The Priest of Complete Dispel ~ Every Time I Save a Cursed Beautiful Girl with My Status Abnormal Cure Skill, For Some Reason Her Dependence on Me Maxes Out ~ - Chapter 53: Old Comrades

Chapter 53: Old Comrades

“――Shu, Erina wants to thank you. Will you meet with her?”

When Risia and the other two finished nursing Erina and changing the sheets, they returned to our room, and Risia told me that.

“…Got it.”

Erina was alone in her room.

I lifted my heavy body and headed to that room.

“Erina, coming in.”

“P-Please do…!”

I knocked with a conk conk, and a slightly trembling voice came back.

I opened the door and went inside.

The room had a cleansed air drifting in it.

Iris must have cast a spell for that.

That thick scent had completely vanished, and night breeze flowed in from the slightly open window.

Erina wore a cream-colored linen dress she had borrowed from the inn.

“Please sit… down.”

“…Yeah.”

I sat down in the chair in front of the round table as she urged me.

Honestly, it was awkward to face her.

It felt different from Amelia, Iris, Medina, or Seira.

The adventurer party Silver Blade that I helped on the way to Hares.

Erina was the priestess in that group.

We hadn’t traveled together for long, but we had talked a lot.

That was why our distance as comrades felt a bit tricky.

“…Thank you so much for breaking my curse… Risia told me. I’m glad Shu was nearby…”

“…You guys are like friends now. Breaking the curse was what I could do, so I did it――that’s all.”

“Even so… I wanted to thank you properly.”

She raised her downcast eyes and looked straight at me.

Her cheeks were faintly red, and her eyes shook.

Even though Risia had explained, only Erina herself knew exactly what had happened.

“Yeah, I get how you feel. …Well, I need to get back to the clinic.”

To cover the awkwardness, I stood up from the chair.

But――

“W-Wait, please!”

Erina’s voice came out louder than I expected, and I stopped right there.

“I remember… everything…!”

“…I see. Iris remembered too, apparently.”

Her trembling voice. Her clenched fist.

Erina desperately continued her words.

“I… Shu… so many firsts with you… W-We didn’t go all the way, but… after experiencing that…”

She stammered but gathered her courage to weave her words.

“I knew Shu was desperate to help me… but the kisses… and my… b-breasts… and…!”

When she put it into words, even I felt my face heat up.

“You saw… almost all of me… my important parts!”

I hadn’t seen her lower body, but it was still an important spot for a woman.

“…Sorry. I had no choice, but I did see.”

“Th-That’s not it! I don’t want an apology…!”

Erina pressed her chest and yelled with her face bright red.

“I want you to――take responsibility!!”

“Why!?”

I let out a silly yelp without thinking.

The conversation had suddenly veered into weird territory.

“You’re Silver Blade’s priestess, right? So someone like me… Sure, what happened is a big deal for a girl, I get that…”

“…Actually, on the way to Hares――in the carriage, I saw what you, Iris, and Medina were doing.”

“…Huh… Oh…”

For real.

That night, someone had seen Iris slip away from watch and return to the carriage.

I figured Erina, who was on watch with her, might suspect something, but… to think she actually saw.

“From that moment, I felt a bit off. …Shu’s body, Iris’s face… that scene wouldn’t leave my head. So when Jilbe almost attacked me in that mansion――I thought, might as well with Shu…”

Jilbe.

That guard who checked us at the gate.

I heard about it from Glen and the others. Getting betrayed by someone you trusted was the worst.

“…That’s how it led to now. When you touched me, when you took my kisses… I was really happy about it.”

“I see…”

“I said responsibility, but… don’t take it too heavily. …I just want you to color my body with your shade…!”

“Erina…”

As she said those words, Erina slowly stood up.

She walked right up to me, grabbed the collar of my monk’s robe――and pulled me in close.

“Nn… Uh…”

It happened so suddenly that my reaction lagged.

Our lips overlapped, and a soft sensation mixed with her heated breath.

“Pu, haa…!”

Our lips parted, and a thin string stretched between them.

Erina’s cheeks were bright red, and her eyes were wet and shaking.

“…Right now, clearing the darkness in this city comes first. But when everything ends――can you give me a little time?”

Erina quietly said that while gripping the sleeve of my monk’s robe.

It felt less like a confession of love and more like a wish for what came after that curse-breaking.

“I’m in… that kind of relationship with Iris and Medina too. I’m a guy with no morals.”

It happened by circumstance, but what I was doing was straight-up player behavior.

If Rikka found out, she’d definitely look down on me. …That said, it was kind of a side effect of the skill.

“That’s fine. I never had the right to keep Shu all to myself anyway. …And I’ve already――come to like you.”

“Erina… Then, once this incident wraps up, I’ll make time. That okay?”

“…Yes!”

Erina showed a smile that burst with joy.

Her cuteness made my heart pound without thinking.

But I still didn’t know Erina deeply as a person.

If I could make time, I’d face her slowly then――that’s what I thought.

…After that, I joined Glen and the others to discuss our next steps.

They planned to limit activities to daytime because of Dorotheia’s attack risk and rest in the guild’s spare rooms at night.

They would submit the evidence they got to the guild master.

On my end, the rest of Seira’s curse-breaking.

Once that finished, I planned to tell her everything about the incidents in this city.

――As a temple knight, she couldn’t just overlook this darkness.

◇◇◇

――The next day, noon.

A sloppy-dressed, pig-faced big man pushed open the door to the adventurer guild.

The adventurers resting in the cafeteria stopped their hands without thinking and turned stares like they were looking at something rare at his bizarre appearance.

“Berg… The guild master called for me. Can you pass it on?”

“T-To the guild master!? Y-Yes, sir!”

Receptionist Lina’s eyes went wide in surprise, but she hurried up the stairs and vanished into the upper office.

When she came back, she was a bit out of breath as she guided him.

“…This way. Go on in!”

“Yeah, thanks.”

When the door to the guided office opened, the air grew heavy in an instant.

A burly man――Guild Master Berg――already waited in the room, and Lina felt overwhelmed by the two men’s builds and presence; she set down the tea and quickly left.

“That orc-like pig face hasn’t changed, Alaster.”

“Your bald desert up top hasn’t either, Berg.”

The two traded light jabs and let out short laughs.

But those laughs held no warmth. The heavy silence between long-time grudge-holders soon returned.

“…Calling me after years of no word means it’s no small matter.”

“Right on. ――Sit down. Or rather, that outfit… it’s seriously questionable…”

“This works for me now. Don’t worry about it.”

When the two giant men sat on the sofa, the leather creaked with a gishiri.

Berg placed a small crystal-like magical tool on the desk.

“What’s this?”

“You’ll see. …<Record Playback>”

When Berg touched it with his fingertip and chanted, images rose on the wall.

Alaster said nothing until the recording ended and just watched in silence.

Then, after the silence, he let out a deep breath.

“…Bulldog, huh. I heard rumors he was raking it in big, but this much…”

“From what I’ve grabbed, underground sex business, goblin breeding, mansion parties, secret dealings with the empire and demons… It’s a wonder it stayed hidden this long.”

“The empire and demons… that’s concerning, but he probably buried it with power.”

“That’s about it. …So reluctantly, I reached out to you.”

Berg’s voice carried a bitter tinge.

He was known for hating the church, so calling Alaster of all people showed how abnormal the situation was.

“Twenty years ago… when you said you were leaving the party for the church, I thought about beating you to death.”

“I have my beliefs. No one can make me bend them.”

“Heh. If beliefs fed you, I wouldn’t struggle. Treatment costs just keep rising anyway.”

“That’s a dead end for both of us. ――Back to the point.”

The two who once adventured together.

They met thirty years ago, split twenty years ago, and ended up on opposing sides.

But now, they faced the same enemy.

“…Got it. First, I’ll share what I know. It started when a guy named Shu brought in a saint candidate.”

“Shu? A saint candidate?”

“Yeah. I haven’t met Shu myself yet. ――My affiliated B-rank adventurers went to smash a goblin cave. But they ran into an out-of-spec new type, the Goblin Queen. Apparently, that Shu guy saved them.”

“…Fuha, fuhahahahaha!”

“Hey… it’s not funny.”

Alaster laughed with his belly shaking.

But that laugh mixed shock and certainty more than amusement.

(――As I thought, that young man. No doubt he has the goddess’s blessing. But why the clinic…? And with Iris… Hmm, interesting.)

“Sorry, go on.”

“In the cave, women turned into pig faces with <Uglification> were held captive. Details are unclear, but they all got their curses broken by someone. Now they’re sheltered at Poan’s Village church.”

“…Pig face curse, huh. Turning into a face like mine would be cruel for women. But breaking the curse… If it’s true, a skill…? No way. That young man… Could it be Seira’s case――”

“Don’t interrupt.”

“Hm, my bad.”

By the time they finished the conversation, the teacups in front of the two were completely empty.

“――In short, you’re the only one who can move the temple knights.”

“…It’s not easy for me either. The opponent’s an archbishop… but I’ll try.”

“Who’d have thought I’d rely on you. ――The rest is yours.”

“Yeah.”

Alaster quietly stood, picked up the magical tool and ledger from the desk.

Berg silently watched his back as he vanished beyond the door for a while.

――When the two with old grudges joined hands again, the city’s darkness quietly began to stir.