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「Can anyone receive oracles?」
「Only individuals of certain Jobs, such as the Saintess, can.」
「I suspected as much. I wanted to visit a temple in hopes of receiving an oracle, but it appears that it’s not that easy even among the members of the church.」
「In the end, it all depends on Goddess Alsharohs’ will.」

I, a Song Princess, was able to receive an oracle, though… That aside, it’s giving me a bad feeling.

「Is there a Saintess in this kingdom?」
「There is not. It is said that there is only one capable of receiving an oracle at present, who is currently at the Church headquarters at the Holy State of Ecricoby.」
「Is the headquarters not in Central?」

There being only one sounds a bit fishy to me, but more importantly, the headquarters not being in Central is odd. From my memories, the church headquarters should be in Central, but… Hearing my question, the sister had a wry smile.

「Many people share this very same misunderstanding. It is somewhat complicated to explain, but the church headquarters is located in Ecricoby, while the head temple is located in Central.
Central’s temple is said to be closest to the divine realm, but the one at the headquarters is larger in size and is said to house many acolytes. Unfortunately, I have never been outside of Ausente, so I only know second-hand information.」
「Then would it be better to go to Ecricoby?」
「If size is what you’re going for, then yes… but I don’t think there’s much significant difference. Both of them are very well maintained.」

I don’t plan on going there, but I asked since I wanted to know more about the organizational structure, and this was her response.

It’s difficult to say for sure, but Central and Ecricoby are probably two divided factions. There might be a factional dispute between Central (the head temple faction) and Ecricoby (the headquarters faction). However, since the pope and the person supposedly capable of receiving oracles are in the headquarters, they may have the upper hand.

For now, I got a rough layout of the situation, so this should be enough.

「I see… In that case, I’ll try visiting either of them if I happen to travel by the vicinity. Wait, that’s right. There is also a temple here in Ausente, correct? I would like to visit at least once, but…」
「That would not be an issue at all! Entry will require a small offering, however—」
「Forgive my lack of common knowledge, but is the amount I’ve offered before enough for me to enter the temple?」
「Let me see… if you intend to go by yourself, I believe it should be enough.」
「Thank you very much.」

From my imagination, I thought that the church is where the nobles would give a large amount of alms, but I guess in this world―even if it’s the same organization―it might be the temple where the big money goes. Still, since we’re still children, I guess it won’t cost us that much money.

I feel like Ciel has been giggling every time I’ve spoken for a while now, but I’ll leave that for later.

「Thank you for entertaining my questions. I would like to offer a prayer before heading to the temple.」
「Alright, please take your time. May the protection of the divine be with you.」

For now, I’ve asked about everything she probably has answers for, so I finally freed the sister. Then, I joined my hands together and closed my eyes, mimicking the act of prayer. If I were to pray to anyone, it would only be to the Creator God, since I don’t have any particular attachment to Alsharohs. Thinking about how we were able to leave Estoque before reaching 15 years old thanks to the existence of the Job system, I’m genuinely grateful.

『That reminds me, you were laughing earlier; was there something funny?』
『There’s no deep meaning behind it. It was just so funny how Ain kept on saying insincere things again and again.』
『Now that you say that, it was pretty impressive how I was able to say those without much thought.』

While it’s a bit late to say this, ever since I’ve been with Ciel, I have gotten into more situations where I had to lie, so I ended up getting used to it. Also, since I was confident we couldn’t be harmed even if my lies were exposed and things turned hostile, that confidence may have helped. I still remember the one creature that broke through my barrier in the past, but I’ve grown since then, and I don’t believe there to be many who can land an attack as powerful as Tur of the den’s deepest depths.

And if there was, they probably wouldn’t show their full power for trivial lies.

For that reason, there’s generally no risk of us getting physically harmed. And if insults are thrown against us, I can simply shut out the noise. Rather, unless the insults are directed to me, Ciel probably wouldn’t even mind whatever gets said about her.

『Still, I can’t be too confident.』
『What’s that all of a sudden?』
『I simply recalled that I can’t neglect self-improvement.』
『I see. I’ll do my best not to fall behind Ain as well!』

I opened my eyes and left the church. Now, time for the temple.

◇◇◇

The temple is on top of a small hill not very far from the church. Considering that we started from the heart of the capital, it’s not a short walk by any means, but they can’t really compromise the temple location for human convenience, so I guess it can’t be helped. In Ausente, the church and the temple are separated, but there are apparently places where they’re a single establishment, so they’re surprisingly flexible when given the chance.

Now, this temple in the outskirts, despite its location―or perhaps due to its location―is a building with immense presence. It has divinely white walls and a large bell; its doors appear to be made from a single whole tree trunk, and with it being wide enough to accommodate a carriage, I can’t even imagine where they found a tree large enough for such an entryway.

No, actually, I’ve seen many such trees deep inside the forests. Due to the threat of monsters, many of them remain growing untouched in areas where people can’t easily reach them.

For this reason, there are places where large millennia-old trees that are normally treated as tourist attractions in my old world can be seen in droves. You’ll need to get through swarms of B-rank monsters to reach those areas, but on the other hand, people who can easily defeat B-rank monsters―like those in A-rank parties―are capable of reaching them.

Carrying a whole tree back would be very difficult, but it probably wouldn’t be impossible for us.