Saint, You’re So Vulgar!

---

#007 Episode: Uh-oh, Uh-oh. Apologize with Your Body

That day, the kingdom was turned upside down.

[Saintess Bershia, enveloped in divine light, manifested the holy wheel and drove away the illness!]

In less than two days, the miracle that manifested in the Osia Territory spread beyond the kingdom and reached the continent.

As is often the case with rumors, what happened that day began to grow and became more exaggerated with each retelling.

Thus, Saintess Bershia earned herself an epithet:

“Miraculous Saintess.”

“……”

“Miraculous Saintess, where are you going?”

“…Please stop.”

The miraculous Saintess Bershia.

Currently, Asher was trembling, his face flushed red.

Bershia followed behind him, whispering the words “miraculous Saintess” repeatedly.

The location was her garden, and for the past two days, this tedious scene had been repeating.

Asher, as always, tightly pressed his lips together and glared at Bershia.

Only then did Bershia smile languidly as if satisfied.

Moments later, a sigh escaped Asher’s lips.

“Honestly, I feel like I’m going to die from all this chaos.”

“It’s karma.”

“Did you expect this from me! I never thought the Saintess’s divine power would be so vast…!”

“Are you blaming me now?”

“W-well, not really…!”

As Bershia widened her eyes in disbelief, Asher looked like he was about to cry.

Truth be told, it was indeed his fault for releasing his divine power too recklessly.

All this fuss about a miraculous Saintess had filled him with unease.

Being knelt to by priests in the church, praising him, or the scholars declaring, “Was this also a revelation?” as they rushed toward him like reporters, was an experience he hadn’t quite gotten used to.

In the midst of this, Bershia said.

“Well, at least nothing big happened, right? That’s a relief.”

“That’s true, but….”

“But?”

“…I’m sorry.”

As she said, aside from the nickname “miraculous Saintess,” nothing else had occurred.

Yes.

Even her “my life is ruined” was just a mischievous prank.

How fast was his heart racing when the accident first occurred!

He almost thought Bershia had hidden her true powers out of fear of excessive pressure and his mind blanked with guilt.

Yet, it was all meaningless suffering.

– Just kidding. Everyone knows my divine power.

– Huh?

– What do you think the terms like ‘favor from the world’ are? They excite only the children, right? I might look like this, but I’m quite exceptional.

Her divine power was already renowned as the pinnacle among the pinnacles.

Some even said the current Pope, Sergio, couldn’t defeat her.

Thanks to that, there was no rigorous interrogation.

Of course, there were some questions like, “Why did this happen suddenly?”

To which Bershia instructed the response:

– There are many patients, and time is short, so I handled it all at once.

It was a nonchalant answer, yet it was enough for the cardinals to be satisfied.

What did he usually do that such an answer would be acceptable?

Asher found himself lost in peculiar thoughts, and thus, today.

“…I’m just glad it ended safely. At one point, I was really scared of what would happen.”

Asher was able to relax his mind.

He still disliked being called the miraculous Saintess, though.

Additionally, he learned something from this incident.

“I think I need to train! If I can’t control my output, I won’t be able to protect the Saintess…!”

He needed to adapt to this body’s divine power.

No matter the situation, Asher’s duty was to act as her guard.

He couldn’t afford to be incompetent.

Bershia said.

“Hmm, I guess so. If what you used that day had been a combat prayer instead of a healing prayer, a catastrophe would have wiped a territory off the map.”

“……”

“If I hadn’t wanted to be the miraculous Saintess, I might have ended up as the worst witch, Bershia.”

“……”

“I would have become a public enemy on the continent for something I didn’t even want. My life would have really been ruined.”

“I’m sorry…”

“I can’t just leave this body alone, so I would have fled with the knight. Hiding somewhere in the woods… just the two of us.”

“?”

Asher felt like the conversation was heading in an odd direction as he watched her with suspicion in his eyes, and Bershia pouted with a smirk.

It was right then.

She spoke in an exaggerated acting tone.

“Uh-oh, uh-oh. Apologize with your body.”

“Ah! Stop that!”

“How about it? I learned it yesterday.”

“Whaaat?! Who taught you such a thing? If anyone in the church speaks so vulgar, they’ll be disciplined…!”

“Marvin.”

“?”

“We became friends somehow.”

Asher’s eyes shook like there was an earthquake.

Was Marvin that kind of person? How did they become friends? Surely he hadn’t had that kind of conversation with him?

His mind was racing with various thoughts.

“After talking a little, he said things like, ‘You’ve been through some struggles and gained some masculinity. You know, I used to worry about you being so pious. You should live a bit more carefree. This is much better, my friend.’”

“……”

“Now, it seems I can make jokes too. That was our conversation yesterday.”

“……”

“I’m sorry. I took your friend, knight.”

Asher’s lips twitched.

Marvin’s face flashed through his mind.

He was always the kind of friend who wore a frown and spoke words of concern.

He was a grateful and apologetic friend.

Of course… he knew Marvin wasn’t someone who was overly obsessed with piety.

He understood that crude remarks were things robust young men would typically say.

He knew all that.

But why did he feel a sense of betrayal?

Dissatisfaction bubbled up inside him.

“Should I discipline him? It’s fine to have some adult conversations between friends, but… when the miraculous Saintess says so, what can I do?”

“……”

“Should we handle it then, miraculous Saintess?”

Asher’s head hung low.

Yet, something about the idea of disciplining Marvin without knowing the context felt wrong.

Asher eventually spoke in a small, resigned voice.

“…W-well, that kind of talk is unacceptable.”

“Hm, I’ll try to keep that in mind.”

“I really must! If Saintess behaves appropriately, Marvin will understand my true feelings! This is also for Marvin; you need to hold back, Saintess! A healthy mind should support a healthy body! Although both Marvin and I are fit due to our training, if we start to have such crude thoughts, surely….”

“All day long, it’ll be stiff…”

“It won’t!”

Kyaaak! Asher let out a sound that was almost a growl.

His eyes widened to the point where they nearly popped out of his head.

Bershia shrugged her shoulders and changed the subject again.

“Alright. Then should we focus on the training I mentioned earlier?”

Now, Asher understood.

She had had her fun and was signaling that it was time to stop.

How could she be so infuriating?

If possible, he felt like pinching her cheeks just to stretch them.

“I’ll focus! Please don’t disturb me!”

With that, Asher turned away, closed his eyes, and joined his hands.

Thus began his training of ‘using a little divine power’.

*

Bershia sat cross-legged, watching Asher’s back.

Though it was technically her own back, that was a fact that no longer felt new.

What was more important lay elsewhere.

Kiiiii…

“Eep?!”

Bershia watched.

She observed the moment Asher unleashed his divine power and the phenomenon of his prayers glowing with divine light.

From that, she could draw a clear conclusion.

‘As I thought….’

He really was no ordinary person.

Verification was needed.

Bershia raised her divine power within herself and tried to manifest a prayer in her hands.

But,

Squeak—!

A faint stream of light rose up only to wane away helplessly.

It was pitiful.

Had it been her original body, the healing prayer would have been fully realized at that output.

What caused this difference?

It wasn’t merely due to the quantity of divine power contained within.

‘Completeness.’

That was what made the difference.

The mechanism of divine power worked that way.

Contrary to the words of divine blessings and parental wills, amusingly, the completeness was determined by technical capabilities.

How precisely the power was arranged and how densely those particles were interconnected to amplify the power were key factors.

In terms of output, it was thus.

Even if you possess 100 divine power, if its completeness is 10, the result would be a mere output of 10.

Conversely, if you have 10 divine power, but its completeness is 100, then the output will be the full 10.

It extended along that line.

Bershia recalled the holy light from that day.

She remembered the miracle she caused that day.

It was not merely,

‘It’s not 100.’

It wasn’t just completing 100 divine power at a score of 100.

It was beyond that.

This was the certainty that arose because Bershia’s prayer completeness was close to 100.

Of course, Bershia could also recall that holy light and could perfectly reproduce the miracle Asher had achieved, but executing it would require a great deal of effort.

At least symptoms such as dizziness or nausea would have to present themselves.

Even if she were in good condition that day, she should have shown signs like shortness of breath.

Yet Asher had done so.

– …drooled.

He was merely flustered with an innocent face.

What did that mean?

‘A completeness over 100.’

Even while thinking it, a chuckle escaped her.

What Asher had manifested was not just the correct answer but a new answer surpassing that.

He was a human who could utilize divine power at an output exceeding 100.

‘Has anyone ever succeeded like that?’

Though she wasn’t confident because her study of history and figures wasn’t deep, at least, she hadn’t heard of anyone.

Her gaze began to intensely study his back.

“Aah, why…!”

Seeing him flailing helplessly as he tried to pull back his divine power was pitiful.

However, that sight began to seem a bit different.

‘He’s a monster.’

That seemingly easy-going knight was no ordinary person.

An abnormally twisted talent.

It was an element that could sufficiently bloom a faint curiosity within Bershia.

It could be described as a sense of kinship.

She found herself thinking.

Whether such talent and traits were planned.

Whether they were handed down for a distinct purpose.

…For now, it was unknowable.

Bershia shook off her thoughts and stood up to approach Asher.

Then she asked.

“Is it not working well?”

“Ugh…!”

“Hm, for a time, it might be best to seal away all combat prayers, right?”

“…Yes.”

“Don’t be too down. There’s barely any danger for me, and your reactions from teasing are quite satisfying.”

“Such reasons should not allow you to let your guard down!”

“Even for such reasons, if you don’t use them, you’ll have no reason to guard me, you know?”

“No…!”

Asher looked up at her with a face like a wounded puppy.

Bershia felt quite amused.