“Wh-Why so suddenly?”

Wasn’t he here to talk about the compass? As she gaped, he continued.

“I meant to tell you, but there weren’t many chances.”

That must have been because of Aiden too. May rolled her bewildered eyes around.

“I said I would eliminate the thought-form and ghost for you, right?”

“……Y-yes.”

“I hate to say this now, but I don’t think I’m the right person for this.”

……In many ways.

Johan added quietly with a somewhat bitter expression.

“Remember what I told you before? About my Father eliminating things like ghosts…. Since my identity is already exposed, to be more precise, he’s a more experienced priest than I am.”

“Ah……”

“So I want to leave it to Father even now. That’s what I came to tell you. …Oh, one more thing. To confess belatedly, what that young master said was true too.”

It’s true that he entered this house with a purpose. Johan admitted this while glancing at the compass.

“I happened to…. see you, the master, holding that thing. I originally planned to quit after eliminating the thought-form anyway.”

May clutched her skirt at those words. It wasn’t betrayal she felt. Rather than betrayal….

“…E-even if I say it’s fine?”

She first thought that she wanted him to stay by her side. Though she didn’t know why.

Johan closed his mouth at May’s question. Looking at his face, she conveyed her intentions once more.

“I don’t mind even if that’s the case…. Even if it was a lie, it’s really fine. O-of course, you probably don’t want to keep working as a servant, Johan. Then, um… what should I do? Can I hire a priest…?”

Johan chuckled at her rambling words.

“What would you do hiring a heretic priest? Besides, aren’t you forgiving a liar too easily?”

May shook her head quickly at his incredulous question. Feeling her palms growing damp with sweat, she continued in a trembling voice.

“Y-you told me before. That your god sometimes arranges to help pitiful things……”

“Mm, I did.”

“Th-there’s a saying in the Sun God’s temple. That divine revelations happen more frequently than we think. But even when people notice those revelations, very few follow them……”

“……”

“Because if following the revelation doesn’t fulfill their wishes, or if it turns out to be a trial that causes suffering, they end up resenting god…. Then their shallow faith is exposed. It’s s-scary they say……”

After saying that much, May swallowed hard and looked at him. He stared at her with slightly sunken eyes. She opened her mouth again, straining her eyes to not avoid Johan’s gaze.

“So I heard that those who follow every divine revelation without missing any have the heaviest faith. What they carry is…… the weight of faith and courage to not resent god no matter what happens.”

“…I didn’t mean it in such a grand way. Above all, the god I serve isn’t even the Sun God.”

“No! I-it doesn’t matter that we believe in different gods…! I don’t know about you, Johan, but when I learned you were a priest, I kept thinking of those words. That this man felt that moment as a revelation. Yet he didn’t avoid it……”

That I received the arrangement of heavy faith. Even if god gave the revelation, it was Johan who acted on it. With faith to not resent his god or me no matter what happens.

Having said that, May gazed at him clearly with shining black eyes.

“So I became even more grateful that you didn’t pass me by and helped me……”

“Is that so?”

“Yes… very much so. I, well, there’s nothing to forgive about you, Johan……”

Because you have only ever helped me. To me, Johan is my benefactor. May tried not to stutter while saying those words. Though her voice trembled from spilling out unorganized thoughts, she still conveyed her feelings to him strongly.

“…This morning, no, lately, you’ve been upset because I only told you to endure, right?”

At the following question, he slightly furrowed his eyes.

“Rather, I want to receive forgiveness. S-saying this now, I really wasn’t a good employer…. I probably don’t have the right to keep you here.”

May said this while forcing a bright smile.

“So, even though I want to, I won’t hold you back…. Actually, I’d like you to stay close even if not as a servant, but I can’t find a proper reason…. Since hiring a priest seems difficult……”

Having said that, May stood up and got the compass from the table. Then she went to Johan and carefully handed it to him.

“You said you weren’t the right person because you were accommodating my stubbornness…. Right?”

May’s eyes asking this were filled with trust. To an unbelievable degree for looking at a heretic priest.

The man stared into those eyes for a long while.

Eventually, his outstretched hand gently stroked her hair. As if praising her.

“…This makes me look a bit foolish.”

May blinked at those incomprehensible words. The man’s voice contained undisguised self-mockery.

“N-not foolish at all…. Even if it’s you, I’ll get angry if you say anything about my benefactor.”

His eyes curved gently at her blind defense, not knowing she meant him. He even let out small laughs as if finding it amusing that he was that benefactor.

“Yes. If master says so, then it must be. I won’t be foolish.”

And belatedly, when Johan slowly reached out his hand to take the compass,

The compass that had been quietly staying still like an inanimate object suddenly lifted itself and escaped May’s hand. Johan’s expression instantly twisted as he saw it floating in the air making buzzing sounds.

“…It’s showing aggressive behavior. Like the desperate struggle of a thought-form sensing its destruction.”

At his firm voice that followed, it wavered briefly in the air.

However, it soon rose again and scattered light while making quite loud popping sounds.

May’s eyes widened at the compass’s eccentric behavior that had always been quiet in front of others. Johan moved May behind him and glared at the thought-form.

“I’ll temporarily take back what I said about not being the right person. Since it’s come to this, I must eliminate that thing at least.”

Johan, who instantly drew up his magic power, made May step back further.

But his next action was blocked by the compass’s continued strange behavior.

…Thump thump. Thump. Thump thump.

“…Is this desperate struggling too?”

May blinked and asked.

The compass that had been aggressively floating in the air was now hopping thump thump on the embroidery frame May had placed on the desk. Not only that, it even lifted the embroidery frame into the air and waved it in front of Johan.

Johan gave a hollow laugh at how it looked like it was showing off May’s embroidery.

“I’ve never heard of a thought-form going mad……”

And before that laughter dispersed, fierce magic power gathered in his hand. The man’s golden eyes sank coldly in an instant.

But in the end that night, Johan failed to eliminate the compass.

It’s not that he didn’t attack at all. The compass merely neutralized his attacks each time. No, rather than neutralizing… more precisely, it seemed to absorb them like food.

Johan, who ended up providing food to the compass several times, finally stopped his attacks.

“This is certainly a strange object……”

He deeply furrowed his brow and examined the compass for a long while with an uncomprehending face. Meanwhile, it remained busy showing off the embroidery frame. It clearly seemed more energetic after receiving the attacks.

Johan raised his eyebrows as he roughly pushed away the embroidery frame swaying boastfully before him.

“My magic power is based on holy power so thought-forms shouldn’t be able to absorb it……”

Moreover, after absorbing it, it not only remained fine but rather seemed to have gained energy.

A thought-form created from concentrated evil absorbing holy power was unheard of. Since it was a being based on negative power, it should naturally be unable to withstand its opposite force.

Suddenly, he recalled the barrier he couldn’t penetrate with magic power.