Baked Sweets And The Naive Sister

“Um… if you don’t mind, would you like one?”

“…Hm?”

As I continued checking my various statuses, someone spoke to me from the front.

When I looked up, there was a girl whose features were quite well-formed.

She had well-kept golden hair and clear, unclouded blue eyes.

Her cute face looked quite young, about twelve years old.

She wore a pure white sister’s habit, and on her chest was an emblem combining “scales” and a “sword.”

――This mark belongs to the Holy Church.

“How much?”

“Eh!?”

The sister girl’s hand held a bag of baked sweets, and she was extending it toward me.

“Ah, no! I don’t need any money. I just thought, if you’d like… Also, since we happened to be on the same carriage, I believe it to be God’s guidance.”

“…If that’s the case.”

I pinched one of the baked sweets from the girl’s hand and put it in my mouth.

Since my body became Undead I no longer needed to eat, but my five senses had returned, so I could still enjoy taste.

Perhaps honey had been mixed in; it’s quite sweet.

“(Her features are refined, and that otherworldly mindset of offering sweets made with fine honey to a stranger—she’s probably a noble’s second or third daughter.)”

It’s common for noble children who don’t inherit the family headship or don’t need to be married off—the second and subsequent children—to enter the clergy.

I’m curious why she’d be riding a dungeon patrol carriage, which only adventurers typically use…

“They’re delicious, thanks.”

“Hehe, I’m glad. Um, where are you headed?”

The Holy Church is the hateful organization that burned my hometown to ashes and made me a slave, but since she gave me sweets, it feels wrong to ignore her.

Besides, I understand that this girl did not kill my parents.

“To the【Black Neck Mound】 Dungeon.”

“Is that so! I’m planning to go to the【Green Bird Forest】Dungeon. I’m an apprentice Holy Knight, and today a senior will be teaching me the rules of conduct in a dungeon.”

――Holy Knight.

They are the self-policing force employed by the Holy Church.

All fighting clergy are called that, so one of my revenge targets, Lilium the Mage from the Hero party, also belongs to the Holy Knights.

Despite being close in age, she’s nothing like that arrogant, damned bitch.

“I pray that your journey may be filled with blessings.”

“Thanks for being so polite. You be careful, too.”

‘This little girl—she looks like she couldn’t even kill an insect, and she’s an apprentice Holy Knight? A sheltered girl influenced by fairy tales. She’ll probably die soon. What happens to a Holy Church brat is none of my concern. The blood of clergy is a bad thing, huh.’

Apparently Ekarraat also doesn’t think highly of the Holy Church.

“—Flo, don’t speak so familiarly with the Shikai Tribe. Your soul will be defiled.”

“…! I-I’m sorry, Lady Sheena. B-but persecution of the Shikai Tribe was abolished ten years ago. Saying that would be disrespectful to him…”

“Don’t be mistaken. Just because persecution was abolished doesn’t change that the Shikai Tribe are a tainted bloodline.”

Another cleric, who seemed to be the girl’s companion, raised her voice.

She was a blonde, blue-eyed beauty clad in white armor, her long hair tied in a ponytail.

‘Kufufu… this one really looks like a proper cleric, doesn’t she.’

“If his manners are lacking, there’s no slave collar in sight. A Shikai Tribe of free status—then it’s no wonder he lacks manners. He probably didn’t receive a decent education. Even though their status is guaranteed under the kingdom’s law now, if he commits crimes in the capital, I’ll cut him down.”

“Didn’t you say that speaking to the Shikai Tribe would defile your soul?”

“You! …Well fine, Flo, we’re getting off. The stench of death is unbearable. Coachman, we’ll get down here—stop the carriage!”

“Ah, um! I’m sorry. I pray that your journey will be blessed! May the Lord’s blessing be upon you! Excuse me!”

At her fierce shout, the coachman hastily stopped the carriage, and the sister girl, her subordinate, bowed apologetically to me and stepped off the carriage.

They’ll probably go the rest of the way on foot.

‘What an utterly unpleasant person.’

“(This is how the Shikai Tribe are treated, even without slave collars. If I worried about it every time, I’d go bald from stress.)”

‘But the sister was well-mannered. A pleasant little girl. I’d almost want her to leave the Holy Church and become my retainer.’

“(She’s just naive. Under that superior’s training, in a few years she’ll be a full-fledged bigot.)”

‘You’re so detached, huh.’

The carriage, lighter by two clerics, began moving again, its wheels turning to deliver the adventurers to the dungeon.

I don’t believe in God, but I prayed that I wouldn’t end up in the same carriage as them on the way back.

“May the Lord’s blessing be upon you”—I remembered the words she said at the end.

My hometown was destroyed by those who worship that so-called Lord… little miss.