15-26. God's Breath

 

Satou's here. It comes assailing like a collapsing sand hill, like pulling a block of Jenga, like an avalanche of the end. You can't always prevent it even if you know it's coming beforehand, just like disaster isn't it.


◇


"Kuro-sama, you're back from Weasel Empire."

Just when I got to Echigoya Firm, the smile of Tifaliza, the bearer of an intelligent beautiful look, quickly found me.

"I got your call just when I got back. Did something happen?"

I don't think it's a pressing matter since it was not an urgent call, but Tifaliza only ever contacts me for the periodical report so it must be relatively important.

"Yes, from Makiwa Kingdom--"

The name of the country which we, disguised as dragon knights, protected appeared.
Did some problem arise regarding the refugee support and restoration?

"--Pipin contacted us."

Pipin is a former phantom thief and currently a slave who works as an intelligence operative of Echigoya Firm.

"If I'm not mistaken Pipin is...."
"Yes, he's accompanying Kei-sama and Sharururun as a backup."

Tifaliza supplemented faster than I could recall.
The former fake apostle and a reincarnated person, Kei was traveling to trace back the damages she had done with her Unique Skill due to her narrow mindedness.

"So something happened with either Kei or Sharururun?"
"Yes."

Tifaliza affirmed my question.

I looked at the two's names on the marker column while I was waiting for her answer.
It's alright, neither of them are injured.

"According to Pipin, Kei-sama is able to use holy magic."
"Hee, that's good to hear--"

I noticed the underlying problem as I indifferently congratulated.

"--is that true?"
"Yes, Pipin saw it himself."

Tifaliza gave an immediate answer.

"I'll be going to Makiwa Kingdom for a bit."

While hearing Tifaliza saying her farewell, "Please take care", and the noisy footsteps of the manager, I left Echigoya Firm behind.


◇


I moved to the base point closest to Makiwa Kingdom where Kei and the others are with Unit Arrangement, and hesitated as to whether I should change my appearance.
Satou should be more appropriate if I want to congratulate her, but appearing out of nowhere like Kuro, visiting Dasles City which is on the back region of the kingdom I've never visited before will be a problem.

--Well, whatever.

Such a trivial thing won't be a problem soon.

I change into Satou appearance with Quickdress skill and get out of the mountain hut base.

"Would be nice if the storm doesn't come--"

I muttered while looking up at the cloudy sky as if hinting the future.

I can see Dasles city below.

"It seems Kei and the others are in Zaikuon Temple near the castle."

While using Magic Essence Camouflage, I teleport to the back of Zaikuon Temple which doesn't have a sign of life.

"Glory to God Zaikuon!"
"Come come! It's a celebration today!"
"Festival! Everybody dance today!"

There's a large crowd in front of the temple, the people are deliriously praising the God.

"The believers will come back now!"
"Umu umu, we can finally repair this temple."

I heard familiar voices from among the crowd.

"--Kei."
"Sa-Satou-san?!"

Hearing my voice Kei wearing Zaikuon priest clothing turned at me in surprise.

"Is he your acquaintance Kei?"
"Yes, temple head-sama. He's Pe-Pe-Pen--err, Satou-san, a noble."

Apparently she doesn't remember my house name.

"Nice to meet you, temple head-sama. I'm Satou Pendragon. This may be trifling, but please accept my offering for the temple"

I hand over a small bag with 20 gold coins inside.

"Well well--how devout of you."

Temple head grinned widely at the glitter of the gold coins peeking from the bag's opening.

The gleeful-looking temple head led me and Kei to the temple's drawing room and served their treasured Makiwa tea.
The tea was insipid and only had the color for it, but I overcame it safely with the help of Poker Face skill.

"Temple head! We have a visitor."
"O-okay, wait for a bit."

It seems there's a lot of visitors today, there's already been many of them coming during the little time we were talking.
According to the temple head, Kei had been making use of the [Compounding] skill she learned from her foster parent to help the restoration of Dasles City and gain believers.

"Temple head-sama, they're--"

Judging from the priest's expression, looks like they can't turn down the visitors this time.

"I will take my leave soon."
"I-Is that right. I'm very sorry for not being a good host."
"Could I talk a bit more with Kei?"
"Yes, of course you can."

We left the drawing room, seen off by the grateful temple head.

"Oh my, looks like we ended up chasing the preceding visitors away."
"Oh no, we were just about to leave ourselves."

The one in the corridor, led by the priest earlier, is the current acting Marquis Dasles, Miss Shelmina Dasles.
Looks like she's overworking herself, she's hiding the dark circles under her eyes with makeup.

"Your Excellency Marquis!"
"That's incorrect. I'm only acting as a substitute until uncle comes back."

Miss Shelmina denied the surprised temple head with a sour look on her face.

Shiga Kingdom should have told Makiwa Kingdom the passing of her uncle, Dwod Dasles the pyromaniac noble, but it seems they haven't announced it to the public yet.
They're probably going to do it once Dasles Marquisdom has been restored to a degree.

"Would you be the acting marquis? I'm Satou Pendragon from Shiga Kingdom. I'm stopping by as the people here have been taking care my acquaintance."
"Shiga Kingdom's?!"

Miss Shelmina was surprised to hear my introduction, and then she introduced herself as she would to a noble of a foreign country.
She took my hand and began to talk about how grateful she was for the large airships Shiga Kingdom sent to help transporting the refugees.

"As one would expect from the country founded by Hero King Yamato-sama, even Shiga King is a noble person."

We helped them using Echigoya Firm name, but it appears she thinks it was Shiga King who unofficially sent the help.
We ended up talking while standing, so Kei and I were led back to the drawing room.

"Is the thing I heard from priest-dono earlier true?"
"Yes of course."

After she talked to me enough, miss Shelmina asked the temple head for a confirmation.

"It's true!　■ Bless"
"W-what are you--"

Kei happily stood up and chanted a holy magic spell.
Miss Shelmina's face stiffened at Kei's sudden action.

The blessing light rains down over the head of miss Shelmina the territory land lord's candidate.

--This is bad.

I jump over the table with a speed rivaling short-range teleportation and push miss Shelmina down.
The people who didn't understand the situation voiced their surprise.

>[Holy Magic: Zaikuon Belief] Skill Acquired.

So the revival is true.

"Excuse me. Please forgive my discourtesy since it was an emergency."
"I-I'm saved. Thank you for your wise decision."

The only person who understood my action in this place, miss Shelmina said that with a pale face.

"Get away! You insolent rabble!"
"Stop it! Viscount is my lifesaver."

Miss Shelmina rebuked her enraged escort knight.

"Eh, um? You don't like God's blessing?"

I lightly whack the head of Kei who looks puzzled.
There are things that you shouldn't do even if they're out of good will.

--A land lord needs to control a City Core.

However, that has several conditions, and people who have received blessing from god are against one those conditions.
Of course, there's a trick that can be used to remove God's blessing by way of a ritual magic, however it seems that needs a huge amount of cost and time to perform.

"Kei, you shouldn't bless someone without their consent. There are people who have pledged their faith to another God."

The temple head admonished Kei in an easy to understand manner in my place.

"Putting aside the mean, I certainly saw the actuation of a holy magic. That holy symbol is certainly--"

Miss Shelmina tidied her clothes, coughed once and said that.
Looks like she's not going to pursue Kei's rash action.

"--the same as the one in the temple. So God Zaikuon has really been revived."

Miss Shelmina clearly stated the words I hesitated to say out loud.

That's right, Kei already had holy magic skill from the beginning.
However, Kei couldn't use that holy magic even if she chanted the right spell.

Because the source of her holy magic, God Zaikuon had died.

And now.

Kei is able to use holy magic.
In other words, God Zaikuon the source of the holy magic has been revived.

Nevertheless--it's fast.

Once, Demi God-mode Aze-san told me.

"When they had just arrived at this world, God Zaikuon and God Garleon challenged the Dragon God and got killed, however they were revived in 1000 years."

But, if that's the truth, then God Zaikuon who was killed 30 years ago revived too fast.

"Then, we will double the amount of the current offering, in exchange please send priests to the free medical building."
"Double the amount now--"

The temple head frowned to hear miss Shelmina.

"Could you get it back to the same amount as 30 years ago at least?"
"Unfortunately, right now the restoration takes top priority."

Miss Shelmina shook her head at the temple head's entreatment.
Their financial is probably in a bad shape since the king seems to hardly assist.

I'll send some fund through Echigoya Firm at an appropriate time.


◇


"Is Viscount Pendragon staying in the temple?"
"I'm not, now that I've met Kei, I'm thinking of departing Dasles City by today's end."

I only came here to say [Congratulation] to Kei after all, and I had confirmed the revival of God Zaikuon.
There's no need to stay here for long.

--Nn? Red luminous points are reflected on the Radar.

"But! I was thinking of holding a party to welcome Viscount Pendragon...."

Miss Shelmina spoke regrettably.

Yet she's not going to forcefully detain me.
Welcoming a noble of a foreign country is probably going to hit their finance hard.

I open the map and confirm the identities of the red points while talking with miss Shelmina.

They're nothing to be afraid about.

They're level 20 small fries, the points that need special mentions are only their [Fiend Drug Overdose] states and that they're people that belong to the crime guild [Cannibal Snake].

If I'm not mistaken, [Cannibal Snake] are the bunch who led the refugees and did some terrorism at the neighboring Silga Kingdom.

"--Viscount-sama! Right, black overcoat, behind a child!"

I heard Pipin's voice from beyond the crowd.
Looks like he's warning me about the owner of the red point reflected on the radar.

"--Tch."
"Uwaaa"

A man in black overcoat who's using a kid as a shield assaults miss Shelmina with a dagger.
The guard who was going to cover miss Shelmina was rammed by another man from the flank.

It seems they slipped into the temple's crowd.

"Sharu!"
"--Did you call?"

With Kei's shout, a beauty jumped down the roof and landed on the black overcoat man's back.
She's Sharururun, a former phantom chivalrous thief, now a member of Echigoya Firm whom I, as Kuro, tasked to guard Kei.

A different man with brown overcoat behind the smashed man came assaulting while his body was transforming.

The brown overcoat man blocks Sharururun's dagger with his transformed claws

"Monster?"
"Uwaaaa, it's a monster!"

The members of [Cannibal Snake] who were hiding themselves in the crowd stirred a panic with loud voices.

--This is bad.

I pull miss Shelmina's hand to keep her away from danger and kick the small man who stealthily attacked with a dagger.
I invoke the [Calm Field] from magic column while I'm at it and stop the surroundings from panicking.

After that, I stun the [Cannibal Snake] members with the highly stealthy [Stun Hand].
It's a faulty magic that's easy to block if there's no level difference, but that's not the case if I use it.

"V-viscount Pendragon. I-I'm glad that you saved me, but could you please let your hands go now?"

Miss Shelmina appealed with a red face in my arm.
Oops, I forgot that I was still embracing her.

"Shelmina-sama! There's no mistake, this tattoo is of the 『Cannibal Snake』."
"I thought uncle had annihilated them all, so there are some remains."

The guard who inspected the man defeated by Sharururun said that.

"Viscount Pendragon, and the woman over there, thank you for your assistance. I will be sure to reward you later."
"No need for thanks. I only helped Kei."

Sharururun curtly brushed off miss Shelmina.
Offended by her attitude, the guard is glaring at Sharururun.

Kei who sensed the worsening atmosphere points at the sky while looking like she realized something.

"Look look! Sunbeam!"

Kei is pointing at beautiful light streaming between the thick cloud.

"It's like the sky is also celebrating God's revival."

Kei spoke with an unnaturally bright tone to break the ice.
Lured by Kei's smile, everyone smiles.

Mysterious toll of a bell can be heard out of nowhere.

"What a beautiful sound."

I can feel the superior skill of the bell craftsman from the tone of the deep calm toll.

I wonder if I should put a bell in the solitary island palace too?

I ask miss Shelmina while thinking that.

"Is this from the castle's bell?"
"I-it's not, I've never heard such a beautiful sound either."

Yet, miss Shelmina returned a negative.

--Well now?

If she who has lived her whole life in Dasles City doesn't know, then where does this sound of bell come from?

My question is quickly answered.

In the worst possible way.


<<TAKE HEED>>

An intimidating voice descended from the sky.
It's like hearing several kinds of language at the same time.

Sounds of rustling sound and soil reached my ears.

Everybody besides me have fallen prostrates with their foreheads on the ground.
Even the land lord candidate, miss Shelmina is not an exception.

<<TAKE HEED>>

The voice descended from the sky once again.

Looks like it has begun.
































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