“God?”
“Is that little thing God?”
“Did God really exist?”
A woman shouted loudly, making a tremendous noise, drawing exclamations of surprise from the surrounding crowd.
“Kent, this might not be a good idea. Let’s take Al and leave quickly.”
Sensing danger, Caro grabbed Kent’s hand and tried to pull him away.
“Wait, I still have Al.”
By the time Kent spoke, Al had already been scooped up by the woman from before. While Al possessed enough power to contend with the Knights’ Order when using special abilities like plant summoning, in his current form, Al only had the strength of a small child. Thus, when faced with this situation, Al couldn’t resist.
“God, please, let’s go inside. I apologize, but I’ll have to ask you to handle things here.”
“Yes!”
After giving instructions to the children helping with the soup kitchen, the woman, still holding Al, attempted to enter the sanctuary.
“Hey, what are you going to do with Al!”
“Al!”
Kent tried to chase after Al, who was being taken away. To do so, he attempted to set down the bowl of soup he was holding, as it obstructed his path. Just as Caro was about to do the same, they were suddenly yelled at.
“Hey! You two. I won’t allow you to waste food!”
“That’s right!”
“Ugh…”
The people who had been watching Kent and Caro erupted in a clamor. Reluctantly, Kent and Caro drank their soup, returned the bowls, and then decided to chase after Al. However, their pursuer wasn’t going to wait; she had already disappeared into the sanctuary.
“The sanctuary, only certain people are allowed to enter, right?”
“Elnet mentioned that when we talked before.”
Kent sought confirmation from Caro about a previous conversation. Elnet had explained that the sanctuary was a facility where entry was restricted to those involved or those granted special permission.
“Even so, I have to get Al back, and I don’t want to trouble Caro too much, so I’ll go alone.”
“What are you talking about now? I’m going with you. Please don’t worry about any punishment we might receive. I always want to be with you, Kent.”
“Alright. Well then, let’s go.”
“Yes!”
As if the previous commotion had never happened, the residents continued to eat the soup provided, returned their bowls after finishing, and dispersed throughout the town. Kent headed towards the building and slowly opened the sanctuary’s entrance door. During this time, the children who had been helping with the soup kitchen turned their gaze towards Kent and Caro, but said nothing in particular.
“It really looks like the inside of a church.”
Kent couldn’t help but speak aloud. Beyond the door lay a cathedral, with an altar set up at the far end of the hall. Various ornaments were displayed there, but Kent couldn’t discern their meaning.
“The outside of the building didn’t seem very luxurious, but the interior is very well-crafted.”
Caro, also seeing the interior for the first time, became curious and looked around with a sense of wonder.
“Kent, there’s Al!”
“Al, are you alright?”
“Mmm, mmm, mmm.”
On the altar, where Caro pointed, Al was bound his hands and feet, with a gag in his mouth. Al desperately tried to respond, but his voice was muffled by the gag.
“Oh, my, you’ve already arrived.”
“Hey, give Al back!”
A door beside the altar opened, and the woman who had snatched Al earlier appeared.
“I refuse.”
The woman stated clearly to Kent and Caro.
“My apologies. I am Cindy, the priest in charge of this sanctuary. What is your relationship with the deity who resides here?”
The woman, introducing herself as Cindy, addressed Kent and Caro.
“I’m Kent. As for Al… well, he’s someone I know… or a friend…”
Kent couldn’t bring himself to explain their master-servant relationship formed through a contract. In all common sense, Al was a fairy, but he appeared as a small child, and saying he was subjugated in such a way seemed problematic.
“I am Caro, Kent’s fiancée. Al is our friend.”
Seeing that Kent was struggling to explain, Caro interjected before he could finish, as if to smooth over his difficulty.
“I see. However, I cannot return him. Do you know that this being is a god?”
“No, this is the first I’ve heard of it.”
“Me too.”
Kent and Caro could only answer so to Cindy’s question. Al was not a high-ranking fairy designated as an object of worship, but rather belonged to the class of mid-ranking fairies. Kent and Caro realized that Cindy’s perception was mistaken.
“Why do you believe Al is a god?”
Kent posed a question to clarify Cindy’s erroneous belief.
“It may be difficult for you to understand, but I feel an immense amount of magic emanating from this being. It is the same type of energy emitted by what are called fairies. I have heard that gods possess a greatly amplified version of this. If a being possesses magic far exceeding any fairies I know, then it must be a god. Do you understand?”
“What fairies do you know? Well, we also know about fairies, so you don’t need to explain what they are.”
After hearing Cindy’s hypothesis, Kent asked a further question.
“Understood. Then I will omit the explanation of what fairies are. The fairies I know are those I encountered when I lived as a commoner before coming to this sanctuary. For example, in a shop in the commercial district…”
Cindy listed the names of several shops in the commercial district. Kent recognized some of these shops. Needless to say, she was referring to shop-attached fairies. Kent, who could identify them by looking for wings rather than by magic power, had occasionally encountered shop-attached fairies by chance when entering shops. Since he hadn’t actively searched for them by walking around town, this explained why his knowledge was limited. As Cindy mentioned her time before coming to the sanctuary, her information was likely outdated, and she hadn’t mentioned Emily at Marie’s Bakery’s Store No. 1 or Mike at Store No. 2. Kent wondered how she would react if she discovered Emily, who possessed vast magical energy that Al called a “magic power tank.” However, with rescuing Al being the priority, he refrained from pursuing the topic for now.
“I see… those are lower-ranking fairies, known as shop-attached fairies.”
“Lower-ranking… fairies?”
“Are you also aware of mid-ranking and high-ranking fairies above them?”
“Aren’t fairies just fairies? Is there a ranking system?”
Cindy seemed unaware of the existence of low, mid, and high-ranking fairies.
“It seems so. And the being you call a god is said to be a high-ranking fairy.”
“Huh? Is a god a fairy?”
Kent’s statement surprised Cindy.
“I only heard this, so I haven’t seen a high-ranking fairy myself, but that’s what I’ve been told.”
“Then, is this deity here not a high-ranking fairy?”
“Unfortunately, Al is not a high-ranking fairy, but a mid-ranking one. It seems you’ve only ever encountered lower-ranking fairies, Cindy. You might have mistaken Al for a god due to his high magic power. High-ranking fairies are said to be even more incredible.”
“No… I believed this was the lost god who had reappeared for the sake of the country. And I thought I couldn’t let him escape, so I even restrained him…”
Realizing she had committed an act akin to kidnapping, Cindy sank to her knees, lost in thought. Seizing the opportunity, Kent and Caro rushed to Al and removed his restraints.
“Phew. Master, Lady Caro, thank you. It all happened so suddenly, and I couldn’t resist. I apologize for causing trouble for you both.”
“It’s alright. I’m just relieved Al is safe.”
“Masterrrr!”
Al hugged Kent. Kent gently stroked Al’s head. From the side, Caro embraced them in a warm hug.
“I’m so glad Al is safe.”
Caro’s voice was filled with relief.
“Now, about this human who put me through this… how shall I cook them…?”
Al separated from Kent and Caro, his face filled with anger as he glared at Cindy. Cindy, looking astonished, trembled and stared at Al.
