Volume 22 Chapter (7-Side Story 3)

Chapter 7, Minor Operations

Granting Lirica a blessing went off without a hitch.

Since Kousuke had originally sensed a connection between himself and Lirica, he was able to grant the blessing without any problem.

All that remained was to see if Lirica would accept the blessing properly.

Kousuke was relieved that he had successfully granted a blessing. .

After all, it was the first time he had given it to someone other than the Tower members, so he was a little anxious about it.

"Are you okay?"

Kousuke asked Lirica, who was still in a daze after being given the blessing.

"Eh? Oh, yes. I'm fine."

Lirica answered, but her gaze was still unsteady.

Kousuke, confused, looked at Sylvia.

"It will probably be fine. It's only because she's confused about many things since she's accepting the Divine Power for the first time."

By many things, she meant that it took time for her head to sort things out, as well as her physical body.

"Is that how it is? Huh? But aside from Sylvia and Floria, who had blessings from the beginning, Peach and the others weren't like this, right?"

"That's probably because they were trained in using Divine Power."

If she was able to use Divine Power, she would not have ended up like Lirica was now, even if she accepted the blessing that was Divine Power itself.

"How long will it take to recover?"

Alec asked Sylvia, out of curiosity.

"I don't know. It's hard to say, it depends on the individual. I don't think it would take that long…"

Sylvia tilted her head and replied.

"I apologize for the trouble. I am fine now."

Not long after Alec asked, Lirica answered and bowed her head.

Sonia looked at her with concern, but Lirica assured her once again that she was fine.

In fact, the kind of fatigue she felt earlier was gone as cleanly as if it had been a lie.

Physically, there was no change at all from the usual.

So much so as usual that she almost forgot that she had received a blessing in the opposite direction.

"Yes. Don't push yourself too hard."

Kousuke said so, but Lirica shook her head like it was outrageous.

"I'm really fine!"

"Okay. I understand."

As Lirica was gaining momentum, Kousuke also brought his hands in front of her eyes and gestured for her to stop.

Seeing that she finally stopped, Kousuke continued.

"So, do you have your Crown card with you?"

"Crown card? Of course, I do."

A Crown card was the best proof of identity in the Tower.

It was common practice for all Crown members to carry it with them at all times.

Lirica handed the card from her pocket to Kousuke without thinking.

"Oh, thank you."

Kousuke received the card and made a gesture of playing with it.

"What are you doing?"

Alec asked Kousuke, but Kousuke, who seemed to be concentrating on something, did not answer.

Peach answered his question instead.

"If they renew the card at the counter as it is now, they will find out that she received blessings, so he was most likely tampering with the card, so it would not be shown."

"Tampering… Can that really be done?"

The Crown card was supposed to be highly regarded as an ID card even outside the Tower because the contents of its status could not be changed.

It was common knowledge that it was impossible to do so easily.

"Normally, you can't do that…"

"Let me tell you something, only Kousuke and Isnani can do something like this, you see?"

Floria added with a nod.

"No, I don't think Isnani would be able to do it either. Only Kousuke-sama can do something on this level."

"I see."

Alec only nodded reassuringly and did not pursue the matter any further.

He thought it was only natural that Kousuke could do it.

"Is it because Kousuke-sama is a living god, after all?"

Sylvia shook her head at Lirica's direct question.

"No, it's not. It's for a different reason, you see?"

"Is it a delicate subject to discuss?"

"No, not really, and yeah, it was not because he is a living god~. I could have done it even before he became a God."

Sylvia, Peach, and Floria, all Tower Management members, thought so.

"If it's Isnani, she can probably rewrite it herself. But the next time it goes through the Engraving Device at HQ, I'm sure it will cause an error."

Kousuke added as if to follow up.

As if on the verge of doing so, he held out the card to Lirica and continued.

"Like when you display the status, can you channel the magic power… Yes. Thank you."

Lirica did as she was told, touching the card and letting the magic flow through it.

He took the card back in his hand once more and went back to working on it some more.

This time, however, it didn't take much longer, and he quickly finished the task before presenting the card to Lirica.

"?"

"Well. I've finished rewriting it, so you can use it as usual now. As for the blessing, it's only visible to you."

"Oh, thank you… What's this? There seems to be something wrong with the numbers…"

After receiving the card and looking at the status, Lirica noticed that some of the skill levels were different from when she looked at them before.

"Oh. There were some changes, so I rewrote them as well."

At Kousuke's words, the members realized what Kousuke had done.

He used his left eye's power to check the status and then rewrote the card.

"Why is it that you can rewrite the card and Lord Isnani can't? I thought I heard that you were also involved in the development of the card."

Alec asked Kousuke what he wondered.

"That's a simple story. She doesn't have the authority to rewrite it."

It was true that she didn't have the authority, but Isnani wouldn't have done it either even if she had been given the authority.

The reason.

"If one tries to force a rewrite without authority, the contents will blow up. In addition, it records the magic of the person who created the card and the person who tried to rewrite it."

"So the next time they attempt to renew the card, they will not be able to use their card again."

The early result would be that the magic of the person who attempted to use the card fraudulently would be put on the blacklist.

The unfortunate situation would be if the card was lost and then used in such a fraudulent manner, but this would equally blacklist the card.

This was why the system required early reporting of lost or stolen cards.

"I wondered why they were so strict about lost and stolen cards, so it was because of that."

Lirica, who was listening besides him, nodded her head in agreement.

The Crown card was handled more strictly than the guild cards of the public guilds in other cities.

This was because of certain considerations.

No matter how hard they try, once they were on the blacklist, there was no way to get rid of it.

Some adventurers who took it lightly at first fell into such a situation, and their cards have not been reissued.

Having seen such instances, such things rarely happen now.

"So, back to the blessings…"

"Ye, yes!"

Kousuke said nothing more to Lirica, who stood upright.

He learned that if he said anything, the conversation would become more complicated than it already was.

"It's up to Lirica to decide what kind of power will manifest with that blessing. Try different things."

"Okay."

"I've given the blessing to several people, but no one has been able to use it specifically yet. Maybe Lirica will be the first to use it."

"Oh, no, that's impossible!"

Lirica vigorously shook her head from side to side, but as for Kousuke, he really thought it was possible.

Without any strange preconceptions about Kousuke's power, she might be able to use it to her advantage.

It was with this expectation in mind that he decided to give Lirica his blessing, but he didn't dare to tell her because he felt that if he did, it would probably backfire.

Kousuke was looking forward to seeing the result, since the form of the blessing might change depending on how Lirica thought of Kousuke.

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Chapter 8, Reappearance

After giving Lirica the blessing, they continued their tour of the festival as planned.

Many of the stalls were located on the main street in the center of town, and of course, there was much competition.

There were many stalls lined up, and many people were calling out to visitors in a festive manner.

The Doria family was walking side by side in the middle of the street.

A little ahead of them was Kousuke, walking with Sylvia and Peach on both arms.

Mitsuki was behind him, still in the position of escort.

Sonia asked her daughter as she watched.

"Do you think you don't need to be in the mix?"

"That would be out of character for me. Besides, those two will be at the event tomorrow, so I want them to have fun today."

"Oh, my. You're not being honest, are you?"

Sonia's teasing voice caused her daughter, Floria, to look slightly flustered.

Unfortunately, both of them were wearing masks, so one couldn't see their expressions, but one could easily imagine them.

"No, I'm not, okay? I'm just an administrative floo… Ah."

By the time she thought she had misspoken, it was too late.

A giggle came from next to her.

"That's good to hear. I was afraid you'd be too honest and frustrated with yourself."

"Well, um. Well, you know. Sometimes, I mean, occasionally."

"Yes, yes. I'm glad you're happy."

"…Muu."

Floria muttered in frustration, but Sonia was having none of it.

"I thought you, who are so shy, would only be frustrated because she's surrounded by so many beautiful women."

"We, well, that's not true, okay?"

Floria added a silent "maybe".

She was a little unsure.

"Oh, my? You're not so bad yourself, you just have to be more aggressive, you know?"

Not only was she not a bad-looking girl, she had looks that would turn most men to her.

It was just that most of them were too bad for her.

"Well, I mean, you have to be more aggressive… Like me?"

Floria tried to imagine herself being aggressive, but the image faded away halfway through, and she just couldn't imagine it.

"Well, aside from me, you two are still the same, aren't you?"

"Of course."

Sonia answered immediately, and Floria smiled inside her mask.

The two of them are always on good terms.

Of course, there were times when they had fights, but that was about it.

It would be rather strange if they didn't, Floria thought.

"But your father says he's been busy with work since we came here, and he doesn't give me as much attention as he used to, you know?"

"Hmm…? Is that so?"

Floria, who never heard of that before, looked at Alec.

"No, no, it's true that I'm busy. We're a fast-growing organization, after all, and we're short-staffed, and there's a lot going on."

Indeed, it was true, and whenever there was something going on, Alec was the one being asked about it.

As things settled down, Alec would have less and less to deal with.

But, since the population was still growing at a fairly rapid rate, it would be a while before that would be the case.

"Well, I'm relieved that your mother seems to be doing well."

Although Alec and Floria occasionally met in the conference room of the Administrative Floor, it had been a long time since she and Sonia had properly met face to face.

Of course, Alec told her what's been going on, so she knew that she was doing well.

"Yeah, well. It's good to see you doing well, too."

"My, I guess you can't come over here that often as long as that thing is still here."

She didn't have to mention that.

"It's probably just a matter of time. They won't be able to stay here forever, you know. That doesn't mean we can let our guard down, though."

It had not yet been a year since Floria had moved herself into the administrative Floors.

There was still not enough time, period-wise, for the previous problems to fully subside.

In some cases, it would take several years.

"I'm relieved, too, since you don't seem to be spending much time alone… Oops? I guess that's a good thing, in the end."

"Haah, Mother!"

At the sound of Floria's panicked voice, Sonia was laughing happily.

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"Sylvia, how long are you going to keep wearing that outfit?"

Kousuke, who had his arms around Sylvia and Peach, asked, looking behind him.

"Oh, you don't like it?"

"Hmm? Maybe we should be a little more intimate?"

"Seriously, please don't go any further."

Something soft had been hitting his arm for a while, and he couldn't help but be conscious of it.

It was the sad nature of a man.

"Then it's fine just the way it is, right?"

"…Yes."

Kousuke replied with resignation to Sylvia, who was obviously smiling, although he could not see her face through the mask.

He understood that she was being luxurious in many ways.

"It looks like you're having a good time back there!"

"Well, it's been a while."

"Oh~? Not only that, but I think the festival is fun too, right?"

"I agree with that too."

Kousuke was actually enjoying the festival as well.

Come to think of it, this was his first festival since arriving in this world.

"What are you thinking about?"

Sylvia asked, perhaps sensing the mood.

"Well, now that I think about it, this is the first festival since I came to this world."

"My~? Was that so?"

"This is the first time I've heard of it."

"Oh? I didn't tell you?"

He thought he had mentioned it when they decided to go to the festival.

"Well, then, you must enjoy today and tomorrow to the fullest."

"Of course."

Kousuke nodded as best he could.

"Then, we'll start with today~."

"That's right."

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After that, they enjoyed the festival for a while.

There were a variety of stalls, from the standard ones that Kousuke was familiar with and ones that he had never seen before coming to this world.

All of them were well-thought-out and creative.

Incidentally, both arms were not released until the end.

Because of this, there were times when he felt the murderous stares of men, but he decided not to care.

He wondered what would have happened if this had been an unmasked situation, but no matter how he thought about it, it would not have turned out well for Kousuke.

It happened when they turned from the central path to enjoy the quiet hustle and bustle for a while.

They knew that there were those who had been following them for a little while, so they invited them to join them.

Of course, it was Dion and his group.

Kousuke and his group were now flanked by men behind and in front of them.

In front of them stood Dion with a smirk on his face.

"Dion, you!"

"Oh, yes? What is it?"

Alec's scowl did not change even as he yelled.

He did not doubt his superiority.

Kousuke sighed under his mask as he looked at Dion.

"I wonder if he's still somewhat out of it, if he doesn't even know he was invited?"

"Maybe he didn't even imagine it~."

Peach chimed in on Kousuke's response.

"What? You, this situation…"

"Ah, fine, I get it. Mitsuki, leave him alone and get this over with."

"Okay."

Kousuke gave instructions to Mitsuki without letting Dion finish.

Mitsuki replied with a single word and immediately disappeared.

The next moment, the men surrounding Kousuke and the others collapsed.

"Hey, wha!"

Dion, who was the only one left behind, screamed in surprise at the sight of them falling one by one.

By then, Mitsuki had already returned to Kousuke's side.

"So, why don't you get the heck out of here?"

"Ki, you!"

Kousuke took off his mask and continued, as Dion still tried to say something.

"Yes, yes. I'll tell you what, if you mess with the Doria family any more than this, I'll file a formal protest against you and your family as representatives of the Amamiya Tower."

"You think you can do that?"

"Of course, we can do that. I'm a member of the Tower Management."

Taking advantage of his lack of popularity, Kousuke simply revealed himself.

"…"

"If this were your home country, there would be other ways to do things. Unfortunately, this is inside the Tower. I won't let you do what you want."

Dion's face was already turning blue.

"If you understand that, then get the heck out of here."

Kousuke said and pointed toward the transition gate.

No matter how much it was in the middle of a festival, the transition gate to the outside was still in proper working condition.

"Damn…!"

Dion swore and left.

The remaining members of the group, including Kousuke, just tilted their heads to his reaction.

"Me, a Tower Manager… it could be a bluff, you know…"

"After all, he can't do anything without the power of his house."

"Well, Alec, if you ever ask to see him again, you can kick him out without question."

"Okay, I understand. Thank you."

Alec said and bowed to Kousuke.

As long as he had Kousuke's word, Alec could do whatever he wanted.

"Oh, it's okay, it's okay. I was getting fed up, too."

Kousuke waved his hands in the air as he delivered his true and earnest words.

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Chapter 9, Miss Contest

After getting rid of Dion, they went straight back to the Doria family compound.

He lured them to that place because he suspected that they were following him stealthily, but he had originally intended to drag them away.

In addition, he asked Alec to call in some members of the Defrayer clan.

Of course, this was to keep an eye on Dion's movements.

This was the first time Kousuke had given such an order, but the Defrayer clan members readily accepted it.

Although there was no intention to interfere, if they did not understand what Kousuke was telling them, they would be banished from the Tower.

After a short conversation with the Doria's, they returned to the Tower that day.

The next day.

They enjoyed the festival in the morning with different members from yesterday.

Sylvia and Peach had to leave to attend an event.

Floria was at home on the administrative floor, probably because of yesterday's events.

Kousuke told her that she didn't have to worry about it, but she declined because she herself couldn't enjoy the festival calmly.

She was already enjoying the festival with her family, so she thought it was enough.

So, he spent the morning with Shrein, Collete, Wanri, and Haku, going around the stalls with a different group than yesterday.

Today's escort was Kouhi.

Mitsuki went to another place for some business.

Additionally, he did not bring Nana with him this time.

She was tired from walking in the crowds the day before.

She was staying at the administrative floor with Floria.

Kousuke suspected that she was concerned about Floria who was alone, but he was not sure of the truth.

Unlike yesterday, there were no particular incidents, and they went around the festival as usual.

The only reason they only had time in the morning was to watch an event that started in the afternoon.

Sylvia and Peach were in that event, so they all set up a nice spot there at the event site to watch the event together.

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What event were the two of them attending? It was a kind of "Miss Contest".

It was not a swimsuit contest like the one Kousuke participated in before his reincarnation, but rather a beauty pageant.

Of course, there was also a facial appearance contest, but it was more like a fashion show, as what the contestants were also wearing attracted attention.

In fact, he could see the merchants who were selling clothing and accessories going all out.

The reason why the two of us were at the show was, of course, because Schmidt had put them up to it.

When Schmidt was trying to persuade them to enter the competition, he said something like, "Kousuke-sama will be pleased if you enter the competition and win," which he thought was a bit too much to ask.

He told them that they did not have to participate in such a thing, but it was already too late.

By the time Kousuke tried to stop them, they had already made up their minds to attend the event.

When that happened, there was nothing Kousuke could do to stop them, so they ended up competing together.

They did not appear together, but separately, and even if one did not see it from a favorable point of view, when they came out, they created more of a stir than the other contestants.

Peach was the first to come out, and she was wearing an extravagant dress.

He was surprised to see that she didn't look vulgar, even though she was decorated to the max.

"Wow, Big sis Peach, you're beautiful."

Haku, who was watching next to Kousuke, commented.

"Yes, she is. But normally, with all that decoration, it would look a bit classy, wouldn't it?"

Collete laughed and said to Kousuke, who was tilting his head.

"That's simple. It's only because Peach is so well-dressed."

"Dressed well… Peach doesn't usually wear something like that, does she?"

"Peach had a beautiful face, so she could wear almost anything. Besides, it seemed that she was trained to wear a dress like that."

Kousuke nodded in admiration, wondering if there was such a thing in the Defrayer clan's training.

"I guess they are supposed to do that as a kind of undercover operation, right?"

The audience had no way of knowing that, and seemed to be genuinely enjoying the beauty of Peach.

Collete watched with a wry smile as well.

Sylvia came out next.

Sylvia was wearing a priestess's robe.

Of course, it was not the simple one she usually wears.

It was a ceremonially decorated priestess outfit.

When Sylvia came out, there were more sighs than murmurs.

"What a… This is classy in a different way, too."

It was classy in a different way than Peach.

Unfortunately, Kousuke didn't have the experience to tell what the difference was.

"Well, for Sylvia, that's her main profession, isn't it?"

"What do you mean by main profession…oh, that's really for ceremonies and stuff as well."

"That's right. What did you think it was?"

He was stared at by Collete somewhat appalled.

"Uh…. No, I just thought it was for shows like this."

"Oh, that's what you meant. Well, that's one aspect of it, but there are more flashy things like temple ceremonies, you know?"

"More flashy than that…"

From Kousuke's point of view, what Sylvia was wearing right now looked flashy enough.

He imagined that if he were to wear a similarly decorated priest's uniform, he would definitely look out of place.

"Full of gilded splendor?"

Haku asked, tilting her head at Collete.

"There was one like that. It doesn't look good enough, no matter how you think about it."

"…I'm aware of it, so don't go into it."

Collete said with a chuckle, and Kousuke had no choice but to sigh.

"Oh, no, that's not it. You don't have to go to the trouble of covering it with a decoration, but you can still show your dignity, right?"

"Dignity? Me?"

Kousuke, who had never owned such a thing, tilted his head.

"Yes. Well, if you can show your half of the power you're holding back now. If it's against the priests, you'd have a shot."

What she was talking about was the clergy.

If Kousuke were to release his divinity with all his might right then and there, those involved with the clergy would definitely fall to their knees.

He didn't want such a situation, and Kousuke didn't feel like trying it either.

"Hmm. I see."

As usual, Kousuke was dull about his own affairs.

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Without regard to such a dull Kousuke, the event naturally progressed quickly.

Needless to say, the result was a one-two win for Sylvia and Peach.

He didn't dare choose a winner.

Unfortunately, as far as the clothes they were wearing, neither won, much to Schmidt's disappointment, but that was another story.

The whole group went back to the festival to welcome the two after the event.

Understandably, Sylvia and Peach both changed into their normal clothes.

Since they were also wearing masks, they would not be recognized as the winner and runner-up.

At the end of the festival, the group headed to the arena where the martial arts tournament was being held.

The final match was to be held there to close the festival.

Aiming to watch the final match, the group headed for the arena.

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Chapter 10, A Final Addition

The dead were piling up.

In the arena where the martial arts tournament was held, party members of the winning team, who had successfully won this year's tournament, were lying face down.

The cause was standing in the center of the arena.

Additionally, the cause had hardly moved since the battle began.

The winning team ended up without a single scratch on its opponent.

On the contrary, the champion team was in the same condition as before.

The teams seemed to be excited to be playing against a strong opponent, but they were unable to do anything.

The spectators, too, applauded the overwhelming strength of their opponents, who had put the winning team in such a state.

Why was this happening in the first place?

After the final match was over and the awards had been given, there was one last exhibition match waiting for the winning team.

Of course, this was after all the fierce battles that had just been fought.

The MC firmly asked the winning team if they wanted to play one more match.

And all the members agreed to fight, with bated breath.

The winning team had to fight a team from the same group that conquered the Amamiya Tower, and it was only natural that they decided to go for it.

The rumors of the party that conquered the tower had reached the level of legend among adventurers.

Even though a year had already passed since the town was established, and despite all the arrangements that had been made, not only had they not conquered the Tower, but they had not even been able to see the full extent of the tower yet.

In fact, the information provided by adventurers on the front lines suggested that it would be impossible to conquer the Tower at this point.

This was because they had arrived at a floor where advanced monsters were roaming around.

It would be impossible for current adventurers to conquer that floor.

The party that conquered Amamiya Tower was able to conquer all of these floors, and that was why they were controlling Amamiya Tower today.

Their strength was undoubtedly the highest level of any adventurer in existence.

It was a rare opportunity to directly challenge those adventurers.

Such an opportunity did not come along very often.

It was only natural that the winning team would be excited to test it out.

One of the contenders was a masked person named Mitsuki, who had been asked by Gazeran to join the competition.

Mitsuki agreed to join after getting Kousuke's permission.

Originally, she was interested in the strength of the adventurers who were conquering the Tower.

The result, however, was, as you can see.

"I guess they won't be able to conquer the Tower anytime soon."

The leader of the party, who had managed to recover from the damage, responded to Mitsuki, who muttered this unintentionally.

"For reference, how strong do we need to be to conquer the Tower?"

"Well… I think you need to be strong enough to overpower a dragon by yourself at least, you know?"

Needless to say, when Mitsuki said that, everyone in the party said, "That's impossible".

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"You really went all out, didn't you?"

Collete, who was watching from a special seat, said happily.

"No, it was probably because they might have gotten injured if you didn't do it like that, right?"

"Really?"

Wanri looked at Kousuke's face, filled with curiosity.

"Those guys, if she had taken more time, they would have launched one of their big moves. If you returned that, it would inevitably hurt the other person. So beating them up quickly was to prevent them from getting hurt by their own moves."

Haku looked at Kouhi, and Kouhi nodded in response.

Indeed, Kousuke was right, and it was for this reason that Mitsuki quickly took them down.

However, it was a martial arts tournament, so the participants probably knew that there would be a certain number of injuries, but it was better not to injure them.

Besides, the strength of the members of the Tower team had been shown, so there would be no problem.

Of course, Mitsuki confirmed with Kousuke in advance what level of strength she would be allowed to demonstrate.

The current result was within that range.

The reason why he allowed Mitsuki to participate this time was to put a stop to the rumors that were beginning to circulate.

Some of the rumors were getting outlandish, and they needed to be put to rest.

The timing was perfect because if things went wrong, it could have ended up like Kouhi's earlier outburst.

"Oh jeez. I didn't expect for them to be dealt with so easily."

It was Gazeran who approached laughing.

Kousuke and the others were seated in a special section, but there were other invited guests as well.

All of them were wearing masks, so their faces were not recognizable, but they were still attracting a lot of attention.

Aside from Kousuke, who attended the inauguration of the temple before, little information about the other members of the group was known.

"That's what you were after, right? You even went to the trouble of inviting her."

"Well, that's part of it."

Gazeran came over and said simply with a grin.

Some rumors were even beginning to circulate that they might have taken a different route to capture the Tower without any fighting.

Gazeran, who had seen Kouhi and Mitsuki in person, knew this was not true and wanted to put the rumors to rest.

He also wanted to stop adventurers from following the rumors and doing foolish things.

Of course, Kousuke knew that he was aiming for that, and gave him permission to do so.

"Well, that's all right, but did you accomplish your goal?"

"Yes, it made things easier."

"That's good."

Kousuke also smiled under his mask.

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With the conclusion of the martial arts tournament, the three-day festival came to a close.

There were a few unplanned events, but the results were generally good.

What was unplanned was not Dion, but Lirica.

They did not expect to be able to find someone other than a member of the administration who would be granted a blessing so easily.

Of course, it was largely dependent on Lirica's own actions.

If she had not been involved in cleanup activities, she would certainly not have been able to develop.

In this sense, the timing of the meeting was perfect for both Lirica and Kousuke.

Because the blessing was given by surprise, he was unable to give her the divine communication tool.

He never made a divine tool to communicate with him, so he had to rearrange things a little bit.

He intended to give it to Sylvia later when he finished making it.

After returning to the administration floor, he tried the oracle, but it didn't work, perhaps because Kousuke's power as a God was not strong enough.

It was sudden and unexpected, partly because Lirica was not prepared for it.

There was another reason for handing over the sacred tool. It was to see if it could be used by someone other than Sylvia.

Thanks to the blessing he had given to Lirica, he could try out a number of things.

He had no intention of interfering with her activities as an adventurer.

In fact, he wanted her to continue to work as she had in the past.

He wanted to know what the blessings could do for her.

He believed that it was up to Lirica to decide what kind of decision she would make after receiving the blessing.

If she wanted to go to the church, he would not stop her.

If the church invited her to go, and she did not want to go, he would protect her.

From the way she looked when he gave her the blessing, it seemed that she had no intention of stopping her activities as an adventurer.

That being the case, Kousuke was looking forward to seeing how he would use his power, so he was looking forward to what was to come.

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Sidestory 1, Awakened Priestess

When was the last time Sally noticed that Lirica had changed?

For a while, after moving to Amamiya Tower as their base of operations, she had not changed before.

Lirica had always been an indispensable part of Sally's party as a healer.

No, the other members of the party would not do well without one of them, but Lirica's presence was still significant.

In Sally's party, which consisted of only female party members, a female priestess was indispensable.

There were many female priestesses in the temple, but they were not willing to go to the trouble of engaging with risky adventurers.

But it was hard to find a priestess who would go out of her way to become an adventurer, willing to take on dangerous adventures.

In this sense, it was very fortunate that Lirica joined their party.

Sally first became aware of Lirica's change some time after she started working cleaning up the temple.

She had been a straightforward person, but now she seemed to be looking at things in a calmer way.

She used to go directly to the executive branch to protest about the treatment of the temple, but such behavior became less frequent.

Looking back, perhaps things had changed since then.

Of course, Sally did not realize it at the time.

It was when they were out on the field to fulfill a request that the others noticed Lirica's change.

"Oh, there it is, the special medicinal herb."

"Oh, come on, not again."

Sally said to Lirica in exasperation.

At that time, Lirica was already collecting special medicinal herbs.

Lirica had been finding unusual materials at least once every time they went out in the field these days.

"Hmmm. I wonder why?"

"Well, you know what, it's fine. It's definitely a good way to earn money for the party."

Claire, one of the members of the party, smiled and said to Lirica, who tilted her head.

In Sally's party, the materials obtained in battle or collected would become the party's shared property.

But if only Lirica was finding rare materials like this, it might seem unfair.

However, Lirica did not seem to be bothered by this.

She told them that she was fine with the way things were.

The redistribution was done by subtracting the amount of money from the party's common assets and dividing it equally, and then giving Lirica half the amount that remained after dividing the money equally.

Of course, this was done after confirming with the other members of the party.

Since Lirica had been adding the extra amount to the party's common assets, no one had complained about it.

Lirica probably knew that there would be dissatisfaction in the party if she received the extra amount.

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It was a festival, but Lirica, who had gone to clean the temple, returned.

"I'm home!"

The party was staying in one of the inn's large rooms.

It was normal for adventurers to rent one large room and stay with one party.

"What? Didn't you go to the festival, Leader?"

"Ah, I'd rather be drinking alone, calmly."

"Oh, is that so?"

Lirica nodded to Sally, who held up a glass of alcohol.

"I should have bought you something when I came back."

"Don't worry about it."

She had plenty of snacks on hand.

"More importantly, did you do anything special? I thought you were at the temple."

"Huh? Did you notice? I guess as expected of the Leader."

Sally asked when she noticed the change in Lirica, and the person in question brushed her cheeks.

She didn't mean for it to show on her face, especially as the person in question.

"No, it's not so much that it was on your face, it's more like your mood is somehow different from when you left this morning."

"Hmm. I see. Well, I'd say something happened, but I don't know if I can give you any details?"

Lirica answered with a tilt of her head.

Sally did not intend to ask too much about her personal life, but Lirica's next words made sense of the current atmosphere.

"It's just that I met Sylvia-sama at the temple."

"What? She was there today, too? I would have thought that only Lirica would go to the temple on a day like this."

"Uwah. That's terrible of you. But whatever. I got to see Sylvia-sama today because of it."

They knew that Lirica had long admired Sylvia, the priestess of the Tower.

"Huh? Did you notice? I guess as expected of the Leader."

Sally asked when she noticed the change in Lirica, and the person in question brushed her cheeks.

She didn't mean for it to show on her face, especially as the person in question.

"No, it's not so much that it was on your face, it's more like your mood is somehow different from when you left this morning."

"Hmm. I see. Well, I'd say something happened, but I don't know if I can give you any details?"

Lirica answered with a tilt of her head.

Sally did not intend to ask too much about her personal life, but Lirica's next words made sense of the current atmosphere.

"It's just that I met Sylvia-sama at the temple."

"What? She was there today, too? I would have thought that only Lirica would go to the temple on a day like this."

"Uwah. That's terrible of you. But whatever. I got to see Sylvia-sama today because of it."

They knew that Lirica had long admired Sylvia, the priestess of the Tower.

The designation <Priestess of the Tower> was given to Sylvia before long, although they were not sure who first called her that.

Sally met her once at the temple, and she was certainly a person that she could understand why Lirica admired her so much.

Of course, she also understood that not only Lirica, but also the dedicated believers and priests who came to the temple to clean it, felt the same way.

After that, there was nothing more unusual to talk about that day, and the rest of the conversation was the same as usual until our friends came back from the festival.

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A few days had passed since the end of the festival in the city.

Although there was a major announcement from the government, nothing special had changed for Sally and her fellow adventurers, and they continued to carry out their requests as usual today.

Today's request was to take down the radical pigs that appear around the town.

They were vermin that were destroying the crops in the area, so the more we hunted them, the more rewarding the hunt would be.

Of course, to hunt them, they needed to find those radical pigs….

"Ah. Isn't it in that direction?"

"….I see them."

Aura, the party's scout, agreed with the direction Lirica pointed.

"Hey, hey. What's really going on with you today? How many times have you done this?"

Three times already, Lirica had spotted a herd of radical pigs before Aura.

"Hmmm. It's like my intuition is getting better? It's not like I can actually check properly, so Aura needs to do something about it, you know?"

Lirica herself tilted her head, as if she didn't quite understand.

"Your intuition is getting better… I guess…"

"Hmm? Leader, do you have any idea what's going on?"

Claire responded to Sally's muttering on the way to the herd's location.

"No, huh? It's not a big deal, I just have a feeling it has happened since Lirica started going to the temple."

Sally's words were met with silence from everyone.

They all had an idea of what was going on.

"Heh. God's favor? Is that even possible?"

Claire asked, turning to Lirica.

"Well, I don't know. Maybe it's just me, but who knows?"

Lirica was too familiar with the question, but she couldn't say anything about the blessings, so she answered safely.

"I suppose that is the case."

Claire, upon hearing this, agreed.

However, Lirica thought that Sally, who was strangely perceptive in such situations, might not have been fooled.

On this particular day, they found five herds.

Until now, she had only been able to find three, so this was quite a big haul for them.

Of the five herds, Lirica found three and Aura found the other two.

"Oh dear. I can't lose this one."

"So, like I said before, it doesn't count because I wasn't the one finding them properly. In my case, it's more like a prediction, right?"

"Heh? Why is that?"

"Hmmm. I don't really understand it myself, but it seems to happen when a priestess' power is increased?"

"What? You don't know what's going on either?"

"That's what I've been saying all this time."

"Well, it's made us a lot of money, so I guess it's a good thing."

In the end, the conversation ended with the conclusion that they were not sure.

After this, Lirica would continue to find valuable materials and monsters to slay, and would perform some truly godlike feats, but that would be a story for a later time.

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Sidestory 2, Settlement of the Dark Side

Dion was currently staying at the Nansen Inn.

Initially, Dion had planned to stay at the Tower Inn.

He did not think it was necessary to do as he was told by a man he did not know, but one of his subordinates advised him to leave the Tower immediately.

As it turned out, he was right, but that didn't matter to the frustrated Dion.

However, even though he tried to ignore the advice and stay in the Tower, something happened to change the situation.

One of his men, who was waiting in the city outside the Tower, reported to him that he should contact his father immediately.

By "father," he naturally meant Dion's father, the current head of the Viera family.

The fact that Dion was able to move so freely was due to the tacit approval of the head of the Viera family.

However, as a condition for coming here, he was told that he had to contact his father if asked.

Since he had made that promise, he could not ignore the report.

At the inn in Nansen, he communicated with his father, Adelmo, the head of the Viera family, over a long distance.

He came all the way out from the Tower because he was uncertain whether he would be able to make contact from inside the Tower.

Moreover, it was only because of the ducal family's financial power that communication was possible despite the distance.

Adelmo immediately answered the call using a worn-out tool that he had bought with his money.

Adelmo, who was usually so calm and composed, was unusually a little flustered.

Inwardly tilting his head, he tried to greet him, but Adelmo stopped him and immediately started talking about his business.

There was a request to pull out of the Tower immediately.

Dion was flustered by the abruptness of the request, but immediately asked why.

Adelmo, however, did not answer, but simply told him to come back.

Dion was puzzled, but he had no choice but to listen to Adelmo.

After all, the Duke's family was paying for his stay there.

He left Nansen in full dissatisfaction, determined to come back again.

At this time, Dion had no idea that he would never be able to step into the Tower again.

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Having finished communicating with Alec, King Filip of the Kingdom of Flores immediately called the duke.

The reason why he was able to communicate directly with Alec was because Alec had previously sent him a direct communication tool.

At first, he thought it was a joke, but it was a magical tool that could communicate with Alec in the Tower at any time.

Moreover, unlike existing magic tools for communication, it was not even disposable.

Although he was skeptical at first, when he realized that it was true, he asked Alec if it could be mass-produced.

That was to be expected.

A user-friendly magic tool for communication was something that had been studied for many years, but had not yet been realized.

If it were known that such a device had been realized, the developer who succeeded in developing it would be the first to be targeted by other countries.

However, when Alec told him the reason why it could not be mass-produced, he had no choice but to give up on the idea.

The materials used in the product were extremely expensive.

They were not on the level of national treasures, but the materials used alone would have cost a fraction of what a small country would have paid for them.

The rarity of the material was one thing, but it was impossible to defeat the monsters from which it was harvested.

Filip was not foolish enough to ask who killed such monsters.

After all, Alec was in a tower that had already been conquered.

The fact that the material was taken from a monster that appeared in the tower naturally meant that the person who killed the monster was probably someone who had already conquered the tower.

There was no way they could have carelessly touched such a person.

Filip noticed that Alec was communicating with him using such an expensive communication device, and immediately asked him what he wanted.

In the first place, it was unusual for Alec to go out of his way to communicate in this way.

It was natural to assume that something happened.

And when Filip heard the request from Alec, he changed his expression to one of despair.

Alec added at the end, as if he understood his father's distress.

"It's not something to worry about right now. Rather, he probably already lost interest in it. But what could happen next time… I don't want to think about it."

Filip nodded deeply at his son's words and thanked him even more deeply.

"I see. I'm sorry. I appreciate you letting me know."

"No. I want to reduce trouble here as much as possible."

Filip thanked Alec once again for telling him so, and then immediately started to act.

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"Get your son out of the Tower immediately."

Filip, who had called Adelmo, quickly cut him off without saying anything else.

"What…?"

Adelmo understood what Filip meant and immediately started to argue… But he was unable to speak because the king turned his palm toward him.

"I understand what you want to say. I have no authority to restrict your son's actions… But when it comes to matters of state, that is a different story."

"…What do you mean?"

Adelmo asked, unsure of what Filip had said.

To probe, of course.

And Filip, too, had nothing to hide from Adelmo on this matter, so he quickly told him what was going on.

"…If it was just an adventurer or a merchant from this country, it would be a different story. But the person in question is the heir to a duke's family, I can't just ignore it."

Adelmo's face paled slightly after hearing all the details from Filip.

Filip was somewhat taken aback by the duke's expression, as he would not normally show such an expression.

"Well, how in the world did you get that information…?"

Adelmo was still not aware of this information, so he naturally wondered how Filip had been able to obtain it.

"You know that I have my own channels, don't you? Rather than that, you should quickly call your son back, as I said before. I don't want a reenactment of the city of Sajival in this country."

What happened in Sajival had already spread around the world.

And, of course, so was the cause of it.

That was why each country had spies acting as investigators, but they were limited to gathering information.

They understood that any unnecessary espionage would be met with retaliation.

Naturally, this information was passed on to Adelmo.

"Well, you know… Can't they just leave the Tower? Instead of going back to the country."

Adelmo advised, and Filip's expression turned doubtful.

"Hmm? Well, that would be fine, wouldn't it?"

"Well, in that case, finding Princess Floria is…"

Adelmo, who wanted to get blessing into his house somehow, really wanted to find Floria and turn it into a fact.

"Oh, I see. I haven't told you yet that Floria is already in the hands of the Tower Managers, have you?"

"Wha… What?"

Adelmo was astonished by the information suddenly brought to him.

"Well, I'm sorry. I had informed the members of each of her former fiancée's families, so I thought you would have been informed as well."

Adelmo's shoulders slumped in an exaggerated manner at the King's apologetic words, knowing inwardly that he was lying.

Adelmo's mind was not so weak that he could not comprehend what Filip said.

"…I see."

"Mm. I'm uncertain if that's a good thing or a bad thing for this country, but… Well, as long as we don't make any unnecessary moves, it should be fine. That's why I'm asking you to take care of that matter."

With that, Filip ended the meeting with Adelmo.

After seeing Adelmo off with an indescribable expression on his face, Filip made arrangements to make sure he knew what to do next, and then started his next task.

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Sidestory 3, Crown Regulations

In Crown, the treatment of slaves was unparalleled.

First of all, if they worked diligently, they would be treated no differently than normal people.

On the contrary, in some cases, they could even attain a higher status than those of normal people.

Of course, to do so, one would need to work hard.

Compared to the early days of Crown, slaves could hardly attain a high position in Crown today.

The reason was simple: talented people with common citizenship were attracted by Crown.

It should be noted that there was no longer any room for slaves to crawl up the ladder.

However, just because they could not hold high positions, the treatment they received was still unparalleled compared to others.

First, there was time off.

When one became a slave, there was no such thing as a day off.

If the master was fairly good, they could only get a few days off a month.

This was a common thing in this world, but if a slave was employed by Crown, they would get a day off at least once a week.

Furthermore, their treatment was no different from that of ordinary citizens.

Under normal circumstances, slaves would be treated as slaves.

This was a matter of course, but in Crown, a certain degree of human rights were recognized.

First, slaves were not treated unfairly just because they were slaves.

The news of this was running around among the slaves, and it was no longer the most favorable condition for the slaves to be bought by Crown.

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"I see, so that's what you mean…"

Lisa looked up from her report and made a difficult face.

Ghazala noticed this and approached Lisa.

"What's wrong? Is this case really that difficult?"

"Yes…. If you say it's difficult, well, it's difficult, and if you say it's simple, you could also say it's simple."

"What do you mean?"

Ghazala tilted his head at Lisa's unresponsive answer.

He then started reading the report that Lisa held out to him.

"I see. I see."

What was written there was a report about slaves.

The content of the report was that the slaves were treated badly, but the problem was that the slaves did not belong to Crown.

They were slaves of legally registered adventurers.

It was not so unusual for adventurers to have slaves.

Adventurers in a Party often get into disputes over how to divide up the rewards.

Some adventurers were so displeased with such a situation that they would even make their entire party consist of slaves.

There was nothing wrong with that.

What was problematic was how they were treated.

Recently, adventurers registered with Crown began working with slaves at a branch in a southern town.

However, the way these adventurers treat their slaves was beyond questionable.

If that was all, the branch staff should have warned them, but these adventurers would not listen to them at all.

Crown's treatment of its slaves only extended to employees of Crown.

There were no specific regulations regarding slaves owned by adventurers.

Normally, one would think that all slaves would be treated in the same way since the adventurer belonged to Crown, but the adventurer seemed to insist that it did not matter since he owned the slaves personally.

The adventurer knew what he was doing, and he did not treat the slaves belonging to Crown in a particularly harsh manner.

The adventurers treated only their own slaves that way.

The branch did not have any specific regulations regarding the treatment of slaves of adventurers, so they were having trouble dealing with them.

"So? What are we going to do?"

Ghazala asked Lisa.

Lisa herself was a slave to begin with, so she would not leave those adventurers' slaves unattended, she thought.

But no matter how much of an inspector she may be, she could not punish the adventurers for something that was not in the Crown's regulations.

"There was one way to do this, I suppose. We will punish them according to the regulations."

"Really? Is there such a regulation?"

Ghazala widened his eyes at Lisa's simple statement.

"Well, it's a bit of an aggressive approach, but I don't think it's out of line with the Crown's regulations."

"That sounds fun."

Ghazala dared to say so.

In cases like this, he decided not to ask what kind of judgment she would make on the spot.

"Well, I'm sure it's a delicate matter, so I'm going to get Wahid-sama's approval just in case."

"That's also unusual."

Lisa had a fairly high authority as an inspector.

However, there were times when her authority did not extend beyond that of an inspector, or when she was unable to decide on her own.

In such cases, she would consult Wahid for approval.

Lisa rarely asked for Wahid's approval.

This time, however, there were a number of sensitive issues, so Lisa decided to ask Wahid just in case.

"It may not be necessary, but just in case."

Lisa said so and went out of her assigned room.

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"What the heck are you doing? You don't get to decide what I do with my slaves, do you?"

The rumbling voice echoed through the building of the Crown branch in the southern city.

The voice was uttered by the adventurer mentioned in the report.

His voice caught the attention of other adventurers present.

To be precise, he had attracted some attention in the first place, but his voice drew even more attention.

Incidentally, Ghazala had not made any moves at the moment.

Ghazala's cue would be when the adventurers resorted to violent means.

In accordance with the response as stated in the report, Lisa decided to proceed with the subject as planned.

"That's not true. When you purchase a slave, you have a responsibility for that slave."

"Hah! That's nonsense. That's right, and I am responsible for disciplining them!"

"No, that's not correct. What is the responsibility in this case? The responsibility in this case refers to your responsibility towards Crown. No, I would say it would be a duty."

"What?"

The adventurer's expression turned quizzical as he heard something different from his previous responses.

"As you know, Crown required slaves to be treated normally. This has also become a duty for those who belong to Crown. It is no different for adventurers, you know?"

"Ha! That's ridiculous. Where is that written?"

"No, it is not. This is not something that is written anywhere. but it's just within the bounds of common sense."

When Lisa said, "within the bounds of common sense", Ghazala burst out laughing.

It was true that there was no regulation that detailed the treatment of slaves when adventurers belonged to the Crown.

However, there certainly was a rule that said, "Act within the bounds of common sense".

"You… What's so funny?"

"No, no. I just think your treatment of slaves is definitely out of the norm."

"Oh? What the heck are you talking about? I'm just acting according to my common sense. I don't deserve to have you guys telling me what to do!"

Lisa nodded at the man who said that.

"I see. I see. So, you have no intention of belonging to Crown or Amamiya anymore?"

"What? Why would you say that?"

"It's simple, I have already told you about the rules of belonging to Crown. But you said you have no intention of abiding by them."

Following Lisa's line, Ghazala continued.

"The short answer is that we adventurers are contracted according to Crown's regulations. Failure to abide by those regulations means, of course, that the contract will be broken, and you will be expelled from Crown."

"No, that's absurd. How is that even possible?"

The man looked around, but no one met his gaze, instead, they just averted their gaze.

"What kind of authority do you have to fire me?"

"Oh, excuse me. My name is Lisa, I'm an inspector from Crown."

"This is another early example of her having the authority to fire you. Well, maybe in about five years you can re-register again, you know?"

The man made a last ditch effort, but was summarily dismissed.

"Wait, wait! If you don't like the way I treat my slaves, I'll fix it, just don't revoke it!"

" You know, you've been warned about this a lot in the past. You still didn't fix it, that is, until we came all the way out here because we didn't expect you to agree."

Lisa continued to the man, who had turned his attention to the counter.

"If you're thinking of retaliation or something for this, you'd better not. Unless you go outside the continent, there wouldn't be any place where Crown's influence doesn't extend."

"Wherever you go, you'll have nowhere to go. Unless, of course, you decide to become a bandit."

In the past, there had been a few who tried to harm the receptionist out of spite, but the adventurers had been well drilled on the consequences of such attempts.

The same was true for the man, so his earlier attitude had completely faded, and he looked slightly pale.

"That being said, please give up and continue with your appointment to the reception desk. They could do the withdrawal procedure here as well."

When Lisa finally said this, the man fell to his knees.