Chapter 92

Mionia was a nun.

During a difficult childbirth, her mother vowed to dedicate her child to God if both survived.

Mionia was born safely and thus, dedicated to God.

She became a nun, not by her own will, similar to many medieval people who couldn't choose their own futures.

The problem was that Mionia had little faith.

"Haah, life."

Indifferently, Mionia leaned against the convent walls, watching the street.

All she saw were women walking arm in arm with men, ordinary women who were born into ordinary families, married into ordinary families, and became housewives.

"...I'm jealous."

Mionia envied these ordinary women.

The strict life of a nun was too much for her.

She disliked getting up at dawn for prayers and always having to behave modestly and demurely.

Especially the clothing!

The mother superior was particularly strict about the young nuns' attire.

Monks, having vowed to dedicate everything to God, must only look towards God.

Therefore, any attire that attracted attention was unacceptable.

Moreover, the God of their religion is often depicted as female, widely recognized as the Goddess.

A nun tempting men in her holy robes under the eyes of the Goddess?

The watching Goddess would be justified in striking her with lightning.

It would be no crime.

Thus, the nun's robes had to be solemn and neat.

"Mionia! Can't you wear your veil properly? Your hair is sticking out again!"

"Oh come on! Just overlook a bit of hair!"

"And did you shorten your top again? What's with that tight-fitting dress!"

"I didn't shorten it! What am I supposed to do if my breasts get bigger!"

"You should have brought a bandage to cover that vulgar chest!"

"What? You old hag!"

Mionia was the troublemaker of the convent.

Daily, she fought, pulling hair and scrapping with the other nuns, who called her a devil's spawn and a lascivious woman.

But Mionia felt wronged.

Did she want to become a nun?

No, she had been dedicated by her parents as a newborn!

She wanted to quit being a nun, meet a decent man, have children, and start a family.

However, the mother superior wouldn't let her go.

Since she was dedicated to God, she was told she had to work for God until her death.

The mother superior's logic was flawed.

God never said it was okay to exploit people like slaves, nor had she ever forced unwilling people into service.

But the mother superior was a greedy human.

Why would she release a legally free slave?

"Mionia. If you finish all the tasks I give you, I'll secularize you."

"Really?"

"Of course. I swear to God."

Eagerly, Mionia followed the mother superior's orders, hoping to be secularized.

But the difficulty of the secularization tasks far exceeded Mionia's expectations.

She began to doubt if it was even meant to be completed.

Perhaps there was never any intention to secularize her from the start?

The mother superior's request turned out to be participation in an assassination.

"Excuse me? You want me to commit assassination?"

"Oh. Assassination? I said collaborate in meting out divine punishment."

She never used the word 'assassination', but to Mionia, it was the same thing.

Divine punishment? Are you kidding? Using the name of the Goddess to justify murder?

"Don't worry, Mionia. The target is a shameless fraudster. God would reward you for this."

How do you know that?

Mionia swallowed her doubts but remained silent.

She had already uncovered the mother superior's sinister scheme.

If she withdrew now, the punishment might be far worse than mere confinement within the convent walls.

"Go. Do what you must."

"Yes, Mother Superior," Mionia replied.

After receiving instructions, Mionia left the convent to meet with an accomplice.

"So, have you heard enough?"

"No, not yet..."

"The one we need to handle is a monk called [ Golden Finger Takarion], who has sinned by writing a misleading gospel that has confused many."

Mionia swallowed dryly.

She had never imagined she would be entangled in a plot to kill someone...

"What should I do?"

"You are to serve Takarion a meal."

"...Is that all?"

"Yes. We will poison his food. By the time he finishes his meal, he will be facing divine judgment."

As the assassin continued, Mionia realized why she had been chosen to assist in the assassination.

"According to rumors, Takarion has a weakness for beauties."

"A beauty?"

"It seems, Sister Mionia, you are quite liberal, even by our convent's standards..."

Incredibly, the assassins had brazenly requested her to use her charm.

Mionia was stunned but couldn't deny it.

Indeed, she was likely capable of seducing Takarion to serve him the meal.

"Just so you know, don't even dream of betraying us. Besides us, there are other traps laid out for him."

It was a warning to avoid getting herself killed.

Mionia nodded but was continuously plagued by doubts.

Was it really right to cooperate in an assassination for her secularization?

If she had been uneducated, she might not have even considered this dilemma.

However, she was a nun, educated in the words of God and the proper way to live.

God, what should I do...

While she pondered this, the monk named Takarion arrived.

Dressed in a modified nun's habit that she had tailored herself, Mionia went out to greet him, questioning whether his death was truly for the sake of God.

"What have you done to the holy robes!" the monks exclaimed, frothing at the mouth upon seeing the nun's attire.

"What! This is not a nun's habit!!!"

How could a habit that show so much skin!?

Furthermore, the nun's body itself was lascivious.

A lascivious body in lascivious clothing?

Conclusion: A lascivious nun.

Unlike the monks, Ian was simply amazed.

Wow! Nun cosplay!

Familiar with modern, distorted images of nuns, Ian didn't see anything strange about her attire.

Though there was some exposure, by modern standards, it wasn't severe at all.

She could walk around a comic event in that outfit without feeling out of place!

"It's infuriating because it's pretty," Belenka remarked calmly, arms crossed.

Kira slightly furrowed her brows.

"That's pretty? You have weird tastes."

"Think of it as a regular dress, not a modified nun's habit. Isn't it quite nice?"

"Well... hmm."

The more she considered it, the more it seemed to make sense.

Based on a nun's habit, if it had been made from decent fabric, it could have been a design worthy of beauty.

Kira realized with embarrassment that she found the lascivious nun's habit... pretty.

Why? Why does it look pretty?

Perhaps because Ian was staring so intently.

...Humph. Maybe it would suit me even better.

It was an attire that even women admired, not just Ian.

The stimulation nearly made Takarion faint!

Huff! Huff!

He gasped for air.

He was an otaku who had confined himself to writing light novels—no, gospels—in his room.

In these gospels, he described all sorts of beautiful women.

Back then, Takarion had no inhibitions; he found joy in creating female characters!

However, standing in front of a real woman, Takarion was utterly inept.

"Brother Takarion! I have thoroughly enjoyed your gospel! My name is Mionia, and I am your fervent follower!"

"Ah... um... yes."

"I heard you were passing through and I just had to meet you. It feels like a dream to actually be here!"

As Sister Mionia approached, Takarion's face turned bright red.

She was a beauty on par with Belenka or Kira, an insurmountable challenge for a basement-dwelling otaku!

"In honor of our meeting today, I would like to offer you a meal... if you're not too busy, could you spare some time?"

"Ah... um... well..."

Takarion stumbled over his words.

It was evident, as clear as someone who had fallen from an apple tree as a child.

"Look here! Sister Mionia! There are limits to shamelessness! How can you, dressed like that, offer to dine with our Takarion!"

"Be quiet!!!"

Unable to stand it any longer, some monks spoke up, but Takarion immediately defended Mionia.

The monks felt a deep sense of betrayal...!

"No, Takarion! Are you siding with a woman who looks like a whore?!"

"Watch your language! I will not tolerate any insults to Sister Mionia!"

"Oh, Takarion!"

Mionia gently embraced Takarion.

Both Takarion and the monks were utterly astonished.

Mionia, who drove everyone crazy, was truly a superstar in every sense of the word.

"Hmm..."

Ian watched and tilted his head slightly.

But really, no matter how much you respect Takarion, was he so charming to cling to him like so?

For a woman to wear such attractive clothes and cling to a man is no trivial act.

It requires serious intent, whatever that may be.

Surely Sister Mionia isn't blind...

Could she actually have a bizarre taste for someone like a hopeless otaku?

"Is she trying to steal his organs?"

"Is she under some kind of spell?"

Belenka narrowed her eyes sharply.

Her past experiences had made her suspicious of wizards.

Ian just shrugged.

The organ comment was just a joke.

He didn't know the full story.

Perhaps she really dressed that way out of fandom, wanting to appear attractive to Takarion.

Then, Kira murmured softly.

"There might be... some ulterior motive."

"Huh?"

"The way she acts... It doesn't feel sincere. Like she's performing?"

As an expert in acting, Kira sensed something off in the nun's behavior.

But just because it appeared a bit awkward, they couldn't interrogate her as if she were a criminal.

"Let's go! Let's have that meal!"

"You're so cool, Takarion!"

By now, Takarion was completely enamored with Mionia.

Ian quietly followed the two.

Murder is a sin.

All murders are sinful, but some are especially egregious.

Specifically, the murder of a clergyman.

It goes without saying that all adherents of Heaven's Faith dread going to hell—a place filled only with terrible suffering.

However, life sometimes brings moments when sinning seems inevitable.

For instance, killing a passerby to steal their food when on the brink of starvation.

In cases deemed 'unavoidable,' the gravity of the sin committed is said to be much lighter than that of other crimes.

Those who have taken up murder as a profession took note of this nuance.

They realized that even the same act of murder can carry different consequences depending on the circumstances.

If we kill someone by accident, it's not really our fault, right?

For instance, stabbing someone with a knife is a clear case of murder.

But what if you poison someone instead?

What if it's by serving them a meal prepared with an exotic ingredient that people didn't know was poisonous?

Wow. Had no idea that eating food made with such strange ingredients could kill someone! It was a case of willful ignorance.

Yet, murderers are desperate people.

If there's even a slight chance that the gravity of their sin could be lessened, they will take it, no matter how foolish it may seem.

Those planning Takarion's assassination reasoned similarly.

Even though the higher-ups denounced Takarion as a fake and a fraudster, to those below, Takarion was still a clergyman.

They didn't want to kill a clergyman with their own hands!

The higher-ups shared this reluctance.

So, they devised a clever solution.

"Let's assassinate him with a poison unknown in the empire!"

"Let's use a poison even the clergy don't know about!"

"Maybe then our sin will be lessened?"

They looked for food that appeared harmless but was in fact filled with deadly poison.

Pufferfish or poisonous mushrooms were too well-known, so they were out.

Sprouted potatoes were too weak in toxicity, so they were out.

After filtering through various options, they stumbled upon a certain red, round vegetable.

"This is supposed to be dangerous?"

"Yes! It's said to be a deadly food if eaten!"

The vegetable the assassins discovered was called [tomato].

"Hmm. It doesn't look dangerous at all. Are you sure it's deadly?"

"Would you like to try some?"

"Are you insane? If we confirm its toxicity, it becomes an actual assassination! We're just supposed to be serving food by chance. Takarion has to die without our knowledge!"

"Ah! Right! That was close!"

Rumor has it that everyone who ate this [tomato] died.

So, well... Takarion would probably just die off casually too!

Thus, the assassins waited with a pot of tomato soup, as Mionia brought Takarion to them.

"Hehe... Let's send him to hell! Foolish Takarion!"

The assassin stirred the tomato soup and chuckled sinisterly.

With such ruthless assassins after his life, Takarion's life was as fragile as a candle in the wind!