Chapter 234 – [Priestess] After That
Everything is over
The long-standing confrontation between the hero and the demon king.
The bridle made by the goddess.
The faith I’ve believed in so far.
… The relationship between me and the hero.
“Ah, ah…”
I am… What the hell have I done?
Laugh at him, sell him…
A priest who should always be pious takes off his clothes and dances in front of men…
A body that should not be treated carelessly, like a prostitute…
“Ah, ah!”
The moment I heard Yuni cry, my legs lost strength.
I also realized that she was crying.
That I had already done something irreversible.
What should I do?
Now… How should I look at the warrior’s face?
***
At first, it was a bit unbearable.
He was too weak a man to kill the demon king, who received the mission of the goddess and rose to the peak of all monsters.
When I couldn’t catch a single monster, I honestly thought it was pathetic for a while.
However, after living together, I found myself somehow attracted to him.
There is no need to find a reason.
I just fell in love, so I understood.
… Could it be that this was also a lie?
Now that I think about it, it feels strange that I fell in love with him even though there was no other reason.
No, no, no.
It can’t be.
Usually… You don’t need a reason to love…
It was a line from an unknown love novel, but now the words really touched me.
Obviously twisted… Will not be the fault of
Yes, I fell in love with him anyway.
Seria was also of the same mind as me, but with Uni, we were about to give up.
Until she gives us a chance.
But who was it that turned that opportunity back in its worst form?
Who returned the hero’s goodwill, covered with cruel malice?
Me.
It’s me
It’s not enough that I insulted the hero’s personality,
He even tried to trample on his awakening as a true warrior.
Warrior…
Now that even the goddesses can’t be trusted,
The only thing I can trust is you
“… Sorry.”
Now I… I can’t even rely on him.
“Scale.”
“… Warrior.”
One day on the way back to the capital, he looked at me with pity for a moment as I woke up with frizzy hair.
Oops.
I couldn’t fall asleep and stayed up all night, so my head was frizzy. Could it be that I made the warrior feel bad?
Come to think of it, when I hurt the hero, I think it was mainly like this.
At that time, it didn’t matter how I looked to the hero, and I greeted him with bare hair.
“Ahhh… Mi, I’m sorry… ! Really, really… Gee, right now… I’ll wash up right away…”
“No, it’s okay. Calm down, Arin.”
My, I have bad memories of the hero… !
“I-I was trying to hurt the hero… Ugh, this, this hair… Because of this hair… !”
“Scale! I’m really fine.”
I was able to regain my senses only after the hero grabbed my shoulder and shouted.
My hand, which had been pulling at his hair as if to tear it off, was finally able to stop.
“… Aww, hehe… Sorry… I’m sorry, warrior…”
“Scale…”
I had no choice but to apologize to the hero.
Because this is the only thing I can do.
All that remains is this.
If I apologize, the warrior will look back at me someday.
No, you shouldn’t have such a wish without shame on the subject who committed such a thing.
Just… I just want you to curse me and resent me more.
Rather, even the cheek with that hand…
“Please don’t apologize to me any more, Arin.”
“… Yes?”
But one day, the hero said so to me.
Apples… Stop?
Then… So, what should I do?
“I understand that feeling. But I’m really fine, and I hope Arin doesn’t care about this any more.”
“Yeah, that can’t be…”
No.
I am… I have to apologize to the hero…
If you can’t apologize… I am… What am I going to be
I have lost faith in God, and I am no longer a priest because I do not have the attitude of a priest.
So what do I have left?
Transformation? Trash? Betrayer?
“… If you still can’t let go of your heart.”
The warrior looked into my eyes.
“Do me a favor.”
“Yes yes! No, just talk… !”
I am confident that I will listen to the hero’s request.
If you get down on your knees and apologize, you can take off your clothes right away and apologize.
If you follow the hero for the rest of your life and wait on him…
“Arin, live doing what she wanted to do.”
“… Yes?”
I… What do you want to do?
“Arin, what did you originally want to do?”
“I-I…”
What was I going to do?
It is not that I participated with a different purpose in the first place.
Just Goddess… No, the goddess gave me a revelation. That was all the reason.
There was no goal or anything like that.
“I-I just… I thought it was something I should do…”
“What if the revelation hadn’t come?”
“Well, if that’s the case… I stayed in the church… I guess.”
Keep praying in empty space,
She must have been serving a goddess that no longer existed.
“I-I am now… What to do…”
She inadvertently said that to him.
No.
I can’t make you worry about things like this.
You must have had a hard time because of me, but I put more pressure on you…
“Hmm…”
“Poetry, never mind! Even if you don’t listen to what a bitch like me says…”
“I mean.”
But the warrior… He was so kind that he listened carefully to everything a dirty bitch like me had to say.
“… I’m trying to help Sarah.”
“Yes?”
“I felt it while passing through the village of demons. Also… They’re not that different from us. Surely they will be able to live with us.”
“Why… To such a woman…”
Sarah was our enemy…
No, but it makes sense when you think about it.
Wouldn’t it be natural to feel more for her who helped her hero even though he was an enemy than for bitches like us who betrayed her hero?
… Worse than the enemy, I am.
Even though I was a colleague of the hero, I became a worse bitch than the enemy.
“So Arin, I’m sure you can find something you want to do.”
“… Something like that…”
There is no such thing anymore, champion.
All I have left is…
“Hmm… I can’t remember anything, and if I don’t know.”
The hero looked at my expression and said so in a slightly joking tone.
“Why don’t you join me and help us out?”
“I am… The warrior…”
The warrior… Help?
Atonement by the warrior’s side… No, you shouldn’t be arrogant and think of standing next to him.
Even from afar… No, even a place where the hero-sama can’t be seen is fine.
An existence that supports the hero, like a foothold under the hero.
Yes, that should be it.
I don’t dare to think of anything that will happen.
Just crouching under the hero, an existence that makes me step on me and go up to a higher place.
Helping the hero from behind the scenes.
That’s it.
“… Yes.”
“Oh, of course it’s not forced or anything like that. That’s just what I said, so don’t worry too much…”
“I will.”
All the rest of my life, to you…
***
“Sister Arin, that… I understand the purpose, but no matter how abrupt it may be…”
The people on the other side stopped me with a puzzled attitude.
Why?
Why can’t I accept this?
The warrior wants this?
“We need to accept the demons more actively. Because the hero wants it.”
“No, that… I know that the hero is a being chosen by the Goddess, but…”
The moderate ones seem to be trying to convince me, but my faith is no longer shaken.
A few words like that won’t convince me.
“We need to open the door of the church to them as well, and expand the scope of the church’s relief project to include the demons as well.”
“Sister Arin! That’s too much of a claim!”
Eventually, some believers got angry with me.
“Are you serving the Goddess or the Hero?”
Wouldn’t it be more natural for her to serve the hero than a goddess that doesn’t even exist, rather than a goddess who fooled us and disappeared?
Belief in the goddess has long since disappeared.
Even so, the reason I remain here is because the church is the place where I can help the hero without being noticed.
“Even in the Bible, it is written that you should not get close to monsters. Even if you say you’re a hero anyway, you’re a fool who has never read the Bible…”
Bang!
I couldn’t hold back my boiling anger and hit the table hard.
“More than that kind of goddess… !”
… The existence of the warrior is more valuable.
But this is not something I would say at church.
A cold, frozen interior.
Everyone is staring at me with pale faces.
“…”
I looked at their faces and left the conference room behind.
You guys don’t know anything, so you can say things that are so comfortable.
***
“Whoa… Arin’s sister. Didn’t you promise?”
“… Sorry.”
An inquisition that is unusually attended by the pope and is conducted in private.
It is a very heavy event attended by all the high-ranking priests, from the pope to the priests, who are rarely seen in the face, in the name of verifying my faith, which is not even a speck of dust left.
But what do they matter?
After all, everyone is just an old man with the empty authority of a non-existent goddess.
“The goddess has disappeared… Yes, that story is still hard to believe. The impact of this story will be enormous.”
“Yes.”
There is no goddess
This fact was a shocking truth that shakes the foundation of the church itself.
Of course, the church cannot announce this fact.
The only people who know this are those who are here right now.
Underneath it, the truth was thoroughly prevented from leaking out.
“… As much as I understand the situation, I will take care of it, but since there is such a thing as public opinion, punishment will be inevitable. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
In order for the church to help the hero, I have no choice but to move this group.
In order to do that, I have to hold on somehow and not run away.
Besides, such a punishment… It would be nothing compared to the shock the warrior must have received.
“One month. Do not come out of the designated accommodation for one month. He’s the older brother who took your circumstances into consideration.”
“… All right.”
I think I tried my best to avoid disclosing this fact carelessly.
Anyway, I don’t even want to talk about it.
After going through such a well-thought-out procedure, I received a month’s disciplinary action.
A life where you can’t even step out of your room.
The only person you can meet is the priest who delivers meals at a set time.
A time when no one will disturb you.
I spent most of that time missing the warrior.
Warrior.
Warrior…
Smart.
“…”
“… Scale.”
It’s a familiar voice somewhere.
“Arin, it’s me. Hale.”
“… Hale?”
Motivation to be friendly.
Weren’t you working at the library?
“The person in charge today is my friend, so I asked for it and came instead for one day.”
“… What happened?”
Talking to people is a very easy thing to do.
She exchanged a brief chat with her, and before I knew it, her story got to the point.
“Oh, and the fact that I came today…”
She lowered her voice for a moment, looked around her, then slipped a piece of paper under her door.
“Who asked for it? Please pass this on to you.”
“… Who?”
“It was someone I didn’t know… Hmm, I think I saw it somewhere… I do not know. Still, I feel like I know you well, just in case.”
No way…
“Hey, maybe… Were you a man?”
“Uh? Arin, do you look like a man? Whoops… Sorry but no.”
“… Okay.”
Yeah, that can’t be
There was no way that this kind of news had reached the hero in the first place.
Even if I did, she would have no reason to care about me.
I wouldn’t want to help such a bitch either.
So whose letter is this?
… Anyone who is not a letter from the hero is useless.
“… Thanks, Hale.”
But she didn’t have to show me this, so I pretended to receive her letter.
“Oh, time is running out. I’ll go. Which… I don’t know what you said, but be careful what you say in the future!”
“Okay, see you next Hale.”
To those who do not know the circumstances, it is only known that I used inappropriate language.
When they all know the truth… Will the church completely collapse?
“Whoop, whoop…”
If that happens, everyone will be angry.
To the goddess she had dedicated her life to believing in, and… To me who spread this fact.
Yes, hate me more
Because I am a human being who deserves to be cursed at.
Imagining myself receiving criticism and pointing fingers from everyone, I secretly put the letter from whom I don’t know on the desk.
It wasn’t even a letter from the hero anyway, so there’s no need to look at it.
Took.
However, the seal on the letter was weak, and the seal was quickly peeled off even with a slight shock, and it opened wide.
“Ha…”
As I was about to fold it again, I inadvertently saw a line written there and picked it up again.
“…”
And on the day the one-month disciplinary measure ended, I went straight to see the owner of the letter.
***
“It’s been a while, Arin.”
“… Sera.”
It was Sarah who sent the letter.
Her tail and wings may have been hidden under her clothes, but at least from her outward appearance she looked like a normal human being.
“Sit down for now.”
“What do you mean?”
I asked her before sitting her down.
The words written in the letter.
I couldn’t quite understand it.
“Am I getting in the way of the hero?”
“… Okay, I’ll talk about that, so sit down.”
Am I interfering with the hero?
Nonsense…
I bit my lip and sat down.
“I heard that he looked almost like a corpse when he came, but he’s a bit more human now.”
“… Who did you hear…”
No, there is only one person who will listen.
Not wanting to hear that answer from her mouth, I quickly shut up.
But Sara never missed this opportunity.
“Whoops… Who did you hear from?”
“No, don’t tell me.”
“That makes sense…”
“Don’t tell me!”
Please… Because I don’t want to hear that…
After looking at me for a moment, she sighed lightly and brought up another topic.
“Okay, then let’s go back to the original story. Why did you ask me to disturb you?”
“… I’m supporting the hero from behind…”
“Do you think it is really helpful?”
“…”
I am… Wasn’t that helpful?
“I’ve been hearing the news across the street. Did you say something pretty drastic?”
“… Isn’t that what the hero and you want?”
Sera doesn’t like her if she thinks it’s for her sake, but it’s all for her hero…
“As a result, I hope that will happen. No, in the first place, I think it’s okay for the church to disappear.”
“… That makes sense.”
“Oh, you are still a priest.”
“Is that so?”
The reason I remained in the church was because this was the only place where I could effectively help the warrior.
No more lingering
“But Arin. Not everyone in the world is like you.”
“So even if forced…”
“If you keep doing that, people will hate you even more.”
Is it.
Come to think of it, it seems that the gaze of the people around me has not been very good lately.
“It doesn’t matter if I get cursed at.”
“What if it wasn’t you, but Eric?”
“… The warrior…”
Because of me… Said the warrior was cursed?
My face quickly turned pale.
“Have you never thought of something so simple?”
“Yo, the hero… I’m a warrior…”
That I was tarnishing the hero’s evaluation?
Come to think of it, it made sense.
Since I always mentioned the hero and poured out radical words, wouldn’t it be natural that dissatisfaction with me could lead to dissatisfaction with the hero?
Why… Didn’t I even think of such an obvious thing?
“That’s because our young priest is selfish.”
“I am… Selfish?”
“Okay. You prioritized clearing your debt over Eric. This will reduce my fault… I’m paying for my wrongs… While doing it.”
“Ahhh…”
It’s not for the hero… You said it was for me?
What have I done so far?
“Huh. You say you’re for the hero… I was just comforting myself.”
“Oh, no… No… !”
No, but it is as she said.
I am… He was comforting himself by selling out the name of the hero.
“Ugh, ugh… Me, how can I…”
How could it be so ugly?
Everything I’ve done…
Entire…
Swoop.
Then she pulled me towards her.
“Then you can do well in the future.”
“… From now on?”
“Yes, forward.”
She said that while stroking my hair.
“Don’t make too radical comments like before… If you don’t like something, bear with it…”
“Mo, I can’t… Those who serve goddesses rather than warriors… I-I can understand…”
“Then I will help you.”
“… Are you?”
Sarah herself?
Why?
“In fact, we also need a window to communicate with the church. So Arin, I want you to take on that role.”
“I am… ?”
“Then Eric will be happy too.”
“Ah…”
The warrior…
“I will.”
“Is it okay if I don’t listen anymore?”
“Yes.”
Sarah’s hand stopped for a moment.
“There will be more work to do.”
“Yes?”
“No, nothing.”
Sarah sighed lightly again.
“Okay, then please take good care of me in the future.”
“… Yes.”
That’s how I started helping them in earnest.
***
I stayed quiet for a while without making any particular claim.
Because Sarah had advised her that it would be better for her to remain still for now.
As I stayed quiet like that, I could feel that people’s eyes looking at me were slowly returning to the way they were before.
… It was very bad.
Only then did I know how I was being viewed by people.
It was dizzy to think that such a gaze would have gone to the warrior as well.
In the meantime, they constantly tried to talk to the church, and each time they were rejected, but slowly this story was spreading to the church’s subordinates.
“The goddess didn’t affirm the demons, but she didn’t reject them either. The story that the goddess is reluctant to demons is nothing more than an interpretation added by later generations.”
While studying the Bible again, I focused on digging into the parts where the logic was clumsy and widened the gaps.
At that time, I trusted and followed the Bible and the interpretation of my ancestors, but looking back, there were too many sloppy parts here and there.
Maybe these people didn’t hear the goddess’ words directly, but rather heard them several times in different ways.
Or… Haven’t heard anything from the beginning.
Considering how he irresponsibly disappeared without saying anything, the possibility was sufficient.
… Were we just toys to the goddess?
Every time I thought about it, I used her anger toward her as a driving force and made her study harder.
As the number of people who sympathized with my argument increased one by one, and the neighboring countries gradually changed to accept the demons, the winds of change began to blow in the church little by little.
I played a big part in this, but it probably wouldn’t have come this far if Sarah hadn’t told me at that time.
I just wanted to support the hero from behind…
At some point, I was interfering with the hero again.
I never thought I would repeat the same mistake twice.
Now, don’t do that anymore.
As time passed, little by little I was getting out of my obsession with the warrior.
In fact, Sarah’s help was great here.
I’m not sure if I should see it as a help or a provocation…
By meeting her periodically, little by little I was able to escape the shadows of her past.
In the meantime, I wanted to somehow forget the past that I had been tamed by that man, so I clung to the hero on the other side.
I want to atone for the hero, I want to deny my past…
Yeah, I shouldn’t have done that.
What happened at that time is something that will never disappear in the end, and even if it’s because of the bondage, it’s what I did.
The hero has already forgiven everything and doesn’t care, but I shouldn’t cling to and pour out my feelings to the hero.
Let’s never forget
And never take it lightly.
“… Therefore, the entire church announces that as of today, the entry of demons will be permitted on a limited basis.”
The first achievement finally achieved.
Although limited, they began to accept the existence of demons.
“Sir, you succeeded, Sister Arin! We did it!”
“Yes. But this is just the beginning.”
There is a lot to do.
It will take a lot of effort to successfully integrate them into the church.
The standards also need to be broadened.
Also…
The day to meet everyone is coming soon.
The day the hero and the three of us who hurt him meet.
At that time, how should I face the warrior?
Let’s not get too friendly. Because the sins I did remain.
But let’s not be uncomfortable either. That would rather make the warrior more uncomfortable.
Okay.
It’s best to just smile and say hello.
Long time no see.
