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Chapter 6
The warm sunlight shone down at two in the afternoon.
“Alright, we’re here.”
I stopped in front of a building after setting out on the road with Estelle.
As soon as I stopped walking, Estelle looked around in confusion.
Then she asked me in a puzzled voice.
“Weren’t we supposed to be going to the temple?”
“That’s right. We were.”
“But where exactly is the temple supposed to be?”
Instead of answering, I pointed at the building in front of us.
Estelle’s expression immediately turned bewildered.
“That’s the temple?”
She looked completely dumbfounded.
It was understandable. The building I had pointed to was far too shabby to be called a temple.
The temple of Havika in Asik Village looked completely different from other temples.
It wasn’t large, nor did it have golden fences that sparkled in the sunlight or pillars decorated with countless carvings.
It was simply a white, square-shaped building standing awkwardly in the middle of a patch of greenery.
If it weren’t for the symbol placed at the top, no one would have thought it was a temple.
“Didn’t you say we were going to pray and look around?”
“Do you not think there’s anything worth seeing?”
“……”
Estelle didn’t answer and simply pressed her lips together.
She probably thought there really wasn’t anything to see, but saying that out loud in front of a temple was difficult.
“It’s fine. I thought the same thing when I first came here. But I think you’ll change your mind once you go inside.”
I gave Estelle a meaningful smile.
Then I stepped into the temple.
“Wow……”
It was the moment I entered the temple first.
From behind me, I heard Estelle’s voice filled with awe.
It was only natural.
The Havika Temple in this village was the very first temple built in the empire.
Although its exterior was plain and modest, its interior was more magnificent and splendid than the temples in the capital city of Heros.
The first thing visible upon entering was a collection of colorful lights scattered across the floor.
Those rays of light were created when sunlight passed through the stained-glass windows covering the walls, depicting the mythology of Havika.
Following the tall pillars supporting the stained glass, my gaze moved upward, revealing a ceiling so high it made my neck ache.
The ceiling was painted with a blue sky, clouds, and angels.
It looked so realistic that it felt as though I was looking at the actual sky itself.
And that wasn’t all.
In the center of the temple was a circular flower bed filled entirely with daffodils, flowers symbolizing the purity and nobility of the god Havika.
Perhaps because of the holy water?
The daffodils growing in the flower bed were fresh and lively, without even a single wilted petal.
The fragrance of the flowers was so rich that it filled the entire temple.
I turned toward Estelle and asked her.
“How is it? Isn’t it amazing?”
There was no answer.
But that silence itself was an answer.
I couldn’t forget the sense of wonder I felt when I first visited this temple either.
Even though I had seen various landmarks all over the world while living in twenty-first-century South Korea.
That was how grand and dazzling the interior of the Havika Temple in Asik Village truly was.
Seeing Estelle staring around with her mouth slightly open, I felt strangely proud and my shoulders naturally lifted.
‘Oh right. This isn’t the time for that.’
Estelle could afford to be distracted, but I couldn’t.
I almost forgot the reason we had come here.
‘Where was it again?’
I needed to find the person who could pray for Estelle so that she could awaken her mark.
I needed to find that person.
Leaving Estelle to admire the temple, I quietly looked around.
‘Where did I meet him again? Was it right after entering, or did I have to go further inside……? More importantly, is it really okay for me to just walk inside?’
This part of the game happened early on, and since I had skipped through it with the skip button out of laziness, my memory was hazy.
I frowned and struggled to recall my blurry memories.
That was when—
“Ah. We have guests.”
A calm voice came from the direction of the temple entrance where Estelle was standing.
I turned my head toward the sound.
Then I saw a man walking toward us from within the large shadow cast by a pillar.
With each step he took forward, his face, previously hidden in darkness, was revealed little by little.
The slightly raised corners of his lips and his sharp jawline.
Following his clear, flawless skin upward were a firm forehead and thick eyebrows.
And finally, the moment I met the purple eyes staring directly at us—
“Wow……”
A small exclamation escaped my lips.
Because his face was truly holy and beautiful, befitting the title of a servant of God.
“Nice to meet you. My name is Welpion Gracia. I have been appointed as the new bishop here, replacing the former bishop who was summoned by the main temple.”
And because he was the person I had been searching for—the one who would pray for Estelle.
‘Welpion!’
Welpion Gracia.
The current bishop of this village’s temple and the man who would eventually become a cardinal of the Moncast Empire.
And at the same time, one of the capture targets with a romance route.
Welpion’s personality was exactly what one would expect from a priest.
He was mature, calm, and composed.
Perhaps because of that, compared to the other capture targets, he had relatively few bad events.
And that wasn’t all.
As long as you weren’t his enemy, he was also an ally who would provide plenty of help.
Of course, Estelle receiving his prayer was one of those forms of assistance.
