Shurein, looking troubled and with her arms crossed, was replaced by Kousuke, who spoke to Rumiya.
“Rumiya, let me confirm first, to what extent can you see us?”
“Huh?”
Rumiya let out a surprised, somewhat deflated, voice at Kousuke’s unexpected question.
Seeing Rumiya’s expression, Kousuke regretted his abruptness and lowered his head.
“Ah. My apologies. It seems our visibility differs depending on who is looking.”
“Is that so?”
Kousuke nodded to Rumiya, whose eyes went wide at his explanation.
“Yes. Although, we don’t really feel it ourselves. For example, the Elder only seems to see us as vague presences, and Ines’s face isn’t clear.”
“Oh.”
Rumiya, looking impressed, suddenly changed her expression after voicing her thought.
She remembered she hadn’t answered Kousuke’s earlier question.
“I can see both of your forms clearly. Ah, no. Except for the semi-transparency that’s characteristic of souls, that is.”
“Hmm. I see. It’s like Aneta, isn’t it?”
“That’s right. But does this make things even more confusing?”
Kousuke hummed in agreement with Shurein’s comment, then tilted his head.
Rumiya was now the second person, after Aneta, who could see the forms of Kousuke and Shurein clearly.
Given the difference in visibility, there had to be some kind of condition, but they had no idea what it could be.
As Kousuke and Shurein were both puzzling over it, Rumiya, with a hesitant expression, finally dared to ask, “Um. What do you mean?”
To Rumiya, the fact that she could see souls at all was surprising, so she hadn’t even imagined that visibility would differ from person to person.
She had been with Ines earlier, and Ines’s situation was somewhat ambiguous (?), where only her face was unclear, making it seem like they were having a normal conversation.
Therefore, Rumiya hadn’t noticed anything unusual.
Kousuke and Shurein, who were engrossed in their serious thoughts, didn’t hear Rumiya’s softly spoken words.
Instead, the Elder, who had been listening nearby, explained the situation to Rumiya.
The Elder, who saw Kousuke and Shurein only vaguely, was perhaps the most qualified to explain.
“Rumiya. I can only see these two’s forms hazily. Like a Wraith with weak power, you see.”
“Oh. Is that so? However, the fact that people see them differently means they are completely different from Wraiths.”
Wraiths appear the same to everyone, so the situation was entirely different from Kousuke and Shurein’s.
In the first place, it was a question of whether there were any other beings whose visibility varied from person to person.
Rumiya nodded with an impressed expression, and the Elder, nodding in return, added further.
“So, does anything come to mind?”
“Eh!? That’s sudden. No, maybe not.”
Looking at Kousuke and Shurein’s expressions, Rumiya immediately understood what they were troubled by.
However, just being asked so suddenly, Rumiya thought she had no idea… or so she thought, but then she suddenly remembered something that piqued her curiosity.
“Speaking of which, who else can see you two?”
“That would be Aneta.”
“Ah, I see, Aneta-sama… wait, what?”
Rumiya, about to nod at the Elder’s answer, suddenly caught on something and tilted her head.
She felt like the words were on the tip of her tongue, and after a period of frustrating indecision, Rumiya suddenly clapped her hands together.
“Um… just to confirm, have you consulted with anyone who has experience as a priest?”
“What are you talking about? Of course… no, wait a minute? The Mother Goddess of the Earth?”
“Yes. I can’t handle anything else.”
Rumiya nodded with a “of course” expression at the Elder’s questioning look.
The Elder then looked as if he had just realized a blind spot.
Shurein, who had been listening to the Elder and Rumiya’s conversation, had a sudden change of expression from her troubled look, and turned to face them.
“Do you recall something?”
“Hmm. There might be something, but whether it’s correct…”
As the Elder spoke vaguely, Shurein turned to him with urgency.
“Anything will do. We need as many hints as possible right now.”
“No, but still, someone who believes in the Mother Goddess of the Earth…”
“!!”
The Elder was in the middle of explaining, but Kousuke and Shurein simultaneously looked at each other and exclaimed.
Then, immediately after, they both made a gesture of holding their heads.
“To think we wouldn’t realize something so simple…”
“No, it’s my fault for completely forgetting how weak faith is in this era…”
Kousuke and Shurein said in unison, their expressions clouded.
Considering when they first came to this era, it wasn’t unnatural to think that the Mother Goddess of the Earth, i.e., Clara, would be involved.
After all, the staff, which was the original trigger, had an orb personally processed by Clara.
It was almost natural to think that Clara was related to the visibility of their forms.
Kousuke and Shurein, who had failed to notice this, were both dejected.
However, there was no point in staying dejected forever.
Kousuke, with a bitter smile, explained to the Elder and Rumiya, who were looking bewildered at their behavior.
“I’m sorry. Now that we know the answer, it’s so simple that we got completely discouraged. …However, thanks to that, it seems we’ve found the answer.”
“We… we’re glad to hear that, but are you sure? The Mother Goddess of the Earth is not a widely known deity.”
This was the reason the Elder had hesitated earlier.
In this era’s vampires, or rather, in this village, the Mother Goddess of the Earth was not widely worshipped.
The reason the Elder, along with Ines, Aneta, and Rumiya, believed in (or were said to believe in) the Mother Goddess of the Earth was because they sometimes served as priests during village festivals.
Shurein shook her head at the Elder’s words.
“That may be true for you, but we have our reasons. It’s almost certain.”
Not only had they undergone Divine Union, but Kousuke had even met her directly. However, he couldn’t explain that, so he gave a vague answer.
Still, the Elder seemed to grasp some of their circumstances and nodded.
“I see. If you two believe so, then it is likely certain. …So? We can summon other experienced priests if necessary, but would you like to confirm?”
Kousuke and Shurein were almost certain, but it was still just speculation.
To deepen their conviction, the Elder asked if they wanted to summon other believers, and Shurein nodded.
“I apologize for the trouble, but could you do that? Just in case.”
At Shurein’s words, the Elder nodded willingly.
The Elder himself had his own thoughts on the matter, and such a small effort was not a big deal.
If one only looks at this part of the story, it might seem like Clara is to blame for Kousuke and the others being in this situation, but that’s not the case lol.
Clara simply serves as the trigger because she is a deity deeply connected to the two of them.
However, Kousuke and Shurein will only learn this after they return to their own time.
