◆Chapter 16: My Goddess
◆Chapter 16: My Goddess
TODAY, like every day, is just another day of zombie purifying. On the bright side, the zombies flocking around the outer walls have been fully taken care of, which makes purifying the outlying area my primary duty now. I’ve also grown crops with my spit, but I consider that a part of my dark past never to be mentioned again.
“By the way, I heard everyone has been sent back to their homes. Is that smart?”
It’s a nice and warm, sunny afternoon. I’m walking down the capital’s main street with Lex, watching the people rebuilding the city.
“Won’t zombies come bwahhing at their door if they make too much noise? I’ve purified most of the zombies in the general area, but in a zombie apocalypse, you can never be too cautious.”
“As you feared, the outer walls are still too dangerous. Our countermeasure has been making that area off-limits to all but the knights regardless of the time of day. I feel sorry for residents of the affected regions, but we have moved them into alternative housing for the time being.”
“They just have to put up with it, huh? What with the straggler zombies we run into now and then.”
All the zombies in the area were supposed to have been taken care of yesterday, and yet several dozen more were discovered this morning. They must have migrated during the night.
“We have a long ways to go before we can relax. Orders have gone out to the citizens to stay as quiet as possible at night just in case.”
“I get the feeling a lot more households are going to start telling their children that zombies are going to come for them if they don’t go to bed.”
“Z-Zombies realistically might show up, giving weight to that threat…”
I can tolerate zombies because of all I’ve been through, but their appearance is downright horrifying. If I had seen their gruesome faces as a child, I would’ve been traumatized for sure.
“Anyhoo, I just don’t know what to do with all my sudden free time.”
“Are you speaking of the matter you requested of Sir Pino? I heard of it from the Royal Knights. What a brave lady you are, volunteering to embark on a journey to defeat the Dark Djinn in order to save the world …”
Ahh. That’s the story he told? This must be Pino’s clever way of spurring people to action when few would believe the fishy story about my being from another world and wanting to go home.
“A pure and beautiful heart that thinks of the people’s safety above all else—as to be expected of you, Lady Mizuha.”
“K-Knock it off. I keep telling you I’m not like that.”
Of course, I hope the people of this world can live in peace as a result, but I can’t tell them my desire to return home is the driving factor.
“Please allow me to accompany you in subjugating the Dark Djinn. I, Lex Irvine, swear to be of use to you.”
“Sure. I’ll ask you to come along when the time comes.”
“Thank you, m’lady!” Brimming with confidence, Lex taps his fist against his chest.
A loud clatter suddenly echoes from somewhere nearby. I whip my eyes toward where lumber has fallen and scattered in front of a house. A little boy is crouched on the ground holding his leg.
“Are you okay?!”
“It hurts! It huuuurts!”
I dash over to the boy. Leaning over, I examine his leg. He hit his knee, though the injury isn’t too severe. He seems to have tripped over the squared lumber and landed on his knees. Blood is oozing from the scrape. We need to disinfect it fast.
“Lex, can you bring me water?”
“Yes, m’lady! I will be right back with it!”
The boy probably doesn’t want his scrape rinsed with water cleansed by spit, but he’ll just have to bear with it. If my powers have stuck me with the cliché priestess title, the least they could do is heal injuries.
A split second after that thought, faint light emits briefly from my left hand placed on the boy’s leg.
“...That’s weird… It doesn’t hurt…” The boy is calm and quiet, as if his tears had been fake. I blink several times, but not because the boy suddenly stopped crying.
“The scrape healed…?”
The bleeding cut on the boy’s knee has cleanly vanished. I know I was thinking it’d be great if I could heal, but I didn’t think it’d actually happen. In retrospect, I’ve been smacking people with my right hand all this time and barely touching others with my left. As far as I can remember, I haven’t touched a single injured person with my left hand.
“I’ve been looking everywhere for you, Lyle. Oh dear. Why are you sitting in a place like that?”
“Ah, Mommy! I tripped over those logs and fell.”
“You fell? Are you all right? Did you hurt yourself?”
“I was bleeding, but this nice lady healed me.” The boy, Lyle, points at me.
“She healed you…?” The mother turns a suspicious eye on me.
I’ve read and watched plenty of stories where people freak out when someone heals others with a mysterious power. People are already gathering around us. Gazes are burrowing into me from all directions. This can’t be good.
“I-If you will excuse me…”
“Wait just a moment.”
I had spun around and was about to make a quick escape, but they called me to a stop. I fearfully turn back. “Wh-What is it?”
“Thank you. How can I ever thank you enough? Lyle, thank the nice lady too.”
“I know. Thanks, lady!”
I’m thrown off balance by their unexpected reaction. But suddenly becoming aware of how extremely suspicious I’m acting, I quickly muster my composure to respond in kind.
“M-My pleasure. I didn’t do much.”
Even though I say that, viewed objectively, healing a wound in an instant is doing a lot. The onlookers seem to think so, too, as they continue regarding me with skepticism. Lex returns with a jar of water around the time a slight commotion starts to break out.
“Lady Mizuha? What is going on here?”
“Oh, Lex. Uh, I seemed to have instantly healed this child’s wounds with my left hand.”
“I see.”
“You aren’t surprised?”
“No, m’lady.”
What a fast answer. I seriously don’t understand Lex’s sensibility. But I’m about to.
“After all, Lady Mizuha is the holy priestess! Healing an injury or two is only natural for you!”
“What the heck is with that nonsense reason?! And would you please lower your voice?!”
Thanks to Lex’s big mouth, surprised chatter rises from the crowd.
“He said she’s the priestess.”
“That lady is the priestess?”
Oh my gosh. What I’ve been fearing all along has come true! It won’t be long now before they snort, “This pitiful woman is the priestess? Pft!”
As I’m holding my aching head, a voice rings out like a flash of lightning in the sky: “No! You are incorrect!”
Searching for whoever said that, my gaze lands on a young woman clad in what looks exactly like the distinctive habit worn by Catholic nuns. The woman, with her well-defined facial features and violet eyes, is enchantingly beautiful even by my standards. Silver hair peeks out of her veil.
“She is not the priestess,” the nunlike woman declares, then continues in an authoritative voice, “She is the Goddess!”
◆◆◆◆◆
IN a corner of the castle’s third floor, I’m enjoying tea with Cia in an inner garden with a beautiful view outside. Naturally, a luxury item such as tea leaves could be prepared only with that method. It’s a little late for it now, but when I think about the process needing something from inside my body, I can only say I have complicated feelings. It’s best not to think about it at all.
“Big Sis, you look unwell,” Cia comments, her voice laced with worry.
To be perfectly honest, I’ve been hoping she would ask why I’m so out of it so I could complain.
“Listen to this! Someone showed up while I was patrolling the city during lunch and proclaimed, ‘She’s not the priestess. She’s the Goddess!’”
“G-Goddess… That’s a new one…”
“Right? Calling me Goddess is taking it a step too far. Priestess is already awful enough.”
That nunlike woman had continued shouting “Goddess! My goddess!” after that. Things took a turn for the worse when she began preaching and insisting to the crowd that I’m the Goddess. Lex and the knights who ran over to assist were able to get the situation under control, but I felt like burying my head in the sand the whole time… Ugh, my stomach hurts just thinking about it.
“But why goddess of all things?”
“Yeah, that had to do with this kid who happened to fall and hurt himself. When I placed my left hand on the injury, it fully recovered in an instant.”
“B-Big Sister Goddess!”
“Don’t you start too, Cia!”
“I was joking,” she giggles, then adds, “And half-serious.”
Is it just me or does she look completely serious, not just half? Please let it be just me.
“However, it isn’t unreasonable for this woman to believe you are the Goddess, for you have the exact same powers the Goddess is said to have in myths.”
Now that she mentions it, Pino also said the Goddess has the power to purify. If the power to heal is included with that, then it makes the claim more credible. But—
“Just so you know, that isn’t me, okay? I’m not your goddess or your priestess.”
“Yes, your Cia knows this,” Cia responds with an ear-to-ear grin. This is that same playing-along-with-it face from before.
When people get like this, whatever I say just falls flat, so all I can do is sigh. Anyway, they sure are working fast at strengthening the outer moat from what I can see outside. My thoughts on the matter are interrupted by the clang of armored footsteps. I look that way and see Lex standing in the pillared corridor facing the garden.
“Pardon the interruption, ladies. May I borrow a moment of your time?”
“Yes, I do not mind. How about you, Big Sis?”
“Go right ahead.”
Lex descends into the garden with my unenthusiastic approval. “Lady Mizuha, I investigated that woman.”
“That woman? You mean the one who kicked up the goddess fuss this afternoon?”
“Yes,” Lex affirms. “Her name is Iris. She appears to have been raised in an orphanage located in a village not far from the capital.”
“In an orphanage?”
“Indeed. Regrettably, that orphanage went under by the time she was twelve due to financial difficulties coupled with not receiving government aid.”
I don’t know how to respond. Losing the place where you grew up must have been a terrible shock to her.
“She has lived in a church located in the capital ever since, but whether it stems from the orphanage shutting down or not, she often has crazy bursts of activity, causing constant problems under the banner of it being God’s will. This time is no exception, for she has…well…started the Church of Our Lady Mizuha.”
“That’s my name!”
I like my name, but there is no more humiliating way for a name to be used than to have it turned into a religious cult! Couldn’t she have come up with something a little more, I don’t know, creative?
“H-Has anyone joined yet?”
“No, not one. If anything, they seem to be avoiding it like the zombie curse.”
“I’m the biggest victim of this atrocity.”
It totally makes sense that people wouldn’t join such a dubious cult, but…I seriously feel like my ego just took a major hit.
“There is one major concern, though. The people of this kingdom worship Goddess Sadia, and among their ranks are extremist religious fanatics. Iris may be in danger if they view her actions as sacrilege against the Goddess.”
“A-Are they really dangerous people?”
“I understand they turn people to stone and decorate them as goddess statues…”
“Yeah, okay, that’s dangerous.” Iris is the epitome of a weirdo, but I don’t want to see her put in danger. “How do we handle this one?” I groan.
Cia springs to her feet. “We can’t leave this matter unattended if we consider the anxiety it causes Big Sister. Lex, please keep track of the movements taken by both parties. Apprehend them if they go too far.”
“As you command, Your Highness.”
Things seem to be taking a violent turn.
“Please don’t get too rough—”
“No. This is the time to bring down the hammer. It is a good opportunity to show one and all what happens when they cause problems for you, Big Sis. Now go, Lex!” Cia orders in a frigidly firm voice, thrusting her finger in the direction of the city.
Um, cute little Cia? Did your personality just change?