Volume 2 - CH 6

Two weeks by carriage since they left the Royal Capital.

They arrived at a town.

The town was called Moderna, and the houses were built around a lake.

It flourishes as a transit point between the frontier city of Ixendahl and the Royal  Capital, and travelers using the southern road always stop in Moderna to restock and prepare for their journey.

The reason for the town’s development was that the lake suppresses miasma.

“It’s the party of the Great Saint!” “ Long live the Great Saint! “Peace to the South!” Great Saint!”

The townspeople gathered at the entrance gate and waved at the report of the arrival of the Great Saint Hirune.

(Hmm? Have we arrived at the town yet?)

Hirune had just woken up and rubbed her eyes. Her cheek was stuck to Jeanne’s maid uniform, and her face was covered with red marks. The townspeople who greeted her didn’t think that the Great Saint was sleeping.

“Huh……Haaa …… I appreciate your hospitality.”

One big yawn. Hirune looked out the window and said leisurely.

“Hirune-sama, please don’t stick your head out of the window too much because there are marks on your face.”

Jeanne tells Hirune.

It’s a shame to Mephistopheles for marks to be seen on the face of a Great Saint.

“There’re marks on my face? Where?”

“There. There’s a pretty big line on your right cheek. ……”

Jeanne traced her cheek with a finger.

Holly looked at her with a look that said she had failed.

“I would have woken Hirune up first if I knew she was going to be so welcomed.”

As she said this, she stuck her head out of the opposite window from Hirune and waved to the townspeople.

The townspeople who had been watching the brigade cheered when the beautiful, light blue-haired Holly peeked out of the window.

“She’s the one who was elevated to sainthood at the same time as Hirune-sama!” They shouted.

The story of Hirune and Holly’s adventure, which was transmitted from the capital, echoed throughout the south. For the south, where good news was scarce, they were a shining star of hope. Some of them were holding up pictures of Hirune and Holly.

After receiving such a welcome, the group arrived at the lodging facility in Moderna.

The inn was a three-story wooden structure with an idyllic atmosphere.

Located near a lake, the inn had a nice view.

“Is it lunch time?”

Protected by soldiers, Hirune got off the carriage with Jeanne and Holly.

There, Hirune discovered something.

She was so shocked that she stopped in her tracks.

(Oh, that can’t be ……!)

” Hirune-sama?”

Jeanne tilted her head.

Just beyond Hirune’s gaze, in front of the inn’s entrance, a hammock woven with rope was set up.

“What a surprise …… to find a hammock in EverSophia. ……”

“Ham-moc-ku?”

“Let’s hurry up Jeanne. Come on, let’s go!”

“What? Oh, hey, Hirune-sama?”

Hirune rushed to the entrance of the inn. Her great saint’s robe swayed.

The soldiers followed Hirune’s lead.

(This is a hammock. It’s a hammock without a doubt.)

Hirune pushed it with her hand, and the hammock swayed. It seems to have been tethered to the beams of the inn at both ends.

“Hirune-sama, This is a bailiwick for drying fruit in the sun, isn’t it?”

“No, this is a hammock. I changed the name today.”

Hirune said proudly. It was a mess.

Holly gave her a worried look from behind. She knew she was about to do something odd.

“Hirune, what are you going to do?”

“–Holy magic, purification.”

The hammock was cleansed as stardust spewed from Hirune.

（I’m going to try to sleep in it, but it’s too high for me to get on alone. I’m afraid my skirt will be torn …… Oh, there’s Thomas from the bedding store Valhalla in the right place.)

While the others shouted “Oh!” at the sight of the holy magic, Hirune locked on to Thomas.

“Thomas-san. Thomas-san.”

Hirune called, and Thomas, who had been standing at a distance, came closer.

He was a nice middle-aged man that was the owner of a store that sold bedding for the common people in the capital.

“What’s wrong, Hirune-chan-I’m sorry. Hirune-sama.”

Thomas said to Hirune.

They’ve known each other for two years. Thomas cherished Hirune like she was his own daughter. The way he looked at Hirune was kind.

“Thomas, please lift me up.”

Hirune held out her hands.

Thomas looked around in confusion at the sudden request to lift her.

Soldiers and the townspeople were looking at Hirune. He looked at Jeanne, the maid, and Holly, the saint, with the intention of asking for help, but they shook their heads in resignation.

“Come on, come on.”

Hirune looked up at Thomas with sparkling blue eyes. She was like a child who had just discovered a new toy.

Thomas, sensing that he couldn’t refuse, put his hands on Hirune’s sides.

“Please lay me down on this hammock.”

“Here? Are you sure?”

“Yes, thank you. I want to try to sleep.”

“Okay.”

Thomas slowly and quietly laid the slender and lovely Great Saint down on the net, as if she were a treasure.

The people around them looked at him like, ‘What?’ They were having a hard time understanding what was happening.

The Great Saint who had come to the town suddenly began to sleep on a net for drying fruit in the sun. They were struggling to understand what had happened.

“Oh, wow. Is this a hammock ……! The swaying makes me sleepy. The wind feels good too.”

A wish from a previous life.

In her previous life, she wished to be able to sway in a hammock on a southern island and relax without thinking about anything.

(Another dream come true. If there’s a southern island, I’d like to go there. ……)

Although this was not a southern island, Hirune was happy that one of her dreams had come true. A smile naturally appeared on her face.

In this world, there’s no overtime, no bosses who yell at you, no work that you have to stay up all night to finish.  ‘I am free’, Hirune thought once again.

“How do you like it, Thomas-san? It’s for naps.”

Hirune turned her starry eyes to him and smiled.

Thomas noticed something, and his face lit up.

“I see, I see, you’re right. It’s a great idea to be able to sleep without touching the ground. I see. …… it can also be used for camping.”

“Oh, that’s a good idea.”

Hirune was now completely ensconced in the hammock.

With her hands folded in front of her chest and her eyes closed, she could feel the southern breeze.

(I wonder if the wind blowing from the lake is carrying the scent of the grass and trees. ……)

She was only doing this because she wanted to sleep, but from the side, the sight of the blond-haired, blue-eyed Great Saint in her drying net looked like a sacred ritual.

(This hammock will give me a good night’s sleep. …… May others sleep well too. ……) 

A Great Saint in pure white sleeping in an inn by the lake.

It was a picturesque scene.

The unknowing soldiers and townspeople were making the holy seal gratefully.

Thomas, the bedding store owner, was calculating gold coins in his brain to see if he could commercialize the hammock.

“Shouldn’t we wake her up soon? Wanda-san will come if she doesn’t wake up.”

“I wonder if she could please stop acting weird so suddenly, really?”

Jeanne and Holly whispered to each other.

They laughed with a sigh when they saw Hirune, who was already flying in and out of consciousness after sleeping so much in the carriage.

No one noticed, but stardust was coming out of Hirune’s back, and without realizing it, it was giving the hammock the blessing of a good night’s sleep.