Chapter 209

“Sister! I'm happy to report that the ‘Shinto City’ has been completed!”

―――It was a moment before noon on the 36th day of the winter month.

Meteora came to the office just as Yuri was finishing his morning work. She reported to me in a very happy voice.

Originally, she had told me that she would complete the work on the Shinto City by the end of the year, and the children of <Kikyou>, led by Meteora, had kept their promise.

“I would like to thank you for your hard work, Meteora. Did you have a hard time this time?”

The buildings in the city are all wooden with tiled roofs, which is a far cry from the usual buildings in 『 Leangard 』.

It's not hard to imagine that even the children of <Kikyou> would have had a hard time with the different ways of doing things.

“Well, yes… the Japanese architecture itself was not so bad once you got used to it.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yes. I was able to work on the construction with the help of Kanayamahiko and the other gods that we welcomed into this world.

I learned a lot of things, especially how to build without using nails.”

“Oh. It's called ‘wooden construction’.”

“That's right, Sister already knew that?”

It's a very famous technique used by palace carpenters.

On television, it is often exaggerated as a building technique that does not use a single nail. I heard from my grandfather a long time ago that most shrines and temples use nails, but only in small quantities.

“Isn't it hard to build with wood?”

“No, once you get used to it, it's quite convenient because you can be creative in the design stage. It may be a little similar to the prefabrication method.”

“I see. I think I understand.”

If you design and create the necessary parts and pieces for the wooden structure beforehand and bring them in, you can quickly assemble them at the construction site, as Meteora said.

Yuri, too, had worked in the construction industry when she was Japanese, so she could understand some of it.

“What was rather difficult was that the gods over there kept adding requests after the fact, such as ‘I want this kind of building’ or ‘I want you to rebuild it like this’. I wanted to complete the project earlier, but it took a lot of effort to deal with them, and as a result, it took a long time.”

“Ahh… That's put a lot of work…”

In the beginning, Yuri had asked <Kikyou> children to take into account the wishes of Amaterasu and the other gods as much as possible, because she believed that it was of utmost importance that a city is a good place for the gods to live.

If Yuri had asked them to do so, there was no way the <Kikyou> children could have denied her. In the end, the gods had no reservations about <Kikyou>, as all of their wishes were granted.

It would be better to hear the opinions of the gods of the Shinto City about this later, and if necessary, complain to Amaterasu.

<Kikyou> is a unit that acts for the Yuri Empire, and Yuri, the Empress, not serve the gods. While she was willing to give due consideration to the building of the city, it didn't make Yuri feel happy to have the girls used for anything else.

“By the way, I have one request to make of you, Sister!”

“What is it?”

“I would like you to name the completed Shinto City!”

“Hmm…”

In the past, the children of <Kikyou> had always hoped that Yuri would name the completed city after them. So Yuri knew that this would happen as well.

“Shouldn't the city be called―――‘Takamagahara’?”

Although the Shinto City is definitely under the rule of the Yuri Empire, the actual governance of the city will be left more to Amaterasu.

In this sense, the name ‘Takamagahara’ is more desirable than the name ‘Yuri’, because it strongly asserts that the city is under the authority of Amaterasu.

“Of course, Sister will is the highest priority, so if you want to use that name, we have no objection.

However―――we still have a strong desire to name the city we built with pride and honor after Sister!”

Just as everyone in the Yuri Empire respects Yuri's will to the fullest extent. The main thing is that Yuri, too, has no higher priority than the will of everyone in the Yuri Empire.

If Meteora looked at her straight in the eye and said that's what she wanted―――how could Yuri disregard that wish?

“…Okay. If Meteora says so, I'll name it.

So, let's see… how about we name the city ‘Hourai' in Japanese?”

“Hourai? I'm sure it's a good name, but… it would be nice if the city could be named after you.”

The cities that <Kikyou> has built in the past have all been named after the word ‘Yuri’, such as ‘Yuritania’, ‘Ulysses’, and ‘Eureka’.

It seems that Meteora is hoping to use the same name this time.

“I'm sure that not many girls in the Yuri Empire know this. I originally had another name. It's called Houraiji Yuri. It's like I have the surname Houraiji in addition to the name Yuri.”

“―――Re-Really? I'm sorry, I've never heard of that before.”

“It's my fault for not telling you, and it's not Meteora's fault to apologize.

So I hope you'll think ‘Hourai’ is just another name I have for the city. Is that too much to ask?”

“No! I understand now that I have been given a very honorable name!”

It seems that Meteora has been convinced.

I'm very happy to see that Meteora has been convinced because the surname ‘Houraiji’ is one of Yuri's favorites. Since ‘Shinto City’ is a city inhabited by Shinto gods, I left out the word ‘temple’ and called it ‘Hourai’.

One thing that bothers me a little is that when I write ‘Hourai’ in katakana… It gives a slightly dumb impression. If possible, it would be better to write ‘Hourai‘ in Chinese characters.

(Oh, well… maybe it wouldn't hurt to name the city in Japanese…)

We are planning to educate our people with Japanese language through the ‘Eight Wise School’ entrusted to Omoikane. There's no need to be concerned about writing in katakana.

Yuri took out a sheet of paper from the drawer of her office desk and write the Chinese character for ‘Hourai’ on it. She handed the form to Meteora.

“The name of the city is written in Chinese characters like this. Can you please notify everyone of this?”

“Yes, I understand, Sister!”

Holding Yuri's paper carefully, Meteora leaves the office quickly.

Watching her back. Looking at the door she had left open, Yuri lowered her eyebrows in annoyance, but then smiled a little.