No, How Can an Atheist Become a Saintess!?

No, How Can an Atheist Become a Saintess!? – 65

EP.65 Friendship and Relationship (9)

People use the word "pure" in many different ways.

When it's used to describe a very young child, it’s a compliment, but if it’s applied to an adult, the meaning changes. Chae-eun thought about this.

The feeling Chae-eun had when she first met Anna was exactly that—pure.

Chae-eun, now just an adult herself, had some understanding of the world, even if just a little.

She had been trained by her father and followed him around enough to learn how society worked, even if it was only a glimpse.

Since the Gate Disaster, the world had changed. At first glance, everything seemed the same, but the emergence of Hunters, Heroes, and the Church had led to a complete reorganization of the social structure.

If you lived as just a regular member of one of these groups, you might not notice, but Chae-eun, who had received some early training and was exposed to various cases, began to see things that others might not.

When she first met Anna, Chae-eun had thought that Anna was being used by the Church.

She knew that Anna had some divine power, and she was aware that there were rumors about her among the Hunters. But Anna seemed completely unaware of the world's harsh realities.

Anna had been struggling to escape the Church, but even that was a naive notion.

The Church needed a Saintess, and the more "candidates" there were, the better.

Since the person who nearly founded the Church appeared more than a decade ago, many heroes had emerged, and Hunters who rivaled those heroes had appeared as well. However, the Church had failed to produce a true Saintess. The fact that there were so many potential candidates for that position was itself an argument in favor of the Church’s need.

This was probably inevitable. After all, the "Saintess" position was very different from the position of the Pope, which had been formally established.

...The reason a Saintess or a Saintess-like figure was called that was the same reason heroes were called heroes. They saved countless lives, taught many, and as a result, the term became ingrained.

The difference was that heroes had systematized these conditions early on, mainly through the government, as the face of government power.

Hunters followed suit.

The government, which had existed in an organized form from the start, and the Hunter Associations that followed the structure of corporations or foundations.

On the other hand, the Church, which had originally followed the form of a religious organization, had to essentially rebuild itself from scratch.

The one thing people found most unnatural was the very existence of the Church.

Thus, in order to survive, the Church had to carve out a place in various aspects of society. It had done so through its actions, and after years of struggling, the Church had established the form it took today.

Many people still saw the Church as a thorn in their side.

That was when Anna appeared.

"…Why are you staring at me like that?"

"Huh?"

"You've been glancing at me for a while. Do you have something you want to say?"

"Uh…"

Anna's clear eyes locked onto Chae-eun’s.

While Anna might have thought of herself as being careless, Chae-eun saw no such thing in Anna's demeanor.

Instead, it seemed like Anna was someone who didn't know much about that sort of thing, and was just trying to mimic it clumsily based on her appearance.

...Despite her rebellion, she still managed to maintain the basics and never crossed the line, and that in itself was proof.

Before Chae-eun saw Anna fully using her divine power, she had thought that Anna was trying to use the Church for her own purposes. The perception of Anna outside the Church was that she wanted to hold the position without taking on the responsibility that came with it.

After seeing Anna in person, Chae-eun started thinking that, in fact, it was the Church using Anna.

She had originally thought Anna was simply being used, that her purity allowed her to draw out more divine power than others.

How pure must she be if she doesn't even engage in the deals with the Church that other Saintess candidates usually do? Was her power not special, but rather, the result of her willingness to heal anyone who came to her, which is why rumors about her spread among the Hunters?

The people who tried to take Anna away from the Church probably fueled this idea. After all, she seemed so easy to manipulate, which made it easy to think that way.

So, perhaps at first, Chae-eun's thought had been, "Should I help her a bit?"—a perspective that almost looked down from above.

"?"

Anna tilted her head to the side. It was as if she genuinely didn’t understand why Chae-eun was avoiding her gaze.

...Maybe it was natural for her not to understand?

Once Chae-eun realized that Anna could use divine power—no, more accurately, once she started thinking that Anna, as a being, might be even more exceptional than any priestess she had known—she began to feel a little embarrassed about meeting her eyes directly.

Anna, who saved people without a shred of doubt, because she was human.

Anna, who believed her power wasn’t truly hers, but a gift from someone else.

...

Maybe Chae-eun had been thinking that she was seeing someone who simply had the right thoughts, and that’s why she considered her "pure."

Maybe she had just mistaken Anna’s uprightness for purity—no, for innocence.

Sometimes, when people call an adult "pure," it’s just another way of calling them "naive."

"Ugh."

Seeing Chae-eun avoid her gaze, Anna smiled.

For the past few days, Anna had been like this. Until now, Chae-eun had been teasing Anna, and it had often led to Anna getting flustered, but recently, Chae-eun had found herself with a weakness.

Anna jumped off her bed and ran to the bed where Chae-eun was lying.

Then, she leaned her face in close.

Her hair, as if spun from gold, cascaded beside her face. Unlike Chae-eun’s neat, short bob, Anna's hair was quite long.

That hair brushed against Chae-eun’s nose.

Before Chae-eun could sneeze, she gently cupped Anna’s cheeks with both hands.

"Eh,"

At that moment, Anna made a funny noise, as if surprised by having her face held.

Soft and smooth. It felt like she hadn’t used any cosmetics. Yet, with such a face…

Was this what people meant when they said the gods had given her beauty? A small part of Chae-eun felt a tinge of jealousy.

"Let go!"

Anna squirmed and kicked her legs, so Chae-eun released her grip.

Still, it worked. Anna backed off a little.

"Every time, you grab people’s faces like that."

Anna glanced at her with a half-smile, and Chae-eun paused for a moment, thinking.

Well, every time I grab, the sound she makes is so funny—it’s like catching a small animal, so maybe that’s why I keep doing it.

...Thinking about it, the height difference between them wasn’t that significant, so Anna wasn’t exactly someone to be called a “small animal.” It was just how Chae-eun felt about it.

Anna still appeared somewhat pure. Looking back at what happened a few days ago, she did have the ability to solve problems when she decided that she needed to do something. However, the reason behind it was often because there was no one else who could do it, which made Chae-eun uneasy.

The "purity" that Chae-eun saw in Anna wasn’t the same kind of innocence. It was a different kind of purity—a concerned one.

"About that holy relic you gave me..."

"...I feel like calling it that is a bit embarrassing."

"Well, there’s no other way to explain it."

At Chae-eun’s words, Anna didn’t try to argue anymore.

Technically, the chocolate that Chae-eun had eaten could also be considered a holy relic. If it were from the Church, they probably wouldn’t know how to handle it, even if they were given it.

Though, of course, there were always people who sought to gain something from it.

And such people would think of using Anna...

"Anyway, I heard that the important object lost its power because of that relic."

"Ah."

Anna shrugged and plopped down onto her bed.

"If it’s that, then it’s not a problem. The magic inside it wasn’t the important thing. The stone itself is what matters."

"...Really?"

It was natural that Chae-eun didn’t know much about the magic stone since no one had dared to misuse it until now.

And the holy relic as well.

"I’ll make two of them and give them to you. That should satisfy you, right? Judging by how you didn’t even think this could happen, it seems like the research progress hasn’t been that advanced."

"......”

Chae-eun thought for a moment before speaking again.

"You said the divine power can pass through walls, so that’s why this happened, right? People don’t know that, so they just thought blocking the visible light was enough."

"Exactly."

"Isn’t it actually just that your divine power was strong enough to break through what was blocking it?"

"Pardon?"

At Chae-eun’s words, Anna’s eyes widened in surprise.

"What I mean is, the reason the divine power was blocked before was simply because it was weak. Right?"

"Pardon?"

"No, think about it. Even sunglasses have different grades. Some block almost all sunlight, while others barely do. It’s just that your divine power was strong enough to overcome the block."

"…..."

At those words, Anna looked a bit dazed.

"Ah... I don’t think so?"

"Why, haven’t you received a revelation about it?"

"…..."

The fact that Anna didn’t respond seemed to confirm it.

Chae-eun narrowed her eyes slightly at Anna’s reaction.

Was that so?

Anna was pure. She believed she should help others simply because she was able to.

If someone tried to take advantage of Anna, Chae-eun could stop them. She had the justification and the power to do so, at least for now.

But, what if...

If, as Anna said, the higher being above them was the one using her...

Anna, who denied the existence of a god, but still followed the guidance of that entity, how would she react if that guidance led her to sacrifice herself?

What if that sacrifice were to prevent some horrific event—

Thinking about that made Chae-eun feel strangely unsettled.

It was a complicated, hard-to-explain feeling.

Chae-eun thought, perhaps she really did have feelings for Anna, to the point where she might feel empty if she suddenly disappeared.

That was strange.

It was the first time Chae-eun had ever felt something like this.

"?"

Seeing Chae-eun look at her seriously, Anna tilted her head in confusion.

Under that clear gaze, Chae-eun couldn’t help but look away again.