The time for [evening prayer] had finally arrived. Standing in front of the believers who had gathered in the chapel had caused me to break out in a nervous sweat. I was attacked by a strong desire to run away but I held it in.
“It"s a pleasure to meet you all. I"m Robert Redbull and I"ve been a.s.signed to this place. Let"s start [evening prayers] right away.”
There"s nothing to be nervous about I tell myself.
I only have to read from the sacred book. Its relaxing in its own way.
“Then we are reading from Chapter 24 verse 16 of the holy text.”
“Please wait a moment.”
One of the villagers interrupts me. Did I do something wrong?
“I"ve heard that the new priest is an exorcist. Does that mean the church admits that Tabrisama was possessed by a demon?”
The chapel begins to get noisy.
“Is the demon still around!”
“Please help us priest-sama!”
I was hoping to just read from the scriptures and leave but something troublesome has arrived.
Is there a demon?
Do you know about it!?
I saw an undead!
Aren"t those guys enemies!
I hate it!
Listening to this I act coolly without letting my emotions show on my face.
“Demons will possess those with a weak mind.”
The buzz quietens down at my words.
“I can understand that you are upset everyone, but demons do not possess people who live good lives and do the right thing.”
I"m completely making it up here.
“Why was the former priest possessed by the devil then?”
What a troublesome but splendid tsukommi.
“Those with great faith also hold great darkness. Tabrisama had great faith and because of that, he had big worries as well. The demon will have taken advantage of that.”
My con artist skill is working overtime today but the noise has not settled down.
The villagers are looking at me with suspicious faces.
Should I go for a one shot one kill large service here?
“Everyone, please. My teacher always used to say [A healthy mind dwells in a healthy body]. In other words, if you do not wish to be possessed by a demon you need a healthy body.”
I quickly invoked my medical skill [scan] and examined the believers.
“You there.”
I move to an elderly man sitting on the front row.
“Your right knee aches.”
“Yes. eh? How"d you know?”
I place my hand on his right knee.
I can"t use too much recovery magic so I only apply a light amount.
“Now, stand up.”
“This! The pain is gone!”
“It"s fine now. You won"t be possessed by the demon.”
“Oh! Oh! Thank you priest-sama!”
It was an incredibly forced amount of logic but they seemed to believe it.
Perhaps because there was something physical that they could see.
After that, I treated all the villagers that had flocked to me. I even pretended to treat healthy people. I felt like the founder of a new religion.
“Everybody, the church forbids free treatment so this time is special. Please don"t tell anyone.”
I don"t expect they will stay quiet but hopefully, they will keep quiet for a while at least.
Thus my [evening prayer] ended in great success.
Dinner was kidney bean soup with bread.
Food in the temple is pretty simple.
Priest-sama. Was it okay to use recovery magic?”
“Sister……the villagers were frightened. There was no other way. We cannot afford for the church to lose any more authority.”
That should deceive her.
In all honesty, I couldn"t care less about the authority of the church.
“Still, are you really an exorcist priest-sama? You seem more like a law user……” (1)
“Aah, There are various ways of doing it. To tell you the truth I"m a professional law user who specialises in healing. I"m not an exorcist.”
“Really!”
Sister Maria happily places her hands together in front of her chest.
“I"m so happy that priest-sama came.”
“Why"s that?”
“Priest-sama will get to see everybody"s smiling faces. Law users hardly ever come to the countryside.”
After that Sister Maria was in a good mood for the entire meal.
Seeing her happy made me happy as well.
The villagers also thanked me as well.
I"ll have to put on that act when I appear in public huh?
After dinner was over sister delivered a bucket of hot water to my room.
It seems it"s for me to wipe my body down with.
……There was no bath in the temple.
……I"m an idiot.
There won"t be any lucky pervert moments in such a place.
Sisters room is also locked.
……….
Yeah. Let"s go with my original plan and leave before sunrise tomorrow.
I stole some potatoes and onions from the storehouse as well.
I don"t feel too bad since I lavishly used recovery magic on the villagers.
I took the hummingbirds and George-kun out of my bag, placed them on the table and filled my bag with the vegetables.
It looks like this villages mysterious incidents will continue.
In case something strange comes to the temple while I"m sleeping, I have George-kun keep watch on the roof.
After completing my preparation to escape in surprisingly quick time someone knocked on my door.
It was sister Maria standing on the other side.
“Priest-sama, may I have a moment?”
It"s 9pm.
I wonder what she wants. She should have finished her prayers and gone to bed.
“Thank you for today. You must be tired after travelling such a long way and then having to use recovery magic on the villagers. I"ll give you a ma.s.sage.”
“Eh? a, erm, I can use recovery magic on myself….so…..”
A fierce battle was raging inside of me between the angels of chast.i.ty and the demons of l.u.s.t.
This is the final battle. This is Armageddon.
“Ok, now here.”
Sisters hands are warm.
The 2nd demon unit struck the flank of the angels.
“I won"t hold back. I want to help priest-sama as much as possible.”
“Ah, then thank you.”
The angels are falling back.
I lay down on the bed.
“Oh? Here"s really tense. Please lie on your stomach.”
Sister laughs. She"s so pretty with her slightly blushing cheeks.
“Please excuse me.”
Sisters hands rub my body from my shoulders to my waist.
I wonder if she"s ma.s.saged people before?
I gradually drift off to sleep while thinking such things.
(1) They are not referring to legal law here but Buddhist spiritual law (the Dharma).