Chapter 542: The Cardinal's Dilemma
Chapter 542: The Cardinal's Dilemma
By the time I finally washed up and got out of the tub, it was already evening.
It seemed Vanessa was intent on following Diana's order to rest today, as she was nowhere to be seen in the dining hall.
Furthermore, judging by the completely unfazed expressions on my girls' faces and the anxious look on Silvia’s over in the corner, it looked like Vanessa hadn't reported what just happened to Diana.
Knowing Vanessa, she's the type to confess everything out of guilt. Especially since she’s been forced to let me caress her without Diana’s knowledge before.
In fact, after it was over, she’d been uncharacteristically dejected out of guilt.
But the fact that she didn't report it this time… could it mean she believed what I told her at the end?
Alright. In that case, I have to repay that trust.
"Ah, there you are. Where on earth have you been? It seems you weren't in your room."
As if on cue, Diana spoke to me, making it easy to bring up the topic.
Since it was Vanessa’s day off, someone must have come to my room to tell me dinner was ready.
"Oh, I was with Vanessa."
"Hmm? Vanessa?"
Diana looked puzzled, as if she'd never expected to hear Vanessa's name from my lips.
"Yeah. About that. You know how I said Felicia was acting strangely before? It seems the effect of her aura on the others was, like my skills, something that fundamentally has to be dispelled by Felicia herself. The reason Sara and Silvia were fine was just because I'm a Saint."
"...Hmm? Which means…"
Diana murmured, seeming to grasp my meaning immediately.
"Wait! Is that true?!"
Sara, too, shot back a question with a look of utter shock.
Having experienced Felicia's aura firsthand, she seemed astonished that Vanessa had been enduring it all this time.
Come to think of it, Silvia had also come looking for me in a huge panic.
I guess she was so flustered because she knew exactly what it felt like.
For the record, that same Silvia was now over in the corner, her eyes wide and her mouth agape, as if she couldn't believe I was about to expose my encounter with Vanessa. Cute.
"Ah, don't get the wrong idea. We didn't do it. I just helped her release it with some foreplay."
I rushed to explain before Diana could misunderstand.
To be honest, my conscience pricked a little at calling it just foreplay, since I did have her wrap her thighs around me… but I hope she can forgive that much. I really did hold myself back.
"You don't have to be so anxious; I won't make any unnecessary assumptions. My, my. Were you perhaps hoping for something like that to happen?"
Perhaps finding my hasty excuse a little amusing, Diana spoke with a sly, playful smile.
She was surprisingly calm, even though I was telling her something like that had happened, even if we didn't go all the way.
Honestly, I was expecting another one of her pat-pat attacks.
"O-Of course not."
"Your stutter is rather suspicious."
Diana said it in a teasing tone, her attitude suggesting she didn't doubt me at all.
The fact that she isn't showing any suspicion or jealousy is actually making this more awkward.
Is this it? Has her trust in me finally reached this level?
If so, then my desperate struggle to hold onto my reason was worth it.
If I had actually committed the deed and Diana had treated me like this, I think I would have wanted to die.
"There you go again. But you're not doing your pat-pat attack this time, Diana. Do you finally trust me?"
"Pat-pat attack?"
Diana tilted her head with a quizzical look when I countered.
Oops. I messed up. I was supposed to keep the name for her attack to myself.
"A-Anyway. To think your faith in me has finally come this far. Sniff! As expected, Diana, you love me too much…"
"Don't get the wrong idea. I trust Vanessa. There's no way you could do anything to her. Well, well… it is true that I am fond of you, but that is a separate matter from trust."
Her trust wasn't in me, but in Vanessa.
Ugh. Dammit. Do you have any idea what that same Vanessa was about to do when she lost her senses today?
For a moment, I wanted to blurt it out in a fit of jealousy, but I forced the feeling down.
Guwon is a man of his word. I told Vanessa I'd smooth things over for her.
"Well, well… besides, you have been good about reporting to us lately."
Seeing my disappointed expression, Diana must have felt a little sorry, because she reached out and patted my head as she spoke.
Diana, my… my big sis… As expected, my Diana is the best.
Yeah. I really tried my best.
"He's good at reporting, sure, but the number of other women he's laying his hands on has also increased."
But from the side, Sara shot another subtly barbed comment my way.
Sara. Why are you so good at verbal abuse?
Worse, it was true, so I had nothing to say.
I mean, how many women had I made a move on in the last few days?
I'd slept with Felicia, confessed to Elder Sister Rachel, bestowed the Apostle's Seal on Matilda, and now Vanessa…
All of this happened in the span of just a few days.
Yeah. Even I had to admit it was a bit much.
"Hk…!"
And I wasn't the only one damaged by Sara's piercing remark.
Matilda, who was sitting on the other side of the table, unable to even meet my gaze properly, shrank back, her face turning an even deeper shade of red.
She, who had so boldly declared her love for me before, now seemed a little shy after actually receiving the Apostle's Seal.
And though she couldn't even look me in the eye, she already seemed to be halfway into her pink-tinted mode; the occasional glances she snuck at me were hazy and dreamlike.
"But I see now. So that was the situation with Miss Vanessa… I thought she seemed a little different than usual."
It was none other than our angel who changed the subject.
To think she was blaming herself for not completely seeing through Vanessa's condition. She really is an angel. So angelic I'm at a loss for words.
"Mm. Indeed. I should have been the first to notice… I thought something was odd when she put on makeup, but I never imagined it was to hide a blush."
Diana spoke as if to comfort Leia.
Ah, so she also figured out why Vanessa was wearing makeup. She's so sharp.
Still, to think she found it odd.
"You did explain why Vanessa was wearing makeup, didn't you?"
"As if I would believe that. How long do you think I have been with Vanessa? Since before you were born… ahem! Ahem! A-Anyway! I thought it was strange!"
Diana trailed off, coughed cutely, then squeezed her eyes shut and shouted at me as if throwing a tantrum.
Hey. I get that you're embarrassed about almost blowing your own cover, but don't take it out on me.
"Then why didn't you say anything if you didn't believe Vanessa's excuse?"
"I-I was just…! It is nothing! You do not need to know!"
Diana mumbled, glancing at my face, before finally patting my chest.
So you were going to do it after all. The pat-pat attack.
"Honestly, this fool… Anyway, Guwon. Don't you have something to do now? Since Matilda is here."
Sara, who for some reason had joined Diana in scolding me, looked over at Matilda as she spoke.
Right. There was something I had to do.
In fact, I'd been thinking about it ever since I saw Matilda.
"Y-Yes? Me? What is it?"
Matilda flinched and trembled as if she didn't know what was going on, then straightened her posture with a look of resolve.
Why is she making that face? She looks like she's about to go through some kind of initiation rite.
Is she misunderstanding something?
"Matilda."
"Yeees… Guwon…"
But as soon as I called her name, her determined expression vanished, replaced by that pink-tinted gaze.
Hey. Sorry, but this isn't about that.
"It's time for the Goddess's Advent."
I said with a triumphant smile, looking right at her.
"Eh… yes? The Goddess?"
"Yeah. I mentioned it once, didn't I? The Goddess's Advent is possible if you receive my Apostle's Seal…"
"...N-No, you never said that?"
Matilda replied in a flustered voice as I explained with a smile.
…Huh? I didn't?
Ah, now that I think about it, I remember vaguely brushing it off back then by saying only Leia could do it…
No. That was true at the time.
Leia was the only one in the priestess line I'd given the Apostle's Seal to, and I had no intention of giving it to anyone else. More importantly, I figured if I said the Apostle's Seal enabled the Goddess's Advent, every priestess in the world would throw themselves at me, and that would be a pain…
"A-Ahem! Ahem! A-Anyway, it's possible! Now, let's finally summon the Goddess again, and this time, I'll get the details about the Saint's mission!"
With that, I opened Matilda's skill window.
She may have been a Paladin before, but now she'd class-changed to a High Priestess just like Leia, so the Goddess's Advent skill had to be in there somewhere.
There was the issue that Matilda hadn't leveled up even once since receiving the seal, but she had the skill points she'd gained as a bonus from the appointment, so she should be able to learn the skill.
Alright, where is it? Goddess's Advent… Goddess's Advent… there it is!
Now, to allocate the skill points… It's not working…
Wait. What is this. …Prerequisite skill condition not met.
With Leia, she was already in a state where she could learn Goddess's Advent immediately, so I hadn't noticed. But it seemed there was a prerequisite skill.
R-Right. That could happen. No matter how high her level was, she had class-changed from a Paladin, so it was only natural that her proficiency and skill levels in High Priestess skills were lower than Leia's.
Above all, she'd only advanced because of the curse, so her only chance to acquire or level up skills would have been when she was in the dungeon with me.
Fortunately, there was only one prerequisite skill needed to learn Goddess's Advent.
It was a skill called 'High Priestess's Faith.'
It was the most fundamental passive skill for a High Priestess, increasing the efficiency of all sorts of priestess-line skills.
Its lower-tier version was a basic passive skill learned as a Priestess, called 'Priestess's Faith.'
If 'Priestess's Faith' was at its max level and the character's job was High Priestess, 'Priestess's Faith' would automatically be upgraded to the 'High Priestess's Faith' skill.
Though its level would reset to 1.
In any case, Matilda was a priestess before becoming a Paladin, so her 'Priestess's Faith' level should be high enough. She probably had 'High Priestess's Faith' learned, if I looked for it. The problem, however, was that you couldn't learn 'Goddess's Advent' just by having the skill.
The required level for 'High Priestess's Faith' to learn 'Goddess's Advent' was… max level.
Even without looking, Matilda's 'High Priestess's Faith' skill level was probably far too low.
It was only natural. She had class-changed to High Priestess after being afflicted by a curse that prevented her from doing anything.
She would have had no opportunity to raise her skill levels.
Of course, she'd raised it to some extent while dungeoneering with me, but it would have been nowhere near enough to max it out.
After all, Matilda's role in the dungeon was to guard the rear line, and Leia handled most of the healing magic.
But still, max level?
Aren't the requirements a bit too high?
Come to think of it, I'd heard something like that before.
That 'Goddess's Advent' could only be used after becoming a Saintess.
Could it be that it meant only someone of a Saintess's caliber would have reached the max level for 'High Priestess's Faith'?
No. If that's the case, then what about Leia…?
Back then, Leia had just become a High Priestess, hadn't she?
No, it wasn't just 'not long after'… come to think of it, didn't she go to the temple and learn Goddess's Advent right after becoming a High Priestess?
I hurriedly opened Leia's skill window.
High Priestess's Faith: MAX
As expected, 'High Priestess's Faith' was at its highest level.
But that wasn't the problem.
…What is this.