“Miss Elzere’s world?”

“Yes.”

The question that should have come up here was ‘why?’. To the current Sesenia, Elzere had not done anything significant. It was the future Elzere who had tormented and troubled Sesenia.

She was shameless, and made every moment of her life painful.

Anticipating questions, Sesenia tightly gripped the hem of her skirt. But there were no further questions. As if she already knew everything.

“Lizbeth.”

Was it because this was a temple where God’s words to be truthful resided? Sesenia’s mouth, which had vowed many times not to ask Lizbeth anything and not to tell her anything, moved slowly.

“Yes.”

“Why don’t you ask?”

“Pardon?”

“You must be curious… Why don’t you ask anything? As if you know everything.”

“…Well. I just want to believe in you, miss. I’m just a maid who wants to keep you safe and always happy. Is there… a need for a reason?”

The brightly smiling face of her maid was quite different from the past image Sesenia knew.

“I see.”

“Is there perhaps something you’d like to ask me?”

“No. I just… hope you’ll believe me. Even if something seems strange, even if something doesn’t make sense. I just want you to believe and believe again. In this world… things happen that even God doesn’t know about.”

Lizbeth’s hand touched Sesenia’s hand, which was tightly gripping her skirt.

“Yes!”

Once again, she returned to being the innocent Lizbeth that Sesenia knew. She was smiling brightly, and that smile calmed the anxiety in Sesenia’s heart.

What could be important?

‘Rather than knowing something, being by one’s side despite knowing might be more important.’

Meanwhile, the two arrived at the prayer room of the third moon. And in succession, the priest who had gone to report to the High Priest came running. With sweat drenching his forehead.

“The High Priest said he would come soon. But since he’s the High Priest, he said other senior priests would come along, so please wait.”

“The answer came faster than I expected.”

“Ah! That’s right. I ran here wanting to inform you quickly, so the High Priest will take a bit longer.”

“I’ll wait inside.”

“Yes.”

With those words, Sesenia entered the prayer room. The sacred relic of God Lowrik, said to take the form of a child. Being a prayer room, it was placed in front in a small form, and about five chairs were placed.

Light filled the prayer room through the colorful stained glass. Perhaps because of this, just entering the prayer room seemed to fill one with faith.

“Miss.”

It was then. As if to interrupt God’s bestowal of mercy, Lizbeth stood before her.

“Yes?”

“In your world, I wish you were God, miss.”

“Huh…?”

“This is quite a blasphemous statement, but… I wanted to say it anyway. That you would be unshaken by anyone, that your steps would become the path, create the world, and awaken the day. I just wanted to say that. Actually, only God can be perfectly free in this world, right? That’s why I said it.”

Having said it herself, Lizbeth twisted her body as if embarrassed.

“J-just… listen to it as nonsense.”

“Thank you. I really wish it were so. A world where everything flows according to my will.”

In such a world, I could take revenge to my heart’s content. Without having to calculate and recalculate, I could just achieve what I intend. If I were God… I could do such things.

It was then.

As if to say such thoughts themselves were nonsense, a piece of the sacred relic modeled after God Lowrik fell with a thud. It was a small sound, but because the prayer room had been particularly quiet, the sound came through very clearly.

“Seems God is quite angry.”

“…Will I be punished?”

“No. If one were punished for such things… God would be petty. Don’t worry. God isn’t so idle as to look down on each and every one of us. And if there’s to be punishment… I’ll take it in your stead.”

From the moment she vowed revenge, she had somewhat expected God’s punishment. After all, harming someone ultimately goes against God’s will. No matter how badly her sister treated her, according to the temple’s doctrine, she should forgive everything.

And Sesenia had no intention of forgiving at all.

‘I just hope that if there’s a moment when God reaches me, that moment is just a little bit in the future.’

What Sesenia feared was not the punishment that would befall her, but a future where she couldn’t do anything and it would all end.

Meanwhile, someone knocked on the door of the prayer room.

“Yes.”

“Saint Sesenia. It’s the High Priest.”

“Please come in.”

No sooner had those words ended than the prayer room door opened. An old man whose age was impossible to guess. Sesenia bowed her head at the sight of the High Priest, whom she had seen before.

“Sesenia Bestel. I greet the High Priest, the apostle of God.”

“It’s been a while, Saint Sesenia Bestel. Unlike others, you haven’t come to see me even though you’ve come to the temple, so I’ve been quite disappointed.”

The man who walked in laughing was quite healthy unlike his appearance. Though he looked like he would soon be by God’s side, his age wasn’t actually that old. 70 years old this year.

Compared to past High Priests who lived to be 100, he was still young. Moreover, he might have lived until the day Sesenia died, or even longer than her. That’s how different he was from his appearance.

“I apologize.”

“What brings Lady Sesenia Bestel to the temple?”

“Since God has bestowed power upon me, shouldn’t I at least offer a prayer in gratitude?”

“For such a thing, it seems you were too eager to see me right away?”

With a rather pleasant smile, he stared at Sesenia. Snow-white hair. Wrinkles all over his face. As they say a person’s character shows on their face as they age, the High Priest’s impression was good despite being wrinkled and old.

And he was quite sharp despite his appearance.

“Is that so. Then, since it’s come to this, it might be better to get straight to the point. High Priest.”

“Oh ho. So you did have a direct reason for wanting to see me.”

“Yes.”

Sesenia’s gaze turned to the senior priest beside the High Priest.

Among the temple’s priests, there were those who followed the High Priest to a terrible degree. People who didn’t want reform and wished for the temple and High Priest to be maintained moderately. So even though the moment God stayed had passed, they didn’t believe it. Among them, Senior Priest Ray was particularly extreme.

Having become a senior priest at the relatively young age of 40, he was one of the most stubbornly conservative among the priests. He was one of those who protected the High Priest to an excessive degree.

Ray, who had a story like anyone might have, of being able to grow up safely thanks to the help of the High Priest and the temple when he was young. Perhaps because of this, he tended to preemptively block anyone who might cause even a little harm to the High Priest.

And in his eyes, Sesenia, who had abruptly asked to see the High Priest, didn’t seem very welcome.

“It seems better to just say it rather than hiding and beating around the bush.”

The High Priest’s lips curled up slightly. Like someone who had heard quite an interesting statement.

“What are you trying to say with such words?”

“I’ll be the words of you, High Priest, of the temple. So please help me.”

“Ho ho. Words, you say. What do you mean by that?”

“The temple, more incorruptible than anywhere else.”

But the problem was that the temple was too clean.

Sesenia stared at the High Priest seated in the chair.

In the past, the temple had gained many benefits by revealing the twins. The reason why the temple, which should be cleaner than anyone else, introduced that they were protecting royalty from other countries was to maintain their steadfastness.

The Magic Tower, the temple, and the Imperial Family. The Empire had three powers. Going into detail, even the Imperial Family was often divided into the nobility faction and the emperor faction, but roughly speaking, that’s how it was.

In that situation, the temple’s situation was very poor.

Thanks to consistently producing magical items, the Magic Tower had a good impression on the imperial people, whether they liked it or not.

Of course, except for a few cheap magical items as bait products, they were so expensive that ordinary commoners couldn’t afford them, but humans tend to remember positively if something was even a little helpful to them.

The Imperial Family was solid as they were the highest beings leading the country, but the temple was not so.

Although the majority of imperial people believed in Lowrik, the primordial god, it had been a long time since an oracle had come down. Because of this, faith in the temple and the power of the priests who were said to have received God’s blessing faded. That’s why the system of saints was created. To keep those with God’s remaining power tied to the temple, even like that.

‘The temple once gained people’s attention by protecting the twins of the Salmon Kingdom… but that was all.’

In the end, the problem was that the temple had become so weak that it was said God had abandoned the Empire. Matters concerning royalty from other countries, which were nothing more than entertainment, didn’t last long.

A desperate situation where one could only rely on God’s power.

‘In the end, they’ll get another chance, but this time there’s no Salmon royalty, so they’ll have to use other means.’

Knowing this, Sesenia came here to help and use the temple, which had gained attention in the past by showing the Salmon royalty.

“And the temple that only relies on God’s power. Is that okay?”

“Ho ho. There’s no need for you to worry about such things. Saint. No matter what’s said among the people. In the end, God will come back.”

That wasn’t true.

God had left us. Everyone who believed in God thought so.

The primordial God enjoyed watching.