IBPM 05

Chapter 05

The blue satin dress with white lace draped over it.

Airik knew exactly what this was.

This was the dress Count Kyris had bought for Ordel on the day she first came to the Great Temple of the Sun God as a Saintess.

Ordel had treasured it dearly, saying that it was a precious dress given to her by her father. Whenever she wore it, she was careful with it, and if a maid ever touched it carelessly, she would become furious.

And now she was saying she would sell this one too, without leaving even this behind.

She had even lied that she had bought it with her allowance.

‘Could this have been something planned with Count Kyris? Does she really intend to leave the Great Temple?’

Come to think of it, she had said she was willing to deceive the Kyris family together with them.

Perhaps she had gotten into a serious argument with the Count.

Ordel had been loyal to Count Kyris, but the Count himself did not care for her that much.

Perhaps she had finally realized that and decided to turn her back on him.

‘If so, everything makes sense.’

Her sudden change.

Her saying that she wanted to quit being a Saintess and leave the temple.

And the look of terrible emptiness on her face when she said those words.

Now everything made sense.

“I think it would be better to sell them……. We are gradually running out of operating funds.”

As Airik stared seriously at the list, Dietrich spoke carefully.

He did not want to miss this opportunity.

The Great Temple’s finances were actually in terrible shape because of the Saintess’s extravagance.

“……All right. Let’s do as the Saintess wishes. Start tomorrow. And you will be in charge of everything.”

“Yes! Understood!”

Fortunately, a positive answer came back, and Dietrich nodded with a bright expression.

We have to get this done quickly before either Ordel or Airik changes their mind.

“…….”

Unlike Dietrich, however, Airik could not smile.

To be honest, Ordel’s change was welcome, but……

The fact that she was even willing to sell the blue dress she had treasured so much kept bothering him.

Especially the fact that she had said she would keep the money from selling that particular dress for herself.

After all, it meant that even though she was angry, she still could not completely let go of her attachment to the Kyris family.

Remembering the empty expression he had seen on Ordel’s face during the day, Airik let out a sigh.

“Ah, this feels refreshing.”

The night before, I had handed the list over to Dietrich, and I woke up the next morning with a very refreshed expression.

A weekday morning without having to go to work.

How wonderful.

“Should I just stay here?”

If I went outside, I would have to work again to make a living……

But here, the Saintess was the highest-ranking person, so I did not have to work.

They fed me when it was time to eat and cleaned everything for me.

Wasn’t this the perfect job?

Maybe I should stay at the Great Temple, save up money little by little, and leave when Idella appeared a year later.

It was a little embarrassing to tell Airik now that I couldn’t leave, but he had already opposed the idea anyway.

However, my brilliant plan was completely shattered less than ten minutes later.

“S-S-S-Sorry, Saintess……!”

I stared blankly at the woman kneeling and bowing down before me.

The maid who had brought my breakfast had been terrified from the very beginning.

Until then, I had not thought much of it.

So, she had experienced Ordel’s cruelty.

Then maybe I should slowly start apologizing, beginning with this person.

That was all I had been thinking.

Until the woman, trembling so badly, accidentally touched me while putting the tray down on the table.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Please, p-please forgive me……!”

“…….”

Wow, I was truly speechless.

She had only lightly bumped into me, and she was already acting like she had committed a grave crime……?

What on earth had Ordel been doing here?

“……I’m fine, so you can leave now.”

What could I possibly say to someone trembling as if I were going to hit her?

Even if I apologized right now, she clearly would not be able to accept it properly, so I simply sent her away.

“……Eh, yes?”

“I’m not angry at all, so you can go now.”

Thinking that pressuring her would only frighten her more, I stopped paying attention to her and began eating.

Soon, she hesitantly bowed and hurried outside.

Strangely enough, even though she left in such a hurry, I could not hear even the slightest sound of her footsteps.

No, actually, there was nothing funny about it at all.

“I guess I really should leave the Great Temple.”

Forget about changing my image or anything else.

For the sake of everyone’s mental health, I should just leave.

I finished my meal with a sad expression.

After breakfast, I had another problem.

Yesterday, Airik and Dietrich had taken away the empty dishes, but today, since I had sent the maid away first, there was no one to take them.

Rather than having another frightened person come trembling to clean them up, I decided to take them myself.

“But where is the kitchen?”

As far as I remembered, the dining hall and kitchen were connected……. Then where was the dining hall?

Besides, I did not even know where this bedroom was located.

Yesterday, as soon as I arrived at the temple, I had nearly lost consciousness from hunger and motion sickness, so Airik had carried me here.

What should I do? Should I call the maid back?

Would she faint this time because she thought I was really angry……?

It was while I was seriously thinking about it as I stared at the empty tray.

【In accordance with the user’s request, the ‘Map’ system will now be introduced.】

A system message appeared before my eyes.

“You were here?”

Maybe because it had been so useless.

I had completely forgotten about it overnight.

As if asking how I could possibly forget about it, the system screen suddenly expanded.

In the upper-left corner of the screen, it said <Map of the Great Temple of the Sun God>.

Right.

If this was a possession-story system, of course it should have a map function.

“Find me a route from where I am now to the kitchen.”

A path to the kitchen appeared on the map as a series of red dots.

I take back what I said about you being useless.

I immediately followed the red dots.

I considered going straight to the kitchen, but that route was connected only to the passageways used by the servants, so I decided to just cross through the dining hall.

Well, I hope the people in the dining hall don’t have a fit when they see me…….

However, my wish was completely crushed.

“Ah.”

The moment I entered the dining hall, the eyes of dozens of people who were eating all turned toward me at once.

Oh.

So it was mealtime for everyone.

The faces of those who made eye contact with me instantly turned pale blue.

I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to deliberately interrupt your peaceful meal time…….

“Saintess?”

Airik, who noticed me, suddenly stood up and approached.

“What brings you here…….”

“I was going to take the empty dishes to the kitchen. But I guess I came at the wrong time.”