◆ ◆ Phoca



　Ever since Lex and his friends came to the Holy City, not a day has gone by when there hasn't been some sort of commotion.

　The sudden renovation of the Temple of the Lord God, the defeat of dangerous demons that appeared in the suburbs, the disappearance of the priest of the Temple of the God of War who was called the punishment of the gods... Every day there was no shortage of topics.

　That's exactly what I wanted.



　Then it is my boss who is the loudest.



"We need to investigate the temple of the Lord God immediately!"



　but it's obvious they've already sent a survey.

　On the contrary, it is obvious from his pale face that he has already failed, just like the other temples.

　Thanks to this, I am sitting next to him and he is making a lot of noise.



But what are you going to do?　I heard that your spies were captured and thrown by the side of the road with a sign saying that these men had entered the temple at midnight and were robbers.



"I guess it's impossible to operate in the Holy City, or even in the neighboring countries now. If you go to some remote place at the end of the world, that is.



　The senior priests of other departments, who are his political rivals, were sarcastic toward his boss.

　I'll just let the bickering go, as it happens all the time.

　Unlike them, I have to participate in the pilgrimage, and I don't want to waste my strength and energy listening to their pointless arguments.



"Hmmm ...... Saint Phoca, what do you think?"



　I was thinking, "I'm so sorry..." when suddenly water was pointed at me, and I was startled.

　What?　Don't tell me you've found out that I've been encouraging Lex and his friends?

　I asked him to hide his face when we left the guild!



"You and your friends will be the core of the pilgrimage. I want to hear from you as you travel."



　Oh, I see what you mean. What a surprise! ......



"Yes. The temple of the Lord God is certainly a concern, but I would venture to say that it is better to leave it untouched."



"What?



　My boss stares at me with a terrible look on his face, as if he feels betrayed by me, his subordinate.

　No, no, no, let's hide our feelings more, even if we are in a meeting of senior priests.

　That's why you won't get ahead.



"The temple of the Lord God has moved with too much fanfare. Thanks to this, the other temples are watching our every move. Moreover, it seems that they are being messed with every night, so it can't be said that they are on good terms with the other temples."



"So you are saying that we want the Lord God's temple to be conspicuous on purpose so that our activities will be well concealed."



Yes. It is natural for our temple to be on the lookout for other temples when we are on pilgrimage. But there is no need to increase the vigilance of the temple of the Lord God, who has acquired mysterious powers. Let us stay out of it, play the role of a harmless entity, and let the temple of the Lord God concentrate on the other temples. If they can reduce each other's power, there is nothing to say."



　To tell the truth, I wanted to stop my boss from acting too rashly, but I held back because if I stopped him, he would suspect me.

　Fortunately, Lex and I are connected, so he must recognize that the Temple of the Mother of the Earth, or more correctly, me personally, is on his side.



　All I have to do is to defeat them without being noticed by the higher-ups.



"Well, I'm sure you're right, Foca.



　It was then that a sharp voice echoed through the conference room.

　Even though it was not a particularly loud voice, I felt a chill in the air in the conference room as soon as I heard it.



"Temple Director ......"



Yes, the voice belonged to the head of the temple, the highest authority in the temple of our Earth Mother Goddess.



"It's certainly a bad idea to go out of your way to mess with someone you don't know. We'll observe other temples' failures from the outside to gauge the strength of the Lord God's temple.



""""" Ha!!"""""



　The only one who seemed unhappy was his boss, but he could not go against the decision of the head of the temple.



　Thus, it was decided that the conference would stay out of the temple of the Lord God and concentrate on the pilgrimage.

　Not all of them will follow the orders of their superiors, but they will still be of some help to Lex and the others.



"Yes, Foca!"



　The meeting was over and everyone was leaving the room, and for some reason the temple director approached me.

　Well, I have a bad feeling about this.

　I don't think he's going to talk about something that won't make him any money. ......

　Also, please stop calling me foca-chan.

　I'm old enough ......, no, I'm not that old yet!



"Yes, can I help you?"



"No, I just thought I hadn't given you a pep talk before you left for your pilgrimage."



"Huh."



　The chief priest looked me in the eye and told me, "I have to go to the temple.



"It's good that you want peace, because it's in line with our doctrine, but if you lose on purpose, you're not going to get it!"



"What?　What?　What?



That's all I have to say. Good luck with the rest, Foca.



　With that, the temple head walked out of the conference room.



　The temple director then walked out of the conference room.



"...... thing, I wonder how much they knew?"






　Remembering what happened in the conference room, I couldn't help muttering to myself.

　I wonder if they were aware of Lex and the others, or if they were not that aware but saw that I was cutting corners to balance the temple. ......



"Either way, we can't cut corners anymore."



　If the temple director had seen through us, there was no telling what kind of punishment would await us if we cut corners here.

　It's a shame, but I guess we're going to have to take this seriously.



"That's all well and good, but how long do we have to keep on looking like this?



　As I was renewing my resolve, a thick voice spoke to me.

　I turned around to see a stout woman with two large swords on her back.



"Until the end of your pilgrimage, Risou.



　I respond to the woman's question by calling out the name of an adventurer whom I know well.



"Don't call him by that name now."



　The woman who called my name complains to me with a bitter look on her face.

　Yes, she is really Risou, the famous S-rank adventurer from Soudai Fang.



"I beg your pardon, Lilika-chan.



　Once again, I call Lisou by her assumed name.

　Isn't it a pretty name?



"...... please stop calling me by my first name after all."



　But Risou didn't like that either, and became unfaithful to me, telling me not to call her by her name.

　So selfish.



"But, can't we at least go back to the way we were in the tent?　Most of the participants are men anyway, right?"



　The nervous-looking woman who told me this is also an S-rank adventurer I know well.

Her name is also TENMADO Rameez.



"It doesn't work like that, Rameez. It's not good to have evidence that a man was involved.



"But hey, I can't let anyone I know see this. Especially to the women I love."



　The last to join the conversation was Roddy, also an S-rank adventurer like me.



"Really?　I'm sure they'll be more than happy to see you, Roddy."



"Give me a break, ......."



　Yes, I had requested the cooperation of all the S-rank adventurers with whom I had made acquaintance.

Ostensibly to bolster the strength of my temple, but the real purpose was to get Lex to help out at the main temple.



　If we call only Mr. Lex, it would be an unnatural situation where we just send a request to the S-rank adventurers and send him home without letting him do anything.

　This way, when the mysterious helper appears in the temple of the Lord God, his true identity will be revealed.

　If that happens, my purpose in summoning him will also be revealed.



　But if Risou and the others were there, it would not be unnatural to assume that I had requested the cooperation of all the S-rank adventurers I knew, but Lex had refused my request, so I had simply left.



　Of course, I really wanted to ask Risou and the others to cooperate with me.

　After all, other temples will do everything in their power to kick out their rivals in order to win the pilgrimage.

　I am sure that the temple of the Mother of the Earth will have some kind of plan as well.



　And now they have become them.

　To join us on our pilgrimage, they were given a magic potion to change their gender, just like Lex.

　...... Unfortunately, they didn't turn out to be as pretty as those girls...



"d*mn, if it isn't the price of admission to the secret lands controlled by the Church!"



"If only they hadn't flashed me a rare magical document!"



　Risow and the others mutter the same blur for the umpteenth time.

　I had to spend some very valuable cards to get them to accept my job.

　To be honest, it cost me a lot of money and I owed them a lot of money, but it was worth it and they promised to help me.



If only I hadn't inadvertently seduced the granddaughter of the temple head of the Mother Goddess of the Earth!



No, I think he deserved it."



　The only one who got the job was Roddy, though, because of his messing around with the granddaughter of the temple head.



　As I recall, she was an aspiring adventurer who happened to meet Roddy.

　For new adventurers, an S-ranked adventurer is a hero above the rest.

　When it's someone of the opposite s*x, it's no wonder they're so attracted to him.



"No, no~, ha ha ha."



　The problem is that your hero made a pass at you.

　Of course, a young girl would be elated to be hit on by someone she admires.　

　And because of her lack of interpersonal experience, she took the socially-inappropriate offer seriously, and the story got messy. ......

　Roddy, this loan is really expensive. You're gonna have to work harder than that!



"Come on, stop whining and work, work, work. If you don't hurry up and finish setting up camp, you won't be able to sleep forever."



""""Ohoho~"""



　We were now setting up camp with the other participants.

　With the availability of anti-demon potions, we were able to spend as much time as we could to move as fast as our strength would allow.




　As a side effect, I am also thankful for the increased safety of camping.

　I was setting up my tent by the side of the road, thankful for the newly developed useful tools, when ......

　It showed up.



　Gow!



"What?"



　Suddenly there was a gust of wind, and then something passed by us.



"What?



"Are you okay, foca!"



"Yes, yes."



　Risou and his team were immediately alerted by the sudden and unusual situation with their weapons at the ready.

　But he was nowhere to be found.

　In an instant, he disappeared from our sight.



Demon attack?



All hands on deck!



　The other participants, perhaps sensing something unusual, stopped preparing their campsites and began to watch their surroundings.



"Just now, something seemed to be passing by at a tremendous speed. ......"



Yeah, there was more than one.



　That's the beauty of it Roddy, I didn't get that far.



"I used ...... probing magic, but there's no demonic activity nearby. It seems that this guy is long gone out of my search range now.



　Rameez also reported that she had been keeping a close watch on the area with her magic, but had been unable to capture the mysterious presence, shaking her head.

　She looked a little disappointed.



"What do we do now?　Shall we camp in a different place?"



　I shake my head at Roddy's suggestion.



"No, that won't be necessary. I don't want to go through all that trouble, so we'll stay here as planned."



"Are you sure?　You don't want to risk that guy from earlier coming back, do you?"



　It is certainly understandable that it is natural for an adventurer to think this way.

　But my adventurer's intuition told me not to worry.



"Maybe ...... something that just passed us by won't come back ...... or something."



　I tell Risou and the others while looking in the direction where the mysterious presence might have disappeared, in other words, in the direction of the next town.



"That thing, I think we know it well."



　I didn't see him. But I could feel the same atmosphere in this commotion as I did in the commotion he was causing.

　What's more, that gust of wind didn't attack us.

　If it really was a demon, we would have been wounded in some way by now.



"""......"""



　I guess they thought the same thing. Risow and the others looked at each other, nodded their heads, looked back at us, and said something.



I'm sure."""""



　Well, if the other S-rank adventurers thought so too, then there's no doubt about it.



"I'm starting to think we're going to lose even if we really put our backs into it.