Unwelcome Guests (3)
The next day, after a simple breakfast, Lowen prepared to go out.
With the weather growing warmer by the day, a coat was unnecessary; his clerical robes alone would suffice.
"Bishop Lowen."
Ariel was waiting in front of the cathedral.
She was properly dressed in her white Saintess robes, even wearing a veil over her head. Anyone could see she was ready to go out.
"Weren't you going to stay at the cathedral?"
Lowen asked in a very gentle voice, gauging Ariel's mood. She had seemed out of sorts since last evening. He wasn't sure why her mood had soured, but her lips were pouted out in a sulky way. She was trying not to show it, yet the look she gave him was mixed with grumbling dissatisfaction.
"I want to come along too. Is that not allowed?"
Ariel lifted her chin and looked up at Lowen.
"There's no reason it wouldn't be."
Honestly speaking, he preferred acting alone. Taking the Saintess around the village would be quite a hassle. Even in a rural village, there would be people who recognized one of the Seven Saintesses representing the empire's state religion, and beyond that, Ariel herself—with her greenhouse-flower-like naivety—was a worry. He thought she might wander off somewhere the moment he looked away.
"We'll have to walk all the way to the village. Are you all right with that?"
"I'm fine."
Ariel placed her right hand over her chest.
"I may not look it, but I have confidence in my stamina."
Lowen nodded as if finding her claim of good stamina convincing. Considering how she remained lively even after masturbating three or more times a day while drooling, that is. Whether her stamina was good or her recovery was fast, Ariel didn't seem to tire easily.
After securely locking the cathedral door, they headed for the village.
"But what wind blew to change your mind?"
Ariel had decided to stay and guard the cathedral because she found places with many people uncomfortable.
"God is urging me to visit the village once."
"Pardon?"
The mission given to a Saintess who hears the voice of God and receives the butterfly mark on her lower abdomen: love all, protect all, care for all. Regardless of her own will, a sense of mission engraved deep in her heart was rising like instinct and leading Ariel. The trigger was, of course, the boy named Van who had thrown a stone at the window yesterday.
'Liars. It was the same back then. They said they'd apologize and then ran away.'
Those words kept echoing in her mind. The strong anger felt in them was adding heat to the Saintess's instincts.
"No matter how much I explain, Bishop Lowen probably won't understand."
As if in prayer by habit, Ariel clasped her hands and half-closed her eyes. A serious gaze. Her profile was truly noble—like a small light source faintly glowing in the darkness.
"Anyway, to cut to the conclusion, I want to stay at the cathedral, but my body is being drawn by instinct."
"A troublesome instinct, then."
"No. That's not it. Even though I'm being dragged by instinct against my will, I like this."
Ariel, who had been looking into the distance, smiled bashfully and looked at Lowen.
"I told you Bishop Lowen wouldn't understand."
"Yes, I don't understand."
"Of course. Only a Saintess like me who hears the voice of God can understand."
It was quiet. The wind was still, and even the birds were silent. The soft footsteps had faded away at some point. Only Ariel's calm voice soaked into Lowen's ears like melting sunlight.
This wasn't the first time he had felt this way. He had felt the same when conversing with the Second Saintess—a feeling of soothing a thoroughly dirtied heart. The saying that one confesses sins without realizing it when standing before a Saintess was not empty words.
Lowen, who had been quietly looking at Ariel, tightly closed his mouth and turned his head away.
Wind-shelter Village, located about twenty minutes from Wind-bird Forest.
Though a place where warm spring breezes lingered, it remained as silent as if still stuck in winter, even as spring had begun. The people on the streets looked haggard, like those on the verge of death. The sighs they exhaled were full of worries and concerns. Heavy air clung like moss to their bent shoulders.
Innocent young children played at the alley entrances, but the slightly older ones wandered the streets with shadowed faces. From the tavern that had opened early in the morning, curses toward the world rose like mist.
The guard listlessly watching the village entrance saw people approaching from afar.
"Travelers after a long time...?"
Occasionally a cart would come in for rest, but people arriving from outside were truly rare.
"Hmm?"
The guard frowned deeply at the attire of the two approaching people. Clerical robes. A man in ordinary black clerical robes. A woman in white clerical robes that exuded a lofty atmosphere and captured the eye. Two clergy were approaching Wind-shelter Village while chatting.
"Hello."
The tall man in black clerical robes, Lowen, greeted the guard with a gentle smile.
"Clergy are banned from entering this village. Especially clergy who serve the Light like you."
The guard blocked their path as if wary of enemies and pointed at Lowen's rosary—a cross-shaped rosary with an octagonal gem set in it. The symbol of Lumina Religion, the empire's state religion that worships the God of Light.
"Pardon? Entry is impossible?"
"Exactly as I said. Clergy can't enter the village, so turn back."
The guard waved his hand dismissively, telling them to leave. It was bewildering. Arriving at the village only to be told entry was impossible just for being clergy.
"Why can't clergy enter the village?"
"Because all the villagers refuse entry to clergy. Even if the Pope himself visited, our village would firmly block entry. Same if the Seven Saintesses came. So turn back before I drive you out roughly."
The guard held a spear as if to threaten. He was seriously blocking clergy entry, not joking.
In this awkward situation, Ariel, who had been fidgeting behind Lowen, stepped forward.
"Hello."
Ariel, who had been pressing her veil down enough to cover half her face, lifted it and greeted the guard.
"Uh......?"
The guard's eyes widened as if seeing a ghost.
"If our visit has displeased you, we are truly sorry. But please, if you could show magnanimity and kindly permit us to enter the village."
Though it was his first time seeing her in person, he had often seen her in newspapers. One of the Seven Saintesses. Sparkling silver hair and alluring violet eyes. Breasts the size of a head that put male believers to the test. Neither a dream nor a hallucination, the Seventh Saintess Ariel Violet stood right before him.
He was certain she wasn't a fake. Impersonating a Saintess in the empire was thoroughly managed by the Holy See and the empire, considered a grave crime of summary execution. There was an actual case. Though an event from distant history, a woman who claimed to be a Saintess had been beheaded on the spot for the crime of disrupting religious order and corrupting the world.
Above all, the big reason he was sure she wasn't fake was the rosary. The shape was the same as the one Lowen wore—a silver cross with an octagonal gem set in it. The difference was that the gem was a crystal condensed from high divine power, with golden light radiating outward inside the gem.
"Uh... th-that is..."
The guard who had shown a cold attitude until just now stammered. Earlier he had said he would firmly block entry even if the Pope or Saintesses came, but he had never imagined a real Saintess would come to this rural village.
"I-I'll go call the village chief!"
Since it wasn't something he could decide alone, the guard hurriedly went to the village chief.
"What could have happened in the village?"
While the guard went to fetch the chief, Ariel looked around from the village entrance and spoke.
"The guard just now, and the village itself looks withered and sickly."
"Seeing how they treat us like unwelcome guests and strongly distrust clergy, it's hard to think nothing happened. Come to think of it, that boy who broke the cathedral window yesterday also called us liars. I suspect the whole village has been badly burned by clergy before."
Corrupt clergy. There were occasional cases of those who abused their position as clergy to commit fraud and extortion. Among those Lowen had dealt with in the past, there had been a few corrupt clergy as well.
"We'll have to ask once we meet the village chief."
At Ariel's seriousness, Lowen felt a bit awkward. He had only planned to buy ingredients and return, but he intuitively felt they were about to get entangled in something.