A Softer Gaze
I nodded. “Yes. I was just finishing up the cleanup….”
“It must have taken a long time, moving around in that condition. I came by this morning to give you another treatment, but you weren’t here. So I came now to take care of it.”
“Thank you for your concern.”
“…It’s only natural.”
I stared intently at Sister Melody. “Then, I’ll check your condition.”
“Yes.”
It didn’t seem like my imagination after all. She’s gotten softer.
By “softer,” I meant the way she treated me. Her expression and voice had softened so much it was almost unrecognizable. It was as if she were a completely different person. Of course, I couldn’t be entirely sure yet. We hadn’t had a proper conversation. But my instincts told me clearly that Sister Melody’s attitude toward me had changed.
I knew it wasn’t right to compare a person to this, but… It feels like I’ve coaxed a stray cat into the house.
Even if I’d brought a stray cat home, it would still be wary. For now, I should pretend not to notice and help her feel as comfortable as possible.
“Aigoo, I barely got it to close…”
Even after one round of treatment, her body was still in poor shape. I quickly healed the reopened wounds and restored her stamina.
“Ah…”
She let out a small moan as she felt her strength gradually returning. Her previously pale complexion was slowly improving.
“How do you feel?”
“Much better.”
“You’re not planning to go out again tomorrow, are you? With injuries like these, you need at least a week of rest. Especially avoid any strenuous activity.”
With any other patient, I would have discharged them, but I couldn’t do that with Sister Melody. If I left her alone, there was no telling how she might overwork herself again.
“I won’t concern myself with that matter any longer. My duty is clearly to protect you, Father Arthur.”
“Well, we’ll be entering the Labyrinth soon, so it makes sense to be careful with your body.”
“Yes. I cannot neglect my mission.”
Hearing Sister Melody’s words gave me confidence that she wouldn’t push herself anymore, and I could finally relax. Still, the fact that her rest wasn’t for her own recovery but to fulfill her duty of protecting me left a slight weight on my mind.
“What do you usually do when you rest?”
A question that, in the past, I would never have gotten an answer to.
“I meditate or do light training.”
“This time, please rest from training as well.”
“Training must be done every day.”
“Right now, your body has been overworked for far too long and is full of accumulated fatigue. If you’re worried about your muscles stiffening, there’s no need. Rest is also a form of training.”
Why do athletes take rest days? To release the overload built up in their bodies. Of course, since I could clear that overload with divine power, rest wasn’t strictly necessary, but I didn’t mention that.
It’s not enough to just heal the body.
The mind needs rest too. She had trained since childhood to become a heretic inquisitor, then went straight into society to hunt down heretics without a break. Now, only a few days later, she had to enter the Labyrinth. It was an impossibly tight schedule that left me breathless just thinking about it.
“Go find a good restaurant and enjoy a delicious meal. Lie in bed and stare blankly at the ceiling with no thoughts at all. Try things like that.”
“…Is that really necessary?”
“It is. A person can’t work three hundred and sixty-five days a year.”
In the past, such words would have backfired, but now I felt they might actually reach her.
“Trust me and give it a try. After all, you don’t have anything particular to do before we enter the Labyrinth.”
She had declared herself that she would no longer chase after heretics. So I asked her to listen to my advice for the remaining time.
After a moment of hesitation, Sister Melody let out a small sigh and said, “Understood.”
See? She really has changed.
“Wise decision.”
Since she wasn’t the type to break a promise, I poured more divine power into her body to completely erase the fatigue that had spread everywhere. I had deliberately left some mild muscle pain earlier in case she tried to run off again, but now that wasn’t necessary, I healed her completely.
“Treatment is finished. Rest well. I’ll come back around lunchtime tomorrow.”
“Is there still more treatment left?”
“Yes. But if your daily checkups show you’re truly fine, I’ll allow you to be discharged.”
At the word “discharged,” Sister Melody’s expression softened noticeably.
“Then, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Just as I finished the treatment and was about to leave the room, Sister Melody asked me, “Will you be attending the service this week?”
“If nothing major comes up, I probably will. Why do you ask?”
“I will attend with you then.”
“Is this because of His Highness the Prince?”
Since this incident had nothing to do with the prince, the matter with him was still unresolved. One of the reasons I had insisted she remain hospitalized was because of that issue, so when the topic of the service came up, I felt a twinge of guilt and unintentionally mentioned the prince.
“…I do not attend services only for a specific reason.”
“Ah! Of course. I was mistaken. Haha.”
Singing hymns, interacting with other believers, and listening to the wise words from the priest leading the service—there were so many good things about attending that no other reason was needed. That was normal.
“If you wish, you don’t need to ask. Just come. I’ll be waiting.”
It was a shame that the chicks couldn’t see this softer side of her. If she showed them this gentle side, they might find the courage to approach her.
Enough time had passed that the intense memories from the sewers had begun to fade, and she had mostly escaped the nightmares.
It wasn’t as if nothing had happened during that time. The fact that Sister Melody was hospitalized had eventually reached the ears of the other priests.
I had to endure the chicks’ adorable pouting because I had hidden her hospitalization from them. They complained that if she was injured badly enough to be hospitalized, how could I keep it to myself?
They had carefully asked through me if they could visit to offer the apologies they had put off, and surprisingly, Sister Melody allowed their visits.
I’m glad it worked out well.
The chicks who received permission immediately went to her room and began apologizing. And when Sister Melody readily accepted their apologies, the awkward relationship that could have gone sour was neatly resolved, and my heart felt much lighter.
Honestly, it had bothered me to see Sister Melody avoiding the priests.
“Thank you for accepting the children’s apologies.”
“Are you saying that now, after all this time?”
After a full week of proper rest, her face looked more relaxed than I had ever seen it. Her physical condition was at its peak. As expected, Sister Melody had strictly kept the promise she made to me.
“You didn’t have to accept them, but you did so willingly. If it had happened to me, the emotional wounds wouldn’t have healed so easily.”
“…I know they are not bad people. It was simply an unfamiliar situation. And I am used to it, so I’m fine. On the contrary, I was surprised they even came to apologize when they didn’t have to.”
“I don’t understand why such treatment feels familiar to you. A heretic inquisitor like you has no reason to receive such looks. The Holy Empire is always grateful for the noble sacrifices you all make.”
“…Yes. I am well aware.”
Sister Melody nodded as if she understood, but her response somehow felt half-hearted. Just as I was about to ask why her answer sounded so lukewarm, she looked somewhere else and said, “Prince Loras has arrived.”
I had thought Prince Loras would be too busy organizing the Labyrinth Expedition to show up, but he appeared at the service.
“I thought he wouldn’t come…”
“He is not the type to give up until he achieves his goal. He is openly targeting you. He will keep bothering you until you give him what he wants.”
“He’ll eventually give up on me. My heart will not change.”
I didn’t know how long Prince Loras’s patience would last, but if he continued to find no trace of Princess Canaby, it would eventually wear out. It wouldn’t be strange if he suddenly revealed his true colors one day. I was already prepared for that.
“Your Highness, you’ve arrived.”
Prince Loras walked straight toward me as if no one else even existed in his eyes.
“Father Arthur, I have something urgent to discuss. Could you spare me a moment?”
“The service is about to begin.”
“Just miss it for today. It’s that important.”
“…Understood.”
I didn’t like missing the service, but I knew there was no way to stop him if he insisted, so I reluctantly agreed to follow.
“Is there a quiet place around here with no people?”
“Of course. I’ll guide you.”
I took the lead to show the way. But then something unexpected happened. Sister Melody began following right behind me.
Prince Loras was not the type to let that slide.
“I clearly spoke only to Father Arthur. Why is this person following us? Now that I look, the face is familiar. Quite an insolent priest, if I recall.”
Perhaps still quite angry with her, the prince dropped his usual friendly act and openly showed hostility toward her.
Sister Melody was no pushover either and responded to his hostility without batting an eye.
“I was merely giving appropriate advice in my role as guard for Father Arthur.”
At the word “guard,” Prince Loras’s expression hardened.
“Guard?”
“Yes. I am a holy knight dispatched to guard Father Arthur. I heard there was an unsavory group approaching him, and I believe I have just discovered its true identity.”
“……”
Sister Melody was casually switching identities—heretic inquisitor one moment, ordinary priest the next, holy knight after that—however she pleased. One day she might suddenly claim to be a healer.
“Are you lying in front of royalty! How insolent. I overlooked one rudeness out of respect for Father Arthur’s face!!”
It seemed the prince had done his own investigation. When she called herself a holy knight, he exploded in fury.