episode_0078

“Hello, Bishop.”

“…….”

Her anxiety caused her to clench her teeth, making it hard to hear the greeting.

The nun who greeted her didn’t seem to notice anything unusual about the Bishop’s demeanor and moved on. Several others greeted her afterwards, all receiving the same response.

The paladins would return soon, but instead of solutions, she only had more worries, causing her to stop in her tracks.

“Hey. What are you doing in the hallway? You always said you were busy.”

Few people dared to address Julia so casually. One of them was Sana, the Inquisitor-General, who spoke to her brusquely.

She, too, had started to be swamped with work, developing dark circles under her eyes. It was ultimately her own fault for creating this workload, so she couldn’t complain to anyone, and her temper just grew worse.

She finally began to understand Bishop Julia’s constant busyness, but that was that, this was this. Seeing her face just annoyed her.

“Screw off. Just go on your… no, wait, come here for a sec.”

“Why? I’m busy too?”

“If the Bishop says so, you do it, dammit.”

“Ugh, seriously, whoever takes you in is going to be so sorry.”

Sana shook her head and followed Julia. Regardless, Julia was still Julia. Even though she was recently appointed, there was no room to doubt her unwavering faith.

Aside from her tendency to curse, she was a flawless cleric. It seemed even the Goddess was lenient about her swearing.

Led into the empty utility room, Sana couldn’t help but complain.

“Do we really need to talk here?”

“……Don’t you think something’s weird or suspicious going on within the Order lately?”

“What? Preparing for the Holy War?”

“Yes, exactly that. No ancient texts or scriptures mention this method. Why this method now?”

She hadn’t just thought about this using only her head. She’d spent time scouring the Order’s library for information on the Holy War.

However, aside from the scarcity of information on the Holy War itself, there wasn’t a single mention of anything sexual.

“Why should I care? I… actually think this is right. Heretics are still people, after all, making it difficult to harm them with divine techniques, right?”

“……! That’s it. So you’re not just the Inquisitor-General because of your seniority.”

“Are you calling me names?”

“Of course.”

It was a simple oversight. No matter how many elves she commanded, she was still a person. A different approach than dealing with monsters was needed.

It was undeniably a peaceful method. Truly, it felt like a method fostered by a benevolent Goddess.

The truth was that the true Holy War was fighting demons and devils, but the understanding within the Freed Order had already been twisted.

Still, Julia couldn’t help but consider one more thing: the meaning behind choosing sexual techniques among many other peaceful options.

Since she had no way of knowing why Erina had chosen this method, Julia couldn’t easily reach a conclusion.

“I’m going?”

“Go ahead.”

Sana let out a sigh of relief and quickly left. If she said one more thing, she might get yelled at, or even worse, she might end up with three times more work to do.

“…….”

So, all that was left was to hone her sexual techniques to be a model Bishop.

Julia subtly reached for the penis between her legs, unsure when it had appeared.

It was definitely a newly grown penis, yet it felt like it had always been there. It didn’t bother her when urinating, and aside from occasional reactions when seeing her fellow clergymen, it wasn’t particularly bothersome.

Even though Julia wasn’t particularly knowledgeable about sex, she instinctively understood how to use it; it felt naturally attached.

“Bishop! The paladins have returned!”

The position of Bishop of the Freed Order didn’t even allow for a moment’s rest. The Mother Superior rushed in to inform her of the paladins’ return.

She felt bad even offering a word, as she’d rushed over at the news of their return.

“Is that so? I’ll go greet them.”

“Damn…. I want to retire…”

While equality under faith was the principle, positions were utterly useless. It certainly wasn’t a system created by the Goddess.

Whoever designed it, it was garbage.

She adjusted her clothes and cleared her throat before going to greet the paladins.

“You’ve worked hard.”

“We have just returned, Bishop.”

The Paladin-Captain greeted her politely, still in his armor. He looked healthy, with only the fatigue of the journey showing, and not a single wound.

“Please give me a detailed report on what happened.”

“Yes. As you instructed, it appears that the heretics were indeed violating the Goddess’s will.”

The Paladin-Captain began his report, detailing his experiences.

There wasn’t much important information, and because he was so meticulous, it took quite a while.

“That concludes the report. We judged that conflict would be pointless, so we prioritized eliminating the monsters.”

“…Good work.”

Whether his lack of independent judgment was a strength or a weakness was ambiguous.

“Rest well and prepare for the upcoming Holy War.”

“Yes. I shall inform my subordinates.”

Putting aside his judgment, the problem seemed more serious than she thought. She didn’t expect a connection to monsters, not even for heretics, the level of depravity…

Tsk, her tongue clicked. The meaning of the Holy War finally hit home.

“Oh, and there was one shocking scene,” the Paladin-Captain said, turning back as he was leaving.

“What was it?”

“It seems the leader, or so we assume, was masturbating with his penis exposed.”

“……In the middle of the monsters?”

The Paladin-Captain nodded and returned to his unit.

“I see.”

Julia waited until the Paladin-Captain was completely out of sight before letting out a long sigh.

She had no idea what they were thinking or what ideology they held. The only certainty was that she needed to end this quickly.

‘Crazy bitch…. What are you doing…?’

Whatever it was, they seemed to be making serious preparations. She had no intention of enforcing discipline, but she felt keenly that it was problematic to have someone brazenly defying the Goddess like this.

Why had the world become so unclean? Just a few years ago, she had thought it was quite a wonderful world.

“…Mother Superior. Let’s go to the room where the Goddess statues are kept.”

“Yes.”

At first, she thought the Goddess statues were simply beautiful sculptures depicting the Goddess, but the heretics (Erina) were so obsessed with them that she had to investigate.

They contained compressed divine power, imbued with the Goddess’s strength. They possessed potential akin to blessings or divine power.

A holy relic worth coveting by heretics.

She hadn’t figured out why they were scattered across various locations, but they were undoubtedly gifts of the Goddess’s benevolent grace.

The Goddess statues were carefully kept in a sunlit room.

It pained her to have only recovered some, but it was unavoidable. She had to be satisfied with even slightly hindering their plan.

“Mother Superior, I’ll be praying for a while… As I recall, the nuns have no duties today. Please rest.”

“Then, we shall train to prepare for the Holy War. May the Goddess watch over us.”

Julia dismissed the Mother Superior and knelt on the cushion she’d placed earlier.

‘Goddess…’

A prayer offered with utmost sincerity. A pure, selfless prayer filled with unwavering faith.

She was coming closer to the truth about the Goddess statues because she possessed an extremely strong faith, allowing her to approach things from a different direction than Erina, who was chosen by the Goddess.

She realized there was a way to use them as disposable items. Only she knew one of the collected statues was missing.

Of course, it was purely coincidental, and she didn’t yet know the results it might produce.

She had no idea if summoning the prophet was related to it.

For now, she prayed that she might win the Holy War and purify the heretics.

‘Oh…’

Without realizing it, the clothing around her groin was bulging.

The thought of having a lewd erection in front of the Goddess brought shame.

The spontaneous erection meant her sexual desire had accumulated to such an extent, a natural phenomenon for that age.

It was a perfectly natural physiological response, still she couldn’t suppress the shame that flooded her. She silently repeated meaningless apologies, but the result was opposite of her intention.

The hard stiff tent steadfastly refused to go down.

To feel lust in front of the Goddess was unforgivable.

She squeezed her eyes shut and opened them, and the Goddess statue gazed down serenely.

The delicate, beautiful curves were exquisitely carved. Even a skilled craftsman wouldn’t be able to replicate such form. It was small enough to easily hold in one hand but unbelievably beautiful.

Subconsciously, her body leaned toward the statue. The exquisitely rendered breast and waistline of the sturdy stone; the dress simple yet elegant.

Julia’s breathing became ragged as she slowly traced the soft curves with her fingers.

“Yes…. That’s right…. I, I must undertake the Holy War as Bishop….”

She interpreted this as a divine revelation, guiding her first experience. Julia prepared for her first orgasm.

Her first orgasm was accompanied by a shuddering of her hips, and she cummed on the statue.

Now, preparations for the Holy War were complete.