In a World of Reversed Chastity, I Strive to Become an Honorable Male Knight, but Lustful Women Keep Targeting My Body - 252

Chapter 252: The Saintly Bishop and the Former Captive Elf

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Guided by Papa Albert, I was shown into a reception room. It was to meet the elf. Because of my line of work, I often had opportunities to come face to face with various races, but this was my first time meeting an elf.

Waiting in the reception room was a beautiful girl, so beautiful that even I, another woman, almost sighed in admiration. Her perfectly formed features made it feel improper to stare directly at her, and her hair was a radiant golden color. There was no way she looked like a barbarian. Honestly, I was pretty taken aback. Still, there was one problem……

『What’s this little thing? A pigeon birdman? No, it’s got arms too. Ain’t never seen a race like this before』

Her thoughts had an incredibly heavy accent! I could only make out about half of what she meant! W-what should I do……? Didn’t this just wipe out, like, sixty percent of my advantage……? It felt like she was using some kind of coded language or something……

“This is Rike Schlant, a resident guest of our household. ……Rike, this lady is Fiorenza Chiarugi-sama, who serves as a diocesan head of the Star Guidance Faith in Palea City, the capital of our country.”

Seemingly unaware of my inner turmoil, Papa introduced the elf. In situations like this, it was Galea noble etiquette for a mediator to handle the introductions for both parties.

“I’m Rike Schlant. N-nice to meet you.”

『Resident guest! That’s one way to put it. Ain’t I just a plain ol’ freeloader right now……』

Along with her extremely hard-to-read thoughts, Rike extended her hand toward me. Without letting my inner reaction show on my face, I smiled gently and accepted the handshake.

“I am Fiorenza Chiarugi. It is an honor to meet you, Rike-san.”

This elf’s inner voice was heavily accented, but her spoken language (though a bit awkward) was Galea-style. Because her thoughts were so hard to read, I couldn’t be completely sure, but it seemed like she had been voluntarily studying Galea speech intensely lately.

“T-thank you……”

After bowing her head, Rike hurriedly leaned toward Papa and whispered to him.

“I dunno much ’bout this diocesan head or bishop stuff, but… Is she some kinda big deal?”

“She’s an important person. In terms of subordinates, she probably has more than ten times as many as I do……”

“H-hii……”

Well, it was true that I had a fair number of subordinates…… But in the end, my position was one I clawed my way into through threats that leveraged my parent’s connections (a woman I could hardly call a mother, despite our blood relation) and my own abilities. It wasn’t something I could really puff my chest out about. Papa, who rose through the ranks through his own knowledge and talent, was a hundred times more admirable.

On top of that, there was the weakness of being in love, too. If Papa asked me, I’d lend him as many subordinates as he wanted. Total abuse of authority, really. I wasn’t playing the role of a corrupt, worldly cleric just for fun or drunken whimsy, you know. I had my reasons.

“There is no need to be so nervous. I am here purely as Albert-san’s friend. I would never be shameless enough to act high and mighty toward another of Albert-san’s friends.”

After all, I didn’t care how the masses treated me.

“I-is that so. Th-thank you very mu— thank you very much.”

As Rike bowed her head, I returned her gesture with a warm smile. ……Still, despite her dangerous reputation beforehand, she was surprisingly easy to talk to. Well, if you happened to touch one of her reverse scales, she’d probably slash at you without hesitation.

But in that regard, this was probably another of Papa’s tactical victories. He seemed to be consciously responding in a way that thoroughly stripped away the other party’s aggression. Maybe he was using this Rike as a test case for coexistence with elves.

“So, um…… For what reason would someone so noble wish to see someone like me? I mean, I— no, I am nothing more than a common soldier, and I doubt I can provide any particularly useful information……”

『I already spilled everythin’ I could during the questioning, so there ain’t no interrogatin’ material left. Dang it, at this rate I won’t get my ears cleaned no more……』

H-huh!? This elf has been getting Papa clean her ears for her!? I’m so jealous!! 

I hadn’t had it done even once in months! ……Uuuugh! I had to get him to do it at least once while I was staying in Liseben. But then Sonia would get in the way. No matter how I looked at it, she’d definitely interfere…… Maybe now was my chance, while she was down?

Still, this elf was completely enchanted by Papa already. He truly had impressive people-handling skills. I wanted to be able to pull off tricks like that too someday, but…… Even making full use of hypnosis and mind-reading, it was honestly pretty difficult in practice.

“No, no. That isn’t the case at all. What I wish to ask about concerns elven customs and religion. My role is to help serve as a bridge between the Kingdom of Galea and the Elfenia Empire.”

“I-I see.”

『So this white pigeon lady with arms is plannin’ to spread that Star Guidance Faith thing to us, huh』

Ah. She saw through it instantly. And yes, my objective was indeed proselytizing to the elves. That said, it wasn’t like I held some rigid belief such as, “It is my sacred duty to spread this wonderful teaching to the four corners of the world!” If the elves became believers, the Star Guidance Faith’s coffers could be used as a funding source for food aid.

Thinking about the future, I wanted to conserve Papa’s funds as much as possible. I didn’t think this was a bad plan. There was a risk of the elves starting a religious war…… But the Star Guidance Faith was fairly moderate toward other religions (while being bizarrely severe toward heresy), and it was an unusual religion that even allowed dual affiliation. If the other side accepted it, it would probably be fine……

Still, I didn’t want to poke a hornet’s nest and get stung. A religious war in Liseben would be no laughing matter. If resistance to proselytizing seemed strong, I was prepared to scrap this plan entirely. ……That was precisely why I had gone out of my way to meet this former captive elf.

“What I am especially curious about is elven religion. What kind of beliefs do you hold? As a member of the clergy, it is something I find extremely interesting.”

Man, these people were sharper than I expected. If a mere foot soldier was like this, just how formidable was their leader, this Dalaiya……? It was starting to scare me a little. She was an old woman over a thousand years old, right? I didn’t feel like I could win a battle of wits against that.

At worst, there was a chance she might even see through this magic eye of mine. If she had lived that long, she might have encountered others like me before…… Maybe it wouldn’t be a bad idea to switch my eyepatch to a special one and deliberately seal my mind-reading ability. After all, thanks to the accent, I could only understand about half her thoughts anyway……

“Religion, huh……”

『Figured it’d be that kinda talk. Albert-don sure went and brought a troublesome person. I can’t stand priest talk. It’s annoyin’』

Ah, she really didn’t like it. But the overall impression wasn’t bad. The fact that her first reaction to a cleric of a foreign faith wasn’t hatred or disgust, but annoyance, suggested she wasn’t particularly devout. And honestly, I didn’t really want to seriously spread the Star Guidance Faith to the elves either (I mean, to me, the Star Guidance Faith was nothing more than a tool……). Playing it loose was fine. Once a purely formal baptism was done, we could handle the rest on our side.

“Well, it’s nothing particularly grand…… When we hunt beasts, dig up potatoes, or when someone dies, we put our hands together and pray. It’s just that sort of thing.”

“I see.”

What did they pray to, I wondered? A god? Spirits? Ancestors? I’d need to dig into that thoroughly. Any elements that could become sparks had to be eliminated completely. I never wanted a disaster like what happened in the royal capital to occur again……

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