NOVEL NEXT Chapter 70
EP.70 Café Bene (2)
Don’t hit people.
That’s what the Master warned me.
Raniael looks ahead.
In front of her sits a pink-haired prostitute. Gazing at that disgusting face, Raniael thinks.
‘Is this crazy girl even human?’
Isn’t it okay to hit her?
Wiggle.
Raniael’s fingers twitch.
2.
Sara doesn’t notice the girl’s change in expression.
She continues with a smile.
“Are you perhaps a follower of Deloheim’s God?”
“I’m agnostic.”
But the voice that returns is cold.
“…What? Excuse me?”
No response comes back.
The girl, with her expression crumpled, walks past Sara. Then she begins to order from the shopkeeper.
‘…Huh?’
Sara tilts her head.
While seated, she stretches out her arm and grabs the girl’s sleeve.
“Excuse me? I’m currently…”
“Ugh.”
Swish, the girl swings her hand.
As if swatting away a pesky bug, she brushes off Sara’s touch.
‘Huh? Did she just say, ‘Ugh?’…?’
By this point, Sara begins to catch on.
This isn’t an affectionate reaction. It’s disdain. A gaze like she’s looking at something disgusting.
“Aha?”
Sara smiles.
‘What the hell is this girl…?’
The girl continues to place her order, completely ignoring Sara. Sara’s lips quiver at this sight.
It occasionally happens.
Agnostics or non-believers openly expressing disgust towards her.
And in every such situation, Sara, being a Saint, removed her mask. She would reveal her true self.
“Oh my.”
So, she does it again.
“Oops.”
Swish!
She swings the coffee cup. Adjusting the angle just slightly, coffee splashes onto the girl’s clothing.
Black stains appear on the white dress shirt.
“What to do!”
Sara intentionally makes a scene, pulling out a handkerchief from her pocket. Pretending to clean it while not actually touching the shirt with the handkerchief.
“I’m so sorry! My hand slipped…”
Then she slowly lifts her head to observe the girl’s reaction. No matter how much of a non-believer they are, they wouldn’t dare speak ill of a Saint like her.
Trying to suppress her anger silently.
Sara eagerly anticipates this kind of reaction.
But…
“Huh.”
That anticipation is soon betrayed.
“What did you just call me?”
“…What?”
Sara’s eyes widen.
The girl responds nonchalantly.
“I called you crazy.”
Sara realizes.
The girl before her is completely unconcerned with being called that. Sara bolts up from her seat.
“Isn’t that a bit harsh? What are you saying right now…?”
“Why shouldn’t I call a crazy girl… crazy?”
“Hah, I’m utterly speechless!”
Sara raises her hand.
Putting on an angry act, but her ironclad mental fortitude isn’t shaken by such trivial insults.
Thanks to a certain Mage, she’s developed a resistance to swearing.
However, she acts angry on the outside.
That way, her violence would appear justifiable.
Sara swings her hand. A perfectly snappy slap heads toward the girl’s cheek. Smack! The future of that sound resonates clearly.
Jaw.
However, that hand never reaches the girl.
The girl grabs Sara’s wrist.
“You started this.”
A simple statement.
Then she swiftly reaches out. That hand is aimed at Sara’s head. Sara smirks and begins to chant.
Divine Protection.
Light envelops Sara.
She hasn’t fully chanted the spell, but a slap from that girl will definitely be blocked by her barrier.
‘Seems like she wanted to slap me, but in the end, it will only hurt her hand.’
Sara leisurely admires the approaching hand.
That hand wasn’t going to touch her anyway.
Crackle!
“Uh?”
Once again, her expectations are shattered.
The girl’s hand breaks through the barrier with ease. The magic energy sparkling from that hand makes it possible.
Sara retreats in surprise.
However, the girl’s hand wasn’t aiming to slap her.
Yank.
That hand grips Sara’s hair.
“Eek!”
Grabbing her hair, the girl reaches for a coffee cup that has just been served.
“Let go of this! What do you think you’re doing…!”
While holding onto the girl’s wrist, Sara looks up at her. Then she sees it.
The steaming coffee cup gripped in the girl’s other hand.
“Wait, what are you doing?”
“Oh my.”
The girl mutters expressionlessly.
She yanks Sara’s hair hard. Sara gets pulled along. The nape of her neck is exposed.
“Oops.”
Drip drip drip.
She doesn’t pour it all at once.
Maintaining a slight tilt, the girl spills the steaming coffee down Sara’s nape.
“Eek! Crazy girl! You insane brat!”
Sara screams.
She jumps around, but the girl’s grip doesn’t budge.
“Eek! Aaaaaah!”
Of course, she doesn’t get burned.
The Saint’s body, while not comparable to a Hero, is strong enough. Her healing power is beyond words.
Even pouring boiling coffee doesn’t leave scars. She recovers immediately.
But no matter how quick her recovery is…
It’s still hot.
“Eek!!!!”
Her fair skin reddens.
It’s hot. More than that, her clothes are stained black. The brand new priest outfit from the Black Tower is now marked with coffee stains.
‘My new outfit!’
Sara glares at the girl with teary eyes.
The girl continues to pour coffee. She could use her strength to escape that grip, but…
‘If I do that, my hair will be a mess.’
One of them has to go.
Just as Sara was deep in such thoughts,
Ding.
“Sara, why are you late…”
Someone comes in.
Sara, with her hair still caught, turns to face the door. Standing there is her lover, Hero Kyle.
“Kyle!”
Sara screams upon seeing Kyle.
“Get this crazy girl off me!”
3.
Kyle blinks.
‘What am I looking at right now?’
Sara is being held by some girl by her hair.
The girl’s appearance is familiar. She’s the one who resembled Rania, whom he met in the forest not long ago.
That girl, holding Sara’s hair, is pouring coffee onto her nape.
“What the heck, you crazy bi—”
“Eek! Kyle, Aaaaah!”
Kyle, who receives a random curse, blinks again.
In this unprecedented situation, even Hero Kyle freezes for a moment. Still, feeling the need to do something, Kyle strides forward.
He grabs one of Sara’s arms.
But he can’t bring himself to touch the girl.
“Let go.”
“Why should I?”
“…Please.”
“Then why the heck should I?”
Kyle hesitates.
In that moment, Sara, with her hair held and one of her arms grabbed by Kyle, glares at him.
“Kyle, what are you doing right now!”
“…Just wait a bit.”
“No, that’s not what I meant to say…!”
Sara is beyond disbelief.
What on earth is happening? Even while blinking in shock, Kyle’s response is thoroughly disappointing.
Kyle awkwardly moves and cautiously reaches out his hand. It seems he’s attempting to stop the girl’s hand.
“Don’t you dare touch her.”
Slap!
The girl slaps Kyle’s hand. However, in the process, she loses her grip on Sara’s hair.
Satisfied with that realization, just as Kyle pulls Sara, this time something else gets grabbed.
“…”
The girl grabs Sara’s collar.
The collar of the priest outfit that was just pouring coffee all over.
“Take me away.”
Then she makes that statement.
Sara, biting her lips tightly, turns to Kyle, and with her lips, mouths the words.
‘Do something about this quickly!’
Kyle closes his eyes for a moment.
It’s time to make a decision.
Will he touch that girl?
Or, even if her clothes get torn, will he pull Sara toward him? Weighing the value of each choice in his mind.
‘…I think she had some kind of automatic recovery power.’
He recalls that such a feature came with the clothes when she bought them.
The Hero makes his decision.
“I’m sorry, Sara.”
“…Huh?”
“Just hold on a bit.”
Riiip!
The clothes tear. Sara gasps.
Kyle, cold sweat pouring down his face, removes his cape and wraps it around Sara.
“Phew.”
Then the girl bursts into laughter.
She flicks the stained part of her outfit with her knuckles. The magic woven into the fabric instantly repairs it.
The stains disappear without a trace.
In a clean state, the girl turns to the shopkeeper and continues talking.
“Allen, I’m sorry. Can I get another cup of coffee?”
“Uh… okay…”
“Oh, there it is. I’ll take that with me.”
Originally ordered for Sara to take home.
The girl swiftly snatches it up.
Before the shopkeeper Allen can even protest, she gathers it with her own share and waves.
“Well, see you next time, Allen.”
Then she leisurely exits the café.
Kyle doesn’t stop her.
Sara’s eyes widen, alternating between Kyle and the girl.
“Kyle?”
She looks at Kyle with eyes filled with betrayal.
“Kyle, what are you doing right now?”
“…I shouldn’t mess with a professor from Apuria.”
“That’s not what I’m talking about!”
Sara’s eyes flare.
Shaking off Kyle’s hand, she turns to walk away.
“I’m spending the night separately. I’m disappointed.”
With a sulky expression, Sara turns her back.
Watching her retreat, Kyle thinks.
‘…I guess I’ll sleep with Remia tonight.’
It wasn’t such a bad outcome.
4.
Resti Elenoa.
She had been glancing at the giggling Professor Rania enjoying her coffee since earlier.
It’s as if laughter blossoms.
Seeing that pure smile, Resti thinks.
‘…Did something good happen?’
Since they stopped by the café, she seems unusually joyful. Did something happen at the café?
“…Did something good occur?”
“Hmm? Well, I do feel refreshed.”
As she says this, Professor Rania shakes her coffee cup.
The angle is quite precise. Resti can only tilt her head in confusion.
“Oh, right.”
Then, as if feeling the need to share this joy, she beams and speaks up.
“Resti, do you know about clothing with a circuit engraved on it?”
“Oh, the one being developed at the Black Tower…”
“Yeah, there’s a little secret about that.”
Professor Rania spreads her hands wide. There’s a piece of cloth that looks like the collar of a clothing item.
“That clothing typically has its circuit clustered at the ‘collar.’ It’s most efficient to engrave circuits on the fabric that wraps around the cervical region.”
“Hmm… because that part is good for draining magic?”
“Exactly, that’s it.”
Professor Rania nods in agreement.
Then she shakes the piece of cloth in her hand.
“In short, if you just tear this off, the circuits attached to the clothing won’t work anymore.”
“…Is that so?”
“Yup, you should try using it later.”
…Where would one even use such a thing?
Resti keeps her sudden questions to herself.
Well, that’s how it is.
She thinks that while taking a sip of her coffee. Today, the coffee seems a bit too hot.