episode_0004

The next day.

The response came faster than I had anticipated.

As I was cleaning the exterior walls of the church as usual, a little child approached me with hesitant steps and handed me something.

“This is for you, mister.”

What was conveyed to me through the child was a neatly folded note.

It was obvious who had sent it, as there was no one in this world who would send me such a thing.

─I have something to discuss regarding clothing. I will be waiting behind the general store alley at lunch today.

Clothing, it must be about undergarments.

Perhaps the sender didn’t want anyone else to read the contents of the note, as there was no mention of who had sent it.

The mention of clothing was probably intended to make me figure out who had sent it.

It was cute how they chose to write ‘clothing’ instead of ‘undergarments’, maybe out of embarrassment.

No, this is not the time for such thoughts.

Although I have created a space where we can talk, it is still too early to relax.

Sistina must come to terms with the fact that the leader of this church, Bishop Javiel, is actually trying to kill the hero and the holy maiden.

The biggest risk is that there is no evidence to support this.

My knowledge of her secret undergarment situation is not convincing enough.

If Sistina stops believing me, I can’t imagine what will happen next.

But I want to save Sistina at all costs.

If she hadn’t reached out to me for help, I might have died on the street.

I have to find a way to succeed, no matter what.

I envisioned countless scenarios in my mind and waited for lunchtime to arrive.

* * *

“The alley behind the general store… Where is it….”

It was a little early for lunch.

I was heading towards the alley behind the general store as written in the note.

Since I had never been there before, I had some trouble finding the alley.

It was a good thing I came early.

The alley was almost hidden behind the wooden barrels stacked by the general store.

It was clearly an uncomfortable path for people to walk through, so there wouldn’t be many people using this route.

Just by looking at the chosen location, I could feel how hesitant Sistina must have been about my words.

Meow-!

As soon as I entered the alley, the cats that had gathered there scattered with short meows.

Since it was a deserted place, it seemed to be a gathering place for stray cats.

But where is Sistina?

I had come quite far into the alley, but I couldn’t see Sistina anywhere.

However, shortly after, a person wearing a black hood flipped up appeared from the other end of the alley and walked straight towards me.

Their head was bowed, so I couldn’t see their face, and their body was covered in a long robe, making it impossible to identify them.

“Sneaking up on Yunoa as if an assassin coming to stab her, the figure concealed in a black hood and robe was approaching her.”

I was startled by the sudden narration that came out of nowhere.

An assassin? Could it be that Sistina hired an assassin to hide the secret of her undergarments?

“But the figure concealed like an assassin was none other than the holy maiden, Sistina.”

Well, that makes sense.

Is the narration trying to fish for reactions now?

This is ridiculous.

Anyway, the black figure confirmed to be Sistina came up to me and stopped in front of me.

Being closer now, it was clear that their height and stature were slightly smaller.

“…Miss Yunoa.”

Sistina raised her head and looked at me.

She had tied her hair inside the hood, so her cherry blossom-colored hair was barely visible.

But even when her face was hidden, her beauty couldn’t be concealed.

“What did you mean by that earlier? Are you trying to threaten me with that? What do you want?”

Sistina asked me with an anxious expression.

I spoke to reassure her.

“First of all, I’m sorry for saying those things back then. I never had any intention of threatening you.”

“….”

Sistina closed her lips tightly at my words and lowered her head again.

After glancing around to make sure there was no one nearby, I continued with the words I had thought about in my head.

“In fact, after the Saint showed me mercy, I started having strange dreams at the church.”

I could have just cut straight to the point, but I deliberately laid the groundwork.

There was no one else in this alley but us anyway.

Right now, I needed to focus not only on convincing her but also on capturing her soul with my words.

She must be confused right now.

First, I needed to make her realize that I am firmly on Sistina’s side.

Since she was still silent and just listening to me, I thought I should approach persuading her conservatively.

“A bright light appeared in my dream and told me various things. At first, I thought it was just a dream. But I gradually realized that what I heard in my dreams matched reality.”

I said, pretending to have trembling eyes and an expression of disbelief even in myself.

I chose to say it was not a narration but a dream because it seemed more convincing that way.

I deliberately set the starting point of my dreams to be after I stayed at the church.

That way, I could hide the existence of the narration and maybe make her perceive it as a kind of religious experience.

The problem was whether I could make her believe that the only information I had about Bishop Jubeel came from a dream.

No matter how much I said, “What I saw in my dream is exactly the same as reality!” it wouldn’t be easy to make her believe it.

“Does Yunoa see the future in her dreams?”

Finally, Sistina raised her head again and asked me.

Seeing the future, I wish I could do that too.

“It’s really hard to believe, but everything that came out of my dreams recently has been exactly right in reality. Not a single thing was wrong. If it wasn’t like that, I wouldn’t have dared to mention such things to the Saint based on just what I saw in my dream. Think about it. How can I say that without being sure?”

It felt like trying to convince someone that a bean was a red bean.

Stay strong, my persuasive tongue.

“And when I saw in my dream that the Saint’s life was in danger, I didn’t know what to do. I had to tell the Saint about it, but it was obvious that she wouldn’t believe me. So, I had no choice but to tell her a secret that no one else knew, only the Saint.”

“…Honestly, I’m not sure.”

Sistina said, avoiding my gaze.

It was probably too much.

If I mentioned Bishop Jubeel’s name in this state, the situation might turn against me in an instant.

Is there something else, something more?

A way to gain her trust.

If only I had one more card to play besides underwear…

As I thought about it, a voice came into my head.

“Yunoa couldn’t stop thinking about the Saint’s underwear even at this moment.

He had freely speculated on the reasons for this with all sorts of perverted imaginations last night.

But contrary to his lewd fantasies, the reason was that Sistina didn’t want to be the Saint.”

No, I didn’t just think about underwear that much.

I was curious about the reason, so I did imagine a little yesterday, but…

Wait, what?

Sistina doesn’t want to be the Saint?

“The Saint determined her role in the diocese through a divine trust.

Sistina did not want the heavy burden of being the Saint, a role she had to bear regardless of her own will.

But she couldn’t outright refuse the predetermined role of the Saint.”

“Yunoa?”

“Just a moment. Just a moment, please.”

I asked Sistina, who was looking at me with a puzzled expression, to wait for a moment.

I was focused on not missing a single detail of the narration.

“However, if the Holy Maiden fails to find a hero within a year, she would lose her position, and the church would select a new Holy Maiden. And to receive the goddess’s revelation to find the hero, the purity of the Holy Maiden must remain unshaken. Therefore, Sysitina decided to give up her purity to naturally deviate from the duties of the Holy Maiden.”

So, does that mean she didn’t wear underwear after all? Well, openly rejecting the role of the Holy Maiden would cause problems with the church and other headaches. By portraying an ideal Holy Maiden outwardly while secretly not wearing underwear, she prevents the goddess’s revelation from coming down. Enduring for a year, she would naturally step down from her position as the Holy Maiden with a feeling of having done her best but being unable to help it.

“But Yunoa, unaware of her situation, was only indulging in baseless fantasies…”

Now I get it. This stupid narration is just like that. But thank you. You gave me the best weapon to use in this situation.

“Holy Maiden, then let me guess one more thing.”

I said confidently, looking at Sysitina.

“The real reason why the Holy Maiden didn’t wear underwear.”

“….!”

“In fact, you wanted to quit being the Holy Maiden… right? You deliberately didn’t want to receive the goddess’s revelation, hoping for the Holy Maiden to be replaced naturally, isn’t that true?”

At that moment, with a gasp, Sysitina’s eyes widened.

“How… how did you…?”

“Now, can you believe me?”

I asked, looking straight into Sysitina’s eyes.

At first, she might think it was a coincidence. But if I guess the secret correctly twice, she has no choice but to believe, even if she doesn’t want to.

Sysitina, with visibly shaking eyes, silently looked at me and nodded quietly instead of answering.

And finally, I revealed the truth to her.

“Bishop Javiel is trying to kill you. You need to run away from here immediately.”