The Priest Wants to Retire

〈 Chapter 79 〉 Sister

*

“I’m going out.”

“Absolutely not allowed!”

What a strange déjà vu it was.

Out of nowhere, the Saintess insisted on going outside the monastery, and the Sister was firmly stopping her.

The slightly heartwarming confrontation felt as if it were reenacting a play where I would occasionally shout about quitting my job, which the Sister would coldly brush off.

The sudden declaration of the Saintess wanting to leave the monastery was an unexpected incident. It might have been considered a mere happenstance, but…

With the blessing ceremony looming, the Saintess’s bombshell statement about wanting to go outside was undeniably a major catastrophe.

It was only natural that both my and the Sister’s expressions twisted in horror simultaneously.

There were only two bastions left for humanity. We couldn’t let the Saintess, one of those bastions, recklessly wander into the perilous outside world.

Even though it wasn’t intentional, the Ranobel Priest, who had assisted in the recent unauthorized outing of the Saintess, was still under suspension for that reason.

“I can only do this much. I leave the rest to you, Regis Priest.”

The Ranobel Priest was dragged away by direct order of the Vatican’s Paladins, unable to offer a single word in his defense.

And the resolute figure of the Nobel Priest was still vivid in my memory.

I began to understand why that tasteless person had as many as 17 fiancées.

What must have been the feelings of a certain blonde extraterrestrial who lost a close comrade due to an unexpected incident?

An intricate thought swept through me that I couldn’t adequately express in words.

Well, he must have a strong backing, so it probably wasn’t a huge deal.

“Step aside. I need to go, Welna. Don’t interfere.”

“No! I absolutely cannot allow it! Even if it means a knife to my throat, I can’t let you go out unaccompanied right before the blessing ceremony! You could encounter rascals! What if you catch a disease in an unsanitary place? What do you think you’re doing?!”

The fierce struggle continued for a while.

Neither the Saintess nor the Sister showed any sign of bending their will.

People say life is a tragedy when viewed up close and a comedy when viewed from afar.

It always fell on me to desperately stop the Saintess’s tyranny, while the Sister merely side-eyed my futile efforts.

As I stood facing this completely reversed dynamic, I belatedly realized a strange feeling of relief fluttering in one corner of my mind.

In plain words, I felt a little mischievous.

“Regis Priest, say something!”

Maybe the Sister read my scheming thoughts.

Suddenly, she yelled at me with an expression full of annoyance, asking for my assistance.

Just as I was about to find my voice to help, something happened.

Shk!

“Ugh!”

“What the?!”

The white chains binding me twisted as if they were a snake hearing a whistle and swiftly covered my mouth.

“I promised. Today, I’ll do as Welna says. Don’t interfere.”

But we never made such a promise.

Due to my mouth being covered, I couldn’t voice my reasonable retort.

“Ugh, Saintess…!”

The Sister’s face turned noticeably pale, as if she was barely holding back her shock at the Saintess’s firm declaration. She took a small step back, sweating cold beads.

What on earth did the Saintess want to do outside? What was her desired wish? I couldn’t even begin to guess.

Did she perhaps want to imitate what I was holding in my hands, that adult novel? Right before the door to the meeting room opened, I hastily asked if she’d ever read that book.

Looking at the adult novel in my hands, she tilted her head slowly in innocent curiosity. It seemed she had no clue that such literature even existed in the meeting room.

Regardless, I made sure to tuck the book away.

Just to be clear, I didn’t particularly want to read that adult novel.

It was unthinkable to leave such unholy literature lying around in a sacred meeting room, and I needed to determine just who had left this rascally book there. To discern whether it was truly an adult novel or not, I needed a place out of other people’s sight to slowly familiarize myself with its contents.

Moreover, from quickly skimming the book earlier, the author’s message within was quite philosophical, and the interactions between the characters were impressively profound.

The reason I picked up that book wasn’t out of raw desire to see something erotic, but rather out of pure curiosity regarding the next part of the story.

Especially the scene where the main character feeds the heroine breast milk boosters and expresses himself was so enticing—

“But still, that’s not allowed—!”

Just then, the Sister’s karang karang voice, which carried a will of fierce resistance, snapped my thoughts back to their original shape.

“Welana said to move aside. Step back.”

“I absolutely won’t. If you must go, kill me here!”

“Guh!”

The Sister, unfazed by the threatening demeanor, spread her arms wide, majestically blocking the Saintess’s path.

The explosive tension reminded me of an ignited stick of dynamite, and I desperately wished to intervene before anything happened.

However, with my freedom restrained and my mouth shut, I had no means of stopping them.

Tap tap.

The sounds of the Saintess’s white bare feet echoing against the stone floor slowly cast a dreadfully ominous shadow across the charged atmosphere between the two.

Snap.

The Saintess quietly gripped the hem of the Sister’s skirt.

The dragging, slowed motion was reminiscent of a lagging video, and a chilling memory flickered in my retina.

The day the Hero first met the Saintess.

In a moment, the Saintess turned the onlookers around her into emotionless puppets, unable to respond to my plea that I couldn’t engage in skinship due to the presence of eyes.

Her indifferent attitude, as if she were casually pushing away trivial obstacles in her path, suddenly rang alarm bells of a crisis within me.

“Ugh!”

The Sister squeezed her eyes shut at once, not faring much better than I was.

Her steadfast determination appeared in stark contrast to her trembling body, like a small rabbit during a thunderstorm.

The tense atmosphere allowed no room for negligence, and it felt like the silence could snuff out our breaths any moment.

Soon, the Saintess broke the silence.

“Sister.”

“Huh?”

“Ugh?”

The deadly atmosphere, likened to a tightly pulled rubber band, snapped with the adorable ringing of her voice, dissipating all at once.

In that moment, I thought I must have misheard.

It was no wonder, as the Saintess, typically devoid of emotional nuance, had momentarily released a hint of ‘cuteness.’

For the Sister and me, who had always served her closely, that short phrase had the destructive power comparable to a cat crying out in distress.

“U-uh, Saintess, w-what did you just say…?”

“Sister. Welna wants to go out right now.”

“Huh?!”

The Sister, unable to contain her overwhelming emotions, suddenly covered her mouth with both hands.

Falling to the floor like a puppet with its string cut, tears brimming in her eyes, her joy was so palpable it felt akin to what Helen Keller’s teacher must have felt the moment she spoke her first words.

“Sister. I want to go out. I want to.”

“Huh, huh! Uuuuh!”

Sister.

That word must have been a tear-jerker, as every time the Saintess addressed her as ‘sister,’ the Sister would burst into tears, gazing at her in a rather stunned manner and eventually embraced her tenderly.

Finally, from the Sister’s trembling lips, the near sob that escaped was like a giant bomb being dropped into my dazed consciousness.

“Alright… Whatever Welna wants to do…!”

Wait a minute.

*