While My Mage Wife Grinds, I Power Up Idly-Chapter 20: Hasn’t Her God Protected Her?

Anna always felt that having a few small trinkets on hand might come in handy for unexpected situations.

When the two of them arrived at the towering, dark doors of the Cultivator Guild, a nun who was cleaning immediately approached them, her expression showing signs of hesitation.

"Excuse me, the church is not open yet. Please come back at the designated time," she said.

Being a position with a set role, nuns generally worked as if they had a regular job. Unless they were particularly devout or deeply religious, most nuns went about their tasks as if it were just another day's work.

Ashu and Anna had set off early, and by the time they arrived, it was only about 9:30 AM.

At this hour, the nuns were just beginning their cleaning.

"Aren't they supposed to clean up before sunrise?" Ashu quietly asked Anna.

Anna didn't respond, but instead, she fumbled around in her coat pocket, eventually pulling out a medal that symbolized her status.

Not everyone knew that Anna was the 'Saint.' Such information was more commonly circulated among those above the rank of priest.

Upon seeing the medal, the nun, who had been so firm just a moment before, immediately bowed apologetically, holding her broom.

"Lady Saint, please, enter. The God welcomes you."

Anna still didn't respond. She led Ashu inside the church.

The interior of the church was vast, with a high ceiling. Sunlight streamed through the windows, casting beams on a man and a woman kneeling before the altar.

They were praying, the man in a black robe and the woman in a black-and-white ensemble.

It was a priest and a nun.

Ashu stepped forward, his feet making soft sounds on the floor, which shimmered with a dark golden hue in the sunlight. As he approached, he recognized the man in prayer—Kidopriest.

"Hmm?"

Kidopriest heard the footsteps and immediately stopped praying. He opened his eyes, rose to his feet, and turned toward the newcomers.

"Good morning, Lady Saint, Mr. Ashu," Kidopriest said, his professional smile in place. As he spoke, he subtly kicked the nun, who had yet to rise from her knees.

She had been lost in her own prayers, even though the priest had already gotten up.

"Heh." Kidopriest gave a small smile to mask the awkwardness. "Mr. Ashu, I will be the one to certify you today. This should save us from a lot of the tedious procedures—just a little favor for an old friend."

Ashu had no objections.

Who did the certification didn't matter; what was important was that he would get the recognition of the Cultivator Guild.

"Thank you," he replied politely.

"Then, Mr. Ashu, please wait here for a moment. I'll go prepare for the ceremony."

With that, Kidopriest hurried off. Things at the Cultivator Guild were never simple, always involving some kind of ritual.

After he left, Ashu and Anna's eyes fell upon the nun still on the floor.

She was still praying, her body slightly trembling. Whether she was enduring workplace bullying or dreaming of demons, it was hard to tell.

Clerics always believed that praying to the righteous god could resolve such matters.

However...

Through Anna's spiritual perception, which was at level twelve, things seemed somewhat unusual.

"Excuse me, do you need help?" Anna instinctively asked with sympathy.

"Mm..."

The nun seemed to let out a sound, but Ashu didn't catch it. Since approaching someone mid-prayer was considered disrespectful to the god, he didn't break the unspoken rule.

However, just from the increasingly uncontrollable trembling, Ashu could roughly guess that the nun was harboring deep frustration and was silently crying out to the god.

So, he raised his head and, without hesitation, made eye contact with the towering statue of the god.

If the god was real, then the god should protect their followers. If the god was noble, then the god wouldn't shy away from showing divine signs in front of mortals.

Yet, the god did not intervene.

"Sorry."

The nun, still kneeling and praying, suddenly took a deep breath, calming her lungs, and tried to steady herself before saying the words.

She then lowered her head, rose to her feet, and bowed respectfully to the two of them.

"Do you need help?" Anna asked again.

This time, the nun only shook her head without answering, and after completing her bow, she quickly left through another direction.

Within the church, even among the nuns, their tasks were varied. Some swept the floors, others washed clothes, some cooked, and others simply wandered about.

Ashu didn't know what task the nun was heading off to do. Just then, Kidopriest returned, carrying the ceremonial tools.

There was a copper basin filled with water. To Ashu, it appeared to be ordinary water, but to Cultivator Guild members, it was called holy water.

There was also a paper card, the certification card that worked in collaboration with the town hall and held legal significance.

What was truly important was the card, not the water.

"Sorry for the wait, Mr. Ashu. Let's begin the certification ceremony now," Kidopriest gestured.

However, he desperately signaled Ashu to kneel—this was an essential part of the church's certification process. Yet, Ashu acted as if he hadn't understood, sidestepping the request and avoiding eye contact.

"Let's begin," Ashu said casually.

"Yes, let's begin..."

Kidopriest thought perhaps he was blocking Ashu's line of sight, so he moved a little and even glanced back at the statue of the god.

He made sure this move was clear enough for anyone to understand.

At the very least, one should kneel before the god.

Ashu glanced again at the statue—this statue of the Madonna, bathed in sunlight and golden hues, seemed to have two streams of tears running down its face, though it was unclear who had splashed the water.

He then looked back at Kidopriest, realizing that this was just one of Kidopriest's little tricks.

Just then...

"Boom—! Thud—!"

A loud crash rang out from the front of the church. It sounded unmistakably like something had fallen.

Upon hearing this.

Anna furrowed her brow, her deep blue eyes showing a hint of sympathy.

Kidopriest's expression shifted, his heart skipped a beat. He quickly put down the holy water and the card and rushed toward the door.

Meanwhile, Ashu quietly took the card, signed his name, and pressed his handprint onto it. The certification was now complete.

He turned to Anna and asked, "Is something happening at the door?"

Anna gazed up at the still weeping statue of the god and simply replied, "The nun from earlier... she committed suicide."

Suicide was an absolute taboo in the Cultivator Guild. Even after death, one could not ascend to heaven. As clergy, they were expected to know and follow the law.

For someone to end their life in this way—Ashu, someone who didn't believe in gods—felt a profound sense of injustice.

He slipped the certification card into his pocket and, with Anna, began walking toward the door.

The church was a tall building. For an ordinary human to fall from such a height would certainly be a gruesome sight. People with weaker constitutions might even vomit, panic, or faint just from a glance.

"She was raped," Anna said again.

Upon hearing this, Ashu froze. A nun, in the church, in broad daylight—raped?!

His first reaction was Kidopriest. Although he had no evidence, the image of that man immediately surfaced in his mind.

He even mentally pictured Kidopriest, abusing and assaulting a chaste nun in front of the statue of the god.

Prayer was her faith. Suicide was her choice.

One was for the god, the other for her own chastity.

"It must have been Kidopriest," Ashu muttered as they walked. "We should report this to the town hall." But then he quickly realized, "But the Cultivator Guild could just make up some story about a demon or some evil influence, and it would probably be enough to cover it up, right?"

"Exactly. And they would be very authoritative about it. Even the victimized nun would probably be disrespected by her colleagues afterward," Anna said plainly.

As they spoke, they arrived at the door.

Before Ashu could see the whole scene, a chunk of intestines landed at his feet.

The blood splattered, some of it reaching over ten meters away, even covering the cleaning nun from earlier, leaving red spots all over her.

She was frozen in place, her eyes blank, clearly terrified. She probably couldn't even distinguish which colleague had committed suicide, considering the person was reduced to a pile of mangled flesh.

"Anna? Close your eyes. I'll lead you out."

"It's fine. I've seen this kind of scene a lot. You should close your eyes instead, and I'll lead you out."

"I'm not afraid. I often butcher livestock."

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"Humans are different."

Anna sighed helplessly and, with some reluctance, took Ashu's hand, leading him out of the church.

The scene before them resembled a watermelon falling from a great height—utterly unrecognizable as human.

Kidopriest stood beside the body, his face pale. He had already pulled out the holy text and was fervently chanting a passage.

Not far away...

The townspeople, hearing the noise, were gradually gathering around. A nun had committed suicide at the front of the Cultivator Guild's cathedral—such an explosive scene was bound to attract attention. Everyone wanted to see how the Cultivator Guild would handle it.

The Cultivator Guild might be able to brush off an inquiry from the town hall, but it could never brush off every single witness.

"That was a nun, wasn't it? Didn't her god protect her?"