Published: August 3, 2025
I added the mirror text of the picture book’s main text onto the woodblock that Wilma had drawn for me. I decided to have Lutz take the finished woodblock home and carve it.
It was quite a detailed image, and I worried if it would be okay, but Lutz shrugged lightly and said, “If you hand over the money saying it’s an order from Myne, Ralph or Sieg will take the lead and do it.”
While Lutz and my older brothers carved the woodblocks, I applied to meet with the high priest to talk about making a picture book of the Sacred Scripture and to get permission after showing him the rewritten text for children. Even though I was simplifying the text for kids, since it involved adapting the Sacred Scripture, I thought it would be best to officially get permission.
The high priest seemed to want to hear everything properly when I was trying something new, so he set a date for the meeting and once again led me to a secret room. Although the eavesdropping prevention magic tool should have sufficed, apparently, he couldn’t judge whether it was good or bad for others to see what I brought without hearing me out first.
“A Sacred Scripture for children, huh... It might help them learn letters and sentences.”
“Yes, it’s planned as a picture book, and I hope this will help orphans learn how to read.”
“For the orphans? What for exactly?”
The high priest narrowed his eyes suspiciously, but I didn’t have a particularly grand reason. I just thought we should raise literacy starting from those nearby.
“If they eventually become attendants, they’ll need to learn it. And it’s a problem if the craftsmen at Myne Workshop, who will be making books from now on, can’t read the products they create.”
“...A merchant’s way of thinking, huh?”
“Yes. I want to increase the customers too…”
The high priest glanced over the rewritten text for children and muttered, “Well, that’s fine.” Then, he fixed his gaze on me and slowly narrowed his golden-orange eyes.
“Myne, where exactly did you receive your education?”
“Huh?”
His words hit me unexpectedly, and the smile plastered on my face vanished, stiffening my expression. My heart pounded unpleasantly, blood rushing faster through my veins.
“I don’t understand what you mean.”
I truly didn’t. I had no idea how the conversation took that turn.
Without looking away as if to probe my reaction, the high priest snapped his finger at the paper with the rewritten children’s text in his hand.
“The writing is too polished. Reading the Sacred Scripture with its long, difficult phrases, grasping the key points, and simplifying it into words even children can understand isn’t easy. At least, I don’t think someone who first encountered the content at baptism and needed me to read it aloud, struggling even with the vocabulary, could do this.”
A chill stirred in the depths of my chest. Apparently, this was the first time I had shown the high priest the text I came up with myself.
I’d only helped with paperwork, mostly calculations, since I wasn’t familiar with noble dealings. All the documents and letters I submitted were created under Fran’s guidance.
Though I was taught to read and write to become a merchant apprentice, my vocabulary for daily use was shaky, and even writing a letter needed Fran’s correction. So, the text I wrote was unnaturally advanced for a commoner girl my age.
“...So you did it very well?”
“Ah, excellent. It’s like you were properly educated in another language but just didn’t know the characters used here—like a foreigner.”
Faced with his cautious gaze as if examining a spy, I pressed my lips tightly. I wasn’t sure if the high priest’s deduction based on a single text was impressive, or if I was foolish for not realizing my writing was so unusual.
…Probably both.
I exhaled slowly and desperately tried to gather my thoughts. Unlike with Lutz, I didn’t trust the high priest enough to tell him everything.
The high priest seemed to think differently than the azure priests here, but that was because he acted from a noble’s perspective rather than a priest’s. I had no idea how a powerful person like him would treat an anomaly like me.