44 – prisoner

The hazy consciousness, as if possessed by something, became clear too easily by the intrusion of sharp metal.

”Who are you! What have you done to my brother!”

The image of the criminal who pierced the back of my hand permeated the inside of my retina, which had been sufficiently tamed by the darkness.

skinny body. clothes with holes in them. Musty smell.

Those horrendous realities that I couldn’t even notice when I saw them from a distance, sharpened their blades more fiercely than the blade that pierced the back of my hand, and repeatedly stabbed my heart.

”I tell you! I searched for a hundred days for anything that could make money here, but nothing came up! Besides, because of curses and pestilences, me and my brother will be the only ones who will lose if we touch them carelessly!? So if you don’t want to die, get out of here right now!”

Contrary to his murderous tone, the small hand holding the hilt was shaking like an aspen tree.

Every time that happened, the blade entangled in her bony hand would turn over and tear at the affected area where the blade had settled.

In front of those who had half of their bodies torn off, it was impossible for them to act so hard that at least they had holes in their palms.

He grunted and swallowed the moans that were trying to leak out.

Eventually, instead of the bloody and slippery right hand, he grabbed her shoulder with his left hand and tried to stop her movement for the time being.

”Hee! Hey, let it go! Let go! let go! my, my body! Don’t touch me! Lord, I will kill you! I’ll kill you!”

Her consciousness was disturbed by the tearful anger that suddenly erupted, and the attempt ended in failure.

Like that, with her in a panic right in front of me, I couldn’t muster up the courage to reveal the details of the current situation.

It was from then that I tried to reassure her with the lame excuse of ‘I’m not a suspicious person’.

”Koo, cool!”

”What, what…”

It was only later that I realized that dark red blood was leaking from my mouth.

In fact, from the time he prayed to the boy, there were already signs of it.

At the time, I couldn’t even pray without directly touching the patient’s body, and the method of weaving divine power into prayer was really sloppy.

Words are just prayers. In fact, the best treatment I could do at the time was to take out as much divine power as I could and beat it to the target.

Because of that, there was no way to protect my body from the miasma emitted by the curse.

Even though the remnants of the curse expelled from the boy’s body were looking at my defenseless body as a new place to live, I had no choice but to give it up.

It was terrible.

It was as if someone had injected some sticky mud into his veins.

The intense pain, as if the black flesh clinging to the teeth, was wriggling all over the body with the momentum to change the position of the internal organs.

I had done something useless, and I even chewed up the unsightly regret.

Even so, I couldn’t stop praying.

Even under the shade, the darkness was clearly visible, even though the dark spots were eating away at half of his face.

The eye that was doing its job was clearly showing signs of fatigue and illness, even though it was only the right eye that was barely open.

It was clear that those bright eyes that were staring straight at me were blaming me for my sins.

Even if it was a sloppy prayer that was nothing more than a poor excuse, it had to go on.

”Whoa…”

”Hee! Let go! let go of this! let go! No, let go!”

Unfortunately, I used the blade in my right hand as a stepping stone to imbue her with divine power.

In the meantime, the angry fists that had been stabbed all over my body and the nails that were randomly messing around my eyelids were quite harsh, but I felt that I didn’t care too much.

Because I received more than enough compensation.

”Oh, uh? my arm? Huh?”

At the very moment that life began to emerge from her pensive voice, hope fluttered in my heart that had lost its light for the first time.

For example, like how the moonlight through thick dark clouds kindly guides those who can’t find their way.

Starting with the arm part where the divine power had permeated, the wonderful sight of the dark stains that were eating away at her body gradually fading away was like a salvation to me.

”Where else… Do you have any pain…?”

”····uh?”

He spoke to her with his head bowed, hoping that the veil of night would hide the sinner’s face.

It didn’t seem so important whether the low-color liquids dripping from my body from time to time were blood on the backs of my hands or tears at the corners of my eyes.

It was only because I was just grateful that the low noise that irregularly stimulated my ears soaked my thoughts one after another that would burn me with guilt.

”Yes, yes…?

”····thank god.”

When I saw the neat behavior of the girl who was groping her body here and there with a fish-eyed look, I was deeply relieved.

I thought I had made up for it, that I had corrected it before it was too late.

Like an idiot, like an idiot, at the time, I genuinely considered it that way.

”Wait a minute!”

so that.

I was able to shake off the desperate voice that seemed to be trying to catch me.

I was able to irresponsibly turn my back on the things I had to face.

Without knowing what kind of disaster that cowardly choice will cause in the future.

◈◈◈

When I woke up, the day was already bright, and my body, which had become rags, was displayed like a mannequin in front of the house where I was living at the time.

A snort leaked out of me as I recalled the anecdotes of drunken people who went into their homes properly even when they were drunk and unconscious.

The red face of the senior who was angry to the top of his head passed through his mind several times.

A vague memory of the faces of the other priests who had come to check on me had turned white as if they had seen a ghost floated in my hazy consciousness.

I want to quickly solve the throbbing pain in my body and the burning thirst in my throat.

First, I grabbed the doorknob.

”Ugh!”

However, just then.

The sharp pain welling up on the back of my hand applied an electric current to my blurred consciousness.

The sight of the pure white bandage roughly wrapped around his right hand being stained red with dark red blood flooded his retinas with memories like a panorama he had inadvertently overlooked.

Your holy power has been corrupted as soon as it is contaminated by the curse, and has fallen to the point where it can no longer be revived.

The sword marks on the back of the hand are imbued with curses and pestilence, and we cannot cure them with our skills.

There will be permanent aftereffects on the middle and ring fingers where the tendon is completely severed.

Moreover, your body is no longer a body capable of expressing divine power.

you no longer

”I can’t say I’m a proper priest… Was it…”

It was around the time I was just standing there like a scarecrow, repeating the words my senior gave me like a tape recorder.

”The letter has been delivered~”

The clear voice of someone brought a weak light to my hazy eyes.

At the place where my eyes glanced behind my back, there was a familiar young postman I saw every week, busily rummaging through a large bag.

”Yeah~ This week has been full. These twisted bundles of letters… What are you going to do? Shall we dispose of it as always? if not····.”

”Nope. Just give me.”

”Yes? Hee, hee!”

A moan escaped from the postman’s mouth after belatedly confirming my miserable appearance.

However, at the time, I was focused on the item he dropped in shock.

I couldn’t find a reason to pay attention to the back of him, who ran away in a hurry, dropping a bunch of letters in his bag.

”Sir, excuse me! good bye!”

Letters scattered carelessly on the floor.

Among them, I carefully selected letters that were exceptionally familiar and snarky, picked them up and put them in my mouth.

Because his right hand was stained black in places due to the curse, and he could hardly move it.

At least, I had to move my left hand, which was fine.

how long has it been like that

Heaps of letters piled up to form a mountain before you knew it. I picked one of them at random, tore it out with my mouth, and slowly examined the contents of the letter.

‘Mister. My sister is sick.’

‘I know that calling the priest costs a lot of money, and I know that you are very busy these days. So, all the birthday presents and Christmas presents I will receive for the rest of my life! All! I’ll give it all to you! Couldn’t you just ask the priests to look at my brother?’

‘If you can help my brother get well. I will never say anything bad in the future. I won’t hit anyone recklessly, and I won’t complain about side dishes. You will become like the hero in a fairy tale who is kind to everyone, brave, and never puts up with injustice. therefore····.’

twist.

I could roughly understand why the stationery was messy.

This hazy writing is probably made like this by mixing cheap ink with water.

The stationery itself seemed to have been picked up after someone had used it, and the musty smell unique to a garbage dump emanated from it.

So, for the past few months, whenever these letters have been delivered to me, I have only assumed that someone who was jealous of me, who was clearly going to become a high priest in the future, was doing this with the intention of playing tricks on me.

”····”

The torn-up letter was carefully folded and put into her bosom.

The rest of the letters were unopened, tied with a small string, and neatly placed in a drawer.

From the beginning to the end of the letter, there was only the story that my brother was sick.

I couldn’t find a single word about her being sick.

”Abigail… Big team… Abigail… Big···· Team····. Abi… Gail… Big···· Team····.”

At one time, the names of the children who had been blurry in my head were quietly recited and engraved into my heart.

From that day on, my life was a series of days when I recalled sinful thoughts and days when I pondered over the sins I recalled.

The sky that day was clear without a single cloud.

Unlike my heart, which was filled with pleasant dark clouds.