"What is this..." Lethe stamred, staring at the Divinity Simon had produced as if she couldn’t believe her eyes. "R-Right! You’ve finally developed faith in the great Goddess! It was worth reading the scriptures to you!"
"I don’t think that’s it."
"Then what’s that blooming in your hand? It’s proof that your faith is absolute!"
"The Goddess is a liar," Simon stated flatly.
"W-What? You bastard! What did you just—"
’WHOOSH!’
The Divinity on Simon’s hand flared, growing even larger and brighter. Lethe’s mouth snapped shut.
"There’s your proof," Simon said with a wide smile. "For , at least, Divinity doesn’t co from faith in a god."
"That’s impossible!" she cried, clutching her head in anguish. Divinity was a power from the Goddess; there could be no exceptions. Lethe felt the tower of faith she had spent her life building begin to crumble.
Just then, Simon asked with an embarrassed smile, "So, how do I turn this off?"
"Uh..." Still hunched over in agony, she slowly lifted her head. "You ask the Goddess for permission, of course... ’Thank you for lending your great power again today. I will now return to being an ordinary human.’ Sothing like that."
"Really?"
Simon tried her suggestion first.
’As if that would work.’
Next, he applied what he’d just learned, asking himself for permission to stop the power. That failed, too.
’That’s not it, is it? It feels slightly different.’
He pondered for a mont, then changed his approach.
’Actually, it’s normal for to be unable to use Divinity.’
The mont he ford the thought, the Divinity in his palm vanished with a flicker as if it had never been there.
"Oh."
Lethe’s eyes sparkled. "Did the Goddess hear your prayer?"
"No, I just used a kind of self-hypnosis—told myself I couldn’t use Divinity, and it turned off."
Her kneeling body began to tremble uncontrollably. Sensing danger, Simon started to back away, but she was faster. Her face flushed crimson, she let out a raw cry and launched herself at him, pinning him to the grass.
"You bastard! You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you?"
A spear of pure white Divinity materialized in her hand, poised above his head.
"Did you think I wouldn’t see through your sche? You’re trying to shatter my faith—the faith of Efnel’s top student! Not a chance! Who put you up to this?"
"...What are you talking about?" Simon’s voice was steady. "I haven’t told a single lie this entire ti. My mother’s life is on the line. Why would I lie about sothing like this? I’m more serious than I’ve ever been. If I wanted to undermine you, I’d do it ’after’ we get the ingredient from the Tree of Life. What do I possibly gain by shaking your resolve now?"
"Huh..." She bit her lip, trembling with rage. Eventually, she pushed herself off him and sat down on the grass.
She sighed deeply with anguish.
"Lethe."
"Wait," she said, holding up a hand. "Just... give a mont to think."
"...Uh, okay."
Twenty minutes passed in silence. Worried, Simon asked, "If you’re tired, should we stop for today?"
"No." She lifted her head. "...I was being foolish."
"Huh?"
"I just haven’t been able to grasp the great will of the Goddess. What seems perfectly natural to her is probably distorted to my narrow vision because of my lack of training. To have my faith shaken by sothing so trivial proves my training is insufficient. Perhaps my arrogance as Efnel’s top student has caused to miss sothing fundantal."
Simon hid a small smile. It sounded like pure self-rationalization, but he decided to let it go.
"Now, let’s move on."
Next, Lethe drilled Simon on turning his Divinity on and off at will. She explained the principles of its generation and had him focus on feeling its flow.
"Everything starts with sensing mana."
Whether it was Divinity or Jet-Black, mana was the foundation. While a necromancer used an organ called a Core to process mana into Jet-Black, a priest’s entire body was like a Core. The mont mana was released from the body, it was bleached, becoming Divinity.
"Be more conscious of it in your mind."
Of course, simply releasing mana was useless. To transform it into Divinity required an incredibly strong ntal state, a conviction so firm it bordered on brainwashing. It was the ’faith’ Lethe kept emphasizing. For Simon, the switch was simply the clear, unwavering recognition that he could use Divinity.
’...I think I know why Efnel has so many fanatics.’
In a way, Divinity was a product of madness. You had to believe you possessed a power you didn’t yet have. If you believed it existed, it did; if you doubted it, it vanished. It was a fanatical belief, akin to self-hypnosis. Perhaps religion was the system that divine power users had created to sustain that belief. It bypassed complex thought, placing ’God’—an absolute, perfect, and infinitely good being—at the center. From there, everything beca clear. Faith beca the foundation, allowing the user to generate Divinity at will. Of course, if that faith wavered, they could crumble completely, just like Flema.
"Lethe."
During a break, Lethe, who was reading a scripture to reaffirm her faith, answered in her usual cynical tone.
"What is it?"
"Normally, how do priests in the Holy Federation learn to use Divinity?"
She looked up. "It is a power granted by the Goddess. The only answer is training to strengthen one’s faith."
According to her, every village in the Holy Federation had a monastery. At the age of seven, all children were required to undergo a Divinity aptitude test. Those with an aptitude above a certain threshold were obligated to beco followers of Deva. They received daily theological education to foster their faith in the Goddess.
"But very few can ascend from being a lay follower to a priest. To beco a priest, one must pass the 19 Penances."
"What’s that?"
As Lethe described them, they sounded like genuine torture. Carrying a heavy cross on a pilgrimage, fasting for three months, walking through a forest of thorns naked, entering fire—the list went on, each trial more harrowing than the last.
"You did all of that?"
"Of course," she answered with pride, crossing her arms. "Only after completing all of them are you granted the right to enter the Divine Hall."
The Divine Hall was the nineteenth and final penance. One had to survive for a week, trapped inside a font of endlessly flowing Divinity.
"...Why is everything over there so inhuman and cruel?" Simon asked, shaking his head.
She snorted. "That is faith. It’s on a different level from you people. All you have to do is get your bodies a little dirty to create a Core, and then any mutt can run around calling itself a necromancer."
"Right, right. But what happens when a normal person is exposed to that much Divinity?"
"A small amount can heal wounds, but a full week is a different story. To a normal body, Divinity is a foreign substance. If you can’t endure it, you die."
"...That’s insane."
Through this brutal ritual, a mutation occurred in the body, creating individuals with extrely high Divinity aptitude. These were the ones who were baptized and beca priests.
Anyone who gave up was deed to have insufficient faith and was sent back to the beginning. Those who endured the week but failed to mutate beca Clerics.
"A Cleric? That’s a new one."
"They’re just wimp... ahem, they handle the practical affairs of cathedrals and monasteries. They can use Divinity, but not as well as we priests."
The Holy Federation was a strict class-based society: Commoner, Follower, Cleric, Priest. Lower classes owed absolute obedience to the higher ones. The Dark Alliance had its commoners and nobles, but the hierarchy wasn’t nearly as rigid. Soldiers, rchants, and necromancers could achieve greater social standing than so nobles. At Kizen, skill and rank mattered more than birth. The key difference was that in the Alliance, status was hereditary, while in the Federation, everyone started as a commoner and earned their station.
"I’ll definitely need to study the Federation’s culture to pass as an acolyte."
Lethe nodded. "Right. If you can use Divinity but don’t know what a Cleric is, you’ll draw the suspicion of the Heretic Inquisitors."
"Listening to you, I have a question."
"What is it?"
"You said Divinity cos from faith in the Goddess. But isn’t it really determined by the Divinity aptitude you’re born with, not just faith?"
Lethe imdiately growled. "Oh, my goodness! If you want to get technical, then how do you explain this? Among Efnel priests with similar aptitudes, so rise to the rank of bishop while others remain priests their whole lives! How do you explain that?"
"I’d assu it depends on their effort and skill in wielding Divinity."
"It’s a difference! Of! Faith!" she shouted. "The more steadfast one’s faith in the Goddess, the more Divinity they can control! That’s not so theory you can debunk; it’s a fact proven by centuries of history, you idiot!"
If that were true, then the high-ranking officials of the Federation should be incorruptible, shouldn’t they? He doubted all of them were saints. But Simon held his tongue, sensing a real fight would break out if he pushed further.
’...Alright, Lethe has her own values.’
She had her own life experiences, things she had seen and learned. It was only natural for her to push back if he tried to tear down her worldview just because it was different from his.
"Break ti is over," Lethe announced, placing her hands on her knees as her expression turned serious again. "I hate to admit it, but your level of Divinity is on par with priests who have passed through the Divine Hall. So, let’s move on to the basic curriculum. This is what the acolytes you’ll be impersonating learn."
"That’s what I’ve been waiting for," Simon said, his eyes sparkling.
Lethe rummaged through her backpack and laid out the textbooks she had used at Efnel.
"At Efnel and all other divine schools, we learn a total of nine subjects."
Blessings. Divinity Dynamics. Healing. Spirit Studies. Guardian Studies. Divine Beast Studies. Holy Combat. Defense Against the Dark Arts. And Mass.
She picked up a branch and wrote the subjects in the dirt. Simon’s eyes widened. He had never heard these nas before, yet they felt strangely familiar.
"The three essential subjects at Efnel are Blessings, Divinity Dynamics, and Healing. Below them are the four auxiliary subjects: Guardian Studies, Divine Beast Studies, Spirit Studies, and Holy Combat."
When Simon chuckled, Lethe scowled. "What are you grinning about now? It’s creepy."
"Nothing, it’s just... people are the sa everywhere, I guess."
"What is?"
"Never mind."
The talk of penances and Divine Halls had felt so alien, but this felt incredibly familiar. There were so many parallels: Curses and Blessings, Dark Dynamics and Divine Dynamics, Combat Magic and Holy Combat.
"Hey, why do you keep laughing?!"
At Lethe’s indignant outburst, Simon just smiled. "I was just wondering what it would have been like if I’d gone to Efnel instead of Kizen."
"...Don’t be ridiculous."
Lethe pouted, but Simon paid her no mind. His heart was pounding with anticipation. If he was going to learn Divinity from Efnel’s top student, he was going to do it right.
"So, which subject are we starting with?"
He was itching to begin. ’Hurry up and teach sothing.’
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