Ascendance of a Bookworm

After lunch, we immediately started cleaning the orphanage. However, the cleaning was to be done by the people living in the orphanage themselves.

Right now, there are more than enough gray priests, and until a few years ago, the schedule was to do laundry early in the morning and cleaning in the afternoon. But now, it seems they finish most of it in the morning. Since there are plenty of priests without plans in the afternoon, it was decided to hold the big cleaning in the afternoon.

The official reason for the major cleaning was that since I, Myne, the blue shrine maiden apprentice, would be going to greet the orphanage director, it shouldn’t look unkempt. Having a reason makes it easier for the orphanage residents to accept the big task of cleaning, which they don't usually do.

The purpose of this big cleaning was not only to tidy up the orphanage but also to let everyone know that “if you work hard, you’ll receive rewards.” For that reason, the chef was making soup to thank those who cleaned, and the top 30 who took the initiative to clean would receive Karfe butter instead of just butter on potatoes as a present.

The orphanage cleaning was divided into roles: washing the children during the warm time, cleaning the basement of the girls’ dormitory where children before baptism stayed, cleaning other parts of the girls’ dormitory, cleaning the boys’ dormitory basement and bringing in workshop tools, and cleaning the rest of the boys’ dormitory.

When Benno and I suggested this, Fran and Gil were extremely surprised. It seems the temple’s menial tasks are laundry, cleaning, and praying, so everyone does laundry together in the morning, then prays together, basically everyone doing the same work, with no group division or separate activities.

I persuaded them that since the cleaning area was vast and the workshop setup involved heavy lifting, assigning suitable people would finish the work faster, so this time, we went with group division.

“Even with groups, will they properly listen and clean?”

“It’ll be fine. Fran has recognition as the high priest’s attendant, so the orphanage kids respect her.”

For the gray priests and apprentices in the orphanage, Fran, trusted by the high priest, is quite a high-ranking figure. Gil explained that if Fran took command, the orphans would move despite some complaints.

“There are a few kids who won’t listen no matter what…”

Fran said this while glancing at Gil. Gil quickly looked away. Gil has been a serious worker recently, but apparently, he was a big troublemaker before, giving the gray priests in charge a lot of headaches.

Fran and Gil would patrol, checking if the cleaning was done properly, who was working hard, who ran away without cleaning, and report the cleaning progress.

Lutz would supervise cleaning in the boys’ dorm basement, which would become Myne Workshop, and bring in tools from Myne Workshop. He would also make Karfe butter on site.

Delia would help watch the chef and clean the first floor.

“I want to patrol too…”

“Myne, you stay behind. It’d be a problem if you collapsed somewhere.”

Before I could say I wanted to go, Lutz stopped me. Gil looked at me with an exasperated expression when I was speechless.

“Look, Myne, since this cleaning is to welcome the blue shrine maiden apprentice, it’d be a problem if you entered the orphanage before cleaning’s done.”

“Oh, right…”

Since Fran wasn’t around, I couldn’t even go to the library, so I sighed. Then Fran, with a loving smile, quietly placed a piece of paper in front of me. It was densely written in neat handwriting, showing Fran’s meticulous nature.

“Myne, you have a lot to memorize. First, since you’ll be going to the orphanage this evening to greet as the new director, I want you to memorize this entire greeting, especially be careful not to mispronounce the gods’ names.”

Although it was written on paper so I could cheat, I basically had to memorize it. I looked at the long text and sighed lightly. Seeing my reaction, Fran smiled and pulled out wooden tags one after another.