No, How Can an Atheist Become a Saintess!?

No, How Can an Atheist Become a Saintess!? – 64

EP.64 Friendship and Relationship (8)

After the lecture, we all entered the storage facility.

It wasn’t much different from what I had seen on my previous visit. A few changes here and there stood out, likely due to some materials being used up and others newly brought in.

The items stored in the deepest parts of the facility were, naturally, of immense value and not easily used. Experiments were mostly conducted with materials of slightly lesser importance.

In fact, the tour was more useful in that sense. Hunters couldn’t do much with items that were just stored away because no one knew how to use them yet.

As we toured, I mentioned needing to use the restroom, and Ria and I found ourselves walking along the hallway.

Naturally, the restroom itself was just a cover.

“Eek.”

While walking, we encountered guards patrolling the corridor. Given this was a high-security facility, it wasn’t surprising that they were working in pairs and armed with guns.

Ria let out a small sound of surprise but quickly composed herself as I confidently nodded at the guards in greeting.

These guards were already aware that Hunters were inside the facility and that I was a “Saintess Candidate.” Additionally, Ria, as the Hero’s daughter, was well-known and recognizable.

What trouble could two such individuals possibly cause here?

We were lucky to run into them just before we passed the restroom. It made our claim of heading there seem all the more believable.

The guards nodded back politely and continued on their way.

Just to be safe, Ria and I entered the restroom.

“…Ria.”

“I know.”

At my prompt, Ria nodded.

We had discussed this beforehand.

There was a live CCTV feed monitoring the hallway outside the restroom. If we exited in another direction at a quick pace, the guards would be forced to react, regardless of our status.

In such a scenario, our options were limited.

Given that the government had ignored my prophecy and Ria had assessed the building as simple in design but heavily secured, our approach had to be strategic.

I took out a small artifact I had prepared earlier: a tiny piece of chocolate.

“…And you’re still claiming not to be a Saintess?”

“Can you not say things like that and just eat it, please?”

It was, of course, consecrated chocolate. Essentially, it was an edible artifact.

Ria shook her head in disbelief, then suddenly bit down on my finger.

“!?”

Startled beyond words, I could only stare as Ria pulled her mouth away from my finger, leaving a soft, slightly damp sensation behind.

To make matters worse, the divine power infused into the chocolate had left a faintly sweet scent on my fingertip.

“Ah!”

Before I could shake off that awkward thought, I felt something slide beneath the crook of my knees.

“W-wait, Ria!? This pose is—”

“Hm? What’s wrong?”

Ria, who had effortlessly picked me up in a princess carry, tilted her head in genuine confusion.

“Uh, no, just… couldn’t you have carried me on your back instead? Why this particular pose?”

It wasn’t often, but occasionally, things like this reminded me: Ria had a fantastic figure.

I wasn’t bad myself, but Ria was on another level. And in this position… well, let’s just say it made certain things hard to ignore.

Ria, however, seemed completely unbothered, which left me feeling a mix of annoyance and awkwardness.

“You said we need to run quickly, right? This way’s more convenient. Besides, if something jumps out, it’s easier to swing my weapon like this.”

"Are you planning to use me as a blunt weapon…?"

At my words, Ria chuckled softly and headed straight toward the restroom door.

"When two women scream inside a restroom, don’t you think it would make things awkward? People might get weird ideas about our relationship."

"What are you even—"

"Exactly. Let’s just wrap this up before that happens," Ria said, grinning.

"If there’s a thief sneaking around the facility, everyone’s attention will shift there, don’t you think?"

Was it just me overthinking?

No, the more I thought about it, the more unjust it felt—but I didn’t have time to dwell on my thoughts.

Before I could react, Ria tightened her grip on me and kicked off with explosive force.

Even in a mostly barren building, zooming through at such high speed was terrifying. For the first time, I realized just how scary it was to be moving that fast in such a confined space.

When I came to my senses, I found myself clinging tightly to Ria’s neck, holding on for dear life.

Naturally, this meant my body pressed closer to hers, making me more aware of certain aspects of her physique I’d already been trying hard to ignore. Even with a bra, there was no denying the size and shape—it was impossible not to notice.

I cautiously opened my tightly shut eyes and saw Ria smiling brightly at me. Her face was so close, it startled me.

Still…

It seemed even Ria was a bit flushed after sprinting all the way here.

To her credit, though, she didn’t simply drop me like a sack of potatoes once we stopped. Despite the abruptness with which she had picked me up, she gently set me down, leaving me no room to complain.

"So."

The playful mood evaporated the moment Ria let me go.

"Do you understand the situation now?"

…Was it really just me overthinking?

I turned my head and scanned our surroundings.

We were standing right in front of the deepest vault door in the facility.

It was the kind of massive, thick door you’d expect to see in a sci-fi movie or drama, complete with a keypad for access control.

There were no guards stationed nearby. After all, it was nearly impossible to make it this far without being detected by someone along the way.

Even now, the research center might already be tracking us through CCTV, preparing to send guards our way.

Yet despite the situation, Ria’s expression remained serious.

Given the circumstances, it wouldn’t be surprising if she doubted or accused me of lying.

Truth be told, even I wasn’t entirely certain.

The story had changed, and the colossal mass of magic from that day had noticed me. It was entirely possible the other side had altered its plans after becoming aware of my presence.

It wouldn’t be unreasonable to think this was all a misunderstanding on my part.

But Ria’s serious gaze kept me grounded.

Strangely, seeing her unwavering trust made me feel a flicker of confidence in my actions.

A soft light illuminated my face—not the usual overly bright, teasing glow but something gentler, like a comforting touch.

Ria’s eyes widened slightly at the sight of it.

…So, that’s how it is.

Normally, she’d have brushed off such light, but… well, fine.

Right now, I had something to do.

From this moment on, the government would never again dismiss my "prophecies."

Honestly, in a theocracy, rejecting the holy word like this was downright absurd.

From down the corridor came the distant sound of footsteps, a clear indication that people were headed our way.

"Confirming it should be simple enough."

Yes.

The self-proclaimed worshippers of "divine power"—whatever exactly they were—didn't concern me. What mattered was the kind of power they wielded, and that much I understood.

I closed my eyes, lowered myself to my knees, and clasped my hands together.

If there were enemies nearby, hidden or unseen, and if their weapon of choice was magic, there was only one logical course of action: purify the entire area.

...Yes, I knew.

It was a brute force approach.

But there was no need to go overboard. All I had to do was flood this space with light.

I didn’t want to collapse this time. Not here, not now. The last thing I wanted was to burn through my strength and burden Ria again.

Hadn’t I been enough of a burden already?

The more danger I faced, the harder it would be for Ria to keep her promise to protect me. And that would only put her at greater risk.

At some point, I was bound to end up in real danger.

Otherwise, why would I have been sent here in the first place, knowing what I knew?

That’s why I’d prepared thoroughly this time, making sure I wouldn’t collapse halfway and become dead weight.

I heard someone scream.

It wasn’t just from the light. They must have seen something that truly shocked them.

I slowly opened my eyes.

"...So, this was the method, huh? Even after all that staring down the corridor, I couldn’t figure it out," Ria said, looking up at the ceiling.

I followed her gaze.

There, clinging to the ceiling, was a figure dressed in black.

Their eyes, visible through the mask, were wide with shock as they stared at me.

And there weren’t just one or two of them. There were five.

Ah.

So that’s how it was.

Invisibility. Not exactly common magic, even in this world.

The timing had been impeccable. Had I been even a little slower, they might have made it into the vault.

Realizing they’d been exposed, the masked figures dropped from the ceiling all at once.

One of them drew a sword from their waist and charged toward me with a downward slash—

"Not so fast."

Wham!

Before the sword could get anywhere near me, Ria’s fist collided with the man’s face. She had leapt up with full force, delivering a flawless uppercut.

The man spun in the air several times before crashing headfirst into the floor with a loud “Ack!”

Well, at least he didn’t seem dead. He might’ve been seriously injured, given that he couldn’t get up, but that was fine. We could patch him up later for interrogation.

As I rose to my feet, Ria dashed over and wrapped an arm around my waist in one swift motion.

With her other hand, she drew a short sword from her belt and deflected an incoming sword with a sharp, graceful movement.

The fluid spin of her actions looked almost like a dance—honestly, it was a little mesmerizing.

And then, faintly, the scent of chocolate brushed past my nose.

After deflecting the sword, Ria pivoted and delivered a powerful kick to the man’s solar plexus, sending him staggering. Without missing a beat, she turned her attention to the remaining three.

One of them broke into a sprint toward the keypad.

The other two faced Ria, drawing firearms from their belts instead of swords.

This must be one of the differences from the original. In the original story, they probably wouldn’t have been able to bring weapons through security.

But Ria, being Ria, always carried a sword. Even so, the security gate had only gone off briefly when we passed through earlier. If they had planned to infiltrate during that short window, sneaking in weapons would’ve been relatively easy.

I reached out toward the two men.

Divine power, by its nature, isn’t harmful to people. It can neutralize magic completely, but that’s about it.

However, it can obscure vision quite effectively. Sure, it might be a bit of a waste to use divine power for something so simple, but I had more than enough to spare.

Bang, bang! Two shots rang out, but the bullets veered wide of Ria, missing her entirely.

Ria let go of my waist and charged the two men. With a high kick to one man’s head and the hilt of her sword slammed against the other’s, she effortlessly sent both crashing to the floor.

“H-Hiiik...!”

The man by the keypad cried out in panic, furiously smashing a stone against the device.

Boom!

Hmm. That might have been because I had adjusted the intensity of my divine power. Given that they’d made it this far into the facility, it was unlikely they’d brought an ordinary magic stone. If the magic within the stone had been stronger than my divine power, it made sense that some residual energy would remain.

To them, that stone must’ve been an invaluable, potent tool—albeit one with tricky usage requirements. Magic stones, after all, were inherently dangerous. Mishandling them could lead to catastrophic consequences, and their effects on the body weren’t exactly benign.

Besides, detonating it so crudely meant they wouldn’t be able to use it again. Though I suppose they’d just plan to acquire something even better next time.

“Gahhh!”

Without the proper incantations or protective spells, this was the result. I could see part of the man’s hand blacken and burn from the magic’s backlash.

That would be hard to heal. Even if I used divine power to restore it, the damaged flesh would likely crumble to ash.

Beep!

As the magic stone exploded, the keypad activated, and the door unlocked. At least that particular spell had been adequately prepared beforehand.

The heavy door began to open slowly. The last remaining intruder turned toward it, but—

“I don’t think it’ll matter,” I said to the man.

From the start, I had planned for the possibility of failure. Whether or not I succeeded didn’t matter; the magic stone itself was too dangerous to be left as it was.

Even behind a mask, you can still read someone’s expression. Especially through their exposed eyes.

His eyes widened in disbelief, his earlier determination melting into shock.

And his face—illuminated by radiant light—seemed to freeze in that moment.

Magic and divine power often react violently to one another. To be precise, when the two collide completely, they cancel each other out.

People frequently misunderstand this. They think of divine power as a kind of “light.”

But that’s a misconception.

Divine power isn’t “light” in the conventional sense. It’s an entirely different force, one that exists outside physical laws yet profoundly influences the material world.

The “light” visible to us is more psychological than physical. The brain, unable to interpret the essence of divine power, visualizes it as light.

Even renowned scientists have made this mistake, theorizing that holy relics could be nullified by specific coatings or thick metal doors.

But the truth is, the radiance that surrounds me isn’t blocked by such physical barriers. Whether indoors or outdoors, it shines unimpeded.

“...What is that?”

The man slumped helplessly to the ground, his strength gone, while Ria turned to me, an incredulous look on her face.

“The relic I gave them was filled to the brim with divine power,” I explained. “When I poured more into it, the contained divine power couldn’t remain bound and began to leak out.”

And that divine power had promptly nullified the magic stone’s energy. I had ensured it would work with absolute certainty.

“Though I suspect the research institute might complain that my relic destroyed their magic stone,” I added, shrugging nonchalantly.

"As long as you can give a reasonable explanation, that should be enough. Besides, even without magic, the research on magic stones is still possible."

At least, no one would be able to use it to threaten the world.

They might be able to infuse it with new magic, but that would be quite difficult.

The guards quickly ran over and surrounded us.

For now, though, most of their attention was still on the unconscious intruders. It was clear that Ria and I had secured the facility.

"...You’re pretty sharp, aren't you?"

"Why, does that make you dislike me?"

"No, more like, it makes me feel reassured."

Reassured, huh.

Ria’s comment made me chuckle, though I felt a bit baffled by it.

*

Afterward, I was bombarded with questions.

"How did you know?" For that, I explained that I had foreseen the incident and handed it over to the government.

"What about the employees? They could have infiltrated when the staff came in, right?" To that, I pointed out that the shift changes were very thorough.

More importantly, breaking the keypad code would normally take quite some time. If you didn’t want to lose your hands—or valuable magic stones—you would need to be cautious.

To secure that "time," I had chosen the moment when other hunters would be entering. When an outsider enters the facility, the monitoring focus naturally shifts to the outsider.

"If I had to explain it, there was a gap in the surveillance," I continued.

If even one person had been near the keypad, it would have been much harder for them to attempt anything.

Although there were highly sophisticated spells that wouldn't even trigger heat sensors, considering the installation of CCTV for monitoring, there was no way they wouldn't notice if someone had collapsed.

Still, I understood.

They were surrounded by such high-tech equipment and near-perfect magic that they couldn’t have even imagined something like this happening.

Of course, that didn’t excuse the situation.

As the government officials' faces turned pale in realization—

The interrogation room door suddenly swung open, and the knights stormed in.

"Sister Anna, we’re here to take you."

The knights, clad in full plate armor, spoke.

I smiled wryly as I stood up.

"Ria, let’s go."

Ria also stood up.

She had a smile on her face, as if she was looking at someone heroic, and I couldn't help but feel a bit bewildered.