First Encounter
I arrived at the meeting point, but there was no one who looked like a Journey member.
Only a single knight stood nearby, standing guard.
Guess she hasn't arrived yet...
*Clank* *Clank*
*Huff* Huff*
Hmm...?
...
...Do you need something...?
...
H-hello...
It's a girl...?!
A-are you... the Journey Captain...?
You know who I am?
Y-yes!
That's such a relief... I was panicking what to do... if I got the wrong person...
O-oh, um...
I'm Elisa, 117th Saintess of the Monolith Order...!
I was chosen to join the Journey!
You...?!
H-huh?! D-did I do something wrong, or...
W-wait, did you already notice...?!
That I'm slow, clumsy, and physically inefficient...
That I'm just a fat, useless lump...
Someone who's good for nothing...?!
I knew it. Someone like you, a Journey Captain... can see right through me at a glance...!
That's not it!
I heard you were a cleric, but you were wearing armor.
Oh, this armor...!
It's for... um, protection...!
Protection...?
That's right! I'll explain... so just give me a moment!
The helmet blocks my vision a bit, so...
I nearly tripped several times—
Elisa! Watch out for that rock!
Huh? ...Eeeek?!
I caught Elisa just before she tripped over the rock.
...In the process, her helmet rolled off.
Our eyes met.
Ah.
Oh.
It's over... Our eyes met...
A saintess must preserve her purity as the face of the Monolith...
Yet, I've been defiled by a stranger's gaze on the very first day...!
Th-that's not true, Captain!
In Lord Gaph's divine teachings, there's a doctrine of indeterminacy!
It says... that simply observing something can alter its state!
Does it really say that...?
If a woman is constantly observed by a man's gaze and attention...
She may feel her heart race, her breath quicken, become overly aware of her body...
And in the worst cases, she could even fall victim to male aura and end up bearing his child...!
That's why I was wearing this armor to defend myself from such things.
Just asking, but...
Do all Monolith followers believe that?
I don't think I've seen many Monolith clerics wearing armor before.
W-well, not exactly.
The doctrine of indeterminacy is still hotly debated among different denominations.
But my senior saintess said—
Listen! You'll be around a man for a whole year! You never know what could happen!
So if you don't want to become a fallen saintess, you'd better prepare yourself thoroughly!
B-but according to the scriptures...!
Oh, come on! I'm saying this for your own good!
He's a stranger! A wicked city man!
If you're not mentally prepared, he'll drain your soul and toss you aside! It's right there in the scripture!
Really...?
N-now that you mention it, I think there was a passage like that...!
It did sound convincing when she said it...
Completely gullible...!
I-it's not that I'm gullible! Saintess Muriel is just...
She's fundamentally different from a worthless pebble like me!
I'm sure she knows things I could never understand...!
Saintess Muriel's saintess ranking?
She's 116th...
...
But... Ah, it doesn't matter anymore...
After meeting your eyes and being seen, I've already lost my purity...
To tumble all the way down into corruption like this... It's oddly liberating, actually... Ehehe...
Y-yes, sir...!
Even if my body's already tainted...
I'll... still give my all on the Journey...!
You're not tainted!!
And that's how the Journey with the self-proclaimed "fallen saintess" began.