The Fantasy World Fanatic Wants To Leave Work

46 – The Reason for the Cause (1)

There is a small flame breaking dawn.

As the stars set and the moon sinks, before the sunlight illuminates the ground, a small bonfire-like smoke rises.

-Don’t forget-

“Hey, you darn manager! Do you know what I’ve been through? Why are you never around when you’re needed and always show up late after everything is over… Well, forget it. As long as I’m alive, that’s enough, right?”

The girl reads the message and takes a puff of her cigarette.

And with the smoke, she exhales her emotions.

“Am I always unnecessary when it matters…”

As she expels her emotions, the feelings contained within are released.

She gazes at the rising smoke, dispersing into the sky, silently savoring the passage of dawn.

In this monotonous Universe-1221, it was the only solace the girl found in her life.

“…Nothing special.”

Dawn breaks, and the girl vanishes along with it.

On the rooftop where the wind blows, a dim light that has not yet fully illuminated the girl welcomed the morning.

†††

So many things happened in such a short dawn that I couldn’t fall asleep, and suddenly morning arrived.

Fortunately, the pain was not too severe, and I didn’t feel too tired even though I couldn’t sleep much.

Starting the morning with a light yawn and a cup of freshly brewed coffee, I didn’t even think about what happened in the early morning.

“…Is this okay?”

Thanks to that, I could realize the severity of the situation about myself.

I had almost died for sure, and there were still wounds on my body, yet here I am, calmly going to work in the morning with coffee. Am I really normal?

Why am I so nonchalant about it?

Or perhaps it’s because the manager, who was wearing a nurse’s uniform that barely covered anything and exposed her underwear so casually, left such a strong impression?

I couldn’t say it to myself back then, but the manager was wearing the same color of clothes as what I saw when she was cleaning the room.

Yes, she even crossed her legs and sat provocatively in front of me.

…Is that just the manager’s personal taste? Dressing in such barely-there outfits that could only come from a video game.

I’ve never seen anyone like that. Surprisingly unique taste.

When I first saw her, I thought she was about to take out my organs or something.

“Hello.”

“Oh, welcome, Ms. Allensia.”

While I was pondering what happened in the early morning, Allensia had already come to the convenience store.

Neat and clean attire of a well-kept clergyman.

The white outer garment contrasting the black veil and eyes as clear as amethyst made me forget about the shocking scenes from yesterday.

The eerie red eyes that made me shudder just by looking at them or the manager who seemed like she would pluck people’s organs out like a doll.

When I look at Allensia, my heart feels at ease. It seems I prefer that rather than exposing myself.

“I heard about what happened yesterday. It seems like you were really injured. Please have a seat at the table for a moment.”

“…So, Allensia, are you really okay?”

“Huh? Me?”

However, Allensia’s face had paler skin and there were particularly prominent dark circles.

Certainly, I had heard from Seretini that Allensia had collapsed due to overworking, but looking at her face, it seemed like she had really collapsed.

From Noble mtl dot com

Honestly, in my personal opinion, she looked worse than me.

“Ahahahaha… I’m fine. It’s just that when you receive the blessings of the gods, you have to carry a lot of weight. Those who bear the mantle of faith should also carry the weight of faith…”

Allensia was smiling, but she wasn’t really smiling.

Even when she was sitting across from me, treating my wounds with a smile, that smile was different from others. Unlike those who naturally had a neutral expression without any effort, her default expression was a smile.

To put it simply, her face was frozen with a commercial smile.

“Well, we’re done with this… But, sorry, would it be okay if I sat here and rested for a moment?”

“Oh, of course. If it’s alright with you, would you like to use a blanket? There’s one in the break room that isn’t being used.”

“I’m not really cold… but yes, it would be nice to have one if you have it.”

I thought it would be better to go back and sleep, but according to the customers, Allenzia seemed to live quite far away. Since she came here to treat my wounds from the morning, I couldn’t simply tell her to go back now that the job was done.

Still, I worry about her sleeping like that. If it were up to me, I would suggest using the bed in the break room, but that’s something a man like me normally uses, and I’m not sure if customers are allowed in the break room.

For now, let me bring her a blanket.

This is the best I can do for now.

“Thank you… Well, I’ll just close my eyes for a moment…”

With a blanket wrapped around her shoulders, Allenzia fell asleep on the table.

Oh, when a person is really tired, they can fall asleep as soon as they close their eyes.

A saint sleeping on a convenience store table, it doesn’t really match the usual image, but I guess it’s because she’s so tired.

Although it was a repayment for treating my wounds, still, a saint sleeping on a convenience store table is not quite right. So I brought in a partition I had in the warehouse.

Allezia woke up about 4 hours later.

As I ate my lunch, which was a discarded lunchbox, she got up from her seat with a face that was about half awake.

There weren’t many customers during lunchtime today.

“…Ah, how long did I sleep?”

“I think you slept for about 4 hours.”

“4 hours?! That can’t be, I just closed my eyes for a moment…”

Allezia was amazed to find out that she had slept for a whole 4 hours.

“What should I do? The prayer time has already passed… Ah… I should have asked Hyeonu to wake me up. I didn’t expect to fall so deeply asleep like this.”

“Ah, should I have woken you up? You seemed to be sleeping so deeply that I couldn’t bring myself to disturb you.”

“…It’s okay. Even if you had woken me up, I wouldn’t have been able to get up.”

From what I saw, she didn’t seem to have slept for a long time, but judging from the fact that the prayer time had passed, it seemed like she woke up later than she intended.

Well, she looked really tired, so it’s understandable.

She slept soundly even though there were several customers in the morning.

“There’s nothing we can do now. We’ll just have to pray separately at dawn. Ugh…”

“It seems like you’ve been quite busy lately,” she said, placing her lunchbox on the counter.

Seretini had mentioned that she had so much to do that she couldn’t sleep, perhaps related to some negotiations.

“Well, it might not be as intense as what Hyunwoo experienced yesterday, but the discussions about the Suyeon’s matter have been quite a headache for me. Creating such creatures by accident… No, I don’t even have the right to say that.”

“It sounds like you’ve been through a lot.”

It genuinely seemed like Alencia had a tougher time than I did. Her current face resembled that of a white-collar worker who had pulled consecutive all-nighters for three days.

Other than some minor scratches and bruises on my shoulder, I was fine, and Alencia had taken care of them, so I was feeling quite robust now.

“It can’t be helped. They are undoubtedly creations of the gods, but it’s astounding how every one of them is so different. Of course, having diverse personalities and cultures isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but sometimes it’s regrettable to the point of self-loathing.”

Wow, Alencia’s eyelids were trembling right now.

That’s quite a dangerous state. For some reason, there seemed to be some flickering behind Alencia.

I even felt like I was experiencing spatial distortion.

No, could it not be a hallucination?

Anyway, I was worried that leaving Alencia like this could lead to problems for my own safety, so I hurriedly fetched a bottle of Bacchus.

“What is this?”

“Oh, it’s some kind of energy drink, like a fatigue-reliever. It’s not good to drink too much, but one bottle a day is fine. Think of it as similar to coffee.”

For those who worked overtime regularly, this was an essential item, and I hoped it would have a positive effect on her.

There were sparks forming around Alencia, and I was reluctant to approach too closely.

“I needed this, thank you.”

And then she quickly downed the entire bottle.

Thud!

She firmly placed the empty bottle on the table with a lot of force.

If it were a regular table, it probably would’ve split in half by now, and the floor of a convenience store would be divided in two as well.

I’m grateful that U.C. Convenience Stores are so sturdy.

So, is it okay?

Alencia still looked at the empty space with tired eyes.

Although it might not have much effect with just one bottle, I thought it would be better than not having anything at all, so I offered it to her.

“Um…”

“How do you feel?”

“Are you okay? Since I usually only drink coffee, the taste in my mouth felt bitter, but this is refreshing, so I like it.”

Oh, what is this?

With just one bottle consumed, Allensia’s face brightened and her vitality was returning in an instant.

It’s a product that’s not significantly different from what I know, but there’s an explanation that individual effects may vary slightly, so perhaps it suited her well.

“I should buy a few more of these for later. How many do you have in stock?”

“We also have some packaged in boxes, so if you plan to buy a lot, that would be a good choice.”

“Great, can you prepare some in advance? I think there might be others who need it besides me.”

“Yes, please wait a moment.”

Fatigue can be quite terrifying in hindsight.

Now, the distortions in Allensia’s surroundings and the sparks that were flying have disappeared.

On a personal note, I was quietly worried that my head might suddenly turn golden, and something like steam would explosively erupt from around me, making me think I should run away immediately.

“By the way, were you having lunch right now?”

“I wasn’t eating yet, but I was about to. It’s easier to eat when there are no customers around.”

“Well, that’s good. I also need to have lunch here today. I also have some questions about what happened yesterday.”

At this, Allensia’s expression turned somewhat serious.

“If it’s about yesterday…”

“…Yes, it’s the demon. I can’t believe he would attack during such a busy time. He sure knows how to avoid the eyes of the gods. The demon did the same before.”

As expected.

Given Seretini’s very unexpected reaction to what happened in the early morning, it was undoubtedly an unexpected event for Allensia as well.

Moreover, judging from the reactions of both of them, this kind of incident seems to have happened several times before.

Why does the demon want to kill a generally good-natured person like me?

Other transcendents are not hostile and even seem to come out with goodwill. It felt like they genuinely hated me, not just because I’m a demon.

…What have I done to deserve this?

Perhaps I could find some answers from Allensia.

“Um, this time, shall we try eating this as well? It surprisingly reminds me of something little by little.”

But I’m not sure if that’s right.

Allensia brought a cup of instant noodles with a drawing of a chicken breathing fire against a black background as her lunch.

“Are you serious?”

“Well, since you mentioned it, I’m starting to regret it a little, but since I brought it, I might as well try it. I kind of want to eat it now.”

Normally, I wouldn’t, but I’ll eat it even though I’m hungry.

I began to worry deeply about her disguise.