episode_0002

Saint Sistina had people divide clothes and food for me.

Her act of helping me was noticed by others who came to the church.

“Oh… as expected of Saint Sistina…!”

“To extend a helping hand even to a filthy man like him!”

Maybe I should change my name at this point.

To just be a walking human trash.

Anyway, thanks to her, I was able to escape the brink of starving to death on the streets.

I washed myself in the well behind the church and put on the clothes the priests had prepared for me.

“Well, from now on, you will clean the churchyard and interior in the morning and evening.”

A trainee priest who looked much younger than me handed me a broom and a mop, instructing me.

Instead of letting me wander aimlessly, the church hired me as a janitor in exchange for providing me with meals.

For someone like me with no foundation in this world, it was a grateful offer.

There was no reason to refuse.

But there was something that bothered me.

Why did Saint Sistina not wear underwear?

To think that such a beautiful and holy saint did not wear underwear.

Could it be a teaching of the Freya goddess served in this church?

Do all the priests here not wear underwear?

It’s so concerning that I can’t bear it.

“Hey! Stop daydreaming and clean properly!”

A priest shouted at me as I stood with a broom in the churchyard.

Except for Saint Sistina, the gazes from the people in the church towards me were not pleasant.

It was only natural since they had picked up a beggar who was wearing tattered clothes from the street.

Still, being nitpicked and harassed every time I cleaned did not make me feel good.

“Lucky to have ended up working as a janitor in the church, Yunoa was full of complaints without knowing his place.”

Ah, okay, got it.

I can at least lament my fate a little.

Listening to the narration that sounded like a dagger being stabbed, I diligently cleaned the churchyard.

* * *

Saint Sistina visits the church once a week to pray.

On the day she comes, you can witness the miracle of the priests who were harsh suddenly becoming kind.

The miracle of stale, twisted bread turning into meat and fruit every day.

At this rate, to me, it was like an angel descending once a week.

“Yunoa, how do you find life in the church?”

After finishing her duties at the church, Sistina would come to me and ask.

Then the surrounding priests would focus their gaze on me as if shooting rays from their eyes.

It was a silent pressure not to speak nonsense.

Honestly, it’s pretty shitty without Saint.

I want to say that, but I hold back.

The church is also an organization.

I knew well that voicing complaints as a non-regular janitor who hadn’t even reached the bottom of this organization would only bring disadvantages.

To at least get a meal every day and not fall back into being a beggar on the street, some patience is necessary.

“Thanks to you, I eat well and it’s good. I can’t thank Saint enough.”

“I’m glad. May the protection of the goddess be with you as well.”

Sistina replied to me with a warm smile.

My heart raced as the unrealistic beauty made me dizzy.

Is this saint really… not wearing any underwear?

I couldn’t bear the curiosity about her true self hidden in the modest priestly attire.

* * *

The life of a church janitor is tough.

Before I started working as a janitor, there were no janitors here.

So, who did the cleaning originally? It was the duty of the trainee priests who were in training to become full-fledged priests.

There were about 8 trainee priests in the church, and they all used to do the cleaning together. Now that I was doing it alone, it was like a living hell.

After finishing the morning and evening cleaning, I slept on straw in a small shed in the churchyard.

Inside the church, there were empty rooms for trainee priests or guests from afar to use, but I was never given such a room.

At first, I was just grateful for being provided with food and a place to sleep, considering I had nothing.

But as time passed, the priests didn’t clean up after themselves, meals became scarce, and I started to wonder if this was right.

Especially difficult to endure was how the trainee priests, with blood still not dry on their heads, treated me.

They would push all the church cleaning and chores onto me, and were the most diligent in tormenting me.

“Hey, there’s still dust here!”

One of the trainee priests climbed a ladder to reach a high window, wiped the window frame with his finger, and showed me a tiny speck of dust, shouting.

“I cleaned there this morning. That kind of dust will keep coming back if you keep wiping it with your finger.”

“Why are you talking back to the priestess who serves the goddess and is attached to the church?”

“…I’ll clean it again.”

It was always like this.

Even though they would have to take care of the church cleaning themselves if I were gone, these guys knew nothing about symbiosis.

What kind of priests are they, serving the goddess?

If I were the goddess, I would have struck lightning on each of their dried-up heads.

Tsk.

* * *

The city known as the adventurer’s city, Bynar.

And I was in the church serving the Freya goddess in Bynar.

As I got used to cleaning the church, bits and pieces of conversations among the priests and worshippers started to reach my ears.

Except for when the trainee priests were nitpicking, my presence in this place was almost like air, making it possible.

Listening to various stories, sometimes a narration would play in my head.

Of course, the narration mostly mocked my status or used factual violence, as usual.

But amidst the unpleasant content, there were bits of information that were impossible to know otherwise.

Like the shocking fact that Sister Sistina doesn’t wear underwear.

“Yunoa was fixated on Sister Sistina’s underwear until the end. With nothing to his name, all that remained was his base instincts as a vulgar male.”

No, no, it’s not like that.

Honestly, Sistina is so beautiful that such thoughts might cross my mind, but don’t describe people as if they’re left with only base instincts like beasts.

She’s not just anyone, she’s a sister, and the fact that she doesn’t wear underwear is intriguing.

Damn narration.

But thanks to the narration, I learned many new facts, so what can you do.

Especially impressive was the role of the sister.

“Bishop Javiel was anxious that Sister Sistina had not yet found a hero despite offering prayers every week.”

Bishop Javiel was the highest-ranking person in the church where I was.

Always wearing a priest hat that looked uncomfortable on his head, a middle-aged man in a flashy priest robe that looked like it would suffocate him in the summer.

He rarely showed himself, but would come to the church only on the days when Sister Sistina came to pray.

“Sister, the hero has not appeared yet?”

After Sister Sistina finished praying, Bishop Javiel would always ask her the same question.

The narration about Bishop Javiel being anxious came at this moment.

“The goddess has not given an answer yet.”

“Is that so…”

Disappointment was evident on Bishop Javiel’s face.

“The role of the sister, as determined through the divine contract, was to find the hero, one among the countless people in this world. But now, after several months of not receiving an answer from the goddess, Bishop Javiel was becoming anxious.”

A hero…

“Yunoa, who barely manages to make ends meet as a church janitor, wondered if he might be the hero himself.

However, contrary to his fleeting delusions filled with vain hopes, Yunoa was definitely not a hero.

As soon as he mulled over the word ‘hero,’ a curse immediately came to mind.

Well, that’s right. I didn’t expect anything.

Now, even if I hear such words, I honestly don’t feel much excitement.

If you hear curses a lot, you become immune to them.

By the way, even this church, which outwardly appears peaceful, has its own complicated circumstances.

Seeing Bishop Javiel anxiously worried about Sister Sistina not finding the hero, it makes you wonder.

Could there be an important reason why the hero needs to be found quickly?

Although I was slightly curious about the story related to the hero, I soon put an end to my thoughts.

It’s not a problem that I, who is not a hero according to the narration, should deeply involve myself in.

“Mr. Yunoa.”

While pondering various thoughts and sweeping the floor, Sister Sistina called my name from behind.

Is she trying to ask about my well-being again? I turn around to look at her.

“Thank you for always working hard to keep the church clean. The church is large, so you must be working hard. Surely, Lady Freya, the goddess, will be pleased with your efforts.”

Sistina smiled warmly at me and handed me a small pouch from her bosom.

“What is this…?”

“This is a small reward I give on behalf of the church. You are dedicating yourself to the church more than what the church provides.”

Opening the pouch slightly, I saw that there were some silver coins inside.

In fact, I thought it was a bit unfair.

I’m doing all the cleaning that eight people used to do alone, and yet, I don’t receive a single penny under the pretext of providing room and board.

Isn’t it a bit like exploiting a slave under the guise of helping them get out of the street life?

“Thank you! Thank you so much.”

I sincerely thanked the Sister.

Ah, she truly deserved to be called a saint.

* * *

“How much is this?”

“5 gold.”

As I look around at the swords stuck in the large wooden barrel, I ask about the price.

The owner of the weapon shop, seeming disinterested, only answers my question without making a sale.

Thanks to Sister Sistina’s care, I suddenly came into some money, and I pondered for a while on how to spend it.

Since church cleaning is only done in the morning and evening, I took some time off at noon to come to a nearby shop.

Should I go to a restaurant and have a proper meal?

Should I buy some new clothes?

After much consideration, I decided to invest in the future by aiming to become an adventurer since I came to this world.

But as I arrived at the weapon shop…

“Do you have anything cheaper?”

I never expected the price of a sword to be this high.

The money I received from Sistina was 30 silver coins.

However, most swords started at a minimum price of 1 gold.

The owner of the weapon shop, no longer responding to my questions, lazily pointed to a corner of the shop as if annoyed.

There, swords labeled ‘used’ were haphazardly packed in a large box.

Some swords had no scabbards, and some were on the verge of breaking with gold on the blade.

“There’s nothing decent here.”

“Unable to give up on his dream of becoming an adventurer, Yunoa, who has never wielded a sword in his life, rummaged through the used items at the weapon shop.

But to him, who had never wielded a sword before, even a cheap, shoddy sword was a luxury.”

Indeed, at this point, buying trash with money is the level I’m at.

But you can learn swordsmanship somehow.

Is there anyone in the world who is good at everything from the beginning?

Anyway, it didn’t seem like a good idea to buy a sword with the money I have now.

I received a sharp gaze from the owner of the weapon shop and stepped back outside.

“Huh?”

But then, I noticed a familiar person in the distance.

It was Bishop Javiel.

On days when the saint didn’t come to the church, he must have been doing something, to be here.

Unlike when I saw him at the church, he wasn’t wearing priestly robes.

Well, it’s not a church, so it’s natural.

But who is the person next to him?

Upon closer inspection, they were conversing with someone wearing a black hood flipped inside out.

Well, it doesn’t concern me anyway.

Thinking that, I was about to return to the church when a voice echoed in my head.

“Finally, Bishop Javiel, who had taken control of the church, resented the saint for not finding the hero quickly.

Because she hadn’t found the hero quickly, his master was angry.”

It was something strange to just hear and ignore with one ear as usual.

I secretly watched Bishop Javiel talking to someone from a distance, waiting for the next narration.

“However, Bishop Javiel, who had run out of patience, received a new command from his master.

Instead of waiting for the hero to appear, he was to take the saint’s life.”

I looked at Bishop Javiel with eyes full of disbelief.

The person in the black hood who was talking to him disappeared like smoke a moment later.

As Bishop Javiel tried to turn his head towards me, I unknowingly hid behind the building wall.

“What did I just hear?”

Sweat dripped down my face as my heart pounded.

Something tremendous was about to happen.