“Open wide, ah~”
Slap! Shilo slapped his hands on his burning face, but it still couldn’t stop his mind from wandering.
The scene of the Saintess feeding him not long ago kept replaying in his head, especially her mischievous smile as she deliberately kept shoving food into his mouth, fully aware of how embarrassed he was. That image was particularly vivid.
He took a deep breath, then cupped some river water and splashed it on his face, trying to cool down physically.
Fortunately, that method had some effect. His chaotic thoughts slowly returned to order.
At this moment, Shilo was sitting by a small river near the farm. This river was usually used for irrigation and daily water needs.
Unlike inside the city, everything on the farm required him to be self-sufficient. To avoid running out of water during the day, he usually came here the night before to stock up for the next few days.
As for now, fetching water was just a side task. The real reason was that he couldn’t bear the Saintess’s gaze anymore. After dinner, he made an excuse and fled here.
“Seriously, isn’t that my house?” Shilo felt utterly speechless.
He had lost count of how many times he’d asked that question.
It felt like, without realizing it, he was the one who had become the temporary resident, while the Saintess acted without any hesitation.
He let out a helpless sigh and started filling two super-sized water buckets beside him. Once they were full, he planned to transport the water back to the farm’s storage device.
That device was something he had bought from an alchemist in the city, spending quite a bit of money. One full refill was enough for the farm’s basic operations for two to three days.
Shilo lifted the buckets and prepared to head back, when suddenly he felt a stir in his divine power. Calming down and focusing on it, he sensed that it was conveying a message to him.
It seemed to be… a direction?
He looked in the direction indicated by his divine power.
There was nothing in the middle of the river except the silvery shimmer of moonlight on the surface and an occasional bubble from a fish.
Just as he was feeling puzzled, the divine power grew even more agitated, almost forcefully driving him to walk toward the center of the river.
With no other choice, Shilo set down the buckets and followed its prompting.
The water level wasn’t high—about chest-deep. Fighting against the water’s resistance, he soon reached the middle of the river.
As he got closer, he suddenly noticed a golden radiance appearing in his vision.
It emitted a dazzling light, quietly resting on the river’s surface. Everything around it seemed to lose its color.
Now, without needing the divine power to relay any more information, Shilo felt a call.
A call that seemed to come from the depths of his soul.
That light was calling out to him!
Shilo didn’t understand, but he didn’t need to. His body instinctively reacted.
He reached out his hand, trying to grasp the light…
The moment he held the light, everything around him turned pitch black, and his consciousness seemed to sink into the abyss along with it.
Right before his consciousness faded, he thought he heard someone laughing beside him.
……
The next day, early morning.
Lintis yawned, pushed open the door, and walked downstairs.
After washing up, she habitually looked for Shilo in the living room. Finding no one, she belatedly remembered yesterday’s events.
“Oh… Mr. Shilo must be outside…” Lintis murmured to herself.
With that, she left the wooden house and went to the farm’s open space. She walked around the entire farm but still didn’t find Shilo.
This made her a little puzzled.
She forced her still-drowsy brain to recall last night’s events.
A key image came to mind: Mr. Shilo, face red, running away while carrying two ridiculously oversized water buckets.
While running, he was muttering something about needing to fetch water for the farm.
Lintis’s eyes lit up. She lightly punched her palm with her fist, as if suddenly understanding.
She began to follow the direction Shilo had taken last night.
Soon, she discovered a river about 200 or 300 meters away, and also noticed the two water buckets placed on the bank.
And there, lying on the bank, hands folded over his stomach, looking very peaceful, was Mr. Shilo.
Lintis was momentarily stunned, but quickly sighed in relief. She pouted her lips and walked over, a little annoyed.
Getting closer, she noticed that Mr. Shilo was completely soaked, and his hands looked pale and wrinkled. She blinked.
‘Could it be… Mr. Shilo played in the water all night?’
‘Pfft… how childish~’
Lintis showed a bright smile, crouched beside Shilo, and poked his cheek with her finger.
While poking, she said, “Hello? Hello? Mr. Shilo, time to wake up~”
Shilo’s eyelids twitched immediately. The next second, he slowly opened his eyes. Looking at the Saintess, his gaze was full of confusion.
“Saintess… how did I get here?”
“Hmm?” Lintis tilted her head. “Mr. Shilo, shouldn’t you be asking yourself that? How did you end up sleeping by the river? Be careful, you might get rheumatism~”
“? What’s that?”
“It’s a disease~”
Shilo was silent for a moment, but didn’t dwell on it too much. After all, the Saintess did know a lot of things he didn’t.
He was now trying to recall last night’s events, attempting to find an answer for himself.
Unfortunately, his memory only stretched as far as grasping that radiance, after which there was not a single image…
Also…
Shilo twitched the corner of his mouth and looked at Lintis. Under her curious gaze, he slowly spoke:
“Saintess, could you please stop poking? Even if you’re getting back at me, you’ve been poking for too long.”
“Oh my~” Lintis blinked, then smiled and withdrew her hand.
Then she stood up and extended her hand to Shilo. Without hesitation, he took it firmly and used the leverage to stand up.
Immediately after, he naturally started moving his body. His joints cracked softly, announcing his awakening.
A hint of disappointment appeared on Lintis’s face. ‘Holding hands doesn’t seem to tease Mr. Shilo anymore…’
“Saintess?”
“Huh? Ah!” Lintis was startled, snapped back to reality, and looked at Shilo with a mix of guilt and feigned composure.
“Really, don’t shout like that all of a sudden!”
“?”
Shilo scratched his head. ‘Was I that loud?’ ‘Did my vocal control slip too?’
Seeing his reaction, Lintis let out a sigh of relief and continued, “Alright, alright, stop thinking. So, what happened last night?”
Shilo, still doubting himself, didn’t notice Lintis’s unusual behavior and continued along with her question.
“…After dinner last night, I went to fetch water. I had already filled the buckets and was about to leave, when suddenly my divine power told me to go into the river.”
“Then I found a very special radiance in the middle of the river. I tried to grab it, and then I passed out.”
“When I regained consciousness, it was when you woke me up, Saintess.”
Lintis blinked, looking confused.
“Mr. Shilo, what do you mean ‘divine power told you to go into the river’?”
Shilo replied matter-of-factly, “It means they told me to go there.”
“……” Lintis fell silent.
Slowly, a strange look of guilt and sympathy appeared in her eyes as she looked at Shilo.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Shilo. I didn’t realize I was putting so much mental pressure on you that you had to rely on hallucinations to relieve stress…”
“How about… I let you hold my hand again…”
Shilo: “???”