Chapter 6
Chapter 6
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 6
Chapter Title: While Making a Swing
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The first time my house wolf met me, it trembled while bowing its head.
I prepared a room for that child. I laid fresh bedding on the bed and added a sheet. I even bought new wallpaper and replaced it. Once it realized I wouldn’t say anything even if it stayed only in that room, the child kept the door tightly shut and never came out.
‘It seems I’m still scary to it.’
Even after building walls like that and erecting more walls.
I didn’t try to forcibly break down the child’s walls.
People can’t change people. Only the Lord and oneself can do that.
Yet even the Lord doesn’t do certain things.
If one doesn’t try to change oneself, the Lord won’t change them either.
It’s like leading a donkey to water, but you can’t make it drink. I don’t know what the child went through, but it must have been no easy ordeal. If even an adult would struggle with it, then for a child, all the more so. It wouldn’t be strange if it left a great stain on their life.
So, child. I will give you sunlight.
Just as the Lord did for me.
I’ll gather things that can serve as fertilizer, bury them near you, and draw water from the spring to quench your thirst.
Just as the Lord did for me when I was a withered sprout.
But whether you grow as big and strong as this tree—that, I can’t guarantee.
For my part, I’ll simply do my best.
I murmured those words while stroking the largest and sturdiest tree in the vegetable garden, one bare of leaves in winter. I prayed to the Lord and vowed to myself.
‘This tree. Its branches are quite thick and sturdy.’
I grabbed a branch at a suitable height and tugged it firmly. The branch didn’t break; it merely bent, then sprang back to its original shape when I let go. It was hard to bend it much even with my pulling strength. At this sturdiness, I thought it could hold even if I sat on it.
“There’s nothing fun to play with inside the house, so it must be bored.”
I had bought a few dolls from the market, but it showed no interest in them.
Whether it was interested but couldn’t bring itself to touch them, or truly had no interest, I didn’t know. Either way, the dolls remained brand new even after days passed. Still, I left them be.
Because someday, it might show interest.
“Shall I try making a swing...”
I had plywood and rope. The previous owner had left them in the house.
Even so, I prided myself on not being bad with my hands. The first time I met the Lord, both Yurinel and I were very young, right after we’d lost our parents.
Pumpkin Vine Village. Yurinel always hated mentioning it, calling it rustic—our hometown.
Like pumpkins that thrive over weeds despite being crops, it was a village no one thought much of, but it grew well. The people weren’t wealthy, but they had leisure, and vitality overflowed.
They sometimes fought with each other but soon reconciled, cherished their neighbors, and wise elders shared old knowledge.
But that small peace was shattered by an unstoppable being.
One of the monster legions created by the primordial demon king, Grimudo.
The man-eating monster, a manticore, trampled our hometown. The adults couldn’t even stand against it.
It looked like a lion but several times larger, with a tail as sharp as a scorpion’s. Its mouth was filled with serrated teeth. When it spread its two wings wide, they could cover an entire house.
It didn’t kill people for survival.
For fun, cruelly, without reason, like humans with ants.
It toyed with people using its lion-like front paws until it grew bored, then bit and devoured them.
Our neighbors died like that. Yurinel’s and my parents held off the manticore to let us escape. I didn’t witness their end directly, but they probably perished.
‘Back then, I definitely held Yurinel’s hand and ran... and then...’
It’s a memory from when I was very young. And one I don’t want to recall.
I don’t remember exactly what happened. But one thing I’m certain of:
I saw the Lord then, and witnessed the Lord’s miracle.
‘I don’t know what I saw, but it was definitely the Lord.’
No words I knew could describe it, and before that, my eyes couldn’t even see Him.
My small mind went blank upon facing Him. Only one word came to mind.
God. There was no need to think more. He could only be described by that single word.
When I came to, the manticore lay dead with a full belly,
its body without a single scratch. The cause of death was natural.
And from then on, the Lord’s divinity enveloped me. Hunter Helmut Uncle, who had passed out bleeding with his arm torn off. Carpenter Johan Uncle, whose back was broken after being flung away by a front paw while trying to fend it off with tools. That’s why I could barely save the others who were still alive. The village suffered greatly, but it didn’t die.
—Disciple. Do not resent the Lord for not coming to you sooner.
The one I call the Tree Angel later added.
A long time has passed, but I remember every word the angel said.
—The Lord originally has no right to exert power here. You might think His power is infinite, but even He has His own commandments and laws. Remember that if He had come to you a little earlier, you would have perished before the monster could be slain, unable to endure.
In any case, I became a priest that day—in fact, the village’s only priest.
The Triune Church or the Heavenly God Aldehir’s order wouldn’t come to a small place like our village. Ours was so remote even the evil god Oberta’s priests ignored it.
Until much later, when the Triune Church’s holy knights and priests stormed in to take Yurinel.
Until she proved her hero’s qualification by drawing the holy sword. Well, they left the village right after, so I remained the village’s sole priest.
And it would have stayed that way.
“While with the Triune Church, I heard stories. The man-eating monster, manticore, is one of the beasts led by the primordial demon king Grimudo.”
Yurinel Rakfonzia.
My old childhood friend, who had returned as a hero—and a noble.
“Someday, I’ll slay that thing and get revenge. Want to come with me?”
She asked if I’d join in avenging our parents,
and I gladly left the village. Leaving behind the sanctuary’s beacon fire and the reviving spring.
Well, in the end, I realized I couldn’t do anything to Grimudo with my power and had to return, but Yurinel surely can finish the revenge. Especially with the saintess’s help, definitely.
‘I learned all sorts of things from Uncle Johan.’
While Yurinel was away adventuring,
I wasn’t just idling either.
I learned hunting techniques from Hunter Helmut Uncle, herb types from gatherer Lumil Sister. I listened to forgotten old tales from the village elders.
Compared to Yurinel, it was modest and small. One of those small skills was the woodworking and handiwork I learned from Carpenter Johan Uncle.
“I really miss you, Uncle.”
I cut the plywood suitably to make the swing seat, padded it with leather to make it soft.
Fun whether riding standing or sitting. I took out the rope, tied the swing to the branch, and knotted it securely. To check if the branch might break or the rope come loose, I even tried sitting on it myself.
‘But now, the village doesn’t need me anymore.’
What I learned adventuring with Yurinel: the world is vast, and places needing divinity are many.
I saw people groaning with splints, bones broken but untreated. People whose small wounds festered, eventually requiring amputation of fingers.
The place I should be isn’t the hometown where the beacon shines and the spring flows quietly.
Wherever people need divinity—that’s where I must go.
‘Will it show interest?’
Peek.
Seeing the olive-colored eyes peeking at me through the slightly open door, I pretended not to notice and slowly got on the swing. If our eyes met, the child startles in fear.
Before, it couldn’t move from its spot; now, it just flees to its room. Either way, no need to let it know I’d seen it watching me.
‘I worked so hard on this; it’d be nice if it used it.’
Even if it doesn’t see me riding it, even if it shows interest when I’m not around,
I thought it’d be good if the child enjoyed the swing like a child should. I rode the swing for a bit, enjoying the breeze, then got off. I didn’t plan to ride too long.
‘Time for this already.’
There’s one thing that gives even the most timid courage.
Hunger. Once the stomach growls, people see nothing else.
The only time that child musters the courage to seek me out
is mealtime. Seeing the child watching me means it’s time to feed it.
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