"Thank you!" Krillin said, remembering to give a quick bow before rushing over to the other monk, who looked up from his work. "Are you Brother Ickers? I was told that I needed to see you about seeing your sacred texts!"
The monk smiled, dipping his head low. "I am Brother Ickers. And you are correct, I am the one you must speak to if you wish to learn the secrets of our temple. No one is allowed to enter the sacred room without my permission." He set aside the cloth he had been stitching.
"That's great!" Krillin said, turning towards the temple. "I really need to-"
But the monk suddenly grabbed him by the shoulder, holding him back. "Oh, you can't just march into our sacred shrine!" the man told him, his tone utterly horrified and scandalized.
"What do you mean?" Krillin asked, confused.
Brother Ickers gestured at Krillin. "The sacred texts are kept in a place of purity and peace. An area where we do not allow any negative energy to potentially corrupt them."
Krillin scratched at his chin upon hearing that. "Well… I guess that makes sense." He thought about his own ki and realized that of anyone that might cause problems for sensitive materials he was the one that needed to be the most careful. "So what do I need to do?"
"We have purifying baths that remove any corruption that might affect the texts." He stood and with a graceful sweep of his hand gestured towards a small bathhouse that Krillin remembered Brother Itat showing him during the tour. "Only by cleansing yourself of the impurities will you be able to balance yourself and thus be able to read the texts without fear of corrupting them."
"Well… okay then." Krillin adjusted his hat. All of that sounded like a bit much but he wasn't the man in charge of the powerful ancient texts. "if that is what I need to do-"
Brother Icker though once more placed a hand on his shoulder, turning Krillin around before holding out his open palm. "That will be 4000 zeni."
Krillin started at that. "4000 zeni?!" It wasn't a ridiculous amount but something he hadn't expected to have to pay for. It was just to wash his body…
"Its only 2200 if you wish to only bathe in there… though I must warn you that if you do not use our special soaps then you can't actually enter the sacred chamber. The bath will leave you empty of both good and bad energy… the soaps will ensure that good energy is placed within your being and that it remains there."
Krillin grumbled but accepted he was going to need to do that, pulling out the bills and handing them to Brother Icker who produced from seemingly nowhere a tiny basket with a bar of soap that was barely bigger than his thumb and some shampoo in a bottle that made a capsule look large. He accepted the two and turned to go only for Brother Icker to catch him once more.
"Unless you wish to enter the chambers naked you will also need our specially purified robes and sandals."
"Purified robes and sandles?!" Krillin exclaimed.
Brother Icker nodded rapidly. "Oh yes, very important. Nature is full of such chaos. The predator stalking and killing the prey. The mother birthing her child. Digital watches. All are strange and wonderful and natural but they are not pure. You can not hope to read from the sacred texts if you are not pure."
"…fine," Krillin muttered.
"Wonderful. I will have Brother Eeses bring you a set." The monk pulled out a small scroll and opened it, looking at the contents carefully.
"Is that a way to determine my purification levels?" Krillin asked.
Brother Icker though shook his head. "Oh no… this is a pricing sheet to determine your bill. Now, a set of robes will cost you 33,500 zeni-"
Krillin went stiff as a board before he collapsed on the ground, twitching.
"-but due to your size we will have to have it tailored to fit so that will be an additional 10,000 zeni. The sandals we should have in your size so those will run you only 3,000 zeni which is a good deal on having purified footwear. Now, if you wish to actually handle the sacred texted that will be 2000 zeni for our special blessed gloves, though if you prefer you can hired one of us to read to you the texts at 2,500 zeni; you truly don't get the benefits of their knowledge if they aren't read to you by one who has studied them-"
Krillin weakly got up and opened his wallet, convinced he could hear the poor thing screaming in agony.