31.
The counseling office after Serena had left.
In the now-quiet space, I only stared down at the coins on the table.
What kind of situation was this?
I had certainly caught her when she was about to collapse.
Of course I had.
If I hadn’t, she would have slammed her head into the table.
But…
‘She remembers that…?’
In truth, the fact that she remembered wasn’t much of a problem.
After all, all I’d done was stop someone from getting hurt.
The real problem was this.
‘She remembers it differently again.’
The actions I had taken inside their hypnosis, without even knowing it myself.
The more they piled up, the more it felt like a problem was forming.
On top of that.
‘Lord Isaac, she said.’
I had no idea what kind of conversation she’d had with me in her imagination.
But at some point, the way she addressed me had changed to my name.
A memory from before suddenly came to mind.
‘You said so yourself, Teacher.’
‘That I was special.’
‘Different from anyone else.’
‘Your very own Chloe.’
A chill—
What had become of Chloe, the biggest patron of this counseling office?
Hadn’t her eyes turned pitch-black just because the teacup was in a different position?
‘This feels seriously ominous.’
…Serena isn’t going to end up like that too, is she?
I ran a simulation with the saintess in my imagination.
—What did you do with the counseling fee I gave you?
—I bought bread with it. Bread is in season these days, you see.
I’m disappointed……
I hadn’t really done anything, but I received a pathetic look.
“……”
No, but maybe because all I got was two coins.
Something about the simulation felt weird.
In any case.
There was only one conclusion.
No answer would come from worrying over something that had already happened.
So I simply decided to be careful the next time Serena came.
And with that, I ended the day.
***
The next few days were peaceful.
Snacks and coins from the maid.
Silver coins from the noble young lady.
Two coins from the knight order.
Receiving those, I conducted counseling sessions every day.
Every time I opened the door, I still checked whether there was someone in a nun’s habit.
Serena was now a person of interest, after all.
Then one day, when I opened the door, I saw a familiar nun’s habit.
The person wearing armor beneath the habit.
It was Agnes.
“It’s been a while, Lady Agnes.”
I might have sounded a little glad to see her.
Partly because I was relieved it wasn’t Serena.
And more than anything, because there was something I wanted to ask Agnes.
“……”
Seeing me welcome her, Agnes’s eyes widened.
Then she turned her head and came inside.
Her face seemed a little red.
Well, wearing armor under a nun’s habit, it was only natural.
I wondered if she didn’t get sweaty.
After coming in, she sat on the sofa.
Just like last time, she was tightly hugging the heart-patterned cushion.
It seemed she had already forgotten all that talk about shamelessness and whatnot.
The counseling was ordinary.
Counseling was a generous word for it, since she didn’t pour out any worries, so it was closer to idle conversation.
In the middle of that, I casually changed the topic.
“Come to think of it, how has Lady Serena been lately?”
That was, in fact, the biggest reason I had welcomed her.
Agnes set down her teacup.
“…The Saintess seems to have been in good spirits lately.”
Someone who had trouble sleeping was in good spirits?
I was about to ask the reason, but Agnes spoke first.
“More importantly, you seem to be requesting me often these days.”
Still hugging the cushion, she turned her head slightly.
“I was told that the selection was fair.”
She said that as if she had some complaint.
As for me, there was no particular reason.
After all, she was the only person I could ask about Serena.
But if I said that outright, it felt like she would be hurt.
“It is because speaking with you puts me at ease, Lady Agnes.”
So I gave a suitable excuse.
“……”
Agnes remained silent, only hugging the cushion.
I had no idea what that was about.
For now, it didn’t seem important.
I had heard about Serena’s condition, so that was enough.
‘She seems to be in good spirits, huh….’
It couldn’t really be because of the hypnosis, could it?
Unlike with Agnes, I hadn’t massaged her, hadn’t stroked her, and hadn’t even given a closing line.
I shouldn’t think like that, should I? Right.
‘It probably has something to do with the corrected memories too….’
It wasn’t a very good sign.
What was even worse was that no answer would come no matter how much I thought about it.
In the end, that day concluded after I spent quite some time talking with Agnes.
***
A few days later.
Bathed in the morning sunlight, I opened the shop door.
When I saw the person standing at the front of the line, my body stiffened for a moment.
“Good morning, Lord Isaac.”
A gentle voice.
A familiar face lowering her head in greeting.
Radiant silver hair, perhaps because she had tended to it unlike usual.
It was Serena.
Unlike last time, the dark circles under her eyes had almost disappeared.
Her expression was much softer as well.
By the way, Lord Isaac.
That form of address had completely settled in.
It seemed it had already become natural for her.
As expected, I really had never asked her to call me that.
But it wasn’t as if I could correct her now.
“It’s good to see you, Lady Serena.”
I greeted her without showing my tension.
And showing as normal an attitude as possible, I received her as a guest.
***
Once we sat facing each other, Serena spoke first.
“Has the counseling office been doing well lately?”
Thus began a series of light topics.
Stories about the church, the weather, and so on.
Watching her wear her usual pious smile, I also responded appropriately.
It was an ordinary conversation.
……Or so it had been.
At some point, Serena set down her teacup.
Tak—
“In truth, there was one thing I wanted to ask you.”
The moment I heard that, I grew slightly tense.
Whenever this person brought up something she wanted to ask, it was always a troublesome question.
“Have there ever been cases where those who received counseling experienced some kind of confusion…?”
“Confusion?”
“For example, remembering something differently from what actually happened.”
My heart began to pound.
Though I let nothing show on my face.
‘That’s you.’
Sitting in front of the very person who had those symptoms made cold sweat run down my back.
Fortunately, Serena didn’t seem to be interrogating me.
If anything, her tone was closer to concern.
It might have just been my imagination, though.
“I once asked you, Lord Isaac. Whether you had promised a future with Lady Levantia.”
“……”
“At that time, you told me there was no such thing.”
“……”
I kept my mouth shut and only looked at her.
Perhaps to reassure me, she smiled softly.
“I do not doubt you, Lord Isaac.”
Her gaze left me for a moment.
She wore the face of someone wondering how much she ought to say.
“However, Lady Levantia told me something entirely different. That she had promised a future with you, Lord Isaac.”
Then she looked straight at me again and said,
“And yet what you said was not a lie either. That is a confirmed fact.”
…How did she confirm that?
Leaving me flinching inwardly, she continued.
“If both are true, then wouldn’t it be certain that something exists between them?”
She spoke gently, but the further she went, the more my cold sweat increased.
Could I feign ignorance and brush it off?
“Perhaps Lady Levantia was mistaken…”
A useless evasion.
Serena lightly ignored it and changed the direction of the conversation.
“Ah, yes. That could be the case. Then may I ask one more thing?”
“Yes.”
“What would you think if the headaches spreading through the Empire… were in fact something intentionally caused by someone?”
I didn’t know exactly what she meant.
But I could tell that this was a dangerous situation.
Because Serena’s gentle face was gradually becoming serious.
“…I do not believe you are unaware, but.”
Serena adjusted her posture.
As she took something from inside her robes, she said,
“Allow me to introduce myself again. I, Serena Justina Armenis, am the Fifteenth Listener.”
I looked at what she had taken out.
A silver medal.
The image of a sinner hanging from a cross and blazing flames.
“—In other words, I also serve as an Heresy Inquisitor.”
“……”
Heresy Inquisitor.
The moment I heard words I thought I would never have to hear, alarm bells rang in my head.
Could what she had said before about an investigation or whatever have been in that context?
No, thinking back on what she had said just now, that had been dangerous too.
Different memories.
Headaches that seemed to be someone’s intention.
Heresy Inquisitor.
If I put those words together.
‘She’s saying I’m under suspicion of heresy.’
It wasn’t as if she’d say, You’re not under such suspicion, I just mentioned it for no reason.
With a chill running down my spine, Serena continued speaking.
“The first time I visited this place was, in truth, for the purpose of investigating suspicions of heresy.”
While pretending to listen, my mind spun like mad.
What should I say to her when she suspected me?
Tell the truth?
All I do is put people under hypnosis.
After putting them to sleep like that, I kneaded their bodies.
And then they would think on their own that they had heard wonderful things from me and leave.
Quite convenient, isn’t it?
Ah, and for reference, one of those people was you.
‘…How am I supposed to say that?’
Then lie?
To someone who seemed to be openly saying she suspected me?
If I got caught, I could be fucked.
I had no options.
What I had to do was prove that I was harmless.
And the only thing that could make that possible was this.
[Perk: Hypnosis has activated.]
“Since someone scattered a curse…”
Serena’s words slowed.
“Treating it itself may be… a deception…”
As expected, she had indeed suspected me, and she spoke while desperately resisting her closing eyes.
But that was as far as she got.
Her head slowly tilted.
Her halting words also stopped.
Her eyes closed completely.
“……”
In the now-quiet counseling office, only the sound of my breathing could be heard.
Looking at her asleep, I thought.
Maybe I had put her under too hastily.
But listening to what she had said, it had indeed been an urgent situation.
And since I had already done it, there was nothing I could do.
In that case, what I had to do was simple.
Cover all the chilling things that had just come from her mouth with a harmless conclusion.
The mismatch between Chloe’s words and mine.
The investigation into suspicions of heresy.
I only had to leave her with the conclusion that none of it was a problem.
‘……But.’
Could I really cover suspicion of this level with only the words spoken when the hypnosis lifted?
Honestly, I had no confidence.
The term Heresy Inquisition was too heavy.
In the end, I stood up.
I went behind Serena and placed my hands on her shoulders.
The duty of a saintess.
The responsibility of being an Heresy Inquisitor.
As if she were carrying all of that, her shoulders were stiff and hard.
The basic principle of hypnosis.
If the body loosened while they slept, then they would perceive all that refreshment as thanks to the conversation.
Even going so far as to invent the contents of that conversation themselves.
In that case, it was simple.
The more I loosened this person’s body, the more effective the suggestion would be when she woke.
Thinking that, I worked on her shoulders.
Since I had become somewhat skilled, even this was done in no time.
I could clearly feel her body relaxing.
After taking an appropriate amount of time, I removed my hands and returned to sit across from her.
Once fifteen minutes had passed, Serena’s eyelids began to tremble.
Now.
“Then, Lady Serena.”
In as natural a tone as possible.
“It seems there was nothing particularly strange, correct?”
As if the conversation had naturally arrived at this conclusion.
“The mismatch between Lady Chloe’s words and mine, and the suspicions of heresy as well, are all no problem.”
As Serena heard those words, she opened her eyes.
Her dazed gaze slowly regained focus.
And what appeared was not the serious face of an Heresy Inquisitor, but the face of a pious saintess.
However, the direction of that piety was somewhat strange.
The direction of the gaze that should have been toward the heavens.
Was now across the table, toward me.
“……Yes.”
She nodded.
In a gentle, yet certain voice.
“It is not a strange thing.”
It would have been nice if it had ended there.
But she did not finish speaking.
“What you do, Lord Isaac, is not strange, but good.”
With both hands clasped in prayer.
The saintess looked at me as though standing before a statue of God.