Chapter 113

“I’d like to try my hand at building a small, simple shrine. I’m sorry, but I was wondering if you could lend me a few of your free girls from <Kikyou> for a day tomorrow.”

“Yes! I’ll tell everyone at <Kikyou> that sister has requested it!”

It was the day before yesterday that Yuri made this request to Meteora, <Kikyou> captain.

The next day, yesterday, in the office where Yuri was looking over the report, “I’m free!” all 24 members of <Kikyou> came to her office with big smiles on their faces.

Yuri can’t bear to turn them away for coming all the way here, so she uses [Transfer Magic] to move with all of <Kikyou>, and asks them to build a shrine here.

Today, on the 39th day of the winter month, Yuri visited the site again and found that a majestic shrine had been erected in just one night.

“Didn’t I tell you that a simple, small shrine would do…?”

“I’m sorry! I was in the middle of making it when I got excited!”

If you’re excited… what can you do?

Well, as they say, bigger is better than smaller. There may be no problem with this.

Yuri used [Transfer Magic] to return to the Yuritania Palace with everyone from <Kikyou>.

After that, Yuri used [Transfer Magic] once more, accompanied by Hotaru, the captain of <Koubai>.

“―――What a magnificent shrine you’ve built~”

“That’s exactly what I was thinking…”

While looking at the shrine that everyone in <Kikyou> had built in one night. Yuri agreed wholeheartedly with what Hotaru said without hiding her exasperated tone.

“By the way, Master. Where are we?”

“The surface of the mines mined by the inhabitants of the mining city of Dakart, in the center of the city.”

“Hmmm. The mines here are literally in the mountains~.”

“Yes, they are.”

The word ‘mine’ means ‘a place where minerals can be mined’, not necessarily a place in a mountain. It is not uncommon to find them on the plains or at the bottom of the ocean.

However, the older the stratum, the more abundant the minerals are, so it is also common for the stratum to be pushed up for some reason, and the uplifted mountain to be used as a mine.

“I see, I have a general understanding of what you are planning to do. You are planning to worship either Kanayama-hiko or Kanayama-hime in this shrine, aren’t you?”

“You guessed it. Hotaru is going to find out soon enough.”

『Kanayama-hiko』and『Kanayama-hime』are the names of two Japanese gods that appear in the Kojiki and Nihonshoki books, but they also appear in the『Atros Online』.

Or rather, many of the famous Japanese gods appear in『Atros Online』and both Kanayama-hiko and Kanayama-hime were treated as『Gods of Mines』.

If this god’s power is placed in a person, or a mining tool, the quality and quantity of ore that can be mined from the deposit will increase. If it is placed in the land itself, the amount of ore stored in the mines in the vicinity will naturally increase over time.

If you build a shrine and worship there, you can expect the latter effect.

Metals are basically depletable resources, so the more you dig, the more the reserves decrease, and eventually, they will run out. However, if a shrine dedicated to the gods Kanayama-hiko or Kanayama-hime is set up in advance, the reserves will naturally be replenished to some extent.

This is why I asked everyone at <Kikyou> to help me build a shrine, and why I sent Hotaru along today to welcome the gods to this shrine.

If you ask Hotaru, who is a top-ranking priestess <Tamayorihime> and has reached the maximum level of 200, welcoming the gods to this place is no problem

“But, Master. Of course, there is a problem with that, isn’t there?”

“Yes, I know. In this world, the ‘Other World’, neither the gods Kanayama-hiko nor Kanayama-hime exist. I’m sure you’re trying to tell me that even if the shrines are prepared in this way, there is no way to welcome them in the end, right?”

“Yes, you are right~”

The gods that existed in the game『Atros Online』do not exist in this other world.

Even with Hotaru’s power, it is impossible to summon a god that doesn’t exist in this world itself.

“Don’t worry. I can temporarily connect this world to『Leangard』. I’m sure it’ll work if you just summon the gods in the usual way.”

“Oh my, is that even possible…?”

Hotaru seemed quite astonished by Yuri’s words.

The other day, after a private tea party with Lydina at the Garden of the Gods, Yuri learned from her how to return to Japan by consuming the power of faith.

In addition to this, she also taught me many other miracles that can be performed by consuming the power of faith.

One of them was to connect this world with other worlds for a short period so that they could interfere with each other in various ways.

This is the same miracle that Lydina used to summon Yuri from 『Earth』 and all the members of the Yuri Empire from『Leangard』, the in-game world of『Atros Online』.

In other words, Lydina’s experience has already proven that it is possible to connect to『Leangard』in the game world using this miracle.

“There is no guarantee that it will work, though. There is a good chance that it will fail, so I was planning to have a small, simple shrine built…”

“If it is a request from Master, everyone in <Kikyou> will be very excited~ I think it’s understandable・・・, that this is the result.”

“What a mess…”

Yuri smiled as she lowered her eyebrows.

Of course, she was happy that everyone had worked so hard for her.

“Shall we welcome the gods at once, then?”

“It’s too early to tell. I’ve already had <Kikyou> prepare a magnificent shrine box for you, but you haven’t prepared the contents yet, have you?”

“Oh―――yes, that’s right. We have to prepare the sacred object first, don’t we? Aruji-sama, which one do you intend to receive,『Kanayama-hiko』or『Kanayama-hime』?”

“Does it matter which one?”

“I think the effect of the natural mineral increase is almost the same for both.”

“If that’s the case, I’d prefer a female. That’s what I like”

“Of course~”

Kanayama-hiko is a male deity, while Kanayama-hime is a female deity.

If asked to choose between the two, Yuri would choose the goddess without hesitation.

“I think a mirror would be a good substitute for the goddess Kanayama. If you have a mirror made of the mineral resources you want to increase, that would be the best…”

“Hmm… I heard that silver can be extracted here, so maybe a mirror made of silver would be good?”

“If you want to increase the number of copper reserves, you can use a copper mirror. If you want to increase copper reserves, you can use a copper mirror. If you want to increase mithril reserves, you can use a mithril mirror.”

“If you’d like to use the “Shomakyo”, it’s in my [Inventory] right now…”

Shomakyo is an item that has the effect of [Exposing Hidden Things], and when activated, it can reveal all hidden doors, hidden traps, and hidden demons in the vicinity, as well as erase all illusions and phantoms.

In addition to being quite useful, it is an item that can be used over and over again as long as it is replenished with magic power, so Yuri usually carries it around in her inventory.

By the way, in the game『Atros Online』, this was a ‘charged item’ that was treated as a small prize in a gacha, so naturally, Yuri had a lot of them.

Yuri only has one of these in my inventory, but I’m sure there are hundreds of them stored in [Maid Bag].

“And of course, if it’s the Shomakyo, there’s no shortage of it as a sacred object~”

It seems to me that the Shomakyo, the sacred object of the deity, is much higher in rank than the Kanayama-hime deity we are welcoming.”

“Well, as long as there’s no problem, I don’t mind. Let’s use this.”

“Yes~”

Yuri and Hotaru entered the main shrine and stood in front of a long box at the far end, which was used to hold the sacred object.

She opened the door of the box and placed the Shomakyo mirror she had taken from her [Inventory].

Now the sacred object is ready. All you have to do is to welcome the spirit of Kanayama-hime to this substitute.

“So, I’m going to connect this world to『Leangard』now, so please wait for about 20 seconds and then start your work.”

“Yes, I’ll start counting in my mind~”

“Thank you.”

As she recalled the method that Lydina had taught her yesterday, Yuri was keenly aware of the existence of the “Divine Seat” that made her existence divine.

Of the eight “God Seats” in this world, one is under Yuri’s control. As long as she puts in the appropriate amount of faith, Yuri will be able to handle that power at will.

In her mind’s eye, Yuri could vividly picture the in-game world of『Atros Online』that she used to enjoy every night.

Just by doing so, as the bearer, Yuri could feel the sense that the power of faith that Yuri had put into the “Divine Seat” would form a “Path” that would connect the world on its own.

“God resides in Takamagahara, and by the order of the Imperial Parent, the gods Oreki and Oreumi, I have gathered together all the eight million gods, and have given them to the gods for discussion―――”

After exactly twenty counts, the Hotaru begins to chant congratulatory words.

As if in response to the sacred ritual, the Shomakyo began to glow with a slight phosphorescence.

The ritual of welcoming the goddess Kanayama-hime took less than twenty minutes to complete.

After the ritual was over, the phosphorescence on the mirror had subsided, but nothing else seemed to have happened, so Yuri couldn’t tell the difference from before the ritual.

“It looks like we’ve got you safe and sound.”

I’m sure the gods dwelled in this mirror, because the Hotaru, who has reached level 200 of the highest level of the priestesses, the <Tamayorihime>, said so.

I closed the door of the box in which the deity was enshrined and offered a brief prayer.

… Nowadays, Yuri is also in the position of being a “God”. I’m not sure if praying to God is the right thing to do, but to be honest, I’m not sure it is.

“Speaking of which… in this case, what mineral reserves would be increased?”

“… Well? What exactly will it increase~?”

If Hotaru’s explanation is correct, this mine will increase the mineral resources used to make the mirror. In the first place, Yuri has no idea what kind of material the mirror is made of.

Probably, some rare metals will be used as well―――maybe mithril, adamantine, or some other reserves will increase.

―――It would be interesting if that were to happen, and I’m going to hope for that in my heart.