My Lord’s commandnt was to cherish the potential of others.
He doesn’t an just the humans, but all those with intelligence and the ability to think.
As I woke up, I rembered the Lord’s words. Thus, I prayed.
Even if it’s called prayer, it’s nothing grand. They are simply things I do out of my own free will. With my ager talents, I cannot create magnificent prayers like those of the Trinity Church.
“The Lord is ever present. As his servant here I am. Have rcy on us all. An.”
I just repeat a single phrase over and over.
When I pray, it’s almost as if my perception improved, allowing to see things even with my eyes closed.
I saw Roka staggering into my room. Rubbing her eyes with her hands, she looked drowsy as if not fully awake from sleep.
“Yawn~ Were you praying, Master?”
“Hm? Now, why would you be awake at this early hour? You can still sleep a bit more if you want to.”
“Ah...I tried...But there’s this stench of rotting corpses outside.”
Whoosh.
Roke leaped towards , clinging to my back. I can still carry her on my back for now, but this child is getting heavier and heavier. I don’t know if she’s growing or if she’s just regaining her weight.
“I’ll protect you, Master.”
“Thank you, Roka. I’m reassured with your protection.”
At my praise, her tail shoots straight up. She’s such an easy kid to understand.
“With Roka protecting , I have nothing to fear.”
“Hehe...”
“Now I can sleep without locking the door, right? Even if bad people co, Roka will chase them away.”
“Heheheh...”
She likes it.
How could she enjoy hearing such words so much?
‘It would be nice to see this child fully grown...Seeing her eting her spouse, and having kids before I go...But will I have that opportunity?’
Ti waits for no n. The present will one day beco the past.
When it happens, all that remains are the mories of monts like this.
That’s why both Roka and I try to enjoy the present to its fullest.
No matter how much we reminisce about mories later, we won’t be able to feel the sa joy as now.
-Apostle. Co.
I heard a voice.
But it wasn’t the Lord’s.
I could never mistake the Lord’s voice. But He’s mostly silent.
This voice belongs to another Angel serving the Lord. I could almost see the Angel’s likeness, gesturing for to co to their side.
-This place is too small for you to be.
Death.
Usually, this ant the end for everyone.
However, my end won’t be death, but ascension. I knew it from the mont I was chosen by Him.
But to , that was no different from death.
It’s not ti yet.
It’s not yet ti to leave this world and go to the Lord’s side. It’s my first and last rebellion against the Lord. I want to stay here.
I want to see the first snow of the next winter with Roka. I also want to see the sunflowers blooming with her as well.
I want to see this child growing up, till the ti when she won’t need . Only then, I shall leave.
“Mr. Kyle? Are you there? I know it’s rude to disturb you so early in the morning, but it’s an urgent matter. Could you possibly co out for a mont?”
Knowing there is an afterlife, I was not afraid of death.
Even more so within this house.
This place, where the candles of the sanctuary are lit, is my ho, but it is also the Lord’s house, where His Will perated.
I shall know no fear within this house.
Opening the door to welco soone I didn’t even know, the stranger outside stamred as he looked at Roka clinging to my back.
“Oh, um, uh... Ah, hello Priest...”
“Ah, if it isn’t Mr. Ralph! Good morning! Oh, by any chance that person is...”
My gaze turned to the person he was carrying on his back. It’s a funny thing. Two people t, each carrying soone on their back.
However, Mr Ralph didn’t seem to be in a good mood.
“She was sleeping so soundly that I couldn’t wake her up...Priest...”
“Please, speak freely.”
“That... I an...”
After hesitating for a while, Mr. Ralph spoke,
“By any chance, can you cure leprosy, Priest?”
“? I cannot cure anything.”
Because it’s not who heals, but the Lord.
So even if it weren’t for the Trinity’s Church sanctions, I wouldn’t charge for treatnt. Because it’s not my doing. The rit doesn’t belong to . It’s all thanks to the Lord’s grace.
“Everything depends on the Lord’s will, Mr. Ralph. This humble priest is only acting according to it.”
“That...”
“Please, co in. My ho may be humble, but you’re welco in it. You can lay her on my bed.”
As I said this, both Roka and Mr. Kyle objected.
“Huh? Ah, even so... Will it be alright? If we lay a leper on the Priest’s bed...”
Mr Ralph seed worried about , while Roka...
“No! You can’t! If her rotting sll impregnates the bed, I won’t be able to enjoy your sll!”
Huh...?
I...I think I just heard sothing very disturbing now...
Now I know why I keep finding her tail fur on my bed.
“There’s no need to be anxious. The Lord will guard .”
There was no reason to worry.
Since Mr. Ralph was busy with work at the poorhouse, he couldn’t stay for long after leaving the woman in my bed.
Looking at her, I headed to the kitchen to boil so tea.
Let’s prepare a warm tea, perhaps so sugar would be good too.
Healing the body is easy. But healing the heart is difficult.
That’s where the tea cos in. Healing the disease is relatively easy compared to healing the wounds in this woman’s heart.
Even if I healed her body, the wounds in her heart would continue to fester.
“The garbage that slls like a corpse is erasing the master’s scent...”
When I put the teapot on the fire and ca back, Roka was muttering sothing while staring at the woman.
Then, she turned towards and said,
“Master, if you just say the word-“
No, that was wrong. She wasn’t looking at at all.
She was still glaring at the woman.
At that mont, the leper opened her olive-colored eyes.
Roka growled at her. No, really, it sounded exactly like a wolf growling.
“I’ll take out this trash for you.”
While I do want the child to live freely, I never wished for her freedom to trample others.
I silently looked at Roka.
eting my gaze, her tail tucked between her legs as her ears folded.
“Master...?”
“Roka. You shouldn’t say such things recklessly.”
Before the Lord, we are all cripples, blind to the truth. Imperfect beings who can’t even see an inch ahead.
So, there’s nothing more ridiculous for us, Imperfect beings, to tear each other apart.
No one has the right to disparage others as trash. That includes .
“Apologize to our guest. Tell her you were wrong and sorry. Otherwise, I’ll scold you badly.”
“T-That...”
“Apologize to her, Roka.”
I stared intently at Roka. But the child bowed her head, not eting my gaze.
“Anyone can make mistakes. But if your mistake has hard soone, of course, you have to apologize. I know it’s not easy, Roka. It’s difficult to admit you were wrong. But you have to clean up the mistakes you made with your own hands.”
Or do you want to bear your mistakes for you? Should I kneel before her in your place and beg for forgiveness?
When I asked her that, Roka trembled as she hurriedly shook her head in surprise.
Then, my little wolf apologized in an almost sobbing tone.
“Sorry, I’m sorry...”
“Well, honestly, I didn’t really care, but...”
The woman opened her mouth with a dubious expression.
“Are you Kyle, the Priest?”
“Indeed. There aren’t many Kyles who are also Priest around these parts...”
“I heard that you can cure my disease.”
In her eyes, I saw desperation.
Death lurked close to her. The woman’s body had now reached its limit. It wouldn’t be strange if she died tomorrow.
“...Can you do it? Or have I just co all the way here in search of a vain hope?”
But this place is a sanctuary,
So, unless one was already dead. The reaper couldn’t enter this house.
“Oh? It seems the tea water has boiled.”
So I just smiled.
“How about having a cup of tea and talking slowly?”
Before the Lord, we are all equal, it’s just a matter of whether we are rotting flesh or not. In His eyes, she and I would be no different.
Welcoming a guest who has co to our house was naturally sothing I had to do.
*****In a frozen hell,
Where the cutting wind raged on.
A lone figure trudged through the snowy path piled on the ice, unbothered by the maelstrom.
He, fell from the highest peak into the deepest abyss.
He, was betrayed by his companions whose nas he couldn’t even rember.
He, who was falsely accused and abandoned by those he once saved.
The scholar, Gellie.
“It’s ti for you to awaken again, Mother.”
He knelt down and brushed away the piled-up snow with his hand.
“When will you stop that cycle and open the world I desire?”
The man who wishes for the annihilation of all things recited.
Yet, despite his prayer, the ‘Mother’ didn’t even spare him a glance. She just fell into a deep sleep, repeating her own cycle. However, all living things in this world were born because of that very cycle.
“Mother. I know now. Why this world is so absurd.”
The truth he didn’t want to know plunged him into helplessness.
Still, even knowing that despair lies at the end of knowledge, he can’t stop pursuing knowledge because he is a born scholar.
This scholar realized a truth long ago that others did not know.
He grasped the deepest secret of this world and wept.
“The creator of this world is not a God, but a re lump of flesh.”
Humans and Worms...
Although they were different species, humans could devour worms.
And worms can feast on human flesh.
They are sowhat compatible with each other.
Humans and Beastkin.
Although they were different species, they can interbreed and bear half-breeds.
The degree of compatibility is higher.
All living things in this world are like this. Because they all originated from one common ancestor, the primordial one.
“From the beginning, we were just lumps of flesh evolved from your cells.”
If a truly divine being gazed down on this world from the lofty heavens,
The sorry state of the world would be quite ridiculous.
Groups of flesh split from the sa source, divided, slaughtering each other.
Not knowing that all the codies and tragedies they create will vanish like bubbles when the primordial one awakens.
They boast, they shout, they proclaim their wisdom...Their superiority.
“The world created by lumps of flesh, isn’t it obvious? Isn’t that right?”
But he knew the truth.
The Ancient Demon King, Grimudo forsook his position as a Demon King.
Becoming once again, a simple scholar by the na of Gellie.
Now, he no longer bowed to whims of the Gods.
The secret of this world drained away all the light in his heart.
His Hope was extinguised.
“Let’s watch this cycle together too. When the ti cos, you’ll rouse again and summon back the cells that have thrived in the anti, won’t you, Mother? Ahh, Mother....there is no light left in my heart now.”
During his ti watching the process of intelligence blooming and withering countless tis, he realized sothing.
That he was neither the beginning, nor the end. Just a cog in the machine.
At the end of the cycle, nothing remains.
It just keep turning, and turning.
Even those who falsely claim to be gods are ultimately beings born from the faith of our flesh.
Neither gods nor humans can halt that cycle.
Because the source of all life in this world is the Primordial.
In the end...I was no different from the humans...who fall in the cycle.
Those who think of themselves great,
Those who scream in anguish as their civilizations crumble around them,
Watching this happen...Was his favorite spectacle.
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