Chapter 318: The Seraph Gabriel
"Where exactly are we going to find an angel? Is it in heaven?" Shirou asked, bewildered.
"Over there!" The black-haired woman tilted her bamboo hat and pointed toward the other side of the slope.
At that moment, Sita approached, leading her horse.
"I take it you've finished talking?" the red-haired girl asked.
"Mhm, thank you, Sita," Xuanzang replied with a smile and a nod.
"Then my mission is complete," the red-haired girl acknowledged. She turned to look at the boy and said, "Shirou, this is where we part ways."
"Eh? Sita, you're leaving already? I haven't even properly thanked you," Shirou said. He hadn't expected the girl who had risked everything to rescue him from the palace and fight off soldiers to leave so abruptly.
"No need, Shirou. We are siblings who fought side-by-side! But I must be on my way now," Sita said.
"Where are you going?" Shirou asked.
Sita spoke firmly: "To break the curse on my body. Since dozens of lifetimes ago, I have been cursed. No matter how many times I reincarnate, it cannot be dispelled; I am eternally forbidden from staying peacefully with my beloved husband. I must find a solution."
Seeing the look on her face, Shirou understood her resolve was unshakable. Lacking the power to break such a curse, he could only bid her farewell: "Good luck, Sita. Goodbye."
"Mhm! Shirou! Until we meet again if fate allows." Sita leaped onto her horse.
"Goodbye. I hope you break your curse soon," Xuanzang added with a wave.
"Goodbye, sister. I also hope you return to your disciples soon," Sita said, kicking her horse into a gallop and heading in the opposite direction.
"Is the curse on her that troublesome?" Shirou asked Xuanzang, watching the retreating figure.
"You've heard of the Indian epic Ramayana, right? Specifically, Rama and Sita?"
"Are you saying the Sita who was stolen by the Demon King Ravana is related to the Sita I know?"
In that tale, Rama spent fourteen years training and, with the help of the monkey god Hanuman and an army of monkeys, finally defeated the Demon King and reclaimed Sita. During this time, Rama killed a rival monkey and was cursed.
However, after fulfilling his mission, Rama was no longer the warrior who fought solely for love and justice; influenced by fame and the desire for power, he began to turn toward tyranny. He
doubted Sita's chastity and forced her to walk through fire to prove her innocence. Sita jumped into the flames and was lifted out by the giant hand of the Fire God, leading Rama to accept her.
After a brief period of affection and a celebration where they divided the Demon King's treasures with the monkey army, Rama decided to return to his homeland. The old king had died, and the people were willing to embrace the powerful Rama as king, but they did not believe in the loyalty of a woman who had been gone for fourteen years. Thus, Rama abandoned a then-pregnant Sita on the banks of the Ganges and returned to the palace alone to inherit the throne.
Sita gave birth to twins by the river and received help from a sage. Once the children grew, the sage tried to help Sita prove her innocence again. Rama claimed he wanted to believe her but could not convince the populace. Because Rama still wouldn't stand by her, Sita called upon Mother Earth: "If I am pure, let the earth open its mouth."
The ground cracked, a bottomless chasm appeared, and Sita resolutely leaped into the fissure, never to return.
Rama, the avatar of Vishnu—one of the three main gods of India—subsequently became a legendary tyrant. At the end of his life, the avatar merged back with the original deity in heaven. The husband and wife were reunited in the heavens, but unfortunately, the independent consciousness and souls they possessed as humans had vanished.
"Mhm. In this world, that curse has never ended. Rama and Sita continue to repeat their reincarnations, separated like all couples driven apart by suspicion. In fact, before I was blown here, I saw their reincarnation from a hundred years ago: the Queen of the Zhuzi Kingdom. Her beloved husband was stolen by the monster Sai Taishui. Even though she had the Five-Colored Cloud Garment gifted by a Great Immortal to keep the monster away, she was still doubted by her husband. Although the Queen followed Wukong's advice and accepted him back, by the time we returned with the scriptures, we never heard of the Queen's husband again."
"I see..." Shirou paused. He realized that while everything was inverted in this world, it wasn't necessarily a bad thing. However, judging by Sita's character, he could see how tragic the fate of the girl who helped him would be. As her figure vanished, Shirou felt a wave of melancholy.
"Is there really no other way?" Shirou asked.
Xuanzang shook her head. "Karma. The curse lies within the love itself. As long as they adore each other, they are destined to be separated the moment they meet and feel that love. Their reunion is the moment they are parted by heaven and earth."
"I see," Shirou replied softly. He desperately wanted to do something for the red-haired girl.
"Well... with you, it might not be impossible... but you can't do it right now... Never mind! Let's go." Xuanzang hesitated, whispering to herself. "In your era, religion might have stepped off the center stage of the world, but for some, faith is a vital part of life."
It was true. With advanced science, almost everything seen and heard could be explained. The importance of religion had thinned. In the future, religion was more for soothing inevitable daily pain or finding motivation—tasks that "chicken soup for the soul" and self-help books could now perform.
Shirou nodded. "Mhm. But there is still a demand for it. Many temples are very prosperous, even if they're mostly 'cloud believers.' There are still many merchants who spend huge sums to burn the first incense or donate to build temples. Shaolin Temple even became incredibly wealthy through management; it was almost a listed company."
"Shaolin Temple? Really?" Xuanzang cried out, sounding struck. She had hoped to go to Shaolin to translate scriptures after returning to the Tang.
"And in other worlds, there are powerful institutions like the Holy Church that rival the Mage's Association. But compared to religion, they feel more like 'organs of violence' to me," Shirou added, thinking of a certain priest who had left a deep impression on him.
"Enough, let's change the subject," Xuanzang said, looking at Shirou with a complex gaze.
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Descending the slope, they walked toward the right. The small path paved with crushed stone suggested they were nearing a populated area.
"Oh, we're almost there!" Xuanzang shouted happily.
Following her gaze, Shirou saw a building about a hundred meters away with the style of the ancient Arab Empire's Damascus. It utilized symmetrical squares and circles; the gates were oval—straight on the sides and curved at the top like a bridge arch. Slender, tall minarets stood with cylindrical bodies and conical tips. The central castle featured a massive spherical roof with a spire at the very center.
The female monk walking ahead suddenly said, "Shirou, you'll need to be careful from here on."
"Mhm? Why?"
"In this world's Arab Empire, devout households are led by women. Married men must wear veils to cover their hair and cannot show their faces or bodies to any woman other than their wives."
"But in your case, as the Prince of the Eastern Nation, both Charlemagne's Empire and the Arab Empire will be very lenient with you."
Xuanzang smirked. "Because to them, marrying you is the same as opening the doors to the Eastern Nation. Vast amounts of silk, tea, porcelain, and lacquerware will be open to them. Most importantly, it means the last third of the world will accept their teachings."
"I don't have that kind of convenient power! And which country is 'The Eastern Nation' supposed to be anyway?!" Shirou couldn't help but retort.
"That's just the setting of this world," the black-haired monk teased, spreading her hands. She then looked at Shirou seriously. "But Shirou, you must understand—that's how they think. Obtaining you is synonymous with obtaining inexhaustible wealth and supreme glory."
However, those conflicts had nothing to do with the girls Shirou was about to meet. The castle at the center of the city had been vacated by the local lord to accommodate the "Messengers of God."
Inside the largest room, a blonde girl lay lazily on a Persian carpet, legs crossed, complaining listlessly:
"Honestly, enough already. It was so much better staying home playing games and saving the world. Why did I have to go out to some festival? Now look. I've ended up in this weird place. I really want some potato chips. Hey! Over there! I'm out of juice. Another glass."
"D-dammit! Why do I, the great Archdemon Satania, have to serve fruit and pour juice for an angel here?!" A crimson-haired girl, now dressed in servant's clothing, reluctantly poured a fresh glass of juice for the fallen angel.
"No, Satania. We are currently guests in someone else's home; it's only right to help with the chores," a short-haired girl nearby, who was actively cleaning every corner of the room, said persuasively.
"But! But! Gabriel and Raphiel get the highest treatment! Why do I have to work? I want to lie on the floor and roll around!"
On the other side, the silver-haired angel Raphiel smiled and handed an apple from the fruit bowl. "Fufufu, that's because this is our territory. Why don't you come over to my side? I don't need you to serve me, and I'll even share the good food with you. Here, take this apple."
"Really!" Satania took the apple happily.
Raphiel lifted a slender foot clad in white silk toward the red-haired demon. "Mhm. As long as you agree to be my dog. First, kneel down and lick my foot."
"Who would do something like that!!" Satania hesitated, glancing at the dainty foot and then the apple, before finally slamming the apple onto the ground and screaming in frustration.
"Hmph! Gabriel-sama! Raphiel-sama! Is everything alright in there?" The guards outside, clutching swords, looked in and shouted.
"Ugh! It's nothing! I just dropped something! I'm picking it up now!" Satania crouched down, clutching her head and gritting her teeth. "...Dammit."
They had merely been attending a festival together, enjoying the fireworks, when before they knew what was happening, a witch's teleportation circle dragged them into this world. They quickly realized this was a world of religious conflict, but for the angels, neither side seemed like a problem.
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam share the same root, worshipping the same one God, just under different names. In Islamic doctrine, angels are beautiful winged creatures led by the Archangel Jibril (Gabriel), serving as messengers for God. In a male-dominated Islamic world, angels would be male; in this inverted world, they were all female.
Thus, Gabriel felt no dissonance here. She showed a bit of Holy Light and was immediately treated as a VIP by the Arab Empire, hosted in a luxury palace with high-level warriors as guards.
Satania, the "great demon," was in an awkward spot. While demons and angels coexist like light and shadow, in any era, they are the villains of the dark corners. Aside from a few dangerous cultists, no one welcomed them. Compared to their original world, the humans here were terrifyingly strong. Especially those called "Heroes"—she was likely no match for them, even though she was supposed to be the strongest, most evil Archdemon!
"Good work, everyone. I've finished the cleaning here. I'm going to the kitchen to help with dinner," Vigne said as she stepped out of the room, bowing to the guards.
"Mhm, Vigne is such a good child. It's okay to rest, you know. You can stay here as long as you like," the guard captain said kindly, patting the girl's head. Kind and hardworking children are loved everywhere.
"Then, I'm off," Vigne said with a cute smile.
"Mhm. Say hello to the new chefs for us. We're looking forward to their cooking. We're all clumsy brutes who can't handle delicate meals," the guard captain said.
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In the kitchen of the domed palace, Yukino Yukinoshita and Asuna Yuuki were busy with dinner, wearing simple aprons made of coarse linen. Before long, there was a knock on the door, and Vigne walked in.
Seeing her, Yukino managed a rare smile.
Asuna stepped forward and took the girl's hands. "Vigne, you're here. Thank you so much for letting us stay here. It's been a huge help."
They had been teleported directly into the middle of the battlefield. With their Eastern faces, they hadn't known where to run. If they hadn't happened to run into Vigne and the others—who recognized them as fellow "netizens"—and received protection, they might have been forced to camp in the mountains.
In exchange, they took over the cooking, primarily preparing modern dishes for Gabriel, who couldn't stand the military rations, while also handling meals for the palace. Fortunately, with a certain someone absent, the girls were quite confident in their culinary skills.
"You're welcome. You're responsible for the meals of everyone in the castle; it must be very busy. I'll help too, and I can learn how to cook from you," Vigne said with a smile.
Asuna gave Vigne a squeeze. "Ah, you really are an angel!"
"Uuu..." Vigne's eyes narrowed shyly, though she seemed to prefer being called a "good demon."
"Ahem. Let's begin," Yukino said, refocusing.
"Got it. Where should I start?" Vigne asked.
Yukino began assigning tasks. "I'll leave this part to you, and... Yuigahama, sit back down!"
"Eh..." The "Gahama" girl, sitting on a small stool, had just tried to stand up to help, but at the command, she sat back down obediently, pouting as she continued to peel melon skin.
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