Chapter 20
Though the difference was subtle, the sapling had definitely grown.
‘…Not bad.’
But the goddess made a huge fuss over the tree, which had done nothing more than grow by a barely perceptible amount.
-No-no, no-no! That’s bad! I mean, it’s not a good thing!
“Isn’t it good if it grows quickly?”
-No! The tree will develop a consciousness!
“..Is that a bad thing?”
At most, I figured, it would only mean having to watch the tree’s mood whenever I pruned its branches or picked its fruit.
It didn’t seem problematic enough to warrant such a negative reaction from the goddess.
I wondered whether gaining consciousness would cause some other problem and waited for her answer.
-I’m not joking—you really have to be careful! In only a thousand years, it’ll gain consciousness and become a World Tree!
“…? Is a thousand years really long enough for that to be dangerous?”
-Extremely dangerous!
The goddess explained, sounding genuinely afraid.
-My mom said she was careless like that once and lost all the elves who had been her believers to a World Tree!
“…”
‘Even if I live out my natural lifespan and die, I don’t think I’ll live to see it become a World Tree.’
Since that was hardly a serious side effect, I ignored the goddess’s warning and continued sprinkling Heal over the sapling.
If possible, I wanted it to grow quickly just like this and bear fruit.
-Eeeek! My believers are being stolen away!
The goddess’s scream rang directly in my eardrums.
“..You hardly have any believers to lose in the first place.”
-That’s mean! And there aren’t many, but it’s not like I have none!
“If you’re that worried, I’ll cut it down before I die, so please don’t worry too much.”
At that, the screaming voice quieted.
-You promise..?
“If you’re anxious, I’ll even write it in my will.”
The goddess was truly troublesome.
-Hehe, then give me breakfast!
And I mean that in more ways than one.
“Since it’s breakfast, I’ll make something simple.”
What I prepared was really nothing special.
It was a breakfast consisting of nothing more than splitting bread in half and filling it with salad.
-Nom nom
-It’s delicious, hehe.
Perhaps my cooking wasn’t bad, because her reaction seemed quite positive.
Priest Malja felt the same way.
“It’s delicious! ..But aren’t you eating again, Priest?”
“My stomach feels unwell. As one gets older, one’s stomach can sometimes feel uncomfortable from the morning onward, so please understand, young Priest Malja.”
This time, it wasn’t merely something I said to smooth things over.
It was genuinely because my stomach felt unwell.
For that reason, I had no choice but to head to the clinic without breakfast for once.
‘Come to think of it, while I’m hosting the saintess, the clinic will be a problem too.’
I couldn’t be in two places at once, so I would inevitably have to neglect one of the two duties.
And the clinic would most likely be the one to suffer.
‘Hmm, no. I can just bring the saintess to the clinic and put her to work. Problem solved.’
Since she was a saintess, she should have no trouble using a healing miracle or two.
Even now that Priest Margaret had run away, the more people there were to help at the clinic, the better.
If the lord found out, he’d have a fit.
The clinic I arrived at was in chaos, unlike usual.
It wasn’t because there were too many patients, though.
The reason was obvious. Priest Margaret, the group’s leader, was away.
“Isn’t there a proper priest here?! My arm is broken right now! Instead of putting on some pathetic medicine or splint, bring me a priest who knows how to use miracles!”
A noisy shout rang out.
The man in question appeared to be a nobleman from his clothes.
Perhaps because he looked insolent and was a nobleman besides, the ordinary priests were suffering without even being able to lay a hand on him.
This was something that would never have happened when Priest Margaret was there.
In this situation, I quietly approached the man.
The first to react was the female priest who had been looking flustered.
“Priest Flawy!”
Her face brightened as if she had seen a savior.
Only then did the nobleman turn to look this way.
“Are you the priest of flowers? You came at just the right time. I’ve seriously injured my arm—cough.”
Before he could finish speaking, I moved behind him and put him in a light chokehold.
“I’m sorry, but we don’t serve entitled nuisances here.”
Unable to withstand the pressure on his neck, the nobleman lost consciousness and went limp.
I wanted to send him back like that without even applying a splint, but that would only get the clinic staff in trouble for no reason.
With no other choice, I treated his broken arm, then met the eyes of his attendant, who was sweating bullets, and warned him.
“This gentleman merely fainted for a moment because his blood pressure rose. Fortunately, I took appropriate measures and he recovered safely, so take him home like this.”
“..Th-Then I will, Priest.”
Fortunately, the attendants were more sensible than their master.
“Indeed, without Priest Margaret, the troublemakers are swarming in.”
“Haha..”
The female priest could hardly agree and merely gave an awkward laugh.
After that, drawing on my past experience running a clinic, I worked through the cases.
Among them was a troublesome child following the noble nuisance.
A little patient had a fish bone stuck in their throat, but they refused to open their mouth because they were scared.
In the end, I couldn’t perform the procedure and had no choice but to treat them with Heal.
“Priest!”
“Yes.”
“I want strawberry medicine, strawberry medicine.”
“No, I’m giving you pumpkin medicine.”
“Waaah!”
Although there was no need to prescribe medicine, I made the child cry out of spite.
-But does strawberry medicine really exist?
‘Surely it doesn’t.’
-Bummer.
‘I have no idea where she learned to talk like that.’
I had been rushing around like that for some time when it happened.
As the afternoon arrived and the number of patients began to dwindle, the final patient entered.
The patient was an elderly woman.
She wore a faint smile and even had light makeup on her face, giving the impression of a well-off lady.
“Young priest, I came because my back hurts. Can I receive treatment?”
Her intonation and manner of speaking were equally elegant, making it clear that she had received a proper education.
But I couldn’t possibly mistake her.
“Please don’t play around, Priest Margaret.”
“Tsk, you recognized me?”
The elegant elderly woman immediately scowled.
“Just keep your mouth shut for now. I took leave without telling the church folks, so I’d be in trouble if I attracted attention here.”
‘So the lord wasn’t the only one who got fooled.’
I silently offered my condolences to the people of the Earth Church.
“But if you were worried about that, couldn’t you simply have stayed away?”
“Hmph, looking at the state of the clinic, how could I not worry?”
It seemed she had come because she was worried about the clinic.
“On top of that, I hear some noble wastrel caused a commotion.”
“I knocked him out and sent him home in good condition.”
“Reassuring. Very well done.”
After praising me once, apparently satisfied, Priest Margaret checked for eavesdroppers and lowered her voice.
“Now that I’ve been found out, I might as well tell you. You must have heard the news by now too.”
I could easily guess what she intended to say.
“You mean the news that the Sun Church’s saintess is coming?”
“That’s right.”
She nodded in agreement.
“And do you know why the saintess is coming?”
“I haven’t heard that.”
But I had my own theory.
The Gallery had brought it up once, after all.
“The Sun Church’s saintess is coming because of a demon.”
‘So the Gallery’s theory was right.’
The speculation had been true.
However, I pretended not to know and asked,
“Has a demon been summoned?”
But surprisingly, Priest Margaret shook her head.
“If it had been summoned, that would actually be fortunate.”
“..?”
At the word fortunate, I furrowed my brow in genuine puzzlement this time, rather than acting.
It was difficult to imagine a situation serious enough for demon summoning to be considered fortunate.
“Summoning a demon isn’t something a saintess of her standing would need to handle personally. That’s what inquisitors and holy knights are for in the first place.”
Priest Margaret pressed a hand to her forehead, looking troubled.
After a brief silence, she sighed and barely managed to speak.
“A demon crawled in on its own.”
Without even a summoning ritual.
I pondered the meaning of those words.
Based on what I had learned while studying theology, only one possibility came to mind.
“Could it be the Demon King?”
But Priest Margaret shook her head, saying it wasn’t that.
“Fortunately, it isn’t the Demon King. No, perhaps ‘fortunate’ isn’t the right word—it may be even worse.”
At this answer, I could no longer hold back and had to say something.
“Don’t draw it out. You’re making me anxious.”
“Tsk.”
At my nagging, Priest Margaret shot me a sidelong glance, then finally spat out the answer.
“To put it simply, a front door that had been shut was opened.”
It was an incomprehensible analogy. But the explanation that followed made it more or less clear.
“This land isn’t locked, but its front door is closed. That’s why people from other worlds sometimes trickle in, and rotten people pry open gaps in that door to summon demons.”
“…”
“But some madman flung that front door wide open, even wedging it so it wouldn’t close.”
One person came to mind.
‘So this is about the former head mod.’