Chapter 2. Encounters and Opportunities (6)

Actually, I had a plan.

I knew that Lee Si-yoon would visit the church at some point. I also knew that after being healed by the Saint, he would establish a flag, and that flag would continue for a long time.

Nevertheless, the reason I decided to stay for about a year or two was because I judged that I could avoid that flag.

And naturally, I was able to avoid it in a rather cool way.

Isn’t that right? I’m not a Saint in the first place. I’m still a candidate, but I haven’t reached the position of Saint as in the main story, and I naturally don’t have the privileges of a Saint.

Wandering around outside the convent half-freely? Impossible. Entering the gate with weapons? Naturally impossible.

Since it was institutionally blocked, my means of getting involved with the protagonist were somewhat blocked.

And naturally, Ria, who used to follow the Saint as her escort, couldn’t follow me there since I didn’t go out of my way to meet Lee Si-yoon. This means that one heroine’s flag has been uprooted, and another’s has been half-bent.

Well, it’s a shame I couldn’t completely break all the flags by staying by his side, but at least the most dangerous flag, which was shouted by some readers, that is, the group of people who didn’t even consider literary devices and insisted that the closest Saint was the heroine, has been broken, hasn’t it?

In any case, as long as we never got involved with each other, I wouldn’t have any major problems. There were five heroines who clashed most fiercely in the work.

The Saint, Lee Chae-eun, the childhood friend, the Hunter Association President’s daughter, and the artisan who processes monster materials.

However, among these, the most threatening existences were only the Saint and Lee Chae-eun.

The President’s daughter was a heroine with a somewhat uninspired setting who simply appeared and wanted to have the handsome Lee Si-yoon. She helped the protagonist become a hunter in the early stages, but that was it; her lines were generally quite unlikable, so she wasn’t very popular.

As for the artisan… it was like filling a quota. She had no presence from the start.

Can I say she was in a subtle position that could be crushed just by the title of ‘childhood friend’?

Of course, there were quite a few women the protagonist saved, and sometimes there were descriptions of him falling in love with them, but they were all extras who only appeared in one episode.

“Hoo, hohohoho…”

That’s right.

Although the beginning was a bit more complicated than I thought, and I didn’t meet him at the timing I wanted, the situation was still unfolding according to my intentions.

“Did you eat something wrong?”

“Ahem.”

I let out a laugh while eating breakfast. Ria, who was sitting right in front of me, asked me incredulously, so I quickly cleared my throat.

And I looked at Ria with a bit of pity.

She looks a bit pathetic when you see her like this.

Judging by how she keeps asking me for my opinion on Lee Si-yoon, it’s obvious she’s at least interested, even if she hasn’t fallen in love at first sight.

Isn’t it a bit of a late puberty? Interest in that period is always expressed in that way.

But what can I do?

Since I’m a nun, I have to be here. Moreover, Ria is here following me, so if I don’t go out, she has to stay by my side.

Ugh, thinking about it like this makes my conscience ache a little.

But what can I do? Just imagining Lee Si-yoon and Ria standing together makes me feel sick.

……

No, that’s not what I meant.

Seeing me looking at her with changing expressions, Ria quietly raised her right index finger.

“Hic.”

Startled by the sight, I pressed my elbows tightly against my sides, and Ria, looking satisfied, dipped her bread into the cream soup again.

This is a bit infuriating.

Watching Ria eat her bread elegantly with a relaxed expression, I also dipped my bread into the soup a bit roughly, shaking the plate and splashing soup on my nun’s habit.

“Pfft.”

“Ugh.”

I glared at Ria, who couldn’t hold back her laughter at my appearance, and ground my teeth.

Good.

Today, I will definitely-

*

-I lost again.

Yeah, that’s right. It’s natural.

To think I could win against someone who has wielded a sword their entire life with only a month of training is already a lazy thought.

Divine power is connected to the being above, so I can use it casually, but the skill gained through a lifetime of training is entirely one’s own. If something learned a little could catch up, it wouldn’t even be called ‘skill’ in the first place.

Ugh, I thought about divine power for no reason, and my face lit up, so I waved my hands to scatter it.

“Okay, that’s enough for today.”

Ria said that and put the practice sword back into its sheath on her waist.

“Uh, that’s it?”

At the unexpected words, I blinked and looked at Ria, who nodded.

“Yes. Let’s stop here for today.”

“It feels like we only trained about half as much as yesterday.”

“Well, you’ve trained hard for about two weeks. Your stamina has improved a lot compared to when you first started, and you’ve become more accustomed to holding the shield.”

But even so, I was only able to hold the shield handle with both hands and endure.

Ria also didn’t swing her sword at me with all her might.

I narrowed my eyes and looked at Ria.

“…Are you perhaps trying to be considerate?”

“Considerate?”

“Is it because I fainted after using divine power at the end of training yesterday?”

“…You’re quick-witted when it comes to things like this.”

Ria slumped her shoulders slightly and replied with a sigh.

“There’s no need for such consideration, you know? There are only a few patients who come here in a year.”

“Another one came after almost a month?”

“Well, even so, patients don’t come periodically, do they? And even if something similar to last time happens, it’s not like anything major will happen to me-“

But seeing Ria’s brow furrowed as I said that, I quickly shut my mouth.

“What if you suddenly fall and no one can catch you? You could fall headfirst and get seriously hurt.”

“Well, won’t Sister Ria be there next to me then?”

“……Hah.”

At my words, Ria looked slightly dumbfounded.

Oh no, was my logic too sound?

But I wasn’t saying something I didn’t mean. In fact, Ria is really here because of me. As my escort.

If an escort is by your side, and a Saint candidate stumbles and breaks her head, isn’t that the escort’s problem?

Shrugging at Ria, who had become silent, I went to the convent wall and set up the shield.

“Hoo.”

And I wiped the sweat from my forehead.

I know well that in my past life, having entered the army training center in the dead of winter, I could get drenched in sweat even if the weather was cold.

But it’s not the dead of winter now, and it’s getting close to April. The sunlight is getting warmer, so I might be even more tired than last month.

“Well, okay. I should follow the expert’s advice.”

Only after I said that did Ria nod.

We rested for a moment and then picked up our training weapons again and headed to the storage room.

“By the way, you.”

“Yes?”

“Do you really have no intention of becoming a Saint?”

“…Why are you suddenly asking me that?”

I answered the question with a serious expression, and Ria rolled her eyes.

“No, well, if you become a Saint, you can go out more often.”

“Isn’t that why I’m staying here for another year or so, to avoid going out? If I become a Saint, I won’t be able to quit and might have to stay in the convent for the rest of my life?”

Although it’s a stalker issue, I will definitely secularize without hesitation once that problem is resolved. I haven’t decided what I’ll do afterward, though.

“If you go out now, can’t you meet that Lee Si-yoon kid too? He’s a hunter, right?”

“……”

Upon hearing that, my eyes naturally narrowed.

Ah, I see the reason.

This is a test.

It doesn’t seem like she’s completely fallen in love yet, but if she’s interested in a man, it’s natural to want to see his face often. I too… well, even if it wasn’t my first love, I’ve been interested in someone like that.

Although I never managed to speak to him.

……But that’s not important right now.

“I have no intention of becoming a Saint. If you want to go out, you can go out alone. You can quit being a nun anytime.”

“Hey, when did I say I wanted to quit?”

Perhaps she thought I was telling her to quit being my escort, Ria said with a slightly hurt voice. Well, if you quit being a nun, you can never return as a nun. There must be such a standard for children from convents to seriously consider whether to be nuns for life.

Well, is she thinking of me as a friend at least?

“I was just saying.”

When I said that, Ria sighed deeply.

Her appearance made me feel a bit bad, as if I were looking at a childish, immature child, but this time I decided to let it slide.

*

And a few days later.

That is, about a week after Lee Si-yoon was discharged-

“An official document has arrived from the National Hunter Association.”

Ria and I were suddenly summoned to the counseling room.

Not the counseling room in the convent, but the counseling room in the main church building.

In other words, it was a meeting with the Priest.

And in that counseling room, not only the Priest and the Nun Superior, but also several people I had never seen before were present. Most of them were dressed in suits, but their faces were all very distinctive.

Many of them had large scars on their faces.

……Come to think of it, I heard that hunters consider those scars as medals and don’t heal them, leaving them as they are.

“The hunters who have been treated at this church so far have recommended Sister Anna.”

The Nun Superior summarized the official document she pushed towards me, saying-

[There is a gate that needs to be dealt with immediately in the middle of Seoul. However, that gate has not disappeared for over approximately 6 weeks. Inside, it seems there is something more ferocious than any monster seen so far.]

It was.

And, it was highly likely that the monster was the same monster that had put Lee Si-yoon in that state about a week ago.

“We are not asking you to enter the gate.”

The Nun Superior said with a serious expression.

“We hope you will treat the hunters near the gate.”

I finished her sentence.

And I closed my eyes.

“Anna.”

Ria called my name from beside me.

Is she trying to tell me it’s dangerous?

But-

“…If I don’t go, won’t many people be in danger?”

…Right.

It seems that the ‘incident where Lee Si-yoon’s life was saved thanks to the Saint’ was not the end of it.

And perhaps, Lee Si-yoon was not the only one who owed his life to the Saint at that time.