Chapter 102: - The Lord Is With Us (23)

༺ The Lord Is With Us (23) ༻

My reunion with Senior Elsie was short-lived.

She rushed out of the room before I could even ask how she was doing. I wanted to ask if she was hurt anywhere, but like usual, she just did whatever she wanted.

‘Though I guess that’s one of her charms.’

With such a thought, I looked down at my stomach.

The abdominal wound was dressed in bandage that was covered in blood and pus.

Wounds inflicted by demonic beasts didn’t heal easily, no matter how much holy power was poured into closing the wound. I thought it’d be different with the Saintess’ exceptional holy power, but the fact that discharge was still leaking out meant one thing.

That the demonic monkey from that night was especially strong and had demonic energy potent enough to resist the Saintess’ highly pure holy power.

I couldn’t detect it until it was too late. Even if it had moved stealthily, it still meant that it was capable of escaping my senses although my senses were sharper than ever before.

I didn’t know much about the beast, but it seemed worthy of being named.

After all, it had to at least be that strong for it to make me feel threatened for my life. Thinking back, the letter had mentioned that I would be in a life-threatening battle, and it seemed like it was referring to this encounter.

With a click of my tongue, I sorrowfully stared down at my wound.

Recently, I’d been too careless with my body. If I continued to accumulate injuries like this, I figured I might have to listen to the Saintess’ scoldings again.

‘Though she might not care, now that things became estranged between us.’

Right at that moment, a voice entered my ears.

“.......Are you dumb?”

The voice sounded annoyed.

I looked towards the door of my hospital room.

There, a woman with silver hair and pale pink eyes stood. She had a body that left a deep impression on anyone who laid their sights upon her voluptuous curves.

It was the Saintess.

She bit her lips and approached me before abruptly grabbing me by the collar.

“Didn’t I tell you I might not be able to completely cure you anymore?”

A seething voice leaked out from between her lips as a sweet scent tickled the tip of my nose. She was so close that I could clearly see her eyelashes tremble in anger.

It was a reaction I hadn’t expected in the slightest. I thought it would be good enough if she didn’t mock me by saying the injury was rightly served, but right now, she looked genuinely angry.

She had mentioned before that she kept her personal and professional feelings separate, and that really did seem to be the case. In the end, I waved a white flag in surrender.

“......But it’s not like I could have left Senior Elsie to die.”

“You should have been more careful!”

“...I’m deeply reflecting on that.”Gét latest novel chapters on nov(e)lbj/n(.)c/om

She continued glaring at me with ferocious eyes before slightly shoving me away with another click of her tongue.

There was an unexpected amount of strength behind the shove. I had heard from Yuren that she was also training in martial arts, and judging from her strength, she seemed to be at a substantial level.

It was to the point where I wanted to check her skills in a spar.

However, it was obvious that my request for a spar would be met with a cold glare. It also wasn’t as if I could forcibly push her around until she fought me.

As I smacked my lips in disappointment, the Saintess spread her hands out towards the sky while looking at me as if I was pathetic.

“Hmph. In any case, you’re just like everyone else and of no help at all. You all come to me after recklessly getting injured and ask to be healed, treating me like some holy power pouch...”

She grumbled with discontent. However, it wasn’t as if I couldn’t understand where she was coming from since she did have to go through a lot to help all those in need.

But ‘holy power pouch’...

My gaze slowly trailed down her neck. Her chest drew a divine curve that captivated my mind as I recalled the soft, supple feeling of those heavenly mounds as they pressed up against my shoulder.

The Saintess’ eyes narrowed with a sharp glint.

“......Where are you looking?”

Ahem.

I faked a cough as I somehow managed to tear my eyes away. She looked at me with an increasingly disdainful look and lashed out.

“Tsk. Even with severe injuries that spilled your intestines, your eyes still head there? Men really are all the same. Damned horndogs.”

She blatantly expressed her contempt, and when I couldn’t meet her eyes or come up with an excuse, she became even more frustrated as she crossed her arms below her chest before lifting them from below.

“Here, here! Since you want to look so badly, look to your heart’s content. Seriously, I can’t believe you...”

“I have to get revenge.”

As I replied, I glanced down at my injured abdomen.

A noble had to return just as much as what they received – whether it was grace or a grudge. The demonic monkey slashed my stomach open, so I had to return the favor.

After staring into my eyes brimming with fighting spirit, the Saintess spoke up.

“.....Sister Delphine encountered the monkey beast in the forest.”

Fortunately, there was a clue on the beast.

That day, I left the hospital room with a sword and a hatchet hanging from my waist.

It was time to get my revenge.

**

By the time I left the hospital room, the sun was already setting.

It must’ve been several hours since Senior Elsie left the room.

While my treatment took hours, it was still a short time only made possible because she was the Saintess. I heard that even high-rank priests from the Holy Nation would have needed a week at the very least for an injury as severe as mine.

Honestly, it was nice having the Saintess with us For people like me who often got riddled with injuries, it was convenient to have a capable priest close by.

The Saintess joining us was, in many ways, purely by luck. Initially, I was a bit annoyed, but from a strictly logical perspective, she was an incredibly powerful addition to the team.

If it weren’t for her, I would have died two days ago as the closest temple from here was at least half a day’s ride on horseback.

It wasn’t a distance I could’ve survived with my abdomen pierced through. As such, I walked while being grateful for the good fortune the Heavenly God had bestowed upon me.

However, the orphanage was strangely silent. The children were being uncharacteristically conscious of the adults while Celine and Seria were nowhere to be seen.

I tilted my head as I continued walking.

Right as I was thinking it’d be nice to run into a familiar face, a man with curly, brown hair appeared. It was my best friend, Leto.

.

He was holding a hand to his forehead as if something was troubling him. I immediately raised my hand and called out to him.

“Leto!”

“.......What, isn’t it Ian? Is it okay for you to be out already?”

His voice sounded tired. Although I was puzzled as to why that was, I nodded first to reassure him.

“I was told it’d be okay as long as I don’t overdo it, so it should be fine anyhow.”

“What if you damage your body by not resting properly when you should? If that happens, Celine is going to be really upset.”

Although others might think he was scolding me, it was just his way of expressing himself. As a mage with a complex disposition, he couldn’t honestly convey his worries. It was something I already knew, so I didn’t get upset by the way he spoke to me.

I simply had something I was curious about, so I just asked him in response.

“Come to think of it, where is Celine? No, not just Celine, but where are all the adults? The kids are fairly quiet too.......”

Upon hearing my question, Leto’s brows immediately scrunched brows as he groaned.

“About that... Senior Delphine and Senior Elsie made a ruckus and caused a scene......”

“.......What? How come?”

The news caught me by surprise since I was on my way to see Senior Delphine. I was planning on piecing together information about the monkey beast with what she found out.

But hearing that the two fought out of nowhere was shocking, especially considering that only a few hours had passed since Senior Elsie left my hospital room.

Leto slowly started to recount the event.

“I don’t know the exact details. But from what I saw....”

*

Splash!

Water sprayed everywhere as the water droplets glistened under the relaxing afternoon sunlight.

The person who was abruptly splashed with water was a lady with golden hair whose eyes turned blank.

Her crimson eyes turned around in disbelief to see the doll-like girl standing in front of her.

The petite girl in front of her had sapphire-blue eyes that complemented her brown hair and dainty lips. With a large wide-brimmed mage hat adorning her head, the girl was glaring back with eyes dripping with malice.

A flat, chilling voice leaked from between her trembling lips.

“......Who do you think you are to talk shit about Ian?”

The two women were the Academy’s most infamous pairing like cats and dogs, Delphine and Elsie.