/
I decided to go to the church, following the priest’s advice. It’s a bit daunting, but he had left me wondering if it was possible to change the candidacy of a saintess.
“I’m just going to listen to the story. Don’t you worry?”
“Yes, yes… I believe in Hero…”
Ophelia nodded with a blank face.
I continued to try calming her down, but in vain. Her contemplative face did not unravel until we arrived at the church.
– Knock, knock.
“Your Highness the Archbishop, this is Liam. I have brought in the hero and the saintess candidate as ordered.”
– Come in.
With the Archbishop’s permission, Liam opened the door and bowed towards me.
He didn’t seem to be going together with us.
I left the priest behind and entered the Archbishop’s chamber with Ophelia.
Inside the chamber sat a table for entertaining guests, and on another side sat an old man with graying hair. The white church robe and the large Archbishop hat on his head indicated his designation.
I sat down across him.
There was only one chair available, so Ophelia stood to my right.
The Archbishop smiled warmly, and then said.
“Greetings, hero. It must have come off as an unexpected invitation, but you have my thanks for accepting it.”
“How can I refuse the Archbishop’s invitation? If you call me, it’s my duty to answer your call.”
“Hah hah, I don’t know now how to respond to hero’s politeness.”
A moderate gilding followed.
Before moving on to the main topic, I asked him a question.
“Does Your Holiness the Archbishop knows about the commotion happening outside?”
Archbishop gave a bitter expression at my question.
“It’s a sad thing. The prince of a kingdom fell for the evil devil’s lure. Even the Goddess will be sad.”
“So the archbishop does. Are you sure the prince is a heretic?”
“Everyone who believes in heresy is a heretic. They’ll try to hide it, but it’s useless in the face of Goddess’ loving grace. I am indeed convinced that the prince has fallen into the hands of a heretical devil.”
“It was the Archbishop who spread the rumors about the prince, hm?”
The archbishop quietly nodded his head.
Indeed, that’s how it happened.
The doubt has been resolved.
Now is the time to get to the point.
I drank the tea the Archbishop had prepared and moistened my throat, before opening my mouth again.
“I have already heard about the reason you called me here. You want to change the candidacy of my saintess?”
“Hoh, have you already heard from Liam? And here I thought I was giving you a surprise, haha. Quite unfortunate.”
The archbishop smiled gently.
Then he motioned his right hand. A nun, who had been standing behind the archbishop since before, came forward.
“My favorite child, Bella. I’m confident if this child were to inherit the position of a saintess candidate, she will do her all to preserve its holiness.”
The nun Bella, whom he introduced, was a beautiful woman. Unlike Ophelia, who had an unconventional figure, she was a moderate body type, and she did look innocent and pure.
As I glanced to my side, Ophelia’s trembling expression came clean to my eyes.
Archbishop and Bella didn’t care about her, though.
“I’m Bella. It’s an honor to meet you, hero. In the future, I will do my best to help you through your journey.”
Bella bowed her back with her hands on the stomach.
Because of which, a few strands of her hair that had been tucked behind her veil fell out. Those few strands of hair were pink.
Hmmm.
“Why do you want to change her candidacy all of a sudden?”
“About that, I want to talk only with the hero himself, and in private. Bella?”
“Yes, Archbishop. Understood, I’ll wait outside.”
Hearing Bella’s answer, the archbishop looked at me. I let out a small sigh and said to Ophelia.
“Well, that’s that. Can you please go out and wait for me, Ophelia?”
“Yes, yes… I’ll wait patiently outside…”
“Are you alright?”
“I am.”
What’s alright when you are showing me that abandoned puppy-like face?
“Then tell me now. Why do you want to suddenly change her candidacy when we just arrived to the capital?”
“Actually, it’s not sudden. It is a planned procedure starting from when the saintess candidate representing a Kingdom switched her affiliation to another hero.”
“If that’s the case, it’s even weirder. When Ophelia had left my party, she had been away for half an year before she joined me again.”
“We can’t help it, the deliberation process is quite complicated. Please consider our complications, esteemed hero.”
“So why is it the archbishop’s favorite nun who was chosen after so many complications?”
“… that child was chosen because of her strong faith. I never put my personal feelings to it.”
“Is that so? Good, good.”
As I nodded, the archbishop’s expression, which had been darkening slightly, opened up.
“Then do you also agree with Bella being the new saintess candidate of your party?”
“Before that, let me ask you one thing. That nun called Bella, is her hair pink?”
“Yes? Oh, yes. She has beautiful pink hair like flowers.”
“Right.”
I sipped the rest of the tea in one gulp.
And then I said with a smile.
“I guess, I will decline.”
* * *
Ophelia was an orphan.
The church accepted her, who was abandoned by her parents and raised her as a nun. She did not voluntarily become a nun, but she was not dissatisfied.
If she hadn’t been accepted by the church, she could easily guess what her life would have been like.
But her acceptance did not mean that her life at the church was smooth.
The strict routine and torturous discipline were difficult for even her to bear.
Nevertheless, Ophelia was faithful to her duties.
In the years that followed, she become a nun known for her faithfulness within the church, and she was even chosen by the Goddess as a candidate for sainthood.
Ophelia couldn’t understand the intentions of the Goddess.
Probably because she didn’t actually believe in Goddess.
That didn’t mean she was not religious at all.
As she had spent half her life inside the church, she had the same religious faith as others.
However, her faith was not so deep as to land herself a candidature designation.
It was only the recent situation that made her guess the Goddess’ intentions.
‘You were testing my resolve…’ she thought.
Outside, she was surrounded by things that were fun in nature, unlike when she was enclosed inside the church.
Not only delicious food, but also entertainment such as theatre plays and beautiful scenery.
Exposed to all those stimuli, she could not suppress her desires that she had kept suppressed.
She did not live up to the teachings—to stay away from worldly desires.
The result was her current situation.
Goddess, disappointed with her, disqualified her from her candidacy.
‘Now what?’
What rumors will circulate if a nun who was chosen as a saintess candidate was suddenly disqualified? It would surely be nothing good. How will her fellow nuns, who will believe in the rumors, react?
Ophelia remembered those nuns, relieving their own stress by beating younger nuns. Her complexion turned white.
‘I will be bullied for the rest of my life..!’
Ophelia’s body quivered.
Cloud told her not to worry while coming to the church, but there was no way she could believe it right away. That was exactly what her parents said before they abandoned her away.
‘Should I hold him by his legs?’
Just when Ophelia found herself seriously considering the option.
– Clup!
The door to the Archbishop’s chamber opened and Cloud came out.
He made eye contact with her before she could say anything.
“Hero, please take good care of me.”
Bella crossed her arms around Cloud and flirted. Seeing this, Ophelia lowered her head helplessly.
This meant… she was abandoned, again.
Just when Ophelia closed her eyes as she accepted her fate. Slap! The back of her head tingled with the sound.
“What are you doing? Let go.”
Ophelia lifted her head as someone touched her tingling scalp. Cloud was in front of her. Ophelia opened her eyes and looked to the side.
She saw Bella being stunned.
“Uh? This…? Um?”
Finding Ophelia appalled by the situation, Cloud rolled his eyes.
“…maybe I should have accepted.”
“!!! No! I lacked faith in you, Hero forgive me! Neria and Eri will be waiting for you, let’s go!”
She hurriedly grabbed Cloud’s arm and led him outside. Cloud still rolled his eyes at her action, but Ophelia, who was filled with the joy of living, did not notice.
However, her sense of bliss did not last long.
“Excuse me. Are you Hero Cloud by any chance?”
It was because an elderly nun with wrinkles was blocking the way of the duo. Ophelia, seeing her appear, was startled and snapped behind Cloud to hide herself.
Cloud took a deep breath.
He tilted his head and looked at the old nun.
“I have already given the archbishop my plain refusal. I have no intention of overturning this decision, so sister, give up and go.”
“…I don’t know what you are talking about. I am only here to meet Ophelia. I’m the head nun of the convent, by the way.”
“Is that really all?”
“That’s all. If you don’t mind, could you tell this old woman what the hero is worried about?”
“…I think I don’t. Now, if you just want to talk, I have no right to stop you.”
Cloud stepped aside, facilitating smooth conversation between the two.
“Thank you, Hero Cloud.”
At his consideration, the head of the convent bowed her head. Then she coughed sternly, and faced Ophelia.
“Hmm, it’s been a while, Ophelia. Have you been doing well…”
The nun’s eyes nearly popped open.
It was a little funny to see her with a stern expression looking shocked, eyes widened, hardly would one expect such expression from a steadfast nun.
“O, Ophelia..? What’s with your outfit? What’s with this ludicrous outfit of yours?!”
The head nun pointed to what was the side slit and chest slit of the nun’s robe Ophelia was donning.
Ophelia made an excuse in cold sweat.
“Th, This was unavoidable. The old-styled nun outfit was inaptly unsuitable for battle.”