Chapter 217: 2 (Part Two)

Chapter 217: 115 . A Minor Connection -2 (Part Two)

Her eyes opened wider, but her mouth was clamped shut .

She seemed to be pondering something for a bit, before finally opening her mouth again . “If… you don’t have any promises made for dinner, would you like to stop by at our church later?”

“…?”

“I-I mean, you are my life’s saviour but I haven’t even repaid you properly yet, so… E-even if my cooking isn’t good enough to serve a noble like yourself, Sir Paladin…”

Oh, she’s inviting me to dinner?

I thought about her offer for a moment there, and then I suddenly recalled Adolf’s face once more .

The people I had healed could use divinity to some degree now . That fact was still bugging me even as we stood here .

“Alright, I will . I have plenty of time to kill, after all . ”

“Well, I’ll see you later in the…”

I looked up at the sky .

The sun was still up there, shining brightly . I figured that it’d be around a good four to five hours before it got dark enough to say that evening had come .

Well, it wasn’t like I had any other business to take care of .

“Were you in the middle of running errands?”

When I asked her that, Yuria flinched a little and hurriedly nodded .

“This is good . I shall accompany you . ”

“Y-you will?”

Yuria’s eyes went round from surprise, resembling a rabbit’s .

“I was planning to purchase items for travelling . Also, I have some things to ask you . ”

She nodded with a slightly dazed face, but soon trotted ahead of me with cheery steps as if she felt happy about something .

I followed after her, but also didn’t forget to sneak a glance behind me .

For some reason, I’ve been picking up this strange sense of presence . But I couldn’t be sure whether it was just my current mood acting up or someone was really tailing me right now .

Well, the truth should come out sooner or later .

While walking along the way, I took a good look at our surroundings .

The marketplace was quite lively . The shopkeepers were selling all sorts of items, and even some performing troupes were putting up stage plays or other types of entertainment to distract the shoppers .

I stopped walking for a bit and stared at one of the streetside performances . Yuria also stopped next to me and stared at the actors staging a play .

I asked her, “What are they re-enacting?”

“I think it’s about Lord Saint from the Theocratic Empire . You know, the most famous person right now, the Seventh Imperial Prince . ”

I was surprised by her answer and paid closer attention to the play .

The actor who seemed to be playing me recited some lines that contained way too many cringe-worthy nonsense, then began swinging around a spear to cut down another actor playing the part of a Vampire .

“…A spear?”

“I heard that Lord Saint uses a spear and a magic staff to hunt down the Vampires . ”

I ended up chuckling wryly after feeling a bit hollow inside .

My mains were a shovel and a bunch of muskets, though…

Well, the rumours seemed to have mutated somewhat before reaching this place, which was unsurprising, really . Not only was Aihrance some distance away from the Theocratic Empire, but to these people, a musket still remained a decorative ornament while a shovel was a simple tool meant to dig up the earth . This sort of dramatic licence-taking was inevitable .

And not to forget, this was the kingdom of magic, so people here probably determined that the musket’s internal structure made it impossible to hunt down a Vampire .

The people here must’ve chosen to go with the most plausible-sounding weapons that resembled a shovel and a musket, which would be a spear and a magic staff .

As I thought, one shouldn’t readily trust rumours .

The play was certainly thrilling to watch . It told the tales of me hunting down the Vampires, saving an Imperial Prince’s life, and even rescuing the princess of an enemy nation .

The me in the play was easily the most righteous, honourable warrior in the whole world with boundless hopes for the future .

“He’s so cool, isn’t he?”

I glanced at Yuria next to me .

She was clapping her hands in appreciation .

“Without a doubt, he must be a benevolent prince who loves and deeply cares for his countless subjects . ”

“You might be wrong on that one . ”

I immediately denied the possibility .

It seemed that the rumours of me being a mangnani had long stopped circulating by now .

Yuria looked up at me and smiled awkwardly . Her expression said that she didn’t expect me to refute her so quickly .

Judging from her demeanour, it seemed that the orphanage’s director, Sister Evelyn, hadn’t told her the truth about me .

I decided to not mind that and we walked away from there .

“Young miss over there, why don’t you have a go at this game to win some prizes? First two tries are for free!”

A stall keeper called out to Yuria as we walked through the market and she turned her head .

I looked as well . It seemed that this world also had those games where one could win dolls as prizes . You know, the one where you throw something at the doll, a toy dagger in this case, and if you manage to hit one, then you get that doll .

Yuria cautiously sneaked a glance at me, and I nodded to say, go ahead .

Even though there was no need for her to seek my permission, she still asked me . She then cheerily headed to the stall .

“The kids back in the church love dolls like those . ” Yuria picked up a toy dagger . “Zenis likes teddy bears, while Berin prefers wooden figurines . ”

While saying that, Yuria loosened her wrist muscles . And with a smooth, practised movement, she got into a throwing position and threw the wooden dagger . The toy blade accurately struck the doll, but the power behind the throw seemed to be somewhat lacking as the toy didn’t fall off the shelf .

Yuria made a disappointed face at that .

“Do you, by any chance, know how to wield divinity?”

When I asked her that question, Yuria looked stunned for a moment and quickly looked back at me . “D-divinity, you say?”

I crossed my arms in front of my chest and nodded silently .

Yuria was healed by me . That was why I couldn’t help but wonder ‘what if’, but she shook her head to say no . “I’m sorry, but I don’t know how to . ”

Hmm, was I wrong, then?

No, hang on . This should be how it was .

It had been just over a month after I healed her . So it’d be way too over the top if she managed to awaken the ability to wield divinity and start using it already .

Adolf said it took him one whole year before that happened, so maybe I was asking for too much from her so soon .

“But I’m studying right now to wield it in the future, sir . There’s a textbook to become a trainee Priest back in the church . Sister Evelyn really treasures that book, saying that it’s really expensive . I’ve been studying a lot by using that book for the past two years . ”

Yuria gripped the second toy dagger tightly .

“I’m still not sure how, but… Mm… Like this…”

She held the dagger with both hands and closed her eyes .

“The textbook said I must pray with all my heart first . ”

I observed Yuria closely as she began offering a prayer .

“Oh, dear goddess of love and mercy, Gaia…”

Wriggle…

Although it was really faint, pure-white aura started leaking out from her . .

My brows shot up under my helm when I noticed that .

I began rubbing my chin and studied the phenomenon taking place .

There wasn’t a lot of pure-white aura leaking out of her, and not too long afterwards, it scattered away and dissipated from existence .

Judging from her bitter, disappointed expression, it seemed that Yuria herself failed to detect the aura due to how faint it was .

“The book said that I’d get to ‘sense a really sacred aura soon’, so I must keep exalting Gaia, but it doesn’t seem to work for me . ”

“…Who was the author of that textbook?”

Yuria tilted her head this way and that . “It was a person named Raphael Astoria . ”

Well, damn . That geezer being the top dog in magic within the Theocratic Empire must be true all along…

“Go ahead and try again,” I said .

Yuria tilted her head some more, but she eventually nodded and began offering another prayer . She brought her hands together and the toy dagger remained in her grip .

I silently placed my hand on her shoulder . She flinched a little, but her focus didn’t waver .

I began adjusting the divinity oozing out from Yuria’s body through my hand . The faint aura of divinity that had been trembling weakly began to slowly and steadily find its equilibrium .

Her divinity, which was pretty much the same as mine, resonated and responded to my control .

Sweat drops formed on Yuria’s forehead . She was clearly having a tough time .

However, this was still not enough .

The amount of divinity permeating in her could only be described as pitiful . So, I decided to inject more divinity through my hand gripping her shoulder .

Yuria’s eyes opened wider at that .

More aura of divinity gushed out of her body as the divine energy spread out to the rest of her body . A portion of the energy enveloped the toy dagger .

She stared at the dagger before sucking in a large breath . With a stunned look on her face, she alternated her gaze between me and the toy in her hand . “E-excuse me, but what is going on?”

I simply urged her on . “Throw it now . ”

“Y-you mean, this thing?”

Yuria stared at the toy dagger now containing divinity with amazed eyes, then assumed a position, loosened her wrist, and threw it at the doll before her eyes .

Boom-!

The air in front of her exploded, and…

POW-!

The doll was cleanly pierced through before blowing up into bits . The doll’s stuffing rained down everywhere and the shelf collapsed noisily from the impact .

The doll shop owner stared at this spectacle in unbridled shock . Yuria remained frozen in a throwing posture, her eyes nearly popping out of their sockets .

On the other hand, I couldn’t help but grin broadly .

With this, I became certain .

I could spread my divinity to ‘other people’ and grow the number of ‘clerics’ that way .

…Almost similar to how the undead would increase their numbers, in other words .

Yuria stared at me in a silent daze, but I simply patted her head and said the following words to her .

“Congratulations on becoming a cleric, Yuria . ”

Fin .