Vol. 1 Chapter 1.1 - The Girl in the Mountain Church

Chapter 1 : The heart in the palm of my hand

Translated by CleiZz

Edited by Kuudere-kunn

Volume 1: The Girl in the Mountain Church

Ch. 1.1: The heart in the palm of my hand

I raised my face to the heavily pouring rain. It was raining lightly earlier, but before I knew it, it was pounding against the roof of the church and flashes of lightning illuminated the stained-glass windows.

“Ah,” said the girl. “It’s really coming down…”

Oh, I realized, the roof hasn’t been completely repaired. I stared at the ceiling of the crumbling church and resumed my prayer to the idol representing our God.

I slowly regained consciousness to keep my prayer as fucking short as possible. Finally, I exhaled all the rotten air that had accumulated in me towards the idol. A flash of lightning and a thunderous roar violently shook the earth as though it was condemning me and the closed windows rattled in protest.

I stepped outside the church then scoffed and raised my middle finger to the sky. My stomach growled as I began grumbling to myself. I thought I had eaten enough at lunch. I’m not sure if it’s because I hadn’t eaten anything of real sustenance and a normal meal still leaves me feeling hungry. For whatever reason, I have to eat more food than the average person.

I stood up with a sigh and stared at my reflection in the glass window beside me. Reflected back was a small, childlike figure.

I had stopped aging at some point and, even though over 10 years have passed, I still resembled a child. It’s inconvenient.

I glanced at the clock on the wall which read 4 o’clock. While it was my custom to eat earlier than the rest of the world, it was still too early for a meal.

“Fufu,” I laugh to myself. “Well, it can’t be helped if I’m hungry and it’s still too early to eat…”

After much deliberation, I went back inside to get the slightly expensive liquor I had hidden under the floor of the lectern so that Sister Samantha would not find it.

Just as I was about to move the floorboards, which were quite cleverly disguised, and grab the bottle, there was a violent banging on the front door and a faint buzz filled the air.

The sound made me startle, and I stare longingly at the bottle for a moment. I’m sorry, liquor. Please wait just a moment.

“Yes?” I call through the door, “Who are you?”

“I’m a traveler and got stuck in the sudden storm. Would you please let me in to pray to God until the rain stops?”

“I’m sorry to hear that. You must have had a very hard time.” I respond. “Please, wait just a moment and I’ll open the door.”

As usual, I changed my voice when I responded, and I removed the bolts to open the door only to find a skinny wet mouse looking man standing at the entrance. His snake-like gaze gradually lowered as he looked at me and I watched as his gaze turned suspicious.

I ignored it and gave him a cute smile full of confidence, then bowed reverently. “Please, go the back and I’ll get you something to dry yourself with.”

“Ah…” It was obvious the man was very confused. “Oh! Thank you.”

It’s understandable. To see a young-looking girl dressed as a sister of the church.

“Are you alone?” I asked as I handed him the towel.

“No,” he responded. “My three friends are in with the wagon out front. Excuse me young lady, but could you call the head priest or sister of this church? I’d like to thank them for their hospitality.”

“I see, then there is no need. I am the sister in charge of this church.” I respond calmly.

“Haha! That’s a good one, but please go get them. I need to speak with them about a serious matter.”

“I’m not joking,” I respond. “I don’t have a full-time priest, though I do have a fellow sister, but a grandmother. I really am in charge of this church.”

I do own the place after all.

“I understand your disbelief, but I am a twenty-seven-year-old woman.”

He stared at me gapingly. “You’re kidding.”

“How I wish I was.” I’m 138 cm and 30 kg (4’5” and 66 lbs) and no matter how you look at it, I look like a child. At least I am often complimented for being a beautiful child, but I’m more likely to attract the wrong kind of people.

“Come on. If you stay wet, you’ll catch a cold. Please, invite your friends in and I’ll prepare some hot soup for you all.” I said as I turned my back to the man.

“No, it’s fine” he replied and slipped a metal arm around my neck.

I stopped in my tracks. “Just out of curiosity, what do you intend to do with me?”

Part of his artificial arm opened and a sharp blade was revealed. “You’re coming with us. I heard there was a young sister in the mountains, so I came all this way, but I didn’t expect you to be a child.”

“It’s not so bad,” said one of his friends as they began to appear from the shadows. “You’ll still be able to sell her for a good price.”

Four shadows stretched out from them towards me one after another. Each of them looked me over and remarked on my body. I wasn’t sure how to feel about it.

“I see.” I respond calmly. “Recently I’ve heard rumors about a human trafficking group targeting young women in the area. So, it was you guys.”

“Heh, so we’re getting famous now, aren’t we?” One of them who was looking me over said and licked his lip as though he was imagining licking my body. It’s hard to be a beautiful girl in instances like this.

“Oh, Ashe?!”

There was a loud noise and a scream. I turned around to see that the elderly sister, Samantha, dropped a candlestick as she came in and stood trembling as she took in the scene. A creepy man holding a knife against the throat of a little girl.

“What should I do…” Samantha whispered.

“Sister Samantha,” I called out. “Calm down. The first thing you need to do is pick up the candlestick before the whole church burns to the ground.”

“I don’t care about that right now!” she exclaimed.

No, I thought. That’s not good. It’s a church that I bought that wasn’t cheap! If possible, I want it to remain standing for at least another three years.

“Hey old lady! Don’t move. You know what will happen to the kid if anything goes wrong, yeah? Just pretend you didn’t see anything today. Why, from this moment, you’ll be the head of the church! Not a bad deal, don’t you think?” One of the men sneered.

“That… such a thing…!” Samantha’s face went pale.

“Ah, sister? You don’t have to worry, alright?” I spoke in a calm manner to reassure Samantha as she turned towards me. “I’m going to teach these people a lesson and be back soon.”

“Ah!” I exclaimed. “I’m hungry so please make a nice meal while you wait for me.”

“Ashe…” she said softly.

“I’d be really nice if you could do that,” I said. “Alright, let’s go!”

I felt my body being lifted into the air as the thin arm picked me up and forced me outside into the rain. Come on, I thought. At least cover me. Now I’m a wet rat, too!

I raised my face to protest, but saw Samantha trying to follow us outside. I was then dropped into the wagon and a magic circle engraved on the wagon began to glow. A powerful force emanated from the shine and began crawling across the ground towards the church. The man waved his prosthetic arm towards the church.

“See ya!” he shouted.

A flash of light suddenly illuminated the area as though a bomb had landed and was immediately followed by a blast. The window glass shattered as did the stained-glass skylight. Fortunately, Samantha did not appear to be injured.

“Oh,” I said sadly. “My church…”

The man laughed. “I’d be more worried about myself than anything else. Even though it won’t do you much good anyway. Gahahahahaha!”

Goddamn it. This sucks.

—

The wagon carrying my depressed a*s went down the mountain road and the church disappeared from view. About thirty minutes in, the wagon came to a stop even though we were still deep in the mountains with no one around us.

“We’ve come far enough. Now, hehe, let’s check the goods before we sell her off.”

“Isn’t it normal to check the goods before you buy them?” I asked.

“Yeah well, we check the goods after we get them and decide the price.”

One of the men leered at me and smiled sickly before reaching out for my outfit. I turned sharply and dodged the man’s hand.

“What, you can’t run away from me now can you?”

“Escape? No, I just prefer to take it off myself.” I said aa I took off my dark blue uniform. I removed my coif (hood,) wrapped the rosary and carefully laid it on the floor of the wagon. Then I unbuttoned the tunica and slid it off. The men stared wide eyed at me suddenly standing nude before them.

“As I told you,” I said, lowering my voice slightly. “I’m an older woman, so I have some experience with these kinds of things.”

I jumped out of the wagon; my bare feet landed softly on the muddy ground and I stared up at the sky. Thick clouds covered the sky and the rain continued to pour down on us; perfect for washing everything away. Such a perfect day, isn’t it?

“Well,” I said, “who is first?” I peaked from under my lashes at the men like an experienced prostitute and beckoned them forward. I could hear their hearts thundering excitedly.

“Oh, I’m first! You guys have to wait your turn!”

“Oi! Don’t you dare think of running off!”

I got goosebumps as one of the men jumped out of the wagon, thoroughly out of his mind with wanting to saunter over to where I stood. The others didn’t even try to hide their lust and looked ready to attack. Like dogs in heat.

“Don’t be in such a hurry, I’ll take care of each of you.” I say with a smile.

“Hehehe! Then let’s have some fun…” The man in front of me stretched out his arm. As soon as he grabbed my shoulder, my hand shot through his chest and I felt his beating heart in the palm of my hand.

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