Chapter 144
Yusti-ah, the Saintess of the Goddess Church, received an oracle from the Goddess the day after she returned from the Western Region with the Mage.
She had overexerted herself a little yesterday treating the plague patients, so opening her eyes in the morning was unusually difficult.
Thus, as she sat up in bed and stared blankly at the wall, a voice suddenly echoed in her head.
[The Saint saved two Cultists yesterday.]
It was an oracle handed down after a long time, so she was startled and her body flinched on its own.
However, as she chewed over those words, wasn’t there something strange?
Currently, there is only one Saint in the Goddess Church.
He was someone Yusti-ah knew very well; it was none other than Franz.
And she had been stuck with him all day, yet she hadn’t felt even a hint of such a thing, if it was yesterday.
“W-what in the world does that…”
[It would be better to hear the details directly. And please don’t scold him too much. He seems to be very worried about this matter as well.]
By throwing out a topic and then not telling her the important part, how could she be so unkind?
Of course, no matter what the Goddess said, she would have tried to confirm the truth with him anyway.
In the end, it didn’t make much difference that she had to meet him.
[Ah, it might be fine to blackmail him with this. Is that like threatening to spread this fact to the church if he doesn’t give you a child?]
“…W-what in the world are you saying?! I could never do such a thing, not even over my dead body…!”
[So you just need to be dead? You’re a surprisingly easy woman.]
That was strictly a metaphorical expression meaning it was absolutely impossible, not the literal meaning of the words.
And there was no way the Goddess wouldn’t know that fact.
Yusti-ah had so much she wanted to say, but she substituted it with a sigh.
Dragging the conversation out unnecessarily would likely only make her head hurt more.
However, she ended up hearing words she absolutely could not tolerate.
[Ah, for reference, the two Cultists he saved are young half-elves. Girls, of course.]
Young girls, and half-elves at that.
If it were other nobles, she would have thought their intentions were impure.
What they would be thinking was obvious without even having to ask.
But since it was Franz, she needed to think about it a little.
It made sense, considering he had slept in the same bed with four women while dead drunk and hadn’t done a single thing.
It was hard to think that a person with such outstanding self-control would have saved them with impure intentions.
If that idiot had laid a hand on her then, things would be a little more comfortable now…
“W-what am I thinking…”
[Fufu-, can I look forward to it?]
“Please be quiet…!”
[Anyway, I’m asking this of you. Of course, he would have told you eventually, but it wouldn’t be bad to gain leverage over him using this opportunity, right?]
Her conversation with the Goddess ended with that.
She had wondered if another incident was breaking out since an oracle was suddenly handed down, but she felt like she had only worried for naught.
'Is this the first time we’ve had such a long conversation…?'
She had always hated the Goddess since that day.
Perhaps that was why the Goddess hadn’t spoken to her much either.
Since when exactly had that hatred softened?
It was probably after she had that conversation with Franz on the hill that day.
She had shared the words she couldn’t confess to anyone else with him, and they had cursed freely together.
If she had to pick one special person who would change her life…
“Since the Goddess said it, I should confirm it first.”
Perhaps that would be Franz.
Yusti-ah immediately got up from the bed.
A faint smile was spreading across her face.
However, she herself was unaware of that fact.
* * *
After visiting the 5th Basement Floor with Arian, Franz returned to the Magic Tower Lord’s Office and was handling his work at a moderate pace.
Thanks to the efforts of the administrative staff, the paperwork had decreased significantly, giving him an abundance of time.
Slurp-.
Thanks to that, he was able to enjoy warm, steaming tea like this, so he couldn’t be happier.
Of course, he knew that this kind of leisure wouldn’t last very long.
Just the tasks looming right in front of him were enough to make him feel like he had more work than he could handle.
But that was exactly why he felt he should enjoy days like this even more.
“You have to work properly when you work, and rest properly when you rest.”
Yes, absolutely. I should enjoy it while I can.
Franz was thinking that and leisurely enjoying his tea.
Suddenly, the door opened and Arian came in.
With a rather troubled expression, she hesitated, which was rare for her, and spoke.
“Um, Magic Tower master.”
“What is it?”
“The Saintess is here. But, um…”
What in the world was going on for her to stall like this?
The moment Franz thought that, she finished her sentence.
“She seems to be quite angry.”
“…Send her up for now.”
Arian silently bowed her head and slipped out of the room.
Franz could tell why Yusti-ah was angry without having to ask anyone.
“That damn Goddess finally caused an accident.”
The Goddess had said she gave Yusti-ah a hint, and Franz had hoped that the story wasn’t about Zeni-ah and Seri-ah.
But given how the situation was turning out, it seemed that hope had been meaningless.
He had planned to take some time and decide what to do, but he had lost the opportunity to do so.
'Since it’s come to this, it can’t be helped.'
Lying pointlessly didn’t suit his temperament, and it wouldn’t be polite to her either.
So he had no choice but to speak honestly and listen to her bitter words.
Don’t they say it’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission?
Surely it wouldn’t be a big deal.
…Probably.
Not long after that, the tightly closed door opened.
The ones who entered the Magic Tower Lord’s Office were, naturally, Arian and Yusti-ah.
Just as he had heard, Yusti-ah’s expression was full of anger.
“Yusti-ah, what’s the matter?”
Franz forced himself to pretend he didn’t know anything as he spoke.
As long as Arian was still in the Magic Tower Lord’s Office to serve tea, it was too early to bring up the main topic.
“Well. I thought we should have a little talk.”
Holding a thick book containing the doctrines of the Goddess Church in her hands, she sat on the sofa.
He could feel her emotions even in that simple action, giving him a premonition that things wouldn’t go so smoothly from here on out.
“Then I’ll be going.”
Arian, having placed two cups of tea on the table, bowed her head in greeting.
Normally, she would have gauged the mood and gotten under Yusti-ah’s skin, but she had rarely tucked her tail between her legs like this.
As Arian left, the only people remaining in the Magic Tower Lord’s Office were Franz and Yusti-ah, just the two of them.
Slurp-.
Yusti-ah, who sipped her tea with an elegant motion, spoke.
“An oracle came down this morning. It was about you. So if you have anything to say to me, please do it now. Before I bring it up myself.”
Her sunken tone coldly conveyed her feelings.
She was angry, but she was still holding it in.
“Right, I’ll tell you.”
Franz confessed the facts of what happened that day to Yusti-ah, just as he had planned.
How he met Zeni-ah and Seri-ah when he stepped away, and so on and so forth.
This is how he heard them say they would do anything, and so on and so forth.
She, who had been listening to the story while sipping her tea with a calm expression, set her teacup down with a clatter.
“You do know what it means for a Saint to have saved Cultists, right?”
“Yeah, I know.”
“Franz, I’m truly disappointed in you.”
Even though he had fully expected it, hearing it directly stung quite a bit.
It was even more so because he thought they had been maintaining a fairly good relationship lately.
However, Yusti-ah’s following words deviated a little from Franz’s expectations.
“Why didn’t you consult me about it first? Am I, am I that untrustworthy? Do I look like the kind of person who would go around exposing that you did such a thing?”
“No, it’s not like that. I just missed the timing to tell you, but I was planning to tell you honestly later.”
“Really…”
Yusti-ah let out a long sigh and leaned her stiffly upright body against the sofa.
Her noticeably protruding lips and her attitude of deliberately avoiding his gaze showed that she was sulking.
Only then could Franz also take a breather.
Because it meant she wasn’t actually that angry.
“I hope you didn’t save those children with impure intentions. Otherwise, I might kill you with my own hands.”
Lately, it has seemed he has been hearing the word 'kill' quite a lot from women.
However, the feeling was different between Yusti-ah and Arian.
He could take what Arian spat out as a moderate joke, but Yusti-ah’s words didn’t sound like a joke at all.
When the villainess who would lead the world to ruin said she would kill him, who wouldn’t be afraid?
Of course, since he hadn’t saved them with impure intentions, he wouldn’t be killed anyway.
“Anyway, since I’ve come this far, I need to see those children too.”
“Right, let’s go see them together.”
In the end, Franz headed to the 5th Basement Floor with Yusti-ah.
“Um, the Saintess of the Goddess Church is as pretty as I’ve heard.”
“Fufu-, as expected, the children forgiven by the Goddess are different.”
It seemed Zeni-ah would definitely be good at socializing.
At the very least, she wouldn’t be bullied in the Magic Tower from now on.
Having had a moderate conversation with the two of them like that, he naturally expected Yusti-ah to return, but…
“You haven’t been able to study the doctrines at all until now, right? Let’s start today.”
It seemed she had no intention of returning easily.