“May God bestow His grace and cleanse the filth from the believers.”
The current Saintess Sophie clasped her hands together, closed her eyes, and began to pray.
In front of her were countless believers.
After Soren ascended the throne and became the new Emperor of the Saint Luo Empire, he quickly announced that the Holy Land would become the empire’s sole state religion.
The Holy Land had already been operating within the Saint Luo Empire for many years. Once this decision was announced, many citizens followed the trend and became believers of the Holy Land.
Nowadays, whenever the Saintess held daily prayer ceremonies, she could attract many nobles and aristocrats to attend.
“God, please listen to our wishes.”
“Grant me relief from my suffering.”
“Almighty God, please protect all living beings.”
The believers prayed together with Sophie. Accompanied by the holy hymns sung by the clerics, they softly chanted their own wishes, hoping they would reach God.
Sophie released a sacred art. Golden light fell upon everyone. Each believer felt their spirit merge with the others. It was as if there were no barriers between people — only pure devotion to God remained. For a moment, they forgot the pain and regrets of the mortal world. They stopped thinking and entrusted both body and mind to the Saintess, allowing Sophie to guide them into a state of complete immersion.
It felt as though God had descended into the world and bestowed a blessing akin to salvation upon everyone.
“Ah, Sophie is truly amazing~”
A brown-haired nun with a single ponytail sighed as she walked beside another young nun, leaving the temple where the prayer ceremony had just taken place along with the other clerics.
“Isher, have you felt that Sophie has changed recently?”
“Changed?” Isher glanced at Nana. “What do you mean?”
“In all kinds of ways? I feel like Sophie has become really cold. She doesn’t even greet us when she sees us,” Nana blinked. “She used to be quite friendly toward us.”
“Sophie is no longer in the same world as us. She’s the officially recognized Saintess of the entire nation — the only cleric who can receive divine revelations. She’s currently the most prominent figure in both the empire and the Holy Land,” Isher said helplessly. “Back when we were all saintess candidates, we were equals. Now that she’s risen so far above us, there’s naturally no need for her to interact with us anymore.”
“But I don’t think Sophie is that kind of person…”
“That’s just how you feel, Nana. In truth, we don’t really understand her.”
“Mmm…”
Nana still felt that the current Sophie was strange, that something wasn’t quite right.
However, she had no concrete evidence to support her view, so she couldn’t refute Isher’s opinion.
“By the way, Nana, what have you been doing since leaving the Holy Mountain?” Isher asked curiously. “It’s rare for us to run into each other here.”
“Me? I haven’t been doing anything special. I just followed the arrangements from above and became a nun at a nearby church.”
“That’s all? Just something ordinary?”
“Yeah. There seem to be quite a lot of active monsters over there, so Bishop Belon assigned me to help the locals purify them. It also serves as good publicity for the Holy Land.”
“Your purification skills were never that great, were they?”
“Hehehe, I just use this!”
Nana raised her fist, a bright smile on her face.
“Using this to purify monsters is much more effective than sacred arts!”
“Alright… you’re still the same as before.”
“Isher, what are you doing now?”
“I’ve been assigned to train new recruits. From now on, I’ll probably be a mentor for promising nuns.”
“Isher actually became a teacher? Though now that I think about it, it suits you. But you look too young and don’t have much authority yet. Those apprentice nuns keep calling you ‘big sister’ instead of treating you like a teacher.”
Isher complained bitterly.
Isher and Nana chatted casually about their recent situations.
The former saintess candidates had all received new positions. Under the Holy Land’s arrangements, they had been sent to different posts and were busy with their own affairs. Opportunities to meet had become very rare.
“By the way, have you heard anything about Via’s whereabouts?” Nana asked.
“Via?”
“Yeah. The Holy Land has been searching for Via’s location this whole time, but there hasn’t been any announcement yet. Isher, do you have any inside information?”
“Nothing for now. I don’t know where Via went either.”
“Let’s stop here for today. We should split up,” Isher said as they reached a fork in the road.
“Are you leaving already, Isher?” Nana looked reluctant. “Don’t you want to have dinner together? Like we used to?”
Isher shook her head. “Not today, Nana. I have to get back before dark. Maybe next time.”
After parting with Isher, Nana felt a little disappointed. Since her ranking among the saintess candidates had never been high, the work she was assigned wasn’t particularly important. Naturally, she had no entourage or special treatment. She had to pay for transportation herself.
She planned to find a carriage rental in the city and hire a cheap one to return to the church.
As she crossed the street, she spotted a black-haired girl among the oncoming crowd and widened her eyes.
When the black-haired girl brushed past her, Nana turned around and instinctively grabbed the other person’s shoulder.
“Miss, is something the matter?” the black-haired girl asked in confusion.
Nana’s gaze was fixed directly on the black-haired girl’s face as she spoke a name that clearly surprised the other party.
“Via.”
“Who?”
“Via, right?” A bright smile appeared on Nana’s face.
Via was silent for a moment before letting out a soft sigh and admitting her identity.
“…Yeah, it’s me.”
“It really is Via!” Nana looked even happier.
“Nana, how did you recognize me?”
“Intuition!” Nana gave an answer that was somewhat unexpected but very much in line with her personality.
The moment she saw Via’s face, she had felt a strange certainty in her heart telling her that this person was Via.
“Via, where on earth did you go? You’ve been missing for so long without any news. A lot of people in the Holy Land have been worried about you!”
“Worried…? It probably wasn’t the kind of worry you’re thinking of. They were probably worried that I was still alive.”
“What do you mean?” Nana couldn’t quite understand Via’s words.
“Don’t mind it. I was just saying whatever,” Via said, unable to explain her current situation.
“Ah, right!” Nana suddenly thought of something. “Via, have you had lunch yet?”
“Not yet. I just arrived here.”
“Then let’s go eat together! It’s been so long since we last saw each other. This time, I’ll treat you!”