Time flies when your life's falling apart.
Indeed, Dea felt time blow by like a gust of wind when she realized that half a year had passed in her new life.
And what had she been doing all this time?
She was living every working adult's dream: an early-retirement-like life... with pay.
Such a life was absolutely awesome.
At the moment, she was crouching in the garden, gently brushing the petals of the herbs. They were from the second batch she had planted and had now grown to about knee height.
It was the most famous herb in Andean, known as the nehesh plant.
It resembled a spider lily, with white petals and a golden hue. It was the most popular medicinal herb because every part of the plant could be used to treat wounds and replenish a little of one's strength.
Every time Dea looked at it, she was reminded that she now lived in a magical world. Nothing more profound than that. Under the sunlight, the plant seemed to glow with a faint golden luster. When she first saw it, she thought she was hallucinating. She had stared at it, motionless, for almost an hour.
Now, watching the nehesh flowers bloom had become one of her few, rather pitiful pastimes.
"Sisterrrr!" A sweet voice called from afar.
Dea glanced at the lively figure rushing toward her.
"Sister! I'm back!"
The girl reached her in no time.
"Well, welcome back. How was your trip?" Dea asked Ayanna.
After a few months of knowing each other, Dea had finally memorized the schoolgirl's name.
Her name was Ayanna Feld.
She was a very spirited girl.
Gone were the days when she cried her eyes out every day. She had now transformed into a heroic young girl with a strong sense of responsibility.
Dea could only murmur inwardly that Sir High Priest and his people were exceptionally skilled at brainwashing. In any case, it seemed to be working out well for the schoolgirl. At the very least, her mental and emotional state seemed fine.
The only thing that hadn't changed was her habit of barging into the garden. Whenever she had the opportunity, she would come looking for Dea and tell her about everything she had been doing. She would also share stories about the places she had visited during training and the magical things she had encountered.
Dea had gotten used to it by now.
Besides, these visits only took a little of her time, and she had nothing better to do.
"Sister, this time we went to the western city, and it was amazing! The food was great, too! Here! I brought you some!" Ayanna happily pushed a small bag into her arms.
"What is this?" Dea asked.
"Cookies. They're delicious!"
"Well, thank you."
Dea calmly accepted the food. She was used to this, too. Every time the schoolgirl returned from a trip, she never failed to bring her something to eat.
"Did you see any of the so-called demons this time?" Dea asked.
Yes, this fantasy world had demons.
In fact, they had a proper term for them: shachath.
According to Ayanna's ramblings, these things were remnants of an ancient evil that had existed since the very beginning of their world's creation, or something along those lines. Dea vaguely remembered Sir High Priest mentioning that they needed the priestess's help to defeat them.
Anyway, she had come to realize that Ayanna, the isekai'd protagonist, had quite a lot on her plate. On top of learning how to become a priestess and probably exorcise evil, she also had to study history.
What a pain in the ass.
[Good thing I'm a nobody.]
"No, I didn't. Sir Orivus only took me to the outskirts of the western city to help heal the wounded. I thought I might get to see some demons, too. I even asked Sir Orivus if we could go somewhere the demons were, but he said no. He said it was too dangerous and that I'm still too weak."
Ayanna sighed. She was a little disappointed that she hadn't witnessed one of the creatures everyone kept calling demons, though she was also relieved that she hadn't. Would they look like the demons in the games she used to play? She was curious, but also a little afraid of what she might encounter.
"Well, you should listen to him."
Dea recalled the well-built man with blue hair who had come to fetch Ayanna six months ago.
That's right. Blue hair.
It was her first time seeing someone with naturally blue hair. The people she had encountered in the Hall of Saintess all had either brown or black hair. That was why she had been rather impolite and stared at his head the moment she saw him.
Fortunately, he hadn't seemed to mind and had merely nodded at her. As a result, Dea had a good impression of him.
The knight was Ayanna's bodyguard, a man named Orivus. According to the old uncle, he was the deputy captain of the Holy Knights, second only to the captain in strength.
Anyway, that was where her memory ended. She couldn't recall what else the old uncle had said about the captain.
"Yes, Sister." Ayanna nodded solemnly, only to become distracted by Dea's hair.
"Ahhh, Sister, your hair has grown again!" She reached out as if to touch Dea's head, but seemed to remember something and simply pointed at the top of it instead.
"Well..." Dea didn't know how to respond.
"Sister, you should let your hair grow longer. I'm sure it'll look beautiful!"
Ayanna liked Dea's hair. She still remembered how flabbergasted she had been when she first noticed her silver-colored roots. Sister had explained that she was an albino, which was why her hair was such.
Ayanna had been excited by the discovery. She had never seen naturally silver hair before, except in anime. Ever since then, she had been encouraging Dea to keep her hair and let it grow longer.
It was a pity that Dea seemed determined to cut it all off.
"Ugh. It's troublesome."
Dea picked up a lock of hair that had grown past her shoulders.
She had wanted to find a barbershop when she first went out, but unfortunately, there weren't any. People here used magic to dye, cut, and maintain their hair. Dea found it troublesome to look for a magician just to fix hers, so she had left it alone.
Fortunately, this was a magical world where people seemed to come in all sorts of hair colors.
She could simply stop worrying about her hair. After all, no one would point at her in the streets anymore.
In short, it was rather nice when people stopped acting like cunts.
The only problem was that her bangs had grown longer, too, now reaching her chin. Cutting them with a knife was too much of a hassle. Perhaps she should go out again and look for a pair of scissors.
And while she was at it, she could buy another barrel of amrita. Her remaining supply was running low.
Glancing at the sky, she estimated that she still had plenty of time. However, after looking at the person standing in front of her, she realized she wouldn't be leaving just yet.
"When will you go on another trip?" Dea asked.
"Hmm, I'm not sure. Sir Orivus said there aren't any assignments for now, so I should focus on training." Ayanna pondered for a moment before continuing.
"But the High Priest said I would be joining the captain's team once they've returned. I just don't know when that will be."
"Then you should get some rest so you can continue training tomorrow."
Dea delivered the eviction order in the gentlest way she could manage.
"Yes, Sister."
The other girl remained oblivious, taking it as a thoughtful reminder.
Dea escorted the schoolgirl toward the garden entrance.
They walked side by side, Ayanna carrying the small bag in her arms. As they moved, Dea's hand became visible, revealing several abrasions on her fingertips.
Ayanna noticed them and immediately cried out.
"Sister, you're injured!" She hurriedly leaned closer to inspect Dea's hand.
"It's nothing, really. Don't waste your power. I know you're tired."
Dea didn't think much of the injuries. She had gotten several small cuts while pulling weeds, but they were nothing serious.
"No way, Sister! A girl's hands should be treated with care. They say your hands are your second face, so you should treasure them!"
The young girl admonished her, leaving Dea speechless.
[Well, I don't even care about my first face. What more the second?]
She muttered inwardly.
In any case, she would accept the schoolgirl's kindness.
She watched as a soft white light glowed from Ayanna's fingertips and spread over her wounds.
Dea remembered the first time she had witnessed such a miraculous sight.
One night, the schoolgirl had barged into her room, shouting, "I finally did it, Sister!"
Then she had waved her fingers in front of Dea's face.
Tipsy at the time, Dea had nearly freaked out. She thought the girl had mutated and that her fingers had turned into flashlights.
Since then, she had always made sure to lock her door before drinking.
"It's done, Sister!" Ayanna announced with a happy smile.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome! Then I'll be going. Bye, Sister!"
The schoolgirl cheerfully ran off, waving her hand as she left.
Dea stood beside the flowers and slowly raised her own hand to wave back.
Then, as if suddenly realizing something, she paused and looked at her raised hand.
[Well, it's not a bad feeling.]
A small smile formed on her lips.