Chapter 12
One month had passed since Reina was taken into the shrine.
When she first arrived at the shrine, Reina had been skin and bones... but after eating three meals and snacks every day, her cheeks had started to plump up.
Her chest had also started to swell slightly, and for Clael, who lived with her, it was becoming increasingly difficult to know where to look.
(We live together, so to some extent it's inevitable... but please, at least spare me the bath...)
What made it even more difficult... was that Reina still tried to bathe with Clael or sleep in the same bed.
Even though she was a ten-year-old child, doing that with a girl who wasn't family made him feel guilty.
Clael desperately tried to refuse, but when Reina looked up at him with teary eyes and said 'Do you not want to be with me?', his resolve wavered.
He somehow managed to insist on separate baths, but he couldn't refuse sharing the bed, and they still slept together.
(I even prepared a small room for her, so why does she insist on sleeping with me... Is it just because she's a child?)
In his previous life, he had been single and never had children, so he didn't know at what age kids normally started sleeping alone.
Clael had shared a children's room with his siblings, so he didn't know either, but maybe kids slept with their parents until they finished elementary school?
Incidentally... during this past month, Reina had not gone out alone.
Whenever she went outside, Clael always accompanied her, and he made her hide her face with a hat or hooded clothing.
This was because Reina's beauty had become even more striking as she filled out.
With how she looked now, she might even twist the preferences of people who weren't into young girls.
To reduce the risk of being kidnapped by traffickers or the like, he tried to keep her out of public view as much as possible.
(She's basically living like a caged princess... but it can't be helped. At least until that toxic parent issue is resolved.)
He had asked a friend in the military police to investigate Reina's father's crimes... but unfortunately, they hadn't gathered enough evidence yet.
Apparently, he was quite cautious by nature and hadn't left any clear proof.
(I feel bad for making her live so restrictively... but for now, I have to keep Reina out of the public eye.)
Until the issue with her toxic parent was resolved and she could defend herself with Holy Arts, Clael wouldn't let Reina appear in public.
Clael reaffirmed his decision... but then, one day, an incident occurred.
〇 〇 〇
"Priest! Is the priest here!?"
"Hmm...?"
While conducting a lesson in Reina's room, which had become her study room, a loud voice rang out from the direction of the chapel.
"Priest?"
"Ah, sorry. Please do some self-study for a bit."
Leaving Reina behind, Clael headed toward the chapel.
There, the shrine doors had been thrown open, and several injured people were being carried in.
Outside the shrine, a crowd of onlookers had gathered, peering inside to see what was happening.
"What happened to all of you!?"
"Ah, Priest!"
"Help us! These guys were attacked by a basilisk!"
The ones bringing in the injured were a group armed with swords and such... in other words, monster-hunting specialists known as 'adventurers'.
"We heard there was a giant lizard in the nearby forest, so we went to hunt it—but it turned out to be a basilisk! We managed to kill it somehow, but these guys got poisoned!"
"Please help! Our comrades are dying!"
"How terrible...!"
The basilisk was a lizard-type monster with powerful poison.
Its venom was so potent that even a small amount entering the body could be fatal.
Five injured people had been brought in. All of them were unconscious and needed immediate treatment.
"Cure! Heal!"
Cure was a spell that removed poison. Heal was a spell that healed wounds and restored vitality.
After casting both healing spells, their complexions improved slightly... but it was like pouring water on a hot stone.
"Cure! Heal!"
(Normal priests' Holy Arts can't cure basilisk poison... If this place weren't a sanctuary, I would've given up already...!)
Thanks to Reina, the Saint, who cleaned and prayed daily at the shrine, it had become a 'sanctuary' imbued with holy aura.
Within a sanctuary, the power of Holy Arts was amplified, and mana consumption greatly reduced.
The inside of the shrine even glowed visibly... though only trained priests could see it.
(There aren't any other priests in this town besides me, so no one's noticed the sanctuary effect... but now's not the time to think about that!)
"Cure! Heal!"
He repeatedly cast healing spells on the five injured, one after another.
As the other adventurers watched with bated breath... Clael continued the exhausting process, sweat dripping from his forehead.
(Damn... I can't completely remove the poison...! But I have no choice but to keep going...!)
He couldn't fully cure them, but if he didn't keep trying, they would surely die.
The excessive use of mana made his consciousness fade and his head spin.
Even with the sanctuary's blessing, the mana consumption was too much. If he let his guard down, he felt like he'd collapse.
"Cure... Heal... Cure... Heal... Cu..."
A wave of intense dizziness hit him.
Just as he thought, Ah, this is bad... someone rushed over and supported Clael's body.
"Priest...!"
"Reina...?"
The one who had burst in was Reina, who should have been studying in the back.
She must have come looking for Clael, who hadn't returned, and had been watching from the shadows.
"Priest, your face... Are you okay!?"
"I'm fi... It's nothing to worry... about."
Suddenly, his body felt lighter.
He felt mana welling up from within, surpassing his limits.
The source of that power—needless to say—was Reina, who was holding him close.
(The Saint's blessing...!)
If just cleaning the shrine could make it a sanctuary...
Then how powerful must the blessing be when she shared her strength through direct contact?
"Priest...?"
"Thank you, Reina. I'm really okay now."
As he smiled at her like always, Reina's anxious expression softened in relief.
"I'll continue the treatment... Ex-Heal, Ex-Cure."
He activated high-level Holy Arts that he had never been able to learn on his own.
Ex-Heal was a spell that could even restore lost limbs, and Ex-Cure could cure all types of poison.
These were grand spells that only a handful of priests in the Grand Shrine at the royal capital could use.
"Ugh..."
The wounds of the injured began to close, and their pale faces regained color.
"Amazing...!"
"Hey, are you okay!? Hang in there!"
The adventurers who had been panicking nearby let out cheers of joy.
Clael cast advanced Holy Arts on each of them in turn, healing all five who had been unconscious and near death.
"Thank you! Thank you so much...!"
"Priest, we owe you big time!"
The adventurers expressed their gratitude through tears.
Since they risked their lives fighting monsters, their sense of camaraderie was very strong.
Some of the adventurers even dropped to their knees and joined their hands in prayer to the gods.
"Thank you... Thank you...!"
"I only did what anyone would. I'm not a god, so please don't worship me."
(No... The one who truly deserves thanks and reverence is this child.)
"Priest?"
"............"
Placing his hand on the head of the girl who looked up at him in wonder, Clael silently stroked her hair.