CHAPTER 3.5: HER HOLINESS’ INTRODUCTION TO WORK-OUT

***A few ‘long sleeps’ back…***

“I don’t want to be seen like this!” Her Holiness cried out desperately as Kuro and Lily watched her go on her tantrums, “I’m fat and ugly now!”

“Well, if I may be honest Your Holiness…” Kuro was quick to add, “Even though you’re like that, you’re still cute—”

“Silence! I don’t want anyone of you patronizing me!” the Saint declared in-between her sobs, “I can’t be seen by anyone else! They’ll compare me to my beautiful old self, and then they’d think that I wasted my figure!”

“…” Kuro and Lily could only exchange amused looks.

“See? You guys are making fun of me!”

“Come on, Maddie! Pull yourself together!” Lily sat beside her wailing friend, “We can still do something about your figure, I think?”

“Yep, you know, back in my world, we do this thing called ‘exercise’ or ‘work-out’,” Kuro explained as he showed some movements before them, “It’s a strenuous physical activity, intending to wear you down and making you sweat like crazy. In the process, you’ll lose the deposits of fats in your body.”

Her Holiness suddenly stood up and grabbed Kuro in an iron-vice grip, “Tell me how to do it! I’m desperate here, see?” Her bloodshot eyes and threatening aura gave him the chills.

“Well, for starters, we have to keep you on moving around. There’s this activity called jogging,” Kuro showed how it was done, “It goes like this…”

Naturally, the Saint and Lily (as she was interested as well) copied what he was doing. Then Kuro slowly increased the jog rate, which they also emulated. However, a few moments later, and the Saint was back on her bed, bewailing about her woes once again.

“I can’t do it; jogging is exhausting!”

“Well, it’s expected. You’re not that active in your lifestyle, eh,” Kuro tried consoling her, “However, we’re going to start it lightly; then increase the intensity of your work-out, as—”

“I won’t do it!” Her Holiness kept on rambling about her pathetic self, “How can you make me do that tedious activity? I’d rather eat cake!”

At that moment, Kuro felt something snap in his head. He grabbed the Saint on her shoulders in a vice-grip and propped her up in the bed. It was now her turn to be creeped out. “If you don’t shape up soon, you’ll be a pig for the rest of your life,” Kuro furiously whispered, “Would you rather like us to call you names like that?”

“Alright. So, where should we jog?” Her Holiness reconsidered faster than anyone could say ‘knife’.

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Ah, anyway, so you might wonder how the Human Saint could get inside the carriage when she didn’t want to be seen in her current form.

Well, the answer to that was Her Holiness was in disguise. You see, back when Kuro and Lily were trying to convince her to take a break, the Saint pointed out this situation as an excuse to stay. Lily, however, saw through her friend’s intention and implied that she could go out in disguise for some time. Kuro got wind of that quick and she was again bombarded by pleas to get herself back into shape.

The plan worked. For everyone else who didn’t know the Saint’s secret, she looked normal as before. Her Holiness was vain with her physical appearance—just like her ancestor, and she had to put on a magic disguise every time she went out in public.

“…”

You may ask, ‘Why didn’t she use it during the seasonal mass?’ It’s because Her Holiness wasn’t that much well-versed in that kind of magic. She’s always used to showing herself in public gatherings and doing things like that was a complete character change from her.

Lily even had difficulty in convincing Her Holiness to use it just for her to come out of her room.

She could only keep up her ‘slim disguise’ for some time—not like the Beastman Saint who even fooled a noble in Arles about her being a male slave. And so, aware of those conditions, Kuro had suggested that while she kept up her ‘fake appearance’ to others, he’d help her trim back her old figure as long as time permitted it.

“Maddie! Have you already put on your disguise?” Lily asked as she helped Maddie put on her exercise clothes.

“Mmm…I did,” she would answer in a half-asleep manner while rubbing her eyes, “Lily, do we have to do this every time?”

“Mister Kuro says you should do some stretches before you go on jogging! Good thing he knows what to do in your situation…else, that would be the end of the beautiful, slim Maddie that I know.”

“Mmm…mmm…” Her Holiness’ eyes were still droopy from the sleep.

“Well, you haven’t put on your disguise! I could still see how fat you are!”

“!!!”

The Saint would become roused from her sleep by those words. It seemed the word ‘fat’ was the key-word to make her move.

Well, most ladies have that kind of ability, though…

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“Alright, Your Holiness!” Kuro met her with a big smile at the courtyard in front of the Saint’s Chambers, “I guess you’re ready for—what the heck is with that dress?”

“It’s what you’ve requested for, Mister Kuro!” Lily protested, “You told me that Her Holiness has to meet you here with her work clothes on.”

“Uhh…Lily, I said that she has to come here in her ‘work clothes’ but I think I made a mistake. Her Holiness’ work clothes aren’t the type that can be used for the activity that we’re about to do. Do you think she could run in that long, cumbersome, holy gown?”

“Oh? So, you mean, that ‘jogging’ you’re talking about is actually ‘running’?”

“It’s a level lower than running, but she has to move freely, all the same. Please make her wear clothes that give her that freedom of movement.”

“Oh, okay I got it.” The Head Maid then quickly led Her Holiness back into her room to change. A few moments later, they came back, with the Saint wearing a much shorter version of her earlier dress.

“…”

“So, what do you think, Mister Kuro?” Lily asked. Her Holiness’ face was red, and she was squirming when she came into his view.

“…”

“Mister Kuro?”

“Ah yes! Right, now, where was I?”

“Are you okay?”

“Y-yeah. It’s just that I’m thinking of something else.”

“Oh, alright,” Lily nodded, “So is this set of clothes okay?”

“Uhm…ye-yes!” he replied, red as a beet. Well, Kuro couldn’t keep himself from blushing the moment he saw the Saint in the shorter version of her dress. Even though she’s in her disguise, her ample breasts were still bulging out, and her legs displayed their smooth white splendor.

To be honest, the Human Saint looks like a cute cheerleader right now. And Kuro’s mind was going haywire…

‘Come on, Kuro, she’s still a child.’, he kept telling himself, ‘She’s a kid.’

Even so, Kuro’s battle with his hidden urges was a losing one…

‘Come on, Kuro, she’s wearing a disguise!’, he then changed tactics, ‘The Saint is a fat slob!’

“!!!”

A flying tree branch then hit Kuro in the head, much to Lily’s surprise. Her Holiness just stood by, watching him, her face was red in embarrassment and irritation.

It seems like Kuro has forgotten that she can read minds.

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Well, anyway, after making sure that Kuro didn’t hurt himself that much from the flying tree branch—maybe Her Holiness healed him discreetly; they continued on their ‘work-out’.

“Your Holiness, always count one to eight and then back every time you do this so that you can keep track of your progress.”

“One, two, three…haaa…” the Saint counted in-between her labored breaths, “Four, five…haa…six…”

“Louder!”

“Seven! Eight!”

They went around the palatial gardens in circles, resting at different intervals so that Her Holiness didn’t exhaust herself too much. Lily watched them from a distance, with a pitcher of water on standby in case they needed it.

“Hey, Head Maid, what is Her Holiness doing? She looks so tired!” the little maid, Eris, asked her out of curiosity.

“Oh, hello, Eris! Well, Mister Kuro was helping Her Holiness keep her beauty,” she replied. Of course, no one who knew about it would dare speak of the Saint’s physical condition right now, on the pain of being cursed for his, or her, entire lifetime.

“Ahh…how does running slowly like that while counting loudly help?”

“Hmm…according to Mister Kuro, it’s called ‘jogging’. And what they are currently doing is part of what he calls a ‘physical work-out’. He explained to me earlier that doing such kind of activity from time to time burns fat in our body and keeps our figures in a healthy, slim shape.”

“Oh…”

“That’s what he said. Also, Mister Kuro has told me that there were more things like that, that can be done to tone our bodies properly.”

“Hmm…Mister Kuro has strange, but brilliant ideas in his mind.”

“Indeed, he is. That’s why he’s a very important person for us.”

The Head Maid and Eris kept on watching the pair continue with their activity until they eventually went to rest. For several ‘long sleeps’ they did the same thing repeatedly, which was only interrupted when the time to go to the Saint’s hometown finally arrived.

“…”

However, for the young maidens of the Holy Palatial Gardens, Kuro’s ‘physical work-out’ became a hot topic. And soon, battalions of maids and guards could be seen ‘jogging’ around the palatial grounds, to keep their bodies ‘beautiful and slim’.