Chapter 122: Schemes and Breakfast

“Please come in!”

With permission granted, Nanaya pushed open the door to Jijige’s office. Seeing Nanaya enter, Jijige paused for a moment before setting aside her glasses and rubbing her temples. “It’s quite late. What brings you here?”

Nanaya sat down unceremoniously across from Jijige. “I want to change my class to Judgment Warrior.”

Jijige glanced at the dossier beside her. It clearly marked Nanaya as a C-rank nun. “But Judgment Warrior is a B-rank profession. Have you advanced?”

Nanaya didn’t answer, just nodded. As a candidate for Saint, reaching B-rank wasn’t excessive. Considering her backing by Duke Mengming, the pace was almost too slow.

“I understand. I’ll prepare the materials you need.” Jijige pulled a list from her desk and scanned it. “Come pick them up tomorrow afternoon.”

“Thank you.” Though it was Jijige’s duty as Bishop, politeness was still required. Since the matter was settled, Nanaya turned to leave. Just as her hand touched the doorknob, Jijige called out, “Wait!”

“?” Nanaya looked back, her eyes asking the question.

“Congratulations on reaching B-rank.” Despite their past friction, Jijige offered a warm smile.

Seeing that smile, Nanaya hesitated for a moment. “Thank you, really.”

“Go on.” Jijige waved her away.

Once the door closed, Nanaya’s face resumed its usual cold expression. Bishop Jijige might be a good person, but on certain crucial matters, Nanaya wouldn’t back down easily.

Plotting her next steps, Nanaya soon reached the dormitory area. She wanted to do even worse things to that sister, but she had already done enough for today. Step by step.

With that thought, Nanaya opened her door. Just as she was about to lie down and rest, the Flame Evil God’s voice echoed in her mind: “You care a lot about Jijige’s feelings for that nun?”

Come to think of it, the Evil God hadn’t spoken much these past few days. This novelty made Nanaya more willing to chat today. “A bit.” Since the Evil God couldn’t communicate with the outside world anyway, Nanaya decided to be honest.

The Flame Evil God got straight to the point: “Do you like that nun?”

“Well… not really,” Nanaya hesitated. “Okay, I’m not sure.”

“So you do like her?”

“That’s too hasty!” Nanaya lay on the sofa, confiding her girlish thoughts to the Evil God within.

“But you hissed at the Bishop who likes that nun, and you want to make a move on the nun herself. It doesn’t seem like you have no feelings for her,” the Flame Evil God analyzed as objectively as possible.

Nanaya wasn’t satisfied. “I’m just taking revenge on her. As for Jijige, I just don’t want her to be deceived by that bad woman.”

“Fine, fine. Then you’ll spend the rest of your life tied to that bad woman.”

“You!”

****

The next morning.

Menglinna still got up early for morning prayers. She loved this routine; it gave her a sense of order and security.

But even with her usual prayers, today she felt no peace. Yesterday, she had seen Nanaya’s other side—a side that used petty tricks, had a bit of malice, and actually acted on her revenge.

And today, she had to go on an adventure with this somewhat dangerous junior.

Just recalling what Nanaya had done to her, Menglinna’s legs trembled. What if, during their trip, Nanaya got the urge to… do it? She had never worried about that before; facing a little girl half a head shorter, her greatest fear was a whip to the face. But yesterday had corrected that misconception.

Though going from fearing death to fearing… that wasn’t the best improvement either.

Menglinna couldn’t say which was worse, but she was terrified of this unknown.

Still, she had to go. Nanaya had her so-called leverage.

After one more prayer to the goddess, Menglinna pushed open her door.

“Morning!”

Standing at the door was Nanaya, wearing a faint smile. She seemed to have just locked her own room.

It looked like an encounter, but Menglinna’s heart screamed: She planned this and waited here.

Suppressing her fear, Menglinna forced a polite smile. “Morning.”

Nanaya had tidied her room and now looked at Menglinna with concern. “You’re later than usual today. Didn’t sleep well?”

“Am… am I?” Menglinna’s internal alarm blared. “How do you know?”

Nanaya didn’t look at her, just stared down the hallway. “You do your morning prayers by the window before sunrise every day. It’s adjusted my schedule too, so of course I know.”

“Ah, sorry about that!” Menglinna scratched her head awkwardly. “But why are you waiting for me here?”

Nanaya gave a dazed look, then grabbed her hand. “To eat breakfast. Were you planning to avoid me at the cafeteria?”

“Ha, yeah, right.”

Menglinna nodded, but Nanaya didn’t let go, dragging her forward.

At the dormitory entrance, a young nun stood with a book balanced on her head. The dark circles under her eyes suggested she hadn’t slept in a long time.

Menglinna recognized her: Anna, an ordinary low-rank nun. Though young, Anna was usually diligent and wouldn’t be punished for slacking. Wondering why she was being disciplined, Menglinna asked, “Anna, what are you doing here?”

Seeing a familiar face, Anna barely held back tears. “Yesterday I was cleaning the podium. I saw a sweaty pillar, an ownerless shoe, and a disappearing chair. I fainted from fright. When I woke up, everyone said I lied to skip work and punished me.”

So you were the nun cleaning yesterday. It wasn’t a lie…

Menglinna felt a pang of guilt looking at Anna’s sorry state.

But Anna cheerfully comforted her. “Senior Meng, don’t look at me like that! I believe this is God’s test. I wasn’t complaining, really!”

“Mm, I believe in you!”

After apologizing silently to Anna, Menglinna was pulled away by Nanaya.

At least since the support staff arrived, Menglinna didn’t have to prepare breakfast.

She grabbed a glass of soy milk and a fried dough stick, then sat with Nanaya in a corner to eat.

Though she had a lot to say to Nanaya, most topics involved yesterday and weren’t suitable for public. So she just ate in silence.

Nanaya didn’t bother speaking either. More and more nuns filled the cafeteria. Since the two often walked together, some even spread rumors that they were a couple.

Dragging Menglinna here wasn’t because the food was good, but just to deepen that misunderstanding.

Halfway through, Nanaya suddenly put down her mung bean porridge and snatched Menglinna’s soy milk. “Let’s swap. I don’t want this anymore.”

“Huh?” Menglinna’s eyes went wide. “But you already drank from that bowl!”

Nanaya said slowly, “That’s why I don’t want it.”

Menglinna was stunned: “But you already drank it!”

“It’s fine.” Nanaya took a sip of the soy milk. “You’ve drunk from it too.”

This… this…

Seeing Nanaya deliberately lick the same spot she had drunk from, Menglinna’s brain steamed.

What was she doing now?!

Though they tried to keep their voices down, their interaction inevitably caught some nuns’ attention.

The church didn’t forbid relationships between nuns, but Jijige had set a hardworking tone from the start, leaving everyone starved for gossip.

“Ah, those two seem close,” one nun murmured.

Even without seeing the full picture, the nuns happily shipped this couple.

“Yeah,” a junior nun agreed, sipping her soy milk while following her senior’s lead.

“Hmm, shipping seniors are interesting too.”

Unaware of the orange atmosphere spreading through the church, the culprit Nanaya just slowly drank the soy milk.

“Don’t waste food!” She smiled at Menglinna, who was still holding the mung bean porridge.

With so many eyes on her, Menglinna had no choice but to drink the porridge in one gulp—carefully avoiding the lip print Nanaya had left.

Not bad, Sister Meng.

Just as Nanaya was about to say more, the cafeteria fell silent.

Menglinna turned to see Jijige arriving. Her turning back caught Jijige’s attention, and the Bishop walked over with her tray, sitting down naturally beside them.

Jijige smiled at both of them. “Good morning. I didn’t expect you two to be up so early?”

They answered in unison, “Just a habit.”

Their unexpected synchrony made Jijige glance at them oddly, but she said nothing. After all, they came from the same monastery and worked as adventurers together—similar schedules weren’t strange.

Jijige shrugged it off and started her breakfast.

Meanwhile, the duo’s breakfast was almost over. As they seemed ready to leave, Jijige called out to Menglinna. “Xiao Meng, you’re off today, right?”

Though not an official staff member, Menglinna enjoyed corresponding benefits, though she also had shifts. She answered cautiously, “Yes.”

Ever since realizing Jijige might like her, she had become wary. As for Nanaya… that had started long ago, but her defenses seemed ineffective.

“I thought so.” Jijige nodded, pulling two tickets from her pocket. “The theater recently sent me two tickets. I was wondering if we could…”

Before she could finish, Nanaya interrupted. “Sorry, Sister Meng already has plans with me today.”

“Sorry, you’re a good Bishop, but I can’t let you have Sister Meng… Wait, no, precisely because you’re a good Bishop, I absolutely can’t let you be deceived by that bad woman.”

Undoubtedly, Nanaya had a strong sense of justice. Too bad Bishop Jijige only saw territoriality.

“Xiao Meng, is that true?” Jijige avoided direct confrontation with Nanaya, turning instead to Menglinna.

“Sorry,” Menglinna said. She realized she had no choice. First come, first served. Nanaya had asked her first, and they were going on a commission together to earn money… The more she explained, the more guilty she sounded, so she shut up.

“Alright.”

Accepting her loss, Jijige could only watch as Nanaya took Menglinna’s hand and left.

Though the two themselves didn’t notice, the bystanders had seen everything: Nanaya proudly gripping her friend’s hand as they walked out, and Bishop Jijige slumped over the table like a dejected puppy.

Out of respect for Jijige’s position, no one burst out laughing, but rumors spread nonetheless. Because of her status, Jijige never heard them. Menglinna would deny them when she heard, but her image of being dragged off by her junior—a weak one overpowered—was too fixed, so no one believed her. As for Nanaya, she simply smiled faintly at the rumors, neither denying nor confirming.

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