325 Mary
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“A red demon, isn’t it?” Said my mother. “It is nice to meet you.”
“I-I would prefer if you called me by my name rather than my… disgraceful race.” Sighed Mary while nervously averting her gaze from us, she seemed to have a hard time keeping eye contact.
“S-Sure, sorry about that.” Said my mother.
And then, Mary pointed out at the other Nun, who was silently staring at us. She was covering her face with a black, semi-transparent veil, and only her eyes could be seen. But from the looks of it, she had brown skin and beautiful golden eyes, she also had pointy ears that emerged from her nun hat, and there was also blonde hair that could be clearly seen.
However, the most surprising part of her was her lower half, she lacked legs, and instead, had a very long and large snake tail. I’ve read about these people before from the books my parents had back home, she was a Lamia.
“She’s Mother Lucia… S-She can’t talk because… Her tongue was cut long ago.” Said Mary rather saddened to having to clear out her fellow nun’s disability.
“C-Cut her tongue?” Asked my father rather frightened.
“I-It was… after war… Well, anyways, she’s very nice and attentive, so don’t worry.” Said Mary while trying to make up for it, Lucia nodded rather rapidly, seemingly trying to calm everyone so they wouldn’t make a fuss over it.
…..
“I see… That’s a pity.” Said Shade.
“Could it be possible to heal her, Faylen?” Wondered my father.
“I don’t know… Wounds that have lasted for years are very hard to heal, especially if they already cicatrized for a long time.” Said my mother. It seems that healing magic loses its effects with old wounds that cicatrized, even though she is probably the best healer in the world for all I know…
“Hm…” Sighed my father.
“P-Please don’t worry about us, we are alright! A-Anyways, I am very happy that you wanted to donate to the orphanage… We have not received donations in over three years now, with only Celeste and the two of us working to maintain everything…” Sighed Mary while Lucia nodded.
“N-Nobody has donated a single penny for three years?” Asked Nepheline. “Shouldn’t the government that manages this fiefdom pay the orphanage? Isn’t this building maintained by it?”
“Y-Yes… And no. I-It is complicated… S-Shall we talk more inside? It is getting chilly…” Said Mary while her hands were trembling, it was a rather fine day with just a chilly wind, but it seems she was having a hard time anyways… It was mysterious and I wondered why she was so delicate towards temperature, but it was better to not ask too much.
“Alright, let’s get inside.” Said my father, leading us inside the orphanage.
Just as I had imagined, the inside looked rather ruinous, only illuminated by small candles placed in each corner, the nuns probably worked hard to keep the place clean, and Celeste’s magic probably worked, but the entire place still looked very terrible, although there was no moss or dust to notice at first sight. There were many cracks in the walls and the ceiling, even, and there were a few holes in the wooden floor that were repaired with cracked pieces of wood.
“Thish ish my home! It ish comfy and we have fun inshide!” Said Mist happily walking around, she must had been born in here because she clearly didn’t know any better… Well, not like I am complaining.
“I see, it is rather… welcoming.” I said with a mild smile.
“I-I’m sorry if the place is… rather nasty or dark… It is all we have…” Sighed Mary.
“Don’t worry about it.” Said my mother. “Shine.”
FLASH!
My mother suddenly generated a tiny ball of light and let it over the ceiling, illuminating everything rather amazingly. Everything could be seen even more clearly now… all the cracks, the holes in the floor… that one spiderweb in the corner of the room… yeah, all of it.
“T-That’s some fantastic magic…” Said Mary. “You must be a talented priestess… Sadly I lack much talent with magic…” She sighed while she sat down around a table with everybody else. While we reached this room, we saw several children peeking around the walls, some even behind the stairs. There were of all shapes and sizes, of various appearances as well, it seems that there were many tribes of people I had never seen before, but there will be time to interact with the children later.
When we sat down, Mother Lucia didn’t sit down due to being a Lamia, she felt more comfortably by coiling her lower half around her hips and then resting her back in there. It was a very unique way of “sitting” but I’ve seen snakes do it as well. Her lower half was brown and black colored, and her scales made up a beautiful pattern, although I also saw many deep scars across all her tail, and the tip of it was… completely chopped off, leaving an ugly scar that must have taken a long time to recover, leaving gray skin over it.
It seems that both of the nuns were filled with scars… They’re also not the youngest, perhaps only a bit younger than my father, they’re most likely survivors from the war, their scars could had been made in there… or perhaps elsewhere. But if that’s the case, it would be even worse.
“Well, we wanted to donate twenty wooden boxes worth of food, there is fresh meat, vegetables, fruits, and many other utensils. We also got several kilograms of leather and clothes that can be made into fitting clothes for all the children, and also all of this gold.” Said my mother, starting the conversation by opening the spatial bag and letting out everything… the immense pile of valuable things made both Mary and Lucia drop their jaws, completely flabbergasted.
“T-This is… A-Are you sure? Ah… T-This is not a joke, right, Celeste? This is not an illusion? A-Am I dreaming? I am dreaming, right?” Asked Mary, completely in disbelief, as she began pinching her face while trying to wake up… Poor girl.
“You’re not dreaming, Mary…” Sighed Celeste with a mild smile. “They’re… for real.”
“B-By the gods…!” Cried Mary, suddenly falling into the ground… she fainted.
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