Chapter 62

〈 62화 〉 Collapse

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”Uh… Ugh…”

Chirp. Chirp.

The girl’s pitiful sobbing combined with an eerie rupture sound, creating an unsettling atmosphere.

The silence that seemed like it would last forever was shattered right after that moment.

In this strange space, no matter where I looked, only thick darkness surrounded me.

The gloomy background was dotted with stark white cracks, as if the night sky was being torn apart.

An ominous feeling that couldn’t be described in words was scattered all around.

What those cracks indicated was clear.

The world. No, the dungeon was collapsing.

”Hero…”

But at that moment, I didn’t have the mental energy to spare my gaze in any direction other than straight ahead.

The collapse of the dungeon.

There was a matter so serious that it overshadowed that crucial event, right in front of me.

”What are you planning to do with something like me…”

The Hero’s desperate plea. Her wish. Her confession.

In response, what I ended up uttering after much contemplation was, ultimately, a trivial joke.

Asking for me in exchange for saving this world.

There’s a limit to illogical negotiations, right?

Setting aside whether I held enough value to be compared to this world.

There was no way I, someone clueless about the world, could just accept such an absurd proposal from a girl overwhelmed with emotions.

For now, I decided to comfort her so that she could calm her swirling feelings.

”Hero. I’ve said it many times before, but I’m not as amazing as you think…”

”I want to hug you all day long.”

Right then.

The Hero, who had been desperately sobbing with her face buried in my abdomen, suddenly interrupted my words with a tone that reminded me of a speech contestant.

”I’ll be hugging the priest’s wide waist, resting my head against the priest’s sturdy thigh, and receiving praise from you for all the good things I’ve done until now.”

”H-Hero…?”

”When you praise me, I would love it if you could stroke my head. Whispering my name in my ear occasionally would be even better. Eating together, having casual chats, and when sleepiness hits, I want to pull a thin blanket over us and quietly fall asleep feeling the warmth of the priest’s body all over me.”

”…”

I was rendered speechless.

Normally, I would have dismissed such bizarre words as a useless joke.

However.

Now that I realized she harbored uncommon feelings for me, my heart couldn’t remain indifferent enough to brush off her heartfelt plea.

How much time had passed?

As I maintained my cowardly silence facing the Hero’s awkward wish, she suddenly let out a mournful sound.

”Ah, is it not allowed…?”

Her bright blue eyes glimmered with sorrowful emotion. Her distant voice was filled with damp anxiety.

Everything about that scene felt strange and unfamiliar.

After all, her principle had always been that a hero shouldn’t be caught up in personal emotions or be swayed by their own desires.

Yet here she was, crying out loud like a child seeking her parents, mentioning her desires as if she were helpless, a side I had never seen after years of struggling with her.

”Ah, I understand. I-I’ll endure it… I’ll just watch, just watch like before… So, could you at least stay in my line of sight…?”

With trembling fingers, she grabbed at my clothing.

Right after that, a dusty old vision flickered to life in my mind.

A nameless man who had come to abandon his child at an orphanage.

A pitiful child desperately clinging to the man’s pants, begging him not to leave.

That was a tragically common sight one would see at least once if they had grown up in an orphanage.

If you’re not going to take responsibility, at least don’t offer affection.

That was what the elderly sister working at the orphanage would say whenever she encountered such tragedies.

That fierce recollection jolted me back to reality.

What I’ve done until now and what I was about to do wasn’t much different from the cruelty of that scoundrel who had shoved his own child away with rough kicks.

”Hoo…”

I took a breath to center my thoughts.

And in that moment, I made a resolution.

”Eh?”

”I can do this much for you.”

Replacing my bloodied right hand, I gently stroked the Hero’s golden hair with my clean left.

Fortunately, thanks to practicing with the Saintess, I had acquired some know-how about being careful with a woman’s hair.

”P-Priest? Huh? Eeeh?”

The Hero seemed utterly dumfounded by my unexpected action, muttering incoherent words.

”I’m sorry…”

For running away. For turning away. For pretending not to notice.

There were countless reasons and justifications to apologize.

Yet.

Unable to muster the courage to confront the wrongs I had committed, I couldn’t even send her this trivial apology.

No. In fact, I had even tried to push her away.

”I’m sorry… I’m so sorry, Hero…”

”No, no! I should be the one apologizing! You, priest, because of me, can’t use holy power, you got hurt, and your exit is blocked!”

”So you were aware of all that… It’s fine. They were never really mine anyway.”

”No! No! Ugh!”

The words I offered in hopes her tears would stop somehow seemed to trigger her cries instead.

But thanks to freeing the heavy burden in my heart, my thoughts, which had been restless with guilt, began to calm like a sea after a storm.

Perhaps it was because I found this situation somewhat familiar.

Soothing a crying child was something I had done countless times in the past few months.

After a long exchange of apologies in soft voices, the Hero, having seemingly calmed her emotions, suddenly posed a cautious question to me.

”Priest. If it’s not too much trouble, can I ask you a question?”

”Huh? Ah, yes. Ask me anything.”

”Earlier, it seemed like you said you were interested in women…”

”Ah…”

Her suspicion was valid.

After all, I was the one blustering about how a clergyman who swore purity couldn’t possibly have sexuality.

Though I had been reluctantly drawn in, my experience on the day of adulthood remains one of my most painful black histories.

Of course, despite having gone to see a brothel, I returned without even holding a woman’s hand.

”It’s embarrassing but… Yes…”

”…”

Just after I finished speaking, the Hero’s straightforward gaze turned sharply towards my face.

I considered whether I should honestly share the experience of visiting the brothel, but decided to keep my mouth shut.

Shame made my face burn like a stove, and though I wanted to cover it with my hands…

I couldn’t put my bloodied right hand over my face, nor was I allowed to stop stroking the Hero’s head with my left.

In the end, I had to meet the Hero’s sharp gaze directly.

”Priest! Your face is red! You’re blushing! Are you feeling shy?!”

”H-Haha…”

What was so amusing about my flushed face?

The Hero’s expression, full of curiosity like a cat watching fish in water, was indescribably embarrassing.

”So it’s true! The priest does have sexual desires!”

”Hero, let’s keep it down… It echoes in here, you know. Not that I’m saying you shouldn’t talk about it elsewhere…”

Then, while I was caught up in a playful back-and-forth with the exuberant Hero, who was grinning like a child who just discovered hidden snacks, it happened.

”Y-You…!”

Slowly harmonizing with the collapsing dungeon, a familiar woman appeared.

Her body was broken and dislocated, giving her the strong impression of a broken doll rather than a person.

She trembled like she was facing her parents’ killer, glaring at us menacingly.

”Though it’s just a temporary body, to have struck my holy presence and wasted the vessels I painstakingly prepared…”

It was a sight of horror, as she had lost most parts of her eyes and nose, the only remaining features being one eye with a faint trace and cracked, dry lips.

There was nothing where her eyes and nose should have been.

It was like smashing a mask hanging on the wall.

Only the scenery beyond showed through.

I couldn’t make sense of her identity, nor did I want to know, as an unnamed fear generated a strong sense of crisis within my thoughts, which had just started to relax.

”I never imagined that such a small body as a Ha Gye In could contain such amounts of divine power… Not to mention being able to absorb divine power from another’s body… I see, so you are the one I’ve heard about–!”

CRACK.

”Whoever you are, please be quiet for a moment! Right now, the priest and I are having an important discussion!”

And just like that, the sense of crisis abruptly faded thanks to the Hero’s determined words.

No, it felt rather ungrateful to attack someone in the middle of their serious explanation.

While I was thinking that way, it was then…

”Priest! In short, you also have a desire to embrace a woman’s body!”

”Huh? Ah, yes. That’s true… Wait, wait a moment.”

The Hero, smiling brightly, suddenly started to take off her top.

*