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The children had looked around, so now it was time to finally check the Church of Life and head back.

Hmmm. But I don’t want to go back. If I do, I’ll undoubtedly be buried under a mountain of work for decades.

But it can’t be helped. I really don’t want to, but… it would be scary to leave Asherat stuck in a pile of work.

It’s my fragment, but… that malevolent gaze isn’t something I can easily overlook. Yeah.

Anyway, I guess I should take one last look at the Church of Life before heading back. Yup.

So I went to the Church of Life.

“Hmm. Nothing particularly special here.”

On the surface, it hadn’t changed much from 300 years ago. On the surface.

Many pilgrims were setting off on their pilgrimages for others, while the remaining priests in the church and temple were healing and counseling believers, giving them plenty of help.

It looked no different from the sights of 300 years ago, but in reality, it was different.

“Did the others leave the church?”

“Aside from a few dragons on their pilgrimage, only about three of us, including me, remain in the church.”

The High Priest, who managed all the priests and pilgrims of the Church of Life, smiled faintly at me.

Naturally, that figure wasn’t human but a dragon.

Wasn’t this a child who used to blend in among people as a pilgrim? Now they’re the High Priest… I guess that means quite a bit of time has passed.

Well, I guess it doesn’t matter all that much.

“Three, huh…? I thought they might all leave.”

I’d pretty much neglected the Church of Life, passing it onto kids like Asherat, so it wouldn’t be strange if they had all left. I’m surprised they’re still here.

“Operating the Church of Life is an important task mandated by the Creator Dragon God, but it’s also quite beneficial for us.”

“Beneficial?”

“Yes. It allows us dragons to easily blend into human society through the Church of Life.”

Easily blending into human society, huh… Well, I guess that makes sense.

Thinking of what the Church of Life and its priests do… from the birth of humans to their death. They are involved in every aspect.

Blessing newborns, healing the sick or injured, blessing their children when they are born, and helping them to rest peacefully upon death. It’s a cycle of sorts.

The priests of the Church of Life were involved in all of that. Using that, dragons could easily blend in among humans.

Plus, they could gain a lot by watching human lives up close.

“Had significant numbers of dragons not left the Church of Life by the order given by the Creator Dragon God… there would be even more dragons active within the Church by now, but… no dragon would dare to defy the commands given by the Creator Dragon God.”

A solemn command? I didn’t think it was that grand.

It was just… that dragons didn’t seem interested in doing anything other than work in the Church of Life, so I pushed them a bit to try having more varied experiences.

In the end, aside from a few dragons, it looked like most left the Church, so I guess it worked to some extent.

“Nevertheless, they’ve all been taking turns serving the Church of Life. There are a few complaints, but everyone more or less follows orders.”

“Taking turns, huh…?”

“Well, it’s a direct command from the Creator Dragon God. Naturally, it’s only honorable.”

Hmmm… Is it really that high? I have no idea.

It kinda feels like it just ended up being a mix of various tasks instead…

Well, if the dragons prefer to do it that way, I have no say in it.

“Wouldn’t a decrease in the number of dragons negatively affect the operations of the Church of Life? How’s the situation?”

“The number of dragons serving the Church of Life has decreased, but there’s no major impact on operations. In place of the dragons, the overall abilities of humans have gone up.”

“The abilities of humans?”

“Yes. After praying to the Creator Dragon God, humans have borrowed that power… and they’ve managed to do things close to magic.”

“Magic?”

“Yes. It’s a different method from our traditional Healing Magic, which is why it’s particularly memorable.”

Hmmm… So it’s different from the Healing Magic that recovers vitality and heals wounds through faith? That’s pretty interesting.

“Borrowing the power of the gods to use magic, we should probably call it Sacred Magic.”

So it’s magic that isn’t used through the user’s magical power but borrowed through faith… Hmm. I guess it’s not that strange for such a thing to exist.

There is already a method for recovering vitality through the power of the gods, so there’s no rule against using another method.

“I heard that a human who was originally a mage came up with this method after becoming a priest of the Church of Life, and as a result, the abilities of human priests have risen in various ways. Now, any sufficiently experienced priest or pilgrim can usually repel most monsters.”

“Oh… Is it really that powerful?”

The High Priest smiled faintly and nodded.

“Even without Sacred Magic, the priests and pilgrims have faced treacherous paths and battled formidable monsters. Given that they now have access to such a powerful magic, it’s only natural they become even stronger.”

Yeah… That’s definitely the case. Since they were already taking on monsters while on pilgrimages before, gaining access to the power of the gods would make them even stronger.

It’s like giving wings to a tiger.

“Thanks to that, the villages protected by the priests and pilgrims of the Church of Life have become much safer.”

“Oh…?”

“Now, it’s almost like a few dragons mingling with the pilgrims to offer protection has become unnecessary. Thanks to that, we’ve been able to reduce the number of dragons involved in the Church of Life even more.”

Indeed. That explains why the number of dragons associated with the Church of Life has decreased significantly.

Well, it’s a good thing. I was a bit uneasy about dragons being bound to the Church of Life under my orders for so long.

Letting dragons live freely isn’t a bad idea.

“Though, the dragons who left the Church were filled with complaints. Still, they were persuaded with the idea of taking turns.”

“Taking turns…?”

“Yes. If we didn’t do that, the majority of dragons would insist on working at the Church of Life. The order is determined by drawing lots, and they rotate every 50 years.”

50 years? Hmmm… if I assume humans, that seems about the time it takes for a generation to change.

So that means… the dragons take turns and share the position of High Priest…?

Thank goodness the dragons are trustworthy. Otherwise, I might have thought they were monopolizing power among themselves.

Wait, isn’t that actually happening? They are kinda monopolizing power among themselves.

Well, it’s better to entrust the High Priest position to trustworthy dragons rather than an ordinary human. Let’s think positively. Positively.

Now, then…

“Everything’s fine on the dragon side?”

“There’s nothing much to report. The number of dragons is slowly increasing?”

Hmm. So the dragons are gradually increasing, huh. Well, a moderate increase is good. Yup.

“Also, Sister Seres… or, now it’s Keres. Keres has been boasting about how, thanks to her, the afterlife for dragons has been created every time she meets with them.”

Keres… I was curious what she did on her days off from working in the Underworld, and it seems she visited the dragons.

Well, it’s true that thanks to Keres, a place for the dragons to go in the afterlife has been created!

“After all, we don’t even know how long a dragon’s lifespan is. They probably won’t die within thousands of years.”

“If dragons were to die of old age, it would probably take around 10,000 years.”

Well, thousands of years wouldn’t cause any issues for a dragon’s body.

Ah, except for me. I’m the odd one out in various ways.

“But maybe Keres has her own thoughts on that.”

Specifically, she might have thought that after witnessing the fate of the dragons who became spirits… she’d want to die as a dragon if she had to.

If countless dragons suddenly lost their bodies and lost their sense of self, scattering… she might think about it that way.

But was Keres part of the generation that saw that scene? Hmmm… I’m not sure!

Well, there’s no need to think too deeply about it.

“Anyway, it’s a relief to hear that nothing’s going on. If anything happens where you need my help, be sure to let me know immediately.”

“While you may perceive us as a race lacking in many ways, rest assured that we dragons possess powers comparable to even most gods, excluding the Creator Dragon God and our ancestors. You have no need to worry.”

“But you never know. Just let me know if anything happens.”

At my words, the High Priest merely nodded slightly.

“By the way, it seemed like your fragment was incredibly angry… are you alright?”

“Ah.”

 

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