"Seriously, I can't even find a single village. How am I supposed to figure out the direction to Orario like this?"
Elise walked alone across the vast grassland, grumbling as she went.
That was how teleportation from the Lord God Space worked—completely random. Elise currently had no idea what time it was, nor did she know her exact location.
"There's such absurdly overwhelming faith power here, yet I can't use it... Right now, only Prana can bring me any comfort."
She truly envied the faith power of this world.
"If my own faith could reach this level, how long would it even take?"
The gods of this world measured their ages in hundreds of millions of years. The people of the lower world were born under the presence of gods, raised from childhood with teachings like "the gods are supreme." That was why their faith power had reached such an exaggerated degree.
Elise remembered reading a particularly absurd fanfiction once. The transmigrator was a godslayer who came to this world, slew gods, was revered by many, and feared by the divine...
Heh.
How could something like that possibly happen?
The humans of this world revered the gods so deeply it was practically etched into their souls. In their eyes, even defying a god's will was something beyond ordinary people—let alone killing one.
To become a godslayer here?
You would not receive admiration or worship.
What you would gain instead would be strange looks that followed you for the rest of your life. Perhaps even hatred. Assassination attempts. In short, you would never know peace.
They might not be able to defeat you—but to this world, you would forever be an anomaly, burdened eternally with the crime of slaying a god.
"Hm?"
After persistent effort, Elise's Prana-based perception finally detected something.
Incidentally, she was still blindfolded.
Since she could not use faith-based perception, she could only rely on Prana instead. Fortunately, she was thoroughly familiar with it.
Roughly three hundred meters ahead, she sensed the outline of a village.
She planned to head there and see if she could borrow a map of this world to determine Orario's location.
However...
That village seemed to be in trouble.
Elise could sense a group of men on horseback racing toward it at high speed.
And judging by what they were carrying...
She had strong doubts they were good people.
She had barely arrived in this world, and already she was running into trouble.
Still...
"The Saintess will come to save you—but please prepare the reward in full, all right?"
Elise currently lacked positional information and also lacked this world's currency—valis.
Since she could not use faith power, she did not even have money anymore. She had gemstones, certainly—but she would still need a pawnshop or similar place to exchange them into currency.
'Est, wake up. There's something ahead that requires you.'
Earlier, because Elise needed to test whether the gods of this world could detect her presence, she had told Est to return to her body and sleep.
But now that a battle might be imminent, there was no need to hide any longer.
'Yes, Sister.'
Est's voice echoed within Elise's mind.
Although Est was curious about this new world, since Sister had told her not to manifest yet, she had obediently endured.
The spirit crest on Elise's body shimmered as the Elemental Sword materialized. Channeling the Prana within her, she accelerated at full speed toward the village.
Of course, whether those riders were truly bandits was still uncertain.
But Elise would confirm it herself.
How could a saintess wrong the innocent?
...
The village was called Kate Village.
It was a small settlement located slightly north between two major nations. Because it did not lie along the main road connecting them, few travelers passed through under normal circumstances.
Aside from a handful of young people yearning for the outside world, the villagers rarely left.
The lack of traffic had preserved the land's fertility. The villagers did not need to travel far to harvest abundant food.
In simple terms, it was an isolated village.
However, some time ago, the villagers witnessed a beam of light descending from the sky.
They immediately understood—
A god had descended from heaven.
Such a phenomenon had not occurred in years. The old village chief excitedly went to greet the deity and learned her name from her own lips...
"Ah! To think it would be such a divine being—our village is truly honored beyond measure!"
After learning of the goddess' domain, the old chief invited her to stay as a guest, though she politely declined.
The goddess appeared to have plans to travel to Labyrinth City Orario. Seeing this, the chief did not press her further. After all, she was a god. How could mortals sway divine resolve?
Still, he persuaded her to remain in the village for a few days.
During that time, the goddess got along wonderfully with the village children. Everyone adored her.
Unfortunately, she would be leaving in two days...
Dong! Dong!
Suddenly, the ringing of a bell echoed throughout the entire village.
The villagers' expressions immediately turned solemn. They rushed home, grabbed their farming tools, and ran toward the village entrance.
"Village Chief, what's happening?"
The visiting goddess had also heard the bell, but having arrived only recently, she clearly did not understand its meaning.
"Sigh. Because our village is isolated and blessed with fertile land, this sort of thing happens from time to time."
"Some people always have their eyes on our resources. Whenever a large group of bandits approaches, someone rings the bell."
"This time is no different."
"I see." The goddess pondered for a moment. "How strong are the enemies? If you need my help, please don't hesitate to ask."
"Haha, we've faced this kind of thing for many years now. Every time, we've been the ones to win!"
"Please rest assured, Lady Goddess. They won't be our match."
Speaking confidently, the village chief led the goddess out of his house.
"Mm! The sunlight is rather strong today."
The moment she stepped outside, the intense sunlight shone upon her, causing her to narrow her eyes.
She was a beautiful goddess.
Walnut-colored hair cascaded down her back. Her deep blue eyes shimmered like a sea of stars.
A pure white outer garment outlined her feminine curves while modestly enveloping her soft form.
Every gesture and movement radiated purity, cleanliness, and beauty.
After gazing at the sun for a moment, she sighed helplessly.
"If I run into Apollo, I must properly complain to him."