Hm... She didn’t look like a thief. As far as I could tell with Appraisal, she’d been a normal human being. The only thing about her that was suspicious was her title of “Avenger.” At the very least, there didn’t seem to be any kind of commotion within the church, so it was doubtful that she’d taken revenge on one of the clergy members and then ran away. Anyway—who was I, the police? Why did I have to care?
“Do churches usually attract thieves?”
“Nope. Security’s tight at churches. There’s always a Holy Knight on-site. There are a lot of Holy Knights around at this time of year too.”
“Oh? Why’s that?”
“Well, in this town, there’s a person named Raeven... Oh!” Sister Sensei stopped in her tracks.
Not too far away from us, there was a person who looked like a Holy Knight with a few nuns surrounding him.
“Who’s that?”
“The guy I was just talking about. The captain of the fourth squad, Raeven. He’s a household name among us Holy Knights.” I could hear a tinge of excitement in her voice, similar to when a fan meets a celebrity.
But he wasn’t good-looking, and he was definitely on the older side. He did have a pretty majestic beard, though. Overall, he looked like a very stern and serious person.
“Why’s he so famous?”
“He’s the hero who saved this town from a monster stampede ten years ago. The stampede has happened every three years since, and he helps to command all of the Holy Knights.”
From what I’d heard from Sister Sensei, Regin was apparently a place for female Holy Knights to train. It seemed other Holy Knights came to Regin to participate in the training camp under Raeven’s command. A lot of women dropped out, and only a few became proper Holy Knights. Out of those, only a handful would be selected to serve directly under Raeven. I didn’t understand why it had to be so complicated.
“Are there any male Holy Knights?”
“Yeah—more than there are women. But they undergo even harsher training elsewhere.”
Girls and guys train in different places? In different towns?
“So does that mean that you’re one of the chosen few?”
“Nope. I just came here recently for this very training.”
It was apparently slated to start ten days from now, meaning that she didn’t have a whole lot to do until then. So she’s only training me to kill time? What am I—her plaything? At that moment, Raeven noticed Sister Sensei and beckoned her over.
“Oh, he’s calling me. Sorry, I might be a while, so go back to the guild before me, ’kay?” Having said this, she hurried over to him.
Apparently, they already knew each other. Maybe I should check him out before I go. There was a chance that he was the one who’d been trying to probe into my mind. Then I figured I might as well check out Sister Sensei too, while I was at it.
Fanatique Rasshoth / Human
HP: 72/72 / MP: 563/563 / STR: 102
VIT: 79 / DEX: 467 / AGI: 93 / INT: 326
Divine Blessing(s): Oracle (lesser)
Titles: Holy Knight of the Holy Land of Ryne, Devout
Her stats were a lot lower than Ariya’s. She probably relied greatly on her magic tools, but since that wasn’t reflected in her stats, I had no idea how strong she actually was.
“Oracle” was a blessing that a lot of priests and clerics had. The fact that it was called “lesser” most likely meant she had a weaker version of it. Hopefully the gods wouldn’t make use of it to come at me through her. But then again, I didn’t really get the sense she’d been probing me, so I probably didn’t have to worry.
Raeven Vejin / Human
HP: 173/173 / MP: 926/926 / STR: 296
VIT: 241 / DEX: 650 / AGI: 103 / INT: 755
Divine Blessing: Oracle (intermediate)
Titles: Captain of the Holy Land of Ryne’s Fourth Squad, Hero of Regin, Virgin Hunter
Whoa! The hell is up with that title?! Sure, his stats made him strong for a human, and that was surprising, but it wasn’t nearly as surprising as his last title. Seriously, what the hell?! It would still have been a problem even if his title had encapsulated women who weren’t virgins...but he was a captain of Holy Knights, all of whom were supposed to be virgins! Isn’t that kinda...y’know...bad?! Then again, judging from the smell of the Holy Knights around him, none of them were virgins anyway.
Clairvoyance. There’s one in the oven! Hey, she’s pregnant! At this point, I was starting to lose more and more faith in the church. I already found them fishy, but this was just something else. This hero really got things done, didn’t he? He looked so serious and uptight, though.
Would Sister Sensei also fall prey to this? Was he going to take her behind those closed doors, take off her armor, and “dig in”? Wait, where’d she go? I immediately thought of using Omniscience to look around, but then I decided against it. I wasn’t the kind of person to pry into other people’s lives. All I could do was pray for her. Good luck, Sister Sensei!
“Oh, hey, it’s the old guy.” After shedding some tears for Sister Sensei (just kidding), I went back to the guild as she’d instructed. I’d probably be waiting a while for her to get back, so I could rest assured that I wouldn’t have to train anymore today.
“Hm? You slacking off today too?”
“That’s mean. No, my teacher had some pressing matters to attend to.”
I decided to keep the details of those “pressing matters” to myself and instead sat next to the old guy as usual. Normally we didn’t really talk about anything in particular. We just sat quietly and drank together. There, I sipped on the drink I ordered. It was disgusting, but honestly, the more I got used to it, the more I started to appreciate it.
The old guy had ordered a strong drink too, but probably not as strong as mine. I wasn’t even sure if you could call what I was drinking alcohol anymore. It was a lot closer to being a poison, which was perfect because it helped me level up my Poison Resistance faster.
The rest of the guild hall was loud with chatter, but the space around me and the old man was dead silent. It felt as if we were isolated from the rest of the world. I liked it. At first, I’d felt somewhat uncomfortable, but now I found it pleasant.
Bells rang as the doors to the guild opened, and in came a woman with long silver hair. The guild hall fell quiet, not just because no one recognized her, but because of her beauty. The way her silver hair caught the rays of the sun; her deep, beautiful yellow eyes; her porcelain skin—everything about her screamed “hot woman.” Plus, behind her thin dress, she had a big rack. She had a mature woman’s charm, only enhanced by her slitted skirt, which showed off her long, charming legs. In short, she was hot.