Ch.9191. Your Past

“What kind of situation is this.”

I barged into the Mother Superior who was having breakfast in the dining hall and immediately confronted her.

The surprised gazes of other nuns turned toward us, but the Mother Superior rose with a gloomy expression, as if she had been expecting this.

“Let’s talk outside.”

“Forget it, just tell me. All the nuns here seem to know about Stella anyway.”

At my words, all the nuns lowered their heads, pretending not to hear. Do they still want to walk this path even knowing that this is the future of a Saintess?

I was filled with incomprehensible questions.

The Mother Superior sighed deeply as she saw my unyielding response, and finally gave up and opened her mouth.

“You must have already heard from her. It’s the devil’s curse.”

“I’m asking what you did while she was becoming like that.”

This was a responsibility that the church should naturally be questioned about for failing to protect the Saintess.

The fact that the Saintess was abandoned by the church just because she lost her holy power could only be described as betrayal.

But the Mother Superior seemed to have something to say as well. She stepped toward me, looking aggrieved, and exclaimed.

“Do you think we just stood by and watched until she became like that? Stella had been missing for years after stepping down from her position as Saintess.”

“…Missing?”

As I looked at the Mother Superior with a subtle expression, she answered with a face as if chewing on something bitter.

“She left only a letter asking not to look for her. That’s why the church didn’t search for her separately! She deserved to rest!”

“…”

“But just a year ago, when Stella returned here, she was already in that state!”

The Mother Superior bent her waist, swallowing her tears with a sob. Other nuns gathered around her fragile figure, sharing in her sorrow.

But I just looked down at her coldly.

‘It doesn’t seem like a lie.’

The sight of them embracing each other, sympathizing and lamenting together was quite moving.

But they wouldn’t forget that one of them was a devil.

The pain would strike like a cavity embedded in their minds.

“Sigh.”

I left them and went outside. I didn’t want to be part of the flow that started with tears during a meal and eventually led to a prayer meeting.

Outside, the smell of roasting meat was spreading everywhere.

Findenai was lighting a bonfire early in the morning and roasting some wild game he had caught, while Illuania was preparing the cooking beside him.

And finally, the Dark Spiritmaster staring blankly at the fire.

I wasn’t sure how this combination came to be, but I thought they each had quite remarkable personalities.

One was the leader of the resistance.

One was a pregnant woman who had been a back-alley prostitute.

One was a spiritmaster who had become a ghost.

You’d probably need to bring in a circus troupe to get such a combination.

“Ah, did I sleep wrong last night?”

Findenai was stretching, saying he felt stiff, and Illuania had taken off her maid uniform and was wearing a nun’s habit given by the convent.

The convent had provided separate sleeping quarters for Illuania because she was pregnant, so Findenai and I had slept in the carriage we came in.

It wasn’t particularly strange since we had slept in the same space several times on our way here.

“Ah, you’re here! Have some food!”

Illuania cut the meat, seasoned it, and carefully placed it on the plate she had brought.

The quite savory smell along with the tangy spices was exactly the taste I used to eat in the north.

The north being cold, the food had an intensity to warm the body.

A taste that was a bit perplexing at first, but I was already used to it.

The three of us finished our meal quickly and sat around the bonfire to share our thoughts on the current situation.

I had already told the two of them about Stella on the condition that they keep it secret.

“I’m planning to conduct individual interviews today.”

“Can you identify the devil through conversation?”

Findenai asked, clenching his fist to suppress his urge to smoke tobacco.

“No. But at least we can try talking.”

If all else failed, I was thinking of using the Holy Grail I had brought. Holy power is poison to devils.

However, the moment I use it on a devil, other devils would notice and flock to me to destroy the Holy Grail.

A fierce battle would ensue that would make Stella’s wounds look trivial.

Using the Holy Grail on a devil was a choice to be made only as the very last resort.

In fact, I was somewhat skeptical about that too. If asked whether this case was urgent enough for me to take on the risk of drawing the attention of devils by using the Holy Grail.

‘It’s not.’

Stella’s situation was unfortunate, and the devil was disgusting, but I had no intention of risking near-fatal bleeding.

“Then shall I call them one by one?”

Illuania stood up quickly. She never missed these small errands.

As Illuania left to call the nuns one by one, I instructed Findenai to just keep his mouth shut and listen beside me.

His beast-like senses were quite sharp.

And then five nuns began to visit one by one in order.

“Actually, there is one nun who’s a bit strange.”

The first nun who came to me, with a round nose, spoke with her eyes tightly closed.

“Mela has been doing things she doesn’t usually do recently. I’m in the next room, and I hear the door of her room opening every dawn.”

The second was a nun with fair skin and impressively thin fingers.

“I hate to say this, but Mela is suspicious. How should I put it, she looks very tired?”

The third was a nun with long braided hair.

“She was closest to the two nuns who died, you know? So… I’m wondering if maybe…”

The fourth was a slightly plump nun who worshipped the goddess Demeter.

“I’m not sure, but Mela has been acting strange during prayers recently. In fact, she was trembling just now during prayer.”

The fifth and last.

Mela, whom all the nuns had said was suspicious.

Her eyes were hollow, her dark circles were deep, and she was so thin that she hardly looked like a nun.

“A suspicious person? Uh, there isn’t one. Really, there isn’t.”

After hearing everyone’s story, I turned my gaze to the bonfire for a moment.

The crackling sound of sparks flying was cheerful, and my thoughts seemed to move naturally in rhythm with it.

“How was it?”

Illuania approached and asked. Her expression showed the satisfaction of a job well done, so I praised her and then looked at Findenai.

“What do you think?”

“Hmm.”

As someone who led the unique group called the resistance, she was naturally experienced in finding traitors.

Especially when it came to animal instincts, she had few peers.

“I think I could think better if I smoked some tobacco.”

She subtly appealed, but I ignored it. It was just her wanting to smoke while already knowing the answer.

“Hah, I think the master thinks the same as me?”

“…It seems so.”

It seemed our conclusions were the same. Perhaps it was because they were innocent nuns living in this remote convent, unaccustomed to lying.

Detecting truth and falsehood was easier than expected.

“They’re all lying.”

At my words, Illuania was surprised, but Findenai nodded slightly.

“Yes, including that Mela woman.”

The four people who had said Mela was suspicious were all lying.

But Mela, who said there was no suspicious person, was also lying.

“Should I call them again?”

“No, there’s no need.”

I stood up and headed back to the convent. The nuns’ lies were irritating, but if I asked again, they would probably just keep their mouths shut.

And because their lies contained a strange greed.

Clicking my tongue, I entered the convent and headed back to the attic.

As I was climbing the stairs, studies were in full swing on the second floor. The Mother Superior was teaching quite passionately, shouting, and her appearance was quite impressive.

She was a woman with self-pride. In fact, along with Stella and Lucia.

She had practically raised two Saintesses with her own hands, so it was understandable.

Perhaps that’s why she had a strange obsession that the next Saintess should also come from here, which flowed even from her small gestures.

She even had a switch for corporal punishment, indicating she was quite strict.

‘Mother Superior.’

She was also a person who couldn’t be excluded from the list of suspects, but I didn’t show any signs of investigating her.

I wanted to see how the Mother Superior would act when she was confident she wasn’t under suspicion.

I went back up to the attic and unlocked the padlock with the key I received from the Mother Superior.

There, Stella was smiling and welcoming me, just as she had when we greeted each other earlier.

“It seems you’re already acquainted with yesterday’s me?”

Perhaps because of my reaction earlier, Stella immediately realized what the situation was.

“What kind of conversation did yesterday’s me have with you?”

“Nothing much.”

After that, I briefly told her about the conversation we had yesterday, and Stella just nodded with a bright smile, listening attentively.

After that brief explanation.

“I see. Then what are you curious about?”

“I want to hear the story after you lost your holy power and stepped down from the position of Saintess.”

“Hmm.”

“Why did you leave the church? No matter how foolish they are, they would have been desperate to protect you, a former Saintess.”

“Of course, naturally.”

Stella smiled faintly and nodded slightly.

“But was that the right thing?”

“What?”

Stella gripped the rosary of the goddess Hertia in her hand more tightly.

The smile on her lips showed no signs of fading.

“Holy power is quite difficult to handle. At that time, Lucia, who had just become a Saintess, couldn’t protect me. Rather, she herself would have been in danger.”

Having briefly handled holy power directly through the Holy Grail, I found myself nodding.

Holy power was not as friendly a force as one might think.

“I hate to say this, but I worked quite diligently as a Saintess. I annihilated and drove away numerous devils, saving people.”

“…”

“The period when I lost my holy power and the new Saintess couldn’t handle holy power was actually the most dangerous moment.”

Now.

Now I understand what Stella’s words meant.

“It was my final responsibility as a Saintess. To leave bearing all the grudges and resentments of the devils. The only gift I could give as a senior to the new Saintess who had come to stand brilliantly.”

Her role as a Saintess had ended.

But she was a Saintess until the end.

“It was about buying time. When the devils’ attention was focused on me, Lucia became proficient in handling holy power.”

“…”

“Hehe, does it seem foolish to you?”

“Yes, you didn’t need to bear that burden alone.”

But it was noble.

Because she bore all the burdens alone, she was.

Truly a holy woman.

“Would you like to hear about what happened with the devils afterward?”

Stella asked mischievously, but I agreed.

“Yes, please.”

It’s a good opportunity to learn about the devils’ methods. The information I hear here could provide a clue to finding the devil hiding here.

At my answer, Stella smiled and raised her right hand while holding the rosary.

Then she held up a finger and set a condition.

“In return, since I’m telling you my past story, please tell me yours.”

“My story?”

It’s obvious that she’ll forget everything tomorrow anyway. She must know that too.

Yet she wanted it.

It wasn’t difficult.

I thought I could just tell her about how Deus overcame his dissolute past and started a new life, but.

With a smile visible beyond her finger, she struck at the core.

“How did you come to possess that body?”