The side door opened, and one of the sanctuary workers who had greeted them upon arrival appeared. He looked at both of them and nodded.
"They’re finished. You can go in now."
Takeshi and Nyx entered the building. The worker guided them down the side hallway to a room at the back that Takeshi hadn’t seen before.
It was smaller than the main hall, with a round table in the center and wooden chairs around it. The walls had shelves lined with books and neatly organized docunts beside a window overlooking the north side of the grounds.
rwyn was standing by the window. Aoi was seated with her arms crossed and her back straight, and when Takeshi entered, she checked to make sure he was still in one piece.
Across from the table stood an older man with white hair and a straight posture. He wore formal sanctuary clothing, more elaborate than the rest of the staff’s, with embroidery along the collar and cuffs.
’He must be the priest, and judging by how calm rwyn and Aoi are, the eting went well.’
"You got here just in ti."
rwyn said.
"Take a seat."
Takeshi and Nyx took chairs while the priest observed them carefully, though without hostility.
"Before we leave..."
rwyn continued.
"There’s soone they want to introduce to you."
The priest nodded and looked toward the side door of the room, which was slightly ajar.
"You may co in."
The door opened fully.
Takeshi imdiately recognized the blonde hair, green eyes, and cream-colored clothes.
’She’s...!’
Ophélia walked into the room with calm steps and stopped beside the priest. Her expression was the sa as before, kind and without visible nervousness. She looked at Takeshi and Nyx with brief recognition but showed no outward reaction.
The priest stood up.
"Allow to introduce Ophélia."
His tone shifted from casual discussion to sothing more formal.
"She is the saint of this sanctuary. Her healing powers are the reason this place has the reputation it does. She has healed illnesses that conventional dicine couldn’t cure, wounds that should have been fatal, and has even brought back people who had already died."
Takeshi heard the last part and froze on it.
’She can resurrect people!?’
He glanced sideways at Nyx, who had the expression of soone who had just received information that didn’t fit with anything she knew so far and was ntally recalculating everything.
The priest continued.
"This sanctuary exists largely because of her. Her powers are clear blessings from our goddess."
There was a brief silence.
’Goddess? I thought they worshipped that narcissistic god... although now that I think about it, could he change genders?’
After thinking about it for a mont, Takeshi concluded:
’I hope he never does that...’
Nyx interrupted Takeshi’s thoughts with a question directed at the priest and the saint.
"When you say resurrection, do you an that literally, or is it just a way to describe cases where the patient was extrely close to death but technically still alive?"
The priest looked at her with an expression that clearly wasn’t pleased.
"It’s literal."
"That’s a pretty massive claim."
"I know."
"Are there verifiable records?"
The priest opened his mouth to answer, but Ophélia intervened before he could say anything. She briefly placed a hand on the priest’s arm, and with a small gesture, he closed his mouth.
"The question is reasonable..."
Ophélia said as she looked at Nyx without irritation.
"I can do it, but not in every case."
"What determines whether it’s possible or not?"
"Ti, mainly. If too much ti has passed since death, it won’t work. The other factor is the condition of the body. If the damage is too extensive, the healing doesn’t have enough of a foundation to work with."
"How much ti is too much?"
"It depends on the case, so there isn’t a fixed number."
Nyx processed that.
"Have you done it more than once?"
"Yes."
The priest still wore an expression that suggested he would’ve preferred not to reveal this much, but he didn’t intervene.
Takeshi listened without saying anything.
’Why didn’t she want to tell us she was the saint?’
He checked Ophélia’s stats.
[OPHÉLIA]
[Life: 100%]
[Sanity: 100%]
[Trust: 95%]
’Sa as when I first t her.’
rwyn spoke up.
"Now that you know who she is, I’ll explain why you’re here."
Everyone looked at her.
"Ophélia grew up in this sanctuary and has spent almost her entire life here..."
rwyn spoke with the sa direct tone that characterized her.
"During that ti, she’s had very little contact with people her own age outside this place..."
Takeshi looked at Ophélia. She listened without interrupting, with an expression that wasn’t exactly discomfort, but clearly showed the subject carried weight for her.
"A while ago, Ophélia told the priest that she wanted to experience sothing closer to a normal life for soone her age, such as attending high school, being in a normal environnt, and interacting with people outside the sanctuary."
rwyn paused.
"The priest consulted about it, and we reached an agreent."
"What kind of agreent?"
Takeshi asked.
"Ophélia is going to attend high school, and the student council will make sure her experience is as normal as possible. That ans nobody at school will know who she is. It won’t be announced that the sanctuary’s saint is studying there. She’ll enroll like any other student."
"But wouldn’t it be dangerous for her to be without protection?"
Nyx asked.
"That’s the second part of the agreent..."
rwyn looked at all three of them, including Aoi, who had listened silently until then.
"The three of you will stay close to her while she’s at school. If sothing happens, you intervene. And if nothing happens, your job is to avoid doing anything that draws attention to Ophélia."
Takeshi processed that.
’This is similar to what we did with Nyx.’
Takeshi figured Ophélia’s abilities were ant for healing others, not necessarily for defending herself.
"Does Ophélia know how to defend herself?"
Takeshi asked.
The priest frowned at the question, but Ophélia answered before he could say anything.
"No, I never learned combat."
"And what if soone recognizes her at school and decides it’s an opportunity for sothing?"
"That’s why you’re here."
rwyn said.
"How many people know about her outside the sanctuary?"
"Enough for it to be a real possibility..."
rwyn replied.
"It’s no secret that the sanctuary has a saint. What isn’t public is her na or appearance, but the risk exists."
Takeshi nodded.
’So the job is to keep things normal long enough for Ophélia to have what she wants, and make sure nobody connects the new student to the sanctuary’s saint.’
In theory, it was more manageable than the situation with Nyx, since Ophélia’s risk was more diffuse, based on the possibility that soone might recognize her and decide to take advantage of it.
Aoi spoke for the first ti since Takeshi and Nyx had entered.
"When does it start?"
"Next week."
rwyn comnted.
"You have a few days to get organized."
"Will Ophélia keep living at the sanctuary while attending school?"
Nyx asked.
"Yes."
The priest answered curtly.
"That won’t change."
"Are there any restrictions we should know about? Anything she can’t do or places she can’t go?"
The priest looked at Ophélia.
"No restrictions from my side."
Ophélia replied.
"I’d just prefer the situation not beco more complicated than necessary."
"What do you an by complicated?"
Nyx asked.
"That soone gets hurt because of ."
The answer was direct, and Takeshi registered it as such.
’I see. She grew up in a sanctuary healing people, so it makes sense that her fra of reference for things going wrong is soone getting hurt.’
rwyn picked up the notebook she had on the table and put it away, which was the signal that the eting was ending.
"If you have specific questions about logistics, ask this week..."
She ntioned.
"For now, you know everything you need to get started."
Takeshi looked at Ophélia.
She was looking at him too, with the expression of soone already accustod to situations like this.
’She spent her whole life in this place and wants to know what it’s like outside. That’s all she’s asking for.’
Takeshi thought about his own situation, about when he had arrived in this world without asking for it and without any control over what happened to him. Ophélia had spent years in one place without choosing it, and now she was asking for sothing as specific as attending school.
It wasn’t exactly comparable, but there was sothing about the situation he understood without needing to overanalyze it.
The priest stood, signaling the formal end of the eting. rwyn was already heading toward the door.
Takeshi got up, and the chat briefly appeared as they left the room.
[New party mber confird]
[This information is worth millions]
[Soone who can resurrect the protagonist whenever he dies and save points]
[Am I the only one seeing how ridiculously convenient that is?]
[We all see it]
Takeshi ignored the comnts.
Though he did admit they had a point.
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