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Translator: Kazumi
Editor: Kabur & Silavin
It had already been five days since Kousuke and his group began to search the Arcis Temple’s library.
It was not that nothing had been accomplished during that time; on the contrary, the opposite was true.
On the night of the fifth day.
Kousuke and his group, who had been discussing the day’s results in their room at the inn, had reached a conclusion.
“I guess this is already confirmed.”
Everyone nodded in agreement with Kousuke’s words.
Since around yesterday, they had been looking into the temple only, not the town.
No matter how one looked at it, its effects were similar to those of the Vermilion Castle.
Kousuke’s intuition was right when he came to the town.
For the church side, it was probably kept as a library in order to make the effect of the temple, which was a divine gift, known as an authority, but it turned out to be a bad thing.
It could be that the church did not think that there were other buildings with the same effect as the Temple of Arcis.
Or it could be that they knew about the Vermilion Castle, but left it behind because they thought it was already lost and the priests of that time did not care.
“But what are we going to do? Even though it has the same effect as the Vermilion Castle, it doesn’t prove that the Prost Clan is involved, does it?”
It would be nice if they could find someone belonging to the Prost Clan or if they could find something like a Vermilinia jewel, but nothing so far had been discovered.
The purpose of Kousuke and his group was to confirm whether the Prost Clan was present, not to go back to the past.
When they were searching through the library, they could not find any books that mentioned the Prost Clan.
“Hmmm. That’s the problem. If things are going well as they are now, there’s no need for us to poke around.”
What Kousuke said was also a problem.
If the Prost Clan had joined forces with some church people and dared to hide out in this remote area when they were persecuted in the past, there would be no need for Kousuke and the others to poke around.
The only thing Kousuke and the others were sure of now was that the temple of Arcis was a divine treasure, like the Vermilion Castle.
“If indeed someone from the Prost Clan has survived and is maintaining the temple here, I would like to talk to them.”
“Yes, I agree. I’d at least like to talk to them about how the world today is a much better place to live than it was back then.”
“But we don’t know where they are, right?”
At Peach’s words, Kousuke and Shrein let out a sigh.
The investigation of the Temple of Arcis was going very well, but there was no sign of the Prost Clan.
If the Prost Clan was cooperating with the Arcis Temple, it was quite possible that they had left no record at all.
If Kousuke and the others poke around in the wrong place, it could have the opposite effect on what was already going so well.
“Well, what should we do?”
Kousuke tilted his head.
The possibility of the Prost Clan’s involvement in the Arcis Temple made it difficult for him to move.
“For the time being, I’m going to make a direct inspection of the temple tomorrow.”
“Hm. Then I will continue to rummage through the books.”
“I’ll look through the books too~”
“I will follow Kousuke-sama, of course.”
After deciding on their respective courses of action, everyone went to bed in preparation for tomorrow.
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The next day, Kousuke was examining the outside of the temple in detail.
If the structure was the same as that of Vermilion Castle, there was little point in examining the outside of the temple, but it was still possible to examine the flow of power.
The Vermilion Castle was the same in this respect.
“…No matter how warm it is compared to the outside, cold weather is still cold.”
“Are you okay? Why don’t you go inside and warm up?”
Mitsuki said to Kousuke, who was shivering from the cold.
She herself did not seem to be too cold.
Seeing Mitsuki, Kousuke wondered how her body temperature was regulated.
Following Mitsuki’s suggestion, Kousuke tried to go back inside the temple, but a certain person blocked his way before the entrance.
It was Adrienne, the head of the temple.
“Oh. Are you finished investigating the temple?”
“No. It was getting cold after being outside for so long, so I came to warm up for a while.”
Kousuke answered honestly to the temple director, who asked for confirmation.
He didn’t feel the need to hide the fact that he was checking out the temple.
“Oh, you shouldn’t do that. You mustn’t catch a cold, so how about a warm drink in my room?”
For his part, the temple director was hoping to invite him to his room sometime soon to listen to what he had to say.
The reason he came outside in the first place was to ask Kousuke what he was investigating.
On the other hand, Kousuke also nodded his head at the offer.
“That’s very kind of you, but is it okay?”
“Of course. Besides, I’m interested to know what you guys are researching. I’d like to talk to you about it.”
“I see. So that’s what this is about. Oh, I see, of course.”
Kousuke knew that the temple side, rather than the temple director, had been watching what Kousuke and the others were doing.
Since they had not taken any direct action, Kousuke had left them alone until now, but he thought it would be a good idea to talk to them if the head of the temple had taken the trouble to come to see him.
The room used by the temple head was furnished with magnificent furniture.
More precisely, it was a room for welcoming guests.
Kousuke and Mitsuki sat across from the temple director as recommended.
“So, you are conducting an investigation, but what are you investigating in the temple?”
Kousuke smiled back at the temple head, who suddenly got down to business.
“I am an adventurer, but I am also an engineer of magical tools. Divine Treasures like the temple here are a good study material for my research.”
Although this was not his original purpose, he was not lying.
In fact, there would not be many opportunities to study up close and personal the Divine Treasures other than those made in the Tower, such as the Vermilion Castle.
At Kousuke’s words, the temple director looked as if he had been told something unexpected.
“Oh. I see. So that’s why you were investigating the temple and the town?”
“Yes. Information obtained from literature and the like is also valuable, since it also provides information that is more valuable than actually looking at the treasure itself, you know.”
Kousuke answered in a very normal way, feeling the temple director and the priests around him staring at him.
Mitsuki, as usual, did not interrupt Kousuke while he was talking.
Kousuke decided to ask the temple director, who looked satisfied with his answer, some questions.
The answer to this question would determine the future course of their actions.
“Let me ask you something, I found an unused entrance on the side of this temple, do you know about it?”
“What? An unused entrance?”
The temple director looked as if he had never heard of it before.
Or perhaps he did not know which entrance he was talking about, but at least his expression did not seem to lie.
“Yes. It’s just around where the exterior decorations break off.”
“That’s not exactly enough to tell anything…. Can someone bring me a drawing?”
After receiving these instructions from the temple director, one of the young priests rushed into the room.
In his hand he held a document with drawings of the temple.
Kousuke pointed to one place on the unfolded drawing.
“It’s around here, isn’t it?”
“I don’t think there was a door there, is that correct?”
“Well, it’s a hidden door of sorts. It might be no wonder why you couldn’t discover it until now.”
As Kousuke said this, the temple director gazed at him with wide eyes.
“And you found it in just a few days?”
“I was lucky. If you were aware of it, even the temple director might have noticed it, you know?”
Kousuke was able to find the hidden door because he traced the divine power that was covering the temple.
He wanted to say that even if he couldn’t use divine power, he would be able to trace it, as long as he was the temple head.
“…I see. I’ll ask you about that later, but do you think you can open that door?”
“I don’t know. I wasn’t sure if I could open it, so I didn’t investigate it in detail.”
“Well, then, would you be willing to investigate? If you want, I can make it a request.”
He must have been aware of Kousuke’s status as an adventurer, because he said so.
Kousuke smiled as he was told.
“If that’s the case, I’d be happy to do it for you.”
“I understand. I will send the request immediately, so if possible, please do it tomorrow.”
“Yes.”
If it was a request from the temple director, Kousuke had no problem with it.
For now, even Kousuke does not know what lies beyond the door.
There would only be a result the next day.
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