Chapter 4. Escape and Service (11)

Yes. Let me speak frankly.

I did have a desire to get involved with the protagonist and the others.

After all, it was the novel I had read. I liked it quite a lot, and that’s why I gave the author affectionate advice.

Of course, it was common sense that the childhood friend was the main heroine, but that didn’t mean I disliked the other heroines. I just didn’t want them to end up with the protagonist; they were all good girls with their own circumstances.

If I hadn’t read the original novel, and if I hadn’t known that Gloria wasn’t inherently a bad person, I wouldn’t have stepped up to help her like this.

……Although, by my standards, it was a rather old novel.

“Then… uh, Lady Gloria? Miss Gloria?”

“Just Gloria is fine.”

“…….”

I don’t know what differences there are in the appearance of elves from that world. Are there elves with different skin colors? Even if there were, I suppose it’s possible not to know. I haven’t explored the entire continent, and if civilization developed in a completely isolated environment, they wouldn’t have seen beings that look different.

However, even to Gloria’s eyes, Lee Si-yoon seems to be very handsome.

No, more than that, hasn’t her way of speaking changed? It was like that in the original novel too.

“Then… uh, Sister?”

“Yes, Brother.”

Lee Si-yoon seemed a bit more at ease calling me that. Beyond just being a person of high status, I was a nun, after all.

Whether there’s a state religion or not, people inevitably become cautious in their speech and behavior in front of those who place them within a religious facility.

“You’ll be moving around together for a while, is that okay?”

“Of course.”

I nodded.

At this point, there’s no turning back anyway. It’s better to stand confidently by her side and put pressure on Gloria so she doesn’t approach Lee Si-yoon strangely.

Whoosh.

Sensing a presence approaching my side, I quickly turned my head.

Ria seemed a little surprised that my face suddenly turned towards her and took a small step back. It was actually a reasonable distance. She probably intended to whisper something into my ear.

However, there was something that bothered me more than that.

“……You were trying to poke my ribs again, weren’t you.”

As I glared at Ria lightly, her eyes blinked once.

“Uh, no, I wasn’t trying to do that…”

Judging by the fact that she didn’t raise her fingers, it might be true, but I’m also a person with learning ability. In the first place, Ria is incredibly quick.

Yes. And that quickness was most evident in the novel.

It’s not just about helping Lee Si-yoon when he fights.

In the novel, the heroine who took Lee Si-yoon’s first kiss was none other than Ria, that is, Lee Chae-eun.

It might not have been a proper kiss. It was at the level of what’s commonly called a lip bump, or a peck.

But even rationalizing it like that, a kiss is a kiss. What reader would say, ‘My lips just brushed against them, so it’s not a kiss’?

Squinting, I looked up at Ria, then turned my body away.

The sound of footsteps stopped for a moment, and then Ria quickly followed behind me.

She didn’t say anything separately.

*

Although the setting is modern, it’s still fantasy.

There was a blacksmith’s shop inside the association. Of course, it’s not the kind of blacksmith’s shop you’d expect in a medieval fantasy. Instead of a fist, an automated machine did the hammering, and there was no furnace where molten iron boiled. Rather, it looked like a giant coffee pot.

The part that gave it a blacksmith-like atmosphere were the various materials hanging inside.

Something like a large beast’s horn was hanging from the ceiling by a chain, and on the table, gemstones I had never seen before emitted colorful light.

They all gave off an atmosphere of not being materials or ores from the beasts of this world.

And, there was one short-haired woman pedaling to strike an artificial hammer there.

In terms of physique, she had less curves than me, but still, her well-trained body, which couldn’t be called small in reality.

Rather, her arms, visible beyond the tank top, were so well-trained that many people would find her attractive. Plus, her face was pretty. The short-haired hairstyle was divisive among readers, though.

“Oh, Si-yoon, you’re here!”

The woman, who shouted like a warrior and raised one hand, jumped up from her seat and immediately lunged at Si-yoon, putting him in a headlock.

It’s called a headlock, but of course, when in that position, your cheek or ear touches next to her chest.

“Uh, unnie!”

Han Yu-ri, standing with a slightly worried expression, quickly tried to intervene, but the woman didn’t let go of Lee Si-yoon easily.

Lee Si-yoon also didn’t seem too unhappy, as his face was turning red.

It was a sight that made my eyes narrow.

And indeed, as I narrowed my eyes and looked at the woman- our eyes met.

“Huh?”

The blacksmith woman’s eyes widened as she saw me. Perhaps she thought I was challenging her to a fight by narrowing my eyes?

The woman immediately let go of Lee Si-yoon and came straight towards me.

I almost flinched, but the woman’s expression wasn’t particularly dark, so I didn’t back down-

Someone blocked the way between me and the woman, even though I didn’t have to.

“…….”

“Ria?”

Ah, right, that’s right.

Inside the church, there’s no one who would directly attack me, and the people I face are basically people I’ve met at least once or twice.

Most importantly, not many people approach me this much. If someone like Lee Si-yoon, Han Yu-ri, or Gloria approached with a slightly stern face, Ria would have intervened like this.

“Ria, just a moment.”

I said softly and tapped Ria’s back. Ria flinched slightly at the reaction and looked back at me.

“It’s okay. You don’t have to react like that. There’s no one in here who would harm me.”

“Still…”

“If there really was someone like that, Ria would have already noticed and drawn her sword. Isn’t that right?”

At my words, Ria hesitated for a moment before answering, then nodded.

Is she perhaps being tense while escorting me? Well, even if she’s usually friendly, the character Lee Chae-eun is someone who does her job properly.

As Ria moved aside, the person whose path was blocked looked at me and Ria alternately with a slightly bewildered expression and cautiously opened her mouth.

“……Uh, so, it’s okay to talk to you, right?”

“Yes, of course.”

I considered making a light joke about the previous situation, but decided against it. That would make Ria a little uncomfortable.

As I nodded lightly, the person immediately approached me and grabbed my hands with both of hers.

“Thank you so much.”

“Huh?”

Although I didn’t feel any hostility, I didn’t expect her to react this way.

In fact, I was the one who felt more hostility or wariness, so I was a little more taken aback. I was only fitting the descriptions in the novel with the current situation to know who the other person was; if I hadn’t read it beforehand, I wouldn’t have even known who was in front of me right now.

To hear the words “thank you” first in such a situation.

“That day, if you hadn’t been there, my younger sibling wouldn’t have returned alive.”

“Ah…”

I see.

Was there such a setting?

Even if it wasn’t me, they could have returned alive. Even if they lost an arm or a leg, as long as they could receive holy power.

Given the circumstances, there would have been a Saint there, and even if not a Saint, there would have been Saint candidates.

……If a part of their internal organs had burst out of their body or been torn, and they had lost too much blood due to damage to the aorta, the story would be different.

“That’s fortunate.”

I nodded.

The fact that she’s thanking me means that, regardless of those assumptions, that sibling received help from me.

I don’t remember it. I can’t remember everyone I’ve treated.

But at least, one person’s life could continue. And there is someone who is grateful for that fact.

If so, isn’t that enough?

*

Come to think of it, my influence was much greater than I thought.

I focused on my position, but everyone here was also present near that gate at the time.

In some cases, like that person earlier, their family received help, and in other cases, they themselves were able to survive.

And to those people, I was literally a benefactor.

“…….”

I don’t expect any special thanks when I help, but I don’t dislike receiving thanks.

I’m a very materialistic person, so I’m someone who gets swayed by such sentiments.

“Sister Anna, you’re amazing…”

“Ah, no, it’s not really my strength, haha…”

Seeing people praising me and thanking me wherever I went, Han Yu-ri said with a bit of admiration. Although she was there at the time, seeing me receive greetings like this was a different matter.

Fighters are focused on fighting, so they don’t have time to see how many people are injured.

Gloria was also looking at me with wide eyes. Was she perhaps revising the information she had about me in her head?

Hmm.

What can I say, it wasn’t a bad feeling, honestly, since the people who were grateful didn’t say anything like ‘God’.

By the time we had walked around the entire association building, my mood had improved considerably.

…….

No, wait, what was I trying to do?

Ah, right. I was trying to put pressure on them.

…….

Well, it doesn’t matter anymore. Gloria also seems to be focusing more on me than on Lee Si-yoon.

Even Han Yu-ri wasn’t creating a sweet atmosphere with Lee Si-yoon because she was too impressed, but that’s something they’ll figure out on their own if they’re left alone.

“…….”

Only Ria was looking at me with a slightly different expression than the others.