Shirou, who returned from the Fairy Kingdom

Although any sword can be copied or projected once Shirou has seen it, "shopping" and "collecting" are enjoyable activities in themselves.

Shirou also made a promise with Shiki that if he mastered the art of sword forging in the future, he would sell her the first finished sword he made.

...Although we are still in the learning stage.

In short, Shirou didn't have much money.

What should I do? Should I borrow it from Irisviel?

"Einzbern's money is no good, who knows if it's cursed?"

Karen narrowed one eye: "If you're having trouble with money, I can point you in the right direction."

Upon hearing her say that, Shirou's heart immediately sounded an alarm.

Karen noticed this too: "It's nothing, don't worry, it's not illegal work."

The more the silver-haired girl said this, the more suspicious Shirou became, but he could only continue listening.

"Would you like to work part-time as an agent for the Holy Church?"

……

……

After talking with Kallen for about two hours, Shirou first learned about her work and experiences before becoming a priestess.

Karen was born in a republic in southern Europe and soon lost both her parents.

The father was unknown from the beginning.

Her mother was a frail woman who died a year after giving birth to her.

Although the church records state that he was killed by bandits, it appears to be a suicide.

For believers, suicide is one of the most heinous acts.

Although it is not a major sin, those who take their own lives cannot reach heaven, but can only go to hell with eternal suffering.

As a devout believer, what meaning did the mother discover at the end of her painful life, that she could even disobey the Lord's teachings?

Karen was abandoned by her mother.

No one wanted to adopt the lonely infant.

The mother had no relatives and did not know the father's name.

There's a saying that a woman with a terminal illness might have a child with a random man, like a prostitute.

The orphan, who had no one to adopt him, was placed in the care of a priest at a small church.

Believers who take their own lives.

Disdainfully watching the man and the promiscuous mother brush past him, the devout and exemplary priest took the young child in.

The youngest child sent to God's house had no luggage, but he brought with him his only possession.

The name Caren.

The mother left nothing behind, only her name seemed to have been decided.

The priest gave the girl his own surname, but rather the surname of his mother who had committed suicide.

Her mother's surname was Ordesia, which means hydrangea.

Karen lived with the priest for eight years.

The priest was filled with love for the Lord, yet he gave not a single bit of love to his adopted child.

He kept the child support money but didn't let her go to school; instead, he made her work as a church assistant.

The very act of a girl being born is a sin.

She was not baptized at birth, and the girl did not receive the Lord's love until her childhood baptism.

Thus, Karen would not be recognized as the Son of God, the priest said.

The priest, a very strict man, had this question: should the baptism of orphans be given with leniency?

The priest had two reasons for not allowing her to receive a proper education.

To save unnecessary expenses, Karen was prevented from gaining wisdom.

One cannot give wisdom to the children of beasts.

That is the first step toward evil; thinking about things brings all sorts of inconveniences than anything else.

If any bad resistance or misdeeds are committed, and people gossip about them, it will affect the reputation of God's house.

The only thing Karen was allowed to do with the priest was "prayer".

You just need to continue surrendering yourself to the Lord, that's how she was taught.

It lasted for eight years.

Karen had long been accustomed to the pain; this kind of life was painful, but she never had such thoughts.

Learn from the priest how humanity and the Lord should be.

The unintentional prayer was completed in just eight years.

That year, the girl finally reached the age to be baptized.

Karen's body developed stigmata, and the priest accepted his defeat.

The subsequent education went beyond his duties, and the priest moved Karen to a wider world.

A monastery, a building built deep in the forest, isolated from the outside world like a castle.

According to a very small number of nuns who fled because they could not endure it, the monastery was a living hell.

The monastery is a community of devout believers, and all necessities of life are provided by the monastery.

Clothing and food were also self-sufficient within the compound, and producing small quantities of wine and cheese was one of the few pleasures.

There was no oppression, no exploitation; the only work was to pray for the Lord.

But precisely because of this, normal human beings simply cannot tolerate it.

Because there, the will of the "self" is absolutely not allowed.

If one cannot contemplate why one exists or what one prays for, "human rights" will seem like a distant myth.

The place that summoned the girl was an ancient monastery called Sido.

As a prestigious and orthodox family with a long history, the Cid Monastery would never have allowed the daughter of a sinner to become a citizen.

The reason Karen was summoned to the monastery was naturally because of the stigmata residing in her body.

He was wounded alone, bled alone, and healed alone.

The followers who practiced secret rituals discovered the girl, and they realized that she possessed some kind of supernatural ability.

That is a high-level medium—a medium that senses the spiritual matter floating around and uses its own body to materialize it in the mortal world.

Once this is realized, the girl's value increases dramatically.

This kind of superpower cannot be cultivated through training. Because it is extremely rare, it naturally has a very high value.

“Karen Ordesia is a rare and exceptional talent. If she were present at the ceremony, we could achieve results that we haven’t been able to obtain until now—”

Based on this report, the Church decided to hand the woman over to the Sido Monastery for management.

However, no matter how valuable a woman is, the church will not allow her to receive the Lord's love.

The girl will be given a room to receive an education and train hard to become God's agent.

That's right, Karen wasn't a nun, but rather someone who was summoned to the convent as a candidate for the role of a proxy.

—She will serve as a weapon of the Holy Church to realize her value.

However, before the girl could adjust to the austere life in the convent, things took a turn for the better.

A certain person enters the Sido Monastery and demands Karen from the monastery.

"This child has the potential to become a saint."

That's what that person said.

"Her abilities should be used to communicate with God and convey the Lord's teachings to the earth—"

"Using it merely as a weapon against demons is such a waste; don't you even understand that?"

Can the child born to a woman who committed suicide become a saint? And be able to convey God's word?

This statement was so outrageous that no one present refuted it.

Even the Cid Monastery, with its long history and numerous outstanding figures, could not refute the other party's authority.

This person held such a revered position within the Holy Church that it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say he was all-powerful.

She was Karen's later mentor.

The woman who took Karen away from the monastery was named "Chiara Kichijoin".

Karen abruptly ended her recollection and stared intently at the red-haired boy before asking a question.

Do you know my master?

"I don't know her. Judging from her name, is she of Japanese descent?"

Hearing him say that, the silver-haired girl narrowed her eyes suspiciously: "You...you really don't recognize me?"

"I already said I don't recognize you." Shirou shook his head, looking completely bewildered.

"........."

Karen looked incredulous, but she didn't press for details and continued explaining.

"My master is a member of an organization known as the 'Burying Agency'."

"Ah! I know that!"

Finally, Shirou has something to say.

The Holy Church's strongest fighting organization, a superhuman group selected from numerous martial arts agents.

Members of this organization possess the strength to fight on par with the "Twenty-Seven Ancestors," who are considered the pinnacle of the vampire race. Sometimes they can even bury their opponents single-handedly, thus they are constantly regarded as legends, fears, and admonitions among the Dead Apostles.

During the Misaki Town incident, it seems that the Burial Agency sent a member, but Shirou had already dealt with the situation before the member arrived, so he did not meet with him.

"The incident in Misaki Town?" Karen frowned slightly.

It's understandable that she didn't know, since it was a history that no longer existed, a secret shared only by Shirou, Aoko, and Arisu.

"Well, if something serious happens in Japan, my master will probably be the one to come."

"A serious accident?"

"The entire city has become a den of vampires, or perhaps the birthplace of a true demon."

"That's it..."

Shirou nervously swallowed.

It is said that even if it were already corrupted by evil spirits, the "Burial Mechanism" could handle the situation if it came—physically, of course.

Shirou said, "Well, in short, you've been following your master ever since then, right?"

"Yes."

Shirou asked curiously, "What exactly does he do? An executor... no, an assistant to the burial agency."

Karen said, "Do nothing."

"what?"

"I did nothing. I was not given any rituals or secrets for exorcising demons, because I was just following my master."

If I had to say something, it would be something like helping with booking plane tickets and hotel rooms.

Shirou frowned: "Just following along? Isn't that just being a regular personal secretary?"

Karen nodded: "Yes."

"Ah... I see, I understand now!"

Shirou recalled what she had mentioned about her special physical condition.