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"Western names stay as they are." Issei clarified for her. "It's nice to meet you Asia-san. I'm Hyōdō Issei, but you can just call me Issei."
"Issei-san." Asia smiled. "It's very nice to meet you as well. Please, just call me Asia."
Seeing the suitcase at her feet, the Sekiryūtei asked, "So have you only just arrived in Kuō, Asia?"
"Y-Yes. I've only been in the country for a few says and the town for a few hours, but...I'm..." the nun (she had to be with the outfit she was wearing) blushed slightly. "...I'm...sort of...lost. I was assigned to a church in this town and I can't read kanji very well."
Issei was going to die from a cuteness overload, he was certain. How could one girl be so damned cute?!
"Ahem. Do you have the address written down?" he asked her once he brought himself under control. "I've lived here all my life, so I should be able to tell you where it is."
The blond girl brightened up at his offer before reaching into the leather bag she had on her hip. After rummaging around inside it for a moment, she produced a slip of paper that she passed to him.
'This is the old abandoned church near the edge of the hills. It's been left unattended since I was a kid.' Issei frowned as he read the address. 'There are at least two other churches just outside of Kuō that are newer, and are more easily accessible to worshippers, so why send someone to try and restart this one? I smell something fishy going on...'
Asia seemed way too innocent to try and deceive him, so it was possible that she was legitimately being sent to this church by whatever denomination of Christianity she had taken vows with, but it didn't add up. The other churches had at least one priest and at least four nuns apiece.
"Are you being sent ahead to set things up, Asia?" he asked as he put on a face of pondering.
"No, I'm being sent to help the priest that's already stationed there, Father Freed Sellzen." the nun replied.
And that was another incongruity. Asia was Italian, while this Freed character (the man's name gave Issei a sense of unease for some reason) sounded Italian as well. Why was a Japanese church supposedly being run by a foreigner when the other two churches nearby were run by native Japanese? Add in her [Excommunicated Holy Priestess] title and it was clear that something was afoot.
Due to your clearly out-of-character good reasoning, insight and paranoia, you gain +5 WIS and INT!
'Damned Sacred Gear!' Issei thought crossly before returning his attention to Asia.
"I'm sorry, but is it possible you have the wrong address, Asia?" he asked. "This belongs to an abandoned church that's been unused since I was a child."
"I-I'm sure it's the right address, Issei-san." Asia seemed to droop unhappily.
For whatever reason, he really, really didn't want Asia to go to this church. It was however not possible to just say, 'Oh, I have a really bad feeling about this church, Asia, so don't go there.' As nice as Asia was, it was always possible she'd take offence at him saying that for no reason.
"OK then, I'll lead you there." Issei said with a sigh. "But I want you to be careful, Asia. I'm getting a bad feeling about that church. There have been a lot of strange things going on around here recently, and an abandoned church all of a sudden getting staffed is another one."
"I'll be careful, Issei-san." the sweet girl promised.
"OK..." Issei was reluctant, but he had promised.
Leading her through the part and streets of Kuō Town, he watched Asia looking around in childish wonder at what was to him just his hometown. He got the impression of quite a bit of naïveté regarding regular, everyday life from the girl. That wasn't the most astonishing thing about her though; before they had left the park, she had healed a young boy using what he could tell was a Sacred Gear of some sort!
'Sacred Gears were created by the Christian God of the Bible, and Asia has one that is possibly very useful, so why excommunicate her?' Issei wondered, hiding his agitation from the blissfully unaware Asia. 'They obviously once valued her highly if the 'Holy Priestess' part of her title is accurate. What on earth could an innocent and sweet girl like Asia possibly have done to justify excommunication?'
He felt very indignant on Asia's behalf.
Eventually, they came to a halt in front of the abandoned church. It sat atop a hill, with steps leading up to its large double doors. Back when he had been a kid, he'd had a Christian friend whose father, a priest, had occasionally invited the Hyōdō family to attend church. Shortly after another one of the priests, Yaegaki Masaomi, had died in mysterious circumstances, his friend and their family had moved to England.
He missed Rin.
Anyway, the bad feeling he had about the church redoubled as a pop-up appeared in front of him.
[Dungeon Discovered!]
You have discovered the dungeon [Nest of the Fallen] (LV35)!
You gain 400 EXP!
Do you wish to enter this Dungeon?
Warning: Entering this dungeon whilst being three or more levels beneath the minimum level displayed is dangerous to your life!
Y|N
Well now, that was just the icing on the cake, wasn't it? Well, at least he knew where the Fallen in town were hiding out. Now the question was whether they were of Kokabiel's Faction of the Grigori or not. Also, it explained why Asia was here; being excommunicated by the Church meant that she had nowhere to go and, rather than join the devils, the Grigori would seem to be a more reasonable group. He just really, really hoped that whoever was in charge here wouldn't be cruel to Asia.
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