Chapter 36 - The Goddess Religion
I entered the church, and like usual, the was only the old man priest inside.
I have never seen anyone other than this old man whenever I came here. I wonder if there are no Goddess Religion believers in this village. I heard it was the biggest religion in the human world.
"Even though the other villagers rarely came to the church, Fell is really eager. You’re already a goddess follower at this point." (Priest)
"Don't go converting me without permission! I'm here just to look for job. Just to be clear, I don't want to work as a nun." (Fell)
I really shouldn't let my guard down here. If I do, I will be converted to the Goddess Religion before I know it. For some reason, I feel like I'm dealing with Dia right now.
"Unfortunately, there are no works here. In the first place, I don't have money to pay you. Please make a donation instead. You should have received a big reward from the bandit subjugation" (Priest)
Coming here is a waste of time after all. To make it worse, he even tried to extort me.
"Not a chance! To begin with, why would I donate to the religion that's trying to wipe out the demon race? There are no benefits in doing so." (fell)
“Hmm, the goddess will grant you her mercy….” (Priest)
“I don’t need the goddess to forgive me or anything.” (Fell)
"You're right. The goddess' mercy means nothing, especially for demons." (Priest)
He said it somewhat happily, but will it be all right? Unlike me, he is a believer of Goddess Religion, and a priest at that. I think he shouldn’t make such statements so lightly.
"Okay, let's stop the jokes here." (Priest)
Joke? I should have never come here after all!
"Speaking of nun, I've received a news that the headquarter would dispatch one to this village." (Priest)
"This village is located in the depths of the forest. Will she really come?" (Fell)
I'm not worried, but as a sociable woman, I need to maintain a certain amount of courtesy during conversation.
"Well, who knows? I heard she volunteered herself to be dispatched here. From the information I gathered, she was quite a troublemaker. Maybe she thought she could spread her wings more freely in this village." (Priest)
Is that so? Not that concerns me…. On the second thought, I think it does concern me. If she finds out that there are demons living in this village, how will she react?
"I don't know if someone like you is common among the believers of Goddess Religion, but what does she think about the demon race? Is she the type who hits demon straw dolls with hammer and nail every night?" (Fell)
"Hmm? I have no information regarding that. However, since we are talking about someone who is considered a troublemaker, I'm sure she is not a pious believer at the very least. There will be no problems whatsoever." (Priest)
How come? She won’t be called a troublemaker if she doesn't cause troubles. I wonder if there many troublemakers in the Goddess Religion. This old man also seems to be quite rebellious, so I won’t be too surprised.
While I was mulling over it, the old man continued to talk as if just remembered the topic.
"Oh, I might need someone to escort her to this village, will you accept the request?" (Priest)
"I will accept it as long as I get paid. However, I'm a demon race. If she hostile to me because of that, I won't be able to do my job properly." (Fell)
"Since it's Fell, such matters won't be a problem." (Priest)
Why!? I feel like I'm the only one in this village who cares about my race. Maybe I’m too self-conscious. Should I take therapy or something? Let's think about it later. I'm more interested in where did he get that information. Can he use telepathy?
"By the way, where did you get that information? Did you hear it from the soldiers who came to pick up the bandits?" (Fell)
"No. That goddess statue also functions as a magic tool for communication. Then again, it can only be used at a certain place and in a specific time," (Priest)
The strange statue in the church seems to be the statue of goddess. I mean, yeah, who else could it be? Let's take a better look. I see….
Limiting the place and time will reduce the magic power consumption during the activation process. That's a good idea. But setting that aside, why does the statue also has brainwashing effect?
"Do you know if that statue also works as a brainwashing magic tool?" (Fell)
"You could tell? Don't worry. It's safe since I'm suppressing the effect." (Priest)
Indeed. The brainwashing magic's area of effect has been greatly limited. You won't be affected as long as you're not in direct contact with the statue.
No, no, no, that's not safe at all. To begin with, why does the statue has brainwashing effect?
The old man sighed after staring at the goddess statue.
Hey, don't sigh in front on my face!
"This is the main reason I don't like the current Goddess Religion. They're even going as far as using brainwashing magic to increase the number of believers. Because the inquisitors will come if I destroy the statue or remove the brainwashing magic, I leave it as it." (Priest)
The goddess religion is really good for nothing after all. The Demon King Cult is many times more decent.
"Many believers are really worshiping the goddess from the heart, and try to be of use to the others. In addition, the existence of the Goddess Religion itself is still needed by the people as a spiritual support. I've attempted various things to clean the Goddess Religion from the inside, but the results were not satisfactory." (Priest)
I don't know much about the Goddess Religion, but I understand that it’s a complicated problem. Not long ago, I heard that most of the people living in this village were outcasts. Perhaps this old man is also one of them.
"You have it tough." (Fell)
"I'm still thinking of having you, a demon who has a lot of magic power, to work as a nun here and suppress the brainwashing magic in my place. If you do that, I will have more time to do the other things." (Priest)
"I refuse. That sounds like a lot of trouble. Instead of doing that, I would rather destroy the Goddess Religion for good." (Fell)
The old man smiled for a moment and then started laughing.
"Hahahaha… I see, that might be not a bad idea." (Priest)
Your chin will come off if you laugh too much, old man.
"I feel bad for the sincere goddess believers. However, instead cleaning, perhaps it will be faster to crush the Goddess Religion and then rebuild it again from scratch. If only I had the money, I will hire you for the job." (Priest)
"Then, live long and save enough money to hire me. I will do it for 100 big gold coins. However, since I'm indebted to the people of this village, I will lower it to 90 big gold coins." (Fell)
I don't know whether it's cheap or expensive, but... whatever....
In any case, he doesn't have a job for me at the moment. There's a possibility he will hire me as an escort later, I will wait without expecting it.
Once again, I realize that Goddess Religion is really good for nothing. Because it’s a religion that uses brainwashing magic to gather the followers, crushing it should not violate the agreement with that jerk. However, since there are also good people in the Goddess Religion, it's not that easy to put it into practice.
I have no more business here. Let’s go to the field next!