novelraw Chapter 522: Main Text Side Story - A Mouse
Chapter 522: Main Text Side Story - A Mouse
"Cardu's attitude towards Naris, whether it is the Gryphon Party or the New Party, is considered an arrogant provocation. This arrogance has a long history; clues can already be seen from history, culture, and the faith of the Mother God... I think all our citizens have endured this group of antiques for a very, very long time. Even the lowest fishermen of Saint-Nazareth, even the residents of Serpent's Head Street will feel dissatisfied..."
"...As I have repeatedly emphasized, Cardu's interference in our conflict with Schwari is an intolerable provocation! We've had enough of their dictating, had enough of their bullying towards us!"
"We must expel all those damn Carduans!"
"Rumble!"
The sky above Saint-Nazareth was covered with dark clouds, occasionally flashing with faint electric light, which were vaguely the few points of light in the sky. The oppressive sea breeze felt like boulders carried on people's bodies, bringing a suffocating feeling of an impending storm to the entire Saint-Nazareth.
The entire Saint-Nazareth, and even Naris, was enveloped in the dark clouds of the war with Schwari. That uneasy emotion spared not even the holiest of churches.
"Dong! Dong! Dong!"
The clear bell of the church rang out. Inside a small church that appeared exceptionally bustling amidst the wind and rain of Saint-Nazareth, many people were currently busy.
"Priest, come quickly and see if this side needs to be dismantled?"
"Dismantle it all. All these texts on the wall are the original text of Cardu; they must at least be translated into Naris."At this moment, many nuns originally wearing heavy and plain black veils were walking around in this narrow church. They, who originally should be holding the "Scripture of Creation" and reciting, were currently holding various chisels and hammers in their hands. They were hammering and chiseling in this church that couldn't even rank in Saint-Nazareth, seemingly knocking away everything in the church that had any connection to Cardu.
A priest with short blonde hair was anxiously supervising in the construction site of this church, occasionally instructing those nuns lying on the ground hammering the walls on what to do.
"Priest! Priest!"
"Hurry up, change that side too!"
"Priest!"
"And the statue of the Mother God... What the Mother God is holding in her hand..."
Just as the priest anxiously fixed his gaze upon the merciful statue of the Mother God, unrecognizably gazing at everyone below, behind him, a nun who had been calling out to him finally blocked his path while panting heavily. This nun spread her hands, halting his action of placing his modifying gaze upon the statue of the Mother God.
"Priest! How can you alter the contents of the Mother God's statue without authorization? Many of the original texts nearby, even if translated into Naris, are inaccurate. I think we shouldn't..."
This nun appeared extremely young, still looking so green, but she wore the nun's robe serving the Mother God without the slightest flaw. From this point alone, her piety could be seen.
The priest was slightly taken aback, then sizing her up and down, said,
"You are... the one newly assigned to us a few weeks ago..."
"Ah, yes. I was previously from the Avana Township church..."
"Sorry, I don't have time to deal with you right now. Go outside first and see if there's anything you can help with... Windsor, help me knock away the Cardu religious vessel in the Mother God's right hand. Either we don't need it, or we must replace it with a cup uniquely used here in Naris!"
"Yes, Priest!"
Seeing that the priest before her still intended to knock away all the originally holy and orthodox things inside the church, the young and green nun once again blocked the priest's path, saying to him,
"Priest! No matter what, the statue of the Mother God..."
"Enough. Do you think I don't know the statue of the Mother God cannot be touched? But what choice do we have? Is this something that orthodoxy and classics can explain? Do you know how chaotic Saint-Nazareth is right now? Do you know that last week, many children with only a little Carduan blood were killed. Even when parents kept them at home, people threw things to smash their doors and windows, let alone those abandoned in orphanages and streets!"
The priest before her could no longer endure the repeated obstruction of the nun before him. Rubbing his brow with a headache, he said,
"Many Carduans living in Saint-Nazareth even need to dye the hair of their swaddled black-haired children blonde with pigment. Even so, they cannot save their own children from those extremely agitated fellas. Young person, you must know, this is not a matter of faith at all, but a political issue! The hatred towards Cardu in Saint-Nazareth is now completely out of control. Many extremists who are not of the Mother God Religion are even demanding that all Mother God churches be driven out of Naris."
"The main churches and high-level churches are stationed with knights from the Golden Palace standing guard, yet even their outer walls are not spared, smashed to pieces by many angry fellas throwing things. Do you... do you actually want us devout believers to apologetically modify the Mother God's statue now, or do you want to wait for those lunatics to sneak in at night to desecrate the Mother God's statue?"
The young nun stared blankly at the priest before her. After a moment of silence, she looked around again, only to find that all the nuns in this narrow church were looking at her.
Perhaps they weren't willing to do this either, but circumstances compelled them; this was a helpless move.
And this young devout believer from the countryside finally learned her first lesson in this big city.
She pressed her lips together, apologizing to the priest before her with some sadness and sorrow,
"Sorry, Priest. It was me who didn't think it through."
"...Go outside. We don't have the energy to teach you the Mother God's teachings right now. First, use what you have learned to comfort others. If there are believers visiting outside, please arrange for them."
Actually, what believers would visit a small church like theirs?
Their place wasn't actually considered an orthodox church, but rather the embryo of an unfinished church school. Rarely did anyone come here to visit and pray.
Of course, it couldn't be ruled out that believers might come over while other churches had been smashed?
However, the greater possibility was that the priest merely wanted to send her away, letting her calm down.
This young nun naturally knew this point, but she still nodded and left this church undergoing "transformation."
The sky outside was misty. She walked from the inner hall to the outside, taking a deep breath ready to adjust her state. But right at this time, another young nun companion who was originally guarding the outside ran over. She looked nervously at the nun who had walked out and said to her,
"Hey, that lunatic from earlier has come again! Leaving her to you!"
"Ah... ah? Leaving her to me again..."
This nun pointed at herself in confusion, but turning her head back, that companion had already run far away, looking quite fearful of that "lunatic."
Seeing her companion disappear, the nun sighed helplessly. She adjusted her attire and walked toward the front hall outside. Soon, at the end of the neatly arranged chairs, she saw a lady with a head full of long black hair, wearing a gentleman's suit.
Although her attire looked quite nice, the slacker-like aura drifting from her still made her seem so out of place here.
She relaxed, propping her two legs on the wooden chair in front, placing her two hands behind her head like a pillow. Clearly having such long hair, a pair of seemingly quite terrifying eyes instantly captured the nun entering the front hall.
That woman waved at the nun, laughing,
"Hi, beauty, wanna get married?"
"Sigh..."
The young nun sighed, then walked straight over, picked up a broom used for cleaning, and swung at that slacker-like woman,
"Go die, go die, go die!"
"Ouch ouch, don't mess around, I was wrong, I was wrong!"
That woman was beaten like a scurrying rat covering her head by the nun holding the broom. The nun seemed to be venting her dissatisfaction of these past few days, aggressively attacking this crazy woman, yet this person before her was extremely nimble, not letting her touch her at all.
After hitting for a long time, tiring the nun to the point of panting, the crazy woman's expression remained as usual.
She smiled and sat on the chair beside her with her legs crossed again, looking extremely agreeable to a beating.
The nun was too tired to straighten her back. Leaning on the broom on the side, she panted while regretting.
Two weeks ago, on her train ride into Saint-Nazareth, she bumped into this female lunatic. At that time, she was staying decadently by the roadside. Keeping the Mother God's teachings in mind, she went to help, comforting her with many words, but as a result, she was stuck with this fellow...
"You... what exactly did you come here for?"
"Me?"
That crazy woman pointed at herself, then smilingly pointed at the wall behind. The nun looked up and saw the un-wiped text on the wall, which read,
"Confess your sins"
The nun was slightly taken aback, then set down the broom in her hands. Although she was somewhat indignant towards this fellow's scattered and careless style, her faith in the Mother God still made her place the other party's needs first.
The Mother God said, one cannot give up on any single person.
She sighed, adjusted her state of mind, then forced herself to sit beside this woman before her, saying,
"Alright, whatever sins you have, please tell me. Following the Mother God's teachings, I will absolutely not leak secrets, absolutely not mix in selfish desires. I will use a pure kind heart, in the name of the Mother God, to guide you out of the lost path..."
The woman before her smilingly said,
"No need to be so serious, just treat it as a normal chat. If you're like this, people coming here to confess will feel a lot of pressure."
"Please speak."
"Actually... I am a lunatic."
"I know, and then?"
"I'm serious..."
The smile on the nun's face was somewhat forced, thinking the woman before her was joking again. But the woman before her remained silent for a long time. When she turned her head, the expression the nun saw was solely a smile full of cracks.
Her helpless expression faded bit by bit, then became serious, as she smilingly continued speaking,
"Someone like me... is born to face endless torment... destined to proceed toward a tragic outcome... I once thought I was special... that I transcended others... but in the end I discovered... I am not like that... I am only... luckier than others."
The nun was slightly taken aback, then said,
"Then... how did this disease come about? There must be a source and a reason, right? Can you tell me?"
The woman before her turned her head to look at the nun, then shaking her head said,
"This..."
"Is it a bit hard to speak of? It doesn't matter, the Mother God will forgive you... but I can still feel you are agonized over something. Can you tell me what agonizes you?"
"...Nun, let's tell a fable."
"Please speak."
"Do you know about the Titanic?"
"...What is that?"
"Ah, it's... never mind, I'm already starting to get a bit delirious."
The woman with disheveled long hair in front of her helplessly shook her head. Not knowing if it was an illusion, the nun invariably felt as if something was wriggling on the body of the woman before her,
"The current situation is like this. Suppose you are a passenger on a large ship. While the ship is sailing on the boundless sea, the grim reaper suddenly appears, teasingly telling the captain and the first mate on this large ship a prophecy. But nobody can understand what this prophecy specifically said, only knowing one thing: this ship is destined to sink. But where it will sink, and how it will sink, is a mystery."
The woman in front of her began to perform, gesturing colorfully. She lifelikely played several roles, recreating everything on the ship,
"The captain says: 'Oh my, since it's so dangerous, let's quickly turn back, return to where we started!' The first mate says, 'Wait, captain, could it be that the place our ship will sink in the prophecy is exactly where we turn back? We should brace ourselves and sail forward, then find a nearby place to dock!' The second mate says, 'Hah, could it not be during the process of finding a place to dock?' The third mate says, 'We should keep sailing towards our destination, don't deviate from the course!' The helmsman says, 'Why don't we just wait for death like this...'"
In the next second, her smile came to an abrupt end, suddenly turning into a somewhat hair-raising, neurotic, expressionless face. That seemed to be the expression she originally should have at this moment.
She pointed her finger straight at the nun before her, slowly saying to her,
"Just at this time, you, an ordinary person on this ship, are truly exceedingly clever. Not only did you secretly eavesdrop on the prophecy the grim reaper told the captain and the others, but you also accidentally deciphered what exactly that prophecy meant... But when you realized what this prophecy truly meant, you discovered that the prophecy was already close at hand, so close that you felt no matter what you did, it couldn't change the sinking prophecy...
"But actually, you still have a choice, and that is to slip away quietly by yourself. Abandon everything on the ship, whatever bullshit prophecy, the friends you made on the ship, devout believers, throw everything away, then run off. After all, apart from those several captains and first mates, none of the passengers on the ship know that prophecy. They are currently all still in the cabin, singing and dancing day and night, happy as can be..."
The nun frowned somewhat uncomprehendingly. She seriously pondered the other party's words, then murmured,
"Hmm, can't you run away taking more people with you or something... If you already have a method to escape..."
"Of course not. Think about it, how could a teasing grim reaper endure watching many prey about to fall into his pocket run away? Perhaps there are so many passengers on the ship that he wouldn't notice if one runs away, but what if two, three, or more run away; wouldn't he discover it?"
The woman before her shook her head again, further explaining,
"Moreover, to be honest, most people on this ship don't treat you very well either. Perhaps you shouldn't even be a person on the ship; you should just be a dirty mouse that everyone wants to hit, running across the street... Hah, this way the logic is more consistent. Only a mouse could eavesdrop on the conversations of big shots, and only a mouse could escape from the grim reaper's hands, right?"
The nun pondered, but she didn't fixate on this prophecy, nor did she make a fuss over the loopholes in this prophecy.
She merely gazed with some worry at the woman before her with somewhat vacant eyes. After hesitating a moment, she suddenly opened her arms and hugged the woman before her in her embrace.
The nun's selfless, gentle, and devoutly warm embrace melted the words the woman was about to utter back into her mouth. She was slightly taken aback, but her hands naturally opened, not hugging back.
It wasn't until a second later that the nun before her gently let go of the woman, and she spoke,
"Although perhaps this prophecy does not refer to you, I can feel your confusion and pain. You are feeling guilty, feeling regret. A mouse and an evil person wouldn't feel this way..."
The woman before her glanced at the nun, then laughed mischievously,
"If it were in the past, with a beauty like you throwing herself into my arms, I would have already prprprpr..."
The nun expressionlessly turned her head to fetch the broom again, but was interrupted by the woman's laughter behind her,
"Just joking, you know I'm not that kind of person. Although I easily get turned on, I've already reformed."
The nun sighed speechlessly, then looked again at the woman with a vacant gaze beside her. After hesitating for a moment, she suddenly said,
"If it truly cannot be avoided, then leave..."
The woman beside her turned her head to look at her, but the nun kept staring at the passage of Cardu orthodox text before her. She knew that soon, this line of text was also going to be chiseled away.
Combined with the current sensitive environment, this nun even thought the black-haired woman beside her was a Carduan struggling to survive in Naris. Although her facial features didn't look quite like it, this fellow's face was basically hidden within her black hair; maybe she didn't observe carefully?
Merely relying on this fellow's head of black hair, perhaps one could discern her Cardu identity?
"The Mother God once taught us to be gentle, to lean towards kindness, to be devout. But since I walked from my hometown to here, I have been greatly disappointed in others. Not only disappointed in Naris, but even Cardu, the sanctuary of many devout believers, is exactly like this. The believers who originally should be staying far away from the mortal world, while reciting the Mother God's oaths, harm living beings, deceive, and act violently..."
The woman beside her smiled slightly. Looking at this nun blankly staring at the wall, she said,
"Disappointed?"
Unexpectedly, this nun shook her head, then turned her face to smile,
"No, I am not disappointed. Perhaps, I just belatedly realized that the religious laws I believe in are only directed at myself. I don't want to be a fanatical believer, nor do I harbor unrealistic fantasies about the Mother God I have never seen. I merely firmly believe in the Mother God's kindness, hoping to turn her kindness into my own kindness; I merely firmly believe in the Mother God's wisdom, hoping to turn her wisdom into my own wisdom.
"As long as I myself don't feel guilty and have done my best, then I will not be overly critical of myself. Friend, you are the same. No one will be overly critical of you; the one being overly critical of you from beginning to end is only yourself..."
The woman before her just looked at the nun before her like that. After being silent for two seconds, she smilingly stood up. Then she waved her hand, and suddenly a thick stack of banknotes and a small box appeared in her hand.
"Thank you, I feel much better now. Perhaps today is the final day of our fateful encounter, so before leaving, I want to leave you some gifts to express my gratitude to you."
The woman before her chuckled, then casually tossed that stack of banknotes and the box. The two items seemed to automatically seek their master, flying into the nun's hands.
The nun was slightly taken aback, then hurriedly stood up to refuse,
"As a believer of the Mother God, how can I..."
"How about opening it to take a look first before deciding whether to refuse?"
"..."
The nun was slightly taken aback. She then opened the small box, only to suddenly discover that laying inside was an extremely archaic book.
It was unknown how many years of erosion that book had undergone; even the text recorded on it wasn't Cardu text, but even older ancient human text. Fortunately, although the nun came from a small place, she loved learning since childhood and liked delving into various classics, so she possessed some knowledge of ancient human text.
She recognized the name of this book.
"The Scripture of Creation"
"The... the... the original copy of the Scripture of Creation?!!"
The nun was so frightened her hands trembled, almost trembling so much she couldn't hold the box steadily. But thankfully, her faith in the Mother God still allowed her to securely hold this extremely precious thing.
Her small face turned completely pale. Blankly looking at the "crazy woman" entirely shrouded in mystery before her, she tremulously said,
"You... you couldn't be that master thief wanted by all of humanity, right... This original copy is something... enshrined at the very bottom of the Cardu Holy Church, guarded and worshipped by countless cardinals... Why would you... who exactly are you..."
The woman before her merely smiled slightly and said,
"Don't worry, theirs isn't lost, and the one you are holding isn't a fake either."
"Then... then... you swapped it?"
"No, it's just that in this world, nothing is unique to me."
"Ah?"
The crazy woman before her turned her head, preparing to leave. However, the nun standing in place remained standing like a steel nail, trembling incessantly. The weight of this thing was truly too heavy. Once this thing was stolen, Cardu would even desperately wage war externally; either they would entirely wipe out a country, or they would retrieve this thing. This showed exactly how important this thing was.
And now, this holy object worshipped by all churches lay in her hands just like this?
She couldn't throw it away, nor could she hold it, not even daring to move. Just like that, wanting to cry but without tears, she watched the woman walk toward the door with a relaxed expression.
"Hey! You... I... this... holy thing... what should..."
"What else, you keep it. If you want to take it out to sell or share it, it's fine too. It's just that you might be secretly kidnapped by Cardu spies at night, then tortured and tormented to force you to tell the truth or whatever..."
"Ah?"
"Haha, just joking..."
As her words reached the end, the crazy woman who had almost walked out of the door turned her head back again. Smiling slightly, a single eye carrying a smile and profound meaning was revealed from within her long black hair,
"Don't worry, absolutely no person or existence will discover this place or you. Even your Mother God cannot..."
"Ah, what are you say..."
"Oh right, we've known each other for so long, and you still haven't told me your name, Miss Nun."
"Theresa, just calling me Theresa is fine."
"Oh, my name is Qin Shi Huang. You can also call me by my nicknames: Hongzhong, Ultraman, Kamen Rider... Of course, just don't call me Demi-Human Girl Con."
"Huh?"
Theresa blankly held the banknotes in her hand and that archaic Scripture of Creation, watching helplessly as the crazy woman's back disappeared through the church doorway while waving her hand.
Since then, that woman never appeared again. Just as she had said, the fateful encounter between them ended on that gloomy afternoon.
To Theresa, everything felt like a dream. If it weren't for the original copy of the Scripture of Creation, which she repeatedly confirmed as genuine, still lying on her desk, she might really have doubted whether she had been asleep that afternoon.
The weather for the following few weeks was very good, sunny instead of being shrouded in dark clouds. The luck of their church school was also exceptionally good; not a single crazed thug noticed the fish that escaped the net here. All their preparations for the impending political shock fell through.
The priest and the other nuns were all exclaiming "Mother God's blessing!" Only Theresa, who studied the original copy of the Scripture of Creation day and night, inexplicably thought of the words that woman had said before she left.
A few more days passed. It was a sunny afternoon, and the entire school was enjoying a long-lost tranquility in the somewhat sultry afternoon, as if everything happening in the bustling, highly commercialized Saint-Nazareth outside had nothing to do with this place.
When Theresa got tired of studying the Scripture of Creation, she would take a broom to sweep outside, cleaning up accumulated dust and straightening the tables and chairs that believers had sat on in the front hall.
On that wall, a line of authentic Cardu original text, spared from the nuns' chisels and hammers altering because of "good luck," was still carved there. It read,
"Confess your sins"
The young nun Theresa, holding the broom, stopped before that line of text for a long time. Because it wasn't until she read through the entirety of the Scripture of Creation that she suddenly realized that the Mother God didn't say these words to the children suffering in the mortal world. What she truly said was,
"Face your heart"
Thinking of this, Theresa couldn't help but smile slightly. But just as she shook her head and was about to sweep further down, outside the church school, a crisp baby's cry tore through the entire church school like thunder.
"Wa! Wa! Wa!"
Theresa was slightly taken aback, then ran towards the door extremely anxiously, hurriedly opening the tightly shut gate.
However, she saw a small wooden basket placed on the steps outside. It was unknown how long it had been put there.
In the wooden basket, an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes was crying loudly just like that. He seemed to have only recently been born; perhaps he had just woken up and couldn't help but cry out of hunger, seeking food from his mother.
And the most critical thing was, from the hair that had just grown on his head, one could see that he was born with a head of black hair.
This child had Cardu blood!
Thinking of this point, Theresa fearfully picked up the wooden basket, looking around very carefully, deeply afraid that someone else would discover this child's bloodline in such a sensitive period.
But just like the incredibly good luck their church had before, this child also miraculously absorbed the good luck of this church. He had been placed at the church gate for so long, yet miraculously nobody had discovered him...
"Mother God bless! Mother God bless! Mother God bless! Mother God bless..."
Theresa was almost about to shed tears. She tightly hugged this wooden basket in her embrace, feeling the existence of the vigorous life inside that wooden basket.
And the child in the basket seemingly felt her existence as well. As his crying gradually ceased, his small hand also slowly raised, touching the face of this nun before him.
"Ha-ga... gu-ru..."
The child in the basket puckered his mouth, blankly using his watery eyes to look curiously at the nun before him.
It was a boy...
Theresa smiled slightly, using her finger to touch his small hand. Following which, she hurriedly carried this infant back into the school.
Only at this moment did she finally discover a slip of paper pasted on the outside of the infant's swaddling clothes.
On the slip of paper, a line of wild black ink traces wrote Naris characters.
For some unknown reason, at the instant she saw that handwriting, the unrestrained image of that crazy woman suddenly appeared in Theresa's mind...
Just an illusion, right?
She looked down, only to see written on that paper,
"No one knew that the mouse that left would become the nightmare of a grim reaper."
(End of this chapter)