Sophie spent the rest of the morning tidying the shrine, stopping for a bit to grab another slice of bread when she felt hungry. She sorely missed the convenience of takeout and instant ramen and microwaves. At some point she was going to have to do something different about her food situation. She had only bought the one loaf of bread after all, and at this rate, it would be gone within the day.

And then she would need to learn how to cook. She shuddered at the thought.

In the early afternoon, by the time Sophie was nearly down to the last slice of the market bread, she heard the sound of a bell from the front of the shrine. Elowen perked up from where she had been floating quietly in some sort of meditative state and floated after Sophie as she made her way to the front of the shrine.

A tall, rather fit woman with her curly red hair pulled back in a ponytail stood at the shrine’s entrance, looking at the building with a professional eye. She waved a hand at Sophie when Sophie peered out.

“Briony?” Sophie asked, and the woman nodded, offering her hand.

“And you’ll be Sophie Birch, then? Our new shrine priestess?”

Sophie nodded, although she still felt uncomfortable with the title. It wasn’t like she really knew what she was doing yet, after all.

“I suppose that’s me,” she said. She noticed the rope swaying next to Briony and followed it up to find a bell that she hadn’t noticed before. “Oh, is that what that’s for?” She pointed up at the rafter.

The woman followed her line of sight and then grinned at her. “Probably not,” she admitted. “But it does make a good door chime.”

Elowen huffed from her spot beside Sophie. “It’s supposed to attract the attention of the spirit,” she explained, her arms crossed.

Sophie couldn’t help but laugh, and she gestured towards the bell again. “Well, it definitely got your attention, didn’t it?”

Elowen didn’t seem impressed at the teasing, and when Sophie looked back to Briony, her face was creased with confusion. “Are you…” she waved a hand in Elowen’s general direction. “I mean – are you talking with the spirit right now?”

Sophie felt cold suddenly, glancing between the two women. Sure, Elowen was a little translucent, even on a good day, but – “You can’t see her?” she asked. “You can’t see her at all?”

Briony shook her head. “Nope, not if she’s right there, I can’t.”

Sophie had thought she was starting to get over the whole spirit thing, but this took the situation to a new level. “Wait, is that like – not common?”

Briony gave her an odd look, but eventually shrugged. “I have heard that it happens sometimes with shrine spirits. It’s probably why everyone thinks this place is haunted.”

“Haunted?” Elowen asked, sounding more annoyed than anything at the thought. “I’m not a mere ghost!”

Sophie felt a laugh bubbling up, breaking the tension a bit. It reminded her all-too-much of their first meeting. “People in town warned me that the shrine was haunted,” she couldn’t help but tease back.

Briony glanced at the spot where Elowen was and then back at Sophie, and then she shook her head. “This is definitely weird,” she admitted.

“You can’t hear her either?” Sophie asked, and Elowen pouted.

“No one can hear me!” she complained. “Well, you could, when you walked through the portal. That’s why I made you my priestess.”

Sophie felt suddenly stunned at the revelation. “No one else can even hear you?” she asked.

Elowen pouted sadly and shook her head.

Briony frowned as well. “It sounds like she’s in a bad state.”

Sophie nodded, completely dumbstruck. It was worse than Sophie could have realized. She wondered how long Elowen would have been able to survive here if Sophie hadn’t walked through the portal. The thought gave Sophie chills. What happened to a shrine spirit when they ran out of mana?

Did they die?

“Well, we’ll get this place all fixed up,” she said softly. “And you’ll be good as new.”

Elowen sniffled a bit and nodded, although Sophie didn’t really think it would be that easy. Just cleaning the place up wouldn’t fix the mana issue. Sophie still wasn’t exactly sure how to fix the mana issue or even what was wrong.

“That’s where I come in,” Briony cut in with a disarming grin. “I heard you have a broken window here for me to patch up. I’m happy to take a look at it, as well as anything else you’d like.”

“That would be great,” Sophie said, relieved at the change of topic. She led Briony into the shrine. “Honestly I think the whole place probably needs work, but if you could recommend anything major…”

Briony nodded absentmindedly as she glanced around the shrine. “I’ve never been in here,” she said with an oddly reverent tone. “It’s like stepping back in time.”

Sophie definitely agreed with that, although she had no idea what a modern shrine would look like in this world, so she kept her mouth shut.

“What’s all this?” Briony asked, indicating the pile of random objects and old food sitting in the middle of the shrine’s main room, including all of the ripped cushions that used to be scattered over the floor.

“Ah –” Sophie started, but she wasn’t sure what to say about that. She shook her head, feeling a little embarrassed all of a sudden. “I guess I just don’t know what to do with any of this stuff. It was all here when I moved in. I was hoping you might have some ideas.”

Briony nodded, looking thoughtful. “It is a bit far out here, isn’t it?” she said. “Well, the Forester already started on clearing out the path, so you can get sanitation services set up. It might be hard to get a cart up here, but I’m sure you could find someone in town to help.”

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

Sanitation… services? Did they have that in fantasy worlds, too?

Briony took a look around the rest of the shrine, pointing out small issues here and there, but nothing too major. When they got to the kitchen, she stopped in her tracks. “Now this is surprising,” she said.

Sophie glanced around, unsure which part could be as surprising to Briony as all of it had been to Sophie when she first arrived.

“It’s downright amazing in here,” Briony breathed. “Everything in this kitchen was Crafted, even down to the cabinets. In fact, I would bet that the food you found only began spoiling in the last decade.”

Briony rubbed a hand over one of the cabinets with the same reverence from before. “You really don’t see craftsmanship like this very often. But if there’s really no mana left, then all of these wooden pieces would lose their Crafting as well eventually. Things made of stone last for much longer, even if it’s not made of mana stone.”

Sophie nodded politely, although she didn’t really see what the big deal was with the cabinets.

“But beyond that –” Briony continued. “There’s no chill box, no mana oven, or even a quick start for the fire. You’re really roughing it here.”

Sophie could have started sobbing and hugging Briony at this last part, but she tried to keep her composure.

“A chill box? Is that like a refrigerator?” she asked, before she could catch herself. She immediately pressed her lips together, realizing her mistake. Drat. So much for composure.

Briony eyed her curiously. “Is that what they call it where you’re from?”

Sophie shrugged, unsure exactly how much she should explain just now. She didn’t want Briony to cart her off to whatever local officials might deal with crazy shrine priestesses.

“Well, they’re all about the same – about the size of one of these cabinets here, and they keep stuff cold. If you wanted to look at one before you commit to it, you can stop by the guild later this evening. I’d be happy to show you the ones we have,” Briony offered.

Sophie began nodding eagerly, but then remembered the creepy path. Even if the Forester had cleared it out, it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to go wandering around in the dark. With her luck, she’d probably get lost and stumble upon some trolls with a huge soup pot, looking for a fresh human to eat, or something else out of a fantasy novel.

“Maybe tomorrow?” she suggested instead.

“Sure! Stop by any time,” Briony replied. “If I’m not around, Euan can show you.”

“Great! I’d be interested to hear about the other stuff you mentioned, as well. How much would things like that cost?”

“It won’t be cheap,” Briony admitted. “I can draw up an estimate for you, and you can decide what you’d like to do first.”

“That’s perfect,” Sophie said, excitement already brimming in her. “The chill box –” she started, unable to help herself. “That first, probably.”

Briony laughed. “Of course. That’s easy enough, anyways.”

“Oh, also – there’s a well outside,” Sophie remembered. “Would you mind looking at that, too?”

Briony nodded, sliding the paper back into a pocket. “Sure,” she said, following Sophie out to the rear courtyard. Briony hadn’t actually mentioned anything about the water or plumbing situation, so Sophie didn’t want to get her hopes up in that regard, but at the very least, she could hopefully find out if she actually needed to boil all of the water before drinking it. She felt that would get old really quickly.

Briony ran her hands along the rope and the beams that held it up. Sophie couldn’t tell if she was doing anything particular – anything with mana, that is – but Briony eventually nodded, looking satisfied at whatever she had discovered. “This has held up great over the years,” she explained. “Wells usually do, of course. And, again, this one seems to have been made by a master crafter.”

Sophie wanted to ask how it all worked – how could Briony tell? How do crafters work in general? But she wasn’t sure if she should. Wouldn’t it be common knowledge here?

“What about the water?” she prompted instead. “Is it safe to drink?”

Briony nodded. “Yep, safe as anything, at least. Why, in a few levels, you’ll be able to test it for yourself.”

Sophie blinked at her blankly, while Elowen nodded encouragingly. Yet another thing for Sophie to ask Elowen about once Briony left.

Briony checked over the outside of the shrine as well, peering at the foundation and even glancing up at the roof, although she didn’t go so far as to hop up there or anything.

“Well, I’m not a Builder, but I think most things have held up pretty well over the years.” She pulled the piece of paper off of the tablet, handing it to Sophie. “These would be my recommendations, along with cost estimates.”

Sophie glanced down at the paper, the strange writing twisting in her head into something readable, and she felt her stomach drop at the costs. She still had no idea how she’d make any money in this world. “Right,” she said. “I’ll look it all over and let you know what else I’d like done.”

Briony nodded amicably at that. “Well, I’ll get that window fixed up for you and be on my way.”

Sophie showed Briony back into the shrine’s entryway with Elowen trailing along behind. Briony stepped outside to pick up the pane of glass she had brought along with her toolbox. When she returned, she set to work on removing the old glass, cutting the new glass down to size with some sort of tool, and then installing it.

Sophie had already swept up the broken glass earlier this morning, so she mostly just watched Briony with curiosity. As far as Sophie could tell, it looked like any other maintenance person installing a new window at first. But then, there was a moment when Briony paused and Sophie could tell Briony was doing something with mana. She could almost sense it. Like a prickle along the hairs on the back of her arms or a shiver.

She didn’t want to interrupt whatever Briony was doing but – what was she doing? Was this what it meant to be a Crafter?

“All done,” Briony said after a moment. She stood up, brushing off her work pants.

“How much will it be?” Sophie asked, but Briony waved a hand at her.

“Don’t worry about it for now. Just come by the guild sometime this week to check out a chill box, and you can settle up then. We haven’t had a priestess in this area for a while, but Euan might have some work that you could do in trade.”

Sophie blinked in surprise, not sure what she could possibly have to offer in exchange, but still not sure if she should actually admit that to Briony. “Okay,” she said hesitantly, and then she nodded more firmly. “That sounds good. Tomorrow then.”

Briony gave her a wink and a grin. “Tomorrow it is.”

Once Briony left, Elowen floated around the repaired window happily, practically glowing. “Oh, it's been ages since this broke.”

She was obviously delighted at the repairs, and Sophie couldn’t help but smile softly. “Did it get cold in here?” she asked.

Elowen shook her head. “No… but, I don't really know. I don't exactly feel cold.”

Well, that sort of made sense, all things considered. “Okay, well… I think I need to figure out how to make some food before it gets too late, and then I have a lot of questions.”

Elowen nodded and floated behind Sophie as she made her way into the living quarters in the back of the shrine. Sophie glanced around the room, scanning the various books and scrolls perched on shelves and on the desk. Of course it wasn’t so easy that they would have a title on the spine like books in her world. She hadn’t done much with this part of the shrine during her cleaning spree earlier, and she’d like to take some time to look through each one and do some organizing in here. Maybe see if she could find a handy Guide to being a Shrine Priestess tucked away in here.

But she only had a few bites of bread left, and it would be getting dark again soon. She wasn’t sure how long the mana lights would hold out.

Right. Time to see if she could find a cookbook.