Fertilizer for Adults – 3

On the day of the Harvest Festival, Maria, who was preparing to attend, received a summons from Lumen.

Reluctantly, she couldn’t ignore the call of her superior.

“What is it?”

Maria asked, her voice full of discontent, and Lumen chuckled.

Even that laugh seemed to mock her, twisting Maria’s insides.

She had seen Lumen with Saint from afar.

Just the other day, she had witnessed Lumen holding Saint’s hand tightly in a secluded place, comforting him.

Maria had wanted to jump into that blasphemous situation and swing her greatsword,

but fearing she would incur Saint’s displeasure again, she endured by gritting her teeth.

“Go down to Solchio Village and deliver these items to the family at this address.”

Lumen treated Maria as always, showing the qualifications of someone who had risen to that position.

“Where is this?”

The address was strangely familiar.

Lumen didn’t answer Maria’s question but took out a money pouch from the desk drawer.

“Go to the market, buy food and necessities, and deliver them.”

Lumen said soothingly.

“Why do I have to do this?”

Maria asked, dumbfounded.

“I’m not ordering you. Saint is ordering you.”

Lumen shrugged.

At the mention of Saint’s order, a faint light returned to Maria’s lifeless eyes.

“S-Saint?”

“Yes, Sister Maria. He specifically asked that Sister Maria do this.”

“……..”

Maria stared at the money pouch and snatched it away.

The money pouch was as heavy as it looked.

Perhaps embarrassed by her open grumbling, Maria tried to leave the room without a word.

“Sister Maria.”

Lumen called out to Maria as she was leaving.

“…Yes.”

“Have a good trip.”

Lumen spoke as if addressing a child on an errand.

Riding a horse down to Solchio Village, Maria bought some food and necessities at the market.

Then, she slowly rode towards the house written on the note.

Unfamiliar with the address, she asked a passing pedestrian for directions.

The pedestrian politely told the Inquisitor of the Order to go ‘past the bridge and to the two-story house, the fourth house on the right’.

Only after knocking on the door of that house did Maria realize she had come to Antonio’s house.

Antonio’s mother was briefly surprised to see the Inquisitor, but soon showed a bright smile at the food in her hands.

Maria was invited into the house, and she entered the old house with a dazed feeling.

She handed over the remaining money, and Antonio’s mother gratefully accepted it.

Although the house looked dilapidated from the outside, the interior was quite decent, as if it had been recently renovated.

“Oh? It’s the big-breasted nun!”

Antonio, who had peeked out at the guest’s visit, greeted her happily.

Having taken off his priest’s robes, Antonio showed the purity and cheerfulness of a child his age.

“Did you come in place of Saint today?”

Antonio chattered, circling around Maria.

“In place of Saint?”

“Yes! Saint comes to our house every night to play with me.”

“I didn’t know because I’ve been away from Saint lately.”

She had been away from Saint for so long that she didn’t know what he was doing.

Maria smiled bitterly.

“Gasp! Have you been apart for a long time?”

“Well… not that long.”

In her heart, it felt like an eternity.

“You must miss him a lot. Saint said he misses you too.”

“What?”

Maria’s eyes widened.

“Saint tells me stories about this and that when he comes. And sometimes he talks about you, Sister.”

Antonio tilted his head at her extreme reaction and added.

“What, what did he say?”

“He said you’re sometimes clueless, but kind and sincere. And also….”

As Antonio continued to explain, the corners of Maria’s lips gradually rose.

“Didn’t Saint say anything else? Like what I’m lacking in….”

Antonio, who had been listing Maria’s strengths for a while, pulled his lower lip up and thought hard about something.

“He said it would be good if you were curious.”

“Curious?”

“Yes, curious. He said he wished you would question everything.”

Maria pondered deeply at the cryptic words.

After being served tea brewed with cheap tea leaves, she was finally able to return to the Order.

As soon as she arrived at the Order’s main gate, Maria was surrounded by Holy Knights.

“What’s going on?”

Maria asked, looking around at the armored giants, but the Holy Knights pounced on her without answering.

“Arrest her now!”

Those were the only words she heard as her hands were bound with a rope that suddenly flew at her.

Struggling, Maria was struck on the head with something blunt and lost consciousness.

With a gasp, Maria woke up in bed.

She looked around; it was her room.

The rope that had bound her hands was gone, and Lumen was sitting next to her.

“…Where is this?”

“It’s Sister Maria’s room.”

“That’s not what I asked.”

Maria retorted sharply.

“Then, is this what you’re asking? The reason you were detained?”

Detained? She examined her body; she wasn’t bound by anything.

“……..”

As she showed her affirmation with silence, Lumen cleared his throat.

“Saint… no, Kang In-ho has been arrested.”

Kang In-ho. Saint’s real name.

It was a name she hadn’t heard in a long time.

“What?”

At the absurd words, she forgot her animosity towards Lumen and asked.

“After the Harvest Festival service began, Saint… Kang In-ho made insulting remarks to everyone who attended the service.”

Lumen recited the situation without any change in expression.

“Insulting remarks…”

“The Pope has accumulated wealth dishonestly, Bishop Gillian enjoys sodomy and has killed people to cover it up, and Holy Knight Commander Garto has forcibly taken women with husbands.”

Lumen imitated Kang In-ho’s voice, describing the situation.

“……..”

Maria’s face grew paler and paler.

“He continued to make these insults, pointing out people who attended the service, and was subdued by the Holy Knight Commander.”

Lumen delivered the information blandly, as if reading a fairy tale.

“So… what happened?”

Maria’s hands trembled more and more.

“Unlike when he was shouting on the platform, he was caught without resistance. There was no resistance at all.”

“And the Saint verification ceremony was conducted on the spot. Because he had acted in the opposite way to what he had shown so far. And the result was….”

“The result?”

Maria swallowed.

“He couldn’t make the sword shine. The Pope said that he was a demon who imitated Saint’s appearance.”

-Thud

Something huge fell into Maria’s chest.

Regardless, Lumen continued to speak.

“It is presumed that the demon was able to hide Saint and imitate his appearance when he went to Madini Village for relief efforts. So, we are planning to send people to Madini Village to search for Saint.”

“The trial… the trial… why….”

Maria shook her head.

“The trial is already over. He is scheduled to be executed soon.”

“Why! Without even hearing my testimony as a member of the escort!”

Maria shouted.

“Your purity is in doubt, Sister Maria.”

Lumen leaned forward, his face hardening.

It wasn’t the Lumen who looked tired, buried in administrative documents, but the Inquisitor Lumen who had interrogated thousands of sinners.

“You have spent a long time with that demon. So, there are many people who think you are contaminated. That’s why you’ve been locked in this room.”

Lumen got up and headed for the door.

“The investigation into you will begin after the execution, so wait here.”

The door closed, and the sound of it being locked from the outside was heard.

“Wait a minute! Inquisitor General!!!”

Maria jumped out of bed and clung to the door.

“He is definitely Saint. He is Saint! He was never a demon!”

Maria shouted to Lumen through the door.

“Why is he Saint?”

A question was heard from outside the door.

Maria stiffened as she remembered something Saint had once told her.

Lumen’s words came through the door again to her, who was standing still.

“Why is he Saint?”

“……..”

“He couldn’t even make the sword shine.”

“His behavior didn’t match Saint’s either.”

“His Holiness the Pope said he wasn’t Saint.”

“But why… why do you call him Saint?”

“……..”

“Look. You don’t have any conviction yourself, so what are you going to prove?”

With those words, Lumen’s footsteps faded away.

Listening to the footsteps echoing through the empty hallway, Maria buried her face in her hands.