Chapter 125 – Imperial Capital (2)

Holy maiden candidate.  

It was truly unexpected.  

Of course, if there was a hero candidate, having a holy maiden candidate made sense, but I never thought Ye-rim would be designated as one.  

The party members were equally surprised.  

Not just Hoffman, but even Zahina stared at Ye-rim with wide eyes.  

At the sudden words, Ye-rim didn’t know what to do.  

Looking around with a troubled face, she finally looked at me.  

When Ye-rim looked at me, I stepped in front of her.  

Then I spoke to the priests:  

“Ye-rim is my party member. Suddenly saying she’s a holy maiden candidate? First, you need to properly explain.”  

At my words, the elderly priest bowed to me too.  

“Ah, I apologize. I got too excited from joy.”  

After apologizing to me, he apologized to the other party members as well.  

“Sorry for not considering you all. First, let’s go inside. I’ll explain everything.”  

The old man easily bowed his head despite his position and age.  

Whether it was his nature or social skills was unclear, but it made it hard to properly object.  

The same went for the party members.  

Plus, we had to enter the temple anyway.  

We followed the priests into the Great Temple.  

A massive temple in the imperial capital’s center.  

A holy hall of many gods where continental religions gathered together.  

Passing through the temple doors, a huge hall spread before us.  

Statues of gods lined the hall’s sides, with many people praying to their gods inside.  

Of course, not just devout believers were in the temple.  

Some came for tourism, others for temple business.  

When the priests brought us in, the people in the temple watched us with surprised eyes.  

With many priests guiding us—not just one or two—everyone seemed curious about our identity.  

But this time, the priests didn’t make mistakes.  

They ignored people’s gazes and guided us deep into the temple.  

After entering a long corridor past the hall, the other priests scattered in all directions without following us.  

Only the elderly priest who had spoken to us remained.  

We entered the innermost room with him.  

The room’s center had small sofas and a table, with a bookshelf full of books and an old desk on one side.  

A simple yet classic room.  

The old priest had us sit on the sofas and then personally served tea before us.  

Only then did he sit on the opposite sofa and introduce himself.  

“I am Priest Benedict, who has managed this temple for several years. I follow the Moon Goddess.”  

I had heard before that priests from each religion took turns managing this Great Temple.  

It seemed it was the Moon Goddess’s turn now.  

That was fortunate.  

The Moon Goddess was famous for being benevolent.  

It would have been harder to talk comfortably like this if it was the strict Imperial Order.  

“Let’s see, where should I start…”  

The old priest organized his thoughts briefly, then began explaining the situation.  

“First, the revelation from various gods to establish a new holy maiden came about two months ago. Around half a month after hearing the news of defeating the Demon King.”  

Two months ago?  

That was when I had just entered that world.  

“Everyone was shocked. Though we now know the Demon King fled to another world, until then we thought the hero’s group had killed him.”  

News of the Demon King’s escape hadn’t spread immediately, it seemed.  

Or perhaps it was deliberately blocked.  

Since they thought the hero and advance force could quickly catch the Demon King then.  

“Though everyone was puzzled, divine revelation was absolute. We first sent people to the allied forces in the Demon King’s land to learn what happened.”  

Though he said it was absolute, it seemed they first investigated the situation.  

“Soon after, when our sent people returned, we learned the Demon King had fled to another world and the hero’s group chased him there. And we heard contact with the hero’s group was lost.”  

That was already after the hero’s group died.  

No, since the revelation came because the holy maiden died, the hero’s group died before the revelation.  

“From then, we began searching for a new holy maiden. And quietly searched for hero candidates too. If the holy maiden died, there was a high chance the hero wasn’t well either.”  

Right thinking. And a correct result too.  

“But we couldn’t tell others. With the revelation to choose a new holy maiden, the temple couldn’t spread rumors first that the hero might be dead.”  

I was surprised they found a hero candidate so soon after the news spread, but now I see they were searching much earlier.  

“Fortunately, we found a hero candidate in time, and yesterday we received revelation again to prepare for the holy maiden candidate’s arrival, so we could wait for you all like this.”  

I could understand what happened after the long explanation.  

Though questions were answered, problems started now.  

“Do you know Ye-rim is from another world?”  

I asked him directly. They would learn she was from that world anyway.  

“Yes. We received revelation.”  

As expected, he knew. Gods and religion were cheat keys in this world with holy power.  

Then they must know other things too.  

“Then you know why we came?”  

“Yes. To enshrine Priest Ye-rim’s god in this Great Temple and record her religious affiliation here.”  

Accurate.  

Thanks to that, it seemed we could easily do the original task.  

But Ye-rim seemed worried.  

“Um, but my god is monotheistic… Is that okay?”  

Ah, come to think of it, I hadn’t considered that.  

Living in this world and encountering only polytheism, I hadn’t thought about that world’s god being monotheistic.  

“Haha, it’s fine. This Great Temple is just a gathering of religions. A kind of exchange meeting to talk before fighting and help each other in hard times.”  

He called it a simple gathering, but it had tremendous power for that.  

Sending priests to fight the Demon King was decided here, and determining the holy maiden and hero was done at this Great Temple.  

Of course, they couldn’t do anything alone without the gods’ agreement, but being religious people, once decided, nothing was overturned.  

Ye-rim sighed in relief at the old priest’s words.  

I rather wanted to ask Ye-rim if it was okay to enshrine a monotheistic god here, but it wasn’t my place as an outsider to raise the issue.  

But seeing my expression, Ye-rim spoke:  

“It’s okay. Though monotheistic, my god is also a god of mercy. Seeing even a delinquent believer like me protected, my god won’t be angry about this. This isn’t Earth anyway.”  

Seemed like words that could cause much controversy, but I said nothing.  

No one in that world would know about this anyway.  

If it became an issue later when worlds exchanged, that was then.  

I just needed to resolve immediate issues.  

And the current immediate issue was ‘holy maiden candidate’.  

“Then where is the new holy maiden?”  

“Ah, you knew? The new holy maiden is with the hero candidate now.”  

Indeed, there was a holy maiden.  

Though the hero candidate was a ‘candidate’ to become the hero after the hero died, Ye-rim wasn’t a candidate but a ‘preliminary’ holy maiden.  

Unlike the hero candidate preparing to become the hero, the preliminary holy maiden meant a separate holy maiden existed.  

“Then you won’t forcibly separate Ye-rim from us.”  

I stared steadily at the old priest while speaking.  

At my words, the old priest smiled and shook his head.  

“Of course not. Actually, some said to safely protect the preliminary holy maiden just in case, but it’s troublesome for priests following the god’s words to do that. Priest Ye-rim will return to you all after enshrining her god’s image and registering her religious affiliation here.”  

He precisely pointed out our anxiety. Though relieved at his words, I still had questions.  

“Then why such a grand welcome?”  

“For Priest Ye-rim’s sake. People won’t treat her carelessly if they know she’s a preliminary holy maiden. Also, it’s preparation just in case. Since the revelation came, you too should know she’s a preliminary holy maiden.”  

The old priest spoke calmly while looking at Ye-rim.  

His words meant that though they were letting Ye-rim go freely, they were still leaving the possibility open.  

Though slightly worried at the final words, there seemed to be no need for immediate concern.  

Anyway, he said it was for our sake.  

Honestly, it seemed helpful.  

From today, our party became one with a preliminary holy maiden.  

While continuing comfortable conversation like that, the old priest suddenly looked out the window.  

The window was stained red.  

Seeing the sunset, he rushed things unlike before.  

“My, time has passed. I’ll call someone, so Priest Ye-rim, please follow them. There are many procedures to enshrine your god here. It takes about two days, so the others can return in two days.”  

As soon as he finished, a priest entered.  

Seeing the entering priest, Ye-rim smiled and waved.  

It was the female priest seen in that world.  

One of the two priests who taught Ye-rim strange skills.  

Though I didn’t like that priest, Ye-rim was glad to see her.  

“Then follow this priest. It was nice meeting you all.”  

The old priest, who checked the time, hurriedly tried to send us out.  

We left the old priest’s room without proper goodbyes, and soon heard another priest’s shouts from his room’s direction.  

*bang*  

“Where is the preliminary holy maiden! You didn’t just let her go?  

You let her go?  

How could you just let her go! We already lost one holy maiden!  

We need to send the holy maiden and hero to the other world again, so we should keep the preliminary holy maiden here!”  

The harsh sound of the door and the sharp voice reached our ears as we walked down the corridor.  

The voice was so loud it could be heard clearly without mana in our ears.  

Everyone walking down the corridor could hear.  

“From the Imperial Order, quite a loud voice.”  

When we were curious, the female priest guiding us spoke quietly.  

I could understand why the old priest moved hurriedly just now.  

And I could tell who said we should keep Ye-rim.  

Honestly, the shouting priest wasn’t wrong either.  

It wasn’t normal for a revelation-received preliminary holy maiden to wander battlefields.  

“It’s okay. Don’t worry. I came urgently after hearing the preliminary holy maiden arrived. I’ll help the new holy maiden and will return to the holy maiden and hero candidate soon.”  

When Ye-rim seemed worried hearing the shouts, the female priest whispered in her ear.  

As she said, the shouting stopped soon after.  

Like that, after meeting the old priest, our party split in two at the temple entrance.  

“Knight must visit the count’s house, and one is the World Tree’s daughter… I’ll stay beside Priest Ye-rim.”  

Thanks to Hoffman’s sacrifice, I headed to Schönheim Count’s house with Zahina after relieving Ye-rim’s worry.  

And there, I received the knights’ passionate welcome.  

“Knight William, I wish to exchange swords!”