“I dunno...” said Kanata. “What if something happens to Elizabat?”
“You would worry for the likes of me?” Elizavett asked.
“Of course I would!” said Kanata. “I’ll never let those men defile your fluff!”
“M-Mistress!” Elizavett cried. “It means the world that you regard me so fondly! Are we to be married?”
“We said we won’t let you!” interrupted Zag’giel and Fenrir in unison.
“If you had a high-ranking member of the Holy Church helping you, there might be something you could do,” Melissa thought aloud. “The Temple Knights can’t ignore an order from their own institution.”
“I see!” said Kanata.
“But I’m afraid I don’t know anyone like that,” Melissa finished.
“Oh!” said Kanata. “I do!”
“You do?!” As Melissa reeled in shock, her mind turned to the still-unprocessed report she was reading about a major incident in the Holy City of Lordentia, the headquarters of the Holy Church. Apparently the High Cathedral had suddenly collapsed, and from it had emerged some kind of white monster. The monster was defeated by a girl who happened to be at the scene, and she rescued Saint Marianne Ishfalke, who had apparently been under the monster’s power. The Saint was moved by the experience, and even seemed to have created a new sect that praised this mysterious girl and her teachings.
The guild had no authority in the Holy City, so everything Melissa had heard amounted to little more than rumors. However, the rumors were big enough to have spread all the way to the Royal Capital. The Adventurers’ Guild had already sent someone to investigate the details of the situation.
Melissa hesitated to even think it, but it suddenly occurred to her that the mysterious girl who had faced off against the white monster might just be...
“Miss Kanata,” she asked. “It wasn’t you, was it?”
She smiled jovially, but internally she had a bad feeling about the answer.
“It was me!” Kanata confirmed, smiling back cheerfully.
“I see...” The news made Melissa collapse on her desk, planting the side of her head against her work area and sobbing quietly. As the person responsible for handling Kanata, it would be her responsibility to write a report summarizing the events. In other words, her workload had increased once again.
The better an adventurer performs, the better it reflects on the evaluation of the guild worker handling them. Thanks to Kanata, Melissa was poised to climb the Adventurers’ Guild’s organizational ladder—the last thing in the world she wanted. Melissa’s plan was to quit the life of a bureaucrat and return to adventuring just as soon as her junior in the guild was ready to take her place. As long as she was responsible for Kanata, however, that day felt as if it was only getting further away.
Melissa wasn’t about to let herself lie despondent forever, though. She rallied her spirits and turned back to face Kanata. “If you have the standing to appeal to the Saint of the Holy Church herself, I can’t think of any better support. Perhaps you should talk to her.”
The Saint’s authority as the head of the Holy Church was absolute. She had the same level of power as a pope, one whose decrees may not be questioned. Even fanatical extremists like the Temple Knights would have no choice but to obey if the Saint herself gave them a direct order.
“Thank you for all your help, Miss Melissa!” said Kanata. “I’ll pay her a visit at once!”
“There’s no need to thank me. Supporting adventurers is my job.”
They shook hands and Kanata left the guildhall. Melissa waved politely as Kanata and her wagon vanished once again, wishing the day had ended without the additional work.
Her junior Bella watched from behind her. It looked like another busy day, she thought.
† † †
“Ooooh! Your Fluffiness! How I have longed to stand in your presence!” The Saint hugged Kanata tight, fawning over her with stupendous fervor despite the stony look of indifference Kanata was giving her.
When Kanata had arrived at the High Cathedral, the knights on guard had saluted her with grave respect and taken her immediately to see Saint Marianne. Everyone here had witnessed Kanata’s miracles firsthand and repented of their corrupt ways. Now they were working hard every day to improve the Holy Church, and studying the teachings of Fluffism promulgated by Saint Marianne. Gone was the archvillainess using the power of the Holy Church to control the world from behind the scenes.
The furballs, however, were no more keen on her new attitude toward Kanata.
“Unhand Kanata at once! How dare you touch her so lightly!” snapped Zag’giel, sitting atop Kanata’s head.
“Ghh! You’re smothering me with that chest of yours! Get off!” protested Fenrir, whom Kanata had been holding in her arms. He was now being sandwiched tight between her and Saint Marianne.
“Only I am permitted to embrace my Mistress like that!” objected Elizavett from her perch on Kanata’s right shoulder.
“Goodness!” Saint Marianne exclaimed, bringing her face up close to inspect the new ball of fluff. “If it isn’t a new Sacred Beast!” Between the Demon King, the Spirit Wolf, and the Corpse Princess, the only one who could be properly referred to as a Sacred Beast was Fenrir, but perhaps to a dedicated follower of Fluffism, any magic beast who accompanied Kanata could be considered sacred.
“Kyah!” cried Elizavett, striking Marianne in the face with her tiny wings.
There was no possible way the attack actually could have hurt, but nonetheless Marianne fell to the floor with an exaggerated “Ahhh!”
“Now!” Elizavett declared. “Seize the opening!”
“Hiss!”
“Grr!”
The three magic beasts leapt at the fallen Saint, wasting no time in striking the finishing blow against her evil.
“Ah!” Marianne cried as the furballs bounced up and down on her side. “Forgive me, O Sacred Beasts!”
The three were doing their best to attack her, but as one might expect, they weren’t actually doing any damage. If anything, Marianne seemed to be enjoying it. To a fanatical believer in Fluffism like herself, an opportunity to be punished by the Sacred Beasts was in fact a great reward.
“Have you repented for your wicked ways?” asked Zag’giel.
“I see you know your place!” gloated Fenrir.
“Only I am permitted to embrace my Mistress like that!” repeated Elizavett.
“Y-Yes!” cried Marianne, clearly in the throes of rapturous passion. “I am nothing but a lowly pig! Ohhh!”
“Wow, lucky...” Kanata said, biting her finger as she watched on with envy.