The Goddess Has Returned
"What are you talking about? No way."
What kind of nonsense is she spouting now? Yohan flatly rejected Justia's proposal.
"..." Justia looked visibly dejected, while the Unnamed Goddess standing next to her clenched her tiny fists in triumph.
"First of all, kid, I'm already on this one's leash. How the hell am I supposed to become another god's Apostle?" Yohan snapped before Justia could even ask why.
In truth, Yohan had bound his soul to the Unnamed Goddess when he signed his contract to become her Apostle. Although it was technically a master-servant relationship, Yohan could treat her so casually only because he had begrudgingly accepted the role after her relentless begging. At the same time, the Unnamed Goddess was hardly a malevolent deity who would abuse her authority over her contractor.
In any case, two things were certain. First, it was highly questionable whether a mortal who was already an Apostle could serve another deity. Second, Yohan simply didn't want to become Justia's Apostle.
"And even if I somehow could, I'm already busy enough to drop dead. Are you trying to bury me in paperwork?"
"Ugh..." No meant no. Yohan shut her down completely, leaving absolutely zero room for negotiation.
"Well, I'll still drop by pretty often from now on."
"R-really?" Justia's face, which had looked ready to burst into tears a moment ago, instantly lit up.
Yohan wondered if she was just simple-minded or if this was the pure innocence of someone who hadn't learned to control her emotions. Then again, calling a being who was easily several thousand years old "innocent" felt a bit off...
Yohan clicked his tongue as he looked at Justia, whose eyes were practically sparkling. Come to think of it, the only reason he had ended up as the dummy's Apostle in the first place was because this girl had kicked her sister's butt out of jealousy thousands of years ago. Still... since the victim herself wasn't complaining, Yohan simply patted the Unnamed Goddess on the shoulder.
"What are you doing all of a sudden?"
"Just brushing some dust off your shoulder," Yohan replied to her query before turning his gaze back to Justia.
"We still haven't found that Angelo guy or whatever his name is, and we need to keep hunting down the remnants of Pandemonium."
"That is true."
"And we'd love nothing more than to beat those demons to a pulp right now if we could. So, wouldn't it be best to share whatever information we find?"
"Indeed. That makes sense."
In truth, there was a massive gap between the information-gathering capabilities of a furious Holy Kingdom—which had just been humiliated by demons—and a single individual. Calling it "information sharing" was a generous euphemism; in reality, Yohan's side was getting a massive, one-sided benefit.
If they leveraged the network of the Heresy Inquisitors, who operated across the entire continent, tracking down the fleeing demons of Pandemonium wouldn't take long. The only problem was that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, where those Inquisitors gathered, was still half-destroyed...
Ahem. Well, time would surely resolve such minor details.
"And lastly..." Yohan glanced out the window on the outer wall of the conference hall. "Do you remember the guy who was with me when we came to rescue you?"
"Of course. Was it not the Holy Knight, Judas?"
"Yeah. Take good care of him. He made things a hell of a lot easier for us."
Honestly, their first meeting had been absolute garbage. But personal feelings aside, Judas had proven himself to be a proper Holy Knight.
"Very well. I give you my word."
"Great. Then we're done here." Yohan turned to leave. But at that moment, Justia suddenly reached out and stopped him.
"Is there something else?"
"Well, it is just..." Yohan tilted his head, wondering what kind of weird request she was going to make this time as she trailed off.
"That village you established in the southwestern part of the continent... If the opportunity arises, would it be alright if I visited?"
This was right after she had officially recognized the Church of the Unnamed Goddess in front of over a hundred cardinals. She certainly wasn't asking for the location just to send an army to wipe them out.
"Uh... sure, why not?" Yohan replied, exchanging a glance with the Unnamed Goddess. She also seemed a bit taken aback, but she didn't look particularly opposed to the idea.
"Well, we could actually go right now if you want."
"R-really?" Justia's face lit up with excitement at Yohan's casual offer.
"Yeah. I assume you can teleport to any place you've visited at least once, right?"
The Unnamed Goddess and Justia were like identical twins—or rather, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call them clones of each other. Therefore, Justia should easily be capable of long-distance teleportation.
"Yes, of course." Just as he thought. Yohan nodded at her response. "Alright. Let's head out then."
Since the meeting to address the most critical matters had just concluded, Yohan figured Justia could afford to step away for a brief moment.
Westania, a kingdom in the southwestern part of the continent, was located far from the Holy Kingdom. Deep within a mountain valley relatively close to Balifield—a city on the fringes of Westania—lay a secluded forest.
In this forest, where humans rarely set foot, a series of noises completely out of place with the serene surroundings echoed continuously. There was the sound of heavy objects being dragged, followed by the rhythmic pounding of hammers driving nails into wood.
"We're out of nails over here!"
"Does anyone have any spare planks?"
A massive construction project was underway deep inside the vast forest. This was once a place where people lived in constant misery under the tyranny of a pack of man-eating trolls. Now, it was the monumental site where the Church of the Unnamed Goddess had carried out its first real missionary work—a settlement that had officially earned the name the "Nameless Village."
With the sudden influx of refugees from the Holy Kingdom, the village's population had exploded to more than twenty times its original size in the blink of an eye. The quiet tranquility of the past was now entirely gone.
Perhaps because of this bustling activity, several groups of travelers passing through the region had visited the village over the past few weeks, and they had been treated to various delicacies, including the village's specialty wine.
"Whew." Somewhere amidst the village's construction site, Billy took a brief break after hauling a cart loaded with various building materials.
The village, which had initially consisted entirely of wooden shacks, had developed so rapidly in just a few months that they were now incorporating stone structures in some areas. This rapid progress was made possible because the strength of Billy and the other members of the Goddess Knights had grown alongside the Goddess's rising divinity.
Even Annie, whose physical body was that of an ordinary human, could exert monstrous strength whenever she willed it. Needless to say, Billy and Falco, whose natural physical capabilities already far surpassed those of humans, were on a completely different level.
Furthermore, the new residents from the Holy Kingdom included carpenters and various other skilled craftsmen. The highly inquisitive Billy had actively interacted with them, acquiring a wealth of knowledge in cooking, architecture, and other trades.
The fruit of his labor was a paved road made of gravel, clay, and baked clay bricks. Although only certain sections were paved for now, it had already drastically improved the efficiency of transporting goods within the village.
One day... I'll pave the entire village and line the streets with stone buildings that are both beautiful and functional. Billy smiled to himself as he checked the materials in his cart.
"Ah, there you are. I've been looking all over for you." The moment Billy finished his short rest and stood up, Falco suddenly appeared and poked her head into his line of sight.
"Oh, Falco. What's going on?"
"Yohan is back. It looks like he finished up his business up north."
That was the best news he had heard all day. Billy wiped the remaining sweat from his brow with a cloth hanging from his waist and immediately followed Falco to the center of the village.
"Boss!"
"Oh, you're here?" When he arrived at Yohan's house with Falco, a familiar face welcomed him alongside Annie, who seemed to have arrived earlier.
"It feels like it's been forever. Did everything go well?"
"We went through all kinds of crazy shit. But we made it back with all our limbs intact, so I'd call it a win."
"Haha." Billy chuckled at Yohan's casual banter. After a brief moment, he turned his head slightly to pay his respects to the master of their knight order.
Although she had taken the form of an adult woman rather than her usual childish appearance, her distinct silver hair and crimson eyes left no doubt that she was the Unnamed Goddess.
"It is good to see you again, Goddess. I trust you have been well?"
"Y-yes. It is... good to see you too."
"Hmm?" But her reaction was strange. Normally, she would have greeted him with a cheeky grin, but now she looked incredibly awkward and was actively avoiding Billy's gaze.
"Goddess...?" Billy stared at her, utterly bewildered. *Pfft—* At that moment, Yohan, Falco, and Annie burst into laughter simultaneously. Billy had absolutely no idea what was going on.
"Wait..." *Creak—* Suddenly, the tightly shut bedroom door swung open, and the child-sized Unnamed Goddess leaped out. "You fell for it!" she shouted, flashing a mischievous grin at Billy.
"Ah, I see. So this lady is the Goddess's... twin sister."
"Indeed, indeed! In fact, you could say our bond is far closer than that of any mortal twins."
Billy let out a soft sigh as he finally grasped the situation. However, he wasn't upset just because they had played a trick on him. He had long since grown accustomed to these minor pranks; in fact, there were times when Billy himself would play jokes on Yohan and the others.
"I've heard the explanation, but... it still doesn't quite feel real," Billy muttered.
"To be honest, I feel the same way," Annie agreed, nodding in sympathy.
It made perfect sense for Annie to feel that way. After all, she was originally from the Holy Kingdom itself. Yet, Annie didn't seem to attach any deep, complicated meaning to meeting Justia. Having abandoned her title as an Inquisitor to join the Church of the Unnamed Goddess, she had likely already sorted through whatever feelings she once held toward the Central Church and Justia.
"So, why is the Goddess—I mean, the Primary God—hiding in here instead of going outside?" Billy asked. Yohan shrugged casually.
"She says she feels awkward making eye contact with the people outside, considering they used to be her own believers."
"Ah."
That was certainly true. Although they had survived and found a new faith, the refugees from Easthold had technically betrayed the Central Church according to its doctrines. The irony, of course, was that the root cause of their conversion lay in Justia's own negligence.
As Billy's thoughts reached this point, he realized that Justia's actual presence was quite different from the image he had previously held of her. Rather than an absolute, detached ruler, she seemed more like a 'person' who could laugh and cry just like them. Much like... the Unnamed Goddess standing right beside her.
"Well... but it's not like we can keep her cooped up in a corner after she traveled all this way, right?" Yohan spoke up, and the rest of the group nodded in unison.
"So, dummy."
"Hmm?" Yohan placed a hand gently on the Unnamed Goddess's shoulder. He looked at her with a mischievous, wide grin. "You hide for a bit. We'll let her pretend to be you and show her around the village."