“Look at those nuns… aren’t they so pretty?”

“Wow, it’s true. What a feast for the eyes!”

“If there were such lovely nuns, I’d go to church every day…”

When the four of them dressed in the nuns’ uniforms walked into the imperial capital, the people who passed by them stared at them in surprise.

Luna moaned in a whisper.

“…We’re attracting some strange attention. Is everything okay?”

“It’s fine, for what it’s worth, we’re just ordinary nuns. Let’s be dignified.”

Before long, they arrived in front of the imperial palace.

In front of the tightly closed gates of the palace, soldiers on guard were on the lookout for the area.

“Ready? We are devout nuns who serve the Sun God. Be modest and gentle!”

“That’s what I want to tell you the most…”

“Ugh, I’m nervous…!”

The four proceeded silently toward the iron gate.

The soldiers who noticed them rustled.

“H-hey, look at those… Ridiculously pretty nuns are coming…!”

“Eh? Are those nuns? They have an amazing aura…!?”

As the group reached the gate, heavy spears crossed over and blocked their way.

“Stop!”

Two gatekeepers looked down at Lexia and the others. One was a bearded soldier, the other a brown-haired one. They were the strongest looking of the soldiers guarding the gate.

For a moment, the gatekeepers were dazzled by Lexia and the others’ good looks, but then they quickly returned to their duties.

“You look like nuns, but I’ve never seen your face before.”

“Even a nun cannot be allowed to pass without permission. Please leave as soon as possible.”

Luna whispered to Lexia.

“They’re not so naive after all. What are we going to do?”

“I told you I have a secret plan. Leave it to me.”

Lexia looked up at the gatekeepers and shouted in a high voice.

“Hello! We’ve come to deliver Sun God-sama’s divine message!”

“Such an energetic nun…!”

Luna’s grunts were empty, and the gatekeeper was clearly suspicious.

“A divine message, you say?”

“Yes. We are Sisters with special powers, chosen by Sun God-sama. Sun God-sama has given us an important prophecy about the crisis in the Romel Empire. We must hurry to bring it to the attention of His Majesty Shleimann. Please let us through.”

“Special power?”

“Important prophecy… could it be about the curse of the ice spirit?”

Lexia’s explanation caused a stir among the surrounding soldiers.

But the two gatekeepers were skeptical. Saying, “Prophecy?”

“Then tell us what this prophecy is about, and we will inform it ourselves.”

“No. This prophecy is so special that we have to tell it directly to Schleimann-sama.”

The gatekeepers smiled and shrugged their shoulders.

“I doubt if this prophecy is real or not, but I can’t let you pass. If you really have special powers, why don’t you prove it right here and now?”

“Haha, that’s good. If you can show us your power, we’ll let you through.”

Lexia sighed as she faced the gatekeeper, who didn’t take her seriously at all.

“It can’t be helped. Well then, I’ll show you my special power right here and now… it’s this girl!”

“M-me!”

Lexia pushed Tito’s back, and she jumped up.

“Yeah! Tito, do it!”

“U-uh! Let’s see…?”

The brown-haired gatekeeper stepped forward as if to intimidate the panicked Tito.

“Hahaha, what’s the matter, Beastman-jouchan? Show us your special powers. Or is there nothing you can do?”

The gatekeeper leaned forward teasingly, and Tito’s eyes widened at the scent that tickled her nose.

“Huh? Perfume…”

“Huh?”

“Oh, u-uh… um, you live with a young woman, don’t you…?”

“Eh?”

Next to the brown-haired gatekeeper, who was surprised at something, the bearded gatekeeper snickered.

“Hmph, unfortunately, he and I have formed an unpopular alliance. We’re both dull, single guys, and I’m afraid we’ll never have a woman in our lives──”

The bearded gatekeeper looks at his colleague with a self-deprecating smile.

The brown-haired gatekeeper looked away from him in a clearly unnatural manner.

“H-hey… you, don’t tell me you’re…!”

“…A-actually… I’ve got a girlfriend recently…”

“Wha-!? Y-you never said anything about that, did you? You’re a fucking traitor!”

“Oh, shit! I didn’t want to say anything because of this! But how did this Sister know…?”

“How, you ask? This is a sign from God!”

Lexia proudly puffed out her chest.

Tito, being a beastman, has an excellent sense of smell and is able to detect the scent of a woman’s perfume from the brown-haired soldier. To the unknowing soldier, however, Tito looked as if she was using her supernatural powers.

“Wow, Tito, you’ve done a great job! Now we can enter the palace!”

“Hehehe.”

Lexia was patting Tito’s head, but when she looked over, she saw that the gatekeepers were upset and still had no intention of opening the gate.

“N-no, what do you mean! Sure, it’s amazing, but can you call that a prophecy..!?”

“We can’t let you through the gates with this much luck!”

Lexia let out a sigh at the stubborn gatekeepers.

“Sigh, it’s still not enough, huh? Fine, I’ll show you even more power. Now, your turn!”

“Me?”

Noel was pushed out this time.

“Yeah, you beat them to a pulp!”

“Beat them up?”

Noel pondered for a moment, then looked up and pointed at the bearded gatekeeper.

“..You have something you want to confess, don’t you?”

“Huh? What is it all of a sudden? I’m a serious guy; I don’t have any sins to confess…”

“I know you’ve been sneaking drinks during your breaks while on duty.”

“Eh?”

The brown-haired gatekeeper gives a look of dismay at the bearded man, who is visibly upset.

“You’re drinking on duty…”

“O-of course not! There is no place in the palace where you can hide and have a drink during a short break──”

“Confessional.”

“!?”

Noel’s words make the bearded gatekeeper turn pale.

“The confessional is close to the post, and not many people come there. You can hide and have a drink during your break there. Am I wrong?”

“T-t-that’s…!”

Noel reached over to the gatekeeper and pulled a small bottle of liquor from behind his belt.

“Ah!”

“God sees everything.”

Noel shook her head in an exaggerated gesture as she handed the bottle back to the dismayed gatekeeper.

“Oh, it’s a shame that the sacred ‘Confessional’ is used for drinking. But if you let us through, Sun God-sama will forgive your sins, too.”

“Ugh…!”

The brown-haired gatekeeper puts his hand on the shoulder of the bearded gatekeeper, who is at a loss for words.

“Well, it’s this cold. If you don’t get warmed up with a drink, you won’t make it.”

“O-oh, you understand me…!”

“When I get home, she’ll make me a nice bowl of soup, so I’ll be warm to the soul.”

“You bastard!”

Luna whispers to Noel while the gatekeepers are fighting.

“How could you spot a soldier drinking secretly in the confessional?”

“Yes. I know every corner of the palace thanks to the magic tool ‘Always Watching-kun No. 3.'”

“Can you even do that?”

“However, I did not report the drinking to his superiors. Even soldiers need to let off some steam.”

Lexia shrugged her shoulders at the gatekeepers.

“How’s that? That’s the eye of God!”

“N-no, sure, our secret’s been exposed, but this has nothing to do with the power of God!”

“We still can’t be sure if the prophecy is real or not…!”

The gatekeepers were dismayed but would not budge, and Lexia shook her head in dismay.

“Good heavens, you still don’t believe us? If you guys don’t let us through, I don’t have a choice. I’ll use my special powers to get us through!”

Lexia held up her hand toward the closed gate.

“What? What the hell are you doing?”

“You’re not going to open the gate with that, are you?”

“No, no, it’s impossible. It takes six men to open a gate like that. First of all, you can’t open the gate without even touching it…”

The soldiers, laughing, interrupted her and shouted in a loud voice.

“O solid gate! With the power of God, uh, some great miracle… Yes! Whatever it is, open it for me!”

Then the heavy iron gates began to open with a creaking sound.

“Wha-!? The gate opened by itself…?”

“Unbelievable! W-what the hell is going on…?”

The gatekeepers and soldiers stood there in shock.

“Come on, let’s go in, everyone.”

Lexia looked at Luna, who was standing next to her, as she passed through the gates while ignoring the gatekeepers and soldiers.

“We didn’t even have a briefing, but as expected of Luna.”

“Sigh. Well, that’s exactly what you’d think.”

Luna shrugged her shoulders with a calm expression as she secretly manipulated the strings.

Luna used the string to open the gate, and it looked to the soldiers as if the gate had welcomed Lexia and the others.

Thus, Lexia and the others left the appalled gatekeepers behind and entered the palace without hesitation.