“I-I’m sorry. But, um... you shouldn’t try to touch me. I’m, um... not like you, Sister. I’m tarnished.”
“It’s okay.”
“It’s not okay. You may not know this, but I’m...” Maria started her sentence, but wasn’t able to finish—because Ristia’s thin and supple fingers gently patted Maria’s head. At the same time, a genial warmth started to seep its way through Maria’s body.
“...Ristia?”
“See~? You’re all fine.” Your scars, infections, every last bad mark on your body—every single one? I got rid of them. So, Maria, my dear, you’re no longer ‘tarnished’.” She didn’t understand what that meant, but... it was made clear to her not long after. Both the fatigue that punished her for the past few days along with the lingering pain in her lower half disappeared completely. She almost felt like—no, she literally felt as if she had been reborn anew.
“...Sister, who in the world are you?”
“I’m just a normal girl.” That was a clear lie. She was probably intent on not divulging the truth behind who she was, which was why Maria knew that Ristia was not the normal girl that she claimed she was—she was far from it. But she didn’t care who Ristia really was, because, at least to Maria, Ristia was the angel sent from above who helped save her from her plight—a fact that brought tears streaming from the young girl’s eyes.
“Thank... you... Thank you, Sister. Thank you, Ristia,” Maria said with tears pouring down her face as Ristia softly took her into her embrace. That tender warmth washed away all the doubt that Maria still had left in her.
With all of the bad emotions out of her system, Maria’s tears finally came to an end. “S-So, what do you plan on doing from now on?” Maria asked, pulling herself apart from Ristia, having regained her composure after crying her eyes out. Her cheeks were pink from the embarrassment of shedding tears.
“Well, I guess turning around the orphanage.”
“Turning around the orphanage... Yeah, that’s a much-needed step.” Maria was so impoverished that she had to go around and volunteer her services, so it was obvious that a turnaround of their financial situation was necessary in order to get the institution in shape. Maria never would have thought that Ristia meant ‘a literal turnaround of the building, complete with renovations,’ so it was a total misunderstanding.
“I’ve already got a lot of ideas lined up for turning this place around. I’ll set everything up, so don’t you worry about it.”
“...You already thought up ways to fix things? The mayor that the aristocrats put in charge of town is a renowned cheapskate, so I don’t think he’ll be willing to give us any financial aid.”
“Financial aid? No, I’ll have the funds needed, so that won’t be necessary.”
“...Are you serious?”
You needed to pull money from somewhere in order to perform a massive upgrade of an orphanage. Basically, that meant what you needed was a way to actually pull in money in the first place... or so one would think, but Ristia was saying that money was never an issue from the get-go.
There’s no way she’s planning on making the kids do the same kind of work I did, right? She said I wouldn’t have to service anyone. I want to believe that Ristia really means that, but all signs are pointing to that as the only other option. Ristia’s overly optimistic attitude was filling Maria with uneasiness.
“In any case, you don’t have to worry about how I’ll be turning things around here. Actually, there’s something that I want to ask you, Maria.”
“...What’s that?”
“I made your body as good as new. That is a fact without a shadow of a doubt. But I assume your mind still holds some terrible memories, right?”
“Yes... it does.” Although she felt like a massive load was off her shoulders, that simple bit of implication was enough to give her flashbacks of her time working, making Maria unconsciously hug herself.
“If you’d like, I’ll wipe all of your memories of that.”
“Wipe... my memories?” Maria looked up at Ristia in confusion.
“Yup, I’ll use a spell to wipe the bad memories and any memories linked to it out of your mind.”
“...Sister, are you a sorcerer?”
“I am, and it’s a secret, okay?” Ristia said with a mischievous grin. That angelic smile met Maria’s eyes, and she thought to herself, Is she some sort of sorcerer of justice? If there were a connoisseur of magic present, they would probably be screaming, “Yeah, right! As if there’s some kind of demonic magic around that would wipe someone’s memories clean!” However, there was indeed magic like that, so it was a moot point regardless of the noise or actions of this hypothetical person. Now, whether or not it was within the realm of human capability was a different story...
“You’re saying that your spell could erase my bad memories?”
“Yeah, I can erase just your bad memories... is the right way of putting it, I guess? In order to do a thorough wipe, I would need to erase a lot of your normal memories so as to not cause any inconsistencies, so I think some related memories will end up getting wiped, as well.” Maria wasn’t able to completely comprehend the drawbacks of doing that, but there was one thing that she did understand—that she would forget the fact that Ristia saved her if she were to wipe her memories right now.
“...I’ll be fine without a memory wipe, if you don’t mind.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, if you wipe my memories, it’s likely that I’ll forget you saved me too, right?”
“...That’s right.”
“Right. In that case, don’t wipe them.”
“Maria...” she said, probably understanding Maria’s intention of wanting to preserve her memory of Ristia as her savior. Ristia looked absolutely, positively delighted.
“D-Don’t get the wrong idea. If you were to wipe my memories, then there wouldn’t be anyone around to confirm whether you’re holding up your end of the promise, right? That’s why I’m just going to be by your side to make sure you’re keeping everyone safe!” Maria said in a blunt manner, trying to hide her embarrassment.
“Okay, I plan on making this orphanage better than it’s ever been, so I’d appreciate you helping me out, too, Maria.” Ristia smiled, casually extending her hand to the girl. Looking at her white, slender, and spotless hand, the gears in Maria’s head started spinning. Honestly, she wasn’t sure about Ristia’s claim that she had become the director when she woke up this morning, so she was also uneasy as to whether this would all work out, but if Georg continued to be director for another six months, then he may have ended up recruiting the other girls to offer their services alongside Maria. And even if he didn’t, he would have made a few of the children “graduate,” for sure. The fact stood that Ristia saved all of them from that fate, which was why...
“I’ll help you. Look forward to working with you, Director Ristia.”
She called Ristia “Director” with the utmost respect. Instead of calling her “Sister” like she usually did, adding the title to her name showed that she recognized her as the director of the orphanage and was willing to cooperate with her in her future endeavors. Be that as it may... Ristia still found herself hitting the floor in disappointment.
──3──
“What a flop...” Ristia said, flopping her shoulders in her depression unusually hard. Pretty much all the children at the orphanage called her “Sister” or “Sis.” They meant that as a term of endearment because she was older than them, but she believed that if she tried hard enough, she could promote herself to a loving “Big Sis” status. She believed that, but all her hard work and gaining ownership of the orphanage gained her was being called “Director” instead. And it wasn’t just Maria calling her that, but every child in the orphanage who knew the situation. It was proof that the children adored Ristia and accepted her into their lives, but seeing as how Ristia just wanted them to call her “Big Sis,” it was devastating to her. Those factors led Ristia to be in the extreme slump she was in now, just after breakfast. However, she couldn’t afford to be down in the dumps forever.
Considering that Maria had vowed to help turn around the orphanage and rebuild it, it meant that Ristia needed to hurry up and plan things out. Ristia then decided to check the orphanage grounds, taking her to the back of the facility. Perhaps it was because the orphanage was on the outskirts of town, but the facility grounds were quite vast. There was enough surface area for two or three orphanages, but... it seemed as if absolutely no groundskeeping had been done for a while. It was disheveled with weeds growing amok.