Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody, Vol. 7

“Yes, that’s right. He’s a very strong, humble, wonderful person.” The mature head priestess blushed a little, like a young maiden.

“And apparently, the priestess is in love with him.”

“Pardon? A woman never loses her penchant for the romantic, you know.” The priestess’s even response only made Sara giggle more. “…And who might you be in love with, Sara?”

“Wh-why, I’m not…”

Sara looked to me frantically, as if pleading for help.

I would have been happy to assist her, but given the timing of the glance, it would just make everyone think she was in love with me.

“Hee-hee. I suppose I shouldn’t tease you too much.”

The smiling priestess turned her gaze from Sara to me.

“Now then, Sir Satou. I’ve been feeling much better lately thanks to the delicious soup you sent along. So I would like to perform the ceremony for you as a show of my gratitude.”

I was happy that she would be performing the baptism, of course, but even happier to know that her health was improving when she had previously seemed so frail.

I would have to convince Mia to help me make the consommé soup at least one more time while we were in the old capital.

After this conversation, I introduced my companions, and we began the baptism ritual.

“I’m terribly sorry, but as I am a future lord, I cannot be baptized at any temple.”

With that explanation, Orion moved away from the area where the ceremony was being conducted.

Thinking back, I remembered that Arisa had told me that people who made contracts with City Cores, like kings and lords, couldn’t be baptized.

But since this didn’t affect people like viceroys and constables, who were put in charge of cities and towns by their lords, people like Karina and me should be able to receive it just fine.

Perhaps Orion had been surprised at the temple entrance because I was planning on getting baptized, too.

“Now please kneel and clear your minds.”

The head priestess looked at all of us and spoke in a gentle voice.

“Now let us begin! … Baptism Senrei.”

When the priestess invoked the spell, beads of blue light fell over us softly from the temple ceiling.

The others’ AR displays changed to show Baptism: Tenion Faith in their hidden titles.

For some reason, though, Arisa and I didn’t gain the title. My level was one thing, but at Arisa’s low level, there was no way she could have resisted the high-level priestess’s spell.

The only common feature Arisa and I shared was that we both had Unique Skills.

When I checked the information of the other Unique Skill holder I had marked, Hayato, I saw that he had a hidden title, but it wasn’t Baptism: Parion Faith. Instead, it was Blessing: Goddess Parion.

I wasn’t sure what caused it, but for whatever reason, that meant Arisa and I couldn’t meet the Treasure of Resurrection requirements. I’d have to make Arisa’s survival my top priority from now on.

Not that I intended to let anyone die at all, of course.

“Priestess, I’m terribly sorry to trouble you with something else, but…”

Now that I was able to meet the head priestess as Satou, I decided to ask her if there was any way to break the Geis on Arisa and Lulu.

“That’s quite a predicament… Geis is a very dangerous gift, you know. It’s said that it was given to man by the god Urion to punish sinners.”

The priestess explained this as if putting together a long-forgotten memory.

There were three ways to remove it: have it canceled or overwritten by someone with the Geis gift, use a treasure passed down in the Urion Temple, or have a high-level priest erase it using Prayer Magic.

The only known user of Geis was the dark sage who controlled various countries in the west.

The royal mage who had placed the Geis on Arisa and Lulu was killed when the Kuvork Kingdom was invaded.

Unfortunately, the head priestess didn’t know where in the world the Urion Temple was that held the secret treasure.

The only priest on this continent who was publicly known to use Prayer Magic was Zarzaris in Parion Province. The head priestess herself had been able to use it long ago, but it required summoning the goddess herself into the user, a process that would take too high a toll on her aged and weakened body.

“I’m sorry. If only I were a bit younger…”

Maybe she would be able to do it if I gathered a bunch of rejuvenating potions in some labyrinths for her?

As I was contemplating that, Sara stood up firmly.

“Don’t worry, Mr. Satou! I shall train until I can use Prayer Magic myself!”

“Thank you, Lady Sara.”

Sara grasped my hand in both of hers and looked at me intently.

What a kind girl.

“Oh my. Nothing can stop a maiden in love, eh?”

“P-Priestess!”

Sara’s cheeks turned bright red as she protested the additional teasing.

The head priestess chuckled. “Why, the first time I used Prayer Magic, it was out of love for the previous hero. I’m sure Goddess Tenion is rooting for you, too.”

I wasn’t sure how serious she was, but Sara nodded, red-faced at her encouragement.

As we were leaving the sanctuary, my “Keen Hearing” skill caught the priestess murmuring to herself.

“The demon lord, the giant monster fish… An uprising is surely coming, just as it did in the time of the ancestral king or the first emperor of the Saga Empire. I hope you’ll save the world, just as you saved the old capital from destruction, Mr. Nanashi…”

Miss Priestess, please don’t raise such dangerous-sounding flags.

The next day, I went downtown with my group to the old capital’s orphanage.

We were helping Sara pay a sympathy call.

“All right, kids, gather round! We’re gonna play shadow tag.”

“Arisa, what’s shadow tag?”

“I don’t get it.”

“Me neither.”

“Tama, too?”

“I’ve never heard of it, either, sir.”

“Quiet down—I’m going to explain it now! Shadow tag is…”

Arisa, Tama, and Pochi played with the young children in the garden, with Liza watching over them.

Nana and Lulu cared for the babies, while Mia helped them by playing a lullaby.

“Mr. Knight, ah these bwicks?”

“That’s right. You stack them up, see?”

“Wow! It’s a house!”

“Wemme twy, too!”

Sara and I were playing with the babies.

Though it was officially a “sympathy call,” the real purpose for her visit was to help heal sick children and locals for free.

Receiving Holy Magic treatment at the temples was too expensive for many of the residents of the downtown area, so the priests and priestesses often went out to them instead.

As Sara and I were chatting about this and tending to the children, a fuss suddenly broke out outside.

What happened? An emergency?

“Hey, Satou. You helping out at the orphanage, too?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Hayato the Hero and his follower Ringrande had arrived, and they were already surrounded by the staff. They were here for a sympathy call, too.

A young female staff member was staring at Hayato with a fiery gaze that practically emanated cartoon hearts.

“Satou! And Sara, too!”

“Sister Rin…!”

“…You’re scaring the children, you two.”

Concerned that a sisterly quarrel was about to begin, I politely reminded the two young women of their surroundings.

For some reason, the frightened children were all clinging to me.

“Satou, the spirit of ‘Yes, Lolita! No touching!’ must always…”

The hero started to lecture me with a disturbingly serious expression. Luckily, most of it was in Japanese, so no one else seemed to understand.

“““Sir Hero, let us join you!”””

A gaggle of nobles’ wives and merchants’ daughters gathered around, somehow already knowing that the hero was here.

They had their attendants with them, too, so the orphanage was getting pretty packed.

In the end, the hero decided that he was doing the orphanage more harm than good and went off with his fans following close behind.

Guess it’s pretty tough to be the hero.