Volume 25 Chapter (7-Side Story 1)

Chapter 7, Words of the Temple

The reason why Floria, Sylvia, and Peach were present at the table this time was not by chance, but each of them had their own purpose.

As for Floria, one of them was to practice being able to use <Intimidation of the Champion> against human opponents.

Karl was a completely harmless opponent to practice with, so she was able to do so without any worries.

In that sense, it can be said that Floria had already achieved her goal.

But that did not mean she could just say goodbye and leave.

The person who received the experiment was in a state of rag, but they expected it as soon as the power of the blessing was released.

"This… What in the world did you do to me?"

To those around him who did not understand what Floria had done, it seemed as if Karl had suddenly become angry, but she did not care about that.

The mysterious condition that had just occurred was assumed to have been done by Floria.

It was just a guess, but this time he was right.

But Floria, not feeling the need to bother telling him that, just shrugged her shoulders.

"So what is this about? I just don't like it when people get angry at me all of a sudden at a table like this, you know? You see, the people around me are wondering about it, too, you know?"

Kousuke and the others, who knew what was going on, almost laughed at Floria's words, but managed to hold back.

Incidentally, although there were people from the executive branch present, they did not know about Floria's power.

That was why, just like the officials of the Kingdom of Gates, they had a curious look on their faces when Karl suddenly became angry.

Karl, who saw the situation for what it was, realized that what had just happened was completely directed only at him.

He knew that if he made any more noise, he would only seem even more crazy. Karl stopped saying anything in words, but his anger did not subside, and he looked at Floria with a piercing gaze.

Floria, though, was easily able to ignore his gaze.

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Ignoring Karl's angry glare, Floria continued her story.

"So? Aside from me, the little girl, what did you mean when you spoke to Kousuke-sama, a God in presence?"

Karl sniffed as he had done before, perhaps having regained some of his composure at Floria's words.

"I think it's more problematic that someone who is not doing godly work is calling himself a god, as well as the fact that he calls himself a god despite being in this land, don't you?"

"Oh, this is a strange thing to say. Isn't it a well-known fact that it doesn't matter whether one is a god or not, whether one is in a sanctuary or on this land? Don't you know that as well?"

Floria gave Karl a look of blatant contempt.

Of course, she was trying to provoke Karl based on her insight into his character.

Unfortunately, at this time, he did not fall for the provocation.

"This is the Temple speaking, not me? Don't you know that?"

On the contrary, he responded to the provocation with a provocation.

Of course, Floria would not be offended by such a thing.

"A temple…. By the way, which temple is it?"

"Hm… It's a temple in my country, and it's officially announced."

Karl looked at Floria with a look that said, "What do you think?"

It was normal to pull back if provoked by what the temple was saying.

Moreover, what Karl said was true, and in fact, a temple in the Kingdom of Gates had made such an announcement.

This was not unusual.

Depending on the circumstances of the temple, they may or may not recognize a god.

Even if the actual Gods said otherwise.

It was common for a deity recognized in one temple to be unrecognized in another.

This was not to imply that the gods were not angry, but they had no direct control over such matters.

Some temples were daring to make such announcements because they knew this from experience.

Kousuke and the others knew through Sylvia that there would be such temples.

"Oh, I see, I'm sorry. I didn't check every single thing that was said in one temple in one region."

Karl, of course, knew about the situation on the temple side, so he didn't go into it too deeply.

However, he did react to Floria's "a region" comment, but did not say anything in response.

"You call our country a region? You are a barbaric continent that has no nation, and you worship a presumptuous god."

"Well, well. Is it the temple's opinion that you are presumptuous? If so, that's quite a problem, don't you think?"

"Problem? What's the problem?"

Karl came on strong with the temple's denial, but he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The conversation turned to the treatment of God, and now Sylvia came out.

"Kousuke-sama is recognized as a God, something the other gods also recognize. There are cases where the temple does not recognize him due to circumstances, but that is not relevant to the Gods, you know?"

Sylvia said, giving off a hint that she didn't know such a thing, and started calling it presumptuous.

It was a rather harsh tone from the usual Sylvia, but unfortunately, Karl, who did not know the usual her, did not notice such a thing.

"Hmph. What do you mean, the Gods in the Divine Realm, but our temple does not?"

"You should ask your temple about that. That is none of our business."

"Then we don't need to treat him as a God either, do we?"

Karl said this with a look of triumph on his face.

In fact, he was not so wrong.

Although he did have to add the warning that this was not the way the temple had always done things.

But it didn't matter to Sylvia how things had been done up to this point.

Sylvia, who had dared to direct the conversation up to this point toward Karl, suddenly turned the brunt of it towards the priestess who was standing by Karl's side.

"Is this man's opinion to be accepted as the opinion of your temple? Temple Director Dominic."

Dominic, suddenly called out by name, was overly upset.

He had never made his position clear here before.

"Hey, what are you talking about?"

Sylvia let out a sigh at Dominic's upset.

"I am in the position of Kousuke-sama's priestess, you know? Did you not think I could at least see your name even without any tools?"

Sylvia's words caused Dominic, who had been upset, to calm down somewhat.

He understood the logic and, to some extent, not to mention the power.

The fact that the temple did not recognize Kousuke as a god was put aside for the moment.

He regained his composure and answered the previous question.

"It is a well-known fact that we have no idea what the Gods are thinking. But we are only concerned that the young God over there is not doing his job as a god?"

"What do you mean the God is not doing his work?"

"It goes without saying. You are not even accepting the Divine Service in the Temple of the Tower, and you are not responding to the voice of the people. How can you say that you are doing God's work?"

Sylvia was baffled by what he was saying in front of Kousuke.

"That's funny. Since when did the temple decide what a God's work is?"

"I'm talking in general."

"But the Goddesses have never said they would entrust their work to a temple, and they have never descended to simply respond to what the temples have to offer. Wouldn't your temples deny all Goddesses the right to be Goddesses?"

"That's a change of subject. You are a God in this world, and you are in this world. Then why not respond to the voices of the people?"

Dominic said, and his expression turned to one of, "Isn't that obvious?"

From Kousuke's point of view, this was ridiculous.

After all, what Dominic was saying was tantamount to saying that he should respond to the voices of all people.

Not even Goddess Elisa Meir, the supreme deity, did that.

It was based on the completely self-serving logic for the Temple that if a God was on the ground, they should do so.

Dominic was not even aware of this, but he was not the only one to blame for this.

After all, there were other priests who expressed similar opinions.

In a sense, Dominic was a representative of such people.

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Chapter 8, Joining In

It was quite common in the world of Earthgard that a deity worshiped in one temple was not worshiped in another temple.

This was originally the case because many of the religions in this world were derived from indigenous deities.

Therefore, it was not unusual for Dominic's temple not to worship Kousuke, a living god.

Rather, in the current world of Earthgard, the only temples that actually worship Kousuke as a God would be the Temple at the 5th Floor of Amamiya Tower and the temple in Mixen.

However, it would be quite another matter to say that the temples would not recognize Kousuke as a God.

In fact, Kousuke was recognized by the three major deities and other deities in the Divine Realm.

This fact was already transmitted to temples all over the world as an oracle.

To say that they were unaware of such a thing could mean that the temple was ignoring the oracle.

Dominic was aware of this, as well, and used the subtle phrase, "I don't know what the Gods are thinking," which could have been taken arbitrarily.

And one more thing.

Dominic also mentioned Kousuke's work as a God.

He told Kousuke that, unlike other Gods, he was on the ground and should respond to the voices of the people.

It was strange for a human to decide the work of a God in the first place, but he mistakenly assumed that Kousuke's presence on the ground meant that he would be treated like a human.

Not only that, but he was also suggesting that Kousuke should answer to those who had close ties to the temple.

To put it bluntly, it was idiotic.

After hearing Dominic's opinion, Sylvia didn't directly fight back, but instead spoke to another person.

"I've heard your opinion, Temple Director, Dominic. Now, King Arthur is next. Am I correct in assuming that you and your kingdom are of the same opinion?"

Sylvia said with a clear look, but the person to whom she directed her gaze did not change color at all.

"If you're talking about my opinion, I'm afraid you're looking in the wrong place, no?"

The person who was not scornful, but rather said the line without hesitation, gave the impression that he was, in fact, talking to the wrong person.

Sylvia let out a sigh and added.

"If it had been before I was given the power, I would have been deceived by those words, but isn't it pointless to say that?"

"What are you talking about…"

"If you say that my words are not enough for you, I can prepare a Divine Engraving Machine here and now, can't I? Isn't it common practice to verify one's identity before a meeting?"

The latter part of the question was asked to Alec.

Alec nodded broadly.

"I would say it is rather obvious. Shall we start checking next time?"

Even Alec had not imagined that King Arthur himself would be present.

Sylvia's question was rather appropriate.

Alec's words caused a momentary commotion among the attendees from the Kingdom of Gates.

Naturally, the Gates Kingdom had heard about the Crown Card.

The status displayed on the card also indicated the contents with extreme accuracy.

It could even be said that it was truly an Act of God.

If the status were checked before a meeting, for example, some of the methods used by other countries would not work.

But that would be a mutual benefit, since other countries also engaged themselves in this practice as a matter of course.

King Arthur let out a sigh as he realized the impact of having his status checked.

"… I am simply Arthur right now, and I want you to understand that I am not here now as a King, but as a member of an emissary."

This was as good as declaring that he was only a member of the delegation in his position, and had nothing to do with him being a King.

But for Sylvia, it did not matter whether the King was present or not.

The only thing she wanted to make clear was to prove that he was a representative of the state.

"I see. So, you are saying that right now, you are not in the same position as them in representing the Kingdom of Gates?"

"…What do you mean?"

"Well… I mean, if you were a representative of a nation, I think it would be better to cut ties with them with haste."

Sylvia's words suddenly caused a commotion among the non-management floor members.

"What are you talking about…?"

King Arthur asked, overpowering Karl, who seemed to be on edge, and Dominic, whose face had changed color.

No matter how strong Karl's position was in the Kingdom of Gates, Arthur would be superior when the matter of the Kingdom was brought up.

To King Arthur, Sylvia quietly said.

"There is nothing to be said for that. What you are claiming now could result in another [the pride of the Canossa Empire], you know?"

Sylvia's words caused a commotion on the Gates Kingdom side.

The [Pride of the Canossa Empire] was a story that every child in this world knew.

Simply put, the story was that the Canossa Empire, which had built a large empire, began to interfere in the affairs of the Gods, incurring the wrath of the Gods, and was finally destroyed in a few days.

Sylvia warned that what Carl and Dominic were saying this time could result in that.

"Nonsense. Where in what you just said is there any connection to [The pride of the Canossa Empire]? Even if it's a threat, it's too childish."

Karl, who had been silent up to this point, started to speak again.

His words made Dominique, who had been momentarily flustered, laugh at Arthur, who was also contemplating.

"King Arthur. Do not give in to childish threats. We are not wrong in our claims, you know."

Nodding at Dominic's words, King Arthur turned his gaze to Sylvia.

"Well, that's what our dignitaries said?"

At Arthur's words, Sylvia let out a sigh.

"For my part, I didn't want it to go this far, but… You brought this upon yourselves."

Sylvia said, and took one ring out of her pocket.

Usually worn on Sylvia's arm, it was one of Kousuke's improved divine tools.

"… What's that?"

Arthur frowned as Sylvia suddenly pulled out what looked like a magical tool.

"It is not my domain from here on… Or rather, since you yourself brought it to this point, I have no choice."

Once again nailing down that she really didn't want to go this far, Sylvia spoke into the ring.

"We are ready."

As Sylvia said this, a woman's voice came from that ring.

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[Sylvia, I'm glad you're here.]

The moment that voice was heard, the place froze.

For Sylvia and Peach, it was a scene that felt like déjà vu, but that time they were dealing with temple officials, while this time they were dealing with a nation.

Moreover, the person they didn't even realize who they were trying to mess around with…

"No. Sorry to bother you, Goddess Elisa Meir."

[It's okay. We should have been the ones to appear.]

"Thank you very much for your time."

Unlike the usual oracle, they were somewhat more courteous to each other since they were in public.

Still, for the others, they remain as frozen as ever by the pressure of the extremely easy going conversation with the one who joined in.

And rightly so.

No one had ever heard the voice of Goddess Elisa Meir, one of the supreme deities.

Incidentally, no one doubted that the voice belonged to Goddess Elisa Meir.

Everyone present was made to understand in their minds that the voice was the real deal the moment they heard it.

Eris' appearance here was actually something that Sylvia had requested from the beginning.

Not only in this case, but what they were doing was basically bringing them under God's eyes.

It had finally been decided that Eris would appear this time around.

The fact that Sylvia was present here was convenient for Eris.

However, Sylvia wanted to prevent the intervention of Goddess Elisa Meir to the very end if possible, so she listened to their opinions until the last moment.

But her good intentions turned out to be completely meaningless.

Even if Kousuke had not been involved, they would have ended up strangling themselves.

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Chapter 9, Advent (Voice Only)

The sudden appearance of one of the three Great Gods made time stand still in that place.

The only thing that remained the same as usual were the Tower's Administration Floor members.

Even though it was only her voice, the people there were frozen by the pressure they felt.

[…Now then.]

When the voice of Goddess Elisa Meir echoed through the hall, the people of the Kingdom of Gates were all startled.

Even though they could not see her, they sensed that her voice was directed at them.

[You've been saying all kinds of things, haven't you? ]

Kousuke inwardly wowed at Eris' words.

In Kousuke's mind, he could clearly picture Eris smiling coldly.

[Despite all the warnings we've given you before, the fact that you're doing this now means that you're trying to pick a fight with us, right? ]

With these words, the Gates Kingdom officials paled.

It was as if they were in effect declaring that they themselves had abandoned the Gods.

"Wait… Wait!"

It was King Arthur, who managed to speak out amidst the intimidation.

[…What is it? ]

"We do not wish to quarrel with the Gods…!"

[Oh. So, what was that exchange you just had? It sounded to me like you were taking the liberty of twisting our opinions and imposing yourselves on the work of the living god.]

"That's not true!"

[You can't say, "No", surely? After all, you threatened us earlier that we weren't doing our job as Gods…]

"… That has nothing to do with us…"

[You can't say it has nothing to do with you, okay? You are here as a delegation of your country.]

At Eris's words, King Arthur finally relented.

[Aside from the selfish one, are you ready to face punishment for this fraud, you, who call yourself a clergyman?]

""…. Huh?!?!"""

The two who were nailed by Eris were both exclaiming in unison.

Temple head Dominic, in particular, who had been called an impostor, had gone beyond blue to white.

[Why are you so surprised? It's no different from a scam, isn't it, since you didn't tell them exactly what we said, but instead interpreted it to suit your own needs?]

Kousuke, who was listening to Eris's voice on the side, looked at him as if she were someone else, thinking, "Ah, they made her angry.".

In the first place, Eris did not come out here for Kousuke's sake.

Originally, the Goddesses had warned the Temple about many things, but they ignored it and spread what was convenient to them to the world.

For the goddesses, as Eris said earlier, it was certainly a scam.

It was Eris who was the one coming out here, but Kousuke knew that the other Goddesses were furious as well.

No wonder, after all, they ignored the warnings given to them by the oracles.

And to top it all off, he even had the guts to threaten Kousuke a while ago.

Kousuke himself was not particularly concerned about it, but that threat could be seen as a provocation to the other Goddesses.

Regardless of whether the person who said it was aware of it or not.

Based on these facts, it could be said that the Kingdom of Gates strangled itself here in the end.

It was not exactly the Kingdom of Gates, but the temple that the Kingdom of Gates was following, but that was just about the same thing.

In fact, even the King took the trouble to appear on this occasion.

Arthur might say that he was not here as the King, but such an excuse would not be acceptable to the Goddess Elisa Meir.

It would instead be a poor excuse, which would obviously make her even angrier.

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Except for Kousuke, who normally met with Eris to a degree that would be impossible for normal people, and Sylvia, with whom she communicated almost daily, there would be no other opportunities to speak with Goddess Elisa Meir.

It was not that there were few opportunities, but rather none.

Therefore, even though Arthur did not understand how angry Eris was, he understood that she was angry at him.

Something had to be done about it, but this was not something that could be controlled from his position.

Even though the Temple was heavily involved in politics, there was no way Arthur could interfere in religious matters.

As for Karl, even the king was unable to interfere because he was the administrator of the Tower.

After all, the earnings from the Tower were the core industry of the country.

Even the king could not mess with the man who held the fate of the Tower in his hands.

He desperately wondered what to do, but no good idea came to mind.

As for those in question, one of them looked almost the same, while the other seemed to be unable to even breathe.

The one who could hardly breathe, Arthur guessed, must have been affected by the divine energy of Goddess Elisa Meir.

Even Arthur himself was being pressured by the divine energy, which would be painful even for a person who had been properly trained as a priest.

Of course, the reason why it was painful was because he had a guilty conscience, and the clergy of Amamiya Tower seemed to interact with the Goddess in a very casual manner.

This in itself was inconceivable, but it showed how deeply connected the members of Amamiya Tower were with the Goddesses.

It should have been expected, since the tower administrator was one of those Gods.

This might have been the result of taking the temple's claims seriously.

The other one, who was not a member of the priesthood, probably thought that he had nothing to do with it at this point.

He could not make such an argument anymore.

Goddess Elisa Meir gave an ultimatum to Arthur, who could now understand that he had no more excuses and was waiting to be punished.

[Your country and you will receive Divine Judgment. Be aware that you will no longer be able to escape it.]

"Oh, no…!"

Divine Judgment, as the name implies, was a direct use of a Goddesses's authority.

In the past, nations had been destroyed by this judgment.

[And the goddesses are furious with you. After all, you are a human being, and you meddled in what the goddesses were doing.]

Eris then directed the conversation to Kousuke without waiting for Arthur's rebuttal.

[Since that's the case, I've entrusted you with the punishment. ]

"Eh. I'm the one who decides, after all?"

[Who else is there? ]

She said with a tone indicating that it should be obvious.

"Hmmm. Well, okay. It's what I originally decided to do. Is that okay?"

[I'll go along with whatever you decide.]

Kousuke thought it was unfair to say it that way, but he was not so stupid as to say it out loud.

Eris had already guessed what Kousuke was going to suggest anyway.

And then, after deciding that the punishment was appropriate, they continued.

"First of all, against the Kingdom of Gates…"

"Wait! No, no, wait! Please…! Please have mercy!!!!"

Kousuke's expression turned to dismay as King Arthur bowed his head to him.

It seemed as if he had no idea what he was getting into now.

"Even if I listen to you and cut corners here, I'm the one who will be blamed by the other Goddesses."

[Certainly.]

Eris, who had not yet finished his oracle, came after him.

[I'm going to nail it to your head once again, but you have to remember that what the Goddesses have decided here can only be changed by the Goddesses. To go against it is to go against the Goddesses.]

They could only accept the punishment, or they could defy the Goddesses.

For the Kingdom of Gates, there was now only the absolute choice.

Those on the Tower's administrative side watched this situation with bated breath.

Of course, that was to be expected.

After all, the judgment of the Gods was about to take place, just like in the legends.

Kousuke, with whom they were in contact with daily, was going to be the one to do it.

Once again, Kousuke's status as a member of the Gods was being clearly shown.

For them, there was the idea that they could handle it because they knew Kousuke's character as well, but on the other hand, if they imitated something that would anger the other Goddesses instead of Kousuke, the same thing could happen to them.

For them, who were closer to the Goddesses than the Kingdom of Gates, what was happening now was an event that could not be a matter of other people's concern.

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Chapter 10, What is Divine Judgment

Divine Judgment, as the name implied, referred to the judgment of Goddesses on man.

There could be many reasons for this, but there was only one specific reason for the judgment to take place.

It means that a person did something to provoke the wrath of the Goddesses.

Looking at it that way, what the Kingdom of Gates did was the same thing, but the mystery was why they went to such an outrageous extent.

In this world, Goddesses clearly existed, and even Divine Judgment was handed down through the ages as a fact of life.

Of course, there was no way that they would do anything that would cause that judgment to take place.

Nevertheless, the mission of the Kingdom of Gates incurred the wrath of the Gods this time.

From the outside, it might seem like a foolish thing to do, but in fact, it was not.

Countless times in the past, churches and states deceived the name of God to seize people's hearts and minds, aiming at the very edge of the line where they would not incur the wrath of the Gods.

Based on these results, they had confidence in their ability to do so.

From their point of view, this incident was also within that range.

Goddesses did not directly interfere with what was done on the ground.

This was a natural recognition not only among clergy, but also among those involved in national politics.

That was why they did not mind talking to Kousuke, who was on the ground.

That was their lack of awareness.

It was true that the Goddesses did not interfere in the affairs of land.

However, this time, they directly interfered in the work of the Goddesses.

From the perspective of the Goddesses, this was a clear violation of the rules.

If the people of the ground were allowed to interfere in the work of the Goddesses, the Goddesses would not be happy.

In addition, Kousuke also confirmed the existence of a messenger, yet they were still confident that they would not be interrupted.

From their point of view, they were demanding that Kousuke should do his job as a God, and not slandering the actual deity itself.

Even if this resulted in an act of restraining Kousuke, they thought that they were not directly harming Kousuke himself.

As a result, Kouhi and Mitsuki did not move.

They would have moved if Kousuke had ordered them to do so, but since he ordered them not to, they could not move.

Just like before, they would have moved without hesitation if Kousuke did not directly command them, even if Kousuke was directly disgraced.

This was the main reason why the Divine Judgment came down the way it did this time, so it could be said to be a complete failure.

Even without the Divine Judgment, however, the two did not move.

After all, the Gods, including Kousuke, were angry.

They understood that they did not need to make the move.

In addition, the Goddesses had directly appeared in the commotion, and there was nothing they could do about it.

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All eyes in the hall were on Kousuke to see what kind of judgment would be handed down.

"First, the judgment that will be directly handed down to the Kingdom of Gates will be the sinking of the warships that were heading towards our continent."

At these words, the faces of the attendees on the Gates Kingdom side changed, and the executive branch side tilted their heads.

"… Warships?"

Alec let out a mutter, as if he was surprised.

"This was originally planned. Since we're here, I thought I'd have them accept it as Divine Judgment. There are more than a dozen ships coming toward this continent right now."

"That's not what I was told…"

Alec was slightly flustered, and Kousuke moved his hand up and down as if to calm him down.

"I don't know if that can be helped in a way. It seems that they are planning something, and they are going off the normal shipping route."

The route used by merchant vessels was also used by other merchant vessels, so there would be no way for them to hide.

Needless to say, word of the arrival of a ship belonging to some other company would naturally spread.

However, once off the route, even such gossip would disappear.

There were several routes, but merchant vessels would naturally use the most efficient ones.

Of course, among the routes they discovered in the past, there were routes that were historically hidden, but it was such routes that they were using.

Alec, who understood the situation, looked as if he was biting a bitter bug.

In his head, he was getting a headache thinking about those routes.

It would be almost impossible to monitor all the routes that had been discovered in the past.

"You didn't expect us to find them, did you?"

Kousuke asked the silent Gates Kingdom officials with an amused smile.

In fact, it was neither Kousuke nor Tower's function that discovered the existence of those ships, but there was no way he was going to mention that.

No one would believe him if he claimed to have seen it in a dream.

It was Peach's dream that first made him aware of the presence of the ships.

Once it was known that the ships had arrived, it was not difficult to find them using the Tower's functions.

"I'll give you a time frame, just in case, so you can tell those people to get off their ships as fast as they can. Luckily, they seem to be anchored at a large island currently."

Perhaps naively thinking these words, King Arthur looked overtly relieved.

However, Kousuke caught up with King Arthur.

"You know, you've only got a few hours to spare. You should ask them to do their best to get food out of the ship."

"Oh, no!"

"What? Were you thinking that it would have been alright if I had just given you more time?"

[If it were me, I wouldn't give them the time to move and simply sink it quickly. They should be thankful to Kousuke-sama.]

Goddess Elisa Meir interrupted King Arthur, who seemed to want to complain.

He was not foolish enough to argue with Goddess Elisa Meir at this point.

He soon gave up trying to retort.

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"The next one is against a Tower in Bachem, but Amamiya Tower will launch an offense against it."

Karl was the only one who responded to this, the rest just tilted their heads.

They had no idea what the offensive meant.

This was understandable, since there had never been a Tower siege in history.

As for the siege, Floria explained.

"Simply put, it is a war between Towers. When this is done, no matter how it is crafted, the entrance to the Tower cannot be closed by those involved in the Tower who have become the enemy. The rest is the same as a normal tower attack. The attackers win if they can reach the top floor, and the defenders win if they can stop them."

Everyone agreed that the rules were simple.

Shortly after, they realized what it meant.

"Tha, that's…"

King Arthur mumbled.

Karl, the Tower's administrator, already knew what was going on and his face was pale.

He probably already knew what would happen if Kousuke, who owned seven Towers including Amamiya Tower, attacked his Tower.

And King Arthur clammed up because that Tower of Bachem was important to the Kingdom of Gates.

He didn't care about the change of ruler from Karl to someone else.

The point was whether the kingdom would still benefit from it as before.

"Oh, don't worry. We will liberate it as soon as we conquer it."

Kousuke's words once again caused the Gates Kingdom side to tilt their heads.

This was understandable.

There had never been a Tower that had been liberated after an attack until now.

This, too, was explained by Floria.

"The point is that we will return it to the state it was in before anyone owned it. The Gates Kingdom side should do their best to capture it again after we liberate it."

He was willing to give up the Tower that he had acquired at an unexpected time, so it was a very reasonable offer.

For Kousuke, he could only say that he did not want the Tower on another continent, since possessing it would cause nothing but trouble.

The Kingdom of Gates had a weak expression on their face.

Although it was better than being managed by Kousuke, who was already an enemy of the Gates Kingdom, they were not sure if they could conquer the Tower with the current personnel in the Gates Kingdom.

The current Gates Kingdom could be said to have been able to survive based on its assets from the past, including Karl, who managed the Tower.

This applied to all the nations that currently possessed a Tower.

There simply was no adventurer or national army capable of conquering the Tower at this era.

As a result, Amamiya Tower's attack on the Tower of Bachem certainly proved to be a punishment for the Kingdom of Gates.

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Chapter 11, Judgment to the Temple

An attack on a ship approaching the Central Continent and an intervention in the Tower of Bachem.

Having delivered these two [Punishments], Kousuke took a break.

Seeing this, the officials of the Kingdom of Gates, who had mistakenly thought that it was over, looked visibly relieved.

It was true that both the sinking of the ships and the removal of the Tower were painful events for the kingdom.

But not so much that they would not be able to recover from it.

But in response, Sylvia pointed out the nail in the coffin.

"You seem to be misunderstanding. We're not done, you know?"

There was a reason, of course, why Sylvia interrupted at this point.

It was also to prevent Kousuke from being distracted while he took a break, and above all because the next Divine Judgment was related to the temple.

Although Sylvia and Kousuke had not discussed this in advance, she could at least anticipate what was coming next.

In fact, besides Sylvia, Peach and Floria were also able to predict what was coming next.

The most crucial part, the temple, had not yet been punished.

In fact, it could be said that the real work started here.

The people involved in Kingdom of Gates, who had been thrown back down to the bottom of the valley by Sylvia's words, were trembling with fear as to what would come next.

With that in the background, Kousuke nodded to Sylvia's words.

"That's right. Rather, this is where it all starts…. If we don't bring Judgment to the temple that is the source of all this commotion, the Goddesses won't settle down."

Hearing that line, Temple Director Dominic looked as if he could collapse at any moment.

From the perspective of Alec and Amamiya Tower's administrative officials watching from the side, it was a self-inflicted disaster.

[Yes, that's right. It would be easier to bring Judgment as soon as possible, right?]

Even Eris said so and gave him some backup.

At those words, Dominic's mouth was agape, but he no longer looked like a fish on land, along with his expression.

"Hmm. I guess…. The only thing I can think of is to eliminate the blessings of the Goddesses from the temple in question and the temples that have been associated with them until now."

[Well, that seems reasonable, I think?]

The blessings referred to were not granted to individuals like Sylvia and the others, or to buildings such as the 5th Floor's Temple.

In short, it was as if the Goddesses had declared that they would no longer have anything to do with the temple in question.

To the public, that was the extent of the punishment.

The participants in the Kingdom of Gates were, in fact, somewhat relieved.

King Arthur also managed not to show his expression, but the atmosphere was similar.

However, the temple head, Dominic, finally grunted and collapsed.

The Temple officials from the Kingdom of Gates side also looked as if despair was not enough.

The reaction was completely divided between those in the clergy and those who were not.

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Alec, who was completely on the sidelines, wondered about the situation and asked Sylvia.

It didn't seem like a very heavy punishment, even to Alec.

"May I ask why those in the clergy are reacting this way?"

"Yes. Rather, I guess I'll have to properly explain it."

Sylvia nodded with a wry smile.

Kousuke, the actual judge, was looking in the opposite direction, as if he had already done his job.

This was intentional, of course, to demonstrate Sylvia's presence.

The role of the clergy in the temple was originally to provide explanations of the will of the Goddesses and their intentions for the people.

Kousuke's presence in this world would make the assignment of these roles seem complicated, but if Kousuke were to do everything, the significance of Sylvia's role as a priestess would be lost.

"To put it plainly, for the rulers to understand, I think you can think of the <Tragedy of the Hippolis Empire>."

Hearing Sylvia's words, even Alec gasped.

Everyone knew of the <Tragedy of the Hippolis Empire>, even if they did not know what exactly it meant to lose the blessings of the Goddesses.

The Hippolis Empire was once the largest empire in human history that existed on the northern continent.

At one time, it boasted such enormous power that it unilaterally declared its separation from the Goddesses.

So much so that even people of the empire accepted it.

However, its final emperor, Augustus, presumed himself to be a God in this world in the last years of the empire.

The Goddesses, angered by this, suddenly appeared before the people and announced their separation from the Hippolis Empire.

As a result, crops could no longer be grown in the Hippolis empire, animals could no longer be hunted, and monsters that had lost their food supply began to attack in large numbers.

Ultimately, less than five years after Augusto's proclamation, the Hippolis Empire was destroyed.

The Goddesses' declaration of their separation from the Hippolis empire was written about in all kinds of stories, but few knew that it was due to the loss of their blessing.

There was a reason for this, it was to prevent the public from confusing Sylvia and Floria's personal blessings with the blessings granted to others.

It was also believed that the specifics were blurred to make the message as easy to understand as possible.

However, the Church, which was directly related to the gods, was well-informed of the situation.

Of course, it could be said that the Goddesses had ordained that the Church should communicate the information to the public.

At Sylvia's explanation, King Arthur's complexion turned distinctly pale.

The warships were a loss that could not be recovered from, it could still be considered a loss in a war with some other country.

The Tower of Bachem was indeed a major industry, so it was painful to lose it, but if they were to believe Kousuke's words, the tower would still be entered, not lost.

Therefore, they believed that they could manage to contain this as well.

But regarding the blessings at the end, there was nothing that could be done about it.

It was the decision of the Goddesses, and as humans, they could not intervene.

But here came a saving grace.

It was Sylvia, who explained earlier.

"You all seem to be mistaken, Kousuke-sama said that it is against the Temple that the blessing is lost, not the Kingdom of Gates."

"So, then…!"

King Arthur's expression said as if he had seen a ray of light, but Sylvia's next words silenced him once more.

"But, you know, if a temple loses its power…. It is up to all of you to decide what will happen to the nation without the Temple."

Sylvia said in a tone of voice that was completely otherworldly.

Not only the Temple to which Dominic belongs, which was the source of the current turmoil, but also the other temples involved will lose their function as temples if they lose the blessing.

Normally, they could get support from other churches, but that was not going to happen this time.

If they were to get involved, other churches might also lose their blessings.

If other churches did not cooperate, the temple would lose its meaning as a temple, and people's minds would drift away from it.

If that were to happen, the focus would surely shift to the nation.

Furthermore, Goddess Elisa Meir added a follow-up.

[We will be descending directly to tell everyone about this matter, to show that we are not simply playing tricks on them.]

This was the coup de grâce, and King Arthur completely gave up thinking about how to escape at that point.

The situation was no longer in his control.

He had no choice but to return to the country as soon as possible and consult the leading figures.

He would have to decide about Temple Chief Dominic and Carl, who had brought up the subject, but right now, the affairs of the country were more important than such matters.

At this time, Arthur was so focused on his country that he had no time to think about himself.

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Chapter 12, Divine Judgment Final

On that day, the world rejoiced at the descent of the Goddesses for the first time in a long time, and shuddered at the oracle that followed.

Suddenly, the Goddesses had descended.

In the town where the Goddesses had actually descended, the atmosphere was at first a bit of a grim one as people wondered about what had happened.

Then, as soon as the Goddesses emitted a recognizable presence, the people understood what that presence in the sky was.

As soon as the understanding spread that the Goddesses had descended, joy immediately came to the hearts of the people.

But at the same time, the question arose as to why the Goddesses had descended.

To answer this question, the descending Goddesses spoke directly to the people.

When they realized that what was spoken was <Divine Judgment>, they all turned pale.

<Divine Judgment> was a Judgment conducted by Goddesses directly descending to the people, as was the case this time.

At this time, it was understandable that they mistakenly thought that Gods would descend only on their town and that <Divine Judgment> would take place there.

It later turned out to be a mistake, though, since this time the descent of the Goddesses took place all over the world at the same time.

Moreover, immediately after the descent, the contents of the <Divine Judgment> were conveyed to the people from the Goddesses.

Even though they knew that the contents of the <Divine Judgment> were not directly related to them, it might be something that no one could tell whether they should give up on the fact that it was inevitable for people to suspect that there was some kind of relationship at that point.

Be that as it may, there was only one thing that was conveyed to them by the Goddesses.

The only thing that the Goddesses mentioned was that <Divine Judgment> had been put on the temple of the Kingdom of Gates in the northern continent.

The important point was that it was not to the Kingdom of Gates, but to the temple of the Kingdom of Gates.

Neither Kousuke nor the Goddesses intended for the people of the Kingdom of Gates to suffer any damage as a result of this incident.

Nevertheless, there would be some people who would suffer as a result, but that would be a problem for the Kingdom of Gates.

The size of the damage would naturally vary depending on how the Kingdom of Gates responded to the punishment this time.

As Goddesses, they have no intention of getting that much involved.

Anyway, with the descent of the Goddesses, the <Divine Judgment> became known throughout the world.

Of course, each country would investigate what the Temple of the Kingdom of Gates had done.

As a result, the activities of this time became known to the Higher Council of Temples in each country.

Since the <Divine Judgment> had taken place, it was impossible for the Kingdom of Gates to hide it.

Amamiya Tower also answered accurately when asked, so there was no way to hide it.

More than anything else, since the Goddesses were directly involved in this matter, it was impossible to hide it.

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Kousuke communicated three punishments to the Kingdom of Gates, one of which was immediately put into action.

What it was about, of course, was the sinking of a military fleet from the Kingdom of Gates that was approaching the Central Continent.

Sinking the ship did not mean using the same weapon on board.

After giving them a warning, he used Tower's function to make an irreparable hole in the bottom of the ship.

Furthermore, he also gave them time to complete their evacuation, as he had promised King Arthur.

He did not know what instructions King Arthur had given them, but they must have been given well because food and other supplies had already been brought out when the attack was actually carried out.

However, there were over a dozen ships that were approaching this time, and about three of them were about to leave the area.

Kousuke, of course, had sunk those three ships without any discrimination.

He had made no promises that they would be allowed to escape, so he did not intend to say anything about it.

In fact, the three ships that escaped would probably have suffered more damage than those that did not.

If they had remained where they were instead of fleeing, there would have been no damage to personnel, but they went out of their way not to follow King Arthur's order.

It was possible that people could have died from the attack, but Kousuke did not feel any concern about it.

He did not know if it was because he had become a God or because the world he was in had changed, but his perception of the situation may have been different from before.

Anyway, the first of the three was carried out on the day of the meeting with the Kingdom of Gates.

The next one was the <Divine Judgment> against the Temple of the Kingdom of Gates by the descent of the Gods.

However, the reason for the <Divine Judgment> to be delayed was because it took a certain amount of time for the Goddesses to descend all over the world, so it was carried out after 24 hours.

The world was in turmoil for a little while after the <Divine Judgment> took place, but that soon subsided.

Once it was clear that no damage had been done to themselves, they went back to their normal lives.

The problem was the churches other than the ones that had received the Divine Judgment.

There were temples that were doing similar things.

They were fearful that the Divine Judgment would soon be passed on them as well.

However, the Divine Judgment this time was only for the temple of the Kingdom of Gates, and no other temples were subjected to the Divine Judgment.

Fortunately, there were no temples that would start doing the same thing as before.

No one was barbaric enough to do the same thing as soon as the <Divine Judgment> was executed.

The last thing that was done was the capture of the Tower of Bachem.

The reason it took so many days was not that it took so long to get to the Tower, but that it took so long to get to the Tower.

By the way, Kousuke did not go to the Tower.

He was going to liberate the tower soon after the attack anyway, so there was no need for him to go directly.

Kouhi was the only one who went to the Tower.

Mitsuki also wanted to go, but one of them had to stay behind to guard Kousuke.

After a fair game of rock-paper-scissors, Kouhi was chosen to go.

Kousuke could have asked both of them to go, but they refused.

For the two of them, the priority was protecting Kousuke.

Kouhi seemed to have conquered the Tower as fast as she could, and it took her less than ten days to conquer it.

Whether Karl was in the Tower when Kouhi conquered it was not confirmed.

Since Kouhi arrived at the Tower before the Kingdom of Gates party arrived back in the country, it was possible that he was not in the Tower when Kouhi completed the attack.

Even if he had been in the Tower, it would be plausible that Karl would have run away.

After the attack as promised, Kouhi immediately released the Tower, so it became a free Tower that anyone could conquer.

It was not confirmed whether Karl attempted to conquer the Tower after that.

As a matter of course, adventurers were seen entering, but the control panel did not receive any information that the Tower had been conquered.

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Not surprisingly, the Kingdom of Gates was hit hard by the series of Judgments.

Ironically, they did not know if it was fortunate for them that no other country tried to interfere with them because of the Divine Judgment, albeit not directly.

At any rate, the Kingdom of Gates had no other choice but to focus on rebuilding the country that had been battered by this incident.

"At least they are not going to interfere with our continent in the future."

Alec, in front of Kousuke, assured him of this.

He was not so foolish as to try again to attack Amamiya Tower in this state of affairs.

What's more, there was a different benefit.

"It's also great that the places that were trying to oppose us have become more reluctant because of this incident."

For Amamiya Tower, this was probably more significant.

After all, it was recognized that if they were hostile, Gods would come forth if they were not careful.

To be precise, that was not the case, but rather, it was simply a misunderstanding that they would tolerate.

Of course, we would not take advantage of that.

If they did that, they could become the same kind of people as the Kingdom of Gates.

When asked about the situation, Kousuke would answer honestly, and soon that misunderstanding would disappear.

"So, can we assume that there will be no more countries that will mess with us in a strange way?"

"I don't know. People are forgetful creatures. I'm sure there will be places that will put this incident behind them and find another method to overcome the situation."

"Yeah, I think so as well."

As for Alec, he hoped that this incident would make them untouchable for now.

One way to do this would be to create a new country, as Kousuke had previously suggested.

Of course, Kousuke was already informed of this.

How Kousuke would react to that would be a different matter.

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Side Story 1, Behind the Scenes

"…Hai…Yes. Well then…yes."

Jal came up to her after making sure Eris disconnected the oracle.

"How did it go?"

"No problem. Everything is going as planned."

Jal nodded at Eris's confirmation.

What Eris was confirming to Kousuke was the details regarding this Divine Judgment.

"So it will be Kousuke who decides what the Judgment will be?"

"Of course, since he is the one directly involved in the Divine Judgment."

There would be no complaints from the other Goddesses regarding this.

The content of the Judgment has not yet been decided, but there would be no complaints from anyone about the Judgment Kousuke decided to make.

What the Temple of the Kingdom of Gates was attempting to do was not to undermine Goddesses, but to drag Kousuke into the open as a God.

They hoped that if they could control Kousuke, they would gain more power.

That alone would make one ask what they were thinking, but unfortunately, the Goddesses could not appear in the world unless there was something special happening.

The descent of the Goddesses would be one of them, but unless the conditions were met, it could not be carried out easily.

This time, the Kingdom of Gates was trying to fulfill those conditions.

Not in a good way, but in a bad way.

The Kingdom of Gates could not be brought to a halt without a great deal of trouble.

The Goddesses could do so many things if they got serious, but to go to the trouble of causing a natural disaster for such a thing would have an excessive impact on the world.

It would be much better to keep it within the limits of Divine Judgment.

"That's all well and good, but… What about the descent?"

Jal's question caused Eris to look reluctant.

"That's… We're going to make some adjustments now."

"Wow. That's a lot of work. Good luck…" What are you talking about? You will do it, right?" … What? Really?"

"Yes."

Jal's face twitched, and Eris nodded with a serious face.

So far, negotiations between Kousuke and the Kingdom of Gates had not yet begun.

So, it was not decided yet whether they would actually descend or not.

But the Goddesses would definitely descend during the Divine Judgment.

The conditions were already in place for that to happen.

The Goddesses in the Divine Realm had already reached the limit of their capacity to do their deeds.

From the Goddesses' point of view, they themselves had come to pull the trigger.

No doubt negotiations would take place, and Divine Judgment would certainly be handed down.

As a result, it had also been decided that the Goddesses would descend upon the world.

The question was how that descent would take place.

The coordination would be done by Eris, of course, but neither Jal nor Spica could stand by and watch.

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In the noisy hall, unusually, the three Great Goddesses were all twitching their faces.

In the case of the Goddesses, there was no shouting and confusion, as in the meetings of other countries.

When they spoke quietly like this, it was difficult for them to talk. In short, they seemed to be in a struggle.

To put it succinctly, they were struggling.

It would be the role of the Three Great Goddesses to take in all of this and somehow make it all work out….

Jal thought to herself, "It's impossible to put all this together".

After all, most of the existing Goddesses were gathered at this venue.

And all the Goddesses were making their own claims as they pleased.

If they were to descend only in one city, it would be possible to have them all show their faces at once, but that was not the case this time.

However, if all the Goddesses descended at once, there would be a great uproar on the ground, so such an event would rarely happen, even from the Goddesses' point of view.

This time, they would descend to several cities around the world at the same time.

The decision as to which city and which Goddess would descend was completely up to them, and that was why there was such a commotion.

After all, the Goddesses in the divine realms rarely got a chance to descend.

Even if the reason for their descent was inconvenient, the Goddesses would always want to descend at the right moment.

One could say that a being like Kousuke was an exception to the rule.

Jal's gaze flashed to Spica, who was quietly turning her head to look at Kousuke.

Spica was quietly shaking her head from side to side.

Eris, who was caught in between them, let out one sigh.

Spica and Jal, who were on both sides of her, saw this, and this time their faces twitched differently.

She was angry.

This situation definitely made Eris angry.

Eris rarely gets angry, but once she did, she was very scary.

If they could, they would not want to interact with an angry Eris, but they could not refuse to do so.

The two prayed that the other Goddesses would quickly notice Eris' condition, but the Goddesses, preoccupied with their own affairs, were slow to do so.

After a while, however, the Goddesses closest to Eris quieted down.

They must have noticed Eris' condition.

The wave spread, and eventually all the Goddesses gathered there quieted down.

Even though she was showing her anger, Eris was probably the only one who could make the noisy Goddesses quiet just by being silent.

Incidentally, in the case of Asura, the Goddesses never made noise from the beginning.

The fact that Asura was not around was because it had already been decided and there was no need for them to make a fuss.

So, when Eris saw that the hall had quieted down, she smiled.

Needless to say, everyone shuddered when they saw that expression.

"I think we've heard all of your opinions by now, so I think it's time to decide, is that okay?"

There was no way anyone could disagree with his words, and one after another, the place where the Goddesses would descend and the Goddesses who would descend were decided.

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After somehow successfully completing the descent into the world, Jal let out a huge sigh and plopped down at her desk.

"Hah. It's done, it's done."

"That's not a figure you want people to see."

Spica saw the sight and looked at her with some sympathy.

The Three Great Goddesses had to coordinate the details, starting with the adjustment of the place where the Goddesses would descend.

Spica was in a similar frame of mind, although she did not dress like Jal, the quirky one.

Eris, who usually paid attention, looked at Jal with only a wry smile.

"You can't let not only the people see it, but other Goddesses as well, you know?"

"Well, well, we're the only ones here now, so why don't you tolerate this much?"

It was Asura who said this with a smile.

Asura was not involved in this matter at all.

In the first place, Asura rarely got involved with humans, including the humanoid species.

If Asura were to act, it would only be to do something involving the Gods.

The only other time Asura might be involved would be when a new God was born, as in the case of Kousuke.

"Well, even so, that was barely enough."

"Yes, it was. This will keep it down again for a while."

The meaning of the conversation between Asura and Eris was that the wrath of the Gods had reached such a point

By passing judgment, it would mean that that anger had been appeased temporarily.

Even if the incident with Kousuke had not occurred, there was a great possibility that a descent or other action would have taken place in the near future.

But it was also true that this case reached its climax.

In fact, this kind of Divine Judgment happened many times in the past.

This happened not because mankind did not learn, but because of long-lost documents and poor oral traditions.

That said, it would not be forgiven, so Divine Judgment was held each time it happened.

"I don't want that to happen again~"

"I wish for that as well."

Eris responded to Jal's complaint with heartfelt sympathy, but unfortunately, Asura felt that her wish would never be fulfilled.