Witch Monastery-Chapter 344: The Source of Divine Power?

Kowal let out a heavy sigh, a mixture of disappointment and a hint of tough love. "This isn't the combat style I'd expect from followers of the Goddess of Life. You... ah, never mind. I'll give you a booklet later, filled with the battle experience passed down and compiled by War Pastors of our church."

"From now on, train your battle nuns according to what's written inside."

Charles's face lit up, recognizing that the old dwarf had begun to see him as trustworthy. Naturally, he thanked him profusely.

Just then, the wall clock chimed three times, signaling the end of training. The nuns, mid-brawl, stopped immediately, panting and supporting each other over to the benches. They unscrewed their canteens and drank, tending to each other's wounds with divine magic.

Charles's heart clenched. Ever since the disappearance of the Goddess of Life, new pastors of her faith could no longer receive spellcasting powers.

Which meant, if Kowal questioned the source of the nuns' spellcasting, how Charles explained it would be the make-or-break moment for earning the old dwarf's trust.

But what caught him completely off guard was that, watching these nuns casting divine magic, Kowal's face barely changed. He seemed totally unconcerned about the source of those spellcasting powers.

Gazing out over the nuns as they rested, the dwarf turned to Charles and said, "Priest Charles, thank you for showing me around. But could I ask you to give me a bit of privacy?"

"I'd like to speak with the nuns, just the girls, one-on-one."

Charles frowned slightly, then realized he had no solid reason to refuse. His heart rising in his chest, he glanced at the battle nuns and finally decided to trust the girls he himself had trained.

So he nodded gently. "Of course, Priest Kowal. Please, ask anything you wish. I'll be waiting outside."

Turning to the resting nuns, he said, "This is Priest Kowal, visiting from headquarters. He has some things he'd like to discuss with you all. Whatever he asks, you must answer honestly—no secrets."

The nuns nodded obediently. Charles left the training hall.

Now, only Kowal and the few dozen nuns remained. The girls looked confused at first, but ultimately bowed their heads respectfully before the old dwarf, who, for the first time, let his stern mask soften into something almost gentle, even kindly.

"How old are all of you?" he asked.

The girls looked at each other, then responded in turn. The eldest was already nineteen; the youngest was no more than fourteen or fifteen.

Hearing this, Kowal couldn't help but feel a pang. For a long-lived dwarf, fourteen or fifteen—well, that felt like almost infancy.

And yet these human girls were already picking up weapons and heading for the battlefield. He felt nothing but pity.

Still, he pressed on. He cleared his throat. "Just now, I saw you casting divine spells, healing each other's wounds."

"Tell me, how did you gain these spellcasting abilities?"

Charles always answered flawlessly, never missing a detail. But if Kowal wanted to see the true face of this monastery, the only way was to ask the nuns themselves, without their leader present.

He hadn't expected Charles to agree so readily. Maybe the young man really was open and honest? Maybe Kowal was the one making false assumptions.

He waited for the nuns to respond. Some looked puzzled by his question. "The immersion blessing, of course!"

Kowal raised an eyebrow. "Immersion blessing?"

"Yeah," a nun explained enthusiastically, "in one of the little chapels of the Goddess of Life, there's a hot spring that's always steaming. We get in, and Priest Charles stands at the lectern, reciting scripture—and then, this white Divine Power descends from the dome above."

"For life domain, it's white light. For Storm Domain, it's lightning," another nun chimed in. "The lightning comes from a relic Priest Charles got from the blue dragon… some Storm god's artifact or something."

"Exactly," the first girl nodded. "The power flows into our minds, and we just start chanting the scripture we learned before—then, poof, we can cast spells."

Other girls all nodded, confirming that they too had gained spellcasting power this way. Kowal frowned, unable to immediately make sense of what he was hearing.

He was certain—their spellcasting was real divine magic, channeling true Divine Power.

But they were claiming the ritual took place in a chapel of the Goddess of Life, immersed in a baptismal hot spring. That made it impossible that the Divine Power was being granted by any other deity—why would another god waste their strength on the followers of the fallen Goddess of Life?

What was in it for them? Did they really want her to come back to life sooner?

As for the storm lord's relic—that was just a medium; Kowal dismissed it entirely.

But besides actual deities, who else could command Divine Power and freely share it with these nuns?

Oh… there were Celestial creatures—like the angels who'd once served the Goddess of Life herself.

But the angels had nearly vanished as well. And according to the girls, there hadn't been any sign of angels at the ritual—only Charles reciting scripture.

After ruling everything out, only one possibility remained.

Thinking of Charles's silver hair, strikingly handsome looks, that extraordinary presence, that charisma that seemed to reach right into your soul—Kowal suddenly understood.

I see. That's it. That must be the truth.

As a Seinite, a descendant of the Silver Kin, Charles had awakened the immense, noble power left in his bloodline by his great ancestor—the legendary Green Emperor—becoming a Divine Soul Warlock of great strength.

Even though it cost him his own strength, he was using it to rejuvenate the Church of the Goddess of Life, sharing that power with these girls so they could stay loyal—no matter the price to himself.

This...

This was greatness—true greatness.

Kowal was so moved his eyes filled with tears. All the suspicion disappeared—now he felt only admiration and respect for Charles.

A churchmate stronger, more capable, and more selfless than any of them, one who carried every burden for the good of the church. Truly a blessing!

His eyes brimmed with tears, which promptly panicked the nuns—they couldn't understand why the old dwarf had suddenly started crying and didn't dare comfort him, just stood there, lost for words. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Finally, it was Carol who stepped forward, offering a handkerchief. "Priest, sir… here, wipe your tears."

"It's nothing—don't mind me." Kowal brushed away his tears, then managed a bright smile. "Let's just chat a bit. What's a normal day like for all of you here in the monastery?"

He'd already decided: Charles was someone who could be trusted. Now, he wanted to gauge what the nuns were really being taught, and most importantly—get their honest view of that mass slaughter.

The girls exchanged nervous glances, then, one by one, answered honestly and simply. "It's pretty much the same as any other monastery."

They began to count on their fingers. "We get up and do morning readings, then in the morning we copy scripture, study doctrine and history, learn to read and write, or recite poetry."

"In the afternoon, we have battle and live-combat training, then after dinner and washing up, we sing hymnals and choral pieces, sometimes bake a little snack, then go to sleep…"

After their rambling account, all eyes turned to Kowal. "That's our daily life. Is there a problem with that?"

Kowal shook his head, smiling. "No, not at all. It's a good life. How often do you get a day off, though? Any regular rest or holidays?"

It was a casual question, though the answer caught him totally off guard. "Rest? What do you mean, 'rest'? Why would we need that?"

Kowal was taken aback. "Of course you need rest! Even nuns deserve a break sometimes, right?"

He demanded the highest standards from himself and other senior clergy, but with new church members—especially such young ones—he was remarkably lenient.

He knew just how playful kids could be, especially humans. The Goddess herself had said, more than once, that everything she did was so people could live happy, carefree lives.

So, the fact that these nuns led such a regimented existence left him unsettled.

The girls exchanged looks—they honestly had never established any kind of break schedule, because they never really thought about it.

For one, Charles was managing such a big group for the first time, and just didn't have the experience to make such rules.

For another, the girls here genuinely liked their lives.

Most were grown, not just little kids any more. For years, nearly all of them had suffered the agony of being illiterate, of being led around by the nose; now, given this chance to learn, they enjoyed it.

Neither the nuns nor Charles had ever really considered the question. They were genuinely content.

But when it came to answering, the girls struggled to put anything into words, until all eyes landed, once again, on Carol.

Carol drew a deep breath and declared, "We are the blades of the goddess!"

Her voice hardened. "We received the gift of spellcasting. Our duty is to eradicate everything the goddess despises. So, compared to other nuns, we should hold ourselves to a higher standard—no slacking."

"When the goddess needs us, we unsheath our blades and go to war. When she does not, we rest and prepare, waiting for the next summons."

She finished heavily, and the other nuns began clapping—even more, every face showed genuine agreement.

Kowal's face was complicated. When the applause finally died down, he asked quietly, "So under Priest Charles's guidance, you killed six or seven hundred people in one go?"

"As I recall, South Harbor has under fifty thousand people. What were you thinking, as you brought down the blade?"

He hadn't expected the nuns to answer with such outrage. "It was justice! They finally got what was coming!"

"The Central Guard didn't even reveal a tenth of their crimes. We who live here knew just what those bastards did!"

"Priest, look at my hand—I lost my pinkie because the boss of the Python Gang wanted to make an example of my family. He cut all our fingers off!"

"All I felt was satisfaction. They deserved what they got!"

"I only wish that old witch Yimeda had ten lives—not just one—to repay all her blood debts!"

...

The nuns listed off the crimes of those they'd killed, calm but burning with suppressed rage and hate. Kowal fell silent. This massacre, he realized, actually had deep support among the people?

Any anger he'd felt toward Charles slowly faded as he listened to their stories.

Once things grew quiet again, Kowal asked gently, "So why do you keep living so harshly, working yourselves so hard?"

"Now that those enemies are dead, you've basically given up any private life—poured your entire being into your faith. What is it you're really hoping for?"

It was a leading question, intended to open them up so they'd reveal their deepest hopes. If they answered with things like "power," even if they dressed it up as "to sweep away evil," he'd mark them down and determine they needed correction and teaching.

This sort of pursuit of power quickly grows boundless. Eventually, they'd reach a level where Charles or even the Church of the Goddess of Life could no longer satisfy them—and the only path left would be a parting of ways.

Kowal's eyes were sharp as he watched the lead battle nun, waiting for something unexpected.

Carol simply shook her head. "Faith doesn't need rewards. Faith is the reward."

She looked down at Kowal. "Churchmate, if you even need to ask that question, maybe your faith is starting to slip."

Kowal: "...?"

...

"…So I gave him a stern talking-to, told him straight: as followers of the Goddess of Life, we need spiritual lives, yes, but we also need lives of our own."

In the Field District's great chapel, Kowal told the other two pastors, still scowling, "I get that they're refugees and that kind of zeal is natural, but that sort of religious fanaticism will only backfire in the end."

Evan and Joanna exchanged worried glances. For Kowal—the most stubborn, intense, uncompromising man they knew—to use words like "too extreme," what kind of situation did that monastery have?

"In short, that monastery needs real reform!" Kowal concluded. "I already told him—I'll send someone to guide his nuns, teach them what a normal life is!"

"Lose touch with ordinary people for too long, and things really go sour!"

Evan and Joanna nodded, both shocked by the problem they never saw coming. "Yeah, if they keep radicalizing, they'll probably launch a holy war at this rate. We can't allow that."

"But… who do we send to guide them?"

~~~

Get early access to 330+ advanced chapters on Patreon!

patreon.com/PokemonStoryWeaver

~~~