She wants... to drink the potion?
Uris was surprised by the girl’s words but didn’t object.
Uris was almost certain that Ciel was indeed a saintess—only lacking formal recognition by the church. The current saintess within the church had also consud a potion before her sainthood was officially confird, unknowingly digesting it entirely. A saintess favored by the Goddess would naturally take the shortest path on this road of reconstitution.
“These things were ant to be yours anyway. If the ritual fails, I can help extract the potion from your body,” Uris paused for two seconds before continuing, “but I have to warn you in advance.”
“If you’re not the saintess and the ritual fails, even if I extract the potion’s components from your body, so residue will remain inside.”
“This residue might cost you half your life, leaving you crippled, insane... or even causing bizarre physical mutations.”
“And the whispers of the potion will tornt you endlessly, urging you to seek more potions. Even if you don’t go mad now, in ten, twenty, or thirty years, you’ll eventually lose your mind.”
Uris tried to describe the consequences as terrifyingly as possible in hopes of discouraging the girl from her decision.
She had touched Ciel’s soft cheeks earlier, and based on the feel of her skin and bones, she couldn’t be more than 15 years old. Surely scaring her would make her back down.
“Thank you for the warning,” Ciel said calmly after listening to Uris’s description. “Do you know the correct ritual steps?”
Seeing that the girl hadn’t changed her mind, Uris decided not to insist further. This was a matter of Ciel’s own will, and from both a personal and church standpoint, Uris had no right to interfere.
“The ritual? I have the correct and complete ritual.” Uris faced Ciel directly, her tone becoming solemn as she spoke calmly. “But the condition is, you must join the Church of the Savior Goddess. Otherwise, I cannot teach you the full ritual.”
“Uh?” Ciel’s confidence wavered slightly at Uris’s words.
Join the church? Honestly, after learning about the existence of transcendent powers, Ciel didn’t doubt that the Goddess was real. But it was precisely because of this certainty that she was hesitant to commit to the faith.
After all, she didn’t genuinely believe in the Church of the Savior Goddess. Worshiping a deity she didn’t truly revere seed dangerous—especially since she’d stolen two pennies from the Goddess just five minutes ago.
Would the Goddess punish her for insincerity?
“Do you have any doubts?” Seeing Ciel’s silence, Uris asked.
“But I don’t know anything about the Church of the Savior Goddess... I only glanced at the teachings and scriptures two years ago.” Ciel’s tone was rather tactful.
Uris didn’t quite understand Ciel’s hesitation and responded directly:
“Most people know nothing about the church before joining.”
“You can learn those things later. All you need to do is ensure your actions align with the teachings of the Church of the Savior Goddess. ‘Faith without deeds is dead.’ Start with small acts of kindness, and you’ll gradually co to experience the grace of the Savior Goddess.”
“As long as your actions don’t violate the teachings, the Goddess’s salvation will follow you.”
So the aning is...
It doesn’t matter whether you truly believe, as long as you don’t break the rules?
Ciel had always assud that churches operated on the principle of justification by faith. She hadn’t realized that different churches had different doctrines. Clearly, the Church of the Savior Goddess leaned toward justification by works.
It was more about judging actions rather than intentions.
If that’s the case, then it was manageable. As long as she didn’t break any rules, she wouldn’t have to worry about divine punishnt.
“Alright, I’ll join.” Ciel nodded and asked, “Is there a baptism or sothing?”
“I can perform your baptism.” Uris felt a slight sense of excitent in her heart.
The girl before her might very well beco the next saintess, and Uris herself would be the one to guide her. For any devout believer, this was a sacred and exhilarating responsibility.
The baptism rites of the Church of the Savior Goddess were simple—almost excessively so.
Since most of the church’s followers were impoverished and illiterate, the baptismal prayers were always recited by church mbers. The person being baptized only needed to place their right hand on their chest and wait quietly for the recitation to finish.
After listening to the five-minute prayer, Ciel, with her eyes closed, nearly fell asleep. When Uris finally placed a finger on her forehead, the baptism was declared complete.
From that mont onward, Ciel was officially a mber of the Church of the Savior Goddess—or at least, she was in this simulation.
It didn’t cost anything, so she might as well join.
“This insignia is yours now. It temporarily symbolizes your identity.” After the baptism, Uris retrieved a semicircular insignia from her robe and carefully pinned it to Ciel’s cloak.
“Uh...” Ciel wanted to say sothing but couldn’t find the words. Instead, she asked, “What’s the process for the ritual?”
“The branch of the church with the fewest mbers is the Inquisition, because the conditions for the ‘Avenger’ ritual are extrely demanding,” Uris said slowly, as she recalled the items needed for the ritual in her mind. “Based on what we’ve observed, the most successful reenactnts require three elents.”
“An enemy of your ‘lifeblood companion,’ a desperate counterattack at the brink of death, and the flas of purification to burn away the old body, rebirthing in the fire.”
“In simple terms, the ideal scenario is completing your vengeance against your enemy in the throes of death, then consuming the potion amidst the flas.”
“It’s a dynamic situation, one not everyone encounters. That’s why the Inquisition is so small—it’s rare to find ordinary people suited to this ritual.”
“If you’re willing, I can take you back to the Holy See in Ansu. They’ll guide you through the process step by step...”
Wait?
“Wait, what’s a ‘lifeblood companion’?” Ciel interrupted Uris’s attempt to persuade her to return to the Holy See.
The more she listened, the more sothing felt off.
Completing vengeance while on the brink of death...
Wasn’t that exactly what she had done in her last simulation?
Now, all she needed was to confirm what a lifeblood companion was.
“It’s a taphor, referring to the person or object most important to you, the one you have the strongest feelings for. It could be a family mber, a friend, or even an object you cherish as if it were your life,” Uris explained.
She seed puzzled by Ciel’s interruption.
“Suppose—just suppose,” Ciel looked directly at Uris, her expression serious. “What if I’ve already done everything required for the ritual?”
Uris: “Huh?”
What Uris didn’t know was that amidst Ciel’s nine-parts-truth-to-one-part-lie story, there was one thing she would never suspect to be false.
It wasn’t Uris who had arrived late to kill Thomas and Solari.
It was Ciel herself.
In that hopeless, near-death mont, she had exacted vengeance on her enemies and the mastermind behind it all.
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