The royal castle where Floria, the Queen of Razek Amamiya, resides.
This castle serves as the administrative center of Razek Amamiya, which has finally unified the Central Continent.
Even after ten years, its majesty continues to shine without fading.
Indeed, its appearance can be said to be one of Razek Amamiya’s symbols.
Within a corner of such a castle.
A man and a woman stood in a place with little foot traffic, where they would be less likely to be noticed.
In fact, that very spot, precisely because it’s hard to be seen, is often used for a certain purpose.
The fact that one could be led there without realizing it even conveyed to others that it was for such a purpose.
That is why, even if a man and a woman were led to a secluded spot like this, no one would stop them.
Rather, people would watch with encouraging gazes, or conversely, with envious gazes, anticipating what was about to happen.
To interfere with that would result in being ostracized by those around.
Ririka, who had been summoned to such a place, sighed inwardly.
Given the location, she knew very well what was about to happen.
Therefore, knowing the outcome, she felt a sense of dread.
As if not noticing Ririka’s inner turmoil, the man in front of her finally seemed to make up his mind and opened his mouth.
“Ririka-san, please go out with me!”
“I’m sorry.”
Ririka immediately bowed her head, and the instantly rejected man’s face darkened with despair.
That’s right.
The place they were in was used for confessions of love between men and women.
By the way, Razek Amamiya has no custom where only men should confess.
Whether a man or a woman, they would bring someone to this place to confess.
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Leaving the man who was crushed by despair behind, Ririka quickly left the scene.
From past experience, she had learned that lingering and saying unnecessary words would only lead to more trouble.
It was an experience she would have preferred not to have had.
“Oh. You’re back early.”
When Ririka returned to her usual office, Silvia greeted her with a smile.
It wasn’t her usual benevolent smile, but rather an expression that could be described as a smirk.
The first time she saw Silvia make this expression, she had thought to herself that this person could make such faces too, but now she had grown accustomed to it.
The fact that she had grown accustomed to it was due to herself, a fact she’d rather not acknowledge.
The entire castle was currently on lunch break.
After Ririka had eaten and settled down a bit, she was summoned by the man from earlier.
“Returning with the usual speed means…?”
Even though she knew the answer, Silvia asked, wanting to hear it directly from Ririka.
To avoid any unnecessary trouble, Ririka answered clearly and concisely.
“I refused.”
At Ririka’s reply, Silvia let out an exaggerated sigh.
“What a waste. He’s the副団長 (deputy commander) of the subjugation army, isn’t he?”
“It seems so.”
It wasn’t just “it seems so”; Ririka, in her usual duties, knew about him to a certain extent.
Currently, Ririka was accompanying the subjugation army as their dedicated shrine maiden.
When their duties overlapped, they would naturally meet.
Silvia sighed again at Ririka’s curt reply.
“…I’m not saying it’s wrong, but to aim for Kousuke-sama, the hurdle is too high, isn’t it?”
Ririka looked surprised at Silvia’s words.
“Wh-what?! I’m not aiming for him! Why would you think that?!”
“Is that so? Then it’s fine.”
Silvia gazed intently at Ririka, discerning the truth in her words, and replied as such.
“Why would you come to that conclusion?”
Ririka had known Silvia for a long time, but she had never said anything like that before.
Her agitation just a moment ago was from genuine surprise at the suddenness of the situation.
“Because Ririka, how many people have you rejected like this? If anything, you’d be short of both hands and feet, wouldn’t you?”
“Th-that’s not true… I think.”
At Ririka’s answer, Silvia gave her a stern look.
“You don’t remember?”
“Ugh…”
Under Silvia’s questioning, Ririka’s eyes darted around.
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As Ririka began working as Silvia’s attendant shrine maiden, she found herself popular with men.
Initially, many were drawn to Silvia’s beauty and sought to become acquainted with Ririka as a means to get close to her.
However, after Silvia had a child, those individuals largely disappeared.
Instead, the number of people who confessed their genuine feelings to Ririka increased.
Ririka rejected all of these confessions.
By the common standards of this world, Ririka was already past her prime marriageable age.
Some of her female peers, with a hint of jealousy, would say this was why she received confessions.
Ririka chose to deliberately ignore these comments.
From Ririka’s perspective, it would be rude to accept if she had no intention of reciprocating.
“Are you planning to remain pure forever?”
Silvia’s question wasn’t about physical implications.
They were shrine maidens.
When shrine maidens serve only the gods without marrying a specific man, they use this expression.
In this context, it meant whether she intended to remain devoted to Kousuke as her god for life.
“…When I first started serving, I didn’t have that intention, but now I think it might be for the best.”
“Is that so?”
After a moment of hesitation, Ririka honestly confessed, and Silvia nodded in understanding.
While this might be considered unusual for an ordinary person, it was not particularly rare among shrine maidens.
In fact, there were countless shrine maidens who lived their lives this way.
While those in spiritual professions in this world were not forbidden from marriage, many shrine maidens chose to remain unmarried throughout their lives.
Ririka’s personal feelings were that when she was an adventurer, she vaguely thought she might get married and have children someday.
However, after receiving Kousuke’s blessing and working as Silvia’s assistant, her perspective changed.
Now, as she had told Silvia, she was even considering remaining pure to the god Kousuke herself.
It wasn’t something she was forced into by anyone.
It was a feeling that naturally arose within her.
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Unbeknownst to them, a young man was listening to their conversation and softly sighed inwardly.
It was astonishing that he, an admirer of Ririka’s affections, had gone unnoticed by two women who were sensitive to such feelings.
The young man’s name was Rin.
He was taken in as a disciple by Jin, who had been invited to be the manager of the moon altar in the tower.
Rin, who had grown into what could be called a young man, had been trained by Jin and now worked as their assistant.
It didn’t take long for Rin to harbor secret feelings for Ririka.
Furthermore, another person.
A castle guard knocked on their office door and entered.
“What is it?”
“A person who is said to be a disciple of someone named Jin has come to visit Silvia-dono. Do you know of this?”
Normally, such a request would not be granted at the gate.
However, the guard presented something further.
“If you show this, they said it could prove they are a disciple.”
The guard carefully produced a divine tool.
Of course, it had been meticulously examined to ensure no strange magic was embedded within it.
However, it was not impossible to bypass such scrutiny.
Rin carefully received the divine tool and then presented it to Silvia.
Upon seeing the divine tool, Silvia nodded in understanding.
“Ah, I see. Indeed, he appears to be the disciple of a priest I know. Please escort him to one of the reception rooms.”
Divine tools held by priests and shrine maidens indicate whose disciple they are, if one knows what to look for.
Of course, there might be other priests named Jin, but in addition to that, the artifact bore inscriptions that proved he was Jin’s disciple.
“Understood. I will escort him to the usual room.”
“Thank you.”
Silvia nodded casually, but she never imagined that the owner of this divine tool would cause further ripples later on.
Ririka was so popular lol.
Initially, I didn’t plan to write this kind of story, but the idea just came to me.
Why, I wonder? lol
By the way, Jin’s disciple, who didn’t reveal his appearance, is set to be a handsome young man.
