Chapter 2: The Chief priest and the Saint

The first temple at the eastern side is where the saint’s drawing room was. The ignited firewood in the stone fireplace was crackling

When the chief priest went in, the saint, Sasha, was sitting on a brass decorated sofa, drinking tea by herself. She looked at him as she gave a smile.

As he sat across from her, Olivia, her lady-in-waiting, brought him a cup of tea on a silver tray. She placed the steaming tea and the small jar of sugar on the table. Her Holy beast, a penguin, came from behind her. He’s sure its name was—

“Thunder Griffon” said Sasha.

How did she know what he wanted to hear? That’s right. Thunder Griffon. It is still a mystery to him, the reason why this name was chosen for it.

As it waddled along, on its head was a small basket made of woven vines. Various types of sweets and baked confectionery were in it. It’s probably helping Olivia. However, it walks so slowly even though it’s just right there, it doesn’t seem to come as close. In addition, it walks with both its wings flapping while swinging its body side to side to balance itself, so each step causes the sweets inside to slightly bounce.

The chief priest was nervous. As for Olivia and Sasha, they were just watching it as if it was a normal matter.

Finally, the penguin reached the table.

“Thank you.” Sasha said as she took the basket. The penguin had a proud look for what it had accomplished as it flapped its wings happily.

Olivia and the penguin bowed before they left.

He sipped his tea, there was a hint of mint to it.

“How is the new saint?” She asked him about Liz.

“She’s been doing her best. Its good that miss Liz doesn’t get too upset. Whether she makes a mistake or forgets something, she does it without hesitation therefore the people around her doesn’t even notice it.”

“…Is that a good thing?” Her expression looked complicated, then she let out a laugh, “I am no longer the reigning saint. After I finish my duties, I’ll be the former saint.”

“Yes. As for me, I’ll soon be the former chief priest.”

The ceremony for the next chief priest, Lloyd, was just around the corner.

 

Sasha smiled, “Is Lloyd upset for having him replace you too early?”

“He does grumble that it’s too soon. The priests are even turning pale at the thought of their workload increasing.”

“I see.”

The warm sunlight streaming through the window shone upon the carpet laid out.

 

‘It’s a good life.’ It was a thought that came from the bottom of his heart.

He’s been at Sasha’s side for all these years and now they have tea together like this. They have good successors, Liz and Lloyd, even the group of priests.

 

“What’s the matter?” Sasha looked up at him.

“No, I’m just happy.”

“Oh what a coincidence, I was just thinking the same thing.” She let out a content laugh.

 

‘A happy smile.’

He served as a chief priest for fifty years. To be able to see a smile like this is surely a reward for all of his hard work.

‘When I first met her, I never thought that there would come a time when she’d look like this.’ 

 

It was about 60 years ago since the former saint’s selection. The two who made it to the final selection were Sasha and the fake saint who formerly pretended to be Sasha only to be discovered by Liz and Keefa at the royal palace.

Sasha was only eight years old at that time, and the fake saint was nine. The fact that two children under the age of ten remained was a great shock to the temple and the royal palace.

The chief priest was still seven years old back then. He couldn’t watch or see through the selection directly since he was still an apprentice. He can only hear about it through others. It was a shock to him that a girl about the same age as him, an apprentice, was selected as a saint.

However, after she took the position of the saint, Sasha often cried.

The saint before Sasha was very kind, her method of teaching was gentle. The amount of work and content is not something that an eight year old can handle. As expected, she possesses the power and talent, but she is still at the age of wanting to play.

And even though Sasha, a daughter of a middle-class nobleman, was persuaded by her parents to accept it, it still would’ve been hard for her to live in the temple apart from them.

At that time, the chief priest only did miscellaneous duties as an apprentice. He was running around the temple in a velvet blue priest’s robe and was asked to do errands like delivering documents or a message.

 

~

 

At that time…

 

‘hmm?’

As he was running down the corridor, he suddenly heard the rustling grass at the end of the courtyard. Was it a raccoon or a weasel? No, there would be no such thing in the temple’s courtyard.

As he approached, he saw a small back trembling behind the grass. He immediately realized that the white robes they were wearing were the saint’s clothes.  

 

‘Holy saint!?’

He froze in shock. Sasha turned around, perhaps sensing his presence. Her tear-stained face was of an ordinary girl.

“Does your head hurt?” He was shocked that he blurted out something strange.

“…It doesn’t hurt.”

“Then, does your teeth hurt?”

“No,”

“What about your ears or nose—”

“Why is it only  around the face?” She asked in suspicion.

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In his thoughts he agreed. However, during that time he was so shocked that he didn’t know what he was even saying.

After that, he often saw Sasha. She would be walking with a group of priests accompanying her, or she’d be in the cathedral preparing for prayer. The young chief priest would strangely notice Sasha’s figure.

“I see you quite often.”

It was the same with Sasha. At first, she looked at him strangely every time they met. However, she gradually got used to him and would then smile and wave at him.

Eventually, Sasha began to talk to the young chief priest. She would secretly wrap the sweets served during tea time on paper and give them to him.

He still remembers the taste of the cookies and the syrup that they ate while hiding behind the grass. The cookies would be slightly crushed, pastries are dented, and the syrup would be stuck in the jar and it was hard to remove. However, there wasn’t anything more delicious than the sweets they ate during those days.

It was ten years later that the young chief priest, who was still an apprentice at that time, was chosen as the next chief priest to serve Sasha. He was seventeen years old.

His father is one of the senior priests. Therefore, he was sent to the temple and was raised there. He did not have any special treatment. He was not arrogant with his status and became an apprentice and steadily pursued the path of being a chief priest. The people around him were kind to such a hard working priest.

Some had objections to him being a chief priest due to him being too young, but the other priests saw that he and Sasha got along well and were often together. And most importantly, Sasha seemed to be enjoying his company.

“Lady Sasha, this is the next chief priest.”

Sasha had no idea who was going to be the next chief priest. She was nervous, both her body and face were stiff.

“…it’s you?”  The moment she saw him, she felt relieved and smiled.

“It’s me.” He grinned. 

 

Together, they worked hard. The role of the chief priest was to support the saint, but Sasha assumed her position more than ten years earlier than him. He always relied on her so he wanted to catch up to her.

In the midst of all this, Sasha once slipped out a few words.

“I want to stop being a saint.”

He couldn’t quickly reply to her words.

 

She suddenly burst into a laugh and said, “Just kidding.” But deep down he knew that it was not a joke.

“Then, let’s stop. I’m getting overwhelmed with work and I’m getting tired of being the chief priest. Let’s quit together.” He found himself suddenly blurting those words.

Sasha’s face twisted as she said, “Please don’t say it like that. There’s no way we can quit.” 

“Let’s now select the next saint and chief priest. I’ll round up the senior priests—no, it might cause an argument. Or you can blow up the temple. While we are alone together, it happens. If you do that, you’ll be able to quit and they’d end up thinking you’re dead. In the end, they’ll have to find a new saint. Which one is better?”

“…”

“It’s hard to decide whether to do it or not. Once you’ve made up your mind to do it, you’ll come up with something that’s surprisingly easy. Besides, an explosion would be an unfortunate accident. It can’t be helped.”

He meant it without any exaggeration.

Sasha’s dark eyes shook. They shook and quivered as she stared at the chief priest, and then she slowly looked down. 

When she looked up, the smile on her face was like a color that he had not seen before.

 

—He knows now. It was a sense of camaraderie, the highest level of trust.

“Very well. Next time, if I say I want to quit, please do. “

At that time, it wasn’t known whether what she said was just to deal with the chief priest or to blast it, but Sasha’s “next time” never happened since then.

 

—”The time we spent together has passed fifty years, hasn’t it?” Sasha’s gentle voice brought him back to the present moment. That’s right. They were in her drawing room.

“We’re both getting old. My hair too, it used to be dark and my head used to be full of hair.”

“That’s right.” He was shocked and looked at her with pitiful looking eyes.

Sasha laughed, “Don’t be so depressed. It’s fine. I like your head very much.”

“I am glad to hear that.”

“Will you come to tea tomorrow too?  Thunder Griffon will be the one to serve us again.” 

“I can’t say it to Olivia, but it’s quite a novel name. By the way, you haven’t told me the name of your sacred beast, the black leopard. What’s it called?”

“It’s…a secret.” Sasha looked away. 

He couldn’t help but laugh.

“What are you laughing at?”

“No. Even if I don’t ask, I can probably guess what its name is.”

“No way.”

“I’m the closest person to you your whole life.”

“…What do you think it is?”

“I will tell you tomorrow during tea.”

“…”

 

The following afternoon, he made the brilliant guess that it was named “Kuro”.

He said joyfully, “I’ve been with you all the time.”

 

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