Life is but a brief journey.
No matter how much wealth you boast of as a rich man.
No matter how much trust is placed in you as a messenger of God.
As long as you are human, death does not discriminate.
And that is why an accident happening to one girl was by no means one that shook the universe.
The people will simply lament, It’s much too soon for her, how cruel.
“——However, it seems like you are not so normal after all. There is actually another road continuing where this one ends, from the other side——”
・ ・ ・
Yuna’s ordinary days suddenly disappeared.
It was a truly nondescript day as she made her way to the market to stock up on medical plants.
If you think on it twice, it will rise to the surface with vivid clarity.
And then, her entire body as it was caught by the impact of a much too great blow…
——I was run over by a carriage and killed.
Yuna came to that conclusion without much feeling.
Such a short life, she thought. I only lived for 18 years. There was still a lot I wanted to do, or rather, perhaps it is better said that the things I have accomplished were far too few. It’s not like I wanted to spend my days doing something especially noble, but I can’t help feeling this sense of incompleteness.
(Perhaps it is because of lingering attachments that I have come to this mysterious place?)
She took another look at her surroundings.
——Nothing after all. Just an empty world. Blank as far as the eye could see, up and down were the exact same. Yuna had been left by herself in a completely white world.
(Oh, dear Lord.)
(Err, what am I supposed to do in this situation? Is this perhaps the netherworld? That placed called Heaven? It feels completely different from what I was taught in school, though… What am I, Yuna, supposed to do all by myself? First I died, and now I’ve come to this unfathomable place. Or should I ask, why did I have to die in the first place? Even though I lived such an ordinary life, why? Was I so deeply stained by karmic sins my life was severed at such a young age, O God——)
“OK, OK, that’s enough.”
“Huh?”
Yuna turned her head around in surprise and made an astonished face at the sight of the beautiful woman looking down on her. Dazzling golden and abundant hair. Eyes an almost transparent blue. Her body was clad a soft, white dress, and on her back were huge wings——ahh, an angel in the flesh, no doubt.
“Ah, um, uh, um.”
What did she know? Why did she have to give Yuna the short shrift?
“Ahm, eh, uhh.”
“Uh.”
“Uhh…”
“And then your departed soul was so far gone I ended up using my powers to transfer it here.”
“Neither Heaven nor Hell. It’s a void where nothing exists.”
“Relax. I don’t plan to keep you here for all eternity. I merely wanted you to lend me some of your strength, so I created this little white room specially to bring you here.”
“You just look like a common village girl to me, though.”
“Saint Celiastina, do you know of her?”
“Right. Adored in your world, sent by the God Veda to be his voice. Girls born with a mark on the nape of their necks have been revered for generations, haven’t they?”
“Good. Then you also know it is custom for the saint of every generation to marry the foremost holy knight of the kingdom, and together they serve their king for life?”
“About that holy saint, you see—and this is just between the two of us…”
“She tried to kill herself by drowning.”
Yuna leaped away with great astonishment. The saint, the person closer to God than anyone else, committing suicide! It was too shocking a development. Until now, this has never happened before, likely not even even once.
“Yeah, uh, she wasn’t spared from damage.”
“Thing is, she was much too important to die, you know? If she got sick and died, then whatever. But this was suicide. We can’t send another saint to replace her. My point is, Celiastina must not die.”
“Y-you’re right.”
Prevent it from happening. In other words, hush it up? Will that really be OK, oh my Lord Veda——Overcome with surprise as she was, it was all Yuna could do to endure so that what little faith remained did not waver.
“M-me?!”
“So?”
“Yuna, you’ll take over Celiastina’s body in the meantime and live her life.”
……
…………
“——Wait a, wha–whaaaat?!”
“Celiastina is basically dead. If we leave her body as it is, it’ll soon rot. There will be no point if that happens, right?”
It made sense. Well, not entirely, but Yuna got the gist of it. Though why did it have to be her? It was too huge a responsibility. It was the one thing she couldn’t agree on.
“A miracle happened.”
A miracle?
“The very same moment Celiastina tried to kill herself, smack on the dot, you were hit by a horse-drawn carriage. Some sort of distortion was created due to it. That’s why it’s possible to connect your soul to Celiastina’s body. A miracle that cannot be achieved even through His will.”
“It’s only temporary. I don’t know how long it will be, but I suppose it’ll take half a year to a whole year.”
“Now, now. Why not? It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Not everyone gets it. You’ll be richer than some peer. Besides, Celiastina is quite a beauty. That alone is a merit, if you ask me.”
“Oh, my. God will be pleased to know an ordinary village girl so reveres Him.”
“Yuna, please. This isn’t a personal request. The great God Himself wishes it. He isn’t giving you ‘permission’ to be the saint, but ‘asking’ you know? At least temporarily.”
Wasn’t that a rather underhanded way of talking to someone? But Yuna wasn’t in a position where she could refuse, and she was slightly beginning to understand. She was already dead to begin with. Even if she were pushed down to Hell, if that was His judgment, she’d have no choice but to accept. And if that was the case…
“……”
“——Oh, no! We’re running out of time. OK, Yuna, I leave it to you. Well, don’t be so stiff, just stick with it for a while and enjoy your life as the saint!”
“See ya! When the time comes, I’ll come get you!”
Suddenly, Yuna’s body was covered in a bright light. Angelica’s smiling face was also washed out by that light and disappeared——
O God, if it was my fate to be called into the next world at this age——then I wanted to rest in peace at least.