magic high school

Chapter 158 The Eight-Foot Nun and the Fairy (Two Chapters Combined, 7k words)

Looking at the outstretched hand, Li Ge instantly felt like a khakimi about to be forcibly groped by a khakimi.

Then----

what!

He chose to breathe on it!

Outwardly, the eight-foot-tall nun had only extended her hand halfway when she noticed that Li Ge had taken a step back in strong resistance.

Although it did not adopt an attack stance, it was very vigilant, as if it might exhale three times and then unleash a powerful basic attack at any moment.

In that instant, Li Ge noticed the fleeting displeasure on the nun's face.

He wasn't quite able to activate his Lion's Eyes yet, but his eyes granted him exceptional observational skills and dynamic vision. In that instant, he saw in the nun's face the displeasure and dissatisfaction a cat owner would show towards a kitten that didn't whine but instead hissed.

This shows that their status here is actually very low, even far lower than that of these nuns.

Oh no, could this really be a hell for little boys? She mentioned before that many children like them had been sent here. Are all those little boys going to run away clutching their bottoms?

Abaddon, you're a damn fool!

Is this the price Akaishi has to pay?

The more she interacted with him, the more likely Li Ge's guess seemed to be true.

Seemingly noticing Li Ge's wariness, the nun slowly rose. Her towering figure, even when crouching, was several heads taller than Li Ge, which had been incredibly imposing; perhaps that had made the children even more wary.

However, none of that matters. Any child who comes to Gensokyo will become a child of purity and ascend to heaven; this is the mission of these shepherds.

"Then come with me." She immediately became expressionless and left as if she had just completed a task.

The group exchanged glances, and each of them had more or less guessed some information from her attitude and habits just now.

"Here, we people have a very low status, extremely low—as low as a cat's status at home, more like—pets?" Li Ge explained, revealing the information he had just gleaned.

"I can see that. Generally speaking, nuns have a very low status in religion, and even nuns of such low status can treat us like objects—" Yi Lian added.

"I know this well. Normally, positions like nuns aren't part of the clergy; they're more like auxiliary service workers. They're no different from ordinary believers," Valerie explained. She seemed to know a bit about many religions and was probably more knowledgeable about religious systems than others.

Xiao Ye remained silent; she didn't understand these things. After all, she was born in Silverwing City, and religion and the like were probably no different from stories to her. But she did add, "That person just now reacted to you."

2

Li Ge: "?"

What the heck?

"Don't look at me like that. It's not necessarily that kind of reaction. When you pet a pet, you might have the same physiological reaction, but you just don't know which one it is." She was simply calmly describing what she had observed.

Li Ge felt even more terrified.

Since they're getting closer and closer to Little Boy Hell, why didn't the clown mask give him the option to transform into "Little Boy"? So he could stage a Hiroshima Mon Amour scene here and blow up everyone waiting for Little Boy to fall from the sky.

However, they were not ordinary little boys. Although Abaddon forcibly turned them into eleven-year-olds, their psychic powers and Noble Phantasms were not weakened or controlled; it's just that their young bodies might not be able to withstand the power of the Noble Phantasms and psychic powers.

Last time in the Jin Dynasty, their abilities were weakened to the extreme, but this time their abilities were not weakened. Li Ge's release of the Crimson Stone Domain here is no different from that outside, except that the number of times it can be used is limited.

With his current body, the burden of activating psionic enhancement would likely cause a physiological breakdown. This is what Li Ge finds in the brilliance of Abaddon's design of this limitation: he doesn't restrict your abilities, but rather makes sure there's an extremely high price to pay for unleashing them.

They are essentially each carrying a weapon that could explode, which could either kill the opponent or cause them to be eliminated first due to the explosion.

"Let's take it one step at a time. But no matter what, we still have at least one chance to turn the tide," Li Ge said. If this really is the story of the little boy and the priest—

He might as well just go all out against them. He could kill as many as he could while he still had the strength. He wasn't going to cover his backside, and he didn't have that kind of inclination.

Soon, the group followed the nun deeper into Gensokyo.

Here, they gradually saw the magnificent and solemn cathedral, all kinds of houses and seas of flowers, and countless children dressed in pure white uniforms singing hymns in the church.

One thing worth criticizing is that the pure white clothes and pants look very much like the uniform Abaddon wore when he was in the mental hospital.

Li Ge began to wonder to herself, "Could this uniform really be a modified mental hospital uniform?"

"Alright, this will be your residence from now on. Soon someone will bring you clothes, take you to hear the gospel, and select you to join the choir. Cherish this opportunity." Seemingly annoyed by Ligna's yawning, the nun said this directly and then left.

Li Ge and the others then began to observe the place. It was a small hut behind the cathedral, seemingly converted from a warehouse, with only four layers of quilts on the ground serving as their living quarters.

Seeing that even the ceiling was five or six meters high, and the door frame was nearly four meters high, they felt as if they had arrived in a land of giants.

It was like dwarves visiting a human city.

"Alright, let's analyze the intelligence together," Yi Lian said first.

Although they only came here and visited some of the scenery along the way and the cathedral, it was enough for them to gain some information.

After all, Abaddon could have simply dropped them into this converted warehouse dormitory instead of going through the information prompts that led all the way from the beach to here. If such a scenario occurs, it must have its own value.

They guessed that the teacher who set the questions had given them some information or intelligence.

"I noticed that it wasn't just this nun who was quite tall; the other nuns in the distance were also very tall. The shortest was over two meters tall, and the tallest, like this one, was close to three meters tall," Li Ge said first. "But those people wearing pure white clothes were normal, about the same height as us, maybe a year or two older, and slightly taller."

"Most of the buildings were also built to this height," Xiaoye said, "except for one exquisite villa."

I guessed that the mansion was the priest's residence, and the priest should be of normal human build, not the nun's giant-like height.

Yilian and Valerie shared some of the information they had observed, but it wasn't very useful. One of them was looking at the flowers, while the other was observing what the children in pure white clothes were doing.

However, this information is of little use.

Li Ge began to ponder, mainly because he needed to think about why Abaddon did this.

He and Abaddon were quite familiar with each other, and he could more or less guess some things about the hanged man's habits and mentality.

However, he never imagined that this place was actually created by that man Abaddon. He thought at most it would be a little boy hell, where everyone would wear those mental hospital uniforms and jump around shouting things like "I have revealed the truth."

Soon, another nun brought them a set of clothes that fit their height fairly well. Sure enough, it was pure white, both the top and the pants were so white they seemed to shimmer.

Even the shoes were pure white.

"Alright, hurry up and change your clothes, then come with me to the cathedral for praise." The nun who brought the clothes finished speaking, then smiled. "Just a reminder, keeping your clothes clean is very important. If you get this pure white dirty, you'll be responsible for the consequences!"

Li Ge: "————"

You'll have to bear the consequences yourself. You're not going to have the priest clean your sewers, are you?

After the nun finished speaking, she left the room.

The group exchanged glances, then each went to a corner and began to put on the white shirt and pants.

Changing clothes? They just put them on and that was it. Besides, even Li Ge, who had the most miscellaneous items on him, didn't feel that it affected his movements.

Soon, they came out of the house and saw people who looked like them coming out one after another, dressed in pure white and walking towards the cathedral.

Li Ge took the opportunity to observe. The vast majority of these people showed gratitude and longing for the future; they were probably not other examinees, but NPCs. Or rather, in this world, they were lambs rescued to this paradise.

How did they get here?

Li Ge thought for a moment and concluded that these children most likely couldn't survive outside, because he also noticed that many of them were pale and thin, clearly suffering from long-term malnutrition. Some of them seemed to have just finished showering, which indicated that they were quite dirty and disheveled before bathing.

This allows us to derive a model: most of those who come here are homeless children, and some may be missing children. They have been brought here to receive training and education from clergy. Perhaps the boys will grow up to become priests, and the girls will become those two-meter-tall nuns—

They might stay here, or they might go to other similar religious sites to work.

However, at that moment, Li Ge suddenly spotted a familiar figure—

She was a little girl who stood out from the other children around her. She was exquisitely beautiful and held her head high like a proud swan, seemingly disdainful of everything around her.

Her domineering air made her stand out from the crowd. Li Ge even wondered which Disney princess had escaped to experience life here.

He quickly elbowed Xiaoye and pointed over there, saying, "Look, could it be that demon?"

The others looked over as well, and were immediately taken aback.

"That's true. By the way, the information I received said that quite a few teams will be grouped together this time. Not only will we have to face the dangers of Gensokyo, but there might also be dangers from other teams—" Yilian's eye twitched, "And are we so unlucky that we were matched with that fairy?"

"Who else was matched with me? It couldn't possibly be that Mishair from the Mysterious Academy, could it? I'm going to have to give this matchmaking system a piece of my mind—" Yilian complained.

Seemingly noticing the undisguised gazes directed at her, Daphne turned her head and saw Li Ge and the others. After a moment of surprise, she once again raised her head proudly, as if she couldn't walk without it—

Li Ge, Yi Lian, Xiao Ye, Valerie: "————"

"How about we kick her out first?" Xiaoye muttered. "We'll find a chance to secretly pour cement into her house and then throw her into the sea—"

Others shared similar sentiments, feeling that the matchmaking system was incredibly unfair. It was supposed to be a system where "kings" never met, but now it seemed like "kings had fallen from the sky."

Now it's the strongest freshman in the Noble Phantasm Department versus the strongest freshman in the Traditional Department. Will they win?

Just as the group was complaining, the church bells rang, causing even more people to rush towards the church.

They weren't going to play any more games with Daphne, and hurriedly ran towards the cathedral.

Soon, they saw a priest?

He was an old man, the very, very old kind, the kind who seemed unable to straighten his back completely. He looked at the children and seemed to smile.

For some reason, seeing how old the priest had become, Li Ge even felt a sense of relief.

Surely this won't turn into a story about a priest and a little boy, right? He's so old, surely he doesn't have the energy to do something like that?

"Alright, all you new children, listen carefully. This is the most crucial time of your lives. I am going to teach you what to do next, what is right, and what is wrong. Here, you must all pray to God completely according to the doctrine, remain pure, and in doing so, ascend to heaven in the end." The old priest said, waving his hand.

A tall nun took out some small notebooks and handed them to each child. Li Ge opened one and glanced at it; it was full of doctrines and hymns praising God.

It seems like there's no major problem?

However, Li Ge saw the word "purity" more than once in it, constantly reminding them to remain pure, whether in their soul, body, or even clothing, so that they could ascend to heaven more quickly.

Is this religion based on some kind of "god of purity"?

What followed was a rather tedious explanation. The old priest began to expound on the doctrine, and the group appeared to listen attentively, but in reality, they were either flipping through the back pages looking for more information, or glancing at the fairy princess Daphne not far away.

She was utterly disdainful and didn't even open the book in her hand.

Li Ge felt that if she weren't currently in the form of an eleven-year-old loli, she would probably have spread her wings and used her guillotine to wipe out the entire Gensokyo.

"Alright, these are the rules you need to follow."

"First, maintain your purity at all times. You cannot eat food not provided by the Holy See, and you cannot leave Gensokyo."

"Secondly, ensure the purity of the soul. Everyone must be free from desires, and every day at noon, everyone must come to the cathedral for three hours of meditation, during which no other activities are permitted."

"Third, there must be no stains or dirt on the clothes, otherwise it is disrespectful to the Lord."

The old priest spoke one rule after another. Finally, he glanced at all the children, a grim smile appearing on his lips: "Finally, if any outsiders come, you must not approach them or speak to them. You must close your eyes and enter a state of prayer. If you disobey—"

"Then you'll need to go to the confessional for a day of solitary confinement. Let me warn you children, the confessional is terrifying. No matter how disobedient a child was before, once they go in, they'll become incredibly obedient and sensible. You don't want to go in." After saying this, the old priest seemed to have completed his task and left with the help of an eight-foot-tall nun.

All the children seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. To them, the towering nun and the seemingly fragile priest were both incredibly intimidating.

Li Ge then thought of the confessional room that the old priest had mentioned many times—

Surely a confessional can't be the ultimate insult, right?

It's hard to say, but it might truly be the ultimate insult, where people are turned into toys for priests and nuns, and played with at will.

As for that fairy—

When they looked again, they found that the fairy was also staring straight at them. Her gaze showed no evasion or hesitation, but was fixed on Li Ge and the others, as if she were sizing them up, or as if she were saying:

I'm right here. Want to get rid of me? If you do, come on over. I'll always be waiting for you.

Then, after realizing that Li Ge and the others didn't seem to be making a move so easily, she felt a little bored, glanced down at the others around her, and strode away.

"What is she doing? So arrogant—" Valerie grumbled, increasingly disliking this vixen. She should have rushed to the island in the middle of the lake and blasted her with her pony when she was matched with her.

"No, she's actually quite clever. She's provoking us, trying to make us make the first move, and then using that opportunity to see what the consequences of fighting will be," Li Ge said directly.

"Oh, she meant that too?" Valerie was stunned.

"Most likely," Yi Lian said. "She's not as brainless as we think. She's gradually testing the rules here, and because of us, she's even trying to create a situation where we break the rules and she happens to be there. There's a reason why she can get high scores even as a lone wolf."

The group fell silent. But soon, they stopped caring about Daphne. They figured they'd deal with whatever came their way; they were all eleven years old now, and in a one-on-one fight, it was uncertain who would survive.

Even if Li Ge and her group have more people, they can use their numerical advantage to find someone to fight her head-on.

Soon, the group left the cathedral. They were to begin studying the doctrines and, in the meantime, complete their exploration of the world.

Soon, evening arrived.

The group began to discuss some information by candlelight.

However, they didn't gather much information today. After leaving the church, they only chatted with a few other children and discovered that most of them were poor, orphans, or homeless.

-

Either the mother was pregnant unplanned and had a strong aversion to them, and might suddenly abandon them one day; or they were like children who had been abducted.

The candlelight flickered in the small room as the group began to summarize the information they had gathered that day.

As for the fairy Daphne, we'll observe for now, neither provoking her nor avoiding her.

However, at that moment, the church bells rang, signaling the curfew.

The group immediately extinguished the candles and pretended to be good children, shrinking into their blankets.

For them, pretending to be a good kid for the time being is not something unacceptable.

At night, those robust nuns would also conduct room checks, and the nuns had to make sure they were asleep during these checks.

Li Ge even felt like she was back in her junior and senior high school boarding school.

But they wouldn't actually fall asleep. They agreed to pretend to be asleep, but in reality, at least two of them would be awake and on guard at the same time.

This was something they were very familiar with, and they could even go without sleep for several days and nights in a row.

And right now, it is Li Ge who is "keeping watch".

The hardest part is actually pretending to be asleep, but not actually sleeping.

It seemed that more than an hour before curfew, he vaguely sensed a noise outside. Were the nuns starting to check the rooms?

Li Ge thought to himself, but he didn't open his eyes. Instead, he slowly calculated.

She seemed to be carrying a lamp, and then she came to the door of her little house with only one window.

Then she stopped at the window.

They should be leaving in a few minutes, right?

Li Ge thought to herself.

However, a minute passed, ten minutes passed, and even half an hour passed—

Li Ge almost thought she had left, but he didn't hear any footsteps.

He didn't open his eyes, but he gradually became certain that the nun was still by the window!

There was no sound of her leaving. What was she doing?

This was Li Ge's question. So, he prepared to pretend to turn over and take the opportunity to secretly glance at the other side.

Even in this environment, his vision is still so good that he can see everything very clearly, especially in terms of dynamic vision.

Several more minutes passed, and there was still no sign of them leaving.

Li Ge decided to turn over, and taking the opportunity, quickly looked towards the window, but—

In his field of vision, there was a face pressed tightly against the windowpane, distorted and deformed by the pressure, an ugly and hideous face!

In that instant, through the faint light, he saw a face pressed tightly against the window, its features distorted and twisted by the pressure, making it appear hideous and ugly.

Her eyeballs bulged from being squeezed, and Li Ge's reflection was mirrored in her pupils. There was no malice in those reflections, only a certain—

fanaticism!

In particular, Li Ge was horrified to discover that the nun pressed against the glass was the same nun who had brought them here after their arrival!

And it seemed she had also noticed the dishonest Li Ge; a grin spread across her face as she pressed her lips against the window, and she said, "Gotcha!"