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Outside the Temple...

Because the Knights ARE nobles, Gunther cannot speak. He answered the knights as to why they were standing outside, then let them be.

Maine's ability is a secret. A key to keep her alive and keeping the dangerous ones under check.

Maine was just as quiet.

Soon, Fran came out in casual clothing and carrying writing tools.

'We can go now.' he said as the trio descended the temple stairs. 'I will also give you a debriefing along the way.' he said.

'Half the temple's staff has been called out, and they took with them a lot of Gray Priests.' said Fran. 'Including that is Orphanage Director Lady Christine, a Blue Priest and most of her attendants as its mostly the gray-robed priestesses caring for the children. Thus the orphanage is in a bad state and the younger ones are the first to die.' he said grimly. 'Nobody wanted the job because of their hard-earned favorable positions under the Blue Priests they were assigned to...and they get mere pittances now that Head Priest and I are painfully-aware the children are very hungry.' he said sadly.

'But as the Temple Cook only cooks for priests but not unbaptized orphans and he is under the authority of the Chief Priest and the Chief Priest is a prejudiced man behind temple doors, he is the reason the children are mostly starving as of last year simply because they are commoners not worth even his thoughts.' he lamented. 'Necessities in the temple go through a Trickle System...you can only imagine what's left. Not even enough to feed mice.'

'That's...!' Gunther gasped out, wide-eyed in anger and shock.

'So the children my age, younger and older are starved to death just for being unbaptized?!' Maine gasped out in horror.

'The Head Priest cannot do anything until wait for a cook to come applying. Because by law, all unbaptized children are not recognized as people, so their needs are seen as irrelevant in the temple. And if anything happens, it's up to god's will about their fates.' said Fran darkly. 'You are under his authority so you are not to answer anyone else's summons even under threat as the Orphanage is under his authority and protection and that includes you. You must be made aware of that rule as soon as possible.' said Fran urgently.

'Right...' Maine gulped. 'I guess those blue priests aren't so holy...I've seen how they treated kids who weren't clean during the needle-pricking...they looked annoyed and roughly jabbed the needles on fingers while Lutz and I were treated gently because we were clean.' at this, Gunther remembered his childhood...and thought how differently his daughters and Lutz were treated just for being clean.

'Now then, I will write down recipes you will cook for the children so we can go to the market for pricing so Head Priest can do monthly budgeting and send it to our Lord.' said Fran.

'Let's see market prices first before I could plan that...do orphans get that pretty white flour for bread too, as well as cooking herbs for flavoring?'

'Ehm no.' Fran sulked. 'Orphans only ever get the cheap ones, unless Head Priest can appeal...'

'By what you're implying, the Lord seems reasonable if justified.' said Maine thoughtfully. 'I'll cite health reason.'

'You'll have to justify that...'

'I know.'

And so, Fran listed down products Maine hopes to buy for the orphans under her care, and the recipe just for one person. But as Fran told her that there are currently 20 orphans in the orphanage and more may come in the near future, adjustments may have to be made.

So Maine computed and made a recipe for a large pot meant for the orphans and herself since she's a live-in employee. And it was up to Head Priest to calculate costs for monthly budget, and then reasoning for all ingredients and their uses for the human body.

'So you know that much through your own way of using magic...' Gunther croaked out. 'Usually, Turi brings random stuff home from foraging but you have gotten choosy on what to cook unless you had no choice.'

'Yeah. I target our bones, our organs and our blood's health levels.' said Maine. 'When I read my own body, my body parts screamed at me that my old self wasn't how I was supposed to be and yelled at me at how bad off they were. Your bodies did the same to me when I secretly looked. So I got reason to be choosy with food.'

"And how she knew Paru fully heals the body." Gunther thought. She knew, but claims to 'try things out' because she had no way of explaining how she knows.

'That's how it is...' Fran marveled. 'Then, about that white flour...'

'Delicious and beautifully-white, but not healthy.' said Maine bluntly. 'You see, during Milling Process when I read the history of the ingredient, much of its nutrition was lost. Leaving only flavors behind.'

'Heee...'

'But if only the outermost shell is removed, leaving the grain mostly-intact before grinding to flour, nutrition is intact for consumption.'

Fran had all information needed, before showing Maine how a Cook's Uniform should look. She has to make her own as the stores don't sell any Head Chef's uniform her size, so they had to buy fabric for that, and a pair of boots.

Maine then asked about the orphanage's winter preparations, telling him how it works for commoners like herself. Stocking up on food, candles, oil, firewood, repairing what's broken for protection against blizzards...

'I don't know those...I'll have to ask the Head Priest.' said Fran. 'For now let's go to your home and pack your personal belongings.'

xxx

At the apartment, Fran reeled from how her area of the neighborhood stinks like hell and how the dirty people around them reek.

'I-if you can afford to be clean, how on earth did you manage to stay here?' Fran wheezed out from the smell.

'We grew up here all our lives.' said Gunther. 'It was only until recently that we could afford cleanliness and smelling nice. My superiors are contemplating on promoting me soon because I could stay clean and smelling nice for over a year...I'll be a Major soon.'

'How much do Majors get paid daddy?' Maine asked him.

'Haha, same as you! 4 large silver!' Gunther laughed. 'Because Majors got more responsibilities so I was refining my writing and math skills for months as a precaution...and I was preparing for what it entails so I can get by.'

'Heee...'

They climbed up the stairs and the smell in here was worse, Fran thought. It was torture being here he had to resist the urge to puke. However, at Maine's home, it was fresh-smelling with no stink, and their home was clean while the apartment was filthy and it stinks!

The wife and eldest daughter wore good clothes instead of patchwork like most poor in the area and are working on the loom.

'Welcome back!' Eifa greeted. 'How'd it go?'

'Well, Maine will have to be a live-in Employee of the Orphanage due to strictly timely scheduling of meals.' said Gunther. 'Her salary is four large silver a month so we'll be doing her share of home crafts soon. This man here, Mr. Fran will be showing her around and she'll use the room of the Cook.'

'A live-in...Maine won't live here anymore?' Turi went gloomy at the idea.

'I'm afraid so.' said Fran. 'The temple is particular with time. Any lateness is not tolerated so commuting from home is not feasible. But she has freedom to do as she wants on her spare time as her job is cooking, but we'll have to see how far that freedom can go due to temple rules as we have yet to determine if she can freely come and go.'

There was that, they really have no choice and its straight to real employment and not an apprenticeship because Maine's cooking was too good for an apprentice she impressed a lot of people.

So Maine's clothes were packed and Fran took Maine to the temple, along with their purchased goods.

xxx

The Orphanage...

It was dark, gloomy and it stinks! Its also so dirty! The children inside are so skinny, filthy and looked like they gave up on life itself.

'This is because of last year?!' Maine twitched as the Orphanage was locked from the outside, as if, keeping the children inside prisoner?! 'And what's with that bar on the door?!'

'This area is the temple area, they are forbidden to come here.' said Fran. 'There is another entrance but its a longer walk to get there...and by that area by the main entrance, neither you or I are nobles, we don't have a clearance to step foot on the road there. So the only way in, is here.' he said. 'Chief Priest who's nastily-aware that the children are getting desperate, barred this entrance.' he said. 'We come by to give what we could.'

'What a monster.' Maine shook in anger. 'And because of his status not even Head Priest can do anything due to lack of needed people...if gods really exist, I do hope there's a thing called Divine Punishment.' she growled. 'He can pig out like a hedonist now, punishment will surely come in the afterlife!'

Fran did a double-take. Commoner children know those kind of words now? And she basically cursed the Chief Priest.

Maine raised her hands and it glowed in magic. The orphanage's filth and stains gathered into a growing ball, effectively cleaning up what's obviously a dining hall. Then the ball of filth vanished. The stink also vanished and so did the children's dirty states, they looked clean and no longer greasy and grimy on their skin and hair.

'...that's one way to clean up!' Fran's eyes bulged in disbelief, amazed at her skill in magic. She didn't even use incantations or prayers to the gods. He then shook his head. 'Everyone, this is our new cook, Miss Maine. Everything will be alright now.' he called out in reassurance.

'I'll clean up the rooms too as a precaution...dear lord, I can clearly see who must never become a parent in the future.' Maine shook her head in utter dismay.

xxx

'So that's what happened.' Head Priest Ferdinand mused as Fran told him about the conversation that day as he looked at the parchment that entailed ingredient information, and recipes for 21 children, including Maine herself.

'Yes. Maybe we can do something about this now, Head Priest?'

'Mm. I never heard of this Winter Preparations thing that Commoners do...we can simply buy needs outside. But their world is different from ours due to financial difficulties.' Ferdinand thought. 'Perhaps we should put it to practice for the Orphanage Children. But they must be clean first or the others will raise a fuss. For now, for this month's supplies...I'll handle the rest while sending word to our Lord. However, there is a catch.'

'A catch?'

'Yes. I can only go so far this month without anyone noticing some money missing from the coffers.'

xxx

At the Orphanage...

Maine cleaned up all rooms and the children with her magic, before trimming their hair.

In her old world, cutting hair is a no-no as its a precious gift from one's parents. It is also a symbol of noble and royal status, as if to say, 'I can keep my long hair because I don't need to work'. By that, labor work.

Here, anyone can cut their hair and its not a crime or punishment.

So she styled the hair of the children using her magic. For now, the same short bobs for girls and a clean cut for boys and trimmed their fingernails clearly chewed off just to trim it! She was just glad they didn't do the same for their toes, that would be gross.

The children's spirits lifted already.

Now all they have to do, is wait for supplies to come.

By night, supplies came when a group of male priests came in. Baking supplies and crates of vegetables and herbs hidden in their rings. However, by the looks of things, it's exactly for one month...

'Maine, we will begin some explanation.' said Fran. 'Due to the situation, we ask of you to teach these children skills we could not teach them.' he said. 'I too, came from the Orphanage, but the concept of foraging and learning skills for survival was foreign concept. But if this enables unbaptized children to survive without officially spending on them, this would be a great help to us all.' he told her. 'Once the children are clean, you are to begin tomorrow.'

'Very well. I'll be more elaborative on how this is done.'

Maine explained how commoner children work to support their parents' meager incomes. Foraging the whole day for spring till autumn ends. And by winter, everyone stays locked in, living off their stockpiled resources of preserved pork and firewood. Commoner children who are younger than 7 years old work this way as children who aren't baptized cannot be legally apprenticed nor employed. As a result, commoner children eat twice a day. A heavy breakfast, and a heavy dinner.

'Even I did that for two years of my life.' she said. 'So I guess the shopping is to buy us time for education and training without pressure for just one month.'

'You catch on quick.' said Fran. 'But we will supply the goods to last the whole winter as there is no life in winter. That much, we can get away with.'

'Alright, we will do this.' said Maine. 'So I hope we're exempt from the strict time schedule to make this work...'

xxx

That summer, Maine taught the orphans how to LIVE. They weren't educated the way most commoner children are and can only wait for 'alms of the gods' to survive and reliant on the adults' barely-there attention, after cooking their first meal of vegetable soup and each children has three pieces of round bread. But Maine thought the soup bowls are...small. Even the spoons.

That is not how it's supposed to be.

That sundown, after a dinner they never had before, it was dedicated to orientation and education.

The children missed out on something so vital.

Lady Christine, the former Orphanage Director and Blue Priestess was kind to them, she was unlike the snooty, snobby and haughty blue priests so the children spoke of her highly, and were sad to see her go, knowing full well that when she's gone, they'll all die one by one. Their education was mostly, how the temple works. That, was it. Lady Christine was a priestess because she was an illegitimate daughter. Her father cares for her and wants her 'legal'. The problem was his legal wife, according to Fran. She was in the temple to protect her until she can go home safely.

So in turn, they taught Maine how the Temple works that made Maine in utter dismay.

With that said, tomorrow was their big day, to begin their journey in livelihood.

Due to malnourishment, they have no strength to gather firewood. They can only forage for food. Maine handles the firewood as she stimulates trees and shrubs to make food for picking. She also gets logs, to make better wooden bowls and spoons which she crafted on the spot, with flat side handles and the spoons are styled the same way from her former world, only with rounder bottoms and longer handles.

She spent a considerable amount of her magic already.

But after giving the orphans experience, they were looking forward to eat in better bowls and spoons. Their previous bowls and spoons was so small they were forced to keep coming back for seconds, instead of getting exactly enough in soup, while they get the same amount of bread.

After dinner, Maine bakes next day's bread, while using magic to extract all the oil for shampoo-making for sale, stored it all in a barrel for maturity in her room. It seems its all up to her, to do these kids right. But as of now, she has no opportunity to talk to the priest. Stuff them with food and make the body absorb nutrition in order to heal is all she can do for now.

xxx

Autumn...

By now, Maine filled up the storage room full of firewood.

All that's left, is food. Maine made triple-sure that in Winter, the food is supplied by the Head Priest.

'Nooow then, all that's left is clothes.' Maine mused at the end of autumn as the gray robes brought in food supplies to last till end of winter but it will be handed out weekly, preserved by magic to avoid spoilage. 'It'll have to be from my own money this time...but is there religious concerns regarding colors in clothes, as well as style?'

'Well, unbaptized children are forbidden the colors white, blue, yellow and gray and anything lighter or darker shade as long as it's linked to those colors.' said Fran. 'Any other color is OK. White, Blue and Gray is the color of the Priests. Yellow is linked to the God of Life, worn by children on baptismal day. But clothes...'

'I'll handle that for now, something tell me this is as far as Head Priest can go without Chief Priest finding out.' Maine sighed, kneading her temple in annoyance. 'And how old are these kids?'

'We have no idea but with your technique, you might find out.' said Fran. 'Those who are near seven needs to master skills...and fast.'

'I know.'

'I'll check on you every month from now on...the kids seem to do well lately.' Fran noted. 'Before, they're skin and bones without any life, but now...they seem to have the fire of life now.' he said, pleased.

'These kids used to be like me, only, they don't have illness as an excuse.' Maine grumbled with an armfold. 'Without Lady Christine, a goddess in their eyes, it was as if the God of Life stole away their Frutrayne and in turn, their lives were stolen too.'

'Its now your turn to be their Frutrayne, Maine.' Fran smiled.

'Oh yes, Fran, I have a way to raise my own money.' said Maine. 'But I need to go to Gilberta to get myself a Merchant and Artisan's License.'

'Oh? Then what are you selling?'

'C'mere to my storage...'

xxx

Ferdinand was bamboozled.

Maine knew that the bulk of the effort was on herself so he wouldn't get in trouble with the Head Priest. Thus her magic was mostly for the sake of the Orphans. She wasn't a Priestess anyway so she was not required to give up her mana as an obligation.

Fran found out how she supplements money but requires a long time to prepare, but it pays off well. So she had asked permission to go out to get herself a license to be a legal merchant and artisan as she created liquid soap. And each bottle sells for a large silver. And she has fifty of the bottles that she can effectively earn 5 small gold coins as the merchant she works with gets commission in exchange for selling her wares for her. She only needed 1 gold coin just to make clothes by having the supplies needed as well as buying the kids new shoes, and 1 gold coin for cheap food ingredients. The rest goes to her family.

This was one way as it's risky to dip into the donated coffers.

So he gave his approval.

'But if you have such money, why not have your family move in Central Square?' Fran asked, accompanying Maine to Gilberta as her parents have connections there.

'If we did that, my family will be in danger.' said Maine.

'Your family? Why?'

'As you know, the well-off and wealthy live close to Central and the North District while the poor live south.' Maine told him. 'If we made it clear that we now have money by moving there and Turi still forages, some no-good men will force daddy's hand by kidnapping her or mom.' she said grimly. 'Better pretend we're poor while secretly having it good, than be known publicly that we have it good. The poor districts is dangerous for the well-off. It's why we wear cheap clothes and look cheap, and we only use our soap once a week.'

'Oh...but you and your family now have skin as white as snow and lily-smooth skin with glossy clean hair...'

'We made up a lie that daddy saved up money to be clean on very important days at work just to impress. And as that very rarely happens...'

'Ahh, I get it.'

xxx

The Orphanage...

The whole summer was dedicated to knowing how to read and write, mathematics and knowing skills all children should know.

Autumn was dedicated to Physical Training because when they get baptized, Apprentices do a LOT of labor work. Those who can't keep up, are fired. Not to mention pay is crappy. And as they are orphans, they have to be live-in apprentices in their hard future once they turn seven years old.

Actually, half of them ARE seven years old.

Problem was, nobody bothered to ensure that since Lady Christine left, but in a way, neglect came as a blessing to prevent the nastier priests from kicking out unprepared children into the world unprepared and with no skills. So Maine conspired with Fran to buy the children time to gain skills and knowledge needed, before they're released into the world. But for the clueless children, they'll unknowingly live with the knowledge that they are 'a year younger than they should' and only they would know the secret.

That, and Maine enchants baskets so their autumn harvests are preserved when she learned Stasis Magic just by touching the crates. But Ferdinand will still supply Winter Food as long as Maine does the other three seasons herself.

That way, no danger on themselves.