That night, when Petra fell asleep in front of the fire next to me again, some inexplicable curiosity prompted me to leave her side, light a candle and explore the rest of the cottage. There was nothing special about its rooms and furniture until I noticed that there was one door behind a red curtain, which I had yet to open. I glanced back at the young Petra as I opened the final door, and before I could even look inside, I was sucked in by a mysterious wind and fell into a dark abyss. As I fell, I observed the only source of light which I could perceive, which was a full bright moon. I closed my eyes at the approaching impact of the floor, but something or other killed my momentum, and I found myself landing gently on a patch of grass next to flowers swaying in a light breeze. I stayed down and looked at the sky while heaving heavy breaths.
“It’s a pity you know. I had hoped I could console you for longer ‘oniisan.’”
I turned towards the voice and saw a beautiful, white-haired girl with more than a passing resemblance to Petra sitting on a throne made of ice. She was wearing a blue and white outfit, which revealed a lot of cleavage but which otherwise looked somewhat magical girl-ish.
“Are you Petra’s older sister?” I asked with some hesitation.
She smiled, making her breasts ever so slightly jiggle as she raised her hand to show me the cheap plastic ring we had gotten at the village festival tonight. That was all the answer that I needed.
She got up from her throne and stepped up towards me. She was about a head taller than me, and taller still because of the sparkly white crown on her head.
“God has decided to reward you with reincarnation, Raphael Raynar. Will you accept this Gift to take on a special purpose and be of service to mankind?”
I frowned, because I was too much of an egoist not to object to what she had said at last.
“A service to mankind? First of all, who are you to make this offer? I only know the Petra I was playing around with for two days.”
“Forgive my rudeness,” Petra bowed slightly, and I involuntarily bowed in return. “I am Saintess Petra. I am what you might call your guardian angel. Your life was painful, but you mainly lived for yourself. Therefore, to redeem yourself, you must endure another trial and be of service to humanity.”
I was about to explode with anger, but held myself back on account of the fate of my soul pending on it and on account of a lifetime, which, to be granted, was cut short, of putting up with unreasonable expectations.
“And if I refuse? Will I vanish into nothingness? Good. The service you speak of sounds like just another burden that I did not ask for, not a reward for my suffering. Frankly, it’s been a long time since I have felt that I have owed anything to mankind in particular. I am ready to pass on because I am satisfied with my life, and that if I can’t continue my life just as it was, for my own sake, then there would be no point.”
The Saintess sighed, drawing my eyes once again to the undulating movements of her boobs.
“Although I understand how you feel, since I have watched you since before you were born, there is no point in going against God’s will. It doesn’t matter what I or you feel, in front of God’s authority, because He has power over life and death. You shall not peacefully perish as you wish if you go against His will. You know it wasn’t easy to get God’s approval, you being as you are…”
It sounded like this was a god who could change his mind, if Petra was not lying about getting his approval for me.
“In that case, God’s power is not that different from any human power, after all, since earthly authorities too claim to act from a higher point of view with higher priorities than my own. Very well. If the alternative to accepting this offer is something worse than annihilation, then it’s not much of a choice, is it?”
Petra smiled.
“Then you accept?”
“Yes.”
I bowed and looked down, expecting her to cast some kind of spell that would whizz me away to some isekai, but instead, when I opened my eyes, all I saw were boobs. A warm hand touched my face and raised my chin. Petra kissed my lips, but before I could even feel anything, my field of vision was covered in white light.
