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“Looks like you’re in a good mood today. Something good happen?”

My older sister asked as she looked at my face.

“Ah.”

I quickly raised my hands to feel my face.

My lips were curved into a big smile. I had probably been smiling since the moment I walked in… No, maybe I had been smiling throughout my commute.

Had I been wearing this expression the whole time? That thought made me a bit shy.

Not that my mood was bad; I had a reason to smile.

“Yeah, I met some friends after a long time.”

Right. They were friends.

They were comrades with whom I had entrusted my life, and at the same time, friends with whom I had laughed and cried. In fact, if the situation had been different, we would have just met as friends of the same age.

…Oh, wait. If that was the case, we probably wouldn’t have met at all.

Kalia was the youngest daughter of a duke. A noblewoman whose status was so high that a commoner wouldn’t even dare to speak to her. Even if you set her status aside, she was still the captain of the knights. Just being a knight alone made commoners wary, and she was one of the prominent knights, so there’s no way her status could be considered low.

Dana was the head of the Magic Tower. At such a young age, she had risen to the position of leader in a place filled with terrifying old folks, thanks to her innate talent and constant effort. From a commoner’s perspective, she was a figure of high standing. Moreover, she was buried in her research and hardly ever came out of the tower.

Pia… well, there was no need to explain further. She was the living embodiment of the church’s symbol. While Pia had no sense of class distinction, it was only natural that she couldn’t meet just anyone for her safety.

Arna was an elf. Elves, by nature, didn’t venture far beyond their territories. Aside from the occasional interactions for communication with the kingdom, they had no dealings with commoners whatsoever.

The reason I could meet these four special individuals was that my own status was also special. And the reason my status was special was because of the war between the Demon King’s army and humanity.

It was truly an ironic situation.

“Friends?”

My sister blinked and asked.

“So it seems you don’t get to meet often?”

“Ah, well, they live far away.”

I had to dodge the fact that I came from another world, so I said that. If you think about it, it wasn’t entirely untrue. They lived so far away that it couldn’t even be measured in distance…

“I see.”

My sister smiled gently at my words.

“I’m glad.”

“Yeah?”

“Uh? Oh, no.”

When I asked back, my sister seemed flustered for a moment, then suddenly looked a bit troubled.

“Just…”

But she couldn’t ignore my gaze, and even if she was a bit troubled, she slowly answered.

“Well, when I first saw you, you looked quite anxious. In many ways. You’ve been improving lately, but you look particularly good today. Have you been in touch with friends?”

I hadn’t been in contact at all. The situation made it impossible to communicate.

If my sister thought my condition was gradually improving, it was merely because I had been with her. The more I felt the reality of being here, the more at ease I became.

…Of course, I still had those nightly… um, episodes that kept me awake, always on edge, watching my surroundings.

Speaking of which, I wasn’t alone anymore.

I wondered if I was causing them any worry.

“That’s about it. I finally got to see them.”

“I see. That’s great.”

When my sister smiled brightly at me, I immediately smiled back.

“Ah.”

Then suddenly, I remembered.

The address of the church written in the notebook Dana had given me. It was the address of the church where my sister and I had done volunteer work.

If the pastor of that church was connected to the Goddess, wasn’t it possible that it was the Goddess’s guidance that helped my sister?

“Um, sis.”

But it was a slightly delicate topic. She had said she was helped during her ‘hard times.’

And perhaps my sister’s ‘hard time’ was…

“About that pastor from the church.”

“Yeah.”

“How did you meet him?”

When I asked, my sister’s busy movements preparing the shop slowed down for a moment. But it was just a moment. Her hands quickly returned to their skilled motions as she began preparing for work.

“I see. He is a bit of a special person. He treats even strangers warmly. Is that because of that question back then?”

“Ah, yes.”

To be precise, it wasn’t solely because of that question, but I answered like that for now.

“Um…”

My sister seemed to hesitate.

She looked like she was pondering where to start and how to tell the story.

I wanted to tell her that she didn’t have to say anything difficult if it was too hard, but before I could, she spoke up first.

“There was a time when I was really struggling, and suddenly I sat down on the road to rest.”

“…”

I almost blurted out, “Suddenly?” but held it back. She likely didn’t want to talk about it any further.

From her perspective, I was someone she had just met a little over a month ago. While we had grown somewhat closer, it still wasn’t a relationship where everything was out in the open.

I remembered my sister in that way… and it seemed she remembered me too, but our new relationship couldn’t recall the past.

“That person was the one who spoke to me then. Ever since, he’s helped me with various things… Oh, and this bakery was originally run by the church.”

“Really?”

When I asked with wide eyes, my sister nodded.

“Yep. Isn’t it amazing? A bakery run by the church that looks like it has no religious vibe at all. I once told the kids who came with low-income meal cards not to pay.”

“Ah, yes.”

My sister had said that, but I had never seen those kids. My sister used to say she was worried because the kids who used to come often weren’t seen lately… If that’s the kind of worry she had, it might be valid. I would worry too.

“That’s been ongoing since it was run by the church. Isn’t it incredible?”

“Yeah…”

“The overall management is left to me, and I can keep almost all the profits. However, the condition was that I had to help those in need if they asked for help.”

“….”

“So when I asked why he did so much for someone he had just met, he said he was just returning what he received a long time ago. It’s strange, considering I haven’t done anything.”

Saying that, my sister smiled.

“It’s strange, but even though it’s suspicious enough to refuse, I didn’t doubt the pastor at all. I don’t know why, but that just happened. So I decided to go with it, and well, it’s been a little under four years and I’ve been managing well. I haven’t run into any deficits during that time.”

A little under four years.

In other words, it meant just a little over three years.

That meant my sister had been struggling since I left for more than a year. Perhaps my mom had too.

But before I could feel guilt from that, my sister’s words continued.

“Sometimes I get asked, you know? What happened for him to treat me so well.”

“And then what do you say?”

“I say I’ve received so much that I could never repay it all, no matter how much time goes by. When I asked why he chose me, he just said I would find out slowly.”

My sister said that while giving a gentle smile to me, who looked a bit dazed.

“I know. It sounds like a story straight out of a fairy tale. But it really happened, you know? If you have doubts, you can always ask me about it later during volunteer activities.”

“Ah, no, it’s not that I don’t believe it…”

I was just wondering if the Goddess had considered all of this.

Sometimes, even when it wasn’t a time of prayer, I feel a sense of clarity thinking about the Goddess, like everything beyond my sight brightened. I don’t mean that my visibility actually increased. It’s just… it feels like the Goddess is standing in places beyond my view, looking down at me, and I felt like I could catch a glimpse of her radiance.

That’s the kind of feeling I had right now.

No matter what you do, the Goddess is watching.

So whatever actions you take are never meaningless.

It had been a long time since the teachings of the former hero popped into my head. These teachings were not only those of a hero but also words written in the church’s scriptures.

While I was in that other world, the Goddess had continued to take care of everyone else. Without me even asking for it.

I was glad my sister hadn’t caught the glimmer of moisture in my eyes.

 

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