The difficult dawn prayer had ended.
Rubena opened her eyes wide exactly when the prayer ended.
She stretched out and yawned, her face radiating refreshment.
Judith gave her a look of contempt, but Rubena, just waking up, didn’t understand why.
“Aah, I slept well. What’s up, why are you looking at me like that?”
“Crazy… crazy…”
“Why are you starting a fight first thing in the morning? Ah, I’m hungry! Let’s go eat quickly!”
Judith shook her head in dismay.
And so, they arrived at the breakfast table.
During the preparation period for the Holy Spirit Festival, the saints had to gather and share their first meal together.
This wasn’t just for socializing; it was also necessary for preparing for the event.
The highlight of the Holy Spirit Festival, no matter what anyone said, was the offering ceremony in the square.
It was when the finest oils, silks, and towers made of gold were placed in front of the saints, and they would wrap the offering in holiness. The grandeur of that scene was so magnificent that it was renowned across the continent.
However, such ceremonial events always had their share of pain behind the scenes, which somehow added to their beauty.
After finishing their meal, they began the event practice.
That was the problem.
“Hey, all of you, reduce your output!”
“You’re the one who’s increasing it. Stupid bitch. Oh wait, you don’t even have enough divine power to increase it, right? Ugh, I almost forgot.”
“Hey! Are you done talking?!”
The saints all had different levels of divine output.
Because of the differences in their absolute power and mass, it was necessary to adjust their outputs through mutual agreement.
And that was where things started to falter.
Usher had no words to offer.
“Hahaha! Both of you, stop it. Isn’t the real issue that Bersia’s output is too overwhelming?”
“…Sorry.”
“If you’re sorry, then reduce it!!!”
But they couldn’t reduce it.
Usher avoided Rubena’s furious gaze.
Muttering in frustration, he spoke.
“This is the most I can reduce it…”
This was the result of pushing all the power out as if to blow out a puff of air.
That alone was still several times stronger than Rubena’s maximum.
Rubena, with her sharp hearing, heard this and furiously clenched her teeth.
“Are you mocking me now? Huh?! Is having more divine power a boast?!”
“It is a boast. But it’s still the church.”
“Shut up!!!”
Judith chuckled awkwardly and turned her head.
In the end, Rubena exploded and grabbed Judith by the hair.
“You fucking bitch!”
“Ah! Let go! Let go, you crazy bitch!”
Halia burst out laughing with a loud “Bang!”
She laughed so hard that tears welled up at the corners of her eyes.
She even encouraged them to fight more from the side.
The priest-in-charge, who had been away, appeared at the commotion.
Seeing the two women fighting while pulling each other’s hair, and Halia cheering them on, the priest-in-charge let out a fierce yell as if to eradicate evil spirits.
“Stop it now!!”
It was a roar that shook the very space around them.
Was that what they called momentum?
In an instant, the situation was settled.
The three of them were punished by having their lunch confiscated.
Usher, who was eating lunch alone under envious stares (though his meal was just a bit of grass), absentmindedly thought again.
“Is the Holy Spirit Church going to be alright like this…?
If all the saints, the face of the church, are like this, the future of the church seems bleak indeed.”
Time quickly passed, and the preparation for the Holy Spirit Festival entered its second week.
As for the changes during this time… well, externally, the church had begun to decorate every corner in splendor.
All the priests who remained at the headquarters were mobilized for the event.
Unlike usual, the church, now decorated, looked beautiful, and the faces of the priests carrying out the work were filled with smiles.
After all, this was the only time when the usually silent church became full of energy, so how could they not be excited?
And additionally,
“It’s also the time when many people suddenly start dating. Everyone seems to be in heat at this time, they can’t wait to get attached…”
“Saint…”
“No, it’s true.”
As they watched the priests moving in the distance, Bersia spoke.
Usher pointed out the harshness of her expression, but he couldn’t deny the meaning behind her words.
The Holy Spirit Festival was indeed a time when love bloomed.
During this festival, men and women who had fallen in love would begin to exude youthful energy everywhere.
Usher, who had been in the church since he was 10, wasn’t unfamiliar with this.
However, unlike Bersia, he didn’t see it as a bad thing.
“Isn’t it youth? Even if we follow the teachings and serve the gods, we are still just humans. Moreover, the deity has not stopped the love of the priests. Since He created humans, He also gave the freedom for priests to date or marry. Of course, reverence toward our Father the deity is still required during that process.”
Love was the most important teaching emphasized by their deity.
As the church was devoted to Him, the church itself had a fairly free attitude toward relationships.
Of course, if one engaged in promiscuity and hopped from person to person, they would be expelled.
The deity was not so lenient as to allow impure love.
But, love itself was not a bad thing.
Usher chuckled.
“Being able to share beautiful feelings by loving others is, above all, a wonderful miracle.”
“Do you think so? Then, we too…”
“Please remove your hand from my pants.”
“Really, no time to let my guard down.”
Usher stopped Bersia, who couldn’t hold back and was about to pounce.
Bersia grumbled.
“Yesterday, you were clinging to me, even drooling.”
“T-That’s only because my body is like this!”
“More… please do more… it feels so…”
“Aaack!”
Whenever the curse took effect and his lust surged, Usher’s intelligence dropped.
He was well aware of this, which is why he always felt a deep sense of regret after Bersia “helped” him.
Hearing those words that forced him to recall those moments was unbearably frustrating.
Usher trembled and got up from his seat.
When he glared at Bersia with a pout, she simply smiled sweetly.
“Leaving again?”
“Yes! I am leaving!”
Immediately after, Usher’s face darkened.
As reality set in, despair overwhelmed his embarrassment.
He had to go for another session of “management.” He would be drowning in that relentless nagging again.
At least his suffering had some benefits—his weight had decreased.
The fat clinging to his stomach… or rather, the love handles that used to sink in when poked with a finger were now gone.
Truly, the Church’s diet method, backed by hundreds of years of history, was effective.
If one could just endure a bit of mental torment, achieving aesthetic beauty was highly efficient.
A hollow laugh, devoid of spirit, escaped Usher’s lips.
He staggered forward.
Bersia waved with a bright smile.
“Good luck. And really, thank you for doing this in my place. I mean it.”
She might as well have kept quiet.
Usher found Bersia unbearably annoying.
Management was one thing, but the biggest issue was still the event preparation.
Usher couldn’t lower his output, and Lubena couldn’t increase hers. Those were the two biggest problems.
For the past two weeks, various solutions had been explored to bridge the gap.
And finally, they had found a compromise.
“I’m going to die from exhaustion. Seriously.”
Judith created a drug.
For Rubena, it was an enhancer that temporarily amplified divine power.
For Usher, it was a drug that rendered his divine power invisible.
The initial idea was to suppress Usher’s divine power entirely.
However, no matter how much they tried, it just wouldn’t work.
His power was too vast. Even when reduced, it was still more than twice that of the enhanced Rubena.
The moment they realized this, Rubena’s despair was evident without words.
So, instead, Judith changed the approach and created a drug that reduced the visible glow of divine power, even when the same amount was used.
It worked on Usher.
Originally, the drug was meant to completely hide his divine power, but only part of the effect applied, leading to this outcome.
This proved just how immense Bersia’s divine power was.
Regardless, after going through this process, today, for the first time, they had successfully synchronized their divine powers.
“It’s done! It’s really done!”
“Finally…!”
“Haha! Everyone, great job!”
“Thank you for your hard work!”
Even though it was just a rehearsal and not the actual event, the success was so dramatic that even the high priest teared up.
Usher took a deep breath.
For weeks, he had been struggling to come up with an excuse for why he suddenly couldn’t lower his output anymore, when he had managed just fine in previous years.
Eventually, he came up with a classic Bersia-style excuse: “My abilities grew while fighting witches.”
That explanation dispelled any suspicions.
With all their efforts, the relief was overwhelming.
It was in this emotional moment that someone spoke.
“The festival is now less than ten days away. Soon, guests from outside will arrive.”
“That’s right.”
“Oh, by the way, Bersia, have you heard?”
“Hm? About what?”
“Oh? So you didn’t know.”
Halia suddenly recalled something and spoke.
Her words made Usher freeze.
“This time, the royal family of Astalion will be attending. Haven’t you received any contact from them?”
The Astarion royal family.
That was the name of the family Bersia was born into.