episode_0019

*

After returning to the Monastery, I briefly explained the situation to Anna and Sola.

When Anna asked if the next exploration would be in a few days, I informed her that I would be leaving tomorrow.

Hearing that I was going on another exploration in just one day when I originally went out every five days, Anna looked troubled, and even Sola expressed her concern with a worried expression.

But it couldn’t be helped.

The food I brought back today was very little, and the vegetables in the garden hadn’t ripened enough due to the hot weather, so it didn’t seem like the four of us could survive for five days.

Of course, we could catch fish by fishing and survive by eating the fruit on the trees, but I couldn’t bear to watch that happen.

Only Lucia was happy with my plan and agreed.

In fact, Lucia is the one who suffers the most while exploring the Mainland.

She is the only one among us who can fight those pale monsters.

The way she defeats the monsters is similar to the appearance of a beast like a wolf or a bear.

She instantly chases after them with her strong legs and tears their necks with her jet-black, sharp fingertips.

If necessary, she directly cuts their bodies in half.

No matter how much power Lucia has, it couldn’t be a more gruesome sight for a girl who is barely in her late teens.

Without me knowing, fatigue must be accumulating in both her body and mind, and yet she agrees with my opinion without showing any displeasure.

Even though she succumbed to the temptation to have a healthy body and gave her body to a Devil, her kind nature still shines brightly.

Isn’t that the grace of God?

I was touched.

I asked her if it was too much for her physically, in case she was forcing herself, but Lucia shook her head vigorously and strongly insisted that she was okay.

I was very grateful to Lucia, but I also felt so sorry for her that I stroked her hair for a long time.

Lucia blushed with a bright smile as bright as her nature.

Lucia was still such a good girl.

“That’s all for the announcements, I’ll get up first then.”

After drinking the thin soup, which was almost water, I tried to get up from my chair first.

Sola, who was sitting next to me, tilted her head and asked.

“Priest? Where are you going?”

“To my room.”

“Huh? So soon? That won’t do?”

Sola opened her mouth in embarrassment.

“We had a story we didn’t finish last time. You know, the story of the princess who was trapped in the castle and… the king who defeated the Devil.”

Normally, after dinner, I would tell well-known fairy tales and novels from the outside world, or stories with lessons that we use to teach young followers in our religion,

Anna was already too old to be interested in such fairy tales, and Lucia also found them boring because she had heard most of them when she was a child.

But for Sola, who had spent her whole life on the Island, even such childish fairy tales seemed to be very exciting,

She would listen to my stories every evening, her eyes sparkling.

I even bought her a book of children’s fairy tales during an exploration for her sake, but it was useless because she couldn’t read.

“You skipped it yesterday too because you were preparing for the exploration…. And you said you wouldn’t be back for a few days this time.”

“I’m sorry, I have a lot to pack since I’ll be gone for a few days. Please forgive me this once. I’ll definitely get some meat this time, okay?”

“…Eung,”

Sola made a sulky face and puffed out her cheeks.

As far as I know, Sola is fifteen years old, but she acts like she’s only five.

I said with a troubled expression.

“You have that book I got you last time, you could ask Anna to read it to you…”

“Priest, I’m busy enough as it is, you’re just adding to my workload.”

Anna scolded me in a playful tone.

There was quite a bit of bite in her words, but she didn’t seem to be blaming me seriously, so I responded in a playful manner as well.

“Oh, come on, please? Everyone. Huh?”

“Hmm, okay. But I have a few requests for you too.”

“What is it?”

Anna held up two fingers and folded one of them as she began to speak.

“Please get me a hammer and tongs, strong ones. There should be some spares in the Blacksmith.”

“Hmm?”

“If we’re lucky and find a slightly larger Blacksmith, there might be some fire bricks stacked up too. If so, please bring those too. Enough to make a simple furnace.”

“What, are you planning to build a Blacksmith on the Island?”

“That’s right.”

Anna rolled up her sleeves and continued to speak.

“I’ve been repairing what I can from the junk I’ve brought back, but there are many things that are too broken to be used again. But no matter how messed up things are, iron can be reused.”

“Ah, right…. Anna, you were definitely the daughter of a Blacksmith.”

“How could you leave out the part about being the best in the Kingdom?”

Anna smiled brightly.

As she said, she was the daughter of the best Blacksmith in the Capital, who made famous swords bestowed upon the royal knights, and she was also a Blacksmith who worked in that Blacksmith.

I once playfully arm-wrestled with her, and although I didn’t lose, I definitely felt a strong muscle strength that couldn’t be seen as that of an ordinary woman.

“I can’t set up a full-fledged Blacksmith, but I can make tools and things to repair things easily.”

“But, even if we find one, I don’t think we’ll be able to move the bricks.”

Anna nodded.

“You don’t have to move them all at once. It’s not that urgent. First, we need to start by finding out if there is such a Blacksmith.”

“Okay, I’ll keep that in mind and look carefully.”

“Actually, this Fishing Village is so rural. It’s more likely that there won’t be one… but since you’re going so far, I mentioned it just in case. Don’t push yourself if there isn’t one, I won’t be disappointed.”

“Okay, I’ll do my best.”

I said

“I’m going to go in and sleep early. You guys sleep well too, and of course, there won’t be morning Mass tomorrow.”

“Yes, good night.”

I said good night to them briefly and headed to my room.

“Ah, I should just go to bed early too. Anna~ We’ll be the only two here from tomorrow, so read me a book then.”

“The Priest said he’s going to bed early today… Sola too… will go to bed early.”

“He… said so…”

“Huh? Lucia, aren’t you going to sleep? You need to sleep early to go out tomorrow!”

“Eung, I… have something to talk about… with Anna…”

“Is that so?”

I could hear them chattering and talking behind my back.

I opened the door, leaving that sound behind.

*

As soon as I entered the room and closed the door, Kunat spoke up in that disgusting voice without fail.

“You’re leaving right away tomorrow?”

“Yeah.”

“You’re taking me with you, right?”

“Of course. How can I just leave you here when I don’t know what you’ll do to Anna or Sola while I’m gone?”

“Hmph.”

Kunat made a shallow snort and slowly twitched his whiskered lips.

“Billy, you too…”

“I’ve been wanting to say this for a while,”

I cut him off rudely.

“Billy is not my name.”

“You may not remember, but your biological mother…”

“Shut up.”

I couldn’t bear to hear the Devil call me Billy any longer.

I had a nickname I was called when I was a child, and I received the baptismal name Theodore after becoming a Priest, so I didn’t want to know or care about the name given to me by my biological parents who abandoned me.

In the first place, no one knows whether the story of my biological parents that comes out of Kunat’s mouth is true or not.

Because I can’t trust the words of a Devil.

“Even if that’s my name, you and I are not friends, so don’t call me that.”

Actually, it didn’t matter.

I had no intention of falling for the Devil’s coaxing out of curiosity about the past.

I just couldn’t stand the way he kept talking about my past.

“Hmm, I personally thought that maybe a slight friendship had sprouted between you and me,”

“Bullshit, when did we ever have an incident to talk about friendship?”

“Don’t you beat me up whenever you’re bored?”

“Is that what friends do?”

“Ah, it’s closer to the relationship between a prostitute and a customer with a special taste.”

“If you want to get your ass kicked, I’ll grant your wish.”

Kunat chuckled and said.

“I understand… Father Theodore. I won’t take your advice lightly.”

“Really? Then wouldn’t it be better to go back to Hell as soon as possible? This is also advice, in its own way.”

“That would be difficult, you summoned me in the first place, didn’t you.”

“And now I want you to get lost. Because you touched Lucia.”

“That’s because she…”

I wrapped the rosary around my finger, made a fist, and raised it.

Kunat immediately stopped speaking.

Even though he was putting on airs, he was trapped in the body of a cat, not summoned with his own body, so he felt the pain every time I harassed him.

“How can a Priest be so violent.”

“Because I’ve become a famous person to you Devils with that violence, God doesn’t take away my divine power.”

“That unlucky bitch must be especially fond of you.”

“If you commit blasphemy one more time, I’ll detach and reattach your head, so watch your mouth.”

“You can spout all the insults you want, but I can’t, who’s the Devil? You’re just wearing a Priest’s robe, but what you do is no different from a thug, just like your face!”

“If you’re so upset, get baptized and become a Priest.”

“I politely decline.”

I sat on the bed and slowly opened my mouth.

“Stop with the jokes and tell me what your real purpose is.”

“Hmph.”

“Why aren’t you going back.”

“My purpose? Isn’t it obvious.”

Kunat also jumped up on the desk and sat down, matching my eye level.

“The remaining two girls. I want to give her the Devil’s ‘baptism’ too.”

“…”

“Don’t make that face. It’s scary.”

“Touch them and I’ll kill you.”

“How? Even if you’re an Exorcist Priest, you can’t kill a Devil, can you?”

That’s right.

What I do is not killing Devils, but chasing them away or sealing them.

Simply put, it’s about harassing the Devil who has arbitrarily taken over a human body or the Devil who has manifested on his own as much as possible, and making them leave that body and the Earth and return to Hell.

The reason I’m harassing Kunat, who has taken over the body of a cat, is for the same reason.

However, this damn Devil has no intention of leaving.

He even revives himself by reattaching it with his authority, even if he dies in the cat’s body.

Maybe the cat’s body will die as soon as Kunat leaves.

But, there’s a reason why I’ve become a famous person among the Devils.

“I can make you want to die.”

“Ah, right. You’re especially… vicious.”

“I’ll say it again, the more vicious I am to you, the more good it is.”

“Didn’t you say that only God judges the presence and severity of sin?”

“God doesn’t take away my divine power, so this must be permission.”

“Hee hee hee, narrow-minded.”

I glared at Kunat and continued to speak.

“I’ll ask again. What’s your real purpose?”

“Didn’t I just say it?”

“That can’t be all. If you really wanted to corrupt Anna and Sola, you would have already done something.”

“Hoo.”

Kunat smiled and said.

“That’s quite good.”

His voice, unable to hide his laughter, contained a slight surprise.

“Who knows? Maybe, just maybe, my purpose is to truly build a friendship with you?”

“Fuck.”

“Or maybe I enjoy being beaten by you,”

“…”

“Ooh. Hit me. Hurry.”

I put down the rosary wrapped around my hand on the bedside table and frowned.

“Disgusting! Really. I’m going to sleep, so if you don’t want to tell me, just shut up.”

“Sleep? Hee hee, I’ll have a good time watching,”

“… What the hell are you going to do while I’m sleeping.”

“I’m not talking about me.”

“…Ha,”

I quickly reached out and grabbed the nape of his neck.

“I’m tired of listening to and don’t want to hear you talking in riddles, so I’ll say it directly.”

“Cough, cough,”

“Don’t get on my nerves.”

Kunat struggled, raising his claws, but I didn’t care and gripped his neck tightly as if I would break it.

“I don’t really want to get anatomical knowledge about cat organs.”

“Kreek,”

“You enjoy being hit? You enjoy pain?”

I warned in a low voice.

“Really?”

“Hweek…”

His whole body trembled.

I let go of him, throwing him down on the floor.

“Remember well why I’m famous among the Devils, and treat me accordingly.”

“…, I’ll keep that in mind.”

“And, think carefully about why I’m just letting you stay.”

“… Why is that.”

I lay down on the bed and answered.

“When you really, do something and I find out about it.”

“…”

“Torturing sinners in Hell will seem like child’s play.”

Father Theodore.

The Exorcist Priest the Devils fear.

A thug sent by the Goddess.

Kunat was silent for a long time, perhaps slowly chewing on my nicknames in his head.

I quickly fell asleep in that gap.

I couldn’t even bother to close the window, perhaps because Kunat had messed up my mind.