True to her thoughts, Vania sets aside her work and begins to pray while sitting in her chair. Since the purpose of this prayer is to slack off, she’s obviously not very focused.
“Lord… should I have Falu steak or Vivito noodles for dinner?”
In fact, the prayers during the intervals between reading mystical texts are meant to strengthen faith and guard against the potential minor effects of cognitive poison. In the past, Vania would never have dared to slack off during these prayers.
But ever since receiving Akasha’s revelation, she has been reading other mystical texts on her own and praying to Akasha. She knows that as long as she prays to Akasha, any cognitive poison can be cleansed. This has made her prayers during work intervals more relaxed, and she often lets her mind wander.
Thus, while praying, Vania thinks about what to have for dinner, almost hoping for divine guidance. Just then, without her noticing, a figure slowly approaches her from a distance.
“Oh, Sister Vania, you’re praying again.”
Suddenly, a male voice sounds behind Vania. Startled, she immediately turns around and sees a middle-aged man in a black priest’s robe, with a receding hairline, smiling kindly at her.
“D-Deacon Cork!? When did you get here?”
Looking at the priest beside her, Vania says in surprise. The man before her is none other than Cork, the head of the Historical Scripture Department and Vania’s direct superior.
“Hehe, I just arrived. I noticed that you’ve been praying quite a bit these past few days, and your prayers seem to be taking longer. Is everything alright? Are you feeling unwell?”Cork speaks with a tone of concern. In general, his words could be interpreted as him sensing that Vania might be experiencing discomfort from cognitive poison, hence the increased frequency of her prayers. However, Vania’s situation is clearly not like that—she’s just been slacking off a lot recently.
“Ah… no, Deacon Cork, I’m not feeling any noticeable discomfort. It’s just that I’ve had some insights while studying the scriptures recently. I feel the saints’ presence more profoundly in my heart, and my admiration for them has grown stronger than before. So, without realizing it, my prayers have become longer and more frequent. If this is affecting my work, I’ll correct it immediately.”
Scratching her head, Vania responds with an awkward smile. Cork nods in understanding.
“No issues? That’s good… It seems the rumors I’ve been hearing lately are true. Sister Vania, who survived the ordeal at Bishop Dietrich’s tomb, has grown even firmer in her faith. This is truly a good thing.”
“Ah… not at all…”
Vania replies modestly, and Cork finally says, “Well, I’ll go check on the others now. Sister Vania, if you encounter any issues during your work, feel free to come to me anytime.”
With that, Cork leaves, and Vania watches his retreating figure thoughtfully.
“Phew… I managed to get through that. But come to think of it, Deacon Cork seems to be paying more attention to our on-site work lately. In the past, he seemed more focused on academic research in his office.”
Thinking this, Vania shakes her head. Since her attempt to slack off was interrupted, she decided not to continue praying while thinking about dinner. Instead, she returns to her work.
“Getting caught slacking off is so annoying… but whatever, just endure for another half hour, and I’ll be off work.”
With this thought, Vania shifts her attention back to the instrument and resumes reading the mystical text inside the metal cabinet.
In the extremely limited field of view provided by the instrument, Vania struggles to continue reading the mystical text. Since she can only read two or three letters at a time, it takes her considerable effort to finish a single sentence.
…
“The merciful Holy Mother symbolizes the great love of motherhood, the embodiment of the Savior’s maternal nature, representing all mothers… We are all born from the blood and water of our mothers’ wombs. Therefore, when offering sacrifices to the Holy Mother, we should worship our birth mothers as idols, dripping their blood into a cup and drinking it. As blood and wine merge, so too do I and the Holy Mother, just as I and my birth mother are one… I emerged from my mother’s womb just as I emerged from the Holy Mother’s womb…”
…
“Another heretical teaching…”
Reading this sentence from the mystical text, Vania thinks to herself. In her position, she often encounters heretical mystical texts that deconstruct the Savior and the saints from various angles. Clearly, this one is a heretical text targeting the Holy Mother.
“While the Holy Mother does have the theme of ‘motherhood,’ the key themes are ‘universal salvation’ and ‘forgiveness.’ Motherhood is secondary. This text elevates the Holy Mother’s ‘motherhood’ to the primary level and forcibly connects it to everyone’s birth mother… Definitely heretical…”
Looking at the mystical text through the instrument, Vania thinks this. Having grown up devoted to the Holy Mother and having studied orthodox Holy Mother theology after joining the Historical Scripture Department, she immediately recognizes the issues with this heretical text.
In the orthodox Radiance Church’s trinity, the Holy Mother’s faith includes motherhood but does not emphasize it. The key themes are the salvation of all and the forgiveness of all sins.
After reading the sentence in the mystical text, Vania unhesitatingly records her assessment of the text in the classification notebook beside her.
“Heretical Holy Mother mystical text, distorted doctrine.”
…
Time flies, and the next few dozen minutes pass quickly. The end of the workday finally arrives, and Vania, eager to leave, walks out of the spacious workroom with her fellow nuns and priests into the night.
The moment she steps out of the workplace, Vania heads straight for the cafeteria, walking briskly, almost at a jog. Her gaze is determined, and her destination is clear: the cafeteria.
Since the archbishop has strictly forbidden running in the Cathedral District, Vania relies on her excellent speed-walking skills to secure her desired meal. Recently, perhaps due to her frequent use of Chalice spirituality, Vania’s physical condition seems to have improved. She manages to reach the cafeteria ahead of most people.
“Lord… thank you for your mercy, allowing me to have the meal I desire today…”
Looking at the spacious, still mostly empty cafeteria, Vania offered a prayer of gratitude. After a brief moment of hesitation, she heads to a steak stall, deciding to have steak for dinner tonight.
After selecting the type of steak, the staff member asked Vania, “Sister, how would you like your steak cooked?”
Hearing this, Vania intends to answer her usual preference: medium-well. But the words that come out of her mouth are…
“I’ll have it rare, please.”
As soon as she says this, Vania claps a hand over her mouth.
“…”