Wednesdays are the bakery’s day off.
Since it’s not a franchise bakery and the only staff are me and my sister, it was tough to keep it open every day of the week.
The closing time was also much earlier than a franchise bakery’s. Most customers came during the morning or after work, with a moderate crowd around lunchtime.
We baked bread according to that schedule. After that, we’d close at eight when most of the bread was sold out.
I sometimes wondered if closing so early was appropriate, even for a local bakery, but this schedule had been in place since the church ran the place.
So, there didn’t seem to be a strong reason to change it.
As I mentioned, we only have two staff members. Before I joined, my sister managed everything on her own. It must have been incredibly tough.
Asking her to keep the shop open longer would have been asking too much.
I considered hiring more staff, but even after I joined, the “Part-Time Help Wanted” sign outside the bakery remained untouched.
Perhaps the rumor spread far and wide thanks to a child who attended one of my sister’s volunteer activities.
Or maybe people nearby simply never thought about working here. For all I knew, my sister might have been rejecting applicants, though she never bothered to post about hiring online.
At least for the past month, no one had come asking for part-time work. Whether it was a coincidence or not, I couldn’t tell.
…To be honest, I felt a little guilty, but I liked things as they were. If we hired more people, I might spend less time at the bakery. And knowing my sister, she wouldn’t reduce her working hours.
Anyway, that’s why our bakery is closed on Wednesdays.
“So, you’re saying we put money in here?”
“Not exactly put money in…It’s more like leaving a set amount of money, and this card serves as proof of that.”
I added a bit more explanation in response to Kalia’s question.
The house I lived in was quite far from the church. It wasn’t an impossible distance to walk I had walked for three hours countless times before.
Three hours? On urgent days, I’d walked for ten hours straight. If I jokingly told Kalia It’ll take three hours to get there are you okay with that?, she’d probably nod and prepare right away.
But I couldn’t subject my friends, who had come from so far, to such an ordeal.
…Not to mention, I didn’t feel like doing it either.
Thankfully, you can buy a transportation card without an ID. Charging it with money is easy, too.
Instead of telling the bus driver Five people, it made much more sense to charge a certain amount and hand out cards to each of them. Besides, if these four planned to stay here, they’d need to get used to this system anyway.
If someone told Kalia Getting a driver’s license is no problem once you have identification, she’d probably decide to get one immediately.
Kalia wore a black skirt, a slightly dark gray blouse, and a beige coat. On top of that, she had tied her hair up, which was unusual.
If she had left her red hair down like usual, it might not have matched so well. But tied up like this, she gave off a professional vibe, and it suited her perfectly.
She looked like someone who’d fit right into a red convertible, wearing sunglasses.
“Hmm? Is there something on my face?”
“No, no, it’s nothing.”
I hastily reassured her, and she shrugged her shoulders.
“Well, it seems there won’t be any major issues using public transportation with this… card.”
“Yeah. Just watch how I do it and follow along. If you’re curious about anything, I’ll explain more.”
“Understood.”
Kalia nodded, and I glanced at the other three standing behind her.
Fia’s outfit today was a striking departure from her usual style.
She wore a white T-shirt, a short denim jacket, and short denim shorts. Interestingly, the colors of the jacket and the shorts were different the shorts were a slightly darker shade. Her legs were exposed, giving off a breezy vibe.
Back in her world, she had always worn her saintly robes, which covered almost her entire body.
“Because I’m not a ‘saint’ here.”
Even though I hadn’t asked, Fia offered the explanation herself. Well, I wasn’t going to argue. It suited her.
Honestly, I only found it odd because I had seen her embody the image of a saint before.
For anyone meeting her for the first time, the combination of her pink hair and outfit would probably just make her seem like a standout college student.
Or maybe, given her foreign appearance, they might even find it easier to accept.
Dana, on the other hand, was dressed entirely in black: black shirt, black coat, black pants.
I thought it was a bit too gloomy, but Dana seemed perfectly content, so I didn’t say anything. In fact, despite her all-black outfit, the bright, eager expression on her face made her appear rather cheerful.
Arna kept it simple with a green blouse and black pants. It seemed like a practical choice for her, something easy to move around in. The green blouse was vivid and paired beautifully with her shimmering blonde hair.
“All right, then.”
None of the four seemed the least bit nervous. Instead, they looked thrilled, excited, curious anything but scared.
It made sense, of course. When I explained things to them earlier, I told them that the worst possible enemy they might encounter here would be an armed robber.
At that level, these four could handle things barehanded. Even Dana and Fia. Maybe a lifelong, highly trained athlete could put up a fight, but with Kalia and Arna present, there wouldn’t be any real danger.
The only one who was actually nervous was me.
This feeling was oddly familiar, and as I thought about it, I realized it was just like five years ago when I first formed my party.
Everyone but me had already secured a reputation for being the best in their field. They were extraordinary people.
Compared to them, I was just a student who had never even worked a part-time job and spent all my time studying at home. I had often wondered why, out of all people, I was the one chosen to wield the holy sword.
But…
“Don’t worry too much.”
Perhaps noticing the expression on my face, Kalia lightly patted my shoulder as she spoke.
“We won’t do anything to make things harder for you. We’ll just follow your lead.”
“Yes! We’ll stay completely focused!” Fia chimed in enthusiastically after Kalia.
“…Well, maybe I’ll get distracted here and there,” Dana added with a grin, “but I won’t miss anything important.”
“Exactly. We’re not here to cause you trouble,” Arna said softly, a small smile gracing her face.
“……”
Yeah……It was just like back then.
When I doubted whether I deserved the power I had been given, these four had each, in their own way, cheered me on.
“Okay, I trust you.”
And so, I could answer them like this.
They were always dependable companions.
The kind of comrades you could entrust your life to.
*
“That’s really fast. And the system is quite impressive. It would be nice if we had something like this in the kingdom…but there’s just too much that would need fixing for it to work.”
Kalia spoke as if joking.
“It might be manageable if the number isn’t too overwhelming, but… the most important issue is fuel. If we can’t import it consistently, we don’t even have the technology to extract or rather, find it ourselves. I wonder if we could somehow replace it with magic stones.”
Kalia and Dana had this conversation while watching the bus disappear into the distance.
“If it weren’t for the obviously toxic and polluted air it spews every time it moves, I might have agreed with you.”
Arna said from behind her mask.
“We’ll just have to develop in our own way.”
With Fia’s comment, we turned away from the bus stop.
In the distance, on higher ground, a church stood. Even beyond the tightly packed houses, the church’s cross was clearly visible.
Although it was situated on elevated ground, the atmosphere around it felt less oppressive and domineering and more like it was gently watching over everything.
“Is that the ‘church’?”
Even though it was a church dedicated to a deity different from the goddess she worshipped, Fia didn’t seem to feel any particular discomfort.
Irellesia’s symbol was a sacred sword standing upright with a circle drawn around it. In a way, it could resemble an inverted cross, so perhaps that’s why she didn’t find it strange.
Well, this is a different world. It wouldn’t be surprising if there were other gods here.
Not that it mattered to me since I didn’t believe in the gods of this world.
“Yeah. It’s the church we need to go to.”
“The building isn’t that extravagant.”
“There are some really ornate churches too.”
When I said that, Kalia shrugged.
“Well, each region has its own style. Even so, I noticed quite a few churches on the way here.”
At Kalia’s remark, all I could do was give a bitter smile.