WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Order

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Chapter 102: Dust-Covered Temple and Loner

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Just as the Black Cat had said, it had only been a harmless prank. Starting the next day, people stopped having the dreams.

"What? That dream isn't... happening today?"

"Oh, thank goodness."

"It is. It really is, but..."

Unlike when an ordinary demon was defeated, people couldn't fully rejoice at the disappearance of the mysterious dreams.

People could feel lonely even in a crowd.

A world without loneliness, where people could truly connect with one another, was simply that appealing.

The dreams had ended, but their effects remained.

Couples who had built their lives on loyalty and affection remembered the excitement they had once felt, while young people formed new connections. For those who had hesitated to approach others because it felt burdensome, the recent dreams had provided more than enough of a spark.

Not everyone formed new connections, though.

Like one mercenary, some turned away carrying painful wounds in their hearts.

* * *

Just as shops could relocate, so could temples.

Churches with many believers moved their temples to the southern side of the hill, where there was plenty of sunlight and land was expensive.

Even churches without many believers wanted to move to the eastern or western side of the hill.

As time passed, only temples abandoned by their believers remained in the shadows on the northern side of the hill.

And that was where Elbridge was headed.

After thoroughly searching the northern side of the hill, Elbridge found a familiar temple.

The small temple where he had found the Black Cat in two separate dreams.

Just as he expected, the temple from the dream existed in reality as well.

Its condition was different, though.

The temple roof in the dream had been old but tidy. This one was filthy from the roof down.

If the roof was in that state, the interior couldn't have been any better. The temple's interior was in even worse condition than the Order of the Rusted Shield's old temple.

But that difference was proof that this was the Black Cat's temple.

'This is definitely the place.'

Elbridge had come here to confirm the Black Cat's divine name.

He was about to inspect the temple's interior when he stopped.

The dust-covered temple brought back unpleasant memories.

Elbridge went outside, gathered a few simple cleaning supplies, and returned.

There was nothing urgent to attend to, so he began cleaning the unknown god's temple at a leisurely pace.

Not long after, an oracle came from the Goddess of the Rusted Shield.

- Elbridge. It feels strange watching you clean another god's temple.

"If it makes you uncomfortable, I'll stop."

People avoided caring for abandoned temples because they feared angering the god they served.

But the Goddess of the Rusted Shield was not so petty.

- That's not what I mean. It only reminded me of your Goddess's temple, which until recently had been thick with dust.

"It was a sad sight."

- Yes. A dust-covered temple is a symbol of a forgotten god. Seeing one is enough to make even a god feel ashamed.

"It was a more serious problem than I thought."

- Minor gods don't gradually lose interest in the world below simply because they have few believers, or none at all. They do so because seeing a dust-covered temple is painful.

As she watched Elbridge sweep, the Goddess of the Rusted Shield continued.

- Your Goddess, too, has wanted to descend to the world below and clean her own temple with her own hands more than once. Caring for a forgotten god's temple is a great good deed, so there will someday be a reward, great or small.

"If I clean deserted temples, will their owners be grateful to you as well, Goddess?"

- They certainly will.

Elbridge decided that whenever he had time, he would clean the temples of forgotten gods. Wouldn't it be a good thing if a small kindness in the world below benefited the Goddess in heaven?

He hoped the Goddess of the Rusted Shield would not live alone in heaven like the Master of the Central Magic Tower or the Black Cat.

"Goddess. Do you know who owns this temple?"

- The temple's owner is one of the ancient divinities. They also left teachings behind for countless gods.

"What kind of teachings?"

- When ascending to heaven, one should not choose an ambiguous divine name and mediocre divine power. They personally demonstrated that life in heaven may not go smoothly otherwise.

"..."

Elbridge cleaned the temple thoroughly, and it was finally time to wipe down the statue.

The statue's shape was unusual.

Ordinary statues had a tall pedestal beneath them, with the statue standing on top. This statue wasn't standing on its pedestal but sitting on its edge. Elbridge carefully wiped it with a wet cloth, but it was so old that its facial features were difficult to make out. At most, he could vaguely tell it was male.

The divine name beneath the pedestal, however, was easy to read.

[God of Naps and Breezes]

It was a divine name he had never heard before, one that sounded as though it would grant useless divine power.

He could understand why there were no believers.

Grrngh.

The cleaning had begun early in the morning and ended only after the sun had dipped low.

Elbridge sat down and leaned against a temple pillar.

He was tired from cleaning so thoroughly, and the weather was warm. Naturally, sleepiness washed over him.

As he nodded off, the Black Cat appeared and spoke to him.

- Hey. Do you know why I was always on the temple roof?

The Elbridge in the dream answered.

"I don't."

- Because it had been so long since dust began gathering that I could no longer remember a temple without dust.

The Black Cat placed a small front paw on Elbridge's knee.

- Thank you.

It was a strange feeling. It was rare enough for a human to meet a god, yet here he was, receiving thanks from a god he didn't even serve. The Black Cat was not a complete god, but that didn't make this any less special.

Elbridge answered awkwardly.

"It was nothing."

- It may have been a small kindness to you.

The Black Cat silently watched Elbridge.

- That's why you can't imagine how I feel. I've looked at nothing but dust-covered temples for over a thousand years. I can't even remember what the inside of my temple looked like.

The cat gently swayed its tail and left him with one final statement.

- I will repay this debt.

* * *

Elbridge didn't return to the temple until after sunset.

Matilda was nowhere to be seen, likely having left work already.

He cautiously approached the donation box and gave the locked box a light shake.

Clink.

It had a satisfying heft.

As Elbridge was about to get ready for bed, he heard a loud voice from the prayer room.

"A person's charm lies in their heart, not their appearance!"

It was Marcus's voice.

Why was Marcus, who wasn't even a believer of the Order of the Rusted Shield, in the prayer room? Elbridge approached it.

An irreverent drinking party was underway inside. Rombel, Marcus, and Sonia were there.

"...What are you doing in the prayer room?"

Elbridge spoke coldly, but Rombel answered confidently.

"The Goddess of the Rusted Shield would find this interesting too, so we moved here on purpose. Surely she can hear stories better in the prayer room?"

A truly irreverent remark, fitting for a nonbeliever.

"What are you talking about?"

"Marcus getting dumped."

It was irreverent, but Rombel was certainly right that the Goddess of the Rusted Shield would find it interesting.

Elbridge quietly moved closer and sat down. A drunken Marcus grumbled.

"Who says I got dumped? I was the one who decided to let Ada go."

So the woman Marcus had danced with was named Ada. Marcus continued rambling.

"I won't deny that Ada had features that matched my tastes. But I hadn't spoken much with Ada, nor had I spent much time with her. To rush into a relationship in a flash just because I was pushed into it? That's ridiculous. In the end, I decided to let Ada go."

Despite his words, regret and lingering attachment dripped from Marcus's voice.

Elbridge shook his head.

"That's not very convincing."

"Right? Even you think it makes no sense, Elbridge?"

Rombel cried out eagerly. Marcus immediately shouted back.

"I can swear it before the God of Fox Rain. I brought it up first and told her to find someone better than me!"

"I've heard that quick-witted people sometimes break up with someone first to protect their pride when they know they're about to be dumped."

"Me? Don't speak as if you saw it when you didn't see the look in Ada's eyes. She was completely taken with me!"

Sonia cut in.

"Who said they wanted to break up first doesn't matter much. The one who drinks more after the breakup is the one who got dumped."

"..."

Marcus had nothing to say.

That must have been the final blow, because the drunken Marcus began shedding large tears.

No one comforted him, though. They knew this wasn't the first time Marcus had approached someone like that, and there was an unspoken rule among men that there was no need to wipe the tears of a man over ten years old.

While Marcus sobbed, Elbridge asked Sonia, "Sonia. There's something I'm curious about."

"What is it?"

"What kind of person is the Master of the Central Magic Tower?"

Sonia shrugged.

"I don't know much. I wasn't close to the Master. You've probably had more conversations with the Master than I have."

"That's fine. Tell me what you know."

"Hmm."

Sonia thought for a moment before answering.

"The Master is an incredible mage. They became a god in heaven, then came back down to the world below. They're also the one who made Middlemarch into a city of mages."

"Do you know why the Master of the Central Magic Tower returned to the world below?"

"I heard they Ascended by accident without any preparation, so there wasn't even one believer who followed them. Having no believers was bad enough, but the other gods in heaven quietly excluded them as well..."

There was probably some truth to Sonia's story.

The Goddess of the Rusted Shield had said she didn't know much about the Master of the Central Magic Tower either.

Still, Elbridge couldn't get the God of Naps and Breezes's words out of his mind.

People without friends didn't bring up the fact that they had no friends first.

Viewed that way, the Master of the Central Magic Tower's actions were the exact opposite of what the God of Naps and Breezes had said. Hadn't the Master told Elbridge's group first that they hadn't interacted with anyone in heaven?

Since even Sonia knew that story, all the mages of the Central Magic Tower likely knew it.

No, perhaps everyone in Middlemarch knew.

Elbridge spoke.

"What do you think of the idea that people without friends don't bring up the fact that they have no friends first?"

He deliberately didn't mention the Black Cat or the God of Naps and Breezes. There was nothing to gain by speaking the name of someone who had hidden in dreams to avoid the Chief God's gaze.

Sonia and Rombel were perceptive enough to understand that much.

"I don't know for sure, but... it does sound believable."

Unlike Sonia's vague answer, Rombel agreed quite readily.

"That's true. I know because I spent quite a long time as a loner."

Rombel filled a mug to the brim with beer.

"After the war ended, the people I fought beside scattered in every direction. My wife died, I was driven from my hometown, and I suddenly became alone. Things improved somewhat after I entered the Magic Tower, but looking back, I think I was quite lonely before that."

It wasn't something Rombel would have said without alcohol in his system.

He leaned back, taking Elbridge, Marcus, and Sonia into view.

"If someone had asked whether I had friends back then, I think I would've said yes. All I had were people who'd scattered too far away to meet, or dwarves I couldn't even be sure still considered me a friend... But I would've said it."

Sonia asked, "Isn't that just you, Rombel?"

"No. I can say it with certainty. Everyone would act like I did."

Men hated exposing their weaknesses.

Whether they had someone they could trust, someone who could help them, wasn't simply an emotional matter.

It was something more instinctive, something that touched on survival.

"I'd lie even if someone asked first, so would I ever bring it up myself? There's no way. I didn't think much of it at the time... but now that I think about it, it's strange."

Rombel drained his beer in one gulp.

"That bastard, the Master of the Central Magic Tower, is hiding something."

Footnotes:

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