Volume 4 Chapter 1.5
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Translator: Reflet
Editor: Weasalopes
「What precisely did you do？」
「Nothing important, though. I simply created a mechanism that thickened the holy energy on the road leading to the temple of the earth mother goddess, activating higher monster activity and maddening the senses of anyone who approaches.」
「……I see, so you isolate them with starvation tactics.」
「I doubt that they care that much about the faith of humans, but if traffic decreases and the holy energy thickens, then they will eventually be forced to make a move.」
The first dark lord nodded gratefully at their compatriot’s words. To him, though this was but a small help, he was grateful for any amount of assistance since he could not even do anything at this point as a result of his scheme failing. As none of the brethren here ever felt competitive or antagonistic toward one another, they assisted each other, received assistance, and had no qualms about it either way. They would only refuse assistance if there was an overwhelming chance of winning or they wanted to conserve labor.
「Thank you, you have been a good help.」
「Think nothing of it. Now that plans are at a deadlock with Farlane and Darl, I simply cannot sit around and play.」
「I see. Then again, we could also flip this around and say that if the guests from the unknown continent had not meddled in all of this, the earth mother goddess would not have had enough power remaining to foil the plan……」
「Until now we had assumed they were only skilled in battle with practically no knowledge in government, seeing no need to proactively seek their expulsion, and none of us could have predicted how much that would take us by storm.」
The first dark lord groaned at the second lord’s words. From the way things seemed to be going, these guests did not seem to be any different from the ones from before, in that they were politically powerless. However, they had more than enough power to shift the balance in any kingdom, moreso than any ruler.
No one in their encampment was underestimating these “mere” craftsmen any longer.
「This time, I intend to take them on directly.」
「And the chances of winning are？」
「They were in a bit of a predicament with The Sweltering Tower and the two Barolds. Though I do not guarantee it, I do have a rough estimate.」
「Is that so. If there is anything you would like assistance with, I will help.」
「There is. But it would be troublesome if our existence was made known to the public. We will need to plan the timing correctly.」
Barold himself was no longer enough. Though they might win with a hundred of him, doing something that drastic would absolutely cause the goddesses to intervene. As there was no guarantee that the time, effort, or cost would be worth it, it was better to directly, and quickly, clash with these people.
「We will not be able to do much more than stir up trouble in Forre for now. We even have Barold out there. Let us make good use of him.」
「Right. Though Darl is not out of the question, we cannot interfere in Farlane now, so we had best pour our remaining resources into Forre and Loren.」
「Indeed. For now, how about I look into interfering with the area around the mine.」
「Then I will think in terms of disrupting circulation of goods. After all, Midas Federation is in quite the interesting predicament.」
「Alright. I will leave that to you. May the world be filled with holy energy.」
「May the world be filled with holy energy.」
Exchanging the designated greetings, the two lords blended back into the darkness. Neither of them had realized that two goddesses had been listening in on their little meeting.
「……Elza, I can only assist you as far as this.」
In the realm of the gods which exists between worlds, Alfemina, who had been peeking in on the meeting between the dark lords, conveyed this to the earth mother goddess Elza.
「……Thank you for your assistance, Alfemina. Still, it would be rather troublesome if the path to my temple is crushed.」
「But the only thing we are permitted to interfere in directly is the cleansing of the feng shui. Thankfully, we have Master Hiroshi and his companions in Forre as of now. Aearis, too, will be making her appearance soon enough, so let us have her convey the information from us to her.」
「Sorry to burden you such.」
「We cannot worry about such things right now. As for the awakening of the priestess, Lefia, Sores and I will lend a hand, but as Zanafel and you as well cannot do any proper work right now, we cannot follow up as strongly as we would like.」
「I truly am sorry.」
Elza was truly sorry to have caused Alfemina such a burden. Elza, whose priestess for various reasons was absent from her temple, was keeping many an equilibrium by doing most of the work that a priestess would normally do. As a result, she had to increase the amount of work for many a procedure, which was stalling her work as one of the three goddesses and as one of the five gods.
「Once the masters Hiroshi and Haruna reach your temple, the priestess issue will be resolved. After that I will have you work quite a bit, so please do prepare yourself.」
「Yes, I understand.」
「Now then, I have no remaining power in this area. You will need to make do with your own power for the time being.」
Alfemina said before returning to her own professional duties. After seeing her off, Elza put her own power into the feng shui and mines that had been damaged by suspicious means, doing her best to resist these unwanted trespassers.
「Oh, to think that the parting gift from previous times is just now beginning to show its effects…Truly, this requires patience……」
The disturbance from seven hundred years ago and the seal on the priestess that she had left as a parting gift. The goddess made a deep sigh at just how greatly this had affected things.
「You appear to be making a detour through Crest Cave, but you have a more fierce path ahead than you think, Master Hiroshi.」
As she cleansed the miasma that was gradually encroaching in, Elza sighed once again (who knew how many times she had sighed) with pained words. The reason Hiroshi and the others had come to this world was because they got wrapped up in the affairs of the gods, which Elza understood. She really did. But still, the current state of affairs was not so benign that she could hold back from letting our her grievances and entrusting her wishes to these unrelated people.
「Now then, let us see how much I can show these people, even as I am shackled, the willpower of the five great gods……」
As she cleansed the miasma from the road leading to her temple via the feng shui, Elza whispered softly with a stern expression. The world of the gods was in more tense of a situation than Hiroshi and his friends were aware of.
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