What? Me? Living with the Priestess?
[62 Days Before the Incident]
The east gate of Fletur.
The Grafel Kingdom guard on duty inspected us, but it didn’t take long.
Maybe it was because the priestess was so beautiful. The young soldier blushed and fidgeted, then, with a tense expression, gave a respectful nod and processed us through in record time.
The priestess… She never said it outright, but she must be a fairly high-ranking practitioner.
I passed through the gate and quietly watched her back as she walked ahead.
Just like the soft, light brown hair that filled my vision, my heart swelled with warmth and gentleness.
Priestess Isabel.
Five years ago, she was the one who saved me when I was dying from a rare disease.
From that day until now, she had given up so much for my sake. She postponed the order’s touring schedule and stayed in my remote hometown for a full five years. She arranged for the order to cover my treatment costs, brewed special medicine for me every single day, and looked after me with endless care.
Five whole years.
She had been nineteen back then. Now she was twenty-four.
And I had only just shed the last traces of boyhood.
…Even though I still had to rely on her every day, thanks to her I had grown healthier and was finally able to live a normal life.
By listening to her advice and working hard, I had even reached the 1st Boundary, where I could sense and absorb Ether.
I smiled bitterly to myself.
It was time for me to start earning my own way. At the very least, I needed to cover the cost of the medicinal herbs for my treatment. I didn’t want to burden her any longer.
The order might have supported the treatment costs, but I knew that alone couldn’t have been enough.
She must have gone through so much without ever complaining.
“Whoa…”
Lost in thought, I stepped through the gate and was instantly overwhelmed by the sight before me.
Endless sprawling streets, countless people and carriages, armed practitioners everywhere, and the rough shouts and laughter rolling out from the market district. Just the scale of what I could see was enough to swallow my entire hometown village several times over.
The very air felt different. The sheer vitality of the city was beyond comparison.
The source of all this energy is obvious.
It had to be the countless unexplored regions outside the city walls—and above all, the dungeons. Irregular rifts kept appearing around the city, giving birth to ruins and dungeons.
Every dungeon was different, but a lucky find could yield treasures great enough to change a person’s life forever.
Someday, if I became a high-ranking practitioner…
Just then, the priestess walking ahead stopped and turned around.
“Rowen? Don’t lag behind like that. Walk beside me.”
“Ah, I couldn’t possibly! Priestess, it would be disrespectful for someone like me to walk beside you…”
“Rowen……”
She let out a small sigh, then fixed me with her pale amber eyes.
“I think I know what you’re thinking inside. But you shouldn’t blame yourself like this. If I don’t regret anything, why should you torment yourself?”
“Priestess… do you truly have no regrets? Someone like you could have…”
“I have none.”
Her answer was immediate and resolute.
Then she stepped over and stood right beside me.
The faint scent of lilies brushed my nose once more.
“Our order values connection and causality above all. I simply followed the voice of my heart and my conscience. And…”
She placed a hand over her chest and gently closed her eyes.
“I’m truly happy to be able to care for someone as kind and wonderful as you, Rowen.”
She tilted her head slightly and added,
“Just being given the chance to serve someone is a blessing from the gods. But seeing you grow this healthy… it fills my heart with such richness.”
Her smile was so radiant I lost my words for a moment.
How can a person be this good?
For a second I nearly teared up.
The heavy weight that had pressed on my chest for so long suddenly felt lighter. When I looked around, I noticed several people nearby staring at her face as if enchanted.
“…All right! Then… from now on I won’t be so stiff with you.”
“Oh my, I can already hear the wall in your tone.”
“Ah, haha… I’m still not used to it yet…”
We chatted as we walked, talking about the sights around us.
I needed to think about our plans going forward, but first we had to take care of the priestess’s business.
She had mentioned we needed to stop by the Asteros Order Fletur Branch.
.
.
.
At the carriage stand, Priestess Isabel paid the fare before I could even reach for my coin pouch.
As we rode the two-person carriage toward the central district, I drank in the lively city scenery.
After winding through crooked side streets, we emerged onto a grand central avenue…
Countless shops and forges, stores dealing in monster byproducts, the alchemist guild signboard, and buildings of every kind and scale I had never seen before in my life.
The closer we got to the center, the more practitioners filled the streets.
I rested my arm on the windowsill, trying to absorb every detail of the cityscape with wide eyes…
…or at least I wanted to.
Tap.
“Um, Priestess, that…”
“Yes? What is it?”
“Never mind…”
After mumbling awkwardly, I could only sigh inwardly.
Even though it was only a two-person carriage, the distance between us felt far too small.
Priestess Isabel’s shoulder and arm were already pressed naturally against mine, and since we were both looking out the same window while talking, our faces were nearly touching.
The subtle tension created by that nearness was almost unbearable.
I had just promised not to be stiff with her, so I couldn’t say anything about it.
It made me happy that she trusted me this much, but still…
“……”
I kept stealing glances at her face.
After five years together, I could tell the difference even in the same smile.
She definitely looked far more excited than usual.
While I was nervous, she seemed genuinely thrilled.
Maybe it was just my imagination.
We had grown quite close ever since leaving our hometown.
And what had she said earlier?
That I was kind and wonderful?
I could accept “kind,” but “wonderful” was the first time I had ever heard it from her lips.
If it had come from anyone else, I might have mistaken it for a confession.
After a long ride in the carriage, we arrived at our destination thirty minutes later.
.
.
The central district of the massive border city of Fletur.
From what I had heard, this area was home to many powerful organizations that included the city’s strongest figures.
Slightly east of the center, on a quiet hill set back from the bustling streets, stood the Asteros Order Fletur Branch.
It was a refined three-story building of white marble with a blue roof. A silver spire rose elegantly from its center.
“Rowen, could you wait here for a little while?”
“Yes, Priestess.”
While she climbed the stairs to meet the branch head, I waited in the first-floor reception room.
Large windows looked into the interior, and priestesses occasionally walked past, speaking quietly among themselves.
They seemed to know I had come with Priestess Isabel.
A few minutes later I made eye contact with one of them and gave an awkward smile. She suddenly bowed and hurried away.
…Is it really all right for me to stay here?
As another ten minutes or so passed, I decided to think about my own future plans.
If the distance wasn’t too great, I should walk to save money.
Since I still needed regular treatment, I had to stay near the order…
I would look for the cheapest inn possible.
Once I found a place to stay, I should visit the mercenary guild first. And then…
“Did you wait long?”
Before long, Priestess Isabel returned with light steps and opened the reception room door.
“Not at all. More importantly, Priestess, did everything go well?”
“Yes, the conversation with the order went smoothly.”
“That’s a relief. I… well, I should probably get going now.”
“What? What do you mean by that?”
A brief silence fell.
The smile slowly faded from her face.
She stared at me with those large amber eyes, looking genuinely puzzled, as if she truly didn’t understand.
“…Rowen, you haven’t forgotten that I perform the Purification Ritual for you for one hour every night, have you?”
“I remember, Priestess. But… I’ve reached the boundary where I can sense Ether now, haven’t I? From now on I’ll try to stabilize it myself at night. I’ll just come periodically to receive the medicine.”
Priestess Isabel let out a small sigh.
She slowly shook her head.
“How could Rowen, who only stepped into the initial stage of the Awakening Realm a few months ago, possibly stabilize your own unstable Ether alone? It’s impossible.”
“Still, shouldn’t I at least try once?”
“Even if you succeed by sheer luck once in a while, you’ll still need daily treatment, won’t you?”
The strength gradually left my shoulders.
“…Then I, an outsider, would have to stay at the order and keep inconveniencing everyone.”
“Oh my, it doesn’t have to be that way. I won’t be staying at the order either.”
“Huh? What do you mean by…”
“Ta-da.”
Priestess Isabel opened her palm to reveal what she had been holding.
A silver key.
“Is that… a house key?”
“Yes, that’s right. I spoke with the branch head and he arranged this convenience for us. We’ll be living together from now on.”
“Convenience…”
Didn’t priestesses usually live within the order?
Yet she had suddenly been given an entire house?
I didn’t know the details, but she certainly seemed worthy of such treatment…
Wait. What did she just say?
Living together?
“What? Me? Me, living with you, Priestess?”
Even I could tell how stupid my voice sounded.
Maybe my awkward reaction displeased her.
Priestess Isabel looked at me with elegantly raised eyes.
“Hmm— how strange. I thought you would be happy about the surprise gift…”
“Um… I didn’t mishear you, did I?”
“You didn’t mishear. From now on, it will be just the two of us living together.”
“……………”
It seemed I had heard correctly.
Back in our hometown, family members had always been around.
But now? Just the two of us?
Was that really all right?
“……”
“…?”
She tilted her head slightly, wearing a puzzled expression.
Then her eyes narrowed and a mysterious smile curved her lips.
“Don’t tell me… you’re not having any strange thoughts, are you?”
“P-Priestess…! I have never once looked at you with such… disrespectful eyes.”
“Hehe, I’m only teasing. And it’s fine, so don’t feel burdened. We’re between you and me, after all.”
Between you and me.
Those words strangely tickled a corner of my heart.
Of course I wasn’t having any strange thoughts.
The priestess knew better than anyone that I had never harbored disrespectful feelings toward her.
After all, I had never once looked at her with lewd eyes.
Not even once.
………To be completely honest, I had never had a lewd thought in my entire life.
I understood the theory behind such thoughts, but I had never experienced them.
Sometimes I even wondered if I was strange.
Back in the hometown, when a friend of mine made crude jokes about Priestess Isabel’s large hips—saying they were too big and vulgar—I had nearly gotten into a fight with him out of pure anger.
Why should she have to endure sexual harassment just because her chest or hips were generous?
Everyone had their own individual traits.
Someday, when the time came, I would probably feel those instincts too. But in my current state…
I bowed my head politely.
“Then… I’ll be in your care from now on.”