Goddess Clara had been manifest in this world for 98 years, 10 months, and 17 days.
In the 96th year, the saint, Saint Rina Hicks, who had been with the goddess, ascended, leaving the records of that time sparse and faint. Some say she looked back at the world she had created one last time before her ascension, while others believe she finally found peace and rested. There are claims that records of that time are kept deep within the Central Church but are not publicly accessible for some unknown reason.
Later historians often choose the rest theory. The goddess had tirelessly helped countless people during her time, and as her body aged to the point where moving became difficult, historians cautiously speculate that it wouldn’t have been hard to look back at the world, even with the power of miracles.
However, at the end of all those faint records, the moment the goddess ascended was recorded, and everyone agrees on that record.
[The goddess was smiling.]
The moment the goddess ascended, she regained the body of her most beautiful days, and in the end, left only a faint glow, returning to her original place. That glow, preserved in a consecrated vessel, is said to still be kept deep within the Central Church. What that glow could do in the future is unknown even to those who guard it.
The anecdotes left by the goddess during her time on Earth are so numerous that they could fill dozens of books, making it impossible to write them all here. However, let’s note a few of the most famous tales.
First, the tale of the fiend the goddess faced for the first time.
This story where the goddess first showed her prominence, and another goddess, Ariel, makes an appearance, is already quite famous as it has been documented in video materials. The first fiend punished by the goddess after her arrival in this world, Kwon In-Soo, became famous due to being the first, and his story is still used as an example for clergy.
While the records of his time as a priest are relatively plentiful, it’s unclear whether his thoughts changed after he lost his position following the church’s reformation. His trail ended in an undeveloped village in the 21st District. After retirement, he settled there with no ties whatsoever.
He lived in that village until the year when the goddess had been in the world for 20 years. Until his death, he never uttered a word and lived by occasionally healing the sick who came to him. Occasionally, sounds resembling prayers could be heard from the room he stayed in, but the villagers made no effort to disturb him.
The night before he passed away, a woman in white appeared with a group to visit him. The conversation lasted about 10 minutes, but what they spoke about was not conveyed. However, soon after the woman left, he closed his eyes. It is said that the expression on his deceased face was peaceful. He left no descendants.
Whether the woman in white was the goddess, the surrounding villagers said nothing to confirm or deny.
The then-president, Adrian Miller, successfully achieved reelection. During his administration, he maintained a policy of strict non-interference with the church, and the church also did not interfere with government policies. This stance solidified and has continued to this day.
He acted as if he respected the goddess, saints, and pope of the church, and this is analyzed as a decisive factor in his popularity. He is regarded as the politician who had the most conversations with the goddess during her presence.
However, as the contents of declassified documents from later generations revealed, his evaluation somewhat diminished. Maintaining a comfortable and stable relationship with the goddess was due to her personally chastising him, and there was evidence he attempted to use the goddess to his advantage. Nonetheless, it is too early to dismiss him entirely, as some still regard him highly for treating the goddess with respect and consistently upholding a stance that did not go against her will.
And—
*
“Ugh, this is ridiculous.”
Joy muttered as she slammed her pen down. It was a sunny Sunday, and it wasn’t even a day for school, yet here she was, not gossiping with friends but fiddling with a pen, which was infuriating.
On the round table, there was still an immense pile of reference books to copy from.
“The goddess was in this world for 98 years! Naturally, just considering those stories, there are this many books! Summarizing them would take hundreds of pages!”
“I’m not saying you have to summarize everything. The assignment was to organize a few events that had a meaningful impact on the current era. More importantly, this was a group project! If no one had run away, we would’ve finished it a week ago!”
Unlike Joy, who was massaging her aching hand, Glenda was diligently moving her own. In front of her were already several pages of notes densely packed with small handwriting.
“…”
Oh right, she was a devout believer. Her father was a priest, and her mother was a nun. Glenda wasn’t a clergy member herself, but she was devout enough to use holy power to some extent. Of course, she couldn’t heal anyone.
“But among those esteemed group members, two of them didn’t even show up today.”
“Just because others don’t do it doesn’t mean I shouldn’t either. If I don’t, there’ll be no one doing it at all.”
Seeing her recite a famous saying left by Goddess Clara, Joy sighed deeply.
“…”
For a while, the only sound that echoed was that of the pen gliding softly across the paper. There was faint music playing in the background, but not enough to disrupt their conversation.
While Joy was gazing at Glenda’s delicate hands moving over the paper, she suddenly exclaimed with an “Aha!” sound as if she had an idea.
“Rather than organizing everything in writing, how about we visit the places where the goddess had descended?”
Glenda’s hand that had been moving with the pen stopped abruptly. Her brows furrowed as she lifted her head.
“No, you’ve also said you wanted to go…”
While Glenda usually didn’t seem that intimidating, her pale skin and blonde hair combined with blue eyes could give off a somewhat cold impression. However, since she was the daughter of a clergy couple, she was very gentle and careful in her actions, quickly dissipating that image once they met.
Of course, being the daughter of clergy, her faith was profound, and naturally, she reacted seriously when someone jokingly used the names of gods, even if it was overused phrases like “Oh my Clara!”
“But every time we talked about going, it was always pushed back for reasons like a lack of time or suddenly having something to do. And as a result, here we are, the two of us, hurrying to finish our project just an hour before the café closes. If I hadn’t noted anything beforehand, we would’ve had absolutely nothing to present tomorrow.”
“Well, still, you get pretty good grades in this subject. You know a lot about Goddess Clara. After all, this assignment is just a petty thing the teacher threw our way after finals. We could just barely scrape through the day, and then it’s vacation…”
“Sorry.”
As Glenda glared at her with burning eyes, Joy ultimately had to apologize.
“…”
“…”
The silence returned once again.
Eventually, Joy helplessly picked up her pen and began to transcribe the text onto the paper.
*
Somehow, they managed to finish it.
Gathering cases and creating at least a script, Joy and Glenda had successfully risen early in the morning to hastily prepare a presentation. They felt like collapsing but didn’t have the option of skipping school.
Barely avoiding being late with their swaying steps, they carried on with their presentation materials—
“… Huh?”
—only to not get to present.
“What’s wrong?”
As Joy wore a startled expression right before their presentation, Glenda softly inquired. Joy’s face turned pale as she spoke.
“Uh, I think I… um…”
“Uh, I think I… um?”
Glenda mimicked Joy’s hesitant words.
“I’m really sorry, but… I think I left the memory with the data at home.”
“…”
Glenda’s mouth dropped open wide. It was a rare expression for her.
“What do we do…?”
Joy gulped and replied to Glenda’s question.
“Well… it seems we’ll have to present without it.”
Glenda could barely respond with a word.
*
Somehow, they presented.
They did present, but—
“Hmmm.”
Obviously, they could not please the teacher.
Ultimately, Glenda had to present with an empty screen and only her script, and frankly, in comparison to the minimal effort shown by other groups, it was objectively terrible.
“Can the E group explain why they presented without a presentation file?”
“…”
There was no one to answer. It was particularly awkward since two out of the four had been unresponsive during the task.
“Then, I’ll take it as you have no valid reason.”
The theology class teacher was often a real clergy member. Generally, they were invited by local governments to teach.
Of course, many of them didn’t have qualifications like teacher’s licenses, and the subject of theology didn’t significantly impact grades. Unless you planned to pursue that path, theology class was essentially a common sense class.
“Glenda, I’m really disappointed.”
But for Glenda, whose parents were clergy and who had a genuine faith, it was not a class she could afford to overlook. She had been diligently researching and organizing even when the other group members had shown no enthusiasm. Naturally, she couldn’t help but feel dejected when she heard those words from the teacher.
“While this presentation won’t affect your grades, do you really think it’s acceptable to have done it so carelessly?”
“…”
Glenda merely bowed her head.
Seeing her like that, Joy steeled herself and raised her hand high.
“Teacher!”
The teacher turned his head toward Joy.
“Actually, the materials were completed, but I carelessly left them behind! It’s my fault!”
“…”
As he saw Joy, sweating, shout that out, the teacher let out a light sigh.
“Even if what you said is true, the presentation has already concluded.”
And with that, the teacher started to gather his books and documents. Glenda seemed to bow her head even deeper.
“Well then, we’ll wrap up today’s class here.”
True to his nature of being punctual about time, the bell to signal the end of class rang right after he said that.
“Have a great vacation.”
And, without giving the students another look, the teacher walked out of the classroom.
Glenda flopped down into her seat, looking shocked as if she had just heard that from a clergy member.
“… Glenda, I’m sorry. It was my mistake.”
“…No, it’s my fault for not checking thoroughly.”
After hearing such a response, Joy’s guilt grew even heavier in her chest.
“Uh, um…”
As Joy desperately scrambled to think of something to say, someone murmured from the side.
“Look at you showing off all the time, and this is what you did today.”
“Seems like your famous faith was just that little bit, huh?”
Joy shot a glare in that direction and, though everyone promptly shut their mouths and averted their eyes, it was too late.
Yes, Glenda, with her profound faith, had actively pointed out mistakes made by others whenever they misbehaved. It may not have been worth making a fuss over ordinary misdeeds, but Glenda couldn’t help but challenge others whenever they misused the names of the gods or even the way they spoke.
However, on this day, she had no words to say in response to those comments.
“It’s alright. We’ll make it up next semester.”
“But there’s no theology next semester…”
Ah, right.
To begin with, it wasn’t even a proper class; it was more of a special lesson aimed at broadening students’ common sense. Naturally, very few students took theology seriously.
Glenda was one of those few, and though she excelled in most subjects, her favorite was undoubtedly theology. Anyone observing her could have clearly noticed her passion for it.
“… Hah.”
Joy scratched her head and, ultimately, sighed softly.
“Alright.”
And as if speaking to herself, she muttered,
“Well then, let’s go convince the teacher during the break.”
“…What?”
Glenda reacted to Joy’s statement.
“How?”
“We’re going to visit. The teacher is also a priest, right? We can just go and present!”
She might be a rather stern individual who didn’t seem to like children much, but the teacher wouldn’t brush off students who came to ask questions.
“However… the materials we have are hastily prepared.”
“Of course.”
Joy said.
“That’s why we need to complete them properly before we go!”
“How?”
Glenda asked, her expression full of questions.
“It’s vacation. Let’s visit the shrine in person and gather materials. Just like you said.”
Glenda’s expression brightened slightly, then quickly darkened.
“But the 21st District is far away. There’s a shrine here, but it belongs to the Rose family.”
“Don’t worry about that.”
Clearing her throat, Joy puffed out her chest and said,
“I got my driver’s license this time! I’ll be the one driving!”
“Really?”
Seeing Glenda’s expression brighten, Joy knew her words had taken effect.
“Yeah, I’ll take you to St. Loyola Ancient Shrine. It’s the place where the goddess descended, right? If we go there, maybe we’ll find out something too.”
Joy grinned widely.
*
“Uh…”
Glenda, who had packed enough to fill her bag, was left speechless upon seeing the car in front of her.
“Are we actually going in this?”
“What kind of nonsense is that?”
Joy smacked the car’s hood with her palm.
“This is a perfectly running car! It can easily travel hundreds of kilometers ahead!”
“We’re going someplace over a thousand kilometers away…”
“Eh, hundreds of kilometers or over a thousand—it’s all the same.”
Joy snatched Glenda’s bag and shoved it into the trunk. Perhaps it was just her imagination, but it seemed the back of that small compact car had slightly lowered.
The car Joy brought was at least 20 years old. It probably had been purchased used; it seemed fit for city driving yet couldn’t be trusted for the highway.
“Don’t worry, I’ve checked the route comprehensively. Now, hop in!”
“Wait, Joy…”
Eventually, Glenda was pushed into the car by Joy’s insistence. Contrary to her worries, the interior felt pretty decent.
“The owner of the car probably only drove it around the city barely at all. Plus, it was bought at a remarkably low price considering its condition.”
Joy said, making a peace sign as if to show off.
“Uh, yeah, good job.”
So, Glenda could only respond that way.
*
True to Joy’s confidence, the car ran just fine. When they drove down the long, straight road out of the region, there was no sign of malfunction.
“Since we left early in the morning, we should arrive at the hotel before sunset. It’s old but still fairly maintained, right? I made a reservation in advance as well.”
“How old is it?”
“Hmm, maybe about 200 years?”
Seeing Glenda’s bewildered expression, Joy chuckled and added,
“Actually, they did a reconstruction once, but the original structure still remains.”
“So, it’s a hotel that has been there since before the saint came.”
“Yup.”
Glenda wore a strange expression.
“But the goddess always utilized places arranged by the government for official moves…”
The hotel shown on Joy’s navigation appeared to be isolated. There was nothing but a long road ahead. It seemed like a typical highway hotel that only long-haul truck drivers or travelers might accidentally stop at.
“Yeah. So I don’t believe it either. I think most people don’t. But the reason we’re moving this way is to follow in the footsteps of the goddess. Isn’t it good to efficiently collect rumors or legends?”
“Right.”
Glenda nodded.
She turned her head to look ahead again.
A vast open road lay ahead of them.
If they traveled to the end of that road, they could visit the place where the goddess first set foot in this land.
Even though it was such a sudden event, Glenda felt her heart swell with excitement at getting to do what she had dreamt of since childhood.
…And little did they know, someone was interested in their unusual journey.
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