Chapter 2: Cataclysmic start

Rainy night.

Thunder and the sound of crying echoed around Sister Xiliya’s ears.

She opened the church door and saw a baby lying in front of the entrance, its cries growing weaker.

Startled, she quickly picked the child up and brought it inside.

Morning after the storm.

Xu Mo Mo opened her eyes for the first time in a long while, replaying in her mind the moment she was sent flying by a large truck.

Well, there wasn’t much to feel.

Maybe she was run over by the wheels.

Either way, she had died pretty cleanly.

The moment she opened her eyes, aside from the thin rays of sunlight filtering through the curtain, there was also the face of this young woman.

Hmm, as expected, she had apparently time-traveled, or rather, reincarnated.

Normally, there were three types of time travel.

One was physical travel—nothing much to say about that, common in Japanese light novels.

Another was soul travel into someone else’s body, replacing that person—to put it bluntly, possession, though many authors and readers subconsciously ignore that fact.

The last was reincarnation, with fewer pitfalls and a natural way of blending into the new world.

She had read quite a few novels about this.

So was a truck really a necessary condition for time travel?

Thinking back to the details before her reincarnation, she suddenly wondered if that fortune-teller had screwed her over.

If she hadn’t gotten entangled, maybe she wouldn’t have been sent flying by a large truck.

Looking around, the setting was very typical of a medieval style, quite similar to the games she played in her past life.

Could it be a game world?

If so, she would be able to navigate it with ease.

Turning her gaze to the side, a strand of golden hair fell across her face, shining brilliantly in the sunlight.

Her delicate features were more beautiful than any actress she had ever seen, exuding a gentle temperament.

The black-and-white nun’s habit she wore further highlighted her unique aura.

Ah, the little nun sister was awake.

There was a trace of drool at the corner of her mouth.

She looked worried and was speaking a language Xu Mo Mo couldn’t understand.

Her eyes were a bright blue, and her golden hair was as dazzling as the sun.

Her features were delicate and soft.

If someone said she was actually a saint, Xu Mo Mo would believe it.

Seeing that she was awake, the nun looked at her with curiosity.

Xu Mo Mo felt her cheek get poked.

She was picked up, and her baby face rubbed against the girl’s cheek.

A person and a baby both smiled.

Then two months passed.

First, she got her name.

Xu Mo Mo was her previous life’s name, now a thing of the past.

Her current name was Selina.

Second, this nun sister was not her biological mother.

Over the past two months, she had carried her around and asked almost every household in the town, but there was still no trace of her biological mother.

For Selina, this didn’t really matter.

If her biological parents had abandoned her at birth, then it was better to grow up in this small church.

At least it wasn’t a terrible starting situation.

This nun sister could be considered her foster mother.

In Selina’s heart, having such a beautiful person as her mother wasn’t bad.

While she was carrying her around visiting the townspeople, Selina noticed that ordinary people would always start their conversations with her by saying a word—Sela.

That must be her name.

Selina’s tiny mind committed this name to memory.

Sela wasn’t very old either.

She looked to be under twenty.

With her good looks and gentle temperament, she was quite popular among the townspeople.

It seemed that nuns weren’t prohibited from marrying, so there were quite a few men pursuing Sela.

When that happened, Selina would mischievously call out “Mom.”

Although she could tell Sela wasn’t interested in romance, seeing her constantly bothered by some men was troublesome.

So she would call out a few more times to help her out and use childcare as an excuse to turn them away.

Sela seemed to have noticed this too.

Whenever someone tried to strike up a conversation with her, this child would start babbling and calling out “Mom,” and she would use that as an excuse to politely refuse her suitors.

Selina still couldn’t understand what they were saying, but the word “Mom” meant mother in any language.

She figured it was no exception in this other world.

Also, Selina was too young.

Her diet alternated between breast milk, cow’s milk, and goat’s milk every day.

To be honest, she didn’t like it, but she had to drink it to survive.

At this point, she realized just how much sugar was added to modern carton milk.

Breast milk… better not go there.

Sela had never even been in a relationship, so there was no way she could produce milk for a baby.

She had to find other women in town who were also nursing.

Thus, Selina grew up being fed by many different mothers.

Sela’s occupation was, of course, a nun.

After giving up on finding Selina’s biological mother, she started researching how to raise a child.

This sight broke the hearts of many of her suitors.

Selina thought, ‘Sela sister is mine. No one’s taking her away.’

Maybe it was because she had turned into a baby that her mentality had changed a lot.

The original Selina used to be the cold and quiet type.

But the priority right now was still learning the language.

Time flew by, and another half year passed.

Thanks to her modern human thinking, learning the language through immersion wasn’t difficult.

However, since her vocal cords still weren’t fully developed, the sounds she made were still just babbles.

But she could now understand what the nun sister was saying.

She also had a rough idea of the relationships within the church.

Father Laite was kind and amiable.

He had worked at the church for over twenty years and was highly respected.

He had a daughter who was a nun in the holy capital, and his wife had passed away from illness many years ago.

Sister Manila was serious and strict, clearly a no-nonsense lady.

She often found fault with Sela’s cleaning.

Sister Milia was Sela’s colleague, about the same age, and they were practically best friends.

There was also a local bishop named Jack, who was the superior of all the churches in the area.

Selina hadn’t met him yet and only knew about him from their conversations.

From what she could gather, this bishop seemed a bit slick.

He would often bend the rules for convenience, going against church doctrine.

She wondered how such a person became a bishop.

Selina thought to herself as her little hand flipped open the book in front of her.

Now that she could roughly understand what Sela and the others were saying, the next step was to learn the written language.

Speaking could wait; once her vocal cords developed, she would naturally be able to talk.

Her gaze returned to the book in front of her.

The words were still obscure and difficult to understand, making Selina frown.

It felt like she was back in her school days learning English, reading something that looked like heavenly scripture.

If only someone could read it out loud for her.

Suddenly, Selina felt her body lighten.

She seemed to be picked up, and then something soft rested on top of her little head.

She was sitting in someone’s lap, and a book was held in a pair of slender, fair hands.

Selina tried to look up to see who it was, but the weight on her head prevented her from lifting it.

“Selina, do you want to read this book?”

A gentle voice came from above.

She knew it was Sela.

Her soft, boneless arms cradled Selina’s body as she held the book.

“Ah ba ah ba ah ba, ah ba ba, ah ba.”

Selina tried to respond, but her vocal cords only produced a baby’s cooing.

Luckily, Sela seemed to understand.

She stayed in that position, holding Selina in her arms, and started to read the contents of the book out loud.

Whether it was instinct or because she understood this child she had adopted just over half a year ago, Sela always felt that this child was yearning for something.

When she was old enough to crawl, she had snuck into the church’s library on her own.

It seemed she was craving the contents of those books.

Books kept in a local church like this were generally not very important.

Aside from some common books in circulation, imperial laws and history, the majority were about the goddess’s myths and legends.

Those legends were as beautiful as fairy tales.

The goddess’s followers, together with human heroes, fought against the demon god who tried to seize the goddess and his demon kings.

In the end, the seventy-two demon pillars were sealed in the barren lands of the northern continent.

Almost every believer of the goddess had a fairy tale book like this, with pictures and similar stories.

Sela looked down at the baby girl in her arms.

She had golden hair as bright as her own, and her cute face made her want to get close to this child.

Though she was a nun, inside she was still a sucker for good looks.

When it came to cute things, her girlish side inevitably showed, and she had been scolded by Manila several times for it.

The light of motherhood couldn’t be concealed by doctrine.

The goddess also encouraged her followers to care for children.

Her small shortcomings were overlooked by Sister Manila with a blind eye.

Days passed.

Almost at fixed times every day, Sela would hold Selina and read different books to her.

After several months, Selina had read most of the books in the library.

Sela herself had also benefited greatly; she used to get sleepy just looking at a book, but now she had gained quite a bit of knowledge.

Then, one day, the believers of the town gathered at the church.

They sat before the statue of the goddess for worship.

Father Laite held the Bible and read the deeds of the goddess.

On either side of him were Sela and Milia, fulfilling their duties as nuns, leading the congregation in hymns.

Sister Manila sat at the piano on the side, playing the music.

At that moment, an uninvited guest slipped in.

Amidst this sacred scene, she crawled up to the statue of the goddess and stared into its eyes.

Selina didn’t understand much about religion, but listening to the deeds of the goddess every day and reading those myths centered on her inevitably piqued her interest in this deity who had such a large following.

The image of the goddess in the storybooks was blurry, with only a vague outline visible.

That also showed the backwardness of printing in this world.

To see the goddess’s face, one had to look at the statue.

However, in the months since she had arrived, she had never gone to the church to see it.

She was still too young and could only wander in the back rooms.

Coincidentally, the believers were doing their worship today, and the priest and nuns were too busy to watch her.

So she seized the opportunity to sneak out and ended up slipping into the church.

‘Anyway, I’m just a kid. A little mischief shouldn’t get me punished.’

She took advantage of everyone’s inattention, sat down in front of the goddess’s statue, and looked into its eyes.

“Ka’ersha?”

She vaguely remembered the goddess’s real name.

Normally, believers wouldn’t directly call the goddess by her true name, as it was considered disrespectful.

A child who might not even be a year old probably wouldn’t be burned at the stake.

If it came to that, she might as well reincarnate early to avoid suffering.

After the childish voice came out, the believers’ chanting abruptly stopped.

The church fell silent in an instant.

She suddenly felt many pairs of eyes on her.

‘Could I really be burned at the stake? I just came to this world not long ago. Would it be so cruel?’

She turned her head and saw that the believers had all stood up.

Selina panicked.

‘Should I cry? Crying in front of the goddess’s statue might make burning at the stake even more likely.’

‘What to do? What to do? What to do?’

‘I’m just a kid!’

In this state where she could barely speak, who could she rely on?

At that moment, Selina’s gaze turned to Sela.

Sela walked straight over, picked her up, and then lifted her high.

Contrary to what Selina expected, Sela seemed quite happy.

“This child is connected to the goddess.”

Father Laite broke the silence.

Then, while Selina was still dumbfounded, the priest took her from Sela’s hands and held her high in front of the statue of the goddess.

The believers knelt down and shouted.

“Praise the goddess.”

‘Don’t delve too deep into religious matters, or I won’t even know how I died.’

Selina complained inwardly at that moment.

After that, Father Laite no longer restricted Selina from playing in the church.

She was held by Sela, who would fulfill her duties as a nun, listen to the troubles of believers, and occasionally squeeze Selina’s soft cheeks.

The reputation of being a child connected to the goddess quickly spread throughout the town.

Many people came from far and wide to see her, even people from outside the town.

Sister Manila was even more extreme; she planned to start training Selina to become a qualified nun from infancy.

But this approach was probably too extreme.