Chapter 211: The Saintess of Orphans

“Oh, so this Evidian curry. I’ll be honest, Lady Eshe, when I first came to Peolynca, I was surprised to hear that the levianewts have already invented something similar to the curry I know from Earth. At least, that is what I heard from the people who tasted Saori’s curry.”

It was lunchtime the day after I had my meeting with the hunter’s guild master Muraina and the imperial alchemist Krymdar. There were two days left until my concert. On this day, I went over to the church’s orphanage in the lower city in order to meet up with Eshe so we could rehearse the “idol of Aurena” part of the performance.

Although I had advertised myself as one of Aurena’s blessed before the nobles, and not just as an idol, there wasn’t a real reason for me to do more than to cast [Prayer] unassisted to impress them. However, Saintess Eshe and High Bishop Theodore persuaded me to do more, as it would be a good practice to act more priestess-like. In addition, I also had to impress the clergy and the more religious concert attendees.

During my two weeks of theological lessons, Theodore pretty much stuffed as much as he could from the books he had into my head. From how certain rituals worked like Spring’s Blessing, where priests and shrine maidens were sent out to farms and villages to bless the soil with “holy mana water”-filled chalices, to how the church’s bureaucracy worked, which actually was just Theodore rambling about the cathedral’s cardinal.

Some of the lessons were just a repeat of things I already knew, for example the subordinate gods of Aurena’s pantheon and what feats they had accomplished that earned the Origin Gods’ attention and earned apotheosis. I’d already learned this part from Tasianna, but the information on how they were being worshipped today was new to me.

As much as the different parts of the Church of Aurena wanted to act as if they were completely united, most cathedrals and temples usually worshipped Aurena in addition to one of her subordinate gods. This was usually a matter of doctrine and ideology, since all gods represented something, usually related to their godly title; for example, the old man Kargryxmor — actually, maybe “Kramps” would be a better nickname for him — was the God of Dragons and Oaths and Istari was the God of Magic and Knowledge.

Among Aurena’s pantheon, some gods had conflicting ideals — one example were the sister gods Andira, the Goddess of Fairness and Equality, and Erithia, Goddess of Nobility and Wealth. Two goddesses both well loved by humans, but who rarely ever shared the same followers for obvious reasons. Firwood’s temple used to worship Andira when it was still just a small town, but once it grew, Erithia became more popular.

When I commented on how this seemed like they were breaking the second dogmatic doctrine — to not diminish the faith of other subordinate gods as they all serve Aurena equally — Theodore responded with, “Siblings quarrel all the time. As long as they don’t cross the line of acceptability, some friendly rivalry is not forbidden.” It felt as if he spoke from experience.

In any case, that was how I spent my time with Theodore. Eshe, on the other hand, was more focused on teaching me the culture of the Empire and the duties of the saints and champions of Aurena. Eshe mostly spoke about the former, since her home was in the Great Evida Desert.

And what was a better way to introduce your culture than through food, right?

Breaking off a small piece of bread, I dipped the still-warm chunk into the orange curry and scooped both the soup and some meat into my mouth. Unlike Saori’s curry, which was sweeter and used fewer spices in the recipe, Eshe’s curry was like a spice explosion, assaulting my tongue with intense spiciness, fulfilling savoriness, and enticing sourness.

I instinctively sucked in the saliva inside my mouth into my throat and let out a sigh, as if the spiciness had affected me. This was probably the second spiciest dish I’d ever tasted since I was reborn, just behind the spicy mushroom roots Tasianna found in the Cedaraille dungeon’s depth.

When I told Eshe my thoughts, she seemed pretty interested in the mushroom, having believed that the Evida desert had the spiciest ingredients in the Empire. She was also interested in Saori’s curry since she only knew about the one her homeland made. “Evidian curry began as a seafarer food, specifically from the levianewts who used to live on the seaside, since it was not only easy to make with whatever ingredient they had but they also easily filled the bellies of the sailors.”

With the levianewts sharing the recipe with the human sailors, it began to spread among seamen since the spices and ingredients used for the dish could either be stored dry for long trips or procured on the sea. Merchants and returning sailors then spread the dish to the various towns and cities inside the desert and it eventually became a national dish.

Usually, this curry would be served with something similar to naan bread, but we couldn’t procure that in Peolynca nor could Eshe or her knights bake it. Honestly, the more I learned about the Evida desert, the more it reminded me of a fusion between India and Arabia. The parallels between Earth and Peolynca were strange yet interesting at the same time.

Since Theodore couldn’t come today, as he was supervising the construction of the concert stage with Grimnir, I was only eating lunch with Eshe and her knights. Saori was teaching bakers how to make pastries and rice sweets, Tasianna was studying under Krymdar to become a better alchemist, and Ellaine was helping out her parents by estimating prices and creating a place for the nobles to sit, leaving me to go visit Eshe alone.

Still no news of Jonathan. I can only imagine that Ellaine and her parents want to go out and search for him.

While enjoying the food Eshe made for us, I reopened the discussion we had before, “So, are all the saints and champions of Goddess Aurena known within the Empire? Every single one of them?”

“I believe that must be the case, Lady Hestia. She usually says, ‘I greet my Saints and Champions at this meeting’ through God's voice, so she should be conversing with all of us. It wouldn’t do to simply exclude one of us, when we all serve the Goddess with all our being. I might not have met them personally, but all known saints and champions are recorded in every temple. After all, every pious person must know and celebrate our Goddess’s representatives!” Saints were treated like religious leaders while champions were revered like heroes; at least, that was how it was in the Empire.

Eshe continued. “Since we saints and saintesses were chosen to preach and promote a certain aspect the Goddess wishes her followers to know, it goes without saying that our word carries quite a lot of weight. However, we also have a responsibility to lead our fellow followers well, for they cannot hear the Goddess’s words as clearly as we do.”

“Oh? Is that so? Which reminds me, what is the relationship between Goddess Aurena and the other saints and champions. I do wonder what you would talk about with her, or is it purely business?”

Although my three meetings with Aurena were rather short, from what I learned from Kramps, she was supposedly acting more relaxed around me compared to her meetings with her other blessed, similar to how she would have this demeanor around Kramps and Istari but not the other gods in her pantheon. This was her way to express her trust in me.

As such, I did wonder how she acted with the other blessed, since I was curious at what Kargryxmor meant when he said, “Aurena has to live up to her religious image,” or something like that. It would also give me a better idea of how to act around those saints and champions whenever I met them.

“Talk?” However, my question was met with confusion by not only Eshe but her two knights. Having taken off their scarves to eat, I was fully able to see the slight bafflement on Sir Alikar’s and Dame Anivh’s expressions. “Well, as her pious servant, doing something so casually as ‘talking,’ wouldn’t that be too inappropriate to do in the limited time we have with the Goddess? Shouldn’t you know this, Lady Hestia, our souls aren’t strong enough to enter her divine realm and the messages we receive are often indecipherable, although, maybe your messages are more coherent than ours since your blessing is stronger?”

“O-Oh, that’s right. Y-Yeah. I forgot about that, I apologize.” A chill ran down my spine as I forgot what Kargryxmor had told me, that normally, saints and champions weren’t able to enter a god’s divine realm unlike me and Ellaine. Gods usually communicated with their blessed through System messages and couldn’t invite them to their divine realms since mortal souls couldn’t endure the pressure there.

I knew Kargryxmor mentioned at the end of our meeting how my soul would explode if I stayed too long, but I thought he was joking, not telling the truth. I was considering if I should tell her about my meeting with Aurena in her realm, but I decided against it. It would just spook her and provide nothing substantial.

“It’s alright, but you must remember it since it’s the most important part. The Goddess might have mentioned it, but mortal souls like ours cannot withstand being the radiance of an Origin God,” Eshe scolded me.

She then continued after calming down with a renewed smile, “However, to answer your question properly, I believe only the most pious are able to discuss with Goddess Aurena longer than a few words. As such, we blessed have a responsibility to guide our brothers and sisters of cloth, as they cannot accurately interpret her words. I have the duty of reinforcing my faith to the Goddess, so I may be blessed with more of her wisdom.”

“You’re talking about missing words or hard to decipher sentences through ‘the word of the gods’, right?” Eshe nodded to my question. Aurena had mentioned that this was one problem the Origin Gods had with communicating with their followers, since they had to reduce the length of the divine message to not accidentally overload the recipient’s soul.

As such, if you were less faithful to that specific god, the divine messages, or “word of the gods,” were less clear in their context. This led to people misunderstanding the original intentions of the messages. You couldn’t even have a proper conversation with them, unlike when I joked around with Aurena during my emergency flight to Griffonpeak.

If you looked at it that way, it made sense why saints and champions were so popular. Although, I did question why they were so popular that possibly all of them were known to the public. Wouldn’t it be problematic if someone were to attack them specifically ‘cause of that reason? Then again, it might be hard to do so in the Folschreck Empire.

“Come to think of it,” I suddenly realized something. “Lady Eshe, you don’t do many sermons, right? Actually, I haven’t seen you giving one since I first met you. For a saintess, who, as you said, is responsible for guiding her fellow followers, you usually only stay inside the orphanage. Yes, you are a shrine maiden, but still, it feels odd to me.”

“Lad—” Anivh wanted to speak out suddenly, but Eshe quickly stopped her by raising her hand.

“Lady Hestia, I am the Saintess of Orphans; my role as the Goddess’s servant is to make sure that orphaned children are given a warm place to grow and learn the beauty of Her Holiness. To make sure they may enjoy a good childhood without fearing the real world until they reach maturity,” Eshe spoke with passion and zeal, asserting herself even more than usual. Her eyes had a strong influence on the impact of her words, imprinting them into your memory with ease.

She continued, “I am not much use as a preacher, for what do adults have to learn from me? Commoners have their own situations, so preaching to them about the woes of some random street urchin would be arrogant of me. Nobles? Why would they be interested in such a sermon? It isn’t much, but I prefer doing my duty by helping these children find a safe home here.”

Huh, that does make more sense. There seem to be more children around, I think.

Eshe also explained how her role as a saintess was better used to gather donations from the pious and to help out at the local orphanages, using her influence to improve it and help create lasting benefits even after she left. She explained how the orphanages in many cities inside the Empire were usually understaffed or underfunded, and that the older children usually had to act as caretakers with the shrine maidens for the young ones. The one in Eshe’s home city used to be like this.

It was admirable, no questions asked. I felt ashamed for not being able to think of this by myself, feeling the answer was so obvious after Eshe explained it. If you think about it, children were one of the most important “resources” of a city or country, since they would become the ones to lead the world’s future.

Orphans or not, it didn’t matter. Eshe’s efforts to give more children shelter, warm food, and a family made me respect her even more. It was so amazing to hear that it made me even more curious why Theodore told me that Eshe switched from a priestess into a shrine maiden. Even if nobles disliked commoners, nothing bad could be said about a person who actively helps children, right?

Since we were having lunch together, I thought it would be alright to ask. We’ve known each other long enough. “If it isn’t rude of me to ask, could you tell me if those rumors are true? About how you were involved in some drama with the noble white robes in Sarkafiina?”

Anivh and Alikar looked at each other with slightly furrowed brows while Eshe’s smile broke for a couple of moments. Their reactions were a clear indicator that I touched on something thorny, and that the rumors were most likely true. As I panicked and apologized, saying she didn’t need to say anything if it made her uncomfortable, Eshe said she didn’t mind it.

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“You shared your struggles before coming to Peolynca. I was able to learn what drove you into becoming an ‘idol.’ It is only right for me to share my story, too.” Pretty much every Peolyncian that knows that I am a reincarnator has been extremely curious of Earth, and Eshe was no exception.

Eshe breathed in deeply, held it for a second, and let it all out before beginning to speak, “As you know, I am a commoner. Born with enough magical potential that both the mage’s guild and church wanted to buy me off from my parents in order to indoctrinate me from a young age. Naturally, as I was given this potential by the Goddess, I of course chose to go with the church, where they raised me into becoming a white robe.”

Eshe was pious, very pious in fact. At least, I could sense the joy in her voice whenever she spoke about Aurena specifically. During her explanation, she emphasized the greatness of Aurena a great deal, believing most of her decisions and gifts, like her high mana growth despite being a commoner human, were all influenced by Aurena. I would have been cringing at the conversation if this had happened two weeks ago, but I got used to it somewhat.

In summary, Eshe was turned into a white robe priestess when she joined the clergy after they bought her off from her family when she was still a young child. She was educated to become either a secretary or a lady-in-waiting for the noble white robes in the cathedral in her home city, while also serving the duties of a white robe to alleviate the workload of the nobles, whatever that actually meant. But, as expected, she had little to no political influence despite being a priestess and not a shrine maiden.

While sent out on official church duty to a nearby village, she was expected to only grant [Prayer], heal any injuries or illnesses, and maybe wed people if there was a need; however, that was where the drama began.

“I… I did something I thought was rightful and proper as a priestess, but the consequences of that action brought nothing but problems. Not only to me, but also to the people I wanted to help.” Eshe hesitated in revealing the origin of the rumors, but decided to keep it to herself, simply stating that her actions did not reflect the good she wanted to do. She then trembled as if a cold wind had just wafted in, prompting Anivh to stand up and make a new cup of tea for her.

Once she recovered, she explained how the church was dissatisfied with her after learning of the results of her action, punishing her by stripping any privileges she still had and turning her into a shrine maiden. She was then sent to the orphanage as its new director, a duty usually given to grey robes in her city.

This new role was meant to break her, since white robes, regardless of whether they were commoners or nobles, lived a less taxing and more privileged life than she would have experienced growing up in the slums with her old family. However, it had the opposite effect. Eshe thrived in performing her new duty, as taking care of the young children reminded her of her more simpler days in the slums.

As the director of the orphanage, Eshe was finally outside the scrutiny of the nobles and was able to move more freely. Through this, she was able to become one of the most popular clergy members in Sarkarfiina, to the point people treated her as a potential saint candidate with her philanthropic work in the slums and her care for orphans.

Her knights described it as an aura of light appearing behind her, which they attributed to her [Saintly Aura], the advanced version of [Benevolent Aura]. From what I learned of Eshe’s spells and skills, she sounded exactly like the typical supportive saint class, with only supportive custom spells and little to no combative skills. Well, for that, she had her knights Anivh and Alikar for combat encounters.

“And you actually were blessed four years into your role as the orphanage director? Wow, how did those noble white robes react?” I asked. Considering her story and personality, I fully understood now why she was made into a saintess. She fit the stereotype perfectly.

“Well, they acted friendly—” Eshe was saying when she was suddenly interrupted by her knight, Anivh.

“They hid their true emotions behind their masks of expressions, congratulating and praising Lady Eshe in public while speaking of her as a tool from behind. Members of the clergy or not, for disrespecting a chosen representative of the Goddess… unforgivable.” Anivh and Alikar rarely spoke, staying silent whenever I came over for some reason. When she spoke, however, it was serious.

After finishing lunch, a shrine maiden knocked on the door and informed us that somebody who knew Eshe was waiting outside the orphanage. Although she was unsure who the visitor was, Eshe decided to go out and greet them anyway. I followed her since I had nothing else to do but wait.

When we came out, a young man in a familiar outfit stood there, saluting Eshe the moment she appeared out of the door. I noticed the crest he had on his outfit, noticing the gavel with the eye symbol, the mark of the Lycerepth. It wasn’t surprising to see one of their members here, since the Lycerepth were also responsible for protecting Eshe, but what baffled me were the two men behind him.

While their clothes weren’t in tatters or ragged, they still looked old and used, as if little effort was put into cleaning the sweat, food, or dirt stains off the fabric. It looked gross even after the clothes had been washed. Like pack mules, the men were carrying full backpacks, which looked like they were filled to the brim with groceries and tools, heavy enough that they were standing on their feet with crooked backs and their hands bowed.

Both men raised their heads when the young, energetic Lycerepthor saluted and shouted, “Desert winds fly forth! May the Goddess bless your day with bountiful light, Saintess Eshe!” At this point, I was able to see a blue runic tattoo etched onto their foreheads. Looking closer, it showed the image of an eyed gavel inside a cage.

Wait, where did I see— no, I don’t think I’ve seen this before but I think I heard about that symbol somewhere.

Uhm, a cage symbol with something ins- Oh!

“A-Are they slaves…?” But my question was answered by nobody. Only Eshe’s frowning face turned around a bit to me without answering, deciding to move over to the young man with Alikar.

As Eshe spoke with the young man, I barely listened to them as I was more focused on the two men standing still behind them. They weren’t attempting to set their backpacks down despite their shaking legs. In Artorias, selling or owning slaves was forbidden, but here we were, in broad daylight, and a guest from the Empire was openly dragging his slaves around Griffonpeak.

I remembered how the Artorian nobles at the ball complained about the slaves the Empire brought with them, and I couldn’t help but agree.

“Dame Anivh, they have that runic tattoo Lady Eshe explained to me. Are they—?”

“Yes, Lady Hestia. The Empire has a flourishing slave economy. Please, be reassured, they most likely have runic tattoos to increase their Strength and Stamina to carry those heavy burdens,” the knight informed me, showing a lack of emotions now that she was back on duty.

“No, that’s not what I… Whatever.” I remembered Eshe not liking slaves, so I don’t think complaining about those slaves to her knights would do any good. I would just be barking up the wrong tree.

After some time, Eshe’s discussion with the man ended and she briefly went over to the two men and prayed for them, earning Eshe their rapid thanks. She then returned to me and informed me Pestrodus wanted to discuss some matter with her, so she apologized to me for a short meeting today. I told her it was alright, and that we will meet up again at the concert. She agreed, telling me to practice the rehearsed text she and Theodore wrote for me as an opening act to create the “correct mood.”

As Eshe had to pick up something from inside the orphanage, I left first. I said goodbye to the kids and also gave the two slaves a small prayer just like Eshe. Seeing my white robe, they also thanked me, but their words only made me pity them even more. There was nothing good to feel about all of this.

“Empire’s blessing to you, Lady Shrine Maiden! May the Goddess bless you on this bright day!” The young man had medium-long, dark yellow hair groomed to show his forehead. As I looked into his eyes, I noticed how it was colored yellow and red, split equally right in the middle.

“May this EarthDay find you well, Lycerepthor. May the Goddess bless the grounds you walk on, banishing the shadows on your path.”

As a girl from modern Earth, my opinion of the Folschreck Empire deteriorated even more today.

Regardless, I slapped my cheeks as I walked back to the mansion. There, I found House Helvas’s servants and attendants rushing out and into our RV, carrying boxes that were either empty or filled with either rice or wheat flour.

Room.

I entered through the back entrance of our RV, stepping a room far too wide for it to fit into our small RV. It was our subspace dimension created through my [Room] spell turned into runes. I smiled at the number of fully decorated tables inside it, noting how beautiful and refined it looked, so similar to a greifnoble’s dining room. It wasn’t huge, as our aim for it was to serve a small handful of patrons; after all, it was Saori’s noble restaurant.

Entering through the kitchen, I then moved into a room next to it, where the white floor and walls were replaced by earthy colors. The heat was noticeable but I ignored it entirely for the incredible smell of fresh bread and the sound of hammers pounding onto something soft and squishy — it was our pastry room.

There, I saw Saori, Marianne and Theresa, Duke Greenveil’s wife, ordering attendants around as they pulled out piping hot sponge cakes from the dozens of stone ovens I made using earth magic. Pastries like milk bread, cream puffs, and croissants were being pulled from the ovens en masse and placed on a table, where they were being placed into presentable boxes.

In another corner, people were pounding wet and softened rice into mochi while others dried them into sweetened rice crackers. From inside the kitchen, I could hear people frying something, so I went out, seeing them making a bunch of fried rice balls and coating them with honey or edible seeds.

This is amazing.

Yeast was being made in a separate facility to avoid people learning the recipe for it while Saori was teaching workers inside our RV’s [Room] how to create the pastries and rice sweets we were planning to sell at my concert. Later on, they would establish their own bakery according to our standards to sell them throughout Artorias through the Sarlenzia company and Amelia’s sweet shop.

Artorias, prepare yourself for a pastry and confection revolution!

Two more days. I cannot wait to see my new concert stage.

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