No, How Can an Atheist Become a Saintess!?

No, How Can an Atheist Become a Saintess!? – 5

EP.5

Chapter 1

Candidate and Candidate (5)

No, wait.

Thinking it over again, this seems right. So, the father who put Ria here wants to revive her faith, doesn’t he? On the contrary, the more I get countered, the more Ria’s faith might gradually revive, right?

…Well, it does annoy me to get countered, but what can I do? Since I plan to stay here a bit longer, I can endure that much.

“Hey, do you have any spare belts under that chest?”

“Pardon?”

“Can I borrow one if you have a spare? I’d like to use it too.”

“……”

Without realizing it, I found myself looking at Ria’s chest. I thought I wouldn’t pay much attention to it due to her fierce impression and short hair—but, on second glance, it’s the kind of body that one could be proud of.

If we’re talking size, it might even be more impressive than mine.

Truly a heroine. A character embodying the author’s desires. I can’t say I’m lacking in that area either.

“You don’t really need to wear it since it’s quite noticeable, you know?”

“Are you saying you wore it so it wouldn’t be noticeable?”

At my reply, Ria scoffed as if in disbelief.

Well, to be honest, I did wear it to make it ‘more noticeable’ because of some nonsense I heard before.

“Well… I can lend it to you if you really want.”

I replied with a slight smirk.

“Can you handle the attention? You’ll probably get more persistent gazes than I do.”

“I’ve been famous since I was a kid anyway.”

“……”

Her response was infuriating.

I mean, to be fair, I’m not small either. In fact, in some ways, my proportions might be better balanced. Ria was never a long-range attacker in the original story. If anything, her position would be more of a frontline tank. Although it wasn’t a game fantasy, so roles weren’t clearly defined.

For someone in that role, her chest size is quite unreasonable. The author of this novel is clearly irrational.

“I know what you’re thinking, but that’s not what I meant. I meant I was famous as the hero’s daughter.”

As if she caught my gaze, Ria puffed her chest out proudly.

“I wasn’t thinking that at all!”

I protested, but Ria just chuckled softly in response.

She was right, though.

In the original, there was even a scene where someone exclaimed, “No way, that Lee Chae-eun!?”

She’s not only famous because of her father’s name; she hasn’t been a full-fledged hunter for long, but she has made a name for herself at this age. She has a track record of cleaning up monsters that crossed over from the gates a few times and has never lost in sparring matches against adults.

Even among those adults, many were jealous of Lee Chae-eun, the hero’s daughter with immense talent, and didn’t go easy on her.

While she’s reluctant to admit that she’s famous because of her father, she’s confident in her abilities.

“……”

However, now that I think about it, even if I argued that I knew that fact, Ria seems convinced that I was only looking at her body, so I decided not to press the matter further.

I opened the wardrobe next to the bed, took out an extra belt, and tossed it toward Ria.

She caught it and immediately started inspecting it before fastening it just below her chest.

The loose clothing that had barely concealed her figure now clung to her form, making me feel incredibly embarrassed as I looked at her.

“Huh? Why doesn’t this work as well for me as it does for you?”

But no matter how much she tightened the top of the loose clothing, the lower part wouldn’t cling tightly to her body.

“That’s because your clothes aren’t meant for someone slim like you.”

Men’s clothing usually doesn’t look odd on larger individuals. Even if a bigger person wears larger sizes, the shoulders are tailored to fit their frame, so there can be cases where the shoulder line droops slightly, but nothing usually feels overly tight in just one area.

However, women’s clothing requires attention to bust size as well.

For those around average size, wearing ready-made clothing of similar sizes works fine. But if someone’s size significantly deviates from average, unless they specifically pay attention to their outfit, they’ll either end up with clothing that’s too loose or too tight.

In reality, they say having a large bust can negatively affect one’s style. Well, that’s the gist of it.

Since a nun’s outfit wouldn’t be custom-made in that way, naturally, Ria’s attire is close to “plus size.” It fits around her chest, but below that, there’s plenty of extra room.

Tightening the top creates a lot of folds at the bottom, and with excess fabric, it results in a style quite different from mine.

“I only tightened it around the bust. The rest fits just fine.”

“Hmm.”

Ria narrowed her eyes.

“Is that true? Did you purposely size down?”

“……”

“Hey, why are you avoiding my gaze? Did you actually reduce it?”

“No, no, no! I absolutely didn’t size it down!”

“Is it that you wear a belt not to emphasize your chest but to trick people into thinking that’s how it looks?”

“……”

“Ha!”

She pointed out something that until now, no one had even suspected, which shows she has quite the keen eye.

“Heh, heh…”

“What are you laughing at?”

“Hey, what are you saying to me right now? Should I run to the nun’s office and tell them what you did to the nun’s outfit?”

“…I didn’t do anything.”

“Seriously, you can’t lie.”

The way she tries to hold back her laughter is incredibly annoying. Ria untied the belt she had fastened below her chest and tossed it back toward me. I caught it and carelessly tossed it back into the wardrobe.

“Well, leaving that aside.”

“Well, anyway.”

Ria shrugged her shoulders. Ugh, that attitude annoys me. It feels like she thinks she’s above me.

While I’m at a disadvantage here, I can’t say anything.

“I’ve noticed something while spending the last few days with you.”

“What is it?”

“I overheard some of the other girls whispering.”

“Wow, you have good ears.”

“You don’t usually go around lecturing others in front of them, do you?”

“……”

“Well, I guess some girls switched rooms after hearing your nonsense, but they were the ones who picked a fight with you first.”

“You can hear all that just from eavesdropping?”

More than annoyed, I was genuinely surprised. Ria chuckled.

“Do you think I could hear all that just by eavesdropping? I heard it from friends I’ve made here.”

“Friends…?”

Do people even make friends in a convent? I hadn’t made any friends so far.

“The convent rules say not to speak carelessly to others.”

It’s a rule written in blood.

In a regular all-girls or all-boys school, it might not matter much. Even if sexual desires build up, there are plenty of ways to relieve them at home with videos, comics, or whatever. If you have the means, you can even get a partner. There are many ways to satisfy those urges.

But a convent isn’t like that. Even if they’ve inherited some social functions, a religious facility is still a religious facility. There are bound to be parts that are excessively suppressed compared to the secular world.

If you put a bunch of teenagers, who are at the peak of their sexual desires, in one place without letting them go outside or see the opposite sex, what do you think will happen? Whether it’s all boys or all girls, accidents are bound to happen.

So, they minimize contact with each other as much as possible. They enforce the rules strictly.

…Though I still don’t understand why they have double rooms if that’s the case.

“……”

Even after hearing my explanation, Ria just looked at me with an incredulous expression.

“Do you really think you’re in a position to talk about rules?”

…Well, that’s true.

To be honest, it feels a bit unfair because I’ve made some efforts to accommodate things my way.

My mind isn’t in puberty, but my body is undergoing secondary sexual characteristics. Naturally, there are days when, well, things happen.

But the problem is that I still perceive girls as sexual objects. And I’m surrounded by girls.

Moreover, all of them are minors. No matter how much I try, I still have a sense of morality.

So I decided to just go cold turkey. At least I think I’ve done pretty well in keeping those rules. If someone initiates conversation, I respond, and if they annoy me, I get angry and argue back, but I haven’t had any problems of that nature.

“The rules say not to tempt or engage in unnecessary physical contact, but they don’t say you can’t talk to each other.”

“……”

I have no response to that.

“Anyway, you don’t usually start those kinds of conversations, right? You’ve mentioned it to the Mother Superior or the priests, and when you became a candidate for sainthood, you wrote a letter to the cardinal, causing quite a stir, but that was because they approached you first.”

Seeing my expression, Ria quickly steered the conversation back to the main point. Damn, I got pitied by my debate opponent!

“Anyway, why do you keep initiating conversations with me and expressing your religious doubts?”

“Hmm.”

“Do you have some ulterior motive? No matter how I think about it, it doesn’t seem like a saint candidate would try to turn me against my beliefs.”

“Wait a minute.”

As I jumped up from my seat to stop her, Ria put her finger under her chin and looked thoughtful. Then she smiled at me.

“Or is it the opposite? Are you trying to provoke me on purpose so that I’ll become religious again? Did the Mother Superior tell you something?”

“Ah.”

…What’s going on?

The plan should have been perfect.

Is she reading my mind or something? Is she a psychic?