Chapter 120

I returned to the room and jumped onto the bed, desperately trying to suppress the urge to flail around like crazy.

Honestly, I felt like I could die from embarrassment just from the way I came back.

What was I even thinking?

There are moments when talking can amplify your emotions, right? Just like this “gradient of anger” expression, I found myself rambling in front of Sister Maria.

At first, I had just planned to lightly defend Ria.

No, to be honest, my initial plan was just to go in and listen and come back out, but I decided to put that aside.

But somehow, while defending Ria, I got more and more emotional and just spilled out my personal philosophy in front of the nun directly under the Vatican, who probably studied theology way more diligently than I ever did.

And let’s not forget the Sister Warden was right there too!

In front of Ria, I definitely struck quite the pose. It was incredibly embarrassing.

But I couldn’t let that show on my face. Flailing around on the bed would be like my whole body screaming to Ria how embarrassingly I felt right now.

“…Well, don’t worry too much.”

Ria spoke first.

Thankfully, it wasn’t anything teasing.

“You said it yourself, didn’t you? It’s not like you can do anything incredible.”

“That’s not even what’s terrifying.”

I got a bit miffed at how nonchalantly Ria was saying that.

To be honest, saying something like “I’ll protect you to make sure that doesn’t happen” isn’t exactly a less embarrassing line, right? Sure, it sounds cool in a comic, but saying it in real life feels a bit cringe, doesn’t it?

Then again, I might’ve said similar weird stuff like “you’re my knight” to Ria often, but still, she was way too casual about it!

“Well, no matter what happens, Ria will definitely protect me.”

I deliberately threw out that slightly embarrassing line and turned my head towards Ria while lying face down on the bed.

Ria paused for a moment after hearing that, then lightly hit her chest with her fist, smiling.

“Of course! I’m your knight, after all!”

Ah, geez.

I wanted to shout out for her to be a little embarrassed, like a flopping fish thrown onto the ground, but I held it in.

“…No, wait a minute.”

Suddenly, a funny thought crossed my mind, and I slightly lifted myself to speak.

“Hey, Ria. If that kind of situation happens, then I’d just become a nobody, a former saint candidate.”

“Huh? Well, that’s true.”

Ria answered with a face completely unfazed, which made me frown slightly.

“So then, wouldn’t Ria be relieved of her duty to protect me?”

Yeah, in that scenario, if she helped me, Ria would become the enemy of the Church.

You can never predict how the future will unfold.

But for some reason, among all those possible futures, I found it extremely hard to imagine Ria betraying me.

“….”

Ria just stared at me expressionlessly after that question.

To be honest, it was a bit scary.

“Why?”

“Huh?”

“Why are you saying that? Do you think I could betray you?”

“No, that’s not it…”

It’s not that I think she might betray me.

No, even in a moment where I desperately plead for her to leave, I could somehow still see her beside me.

That scared me.

“Isn’t it a bit late to be worried now?”

Ria chuckled as she said that, but I bet she thought completely differently than I did.

“I’m not worried.”

Ah, I was wrong.

Whatever I say here, I wouldn’t be able to argue against what Ria says.

After all, it was me who first called her a knight and said I trusted her—

Yeah. Everything that made Ria who she is now, was all because of me.

Good or bad.

＊

It felt like Sister Maria would show up the very next day, but quite some time passed without her return.

The Vatican was the same. There was no special contact coming in for me.

They had sent someone directly to me from the Vatican, so you’d think there’d be some feedback from our diocese, but nothing happened at all.

What’s up with that?

I was mentally preparing myself.

Every few days, Emelia would inform me about how much progress was made in her research. Honestly, it didn’t need to be that frequent, but I figured I shouldn’t stop someone who was willing to tell me every day.

Ria and I each spent our time in the Church diligently.

We cleaned diligently and prepared for worship and anniversaries.

A lot of people died during the Gate disaster. There were so many heroes and hunters who died then that if we made a memorial day for each of them, we would be commemorating someone every day for the rest of our lives.

Consequently, each country, or even region, created a day to honor all those souls. In this nation, it’s September 10th.

The day the Gate disaster occurred.

The closer it got to that day, the heavier the atmosphere across society became. On this day, even atheists couldn’t stop the heartfelt prayers and memorials laden with religious significance.

…Well, that’s how I felt too. No matter how much a person doesn’t believe in the existence of souls, they can’t dismiss the act of commemorating the dead as meaningless. How could you blame someone for remembering those precious people you’ll never meet again?

“…”.

Ria also didn’t even jokingly mention those kinds of things to me.

Typically, Ria would throw her veil on her head carelessly, and during prayer time, she wouldn’t really pray earnestly either. She didn’t nod off outright like I did, but she wasn’t all in like other priests either.

But today was different.

Ria’s mother also passed due to the aftermath of that disaster. It wasn’t on September 10th, but while everyone else was quietly praying, laying down white flowers, she respectfully joined in and prayed.

Both Ria and I hid our hair beneath our veils today. Regardless of religion, we dressed as neatly as we could and prayed.

A faint light started emanating from the bodies of the priests. It was Saint Power. This was the kind of scene you would commonly see at a church during this time. I hadn’t gone to any other churches—but—

“…Ah.”

Someone made a sound like that. People looked up at the sky.

From above, a white light was descending.

…This was a sight I had never seen before.

It must be because of me. My body was probably connected a bit more to the divine realm, making it more receptive to such Saint Power.

I felt some of the gazes among the people glance at me, but I just remained quietly seated among the other nuns as usual.

＊

The unexpected event happened the next day.

“Sister Maria.”

September 11th, the day after the memorial.

Someone came looking for us.

No, more accurately, someone came looking for Ria.

“There’s a visitor for you.”

At the Sister Warden’s words, Ria and I, who were sweeping the courtyard with brooms, exchanged glances for a moment.

“Me?”

I didn’t exactly have any visitors. In the original work, Han Yu-ri and Lee Si-yoon would find various reasons to come over, but in this world, there was no reason for that to happen anymore.

Instead, Ria and I, along with Glaria and Davi, who were still residing in the convent, regularly attended classes at the association.

But even so, visitors for Ria couldn’t be all that many either. Ria’s acquaintances would bump into her at the association anyway, so there wasn’t much of a reason to come visit, and most people would get rejected if they tried to request a visit to the convent.

Hence, Ria looked a bit perplexed as she approached the Sister Warden, and I followed right behind her—but—

“It’s a visitor looking for Sister Maria.”

The Sister Warden shook her head.

We exchanged glances once again.

“…Ah.”

Ria had a look that seemed to guess who might have come.

“If it’s my father, just tell him to leave.”

“…”

It seemed Ria’s statement was correct, as the Sister Warden let out a light sigh.

“I’m actually more comfortable here.”

“…Ria.”

I stared blankly at Ria for a moment.

In the original work, Lee Chae-eun was depicted as desperately wanting to escape this place, but she would say such things now about how much more comfortable she felt here.

“Um… Ria?”

I cautiously called out to Ria.

Ria, who had been sweeping, turned her gaze toward me.

“Still… he came all this way, wouldn’t it be nice to at least show your face?”

…I may not like all my parents, but there were times when I felt nostalgic for family too.

“I—”

Ria raised her head with an angry expression, and when her eyes suddenly met mine, she closed her mouth. That expression crumbled rapidly.

What kind of face did I make?

“…”

Ria, for a moment, looked like she was deep in thought.

I hesitated for a moment, then carefully suggested,

“Ria, if it’s too hard, would you like me to come with you?”

“Huh?”

“I’m not sure why your father came, but it seems it could possibly be related to me.”

“…”

Ria was looking at me as if she thought what I was saying was absurd, but then she burst out laughing as if realizing something.

“Wow, you really mean it?”

“Yeah, let’s do that.”

Ria said.

“If you want to, then go ahead and meet him. What? Are you expecting some kind of prophecy again?”

“No, it’s nothing like that.”

What was it, though?

…I just wanted to help a bit. Just like how I gain courage from various situations, I wanted to give Ria some courage too.

“Let’s give it a try.”

Seeing Ria regain her smile, I felt somewhat relieved.