I Hope You Never Come Back
I Hope You Never Come Back
"We moved the factory building to the large waste disposal site on the outskirts of the capital. You can demolish the building there, sell what you can, and throw away the rest!"
As the witch waved her wand and shouted, everyone raised their hands and cheered.
"It is the Goddess's grace!!"
"We believe! O Goddess!!"
Anyone could see the witch had made that happen with magic, so why was everyone suddenly worshiping the Goddess?
Please don't do that.
The Goddess Lilia was probably watching me in real time.
I felt like something was caught in my throat.
The pressure was crushing.
It felt as if the Goddess might shout that I was a bastard who falsely claimed sainthood and hurl divine punishment down onto my head at any moment.
"I'll go! I'll go sell it! I know best what was inside the factory!!"
Scrooge.
No.
Jonathan Karma, who had arrived at the scene before I knew it, raised his hand and volunteered at the witch's words.
"Saint! Please wait just a moment!! I will go dispose of it and return! All the money that was inside the factory is yours as well! Please just wait a moment!!"
Jonathan Karma vanished as if flying.
And around evening that day, he returned with a thick bundle of cash.
"Most of the equipment inside the factory was old, so it didn't fetch much. Still, the scrap value alone was considerable. It's two thousand Saled, O Saint."
Jonathan Karma placed the bundle of money before me with a respectful attitude.
What was I supposed to do with this money......
Well. The safest bet was food, right?
"High Priest Yodel."
When I carefully called for the High Priest, the bald old man came running as if flying and stood before me.
"Give me your command, Saint!"
"Use this to buy food and feed the poor here."
"O grace!! I shall do so!!!"
In an instant, a free meal station was set up in front of the abandoned factory.
The poor, healed and restored, were eating the food prepared by the Lilia Order and weeping.
"It's been so long since we had warm, delicious food like this!"
"Thank you! Saint!!"
"Saint!!! Thank you!!!"
Countless people came to me in tears, bowing their heads and prostrating themselves.
Yes.
This was nice.
It was nice, but the problem was that the probability of getting smitten was increasing in real time.
I had no religion!!
I was not a follower of Lilia!!
I had no faith, dammit!!
I was non-religious!!
I was truly fucked.
I'd reached a point where I'd have no excuse even if lightning struck the top of my head at that moment.
The poor were not a problem.
After all, they wouldn't know how to use a tracking miracle, nor would they have the means to systematically search for someone.
As expected.
Those order people were the biggest problem.
I had to shake them off quickly.
Fast!
I had to burn through the money fast!!!
I had to make them think I was incompetent, curse me, and leave!!
"Yodel."
"Speak, Saint!!"
"Tomorrow. As soon as the sun rises, begin digging the ground. The foundation work must be solid. Dig deep and prepare to erect a tall high-rise building. Understood?"
"I shall do so!!"
"Rent expensive excavators and equipment. Bring everything over and invest without holding back. And do not use the workers for free. Give them generous wages. So generous it feels excessive. A thick wallet is true grace. Do you understand?"
"Of course!! Of course!! I shall scrape together every bit of money within my authority that I can move immediately! I will also persuade the temples in the provinces as fast as possible and pull in as much funding as I can! What is the order's money when it is the Saint's command?!"
I no longer felt guilt about deceiving the order and causing them losses.
Guilt or whatever, I had to survive, didn't I?
I was still too young to die struck by divine punishment.
I was sorry.
Old man Yodel.
But I had no choice either.
Evening came.
The poor gathered around me like baby birds waiting for their mother, staring only at me.
I was looking at them when I finally realized what had been bothering me all along.
"Everyone.......don't you have homes?"
"The street is our home, Saint."
"Sometimes we sleep leaning against ropes, Saint."
So that was the problem.
These people.
They had nowhere to sleep!!
But I didn't have the ability to provide them with a place to sleep.
What was I supposed to do about this?
No! Wasn't this actually good?
If word got out that I was a worthless saint who couldn't even provide a bed in this freezing cold, wouldn't everyone leave me?
"Just put down a straw mat and lie on the ground! I will cast a wide-area temperature maintenance spell! Hurry up and lie down! Eating well and sleeping well are what matter! You understand, right?"
The four-armed witch trolled me again.
Why!!
Why!!
Why the hell was she doing that, why!!
If she did that, I'd become a saint through and through!!
They had to have their mouths freeze up a bit while they slept so they'd curse me out and leave!!
Why was she trying to make even the street comfortable!!
It might have been a lie that she belonged to the Magic Tower.
The way she acted, she was a black magician incarnate.
"O grace!! O Goddess!!"
"Thank you! Thank you!"
As the poor lay down on the street wherever they could, the witch swung her wand and scattered light through the air.
A soft yellow light seemed to hang in the air for a moment, and then the ground where I stood grew hot, as if an ondol heating system had been turned on.
"Everyone, sleep!"
"By the Saint's mercy!"
"Thank you! Lady Witch! Thank you, Saint!! O Goddess, thank you!!"
Everyone lay down on the warm street and slept with happy faces.
There was no chaos at all, and no misfortune anywhere on that scene.
The holy knights of the Sun Order and the police dispatched to maintain order were all looking at the sight with pleased expressions.
Some of the police and holy knights were even so moved that they were shedding tears.
"Saint. High Priest Alois instructed us to look after you only until the Lilia Order arrived. However, if it is alright, would it be permissible for us to remain at your side a little longer and follow in the footsteps of your miracles?"
The holy knights of the Sun Order, seemingly having made a firm resolution, approached me, knelt down, and spoke.
"Lopers likely regards performing this task as just as well. If you grant permission, may we do so?"
At those words, my ears suddenly perked up.
This.......
wasn't bad at all?
"If you would do that, it would be the greatest honor. Yodel."
"Speak, O Saint!!"
Ever since he had witnessed the healing of Jonathan Karma's family, High Priest Yodel had practically changed from a bald old man into a puppy.
When I called, Yodel came dashing over, and I pointed to the Sun Order's holy knights.
"Pay wages to these people as well. Their efforts deserve compensation."
"No! O Saint!! We are not here for money!"
I know.
It was just so I could make the order spend money.
Wouldn't I get a reputation as a failure if I just carelessly handed out money?
"Please accept it. That is grace. Happiness comes from the wallet, and the wallet is secure thanks to money. You must take it when you can."
Yodel nodded, deeply moved by my words.
"We will give it. Followers of the Sun. It is the will of the Goddess of Grace!"
The Sun Order's holy knights nodded and made the sign of the cross as if they had been moved by those words.
"If it is the Goddess's will, we will accept!!"
Seeing the Sun Order's holy knights shout, the police also came up to my side one by one.
"Saint. We will also continue to maintain public order here. Problems could arise if this many people remain gathered together."
"Then all of you should accept payment as well."
"We cannot do that! If we accept money, that is bribery!"
"Do not call the Goddess's grace a bribe. If giving it to each of you individually is illegal, then have it delivered to the police station in the form of a donation."
I had to make them spend money somehow!!
Somehow!!
At my words, Yodel just nodded like a fool.
"I shall do so! Whatever the Saint commands!"
After I had thus gained the use of the police and the Sun Order's holy knights, Jonathan Karma cautiously approached me.
"Saint. Is there nothing you wish to command of me? I have, after all, lived over half my life as a businessman. I am confident in handling money and operating corporate enterprises."
At this, my ears perked up again.
Confident my ass.
You ruined your doll factory!!
That was just saying you were terrible at business!!
He was the perfect talent!!
If I gave this man money and put him in charge of a business, wouldn't he run it into catastrophic ruin?
"I wish to entrust you with building the temple. I will entrust you with the task of borrowing equipment including excavators, overseeing the construction, digging the ground, and directing the laborers to erect the building. Yodel. From now on, entrust all funds required for construction entirely to Jonathan Karma."
Old man puppy gave an OK to whatever I ordered.
"I shall do so! Saint!!"
"Thank you. Thank you, Saint. Until the day I die, I will never forget that you healed my daughter. I will help bring about miracles at your side. Thank you."
Jonathan Karma bowed with the utmost respect and disappeared.
Now it was over.
There wasn't anyone else, was there?
"Don't you need to rest?"
I had forgotten about her!!
The four-armed nuclear-bomb witch!!
The witch, who had approached me with her four arms demurely folded, smiled and asked me that question.
She was truly terrifying no matter how many times I looked at her.
Did it even make sense that she could swing her wand once, rip an entire factory out of the ground, and teleport it to the capital's outskirts?
What stood before my eyes was a monster.
I had to stay calm.
"I was just about to sleep. The ground is truly warm. Thank you."
I was going to sleep. So please leave quickly.
You were scary to look at.
I tried to hurry and pretend to lie down, but before I could, the witch approached me and took my hand.
Wow, fucking terrified.
It was honestly so scary.
Instinctively, I broke out in a cold sweat, and my body started to tremble.
"You're trembling again. Is it divine influx?"
The witch looked worried, took both my hands, and used her two remaining hands to touch my forehead.
It was not divine influx.
It was just my body trembling at the thought of disappearing along with you, ma'am.
"It's nothing. You needn't worry about it."
That's right! Don't worry about it and just disappear already!!
I meant don't keep coming to see me!!
I had just said that offhandedly, but it seemed the witch interpreted my words differently.
"You are truly noble."
The witch's eyes grew red.
Tears even welled up in them.
It seemed she had mistaken me for a noble saint who endured divine influx to sacrifice and devote himself to the people.
"Your name. I want to know your name, Saint. I didn't get to hear it last time. Can you not tell me?"
Her two hands holding mine tightly with earnestness sounded like a threat to me.
Was she saying she'd crush me if I didn't tell her my name?
Was she about to darken and explode into a bomb again?
So fucking scary.......
"I am Jericho Amael. You can just call me Amael, it doesn't matter."
"Lord Amael........"
The witch murmured dreamily as if in a trance.
With her eyes closed tightly, she was savoring my name on the tip of her tongue, then carefully lifted my hand and kissed the back of it.
"You saved everything that I am, O Saint."
"I only did what I had to do."
"Just once......could you give me a kiss just once more?"
With her face flushed bright red, the witch carefully asked me.
What the hell would happen if I didn't do it?
She made her threats truly bloodcurdling.
I carefully took hold of her face and drew her toward me.
And I carefully gave her a kiss on the forehead.
Please don't explode.
Sure.
A kiss was something I could do any number of times.
As long as she didn't explode, a kiss was.......
"I am yours forever."
When the kiss ended, the witch looked up at me with a face that seemed to melt, tears streaming down.
Her finger carefully came up and touched my lips.
The witch smiled as she ecstatically stroked my lips.
She was crying with her eyes but smiling with her mouth.
She looked like she was writhing in a cauldron of emotions.
"I will be going now."
After bowing respectfully, the witch disappeared.
Only after she was gone was I able to relax.
She wouldn't come again tomorrow, right?
I hoped she would never come back again.