Chapter 23 - It's a Floating Garden

[What do you think the temple would be like?]

[Hmmm. If I were to imagine what it would be like, as expected, it would be like those Greek temples?]

[That’s a very rough image you have there…… Not that I don’t understand why you imagined it like that though…..]

Looking out the window of the carriage, Yuzuki-san talked with me with slightly higher intensity, while the calm and composed Kusunoki-san joins the conversation.

Hmmm. I guess the power of white rice is that great. I feel like the awkwardness from our previous conversations is now a lie. Could this be that? Does it feel like my communipower has leveled up and I’ve become a little more sociable?

We’re currently having a short break after eating our breakfast, as we’re heading to the temple where God lives to receive his blessing.

[Speaking of which, Lilia-san. I forgot to ask before, but what exactly does a blessing do?]

[Ah, that was on my mind too!]

[Let’s see… To put it simply, you will get God’s Divine Protection…… Would it be easier to think of it as a kind of defense-oriented magic that they cast upon you? Since we’re heading to the temple of health this time, I guess you could think of it as a magic that prevents illnesses.]

I see, it might certainly be easier to imagine it like that.

And while the blessings received from priests, in other words, an ordinary human, are basically just spells, it is said that the blessings cast directly by God have a definite effect.

However, there’s a fee—- I’ll say this again. There apparently is a fee for a blessing. That’s quite materialistic of you, oh Gods……

[ [ [ ……………. ] ] ]

[……Errr, I think I know what you’re thinking…… but since that’s the main source of income for the temple……]

[Incidentally, the blessing of a priest was set at the cost of an iron coin. As for the blessing of a God, they mostly depend on the rank of the God performing it, but the average cost would be a gold coin.]

Let me think, since the iron coins are 10R if I remember correctly…… The blessing of a priest is about 1000 Yen. As for the blessing of a God, they were at the staggering cost of 10,000 R—– That’s about a million yen. That’s so expensive that you have to be a noble to receive to afford their blessing.

[Just adding a bit more information, we’re going to the God of Health, so it’s one gold coin, but the blessing from the God of Love that My Lady received before was paid with five gold coins.]

[ [ [ That expensive!? ] ] ]

[Lu- Luna!?]

[……I’m afraid it didn’t work though.]

[Gunununu…….]

Due to Lunamaria-san’s unnecessarily adding more information, which can be said to be normally happening every now and then, Lilia-san’s face turns red in a flash.

She certainly looks cute, but the atmosphere inside the carriage turned kind of—– Ah, speaking of which, there was something that bothered me earlier, and since I can use that to get out of our current topic……

[B- By the way! You mentioned earlier that the cost is based on the God’s rank, but do Gods also have ranks of their own?]

[Lu—- Eh? Well…… There are three ranks, the lower, the higher, and the supreme Gods. Then, there’s also the one who stands above all them, the Creation God. Basically, the people who have temples in the Human Realm are the lower-rank Gods, but when it comes to the blessings of the higher-rank Gods, the reputation of the Gods is more important for them than money, so the only person who can receive it is the king.]

It appears that I’ve successfully deviated the conversation, Lilia-san stops complaining about Lunamaria-san and turned her attention to responding to my question. No, I wasn’t trying to help Lunamaria-san, I was trying to change the subject so that the atmosphere in the carriage wouldn’t get worse…… so put that thumbs up away, you useless maid!

[As for the Supreme Gods—- The Three Great Gods of Time, Fate, and Life, it’s highly unlikely that you’ll ever get to see their faces, much less receive their blessings, except at the Festival of Heroes. It seems that they rarely go out to the Human Realm, so unless you’re extremely lucky……]

Indeed, just their titles “God of Time” and “God of Fate” alone convey the fact that they’re extraordinary beings.

But now that I think about it again, the Six Kings, the Three Great Gods, the Creation God, and all the other personnel gathering for the Festival of Heroes, how big of a festival is it really going to be? As exciting as it may sound, it also sounds a bit terrifying……

Soon after, the carriage arrived in front of a huge and majestic temple but……

[……The one living here must be one heck of a person.]

Hearing Kusunoki-san’s mumble, I nodded silently as I looked at the scene in front of me.

If you certainly think about it, this blessing stuff we’re doing right now is just like the Hatsumode in Japan, so if you can clearly imagine that, you should be able to imagine the scene we’re facing now.

When I was almost convinced that this is just something unique for the other world, Lilia-san and the others surprisingly also had a very surprised look on their faces.

(T/N: Hatsumode is the first shrine visit of the new year. You can see them in anime, and you’ll see how there are lots of people in there.)

[This is…… What does this mean?]

[It certainly is odd. I’ll go check it out.]

Leaving those words, Lunamaria-san started to move towards a person dressed like a nun a little further in the distance…… Perhaps, is she a priest? I also head there to see what’s going on.

[Umm, Lilia-san. Is this huge crowd of people anything out of the ordinary?]

[Yes, putting aside if this was the church near the town, but this is the main shrine. Most of the people who come here this time of the year are usually just nobles who come to be blessed by the Gods…… And since the 4th day of the New Year is usually the busiest day, we purposely put off going on that day and just went on the 5th day of the New Year but……]

[Are you saying that everyone also thought to avoid the crowded day?]

[……If that’s the case, the 5th day should have been a lot quieter than usual. On the 5th day every year, the higher-rank Gods are invited to the royal palace for the king to receive their blessings…… Many nobles and priests are supposed to gather at the royal palace for the rare opportunity to see a high-rank God……]

I see, I have the image of nobles as people who value connections, and the opportunity to possibly get to know a high-rank God who doesn’t normally live in the Human Realm should be really precious. So, it’s understandable why everyone is heading to the royal palace.

That’s why Lilia-san must have thought of getting our blessing on this day when the temple would be empty, but when we actually visited, it was unexpectedly crowded……

Then, just as I was receiving an explanation from Lilia-san, Lunamaria-san came back with a somewhat panicked look on her face.

[My Lady! I think I found out the reason why this happened…… It seems that we had a really outrageous timing on coming to this place.]

[What do you mean?]

[Actually, it hasn’t been confirmed yet as it’s only a rumor…… but I heard that the “Goddess of Time” might stop by here today……]

[The Goddess of Time!?]

If I’m not mistaken, the Goddess of Time, was one of the Three Supreme Gods that were second only to the Creation God in the God Realm.

[Yes, I heard that the priests themselves don’t know about the details of the situation either but…… Perhaps, she has come to check on the summoning magic circle because something out of the ordinary happened this time, and while she’s at it, I think she’ll also come to see the Gods of these lands……]

[I see…… So it’s not only the neighboring nobles, but that’s also why so many priests…… have come to this place huh. This was really unexpected.]

[I guess we can’t just…… come back for later huh. I’ve already informed the temple of our visit using the name of our Duchy……]

[Yes, as expected, the ones who aren’t receiving the blessing won’t be able to get into the main shrine, so let’s go to the main shrine for the time being.]

Perhaps, there’s a pretty big difference between a high-rank God and a Supreme God. Rather than the high-rank Gods who always visit the royal palace every year, many people might be thinking of seeing the Supreme God, which their arrival isn’t a sure thing except for when the Festival of Heroes happens.

Especially for the priests who serve the Gods, this may be a situation where they would willingly throw out other things to rush toward this place.

I’m pretty sure that we haven’t walked for quite a distance, but it took us quite a bit of strength just to get through the horrendous crowd of people to reach the temple, and just moving around was a moderately fatiguing experience.

[Ueeggghhh…… I feel really nauseous from the sheer number of people here.]

[I can understand how Hina-san feels. As expected, even I think that this is quite……]

[Although it’s only a rumor, it’s still an opportunity for a Supreme God to remember your face. To begin with, it’s very unusual for the Supreme God to visit the Human Realm outside of the Festival of Heroes, so this kind of situation happening is probably something that can’t be helped.]

In response to Yuzuki-san’s mumbles as if she were fed up, Lilia-san agreed with her words, as if she was fed up with it herself.

[Kusunoki-san, too, are you alright?]

[Yes, thank you very much. I’m glad Miyama-san is walking in front of me.]

Just as Lilia-san said, there aren’t as many people inside of the temple compared to outside, but even so, there seem to be several times as many people in the temple compared to how it usually is.

The impression I got was that there were a lot of people who looked like priests especially from what I saw, and all of them seemed to be visibly on edge. This may give a lot of credibility to the rumor that a Supreme God is visiting.

However, it seems that the blessings are still going on as usual, and Lilia-san and Lunamaria-san are taking care of the procedures. We’ll be guided by a priest to move, and on the way, I’ll be the only one who will be separated from Lilia-san and the others.

Because there appears to be a rule of wearing special vestments when receiving the blessings, the men and women are separated so that they could change their own clothes.

I had expected that we would be wearing light clothing from the fact that we were separated based on gender, but when I changed in the room I was led to, I found that the clothes were almost like underwear, they were made in a material similar to fine silk.

It’s not that it’s transparent, but it’s an outfit that shows quite a bit of my body line because it’s white and light…… I honestly feel that it’s a shame that I won’t be able to see Lilia-san and the others in these clothes.

Moreover, it seems that after this, we’ll be waiting in a spacious room and will be called out to receive our blessing in turns. This means that I would be inevitably led to a place filled with men dressed in vestments that look like this white dress I’m currently wearing…… How should I say this… I’m kind of tempted to turn back now.

From what I heard from the priest who was leading me, it doesn’t look like it’s packed to the brim, but apparently, there are still dozens of people waiting for their turn over there, and we would definitely need to wait for over an hour. That doesn’t sound like a blessing anymore, it’s almost torture for me.

When we came before a door in the hall, the male priest bowed his head deeply as if he had another person to lead and left right away.

I honestly want to leave without opening this door that leads to a sausage fest, but after taking a few deep breaths, I make up my mind, opened the door and entered.

[……………………]

As I entered, the scene I came upon in front of me—- wasn’t the sausage fest that I thought I would find.

I could feel the breeze blowing gently caressing my cheeks comfortably, bringing the scent of flowers along with it.

[……Huh?]

Colorful flowers bloom beautifully in front of me and after moving my eyes around, I could see the border between the blue sky and the earth. The scenery has a beautiful yet majestic atmosphere, as if I was looking down on the earth……

[Eh? Ehhhhhh!?]

No one responded to the shout that reflexively came out of my mouth. Rather, it even looks like there’s no one else in this place but me.

Dear Mom, Dad—– I visited the temple to receive a blessing, but when I opened the door, I didn’t arrive in a guest room—– It’s a hanging garden.

**********

Hey, LazyCat here. Not sure if I’d translate another novel aside from this one and the Hazure chapters that come from time to time after dropping Overlimit, and if I decide not to translate another novel, I will change the schedule to Mon-Fri.

-LazyCat