Chapter 196 – Sincerely (1)
25. Sincerely (1)
Smart-
[Mister Sister. It’s Alisa. May I come in?]
At the sound of a knock, the brown-haired woman who had been looking through her papers raised her head. Her exposed woman’s face looked quite tired from her weariness, but once she stroked her face with her hand, a clear pale green light came out of her hand and she seemed to feel better. Although she seems to be relatively better anyway.
“Yes, come in.”
“Warm kindness and cool generosity.”
“Warm kindness and cool generosity.”
Sestia, the nun of the Salem branch of the Church of Raella, the goddess of mercy and tolerance, was smiling.
“Sister Alisa?”
“Yes, Sister. I came because I have something to tell you.”
“Please speak.”
Of course.
No matter how friendly they called her sister, she was their superior. Sisters who are close enough to have a sad conversation even if there is no business… Most died. After that incident, though she did somewhat reacquaint with her recruited sisters… Well, this wasn’t going to be that easy.
“Today at lunchtime, the head of the temple and the nun from the Church of Justitia were scheduled to visit, but they requested a change of location.”
“A place?”
“Yes. Could you come over there instead of here?”
“Why?”
“It was written that it could not be helped because it was a very important matter related to Lady Justitia.”
“Mmm.”
After thinking for a while, Cestia nodded her head. Why did they make such a request, it was because her sense of ulchu came.
“Please tell me you know.”
“Yes, Sister. Then.”
The moment Alisa, who had delivered the news of the Eustitia Church, slightly bowed her head and left the nun’s room.
Thud-
“Ouch!”
Cestia curled up at the pang she felt in her abdomen. Cold sweat broke out on her face and back.
‘Anymore… Is it unreasonable anymore… ?’
She slightly loosened the cloth wrapped around her nun’s robe. A light green light briefly glowed from within the scattered cloth, then scattered in the air, and then her abdomen swelled little by little, and then she began to oscillate wildly.
“Shhh… Baby. I’m sorry. I’m sorry for frustrating you.”
Pain came from the inside of her stomach as if it would tear, but Cestia gnashed her teeth and gently stroked her abdomen. Then, little by little, her movements slowed down. She let out a sigh of relief, but the look on her face didn’t.
‘I wanted to hold out as long as possible until Hendrick-sama returned.’
No matter how much the Church of Raella is tolerant of relationships between men and women compared to other churches, it is only relative.
The chief nun gets pregnant with a baby of her own and not her husband’s, and gives birth alone?
Until now, she had somehow hidden her divine power with a pressure bandage, but it seemed different today at the critical point.
‘Today’s meeting will be the last.’
Cestia breathed her divine power back into her compression bandage, where her divine power had evaporated, and took out her envelope stored deep inside her desk drawer.
Whoa-
[Petition for leave of absence]
After sweeping the dust from her envelope, she stared intently at it for a while before tearing it apart.
“You promised not to walk down the same road.”
Thud-
“Oops. Yes, baby.”
Taking out her new paper, Cestia moved her pen without hesitation.
[Petition for Restitution]
**
“I was guessing that. Not only Raella-sama, but Justitia-sama are paying a huge price to support Hendrick-sama’s warrior corps.”
“The aftermath is already strong. Everyone’s divine power has decreased by at least 10% and at most 50% compared to before. Divine power is the price of faith and the power of the Goddess itself. Since it diminishes overnight, confusion is not the only thing.”
“Very few, including us, know the cause, but spreading it and persuading it is another matter. It seems that this incident occurred much earlier than us from Raella’s Church, but what is the current situation…”
“It is difficult. Many.”
Sestia tilted her teacup and said.
“Because the foundation of faith is shaken. You will have doubts. Unanswered questions lead to doubt, and doubt leads to distrust.”
“Then.”
“But at the same time we are priests and their lambs. The price they are suffering has come as a trial to us.”
Aside from saying that truth is always right and lies are always bad, there was little to be gained and much more to be lost by announcing the fact that Hendrick’s corps of warriors, their purpose, and the fact that the goddesses were suffering from excessive use of their complicated situation and power.
Do the gods disagree? The condition of the goddess is not good because she gave some strength to the stranger warrior?
Was it all to make the dungeon disappear completely?
This was in the middle of the dungeon city of Salem, and it should never have been revealed. So Cestia covered most of the truth.
“If you look at the anecdote before Raella and Justitia became gods, Justitia, who always bravely wielded a shining sword at the forefront, was seriously injured, and even Raella-nim, who tried to heal him, faced a great crisis. It says he crouched down for a while to the point where he didn’t even think of fighting the horrors.”
“Sestia-sama.”
“It was not announced, but the Raella Church is clearly aware that the divine power has decreased. And the solution is none other than ‘stronger faith and practice’. Even if you do, your divine power won’t increase.”
Perhaps, the goddess will punish me later.
Cestia emptied her car in her effeminate manner. That she covered up the truth was not her talker’s attitude. She showed no guilt or hesitation. She even looked relieved at first glance. The gap between her words and tone confused the two priests of Justitia.
“Ah. One more.”
“Yes?”
“I thought I should tell you two. I want to change money.”
“… Yes eh?”
Their confusion was multiplied by Cestia’s backbiting.
The strongest healing nun in Salem, acknowledged by others, and also the nun of one of the branches changed?
At this time?
“Please help me a lot. We will help you a lot too. If we help each other, we can overcome this difficult time well.”
“No wait…”
“I’ll just go. I’m a little unwell.”
The two of them had known each other for a long time, but… It wasn’t something that could make Sestia’s resolve fall behind her.
**
‘When will he come?’
Several months have passed since Hendrick’s band of warriors entered the dungeon. And it had been several months since Cestia had thrown off her nun’s uniform and her stomach compressions.
She was pregnant now.
Her main daily routine was to whisper nice words to the unborn baby who was struggling to get out as soon as possible.
“Yes, yes, baby. I miss you too.”
He changed gears, but he couldn’t leave Salem at all. Even if she was not a normal person, it was very dangerous for her pregnant woman to leave the city alone. So, he found a small house in a district where the church’s influence was weak, and took care of himself quietly.
Crucially, I wanted to see with my own eyes the safe return of Hendrick’s warriors.
With him and his child.
“Baby. Are your kicks stronger today?”
Cestia frowned and smiled.
“Looks like you want to hear more about your father.”
Whenever that happened, Cestia told me a story related to Hendrick. Curiously enough, her stomach was still as she spoke. As if focusing on the story.
Whenever that happened, Sestia was happy. She was so adorable with a baby that she didn’t even know her face yet. Her happiness welled up because she felt that her love, her faith, and her life were being recognized. Her baby’s kick was quite rough, but she thought that even that was positive, as it meant that she was healthy and strong.
“This time, I will start by talking about how it was when my mother first met her father…”
So, she tried to tell the story of Hendrick again this time, but at that moment, an energy that was difficult to describe penetrated Cestia’s whole body.
‘This… !’
Her whole body tingled. She reflexively put her divine power on her abdomen and curled up. And I figured out where her aura was coming from.
It was on the side with the dungeon entrance.
“It must be… Sure… !”
Most of the people on the street fainted, but the ‘heroes’ felt a change, if not as much as Sestia, and she started heading towards the dungeon entrance all at once.
‘Did you return safely? Hendrick! Yes?’
I couldn’t tell right away from this place that was quite far away. Had to go by myself. It was difficult for her to walk because her body had become very uncomfortable these days, but the moment she had been waiting for so long had arrived. She moved on
Thud-
“Ah, ah, ah… !”
The moment I took a step, my stomach, which had been quiet, trembled. Cestia hugged her stomach in sudden excruciating pain. Her intuition and experience judged her immediately. This isn’t your usual behavior.
It’s called pain.
In her mind, she wanted to get closer to the source of energy as quickly as possible, but her body refused to do so.
“Ahhh…”
The trouble was not short.
Cestia was a woman with strong maternal love. She raised even her daughter, whom she had forcibly acquired through a tragedy, with her love, and she lost that daughter through an even greater tragedy. She had to be strong. She went back into the house and lay down on the bed.
Since she couldn’t reveal the fact that she was pregnant out of wedlock, even if she had changed hands, rumors that she, who was a celebrity in Salem in her own way, was looking for a midwife would spread and disgrace the face of the church. And she also had the experience of giving birth once at a young age, to the idea that she could somehow hold on.
Cestia decided to fight labor pains alone in a small room with no one around.
“Please… May the baby see his father…”
Aaaaa!!!
Cordia, the crystallization of sincere emotions more than ever in Cestia’s life, is finally beginning to reveal itself little by little.
