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Seeing Iris, who had practically dragged the man back to the monastery while covered in black and red blood, the priests were horrified and took over carrying Rahan.
* * *
‘...I'm gonna die.’
It was dawn when Rahan opened his eyes.
Faint light flickered, and he could hear people chatting. His vision was blurry.
‘I survived...’
He lifted his left arm. Even in the dim light, he could see it had healed completely.
‘I must be at the monastery.’
His back and forearm had certainly been ripped apart by the magical beast. The fact that he was fine meant Abbot Wilbert had definitely intervened.
Glancing at the wall, he saw white cloths hanging. This was likely the monastery's Healing Center.
‘I really thought I was dead.’
It was his first time seeing a magical beast of that scale. A magical beast appearing right after a sudden battle.
Rahan was also confused, but he figured it was fine as long as he was alive.
However, perhaps because he had lost too much blood, his vision was dizzy.
Just as he closed his eyes, thinking he'd sleep a bit more, someone approached him and spoke loudly. It wasn't just one or two people.
“Isn't this exactly why things like this happen at the monastery, because you let the child of a demon in!”
Rahan thought it was a good thing he had his eyes closed.
“Brother Vera. Everyone can hear you.”
He heard a familiar voice trying to restrain the other person. It sounded like Priest Marid.
But the one called Priest Vera didn't care.
“Did you see the corpse of that magical beast? It was gruesome! I've never seen a magical beast of that size since I was born! Isn't it a minion of a demon!”
“If you put it that way...”
“This is an omen of ruin, ruin!”
Rahan peeked, opening his eyes slightly to look over.
The man called Priest Vera was a middle-aged man with a hawk-like nose, and his impression reflected in the candlelight was nothing short of fierce.
He continued to chatter excitedly.
“I confirmed today that the Potato Blight has spread! Didn't you see it too, Abbot Wilbert?”
It seemed Abbot Wilbert was there. The bed Rahan was lying in was a four-poster, and from a place hidden by curtains, Abbot Wilbert's low voice could be heard.
“Do not speak such things, Priest Vera. It is merely a coincidence.”
“A coincidence? Didn't the magical beast appear and the Potato Blight start right after that child of a demon came here?”
Potato Blight.
It was a disease that withered potatoes, which were said to be a blessing from God because they grew even in the most barren lands.
In lands not as fertile as Arnsberg, potatoes were far more welcome than wheat, which exhausted the soil's nutrients.
Therefore, people naturally grew far more potatoes. For the Potato Blight to spread in such a place as Arnsberg...
It was a grave matter; if left unchecked, everyone in this land might starve to death in the winter.
The Abbot remained silent. But Priest Vera continued to chatter.
“The Potato Blight hasn't only appeared at our monastery. I'm on my way back from hearing it in the village below. According to the village chief, all of Arnsberg is like this!”
“...”
“And at a time like this, you've made an enemy of the Achen Elector, so I worry if the food supply will even be smooth...”
“Priest Vera.”
Then, someone called Priest Vera in a clear voice. It was Iris.
Rahan instinctively listened more closely to that side.
Priest Vera clicked his tongue.
“What is it? Surely you aren't going to take his side just because he's your husband?”
This human called Priest Vera seemed like a very unpleasant person, but Rahan partially agreed with him.
There was no need for Iris to take his side.
Rahan had red eyes. The treatment he received from people, having eye colors only seen in magical beasts, was not very good.
Of course, it wasn't that he had no friends who took his side. However, Rahan remembered in detail the disadvantages his friends had suffered because they stood by him.
Of course, he remembered those things so he could pay them back, but let's skip that part for now.
The important thing was whether Rahan himself was worth it. And Rahan himself generally believed he wasn't.
“Do you still wish to do so, even after seeing Abbot Wilbert's hands shaking like this from treating that man who is your husband?”
“Priest Vera.”
“Abbot, I believe I must say what needs to be said. There are many patients in the Healing Center waiting for your divine power, not just Jeochi.”
“But it was an emergency.”
Iris did not back down.
Even Rahan thought that her opposing him now was like pouring water into boiling oil.
From what he heard, it seemed Abbot Wilbert had set aside all the patients in the Healing Center to treat Rahan.
Rahan almost let out a chuckle.
He didn't have to go that far.
* * *
Meanwhile, Iris was suppressing a great deal of indignation.
“Is your husband the only emergency patient in the Healing Center?”
Priest Vera sneered. Iris clenched her fists.
She was generally loved by the priests of the monastery, but not by all.
Priest Vera was a native of this area and had openly disliked her since Abbot Wilbert adopted Iris as his foster daughter.
It was because the Abbot's private assets would become Iris's once she became an adult.
Even after Iris said she would take the priestly vows, the hatred that had once solidified did not easily fade.
Seeing that his attitude didn't change even after it was revealed she was a daughter of House Achen, one could call him a consistent man.
Of course, that didn't mean Iris hated Priest Vera.
She had always been obedient to all the priests of the monastery.
She knew some priests disliked her, but she felt more strongly that she must not become a burden to Abbot Wilbert, who had raised her.
She even thought it was perhaps natural for the conservative Priest Vera to dislike her.
But.
‘Calling him a child of a demon in front of a sick person.’
Iris was still covered in blood. It was because she couldn't bring herself to leave Rahan's side even after Abbot Wilbert stepped forward to treat him.
Thanks to that, the clothes Rahan had bought her were completely ruined.
She had clearly been spending a pleasant time picking wild raspberries until the afternoon; she couldn't understand why things had turned out like this.
However, two things were certain.
“Priest Vera. Please stop calling him a child of a demon.”
That Rahan was not a child of a demon.
And that he was absolutely not a person who deserved to hear such words from Priest Vera.
“Did I invent that term? Everyone outside calls that man a child of a demon!”
“If he were truly a child of a demon, Rahan wouldn't have killed that magical beast while getting himself so battered!”
Iris clenched her fists and stood up to Priest Vera. Priest Vera flinched.
Priest Marid, who was beside him, also looked surprised. It was no wonder. This was the first time they had seen Iris like this.
“I am very sorry for taking priority over the emergency patients! But have you thought about what would have happened if Rahan hadn't killed that magical beast? A knight of the Duchy was torn apart alive!”
Iris had been very confused when Rahan was first injured.
Seeing him unconscious in a pool of blood, she had been overwhelmed with guilt.
Because it was obvious Rahan had been injured like that to save her.
After Abbot Wilbert's treatment, once she caught her breath, the situation became even clearer.
The man, with an injured body, had pushed her into the bushes to protect her and slashed the magical beast.
Rahan might not have thought that far, but Iris felt a terrible sensation imagining what would have happened if Rahan had failed to kill the beast.
It was no exaggeration to say he had saved the monastery and Vandel.
“Is that all? Even in front of a bad person, Rahan didn't readily try to kill them just because I stopped him! How can you call such a person a child of a demon?”
“Y-you...”
Priest Vera trembled. It was a bewildering situation for him. He couldn't help but be shocked that Iris, who had never said a harsh word in her life, was now raising her voice and talking back.
Not only that, Iris spoke up again.
“Eridrahan teaches us to love people! He did not tell us to point fingers at others just because their eyes are red!”
“You brat!”
Finally, Priest Vera exploded. To scold an elderly priest using the doctrines of Eridrahan.
“Iris! What is this insolence! Have you forgotten your manners just because you married a child of a demon!”
But Iris did not back down.
“You are the one who is insolent, Priest! Eridrahan tells priests to live as the lowest of all people! Shouldn't you be using formal language with me?”
“...What?”
Now Priest Vera's eyes were filled with astonishment. What he didn't know was that Iris herself was surprised inside.
‘Talking back to a priest, calling him insolent! Have I gone mad?!’
It was such a shocking event that even Priest Marid, who usually chimed in with a smirk at almost anything, could only stare at Iris with his mouth agape.
Seeing Priest Marid, Iris apologized in her heart.
I'm sorry, Priest Marid. I don't mean that I want to hear formal language from you!
“You... you've been tainted by a very bad influence! Have you no shame before Eridrahan!”
Of course, contrary to her inner thoughts, Iris remained unfazed by the shouting.
“Yes! Because I am no longer a priest!”
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