apologizes, Idna says in a quiet voice, “It’s okay,” and resumes washing dishes. Ryza also smiles in a gentle voice, saying “Just be careful next time.” As everyone resumes their work, Lilla comes to me again.

「Marte, is wiping dishes too difficult? Would you like to learn by watching the others work?」

……I can at least wipe dishes.

I shake my head to the left and right, and reach for the rag Lilla is holding. Lilla looks surprised and then lowers her eyebrows a little.

「Marte, you should practice replying with words as much as possible. If you don’t speak out loud on a regular basis, you may have trouble responding when Rozemyne-sama arrives five days later.」

At the mayor’s place, he would sometimes say “Shut up!” and “Answer me!” at the same time. Anyone who talks is told to “be quiet”, so I was a good girl for not saying anything. But in the temple, it seems to be different. I remembered back to when Rozemyne-sama asked me my name today, when they said “I would be considered defiant for not answering a noble’s question”.

……I need practice.

I glanced around a bit before opening my mouth.

「…I do it.」

「Please say “I will do it” instead.」

「…I will do it.」

Lilla handed me a clean cloth with a wry smile. I take it and wipe the dishes until they are completely dry. I had been warned against even the slightest bit of soil when I washed the calfe potatoes. This dish must not have a single drop of water on it.

「Marte, you don’t have to go that far. Move on to wiping the next plate.」

Lilla took the plate from my hand and indicated the next plate. While I was wiping one plate, Onii-chan and Thor were wiping plates one after another. They laugh at me and say, “You’re really into this.”

……Onii-chan and Thor are laughing.

Recently they had scary faces as they said, “Don’t worry. I’ll protect you, I promise.” Their natural smiles made me realize that my environment has really changed. No one yells at me when I make mistakes. They are polite when they tell me what to do. I have never experienced such a calm and quiet time at the mayor’s place, so it felt very strange.

……I guess some orphanages are different.


「Here’s your share of hot water.」

The men came in with wooden tubs and basins of hot water during the cleanup. Joshika hands the tubs of water to Thor and Onii-chan, saying, “Please be careful not to burn yourself.”

「Eh? Are you going to carry this to the men’s wing?」

「Yes. The cleansing process is completely different without hot water.」

「We don’t need any. We washed our bodies when we came here. You saw that, right?」

Thor is right, we were told to wash our bodies around noon when we arrived at the temple, and we did. We haven’t worked in the fields either, so we’re not dirty at all.

「Cleansing the body is custom at the temple.」

「We have to wash again even though we just did?」

「Yes. If you prefer not to wash tonight, you can do it in the morning. But it’ll be rough since we won’t be heating water again until then.」

It really seems that the temple is a place that does not tolerate the slightest bit of dirt. I looked at Thor and Onii-chan, who were holding a tub of hot water. Nora and I exchanged glances.

「Well then, excuse us. Until we meet tomorrow, with the visit of the Goddess of Light.」

「Tomorrow? So that’s a goodbye then? Thor and Rick are going to the men’s wing?」

Ryza, who was holding the key, nodded at Nora’s question.

「Yes, the males will return to the men’s wing after dinner. We’ll be locking the door, so you won’t be able to see them until morning, unless there is an emergency.」

Thor and Onii-chan looked at us with concern in their eyes. It was lonely and disconcerting to be away from them. But Nora was with me and no one would yell or hit us in the temple.

「I’ll be fine. Good night, Onii-chan.」

「Okay. Good night, Marte. See you tomorrow.」

The men leave, and Ryza locks the door firmly behind them.

「Come on, Nora, Marte, let’s get ready for bed. We would normally take these to our rooms for purification, but we will do it here. It’s easier to clean up afterwards.」

It seems they used to bring water from the well to their rooms before they started cooking on the ground floor of the women’s wing. Now, however, the women take turns using the hot water on the ground floor, where the water is heated.

「The temple is so luxurious to have hot water to wipe ourselves. The mayor told me that even normal water is too much for us.」

We rarely washed our bodies with soap, and when we did, we never changed our clothes. We were always left dirty. I think that only when a noble guest came, the girls closer to adulthood used soap before being sent to entertain him. Even then, they did not have access to hot water.

「Oh, it’s a luxury even in the temple. It used to be a privilege only for the attendants who served the noble blue priests and priestesses. But Rozemyne-sama prepared a stove, firewood, and pots on the ground floor so that we can make soup by ourselves. We can make use of that the hot water… secretly though, so don’t tell Rozemyne-sama.」

I guess a bath with plenty of hot water is still a privilege for the attendants, and in the orphanage, the best they can do is to wipe themselves with a basin of water with a little boiled water in it. We filled the basin with hot and cold water and let it reach the right temperature before wiping ourselves off. Then we put on our nightclothes. Surprisingly, the temple has different clothes for sleeping.

……I can’t believe we don’t just take off our clothes for sleep!

「The temple is such a nice place. You don’t have to work in the fields to get a full meal, and the orphans can use the hot water and change clothes for bed.」

Nora looked impressed, picking at the hem of her nightclothes, but Ryza shook her head.

「The orphanage changed to be like this after Rozemyne-sama came. It’s only been a year or so.」

「Eh?」

「Before that, it was a terrible place. There was no violence, but the food was given by the blue priests on a whim. We couldn’t cook it ourselves if we ran out, so we had to wait in starvation.」

Ryza’s words were hard to believe. Even the apprentices like us were able to eat a full meal. Apparently it’s only been a year since that change.

「As well as getting dragged away if you grabbed a noble’s attention. It’s a good thing Rozemyne-sama and the high priest got rid of that.」

「Is that…?」

Nora started to say something, before shutting her mouth. Idna smiled and said nothing more, but they seemed to be in sync. I felt like I’m the only one who’s left out.

「Nora, what’s that mean?」

「Rozemyne-sama will stop people in the temple from being like the mayor and his wife.」

By “people like the mayor and his wife,” I assume she means the rowdy people who beat and yell at us. Now that you mention it, Rozemyne-sama also stopped the scary people called “guard knights”.

「…Rozemyne-sama is younger than me, but she’s really amazing, isn’t she?」

「Yes, she really is great. We are all grateful to her.」

After cleaning up, we went up the stairs. There is a big room with futons lined up in a row, so that Nora and I can sleep next to each other. Even so, I am a little afraid to sleep alone on this big futon. I grabbed Nora’s sleeve silently, but then I remembered how they had told me to “learn how to say things out loud”.

「…U-Um, can I sleep with Nora today?」

「I’ve never slept alone either, so I don’t feel comfortable. I’d like to share the bed with Marte.」

I boldly asked Lilla, and Nora squeezed my hand in return. The three gray priestesses who were watching us looked at each other, and then Ryza, the one in charge, nodded.

「Rozemyne-sama told us that our first priority is to get you accustomed to life in the temple. You can sleep together until you get used to it. I was proud to get my own bed in early adulthood, but it also felt a little lonely.」

According to Ryza, orphans in the temple spend the period before baptism with the gray priestesses who became mothers and their pre-baptismal children. During this period, a number of children and gray priestesses sleep together in a large bed filled with straw. It is said that apprentices from baptism to adulthood also usually slept in the same bed with two or three other apprentices. Nowadays, the number of apprentice priestesses has decreased since Ryza’s baptism, so they are able to get their own bed when nearing adulthood.

「Please wake up at the first bell tomorrow. Good night.」

I got into bed with Nora and exhaled slowly. I had a clean wash and clean clothes. The bedding and sheets smelled new and felt good to the touch. There were no smelly livestock, and the bed was much more comfortable than straw. My stomach was warm and fluffy after eating a lot of food for the first time in a long while. It’s completely different from the mayor’s place. Surprisingly different.

「Hey, Nora. I’m glad we came here.」

I wasn’t sure if we could make it here when the nobles glared at us, or when they smacked Thor. But now that the nobles were gone, there was nothing scary.

「…I guess so, Marte. I haven’t seen you smiling like that for a long time. I’m sure Rick feels the same way.」

「You and Thor were laughing too.」

Nora said, “Really?” as she put her hand on her cheek. Maybe she didn’t realize it. When I giggled, Nora looked embarrassed and moved her hand to cover my eyes.

「We have to wake up at the first bell tomorrow, so let’s go to bed. Come on, Marte, close your eyes.」

I closed my eyes meekly in the pitch-darkness of my vision. Only Nora’s voice remained.

「Lilla said she’s going to teach us how to clean the chapel, but she washes the calfe potatoes so thoroughly. Cleaning the chapel must be harder than working in the mayor’s fields.」

I nodded my head at Nora’s annoyed voice. Ryza said we would clean everything every day without fail. The orphanage and chapel were so tidy that I couldn’t tell where to start cleaning them.

「But I don’t think we’re allowed to go outside for a while, so it might be a good time to learn how to clean.」

I nodded silently. Thor and Onii-chan might want to go outside, but I was happy to hide in a safe place. I was afraid that the mayor might come to take me back. I want to stay in the temple where it is clean and safe.

「We have to learn how to speak and stuff too. I wish we could at least get through the words before a meal. I don’t want to have to repeat it over and over again while waiting in front of our food…」

That’s true, it took a while before we were able to eat today. But I don’t think I’ll be able to remember those long sentences anytime soon. I let out a deep breath. Maybe it’s because so much has happened in a day, or maybe it’s because of Nora’s warm hand against my head, but I’m already too sleepy to open my eyes.

「Good night, Nora.」

「Good night, Marte.」

Nora gently took her hand away from my eyes and patted my head. It’s just like when Mom was alive. I fell asleep feeling warm and happy.

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