CHAPTER 35: THE POWER OF JUSTICE

It smells like the sun.

　That was the first thing I thought when we entered the Church of Forcels.

　The inner wall of the Church of Forcels has dyed white similar to the outside wall.

　My spine tingled slightly as if I had returned to space where the self-proclaimed god was.

　Within the innermost part of the Church of Forcels.

　A woman was standing with the light shining through the skylight.

　The moment I saw the woman; my skin was crawled.

(This person … she’s very strong)

　Similar to the white space, the priestess robe, and white bare skin.

　The woman gazed at me with her blue eyes and opened her mouth.

“I will teach children who do not know the God of justice, Forcels, what the power of justice is.” (Priestess)

　A solemn voice echoed in the church.

　I felt pressure from her as if God had descended.

　She held her hand up.

　Slowly lift her arm with the palm facing down.

　Then, a piece of paper emerged from the podium placed on the pulpit. [T/N: Pulpit is a raised platform with a podium where Christian priests give their sermons. Google-sensei offers pictures.]

　She hasn’t touched the paper at all.

　When the paper came up to her eyes, she grabbed it and said.

“This is the power of justice.” (Priestess)

“No, isn’t it!?”

　It was the power of sleight of hand.

　Even with the tsukkomi, the woman didn’t deny it.

　While slightly frowning she said as she was drawing a beautiful arc.

“… You still can’t believe in the power of justice. Then I’ll show you more of the power of justice.” (Priestess)

　Then the woman thrust her hand into the pocket of her robe and took out a silver spoon from inside.

　After showing the spoon, she starts rubbing the spoon against her palm.

“The power of justice is awesome.” (Priestess)

　When she rubbed, the spoon gradually got more and more deformed.

　Raising the deformed spoon, the priestess says.

“It’s the power of justice.” (Priestess)

“It’s definitely something else!?”

　Esther ran towards the pulpit, slipping through.

　She looks at the spoon above the podium with a glittering look.

　Her ponytail was swaying frantically.

“Wow, that’s amazing, Toru! The spoon is bent!” (Esther)

“Esther somethings can be bent by hand, like a spoon.”

“Mmm? That’s true, but if you ask me…” (Esther)

“… You still can’t trust the power of justice. All right. How about this?” (Priestess)

　The woman shook the spoon a few times and held it in front of Esther.

“… Toru! The spoon is now twisted !!” (Esther)

“It’s the power of justice.” (Priestess)

　Is it because there is an audience showing an overwhelmingly positive response in front of her?

　The woman is looking towards me, isn’t she? She can’t help but make a face.

“Toru, Toru! The power of justice is amazing!” (Esther)

“No, Esther. That’s because when she shook the spoon, she just replaced it with another spoon …”

“What … what !?” (Esther)

　Esther had a look of despair because of what I said story.

(Oh, yeah. This might be Esther’s first time seeing a magic trick?)

　I didn’t react at all when he sees sleight of hand tricks because he has seen it in Japan.

　Esther, on the other hand, is happy because she sees these tricks for the first time.

　It is a little cruel to suddenly burst her bubble.

　As for the person who made the absurd expectations, my expectations on them have hit rock-bottom.

　Her eyes are quivering.

“This is a test of my power of justice. It’s okay. Then I’ll show you my special power!” (Priestess)

　With that said, the woman moved her arms with quite the agile movements.

　She slowly stuck her hands together and laughed.

“Now, take a look at the secret technique ‘Thumb teleportation’ -” (Priestess)

“Oh, that’s fine.”

[T/N: Come on Toru, she’s probably gonna magically detach and reattach her thumbs. That’s super high-level power. ]

　From the name of the technique, the expectations went further down.

　I had to immediately stop her.

　The woman, who stuck out her hands out in front, raised her mouth slightly.

“Hmm, you were afraid of the power of justice.” (Priestess)

“No … oh yeah, you’re right.”

“Then, fill out this paper.” (Priestess)

“No thanks.”

　When I interrupted her words, this time the woman puffed her cheeks and made a pouty face.

　My [intuition] skill roughly grasped the ability of the woman.

　She is strong. She has the same or better ability than the guild trainer Ogre. [T/N: He’s ogre again? Is he Graf or Ogre? Ugh.]

　When I think about what she will do next, I feel like I’m going to have to sit down.

　Still, I haven’t asked yet.

“Do you know the location of the Church of Nesis?”

“… Hmm. Unfortunately, I don’t even know the location of the Nesis Church.” (Priestess)

　The woman shook her head.

　I can see that she didn’t look like she was lying.

“… No clue”

　After leaving the Church of Forcels, my shoulders sagged.

　I never thought that I would go around all the churches not finding a clue.

　Also, at the Church of Agni, they said, ” If it is a servant of the God of Justice, they might know.”

　The amount of disappointment is higher the more my hopes go higher.

“The last one is the church of the god Amanomehito?”

“No, Amanomehito doesn’t have a church.” (Esther)

“Well, why is only one of the gods is exempt from the others?”

“No, he’s not.” (Esther)

　Esther smiled at my words.

“Amanomehito is the god of Nature. He is everywhere as long as there’s nature. The doctrine is to pray to nature as a whole, not to build and worship a church. That’s why Amanomehito doesn’t have a church. ” (Esther)

“Really”

　The way of thinking is close to Japanese animism.

　I felt a sense of familiarity with Amanomehito and became interested in the belief.

(If he has a sacred place, I would like to visit it once …)

“That’s right, it’s too early to be disappointed.” (Esther)

“I say so …”

“I think we just couldn’t get a clue to the shortcut. It’s not that we failed, so from here on, we’ll just have to look for it properly.” (Esther)

“… Oh, yeah, that’s right.”

　I just couldn’t get a clue to the fastest route.

　We haven’t failed yet.

　I was moved by Esther’s positive thoughts; I have regained my motivation.

　At that time, a narrow road suddenly caught my eye.

“Then, Esther. Let’s start by looking at the alley over there.”

“OK” (Esther)

　I haven’t decided on anything.

　First of all, I just want to get closer to that place. With that feeling, I headed towards the alley.

　As soon as I went down the road, a building appeared.

　It was a gray building surrounded by a fence.

　The building has low ceilings and no luxurious decorations.

　Before visiting Finlis, I would have thought this was just a private residence.

　However, the building was not wooden but stone.

　In other words, it is not just any private home.

　A mark is dug on the entrance door.

“That is- It is the holy mark of Nesis!” (Esther)

“That means …”

　Is this building the church of Nesis?

　I looked at the building.

“Somehow, I found it quite easily.”

“That’s right, but Nesis is the god of fate. It is fate set by God that brought and guided us here.” (Esther)

　What on earth have we been doing so far then?

　I haven’t exerted my body to come this far, but I think I am mentally exhausted.

　If this was fate, I wanted him to lead me to the church earlier.

“Let us enter for the time being”

“That’s right. If we don’t finish it today, we might not be able to come again tomorrow …” (Esther)

　On the contrary, it is possible that we will not be able to leave the church until cleaning is complete.

　There was only one road, but there were many forked roads on the way back, and no matter which road I took, I feel like we would return here.

　If this is God’s interference, that’s likely to happen.

“Excuse me.”

　When I pulled the door, the door squeaked and creaked.

　There was no one behind the door.

　The accumulated dust is quite thick.

　There are no human footprints anywhere to be seen.

　No one has visited here for a while.

　The church looked as if it had been forgotten by Finlis itself.

“The Nesis Church is not maintained, isn’t it?”

“It seems like it” (Esther)

“Maybe there are no believers?”

“… There is a possibility” (Esther)

　Since you cannot visit a church without fate, the number of believers does not increase as in other churches.

　I headed for the pulpit, leaving footprints on the dust layer.

　The church has only chaise lounges, a pulpit, and a podium.

　There are no stained glass and no decorations.

　It was a fairly simple church.

　The building is filled with the smell of dust. Unlike traditional churches, it wasn’t the air that made me want to take a deep breath.

“… Who was the one who requested this place to be cleaned?”

“Maybe God?” (Esther)

“No, stop joking”

“It’s not a joke? It’s not unusual, but quite rare.” (Esther)

“Hmm?”

　I titled my head and facepalmed. Esther was good at making me.

“By the way, the world where Toru came from was abandoned by God.” (Esther)

“I don’t agree with that phrase …”

　That’s right in the sense that God has never directly interfered with Earth.

　But I nodded reluctantly.

“Toru in this world God exists.” (Esther)

“Eh? … not just in fairy tales or holy scriptures?”

“Oh. Sometimes they’ve come down, and sometimes they talked to priests. Just recently, I’ve heard that the god of justice, Forcels, came down to attend a coronation from the Kingdom of Yuster.” (Esther)

“Really!”

　It is a phenomenon that is unlikely to happen on earth, like an advent of God.

(What will happen when they come down? I want to see it once while I’m still alive)

“Well, Toru. It’s time to start cleaning.” (Esther)

“That’s right. Oh, before that–“

　I stood in front of the pulpit and prayed.

　I didn’t know the correct way to pray, so I gave a Shinto style of two bows, two claps, and one bow.

　Something happened after I gave my prayer.

“First log in Bonus!”

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