saint ch34

Outing (5)

“Father Rhys! I’m back!”

Ronan had disappeared, leaving the church empty.

Rosetta, having just returned from her outing, announced her arrival as she stepped inside the church.

“Father Rhys? Father? What’s wrong!”

What Rosetta saw was Rhys, slumped in a chair as if completely drained, his face weary.

“Are you sick? And why are you sweating so much! Should we go to the hospital?”

Startled by Rosetta, Rhys blinked, still looking dazed, and glanced around.

“Ah… Rosetta. You’re back.”

“What on earth happened?”

“It’s nothing. Just…”

Rhys felt a sudden shortness of breath as he tried to answer.

Just…

The voice of the unidentified child still lingered in his ears.

Or, was it really a child?

Rhys couldn’t be sure of anything.

[Will you promise me that you won’t lose faith in Orion, even when things get tough?]

That person had clearly seen through his true feelings.

His wavering faith in the Order, and even in Orion.

Even after noticing his doubts, they had simply left, saying they hoped he wouldn’t lose faith.

Without either confirming or denying his doubts.

Only asking that he not lose his faith in Orion.

It was clear that they were no ordinary person.

And how light was his own conviction, to be shaken so easily by those words?

In his younger days, the Order had been everything to Rhys.

He had lived a life devoted to the Order since childhood, believing he was living for Orion according to the Order’s teachings.

Perhaps that was the case for most young clerics.

But as one grew older, certain things naturally became visible.

Things that had been hidden by youthful fervor, obscured by blind teachings, began to appear one by one.

He came to realize that the world was not as righteous as he had thought.

Around that time, all clerics had to make a choice.

To begin rationalizing, saying that everyone had their limits.

To become even more blindly devoted to the Order in order to ignore the truth.

Or, rarely, to doubt their own faith.

Perhaps it wasn’t so rare after all.

Those who harbored such thoughts probably kept them hidden deep inside.

However, when Rhys began to feel that way, he couldn’t help but lose his motivation.

In Rhys’s jaded eyes, the Order looked like ravenous ghouls desperately trying to rise above others.

The higher the position in the Order, the more he sensed a sinister quality that was different from blind faith or rationalization.

It was certainly not the image of a cleric that Rhys had envisioned.

Why hadn’t he seen this when he was in his prime?

Perhaps it was because he had been in the middle of that group.

As he became less devoted to the Order, it was a natural progression for him to be pushed out of the Order’s mainstream.

And so, without finding his footing in his faith, he drifted like a weed until he became the cleric in charge of this church.

He tried to forget his personal troubles and live a life devoted to those around him, but he would probably live forever tormented by his wavering faith.

Rhys lived each day with that feeling.

“This won’t do. We need to go to the hospital right now.”

Rosetta said, worried about Rhys, who had stopped speaking.

“I’m fine. It’s nothing.”

And it was true.

After that person had briefly touched his shoulder, a warm energy had spread throughout his body.

The pain in his knees and shoulders, which had been getting worse with age, and the frequent stinging in his eyes, were completely gone.

It was the most refreshing sensation he had felt in years.

“Are you really okay?”

“Yes.”

“You have to tell me right away if you’re not feeling well. It would be a real disaster for our church if Father Rhys collapsed.”

“Alright. Thank you for worrying about me, not just the church. Was there anything unusual outside?”

Forcing a cheerful tone, Rhys asked Rosetta a question to change the subject.

“The unusual things are the things happening in the city these days. Suddenly, clerics from all over the world are gathering, and the daughter of Duke Thorpes came to visit. Isn’t she the lady that the Orion Order already gave up on? Is she planning to borrow the power of another race? They’re really going to great lengths.”

Rosetta, as if she had been waiting for the opportunity, began to talk about the events happening in the city these days.

“It seems like more people are coming to the city, hoping to get something out of all the famous people these days. Most of them will end up as vagrants anyway. And the prices seem to be rising little by little. They’re not helping at all.”

“Rosetta.”

When her conclusion ended with a slanderous remark about the powerful people gathering in the city, Rhys spoke in a stern voice.

“…I’m sorry.”

Rosetta, as if realizing her mistake, quietly apologized as she looked at Rhys’s expression.

“I mean, nothing unusual happened! Ugh, why is there so much dust?”

Forcing a cheerful tone, Rosetta began to wander aimlessly around the church to lighten the mood.

As she wandered around, Rosetta inadvertently stopped in front of the statue.

“What is this, Father Rhys?”

Rosetta’s gaze was fixed on a wreath made of flowers that had bloomed as lushly as if they had just been watered.

Moreover, the intricately intertwined stems exuded a well-organized aesthetic beauty, as if a master craftsman had put their heart and soul into carving them.

It was clear at a glance that it was no ordinary wreath.

“That is…”

Rhys felt breathless once more.

He could still vividly see the scene of the flowers blooming and the stems growing.

“It’s a donation from a parishioner.”

That was all Rhys could manage to say.

“This is a donation from a parishioner? It doesn’t look like the work of an ordinary person to me.”

“They seemed to be a mage.”

“How odd. A mage believing in Orion.”

“Indeed.”

“They must be very devout. You can really see the effort they put into it. Looking at it makes me want to have faith.”

At those words, Rhys went to Rosetta’s side and slowly admired the wreath.

When he had hung the wreath with Anna, he had been so focused on the unidentified person that he hadn’t properly appreciated it, but looking at it again, it really seemed like an amazing object.

It was made of flowers, but it was precisely because it was made of flowers that it exuded a more mysterious atmosphere.

Perhaps it was because the statue was wearing such a wreath, but it felt more sacred than usual.

“It’s my heart that has changed…”

“Pardon?”

The perceptive priest soon realized that these feelings were not simply due to the wreath.

“Orion… your humble servant has lost his way and wandered.”

And just as Rhys was lost and wandering, an unidentified person had appeared and offered him faith.

As if it were a destiny arranged by Orion.

“I will gladly follow the journey you have arranged. Let your will be done in all things.”

At this moment, Rhys’s mind was free of worries about the identity of the person in the robe, or contemplations about the incredible level of holy magic they had displayed.

It was a feeling that Rhys had forgotten for some time.

The feeling that the gods had ordained his future, and that he simply had to entrust everything to that path.

“It seems that the eyes of this ignorant servant are now opening, even if only a little.”

The gods had not rebuked or denied his doubts.

They had only said not to lose faith in the gods.

They had never once said to affirm the state of the Order that had caused him to doubt.

Now, Rhys finally knew how to separate the gods from the Order.

“?”

Rosetta, not understanding the situation, could only look on with a questioning expression as Rhys suddenly began to pray.

* * *

Ugh, I suddenly have chills.

“…What is this? It felt like my fanatic sensor just went off.”

Is there an Otherworlder priest nearby?

Just in case, I looked around, but there was nothing in my sight.

Did I overexert myself by doing something unplanned?

Come to think of it, running from the church to where the public carriage was parked was a bit tough.

I achieved a successful outcome relatively early today, but trying to return the distance I had traveled by carriage with just this body wasn’t easy.

I didn’t have any money, so there wasn’t much else I could do.

Even if I just wanted to find out what people were up to, it would be better to go into a restaurant near the plaza than to just hang out there, but I don’t have any money.

In the end, I just took the carriage back to the academy.

The first time is the hardest, it was easier to get in this time.

Perhaps because I returned earlier than expected, the knight outside the gate didn’t seem to notice anything.

Perfect.

Am I a genius at infiltration?

After taking some time to pat myself on the back and take care of my mental state, I began to contemplate my plan once more.

I thought that secretly escaping from the academy would be the biggest obstacle, but it turned out to be much easier than I had expected, and something unexpected was holding me back.

Money.

That damn money.

The world really is all about money, damn it.

I had no idea where I was going to get the money.

Of course, if I wanted to, there would be places I could get money.

I’m still a trainee Saint, surely there would be someone who would give me money if I said I needed it, right?

If not, I could ask the princess.

The problem is that it would be awkward to reveal what I’m going to use this money for.

To talk about that, I would have to tell them about my glamorous double life that I just started today, and that would be putting the cart before the horse.

But if I treat patients outside and get paid, it would tarnish my reputation, so I need to find another source of income.

Should I make and sell potions?

Then I would have to learn how to mix herbs.

I should have learned herbalism.

But is it okay to just distribute potions like that?

Sometimes in novels, there’s controversy when people hand out potions carelessly.

Black market?

But where is that and how would I find it?

I don’t even know where to start looking.

Sigh.

The more I think about it, the more difficult it is.

I wish a rich nobleman would appear and sponsor me.

Then I could pretend to distribute it within the academy and embezzle some of it, and pretend to distribute it in the city and embezzle some more, and in the city, I would make sure that the church I visited would receive the most support.

Knock knock.

While I was having these absurd fantasies, there was a knock on my door.

“Come in.”

At those words, Celia and the princess, who had apparently returned, and the royal guard who had been guarding the door, entered the room.

“Ronan, I’m back!”

“Did you have a good time?”

“Of course! I remembered everything I saw and heard today!”

Celia, her face still flushed with excitement from her outing, said as she quickly took a seat at the table.

“Saint Ronan, I heard you skipped lunch. That’s not a good habit.”

After that, the princess and the royal guard placed two trays of food on the table.

The royal guard had a somewhat apologetic expression.

Did he get scolded?

“I was the one who said I didn’t want to eat first. Thanks to Lord Northern, I was able to pray quietly for the first time in a while.”

The princess seemed to brush it off casually, but the royal guard, whose name had been called, couldn’t hide his joy.

This is a small, free point of favorability, how sweet.

In this environment where it’s difficult for my superior to ask where I learned his name, the princess will think that the royal guard revealed his name himself, and the royal guard will think that the princess or someone else told him, so there’s no need to make excuses.

“You shouldn’t, Ronan! You always tell me to eat three square meals a day!”

You’re just a kid.

It’s when you need to eat and grow.

…Huh, I’m a kid too, aren’t I?

What if I really don’t grow any taller?

“Please make sure to eat your dinner.”

“I will.”

I was actually feeling hungry too.

It’s not like I skipped lunch because I wanted to.

There were unavoidable circumstances.

If I had money, I would have bought something to eat outside.

“I apologize for my rudeness this morning. Please rest comfortably, Saint Ronan.”

“Please rest comfortably.”

“Lady Azelia and Sir Northern, please rest comfortably as well.”

“We will, without fail, as soon as possible…make it so Saint Ronan can leave with us.”

That’s a very kind thing to say.

But I think I’ll be a little busy building my reputation in the Order for the time being?

You can take your time.

“You don’t have to push yourselves too hard.”

I was sincere this time too, but seeing the princess’s burning passion, it had the opposite effect.

Why?

As the princess and the royal guard retreated, Celia was looking at me with sparkling eyes.

Why?

“I’m going to tell you everything from now on, without missing a single detail!”

Ah.

Come to think of it, I did say that.

Honestly, after seeing things today, I think she was only let loose around the central plaza, so it doesn’t seem like it’ll be much help.

“First, I went to a huge church built inside the academy that rivals even the church!”

So you got in there.

I was turned away at the entrance.

“There’s this huge instrument and tons of other priests and people… Ah! The young lady of the Thorp duke family was there, so there were even more people. I heard she has some incurable disease that even the Order gave up on, and she’s trying to get help from priests of other races, so the priests are adamantly trying to stop her…”

…Well, I guess it doesn’t matter if she’s having fun telling the story.

I recalled the memory of the little kid I met at the church during the day responding to my story, and I sincerely engaged with Celia’s story.

…

..

.
You must have been very tired today.

Celia, who had recounted all the scenes she remembered from today next to Ronan, who had started nodding off after dinner, eventually looked at the sleeping Ronan and thought that.

She heard that he skipped lunch and prayed, but Celia couldn’t understand how praying so passionately could exhaust someone’s body.

Even though she felt a tingling sensation at the sight of him agreeing with her every word despite being tired, Celia made an effort to tell all her stories.

…Let’s see it together next time, Ronan.

Celia watched Ronan sleeping for a moment before deciding to leave.

At that moment, Ronan’s Saint’s robe hanging on one side caught Celia’s eye.

It was a near coincidence.

There was no reason to look at it in particular.

Huh?

Thinking she might have seen it wrong, Celia approached Ronan’s Saint’s robe.

“This is…”

She made a sound without realizing it, but quickly lowered her voice, worried that Ronan might wake up, and examined Ronan’s Saint’s robe in detail.

There was an unknown stain on the bottom of the right sleeve of Ronan’s Saint’s robe.

When she smelled it, she thought she could smell a slightly bitter grassy scent.

?
That’s strange.

Even if he had gotten it dirty during class, all the Saint’s robes he wore this week were definitely washed clean and are hanging outside right now.

When she put her nose close to it, she thought she could smell dirt from the bottom of the Saint’s robe.

Celia carefully took off Ronan’s Saint’s robe and folded it.

Was there a Saint’s robe that wasn’t washed?

Or…

Various questions flashed through her mind, but she thought that dealing with this Saint’s robe was the priority.

“Good night, Ronan.”

Celia said goodbye to the sleeping Ronan once more and carefully left Ronan’s room.

On the way to the laundry room.

“Lady Celia. It’s almost bedtime, what’s wrong?”

Celia, who was hurrying on her way, caught the eye of a bishop passing by.

“Ah… well…”

Celia carefully hid Ronan’s Saint’s robe behind her.

“What are you doing?”

The bishop stared at Celia with sharp eyes.

Celia spoke to the bishop with a bewildered expression.

“Well, I was having so much fun on my outing today that I ran around and my Saint’s robe got messed up…”

The bishop stared at Celia as if she were pathetic after hearing Celia’s words.

“Please remember that Lady Celia is here as the face of the Order! Furthermore, how can someone who also holds the position of acolyte to the apprentice Saint do such a frivolous thing!”

“I’m sorry.”

Celia repeatedly apologized and bowed her head.

“Anyway, you can’t shake off your commoner ways…”

The bishop clicked his tongue at Celia and left.

“Hmph. He can’t say a word in front of other people.”

The place where the bishop had left.

Celia, who had been wearing a apologetic expression until just now, stuck her tongue out at the place where the bishop had left with a sulky expression.

Celia, who had been staying in this accommodation as Ronan’s acolyte and had seen the disgraceful acts that the Orion Order priests had committed against other races for the past few days, was no longer afraid of such bishops as she used to be.

These days, those bishops were busy avoiding priests of other races.

Ronan talks to priests of other races just fine.

Ronan is the best after all.

All the Order does is interfere with Ronan.

I should help Ronan too.

Celia diligently moved her steps towards the laundry room again.

She had to hurry to wash the Saint’s robe while no one was paying attention.