Teto and I were on a bed in one of the fort's rooms that Selene guided us to after we managed to exorcise the skeleton giant.
"It's been a while since we slept together, Teto."
"Teto also couldn't wait to be hugged by Majou-sama."
"I was also saddened by your absence."
Feeling the warmth of Teto's embrace enveloping me, a sense of relief washed over me. After finally resolving a part of Leriel's oracle which had kept us occupied for the last couple of weeks, sleepiness assailed me.
"There are still lots of things to do tomorrow."
"Majou-sama, just rest for now."
After a bit of exchange, Teto and I fell asleep in each other's arms.
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Feeling something odd, I looked around only to find myself and Teto in the usual dark space of the dream oracle. There we saw the four goddesses lined up next to each other.
—The sun goddess Lariel had a cheerful smile on her face. —The oceanus goddess Luriel with her refreshing smile. —The heaven goddess Leriel looking at us with a reverent gaze. —And finally, the goddess who reincarnated me into this world, who we were apostles of, the earth goddess Liliel with a tearful smile on her face.
«Chise, thank you. Really, thank you very much.»
"Are you talking about the skeleton giant? It was also thanks to Teto and Erneah-san's efforts that it was taken down, not just me."
"Everyone did their best!"
Teto and I replied. However, Liliel just silently shook her head.
«No, that's not what I'm talking about. With the exorcizing of the skeleton giant, the souls of the people from the ancient magic civilization have finally returned to the cycle of reincarnation. It's not much, but my little sister Loriel gained back a bit of her power with them moving on to reincarnate.»
Apparently, the netherworld goddess Loriel, whose power had waned after countless people were swallowed into the space-time gap due to the devastation caused by the ancient magic civilization 2000 years ago, had slightly regained some of her power with the souls of the dead returning to their rightful place.
«It's still a long time before Lo-chan can fully awaken, nevertheless, now we sisters finally have a chance to be together after so long. Thank you, Chise-chan, Teto-chan.»
«You have my gratitude as well for all your help! I am supppper happy that you helped us out in solving the problem of the floating island, and you even resolved the western region's crisis this time! Now Loriel and I can finally merge our power of space-time and the underworld and slowly regain the souls of the people trapped in the space-time gap!»
The gentle beauty Luriel and Leriel who spoke like an energetic young girl expressed their gratitude. I also felt glad that I managed to help them out.
«Ah, that's right. Once Loriel wakes up, we're finally able to turn people with fine souls from the ranks of our believers into angels and heroic spirits after their deaths. We'll then have more hands to help us out in managing the world!»
I guess that explained a few other things. The scarcity of mana had caused the number of angels and heroic spirits under the command of Liliel and the others to plummet. They seem to be delighted at the prospect of being able to replenish their numbers.
Though Lariel looked too happy for some strange reason. She shouldn't be thinking that she'd have more time to play hooky by then, right?...... My suspicion was immediately proven correct by the stern look that Liliel was giving Lariel.
The man-made dungeon stampede had caused a lot of damage, but it seemed like a lot had been helped as well.
«Thank you very much again, Chise. But be sure to rest occasionally.»
"I know, I'm not a rash person. Besides, you know I don't do things I can't handle."
After saying that, the dream oracle ended with the goddesses seeing us off, and we opened our eyes in the room we were in.
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We woke up back in our room in the fort. While thinking of the words of gratitude that Liliel and the others said, we slowly got up and decided to take a walk to check on the fort's situation.
A night had passed since we subjugated the skeleton giant. As we searched for the place Shael, Yahada, and the others who came here as voluntary soldiers were, we came across the refugees taking shelter in the fort. All the feelings of satisfaction I felt were suddenly washed away as if I had been doused with cold water.
"They must be refugees. It hasn't really ended yet, huh?"
"They all look so down. They should be hungry."
As I walked among the refugees, their expressions brought up old memories.
Frightened by the monsters, exhausted from fleeing, and a vacant look on their faces. It was something I had seen countless times in my adventuring days, but unlike then, there were more than 50,000 people at this moment.
"Haa...... seeing this gloomy scene, I can't help but want to do something."
"Teto also doesn't like this."
My trained mana skills had given me a kind of supernatural sense, and from it, I could sense the presence of death emanating from the refugees who had drifted here from who knows how many places. Maybe, this was what they called the smell of dead, miasma, or the source of curses.
"Everything is insufficient at this time."
The adventurers and knights who were defending the fort from monsters were given priority in the distribution of the fort's supplies.
So it wasn't hard to think that only a minimal amount of emergency rations were distributed among refugees.
The Heaven Goddess just asked for the extermination of the monsters, but the crisis wouldn't end in the truest sense if the aftermath wasn't dealt with properly.
While thinking about how to help them out, I looked for Shael's place when I heard the high-pitched voice of a child.
"Stop, return granny's bread!"
"It's a waste to let an old hag have the bread when she's already so close to death's door! We'll keep it with us!"
I turned to look at the source of the argument and saw a young boy snatching the distributed bread from a kid.
The people around raised their eyebrows at his deed but remained mere spectators, seemingly not wanting to get embroiled in the ruckus.
"He really has no shame, to snatch bread from a kid," my hand curled up into a fist in indignation.
"Give it back! Give me granny's bread back!"
"Dman, you're noisy!"
"Kyaa!?"
The little girl, who was clinging to the young man in an attempt to take back the bread, fell to the ground as the young boy lightly pushed her off.
I used «Psychokinesis» to gently catch the little girl, but because of the push, her hood came off, revealing her short black hair, and crooked horn, indicating her status as a member of the demonic race.
The refugees around became restless as soon as they saw it.
"You bastard, so you were a devil! How dare you touch me with your filthy hands! What if you curse us!"
"Look, she even has black hair! Drive her away! Don't come into our human territory!"
"Hii!?"
A look of fear appeared in the ashen grey eyes of the little girl from the demonic race when the refugees suddenly turned on her.
We decided to intervene and put an end to this disgusting ruckus.
"What are you guys doing to a little girl?"
As soon as I spoke in a loud voice enhanced with mana, everyone's attention shifted from that demonic race little girl to me.
"Huh? What, are you a friend of this devil?"
"We aren't, but looting from someone else is not something we can ignore."
"You're going to get a scolding from the knights if you cause too much ruckus!"
"Tsk...... Don't you have black hair as well?......"
Realizing that it wouldn't do them any good if the knights monitoring the refugee camp got involved, the group of boys spat and left with that condensing remark while holding the bread.
"They don't have eyes for the beautiful hair of Majou-sama."
"It's better if you don't take any disparaging words from people like them to heart. More importantly, are you all right?"
I crouched down and stretched out my hand to the little girl, who just looked at me with an astounded look.
"......I, I'm sorry!"
The little girl hurriedly stood up and slipped her hood back to its place. Though she still looked intimidated after the gazes the people around her gave her earlier.
"Let us escort you to your grandmother's place, it'll be dangerous if someone else tries to pick a fight with you."
"We're very strong, you know!"
As I spoke in a reassuring tone, the little girl showed a lost expression for a while before nodding.
