Chapter 400: Charity
The Director was a good man with a rather manly spirit.
[8] After speaking with him and understanding that the Director would renovate the building as well as implement other ways to improve the children’s lives, I left the orphanage with my familiars.
The Director appeared to be sincere and able to work proactively. My role here is finished, I do hope that the children could live happy fulfilled lives, even though I could only donate money to their cause.
Still, the money I have all came to me thanks to Fer and the rest, so I don’t feel comfortable hoarding it.
“”Are we going back now? We’re going back, right? Let’s eat lots of meat when we get back!””
““Umu, I want to eat lots of meat and relax.””
[8] Fer was walking by my side as usual, while Dora-chan was flopped on Fer’s back, occupying my usual seat. We’re speaking through telepathy now.
““Ah, well, I feel bad for you guys, but have you forgotten? We still need to visit the churches…””
““Nu, that’s right. We must not forget to visit Ninril-sama’s church.””
““Eehh? Not going back yet? I want to go back early and eat meat!””
““Now, now, Dora-chan, it is only right to pay a visit to Ninril-sama’s church. She’s one of the Goddesses who had given me her Blessing. Right, let’s go.””
Fer quickened his steps.
“”Fine, I guess we have to. Anyway, let’s hurry up so that we can go back and eat something good.”” [3] grumbled Dora-chan as he took off and flew forward.
[6] The two of them were moving very fast and shocking people left and right.
[8] “Wait! Fer! Dora-chan! You can’t just step into Ninril-sama’s church like that! Wait for me!”
[5]
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[6] Naturally, our first stop was the Church of the Goddess of Wind. Because Fer was a devout follower of Ninril-sama.
“This is… Ninril-sama’s church…?”
““Oi, oi, oi, oi, isn’t this too shabby?””
Ahem, actually, I think so too. However, there are times when it is better to remain silent…
““O-oi, is this really the right place?””
The building in front of us was made of wood. It was not small, but much smaller than expected for a church building. [1] It was natural for Fer to be sceptical.
[5] Well, according to the information given to me by Isaac-san, this should be it. [1] I wandered over to the front of the building that barely qualified [8] as a proper stand-alone house let alone a church and was proven right when a nun, dressed in a white religious habit, came trotting out. She looked like she was in her twenties.
“Excuse me, is there something you need?”
“No, but, um, is this the Church of the Goddess of the Wind?”
“Are you by any chance a follower?!” [3] expectations sparkled in her eyes.
“N- no, not a follower…”
The sister looked a little deflated at that, “…is that so…”
“Ahem, I may not be a follower, but I am here to donate something to the church…”
The sister suddenly surged up and grabbed my hands, [3] “Really? Thank you! Thank you so much! May the Blessings of the Goddess of Wind be upon you!”
Excuse me, Miss Sister? I already have a Blessing from the Goddess of Wind. [2] Please let me go. She was grabbing my hands with such force that it was difficult to dislodge her.
“Kyaa!!”
Ah, looks like the sister noticed Fer and Dora-chan. [5]
“Ah, the wolf and the little dragon are my familiars,” [7] I said.
“I-is that so. W-well, please come in,” [3] her face was very stiff, but she was still holding my hands so I have no choice but to follow.
I have to say, this sister has guts.
Meanwhile, Dora-chan and Fer were complaining telepathically to me.
“”Hey! I’m no wolf!””
“”Oi! Don’t call me little!””
I ignored them. [5] [6] I am holding hands with a girl now. Hehe.
Anyway, we were guided by the sister into a small place of worship. [2] In the middle of the place of worship was a wooden statue that was supposedly a depiction of Ninril-sama. There was a benevolent look on the statue’s face, however, I can’t say whether she was pretty or not.
Ninril-sama had always insisted that she was a great beauty, however, I have never seen her, so…
Anyway, there was no way for me to know whether this wooden statue was a correct depiction of Ninril-sama.
“Ahem, allow me to tell you a bit about our church. As you may know, the number of followers for our Wind Goddess may be smaller than those of the Goddess of Fire, Earth and Water. However, though our number is small, we are all very devoted and loyal! We have lots of visitors…”
The sister was trying her best to promote her religion.
That’s fine, you don’t have to go that far. [2] I have already spoken to Isaac-san about the various churches in this area. Apparently, the freedom of religion under Elman, Leonhart and Malbert was pretty great and everyone is free to worship whichever god they like.
Still, this kind of religious freedom only exists in these three kingdoms.
Under such free reign, it is inevitable that there would be priests and other religious people who make use of the religion to satisfy their own desires. [1] Moreover, there are also people stupid enough to support these greedy religious people. Even so, there are checks and balances for everything. Eventually, once these greedy religious leaders are exposed, the number of believers would be reduced to zero in that city.
To avoid such things from happening, religious leaders such as priests and sisters would be given strict guidelines before they are sent out to the world. [1] Even the religious leaders from the royal capitals would dress modestly and avoid ostentatious accessories even as they pray inside elaborately designed temples and churches.
Thanks to this caution, there are almost no religion base fraud cases in recent years. [1] With the exception of the Holy Kingdom of Rubanov, of course, that’s the country that spreads the [6] very suspicious ideology of Supreme Humanism that suppresses the rights of all other beings.
[8] I heard all of this from Isaac-san, who told me that he had met with the religious leaders from each church within Hirschfield and found nothing suspicious about them.
“Erm, excuse me…” [3] the sister called out tentatively.
[9] “Ah, yes, the donation,” I said.
[9] I had already given some thought to how much to donate. Giving a different amount to each God and Goddess would only invite trouble, so I had already decided earlier on to donate 30 gold to each church or temple of each God or Goddess in this town.
Anyway, Fer and Dora-chan were getting impatient, [6] and to be honest, so was I. Thus, before the sister could keep promoting her goddess, I handed over a sack filled with gold coins.
The surprised sister accepted the sack and the weight of it made her smile, [3] “Thank you very much! Thank you so very, very much!”
She then put her hands together and prayed, “May the blessings of the Goddess of Wind be with you.”
[8] Fer pulled me away from the church.
[8] A sudden shriek of “Yay! I can finally repair the prayer room!” made me turn around and saw the little nun laughing and jumping about.
[6] She was really cute.
After that, we visited the other churches and temples in quick succession. I dropped off a sack of 30 gold coins at each place as planned.
The religious leaders from each church were very appreciative of the donations and thanked me politely, which made me feel good about myself.
Speaking of which, the church with the biggest number of followers belonged to Kishar-sama, the Goddess of Earth. [1] Next was Ruka-sama followed by Agni-sama [5].
I must say that Kishar-sama’s church was quite magnificent [6] with roman columns and huge stone walls. [5] Probably due to the great number of followers, hence the correspondingly great amount of donations.
Ninril-sama, you should focus more on gathering followers and letting go of your sugar addiction.
[Gumihou: This chapter is certainly aptly named.]
[1] Structural Change: Combine 2 paragraphs
[2] Structural Change: Combine 3 paragraphs
[3] Structural Change: Combine paragraph & dialogue
[4] Structural Change: Change passive sentence to dialogue
[5] Delete Repetitive or Pointless Information… starting to delete pointless scenes now
[6] Additional Information for Aesthetic Purpose
[7] Add Dialogue Tag
[8] Creative Licence Taken – Some text adjustments to make it more interesting and involved
[9] Work out the best way to answer the sister and explain his reasoning behind the amount of donation.