Chapter 37
Chapter 37
Saint, You’re So Vulgar! – Chapter 37
In front of the barracks of the Church's Holy Knight Order.
Satern was participating in the joint training, going on a run.
Normally, he wouldn't even have time for this due to his escort duties, but this time, with Lubena attending a tea party, he had some leeway and came to loosen up his body.
And if there was any other purpose...
"Sir Terbion, are you alright?"
"Yes, Sir Hyzenberg. I'm perfectly fine now."
Satern's gaze turned to Asher.
For someone who had been in a coma for a fortnight, his complexion looked healthy.
No, in some ways, he even seemed more lively than usual.
That was a relief.
He couldn't be too familiar during escort duties, but Asher was still a junior he cared for.
Satern had his own worries too.
But what bothered him was the change in personality.
Since when had Asher, who used to seem like the embodiment of passion and kindness, started flashing such sly smiles?
If he had to pinpoint the time, it was after he began his escort role.
The disconnect was jarring, but... well, escort duties could turn even a sane knight into a paranoid wreck, so he let it slide.
He himself had gone bald after his escort stinta major change.
Satern brushed it off and spoke up.
"Glad you look healthy. The Saintess was quite worried."
"Yes, I'm sorry for causing her concern."
"You don't look too sorry, with that grin."
"Haha, it just reminded me of the scolding I got."
Scolding was all it took?
Satern unwittingly recalled the events in Phured.
Versia, unable to control her emotions and rampaging to bring about the end times, had been pure terror.
Afterward, as she withered away nursing Asher alone, there was a madness-like obsession emanating from her.
For such a person to brush it off as mere 'scolding' felt oddly off.
Satern glanced at Asher.
But he didn't add anything.
It wasn't his place to pry deeply.
"...I see."
Silence fell.
The two ran side by side, matching pace.
Only the sound of their feet pounding the ground and their breaths filled the space, with the knights' cadence calls filling the gaps.
It was at one such moment.
"I wonder how the tea party is going."
"Mm."
"Hope no fights break out."
Satern agreed on that point.
Indeed, on tea party days, Lubena often came back ignored and fuming, causing a scene.
It was like an annual event.
It made his workload even more exhausting, so Satern dreaded it too.
But this time, he wasn't too worried.
"I trust Saintess Versia will smooth things over. They seem to have grown close."
"Mm, our Saintess would definitely handle it."
"Besides, with the agenda being what it is, there won't be any pointless arguments."
"Ah..."
Asher nodded.
"Sir Raman took the hit."
"I went to nurse him. He was my predecessor, after all."
The man who had escorted Lubena right up until Satern was assigned was none other than Colledo Raman, who had fallen to the artificial witch during this investigation.
Fortunately, his life wasn't in danger, but he was in critical condition, unable to rise from his sickbed for a while.
"Those artificial witches must be really strong. Embarrassingly, I collapsed before any real fight, so I have no intel."
Asher smiled sheepishly.
Satern briefly recalled that day.
He'd thought about it now and then since.
If Versia hadn't rampaged and crushed it that day, could he have beaten the artificial witch?
"......"
He couldn't say for sure.
On first contact, he'd gone all out aiming to end it in one blow, smashing her face, but the artificial witch showed no damage.
Or rather, she seemed indifferent to any injury from the blow.
Versia's power was so beyond norms that Lubena and the other missing ones might not have sensed it, but Satern, who had struck her directly, knew.
"Strong. Definitely."
Artificial witches were terrifyingly powerful.
Even accounting for his own focus on defense among the 1st Class Knights, they were freakishly strong.
It was something he couldn't overlook.
After all, weren't the heretics going to keep producing these artificial witches to threaten the continent?
"We need to be careful."
Asher murmured that and fell silent.
A small worry stirred in Satern.
What if Asher fell to the next artificial witch they encountered?
Would Versia rage like beforeor worselose control and devastate the area?
Versia was a walking disaster, a time bomb that could go off anytime.
His nagging concern soon took verbal form.
"...Don't get hurt. Lots of people would worry."
Asher replied with a cryptic smile.
"Yes, I won't get hurt anymore. I'm sick of feeling powerless."
"Good."
He brimmed with confidence.
Satern chuckled inwardly.
Who was worrying about whom, really?
In talent, in martial prowess, in piety.
Asher might not admit it himself, but among the 1st Class Knights, he stood at an unrivaled peak.
If not for throwing himself to protect Versia that day, things might have played out differently.
Satern shook off the idle thought.
And said,
"Let's finish the training."
"Yes."
Asher's smile as he replied still felt off-putting.
Satern was curious about what went on in that head, but sadly, he had no way to know.
Unlike before, the Asher now was too enigmatic.
* * *
The tea party's atmosphere turned grave in an instant.
The defeat of a 1st Class Knight carried immense weight.
The title of the Church's ultimate weapon wasn't just for internal use.
The Church stood above the world's laws.
Two factors enabled that.
First, the existence of the Saintess who conveyed God's voice. Second, the coercive force that made the world obeythe asymmetric power of the 1st Class Knights.
Didn't they say the fist was closer than the law?
If the Saintess position gave the Church legitimacy, the 1st Class Knights gave it enforcement.
Though only a dozen or so in number, their presence allowed the Church to impose God's will on the world.
Thus, 1st Class Knights could not be brokensymbolically.
Yet one had been broken by heretics.
Even the Saintesses had to take it seriously, and Halia continued.
"It's not a major injury, but the implications are huge. And already, artificial witches are appearing in various places, causing anomalies."
Judith asked,
"Have you informed the outside?"
"We can't. Raman's injury is being kept strictly secret. The Cardinals are working hard on it."
"The other knights..."
"1st Class Knights will now pair up. Like you and I did, like Lubena and Versia. The Church's decision is to create safety measures for emergencies."
It wasn't just for that reason, surely.
As with Versia's use of her authority, one slip-up could be contained, but two failures became a dagger threatening the entire Church.
It was a hardline stance of no more defeats, and it brought Asher a great sense of crisis too.
'The situation is getting serious.'
He couldn't just watch.
The next dispatch might be even tougher.
"...The heretics won't stay hidden anymore."
The tide of war shifts constantly.
The blood-red sky's appearance, and now a 1st Class Knight's defeat.
From the heretics' view, these boons piling up might push them to rampage openly, ushering in chaos instead of hiding like before.
Halia nodded.
"Which means we must move differently too. No more undercover work. We'll be making more official visits to nations as envoys."
Asher nodded.
Judith and Lubena didn't look thrilled, but they accepted it.
After sharing more minor updates, the tea party ended.
Asher left the meeting room deep in thought.
He needed to consult with Versia soon.
Today was joint training day, and since he had to show he was fine, he'd heard Versia would attend till the end.
So he'd promised to pick her up at the training grounds.
Asher crossed the Church grounds and arrived.
Upon arrival, his expression turned serious for a different reason.
"Haa..."
"Phew..."
Asher's face soured.
One eyebrow twitched up.
His glare fixed precisely on the shadows behind a training ground pillar.
'...Again.'
Priestesses were peeking at the training knights.
More precisely, peeking at Versia somewhere in there.
"She's back..."
"It was so dull without her around... Thank goodness, really..."
"Sir Terbion is so cool, isn't he? Especially those cold eyes..."
"His eyes are cold, but that's the tropehe can't be harsh to someone he's opened his heart to! Sir Terbion surely...!"
No.
Versia got more tormenting the more she opened her heart.
Thinking of her, Asher muttered inwardly without realizing.
'...They know nothing.'
Fantasizing that he was more manly now or whateverAsher felt no fondness for these priestesses.
Turning exclusive toward negative feedback about himself was just human nature.
It was then.
"Such a romantic. He threw himself to save the Saintess again and ended up in a coma..."
"Aah, with a guy like that..."
"I wonder if he harbors affection for the Saintess?"
Asher flinched, his shoulders jerking.
"Eek! Hey, don't say that so casually!"
"But it could happen, right?"
"True, but...!"
His cheeks flushed a bit at the priestesses' fuss.
The situation itself had been too dire for any romance nonsense, but because of what followed, he was still haunted.
-It's punishment. Stay close so I don't get anxious.
Scenes flashed by of her slyly whispering as she trapped him in her arms.
The more he tried to escape, the tighter she clung that nastiness bubbled up.
It was nothing but trouble, so why was it crossing his mind now?
'Romantic...'
His lips pressed tight.
Hearing that word made interpretations split awkwardly.
No, it was silly thinking.
Asher shook his head vigorously.
To him, romantic feelings between man and woman were shy, embarrassed emotions that kept them from approaching each other easily.
Even holding hands felt sacred, making the heart tremble.
Versia's expressions, by contrast, were too crude.
She just had a fun escort to tease, that was all.
After all, didn't she always trouble him for the simple reason of 'it's fun'?
The priestesses' words were nothing to mind.
'Don't let it get to me.'
He calmed his inner turmoil.
Then, suddenly irked at Versiathe source of all these rumorshe glanced her way.
Their eyes met.
He startled
Asher jolted.
Versia was smiling.
Languidly, slyly.
As if the smile said,
-So lewd. Really.
Asher felt unjustly guilty.
Even though there was no reason at all
"......"
His ears burned.