Helping with Adventurer Party Management - Chapter 133

I don’t have many good memories of the church.

Once, I went to the church to investigate whether there were any other people who had also transmigrated from another world, as I suspected there might be someone working on agricultural improvements. I had seen the low wheat fields extending outside the city and thought someone might be involved in that.

In this city, there are only three main groups that manage documents properly: the nobility, the Mage Guild, and the church. At the time, I was just a humble adventurer, and the only group I could access was the church.

The church has a library. Books are high-quality items and are strictly managed, with some even chained to the shelves. Because of this, for a rootless adventurer with no credibility like me, researching in the library required a substantial deposit. I still remember that, just for researching the low wheat, I ended up eating nothing but wheat porridge for a while.

“The Cardinal huh…” I muttered as I fidgeted with the cylindrical parchment sealed with wax that Jilboa had given me.

So Jilboa even made such connections.

I had enthusiastically accepted this for the sake of my old comrades and, by extension, for all adventurers, but it feels like Jilboa has cleverly maneuvered me into this. Well, it’s too late to worry about that now.

“Hey Kenji, is the Cardinal a very important person?” Sara asked

I answered vaguely, “Very important,”

She pressed me, “How important?”

Is she a kid?

That said, I’m not very knowledgeable either. I tried to recall the ranks, counting on my fingers from memory.

“Uh, well… First, there are the deacons who preach in the city and help in the poorhouses. Then there are the priests who gather the faithful in smaller churches and give sermons. Bishops manage several of these churches, so they’re in charge of a diocese. The archbishops oversee multiple dioceses. There should be one archbishop in this city. Above them are the cardinals, who are extremely important… I think.”

I wasn’t confident in my knowledge, but I remembered that when I was building the workshop, I had to research the administrative units and dioceses, and bishops were in charge of those.

“Really?! So, is a cardinal more important than a count?!” Sara, who had been counting the ranks on her fingers, suddenly began clapping her hands together in excitement.

“I don’t know the exact hierarchy compared to counts, but they are quite significant.”

“W-We’re going to meet someone like that? Kenji, you need to cut your hair as it’s becoming too long! And you have to shave off that stubble too! I’ve been meaning to say something about that. Also, try to wear calm and elegant clothes…”

“Hey, calm down.”

Sara seemed to be getting flustered and started saying strange things, so I had to stop her for my own sake. I’d rather not cut my hair, but shaving might be a good idea. As for my clothes, they shouldn’t be as bad as she’s making them out to be.

“The introduction letter to the cardinal is probably not going to be given directly to the cardinal.”

“Really?”

I remembered my meeting with the count At that time, Jilboa and I had merely reported the commencement of the Guardian Shoes production and received some words of approval. The real purpose was to defend against the underbidding of the Guardian Shoes business that Roro had depicted, and the meeting was just a political demonstration.

People like the count and the cardinal, who are far above us, discuss abstract and lofty matters such as national policies and church doctrines. There’s not much benefit for us lower folk to meet with them.

Most likely, when we present this letter, we’ll end up dealing with someone from the church who handles practical matters. Probably someone Jilboa would want to offload to us.

“I’m feeling heavy-hearted.”

Thinking about the upcoming difficulties, I couldn’t help but let out a sigh.