66. Convent
On July 22, 1212, a day when the scorching sunlight was obscured by clouds.
A thunderous cheer echoed through the Lordship of Illeniput, which had always been filled with the groaning of anguish. As soon as the staff of Illeniput heard the news of my departure, they ran out into the hallway barefoot and shed tears.
“There are so many places that need Your Grace! Don’t worry about Illeniput, Your Grace!”
“We will give His Grace Bishop Ganista everything you have accomplished!”
“Hmm. May the Star of Grace bless you.”
Although it had only been a short time of about a week, time was not important in the depth of a relationship.
As a result of overcoming numerous difficulties together, we were able to feel a strong friendship and camaraderie and promise a beautiful farewell. Of course, it wasn’t just the staff of Illeniput who cheered.
The people who were most delighted to hear that I was leaving Illeniput were the entourage from the Diocese of Powys who had followed me. They were usually more quarrelsome than the little birds who would pout and grumble as soon as they put a bandage on their shoulders .
The reason for this was easy to guess.
“Hmm, ahem. A…a convent.”
“Oh. A convent…”
“Tsk, tsk, tsk! You all look like idiots. The pure white hand hidden under the veil of the nun staying in the Golden District… I wish I could touch it even once, that’s what you little brats think.”
“Side dish…hehehehe.”
I couldn’t help but drool.
As expected, the screws that had been tightened in their heads seem to be coming loose as they try to rewrite themselves. They were all coughing awkwardly, their eyes fixed on the ashes instead of the interval.
Even while I was carrying things, I thought a lot about the entourage who were already thinking about the convent. Among them, the most prominent thought was…
Do these guys think of nuns as prostitutes or courtesans?
The modifier ‘forbidden area for men’ really ruined the whole image. Well, yeah, that’s the thing. It’s because people have fear and curiosity about an unknown area they’ve never experienced, so they have distorted fantasies.
However, as a hunchback who had actually set foot in the girls’ high school and convent called the ‘forbidden area for men’ on modern Earth, I could say for sure.
Wake up from your dream.
“Stop talking nonsense and finish moving. You won’t get to meet any young nuns anyway. You, the seed who can’t keep your lower body in check, keep it stiff and hard right now.”
“What?!”
Medieval people were free from modern people’s prejudice in many ways, but sometimes they were even more prejudiced.
The part about ethics related to s*xual crimes was especially so. Even if other guys were like that because they were the medieval average, shouldn’t the clergy, who should be at least better than the medieval average, not be like that?
It can’t be helped. They say it’s not about cutting off desires but about controlling desires, but the vows arranged by Lux Stella are not just vows of abstinence…
I put my hand on the hilt of the sword hanging from my waist and fully understood and prepared for the pain they would suffer.
At this moment, I, who had a little bit of surgical knowledge, had no choice but to perform a castration surgery (cut a lot) ver. medieval so that they wouldn’t be able to fight like crazy without any countermeasures.
Then, the reaction of the escorts changed dramatically.
“…”
“How can a man enter the forbidden area for men? It’s against tradition, customs, and doctrine, so I will never enter!”
I was relieved to see them retreat in an instant.
It seems that the moment my blade will be stained with blood clouded with lust will not come. I learned one lesson from this sight. When the screw loosens, hit it with a hammer.
The moment I made up my mind, I heard the sound of my name being called from behind.
“…Does it feel like you’ve been to a convent?”
When I turned my head, Karina was there with a red shoulder mantle priest, her eyebrows raised. She was asking how I knew about the situation of the convent called the ‘forbidden area for men’.
In other cases, I would have just guessed based on my experience in modern times, but to the people of this world, it is definitely a strange statement.
I need to be more careful about this part.
I humbly accepted that there was a problem with my behavior, and I also learned that it was easy to avoid Karina’s pursuit.
“Last time, I heard about it when I was begging after several monasteries were abolished. I guess I just said what I heard then.”
“Hmm~.”
Karina was reluctant, but she had no choice but to be convinced.
However, unlike Karina, who was trying to somehow convince herself, the priests in red shoulder mantles looked at me with their eyes wide open, their earnest hopes in their eyes.
“Yes, yes.”
“?”
“I’m personally curious about how different the monastic culture of the saints and the Order of the Dawn is… Would it be possible to hear the story you heard…?”
…Seriously.
Why.
I don’t understand why they have fantasies about convents.
I clicked my tongue and lifted my body onto the saddle.
***
My parents’ dream was to be a clergyman.
It wasn’t because of any great religious belief or philosophical thought, but simply because it looked cool and pretty.
Didn’t that actor look really cool in the exorcism movie that was popular for a while? The costume is cool, so would I look cool if I wore it too? It was like that. This became an opportunity to visit churches and cathedrals alternately , but somehow I found out that a friend of my parents’ relative was the head of the convent.
That’s why I was able to enter the convent with a hunchback at a young age.
Wow! A convent! A young boy! You might scream like crazy if you’ve been exposed to movies, dramas, or various shady media, but the reality wasn’t that easy.
First of all, the convent is quiet.
This is because the rule of silence is applied not only to ordinary monasteries where men are the only ones who are busy, but also to convents. Of course, the nuns are also women, so they often gather and chat, but in front of outsiders , they only whispered.
And when nuns take off their veils, their hair looks like perilla leaves.
Like how monks have holes punched into their foreheads to prevent them from going out and seducing women, nuns are similarly unified by their perilla leaf hair. The act of styling one’s hair is implicitly forbidden, giving them the feel of quasi-nuns.
It’s just that they don’t shave their heads completely.
Above all… while young monks go out to do their work, young nuns are particularly vulnerable to worldly desires, so they are confined to the deepest parts of the nunnery.
Male monks are also confined deep within the temple when they first enter, but… young nuns are even more so. It’s unbearable to watch. At a young age, the nuns I encountered while running around the vast nunnery were all elderly nuns who were much older than me.
But there are exceptions everywhere, and I did happen to see a young nun once.
“Ugh… When will I ever finish salting this…”
I remember watching her looking sad as she pickled kimchi in front of a large earthenware jar while wearing rubber gloves, and then I quietly ran away.
From Noble mtl dot com
As you can see, the atmosphere of the nunnery itself is far from bright and cheerful. It’s not the scent of flowers, but rather the musty smell of old books piled up in the far corner of the library, like mold blooming in the dampness.
Looking back, it was a unique experience to have entered a nunnery that wasn’t a bathhouse or a men’s area, but in reality, even now when I think back on it, it was a terrible memory, similar to when I was in boot camp.
No, it’s worse than boot camp, because now there are only old ladies who laugh at little elementary school boys, and you’re stuck in a place where the only books are Bibles, and you’re there all day long.
I had been running around like crazy because there was nothing to do, but at some point, I was banging on the nunnery’s gate with my fists and crying.
“O-pen uup-!!!”
The nunnery.
To me, that place was just another name for prison. Even the gate was thick to prevent outsiders from breaking in, and the walls were incredibly high. If they had put up bars as well, I would have thought I had been taken to a juvenile detention center.
“Inseok! Don’t embarrass your mother and behave yourself!”
“No! I want to go out! This is a prison!!!!”
I can still vividly remember how my mother, who had belatedly heard the commotion and come running out, spanked me on the behind.
However, the experience of visiting the nunnery did not teach me any lessons. I was never taken back to the nunnery after I banged on the gate and cried that I wanted to leave.
The lesson I learned here is this:
Speak up. Even if violence is upon you, speak your mind openly.
Then even the most stubborn parents will give up.
***
“-I heard a story from a friend of a friend.”
I led the procession on horseback, appropriately filtering my experience as I told the story. Perhaps I was too engrossed in telling the story. The neat stone cityscape of Illefootnote had completely disappeared.
But when I put it together like this, it’s a great children’s fable with a touching moral and a lesson about how a young boy can only become free when he stands up to unjust oppression. I was so engrossed in the suffering the boy in the story must have gone through that I even teared up.
However, it seems that not everyone felt the same way.
Karina, who was riding in the carriage next to me, looked at me with cold, dead eyes and gave a dry assessment.
“I think that friend of a friend would be really annoying if I actually met him.”
“You might make that assessment if you were someone who wielded authority to bully and oppress others.”
“…? Who are you talking about now?”
“I’m just talking about general trends.”
It was a result with 100% reliability, compiled by the statistics bureau in my head, so it was definitely a reliable source.
In fact, there were people who lost their illusions about the nunnery after hearing my vivid story, which combined a highly reliable statistical result with a personal anecdote. The procession members who were following us on foot while guarding the carriage were an example.
“That’s ridiculous…”
“W-when they take off their veils, isn’t their beautiful natural hair supposed to flow down?”
“Liar! I’m not falling for it! No matter how holy your words may be, how can you be sure that your friend’s friend didn’t exaggerate!!!”
Such a dramatic reaction is clear proof that they had their doubts.
I was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief, realizing that I had faithfully accomplished my original purpose. I was glad that I didn’t have to take drastic measures with our poor procession members.
It would have broken my heart if the name of my sword, which I had lovingly cared for, became known as a cruel joke.
Meanwhile, we soon had our destination right before our eyes.
Traces of logging remained in the dense forest. Beyond the dirt road flattened by human footsteps, stone structures were nestled. It was as I had heard earlier.
“Lady Karina, I think that’s it.”
“Wow. It’s really rustic.”
“…”
The Convent of Saint Ariata.
It was the convent where Miriam Orwen Yubas and her illegitimate child had entered as nuns. For me, it was a crossroads that was both awkward and made me sigh deeply. It wasn’t a face I particularly wanted to see…
But before personal feelings, this is a matter for our duchy.
With that determination, I spurred my horse.
***
Enon.
Underneath the silvery white hair like a fluffy bunny that strongly resembled her older sister, the little nun with eyes full of curiosity had captured up to the bell tower today as well, avoiding the sharp-eyed Mother Superior.
That is, because she felt bored with the unchanging daily routine of the convent.
Enon, who was slowly swinging her legs with her hands folded over her plump breasts, had no doubt that today would be the same. She believed that the only thing that would happen was the wind occasionally blowing and shaking the forest.
“…?”
She thought so until the sound of something hitting the ground repeatedly and a man who seemed dark from afar appeared.