The miracle of the gods happened.
Even if you don't believe the stories, experiencing it firsthand is shocking. Just what was that...?
After seeing Claire get tended to by the priest and others once she collapsed from channeling her mana, I descended the mountain.
"Hmm~ So that was the miracle of the gods, huh."
"Seems so..."
"Hmm? Teehee~ What's this, what's this?"
"The hell do you want?"
The eye mask girl leaned in, looking oddly surprised as she peered at my face.
She was grinning.
"It's rare to see you shaken up when you're usually so composed. Did it strike a chord?"
She acted like she'd discovered something fun.
And the eye mask girl had a smug look, like "Aren't I so perfect?"
"You're disgusting. And a horrible person."
I verbalized my candid thoughts.
"I'm starting to not mind when you insult me. Hehe. But! I don't wanna hear you criticize my personality!"
So creepy, stop. And I'm not a bad person at all. I'm not, right? Not at all...?
As I grumbled internally about her annoyingness, we bickered pointlessly.
After a while, I started to calm down.
Seeing that, eye mask girl said,
"Feeling a bit better? Teehee, I'm glad, glad!"
What? Don't tell me she was trying to...? No way. Overthinking things.
"But your face earlier was tempting. Maybe I missed my chance! Teehee. Comforting a hurt boy gently would've scored me points."
There, that's the kind of freak she is.
And who's a hurt little boy? I just got a tiny bit shaken up.
I was squinting at her suspiciously when the creepy, giggling eye mask girl turned to me with a "Look how great I am" expression.
"Hey, there's something I want your help with, 'kay?"
"Well, it's late. I'm heading back."
I raised a hand in farewell and walked to the inn.
"The night's still young! Hey!"
Back at the inn, I sorted out my thoughts. Naturally, about the miracle of the gods.
People floating. An impossible phenomenon. Or I guess magic could make it happen.
But on every single one of that crowd? The priest said the miracle's range covered not just those at the temple, but everyone in town.
Could magic on such a massive scale be done?
I was using my magic sight during the actual event, but didn't sense any magic affecting me personally.
The miracle of the gods... It made sense for the townsfolk to believe it as such.
No answers came no matter how long I thought about it. I fell asleep feeling frustrated.
...
The next morning, it hit me all at once.
It's simple, just accept the miracle of the gods.
Take it as that kind of thing, and remember I came here to steal the tears of the gods.
Yesterday I must have gotten caught up on the miracle's workings, convinced I couldn't get the tears without understanding it.
Didn't matter to me. Luckily I'd found a potential tears of the gods candidate too.
"If gods exist, that's awesome!"
My mood recovered, I headed to the temple.
Unlike last night, only a scattered few people were around now.
I reached the temple quickly, but as expected, the altar housing the Godstone was shut.
Not that I could do anything if it was open...
That massive rock, moving it would draw attention. From a distance it looked at least five meters tall.
And it was embedded in the mountain. Could I seriously steal that?
"Hmm."
Lacking any ideas for stealing it, I decided to go back down the mountain for now.
With nothing else to do, on a whim I went to the hill where I'd met Claire.
And there she was.
Claire sat in the exact same spot and pose as when we'd first met.
Did she always stay here?
"Yo."
"Ah..."
When I greeted her, Claire seemed vaguely happy.
Her expression was the same, I just got that impression.
"I saw it last night."
"Yeah."
"The miracle of the gods caught me off guard. What's the deal with that?"
"I don't know. I just do as they tell me."
I'd hoped she might know something, but oh well.
She had collapsed at the end after all.
"You worked hard too."
"Yeah."
She looked kind of down.
Recalling last night, I spoke up.
"You said you wanted to learn magic before, right?"
"Yeah but... "
Claire gazed at her bracelet.
"I'll get in trouble if I use magic."
Oh right, that.
But would she live like this forever?
Never able to do as she wished, only causing miracles for the town's sake.
I shut my eyes briefly, then opened them. Best to change the subject.
"Don't you have any friends or anything?"
"No."
Claire's expression darkened further. Crap, was that a landmine?
As I made a bitter face at my blunder, Claire continued with the same gloomy look.
"I had friends when little. But once I started being treated as the shrine maiden, my friends left one by one."
She suddenly shared some heavy stuff.
But I don't let it get to me. Something like that won't faze me.
Might as well ask her everything on my mind now.
"What about your parents?"
"Gone. Dad died in an accident when I was small. Mom was the previous shrine maiden, but she got sick."
Yep, figured it'd go there. I had a hunch the conversation would turn heavy.
But getting all the landmines out of the way first means I can relax now.
"I'll probably die soon too."
An additional missile struck, piercing my defenses. What should I say to that?
"Some kind of illness?"
"No. But all the shrine maidens die young. Mom, the ones before her too."
I see. Odds are it's because they force too much mana into their bodies.
But if that's all, I can do something about it.
Since I planned to steal the Godstone and all. I'd better think of a method quickly.
"Ah, just remembered something I gotta do. I'm heading back."
"Oh."
"Hm?"
When I started saying my goodbyes, Claire looked like she wanted to say something.
I waited silently.
"Um, will you... come again?"
"If I feel like it."
She must be lonely without anyone to talk to.
Part of me wanted to chat with her more, but I had things to take care of too.
Or rather, the sooner I finished this job, the sooner her circumstances might change.
No clue if that would be good or bad for her though...