Chapter 19
Chapter 019.
The narrow space was surprisingly cozy.
Beyond the hole where light seeped in, a blurry statue of a goddess came into view.
'How ironic.'
It was a place to listen to the burdens of the believers' hearts on behalf of God.
But in this place, you couldn't properly see God.
The doorframe, used for a long time, was already worn down.
That meant many people came here and shared secrets they couldn't tell anyone else.
'Secrets.'
My hand went to my chest as a habit.
I felt awkward when I realized the locket I always fiddled with was gone.
Even though I didn't know the true identity of the object, I seemed to have relied on it inwardly.
'Was it because of the divinity I had inside?'
Since some time ago, my anxiety had subsided whenever I touched it.
I thought it was because it was the first gift Jen gave me.
When I looked down, I saw the ring still on my finger.
"I meant to take it off..."
Jen said it was just an object to help me concentrate, but seeing Jen's recent track record, I thought it might not be.
Just as I was about to take the ring off my finger, I heard the sound of a door opening somewhere with a creak.
Someone was walking into the prayer room with cautious steps.
From the clattering footsteps, I guessed he was a knight.
The person sitting in the next compartment, hidden from me, opened his mouth with a nervous voice.
"Priest, the situation is getting more and more serious."
I was puzzled by his rambling start for a moment.
He quickly continued.
"Solving the homework given by my lord is beyond my ability."
Knights must be having a hard time these days.
I didn't know who he was, but he had to do homework even after being knighted.
The saying that every moment of life is learning flashed through my mind.
"I was happy when my lord, who rarely kept people by his side, showed great interest in his newly found younger sister."
He sighed in the middle of his words.
"That person who was obsessed with swords and trained us like he was catching mice even on his days off finally opened his eyes to a new target. We thought we could be free now."
That new target was his younger sister?
I was a little dazed as I listened.
Listening to him, it seemed that this lord was obsessed with swords and usually tormented the knights, and they felt liberated when his interest turned to his younger sister.
'Then what about that younger sister?'
As someone who was suffering from a newly acquired older brother, I was more concerned about that younger sister.
"These days, he leaves all the training to us voluntarily and lives buried in his study."
"That's a good thing. Didn't you want to train less?"
"He comes across strange books in his study and keeps giving us homework."
His voice was even more gloomy.
The young man was genuinely suffering in confusion.
What kind of strange books did he come across that made him suffer so much from the homework he gave?
"After failing the plan to win his younger sister's favor, which he tried after listening to his friend's words last time, he's been diligently reading novels about older brothers and younger sisters."
"I see. He must be studying."
I don't know if that's studying.
The young knight sighed at my lukewarm agreement.
"That's the problem, it doesn't end there."
The knight's voice became a little agitated.
"The homework is for us to reenact the actions of the older brother in the novel to our younger sisters at home."
"That's..."
"Thanks to that, my mother's daughter, who lives with me, looks at me like I'm crazy."
At this point, I was curious about the novel that the knight's lord was reading.
What was he following that made the reaction so bad?
I decided to focus on solving the problem rather than curiosity.
"Listening to you, it seems that the cause of the incident can be seen as the lord's efforts to win his younger sister's favor."
"That's right."
"Then wouldn't the best way be to solve the cause first?"
"That is, are you saying to eliminate the cause?"
"That's right. The problematic part..."
"That's difficult."
He cut me off with a troubled voice.
"How can I eliminate my lord's younger sister?"
No, how can you eliminate the younger sister?
I meant to eliminate the problem of the older brother not being able to win his younger sister's favor.
"I meant to make the relationship between the two siblings better."
At my words, the knight replied with an unsure voice, "I see."
At this point, I was confused whether I was making a confession or giving career counseling.
Well, even if it was a proper confession, it would be a problem because I'm not a priest.
At that moment, the bell rang in the distance, signaling the end of the allotted time.
The knight reluctantly got up, greeted me, and left through the door.
"Just listening to it is tiring."
This isn't easy either.
I turned my stiff neck and glanced outside before getting up.
I was going to get a drink before the next person came.
I opened the partition and was about to come out for a moment.
Someone hurriedly opened the door.
"Ah, Priest! I didn't even have time to offer..."
Reflexively crouching down, someone's shadow fell in front of me.
When I looked up, a familiar back of the head came into view.
Vertein's calm voice continued.
"Believer, after the confession is over, the priest becomes very mentally exhausted. As he has the noble task of conveying the believer's words on behalf of God, you must guarantee him time to rest."
"Ah, I forgot something."
"If it's an offering, it's being received at the payment office at the entrance of the temple, so please go there."
I heard the knight's loud thank you in a flustered voice at the kind voice.
Only after the door closed again did he slowly turn around.
His face was almost touching mine.
"Thank you."
"I was wondering where you went. You were impersonating a priest here?"
I felt embarrassed for no reason at the playful voice and pushed away the guy who was blocking the narrow doorway.
"Come out now."
"Who do you think asked you to come all the way here?"
"What if that knight had seen you?"
Vertein lightly flicked my forehead with his finger.
"You lack a sense of crisis."
I rubbed my tingling forehead and nodded honestly.
I was aware that I was being swept away by the surrounding situation too much.
I was trying to get a better grip, but the opponent was too strong.
"You have to be careful. What if you get hurt?"
With a gentle voice, he pinched my cheek lightly.
My forehead and cheeks.
He was fiddling with my face like clay, but he didn't seem to want to move.
"It's stuffy."
At my words, he slowly stepped aside and poured water into a glass and handed it to me.
"Drink some. The air here is stuffy, so you must be thirsty."
Even though I was about to drink it a moment ago, I pushed the glass away with a suspicious face.
"I don't drink water you give me."
How do I know if that's mineral water or Holy water?
He chuckled at my distrustful words.
When I returned to the waiting room with Vertein, I saw Reinia sitting in front of the female priest with a sulky face.
Vertein put his hand on my shoulder and introduced me in a gentle tone.
"You were introduced to Reinia earlier, and this friend is Merian."
"I have ears too. I heard you."
She laughed at me, "Ho ho ho."
"How is it? Is it doable?"
"I don't think any job is easy."
I thought it would be better to graduate and become an adult than being a student who only has to study.
But after experiencing it myself, it seemed that there was no easy job.
"Come here, child."
She reached out to me.
Her attire was shabby, but someone who could freely roam the temple couldn't be of low status.
Light flowed from the fingertips that touched my neck and slowly scattered into the air.
She smiled at me as I stared blankly.
"I wondered why a normal child had so much Divine power, but it was because you fed her Holy water."
"You rascal. You dare steal what I've been saving?"
It was even a stolen item.
When I looked at Vertein with an astonished face, he had a nonchalant expression and retorted without anyone noticing.
"You sent me in your place to annoying salons and banquets. I thought I deserved that much."
Whether Vertein stole the Holy water or not, Lenny, who didn't care, anxiously asked the priest.
"So how is she? Is she okay?"
"There's no problem now. The one who cast the curse will have a problem though."
"He bled a lot and collapsed in his seat."
The priest nodded at my words and explained about the curse I received.
"The curse you received is called 'Puppet'."
"Puppet?"
"It's not common. The curse itself is not common, and it's not used to brainwash Academy students."
"What kind of category is the Puppet Curse?"
"It can be seen as a kind of brainwashing or hypnosis that controls the mind. If he used his power so frequently, he must have had many followers. Corrupted energy attracts immature people."
Trevor certainly had a lot of students who followed him.
However, there were also parts that I couldn't understand.
"Was there a reason for him to use Puppet on me?"
"He may have wanted something from you. He needed you."
Among my belongings, the only thing worth coveting was the locket, which even I didn't know the value of.
'He certainly acted friendly to me out of the blue.'
It was exactly after I found out that I would be taking the promotion exam.
Lenny looked at me, who was lost in thought, and asked.
"He sat next to you, right? Maybe he wanted your test paper?"
I wish it was such a simple problem.
However, it didn't seem like he would have used a dangerous curse just to get a higher test score.
"Is this all the information we can get for now?"
"Unless you meet the caster in person, that's right."
Lenny narrowed his eyes and grumbled.
"Damn it. It's too heavily guarded to take him out right now."
"You'll be able to take him out after some time."
My head throbbed when I saw Lenny and Vertein openly plotting a crime.
"Bring him back in one piece if possible. That way, we can interrogate him."
While I was wondering about the identity of the priest who calmly agreed, Lenny muttered.
"It's a shame. If I had that curse ability, I would have had an audience with His Majesty the Emperor."
There was no need to ask what he was planning to do after the audience.
I handed Lenny the sparkling water with a regretful expression.
I hope he sobers up.
