“Looks like I’ll have to do some research on this myself,” Haruno said, which made Sandra look up.
“Sera, have you already informed the temple leader about this?”
“...No, I have not.”
Sandra was the diligent type, so her mood was best cleared up by taking some sort of action. She deliberately joined the conversation. Rin and Lumis leaned forward, all ears.
“Would it be bad if we told them?” Lumis inquired.
“We don’t know what sort of situation Lady Haruno would be put in if we did, not to mention we might cause trouble for Sir Touya as well.”
“Oh, so that’s why we shouldn’t yet.” Rin came to an understanding after hearing Sera’s reply.
“Yes. So I thought it would be best to hear what Lady Haruno wanted to do herself first, as well as discuss the matter with Sir Touya,” Sera continued, and Haruno nodded in agreement. She was curious about where the demi-humans who had once lived in Athenapolis had gone, and they wouldn’t be able to do anything until they found that out. Even if they were to tell the pilgrims about it, that would have to be after finding out such information.
And thus Haruno’s party decided to start by investigating the demi-humans who had once lived in Athenapolis. Of course, she couldn’t forget to send Touya a reply. She had a mountain of things she wanted to tell him.
A message from Touya came the next day. He could send replies more often now that he was staying in a city. Haruno had mentioned her group’s plans in her message, to which Touya offered a few suggestions.
He had asked the Goddess of Darkness about it, and she said the demi-humans who lived in Athenapolis at the time had wings. The nation once housed the head temple of the Goddess of Wind.
“Oh yeah, Athenapolis does have a wind temple somewhere.”
“Yes, though it’s a small one. We might gain something by investigating their library.”
That day, Haruno, Sera, Lumis, Rin, and Sandra paid a visit to the temple of the Goddess of Wind, but their investigation ended in failure. Athenapolis’ temple for the Goddess of Wind was honestly tiny, so its library was tiny in turn. The Goddess of Wind sect was currently a very minor one with hardly any followers. The quality and amount of documents were easy to guess.
“Maybe...” However, Haruno had come to a conclusion after the failed research attempt... This temple was a “fake” one.
Haruno thought as such: The winged demi-humans who once lived here were followers of the Goddess of Wind. After they were driven away from Athenapolis and the temple of light gained authority, the Goddess of Wind grew outdated as a religion, resulting in what they saw of the temple today.
The others no objections to her theory. Though that brought them no closer to the original goal, finding where the winged demi-humans had gone.
“So the light temple really...” Sera murmured on their way back from the investigation, her eyes downcast. She wasn’t looking blue, but downright pale. The shock must have been too big for her, as a cleric who served under the Goddess of Light.
“Sera...”
“I’m sorry, Lady Haruno. We were the ones who summoned you all, and yet...” Sera put her hand over her mouth as tears streamed down her face, unable to continue the rest of her words.
Haruno could guess what she wanted to say next, though. Originally, the sacred family and the temple of the Goddess of Light had summoned the heroes to prevent the demon lord from reviving, or perhaps to battle the revived demon lord. She hadn’t agreed to it, but she knew that the world was in danger. But then Touya uncovered some hidden truths, and now the situation had completely changed.
The demon lord and demon race weren’t just monsters that they needed to fight instead having a proper conversation with. They were just demi-humans like Rulitora.
They didn’t know what in particular was different about the species. However, now that Haruno knew what was going on, she realized that the battle between the first sacred king and the demon lord was just a power struggle. Hadesopolis, the kingdom of demons, attacked Jupiter, and Jupiter fought back. The Goddess of Darkness got sealed on accident along the way, and Hadesopolis and the area surrounding it fell to ruin.
Jupiter hid the cause behind everything and took over one of the nations of demi-humans, Athena. The wind temple still existed but was small. This was either because the temple still had few followers, or because it was just a front to keep up an image.
“Sigh...” Haruno paused her train of thought at that point and sighed. Lumis started getting flustered after noticing her.
“L-Lady Haruno, what’s wrong?!”
“No, it’s just... I’m kind of disgusted with myself for thinking that far...” Haruno was concerned with whether or not Touya would dislike her for thinking the way she just did.
“U-um, Lady Haruno?”
“Y-yes, what is it?” Haruno was wallowing in anxiety, but quickly brought her head back up. Sera leaned her face close to Haruno’s, looking at her with a serious expression.
“Please believe just this one thing. The Goddess of Light rules over justice and morality. She would never teach us to attack demi-humans!”
“Uh, um...” Haruno didn’t know how to respond for a moment, but she soon understood what Sera was trying to say. Driving the winged demi-humans out of Athenapolis and taking over the country would never be among the teachings of the Goddess of Light.
“...Will you believe me?”
“Of course I will, Sera.” Haruno clasped Sera’s trembling hands inside her own.
“Lady Haruno...” And then large teardrops started streaming down Sera’s cheeks. She was wailing.
Haruno looked around in a fluster, only to see that Lumis and the rest had started crying, too.
“Wait, please don’t cry, Sera! You too, Lumis!”
“But... I thought you’d hate me... after everything we learned...”
“I thought we wouldn’t be able to travel with you anymore...!”
“I was thinking about switching over to the Goddess of Darkness.”
“Hey, Rin!”
“No no no, I meant that given the choice between the light temple and Lady Haruno, I’d choose Lady Haruno. What about you, Sandra?”
“W-well, I’d...” Sandra was at a loss for words.
Haruno could think of nothing to say, either. She had thought this incident was nothing to worry over, but she hadn’t imagined that the other girls had given it that much thought. She was especially surprised at Rin, who never seemed like a devout follower, suddenly exclaiming that she’d abandon the Goddess of Light for her. This must have been a gap between Haruno, who was born in modern Japan, and the other girls, who were born in this world. The difference in how severely they thought of the situation was apparent.
“Of course I’ll keep traveling with you all! I can tell from a glance that none of you are the type of people that would discriminate against demi-humans!” Haruno raised her voice and countered everything the others had suggested. Those were her true thoughts. It was easy to tell how they would treat demi-humans just by looking at them. She did have some issues with being summoned to this world, but the responsibility was on the sacred family and the light temple, not at all on any of the girls individually.
In any case, Athenapolis had been taken over long ago. Even if they were still planning something in the shadows to this day, hardly anyone was aware of it.
Sera and Sandra looked like they had no reservations against demi-humans. Rin was the type who might think some of them looked scary, but wouldn’t form any opinions just on the basis of them being demi-human. Lumis looked like she wanted to make friends with them. Those were the impressions Haruno had gathered.
However, they had all been deeply anxious ever since being informed on the matter. Sera had especially been hurting inside. Haruno wrapped her arms around Sera’s shoulders and hugged her tight, placating her. She looked like a young child crying into Haruno’s chest, not at all like an older woman.
/>
Haruno reported to Touya about their recent attempt at investigating the wind temple, and the next morning, he sent a reply back. Besides some more personal content, he suggested that they get information from demi-humans currently in the city.
To find out about demi-humans, you had to ask them. His suggestion was entirely correct, but unfortunately, Athena had no demi-human communities like Hephaestus did.
There were few demi-humans in this country, since the influence of the Goddess of Light was so strong. You would spot a demi-human raver once in a while at most. The best place to search would be the raver market.
“...Let’s go there and see. They would be much more knowledgeable about demi-humans than we are.”
There was little chance they’d come across a winged demi-human there, but there would be plenty of others. They also had a higher chance of knowing about other demi-humans than normal humans did.
And so Haruno’s party went to Athenapolis’ raver market to investigate, entirely unaware that this would be the start of an event that shook Athena to the core.
The group of five girls crossed the city gates of Athenapolis. Before them lay a sprawling, western-style cityscape similar to the scenery of Jupiteropolis. Now that Haruno knew that the city had been taken over by humans, she wondered if the only reason the landscape looked similar was because the people of Jupiteropolis had taken it over.
Athenapolis was once inhabited by winged demi-humans. How had the city looked back then? Haruno had no way of finding that out.
Residents of the city amicably greeted the group of girls as they walked by. Just another side effect of fighting off monsters as a “hero of the goddess.”
They asked an elderly woman the way to the raver market, and she gave them directions with no questions asked. Haruno had been worried that people might give her looks of disapproval if they thought she was going to buy a raver, but reality let her down in a sense. She once again realized that employing ravers was a privilege for the middle class and up. The party waved goodbye to the elderly woman, then headed to the raver market.
Haruno thought to herself as she looked at the people in the streets. Almost everyone in this city was a follower of the Goddess of Light. Perhaps the temple of light had taken over this nation, but that happened hundreds of years ago. It had nothing to do with the people living here now. Haruno had plenty of thoughts on the situation, but she didn’t want to look at the residents from a biased point of view. She was becoming self-conscious of the smiles she returned to the townspeople, wondering if she looked too awkward. Her feet began taking brisk and nervous steps toward the raver market.
No good, I’ve got to think of something more positive. And so she tried to think of Touya, but couldn’t for long since a silly grin broke out on her face.
Next, she tried thinking of Sera and the others. They seemed a little more cheerful this morning. They had been in shock since learning about what the temple of light had done, but they appeared to have broken out of their gloominess since.
The Goddess of Light ruled over justice and morality, and would never seek to attack demi-humans. It was one thing to question past acts committed by the temple, but another to keep believing in the Goddess of Light. Maybe the girls had realized that in the meantime. Haruno thought that was a fine way to look at it. She would never have been able to meet Sera and the pilgrims in the first place had it not been for the Goddess of Light’s blessing. She never thought to doubt the Goddess of Light herself. In that case, it made more sense in Haruno’s mind for the battle to be called a “battle between nations” rather than a “battle between the hero and demon lord.”
“I guess things don’t change no matter where you go,” she muttered to herself with a self-deprecating smile.
They finally arrived at the raver market, which was located in a fancy, concert hall-like building, quite different from the dome-shaped building in Jupiteropolis. They went inside to find a large stage. The auctions were most likely held there.
As soon as Haruno proclaimed herself as a hero of the goddess, the elderly gentleman who managed the market personally showed the party around. That was just how much her reputation had grown.
The gentleman was tall, slender, and wore expensive-looking clothing. Haruno handled the talking, since the other girls weren’t accustomed to being in a place like this. The smile on the manager’s face looked fake as they conversed, but Haruno didn’t let it get to her and returned his smile.
They were first led to a door past the stage in the entrance hall. There were large rooms to the right and left.
“Ahem, the right side houses the battle ravers, while the left side houses the labor ravers.”
“We’ve only heard about the raver market in Jupiteropolis, but is this one any different?”
“No, not particularly so. Hmm, if there was one thing—the demand for battle ravers may be higher here, since many people want bodyguards.”
“What kind of people want bodyguards?”
“Mainly members of the senate. This raver market itself is managed by the senate, after all.”
“I see...”
The senate was the equivalent of the royal family in Jupiter. They were governing this country without a king. Since there was no king with absolute authority here, the party members might have needed stronger self-defense. If any of them were competing for influence amongst one another, then the need grew all the more.
“Do you have any demi-human ravers?”
“Demi-human?”
The moment Haruno asked the question she had been meaning to ask, the smile disappeared from the manager’s face. If you looked closely, his eyes were twitching. It seemed like he had a few things to say about demi-humans.
“I apologize, but the demi-human ravers are...”
“Will you let us meet them?”
“...I cannot allow a regular customer to meet with them, even if you are a hero.” His attitude did a sudden one-eighty. The type of ravers he might not have wanted the party to meet would be criminal ravers. Common citizens normally did not have the qualifications to hire them.
However, not all demi-human ravers were criminals. Rulitora had remained unsold since he was a demi-human, but were they that disliked? The other girls bunched up behind Haruno, looking like they had something to say.
“...Well, we have no choice. Is there an auction right now?”
“Auctions are usually held in the evening. We will be conducting one this evening, as well.”
“I don’t think we can wait until then...”
“That’s too bad, I conduct those auctions myself!” The manager looked obviously relieved as soon as Haruno changed the topic, his smile returning to his face. He kept rambling on as if he wanted to forget the previous topic or pretend it was never brought up in the first place.
He’d let the cat out of the bag. This manager most likely viewed demi-human ravers and criminal ravers as one and the same. The fact that he wouldn’t let ordinary customers meet demi-humans was proof of that.
Perhaps there was a larger ratio of criminal ravers in Athena, but Haruno knew not to lump all demi-humans in the same category. Especially after having met Rulitora, who had chosen to sell himself to save his homeland. Of course, she wasn’t planning on fighting another person on their principles. But she wouldn’t simply go along with them, either. Rulitora was Touya’s precious party member and Haruno’s precious friend.
“I understand. We’ll get the rest of our information from the reception desk, then.”
“Oh, let me guide you...”
“Oh no, you don’t have to go through the trouble. It’s right there.” Haruno declined the invitation with a grin, then speed-walked to the reception desk in front of the battle raver room. The manager stood agape, unable to do anything but see them off. He reached his arm out as if he wanted to say something.
If Touya was here, he would have expressed his thoughts loud and clear, for better or worse, Haruno thought.
When they entered the reception area for battle ravers, they were greeted with a long counter. Several workers sat at tables behind it, fighting off stacks of paperwork. Haruno was reminded of the time she went to a police station along with her older sister, who’d almost been victim to a molester. Her sister had gone a little too far in personally taking care of that molester.
Memories aside, a lady behind the counter noticed Haruno’s group and called out to them with a smile. “Welcome. What kind of raver are you looking for today?”
“A demi-human raver,” Haruno replied with a smile, but then the receptionist froze up. The workers inside also started stealing glances at Haruno’s party and whispering among themselves. Apparently the manager wasn’t the only one who treated demi-human ravers like criminals. That, or they were simply following the manager’s policies.
“U-um, Lady Haruno...” Sera timidly tugged at Haruno’s sleeve.
“It’s alright,” Haruno returned a smile.
“I’m afraid regular customers are not allowed to meet demi-human ravers...”
“My... I mean, another hero I am acquainted with employed a sand lizardman battle raver in Jupiter. He did not have a criminal background, of course.” She had wanted to use another word, but had to settle with “acquainted” since the alternative wouldn’t have been appropriate there. She apologized to Touya with all her heart.
“Um, well...”
“It’s only the criminal ravers that regular customers can’t employ, right? I’m just asking to see the normal demi-human ravers.”
“...Understood.”
She had wanted to confirm something with her request. She wanted to know if demi-humans were treated as criminals across the whole market, or if it was only the manager deeming it so. Not to mention how much of his bias against demi-humans had influenced other people. Judging by the conversation just now, it looked like it was only the manager. The market staff tried to follow his policies, but they weren’t terribly strict or stubborn about it.
The Chaotic Stone Sauna Page 7
