Chapter 224: Off to the Temple of the Chief God!

“Ugh, this is so embarrassing…”

Having parted ways with Foka-san, we were heading towards the Temple of the Chief God.

However, our outfits were not our usual equipment, but frilly girls’ clothes.

“There wasn’t really any need to dress up like this, was there?”

“Exactly. We would have been fine in our usual gear.”

Not just me, but Jairo-kun and the others were also venting their dissatisfaction with their outfits.

However…

“That’s wrong! You have to properly change your appearances too!”

Is what Foka-san strongly insisted.

“But if we’re going on a pilgrimage, proper equipment would be better than frilly clothes…”

“No. We agree with Foka-san too.”

But for some reason, even Liliera-san and the girls rejected our counterarguments.

Could there be some important intention…?

“Rex-san is cute, so you should dress cute properly!”

“…Eh?”

Wait, Liliera-san, what are you saying?

“Yeah, yeah, besides, it’s weird for a girl to be dressed like a man, right? If you’re going to disguise yourself as girls, it’s only natural to dress like girls too. (Since things have turned out this interestingly, it’d be a waste not to enjoy it to the fullest, right?)“

“You’re definitely thinking about something terrible right now, aren’t you!”

“Oh my, whatever do you mean?”

“Umm, I’d be fine in my normal priest robes…”

“Norb would be recognized as a priest of the God of Knowledge, so you have to dress the cutest.”

“The second half has absolutely nothing to do with that, does it!?”

With not just Liliera-san, but Mina-san and Meguri-san agreeing as well, it was decided that we would dress as girls.

Ugh, to think the detriments of a party would show up in a place like this… Even in Raigard’s tales, there was a story like this… wait, there was.

There was an episode where Great Swordsman Raigard disguised himself as a girl to lie in wait and repel a monster that demanded maiden sacrifices.

Ugh, if I consider this the same as Raigard… no, it’s still a no.

While I was escaping reality like that, Foka-san, for some reason, brought out a massive amount of girls’ clothes.

“Now then, let’s get you changed.”

” ” ” …We can’t lose to this.” ” “

And for some reason, Liliera-san and the girls, refusing to be outdone, brought out their own spare clothes, and a Great Dress-Up Tournament began.

“Kyaa! Wonderful! So cute!”

“Hey hey, let’s try combining this and this next!”

“…”

“This outfit works too. Wear this one next, please.”

“…”

“Next we’ll attack with a sexy style. After that we’ll go with a cute style.”

“…”

” ” ” “Kyaa!!” ” ” “

(((Please end this quickly…)))

And so, the seemingly eternal penance continued, and finally, the coordin…ation? that satisfied everyone ended, and we were released.

Namely, in a state of being dressed as incredibly cute girls.

Ugh, this is so embarrassing.

Pedestrians have been stealing glances at us over and over for a while now…

“Or rather, wouldn’t I have been fine just wearing a normal sister’s habit of the Chief God?”

Even Norb-san couldn’t stand this situation, it seems, and was voicing his dissatisfaction, which was rare.

“No good. Pursuing the supreme balance is only natural.”

“Sigh…”

“It suits you really well. I want to show it to Norb‘s grandfather too. It wouldn’t be strange if that person recommended Norb to be a Saintess.”

“Please absolutely do not do that!”

Told she wanted to show it to his grandfather, Norb-san raised his voice, which was rare for him.

Or rather, recommending your grandson to be a Saintess for that reason would be an abuse of power, wouldn’t it?

“Fufufu, if we showed this to Jairo‘s mother, she’d be overjoyed.”

“Absolutely do not do that! If my mom sees this, she’ll definitely laugh her ass off at me!”

Ah, yeah. Jairo-kun was in the same boat.

“Hey, hey, Rex-san, isn’t there some portrait magic tool that can beautifully preserve how you guys look right now?”

“No, I’ve never seen such a thing.”

Since Liliera-san said something terrifying, I immediately shot back a denial.

“Raaeeaaaalllyyy?”

“Really.”

Liliera-san directed a suspicious gaze at me, but… I absolutely won’t tell her about that magic tool!

“Ah, more importantly, the Temple of the Chief God should be right around that corner.”

Since the Temple of the Chief God that Foka-san told us about was close by, I forcibly cut off this topic.

And finally, we arrived at the Temple of the Chief God… however.

” ” ” ” ” ” “Whoa, so rundown.” ” ” ” ” ” “

How should I put it, the Temple of the Chief God was more rundown than expected.

It was certainly large enough in scale for a church, but it seemed it hadn’t been maintained for many years, so it was in quite a dilapidated state.

Furthermore, the surrounding temples were much flashier and many times larger than the Temple of the Chief God, so it inevitably looked relatively shabby.

That being said, there’s no point in standing here.

Let’s go inside and look for the Priest of the Chief God.

“Excuse meee~”

The inside of the temple was deserted.

There seemed to be a few believers around, but compared to the heavy foot traffic outside, the proportion of people inside the temple was clearly far too low.

“Yeees~”

As I was thinking that, a woman who appeared to be a priestess showed her figure from the back of the temple.

“Nice to meet you. I am a priestess of this temple that enshrines the Chief God, my name is Tracy. What business might you have with our temple today?”

The woman who called herself Tracy was older than us, but a bit young to be called a priestess.

I thought ‘priest’ was a position for someone a bit older, but is she actually highly capable for her age?

“Umm, I-I’m… my name is Rakushi.”

“I am Liliera.”

“I’m Ja—Janet!”

“I’m Mina.”

“I-I am… my name is Norie.”

“Meguri.”

We males introduced ourselves with the pseudonyms we prepared in advance… but as expected, we aren’t used to it, and it’s so embarrassing.

“Kyufun!”

“Ah, this is our pet, Mofu-mofu.”

Yeah, Mofu-mofu doesn’t need a pseudonym.

“W-We… came because we want to participate in the pilgrimage being held in the Holy Capital.”

“Eh!?”

When we announced that we wanted to go on the pilgrimage, Tracy-san twitched and her body stiffened.

“We wish to be of use to the temples of the Holy Capital…”

“No!”

However, we were stopped by Tracy-san before we could finish speaking.

“You girls, value your lives!”

Tracy-san’s expression as she stopped us with such strong words was nothing but serious.