No, How Can an Atheist Become a Saintess!?

No, How Can an Atheist Become a Saintess!? – 57

EP.57 Friendship and Relationship (1)

Fortunately, society didn’t erupt into chaos or anything of the sort.

I had already held the position of a Saintess candidate; the only thing I had lost were the privileges that came with that role.

More importantly, the incident itself hadn’t occurred on Earth, and there were very few direct witnesses. Even if someone had recorded it, divine power didn’t appear on camera, so there was no evidence to speak of.

Thanks to that, my peaceful daily life hadn’t been completely shattered—at least not yet. After all, I was still just a candidate.

“Some places consider saints to be almost like goddesses, you know,” Ria remarked.

“They’re entities unlikely to cross over here, so let’s leave it at that,” I replied.

I was lounging under the warm sunlight for the first time in a while, enjoying a moment of peace, when Ria made her unnecessary comment.

It had been about two weeks since the incident.

During that time, I’d decided to change my mindset.

There’s an old saying: If you can’t avoid it, enjoy it. Since there was no way for me to escape this position, I might as well try to embrace it.

The main storyline didn’t begin until after May. Because of that, the summer episodes had already made their appearance early in the novel. But since it was only early April, I still had nearly a month of breathing room.

Moreover, the story through the early to mid-parts of the novel was relatively laid-back, almost slice-of-life. The plot was mostly comprised of prologue-like episodes introducing the heroines.

The main heroines were:

Anna, the saintess.

Han Yu-ri, the childhood friend.

Gloria, the elf princess and skilled mage.

Lee Chae-eun, the hero candidate.

Incidentally, all four of them occupied positions far beyond what they could easily handle, which meant their associated episodes were anything but lighthearted.

Especially Anna, the saint.

Divine power repels magical power. To be more precise, they annihilate each other, much like matter and antimatter. The difference is that the massive power released during mutual annihilation of matter doesn’t seem to manifest here.

There were those who regarded the power of the Gates as the “power of God,” believing magical power to be their chosen gift. Naturally, these beings—who stood in opposition to humanity—saw Anna as a threat.

But they didn’t view her solely as an adversary. In the main storyline, there were even scenes where some of their followers revered and praised Anna as a saint.

The novel never explicitly explained why this was, but comments speculating on the plot gave me plenty to think about.

Over the past two weeks, I’d been diligently rereading my journal to refresh my memory of the original story. At the very least, I needed to accurately remember the flow of events and key opportunities or items.

By the end of May, a major incident was likely to occur—

“Soon the cherry blossoms will bloom,” Ria said.

We were sitting side by side on the armchairs I’d placed in the church’s backyard, looking up at the sky.

“Looks like it,” I replied absentmindedly.

The weather was at that ambiguous point where it was hard to tell if it was warm or chilly. My eyes half-closed as I squinted against the brightness, but Ria suddenly spoke again.

“Want to go see them together?”

“What?”

Startled, I opened my eyes wide and looked at her.

Sitting in the armchair beside me, Ria was smiling as she gazed at me.

She had her right elbow propped up on the armrest, her hand cradling her chin as she stared at me.

Jeez, she’s so pretty.

I couldn’t help it. As a rational, logical person, I couldn’t deny beauty when I saw it.

In the novel, she was more often described as “dignified” than “beautiful.” But come to think of it, weren’t heroines typically beautiful by default?

“So, what do you think?”

And when that beautiful face asked me again like that, I found myself flustered for an entirely different reason.

How should I put it?

Doesn’t she usually speak in a more casual tone, ending her sentences with a blunt “-냐?” in Korean? Of course, I don’t mean in the cutesy tone of a cat but in the rougher, more direct sense of the ending.

Regrettably, even across my previous life and this one, my brain contained almost no data on situations where a woman I considered beautiful initiated a conversation with me. Usually, the ones who talked to me first were café employees or people I worked with during volunteer activities.

Naturally, neither case involved any particular fondness or connection toward me.

Although I’d done my fair share of socializing and had a basic manual for responding to such scenarios...

“If you don’t want to, forget it.”

“Oh, no, that’s not it.”

Friends.

If I had to categorize our relationship, that’s what it would be.

By this year’s standards, both of us were legally adults. While Ria’s birthday hadn’t passed yet, this world considered the beginning of the year as the marker.

Once you reach your mid-to-late twenties, social fatigue starts dulling that particular youthful ease of forming connections, but Ria still seemed to possess it almost entirely intact.

On the other hand, the fact that I was weirdly self-conscious was likely more unusual.

...

That’s kind of annoying.

“Alright, let’s go.”

At my response, Ria nodded with satisfaction and leaned back in her chair.

Ah, but…

How exactly are we supposed to go?

*

“You’re overthinking it. We’re both adults, after all.”

“Ah…”

Outside now, I stood there with a slightly dazed expression.

Come to think of it, adult nuns often went here and there. Though not for leisure, but for work-related reasons.

“Still, we’re not exactly considered adults here yet, are we?”

Legally, we were adults, but the perspective inside the church was different.

As I mentioned before, the decision about whether we’d remain or leave wouldn’t be finalized until the end of May. It was still early April, leaving us nearly two months.

Until then, the church still regarded nuns and novices as “youths,” meaning we weren’t free to come and go as we pleased.

“You don’t need to worry about that,” Ria said, her tone confident.

“After all, you’re not just any nun—you’re a saint candidate.”

Ah, right.

So… does that mean I’ve already been fully assimilated into church life?

“And besides, I’m with you. They probably deemed it fine because of that,” Ria added, pointing to herself with pride.

Hmm, well.

If that’s the case, I don’t really have any objections.

Saint candidates usually had to be accompanied by a small entourage when traveling, but seeing as how Ria and I were actually outside now, maybe I had been too cautious. After all, I’d spent my entire time in this world confined within the church walls.

“…Fine, whatever. Let’s put that aside,” I said, furrowing my brow as I took in the scene before me.

“But didn’t we say we were going to see the cherry blossoms?”

At my question, Ria looked at me as if I were speaking nonsense.

“Are you really planning to go see the cherry blossoms dressed in your nun’s habit?”

“…...”

I genuinely didn’t know how to respond to that.

“Wearing something other than a habit doesn’t stop you from being a nun.”

“…You’re not wrong, but wearing the habit is about mindset, you know?”

It’s like how taking off a school uniform doesn’t stop someone from being a student, but that doesn’t mean students are allowed to wear non-uniform clothes at school.

Well, in the case of nuns, the rules are even stricter.

“…...”

“And looking at me with that ‘are you serious?’ expression isn’t going to change anything. This is still a habit, isn’t it? I’m at least following the basics.”

“Ha, fine, fine.”

At my words, Ria waved her hand dismissively.

“Still, there’s nothing stopping us from buying clothes, right?”

“Huh?”

“Come on, just follow me. Don’t overthink it.”

With that, Ria grabbed my wrist and led me into a clothing store before I could protest.

*

The result was a compromise between Ria’s opinion and mine. Neither of us ended up in full nun attire, nor were we entirely in casual clothes.

To be more precise, we wore casual outerwear over our nun’s habits.

It wasn’t such a big deal for me since I’d already customized my habit before, wearing a shortened version with a belt.

Though I wasn’t sure what the Mother Superior would say if she saw me like this… But then again, wasn’t I officially a saint candidate now? She might just let it slide.

The outerwear covered most of the habit, but no matter how we adjusted the veil on our heads, it was still noticeable.

Removing the veil altogether felt like crossing a line, so we decided to leave it on.

Naturally, we drew some attention from people around us.

My face was fairly well-known, and our attire was conspicuous enough to turn heads.

Still, it wasn’t like people treated us like celebrities—no one asked for autographs or anything.

…Or maybe they just thought we were eccentric nuns. Or cosplayers?

Honestly, I’d prefer that.

“See? Isn’t it nice being out?” Ria asked, grinning.

I nodded.

It felt… liberating, somehow.

Although the church in this modern fantasy world wasn’t overly oppressive toward nuns, it still upheld a strict set of rules. Living there, you weren’t exactly forced to adhere to its ways, but the structure was ever-present.

So walking down this cherry blossom-lined path like everyone else felt unusually free.

For the first time in a while, I felt like I could breathe.