Chapter 62: Assume

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Which seemed to comfort her more than any words could have. Getting a resolute glint in her eyes, she looked at Rias and informed her, "I came here after being exiled from the church."

"Exiled? Why were you exiled?" Rias immediately asked.

Asia fiddled with the nun attire she had changed to as she explained shyly, "I-I was abandoned in front of a church as a baby. I was raised in the way of the lord. When I was eight, I found an injured dog. I prayed to god in hopes that he would heal it, and something amazing happened. The dog healed. When the priests and nuns found out what I did, I was sent to a larger church. I was then told to heal the injuries of the Christians that came from all over the world. I was happy that my power could be used to help people. I was called The Holy Priestess. After a few years though, I came upon an injured devil. I healed him. That devil then attacked and killed a father. When everyone found out what I did, I was called a witch. My power, which was previous praised, was now considered heretical since it could be used to heal devils."

Naruto interrupted by wrapping his arm around her shoulders. When she looked at him, he exclaimed indignantly, "Then they're idiots. They decided to change their minds because they didn't like a particular aspect of your ability. Instead of focusing on the good, they only cared about the bad. That's their loss. You are a good girl with an amazing power. They must be blind to not see that."

Asia blushed and muttered while poking her index fingers together, "T-Thank you, Naruto-san, but it is because of me that the father died."

"No, it's because of the devil. He's the one who killed that man," Naruto asserted strongly before continuing her, "You are guilty of nothing more than being a healer. You didn't care about that person's species. Only that he was injured. That is the trait of a good healer. You received that Twilight Healing for a reason, Asia-chan. You were born with the heart of a true healer, and the Twilight Healing is only a manifestation of that."

Asia was clearly happy at his words, but Asia interrupted by Rias saying, "I'm sorry for interrupting your moment, but we really need to get back to business." She wasn't too happy about Naruto and Asia having a moment right in front of her.

Asia blushed and quickly said, "S-Sorry."

"It's fine. Just please get back to your story," Rias told her brusquely, still not too happy.

"Right…I was soon cast out of the church. I had nowhere to go. I was lost and without purpose. I was then found by a man. He said that the fallen angels were willing to take me in. I had no other options, and accepted. I was given a plane ticket to this town, and told to report to the church," Asia claimed before saying regretfully, "I had no idea what they were planning. When I found out Father Freed had killed that man, I was horrified and scared. I had met Naruto-san before, and knew him to be a good person. So I willingly went with him."

"I see. I'd heard about The Holy Priestess, but I hadn't heard she'd been excommunicated. Makes sense. The church wouldn't want to broadcast an event like that," Rias muttered thoughtfully. She then turned to Raynare and asked, "And how did you come into this?"

Raynare frowned before admitting, "I'd long been interested in using the ritual to take a sacred gear. It was well known. A few weeks ago I was given a letter detailing the information that the holder of Twilight Healing would be coming to this town. It said that arrangements had been made to ensure I would be without supervision for a short time. I was to come here and take charge of this situation with whatever allies I could gather. The stray exorcists were already here when I arrived. I was to use the ritual to remove her Sacred Gear. It then said I would receive Twilight Healing as a reward."

Rias quickly asked, "Who sent you the letter?"

Raynare reluctantly admitted at that, "It didn't say."

Naruto was the one to pipe in with, "And you didn't find that at all suspicious?"

Raynare frowned at the intent behind the question and explained in annoyance, "That is what I meant by saying a fog was lifted from my mind earlier. I could finally see that all my decisions for the past century have been foolish. Full of arrogance. The intent behind them fits my goals, but the methods were clearly flawed. I wasn't thinking clearly. Currently I can clearly see I was being set up for something. At the time I simply figured it was a higher ranked fallen angel who wanted to strengthen our faction by gaining powerful sacred gears. Azazel-sama has forbidden using the ritual, and many fallen angels dislike that. The secrecy was to prevent them from being implicated as well. Truthfully though, I didn't even think about it much. The temptation of gaining Twilight Healing was enough for me to throw away any suspicions I might have had."

Rias stayed silent as she leaned against her desk. Thinking for a few more moments, she declared seriously, "It appears that someone was manipulating all of this. Considering the person Naruto sensed was mad at him, we can assume they were wanting Asia to die having her sacred gear extracted. For what purpose we don't know. It must be a group with considerable influence though to have organized all those stray exorcists and prevented the Grigori from investigating your absence. A group of fallen angels could have done it. The church probably could have orchestrated it as well."

"What? The church wouldn't do that," Asia protested immediately.

"It makes sense. You were a great asset for them, but having you wander around after having you excommunicated would be a sign of weakness for the faithful.

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