Thanks Be to God!
Hypno pointed to the sofa across from him.
"First, please have a seat."
"Yes!"
The priestess scurried over and sat on the opposite sofa.
After activating the consultation room's lock function, Hypno asked her,
"Could you tell me your name?"
"M-Marnie!"
Marnie offered her name with a shy, hesitant stammer. Hypno wore the gentle smile he had perfected through countless clients.
"Hello, Miss Marnie. As you know..."
While he spoke, he released a Hypnosis Wave, implanting two commands: that she must answer every question he asked with complete truth, and that every act he labeled as treatment was a natural, proper treatment she ought to receive.
"What is your concern?"
"Well... lately I've lost all confidence in myself."
"Lost confidence... could you be more specific?"
"I'm currently in a party with three other adventurers. When we take requests together and someone gets hurt, I'm the one who heals them."
Well, she's a priestess, so that much is obvious.
"What's the gender makeup of the party?"
"Huh? I'm the only woman. The rest are all men."
Oh-ho...
"I see. And then? Please continue."
"Well... on our last request, one of my companions was badly injured."
"Oh no. Is he all right now?"
"Yes. Once we returned to Zenid he received proper treatment at the temple and he's fine. But... even though I treated him right there on the spot, all I could manage was first aid. The senior priestesses at the temple healed him completely in no time..."
In short, she realized the gap in skill and lost her confidence.
As she kept talking, Marnie seemed to shrink further into herself, lowering her head.
"Of course I know the senior priestesses have served Lord Quill far longer than I have, and their devotion is much deeper. But..."
"Lord Quill?"
"The God of Healing, Quill."
"Ah. So even though you accept the reality, you've lost confidence in your own healing ability?"
"...Yes. The seniors keep telling me I'll improve, and my companions say we'll grow stronger together... but I can't help worrying whether a pathetic priestess like me can ever manage it."
A priestess who failed to properly heal an injured companion and lost her self-assurance. Hypno had seen the same pattern countless times in his previous life.
Hmm. In that case...
"Miss Marnie, you're saying you've lost confidence because your healing skill lags behind the senior priestesses, correct?"
"Ugh... yes."
"I'll ask a few questions."
Hypno posed something he had been mildly curious about for a while.
"Sacred arts—those techniques used for all sorts of things besides healing, distinct from magic—how exactly do they work?"
"We pray to the god, either silently or aloud, and recite the power we desire. Then our mana and the strength of our faith combine, and the sacred art activates."
"So even sacred arts require mana."
"Yes. Mana is one of the vital forces the gods bestowed upon humanity. Of course we use it. The difference from mages is that mages cast using mana alone, while we priestesses take the mana we already possess and amplify it with our devotion to the god, producing sacred arts."
Hypno listened, sorted the explanation in his own mind, and spoke.
"So faith acts as an amplifier for mana when casting sacred arts... meaning you believe your healing is weak because your faith itself is lacking?"
And that's why she's lost confidence.
"...Yes. I'm a follower of Quill, yet I can't even heal a companion's wounds to my satisfaction. I've completely lost the confidence that I can keep serving properly as a priestess."
Marnie clenched her hands on her knees, wrinkling the fabric of her priestess robes. Watching her, Hypno thought,
She doesn't look like someone whose faith is especially lacking... Isn't it just that her base mana is low? From what I've heard around town, mana increases with experience.
If the base value of mana was small, even multiplying it by faith would still leave the result weak. But as a devout priestess, Marnie seemed to place all the weight on her faith rather than her mana reserves.
I could just advise her to take more requests and raise her mana... but heh heh heh, I should always offer a solution that matches what the client wants!
"So Miss Marnie wants to regain confidence in her faith."
"Yes."
Hypno assembled a string of plausible lines in his head and continued.
"Miss Marnie, what exactly is faith?"
"Faith...? It's the heart that believes in the god. The heart that believes and gives thanks."
"Yes. Then what is it that you lack? The believing heart? Do you doubt the god?"
"I-I do not!"
The question had struck at the core of her identity as a priestess; Marnie shot to her feet.
"I believe in the god! That Lord Quill exists! That Lord Quill is always watching over us! This..."
A soft pale-green light bloomed from her hands.
"This light of healing is the very proof that Lord Quill watches over us! ...Ah! I-I'm so sorry! Raising my voice like that..."
"Hahaha, not at all. That honest, pure belief is most admirable."
"Th-thank you."
"Then... what you lack is gratitude."
"Gratitude?"
"Yes. Do you always give thanks to Lord Quill?"
"Of course I do!"
"Is that truly so? Do you give thanks at every moment? When you heal, do you think, 'Thank you for granting me the power to heal my companions'? When you travel with them, 'Thank you for letting me keep meeting such wonderful companions'? When you eat, 'Thank you for allowing me to live another day'? Do you offer thanks to Lord Quill for every single moment of life?"
"Th-that's..."
Faced with the flood of examples, Marnie faltered and trailed off. Hypno did not miss it.
"Of course that isn't easy. To a priestess, Lord Quill's existence is simply natural. Believing, praying, casting sacred arts, using that power to heal companions—all of it feels natural. If you focus only on belief, your faith is strong; you believe in Lord Quill with absolute certainty. But!"
Hypno rose, stepped to her side, and laid a hand on her shoulder.
"Haven't you taken that naturalness for granted and forgotten to give thanks to the god? That is why the faith that should amplify your existing mana has grown insufficient."
"Th-that's...!"
Marnie could not refute him. That the god existed was natural. That she believed without doubt was natural. But to feel gratitude for that existence in every single moment—she could not, as a follower, boldly claim such a lie. Constant, unbroken gratitude was the pinnacle of piety, something even within the temple only a saintess or bishop-level figure could approach. Yet Marnie, unaware of that difficulty, felt that failing to give thanks at every moment made her terribly unfaithful.
"Ahh...!"
She sank heavily onto the sofa. Tears dripped onto her priestess robes, darkening the fabric.
"I... I was so lacking in gratitude toward the god. That's why I couldn't even properly heal my companion's wounds..."
Uh... she's taking this pretty hard. Well, this level is perfect for now!
Hypno patted her shoulder gently.
"Miss Marnie, don't worry. My consultation treatments include a faith-enhancement course."
"R-really?!"
She jerked her head up, tears still clinging to her lashes, and looked at him. Hypno nodded.
"Of course. Ordinarily I wouldn't touch anything related to faith... but for Miss Marnie, who grieves and repents her lack of gratitude toward the god, I'll make a special exception."
"Ahh...! Th-thank you!"
Overwhelmed, Marnie pressed her hands together in a prayer-like gesture and poured out her thanks.
"Heh heh heh. Then allow me to explain the faith-enhancement course."
Hypno sat beside her, slipped an arm around her shoulders, and began to stroke them.
"Huh? H-Hypno...?"
"This is also part of the treatment process."
"Ah... is it?"
The moment she heard the word "treatment," every trace of resistance to being touched vanished. So there's a treatment that involves touching the shoulders... She simply accepted that there were forms of healing she did not yet know.
"To be honest, constantly giving thanks to the god is extremely difficult. Human life is short compared to a god's, and there is far too much to do in that brief span. Therefore, we create an intense experience that makes gratitude toward the god rise naturally."
"An intense experience?"
"Yes. For example, joy. When you feel a powerful joy in being alive, gratitude to the god comes unbidden. When you survive a crisis, don't you think, 'Thank you, O God'?"
"I-I do!"
"Exactly! But you can't always experience the joy of escaping danger. So this treatment lets you feel joy from a different direction, and while feeling it you think, 'Thank you for letting me experience this joy,' directed at the god."
"Waaah..."
Ideas and words she had never imagined. Marnie found herself sinking deeper into Hypno's words.
"W-what kind of joy is that?"
"Heh heh heh. It is pleasure."
"Plea...sure?"
"Yes, pleasure. The joy felt when creating life. The joy when man and woman become one, and so on."
"B-but... the seniors teach that we must not fall into pleasure or indulgence..."
"Is that the god's teaching?"
"...No."
"Of course the seniors have a point. But that warning applies only when one becomes so lost in pleasure that gratitude to the god is forgotten. If you feel pleasure and never forget the fundamental cause that allows you to feel it—namely, gratitude to the god—then there is no problem at all! Humans are frail, and so are their hearts! Precisely because one can lose oneself in the sweetness of pleasure and forget the god's existence, such teachings were created!"
Hypno raised a stern finger, face solemn, and drove the point home with heavy emphasis.
"How-ever! This treatment exists solely to awaken gratitude toward the god! Therefore there is absolutely no chance of becoming so lost in pleasure that the god is forgotten even for a moment! So it is perfectly fine!"
"I-I see...!"
"Then you understand that receiving this treatment poses no problem whatsoever?"
"Yes...! Ah, but I still have no experience..."
"Heh heh heh, no need to worry. I am a professional. Even a virgin like Miss Marnie will feel so much pleasure she'll go 'Ooooh!' and squirt like a fountain."
"S-squirt?"
"When a woman feels extremely good, the liquid that gushes from her pussy is commonly called that."
"P-pussy..."
Hearing the word, Marnie's face flushed crimson.
So fresh... heh heh heh.
"Miss Marnie, I'll say this in advance: during treatment, when referring to a man's genitals or a woman's, you must not use vague words like 'down there' or 'that place.' You will properly say 'pussy' and 'cock.' Understood?"
"Y-yes, I understand!"
"...Ah. Except for my cock. That one is special. You will call it Lord Penis."
"L-Lord Penis?"
"Yes. From now on my cock will be the one that grants Miss Marnie pleasure... the precious existence that awakens her gratitude toward the god. Therefore you will address it with respect and thanks as Lord Penis! Understood?"
"Y-yes! L-Lord Penis... uuu, I'll call it Lord Penis."
"Heh heh heh, excellent! Then, Miss Marnie."
Hypno wore a thoroughly wicked smile as he spoke to her.
"Before we begin the real treatment, I'll teach you a few things you need to know."