The Visitor
“Open the door! Stop hiding like a coward and come out!”
The sound of the shouting from outside, accompanied by the rhythmic thud of boots kicking against the temple gates, made the branch head of the Sobaran Wind Temple clutch his head in despair.
Regardless of the situation, the voices outside were relentless. They say it is the virtue of a priest to share and practice the teachings learned for the sake of all, but Hadonan felt that, at this very moment, he simply couldn't bring himself to do it.
Just then, a voice with a different cadence cut through the noise.
“Hey, you lot! What do you think you’re doing!”
“Oh, it’s you. The fruit peddler we see around sometimes. Are you asking because you don’t know? The branch head here went mad, murdered the lord, and fled! And the temple has sealed its doors in response. How do we know if the murderer is still inside or not?”
“And you think kicking the doors of a sealed temple is the answer? Have you all gone collectively insane?”
“A murderer is hiding in there, and you’re talking about the temple’s sanctity!”
“The temple you are currently insulting is under the administration of a Highsider. Do you have any idea what that implies?”
The voices of the majority seemed to falter. The newcomer spoke again.
“If the temple reports this to Cellabris, it won’t end with a simple slap on the wrist.”
“Ha, we’re pounding on the temple doors day and night—how would they send word?”
“Do you think messenger birds are just for show? What makes you so certain that only people can carry news across such distances?”
The voices of the mob fell completely silent. At that exact moment, a white dove that had been bobbing its head rhythmically in the temple courtyard took flight, soaring over the temple walls.
“Look! A dove just flew out from inside the temple! Oh, heavens, now a Highsider is going to come to this village!”
“Eek!”
Hadonan barely managed to suppress the urge to burst into laughter.
By the time the sound of the terrified young men fleeing in a chaotic scramble had faded, a polite knock sounded at the door. Hadonan carefully opened it to find a man in his thirties with long hair tied back, standing before him.
“Who is the patron seeking entry to a sealed temple?”
“I am merely a fruit peddler.”
“……I suppose there is no need to block a favorable wind.”
Hadonan thought this man was the perfect person to demonstrate his first act of flexibility as a branch head.
“Please, come in. It is a bit humble, I’m afraid.”
Hadonan scanned the surroundings before quickly locking the door behind the guest. In any case, it was late, and not a time for people to be wandering about.
Hadonan felt that this very moment was the most peaceful he had known in a while.
Normally, letting a guest into a sealed temple was unthinkable. But the previous branch head had already committed an unthinkable act and vanished, leaving the full weight of the responsibility on his shoulders.
Regardless, Hadonan possessed enough sense not to take the words of the truly furious former branch head lightly. He had become the branch head to maintain the temple.
However, after just one week, Hadonan was plunged into deep regret.
A day later, news of the lord’s murder arrived. That was why the younger generation, who revered the power of the lord and were quick to reject outsiders, had started causing a ruckus outside the temple just moments ago.
Thanks to them, Hadonan had to endure the sensation of his heart pounding in his throat several times a day.
If the former branch head, Hisoral, had been here, they wouldn't have dared to make a peep. But these young men, who loved to boast of their exploits as "great prodigals" among their friends, had long since realized that a priest who merely assisted a martial priest was of little consequence.
‘It is all because my own virtue is lacking.’
The fact that a virtuous man had left meant his own virtue had failed to contain him. In Hadonan’s eyes, Hisoral was not a man who should have abandoned the Dharma path like that. Hadonan accepted this as a trial he had to overcome.
Having entered a new space, he had to adapt to a new environment. Hadonan decided that he would at least act in a manner befitting the Dharma path of a branch head.
“The floor is cold. Please, sit on this.”
With his guest before him, Hisoral—no, Hadonan—brought over a cushion and sat on one himself.
“So, you aren’t really here to sell fruit. For what reason have you come to a sealed temple to help this foolish priest?”
“I am a servant of the Hesno family.”
“Ah!”
Hadonan let out a low exclamation of admiration.
The Hesno family was a noble house with deep ties to the Wind Temple. Long ago, when the Hesno family, originally nomads, settled down, they suffered greatly because of the Exiles who ravaged their territory. While the nomads were skilled at hunting, they found it difficult to deal with the Exiles, who only launched surprise raids under the cover of darkness and then retreated. Moreover, the Exiles used the wild, forest-choked Risoga Forest as their base.
It was then that they made contact with the priests of the Wind Temple in the Risoga Forest, known as the most treacherous forest in the world. The priests of the Wind Temple passed on their martial arts and training methods, and ever since, the Hesno family had maintained a close friendship with the Wind Temple for generations.
Hadonan asked.
“Then, what about the identity of a fruit peddler?”
“Isn’t it a perfect identity for traveling between temples? It’s also good for grasping the local situation.”
Hadonan was convinced. Although it varied from temple to temple, fruit was generally consumed in large quantities at temples. Unlike the meat eaten to temper the body, all fruit-bearing plants draw up the energy of the earth and concentrate it in their yield.
Even if that amount was meager and flowed away, fundamentally, most fruit was delicious. There was no reason for practitioners not to covet it.
“They say it’s not just water that flows well…… you are truly a person who lives by your words.”
This was a common saying when priests of the Wind Temple expressed their competitive spirit toward the priests of the Water Temple. The fruit peddler extended his hand with a bashful smile.
“My name is Lodi.”
“I am Hadonan.”
Hadonan, who had hesitated before taking Lodi’s hand, soon released the grip and spoke awkwardly.
“But do you really sell fruit?”
Lodi replied with a face full of professional integrity.
“If I just go around the temples in one region, I’m sold out. I can’t sell enough because I run out.”
“If they sell that well, don’t you have to worry about bandits once you leave the territory?”
It was a reasonable concern. But the man facing the branch head just smiled.
“Money is a rather cumbersome thing to carry around. So, when I trade with temples, I usually take a little cash and receive Silver Notes for the rest.”
Silver Notes were currency exchange vouchers issued by the temples. They were certificates for a certain amount of the payment due. If the amount was large, it was updated on a piece of parchment; if not, it was written on paper, updated, and kept.
“I didn’t know. I haven’t been the branch head for long, so I am ignorant of my duties.”
“I understand. Rumors are truly terrifying.”
As expected, the man before him knew what had happened here. However, when the next words followed, Hadonan realized that Lodi didn’t just know the rumors.
“Hisoral was not the type of person to do such a thing.”
“Do you know the former branch head?”
It was an abrupt question. Only after a moment did Hadonan realize he had blurted it out in a rush and had even used the wrong title, causing him to falter. Lodi the fruit peddler smiled and said to Hadonan.
“You seem to have been close to him.”
“Rather than that…… before I came here, I occasionally looked after a boy that the ‘former’ branch head cherished. I often took care of him back when we were both at the Great Temple. We became close through that connection.”
“Ah…….”
The weight of what the temple had lost was as great as the weight of the news that had settled over the Sobaran territory. Yet, Hadonan was a capable priest who had supported Hisoral even amidst such burdens. He skillfully steered the conversation.
“Well, through that connection, I was helping him here. Though it has ended up like this now.”
“So that was it.”
“However…….”
Everything said so far had been circling the periphery. Hadonan thought it was time to ask why this man had gone to the trouble of visiting a sealed temple.
“If it’s not too much trouble, may I ask the reason you came to find me?”
If it had been Hisoral, he would have said:
‘Spit it out, get to the point.’
Hadonan felt once again that his qualifications as a branch head were woefully lacking. While that was the universal standard of courtesy, there was an authority in Hisoral’s way of cutting through uncomfortable situations that Hadonan found dizzyingly enviable.
Lodi tapped his fingers, which had been resting on his knees, and said.
“I am here to offer help.”
“Help?”
“The Hesno family values its loyalty to the Wind Temple.”
“……It’s not my place to say this as the recipient, but that sounds like mere lip service.”
“You might see it that way, but ultimately, I am speaking based on facts.”
Hadonan nodded and said.
“I will listen to what you have to say.”
Lodi smiled as if satisfied with his receptive attitude. And Hadonan had to tilt his head at the words that followed. It was because Lodi’s story began from a somewhat unexpected place.
“A branch temple…… this concept is a bit unique from a political standpoint, but from a merchant’s perspective, it’s easy to understand. Merchants are people who love to leave their mark anywhere to gain profit. It’s possible under the laws of a free market, but politics isn’t like that.”
“What ruler would stand by and watch external power being exercised on their land? It is only natural that the power of another ruler cannot reside on a ruler’s land.”
“As you say. But the temple exercises that very right—the one politics so desperately wants—through its branch temples. It is only possible because the temple is not beholden to political power.”
Hadonan nodded, his face showing he understood.
“But what does that have to do with what you’re about to say?”
“It does. Naturally. Hmm.”
Lodi seemed to find it difficult to continue. The problem seemed to stem not from organizing the content of the conversation, but from dissatisfaction with the person he was talking to. Just as Hadonan was realizing his lack of aptitude again, Lodi’s mouth opened once more.
“Usually, in the land ruled by a monarch, there is a headquarters for each temple. Keloras, where the Great Temple of Flowers is located. Penbas, where the Great Temple of Fire is. And Seplam, where the Great Temple of Water is. Exceptionally, only the Great Temple of Wind is deep in the forest, but it has deep ties to the Hesno family. Therefore, in reality, only the Wind Temple can be the most free from political influence. Although many branch temples exist, now that the Earth Temple has hidden its legacy, the Wind Temple holds the most branch temples in the world.”
The Risoga Forest. Listening to Lodi, Hadonan muttered the name to himself. Sitting alone in the branch head’s seat, he felt a longing for the free-spirited atmosphere of his past.
Then, he suddenly connected the things Lodi had said in his mind. A startling realization popped out.
The merchant who leaves traces. The physiology of a temple that achieves the impossible in politics.
“Uh, so, what you’re saying is that the monarchs want to use the temples as a foundation for their politics?”
“Exactly.”
Lodi replied with a faint smile. Hadonan was dumbfounded.
“Fundamentally, the authority of the temple is separate from the political power of the monarchs. What you are saying is quite dangerous.”
“You don’t know much, Branch Head Hadonan.”
There was a slight emphasis on the latter words.
“Think about the actions of the former branch head, Hisoral. He executed the lord of Sobaran while holding the position of branch head.”
“Execution, you say—how can you use such a word so carelessly…….”
“Ah, I was late in mentioning it, but I know the former chief steward a little. I provide the highest quality fruit to the lord’s castle.”
Hadonan, at a loss for words, gaped before saying.
“……That was entirely due to personal circumstances. It has nothing to do with the position he held.”
“Well. You could see it as a simple act of murder, but the views of politicians are different. Think about the positions of Seplam and the Hesno family. Although they are far apart to the north and south based on the central tributaries of the Raoras River, they are, in any case, the two most adjacent nations.”
Hadonan was flustered by the sudden influx of dead information.
“The views of politicians—do you mean they know about this situation?”
Lodi smiled at the new branch head’s naivety and said.
“The speed at which news flows is faster than you think, Branch Head. Especially since it’s an incident where the branch head of the Wind Temple killed a lord in the territory of Seplam. In Seplam right now, they believe that the ruler of the Hesno family made an offer to Hisoral that he could not refuse, and that he, unable to suppress his anger due to personal reasons as known to the public, committed the murder and went into hiding. They say he declared his own apostasy to accept the passionate courtship of the Hesno family and work as their secret collaborator.”
“That’s absurd……!”
Hadonan jumped to his feet. The branch head’s voice rang out clearly in the empty temple.
“It’s an insult! It’s an excessive insult! The former branch head is not that kind of person!”
“I know. That is why I am bringing this up.”
Lodi said calmly. Hadonan, realizing he was being told to stay calm, squeezed his eyes shut and opened them again. As Hadonan sat back down, Lodi opened his mouth.