◈ 170. [Auto Play] All right on the southern front (2)
“Huh… .”
Marherita was squatting in the backyard of the temple, clutching a cigarette butt with a sullen face.
‘How did this happen… … .’
He became a priest only because he wanted to heal the sick.
If there was a problem, it was about being too hard on the job.
As a result of helping people by practicing healing magic in the slums of the imperial capital, her reputation as a saint instantly rose, and her rank within the church was repeatedly promoted.
She is the youngest person in church history to rise to the rank of high priest. It was a position in charge of one temple.
It was fine up to this point.
As the rank has increased, the authority within the church that can be used has also increased, and that will help heal the sick more.
The problem was other tasks that had nothing to do with the healing priest, who had grown as much as the rank he had been promoted to.
Administrative duties to be handled as the chief priest, as well as personnel management of priests under his command, temple budget management, collection of offerings, etc… … .
Things that he didn’t have to pay attention to while working as a front-line healer came after him as a manager.
‘I just want to treat and nurse the sick.’
The biggest problem was the espionage mission.
It was to spy on the situation and atmosphere of the dispatched city and report it to the Imperial Capital, but from here on out, I started getting annoyed.
‘No, what the hell does this have to do with the healer?’
Still, he persevered. Anyway, I have to do what I received.
After working in a provincial city for a few years and receiving high evaluations, the place she was newly assigned to was the Monster Front Crossroads.
It was a place where monsters came in to kill people.
It was a dangerous city where everything, including temples, would die if the defense line collapsed.
Here, Marherita was frightened.
It is true that he devoted his life to healing the sick, but walking into the battlefield fire was another.
What can I do though? If it’s from above, it should be.
Every day, soldiers whose limbs were cut off were brought to the temple screaming.
Marherita, who mainly specialized in chasing away sickness with magic, had to become familiar with bandages, antiseptic thread, needles, and saws.
It was fine though. Every time a battle occurred, the entire corridor of the small temple was covered with blood, but it was tolerable.
Rather, every day was faithful.
In recent years as a manager, I haven’t had time to work as a healer.
However, Crossroads had a chronic shortage of manpower. Marherita jumped into the forefront of healing soldiers even with the title of high priest.
Administrative work as the head priest, espionage work without knowing why, and work as a healing priest in the field.
It was insanely hard, but not bad.
I thought it would roll so well… … .
Prince Ash, the commander of the front line, made a sudden request.
– Lend me your strength, Marherita. Your healing powers are needed.
Let’s go up to the top of the wall together and fight the monster.
Aren’t you crazy?
I don’t know how to do anything except spray recovery magic, so what the hell am I supposed to do when I face monsters?
But I can’t help it. The opponent was a frontline commander and a prince. It was a request, not just a command.
If black… … until… … .
So I went up to the top of the wall.
As soon as I saw the vampire’s face, I felt like I was going to pee, but I persevered and fought together. won What should I do?!
… But now the espionage mission has been exposed.
He was roasted by Prince Ash, looked down on by the rest of the castle, and now someone from the central temple will come down and reprimand them.
The stress that had already crossed the critical point exploded as I was rolling around all over the place.
When I woke up, I found alcohol and cigarettes in my hands. no, it was in the mouth.
‘I just… … Just an ordinary petit bourgeois… … I want to cast some magic on the sick with a cold and hear their thanks… … .’
Marherita was sad.
‘Even though I desperately try to save the soldiers whose limbs are flying off and entrails are shed, it’s painful every time they die. I’m sick of bathing in someone else’s blood every time there’s a battle. I’m scared to death that the monster is outside the wall, but now it’s amazing to see it face to face on top of the wall.’
I missed the time when I first started working as a priest.
The slums of the imperial capital were a terrible place, but arguably, compared to Crossroads, it was a paradise.
I wanted to go back to those days.
Those days when I was innocently doing relief work as a healer, not caring about administration, espionage, monsters… … .
“my life… Where are you going… … .”
Marherita laments,
“Isn’t it hard? Come on, smoke this.”
A friendly voice came from the side. With a fresh, straight cigarette.
“Oh, thank you… .”
Marherita thoughtlessly took the cigarette and put it in her mouth. And I looked around.
There was a woman I had never seen before. Long black hair tied down and dressed in a neat imperial military uniform. An elderly female officer.
“By the way, who are you?”
When Marherita asked shyly, the woman who gave her the cigarette- Reina laughed.
“I’m from ‘the center’. Priestess Marherita, who is in charge of the ‘Southern End’.”
“… !”
In front of the wide-eyed Marherita, Reina clicked her tongue.
“Do you know why I’m here?”
Of course, it was because the intelligence mission was discovered and the communication device of the Goddess Statue was discovered by Prince Ash.
“Huh~”
Next to Marherita, who was stiff, Reina put her cigarette in her mouth and lit it.
“I knew this would happen at any time, so I always said it above. It might be convenient to use priests as spies, but they’re not properly trained, so there’s going to be an accident someday.”
“… .”
“But I was ignored. It is several times cheaper to use the priests in the old way than to train new spies, spread them all over the country, and build a new communication network. But look, accidents happen in the end.”
Reina smiled.
“Anyway, it was an accident, so you have to take responsibility, Priestess Marherita?”
“Ah, that… .”
Marherita, trembling, barely asked.
“What can I do… … ?”
“It was a difficult argument even from the top.”
Reina stretched out her gloved hand.
“You failed as a spy, but as a priest you were very diligent. The center decided that it was not right to punish priest Marherita for this.”
“Well then… .”
“So I decided to punish only the agent Marherita.”
Reina’s hand stretched forward and was gripped in the shape of a pistol.
“The mistake you made is too big to let go. Marherita. Let us die clean here.”
“… !”
“Instead, you will be executed and the church will promote you. You will be able to go to the side of the goddess with honor.”
Reina smiled.
“It’s a conclusion that satisfies both the church and the shadows. It’s a win-win, right?”
“Hey, hey!”
Frightened, Marherita jumped out of her seat and started to run away. Reina aimed her fingertips at Marherita’s back.
“I don’t really want to do that either. I always get to play this kind of role.”
Tuhak-!
Wind bullets shot from Reina’s fingertips.
It was the wind magic that killed people.
Reina was sure that in the next moment there would be a hole in Marherita’s back.
But
Taang-!
It didn’t work out that way.
Almost at the same time as Rayna fired a wind bullet, a gunshot rang out, and magic bullets flew like beams of light.
The flying magic bullets accurately collided with the bullets of the wind, offset each other and shattered in the air.
“Hoo?”
Reina looked in the direction the magic bullets flew.
Standing there was Damian, a boy with curly brown hair in a priestly uniform.
Damian shouted while aiming his pistol [Cerberus] forward.
“Priest! Come this way!”
“Wow!”
Marherita screamed and ran towards Damian, and Rayna didn’t just watch.
“Where?”
Tuhak-!
Reina lightly fired a bullet of wind. Damian’s brown eyes flashed and he pulled the trigger. bang!
Beep-!
Magic bullets and magic bullets whose paths overlapped precisely shattered in the air. Reina murmured, feeling the thrill.
“How did you get your sniping skills, dear?”
“… .”
“I’ve been on the battlefield my whole life, but I’ve never seen anything like this… !”
Tuhak! Tuhak! Tuhak-!
Raina continued to fire magic bullets of wind, and Damian sniped them all and exploded them in the air.
When the number of offsets exceeded ten, Reina laughed in disbelief.
“Forcibly dispelling by piercing the center of magic with magic bullets? This is no longer a human domain. What are you looking at with those eyes?”
“… .”
“Okay, then let’s try to see if this magic can be destroyed with that gun!”
Aaaah-!
A tornado began to form behind Reina’s back. Damian gritted his teeth and grabbed the handle of the long gun slung to his back.
It was then.
“There!”
Lucas and Evangeline rushed into the temple.
Almost at the same time, Junior, who sensed the magical energy, came running in a hurry.
Lucas yelled at Reina.
“Sir Rayna. What are you doing!”
“Oh dear. You have wasted too much time.”
Reina grumbled and dispelled the tornado magic and spread her hands.
“It’s nothing, Deputy Commander. It was just a little bit of a fight.”
Lucas let out cold blood from his blue eyes.
“Sir Reina, you are only the captain of the reinforcements for the defense battles to be fought here. Do not do anything beyond the authority permitted to you.”
“All right. Let’s be a little more quiet from now on.”
Laughing leisurely, Reina left the temple with both hands raised.
“Then see you next time, sniper kid. and… Priest Marherita. It would be best to hide as inconspicuously as possible.”
“Hee-hee.”
Marherita trembled as she hid behind Damian.
Raina’s eyes, which snorted, suddenly met Junior’s.
“… .”
“… .”
The two wizards had an unspoken snowball fight. Eventually, Reina completely exited the temple and disappeared.
“Wow, that was hard… .”
After Rayna disappeared, Damian slipped on the floor. Evangeline quickly ran to support Damian.
“… It hurts.”
Lucas rubbed his forehead and sighed.
I knew that Reina had other ulterior motives, but I didn’t expect her to move so blatantly.
I can’t believe he was openly trying to kill Marherita.
Besides, is that all there is to it?
If you have other tricks… … .
“Wow! I don’t want to die aaaaaaa!”
While looking at Marherita, who is crying with runny nose and tears, and Damien and Evangeline, who are sweating to soothe her.
Lucas turned his head to the side. Junior was glaring at the direction Reina had escaped with a terrifyingly stiff face.
‘Whoa… … .’
I desperately missed Ash, who would deal with all these situations and direct traffic. Lucas prayed with sincerity.
‘Please come back soon, my lord… … .’
***
Ecliptic. New Terra.
Wintersilver upper building 5th floor. auditorium.
“huh?”
Sitting on a chair and waiting for the serenade, I suddenly raised my head. I thought someone called me.
‘Is it an illusion?’
As I was thinking, the auditorium door creaked open and someone came in. i saw that
When Serenade entered the Eunggeojuchum and our eyes met, I saw a surprised look.
I took off the suit I was wearing for work and changed into a comfortable two-piece dress for dancing.
The suit was nice too, but this one fits well too.
Serenade struggled, not knowing what to do, then closed her eyes tightly and ran in front of me at once.
“Oh, you waited a long time, sir!”
“No at all.”
I smiled and got up from my chair.
“Okay then, shall we start right away?”
“Oh yes yes!”
and silence.
I stood blankly, and Serenade also just looked up at me with sparkling silver eyes.
no um there therefore.
“… I really don’t know how to dance at all.”
“ah… ?”
Serenade slightly frowned.
“… really?”
“So I must say I forgot everything. I have to dance at official events, so I want to learn properly from the beginning.”
“Okay then… Could you hold out your left hand first?”
I put my left hand forward. Then Serenade reached out with her right hand and gently grabbed my left hand.
His long, thin fingers were cool.
It was like a snowflake in summer.
