Chapter 20 - Lost Lamb (5)
Lost Lamb (5)
Translator : Elizabeth
It might sound like I'm bragging a little, but it's half true and half false. Half bragging, half sincere. In this shambles where all sorts of reactions are rampant, remaining silent is rather poison. The best policy is to organize the situation quickly and get out of here. If I delay any longer here, the matter will surely grow beyond what I can handle.
"R-Return, you say... the Holy Power?"
"Yes. But I won't just give it back."
At my calm answer, Joachim's expression distorted strangely for a moment.
"Are you saying you want a price? How can we trust your words..."
"Please apologize to me sincerely. That is the only price I demand."
Joachim asked argumentatively mixing a despicable sneer. But I lightly cut him off without listening to his words until the end. Then Joachim's eyes, which expected complex political maneuvering, lost their way and shook roughly.
"Wh-What...?"
"Although I was misunderstood unfairly, it was an unavoidable situation. I fully understand."
Letting Joachim's bewildered counter-question flow lightly. I immediately took a small breath and gathered my scattered concentration as much as possible.
"Even if I were you, I would have definitely misunderstood. Because the situation was so tricky."
"Misunderstood, you say! Are you saying you really weren't a demon living in this village?!"
"Yes, I'm not. I'm just an ordinary demon who stopped by here by chance."
Up until I first heard those words from Joachim. The unfairness rose up to my throat and I was about to go crazy. But now that the situation has been organized to some extent and my head has cooled down. Thinking about the situation back then again, I realized that there were grounds for Joachim's stubborn misunderstanding.
"So let's call this incident even, and please apologize to me sincerely."
In other words, a matter that ends cleanly if Joachim just apologizes properly. There is no reason to complicate the situation by continuing a tense confrontation unnecessarily beyond this.
"As I told you earlier, I was chosen by the Goddess..."
"Shut up, you unholy thing!! Do not deceive me!!"
As soon as I thought that. Joachim's shout filled with spite dug sharply into my eardrums for a moment.
"Trying to corrupt me with plausible words, did you think I wouldn't know your scheme!!"
Joachim screaming at the top of his lungs with veins standing out on his neck. It seems he has not even a speck of intention to apologize to me sincerely.
"I will absolutely not be deceived, you unholy thing!!"
"Not be deceived, what are you saying suddenly?"
"I know that the goddess statue you are holding is the root of all evil!!"
"Pardon?"
"It is certain that that ominous object swallowed my Holy Power!!"
Despite my exceptional offer. Joachim suddenly spouted all sorts of nonsense and began to deny the situation once again.
"I am a loyal servant of the Goddess Freya-nim!"
"......."
"Even if there are trials toward me, I can absolutely not tolerate the humiliation of begging while licking the back of a demon's hand!"
With that fierce remark as the end, Joachim barely calmed his roughened breath. With his eyes wide open as if he had become a Holy Knight burning his soul against a great evil──.
"...Ah, is that so?"
"Did you think I would play on your cunning tongue?!"
"That's a shame. If you are that stubborn, well... it can't be helped."
Leaving Joachim, who stubbornly kept his thoughts, behind. I immediately approached a priest who was lying flat right behind him, holding his breath.
"Do you have the same thought as Joachim-ssi too?"
At my calm question, a young priest flinched greatly for a moment and slowly raised his head. As soon as his eyes met mine, he began to pour out cold sweat like rain immediately. But soon he let out a choked breath and opened his mouth with difficulty.
"I-I apologize for misunderstanding... Please give back my Holy Power..."
A plea close to survival, not belief. At that desperate voice crawling on the floor, the atmosphere of the square became strange for a moment. The dam of holy pride that Joachim tried to protect until the end collapsed very futilely at the trembling remark of a priest that burst out from the lowest place.
"It is Holy Power I barely obtained by dedicating my whole life... I will do anything, please..."
"Just one word of apology is enough. So don't be servile more than necessary."
At my soft dissuasion, the shoulder of the priest who was sobbing prostrate flinched greatly for a moment.
"Yes...?"
"I am not trying to break your belief."
Murmuring that sentence quietly, I gently squatted on the spot.
"I think protecting belief and admitting a mistake are separate issues."
Awkward silence that followed. The surrounding priests began to murmur one by one and the atmosphere started to change strangely. But despite that, I didn't take my eyes off the young priest's eyes even for a moment.
"The Goddess loves people who know how to say sorry honestly more."
"G-Goddess... Goddess-nim...?"
As if he couldn't believe the word Goddess coming out of a demon's mouth repeatedly. The young priest's pupils trembled mercilessly as if an earthquake occurred.
"Anyway, since you apologized, I will return it. I'm sorry for causing a disturbance."
I carefully reached out and gently placed my hand on the young priest's cold back of the hand. And immediately concentrated my mind slowly just like I did to May.
Shhh...
At that moment, brilliant light slowly leaked out from the point where my palm and the young priest's back of the hand touched.
──────────── 【 Transferring Holy Power to the target 】 ────────────
Holy energy gently wrapping around the entire square in an instant. The young priest looked down blankly at his hand, losing his soul as if he had received salvation.
"Done. I returned it."
As I finished the simple ritual and slowly stood up from my seat. The expression of the young priest, who examined his body belatedly, was dyed with shock for some reason.
"Th-This is... What on earth..."
"What's wrong? Is there a problem?"
At my puzzled question, instead of answering, the young priest trembled his palms and raised them high in the air. Outwardly, there doesn't seem to be much change, so why is he suddenly doing that?
"H-Holy Power... There is more Holy Power than before!"
"Ah, it was because of that. That's just..."
"That makes no sense... This is a miracle!!"
Before I could even finish speaking, the young priest jumped up from his seat and cheered loudly. I didn't know how much Holy Power he originally had, so I just let it flow appropriately. It seems I let flow much more than the amount he originally had.
"Ah... Ah! Light is overflowing from inside my body!"
Hmm, still... it's fine since he likes it. Saying I'll take back the excess Holy Power now would look a bit bad.
"That turned out well. Congratulations."
"Were you really a Saintess...?!"
"Pardon? No. How can a demon become a Saintess."
"But that miracle you just showed me..."
"To be exact, the Goddess bestowed it, not me."
I spoke quietly and fixed my slightly crooked veil properly.
"I just played the role of a passage in between."
It's not Holy Power I obtained through my own effort. Just magic I became able to use inadvertently by being luckily chosen. Calling all that my credit is... somehow uncomfortable.
"Th-That can't be... How can you be so humble..."
"It's not humility, it's a fact?"
"Damn it, to think I did such a thing to such a person..."
Suddenly talking gibberish, the young priest eventually collapsed like a crazy person and began to sob sincerely. His sincere sobbing spread quickly throughout the square in an instant. Other priests watching that scene silently also seemed unable to hold out any longer. Without minding their superior Joachim anymore, they rushed quickly in front of my feet, competing to be first.
"I-I apologize too!"
"Please have mercy on me too...!"
"I was foolish! I was deceived by appearance and misunderstood the Goddess's will!"
The square turned into a crucible of repentance and plea in an instant. The sight of dozens of priests burying their heads in the ground and reciting apologies in unison was strange and overwhelming enough to make even Captain Orban and Lumina watching from the side click their tongues.
"Y-You foolish traitors...! Do you really not know you are being played by a demon's trick!!"
Joachim shouted at the top of his lungs, raising veins on his neck belatedly. But his voice was pushed out helplessly by the wailing sounds of repentance rushing from everywhere around and was buried as it was.
"It's a trick! That ominous goddess statue is bewitching us!!"
"I committed a mortal sin, Saintess-nim...!!"
"I merely followed the superior's order!! Please forgive me!!"
"Please save us, Saintess-nim!!"
...What is this, why is everyone making such a fuss suddenly? I just returned the Holy Power I inadvertently stole, but the reaction is too intense than I thought.
"I told you I'm not a Saintess..."
"Impossible! That noble divinity hidden inside the demon's shell cannot be hidden!"
"We were blind! Please accept our apology and share even a little of that grace!"
I'm not some cult leader... My spine went cold before I knew it at the appearance of the priests close to madness beyond enthusiasm. I didn't return the Holy Power to receive such intense praise. I just wanted to receive an apology...
"As expected of the Saintess-nim. To make those arrogant priests kneel at once with just a few words."
"I really can't figure you out, Vivian-nim. I sincerely respect you."
Captain Orban and Lumina, who were watching that scene quietly from the side, suddenly nodded slowly with eyes soaked in emotion.
"Yes? No, why are you guys also..."
"If one is not moved even after seeing such a miracle right in front of their eyes, that is not a human."
Captain Orban didn't stop there. He drew the sword at his waist and stuck it into the ground without hesitation, showing the courtesy of a knight reverently. Lumina standing next to him also gathered her hands neatly like a believer on a pilgrimage and began to look up at me.
"I'm really burdened. Please stop it."