Ascendance of a Bookworm

Job of the Attendants (2)

Proofread by Ruriko

"What happened, Maine? You are late . "

When I enter the Head Priest"s house, he looks at me with his sharp eyes .

" . . . I"m really sorry, Head Priest . What is the work of attendants?"

"Fran . "

The Head Priest asks Fran for an explanation before answering my question . Fran briefly tells him the dispute between Rosina and Delia .

The Head Priest also feels speechless when hearing Rosina refuses to do other work except art-related work .

" . . . Ah . I wonder how a gray-robed priestess apprentice can be so elegant and well educated . It turns out that they used to live a life better than the well-bred ladies of lower-rank n.o.bles . "

"Sir, what kind of person is Miss Christine like?"

The Head Priest stands up, rubbing his temples, and then takes a book from his bookcase . It looks like a file about blue-robed priests . After leafing through the file with his long fingers, he finally stops at a doc.u.ment which he is looking for .

"This one . Christine is the daughter of a concubine, but she has strong mana . Her father wants to get custody of her . Because his lawful wife objected firmly, he sent this daughter to the temple for better education and protection . "

"For education?"

The Head Priest closes the folder, hands it to Arnaud, then turns round and looks at me .

"Well, she thinks she will go back to her father someday . So private teachers and art tutors often go to her room . Compared with those blue-robed priests who are left with no financial power or weak mana, she really has a different life . "

So, she is a special blue-robed priestess, who brought up the special gray-robed priestess . So, it"s better not to treat Rosina"s advice as that of a normal gray-robed priestess .

"Excuse me, Sir . I cannot feed an attendant who knows nothing but art . May I ask her to do the same work as Delia does?"

To tell the truth, I don"t need an attendant who does nothing but play the Fespiel and lives an elegant life better than mine . I also want to spend all my days in the library, but I have to work .

"It is natural that different masters have different demands on their attendants . It"s alright to say so to Rosina . Didn"t Fran say anything to her?"

Fran shakes his head slowly, with a bitter expression .

"She doesn"t listen to anyone . Rosina doesn"t regard herself as an apprentice . She even talks with me in a bossy way . She seems to look down upon the gray-robed priests . "

" . . . Well, that sounds awful . "

All the routine duties of my house are directed by Fran . If she refuses to follow Fran"s direction, I cannot take her as an attendant . I really want her to return to the orphanage as soon as possible .

"What troubles me the most is that she plays the musical instrument till late at night . I can endure it at the first night, because I know she has not played it for a long time . But the next day she continued . That"s indeed . . . . I"m not able to stand it while I live on the first floor . Delia who lives next to her may feel it more intolerable . "

She is a noisy girl . Besides, she does not work .

"Sir, may I return her to the orphanage when I have no choice? If I can do nothing to make Rosina change her mind, would you please take her back? I will pay the tuition, so it will be better if I go there to practice the Fespiel in training hours . "

" . . . Attendants who refuse to follow their masters are useless . Even I don"t want to take her back . "

Hearing the Head Priest"s words, I have an eye contact with Fran, and nod slightly .

"Gather all our attendants after lunch . We will have a meeting . Before that, I want to learn the opinion of Wilma, another attendant in the orphanage . Thank you very much . We have to go now, Sir . "

"Well . It is important to learn the opinions from all members . See you . "

"Has she grown up a bit? No, I still need to watch her for a while . " While the Head Priest is murmuring, I get out of the house and head for the orphanage .

Wilma and Rosina served the same master before . So maybe she will give me some advice on Rosina"s side .

I send someone to call Wilma and decide to have a talk in the dining hall . Fran goes into the room to take the board for making cards . Wilma can talk freely when Fran is absent . Because he is an adult male .

" . . . I want to learn the opinions of all my attendants this afternoon . You are unwilling to live in my house, so I come to ask for your opinion . I wonder whether you do not want to do the rough work to avoid hurting your hands as well, since you and Rosina served the same master Christine before . "

The first one who rushes to wash children"s dirt always is Wilma . Though I don"t think Wilma will reject the rough work, I still want to know the response of Miss Christine"s another attendant .

"Miss Maine, my job is to take care of the children . I"ll not get this done if I don"t want to do rough work . "

Looking at me calmly, Wilma answers . Seeing her firm eyes, I breathe a sigh of relief, and then ask her about Rosina .

I"m really glad that Wilma is not the type of person who doesn"t want to do rough work . I wonder if it"s only Rosina who doesn"t want to do the rough work .

" . . . That"s right . I think maybe Rosina just has a stronger sense of self-respect compared with other gray-robed priestesses," Wilma thinks for a while and says so .

"I was chosen to become an attendant apprentice when I was ten . But Rosina was chosen not long after she left the orphanage and almost did no rough work before she returned . When she was at Miss Christine"s house, all the ch.o.r.es and heavy work were done by the gray-robed priests, as Rosina said . "

When Rosina was a child, there still were gray-robed priestesses who took care of the children before their baptism . Then it"s not because Rosina really doesn"t want to do the rough work, but because she was brought up like that . She is more like a girl from a well-off family compared with me .

" . . . Because Miss Christine is simply absorbed in arts, she gives preferential treatment to the attendants who good at arts, not just according to their seniority . It was natural for us at that time . "

That"s why Wilma said they were always devoted to performing arts to buy the master"s delight .

"After Miss Christine returns to the n.o.bles" society, Rosina was surprised at the life of the orphanage . It is only when I return to the orphanage to hear what others told me, that I came to know that our experiences were different from theirs by then . "

Wilma, who had the experience of rough work before she was ten, could accept the reality of her special experience . But Rosina could not face the grim reality .

"Rosina wanted to go back to her life of music, but there was no opportunity . She understood that if she was chosen by a blue-robed priest as a flower offering priestess, her life would be completely different . But this time she is chosen by you - Miss Maine, a priestess apprentice like Miss Christine, so Rosina becomes obsessed with an idea of living the same life as before . "

"Thank you very much for your valuable opinion, Wilma . "

Noticing that Fran has been back, I get up and ready to leave . Wilma crosses her hands in front of her chest and bows slightly .

"Miss Maine, if possible, please give Rosina some time to think and correct herself . "

" . . . This is a request from Wilma . I will consider it as much as I can . "

I will consider, but I do not intend to change the basic att.i.tude that I do not need an attendant who does not work . As it is said by Gil and the children of the orphanage, "no work, no food . "