Chapter 2: Humans have two sides.

CocoLiss Amore.

As the only nun in the church of this remote border town, she was almost solely responsible for conveying the faith of the Goddess of Light to the townsfolk.

She hadn’t always been like this.
She hadn’t even been a nun to begin with, and she certainly hadn’t been a woman.

She only remembered holding instant noodles in her left hand and cola in her right, not yet having the chance to say “What the hell?” to the sudden stroke of luck that was about to hit her.
The moment she opened her eyes, she was already in this place.

The only thing that had come with her was a single notebook.

Then she was immediately seized by the old priest, who had been worrying about finding someone to inherit the church.
After a mere week of on-the-job training, she bid farewell to the old priest as he left for the royal capital, becoming the sole nun of this remote border town and the church’s only active staff member.

Life here was very relaxed for her.
That one week of hurried training was more than enough to deal with the townspeople, who weren’t particularly fervent in their faith toward the Goddess of Light.

Perhaps it was precisely because this was a border town.
Though that was also the reason the old priest had struggled to find a successor.

When the old priest had found her, she hadn’t even known where she was and could only place her hopes on the notebook beside her.

To this day, that notebook was still hidden away in her small bedroom inside the church.

Its contents absolutely could not be seen by anyone.

Of course, there was only a single page inside, with just one simple paragraph written on it.

[You have lost your memories. In truth, you have already transmigrated to this place over a hundred years ago. Your identity is that of an abyssal kin. The concealment on your body is very strong, but you must never let others discover your true identity.]

And the signature at the end of that paragraph was CocoLiss Amore.

How coincidental.
When they checked her identity, she was also registered as CocoLiss Amore.

It was obvious this was something she had left for herself before losing her memories.

She didn’t know whether she was some kind of spy from the Abyss or anything else.
None of that seemed to have anything to do with her.
She simply felt that her current life was beautiful and peaceful, and that was enough.

All she needed to do was play the role of this kind and gentle nun, ensuring that no one could see through any flaws, even if she had to maintain a pleasant expression toward the stinky brats she found utterly annoying deep down.

Apart from that, as part of the peaceful life in this border town under the powerful protection of the distant royal capital, neither abyssal creatures nor monsters had any chance of breaking this tranquility.

Even if some great disaster capable of shattering the peace truly appeared, that would be a headache for the Hero or the Saintess to deal with.

As the proxy of the Goddess of Light, there would appear either a Hero or a Saintess during any given reign, only one at a time, either a Hero or a Saintess.

The one currently in office was a Hero.
That Hero seemed to still be undergoing trials and growth, at least according to what CocoLiss had read in the church’s newspaper mailings.

However, nothing of the sort had ever happened so far.
Perhaps it was because the Abyss in this other world was quite different from the one in her stereotypical impressions.
It was currently being beaten down and barely clinging to survival, constantly losing territory and being eroded.

Only when a new Saintess or Hero had not yet grown up could it become slightly more active, at least holding onto its own tiny piece of land and perhaps even stealing a couple plots of territory in the meantime.

Looking at it this way, the abyssal kin were actually quite pitiful.

Yet she herself was one of them.

The mailbox at the entrance of the church would always flash with golden light before spitting out things that resembled headlines from her previous life’s news.

At first she had been sufficiently terrified and uneasy, afraid that her identity as abyssal kin would be exposed.
But the residents of this remote border town, who didn’t have much faith in the Goddess of Light to begin with, seemed to treat her completely as a normal person.
This had even made her start doubting the authenticity of the notebook.

Thinking about it carefully, the church still provided protection and help to these townspeople who didn’t really believe in the Goddess of Light.
The church really did do all kinds of good deeds.

If she weren’t an abyssal kin, she might have genuinely considered putting a little faith in the Goddess of Light.

The above was everything she had summarized after spending a little over half a year in this world.

As the church’s nominal nun—even if it was a rather sloppy nominal role—it was more than enough for her to live out this entire segment of her otherworld life happily and peacefully.

She had no such grand ambitions, nor any strong obsession with returning to her original world.
She had originally been without any ties, and was even indifferent to the matter.

What Miss CocoLiss wanted to do now, and what she might want to do in the future, was simply to avoid disrupting this peaceful life.

She had tried before, but whenever such thoughts arose, they would always be interrupted by a sudden flash of golden light.

Even minor injuries, such as a vase falling and smashing onto her foot, would trigger a golden flash and leave her unharmed.

But normal activities, such as taking a bath, had no issues.
Only when carrying any wicked intentions would it fail.

She felt this was probably because she was the church’s nominal nun.

Perhaps the church’s nuns were forbidden from seeking personal pleasure.
After all, this other world was different from her previous one, and the old priest had not explained any of those strange rules to her before leaving for the royal capital.

However, during one occasion when she was handling some abyssal creations confiscated from other regions and temporarily stored in the church, she discovered that these objects could directly come into contact with her body.
Even applying a little force was possible.

She figured it was her abyssal kin identity at work.

Whether she was abyssal kin or whatever else, whether they were enemy or ally, anything that could bring her pleasure was a good thing.

So she secretly pried off some scraps, and using the basic alchemy recorded in the church’s books, she created such a delicate object out in the wilderness far from the church.

Gently stroking it through the black fabric, CocoLiss unconsciously felt her heartbeat quicken.

The happy times were about to begin.

She had just walked to the church entrance when she noticed the mailbox shining with golden light.

There was basically nothing important inside.
At most it would notify her that guards from the royal capital were coming to clear out the monsters in the surroundings.

But she still walked over to take a look.
After all, she had a duty to fulfill.

[Shock! During the Hero’s term, a Saintess has actually been found? Possessing both a Hero and a Saintess at the same time—does this herald the complete end of the struggle between living beings and the Abyss?]

CocoLiss felt there was no need to read any further.
It was probably just another sensationalist piece of false information.

If a pair of twin stars had really appeared, then wouldn’t her position as a nominal nun who was actually abyssal kin mean she no longer had any way to live?

She walked into the church, closed the door behind her with a backhand motion, and shut out the sunlight from outside, leaving the interior in darkness.

Then she headed to the reception room.

She really couldn’t wait any longer.

Who knew how much freedom she had been deprived of these past days.

Yet the accumulated thoughts would not simply be erased.

Moreover, the experience of suddenly becoming an peerlessly beautiful girl was itself an extremely novel one.

So what was going through Miss CocoLiss’s mind right now was very simple.

Hurry hurry hurry hurry hurry—she was the King of Hurry.

And the abyssal creation had been placed and fixed right in the center of the chair.

The gentlest and most dignified young lady in the entire town, Miss CocoLiss, now had dazed, swirling eyes.

It was coming.

The girl seemed to carry a trace of anticipation, along with the corners of her mouth that she couldn’t suppress.
She unconsciously closed her eyes.

Thump.

Thump thump thump!

It was a fierce knocking on the door.

“Sister CocoLiss, are you there?”