[Meditation 2.0] kept Maria von Cainhurst in a state of minimal interaction with the outside world.

She had no sense of the passage of time.

When she opened her eyes again, Maria felt the sudden surge of her Willpower and Perception attributes feeding back the stifling weight of her surroundings. Her upright, motionless body creaked sharply as she began to move, and as long-stilled muscles awakened, a prickling sensation brought a reflexive wetness to the eyes of the black-clad nun.

Her tears glimmered faintly.

Maria's damp eyes swept her surroundings — everything seemed normal.

Outside the window, the sky was tinged with a splendid crimson-violet, and a few threads of morning light had quietly begun to show. Maria was certain she had stayed in her bedroom for at least three days. She had to do this to tend to her mental state; otherwise, by now, Seth Town might have already turned into a deadland.

No doubt about it — a black-clad nun under the control of Chaos could, with as little effort as slaughtering chickens or sheep, reap the lives of thousands of ordinary mortals.

"I've spent quite some time," she murmured.

Getting out of bed, Maria first picked up a water glass and, with graceful yet rapid movements, downed an entire bottle. She was parched and starving, her eyes red and fierce; as her body abruptly resumed receiving signals from the outside world, the surging stimuli crashed into her brain like waves.

Her overheated mind made her feel as though the water she had just swallowed was instantly stolen away by it.

Is there anything to eat?

Maria was hungry — she urgently needed to feed herself.

"Hm?"

A sudden notification flickered across her attribute panel, surprising her. The system had just told her she had passed a round of Constitution Check. Was she attacked? Or what was going on? With her mind only just starting to work again, the faint sorrow from her mother's death still lingered in Maria's heart. Honestly, the black-clad nun wasn't in the mood to do anything. She would rather just sit quietly alone and let the thread of grief drift away on the wind.

But the appearance of a Constitution Check gave Maria a twinge of unease.

She pushed open the door and stepped outside. The chapel was quiet, the air tinged with a faint white mist. Everything seemed normal… and yet somehow not.

"Maria?"

It so happened that Lynn the pastor returned from outside just then. Seeing his eldest daughter, who had stayed behind closed doors for days, suddenly appear caught him off guard.

"Father?"

Looking at her father Lynn, his clothes speckled with soil and dew, Maria was also momentarily taken aback. She then realized that over these days, his pain could not have been less than hers. After all, the woman who had been his life's great love had withered and died before his very eyes.

Still, seeing that Lynn's spirit was holding up reasonably well eased Maria's worry somewhat.

"Don't be too sad. About your mother… everything will get better," Pastor Lynn said, and for some reason, he gave the nun a comforting smile.

Seeing her father's optimism, Maria, though feeling something was slightly off, didn't want her own grief to affect him. She only nodded silently. Yes, everything would get better — this bit of tragedy would not break Maria von Cainhurst.

"What's going on here?"

At the morning prayer time after dawn, Maria stood in the empty front hall of the church, her hands unconsciously twisting her sleeves. Normally, this was when the chapel would be filled with townsfolk come to pray. The devoted lambs of the Radiant Church would never be so disrespectful. And her father had entrusted this duty to her, leaving Maria feeling rather helpless.

After glancing outside again and again, once the sun-dial marked the full passing of the morning prayer time, the black-clad nun slammed the Holy Tome onto the table with restrained anger. She felt insulted! The pastor's wife had been dead only a few days, and these residents were acting like this?

Clunk!!

At that moment, the statue of the Dominator made a sound. Thinking the Radiant Church's Lord had manifested, Maria instinctively softened her actions — being reckless in the holy sanctuary was indeed excessive.

By chance, when the Holy Tome fell open, a line of sacred scripture lay before Maria:

"Do not be unknowing, do not be presumptuous; all truth is sought with clear eyes."

Gripped by deep suspicion, and with the system panel occasionally showing another passed Constitution Check, Maria quickly tidied herself and left the small chapel. She also took a sword-cane, fastening it at her waist just in case. Though the daughter of the pastor in Seth Town was normally absolutely safe, the strange atmosphere made it necessary to keep a weapon on hand.

As the black-clad nun began visiting about, she found the townsfolk — usually so warm — now clouded with gloom.

In Seth Town, an unfamiliar unease hung in the air.

Upon seeing Sister Maria, people reacted as if they had found a pillar of support, crowding around her immediately. Chattering noisily over one another, they explained that during the days Maria had been adjusting her mental state, the town had been plunged into not just gloom, but outright fear.

First, several graves in the town cemetery had been dug up in succession, with the corpses stolen — a bizarre and troubling occurrence. Then, after nightfall, a few people would mysteriously disappear. So far, over a dozen were gone, and many more were showing early signs of illness.

"Have you not reported this to the church?"

"We have," one burly man sighed heavily. "Pastor Lynn told us to wait… but everyone's afraid. Nothing like this has ever happened in our peaceful town."

"Corpse thefts… disappearances… illness…"

A flicker of puzzlement crossed Maria's crimson eyes. The signs sounded like the work of ogres or ghost-wolves, yet no such evil creatures roamed near Seth Town. And her father Lynn didn't seem to be taking the matter to heart, as though it weren't any grave threat.

She offered a few words of comfort and promised to resolve the matter quickly.

Unexpectedly, Maria then ran into the foreigner again.

Her expression slightly unnatural, it was clear he had been deliberately waiting for her. The laid-back stranger never let go of his wine, completely out of step with the town's anxiety. He even had the leisure to somehow procure a chicken leg and was happily devouring it.

"Maria, been well lately?"

"Thank you for asking."

The foreigner chuckled, but his slightly hazy eyes held no trace of drunkenness — instead, they shone with a cold, appraising scrutiny. He was observing Maria, making no attempt to hide his guardedness.

"Foreigner, you're making me a bit angry," Maria frowned, her delicate brows knitting.

"My, what an honor~~ Oh, by the way, my lovely lady, may I ask — have you smelled any foul odors lately? My nose has been tortured these past few days~~"

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