No, How Can an Atheist Become a Saintess!? – 108
EP.108 Summer and the Sea (4)
There was a magic potion that could wash away embarrassment. Well, okay—not actual magic. If anything, it was more of a biochemical or physiological phenomenon.
That’s right. Alcohol.
But I do have a conscience, so I at least gave Ria a warning.
“Ria, don’t drink too much.”
“Mm…”
She hesitated, staring at the cans in front of us like they were some kind of dilemma. Not that they looked dangerous. If anything, the pastel colors made them seem harmless—one pink, one light green. The pink one had a peach on it, the green one, a bunch of grapes. They were flavored, carbonated soju—chuhai. Low alcohol content, sweet enough to mask the taste of booze, and dangerously easy to drink too much of.
“You don’t have to drink, you know,” I told her. “you’re not exactly great with alcohol…”
I kept my expression mildly concerned, and Ria immediately narrowed her eyes at me.
I smirked internally.
Ria had a lot of pride. I’d already read about it in the novel, but after spending so much time with her, I knew firsthand that she hated being seen as weak.
“……”
Sure enough, she grabbed a can, cracked it open, and took several big gulps.
“You okay?” I asked.
“Pfft, I can handle a beer,” she huffed, looking vaguely insulted.
“Oh, that’s good to hear,” I said cheerfully.
Ria must’ve caught on that I was messing with her, but she didn’t back down.
She was probably thinking, ‘This much is fine.’
Watching us, Si-yoon, Yu-ri, and Gloria looked like they had no idea what to say.
Not that it mattered.
At this point, they were used to us.
*
A trip to the beach meant food and drinks.
The place Ria had rented was actually a facility used by the Hunter Association. It was meant for employee retreats, which was probably why it felt a bit too big for just us. Still, running around and making a mess everywhere felt… wrong, somehow. So we’d settled on using just two rooms on the first floor.
Nice rooms, too—each with a balcony overlooking the ocean.
Now, why only two rooms?
Simple. Si-yoon.
The lone guy in our group.
Not that he was actually going to end up sleeping alone.
This was a rom-com, after all.
Knowing those three, they wouldn’t cross the line, but two of them were newly minted adults. No way they wouldn’t find some excuse to end up in his room.
“Si-yoon?”
“H-huh? Yeah?”
And, of course, rooms weren’t the only thing we’d sorted out.
It would’ve been a waste to come all this way just to stay inside.
Thanks to Ria, we’d secured a spot to grill some meat.
The place was huge, but we stuck to one corner out of sheer guilt for taking up so much space.
I’d been watching Si-yoon struggle alone at the grill for a while now, and honestly, it was kind of pitiful.
So I walked over.
Si-yoon looked startled.
Then again, he’d been flustered this whole trip.
Couldn’t really blame him. He was the only guy here, and every girl around him was in a swimsuit.
In the novel, Si-yoon had enjoyed this kind of situation—he just never acted on it because he was too much of a gentleman.
By this point in the original story, the Saintess was supposed to have fallen for him already.
He’d awakened his powers, led the charge in battle, and supported her every step of the way during her rituals.
Now? The two people Si-yoon was most awkward with were me and Ria.
The two heroines who’d been the most aggressive in the original story had completely backed off.
I felt a little bad about that.
In a way, I’d stolen two fateful encounters from the protagonist.
“…Want some help?”
That twinge of guilt was probably why I asked.
“I do know how to grill meat.”
I’d done it plenty in my past life.
Work dinners practically forced you to learn, unless you wanted to sit there picking at food while the boss did all the cooking.
“Wait… you do?”
Si-yoon blinked in surprise.
“Well, I had opportunities,” I said vaguely.
Technically, that wasn’t a lie.
Even nuns had some outdoor gatherings, though they were always held on church grounds.
“Anyway, hand me the tongs and—”
“HEY!”
A sharp voice cut through the air.
Si-yoon and I both flinched.
Turning toward the sound, we saw a red-haired beauty storming toward us.
And the next thing I knew—
“What are you doing!?”
Two hands squished my cheeks.
I had just been trying to lighten his workload.
Though, to be fair, Gloria and her maid weren’t eating meat.
I’d thought they might after they ate those fries cooked in chicken grease last time, but turns out that was just because they were starving too much to care.
Right now, they were sitting a bit further away, dipping lettuce into ssamjang and crunching away.
And Yuri had gone inside to grab some drinks.
“Si-yoon looked like he was stuck doing all the work alone, so I just thought I’d—”
“You can’t do that. Not as the Saintess.”
…Huh?
What?
Why was she acting like this?
Ria’s face was completely flushed, her eyes narrowing.
At first, I thought she was going to let go of my cheeks—but instead—
“R-Ria!?”
She yanked me in, wrapping an arm around my shoulders.
It wasn’t a casual, loose arm-over-the-shoulder kind of thing.
No, there was force behind it—somewhere between a headlock and a side hug.
I found myself bent over at an awkward angle.
“Ria, wait—”
“Hey.”
“Uh, yeah?”
Si-yoon blinked at Ria’s sudden call.
“You can’t get too close to her.”
“Uh… okay.”
Si-yoon nodded, as if that was the only answer he was capable of giving.
“She’s a nun. The future Saintess. You get that, right?”
“Ria, you keep saying the same thing!”
I protested, my back bending further and further forward.
If this kept up, she was going to actually put me in a headlock.
And Ria was strong. If she really locked me in, it was going to hurt.
I tried pushing against her arm, but—drunk or not—Ria’s grip didn’t budge.
“She, uh… looks like she’s in pain?”
Si-yoon hesitantly pointed out.
At that, Ria finally loosened her hold.
…Sort of.
Because before I could break free, her arm slid down from my shoulders to my waist.
Then she yanked me in again, pulling me flush against her as she started dragging me away from Si-yoon.
“Okay, okay, I get it. I won’t bring up your drinking anymore, alright?”
“You can’t do that.”
Ria’s voice was still serious.
And though her words were the same, something about the way she said them felt… different.
I fell silent for a moment.
Even drunk, Ria was still Ria.
The person I trusted more than anyone in this world.
Someone I could actually stake my life on.
Smart. Strong. Incredible.
At first, I used to get irrationally jealous of Ria.
She just seemed so perfect.
But the more time I spent with her, the more I realized—she wasn’t some untouchable superhuman.
Just like the novel had described, Ria had her own wounds. Her own worries.
And among those worries… was me.
I’d told her so many times to trust me.
And yet, how many times had I been the one to walk straight into danger?
How many times had I ended up getting hurt in her place?
Back in the Dwarven Kingdom, if Ria hadn’t pulled me out of there, the wound on my hand would have been so much worse.
Even divine power had trouble healing it.
It could have been really bad.
“You told me… to protect you.”
Hiccup.
Ria let out a small hiccup as she spoke.
“……”
“You told me… to trust you.”
“……Yeah. I did. And I do trust you, Ria.”
“…Good.”
She nodded, satisfied.
Then, without warning—
Thump.
She pulled me down onto a chair with her, hugging me tightly.
The position was… awkward, to say the least.
I was sitting right on her lap, completely enveloped in her arms.
It was warm.
I could smell the sweet hint of fruit on her breath, mixed with the sharpness of alcohol.
And… maybe it was the alcohol I had earlier—or the warmth of Ria’s body, a little hotter than usual—but I suddenly felt… a little lightheaded.
A little dizzy.
“…Alright, Ria. I’ll trust you.”
“…Good.”
Ria nodded again.
And this time, she squeezed me even tighter, pulling me even deeper into her embrace.
“…Good.”
She said it again.
And somehow… she sounded even more relieved than I did.
I let out a soft laugh.
And for a while, I just let myself stay there, held securely in her arms.