episode_0047

*

It was a bit unsettling, but in any case, the majority opinion was to go outside.

Of course, as Anna, the only dissenter, had said, it was definitely dangerous, so we decided to go outside only after thorough preparations.

From the next day, Lucia and I went out of the island every day to tidy up Mora Village.

I was now completely familiar with the village’s topography and alleys, but I still couldn’t quite get used to Lucia subtly throwing herself at me.

Like Solana Anna, Lucia was a very honest girl.

No, is it a little different from being honest?

More precisely, her thoughts and actions were directly reflected in her attitude.

When I walked around the empty village with her, which was becoming a ruin, she would fidget and stick close to me.

She would stare at me for a long time, but as soon as I turned my head towards her, she would quickly look away,

And she would bring the tips of her fingers slightly to my fingertips as if accidentally touching them, but when I reached out my hand, she would blush and shake her head.

She wants something, but she never says it out loud.

The problem is that she keeps hovering around me as if looking for a chance to touch me.

“Lucia…”

“Y-Yes, yes? Yes!”

Lucia was startled and looked up at me in a flurry.

As she straightened her silver silk bangs, which were messed up by the jump, her red cheeks looked sweet and soft like ripe peaches.

“… W-Why, what’s wrong?”

Was it because of the desolate scenery of the village, where no sign of human life could be found?

Or was it because of the affection I felt for Lucia, with whom I had spent the most time since the world had ended?

I wanted to give her a little reward.

I silently took her hand.

“Ah…”

Ha,

A reward, huh.

Anyone who heard that would think I was some stunning beauty.

What am I that Lucia sends me such pure affection that her inner thoughts are so transparent?

I thought Lucia was very foolish, but I loved her so much.

Yes, I loved her.

Of course, I didn’t forget that I was a goddamn priest.

But her soul, which had not lost its purity even though it had been tainted by the devil, was so dazzling,

Her weak but firm heart was so precious that I couldn’t help but keep looking back.

I want to hug her head.

I want to grab her waist and lift her up.

I wanted to pinch her soft cheeks.

“F-Father…”

Lucia pulled her arm away with faint force, but her fingertips were firmly intertwined with my fingers.

The sight of her face flustered and grinning as if she couldn’t stop the corners of her mouth from rising was so cute that I couldn’t help but smile.

It seemed like Lucia couldn’t properly control her body.

Knowing that she shouldn’t do this, it seemed that the voice of temptation and reason that kept ringing in her mind were fighting.

At least from my point of view, reason was clearly losing.

“… Do you not like it?”

Of course, the same was true for me.

Priest and nun.

Mister and girl.

I could feel the conceptual dividing line drawn between two beings that could never be mixed, and should not be mixed, gradually crumbling.

I knew it was dangerous.

I knew very well that if I allowed things like this one by one, I would cross the line someday, and that I had lived my whole life wary of desire.

But now, I was also at my limit.

The lines and guilt drawn in my mind were being erased by Lucia with the light of her pure soul,

Anna was subtly crossing and uncrossing the line against my physical aversion to physical contact and the line that should not be crossed.

And above all… Kunat.

The conversation I had with Kunat last night kept swirling around in my head, making me dizzy.

It was inevitable that my standards were becoming stretched like a rag.

“It’s okay. No one’s here.”

“Ah… Father.”

“Instead, keep it a secret from the other kids.”

“Yes… secret…”

Lucia muttered quietly, blushing and nodding.

She no longer resisted.

Rather, once she made up her mind, she boldly intertwined my fingers.

Lucia’s small, soft touch, swimming over my calloused hands, digging into every nook and cranny.

The sensation was more thrilling than I had imagined.

I felt like electricity was running down my spine.

“… Father.”

“Yeah,”

“Um… since you’re going to keep it a secret anyway… can I… do a little more…?”

Lucia seems to have finally succumbed to desire.

I smiled and shook my head.

“Don’t be too greedy. You said it yourself. You said you were satisfied with being by my side and hugging me when I greeted you.”

“Ah…”

“You said you didn’t want anything more than that.”

Lucia’s eyes welled up with a look of regret, but she soon nodded.

I hugged Lucia and patted her on the back, saying.

“Lucia, can I tell you a secret?”

“Yes… please tell me.”

Knowing that no one would hear it anyway, I deliberately brought my lips to Lucia’s ear and whispered.

“Actually, I… sometimes think back to that night.”

“…!”

Lucia let out a small trembling breath and hugged my back tightly.

I silently patted Lucia’s back again and again.

“He’s slowly killing me, a whore who’s made a lot of regular customers would do just that.”

Kunat, who was looking down at us from the roof, sneered.

Without responding, I activated Bolina’s Needle.

Kunat is a cat, but begged for forgiveness like a dog.

*

After spending some time enjoying the salty breeze, Lucia and I finished preparing to return before sunset.

It looked exactly like we had enjoyed a leisurely picnic, but it wasn’t just thoughtless play.

This was an important process of finding out whether we could really live in this village without being afraid of monsters.

For several days, we went to the village every day to learn the geography, hunt, and spend time at our leisure, but in the meantime, we didn’t see a single monster or corpse.

After a thorough verification that was said to be somewhat excessive, I was able to be convinced that Mora Village was suitable for people to live in.

I felt hope rising in my heart.

It wasn’t just that I was happy to be able to leave the island, but because I had hope that humanity wouldn’t be completely destroyed and could see the future.

It’s a flaw that I have to borrow the hands of the devil, but it wasn’t too late to think about that problem after defeating all the monsters first.

Kunat is convinced that the world will fall into the hands of the devil, but if priests like me remain, we will be able to resist enough,

Even if the devil occupies most of the world, if there is only a handful of land where the surviving humans can gather and live, it will become a seed to bloom civilization again.

If that day comes, I too…

“…”

I silently looked down at Lucia, who was holding my hand tightly.

Lucia also noticed my gaze and slowly raised her head.

When her eyes met mine, Lucia smiled brightly and leaned her head on my arm.

“Father… if you look at me like that… I’m embarrassed.”

“If you’re embarrassed, you should leave. Why are you sticking to me?”

“It’s a waste.”

“What?”

“This time we have together.”

“…”

Lucia said that and hugged my arm as if wrapping it around her.

It was closer to hanging on my arm than holding it.

I tried to stroke her head with my other hand, but stopped.

I guessed that it wouldn’t end with just stroking.

I clenched the hand I had lifted and shook my head.

‘Be careful. Don’t cross the line.’

I already knew not only their affection, but also the taste of happiness they gave me, but the situation hadn’t changed at all.

Monsters will still be rampant in the world, and it was obvious that a war with the devil would break out after the monsters, so I couldn’t lose my Holy Power with reckless actions.

Above all, Kunat was watching me not as the ‘human’ Father Theodore, but because he had something to say to the ‘priest with Holy Power’ Theodore.

If I were to be swept away by this desire and lose my Holy Power…

Kunat would definitely melt and eat my soul and the nuns’ souls like candy.

That’s why there was absolutely no future for them and me.

I was very sorry about that fact, but at the same time, I felt very satisfied.

I could do my duty as a priest, and as long as their future could be happy, I was satisfied with that.

The only thing that bothered me was that I wanted to save Lucia’s soul, which would fall into hell after death,

Again, this could be traded in exchange for her becoming a force when Kunat’s scheme is realized in the future.

Once a spark of hope was seen, all worries about the future disappeared like snow melting.

“Destruction, monsters, demons…”

“Father…?”

“Hearing those terrible words makes me confused, but there is hope.”

“…”

“Don’t you think so?”

Lucia listened to me and looked around the quiet village.

Then, she smiled beautifully and answered.

“That’s right. Surely we…”

That’s when it happened.

A huge roar that buried Lucia’s voice came from beyond the horizon.

It was a very familiar sound.

“… That’s the bell of the monastery lighthouse.”

Lucia and I looked at each other for a moment and started running towards the boat docked at the harbor.

Now that there are no more ships sailing the sea,

The lighthouse bell was a kind of signal we had set.

Something happened, so it meant we had to come back urgently.

As soon as I arrived at the harbor, I got on the boat with a well-organized movement, and Lucia also jumped on the boat as if diving in, and grabbed the oars before I could catch her.

“I’ll… do it.”

Lucia’s fingertips began to be dyed black.

I nodded and sat in the seat, holding the sides of the boat tightly.

Kunat, who had arrived sometime, was also tilting his head on the deck.

“Okay, please. Kunat, you grab anything for now.”

“I understand.”

Kunat looked around for something to grab for a while and then burrowed into my top.

Then, he parted my collar and peeked out his black face right below my chin.

“…”

“No… I did that because there was nowhere else to grab. Am I not a cat?”

“It’s urgent, so I’ll let it go. Let’s go, Lucia.”

“Yes!”

Lucia began to row violently.

The boat cut through the waves at a speed that made the front part lift up.

The boat ride that would take me more than an hour only took Lucia less than thirty minutes.

This was partly due to the power of the devil, but also because Lucia had become quite skilled at rowing thanks to the continuous exploration.

I wiped the splash of water on my face with my sleeve and looked at our small island, which was getting bigger.

When I narrowed my eyes and looked, I could see someone on the lighthouse in the distance.

“There’s someone on the lighthouse, probably Sola.”

“What’s wrong!”

“I don’t know. I hope it’s nothing… Kunat, do you know anything?”

“I don’t know.”

“…”

“I’m serious. Well, since I know that you never trust the words of the devil, I won’t beg any more… Kyaaaak,”

Kunat suddenly screamed.

Lucia was driving the boat so roughly that her chin shook and she bit her tongue.

I was secretly pleased, but I said words of concern out loud.

“Oh no, that must hurt.”

Of course, it was to tease.

At that moment, Lucia suddenly shouted at me.

“Father! I see something around the island!”

At her words, I closed my mouth tightly and looked around the island.

As Lucia said, something unknown was floating on the sea.

There were so many that it seemed to surround the island.

Whether they had all drifted from one place, a line continued in a slightly different direction from where we came from.

That meant it had drifted from the mainland.

“What the hell is that?”

“I’ll… get closer. We have to dock anyway…”

“Okay.”

Lucia slowed down a little and gradually approached the island.

As we got closer to the island, the objects floating around the island also got closer.

The shape was not visible properly because the sight was shaking due to the continuous waves, and the object was also shaking continuously.

It looked like a swollen balloon, or a giant jellyfish.

The colors were also very different, with blue, pale white, and some dark red, so it was difficult to grasp properly.

“Father… Sola is… looking here… and waving her hand.”

“Yeah, I can’t hear her, but it looks like she’s yelling too.”

The boat got close enough to the island that I could vaguely see the expression on Sola’s face, who had climbed onto the lighthouse far away.

Sola looked like she was shouting urgently.

It didn’t seem like she was just waving her hand in greeting.

At that moment, I smelled a familiar smell.

A disgusting smell that penetrates the saltiness of the sea.

I felt goosebumps all over my body.

My sense of smell was the first to recognize the truth that my sight and hearing couldn’t properly capture due to the waves.

“… Lucia,”

“Yeah?”

“Row the boat faster… harder.”

“Um… I have to dock soon…”

“Hard as if you’re going to crash it into the pebble field!”

“Huh?”

I shouted.

“It’s a corpse! Those things around the island are all corpses!”

“…!”

Now that we were close enough.

Now I could see it clearly.

Numerous drowned bodies surrounding the island.

And the corpses had disgustingly large blisters.

Far away,

I could see a white figure climbing the wall of the lighthouse and Sola screaming and retreating.

“No way…”

I didn’t see a single monster in the village.

They were aiming for the island.