episode_0005

Wait a minute, wait a minute!

Hey, I don’t know if there is, but the god who controls fate? Isn’t this too fast? I’m not ready yet!

Glenn was fervently crying out in his heart. Even when he nodded to the butler’s words without realizing it, even when he boarded the carriage prepared outside the guild, and even when the carriage arrived in front of a mansion, he fervently sought God. If the Air Grants Church had seen through it, it was a faith that would have been worthy of being invited to church as a great attitude.

What kind of harmony is this today? The Royal Library is closed since morning. Strange children are making strange noises. Are they listening to advice they usually ignore? Are they buying books they will never read in their entire lives at the bookstore? I was waiting for the visit while leisurely reading, but it looks like I am coming.

Glenn had been feeling more astonished than discontented all day that his routine was not going as he wanted it to. It had been rare for things to go this wrong. The idyllic, smooth, predictable future had suddenly descended into chaos. The surroundings were calm and comfortable, but! Surely!

‘Mental…unification!’

“Glen, you’ve arrived.”

“Oh, yes.”

Whether or not the fire inside him was going off, Glenn calmly nodded to the butler’s words and got out of the carriage.

I was still able to maintain my composure on the outside. No, the more my mind was filled with chaos, the more calm my body was. Why is that? My head was in disarray and my heart was beating irregularly, but my body was moving on its own.

Anyway, Glenn passed through the mansion’s fence gate that opened at the butler’s words and found a familiar figure in front of the mansion in the distance. For a moment, his breath caught in his throat.

Two days ago, when we met, I deliberately glanced to the side, so I didn’t fully capture her appearance. My anxiety warned me not to turn my head completely. The large glasses here were effective enough to block my gaze from properly looking to the side. However, this time, it wasn’t like that. I was able to properly capture the saint’s appearance from far away, straight ahead.

The saintess, dressed differently than yesterday, was truly breathtakingly beautiful. Compared to the dresses of noble ladies I had seen before, the plain white outfit did not hide the saintess’s beauty, but rather added to her innocence. The smile on her face, filled with sincerity and purity, gave her the effect of hitting her own head with a huge hammer.

Emergency, emergency, emergency! Warning, warning, warning!

My head rang loudly. My heart pounded. But soon it became quiet.

Yes, it was understandable. Grimes’s fuss. The cruel jokes of the adventurers around him. There were enough reasons for that. Glenn had no choice but to admit that meeting the world’s most beautiful woman alone was a huge event that would create such a rumor.

“How are you, Glenn? See you in two days. Welcome to our home.”

“Thank you for inviting me, Your Majesty.”

Don’t be nervous, don’t be nervous! Glenn was full of the desire to push himself, but he tried not to show it on his face. The saintess welcomed him with a gentle smile.

“Please call me Milicia. I cannot exalt myself in front of the one who grants my unreasonable request. Above all, he is the one who will become my teacher.”

Oh, no. I haven’t made up my mind yet. Are you convinced that I accepted the request just because you came to see me? I wanted to say that, but Glenn tried to ignore me and spoke quietly.

“If the saint says so, I will do so. That, Milicia.”

“Ah…yes. I appreciate that for now, Glenn. Now, would you like to come in?”

Douglas and the saint took the lead, and Glenn followed. The main gate of the mansion opened. As the main gate opened, Glenn was able to take in the scenery inside the Milicia mansion, which was impossible for anyone but the nobles to enter.

Once upon a time, it was less splendid than the mansion of a nobleman who had been invited after having performed a meritorious deed. However, the unique pattern of the Air Grants Church painted on the wall showed better than anyone else that this mansion was a place where a great saint resided. The stairs leading up to the second floor drew a gentle curve, and the imagination that if a saint were to stand on it would be like a painting was added.

“Your Majesty, I will prepare the supper. I will let you know when it is ready.”

“Yes, Douglas. Thank you always.”

Huh?

Douglas bowed his head to the saint, then said to Glenn, “I’ll be leaving for a moment. Enjoy your time.” and disappeared to the right. Dinner? Heading to the kitchen? Glenn thought for a moment. There were certainly quite a few servants in a nobleman’s mansion…

“Glen? I would love to show you around the mansion in detail, but would you please stay with me until dinner?”

“Yes, yes?”

Glenn was almost dazed.

No, wait. Don’t be dumbfounded! Fight! I don’t know what I’m fighting against, but whatever!

I barely managed to hold onto my head, which was almost flying into the void for a split second.

Don’t interpret it obscenely, no obscene interpretation allowed! The opponent is a saint. That’s probably not why he used such expressions. Well, then what should I say? What should I say? While Glenn was thinking about the answer, the saint struck first.

“I have quite a few books in my room that I think Glenn would like. I would like to show you around so you can look at them before discussing the request.”

“Please.”

Oh, I believed. I believed!

Glenn cheered inwardly. If this was the reason, he would move his feet even if he called a hundred times. He tried to suppress the smile that was about to appear on his lips. Calm down, calm down. You shouldn’t be too happy about this.

The saint took the lead again. Her figure, climbing the stairs with a click, was like a painting, just as I had imagined a moment ago. Don’t fantasize, it’s going to get messy!

Glenn urged himself again. And, trying hard to avoid the sight, he brought up the topic that had been bothering him for a while.

“Hmm, Militia? It looks like a fairly large mansion. You don’t have any other servants, do you?”

“I hired him. He’s just not there anymore.”

The saintess calmly answered Glenn’s questions as she climbed the stairs. The smile on her face did not disappear. However, Glenn could find a little bitterness in that breathtakingly beautiful smile. What is it?

“Probably, there won’t be any more hiring in the future.”

“Huh?”

“Oh, I said too much. I’ll explain in detail when you get to my room first.”

With those words, the two left the stairs and arrived at the second floor.

Only the sound of shoes hitting the floor echoed through the mansion. Glenn tried to think of random thoughts and not pay attention to the saintess. However, it was impossible to ignore the saintess who was guiding him from the front. It was impossible to ignore such a beautiful, tall, and confident saintess…

‘Huh?’

At that moment, Glen realized something. Was it an illusion? No, wait a minute. Glen looked back at himself. Unconsciously, he raised his right hand above his head. He stretched his hand forward. He measured his hand with that of the saint walking in front of him. There was a distance, but for him, a martial artist, this was enough. Soon, he perfectly grasped the miserable reality.

‘Saint, you are taller than me!’

Frustration washed over me. It was a shocking reality.

Why did I realize it only now? When I first met her, she was sitting, so of course she looked taller than me. Even then, I had unconsciously recognized that she was ‘quite tall’. But, who would have thought she was taller than Glenn himself! If we translate it into the units commonly used in the kingdom, Glenn himself would be 164cm, and the saintess would be about 167cm. When I calculate it like this, it becomes even more miserable.

‘Damn. I haven’t grown since I was 15. I never thought it was true that there are many women taller than me. What a fucking world!’

That’s right. Even before he started making a living as an adventurer and when he was focusing on his training, Glenn was the butt of jokes from his master’s disciples.

Even at that time, because he was shorter than his peers, he was the target of countless jokes such as, “This guy’s limit is 170cm at best,” “He’s not even a rival since his attractiveness as a man has been greatly reduced,” and “It’s obvious that he’ll be frustrated if a girl taller than him appears.” However, at the time, he was busy developing new techniques, so he ignored them all, thinking, “What good does height matter?”

When he first started out as an adventurer, he heard people say, “For some reason, that little guy has really strong fists,” but after he started to really show off his skills, no one said those words out of fear.

‘Hey Grimes. What the hell were you thinking about with this little brat?’

“Sigh….”

“Excuse me, Glen? Are you okay?”

“Oh, yes. Yes! It’s nothing.”

The saintess was a little surprised to see Glenn’s pale face sighing behind her, but she turned her head forward again at Glenn’s answer. Soon, her steps stopped. The saintess reached out and opened the door in front of her. Glenn, who had come to his senses, was able to enter the saintess’s room, which only a very few nobles and high-ranking people were allowed to see.

In fact, isn’t everything just a dream? Meeting the saint, hearing her request, being invited by her.

Could it be that all of this was a sweet dream created by the delusions that had been inflated by reading activities and had affected his mind and head? Glenn had such a question in the short moment he had to enter the room and recognize his surroundings. Soon, the saint’s room that came into view pulled him back to reality.

The first thing that caught my eye was a smaller bed than I thought, with impressive white sheets and pillows. And the window that could let in all the sunlight was definitely made of glass, and there was a terrace outside. Other than that, there was a large bookshelf full of the books the saint had mentioned, and a table and two small chairs nearby, suitable for entertaining guests. Lastly, a fancy but most unusual dressing table for dressing up.

Except for the dressing table at the end, every object and arrangement in the room seemed to be absolutely tailored to the saintess. It was almost as if this room existed for the saintess.

“Have you read this book?”

“Oh, yes?”

Oh, when have I been sitting here? Glenn realized that he had been sitting across from the saint for some time, talking about books. Clearly,

‘Let me introduce myself again. I am Militia Airgrants. I belong to the Airgrants Church. Mercifully, God granted me the title of saint, and I devoted myself to the slaying of the Demon King who once brought suffering to the continent, and now I dedicate myself to spreading the doctrine. Please take good care of me, Red-Eyed Glenn.’

‘Hey, this is Glen. I’ve been working in the Adventurer’s Guild for the past 10 years, and I’ve been lucky enough to survive and continue to work as an adventurer. These days, I’m more focused on reading than on my adventurer work. Please take care of me.’

Yes, that was the conversation. Thinking back, I had given a rather shabby self-introduction compared to the saintess’s detailed self-introduction. Why did I forget? The content of this conversation? It clearly happened just a moment ago. Oh, am I too drunk? The atmosphere created by this room and the saintess. Yes. The warmth, comfort, and ease that he had not felt in a long time seemed to have made his mind soft.

No, no, come to your senses, Glenn. Was this all you had learned from practicing martial arts? Become more aware of the things around you! What would your master say if he saw this?

‘He’s the best at controlling his mind among these guys, but I’m not sure if he’ll be able to control his mind in front of a woman. Especially a coward like you.’

Glenn remembered the painful advice he had heard from his teacher before, but tried to ignore it and quietly answered the saint’s question.

“Ah, ‘Raspberry Ben’s Adventures’. It was a good book. It was a delicate work that depicted a boy’s adventure and friendship.”

“Yes, I really like this book too. I really liked the part where Raspberry befriends Tim, a slave from another race, and fights for his freedom.”

Yes, The Adventures of Raspberry Ben was a novel that actively reflected satire on reality.

At the time the novel was written, about 80 years ago, the alien races lived among themselves due to their isolation. This was partly due to the influence of the Demon King, but also because the alien races themselves did not want to actively interact with humans. As a result, elves, beastmen, dwarves, etc. who were unlucky enough to be thrown out of their territory were often killed or turned into slaves, often meeting a miserable end.

After the Demon King retreated, things got a little better thanks to the Southern Kingdom’s active exchange policy…

“I was impressed by the delicate handling of the part about whether the author is from the Northern Kingdom. The Northern Kingdom still views foreign races as inferior and has not abolished slavery. ”

“Yes, that’s right. The delicate way it described the part where Raspberry Ben spoke carelessly and the team looked gloomy was so heartbreaking. And then when Raspberry Ben risked his life for the team, I shed a few tears. It was impressive even when I was young, and I still remember that part when I read it again recently. Thanks to that, I actively participated in criticizing the Northern Kingdom regarding slavery. Hehe…”

It seemed that the saint had reading as a hobby, more than I thought. However, the degree to which she was absorbed in reading might be more serious than Glenn. Who would have thought that books would influence and reflect real-world politics? Was it okay to say such things to me in the first place? Without time to think about it, the saint handed another book to Glenn.

“Then, which of the same author’s works impressed you the most? I liked Raspberry Ben’s previous work, The Adventures of Jim Layer, but the one that caught my attention the most was ‘The Lords and the Serfs’. Even though it’s a novel from 80 years ago, I thought it was a masterpiece that delicately portrayed the misconduct of some lords and the suffering of the serfs, which are still problematic today. When I came across it by chance as a child, I just found it amusing that their roles were reversed.”

“You have similar thoughts to me. The story about the lord’s son and the serf’s son having the same face was a bit absurd, but it was quite amusing. I also thought that if adapted well, it could be a good textbook for teaching children how to read.”

“Oh, Glenn. So you’re also interested in teaching children how to read?”

“When I was young, I didn’t receive that kind of education…I was a little lucky and learned how to read. I really sympathized with the contents of the book.”

“That’s right. Before I joined the church, I was a commoner, so I don’t think I had a chance to learn how to read. Like you, I was lucky enough to learn how to read and write through the teachings of the church. Thanks to this incredible luck, I was able to immerse myself in reading and chatting. I am so grateful.”

So, adventurer Glenn and Saint Milicia had a meaningless conversation about sharing each other’s hobbies.

There was no great burden in sharing each other’s experiences, whether they had a proper sense of empathy or not. While drinking the delicate tea served by the saint herself, as if they were close friends. If someone saw it, they would be so envious that they would be filled with anger and swing their sword at Glenn, which would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

In reality, Glenn himself keeps repeating the same stupid thoughts of getting too absorbed in the conversation, barely coming to his senses, and then getting too absorbed in the conversation again.

‘No, what am I going to do, having a small talk with the saintess? Come to your senses, Glenn! You came here to find out about today’s request and ultimately convey your intention to reject it.’

Of course, I bought a handkerchief while doing that. Strangely, I thought of the relationship advice that I usually ignored. I thought about it all day long, even though I was complaining about the request! For the past two days, all the topics of conversation were related to the saint! I thought about her all day long, don’t you dare!!

‘Mental unity!’

Glenn, whose mind was filled with words that sounded like a spell, put down the teacup he was holding and opened his mouth.

“Sung…Milicia. Actually, I am sitting here today without making a final decision on whether to accept the request or not.”

“Ah…I see, that’s what happened.”

The saintess, who had been happily chatting and smiling for a while, made a slightly complicated face at those words. Her expression stung, and her heart started beating irregularly, but Glenn tried to continue talking.

“To be honest, I feel sorry for such a noble person as Milicia, but this is the first time I have heard of such a strange request, and I was very suspicious. Despite the lavish treatment you gave me today, the conversation we had, and despite knowing what kind of person Milicia is, I still cannot shake off my suspicions. I am truly sorry.”

Glenn bowed his head slightly as he finished speaking. It seemed to have worked, but the saintess seemed a little embarrassed and answered quickly.

“No, no. It is not something you should apologize for, Glen. All responsibility lies with me. I came to you out of the blue and told you that I wanted to learn martial arts as soon as possible, so it is understandable that you feel embarrassed. Everything is an unreasonable request based on my personal circumstances.”

The saintess said so, and instead bowed her head to him. Ugh, the honesty pricked his conscience. Of course, he wanted to know the inside story, but when she came out in such a lowly manner, especially when someone as humble and holy as the saintess did so, Glenn felt as if the whole world was looking at him with resentment. What are you thinking? Mental unity. Mental unity!

“Militia, if that’s the case, could you please tell me? Why did you come to me personally? Why did you say that I should learn martial arts as soon as possible? If it’s not too much of a burden, please tell me.”

Even while saying that, Glenn refrained from making empty statements like, ‘If you tell me, I will accept your request.’ That was not the only thing he could do. No matter how beautiful and holy a person he was, accepting a request, getting involved in the ‘personal circumstances’ that the saintess had mentioned, was something that he could not do for someone who prioritized self-preservation. So, carefully setting up a safety device, he asked the saintess a question.

The saintess was silent for a moment. Her eyes were fixed on the table, and her hands were fiddling with the teacup on the table. She closed her eyes tightly, and it shook Glenn’s heart. Oh, no! Consistency! Consistency! Consistency! Finally, the saintess slowly raised her head and smiled weakly.

It was clearly a self-deprecating smile.

“I will soon step down from my position as a saint. It is a natural course of events, like fate.”