Nozomanu Fushi no Boukensha (LN) - Volume 4 - Chapter SS

Side Story: The Princess-Saint of Healing 

My name is Myullias Raiza, and I am a priestess-saint of the Church of Lobelia. 

Ever since a young age, I had received a blessing of divinity from the Goddess Lobelia herself. Once my divinity manifested and began budding, I was whisked away to the church, and I underwent priestess-saint training on a daily basis. 

Today was no different. 

We came from the Holy Empire of Ars, far, far away. We were here to shine the grace and light of the church to these rural borderlands. With my powers, I would heal a great deal of people, and show them the righteousness of the church. Such was why I was here, in the township of Maalt. 

...At least, that was how it was supposed to be. 

The only chapel of Lobelia present in Maalt was small, to say the least. It was nothing when compared to the grand cathedrals in the holy capital of Ars. It was tiny. In the holy capital of the Holy Empire of Ars, the cathedrals were massive, like castles and forts. You could say the building in the middle was no castle, but more like a gigantic cathedral. 

This Maalt place, however... 

Well, I didn’t mind small; not really. What surprised me was the behavior of the locals. Not one of them even glanced at the small chapel here. That concerned me somewhat. 

Some people did visit the chapel occasionally, but they weren’t there for prayers or sermons. Instead, they only wished to purchase the high-quality holy water made by the church, or the soap that had been made from said water. They were just there to purchase. 

Well, yes, they did walk up and offer some tithes, contributions, and the like, then offer a prayer or two. No matter how I looked at it, however, they merely looked like they were praying. Their hearts weren’t in it; I could see that much. 

“What would the Great Church-Father say if he saw all this...?” 

Even if I were to overlook the blatant sale of the church’s “products,” this place was nothing more than a shop, no matter how I viewed it. As soon as I had muttered that, a sharp-eyed man who had been standing next to me immediately had something to say. 

“The Great Church-Father knows. This is just how it is in rural towns.” 

“Then...” 

Why would he just let it sit? That was what I wanted to say. 

But the man, Gilly was his name, shook his head. 

“No. It is exactly because the Great Church-Father himself feels sorrow over this situation that he had you dispatched here, Lady Myullias. Your responsibility is a heavy one to bear indeed,” he said with that serious face while spouting his words. 

Was that really true? I was indeed a priestess-saint, but I didn’t have much experience at all. I had healed and cleansed some towns before, sure, even given a sermon once or twice... But there were many more Priests and priestess-saints who were more experienced, more talented, or had bigger reserves of divinity than me. 

Maybe it was because this was a small border town. Maybe they thought I could do the same thing even if they didn’t send out any of their more accomplished members. Even if Maalt was a rural border town, it was quite the large place. 

My burdens seemed to grow heavier the more I pondered them. This was why I decided to just speak my mind. 

“If the goal were to truly increase the influence of the church, then I wouldn’t have been sent. It would have been Sir Aaruz, or Lady Millia.” 

Both of these individuals were skilled, and possessed large reserves of divinity. Even a hundred copies of myself couldn’t hope to catch up to them. They were truly the most prominent Priest and priestess-saint of our generation. 

If the church really did want to expand its influence at the border, then someone of their level should have been dispatched instead. Even though I was a priestess-saint myself, my ranking was somewhat low. I was on the fringes of the church’s ranks at best. Sending someone like me here had the effect of, say, a single drop of water in an ocean. 

I had no idea if Gilly knew what was going through my mind. 

“Those two are always the most occupied individuals in the Church of Lobelia. It’s difficult to tell which one is busier. With that said, surely you can see it would be all but impossible to send them to faraway lands such as this,” he replied, with yet another obvious answer. 

I knew that. Those two were much busier than the average noble or royal. It was incomparable. It was said they lived every day by the minute, without any breaks or much time to rest. Of course it’d be impossible for them to come to a faraway place like this. 

“So, you mean to say I was sent because I had more free time.” 

“But of course not, Lady Myullias. It’s nothing like that at all...” 

He droned on. I thought about listening, but quickly changed my mind. I probably wouldn’t have been pleased with whatever I heard anyway. 

Not to mention, even if I was sent here simply because I was otherwise unoccupied, it didn’t change what I had set out to do. My job was to demonstrate to the people living here the righteous grace of the Church of Lobelia. 

Well, I’d do my best, I guessed. 

I decided to be more optimistic about it, taking whatever might come... 

“The sermon has been scheduled for a week from now, no?” I asked. 

“Yes.” Gilly was always fast with his responses. “There will be quite some preparations to make until then. We must greet the appropriate influencers and individuals of power in this town as well. Some relatives of these individuals have injuries and illnesses that cannot be cured by conventional healing magics, you see.” 

I already knew what we had to do then. In exchange for tithes, contributions, and donations, I would heal them, and they would gladly pay their fair share. After all, they were considerably wealthy, and healing of that nature couldn’t simply be bought off the street. 

With that, the believers in the Church of Lobelia would slowly increase. 

In truth, few of this kingdom’s common folk believed in the church. The church’s influence, however, had spread among noble and merchant families—families with power and resources. These relations, in turn, were formed and reinforced by such activities. 

When it came to the common folk, however, blessings weren’t given unless they had contributed a fair amount of donations. Needless to say, this didn’t help much when it came to increasing the amount of followers in the region. 

To make things worse, the dominant religion in this kingdom, the Church of the Eastern Sky, didn’t ask for any tithes, nor did they discriminate among social classes. It simply lent its power to all it could reach. As a result, there were cases where the needs of noble and wealthy families weren’t prioritized. The Church of Lobelia, prioritizing the rich over the poor, saw an increase in followers among these social castes. 

As for which of the churches was correct... If one were to go by their heart, the Church of the Eastern Sky was a clear winner. However, if I were to think about it realistically, it was hard to say. 

Suppose a member of one’s family had fallen gravely ill, and urgently needed treatment. Because it took a while for them to be checked, they had lost their life. No one would want to be in such a situation, which was why they would pay to be healed first. When it came to the Church of the Eastern Sky, the more severely ill were treated before the mildly ill, but some would be inadvertently left behind as a result. The Church of Lobelia focused its efforts on individuals who were left out and would intervene, slowly increasing its sphere of influence. That was how it worked, anyway. 

If one were to look at the big picture, it could be said that both churches had their niches, and coexisted relatively well, to some degree. The Church of Lobelia wouldn’t be satisfied with this alone, of course. 

Then there was the consideration that it was an individual’s freedom to believe, or not, in a certain religion. From that angle, this kingdom was quite the ideal place. 

Now I had to do something about this situation. It was a complicated thing to think about. 

As I continued thinking, Gilly began reading a missive that had arrived from the church, turning to me. 

“And then...hmm. This is...” He tilted his head slightly to one side. 

“What is it...?” 

“A direct order from the Great Church-Father himself, you see. But you are instructed to accompany...Gold-class adventurer, Nive Maris? What does this mean...?” he muttered, a troubled expression creeping onto his features. 

Who was this Gold-class adventurer, Nive Maris, in the first place? That was my first thought on the matter. 

During my time as a priestess-saint, I had always gathered the knowledge, skills, and techniques required of me. Information and knowledge on adventurers, much less following them around, was hardly part of my curriculum. Of course, depending on the situation, the church had received such requests from kings, important nobles, and the like, so even I would know of them if they were a famous Mithril-class adventurer. 

But...the name of a mere Gold-class adventurer? 

I knew of certain quirky individuals who had their fair share of achievements, or adventurers who might soon make it into the rank of Mithril-class. While these individuals often had many pairs of eyes scrutinizing them, there was no news that I particularly had to pay attention to. 

Gilly, however, didn’t seem to share my opinion. 

“Gold-class adventurer Nive Maris is a famous Vampire hunter. As the title suggests, she specializes in hunting Vampires.” 

“A Vampire hunter?” 

“Yes. More often than not, adventurers choose whatever prey or request that suits their fancy at the time. However, there are occasionally adventurers who, in the name of efficiency or personal preference, hunt a specific monster. This is especially the case when it comes to Vampire hunting. They are a difficult monster to hunt, but the returns are proportionally large. While there is no meaning to capturing a mere Thrall, capturing the ‘lord’ of a flock would easily reap quite the fortune. A thousand gold pieces? Perhaps more? It is a...romantic profession to say the least.” 

Gilly was seemingly worked up for some reason. How rare. If anything, this was quite odd. He usually never had much in the way of emotions in his attitudes and mannerisms. 

“You seem to be having fun. Did you wish to become an adventurer at some point?” 

“Ah. Please excuse me. Before I became a member of the cloth, there was indeed a time when I was little when I had thought of such. I was simply reminiscing.” 

This man had a somewhat unexpected past. Simply looking at his face made me assume he’d been cold and rigid even as a child, with only a one-track mind and path. 

Dreams, hm... Having put it that way, I supposed I could see it to a certain extent. Of course, even this man before me must have had a time when he was a cute and lovable child. For a child like that to have such thoughts was hardly strange. 

For some reason, I had thought Gilly was the same as a child as he was now. 

“I see... So even someone like you had a relatively normal childhood,” I said in an obviously provocative manner. Gilly paid my words no heed. 

“But of course. Even I wasn’t simply born this way from the start,” he replied, as if seeing through my intent from the very beginning. “In any case. About these orders... priestess-saint Myullias Raiza is to accompany Nive Maris, whereupon she would enter a series of negotiations with a certain adventurer. That’s what the missive says.” 

“Negotiations with an adventurer? Why me...?” 

I didn’t dislike it by any means, but it was mysterious. I did have similar experiences; it was very common for nobles to summon priests and priestess-saints to their fancy negotiations, out of fear of poison having been slipped into their drink for example. With a priest or priestess-saint on hand, poisons could be easily cleansed, and I had been to a few of these events myself. 

It seemed my task this time was something similar. Though it wasn’t exactly easy to summon a priestess-saint of the Church of Lobelia. At the very least, the individual would require privilege, power, and coin. Even a Gold-class adventurer wouldn’t be capable of such a thing...or so I thought. 

Gilly, as if reading my mind, continued on. 

“I do not know. However, this is a direct order from the Great Church-Father himself. It would be safe to assume that Nive Maris is able to influence the upper echelons of the church in some way or another. If not, such an order would be all but impossible.” 

“Is she really that famous? How would a mere Gold-class adventurer have such powers...?” 

This was something not even highly ranked nobles were capable of doing. 

While the Church of Lobelia didn’t have much influence in the Kingdom of Yaaran, one would be hard-pressed to find a bigger, more established and powerful religious body if they were to scour the lands of the world. 

It went without saying that the church had a large degree of influence on the nobles and ruling governments of various countries and kingdoms. To be able to make a direct request of the Great Church-Father himself, the one individual who was the highest authority and power in the Church of Lobelia... 

“I do not know what to make of that.” Even Gilly seemed perplexed. “However, Lady Myullias, I am afraid it is not within your rights to refuse.” 

I knew that. I knew that much, but... 

“Nive Maris will arrive at this chapel tomorrow,” he continued on. “You would do well to ask her for the specifics and details then.” 

I felt a foreboding sense of unease, but I couldn’t go against a direct order. All I could do was nod and allow my mind to drift to thoughts of tomorrow... 

“Well, hello there, priestess-saint Myullias Raiza. I’m Nive Maris. Just your average, boring, Gold-class adventurer. Pleased to make your acquaintance.” 

The person spoke as they entered the room I was waiting in. She was nothing like any of the individuals I had dealt with up until this point. I didn’t know what to do with her. 

Her aura was very similar to that of Sir Aaruz’s. 

What was different was that twinkle in her eyes. It was almost like she was licking her lips in anticipation of the hunt, as if she were standing before her prey. Such was the unease I felt as I stood before this person. 

“Yes. The pleasure is all mine. If I may ask...I’ve been summoned to accompany you to a negotiation with a certain adventurer...?” 

I wanted to be rid of her as soon as possible, getting right into the topic at hand. 

“Ah, yeah. Lady Myullias, you’re a practitioner of cleansing divinity, yes? I’m not all that great with that, see. They can be pretty cunning and all that, you know? I don’t think I’ve been found out, yeah? But we have to be careful if any food or drink is spiked, you know? Can’t be too careful, see.” 

I couldn’t understand a single word. I tilted my head to one side in confusion. 

“They...? Who is this ‘they’? And spiking? Poison? I assumed you were simply going to purchase materials from this adventurer...” 

At the very least, that was what was written in the missive from the Great Church-Father. Nive however... 

“Ah, yeah. Well. That’s one of my aims, yes, but the most important thing is hunting Vampires, see. I have my suspicions, wondering if that adventurer is a vampire, yeah? I did quite a bit of research, and I’m pretty sure about my hunch. So we should just be prepared in general. That’s how I’d like you to think of it, yes.” 

A most surprising thing to say. 

“Vampires are in this town...?” 

There was no better feeding ground for a monster like that. But Nive quickly shook her head, almost in a panic. 

“It’s nothing to get so surprised about, yeah? Happens often, see. As I said just now, they’re cunning. It takes them little to no effort to simply blend in with the townsfolk on the streets. So, now that you know all that, I’m gonna have you help me with my Vampire hunting, Lady Myullias. After all, the Church of Lobelia has its share of monster hunters, yeah? You people have specialized hunters, too, so you can think of this as part of your job, see.” 

The hunters she spoke of were none other than the honored Order of Inquisitor-Eradicators. They were a gathering of hunter-killers specialized in the eradication of Vampires, Loup Garous, possessive demons, and all other manner of monster who blended into and fed off human society. I had never once dealt with them, and didn’t really know what they did on a daily basis or how they conducted their missions. Nive might be more familiar with such affairs, seeing as she was able to speak of them so plainly. 

Even so...a Vampire? If this were indeed true, it would be quite the undertaking. 

While I had my suspicions and doubts about the Church of Lobelia, I was, for all intents and purposes, still a priestess-saint. I had to do good for the common people, and I couldn’t hesitate on matters such as this. It wasn’t unreasonable to assist if Nive’s goal was to exterminate Vampires. I supposed the Great Church-Father himself had approved of Nive’s activities, and had issued the command for me to group up with Nive to expedite the process. 

That was why I nodded. 

“I don’t know exactly how much of a help I’d be, but I understand. I will be in your care.” 

“Be very, very careful. They have mystic eyes of charm, you see. Makes anyone of the opposite sex irresistibly attracted to them with a single gaze. Even if you are a priestess-saint, there’s no guarantee you’d be immune...or be able to resist it. Don’t depend too much on that, yeah...?” Nive said, as we stood before the venue of the negotiations—the Stheno Trading Company’s main building. 

“Mystic eyes of charm, you say...” 

I did know of several people who possessed these mystic eyes. I’d even met them. 

But these eyes... Not everyone who had them was a Vampire. Some humans were born with them, as well. As soon as such individuals were found, however, they would surely be restrained and have their powers sealed. 

As the name suggested, such eyes were able to charm members of the opposite sex, making them fall head over heels for the user. That wasn’t all they could do, of course. History had quite a few cases of such powers going much further than that. To be precise, charmed individuals were often willing to do anything for their newfound infatuation. They are unable to resist doing so. 

If such an individual ended up in an organization or group, then infiltrated its inner circles, doing as they pleased... It was difficult to imagine the impact, other than the fact that it would be nothing short of catastrophic. 

There had been an individual who had done such a thing: Adone the Courtesan. She set her eyes a certain king, driving him wild for her. His kingdom, in turn, fell into disarray. Many people were killed, and much wealth was possessed by the crown. In the end, the kingdom fell into ruin and was no more. To prevent another one of these incidents, anyone with these mystic eyes would be immediately captured and their powers sealed. 

As for the sealing...the older methods of the past were terribly inhumane. Their eyes would either be crushed in or plucked out entirely. There was, unfortunately, no other way. As such, parents whose children had been born with such eyes often didn’t report this to the authorities, and this, of course, led to no shortage of problems down the road... 

Contemporary methods were much more humane, utilizing magecraft to seal an individual’s mystic eyes, possibly for eternity. This also wouldn’t lead to blindness of any kind. 

While people who underwent the process could occasionally become slightly short-sighted, that was about the worst that would happen. If required, the kingdom or country in question would usually provide magical tools designed to assist with one’s sight. As a result, most individuals born with such eyes commonly had them sealed willingly. 

There were some escapees here and there, but their numbers were few. Perhaps one individual every decade or so, which couldn’t be ruled out. 

In other words, individuals who wielded the mystic eyes of charm were exceedingly rare. Vampires, on the other hand... 

“Do vampires all have mystic eyes of charm?” I inquired. 

“Can’t say for sure. All I know is that many have them, and their gaze is often much more powerful than that of a human’s. That’s why they’re dangerous, yeah? Be very, very careful.” 

With that, Nive entered through the Stheno Trading Company’s doors abruptly, and I hurriedly followed after her. 

“This way.” 

We were escorted by a company employee and soon found ourselves in a room with Sharl Stheno, head of the Stheno Trading Company, along with a single man who looked like an adventurer. 

Sharl was one of the individuals I had to make my rounds and pay my respects to. He was a man of power in this town. The other person, however... 

Honestly speaking, he was eccentric in his appearance to say the least. I looked at his face, its lower half concealed by an intricate, well-detailed mask. It was a skull of some kind, I think. It was quite unsettling. His body was draped in a flowy, pitch-black robe. The way he was standing showed no openings, and he was looking straight in our direction. 

...I just remembered that I shouldn’t look directly into his eyes, but it may have already been too late. If those eyes were too powerful to resist, I’d already be... 

“It’s fine, for now. Make sure you don’t look into his eyes, yeah? If you really have to look at his face, then only look at his chin,” Nive whispered, slapping me on the back as she did so. 

It seemed Nive had a good understanding of how those mystic eyes of charm worked. Nive’s words were reassuring. 

We moved on to the casual greetings, and after doing so, I placed a divine blessing on him. Rentt Vivie, he said? That was his name. 

This was why Nive had taken me along to begin with. As my cleansing powers washed over and seeped into him, I felt a sparkle of divinity from within his body. 

Was it even possible for Vampires to have divinity in them? I’d heard Vampires were weak to divinity, so it was impossible for a Vampire to be using divinity itself. Wasn’t that enough to clear him of the suspicions then? This man was most likely not a Vampire. 

That was what I thought, but Nive still hadn’t let down her guard. 

Why, though...? I didn’t understand. 

I’d heard Nive herself was a practitioner of divinity. If that really were the case, she should have sensed the reaction just now... Even so, Nive continued treating Rentt as if he were a vampire, asking him numerous questions, before forcibly diagnosing him with a high-level application of divinity: Holy Fire. 

On our way here, Nive had informed me she was an amateur at the applications of divinity. To think she was capable of using Holy Fire of all things... I was quite surprised. I supposed this was why she was known as a capable Vampire hunter. 

On another note, Nive did eventually explain herself with regards to the intense suspicions she had of Rentt. I couldn’t tell from her casual and somewhat flippant attitude before, but it did seem like she had worthy explanations for her behavior. I found myself a little deflated at the realization. 

Essentially, Rentt had displayed quite a few suspicious mannerisms, but in the end, he stepped out of the Holy Fire unharmed. Which was to say, the man wasn’t a Vampire at all. 

However, while Nive herself seemed convinced at Rentt’s explanation, I felt that something was amiss. I couldn’t quite put my finger on the exact thing as to why that was the case. If I really had to put it into words, it would just be my gut feeling. 

What a silly line of thought. Rentt had already been cleared of all suspicions. Nive herself said as much, so I supposed this was enough. 

After this, Nive offered a huge sum of coin as an apologetic gesture. Nive was quick to ride on that sentiment, however, and soon got Rentt to agree to a request he otherwise wouldn’t have. 

But this Rentt Vivie seemed like quite the kind and soft-hearted adventurer. He was nothing like what his appearance had suggested, maintaining a cordial and affable attitude throughout the negotiations with Nive, in addition to agreeing to her extra request. This really went to show that one shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. On top of that, the man wasn’t even a Vampire. 

With that, Nive and Rentt’s negotiations at the Stheno Trading Company ended, and we soon stepped out of the building. 

“So, I suppose we came for nothing, huh,” Nive said, sighing as she shook her head. 

“Why is it that you suspected Rentt so much...?” 

“Hmm... I could say many things, see, but in the end it comes down to gut feeling, you know? When searching for Vampires, one must have a certain sense of things, you see. The gut feeling I was talking about. And my relatively rare intuition with regards to these things told me that he was a Vampire. But I guess my sense has dulled, too, in reality. I’d always been accurate up until now—a 100% chance of success! I guess that percentage has fallen to 99% now, huh.” 

Did Nive really mean what she said? I didn’t really know. But what she said about sense and intuition seemed sincere. That was how I felt about it, for some reason. 

For a while, I held my peace, not saying a word. Nive continued. 

“Well, I guess doing the footwork is important, too, yeah? As for the incident this time...we can summarize it as Rentt not being a Vampire and leave it as that, no? But this doesn’t mean the Vampire that has established itself in this town has disappeared. I’ll keep looking. Will you help me out tomorrow, too, Lady Myullias?” Nive smiled faintly as she asked me. 

Was I going to keep helping this person? From now on, too...? I thought my assignment would end after accompanying her to this one event... 

Thinking back on the Great Church-Father’s letter, I didn’t recall seeing any time periods noted, nor did it limit my activities to only following Nive around. I did, however, recall seeing a certain statement at the end of the missive: “...to accommodate her needs as much as possible.” 

I wouldn’t be able to carry out my official duties as a priestess-saint at all. I held my head at the thought. I could already feel a sense of mental exhaustion at the mere image of following this strange Gold-class adventurer around for quite a while longer...