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"Priest Ain, is something troubling you?"
"Hmm? Oh, no... Nothing too serious."
"If there's anything I can help with, please don't hesitate to ask."
"Thank you, I appreciate it."
Last time, I mentioned that her initial confusion from being brainwashed combined with succumbing to temptation was working well for me.
And that wasn't a lie. It isn't false, but...well...
The part of her struggling with temptation ended up dragging on longer than I expected, and frankly, I got bored...
It's been a week since then, yet Maria continues sniffing my underwear during laundry without taking things any further sexually.
Originally, I figured she'd eventually start masturbating while doing laundry and couldn't hold back anymore.
This is probably due to Maria's inherently serious personality. Despite her lack of popularity, shame, ethics, and various other emotions would prevent her from indulging in self-pleasure outdoors, no matter how unpopular she was. It'll likely take more time to gradually hypnotize those inhibitions away.
When I'm watching her, it feels totally out of the question for me to touch her voluptuous body. Even just some slightly erotic behavior on her part would make this a much more enjoyable experience, but seeing her grimace as she sniffs my underwear has grown tedious over the past week.
It reminds me of when you watch an entire episode of porn where a sexy knight resists falling prey to lust, only catching glimpses here and there. As creatures of desire, men tend to think, Just give in already!
That said, adding new hypnosis instructions so that outdoor masturbation becomes second nature seems like a logical next step. Although, maybe that approach isn't entirely appropriate.
It's best if Maria does everything of her own volition, after all. I'll save this method as a last resort. Yeah, let's wait another month and see what happens before adding anything new.
Just then, however, the mayor approached me with a request: He wanted my help hunting down some bears.
While not quite on par with monsters, these creatures still posed a significant threat to ordinary people. Apparently, despite usually living deep within the forest, some strays had begun appearing near town recently.
Three skilled hunters had already volunteered for the job, but they asked me to come along just in case, since I could heal injuries.
This kind of task was also part of the church's duties—specifically, those of a frontier chapel like ours.
We couldn't afford to hire adventurers every time something came up, so we often had to take care of things ourselves. In exchange, though, we always received free food and other supplies from the community, making it a mutually beneficial arrangement.
Under normal circumstances, I would've reluctantly accepted this offer, but given my current worries about Maria, it was actually quite welcome.
We'd be holed up in the forest for roughly four days. Not only would that give me plenty of time to hone my hypnotic magic, but maybe I could test out another idea as well.
"Thanks again for your help this time, Mr. Priest."
"Oh no, thank you—I must have embarrassed myself terribly with my poor performance in the woods."
"Nah, don't worry about it! The forest is our turf, after all! If anything, we'd lose face if ya did any better than that!"
Since there's nothing particularly interesting about four guys wandering through the woods, allow me to skip ahead.
Suffice it to say, we successfully defeated the bear and emerged unscathed.
Though my motto is always "run away at the first sign of trouble," growing up in this different world—even if it was primarily within the royal capital—has made me tougher than someone from modern Japan, at least physically speaking.
Still, trudging through the forest for four days straight was way too much work and left me completely exhausted. I wasn't going to complain about being afraid of bugs or not being able to sleep outside like I would've back in my previous life, but it sure wore me out. Guess adventuring just isn't for me after all. Nice call, past self, when you stood up to that goddess.
"I'm taking this bear meat to dry first, then bringing some to the church later!"
"Don't forget, we're saving some wine for you, too."
After depositing as much bear meat as I could carry with the local butcher, I set off on my own.
The hunters were planning to continue their feast, but I had more important business to attend to.
"I'm home, Sister Maria."
"Priest Ain!"
Coming from a world where nothing but rough-looking old men caught my eye to return to a church inhabited by a beautiful girl with luscious curves felt like its own reward. But today, that wasn't enough to satisfy me.
"Thank you for keeping things under control while I was away. You've been such a great help."
"I'm glad to see you returned safely, Mr. Priest! You must be tired, so please clean yourself up and take the rest of the day off. Leave everything else to me."
Although the sun had begun its descent, it still wasn't quite time to go to bed yet.
Still, maybe I should indulge myself and follow her advice this once.
"Yes, but first let me change clothes and say my prayers. If I skip four days straight, the goddess might scold me."
"But—"
"It'll only take a moment."
"Mm..." She hesitated briefly.
She's so kind, worrying about me with that slightly more weary smile than usual. Ahh, how badly I want to push her down right now and ravish her body.
I closed the door behind me with one hand and dropped my weary act.
Vigor Magic can take care of fatigue easily enough. It does consume mana, which makes you tired in another sense, but it's hardly anything to worry about.
I shed my traveling priest robes, designed for ease of movement, along with the underwear I'd been wearing for four straight days.
Down to only my freshly laundered spare pair, I dove onto the bed. Not because I was exhausted and ready to sleep or anything—though admittedly, that would have been true, too; I still had plenty of energy left, though.
After spending ten minutes on guard against accidentally dozing off, I heard faint knocks at the door and Maria's voice.
"Priest Ain? Are you okay...? I'm coming in."
If I ignored her voice, she would quietly open the door and enter.
Maria probably thought I had fallen asleep from exhaustion while changing clothes.
"Oh dear...I told you to bathe right away." Despite her words, all I could hear was concern for my well-being.
She gathered up the clothes I'd carelessly discarded, covered me with a blanket, and left the room.
I waited one minute, then two...
"All right, let's go."
Draping my transparent cloak around myself, I stealthily set off after Maria.