episode_0099

*

Paolo’s head was splitting.

It was because he’d been struck in the head with something blunt.

Without a doubt, Anna had probably hit him with the hammer she was holding.

Inside the room, already darkened by the setting sun, I stood quietly in the corner, gazing at Paolo.

After administering first aid with Holy Power and a simple bandage, I was waiting for him to wake up.

“What should I do with this guy?”

My mind was complicated.

At first, when I heard the news that Anna had been attacked by Paolo, I felt the blood rush to my head.

Especially the fact that Sola, that young child, had come all the way outside the village to ask for my help, doubled that anger.

Perhaps, if Paolo’s head hadn’t already been cracked open, I might have been the one to break it.

But, seeing him collapsed after being fought back by Anna, the anger subsided.

After the anger passed, all that remained in my head was the worry of how to deal with him.

According to Elena, Paolo is an inherently low-life criminal.

Since I was also an orphan from the streets, I could roughly imagine how those people lived.

As if proving that his nature hadn’t gone anywhere, he was a person far from sincerity or etiquette.

From the beginning, unless it was a group of thieves gathered together, he was a person who harmed the group.

But, that didn’t mean I could just cast him out.

I created a village to save people, and as a priest of a religion that values forgiveness and love, I couldn’t just cast him out.

In the first place, the saying that only the Goddess judges sin doesn’t mean that the Goddess judges sinners like a judge, but rather that you shouldn’t arbitrarily judge or evaluate others.

However, I couldn’t just condone indiscriminate tolerance and unrestrained indulgence.

Especially since what he tried to do was a sex crime, I couldn’t just leave him alone here, where everyone except me was a nun.

Of course, as the current result shows, they are not powerless and weak like ordinary women, but evil always finds answers and ways to torment people.

“Ugh, damn it…”

Paolo uttered a curse as soon as he opened his eyes.

Judging by the dazed expression staring blankly at the ceiling, he had barely opened his eyes and wasn’t fully conscious yet.

I sighed at the sight of him cursing as soon as he regained consciousness.

“…”

“… Ah, shit. My head…”

“…”

Paolo tried to get up but gave up and dropped his head back onto the pillow.

I waited for him to come to his senses with my mouth shut.

In fact, it was closer to me keeping my mouth shut because I didn’t really want to talk to him.

Although it was only an attempt, and he was badly injured after being fought back, he was a scoundrel who dared to try to disgrace Anna.

I only healed him because I couldn’t let him die, and I had no desire to care for him any more than that.

The vulgar nature of him cursing as soon as he opened his eyes made my anger, which had barely subsided, boil up again.

The reason I’m standing here now is not to take care of him, but to give him a final warning.

Paolo stared blankly at the ceiling for a moment, took a deep breath, and slowly turned only his eyes to look at me.

Even though the room was so dark, I could clearly read the feeling of rebellion passing through his eyes.

“Oh, shit, you scared me… What the hell are you doing standing there quietly?”

“…”

“Being like that in the dark, you look like a damn ghost. Shit.”

I’m getting tired of it.

The bully’s empty barking, trying to gain the upper hand in any way, is so ridiculous and annoying.

“Watch your mouth.”

“… What?”

“Should I speak at your level? Shut your mouth.”

I growled lowly.

Now that I knew he wasn’t dead and hadn’t become disabled, there was no need to consider him any further.

I slowly approached him and continued.

“I’m sure I warned you. Treat the nuns with respect.”

“Ha, shit.”

“Paolo.”

“What… Ugh!”

I grabbed him by the collar with one arm and lifted him into the air.

His pitiful clothes were stretched taut as if they would be torn right away, and his head, hanging at the end of those clothes, struggled and coughed.

He stared at me, forcibly narrowing his eyes filled with fear.

“Let go of this, you bastard.”

“I understand.”

“What?”

I smiled and mocked him.

“I understand that guys like you at the bottom of the barrel are done for the moment you’re looked down upon by others. That’s why you act like that. I understand.”

“You son of a bitch, what do you know, talking like that!”

“You probably haven’t met a guy like me among the priests you’ve met so far. Ordinary priests try to forgive guys like you even after being backstabbed.”

I firmly grabbed his collar again, pressed down on his neck, and continued.

“I understand why you dared to touch the nuns’ bodies. Your body is hot, but your tiny dick only messed with your palm.”

“Keueuk,”

“Besides, Elena was the nun you met before you joined us. You probably thought the same way easily. Yeah, I can understand that you can do that. In fact, idiots like you are common.”

“Keuaek,”

I slammed his neck straight down onto the bed.

“Still, you have to know when to stay in your lane. Isn’t it true that bullies live longer by prostrating themselves under the feet of strong people? Isn’t that right?”

“You…”

“Your blurry eyes can’t grasp the situation, and your shitty ears don’t listen, but I’ll directly shove understanding into that empty head with a hole in it.”

I slowly released Paolo’s neck.

Then, before he could even catch his breath again, I trampled on his body as if stepping on it, fixing him to the wall.

Paolo struggled but didn’t even dare to think of touching my shoes.

It must have been because he had learned with his body that even that much resistance would not be allowed.

In the end, this is the extent.

He’s a bully who listens to words with just this much violence.

My current appearance may not be like that of a religious person, but these kinds of people had aspects similar to devils.

The point that they only understand the hierarchy after seeing power and blood is like that.

I looked down at him and quietly opened my mouth.

“I forgive you.”

“What… did you say?”

“I forgive you, repent.”

I slowly took my foot off.

Paolo looked at me with a bewildered expression, as if he couldn’t grasp the situation.

Until now, Paolo had been like a ticking time bomb.

But if he is now moved by the will of the Goddess, repents, and intends to live his life righteously from now on, there was no reason not to forgive him.

Even I was just such a bully, but I ended up walking the path of a priest, didn’t I?

That’s why I might want to give Paolo one last chance.

However, considering that he almost defiled Anna with his dirty lust, I couldn’t leave him alone like before.

Until now, I had not forced religion on him according to the Goddess’s will not to bring unbelievers into the Cathedral, but in order for him to live with us, I had to actively participate in the Goddess’s will and confirm his intention to repent of his sins.

“Stop living like an idiot now. The world has been destroyed, and even though all your old comrades are dead, the fact that you’re alive means there’s a reason for you.”

“… Keut, Kehk Kehk.”

“Of course, Anna and the nuns won’t look kindly on you. I don’t like you either. But there’s no late time for reflection and repentance. The opportunity to repent of sins should always be given, and as a priest, I must always give sinners the opportunity to correct their lives.”

“…”

I brought a chair in front of Paolo, sat on it, and matched his eye level as I continued.

“I remember that you struggled to save Sister Elena. You still have a chance. A chance to regain courage, a chance to live life righteously. A chance to become a prophet who will bring human life back to this ruined world.”

“… Father.”

“Yes, I’m a Father. So…”

Paolo made a face like a venom-spitting snake and spat on my face.

“Do you have the right to say that so well?”

“…”

“In the end, you’re saying you’re going to eat the woman all by yourself. You son of a bitch.”

*

Because I still had Holy Power, because I could still fight the devil, because I still believed that the Goddess would save this world again.

Because the nuns still called me Father.

Was that why I was mistaken?

In fact, from the moment I embraced Lucia, I was already unqualified to be a priest.

I think I know now why I hesitated to have sex with Lucia until the end.

“This is fucked up, acting like a cleric. What’s so different between you and me? You’re also a bastard who becomes a Father and touches the nuns.”

“… You,”

I was afraid of this.

I’m not afraid of succumbing to the devil’s temptation, I’m not afraid of defiling them,

I was afraid of not being a Father anymore.

I was uncomfortable with not being righteous.

“If you’re going to preach, wipe the pussy juice off your dick first, you dirty bastard…”

My words will not reach Paolo.

I will not be able to fix his nature.

Because I cannot claim holiness.

Come to think of it, when did Anna start seducing me in earnest?

Wasn’t it from when I started to waver at her seduction?

Even now, having already crossed the line, I can no longer dare to teach Anna and Lucia restraint and patience.

In fact, I have lost the qualifications of a Father who can teach them.

And, even to Paolo, who knows all those facts.

“Was it good? Seducing a nun who is much younger than you and putting her in bed?”

“… Shut up.”

“It must have been good, shit. It’ll be so sticky.”

“Shut your mouth.”

“It seems like a bandit-like guy’s taste is that skinny young thing, but I don’t have a disgusting taste like you?”

Paolo smiled bitterly and continued.

“That girl with huge tits who’s so hot is to me…”

Paolo couldn’t finish his sentence.

Because I punched him in the jaw.

As I retracted my extended fist, pieces of soft blood and shattered teeth flew into the air.

“If you utter one more word,”

“Keuheok,”

“I’ll kill you.”

At that moment, a laugh that sounded smaller than a whisper tickled my ears.

That small voice mixed with laughter flowed quietly, but so vividly, directly into my head.

“Yeah…”

“…”

“You know it too… He’ll never change, will he?”

“…”

“You have to kill him, right? Even for the sake of the nuns.”

“…”

“Anyway, you’ve already crossed the line, haven’t you, Billy.”