Don’t Be Holy! - Chapter 148

She could hear the woman behind her muttering that she didn’t seem to have seen Eir’s face before. Wondering if she might need to use the power of blessing on that woman too, Eir carefully listened until she heard the woman walking away, and only then let out a sigh of relief.

After wandering the endlessly vast second floor with the holy book, she finally managed to find where the prayer room was. It was only because she had become familiar with the structure while staying near Rubel’s quarters that she could find it at all—otherwise, she would have been opening countless doors all night.

When she knocked on what appeared to be the prayer room door, the faint light leaking through the gap flickered.

He let out an uncomfortable cough and then fell back into silence. It was customary not to disturb a priest when praying in a prayer room.

But the urgent Eir had no time to hesitate, so she flung the door open and entered.

Abel, despite his discomfort, turned his head to see who had entered, and his mouth remained open in surprise.

“Y-You are……”

“It’s Eir.”

Eir said calmly as she sat down far away from him. Since Abel was certain she couldn’t possibly come down, he couldn’t help but wonder if this sudden visitor was a ghost.

“Did you already starve to death in the meantime……”

“I’m not a ghost, so don’t worry.”

She held out her hand as if to prove it. Although it looked very white, there seemed to be no transparent parts. Abel exhaled the breath he had urgently inhaled, with relief.

Eir looked at him a bit pitifully.

“How can you be afraid of ghosts as a priest? It’s a priest’s duty to send such beings to God’s side through prayer.”

“I’ve been afraid of the dead since I was young. And isn’t it a bit presumptuous for a witch like you to tell me what a priest should do?”

Abel said that with displeasure and pushed a cushion nearby toward her.

When Eir quietly took it and sat on it, he made a dumbfounded expression as if looking at a crazy person.

“I didn’t give it to you to sit on… I was trying to shoo you away……. But how did you get here anyway?”

Eir just stared at him intensely, as if telling him to think about it himself. Abel frowned at that gaze, which was like an indecipherable code.

“Did Father only set up guards without reestablishing the barrier? That can’t be…… Come to think of it, what happened to those guards?”

Wariness flickered in his eyes as he extended his hand. And he aimed at Eir with divine power.

“Tell me the truth right now. Or I’ll attack.”

“Go ahead.”

But the woman in front of him, far from being intimidated, raised her head with a brazen attitude. Abel’s fingertips trembled, but they didn’t lower. He persistently threatened Eir as if he would shoot divine power at any moment.

Originally, unlike knights, a priest’s divine power wasn’t meant for attacking and therefore didn’t have great power, but since it was still a force contrary to witches, it would be just as painful if it wasn’t a healing power.

But the woman seemed unconcerned, as if it didn’t matter to her at all.

“I see you think I won’t attack you.”

Abel frowned and raised his chin as if insulted.

“Of course, I don’t enjoy causing pain to others. But if I judge you to be a threatening presence, I won’t spare you and will…….”

“Ah, you talk too much.”

Eir, frustrated with Abel who kept talking without actually attacking, reached out and gripped his wrist. Then she took that hand, full of divine power, and placed it directly on her forehead.

Abel, startled, squeezed his eyes shut.

Yesterday his father had hurt this woman, and today he couldn’t bear the thought that he would be the one to hurt her. But no matter how long he kept his eyes closed, no painful moans came from the woman.

Carefully opening his eyes, Abel looked at Eir to understand the situation. But Eir, despite taking the divine power head-on, simply shrugged her shoulders as if it was nothing.

“Y-You’re really good at enduring pain.”

Abel couldn’t help but mutter stupidly at the sight.