The Temple of Life was the embodiment of all the expectations I had towards what a temple in the elven kingdom would look like.

Even from the outside, the temple reeked ancient vibes. It was clear within a glance that this temple was built a long time ago and had witnessed the history of the village for so long.

The whole temple was built with ancient natural materials that were still sturdy and in good condition, perhaps thanks to the renovation it had undergone before or since it was enhanced with a protective and preservation magic, or both. The temple itself consisted of several buildings inside, making it look like a small district.

Some of the buildings seemed to be new, while some seemed to be the original temple before it flourished.

There were tendrils wrapped around the pillars and the building itself, both inside and outside, making the temple seem to be brimming with life, living up to its name, the ‘Temple of Life’.

 

Unlike the other temples or churches, however, the big statue erected inside the temple was different.

Normally, us humanoid races would worship Aion-sama, the Alpha deity that marked the beginning of life and everything. And Aion-sama would usually be depicted as a child or a childlike figure to enhance the purity aspect of the deity. The statue itself would differ according to the temple or the church’s belief of what Aion-sama looked like–some portrayed Aion-sama as an elegant young boy with four pairs of wings, some other portrayed Aion-sama as a pure girl with two pairs of wings, and so on…

But in this temple, the big statue erected was that of a mature woman that was depicted to nurture life, with her ears pointed just like an elf’s.

This must be Vidaestinae, the demi-god that was worshiped in this village.

Of course, there were also several depictions of Aion-sama since in the lore, Vidaestinae was a demi-god or lesser deity that served Aion-sama.

But this would be my first time seeing with my own eyes that some churches or temples would worship another deity mainly instead of focusing on Aion-sama.

 

Anyway, we were led to the audience room inside the main temple building.

After another round of pleasantries, we finally went to the business–discussion about Eneida and what befell her.

Chief Gaiadrieth narrated the story that we have more or less heard from Eneida, while the high priest Eliandruel added things from the temple’s perspective such as how Eneida had lived a straight life and was a very obedient girl. 

In other words...

Is it true that there’s really no more new information? Or is it that they aren’t willing to tell us?

Whichever was the reason, it was not a good news for us.

 

“Can we ask questions?”

Ein raised his hand and asked after a few moments of silence and when there wasn’t any sign of Gaiadrieth or Eliandruel speaking.

“Sure, feel free to ask,” Gaiadrieth said while Eliandruel nodded.

“Has there been any precedence of a saint or saintess with similar tragedy as Eneida?” Ein asked.

Both the chief and the high priest were surprised hearing Ein’s question, perhaps since it was way too frank or that Ein didn’t ask another question first.

But Eliandruel the high priest began narrating, “As far as what we have in knowledge, there has never been such a case.”

“Then, how were the previous saints and saintess?” Ein asked again.

“Their lives differ from one another, so it’s hard to generalize them. But what they all share are that they have the same power, the same kind of birthmark to identify their special identity, and how they tend to have shorter lifespan than normal elves.”

“Shorter lifespan?” Carbuncle was the one who asked about this, perhaps since the topic piqued her interest as a member of the longest-living race in Sphaela.

Eliandruel nodded as he explained, “As of now, elves and Onis are the second in rank for the races with the longest lifespan… if we are to consider the dragons still existing until now, that is.”

It seemed like Carbuncle’s ears got itchy when Eliandruel said that line, but perhaps it was just my imagination…

 

“As of now, the average lifespan for a healthy pure elf is around 500 years of age. In comparison to that, the saints typically live up to half that lifespan, give or take—”

“Why is that?” Carbuncle discourteously cut off Eliandruel’s sentence.

Eliandruel pretended to clear his throat due to the unexpected disturbance before he explained, “We suspect that the Holy Vidaestina’s power was too strong for a mortal’s body to contain. But compared to the past before our Vittae village became as closed off as the present time, that was a good lifespan.”

“In the past…?” Clavis asked with a low voice.

This time, Eliandruel’s face seemed to say ‘I’m glad you asked’.

“Right. Back then, there were various… incidents that caused the early deaths of our saints or saintesses. Some of them were assassinated, some were caught up in the political intrigues of the kingdom… there were some unexplained deaths that weren’t uncovered, perhaps due to the many involvement of outsiders. After the saints had multiple early deaths in succession, the presence of saints in this village became dwindled so much that the saints’ birth was anticipated greatly. Can you imagine? From it being a normal thing or a tradition of this village, to the point that their birth became something rare that everyone anticipated greatly…”

Eliandruel shook his head as he recounted.

 

“So… You’re saying that despite all those incidents in the past, there was no occurrence of a saint who was caught up in an incident, survived, and became cursed?” Ein asked as he seemed to be in deep thoughts.

“Never. The saints remained holy and with their precious power until before their deaths,” Eliandruel quickly answered, leaving no room for doubt. He didn’t seem like someone who’d lie.

“That’s why, this incident of our saintess becoming cursed… Oh goodness! We have to quickly solve this, bring back the saintess, and restore Vittae village to how it was,” Chief Gaiadrieth said with a grave expression.

Gah, Chief, can you be quiet?

I don’t know how Eliandruel viewed this issue since his expression is too unreadable. But as for you, we can clearly see that you’re only seeing Eneida as a tool—an asset for the village that must be ‘fixed’ for the sake of the village, and not because you feel pitiful towards her!

If you’re at least pitiful towards her, I’d be alright. But isn’t this too overboard?

 

“Really…,” Ein didn’t seem to be satisfied with Eliandruel’s answer.

“Yes. If you have any doubt or if you feel like you can find a new information with regards to our current saintess, feel free to investigate around the temple. You can also go to our temple’s library if you want to. In fact, why don’t you all stay in the temple if it will help you? We will prepare your rooms,” Eliandruel said.

“We thank you for your generosity. In fact, I think it’d be a good idea, so why don’t we take his offer?” Maiara first thanked Eliandruel before asking the rest of us.

Carbuncle, Clavis, Ein, and I all nodded in response to Maiara’s question.

Instead of staying in the inn, it’d be more convenient for us to stay within the temple for our main purpose.

 

Gaiadrieth seemed like he was a little bit upset since there was no room for him to interject.

It’d be disrespectful if he were to refuse the high priest’s offer to us, since we’ve already accepted the offer anyway. But it didn’t seem like Gaiadrieth was happy enough with how things had turned out to be.

Maiara noticed this as she quickly engaged with Gaiadrieth and exchanged some pleasantries with him, about how we appreciated his arrangement before and that the inn was splendid, but that we’d like to stay in the temple for the sake of convenience for our main purpose, and so on…

If only Gaiadrieth was smarter or had put aside his high pride, he’d understand that and there was no need for Maiara to go to such lengths to cater to Gaiadrieth… but of course, I understand more than anyone that things wouldn’t go smoothly in life.

It was important to be able to read the situation and accommodate the other party, just like what Maiara had done. Unless we were to sit in the highest position, we had to always adapt and improvise.

Perhaps it’d do me something good to implement some of the things I’d learned as Reinst at this point in my life.

Or I could simply try to learn from Maiara from now on until the time comes when I wouldn’t be able to learn from her anymore.

Right, Maiara is my current role model now!

 

The matter pertaining our next arrangement was solved, and there was also no more topic to talk about with the high priest and the village chief.

Our belongings would be brought here later on, so there was no need for us to go back to the village for the moment. We could continue looking around the temple or explore the library to find any relevant information.

Though I wonder if we really could find anything, if the priests who had been living here all their lives and had access to the library their whole lives couldn’t even find anything…

Even so, it wouldn’t hurt to try!

 

As we were about to end the meeting right now, I suddenly thought of a question.

“Uhm… If I may ask, is there anyone close to Eneida here that we can talk to? Maybe someone like her caretaker or mentor?” I asked.

In the instant he heard that, High Priest Eliandruel’s face dropped.

He then answered, “Unfortunately… The people who were close to her had passed away due to her curse…”

“…”

I couldn’t bring myself to ask, ‘All of them? Really?’ because obviously there was no reason for Eliandruel to lie about it. He even had an obviously sad expression as he answered my question.

“The people in this temple that she can call friends and family… From her caretakers, the young priests who were her closest friends, her teachers… None of them survived from the curse put on her. Since they were all close to her, they’d want to help out and that… became exactly why they were affected by the curse and couldn’t be saved.”

“…”

I closed my eyes a bit.

If Alt-nii or even Iris were to get involved in an accident that made them cursed, I’d still want to accompany them and help them get through it. I’d want to try figuring out what was wrong, if it was really a curse or not, and…

Aaah, I see.

That’s why Eliandruel said that we can’t talk to any member of the temple that’s close to Eneida.

 

“It’s sad to say, but… Perhaps the people who are close to her, the people who cherished and were cherished by Saintess Eneidaestina… None of them are still alive in this mortal world. I feel sad myself when I realized that Saintess Eneidaestina has turned from someone who’s loved by many to someone who’s feared by all… through no fault of her own.”

The people who loved and were loved by her were no longer part of this world.

In an instant, she had become all alone in this world.

How lonely must that girl have felt before she befriended Prince Manasye?

She must’ve blamed herself all this time…

 

Then, another question popped in my mind.

“Then… What about Eneida’s family or relative…? Are they also…?”

“Her family or relatives, well…,” Eliandruel seemed taken aback by my question and didn’t seem like he wanted to continue.

To which Chief Gaiadrieth answered in his stead, “Actually, Eneida’s parents are still alive and well. They are still living in this village even until this moment.”

“…!”

I didn’t expect that.

I thought they’d either have passed away too, are gravely sick, or are exiled by the village that they’re forced to move or anything that’s bad…

I’m glad that wasn’t the case.

But that gave birth to another question.

“Can we talk to them?” I asked.

“Of course! But unfortunately, I can’t accompany you there…,” Chief Gaiadrieth said.

“It’s fine, we can go there by ourselves,” Maiara quickly answered.

“…,” High Priest Eliandruel put on a difficult expression as he opened and closed his eyes in hesitation. He seemed to want to tell us something, but at the same time he thought it won’t be a good idea… I guess.

 

Looking at High Priest Eliandruel, I had this foreboding feeling that it won’t be easy for us to talk to Eneida’s parents.

Could it be that they’re in a bad state right now, perhaps mentally?

My imagination ran wild, trying to create possible scenarios of Eneida’s parents’ condition, all the way throughout our journey to their house.

 

And finally, the door to the house was opened and two elves’ figure could be seen…