Novel Full Chapter 1113: Katsuki’s Response To My Meeting
Chapter 1113: Katsuki’s Response To My Meeting
I picked up Ather in my arms and left the temple, walking to the courtyard outside to see how the rest were doing.
The kids seemed to have finished the food that Katsuki had made for them and were now playing some kind of game with Millie while my slaves were busy cleaning up.
Katsuki spotted me instantly and appeared in front of me, looking at the girl in my arms with a slight narrow of her eyes.
“What happened, Mistress?”
“Oh… Er… I met with some gods inside the temple and I guess their aura was too much for her to handle and she fainted.”
Katsuki tilted her head, “Ah… Hiandoca, was it?”
“Err… She was there but that wasn’t the one that made her faint. But now that you mention it… I’m surprised that she wasn’t affected by Hiandoca’s presence…”
Because if I remember correctly… The last time Hiandoca appeared in front of me with someone else around was when I got stuck in that room with Lisa… And the moment the goddess appeared, Lisa was on the ground cumming uncontrollably just by being in her presence.
Oh, maybe that was why? The goddess already knew something like that might happen so she limited her divinity to prevent that from happening when she appeared before me? But since I’ve never met Srii before, she never bothered to do that?
That would make sense I guess.
Katsuki tilted her head slightly, “In that case, may I know which god did Mistress meet?”
She didn’t even question the fact that I met another goddess I see… I guess if I told anyone else aside from my girls, they would look at me like I was crazy, while my girls would just treat this like a matter of course.
“It’s goddess Srii.”
At this point, I was expecting Katsuki to just nod at my answer and just move on but to my great surprise, her eyes actually widened and she stared at me in complete shock.
“You… Met Goddess Srii, Mistress?”
“Eh? Err… Yes? I believe I did? Hiandoca introduced her as Srii so–”
Katsuki quickly leaned forward and covered my mouth, “Mistress! Mistress!! It’s ’Goddess Srii’! Please don’t call her so casually!”
Oh wow, Katsuki’s really panicking here, that’s rare.
She looked around in a panic before turning back to me, “There’s a reason why she’s known as the God that is unworshipped, Mistress… Death is her domain and if you slight her, you will find yourself in Death’s embrace. She’s known as a ruthless God who would kill anyone indiscriminately, no matter if you were a lowly slave, a noble, a king or even a saint.”
I slowly moved my hand up to peel Katsuki’s hands away from my mouth, feeling more intrigued by this since the goddess I met was anything but ruthless.
“Out of curiosity… What does it mean that she is unworshipped? And what is she supposed to be like?” I asked.
“No one worships Goddess Srii, Mistress. She has temples, yes. Everyone respects her as a God, yes. But no one prays to her out of worship. When people pray to her, it is only to beg for forgiveness or to make a plea to return someone back to life.”
“Wait… She does have priests and priestesses, right? Don’t they worship her?”
Katsuki grimaced, “They… Are a really odd group of people, Mistress. I would liken them more as a cult than an actual religion. I suppose I should clarify that most people do not worship her, but there’s still the odd few that do.”
“And I guess they become her priests and priestesses?”
She nodded, “If I remember correctly, she was one of the Goddesses that never asked to have temples made for her. She did create the Towers that serve as the trials of the Gods and because of that, some people created temples for her anyway as a sign of respect for her and then they named themselves her worshippers… But they are few and far between.”
“Do people not pray to her at all?”
Katsuki paused for a moment, “I suppose most people still pray to her to give them a good afterlife when they are on their deathbed or when they are about to die… But that’s about it. Even her own temples do not have any complicated ceremonies or methods of worship since Goddess Srii herself does not demand such things from those that actually worship her.”
“Do they get any benefits from being her worshippers?”
“They do, Mistress. Which was why the priest of this temple was caught. For people who seek to bring someone back from the dead, they would need to make an offering to Goddess Srii and the best place to do that is at her temple. Thus, to maintain the temple, funds and donations are accepted which her clergy are free to use. But since Goddess Srii do not care much about being worshipped, there are some unscrupulous people who end up taking up the role of her clergy just to pocket the money that should have went to the temple instead. Although to be honest, this problem exists in all the other Gods’ temples as well, not just Goddess Srii’s.”
“Right… And what is she supposed to be like?”
“Ruthless, Mistress. There have been cases of people just calling her name disrespectfully and the very next moment, they would just fall over onto the ground, dead. There have been rare occasions where she would manifest herself in the World but that always leads to deaths all around her.”
Hmmm… After knowing what she’s like, I think I can imagine that she just appeared because someone called out to her and she thought she could talk to them. But her aura would make people feel like they were dying and the ones who are weak willed would just literally die while those who have stronger wills might only just pass out instead.
Doesn’t that mean that Srii was just misunderstood all this time?
I scratched my cheek, “What do you think that Srii–”
“Mistress!!” Katsuki panicked again, covering my mouth once more.
Ok, I’ll be honest, I did that just to see her reaction because I thought that was cute.
I giggled and patted my Inugami maid on the head before pulling her hand away from my mouth again.
“Don’t worry Katsuki. She allowed me to call her by her name.”
Katsuki blinked once, twice, three times before finally reacting, “She… Did?”
I nodded.
She then took a step away from me, straightened out her dress to compose herself before standing upright again.
“As expected of Mistress.”
Figured she would say that.
I was still thinking if I should tell her about the fact that she wanted me to marry her but I think it would be best that I keep that fact to myself for now.
Instead, I decided to address another issue…
“Oh right, Srii said that she already sent an oracle out so there should be a new priest or priestess coming over to take care of the church.”
“That is reassuring, Mistress. However, I have also found out why this place was allowed to fall into such a state without anyone noticing.”
“Oh? Why is that?”
“There’s an illegal slave trader group that operates around this area masquerading themselves as a legitimate business while making use of proxies to do their illicit trades. Because of that, they have made sure that no news travels outside of this area and the priest had been complicit with them as well. Thus, they are aware of the state of this temple and everyone else around here has been paid off by them to keep quiet about it.”
I frowned, “So they are trying to keep the fact that this temple has no caretaker in case the new caretaker cannot be bribed and ruin their plans?”
“It seems like it, Mistress.”
“Then what about the kids here? How are they even surviving on their own without any help?”
Katsuki paused and I thought she was thinking of an answer until I noticed she seemed to be looking in a specific direction behind me.
I got curious so I turned around to see what she was looking at but there was nothing there.
When I turned back around, I found her holding a scroll which she was reading from and… Eh? Was it just my imagination or did I just see a shadow move out of the corner of my eye?
Before I could check though, Katsuki furled the scroll to answer me, “It seems like the slave traders are the ones feeding them, Mistress. But they do it not out of the kindness of their hearts but because they are making that boy do jobs for them. As for why they even keep them around… They are seeing these children as potential future recruits.”
I stared at Katsuki for a few moments before my brows furrowed, “Katsuki…”
“I will find out their base of operations, Mistress. Would you like to exterminate them yourself?”
That goes without saying~
Let’s do that~