Chapter 6. Friendship and Relationships (4)
Chapter 6. Friendship and Relationships (4)
The lectures cover quite a wide range of topics.
This world is different from my original one, but that doesn't mean those "different parts" are accepted as complete common sense here.
It hasn't been all that long since the great disaster caused by the Gates. For ordinary people going about their lives, there honestly isn't much need for Gate-related common sense.
Hunters in particular sometimes had their childhoods overlap with the time before the Gate Disaster, or were already adults back then. Nobody in the Association expects people like that to suddenly possess professional knowledge or to have thrown out all their old common sense the moment they become Hunters.
Even if you passed the license exam to get in, a rookie is still a rookie. In other words, you need to go back and learn some of the more specialized knowledge.
The thing that comes up especially often in the lectures Ria and I attend is—
"—so, what's especially important in dealings with the Gnomes is their Mana Stone Processing Technology. We are, in fact, making efforts to acquire that technology somehow, but......"
—right. Stories about other races and other civilizations.
This is also an area the Church takes an interest in.
I don't know if every religion is like this, but most religions believe that their own god is the being that sees through the truth of the world. So to speak, they make the very concept of god into truth itself.
And, inevitably, a religion wants to spread that "truth" to other places. Whether the means are violent or not, the result is the same. And, in fact, until recently it hadn't been very successful.
But unfortunately, even if there are people beyond the Gates who think of Holy Power as the power of a god, the gods they imagine are all different. Naturally, there's no way they'd easily see eye to eye, and so "missionary work" hasn't been very successful so far.
......The problem is that one "case" has now appeared.
There was one problem: they thought of me not as a Saintess but as a Goddess. For now, though, the Church seemed to regard that as a "great leap forward." Annoyingly enough.
Maybe the reason these people are having me take these lectures is also something the Church wanted.
"Trying to learn the technology isn't simply a matter of ruffling the Gnomes' feathers. If you consider the case of the Dwarves, who have quite a lot of exchange with the Gnomes, it probably won't be easy for a while yet."
The Gnomes excelled at processing Mana Stones, and in fact, that technology had originated with the Dwarves.
It's a bit difficult to say which of the two is superior— but I've heard that, generally, the Gnomes are better at small, delicate processing techniques, while the Dwarves have superior skill at manufacturing massive devices.
If there's a problem, it's that the size of Gates is limited.
Even if you build large equipment, it's generally useless unless you disassemble it to bring it through. What's the point of buying something you can't even use in the first place?
On top of that, most of the Dwarves' "technology" can be replaced with modern technology. Things like huge drills, cannons, and tanks.
Until then, it had supposedly been technology almost monopolized by the Dwarves by that world's standards, but once the Gates opened, things changed dramatically.
"A Mana Stone carved with Runes, capable of finely controlling energy with just a few words. Most have a set number of uses, but they're an extremely important material!"
Thanks to that, Dwarven technology—which by Dwarf and Gnome standards ought to be far more advanced—has been gradually losing ground to Gnome technology since the Gates opened.
Because each side specialized in different fields for the sake of trade, it's hard to catch up overnight. Light industry and heavy industry were always quite different fields in many ways, after all.
According to the lecture, the Dwarves' dissatisfaction had been slowly but steadily growing recently.
When dealing with the two races, keep this in mind.
......Actually, this was content I already knew.
*
The class itself was worthwhile and interesting.
Even stories that the novel just glossed over with a brief explanation become lectures nearly as detailed as a university general education course in reality.
I'd always been fairly interested in things like history classes.
Especially when it comes to stories close to general education like this, in a situation where you aren't hung up on grades, they just become interesting "stories."
"You think that stuff's fun?"
When we returned to the church and I was wearing a pleased expression, Ria asked me in disbelief.
Ah, right.
You just got out of high school.
So just hearing the word "class" is enough to make you sick of it. The time when you suffer most from exams is...... hmm, for me it was college, but actually neither of us has ever experienced university life.
"I've always liked listening to stories like that, you know?"
"Is that so......."
As I said that and carefully slid my textbook, covered in notes here and there, into the bookshelf on the desk, Ria watched me with a slightly surprised look.
"Didn't I tell you? I may look like this, but I actually listened pretty hard in class. The only subject I got bad grades in was Theology."
"Wait, if you're a nun, shouldn't Theology be your best subject?"
"If you saw the other nuns' grades, you wouldn't be able to say that at all."
There's a bit of an atmosphere of exclusion because I openly go around talking about my Atheism, but there are actually one or two people with lower grades than me. And even looking at the overall grades, you couldn't exactly call the level very high.
I shrugged my shoulders as I thought about the nuns' average Theology scores.
"Anyway, that's why it's fun."
I'd imagined it before.
The existing Earth has already been thoroughly explored by adventurers going everywhere, hasn't it? No matter where you go, in the end it can't be more than tourism.
But if it's another world, the story is different.
If there are countless worlds beyond the Gates, then all of those worlds are places worth adventuring in and exploring. The me from my Past Life didn't do that kind of work, but it's still enough to stir up a sense of romance.
......Of course, romance is just romance. I can already see clearly how much of a miserable slog it would be to explore in person.
So, for now, I'm content just learning.
"......?"
Hm?
While I was lost in thought for a moment, I ended up staring straight at Ria's face. Normally I would have looked away—
But for some reason, Ria was shifting her gaze around as if she was a little uncomfortable.
"What's wrong? Are you embarrassed because I'm staring at you like this?"
"Uh, no, I mean, normally if someone stares at you like that, you'd feel a little weird, right?"
Why?
I don't think it was like that at first. If anything, when I avoided her gaze, didn't she stare at me even more?
Hmm.
"Why? Why?"
For some reason, I felt good.
Since I was usually the one on the receiving end, making this discovery even by accident felt good.
I walked over to where Ria was sitting on the bed and deliberately moved my face around, trying to meet her eyes.
Normally, if Ria had been looking me straight in the eye, I would have been the one to look away, but Ria had already been caught up in my pace, so I had no reason to be embarrassed.
"What's wrong? Am I too pretty to look at straight on? Hm?"
"Shut up, you."
"Pfft."
In the end, as if she couldn't take it anymore, Ria pressed both hands firmly against my cheeks.
But even with my cheeks squished, I smiled a victorious smile. In the end, the one who tries to stop this kind of thing is the loser.
"......."
Ria seemed to realize that too,
"Your cheeks are soft no matter when I touch them. Are you a rice cake?"
"Rabbit, deer, rice cake—do you think I'll get mad just because you keep slapping random labels on me?"
When I answered in disbelief, Ria let go of my cheeks.
Then I went back to my spot and organized my things. There wasn't really anything to do. The books were already put away, after all.
"Hey, Ria."
Something suddenly came to mind, so I looked at Ria.
"Yeah?"
"That thing about being my knight—how long are you planning to do it?"
"......Why?"
Ria blinked as she answered my question.
"No, it's just, with the way things have turned out, it looks like I'm going to have to stay in the Church for quite a long time."
Maybe after everything is over, once I've gotten a bit older, I might be able to quit.
When that time comes, I'll travel around here and there. Whether in this world or another world. I don't know what it'll be, but it'll be after everything has been resolved, anyway.
The problem is that I don't know when that will be.
......The novel might talk about "selling her off" and all that, but this was reality, wasn't it?
I'm grateful that she said she'd protect me. And that she volunteered after seeing the stalker problem.
But that doesn't mean I can keep her tied to the convent forever. Rather than having her spend her entire youth here and then leave, it would be far better for her to stay for a reasonable amount of time and then return to society.
My hand, which had been moving leisurely, stopped.
"......."
A boyfriend for Ria, huh.
The problem with delusions is this.
When you imagine a girl you've once fantasized about getting a different boyfriend, it puts you in a bad mood. It's a little different from BSS or NTR. How should I put it—it's just, a little, you know.
"......I'll be here as long as you're a Saintess Candidate, so don't worry."
Ria said it like she was tossing the words out. Then I heard the sound of her flopping down onto the bed.
As long as I was a Saintess Candidate, she said.
......Well, if it's that much, then it's not entirely impossible for me to manage the timing.
I let out a light breath and pushed my bag under the desk.