Published: September 10, 2025
※2017/12/24 Typo corrections made.
※2017/12/11 Some parts revised.
This is Satou. I heard that when you master cross-dressing, you can become even more feminine than real women. Recently, not only makeup techniques but also photo editing skills have improved, so it's become quite difficult to find a natural beauty.
â—‡
“She’s still alive, it seems.”
“We have to rescue her quickly!”
“Hm.”
The mermaid girl was on the verge of death, so I extended my Magic Hand to pull her out from the water’s edge.
But before I could act, splashes rose, and golden hair with vertical curls spread across the sea surface.
Apparently, Miss Karina had jumped into the sea earlier than me to perform the rescue.
Mia and Princess Sistina’s eyes widened at the sight.
Miss Karina tried to lift the mermaid and hand her over, but naturally, if she did that, she herself would sink into the sea.
Maybe it’s better to let her play a bit more on the beach of the Isolated Island Palace.
I used Magic Hand to lift Miss Karina up to the water surface, received the mermaid girl, and then pulled Miss Karina by the wrist back to the pier.
Her chest, soaked and pressed by the water, was quite a sight, but I didn’t want to stare too much, so I covered her with some cloth and dried her off with life magic.
“Overexertion.”
According to Teacher Mia’s diagnosis, the mermaid girl — or rather the little girl — had collapsed due to overexertion.
Her clan, displayed via AR, is not present on this map, so she either drifted here from far away or escaped after being kidnapped by pirates or the like.
“Yeah, no obvious injuries.”
There were small scars on her body and some peeled scales on her lower half, so I applied magic potions to heal them just in case.
Merfolk breathe with lungs, so I plan to entrust her to the airship’s brownies for care and then inquire about her situation.
Unless there are special circumstances such as abuse in her homeland, I’ll send her back home by airship later.
â—‡
“Up close, this temple is quite intricately crafted.”
“Yes, the carvings are magnificent.”
“Mm, beautiful.”
From afar, the Galleon Temple looked like a solid gray temple, but as we approached, walls and pillars bore unique carvings, giving it the majestic appearance of a world heritage site.
Looking closer, the building wasn’t just made of gray stone; decorations also used unusual metals like silver and black steel.
As the central temple, there were many pilgrims and wealthy merchants around, and priests serving the temple came and went frequently.
—Hm?
At the temple gate, a priest who was glaring suspiciously at the people coming in caught sight of me and, surprised, rushed inside the temple.
It seemed the priest had an appraisal skill and must have noticed the title I had set publicly: “One who challenges the trial of the gods,” and reported it.
If we wait a bit, someone will come to greet us, so we leisurely admired the carvings of the Galleon Temple.
And then—
“Satou.”
Mia pointed to the temple entrance.
There stood women wearing shrine maiden attire.
No, the beautiful one in the center looked like a boy.
According to AR, he held titles like “male shrine priest” and “shrine priest.” I had seen male shrine priests during Ms. Aze’s dedication dance, but this might be the first time outside the Elf Village.
From what I heard at a cousin’s shrine, “male shrine priests” is a general term, and “shrine priests” refers to male shrine maidens, but here, “male shrine priests” seem to be a title only held by males with the “divine oracle” skill.
In fact, none of the shrine maidens I’ve met before with the “divine oracle” skill had the “male shrine priest” title.
Ignoring the pilgrims who began to pray around the shrine maidens, their gazes fixed firmly on me.
Since pretending not to notice here would be pointless, I approached them.
“Welcome to the Galleon Temple — one who challenges the trial of the gods.”
The male shrine priest boy standing at the center greeted me.