The Church Region was essentially like a gigantic monastery.
Being the very heart of the Church of the Celestial God, which held sway over the entire continent, it could be deemed the holiest of places, especially since it was the residence of the Pope, the very symbol of the Church.
Because of this, anything related to entertainment or gambling couldn’t even set foot there, naturally leading the whole Church Region to take on the character of a monastery. It wasn’t intentional, but that’s how it ended up.
So, Yona, Alex, and Kaiyak had nothing else to do.
Day by day, their routine consisted of simply passing time.
“Hey, Al… huh?”
Yona flung open Alex’s door.
She thought he might be sleeping since there was no answer to her knock, but it didn’t seem likely he’d be sleeping in broad daylight, so she opened the door, only to find the room completely empty.
“Where the heck did he go?”
She had planned for Rubina to come over and hang out with Alex too, but the room’s owner was nowhere to be found, ruining that plan.
‘What is this? Why did he leave without telling me? What, is he with another girl… no, that can’t be it.’
Forcibly bending her thoughts away from that weird direction, Yona closed her eyes tightly.
This sort of thing had been happening more than once lately.
Whenever she thought of Alex, even if he hadn’t done anything weird, her mind kept drifting to the idea of another girl being around him.
And that’s when the anger starts bubbling up.
Getting angry, her temper flaring, it was just an incomprehensible flow of thoughts.
What made her even angrier was that just imagining another girl next to Alex made her blood boil.
Why should she care if there was another girl beside that guy? Why was she getting mad? — After pondering over and over, Yona reached a rather simple conclusion.
‘Of course I’d be mad if some other girl snatched away the warrior I’ve raised so carefully.’
This was her conclusion.
Yona believed this was a perfectly valid reason that left her somewhat satisfied.
She even wondered if it might be jealousy, but that couldn’t be it.
There’s no way Yona would feel such girly emotions.
Her body might be female, but her mind — well, she was beginning to feel unsure about that too — but anyway, she still didn’t want to acknowledge she was a girl. Not that she could deny it as strongly as before either.
“…Ugh, seriously, why am I thinking such strange things again?”
Yona slapped her cheeks hard.
A stinging pain rushed in, followed by her cheeks starting to flush.
Pain surged like a burst of flames, and then my cheeks began to flush.
Every time that jerk Alex got involved, my thoughts spiraled out of control, making it feel like this was no way for a person to act.
“…I’ll wait for Rubina.”
Yona slammed the door to Alex’s room and returned to her own, pondering what to tell the excited Rubina, who was looking forward to playing with Alex.
*
“It’s been a while, Your Grace.”
“Erm.”
An awkward silence pervaded Pope Akzel IV’s office.
In the midst of that long silence, Alex’s quiet voice spread, while Pope Akzel IV, with his eyes closed, scratched his beard.
“…Have you been well, Johannes?”
“It’s Alex now. That name has long been discarded.”
When the request for an audience came in, Pope Akzel IV was taken aback.
A request from an adventurer who frequented with Yona made him wonder what bold adventurer was hoping to meet with the Pope alone. But when he saw the name on the request form, he was greatly astonished.
“Johannes Spilban is not a name to be taken lightly.”
“Is that so? It’s just a name, after all, so it wasn’t hard to let it go. I’m glad to see you’re in good health, Your Grace.”
Finally opening his eyes, Pope Akzel IV faced Alex’s smiling face.
It was a face that had changed quite a bit.
Entering his prime youth, with a balding head and sun-kissed brown skin, Johannes had now become the young man known as Alex.
“You’ve also changed a lot.”
“Time flows on. Three years isn’t a short time, after all.”
“Is that so? Yes, that would be the case. Three years for an old man and three years for a young man cannot be the same. Yes… that would be right.”
“That’s right. As you said, Your Grace, your three years and my three years cannot be the same. So…”
Alex took a small breath.
Gathering strength in his belly.
“Please release me now. Though it wasn’t lengthy, I’ve devoted my life to the Church of the Celestial God and made considerable contributions. I’ve been grounded in prohibition for three years. Isn’t that enough?”
“…Prohibition, prohibition.”
“Yes. Isn’t it fair to say I’ve done enough?”
Pope Akzel IV sank deep into thought.
Alex, the former knight of the Cathedral and commander of the Holy Mission, had directly defied the Church’s internal decisions. The punishment handed down to him was indeed prohibition.
The decision that had been imposed on him was a divine restraint.
All divine power was sealed, and if he tried to use it forcibly, he would have to bear the pain of his entire body burning like fire from the demon realm. Moreover, anyone who knew even a little about it would be unable to recognize him, resulting in a kind of cognitive impairment.
Many believed that the divine restraint imposed by the Church of the Celestial God, second only to execution, was excessive even at that time.
However, the elders of the church wanted the punishment of the divine restraint because of Alex’s hot-headed personality, his fiery temper, and what they perceived as a somewhat twisted faith within the Church of the Celestial God.
It was also difficult for Pope Akzel IV to strongly oppose the decision of the vast majority of elders regarding the divine restraint.
“Three years, three years… it has already been that long.”
Alex’s remark about whether it wasn’t enough was valid.
It was an unprecedented decision, and losing divine power meant that a cathedral knight, strengthened by their divine abilities, would find that their remaining physical strength wasn’t that great.
No one would have thought that Alex would survive this long.
But now, time had passed, and Alex was here, demanding the lifting of the divine restraint.
“Alright. I will talk to the elders. Your arguments are reasonable.”
The Pope’s words about speaking directly to the elders were a kind of backdoor assurance that indicated a positive judgment despite the surface appearance.
The Pope’s position, which couldn’t give a definitive answer in words, and his commitment to act personally to persuade the elders, showed a kind of response through action rather than just words.
“I’ll be waiting.”
Alex clenched his fist.
If the divine restraint was lifted, most of the problems could be resolved.
His divine power was not lacking at all, and the physical strength of a cathedral knight shone through divine power, so he would be able to prevent Yona from having trouble and stop Vervaria from running amok.
“What about Sekti?”
As soon as that name was mentioned, Alex’s face hardened.
He couldn’t understand why Sekti’s name suddenly came up.
He thought that the problem regarding Sekti was resolved when he left the cathedral and assumed she was doing well.
“…Even if you lift the divine restraint, I won’t be returning as a cathedral knight. I’ll remain a missionary knight, so there’s no reason for me to meet Sekti.”
“Is that so?”
Pope Akzel IV nodded.
If his determination was firm, there was no need to shake things up.
Sekti was stable now, and bringing Johannes— no, Alex— into the picture would only throw that stability into chaos.
As long as Alex himself wasn’t looking to meet Sekti, that was enough. There was no need to stir things up further.
“Then, I’ll be on my way.”
“Sure. Got it. Ah, and, Johannes— no, Alex.”
“Yes?”
Uncomfortably rising, Alex glanced back at Pope Akzel IV.
The pope’s intense gaze was directed squarely at Alex.
“…Is that healer Yona trustworthy? You’ve been around her for a while, haven’t you? I’m asking if you think she’s reliable.”
Without a moment’s hesitation, Alex nodded.
If he couldn’t trust Yona, it would be hard to find anyone truly trustworthy in the Church of the Celestial God.
At least to Alex, Yona held far more value than the entire church combined.
“She’s the most priest-like person I’ve ever seen. Absolutely.”
“…Is that so? Understood.”
With that, Pope Akzel IV fell silent.
Alex also remained quiet, giving a final nod before exiting the office.
*
“Phew, oh…”
It felt strange how hot it became at night.
Now even with the window wide open, it was just getting hotter, and something felt off.
Yona was thrashing about on the bed.
The heat surging from her left arm only intensified with time, spreading throughout her entire body and clouding her vision.
It wasn’t that she was in pain.
Even she realized this was not about pain or no pain.
The sweet itch starting from her lower abdomen was a sensation she was well acquainted with.
She wished she didn’t know it at all, but quite a while ago, during that encounter with Alex, she had already experienced that feeling.
And that sensation was the very thing she was now desperately longing for. The gentle touch that caressed her chest felt so familiar and missed.
Thank goodness no one was beside her.
“Mm, mmm… Ah, ha, ha, hmmm…”
The sultry moans flowing from her lips, too lost in ecstasy to even realize it, continued endlessly.
“Ah, Alex… you bald jerk… bad… guy…”
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