The Pure Priestess's Innocent Courage_3
Suddenly jealousy surged up, and the words tumbled out before I could stop them.
Elysia belatedly realized her mistake and clapped a hand over her mouth.
A brief silence fell.
She squeezed her eyes shut. Oh no. This was terrible. The words in my heart had come out completely backward. What on earth was I thinking? What if Gray looked at me strangely?
I had blurted out, right there beside her, “Who is this woman?”
It wasn’t like we were even dating, so there was no reason to interrogate her like that.
If I had heard Gray mutter something like “…Annoying”… I truly didn’t know if I could ever recover.
Ah, I wanted to cry.
First, bite my tongue. Bite it hard.
“………….”
No.
No no no. I have to stay cool, Ria.
I couldn’t afford to fall apart now. How had I survived the last ten years?
“Um……? Who are you talking about, Elysia? This person?”
“Ah, it’s nothing.”
Elysia quickly steadied the almost-tearful look in her eyes and offered an excuse.
“…… I just came because I wondered if there might be some other issue.”
“Really? I thought the temple work was keeping you busy, so you’d be a little later.”
“I had to settle some payment at the patisserie.”
“A patisserie? …Isn’t that the opposite direction from here?”
“……………”
“Well, there were probably other places too.”
“Yeah…… but… what were you doing?”
“Ah, right. This woman was crying here. Do you remember? The priest from the Ragnea district who came with that supervisor, the one called Baron Zeke or something.”
Gray said it as if he had only just remembered.
Elysia felt a little relieved by his casual attitude toward the unfamiliar woman.
As if waiting for the conversation to turn back to her, she explained with a hiccup.
“I… I just…! I wanted to receive the seal confirming that I had received the letter…”
“A seal?”
Elysia tilted her head, and Gray added.
“It seems to be the procedure for the Ragnea Church. The letter I delivered yesterday needed to be verified by Baren and stamped as confirmed. But apparently Cherny… gave you a hard time about it.”
A seal…
It was the perfect way to mutually verify, but simply hearing it made the procedure feel suffocating for a low-ranking priestess.
This woman had to receive the seal and report to the temple head of her district.
“… I’d rather die here than go back empty-handed! If I return without the seal… then… really… this time I’ll be demoted to that three- by-five-meter outdoor prayer hut in the slums!”
“Didn’t you tell Baren directly? After all, the temple stamp will be done by Baren, the head of the temple, not Cherny.”
“Even the head of the temple… isn’t exactly friendly toward me…”
“Even if it’s not because of Cherny, you mean Baren doesn’t like you either?”
Gray answered briefly, then shrugged and turned his back.
“That’s too bad. Good luck with that.”
“Wait! You’re just going to discard it?!”
“What do you mean discard? Do you want me to do something for you?”
“If you do…!”
“If I do? What do you mean ‘if I do’? Think about the letter you’re trying to get a seal on. Why on earth should I help someone who wants a seal on a letter accusing Ria of being a witch?”
“…… Ugh. That’s… well…”
She lowered her face.
That alone was enough.
“Gray. Don’t push her too hard.”
Elysia’s expression had already regained its usual composure.
The colder Gray was toward that woman, the more Elysia slipped back into her usual self.
***
The woman’s name was Chipi. I only learned it after Elysia asked, not me.
How could someone’s name be Chipi? Not even Chipak… I shouldn’t say anything mean.
Chipi, who held the status of a priestess of the Ragnea Church, had a distinctly naive air about her. She was supposed to come from the Struggle Church, yet she seemed too naive to even handle small arguments, let alone true struggle.
Originally, it was Chipi who had brought the letter asking the supervisor and Elysia to investigate whether Elysia was a witch or not.
A normal person would have been wary of us—especially Elysia—but she was too dazed, eyes full of tears, and busy scanning the room.
“It’s a bar.”
“It was a private house, but someone turned it into a bar. It’s gone bankrupt now.”
“So you live here?”
“Yeah.”
“Will you open a bar?”
She had been crying miserably next to Elysia just moments ago, yet there were clearly many curious questions on her mind.
“No. I know nothing about alcohol. And I’m not sociable enough to run a business, so I don’t have that in mind right now.”
“I see.”
“What?”
“Hic! I didn’t say anything! Really!”
Her face turned deathly pale again as she hid behind Elysia.
… I hadn’t planned to do anything special anyway.
I didn’t react and simply opened the window to let in some fresh air.
It had been a while since I dusted it that morning, but every time I moved, the settled dust rose with a whoosh.
“By the way, is it really okay to be so distracted right next to the witch?”
“Witch…?”
Chipi tilted her head as if she had momentarily forgotten.
“Ah, right, that’s right.”
Chipi explained belatedly that she had realized Elysia—whom she had been clutching her sleeve to—was the ‘witch’ she suspected.
“Th-that… Priest Ria? You were very upset yesterday, right? I’m sorry… But please believe me. Not only me, but our temple head too—there is no one who believes in the ‘witch’.”
“Yes.”
“The witch died ten years ago. I… I know because even stupid people like me know how famous she is.”
“Even so, you brought this letter to me.”
Elysia, who had been curiously pure, tilted her head and asked.
But Elysia’s unique intonation and tone made Chipi flinch violently and start rambling excuses.
Perhaps she thought it was mocking.
“The letter is…! The supervisor suddenly came and begged for help, so the temple head had no choice… Not informing the church internally and just sending the letter… Think about it! If you really suspected it was a witch, you would have asked another church for cooperation or informed the empire!”
“Then couldn’t the Ragnea temple head simply reject the supervisor’s request directly?”
“… Our temple head has a bit of a debt to the supervisor… um… we played a card game and the stakes got too big…”
A temple head of a district gambling?
I stared at her in disbelief. Elysia, with a similar question, tilted her head and asked if it was allowed.
The priest of the Ragnea Church answered brightly.
“In the Ragnea Church, it’s not particularly forbidden? It’s considered one of the ‘struggles’… and the church scripture even mentions an anecdote where Ragnea-nim enjoyed gambling.”
Nea’r was the problem.
The child is like the parent.
Anyway, the deities I’ve met are all completely abnormal.
Chipi continued hesitantly.
“Anyway. The temple head has a somewhat boisterous and indulgent side, but to me he’s like a strict grandfather. He’s the one who guided me since I was very young. But if I disappoint him again this time, I really… really… Hic!”
“Do you have a close relationship with the temple head? I heard the Ragnea Church is a single district where the temple head also serves as bishop.”
“I… even though I’m like this… Hic! Overstepping… I have a special constitution.”
“Special constitution…?”
“… Yes. Since I was young, I could receive oracles.”
Even among priests, the one who can hear a god’s pronouncement is extremely rare in this era.
The Astasia Church chooses a Saintess, and the Ragnea Church seems to be this woman.
Elysia also pointed it out.
“Receiving oracles is really an unusual talent. In our Astasia Church, the Saintess is the only one.”
“Yes… yes… that’s it…”
While Chipi stammered, I focused only on the fact that she was the priest who received Ragnea’s oracle.
If it were true, there was no reason to waste time here one by one.
There was an existence that could process work much faster than us, so why bother with unnecessary effort?
I shouted briefly into the air.
“Don’t laugh like that and come out here.”
“Eh? Caught?”
Nea’r answered as if she had naturally been there from the beginning.
Of course. As a proper god, appearing suddenly wasn’t surprising.
“Th-that person is…”
“Hello, Priest Chipi. Do you remember me? Or did you forget because you were beaten by Baren and Cherny yesterday?”
“Ah, no! I remember! Th-that… the one in the temple, um. Priest.”
“Hahaha, I guess you don’t remember the name. What a pity.”
Nea’r laughed lazily with a nya ha ha.
I sighed and said.
“Stop playing around and help. From what I hear, Priest Chipi is the priestess who receives oracles from the Ragnea goddess herself.”
“Got it. Don’t rush me. I’ll talk to Baren and Cherny properly again. Well, then let’s go, Priest Chipi?”
“Are you helping?? Waa! Thank you! Thank you in the name of Ragnea-nim!”
“After going around, I end up being thanked by you. What a refreshing feeling.”
“Ne…?”
“Nothing.”
“Yes…! Yes! Please take care!”
Chipi followed Nea’r without any suspicion.
“Well then, Gray. We’ll be back. While we’re gone, you two can talk about what you couldn’t finish~”
“What couldn’t be finished? What do you mean?”
“Well? Priest Ria wouldn’t know? Maybe you want to see the house you’re going to live in together in the future?”
Upon Nea’r’s words, Chipi tilted her head.
“Live together…? Eh? Are you two a couple?”
It was probably a natural question.
I understood.
But that last sentence carried the power of a bomb—at least for Ria.
“Well, Chipi. I think those two aren’t like that.”
“Th-then? The Astasia goddess is very generous. In our church, it’s taboo for unmarried men and women to live together.”
“The Astasia Church isn’t that different? Well, it’s not taboo, but the Astasia Church is generous in that regard.”
Whether the word ‘generous’ was appropriate in front of any god’s church that allowed gambling was debatable, but for now I had no spirit left to refute.
Squeak. Bang.
The door closed and the two left.
A short silence.
The sound of water dripping from the faucet sounded like thunder today.
Elysia started stammering. She couldn’t face my gaze. And she probably felt the same.
“Everyone… g-gone…”
“Right.”
“N-ne… why did Nea’r come?”
“Wasn’t it to say something to someone?”
The conversation ended.
“…Gre…” “Elysia.”
“…… F-first say it!”
“No, you say it first.”
“……………”
“……………”
In the end, Elysia spoke first.
“Hey… Gray.”
The voice had become as small as a mosquito.
“Actually, I wanted to ask since yesterday…”
She couldn’t meet my gaze and was circling the empty room.
“………… I might…”
“Hm?”
“Be too bold for ordinary people?”
“Bold…?”
“Um…… so…”
“It’s okay. Speak comfortably.”
“Just… th-that… I said I want to live with you… um…… without any other reason…”
She was suppressing the corners of her mouth tightly.
Probably desperately suppressing embarrassment and shame.
“… Just because I thought you might leave without me seeing, it was really scary… When Nea’r said I could go with you… I came to my senses and told my sister I wanted to go…”
“Yeah.”
“You know I only lived in the mansion when I was young, no friends at the academy, and since I became a priest after receiving the lettering, I haven’t interacted with peers, so I don’t know such common sense? Anyway, if it’s strange, please say it clearly. Above all…”
“……….”
“T-today like this as a couple… this weird misunderstanding too!”
She bit her tongue, stopped talking, frowned, and puckered her lips.
But she didn’t stop.
“Sorry. I didn’t think of this. If being misunderstood is burdensome, it’s okay to think again. Really. Truly.”
“…………… Are you serious?”
“Yeah. ………………………… Probably.”
Which one?
Elysia couldn’t steady her trembling voice, and her gaze didn’t stay on one place.
“But!”
But at least I could clearly see that she had mustered courage.
“Wanting to live with the person I’ve waited for ten years… is it extremely weird…?”