episode_0069

“What are you doing here?”

“Shh. Be quiet and sit down. It’s important.”

When I asked him why he was here, Deshade just told me to sit down quickly instead of answering.

It’s not very reliable, but for now, I drag a chair and sit down.

Afterwards, when Deshade touched the wall of the room next to where Rinai and Astesia were, the wall became transparent and the picture on the other side was visible.

However, the two women sat at the table and were silent to each other, as if they couldn’t see us.

And I was dumbfounded when I saw the series of actions and results. It is an act of secretly stealing so that it is obvious to anyone.

“… I knew I would be like this someday. Are you now going to use your power to steal? Are you saying that my divine power has increased a bit since you and I became believers? It will blow up on everyone else.”

“Don’t misunderstand, Bishop. This is surveillance to prevent that devil. It means that Asmodeus will not be easily revealed to the surface if I let him know that I am continuing to watch over his descendants. Considering how cunning the devil is, I wish I could do more than this. Of course, it will be impossible for the devil to fully descend for the time being, but as we saw earlier, that child was connected to your spirit to some degree through the mark on your back, so you never know.”

‘Should I believe this?’

Deshade makes a good excuse, but I find it questionable.

‘The excuse is always good, but to other people, it only looks like a real sexual harassment scene. At first glance, manipulating one’s body can only be seen as sexual harassment, and it still is.’

Whatever the reason, I didn’t want something bad to happen if I was there for no reason, so I tried to escape, but I was caught.

“Then you don’t need me. Let’s go out.”

“There should also be a bishop. If something happens, shouldn’t you run?”

“Oh. I really can’t hit you.”

‘No, wouldn’t it be okay to hit him?’

To be honest, even now, the relationship between a god and a believer has crossed too many boundaries, so I’m holding on to the idea of just ending it.

Still, since I have taken on the position of bishop, if anyone sees that I have assaulted my own god, it will not be given a very good impression.

While we were having that conversation, Astesia and Rinai were silent for a long time before finally speaking.

“I… everyone at the convent knew that I was a demon?”

Astesia started speaking first, so I had no choice but to sit down and watch the two people.

“Yes. The wings on your head that you desperately tried to hide. Actually, everyone knew it.”

The wings on Astesia’s head shrink.

“That was it? At that time, I was still small, so I tried to hide it somehow…”

“Actually, I’m only talking about it now, but we had a prank where we secretly braided the hair of people who were sleeping together. Was it a joke little priest? At that time, I was scolded by the older nun for making fun of someone else, do you remember?”

“Oh, now that I think about it, there was something like that…”

“Anyway, at that time, we secretly took off our hats at night to play a prank on you, and we found the wings. And it was only then that we found out. The reason why you kept biting your finger to the point it bled and why you often had a fever. A big nun told me.”

“Well, that’s right. I didn’t know something like that had happened… I always wear a hat when I sleep…”

After hearing Linai’s words, Astesia spoke in a slightly self-deprecating tone, as if she had not realized that something she had desperately tried to hide had finally been revealed because of such a prank.

Linai encouraged Astesia.

“But we all knew what a good person you were. In any situation, you have the softest heart of anyone in the monastery, and you are the first to stand up when you need to help someone. So we tried to hide you. The nuns and everyone else agreed.”

However, Astesia could not easily raise her head despite Rinai’s words.

“…I actually left because I was scared of how other people would look at me if my true identity was discovered. It’s all a lie to say that I left because I was afraid of harming others.”

Then Linai holds Astesia’s hand. Then, he lowered his head, looked into Astesia’s eyes, and spoke.

“You’re lying again. I know that? When you lie, you hide your thumb inside your fist. So the big nun found out and always found out that you were lying to protect us.”

Linai smiles and strokes Astesia’s hand.

“Now you don’t have to live a lie. Even outside, everyone knew you were a demon, but no one said anything, right? Now you no longer have to run away in the sunlight, afraid that your hat will come off. Irim and Deshade, who saved you, must be good people.”

Deshade nods quietly.

He is a god who accepted Astesia even though she was a demon.

‘I don’t think it’s a good idea, but I think this point should be evaluated as a good thing. Still, you’re too shy.’

But Astesia’s anxiety did not go away easily. She spoke of real anxiety.

“Still, will the Gaia Church remain silent?”

“It’s okay. Anyway, if Deshade’s number of followers increases, the church won’t be able to do it easily. And since there are many good people among high-ranking people, I should pray that they will understand. It’s a bit unfortunate that I can’t meet Astesia often.”

‘Do you think the number of followers of this god will continue to increase? Is that really possible?’

I never thought that if I discovered Deshade’s true colors, I would hear from Linai a future that I thought could never happen.

‘I can’t even imagine people gathering together under the name of Deshade’s Church.’

When I turned my head to look at Deshade, Shin was still listening to the two people as if he was interested.

Now, he seems to be purely enjoying the stories of humans, without making any excuses about preventing the devil.

With a god like this, I wonder if there will be a future for the church.

In the end, I decided not to worry about Deshade and listened to the two people’s story again.

What’s so fun about Linai is that she puts her foot down while sitting on a high chair that her feet can’t even reach.

“Still, I’m glad. We both studied hard, hoping that one day we would go from being nuns in the countryside to becoming priests who would heal people. Finally, my dream came true. I am a priestess of the Gaia Church. You are a priestess of the Deshade Church.”

“I am just a believer, not a priest. No healing ability…”

As soon as Deshade hears that, he clenches his chin and says.

“I’ll have to give that kid the priesthood right away tomorrow.”

“Are you going to keep showing favoritism like that? There is Sisul, the first apostle, so what if everyone else takes care of him like that? Please think about your turn. Honestly, if I were to hear that they had given me the position of bishop, I would probably be shocked when I woke up.”

It was fortunate that Peria and Thistle had not yet woken up.

“The bishop is too strict. Then you’re not popular with women, so it’s better to fix it. Actually, I have that kind of personality, so I used it as a direct speaker.”

“I’m only doing this to Deshade. Ugh… stop talking.”

‘Now that I think about it, it ended up being something like what Deshade said. ‘I’m angry.’

The more I thought about it, the more I felt it was unfair that I had been scammed, so I tried to divert the conversation for a while.

“But is there a difference between a nun and a priest?”

“In the Church of Gaia, if you have the power to heal people, you are called a priest, and if you are not, you are called a nun or deacon. I’m thinking of taking a different tack, though. Since you are also a bishop, memorize it.”

“That’s right.”

I finally found out. Sometimes I call him “priest,” and he says, “Oh, I’m not a priest.” Sometimes she passes by and sometimes gets angry when I call her “nun,” but now that I think about it, I wish she had just told me on the spot instead of getting angry if there was a reason for that.

Even while I was asking questions, the conversation between the two continued and then came back to my ears.

“Now that you think about it, didn’t you have one more dream?”

“What do you mean?”

“A story from your favorite book. This is a story about a knight who, on behalf of the people of the kingdom, realizes that the princess will be eaten by a dragon, so he kills the dragon and saves the princess. Isn’t Lee Rim just that kind of person for you? Since I received power directly from Deshade, wouldn’t it be okay to consider him a paladin? A knight is a knight after all.”

‘Rinai talks more than I thought.’

Being a paladin is not bad, but being a paladin of Deshade doesn’t feel that good.

“Is that so? Now that I think about it, it might be a little similar. Still, I’m a princess, that’s nonsense.”

“In that book, the knight and the princess kissed at the end. I tore that part and looked at it alone, and then the older nun scolded me for tearing the book.”

“Ugh… Well, it was like that…”

Astesia blushes as she remembers Asmodeus kissing her in his guise, but Linai doesn’t notice and is smiling.

smart-

At that time, a sound was heard from the door, interrupting the conversation between the two people. And at the same time, someone opened the door and came in, calling Astesia’s name.

“Astecia, are you here?”

It was Feria.

‘Ah, I guess my body has fully recovered now.’

Enin said that he would likely recover his magic power around evening, but it looks like that time has already come.

But Peria did something unexpected.

“Two people… huh?”

“Why are you doing that?”

Peria stops speaking and looks in this direction.

‘Could it be that you got caught?’

Peria was looking straight into my eyes without any error. I hurriedly looked out the window and saw the moon.

The time from evening until sunrise.

This is the time when Peria can best capture and use the movement of magical power.

Even though Peria spotted us, she didn’t notice and sent the two of us down first.

“…No. Since the priests from the resuscitation center have also come, they said we should make a new toast and spend some time praying for the dead. I heard there are two people here. Thistle and I had just woken up and Enine asked us to come. I think I can go down.”

“Ah, yes. All right. Thank you.”

“Thank you. Peria.”

Soon the two people hold hands and go downstairs. And Peria looks this way, straight into my eyes. and-

Tak-tak-tak-tak-tap-

“Holy shit.”

It does a lunge on the spot and runs towards me, ignoring the wall in the middle, passes by and throws a kick at me.

Wow!

A kick hit my chest and I fell straight onto the chair.

I almost got hit in the solar plexus this time, and although I’ve felt this way about Peria before, my instinct is to always find the painful spot and hit it.

Perhaps this is how the fighting instincts of an inner demon come into play.

Whatever my thoughts, I stop Peria, who is about to kick again.

“Ahh! for a moment! reason! There’s a reason!”

“Reason? Of course there should be. However, no matter how justified it is, there are things to look at and things to not look at. Is this crossing the line? No matter what excuse you give, I will tell Enin too.”

“No, why do you do this to me! This god asked me to see him together! I told you not to do it, right?”

“God can do that. Didn’t it all make sense? Deshade.”

“That’s right. As a god, I have to keep an eye on the devil to see if he tries to do anything again.”

“No, are you trying to get away like that? Leave me alone?”

“I don’t really know what you’re talking about. Then I will go down first.”

‘Holy shit’

It’s so unfair to see Peria treating Deshade so politely. Even though they are all accomplices who watched the same thing.

“Let’s go down first, oppa. I want to drink too. We should talk while drinking~ hehehehe.”

Seeing them humming that they’ve completely nailed the case makes me want to turn around.

‘If I drink alcohol in this state, I can’t even taste the alcohol properly.’