Both of her parents had been killed.
This was the reason Agnese Sanctis started to live a vagrant life, and after that, she had been through many setbacks.
For food, if she didn't care about the texture, it wasn't hard to get. However, it was harder to identify what could be eaten from the trash cans in the alleys behind restaurants. What was even worse was the harsh winter. Once the winter that covered the entirety of Europe struck, the cold air could become a killer weapon.
When she had been young, she stayed in Milano, a commercial city. On the overly clean streets, it was impossible to find anything that could resist the cold. In the morning, nothing was left on the several-hundred-years-old stone buildings and asphalt roads. The entire world was like a sharp and hard freezer. If she fell asleep accidentally, her fingers and ears would drop off by morning.
Even if she searched through the garbage, the 'food' would be hard enough to hammer nails.
In this situation, the ones who had taken in Agnese were the Roman Catholic Church.
Besides Agnese, they took in adults, children, men, women and all other kinds of people. Though the reasons were different, they didn't seem to have fallen into some huge situation like Agnese and have lived the vagrant life. It felt like a lot of them lived normal lives, and like they were very honored to be chosen.
At that point, Agnese didn't know that the Roman Catholic Church was a large religious sect made of 2 billion believers. Instead of grooming ordinary people, they chose people with talents, which was much more 'direct'. Even if there was only 1 person that had talent out of 100,000, they could have at least 200 of them. This was the advantage of having more people.
There were several conditions to be selected, but she was not sure what the conditions were.
"Wh… what will happen to us in the future?"
The one who said this was a nun called Angelene. It was said that she was from France, and was abandoned by her parents in Milano after they moved over. If she wanted to, she could have gone back, but she just bitterly laughed and noted that she didn't know how to go back. In comparison to Agnese, she was a lot luckier. But she was considered one of those more serious cases.
"There's no need to have any doubts. If God says that this is necessary, the believers have the duty to respond."
The one saying these serious words was a girl called Lucia. She was a lot bigger than Agnese and Angelene, and seemed to notice that she was chosen by the Roman Catholic Church. Besides Agnese, she knew of two other girls called Agatha and Cathleen.
"Is that so?"
Agnese said.
She believed in the existence of God, but God wasn't someone who would appear on call. Her parents, who were clergymen, died as they were praying. Before Agnese could ask the murderer's name, her parents had been killed. If God was with her, this wouldn't have happened.
"More importantly, I'm concerned with what's for dinner."
Because Agnese's way of learning Japanese was rather unique, her Japanese was somewhat crude, but her Italian was rather polite.
Hearing this, Lucia said,
"What do you mean by 'more importantly'? There's nothing more important in this world than God—"
"Well, I'm rather mindful about it as well. We got olives to flavor our food for three days, and I'm sick of it. That Or…Or…that novice Sister called Or-whatsoever must have forgotten to use her specialty. And the bath pool, I feel that it's very hot. What about you, Lucia?"
"THERE'S NO NEED TO WORRY ABOUT THE SEASONING, RIGHT!? AND I FEEL THAT THE BATH POOL IS TOO HOT!!"
"Is…is that so? Now that you mention it, the adults don't seem to mind it… then… this means that your age… those older looking Sisters, Agatha and Cathleen said that it's hot as well. Are… are… you older than them…"
Lucia glared in the direction that Angelene was pointing at. Slightly far away, the two girls frantically turned away.
Hearing the commotion, Agnese narrowed her eyes.
She didn't believe that God was with her.
She also didn't believe that He was a convenient tool that would save her when He heard the call.
But.
Lucia, Angelene, Agatha, Cathleen—to be with these people, it was all thanks to the Roman Catholic Church. Agnese thanked God with all her heart. With this thanksgiving, she decided to follow the teachings of Christianity.
Also,
If being with these people was a blessing, she wanted to protect this blessing with her own hands.
No matter what happened.
She wanted to use this chance that God had given her to prove her faith.
"What now? Why so serious?"
"Lu…Lucia. Agnese's saying that the water in the bathroom is too scalding. I'll go along with you to negotiate! Look, Agatha and Cathleen are standing up as well!!"
That was right, Agnese nodded proudly at the wrong speculation that Angelene made.
From that day onwards, this would be where she stayed.
First, she should turn this place into a comfortable place.