Editing Shinmai Maou no Keiyakusha:Volume 8 Chapter 3 (section)

===Part 3===
The place where they headed to was a world heritage site which was frequently visited by many tourists. Although taxis were permitted to enter the site which consisted of two shrines and a temple, Hasegawa requested that the car head over to the southeast side — they went around to the front entrance on foot, and crossed over a culturally significant vermillion bridge. And once all of their sightseeing was over, they planned to contact the driver by phone so that he could wait for them nearby. With that, they slowly began to walk around.

“——”

Although he had already been aware of it when the taxi drove to the lake, when they started crossing the bridge, the surrounding air felt clear and fresh again. Originally, the land around this area was a place where spiritual forces were said to be strong, a supposed ‘sanctuary’, but the spiritual density seemed even stronger now that they had come here. As Hasegawa walked beside him

“—Toujou, do you know about the difference between a shrine and a temple?”

“Well, I’ve heard about it once, but…”

As someone born into the Hero clan where some members borrowed power from the spirits or divine beasts, the minimum amount of necessary knowledge had been hammered into him from a young age. To put it into terms which were easier to understand, ‘a place with a torii<ref>Torii: Traditional Japanese gate used at places of worship to symbolise the transition into a sacred place.</ref> is a shrine, and where graves are it is a temple’. Although they shared several commonalities, that was simply a rough ‘way to distinguish them’, rather than their actual differences. Therefore

“I have some knowledge about the various theories, but…to put it in rough terms, it is said that shrines belong to Shinto, temples belong to Buddhism, and a shrine is the place where gods reside.”

And then

“Although a temple houses Buddhist statues and the like, and it’s basically not where gods live, it’s more like a place for monks to train…it feels that way.”

Nonetheless, for the gods who bestowed their power upon the Hero clan in ancient times, it would also be incorrect to say that they lived in shrines across various parts of Japan. Of course, there were many spiritual beings in a shrine, and it was also a place where beings of worship could descend. However, they were ideological existences which were invisible to the eyes of human beings, though Basara and the others could somehow feel their presence. The existence of the gods who gave their ancestors power, and the existence of spiritual beings and divine beasts were ‘more humanlike’ or ‘more animal-like’. But those who were once exiled from the gods became demons. Considering them as pairs, it was easier to understand that their existences were closer to human. Nonetheless — among the Shinto gods, there were many human-like existences that appeared in Japanese myths and the like.

Some members of the Hero clan also revered weapons with the same name as a Shinto god, such as Yuki’s [Sakuya]. That was because its existence was rooted in mythology and religion, and many people throughout history had recognised it, thus it easily obtained spiritual power. In other words, the [Konohanasakuya-hime] of Japanese mythology was not exactly identical to the spirit [Sakuya] that dwelled in the sword which chose Yuki as its wielder. However, since it was akin to the origin of its existence, it wasn’t entirely unrelated either…having recognised a clan, there were still some practical problems. Although shrines might allow such spiritual existences to be felt, they also acted as a measure to preserve the spiritual beings so that they weren’t destroyed in battle again demons, stray devils, or disasters. The same also applied to temples. Although the common conception was that they were a place for monks to live as Basara mentioned to Hasegawa earlier, in most cases, they were actually important places involved with the terrain. Like shrines, they often played a role in protecting the land, and acted as a means to prevent ‘impurity’ and to protect the location. That was why when they fought against Takashi’s group who had the spirit spear [Byakko] — it was not in the forest or the mountains where there were few people, but within a boundary which replicated the space in front of the station.

It was similar to the Hero clans in other countries where they reconstructed the existences which appeared in myth and religion, and transferred that to the area of weapons and abilities for battle. They were also responsible for conserving churches, temples, ruins and the like in various places aside from their duties in fighting against demons. In essence, the gods who resided in the Divine Realm and rarely left created existences which could fight against demons in the human world by giving them the ability to recognise spiritual existences and energy which was impossible for ordinary humans. In other words, this was the Hero Clan which the gods had bestowed special abilities upon. Nevertheless, during the previous Great War, it was believed that there were also some gods who made an appearance before a limited number of Heroes. However, there had not been a single report of their appearance after the Great War ended. And so, after crossing the bridge and while climbing a flight of steps up the mountain towards the world heritage temple, Hasegawa suddenly asked as she walked ahead

“Then, since beings such as gods exist…but they don’t show up to help people and animals in this world when they suffer, what do you think, Toujou?”

Basara was unable to peek up her skirt from below since he followed closely behind her on the sloped path, and he was unable to see Hasegawa’s facial expression either. He could only try to infer what kind of expression she had based on the tone of her question. But even so

“Well…there are various theories about that too, but I think if such existences do exist, they must have various circumstances. We may not be aware of it, but I’m sure there have been many times when they’ve surely helped and protected us.”

That was Basara’s reasoning. He raised his face and looked at Hasegawa’s back as she continued to walk in front of him.

“There are also times when some people aren’t aware that others have helped them, right? So, even if they might be invisible…I’m sure that they’re watching over us and helping us without us noticing. It’s just like how the Hero Clan does things — they protect the world from demons and stray devils.”

“……Is that so?”

Hasegawa muttered in a low voice without looking back as she continued walking ahead.

“…Do you think that’s wrong?”

In response to her somewhat melancholic question, Basara seemed slightly worried as he said

“No, that’s not the case…it’s just that I thought you were thinking about something like that.”

As she reached the top of the stairs, Hasegawa turned around and revealed a gentle smile. Hasegawa’s expression was the same as usual — that prompted Basara to pat his chest in relief as he stood next to her again, and Hasegawa once more linked her arms with his. At the same time—

“——”

Hasegawa’s lips seemed to open and close slightly, but Basara was not able to hear what she said.