Diagnosis for the Saint

Claire, freed from her duties for the first time in a while, was tending to her collection.

She no longer had occasion to use them directly, merely hanging them on the wall… but cleaning the axe blades like this always made her feel good.

‘…Now that I think about it, I told Asha we should meet soon.’

As Claire cleaned the axe handle, that thought suddenly occurred to her.

The day she visited the Alchemy Society for business, helping Asha had been purely coincidental.

Perhaps it was the Goddess’s guidance?

She had only stated the facts, so it wasn’t really a debt… but thinking that she had created an excuse to meet still gave her a strange feeling.

…Even so, she hadn’t had time to meet, which was why she was sitting here cleaning her weapons.

As Claire sat at the table, fiddling with the bladed weapons, a knock sounded.

“…Come in.”

With Claire’s voice, the slightly ajar door opened, and a nun with an urgent expression entered.

“What’s the matter? Why the urgent look?”

“Her Highness the Princess has come to visit.”

“Hmm… what?”

Claire was slightly flustered.

In this peaceful era, they weren’t exactly at odds, and their relationship was decent enough… but she had never visited so suddenly before.

“What did she say she came for?”

“She merely said she came to seek the aid of a priest.”

“Hmm…”

Still, she couldn’t simply ignore her.

Claire hung the weapon she had been cleaning on the wall and donned her attire.

“Let’s at least show our face. Where is she?”

Claire, having received the nun’s answer, slowly walked towards the location.

As she drew closer, Claire felt a strange sensation. A feeling as if something good was about to happen.

‘…?’

With that inexplicable feeling, Claire opened the door and couldn’t help but let out a small laugh to herself.

She saw a familiar woman, writhing as if her body was hot every time light flashed, and Her Highness the Princess of the Empire.

The Princess’s face was filled with worry, and the priest who was pouring power into the woman seemed flustered.

And no wonder, as her condition seemed to worsen with each infusion of power.

“Why is she like this?”

“…This is also my first time experiencing something like this.”

Claire knew that situation. No, she had experienced something similar.

If she included the identity of the pink-haired girl lying on her side, Claire felt she could roughly understand what was happening.

‘…Leaving aside why she’s lying there in such a state.’

The profusely sweating priest’s face stiffened as his eyes met Claire’s.

Claire nodded, assuring him not to worry, and gestured for him to withdraw.

Only then did the priest’s face regain its color. He bowed to the Princess and hastily left the room.

“Hmm? Hey, where are you….”

The Princess, who had tried to stop the suddenly departing priest, sensed another presence and turned her head.

“Ah. To think Saint-nim would come personally.”

“…Her Highness the Princess has arrived, so shouldn’t I show my face?”

After exchanging glances for a moment, the two turned their heads towards the gasping girl lying on the bed.

“…So, how did this happen?”

At Claire’s question, Selina had to ponder for a moment.

She was the one who had asked Asha, who seemed to be in a state of mental and physical weakness, various questions… but she had to gauge how much to reveal.

It was merely personal curiosity.

She had no intention of taking that from Asha.

‘…Her trembling appearance was rather cute.’

It was to the extent that one wouldn’t think it was ‘Astarote Asha’ from her Academy days.

Was her mind assimilating to her changing body?

In that regard, Asha was an interesting existence to Selina in many ways.

As could be seen from the fact that she personally brought her all the way to the Temple, she cherished her.

That’s why she couldn’t help but ponder.

However, as if sensing Selina’s dilemma, Claire smiled faintly and spoke.

“I have some idea, but it seems like a personal matter, so I’ll hear about it later. For now… it seems treatment comes first.”

“It puts my mind at ease to hear you say that.”

Claire lifted Asha’s gasping body.

…She was light.

Her body was hot, as if feverish.

She was twisting her body this way and that, as if her entire body was itching.

Saliva glistened from her mouth along with hot breaths.

Selina, who had never personally seen someone affected by the enchantment of a monster like an Alraune, couldn’t properly grasp Asha’s condition.

In contrast, Claire… knew.

‘…Ugh.’

It was possible she had been carelessly exposed to such a thing… but perhaps there was another reason.

A situation that worsened upon contact with Divine power.

She felt that the root of this was the same as what she had experienced when Asha came last time.

Claire recalled that time and blushed.

“First… it will take some time… so it might be best for you to return. I will contact you once the treatment is complete.”

“…In that case.”

Selina wrote down her villa address for Claire.

“It would be best if you contacted me at this address.”

Claire, after a quick glance at the address, nodded. 

The body heat against her chest made her feel as if she was getting damp.

“And… I believe Asha has companions.”

“…I will contact them separately, so you don’t need to worry about it.”

“Understood.”

Having finished her conversation with Selina, Claire quietly exited the room with Asha in her arms.

Selina, who had watched them for a moment, also turned to leave.

‘…I brought her here in a hurry, but it should be fine. More importantly.’

Selina recalled the identity of ‘that thing’ along with Asha’s peer, Veronica.

‘I hadn’t heard any stories about side effects.’

If there were such side effects….

Selina tapped her fingers on the carriage, lost in thought.

First, it was clear that she was researching with her peer, Veronica.

It seemed best to visit them first.

Since she had already known the Workshop’s address for a long time, Selina, after leaving the Temple, got into her carriage, told the coachman the address, and ordered him to head there.

Through the carriage window, the familiar scenery of the Capital flashed by.

‘In that case… is that Homunculus also there?’

It wouldn’t be bad to meet them on this occasion.

Thinking so, Selina ordered the coachman.

“Let’s stop by the Shopping District on the way.”

“As you wish.”

At the coachman’s touch, the carriage changed its destination.

With a vigorous neigh, the carriage began to move.

While Her Highness the Princess headed to Veronica’s Workshop, Claire, who had brought Asha to her room, first laid her on the bed.

Then… she returned to the room with a pile of towels.

After sending everyone nearby away.

Upon returning to the room, Claire’s eyes caught a strange sight.

Asha, who had been writhing, was scratching herself… in places difficult to mention.

“…Ah.”

It seemed she couldn’t hold back once the gazes were gone.

It was remarkable that she hadn’t scratched herself until now… but leaving her alone could cause serious injury, so Claire first firmly restrained Asha’s body.

“Huk! Ah, ah-huk! Pl-please… l-leave me alone…!”

“…This is for your own good, so just bear with it for a little while.”

Claire tied each of Asha’s limbs to the corners of the bed with soft cloth. Although Asha was in a state of arousal, her physical strength was poor, so she couldn’t shake off Claire’s firm hands.

Bound to the bed, Asha could do nothing but writhe and gasp for breath.

Claire observed her for a moment.

To confirm Asha’s condition once more, in case she had seen incorrectly.

Her eyes were half-closed. Beyond them, green pupils, moist with tears, darted back and forth. She seemed to be searching for something.

Her once pale skin was flushed red, like a ripe apple.

Her flushed lips were covered in saliva, feeling damp.

Following the saliva that trickled down her neck, her swelling breasts came into view.

They couldn’t be called large by any stretch, but they were enough to confirm she was a woman.

 …And a small mound nestled on a plump hill.

‘…Hmm.’

Claire’s blushing gaze moved further down.

Because her waist was arched upwards, Asha’s contours were starkly revealed.

Her soft, smooth abdomen, devoid of any muscle, seemed to flaunt its presence beneath her clothes as her body writhed.

Naturally… the valley situated below… looked as wet as if water had been poured over it.

‘…It seems I wasn’t mistaken.’

It was not much different from the adventurers who had been enchanted by Alraune, incubi, or Succubi.

“Almighty Ibris─”

In such cases, symptoms usually alleviate by directly relieving it, or by pouring in potions or Divine power.

To confirm once more, Claire raised her Divine power and enveloped Asha’s body.

Then.

Water splashed from Asha’s valley, which had been bathed in pure Divine power.

“Hak, ah-huk! Heek… Heek… Hek….”

“…Just as I thought.”

Asha, who had seemed to find temporary relief, now couldn’t even speak properly, as if her body had become even more aroused.

‘…It’s definitely related to that medicine.’

Along with that, another question and hypothesis formed in Claire’s mind, but she decided to ask after treating Asha.

Claire sighed.

If it was caused by ‘that medicine,’ there was only one way to treat it.

Claire offered a prayer to the gods and rummaged through a drawer.