Kuoh.
After sleeping through most of the next day, I remembered an interesting little thing I had in my pocket and went to the city church, which had already been repaired and was welcoming parishioners. And, who would have thought, I wasn't going there alone.
- "You can be offended as much as you want, Ophis," I rolled my eyes as a certain dragon god sat on my shoulders and childishly pounded my head with his tiny fists. "It's your own fault."
When I woke up in the morning, the first thing I saw was Ophis, staring straight at me with her eyes as black as the abyss. As expected, she was not satisfied with the outcome, as she had become much weaker and now could not contradict the Great Red at all. And what did children do when they didn't get what they wanted? Of course, they ran to their parents with complaints.
The first option was, of course, Tia. The original goddess wanted to go and deal with Rizevim, but she was stopped, according to Ophis, by the "bad fairy", who was obviously Morgan. She also sent the dragon god to me so that I could decide the further fate of this situation. In the end, Ophis decided to follow me until I agreed to help her throw the Great Red out of the Space between Dimensions.
At this pace, I soon reached the church, which now looked quite nice. The broken roof, dilapidated walls, doors knocked off their hinges, and everything else of that sort was gone, replaced by a small but rather cozy little church, even with a small garden in front of the entrance.
Without much ceremony, I opened both doors as if the place belonged to me, and this action, of course, attracted the attention of those inside.
- "Visitor?" asked one of two nuns I didn't know, who looked to be about forty years old. "I'm truly sorry, but the church is closed today, and you'll have to leave."
Hearing this, I froze for a moment in surprise, and then a very cheerful giggle escaped me, but it was because of the irony of the whole situation.
- "Um... Did I say something funny?" The nun frowned.
- "He's kind of strange," said the second nun, who was about half the age of the first, and shifted her gaze to the Ophis on my shoulders. "And this girl looks strange too..."
At that, they both exchanged glances, and their politeness instantly vanished. Their hands reached for something hidden under their robes, and the atmosphere slowly became tense.
- "Who are you?" asked the older nun. "Why are you here?"
The giggling stopped, and I decided to play the villain a little, since the circumstances were more than suitable. Besides, I wanted to have some fun.
- "How perceptive," I began, and then, taking off my Ophis, I put my hands behind my back and began to parody the most caricatured villain I could remember. "But, alas, I will do what I came here to do."
A dramatic pause, after which I created Gae Bolg in my hand, who, of course, immediately began to spit out his bloodthirsty aura. In response, the nuns took off their robes, under which were...
- "There are no personal grievances between us, but you serve those who sowed this darkness in me," I continued to play the part, adding more and more emotion. I think I even managed to shed a tear. "Look at what you are wearing. This tight-fitting leather jumpsuit, showing off every curve of your body, seems to have been designed specifically to corrupt those who are weak in spirit... As happened to someone I truly respected... And..."
- "Only you could come up with such a clever lie just to comfort your incredibly immature ego," a familiar female voice suddenly interrupted me from behind the nuns.
- "Mother Superior!" exclaimed the young nun.
- "Sister Griselda," said the older one, more calmly but no less tensely. "Do you know him?"
- "Put down your weapons, he's not the enemy," Griselda reassured them, then gave me an annoyed look. "Why are you here, Mr. Archiman?"
- "How boring you are, nun with an indecent body," I said with a hurt expression, which apparently made Griselda's eye twitch. "Maybe I need to spank you again, huh?"
- "Enough," she said coldly, apparently noticing out of the corner of her eye that the two nuns behind her had already begun to give her ambiguous looks. "Follow me. We can talk quietly in the basement."
- "Oh, it sounds like you offer that to everyone you meet. And just so you know, I wasn't lying at that moment," I chuckled and followed her, but stopped as I passed the nuns. "Please keep an eye on the girl I came with. Just feed her some sweets and she won't cause any trouble."
- "O-okay," replied the young nun uncertainly, after which I continued on my way behind Griselda.
As it turned out, the basement had also been renovated. Not just "renovated", but completely rebuilt. The space had been expanded almost threefold and was now divided into several parts: a common room, a chapel, which radiated with holy power, an arsenal, and living quarters such as bedrooms, kitchens, and so on. In short, everything was very nice and cozy.
When I saw the sofa in the middle of the common room, I immediately took it, making Griselda sit in the armchair opposite, after placing a cup of coffee for me and tea for herself on the table.
- "Those nuns upstairs were..."
- "They are the result of the new policy of Heaven and the Church, which you yourself promoted," Griselda replied. "Rena and Vivian are mother and daughter, whose family was attacked by a vampire. The exorcists managed to save only them, while the head of the family, unfortunately, had already died."
- "I didn't notice any outstanding abilities in them," I muttered thoughtfully. "Someone with a single pair of wings would be more than enough to deal with them."
- "Yes, and if it weren't for you, they would have remained in ignorance and just mourned their loss, continuing to live their lives, but now everything is as it is," Griselda said with a clear tone of condemnation directed at me.
- "And yet it's their choice, isn't it?" I smiled. "Take away a person's choice, and all that remains is a shell, not much different from a programmed machine. After all, there is a big difference between the end you choose yourself and the one that is imposed on you."
Griselda just sighed in response and took a sip of tea.
- "So, back to you, why did you come here? Don't you have anyone at home who could be the object of your silly jokes?"
- "Believe it or not, no. The servants are at work, Vali's team is out somewhere, and those who are left are not as cheerful as you," I replied, taking the coffee offered to me and tasting it. "Not bad, but mine is better."
- "You still haven't answered the question, Mr. Archiman," Griselda said with a hint of impatience.
- "Oh, yes. I completely forgot," I said, comically tapping my forehead with my fist and making a silly face, and placed the desired item on the table in front of Griselda, which shocked her greatly.
- "This is..."
- "The True Longinus? Well, yes," I shrugged. "It's been lying around in my pocket for a long time, and so I wouldn't forget about it again, I decided to come here. I hope you know how to handle a spear?"
- "How can you be so irresponsible when dealing with such a..."
- "Yes, yes, I'm very bad and all that," I interrupted her. "But you haven't answered my question yet."
Griselda wanted to say something else, but she held back and focused all her attention on the spear in front of her. She cautiously reached for it, but quickly pulled her hand back, as if she had been burned by some invisible flame, which, at that particular moment, did not exist.
- "It's..."
- "Tasteless? Well, you're right about that."
- "Can you stop being a child for a minute?" commented Griselda, staring at the spear in front of her for a long time, then giving me a strange look. "Why me?"
- "Because no one else came to mind," I rolled my eyes. "Only you, apart from one exorcist obsessed with food, are qualified enough to wield it. Plus, you have both the brains and the humanity to make decisions that can ACTUALLY produce results, as evidenced by your rather extensive track record, without turning you into a heartless killing machine. After all, this spear can kill a god, and this toy should be in the hands of someone suitable. I'm not really that person. Heh."
At that moment, her gaze became really strange. I mean, she usually looked at me with condemnation, irritation, righteous anger, or something like that, but now? It was definitely a mixture of different emotions, among which misunderstanding and... doubt stood out the most? I suppose it was to be expected.
In any case, the spear had to be given to someone. For me and the Servants, this thing was pretty useless, but for the natives of this world? The answer was quite the opposite.
- "Just take the spear in your hand," I rolled my eyes, but Griselda still didn't move. "If you doubt that it will accept you, you're wrong. Or don't you believe in the one who was accepted by the Throne of Heaven, huh?"
Finally, Griselda gathered her courage and slowly reached for the spear. As soon as she gently touched the True Longinus, the spear glowed with a pure white light that filled the entire room. When the light faded, Griselda was already caressing the blade and smiling softly, which, I must admit, looked mesmerizing.
- "Didn't I tell you that the spear would accept you without any problems, hm?"
-0-
A/N: How's the chapter? Give us your opinion. You may well be able to influence future chapters.
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