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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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On a morning where the bird were chirping, Estia was deep in a dream.
‘Test subject 51. Begin injection. Bring the syringe, Eric.’
‘N-No, I don’t want the injection… Pl-Please don’t do it, I’m sorry…’
‘Close your eyes and when you wake up, you’ll be fine.’
‘N-No…’
Without holy water, terrible memories resurfaced.
Memories of children being experimented on in the church basement.
Today 30.
Tomorrow 28.
Next 24.
Estia was swimming in memories like a deep swamp where her friends disappeared day by day.
‘No, don’t…! Do-Don’t go, guys…! Don’t leave me alone…!!’
Her friends had long since been swallowed by the swamp.
Only Estia’s head remained above water.
In the midst of that cruel scene, Estia heard someone’s voice.
“W…w…u…”
“Wa…u…”
“Wake up-!!”
Jolt-
“Aaah-!”
As Luna said, Saintess Estia immediately sat up.
Where was this?
Feeling a slight pain in her forehead, Estia looked around, moving her head from side to side.
“Where am I? This isn’t the church?”
“Ow, my chin… What are you doing suddenly sitting up!”
“What? Who are you?”
“I’m Luna Lunasia. I’m someone who was kidnapped like you!”
Luna, the golden-haired girl, proudly exclaimed.
She was rubbing her sore chin after bumping heads with Estia.
Estia couldn’t understand this strange situation.
‘Wh-What? Why am I here? I was definitely at the church…?’
Memories from when she drank holy water didn’t remain intact, they were fragmented, scattered like shards.
Estia tried her best to gather the fragments of her memory.
The memories that came to Estia’s mind were…
‘Mask, big brother, sky, crash? What is this?’
She couldn’t remember the process, but she could clearly understand the conclusion before her eyes.
She was kidnapped?
She was kidnapped by that apostle big brother?
“A Minerva apostle is the kidnapper? This could be a big problem…”
Since he was a goddess’s apostle, he probably wouldn’t kill her…
But there were many things that could be done without killing, for example, experiments.
‘…Experiments.’
The moment she realized this fact, anxiety rose in Estia’s heart.
Now, no matter what was done to her here, she couldn’t tell anyone else.
Fear consumed her body, and her hands trembled.
Holy water.
She needed holy water.
“Gi-Give me a cup…! Where’s a cup…!! I ne-need to drink holy water!!”
“Huh? Why are you suddenly acting like this?”
“Ah, aah.. I don’t have divine power..!! I’ll be ex-experimented on…! It might hurt more than dying…!! Go-Goddess, please save Estia from heaven…!!”
“Sigh. I thought you weren’t in your right mind since yesterday, but you really aren’t.”
Luna sighed.
Estia’s behavior seemed stupid, exactly like her own past self.
“I used to be like that too…”
“Le-Let me out… Gi-Give me holy water… Pl-Please save me, Goddess…”
Watching Estia struggle, Luna was suddenly reminded of her past self.
Luna decided to set an example as a senior kidnappee.
She grabbed Estia’s flailing shoulders, looked her in the eyes, and shouted firmly.
“Stay still! You can’t escape anyway. Look at your legs.”
“Es-Escape…! Aaah-! Wh-What’s this…? Ch-Chains…? I ca-can’t escape…”
“I said stay still! Mister will come later and explain. For now, just stay still and listen to what he has to say. Got it?”
“…”
Nod.
Estia nodded for now.
Seeing this, Luna felt as if she was looking at her own younger sibling.
‘My younger siblings act exactly like this…’
She was behaving no different from a 5-year-old.
To calm her down, Luna went over to the desk.
There was an already emptied bowl and another bowl half-filled with porridge.
‘She ate a little… Well, it should be fine?’
Luna picked it up and brought it to Estia.
Estia must have been hungry, as her gaze was fixed on the bowl.
“Here, say ah. Eat this and calm down a bit. Okay?”
“…Ah.”
“You listen well.”
Nom.
Estia ate the porridge and her eyes widened.
It was because the porridge was delicious because various ingredients were carefully added.
“Wh-What, why is it delicious..?”
“Mister may be bad, but he’s good at cooking. A total reverse charm! But I wish he was just a kind person who couldn’t cook. Wait, he didn’t hear that, did he…?”
“…You said your name was Luna? I have a question.”
“Yeah, what is it?”
She had a question, the now calmed Estia took a deep breath and asked,
“You said you were kidnapped too. But why are you so calm?”
It was strange.
Shouldn’t kidnapped people normally have gloomy expressions?
Wasn’t it natural to shout that they wanted to be saved until they died?
Estia couldn’t understand Luna, who was smiling brightly despite being kidnapped.
Luna smiled at that question and said,
“Well, you see… Honestly, being kidnapped is a bad thing. But it’s not terribly bad.”
“…Are you saying it’s not bad even if you die?”
“Ah, no? Why would I die! Mister may be a bad person, but he has manners, you could say? He won’t kill us! Rather, he might even take care of us…”
Ah, I don’t know, it’s embarrassing!
Luna found it extremely awkward to praise Mister.
In the first place, it was very strange to praise someone who had forcibly kidnapped her.
“Anyway! Calm down and wait. Then, you’ll roughly understand what kind of place this is.”
“…Okay, I got it. Thanks. As a token of gratitude, I want to give you happiness-inducing holy water-”
“N-No thanks! I don’t need it!”
Luna frantically waved her hands, refusing Estia’s holy water.
Estia expressed deep regret at not being able to give her that happiness.
“It’s really happy and good though…”
“Ha-haha…”
Why did Mister keep bringing abnormal children?
Luna couldn’t understand Mister’s intentions at all, and so, the two of them chatted about each other until Jun-woo arrived.
It was just casual talk about understanding the situation and what had happened here, and in the process, Luna naturally fell into a misunderstanding.
‘What, talking to her, she seems like a good kid… Her mental state is fine too…’
She had made a huge misunderstanding, thinking ‘She’s quite a decent kid?’
Estia’s fingertips began to tremble more and more.
Without even dreaming that withdrawal symptoms were approaching…
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Hare, who was tightly hugging her pillow, was asleep.
She woke up hearing Mister’s voice echoing from upstairs.
“Yawn~”
Was it because she slept late yesterday…?
She was a bit sleepy…
But she had to move.
Jolt-
She got up from bed.
As usual, she washed up, tidied her bedding, and fixed her appearance in the mirror.
‘I want to look pretty for Mister.’
Because she harbored a woman’s heart, she always had to check her condition.
If there was even an eye booger, Mister would be disappointed.
After finishing all her routines like that, Hare left her room and headed to the living room.
“Mister seems to be up…”
The smell of food wafted from the kitchen, and Mister’s voice could be heard from upstairs.
It seems he cooked and went upstairs…
Hare followed Mister’s traces and went up to the second floor.
He was having a conversation in Luna’s room.
“Ki-Kidnapper! Let me go right now!! I need to attend worship!”
“That’s not possible.”
“Why not!”
“You have something you need to do. It’s the goddess’s will.”
“Th-That can’t be… I need to give happiness to people…”
Hare could hear the voices of the two conversing, the voice of the newly kidnapped child was young and used childish speech.
‘…It seems I can drive her out soon.’
Hare considered her an opponent not worth being wary of, until she uttered those words.
“Apostle big brother! I’ll give you happiness, so let me go…? Okay? I’m saying I’ll be late for worship…”
Big brother.
Big brother?
Did she just say big brother?
Hare doubted her ears.
However, Estia’s voice was heard again.
“I need to give happiness to people… Okay? Big brother please get me out of here… I-I need to drink holy water too…”
“…There’s no suitable place to pray in this house, so divine power won’t gather. It’s forbidden for now.”
“N-No..! I-I’ll die…? I’m saying I’ll die..!! Big brother, think properly..!!”
It was the whining voice of a young child, Hare silently watched her from the stairs.
Her expression naturally crumpled.
‘Why, why does she keep calling him big brother…? Mister is Mister.’
Who gave her permission to call him big brother…?
Mister didn’t even allow it…?
Jealousy blossomed in Hare’s heart.
Her chest hurt, and a suffocating feeling that made it hard to breathe came over her.
‘Mister is Mister. Calling him big brother, that absolutely can’t happen.’
Mister would dislike children who called him big brother too, but Mister was kind, so he couldn’t tell her not to.
Therefore.
‘I have to clean up. On behalf of Mister.’
Hare, who had decided to be a bad child, had just found that the perfect chance to be a bad child had come to her.
Hare’s first target to drive out of the house was ‘Saintess Estia’.
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In Luna’s room.
Estia felt anxious watching Luna prepare to go out.
“Luna, where are you going? Is that big brother going to bully you?”
“No, that’s not it. I’m going to train.”
“Train…? Why are you training?”
“I don’t really know either! But Mister told me to train! He said he’d let me go if I win, so I’m training hard to win no matter what!”
“Wh-What is that…”
What kind of place is this…?
They kidnap us but don’t experiment…
Rather, they feed us well and train…
It was a strange place.
“Don’t tell me, they’re raising us to be eaten?!”
“…I don’t think that’s it! Anyway, just rest by yourself Estia. I’ll be back!”
Jun-woo opened the door for Luna, and only Luna escaped from the room.
Watching this scene, Estia was reminded of a past memory.
‘I’ll be back, Estia. Wait for me!’
A green-haired friend who had greeted her with a bright smile, she had left after saying goodbye and never returned.
Co-Could it be? Luna too…?
She was a good child, was this their last goodbye?
“Th-This can’t be… But should I have made her happy before she died? I don’t have divine power so I can’t do that…”
How can I fill up divine power…?
Estia used nearby objects to try to fill up divine power.
“Will this reach the Goddess in prayer?”
She hastily made a cross out of a box and towards that cross that looked like it would collapse if touched, Estia began to pray.
“Goddesses who give us happiness today and further happiness in life, please receive my prayer…”
And so on and so forth, Estia prayed on her knees for a long time, only for the happiness that would be waiting.
However, faith betrayed Estia.
“O-One drop…? Only one drop filled up?! Th-This is a lie! It’s a lie!”
Divine power exerted its greatest effect when praying in a church.
Because the church itself was a place of god.
As an exception, religious people who had reached a certain level could gain divine power by praying even in an open field.
Because god was in their hearts.
But Estia, who had misguided thoughts and didn’t understand the faith of the goddess, could only gain divine power in church.
“Ah, ah… I need holy water… Holy water…”
Estia was experiencing more and more withdrawal symptoms because she couldn’t drink holy water today.
Her hands trembled, and she kept licking her lips.
At that moment.
Knock knock-
As if the heavens hadn’t given up on her, a helping hand approached Estia.
Along with the knocking sound came a small girl’s voice.
-Do you perhaps want to get out of here…? Should I help you…?
Yuriana Hare, the thief of the Hero’s party.
She extended a helping hand to Estia.
It was an extremely selfish action by Hare, but Estia, who was being saved, had no way of knowing its meaning.
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