Chapter 9: Slave of the Temple

Gishzida went around the cities of the Southlands, small and large alike, and bought more girls to be used as temple slaves prior to his return to the Golden Forest.

He only checked to make sure that the girls had begun menstruating and did not ask any other questions about them. He was not at all curious about where they had come from, whether their parents still yet lived, or whether they were skilled at making fires, weaving, brewing barely beer, fieldwork, or herding. He didn’t even haggle over their price.

He had only paid ten shekels for Renier, but he had paid a whooping thirty-five shekels for Eunikè, who was sixteen this year. Lord Gishzida had been completely ripped off, especially considering that a male slave who was skilled at fieldwork was only worth about thirty silver shekels, but he didn’t seem to care.

It took three full weeks to make his journey, which spanned two isles, three cities, and ended with Minotos, the first city of the Southlands. Renier continued to hold the donkey’s reins and lead the way throughout all three weeks, and a train of nine girls, each carrying a small bundle over their shoulders, chattered amongst themselves as they followed after her.

Renier was no longer allowed to sleep inside the same tent as Gishzida once their party began growing, and Gishzida never created a bed of wind for any of the other girls or used sharp blades of wind to cut down figs for them.

Renier didn’t mind that she could no longer eat yummy figs or peaches or that she had to sleep on the hard dirt, but she did note that Lord Gishzida didn’t showcase his mysterious ngak to the other girls. Then, a moment later, she tilted her head to the side and pondered why on earth she thought this way.

 

***

 

“That large forest down there is the Golden Forest.”

The girls, who had arduously climbed up the mountain ridge, cheered. A seemingly endless plain stretched out before them, riddled with small brooks and creeks here and there, and in the middle of it all was a forest.

The Forest was not golden, despite what its name suggested. Rather, it was almost scarily green. They could see the tiny figures of the slaves harvesting barley from the Kusig Plains, which stretched out from the Forest.

Eunikè, the oldest of the slave girls, looked up at Gishzida and asked him,

“What kind of work will we be doing once we arrive at the Golden Forest, Lord En-Ishib?”

“Your work won’t be difficult. You’ll be assisting with the rites conducted at the temple.”

Then, Carla, who was standing behind Eunikè, stepped forward and asked,

“There was only a temple for Goddess Inanna in Minotos City, where I used to live —which gods does the temple in the Golden Forest worship, Lord Gishzida?”

“Indeed. I remember there being a ziggurat with seven steps dedicated to Lady Inanna at Minotos.”

At a first glance, his voice seemed just as kind and gentle as he had been when he had spoken to Renier alone, but there was something that seemed subtly reserved about his voice that hadn’t been present previously. It occasionally made Renier feel like an ice cube was sliding down her spine.

But the other girls didn’t seem to notice this at all, and they simply fell for their new master’s beautiful looks, the elegant air about him, and his kind words.

“The Golden Forest worships Armanu, the goddess of the tree located at the center of the Golden Forest Temple, and her husband, Kittu of Six Wings, who is also the son of Utu, the sun god.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Your work won’t be much different from what slaves do at the Temple of Inanna. You’re free to spend your days at leisure so long as you do a few things that you’re told, you’ll be able to eat lots of delicious food, you’re permitted to wear lovely linen headdresses embroidered with flowers, you’re allowed to wear leather shoes that have been dyed with three different colors, and you may also wear pretty clothes.”

Oh. It was only then that Renier finally understood why she had been bought. Her hairs immediately began standing at edge.

Oh gods. Why did things end up like this?

Priestesses who received the bodies of men resided at the temples of Goddess Inanna. This was because the rites to ask the goddess for a plentiful harvest included sex rituals.

And it wasn’t only Inanna’s temples. It was widely known that there were priestesses or female slaves who serviced sex rituals in the temples of all the great gods, such as Enlil, Enki, or Ninhursag.

Renier took a quick peek behind her and tilted her head to the side. Contrary to her expectations, her fellow slave girls seemed indifferent or sour at most even though they had also realized what they were here to do. None of them were bewildered or repulsed by the idea like Renier was.

Renier fell into thought for a moment before she understood why.

It wasn’t unusual for the men at her former master’s house to do strange things to any female slaves, even before they came of age, if they were at least halfway decent-looking. Renier was overly sensitive to this, but the truth was that she was significantly outnumbered by other female slaves around her who simply considered this to be the norm. Similar things happened in other houses too, after all. Not all slaves could resist and protect themselves like Renier could.

“Well, I suppose it’s much better than being forced to do fieldwork like harvesting wool or reaping barley. More than a few slaves die all the time while doing fieldwork or digging canals.”

“Besides, we even get to wear pretty clothes and wear tricolored leather shoes.”

Renier could hear Eunikè and Carla sigh and whisper to themselves. The other girls were either quick to resign themselves to fate or thought along the same lines as Eunikè, as they only stirred briefly before quieting down again.

But Renier couldn’t stand it. She hated the idea so much that she would rather die on the spot than have to suffer yet again the disgusting gazes and touches that she’d been forced to suffer ever since she was young. Renier knelt down on the dirt and pressed her forehead against the ground as she begged,

“Please let me do fieldwork instead, Lord Gishzida. I’m good at doing hard work like herding goats and sheep, harvesting wool, or reaping barley.”

The other girls gathered around her all tilted their heads to the side. Calmly, Gishzida replied,

“Female slaves of the Golden Forest Temple neither herd sheep nor harvest wheat, Renier. There’s no need for you to do fieldwork.”

Gishzida frowned. But he quietly waved his hand when the other girls’ gazes started turning strange and continued,

“We’ll discuss this later in the evening. We’ll need to hurry in order to reach the village at the foot of the mountain by the end of the day.”

 

***

 

“Tell me why,”

Gishzida said in a quiet yet frigid tone.

Renier shuddered at the sound of his voice. She had thought that he was exceptionally kind to her, but he was not a kind person to begin with. She recalled how she had been so terrified of him that it’d felt like her entire body had frozen stiff back when they had first met.

She trembled like a leaf as she confessed the truth that her previous master had kept secret in order to sell her off.

“I hold death in my hands. That’s why people always kept getting hurt as I resisted whenever the misters tried to do anything weird to me. And I was always whipped and starved afterward.”

Surely, Gishzida wouldn’t sell her back to her previous master’s house now that they had already come all the way here. Renier dithered for a while before she finally confessed everything to Gishzida. Gishzida listened to her tale quietly and never interrupted her even once.

He narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms once she was done.

“Hmmm. You can see something like a black fog lingering around anyone who tries to harm you or rape you?”

“Yes.”

“And there was never an exception to this?”

“No. I see it every time.”

Gishzida narrowed his eyes even more. Then, he quietly asked,

“And only the men were hurt while you came out unscathed? But none of those men ever died on the spot?”

“No. My master would have beaten me to death if that happened.”

“And they were hurt in the confusion of the moment even though you never intended to hurt them?”

“……Yes.”

“Renier.”

His sapphire eyes glistened as he glowered at Renier. He continued,

“I’m not trying to punish you or sell you off because of what happened. But did you truly never intend to hurt them when you fought back?”

“…….”

“You confirmed their bloodlust with your own two eyes, instinctively determined if there was anything you could use around you as a weapon, and hurt your assailant only just enough that they couldn’t assault you and without killing them. Is that correct?”

“……L-Lord Gishzida.”

“Be honest with me, Renier.”

A long stretch of silence ensued. Renier lowered her head and trembled. She had a feeling that she would never be able to hide this from him.

“I…I only fought back because they were trying to hurt me first. But I only fought back just enough so that they couldn’t hurt me anymore. I hate it so much when people get hurt, and I asked to do shepherd work because I just wanted to avoid the situation entirely. ……But then the same things only kept happening out in the fields too,”

Renier replied in a strained voice and with her head lowered. She felt like a big crime that she’d been keeping secret had suddenly been unveiled. No. I didn’t do anything wrong. It wasn’t my fault. Renier did her best to shake her head clear, but her throat kept hurting and her eyes kept burning.

Gishzida observed Renier with narrowed eyes for a very long time before he quietly asked,

“You said you were fourteen, yes?”

“Yes.”

“I find it difficult to believe you. You aren’t a warrior who’s undergone many years of training or anything, and yet you were not only able to oppose grown men so that they couldn’t hurt you but you were also able to stop yourself before you killed them too?”

“……It’s all true, Lord Gishzida.”

Renier wanted to cry. She was furious, and it all felt so unfair, but on the other hand, she was also afraid that she’d done something terribly wrong.

“What did you think when you saw that they were badly injured? Were you sorry or worried for them?”

“……No. I only thought that they naturally deserved to be punished for what they did.”

It hurt to be whipped and it was painful to be forced to starve just because she had hurt them. But she never wanted to feel sorry about the fact that they would suffer a long time because of their injuries. After all, it was only right that they’d been made to pay the price for what they themselves had done.

If she had only resisted half-heartedly and allowed herself to be pushed back, then something terrible would’ve happened to her and she would’ve been the one to end up horribly injured while they would neither be punished for their actions nor forced to suffer for them and would only continue doing the same things over and over again.

“Do I need to try to feel sorry and worried for them? Was it wrong for me to hurt them when they were trying to hurt me first?”

Gishzida looked back at Renier inquisitively and fell into thought for some time. Then, a moment later, he grinned and shook his head.

“No.”

Renier snapped her head up. His answer was firm and concise, and Renier could see no censure in his features as he grinned back at her. Something heated seemed to burst up from within her and burned her eyes.

She was so grateful that he’d said no without any excuses trailing afterward that it brought her to tears. No one, not a single person, had ever taken her side and declared “no” for her sake before. Everyone had only ever found fault with her or censured her whenever it happened.

Renier began glaring and took a deep breath so that she wouldn’t start crying in front of Gishzida. But the painful lump in her throat continued to threaten to spill out. She heard sniffles every time she swallowed the lump back down. Eventually, Renier was so bewildered by the tears that stubbornly continued falling no matter how hard she tried and tried to hold them back that she had to hide her face behind her hands.

Gishzida didn’t say a word and waited as he gave Renier the time to sob silently. It was only after her sniffling began to wither away that he quietly said,

“But I do believe that the life you’ve lived until now was nothing short of a miracle. You would’ve either been stoned or whipped to death had you stayed in that house any longer. You may detest the idea of having intercourse with a man, but is it really worth losing your life over?”

“But I still hate it. I’d rather murder all the bastards who lay their hands on me and then kill myself after.”

Renier hugged her chest tight and shuddered. Gishzida looked back at Renier dubiously.

“The slaves in your old master’s household must’ve lacked discipline. To think that more than a few grown men tried to lay their hands on a ten-year-old child.”

“The discipline was one thing, but there was another problem too.”

Hesitantly, Renier confessed everything that she had been keeping inside her heart until now. She continued,

“It’s actually because of Goddess Inanna’s gift that I keep getting entangled with men. I visited her temple once when I was younger, and I just so happened to receive an oracle by pure chance.”

Renier told Gishzida in detail about the old priestess’ prophecy. By the time she got to the part about where the priestess saw two men who would kill her and two men whom she would kill, Gishzida quietly interjected,

“Do you really believe that it’s because of Goddess Inanna’s gift that every man you meet ends up lusting after you?”

“……I don’t know. That’s why I decided to just not accept her gift. I can never seem to figure out whether it was a blessing or a curse no matter how hard I try.”

“You decided……to not accept Lady Inanna’s gift?”

Gishzida repeated what Renier had said with a strange look on his face before he burst out in laughter. Renier couldn’t fathom why he was laughing. Nor could she understand what his laughter meant. Did I say something that struck his fancy?

“Godness Inanna must’ve also granted you her talents as a warrior when she gave you her gift. Or perhaps you caught her eyes because you were born with those talents to begin with. In any case, it’s good that you’re able to see bloodlust and avoid danger.”

Renier blinked. Instead of saying that she held death in her hands or censuring her for hurting people, Lord Gishzida was saying that it was ‘good’ that she was able to avoid danger.

It was only a beat later that Renier realized that no one else had ever told her that it was a ‘good’ thing that she had never been hurt even though so many people lusted after her. Then, in a voice as soft as a bird’s down feathers, he continued,

“Lady Inanna’s gift would surely have been a great blessing that would’ve allowed you to sway those in power if you’d been born into royalty. The kings and high priests of the cities who tremble in constant anxiety and the warriors of the battlefields would surely enjoy your ability to see bloodlust. Lady Inanna must be rather mean-spirited to have given a gift like yours to a mere slave.”

He stopped smiling and placed his hand over Renier’s head. The gesture reminded Renier of the solemn benedictions that priests tended to give, but the air around him was gentle and comforting.

He slowly stroked Renier’s short hair with his long and gentle fingers. Renier felt like a warm and mellow breeze was slowly wrapping around her entire being. Renier looked down and squeezed her eyes shut because she couldn’t bear to look at his face.

“You must’ve suffered so much.”

“Lord Gishzida…….”

“There are some fates that you just cannot avoid. But you won’t have to keep suffering for too much longer. So endure it just a little more.”

Renier’s tears, which she had only just managed to stymie, began pouring out once more. She could no longer hold back any noise. She couldn’t help it even though she knew that Gishzida disliked noisy crying.

Renier buried her face in her hands and began crying loudly.

 

***

 

The slave girls’ lodgings consisted of a brink building in front of the temple. It shined brightly because its outer walls had been plastered with white clay, and it was cool inside because it was very breathable. Its front yard was large, and it was very fragrant and beautiful because there were many trees and flowers.

Two priestesses named Minnè and Jada took turns to bring the slave girls food and clothes. It had originally been Gishzida’s responsibility to buy, educate, and manage the slave girls, but it was somewhat strange to have a young man look after a group of slave girls. Unlike Gishzida, Minnè nagged the slave girls often and Jada was strict and cold.

There were ten slave girls serving the Golden Forest Temple in total, and they were all roughly the same age. The youngest among them was Ninhur-birga, who was thirteen, and the oldest was Eunikè, who was sixteen, both of whom had come from Minotos, the largest city in the Southlands. Renier wasn’t the youngest because she was fourteen, but she was the shortest and skinniest of the bunch.

The Golden Forest was much more affluent and comfortable then the girls had ever imagined. Gishzida sent them grapes and olives that had been cultivated in the Golden Forest, Western date palms, figs, fresh meat and sheep milk, freshly baked bread, and wild honey collected from the crevasses between rocks that melted on your tongue almost every day.

The slave girls ate well and slept well as per Minnè’s and Jada’s instructions and busily decorated their bodies. They ate late breakfasts after sleeping in on warm bedding made from goat or rabbit fur, and they practiced dolling themselves up by peering into polished copper mirrors or washbasins filled with water. They cheered and ran to the door whenever they were given gorgeous new clothes or makeup.

Renier grew so anxious whenever this happened that she felt like something was slowly tightening around her neck, but the other girls adjusted to their new, carefree lives with unbelievable speed. Apparently, they believed that they might as well enjoy living in luxury while being treated almost like priestesses themselves since all slave wenches who were sold off at their age were treated more or less the same everywhere.

What the other girls cared about most right now were the priests of the Golden Forest, and Gishzida, the en-ishib who had brought them here, caught their attention in particular.

“Lord Gishzida doesn’t visit as often anymore, does he? Aw, I miss him.”

“Being an en-ishib means that he’s a high-ranking priest. He must be busy with a lot of other things besides taking care of us. It’s the priests who manage the forest, oversee the slaves of the Kusig Plains, and make the ngak tablets that they sell to the believers, remember?”

replied Eunikè, the eldest. She had picked up a lot of information about the Golden Forest and its Celestial priests because she had previously been a slave to the grand chamberlain of the royal palace of Minotos. While they did not know as much as Eunikè, none of the other girls, who were from the Southlands’ mainland, knew as little about the Golden Forest as Renier had.

“I’ve never seen him use a ngak. Has anyone, by any chance?”

The other girls exchanged looks, but none amongst them had ever witnesses Lord Gishzida using a ngak before. Renier, who had been sitting in the corner, only blinked and burrowed her head in between her knees. She simultaneously wanted to brag about having seen Gishzida using a ngak and wanted to cherish it as her little secret forever.

“I heard that he’s really skilled at using ngak. Lord Gishzida’s on bad terms with the Lord Galtir, but I heard that he became an en-ishib at such a young age even still because he’s so skilled at using ngak and because he’s one of the best in all the Southlands when it comes to knowing about medicinal herbs or healing arts,”

Eunikè explained, prompting Carla to interject,

“You’re wrong, Sis! The very best thing that Lord Gishzida has going for him is his face —you got that?! He could ask you to pick a star or dump out all the water in the ocean, but no one could ever possibly say no to him if he said it with a smile. I know I sure couldn’t! Not even if I die of old age while trying to dump out all the water in the ocean. Wouldn’t you agree?”

“You’re absolutely right!”

The girls brought their foreheads together and giggled.

Renier found it difficult to join them. This was because she had made herself stick out like a sore thumb when she’d asked to be sent to do fieldwork instead of receiving men at the temple.

Still, Renier neither used the knowledge at her command to curry favor with her peers nor tried to join in her colleague’s chatter. She was happy whenever she realized that Lord Gishzida didn’t treat the other girls the way he treated her, and she grew bewildered whenever she realized that this made her happy.

Renier went outside to do work whenever she found herself reluctant to be with her colleagues. She swept the front yard, drew water from the wells, or made flower crowns from the pretty flowers to hang outside the door.

The forest beyond the wall was scarily dense. The thick tree trunks and branches filled her vision no matter where in the temple she looked from, the edges of the leaves were so sharp that they seemed to glisten blue under the light, and the flowers were frighteningly crimson and capricious.

You are reading story The Golden Forest at novel35.com

Renier had no idea why it was called the Golden Forest. The Forest was so dark, cold, heavy, and humid that it was hard to breathe. Only Lord Gishzida alone shone blindingly and beautifully in the forest, save for the occasional rays of sunlight that managed to peek through.

Renier  picked up a small axe that had been leaning against the stone wall and packed a rope made from straw. She intended to cut down a few branches because Lady Jada had yelled at them about being wasteful with their firewood yesterday.

 

***

 

“Lord Gishzida? ……Huh? Oh, it’s not. Who……?”

Renier, who had been in the middle of chopping up a tree, tilted her head to the side as she saw the men approaching her. There were several large trees with many stray branches next to the temple, and Renier had cut off a branch that had dropped down low enough to nearly poke her eye out, chopped it into smaller pieces, and was in the middle of tying the wood together.

The man at the forefront of the group walked up to Renier.

“What do you think you’re doing?!”

Renier bowed her head immediately when the man raged at her out of nowhere. The people who had been behind him circled around her.

The man who had yelled at her was a priest who was shorter than Gishzida, had a long beard, and had deep wrinkles around his eyes. His blonde hair, which seemed to glow silver, was neatly combed, and he was wearing a headband with gorgeous golden embroidery.

Renier knew that the only priest who ranked higher than Gishzida in the Golden Forest was the high priest, who was called the ‘Galtir’ and served as the guardian of the forest.

“L-Lord Galtir?”

“……I’ll ask you again. What do you think you’re doing?”

There was fury boiling in the Galtir’s features. Renier had surely been caught doing something terribly wrong.

“I-I’m Renier of Elde Isle. I’m a slave who came to work at the temple here not too long ago, and I…….”

“Such impertinence. How dare you speak to him while standing up on your feet?”

“Did you not hear the Galtir ask you about what you were doing?!”

The shouts of the tall priests encircling Renier resounded throughout the Forest. Renier immediately got down to her knees and answered,

“I-I was chopping down a tree. It’s still cold out, and I feared we were running low on firewood.”

“You mean to say that you dared to cut down Armanu, the divine tree of the Golden Forest?! How dare you?!”

Yelled yet another priest from behind Renier. The galtir trembled as he glowered at Renier, and then he began shouting so loudly that his voice pierced through the Forest.

“Anyone who harms Armanu in the Golden Forest deserves to die!”

“Deserves to die.”

“For the galtir’s, the guardian of the forest, life is bound to Armanu’s, who is the divine tree.”

“His life is bound.”

“Anyone who torments the tree shall die by the galtir’s hands.”

“By the galtir’s hands.”

The priests standing behind Renier repeated the galtir’s words drearily and emotionlessly.

‘T-they must be crazy. Every last one of them.’

But Renier could not utter her thoughts aloud. She was frightened by their pallid faces, bloodthirsty eyes, and their lips, which were as crimson as the flowers. They reminded her of corpses that had been drained of blood.

“I didn’t know. I won’t do it again. I thought it was okay to chop down the trees because no one told me that I mustn’t lay a hand on them. I’m really sorry. I won’t do it again.”

“……zer.”

A powerful bloodlust erupted from the galtir as a murmur fell out from between his lips. Renier quickly jumped from her elbows and knees and dodged as soon as she saw the galtir’s sleeves flapped with movement. There had been no time to think —she had simply moved out of pure instinct. And, a moment later, a giant flame surged up exactly where she had been mere moments ago.

“How dare you flee instead of dying quietly?!”

the galtir raged. His white sleeves flapped yet again, and Renier rolled across the ground to avoid his second attack. The fire trailed behind her. The galtir grew even more furious after Renier dodged his attacks five times, and he clutched his chest and gasped as he screamed,

“Catch the wench and tie her up!”

The big and burly priests behind Renier leapt at her. Renier escaped them by rolling to the side, threw dirt in their eyes using both her hands, spun around, and began to run. The galtir continued,

“Catch her —catch her at once!”

Piiii, piii, pii, piii!

She heard a sharp whistle. The sound probably meant something, judging by how it rose and fell in pitch. She began sensing movement all over the place.

Renier ran as quickly as she could. The forest was so dark she could hardly see the roads. Renier’s breath caught and she grew terrified because not only did all the trees look similar, but she wasn’t familiar with the forest’s topography either.

She began looking around for anything she could use as a weapon as she ran. But she didn’t see anything besides the trees, rocks, and dirt. The sounds of the people chasing after her alternated between growing closer and farther away.

Renier ran for a very long time before she stopped in bewilderment. She was familiar with that tree. After all, she was certain that it was…….

……Armanu?

“Damn it!”

You were bound to return to where you had been originally if you ran in a circle.

And, of all things, her eyes locked with the galtir’s, who had been waiting there because he was too out of breath to chase after her.

“Shit. Why?!”

“Damn you!”

A giant flame erupted beside Renier as soon as the galtir waved his hand. He continued,

“Stand still so I can have your head!”

Gods damn you! Would you stand still if you were in my shoes?

Renier began running once more. More and more of her pursuers began closing in on her as the galtir shouted and whistled. Thud thud, thud thud thud thud, Renier’s footsteps were light and agile, but she couldn’t help but be cornered like a hunted rabbit because there were so many people chasing her. She ran for so long that her breath seemed to catch right below her chin and she could taste blood in her throat.

“Ganzer!”

Renier felt a huge wave of bloodlust once again and rolled away reflexively. She no longer knew how many times she had dodged the bloodthirsty attack by now. The priests’ net was slowly closing in around her, and their attacks were getting nearer.

“Fuck, I hope the forest catches on fire!”

Renier’s back felt hot as a colossal ball of flame exploded where she had been just moment ago. Her clothes singed a little, but she didn’t care. Renier ran like crazy. Pow! Pow pow! More gigantic fireballs flew toward her and exploded right next to her. Just then, she heard an urgent voice calling out to her,

“Renier? What on earth?”

“Lord Gishzida?”

Two or three more fireballs came hurling after Renier as she stopped to look around. Renier gave up on her search and flattened herself against the ground. She didn’t think she had any way of avoiding them unless she allowed her back to burn off.

“Zii!”

Renier expected to hear at least two explosions at her back, but everything suddenly went silent.

Flutter.

Gishzida jumped down from the tree and stood in front of Renier. Renier climbed to her elbows and knees and began trembling like a leaf.

“Gishzida!”

The high priest, who had been gathering his breath in the distance, started slowly walked up to them. Gishzida didn’t even move his head as he quietly asked,

“What’s going on?”

“I chopped a little bit of firewood from the trees near the temple this afternoon. But then, the lord galtir showed up out of nowhere and…….”

She heard Gishzida grinding his teeth together.

“You fool! Did you forget that this is the Golden Forest and that we’re the protectors of the forest?”

“……Huh?”

“None may lay a hand against any of the trees here, especially Armanu, the divine tree next to the temple that we worship. All the firewood is imported from outside the forest —who put you up to such a ridiculous task?”

“I didn’t know. Lady Jada scolded us last night for going through our firewood too quickly, so I just…….”

Gishzida furrowed his brows and sighed.

“I’m sure I told you that the galtir is bound to the tree Armanu body and soul and that he lives and dies with the divine tree. Breaking off any of Armanu branches, in particular, signals that you intend to kill the galtir. You weren’t told?”

“I-I really didn’t know about the branches, Lord Gishzida. I’m really sorry.”

“It’s my responsibility, since I was in charge of your education. Stay on your knees, stay behind me, and don’t move an inch.”

“L-Lord Gishzida! T-the fire! Ahh!”

Pow, pow pow pow! A gigantic flame erupted in front of Gishzida. This time, instead of extinguishing the fire outright, Gishzida used a short incantation to change its direction and diminish its size.

Swoosh! The flames grew smaller, but they didn’t extinguish completely and they caught on his sleeves and hair.

Gishzida only manifested the ngak of extinction after the flames had climbed all the way up to his forearms. Ugh. A quiet groan was about to escape him only to be swallowed back behind his tightly pursed lips.

“Who’s path do you think you’re blocking, Gishzida? Step aside. That child cut off one of Armanu’s branches.”

“Please forgive her, Galtir. She’s a slave that is to be used during the spring festival. It was my fault for failing to educate her properly. She really didn’t know any better, so please forgive her.”

Gishzida’s hair and sleeves were burnt hideously black as he knelt where he stood. Renier burrowed her head against the dirt too. Her legs were quivering.

“A child who’s to be used during the spring festival? You mean to say that this is a girl? Then why is her hair so short?”

“Her hair was cut short, but she’s undeniably a girl, Galtir.”

The galtir scowled heavily. He scrutinized Renier while she was kneeling as if he meant to ascertain the fact that she was truly a girl. It was difficult to tell from the child’s outward appearance alone, but Gishzida surely wasn’t one to lie. At the very least, no priest was foolish enough to lie about one of the girls who were to participate in the ritual.

But the galtir could not forgive Gishzida for standing in his way. The bastard was a core member of the fundamentalists, who opposed the galtir at every turn, and he commanded great power as both a priest and as a political force. The galtir sounded enraged as he spat out,

“You seem to grow more irrational and arrogant by the day, Gishzida. The children who participate in the ritual become incarnations of Armanu during the festival. Where on earth did you pick up that thing? Are you planning to make a mockery of the ritual and scorn me?”

“Your claims are unjustified, Galtir. It was simply difficult for me to bring back ten girls who met all the conditions because I was on a tight deadline and it was the first time I’d ever undertaken the task. How could I ever possibly dare to scorn you, Galtir? The girl’s hair will grow long enough by the spring festival to no longer mar her appearance.”

“She cut off a branch of Armanu. Surely, she knows what that means?”

“She didn’t. Besides, the girl is neither a Celestial nor royalty but a mere slave. Why would she have dared do such a thing if she had known? I beg you to show mercy.”

But the galtir was still shivering in fury. And so, Gishzida seemingly threw away all his honor and pride as a high-ranking priest as he planted his forehead into the dirt and apologized desperately on Renier’s behalf. He continued,

“Please forgive her just this once, Galtir. If nothing else, then only because this child is to be used in the upcoming ritual. I am responsible for supervising her and educating her, so please rebuke me and withdraw your anger. I’ll make sure to educate her properly so nothing like this ever happens again.”

The galtir was momentarily rendered speechless because Gishzida never acted like his under any normal circumstances. The felt his anger subside a little as he saw how Gishzida’s hair was a mess from being burnt, his sleeves had been burnt black, and his arms were red and swollen from burn injuries. Then, he turned back to Renier and sharply inquired,

“Your name was Renier, was it? Why did you leave your lodgings and start chopping down trees instead of eating your fill and practicing dolling yourself up like the other girls? You would’ve been given firewood if you needed more, and you would’ve been sent more food and clothes if you needed more too. Were you not ordered to eat your fill and fatten yourself up beautifully?”

Renier trembled on her knees as she answered,

“I’ve been eating my fill, Lord Galtir. I was eating fruit and white bread just earlier. I drank freshly milked and boiled sheep melk too. I decided to chop more firewood without thinking when I heard that we were running low on firewood. I didn’t know that I wasn’t supposed to cut down any of the trees in the Golden Forest. I won’t ever do it again.”

The galtir looked like he was about to rage at her again, but he turned back to Gishzida instead and said,

“The girl is a slave under your supervision as you said, Gishzida, so you shall take responsibility for her actions. Get your arms treated for now, since it looks like you’re injured, and await further orders at your home.”

“I……shall accept your orders, Galtir.”

Gishzida staggered as if he was about to lose consciousness any second now. The galtir’s lips twisted into a smirk as he turned around, and the ishibs, all dressed in white clothes, trailed after him in a line.

“Lord Gishzida! Lord Gishzida!”

Tears streamed down from Renier’s face as she ran to where Gishzida was.

He brushed off his sleeves and stood up. His once lovely and beautiful hair had been burnt a hideous black. Renier could see that his arms were red and swollen because his sleeves had been burned. He had been burned badly, considering that she could already see blisters beginning to form. What was she to do? Renier wanted to die.

“W-what…what do we do?!”

“My head hurts. Quiet down,”

Gishzida spat out as he scowled heavily. Renier did her best to blink away her tears. Gishzida looked at his injuries, and his reddened skin slowly returned to being the same shade as milk. He explained,

“I silently cast crimson camouflage ngak to make it look like I got burned. Camouflage ngak is normally used by women when they want to look beautiful, but it can also be used to fake being injured. In any event, don’t tell anyone that I know how to manifest ngak silently. It’ll be a headache if word got out.”

Renier dropped her jaw and stared at Gishzida’s newly flawless wrists. How strange. But I’m certain that his wrists were aflame for a really long time? And I’m sure I remember seeing Lord Gishzida gritting his teeth because it was so hot? Renier continued staring at Gishzida’s gradually paling skin like a fool before she suddenly realized the truth.

Lord Gishzida’s lying. He wasn’t trying to fool the galtir, he’s trying to fool me.

Gishzida shook out his sleeves and wrapped them around his wrists irately when Renier tried to get a better look while looking like she wanted to cry.

“How dare you try to study my body? If I tell you something, then you should simply accept it as fact.”

“P-perhaps……did you let the galtir attack you on purpose?”

Renier nodded with a trembling voice, prompting Gishzida to finally let out a short sigh and nodded back.

“I guess being too quick on the uptake isn’t necessarily always a good thing. The galtir’s anger wouldn’t have subsided if I was perfectly fine even after taking his attack. Don’t concern yourself about me. It won’t leave a scar because I wasn’t hurt that badly, and my hair will grow back in no time at……, Renier? Why are you……?!”

“Waaaah, Lord Gishzida! I’m sorry. I did something terrible. I’m so sorry.”

Renier threw herself down at Gishzida’s feet and began bawling. A long sigh passed over her back.

“Renier.”

She heard his long linen clothes rustling. Gishzida had knelt down in front of her. His voice was light, suggesting that he wasn’t nearly as angry as Renier had thought, as he continued,

“That you weren’t to lay a finger on the trees was the first thing that I instructed Eunikè and Carla to explain to the rest of you, but I see that you were never told. Are the others still ignoring you?”

Oh —Renier finally realized why she hadn’t known about this vital piece of information. She was accustomed to the other girls ignoring her and telling her important information last, but it had never been nearly fatal before. She couldn’t bring herself to stop sobbing.

“I told you to stop crying. ……It’s loud, and my head hurts. Are you really going to make me comfort a crying slave too?”

But Lord Gishzida’s actions differed from his words. The quiet smacking of his tongue, the bewilderment —or perhaps it was irritation— in his mien, and the clumsy way he patted her back —Renier didn’t know which was the real Gishzida. Renier’s heart jumped like a small boat in a storm because she couldn’t feel anything malicious in his touch and only felt warm instead of sending chills down her spine.

She could see Minnè and Jada running over in the distance. Gishzida immediately withdrew and stood up when he spotted them too. His expression returned to being cold and unreadable.

“Stop crying. I’ll let Minnè know not to whip you.”

“Yes, sniff, sir. I-I’ll stop crying.”

“I’ll teach you everything you need to know, so be sure to visit my house sometime. The sooner you come, the better, since I promised the galtir that I’d make sure you were properly educated. I’ll let Minnè know.”

“Yes.”

Renier peered into his sapphire eyes and nodded. The image of his eyes narrowing ever so slightly into a smile wavered through her tears.

Her stop, which was thumping like crazy, wouldn’t stop all afternoon.

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