Ch.30Chapter 30 – No Religious Solicitation, Please. (2)

A nun in white clothes rushed toward me with a fierce momentum.

“I’ve finally found you, benefactor!”

A girl with blonde hair and blue eyes looked up at me.

She immediately reached out and grabbed my hand.

“Ah, thank God! I’ve finally met you again!”

The girl released my hand, clasped both of hers together, and exclaimed joyfully.

She was a girl with blonde hair that slightly covered her back and blue eyes.

Since I had only seen her preaching in passing on the street, I didn’t even know her name, and I took a step back at the slightly dangerous aura I felt now.

For some reason, I felt like I shouldn’t stay close to her for too long.

So I took a step back.

“Ah, benefactor! Where are you going?”

As soon as I moved my foot, the girl who immediately looked at me grabbed my hand again.

“Please come to our church for a moment. It will only take a little while!”

“I decline religious solicitation.”

“Don’t say that! Come! Come! Come!”

While I was contemplating whether to resist physically, the girl pressed her body close to mine.

‘She’s firm.’

I thought she would be soft, but I could feel her bones.

Before I knew it, I was thinking about such impressions, and my body started being dragged away.

Looking closely, the girl’s body was glowing slightly.

‘Is she using holy power….’

But I thought the nun I saw earlier was angry about someone using magic in the middle of the city, so is she making an exception for herself?

I glanced at the cheap sword I had purchased today.

‘I hope I won’t need to use it’

For now, I didn’t resist and let myself be dragged along, but I kept all my muscles tense.

+

The place the girl dragged me to was a slum that appeared after turning through several back alleys.

She had said it was a church, but since we were heading into a slum rather than the district where churches were built, I tensed my entire body.

I was afraid they might harvest my organs or something.

“Why are we going to a slum?”

When I asked with some wariness, the girl answered as if embarrassed.

“We don’t have much money… so we couldn’t build a building in the district where the churches are….”

Following her inside, we arrived at a shabby building near the entrance of the slum, and when the girl opened the door, people dressed similarly to her came out from inside.

‘So it really is a church.’

I could tell this was truly a church because they were similarly dressed and either holding or wearing what appeared to be rosaries.

After that, people from inside started coming out one by one and began thanking me for saving their church member, and I started receiving their thanks.

“Thank you, benefactor, for saving our young Sister Christina and Father Adrock.”

“Ah, yes….”

“Thank you so much, benefactor!”

“Yes….”

“Thank you, mister!”

“Uh, yeah….”

“Mister, thank you!”

“……”

“Since you’re here anyway, would you like to join our—”

“I decline religious solicitation.”

The problem was that all the church members were coming out to greet me.

Even children were coming out.

Since they were genuinely grateful like a real family, it was hard to openly ignore them.

After the church members finally finished giving their thanks, I looked at the girl who was the culprit for bringing me here.

The girl was just smiling happily as if she knew nothing.

“Is it over?”

“Yes, the expressions of gratitude to our benefactor are concluded for now.”

I sighed at those words.

I guess I can stop standing like a mannequin now.

I was about to turn and leave when I heard a voice from behind.

“Sister Chris, the people who went out preaching haven’t returned yet?”

Should I escape?

“Yes, they should be back by the time we finish giving the thank-you gift. Could you go get them for a moment?”

Regardless, the girl who was called Chris earlier grabbed me again.

“Then, please come inside, benefactor.”

“Can’t I just leave?”

“No, you can’t.”

The girl firmly rejected my passive resistance and pulled me inside.

The interior was just as shabby as the building had appeared from the outside.

It was so run-down that I thought the inn where I was staying had better facilities.

Still, it was clean inside, probably because church members lived there.

After being led to sit in a room inside the cracked building, the girl briefly left her seat.

A moment later, she returned with the priest I had seen earlier.

The girl was carrying a box.

“Nice to see you again, benefactor.”

“Ah, yes….”

They pulled out two chairs in front of me and sat down.

“I believe my introduction is long overdue. I am Adrock, a humble priest serving Lady Evgenia.”

“Likewise, I’m Christina, a priest serving Lady Evgenia. Close friends call me Chris.”

They both greeted me with their hands clasped together.

“You helped us earlier, and Christina was stomping her feet and running around saying you had escaped, but she finally found you.”

This nun has incredible persistence.

“Really, I saw you coming out in front of a merchant guild.”

“You must have had urgent business with the guild.”

So I was stalked too.

While side-eyeing the two people chatting amicably among themselves, I secretly began looking for a way to escape.

“Oh my, where are my manners. Just a moment.”

The girl held out the box to me.

When she opened the box, there was a bottle of water inside.

‘…Just for this….’

Thanks to my helmet, they wouldn’t have seen my expression souring.

So without even noticing my reaction, the nun proudly began speaking.

“This is holy water containing our blessing. It will be effective against monsters like undead!”

I hadn’t seen any undead-like monsters yet.

Still, the fact that there was something effective against undead meant that undead must exist.

If they didn’t exist and she was proudly presenting this, I was ready to throw it away immediately.

“It will be very useful! We worked hard on it, so please accept it!”

The girl earnestly appealed to me as she held out the holy water.

“Everyone only looks for holy water from the Emiris Order, but any church can make holy water, and the efficacy is all about the same! Come on, don’t hesitate to take it.”

I decided to accept it since she was offering.

They say nothing is more expensive than something free, but since I was receiving this as proper compensation, there was no need to decline.

And I decided to stand up quickly.

“To Lady Evgenia, on this joyous day….”

Seeing the girl already praying with her hands clasped made me want to escape quickly.

She kept praying at every opportunity—unlike her appearance, could this nun actually be quite unhinged?

Fortunately, the priest beside her gave a bitter smile watching the nun.

“Chris, I told you to restrain yourself from constant prayer when we have guests.”

“Ah, I couldn’t help it… I felt like I accomplished something….”

“You seem to hide it well outside….”

That meant she was putting on an act normally.

The priest sighed and looked at me.

“This child has grown up here since she was an infant, so her faith is extraordinary. Sometimes she can’t control herself.”

“I-if I made you uncomfortable, I’m sorry.”

I just nodded at the apologetic girl.

The priest sighed once more.

“Sigh, seeing you reminds me of when she joined the Adventurers’ Guild.”

“Ugh, but everyone ostracizes me for some reason….”

This is the first I’m hearing about her joining the Adventurers’ Guild, but I can already guess why everyone avoids her.

“Do you pray every time something happens?”

“Praying to God whenever something happens is common sense!”

I could hear the priest sighing heavily.

At least I knew not everyone in this church was crazy.

‘So she’s the only problem.’

She was still praying even now.

And this girl’s problem is not my problem.

In other words, it’s none of my business.

“Well then, if you’ll excuse me….”

“Yes, sorry for keeping you so long.”

The priest stood up and spoke.

“If you’re interested, perhaps you’d like to join—”

“I decline religious solicitation.”

I immediately answered and headed for the door.

I needed to leave right away.

I needed to get out of this damned place.

“Ah, wait a moment. Are you leaving already?”

“I have appointments. I’m quite busy….”

Actually, I was planning to go rest, but they wouldn’t be able to argue with me saying I’m busy.

“Ah, then I should ask everyone to keep it short!”

“What do you mean?”

I started to feel ominous about the girl’s words.

The girl stood up and opened the door, and people appeared.

“Sister Chris, I brought the people who were out preaching!”

“Benefactor, thank you sincerely!”

People were blocking the doorway while throwing words of gratitude.

‘I was one step too late.’

Feeling a slight headache coming on, I looked at the girl.

The girl smiled and said:

“Everyone, he’s busy, so please just say one thing each!”

In an instant, the church members surrounded me.

“And if you’re interested, perhaps you’d like to join—”

“Isn’t it time you gave up?”

I said one thing to Christina who was still trying to solicit me in the midst of all this.

Time passed again, and I was finally released from my mannequin state.

“If you ever feel unwell, please be sure to visit our church!”

The nun named Christina waved her hand vigorously as she saw me off.

I waved back at her.

‘Just try to see me set foot there again.’

Playing along with that nun’s pace had only drained my energy.

I quickly moved my feet to get away from the church.

Looking outside, the sky was already growing dark.

When I parted with Eve, it was just after lunch, but being held up there meant I missed lunch and was caught until evening.

And all I got was one bottle of holy water.

“Hah….”

I thought it would have been best to just rest under the covers like Sera.

The weapon wasn’t going to be ready right away anyway….

‘Think positively.’

I decided to shift my thoughts to overcome the feeling of emptiness.

I successfully visited the blacksmith, which was my goal, and I also met Eve.

And I should avoid getting involved with that nun from the Evgenia Church.

‘That’s enough accomplishment.’

It’s not bad for the price of a lesson in physical exhaustion.

“Sigh….”

I sighed as I came out to the street.

I hadn’t eaten dinner, so should I just grab something simple?

Looking at the streetlights, I felt an especially strong desire to go home today.

“Yeah, let’s consider it all good.”

I had already made up my mind to return someday.

I thought there was no way I would encounter another strange person here.

“Heeeey, Mr. Helmet, I see you agaaaain!!”

My thinking was apparently too naive.

Turning around at the female voice from behind, there was the woman I had seen at the mine.

She was holding a bottle of alcohol and staggering heavily as she approached.

‘What is she, a zombie?’

I had just received holy water too.

Should I sprinkle it on her?

“Hehe, I had a drink because I felt good, then another, let’s have one together!”

The drunk woman staggered toward me.

I quickly turned and ran.

If I get caught now, I feel like I’ll get involved in another troublesome situation.

Yes, it’s similar to not getting caught by a zombie.

I’m already mentally exhausted because of that nun, and I’d rather not have to watch someone vomit unnecessarily.

“Hey, why are you runniiiing!!”

And the drunk woman started chasing me.

Despite staggering, she was running quite well.

‘Why is my luck so bad today?’

“Stop riiiight there!! Ugh-bleurgh!”

She seemed to feel sick as she suddenly grabbed her mouth.

The inexplicable chase finally ended with the drunk woman unable to hold it in and ducking into an alley.

Leaving the sound of liquid splashing behind, I quickly ran away.

I finally arrived at the inn and opened the door.

“Oh my, you’re quite late?”

It was Sera.

She seemed about to have dinner in the inn’s shabby dining room, with steaming hot tea and bread on her table.

Having not eaten anything since lunch, it looked delicious.

“You look quite exhausted. Have you eaten?”

“Not at all.”

Sera made a slightly surprised expression at my words.

“W-why not?”

“I don’t know either.”

Even thinking about it again, it was truly an unlucky day.

There would be no point explaining that I met a strange nun and a drunk woman—Sera wouldn’t understand anyway.

“Good thing I bought plenty. Shall we eat together?”

Sera offered me a piece of bread.

I quietly accepted it.

“Oh, and I’ll apply the medicine once more today, so let’s go to the room together later.”

Then Sera handed me a new ointment.

I accepted it.

I noticed the tea she had poured was now steaming on the table.

“Sera.”

“Yes?”

“You really are a good kid.”

“What are you saying all of a sudden?”

It was something that came out unconsciously after meeting only tiresome people today.

When Sera asked if I was feeling ill, I just chewed on the bread.

I didn’t have the energy to answer.