Maeve received the grandest possible welcome at the Communion.
She lay in front of the canteen as many people fell to their knees, weeping bitterly and kissing the ground beneath her feet.
The Communion's clergy, who were also the canteen's cooks, wore priestly robes and carried Holy Oil, Holy Salt, and Holy Thirteen-Spice as they gathered around to rub them onto her. This was a new Consecration Ritual Elsa had devised.
The results proved excellent. Many believers drooled devoutly.
Dorothea had wanted to join in too, but the believers stopped her.
Although it was only a symbolic ritual, the believers still worried that ingredients she touched would taste bad.
Elsa went up to oil Maeve too, though she made sure to wear gloves-she was too sweet, and without proper protection, she could easily make Maeve sweet as well.
To accommodate the believers' different tastes, the Communion had designed two versions of the Consecration Ritual. This was the savory version; she could touch Maeve when it was time for the sweet version next.
Since Elsa's corpses had contaminated the drinking water in the Courtyard, all the food prepared in the canteen was now sweet, making this savory Maeve especially precious.
"Older Brother Allen, is she Maeve? She's so big!"
Holding Allen's hand, Alice looked at Maeve in amazement.
She held an Elsa corpse in her arms and occasionally licked it, her eyes narrowing afterward. She had never tasted anything so sweet and delicious before.
Elsa had given it to her on her last inspection of the orphanage. No one else had one!
Allen smiled and ruffled Alice's hair. "Don't describe Maeve as 'so big.' That's rude."
"Then what should I say?"
"You should say, 'Older Sister Maeve looks so delicious!'"
"Older Sister Maeve looks so delicious!!!" Alice shouted happily.
Maeve had