Kousuke and his party returned to the inn after finishing their request and were in the process of settling their earnings.
Thanks to having taken on multiple requests beforehand, their earnings this time were better than last time.
Initially, they had considered taking on multiple requests from the start, but because it was their first time adventuring as a party of three (plus five beasts), they had decided on just one.
By selling off the rewards from their requests along with other materials, they had managed to earn a considerable sum.
The monsters Kousuke and his party targeted were generally those considered to be of intermediate to upper-intermediate rank among adventurers, which commanded good prices.
With the rewards properly divided into three equal shares, the settlement was concluded.
Regarding the rewards, Cecil and Arisa had initially stated that they didn’t need to be split equally but Kousuke felt it was wrong and proposed an equal division as a compromise.
Although they were currently working together, they would not be forming a permanent party.
If they were to continue together permanently, they could save the earnings in a party fund, but that wasn’t the case.
Kousuke, feeling like he was intruding on their original party, had offered to contribute to a party fund, but that was politely refused.
The result of that was the equal three-way split.
Kousuke had no knowledge of how Cecil and Arisa used their two shares.
Like Kousuke, Cecil and Arisa also basically stayed at the Lily Shrine when they weren’t adventuring or staying at inns.
Because of this, their daily expenses for food and lodging were practically nonexistent.
In return, they had the management duties of the Lily Shrine and received direct requests as adventurers.
To be frank, their activities exceeded Crown’s expectations, and they were living without any problems.
As they were about to disband after finishing the settlement, Cecil asked Kousuke something that had been on her mind.
“By the way… aren’t you going back yet?”
In response to Cecil’s question, Kousuke paused for a moment before replying.
“Yeah. It’s… still not allowed. If I went back now, everything up to this point would be for nothing… or at least, it would lose its meaning.”
“Is that so?”
Cecil and Arisa didn’t pry too deeply into the reasons why Kousuke was adventuring separately from the other women.
They deliberately avoided asking, fearing they might get caught up in something if they knew too much.
“Well, it shouldn’t be too much longer… I think, but it depends on the situation. Sorry for the trouble, though.”
“Trouble? Don’t say that!”
Arisa waved her hands frantically as Kousuke bowed his head.
In fact, with Kousuke’s involvement, they had been earning more than ever before.
There was no room for complaints.
Incidentally, it wasn’t Nana’s presence that made subjugation easier.
Nana only hunted monsters to relieve her stress.
If Nana were to handle everything, Kousuke and the others wouldn’t gain experience, so they deliberately kept her from doing so.
“That’s right. In fact, even with this equal division of rewards, our income has increased, so it’s not a burden at all.”
“I see. That’s good then.”
Thinking it would be strange to apologize again when Cecil had just said that, Kousuke smiled.
“What about tomorrow?”
Kousuke’s party had only just returned from their expedition that day.
For adventurers who earned a decent amount, it was common to take a rest.
Of course, for those at the bottom of the adventurer ranks, earning their daily bread was a struggle, and it wasn’t unusual for them to work every single day.
Cecil and Arisa exchanged a glance.
“I won’t say I’m not tired, but I think that’s mainly due to the travel here. I expect to be recovered by tomorrow.”
“Me too.”
Hearing their responses, Kousuke folded his arms.
Kousuke felt similarly to them.
While there was fatigue from traveling to the hunting grounds to take on requests, it wasn’t as if they desperately needed a break.
He knew that overexertion was bad, but at the same time, there was nothing to do if they just stayed at the inn.
“Hmm. Then, how about we just go check out the requests tomorrow and start our activities again the day after?”
“No problem with that.”
“Same here.”
With Kousuke’s proposal, the two nodded, and their plans for the following days were decided.
Thus, Kousuke’s adventuring activities would continue for a while longer.
Floria sighed in her private room.
Since Peach had manifested her blessing, Shurein and Colette had been working energetically, possibly with some realization.
Among those who had received blessings, Silvia, who remained, possessed the special trait of being a shrine maiden.
Floria believed that if she could leverage that, the power of the blessing would manifest soon.
In reality, it wasn’t that simple, but it was a case of the grass being greener on the other side.
Looking at herself, she couldn’t figure out what her own special characteristic was.
When asked what she was good at, she would answer “sword,” but there were likely many others with her level of skill.
When asked if there was anything else, she couldn’t come up with an answer.
As a result, when asked about her characteristics, she couldn’t think of any.
Everyone believed that the power of blessings strongly manifested the unique characteristics of each race or individual.
Floria didn’t doubt this either, but that led her to the problem of figuring out her own characteristics.
She went through a cycle of thinking of various things and then discarding them, finally letting out a large sigh and making a decision.
Floria decided to resort to her last resort.
Her last resort was to perform a Divine Union with Spica, the God.
The management layer already had Silvia, a professional shrine maiden.
Therefore, there was no need for her to perform a Divine Union with a god, and despite receiving a Divine Union Tool from Kousuke, she had barely used it.
She decided to take that course of action.
She felt a sense of unease about conversing with a god for personal reasons, but seeing Silvia and Kousuke, she felt it was too late to worry about such things and decided to overlook it.
She wasn’t sure if it would work after so long, but she carefully activated the Divine Tool, and it responded properly.
“You can contact me anytime, yet you only do so when it’s like this.”
Spica’s first words upon appearing were this.
“M-my apologies.”
“It’s fine. I understand how you feel, Floria.”
Floria apologized for the sudden remark, but Spica didn’t seem to mind much.
“More importantly, it’s about the blessing, isn’t it?”
“Y-yes. I have no idea what to do…”
“I don’t understand Kousuke’s blessing either, but I believe I understand yours.”
“…What is it?”
“Floria Doria Florece. Who are you, whom I have bestowed my blessing upon?”
Floria realized that Spica had deliberately used her full name.
Indeed, from a positional standpoint, she was no longer the princess of the Florece Kingdom, but she hadn’t renounced her name.
In fact, the king had not allowed it.
He felt there was no need to sever their familial ties.
“Th-that is… but I am already…”
“That’s irrelevant. I’m not asking about your position now.”
“I-I am…”
“This is as far as I can go. It’s best if you think it through properly yourself.”
With that, Spica ended the Divine Union summarily.
She seemed to be in a hurry, so perhaps she had truly responded by stealing a moment from her busy schedule.
Grateful for this, Floria began to contemplate the information she had just received once more.
And so, that was Floria’s story.
Colette and Shurein, who already had a clear direction, will be covered later.
The next story will likely be about Silvia.
Kousuke will probably only make a brief appearance this time as well.
