Isabel turned her head this way and that, then closed her eyes and opened them again. But the text remained, as if etched onto her retina.
[ A quest has been generated. ]
[ Stop running and take a deep breath. (0/1) ]
The unfamiliar message lingered at the edge of her vision, ensuring it didn’t obstruct her view.
Given the instruction to “stop running,” it was clear that this directive was specifically meant for her, who had been running just moments ago.
Aside from that, there were no other notable details—except, perhaps, the lingering question: Why is it blue?
Next, Isabel took a more fundamental approach.
“A quest?”
She had no idea what that meant. And so, she wanted to know. She was curious.
What would happen if she followed the instructions written here?
The quest required two things: Stop running. Breathe deeply.
One had already been completed, so she only needed to do the other.
So, Isabel took a deep breath in—
“Whew~”
—And exhaled dramatically.
And then, after a brief moment—
[ Stop running and take a deep breath. (1/1) ]
[ Quest completed. ]
A new message appeared.
“Wow!”
Fascinated, Isabel tried taking a few more deep breaths.
However, the numbers next to the mysterious “quest” didn’t change anymore.
It seemed like the number on the left indicated how many times she had performed the action, while the number on the right was the required amount.
She did it. She completed this strange task.
With a pounding heart, Isabel eagerly awaited her reward.
But what awaited her instead was—
“Sister Isabel.”
A voice—warm yet terrifying—called from behind.
She recognized it.
Isabel turned around in shock.
There stood Susanna, her former mentor from her days at the monastery and the Auxiliary Bishop of Zero Prime, looking at her with bulging veins on her forehead.
Overcome with emotion, Isabel exclaimed—
“The best reward ever!”
“…Reward?”
A brief, awkward silence followed.
Only then did Isabel realize that Susanna’s appearance had nothing to do with her quest completion.
“Sister Isabel, what is making you so overjoyed that you are running around so disgracefully?”
One by one, the priests who feared getting caught in the crossfire discreetly slipped away, leaving only Isabel and Susanna in the hallway.
Susanna was an Auxiliary Bishop. That meant she had the authority to revoke a priest’s credentials within the Sestina Diocese.
Anyone with common sense would immediately lower their head and beg for forgiveness.
But—
“Well, you see, Sister—”
—Isabel had no common sense.
She was about to cry out that she was truly happy to see her, that thanks to the miracle of the Goddess Sunya, she had returned to the past, and that she was so incredibly glad to see her again.
But then—
[ A quest has been generated. ]
A new blue message flickered at the edge of her vision, just like before.
[ Hide the fact that you came from the future and explain the situation to Susanna. (0/1) ]
[ Move to a place where you can be alone. (0/1) ]
“Uh…”
Isabel hesitated.
“Well… you see…”
Her eyes darted around, searching for a plausible excuse to use as a lie.
Then, feeling the sweat-soaked fabric of her robe clinging to her skin, she blurted out—
“I just wanted to sweat a little!”
It was a strange sensation—
As if some unseen presence had pressed a hand to her forehead.
Or maybe that was just Susanna. Because at that moment, Susanna did press her hand against Isabel’s forehead. Hard enough to make a thunk sound.
“…Sweat?”
“Yes!”
“Even though there is a training hall in the Holy Knights’ dormitory just ahead?”
“The hallway is long and straight—perfect for running!”
An excuse so ridiculous that even a passing dog would laugh.
Yet, because Susanna knew Isabel all too well, her suspicion began to fade.
“If it were anyone else… but this is Isabel we’re talking about?”
Understanding Isabel’s way of thinking required both boundless generosity and limitless imagination.
Without them, one would only end up missing the mark—both themselves and their target.
If it were Isabel, she really could have sprinted down the main hallway of Zero Prime, where countless priests passed by, simply because she wanted to sweat.
After adding a few extra words of scolding to the usual lecture she always gave when Isabel caused trouble, Susanna sighed and said—
“It’s a relief you didn’t trip, Sister Isabel. Submit a written reflection by the end of the day.”
“Oh! Can I write it alone in my room?”
Susanna didn’t know, but Isabel still had the active quest requiring her to “move to a place where she could be alone.”
“That’s up to you. But make sure to write it sincerely. And clean yourself up—wipe off your sweat and fix your attire.”
“Understood, Sister!”
“You should say ‘Auxiliary Bishop.’”
“Oh, right!”
Isabel responded cheerfully and skipped her way back to her room.
She made a conscious effort not to run, which Susanna found rather admirable.
***
Is it done? Done? Is it really done? Looks like it.
Sigh.
I flopped onto the sandbox at the playground.
It made sense. I was completely drained.
“Hah…”
Normally, I remained in my Exclusive Space in a sort of spiritual state.
Because of that, I never felt pain, heat, or cold—I was always in a perfectly comfortable state.
So I assumed I would never experience exhaustion again.
But—
“Our Isabel… every single thing she does…”
—was a landmine.
I was mentally exhausted. Completely.
Sure, running all over town was understandable. She had just reunited with people she had lost, so of course, she’d be happy.
But trying to tell Susanna that she had regressed?
If I hadn’t urgently sent that quest, she would have gone on a full-blown rant.
If you’re a regressor, the first rule is: Never carelessly reveal that you’ve returned to the past. That’s just common sense.
Knowing what happens in the future is the greatest advantage of regression. If you recklessly disclose it and someone changes the future, it could spell disaster.
More importantly, considering what we need to accomplish moving forward, there is absolutely no reason to risk damaging her credibility by blurting out something like, “Actually, I came from the future.”
Yet Isabel hadn’t even thought about that. What an idiot.
Wait. Am I expecting too much from her?
Unlike modern people who consume countless regression stories, perhaps an ordinary person in this world would naturally just celebrate their return to the past.
…Well, then again, Isabel was part of the Hero’s Party. So calling her an ordinary person is a bit of a stretch.
Anyway.
I focused on checking Isabel’s current state.
She had returned to her assigned priest’s dormitory room. Seeing her waving her hands at nothing, it was clear she found the lingering quest text on her screen fascinating.
Alright, time to take care of that.
After a few tries, I had grown accustomed to displaying and removing quest messages from Isabel’s sight.
[ Hide the fact that you came from the future and come up with a reasonable excuse for Susanna. (1/1) ]
[ Move to a place where you can be alone. (1/1) ]
[ Quest Completed. ]
Good. At least I now had a means to control Isabel.
I had been a little worried, considering quests didn’t exist in this world. But as expected, this kind of straightforward system worked well on a scatterbrained fool like Isabel.
However, a bigger challenge remained.
I needed to have a proper conversation with Isabel.
Right now, I could issue her quests, but I couldn’t actually give her any rewards. I wasn’t even sure if that was possible—I hadn’t received any instructions from Sunya about it.
So, while I still had the advantage of guiding her without rewards, I needed to make Isabel reach out to me first.
For a Personal Angel to communicate with a priest, the priest must first summon them through prayer.
Alright, Isabel. Your guardian angel is right behind you. Won’t you call out to me?
[ Summon your Personal Angel through prayer. (0/1) ]
…Hmm. Suddenly, I felt uneasy. Was I rushing things?
What if Isabel saw this message, got suspicious, and started looking around? What if she ran to Susanna to ask for advice?
Considering how many times she had been betrayed by villains in the first timeline, it wouldn’t be strange if she had developed at least a bit of wariness.
Maybe I should have been more cautious—
“Huh?”
Isabel, who had been happily celebrating her completed quest, furrowed her brows as she read my new one. She tilted her head, reread it a couple more times, and then—
“Wow!”
She jumped for joy.
…She jumped really high.
If this were an apartment, the people downstairs would have banged on the ceiling by now.
Still, I could understand why.
The appearance of a Personal Angel was considered an extraordinary honor for priests. It meant they had been chosen by a divine being.
Even Isabel, a former saint, had received blessings from the Goddess Sunya—but she had never been visited by a Personal Angel.
Maybe that’s why—
“A Personal Angel!”
—she looked so excited.
…Oh, no.
Suddenly, I felt nervous.
What if Isabel’s expectation of a Personal Angel was nothing like me?
I had never been a particularly confident person. After all, when you spend years hospitalized, being treated as the family’s problem child, you tend to lose whatever self-esteem you had left.
So the idea of Isabel looking at me and going, “This? This is my Personal Angel?” was terrifying.
I knew Isabel wasn’t the type to say something like that outright.
But she could hide her disappointment behind something like:
“Oh… So you’re my angel? …I see.”
And you know, there’s nothing more demoralizing to a man than seeing a beautiful woman disappointed.
But Isabel didn’t wait for me to mentally prepare myself.
Maybe it was because she had once been a saint, but she immediately got ready to pray.
She closed the door, drew the curtains, cleared her throat, made the sign of the cross, and then—
She took out a silver crucifix from her chest and held it tightly in both hands.
Then, with her eyes shut, she began to pray.
“O Creator of Heaven and Earth, O Hand That Built the World, O Great and Holy Name of the Void, I call upon Thee—”
Her whispered prayer flowed smoothly, without a hint of hesitation.
And with it—
It felt like my entire being was glowing.
It was a strange sensation.
The Exclusive Space I inhabited started to ripple faintly.
I felt like I, too, was wavering, like a mist in the wind.
And then—
In the next moment—
I opened my eyes inside the very space I had been watching through the window.
Floating slightly above the ground, emitting a soft glow—
Right in front of Isabel.
…
Too close.
Much closer than I expected.
I could see the lashes between her closed eyelids.
And unlike when I had been observing from above, the sense of presence was overwhelming.
And then—
Isabel’s eyes snapped open.
A brief silence.
Our gazes met.
And then—
“Angel…?”
Isabel’s lips parted.
Cliche Novel 
Is the translation perhaps abandoned?
LikeLike