A GOD AND A SPIRIT RECONCILE
A little while ago, an establishment popped up in Flatta—a temple to the pine spirit, Misjantie.
It wasn’t the main temple, of course. It was more like a branch.
A signboard detailing the history of the foundation sat in front of the building—
—That was what it said…
To put it bluntly, there were all sorts of factual errors.
It claimed the pine sapling had been offered to me, but Misjantie just gave it to me at the end of Falfa and Shalsha’s sister wedding as a little wedding favor… There’d been nothing sacred about it.
It was true that once I’d planted it, it had grown into a massive pine tree in just days. You could see it for miles, so it was like a landmark for the house in the highlands.
I could understand the urge to make a temple based on those factors alone, but the spirit in question had basically dedicated the place to herself. Plus, she was so casual, I couldn’t really bring myself to put my faith in her…
I passed by the Misjantie Temple and all its shady history.
She had used the growth of the pine tree to build a branch temple in Flatta and spread her faith.
To be more precise, she was trying to make money by holding weddings for people. The Misjantie Temple was not very well-off financially.
At the moment, some villagers were visiting.
“I wonder what they get out of it… I guess Misjantie herself does show up every once in a while, though…”
“Something about that does not seem to sit well with you, Lady Azusa,” Laika pointed out. She had come with me on a shopping trip.
“I was just thinking about the nerve she has… This ability to see spirits and gods is a problem. It just makes it harder to believe in them…”
I knew spirits and gods had values that weren’t much different from humans, so I found it really hard to muster up the will to venerate them. Not that I’d been leading a god-fearing life before I met them.
“I think it’s nice to get along so well with some of the deities and spirits.”
“I see. You’re a good kid, Laika~”
For some reason, Laika’s face went red. “You are terribly strong, and worshipping you seems a matter of course. Yet you are so easy to get along with… You treat me like family, like your real younger sister…”
“Oh, come on! I’m just a witch! I’ve just been alive for three hundred years! I’m not worship material!”
No matter how casual the spirits and gods turned out to be, being compared with them was weird. They were most definitely greater than me.
“How noble you are, Lady Azusa, to be so humble… How wonderful… I still have much to learn from you…”
“Why are you complimenting me so much today…? Is there something you want me to buy you…? You’re pretty humble yourself, right?”
“Well, I initially challenged you to a fight because I believed I was the strongest in the province… I was entirely conceited…”
Oh yeah—that happened so long ago. I’d been shocked at the time, but it was a good memory now.
“I intend to continue improving myself one step at a time so that I may be like you…Lady Azusa.”
It was a little over the top, and maybe I should have been embarrassed about it.
Actually, I had a feeling that Laika was already better than me at being ladylike…
“Ah, ahem… However, it is true that you may be excessively humble, Lady Azusa. You have never spoken of your heroic deeds of the past three hundred years,” Laika said with an earnest look. I guess she had an earnest personality, though, so that was a given.
“That’s just because I don’t have any…”
It had only been a few years since I found out I was ridiculously strong.
For three hundred years, I thought all that made me special was my immortality. I never contended with stronger enemies, and they never came after me.
Without any heroics, there were no feats and no stories spreading news of them.
“I am certain you must have overcome something incredible in the past, because this is you we are talking about, Lady Azusa. I will find out what that is someday!”
Laika was determined to get this out of me.
“I appreciate the enthusiasm, but you really can’t be disappointed over this, okay?”
—Then I heard a familiar style of speech.
“C’mon, man, stop! Why are you building this?!”
It was Misjantie, the pine spirit.
The local temple was nothing more than a small branch, but it was still her place of worship. It wasn’t odd to find her here. I wondered what was happening.
Laika and I entered Flatta’s Misjantie Temple and found a crowd of people building something a little ways in.
Misjantie stood beside them. “Cut it out, man! You’re gonna make it all cramped!”
Despite that, it seemed as though she had made herself invisible and inaudible to the regular person, so the construction workers didn’t notice her.
I stood at a distance and waved Misjantie over.
If I called to her from any closer, the workers would wonder why I was talking to the air. I had to take her where they couldn’t hear me.
“Oh! Azusa! This is no good, man. Ever since we established the Flatta branch, we’ve been in a real crisis.”
“It hasn’t been very long since you opened at all… What happened?”
“As far as I can tell,” said Laika, “it seems as though they’re building something. Is it not a good thing to have a new temple?”
Laika was watching the construction.
“I thought so at first, too, man… But I recently realized someone tricked me…”
Tricked—that didn’t sound good.
“Just look at that sign over there, man!”
As she said, there was a sign in front of the construction site—
That goddess was building a shrine here, too?!
I didn’t think she’d find her way to Flatta… Her faith sure was spreading strong…
“I was just about to start pulling in wedding profits from Flatta, and now they’re muscling in on my space… This is a crisis of faith, man…”
Misjantie was at her wits’ end.
I guess even objects of worship have their fights, too.
This reminded me of something in Japan—the little auxiliary and subordinate shrines to related gods in the main shrine. Sometimes, either beside or behind the central shrine, there were smaller spots that worshipped the gods Inari or Benten.
Temples weren’t all that different, either. It wasn’t unusual to have halls dedicated to Benten or Jizou beside the main hall, where the principal deity was worshipped.
There could be a whole line of beneficial deities in the same polytheistic space.
“Misjantie, this space still celebrates you. Why not just let her have a little part of the land for a bit? Show her how profound you can be.”
I patted Misjantie on the shoulder.
“The goddess’s worshippers might even want to hold their weddings in your areas, too. Let’s think about this positively.”
“C’mon, Azusa. Look how big her building is…”
The goddess in question’s shrine was decisively bigger.
If her shrine was the dream home built after retirement, then Misjantie’s temple was a prefab hut.
“Wow, you’re clearly losing…”
“She’ll take over the whole place at this rate, man… She came after me. She’s trying to take my worshippers away… She’s a goddess; why does she have to be so petty…?”
This was their difference in popularity… The world of gods and spirits was tougher than I thought…
“Oh, Miss Misjantie, there is hope.”
Hey, Laika was going in to support her.
“The Misjantie Temple is still right at the entrance, and Goodly Godly Godness’s shrine is facing sideways.”
Laika set about comforting her in the kindly girl’s usual pragmatism. She was an exemplary apprentice, of course.
“Hey, you’re right. Her shrine is facing ninety degrees to the right from the entrance… If you come in from the front, then all you can see is the back of the left side of my temple, man…”
“In essence, you are the primary deity here, and Goodly Godly Godness is the subordinate. That is how it works based on the layout. Those who come here to pray will surely understand that as well.”
“Thanks, dragon lady! I’ll be sure to throw you a fancy wedding, man!” Misjantie gripped Laika’s hand.
“Oh… I haven’t…really thought about getting married…”
“You’re pretty enough to get whoever you want, man! If you’re ever interested, just lemme know!”
“No, I truly haven’t thought about it… My elder sister just got married a little while ago…” Laika seemed to be having a tough time of it.
I wasn’t really sure what a marriageable age for dragons was, but judging by Laika’s looks, I had a feeling she still had some time.
“I’ll find you a good dragon, man! I’m thinking about starting a matchmaking service! No annual fees if you join now!”
This was getting more and more corporate!
“I promise to never mess up when I handpick partners! I based the name on the Misjantie Temple to call it MisWeds!”
That made it sound like the wedding was a mistake!
“Please stop! I have never thought about getting married! I am still too immature, so weddings are not going to happen until the far future!”
Laika’s face was red as she stubbornly objected. It was a very Laika-like attitude, and she was thoroughly embarrassed.
“Awwww, look, guys aren’t just immature; they’re like eternal kids, man. You don’t have to worry about that at all!”
This spirit was just saying whatever she wanted because regular people couldn’t see her.
“R-regardless, I have no intention of doing so!”
A bit of fire came out of Laika’s mouth.
The pine spirit’s “favor” was unwelcome.
“Misjantie, stop. You’re just meddling at this point.”
“Oh, I didn’t mean to bother you, man… I was just so happy you reminded me my temple was the main one. I didn’t…”
Then the construction workers started moving.
“Next, we have to knock down this fence here.”
“Yeah, this’ll be Goodly Godly Godness’s main entrance.”
“Let’s use flagstone for the path.”
“We’ll have to make the shrine gate after that.”
They tore down the fence that was right in front of the goddess’s shrine and started putting in a board that read GOODLY GODLY GODNESS SHRINE, FLATTA BRANCH, ENTRANCE AND GATE CONSTRUCTION SITE.
They were trying to make a new entrance! The goddess was going to get an entrance that went right to her shrine’s front door!
“She’s seriously gonna take the main spot, man! This is unbelievable!”
“Oh dear… I suppose things like this do happen…”
Laika knew there wasn’t anything she could say to cheer Misjantie up.
“And she’s making a gate, too… I don’t have any gates at all, man… I’m done for… Next time people visit, they’re gonna think she’s the main shrine and I’m just something fun on the side…”
This time, Misjantie sunk to the floor in dejection.
It was weird to describe something in this world with a Buddhist phrase, but—
All things must pass.
“Don’t worry about it, Misjantie,” I said.
“That’s something you say when you haven’t fixed anything, man…”
There was nothing we could do, though.
“But don’t you think it strange, Lady Azusa?” Laika was entirely calm and composed. I was so proud of my little sister. “A human must nominally have the property rights to this Misjantie Temple branch. Even if Goodly Godly Goodness is popular, whoever has those rights would never allow another place of worship to be built without permission…”
“Now that you mention it… Believers of a different god just breaking down your fences and throwing up a building is basically an act of aggression. It’s illegal anyway. Do you know anything about all this, Misjantie?”
“The temple here does have an administrator, yeah. He’s not from Flatta, but he is a priest who’s in charge of all the Misjantie Temples in this province.”
“Then he wouldn’t just sell the land to the patrons of another god—”
Then, an old man wearing priestlike robes passed by us, carrying a leather sack that looked like it was stuffed full of money.
“Phew~! Guess the Misjantie Temple will be able to stay open for a while yet. Selling off more than half the land was a good idea. That’s a relief.”
The priest sold the land in a managerial crisis!
The smiling priest walked away. The sale had probably been necessary to keep things running, but the spirit he worshipped was right here…
Misjantie finally toppled over and hit the floor face-first. It looked like it was too painful to keep herself up anymore.
“I lost… I can only really offer blessings to weddings and pine trees… She’s an almighty being who can offer blessings for all kinds of stuff… This is a losing battle, man…”
“I don’t think I can cheer you up, but the best defense might be a good offense. Why don’t you come on over to my house and have some tea?”
That was all I could do for her.
“Oh, what a kind thing to do! I’ll add a stamp to your virtue stamp card!”
I heard another familiar voice.
Goodly Godly Godness stood beside us.
“Oh! Goddess!”
This was the goddess who reincarnated me, who came to this world after being demoted, and was now operating under a ridiculous name.
“I started getting more followers in this province, so I ended up building a shrine here in Flatta~! Luckily, I found someone worried about keeping a spirit’s temple running, so I bought the land! I believe I’ll be able to have a lovely shrine built here.”
Yep, that was definitely land from Misjantie’s temple.
“I’m so happy I could help someone in need, too~! I’m racking up virtue~!”
“Goddess! That’s not a good thing to say right now!”
It sounded like she was trying to cause trouble!
Misjantie, still lying on the ground, looked up at the goddess.
This was the worst time they could have met. If a fight broke out between a god and a spirit, it would be a mess.
Not only that, but I knew both of them…
I’d have to be really careful if two of my acquaintances ended up not getting along…
Someone I was on good terms with in my past life always used to say things to me like, “So-and-so sure gets way too into things, huh?” and I never knew how to answer.
“So-and-so” was actually a close friend of mine, but I could never bring it up…
Boy, that was rough. My stomach hurt just thinking about it.
But at least that was all kept secret.
These two were standing right in front of each other, which added a whole new dimension to this problem.
“Uh, Goodly Godly Godness?” Misjantie said neutrally.
“Yes, what is it, miss pine spirit?”
Please keep this peaceful! Peaceful!
“…When your believers want to hold a wedding, please use my branch, man.”
She went straight for an economic partnership!
“Understood~! I hope we have a happy relationship as neighbors~! ”
“Yeah. I’d also be happy if we could plan joint festivals to get our followers mingling, man.”
Very clever—now she was trying to fold the goddess’s followers into her own.
“If you could, would you tell your faithful that they can get virtue for having weddings in my temple, man?”
This spirit had no pride—actually, that was big relief.
“Hmm, I see. I might be able to declare that throwing a wonderful wedding counts as a virtuous act toward the stamp card.”
“I’ll take it, man! And if you can, I’d be super happy if you could put a little temple for Misjantie on the grounds of your other shrines…”
She was more brazen than I thought! She was the kind to use every tool she had.
“Very well. I will look into that. I want everyone to get along in joy and good health.”
“Yes, thank you! And Godly Godness, you’re gorgeous, man! I wish I could be like you!”
If you’re going to suck up, that’s a really cliché way to go about it.
“Thank you so much~! That makes me happy~!”
The goddess did not seem terribly dissatisfied—but it was hard to tell because she was wearing her usual smile.
“I’m praying for you to be as everlasting as the pines, man!”
Misjantie and the goddess exchanged a firm handshake.
“I see the problem has been resolved, Lady Azusa,” Laika commented once it was all over. I agreed.
“Looks like it… I’m relieved it didn’t come to them shutting each other down. Okay, let’s get back to shopping.”
We had made one hell of a detour—and we still had to get ingredients for dinner.
“Oh, wait, Azusa, wait. I’ll give you a stamp.” The goddess stopped me.
“Uh…did I bring my card? Oh yeah, it’s still in my wallet.”
I got a stamp.
“So you really are giving those out.”
“I am still a god, so I am working hard to ensure everyone is happy. I might be twisted in some other ways, but I am straightforward when it comes to this! Zing!”
Did she just say “zing” to herself?
“Let us meet when we both have the time—we can get lunch or tea or something. Or have a girls’ day out!”
“Sure, sure. Just come over whenever you feel like it.”
She was acting like she was my classmate or something.
She was being way too familiar with me for a goddess—but maybe that wasn’t so bad.
And that was how the land problem between the Misjantie Temple and the Goodly Godly Godness Shrine was settled without incident.
Misjantie was the if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em type, thankfully. If I were to relabel her noncommittal way of life, then I could say her worldview was flexible and she could roll with the punches. Misjantie was hardy and tough.
Plus, shrines were a good shot in the arm for our sleepy town of Flatta.
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