If I had to describe it, it would be a white wave—- no, a white wall.
The sight of a group of people dressed in pure white vestments
marching in a single, orderly stride is surely a stunning sight. The
surroundings, which were supposed to be noisy a moment ago, were
enveloped in frozen silence, and for these people that were about to
pass through, the crowd split in two.
Following Lilia-san's lead, we line up at the edge of the street, kneeling
in a prayer position with her in the lead.
Looking around me, this seems to be a custom here, and people who
seem to be the head of each family were kneeling front of their group,
while their attendants are in the back, and they are divided into the left
and right positions while they pray.
Nearly half of the people here are nobles—– In other words, people
who have a certain level of status in this country, but all of them are
kneelings while hanging their heads.
In other words, that means that no nobles can be disrespectful to the
beings who are about to pass through here, and that's the best proof
that—– the Three Supreme Gods are beings with such strong authority.
In the center of the people dressed in pure white vestments, I could see
the Goddess walking, holding a presence that a Goddess would
definitely have.
Her long hair that's unlike Lunamaria-san's light blue, but a blue that's
as deep as the sea, was clasped behind her neck, and she had
heterochromatic eyes of red and blue. She's taller than the 170cm me,
with a tall, slender, well-proportioned model-like body, she gives a
graceful and noble impression to those around her.
The way she walked with her long legs while she surrounded by the
priests, it's like this is a fashion show that was held just for that
Goddess.
This is—– The Goddess of Time.
The Goddess of Time calmly walked along the path surrounded by the
quiet prayers buried within the silence.
In this atmosphere that can even be called mysterious, with just the
sound of footsteps smoothly resounding, the Goddess of Time heads
towards the temple—– but she stops on her way.
[...…]
The surrounding priests also stopped in unison, and while the sound of
footsteps that had echoed earlier disappeared, the silence completely
took over the place. The Goddess then turns her gaze towards our
direction… Eh?
Is it just me or I feel like the Goddess of Time is looking here? No, she's
really looking here. It's not that we just coincidentally made eye contact
or anything like that, she's glaring my way. It kind of looks like she's
trying to kill me with gaze, you know!? Why!?
For some reason, the Goddess of Time stopped and looked towards me,
and after a moment of contemplation, she calmly walked to our
direction—– and stood in front of Lilia-san.
[…You're a noble of this country, right?]
[Eh!? Y- Yes… Lilia Albert… is… my… name…]
The Goddess of Time stops in front of Lilia-san and asked in a quiet
voice, while Lilia-san replies even as her lips quiver.
I guess she didn't expect that she would be speaking to her. I can't see
her face because I'm standing behind her, but I can see her shoulders
slightly trembling.
[Is the man standing behind you your attendant?]
[N- No, he's… Umm…]
[Fumu… No, sorry. It seems like it's a question difficult for you to
answer, so you can just forget about that question.]
After saying so, the Goddess of Times shifted her gaze to me and quietly
stared at me with her red and blue heterochromatic eyes.
[…Man, it seems that you are blessed with quite the strange fate huh?]
[…Eh?]
[No, I don't know much about those things, as they're under the domain
of the God of Fate… But very interesting, indeed. This pressure I'm
feeling from you… Which carnage demon liked you at first sight?]
[...…]
I honestly don't what she's talking about, but come to think of it, I think
Shiro-san had used that kind of phrase too.
The Human liked by Kuromueina from first sight… What could those
words possibly mean?
I didn't answer her with anything. Or rather, I myself am confused by
that question of her that I can't answer. Removing her gaze from me, the
Goddess of Time looks at Lilia-san again.
[You said your name was Lilia Albert, right…? If I'm not mistaken, it was
you who was responsible for summoning the heroes this time, are you
not?]
[…Y- Yes… It is as you say…]
[It looks like you've picked out a very interesting being… I'd love to talk
with you some more, but I've got some other business to attend to
today, so I don't have the time. I would like to talk with you again at a
later date, if that's alright with you?]
[ ! ? ! ? Y- Yes. Whenever the Goddess of Time-sama wishes… is fine with
me…]
When the Goddess of Time said she wanted to talk to her later, Lilia-san
shoulders jerked for a moment before she deeply offered her gratitude
with her hands on the ground, and at the same time, a ruckus rose
around us.
Perhaps, this proposal is something that can be called unprecedented.
Lunamaria-san, who was next to me, is also so surprised that she's
frozen in place with her eyes wide opened.
However, the unprecedented events within the unprecedented events
didn't just end there. When the Goddess of Time heard Lilia-san's reply,
she nodded in satisfaction and then held out her hand to Lilia-san.
[I see, I'm sorry for bothering you at that time. Well then, I'll be
conveying you my plans later… This might be informal but in exchange
for the troubles—— I bestow upon you the "Blessings of Time"——]
[ ! ? ! ? ]
As light overflowed from her held out hand, it began to envelop Liliasan's body.
The blessing of a Supreme God… Even though I'm not very familiar with
this world, I can understand what that means.
Even the king of a country was barely able to receive the blessing of a
high-rank God, but the Supreme Gods are beings far higher than them
—- And this is the blessing of such a being that's rarely seen aside from
the Festival of Heroes. This blessings is no longer just something that
can be bought by money.
[…I- It— It—- It was my honor to receive your blessing.]
[Umu. Well then, I'll meet you at the time we can talk again. I'll
"remember" your name.]
After saying that, the Goddess of Time turned her gaze towards me
once more before walking towards the temple, and the priests who
were frozen in place by the events that just happened followed suit.
Speaking of Lilia-san herself, she's still kneeling down on the ground,
not moving even slightly. Or rather, she appears to be completely frozen
in place.
After a little while, when the Goddess of Time's group disappeared from
sight, as everyone remained dumbfounded, Lunamaria-san quickly
moves and as she holds Lilia-san in her arms, she told us.
[Everyone! Quick, back to the carriage!!]
[ [ [ ! ? ] ] ]
Saying that, we broke into a run and as we reached the parked carriage,
Lunamaria-san literally threw the frozen Lilia-san into the carriage.
She just threw her like it's something normal. Is it okay to do something
like that to your master?
Leaping straight to the reins of the carriage and after confirming that
the three of us had rushed into the carriage, Lunamaria-san quickly
made the horses start running.
The reason why Lunamaria-san was in such a hurry is understandable
from the ear-piercing cheers that came right after the carriage started
moving.
Lilia-san, who received the blessing from a Supreme God, which is
considered unprecedented, is now considered as the woman of the
hour, and if she had stayed there, she would have been bombarded a lot
of questions, which would have been a terrible thing to happen.
Thanks to Lunamaria-san's quick thinking, we managed to get out of
there before all hells broke loose. Since we're not criminals, we didn't
get chased or anything like that so after a while, Lunamaria-san also let
out a sigh of relief as she left the reins to the attendant who was
originally managing the carriage, going back into the carriage again.
Then she swung around and woke up the stiffened Lilia-san, who is still
in that position when she was just thrown into the carriage.
[My Lady, My Lady! Please get a hold of yourself!!]
[…Huh!? Lu- Luna? Eh, ah, awawawawa, what d-d-d-did just…]
[It's amazing! My Lady! Not only does the Goddess of Time
remembered your name, she even blessed you, even though it's just
informally!! It's a brilliant achievement!!]
[Awawawa, A- A- As I thought, it wasn't just a dream huh. T- T- T- That
the Goddess of Time… G- G- Gave me her blessing…]
This won't do. Lilia-san's completely in a panic.
She's unimaginably trembling compared to her normally calm
appearance, and she looked like a newborn calf, moving her gaze all
around the place. To be honest, she looks really cute like that.
[No, My Lady. I don't understand what you're saying. Please calm
down.]
Should I say that it's to be expected from Lunamaria-san, she was able
to cut in even against Lilia-san who's in that state.
But unfortunately, it seems that Lilia-san is the type of person who is
unable to compose herself when she began to panic.
[T- T- T- That's impossible!? How could something like this happen…
Awawa—- Kyuuu~]
[My Lady!? Wha, My Lady!?]
Ah, it seems that Lilia-san had become too panicked that her eyes began
turning around the place. I feel like I could even see something like
steam coming out from her head.
For now, we took a break from moving until Lilia-san recovers, and
while the carriage stopped a short distance away from the main road,
Lilia-san laid down on her seat with a wet towel on her face.
[Unnyyuuu~]
Letting out a smile at Lilia-san who is making such cute groans, we
talked about what happened earlier.
[Senpai's manekineko power… It's quite fearsome, isn't it?]
[Yes… Even I shuddered from that. I'm glad that I didn't pray to Miyamasama.]
[Eh? How come this has become my fault?]
[Whether this was Miyama-san's fault or not, the Goddess of Time was
clearly interested in Miyama-san.]
I wonder if that's the case though? She did say some strange things, and
there's also the thing that Goddess of Time said that was the same as
what Shiro-san said, and I don't know if I'm really blessed by a strange
fate or not but…
[Arehh? Speaking of which… I'm changing the subject, but in the end,
what's the name of the Goddess of Time?]
[I don't know. The Gods basically don't name themselves, while we just
call the Gods under the same authority as the God of this authority, so
at least, I don't know. If it's a low-rank God, some of the priests of their
temple might know about it… But if it's a high-rank God, I don't think
anyone would know aside from their fellow Gods?]
[...…]
——-That certain goddess I just met is different though. I mean, she's
the first one to introduce herself!
Well, she knows Kuro so… Let's just say that Shiro-san is outside the
norm for now, but there are other things that are on my mind right now.
[However, with her like this, can Lilia-san have a "one-on-one"
discussion with the Goddess of Time?]
[Hyyiiii!? O- One-on-one!?]
I mean, Lilia-san was the one that was asked to be talked to, Lilia-san is
also the Duchess, and she was also the one in charge of summoning us…
[Lu- Luna… Help…]
[As expected, that would be impossible. No matter how you look at it,
I'm just a mere servant, I wouldn't be able to sit together in a discussion
within the presence of a Supreme God. Or rather, I don't think I would
be allowed.]
Hearing my words, Lilia-san jumped up and clung to Lunamaria-san
while looking up at her, but Lunamaria-san looks apologetic as she
shook her head.
[That's impossible even for me too, you know!? Just thinking about
talking with a Supreme God makes my body quiver, but talking with her
one-on-one is…]
She broke in tears. She really broke down and gushing in tears.
[…I think Miyama-san would be allowed to sit within her presence
though?]
[ ! ! ! ! ! ]
[Huh?]
[Indeed, the Goddess of Time seemed to be interested in Miyama-sama,
and I'm rather sure that's actually the main purpose why she wants to
talk with My Lady…]
Arehh? It looks like the situation is turning ominous though…
Lilia-san looked at me with tears on her eyes. She looks like she's in a
mess as she looks at me.
[N- No, but I'm just a regular commoner—– "Please come along with
me! Kaito-san!!"—– Uwaaahhh!?]
For the time being, I wish to refrain from going into a place that might
make my stomach churn, so I thought of indirectly saying no… But Liliasan literally jumped at me.
[Please! Please help me!!]
[Li- Lilia-san!? Your face, your face is too close!? And your grip is too
strong!?]
[I have no one else to turn to!! Meeting her alone is definitely
impossible!!]
The words "evidently desperate" were accurately applicable to Liliasan's appearance right now, but the real problem for me was actually
being hugged by Lilia-san.
The combination of those things that are extremely soft, the sweet
scent of her perfume tickling my nostrils and her teary eyes… Its
destructive power is immeasurable.
Moreover, even if I try to pull her off away from me, I don't know where
such power is found in her slender body, but she's clinging me with an
outrageous amount of force that I can't pull her off at all.
This stimulus is too strong for a man of my age who has never had a
girlfriend since birth. Or rather, my back hurts like hell from her
embrace!
I mean, it's almost like she's trying to do a knee breaker on me…
(T/N: Kaito is actually talking about sabaori, a sumo technique.)
[I- I understand! I'll be attending too! I'll be attending already!!]
[Kaito-zaaaaaannnnnnn!!]
[W- Wait, Lilia-san… It hurts…]
[Thank you vewwwyyy muuuucchhhh!!]
[Wait… Seriously… I'm dying here…]
If things continue like this, putting aside my reason, even my life is in
danger. The only way for me to pull her off is to agree in meeting the
Goddess of Time along with her, so I desperately told Lilia-san that I
would be her at that time.
Thereupon, Lilia-san's face was overcome with emotions, as if she saw
Buddha from below the pits of hell… That she hugged me "tighter than
before" that I feel like I heard a very unpleasant noise cracking from my
back… And my consciousness went dark.
Dear Mom, Dad—— What can I say, I've just been walking around
today, but seriously —– How the heck could this happen?