A Day Ten Years Later - 3
“…… Do you know me?”
“Oh my, sorry. At first I thought you were just someone who often comes to pray at the temple, so you seemed familiar, but when you asked strangely if I knew you, I wondered if you were someone I knew.”
Lucia answered with an ambiguous smile.
… Did she recognize me?
Her eyes had always been sharp, so even though I looked almost nothing like my ten-years-ago self, she was half-doubting and subtly probing me. It was rather grateful.
Revealing my identity was what I wanted, but I could see the conversation was growing too long and she was noticing something.
At that moment, noisy sounds came from inside the temple. I could roughly guess what had happened. I told Lucia briefly.
“Rather than that, you should probably go inside first.”
“Ah, oh! I was lost in thought. Theo, come on, let’s go.”
I followed them silently.
The main building of the temple, which hundreds of people visited every day, had small prayer rooms attached.
As it was a border parish near a small city, it had a rather modest size. This was also because Astasia disliked large temples.
Clean marble and the breeze inside, with moss growing. The transparent windows letting in the sunlight directly were the hallmark of the Astasia Temple.
But today, an unwelcome guest had come, which didn’t suit it.
“Supervisor! If you suddenly come like this, we’re in trouble. Even if it’s the Empire’s law, this is land where the goddess is watching, right?”
“Enough, don’t talk to these apprentices. Call the higher-ups. Where’s Bishop Boris? I need to meet him.”
“The bishop is busy too. If you come on another day to set a date…”
A few boys and girls who looked like novice priests, around Theo’s age, were struggling with one man.
Visually, a man with a prominent mustache that looked well-groomed.
The novice priests had tried desperately to drive him out, but it was useless.
He was looking at the Astasia goddess statue as if admiring a piece of art, then noticed Lucia and belatedly stood up.
“Oh oh, Priestess Lucia. Hello.”
“… May the wisdom of the goddess be with you. Hello, Supervisor. It doesn’t seem like it’s been that long.”
“It’s possible. I’m a busy person, so my sense of time is dull.”
The man chuckled and shrugged his shoulders.
“… By the way, I don’t see Bishop Boris. Where… is he out?”
‘He already knew but…’ Lucia muttered quietly.
“He is… the bishop is currently away from the parish. He was called by the Saintess.”
“The Saintess of the Astasia Church is quite diligent.”
“Diligence is one of the virtues emphasized by Astasia.”
“Haha, earnestness. I, a lazy person like me, the goddess won’t overlook, right?”
“… Well, coming this persistently might be seen as diligence depending on the perspective?”
Lucia replied with a tired tone.
“Sorry, but please leave today. As you can see, today is the day when children from the nearby orphanage visit the temple. Even if you have business, you should set a new schedule through the priests…”
“Visiting the orphanage? This… That’s a first.”
“If the marquis knows our temple’s schedule, isn’t that a problem in itself?”
“Huh… Priestess Lucia. You shouldn’t say that. I’m the supervisor. If something like this happens, you should tell me first.”
“This is the first time I’ve heard that the Empire’s supervisor can ignore the goddess’s will and the temple’s independence.”
“Other sects would be right, but the Astasia Church, especially this parish, you know it’s different, right?”
“Haa… Marquis. I’ve said this many times, but the priestess Ria isn’t the person you’re looking for.”
“Since Priestess Lucia says so… I want to believe it, but my superiors don’t seem to think that way.”
For someone who had been away from the Empire’s land for a long time, it was just incomprehensible words.
The only person around who might explain was the clumsy novice priest Theo.
“What’s going on?”
I asked quietly, and Theo jumped up in surprise.
He looked at me with a ‘can I tell this to a stranger?’ expression, then whispered hesitantly.
“This guy is Marquis Zeke, a supervisor dispatched from the Empire. What kind of person the supervisor is…”
“Ah. I know that. It’s the personnel the Empire dispatches to the temples rooted in the Empire’s territory.”
The place where the temple is built is not affiliated with any specific country and is never interfered with.
However, countries that draw borders based on such ambiguous standards are few in number.
The Empire, which was in its prime under the previous emperor, was no different.
But it couldn’t afford to make enemies of hundreds of thousands of various people.
The Empire has traditionally dispatched noblemen with the title ‘supervisor’ to manage the temples within the territory, giving it an unofficial but effective character of rule.
Of course, despite the somewhat arrogant title ‘supervisor’, the sects overlook it because they don’t really challenge the sects from above.
As far as I know, the Empire’s supervisor doesn’t clash with the sects.
“This is a troublesome matter. Marquis Zeke wants to find the witch in our parish.”
“… Witch?”
“Yes, witch. Even if you’re not an Empire person, you’ve heard of it, right? The witch, Elysia. There’s a priestess named Ria in our parish, and recently the supervisor has been seriously pushing the rumor that Priestess Ria is the same person as the dead witch Elysia from long ago.”
Witch…
I listened to Theo’s words with one ear and quietly observed Lucia.
Normally, Boris would have stopped the marquis’s movements. Now that Boris is absent and the marquis has come somewhat coercively, it’s not unusual.
“Priestess Lucia. Think simply. What I want is just to dispel the rumor that the ‘Ria’ priestess is really the witch Elysia. There’s a situation where people in the Empire are uneasy about the rumor that witches are alive.”
“There’s no one in the Empire who believes such baseless rumors! Marquis, you should know. The witch Elysia died 10 years ago. The corpse burned in fire was published in national newspapers!”
“The corpse coming out is true, but… Well, a corpse burned in fire can be transported from anywhere, can’t it?”
“What grounds are you using for such talk? … It’s really not good. I can’t stand it anymore. Priestess Ria is a precious person in our church. If the doubt you speak of is the Empire’s own position, we have no choice but to raise the issue at the church level.”
“Raising an issue… Well, if you say that. But the fact that the woman in this parish has red eyes is also true.”
“Wait a minute! Where are you going? Don’t wander around the temple arbitrarily! How rude! The goddess is watching, right?!”
“Priestess Lucia. The all-powerful goddess doesn’t have time to look into every small parish, does she?”
Well…
Well, if I have to nitpick, she’s watching now.
I chuckled inwardly.
The marquis Zeke, who doesn’t know this fact, started rummaging through the temple here and there arbitrarily.
He probably thought the ‘Ria priestess’ he’s looking for is watching from nearby.
“There are other buildings outside the temple. Where is this…?”
“Marquis! Stop it! That side leads to the private living quarters of our clergy!”
“Then this side.”
“You’re mistaken! This matter must be reported directly to the Saintess!”
“Do as you like, priest. To me, the prince’s command is heavier than the goddess’s words.”
Lucia blocked the marquis, but Zeke pushed her away repeatedly.
Finally, when Lucia pulled out a short dagger from her pocket and pointed it, his footsteps stopped.
“Oh wow, scary. Do the Astasia Church’s clergy carry such things?”
“Arbitrarily messing with the temple… What you’re doing is equivalent to insulting the goddess right now.”
“… Priest… If you keep being uncooperative like this, I have no choice. Today, I have to bring back something, so please don’t think badly.”
“Priestess Lucia!”
“Priest! Run away!”
Several novice priests screamed as Zeke snatched Lucia’s dagger.
It was instantaneous.
Skilled and without extra movements.
I felt that he was closer to a long-trained soldier than the ‘supervisor’ title meant to build rapport with the church.
He immediately raised the dagger high. There was no sign of intent to harm Lucia. The primary purpose was probably to intimidate. Attacking a priest in a sacred temple like this wouldn’t be a wise choice.
But even so, I didn’t plan to just watch silently.
Piiing…!
I kicked a suitable pebble rolling at my feet.
With mana infused, aiming straight at the dagger.
Tang!
The vibration left by the blade’s rebound made Zeke’s hand tremble and stop.
Zeke frowned and glared at me.
“Who are you…?”
“The goddess is watching. I gave a warning in advance.”
“Astasia…? From what you’re saying, you’re not from the church.”
Lucia, who had been squinting, finally stealthily observed the situation and saw me, her expression turning to surprise.
“Eh… You are the one from earlier…”
“Hello, Priestess Lucia. It’s been 10 years since we last met.”
“Ye…s......... 10 years…?”
Lucia, who had been chewing briefly, soon opened her eyes wide in disbelief and stared at me.
“Could it be… perhaps…!”
“Let’s do the greeting later, and now let’s kick this person out.”
At my words, Zeke laughed with a ‘kick’.
“Kick out? With force? Me? Do the clergy implicitly agree? Haha, the goddess must be watching well. Insulting the holy temple with violence, I don’t do such stupid things.”
“What you did just now was extreme bravado.”
“I, and Priestess Lucia, didn’t feel that we ended it at the threat level. Threat and physical violence are different.”
“Really? Still, I don’t care.”
“… To dirty the sanctuary? Did you directly say that?”
“The sanctuary and all that, the one who caused the ruckus is the other side, not this side?”
“I was just here to find the witch. It’s something the goddess would naturally nod at, going beyond justification.”
“Hmm, the witch, huh.”
I nodded shortly, and Lucia smiled bitterly and warned the supervisor.
“It’s better to run away now, Marquis Zeke. Even if you talk like that, it won’t help. The person over there is exempt from the gods’ agreement.”
“Exempt…?”
He narrowed his eyes and looked at me.
“If it’s a problem with the gods, the gods have emotions to some extent. They have some flexibility.”
“… What nonsense is that?”
It’s nonsense.
“The temple owner is watching, right?”
Meaning, if you get permission from the temple owner.
Like this.
“Wait, I’ll clean the inner room a bit.”
('Yeah. Make him into a mess, but don’t kill him.')
… Even while eating popcorn from above, there are too many unnecessary things to wish for.
This is the first season’s help, so I shouldn’t grumble out loud, right?