It was a subtle difference, but clearly, the sapling had grown.
‘…Not bad.’
But the Goddess was making a fuss over a tree that had only grown a tiny bit.
-Gigi, gigi! That’s not a good thing!
“Isn’t growing fast a good thing?”
-No! The tree will develop a sense of self!
“…Is that a bad thing?”
At most, he figured it just meant he’d have to be mindful of the tree’s feelings when pruning branches or picking fruit. It didn’t seem like a big enough problem for the Goddess to react so negatively.
He wondered if there was some other issue that would arise if it developed a sense of self, and waited for her answer.
-I’m not joking, you really need to be careful! In just a thousand years, it will gain sentience and become a World Tree!
“…? Is a thousand years really that dangerous?”
-Extremely dangerous!
The Goddess explained with what seemed like genuine fear.
-My mother let her guard down like that and lost her entire Elf follower race to the World Tree!
“…”
‘Even if I live a hundred years and die, I doubt I’ll live to see it become a World Tree.’
Ignoring the Goddess’s warning over what seemed like a trivial side effect, he finished casting Heal on the sapling.
If possible, he hoped it would grow quickly and bear fruit.
-Kyaaaah! You’re going to lose followers!
The Goddess’s scream echoed directly in his eardrums.
“..Well, it’s not like you have many followers to lose anyway.”
-That’s so mean! And it’s true, but it’s not zero!
“If you’re that worried, I’ll cut it down before I die, so please don’t worry too much.”
At that, the screaming voice softened.
-You promise..?
“If you’re uneasy, I’ll write it in my will too.”
What a troublesome Goddess she truly was.
-Hehe, then give me breakfast!
That was true in more ways than one.
“It’s morning, so I’ll keep it simple.”
What he prepared was truly simple. It was a breakfast of bread sliced in half with salad stuffed in between.
-Nom nom
-Delicious, hehe
Her reaction seemed pretty good, so his cooking skills must not have been bad. The same went for Malza the Priest.
“It’s delicious! …But, Priest, aren’t you eating again?”
“My stomach is a bit upset. As one gets older, it’s common to feel unwell in the morning, so please understand, young Malza Priest.”
This time, it wasn’t just empty words to smooth things over. His stomach genuinely didn’t feel well.
Because of that, he had no choice but to skip breakfast for once and head to the Healing Center.
‘Come to think of it, while I’m entertaining the Saintess, the Healing Center’s work is also a problem.’
He couldn’t do the work of two bodies, so in the end, one of the two tasks would have to be neglected. And that target would most likely be the Healing Center.
‘Hmm, no. I could just bring the Saintess to the Healing Center and put her to work. That would solve the problem.’
She was called a Saintess, so she should be able to handle healing miracles without much difficulty. Especially now that Margaret the Priest had run off, they needed all the help they could get at the Healing Center.
If the Lord ever found out, he’d surely have a fit.
The Healing Center he arrived at was chaotic, unlike usual.
It wasn’t because of a lot of patients, though. The reason was obvious: Margaret the Priest, the boss of the group, was away.
“Is there no proper priest here?! My arm is broken! Don’t just give me medicine or a splint! Bring me a priest who can use a Miracle!”
A loud, obnoxious shout rang out. Looking at his attire, the man seemed to be a Noble from the city.
With an arrogant appearance and the status of a Noble, the regular priests were having a hard time, unable to even properly touch him. This wouldn’t have happened if Margaret the Priest had been around.
In this situation, he quietly approached the man.
The first to react was the flustered Priestess.
“Flawi Priest!”
Her face lit up as if she’d seen a savior. Only then did the Noble man turn to look at him.
“So you’re the Flower Priest? Perfect timing. My arm is badly hurt- Kek.”
Before he could finish his sentence, Flawi got behind him and lightly choked his neck.
“Sorry, but we don’t serve troublemakers here.”
Unable to withstand the pressure on his neck, the Noble man lost consciousness and slumped over. He wanted to just send him back without even putting on a splint, but doing so would only cause trouble for the Healing Center staff. With no other choice, he healed the broken arm and then caught the eye of the attendant, who was sweating nervously.
“This person’s blood pressure spiked and he fainted for a moment. Fortunately, proper measures were taken and he has recovered safely, so please take him back like this.”
“..Y-yes, Priest.”
Fortunately, the attendants, unlike their master, were reasonable people.
“It’s clear that without Margaret Priest around, the troublemakers are crawling out of the woodwork.”
“Haha..“
The Priestess couldn’t bring herself to agree and just gave an awkward laugh.
After that, he used his past experience running a Clinic to plow through the work.
Among them, after the Noble troublemaker, there was a young troublemaker too. A little patient with a fish bone stuck in his throat who refused to open his mouth because he was scared.
In the end, he couldn’t perform a procedure and had to treat it through Heal.
“Priest!”
“Yes.”
“I want strawberry medicine, strawberry medicine!”
“No, I’ll give you pumpkin medicine.”
“Waaaaah.“
Even though there was no need to prescribe medicine, he made the child cry just for being a brat.
-But is strawberry medicine a real thing?
‘Of course not.’
-Bummer.
‘I wonder where on earth she learned to talk like that.’
He continued to work busily for a while. As the afternoon came and the patients were slowly dwindling, the last patient walked in.
The patient was an elderly woman. She wore a faint smile and light makeup, giving the impression of a well-to-do lady.
“Young Priest, I came because my back hurts. Can I get treatment?”
Her tone and speech were elegant, showing signs of education.
But he couldn’t be mistaken.
“Please don’t joke around, Margaret Priest.”
“Tsk, caught me.”
The elegant elderly woman immediately frowned.
“Just stay quiet for now. I took a leave of absence without telling the Church folks, so it’d be trouble if I stood out here.”
‘So the Lord wasn’t the only victim here.’
He briefly offered his condolences to the people of the Earth Church.
“But if you’re that worried, why not just not come at all?”
“Hmph, you can’t look at the state of the Healing Center and not worry.”
It seemed she had come because she was worried about the Healing Center.
“Besides, I heard some Noble bastard was causing a ruckus.”
“I knocked him out and sent him off.”
“Good to hear, you did well.”
Margaret Priest gave a nod of approval before checking for any signs of people and lowering her voice.
“Since I’ve been found out anyway, I’ll tell you. You’ve probably heard the news by now.”
He could easily guess what she was going to say.
“You mean the news that the Sun Church’s Saintess is coming.”
“Right.”
She nodded in agreement.
“And do you know why the Saintess is coming?”
“I haven’t heard.”
But he had his own guesses. It was something that had been mentioned on the Gallery, after all.
“The Sun Church’s Saintess is coming because of a Demon.”
‘So the Gallery’s guess was right.’
His guess was correct.
But he pretended not to know and asked.
“A Demon has been Summoned?”
Surprisingly, however, Margaret Priest shook her head in denial.
“If it were just a Summoning, that’d be a relief.”
“..?”
At the word ‘relief,’ he furrowed his brow in genuine confusion, not acting this time. It was hard to imagine an event where a Demon Summoning would be the better option.
“Demon Summoning isn’t something a Saintess of her caliber would get involved in. In the first place, that’s a job for the Inquisitors or Holy Knights.”
Margaret Priest rubbed her forehead as if she had a headache. After a moment of silence, she let out a sigh and finally spoke.
“The Demon crawled in on its own.”
Without even a Summoning ritual.
He pondered the meaning of the words that followed. Based on what he had learned in Theology, there was only one case that came to mind.
“Is it the Demon King, perhaps?”
But Margaret Priest shook her head, saying it wasn’t.
“Fortunately, it’s not the Demon King. No, rather than fortunate, it might be closer to the worst case scenario.”
At this answer, he couldn’t hold back any longer.
“Please stop beating around the bush. It’s frustrating.”
“Tsk.“
At his nagging, Margaret Priest glanced at him once before finally spitting out the answer.
“To put it simply, a closed front door was opened.”
It was a comparison he didn’t understand. But the ensuing explanation made it roughly clear.
“This land isn’t locked, but the front door was closed. Because of that, people from other worlds drift in, and rotten ones wedge open those cracks to summon Demons.”
“…”
“But some crazy bastard threw that front door wide open. And even wedged it so it can’t be closed.”
One person came to mind.
‘This is the story of the former Main Admin.’