#020 Church
#020 Church
"Please, calm yourself. I truly regret that things have come to this...." "U-uh, u-uaaah...!!"
The sole surviving young man from the village.
They had wanted to ask him what had happened, but he was in no state to calm down.
"Father, Mother!!"
The death of his parents.
The deaths of all the villagers were bad enough, but the fact that the young man's own parents were among them made it impossible for him to compose himself.
"What should we do?"
"...We wait until he calms down. Tell the knights to search the surroundings. Have them maintain formation as much as possible and prepare for an ambush."
"Understood."
The moment Yan gave the order, Liliez began directing the knights to search the area.
"......."
Leaving the young man weeping before his parents' bodies for the moment, Yan quietly made her way to the center of the village square.
"It's gone...."
The Holy Sword was gone.
The Holy Sword that should have been planted here, that should have guarded this place for hundreds of years in the Holy Sword Village, was nowhere to be seen.
"Someone has drawn the Holy Sword...."
A Holy Sword Hero had appeared.
But there was no way to know where that Hero had gone.
And no wonder—every last person in the Hero Village had been slaughtered.
"Would the killer know where the Holy Sword went...? No, why did they kill these people in the first place?"
Yan could not understand the attackers' actions.
"They clearly sensed the Holy Sword's reaction and arrived before us, but what reason could they have to kill the villagers like this...?"
No matter how she thought about it, the situation made no sense.
Yan cautiously reached out toward the empty ground where the Holy Sword had been.
"I, Yan, Saintess of the Church of the Azure Moon Goddess, ask. Spirits of moonlight, answer...hmm?"
Yan had intended to ask the spirits lingering in the earth for help.
But not even the spirits were present.
As if they had sensed the horror of what had happened here and fled elsewhere, the moonlight spirits that should have been everywhere were absent from this place.
"...I truly don't understand."
It was as if whatever had happened here had been systematically covered up.
In the end, the only person who knew the truth was that sole surviving young man.
Yan carefully approached the young man, but....
BANG!
"!!"
A gunshot rang out from the distance.
Yan dashed forward and thrust her hand out.
CLANG—!
"E-eek!!"
The lance of the Azure Moon that extended from Yan's hand deflected the Magic Bullet.
The young man yelped and threw himself to the ground, and Yan leveled her lance toward the darkness.
"Who goes there? Identify yourself."
[......A Saintess, as expected.]
STEP, STEP.
From the pitch-black darkness, a Death Knight emerged, its eyes burning red.
[I was going to simply withdraw, but it left a bad taste in my mouth.]
"A Dark Knight...!"
[Step aside, Saintess.]
Click.
The Dark Knight loaded its shotgun and aimed it at the young man.
[I am in a very foul mood right now. I just got thoroughly chewed out for leaving loose ends for that person.]
"That is none of my concern."
[Indeed. It is none of your concern. So....]
BANG!
The shotgun's muzzle spat fire once more.
Magic Bullets scattered through the air, aimed not only at the young man but at Yan's entire body.
"In the name of the Goddess!"
Yan stood still and prayed.
The robe covering her body dissolved into blue light in an instant, and soon only a blue garment remained on Yan's body.
The formal vestments of the Church of the Azure Moon Goddess.
The arms were exposed to the armpits, the legs exposed to the hips, with only the essential areas precisely covered.
[I see. So that is the 'high-leg monokini.' Heh heh, honestly. I may have awakened after two hundred years, but I truly cannot keep up with the world these days.]
The Dark Knight clicked its jaw joints and sneered at Yan.
[Is that supposed to be clothing?]
"Silence, Demonfolk. How dare one tainted by darkness presume to guess at the Goddess's will?"
[I just find it ridiculous that you intend to fight in nothing but underwear. Embarrassment aside, if you expose your skin like that....]
BANG!
[If you're hit by a Magic Bullet that can pierce even armor, your flesh will....]
"Hmph."
Yan stood there, unbothered.
The Magic Bullets scattered like buckshot struck her entire body, but they merely fell to the ground, spent and harmless.
"You seem to have only recently been resurrected, so allow me to inform you, Dark Knight."
Yan raised both hands above her head.
The lance that rose above her hands blazed brilliantly, condensed with immense energy.
[Damn it. My first mission is completely ruined.]
The Dark Knight slung its shotgun over its back and drew a sword and shield.
[Do priests these days get stronger the more they expose?]
"Begone, creature of darkness!!"
KABOOM!!
[The world has gone mad.]
CRUMBLE.
The last thing the Dark Knight saw was Yan's smooth armpit.
* * *
"Exposure is nothing to be ashamed of."
The nun who had come to the salon clasped my hand tightly and prayed.
"The grace of the Azure Moon Goddess can be received through moonlight. Just as plants grow by receiving sunlight, we priests sleep naked every night to receive the Azure Moon Goddess's moonlight upon our bodies."
"......."
"The Pope has said: the grace of the Azure Moon Goddess settles upon the skin, so if you cover it with clothing, you receive that much less of the Goddess's grace."
"...Ha."
It was absurd, but it seemed to be true.
After all, the priest who had come to the salon was also wearing an insane design with cutouts at the sides, revealing a slender waist and the lines of the pubic bone.
Moreover, the entire underbust was visible.
"It has been fifty years since the current Pope instituted the 'Reformation of Grace.' Thanks to the Pope, we have been able to realize something new."
"And what's that?"
"That exposure is defense."
"......."
If I went back five hundred years, that kind of talk would get you slapped, if not barred from the battlefield entirely.
"Watch."
But after the priest demonstrated it herself, I couldn't help believing her.
"If I draw a blade across the clothed part like this, it leaves a red mark...."
"!!"
PRESS.
"...But if I channel Divine Power through exposed skin like this, I won't be injured. It's the same principle as a mage using shield magic."
"It's real."
It was absurd, but it was true.
"Fine. They say a priest's exposure and faith, exposure and defense, are proportional. Then why are adventurers dressed like that?"
"The Goddess's grace does not discriminate based on faith."
"...Seriously?"
"Yes."
So said the priest.
The Azure Moon Goddess's blessing of 'increased defense through exposure' did not discriminate among believers.
It was an immense blessing for adventurers, and as long as the Goddess's grace existed, there was no longer any need to wear armor.
"If bikini armor has greater defense than full plate armor, why would anyone bother walking around in something heavy?"
"The end times are upon us."
"At first, there were those who said the same. But now it is different. Now, the more you cover up, the more dangerous the world becomes, sister."
The priest pressed the brooch—the token I had handed over for the sake of conversation—firmly into my hand.
"Believe in the Goddess, sister."
"......Ha."
The priest gathered up the garments she had left with the salon and departed.
She walked off with an armful of that rag—a so-called nun's habit with flaps hanging front and back that barely covered the essential areas around the abdomen, looking like the slightest breeze would expose everything below.
'This is insane.'
No matter how I looked at it, I couldn't understand.
What? The more skin I showed, the safer I was?
What kind of religion was this?
"Lucius, what do you think?"
"Huh?"
"Do you think it's right for me to walk around with my legs and arms completely exposed?"
"W-well, that's...."
Lucius hesitated and couldn't answer.
Even this innocent young man—
"Wait!!"
I had discovered a contradiction.
"Women get safer by exposing themselves, so why don't men expose themselves too?!"
"......."
Cospaco said nothing.
"Ha, haha! So that's how it is! This salon really was just a place that sells lewdly designed clothes! The customers too! The adventurers too! Haha, hahaha! You're all trying to trick me, aren't you?! Huh?!"
"My lady. There is a very simple reason for that."
Cospaco smiled bitterly and pointed at himself.
"The Azure Moon Goddess does not grant the blessing of exposure to men."
"......Huh?"
"The Pope said—he scolded them, asking how men could even think of walking around indecently in nothing but underwear."
"But it's fine for women to walk around in nothing but underwear like that?"
"It is not underwear. It is bikini armor...."
"Ugh, seriously!!!"
I couldn't contain my rage.
"This is sex discrimination! Why do only women have to strip?!"
"Master, do you perhaps wish to see a man's naked body?"
"That's not it!"
The mana in my heart seethed.
At the same time, fury surged.
"Fine! Say I wear a miniskirt! Then I'll be safe?"
"W-well...Master."
Lucius spoke to me in a serious voice.
"I think it's better for you to be safe, even if it's somewhat uncomfortable."
"......."
"Even if it's a little uncomfortable to wear, couldn't that discomfort save your life?"
"True. The logic is sound. It makes sense."
If only it were full plate armor instead of a miniskirt!
"Haa.... Fine. Just give me a robe."
"My lady, are you not trying to enter the Adventurers' Guild?"
"What now?"
"Clothing must fundamentally be worn appropriately for the time, place, and situation. The Adventurers' Guild does not permit entry to adventurers who do not consider safety."
"So what you're saying is...."
I pointed at the robe that covered my whole body.
"I can't even get in without exposing myself?"
"That is correct."
"......."
Should I just kill them all?
If we couldn't enter the Adventurers' Guild to obtain rewards, materials, and Mana Stones, our journey would suffer a major setback.
"My lady. This is truly not something I wish to suggest, but if it truly bothers you, how about this...?"
"What is it?"
"This is...."
WHISPER, WHISPER.
"......Bring it."
"Ta-da. Here are the undershorts."
"No, where did the pumpkin pants goooooo!"
"Excuse me? You're not a child—who would wear such things?"
"How are these undershorts?! They're just underwear!!"
"Aside from being skin-tight, they are indeed undershorts. They're called mini-spats...."
To enter the Adventurers' Guild, I had no choice but to wear them.
Church of the Azure Moon Goddess.
I would destroy you someday.