Chapter 4: I had nothing to do, but it was good

My head throbbed as if it had been struck.

‘I made such a promise?’

‘A promise to let them stay by my side if they became strong enough to defeat me?’

I wished they would laugh and say it was a joke,

but from the moment they came to meet me, Raylin and Seirin had been utterly serious.

Moreover, only by assuming that promise was true did Raylin and Seirin’s words and actions make sense.

When I told them to attack me all at once, their cheeks flushed because they had confirmed I was still strong,

and their request for me to fight them with my full power was likely because they wanted to see the appearance I had when I saved them back then.

Their decision to challenge me one by one was to determine who was more suitable for me,

and even though they were sisters, asking me not to hold back and to crush them was because they feared their sister might take me away.

As I clutched my throbbing head and sighed, Seirin fidgeted with her fingers and spoke.

“Although we failed this time… when we become stronger someday, we will surely…”

“No, wait, wait.”

I waved my hands dismissively and glanced at the two women.

Despite having just been knocked down, their faces shoved into the ground, or rolling in the dirt,

the two women were looking at me with moist eyes.

I avoided their gaze, lowered my head, and sighed.

“I don’t remember clearly, so could you tell me in detail? Like, when and how I made that promise.”

At my question, Raylin and Seirin immediately chimed in, starting to chatter.

As if they had recounted it countless times, their testimonies had no discrepancies,

and they smoothly unfolded the story of that day without a hitch.

“We didn’t have parents since we were little. But we had each other, so living wasn’t difficult.”

“Sometimes we’d go play in the mountains and fields, and we lived ordinary lives, even playing pranks on people.”

“But a heresy began to spread in the village where we lived, and even the kind people gradually started believing in it and became hostile towards us.”

“We also felt a sense of crisis and tried to escape to another village… but we were caught that very night we tried to flee.”

Up to this point, it was a perfectly plausible story.

It wasn’t uncommon for heresy to spread in an ordinary village,

and it was frequent for those who became heretics to become hostile even towards their close acquaintances.

With this much information, it was natural that I didn’t remember, so I nodded and continued to listen intently to the sisters’ story,

and they continued their tale from memory.

“We had simply lived ordinary lives without doing anything wrong, but suddenly we were demons with lewd bodies, defiling the goddess and inciting greed.”

“People threw us into a barn where light barely entered and began raising us like livestock.”

“They said that to truly defile the demons who tried to defile the goddess, they had to ignore and mock those demons.”

“Thanks to that, we weren’t subjected to severe abuse… but we had to feel the icy winter winds and the torrential summer rains directly on our skin. My sister and I hugged each other, shedding tears, and endured each day.”

Even this far, there was nothing particularly strange.

In reality, the sisters were so beautiful they were almost lewd just by existing,

and from the heretics’ perspective, killing people would be a burden, so they likely just stashed them away in a barn.

They would condemn Raylin and Seirin’s beautiful faces and voluptuous figures, turning them into public enemies,

while secretly fulfilling their own dirty, selfish desires.

It was contradictory for them to call ordinary Raylin and Seirin lewd while they themselves engaged in vile acts,

but what could be done?

Contradiction was the very essence of heresy.

Not laying a hand on the sisters was likely to build more trust using them as scapegoats,

and surely, the moment their position was solidified,

they would have laid hands on Raylin and Seirin as well.

As if confirming my conjecture was not wrong, Raylin spoke.

“One day, after enduring and enduring… they came into the barn where we were late in the evening… reeking of alcohol, with lecherous eyes… and holding strange tools we had never seen before…”

She seemed to be trying hard to speak calmly,

but Raylin’s voice was trembling.

Just remembering that day seemed to give her goosebumps.

At the same time, Seirin, who was beside her, spoke to me with sparkling eyes.

“Then, you appeared. You, who appeared like a ray of light in the darkness, smashed their groins and saved us.”

“Ah…?”

Hearing that, I vaguely remembered something.

I had once detected signs of heresy in a small, nameless village,

and rescued two girls before it was too late.

I think I had blown up everyone, asking if they really wanted to do such vile things to girls who weren’t even adults.

“When you opened the door and let us out, reaching out your hand to us and telling us it was okay now, your appearance…”

“You were a savior incarnate to us.”

Raylin and Seirin spoke to me with voices thick with emotion, as if overwhelmed.

Their gazes were so intense that it was almost burdensome.

“You were powerful enough to instantly deal with terrifying heretical demons just by looking at them, and righteous enough not to lay a hand on ordinary people.”

“So, after everything was over and before you left, we told you we wanted to be with you.”

“We begged you to please take us in, even if it meant becoming your maids.”

“But you refused.”

Refusal was natural.

If an inquisitor started taking in everyone they saved, there would be no end to it,

and bad rumors were bound to spread.

Especially if they were girls who weren’t even adults.

“But we held onto you until the very end, and finally, you promised us.”

“You said that if we became strong enough to defeat you, you would take us in and even consider making us your brides.”

I still couldn’t clearly recall making such a promise.

‘It was clearly just a plausible lie I’d used to escape an awkward situation, wasn’t it?’

‘After all, there was no way these two girls could ever become stronger than me.’

However, the two girls had believed that promise and continued to train until now,

finally coming to find me.

A truly awkward situation.

As I scratched my head, pondering what to do, Seirin added a remark.

“Now that we’ve finally become adults, we want to be your brides. Although we failed this time… we won’t give up.”

“We truly believe you will keep your promise.”

Raylin also spoke to me earnestly.

I didn’t want to be someone who didn’t keep promises,

but it wasn’t a situation where I could readily agree either.

Pondering, I shook my head.

“No.”

“What?!”

“Are you saying you won’t keep your promise?!”

Raylin and Seirin shouted at the same time, as if they were about to devour me.

However, I continued speaking without batting an eye.

“No, I’ll keep the promise. I’ll accept it if you can defeat me, but the important thing is, you can’t beat me even if you practice your whole lives. You might have trained hard, but as you saw earlier, even with all that effort, it wasn’t nearly enough.”

A hint of disappointment clouded the sisters’ faces at my words.

Thinking it was working, I crossed my arms and spoke firmly.

“So, just go home. No matter what master you find or what training you undertake, you won’t be able to defeat me, so just find other men and…”

As if one of my words had struck a chord with the sisters,

Raylin and Seirin looked at each other and nodded.

As a sense of unease washed over me, Raylin and Seirin suddenly prostrated themselves before me and cried out.

“Please take us as your disciples!”

It was one problem after another.

The moment I covered my face in a situation that seemed impossible to resolve,

Raylin and Seirin began to pour out their words.

“We’ll do all of Deron-nim’s housework.”

“We’ve lived by ourselves our whole lives, so we’re good at cooking and cleaning.”

‘That’s a pretty tempting offer?’

“When you’re bored, we’ll be your conversation partners.”

“If anyone bothers you, we’ll stop them.”

‘Oh?’

“We’ll grant whatever you wish for.”

“We will never disobey our master’s words.”

My hands, which had been covering my face, were now stroking my chin.

“Please teach us.”

“We’ll endure any harsh training.”

It was a difficult offer to refuse.

The thought of them taking care of bothersome tasks like cooking and cleaning was appealing,

and since I had nothing else to do, training them also seemed like it would be fun.

And with peerless beauties offering to do it, why should I refuse?

Come to think of it, I’m no longer part of the clergy, so I don’t need to worry about my reputation, do I?

I cleared my throat and spoke in a resigned tone.

“Well, if you put it that way, I’ll consider it…”

The moment I said that, Raylin and Seirin lifted their heads with the brightest expressions imaginable.

I smiled and spoke to the sisters, who were repeatedly thanking and bowing to me.

“Shall we go? Wait, before that, let’s grab some things from my office. I left a few items I needed to take while talking with you.”

“Yes!”

“Thank you!”

Raylin and Seirin immediately sprang to their feet and followed me.

With a premonition that something interesting was about to happen, I hurried back to my office.

I just hadn’t expected that interesting thing to already be happening in my office.

“What are you doing?”

“Deron is no longer an Inquisitor, so I was tidying up the office. Isn’t that obvious?”

Lady Meria, the head of the Inquisition Department, had personally brought her subordinates,

and they were diligently clearing out my belongings from the office.

Instead of even seeing me off, they were immediately erasing all records.

Feeling extremely grateful, I gestured to Raylin, then took a wand from her waist and aimed it at Meria,

launching a shockwave at Meria before she could even open her mouth.

“Kyaah!”

Meria was flung backward by the impact, unable to even react,

and she slammed back-first into a bookshelf, letting out another groan.

“Ugh…”

‘How is she even less reactive than Seirin?’

As books fell from the shaking bookshelf, mercilessly striking Meria’s head,

I approached Meria and spoke.

“Don’t you know what I meant when I told you to pray we wouldn’t meet on the street?”

“Ugh…”

As I approached Meria, I suddenly sensed a presence,

and instantly drew the sword from Seirin’s waist, imbued it with magic,

then swiftly blocked the attack of a woman who flew in, swinging her sword at me.

As our swords clashed in a power struggle,

I smiled at the short-haired woman whose sword was locked with mine and spoke.

“Well, well, who do we have here? Not just the clergy, but even someone from the kingdom has come to tell me to hurry up and leave? Sir Haran.”