Finally, I’m outside!
It’s a bit chilly right now, probably because it’s dusk. With mainly rocks and sand around, the temperature difference must be significant.
And I’ve confirmed that the cold outside and the chill seeping into my body are completely different.
If the cold is like a long arm stretching out and sending icy fingers through my fingertips, what I’m usually feeling is a chill stabbing at my heart.
I’ve thought it wasn’t really that different, but experiencing it like this feels strange.
To shake off that feeling, I looked up at the sky.
The sky is tinted with sunset hues, and the west is filled with the glow of twilight, under which weathered stone columns rise here and there.
If I lower my gaze a bit more, there’s a vast stone desert scattered with rocks big and small, from massive boulders to tiny pebbles. Among them, there are sparse trees resembling cacti.
This looks more like some wild west scene from an American movie than the deserts of the Middle East.
Seeing the world through human memories and actually feeling it are different. The colors are unlike anything from my memories of when I was human.
Or maybe what I’m seeing is different now.
I set my feet on the ground.
And then I jump.
It’s just over a foot high.
I haven’t gained any special strength. I seriously need to get some exercise just to maintain my body. I remembered videos I saw when I was human and loosened up.
They call it stretching.
Someone’s watching me with a bizarre expression. It’s none other than Hyungkesuni.
Sitting where the twilight shines, possibly because of the cold, she looks at me with a face full of questions.
“Don’t you exercise, Hyungkesuni?”
Joanna approaches Hyungkesuni and asks.
“Hmm? Oh, I’m good. This body doesn’t change with training, you know.”
She responds very comfortably to Joanna. Although we seem to have spent quite some time together, her attitude towards me is different.
Well, I understand that I look dangerous.
But I’ve never actually done anything bad, right?
Yet she spoke of me as an outsider. So should I do something outsider-like?
Of course, that’s just a passing thought.
After properly loosening my body, I started running at a suitable speed. The area around the village is mostly flat, perfect for running.
Initially, Hyungkesuni, clutching her staff tightly, watched me run, but soon she lowered her staff.
Because Joanna, running beside me, is incredibly fast. How could she run that fast?
I thought I was running at a teenager’s level, but Joanna’s speed is inexplicably fast. I guess her body has changed a lot since then.
I wasn’t unaware of it. I’ve been viewing Joanna through her perspective, right? At night, she goes to the training ground where the fighters train.
From her stamina and agility, she’s among the top tier of those blessed by me.
It’s bizarre that it doesn’t apply to my own body, but isn’t that a common trope in fantasy stories?
Someone containing talents while using all their abilities.
Could it be something like that?
I feel quite heavy, and I need to understand.
Instead, I think about other things.
I need to figure out how to extend the harvesting period in the future.
I’ve achieved my main goal excellently and am progressing to an even better point.
I bless three people every day.
And those blessed by me, after a bit of training, step onto the battlefield.
As a result, I’ve observed something.
The kingdom Hieronymus wished for revenge against is likely the Ansellus Kingdom to the southeast.
At first glance, it seems like an even distribution of people going to the three largest kingdoms in the area. Still, far more people leave with specific missions rather than just liberating regions under tyranny or converting others.
Moreover, among those who return from success, many receive blessings for their devotion to Future Hope Church after succeeding in their missions in the Ansellus Kingdom.
It definitely indicates something unusual about them.
They’ve been thoroughly gathering information and preparing something.
Yet he hasn’t disclosed anything. He knows I’m not a god called Cruxshibal, yet maintains the contract. Then, I’ll act as he directs. I won’t do anything beyond that.
If I were intelligent enough, I could figure out Hieronymus’s objective by now and make a deal.
If I were even more capable, I could make Hieronymus act according to my whims.
But unfortunately, I don’t have the ability to get to that level.
Instead, if I tried hastily, the chances of immediately dying would be very high.
So I’ll keep my head down and eat the food given to me. I don’t want to return to that cold place by irritating him.
After all, he has the power to choose a replacement for me.
Huh? Wait a second. Something just flashed through my mind.
A substitute?
No, right. He called for me.
Even if it was a fishing-like act, he undoubtedly possesses the ability to summon me to this world.
Initially, he likely intended to summon something else.
In other words, it means he can summon me if he specifies me.
Even after the Future Hope Church collapses, he has a means of summoning me.
That’s my way to come here.
This is it.
Hehe.
Yes, I’ve found my next target.
So far, the blessings I’ve spread, metaphorically, have been like sowing seeds and praying for them to grow freely.
Instead of farming, it resembles the method of sowing seeds and later returning like some ants. Some ants indeed farm, you know? They cultivate mold to eat.
In contrast, this is more like gathering. Harvesting period means harvesting.
So, if I sowed but they don’t grow and it all fails?
Then I need to find some backup plan.
A method to bring me to this world.
Someone likely knowledgeable could speculate.
There are two people: Hyungkesuni and Hieronymus.
However, both are warily on guard against me.
So how could I contract with them?
I’ll need to think slowly about that.
And it was hard to think any further than that.
Because at that moment, I stumbled and fell flat on the ground.
Oops.
Thud!
“Rebecca!”
As I fell, Joanna, who was running ahead, hurriedly ran over. Hyungkesuni, who had been sitting at a distance, also approached me with her staff.
“Is your body alright?”
“Yes. I lost my balance.”
I placed a hand on my chest. My heart is working hard. It doesn’t beat, though. When I first entered this body, it was so loud that I changed it.
Now I’m used to my body’s sounds.
Since I’ve already changed it, there’s no need to change it again. Is there a problem with my heart?
When checking my body, aside from scraped knees and palms from the fall, there are no injuries. My heart and veins seem to be functioning without any strange noises.
As Joanna gets all flustered, Hyungkesuni, having moved closer, places a hand on Joanna’s waist.
“Calm down. Joanna.”
Then she approached me.
“Your hands and knees are scraped. You can get hurt just like a human.”
“Perhaps you’ve forgotten, but this body is human, you know?”
I’m housed within Rebecca Rolfe’s body.
“I know. No, I thought I knew, but I thought you wouldn’t make mistakes like this.”
Huh?
Hyungkesuni examines my hand with a strangely careful touch.
Then she turns around and rummages through her waistband. I catch a glimpse of a small bag through her clothing. She pulls out a bandage and a blue bottle.
Hyungkesuni opens the blue bottle and sprays it on my wounds.
It stings.
Not that my body doesn’t react.
She sprays it on my palms and knees and wraps them in bandages.
Her expression while wrapping looks half curious and half sympathetic.
Hehe.
I see.
Do I look more human now that I’m wounded? Do I possess the ability to empathize with another’s pain?
Boring.
Joanna beside me sighs in relief, watching Hyungkesuni treat me. If she thinks of a child, such wounds are something to shake off for educational purposes.
But that’s not something to say to Joanna, who lost a child before holding one.
And I’m certainly not Joanna’s child.
Of course, she might just be worried about someone she has feelings for getting hurt!
I examined the slightly yellowed bandage I held up. It doesn’t seem dirty; it’s probably just that color.
I wonder if bandages normally undergo bleaching before being used? Or maybe it’s a difference in fibers?
I have a vague idea but can’t differentiate.
There’s a significant chance they aren’t the same kind in the first place.
But at least it seems like they have the concept of antiseptics, so I shouldn’t worry about infection. Or maybe they don’t even consider the possibility of causing infection.
“Well, all done. Does it hurt?”
“It stings.”
“Right. It’s because of that medicine. But that also means it’ll heal quickly, so don’t worry about hurting your body.”
With that, I nodded. The expression she glanced at me has shifted almost entirely to pity.
Then, looking like she remembered something, her expression stiffens.
“Are you going to continue this exercise even after getting hurt?”
And she asked that. She seems to have something on her mind.
I nodded.
“I will continue. Next time, I’ll be careful not to get hurt.”
So how does Hyungkesuni respond?
“Yeah. Be careful. Will you come out at this time every day?”
She seems a bit relieved. In other words, it means I need to show up moving forward. Does that mean she wants to see me interacting with someone?
Or does she want to find someone who tries to interact with me?
Either way, that sounds interesting.
Now, it is a bit too dark, though.
I should move the time forward to keep things interesting.
“I’ll do it after fulfilling the contract with Hieronymus.”
“Fulfill? Oh, the blessing. Got it.”
That means I’ll communicate it to Hieronymus.
As the conversation between Hyungkesuni and me wraps up, Joanna scoops me up and leads me to the room.
I wonder what she’s thinking about in her head.
I’m in Joanna’s embrace, observing her expression, thinking just that.
