Chapter 6 Part 1

“Hmm… where is this?”

The place I arrived at, following the faint spell on Tia, had quite a different atmosphere from the space I saw last time.

How should I put it, more luxurious than the previous house? No protruding wooden floor boards like before…

“Did she move?”

Thinking she might have changed residences so soon, I glanced around to find that all the furniture and decorations placed throughout the house were expensive luxury items.

Seeing that these were all flashy items that would be hard to consider Tia’s taste, it seemed this wasn’t where Tia was staying.

Could the spell be malfunctioning because it had become too faint?

If that’s the case, it would be troublesome.

If I didn’t know where Tia was, I would lose my only channel to meet the Cardinal, so I became automatically tense.

“A Holy Maiden candidate, you say!?”

While awkwardly looking around this unfamiliar space with concern, suddenly a sharply piercing voice was heard from somewhere.

From the sound of it, it seemed like a voice thoroughly angry about something…. Did something happen to Tia?

After quickly following the sound while keeping myself invisible, I soon reached a large room at the end of the corridor.

As I slowly entered the room, I saw Tia doing something while wearing pure white priest’s robes.

Fortunately, the spell seemed to be working properly.

Just as I felt relief at seeing Tia, it seemed necessary to understand what kind of situation this was.

Hmm, seeing her using holy power on a man lying on the bed… Is she treating a patient?

The middle-aged woman beside Tia seemed to be the owner of that fierce voice from earlier.

Though I wasn’t sure what the situation was, she had a face that looked clearly full of complaints.

I wondered what she was doing in a place like this, but it seemed she had received orders from the temple to go out and take care of a patient.

That made sense, since now that she had been officially announced as a Holy Maiden candidate before the empire’s people and became a formal priest, she would be able to officially perform priestly duties.

Even after stepping down from the Holy Maiden position someday, she could live as a priest, so for Tia who liked helping others, it was her desired profession.

Actually, since Tia had been announced as a Holy Maiden candidate, she didn’t have to do priestly work… but in the original story, she went around helping others like this of her own will.

Ah, come to think of it, while going around helping others like this, didn’t she get suddenly kidnapped one day after falling into a trap set by Fergio, the second male lead and my brother?

Since Fergio used compassion to lure Tia, in a way, Tia’s considerate nature was also a kind of plot device for the kidnapping’s plausibility and story development.

Of course, since the original story had changed quite a bit now, no matter how much she sympathized with others, Tia wouldn’t get kidnapped by Fergio, but…

Anyway, it seemed such minor settings were still the same.

However, unfortunately, this only applied to Tia.

The other characters already had some differences from the original story.

A prime example was Abel, who unlike the original story, said he liked me instead of her.

Looking at the situation, it seems like a simple treatment that should end soon, so let’s wait a bit and just refresh the fading spell before leaving.

This time, I should maintain the spell more firmly with longer contact.

“No, how could the temple send someone who can’t even do such simple treatment? After I donated so much in offerings this month, how dare they send a low-ranking priest! I must definitely complain to the temple about this…!”

While feeling relieved at the small remaining traces of the original story as I watched Tia concentrating on treatment, the woman’s voice, full of obvious sarcasm, rang irritably through the room.

“Please calm down, madam. Such severe internal injuries require manual treatment. There are limits to what holy power can do. Rather than the temple, it would be better to be admitted to a ward with professional doctors…”

The woman’s shrill voice, full of excitement, was scraping my eardrums to the point of pain.

But Tia still carefully tried to soothe the woman with kind eyes.

“If we had money for hospital admission, we would have done that already! I heard the Holy Maiden can even revive the dead, isn’t this all fraud? Can’t even properly treat one wound, what kind of Holy Maiden is this?”

The woman’s unpleasant voice, full of irritation, endlessly rang sharp and clear toward Tia.

Looking again, as Tia said, the patient’s condition showed severe internal injuries that needed professional medical treatment rather than holy power.

But the common people of the empire who believed holy power was omnipotent didn’t seem to easily accept such concepts.

Using holy power on a patient in such conditions was like pouring water into a bottomless jar.

“I’ll try treating them once more.”

Tia placed her hands on the patient again with a composed face that wouldn’t give up. Even though she must know better than anyone that it was futile…

“Oh my, my baby will die at this rate! To think I entrusted my son’s life to such a young girl…!”

However, the woman ignored Tia who was doing her best and ran her mouth recklessly.

Looking at it now, she just seemed unsatisfied with Tia being young.

Hmm, at this rate it feels like my time will just keep being wasted… But why does Tia seem to be in trouble every time I meet her?

Is this like the trials unique to female protagonists that often appear in romance novels?

Anyway, this means I have no choice but to help again.

“Shh.”

Pulling my black robe lower than usual, I went behind the woman who was screaming her head off and let out a quiet voice.

Though it would have been easiest to knock her out by striking the nape of her neck like with the dress shop owner last time… Tia was here on official business as a formal priest.

So if I harmed this woman, Tia would have to deal with all the aftermath.

It’s a bit troublesome, but… there was only one way to silence this noisy and rude woman without causing any problems.

“Gasp…! E-El? Since when were you there…”

“Hello, Tia. We meet again.”

When I revealed myself, Tia, who had sensed something and flinched, lifted her head to face me.

Then she started looking around with a somewhat stiff expression.

“Um, El. Something’s… strange. It’s as if everything has stopped…”

“That’s because I stopped time.”

At my plain answer, Tia blinked three or four times before slowly opening her mouth with a surprised expression.

“What? Time… why…”

“First, feed this to that man.”

Approaching Tia, I handed something over onto her hand.

Soon after confirming what was placed in her palm, Tia met my gaze with startled eyes.

“Wait, El. A holy power bead… This is relief supplies that even the temple treasures greatly, how…”

“Hurry. I can’t hold on long. You don’t want to keep being harassed by that woman, right?”

Pointing with my eyes at the woman frozen in the stopped space, I urged Tia with as gentle a tone as possible.

I could give away mere holy power beads as much as needed.

From the start, they were just ordinary stones with no effect on me anyway.

But this wasn’t time-stopping magic.

Above all, this is black magic! I promised Hyle I would restrain myself from using black magic, but I broke the promise again!

Moreover, following last time, today again I ended up unnecessarily meddling.

When I stopped time, I could have just repaired the tracking spell which was my original purpose and left right away…