Chapter 225: Persuasion Through Enthusiasm

“You girls, value your lives!”

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

“Our lives… you say?”

“A pilgrimage is not just a journey. The once-sacred pilgrimage is now being used by the believers of each god for power struggles. If you participate with a light heart, you will be severely injured.”

Tracy-san’s expression turned bitter at her own words.

Hmm, it seems the current pilgrimages have turned into something truly terrible.

Well, it’s unforgivable for proper believers that a sacred ritual is used for something like a power struggle.

However, it was also a fact that from Tracy-san’s words, I could tell she genuinely feared for our safety.

But we can’t just back down saying ‘oh, is that so’ just because we were told that.

Because this is a job, after all.

“Even so, w-we want to participate in the pilgrimage!”

Even as I declared my intent to participate in the pilgrimage, Tracy-san furrowed her brows in a troubled manner.

“…Why do you want to go on the pilgrimage that much? Do you have some reason?”

“Th-That’s…”

Oh no, asked for a reason, a good excuse doesn’t come to mind.

Hmm, isn’t there any good comeback?

It was then. Suddenly, Jairo-kun stepped forward.

“Because we want to be of help to you people, of course!”

“Ja… Janet… chan.”

“Of help to us?”

I wasn’t the only one surprised; Tracy-san was equally taken aback.

“Yeah! We heard the churches in the Holy Capital are in a terrible situation, so we came to help. If there’s someone in trouble, you help them. That’s obvious, right?”

“For such a… reason…?”

“That’s reason enough to help someone, isn’t it.”

Jairo-kun is amazing.

The fact that he can state the obvious so plainly makes him truly amazing.

Tracy-san also seemed not to have expected to be told something so straightforward and proper, and was staring in surprise with her mouth hanging open.

“That’s right. Although our denominations may differ, the teachings of every god tell us to help those in trouble.”

As if supporting Jairo-kun, Norb-san followed up from the perspective of a person serving the gods.

“…”

How about that, did we convince her?

“U-Uwaaaaaaaah!!”

Just as I thought that, Tracy-san suddenly started bawling.

“Eh!?”

Wh-What does this mean!? Why is she crying!?

The surrounding believers also widened their eyes wondering what suddenly happened and were watching us from a distance.

Or rather, don’t just watch, help!

“Wh-What, what good girls you are!”

“Eh?”

“Chief God! I am currently incredibly moved!!”

“U-Umm…”

I-It seems she just started crying out of deep emotion.

Ah, that surprised me.

“Your enthusiasm, I understand it perfectly! I will beg the Temple Head and ask her to approve your participation in the pilgrimage!”

The moment she said that, Tracy-san stood up and ran towards the back of the temple at breakneck speed.

“She’s gone.”

And she immediately came back carrying someone on her back.

She’s surprisingly powerful, Tracy-san.

“Temple Head, these are the girls. The ones who said they want to go on the pilgrimage for the sake of the Chief God.”

While Tracy-san said that, the one who stepped down to the ground was a grandmother with pure white hair.

The person called the Temple Head seemed to be of quite advanced age, and tottered over to us.

“To think there would be believers willing to lend their strength for the sake of the temple in the Holy Capital. With such pious girls around, the world isn’t such a bad place after all.”

Upon seeing us, the Temple Head formed a holy sign with her hands and began to pray.

Wait, why are you praying while looking at us!?

“N-No, we didn’t say anything that grand, you know?”

“But you see, the pilgrimage ritual is truly dangerous and arduous.”

The Temple Head muttered quietly.

Her gaze was filled with worry just like Tracy-san’s, and I could tell she was genuinely worried about us.

Just by looking at these two, I can tell the Temple of the Chief God in the Holy Capital is run by decent people.

“We have heard. But even so, w-we want to be of help to the Temple of the Chief God in the Holy Capital.”

“My, my, my, what truly kind girls you are…”

I’m sorry, we aren’t actually girls.

“Truly! I’m telling you truly, Temple Head! Lately, believers don’t bother coming all the way to the Holy Capital to offer prayers, and there weren’t any nobles willing to help the temples in the Holy Capital! Yet these girls said they would participate in the pilgrimage knowing the danger!”

Overcome with emotion, Tracy-san began to wail loudly while hugging the Temple Head.

This person’s reactions are truly intense.

“The resolve of these girls is genuine. Even no matter how much we tried to stop them, they have the absolute resolve to participate in the pilgrimage! It is splendid piety!”

Ah, excuse me. I don’t have any piety at all. I’m just doing this normally for work.

Well, if I said that things would get complicated, so I won’t, though.

“Is that so… to that extent…”

Receiving Tracy-san’s persuasion, the Temple Head furrowed her brows with a ‘Hrmmm’ and pondered.

“…I understand. If your resolve is that firm, we will accept your participation.”

“Thank you very m—”

“Thank you very much, Temple Head!”

For some reason, Tracy-san is more joyful than us who received permission to participate.

“We cannot provide grand hospitality, but please use the rooms in the temple as you please while you are in the Holy Capital. The believers have completely disappeared, so we have plenty of rooms to spare.”

Ho ho ho, the Temple Head said with a laugh, but that’s not something to laugh about, is it?

“Th-Thank you very much.”

At any rate, since we were safely accepted by the people of the Temple of the Chief God, we expressed our gratitude.

And guided by Tracy-san, we arrived at the back of the temple, the living space for believers.

“You girls can use this room! It’s a bit dusty, so we need to open the windows and clean it, so please wait a moment.”

“Ah, w-we will do the cleaning ourselves.”

I hurriedly stopped Tracy-san as she was about to run off to get cleaning tools.

At this rate, it feels like she’ll do everything by herself.

“Oh, really? I feel bad making guests do it. The broom and rags are in that shelf there. The well is in the backyard past that hallway over there.”

“Yes, understood.”

“Well then, I will be attending to the believers in the sanctuary, so please ask me anything if you have any trouble.”

“Thank you for everything.”

When I thanked her again, Tracy-san told me not to worry about it and left for the sanctuary.

Now then, first let’s clean the room we’ll be living in.

“CLEANING ROOM.”

Using cleaning magic, I removed the dust and dirt in the room, gathered it in one place, and threw it in the trash can.

“Alright, cleaning complete.”

“You smoothly showed off needlessly high-level magic.”

No, no, it’s not a big deal of a magic, you know?

“At any rate, it looks like we can safely participate in the pilgrimage with this.”

Having safely secured a base, we decided to discuss our future plans anew.

“Right. It’s not a bad start for our first step.”

“So, what do we do now?”

Jairo-kun raised his hand.

“What do you mean, ‘what do we do now’?”

“There are still a few days before the pilgrimage starts, right? We’ll be bored just spacing out, right?”

Ah, that’s true. We still have about a week of leeway.

According to Foka-san’s story, skilled people called by the other temples from various regions are currently gathering as well.

It seems preparations for the pilgrimage are also taking place at the same time.

If so, we should probably do something too.

“We don’t want to stand out poorly by taking on requests as adventurers, right.”

“Besides, it would be bad if a request drags on and we can’t participate in the pilgrimage.”

Liliera-san and Mina-san suggested that we shouldn’t take requests as adventurers.

Indeed, their opinions are reasonable too.

Our rivals would see our hands, and it would defeat the whole purpose if we didn’t make it in time for the pilgrimage ritual.

“Then how about helping out at the temple?”

The next to offer an opinion was Norb-san.

“Well, that’s about it. It’s probably better to gain their trust too.”

Everyone seems to have no objections to Norb-san’s opinion either.

“Alright, then let’s help out at the temple!”

Now then, time to do our best to gain Tracy-san and the others’ trust!