The last days of December.

Muriel completely mixed with the village in just a few days.

At night, she slept with Iris and Eclipse on the bed, at sunset she immediately ran down the hill and played with the children.

According to Sheryl, she enjoyed bigger popularity compared to Iris, who almost never shows her face.

Hearing this, Iris could only groan in frustration.

「But Big Sister Iris never comes out of the church. Let’s visit the village from time to time」

Eclipse preached to the frustrated Iris.

「No way, there are people there……」

「They are good people, though?」

「That’s not the problem」

When judging people as good or bad it almost sounds like she has a problem with their attitude.

But Iris was scared of talking with strangers, no matter their disposition.

In other words, the problem lied with Iris, not with people themselves.

Iris being Iris had an unshakable shut-in disposition.

「You’re a NEET. So I conclude」

「Why are you sounding so cool? You are just an embodiment of sloth」

「Punini」

Marion and Punigami mercilessly made fun of her.

Hearing the truth from a scary dragon and slime, Iris crawled under the blanket to escape reality.

There she fell asleep until the lunch of the next day.

As she opened her eyes, she saw no one else on the bed.

Strangely chilly.

Her breathing turned white.

Iris, wrapped in a blanket, decided to go out the church.

There she saw a pure white expanse of snow.

「Waaa….」

She leaked a voice of admiration.

So surprisingly beautiful, chilling on the skin, sparkling, with a soft feeling coming from her feet.

After all, this was the first time for Iris to witness snow.

The previously green hill, houses’ roofs, the forest, everything was white until the very horizon.

The change was even more impressive compared to the time when the lake appeared.

For the world to change so much in a day was truly impressive.

Even in such a frozen world, the kids were as active as ever.

They threw balls of snow at each other as they played.

Of course, Eclipse and Muriel were among them.

「Seems fun…..」

Or so she muttered but didn’t have the courage to join them.

She just watched from the top of the hill.

At that time, a body of snow appeared and climbed the hill.

It was Punigami with Sheryl and Marion on his back.

「Punipuni」

「Good morning, Iris-sama! Please look, it’s snow! 」

「I’m here to pick you up. You aren’t going to miss on this too, right? 」

Apparently, they came here to bring Iris down.

Iris wanted to go.

She wanted to join the game of throwing snowballs.

But, she was scared.

「…….No, I mean. I’ll tactfully decline」

「What are you saying?! At this rate, your body will merge with the church. Go and play with everyone, at least today! 」

「That’s right. It’s the first snow. Pure white. It’s only this beautiful now, it’ll swiftly melt, mix with the mud, and become dirty. Let’s go! 」

「Pu-ni!」

Sheryl and Marion pulled her by the hands with Punigami pushing from behind.

「Wa, wait, wait! I’ll wait! Just let me change! 」

「Then hurry up! Ah, I’ll help you change myself! 」

「Foul play, Marion-san! I’ll participate too! 」

「Puni」

Then, Iris was dragged into the church stripped of her pajamas and changed into her usual attire.

After that, Punigami brought her down the hill before she noticed.

Marion followed closely behind.

Must be noted that Sheryl tried to catch up but stumbled midway and rolled down like a ball.

Gaining in size, she easily overtook Punigami and rolled into the village.

Right where the kids played.

「No ja! Here comes a giant snowball! That’s cheating! 」

「You can’t use such big snowball in a snowball fight!」

Eclipse stood before the giant snowball and 「Ei」held out her hands.

The giant snowball’s momentum was but a trifle for Eclipse.

It stopped easily.

Then it broke in halves and Sheryl came out with spinning eyes.

「Wa, the snowball gave birth to Sheryl」

「Since she was born from a snowball, let’s call her Yukiko-chan」

「Hie……don’t casually rename people……」

Sheryl didn’t forget to complain despite her spinning eyes.

She seemed to be okay.

「Sheryl as clumsy as always」

「Punii…..」

Iris and Punigami sighed in exasperation.

「Well, humans aren’t as strong as we are…..can’t help it, I suppose?」

Or so Marion tried to defend her.

However the kids around them 「Sheryl-sama is a role model of a human being」「We aren’t that clumsy」didn’t share her sentiment.

「H-How cruel…..」

Sheryl unsteadily got up with teary-eyes.

She didn’t lose her vigor despite the spectacular roll.

「Well then. Since Iris-sama was safely delivered let’s restart the snow fight……Iris-sama, you can’t just hide behind Punigami」

「Eh, but……」

There were unknown children besides the usual members present here.

To play with them required tremendous courage.

She thought she gathered enough courage on top of the hill, but when it came to it there wasn’t enough.

「Iris’ shut-in disposition is troublesome…..ei!」

Without any warning, Muriel smashed a snowball into Iris’  face.

「…..What are you doing……ei!」

Of course, there was an immediate counterattack.

Then Muriel threw again.

Eventually it escalated into a skirmish.

「I see, so this is a snowball fight. Ei, ei!」

「Iris, I’ll join your side!」

Marion too started throwing snowballs at Muriel.

「Then I shall be Muriel’s ally」

「Punini」

「So Punigami-sama is Iris-sama’s comrade? Then I shall assist Muriel-sama」

In that manner, the two camps engaged in snowball warfare.

Although there were no rules about winning or losing established.

For now, hitting an opponent with a snowball was good and getting hit was bad.

Nevertheless, it was fun.

Iris forgot about her desire to shut herself in and had fun playing with snowballs.

When the sun set, everyone sat on the ground exhausted.

The snow has been completely trampled and there was no that fluffy feeling anymore.

Perhaps it’s time to go back, thought Iris when Jessica came.

「Arara, Everyone played to their heart’s content. I made some butter roasted potatoes. Is someone interested? 」

As expected of Jessica.

She predicted that everyone must be hungry after such an intense fight.

Nice timing indeed.

Of course,「Me!」 everyone raised their hands.

Everyone happily ate their share.

With this, Iris completely accepted the children – or so everyone thought.

How could I do something so grand, that night Iris trembled under the blanket.

「Big Sister Iris……..you only had a snowball fight…….」

Even Eclipse felt a wave of exasperation.

「My, my. Can’t be a Guardian Deity like that. This Mistress is essential to this village」

「Punini」

They said many things, but Iris wasted too much mental power interacting with strangers.

She decided to stay inside for at least three days to recover her mental energy.