…Hmm.
I seriously thought while feeling the burning—or was it passionate?—gazes of the people around me.
I didn’t expect the reaction to be this intense.
Well, yeah. One could think that a demon praying is practically a miracle.
Uncovering the identity of a god that has existed for centuries, with nothing known about its name or appearance, is indeed an incredible feat.
But I never imagined it would cause such a ruckus.
“…Did you think something like this would happen?”
Rina asked, her voice bubbling with frustration.
“…No.”
And of course, my answer was predetermined.
Just for reference, it had been about three hours since we first prayed. Yet, the church was still packed with everyone who had been there. Rina hadn’t returned to the convent she was staying at, and of course, Selena and Jian were still stuck there waiting.
Where did it all go wrong?
I probably thought it went wrong the moment I faced Father Nguyen, who came running in with a bunch of white papers when we finished praying.
Of course, Rina would argue that it all went wrong the moment I suggested we pray together, but I disagree. If Rina hadn’t been so astonished by the holy power swirling in her hand that she stared at it for so long, I wouldn’t have teased her, and naturally, she wouldn’t have rebuffed me, and we wouldn’t have stalled time until the priest arrived.
And if we had concluded things quickly, we wouldn’t have ended up in a situation like this, being stuck for at least three hours.
Of course, I wouldn’t say that if I had gone home, I wouldn’t have been called back shortly after.
…Ah, anyway, it’s not my fault.
“No, if I had known this would happen, I wouldn’t have done this.”
As I thought about it, my irritation flared, and I said to Rina, who was sitting next to me.
It just so happened that the place where we validated the holy power was the prayer room in the cathedral, and with two real clergymen watching us from behind, Rina didn’t have a chance to escape. The Mother Superior glanced over Rina, disappeared for a moment, and returned holding a nun’s outfit, which, unfortunately for Rina, fit her perfectly. After all, a master who had done the same job for decades looks different in some way.
“If you didn’t see this coming, you really lack learning ability. How many times have you gotten into trouble without realizing it?”
“……”
Are you hitting me with facts cowardly?
Well, facts are indeed the most useful weapon in a verbal battle.
“Then aren’t you the same? If you knew that everything I did would blow up like this without any chance to stop it, then you should’ve dodged it all on your own!”
“What the hell are you talking about!”
An obvious loud voice echoed in the cathedral’s hallway, which was supposed to be quiet. But that didn’t matter anymore. What mattered was not to refute the existence right in front of me—
“Ahem.”
—rather, it would be better to keep it down in the cathedral. Hearing Father Nguyen’s light cough, who had never once scolded or warned me since I became a saint, I tightly shut my mouth.
No matter how high my position in the church was, Father Nguyen was the highest person in this cathedral. As someone who held the title of saint and the status of a nun, it was somewhat awkward for me to disregard the words of the highest person in the cathedral to which my convent belonged.
Well, I was well aware that I had done something wrong.
“Then, Saint Clara, please come inside.”
Fortunately, it seemed that Father Nguyen didn’t really plan on scolding me. …Still, it was highly likely that the people in the reception room heard me yelling.
“……”
Without a word, I stood up and obeyed the priest’s words. I was painfully aware that I had done something very embarrassing for a saint. Rina pouted, showing a sullen face, but she didn’t yell anymore. As a demon born to seduce men, dealing with embarrassment was something Rina despised; she knew well how shameful her actions had been.
Moreover, Rina was still technically a nun.
“—Even though I look like this, I make sure to take my vacations.”
As soon as I entered the reception room, someone waiting for me suddenly said that.
“Well, in my case, calling it a vacation is just not working for a few days, but I do meet up with friends I shared a convent life with as a child and sometimes visit the mentor who guided me in my childhood. So it’s not like I just see them once in a while—”
Andreas, who was seated, resting her chin on the table, smiled at me.
“Looks like Sister Clara will meet me more often than my other friends. I’m starting to feel some internal intimacy blooming.”
…Honestly, the thought of developing internal intimacy with that person made me feel like I’d be dragged into even more trouble and become a workaholic, but it was true that we met way too often. In fact, last time, I called her personally.
“There’s nothing to worry about with other friends. Even the inquisitors are mostly just like priests. Except for those two, they’re basically just witnesses, so there’s no need for long questioning. It’s just a matter of confirming the facts.”
“Well, that’s a relief.”
With a sigh-laden response, I sat across from Andreas, who slightly nodded.
“Since the gender of the questioner and answerer matches, the mental burden should be a bit lighter.”
I wonder about that?
Honestly, I think anyone hearing of an inquisition for the first time would be terrified whether the inquisitor was male or female. Of course, that might not apply to Selena, Jian, Aurora, or Linea.
“I’ll be handling the inquiry regarding Hicks—no, Sister Hicks too.”
That was unavoidable if necessary. It was understood that Andreas might have the most information about Rina within the church, whether the Inquisition fully trusted her or not.
I could also guess that Andreas had suggested the convent where Rina stayed.
“Well… are you ready?”
Andreas asked while sliding a thick notebook she had spread out on the table toward herself. Within the opened notebook lay a cheap ballpoint pen that could have been found in any office. Its peculiar pairing with the luxurious leather notebook seemed odd.
I nodded, and Andreas clicked the button on the pen, producing a click sound. A thin nib popped out from the blunt end of the pen.
“First… um, let’s talk about that new god, as Sister Clara mentioned.”
And true to Andreas’s style, she dove straight into the most important part.
*
“Alright. Since the verification is complete, you may leave. Thank you for your hard work.”
The inquisitor spoke to Jian with a polite demeanor. At first, Jian thought he was being suspected because of his name, but seeing Clara and Rina take it all so calmly, he briefly wondered if the inquisitors were simply just names and nothing more, as they maintained a very businesslike attitude.
That wasn’t a bad thing. Even Rina, who was a demon, didn’t seem particularly tense. Rather, she wore a look of sheer annoyance and tiredness. Well, Rina always found almost anything others had her do to be annoying and tiresome. Perhaps that expression was just an extension of her personality.
As Jian stood up and lightly bowed, the inquisitor also bowed slightly towards him. He began gathering all the documents he had taken down regarding Jian’s testimony.
Jian mentioned that he had known about Demon God Baal’s identity long before and had thus come to stand as a witness, but the inquisitor didn’t seem inclined to pry into personal curiosities. There was a brief moment of surprise, but that was it.
Still, Jian was grateful for that attitude. If they had delved deeper, it would have been quite difficult to conceal the fact that he was a being powered by a demon.
With nothing more to say or ask, Jian turned and left the room.
The cathedral where Clara, Aurora, and Linea stayed was quite large within the region, but it had only one reception room. And with six people needing to give testimonies, if each person took ten minutes, that would take an hour.
Whether they’d considered Jian was a student who had to go to school the next day or were merely being efficient, they had generously allowed another room within the cathedral for him to testify. Jian was grateful for that.
“Oh, has the testimony finished?”
A priest from the local cathedral asked Jian, greeting him with a cheerful expression as if something nice had happened. Now that he thought about it, it seemed he had held that cheerful expression since witnessing Rina using her holy power earlier.
Was he so happy because that sight was almost miraculous? Jian pondered but realized he had rarely visited a cathedral since he was young. He had not doubted the existence of god, but neither had he actively practiced faith.
Now he was merely a disciple of two gods, wasn’t he?
Wait, is it three now?
He had no clear grasp of the difference between a disciple and a regular believer.
“The saintess is in the reception room giving her testimony. I have arranged for your friends to gather there once they finish their testimonies. Let’s head over.”
“Yes, let’s do that.”
Jian replied quietly as he followed the priest, the sound of their footsteps echoed in the corridor. Occasionally, they could faintly hear murmurs, unsure whether they were prayers or conversations.
“……”
In front of the reception room stood Rina, waiting. Leaning against the wall, she casually kicked the floor with the tip of one foot. No one was clinging to her, which might suggest she was trusted enough, right?
“Then please wait here for a moment.”
“Okay.”
Jian nodded, but Rina didn’t seem inclined to respond.
“……”
“……”
As the priest hurried off down the corridor, the two were engulfed in silence. With what had just been witnessed, Jian felt uncertain about what to say. He hadn’t forgotten the incredulous expression Rina had when she gazed in disbelief at the holy power emanating from her own hands.
Especially since Jian had his own deeds to reckon with.
The first one to break the silence was Rina.
“Hey.”
“Yeah?”
“Why did you ask me that question earlier?”
Rina slightly turned her head to glare at Jian and inquired.
“Uh, that….”
Jian hesitated for a moment. Should he come up with some excuse?
The truth was, that question had come out in a moment of impulse. Only after stating it did he realize the potential repercussions of Rina’s answer.
Still, he couldn’t say ‘everything,’ but in the end, it would yield the same conclusion whether he spoke up or not.
“I just wanted to know.”
Finally mustering the determination to not concoct an excuse, Jian answered.
It was probably nothing but a meddlesome question. No matter what happened to Rina then, it was a thing left in the past, and the perpetrator had long since perished. It was pointless to resurrect those memories.
He could also say that it was just a selfish question born from curiosity—a spur-of-the-moment inquiry arising from wanting to know about a friend’s experiences. He hadn’t anticipated that it would touch on such deep issues.
Fortunately, Rina didn’t seem particularly angry at Jian’s answer.
“…So, you were just curious about what happened back then?”
“…Yeah.”
At Jian’s answer, Rina rubbed her forehead.
“I thought someone who clearly knew so much would cause me to talk about it openly… I was curious about your thoughts, and you really just had none, huh?”
“……”
This time it was Jian’s turn to look for words.
“…Now I understand why you didn’t have anything to say afterward. You hear that you often get told you lack perception?”
After a heavy sigh, Rina queried, and Jian found himself lacking a retort. This was true; he had often been told he was oblivious.
“……”
“……”
A brief silence fell over the corridor.
“By the way, you did a great job of not saying anything while that was happening.”
In the awkward silence, it was Rina who spoke first again.
Clad in a nun’s outfit, Rina oddly suited it, contrary to expectations, yet there was something oddly out of place about it. Jian thought that was due to Rina’s manner of speaking. Until that point, the church members he had properly conversed with were Clara, Aurora, Linea, and Andreas.
They all had distinctive ways of speaking. Some used honorifics, while others spoke formally like a soldier.
Ah, of course, Father Turner was another, but… he was a man, and naturally, the preconceptions changed accordingly. But even so, he was quite characteristically different for a clergy member.
“What do you mean?”
“…You’re not seriously saying you forgot what I told you, are you?”
Seeing Rina narrow her eyes, Jian scratched the back of his head.
“Ah, that… I think you mean the time I asked for help in an empty classroom and revealed that I’m a demon.”
“Of course, I told Clara to not say a word about it.”
“…Ha.”
Rina let out a short laugh, perhaps in disbelief.
“Did you think it was necessary to keep that secret when it’s already out?!”
“Even so, it’s only right to keep the secret someone else asked you to keep. Back then, I didn’t want Clara to find out that I had that thought, right?”
“……”
Rina glared at Jian for a moment, then pouted.
“Mr. Loyalty, huh?”
Rina leaned her back against the wall and squatted down, spreading her legs and resting her arms on her knees, adopting a very delinquent pose. Jian realized it would not be strange if she held a cigarette in one hand.
And the most amusing part was that, even with that, Rina somehow suited the nun’s outfit. Though she would certainly have a fit if she heard that comment.
“What are you looking at?”
Jian seriously contemplated whether he should advise her how to sit modestly in a short skirt, but when Rina questioned him like that, he quietly averted his gaze. At least they were sitting side by side so it wasn’t too awkward.
“……”
“……”
For a brief moment, silence lingered again.
Since it was an old building, it seemed the soundproofing wasn’t proper, as muffled voices trickled in through the door. Jian couldn’t tell who was speaking or what they were saying.
After quite a while of silence, Rina abruptly began to speak.
“Make sure to keep that loyalty going forward. It’s probably not a bad thing to keep.”
With her hands raised above her head in a surrender-like gesture, Rina said that, and Jian couldn’t help but laugh.
“And keep an eye out for your perception too.”
Naturally, that comment couldn’t provoke any laughter.
*
“So, what kind of impact does the current situation have on the church?”
“Hmm? I don’t know about that.”
Andreas answered my question curtly, as if to say, what kind of question is that?
“…I’ve mentioned everything I know.”
Aside from the fact that I had lived in that other world and was a somewhat green-faced young man in this world, I actually revealed everything disclosed to the church: that I was favored not only by the goddess but also by the demon god, and demonstrated my faith in front of others to reinforce the barrier protecting Rina.
Yet, that person—she wasn’t willing to provide me with a proper answer on how the central government works.
Noticing my expression, Andreas smiled slightly and continued.
“Having restored a long-forgotten god whose existence was only known until now, of course, the church would need to re-examine its scriptures from the beginning. The aftermath of that is something I cannot predict all on my own.”
“Uh…?”
I opened my mouth as if to make a rebuttal, but once again, I found no plausible argument in my head; all that came out was some incoherent mumbling.
“If you are struggling to understand, think of it in archaeological terms. Imagine there was an ancient civilization that was only passed down through oral traditions, and one day, evidence of that civilization is discovered in the middle of a major city. As the literature of that civilization is pulled out and interpreted, it is likely that, although with varying degrees, similar content to the oral myths is found. What happens in the field of archaeology?”
“…It would probably go into upheaval.”
“Exactly. For ordinary people, it might just be a fascinating gossip, but it would trigger a cataclysm in academia.”
Listening to those words, I couldn’t help but turn pale.
That’s right. So right now, I was among the theology students and graduate students…!
“And unlike the long-vanished ancient civilizations, the advantage here is that their faith can still be utilized. The holy power that one can obtain by believing in the goddess was capable of curing almost all diseases that humanity has suffered. So what can this newly discovered holy power do?”
Andreas snapped her notebook shut.
“Perhaps it might allow for different kinds of achievements. We still can’t know for sure. But for the time being, the church will be busily running around trying to secure a new disciple for the demon god. And those who can directly wield the demon god’s holy power will eventually find themselves at the center of a new faction within the church. It wouldn’t surprise me if monasteries were established centered around that person.”
“Ah, uh… um…”
With no words to refute, Andreas deciphered my unspoken thoughts and added,
“And naturally, all this credit will rightfully go to Sister Clara, who awakened the faith of a demon.”
“No way!”
Hearing what was potentially more shocking than being labeled a heretic by the inquisition—or rather, perhaps even worse—I ultimately couldn’t hold back a scream.
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