Volume 18 Side Story 1, The Two Priestesses

Lirica was currently working at the Temple of the Living God, cleaning up.

The Temple of the Living God was a temple located on the fifth floor of Amamiya Tower.

The temple did not have an official name at this time.

It was called the Temple of the Living God for convenience, since the main deity worshiped in the temple was the living god, Kousuke.

Looking back, Lirica felt that she had done something quite shameful in the past when handling this temple.

To atone for this, she spent her time cleaning the temple when her party was not on an adventure.

Her party members said that there was no need to go to the trouble of doing something tiring on a day off, but Lirica had no intention of stopping this activity.

The cleaning activity at the temple was partly to atone for her past deeds, but now she also had another purpose.

It was to contact those who were cleaning the temple as well as the believers who were visiting the temple.

Today, only a few of the adventurers worshiped the living god.

After all, he did conquer this Amamiya Tower, and then the six surrounding Towers as well.

Moreover, he became worshiped as a god from a mortal.

This achievement became a success story of unbelievable proportions among adventurers.

It was only natural that there would be those who would seek to take advantage of this.

Lirica, incidentally, was one of them.

Of course, as a miko, she had her own original deity, but there was no rule that forbade a miko to believe in more than one deity.

Basically, a miko was supposed to have faith in only one deity, but there was no rule that forbade them to believe in more than one deity.

While cleaning the prayer room to pay her respects alongside an elderly woman who had become a familiar face to her over the course of several visits, a murmur broke out at the entrance.

“Eh? Wha, What?”

“Wow, this is unusual.”

The old lady said to a puzzled Lirica.

“Oh, is this your first time, Lirica?”

“Umm, what is it?”

Lirica, who had no idea what was going on, tilted her head and asked the old woman next to her.

“The priestess of the main deity of this place came here. She seldom visits us, so we don’t get to see her very frequently.”

“…Eh?”

Lirica shouted in surprise.

She had known that a deity was enshrined here, but she had not known that the deity had a miko.

Moreover, she had no idea that the priestess sometimes visited this temple.

“Well, that priestess told me not to spread the word as much as possible, so maybe only those who have actually seen her like this know about it.”

Listening to the grandmother’s voice, Lirica looked toward where the commotion was taking place.

There were two women there.

One was dressed in a priestess’s outfit, and this one was probably the priestess of the present deity.

The other was not wearing a priestess’s outfit, so one could tell that she was not a priestess.

And she was incredibly beautiful.

The miko was also, by ordinary standards, a person of considerable beauty, and if she were to walk around town alone, she would undoubtedly attract the attention of the opposite sex and the same sex alike.

But the other woman was a more complete beauty than that.

“Oh my, this is another dazzler.”

The grandmother’s voice brought Lirica back to herself.

“Hasn’t that beautiful woman been here before?”

“Well, I don’t know. At least, I’ve never seen her before.”

As she watched them while they talked, the two of them walked through the worship room, attracting attention, until they arrived at the altar.

In the temple of the living god, no idols were enshrined.

Most major deities, including the three major goddesses, had idols, but it was not unusual for a goddess to have no such object at all, and no one had anything to say about it.

For such deities, not the goddess themselves, but an object symbolizing the goddess, was placed instead.

Regarding the living god in this temple, a board was enshrined.

Of course, it was not a mere board, but a replica of a status card, which was considered to be the living god’s greatest achievement.

Incidentally, when Kousuke heard that the board was to be enshrined, he commented, “What the heck is that?” But the members wisely did not tell anyone else about it, so that fact was not conveyed anywhere.

A woman dressed in the robe of a shrine maiden proceeded to the board and offered a prayer.

Then a sigh escaped from everyone.

She was simply praying, but her appearance was like a painting.

Lirica’s eyes were also drawn to it, but she also noticed the other woman.

The woman was looking at the miko, but was also taking in her surroundings.

In addition, she could guess the reason why she was so attracted to the priestess in her prayer.

She could feel a solid connection between the priestess and the living god…

“…Ah.”

And at the same time, she felt a connection to a symbol that she had thought was just a board.

Until now, she thought that it was simply an imitation of a status card, but she was reminded that she was completely mistaken.

***

The woman who was not a priestess looked at Lirica, as if she had heard Lirica’s voice.

Lirica shrugged her shoulders when she felt the woman’s gaze, but the woman then turned her gaze back to the priestess without doing anything.

Lirica thought that would be the end of it, but alas, that was not the case.

After she finished praying, the woman whispered something in the priestess’s ear, and this time the priestess looked at Lirica with interest.

Not stopping there, she came closer to Lirica.

“Nice to meet you. My name is Sylvia. May I ask your name?”

She said,

Inwardly scowling, Lirica answered with her name.

“My name is Lirica.”

“I see. You have sensed the connection between me and the living god, haven’t you?”

“Eh…?”

Lirica, not expecting to be noticed, couldn’t help but wonder.

“Oh, don’t be surprised. Peach isn’t dressed as a priestess, either, but she’s a person with a similar background.”

“That’s not true~”

The woman called Peach had said, but Lirica thought that was impossible.

Otherwise, she would never have noticed herself.

As Lirica was thinking this, the woman who called herself Sylvia came staring at her.

“Wha, What is it?”

“Well… I just thought that you may be able to make a connection with him.

“Eh, really? Are you certain?”

Lirica asked with enthusiasm, to which Sylvia responded with a wry smile.

“Yes… Maybe if you could fix that kind of fumbling?”

Lirica’s face reddened as Sylvia, whom she had just met today, saw through her own shortcomings.

“Eh, umm…”

“Well, since it’s just a suggestion from me, It’s up to you whether you want it or not.”

With these final thoughts, Sylvia left, accompanied by Peach.

Lirica, who had been so taken in by the whole event, later regretted that she had forgotten to ask why they did not assign priests and priestesses.