The temple on the Fifth Floor, where Kousuke is enshrined as the Main God, is not generally open to the public at night.
There isn’t a specific admission restriction, but unlike other temples, there are no clergy members available to attend to visitors, so there’s no point in coming at night.
The usual pattern is to offer prayers during the daytime.
Ririka visited the temple during this less crowded time.
She wasn’t there to perform her duties as a shrine maiden but to personally advance her training.
Silvia offered her advice, but Ririka was essentially here for personal training.
By the way, Ririka was walking alone in an empty temple at night, but there were no foolish individuals who would try to attack her.
This is because while attacking someone walking outside might be one thing, attacking someone inside a temple, especially a shrine maiden, would lead to unknown divine punishments.
The empty temple was, of course, plunged into darkness.
In the midst of this, Ririka walked, holding a lamp magic tool in one hand.
This magic tool was sold by Crown, but Ririka had heard from Silvia that it was created by Kousuke.
New magic tools released alongside Crown’s growth have become integrated into people’s lives.
It’s surprising that more than half of them were conceived by Kousuke.
Of course, most of them are improvements on existing items, but they are priced so that even commoners can afford them.
Therefore, they are spreading from families with a comfortable level of income.
There are some items that are unaffordable for low-income earners, but generally, most of the items sold are available to the public.
Ririka placed the lamp she was holding on the floor and assumed a prayer posture.
Then, after slowly sitting in meditation and closing her eyes, she began training to sense the divine energy of Kousuke.
Ririka could already sense the divine energy permeating the surroundings.
However, she couldn’t identify whose divine energy it was.
Ririka doesn’t know it, but the reason Kokoro could recently sense the divine energy of Kousuke and Clara (God) clearly was because she had engaged in divine union using divine tools and was in close contact with Kousuke regularly.
In the first place, there are very few people who can distinguish and sense the presence of the permeating divine energy and identify whose it is.
Those who can do so are high-ranking priests or shrine maidens who receive oracles, or those who have received blessings.
Ririka herself has received Kousuke’s blessing for over ten years.
It can be said that she has reached a veteran level in sensing divine energy like this.
It was a casual remark from Silvia that led Ririka to begin training to sense individual divine energies.
In the course of their conversation, she was told that, like magic power and holy power, each god’s divine energy also has differences.
Shrine maidens and priests who diligently train at the temple would have heard this eventually, but Ririka had become an adventurer before hearing it.
If she hadn’t heard it from Silvia, she would have continued to think of divine energy as a single entity.
Therefore, she has been training whenever she finds time to sense the divine energy of Kousuke, who gave her a blessing.
***
Ririka sensed the divine energy permeating the surroundings while sitting in meditation.
Her goal was to go one step further and sense only Kousuke’s divine energy.
According to Silvia’s advice, Ririka had already met Kousuke when she received his blessing, so she just needed to find that presence from that time.
Ririka doesn’t meet Kousuke as frequently as Silvia does.
However, she also said that since she had never met or had divine union with any other gods, it might be relatively easy to distinguish them.
Following that advice, she tried to find Kousuke’s divine energy, but it wasn’t going well.
Due to Ririka’s original perception, divine energy is a single entity, so distinguishing it is difficult.
Nevertheless, she began to think that divine energy could be distinguished, just as one could distinguish a single scent from a mixture of various scents.
She had only recently come to think this way.
Recalling the presence of Kousuke from when she first met him, Ririka surrendered herself to the divine energy.
In the midst of this, Ririka felt a presence that was somehow nostalgic, yet felt very close.
Thinking it couldn’t be, she tried to sense that presence more strongly.
Although she wasn’t physically moving, it was a difficult movement to describe, as if her own existence was approaching the place where she felt the presence more strongly.
However, through more than ten years of training, such senses have been refined.
She calmly and slowly approached that presence.
Just as Ririka felt she was about to touch that presence, an inaudible voice suddenly echoed in her mind.
“Congratulations. Finally… successful… If… Silvia will… like…”
Although the words she heard were fragmented, they were undoubtedly Kousuke’s voice, which she had heard several times before.
At the same time, Ririka understood that this was an oracle.
She tried to concentrate more deeply to hear it more clearly, but unfortunately, she could not hear Kousuke’s voice any further.
While regretting this, she was filled with a sense of accomplishment for finally achieving her goal.
She decided that such a session would be meaningless for training and decided to end it for the day.
Although it was earlier than usual, continuing in her current state might even be detrimental.
In any case, Ririka returned to a room set up in the temple, cherishing Kousuke’s oracle, which she had heard for the first time, and went to sleep.
***
The next day.
When Ririka visited the castle’s office for her duties, Silvia was already there.
Since it was still too early to start work, she immediately decided to talk about yesterday’s results.
“Lady Silvia, I was finally able to hear your voice yesterday.”
There was no need to say whose voice it was.
Ririka only received a blessing from Kousuke.
Upon hearing this, Silvia’s face lit up.
“Oh my, really?!”
“Yes. Unfortunately, I could only make out the words of congratulation and your name, Lady Silvia.”
“For your first oracle, that’s more than enough. … Oh? Please wait a moment.”
Silvia suddenly turned her gaze to the sky and interrupted the conversation.
Ririka also knew that Silvia occasionally received oracles, so she didn’t interrupt.
After finishing her divine union, Silvia suddenly said to Ririka,
“Ririka. We don’t have any major duties today, so let’s head out right away.”
“Eh? Uhm, where are we going?”
“Of course, to the Management Layer!”
Silvia said this with a smile, but Ririka was confused by the suddenness of it all.
She didn’t understand what was happening or why it was obvious.
Furthermore, going to the Management Layer meant that Kousuke would certainly be there.
Ririka had never been to the Management Layer before.
She knew it existed, but to her, it was akin to a divine realm.
Being told she was going there so suddenly, she could only be surprised.
“Th-the Management Layer?! Wh-why, suddenly, like this?!”
To the flustered Ririka, Silvia replied with an even more shocking answer, smiling.
“Kousuke-sama is calling for you. Or would you refuse?”
Silvia said this with a slightly mischievous smile.
“There’s no way I can refuse! Ah, um, but?!”
It was a direct invitation from the Avatar of God. There was no way she could refuse.
However, that would mean having to visit a divine realm for Ririka.
It was an incredibly daunting prospect.
In the end, Silvia skillfully guided the confused Ririka, and Ririka stepped into the Management Layer for the first time.
Naturally, Kousuke was waiting there with a smile, and Ririka’s great confusion and subsequent flustering, leading to her being teased by Silvia for a long time afterward, is another story.
This was the Ririka training arc.
It didn’t end well, lol.
It took ten long years, but this is quite normal.
Rather, it’s rare for someone to be able to do this normally, and it takes even longer.
Ririka is steadily progressing on her path to becoming cheat-like, lol.
