A Peaceful Day in Our Village
Our village was peaceful today, as always.
The small pond within the temple was said to be a place where, long before this country even existed, a god once stopped by with spirits and spent a brief moment of time here.
That was why priests and shrine maidens would immerse their bodies in it before any ritual or ceremony.
The same held true for Sohee, who had been summoned as the Saintess.
Before the Saintess ritual, she was guided to this pond.
They told her that immersing herself here before the ceremony would wash away the impurities of the human world.
Stone steps lined the edge of the pond, and with each step downward the water rose—from ankles to knees, then to the waist.
The moment the water touched her, a bone-chilling cold pierced straight through to the depths of her body.
“It’s way too cold. I can’t go any further.”
She cried out like she was screaming and tried to turn back, but the elderly shrine maidens grabbed her from both sides.
“Forgive us, Saintess. Please endure it just a little longer.”
“This is an essential part of the ritual. Without completing this step, even if you perform the Saintess ceremony, you will not be officially recognized as the Saintess.”
Their expressions and tone were polite, but their grips on her arms were firm.
Sandwiched between the two women, Sohee was half-dragged another step deeper.
As the water reached her chest, her teeth began to chatter uncontrollably.
Still, the shrine maidens mercilessly pulled her farther down.
Sohee had no choice but to sink in up to her neck, shivering all over like a leaf in the wind.
A short distance from the pond, the High Priest and several senior priests watched in silence.
Sohee cast a pleading glance in their direction.
But the High Priest simply gazed at her quietly.
“H-how long do I have to stay like this? I’m going to freeze to death.”
She asked through chattering teeth, and one of the shrine maidens scooped up a handful of water and poured it over her head.
“I said it’s cold!”
A shrill shriek escaped her before she could stop it.
“Forgive us, Saintess. It is almost over. Please endure just a little longer.”
The elderly shrine maiden wore an apologetic expression, yet she did not stop pouring water.
Only after she had scooped and poured water over Sohee’s head ten times was Sohee finally allowed to leave the pond.
As soon as she stepped out, the High Priest approached, holding a large cloth.
“You have done well, Saintess.”
He wrapped the cloth around her as if embracing her.
“It must have been freezing. You endured it beautifully.”
His voice brushed against her ear.
The sweet timbre made her heart flutter.
“Was it very difficult?”
The High Priest bent slightly to look into her eyes.
“N-no… Not at all. Since I have become the Saintess, I must endure at least this much.”
When Sohee answered bashfully, the High Priest’s eyes narrowed in a smile.
This man truly smiled with breathtaking beauty.
Though Sohee possessed an ability called NTR Attribute Charm, Plunderer, the one who could truly captivate people was probably this High Priest.
While staying at the temple, she had seen many visitors. Whenever they looked at the High Priest, men and women, young and old, all lost themselves in awe.
In this country, he was exceptionally beautiful.
As time passed in this world, Sohee’s heart tilted more and more toward him.
I want this man.
She thought so, but unlike the Saintess who could marry, the High Priest was said to remain celibate for life while serving in the temple.
The same applied to the shrine maidens.
She had heard that only with the High Priest’s permission could one leave the temple, but until then, they must uphold celibacy.
As long as he remained the High Priest, she would never have any connection with this man.
Sohee let out a small sigh.
There was something she desperately wanted, yet could not have.
It felt like her heart was being stabbed again and again.
At first she had thought that as the Saintess, any wish would be granted. But after meeting the king, she learned that was not the case.
To these people, the Saintess might be precious, but the authority of the king or princes stood far higher.
They would not grant her every request.
Besides, she had not yet shown them anything.
Whenever the High Priest or the prince met her, they asked if she could see spirits or if she sensed anything around her, but there was no change.
Of course there wasn’t.
Because her ability wasn’t to charm spirits.
At the very least, she wished her ability to charm humans would activate, but she had no idea how to make it happen.
It seemed these people didn’t know how to use the Saintess’s power either.
Someone had come to teach her, suggesting it might be similar to magic, but it appeared to be different from the magic of this country.
Nothing worked.
The one fortunate thing was the news that a sprout had appeared on the tree known as the Spirit Tree or the incarnation of God.
A priest had told her with a joyful smile that it was proof the god had acknowledged the Saintess’s summoning.
It seemed that once that tree revived, more spirits would appear.
She wasn’t sure whether spirits were born from it, though.
Ever since that news, the High Priest had come to see her several times a day.
It must be that important.
While walking under the guidance of the High Priest and the shrine maidens, Sohee stole a glance at his profile.
It really was a shame.
How wonderful it would be if she could marry such a beautiful man.
Another small sigh escaped her.
Still, it was fine.
Sohee murmured to herself.
Even if he could not be hers, at least this man would never become anyone’s husband.
They said the Saintess remained the Saintess even after marriage.
In that case, her connection with the High Priest would continue.
When she thought of it that way, her heart felt a little lighter.
They arrived at a room in the temple and she changed her clothes.
It would have been nice to change into dry clothes right at the pond, but walking from there to the temple was apparently part of the ritual itself.
The Saintess ceremony had already begun at the pond.
No, even before that.
For several days leading up to the Saintess ritual, the food she was given had been different from usual.
The portions hadn’t decreased, but the meals had continued for days with almost no spices.
When she complained that it was tasteless, the answer was that before the ritual, one must distance the body from worldly things.
Since it wasn’t something others could see anyway, she wondered if it really mattered.
She had complained countless times to the shrine maiden beside her, but the woman only smiled quietly and let the words pass.
It wasn’t only the food that had changed.
Every hour she had to drink a cup of plain water with nothing added.
She had been told it was to cleanse her insides with the water of God.
Since this was a world with magic, it might hold some meaning, but to Sohee it felt like nothing more than a primitive medieval custom.
Once today’s Saintess ritual was over, she could finally return to her normal life.
The shrine maidens removed her wet clothes and wrapped her body in white fabric.
They secured the cloth with jeweled pins to shape it, then placed a crown made of tree branches on her head.
Her shoes were wooden sandals of a different style from what she usually wore.
They were made back when the Spirit Tree was still alive, the shrine maiden explained. They were extremely precious items brought out only for the Saintess ritual. After giving Sohee one last inspection, the shrine maiden bowed.
“The High Priest will soon come to escort you.”
With those words, all the shrine maidens withdrew.
After waiting a short while, the High Priest entered wearing different vestments from before.
They were the usual white robes, but adorned with jewels and gold in various places, making them look splendid.
“Saintess, shall we go?”
The High Priest extended his hand.
Sohee took it and left the room.
They walked down a long corridor and then along a path leading outside.
Priests followed in a line behind the two of them.
For some reason, she felt like a king and queen.
Along the edges of the path they walked, shrine maidens occasionally appeared.
The older ones showed less of it, but most of the young shrine maidens sent yearning glances toward the High Priest.
At the same time, they looked at Sohee with eyes full of hostility.
She had heard that among the shrine maidens were women who stayed at the temple only temporarily for bridal training.
Most of them were nobles, and although their clothing followed temple rules, they were covered in jewels and ornaments.
It was easy to tell them apart.
Most were between their mid-teens and early twenties; there were no women around Sohee’s age.
She had heard that in this country, most people married in their early twenties.
Perhaps for that reason, the noble-born shrine maidens tended to look down on thirty-year-old Sohee as if she were some defective product.
She had spent time with them several times, and nearly all of them gave off that feeling.
Hmph.
Sohee glanced sideways at their envious and hostile eyes and lifted the corners of her mouth.
Who was looking down on whom?
Whether they were young or nobles, compared to Sohee who held the position of Saintess, they stood in an infinitely lowly place.
Sohee tightened her fingers on the hand the High Priest had placed in his palm.
Noticing, the High Priest looked at her.
“I’m sorry. I was walking a little too fast.”
When she spoke with an embarrassed face, the High Priest smiled gently.
“Then shall I slow my steps a bit?”
The High Priest began to walk more slowly.
Sohee moved a little closer to him and glanced sideways at the nearby shrine maiden.
The one who had looked down on her the most was biting her lip with a resentful expression.
Hehe. Here, I am the Saintess. How dare any of you look down on me?
She smiled brightly, savoring the feeling, when her eyes caught the figure of a man standing behind them.
The escort knight she hadn’t seen for several days was standing there for some reason.
During the Saintess ritual while she was at the temple, priests took the place of the escort knight.
Therefore, the escort knight had no reason to be here.
Moreover, his gaze seemed a little strange.
He was staring at her with intense eyes, as if burning with fever.
“....”
Sohee quickly averted her eyes from him.
She had engaged in rather intimate skinship with that escort knight.
They hadn’t gone all the way, but to the people of this world, it would have been more than enough to be considered scandalous.
She had thought it shouldn’t be done, but the escort knight was quite handsome, if not on the level of the High Priest or the prince.
Every time she saw that firm chest and those long fingers, the impulse had built up little by little until, in the end, her body ached so badly she couldn’t stand it.
She wasn’t a kindergartener, yet ever since coming here, there had been absolutely, truly no physical contact between men and women.
It really couldn’t be helped.
But that’s strange. That man didn’t seem so obsessed with me at the time.
At the time, he had looked somewhat bewildered.
He hadn’t refused, but he hadn’t seemed happy either—it felt like he was doing it somewhat against his will.
She later learned that the escort knight secretly had a woman he liked.
She had overheard the maids whispering about it.
That’s why I requested a change of escort.
She had no need for a man whose heart already belonged to another woman.
She had dated enough of those men back on Earth to be sick of them.
Now she refused such people outright.
Since she had requested a replacement, the escort knight would be changed once the Saintess ritual was over.
She would not see that man again.
She hadn’t particularly liked him anyway.
She glanced at the escort knight once more and was startled.
He was glaring at the High Priest beside her as if he wanted to kill him.
What the—why so scary all of a sudden?
While muttering that to herself, Sohee suddenly remembered her own ability.
NTR Attribute Charm, Plunderer
◈ Allows the user to charm and steal men who are already committed to or in love with another woman.
◈ Activation condition appears to be sexual contact.
Could it be…?
Sohee looked at the escort knight again.
When their eyes met, his gaze turned desperate.
That was unmistakably the look of a man in love.
So the ability activates through sexual contact with someone?
And it didn’t even have to be deep intimacy?
If that was the case…
Sohee unconsciously glanced at the High Priest’s profile.
The High Priest was in a position where he had to stay away from women.
Seducing him with her body would be difficult.
But if it didn’t have to reach that stage…
Oh my god.
This man, and perhaps even the prince.
A smile unknowingly hung on Sohee’s lips.
She had been constantly worrying about what to do in a situation where she couldn’t see spirits.
She was recognized as the Saintess, but what truly mattered were the spirits. If they kept not appearing or increasing, she would eventually face disadvantages.
But what if she could firmly capture the heart of the High Priest, the prince, or even the king?
What if she became the prince’s wife?
In this country, the authority of the royal family stood higher than that of the Saintess.
Even if she couldn’t see spirits or increase their numbers, it probably wouldn’t matter.
Her heart felt like it was floating.
With an excited heart, Sohee lifted her head.
The place where the Saintess ritual was held was the main temple.
Dignitaries from other countries and nobles of this kingdom had already gathered there, waiting for Sohee’s arrival.
News that the Saintess had been summoned had already spread almost everywhere in the country.
Whether drawn by that news, commoners who appeared to be ordinary citizens had also gathered outside the main temple building.
So many people had come that the area outside the main temple was packed with heads, the ground completely invisible.
When the entire ritual ended, the commoners standing outside let out a thunderous cheer.
When Sohee smiled and raised her hand, the cheers grew even louder.
Around noon, after finishing lunch and taking a short nap, children came running over.
“Mister! The water droplets are flying around!”
“The spirit is carrying the water droplets!”
“Can we give it water too?”
“Dad said we shouldn’t do it however we want.”
“But we want to help too.”
The children all shouted at once, making my ears hurt.
“What’s going on?”
I asked while digging at my ear with a finger, and Ji-geu grabbed my hand and pulled.
“The spirit is carrying water droplets, you see.”
Could water droplets even be carried?
Anyway, I followed where the children led me, and sure enough, there was Popcorn, flying while struggling to hold a water droplet.
“We’re giving that water droplet to the sprout.”
“We want to help the spirit too.”
“Can we give it water?”
The children asked again.
Popcorn flew above the slightly crooked sprout he had planted and dropped the water droplet.
The water rolled down the sprout with a trickle.
Popcorn wiped his forehead with a tiny hand as if exhausted.
When he saw me, he flew over unsteadily.
He raised both arms into the air as if pleading for something—apparently complaining that he was going to die from exhaustion.
Hmm. I had thought that sprout without roots would die quickly, but it was still alive.
“Well… Giving it water should be fine, but since the sprout is small, if you give it too much it’ll die.”
At my words, the children thrust their arms into the air.
“Yay!”
“We’ll take care of it!”
The children hurriedly brought over a cup of water.
“Only ten drops per person.”
The oldest child spoke solemnly, and the others nodded.
The children dipped their fingers in the water, counted one by one, and flicked the drops off.
These days I had been teaching the children how to count.
In this world, not only letters but even counting numbers or doing simple addition and subtraction was known by almost no one.
When the child who had counted to five got confused, another child taught him that the next was six.
I sat nearby and quietly watched the children.
Perhaps realizing they were helping, Popcorn flew near them, raised both arms high, and cheered them on.
Our village was peaceful today, as always.