After sunset, under Kavier’s secret escort, Truth and Tia quietly made their way to the temporary Military Camp stationed to the northeast of the Dea Plateau.
Kavier was supposed to bring Truth over a few days ago, but suppressing Watchfort had taken much longer than expected.
Even now, there were still many remnant forces that had not been cleared out.
“We still haven’t caught the spark that ignited the conflict. Even after interrogating the local thugs and posting bounties, we’ve found nothing. Their lips are sealed; they all claim to know nothing.”
Kavier had somewhat underestimated the loyalty of these border hoodlums. It seemed ordinary torture devices were no longer sufficient.
He planned to bring in some ingenious new tools from the Royal Capital to pry their mouths open.
Meanwhile, Truth, the actual cause of everything, sat by the side of the Carriage, enjoying the breeze.
Looking at the boundless plateau, she felt quite content.
‘It’s a real shame not to use such a large piece of flat land for farming.’
“Farming? Using the entire Dea Plateau for farming would be a waste. We aren’t exactly short on food,” Tia asked from the side.
According to current historical records, the number of famines in human civilization was almost zero.
After all, the resources in this world were far too abundant, and there was never a lack of food.
‘I almost forgot about that setting… My bad,’ Truth sighed to herself.
“Thinking about farming… Little Truth, were you unable to eat your fill in the past?”
“It’s not that I couldn’t eat my fill, but that I couldn’t eat well. For a long time after the Nuclear Winter, organic food was very expensive. At the supermarket downstairs from my house, a palm-sized potato with almost no flavor actually sold for 110 credits each. I heard that at the beginning of the century, a super-sized portion of roasted potatoes only cost five credits. I’m really jealous…”
“Huh? Potatoes… you had to buy them?”
Tia was stunned. That stuff, which people wouldn’t even take for free, could actually be sold for money?!
Just what kind of miserable life did Humans lead 500 years ago?
If food were really that scarce, then given Truth’s combat power and personality, she probably wouldn’t have lived long.
But fortunately, she was lucky enough to meet the Hermit and then come to 500 years later to meet her!
“Little Truth, I promise that from now on, I’ll make sure you eat something delicious at every meal!”
Tia looked at Truth and spoke with a serious expression.
Although the latter wanted to point out that she lived on blood now—ideally blood from those at the King Rank or above—occasionally eating some human home-cooked meals was also quite nice.
It certainly tasted better than dry Energy bars.
……
After the moon reached its highest point, Truth’s group finally arrived inside the Military Camp.
For the ordinary soldiers, they knew nothing about the Ninth Saintess.
However, for the Priestess Corps in the Logistics Department, they were already prepared to welcome her.
“Holy Maiden, please proceed to the Logistics Department with High Priestess Tia. Your quarters are inside, and the Priests will take you there. I won’t be accompanying you.”
At the entrance of the Logistics Department, Kavier expressed his desire to slip away. He seemed very wary of this so-called Logistics Department.
“What, are the Priests that scary?” Truth asked, blocking Kavier’s path. She didn’t want to walk in and see something strange.
“No, it’s just their voices… they’re a bit sharp, and they’re somewhat exclusionary. We can understand that. Anyway, I assure you the Priests are very friendly; it’s just that they rather dislike soldiers.”
“Priests who accompanied the army yet hated soldiers? Truth found it somewhat difficult to understand. Combined with what Kavier had said earlier about these priests leading her astray, she became even more curious.”
So, after Kavier left, Truth pushed Tia to the door of the Logistics Department’s living area and let Tia open it.
“Eh? You want me to open it?! Fine… okay.”
Tia first listened carefully to the purely female voices coming from inside. It was very lively. Then, she tried to knock gently. The noise inside stopped instantly as the Priests seemed to notice Tia’s small movement.
Gulp.
‘Why did that hateful Demon Hunter have to make this so mysterious? Even I’m getting scared!’
After swallowing nervously, Tia cautiously pushed open the door and poked half her head inside.
The layout of the Priest living area was like a common tavern, with a central bar, over a dozen small round tables, and some recreational equipment.
At the same time, over twenty Priests were looking at Tia with faces full of curiosity.
“The Saintess?” someone suddenly shouted.
The newcomer looked like a Priest, but they didn’t recognize her, so there was only one possibility…
“The Holy Maiden is here!”
In an instant, the Priests put down their wine glasses and other people’s undergarments to crowd around Tia, marveling at her.
“What a large Saintess! This is completely different from my stereotype!”
“Are you the Ninth Saintess? Didn’t they say the Ninth Saintess was a little sister with silver-white hair?”
“Yeah, and haven’t the Saintesses of past generations all been tiny? Why are you so big? Can I touch you?”
“Eh? Touch… touch where?”
Under the gaze of so many of her own kind, Tia instinctively covered her chest.
But the Priests, who had little sense of personal boundaries, still reached out and placed their hands on Tia’s head.
“Mmm~, it’s so well-maintained. So soft. As expected, you’re different from those of us who run around with the army all day…”
“Wait? Didn’t they say the Ninth Saintess had pink eyes? Why is it different from what the reporters said?”
“The material of the Priest Robe is so silky too. It must be very comfortable to wear, though it’s probably not suitable for combat… Oh, can I try it on!”
For a moment, the Priests were touching Tia here and there, making her feel so ticklish that she didn’t know what to do.
At the same time, Truth, who had been hiding outside the door and hadn’t entered yet, breathed a sigh of relief.
‘Whew, that was close. If I hadn’t let her go first, I would have been the one getting manhandled… but wait, why does that actually sound kind of nice?’
Truth’s initial impression of these Priests was quite good. So what exactly was Kavier so wary of?
Observing the Priests again, Truth found that their looks were actually quite good, and each one was shapely.
They were basically like smaller versions of Tia. No wonder they called Tia big!
“Mmm… Haha, that tickles! Don’t touch my ears! I’m not the Saintess! Truth, come in quickly!”
Being praised like this by a group of her peers felt very strange.
Unable to bear it any longer, Tia called out to Truth behind her with a flushed face.
In the next second, the Priests finally noticed the little one who had been peeking from the doorway.
“Hi?”
Truth, showing only half her head, gave a small wave to everyone.
Her silver-white hair was particularly striking against the dark background behind her, and her lively pink eyes were carefully sizing everyone up.
Is she socially anxious, hiding like that? Then, everyone very tactfully gave Truth some Space.
Only then did Truth slowly walk out, and she was instantly surrounded just like Tia had been.
“She’s so small! This is the size a Saintess should be!”
“Silver-white hair, pink eyes, small build… it all matches. This one is the real Ninth Saintess!”
“So cute! Can I touch her?!”
“You can only touch my hair. I’ll get angry if you touch anywhere else,” Truth replied.
The next second, the Priests all pressed close to examine the color of the Saintess’s hair, marveling at its incredible smoothness.
The Priests didn’t care about the Saintess’s status at all; they were simply driven by curiosity.
Faced with the older sisters’ “surging” offensive and their warm body temperatures, Truth’s old face merely turned slightly red.
She then quietly appreciated the sight of several pairs of scenic views before her—slightly inferior to Tia’s, but far surpassing Suna’s.
‘So the Priests in the military camp are all older sisters? You should’ve just said so!’
“Aralé, what is the Holy Maiden looking at so intently?” one of the Priests asked suddenly, half-squatting in front of Truth and gently rubbing the strands of hair on Truth’s forehead.
Following Truth’s line of sight, the Priest also looked down at her own full chest, which even the thick Priest Robe couldn’t hide much.
“Ah~, so the Holy Maiden is interested in this. Well, it makes sense. At your age, you’ll always be interested in these things. How about it? Do you want to take a look?”
With that, after two clicks, the Priest in front of Truth didn’t care about the people around her at all.
She unhesitatingly began to unbutton her chest on her own…