Arc 3 - Chapter 25: Pre-Registration (2/3)

"To think that my life was not wasted before I die?" Yu leaned his head against the glass and closed his eyes. "I'd rather not die at all, but..."

Before he could think too much, the door opened and he opened his eyes and looked at the arrivals. Sivina and Ana walked in, both avoiding eye contact with Yu and Sivina was a little nervous.

"Actually, I should be ashamed too, I peeped at you."

The car started to move as Ana closed the door behind Sivina. Yu opened the curtains wide to let the light in.

It seemed that if Yu didn't say something, neither girl would speak for the rest of the trip and they would have a very quiet journey. Everyone fell silent as their car moved along the forest road and the side streets, and when they entered the highway, Yu started talking.

"Ana, I have an idea."

At the mention of her name, Ana felt like jumping. Swallowing, she looked at Yu, but she was too embarrassed to look into his eyes, so she followed the movement of his lips.

"She's so fucking cute!"

"Remember when I told you to be a knight? I've decided to shelve the idea of knighthood, but I don't want you to be a servant."

"What are you going to do?"

Ana sounded like an insecure teenager who had locked herself in her room and was talking to someone for the first time in weeks.

"Her shyness made her even more beautiful."

"How would you like to be a priestess?"

Yu crossed one leg over the other and leaned back.

Priests and priestess were in a position where people respected them and technically they were supposed to be chaste, but after what he had just seen, he wasn't sure he could use the word chaste for Ana. Still, he had no better choice than her.

"Girl to girl, I guess that's okay for being priestess."

"Me? But why?"

"Mr. Valarfin, please don't joke..." Sivina clenched her fists.

She too was embarrassed to look at Yu. Sivina and Ana must have thought Yu was joking, while Yu felt incredibly attracted to them.

"I'm not kidding. Our group needs priests and priestesses. Think of all the people coming to be baptized, how can Yurine baptize them all? Or when the churches attached to the cathedral open, who will stand there? Or who will preach to the people? The cardinal cannot do all these things alone. We need clergy, and Ana is the only one who is suitable."

Yurine's role was cardinal, Yu's was butler, Sivina's was knight and the roarons were soldiers. Since they already had servants, it was fitting that Ana should take the role of priestess.

"Are you going to send A-Ana... You're going to send her somewhere else?"

"Am I that cruel in your eyes? No, I won't send Ana anywhere. She needs to be with us, that's her job."

Taking Ana away from them meant taking away a trusted guardian.

"The priesthood is just a role, just like my role as butler and your role as knight. For now, that role needs to be filled and Ana is ideal for that. Your first job and Ana's first job is to protect Yurine and help us reach our goal. This whole war will end and there will be a happy ending, that's what we're all about."

"Even though your present selves will not see that end, maybe I will strive for your selves in the next world. Yes, I can do that as a reward."

"I don't know Zodian religion. I haven't even read the holy book," Ana said.

Yu had read the book before he came here. Surprised that Ana had lived in the Virgo Cathedral for almost three months and hadn't read it, he replied with a laugh.

"Oh, what's the big deal? The people you will be dealing with will not have read the book anyway. It's not like the Pontifex is going to come and test you."

Ignoring the fantastic elements, the level of the country was about the same as in the Middle Ages, and the low literacy rate was an obvious fact. Almost all the people they met on the street had not read The Whisper of the Stars.

"Anyway, everywhere in the world the basic rules are clear; you tell people that 'you don't lie, you don't steal, you don't eat other people's rights' and so on and so forth. I don't think you can go wrong. If they ask you a knowledge question, you can say something about angels, heaven or something like that."

These things should not have been difficult for her to do. In fact, most of her sermons were simple moralizing, and every now and then she would shake a few things out of her head and no one would check whether it was true or false, they would just believe it.

"But when you make them, make them logical, so that you can use them later. Be careful not to contradict yourself in the future."

"But that would be lying," Ana said.

"You want her to say people 'don't lie' while you want her to lie, that's wrong," Sivina said.

"She's going to tell a few pink lies, as if you've never told a little lie."

"I mean... I believe all religions are like that. Besides, what's the harm in a few pink lies? It's not like anyone is going to go and verify it. If you don't want to lie, you can read the book."

"Mr. Valarfin."

For the first time since entering the vehicle, Sivina looked up and looked Yu in the eyes.

"Are you a liar?"

"Where did this come from all of a sudden?"

She couldn't understand why Sivina had become so serious, what kind of answer did she expect? Everyone lied.

"I lie like everyone else." If he claimed that he was not lying, then he would have lied. "But I don't tell lies that upset people... I mean, at least I try not to... I'll tell lies like that if I have to..."

When something vital happened, Yu didn't hesitate to lie, even if it upset someone. At least that's how it was in this world.

"Still, I don't hide what they deserve from people who deserve it, or make up lies that cause problems. How many people aren't like that?"

"Just because others have done wrong does not justify you doing the same."

Sighing, he spoke from inside. "Have you never lied?"

Not wanting to prolong the conversation, he broke eye contact with Sivina and turned to Ana.

"One way or another you will become a priestess. You can do as I say, or you can read the book. You won't have much to do anyway, you'll help baptize and give good advice to people. Occasionally you will help the poor, it's all very simple."

"W-well."

***

Leaving the walls of Andromedia behind them, they made their way south-east of the city, near the border between Mora and İlonya.

The roarons had set up camp out of sight. It was near the mountains between Mora and İlonya, and the distance to the city was four hours, including snow, or five if for some reason they had to slow down too much.

According to their plan, they would have to stay here for more than a few months, but now they had a city and the roarons would not stay here much longer.

Yurine could have led them into Andromedia if she had wanted to. It was reassuring to have roaron soldiers loyal to them standing by their side.

But only men were eligible for military service. Most roarons were old, women and children. The men could fight in exchange for food and shelter, but the others received these services completely free of charge.

At this rate, their upkeep would break the bank. Yu wanted to find a way for the other roarons to contribute to production and earn the money he spent on them.

After several hours of little chit-chat, the first sign of their approach to the camp was the peaks of the mountains coming into view. The snow-capped peaks of the mountain ranges along İlonya and the Mora were visible in the distance.

An hour later, they came across a roaron refugee camp built around an abandoned water well.

The gray smoke from the roarons' campfires rose into the sky. The roarons shoveled the snow that had accumulated inside the camp and built white hills outside the camp.

"We're here."

The journey was quiet, so Sivina and Ana fell asleep with their heads against the wall. They both looked restless in their sleep.

"Wake up, we're here."

Having failed to wake them up the first time, he raised his voice the second time. Now he had managed to wake them both up.

"Is this it?"

Sivina, Ana and Yu were sitting opposite each other. Ana rubbed her eyes, then poked her head out of the window to her right and looked at the camp they were about to enter. Sivina poked her head out of the window to Yu's right.

"You are standing here as a twenty-first century human, Yu Valarfin, control yourself!"

When they lifted their heads out of the window and looked out over the camp, their backs were bent and their hips turned towards Yu. Yu was excited to see the buttocks he had seen half-naked this morning now in front of him.

If he looked any longer he would start to tremble, so he quickly looked away and started to look out the window to his right.

"Yes."

Recognizing the white carriage, the roarons allowed it to enter the camp. Bart drove the cart to the camp square and they stopped in the square.

Then the old servant went downstairs and opened the door for Sivina and Ana. After they came out, Yu went downstairs.

"Yu Valarfin?"

The one who called out to him was called Morga. According to roaron tradition, the elders are considered wise, so they had appointed Morga, the oldest roaron among them, as the representative of the roarons.

Morga was a one-eyed, very old lion with a white coat, a hump on his back and a face full of battle scars. He had maybe left a few years to live.

"Hello there."

Other roarons were gathering around the arriving vehicle. They were curious about the news from the city and wanted to see Yurine.

"Didn't our lady come?"

"Aren't you glad it's just me?"

He knew the answer to the question he asked in a sarcastic voice. Although he had made friends with a few roarons, most of them still disliked him. When a silence fell with no one answering his question, Yu himself broke the silence he had caused.

"No, the young lady stayed in the city."

Leoral refused to let Yurine go with Yu, saying that there were many more things he wanted to talk to her about.

"Whoreson Leoral, whose daughter are you trying to separate from whose side?"