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Chapter 482

False Priest

“Please allow me to introduce myself once again, my name is Kuroe. On this occasion, I’m filling the role of the Priest of the 202nd colony. I’m officially a temporary successor of Priest Nicolay, I pledge to do my best at executing the Holy duties?. Thank you all.”

Our introduction began in a big way, in front of the great number of people who had gathered at the church.

That’s right, I’m actually hiding at this village as a priest when in reality I killed a lot of the Crusaders’ soldiers, had sex with the Seventh’ Apostle Sariel, and I even have the Demon’s King protection.

However, I can’t help but do this. To be honest, I couldn’t think of any better idea.

I’m now pretending I’m a priest dressed in a pure white priest’s robe. It seems that the priest Nikolay who died during the raid was a person of advanced age and large build, and fortunately, he wore a size that fits me perfectly.

I’m wearing those ‘Coloring eyes’ that change my eye color and make me look more intellectual, I hope they do. Please don’t call me an intellectual gangster.

Besides, I can’t calm down. I can relax my body more than when I’m using my cursed equipment, but I must get used to the Cross Church that symbolizes this white robe.

While hiding that bad feeling I had, I managed to finish without hesitation the greeting I had planned frenetically. Even I noticed that I was nervous as I expressed myself. It’d be hard to show a calm smile on my face, its complexion makes it physically impossible.

And now, the villagers’ reaction...

“Oh, that person was the Priest...”

“Then, have you passed God’s judgment on those violent Crusaders?”

“Priest Kuroe, thank you.”

“We’re counting on you, Priest Kuroe!”

They tried to sully God’s name. It appears that my slaughtering of those Crusader Soldiers delivered benefits, as the villagers seem to be relieved and satisfied.

Moreover, I’m pretty sure Randolph has already laid the groundwork in advance.

“This ”

“I’m Yuuri. I devote myself as a nun along with my brother.”

“As you can see, Yuuri has lost her limbs and is disabled, but she has never lost faith in God. She’ll definitely carry out her duties as a nun sister.”

She’ll appeal to the hearts of those who don’t have faith in God. With Sariel’s beautiful face and her pitiful condition, it turned into a moving atmosphere, very easily.

“Getting to the point, I think we should hold a ceremony for the victims of this raid. Randolph, do you agree?”

“Yes, the arrangements for the cremations have already started.”

This had already been decided since the start.

In order to further introduce myself as a priest and increase my persuasiveness, I’ll start with my first task as soon as possible.

But that’s not only for that reason, it’s necessary to hold funerals for the villagers that were killed and to bury the Crusader soldiers. It’s better to dispose of the bodies quickly, as it may become a cause for monsters, undead, or plagues.

And so, we hurried the preparations on the outskirts of the village and carried everything to the graveyard.

Even though it’s a graveyard, what I see in front of me is the Fairy Garden, nothing but a snowy field. And in the middle, there were lined up a large number of remains covered with cloth, along with the firewood for the cremation in their surroundings and the wooden crosses instead of gravestones for their graves.

In this soon new graveyard where many sad villagers gather, starts my first task as Priest Kuroe.

“Oh, our Father in heaven...”

God has never received a more heartfelt prayer in history.

That thing almost all those hateful Crusaders said, a prayer to God. They shouted that just before killing me previously, as they asked for salvation.

I was now speaking those lines that were the most foreign to me.

“May God give you his Blessing!”

However, there wasn’t any lightning falling on top of my head or wrath coming from the White God from this cleared up winter sky,

Nothing is going to happen, after all, this is all about words.

“Aha... God’s Blessing...”

“May God bless us!!”

However, at least for the Sinclairs, these words do have a magical effect that may cause miracles, so I can see its purpose. You say those words and there’s a real meaning to it.

That’s right, back when their family and close ones died, their lover, their friends, their acquaintances, and neighbors, no one said any of these lines when they had to part ways forever.

They are crying as they pray these words to their God.

“...”

I managed to somehow swallow a sight that was about to slip out.

I must calm down and remain silent, this is just my work, I must concentrate on my acting.

The actual preparations were already managed all by Mayor Randolph himself, I just have to pretend to pray and read the Bible in my hands as it is, a very simple job.

“Gospel of Levier, Chapter 5, verse four. Page 1 until the 12th line.”

“We are all sad. However, God’s love will surely comfort us...”

Besides, Sariel will only listen to me and point me to what I have to read. She’s a perfect support.

Even though the meaning of everything written there is pure gibberish, I’ll solemnly read aloud this other world’s alphabet’s citation with all I’ve got.

I have a family sobbing in front of me, and the others were all wearing grief expressions. I can’t even tell if they heard that I’m going to read aloud the Bible, but even so, Sariel stated that I must think of it as BGM required for the Cross Church funerals, so I started reading.

Despite all that, the funeral went on smoothly.

“This pure soul will certainly be led to the paradise of Eden in heaven, may you reach our God...”

I spoke those lines and the great number of villagers piled up, and the remains of the 27-man Crusader Army I killed myself were being carried into the fire.

It seems that for the Cross Church, burial is ideal, but if the church doesn’t take responsibility for the aftercare, the risk of them becoming undead tags along. Therefore, cremation is chosen in those situations. It’s not as if cremation was prohibited in the Cross Church doctrine, so as long as the funeral is held, there’s no problem at all.

“Sacred song, chant in unison.”

It seems there’s a custom of singing aloud along with the roaring flames. As you would expect, there’s no way I can improvise a song, so this is where I’ll leave it to Sariel.

I carried Sariel like a ventriloquist’s dummy and shifted my posture as the acapella song began.

From Sariel’s mouth came out an elegant singing voice. It is a chant in unison, but no one is noticing I’m not even singing. The villagers reunited here only stared at Sariel as she sang alone, wearing an expression as if they were seeing a real miracle, and held their hands in prayer.

I wonder what they are thinking about when hearing this sacred song sang so beautifully. Perhaps its feelings help them clear up their minds, or do they feel as if they were being saved by it?

And then, I wonder what Sariel feels when she sings this praising song for God, the same God that left her alone and she has already abandoned.

I’m no telepath, so I couldn’t know about anyone’s feelings.

Even more so, the only feelings I can understand are mine.

Just like them, I had once stood in this very place, grieving over the burning bodies of Nyareko, Nino, and the others, and those of the villagers of Ils, swearing revenge against the Cross Church for what they had done.

And now I’m here dressed as a Priest of the Cross Church, mourning along with the Sinclair people, merely for form’s sake, but what the heck went wrong in this world for this to happen like this?

In my surroundings, there’s not a single trace of truth, as if I were in a world where everything is coated with lies, where every corner is filled with emptiness.

Ahh, damn it. I wonder what I’m actually doing... I kept listening to Sariel’s sacred song while suppressing those self-deprecating feelings at the bottom of my heart.

After the funeral ended without incident, we gathered again in the church for another fake sermon, another passage of the Bible I have to read out loud, that kind of ceremony. At last, a greeting from Mayor Randolph. And this day of work is finally over.

How should I put it? It was a very tiring day. It’d be even easier to fight against Crusaders all day than doing this. Pretending to be a priest gives me a lot of mental fatigue.

Anyway, with this, I was released from the pressure of the first day. I went to the chapel of the church and took a breath, completely relieved that it went smoothly. Huh.

Sariel and I are Priest and Nun, so of course, this church is our residence now. There’s no reason for traveling one hour to repair Lily’s hut.

If we are the only ones here, the church would be a completely private and perfect residence and that would help us relax... but to be honest, there’s another person living with us.

“Hey, Kuroe, it’s me, Reki! I’m counting on you!”

One of them is a girl that speaks like a foreigner for some reason.

Her kinky, short, blond hair resembling dog ears bounced left and right with energy, she talked as she wore a bright expression on her face, she gives me an impression of being extremely lively.

A glaring girl with red hair that resembles an elf, that’s Reki.

“...I’m Ursula, nice to meet you.”

The other one is a girl that acts more grown-up.

A gentle light fills her blue eyes, although she’s a kid, she wears a mysterious expression. She has an exotic dark indigo skin tone which enhances her mysteriousness even more.

Ursula is a silver-haired dark elf with two ponytails.

“Kuroe, thanks for helping me yesterday!”

“Thank you.”

Yes, those are the girls I helped at the beginning.

They’re wearing the same deep blue habits I saw them in yesterday. In other words, I hear from Randolph that in this church reside the sisters, those that are apprentices.

Priest Nikolay made them both move to Pandora. It seems until the end there wasn’t any caretaker so they had to bring someone for the orphanage out of necessity. Poor kids, I wonder if thinking like that is disrespectful, in this situation. Anyhow, there’s no doubt that they had to go through hard times.

“Don’t worry, I did what had to be done.”

Speaking of which, I hadn’t seen Ursula back in that storage shed, but perhaps Reki was hiding her. I can only remember that, back when Reki was running away, I remember there she was there too, making for a memorable black-and-white pair.

Even though they had to go through all these things, they express their gratitude in this way, so I’m sure they’re good girls.

I reflexively matched their line of sight while bending my knees, and stroked their heads.

“Huh-huh-huh, Kuroe, you don’t have to act in front of Reki!”

“W-what are you talking about?”

“Wait, I’ll protect the village, if you talk to me in that way it’s okay! You don’t need to hold back, no more!”

Reki’s voice sounded embarrassed but, still, her thoughtfulness reached me.

“Kuroe’s true form, Reki and I know it already... That’s why, now that we’re going to live together, you don’t need to act in front of us.”

Ohh, they sure are good children. I’ve been struggling to put on an act as a priest, I must look like an idiot.

“... I see, thank you Reki and Ursula. I’m counting on you from now on.”

And this is how our residence at the church with our lovely roommates started.

“Well, after all, we have to sleep together...”

The bedroom is the same as the one that Priest Nikolay used to use. The size is about four and a half tatami mats, there is a bed and a closet, and then a small desk with a chair, it truly feels like a bedroom that was only used for the purpose of sleeping.

During the apprenticeship of Reki and Ursula, they use the same room. It’s a small one like this one and the bed already occupies most of the space of the room.

Every room is small, as this is a small church in the remote countryside, so it can’t be helped.

In other words, we can’t have separate rooms with Sariel. Moreover, if you line up two beds in a room, there wouldn’t be any space left.

“I’m okay even on the floor.”

“So you would have the little sister on the floor while I take the bed all for myself? What a devilish big brother.”

If by some chance someone sees that scene, I wouldn’t have any excuses. At the best of times, it’d look like thin-ice trust, that’d certainly crack and collapse.

“... I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry, I don’t really care that much about it.”

I showed courage by saying that, to be honest, I have rational reluctance to sleep together with Sariel. Of course, I can say for fact that I wouldn’t get carried away with lust for Sariel ever again, but... I can’t say that I don’t feel anything at all.

If we huddle together in bed, and I end up getting get sexually aroused even a little bit, I’d feel that horrible disgust again.

However, avoiding Sariel more than necessary would be unmanly. It’s a single room, and there’s only one bed. So, I’ll just go along with that. As long as I can resist my natural urges, there’s nothing to worry about.

“Alright, then let’s sleep.”

“Okay.”

Sariel, dressed in a simple white robe lay, down with a flop on the bed, I joined too and covered myself with a blanket. When I turned off the lights, the room became completely dark.

It’s a quiet night, I can’t see or hear anything. That’s why I can feel even more the warmth that Sariel’s body transmits.

“Hey, Sariel.”

I said so while staring at the ceiling in the middle of the darkness.

“Yes?”

“Starting tomorrow, teach me more about the Cross Church. At least as much as you can without getting us exposed.”

“... Yes.”

The only thing that came back as a response was that single cold word. She can’t say no.

I hate the Cross Church, but I don’t pretend to keep away from it for that reason. I should learn more about my enemy, otherwise, I’d be acting like a fool.

I’m Sariel’s ally... although I’m still unsure, we are together and above that, I probably need to learn more about the Cross Church by now.

I have heard that United States studied about Japan during the Pacific War. In short, study your enemies and learn more about yourself, that kind of cycle.

However, it’d be good to leave it there for today. It’s not that late at night yet, but I’d rather sleep early today. I’m gonna do my best tomorrow.

And I closed my eyes with those half-hearted feelings.

“There’s also something that I’d like to learn from you too.”

It was unexpected from Sariel.

“What would be that?”

“About you.”

Why would she ask? Such a stupid question. That’s something she doesn’t even need to know. Especially For her, who let me live and I didn’t let die.

“Where should I start...”

“From when you first came to this world. Anything about you when you lived in Japan, I still can see in Shirasaki Yuriko’s memories.”

“But I don’t recall talking to Shirasaki-san.”

“The Kurono from high school, Shirasaki Yuriko already knows Kurono Mao really well.”

“... She really is honorable.”

It seems that Shirasaki really liked me back then. She might have heard about me in the literary club. Maybe she asked that Saika guy about me... No, he wasn’t the type who could keep a secret.

“That’s why I want to know about the you of this world.”

Except for the final battle in Galahad, I’ve only met Sariel twice. That time when I escaped from the laboratory and when I climbed Daedalus’ wall. And I didn’t have any spare time to talk a single thing about me in either of them.

Sariel doesn’t know a single thing about me.

“There’s one condition.”

“What is it?”

“Tell me about you.”

I don’t know about Sariel either. I had a glimpse of her memories because of the Back Door, but I could only see fragments. I don’t know any details.

“Alright.”

Sariel didn’t have any objections. As for me, I can’t say there isn’t any reluctance.

Still, if I’m going to be with Sariel this much, I’d better get to know her better. And I should tell her more about myself.

If we do that, will we understand each other better?

Would I be able to forgive Sariel? And would she forgive me?

I don’t know, but that’s something I must do.

“But I’m going to sleep today. I’m tired of everything.”

I said so one-sidedly and finally closed my eyes. The sleepiness immediately began taking my consciousness to another world.

“Alright, good night.”

Sariel’s calm voice echoed comfortably.