Even after Sophie had quickly cleaned up and put on one of the stupid grey dresses, she realized they had a larger problem. The entranceway of the shrine was still full of all of the random stuff she had pulled out of the cabinets during her cleaning spree.

There was no way she wanted another one of the people from the town to see it in such a state. It seemed… unprofessional, to say the least. Sophie would need to further investigate those sanitation services that Briony had mentioned.

“Hurry! What if he leaves!” Elowen insisted. “We can just do it in the courtyard.”

“And just have him stand there?” Sophie asked, still staring down at the pile of random items as if they might disappear at any moment.

“It won’t take that long,” Elowen reassured her. Sophie had the sense that, if Elowen had a corporeal body, she would be dragging Sophie out the door.

Instead, Sophie sighed and crept to the entrance quietly. She cracked open the door to peer out. A young man with light brown skin and messy black hair stood in the courtyard glancing around. He seemed to be around Sophie’s age, and he was dressed in the rather simple clothes she had seen others wear in the town. Sophie followed his gaze and felt a little bad about the state the outdoor area was in. Darn, she would need to clean up out there as well.

Suddenly, the man turned as if to head back down the path, so Sophie pushed the door fully open and took a hesitant step out of the shrine. “Um, excuse me? Are you here to receive a class?”

The man turned back around, face lighting up with relief, and started walking towards her. “I am! Are you the new shrine priestess?”

“Yep, that’s me,” Sophie confirmed, trying to sound more confident than she felt. Elowen floated up alongside her, and that helped a bit. Sophie didn’t know how long Elowen had been a shrine spirit, but surely she had done this numerous times.

“That’s great! I’ve been putting off getting a class for a while now. It’s such a pain to go all the way over to Sentus.”

Sophie nodded along, although she still had no idea where Sentus was. “So I’ve heard…” she replied, and then she glanced over at Elowen for guidance.

To her surprise, the spirit stood completely still, with her eyes closed and one of her hands hovering right above the man’s shoulder. Sophie had a brief moment of panic, wondering if Elowen was malfunctioning or something, when the spirit’s eyes suddenly snapped open. Her hand returned to her side, and she turned to Sophie.

“He has the makings of a Bard,” she said thoughtfully, and her eyes seemed oddly unfocused like they had the other day, when they were talking about mana corruption. “But he could also choose a Healer class as well.”

Sophie stared at Elowen in disbelief. “Wait, so you determine the class?” she asked.

Elowen’s eyes lost a bit of their hazy look, and she nodded. “I can see the possibilities,” she explained. She gestured at the man, who was starting to look incredibly confused. “He has the potential for either, so it’s ultimately his decision. When he decides, I will grant him a class. You, too, will gain the ability to grant classes, but not for a very, very long time.”

Sophie realized suddenly that the man probably hadn’t heard a single word of that. “Oh, sorry,” she said to him. “I forgot that you can’t hear her.”

“The spirit?” the man asked, glancing curiously at the spot where Elowen stood. “She’s here now?”

Sophie nodded. “She is.” Sophie wondered what he saw. When Sophie looked at Elowen, she looked translucent, but she looked like a person. Although, a floating person. Could this man and Briony from yesterday really not see anything at all?

“Unfortunately, she’s… a little under the weather, so she is not currently able to manifest, but we can still give you a class today. She said you would make a good Bard or a Healer.”

The man’s eyes lit up at the news. “I’d love to be a Bard,” he said. “I’ve been practicing guitar for ages.”

“Great,” Sophie said, belatedly noticing that he even appeared to have an instrument strapped on his back judging by the carrying case. How peculiar. What could a Bard possibly do anyway?

Elowen closed her eyes again and folded her hands together this time. At first she looked like a statue but after a moment, she appeared to glow brighter than she had before. She lifted her hand again, holding it above the man’s shoulder. And then after another beat of silence, the strange glow left her. She dropped her hand to her side and opened her eyes again. “It is done.”

“It is?” Sophie asked, sort of expecting a little bit more fanfare. Would it be so hard to at least have some sort of pop-up screen in this fantasy world?

Elowen nodded, though, and clapped her hands together happily. “Yes! He is now a Bard.”

Sophie eyed the man carefully, but she couldn’t tell if anything had changed. “Well, there you go. She granted you your class. Do you feel any different?”

He frowned thoughtfully for a moment. “I’m unsure. Am I supposed to?”

Elowen shook her head. “No, not necessarily. A class is a blessing, just like the Universal Language blessing I gave you. It isn’t always noticeable until you attempt to use an ability related to the class. In his case, it’s likely he won’t notice until he tries to play an instrument.”

“I see, I see…” Sophie replied, and turned back to the man. “She says you probably won’t right now, but that you might notice a difference when you play your guitar.”

The man nodded. “That sounds about right from what I’ve heard,” he said.

“He also will be able to progress past Level 10 now,” Elowen continued.

“He couldn’t before?” Sophie asked, suddenly lost again just when she started to think she might understand things…

The man looked at her strangely, and she waved a hand at him apologetically. “Sorry, talking with the spirit. It’s so annoying that you can’t see her.”

The man laughed. “Don’t worry about it. I understand. I hope she feels better soon.”

“That’s correct,” Elowen replied. “He is currently Level 10, which is the max level one can reach without receiving a class blessing. Most people are able to reach that level through daily life by the time they come of age.”

“Ahhh, so my case is a little unusual, huh?”

Elowen sniffed. “In many ways. This is why you found it so challenging to light even a few mana lamps. As a Level 2, your mana levels are much lower than usual for a shrine priestess. At Level 10, you would have no issue lighting all of the lamps in the shrine, even at a distance.”

Sophie felt oddly embarrassed at that. No wonder Elowen kept teasing her about her mana. But it’s not like they had mana back on Earth. She wanted to ask more questions, but she felt rude for keeping the man here any longer.

She turned back to him. “Sorry about that,” she said again. She gave him a thumbs up. “Sounds like you’re all set.”

He copied the gesture, seeming to be unsure what it meant.

“Right. Different cultures,” Sophie muttered to herself. “I mean – the spirit gave you your class so you are all good here. You will now be able to continue leveling as a Bard.”

“Great, thank you.” He bowed slightly, first towards Sophie and then again in the general direction of Elowen, which made Sophie wonder if he could somehow sense her presence, even though she wasn’t visible to him.

When he straightened, he pulled a small bag out of his pocket and dug out a silver. “If that’s all, I’d like to leave an offering,” he explained when he caught Sophie staring at it.

“Um, sure?” Sophie replied. She stepped back to clear the path to the shrine’s entrance. She wasn’t sure what that entailed but – “Oh, but you can’t go inside just yet. Um, we’re under construction.”

The man nodded. “That’s fine,” he said. He walked up to the shrine’s entrance, bowed his head for a long moment, and then placed the silver in a small wooden box right under the bell rope.

He bowed deeply again as he passed, his guitar shifting on his back slightly before he caught it with a hand. “Thank you again,” he said. “I’ll be sure to let others know.”

Sophie nodded blankly, watching as he walked back into the forest. When he was no longer within earshot, she turned back to Elowen who was practically spinning with happiness. “So that was really it? What do we do with that?” Sophie asked, gesturing towards the box where the man had placed the silver earlier.

Elowen blinked at her in confusion and then floated over to the box in question. “It’s yours, of course,” she said. “There are quite a few others in there.”

“What?”

Sophie nearly tripped over the inconvenient wooden sandals Elowen had made her put on earlier as she quickly made her way to the box to peer inside. Sure enough, she could see the glint of several other silver coins and even a gold piece or two. “How long has this been here?”

Elowen shrugged. “People come and go over the years. Some left offerings when they visited.”

“Even though the shrine wasn’t active? I thought people were afraid of this place!” Sophie felt along the edges of the box to find the lid’s catch. It wasn’t even locked. It looked like an awful lot of offerings, but maybe it was just because it had been such a long time. “And, oh, I don’t know – no one stole it? This looks like a lot of money!”

Elowen looked positively affronted at the suggestion. “As if they would dare! Who would steal from a shrine?”

Well, lots of people, Sophie was sure, but maybe not in this world? Maybe especially not if they thought the shrine was haunted? She touched the coins carefully. Somehow she would have expected them to be more weather-worn. Was this another side effect of mana? Perhaps the box had been Crafted?

She pulled out the topmost piece of silver, and it felt almost warm to the touch. She wondered if this came from the newly christened Bard. “A whole silver? Just for that?” she asked, and Elowen nodded.

“Why, of course. People appreciate my services.” She was practically glowing with confidence, now.

“I suppose we do need the money to restore the shrine…” Sophie agreed, but it didn’t sit quite right with her all the same. She wanted to do something to help. Something a bit more active than acting as a de facto translator.

She picked up a few more of the silver coins along with a gold one, holding them all in her palm. There were so many in here. She would set most of it aside to go towards Briony’s recommendations on modernizing the shrine, and then she would figure out if there was some other way she could earn money while she was in this strange fantasy land. She supposed being a translator was, in fact, a real job, even in her own world, but she felt uncomfortable about it all the same.

She couldn’t pinpoint why, yet.

She carefully closed the lid of the offering box, leaving the rest of the coins for later. She’d need to count them up and determine just which of Briony’s updates were within their budget now that they had all of that to work with.

“Right, well I think it’s time for me to head back into town,” she said. She didn’t miss the flash of panic in Elowen’s eyes.

“I promise I’ll be back,” she reassured the spirit. “I’ll even wear this, if it makes you feel better.” She tugged at the hem of the grey dress for emphasis. “I just need to take care of a few things. Like a bath. And potentially better food.”

Elowen nodded, but she didn’t look happy about it. “Fine,” she said, crossing her arms and pouting. Her earlier mood seemed to have vanished. “But when you get back, we’re working on your mana channeling.”

Sophie laughed at Elowen’s tone. “Sure,” she said, as she made her way back into the shrine. Elowen floated behind her as if she still really didn’t believe her.

But Sophie wanted to work on her mana channeling. Especially if it meant helping to fix the portal and restoring the shrine. Even with Elowen’s teasing, Sophie hadn’t really realized she was so far behind in levels. She wondered how long it would take her to get to the point where she could even do anything useful.

There was just so much else to do – the shrine was in such a bad state, and she was really having a hard time adjusting to the new world.

She grabbed the coin pouch off of it’s place on the little desk in the living quarters, sliding the handful of coins she took from the offering box into it, and began to prepare for her trip into town.