Chapter 344

When one’s energy is weak, they must fill their stomach first.

The mercenaries said they had never once eaten a meal near a holy site. However, feeling anxious about leaving the god’s territory for some reason, they decided to just commit an irreverence, trusting in the First Goddess’s benevolent heart.

We lit a fire at a spot slightly offset from the back of the Goddess statue’s head. Perhaps because it was winter, even lighting a fire at midday only felt warm. Once our stomachs were firmly filled and our bodies became comfortable, our startled hearts also slowly settled down.

Around the time the sun was slanting over there, I received exactly my second bowl of stew.

The guys who had been silent opened their mouths one by one.

“We have to go, right? To the holy site of the Sun.”

“Well, if a divine being is… looking for us, don’t we have to go somehow? That Oasis guy also called us for necessary matters in his own way, right.”

To Marianne’s troubled voice, Hugh Benson immediately answered. However, the energy was also completely drained from that guy’s voice. As they were doing so, Peter mumbled while filling his empty bowl.

“It seems the gods haven’t aligned their stories with each other.”

“Why?”

“Well, the Third God told us to just look for divine relics…”

Peter’s words were right. If it truly is a certain god calling us, it wouldn’t be Oasis. It wasn’t the First Goddess either. Since she was said to be currently north of the Unique Mountain Range, it had nothing to do with the holy site of the Sun.

Could it perhaps be a trap of the ninth god?

Also, will the new god be friendly toward us?

I recalled the guys who dragged the mercenaries away as sacrifices. I also thought of Raul, who tried to secretly take Ruben away. Recalling how Oasis acted toward us just recently, blindly trusting someone called a god didn’t sit well with me either.

“He—”

“Never mind He-surt. Didn’t you hear any other oracles?”

“…Yes.”

“Really? If you ignore me this time too, there’s no such thing as being a senior.”

“Really.”

“Ssssp, I’ll believe you.”

I blankly watched Elwin try to say something and get scolded by Marianne.

Ruben, who was picking at his food without even finishing a single bowl, looked back at Leon with a worried face.

The guy still had the axe he always hung on his back resting on his lap. Seeing him occasionally turning the axe and looking into it made it seem like he was scrutinizing if there was anything suspicious unlike usual, but if there was such a thing, we would have noticed it already. Only a sigh escaped me.

“Are you okay?”

“Pardon? Ah, yes. Well, it’s not like there’s anything not okay…”

“Really?”

“…No. Actually, I am fucking scared right now. I feel like I’m carrying around an axe possessed by a ghost.”

Ruben didn’t ponder for long. He lowered his body in front of Leon and placed his hand on that axe. The gesture of placing his left hand on the axe and crossing his right hand to touch his forehead, both shoulders, and chest was something I had already seen once in a theology class. It was a hand gesture used only in some elegant ceremonies.

As Leon looked at him with puzzled eyes, Ruben, stepping back, acted sweetly again.

“I am not a saint, but am I not one who inherited the bloodline of a god. [Read on RanaTranslations🌸] Since I don’t feel any evil energy, I tried blessing it, even if informally.”

“…Uhh…”

“Wow, me too. Please do it for me too!”

“Sure.”

Anne, who was watching from the side, suddenly grabbed her longsword with both hands as if supporting it and held it out to Ruben.

Ruben blessed Anne’s weapon in the same way without hesitation. Only then did Leon subtly smile and properly sling his axe back on. The weapons each mercenary held out also received the same blessing. When Marianne playfully held out her staff, Ruben also laughed, and around the time Elwin held out his sword, everyone laughed out loud.

The morale that had been broken for a moment immediately soared as if piercing the sky.

Hugh Benson, who was silently watching the boisterous sight, set down his tableware and let out a deep sigh.

“Yeah, well, if they say it’s the will of a god, how could a mere creation run away. For now, whether it becomes bread or stew, pouring water into flour is exactly the same. Let’s go, we’re going.”

“We’re going?”

Giselle echoed the end of his words as if chiming in. Hugh Benson waved his hand and told everyone to come closer. Even if the distance was a bit far, there were no guys who couldn’t hear a few words, but they stuck close as instructed.

“Spill everything you know. Let’s decide in advance what to ask.”

“…What to ask, you mean?”

“Honestly, that Oasis bastard just came when he wanted to and left when he wanted to. It was so sudden we couldn’t even organize our questions, and we just asked whatever and couldn’t even hear a few proper answers.”

“That was… true.”

“We have to know what we know to figure out what to ask the god, right?”

We saw a god directly. But Oasis wasn’t a god worthy of reverence.

How mighty a soul he possessed is difficult even for the current me to guess. If it truly is a fact that he contributed to kneading this world, he must be a being beyond standard. However, if we end up harming the ninth god while resolving the matter, we might end up having to fight him.

Perhaps because of that. No one pointed out Hugh Benson’s tone badmouthing the god.

Among the guys pondering, the first to open his mouth was Leon.

“The holy site of the Sun… The temperature reaches close to 80 degrees for about a 4km radius around it. Fortunately, the humidity is low, so if we use temperature control artifacts properly, we can make it to the temple in the center of the holy site and back, but I heard some ascetics deliberately go without artifacts.”

“What about monsters around there?”

“There is a gigantic Makrir colony, and numerous Orc and Kobold colonies. Among them, the Gray Orc tribe that tamed wild wolves has quite a large pack, so we tend to be careful when coming and going.”

Ruber, who waited for Leon to finish speaking, also immediately recited what he remembered.

“There is nothing passed down regarding which god resides in each holy site. There are only rough hypotheses like, the god of the Oasis would live in the Oasis, and the god of the Sun would live in the holy site of the Sun.”

“Are there no personality traits or general precautions either?”

“Ung, there is only one clear verse. ‘Only humans who revere the Sun may step into the holy site’.”

“Humans who revere the Sun?”

The explanation for that came from among the mercenaries. Giselle nodded her head and took the words.

“Monsters can’t enter the holy site of the Sun, you see. [Read on RanaTranslations🌸] They say even though the holy site is overflowing with various precious items, gold pieces, and jewels left behind by people who came on a pilgrimage, a Treasure Goblin has never entered even once.”

“It might be that monsters don’t come near because they don’t have temperature control artifacts, but if it’s a Treasure Goblin, they should be able to use a few artifacts.”

“That’s right, there are no human petty thieves either. Just the journey back and forth to the Saturn Desert costs a pretty penny.”

“For mercenaries like us to travel to and from the holy site of the Sun, we usually accompany extreeemely devout people, so we can’t even dream of bringing out gold pieces. It’s just a pie in the sky, well.”

Peter comically took the words at Giselle and Anne’s explanation, but after checking our faces, he quickly brought his hands together politely.

“Since we learned that gods truly exist, I intend to absolutely never touch them in the future.”

“…Right. Let’s just say…that’s that.”

“So, it means the god in the holy site of the Sun might be a god more friendly to humans than to monsters.”

“That is at least a relief.”

Even if we didn’t know the reason the god was calling us, what we needed to seek out the god, question closely, and obtain was clear. All group members, including the mercenaries, actively offered this and that opinion.

“First of all, I definitely want to ask if the ninth god is related to black magic.”

“Do you think he wouldn’t be?”

“Because whether there’s one enemy or two is an important problem.”

Marianne said she was curious about things related to black magic, and,

“Didn’t he say there are ways to put the ninth god to sleep, relying on gods and gathering divine relics? I suppose it would be right to learn both methods first and choose the easier one.”

“…Wow… I already feel at a loss. Meeting gods, or gathering divine relics.”

“And we also need a way to wake up the captured ones again. Even if we know how to extract the corrupted Mana imbued in their bodies, Mika can’t take the trouble every time.”

Ruber prioritized the method to reclaim the captured ones back.

“I am curious if the 1st Prince is in his right mind right now.”

“…Huh? You’re going to ask a god that?”

“Yes, the fact that he stuck around with Wesley Kiadris keeps bothering my mind. I can’t explain it well, but…”

“Uuum, well there’s no reason we can’t. It’s not like he’ll be petty and say ‘Only one question per person,’ right.”

And I was still bothered by Wesley’s murderous intent when he glared at Ruber.

The mercenaries suggested we ask what is in the Demonic Realm, how he knew our actions even though everyone here doesn’t particularly revere and believe in any specific god, if by chance a specific someone among us is a hero chosen by the gods, how many people in total the ninth god stole, how many lives are needed to tear that guy’s world, and if he could perhaps tell us the locations of the divine relics.

Hugh Benson wrote down all those questions well in his notebook.

Occasionally mercilessly scolding questions like ‘Until what age will I live’, ‘Can I get a lover’, ‘Will I get married’, and laughing and chattering, the sun had already set slanting.

The tents were placed tightly right behind the Goddess statue, almost leaning against it. According to the mercenaries’ words, this too was an irreverent act so they usually didn’t do it. Marianne, who was watching the tents being set up and lending a hand here and there, grumbled.

“Since we’re at it, I wish the First Goddess would just come out immediately.”

“Do you think that will happen?”

“No, just…”

The guy let out a deep sigh.

“Because I don’t want to go all the way to the Demonic Realm… Ah, I’m afraid these words might become the seed of reality.”

“…”

Right, such a thing shouldn’t happen.

If we end up having to go to such a nasty place at least, I must leave these children behind; I firmly resolved myself.