The Priest Wants to Retire

EP.205 Winners and Losers

“I apologize for the repeated rudeness without even a greeting! What’s more, my less-than-adequate younger sibling again!”

“It’s fine. It’s not like it’s something that happens once or twice. I’ve gotten used to it by now.”

While Regis and Haren were having an honest conversation accompanied by some music, the Hero and Evan were sitting face to face, unraveling the stories they hadn’t shared until now.

“Hahaha! Bigtim oppa! Did you get dumped by mom again?”

“Don’t cry! Ria will braid your hair!”

There was some background noise coming from Bigtim, who had become the children’s plaything due to the shock of being dumped, but thankfully, it wasn’t enough to disrupt the conversation.

“It’s truly been a long time! Evan! Have you been healthy in the meantime?”

“Yeah. There’s no need to ask about strong humans, right?”

The cheerful greeting received a dry response in return.

At first glance, the conversation might seem bleak, but their relationship was anything but; it could even be described as quite close.

Absolute strength is the most righteous line.

In the hundreds of years that Evan had molded his absurd way of thinking while traversing many hardships, he had greatly influenced Abigail’s value system as well.

“The moth I saw then is now the Hero saving this world. I’m so surprised, I can’t close my mouth.”

“Hm? Evan’s mouth remains unaffected, though?”

“It’s a figurative expression. It’s strange. You should be quite proficient in the common language by now, yet whenever I talk to a strong human, the conversation goes off the rails like this.”

With a playful smile, the two women chatting might appear to be a friendly mother-daughter pair at a glance.

Clink.

As Evan set down her teacup, she suddenly fell into deep thought.

Even now, if she closed her eyes, the image of the mischievous girl storming into their home and demanding to know where Regis was vividly flashed across her retina.

Teaching that little brat how to fight had been a mere whim.

Evan had experienced every possible reason humans wield swords, but this was the first time she encountered a race eager to become a hero revered by the world simply because they wanted to stand proudly before their benefactor.

A complete fool or a legendary madman.

One of those must be true, she thought, only to find that both answers were indeed correct.

“Hmph…”

Evan was consistently expressionless, but there were moments, especially in front of Abigail, when a charming smile would briefly dance across her face.

“By the way, what’s going on with the weak human? We set everything up, so no way you didn’t at least copulate a bit, right?”

“─!?”

Flinch!

A strong ripple arose in the previously calm atmosphere.

Abigail, armored with her usual bright smile, looked calm at first glance, but the beautiful crack engraved on the teacup she was holding clearly revealed her inner turmoil.

“Evan! Look over there! A meteor!”

“Don’t change the subject.”

With her wits completely stripped bare, Abigail had no way left to escape from that question.

“It seems something did happen. I’ll listen, so go ahead and tell me.”

“B-but! With the mission of defeating the Demon King, which is crucial for humanity’s existence, I don’t have the luxury to entertain such trivial gossip right now…”

“Now’s precisely when those trivial discussions are needed. I told you before. The battlefield tends to devour the one who carries regrets first.”

“Ugh…”

That timid resistance didn’t last long.

The reason Evan suddenly offered to listen to Abigail was none other than the fact that she felt her obsession with Regis was as intense as a dragon in mating season, a reality Evan had felt in her bones.

Even when Abigail spoke of her own inadequacies and believed she wasn’t worthy of him, she would still sneak glances at his form as if she couldn’t help herself.

Having supposedly cleared up all misunderstandings and become closer than before, Evan had expected that they’d be indulging in each other’s bodies at least once every ten minutes, yet Abigail’s behavior toward Regis was surprisingly lukewarm compared to Evan’s expectations.

When Abigail displayed hostility toward her daughters, it was fierce, but she didn’t even go as far as to touch Regis, which made Evan feel as though there was a thorn stuck in her throat.

Initially, she thought it was due to the worry of a massacre with the Saint sitting right next to them, but she soon changed her mind.

Evan herself had taught that if a female finds a male she likes, she should seize him, plunder, and take him; it was none other than Evan herself who instilled that lesson.

“What happened?”

“Huh, hoho! E-Evan!.”

The worry was palpable in Evan’s inquiry.

From that very moment, Abigail’s previously unyielding smile was completely submerged by an impending flood of tears.

◈◈◈

It wasn’t the first time Evan had comforted Abigail, who was unable to control her overwhelming emotions.

But now that Evan had become the mother of two children, her nurturing had elevated to an entirely different level compared to before.

Pat pat.

Abigail, showing a rare vulnerability by seeking solace not from Regis, would have undoubtedly rendered any other comrades present at that moment completely speechless.

After all, Abigail herself was one of those rare individuals who considered it okay to reveal her weak side.

Even if there was such an individual, it required sheer physical strength to endure Abigail’s whining without crumbling under her superhuman power.

The reason Abigail naturally suppressed her strength when dealing with Regis was something she couldn’t even comprehend; it was a product of her subconscious, so to speak.

Therefore, for anyone other than Regis to try to comfort the drunken Abigail was a gamble that literally required a willingness to face death at every moment.

“Hiff…”

“You’ve grown stronger. At this level, you could easily twist an orc’s waist.”

Crack! Crack!

Even now, the sound of destruction and regeneration was intermittently escaping from Evan’s waist.

There wouldn’t be much time to talk.

Evan instinctively realized that fact.

“So, you managed to copulate with him, but you’re worried about showing the weak human way too much?”

“Boohoo…”

Nod nod.

Instead of words, the sluggish nodding that came in response was drenched with an indescribable shame.

To summarize Abigail’s account briefly, she felt ecstatic and euphoric to have been with him, but during the process, showing him her disheveled appearance was utterly humiliating.

Panting like a male dog in heat was merely the beginning.

Drooling shamelessly through her gaping mouth, later on, she even had her ugly, tear-streaked face observed for a prolonged time by him.

To Abigail, who had lived by the principle of embodying the perfect Hero, there was no degrading act that could surpass the exposure of her true self.

If she could go back in time, just before being intimate with him, she would have preferred to cover her face with a large helmet.

The overwhelming shame she felt now was indescribable; it was a notion so absurd that she would voice such a silly thought.

“To show such a pathetic expression and behavior to none other than the Priest… I feel so embarrassed… so embarrassed I might die…”

“Hmmm…”

From her words, it seemed she feared he might have developed distaste for her.

Evan concluded her thoughts based on that assessment.

There weren’t many women who would reach climax on their first experience.

Which meant that women who climaxed right from the first experience might be less demure and considered less pure compared to others.

The apprehension Abigail was feeling was likely rooted in that insecurity.

It was a truly unfortunate outcome resulting from belatedly acquiring knowledge on a topic she had ignored her whole life.

“Don’t worry about it, strong human. It’s structurally difficult for females to gain the upper hand over males in copulation. Even I couldn’t cook for my husband during our honeymoon phase.”

“…Huh?”

With a clouded breath, Abigail reluctantly looked up, capturing Evan’s calm face in her gaze.

Having known her throughout her life, it was hard for her to imagine that serene expression could become as disordered as her own on that day.

“That humiliating defeat I faced for the first time felt like my self-esteem had dropped from the sky. During the act, the sensation was as if my crown was pierced; I just wanted it to end quickly. Yet once it did end, a pleasant floating feeling lingered within, and soon, I craved that stimulation again.”

“E-Evan…?”

The widened, astonished eyes of Abigail registered the surprising sight of Evan, who had been so adeptly handling the common language after merely years of study.

“Now, after undergoing rigorous training, I can claim victory about 4 times out of 10, but when you consider the whole picture, I’m still lagging significantly behind. It’s embarrassing, but just last night, I was the one to initiate, only to end up surrendering first.”

Perhaps she was making a joke.

In that fleeting moment, Abigail entertained the thought, only to rescind it quickly.

Evan’s eyes, gazing so firmly into hers, were too clear to belong to someone speaking falsehoods.

“Um, uh…”

After a brief hesitation, her overwhelming curiosity quickly overshadowed any reluctance.

“Is it true that there’s a concept of winning and losing in the act between men and women?”

“What a foolish question. Of course, there’s a distinction! This world consists of winners and losers. It’s needless to say that in copulation, there are those who submit and those who dominate.”

“─!”

At that moment, a brilliant light began to shimmer in the Hero’s blue eyes.

“Therefore, don’t be too disheartened, strong human. Just as there’s no eternal winner in this world, there’s no eternal loser either. If you continue to compete, a day will come when you will seize victory.”

“Truly! Truly so! I understand now! Thank you, Evan!”

Already heading in the wrong direction, the train had now somehow accumulated even more speed, resulting in an utter fiasco.

The fervor generated by this serious conversation was likely to turn into considerable calamity for Abigail herself in the near future, but that was another matter entirely.

“First, I’ll share the techniques I’ve learned. You mustn’t rely solely on strength. It’s the height of foolishness to dive right into the act. Remember, copulation is a battle of endurance. First, you must deplete your partner’s energy with hands or mouth…”

“W-wait! Before that, memo! Can I get some memo papers!?’

“Sure.”

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