Life didn't get easier, even in another world

158 Seven temples

Kairen scratched his cheek.

‘No way... right?... Hehe... no way...’

These were only some old tales written by some dedicated believers. Kairen couldn’t just judge something based only on them.

‘Let’s move on.’

Kairen shook off those thoughts from his head and continued to search for anything useful.

The next strange thing that he found about the saint was his age. That religion was around for a long time, for about 500 years.

‘Then, was the holy saint alive for 500 years? How is that possible?’

Was that because of his strange power, or maybe his miracle?

Unfortunately, there was no way for him to find out about that right now.

.....

‘There should be more information about this religion on old books and scrolls...’

Well, it was obvious that he wouldn’t be able to find everything in only SMF’s data.

Thinking that he might need other resources later, Kairen continued to read the information in front of his eyes.

That religion gained more and more believers as time passed and started to spread even to the other continents. Then, after about 500 years, it was destroyed by the emperor of that time.

Apparently, the war lasted for a few years, and that was how the empire first started to collapse.

‘They also had some temples...’

That religion, obviously, had various temples and shrines for people to pray. But among them were some that were more famous than the others.

Temple of Time... Temple of Fate... Temple of Legislation... Temple of Chaos... Temple of Nature... Temple of Rift... Temple of Spirit

‘What are these weird names...’

Seven main temples in total.

Opening another map, Kairen started to search and mark the exact location of the seven temples on the map.

‘What is this...’

The Temple of Time was the same Temple of Time on an island in the neighboring country. Then,

‘The Temple of Chaos... was in the Frozen Ocean?’

Kairen checked the coordinates once again, but they were still the same.

‘And Temple of Rift... The Stlinct Mountain range... The tallest mountain...’

Kairen marked the third, then the fourth, and fifth temples.

‘Oh my god, they all match!’

Kairen looked at the location of the seven temples that matched perfectly with the seven areas that had irregular monster generation rates.

A man that created a religion. The religion with seven temples. Seven locations with an irregular monster generation rate. Philomns that had something to do with these locations looking for a book that was related to a ruin built far before the religion came to existence.

Kairen jumped up from his seat.

“GLENNNN!”

Glenn also jumped up after Kairen shouted his name out loud and looked at Kaired with a startled face.

“Look here! See what I found!”

Picking up the map he was using, Kairen ran to Glenn’s desk and started to explain everything.

“Look here, this book was about this! And then the phrase...”

Throughout his explanations, Glenn’s always nonchalant expression started to be replaced with a surprised one.

“So whatever Philomns is after, it has to do something with this religion.”

“....”

Glenn silently stared at Kairen.

“Oh my goodness!”

He then jumped up from his seat.

“Oh my god! How did you- Where- Wow! We’ve got to report this to the team leader now!! You come with me too, Kairen!”

Glenn hugged all of the documents and rushed to the door.

“Philomns and ancient religion? Who would’ve thought- oh wait!”

He suddenly stopped before opening the door and turned back to look at Kairen.

“Weren’t you... supposed to find evidence on your innocence?”

“....”

“....”

“....”

“...I... I-I guess you are right...”

Kairen’s excitement vanished all at once, his happy face now looking like a shapeless dough.

He had completely forgotten about it.

“....”

“....”

Glenn and Kairen looked at each other without exchanging a word.

“How did you even think of looking into this religion?”

“....”

Kairen avoided Glenn’s eyes.

“I-I was looking for anything about the weapons that Philomns uses... and then somehow thought about the ruins we visited... and... Um... I don’t know...”

“....”

Kairen lowered his head in embarrassment.

“How can someone be smart and stupid at the same time...”

Glenn looked at him while mumbling those before turning back towards the door. He paused for a moment before opening his mouth.

“...Maybe I can help you on the case of the weapons...”

And grabbed the door’s handle.

“You can?”

Glenn opened the door and stepped out.

“Maybe. Now, follow me.”

Glenn entered the hall and walked to the team leader’s office with Kairen following him behind.

“Did you find anything?”

That was the first thing that team leader Dains asked as soon as he saw Glenn’s sparkling eyes.

“Yes.”

“What is it about?”

“Actually, I’d prefer if everyone heard about it all at once. We don’t have the time to explain it to everyone for a second time.”

‘Everyone?’

Kairen jerked his head to look at Glenn with widened eyes.

‘Why would you tell about this to everyone when we aren’t even sure about it! Hey! Look at me! Glennnn!!!!’

This was one of the things that Kairen didn’t understand about this unit. They explained every detail and information to all of the unit members, while there was no need for it. Couldn’t Glenn and team leader Dains take care of this stuff alone and only tell some bits of the information to unit members when they had a mission?

But it didn’t seem like they had the intention of doing that. Team leader Dains nodded in understanding and left his office.

“Rai, gather everyone.”

“Yes, sir.”

.....

. . . . .

Now sitting behind the big table in the hall, the unit members were looking at Kairen’s map with different expressions.

Some were surprised, some were deep in thought, some seemed curious... There was also Reyan that looked at Kairen with proud eyes for some unknown reasons and Alan, who seemed extremely annoyed.

“So, Philomns’ boss is actually a religious freak?”

Asa bit the back of her pencil as she commented on that.

“I’m not sure about that, but they surely have some business with that religion.”

Kairen answered Asa’s question, making her bit her pencil once more.

“Hey guys, look here!”

Serria raised her hand and put it on the map.

“I’m not really sure about it, but don’t these places seem to be named after... the unique powers?”

Serria pointed at the temples one by one.

“Look, Temple if Time for Time, Temple of Nature for Nature, maybe Temple of Rift for Space? There is also Temple of Spirit here...”

At her words, everyone looked at the temples once again.

“It can be true but... there are 7 temples. We only have 5 powers.”

“Rai is right. We have nothing like the power of Fate or Chaos...”

Serria looked at Elsie and Rai and shrugged her shoulders.

“That was only a guess. It might be wrong.”

“Tsk!”

Looking at them, Alan clicked his tongue with an even more annoyed expression.

“It is good that we found a link between Philomns and that religion, but we still can’t say anything for sure.”

Team leader Dains continued with his arms folded.

“For now, keep gathering data about that religion. Look if there is anything left behind by them and anything suspicious.”

“Tsk!”

Alan clicked his tongue again.

Team leader Dains looked between Kairen and Glenn.

“Who is in charge of this case?”

Glenn smiled slightly and shook his head.

“Not me! I have to deal with things related to Bordkly.”

The team leader nodded his head.

“Talking about Bordkly, is it true that their prince wants to visit Hainston?”

Elsie suddenly asked a question that wasn’t related to the issue at hand at all. As she asked that, the others turned towards the team leader and Glenn as if they were all dying from curiosity and were barely holding themselves back from asking any questions.

With a sight, team leader Dains lowered his head a little bit.

“That is not for sure yet, but it might happen.”

“WOW!”

Asa’s eyes widened as they started to sparkle, making her resemble a hungry rabbit.

“The prince will really come here? When? Why? How?”

Team leader Dains thought a little bit, not answering Asa as if he wasn’t sure if it was alright to tell her or not, but in the end, he gave up and opened his mouth.

“It’s because of the recent problems between the two countries. We managed to calm them down a little bit with the results of the attack on Philomns’ hideout. They are less arrogant now. That is also mostly due to the prince’s efforts on that side. And the visit is also for that purpose. They want to do something to uphold peace... and such stuff.”

“OOOH!”

Asa nodded her head with a face that showed how much she didn’t understand the team leader’s words.

“Anyway, Kairen, keep gathering information about this religion and report to me everything you find.”

“Yes, sir.”

Kairen nodded his head.

“Tsk!”

He heard Alan click his tongue.

‘What is wrong with him?’

Looking at him, Kairen tilted his head a little bit. Looking back at Kairen’s face, Alan snorted and clicked his tongue once again.

“....”

Team leader Dains got up from his seat at that moment.

“I am pretty sure that we need to examine those temples at least once. I will arrange a time for that as soon as we are done with the problems at hand. Now, go back to your work.”