Eleonora was currently facing the greatest crisis of her life.
Whether she wet herself or held it in until she died would determine whether she suffered social death or actual death.
"Hm? Why are you in that position?"
When Rayleigh returned to the Great Cathedral, he saw that the girl, who had originally been kneeling in prayer with an incredibly sacred air, was now trapped inside the barrier in an extremely indecent posture.
Her backside was raised high in the air, her entire face pressed against the floor, her arms tucked between her legs while she clamped her thighs together with all her might.
"You!"
The moment Eleonora saw Rayleigh return, and saw that he was actually looking at her with disgust, fury surged up inside her.
She desperately wanted to stand up, point at his nose, and curse him out.
But she truly could not do it.
Worse still, she had to beg this man for help!
"P-please, I... I need to... that thing... You understand, right?! Please understand!"
"Huh?"
Rayleigh frowned as he looked at the girl, whose face was filled with shame and rage to the point that she looked ready to kill herself, then glanced at her strange posture.
Then he looked at the barrier he had set up.
Ah.
So that was it.
"..."
He was silent for about three seconds.
But to Eleonora, those three seconds felt as long as three years.
"I-I can't! I'm at my limit—"
Seeing this, Rayleigh instantly removed the barrier, grabbed the girl by the back of her collar, and used the fastest Shunpo of his life to throw her into the restroom.
"Haa."
Standing outside the door, Rayleigh had not even had time to leave when he heard the sound of running water from inside.
Eleonora buried her head in her knees.
She was too embarrassed to look up!
Damn it.
In the end, a little had still leaked out!
That masked bastard!
What "Sir Knight"? From now on, she was calling him Masked Bastard!
That brute!
No.
He should be called Masked Brute Bastard!
"Uuuh..."
At the corners of the girl's eyes, tears shimmered like tiny pearls.
They were tears of humiliation!
...
Five minutes later, the girl came out while lifting the hem of her dress, her face filled with shame, anger, and resentment.
Seeing her aggrieved expression, Rayleigh actually found it a little funny.
But he had to hold it in.
Otherwise, this girl might spend the next half day being furious.
The two returned to the Great Cathedral.
Rayleigh asked, "What are you doing here alone this late at night? There are guards outside, and someone even came here specifically to kidnap you."
The girl maintained her praying posture.
Once she entered that state, the sacred air radiating from her entire body made her appear incomparably holy.
Almost like... a saint.
"I will also be participating in the ceremony, so I came here in advance. This is called a purification ritual. For one week before receiving a Falna, I have to pray continuously in the Great Cathedral and bathe in holy water. I also cannot be disturbed by the outside world. Today is the final day."
"You're a candidate member of Ares Familia?"
"Something like that."
So this girl was actually an "enemy."
Though it was not particularly surprising.
In Rakia Kingdom, those with the highest status were the trusted followers of the war god Ares.
Given this girl's "position," that was only natural.
Suddenly, Rayleigh thought of a key question.
"So you have to pray here for seven days straight and cannot be disturbed. What about meals?"
'Grrrrr...'
As if answering his question, Eleonora's stomach immediately began to growl.
Her face collapsed.
She complained, "That's why I've only eaten offerings meant for the gods and drunk water these past few days. I feel like I'm about to die."
Seeing how pitiful she looked, Rayleigh thought for a moment, then took the leftover skewers out of his bag.
Sniff, sniff!
The moment the skewers appeared in the air, the blond girl smelled their fragrance.
She instantly sat up straight, her eyes fixed firmly on the skewers in Rayleigh's hand.
Rayleigh emphasized, "Wait. These are cold, give me a moment."
Rayleigh altered the arrangement of Reishi, created a flame, and reheated the cooled skewers.
Fortunately, this place was spacious enough.
The smell would not spread all the way outside the Great Cathedral.
"Here. Eat."
Rayleigh handed the skewers to the girl.
After Eleonora took them, she immediately bit off a large mouthful and began chewing with all her might, her cheeks puffed out like a rabbit's.
Before long, the two large pork skewers, weighing over four hundred grams altogether, had been completely devoured by a girl who looked barely over a hundred pounds.
"I wasn't actually praying the entire time."
The girl suddenly began to explain.
"When I first came here on the first day, I really did accept my fate and wanted to pray properly. But after holding out for about ten minutes, I spent the rest of the time cursing nonstop and begging for death."
"Cursing?"
Rayleigh froze.
This girl truly had no sense of reverence toward the gods.
For a native of this world, that was an extremely rare attitude.
"Then if I stay by your side, won't someone suspect my identity?"
"You can just knock out a knight and put on his armor. There's a helmet anyway, so no one can see your face. It'll be fine."
The girl sounded very experienced.
She also seemed to feel no guilt whatsoever toward the knight who was about to be victimized.
"Ah... I'm so bored."
The girl, whose stomach was now nice and full, lay down flat on the polished floor of the Great Cathedral in a spread-eagle position.
Seeing her like this, Rayleigh felt that his earlier association of her with a saint had truly been a moment of blindness.
The girl was so bored that she started rolling back and forth on the floor.
Rayleigh glanced at her, then activated Reiraku.
Immediately after, he suddenly discovered that the color of the girl's spirit ribbon was that of an adventurer.
In other words, she was not an ordinary person.
She had already received a Falna and possessed ability values.
Yet tomorrow, she was still going to receive Ares's Falna.
'Which meant this was a Conversion?'
After realizing this, Rayleigh asked, "Which Familia did you originally belong to?"
The girl's rolling suddenly stopped.
She lay face down on the ground and did not make a sound for a long time, almost as if she had fallen asleep.
Seeing her reaction, Rayleigh no longer intended to press the issue.
But Eleonora still spoke.
"Bastet Familia. Have you heard of it?"
"No."
"..."
"Hey! Even if you're only pretending, could you not answer that quickly?! At least then I could feel a tiny bit of respect from you toward that goddess."
"Fine. I've heard of it."
"You're lying."
"Tch. What a troublesome girl."
"Hah? I suspected this earlier, but don't tell me you like men. Otherwise, there's no way your attitude toward a super beautiful girl like me should be this bad!"
"You really are overly confident."
"Are you saying I'm not cute? That I'm not beautiful?"
The blond girl proudly puffed out her chest and lifted her chin, revealing her graceful, fair, swanlike neck without the slightest crease.
On this point, Rayleigh could not exactly lie with his eyes open.
The girl was indeed very beautiful.
Calling her a peerless beauty capable of ruining nations would not be an exaggeration.
However, there was no shortage of women around Rayleigh whose beauty was shocking enough to overturn common sense.
By now, he had already built up a considerable resistance.
"I admit you are beautiful. But if you think that alone is enough to make people obey your every word, my suggestion would be to download a hypnosis app."