In a certain room within the Elisamil Temple of Mikusen, three individuals were gathered. Only those permitted by the Temple Head could enter this room.
On the table these three were gathered around lay a single letter. The contents were quite simple. It stated that a dedication ceremony for the temple would be held at Amamiya Tower, and requested the presence of temple officials.
However, the letter contained none of what they were expecting. Specifically, it did not mention that a temple was to be built and asked for priests or shrine maidens to be sent.
Ultimately, Alec’s prediction had been somewhat accurate, but in a way, it was only natural. Although Kouhi, who stood behind Silvia, had previously warned them not to interfere with the tower, it was considered perfectly normal to dispatch priests or shrine maidens to increase the temple’s influence.
Religion, in the first place, is like that, and it had always been done as a matter of course without any particular questioning. Unless it was an extremely small village, it was impossible for a temple not to be established, meaning priests or shrine maidens would almost certainly be present. There were exceptions, such as closed-off villages, but even in those places, it was almost impossible for there to be no faith, so some form of religious presence would exist.
Therefore, the three influential figures of the temple, including Laurel, had assumed that a temple would naturally be built as long as people were gathered at the tower. However, the long-awaited letter contained no request for the dispatch of priests or shrine maidens.
Just in case, they had contacted the other two temples in Mikusen, but the content was the same, with no mention of sending priests or shrine maidens.
“What could this possibly mean?”
At the words of Laurel, the Temple Head, the other two, who had been silent until then, reacted with a slight twitch.
“You don’t think they plan on putting up a facade, a mere shell built only on the outside?”
This was the words of Zel, the Chief Priest of Rituals.
“Surely that’s not possible. They have their own people there, don’t they?”
The last of the three was Gozen, who had recently been promoted to Chief Priest. The previous Chief Priest had been promoted and dispatched to another continent, thus Gozen moved up.
According to their common sense, they did not believe that Kouhi, who was called an Apostle of God, would be satisfied with a mere facade of a building. Much less did they imagine her living in a management layer, a place that could be described as the ultimate single-story structure, which wasn’t even a temple. Of course, even a single-story structure could be quite spacious in terms of the number of rooms.
“However, we have rarely heard any stories of them seeing that person in the tower village. So, it wouldn’t be strange if they were to be in another layer, would it?”
“That’s even more unlikely. If they are living in another place, who is managing that location?”
They never imagined that Kouhi herself was responsible for the maintenance and management of the management layer. Even less did they consider the possibility of her happily doing the cleaning.
“We’ve discussed that point before, and no conclusion was reached. It’s not something to discuss now.”
Laurel stopped the other two as they were about to digress.
“More importantly, this is about the letter. Judging by its contents, it seems certain that a temple will be built within the town being constructed at the tower.”
“But we haven’t heard anything about the construction of a temple starting yet?”
Even as clergy, they dispatched personnel to gather information. In fact, it was not uncommon for adventurers, who could get injured at any moment, to temporarily hire priests or shrine maidens with healing magic from the temple. Information about the state of the tower was constantly coming in from these priests and shrine maidens. Among this information, there was no mention of the construction of a temple beginning in the area where the town was being built.
“What in the world could this mean?”
Even Laurel couldn’t help but sigh at an opponent whose intentions were so inscrutable.
“There’s no point thinking about it. More importantly, are we going to accept this invitation?”
“There’s no option but to go. And by the way, my gut feeling tells me we should go.”
The other two fell silent at Laurel’s words. Laurel, too, was a person who had risen to become the Temple Head overseeing this great temple. Moreover, he was not someone who had bought his position with money, but was chosen purely based on merit. To stand at the top of the temples on the Central Continent, where monsters ran rampant, required great strength. Laurel’s “gut feeling” was, to them, akin to a divine oracle.
“…I see. Have you heard about what Moon and Star will do?”
Moon and Star referred to Jamil Temple and Spica Temple.
“I haven’t heard yet, but… they will probably go together. They too must be paying attention to the movements of organizations connected to that person.”
What happened at Elisamil Temple before was shared information. They had judged that it would be better to cooperate than to hide information and deal with it individually. The three temples of Mikusen, considering the existence of teleport gates, were precisely at the doorstep of the tower where that person resided. By the way, what they were guarding against was Kouhi, who had previously revealed herself. Kousuke, who had created a divine tool right before their eyes, was, of course, considered an important person, but not as much as Kouhi. Therefore, information about Kousuke, other than that he was the tower’s administrator, was not being transmitted. To them, Kousuke’s existence was, even as a conqueror of the tower, just that. Of course, they knew from their previous meeting that Kouhi served him as her master, so they were not dismissing him outright. To them, the existence of Kouhi as a divine messenger was overwhelmingly more impactful than Kousuke.
“So that’s the case. Does that mean we should go as well?”
“…It’s not often that the top three of the three temples are all absent, even if only for a short period.”
“We have no choice. We can’t just leave the other people to handle things.”
Laurel replied with a sigh to their words.
“We’ll need to coordinate with Moon and Star as well.”
“Some discussion will be necessary before visiting the tower. Chief Priest of Rituals, please make contact.”
If the Chief Priest was in charge of all matters concerning the priests, shrine maidens, and management of the temples, then the Chief Priest of Rituals was the public face to the outside. Naturally, dealing with other temples was also included in the Chief Priest of Rituals’ duties.
“Yes. I understand.”
“I will also write a letter to the Temple Heads of each temple.”
“Thank you.”
There would probably be no one in the temple circles who would treat Zel, the Chief Priest of Rituals, with disdain, but a personal letter from the Temple Head would make discussions proceed even more smoothly. It’s not that the three temples were on bad terms. Rather, they were being more cautious because, according to them, it concerned that person (Kouhi).
“Still…” the Chief Priest muttered softly. “What do they intend to do without even our help?” They had a pride in knowing about temples and faith, as priests and shrine maidens belonging to their own temples. Yet, they didn’t understand what Liralamamiya intended to do.
“There’s no point thinking about that now. As the deadline approaches, more information might emerge, don’t you think?”
“I suppose so.”
They concluded their discussion for the day with this sentiment. Unfortunately, their expectations were off, and they were unable to obtain any useful information by the invitation date.
It turned out longer than I expected.
Regarding other invited guests, I will write about them in the next chapter.
As for what they intend to do, I’m hoping to write about it from the chapter after that.
June 2, 2014, Typo correction
June 3, 2014, Typo correction
