Outing (3)
“You must come back to this square by five o’clock. After that, there will be no public carriages!”
Arriving in the city listening to the coachman’s advice, I looked around.
When I came into contact with the city of a real fantasy world, I felt like I wanted to hang out all day long, but there were so many things I needed to find out.
First of all, the places you must visit today are churches, hospitals, places where people come and go from the city, and orphanages and places where the poor gather.
The last part was ambiguous because it was a well-maintained city.
It seemed that a lot of nobles flocked to it, so security was secured.
If I do this, my plans may be disrupted. Wasn’t it a fantasy world where bullies would follow you if you went from the main street to the side alley, and if you went further inside, the poor would overflow?
Not only that, but if possible, he wanted to check how the apprentice cadets, who were said to be led by the princess, were looking around the city, and also checked the people’s movements.
How can you not learn something like clone magic?
I thought for a moment how good it would be to have a self-immolation technique, and started to find a church, asking people for directions.
Fortunately, the church was not far from the main square, so it was easy to find.
“It’s bigger than I thought…”
The church I visited was much larger and more beautiful than I thought, even though it was not as good as the one built within the academy.
It was as if frugality had been tampered with.
As I moved toward the entrance to enter the church, a guard guarding the church entrance stopped me.
“Why is that?”
Instead of answering, the guard looked me up and down once.
“Are you an academy student?”
“By the way.”
“For the time being, public access to the church is restricted.”
“yes?”
I raised my voice as if to say what that meant, but the guard just waved his hand in a nonchalant manner as if he had finished his words.
No, I was cut at the entrance before I even went in. Is it because I was using a robe?
I was dumbfounded, but because I was dressed so suspiciously, I was afraid that if there was a dispute, I would ask them to take off my robe, so I couldn’t answer them and backed off.
But what happened right after that left me speechless.
Having been cut off at the entrance to the church, I couldn’t let go of my lingering feelings and was hanging around near the church entrance, but the nobleman and his companions who got off the carriage naturally passed through the church entrance.
I was so dumbfounded that I stared for a long time to see if the people I had just passed through were members of the church, but I couldn’t find such a title anywhere.
Are you covering people now?
“Shindo.”
While I was lost in an incomprehensible situation, someone called me from behind.
When I turned my gaze toward the source of the sound, a young-looking priest in holy clothes was looking at me.
“Why is that?”
“Is this your first time visiting a church in this city?”
It’s the first time I’ve been to the church itself, but I’m not wrong.
I nodded slightly.
“This church is mainly used by nobles and those who have proven their faith by offering a lot of offerings and offerings.”
Is it really that people are being screened out? Even with status and money? Why the hell doesn’t the church collapse?
“If you are an academy student, you will normally be able to enter, but apprentice cadets dispatched from the main office come to visit, and the daughter of Duke Thorpe also visits, making it difficult to enter. I think it will last for a while.”
I didn’t have anything to say, so I just nodded.
“If your purpose is to pray, go beyond the Market Quarter to Delm Street. There is also a church there. Most believers use it.”
Do you still see a church?
“thank you.”
I thanked the cleric for giving me the information and bowed my head. The cleric also bowed deeply and greeted me.
“I was just rambling in hopes that students would not lose their faith because of this.”
This is a real priest.
“It’s quite a distance, so you’d better use a wagon.”
I thanked him again and left.
It was called Delm Street.
“Do you know the church on Delm Street?”
When I asked a nearby carriage and asked, the coachman answered with a hearty laugh.
“hahahaha, where is the person who doesn’t know that church? Shall I guide you there?”
“Yes please.”
“Are you an academy student?”
What kind of image do you have as an alternative academy student? You look suspicious like this, but everyone asks if you are an academy student first.
“yes.”
“Looking at the church on Delm Street, you must have a different kind of faith.”
“It’s like that.”
While they were chatting with each other, the carriage ran a longer distance than expected.
And by the time you feel the buildings around you have changed from splendid and grand buildings to ordinary ones.
“Im here.”
The carriage finally reached its destination.
“Is this a church?”
“That’s right.”
As if to match the atmosphere, the church was small.
Cowardly was a polite word in my own way.
Compared to that church a little while ago, I felt ashamed to say it was a church.
It was much smaller, and as if it had been carefully maintained, there was no noticeable dust, but traces of age were felt here and there in the building, and animal sounds could be heard behind the church building.
Is there a congratulatory speech? It must smell bad.
Upon realizing it, it was clear that unlike before, there was a bit of a musty smell permeating the entire street.
Still, thinking that this is not an unbearable order, the moment he tries to approach the church.
“Okay then, it will be 3 silver.”
I heard the words of such a coachman.
“Three silver.”
Inadvertently, I followed the words, but my head couldn’t keep up for a moment.
What is 3 silver?
It is easy to guess because the brain, which had been stopped for a while, started working again.
Of course, it must be the unit of currency in this world. Aha, it looks like the carriage fee is 3 silver!
…is it ruined?
I could feel cold sweat running down my back. The months of my life in this world that I had inadvertently drifted past me like a kaleidoscope.
Only then did I come to this world and realize that I had never used money.
While possessing the body of a penniless orphan apprentice cadet, I had never used money.
Of course, right now, I don’t have a single penny in my hands!
“3…Silver.”
Repeating the words meaninglessly, he turned his gaze to the coachman.
“customer?”
The coachman was also looking this way as if he had sensed something strange.
“I… left my wallet at the academy…”
I stopped talking. This wasn’t a good option either.
Even if I asked to go to the academy right away, I couldn’t go.
That my stealth ends in vain like this? Is it because I couldn’t pay the carriage fee?
The most disgusting thing was that it was purely my mistake and I couldn’t blame anyone.
Suddenly, the coachman’s expression was naturally distorted.
“You don’t have any money…? Are you a real academy student?”
That’s true… heh heh. I really have nothing to say about this. Yes, I’ve come this far like a thief, so what can I do one more time?
“What are you doing?”
In the end, the moment I decided to hide my appearance using holy magic, a priest appeared from the church side.
“Oh, Priest Rhys. It’s not a big deal. This person uses a wagon without money…”
A man who tries to put on a human-looking smile as the priest approaches.
The coachman, perhaps more prestigious than he thought, treated the priest respectfully and had feelings of respect.
“Wagon without money?”
“Sure. I asked to be taken to this church, and he suddenly said that he had no money! I never doubted that he was a student at the academy because he was a kid in the central square, but now I see that he is not!”
The coachman clung to the priest as if begging him to take his side and began to complain.
The priest pondered for a moment, then asked the driver.
“How much did it cost?”
When the priest asked such a question, the coachman waved his hand in amazement.
“Priest Rhys doesn’t care. One orphan from anywhere…”
“I am a child who has come to church. How can I pretend not to know? If you are not willing to let him go, take the money from me.”
What is this?
“That…Huh…2 silver.”
The coachman hesitantly lowered the price he had told me, and the priest paid the coachman that much.
“You’re lucky kid. If you do something like this next time, you know how to break your leg.”
After speaking, the coachman bowed politely to the priest and started to drive away.
“Would you like to come in?”
What is it? What is it really? Can a person like this exist in reality?
I looked at the priest who said that to me after seeing off the coachman.
The priest had no ill intentions or thoughts.
It wasn’t even that this priest was doing me this favor because he thought I was a saint.
The first unconditional favor I received after reincarnating on this earth.
I involuntarily nodded.
Then the priest smiled benevolently and guided me into the church.
As seen from the outside, the church felt quite the passage of time.
In particular, inside the church, only a simple podium, a few chairs, and a statue of Orion, built plausibly as if it were the last pride, were placed.
“Isn’t there much to see?”
Instead of answering, I moved my gaze to the statue of Orion on one side of the church.
Surrounding the statue was full of nameless wild flowers that could only be seen in the mountains.
“Priest Rhys! Look at this!”
Just as I was contemplating who had brought the wild flowers, someone entered the church with a lively voice.
A child, who seemed to be less than ten years old, was covered in dirt, holding a wreath in each hand and proudly holding it over his head.
“Anna. You’re covered in mud again.”
“It’s okay because it’s a flower for Orion!”
The kid who came this way with a bright face saw me and hid behind the priest.
“Who are you?”
“I’m just one of the believers.”
“Why are you wearing it like that?”
“You seem to get a lot of cold.”
“Hey. It must be very difficult in the winter.”
As if they were father and daughter, the two of them approached each other warmly while talking to each other.
“Now, shall we offer flowers to Orion together?”
“yes!”
The kid hummed and moved almost like a dance.
Moving too much…
Quadang!
…don’t fall.
A clergyman who was walking right next to him hurriedly helped the child who had fallen over in embarrassment.
“Are you okay Anna? Are you not hurt?”
The little boy, who had blinked his eyes as if he hadn’t grasped the situation for a while, wiped it off once blood flowed from his nose, then smiled with tears forming around his eyes.
“Heh. It doesn’t hurt at all!”
The little boy who said that steadfastly turned his gaze to the flower he was holding.
“uh…”
Then, the little boy who had been laughing so hard until just now became crying in an instant.
The crown was crushed when the child fell and lost its shape.
“Turn it off… black…”
He was holding back his tears, but he looked like he was about to burst out crying at any moment.
“Anna. It’s okay. I told you that the important thing is sincerity. Appearance is not important.”
“But…but…”
I was conflicted when I saw the little boy who looked like he was about to start crying.
One of the things I wanted to do in the city was to create rumors by helping people with holy magic while hiding their identity.
The easiest thing to think of is, of course, medical service.
I was planning to find out how churches or hospitals approach patients, and reach out to the vulnerable, who fall outside of that range.
It’s better if it’s people who frequent this city and other places so that the rumor can spread as far as possible.
If the rumor spreads like that, it will be caught someday. It will be easier to reduce the number of candidates because the rumor started to spread after the priests came from the academy.
It doesn’t matter. Because the plan is to get caught in the end.
By the time the rumors from the lower classes spread through the city and caught my tail, the rumors would have grown so large that they could not be ignored.
It was my purpose to build a reputation like that.
I looked at the priest once again.
Therefore, it was unplanned for me to practice my holy magic in church. Even in such a small church.
Even if he didn’t reveal his identity, wouldn’t he think of a priest from the academy if he were a member of the church the moment he performed the spell magic?
There was no guarantee that the report would not be reported to the superiors.
In addition, it was unknown how many medically vulnerable people would visit the church.
There were too many unconfirmed elements here.
There is a high possibility that my rumors will rise upstairs, and it is not certain whether I will be able to secure enough people to build a base of support below.
If you think rationally, it was right to look elsewhere or to find out more about this church.
“Ehh…”
I thought I was a reasonable enough and cool-headed person, but I guess I’m not.
Well, among the choices I made today, there is no rational choice at all, so what?
I approached the kid who was starting to shed a tear or two and put my hand on the flower crown to raise his divine power.
“What are you doing…”
The priest who tried to stop me and the kid who was about to cry looked at the crown with only their eyes wide open.
“and…”
Even if you sell it for money, it will sell. It looks cool even to me.
The corolla, which had been crushed, took the form of a plausible crown with strong stems intertwined with each other, and above it, the petals with much more vivid colors shone beautifully.
