Chapter 77: The Enchanting Young Saintess (02)

The Holy Week has returned.

Originally, Holy Week was a time for long rest during the grueling training periods, visiting the temple to refocus spiritually, and enjoying delicious food while receiving encouraging words from the clergy and the Saintess, making it a great time for recharging.

However, nowadays, with so much rest already, going to the temple seemed like a waste of time. Delicious food, which used to be a treat during times when even a piece of bread was hard to come by, had lost its allure with the improvement in wheat varieties and the development of alchemical fertilizers, enriching our diet to the point where temple food has become synonymous with tastelessness.

If it's considered worse than military rations, isn't that saying enough?

At least military meals, designed to nourish the body, include plenty of meat and can be made palatable with some salt or spices purchased individually.

While some with finer tastes like Jake might complain about military meals, for folks like Dain and me, they were quite edible.

To say that I'm a country bumpkin isn't quite right since I frequently buy snacks in the capital, but honestly, our unit’s food is better than most average restaurants.

Of course, it falls short compared to gourmet restaurants, but considering it’s free, I think it’s pretty good.

The temple, on the other hand, used to prepare food for many people, and under the belief that gluttony and overeating were negative traits, it aimed to produce as much as possible for the money, striving for cost-effectiveness. But the quality dropped to the point where one might rather starve...

Lastly, the clergy and the Saintess.

There was a time when most people were devoutly religious, and if a priest declared that wheat would fall from heaven, they believed it. If the Saintess claimed she could turn sand into wheat grains, transform stones into meat, and fold the earth to traverse kingdoms in a day, then their words were worth listening to.

But as education levels have risen and theological loopholes have been exposed, not to mention the revelation of corruption within the temple, the widespread belief that the clergy are neither as virtuous nor correct in their preaching as once thought...

Regardless, for us, the current Holy Week was more like a week of ordeal.

"Alright, let's go inside."

The senior knight was still sending me, the representative trainee knight, prettied up into the temple, but since the others had used the holiday as an excuse to flee, I had no choice but to visit as the only trainee representative.

"What about the canine soldiers? Now that I think about it, they were there!"

They seemed like they would listen well in the temple, and if the canine soldiers participated in religious activities, wouldn’t their loyalty increase?

"As I said last time, accepting canine soldiers led to conflicts with other orders. Are you saying we should bring them?"

"But isn’t the temple supposed to welcome everyone?"

"Just because it’s a temple doesn’t mean it’s free from the strife between orders. It's more about watching the Knights than the temple."

"..."

"And that’s also why they insist on taking at least one trainee knight."

My head was spinning.

From the moment I entered the temple, that distinct... the specific smell of the temple hit me.

It felt as if I shouldn't be there, and the air at the entrance made my body stiffen with discomfort.

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"Sigh... Alright, let's go in."

Since I was dragged here anyway, I might as well try to enjoy the situation.

"Ugh! The smell of the temple......!"

Inside the temple's dining hall, various foods were laid out, but naturally, none of it was tasty, and neither the visiting children nor adults touched the food.

"Ladies and gentlemen, you are welcome to eat as much as you like of the food prepared."

The young clergy in charge of distribution tried hard to hand out food to visitors, but no one accepted, with most people responding like this:

"I'm full already, so I’ll leave it for those hungrier believers."

Essentially, they didn’t want to eat it.

"They should just improve the food or find a solution..."

While the nobles followed a lavishly decorated path, arriving by carriage inside the temple under the escort of their personal knights, in the area where I and the senior knight entered, only a few visiting clergymen, several Knights, and a handful of visitors wandered.

"Is the young Saintess not visible... Is she praying right now?"

Typically, the Saintess is extremely busy during Holy Week without a moment’s rest.

The young Saintess who had been distributing cookies last time had only recently been appointed and was not yet fully performing her duties, so she had time to distribute cookies to children, but now it seemed she was inside learning her official duties.

"That’s a relief."

With the sin of mixing with a succubus recently, I probably would have burned up just getting close to the young Saintess.

"It seems like only the seniors come during the Holy Week?"

"Are there more than three senior knights in the Mage Knights? Besides, I'm the least senior among them, and above all, I fit in best here at the temple."

"Oh, perhaps there is someone you love..."

At that, the senior knight raised his left hand, showing a ring on his ring finger.

"What? Senior, are you married?"

"Didn’t you know?"

Of course, I didn’t.

Why would I pay attention to a man's ring finger?

"Ugh... Don't you guys do this."

Pulling out the typical line spoken by married adults, the senior knight began gulping down alchemical potions and stomach protectors he brought.

"Well, I’ll be off then."

And just like last time, he left me alone and went deeper into the temple.

"Take care, then."

The senior knight was here not just to pass the time, but to engage in power struggles with representatives from other orders. Being part of the Mage Knights, which lacked support and were even so lowly regarded that they had their horses taken away by the Royal Guard, and now being the only trainee knight left, I couldn't help but feel intimidated.

Of course, that person is slick enough to have a hundred lamias up his sleeve, so he probably won't be easily outmatched.

"The Goddess of Love and Marriage..."

I was looking at the statue of the goddess, which emitted a soft white light of holy magic just like last time.

During the ancient wars.

Humans, exhausted from fighting among themselves, were overwhelmed by the sudden onslaught of demons and were pushed back overwhelmingly.

Even back then, when the demon forces had advanced to the capital, which was the kingdom's seat, and as people suffered or went mad under the demons' curses, a girl who was worried about the conscripted soldiers prayed for her beloved to be protected.

The Goddess of Love and Marriage heard her prayers and descended upon her, manifesting the first Saintess in history. Her powers alleviated the curses, saving the suffering people. Around her, people gathered, receiving the gift of holy magic, creating the clergy of the goddess, and began to hold back the demon forces. A hero emerged who would eventually defeat the Demon King, causing the demon forces to retreat.

However, the conscripted man was listed as missing, and it was presumed he had died a gruesome death at the hands of the demons, his body unrecoverable. The Saintess, suffering from the side effects of divine possession, began to disintegrate as her body was sublimated into holy power.

Before her body completely disintegrated, the Saintess imbued a large rock in the capital with her blessings received from the goddess, and this rock, empowered by the goddess's power, shone and transformed into the grand statue of the goddess.

Since then, instead of the Saintess, the statue of the goddess has protected the capital from demons, and girls chosen by the Goddess of Love and Marriage appeared as Saintess in later generations. However, unlike the first Saintess who fully embraced the goddess, these Saintess only received part of her blessing, diminishing over time...

"...is the religious interpretation from the temple."

Nowadays, with improvements in the world, records from those times have become accessible.

Originally, it wasn't the rock that received the goddess's blessing and became a statue; it was actually a grand statue crafted to boost people's faith, heavily financed by the royal family, especially using orichalcum-rich ore known for absorbing divine power.

Moreover, the statue wasn’t maintained by the holy power of the original Saintess but was periodically recharged with prayers and holy magic from the Saintess and clergy to maintain its faint glow.

"Actually, there is no effect that prevents demons from appearing around the capital..."

If there were such an effect, summoning succubi nearby would be impossible, and there wouldn't be incidents of succubi wandering near the training center seducing men.

"Ugh, thinking about it still makes me angry... being unilaterally played by that senior succubus..."

Clutching my stomach in bitter frustration, I looked again at the statue of the goddess.

"Come to think of it, the succubus picked out my ideal type as a goddess... It seems quite irreverent now that I think about it."

But gazing at the beautifully sculpted statue of the goddess, it was clear that the original craftsman had pushed his skills to the limit. Even after receiving blessings through holy magic, the statue was so beautifully made that just looking at it could excite anyone.

"Isn’t it the problem that I'm having irreverent thoughts, or is it that the statue of the goddess is made too beautifully? Shouldn’t it be a bit plumper to avoid arousing lust and instead foster genuine devotion?"

How skilled was the sculptor to craft the parts draped in clothing that suggest the goddess's skin was so elastic?

"It’s not just me; there must be at least a few others who get excited or masturbate looking at the goddess statue..."

Indeed, my peers might dislike coming to the temple, but they admitted that the statue here was arousing.

So much so that they seriously contemplated acquiring a life-sized statue of the goddess, but it was impossible since the temple does not sell them to individuals.

"Beautiful, isn’t it?"

"Yes. Honestly, the goddess statue is arousing... Oops!"

I was agreeing with someone who had casually spoken beside me when I sensed an object flying towards the back of my head and swatted it away with my hand.

Thump!

The object I knocked away with the back of my hand was the pommel of a sword; though I blocked it, the impact made my hand throb.

"Who... ah...!"

Turning around to see who in the temple would dare attack me, I found the young Saintess looking shocked by the situation, accompanied by her female knight guard, who was obviously the one who had struck.

"Lady Jenny, why did you do that?"

"No, I'm sorry, my lady."

I had nearly blurted out something blasphemous in front of the Saintess, who is considered a divine intermediary, but luckily the knight intervened, and I let out a sigh of relief instead of getting angry.

"But... weren't you busy?"

Already feeling a tingling sensation on my skin, I realized I needed to be careful with every word, feeling the tension in my body.