“…What?”

Kana’s face twisted into a grimace, her expression far more dramatic than when eating vegetables.

“So, what they mean is—”

“Do I look like I don’t understand what’s going on?”

“…Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

Journey broke into a cold sweat at Kana’s unusually raised voice.

Kana unconsciously reached for her waist, but finding nothing there, she awkwardly crossed her arms instead.

Did she hate it that much?

Journey honestly didn’t understand.

What Celine asked Kana to do was simple: pretend to be a nun.

“Why do I have to be a nun, anyway?”

“Not actually a nun, just pretend to be one—”

“I don’t care if it’s pretending or whatever, but why?”

It was a reasonable question, and Celine answered.

“As I mentioned, the private prayer rooms are typically reserved for Church members.”

“So?”

“So, bringing in an outsider is bound to attract attention. This is to establish a minimal justification.”

Kana listened to Journey’s translation with her arms still crossed.

“Of course, there have been exceptions. Outsiders have been allowed in if they’ve greatly helped the Church or if it’s a particularly serious matter.”

“A serious matter?”

“For example, matters concerning the race wars.”

For issues of that magnitude, I could even take it to the Pope.

Celine said this, and Kana fell silent for a moment.

Her reply carried an implicit rejection.

“Then, what does it mean to have helped the Church greatly?”

“Maybe a significant donation or spreading Edel’s light far and wide…”

Kana couldn’t deny it. She didn’t fall under those categories.

Not much she could say against the rules.

In the end, it was Kana who conceded first.

It wasn’t a battle she could win when she was the one asking for a favor on their home turf.

But she wasn’t giving up entirely.

Kana made one last stand.

“The Descent Festival is a big event, so people from the Empire will likely come. I have bad blood with the Empire, so I can’t show my face.”

“You’ll see for yourself, but this convent doesn’t allow outsiders. You two are exceptions. And if any issues arise, the Church of Edel will help you.”

“…If no outsiders are allowed, there’s no need to worry about being seen.”

“Not all eyes are from outsiders.”

“….”

Celine had a ready answer for everything Kana said, so she quickly ran out of words.

“…What do I have to do?”

Journey saw Kana’s dejected look and imagined a puppy with its tail between its legs.

“Don’t worry. It’s just for appearances, so I won’t make you do anything difficult.”

“…You’re not lying, right?”

“Of course not.”

Celine’s eyes curved into a smile as she spoke.

Kana shivered as if sensing a dark shadow approaching her.

“Just sweep from here to there, and when you’re done, you can wipe with this rag.”

“…Alright.”

Cleaning.

“There’s laundry to be done… Can you help with that?”

“Fine.”

Laundry.

“What to do…? There’s some organizing to be done, but we’re short on hands…”

“…Should I help?”

“Oh, Sister, I appreciate the offer, but it’s okay. These items are pretty heavy, so it might be hard for a young Sister like you to handle them.”

“I’ll do it.”

“Oh no! You might hurt yourself if you—wait, how are you…?”

“I can handle this much.”

“Oh my….”

Organizing the storage.

In a nun’s habit, I did various chores around the convent.

I swept, wiped, did laundry, organized…

Watching me, Journey had this to say:

“…What’s this? Why is she so good at this? I expected Kana to fumble.”

Like slipping on a wet floor while mopping, or breaking dishes while doing the washing, or dropping a load of things and then crying about it.

“…I was hoping for the clumsy novice nun type!”

“….”

That’s not clumsy, that’s just incompetent.

“In the end, she gets scolded by a senior nun and then holes up in her room, sobbing. Then, the senior nun comes in, hugs her warmly…! Hahaha…”

“…Have you finally gone insane?”

If her fantasies had reached this level, it was a disease.

I shook my head.

Until now, I’d lived a life far removed from anything related to nuns.

That was true even in my past life.

In fact, it was even less likely back then, with gender barriers preventing me from even considering such a role.

But the tasks I was given were closer to maid duties, trivial chores rather than what a nun would typically do.

Celine had kept her promise about not making me do anything difficult.

‘Does this even mean anything?’

‘It shows that, although you’re not a believer, you’re devout enough to experience what it’s like to be a novice nun.’

I told you, it’s for minimal justification.

Celine had said this with a smile.

So, I wandered around the convent handling chores here and there.

With the convent being so large, there was quite a bit of work to do, but it was nothing compared to what I’d seen.

If I had found this much work overwhelming, I wouldn’t have been able to live with Garid.

Living with Garid, I’d gotten quite familiar with household chores.

So Journey’s fantasies were doomed from the start.

Besides, even if I did mess up and get scolded, I wouldn’t hole up and cry over it.

“If you’re going to talk nonsense, go away.”

“Huh? Are you sure you’ll be fine without me?”

“…Don’t go away, just stay quiet.”

Journey didn’t need to play the role of a novice nun like me since she wasn’t planning on using the private prayer room.

‘Everyone in the Holy City speaks Arkish, right? And Kana, you’re not great at Arkish yet.’

She claimed she was there to translate since communication would be difficult without her.

That’s the reason I’d brought her along, so naturally, I agreed.

It’s fine that she’s just following along, but her constant chatter is a bit distracting.

It’s not like I can shake her off, either.

She’s really a handful.

‘Won’t you be bored?’

‘It’s only for a few days. I can endure it for Kana’s sake.’

‘…Hmph.’

…Still, I do appreciate it a bit.

Squeeze—

Drip.

When I twisted the rag with both hands, water poured out.

It was now the third day of acting as a nun.

According to Celine, it wouldn’t go beyond four days, so this should be the last day of this act.

‘….’

I really hoped so.

But we’ll see…

“Oh, Sister! Are you done?”

As I was finishing up, the nun who’d assigned me the task greeted me with a bright smile.

“…I’m not a Sister.”

I repeated the words I’d been saying every day for the past few days.

I knew “Sister” didn’t necessarily mean nun, but…

“With how well the habit suits you, it’s a shame.”

“….”

I could tell they were calling me “Sister” with that meaning in mind.

Even though they knew I wasn’t a real nun, they treated me as if I were the newest addition to their ranks.

…Why?

I’d asked Celine about it, but she just laughed without giving me an answer.

“You worked hard. Would you like a candy?”

“Ah—”

Nom.

Might as well take the candy.

I rolled the sweet candy in my mouth and glanced down the hallway.

The hallway sparkled.

No one could look at this hallway and say it hadn’t been cleaned.

If anyone said that, they’d either be someone who enjoys being unpleasant or someone whose cleanliness standards are wildly different from everyone else’s.

The nun in front of me wasn’t either of those.

“Your cleaning skills are always impressive, Sister Kana. I almost feel guilty walking through here.”

“It’s basic. Anyway, what’s up?”

She didn’t seem like she was here to supervise my work.

“Oh, right. Silly me.”

The nun clapped her hands together.

“Sister Celine is asking for you.”

“…!”

…Finally.

Celine had mentioned it, but things don’t always go as planned.

I’d even prepared myself to work for one more day if things got delayed.

It’s a relief it worked out as she said.

“Good news, right, Kana?”

“Yeah.”

Journey tried to hide it, but I could see she’d grown bored as the days passed.

She hadn’t even occupied herself with work like I did.

She must have been so bored that she eventually picked up a broom to help with the cleaning, unprompted.

With our goals finally aligned, Journey and I quickly headed to where Celine was.

‘…Wait.’

She hadn’t mentioned why she was calling.

She wasn’t going to say, “Could you help out a bit more?” was she?

“You worked hard these past few days.”

Thankfully, my worry didn’t come true.

“You can use the prayer room now… Would you like to go today?”

“Is that okay?”

“Yes, if you’d like, you can use it right away.”

“Then I’ll go now.”

It was already later than I’d planned, so there was no need to delay further.

“I’ll wait in the room, so take your time!”

Journey saw me off as I followed Celine to the prayer room.

For a god, it’d be ridiculous if we couldn’t communicate just because of a language barrier.

“Well, I’ll take my leave now…”

As Celine left, I found myself alone in the prayer room.

Well, it was a private prayer room, so it would’ve been odd if I wasn’t alone.

After all the effort I’d gone through to get here…

There was only a single statue of Edel and a cushion.

Should I call it plain? Or maybe clean?

Feeling a strange sense of emotion, I carefully knelt on the cushion.

“Hmm…”

Imitating the Edel Church’s devotees, I clumsily clasped my hands together and thought for a moment.

How should I start?

There were many things I wanted to ask, but now that I was here, I wasn’t sure where to begin.

“…Hello.”

In the end, I chose a simple greeting, as if I were speaking to a friend.

If he had any issue with the greeting and decided to answer, that’d be a win in itself.

“….”

There was no response.

If I said I wasn’t disappointed, that would be a lie, but I’d braced myself for this, so it wasn’t too devastating.

I sighed and opened my eyes.

And then.

“…!”

“Oh, are you done already?”

Looking down at me, a pair of eyes sparkled with a mischievous grin.

…Wait a minute.

…Arkish?