The Priest Wants to Retire

EP.101 Those Who Could Not Become Saints (1)

I decided to sort out the situation for a moment.

The Hero, who openly expressed jealousy toward the Saintess, suddenly burst into tears and begged to be held. To calm them down, I had no choice but to embrace the Hero and give a few kisses, which I clearly remembered.

The problem arose in the moments that followed.

Even if I couldn’t think of a proper plan to soothe the Hero, my own embarrassing behavior—doing unspeakable acts in front of minors with the Hero, who was a virgin—swirled through my mind like a panorama.

Saying ‘I was possessed’ wasn’t enough.

There was no way to explain it other than to say I was completely enchanted.

Of all people, that innocent…

No, while innocent, the Hero was certainly not naive, and we had gone too far.

If it were the usual me, I would have never dared to cross such a taboo, even if the sky were to split.

The kisses were nothing compared to the intimate contact I had shared with the Saintess; they were the result of the Hero’s threat that I wouldn’t pacify them unless I did something twice as lewd.

Now that it had come to this, I thought I might as well somewhat meet the Hero’s demands, but I had no intention of crossing that line.

Moreover, what was eerie was that my memories of that area were strangely blurry.

It was as if my brain had been striped; a source of confusion formed an unclear boundary within what should have been a complete memory.

The instigation of such unease arose while I was in the midst of doing an outrageous act, when a strange voice faintly echoed by my ear.

“Please forgive me… oh, pitiful lamb… This is also the holy will of the Lord… I will grant you a happy dream and guide you to rest, so please sleep peacefully… I sincerely pray that the Lord’s holy grace will take pity on your unfortunate sacrifice and watch over you tenderly…”

Now that I think about it, those words were so long-winded and elaborate that I wonder how I let them wash over me.

Embarrassingly, at that time, I was so engrossed in enjoying the pleasures before me that I had no time to listen to that faint voice barely reaching my ears.

However, the moment an unidentified light surged upward from my grasp, the blurry surrounding scenery became vividly clear.

At that instant, when the boundary between dream and reality collapsed, my hazy vision was suddenly filled with the shocking sight of someone aiming a weapon at the Hero, who was peacefully sleeping in my arms.

Crack!

“Ugh!”

It was close.

Before my brain could send any command to my body, my arm instinctively shot out to block the Hero from the assailant’s sword strike.

If I had enough time to think, I surely wouldn’t have acted so foolishly.

No matter how defenseless they were while asleep, the Hero’s body, trained to extreme limits by mana, was strong enough to not even get a scratch from a flimsy weapon.

In a normal situation, even if I hadn’t blocked the sword, the Hero would surely have been fine.

“…!”

But it didn’t take long for my regret over doing something unnecessary to turn into horror-stricken relief.

The cold metal that cut through my flesh and bone sent a wave of sensations rushing upward, bringing with it not only intense pain.

It was a curse. A highly concentrated one at that.

Having healed countless comrades at the dungeon’s front lines, I could count on one hand the memories of curses as dreadful as this.

Black spots crawling up from the affected area toward my heart. That eerie and rapid movement made it clear just how severe this curse was.

“Ugh, ugh…”

The thought of needing to heal the curse as soon as possible faded away as it crawled up to my throat, claiming my heart in a blink.

Just then…

A chilling whump! echoed straight across from me.

As I slowly shifted my gaze from the ground to the front, what unfolded before me was undoubtedly a battleground.

The giant figure that smashed the unidentified assailant, wrapped in shabby rags, into the ground with a solid fist was Bigtim.

“Sister! Uncle! Are you okay—”

The rarely animated Bigtim slammed the assailant down with enough force to crack the ground, just when a clear voice resonated as if it had echoed directly into his consciousness.

“Oh, Lord. Please forgive these fools…”

Chwa-reul-leug!

Right after that, black metal chains suddenly shot up from the torn rags sticking to the cracked ground, swiftly wrapping around Bigtim’s massive body.

“…!?”

Although Bigtim reflexively seemed to try to break the chains, his determined expression was soon overtaken by sheer bewilderment.

Clatter! Clatter!

A chain that even the Hero’s sister could not break with pure strength.

I was perplexed, but how much more puzzled must he have been?

However, the source of my confusion wasn’t that.

Those chains.

While their color and shape were drastically different from what I remembered, I somehow felt certain they shared the same origin.

“Oh, Lord. Please withdraw your wrath… They are merely unaware of how ignorant and foolish their actions are… As your humble lamb, I sincerely apologize… Please, have mercy! Mercy!”

The unidentified figure, distorting with the force of having slammed into the solid marble ground, began to rise, joints now bent at unnatural angles.

Soon after.

Crack, crack. The ghastly sound raised the hairs on my arm as the figure slowly regained its form.

With one final snap, the figure corrected its twisted neck and slowly threw off the rag covering its face.

“What…!?”

A gasp escaped my parched lips before I could contain it.

White hair. Red eyes.

Those two colors, easily recognizable even in darkness, reminded me of someone familiar standing before this strange figure.

“Saint…?”

It was no wonder that Bigtim muttered under his breath.

I, too, almost mistook this figure for her in a moment.

If it weren’t for the bronze skin resembling birch bark and the purple hair sprouting in spots like grey strands, I would surely have shared Bigtim’s feelings.

“Huh, huh…”

A plaintive sob echoed hauntingly in the now silent room, adding a chilling layer to the already tense atmosphere.

“Th-thank you… Thank you… For calling me a Saint even in my state of utter worthlessness… To bestow such a great blessing upon someone who has not fully received the Lord’s holy grace and spilled it upon the cold ground… I hardly know where to place myself…”

A fragile woman, her hands covering her eyes, wept with overwhelming emotion.

Considering the context alone, it could seem somewhat pitiful.

But seeing the blood tears flowing from her eyes, anyone would break into a cold sweat, as that was my honest state of mind at the moment.

“And that is why my heart! My heart is in unbearable pain! To send such a caring person away to the Lord so soon…”

It was right after that.

Reacting instinctively to the ominous energy vibrating up close, Bigtim suddenly swung his arms fiercely, like a predator in the night.

Whoosh!

Just the force of crossing through the air was enough to gauge the power it contained as it aimed directly for the assailant’s neck.

Boom—!!

“B-Bigtim…!”

Bigtim’s lethal intent masked my trembling voice.

What unfolded beyond him was the assailant, firmly clenching their neck, pushed hard against the wall by Bigtim’s intimidating back.

It seemed they couldn’t shatter the chains after all, but it looked like fighting while still bound was their strategy.

The moment revealed his sister’s training philosophy that when faced with insurmountable problems, use even greater strength!

But.

“Cough, cough… You need not be so frightened. Oh, little lamb… Being led to the Lord is not a disaster, but a blessing… So, surrender your body to me quietly… The gates to heaven are always open for everyone…”

Despite being pinned to the wall, bleeding from their mouth, the assailant smiled like a mother cradling a crying child, showing no trace of fear or dread.

The emotion radiating from that refreshing voice was nothing but disdain for the ignorant and a desire to look upon them with pity.

It was a manifestation of madness that no sane person could produce.

“Oh, right! If you have any final words you’d like to leave in this life, I will gladly hear them. Please, say anything!”

“…”

“Oh? You don’t have anything special you want to say? How quiet you are. Well, silence is golden, as they say. To finish this life without a word, that too must be the divine will.”

“…”

Bigtim, normally reticent in front of women other than his sister, was currently teeming with a different kind of tension.

Though black chains were now coiling around his neck, it remained clear that he was thoughtfully contemplating how to defeat this unknown enemy with unwavering focus.

Entranced by that tense standoff, I failed to notice another chain sneaking up behind me.

“May the Lord smile upon you…”

“…!?”

Upon seeing the assailant’s sinister grin, Bigtim instantly sensed something was wrong and quickly turned his head toward me.

In that moment, just as I tried to urgently pull the Hero, still not fully conscious, into my arms to protect her—

“Priest! It’s not allowed outside—!!!”

Just moments ago, the Hero, who had been peacefully sleeping, suddenly roared like thunder and swung their sword.