I Quit Being a Priest

I don’t want to move.
If I were asked to count on my fingers the days in my life when I most didn’t want to move, I would choose today without hesitation.
My upper body hurt so much that even the slightest movement felt like death due to extreme muscle pain, and both legs had lost sensation.
Normally, holy power would infuse vitality into my body even when I was still, washing away muscle pain, but now I had temporarily sealed my holy power.
I had sealed it to focus solely on recovering my holy power. Just by lightly flicking my finger here, the seal would be released, and holy power would circulate through my body, washing away this pain.
But I couldn’t do that.
“Only halfway there now…”
Holy power regeneration is not that slow normally. If it were, I would have been useless garbage on the battlefield.
However,
When that holy power hits its lowest point, when it’s completely depleted…
In other words, when holy power exhaustion occurs, the time it takes to build up holy power in the body increases dramatically.
That’s why I tried to avoid holy power exhaustion on the battlefield, but there was nothing I could do about it now that it had happened.
I was currently in a state of regeneration shackles. The shackles would naturally be released when my holy power was full, but conversely, if I didn’t fill my holy power completely, those shackles wouldn’t be released.
Therefore, I couldn’t use holy power even though my body was dying in pain. Of course, the holy power needed to erase muscle pain was minimal, but once the movement of holy power is seen, the flow of regeneration is interrupted.
The regeneration speed had just started to pick up a bit, and I couldn’t use it here.
At this rate, the curse should end by tomorrow evening, or at the latest, the day after tomorrow.
Just as I was thinking I would bring down the hammer of judgment on that fucking muscle freak, there was a light knock on the door.
-Knock, knock.
“Eek!?”
Goosebumps rose all over my body. Was it because my body remembered yesterday’s nightmare, or perhaps I had developed a trauma-like reaction to someone visiting my room?
So I slipped into the blanket. Actually, although I was using this as my personal room, its original purpose was an office for work, so there was no lock.
Therefore, the muscular demon would soon enter this place.
As I expected, it didn’t take long before I heard the door opening with a creak.
Tap, tap. The sound of footsteps approaching me. It was a fairly light footstep for a muscular, large man.
“Illia unni…? Are you not in your room?”
“Eh?”
I peeked my head out from under the blanket. And what entered my view was a face I hadn’t seen for a while.
Light pink hair, and a thin sword at the waist.
“…Elly?”
“What are you doing?”
“…Keep it down.”
I sighed in relief. Elly was indeed quite annoying, but compared to Edwin, she looked like an angel.
“Are you sick?”
“No, not really…”
I absolutely cannot say it’s muscle pain. Knowing Elly’s personality, she would probably try to tease me.
I slowly unraveled the blanket that was tightly wrapped around my body and turned my gaze back to Elly.
“So, why?”
“Well, Senior Edwin was looking for you, so I was going to let you know…”
“Tell him I’m not going.”
I took the blanket I had unraveled and wrapped it around my entire body again. I absolutely hated it. Yesterday was tough enough, but today I had muscle pain as well.
If I did the same thing today as yesterday, it felt like my whole body would break apart.
“That won’t do. Senior Edwin is higher ranked than me.”
“Then tell him I’m sick…”
“He said to bring you even if the world were to collapse tomorrow.”
“Then tell him it seems like the world will collapse this evening…”
I wasn’t being stubborn, but today really wasn’t the day for this. That sensation of pain dominating the entire body.
Right now, I was in a body that needed a lot of courage to take even one step out of bed.
The shaking that occurs when moving one step causes the muscles to move, creating pain.
Going outside in this physical condition would be insane. There was a clear reason why I had to prevent it at all costs.
“Hey, that’s not going to work. Come out quickly, I’m busy too…!”
Elly grabbed my pile of blankets and started pulling. I struggled with my whole body to prevent the blanket from being taken away, but Elly was stronger than I had thought.
In the end, having the blanket taken away, I faced Elly with a disgruntled expression.
I had thought she was on my side, but she turned out to be a minion of the devil trying to drag me to hell.
After cleaning up the blanket she had taken from me with magic, Elly turned her gaze toward me and smiled brightly.
“Hmm, so have you decided on your duel opponent?”
“Yes.”
“Ooh, who is it? Me? Senior Reina? Or is it Sister Wendy?”
“Besides you, those are all names I’m hearing for the first time.”
I might have heard them in passing a few times while delivering documents, but I had never actually seen those individuals.
Not everyone had as big a presence as Edwin, after all.
“…It’s Edwin. I’m still not over the humiliation from yesterday.”
I clicked my tongue and mentioned the devil’s name, to which Elly waved her hand, laughing.
“Senior Edwin? Oh, don’t joke around.”
“Huh? I’m not joking.”
“Eh? Does unni perhaps not know who Edwin is?”
I nodded. What’s the big deal about that muscle freak who seems to have muscles to the bone?
“Change it now, unni. I don’t know about others, but you absolutely can’t win against Senior Edwin.”
“How strong is he?”
At my question, Elly changed her expression to be a bit more serious. It seemed like she was trying to express that this wasn’t a joke.
“Senior Edwin is one of the top fighters in our Knight Order! Haven’t you really heard of ‘Iron Wall Edwin’?”
What’s that? It sounds like middle school syndrome.
As I looked at Elly with a somewhat dubious expression, she paused for a moment before adding.
“In our Knight Order, we sometimes give epithets to truly strong people even within the organization. But since the Knight Order was established, only 10 people have been given epithets.”
“Ah, is that what they call the ‘Ten Stars’?”
Although it wasn’t for a long time, I had processed documents in the Knight Order, so I roughly knew how things worked around here.
Those with epithets receive stars on their chests and are called generals. The 10 monsters also known as the pillars of the Knight Order.
Elly slowly nodded at my words.
“The 10 generals. Senior Edwin is one of them. There’s no way you can win in a one-on-one fight…!”
“Is he that good?”
“Of course! I’ve seen Senior Edwin fight in person! It would be better for your safety to change your choice even now.”
It’s a bit surprising that that thug was at that level, but since I hadn’t seen his combat directly, I wasn’t particularly impressed.
That said, I didn’t feel too bad, thinking that Elly was saying this out of concern for me.
Had I grown attached to her after seeing her face a few times? At first, I didn’t like her because she seemed dense, but now she didn’t seem that bad.
“But if Illia unni’s spine gets folded in half, the medical expenses will be deducted from my salary!”
I knew it, you bitch. Elly was consistently disappointing, never failing to shatter my expectations.

This is the commander’s office of the Knight Order. In that room, where Bellarf’s sharp yet delicate personality was naturally infused, creating a clean atmosphere, the owner of the room was sipping from a hot teacup while looking out the window.
Bellarf’s white hair swayed with his movements. His gaze beyond the window was directed at the training ground.
Usually, it was a place where the shouts of soldiers who were dedicated to training to build their strength could be heard, but now, for some reason, it was where Illia was running.
With just that, Bellarf understood the situation. Edwin was probably tormenting Illia again under the pretext of new recruit training.
But Bellarf was a bit interested in that sight. The sharp killing intent that Illia had shown that day.
Even now, if he closed his eyes, he could vividly feel that sensation again.
That unknown power that slowly tightened around his neck. He thought that if they had actually fought, she would definitely not have been an easy opponent.
Therefore, Bellarf observed Illia from the commander’s office.
Unlike the sharp appearance she had shown that day, she now presented a pitiful sight, rolling on the ground due to her terrible basic physical fitness.
‘…Did I sense it wrong?’
Already, Bellarf was constantly being questioned. People were asking if Illia, the new recruit, was really suitable for the Knight Order.
But.
[I’m on edge right now because my holy power is depleted.]
No, he wasn’t wrong. The pressure he felt for a moment back then was comparable to that person.
Bellarf sipped his hot tea, recalling someone he could barely remember now.
“Hoo…”
The tea, brewed by steeping tea leaves for a long time, was hot. He exhaled a small breath at its heat.
“…Indeed, a bit similar.”

Bellarf couldn’t take his eyes off the window for a while. No one yet knows whether this will become a treasure of the Knight Order or just a passing stone.
Just,
Just that everything will be decided in three days.
That’s all there was to it.