Chapter 33: The Forgotten Temple (2)

Checks related to [Faith] in this world were in the domain of the ‘Mentality’ stat.

That's why the main stat for Paladins or Clerics, who are said to fight by borrowing the power of gods, is Mentality.

The stronger the faith, the less the mind wavers… something like that, I guess.

“Prayer? What… are you serious?”

“Completely serious.”

Therefore, the magic of ordinary mages based on ‘Intelligence’ and the divine magic based on ‘Mentality’ had different foundations.

If the former used mana accumulated in oneself or ambient mana, like what's floating in the air, the latter, as I said before, literally borrowed the power of a god.

It means they use a god's magic by borrowing mana from the god through prayer or whatnot.

That's precisely why they could interfere with life and death, which could be said to be the domain of gods.

Typical examples are 「Healing」 wounds, sometimes 「Resuscitating」 a person on the brink of death, or even 「Resurrecting」 a dead person.

That's why people usually think of these healing-type spells first when they think of divine magic.

Of course, that didn't mean all divine magic were healing spells.

It's just that the way of drawing mana was different; the spells they used were generally not that different.

“Rine said it earlier. That the flow of mana was ‘different’.”

For example, “If it's a magical device that operates on divine magic, it makes perfect sense, doesn't it?”

Like a magic that makes a huge statue move on its own.

“In the first place, it's a record left by the priests who worked at the temple. It's highly likely they used divine magic.”

At that, Rine, who was listening to my words, nodded her head, saying she understood.

“That makes sense. That's why the flow of mana felt different.”

On the other hand, Ibi spoke in a tone that still seemed unconvinced.

“So you're going to pray? Because you think it's divine magic?”

“The incantations of divine magic, whether long or short, are mostly in the form of prayers. It wouldn't be strange at all if the spell to open the door was a prayer.”

I turned to Miki and asked.

“What do you think, Miki?”

If I had to pick someone among the four of us who had some knowledge of divine magic, it would be Miki, who could later change his class to a Paladin.

“I also think what Teacher Yubin said is right. I've seen Paladins use divine magic a few times. In my family, too── ah.”

Miki, who had inadvertently started talking about his family, hastily covered his mouth.

That appearance, which didn't seem to have much talent for lying, was proof that he hadn't answered this way just to read my mood.

In fact, Ibi, seeing this, realized that no one agreed with her and sighed, pressing her forehead.

Well, in the first place, Ibi probably wasn't denying the fact that the hidden device would be moved by divine magic.

“Prayer, my ass….”

She just couldn't accept the idea of praying to a god itself.

“No, in the first place, do you guys even know how? If it's real magic or something, just putting your hands together and mimicking it won't work, right?”

“Of course not.”

We had to pray seriously.

Because it was like asking Stareon for his direct permission to borrow the magical power to open this door.

Prayer in divine magic, so to speak, was the concept of opening a channel to connect with a god who is now in a different dimension from this human world.

A communication channel, metaphorically speaking, similar to connecting a direct phone line.

And now, whether that channel opens or not, and if it opens, whether it's a straw or a pipe, those things are determined by how talented the person praying is.

So, naturally, unless you're so talented in communicating with a god that the channel bursts open even if you just start cursing, the more seriously and correctly you pray, the higher the chance of the channel connecting.

In other words, the ‘difficulty’ of the [Faith] check decreases.

“Ah, whatever, I get it. I get it. Then you guys do your best. I don't know how to do it at all.”

“It's okay. I don't know either.”

“What?”

Ibi, hearing my immediate reply, turned to look at Miki and Rine in surprise.

“I-I also don't know much about the prayers of the Church of Stareon…?”

“I do not know either.”

“…? Then what do we do.”

I looked at Ibi and gave a grin, and then.

“But this guy does.”

I went behind Miki and opened the bag he was carrying.

Then I rummaged through the bag and took out ‘this guy’── a book.

“What’s that now?”

“「A Collection of Prayers of the Church of Stareon」.”

It was a book made by the Church of Stareon for priests, and all the prayers of the Church of Stareon, which had been used since the Age of Gods, were compiled in this one book.

And as I said before, the priests' prayers were not just for prayer, but were in fact the incantations of divine magic.

In short, it was like a collection of divine magic spells.

As such, it was a valuable item, with only a few copies in the world.

“I borrowed it in advance from the great temple just in case this happened.”

To be precise, I had asked Aqua to put it in the magic bag when I received it.

Aqua did show some hesitation, saying that it would be a big problem if this book, which could be called a holy relic passed down from the Age of Gods, was damaged, but in the end, he was [Persuaded] by my smooth talking.

“Crazy…”

Here, unless you created a character as a cleric or paladin of the Church of Stareon from the beginning, or had this prayer book in advance, you had to pray as you pleased.

Then, of course, the difficulty of the [Faith] check would also increase.

On the other hand, if you recited the prayer in the correct way, the difficulty of the check would noticeably decrease.

“Now, you understand?”

Enough to succeed easily even in the current party situation without a cleric.

“So now, let's pray together.”

“…Are you serious?”

Well, Ibi seemed to really hate the idea.

“Of course, I'd like you to join us, Ibi. The more people who try, the higher the chance of success.”

Ibi, who was already displeased, scrunched up her face even more upon hearing this.

And yet, as if she knew well that she had no more grounds to argue against my proposal.

“No. I won't. Absolutely. Got it? Absolutely.”

She eventually chose to oppose without reason.

“I won't do it. I said I won't.”

To put it simply, she started throwing a tantrum.

“Ibi…”

“No, I get it, it's divine magic or something! Then you guys can just do it!”

Since she had no intention of arguing logically anymore, there was no use in explaining things logically and at length here.

“Wh-What? Why are you looking at me like that again?”

Since it was an emotional opposition, I just had to respond emotionally.

“…Can’t you really?”

Like putting my charming face forward and making the most pitiful expression possible.

“No, just…”

--

[Persuasion]

Success

--

“……Hah.”

Ibi eventually let out a deep sigh, and then,

“Alright, f*ck! I'll do it! I'll pray! Damn it!”

She immediately knelt down, as if to get it over with quickly.

“This is why I like you, Ibi.”

“Cut the crap and let's get started.”

“Yes, ma'am.”

When I also knelt, Rine and Miki, who had been watching us, followed suit and knelt at the same time.

“So? What do we do?”

“Since this temple was built in the Age of Gods, we just need to find and look for the prayers used in the Age of Gods.”

At that, I placed the book in the center and continued.

“First, let's have the three of you each take one and find something that reacts, and then let's all try that one together.”

“…Hey, wait. Three people?”

“You, Rine, Miki.”

“No… then what are you going to do in the meantime? Watch?”

“I'm going to sing.”

“What crazy….”

Ibi seemed to think I was joking, her reaction one of disbelief, but I was completely serious.

Of course, it was true that the difficulty of the check had been lowered because we had the prayer book, but to be honest, with my current Mentality stat, the chance of success was still low.

If my memory served me right, the [Faith] check difficulty here was 22 if you didn't know the prayer method, and 15 if you knew the proper method.

Either way, with my low Mentality stat, it was a difficulty that I couldn't succeed on unless I got a critical success 6.

In that case, it was much better to sing the 「Song of Divinity」, which could give a Mentality buff, and increase the success rate of the two people with high Mentality stats, Miki and Rine.

So, when the three of them each took a prayer and began to recite it.

『Hail Mary』

I also began to sing the 「Song of Divinity」.

“Ah, f*ck. Just kill me, please.”

Ibi seemed to really dislike the song I started singing while reverently playing the lute to create a sacred atmosphere.

Well, strictly speaking, it wasn't a real hymn.

『Full of Grace』

Anyway, while I was singing, the three of them each recited a line of their prayer.

Then, not long after.

“…!”

Rine showed a reaction.

“For a moment, the flow of mana changed.”

In other words, the magical device had reacted.

“I-I also think I felt something just now!”

Miki, who had a knack for divine magic, seemed to have felt something similar to Rine.

Only Ibi had an expression that said, ‘what the hell are these guys talking about’.

However, as a result of each person repeating the line they had just recited to find out whose prayer had caused the reaction.

“…What is this. For real?”

Ironically, the magical device reacted to the prayer Ibi was reciting.

“Wow, you were surprisingly faithful, Ibi?”

“I'll really kill you.”

Thanks to that, we knew the spell, so now it was time to activate it.

It was time for the real [Faith] check.

“Keep going, keep going.”

“Hah…….”

At my urging, Ibi muttered a curse, then, as if she couldn't help it, began to pray again.

At the same time.

--

[Faith]

Difficulty 15

--

Ibi's golden die also began to roll.

--

⚄

Failure

--

“Oh, Lord of the rivers and seas, please── ah, I can't do this, seriously!”

Well, she quickly gave up and it ended in a failure.

“Prayer, my ass. They don't listen anyway.”

A rather high number came up, but it was meaningless for Ibi, who had a low Mentality stat similar to mine.

“Anyway, I found out what prayer to say, right? Then I've done my part.”

Nevertheless, the reason I even [Persuaded] Ibi to pray was…… honestly, to be frank, just because her reaction was funny.

Of course, I was aiming for the possibility of a great success, but more than that, I just wanted to see it.

“Yeah, you did well.”

Of course, I could never say this to her face.

If I did… well, I might actually get stabbed once?

So, although Ibi failed, Rine and Miki's chances were still left.

Currently, their Mentality stats were 12 and 14.

For Rine's transparent crystal die, she just needed a 3 or higher, and for Miki's silver steel die, he just needed anything but a 1.

And sure enough.

『──Embrace us with your grace as vast as the sea.』

Miki's [Faith] check, who was reciting the prayer without wavering at all even with Ibi making a fuss next to him and me singing (actually, that was a buff), was completed.

--

⚅

Great Success

--

A great success, no less.

The prayer had gone through.

At that moment, a faint light seemed to rise in a circle around us, and then.

Rumble──

“W-Whaat!?”

The ground began to shake.

We quickly stepped back a few paces from the circle, and soon, we saw the source of the light that had been hidden under the overgrown weeds── a magic circle.

And centered on that magic circle, the soil that had accumulated on the ground was slowly falling downwards.

The ‘door’ was beginning to open.

When we offered our prayer, the ground split open.

Hallelujah.

And down those stairs that soon appeared, the 「Trident of Stareon」 was sleeping.

And on the side, a fragment of my… the ‘Malevolent Star's’ lost memory.

It was time to go find them both.