Ch.37Request, Demon Hunt (5)

When I was in school, I belonged to the book club. I chose that club simply because I didn’t want to do any troublesome activities.

Anyway, that club was literally a ghost club with few members and nothing to do. Thanks to that, I could comfortably rest during club hours.

However, there was this junior girl who kept nagging me and disturbing my rest.

Every time I met her, all I heard was nagging like “You’re a senior, start studying,” or “Create something for your student record.”

She probably said those things out of concern for my life, and it’s true that her advice was beneficial. Still, I continued to just play around.

Anyway, that junior is now standing in front of me, speaking with a sulky expression.

“How could you not recognize me? We met dozens of times in the club!”

“Well… I obviously didn’t expect you to come to this world…”

“Even after hearing my voice, shouldn’t you have recognized me?”

“But you didn’t recognize me either.”

“Your appearance, voice, gender, and name all changed. So why couldn’t you recognize me when nothing about me changed?”

I need to come up with some excuse. If I don’t, I’ll obviously have to listen to her nagging for hours.

But honestly, this is bound to be confusing. From the beginning, this is…

…I can’t think of any excuse. I’d better apologize before it’s too late.

“I’m sorry, I’m in a mentally difficult state right now…”

“Why are you mentally struggling?”

“Look at this body.”

“…That’s certainly enough to make you struggle.”

The junior who had been showing her sulkiness suddenly looked at me with pity.

…I think I would have preferred to keep hearing her nagging.

“But why did you suddenly change into a woman, senior?”

“There are complicated circumstances… Just think of it as something necessary to defeat the Demon King.”

“Why on earth would that be necessary to defeat the Demon King?”

“Ask the Goddess later.”

I now know that thanks to my body changing like this, I can change fate. But it seems impossible for other people to change fate.

What would happen if that junior found out about this fact? I think she might become Rebecca 2.0.

…Rebecca?

That’s right! I needed to put leashes on those two before they crossed the line!

I immediately ran out to find Rebecca and Agath.

“…Senior?”

“I have an urgent matter to attend to! I’ll see you later!”

I need to stop Rebecca first. If Agath becomes dangerous, I can call Leo, but even Leo can’t fix Rebecca’s mental breakdowns.

How do I know that? Because I’ve actually experienced it firsthand from Rebecca.

Listening to that cursed pessimism made me feel like I was losing my mind.

***

I rushed to where the injured people were and found Rebecca.

“Rather than spending time praying to the Goddess, it’s much better to face reality. After all, nothing changes even if you pray.”

“But… then all the years we’ve served the Goddess…”

“Mean absolutely nothing. No matter what we do, the Goddess doesn’t care about us at all.”

Here, the saint was enthusiastically destroying people’s faith. But why is destroying the clergy’s faith a problem?

…Thinking about it, it actually seems like a seriously big problem.

After all, telling people who have dedicated most of their lives to religion that the Goddess doesn’t exist is like negating their entire lives.

As if proving my thoughts, the eyes of the clergy listening to Rebecca had completely died.

Perhaps I’m already too late. Still, I need to try to salvage this somehow.

“Ms. Rebecca, Mr. Leo has a request for you.”

“Yes, what request does Leo have for me?”

“He said not to destroy the patients’ faith.”

“I haven’t destroyed any faith, I’ve merely spoken the truth.”

Rebecca is now claiming that she didn’t destroy their faith but merely spread atheism.

That’s not exactly wrong, so I’ll add just a slight exaggeration to my words.

“And Mr. Leo also said never to open your mouth in front of patients.”

“Is that really what Leo requested?”

“I’m just telling the truth.”

Asking to prevent the destruction of faith is essentially the same as asking to silence Rebecca. So this isn’t a lie but the truth.

“I understand. Since the treatment is finished anyway, I’ll return to my quarters now.”

I’ve managed to send Rebecca away for now, and it seems she won’t cause any major problems going forward. Now I just need to restore these people’s faith.

I took a deep breath and said:

“The Goddess has not abandoned us.”

This is annoyingly troublesome. This should be the saint’s job in the first place. Why is the saint going around destroying people’s mental stability?

I’d like to just leave and return to my quarters, but if I left them like this, I’m pretty sure at least one person would commit suicide today.

But it’s strange that they would want to commit suicide just because the saint denied the existence of God. Life is precious—why would they want to end it?

…Right.

Come to think of it, I’m not in a position to judge anyone about suicide.

Anyway, the clergy were still looking at me with dead eyes.

“The Goddess is still working hard to save us. And there’s evidence of that right here.”

The Goddess is indeed working desperately, putting in 165 hours a week. She’s probably working right now too.

“…What is that evidence?”

One clergyman whose eyes had regained a little life spoke weakly while looking at me. Fortunately, things seem to be going smoothly.

“You know that the Goddess sent four people to save us from the Demon King, right?”

Some of the clergy raised their heads to look at me.

“And among those people, there’s one who has directly conversed with the Goddess.”

It was mostly one-sided cursing, but it was indeed a three-hour conversation.

“According to that person, the Goddess is constantly working without rest for our sake.”

She does rest for 3 hours a week, but that still counts as working without rest.

“The Goddess still loves us. And She will continue to love us.”

Working that hard to save the world essentially means She loves us. That’s not exactly wrong.

“…How can we believe that?”

Life had returned somewhat to one clergyman’s eyes. Now I just need to deliver one final blow.

“Because I heard it directly from the Goddess.”

I tried my best to put on a benevolent expression. But is this the right way to make such an expression?

Anyway, the clergy started whispering among themselves.

“Come to think of it, I’ve seen that person somewhere before, isn’t that the crazy reincarnator?”

“Yes, that’s the reincarnator who said they’d kill the hostages too.”

“How can we believe what that person says?”

“I don’t know. They’re probably just talking nonsense again.”

But due to the shackles of the past, the conversation wasn’t going in a good direction. For reference, my current perception in the community is completely that of a lunatic.

If I were a man, I would have been socially buried immediately, but given my appearance, far from being buried, I’ve gained a cult-like popularity.

So in certain communities, I’m even treated as a mascot. I think the name of that community was “Collection of Military-Experienced High School Girls”?

Anyway, these are facts I really don’t want to know about and have no intention of looking into. But how do I know about them?

That’s thanks to Ju-an, who forcibly informed me of all these facts last time. I really felt like killing myself then.

Anyway, this only applies to certain people, and to the general public, my image is that of a complete lunatic.

Still, I’ve prepared enough excuses for situations like this, so it doesn’t matter.

“If I were pretending to be a mentally ill person, what do you think the reason would be?”

The clergy looked at me with puzzled eyes. And I gave them a suitable excuse.

“I can’t tell you now, but I’ll just let you know that the Goddess asked me to do this to save this world.”

Both are true. It’s true that I can’t tell them now, and it’s true that the Goddess asked me to save this world.

So this is closer to an explanation than an excuse.

“What exactly did the Goddess ask of you?”

“I absolutely cannot tell you now. But I can tell you after we defeat the Demon King.”

There’s actually nothing, but this makes it seem like there’s something. And when it seems like there’s something, credibility rises sharply.

As evidence, some people’s eyes have almost completely regained their life. But I didn’t expect this to actually work.

Now I just need to say something appropriate again.

“The Goddess always loves us. And the Goddess will always be by our side.”

A clergyman whose eyes had regained quite a bit of life asked suspiciously:

“Then why does the saint deny the Goddess?”

“She was probably testing your faith.”

“Then why did the saint spit on the Goddess’s statue…?”

“She was probably testing your faith.”

“…Then why doesn’t the Goddess grant us salvation?”

The most troublesome question came up.

To be honest, it’s because the Goddess is so powerless that She doesn’t have the ability to grant salvation. But if I say that outright…

Let’s just make up something appropriate.

“Hasn’t salvation already been granted to you?”

That’s obviously a lie. No, since She sent people to save the world, it’s not exactly wrong, is it?

Anyway, I continued with plausible words.

“How do you think you’ve survived until now?”

They probably survived because they worked hard. Does the Goddess even have any power left to help these people?

Having to work 165 hours a week just to barely give someone abilities weaker than Rebecca’s, and then granting salvation to these people? That’s absolutely impossible.

But let’s not say that out loud.

“Then… is the Goddess still watching over us?”

I smiled silently. That’s because that statement is obviously wrong.

The Goddess has gone to work. Therefore, She obviously doesn’t have time to watch over us.

Come to think of it, She can watch over us for about 3 hours a week. But I wasted those 3 hours cursing at the Goddess.

Anyway, these people seem to have regained some vitality and faith. This should be enough now.

“Then I’ll be going now.”

“Please wait a moment! Could you offer a prayer for our comrades who have left us?”

I was an atheist in my previous life. So I’m just an outsider when it comes to religious matters. Still, I can somehow manage.

“Is there really a need to pray?”

“Pardon?”

“Why do you think your comrades sacrificed themselves?”

“…To protect us.”

“Then how should you act?”

“…Are you saying we should survive for the sake of our fallen comrades?”

Again, I smiled silently.

Thanks to them creating their own reason for their comrades’ sacrifice, I managed to get through this somehow.

But honestly, if I were their comrade, I think I’d appreciate them offering prayers.

If I sacrificed myself for them, and they couldn’t even spare the 5 minutes to pray for my soul? That would make me feel really disappointed.

Even if I voluntarily sacrificed myself, just going on with life without even praying seems wrong, doesn’t it? Not even sending that short message…

…I’ll learn how to pray from Rebecca later and offer prayers for them then. Please be patient a little longer.

With that, I left the revitalized people behind and went to stop Agath’s plans.