Chapter 7. Favor and Calculation (3)
Chapter 7. Favor and Calculation (3)
If I had to list a few good things about living as a nun, the first would be that my residence was stable.
The Order itself was a relatively new organization, but the Church itself had been around before—the Catholic Church, that is—and it was using almost exactly the same buildings that had once been called cathedrals.
Well, they had been renovated. Modern convents and monasteries weren't simply places where devout religious people lived; they also took on the role of orphanages. On top of that, they doubled as religious administrative facilities.
But in any case, the fact that I wouldn't be kicked out unless the entire religion collapsed into ruin was a major advantage. Maybe that was one of the reasons I'd wanted to stay a little longer.
Because if I lived inside, I could just keep going without thinking about anything.
That concept of "not having to think about anything" included not just housing, but meals and clothes too.
For meals, I just ate whatever was served, and for clothes, I just wore a nun's habit. In the past, monastic robes were sometimes deliberately made uncomfortable, but in the modern era, with the orphanage role inherited, pulling something like that would get you featured on a consumer watchdog program. The habit I wore was basically comfortable activewear.
And being able to wear that activewear to official functions was nice too. I didn't have to agonize over what design of clothes to wear, and I didn't have to deal with stylists or coordinators.
For men, a suitably dark suit would do, but women's "formal wear"—wasn't the design just too varied?
"Still, you didn't doze off."
"No matter what, I'm not always dozing off, you know."
Since I'd sat through the entire event without dozing, Ria teased me a little from beside me, so I protested too.
The only classes I dozed in were Theology classes. No matter how much I showed Ria my grades or explained my knowledge, she strangely refused to believe that I was a rational, reasonable human being.
Well, I hadn't dozed off, but the boredom was unavoidable.
The Church people, myself included, had barely managed to stay awake, but far away, the Hunters who'd followed us were nodding off. Those people had also come along as my escort, of course. Most of them were acquainted with Ria.
The fact that people who weren't military or police had come along was probably also proof of how conscious the Church was of the government.
The elderly Gnome's voice, unlike what his appearance suggested, was a very deep baritone, which made the already boring speech feel even more tedious.
On top of that, the atmosphere itself was strangely authoritarian. The lifestyle of Gnomes who dressed like early 20th-century capitalists seemed to actually be like that in reality.
"......I've gone on too long. Let's put an end to the boring talk here."
The Gnome spoke as if he was finally about to end the speech.
"Then, from this moment, we shall begin the welcome reception for the Saintess Candidates. Please relax and enjoy yourselves!"
I saw a few people startle awake at the sound of applause and laughed quietly.
*
This was something I could never say to the person herself, but I was truly glad to have Ria beside me.
Ria was my friend, but at the same time, wasn't she also my official escort knight?
Even though the Knight Order had come to guard me, the entire order couldn't stay glued to my side.
The fact that the one person glued to my side was someone I knew well made things that much more comfortable. On top of that, Ria was doing an excellent job at the work befitting her position.
First of all, whenever a stranger tried to talk to me, Ria would smoothly step forward. She didn't completely block my front, but she projected enough of a sense of unease that people approaching me wouldn't see me as an easy target.
But at the same time, because the person creating that unease was "Ria," someone close to me, it didn't feel particularly frightening to me.
The people trying to talk to me weren't only Gnomes.
The Knight Order was gathered some distance away, watching the two of us, but Sophie would occasionally come over with a knight and chat with me about this and that. Most of it was small talk, so that was fine.
But a few of the government officials who'd followed us questioned me quite persistently about various things. At least they didn't ask about my personal life, but how should I put it—they'd subtly probe about my thoughts on the Church, and that was somewhat uncomfortable.
Sophie was a Saintess Candidate like me, but after seeing my power, she had already gone so far as to recommend me directly to the Church. On top of that, even though Sophie's demeanor was gentle, she had an air about her that wasn't easily pushed around.
On the other hand, I looked a bit frivolous on the surface, and on top of that I openly rebelled against the Church, so in many ways I must have looked like easy prey.
......Well, it wasn't just the government—even the Hunter Association had stepped forward to scout me.
When I started to get a little uncomfortable listening to that kind of talk—
"Oh, look over there."
Ria lightly tugged at my arm.
Like a tactless friend butting into a conversation.
"The muffins look like mushrooms."
Saying that, Ria led me over to a table that really was piled with muffins.
"......Thank you."
"Hm? For what?"
When I said it quietly to Ria, she answered nonchalantly, as if she hadn't been thinking about me at all, and picked up one of those mushroom-like muffins.
.......
Wait, was she really not thinking anything? Considering her usual perceptiveness, it really did seem like she'd helped me.
"Oh, this is good. The sweetness is subtle. It even has a mushroom-like taste."
Watching Ria say something I felt like I would have said, I laughed in disbelief and picked up a muffin.
The outside was soft and fluffy, so it was bread-like, but the inside was strangely firm too. For dough, that is.
"It really is a mushroom."
A Gnome who happened to be nearby smiled and joined our conversation.
She was much shorter than me. Maybe even shorter than that elderly Gnome I'd seen earlier.
Her appearance was somewhat youthful, so she looked younger than me, but since she was a Gnome, it was hard to gauge. Seeing her wearing a splendid dress that looked like something from the Victorian era, it didn't seem like she was just someone's daughter tagging along.
Her appearance was...... how should I put it, she was a beauty. I wasn't sure if it was okay to say that. I didn't know much about Gnome aesthetic sensibilities, after all.
"It grows nearby...... Hmm, should I call it a Bread Mushroom? That's what it would be in human language."
To be precise, it wasn't the human language but "Korean," and the word "bread" was a loanword entirely, but since the only country the Gnomes had encountered was Korea anyway, there was no point nitpicking.
"This is a mushroom?"
For the first time since the banquet started, I was genuinely interested, and I ended up asking her that.
"Yes, there are even places that cultivate them. Usually the wild ones are much tastier, and these are wild. We do eat food that could be called bread as well, but this has its own unique flavor."
Well, if bread didn't exist, the name "Bread Mushroom" couldn't have been coined either.
"Ah, I'm late introducing myself. My name is Clanet. I'm the eldest daughter of House Stram, which specializes in Mana Stone Processing."
"Ah, yes, I'm...... Anna, a Saintess Candidate."
"I heard you gifted us a precious treasure this time. Thank you so much. Our family has also gained the honor of being able to touch that treasure with our own hands."
"Uh......."
Should I just tell her that I could produce it, or not?
I chose to just keep my mouth shut. If I said I could make it for no reason, people might start asking me to make some for them too.
As the conversation shifted in that direction, Clanet saw me growing increasingly uncomfortable and gave a bitter smile.
Then she quickly changed the subject.
"Are the two of you not dancing?"
"Dancing?"
"Yes. I'm not sure if you know about our Gnome religion, but when we hold rites, we honor the gods by dancing joyfully. Of course, the atmosphere is somewhat different from the dancing done in places like this, but that doesn't mean our clergy refuse to dance at banquets."
As she spoke, Clanet turned her gaze.
At the end of that gaze, a Gnome woman dressed not much differently from the other Gnomes and a Gnome gentleman were holding hands and spinning around happily.
A silver necklace sparkled at the Gnome woman's neck. She kept moving so it was hard to see clearly, but something like a symbol seemed to hang at the end of it.
So that meant that person was a Gnome clergywoman.
As I stared blankly at the sight, I felt someone tapping my arm from beside me.
"......."
Somehow I felt like I knew who was looking at me and with what expression.
When I turned my gaze, a pair of red eyes was looking at me as if delighted.
Seeing that playful smile at the corner of her lips, it seemed like the words "See, what did I tell you" could slip out from between those lips at any moment.
......Now that she'd found her justification, I couldn't avoid dancing with Ria.
Under Ria's strangely expectant gaze, I diligently stuffed the bread mushroom in my hand into my mouth.