In an instant, a striking scene filled Truth’s vision, and as the priest robe was pulled wider and wider open, she stared in stunned silence.
‘Whoa… are these priests really this open?!’
She had not even said anything yet, and they were already being so frank with her.
‘They really don’t treat me like an outsider at all, huh?’
Truth originally wanted to turn her head away with a serious expression, but would that not waste their good intentions?
And this priest was probably the most well-endowed here aside from Tia, right? So Truth decided to quietly appreciate the view.
But just as that faint blush of pink was about to be revealed, a pair of tangible hands suddenly covered Truth’s eyes from behind.
At the same time, something soft pressed against her back. It was Tia.
“What… what are you doing?!”
Seeing women her own age suddenly exposing themselves in front of a child, Tia instantly bristled.
What were these people thinking, taking off their clothes the first time they met the Holy Maiden?!
‘Are they trying to show off their figures to a child who hasn’t even grown yet? Heh. If you want to compete, compete with me instead…’
“What’s wrong? Why are you so worked up? We’re all girls here.” The priest in front of Truth still had not finished putting her clothes back on and even swayed slightly, as if showing off.
“Yeah, yeah, we’re all girls. So why are you covering my eyes?”
Truth chimed in while still being blindfolded. To be clear, it was not that she wanted to look.
They were the ones insisting on showing her—she was just being blocked by a certain meddlesome person.
“Even if we’re all girls, we should still have some sense of decency! Do men go around taking off their pants in public to admire each other?!”
Tia gritted her teeth slightly, holding Truth protectively in front of her while glaring warily at the surrounding priests.
Only then did Tia notice that some of the priests were indeed somewhat disheveled, with colorful undergarments even hanging from their heads.
No matter how she looked at it, they seemed abnormal.
“This is bad, Truth. These priests don’t seem normal. We need to hurry back and find Calvi!”
“But didn’t Calvi say they wouldn’t hurt us?”
“Either way, we have to leave first!”
Tia began carrying Truth backward step by step.
She absolutely would not allow these questionable priests to corrupt such a pure child.
If Truth grew up to become the kind of person who took advantage of other girls under the guise of being female, that would be terrible!
“Don’t leave!”
The priests blocked the doorway, surrounding Tia and Truth.
At the same time, the most well-endowed priest had finished dressing and looked at Tia with a faint smile.
“You must be the Holy Maiden’s teacher. Nice to meet you. My name is Annabelle. I am the Head of Logistics here and also the Leader of the Lily Priest Order.”
“That’s right.” Tia lifted her chin slightly, her hostility toward Annabelle obvious.
“My name is Tia. Besides being the Holy Maiden’s teacher, I am also a High Priest of Deya City.”
“Oh? A High Priest? Then may I ask you, High Priest Tia, in our Church, whose authority is greater—yours, or the Holy Maiden’s?”
“The Holy Maiden’s, of course. Why?”
“So you do know! In that case, why are you planning to forcibly take her away against the Holy Maiden’s will?” Annabelle shot Tia a sharp question.
“Hmph. So you’re trying to use the Holy Maiden’s status to pressure me. But have you forgotten that I’m also her teacher? As her teacher, it’s only natural for me to teach her to stay away from perverts!”
“But a teacher has no right to forcibly restrict the Holy Maiden’s personal freedom, does she?”
Annabelle walked slowly up to Tia and gently removed Tia’s hands from over Truth’s eyes.
Then she carefully studied Truth’s face for a long moment.
“So adorable…”
Truth remained obediently in Tia’s arms.
With Tia’s brows tightly furrowed the whole time, they looked less like revered clergy and more like a mother and daughter being bullied by street thugs.
Next, Annabelle gave Truth a proper welcoming salute.
“We respectfully welcome the Holy Maiden to the Lily Priest Order. We have been awaiting your arrival for a long time. Your exclusive room and rest area have already been prepared. Please allow me to escort you—”
“No!” Tia interrupted.
“On the way here, I already heard Calvi’s evaluation of you several times. And judging by what you did to Little Truth when we first arrived, I will not back down unless you explain yourselves clearly!”
“Tch. According to the Church’s hierarchy, my authority is about the same as yours. You have no right to order me around here. Everything should be decided by the Holy Maiden. Isn’t that right, Holy Maiden?”
Annabelle looked at Truth with an alluring gaze, as if a single nod would grant her some special privilege that very night.
At the same time, Tia cast Truth a pleading look, silently begging her not to fall into danger out of momentary curiosity.
“Sigh…” Seeing the two utterly at odds, Truth decided to try mediating for now.
There would be plenty of opportunities later to satisfy her curiosity.
“Um, Leader Annabelle.”
“Just call me Annabelle. Or you can call me Sister Annabelle.”
“Then, Annabelle, could you first explain why the soldiers outside are so wary of you? Even Kavier seems a little afraid. And also… why are you all so… open?”
Ah… she did not call her Sister. Annabelle felt a flicker of disappointment.
‘It must be that High Priest teaching her. She probably only lets the Holy Maiden secretly call her Sister. How selfish!’
“Alright, alright. I’ll explain.” Annabelle clapped her hands, and the priests pushed over a round table for Tia and Truth to sit at.
Annabelle sat opposite them and got straight to the point.
“You both know what most of the soldiers in the camp are like, don’t you? Even though our priest robes are already very conservative, it still does not stop their harassment. It is as if, as long as someone is female, they will not refuse. At first, the younger priestlings did not even dare step outside except for mandatory accompaniment or emergency Healing. That was until the Church sent me to lead them.”
“I taught them how to properly fight back against harassment and how to use their positions to establish authority, so that those soldiers would not dare act improperly when they saw us again.”
Priests establishing authority over soldiers? Truth was curious. Priests without combat Skills—how did they manage that?
“It’s very simple. They get injured eventually, right? Depending on the situation, we quite reasonably reduce the amount of anesthetic we use. You know, appropriate pain can speed up physical recovery. We’re doing it for their own good.”
“But they do not seem grateful. They keep begging us, promising they will never sneak into the Logistics Department to peek at our changing rooms again, all just to lessen the pain a little.”
“Later, they no longer dared to touch us and could only run their mouths. So I started teaching the priestlings how to respond properly. Now they cannot even win verbally. So pathetic.”
“So you’re just sharp-tongued priests? But what does that have to do with your… private lives?” Tia asked.
Compared to the priests’ struggle against the soldiers, she cared more about their personal conduct.
“It’s also because of the harassment. Some shameless soldiers kept trying to pursue our priestlings. So our countermeasure was this…”
Annabelle casually pointed at two priests. Immediately, two priests around nineteen years old understood and embraced each other, kissing openly.
In an instant, both Truth and Tia were stunned.
“Don’t ask. The answer is simple—we only like our own kind, not men. We’re all girls anyway, so a kiss is no big deal. And the military is strictly managed, right? We still have physical needs to deal with. Since we don’t want to give the soldiers outside any advantage, we entertain ourselves instead.”
After saying that, Annabelle winked at Truth, her intentions perfectly clear.