Chapter 6: The Church

I see.

Since Qiu Nuoya had avoided saying "Open Status!" and had never actually checked his own status, he accepted that he would have to do it eventually anyway.

God had said that he would make various adjustments, but Qiu Nuoya wondered what exactly had been changed.

Still carried on Igor’s shoulders, Qiu Nuoya passed through the gates leading into the city.

He did not have a pass or any form of identification, but Igor explained the situation to the guards.

After being given temporary entry permission on the condition that he would have a new identification document issued at the church, Qiu Nuoya was allowed into the city.

Thinking about it, if Qiu Nuoya had been alone, he might not have even been able to enter the city.

He was truly fortunate to have met the two of them.

Sleeping outside the city walls was something Qiu Nuoya absolutely did not want to experience.

After all, there were countless slimes hopping around outside the city.

Igor had explained that they were harmless as long as they were not attacked, but having his clothes dissolved by them had already become a traumatic experience.

Besides, Qiu Nuoya had not attacked them.

He had only picked up one slime because he wanted it to come along with him. ℴ

However, Viktor gently explained that if a monster’s companion was taken away without any kind of contract, the monsters would naturally assume their companion had been kidnapped.

That made Qiu Nuoya realize how shallow his thinking had been.

"Especially monsters like slimes, which are weak and live in groups, tend to have a strong sense of companionship. You have to be careful about that."

Viktor explained everything in detail and Qiu Nuoya learned that proper procedures were important.

"By the way, Nuoya, do you have Beast Tamer skill?"

"I don’t know."

"Yet you tried to take a slime with youl? Why?"

"...Because it was cute..."

At Qiu Nuoya’s answer, Igor suddenly burst out laughing.

What was so funny?

He did not need to laugh like that.

"Nuoya, you really seem like some sheltered young master who knows nothing about the world. You have a surname, too, so you really might be some kind of pampered child. Your family must be worried about you. We need to get you home soon."

Hearing Igor say that, Qiu Nuoya found himself asking: "Do I really look that young...?"

To be honest, Qiu Nuoya did not actually know his current age.

He had not properly seen his own appearance since arriving in this world and he did not even know what kind of face or body he currently had.

"Hm? Do you dislike being treated like a child?"

"No, it is not really that..."

Qiu Nuoya felt a little guilty.

Igor had no idea that the person he was carrying around on his shoulders like a child was actually a man over forty years old.

"Maybe Nuoya was not treated like a child very often before? I have heard that noble children are strictly educated from a young age. I have also heard that they are expected to behave like adults. Come to think of it, Nuoya, your way of speaking is very polite."

Even Viktor looked at Qiu Nuoya with eyes that seemed to pity a poor child, which only made him feel more uncomfortable.

Because Qiu Nuoya was, without a doubt, a middle aged man.

Regardless of how young his current appearance was, his mind was not that of a child.

Being treated with sympathy for something he was not actually suffering from only made things more difficult.

Should he act more like a child, like a certain famous anime detective who had been turned into a kid?

However, Qiu Nuoya’s pride as an adult prevented him from doing so.

That detective had at least originally been a high school student, even if he had taken on the appearance of a child.

But Qiu Nuoya was a man over forty years old.

A man who was not even married.

Because of that, the last time he had been regularly around children was long ago and he had no idea how children nowadays actually behaved.

"Did we remind you of something unpleasant? Also, don’t tell me... did you run away from home or something?"

Igor’s concerned voice came after Qiu Nuoya had fallen silent.

Qiu Nuoya immediately denied it.

"That is not the case! That is true, my memories are unclear, but I do not have any negative feelings toward my family... probably."

Qiu Nuoya instinctively thought about his family from his previous life.

He loved his family.

Yes, he believed he loved them.

Probably...

The reason he could not say it with complete certainty was because there was still a small knot of emotion buried somewhere inside him.

However, Qiu Nuoya had never truly hated his family.

His mother, his last remaining family member, had passed away three years ago.

Since then, he had been completely alone.

If anything, the feeling he had carried was simply loneliness from losing his family.

But was that really all there was to it?

The emotions that had surfaced during his mother’s funeral briefly flashed through his mind.

Qiu Nuoya hurriedly pushed those thoughts away.

"What is wrong, Nuoya?"

"It’s nothing. More importantly, is the church still far away?"

"Ah, no, we are almost there. That building with the pointed roof over there is the church."

Qiu Nuoya followed the direction Igor was pointing.

Standing there was a pure white building with an unmistakable appearance.

There was no cross standing above it, but it looked exactly like what someone would imagine a church to look like.

Qiu Nuoya gave a small wry smile.

"That certainly makes it easy to recognize."

The interior of the church looked very similar to the foreign churches Qiu Nuoya had often seen in travel magazines.

The stained glass windows were fitted into the skylights and the sunlight shining through them made the entire room sparkle beautifully.