I Quit Being a Priest

Morning.
Not as refreshing as its name, but it was morning nonetheless. The sun, which holds a god-like significance for priests, was high in the sky, and the light flowing from it illuminated the streets.
Only then did I have to wake up completely as the brightness stung my eyes.
The place where I was lying must not have been a good spot, as the sunlight directly pierced my eyes.
‘I fell asleep? When?’
I know how dangerous and foolish it is to fall asleep in front of an enemy, no matter how subdued they are.
I couldn’t believe I had made such a beginner’s mistake, but since it was my first battle with this body and I was facing a strong opponent with less than 20% of my holy power remaining, I decided to let it slide.
It could have turned into a serious problem, but fortunately, that serious problem didn’t occur.
If I was lucky, I was lucky, and I decided not to dwell on it too much.
So I looked up with a slightly disgruntled expression.
In my view was a light pink color. A ponytail that seemed to tie half of the back hair? A unique woman with roughly that kind of hairstyle.
“Ah, you’re awake!”
“…Who are you?”
I didn’t know who she was or where she was from, but I was drenched in sweat, my once-white clothes were stained red with blood, and what’s more, I had just woken up with extremely disheveled hair that was rolling on the ground, covered in dirt, and I was showing this appearance to someone else, which didn’t make me feel very good.
I felt uncomfortable enough to want to wash up immediately. However, in contrast to me, the woman actively smiled and began writing something down in a notepad.
The sound of scratching and a pencil darkening paper were heard together.
Who uses a pencil for note-taking these days?
“Ah! I’m late in introducing myself! I’m Elly, captain of the 16th Unit of the Imperial Knight Order!”
Knight Order? It wasn’t unnatural for them to come to such back alleys after such a disturbance, but as far as I knew, among captains, the higher the rank, the lower the number of the unit they were assigned to. So a captain-level figure of the 16th Unit…
“What, you’re almost at the bottom.”
“That’s rude! I’m a knight, despite appearances!”
She shouted, showing me the emblem attached to her chest.
Yes, despite the somewhat heavy name of the Knight Order, which would make one think they would wear heavy iron armor, looking at the uniform she was wearing, she must indeed be a knight.
Just an almost entry-level one.
“Hmph, anyway. So, were you the one who did that?”
Elly pointed to the thugs rolling on the alley floor and asked.
Was she trying to interrogate me? Of course, what I did was true, but it would be a bit unfair to be caught like this.
“That was due to unavoidable circumstances…”
I tried to make a futile excuse in front of the inevitable law enforcement, but the words from Elly’s mouth were a bit unexpected.
“Well done!”
“Yes, what?”
“I said, well done!”
Elly skillfully directed her subordinates behind her, putting handcuffs on the thugs one by one, and finally, after restraining even Dialo’s arm, she turned her gaze back to me.
“That person has been quite a troublemaker recently. He always escapes through the back alleys making him difficult to catch, and when confronted, that strange arm extends out, making it incredibly troublesome!”
“…Just say the Knight Order is incompetent.”
I briefly imagined how terrible it would be if such a dense person was a superior.
Hmm…
Let’s stop thinking about it.
“You… that’s really rude… I can’t tolerate statements that insult the Knight Order…!”
I didn’t particularly like her attitude of trying to confront me without even realizing she was the one being insulted, not the Knight Order.
“So… what do you want to talk about?”
“Hmph, I’m letting it slide because I’m generous. There won’t be a second time, so be careful with your words.”
“Ah… yes. Whatever. So, what’s the matter?”
“Hoho. You reportedly subdued this many people alone? Our Knight Order has highly evaluated your combat ability!”
Elly grabbed my limp, drooping arm and lifted it. It was an action bordering on rudeness to someone you’ve just met, but I didn’t particularly mind.
“So what…?”
“You, why don’t you join the Knight Order…”
“No thanks.”
There was nothing more to hear. She’d probably spout nonsense about joining the Knight Order without me even asking.
I didn’t want to be tied to the Central City, or to belong to any organization.
“…Eh? What did you just say?”
Elly asked me again as if she had misheard.
“I’m not interested, so please leave. That’s what I caught, so leave it here.”
I pointed to Dialo, whom Elly had bound, and said that. If she intended to arrest him, I hoped she would reconsider.
There was still information I hadn’t extracted. The Knight Order coming belatedly didn’t change the fact that I was the one who subdued him, and I hoped they wouldn’t take away my right to interrogate Dialo.
“Sorry, but that’s not possible. He will be taken away by our Imperial Knight Order. If you have any complaints, you might as well join the Knight Order yourself.”
Communication is not working. Trying to communicate person to person, and the result is “if you’re upset, just join the Knight Order”?
The moment an individual opposes law enforcement, I turn the entire Empire against me. Therefore, in such a situation, it would clearly be wise to just stand by and watch.
However,
While I wouldn’t have cared who suffered what fate, if the target was fellow followers of the Sun God, the story was a bit different.
Even at this moment, while I was here, pitiful believers might become living corpses, possibly becoming parts of someone’s body.
“…”
“Hmm… what’s with that expression? Are you thinking of opposing the Knight Order?”
Elly sneered and brought her hand close to the sword at her waist. As if she would draw that sword the moment I showed hostility.
The position of a knight in a unit wasn’t just all show; a sharp spirit could be felt from her.
Enough to roughly estimate Elly’s power.
It was disadvantageous. When facing Dialo, I had at least about 20% of my total holy power left, but now I didn’t even have that.
Without holy power, I was nothing more than a corpse that could do nothing, so I would lose if I fought.
Then…
“Temporary.”
“Huh?”
“I’ll cooperate with the Knight Order or wherever for a temporary period.”
The value of a priest is high. Especially if it’s me.
So, although it might hurt my pride a bit, if I just play along here, I could obtain the information I want more safely, and if lucky, I might even use the Knight Order’s information network for this matter.
By saying “temporary,” there was no clearly defined period, so even if I quietly slipped away after being affiliated for a short while, no one would notice.
After all, in negotiations, the law of equivalent exchange applies: to gain something, one must lose something.
This conversation, in a way, was like a big negotiation, so the law of equivalent exchange applied here too.
I presented the conditions of the negotiation to her. If she didn’t even accept this, I’d rather act independently.
“Tsk… Alright… Let’s do that then. But in return.”
Elly frowned subtly and held out one finger.
“Show me your abilities in front of my eyes. I still don’t fully believe that you caught all these people.”
“…Is that necessary?”
“Yes, it is.”
Elly firmly expressed her will. It seemed like this was her purpose from the beginning.
Holy power regenerates quickly when left undisturbed, but if the flow is interrupted during regeneration, the regeneration speed slows down.
That’s why I wanted to recover a bit more, but what could I do when she was being so insistent?
I picked up the staff rolling on the ground and infused it with holy power. I thought I should show a decisive display of power rather than just showing a beginner’s spell, which would only increase her suspicion.
“The subject is…”
I manipulated the holy power ignited by my staff all at once, weaving hundreds, no, thousands of circuits together to reproduce dozens of spell formulas.
“Multiple Spell.”
Golden light enveloped the area, creating a visually beautiful scene.
To this, Elly’s mouth gaped open and couldn’t close again. Even for her, who was a layperson regarding holy magic, the difference in caliber was evident at a glance.
To use this spell in an actual battlefield, I would need to recite a secondary incantation, but there didn’t seem to be a need for that now.
Elly had already been captivated by the scene of golden light dancing and rippling in the air.
And she seemed to think her momentum was somewhat broken, as she cleared her throat with a “ahem” and barely regained her original expression.
“Hmph… The story of you catching the thugs in this area alone seems true. Good. I’ll tell you the details when we return to headquarters, so I look forward to working with you.”
“By the way, how old are you?”
“Huh…?”
I asked Elly. It might have seemed trivial, but it was a rather important matter.
I didn’t want to continue using honorifics with such a dense woman.
“I asked how old you are.”
Without me realizing it, the honorifics were already stripped. Elly seemed a bit intimidated by my demeanor, hesitating briefly before slowly continuing.
“T-twenty-one…”
“From now on, call me oppa… no, unni.”
“Yes, yes!”
It was close to a unilateral announcement, but Elly, already overwhelmed by the momentum, didn’t even have the opportunity to mind such things.
“…Eh?”
She had just realized that the words she uttered, caught up in the atmosphere, had become her final landmine.