CH 1020

1020 - White God Festival, Evening ②

The chapel we arrived at was much more massive than I had imagined. At a quick glance, it looked like a castle…… No, perhaps a cathedral of the head temple of a church. The greatness of this building certainly isn’t superficial.

[……This place is absurdly large, eh? Is this what a chapel looks like?]

[No, this chapel is the largest of all the buildings existing in the God Realm. Not only the Supreme Gods, but all the Gods won’t allow a place to offer prayers to Shallow Vernal-sama to be smaller than the temples of the Supreme Gods…… Thus, it’s inevitable that this chapel would be of this size.]

[I see.]

The exterior of the chapel is magnificent in its solemnity and sanctity, which shows how much effort the Gods put into the construction of this chapel.

And if this chapel is this big, there should be a lot of people who can get inside, but even so, the raffle for entrance ratio is extremely high.

[In this chapel, the 1st to the 10th rooms were prayer rooms, but we have already prepared the 1st room for you. This is the part of the chapel closest to the Sanctuary where Shallow Vernal-sama resides.]

We followed Sky-san, who seemed to have secured us a pretty good spot into the chapel. It was so quiet inside that I couldn’t believe it was the middle of a festival, and the air was somehow cooler or more refined.

Walking down the corridor that even races with very large body stature could fit through, we arrived at the first room…… which was also a place with an amazing atmosphere.

What I saw first upon entering the hall-like room is a huge stained glass window with a large pattern of what appeared to be Shiro-san with her back facing towards us.

Other than that, there were no extraneous decorations, giving the impression that this room had been prepared solely for the purpose of offering prayers to Shiro-san.

The room was quite spacious, and judging from the number of people inside, it looked like this room had plenty of space and wasn’t just limited to one person.

The people who are already praying in the room also seem to be quite virtuous…… or rather, the people here and there seem to be quite earnest with their prayers.

For example, there’s that silver-haired woman dressed in priest-like clothes with her hands clasped together in prayer, she had this atmosphere around that it wouldn’t be strange if one mistakes her for a saint.

…….Arehh? But that person…… Have I met her somewhere before?

[……Milady, isn’t that…… “Founder”-sama?]

[……It’s definitely her. It’s not surprising that she would be here, but I didn’t expect that we would be in the same prayer room……]

When I heard Luna-san and Lilia-san whisper among each other, I remembered. Ahh, that’s right, that woman is the representative and founder of the Friendship City, Hikari, in charge of organizing the Festival of Heroes. Come to think of it, I think I had caught a glimpse of her at the time of the Festival of Heroes.

The Friendship City, Hikari, is treated as an independent city in the Human Realm that doesn’t belong to any city, and she is the head of that city…… She is also the keeper of the original Treaty of Friendship signed a thousand years ago, which was entrusted to her by Shiro-san, the God of this world.

She is one of the few people in the world who has had direct contact with Shiro-san. However, I don’t know much more than that.

[……Lilia-san, does Founder-sama have a close relationship with the God Realm? I’ve only heard that she was entrusted with the original Treaty of Friendship……]

Aoi-chan seemed to have the same question that I was thinking, as she whispered to Lilia-san that question.

[……I don’t know much about it either, but I’ve heard that Founder-sama is a being specially created by the God of Creation Shallow Vernal-sama to protect the Friendship City, Hikari, where the original Treaty of Friendship has been concluded. In that sense, I guess you could say she does have close relationships with the Gods.]

[It is indeed as Lilia-san says. If one had to describe her, it would be that she’s an independent God that isn’t under the command of a Supreme God.]

I see, she’s a God with a special position huh…… Looking at her praying with all of her heart, I can feel her strong reverence to Shiro-san.

Nodding our heads in understanding after listening to Lilia-san and Sky-san’s explanations, just as we were about to say our prayers, the Founder, who hadn’t moved a muscle in her prayer position until now, stood up and looked in our direction.

She had long silver hair that seemed to glitter, dark blue eyes and a height of about 160 cm, giving her a somewhat mysterious beauty.

Thereupon, walking noiselessly with neat movements, the Founder approached us…… and stopping in front of me, she knelt down…… What is she doing!?

Kneeling before me, who was unable to understand the situation, the Founder brought her hands in a prayer and closed her eyes. She quietly prayed like that for about 10 seconds, before she calmly stood up, bowed towards me, and returned to the place where she had been before and began praying once again.

[……Errr…… What just happened?]

[I think she was greeting Kaito-san, Shallow Vernal-sama’s lover. However, she is an extremely religious person and would never make a sound during a sacred prayer. Even so, that doesn’t mean she could not greet Kaito-san, of whom she holds faith as well, so she thought of greeting you in that way.]

[……I see.]

H- Hmmm…… I wonder if it was just my imagination? Just now, Sky-san, why do I feel like you just nonchalantly said that the Founder holds faith towards me? I was just hearing things, right? Please tell me I was just hearing things……

? ? ? : [Well, people like them do exist after all, relentless with their fanaticism.]

Serious-senpai : [No, don’t lump her with your group of perverts……]