CH 49

The next day, while sorting through various documents related to the reconstruction of the temple with the help of the knights at the Temple of Lethe, Korya handed me a small white dish about the size of his palm.

“It’s galaktoboureko. It’s actually something that can’t be taken away, but I negotiated and brought the whole dish for you since you seemed busy, Eleni-sama.”

Looking inside the dish, there was a crispy thin pastry overflowing with sweet-smelling cream. Korya was well-prepared and handed me a spoon.

With the knights watching, I took a spoonful of the sweet galaktoboureko and put it in my mouth. It was refreshing and sweet, with a crispy pastry and creamy filling that I ate with relish. It was light and easy to eat, and I quickly finished the dish.

“How is it?”

“It’s delicious. Oh, I hope it was okay for me to eat it.”

“Yes, of course! It was worth buying it for you!”

Korya said with a smile on his face. It seems that I had made Korya worry about me.

Ah, that’s right. I opened the lid of the wooden box that had just arrived. Inside, wrapped in a scrap of cloth, was the same medal as the Goddess of Forgetfulness, Lethe, that I wear around my neck.

“Please distribute these to everyone. There is a mark on the back that proves you are a member of the Lethe temple knights, so you can use it as identification. Don’t lose it.”

“Oh, this is what I’ve been waiting for! Thank you so much!”

Is it really something they’ve been waiting for? Well, they were once knights who lost their status, so they must understand the importance of their identity.

I entrusted Korya with the distribution of the Lethe temple knights’ medals and returned to my struggle with the documents.

However, one of the knights ran up to me.

“Eleni-sama, could you please give us some work to do soon?”

Work. I was surprised by the word that had completely slipped my mind.

The Lethe temple knights have no work, which means they are currently just a shell called the Temple of Lethe without any substance. Even I can understand that this is not good.

“Work… We don’t need that many people for guarding the temple, do we?”

“Yes. The same goes for patrolling the surrounding area. In addition, there’s training, equipment procurement and storage, and if possible, we would like to have something like a dormitory where the scattered knights can stay and feel safe.”

Realizing that there seemed to be a lot of work to be done, I began to rummage through the document box that was placed on the floor.

After all, since the person who gave me the work was capable, a large number of documents were handed over. I remembered that there was something useful in there for the current situation.

There was only one sheet of paper, but it had the seal of Styx on it, and only one person in this country, Thanasios, the deputy of the highest authority, could stamp that seal on official documents.

“Here it is. It’s the instruction sheet I received from Thanasios-sama.”

Fortunately, Thanasios had summarized the necessary matters for managing the temple and wrote down what needed to be done in a simple way. For me, it was an unknown territory, and although I could pray, I couldn’t manage it.

I read aloud while pointing to what was written on the paper.

“First, we need to discuss with the surrounding temples to establish the parish (diocese?). Then we submit an application to the royal castle and complete the tasks assigned to us. The support funds will be distributed through the bank annually, and the usage is generally not questioned, but records must be kept.”

I tried to understand the content by breaking it down. In short, we get the job from the royal castle and can use the distributed money freely.

“Since we can use the money, let’s first look for accommodations. We need to take care of our basic needs.”

“You’re right. Then let’s think about the job. We’ll assign those who are good at accounting or knowledgeable in business to handle those areas, and we’ll choose a few people to handle administrative tasks such as negotiations with the royal castle. As for the support funds, we’ll leave it to Eleni-sama or the Knight Commander to manage. Normally, we can leave it to the Knight Commander.”

The knight who spoke to me seemed to be a veteran, and he spoke fluently.

Perhaps they couldn’t bring themselves to suggest these things until now. I felt guilty inside. I felt sorry for being a poor chief priestess.

“I’m sorry. I have no experience in these matters, so I’m causing trouble for everyone by not doing it sooner.”

“No! It’s our fault for not properly presenting our case! Please don’t worry about it!”

The knight was considerate and gave instructions to the other knights to carry out the proposal. I could hear him calling for the Knight Commander to discuss the details.

At this point, it would be better to leave it to the experienced knights of the order rather than me sticking my nose in. As I tried to leave the circle of gathered knights, a woman’s voice echoed in my head.

“Eleni, are you busy?”

I looked around. There were no other women here besides me. And I recognized this whispering voice.

I called out to the knight.

“I’ll be stepping out for a bit.”

“Please leave the personnel matters to me!”

With reassuring words, I moved to a quiet separate room and listened carefully by the window.

The voice belonged to the Goddess of Forgetfulness, Lethe. She had suddenly given an oracle before.

I heard the voice again.

“Eleni, it’s not exactly an oracle, but Styx-Okaasama is feeling down.”

“What?”

“She overheard your conversation with Helios.”

Hearing that, I felt a little uneasy.

“So, everything is being monitored…”

It’s creepy to think that someone is listening in on conversations everywhere. Besides, I wouldn’t be able to say anything bad about the gods. It’s like censorship. If they were to say something like, “We’ll revoke your protection and won’t grant your wishes,” then I would say to Thanasios, “I’m sorry, but do as you please.”

As I was thinking about this with a heavy sigh, it seemed that things weren’t going in that direction.

“No, it’s not like that. Styx-Okaasama likes to watch over things here and there… and she even pokes her nose in. Oh, I don’t know anything about the content of the conversation, though.”

Surprisingly, Lethe was quite nonchalant about it. From her tone, it even sounded like it was Styx’s own doing. Well, that might be true. Lethe seemed to be a sensible person.

However, Lethe suddenly said something like this.

“Also, Thanasios’s brother Helios is under a curse.”

At the sudden and unfamiliar ominous words, I involuntarily repeated them.

“A curse?!”