61. Temple 1

At the heart of the city, facing the river, stands a grand stone temple.

Stepping inside, a figure resembling a Cleric approached Shiro.

"Hello. Are you here to pray today?"

"Yeah, that's right," Shiro replied with a smile.

"Good day, High Priest," Shestia and the others greeted.

"Oh my, look who it is—Shestia, Lord Albert, Lady Aria, and even Lady Sophia. It's been a long time," the High Priest greeted warmly.

"Yes, it has. Today I've come to introduce him—Shiro. We'd like to use the private chapel at the back," Aria said.

"Ah, the private chapel, you say?"

This temple features a large main hall for general prayer, and further back, a private chapel reserved for special occasions. It’s rarely used.

"I see. I’ll show you the way," the High Priest replied.

"I’m Shiro Kamikawa. This is Mitoka," Shiro introduced himself.

"Ah, how thoughtful of you. I’m Edward, High Priest of this temple," the High Priest smiled.

All of them entered the chapel. As they prepared to pray, the altar at the front began to glow, and a radiant figure emerged—transparent, white-winged, shining like light itself.

She looked exactly like the bronze statue of Firumia in this world.

"Shiro, you’ve come well. I’m glad you arrived safely. Sophia, Shestia—it’s been too long."

"Wha—?!" Everyone froze in shock. Edward’s face twisted in disbelief, then he dropped to his knees in awe.

Shiro glanced at Edward’s reaction, but didn’t know what to say, so he looked away and spoke to Firumia instead.

"……Firumia-sama, hello. It's been a while. Thanks to you, I managed to make it this far, to a place where people are."

Edward turned, startled, and looked at Shiro, asking.

"Lord Shiro, what is it?"

Then Firumia answers in her place.

"Edward, you've always handled the temple's upkeep and management, upheld its doctrines—thank you. And Shiro is the apostle I sent into this world. Please help him."

Edward’s eyes flew open, his face frozen in shock.

"Haha—" he bowed once more.

Sofia and Shestia watched with quiet smiles, Aria wore a dazed expression, and Albert remained calm, as if nothing at all had changed.

And the moment Firumia smiled at Shiro, Mitoka, and Shestia in turn, time itself froze across the world.

“Huh?” Shiro notices it.

Shiro, Mitoka, you’re both exhausted. Glad you’ve made it safely to Sotohaim.

Thank you... Wait, time’s frozen, right?

"Yes, everyone else has stopped. There are things I wouldn’t want others to hear," Firumia said. Then

"Mitoka-chan, you're handling the physical manifestation well. Even though you're originally Shiro's AI, it seems your soul has merged with it smoothly and you're growing steadily—glad to see."

Yes, Firumia-sama, thank you. I’m grateful for the chance to exist as I am now, Mitoka said.

Thanks for coming to pick up Shiro for me, Tiera.

"Yes. No problem...," Shestia said. She was a little tense about her first face-to-face meeting with a goddess. Up until now, the divine messages had only been a glowing dot and a voice.

"Miss Firumia, I have a few messages and questions," Shiro said, cutting in.

First, that we made it safely to this town. That the cabin was a huge help for immediate living. The abnormal abilities of the monster. And regarding the virus—Shelina’s infection, the one in the mushroom, and their similarities.

“That’s right. We’ll look into that virus on our end. As for the monster with unusual abilities, it might be a system glitch. Normally, such peculiar behaviors should be standardized into skills. If it were registered as a skill, identification should reveal it. If not, it’s even more likely a bug,” Firumia said.

“Could a virus interfere with magic?” Shiro asked.

“Hmm. Well, theoretically, if you entity-ize a virus, you could embed magic into it—install and run a magical spirit, I suppose. But that’d be tricky, wouldn’t it? The current system doesn’t support that level of implementation,” Firumia replied.

Shiro heard that and felt a slight relief. But something nagged at him, a fog in his mind.

Since nothing clear came to mind, he didn’t press further.

“Also, regarding rewind—has this world been rewound several times before I arrived?”

“…Heh heh heh, good catch. But I can’t go into details. Let’s just say I’ll admit Shestia’s involved. Please, do your best to support her.”

Firumia gave Shestia a look full of affection, then turned to Shiro and Mitoka.

“By the way, thank you for the excellent cabin. The food supplies were a real help,” Shiro said, taking a moment to reiterate his gratitude for the comfortable shelter.

“Not at all, not at all,” Firumia replied.

—Hmm, ingredients? Did I leave any behind? I might’ve stocked up all at once back then… though, wasn’t it Isanamia who—?

Firumia murmured, her brow furrowed in quiet thought.

“Now then, I’ll be returning shortly. It’s fine to speak openly in this world about you being my Apostle. Please, make full use of the temple’s functions. Even better—expand them. I’ll send word through divine omens to all miko across the world about your existence,” Firumia said.

“Just one thing to note. You can only talk to me directly in the temple once every twenty days or so. Keep that in mind.”

With that, Firumia reversed the flow of time, gave a brief nod to the group, said “Take care of him,” and vanished.

“Lord Shiro! I didn’t know you were the Apostle—forgive my impertinence!” The temple chief dropped to his knees the instant Firumia disappeared.

“W-wait, Edward-san, you don’t have to do that—please, get up,” Shiro stammered, flustered. Then,

“Anyway, I’ll be depending on you from now on. I hope we can work well together,” Shiro said, offering a polite bow.

“Not at all! The pleasure is mine. Please do take care of me as well!”

Edward replied with a deep bow.

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