Protagonist Knows Everything - Chapter 41

Jeriel hesitated at first but soon nodded in agreement.  Then carefully she approached Kasha.

Placing her hand on Kasha’s head she muttered, “Goddess…”

‘Please tell me you’re not sleeping Kasha.’

At this point I was seriously worried that Kasha might be sleeping.

However, it seems that my worries were baseless.

The moment Jeriel finished her prayers.

“Huh? Uh? Where is this?”

Kasha slowly opened her eyes while showing off her superior acting skills.  And at the same time suddenly a dazzling golden light illuminated the whole temple.  This was the work of our goddess, Parmel.

‘Seems like our god likes a bit of drama.’

That whole ordeal made me wear a gentle smile.

Parmel must’ve been happy because, for the first time Jeriel believed that she could perform a miracle, she finally believed in herself and her goddess.

After that suddenly the hall became noisy.

Although the golden light was just the whim of the goddess, the effects it had were quite favourable for me.  The bright golden glow paired with Kasha’s acting made Jeriel the centerpiece of everyone’s focus.

Amidst all that, I whispered to Lorelie, “I’ll say it once more. Give it to me.”

“Please, give me another chance.”

I just snatched the relics from Lorelie’s hands without much resistance.  She must’ve known that resisting would be a waste.

“This was being wasted on you.”

Having said that, I turned to Jeriel, who was just staring at us with her mouth wide open.

“Have it.”

“This?”

“Well, it’s… it’s just a normal Bible.”

She doesn’t need to know that it’s a relic. Not yet.

But the moment I handed the bible to Jeriel, the golden glow grew even brighter than before.  It almost felt like someone had brought the sun into the temple.

‘Are you so happy? Goddess.’

Jeriel gracefully held that bible amidst that light.

She began to cry as she muttered, “Thank you. Parmel. Thank you. Really……”

She was finally recognized by her goddess after 20 years of her endeavours.

Will she realize that her goddess loved her ever since the beginning?  Well, not right now, but someday she will.  It doesn’t have to be right now, she can take it easy.

“Let’s go Ms. Jeriel.”

[Sniff]

“…yes?”

“Come to our guild.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I mean… well…no.”

I smiled and said, “For the rest, just listen to what your goddess has to say.”

Jeriel tilted her head in confusion.  I just waved my hand and grabbed Kasha.

“Shall we go.”

“Where are we? What are you doing?”

“No. You’re done now.”

“You’ve done enough, you can stop now.”

For now, I was holding Kasha close to myself as she was supposed to be tired due to the curse.

“….! Ack!”

“Shhh… You have to pretend that you’re a little tired, right?”

As I whispered, Kasha muttered, hugged my arm.

“Yes. I guess I can’t help it then.”

“Right.”

“Hold me a little tighter. I think I will fall.”

“Is this good enough?”

With that we made our way to the entrance.

[Bang]

Then I heard a rolling sound behind me.  To my surprise, Lorelie was lying on the floor behind me.  She probably tripped while she was trying to run after me.  Her robes were loose, and her lips were ruptured with blood trickling down them.

“Please. Please give me one more chance!”

“……”

“Please Nortel. That I’ll do better! You can’t throw me away like this!”

‘Wow.’

‘This isn’t humanly possible. How does he even get people to believe in him like this?’

Even with Celia, Nortel somehow had the ability to make people obsessed with him. As the HR team leader, I wanted to learn that ability as well.

I calmly said, “Just change your job.”

“……”

“You’re not suited to be a nun anyway.”

I left the hall with those words.

Well, Parmel… Jui would handle the rest.

***

We stayed at the inn for four days after, quite leisurely of course.

Kasha muttered while rolling on the bed with her pillow.

“Boring. This is so boring.”

For reference, this is my room.

“Why are you here?”

“Well. This is Tay’s room isn’t it?”

I couldn’t grasp the logic behind her answer.

“Tay. Let’s go back. It doesn’t seem like that priest will make the cut.”

“No.”

For four days, I kept checking Jeriel’s personnel records.

To be precise, Jeriel is already coming.

[Recent activity (20 minutes ago): Saying goodbye to the priests and nuns in the temple.]

[Health condition: Terribly sleep deprived.]

‘Lack of sleep.’

Knowing the reason behind it, I smiled.

Then Kasha said, “You’re smiling like that again.”

I was quite shocked when Kasha noticed that.

***

Jeriel knocked on my door an hour or so later.

“Come on in. Ms. Jeriel.”

“Yes?”

“Come in.”

I opened the creaky old door.  Jeriel was standing there with her mouth wide open all while wearing a blank face.

“How did you know it was me?”

“It was just a guess.”

As I said, I saw a fairly heavy load on her back.

She put her luggage down and said, “I haven’t slept in four days.”

“Yeah? why?”

“Jui! This girl! Because this talkative, noisy and foolish voice was talking to me day and night”

Well, she was quite lucky to have the goddess talk with her day and night.

Jeriel hurriedly came to her senses and said, “My, I’m not freaking out. I’ve already told you everything about Jui anyway.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“……”

“So what did your friend say?”

Jeriel lent out a deep sigh.

“Whew. She said to follow you, unconditionally.”

“Yeah? And?”

Prying into things like these has always been fun.

Jeriel replied with an embarrassing expression, “Well… Mr. Tay is the receptionist of the Hagnut Guild, right?”

“Wow. How did you know that? I don’t remember telling you my guild’s name.”

“Jui told me. She has always been good with insight.”

How long will it take for that extraordinary insight to turn into a goddess’ prophecy?

“Follow Mr. Tay and register in the Hagnut guild as an adventurer.”

‘Good.’

Now, it seems that Parmel also believes in me.

Well, aside from the promise with the goddess, recruiting the next saint will be quite beneficial for the guild.

Jeriel followed up with another sigh.

She said, “If you don’t follow him then I’ll make sure you don’t get peaceful sleep ever again.”

With the words, Jeriel stumbled a little.

Kasha quickly got up from her bed and said, “Sit here.”

‘Don’t go around offering my bed to others just like that.’

“Thank you..”

Jeriel sat down on the bed and continued.

“Anyway, Kelk city has a Parmel’s temple too… In fact, the place doesn’t matter if she can hold the goddess. Of course, it’s sad to break up with the people she loved.”

Her eyes were puffed up from exhaustion, but still she looked quite happy while talking about the people  Until recently she was being treated as a mad person. But now everything had changed.

“Has she caught on?”

“Of course she’s caught onto it. How long do you think she has been in that temple.”

“I know, but she’s the next saint.  How did the priests just let her go.”

Agitated, Jeriel said, “The next Saint… Please don’t say that!”

“……”

“Of course the priests and nuns say that but it’s difficult for me to believe, I am just a nun who received a word from the oracle not too long ago.”

She considered that golden glow to be a message from the oracle. Technically it was.  But rather than that…

“I understand their situation, after all they previous saint candidate turned out to be a fake.”

“No, you don’t have to say that.”

Jeriel said in a gloomy voice, “Everyone’s faith is shaken right now.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes!”

“Then can I ask, where Lorelie is right now?”

Of course I already knew where she was.

[Recent progress (current): Wandering around the estate, trying to find Taylor Mason.]

For the last four days she has been wandering around the estate in hopes of meeting me, more precisely, Nortel Rhime’s messenger.

Jeriel replied in a small voice, “I don’t know. Lorelie didn’t show up in the temple ever since that incident.”

“If she’s really faithful then isn’t she supposed to put up a prayer in the penance room?”

“……”

“Now, her faith isn’t actually shaken, she wasn’t religious to start with.”

After hearing my remark Jeriel’s face sank as if she had just been scolded.

I said in a soft voice to console her, “Unlike you. Ms. Jeriel.”

“I……”

Jeriel hesitated a little but soon she held up her head.

“I’m not good at anything. I am always clumsy, I can’t even do laundry properly.”

“……”

“But… Yes, now I can confidently say about my faith in my goddess. I believe in my goddess, more than anyone else.”

That incident took place only a few days prior, but since then Jeriel has developed quite a lot.  I narrowed my eyes and checked her personnel log.

[Title: B-plus]

[Potential: Saint (Development 7%)]

When I first met Jeriel, she had a ranking of D minus with 0% development.

She grew this much in a matter of days.  She must be thinking about how much her goddess loved her.  However, that day’s events cleared all her doubts and anxieties.  And as a result her rank shot up.

‘Priests and nuns are pretty different from wizards.’

Unlike a wizard who grows only through learning, research, and experience step by step. For a nun or a priest, their faith is the only factor affecting their rank.  Well, as a result, if their faith is shaken then their rank will also plummet.

Like Lorelie.

In a casual tone I changed the topic.

“Don’t be too sad about leaving this place.”

“……”

“The Kelk City and the Circle Estate are a bit far, but not too much. If you want then you can visit here anytime.”

‘And….’

“If you sign an exclusive contract with our guild, we will provide you with a carriage whenever necessary.”

“Thank you. But that……”

She asked with a little anxiety on her face, “I don’t know much about the guild, but I have to do the quest, right? Like dealing with monsters…”

“That is the main job.”

“I haven’t experienced a single battle in my life.”

“I will never go on a quest by myself. The guild won’t send a healer alone on a quest…. right?”

“Yes, don’t worry about that.”

With that Jeriel’s anxiety faded away and she asked, “When are you going to depart?”

“Well. I’m thinking about departing right after lunch.”

“Then, can I sleep a little here while you’re eating? Because Jui barely stopped talking.”

She asked that like it was her life long wish.  Kasha and I nodded at the same time.

Then Jeriel fell down.

Said Kasha, “She fell asleep… in one second.”

“Yeah.”

Kasha looked at me and said, “It sure is a blessing to be able to sleep whenever you want right?”

“If one is sure to wake up from that sleep that is.”

After that we just looked at each other and smiled.  We added one more companion and returned to the Hagnut guild.

***

We saw the guild building for the first time in 7 days.

Kasha first jumped out of her carriage vigorously, then she told Jeriel, while wearing a brazen smile.

“Welcome to the Hagnut Guild!”

Jeriel was excited just as much as Kasha.

Jeriel grew up in an estate, a place without much to see. So now she got off the carriage like a kid on his first field trip.

“Oh, thank you.”

“Hehe.”

Kasha and Jeriel grew surprisingly close in the span of a single day.

Kasha seemed to be happy that Jeriel no longer thought of herself as a crazy person and now thought of her as a normal sane person like everyone else.

The moment we opened the door we found Sain standing there to welcome us.

“You are back!”

She had eyes similar to Kasha’s few days ago… tired and with bags under them.  I knew she was sleep deprived without even looking at her records.

“You didn’t sleep?”

“Of course not. I was worried for Kasha, how could I sleep comfortably while she was succumbing to the curse.”

Her poor Kasha was sleeping 8 hours daily after the curse was lifted.  Kasha thought the same and scratched her head in embarrassment.

“I’m completely fine now.”

“Ms. Kasha.”

“Tay said that the curse was completely lifted without any side-effects. Thanks to this person right here.”

It seems Sain was completely oblivious of Jeriel’s existence until Kasha pointed her out.

Sain politely greeted her, “As the Guild Master of the Hagnut Guild, I sincerely thank you.”

“Oh. Yes Yes. It wasn’t much… No, it was a bit of trouble, but not that much.”

Both of them bowed to each other.  Amidst that I noticed one thing.

“Sain. You are the Guild Master…”

“Ah yes. I think you can say that now.”

Sain asked with embarrassment all over her face.

“Is it awkward?”

“It looks like you found your place.”

“… thank you.”

“So you’re the Guild Master now rather than him…?”

Kasha and Jeriel, who don’t know what I meant, tilted their heads.

Sain replied with a serious expression, “Yes. I was recognized by my father.”

“……”

“I won the bet.”

Her voice was trembling slightly.  I wanted to ask more, but Sain continued first.

“I’ll talk about that later. The important thing right now is to celebrate Ms. Kasha’s safe return.”

“Yes. I also have a report to work on.”

“Report? You already told me that the curse was cleared.”

“A new adventurer will be joining us.”

At my words, Jeriel stepped out in a stiff creaking motion.

“Ah…”

“……”

“A gift. I didn’t have time to prepare one……aaah!”

Sain opened her mouth with a slightly wry smile, “Well…Would you like to take a break first?”

After a while, Jeriel was able to formally sign a contract with the Hagnut Guild.

Of course, she had nothing to prove that she is the next saint, so she was registered as a D-class adventurer.

Considering that adventurers sign exclusive contracts only after reaching B-class, Jeriel’s case was a bit unconventional

But considering the Hagnut guilds position, we could afford to do that.

And as she signed her contract, the voice of the system was heard.

[Received 1000 HR evaluation Points from Sain.]

[Received 3000 HR evaluation points from Kasha.]

[Received 300 HR evaluation points from Jeriel.]

[Level: 3rd year employee / Next level: 4th year employee.]

[Points required until the next promotion: 4380/5000]

[Newly available information: Mental state]

This made using all those points for that ability worthwhile.