Boy of The Church

Sister Nemela was continuously surprising me with new story. Sister Nemela is a lovely and graceful woman. Her dark brown hair is lustrous and sophisticated. She braids her hair in the back to make it appear like a tail. She is a charming figure, and when she walked us out of church, the males her age on the street would often see her as if they had been expecting her. I enjoy hearing her telling heroic tales of heroes. She always said that the hero is such a wonderful person. This time she tells us about Rigar, who is a hero who succeeded to the throne in the 2nd great war. He devoted his thought and time to advancing civilisation to the point where it is now.  A hologram of Rigar is being emitted from a portable projection unit set on the floor in front of us. He was a charming man, battling other heroes for the throne with weapons that no other hero had ever used before.

Rigar is a leading light. His golden hair is lengthy and he has a light skin tone. Perhaps he's like the nobleman who constantly appears in fairy tales. He seems to exude the aura of someone who is generous and self-sacrificing even though we only see him from the holographic illusion created by the machine. 

"In Ruminsa City, Hero Rigar fought Hero Luxui for over three days. Their fight was so fierce that it devastated numerous areas of the trading city—"

"Sister, may I ask a question?" A boy my age cut off Sister Nemela's story

He is Yohan. He and I were both raised by the church. We know each other well and often play together. The church often cares for children who have lost or been abandoned by their parents. We are one of them, I was found under a maple tree in the fall. Sister Nemela who found me gave me the name Streyn Arcia. Streyn means 'he who goes' and Arcia as my last name means I grew up in this church, the church of Arcia.

"Sure, sweetie..." 

Sister Nemela replied to Yohan and made him blush a little. Of course I know because this little boy's ears turn red.

"Umm... If the hero destroys the city. Doesn't that mean they're bad people?"

For a little while, Sister Nemela remains silent.

"Yohan, you can't have any prejudice against heroes. The damage from their fight was destined to be done. Instead, we should commend them for making the world the beautiful place as it is today."  Sister Nemela approached Yohan, her footfall resonating lightly on the church's floor. She then sank to her knees and tenderly stroked his red hair.
"The developments in this world were all thanks to the heroes. Because the heroes have given their medical knowledge, no one will perish from unknown illnesses. People will have little difficulty travelling great distances since transportation vehicles can bring them there quickly. And, having a helper robot like Viles makes our daily work easier." 

The tiny robot's wheels moved near Sister Nemela a few moments later. He's Viles, an assistance robot that mass created after the Second World War ended. He was a small, tube-like robot with a conical blunt head around the height of my knees.

"Good morning. Breakfast Time. Breakfast Time..."  The robot let out a few short words over and over. Even though the robot is small, it can almost do various daily tasks. He can help wash, cook, or even be a great cleaning machine.

"Since Viles has arrived we will stop the story for this morning until here. We'll continue this tonight before bed, okay?" With her sweet smile Sister Nemela said that.

The other kids who were sitting on the floor with me got up and went straight to the dining hall. This church is quite large because this place is also used as our residence. Sister Tereni said that this church was built by Hero Atalenta, a heroine of the First Great War. Even though she failed to win the first war, she is a very kind and caring person for the natives of this planet. 

The last to enter the dining hall were me, Yohan, and Lilac. Yohan was the boy who was blushing at his own question. Whereas Lilac is a girl who is two years older than me. This girl often boasts of her height which is arguably taller than all the foster children who live in this church. We were busy talking to each other as we walked until we were always the last to enter the dining hall whether it was breakfast or dinner.

"As usual, you always blush when Sister Nemela is near you..." Lilac tried to provoke Yohan with her words full of smugness. 

I couldn't take my gaze away from her gorgeous white hair as we walked together. Because of its white, like snow, in contrast to my dark black hair, it looks like I'm seeing winter. I'm the only one with a different hair color than the other kids. No, maybe I'm even different from the people of this western continent. Everyone here has different hair colors. I most often meet people with hair color like Sister Nemela. They say I look more like the people on the eastern mainland where most of them have dark black hair.

Sometimes I was discriminated against by people outside of the church. Fortunately, everyone in the church didn't look at me that way. Even though we are not blood relatives, I am grateful to have them as family.

"I'm not embarrassed! It was just that she is too close at the moment."

His embarrassment was clearly visible even when he speaks.

"Lilac, don't tease him anymore. He really looks red." I was really sincere about it but it only made Yohan's face redder like his hair.

"Hmm... Then from now on let's call him Mr. Tomato." Lilac teases him even more. 

When any of us are arguing, this nasty girl always smiles and lightens the situation. It might feel annoying at times but we immediately stopped arguing when she was around us.

"Come on lads, hurry up and sit in your seats. Mother has been waiting for you all." It was Sister Tereni. She is Sister who can be quite fierce at times. She often taught us the do's and don'ts. She is a diligent individual who, nevertheless, may be reckless at times.

Mother is the figure who leads this church and the person who is responsible for all of us. We rarely see her except at breakfast or dinner time. She is a figure who, despite her age, maintains her beauty. He didn't say much, but when he did, his voice was quite soothing. Unlike Sister Nemela and Tereni, she wore a veil and spent much of her time in her room.

After breakfast usually the other Sisters accompanied us to play. As for Lilac, since she was twelve she had to study with her peers. It was a bit of a disappointment, even though we played together a lot until I was ten years old in the fall of last year.

Some of us may choose to leave this place when they are sixteen. Some of us chose to join the Adventurer's Guild and travel to faraway places. They come to the church on occasion to share their happy and sad experiences. Some of us choose to work in large cities like Yurisia. However... wherever we go this place will always be our home.

****

My childhood, without me knowing it passed quickly. We smiled and laughed together. We are a big and happy family it's all thanks to the sisters, no— It's thanks to all of us. We share our days together, with laughter, arguments, and tears for those who want to go to the better place. I always pray, to our goddess, Lucia. So that this happiness will last forever. 

When I turned fifteen, I decided to become an adventurer but I will continue to stay in this place until my old days. Yohan and several other children also decided the same thing as me. They want to repay the kindness of this church and will stay here to work and help them. As for Lilac, she decided to become a Sister in this church and take care of the children who were newly adopted by the church.

I will always remember those days...

The church bells sounded so loud, the birds flew wildly, the leaves of the trees fluttered in the strong wind. That day, I will never forget... The origin of the tragedy that will occur. The church's roof was hit by pillars of light from the sky. The light fell directly on the altar in front of the goddess Lucia's statue. We dashed to the prayer room to see what had occurred. We were initially dazzled by the extreme intensity of the light pillar. Then, after a while. The pillar slowly disappeared. From within that light we saw a silhouetted figure resembling a person.

After the light completely disappeared, our eyes immediately opened wide. Spontaneously I immediately pulled my sword out of the scabbard I was holding. Perhaps, we had thought that maybe an angel had come to bring a revelation, or maybe a hero had been summoned to this world. Historical witnesses say when the day the heroes are summoned then pillars of light will descend from the sky and with that the great war has begun.

However, what I saw that day was a literal demon...

A wicked one—