“Menaces causing me trouble, the lot of them...”
Bishop Bagley griped constantly on our way back. Menel pretended to listen, but I could tell the clergyman was getting on his nerves. Yeah, these two were not going to get along.
“Um—” I was about to step in and say something, but...
“Especially you, novice! Did you not think to consult me before going off on your own...?!”
As Bishop Bagley’s complaints became increasingly vehement, Menel finally started talking back. “Consult? Fig to that. We aren’t your pawns.”
“What did you say to me?! I am the head of the temple!”
“So what?!” They started quarreling, and after that, it was impossible for me to intervene. Gods, these two were like oil and water...
As I watched them argue, the deacon who had been attempting to stop the bishop back at the lord’s mansion spoke to me. “I’m sorry about Papa. There are a lot of things troubling him recently, and he seems to be a little frustrated...” She had her flaxen hair loosely braided and was smartly dressed in a jacket, waistcoat, and long skirt.
“That’s all right. I apologize on behalf of my companion. So, are you Bishop Bagley’s daughter, then?” I’d been wondering about that. True, as far as I was aware, there was no restriction on marriage for members of the clergy in this world, but was the bishop really married?
“Yes, I’m his daughter. We’re not related by blood, though.”
“So...”
“Before being appointed here, my father was in the capital. He was in charge of running a temple with a large orphanage.”
“Ah, I see.”
Exactly how he’d gotten the duke’s attention I had no idea, but somehow he had, and the duke plucked him from the capital and brought him here. I hadn’t known Bishop Bagley for long, but the incident at the mansion had taught me that he was capable of being pushy. Maybe the duke had judged that he would be well suited to running a temple in a remote region like this.
“Many of my seniors and friends who left the orphanage found jobs back on the mainland. Papa helped them get into a lot of different places, but I and a dozen or so others followed him over here.”
Not only did he have quite a few connections, he had some very loyal people under him as well. Although I’d been keeping an open mind about the man for a while, it was probably time that I formed a definite opinion.
Outwardly, he looked corrupt, was terribly grumpy, and gave a ridiculous first impression—but despite all that, Bishop Bagley was probably quite competent.
“Bishop Bagley.” I called out to the bishop, who was still arguing with Menel about something or other. "Thank you very much. You intervening really helped me.”
“You think I did it for you?! I merely defended the temple’s authority from His Excellency’s self-centered actions. You come second!” Then he went back to grumbling about the duke and how he did outrageous things when something captured his interest.
Bishop Bagley really did complain a lot. Even though getting all this off his chest was probably his way of staying sane, I felt like I understood why he didn’t seem well-liked within the temple.
“But still, all that aside,” he said to me, “the authority of the common folk must be respected. Please remain in the chapel after Evening Prayer. We will discuss His Excellency’s proposal.”
“All right, understood. Ah, but... umm...”
“What now?!”
“Sorry... What’s Evening Prayer?”
A noticeable vein bulged on the bishop’s temple. There was a pause, and then he let loose a furious volley of insults.
Yes, I’m really ignorant, I’m sorry...
Apparently, religious services had undergone a lot of reformation over the last two hundred years. All the daily cycle’s observances, which in Mary’s time had included Vespers, Compline, and several others, were now combined into something called Evening Prayer.
Considering how multiple services had been combined into one and the language used during it had also been simplified, it seemed likely that the collapse of the Union Age had meant that some places hadn’t been able to maintain that complicated system of rituals. Also, the bishop and deacon both looked shocked when I told them that I knew about Vespers and Compline, so it looked like even those terms weren’t heard much anymore.
“Were you studying with people who were familiar with the old liturgy?” he asked me. “A tribe of long-lived monks or something?”
“Umm, yes. That’s more or less correct.” I wasn’t sure if becoming undead counted as being “long-lived,” but there was no doubt that Mary had been very familiar with the old ways of worship.
“So you’re not completely ignorant, then.” Bishop Bagley hummed in thought. “Anna, there should be a book or two in the library that cover the revisions to the liturgy. Get them for me, and while you’re at it, see if you can arrange for a suitable teacher for him. Not only is this man a novice, he’s a relic of two centuries ago. This is going to take some effort.”
I got the feeling he was deliberately bad-mouthing me again, but I couldn’t complain—he’d pretty much hit the bullseye. Behind the bishop, the deacon called Anna bowed her head repeatedly to me, looking really apologetic.
After that, I returned to the temple, joined back up with Bee and Tonio, was subjected to a barrage of questions (mainly from Bee), and after dealing with a lot of other random tasks that needed to be done, I took part in Evening Prayer.
Even though the people of the temple were still very busy clearing debris and treating the injured, it looked like none of them intended to neglect their daily prayer. They clearly felt that times of hardship were when it was most important to pray. I thought that was a very laudable attitude.
The service was very solemn and impressive, but I felt a little uncomfortable. Everyone suggested good seats to me, and eyes flicked towards me from all directions. I wasn’t used to receiving hospitality like this or being the center of attention, so I never felt settled throughout the service.
Once it was over, everyone left the chapel, and I waited there for a while in prayer. Soon enough, the bishop arrived. He’d apparently had an appointment to keep and had cut out on the scheduled prayer.
“One moment,” he said. Then he got down on his knees, put his hands together, and prayed.
In an instant, the atmosphere in the chapel, empty except for me and the bishop, completely changed.
The bishop’s praying looked astonishingly natural. It was a beautiful sight, even though the bishop himself was far from so. I had never seen anyone look so in their element while praying before—no one, that is, except Mary. I found myself with my hands together as well.
“Now then.” The bishop prayed for a far shorter time than I thought he would.
“U-Um...”
“What?”
“Bishop Bagley, this has been on my mind for a while, uh...” I paused for a moment to choose my words. “You have definitely been blessed with a high level of protection from the gods, I can see that.”
I had no doubt about that after what I just felt. I’d had a kind of sense of it ever since I first met the bishop, but now I felt confident saying it: the protection he’d been blessed with probably equaled mine, or even exceeded it.
“But I heard from the people at the temple that you don’t use blessings. But if that’s what your prayers are like, then I think you either don’t let people see them, or you deliberately tone it down in front of them. Why is that?”
“Hah. Idiot novice.”
He insulted me...
“What do you understand benediction to be, boy?”
“Protection received from the gods.”