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Chapter 2

A stained glass can’t respond to people’s worries.

In the end, I spent the night inside the empty room where I stayed and greeted the morning sun the next day.
Even though my mind was clouded over, the sky outside was clear and beautiful.

I recall the events that happened yesterday.

『If you get hurt, give up everything and go back to the village.』

……Good grief, it made me feel more miserable.

What Vince was saying ended up being the truth.
Emmy was only holding her shield with her left hand. And she didn’t even counterattack since she didn’t hold a weapon.
Then just like that, I went to land a blow on her and was probably blown away by some skill as a result.
After that, I passed out, and …… well, they must have been left because I passed out.

Emmy especially, I don’t know what face I should make if I see her again.
She’s too kind of a woman and even she would be troubled choosing words to comfort me.

……what happened, happened. That’s all I can say.

I had a feeling that this was going to happen sooner or later.
It just happened to be today.

***

After spending some time alone, I left the inn and walked through the crowded streets.
I touch my chest on top of the white robe, fluttering in the wind, which I still feel doesn’t suit me.
The tag that I made when I formed the adventurer party is no longer there.
……Well, I can’t use that anymore since I’m no longer in that party.

On the way to the south gate, I passed by the church.
Thinking back, this is where the selection ceremony is held, isn’t it?
I can still remember it like it was yesterday.

『T-This is…!? What a tremendous gift this is!』

Even the priest who was in charge of us was surprised.
It goes to show just how special the jobs we received were.

『I can’t believe there’s even 【Saint】 among you! This is truly a blessed occasion!』

Before me, there was another 【Saint】 who was active twenty years ago.
She was quite famous and honestly, I’m a little proud of myself for becoming someone who bears the same job as her…… or at least I was, in the past.

I thought about entering the church for the last time, but when I saw the stained glass majestically perched above the door, I left the place silently.

The Goddess.

The stained glass window is in the shape of the Goddess.
Although it’s not very detailed due to the cutout-like color combination nature of stained glass, you can see a woman with blonde hair clad in a pure white chiton in it and when the sun shone its light at it, she manifests as colored light inside the church.

I wonder what kind of existence the Goddess is.
Why did she give me a job as a 【Saint】 when I’ve been wielding a sword all my life?

I wonder if Emmy and I would have our job switched if she had been reading with Jannett instead of taking the branches out of the tree that time.

Come to think of it, I don’t know anything about the whimsical being called the Goddess.
Even if I asked the Goddess in the stained glass, she wouldn’t give me an answer, and I wouldn’t ask anyway just because the different light colors manifested in the church resemble the depiction of the Goddess.
No one could answer even if I ask whether I’m really needed or not.

The church is just there, unchanged, along with the Goddess.
But I can tell that one thing has changed in me.

I have grown to hate the existence called the Goddess.

After buying the necessities for a light trip, I headed to my hometown village from the south gate.

I used to be full of hope when I passed this path…… but those days are far away now.
In the end, I’ve never been to my hometown once since I left for the city after all.

After walking for a while, I found a child crouching on the side of the road.
That’s… if I remember correctly, isn’t she the daughter of the owner of the bean field back in the village?
She should be around four years old. It’s not safe for a girl her age to be out here alone.

「Hello there. What’s wrong?」

When I call out to her, the girl looks up at me with tears in her eyes.

「Uu….. Sob…. uuu….. 」

「Did something happen?」

「Mom… My mom is… sob…」

She suddenly starts crying again after saying that much.
I don’t really get it but… It can’t be helped. I don’t have anything else to do anyway, so I guess I’ll listen to her troubles.

I waited until she stopped crying and she lowered her face after she calmed down.

「I-I’m sorry, for crying suddenly.」

「Don’t worry about it. More importantly, why are you crying? What happened?」

The girl, who had calmed down, slowly began to tell me what happened.

Apparently, this girl’s mother is sick.
And because of this, she slipped out of the village to get some help.
……For the time being, I decided to hit the gatekeeper of the village later.

「Where is your father?」

「I… don’t have a father.」

The cause of the disease is unknown, and the girl’s family, which seems to be only her and her mother, doesn’t have enough money to bring a priest.
I see. So she came out alone without a plan to call for help from anyone she could find, huh.

「….. I’m actually from Adria village, and I assumed you are too, right? Let’s go back to the village together now and let me take a look at your mother’s condition, okay?」

「Eh? Umm… can you cure her disease?」

「I don’t know… but, I can cast healing magic on her at least. It’s better than nothing.」

「….But, we don’t have any money.」

「So you had gone through enough hardship to understand that, huh? Don’t worry, I’m not going to ask you to give me something you don’t have. Also, a little girl like you shouldn’t worry about money.」

It costs money to hire a priest for treatment.
So normally, it’s impossible to give treatment for free.

It might be weird coming from me, but after what happened to me recently, I have some mixed feelings inside about it.
But, as expected, I am not so cold-hearted that I can just return to the orphanage like nothing after leaving a person who grew up in the same village to die.

Besides… I don’t use the 【Saint】 magic at all these days, and I’m afraid that my skill will get rusty if I don’t use it once in a while.

Like this, I headed toward the village with the girl by my side.