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Thanks, you’re a huge help, Leo-chan.” – Said Chris, the owner of the food cart that was filled with bread.
She worked as a full-time baker and her products ( bread ) were of high quality… but she didn’t know how to sell them, so Leo decided to give her a hand–
“No, no, I should, be the one, saying that, Chris.”
–And right now, they were re-decorating the food cart.
Because of the recent inflation, most people were refraining from buying certain products… and bread was one of them, unfortunately.
If the one selling the bread wasn’t as experienced as the others, who were selling the same product, or if he/she wasn’t as well-known throughout the city, like some of the most popular bakers, no one would buy their products.
But, although Chris was an experienced baker, she wasn’t as well-known as the others, so she wasn’t selling that well.
At first, Leo just approached Chris because he wanted to buy some bread for Kai, who was still a bit hungover. But the quality of her bread surprised him.
He couldn’t miss that opportunity, so Leo offered to help Chris sell her products… under the condition that she had to hand him one third of all the money they would make during the festival, which she accepted. ( Tl/n: One third!? Leo, you monster!!!)
(Thank you, golden spirit of coins! And thank you, Kar-sama! With this, I’ll make a lot of money!) – Thought Leo, as he offered a prayer to his deities.
His plan was perfect. Leena and her team wouldn’t be selling the same thing, so Leo could go all out and make a lot of money.
(Yosh, the cart is ready! I just hope the wheels won’t fall off… w-well, I fixed them, so I think they’ll hold out till the end of the festival… probably…)
In exchange for some of Chris’s bread, the old lady of the flower shop gave Leo some flowers and the uncle of the clothing shop gave him some colored cloths, which they used to decorate the food cart.
They then made a signboard with the words Special Bread written on it and decorated it with the remaining flowers, before nailing it to the cart.
The final product of their hard work was a pink and green food cart, decorated with white and yellow flowers.
“Waaa∼, I never though this old thing could become so pretty∼!”
“We’re, in the middle, of a festival, after all. No one, will buy, our products, if we don’t, drawn a lot, of attention. Besides, your bread is, really fluffy, Chris, so it matches, with the, approachable atmosphere, emitted by, the cart.” – Said Leo, with a smug look on his face.
“\\\T-thanks for the compliment…… but—\\\”
Chris wasn’t young, but she wasn’t old either. She emitted an “Onee-san” aura that captivated everyone, even though she was on her late forties—
“—My bread is just bread. You’re the awesome one, Leo-chan… you made that old cart look like it’s new, in just a few hours.”
—However, that wasn’t enough for Kai to allow Chris to be so over familiar with his master. But since “Leonora” was walking around the market in a disguise, and she said her name was Leo when she introduced herself to Chris, Kai would leave that matter for another time.
On the other hand though, when Chris saw Leo’s fair features, she knew that that kid was a noble lady in disguise, so she did her best to play along and be as casual as possible.
(I’m sure Leo-chan did her best to disguise herself, but… those purple eyes–)
But, although not everyone knew that Leo was actually a noble lady, like Chris did, they could see that he was “a little girl wearing men clothes,” which was rather cute, and the main reason why they were being so kind to him.
(–I used to work as a nun, so I pretty much know all the trademark features of the most important noble families… and she’s definitively Leonora von Harkenberg, the Altruistic Saintess…)
‘But why is she here in Richard, of all places?’ – That’s the question that was bugging Chris–no, Christine, the most. For her to meet the girl who pretty much destroyed the Spirit Faith, was really unexpected.
And even more unexpected than that, was the girl’s kindness. Christine was a complete stranger, but Leonora still decided to help her anyway.
Maybe the Altruistic Saintess wasn’t as bad as everyone from the church thought she was–
(Hahaha, no way, no way! There’s no way a High Noble like her would want to visit this city. Besides, Leonora is a Saint, isn’t she? So she’s probably drinking some expensive wine right now… right…?)
–However, a lot of people got their lives ruined because of how Leonora dealt with that incident. Even though it wasn’t their fault, they got punished as well.
But no matter how much they loathed the girl, it was a well-known fact that the common citizens were frustrated with the Spirit Faith. The incident was just the trigger for what happened after. It wasn’t Leonora’s fault that the citizens burned down all of those churches.
And Christine knew how corrupt the Spirit Faith was, but she couldn’t do anything about it, since she was just a nun and the organisation was ruled by a strict hierarchy. But the little girl did something that she never had the courage to do.
True, Christine did indeed lose her job as a nun, like many of her friends, and right now the only thing she could do to earn some money was baking bread, like she always did, but she didn’t hold a grudge against Leonora.
Although, if destroying the church’s reputation was actually a ploy for the girl to take over the entire organisation, Christine would’ve made her move a long time ago, right after the incident. But that didn’t happen, which was a good thing.
And if the girl in front of her was really that Leonora von Harkenberg, the Altruistic Saintess, then Christine could rest assured, because the girl’s kindness was genuine—
“Well then, Chris. Now that, the cart, is ready, we need, to discuss, the most, important matter—”
—But there was a problem… Leonora wasn’t fluent in Weiz * , she sometimes started to tremble when someone touched her, and she was too thin, even though her family had a lot of money. ( *Tl/n: The “ common ” tongue)
Everyone knew some basic information about her, like the color of her hair, or how beautiful she was… but that was it. Someone was clearly preventing the information about her from leaking.
(Leo-chan’s past is probably a bit−no, really dark. So no wonder her grandparents are trying to prevent any information about her from leaking…) – Thought Christine, as she stared at the girl with a pitying gaze.
“—Chris? Are you, listening?”
“O-oh, uh, s-sorry Leo-chan, could you repeat that again, please…?”
Leo then grabbed one bread from the cart and showed it to Chris.
“Have you, decided the, price of, the bread, that we’re, going to sell?”
“N-no, not yet… . ”
“……Eh!? Really!?” – Exclaimed Leo, with an expression as if he couldn’t believe what he heard.
“W-well, I’m not that good with prices… and I’ve never actually sold bread, so… . ”
Christine was an experienced baker… but she never actually sold her products. All the bread that she baked were given away to the poor people, since they couldn’t pay for it.
The citizens donated money to the church, and the church would use that money to help other people, like baking bread and giving it away, for example. Of course, part of the donations were always given to the nuns and the priests, since they couldn’t make living out of charity.
However, now that Christine had lost her job, which was her only source of income, she had to earn her own money through hard work… but she only knew how bake bread–
“–And that’s why I don’t know how to price it… . ”
To Leo, the whole concept of giving away something you made, was absurd… but he could understand her point. Chris found joy in baking bread, and she was a really good baker… however, she was lost–
(She doesn’t know where to go from here…)
–So Leo would honor his promise and help her sell a lot of bread–no, the whole stock!
“I see… but this, isn’t free. So you’ll, have to, decide a, suitable price, for it.”
“R-right… the bread isn’t free—”
Leo could feel the sadness in her voice, but he couldn’t help her with that. Chris needed to think for herself at least once… she had to understand her own worth—
“—But again, my bread is just bread, so I think charging one copper coin is enough… it’s just bread, after all… . ” – Said Chris, with her gaze cast down.
—However, that didn’t work. But while some would think that Chris was a lost cause because of her severe lack of confidence, to Leo, she was just a lost lamb that needed guidance.
“Never say, that again, Chris-san… . ” – Said Leo, with gritted teeth and an angry look in his eyes.
“L-Leo-chan… w-why are you angry…?”
“Because you’re wrong–!”
When Christine heard the words, “You’re wrong,” coming out of Leo’s mouth, she felt like she was receiving a preaching from a High-Priestess, which was weird, since the one in front of her was just a little girl.
“–There’s, nothing worthless, in this world, Chris! A golden necklace, a loaf, of bread, a person, a dog. Everything in, this world, has value! Everything is, a great treasure! And if, you deny that, by saying it’s, just bread, or just, a dog, then that’s, plain arrogance. That’s why, you’re wrong, Chris, you denied, the worth of, your own, hard work!”
As soon as Leo finished his preaching, his face flushed in shame. He had finally come back to his senses. But Christine, the person who received the preaching, didn’t notice that. It was as if she had been struck by a lightning.
—Everything in this world has value. Everything is a great treasure. And denying that is the same as denying the spirits who blessed everything and everyone with their power.
(N-no way… that’s the first teaching of the Spirit Faith!)
Christine and her little brother, who lost their parents at an early age, were raised by a kind High-Priest of the Spirit Faith. And because of that, the two of them could recite the basic teachings of the Spirit Faith without even needing to read the sacred book.
(I actually… ended up forgetting the first teaching…… I’m a failure as a nun!)
In a sense, Leo did indeed recite one of the teachings of the Spirit Faith… but he didn’t know that. What he did, was recite one of his beliefs as a follower of the Golden Faith.
—Everything in this world has value (because you can buy it with gold coins)! Everything is a great treasure (because you can exchange it for gold coins)! And if you deny that, you’re being arrogant (because everything revolves around gold coins)! ( Tl/n: lol)
But even though Leo was still a bit ashamed of having lashed out on Chris, he wasn’t over yet… he still had some things he wanted to say to her.
“You made, this bread, with your, own hands, Chris. You made it, with wheat, water, salt, an oven, fire, and your, hard work. So please, don’t say, it’s just bread. Otherwise, you’ll hurt, the ingredients, as well.”
“Leo-chan…… . ”
Well, Leo only said those things because 1/3 of a copper coin was basically nothing… and because Chris’s severe lack of confidence was a bit annoying.
When someone did business, he/she had to consider the price of the raw materials that he/she use and the cost of the production, to set price to what he/she wanted to sell. But Chris disregarded all that, which pissed Leo.
Fortunately though, his persuasion seemed to have worked. Leo could see a strong light of determination in Chris’s eyes.
“I understand, Leo-chan. I’ll never disappoint you again–”
(After all, everything has value… even my bread!)
“–The price of my bread will be 6 copper coins!”
Considering the average price of a normal bread, which was 3 copper coins, Chris’s high quality bread should be three–no, four times the price of a normal bread… but 6 copper coins was enough for a beginner.
“If this, is what, you want, then, I’ll help, you achieve, your goal, Chris.”
—If this is what you want, then I’ll help you achieve your goal, human.
That’s what the Great Spirit of Light said to the first human he gave his blessing to… but Leo didn’t know that.
However, to Christine, this little girl that could recite the sacred book without even reading it, was the perfect depiction of what a true saint should be.