There were certain jobs in the world that would be tedious, difficult and time-consuming no matter how much power one gained.

Or rather, there were even activities which only got more difficult the more strength one possessed.

Take a house of cards.

The construction of one required an excess of care and precision, and even the slightest disturbance could cause the entire thing to crumble, requiring the aspiring constructor to start over from the very beginning.

Then, imagine a task more tedious than constructing a house of cards.

Say, for example, one were to take the metaphorical house of cards…

And one set their eyes on moving it elsewhere, without deconstructing it or removing even a single card.

Add to that the restriction that, in comparison to oneself, the cards are about the size of less than a singular atom, and place several more restrictions—for example, although one has dabbled in stacking cards into shapes before, this is one’s first time building anything near the size of a house, and if a single card drops, the entire thing will crumble into dust, never to be rebuilt again.

Then multiply the difficulty severalfold, and that would be an accurate assessment of the task of reconstructing and transporting a soul as performed by a newborn God.

In this case, to make things more complicated, the construction of the house of cards was also preceded by the gathering of the cards, several of which were inside a slain monster’s stomach.

But, despite the ridiculous amount of time it took, there was no task that was truly impossible.

He would soon reunite with his beloved daughters… but before that, there was one delivery he had to make, even if the results would take several years to show.

In the face of God, several years were like the blink of an eye.

This was… a repayment, of sorts. Without his involvement… more specifically, without his sword, God never would have been able to connect to the Grand Cosmos or learn the truth… so, yes, this was in order to repay him for that.

An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth—and so, too, in exchange for a dearest wish, a dearest wish.

Fortunately, the parts of her soul that hadn’t been devoured by the monsters had clung to her cross, which he had carried with him until the moment of his death, and had thus become a part of the Legion, just like he had…

So, since her soul was now reconstructed, it was easy enough to plant it somewhere closeby.

And, while he was at it, he placed a connection, too. He linked the nebulous, vague sword of light that existed within his Legion to that one young man’s soul, so that he might one day grab ahold of it once more, if he wished.

“Mmh… That will do.”

Satisfied, he nodded. From behind him, his two closest friends, the girl dressed in purple and the girl with the horn, as well as his other half, the girl with the purple markings, watched him work.

“Whatcha doin’, Asty?”

The purple girl, who had once opposed the very axis of the world, carried on her face nought more than innocent curiosity. In a sense, owing to her long period of being all on her own, she was much akin to a child, never having had time to grow up.

“Is that… the Hero that my Lord ate? You reconstructed her? So that’s what you’ve been doing… And I thought my years of servitude were a waste of time.”

The girl with the horn seemed a little less happy about his activities, though she seemed more miffed about the fact that he hadn’t said anything than about the actions themselves. Her loneliness had caused her to develop in a different way—despite her innocence, she could get a little jealous, which was almost cute in its own way.

“I don’t disapprove, but… why?”

And the girl with the purple markings, who had served as the very foundation of the prior world, and now continued that role along with him. Although her original personality had returned to her, she remained taciturn as ever.

Although, these figures watching over the world were not truly their own bodies… nay, the king and his bride were Ahura. After all, they were essentially the very world itself, as the twin possessors of the Throne, and it was not possible to interact with the insides of one’s body—in the first place, that was the role Ahura served.

“Why, you ask… Have you never desired to do something without a rational reason?”

“Erkh.”

He had not intended for such, presumably, but he had hit a sore spot—after all, the entire previous world was akin to a temper tantrum. One of unbelievable proportions, to be sure, but it was still a temper tantrum born of irrational fear.

“Well, if I had to name a reason… I am repaying a debt, I suppose. Claiomh Solais served me well, though it was only for a short while, so I thought I should do its owner a favour in return.”

“Mmh… That part of you is wonderful.”

One effect of her true personality was more openness about her feelings—the girl with the rainbow-coloured hair was practically joined at his hip at any given time, her arms wrapped tightly around him.

“Now then… shall we go? They are waiting for us.”

“Mhm.”

“Gotcha!”

“I’ll… stay behind for a while, methinks. I’ll catch up to you later—I never really formed any kind of bonds with any of them, and I know myself better than anyone…”

Faust knew very well she would get jealous over the inevitable public display of affection, so she decided to wait a while… in her own way, a form of maturity.

“I already sent the e-mail yesterday, so they should be fine to meet us!”

For some reason, the purple girl was leading the pack… but no one thought to call her out on it. Not after she had lived through so many years of boredom.

***

He was a splendid, upstanding young man.

Sure, there was always a part of him that felt like he was missing something, but on a fundamental level, he was a good person.

He was the type to pick up trash he’d find by the side of the road so he could dispose of it properly, for example.

He was the type to help the elderly cross a busy street, for example.

He was the type to help out his mother with the chores and the housework without her even having to ask, for example.

He was slightly headstrong, so he’d sometimes get into minor fights with delinquents, but…

Indeed, despite the gap in his heart, he was a good person… so that applied today, too.

“Mooom, I’m home!”

His mother tended to spend her time upstairs, at her computer, working on something or other—most often manuscripts for books and such—so he’d made it a habit to call out to her whenever he got home from school.

But today… for some reason, today was an exception.

“Ah, sweetie, welcome back!”

She’d never really grown out of calling him embarrassing nicknames, but then he didn’t really mind, anyway.

“You’re in the living room?”

“Mhm! I’ve got something to talk to you about. Or rather, we do.”

He hadn’t noticed, but it appeared his father was in the kitchen, fetching his mother a cup of coffee… which, in itself, was rather unusual, since he would usually be at work at this time of day.

“Something to talk to me about…?”

“Yes… You might think you’re putting on a strong front, but it’s clear to the both of us that you’re rather lonely,” his father said, sipping at his own coffee. “You’ve got friends and all, but… yes, we’re aware we aren’t spending very much time with you, and we’re sorry for that.”

The young man tilted his head. Where was this going…?

“So…” his mother said, and she cleared her throat for emphasis. “What would you say to getting a younger sibling?”

“Eh?”

A younger sibling…?

It was supposed to be a normal thing, though he didn’t see how such a thing was supposed to instantly cure his loneliness…

But for some reason, the idea of spending time with a girl, slightly younger than he was—perhaps a year or two his junior—filled his chest with a sense of elation.

If possible, perhaps a slightly timid girl, with long, golden locks and innocent golden eyes…

Eh? No, no, there was no way! He wasn’t the sort of pervert who’d go after his own younger sister… and besides, humans didn’t have golden eyes, that was a trait only monsterfolk had! Sure, he had several classmates with inhuman traits, but both he and his parents were human through and through!

“But of course, we’re aware that even if we made you a sibling, a baby wouldn’t do much to solve your loneliness, not to mention we don’t have the time to take care of one. So, considering that and your desire to help people…”

His father averted his eyes… which was reasonable, since his request was akin to asking his teenage son to help parent a new child, which was beyond unreasonable.

Since it didn’t look like he was going to finish his sentence, mom did that in his place.

“If we adopted a child around your age, maybe a little younger, from the orphanage, would you be willing to help look after them?”

His heart thumped in his chest for reasons he didn’t properly understand…

But he did understand his answer was a resounding yes. If it was the right girl, then of course…!

“... Sure, I’ll consider it.”

***

All things considered, the orphanage was a lovely place.

There weren’t many people who used it, to begin with, which meant it didn’t get very much of a budget, which in turn meant it relied on the work of volunteers, mostly from the nearby church, and much of its funding came in the form of donations.

But even so, the volunteers were all lovely people who did the work from the bottoms of their hearts, and the citizenry carried a deep love for the children, who were always so helpful, so donations were plentiful.

Thus, when the family came with the purpose of scouting out a potential new child, there was no desperation in any of the children’s eyes—instead, there was only curiosity. Of course, the few occasions where a child was adopted were, in a relative sense, a sad experience—but at the same time, no matter how kind- and big-hearted the nuns were, there was a distinct difference between their love for the entire group of children and the love a pair of parents could give to one child, so it was, in the end, always a celebrated affair.

But today, something seemed different.

It was hardly unusual for potential families to take their existing children along, of course. Compatibility between siblings was beyond important—no one would want an elder brother or sister they could not at all get along with.

But the young man scanned the orphans, ranging in age from only a few years old to almost an adult, and in the end settled on a blonde girl who, by appearances, was perhaps only a year or two younger than he was.

By what must’ve seemed, to the other orphans, to be sheer coincidence, the pair locked eyes.

He took a step towards her, and she towards him.

Another step, another step.

Before they even realised it, they were at a distance where they could hug if they wanted to…

A blush on his face, the young man turned his head away and tried to regain his composure by clearing his throat.

“W-well, judging from what just happened, I don’t think I’d have any problems getting along with this girl.”

“I agree!” she said, a bright, sunflower-like smile on her face.

The young man almost thought he could see a glimmer of gold light flash in her pupils.

Somehow, though this was supposed to be their first meeting…

He couldn’t help feeling like he’d finally reunited with her.