Chapter 8. Saintess and Knight (5)
Chapter 8. Saintess and Knight (5)
The road back to the Church.
Calling it another world makes it feel impossibly far away, but from the standpoint of someone living in Seoul, it's actually much closer than going to the United States. You just ride a Gate.
Still, that Gate isn't right in Seoul. It was a bit of a drive out of the city, so we ended up traveling a little longer than usual.
Ria and I took seats somewhere in the middle.
Not quite Saintess-level treatment, but after this incident, people seem to have gotten a sharper sense of my importance. If I'm at the very front, I'm vulnerable in an accident, and if I'm at the very back, there aren't enough troops to protect me from an enemy attack.
Though if you think about it that way, this seat seems like the one that takes the longest to escape from no matter which direction you go.
Then again, the "combat-capable people" of this world could probably slice through a bus's steel plating with ease. They might just pop the side open like a tin can and get out.
After sitting in my seat for about fifteen minutes with my mind completely blank, I got bored and—
"Ria."
"Hm?"
"Ever thought about becoming the Saintess?"
I tossed that joke at Ria.
"......."
Ria turned her head toward me with a frown.
"Why, do you hate it that much?"
I said with a beaming smile.
Well, she has every reason to hate it. Ria especially—she was never the type who wanted to enter a convent in the first place.
Even if she doesn't have a man she likes right now, she probably wants to try dating and all that someday.
Damn, I want to try it too. Still, wouldn't there be a bit more of a chance in this world? Even setting men aside. Because I'm pretty.
"Honestly, I somehow ended up becoming a Saintess Candidate outright. All that struggling I did turned out to be completely meaningless."
This grumbling is half sincere.
The reason it's only half sincere is that, thinking about it now, there was no way out for me anyway. The Cardinal's antagonism toward me was his own way of respecting my authority, and the fact that I remained a Saintess Candidate the whole time with only my rights stripped made it clear the Church had no intention of letting me go.
"......That, I'm sorry about."
Huh?
I turned back toward Ria.
Ria's gaze was fixed firmly downward.
Of every expression I'd ever seen on Ria, this was the lowest her mood had ever been. Not just low to the floor—it looked like it had burrowed somewhere underground.
"Uh......."
I felt like I'd stepped on a landmine.
"Th-that...... did you hate it that much? It was a joke, a joke—"
"No, it's not that."
Ria murmured.
"The fact that you got in so deep you couldn't get out—that's partly my fault too."
"Huh?"
The sound slipped out before I could stop it.
Seeing me tilt my head, Ria's expression sank even deeper into guilt. This is...... hmm, this expression isn't the first time. It was the same face she'd worn after saving me.
The face of someone who thinks she's done something terribly wrong to me.
"Your fault?"
At my question, Ria kept her mouth shut for a long while again. She rolled her eyes around for nearly five minutes, but since Ria was by the window and I was in the inner seat, she had nowhere to escape to.
Ria finally opened her mouth.
"If I...... hadn't made you that offer."
"Hadn't?"
"No, it's obvious, isn't it? You'd just be living outside the Church."
"Huh?"
What is she talking about?
"Ria."
I leaned my face slightly closer to Ria and lowered my voice. Ria pulled her head back.
Lately, Ria reacts to me like this a lot. To be honest, it's a little fun and cute. Because Ria is pretty.
She's taller than me, but—being that tall actually has its own cute side. A gap, I guess you'd call it.
But still, I liked Ria better when she carried herself with confidence. That's more reassuring. If she's going to be my knight anyway, I think it's much cooler for her to lift me up with one hand and cleanly cut down enemies.
Am I relying on Ria too much?
"Let me say it again: I have no intention of becoming the Saintess."
"......."
Blink.
Ria's eyes blinked.
"And even if I do become the Saintess, I have no intention of staying in the Order forever."
That's right.
I have no intention of living my whole life keeping a vow of chastity.
Well, that doesn't mean I'll date just anyone or sleep with just anyone. I want to go all the way with someone I properly like...... well, anyway.
"Think about it—isn't it obvious? The people who stay in the Order to the end are the deeply devout ones, and I'm not that kind of person."
Without a sense of duty, it's a position you could never hold to the end in the first place.
"You're saying you'd resign partway through?"
"If the work I have to do gets finished, that's the plan. Is there some law saying I can't?"
Ria's mouth fell slightly open.
"......."
And after sinking into thought for a moment—
"......There isn't, is there?"
she answered. Her expression was strange. It was the look of someone going, "Wait, what?"
I grinned.
That's right.
There's no law saying you can't quit partway through. Because it's never happened before. There was never even a reason to think about it.
The conclusion I'd reached so far was exactly that method. So what if I'm a Saintess Candidate? I can just quit later. Of course, I plan to avoid becoming the Saintess as much as possible, but even if I do become the Saintess—so what?
I can just quit.
It's something that's never happened before in this Order, but that's only because its history is short.
I'll just become the precedent.
In fact, among Catholic popes, there have been some who stepped down of their own accord.
"......Heh."
Seeing my confident expression, Ria let out a hollow laugh. And then—
"Hahaha!"
That hollow laugh soon became a real one.
The people around us all turned to look this way.
"And one of the ways to not become the Saintess is to just make someone else the Saintess instead. Right?"
"God, that's ridiculous."
Ria answered, lightly rubbing the corner of her eye with her hand.
"Hey, if a Saintess quitting is just something with no precedent, then there's no reason there can't be two Saintesses either, is there? That's also just a matter of no precedent."
"......Ah."
"The Pope, sure, it's set that there's only one, but the Saintess isn't like that, is it? If we're talking about the concept of saints, it wouldn't be strange to have several in the same era."
"Ah."
As I sat there dazed, unable to give a proper answer, Ria giggled.
"Well, don't worry."
"......You say something like that and then tell me not to worry?"
"You said you'd quit, right? Either way."
Ria said playfully. No, she says it like there's some kind of solution.
"It's obvious things are going to get complicated before I can quit."
When I said that, a little sulky, Ria shrugged her shoulders.
"Well, don't worry about that either."
When I turned my head at her words, Ria was grinning at me.
"I'll do my best on that too."
"So you're saying you'll do your best to stop it?"
"Right?"
I blinked.
"Why? You're...... I mean, you're a knight."
A Personal Knight who escorts a Saintess Candidate.
"Well, that's true, but I'm not exactly a Saintess's knight. I'm your knight."
"......."
"So what I'm saying is, moving the way you want is protecting you, isn't it?"
My face heated up a little at those words.
Why?
I've said "my knight" and all that to Ria plenty of times myself, so why does hearing it like this make me so embarrassed?
Ria shrugged her shoulders and turned her head toward the window.
"......."
Somehow it feels unfair that she's the only one acting completely unbothered.
"Hey."
"......."
"Hey, Ria."
I poked Ria's side. Ria's body flinched slightly.
"Ria, you're actually a little embarrassed too, right? About what you just said."
Ria didn't answer, but she kept her face turned toward the window. Instead, she kept pushing away my hand, which was tickling her side.
What's this, she's embarrassed after all.
After that, on the way back to the Church.
Our little battle went on for quite a while. I attacked, and Ria blocked the attacks.
"Ah, come on!"
Well, in the end, Ria pinned me down with sheer force.
After holding out for a long while, Ria suddenly spun her body toward me and tickled my sides wildly with both hands.
"Hah!? W-wait, Ria...... heek!?"
At that tickling, which couldn't even be compared to the side-poking Ria used to do, I couldn't hold back my laughter.
In between, I think I let out some slightly embarrassing, indecent sounds too. From trying to hold in my laughter for no reason.
Maybe Ria doesn't have much immunity to that kind of thing either—or maybe it was because people were sticking their faces out from their seats to stare at us, but she did stop eventually.
"Hahh...... hnngh...... someday, I'll definitely get my revenge......."
As I muttered that with my head resting against the back of the seat in front of me, Ria let out another short, incredulous laugh and looked out the window again.
By the time we arrived at the Church, night had nearly fallen.
I got off the bus feeling somewhat exhausted.
Today, as soon as I get in, I'll wash up and just sleep—I was thinking, when—
"Sister Anna, do you have a moment?"
The Priest spoke to me.
"Yes?"
"The Cardinal is currently here at the Church."
"......."
At those words, I instinctively looked toward Ria.
Seeing Ria nod calmly, I let out a deep sigh.