The day after the shopping, the children of the Maine Workshop had a new job, which was to carry back to the temple what I had ordered from Benno. The children changed into thick clothes, piled the luggage on new carts, and bustled between the Gilberta Company and the orphanage. Half of the supplies were sent to my room, the other half to be used in the orphanage, and not only that, but tools for pork processing were coming in one after another.

“Everyone, please unpack here first. Anything that needs to be carried to the Dean's Office, please give it to Gil. Move the wood and ingredients to the bas.e.m.e.nt of the girls' dormitory, and the tools to the bas.e.m.e.nt of the boys' dormitory.”

As he counted the supplies, Fran instructed people to move them. The reason why such allocation, because the ground floor of the girls' dormitory was the kitchen, the ground floor of the boys' dormitory was the Maine Workshop. Food that needed to be kept would be locked up in the warehouse and managed by Wilma, so that the children could not touch it without permission. If the grain reserves were eaten before the winter was over, everyone would be troubled.

The gray-robed priests and priestesses carried supplies to the bas.e.m.e.nts of the boys' and girls' dormitories, while the children helped out and made joyful noises. Lutz looked at the scene and said:

“My family said they would also come to help with the pork processing. My dad seemed to be very grateful to the Head Priest, though he didn't say so explicitly.”

Stubborn, reticent, and with a craftsman's temper, old Dido was never a flatterer, but he seemed grateful to the Head Priest who had provided equal opportunities to communicate.

“But you see, the Head Priest is an aristocrat, and my dad couldn't find a way to thank him. So he thought, in that case, he'd help the orphanage instead, and it turned out to be all of us.”

“All of you… Uncle Dido has made another arbitrary decision, hasn't he?”

Dido's four children were all boys, and it would be a great help to have them on board, but I worried about their individual will.

“Don't worry, my brothers all said, ‘I'll be sorry if I don't help', and my mom was very concerned about it.”

“With your family's help, it will go smoothly. I'm looking forward to pork processing!”

Ha, ha, ha. I laughed excitedly, but Lutz frowned at me.

“What are you thinking about? Of course you must stay, Maine. You have a fever at this time of year, and the last time you were alone you pa.s.sed out on the stand with a fever and were sent to the gate, weren't you? This is going to be pork processing with a bunch of completely inexperienced people, and I have no reason to let you go.”

“You're right… but now that mom's pregnant and I'm going to be a sister next year, I've decided I have to learn how to process pork this year.”

I managed to train myself to the point where I could watch a pig being dissected without shedding a tear, but he actually told me that I could not partic.i.p.ate in pork processing, which made me very disappointed. And this year, in order to be sure to help my neighbors with their pork processing, I thought I would take advantage of this opportunity to practice.

“No, since the orphans are going to be there, you can't do anything yourself. If you stay out and watch us work all day, you'll have a fever, and you won't be able to make that gelatin, will you?”

Lutz listed one reason after another why I couldn't go, but the worst part was that I couldn't argue with him.

“You're meant to stay, and you don't have a choice, so you might as well take this opportunity to figure out how to make money. Er… what was that line? I thought you said it before… Oh, Now I think of it — everyone has a place.”

“Ooh…”

On the morning of the pork processing, my family and Lutz's family met at Well Square, worked out the details, and decided to send me, father and Turi to the orphanage. Because I had to wait in the orphanage, father and Turi took on the task of moving tools and showing the children the way.

As an apprentice of the Gilberta Company, Lutz went to the butcher shop and led the staff to the village, where his family went to prepare the smokehouse and fetch water.

“Well, let's start today according to the groups we've just set up. The pork processing group is responsible for pus.h.i.+ng carts to the village, and the housekeeping group is responsible for cleaning the temple and orphanage, and preparing soup for dinner.”

Fran divided all the members of the orphanage into two groups. Except for those who were in charge of supervision, all the gray-robed priests suitable for manual work were put into the pork processing group.

“Dad, make sure you bring the pig skins, I'm going to use them to make gelatin. I can't help it if I don't have the bones and guts, but I need the skins! Please, Dad!”

When I reminded father to bring the pig skins, he patted me on the head and said,

“I know, I know. Just stay in your room and be careful not to run a fever. Didn't Lutz say the task ahead is important?”

“Yes. I'd like to go to the village with you, but I'll wait till you come back.”

After reminding father, I ran to Turi, who was carrying things with the children.

“Turi, please take care of Delia.”

“I will. We'll look out for each other today, Delia.”

Turi turned to Delia and grinned. But Delia raised her eyebrows and protested:

“Why must I go, Master Maine?”

“Because I want you to see the world beyond the temple.”

Among my attendants, Rosina and Wilma would stay, but the rest would go to the village. Delia was reluctant to partic.i.p.ate, but I forced her to. I wanted her to be able to interact with orphans outside of the orphanage. She didn't seem to have much contact with the orphans, but when shopping, I saw that she and Turi were kindred spirits, and that Gil and Fran would be there, so she wouldn't be alone.

“What are you going to do here, Maine?”

“I'm going to make a new picture book. Rosina and Wilma will work with me. Both of them have beautiful handwriting and can draw ill.u.s.trations.”

Rosina was not only good at music, but also good at handwriting, so I decided to ask her to help me make my next picture book. And today, when all the male attendants were out, Wilma would feel free to come to the Dean's Office to work with me on the picture book. I also asked her to bring two girls who liked cooking to give them special training in the kitchen.

Rosina and I watched everyone leave and went back to the Dean's Office. I was practicing the fespiel when Wilma came with two girls.

“Nicola and Monica, please practice your cooking in order to make a great meal.”

After encouraging the nervous girls, I asked Rosina to take them to the kitchen.

“During the Harvest Festival, the grace of G.o.d would be very humble with the absence of the blue-robed priests and priestesses. Some of the priests and priestesses would take the cooks with them, while other cooks would cut corners without the supervision of their masters. If we didn't know how to cook ourselves, these ten days would be very hard.”

I s.h.i.+vered when I heard what Wilma had said. I was the only blue-robed priestess who would stay in the temple during the Harvest Festival. If all the blue-robed priests and priestesses had gone out with cooks, there would be no grace of G.o.d at all.

“In previous years, the number of the blue-robed priests and priestesses was not as small as it is now. So even if half of them took the cooks to the Festival, at least half of the cooks stayed in the temple. In front of the other priests and priestesses, the cooks would never cut corners in order not to lose face with their masters. But now…”

With a sigh, Wilma's eyes darkened as she lowered them. But soon they had regained their former charm, and she looked at me and said:

“Thanks to you, we've been able to cook for ourselves, and the young children won't have to go hungry. And you've made preparations for the orphanage for the winter, which I'm very grateful to you for. So please don't hesitate to tell me anything I can do.”

With that, she went up to the second floor and began to lay out drawing tools on the table.

“Is this the next story?”

“Yes, the story is called Cinderella.”

Wilma was reading Cinderella, so I picked up the fespiel and started practicing. What I wanted to practice was the third etude requested by the Head Priest and the self-selected song. In order to match the season, I chose “Little Fox” for this self-selected song, but according to the environment here, I changed the little fox into a little rabbit. It was never a big deal.

“What a nostalgic sound.”

“Do you play it too?”

“I'm just an amateur. You are used to the sound played by Rosina, I'm afraid the sound I played will be harsh to you.”

Said Wilma with a smile. But she was definitely better than me, who was still a beginner.

“Rosina is such a good fespielist, so I don't know what kind of amateur you mean. I want to hear you play.”

“It's really just a hobby.”

Delighted at the touch of the long-lost instrument, Wilma took Rosina's fespiel with a look of ecstasy.

She plucked at the strings, and the sound was true to her character. Soft and calm, like her, it made me feel safe. If she sang with her lullaby voice now, I was sure I would fall asleep.