episode_0184
by fnovelpiaDeep underground.
A pure white stone lantern illuminates the underground space where sunlight cannot reach.
In this blank, white, square space are 11 young girls.
A large white top that covers the knees.
Bare feet, bare legs.
Apart from that, I didn’t wear anything.
They are all dreaming nuns.
Talented candidates from all over the continent gathered to see the trials they must go through to become a nun of the Holy Nation.
The girls laugh and chat happily.
“Oh ho ho! My first step as a nun. I’m already looking forward to it.”
A girl with golden hair spoke in a tone more befitting a noblewoman than a nun.
The number tag hanging on the girl’s chest flutters.
01.
It’s the girl’s number.
The other girls were also given numbers.
02.
03.
.
.
.
Last 11.
This is Elise’s number.
“Really? I’m scared… .”
“To become a nun of Cassillon, you must pass this ordeal. You said you would receive a special reward. Well! I’m all grown up so I don’t need it.”
The nuns are strict.
If you make noise at night, you get scolded, you can’t eat snacks as you like, and if you fall asleep during worship, you get spanked.
A nun like that gives an award.
It feels good just to imagine it.
The aspiring nuns were burning with enthusiasm, saying they would overcome the ordeal.
Crunch.
A door that was tightly closed opens.
The ones who came in were a priest with a warm impression wearing glasses and nuns I saw at the convent. When I smiled and waved my hand, the girls waved back.
“01.”
“Yes!”
When the priest called her name, the blonde girl answered vigorously and stood up from her seat.
“You are the first child to receive the glorious ordeal. Congratulations. Come out.”
“Thank you.”
The girls waved.
“Hey, cheer up.”
“Fighting!”
The blonde girl, who had been cheered on, walked out of the room with a confident gait, without showing any sign of nervousness.
Crunch.
The door is closed.
The remaining girls chattered again.
“What kind of ordeal is it?”
“Well? What if it’s really hard? Am I not good enough to become a nun?”
“When you come back, tell them the details of the ordeal secretly. Then you will be able to pass it all.”
“That will do!”
The dreamy nuns were whispering to each other so that the adults wouldn’t catch them. They giggled like girls my age.
***
How much time has passed since it came into the white box?
In this place where there are no clocks or sun, the sense of time is vague and therefore impossible to know.
However, since food was served three times and I slept once because I was sleepy, at least one day must have passed.
The meal was tasteless.
All I could eat was water and a thin soup with no flavor or ingredients. When I asked the nun why, she said I had to cleanse my body before undergoing the ordeal.
It was said that if you eat worldly food, evil spirits will dwell in your body and you will not be able to pass the test.
I ran for today.
You can’t ruin things with momentary greed.
Even the nuns who liked to make a fuss didn’t show any stubbornness this time.
“03. Come out.”
The priest came in and the third name was called.
The blonde girl who was first in line and number 02 who went next have not returned yet.
The blonde girl who first went was said to be a fairly famous candidate for nun. She was said to have been very good at using divine powers since she was young, and even though she was a candidate for nun, she treated patients together with the nuns.
She hasn’t come yet.
Could it be that he failed the ordeal?
Tension hung in the air between the girls who had been so bright.
“Ugh… Isn’t this atmosphere too uncomfortable?”
A girl with striking aquamarine hair approached Elise. Her small stature made her look protective, even though she was probably around the same age.
“I feel like I’m being punished by the nuns, right?”
“I’ve never been scolded before?”
“Huh?”
“If you do as the nun says, you won’t get in trouble.”
The girl frowned at Elise’s impeccable argument. It was as if she was looking at an incomprehensible deep-sea creature.
“Why are you like that?”
“You just sounded like a total nun.”
“Thank you.”
“That’s not a compliment.”
The girl pouts.
“I’m Karin. What’s your name?”
“It’s Elise.”
“That’s a pretty name. Who gave it to you?”
The smile disappears from Elise’s lips and a shadow falls.
“The names of the dead siblings were Ellie and Lize.”
“Ah… Sorry.”
“That’s a lie. The nun made it up.”
“Wow! You’re the first person I’ve ever felt like hitting someone.”
“Violence is bad. Do you think Ordo would be angry?”
“It’s because of you!”
When the expected reaction came out as expected, Elise covered her mouth and let out a groan.
Karin let out a sigh of relief, already feeling exhausted even though we had only just started talking.
“You’re so unique. Even your speech is so adult-like.”
“That’s a story I hear often.”
Elise’s age is ten.
He is definitely more mature than his peers.
Environmental factors were a big factor.
Most of the candidates for nuns are orphans. Unlike children from ordinary families, they have no one to complain to.
It is beneficial in many ways to become mature quickly, both for the nuns and for yourself.
“What is Elise’s dream?”
“Is there a dream you could call it? It’s to become a proper nun and do my part.”
“Ugh, such a sincere answer. If the nun had heard it, she would have told her to follow Elise’s example.”
“What about Ms. Karin?”
“Me?”
As if she had started asking questions in order to say this, Karin placed her hands on her waist and straightened her back.
“I will become a saint!”
“Are you a saint?”
“Yes, Saintess!”
Elise also knows what a saint is.
You know, right?
A woman chosen by God in a fairy tale.
A saint who sets out on a journey to defeat evil with a warrior.
Just as boys dream of being warriors, girls, especially those in the Holy Land, dream of being saints.
However, the position of saint does not exist in the Holy Land; it only appears in fairy tales.
The same goes for warriors. In the first place, there is no being in this world that can be called absolute evil, so in a way, it is natural.
“What happens to the saint?”
“… Well?”
So Karin couldn’t answer Elise’s fundamental question. But Karin wasn’t intimidated.
“If you try hard, something will work out!”
“Well, I’ll cheer you on.”
The door opened again.
“04.”
It was the number written on Karin’s license plate.
“Ugh. It’s my turn. Elise, I’ll be back!”
Karin moves her arms in big, big movements.
Elise simply wiggled her fingers.
Karin left and the door slammed shut.
Time passed.
Karin never came back.
***
In a room that had 11 people, now only five people are left.
The conversation had long since died down. The initial bustling atmosphere was nowhere to be found. Everyone was crouching in a corner.
Crunch.
The door opened.
The girls flinched reflexively at the sound.
Because every time the door opened, one of the girls disappeared.
But for the first time, something strange happened.
The sixth candidate to go out returned with a priest.
Thump thump.
He came walking with a feeble gait and collapsed in a corner, trembling with his knees bent and his shoulders wrapped around him.
A gaze that lingers in space without focus.
A crazy person would look exactly like that.
As soon as the priest left, the candidates who had been watching gathered around the girl and began to pour out all the questions they had been holding back.
“What did you do outside? What was the ordeal about?”
“… … .”
“What about the other kids? Did they get through?”
“… … .”
The girl.
Number 06 did not answer.
The other candidates had no way of knowing why the girl was acting like this.
But Elise felt it in her nasal passages.
A faint scent of blood began to emanate from the pure white room where all five senses were deadened.
It was the body of a girl who had gone outside.
Even if that wasn’t the case, there was something the candidates got from the girl. It was a sense of fear, different from the tension of facing an ordeal.
A prospective nun knocked on the door.
“Excuse me! Priest!”
A door that opens only after a long knock.
“What’s going on?”
“Can I not see that ordeal? It’s too scary… .”
“… … .”
“See you next time! I think I’m still immature and not ready to be a nun.”
The priest looks down at the girl with a cold gaze.
“… Okay. Take her.”
The nuns took the girl away, and only then did relief appear on her face.
Just like someone who has received salvation from God.
Clank.
The door is closed.
Elise thought as she watched the priest and the girl leave.
There is probably no salvation for her.
Maybe even yourself.
I felt that way.
***
In the white room that was once filled with cute girls, only two people were left.
Last turn.
Girl number 06 who went out with Elise number 11 and returned.
No one else returned except her. The girls’ cheerful voices dispersed like a momentary dream, leaving only silence.
Number 06 hasn’t even opened his mouth since he came in. He looks like he’s mentally broken.
I wonder if I will become like that too.
Would it be fortunate if it turned out like that?
A feeling of uneasiness began to creep up on Elise as well.
Then the door opens.
The messenger who made everyone disappear has come.
“11 times.”
I finally made it to the last turn.
Elise got up. She glanced at the number 06 that was squirming in the corner, then followed the priest out of the box.
All the nuns wore was a thin top. The cool underground air brushed against their delicate skin, and their bare feet felt cold.
I don’t know what you’re trying to do, but I know this one thing.
At least I knew intuitively that this wasn’t the road to trials.
“Where are the other candidates for nuns?”
“After completing the ordeal, he entered Ordo’s arms.”
“Which answer is that?”
“… This is the 10th time.”
“One of them came back, did that kid fail the ordeal?”
The priest did not answer the question.
But that was another answer for Elise.
“I disagree.”
The priest remained silent this time too.
How long did it take?
A lukewarm liquid that clammy and sticky on my bare feet. The more I walked, the stronger the foul smell of blood from the girl in the room became.
“… They’re all here.”
The priest finally stops walking.
A pure white room.
This is where it was.
White, stained with the blood of many.
A blood-red magic circle engraved on the floor.
Colorful hair scattered messily.
Gold, brown and aqua.
And in one corner of the room, a pile of blood-covered lumps. There, the girls I saw in the room──────
“Sister?”
“Yes?”
Elise was suddenly pulled out of her thoughts by the call.
In front of her was Tana, sitting with a bandage wrapped around her wound. Elise had come to see her because she was concerned about her.
Actually, Elise’s condition seemed worse than Tana’s.
“Are you okay?”
Tana looks at her with a worried look.
Even she could tell that Elise’s complexion was not good.
Well, Elise always looks sickly because she’s so white.
“Yes, it’s okay.”
Elise smiled faintly.
I’ve had nightmares about them sometimes, but I never thought I’d recall them in my right mind.
It must be because I saw Tana and the girl overlapping.
It was a dark, sticky stain of blood that would probably never be erased.
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