242 - - Art. 242. The Time of the Past and the Challenges to Come

"Is this the ...... you built back then?"

When I saw the ordeal in the Holy Land, I remembered that this was an athletic structure that I had built in my previous life.

At that time I was in the service of a king.

One day, the king's youngest daughter, a princess, said she wanted to fight against the demons too.

The king's retainers were in a hurry to stop her, because they knew they couldn't put her in danger, but to their annoyance, the king allowed them to do so.

The king had a soft spot for late-born princesses, after all.

However, it is impossible for a princess who has never had proper training to fight against demons.

Even if he had given her the best equipment.

So the vassals proposed that the king build a training facility for the princess.

He said it would be too dangerous without a minimum of training.

They hoped that the princess would get bored halfway through.

The king could not be dissuaded after all the vassals had persuaded him.

As a result, a training facility for fighting demons was built.

Well, they entrusted it to me.

The request was for more than just a training facility.

In case the princess gets injured, we'll have the best medical facilities.

And to make the princess forget her purpose, we also provided all kinds of temptations.

Specifically, the hot springs where we all went to.

Originally, the spa was designed to heal the injured and to accelerate the results of the training by efficiently recovering the fatigued body, but the princess's attendants told us that if we added beauty effects, the princess would forget about the battle and become absorbed in becoming beautiful. Right.

In addition, the princess was bored and didn't want to train alone, so we decided to enlarge the facility so that she can invite her friends who are willing to work hard with her.

The purpose of course was to get the princess to be more interested in playing with her friends.

That's what this place called the sanctuary was all about.

Good heavens, no wonder it looks familiar.

This building of the sanctuary for the trials, it's definitely the one I built back then.

Maybe it was so tedious and troublesome a job that I consciously tried to forget it. .......

"But why is this a sanctuary?"

That's the only thing I don't understand.

Why in the world?

The first thing I can think of is the collapse of the ancient civilization in which I was living at the time.

Even after I died, the war against the demons seemed to have been quite fierce, and it is said that changes in the topography of the land were common.

In fact, the area around the holy place was a wasteland, and no buildings from that time could be found anywhere.

Only the building of this sanctuary remains, but that is probably because this facility was built with a lot of money for the safety of the princesses.

The royal family had a very large budget for this facility.

Thanks to this, I was able to incorporate a lot of new and experimental technologies without worrying about the budget.

That was a good thing.

Anyway, even if the surrounding land was cleared for some reason, this facility would have been safe because of the warding and other defensive devices.

In this sense, the fact that only women are allowed to enter the sacred site must be related to the fact that the warding was set up for the safety of the princesses, forbidding men.

Well, actually, the reason was to prevent the princess from using it to meet with men.

The only thing that bothers me is that it is said that God is involved in this facility.

It seems that during the time of my death, the earth was in a terrible state due to the rampaging white plague, and God may have sent the six young men to take refuge in this facility, which happened to be fortunately safe and sound.

Well, I feel proud and embarrassed to think that my facility saved the ancient people.

While I was thinking like this about the former facility that came to be called the holy place, the explanation by the priests of the holy place started.

The ordeal consists of four stages. The temple that overcomes these stages and obtains the sacred artifact enshrined in the innermost part of the temple will be the winner.

"What?　You can touch the sacred artifact?

Tracy shouted in excitement at the priests' words.

"Hey, what's a sacred artifact?

Lilieira asks Tracy what a sacred object is.

The sacred artifact is a gift from the gods to the six young men. The six young men restored peace to the land with the sacred artifact, and made God's power known to the world.

"Wow."

A sacred artifact...I don't remember making anything like that...was this really made by God?

If so, it must be an amazing item.

Yeah, I'm getting a little curious.

"You joined us without knowing that?"

We were excited about the sacred artifact, and someone started talking to us.

"If you serve God and you don't know anything about the sacred artifacts, maybe you should relearn the teachings of the Church.　Well, I guess you can't expect these people to be educated in that area if they've been brought in to add to the war effort."

"You are ......"

The person who spoke to me was a priest wearing vestments with the holy seal of the god of war painted on them.

"What the hell, are you trying to pick a fight with me?"

Gyro responded.

He stares directly at the priest of the god of war who sends him a provocative look.

"Hmph, you again, little girl?

"Yeah?　I don't even know who you are.

I thought you knew Mr. Gyro, but apparently not.

"Oh, well. I'll let it slide for now. I'm sure you'll all drop out of the group as soon as the trials begin.

What the hell are you doing?

But I'll give you credit for getting us this far. If seeing us triumph will make you reflect on what you've done, I'll allow you to enter the temple of our god of war. Ha-ha-ha-ha!

With that, the priest of the god of war left us.

"Who the hell do you think you are?

Gyro-kun looked chagrined at being told off so unilaterally, though.

"Calm down. The point is that we should win.

It was Mina who stopped him.

"Yes, if we overtake someone who already thinks they've won and we win by a landslide, they'll be embarrassed.

"Well, I think we're being too careless, but I think it's a good idea to win and make them pay for it, don't you?

Mr. Megli and Mr. Norbu are also appeasing Mr. Gyro by telling him that he should win and make him pay back.

"d*mn, that's true, too."

Gyro-kun, who had been agitated and hot-tempered, regains his composure after being admonished by the others.

"......That's good teamwork, isn't it?"

I feel warmth at this scene.

It is like an episode of Rygard's adventure, the battle of Taslania.

Rygard, who was in a pinch because of his mistake and the failure of his mission, regained his composure at the words of his comrades and, on the contrary, used the mistake to win the battle.

"Yes, I have friends who can tell me when I get hot and forget myself," he said.

I glanced at my party mate, Liliela.

"No, I can't. I can't hold you back."

"Kyuun."

"What?

Even Fluffy was trying to tell me I couldn't do it!

Isn't that the part where you say I'll definitely make you calm?

But Liliela had her arms crossed in an "X" and was shaking her head.

Ugh, I guess our teamwork is not that good yet. ......

Come to think of it, Gyro, you guys have been together since you were little. I guess we're not as old as we used to be.

"Then we'll begin the trials. Everyone, get ready."

Oh no, we have to concentrate on the ordeal now.

"Let the trials ...... begin!"

""""""Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Finally, the ordeal began and all the participants rushed out at once......

""""""Ubooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!""""""

All the participants swooped in at once.

"...... Huh?"

◆Santoy, Warrior God Priest

At last the final ordeal began.

The pilgrimages are held from several years to several decades depending on the time of year, and many have never experienced the ordeal.

But do not be alarmed.

For every temple has preserved information about the ordeal from generation to generation.

The information left behind by those who came before us describes in detail the ordeal, how to conquer it, and when to do so.

The timing of the ordeals may be slightly different depending on when the pilgrimage took place, but the older ordeals are from a time when information was not yet available. The idea of gathering detailed information was not considered.

In recent years, however, more and more people have accompanied the pilgrims just for the purpose of writing down the details of the ordeal, and this has led to the collection of much more detailed information.

With this up-to-date information, it is easy to know when to avoid the coming ordeals.

"Let the ordeal ...... begin!"

The ordeal begins and the participants start running.

The first test is the first test, which starts right after the start.

A log-like stick sticks out from the ground on the side of the course at an angle and blows the participants off the course.

The trap at the very beginning is a nasty one, and many participants are caught by it unexpectedly even though they know about it.

However, those of us who know the details of the ordeal well understood the weak points of this trap.

One is that the timing and location of the sticks are constant.

The other is that there is enough time to avoid the sticks if you run far away from where they appear.

The only thing we have to watch out for is the fool who gets blown up and grabs you to take you with him.

But the temple of the fallen Lord does not have the manpower to gather information in as much detail as we do.

At best, they have only the faintest memory of a desperate ordeal.

The details of the information are different between those who actually experienced it and those who recorded it from a distance.

It's like fighting a demon and not being able to get detailed information about it.

Therefore, we have nothing to lose!

You little girls, I will pay you back for what you did to me!

"And I will bring you back to my temple and teach you the joy of serving the god of war and the pleasure of obeying me.

I didn't know what had happened.

All I knew was that I was flying in the air.　

Why?　Trapped?

I know where the traps are, I know when to set them, I've trained for them.

Why are we being blown up?

There's nothing ...... to hold on to.

They are being blown away together with their friends .......

This is stupid!　Me, this early in the game?

"The end. ......"

How can I, an elite member of the Temple of the God of War, end up helpless and helpless?

My head turned white at the ...... fact.

"Oh, no, that was a close one.

Someone grabbed my arm and stopped me from being blown away.

"What?

My friends are still alive!

I had hoped so, but when I saw the face of the person who had grabbed my arm, my mind was filled with confusion.

"What?"

"Hey, hey, don't do such a pathetic thing as disqualifying me out of the blue!"

The girl who grabbed my arm was that little Janet.

"Why?"

I was about to ask him why he saved my life, but he was so surprised that I couldn't speak.

"Why? Don't just go around blowing up on your own while you're picking your fights."

What do you want?

What do you want? I was offered a fight. It's no fun if we don't win and show them what we're made of. That's all.

I don't believe it. This is serious business.　It would be more fortunate if the enemy would destroy itself of its own accord. What are you going to do if you blow it all up with your green logic?

You sold me a fight, you know. Then fight with all your might and fight to the end!　I'm going to beat them head on!"

With that, the girl returned to the ordeal.

"...... is she stupid?"

I can't believe it. Why are you wasting your time like that?

This is a battle for the prestige of the Temple, remember?　It is a battle of honor that must be won no matter how cowardly the attempt.　If you win this battle, your career will be as good as you want it to be.

Does that little girl really care what it takes to keep her pride alive?

How stupid, how shallow, how childish ......

"But why, ...... why do I feel comfortable with it?"

No matter how you look at it, the little girl is acting wrong.

It should be wrong, but ...... I was helplessly excited by the mistake.

Just like the day I became a priest for the first time, just like when I was a greenhorn boy who was proud to protect the congregation.

"......"

I am speechless, but my body naturally rises to its feet.

My chest is hot, my body is hot, my heart is hot.

Running in front of me is a back slender and smaller than mine.

But how big his back is!

"Okay, I'll overtake your back!"

I run toward the small but big back.