Volume 18 Chapter 2 Temple And Shopping
"Maybe that building is the temple of the sun god Pyros."
"Wow, it's really big!"
Saying this, Al and Orson arrived in front of the temple of the sun god Pyros.
The area, about 200 meters (656ft) on each side, was surrounded by a metal fence. In the center, there was a big building that looked like a bunch of towers, and behind it were 2 large 3-story stone buildings stretching out to the sides.
The tower-like building looked like a chapel, and they could see some stained glass from the outside. In the middle, there were 4 impressive towers.
"Huh?"
When Al looked at the building from the front, he froze for a moment. In the center, surrounded by the towers, was a round silver structure.
That structure looked a lot like the one on top of Tempest's research tower. Malachi had explained that it was called a mana transmission network receiver.
Why was it here? Or was it just a coincidence that it looked so similar?
"What's wrong?"
"Sorry, I was mistaken. It's nothing."
Orson asked with a puzzled look. Al hesitated for a moment on how to respond, but he thought it wouldn't help to tell Orson about the mana transmission ne2rk right now, so he shook his head lightly.
"Is that so? Well, whatever. Let's go in for now."
"Wait a minute."
'Stealth'--'Detect Magic'
'Stealth'--'Magic Sense'
Al muttered to himself while casting spells quietly.
He also decided to cancel other spells like 'Floating Eye', 'Detect Invisible', and 'Detect Illusion'.
Originally, Al planned to cancel all his spells before entering the temple grounds, but he changed his mind and decided to keep these two.
Thanks to the 'Stealth' spell, normal detection magic tools shouldn't react to him.
He had worked hard to make sure his magic tools, like the pendant from Glee's assistant device, wouldn't react by incorporating the 'Stealth' spell's magic circuit. Other magic tools were usually stored in the research tower's 'Transport' space using the 'Transport' spell.
If he entered the big temple while still under a spell, he might attract attention, and his magic tools could be noticed too. Al understood that. But he was really curious about that round silver structure.
He wanted to at least find out if it was a magic device.
Orson seemed to notice that Al was casting some spells, but he didn't ask anything and pretended not to see.
Even if he did ask, Al couldn't tell Orson about the 'Stealth' spell, which was a secret that could avoid detection. It would be better to think of another excuse.
Maybe he could say he was just trying to see the building better from this distance. For now, he would rely on Orson's understanding and explain later. There might be some tricky explanations ahead.
Once Al was ready, he and Orson walked through the main gate made of metal that surrounded the area, following some men who looked like worshippers.
At the entrance, they handed a silver coin to a man who looked like a priest.
"Thank you. May the blessings of the sun god Pyros be with you both."
The priestly-looking man said this as he carefully accepted the coin and bowed deeply to Al and Orson.
In Al's hometown of Channing, there was a small church for the earth goddess Eesh, with only one priest and no other priests serving under him.
In comparison, this temple seemed to have several priests or assistant priests, and quite a few priests working under them. Even now, about 20 worshippers were visiting for the service.
Seeing this many people during the day on a weekday showed just how busy the capital city was.
"Wow!" "Whoa..."
Al and Orson stepped into the chapel and couldn't help but gasp.
The ceiling and walls were covered with designs of the sun and sky, fitting for a sun god, and there were fancy stained glass windows letting in bright sunlight. It felt really bright and almost magical.
"Wow!" "Yeah."
The two walked up to the altar and knelt down. Al silently thanked Orson for helping to heal his wounds.
Some people say they get messages from the gods during these ceremonies, but nothing special happened to them.
When they used the 'Detect Magic' spell, they only found out that a few priests had magic tools. There was no magic response from the building's roof or the round silver structure, which should have been in range.
So, it was probably just decoration. But Al wondered why they went through the trouble of putting up such a structure. He still had some questions in his mind.
"That was amazing. Should we go shopping and then head home?"
After leaving the temple, Al and Orson decided to take a longer route to check out the market.
"Don't you have anything to buy, Al?"
"Yeah, I do. Actually, I got some land north of Border City Parker. I'm building a hideout there, and I need furniture, wood, and fabric."
The base north of Border City Parker was just a simple white square made with a staff that could use 'Soften Stone' and 'Soften Metal' spells. It was only meant to safely use the teleportation staff without anyone noticing.
Al only had a few camping supplies there. It could use a bit more decoration.
At the research tower, they had managed to grow some food, but they were short on clothes, bed sheets, tablecloths, and wood for furniture.
They could use materials from the island to make things from scratch, but that would take a lot of time and effort, and there were only a few advanced golems to help.
Al knew he couldn't create advanced golems right now, so buying and transporting things was the practical choice.
"Are you moving to the hideout?"
"No, not for now."
"Oh, I see... Is it safe there? Bandits can be pretty sneaky."
Orson seemed to have an idea. Maybe he was imagining Patricia living there. Someone else might have thought the same.
"Well, for now, yeah."
He said that to brush it off. Since he didn't plan to use it for anything other than teleportation, it was simple, but he might need to think about security.
"What about the stuff you buy? Wood and furniture are pretty big, right?"
"Well..."
Actually, he would use the 'Transport' spell to send things to the research tower and the base, but he couldn't reveal that. However, he could show Orson the magic bag.
He hadn't talked about the 'Teleport' magic tool yet, but he could trust Orson with that. He had shown him many things and had received help from him.
If he showed Orson the magic bag and explained that they would use it to carry things, that would be a good cover. Plus, Orson would definitely be surprised.
"I have a secret... First, let's shop, and then I'll show you what I do with the stuff after we drop it off at the Levy merchant guild's house."
Al said this with a big smile at Orson.
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