If You Devour Poison / Doku wo Kurawaba Sara Made

Chapter 14: The Shrine

Mornings in the shrine start early.
Lutora woke up to the faint and distant sounds of the hymns. He slowly sat up in the darkness of his room. With Lutora’s movement, the small arms and legs that stretched unreservedly across his supple, muscular shoulders and abdomen tumbled onto the bed sheets.

“...These brats slept here again.”

Uncaring about Lutora’s muttering, the children who had cheekily trespassed in the middle of the night continued sleeping soundly.
Half a month has passed since Lutora had started sleeping in the shrine. Lutora had arrived, firmly believing that he was entering enemy territory, but contrary to his expectations, Head Priest Malacia had welcomed him with a smile and didn’t treat him badly. He was introduced to the shrine knights and priests and was conscientiously informed about his stay.
As the Head Priest, Malacia’s days were busy. His days start with morning prayers, followed by a breakfast of bland soup with bread, then listening to the confessions of the shrine visitors and giving advice for their problems. His lunch would be wild vegetable stew, after which he would head to the shrine’s orphanage, where he would teach the children to read, write and count. In the evening, he would meet with the nobles who, after avoiding public notice, snuck into the shrine. When they were gone, he would then have a late dinner followed by a bath. After all of that, he would handle all the operational matters within the shrine, then recite his prayers before sleeping late at night.
That was his usual daily routine.
After several days of working together, Lutora, who had lost most of his malice, was requested by Malacia. “It’s a good opportunity to teach the children swordplay,” Malacia spoke with a smile that refused rejection. Before Lutora could protest, Malacia had introduced Lutora to the children.

“This is Lutora, a member of the Royal Knights, who has been staying in the shrine. He’s a very strong knight. If I recall, there are several of you who want to learn swordplay?”

Immediately, numerous small hands were raised, the owners of which were staring in longing and expectation at Lutora, making him unable to say, “No way,” like he wanted to.
While the Kingdom of Palcemith was affluent, there was still a disparity between the capital and the countryside, and families struggling in poverty did exist.
Children who were abandoned by their parents, children who had lost their guardians for some reason, and children who were sold into slavery were accepted by the shrine. Without asking about their origins, whether they came from a rich or poor family, the shrine accepted all the lucky children who managed to make it to the shrine. However, the shrine was only allowed to raise the orphans until they were fifteen years old. If they didn’t leave, the shrine wouldn’t be able to accept new children. Before that deadline, the children had to decide their future, be it being adopted, entering the workforce, becoming an apprentice, or re-entering slavery.
The Temple Knights, unlike the Royal Knights, have a lower battle strength. That’s why they can only act as the shrine's security. While there are political concerns in preventing the Temple from having too much military might, those were unfounded in the first place, as the Temple Knights are largely orphans who have never had formal training in swordplay.
There were more than twenty children who wished to learn swordplay. Lutora himself was young for a knight, and while he had vast experience in receiving training, he had next to none in instructing. Recalling the instructions he had received from his father, Jolga, since he was young, he was contemplating how to gather the basic training equipment, when the equipment was donated by the Temple Knights.

“...We’re weak.”

Having learnt that there would be swordplay lessons, the Temple Knights had gathered together their funds, and managed to scrape together enough training equipment for the children to use. The Temple Knight representative who brought the equipment to Lutora, was a young lady, her face hidden under her conical sugarloaf helmet.

“Everyone would have been long dead if we hadn’t been picked up by the shrine. On top of that, I’m not that smart ...and couldn’t get an apprenticeship with a merchant family. My features aren’t attractive, so I couldn’t get adopted. My only options left were to become a slave or a prostitute… That was when Lord Malacia appointed me as a Temple Knight.”

The other Temple Knights all had similar reasons for becoming knights, she said.

“To be able to receive training from a Royal Knight is a blessing. Unlike us, who are only knights in name, you’re a true Knight. If the children can become stronger, perhaps even the rag-tag Temple Knights might be able to be more active and successful. ...Sir Lutora, please, we’re relying on you.”

Her sincere bow of gratitude shook Lutora’s conviction, who had simply followed in his father’s, the Knight Captain’s, footsteps to the core.
In the afternoon, while Malacia was giving lessons to the orphans, Lutora systematically taught the orphans who wished to learn swordsmanship.
Originally the cheerful moodmaker even amongst the Knights, Lutora had a friendly aura, despite being from nobility. The orphans quickly warmed up to him and started following him around.

“Even so…... they didn’t have to invade my bed too…”

It was a recent development that every night, some children would sneak into Lutora’s bed while he was asleep. As even the eldest orphans leave the shrine at fifteen, the eighteen-year-old knight’s physique was perhaps found dependable by the children. Still, even if there was no hostile intent, to not wake up even when his bed was being invaded, brought him some uneasiness at his sound sleeping.
After changing his clothes, he left his room and came across Malacia, who was moving after finishing his morning prayers.

“Lutora, good morning. ...Did you receive a nightly visit again?”

Lutora had already lost the will to rebut the joke Malacia made while smiling.

“A group came…... Thanks to that, I slept well and woke up refreshed.”
“Fufu, that’s because of the children’s body warmth. ...Lutora, today before noon, we’ll visit the Dragon Priestess’ room.”

It’s been half a month since he came to stay at the shrine.
Lutora had requested a meeting with Melia, the Dragon Priestess, countless times and was even willing to be accompanied during the meeting, but Malacia had firmly rejected his requests.
Looking at Lutora’s immediate tense expression, Malacia continued speaking softly.

“These few days, I’ve received reports that her condition is stable. However, any action that may be stimulating, or words that may upset her are forbidden. Also, ...The pain that the Dragon Priestess suffers cannot be put into words. Should Lady Melia hurl verbal abuse, it’s simply a product of the agony eating away at her. Please, absolutely do not slight her for it.”
“...I understand.”
“Then first, have breakfast. We’ll head to the Dragon Priestess’s room after.”

Nodding back at Lutora’s obedient nods, Malacia left with a flip of the sleeve of his dalmatic robe. Lutora waited until he could no longer see Malacia in the corridor before he slipped his fingers into his uniform’s breast pocket and took out the small magic stone hidden within.

“...Can you hear me, Morino? I’m going to check on Melia’s situation now.”

He couldn’t hear any reply, but a small light blinked within the magic stone, so it should be functioning properly.
To be able to gather information within the Temple with its inviolable wards, Morino Swettso invented this tiny voice transmission device. The receiving device was set in the Royal Office and had the same structure as the eavesdropping magic stones set as decoration at visiting nobility’s tables at banquets. On the off chance the magic stone was discovered, there are plenty of knights who carry magic stones sent by their families or lovers as charms so it wouldn’t be deemed suspicious.

“I will pull as much information as possible from both the imprisoned Melia as well as Malacia. Please carefully record it.”

Lutora gripped the magic stone he had entrusted his words to, before he returned it into his pocket.
As Lutora chased after Malacia who had disappeared down the corridor.
Two small pairs of eyes.
Were trained on his back through the crack in the door.