The harvesting of Ruel fruit ended in failure, and I spent the following day bedridden while being cared for with medicine, but the Harvest Festival itself concluded without any particular issues.
Upon returning to the
"Welcome back, Lady
"I've returned, Gil. Did anything change while I was away?"
"I have several things I'd like to discuss with you."
At Gil's words,
"Then, Gil, please escort Lady Rozemyne to the High Bishop's office, and you can speak with her there."
Fran suggested that the High Bishop's office would be calmer than the room where goods were being carried in one after another upon returning from the Harvest Festival. Essentially telling me in roundabout terms that things would proceed more smoothly without me around, I headed to the High Bishop's room—recently tidied and organized—with Gil.
"Please, Lady Rozemyne."
While drinking the tea Gil had prepared in the High Bishop's office, I listened to his report on the time I'd been away. Gil's tea-brewing skills had improved as well—still behind Fran's, but quite a bit better than before.
After his report on the inventory status—the number of completed papers, picture books, and the amount of ink needed—the topic of Trombe came up.
"When we went to the forest for papermaking the other day, the swooping trees had sprung up, so we all cut them down together. They'd grown quite large, and the Soldiers were mobilized too."
"Was anyone injured?"
"No. A Soldier praised us, saying we'd done a good job. Since he said the young, thin branches weren't needed, I brought them back, and they've already turned black."
Apparently
"Also, a craftsman named
"Oh, I look forward to that."
Just thinking about improvements to the printing press made me excited. What kind of changes would they make?
"How are the children from Hassé? Have they settled in well? Would it be safe to go check on them?"
"...If you're curious, shall we go to the orphanage?"
"Yes, there are things I want to ask and request of
With my guard knights in tow, I made my way to the orphanage. Wilma was surprised by my sudden, unannounced visit, but when I told her that the Attendants were swamped with post-Harvest Festival cleanup, she chuckled softly.
"Since Lady Rozemyne has so few Attendants, it's bound to be difficult."
"...Do I have few? I've heard that most Blue Priests employ around five Attendants."
I recalled that the previous High Priest had about six as well. The reason I said "about six" was because I'd been wavering over which category to place Deria in, but I'd thought my number of Attendants was roughly average.
"If it were an ordinary Blue Priest, that would certainly suffice. However, Lady Rozemyne holds the positions of High Priest,
Gil handled the Workshop Head duties, Wilma handled the orphanage duties, and for the High Priest duties there were Fran, Monica, and
"I'll consult with the Chief Priest and Fran, and increase the number if necessary. More importantly, how was this year's Harvest Festival? Were there enough provisions?"
"Yes. Because Lady Rozemyne prepared everything in advance, we were able to get through it without any problems."
Even though the cooks were away, there were already plenty of Gray Priestesses who could prepare meals. Since ingredients had been thoroughly stocked, the Harvest Festival had apparently passed without issue.
"How are the children from Hassé doing? Have they settled in?"
"At first, they seemed bewildered by the differences in customs and looked unsure of what to do, but as the Priestesses and Priests who'd been with them in Hassé gave advice and helped them out, the others gradually came to understand that they were different from us."
Since they'd all grown up without ever leaving the Temple, they apparently hadn't understood why they were different from others, but having seen Lutz and
"How are the orphanage's Winter Preparations going?"
"We've already started where we can—boiling down jam, drying mushrooms, and so on. This year we gathered more firewood from the forest than last year, and the portion purchased through the
The day for processing pork was still a ways off, but this year it would be done together with the Gilberta Company, and since they had experience from last year, it should be fine to leave it to them.
"Um, Lady Rozemyne. This is about the Winter Preparations, but..."
"Is there a problem?"
"
For Commoner women, spinning and weaving were important winter tasks. They needed to make clothes for their family, and skill at these crafts was even a condition for being considered a suitable bride.
However, the clothing for Gray Priests and Priestesses was provided by the Temple. For the clothes that could get dirty—such as when going to the forest or doing printing work in the Workshop—I purchased cheap secondhand clothing from the slums in the lower city. Honestly, buying fabric ended up being more expensive.
After being purchased as servants for nobility, there were clothes provided and prepared by the mansion, and since marriage was probably almost never permitted, there was little need for weaving or sewing skills.
"Since our clothes are provided by the Temple, there's no need to make them, so I haven't considered weaving for now. However, preparing yarn and doing knitting might be a good idea. It would help everyone stay warm through the winter."
Last year I'd bought secondhand clothes to stay warm, but you could never have too much cold-weather gear. I'd order yarn and knitting needles from the Gilberta Company and take on knitting this year.
"Nora and Marlte probably know how to knit, and if there's room, it might be nice to ask Turi as well."
Wilma was enthusiastic about it too.
I explained that the donated crops obtained from the Harvest Festival were being processed at the castle, and that the finished goods would be transported to the Temple, then rose from my seat.
"Lady Rozemyne, there was one more thing. Using the paint your mother provided, I painted a portrait of the Chief Priest. Where should I deliver it?"
"Please show me right away."
Wilma's portrait of the Chief Priest was painted in her characteristically soft colors, and with an extra dose of what I could only call the Wilma filter, the Chief Priest had come out looking absolutely divine.
He looked like some kind of saint, but he wasn't. In my mind I screamed that the Chief Priest had a much darker smile and would never make such a gentle expression. But from what I heard, this was how the sparkly version of the Chief Priest appeared in my mother's eyes, so she would surely shed tears of joy.
"Please wrap it in cloth, place it in a wooden box, and store it in the High Bishop's room."
"Understood."
In the High Priest's room, there was a risk of the Chief Priest catching sight of it. It would be better to keep it in the High Bishop's room.
After finishing my conversation with Wilma, I returned to my room with Gil, and the tidying up was already complete.
"Lady Rozemyne, please rest for today. Starting tomorrow, things will be busy for a while."
That was what Fran said.
It seemed that more than half of the Blue Priests had already returned from the Harvest Festival, and starting tomorrow, work awaited me as High Priest—listening to each of their reports alongside the Chief Priest.
I would need to listen to their reports, collect the small Holy Cups from the Blue Priests who had toured the lands governed by nobility, and verify that the numbers were correct. Then I would need to line up the small golden Holy Cups in the designated cabinet and lock it. Managing the small Holy Cups was also apparently part of the High Priest's duties. The small Holy Cups that were brought back would be filled with Magic Power during the winter dedication ceremony.
"I also need to decide the order for filling them with Magic Power—the order of the Blue Priests' home visits and the dedication ceremony."
The donated crops that the Blue Priests had received at the Harvest Festival were being transported to their respective families from the castle, so they would be making trips home to receive them. Since a great deal of luggage would be coming and going, the order needed to be decided in advance or it would become troublesome.
"This is the Temple's—the Blue Priests'—Winter Preparations. ...Lady Rozemyne, you'll need to go to the castle to pick things up as well, but you should do that when you report to the Lord."
Once all the Blue Priests had returned and all the small Holy Cups were accounted for, I would need to go to the castle and report to the Lord. This too was part of the High Priest's duties.
"Lady Rozemyne's winter wardrobe is also being prepared at the castle, isn't it? It needs to be brought here, and there should also be coordination meetings for your debut over there, right?"
As Fran laid out one task after another, I felt completely overwhelmed. I'd thought the Temple's Winter Preparations would be finished after preparing things for the orphanage and my own room, just like last year, but with my added responsibilities, it was apparently not so simple.
Starting the next day, interviews with the Blue Priests continued nearly every day. The main task was collecting the small Holy Cups, and I listened to their reports on harvest yields, tax collectors, and the atmosphere of the rural villages.
Some Blue Priests gave surprisingly detailed reports, while others glossed over everything with a simple "nothing much has changed anywhere."
"...Chief Priest, why don't you try assigning office work to
"I have no spare energy to teach from scratch to people whose motivation I can't even gauge."
The Chief Priest said this bluntly, but apparently he had tried assigning work before. However, the Blue Priests had been so useless, and the previous High Priest had been so difficult to deal with for everything, that he had chosen to shoulder it all himself.
"Because doing it yourself is more reliable and faster, you take on everything, and that's why the Chief Priest is the only one who's busy. Even if it seems like a roundabout approach, you should delegate work to others. The High Priest is no longer here, after all."
With the previous High Priest gone, it was no exaggeration to say that the Chief Priest held all the power within the Temple. Some Blue Priests had kept their distance from the Chief Priest for self-preservation, being considerate of the previous High Priest, so this was a good opportunity to put them to use through training.
"How many Blue Priests' worth of work is the Chief Priest currently handling? My adoptive father seemed to think the Chief Priest was idle at the Temple, so he was assigning tasks, but doesn't he report on the content of his work?"
"Work given by the Lord must be reliably completed. What's the point of reporting the content? Reporting the results should be sufficient, wouldn't you say?"
I couldn't stop myself from sighing at the Chief Priest's attitude toward work. Who had raised him this way?
Report, Contact, Consult —I remembered reading that these were the basics of work. They probably weren't thoroughly practiced here, but they were necessary for smooth operations.
"It's important for both parties to be aware of each other's situation in order to carry out work smoothly. In fact, I was able to gain some breathing room with the printing business by speaking with my adoptive father. He told me I could proceed at my own pace."
"...Are you saying you can't handle the work you've been given?"
He widened his eyes as if he couldn't believe it, and I pursed my lips indignantly.
"I didn't say I couldn't. Unlike
"So that's why that
The Chief Priest furrowed his brows in displeasure, but he was the one being strange for continually piling work onto me despite my frail health and childlike appearance. He said, "It's only natural to delegate to those who can handle it," but I didn't want to be delegated to.
"For one thing, I can say this with certainty: please don't expect me to handle the same workload as the Chief Priest. Physically, it's impossible."
Winter brought the dedication ceremony and nobility's social gatherings—it was simply too demanding. Honestly, I didn't believe I had the stamina for it.
"Your point is well taken, but I've prepared ample medicine for your share as well."
"A life reliant on medicine can't possibly be good for your health! The Chief Priest should change his own medicine-dependent lifestyle. If you don't reduce your workload to the point where you can live without relying on medicine, you'll collapse before long."
When I added that I would report him to Richarda, the Chief Priest made a thoroughly unpleasant face. It was easy to imagine him being scolded by Richarda.
"Reducing work is not so simple, is it? What do you propose?"
"First, let's reduce the frequency of castle visits. I understand you go for information gathering, but every time you go, you end up with more work. Let's cut the visits from the start and get information from Eustachius instead."
When I made this suggestion, the Chief Priest knitted his brows and looked troubled.
"But if I don't go, the work will just pile up on Sylvester's desk?"
"That's my adoptive father's work, so let my adoptive father deal with it. If the man at the top of Ehrenfest's nobility can't even handle his own responsibilities, what then? The Chief Priest may be lenient with my adoptive father for whatever reason, but before being strict with Wilfried, you should be strict with my adoptive father."
It was obvious from even a brief acquaintance that the only people the Chief Priest might harbor familial affection for were his half-brother Sylvester and his cousin, my father. But my observation left the Chief Priest looking stunned.
"...I'm lenient with Sylvester? This is the first time I've heard that."
"Well, you tell me to handle my own cleanup, don't you? You help me with the things I can't do, but you don't help with the things I can, do you? Is my adoptive father's work something he truly cannot do?"
I added that a Lord who couldn't do his own work was the bigger problem, and the Chief Priest closed his eyes, stroked his chin, and let out a slow sigh.
"It's not that he can't. He just wants to push it off onto others to make things easier for himself."
"Wilfried is working hard, so my adoptive father should work hard too. The Chief Priest should prioritize the Temple's work over my adoptive father's tasks. And then distribute some of the Temple's work to the other Blue Priests to create at least a little breathing room."
When I clenched my fist firmly, the Chief Priest raised an eyebrow slightly.
"Breathing room, you say? For what purpose, exactly?"
"...For the Chief Priest's health, of course. Not to secure my own reading time."
"The truth finally comes out at the end. But fine. When Sylvester starts making unreasonable demands of the Temple, you'll stop him as the High Priest, won't you?"
The Chief Priest grinned and saddled me with troublesome work. This was absurd. My workload, which I'd been trying to reduce, had somehow increased.
After collecting the small Holy Cups from all the Blue Priests, I arranged an audience appointment and headed to the castle with the Chief Priest.
On my way to my adoptive father's office via the Low Beast, I asked Richarda to prepare the donated crops that had already been processed among the ones delivered in my name, so I could bring them back to the Temple.
While I was at it, I also inquired about Wilfried's academic progress.
"Lord Wilfried has been steadily working through his assignment sheet. Half of his Attendants have been replaced, and rigorous education has begun. He's been studying card games with renewed determination, vowing that this time he will defeat Lady Rozemyne. He can now read most of the basic alphabet, and he's also able to read numbers. He'll need to practice writing a bit more, though."
Richarda truly loved raising children, it seemed. She spoke about Wilfried's growth with a lively, animated expression.
"His fechspiel practice is also progressing, and it looks like he'll be able to play one piece by winter. Since it involves repetitive practice, he throws tantrums from time to time, but after a while of screaming and stomping his feet, he goes back to practicing with a frustrated look on his face."
Since the opportunity presented itself, I taught Richarda a game where you add up numbers while playing cards. If added to their card games, it would help them learn a little arithmetic.
"Lord Sylvester and Lady Florenzia are amazed and delighted by his remarkable progress. They were very grateful to you, Lady Rozemyne."
He was trying to escape the threat of disinheritance, so naturally his parents would be happy. And since that happiness was reaching Wilfried, I believed it was what allowed him to keep putting in the effort.
Upon arriving at the Lord's office, I put away my Low Beast and entered with the Chief Priest. Just as the Chief Priest had said, a massive pile of letters sat on the desk. And when the surrounding attendants saw the Chief Priest, their faces lit up as if they'd been saved.
Completely ignoring that, I confirmed that all the small Holy Cups had been returned without issue and gave my report on the Harvest Festival.
"So the Harvest Festival concluded without incident. Good work, Rozemyne. Also, I'm sorry, but I'd like you to prepare about ten additional small Holy Cups, same as last year."
"That's impossible."
At my immediate response, my adoptive father blinked several times, then tilted his head to the side. Staring at me with an expression that suggested he didn't understand or didn't want to accept it, I gave my reasons and declined.
"Same as last year is impossible. I have to attend nobility's gatherings, so I can't move the same way I did last year, and besides, there are fewer people now."
That previous High Priest had been terrible, but given his family's high status, his Magic Power was still somewhat greater than the other Blue Priests.
"...I've already taken it on. Isn't there any way?"
Even if he said that, rest was essential, and attending nobility's gatherings was also essential. At the winter debut, I'd even been asked to subtly support Wilfried so he wouldn't be embarrassed. I had no time or energy to spare for filling the Holy Cups of other territories' nobility as well.
"Don't underestimate the current number of Blue Priests, how little Magic Power they have, and my lack of stamina. If Magic Power is absolutely necessary, why not come to the Temple and have my adoptive father fill them himself?"
"Me!?"
"If you're a noble, shouldn't you take responsibility and clean up your own mess? You took this on without even asking about my circumstances, so my adoptive father, you should figure it out yourself. No matter how hard you try, I can't take on even half of this at the Temple."
The Magic Power shortage was just as serious in Ehrenfest. I didn't know what political arrangements had been made, but there was no way we could afford to deal with other territories' problems. If it was truly necessary, I wanted him to come up with a solution—either filling the cups himself or finding replacement Blue Priests.
Having given up early on convincing him that I wasn't up to the task, my adoptive father turned his gaze to the Chief Priest.
"
"Unfortunately, this is the High Priest's decision. It is truly regrettable, but as Chief Priest, there is nothing I can do. Besides, didn't you say last time that this was only for this one occasion? Clean up your own mess."
The Chief Priest lifted the corners of his lips and showed that utterly impenetrable smile, leaving my adoptive father wide-eyed and clutching his head.
By blocking my adoptive father from bringing his troublesome work into the picture, I finished my most important Winter Preparations.
A Caesar's matters are for Caesar. Gil's work is for Gil.
Rozemyne will spare no effort in securing her reading time.
Next time: Ingo and printing press improvements.