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Translator: Kazumi
Editor: Silavin
Kokoro was sitting in meditation in a room on the Administration Floor.
What she was doing now was to learn to perceive the power of the Gods without relying on the sacred objects.
Kokoro could already communicate with Kurara using the Worship Ritual Tools made by Kousuke without any problems. However, this was only possible with the ritual tools.
It was not like relying on tools was wrong, but the essence of being a priestess or priest was to be able to sense the will of the Gods with their own power.
Of course, Sylvia was also still undergoing similar training. She was currently watching over her Daughter’s training.
The room where Kokoro was currently training was originally made by Sylvia for her own training. That room, like the temple on the 5th Floor and Mixen’s temple, had a path connected to Sanctuary. Thus, it was filled with the presence of the Gods.
It could be said to be the perfect environment for a priestess to train in.
However, the room was not that big. It was just a plain, empty space measuring five meters on each side.
Even so, it was large enough for a single person to practice in.
In principle, it could have been a little smaller, but to connect a path to the Sanctuary, it was absolutely necessary to have that much space.
There was nothing Kousuke could do about this.
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Sylvia, who had been watching Kokoro, widened her eyes when she noticed Kousuke entering the room.
Kousuke rarely entered this room while they were training. This was because it was impossible to predict what effect Kousuke, a living god, would have on the training when he entered the room.
“…Is something wrong?” Being mindful of Kokoro, who was concentrating, Sylvia lowered her voice as she asked Kousuke.
Kousuke motioned to Sylvia to be quiet by holding his right index finger in front of his mouth.
Sylvia, realizing what this meant, remained silent and looked towards Kokoro.
In the midst of this, Kokoro, who was concentrating, was unaware that Kousuke had entered the room. She was too busy trying to detect the divine presence of the Gods, that seemed to be floating around the room.
She had never been able to successfully detect their divine presence.
With the help of the sacred tools and Sylvia, she could detect it, but as soon as she was left alone, she would not be able to detect it anymore.
Sylvia told her that she should basically do the same thing as when using the ritual tools, but it just did not work.
Kokoro believes she was doing the same thing, but no matter how many times she tried, it did not work.
Just when Kokoro was about to give up and think that it would not work today as well, she felt something different from usual.
It felt like the same kind of premonition she gets when doing the Divine Oracle with Kurara, but it also felt entirely different and mysterious.
However, the feeling was somehow familiar. It was a familiar feeling, like something she usually sensed.
For a moment, she wondered what the sign might be, but she immediately realized who it was.
For Kokoro, it was the most familiar sign of a God.
It was unmistakably the presence of her own Father.
Kousuke usually lived his life suppressing his Divine Power. Therefore, this was the first time Kokoro had sensed Kousuke’s divine presence. Even so, she was able to immediately guess whose divine presence it was.
Even though it was the first time she had felt it, Kokoro felt a sense of great fulfillment spread through her as she sensed the presence of someone very close to her.
It was right after that, she realized that there was another divine presence right next to Kousuke.
There was not just one, but several presences.
She was able to sense them so clearly that it was almost strange that she had not noticed them before.
As she sensed these divine presences, she could tell that they were the presence of other Gods.
For Kokoro, there was also the presence of Kurara, the deity who was closest to her after Kousuke.
Just as she was shouting to herself, ‘I did it!’, she heard the sound of two palms being brought together.
Kokoro opened her eyes and saw Sylvia with her hands together in front of her, and Kousuke smiling.
“Well done.” Kousuke rubbed Kokoro’s head, which was still in a trance, with his right palm.
“Kokoro, can you stand?”
“Eh? …Oh?”
“Oops…” Kokoro tried to stand up as Sylvia had told her to, but he collapsed to her knees before she could completely get up.
Kousuke, who had predicted this, supported Kokoro with his left hand before she fell over.
“You should not push yourself too hard. I think it’s best if you just rest today.”
“That’s right.” Sylvia nodded in agreement with Kousuke’s words.
“Oh, Father, wait a moment.”
Kousuke tapped Kokoro on the head as she was about to close her eyes again.
“Hey, listen to what others say. You shouldn’t do any more today.”
“But…” Kokoro felt as though she was being pulled back by her hair. She felt it a waste to have felt the presence of the Gods and not continuing.
“Don’t worry. You were able to sense their presence once, so you’ll be able to do it again.”
“Really?”
“Yes.” Sylvia nodded in affirmation to Kokoro, who was tilting her head.
“Then, I’m going to take the rest of the day off.”
As soon as Kokoro said this, Kousuke suddenly lifted Kokoro’s body.
“Huh!?” Kokoro was so surprised by the suddenness of it all that she looked at Kousuke’s face.
“In your current condition, you won’t be able to walk, will you? I’ll carry you.”
“Yay!” It had been a while since he had done this, and Kokoro was so happy she nodded in celebration.
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Kousuke told Kokoro to stay in bed quietly until dinner, and then he turned around and went straight back to the training room.
Sylvia was right behind him.
As soon as he entered the training room and closed the door, Kousuke let out a sigh and said, “Hmmm… isn’t this a little too much of a big deal?”
Sylvia blinked her eyes at Kousuke’s words.
She had not been checking the divine presence in the room in order not to disturb Kokoro. As a result, she had no idea what had happened.
At the same time Sylvia was wondering, she heard giggles coming from the surrounding area.
There was more than one person laughing.
If they were in a different place, this would sound like something they would hear from a horror story. However, since they knew where those voices came from, neither Kousuke nor Sylvia were creeped out by it.
In fact, Sylvia was so taken aback by the number of voices that her face turned pale.
[It’s fine. Your child has been able to connect with us for the first time. Everyone is very curious about it.]
It was Jal who answered on behalf of the multiple voices.
“Huh? Really? If that’s the case, you should have told me from the start.”
[But that wouldn’t have been interesting, would it?]
“…Eris should have stopped it.”
[That’s… impossible] Eris also immediately replied to Kousuke’s grumbling.
“Um, who… exactly, who came… no, how long have they been here?” There was so much divine energy in the training room right now that even Sylvia could not accurately count it.
There was Kurara, who was the first Goddess that Kokoro was able to sense, as well as the Three Great Goddesses. Even Sylvia was sensing the divine presence of other Gods for the first time.
Kousuke shrugged his shoulders in response to Sylvia’s question.
“I don’t know. I don’t think there are around a hundred of them, but I haven’t counted them all. Do you want me to ask?”
If Kousuke asked, the Goddesses would surely answer him. However, Sylvia shook her head from side to side and refused.
It was not strong for Sylvia to be acting this way. Being able to sense the presence of a God without the aid of sacred tools was tantamount to having the potential to receive a Divine Blessing.
Conversely, it could also be said that the number of Gods present currently were all eager to grant Kokoro Divine Blessings.
It was only natural that Sylvia turned pale when she thought about what might happen to Kokoro in the future.
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