"A... app?"
The blond girl looked utterly confused, baffled by a word she had never heard before.
Rayleigh had no intention of continuing the conversation, so he simply leaned against the wall and closed his eyes to rest.
Eleonora puffed out her cheeks in frustration, but she did not bother him again.
...
By the time the sky began to brighten, Rayleigh stood up, stretched lazily, and walked outside the Great Cathedral to randomly find some unlucky victim.
'You'll do.'
About three or four minutes later, Rayleigh was standing in the original owner's post, dressed in a set of silver-white armor.
Inside the Great Cathedral, after cleansing herself, Eleonora changed into her ceremonial attire.
At eight in the morning, large numbers of nobles, gods, and general-class figures arrived one after another.
Rayleigh observed every single person while eavesdropping on their conversations, but unfortunately, he did not hear much valuable information. Instead, what he heard only made him uncomfortable.
Because two of the nobles were actually exchanging experiences on how to "train" slaves.
They used money to hire people to kidnap whatever type of person suited their tastes.
Then they accepted anything delivered to them.
Human trafficking.
That was what they were doing.
It disgusted Rayleigh.
"Hehe, today is an important day for that person. Let's set those matters aside for now, lest we invite trouble."
"Speaking of which, that talentless princess actually awakened a skill. What a curious twist of fate."
"Indeed. To think she would possess the same talent as the queen. I truly did not expect it."
"It means the princess, like her mother, is an important tool for Rakia Kingdom."
"Hahaha."
Ah.
So that was it.
A princess.
No wonder her name was 'Eleonora'.
And he had the feeling he had just heard quite a bit of information that would cause serious trouble if it ever became public.
"Our god and His Majesty the King have arrived!"
"Oooooooooh!"
Amid the commotion, a neat procession entered through the outer gates of the Great Cathedral.
Then one figure ignored all discipline and strode straight ahead.
No one dared say a word to him.
There was only one reason.
He was the Father of this Nation!
The war god, Ares.
Draped in a cloak and clad in armor, this was formal dress as far as a war god was concerned.
"Ooh! Everyone's here already!"
"Glory to our patron god!"
The nobles, knights, members of Ares Familia, and priests all knelt one after another.
Rayleigh glanced at the fellow sentries standing guard beside him and found that they had not knelt either.
Come to think of it, the leg armor of this suit had an extremely large coverage area, and the movable sections around the joints were very limited.
This armor had not been designed to kneel at all.
At most, it allowed the wearer to walk.
It could not even properly run, it was purely ceremonial armor.
But that suited him just fine.
Rayleigh had no desire to kneel to this kind of god anyway.
He "diligently" continued standing guard while activating Reiraku to examine the strength of everyone present.
'Hm?'
'There were actually this many gods.'
'Two Level 3s. Ten Level 2s.'
'Aside from them, most were Level 1.'
As for ordinary people without a Falna, there was not a single one.
So that was how it was.
The structure of power and class in this country was truly clear at a glance.
In Orario, adventurers also held fairly high status, but perhaps because there were so many of them, and because the Guild managed them, adventurers were more like guardians of the city than a privileged class.
Of course, they enjoyed privileges too, but cases of them bullying civilians rarely occurred.
Civilians could even use morality to pressure adventurers.
In Rakia, that was impossible.
If any civilian dared to do such a thing, they would be convicted of "insulting a warrior."
The war god Ares only favored powerful warriors.
He was not a god who treated all children of the Lower World with mercy.
In fact, one could even call him cruel.
He did not bear justice on his shoulders, he only pursued the pleasure of war!
On top of that, he was missing a screw in his head, acted without considering the consequences, and possessed a troubling level of mobility.
That was Rayleigh's simple summary based on his understanding of Ares.
The main character had arrived first, and only then did the ceremonial procession enter.
Among that procession was a handsome man with a troubled expression.
His gaze was fixed entirely on Ares, like an adult worrying over an immature child.
That was the king of Rakia, Marius.
"Your Majesty."
"Mm. Rise."
"Hey, Marius, hurry up already," Ares called to the king of an entire nation, turning his head as though this were the most natural thing in the world.
To the cunning nobles, a so-called god, once his divine power was sealed, was little more than a mascot.
A machine that bestowed Falna.
As long as they worshiped him properly, their own status would remain secure.
The way they looked at Ares even carried a touch of indulgent affection, because whether a god ruled the kingdom or the royal family ruled the kingdom, it did not affect their pleasures.
A troublesome king was worse than a patron god with nothing but war in his head.
'What a pitiful man.'
'Rather than a king, Marius was more like a puppet.'
'Or perhaps, Ares's secretary.'
Aside from handling endless state affairs every day and cleaning up after Ares, there was nothing for him to do.
It was truly absurd.
Truly laughable.
'Hm?'
Just before entering the Great Cathedral, Ares suddenly stopped beside Rayleigh.
He stared curiously and with surprise at this "extraordinary" guard before him, his eyes shining with interest.
"Ooh! What an impressive warrior!"
Ares praised him, then nodded in satisfaction.
However, he did not do anything else and simply entered the Great Cathedral.
Rayleigh let out a breath of relief.
'That guy.'
'No matter how ridiculous he seemed, he was still a god.'
Rayleigh had disguised himself to this degree and suppressed his Reiatsu to the utmost limit, yet Ares had still read the atmosphere he gave off and judged that he was a capable warrior based purely on "instinct."
As expected of a war god.
A god really was still a god, even if he was missing a few screws!
Just then, a beautiful goddess walked past him.
The moment Rayleigh saw her, he recognized her identity from her appearance.
This was the goddess Phobos.
The goddess had long golden hair, with streaks of red mixed into it as though they had been dyed there.
The shape of her pupils resembled the star chart of Leo.
She wore a white ceremonial dress decorated with feathers.
Her expression was perfectly normal.
She did not look as though she was troubled by anything in her life.
But Rayleigh could sense the agitation in her heart.
What was strange was that he did not see the goddess named Bastet, whom Eleonora had mentioned.
...
The ceremony seemed to be about to begin.
Rayleigh expanded the perception of his Reiraku and focused it inside the Great Cathedral.
At the same time, he also learned the reason Eleonora had been chosen to enter Ares Familia.
"I didn't think a skill like this could exist."
Rayleigh's expression darkened.
Life Gestation
Its effects were:
Life force greatly increases.
Offspring born from the possessor will have tremendous potential.
When carrying offspring, the possessor will permanently lose life force.
'Something like this...'
Rather than calling it a rare skill, it was practically a curse.
And worse, this was Rakia.
Even as a princess, her fate could only be to become a "breeding mare."
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