Chapter 57

Chapter 6. Friendship and Relationships

Fortunately, there wasn’t a commotion in society.

I was already in the position of a Saint Candidate, and what I lost was just the right to enjoy that status.

More than anything, the incident itself wasn’t something that happened on Earth, so there were hardly any witnesses. Even if it was recorded on video, the Saint Power itself wouldn’t have been caught on camera, so it wouldn’t qualify as evidence.

Thanks to that, my peaceful daily life hasn’t completely shattered yet. I was still just a ‘candidate’.

“They seem to think that being a Saint is almost like being a goddess or something.”

“They’re beings that are almost impossible to come over here, so let’s just leave them be.”

After a long while, I was lounging in the warm sunlight when Ria made some unnecessary comments, to which I replied like that.

It had been about two weeks since that incident.

In the meantime, I decided to shift my mindset a bit.

There’s an old saying: if you can’t avoid it, enjoy it, right? Since I can’t dodge my position anyway, I decided to at least enjoy it.

The main story begins after May. Thanks to that, summer episodes have already started popping up in the early parts of the novel. Since it’s only early April now, I still have almost a month of leeway, which I think is perfectly fine.

Moreover, up until the middle of the novel, the stories closely align with daily life, so there shouldn’t be any major problems. If we had to nitpick, the prologues of the heroines’ episodes follow one after another.

The main heroines include the Saint, Anna, my childhood friend Han Yu-ri, the elven princess and capable magician Glaria, and the candidate hero Lee Chae-eun.

By the way, they’re all people in positions that are tough even for themselves to handle, and it’s natural to expect that each related episode won’t be light at all.

Especially the Saint Anna.

Saint Power is the opposing force to Magic Power. To be more specific, it’s like how matter and antimatter annihilate each other when they mix. The difference is that the tremendous energy released during annihilation is not observed.

Those who think of the power of the Gate as ‘divine power’—that is, beings who likely view Magic Power as their chosen force, opposing humanity—had their sights on that Saint Anna.

They didn’t just see her as an adversary. Some of her followers even treated the Saint like a “Saint” while praising her in the main story.

While the exact reason for this isn’t revealed in the novel, the comments from readers guessing future developments were quite helpful.

“Since it’s a completely opposing force, don’t you think they might see it as the leftover half of divine power?”

That comment received quite a few upvotes, and I also thought it was plausible. So, I jotted down that opinion in my notes.

During the past two weeks, I diligently read through the journal I had written, refreshing my memory of the original work in my mind. At the very least, I wanted to accurately remember the flowing story and the important elements and characters.

So, around the end of May, something is likely to happen—

“Cherry blossoms will bloom soon.”

Ria, sitting next to me in the armchair we brought to the church’s backyard, said while gazing up at the sky.

“Yeah, I suppose so.”

I replied absentmindedly.

I wasn’t quite sure if the weather was a bit too warm or still chilly, and as I squinted, Ria suddenly spoke again.

“Do you want to go see them together?”

“Huh?”

Without realizing it, I widened my eyes and looked at Ria.

Sitting in the armchair next to me, Ria was smiling at me.

She rested her right elbow on the armrest, propping her chin up with one hand while looking at me.

Goodness, she’s pretty.

There’s really no way around it. I can’t say she’s ugly when I, with my rational and logical thinking, am staring at someone beautiful.

In the novel, descriptions of her beauty were more about her grace rather than just being pretty. Although, when you think about it, isn’t it a given that heroines are typically beautiful?

“How about it?”

When she asked me that with such a lovely face, I felt a little flustered for a different reason.

What should I say?

Don’t they usually use a casual tone like ~nya? Oh, of course, I’m not talking about a cat-like tone but rather a rough nuance in Korean.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have much experience in my past life up to now with pretty women talking to me first. Usually, the ones who initiate conversation are either waitstaff at cafes or fellow volunteers at community service events.

Of course, in both cases, they didn’t have that much of a close relationship with me.

I had been somewhat socially active, so I had a sort of response manual for such situations…

“If you don’t want to, just say so.”

“N-No, it’s not like that.”

Friends.

If we were to define our relationship, that would probably be it.

As of this year, both of us are legally adults. While Ria hasn’t had her birthday yet, this world counts from the beginning of the year.

When you hit your mid-to-late twenties, the youthful sociability unique to teens tends to fade a bit, but Ria is at an age where that charm is still pretty much intact.

Actually, it’s probably weirder that I’m the one feeling peculiar about it.

…

Something feels off.

“Okay, let’s go.”

To my words, Ria nodded happily and leaned back in her chair.

Oh, but…

How are we going?

*

“You don’t have to think too complicated, right? We’re both adults, after all.”

“Ah….”

Once we got outside, I had a bit of a blank expression.

Thinking about it, nuns who are adults do wander around here and there. Of course, they’re not going out to play, but rather it’s when there’s work to be done outside.

“But we still haven’t really heard the term ‘adult’ yet, right?”

Sure, we’re legally adults, but the eyes of the Church see it differently.

As I mentioned before, deciding whether we’re going outside or not will be until the end of May. Since it’s only early April, we still have almost two months remaining.

And until then, the Church treats nuns and clergy as ‘youth’. This means we can’t freely go outside.

“You don’t have to worry about that.”

But Ria simply said it like that.

“After all, you’re not just a nun, you’re a Saint Candidate, right?”

Oh, I see.

Am I… already viewed as a complete Church person?

“And besides, since I’m here, they probably deemed it okay.”

Ria pointed to herself confidently.

Well, if that’s the case, I don’t have any particular objections.

Despite that, Saint Candidates do tend to have plenty of people accompanying them to wander around, but if I really look at it, I might have been too cautious. I’ve been living entirely within the Church in this world after all.

“…Well, that’s true.”

I slightly furrowed my brow as I observed the scene before me.

“But didn’t we say we’re going to see the cherry blossoms?”

Ria looked at me as if asking what I was talking about.

“Are you planning to go to see the cherry blossoms in a nun’s dress?”

“…”

What on earth should I say to that?

“Just because I take off the nun’s dress doesn’t mean I’m not a nun anymore.”

“…That’s not entirely wrong, but a nun’s attire is fundamentally a matter of mindset, you know?”

Just like how taking off a school uniform doesn’t mean a student isn’t a student anymore, it doesn’t mean you’re instructed not to wear non-uniform clothing at school.

Ah, of course, there are slightly stricter rules applied to nuns than that.

“…”

“Even if you give me a look like, ‘What are you even saying?’, nothing changes, you know? After all, this is still a nun’s outfit, right? I’m at least someone who maintains the basics.”

“Alright, alright, I got it.”

At my words, Ria waved her hand dismissively.

“Still, it’s not like you can’t buy clothes.”

“Eh?”

“Just come in for a second. Don’t think too much about it.”

As Ria said that, she grabbed my wrist and dragged me, and before I knew it, I found myself inside a clothing store.

*

After a compromise between my opinion and Ria’s, the two of us ended up in outfits that were neither nun’s attire nor casual wear.

To be more accurate, it was clothes with an outer garment over the nun’s dress.

Well, since I’ve shortened my nun’s outfit before and even wear a belt, it didn’t seem like a big deal to go out like this.

I wonder what the Sister Warden would say if she saw me… But now, I’m really a Saint Candidate, right? Maybe she’ll just turn a blind eye.

While the nun’s dress could be somewhat concealed with the outer garment, the veil on top of my head is quite visible no matter how poorly it’s worn.

Even so, simply taking it off felt like crossing a line, so we decided to leave that as it is for now.

In reality, we did attract some glances from passersby.

My face is quite well-known, and we were, after all, in eye-catching outfits.

But then again, it’s a bit different from being approached for an autograph like a celebrity.

…Or did they just think we were odd nuns? Or maybe cosplayers?

Well, personally, I’d prefer that.

“How’s it? Feels good to be out, right?”

At Ria’s words, I nodded.

Somehow… it feels liberating.

In this fantasy novel, especially given its modern church setting, the atmosphere isn’t one of oppressive nuns. While they adhere to a religion, it doesn’t mean they have to live strictly by those rules.

However, that said, if we were to nitpick, it is a place where discipline is pretty strong.

So, walking along a cherry blossom-strewn path like this, side by side with others, made me feel far freer than usual.

I felt somewhat refreshed.