I am back – Chapter 154

Sometimes I can’t help but wonder if what I’m experiencing right now is just a dream.

In reality, I’m still on the battlefield, and when I wake up, the Demon King’s army is still out there, and I’m just lying on the grass of the battlefield.

There are still mountains of foes I need to defeat, and I can see the enemy’s base in the distance…

No, in fact, that too might be a dream. All these gods, magic, elves, and the Demon King are nothing but figments of imagination in reality.

What if I’m just dying after being hit by a car, and everything I’ve experienced up to now has been nothing more than a dying dream? The connections I’ve built over the past five years might just be my imagination, and my reunion with my sister was ultimately just a thought.

In truth, I could be lying in a coma in a hospital room, with my mom still submerged in sorrow, and my sister might have already forgotten someone like me and moved on to live happily with someone else.

“…Well, that’s a worrying thought.”

Suddenly, I blinked as I heard those words.

I found myself in a brightly lit place. Just a moment ago, I was lying on the same bed as my sister.

“Why are you thinking such nonsense when you know better? I mean, how can you think dreams and reality are the same? The sensations alone feel different.”

When I turned towards the voice, the pink-haired Goddess was standing there.

The Goddess shrugged her shoulders once, let out a deep sigh, and spoke.

“Ah, though, I guess this is practically a dream, in a sense. Even though we are having a real conversation, it’s just a temporary space created based on memories. Still, it feels hard to distinguish between reality and the past, and the sensations persist intact.”

As the Goddess conjured a chair from thin air and sat down, a small table appeared in front of her. Both were snow white with nearly no adornments, yet strangely fitting in this place with a certain elegance.

Although I said she conjured it from thin air, considering what kind of space this is… Well, the Goddess had done such things casually in the Grand Temple before, so it might not be that extraordinary after all.

Rather, the way she naturally acted to the point of making me think nothing of it, I began to understand a bit about how the Goddess lived her life.

As I approached the Goddess, a chair materialized across from her.

Sitting down in that chair felt just like sitting in a real one. Is that because this is also a sensation from my memory?

“I have one question.”

“Coming straight to the point after not seeing each other for a while, huh? What is it?”

As soon as I sat down, I blurted out my question, and the Goddess, though grumbling, allowed me to ask it.

“Do gods tire out when they do this or that?”

The Goddess always tended to make room for me if she thought the conversation might drag on.

“Just because I don’t tire does that mean I can just stand there and talk? Physically, that’s a second concern, but wouldn’t the mind tire out? Even though I might look like this, I’ve lived long enough to know what it feels like to grow old and die. Sitting down is more comfortable psychologically than standing.”

The answer I received back was so ordinary that it felt like something a very normal person would say, leaving me momentarily taken aback.

“If you find it psychologically burdensome sitting across from me, you can kneel instead… Hey, I was joking, so don’t really do it.”

When I flinched a bit in response, the Goddess frowned.

“Seriously, it’s quite rude to assume you can challenge a Hero or Saintess or a Goddess.”

Even as she grumbled that, the expression on her face didn’t seem genuinely angry.

“Well, anyway. So then, what I wanted to say wasn’t that.”

I corrected my posture. The Goddess didn’t say anything about that behavior.

“So, are you feeling a little bit better now?”

The Goddess asked me that.

She was probably asking about my condition.

I had returned to the original world, but I couldn’t really say I was normal, even in small talk.

It wasn’t always the case, but sometimes I would wake up in fear, wandering around the house with a knife, or keep a small knife and emergency provisions in my bag.

In fact, all of those impulses weren’t completely gone. I still carried a pocket knife. But now I didn’t really worry about its existence as I did before. I would often touch my bag and find peace in knowing the knife was there, but at least not now.

And waking up occasionally at night, when I did so in fear, I would always find myself in my sister’s arms.

Though my sister was shorter than me, she would always pull me close against her chest.

As if she were scared I might wander off somewhere while awake. As if she always wanted to reassure me she would be right there.

“…Yes, I’ve improved a lot. Thanks to you, Goddess.”

That was definitely true.

Aside from the fact that the Goddess sent my companions to the world I lived in, the wealth she provided was a tremendous help.

It wasn’t just that it was a lot of money.

Because of that money, my sister and I no longer had to worry about our future. We didn’t have to take any risky investments to make more money, and since we already had a house, we didn’t have to worry about rising property prices.

My sister and I could just run our bakery comfortably. If we ever wanted a break or to go far away, we could close the bakery without a second thought. While closing meant missing out on sales, we weren’t in a situation where we had to cling to our income for survival.

Some might think we were being too comfortable and complacent in reality…

But for now, that was more than enough.

If any desire to do something new came up, we had both the time and money to try it.

Moreover, I might not notice, but my sister was already eagerly pursuing what she wanted. If she were to settle for reality just because of my money, she wouldn’t still have the intention to run the bakery.

She studied coffee and how to bake bread.

Though it had nothing to do with the theories she learned as a university student, she seemed to find the process genuinely enjoyable and was studying hard.

So, I really couldn’t ask for more.

There might be those who criticize me, but… I had truly been through so much during those five years.

So, I wanted to take some time off for a few years, simply to relax.

“…Is that so… Did it really help…?”

The Goddess showed a noticeably relieved expression.

“Then I’m glad.”

The Goddess shrugged her shoulders slightly as she spoke.

“Well, actually, I called you here to ask you something else.”

“Ah…”

“Dana and Pia have opened a shop, and I figured my power might be a little easier to channel through them.”

The Goddess propped her chin on the table as she spoke.

“And… since I’m here, let me give you one warning.”

“…Yes?”

“If you go to Irrelaysia, the people who are nice to you will surely be the majority, but—”

The Goddess spoke while looking at me steadily.

“There might be some out there who won’t be so kind. Be cautious. Well, as a Hero, I’m sure you’d do that anyway.”

“Yes, I know.”

I somewhat expected that.

It would be too naive to think that everybody treating me nicely would be a given.

There were plenty of those kinds of people even when I was a Hero. Especially among the nobles.

Moreover, our party had a very typical gender balance.

Though Irrelaysia couldn’t be said to be a complete medieval society, it didn’t mean there weren’t any outdated notions.

In various circumstances, whether as nobles, men, or women… there were certainly plenty of people with strange ways of thinking.

Those who can’t accept that others are different exist abundantly on either side.

“Well, as long as you know.”

The Goddess stretched her arms above her head and yawned, looking quite relieved.

“…Oh, right.”

Then she suddenly added as if she had just remembered.

“When you wake up, say something to Pia. I can understand short pants, but the outfit that’s almost showing her navel just doesn’t seem right, does it? I mean, she’s a Saintess after all. She should dress a bit more decently.”

“…Can’t you say it yourself, Goddess?”

“Do you think I haven’t told her?”

“…….”

Hmm.

In that case, it seems my words wouldn’t really make much of a difference.

“…But I’ll at least try to relay the message.”

“Okay, well, I don’t expect much from it anyway.”

The Goddess shrugged and then suddenly looked up at the empty space.

“Oh, it might be getting close to sunrise. Then I’ll take my leave.”

The Goddess straightened up and composed herself like last time—

“Then once again. May your future always be filled with happiness.”

Saying that, she gave me a bright smile.

Then, my vision brightened significantly—