183 – Paradise – 3

“My, my eyes—!”

“Gyaaack!”

As if to prove their Japanese names were indeed real, the people screamed, reacting in a way that seemed straight out of an old Japanese anime.

Gi-jun dealt them additional damage by unnecessarily switching Luminescent Provocation off and on again, and in the meantime, he closely examined their attire; seeing that they wore loose, reddish pleated skirts—hakama—underneath their white tops, it gave off a strong impression of ‘shrine maidens,’ just as they had called themselves.

‘Are they people summoned from Earth by any chance?’

This was what Gi-jun thought upon seeing their attire and hearing the names they called each other.

He had believed without a doubt that the one million humans, including himself, were the first group of the Summoned from Earth, but perhaps before then—for example, around the Meiji era in Japan—a group consisting only of shrine maidens might have been summoned to Leta.

‘…No, that’s probably not it.’

However, he soon dismissed his own deduction.

Although their small, dainty frames and faces gave off an Asian feel, they were mixed with Western features, looking like a blend of East and West if he had to say.

The probability of only people engaged in a specific occupation in a specific region of Earth being summoned as a group was already low, but all of them being of mixed race? It was ridiculous.

It was more reasonable to view them as having been summoned from a world where a religion similar to Shinto of Earth’s Japan, along with the same clothing culture, was widely spread.

Since there were dwarf blacksmiths who believed in the god Ptah, and a vampire nun who believed in the goddess Ishtar, there was no reason to be surprised by this now.

Perhaps somewhere on this vast continent, there was a group of martial artists wearing traditional bridal masks, or a summoned group consisting entirely of shamans who had received divine possession.

‘Still, there are too many unusual things.’

The most unusual thing was that everyone in his sight was wearing a shrine maiden outfit.

It was not that there were men wearing skirts mixed in—it meant they were all women.

On the surface, it looked similar to Japan’s ethnic religion, but in reality, there was a chance it was an extremely matriarchal society where only women could operate outside; however, for some reason, Gi-jun felt that was not the case.

And perhaps that was the reason they lived hidden in this world within the barrier…

“E-Excuse me!”

The girl who had inevitably been blinded from the closest distance because she had been the first to discover Gi-jun cried out in a shrill voice.

“Lord Spirit, I understand well that you are a great being, so please reduce the light!”

“Hmm? Oh, sorry. I’ll turn it off if you all promise not to make a fuss anymore.”

“We won’t!”

“We won’t cause a disturbance either!”

“We’re sorry, we’re sorry!”

As soon as Gi-jun finished speaking, the shrine maidens shouted from all over that they would behave.

That alone was very noisy, but from the fact that they did not attack when Gi-jun used Luminescent Provocation and simply sat in place shouting, he could tell they were not hostile.

“Uuuugh… Huh? Eek!”

“Ju—Jun-nim!”

And at impeccable timing, Tilla and Lora also regained consciousness.

The two realized they were being carried by Gi-jun like baggage and wore blank expressions for a moment—but upon seeing Eun-shin loaded onto Ur’s back, their gazes soon softened.

“You were considerate of us, Jun-nim.”

“But there must have been a way to put both of us on Ur’s back. Fufu, did you want to have skinship with me that much?”

To Tilla, who rubbed her cheek against Gi-jun’s cheek while pretending to be seductive, Gi-jun replied honestly.

“If I have to carry one side anyway, I prefer women over men.”

“He rejects all explicit temptations, yet he’s only honest in strange places…”

Gi-jun somewhat forcefully set down Tilla and Lora, who were reluctant to let go of him.

From the friendly atmosphere they exuded, the surrounding shrine maidens could tell that he had not kidnapped the two.

“So what about Sakura? That man has her, right? The timing of his appearance is too coincidental.”

“Shh, you shouldn’t make the Lord Spirit angry!”

“What Lord Spirit? He’s just a person like us!”

However, other than that, everything was unknown, and they were even on edge for some reason.

Gi-jun also noticed the shrine maidens whispering and cleared his throat.

At that alone, some gasped in fright, wondering if he was going to use Luminescent Provocation again, while others quickly covered their eyes…

Feeling a slight sense of guilt, Gi-jun spoke.

“Then I will explain why we are here.”

Of course, he could not explain every detail of his involvement with the Gratia Kingdom or Uralta, so he roughly shrugged it off by saying, ‘We got caught in a space magic rampage, and when we opened our eyes, we were here!’ Naturally, most of the shrine maidens found his words absurd.

“Does that make sense? He’s definitely lying! Do you know how this barrier was made?!”

“But he said space magic rampaged… Leta is such a terrifying land, so why wouldn’t something like that happen?”

“It’s much more likely that they are civilization hunters who tore open the barrier to target Kurenai-sama!”

“Ahhh, it’s already worrying enough that Sakura disappeared, and now even these dangerous people…!”

“But he’s really handsome.”

“Who just said he’s handsome?!”

“Wait, Kurenai-sama said before that handsome men eat women, so we shouldn’t approach them carelessly…! Sakura must have been eaten by that man too!”

“You fool, that’s not what she meant by eating! Oh dear…!”

The shrine maidens quickly broke into internal strife.

Thinking it would likely take a while, Gi-jun spread a mat nearby and sat down.

Suppressing them with force and proceeding quickly could have been an option, but since he was reluctant to attack first those who were only wary of him but did not attack, he decided to wait patiently for now.

“You guys sit down too. Eun-shin, are you awake?”

“Ye-Yes. My head throbbed suddenly, but whoa… shrine maidens?! Why shrine maidens?!”

While the shrine maidens, who had been in the middle of a heated discussion, cast absurd gazes at Gi-jun, he made his companions sit on the mat as well.

After calming down Eun-shin, who was reacting intensely as if he knew more about Japanese culture than Gi-jun did, Gi-jun spoke to the shrine maidens as if throwing it out.

“Then let me know when you reach a conclusion. Since we will wait here quietly, without doing any harm to you.”

“A conclusion?”

“Ahhh—seriously! Someone go to the central shrine and bring Kurenai-sama first!”

Confused by Gi-jun’s nonchalant attitude, the shrine maidens eventually gave up thinking.

In fact, since Gi-jun, who had shown off his strength with just Luminescent Provocation, did not openly hostilize the shrine maidens, they were also at a loss as to how to treat him.

Ultimately, it seemed the responsibility had shifted to their superior, ‘Kurenai.’

It meant they would have to engage in a staring contest with the shrine maidens until she arrived.

“Excuse me… did the Lord Spirit really not eat Sakura?”

Among those shrine maidens, there was one who bravely spoke to Gi-jun, and it was the very girl who had asked him to reduce the light.

It seemed she was not the only innocent girl who took the saying that handsome men eat women literally.

When Gi-jun met the girl’s pure eyes, he smiled unwittingly and responded to her words.

“I didn’t eat her. And you are free to believe me or not, but outside this village—within a radius of at least 20 kilometers—I didn’t sense any presence of other people besides you.”

“As expected of the Lord Spirit…!”

The girl, naively believing his words, opened her eyes wide and became even more amazed.

Of course, it was true that no presence of other people was felt within a 20-kilometer radius, but the one who found that out was Lucy, not Gi-jun.

—It will only get more annoying if I materialize here, right, Contractor?

‘As expected of our smart Lucy. Just bear with it for a bit.’

Having earned the girl’s respect at the cost of Lucy’s sacrifice, Gi-jun spoke to her again instead of shrugging.

“So how did the child named Sakura disappear? Could you tell me, as I might be able to help?”

“Jun, are you hitting on another new girl like that? Your voice is very skillful, soft, and gentle.”

“Tilla, this kind of assassination attempt is troublesome.”

He tried his best to push away Tilla, who was interrupting from the side while narrowing her eyes.

Wasn’t this how one originally accepted quests? In the tutorial, he had been able to easily accept quests this way for 15 years, so it was only perplexing when she suddenly said he was hitting on women.

“Hitting on me… so you really did plan to lure me to a dark place and secretly eat me!”

“Look, it’s become annoying.”

“I’m sorry, Jun. My bad. I was just a little jealous.”

Gi-jun coaxed and soothed the girl, who was trembling like a newborn fawn, and succeeded in hearing the story.

Her name was ‘Renka,’ which was unmistakably a Japanese-style name, but even when Gi-jun mentioned words like Earth or Japan just in case, she merely tilted her head.

“Sakura is an apprentice shrine maiden like me… but unlike me, she can already handle divine power, so she received all of Kurenai-sama’s expectations.”

“First, could you tell me what the concept of a shrine maiden is?”

“A shrine maiden is a shrine maiden… We are priests, to put it in Leta terms, of the shrine serving Lady Kore, the Goddess of Flowers and Seeds. All of us.”

“…Wait a minute.”

Gi-jun froze with his smiling face.

His mind was busy thinking about which mythology the name Kore appeared in and who she was—and before long, he was able to find the answer.

Before Persephone of Greek mythology married, her name during her maidenhood was Kore!

“So she’s Kore, the Goddess of Flowers and Seeds.”

“Yes! That’s also why all of our names are names of flowers! Goddess Kore always emphasizes the purity of shrine maidens and flower-like beauty, and also…”

As Gi-jun showed interest in the goddess, Renka explained while opening her already large eyes even wider.

However, because Gi-jun’s head was dizzy from having his expectation betrayed—he had thought major Shinto deity names like Izanagi or Takemikazuchi would appear—her voice did not enter his ears well.

“So, Sakura was definitely going to succeed Kurenai-sama and become the next representative of our civilization, but because such a Sakura suddenly disappeared, we are all out of our minds…”

“Renka, you fool! How could you speak about the civilization representative to an outsider without hesitation!”

“Ah! I-I’m sorry!”

The moment Renka, who had been rambling mindlessly after being captivated by Gi-jun’s appearance, finally made a fatal slip of the tongue, the surrounding shrine maidens rushed over in shock, hitting her and making a fuss.

Gi-jun once again realized the power of his Legendary-grade Charm, which made someone spill a fatal secret within just a few minutes of meeting—but naturally, he had no intention of targeting the civilization representative just because he found out who she was.

To the shrine maidens who pulled Renka away in surprise and began to be wary of Gi-jun again, he merely shrugged his shoulders.

“As I said earlier, I have no intention of causing you any harm. I only want to safely leave this barrier with my companions.”

“Do you think we will believe that! The Leta continent is full of jackals busy biting and targeting the gaps of weak civilizations!”

At the voice of one of the shrine maidens shouting shrilly, Gi-jun replied with a bitter smile.

“Then you should let us out all the faster, right? So that we can’t harm your civilization representative.”

“…”

While Gi-jun and the shrine maidens faced off, Renka was eventually dragged away by the others and disappeared from the party’s sight.

Perhaps in her stead.

Soon, the shrine maidens parted to the left and right, and a woman dressed in the same shrine maiden outfit appeared between them.

The beautiful woman, whose impressive red hair was like a brilliantly blooming safflower, appeared while exuding an overwhelming aura befitting the title of civilization representative and looked at Gi-jun’s party.

Upon discovering Gi-jun among them, her eyebrows trembled as if in surprise—but she soon feigned composure and bowed her head lightly to him.

“Please forgive our rudeness in not welcoming our guests warmly. My name is Kurenai.”

“I am Jun.”

Undeterred by Gi-jun’s stiff response as he reverted to Flame Human mode, unlike when he dealt with the ordinary shrine maidens, Kurenai continued.

“I heard you came here after being caught in an unfortunate accident. I would like to invite our honored guests to the shrine and talk again, so would you join me?”

“Kurenai-sama!”

“How can you bring suspicious people into the shrine!”

“Lady Kore will be angry!”

“What do we do? Kurenai-sama is going to be eaten by that handsome man…!”

At Kurenai’s bold proposal, the shrine maidens were startled and tried to dissuade her, but she did not seem to mind.

When Gi-jun looked back at his companions to seek silent agreement, Tilla and Lora nodded slowly while remaining wary of Kurenai, while Eun-shin…

“Shrine maiden heaven…”

“Shin, I’m sorry, but you’re a bit creepy right now.”

He decided to ignore him for the time being.