“Miss Loraine?”

“...Sorry. I lost my composure.” Realizing she had been staring at Fate for quite a while without noticing, Loraine came back to herself and gave a slight bow in apology.

Fate shook his head, saying it was fine.

“From now on, you’ll be working at the church. You’ll be responsible for security around the church, settling disputes when needed, and guiding the believers who come here to pray.”

“Public order in Bati City is pretty good. As long as no one goes looking for trouble, a church guard is probably an easy post.” For that reason, the church had no plans to spend extra money hiring more guards.

“Mm.” Got it. So this job was basically standing at the church entrance and watching the door.

That suited Fate just fine. Since he’d already decided to retire, he ought to take some idle post and coast through his days.

It was just that...

Fate glanced at the knight statue standing in the center of the church.

How should he put it? After faking his death, working security in a church built to worship him felt weird no matter how he thought about it.

So I’m guarding myself now, huh.

“Mm, not bad.” Seeing Fate wrapped in armor, the priest nodded with a hint of satisfaction and looked toward the statue of the Dawnbreaker Knight.

“Mr. Fate, you come from a knightly background. Having you guard the church of the Grand Knight Commander couldn’t be more fitting.”

“The Grand Knight Commander, resting in eternal sleep, would perhaps also wish for a knight to protect his believers.”

“...Mm.” Fate didn’t know how to answer, so he simply gave a short response.

“As you can see, Mr. Fate, it’s still working hours right now, so I’ll have to trouble you today.”

“It’s my duty.”

“If you have any questions in the future, you may ask me. But I’m not always here. If I’m absent, you can ask Miss Loraine.”

“As a matter of fact, I do have one important question.”

“Oh? What question?” Seeing how serious Fate looked, the priest asked.

“Do you... provide meals and lodging here?”

“...” Both Loraine and the priest looked completely stunned. They clearly hadn’t expected Fate’s so-called important question to be this.

“Ahem. We provide lunch here, but you’ll have to handle dinner yourself,” the priest said with a dry cough.

“As for lodging, if you don’t mind, you may stay in the church. The church closes after six in the evening anyway, so if you stay here, you can also keep watch at the door.”

“Of course I don’t mind.”

“But there’s no bed here, is there? As a place to stay, the conditions are a bit lacking.”

“It’s fine.” Just having a place to keep out the wind and rain was enough for Fate.

“Then very well. I’ll trouble you to watch the door at night too.” The priest nodded.

At noon, after the three of them ate in a side room of the church, they each returned to their posts.

The young nun guided the worshippers in prayer in the main hall. The priest stood at the front reciting verses. And Fate leaned by the doorway, one hand on his sword, silent as ever.

The weather was nice.

So nice that it was making him a little sleepy.

By evening, the day’s work was over. After Miss Loraine saw the last believer out of the church, she stepped outside and happened to see the armored man still leaning by the entrance.

She was doing all right, at least she could move around. But Mr. Fate had been standing there all day. He’d even had to stay tense and keep watch the whole time. He must be exhausted.

Thinking that, the young nun walked over, then immediately felt that something was off.

Even after noticing her approach, Fate didn’t react at all. He was still leaning against the doorway, utterly motionless.

Very soon, Loraine found out why.

As she got closer, she saw a little sleep bubble puffing out through the slit of his helmet...

So this guy was slacking off and sleeping on his very first day on the job??

The young nun immediately took back her earlier thought that he must have had a hard day.

This guy had absolutely no sense of vigilance. He wasn’t seriously on guard at all!

And sleeping while standing up too? That was a rare talent.

In fact, this was one of Fate’s special skills. After years and years of campaigning on the battlefield, he had mastered the secret of falling asleep peacefully anytime, anywhere, in any posture.

“Mr. Fate.” Loraine’s voice rose by a clear notch.

“...Hm? Is it time to eat?” The sleep bubble in front of the helmet slit popped with a pat, and the armored man lifted his gaze toward Loraine.

Eat... time??

The young nun’s polite smile was already close to breaking.

“What were you doing just now, Mr. Fate?”

“Just now? ...I was probably guarding the door.” Fate thought about it for a moment.

“Probably? Mr. Fate, is guarding the door tiring?” The young nun folded her arms, smiling.

“It’s okay. Definitely not as comfortable as sleeping in a bed— I mean, guarding.” Fate moved his stiff neck a little.

“Were you sleeping or guarding the door??” the young nun demanded.

“...Does the church have a rule saying guards aren’t allowed to sleep?” Fate shrank his neck a little.

“What do you think??” With what had happened that morning on top of this, the young nun was having trouble keeping up her polite tone.

“You sleep during work hours, so what exactly are you here for?”

“But there weren’t any public security issues today.” Fate sounded puzzled.

“When something really does happen, no one will be able to count on you,” the young nun said irritably.

“That won’t happen.” Fate answered with complete certainty. “None of the people coming and going today were carrying sharp weapons. The only person with a metal blade was a peddler, and all he had was a fruit knife that wasn’t much of a threat. Besides, he had no intention of causing trouble.”

“...How do you know that so clearly?” Loraine’s expression immediately turned strange.

“Don’t tell me you searched every believer’s pockets one by one?”

“No.” Fate shook his head.

How could he possibly do something like that?

After fighting wars for over twenty years, he was far too sensitive to weapons. One movement was enough for him to tell whether someone had a weapon hidden in their clothes, whether there was a blade in their bag. One expression was enough for him to tell whether that person had violent intent.

Unless it was someone extremely good at hiding it, someone even he couldn’t see through. But an opponent on that level would have been a little troublesome even for the old him to deal with. There was no way they’d have nothing better to do than attack a church.

From what he had observed today, everything was normal.

“...Anyway, Mr. Fate, you really should correct this negative attitude of yours.” Naturally, the young nun didn’t believe a word Fate said. She only took it as random nonsense he had made up to brush her off.

Still, Bati City’s public order was good, and nothing serious was likely to happen. So in the end, the young nun only scolded Fate a little.