I immediately ran over to where Lutz was and demanded to know why he wasn’t taking care of the birds himself. I couldn’t believe it; not only was he making Lord Sylvester hold the birds, but he was expecting him to handle the preparations as well.
“I mean, he’s the one who hunted them, so he has to take care of them. Making someone else prepare the meat you’ve caught is the same as giving it away.”
“That’s how things are in the lower city, not the temple! Brother Sylvester is—”
“Brother Sylvester is here to hunt in the lower city. So what’s wrong with him following lower-city rules?” Lutz asked, speaking as though what he was saying was obvious.
“Well, Myne did tell me that I’d have to stick to the nobles’ forest if I wanted to hunt like a noble. Don’t sweat it. I can do this,” Lord Sylvester said with a grin as he began tying his birds to the branch.
“Brother Sylvester, keep an eye on them. Beasts might be attracted by the smell and try to steal them.”
“Right. And by the way, Lutz, how do you wash your hands without attendants? I’m pretty sure commoners can’t even use cleansing magic,” Lord Sylvester said, looking down at his bloodstained hands. It was probably normal for attendants to bring him bowls of water.
“There’s a river right next to us, isn’t there? You can wash your hands in there. Ask the other kids how; I need to go look for some grass to use as more cords. I imagine you’ll want to go hunting in the afternoon too, after all.”
Lord Sylvester puffed out his chest and said that of course he would, then turned around to look at everyone else. “...Alright, kids! Teach me how to wash my hands in that river.”
“I can teach you, Brother Syl. Follow me. I learned from Lutz. I was real surprised when he washed his hands without even drawing water in a bucket first.” The kids raced to the riverbed and Lord Sylvester, looking amused, dashed after them.
I went ahead and grabbed Lutz’s arm before he could leave to go hunt for grass. “Hey, Lutz. What’s that ‘Syl’ nickname all about? Isn’t that going a little too far?”
“It should be fine. I mean, he’s the one who suggested it in the first place,” Lutz said with a shrug before explaining how the name “Brother Syl” came into existence. “‘Brother Sylvester’ is too hard for the really little ones to say, and each time they messed it up, the gray priests would all go white as sheets and have everyone kneel while begging for their rudeness to be forgiven.”
“Huh.”
“The third time this happened, a cart on the road almost hit one of the little ones kneeling at the back.” Apparently Lutz had saved the kid from getting hit, and since Brother Sylvester was getting tired of the gray priests holding everything up to apologize, he told the children to just start calling him “Brother Syl.”
“He’s pretty kind and relaxed for a blue priest, don’t you think? He’s kind of a weird guy, but I’m glad he’s not one of the violent, arrogant nobles I’ve heard about,” Lutz said, before turning around and heading off to the forest to search for grass.
I served Lord Sylvester his food, and lunch came to a safe end. One person had a separate menu, and there was a table for them consisting solely of a board placed atop some stones, but Lutz didn’t say anything about it, and Lord Sylvester seemed to accept it without a word.
“By the way, what do you all think about that Myne girl?” Lord Sylvester asked Lutz. “You know her pretty well, don’t you?”
“Well... She knows all sorts of weird things, but she has almost no common sense. She’s so weak that she’s almost always on the verge of death, and she can’t do anything without help. But she’s nice, and she supports my dreams. Myne’s the best friend I ever could have asked for, and I wouldn’t be here today without her.” Lutz was speaking in a polite, reserved tone, but it was clear he was speaking from the heart.
Lord Sylvester tilted his head back, peering at the sky in thought. “What I’ve heard about her is a little different. They say she improved the orphanage, but how much of that is true? She and Ferdinand are saying things are way better now, but if that’s true, she really should brag to the archduke about it to get a reward. If she’s lying, though, he might end up giving her a big punishment instead.”
The orphans were urged to tell the truth, and so they all started talking about what the orphanage had been like before Myne came. They spoke about how she had saved them: how much more food they got to eat now, how they could make soup on their own, and that they were able to spend all winter around a warm fire instead of running out of wood partway through. Their eyes were all shining, and anyone could tell how deep their respect and gratitude for Myne really was.
...So she helped out the orphanage, huh? I had only started visiting the temple after the orphanage, the director’s chambers, and the workshop had all been set up, so I hadn’t known how miserable the orphanage used to be. And wow, I didn’t know you guys were able to talk this much.
What surprised me most of all was how talkative the gray priests were being as they recounted how far the orphanage had come. The younger kids would always talk pretty casually once outside of the temple, but the old gray priests generally kept silent while working in the forest or the workshop, speaking only when absolutely necessary. One could say that answering a blue priest’s question was enough to be considered “absolutely necessary” to them, but still,
