episode_0067

*

Lucia, sitting on the roof of the priest’s house, quietly closed her eyes.

She bit her lip, feeling indescribably miserable, and lowered her head.

Wanting to be helpful to the priest, she had faithfully followed his instructions since leaving the island.

She hunted alone so he wouldn’t get hurt, and if she saw a monster from afar, she would kill it and return.

She did her best to ensure the priest, busy building a new home, wouldn’t have to worry.

So he wouldn’t be in danger, so he wouldn’t be busy.

All Lucia wanted was for the priest to be at peace.

But what was the result?

The priest, going out on his own, ended up getting hurt again trying to save someone.

“Why… why does Priest…”

Why can’t he just stay still?

Why does he push himself so hard?

What kind of life does one have to live to sacrifice oneself so readily?

After pondering this for a while, Lucia vaguely realized the answer.

Long ago, her past.

When she was caught up in the devil and killed her parents and neighbors.

The priest saved Lucia, but he couldn’t undo the terrible consequences.

He saved her, but he didn’t save her.

Lucia knew that this incident remained deeply in the priest’s heart, becoming one of the driving forces behind his desperate struggle.

“…”

Lucia quietly raised her hand and looked at it.

Although cleaned thoroughly, it still had a faint, fishy smell.

Her skin, which had been covered in the blood of beasts and the bodily fluids of monsters countless times, was permeated with an ineradicable smell of savagery.

Lucia was newly horrified by her own appearance.

Becoming a devil was entirely her choice.

She was happy to be able to run again, and she was also very satisfied with being able to help the priest.

However, now that she had failed to protect the priest safely,

she could no longer approve of her own appearance.

Amidst the revolting stench of beast blood, she faintly felt the smell of her mother’s blood, etched in her memory.

“It’s the same as back then… I… this is my destiny after all.”

A girl possessed by a devil.

Then and now, that was the single phrase that defined Lucia.

“… Priest.”

As Lucia got closer to the Ebony Wolf, her senses became highly developed.

Her sense of balance was so developed that she could stably fix her body even on a slippery roof, and her hearing was much brighter than when she was human.

Even on the roof, she could hear all the sounds inside the priest’s room.

“…”

Lucia heard it clearly.

From under the roof where she was sitting, the sound of the Priest kissing that devil.

Of course, she clearly knew that it wasn’t done under the Priest’s initiative.

Lucia happily heard everything, how he finally overcame the devil’s whispering temptation and pushed it away.

When she heard the story that the Priest had actually been watching her take off her blood-stained clothes, she felt her face flush as if it were about to explode.

But, why,

The sticky sound of the Priest’s and the devil’s lips touching continued for quite a while.

“… Kunat is also a devil.”

Lucia had accepted to some extent that the priest would not love her.

Because I’m a devil, because I’m a nun.

Because I’m a renegade who handed my body over to the devil despite being a nun.

So she was able to accept the fact calmly.

It was alright as long as she could be by his side.

But,

“Kunat is… just a devil… worse than me… the devil that made me like this…”

Lucia hugged her knees and bowed her head into them.

She had kissed Anna, and she had kissed Kunat.

Sola is too young, so excluding her,

in the end, she was the only one who wasn’t loved by the priest.

Why,

Why on earth.

Lucia trembled all over, overwhelmed by a miserable sense of defeat.

“Why me… only me…”

Water droplets fell on the roof.

It wasn’t raining.

The sky was clear without a single cloud.

The dark clouds were only in Lucia’s heart.

Rainwater fell only under Lucia’s head.

“… Is it because… I’m a bad… child?”

Was she being punished for pretending to be sick or hot just to be hugged by the priest?

Lucia bit her lip.

Even that was a method Kunat had taught her.

“Even if the priest loves someone… I’m okay… I… as long as the priest is happy… but…”

The black-stained fingers embracing her knees tore her skin and drew blood.

“If devils are okay… give me a chance too… touch me… love me too… please… Priest…”

*

Elena left the priest’s house and looked around.

The well-organized but deserted landscape of the village unfolded around her.

It was fortunate that it was a village near the sea, or it might have felt a bit eerie if there was no sound of waves.

“It’s the nicest place I’ve seen so far, except for the fact that there’s no one here.”

Elena quietly looked around and recalled the countless shelters she had passed through so far.

In fact, they were mostly makeshift camps.

Due to the nature of monsters passing through walls, settling in one place was very dangerous.

Since they had to be able to pack up and leave quickly at any time, most settlements did not go beyond the level of tents made of cloth.

The most well-organized place was the group of soldiers who had built a settlement under a cave.

They were all killed by monsters that appeared through the cave walls.

Paolo’s group of thieves also basically lived with three wagons as their mobile home.

They called it a home, but twelve people slept crammed inside the wagon with their luggage, so it was only enough to avoid rain and dew.

Moreover, since they didn’t have horses, everyone walked when moving, and two or three people were attached to each wagon to pull it.

She remembered them fighting over whose turn it was today.

Although they were thieves and rapists, they weren’t that evil by today’s standards when the world had fallen.

Their true appearance, which she learned after becoming a member of the group, was closer to ordinary people desperately trying to survive in this insane world.

They were just ordinary citizens who lived normal lives before the world broke down.

The bad thing wasn’t them, but this harsh world that forced them to make such choices.

Elena murmured, regretting their deaths.

“If only they had all survived and come here…”

Elena stopped talking and shook her head.

“No. Otherwise, I don’t know what the nuns would have gone through…”

No matter how circumstances may be, once you step into evil, it is not easy to turn back.

Conscience and body cannot be turned back once they cross the line.

Once something is defiled, it cannot be cleaned.

It was the same reason why Elena herself could not become a virgin again.

No matter how much she disciplined herself and tried to return to a clean state, she could never be the same as before.

“If my sisters are alive, I hope they can come here safely…”

Elena slowly walked, hugging her arms.

There were cute flower pots placed among the abandoned houses.

Although there were no flowers blooming as winter approached, the pots were clearly carefully selected and brought here.

In addition, there were traces of handiwork everywhere, decorating various parts of the village.

They were evidence of how meticulously the priest and nuns had maintained this place.

“To think of building a village in this world… Are you ignorant of the world… No, seeing as you fought against monsters, you must have something in mind…”

Elena recalled the priest and quietly stroked her still numb forehead.

She smiled unconsciously and recalled his words.

‘The Goddess hasn’t abandoned us.’

‘Elena, the Goddess is always watching over us. You know that.’

Elena murmured.

“There are still such pure priests left…”

The Goddess is watching over us.

It was a phrase that priests had heard so many times that they were tired of it, and a phrase that they had said so many times that their tongues had calluses.

But, is that really the case?

Elena chuckled and shook her head.

“That can’t be…”

It was then.

“Why are you out here? Has the priest woken up?”

Elena turned her head towards the voice that suddenly spoke.

There stood Anna, carrying a large laundry basket on her back.

Elena smiled and replied.

“Yes, Sister, thankfully he has regained consciousness. But he said he wanted to sleep… so I came out first.”

“That’s a relief.”

“How is Paolo doing?”

Anna tilted her head.

“… Paolo? Oh, that man… I don’t know? I haven’t gone to see him.”

“Ah, I see… I understand, you must be busy. There are so few people that there must be a shortage of hands.”

Elena nodded and said.

Anna smiled awkwardly at Elena and replied.

“Thank you for understanding.”

The laundry basket Anna was holding contained Elena and Paolo’s clothes.

They were washed in cold water, but the bloodstains were not completely removed.

It was an unavoidable situation since it wouldn’t be easy to find bleach in this world.

“My Priest Robe…”

“Ah, I won’t just dry it like this, so don’t worry. It’ll come out a little more if I wash it a few more times. The fabric might be a bit damaged, but…”

“I’m sorry for causing you trouble because of me… You even lent me clothes… I’m grateful that you saved me, I don’t know how much more I should be grateful.”

Elena bowed her head again and said.

Anna smiled brightly at Elena and shook her head.

“Hey, don’t say that. You’re our first guests. You’ve already thanked us for saving you. If you keep bowing your head so many times, the priest might scold us for thinking we’re showing off for saving you.”

Elena exclaimed in admiration at Anna’s words.

“The priest is a truly wonderful person. He’s a very precious person in this world.”

“Of course, is there anyone else like our priest?”

“As far as I know, there won’t be.”

“Hehe, I knew it.”

Anna puffed out her chest as if she were proud.

Her affection and pride for the priest were evident.

When she praised the priest, she smiled happily as if she had been praised herself, which showed how much the nuns and the priest trusted each other.

Anna readjusted her basket and passed by Elena’s side.

Then, she said in a low voice.

“That doesn’t mean you can seduce him.”

As if the smile from just now was a lie, it was a cold voice with no hint of laughter.

“…!”

Elena was startled and turned around.

Anna, whom she thought had passed by, was staring straight at her.

“Sister…?”

“I’m warning you.”

“…”

Anna slowly put down the laundry basket and approached Elena.

Anna came so close that their large breasts touched and were squashed together, and quietly opened her mouth.

“Don’t try to seduce the priest with that dirty body.”

“How… how did you know? Were you watching?”

“It smells.”

“… Smells?”

“The smell of a seducing female.”

Elena saw Anna’s eyes turning into a strange pink light.

“… Devil.”

Anna exclaimed in admiration.

“So the Priest Robe wasn’t just for decoration. You recognized it right away.”

“… Does the priest know too?”

“Of course. I live for him.”

Only then did Elena realize.

How the nuns defeated the monsters and saved the priest and herself.

Why the priest could think of building a village.

He wasn’t a fool who didn’t know the ways of the world.

If you have devils as guards, you can build a village.

She had already seen people possessed by devils protecting their group several times.

“… To think there was a devil by the priest’s side.”

“Don’t think about insulting the priest. He’s very sad that I made contact with the devil.”

Elena quietly asked, reading a strange emotion in Anna’s eyes.

“Did you make a deal with the devil to protect the priest?”

“That’s right.”

“He wouldn’t have been happy about that.”

“Of course not. But I had no choice.”

Anna slowly placed her hand on Elena’s shoulder and said.

“Please, don’t approach the priest anymore. Unless you want to know what I can do.”

“Even if you didn’t say that, I’m leaving as soon as my clothes are dry.”

“That’s a relief.”

Anna slowly backed away and picked up the basket again.

“Then I’ll have to pay more attention to washing it clean.”

“…”

Elena blankly stared at Anna,

“Pfft,”

and burst into laughter.

Anna looked at Elena with a puzzled expression.

Elena said in a voice as if she were dumbfounded.

“She was a complete madwoman.”

“What?”

“What’s with that ridiculous threat for being possessed by a devil? Sister, you don’t know the ways of the world. How many people like you are out there?”

“…”

It was funny.

Among the survivors outside, there were very many people possessed by devils.

Among them, there were many humans who had lost their reason and were madly harming those around them, no different from monsters.

Elena was a survivor of this ruined world who had survived among such people.

This time, Elena strode towards Anna.

Her momentum was so strong that Anna took a step back without realizing it.

Elena pointed at Anna with her finger and said.

“Don’t worry. I’m leaving soon. Paolo might stay,”

“What?”

“I already told the priest.”

Anna closed her mouth and twitched her lips as if she were thinking about something.

She seemed uncomfortable with the fact that an unknown man might stay here.

Elena looked at Anna and said.

“You really like the priest, don’t you?”

“…”

“Seeing as you handed over your body to a Succubus, you must want to have wild sex too?”

“…”

Elena immediately inferred the devil who had taken over Anna’s body.

Even though she had fallen, she was still a Saintess candidate and a Priest.

“But the priest is so stubborn that you’re just burning with desire, right?”

“… What does a slut like you know.”

“Ah, you noticed that too? You’re a Succubus after all.”

“…”

“Don’t worry, Sister. I have no intention of becoming your rival.”

“You must have been rejected by the priest.”

“Like you, Sister.”

“… You,”

Wings slowly rose behind Anna’s back.

Anna, who revealed her obvious hostility by taking out the devil’s form, glared fiercely at Elena.

But Elena only scoffed at Anna as if she were pathetic.

“It’s only natural that the priest doesn’t casually mix bodies with a woman he’s meeting for the first time. But if the relationship doesn’t progress even though you’re still together, isn’t that because your charm is lacking?”

“… I endured it so it wouldn’t harm the priest’s Holy Power.”

“A Succubus refraining from sex? I’d rather have a cow stop eating grass.”

Anna gave a twisted smile.

“… You think I can’t hurt you?”

“Ah, Sister, please don’t.”

Elena flicked her finger once towards Anna.

“…!”

In an instant, Anna’s appearance returned to a normal human.

It seemed as if the devil’s form had instantly flown out of Anna’s body.

“What is… this,”

Anna dropped the basket in her hand in confusion.

A power to chase away devils.

It was clearly Holy Power.

Elena had clearly slept with countless men.

Anna’s eyes as a Succubus were unmistakable.

But how could Holy Power remain?

Anna looked at Elena with fearful eyes as if she couldn’t understand.

Elena shrugged her shoulders and said.

“I’ll tell you one good fact for the sake of you, Sister.”

“… What.”

Anna gave a fresh smile.

It was a gentle smile that reminded one of the Goddess that the Order believed in.

“Holy Power doesn’t disappear even if you have sexual intercourse.”

The Goddess really has no interest in this world.

Elena believed that the Holy Power that still remained in her body was evidence of that.

“Really…?”

A light flashed in Anna’s eyes.

The hostility she had towards Elena had already disappeared without a trace.

Elena clicked her tongue and murmured.

“See, Father Theodore… I told you the nuns had the faces of females.”

Father Theodore said he had never touched the nuns.

But, in Elena’s opinion, it seemed like only a matter of time.