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?]

[Thats a very rough image you have there Not that I dont 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 Ive become a little more sociable?

Were currently having a short break after eating our breakfast, as were heading to the temple where G.o.d 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!]

[Lets see To put it simply, you will get G.o.ds Divine Protection Would it be easier to think of it as a kind of defense-oriented magic that they cast upon you? Since were 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 G.o.d have a definite effect.

However, theres a fee- Ill say this again. There apparently is a fee for a blessing. Thats quite materialistic of you, oh G.o.ds

[ [ [ . ] ] ]

[Errr, I think I know what youre thinking but since thats 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 G.o.d, they mostly depend on the rank of the G.o.d 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 G.o.d, they were at the staggering cost of 10,000 R Thats about a million yen. Thats so expensive that you have to be a n.o.ble to receive to afford their blessing.

[Just adding a bit more information, were going to the G.o.d of Health, so its one gold coin, but the blessing from the G.o.d of Love that My Lady received before was paid with five gold coins.]

[ [ [ That expensive!? ] ] ]

[Lu- Luna!?]

[Im afraid it didnt work though.]

[Gunununu.]

Due to Lunamaria-sans unnecessarily adding more information, which can be said to be normally happening every now and then, Lilia-sans 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 G.o.ds rank, but do G.o.ds also have ranks of their own?]

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

It appears that Ive successfully deviated the conversation, Lilia-san stops complaining about Lunamaria-san and turned her attention to responding to my question. No, I wasnt trying to help Lunamaria-san, I was trying to change the subject so that the atmosphere in the carriage wouldnt get worse so put that thumbs up away, you useless maid!

[As for the Supreme G.o.ds- The Three Great G.o.ds of Time, Fate, and Life, its highly unlikely that youll 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 youre extremely lucky]

Indeed, just their t.i.tles G.o.d of Time and G.o.d of Fate alone convey the fact that theyre extraordinary beings.

But now that I think about it again, the Six Kings, the Three Great G.o.ds, the Creation G.o.d, 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-sans mumble, I nodded silently as I looked at the scene in front of me.

If you certainly think about it, this blessing stuff were doing right now is just like the Hatsumode in j.a.pan, so if you can clearly imagine that, you should be able to imagine the scene were 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 youll see how there are lots of people in there.)

[This is What does this mean?]

[It certainly is odd. Ill 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 whats 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 n.o.bles who come to be blessed by the G.o.ds 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 thats the case, the 5th day should have been a lot quieter than usual. On the 5th day every year, the higher-rank G.o.ds are invited to the royal palace for the king to receive their blessings Many n.o.bles and priests are supposed to gather at the royal palace for the rare opportunity to see a high-rank G.o.d]

I see, I have the image of n.o.bles as people who value connections, and the opportunity to possibly get to know a high-rank G.o.d who doesnt normally live in the Human Realm should be really precious. So, its understandable why everyone is heading to the royal palace.

Thats 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 hasnt been confirmed yet as its only a rumor but I heard that the G.o.ddess of Time might stop by here today]

[The G.o.ddess of Time!?]

If Im not mistaken, the G.o.ddess of Time, was one of the Three Supreme G.o.ds that were second only to the Creation G.o.d in the G.o.d Realm.

[Yes, I heard that the priests themselves dont 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 shes at it, I think shell also come to see the G.o.ds of these lands]

[I see So its not only the neighboring n.o.bles, but thats also why so many priests have come to this place huh. This was really unexpected.]

[I guess we cant just come back for later huh. Ive already informed the temple of our visit using the name of our Duchy]

[Yes, as expected, the ones who arent receiving the blessing wont be able to get into the main shrine, so lets go to the main shrine for the time being.]

Perhaps, theres a pretty big difference between a high-rank G.o.d and a Supreme G.o.d. Rather than the high-rank G.o.ds who always visit the royal palace every year, many people might be thinking of seeing the Supreme G.o.d, which their arrival isnt a sure thing except for when the Festival of Heroes happens.

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

Im pretty sure that we havent 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 its only a rumor, its still an opportunity for a Supreme G.o.d to remember your face. To begin with, its very unusual for the Supreme G.o.d to visit the Human Realm outside of the Festival of Heroes, so this kind of situation happening is probably something that cant be helped.]

In response to Yuzuki-sans 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. Im glad Miyama-san is walking in front of me.]

Just as Lilia-san said, there arent 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 G.o.d 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. Well be guided by a priest to move, and on the way, Ill 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.

Its not that its transparent, but its an outfit that shows quite a bit of my body line because its white and light I honestly feel that its a shame that I wont be able to see Lilia-san and the others in these clothes.

Moreover, it seems that after this, well be waiting in a s.p.a.cious 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 Im currently wearing How should I say this Im kind of tempted to turn back now.

From what I heard from the priest who was leading me, it doesnt look like its 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 doesnt sound like a blessing anymore, its 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- wasnt 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 theres 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 didnt arrive in a guest room Its a hanging garden.

Hey, LazyCat here. Not sure if Id 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