Chapter 108 – Gain's Flashback: First Half

“You don’t all have to come see me off together, you know?”

“It’s on the way. The church summoned us all. It’s fine once in a while, right?”

Marie nodded happily.

“Surrounded by escorts like this, I feel so luxurious~”

Marie was in an especially good mood today.

She spun around in circles, skipped along, and laughed merrily.

“Hee hee. Those uniforms look absolutely perfect on you!”

Marie, walking ahead, was teasing Ted as he chased after her.

We were wearing gray uniforms, different from the Holy Knights’, that we’d been given during the Saintess pilgrimage.

It wasn’t a specific requirement or anything, but ever since then, wearing our uniforms had become the norm whenever we headed to the church.

As the backyard came into view, a burly Holy Knight stood ramrod straight at the end of the covered walkway.

Will that be okay from here on out?

Fernet muttered under his breath, “Think that’ll be okay from now on?”

Our thoughts were starting to sync up. Annoying.

“Alright, Neil. Marie’s in your hands.”

“Yes sir! Leave the Saintess’s protection to me!”

Instead of our usual Heart, a Holy Knight was pulling guard duty today.

“Neil-san, why don’t you relax inside?”

“No, I’ll stand post right here.”

The young Holy Knight, brimming with enthusiasm, dragged a chair out to the door, plopped down heavily, and crossed his arms.

Marie shot me a pleading look, as if begging for help.

“Hahaha. He says that’s how he wants it. Just leave him be.”

Being motivated was great and all, but he’d wear himself out like that.

“Neil. Don’t strain yourself so hard you collapse.”

“Sir!”

We left the Holy Knight in charge and headed from Marie’s research room, across the long, long covered walkway, to the meeting room.

We strolled in casually, chatting idly as usual, only to find a weird vibe in the air.

Everyone shot me puzzled looks, so I shook my head: I got no idea.

Bishop Moras stepped forward and gave the priests a knowing glance.

“Truth is, we called you all here because the church has a proposal.”

The priests guided us to seats around the meeting room’s large table, then handed each of us a set of documents.

Looking closer, all the other church higher-ups already seated had copies in hand.

The pressure was intense, like read it now, so we hurriedly flipped through ours.

“Policy on future Saintess deployments?”

Fernet, who’d skimmed through the pages, tilted his head.

“Yes. We’re looking to revise our current process of requesting escorts through the Adventurer Guild, with safety in mind.”

Bishop Moras’s words drew nods of agreement from all the higher-ups.

“So, back to guarding Marie with just Holy Knights and White Priests, like old times?”

“No, no. Not at all.”

Bishop Moras hastily waved that off.

“We’re proposing a dedicated guard unit just for the Saintess.”

“””A dedicated guard unit for the Saintess?”””

We all blurted it out in unison.

“Yes. We’d like to officially adopt the uniforms you’re wearing right now as the Saintess guard unit’s standard attire. The church hopes you’ll all take on those roles.”

With that, Bishop Moras had a White Priest hold up a large sheet of paper and unfurl it before us.

It laid out the chain of command, with His Holiness the Pope at the top.

We’d be positioned under Bishop Moras himself, ranking above even the captains of the entire Holy Knights orders.

“This setup eliminates the current roundabout routing: church requests go to the guild, then to you, Gain-san and team. Holy Knight requests go from you to the guild, guild to church, church to Holy Knights. No more detours means fewer miscommunications and time saved.”

Laid out like that, yeah, the old system was convoluted.

“To that end, we’d like you, Gain-san and your team, to formally affiliate with the church.”

I see. So that’s the main pitch.

Heart, Fernet, and Ted all seemed to get it, nodding with looks of understanding.

“We don’t expect an answer right away. Please take your time to consider it.”

“Gain-san, I have no objections.” “Me neither.” “Same here.”

The three shot to their feet in sync and declared it straight to my face.

Instant replies, huh.

I stood up with a wry chuckle, scratching my head.

“Looking forward to working with you.”

I stuck out my hand, and Bishop Moras clasped it with a “Likewise.” The other higher-ups gathered around with smiles, shaking hands all around.

“We’ll handle the paperwork. From here on, wherever the Saintess is, that’s your post.”

———-

“After that, we rushed out of the meeting room because we couldn’t wait to tell Marie the news.”

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