Chapter 22
Chapter 22
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 22
Chapter Title: But According to the Lord's Will
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Guests who come to my home are like guests who come to the Lord.
It doesn't matter whether they serve the Lord or not. What matters is that I, as a believer of the Lord, have a duty to treat them well.
‘Roca doesn't like tea. She doesn't like it even with sugar.’
What could I serve alongside the tea? No matter how I thought about it,
nothing came to mind. I eat lightly, and Roca only likes meat.
Oh, she does like fish too. She ate the grilled salmon well.
My house wolf, like any wolf, doesn't eat grass or such, and she doesn't particularly care for sweet flavors. She doesn't dislike them, but she doesn't seek them out either.
There was nothing fitting to serve a guest. Should I at least offer potato soup?
“Ah, Lord. You know I believe in You, right?”
As I pondered, something caught my eye. It was that apple tree from a few weeks ago.
Apples had ripened on it again in abundance, enough to fill a basket. I peeled them and sliced them into bite-sized pieces. While I was at it, I gave a piece to Roca, who had been watching me slice, but her expression said why eat something like this.
“It's crisp and refreshing, but... meh.”
“Not sweet?”
“I wouldn't know. What's sweet supposed to taste like?”
“Hmm, it's pitiful that Roca doesn't know sweetness.”
Could I ask the Lord to change that later? It seems wolfkin are innately insensitive to sweet tastes.
Since they mainly eat meat, maybe it's only natural.
“Apples?”
“Tea goes well with something sweet, so. You don't have to eat them if you don't want.”
The only sweet thing in my house was the apples bestowed by the Lord, so what could I do.
I couldn't just leave the guest sitting and rush to the market.
“Add sugar and milk to your taste. I don't put sugar in my tea, but I don't know about you, miss.”
Even in a house like this, we have milk. Roca drinks it.
I've already grown up, and no food really appeals to me anymore. Without Roca, my meals would truly have been just rye bread.
“Now that I think about it, it's been a long time since I had an apple.”
My guest, the woman who carried the scent of death, took a bite of an apple.
She chewed slowly, carefully, savoring the juice. She closed her eyes for a moment, relishing the flavor.
I took a piece and chewed as well. Sweet, so sweet. All thanks to the Lord.
“Were they always this sweet? Pure fruit with no seasoning at all, and yet so delicious.”
She clearly liked it too. She quietly took a few more pieces.
The tea began to boil, so I poured it into cups. I set sugar and milk beside them.
Just in case, I brought out a bowl with bread and salt. While doing so, I glanced at her face. What a beautiful person.
“Is it that ugly to look at?”
She noticed my gaze and mumbled. I shook my head with a smile.
I simply lifted the teacup quietly and took a sip.
“You don't need to comfort me forcibly. You don't have to say things you don't mean.”
Sometimes, people just need someone to listen.
This was exactly such a time. I set down the teacup and quietly met her eyes.
Roca had sidled up and sat beside me, so I gently laid her across my lap, listening to her words in silence.
Injustices. Hardships. Pains. Sorrows.
Who hasn't experienced such things at least once.
I can just complain to the Lord behind me when they happen,
but ordinary folk who don't serve God have only other people to rely on.
“That alone is more than enough to be grateful for.”
“Kyle.”
“Yes?”
“My name is Kyle. And yours, sister?”
“...Dane. They call me Lerdain.”
Lerdain? Unusual name.
Perhaps it's an alias.
Or maybe her real name. Either way, it doesn't matter.
This is the Lord's house, His bosom. All are welcome here.
As long as they come as guests, not enemies.
“...Do you not hate me? Does it not bother you that I'm eating and drinking in your home?”
“Sister, you hate yourself.”
I simply made the sign of the cross. I have a habit of saying this.
To others, I might seem normal and that holy one diseased, but
in God's eyes, we all appear as cripples, nothing more.
“But since my Lord does not hate you, how could I?”
“Even if this leper asks to spend just one night in your home?”
“Shall I prepare a place to sleep?”
We are all the same sick ones. All the same cripples.
If we don't help each other, if we make each other suffer, it only gets harder.
Even if that help goes unrewarded, I must still aid those in greater need than myself.
That is how I repay, even a little, the grace I received from my Lord, and share His grace with the world.
“I have nothing left to give you now. No matter how much kindness you show me, nothing will come back. Won't you regret it?”
“My Lord trusts me, even though He expects nothing in return from me.”
“Aren't you returning your faith to your God?”
“My God needs no faith.”
Even if we humans perish,
no, even if this whole world rushes toward catastrophe,
He simply exists eternally.
Our lives and deaths hold no meaning to Him.
“If even such a God helps people, why shouldn't people help each other?”
He, who is so far beyond my comparison, helps people through me.
No reason. Just His will. Even a god does so.
As a mere human, do I need a reason to help another human?
“Perhaps this is punishment for the sins I've committed all this time.”
Lerdain spoke after a long silence.
“Who can I blame? Blinded by ambition, I ignored those who recognized me and killed many who blocked my path. Now I say it, but I enjoyed war. War always elevated me. Sometimes, I even forced wars that needn't have happened.”
“That does sound like a sin, for sure.”
“Compared to the people who died because of it, the humiliation I'm suffering now might be as light as this teacup. With my wings clipped and fallen to earth, only now do I see things.”
I've never risen that high,
so honestly, I don't really know.
Lerdain was surely a fallen noble. Her every word carried a natural dignity.
Like an ogre born as mountain king. Her very grace felt superior to others.
The sensation of plummeting from such heights.
I've always walked the earth, so I don't know.
But even I know one thing.
“Sins cannot be washed away.”
This world is truly sad yet amusing.
“But who among us lives without committing sins.”
Even plants entwine roots to kill others,
spreading leaves to wither sprouts.
Judging this world in terms of good and evil is difficult.
My Lord sees this world as a collection of infinite possibilities, with no good or evil within. Thus, He is neither a good god nor an evil one. He simply watches as it advances toward the future.
“Even if unwashed sins grow heavier as we live, chained by them, we can walk because humans are animals that help each other.”
Humans harm each other too,
yet no one can live alone.
“Help is light. It connects from person to person, shining on endlessly.”
That light, transcending eras and history, continuing to arise and link,
illuminates a single person on a small scale, or an entire era on a grand one.
The Lord delights most in witnessing such sights.
Humans helping each other to overcome catastrophes they thought insurmountable by their own power—that is what He desires most.
“Remember this, holy one. The Lord helped you today because He wishes you to become one who helps your neighbor.”
No need for me to take credit. This aid is the Lord's. I am merely His herald, conveying His will.
I rose and placed a hand on Lerdain's back, stroking downward. That was enough.
The disease tormenting her—who knows how long—had actually begun healing the moment she entered this sanctuary. I did nothing.
The Lord had healed her.
“No way, no way...”
She realized it late. She quickly removed her gloves.
The rotten flesh that should have filled them had, by the Lord's grace, returned to its original state. White, smooth skin and slender fingers appeared in place of the decayed meat.
“Mirror, a mirror... Ah, no, my cheek... my face...”
Watching her touch her cheek, I simply smiled.
As I'd noticed earlier, what a beautiful person.
“Y-You... Are you an incarnation God sent to this world?”
“No way.”
I am merely a priest serving the Lord.
No more, no less— just the humble priest Kyle.
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