Witch Monastery

Hawthorne looked a little embarrassed. "Well... Actually, I'm not very good at fighting with a shield. I don't have much experience in this area, so I just asked another teacher to teach me some basic techniques. Then I'll let the girls play to their strengths and find the fighting method that suits them best."

"As a result, it has become what you see now."

He felt a little embarrassed. The teacher mentioned above was naturally Ann Nuo. This girl had already mastered the skills of using shields for defense and unloading force. When fighting, she liked to use the shield to disrupt the opponent's rhythm and balance during the defense intervals and then attack.

It can be said that it is both offensive and defensive.

However, most of the combat nuns did not have as good a foundation in shield usage as Annuo. They generally could not understand the details contained in many of Annuo's actions. They could only understand her actions of using shields to push and disrupt the enemy and then attack.

In addition, most of them were born in Nangang District, and in order to protect themselves they had to develop aggressive and violent personalities. So after learning and then practicing, it was easy for them to come to the conclusion that "defense is useless", and finally the situation became what it is now.

Chapter 462: The source of divine power?

Koval sighed deeply, as if he was regretting something, and said with a bit of regret: "This is not the way the followers of the Goddess of Life would choose to fight. You... forget it, I will give you a booklet later. It records the combat experience summarized by the past war field priests in the church."

"From now on, you should train your combat nuns according to the contents above."

Hawthorne's face lit up with joy, knowing that the dwarf already regarded him as a trustworthy person, and then naturally he thanked him repeatedly.

At this time, the clock on the wall rang three times, indicating that the training time was over. The nuns who were still fighting stopped immediately, panting, supporting each other to sit on the seats next to them, unscrewing the water bottles to drink water, and using magic to heal each other's wounds.

Hawthorne couldn't help but feel worried. Ever since the disappearance of the Goddess of Life, new priests who believed in the Goddess of Life could not gain the ability to cast spells.

Therefore, the explanation of the source of the girls' current spellcasting abilities will be the key to gaining Koval's trust.

However, what he had never expected was that facing these nuns who could cast divine spells, Koval's expression did not change much, as if he did not care about the source of these spellcasting abilities.

Looking at the nuns who had already started to rest, the dwarf turned around and said to Hawthorne, "Father Hawthorne, thank you for accompanying me all the way. But please step aside for a moment now."

"I want to have a few words alone with these nuns."

Hawthorne frowned slightly and opened his mouth, but found that he had no reason to refuse. His heart could not help but hang in his throat. He looked at the battle nuns in front of him and finally decided to trust these girls he had trained himself.

He nodded gently and said, "Okay, Father Koval, please ask whatever you want. I'll wait for you outside."

After he finished speaking, he turned his head and looked at the resting battle sisters, and said, "This is Father Koval from the headquarters. He has something to ask you. No matter what it is, you must tell me everything you know and not keep anything to yourself."

The nuns nodded in response, and then Hawthorne turned and left the training room and went outside.

Only Koval and dozens of nuns were left in the huge training room. The girls showed puzzled expressions on their faces, but finally looked down at Koval with respect, who had a serious expression.

Facing these young girls, the dwarf finally stopped his serious and even scary expression and showed a common and even kind smile of an old man: "How old are you?"

The girls looked at each other for a few seconds, and then told their ages. The oldest was nineteen years old, and the youngest was only fourteen or fifteen years old.

Dekoval couldn't help but sigh when he heard this. In the eyes of the long-lived dwarves, fourteen or fifteen years old was almost the same age as a baby.

And a human girl of such a young age was actually going to take up arms and step onto the battlefield, which filled his heart with pity.

But pity is pity, and the right questions still need to be asked. He coughed lightly, cleared his throat, and continued: "I just saw that you were performing magic to heal each other's injuries."

"May I ask how you acquired this spellcasting ability?"

Whatever the question was, Hawthorne's answers were flawless and impeccable, so Koval quickly came to the conclusion that if he wanted to know the true face of this monastery, he had to exclude his company and ask these more innocent girls directly.

However, Hawthorne's willingness to leave was still somewhat beyond his expectations. Perhaps he was truly upright and honest, and he had misunderstood?

He didn't know, and waited for the nuns' answer. The nuns looked at each other, not understanding why he would ask such a question: "To do the baptism of immersion!"

Koval raised his eyebrows. "Water immersion?"

"It's in a small church of the goddess of life, and there's a hot spring that's always steaming." A nun explained to Koval in a vivid way, "We soak our bodies in the water, and then Father Hawthorne recites scriptures on the pulpit, and white divine power descends from the dome."

"The realm of life is white light, the realm of storms is

It's lightning." Another nun corrected, "The source of the lightning is the holy relic of the God of Storms that the priest asked for from the blue dragon."

"Yes." The girl who had just spoken nodded. "That power entered our minds, and we couldn't help but recite the scriptures we had learned in the past. Then we gained the ability to cast spells."

The other girls nodded, saying that they also gained the ability to cast spells in this way. Koval frowned, unable to figure out what was going on.

First of all, it is certain that these combat nuns were channeling divine power and performing divine magic just now.

But according to what they said, the ceremony to grant the ability to cast spells was held in the church of the Goddess of Life, and the participants were immersed in the hot spring used for baptism. So it was absolutely impossible that other gods were granting the power - who would have so much power that he would leave his own believers alone and give power to the believers of the Goddess of Life who were already confirmed to be believers?

What was he after? Was he after the goddess of life could be resurrected two years earlier?

As for the Storm Lord's relic, it was just a medium, and Koval automatically ignored it.

But, apart from the real gods, who else can possess the divine power and be willing to share this power with these nuns?

Oh, and there are celestial beings, like the angels who once served under the Goddess of Life.

But the problem is that they have almost disappeared now, and according to the nuns' description, no angels appeared at the ceremony, only Hawthorne who was chanting scriptures...

After eliminating all these impossible situations, there is only one answer left.

Thinking of Hawthorne's silver hair and handsome face, as well as his extraordinary temperament and the charm that could touch people's hearts, Koval showed an expression of sudden enlightenment.

I see. So that's how it is.

As a Sein man, a descendant of the Qingyin clan, Huosang awakened the power left in his blood by his great ancestor, the powerful and noble Qing Emperor, and became an extremely powerful soul sorcerer.

He is a man of great magical powers, and he takes it as his mission to revitalize the Church of the Goddess of Life. He is even willing to sacrifice his own strength in order to share it with these girls and make them unwavering believers of the Goddess of Life.

This……

Great, it’s really great.

Koval was so moved that tears welled up in his eyes. All his previous doubts were gone, and all that was left in his heart was full of respect for Hawthorne.

This is a noble church member who is stronger, more capable, and more willing to take responsibility than any of us. The church is so lucky to have him!

Tears slowly flowed from the corners of his eyes, which immediately panicked the nuns in front of him. They didn't understand why the dwarf suddenly cried, but they didn't dare to go up to comfort him. They stood there for a while, looking at each other, at a loss.

Finally, Carol stepped forward and handed him a handkerchief: "Father, use this to wipe your tears."

"It's okay. Don't worry about me." Koval wiped his tears with the back of his hand, then smiled brightly, "Let's chat casually. How do you plan your day in the monastery?"

He had already determined that Hawthorne was a trustworthy church member. The next step was to test the attitudes of the nuns to see what kind of education they had received and what they thought of the massacre of more than 500 people.

The nuns looked at each other for several seconds, and finally introduced themselves honestly, "Just like the nuns in other convents."

As they talked, they counted on their fingers: "Get up in the morning to read, copy scriptures in the morning, learn doctrine and history, learn literacy, or recite long poems."

"In the afternoon, we do combat and actual combat training, and in the evening, after dinner and bathing, we practice singing and hymns, sometimes make some snacks, and then go to bed..."

The nuns spoke one after another, and finally all looked at Koval: "This is a daily life. Is there any problem?"

Koval smiled and shook his head: "No, of course not. This kind of life is good, but how often do you get a vacation and time to rest?"

He just asked casually, but the nuns' answer surprised him: "Vacation? What vacation? Why do we need a vacation?"

Koval was stunned: "Of course you need a vacation. Even if you are nuns, you have to have time to rest, right?"

Chapter 463 Koval: You are a bit too extreme

Koval is very strict with himself and fellow church members of the same level, but he is actually very tolerant of newcomers to the church, especially the young ones.

He was well aware of the playful nature of these young children, especially humans. When the goddess was still alive, she had made it clear more than once that everything she did was to allow people to live a carefree life.

Therefore, he was quite surprised by the boring life of these nuns.

The nuns looked at each other in bewilderment. They indeed had not established any system for vacation and rest, and they themselves had no such awareness.

This was because Hawthorne was also managing a large organization of 40 or 50 people for the first time and lacked experience in formulating rules and regulations.

aspects of things.

Secondly, it is also because the girls are very satisfied with their current life.

They are all grown up, not children of eight or nine years old. In the past ten years, almost everyone has experienced the pain of being illiterate and ignorant and having to be led by others. So now they have the opportunity to learn systematically, and naturally everyone enjoys it.

Neither side has this awareness and is quite satisfied with the status quo, and of course has never mentioned this matter.

However, the girls could not form a suitable response to this matter. Their eyes turned around and finally fell on Carol, the leader.

Carol took a deep breath and continued, "We are the goddess's blade!"

Her voice gradually became serious: "We have obtained powerful spellcasting abilities. Our mission is to eliminate the evil that the goddess hates. Therefore, compared to other nuns, we should hold ourselves to stricter standards and not slack off."

"When the goddess needs us, we will unsheathe our weapons to kill the enemy; when the goddess doesn't need us for the time being, we will stay here to gather our strength and wait for the next attack."

After she said all this in a solemn manner, the other nuns nodded repeatedly and even began to applaud, obviously agreeing with her point of view from the bottom of their hearts.

Koval's expression was a little complicated. After the applause died down, he asked, "So, under the leadership of Father Hawthorne, you killed six or seven hundred people in one go?"

"As far as I know, there should be less than 50,000 people in Nangang District right now? What were you thinking when you swung your butcher knife?"

He didn't expect that when he mentioned this, the nuns' expressions all became extremely angry: "Of course this is their retribution, this is the evil result they deserve!"

"The crimes shown by the guards are less than one-tenth of what they have committed. We who grew up here know better than them what crimes these guys have committed!"

"Father, look at my hands without little fingers. Back then, the leader of the Python Gang wanted to establish his authority, so he chopped off the little fingers of all of us!"

"All I can think of is, it's a relief! This is what they deserve!"

"I just hate that old witch Yin Meida has only one life, which is not enough to repay her blood debt!"

……

The nuns accused those guys of their crimes. Although their tone was calm, the anger and hatred hidden in their voices did not diminish at all. Koval could not help but fall into silence. It seemed that the massacre actually had a relatively broad public support.

The suspicion that had arisen towards Hawthorne gradually faded away amid the nuns' accusations.

His expression gradually eased, and when the nuns calmed down, he asked again in a low voice: "Then why do you torture yourselves so hard?"

"Now that those enemies are dead, you have almost completely abandoned your personal lives and devoted all your time and energy to your faith. What are you seeking?"

He used leading questions to make these nuns, who were already emotionally overwhelmed and defenseless against him, express their deepest desires.

If the answer points to power, no matter what kind of packaging it is given, such as "clearing away the power of evil", etc., Koval will judge it as an unqualified answer sheet and will need to be corrected and taught in the future.

For the utilitarian purpose of "becoming stronger", the desires of these girls will soon expand infinitely. When it develops to a level that Hawthorne and even the Church of the Goddess of Life cannot provide, the two sides will have no choice but to go their separate ways.

The dwarf's eyes flickered, and he looked up at the battle nun in front of him with a serious expression, expecting her to give him an unconventional answer.

Then he saw Carol shook her head slightly: "Faith does not need any reward, faith itself is the reward."

As she spoke, she lowered her head and looked down at Koval: "Fellow church member, the fact that you can ask such a question shows that your faith may be a little lax."

Koval: “?”

……

At the gate of the monastery, Hawthorne waited for the results of the examination. He had a calm and confident smile on his face, but he was actually very anxious deep down.

After all, this was something that didn't happen in the game. In the game, the players played the role of the goddess's chosen one who was recognized by the headquarters. Their background didn't need to be checked, so he actually had no experience in this area!

He just knew how to deal with Koval, but he was not there now, and if the nuns said something offensive...

He had no confidence. After all, he didn't really know how extreme the believers' demands for faith would be in a world where there truly was a God.

On the one hand, he asked Die to be responsible for the nuns' religious education, and on the other hand, he imitated the religions of his previous life and the practices in some cultural works he knew. He didn't know whether these things could fool Koval.

He was very anxious, but as a leader, he had to be confident at all times, so he acted calmly, as if the inspection was a sure thing.

But in fact he was more nervous than anyone else.

A moment later, footsteps were heard in the training room. Hawthorne turned his head and saw Koval walking out with a livid face.

His heart immediately sank to the bottom, thinking that a half-baked clergyman like me really couldn't satisfy the real religious people, he must have seen some flaws,

I think the nuns are too lax.

He quickly put on a humble and teachable expression and walked up to Koval: "Father, is there anything else that needs to be improved in our monastery?"

Koval had a complicated expression and sighed deeply: "Yes!"

Hawthorne's heart rose to his throat, and then he heard Koval's merciless criticism: "You are a little too extreme here!"

Hawthorne: “…Ah?”

……

"…So, I criticized him severely and taught him that we are believers of the goddess of life, so we should not only have a religious life, but also have our own private life."

In the wilderness area, in the cathedral, Koval said to the other two priests with a stern face: "I understand that it is the fanaticism of the converts, but their religious fanaticism is not a good thing. It will only backfire if it continues like this."

Evan and Juana looked at each other in bewilderment, their hearts tense: What was the situation of the monastery now that could make Koval, who was always fanatical, stubborn and inflexible, say something like "a bit too extreme"?

"In short, that monastery must be rectified!" Koval concluded. "I also told him that I would send someone to his monastery to provide guidance and teach those new fanatical nuns what a normal life is!"

"If you stay away from ordinary people for too long, they will really become corrupt!"

Evan and Juana nodded. They had not expected this question. "Indeed, if they continue to become more radical, they might start a holy war. That's not good."

"But who can we find to influence them?"