The night was like gauze.
Liya, riding Commander Pika, who was two ranks above her, silently walked into the General Affairs Hall.
As soon as she closed the door, she was surrounded by four or five older sisters in nun habits.
“I heard the new nun is an Elemental Sprite… It’s actually true.”
“So cute.”
“This yellow rabbit is cute too.”
Several women of varying ages grabbed Pika and squeezed him, then tried to reach for Liya.
Liya dodged while using the moonlight to observe these nuns.
First impression: they were all plain-looking, even a bit ordinary.
Their ages ranged widely—from a freckled girl in her teens to an auntie in her forties or fifties with crow’s feet.
Looking at them, one could almost imagine the entire life of a General Affairs nun spent in the church.
“Quiet. Don’t bully the newbie. Let her go.”
A somewhat authoritative female voice scolded the overly enthusiastic nuns.
Liya followed the sound and saw a mature nun with strikingly beautiful features and an icy demeanor.
She was around thirty, with a uniform completely different from the others—clearly more refined and expensive, gold trim on the cuffs and collar.
The church badge on her left chest stated her position and rank.
[Ailusha, Head Nun. Light Affinity: Poor. Priest Rank 7. Belongs to General Affairs Hall.]
“Sorry, I scared you. They haven’t seen a cute little creature like you in too long, so they’re… a bit overly excited.”
Ailusha lowered her head and tentatively patted Liya’s head.
“It’s nothing. Lily doesn’t mind everyone’s enthusiasm.”
Liya’s mind turned quickly, and she immediately put on an innocent, naive cute expression.
“You’re so kind. May the Goddess bless you.”
Seeing Liya so considerate, Ailusha couldn’t help but smile with relief.
Afterward, Ailusha took Liya on a tour of the General Affairs Hall.
Although this was just a church in a remote district of the Empire Capital, compared to local churches, the facilities were far better and the place was enormous.
“This is the kitchen… We have to provide meals for all clergy, especially the Holy Knights. They train and go on missions every day, so they have big appetites.”
“This is the warehouse… Non-valuable items go here. Every half month we take inventory and organize.”
“This is the sewing room… This is the garden… This is the herb garden…”
“And this is our living quarters. How is it? Pretty spacious, right? But as a novice nun, you’ll have to stay in a six-person room first. As your seniority increases, you can gradually move to a four-person or two-person room.”
Liya listened attentively while using her peripheral vision to observe the church’s interior.
She noticed quite a few things.
First, wherever Ailusha went, the nuns immediately fell silent and walked away with their heads down.
It seemed this “Head Nun” wasn’t very popular.
Second, she discovered there were three types of nuns in the church, each with different uniforms.
One type was the General Affairs Nun.
Their uniforms were black and white, loose-fitting, covering the figure completely—no skin or curves exposed.
Another was the Mercy Nun.
Their uniforms were quite bold: tight fabric accentuated their bosoms and hips, and the hem was even slit.
These beauties wore stockings and small heels, all had good looks, wore makeup, and smiled warmly and enticingly.
The third type was the Holy Nun.
They rarely wore nun habits and had considerable freedom.
They always moved hurriedly, casting indifferent looks at the other two types of nuns.
Liya guessed that “Holy Nuns”—the spellcasters—were likely the church’s true main force.
Back in the living quarters, Liya used her innocent, childish demeanor to pump her roommates for information.
As she had guessed, General Affairs Nuns had low ranks and poor treatment—only two or three silver coins per month as an allowance.
The upside was that room and board were provided by the church, so they didn’t need to spend much.
When they mentioned the Mercy Hall nuns, everyone’s tone was a bit sour.
But when they brought up the Holy Nun Order—the ones who actually wielded Divine Arts—everyone’s tone turned fearful.
Maybe because a newcomer had arrived, everyone couldn’t help opening up and complaining a lot.
From complaining about lack of money, to complaining about work being too tiring, and finally complaining about Head Nun Ailusha being too strict.
“Waaah… It must be because I committed many sins in my past life and ate too many innocent little lives, so the Goddess won’t listen to my prayers…”
A chubby nun covered her face and wept.
‘No, it’s just because you have no magic talent,’ Liya silently thought.
Magic talent, in Liya’s eyes, was like her past-life talent in math and physics.
You either have it or you don’t.
You either know it or you don’t.
It was like some people have Aphantasia—when they close their eyes, they can’t visualize images, so they have no geometric spatial reasoning ability.
Such people definitely can’t learn geometry and math, but it’s not their fault, and it doesn’t mean they have no talent in other areas.
“Mercy Nuns have it easy. All they do is listen to confessions, dress up glamorously, and put on a front for the church—they get so many gold coins and even travel on the church’s dime.”
Everyone lamented the unfairness of fate.
Occasionally, there were harsh criticisms.
“That bunch of bitches aren’t like nuns at all. They act promiscuous and keep messing around with men—they’re ruining the Goddess’s reputation.”
“Hmph… They’re just wasting their youth because they’re pretty. Blame those lecherous old priests and cardinals—they’re all obsessed with baby faces and skinny bodies. Men have such low tastes.”
Liya made no comment, silently storing this intelligence in her mind.
Occasionally, she would insert a naive, foolish remark to steer the conversation without being obvious.
“Sister Ailusha is also very pretty. Why isn’t she in the Mercy Hall?”
She pretended to be clueless.
The nuns all fell silent.
“Don’t know.”
The sound of turning over came from above.
“She’s the Bishop’s daughter. Maybe the Bishop wants her to oversee us—the nuns who actually do the work.”
Liya had a guess.
People favor their own.
When in power, you’ll always pave the best path for your child.
If there wasn’t some huge conflict between Ailusha and her father, then the words “Mercy Nun” definitely weren’t that simple.
—
Before dawn, Joen came looking for Liya.
He gently placed her back on his left shoulder, rubbed his cheek against her, and teased, “Are you okay, Lily? Did you get scared last night without me? Couldn’t sleep?”
“Stop treating me like a child.”
Liya murmured softly.
“I can stand on my own. Friend, you don’t have to worry about me. Just focus on what you want to do.”
Liya’s face turned red.
“But this is what I want to do.”
Joen chuckled.
She knew she shouldn’t be happy, but she felt inexplicably delighted.
Her left chest felt warm, as if there really was a heart pounding wildly.
Damn that cursed kiss!
In the middle of their tender moment, an exhausted-looking Fei Bi approached Joen.
She had already changed into the extremely sexy Mercy Nun uniform, her slender, tempting legs swaying seductively beneath the skirt.
She seemed to have slept poorly all night.
When she saw Joen, she seemed to want to say something but hesitated.
Just then, an angry voice approaching from a distance abruptly interrupted the three about to exchange intelligence.
“Stop! Damn you, stop!”
“You definitely stole that piece of Rich Clam Meat from the kitchen! If you have the guts to eat it, why don’t you have the guts to admit it?”
Liya followed the voice and saw Ailita skillfully dodging various flying pots and pans as she fled while stubbornly retorting:
“Who ate it? You’re wronging an honest… honest nun!”
“I didn’t! You have no evidence! Just because I was in the kitchen means I stole it?!”