I’m Playing as a Nun.

“Aizen~. Iris~.”

After calming down the wailing and bawling Ellie first, I set foot into the quiet forest alone to find the two missing children.

Since I sprinkled my blood all over the church building like before, I was less worried about Ellie, but after hearing the details, I realized that what I considered a trivial matter was actually a very serious one.

“Aizen~. Iris~.”

Aizen and Iris did not enter the forest by themselves.

According to Ellie, a strange woman we had never seen before suddenly visited the church where we lived.

She lured Iris, who was unusually interested in books, into the forest.

Aizen, who happened to witness the scene, secretly followed the two but did not return even when night fell.

It’s a typical kidnapping method, so it’s absurd, but the fact that this happened while I was sleeping is unpleasant and distasteful.

– Thump, thump

Who on earth could be the kidnapper who lured Iris into the forest?

Coming into this remote forest where people rarely visit, and of all things, kidnapping the two children I’m taking care of.

If the culprit is a worthless thief, I won’t send them back nicely.

“Aizen~. Iri…”

“Over here.”

While wandering around the quiet forest for a long time, a strange woman’s voice was heard from somewhere nearby.

“You’re quite late.”

A feeling as if she already knew I would come.

When I unconsciously turned my head in the direction of the sound, a woman in a rather unsettling outfit stood there.

“Who are you?”

“There’s something strange. I didn’t expect a real nun to show up.”

“Are you the kidnapper who abducted Aizen and Iris?”

“If you’re talking about those brats, yes. I lured them into the forest. I didn’t intend for one of them, though.”

A face that looks no older than early 20s at best.

But her atmosphere was disturbingly eerie, to the point that she couldn’t be called an ordinary person.

“Are you the only adult in that church?”

“Yes, I’m the only one taking care of the children.”

“How strange. It definitely felt like there was something more.”

The woman who doesn’t seem to want to easily reveal her identity.

She keeps throwing out strange questions that I can’t make sense of, constantly testing me.

“Where are Aizen and Iris now?”

When I couldn’t wait any longer and carefully brought up the children first, the woman immediately made an ambiguous expression and slowly opened her mouth.

“You don’t have to be so impatient. They’re still safe.”

“Still?”

“Yeah, actually, I’m more interested in a certain being hiding inside the church than those brats.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. Are you saying I’m hiding something?”

“Recently, all the demons have started to disappear one by one around that church. It’s a very difficult situation for me who manages this place.”

“…You manage this place?”

“Until just a month ago, that church was nothing but a monstrosity, but when I left for a while, not only was someone living there now, but it was also emitting a strange aura.”

The more I listen, the more unpleasant and even disgusting the woman’s words become.

She says bizarre things that an ordinary person would never say, such as that she manages this forest and that a strange aura is felt from the church.

“But who would have thought the identity of that strange aura would be a nauseating nun.”

“…What are you?”

“What about you? What the hell are you? You clearly look like a demon on the outside, but your inside is very much like a human.”

“As you can see, I’m human and a nun. I don’t know why you’re suspicious of me, but if I’m your target, please release the children now.”

At my flat remark, the woman slowly frowned.

Then, as if dumbfounded, she burst into empty laughter and unhesitatingly revealed Aizen and Iris hidden in the lush bushes.

“……”

“Mmmmph…!”

Iris is sleeping peacefully for some reason, and Aizen, whose whole body is tied up by something unknown, is struggling desperately.

His mouth is also gagged, so only unintelligible babbles urgently leak out.

“Okay, I’ll let them go.”

The woman unexpectedly obediently released Aizen and Iris.

At first glance, it seemed like she still had ulterior motives, but nevertheless, seeing Aizen and Iris without a single injury, I inwardly sighed with relief.

“Le-Levi…!!”

As soon as his body was freed, Aizen immediately picked up the sleeping Iris and hurriedly ran to me.

His face is a mess with cold sweat and tears.

As if recalling what happened 2 weeks ago, he was trembling with anxiety, shaking like an aspen.

“I’m sorry… I didn’t know things would turn out like this… I just wanted to bring Iris back…”

“It’s okay, Aizen. You don’t have to be so scared now that I’m here.”

“But… But that thing isn’t human… That thing is…”

I gently placed my hand on Aizen’s head, who was rambling in fear that he couldn’t control.

Then Aizen stopped talking and began to stare at me with a startled look in his eyes.

I looked at Aizen with a faint smile and calmly opened my mouth.

“What Aizen needs to do now is to safely go to the church with the sleeping Iris. The brave Aizen can easily do that, right?”

“Le-Levi…?”

“Don’t worry about me. Please take care of Iris and Ellie instead. Nothing will happen.”

I didn’t have to listen to the end to know what Aizen wanted to say.

It’s that the woman in front of us is not human.

Nevertheless, since she appears to be a complete human, I think the woman’s identity is a demon, not a monster.

“I… I really…”

– Swish!

The moment Aizen struggled to open his mouth.

Suddenly, something was shot from behind at a fast speed, grazing my left cheek as it passed by.

“How long are you going to do that?”

Dark red blood slowly begins to flow from the open wound.

Seeing this, Aizen’s expression hardened even more.

“It seems that person’s patience has reached its limit. Aizen, go now.”

“Ugh… Le-Levi…”

Aizen, who had been hesitating for a long time, eventually bit his lower lip hard and had no choice but to turn his back.

“I’ll bring someone to help! So you must stay alive! Got it?!”

Leaving only those words strongly behind, Aizen quickly disappeared from sight.

I wanted to say there was no need for that, but due to the situation, those words didn’t come easily.

“Can we have a conversation now?”

“…I’m sorry for making you wait so long. You’re quite understanding despite being a demon.”

“I thought playing hide-and-seek with the brats later would be fun.”

“Ah, so that’s why you let Aizen and Iris go?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

Despite suspecting my identity, she speaks leisurely based on the assumption that she will win.

Indeed, her arrogance in reaching the sky is truly worthy of being called a demon.

“Then I’d like you to tell me about your identity now.”

“As I said before, I’m a nun of the church.”

“There are too many suspicious points to just brush it off like that. I’ve never seen anyone as strange as you emitting such a weird aura.”

“It’s because I’m a special person blessed by the goddess Paellia.”

“…I guess you have no intention of just telling me. Then I’ll change the question and ask one last time.”

With those words, several tentacles began to grotesquely protrude from the woman’s back.

It was quite shocking for me, as I had only faced monsters in this world until now.

However, I was also quite excited by the fact that there are beings stronger than monsters.

“Are you a demon in human form, or a human in demon form?”

“I’m neither.”

When I immediately answered without hesitation to the question I heard, the woman’s expression began to distort even more for some reason.

“I showed mercy, and this is how you try to deceive me?”

The woman, with bizarre tentacles wriggling behind her back, took a threatening stance.

Her appearance was quite aggressive, but nevertheless, I maintained a serene expression without batting an eye and quietly opened my mouth.

“Your wording is a bit awkward. It wasn’t you who showed mercy.”

“…What?”

“I heard earlier that you said you manage this forest.”

Without paying much attention to the woman who kept glaring at me with an angry expression.

I roughly wiped the dark red blood flowing on my left cheek with my thumb and continued what I was saying.

“I don’t know who you are or where you live, but it’s troubling if you suddenly say that.”

The blood wiped off with my thumb soon transformed into the shape of a long, sharp spear.

It was extremely crude, and the roughly transformed spear tip looked as if it had been made that way from the beginning, with no artistic sophistication evident in its appearance.

A creepy spear that feels like it was made solely to pierce and slash something.

It was truly an excellent means of conversation that could only be used in situations like this.

“This place is already my territory.”