Chapter 108

There was a magic potion that made embarrassment disappear.

Well, it’s not really “magic.” If you had to put a label on it, it’s more like biochemistry or human physiology at work.

That’s right. It’s alcohol.

Still, I’m a person with a conscience, so I at least warned Ria.

“Ria, don’t drink too much.”

“Hmm.”

Since Ria had once made a big mistake after drinking, she looked at the cans in front of us as if they were a major dilemma.

The cans didn’t look that dangerous. In fact, just judging by their colors, they seemed like they’d be fine to drink. One was pink with a peach on it, and the other was light green with a grape on it.

Indeed, it was a low-alcohol, fruity, sparkling soju known as Chuhai.

The alcohol content was low, and the sweet flavor masked the smell of alcohol, making it easy to keep drinking until you’re totally out of it.

“Oh, you know, it’s totally fine if I don’t drink at all.”

I said to Ria.

“It seems you’re not good with alcohol…”

As I said this with a somewhat worried expression, Ria narrowed her eyes at me.

Seeing that expression, I couldn’t help but chuckle inwardly.

Ria had a lot of pride. I’d read about it in the novel, but from spending quite some time with her, I figured out that she didn’t like being called weak.

“……”

Ria picked up a can, opened it, and took a few big gulps.

“Are you okay?”

“Hey, I can drink beer, you know?”

When I asked, trying to look overly worried, Ria responded with a look that signaled her pride was being hurt.

“Oh, is that so? That’s a relief.”

I smiled as I said it.

It seemed Ria had caught on that I was teasing her, but she wasn’t about to back down easily.

“I can handle this much,” she probably thought.

Lee Si-yoon, Han Yu-ri, and Glaria looked a bit baffled by our exchange, but honestly, it didn’t matter to us anymore.

***

We were at the beach, so we would drink and eat meat.

The facility Ria borrowed was originally a space used by the Hunter Association. It seemed like a training spot for their staff, so it felt a bit too spacious for just us.

Even so, I felt a bit bad about messing up the entire place, so we decided to only use two rooms on the first floor.

One of the rooms had a nice balcony with a clear view of the ocean.

As for why we had two rooms for this amount of people, it was obviously because of Si-yoon. He was the only guy.

But still, there was probably no way that Si-yoon would sleep alone in one room. This was a romantic comedy novel, after all.

Considering the personalities of the three of them, they wouldn’t cross any lines, but now that they had just become ’adults,’ they were bound to sneak into Si-yoon’s room somehow.

“Si-yoon?”

“Oh, yeah?”

And it wasn’t just about finding a room. Since we had come all the way here, isn’t it a shame to just stay in the room?

At Ria’s request, we secured a space to grill meat. The area was quite large, but again, it felt a bit too much to use it all, so we decided to just take a corner for ourselves.

I felt bad seeing Si-yoon grilling meat all alone, so I went over to help him, and he looked a bit flustered.

To be honest, since we arrived here, Si-yoon had been feeling a little awkward. After all, he was the only guy surrounded by girls in swimsuits.

If I recalled Si-yoon’s thoughts as depicted in the novel, he may have secretly enjoyed it. His gentlemanly nature just kept him from acting on it.

In reality, the Saintess should have already been infatuated with Si-yoon at this point.

Having awakened his powers, he was fighting at the forefront, helping her during every ritual she conducted.

But if you had to choose someone who felt the most awkward with Si-yoon right now, it would be Ria and me. The two heroines who once fought side by side were now quite distant.

A small part of me felt sorry for that. In a sense, I had taken two connections from the protagonist.

“Should I help you out?”

I asked, feeling guilty.

“I can grill meat, you know.”

In my past life, I had grilled quite a bit. During office gatherings, I often found myself in the situation where I had to prepare food. Even if everyone around me was of lower rank, it felt a bit rude to just eat while making others serve me.

“Oh, really?”

Si-yoon’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Well, I had my chances.”

I decided to brush it off like that. I mean, it wasn’t like I had no chances at all. Even nuns would have picnics from time to time, after all. Though it was more like a picnic enjoyed within the church grounds.

“Okay, so just let me take the tongs and you can go over there with Yuri—”

“Hey!”

Just as I was trying to set things up, a voice shouted from afar.

Both Si-yoon and I flinched, startled.

Turning around, a stunning red-haired beauty came striding toward us.

The nun dashed straight to me—

“Ria, what’s going on!?”

She pinched my cheek hard.

“What are you doing?”

What am I doing, you ask? I was just trying to help Si-yoon, who had been grilling meat alone since earlier.

Of course, Glaria and that maid couldn’t eat the meat. I thought maybe they could eat a little since last time they seemed to manage some fries that were deep-fried in chicken oil, but I suppose they really just had to be starving to have eaten that.

Now, they were sitting a bit farther away, munching on lettuce dipped in sauce.

Han Yu-ri had gone to grab some drinks from the fridge.

“What do you mean, what am I doing?”

I asked, flustered.

“It looks like you’re doing it all by yourself, so I wanted to lend a hand—”

“You can’t do that. It’s bad for a Saintess.”

Huh?

What? Why is that a problem?

With her face flushed and her eyes narrowed, Ria seemed to want to remove her hands from my face, but—

“Ri-Ria!?”

She pulled me in, wrapping her arms around my shoulder.

It wasn’t just a simple arm-around-the-shoulder move; she was holding on with way too much force. It was a half-headlock, half-hug situation, which made me hunch over.

“Ria, hold on—”

“Hey.”

“Oh, yeah?”

When Ria called out, Si-yoon replied, blinking in surprise.

“You shouldn’t get too close to her.”

“Uh, okay.”

It seemed Si-yoon could only nod after being pushed into a corner.

“She’s a nun—a nun. The one who’ll be a Saintess. You got that?”

“Uh, Ria, I feel like you’ve been repeating the same thing over and over since earlier!?”

Feeling my torso being bent forward more and more, I shouted.

At this rate, I might really end up in a headlock!

Ria’s strength was impressive. If she really tightened her grip, it would hurt a lot.

No matter how much I tried to push her away with my arms, drunk Ria’s body wouldn’t budge.

“Hey, it seems Anna is a bit uncomfortable.”

“Uncomfortable? Hmph.”

At Si-yoon’s words, Ria eased her grip a bit.

But before I could escape, Ria’s hands just shifted from my shoulder to my waist.

Pulling me tightly against her, Ria started walking towards a place away from Si-yoon.

“Okay, Ria, I get it. I’m sorry! I won’t say again that I can’t drink.”

“You can’t say that.”

But whether she heard my words or not, Ria looked at me seriously and said exactly the same thing. The atmosphere felt a bit different this time, though.

For a moment, I lost my words.

Even if she was drunk, Ria was still Ria. She’s someone I personally trust immensely—at least, she’s the person I trust the most in this world. If necessary, she could be someone I’d risk my life for.

Pretty, capable, and deeply thoughtful.

Initially, it felt like she was perfectly flawless, and I was a tad envious of that, but the more I spend time with her, the more I realize she isn’t some superhuman.

As often described in the novel, Ria had scars and concerns of her own.

And I was included in her ‘concerns.’

After telling her so many times to trust me, how many times did I walk into danger myself?

There were times I ended up hurt badly instead of her. If Ria hadn’t rescued me during that incident in the Dwarf Kingdom, the injuries on my hand would have been a lot worse.

Those were wounds that didn’t heal easily even with Saint Power, and it could have genuinely turned dangerous.

“You asked me to protect you, right?”

Ria said with a small hiccup.

“……”

“You asked me to believe in you, right?”

“……Yes, that was it. I believe in you, Ria.”

“Okay.”

Ria nodded at my words.

Then, still holding me, she flopped down onto a chair.

The position was quite awkward in many ways. Sitting me on her lap, Ria clutched me tightly in her embrace.

It felt a bit hot. Along with the smell of alcohol, a sweet fruity scent wafted from Ria.

I had also drunk a little earlier. If you ask me, I probably drank more than Maria.

With the slight buzz from the alcohol, the smell of the drink, and Ria’s body temperature feeling warmer than usual, I found myself feeling a little tipsy too.

“Alright, Ria. I’ll believe you.”

“Okay.”

Ria nodded and tightened her grip on me. Then she cuddled me even closer into her embrace.

“Got it.”

As I said that, Ria’s voice seemed to have grown a bit more relieved.

I smiled faintly and stayed hugged in that warmth for a while.