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Translator: Kazumi
Editor: Kabur & Silavin
There was one door at the end of the passage, but Kousuke was able to find and open the mechanism without difficulties.
Furthermore, the number of people who were able to proceed from there was ten, five from Kousuke’s group, including Nana, and five from the temple side.
When they stepped through the door, they found themselves in a hall of a certain size.
The hall was empty except for an object in the center.
There were only a few doors and mural-like decorations on the walls.
They all walked up to where it was placed in the center of the room.
“…A coffin?”
It was one of the priests on the temple side who voiced this, but it also looked like a coffin from Kousuke’s point of view.
“What in the world is this?”
The temple director asked Kousuke, but even Kousuke did not know what it was.
Kousuke was about to answer that he honestly did not know when Shrein suddenly spoke up.
“I see. So that’s how it happened.”
Shrein’s voice spread around the room and caught everyone’s attention as they twisted their heads around.
“Did you find out anything?”
“Yeah, not everything, but most of it.”
Shrein nodded, meeting Kousuke’s gaze.
“I also found out why the information stopped at such vague rumors, right?”
“Heh. That’s interesting, too. Can you explain it?”
“Well, it’s not my place to do so. The fact that this is here means that there must be someone who can explain.”
“Someone who can explain?”
Shrein was about to offer a further explanation to Kousuke, who tilted his head, when a voice came from the exact opposite direction from where they had all entered.
“Are you talking about me?”
All eyes turned in that direction.
There, at one of the several doors, stood a woman.
One of the priestesses ran towards her.
In her hand, she held a sword.
It was obvious what she was going to do, but Mitsuki and the others did not move.
Of course, it was on purpose.
Just before the priest’s sword reached the woman, a high-pitched sound echoed through the room.
“Kuh…?”
The priest looked frightened, but by then other priests had gathered there.
“Oh dear. I just came out here, but you don’t look so happy. W-Wait!”
The woman, who had shown no signs of impatience at the priests’ movements, looked surprised.
Kousuke had just mumbled a few words to Mitsuki, and the situation had changed drastically.
“Stop.”
With just that one word, Mitsuki quickly disappeared and headed towards the priests.
Seconds later, each of the priests had their weapons flung far away from them.
“If you’re going to persist any longer… you know what will happen, don’t you?”
Mitsuki, who had shown an overwhelming difference in ability, smiled as she said this.
The priests who saw that smile turned, scowling.
“What…? What are you doing?”
The priest who had not moved the same way as the temple director towards Mitsuki.
He was the same priest who had been saying all kinds of things to Kousuke earlier.
“What are you doing, it would be more improper to attack her out of the blue without even listening to what she has to say, wouldn’t it?”
It was Kousuke who answered the priest.
“Are you going to interfere?”
The temple director asked in place of the priest.
“‘Interfere’ or not…are you willing to lose the Barrier around this town? Depending on your decision, this place may become uninhabitable, you know?”
“What do you mean?”
“You know that the Barrier covering this town is here because of this temple, right?”
“Of course I do.”
“Then you didn’t think that there was someone maintaining its function?”
At Kousuke’s words, the priest came in to mock him.
“Nonsense! This temple is a treasure of the Goddesses, and it is their power that maintains it!”
When Kousuke and the others heard this, they were taken aback.
The woman who came out also mumbled in dismay.
“Wow. So that’s how they think of us today.”
Glancing at the woman, Kousuke let out a single sigh of dismay.
“I see. No wonder they issued an oracle.”
To Kousuke’s words, Shrein and the others were nodding in agreement.
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Kousuke started to speak to the temple director and the priests.
“First of all, let me make it clear, there is no doubt that the temple of Arcis is a divine treasure, but it is not the Goddesses who maintain this temple.”
Kousuke’s assertion was slowly checked by the temple director, who asked him to clarify.
“Then who is?”
“Of course, it would be this woman or one of her associates. To put it bluntly, without this woman, the town of Arcis could be lost forever. Would you be okay with that?”
Hearing this, the temple director shook his head from side to side.
“That is not sufficient reason to trust her. Where is the proof that it is this woman who is maintaining it?”
“Proof. Proof, is it?”
At the temple director’s words, Kousuke finally changed his attitude.
Perhaps it was inevitable because the temple director was also a priest, but he was too blind.
“Earlier I said something that could be considered evidence. Why did you trust us in the first place?”
The reason why the temple director trusted Kousuke and his group to a certain extent in the first place was because of the oracle.
He had been keeping an eye on them, but without the oracle, he would not have listened to a single adventurer to this extent in the first place.
“That’s not the same thing. The oracle was not about this temple!”
Kousuke decided that it was useless to talk about this to the priest, who was snapping at him.
Although the temple director had a puzzled look on his face, it would be useless for the priests to do anything about it here and now.
“Mitsuki, make sure they can’t move.”
“Okay, okay.”
Kousuke instructed Mitsuki, and she quickly bound the priests with magic.
The priests were unable to move with just that one action.
The temple director and the representative of the priests were not affected by this, but of course it was intentional.
They decided that it would be a good idea to have at least one person on the temple side as representative of the temple.
“Can we continue this conversation for now?”
“Of course.”
The woman had been watching the whole process in silence with a wry smile on her face.
Kousuke was surprised when the woman suddenly came right in front of him and knelt down on one knee.
Kousuke had been told by the two races in the Tower that this was the posture used by vampires to honor their masters.
“I am honored to meet you, <Supreme One>. My name is Biana of the Prost Clan.”
Shrein’s eyes widened in surprise at these words.
“What…?”
She was not surprised that the woman identified herself as Prost Clan.
She had expected that from the moment she came out of the other door.
The problem was that Biana had called Kousuke the “Supreme One”.
Kousuke had a bad feeling about this, so he asked her what the “Supreme One” was.
“Well, I’d rather not ask you this, but what is the ‘Supreme One’?”
When Kousuke asked this question, Biana glanced at her kindred Shrein.
“You didn’t tell him?”
“No, wait. I met Kousuke when he was a human before he became a God. How could he possibly be connected to the Supreme One?”
Shrein’s words caused the priests to gasp and give short shrieks, but Kousuke and the others ignored them.
“Really? …May I ask you to come over here so that I can explain it to you properly anyway?”
Kousuke did as he was told, although he felt a bit uncomfortable with Biana’s completely different attitude from that of Shrein and Kousuke.
He did as he was told, although he only went back to the coffin in the center of the room.
Biana arrived at the coffin in the center of the room and began to explain to everyone about the Prost Coffin in front of her.
