Sister Mary's Story
The nun arrived carrying a tray laden with food. The portions were so generous that the tabletop vanished beneath the dishes.
“Isn’t this… a bit too much?”
“You may leave some if you wish.”
Leave some?! Even so, it felt wasteful.
“If you don’t mind, would you like to eat with us?”
There was far too much for two people anyway. I wanted the nun who had gone to the trouble of running errands to enjoy a proper dinner as well.
“…… I’m fine.”
“Is it not allowed even if I ask?”
The nun wore a troubled expression. Had I demanded something unreasonable? It seemed unavoidable, so perhaps I should simply give up…
“A-All right.”
With her joining us, the three of us sat down to dinner. Unlike breakfast, there was no need for tension, so I could focus on the food itself—and it was truly delicious.
“This is really good!”
The thought that I had failed to enjoy such fine cooking that morning left me feeling cheated. I should have just ignored the atmosphere and eaten! Opportunities to taste something like this might not come often in a lifetime; I ought to savor them.
Even with the nun present, I ate comfortably, without a thought for table manners.
“By the way, Sister, do you eat like this every day?”
“No. This is a special meal. Especially today, because we have special guests.”
“Special guests?”
It did not sound as though she meant me.
“Yes. Professors and students from the Barga Academy are visiting.”
The Academy! Young Master had once told me he attended the Academy, and listening to her felt exactly like hearing stories of school days from a previous life.
“Yes. The professors are one thing, but most of the students are nobles, so it’s quite a hassle.”
Nobles… so that was why Young Master had attended the Academy.
“I see.”
Was that the reason they had suddenly changed my room? Because they could not risk revealing my identity to the nobles?
The nun seemed to dislike nobles intensely; her expression had turned fierce.
“Those nobles mostly have no manners, and the way they treat nuns…”
She made no attempt to hide her hatred, laying it bare.
“Something must have happened.”
I carefully agreed, offering quiet sympathy. The nun flinched in surprise and bowed her head.
“I’m truly sorry for bringing this up during the meal.”
“No. It seems you’ve been through something difficult. It’s understandable.”
The nun did not open her mouth again until dinner was finished. Once the meal and the cleanup were done, we finally had time to rest.
“Phew. It’s nice to be full.”
“Yeah, I’m full.”
My sister had also eaten an enormous amount, yet in the middle of it she had deftly slipped a piece of bread into her bag. Whether she meant to save it as a snack or simply could not bear to waste it, I could not tell…
While I sat in a chair resting comfortably, the nun entered the room once more.
“The Cardinal will arrive in one hour.”
“Is that so? Understood. More than that, I’d like to hear your story, Sister.”
“M-My story?”
“Yes. Waiting is simply boring.”
Prying too deeply into another’s affairs was never wise, yet I was far too curious about what had happened earlier.
The nun looked into my eyes and, reluctantly, began to speak.
She had originally been ordained not here but at a temple in the capital. After becoming entangled in an unwanted major incident, she had been transferred to the main temple.
“Was that by any chance…”
“Yes, well… it was related to a noble.”
It was the capital of the kingdom, so of course there would be many nobles… But what on earth had that noble been thinking, meddling with the church?
“May I ask for the details?”
“It’s not a particularly interesting story…”
Her name was Mary. She had been an orphan taken in by the church. Having received the church’s kindness at a young age, she studied diligently and prayed hard to repay that debt, awakening her Holy Power at the age of ten. At twelve she was ordained as a nun and came to regard working for the church as the joy of her life…
“Even now, being able to serve the Saintess is an honor.”
She smiled as though truly happy. Yet a mad gleam flickered in her eyes. I had not thought so before, but this person… was a fanatic!
She was also beautiful, and so she quickly became the idol of the temple… Because of that, rumors spread through the capital, and she received unwanted attention…
“That noble who wasn’t even worth chewing up said he wanted to meet me while donating money to the temple.”
At first she had believed he was donating and offering support out of goodwill. In truth he had only been approaching her with designs on her body…
It was a thoroughly unpleasant story. Yet since I had asked out of curiosity, it felt awkward to stop her midway. Already started, she seemed prepared to tell everything.
The noble had tried to meet her constantly and attempted to touch her. At first, because the donation amounts were large, she had endured it. As the behavior grew worse over time, she could no longer bear it.
Specifically, it went beyond merely holding her hand or stroking her hair. He began trying to touch her shoulders or stomach, and after seeing her mature body as she grew older, he even attempted to touch her chest…
“Why… did you endure that…”
“Because the temple was everything to me…”
She seemed to regret it now as well. No matter how clever she had been, she was still a child; of course she had been afraid.
That noble, watching her grow, could no longer restrain his lust, and the incident erupted. When he suddenly pounced on her, she countered with Holy Magic. The noble was seriously wounded. Enraged, he lodged a complaint with the church…
And the church…
“The Cardinal looked at me and said I could rest easy. Then she declared that the church would mobilize all its power to confront the kingdom.”
Even if they claimed no interest in worldly affairs, a believer of the church—a nun—had nearly been assaulted. There was no way the church would remain silent.
Ignoring the noble’s protest, the church directly protested to the kingdom. Faced with that fierce protest, the kingdom—more precisely the royal family—argued that it was the noble’s fault and that they themselves were blameless. That had been the noble’s scheme all along.
“Nobles are broadly divided into the Noble Faction and the Royalist Faction, and that noble was a Royalist.”
The church, uninterested in political intrigue, had not investigated properly. Yet because that noble was a Royalist, the royal family should have managed him; the church therefore demanded accountability for poor oversight and responsibility.
The Noble Faction, without lifting a finger, had dealt a major blow to the Royalists.
“So that was the scheme.”
“Yes. We did not know it at the time, but the Noble Faction is said to have engineered the incident precisely to split the Royalists.”
That noble was, for the moment, a Royalist, so the royal family had no choice but to bow their heads and apologize. Having lost face, the royal family tried to pin the responsibility back on the noble—but they could not.
“It was later revealed that he had been outwardly a Royalist but was in fact of the Noble Faction.”
The Noble Faction defended him, asking what the problem was, and instead condemned the royal family for failing to properly control the church within the kingdom…
What kind of nonsense was that? But that, apparently, was politics.
“After the situation settled, I was transferred here.”
That had already been ten years ago…
“You’ve been through a great deal.”
“I simply keep thinking that if I had told others before the incident happened, things might not have grown so large.”
Because of it, relations between the church and the kingdom had soured, and the Noble Faction had exploited the gap. The church, which understood little of politics, fell completely for the Noble Faction’s claims that the royal family should be condemned and held accountable, and made the mistake of sharing a considerable amount of interests with them…
“When they learned the truth later, the church had no choice but to suffer losses.”
After several years of alliance with the Noble Faction, could they simply distance themselves the moment the truth came out? If they steeled themselves for losses… it was possible, but far from easy.
In the end the church, knowing full well they would take losses, reached out to the royal family again, and the royal family had no choice but to take the church’s hand once more. It would have been nice if that had been the end of it and everything was fine—but both the royal family and the church had already suffered major losses, and only the Noble Faction had gained greatly.
“That’s really filthy.”
“Yes. After experiencing that incident, the church felt the need to engage in politics as well.”
So they were making efforts—sending priests to the Academy and the like—to form an alliance with the royal family…
“And that is also the reason the Saintess’s identity must be kept secret.”
“Huh? Why?”
I asked because I truly did not know.
“Because our church has no marriage restrictions.”
I knew that much… The Metis Church allowed both priests and nuns to marry.
“Wait—don’t tell me?”
“Yes. Coincidentally, the current royal family has two princes around the same age as the Saintess.”
Meaning they could pull me out as a political marriage card to solidify the alliance between the church and the royal family.
“The church would absolutely oppose it, but the problem is that the royal family might play that card.”
Refusing would leave them worrying about the relationship with the kingdom. Of course the church would refuse if I did not want it. But if that caused problems with the royal family again?
The church would have no choice but to take losses.
“Haha. I absolutely hate that.”
Me marrying a man? Are you insane?
If something like that ever happened, I would refuse and oppose it even if it killed me.
“Yes. We respect the Saintess’s will.”
Still, it could become a hassle, so please be careful—that was what she was saying. As long as my identity was not exposed, the church would suffer no losses. I also had no desire to get involved in such things, so I would have to be careful.
“You’ve been through a great deal.”
“I’m fine now.”
Ha… Nobles were not all good people like those of the Nam family…
Especially, I still could not understand why the noble Young Master followed me so closely. It was uncomfortable… yet after spending time together it had also become comfortable, and helpful…
While I was thinking of Young Master, she delivered a final warning.
“Especially, among the Academy students this time there is a prince, so you must be even more careful.”
“Whoa—a prince?!”
A prince of the country I lived in? So such beings really did exist.
“Yes. You will probably never run into him, but you must still be careful. Especially since the Saintess has outstanding looks, you could become a target.”
She kept emphasizing that among nobles and royalty there were many who played around with half-decent-looking women, so I must be careful.
“Haha…”
As I listened to the long story, time passed quickly. The female Cardinal arrived at the room with several people in tow.
“First, I would like to apologize to the Saintess.”
“No. I’ve already heard the circumstances.”
The Cardinal glanced lightly at Sister Mary. She stood there unfazed by the gaze.
“That is a relief, then.”
“Then let us begin the explanation at once.”
I wanted to finish the explanation quickly and go to sleep, so I first handed them the paper on which I had written everything.
Because this was a men-forbidden area, they were all women. They focused intently on the writing I had prepared.
“From the explanation alone, it is difficult to understand.”
“Yes. That is why I plan to show you directly.”
Using the tools my sister had set up, I combined an ointment with alchemy right before everyone’s eyes.
“So this is what you call an ointment?”
“Yes. Though of course it cannot compare to recovery magic.”
When I also combined the antidote and the poultice, they looked at me with slightly worried eyes.
“This is, no matter how one looks at it, inferior to magic.”
I knew. Master had evaluated it the same way—that it had been abandoned precisely because magic existed…
“I believe the core of this alchemy will ultimately be judged by what one creates with it.”
“What one creates…”
“Yes. Something like water containing recovery magic.”
The potions that appeared in games and novels…
“I see…”
“And though I did not show it, I also have a secret recipe.”
I said it with a smile.
I absolutely could not demonstrate the Scrap Iron combination here. In the first place, material problems meant I could not even combine it in this place.
“It is certainly an amazing technique. But it is abstruse.”
“Yes. I do not think I can create anything significant in just one or two years either.”
Wouldn’t I need to research for at least five years or so?
“As expected, there is a reason the Goddess chose you.”
They all wore expressions of relief.
“Since the confirmation is complete, we will take our leave.”
“Yes. I’ll give you this poultice as a gift. Try using it whenever somewhere feels stiff.”
“Thank you for the Saintess’s grace.”
The Cardinal smiled and took the poultice. One of the other nuns looked at the antidote and asked whether it would be all right to experiment with it properly.
“Do you wish to research alchemy? Or research the antidote?”
“I-If I must choose, the antidote.”
“Then go ahead. You’ve seen the combination method, so you can simply follow it as it is.”
“Th-Thank you!”
I did not know why she was thanking me, but she carefully took the antidote and left with the other nuns.
“And… for Sister Mary, I’ll give you this.”
I handed her the ointment I had just made.
“It’s fine.”
With recovery magic available, she probably had little need of it.
“Just a gift.”
“Then I will gratefully accept it.”
She carefully took the ointment she did not particularly need. Once Sister Mary left the room as well, I could finally rest.
“Ugh. Today’s tasks are done.”
“Yeah. You worked hard.”
My sister suddenly wrapped her arms around my head and began ruffling my hair vigorously.
“S-Sis?!”
The soft sensation against the back of my head made my mind spin.
Damn it! I—I’m a man!