11-8 Part 1
People Say He's an Envoy of God
- Shinza is Prayed To -
Translator : PolterGlast
We took a long detour until the official (the middle-aged
man) ran out of breath and crawled on the ground, and then we safely managed to
regroup with Priest Yungwi. After that, we entered the cathedral grounds
together with the pilgrims, finally ending the day's journey and taking a
breather.
No, properly speaking, it seems to be the Ratatosk Grand
Cathedral. Perhaps the enormous wealth of the labyrinth was donated to
create this cathedral; there stood an incredibly flashy cathedral, adorned with
gold, silver, jewels, and stained glass renowned for costing a lot of skill and
money.
From the perspective of someone who prides himself as a
citizen of the Imperial Capital, I feel a slight sense of rivalry. It is
certainly more costly and glittering than over there. But, I think the Imperial
Capital should be much more cultural and refined.
「...It's long.」
If you ask what is long, the pilgrims' prayers are absurdly
long. Priest Yungwi, the pilgrims, and even the devout Kachua
sitting together on the long pews in front of the altar were offering a lengthy
prayer, long enough that one could have finished a cup of tea by now.
I felt like Zirant might get sulky if I offered a
prayer to another god in front of her, so I stifled a yawn and watched over
them. But as expected, it was impossible. Partly due to the fatigue of the
journey, even though I'm an escort, I ended up falling asleep while sitting on
a bench along the wall.
◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇
「Nn, nnn...」
I shouldn't have slept that long. When my consciousness
returned to reality from a shallow sleep and unclear dreams, I felt a sense of
incongruity and raised my head.
「...Wait. What on earth are you guys
doing?」
「Ah, he woke up.」
Then I realized that, apparently, this is—for some reason, I
was surrounded by the companion pilgrims, and for some reason, being prayed to
and revered like an idol... Even that Priest Yungwi was on her knees,
clasping both hands toward me, and muttering something...
「Kachua, what is this, please explain it to me... Why are they
praying toward someone like me...」
I pointed at the divine statue at the innermost part of the
grand cathedral, telling them to pray in that direction. Effect? None. They
remained with their heads bowed in the wrong direction, eyes closed, not
moving...
「Yeah, you see, everyone! They were
watching your exploits earlier from afar, Shinza!」
「Is that so. But why does that lead
to this...」
「Everyone saw it! You, Shinza,
and that beautiful Goddess-sama!」
「Who do you mean by Goddess—aah...」
Evil Dragon Zirant. Is this your fault... It's true,
a mysterious maiden floating in midair appeared, she called my name, and after
showing off a miracle of freezing the Abyss Ants all together, she made me
close the Abyss Gate—if that's the case, maybe this outcome is inevitable in a
way...
No, Kachua looks like she wants to say something else
too. She is staring intently into my eyes. Ah, come to think of it, I had
previously revealed the secret of this body to her. Has she noticed the
commonalities with the Dragonewt Zirant?
「I don't know anyone like that.」
「Liar! You said Zirant, Shinza!」
「Someone else must have said it, not
me. There was surely a Jiran-san among the adventurers.」
『Who is Jiran. You don't have to hide
it, you know; just answer honestly. That you fell in love at first sight with a
peerless beauty named Zirant, and thus became her Apostle.』
Don't be stupid. If they misunderstand that I believe in
some strange evil cult, I'll be subjected to an anachronistic inquisition. In
the first place, it turned out like this because of your meddling...
『Fool. If Wagahai hadn't
conveyed a swift solution, this city would have been half-destroyed by the
endlessly appearing Abyss Ants.』
Even so, I don't think you needed to go out of your way to
show yourself. You should be much more self-aware of the fact that you're a
busybody...
「Shinza-sama, thanks to you, Ratatosk has been saved. To think
you would actually dig right through an Abyss Gate that has tormented the
people of Ratatosk here so much... Could it be that you are a messenger
of God?!」
It seems the pilgrims' prayers have ended. Then Priest Yungwi
directed a passionate gaze and a voice squeaking with excitement at me.
「You think so too, right?! I
(Ore)—no, I (Atashi) have been thinking that the whole time too! Shinza
really is a messenger of God! Our village would have been destroyed by now too
if Shinza hadn't been there!」
「Stop it... I have no intention of
becoming a living saint or a cult leader. I'm just an adventurer, Shinza.」
This is no good... I don't feel like my words are getting
through anymore. Damn you Zirant, did you really need to show yourself
for mere ants like that...?
『I did. Those are monsters used in the
Age of Gods. If you release an Abyss Ant Queen into enemy territory, they will
use any and all animals as food, multiply, devour everything, and
self-destruct.』
That is once again—very similar in nature to what's called a
biological weapon in books from the other world. I can't help but feel some
commonality with the Abyss Hounds, which are said to be tormented by bottomless
hunger.
In short, at worst, this entire area might have been devoured and miserably destroyed. Is that what you mean?
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