Chapter 9

Maybe I was spitballing here, but did she just use me as a gofer because she was hungry? “Be more prudent next time, please,” Maria said, before swiping the bread off me and scampering away. She called for me again on a cold winter day, this time to a dried-up riverbed. “In my infinite charity, I have devised a trial for you,” she announced. At this point, I was getting a bad feeling. “Er, um, you know you can just tell me a normal method, right?” “What are you saying? How would a normal method work on you? Are you not blind to God’s presence despite receiving a priest’s initiation from a young age?” Maria gave me a look of exaggerated exasperation. “I put in all this effort to think of a trial for a poor lost lamb. You can’t possibly be saying you don’t want to do it, yes?” “Well, I wouldn’t go that far, but…” “Wonderful. Now, shall we begin?” All of a sudden, Maria picked up a rock from the riverbed and offered it a prayer. The rock gleamed faintly with the light of a divine blessing. “Take this rock, please.” I took the gleaming rock. “Okay, now what?” “Throw it over the river as far as you can. The farther, the better.” I did as she said, but since the river was quite large, the rock ended up plopping right in the middle of it. “Now, go and pick it up, please.” “Huh?!” The audacity of this girl! “The rock has received a divine blessing. It should be a simple matter to find it if you can sense God’s presence.” “Wait a sec. You’re not telling me to search that whole river, are you?” You could tell that the river was deep just by looking at it. The current was fast, too. I’d probably get swept away if I went about this wrong. No sane person would try searching the bottom of the river. “My goodness… What are you saying?” Maria heaved a big sigh. “You can’t sense God’s presence in your everyday life, can you? Then your only option is to take extreme lengths to drum it into your body. Do you understand what I am telling you?” “Well, yes, but…” “I’m glad to hear it.” Maria flashed me a bright smile. “Please do your best.” It took me three grueling hours of wading through those icy waters before I found the rock. I couldn’t tell if the rock was shining since it’d been lodged at the very bottom somewhere. So at first, I dug up any old rock from the riverbed, but… “Do you have scales over your eyes?” she said coldly, before chucking the rock right back into the river. She was merciless. The same thing happened over and over again until I somehow found the rock. When I hauled myself out of the river, feeling like I was on my deathbed, Maria gave me a luscious, devilish grin. “Were you able to sense God?” “Well, if you mean it in the sense that I felt called to do God’s bidding,” I said wryly, “then yeah, very much so.” “Wonderful. You just need one more push.” She smiled, refusing to perceive my sarcasm. I wasn’t liking my chances of surviving this “one last push”… Maria went on giving me crazy trials every week, but I didn’t learn a single healing spell. By the time I was in my second year at the academy, what I did know was the location of all the best bakeries and confectionery stores in the capital. When I pointed this out to Maria, she said, “Women will be delighted at your knowledge of good confectionery stores. I trust it will come in handy.” Er, I really doubt my future involves getting chummy with girls. The witch in front of me doesn’t count. Although I didn’t fully believe that her tasks would have any effect, I had no one else to rely on to teach me healing magic. I trusted her, but it wasn’t like I had a better option. Then one day, I sensed a vague change in the air. If I had to be specific, I would say I got weirdly good at finding good bread and sweets. Maybe I’m hearing the voice of God? I thought, so I tried chanting a prayer I’d learned ages ago, and one of the tiny scrapes on my arm healed up. “I did it! Maria was telling the truth!” To be honest, I’d half given up, so my success felt extra impactful. What a marvel—Maria was an actual saint! Why didn’t I believe in her more? Maybe I would have learned the magic sooner if I’d taken her tasks seriously! My heart was filled with gratitude and remorse. Hurrying back to the priest class, I made sure to tell Maria: “Thanks a bunch! I can use healing magic now!” For a moment, Maria just stared at me. “…Seriously?” I would never forget the stunned look on Maria’s face, not for the rest of my life.