Chapter 62 - Up The Snowy Mountain

The five of them rode on the flying witch brooms away from the guild, out of town, and into the distant horizon before they eventually made it to the Snowy Mountains. The ride was cold and rough given the cold weather, and the slightly frustrating fact was that this was just the beginning of the season, so the following days were only going to get colder! For Kazuya, Orihime, and Genta, it felt like their armor was only making things worse for them, given the metal's tendency to absorb coldness. 

Their noses were all starting to turn red from the cold, and if they kept flying at this fast pace for too long, they would fall sick. 

If not for the cloaks they were all wearing, they probably would have passed out from the cold. 

But it wasn't too long after that when they made it to the mountains. As they were hovering on the high horizon, Shizu pointed out the building for them to see.

"There it is," Shizu said, pointing at a large building easily identified by the large smoke of incense coming from its large chimney, "Sarasa's temple."

It was a very large building, and from their high perspective, they could see trails of thousands of people processing towards and away from the building in single file. Their chants could be heard even from a hundred feet above the ground, as there were several of them singing the same song. The smoke from the burning incense was so thick that it could easily tell the location of the building in itself from a further distance, and it serves as a testimony to the level of loyalty the people had for the goddess. 

They could also see multiple gates with guards and mages at each entrance, all leading towards the temple. At those entrances, people were expected to drop their weapons. 

This was because carrying weapons of violence to a sacred place was an abomination, an act of insubordination to the supreme deities. 

This bothered Orihime, knowing that they were armed with weapons—weapons they would need to raid the temple. 

Kazuya looked down at them and frowned. "Do any of them know that the gods have forsaken us?" he asked rhetorically, and nobody gave the answer, as they all knew what it was and it was sad to admit. 

"Let's get down and walk from here," Shizu said to them, "we cannot be spotted on the horizon from beyond this point."

"Why? Going on the ground would take us hours before we could reach the temple, but going by air would only take a few minutes at worst," Orihime asked. "Besides, wouldn't going on foot give away that we are trying to raid the temple? I mean, we are all dressed like people going to raid a temple, aren't we?"

"You have a good point—Genta also brought it up to me before we left. That is why I came up with a plan," Shizu explained, "but first we need to get down. Being idle in the air for too long would make us look suspicious."

Orihime wanted to press further. She wanted to ask why they couldn't just fly straight at the temple at full speed before the mages and guards could do anything to stop them. But she found herself concurring with Shizu's suggestions instead. Perhaps it was because, deep down, she knew she didn't want to rush into raiding the temple, because in the depths of her true thoughts, though she wanted to be part of this mission, she was afraid. But unbeknownst to her, it was the same for everyone other than Shizu. 

So they all levitated down on their witch brooms to the ground. 

"Alright, so this is what we are going to do," Shizu said, "For those of you who might still be wondering, we cannot fly directly into the temple because there are mages kept in charge of watching over the area, and even though I might be able to take them on, there are also protective magical fields surrounding the area. Knowing that we are about to fight against a god of near-infinite magical power, it would be wise for us to conserve our energy for the main fight, and the only way we can do that is by covertly infiltrating the temple instead of raiding it instead, instead of raiding it from the outside, would be a

At this point, Kazuya and the others had a better understanding and felt better about themselves, knowing that it wasn't just because they were afraid of doing so but for logical reasons as well. 

"So here is the plan," Shizu said to them. "You all are going to lay down your weapons, and I will hide them somewhere safe by opening a portal with my hidden magic." That way, we will be able to get past the guards and mages protecting the various gates leading towards the building. Then, after we successfully get into the temple, I will open the portal, you all get your weapons, and then we begin our raid. "Would that be alright?"

"Hai!" They all nodded in unison. 

Then Shizu opened her portal, and they all laid down their weapons. With her telekinetic magic, she tossed them all into the portal and then closed it up. 

"Alright, let's get going," Shizu said to them, and they all began their walk toward the temple. At the point where the path up the mountains began, there was a gate with about a dozen guards and a mage supervising the people going beyond that point. 

The adventurers noticed that there were a lot of weapons discarded at the gate, proving what Shizu said was correct. Thankfully, they wouldn't have to discard theirs that way, and since they were unarmed, they were allowed to pass that area, with each being given a wooden ticket with a carved inscription for authenticity. 

When they passed the gate, Orihime was still staring at her wooden ticket. "I'm guessing that without this, we wouldn't be able to get into the temple, right?" she asked Shizu. 

"Without this, you wouldn't be able to pass the second gate," Shizu corrected. 

"Wow, they are a lot tighter on security than I gave them credit for," admitted Orihime. 

"Trust me, young child. "You aren't even seeing half of the security measures they have undertaken to secure this place," Shizu said as she looked around, taking note of all the magical traps and shields surrounding the temple thanks to her ability to see hidden magic. She was happy she rebuked the idea of directly flying into the temple; if not, they would have been completely eviscerated by now.

At this point, those who had passed the gate began to walk in a single file, heading towards the second gate. The people began to hum a hymn as they processed forward, but none of the adventurers joined in the singing. Knowing the gods have turned against humanity, it was a great pain to hear people singing about those deities—the same ones who were planning their destruction. 

"Listening to these people sing to glorify that goddess is sickening," Orihime whispered angrily. 

"Don't blame them; they don't know what they are doing," Shizu said to her, "the same way you didn't know what you were doing before you became informed."

"For your information, I was an atheist before I found out that there were actual deities in charge of things. "Before now, I had nothing to do with religion," Orihime replied. 

"Oh, sorry," Shizu said, "I assumed wrongly." "But what gave you the conviction that there was no god?"

"Because nothing was pointing towards any deity who looked after the affairs of men and deserved to be worshipped." My difficult life was a testimony that no such gods existed, given my rough upbringing. If I ever relied on a deity for life and survival, even for a second, I wouldn't be here today. "I am alive right now because I took responsibility for my life and well-being and placed no hope in any higher power for it," Orihime replied...

"I believed that there was no god and that if there were one, he or she would have to be the most megalomaniacal person in all of existence." Ironically, it is unfortunate that I was right about the latter because there isn't just one, but several of those sadistic bastards ruling over us."

Shizu kept quiet, not knowing how to reply to that statement, as she had always been a polytheist for as long as she could remember—the same thing with Genta and Kenpachi, who were also devout worshippers before the big discovery. 

Kazuya, however, related very closely to what Orihime said, even though he was religious before his village's destruction. In a way, tragedies in life also affected his view of the gods, even before he realized that they were against him and everyone.