"Why is Irena-senpai here?"
"Who knows."
Watching Irena standing in line in front of the confessional left both Nova and Miles baffled.
If this was supposed to be 'when in Rome, do as the Romans do,' then this was way too fast.
Who comes to the Empire as a tourist and makes lining up at a cathedral confessional their very first stop?
So eager to confess their sins.
And really… someone as extremely narcissistic as Irena, what sins could she possibly have to confess?
The only confession Miles could imagine was something like, "Lord, my sin is being too cute."
And honestly, she absolutely seemed like the type who would say that.
Yet reality appeared to differ somewhat from Miles' imagination.
Because he was afraid Irena might actually say something like "my sin is being too cute," and because he didn't want to be associated with that level of embarrassment, Miles chose not to go up and greet her right away.
Hiding off to the side and secretly observing the scummy witch for a while, Miles noticed something strange.
Irena looked like she was lining up in front of the confessional—while in truth, she had no intention of going in to confess at all.
Every time the line was about to reach her turn, she would consciously step back a few spots, letting the people behind her go in first.
Repeating this behavior several times, Irena consistently maintained a fixed distance from the confessional in front of her.
Always looking like she was about to go in, yet never actually entering.
So lewd (×)
"What is that woman doing?"
Miles' confusion had shifted from "why is Irena lining up in front of the confessional" to "why is Irena lining up in front of the confessional."
Same question, different meaning.
Just lining up without going in… did that have some special significance?
Anyhow, since the scummy witch seemingly wasn't planning to confess any narcissistic proclamation, Miles could finally walk over without worry.
"So what exactly are you doing?"
A perfectly straightforward question. Seeing Miles and Princess Nova appear, Irena froze for a moment before a guilty look crept onto her face.
"Uh… why are you two here, Miles and Nova?"
The line wasn't a good place for chatting, so Irena hurriedly pulled the two of them into a more secluded corner of the cathedral.
"I was about to ask you that, why are you here?" Miles shot back.
"I'm here, of course, to confess!"
"Don't fool people. Anyone who actually plans to confess wouldn't line up like you: hovering forever without going in."
"Ah, Miles, you were spying on me!" Realizing her behavior had been exposed, Irena snapped in embarrassment. "You pervert!"
Spying on you lining up? Since when did that count as being a pervert?
Little Nova tilted her head and guessed, "Could it be that, Irena-senpai, you have some sin so shameful you can't bring yourself to confess it, so you keep hesitating about whether to go in?"
Hovering back and forth between confessing and not confessing—this did sound like a plausible explanation for endlessly lining up.
Albeit Irena flatly denied it.
"Something too shameful to confess? How could I possibly have something like that? A super beautiful girl like me, blessed with both wisdom and beauty, has absolutely no sins that need confessing."
Placing her fair hand proudly against her chest, Irena's smug, narcissistic attitude was entirely out of place in front of a confessional.
Miles pointed out, "Since you admit you don't want to confess at all, then you must be up to something."
"Calling it 'up to something' is a bit harsh, don't you think?"
Irena pressed a finger to her lips, lowering her voice further and putting on an air of mystery.
"Don't you two want to know why a cathedral confessional can be this popular? Popular enough that people in the imperial capital line up just to confess?"
"Isn't it because the people of the imperial capital have too many sins in their hearts?"
"How could that be? Everyone's just living ordinary lives. How could imperial capital citizens be uniquely sinful?"
Having traveled across the Spirit Continent on her broom, Irena had a fairly deep understanding of local customs and culture.
Even if she'd never been to the imperial capital before, she had visited other smaller imperial cities.
And she'd never once seen a sight like this in any church.
If the imperial capital's cathedral confessional could gather this many people, it naturally had something special about it.
"Aren't you curious at all?!"
"We are," Miles and Nova admitted honestly.
"Curious is one thing, but what does that have to do with you lining up forever?"
"I'm eavesdropping."
"o(?Д?)っ Huh?!"
That shocking declaration stunned Miles and Nova.
"By eavesdropping, you mean listening in on the conversations inside the confessional?" Miles confirmed.
Nova added, "But the confessional is all sealed, right? With that level of soundproofing, you couldn't hear anything from the line. Probably not even if you pressed your ear against the door."
"That's why I prepared this," Irena said.
Leaning her delicate profile close to Miles, Irena teasingly brushed aside her gray hair with slender fingers, revealing a cute little ear—and at the base of it, a faintly glowing miniature magic sigil.
"Enhanced hearing magic. I placed the other sigil on the wall of the confessional. As long as I stay within a certain distance, I can hear the conversations inside."
No wonder Irena kept hovering back and forth in front of the confessional—she was maintaining the optimal eavesdropping distance.
Miles couldn't help but complain, "This is already a crime serious enough for you to confess a hundred times over!"
After all, the privacy of a confessional was more important than anything.
It was precisely because people trusted the professional ethics of the clergy—believing that confessional conversations were known only to heaven, earth, you, and the priest—that they dared to speak their inner sins aloud.
And this scummy witch still claimed that a beautiful girl had no sins to confess.
Just for eavesdropping on confessional conversations alone, Irena deserved to be shoved into the confessional and made to apologize properly to the gods.
"I'm just genuinely curious about why this place draws such high traffic. And I can guarantee I won't tell anyone what I hear. Doesn't that solve it?"
"So did you hear anything suspicious?"
"I heard that the clergyperson inside the confessional is a young lady with a very nice voice."
"That would be a nun," Nova corrected.
"Oh, right, a nun. Normally, confessionals are handled by priests. Having a nun sitting inside listening is actually pretty rare."
"A nun… and a confessional," Miles muttered to himself.
He'd heard that for some people, their XP system was church nuns—the sinful thrill of defiling something holy made them unbelievably excited.
If the one sitting inside the confessional was a young, beautiful nun, Miles could suddenly understand why the imperial capital's cathedral confessional was so popular.
Having a young, beautiful nun listen to your sins, then gently and softly say, "God will not blame you. God will forgive you, because you are His child."
If Miles weren't equally free of sins to confess, even he felt a little tempted.
"Of course, the fact that the one sitting inside the confessional is a nun with a very pleasant voice is only part of the reason. The real reason this confessional attracts so many people lies elsewhere."
"There's another reason? What is it?"
"I think it'll be easier to understand if you listen for yourselves, rather than me explaining it."
As she spoke, a magic sigil identical to the one at the base of her ear appeared at Irena's fingertip, seemingly able to share this eavesdropping mark with Miles and Nova.
"So you're asking us to eavesdrop too?"
This scummy witch… who does she think she's dealing with? I, Miles, am upright and righteous, filled with integrity. How could I sink to the same level as you?
"Just say whether you're listening or not."
...
In front of the confessional, Miles, Nova, and Irena lined up side by side, blending into the middle of the queue with perfectly calm expressions.
According to research, voyeurism is one of humanity's most basic desires; When this desire is satisfied, when one peeks into another person's private secrets, it brings an immense sense of gratification.
Of course, to state this solemnly: Miles was unquestionably not doing this to satisfy any voyeuristic urges.
He had no interest whatsoever in the imperial capital's citizens' sins. He was simply curious about the "other reason" Irena had mentioned.
Through the magic sigil connected at the base of his ear, Miles really could hear the conversations inside the confessional while standing in line.
This act of eavesdropping, where guilt and excitement intertwined, was also a first-time experience in Miles' life.
"'Oh gods, for the sake of profit, I betrayed my colleagues. It's left me unable to sleep at night.'"
"'My devout child, God will forgive your sin.'"
"'Respected Sister, I fell in love with two people at the same time. I am so impure.'"
"'Be clear about your own heart. God will not condemn you for this.'"
Just as Irena had said, the nun inside the confessional really did have a very pleasant voice.
Moreover, her gentle and compassionate tone was like that of a true, lofty divine spokesperson, bringing comfort to sinful souls.
"Those sound like pretty ordinary conversations. Nothing strange at all," Miles muttered.
"Shhh. Miles, just keep listening. You'll understand soon enough."
Looking toward the confessional, the next person to enter appeared to be a plainly dressed middle-aged woman.
However, after entering the confessional, this woman did not confess her sins like the previous people. She just stayed silent.
In the end, it was the nun who spoke first.
"'My child of God, it seems you are still lost about the sins within your own heart.'"
"'That's right. Please guide me, Sister.'"
"'Do not worry. God will not abandon any lost soul.'"
After that came a brief silence, before the nun continued.
"'You committed adultery and betrayed your husband. Now you feel deeply guilty toward him, yet are too ashamed to speak of it. That is why you are so lost.'"
"'That's right, Sister! Someone like me… will I still receive God's forgiveness?'"
"'God forgives all His children. Your sin will be taken away by God, and your heart will choose the correct destination.'"
"'Then… that's wonderful!'"
Watching the middle-aged woman walk out of the confessional, Miles stood there dumbfounded.
What had that just been? The person who needed to confess never stated her sin, yet the nun had known everything.
"This is the 'other reason' I was talking about," Irena said.
"I listened in on several rounds. There were plenty of people like this. Those who couldn't bring themselves to speak their sins, or who didn't even know exactly what their sin was, only feeling guilt in their hearts. Yet this nun seemed to truly hear the will of the gods, speaking everyone's sins aloud."
"Can something like that really be possible?"
Without any prior investigation, being able to enumerate someone's sins so precisely—if this nun truly possessed such an ability, calling it a miracle wouldn't be an exaggeration.
Adhering to the principle of sample diversity and objective fairness, Miles listened to several more confessors.
Until a youth who looked only seventeen or eighteen entered the confessional, bringing with him another brief silence.
"'A lost soul… are you unable to recognize your own sin?'"
Once again, the nun spoke first.
"'Sister, actually, I know my sin. I'm just too embarrassed to say it out loud.'"
"'That's alright. Since you gathered the courage to sit here, I will speak your sin to God and pray for forgiveness.'"
After that came the same kind of pause as before, followed by the nun slowly recounting the sin.
"'Oh my? You took me as a fantasy object for your desires?'"
"'Y-yes, Sister. I did something extremely disrespectful to you… it's simply unforgivable!'"
"'Hehe, it doesn't matter at all. It's only a trivial matter. I can forgive you on God's behalf. Following the desires of your heart is nothing to be ashamed of.'"
"'I-is that so? Sister, you're so generous!'"
Having received forgiveness from the person herself, the young man left the confessional with a look of complete satisfaction.
At this point, Miles had no choice but to believe it. Even knowing she had been taken as a fantasy object… this nun sitting in the confessional truly had something special about her.
The reason the imperial capital's cathedral confessional attracted so many people wasn't merely because of the Empire's citizens' XP systems acting up.
Continuing to line up and eavesdrop, after witnessing several more instances of the nun proactively enumerating others' sins—miracles in their own right—Miles, who was at the front of the trio, unknowingly found himself standing at the very front of the entire line, right before the confessional door.
"It's time to retreat, Miles," Irena whispered in reminder.
After all, they were only here to line up and eavesdrop, not to truly confess. Now that they'd figured out why the confessional was so popular, it was time to quit while they were ahead.
However, after hesitating briefly before the confessional door, Miles made a move that left both Irena and Nova staring in shock.
Miles directly pushed the door open and walked into the confessional.
Since he'd already lined up, not going in would just be a waste.
A nun who could speak others' sins and forgive them even without a confession? Miles was instead growing curious about what sins she would name for him.
The most straightforward outcome would be the sin of eavesdropping.
Even if the nun discovered his eavesdropping, according to the script, she would have God forgive him anyway—conveniently easing his own sense of guilt in the process.
However, when Miles sat down on the chair inside the sealed confessional, something different happened.
Without Miles realizing it, the Spirit Eyes on his arm suddenly activated.
And the card automatically loaded into Spirit Eyes was, astonishingly, a D/D/D card—the Demon King from another dimension.
Demon Kings that were quite at odds with the sacred atmosphere of the cathedral.
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