Chapter 1

– I won’t live in a place like this.

Yurinel Larkponsia… no, Yurinel has always been an extraordinary child.

– I’ll rise up, become a noble. Someday, I’ll be greater than the lord of this village.

Her talent, ambition, and abilities were so extraordinary that they didn’t match someone like me.

All the children in the village, no, even the adults, were intimidated by Yurinel. She was mature from a young age, and as she grew older, she picked up a sword. While I couldn’t even swing a wooden sword properly, Yurinel was already defeating soldiers with hers.

– Now, now, listen well. A prophecy has been revealed that there is a hero in this village chosen by the three goddesses. Do any of you have a candidate in mind?

Since she was always extraordinary, it wasn’t surprising when she left to become a hero.

When I met Yurinel again after she returned, she was already shining brightly.

She had gone on countless adventures, earned a noble title, and gathered party members I couldn’t even compare to. The fact that I couldn’t follow her to the end was something I knew best.

After she drew the Sacred Sword and became a hero, I might have already given up.

‘Yeah, I can’t be as great as you.’

She has her life,

and I have mine.

I followed Yurinel out of the village and set off on adventures under the name of an adventurer,

but now it was time to return as Kyle, the nameless priest of the Lord.

“Do you have pumpkin seeds? Ah, and seed potatoes too?”

The profession I chose was that of a farmer.

*****

When people think of priests, they often imagine it as a job where you heal others and get paid for it.

But using Divine Power for healing and taking money for it is illegal. To be precise, only the priests of the Three God Faith have that right. Since the priests of the Three God Faith are vigilant and watchful, illegal healing can result in fines or even imprisonment in the temple’s underground dungeon.

‘Healing is charity, not a means to make money.’

To make a living, I had to find my own way.

Even though farming isn’t something to laugh at, the reason I chose to make a living through farming was

because I knew my Lord would help me.

The Lord never helps me carelessly.

Only when I put in effort, when I show my will, does He gently push me forward.

If I do nothing, He won’t help me either. But if I do my best, He will surely place something in my hands. I must strive, but also have faith.

‘Still, you gave me enough when I left.’

Whether this was the last kindness to a comrade,

or money to keep me quiet in case I complained later, I don’t know.

But either way, it was enough to buy a house with a vegetable garden.

“This is a vegetable garden, not a farm. The land isn’t fertile enough for serious farming. Are you sure you’ll be okay?”

“Well, I’ll just have to do my best.”

I’m not tending the fields for wealth.

Just enough to get by day by day is sufficient.

‘Since I’ve bought a new house, should I say a prayer?’

After sending off the merchant who came to sell seeds, I sat at the table and lit a single candle.

He doesn’t gain strength from prayers, yet I still prayed.

Because I believed it was the duty of a believer.

There’s no need to prepare a grand ceremony for prayer. That’s not what He desires.

There’s no need to preach faith either.

He doesn’t grow by feeding on faith.

There’s no need to recite a beautifully crafted prayer.

No human rhetoric will ever reach Him.

Lighting even a single candle while thinking of Him is prayer itself, and as long as faith remains, the candle will burn forever.

And as long as that flame flickers, this place will always be a sanctuary. My troubled mind settles, becoming as quiet as the candlelight.

‘Huh?’

After finishing my prayer and leaving the kitchen, I saw fruit hanging from a tree in the garden.

On a tree that had been there since I bought the garden, about nine apples had grown. It was strange. I hadn’t seen any fruit earlier, and it’s winter now.

It’s neither the temperature nor the season for apples to grow. But this too must be the will of the Lord.

‘They’re not frozen yet.’

I gathered the fresh apples, as if they had just grown, into a basket and brought them inside.

The future branches out in nearly infinite directions, and among them are possibilities so small they’re usually ignored.

For example, the possibility of nine apples growing on a tree in the middle of winter.

The Lord simply brought that small possibility into the present through His will.

Why He did so, as a human, I cannot know His intentions. I can only guess.

He sees something different from me, and His intuition far surpasses mine.

So no matter how much I rack my brain, I know I can’t follow His will.

I simply move in the direction I think is right with my small mind.

‘Sweet.’

Crunch!

The apple was as sweet as honey. After eating one, I was full.

It was delicious, but I didn’t want to eat another. So I covered the basket of apples with a cloth to keep them from freezing, put on my coat, and went outside. Well, this is what I think His will is.

He gave me nine apples, not one. Even though one would have been enough for me.

That must mean He wants me to share the other eight with someone. Of course, it might not be that.

He might have just wanted to give me nine apples. It’s entirely possible I’m misinterpreting His will. Anyway, how could I possibly know what the Lord desires?

As a human, I simply act on what I want to do. Even if this isn’t the Lord’s will, it’s not against His will either.

‘Who should I share them with?’

This small city, Larpentia, has sparse houses on its outskirts.

As I was thinking of going to the market, I saw a gentleman in a coat coming out of a house. I quietly approached and greeted him.

“Hello. I’m Kyle, the new neighbor next door.”

“I’m Rubelt. I heard Mr. Smith sold his house and moved to the countryside. I guess you’re the one who bought it.”

“Would you like some fresh apples? They’re common in autumn, but hard to find in winter.”

“Apples? Fresh apples, you say?”

But the gentleman’s reaction was strange.

Even though apples are rare in winter, is it really that surprising?

I was about to ask, but before I could, the gentleman reached out and touched the basket. He took one and bit into it.

“It really is an apple… Oh, heavens. Have you answered my son’s prayers?”

Hmm… One thing was certain.

The Heavenly God, Aldehir, who has been worshipped since before the Three Divine Gods and is still revered to some extent,

is not the Lord I serve. Of course, I didn’t say that out loud.

“I’ll buy all those apples. How much do you want? Name your price.”

“I can’t take money for something so trivial. I was planning to give them as a gift anyway.”

These apples aren’t something I earned through my efforts.

I didn’t even put in the effort to plant the apple tree.

They were simply given to me by the Lord. I can’t sell them for money.

That’s not something I, or He, would want.

“Take them. May you have the Lord’s blessings.”

“How kind of you! May you also have the Lord’s blessings! Actually, my son has been bedridden and has been desperately asking for apples for days now. He wants fresh apples, just picked! Where could I find such a thing in this harsh winter? My heart has been breaking as a father.”

Ah. Now I understood why the Lord gave me the apples.

I made the sign of the cross and asked,

“Is your son sick?”

“Sigh… It’s a story from a few months ago. He caught a cold, and while it usually clears up in two weeks, this time it didn’t go away for a month and only got worse. So I finally took him to the temple and had him treated with Divine Power. But…”

With the help of a priest serving Hilrae, the Saint of Healing, the cold was driven away.

But that was just the beginning. Even after the treatment, my son’s condition didn’t improve.

“He often felt dizzy, lost color in his face, and red spots appeared on his skin. He complained of bone pain. When he bled, the bleeding wouldn’t stop. A once healthy child became pale and sickly. I took him back to the temple for Divine Power treatment, but his complexion only improved temporarily, and within a day, he’d relapse…”

“Have you found a way to treat him?”

“I learned that it’s a disease that can’t be treated with Divine Power, so I’ve called herbalists to make medicinal brews. But whether they’ll work is up to the heavens.”

I’m almost certain. The reason the Lord gave me the apples.

Saving a dying person is the natural duty of a believer. Whether I can save Rubelt’s son with my own power, I can’t guarantee. But trying is better than not trying at all.

“Mr. Rubelt. May I see your son for a moment?”

“That’s difficult…”

“Although I don’t serve the Three Divine Gods, I am also a priest serving my Lord. There must be a reason He led me here.”

A bright emerald-green energy gathered in my hand, turning into light.

He is always watching over me. I believe that without a doubt.

What I believe in is not my own power, but only the power of the Lord.

Since He led me here, there must be a possibility of saving him. My confident demeanor made Mr. Rubelt hesitate.

“Honestly, I don’t trust you. I don’t think you can save my son, whom even the priests have given up on. But Mr. Kyle, if this continues, my son will die.”

He finally agreed to let me see his son.

“Right now, I’m grasping at straws. If you can help, I’ll gratefully accept it.”