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 73: Moving into the Dorm

Chapter 73: Moving into the Dorm

A single day feels way longer than you’d expect.

After sitting through classes again for the first time in forever, I really felt it.

Yesterday time seemed to fly by in a flash.

But just sitting in a chair listening to lectures? Man, why does it drag on like this?

Today’s lessons covered not only church history, but they also threw in some special stuff just for me.

How to behave at church school, the morning prayers to the Goddess, what happens after graduation—and a bunch of church-specific terms too.

Apparently I’m being treated as a fifth-year right now.

Church school goes from first to sixth year. Normally you enter at thirteen and graduate at eighteen.

But really talented kids can skip grades and finish early.

If this were modern Japan, I’d probably be about second-year high school.

…Still, the only knowledge I’ve got is what I picked up back in Iasis village, so throwing me straight into fifth year feels pretty messed up no matter how you look at it.

The stuff we covered today was probably beginner-level material meant for first-years anyway.

Which means the rest of the class has already been studying here for five whole years—

No wonder someone like Gaits laughs at me when I can barely use low-level magic.

…I really don’t want to get dragged into any more unnecessary trouble if I can help it.

◇◇◇

Morning classes finally ended, and now it’s lunchtime.

Some students bring their own bentos, but pretty much everyone eats in the cafeteria.

Canaan showed me the way, so I ended up heading there with him.

I tried inviting Nemesia, MyuMyu, and Alisha too—but in the end only MyuMyu tagged along.

Right as we stepped out of the classroom, we passed someone I recognized.

“Oh… you’re Shu, right?”

“Alisha’s maid…”

“Yes, I’m Lizette.”

Standing there was Lizette, her neat black hair tied back, dressed in her maid uniform.

I’d heard the school has a separate dorm for servants. If she’s here, that probably means Alisha’s eating lunch with her.

“I never would’ve imagined you’d transfer into church school and end up in the same class as Alisha. What a coincidence.”

“Yeah. Though it kinda feels like she hates me.”

“Alisha tends to be a little awkward around anyone she hasn’t opened up to yet… but she’s also weak when someone keeps being kind and persistent. Please be patient with her. You too, MyuMyu.”

“Mnya… I-I’ll… do… my best…!”

Makes sense. Even if she’s a princess, it looks like dorm rooms aren’t single occupancy.

Which means there’s a high chance someone else is already in the room I’m getting.

After that short chat with Lizette, we stepped into the cafeteria.

“Whoa… that’s an insane number of people…”

It was like walking into a giant food court.

Along the walls were long rows of counters, each one dedicated to different kinds of food. Just a quick glance and I counted more than ten different spots.

Ramen, pasta, udon, plus stuff like hamburg steak and steak for the meat lovers. There were rice bowls, Chinese dishes, traditional Japanese set meals—everything. Didn’t seem like the church banned any particular foods.

“The selection is crazy.”

“Pretty amazing, right? I was blown away the first time too. Come on, let’s line up together.”

There were tons of students, but with so many counters the lines moved fast.

We ordered tempura udon and found an empty table to sit at.

Shiny noodles topped with freshly fried kakiage.

Just the rising steam and that smell were enough to make my stomach growl loud.

“Hold up—do we not have to pay for this?”

“Nope, the cafeteria’s completely free. Church school’s running costs come from donations to the church and treatment fees. They want to raise proper future clergy, so aside from tuition almost everything else is covered.”

“I see…”

I was starting to understand why people say church healing is so expensive.

If you think of it as investing in the next generation, it doesn’t sound like a bad deal.

In fact, if money’s actually going toward stuff like this, it’s kinda hard to complain too much.

…Wait a second. Did he just say tuition?

I don’t remember paying anything.

Don’t tell me that pig-faced old man covered it for me…

“—Owch!?”

“Hehe, MyuMyu. Careful when you’re in a rush.”

“S-sowwy… I-I’m really bad with hot stuff…”

“Yeah, but the hotter it is, the better it tastes…!”

I slurped up a big mouthful. The rich broth and chewy noodles mixed perfectly.

Straight-up delicious.

Across from me, MyuMyu puffed out her cheeks, blowing on the noodles over and over before carefully taking tiny slurps. The whole thing was honestly adorable.

“Um… Shu-kun, how come you came to church school? Transferring in at this time of year is kinda rare, so…”

MyuMyu asked me hesitantly, like she was scared to pry.

I was honestly happy she reached out first.

“I’m actu—”

…Whoops, close one.

I can’t exactly say the Saint candidate Iris and Goddess Artemisia told me to enroll.

If a random guy like me claimed to know people like that, they’d definitely get suspicious.

“S-sorry! That was a weird question, wasn’t it…! Sorry!”

“Nah, don’t worry about it. There’s just… some circumstances. I was basically pretending to be a monk at a tiny church way out in the countryside. Then everyone around me kept pushing me to come here, so I figured why not and enrolled.”

Half of that was true.

An explanation like that shouldn’t sound too weird.

“Really? That’s amazing…! So you’ve been working at a church for years?”

“Well, I was learning from the sister there. The village was small, but we handled medicine too, so I’ve got at least some knowledge about medicinal herbs.”

“Shu-kun’s incredible! Gaits was saying all kinds of stuff, but maybe you’re actually some hidden genius!”

MyuMyu and Canaan’s eyes were sparkling as they praised me.

Hey, the knowledge came straight from Granny, so it’s not wrong.

Though some parts might not line up perfectly with how church school does things.

“Before I came to the capital I helped out a little at the Healing Spring in Hares too. That place was seriously busy.”

“Ehh!? That’s huge! Hares is full of adventurers, right? I’ve heard there are tons of injured people there!”

“Patients never stopped coming all day.”

“Wow… Shu-kun really isn’t ordinary at all…”

Just saying I worked at a treatment center apparently gives me some instant credibility.

Even though I was only there a few days.

“Then let me ask you guys the same thing. Why’d you two come to church school? Parents are clergy or something?”

If they asked me, it’s probably fine to ask back.

Canaan looked straight at me and answered.

“My dad’s a temple knight here in the capital. But honestly at first I wasn’t that interested.”

“Oh? So something changed your mind?”

The second I asked, an unexpected name came up.

“—Seira-sama.”

“…Seira? You mean Seira Clover?”

“Yeah. You know her too, Shu-kun? She’s pretty famous now.”

I never expected to hear Seira’s name here.

“I think it was about five years ago… back when she wasn’t captain yet, Seira-sama saved me once. There weren’t many female temple knights back then, but after she started standing out, their numbers shot up.”

“I see… so she had that kind of impact.”

“Mm-hm. Ever since then I’ve wanted to be like Seira-sama. That’s why I came to this school.”

Looks like Canaan’s admiration was spot on. She’s a captain now after all.

“What about you, MyuMyu?”

“I… my mom’s a sister… and she’s such a gentle person. So I want to be like my mom…”

“Got it… both of you have real, solid reasons.”

Come to think of it, Granny used to be a Saint, and I’ve basically lived my whole life tied to the church in one way or another.

So coming here might’ve been inevitable in a way.

—Though maybe the Goddess arranged every single step of it.

◇◇◇

Afternoon classes wrapped up without any problems, and school was over.

Leben-sensei handed me a few sheets of paper.

They had all the dorm rules written out in detail.

“Shu-kun, you’ll be rooming with Canaan-kun. Looks like you two got along a bit today already, so it’d really help if you keep getting along.”

“So that’s why our seats were close.”

When I glanced over, Canaan gave a slightly embarrassed smile.

“Yeah… I actually knew already. I was gonna tell you after sensei let me know… sorry.”

“Nah, don’t sweat it. Looking forward to it, Canaan.”

“Mm! Same here, Shu-kun!”

And just like that, we became not only classmates but roommates too.

The dorm was right next to the school building, with the boys’ and girls’ dorms completely separated.

Guys need official permission to enter the girls’ dorm, and if you sneak in you’re apparently expelled on the spot.

Not that I’d ever want to go that far…

“It’s pretty spacious, huh.”

“Right? But I’ve always had a single room until now, so it felt kinda lonely sometimes. I’m really glad you’re here, Shu-kun!”

“Glad to hear that.”

The room was way bigger than I expected for a double.

Beds were lined up against the walls with a curtain rail in between so we could put up a divider.

Desks, closets, even a bathroom—felt more like a small apartment.

“…Hm?”

Up above Canaan’s bed there was a clothesline with some laundry hanging.

But among the hanging clothes—

“Uwaaaaaah!? D-don’t look! Turn around!!”

“Whoa!?”

All of a sudden Canaan slapped both hands over my eyes and spun me around hard.

“J-just wait like that for a sec!”

“O-okay!”

After maybe thirty seconds I heard “It’s okay now” from behind me.

When I turned back, every piece of laundry was gone.

“U-um… you didn’t see anything, right?”

“Yeah… of course. I didn’t see a thing.”

“Phew… thank goodness…”

I played along with Canaan.

—But I’m pretty sure I saw women’s underwear among that laundry.

Definitely my imagination. Let’s just go with that…