The Priest Wants to Retire

EP.113 Winter (4)

Even after breakfast was over, the Saintess’s overflowing tears continued for a while.

It was quite the challenge to maintain my composure in front of the Saintess, who sobbed like a cat with something caught in its throat, but I bit my lower lip and endured.

Just a little longer.

If I could just wipe the tears and food from the Saintess’s face clean, I could escape this suffocating space.

“I’m going to clean you up, so please wait a moment.”

“·····!”

At that moment, I witnessed a subtle glimmer of hope shining in her once red pupils, which had seemed completely extinguished.

After that day, the only thing I forbade the Saintess was serving her meals.

From actions like kisses and hugs that should have been forbidden long ago to little things like patting her head or holding her hand.

I completely prohibited all physical contact.

Thus, it was painfully obvious what the Saintess was expecting from me now.

Without a doubt, she was subtly hoping for my hand to touch her body while I was cleaning her face.

In fact, just yesterday, her prediction had hit the mark perfectly.

However.

“Stay still.”

“Uuh?”

Upon realizing that what emerged from my Inner Pocket was not a handkerchief but something unfamiliar, the Saintess suddenly mumbled in confusion.

A neatly cut piece of wood reminiscent of an ice cream stick.

This strange tool, engraved with wrinkled runes on its surface, was a disposable magical tool that Dawna, skilled in magic tool creation, had specially crafted for me.

Even an ordinary person with no talent for handling magic could easily use the magic stored within it just by breaking it in half. Truly a revolutionary magical tool that would go down in the history of the system.

It was a device that should have been commercialized long ago, had it not been for the fierce opposition from the Magic Tower, which despised its very existence, claiming that magic was property reserved for beings who had reached the pinnacle.

Of course, it still had flaws, such as not being able to store spells requiring powerful attack magic, but that was sufficient for me at the moment.

Crack!

The moment I forcefully broke the stick in two, the magic stored within swirled around the Saintess like butterfly powder, mystically dancing near her.

Eventually, the various stains that had clung to the Saintess’s body cleaned themselves away with the radiant powder.

“Uh, uuh…?”

What I had requested from Dawna was a cleansing magic that would automatically wipe away dirt from the body.

While deeply pondering how to maintain her cleanliness without physically touching the Saintess, I suddenly came up with the idea, and Dawna actively cooperated with me.

“Well then, I’ll be going now.”

“Uh, uuhh?”

The Saintess alternately glared at me, watching as I slowly cleaned up the dishes and her now clean body.

Her movements, filled with despair, seemed like someone struck by lightning.

Then, the Saintess suddenly lunged toward me, reaching her hand towards my back.

Slap!

“Don’t come near me.”

“Ugh!”

Her clumsy attempt was utterly rejected as my cold refusal sent her hand flying away.

“Saintess, I told you clearly. If you try to touch my body carelessly again, I won’t hold back.”

“Uuh, uuhh!”

The strength in her arms wasn’t that great.

But the Saintess, clutching her slightly reddened hand as if she were embracing her own body, looked thoroughly distraught by the cruel fact that she had been rejected.

Her trembling Rubellite eyes seemed to desperately search for the gentle protector from her memories, desperately trying to find him from this rude person in front of her.

“Do you want me to never come back here again?”

“Ah, ahh! No! No! Uhk!”

At the end of that somewhat threatening remark, the Saintess’s already pale face turned an instant shade of dread.

Her frantic stomping in place and her frantic flailing indicated exactly how serious my proposal was to her.

“If you understand, don’t ever do something like this again. As I said before, physical contact is strictly forbidden until I feel that you’ve truly repented for your attitude. At least, do not even dream of it until you come to your senses as a Sister.”

“Ugh! Uhh…!”

“You must respond.”

“Y-yes, yes…”

Though she was looking weakly down at the ground, her quick reply made me feel that my intention had been sufficiently communicated.

I resolutely turned my back.

“I’ll come back for lunch. Until then…”

“Um, um…!”

Just then.

A desperate voice that struck me like an arrow from behind made me turn around unintentionally.

“Wel, Welna… I, I’m hurt… Here, and… Here too… It hurts a lot…”

The heartbreaking scene that unfolded before my eyes momentarily took my breath away.

It was wretched and desperate.

Just moments ago, the traces of tears she shed were still fresh, and yet.

Once again, the Saintess, who was shedding tears like chicken droppings, tried to speak to me while biting down on her strong sobs, leaving me with no other thoughts.

It was easy to see through her lies.

Visually and instinctively, it was clear that she had a perfectly clean body with no injuries.

But regrettably, it was equally clear why she was lying to me.

She wanted to reach out to me. She wished to be with me, even just a little bit.

Knowing that she’d adamantly thought this over and over with her innocent mind, perhaps as a responsible adult, it might have been a reasonable response to indulge her and soothe her.

Surely, in a normal situation, that would have been the case.

If she had no past of casually trampling on another’s life for her own greed.

If she was someone who wouldn’t hesitate to take the life of someone who had devoted themselves to her if it meant achieving her goals.

If she simply lacked the ability to commit such cruel acts.

If this girl were not a Saintess.

“If you’re hurt, I will leave you some Holy Water. Drink that, and then…”

“Uh, uuhh…?”

Boom!

I didn’t have to shove her away like this despite her yearning for my kindness.

◈◈◈

I was well aware that this wasn’t the best choice.

From choices I couldn’t select or didn’t even think to choose, there must have been a way to amicably resolve everything without hurting her.

But like a fool, I ultimately failed to think of it.

That was inevitable.

I was already at a place that I didn’t want to be, and in that moment, all I could think about was how to escape.

Perhaps from the moment I inadvertently took on this role, such a tragedy may have already been foretold.

No, to be precise, that fateful first meeting with her had undoubtedly ignited this whole series of events.

The memory of that day was still vivid to this day.

The excruciating agony of shedding a fingernail with a steel clipper was not something one could easily forget.

On the day that the Vatican publicly proclaimed they had finally found the girl worthy of becoming the Saintess among the devoted girls scattered throughout the system, it wasn’t an exaggeration to say that my morbid curiosity led me to ruin.

As she walked through the red carpet laid upon the floor, proudly showing the world that she was the chosen one, the sight of her gliding past the clergy who bowed their heads before her was like witnessing a celestial being.

Even I, who had aloofly accompanied her out of curiosity, was compelled to bow my head and bless her for a while; back then, she was surrounded by a divine radiance that couldn’t possibly belong to a girl of her age.

So, I had no idea why I made such a choice back then.

Through the fluttering currents, whatever I saw within her must have unearthed something in my heart.

As the newly reincarnated Saintess swept through the monastery, there was a rule—a strict rule—that every clergy member who came to meet her bowed their heads to the floor without exception.

Yet there I was, as if possessed, rising and approaching her without a care, besmirching her holy presence, and suddenly speaking to her.

Looking back now, I feel incredibly fortunate that it ended with just my fingernail being torn out, a punishment I deserved.

If it weren’t for Haren, who threw away his own seat to defend me, I often wonder what might have happened.

Just thinking about that future sends shivers down my spine even now.

Speaking of which, that was indeed the period when the Sister Beltein, who hadn’t been deeply connected to me, started to openly entangle herself with me.

At first, I thought perhaps she had some romantic interest in me, but later it was made clear that was not the case.

“Excuse me, have we met somewhere before?”

I, who had said something akin to what a nighttime city pick-up artist would say to a girl still in the awkward phase of growing up, was undoubtedly out of my mind back then.