“I really don’t see how it’s related,” Elane said, stretching. Really leaning into it, she let out a surprisingly girlish grunt as the head of the axe slung over her back knocked against a brick wall we’d been walking beside.
Though she hadn’t done much in the way of actual training, she had at least been wearing her heavy breastplate all morning, so neither the sweat-drenched Yua nor I said a word. A quick couple of spells cleaned us right up, anyways.
“It’s simple,” I said. “Giulio didn’t suspect we were involved with what happened last night, meaning their leader didn’t tell him about it.”
“And…?”
“And that means he might not be in communication with her. And if he’s not and he doesn’t know, then Nerissa likely doesn’t know, either. Meaning we don’t have to go out of our way to hide just yet.”
We can still work out in the open. That was about the gist of where my mind has been at. We were still free to walk the streets of Villeverdure.
Where I’d thought Yua was getting ready to tell me off for actually enjoying my training session with Giulio, what she really wanted to say was that she’d been listening to him the entire time. Or more specifically, she’d been eavesdropping on his heart.
Long story short: Giulio was genuinely having fun training with us, too. Not only was there not a wicked thought in his head throughout our time with him, but he was apparently having the time of his life.
Not that I would have outright refuted this after seeing the man’s smile myself, but when Yua likened his heartbeat to how her father’s sounded whenever she came to visit, I had a hard time denying it was true.
“Maybe,” Elane sighed, then smirked. “But he did get a little pissy when he caught you ogling his woman.”
“That’s… I mean I’d more or less react the same way.”
“Only more or less?”
“Well, as much as I’d like to be extra manly and say I’d beat anyone within an inch of their life if they dared ogle you three, I feel like you and Yua would take care of them before I could lift a finger. But if it was Mana…”
“Hoho? If anyone else tried to flirt with her, then I’d slaughter them myself.”
“And there you go.”
It was my duty as a man to protect my wives, but when two out of three of them wouldn’t even give me the chance to, then my hands sadly were tied.
“What are you talking about?” Mana asked, looking up at us with open confusion plain on her face. “I already have a mate. So, nobody’s going to do that.”
“Oh, Kitty,” Elane cooed, plopping a hand on Mana’s head. “You’re so cute. Never change.”
“Eh?”
“Can we please get back to why we’re going to the church?” Yua said, ears flicking as we left an alley to get back on the main street. “And be careful with your words. I can’t promise nobody else is listening.”
It was nearing dinner time, so the streets were as lively as anyone would expect. However, it didn’t seem like anyone was listening to our banter as we took every shortcut we could to get to the church faster.
“Right, right. Anyways, Husband, why does Gino enjoying himself mean we need to go to the church?”
“Because I believe it’s safe to say that Gino and the others have something to do with why the city expanded so quickly. The church was damaged by their leader and was repaired overnight. The same night. Even with the technology from Earth, that’d be damn near impossible. That leaves very few options for what really happened last night.”
“You gonna let us in on what those options are?”
“Their leader is obviously skilled with magic, so there is either some sort of magic being used in the construction work or…”
“Or…?”
“Or there might be someone with abilities like mine working with them.”
I’d considered it before, but someone spamming the use of Material Creation could easily build an entire city – or make repairs to a church overnight. Hell, I made something of a miniature city myself, just so Mana could use it to practice her archery. Building an actual city would be nothing if I actually wanted to.
Even if the ability wasn’t found naturally in this world, I was reincarnated here with it, so it’s possible others were too.
The Goddess may have claimed my abilities were unique, but it’s not like she was entirely upfront with me in the first place.
“I have to check it out. I’ll be able to tell if Material Creation was used.”
“Then why not just wait until nightfall like we’ve been doing?”
“You heard Gino. They are going to be boosting patrols around the church at night. And…”
“And Dimensional Step makes light.”
“He’d get caught for sure this time.”
I nodded. “Exactly. And with them searching for the person who burned the church, me doing magic on the church’s roof would just put a target on my back. I’m sure they’d be happy to pin the blame on someone else.”
“Then why not just make a small portal, poke your head through, take a quick peek at the repairs, memorize them, and then pull your head back out and tell us what you saw? I mean, if you really wanted to, you could do it back at the inn, while sitting in bed, while Yua’s sucking you off. Why go there now?”
“Because there’s something else we need to look into…”
Setting aside Elane’s wild claims – I wasn’t about to run the risk of Yua’s lips causing me to lose focus and accidentally turn one of my portals into a guillotine – the bigger issue that needed looking into was one of the other bandits we already know about.
The church’s belltower was slowly coming into view above the other buildings. With the setting sun lost somewhere far behind it, I could see nothing but shadow.
“Are you…?” Elane started, then she grabbed my shoulder to stop me moving forward. “Is this about the priestess again?”
I brushed off her hand. “For the last time, I’m not interested in…”
“No, no, no. Not that,” she started, then after checking to make sure none on the street were listening, she leaned in and whispered. “Don’t you know that returning to the scene of the crime is a good way to get yourself caught? Just because you think she doesn’t know, doesn’t mean she won’t catch on if you keep sticking your nose in her business.”
“She might be right,” Yua added. “Even if they don’t know about your fight, Gino still saw you there. He might have told her.”
“And she might be able to put two and two together and figure it out. Yea, I know, but she’ll eventually learn about it anyway. Same with Gino.”
We were lucky that the bandits don’t seem to be in constant communication – probably the only time I’ll praise this world for not having cell phones – but they will inevitably meet up again at some point. Then they will share what we know.
“We need to do something before that happens. I think I can get Nerissa to tell me where their leader is.”
“And how are you going to… Ah, Thought Steal.”
“Exactly.”
I just had to get her to talk by bringing up what happened last night. What comes after that unfortunately hinges on whether or not she thinks about their leader without my direct prompting.
“Since we know Gino will be on patrol, and Nerissa will be in the church, we won’t have to worry about them while we investigate the rest of the bandits.”
“Yes, I suppose it’ll be nice to not have to be constantly looking over our shoulder, you know, while we’re constantly looking over our shoulder.”
“Elane…”
“Hey, I’m not saying you’re wrong to want to write them off first. It’s just… All this is so strange. Murders gone unnoticed, bandits in positions of power, blood mages that can outrun teleportation. This is supposed to be a low-ranked quest, isn’t it?”
“Yea… I’m going to have to have a word with the guild master over how they rank their quests once we’re done.”
“But until then…” Yua said, pointing ahead as we entered the church grounds.
At a glance, not that we could see much from ground level, the church looked good as new. Any signs that there had been a fire had already been washed away with the repair work. Even the scorch marks left behind where the fire licked the stone had been vigorously scrubbed away, likely by whoever left all the dozen or so mops leaning against the church’s side wall.
Tall as the church was, from this distance I could just barely see the part of the building that’d been burned, but only enough to open a portal near it, not straight to it. This was still enough to accomplish what I wanted, but that was not why Yua pointed.
There at the back of the church’s neat little garden, pressed up against the foot of the main building, was a small gathering of people. A handful of them were clearly marked as city guards by the weapons they carried, another handful wrapped in holy garb belonged to the church, while the scattering of extras mixed in with the lot were regular people. Regardless of who they were, all were huddled around a single spot under a tall tree.
Shaded by the same cool shadows that hid the belltower, the scene reminded of a schoolyard fist fight. The sort where a crowd of confusingly blood-thirsty children would circle around the fighters, cheering on the violence and refusing to let them go until the teachers inevitably pulled them apart. Only, the calm in the air and the peaceful stillness in their bodies was enough to say the guards were only there as a precaution.
None stopped us as we approached, though one guard did eye us suspiciously. He knocked an elbow into another guard’s side and they turned to watch as well. We, however, gave them no reason to assume we were here for violence.
The closer we got, the more Yua and Mana’s ears twitched along to the sounds hidden to us by the wall of people.
“What’s happening?” I asked in a whisperand Yua responded by flicking her chin at the crowd.
We walked, and half way across the garden, the voices of the crowd finally became clear to those of us without pointy ears.
“Aww, come ooon,” whined the voice of a young child. “Keep reading, pleeease. It was getting good.”
“Can’t you keep going Lady Nerissa? For the kids? It’s such a nice day out. It’d be a shame to cut it short.”
I stiffened slightly at the name of the person we were here to talk to coming so soon.
As the crowd suddenly grew restless at the thought of their fun coming to an early end, a gap in the bodies appeared and I caught a glimpse of Lady Nerissa sat neatly on a wooden bench, with a copy of the Book of Valediction open in her hands and with the head of a small child resting upon her lap.
She must have been reading scripture to them.
“Now, now, dear,” came a sweet voice in response. “It’s getting late and my throat is starting to feel sore from all the talking.”
A small collection of groans and disappointed sighs lit up the garden, but if the slight rasp in Nerissa’s voice was any indicator, she wasn’t lying. After all the preaching and what must have been an entire book’s-worth of questions that had no doubt been thrown at her regarding last night, I’d be tired too.
“But can’t you just use a miracle to make the pain go away?” said the same young voice as before.
“Oh, you.~ My blessings are a gift from Tallow. I can’t go wasting them on something as insignificant as this. Not when all I need is some rest. I am so very pleased that you all wish to hear more, but I’m afraid this is all I can do today.”
“““Awwww…”””
To the tune of a brief, childish chorus of complaints that were quickly snuffed out by the adults in the group, a few of the other nuns started quietly ushering the crowd to disperse.
Many of the adults were visibly disappointed, but made sure to say their thanks before heading home. Several of them were parents, who had to wrangle their kids back into place to show their gratitude before walking off.
Nerissa politely accepted their well-wishes and only once the majority of them were gone, did she close her book.
Drawing in a slow, deep breath, she tilted her head back to bask in what little sun there still was until the boy resting on her lap moved. Seeing that he was still asleep, she combed her fingers through his hair. The soft smile that spread across her lips struck me as the same sort Kimiko would have worn.
I checked their info boxes, assuming her smile and the boy’s golden locks meant they might have been related, but they did not share a family name. He must have left his parents to come listen to her speak.
Forcefully reminding myself that this kindly woman was actually a killer, I quickened my pace, only to get stopped by her guards.
“You can stop right there. If you wish to speak with Lady Nerissa, come back tomorrow and…”
“It’s fine, Davis,” Nerissa said without looking up from the boy’s hair. “You can let them through.”
“But, priestess, didn’t you say you were…”
“Tired, yes, but what sort of priestess would I be if I couldn’t speak to those who’ve come to Tallow’s house twice now to hear his message?”
“My apologies…”
“There’s no need, dear,” she said, turning to us, her silvery eyes looking us over. “Now, how may I help you? No, wait, let me guess… You’re here to offer your services as temporary guards? I don’t suppose you’d be willing to lend a hand before I send a request to your guild, because it’ll take a few…”
“That’s not why we’re here.”
“Really? Then why the armor? You are adventurers, aren’t you?”
Her eyes locked onto mine. Though her smile was still nothing but sweet, there was a stiffness to it I would have had to have been blind not to notice.
“Surely it’s not to ogle my chest again, right?”
Still smiling, she pointed not to her breasts, but to the boy resting on her lap, as if to say you wouldn’t do something like that in the presence of a child, right?
And given how often my eyes wondered, I could only respond with I hope not.
“I wasn’t… H-hey!”
My vision suddenly blotted out by a hand, Yua’s voice cut through the darkness.
“Sorry about him. He can’t help himself. We’re wearing our armor because we just finished training for the day.”
I brushed Yua’s hand away just in time to see Nerissa’s eyes widen with joy. And for her following exclamation to nearly wake the boy.
“Oh! Then you must be here to request healing. I can still do that much. Chloe, if you would.”
“Y-Yes, priestess.”
One of the nuns standing by, the same who’d been trailing behind her when we first seen her in the church, extracted the staff she’d been pinning to her chest and handed it to Nerissa. Before she could start chanting, though, Yua spoke up.
“Thank you, but there’s no need. If we don’t let our muscles heal normally, they won’t grow.”
Nerissa nodded along, smiling, but when she spoke again, she sounded like a mother explaining the obvious to her child.
“I see. Then I’ll just use a higher-tier miracle. That way, your pain will cease, your muscles will strengthen and, if you wish, you may continue training.”
“Huh?!” Yua nearly shouted, her tail stiffening in surprise. “But a Monk’s Healing Punch doesn’t help build muscle. I tried!”
“Indeed. A Monk’s… Hmm. How should I explain this?” Nerissa poked a finger to her cheek and thought for a moment before her smile returned. “A Monk’s ability to heal is like a sort of bandage meant only for the battlefield. It’s meant to help you repair and forget your wounds so you can keep fighting. A priest’s high miracles, however, are different. They allow your body to remember your effort by speeding up the natural healing process. In your case, your muscles will remember the strain you put them under and they will use that knowledge to improve.”
“R-Really? Then I can do more push-ups if you heal me?”
“Of course! After all, it is Tallow’s will for his children to learn and grow. The miracles he blesses us with wouldn’t contradict that.”
At this, Yua turned to me, expectancy overflowing in her gaze. Unfortunately, despite Nerissa’s explanation of how her magic worked, I still received no notification saying I’d gained any classes dedicated to healing magic.
If memorizing a spell or two and learning more about the magic itself didn’t earn me the class, then it was starting to feel like my only option was to actually join the church and hope for the best. And for some reason, that thought sickened me.
“But I should warn you,” Nerissa continued. “I’ll only use this sort of miracle on you once per day. Your body may be strong enough to bear it, but your heart won’t be able to handle the strain.”
“I doubt that,” Elane said, thumping a hand on her hip. “If you knew her, you’d doubt that too.”
“Yea, Big Sis likes exercising just as much as she does mati-ffg!”
Seeing that Yua was too enamored with the possibilities to act, I was almost too late to clamp my hand over Mana’s mouth. Bandit or not, talking about that sort of thing in front of a priestess felt sacrilegious.
Mana squirmed in my arms, but I made sure to leave her room to breathe through her nose. As for Yua, she was apparently too stun-locked by the idea of priestly magic being able to help her extend her workout time to care what Mana was about to say.
Though, knowing her, she likely would have just smiled sympathetically at me anyways.
“If we could get back on track,” I said. “We wanted to ask if you were alright.”
“Alright? I assume you’re referring to last night?” she giggled softly to herself as she leaned her staff against the bench. “Yes, I’m fine. Thankfully nobody was hurt in the attack.”
“That’s good. That fire looked pretty bad.”
“It was, and… Oh! Dear, how could I forget? Father Werner mentioned you helped battle the flames. Please allow me to thank you.”
“Ah, yea. Guess he was there, too.”
Here I thought Giulio would have said something. I forgot about the other obvious witness.
“Yes,” Nerissa nodded. “But there’s no need to be nonchalant. You did a good deed.” She paused, looking like she was considering not saying more, but did anyways. “Although, I suppose I only know it was you because he referred to you as that boy that kept staring at your bosom during mass.”
“…”
“Pfft.”
Yea… Not gonna dignify that with a response. And you shut it, Elane!
“Anyway… The fire did a lot of damage, didn’t it? How’d it get repaired so fast? Usually, construction work take forever to complete. Usually because, the workers spend half their day lounging about doing nothing.”
“Oh, dear, no,” she laughed, as though the idea were actually funny. “The craftsmen wouldn’t be so lazy. After all, I personally asked for it to be handled quickly.”
“Really?” I said, both activating Thought Steal and telekinetically tugging Yua’s tail to get her to take over. She shook her head clear and did just that.
“Sorry to ask, but why would you rush them? There’s other construction happening in the city, isn’t there?”
“Is it because it happened to the church?” Elane added.
“Mmahf,” Mana added as well. I removed my hand from her mouth.
To my surprise, Nerissa’s cheeks reddened slightly, but not because I let Mana go. She stopped combing the boy’s hair to twiddle her fingers together.
“It… It’s actually a far more selfish reason than that. See, the room that was attacked last night was actually my bedroom.”
