episode_0050

50 – The Cult of Light

When I opened my eyes, as always, the Saintess’s ample bosom greeted me right there.

‘It looks even bigger today.’

Perhaps because the events of the practical training were so spectacular, it felt like it had been a very long time since I last saw the Saintess’s ample bosom.

As I stared blankly at it, a hand suddenly shot out and struck my forehead.

Smack!

“Stop staring and get up!”

“Ah…”

“Don’t look so disappointed! Hurry!”

At the Saintess’s scolding, I forced myself to clear her ample bosom from my mind and sat up.

“Saintess-nim. Thank you. I’m always indebted to you.”

“Hmph! You talk a good game. If you’re really thankful, why don’t you help me with my work?”

“Work?”

I tilted my head at the somewhat unexpected suggestion, and the Saintess explained as if she’d been waiting.

“Yes! I always go to the temple on weekends to work. How about coming with me? The Goddess’s grace will surely descend upon Ruan too!”

“I’m sorry, but I have something to do on Saturday…”

I awkwardly smiled and indirectly refused, but the Saintess said it was no problem and changed the schedule.

“Then we can go on Sunday!”

“Hmm…”

“Why? You don’t want to go?”

“It’s not that, but what work would there be for me if I go?”

“There is! Even if there isn’t, I’ll make something, so don’t worry. So, we’ll go to the temple together on Sunday. Understood?”

“…Understood.”

I didn’t know why she was so insistent on taking me, but I figured nothing bad could happen, so I grudgingly accepted the offer.

The Saintess clapped her hands and grinned broadly.

“Good thinking! Then let’s meet at the infirmary at 6 AM!”

“That early?”

“Early? Of course! We need to attend morning prayers! Can’t you wake up that early? Then I’ll come wake you up at the dormitory—”

“No. It’s fine. I can wake up.”

I quickly cut her off before she could finish her sentence.

I couldn’t imagine what kind of chaos would erupt if she came to wake me up at the dormitory on a weekend morning. If strange rumors spread, I might get targeted by the temple members who adored the Saintess terribly.

I definitely didn’t want to invite such troublesome situations.

Judging that she might say something else, I scrambled out of bed.

“Then let’s meet at the infirmary at 6 on Sunday. I’m busy, so I’ll be going now.”

“Ah! Just a moment! I still have something to say…”

As expected, her words weren’t finished.

Ignoring the Saintess’s attempts to hold me back, I quickly exited the infirmary.

And just like that, the promised day arrived.

*

“Over here! Here!”

At the entrance of the infirmary, the Saintess, surrounded by priests, bounced up and down, waving her hand.

With her movements, her ample bosom jiggled intensely up and down, capturing my gaze.

‘Indeed, it pays to wake up early.’

My energy instantly fully recharged, I felt the reward of waking up early in the morning and approached the Saintess. The gazes of the priests pierced through me.

– Just you dare do anything to the Saintess-nim. – You won’t die easily! – You’d better be careful if you don’t want to see the Inquisitors!

Even though they didn’t speak, I understood their meaning from their eyes.

However, the priests overlooked one thing.

That is, I have a rebellious nature that makes me want to do something even more if told not to.

I extended my hand to the Saintess.

“Then let’s go.”

“Eh? Oh, yes! This way!”

The Saintess tilted her head, looking puzzled by my uncharacteristic action, but then, as if it didn’t matter, she clasped my hand and led me outside.

Thanks to this, the priests’ gazes grew even sharper, but that only made me more delighted.

As we walked away from the infirmary, I released her hand once we were out of the priests’ sight.

The Saintess, who had been walking gracefully, flinched.

“Huh? What’s wrong? Is something the matter?”

“No. It’s just a bit hot today. I let go because my hand might get sweaty. More importantly, what are we doing at the temple?”

“First, we’ll meet the Goddess privately, then we’ll have morning prayers, and after lunch, we’ll have confession time. We’ll share the devotees’ sufferings!”

“Is that so? I guess there won’t be much for me to do.”

“No! Ruan is my escort. It’s a very important job, so you must bear that in mind!”

At her words, I looked around.

‘Now that I think about it, there are no Holy Knights?’

I didn’t know if she truly intended to entrust her safety to me, or if she simply didn’t need an escort since we were heading directly to the temple anyway, but there was no one else by her side besides me.

Feeling an inexplicable sense of heavy responsibility, I involuntarily began to be wary of my surroundings.

“Isn’t it dangerous? I’m incredibly weak.”

“It’s fine. I’m quite strong too. If a bad person comes, I’ll fight them off!”

The Saintess declared confidently, clenching her small, delicate hands into fists.

I laughed in disbelief.

“Then aren’t you not an escort? Is it meaningful?”

“It is! So don’t even think about running away.”

“I never thought of that.”

“Anyway, hurry up! We’re almost there.”

While we were talking, we had unknowingly arrived near the temple.

In the distance, the statue of the Goddess of Light stood in a fountain, and behind it, the pure white building of the temple faintly caught my eye.

Around it, priests were busy moving about even at dawn.

Soon, as we drew closer, the priests’ gazes all simultaneously focused on the Saintess.

“Ah, Saintess-nim. You’ve already arrived?”

“We were waiting, Saintess-nim.”

“Haha! You are truly beautiful today as well.”

It was like fans encountering an idol.

Swarming like ants, the priests enthusiastically offered their greetings, and the Saintess beamed with a smile, waving her hand.

“Good morning, everyone! Could you please make way for me? I have a guest today!”

The moment she mentioned a guest, the priests’ heads turned directly to me.

Their eyes were sharp as they scrutinized me from head to toe.

My body stiffened slightly under an even more intense pressure than from the infirmary priests. As I braced myself for a possible outburst from extreme fans, they simply smiled and stepped aside.

“Haha! Indeed. Understood.”

“Please go ahead, Saintess-nim.”

“Thank you, everyone!”

The Saintess expressed her gratitude and then followed the path cleared by the priests, moving into the temple.

As I followed her, I subtly glanced back.

Then, the priests pointed at the Saintess, made a wringing motion with their hands as if to twist something, and then made a thumbs-down throat-cutting gesture.

Roughly, it seemed to mean they would kill me if I dared lay a hand on the Saintess.

I doubted if these were really priests.

‘Goddess of Light. Please manage your followers properly.’

In return, I muttered such impious thoughts and ignored them, entering the temple alongside the Saintess.

The interior, in a word, was clean.

It had a solemn atmosphere reminiscent of a library, and it was wide open in every direction, with nothing jarring to the eye.

Here, everyone seemed to act with restraint; there were no cases of them fussing over the Saintess like before.

Most of them simply bowed quietly or offered only greetings before disappearing.

We didn’t need to slow our steps and went directly into the prayer room where the Goddess’s statue was located.

The statue was incredibly beautiful.

I couldn’t tell if the Goddess truly looked like this, or if the devotees had simply beautified her arbitrarily, but aesthetically, there was nothing to fault.

Her long hair, almost touching the floor, was like silk, and her neatly arranged features formed a golden ratio, so perfect that there was no room for personal preference.

And in addition to that, her scandalously ample bosom, almost on par with the Saintess herself!

It made sense why the Goddess had chosen Iris as her Saintess.

Furthermore, her waist was slender enough to be encircled by one hand, yet her hips were selfishly wide, creating incredible curves.

Her hips were so alluring that it was hard to control the urge to squeeze them constantly.

If this wasn’t the true appearance of the Goddess, then I couldn’t help but offer tears of respect to the artisan who sculpted the statue.

As I was diligently ogling the Goddess, the Saintess knelt before the statue.

“Goddess-nim. Saintess Iris has arrived. Please forgive my disloyalty for not visiting you often enough.”

She clasped her hands together and whispered, maintaining that posture for a while.

She was incredibly devoted.

Which made me even more curious.

Why did this being, who received such profound respect from the wonderful Saintess, try to capture transmigrators?

And how was she feeling right now?

‘That transmigrator is right in front of you. Don’t you have anything to say?’

Half in jest, half in antagonism, I stared at the statue when something strange occurred.

*Swoosh*

The statue’s eyes, which had been looking straight ahead, moved and met my gaze precisely.

The iridescent eyes were striking.

Like a spectrum, the beautiful eyes shining with seven colors were imprinted in my mind.

Thinking I might have seen wrong, I rubbed my eyes and focused on the statue again, but it had returned to its usual white plaster.

The sight I had just witnessed felt like an illusion.

‘Was it a hallucination?’

But how likely was it to see a hallucination when I wasn’t tired and was in perfect condition?

More importantly, though brief, the mysterious magic and the holiness that naturally made my heart feel reverent from those eyes were real.

Perhaps the Goddess truly recognized my identity and had temporarily manifested.

A crushing sensation squeezed my heart.

‘It’s okay. Nothing happened.’

Even if the encounter with the Goddess was real, it seemed she currently had no power to intervene further.

Otherwise, she would have immediately descended into the Saintess’s body to capture me.

At the very least, she would have instructed her followers to try and seize me.

I quickly regained my composure.

‘What on earth is going on?’

Repentia, the Goddess of Light.

There was some significant issue preventing her from interfering in the mortal realm.

Perhaps my transmigration was even caused by this.

As I pondered, raising and discarding various hypotheses, the Saintess’s prayer finally ended.

“Ruan, let’s go to the cathedral now! The other devotees must be waiting.”

“…Yes. Let’s do that. But Saintess-nim. Did anything happen?”

“Happen? Why? Was there something strange?”

“No. If there wasn’t, then it’s fine. Let’s go.”

As I trailed off, the Saintess narrowed her eyes as if wondering what I was hiding.

Still, when I remained silent, she sighed and led the way to the cathedral.

‘At least the Saintess doesn’t seem to know anything.’

If there had been even a slight mention, she would never have been this composed.

Because the Saintess can’t lie.

Feeling a bit relieved, I moved to the cathedral with the Saintess.

There, preparations for prayer were in full swing.

The Saintess and I sat in the front row, waiting for the prayer to begin.

Right in front of us, an enormous goddess statue, incomparable in size to the one we just saw, looked down upon me.

‘It wouldn’t glare its eyes again, would it?’

If such a strange phenomenon were to occur in a situation where hundreds of people’s attention was focused, things would get complicated.

With my worries, morning prayer began.