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Chapter 232: White Priest (3)

"Cheers for the White Priest! Cheers for the White Priest!" The crowd continued to grow wild as Shinto stood there, still bewildered by the scene before him. "A goddess in disguise! Truly!"

"...??" With a confused expression on his face, he raised his brow in question. Shinto knew nothing of the ongoing situation at hand and helplessly witness the crazed cheers within the room. "...what the heck's going on here?"

Did he perhaps enter the wrong building? No way. He had made sure of where he was going before entering. The interior design of the temple was also prevalent in Shinto's eyes, thus he knew he was at the right place.

"Oh, dear White Priest! What can we ever do to repay you?!" the cheers continued. "We're blessed! Truly blessed!"

"...uh," despite the confusion on Shinto's face, he shook his head calmlysoon glancing around the area in the next moment. There, he noted that there were far more players and NPCs than usual within the building. All of them seemingly crowding in front of the altar room. "Let's see... Is there an event going on?"

It wasn't an uncommon sight to see the church's committee hold events such as a prayer event or at times; a monster subjugation one. Though, it was never this popular and crowded.

"Let's see the White Priest! Where is she?" the newbies around Shinto whispered amongst one another. "She should be in the Altar Room, right? Damn. There are way too many people!"

"...?" Overhearing the conversation from the newbies, Shinto couldn't help but curiously turn towards them. "A White Priest..." The word 'White Priest' had been repeated countless times throughout the time he was in the building, however, only now did he finally make a connection. Perhaps this entire scenario was caused by Hikari? "...you, just what went on here?"

"Too many people or not, it's worth the wait, right?" the player answered. "I heard the blessings really good! Much more than just praying to some goddess."

"...a blessing?" The more he overheard from the two players, the more dumbstruck he became. "What did she actually do?"

The last he had heard from Hikari was that she was only going to the temple to report her's and Crowelin's arrival. However, for the situation to turn out like thisIt meant that something groundbreaking had occurred.

"..." Thinking to himself, Shinto sighed. "...I guess I should ask," soon, he turned towards the two newbie players and asked. "Hey... Did something happened? What's with all the craze around here?"

"Hmm? Oh, you must only have just arrived?" The newbie player turned to Shinto. "Yeah, something had happened. Something big! We're getting a blessing that can help us hunt much faster and level up!"

"A blessing? What kind? The one's that the priests in the temple usually give for a small price?" Shinto questioned.

"Well, something like that? I haven't really seen the blessing myself, but! It's an incredible boost!" the eyes of the player shimmered in excitement. "I heard your monster's damage and experience received from said monster is multiplied by two times? Or was it just a 200% increase? I don't know! But it's quite big."

"Hmm, I see," Shinto nodded his head. "What caused this situation to happen though?"

"Well, apparently, the White Priest had met an angel in this building! Which caused the streamline of events," he said. "Well... Maybe not met? The details are vague. I only heard from the pope."

"A-Angel?" Shinto blinked in a confused manner.

An angel was a divine entity, or in other words a race that was said to reside above the skies of the mortal realmIn legends, they were beings of divinity who would protect the likes of humanity from evil. Though at times, they would typically grace upon their blessings to temples or churches.

Not much is known about them except for when one would hear certain chatter from among the priests. After all, no living man had actually seen an angel in person. Well, before this entire situation had occurred, at least.

"Yeah, that's from what I heard," the newbie nodded his head. "Anyway, if you're curious, you should check out the Altar Room!"

"...right. Thanks for letting me know," Shinto slightly bowed his head in thanks as he noted that the two newbies had gone away and were heading towards the altar room. "Hmm... Angels, huh?"

Upon hearing the word "Angel" from the newbiesa sudden thought appeared within his mind. "...are the Beings of Divinity... Angels?" It was in a way, hinted to him. As in loreAngels were beings of Divinity. However, Shinto couldn't help but question the matter. He had yet gotten a single confirmation besides the constant cries of anger from the Divinity's side. "...wait. Could this situation have happened because of me? No way. Right?"

As his line of thought continued to ponder on the situation, countless doubts began plaguing his head. He was unsure of what to do. His original goal was to wait for Hikari and Crowelin to finish up with their report and then proceed to meet up with him on matters regarding Hideo.

After all, the escort he was thinking about was those two. Though, with the circumstance as so, it might not possible anymore.

"..." Shinto was still in deep thought as he soon shook his head. "Argh... I'll just see for myself when I head to the Altar Room," ruffling his headShinto began making his way over towards the entrance, where countless players stood by, attempting to force themselves in.

"Hey, let me in! I wanna see whether this blessing is real or not!" A player shouted out as he pushed his way forward through the players.

"Bro, get in line. I was here first!" Another player clicked his tongue.

"Ugh... I have a quest to complete! C'mon!" Soon after, a streamline of small arguments occurred among the players. "I don't have all day! What're the priests doing in there?"

"A-Ahem... B-Be patient..." As Shinto continued to approach the crowdhe soon heard a familiar voice. "T-The White Priest is doing her best to grace upon her prayers to you guys, so..."

"...so what?! Let us in!"

"...this is way too disorderly," Shinto glared at the crowd in disdain. "Why the heck are they acting so privilege?" his eyes averted away from the crowd and towards the voice out in the front. There, he saw the familiar sight of Crowelin, who was busily blocking the crowd of players. "now then... With her right at the front, this basically confirms that it was all Hikari's doing..."

Though he had confirmed one of his many suspicions, there was still undoubtedly plenty more that he couldn't find out. Unless he asked the person in question.

"...if Crowelin's here, then where exactly is Hikari?" glancing away from the woman fervently blocking the way of playershe soon eyed on the insides of the Alter Room. "Hikari should be... Ah!"

As the doors of the room were wide open for all eyes to see, it didn't take long for Shinto to find the auburn-haired woman by the distance. There, he noted that she was waving her staff like there was no tomorrowcontinually uttering out prayers for the masses within the room.

"...by the holy lightThose who have appeared before the grace of the angel shall receive the blessing," Hikari muttered out whilst her hands tightly grasped onto her staff. "the Blessing of the Evening Sunset!"

Within Shinto's eyes, he saw a blazing light shining down upon the player in front of her. In the next moment, sparkles of flares from the blaze began swirling around the player as it soon dispersed like it was nothing.

"...yay!" The player at the front cheered. "Thank you so much, White Priest!"

"I-It's nothing..." Hikari uttered out in seemingly a tired tone. "A-Anyways... Next!"

"..." Witnessing the situation before him, he felt that something was off. "A wide blessing like this should be used in a wider area to cover all players instead of just an individual... So, why?" he tilted his head. "Doing something like that would be... Extremely exhausting."

In his initial thought for the grace of the blessinghe had the impression that Hikari would cast an area-wide version of the blessing, to save time and energy. This was far more efficient. Though, there were downsides as you would get a much lower overall percentage from the buff as it was shared among the masses.

"Does she really want to help the newbies this much?" the more he thought about the matter, the more it didn't make sense. With his attention focused on the crossing of the Altar Roomhe noted a peculiar person standing by the side of her. "...the pope?" As he wanted to observe the man, Shinto received a sudden whisper.

"Z-Zay... HELP!" The whisper was from none other than Hikari.

"...?" Shinto averted his eyes away from the pope and over to Hikari where the two soon met eyes. There, he saw the helplessness of the White Priest through her eyes.