[What do you think the temple will be like?]
[Hmm. If I had to imagine, I’d say it would be like one of those Greek temples.]
[That’s a pretty rough image… though I can understand why you’d think of it like that.]
Looking out the window of the carriage, Yuzuki-san spoke to me with a bit more energy, while the calm and composed Kusunoki-san joined the conversation.
Hmm. I guess the power of white rice really is that great. The awkwardness from our previous conversations now feels like a lie. Could this be it? Is my communication power leveling up, making me a little more sociable?
We’re currently taking a short break after breakfast, as we’re on our way to the temple where God resides to receive some sort of blessing.
[Speaking of which, Lilia-san, I forgot to ask earlier, but what exactly does a blessing do?]
[Ah, that was on my mind too!]
[Well, to put it simply, you receive God’s Divine Protection… It’s kind of like a defense-oriented magic that’s cast upon you. Since we’re heading to the Temple of Health this time, you could think of it as magic that helps prevent illnesses.]
I see, that definitely makes it easier to imagine it that way.
While blessings from priests—ordinary humans—are essentially just charms, it’s said that the blessings cast directly by God have a more definite effect.
However, there’s a fee—I’ll repeat that, apparently, there’s a fee for a blessing. How 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 from a priest is set at the cost of an iron coin. As for the blessing from a God, the price mostly depends on the rank of the God performing it, but the average cost is a gold coin.]
Let me think… since iron coins are worth 10R, if I remember correctly… The blessing of a priest costs about 1000 yen. As for the blessing of a God, it’s at the staggering cost of 10,000R—about a million yen. That’s so expensive that you’d have to be a noble to afford their blessing.
[Just to add 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 unnecessary addition of more information, which happens from time to time, Lilia-san’s face turned bright red in an instant.
She certainly looked cute, but the atmosphere inside the carriage became a bit awkward—Ah, speaking of which, there was something that bothered me earlier, and I could use that to shift the conversation away from 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 of them, the Creation God. Basically, the Gods with temples in the Human Realm are Lower-rank Gods. As for the blessings from Higher-rank Gods, their reputation matters more than money, so only the king can receive them.]
It seems I’ve successfully diverted the conversation. Lilia-san stopped complaining about Lunamaria-san and turned her attention to answering my question. No, I wasn’t trying to help Lunamaria-san, I just wanted to change the subject so 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 you’ll ever see their faces, much less receive their blessings, except during the Festival of Heroes. They rarely visit the Human Realm, so unless you’re incredibly lucky…]
It’s true that just their titles—”God of Time” and “God of Fate”—convey how extraordinary they must be.
But now that I think about it again, with the Six Kings, the Three Great Gods, the Creation God, and all the other figures gathering for the Festival of Heroes, how massive is this festival really going to be? As exciting as it sounds, it also feels 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 think about it, this blessing thing we’re doing right now is similar to the Hatsumode in Japan. If you can picture that, you should be able to imagine the scene we’re facing now.
Just as I was almost convinced that this was something unique to this other world, Lilia-san and the others surprisingly wore equally shocked expressions.
(T/N: Hatsumode is the first 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.]
With those words, Lunamaria-san began moving toward a person dressed like a nun a little further ahead. Perhaps she’s a priest? I followed her, curious to see what was 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 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 went on the 5th day instead, 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 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 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 is one of the Three Supreme Gods, second only to the Creation God in the God Realm.
[Yes, I heard that the priests themselves don’t know 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. While she’s at it, I think she’ll also come to see the Gods of these lands…]
[I see… So it’s not just the neighboring nobles, but that’s also why so many priests have come to this place. This was really unexpected.]
[I guess we can’t just come back later, huh? I’ve already informed the temple of our visit using the name of our Duchy…]
[Yes, as expected, those 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 now.]
Perhaps there’s a significant difference between a High-ranking God and a Supreme God. Unlike the High-ranking Gods who visit the royal palace every year, the arrival of a Supreme God isn’t guaranteed except during the Festival of Heroes.
Especially for the priests who serve the Gods, this may be a situation where they would gladly drop everything to rush to this place.
I’m pretty sure we haven’t walked too far, but it took a great deal of effort just to navigate through the overwhelming crowd to reach the temple. Simply moving around became a moderately exhausting experience.
[Ugh… I feel really nauseous from the sheer number of people here.]
[I can understand how Hina-san feels. This is definitely… a bit much.]
[Though it’s only a rumor, this is a chance for a Supreme God to remember your face. It’s incredibly rare for a Supreme God to visit the Human Realm outside of the Festival of Heroes, so I suppose this situation is inevitable.]
In response to Yuzuki-san’s mumbles, as though she were fed up, Lilia-san nodded in agreement, seemingly just as weary.
[Kusunoki-san, are you okay too?]
[Yes, thank you very much. I’m glad Miyama-san is walking ahead of me.]
As Lilia-san mentioned, there are fewer people inside the temple compared to outside, but even so, it feels like there are several times more people than usual. My impression was that many of them appeared to be priests, and they all seemed visibly tense. This could lend credibility to the rumor that a Supreme God is visiting.
It seems that the blessings are still being conducted as usual, with Lilia-san and Lunamaria-san handling the procedures. We’ll be guided by a priest to move, and along the way, I’ll be the only one separated from Lilia-san and the others. It seems there’s a rule about wearing special vestments when receiving the blessings, so the men and women are separated to change into their garments.
I had assumed we would be given light clothing, especially since we were separated by gender, but when I changed in the room I was led to, I discovered the clothes were almost like underwear, made from a material similar to fine silk.
It’s not that it’s transparent, but the outfit is quite revealing, showing a fair bit of my body line due to its light white fabric… Honestly, I feel 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 before being called in turn to receive our blessing. This means I’ll inevitably be led into a room filled with men dressed in similar vestments to the white dress I’m wearing… How should I put it? I’m kind of tempted to turn back now.
From what I gathered from the priest who was guiding me, it doesn’t seem to be packed to capacity, but there are still dozens of people waiting for their turn. We’ll definitely have to wait for over an hour. At this point, it doesn’t feel like a blessing anymore—it almost feels like torture.
When we arrived at a door in the hall, the male priest bowed deeply as if he had another person to guide and quickly left. I honestly want to turn back without opening this door leading to a “sausage fest,” but after a few deep breaths, I steel myself, open the door, and step inside.
[…………]
As I entered, the scene before me… wasn’t the sausage fest I had expected. I felt a gentle breeze caress my cheeks, bringing with it the refreshing scent of flowers.
[…Huh?]
Colorful flowers bloomed beautifully in front of me, and after moving my eyes around, I could see the boundary between the blue sky and the earth. The scenery had a stunning, almost majestic quality, as though I were looking down on the earth…
[Eh? Ehhhhhh!?]
No one responded to the shout that had reflexively escaped my mouth. In fact, it seemed like I was the only one here.
Dear Mom, Dad—I came to the temple to receive a blessing, but when I opened the door, I didn’t find myself in a guest room—I ended up in 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