Chapter 232: Sacred Encounter
“I see, so the pilgrimage has a set order to proceed in.”
Once Tracy-san got used to our movement speed and calmed down, we were being taught about the route of the pilgrimage.
“Y-Yes. We pass through six towns and villages, likening them to the six countries the young men traveled through.”
“So we ain’t actually travelin’ through six countries, huh.”
“Ahaha, if we traveled through all the countries, we wouldn’t have enough time no matter how much we had. Besides, some countries have already perished.”
Tracy-san gave a wry smile at Jairo-kun’s words.
It’s true that you could say a ritual is a simplified version of myths and past events.
“And by accumulating good deeds at each location, we can proceed to the next town. Finally, by reaching the holy land, the pilgrimage is achieved.”
Here, Tracy-san mentioned a curious rule.
“Accumulating good deeds? What’s that like?”
“It varies from time to time. If the residents have a clear problem, solving it is easily counted as accumulating good deeds. That’s why everyone rushes to arrive at the village early and goes around asking if there are any obvious problems.”
“So that’s why they prepared expensive items like magic items that increase movement speed.”
I see, so that’s why everyone was in a hurry.
I was just thinking their pacing was way too fast if the goal was simply to arrive first. After all, since this ritual is called a journey, it’s not something that ends quickly.
“Come to think of it, when will we catch up to the guys who went ahead? We should be chasing them at a considerable speed too.”
Mina-san tilted her head, wondering about the absence of the other temples’ participants who had gone ahead.
“Maybe they just rode a carriage halfway through? They gotta go to lots of towns, right?”
“No, that’s impossible. The pilgrimage is a sacred journey undertaken by the first Popes, so riding a carriage is not permitted.”
Tracy-san firmly dismissed the idea.
“Is it okay to use magic items?”
“U-Umm, w-well, since they are walking on their own, shouldn’t it be fine? S-See, it’s a type of equipment… right?”
She suddenly became flustered.
Carriages are a no, but magic items that assist movement are fine; the standards are vague, huh.
“Either way, if they commit an explicitly forbidden act, they would be severely pursued for their violation by the other temples that lost the ritual. Even if the other temples were doing the exact same thing.”
“I see, since they’ll be dragging each other down, convenient methods that anyone can do are explicitly prohibited, while high-performance magic items that could allow for a one-shot reversal are left ambiguous as a type of equipment.”
Yeah, since normal carriages are pulled by living creatures, there are inevitably limits to them as living beings.
If they permit magic items that can overturn any disadvantage through performance differences, then even temples at a disadvantage have a chance to win.
“But does that mean the other participants got their hands on incredibly amazing magic items for movement?”
“Not just that, I think they are probably running at full speed while also using magic power and stamina recovery potions. They are expensive items, but temples that serve as the headquarters for each church should be able to prepare enough to use continuously throughout the journey.”
I see. Even if saying they are going without sleep or rest is an exaggeration, if they are sprinting at full speed without taking breaks, I can understand why we can’t catch up easily.
“Also, we did spend quite a bit of time relaxing at the starting point.”
Ah, right, that did happen.
We were surprised and ended up getting engrossed in conversation.
“But is everyone alright? You’ve been running at an incredible speed for a while now. You guys aren’t using magic items for movement, right?”
While we were talking about this, Tracy-san worried if we were pushing ourselves too hard.
“Yes, you don’t need to worry. We’re perfectly fine. At this level of speed, it’s like a light jog.”
“Th-This is a jog…?”
“Right, we were trained by Rakushi, so we have plenty of leeway in magic power.”
“Since we’re increasing our stride length with body enhancement, stamina consumption is low too.”
In reality, rather than running, it feels more like we’re moving by continuously leaping forward, so it doesn’t consume that much stamina.
That being said, since the rule is to walk or run on the ground, massive leaps could also be considered a rule violation, so we have to be careful.
Also, if we run too fast we’ll destroy the road and cause trouble for travelers.
“I-I see… By the way, umm…”
“What is it, Tracy-san?”
“Haven’t we been attacked by an unusual number of monsters for a while now?”
Pointed out by Tracy-san, I looked back on our encounter rate with monsters since leaving the Holy Capital.
Now that she mentions it, it might be a bit high.
“Right, if anything, maybe it’s on the lower side today?”
“No, no, no, it’s not low at all!? Haven’t we been attacked constantly for a while now!?”
Even as she said that, monsters appeared right now, so we proceeded while defeating them.
And Norb-san and Meguri-san, who were at the rear of the party, followed while collecting the defeated monsters into the magic bag.
“But we usually encounter far more monsters.”
Yeah, we’ve actually been attacked by a lot more since becoming adventurers.
“Even so, that’s…”
“Now that you mention it…”
“I feel like there are fewer than when we usually travel with Rakushi-san…”
While Tracy-san was confused, Liliera-san and the others tilted their heads, thinking there were fewer.
“No way!?”
“Ah, no, that’s not true. Thinking about it, it was everything up until now that was weird. My bad, my bad, the density of our lives lately has been so thick that I subconsciously ended up using the times I act with Rakushi-san as the standard.”
H-Huh? Liliera-san suddenly flipped her stance and started saying that everything up until now was weird.
“Now that you mention it, it’s certainly a lot. It’s not like we’re heading to a land with a lot of monsters on a request, nor have we been unluckily dragged into trouble. For just normally… well it’s not normal, but for moving along a highway, it’s a bit much.”
“Right! Right!”
Receiving Liliera-san’s agreement, Tracy-san nodded repeatedly, looking genuinely happy.
Hmm, I feel somewhat unconvinced, but if Liliera-san, an experienced adventurer, says so, there might be some basis for it.
“Do you think there’s some cause, Liliera-san?”
“Let’s see, I don’t think the possibility is zero.”
As expected, Liliera-san seemed to have some sort of basis.
“There’s a lot of foot traffic along the highway, including merchant guards and skilled adventurers, so monsters are wary of that and rarely target travelers who outnumber their own packs.”
I see, it’s certainly true that many of the monsters appearing along the highway are weak.
Even if strong monsters come, they get hunted down by people aiming for their materials the moment they’re found.
“Besides, even though the total number of monsters that have attacked us is high, each pack has been small. It happens occasionally that monsters multiplying too much during breeding season spill out and come near human settlements, but they would attack in much larger swarms then.”
Ah, now that she mentions it, it did feel like small packs of a few monsters were attacking us constantly.
“Tracy-san, do you know of any large forests or caves around here that monsters might make their home?”
“I’m sorry, I don’t really travel to lands far from the Holy Capital, so I’m not too sure. However, I heard that the large-scale monster habitats near the Holy Capital were mostly hunted down in joint subjugations conducted by the temples in the past.”
The Holy Capital is the headquarters of each denomination and, so to speak, the domain of the gods.
They probably wanted to cleanly eliminate any monster lairs.
“I see. But even considering that, there were a lot of monsters around the Holy Capital. There were some decently strong ones too.”
“Oh, those were a good way to earn some coin!”
“Come to think of it, Liliera-san and Jairo-kun were monster hunting around the Holy Capital, weren’t you.”
I recall Liliera-san and Jairo-kun having hunted quite a number of them.
For having eliminated the monster lairs, there certainly might be a lot.
I see, as expected of Liliera-san. To consider the situation around the Holy Capital that deeply to judge that the number of monsters is high.
“There’s someone ahead.”
While we were talking, Meguri-san spotted people ahead.
“You’re right. From the looks of it, participants in the pilgrimage?”
“Heeey! Heeey!”
It seems the people ahead also spotted us, waving their hands and calling out to us.
“I wonder what it is?”
“They might be assassins from another temple targeting us. Be careful.”
“A-Assa…!?”
Hearing ‘assassins’, Tracy-san trembled.
“Don’t worry, Tracy-sis. With us around, assassins ain’t scary at all!”
“Janet-chan…”
While remaining vigilant, we slowed down and approached the people who called out to us.
As we got close enough to see each other’s faces, I realized their figures were robust Amazons, confirming they were undoubtedly participants in the pilgrimage.
“What happened?”
Getting closer, their clothes were stained with blood. They must have been fighting until just a moment ago.
“It’s terrible! A massive swarm of monsters appeared from the forest over there. W-We somehow managed to hide and let them pass, but they headed towards the Holy Capital. Were you guys okay?”
“A massive swarm of monsters? We were attacked by a few and repelled them, but…”
That being said, considering what Liliera-san said, I can’t think it’s unrelated.
“I see, perhaps the monsters changed direction and scattered along the way. But there’s a high possibility that many monsters are still lurking in the forest. We are going to go warn the Holy Capital. If you don’t mind, could you investigate the forest for us? And if a swarm of monsters remains in the forest, we want you to urge caution to the villages and towns ahead.”
And so, we were asked such a thing by the participants from another temple—who totally weren’t Amazons.
“Umm, I believe you are also participants in the pilgrimage, but if you return to the Holy Capital now, won’t you be unable to win?”
Since we actually haven’t caught up to the leading participants yet, if they returned to the Holy Capital now, their return to the ritual would be hopeless.
“We know. Having participated with the prestige of our temple on the line, defeat is unacceptable. But before we are representatives of our temple, we are believers of the gods who bring peace to the people. There are things more important than the pilgrimage.”
” “Ooooh.” “
They looked quite rugged, but we were impressed by the sincere feelings hidden within them.
“Understood! Please leave it to us!”
“Yes, I too will help, even if my power is meager!”
Not just me, but Tracy-san also showed her intent to cooperate with them.
“I see. Thank you for your cooperation! We leave it to you then!”
“Please be careful too!”
After confirming that the participants were heading back to the Holy Capital, I set Tracy-san down.
“Then I’ll head to the forest, so everyone go on ahead.”
“Eh? Aren’t we all going?”
Apparently having thought she would be taken along too, Tracy-san made a disappointed face.
“So you noticed they were suspicious too, Rakushi?”
Amidst that, it seems Mina-san had been doubting those people, asking me such a thing.
“Eh? No, I just thought that if I’m just going to normally scout it out, it would be better to approach the forest with a small number of people and use Search Magic.”
“…Come to think of it, you had magic like that.”
“Re-Rakushi‘s Search Magic is absurd, after all…”
“Then I’ll tag along too.”
“You too, Meguri-san?”
I was about to head to the forest after finishing the conversation, but Meguri-san spoke up to accompany me.
“Knowing Rakushi, if there’s a lot of monsters, you plan to fight them, right? Then I, the fastest among us, will tag along; if there are few, I’ll focus on support, and if there are many, I’ll return to the others to report the scale.”
“Understood. I’ll be counting on you, Meguri-san.”
True, depending on the scale of the swarm, it’s better to have a liaison.
As expected of Meguri-san, forming a party with Jairo-kun and the others has made her support skills polished.
“Got it. In that case, we’ll go on ahead.”
“Then I guess I’ll carry Tracy-sis. Here, hop on.”
“Ah, yes. Please take care of me. Rakushi-san, the first village is Isla Village along this road!”
After getting on Jairo-kun’s back, Tracy-san told me about the rendezvous village.
“Understood. Then let’s meet up at Isla Village!”
Arriving at the forest, Meguri-san and I immediately checked how many monsters were there with Search Magic.
“…There certainly are a lot of monsters. There’s a large swarm right in the middle of the forest, and it feels like many small packs are spread throughout the whole forest. It seems the ones that attacked us earlier were a small pack on the outer edge of the forest.”
“What will you do?”
“There’s a decent amount of them, but not that big of a number. So I’ll annihilate them all at once with magic.”
“With magic? But unlike on open plains, subjugating monsters inside a forest is a hassle. How will you defeat them?”
What Meguri-san wanted to point out was probably the hassle of defeating only the monsters without destroying the forest.
In reality, in the sky or on open plains, you don’t need to worry about environmental destruction, but forests have many useful resources like beasts and medicinal herbs, so you want to avoid causing damage as much as possible.
Well, there are very rare cases like the Monster Forest where burning it down actually protects the environment.
That being said, a forest of this size is no problem.
“It’s fine, I have the perfect magic for times like this.”
I had already confirmed with Search Magic that there were no humans inside the forest.
Therefore, I’ll use that magic without holding back.
“HIGH AREA SEARCH!”
First, I mark the monsters in the forest with Enemy Detection Magic.
Next, I activate an offensive magic.
“FOREST THORN LANCE!!”
” ” ” ” “Gugyaaaaaaahhh!?” ” ” ” “
As I activated the magic, screams roared from within the forest.
“Eh? What, what!?”
Because she couldn’t tell what was happening just by watching from the outside, Meguri-san raised a voice of confusion.
“I’ve annihilated the monsters lurking in the forest.”
Confirming that the reactions of living monsters disappeared on my Search Magic, I reported the annihilation to Meguri-san.
“Eh!? Already!?”
“Fortunately, it seems there were no monsters of significant strength.”
Forest Thorn Lance: it’s a wide-area magic that manipulates the trees of the forest, extending their roots and branches as spears to attack.
Its flaw is that it has limited applications, as it cannot be used in places without plants, or without plants that have thick enough branches and roots to be used for attacks.
Also, since plants lack the intellect to distinguish enemies, the caster needs to either visually confirm the targets or designate them with magic.
Just hearing this, it seems like a useless magic full of flaws, but since the trees of the forest themselves attack the monsters as weapons, it’s the perfect offensive magic for environmental protection with no risk of destroying the forest like wide-area flame magic.
In short, the right tool for the right job.
“Now then, after defeating the monsters, I just need to collect the materials. FOREST CONTROL!”
I activated a magic that controls the plants in the forest, making them carry the corpses of the defeated monsters out of the forest like a bucket brigade.
After a while, at the edge of the forest closest to us, the monster corpses carried by tree branches and roots began piling up.
“What an incredible number. To gather this many monsters from outside the forest…?”
“If you use a Targeting Magic applying Search Magic, the subjugation isn’t difficult, you know?”
“No, normally I think that’s a Herculean task…”
After this, I just need to put them in the magic bag and the collection is complete.
I’ll need to prove I exterminated the monsters lurking in the forest to reassure everyone later, after all.
“Well then, the material collection is done, so shall we go?”
“Y-Yeah… I ended up being no use at all…”
◆ Observer ◆
“Wh-What the hell happened…”
We are participants in the pilgrimage representing the God of Commerce… as part of the external participant quota.
But our true role is to be sacrificial pawns to sabotage the rivals.
We aren’t the only ones; there are many guys in other temples taking on such dirty jobs.
The point is, as long as the main temple believers complete the journey, it’s fine.
And the order given to us was to sabotage the Temple of the Chief God.
Unlike past pilgrimages, there are many suspicious things about the participants from the Temple of the Chief God this time.
That’s probably why the higher-ups are wary.
In fact, the group from the Temple of the Chief God that we delayed has been catching up at an incredible speed, and they were just a hair’s breadth away from catching up to the main group of participants who were leading the pack.
Therefore, we decided to lure them into a trap as planned.
Thanks to the monster-attracting herb incense planted in the center of the forest beforehand by a separate squad, the inside of the forest has become a monster’s den.
And the plan was for us to request their cooperation when the group from the Temple of the Chief God came near.
After that, we would pretend to return to the Holy Capital, monitor the guys heading into the forest, and attack them when they came out exhausted after finishing their investigation.
Even if they managed to run away, we would be able to buy enough time, making their victory hopeless.
In the worst-case scenario where they ignore our request and continue the journey, we would report everything to the organizers after the journey ends.
With that, we could insist that their actions are unbecoming of those who serve the Chief God, and that they lack the qualification to lead the ritual.
In other words, no matter how things played out, it was supposed to be an advantageous situation for us, but…
“The trees in the forest are carrying the monster corpses…?”
They never entered the forest.
Instead, monster corpses were carried out of the forest one after another.
Moreover, it wasn’t people carrying them, but tree branches and roots. Impossible, why are the trees moving!?
“What the hell is going on over there?”
“H-How the hell should I know. Hey, can you do something like that with magic?”
I asked my mage companion if it was being done with magic, but he violently shook his head in denial.
“Don’t be absurd! There’s no way such a magic exists! If there’s any possibility, it would be the Spirit Magic used by Elves, but there are no Elves among them. To begin with, the monsters should be deep inside the forest. If that’s truly magic, it means they encompassed the entire forest within the magic’s range. That’s not magic a human can use!!”
Now that he mentions it, this forest is quite vast. I’ve never even seen magic that can encompass a forest of this size within its range on a battlefield.
But if so, who the hell are those guys?
If it isn’t magic, did the trees in the forest move on their own and exterminate the monsters?
That’s definitely not human work…!?
“C-Could it be, those guys really aren’t human…?”
“Huh? What are you talking about?”
My companion, who heard my muttering, tilted his head asking what I was saying.
“Think about it carefully! There’s no way a human could do this without even using magic! If so, they are something non-human!”
“Something non-human, then what the hell are they supposed to be?”
I fearfully conveyed the answer I arrived at to my companions.
“You guys know this is a journey dedicated to the gods, right? …If we threw cold water on that, how do you think the ones receiving the dedication would feel?”
“No, you’re joking… right?”
They probably understood what I wanted to say. My companions denied it, unable to believe it.
“Then let me ask you this instead: how the hell could a human do that?”
” ” “…” ” “
Not a single one of my companions could answer my question.
If anything, they had faces saying they didn’t want to believe it, that they wanted to deny it.
In other words, it means no one could deny my words.
“The priests were talking about it, how gods send beings called Angels or Apostles to the surface to punish the foolish acts of humans. And nowadays, people call users of superior healing magic ‘Saintesses’ for propaganda, but the original Saintesses were also such extraordinary beings. I thought it was a shady story, but after seeing the current methods of the temples and that sight just now…”
If I’m told that messengers of the gods came to punish our actions, I can’t deny it.
“!? They looked this way!?”
It was then. One of the companions who was keeping watch suddenly let out a voice that sounded like a scream.
“Impossible, from this distance!? We’re even using presence-concealing magic items. It’s just your imagin…”
I wanted to say that, but that guy was definitely looking this way.
“Hey, they’re waving at us. Could they really have noticed us? This magic item is definitely working, right?”
Foolish, impossible. We are hiding from a position far away. There’s no way we could be found.
“I-It’s your imagination. There’s probably a traveler near us. Don’t make any careless moves.”
But, what if they really are messengers of the gods…
“We’ve defeated all the monsters, so you can report to the Holy Capital with peace of mind—!”
I wanted to believe it was my imagination, but that person clearly recognized that we were here and spoke to us.
” ” ” “Y-Yeeek…” ” ” “
Without prompting, we all stood up.
And started running towards the Holy Capital.
” ” ” “We will convey it immediatelyyyyyy!!” ” ” “
There’s no mistake! They are true messengers of the gods! True Saintesses!
They are individuals who must absolutely not be angered! If we anger them, we’ll suffer divine punishment!
We headed toward the Holy Capital at full speed, just as that person ordered.
And once we report everything to our clients, we’re leaving the Holy Capital immediately!
We’re never doing such dirty work again! We’ll donate all the money we have to the church!
“So please! Forgive usssss!!”
