Chapter 708 — The War Nuns
Blade of Dawn · Page 1 of 4
The priestess in her crisp new regulation habit stood on the open ground at the front of the formation. The late-autumn wind swept across the square, lifting the nun's pale golden hair and the black-lace-trimmed hem of her skirt. She fixed her gaze on the distant targets, her ear inclined to her superiors' commands.
"Ready—"
At the command, the nun conducting the demonstration raised the arcane "staff" in her hands, leveling it at her side with a clean, practiced motion, one hand gripping its middle, the other seizing the guard wrapped in scriptural cloth at the front end. A low, pleasing hum rose from the mechanisms at either tip of the staff, and a faint holy white light began to course through the seams of those mechanical structures and between the runes.
"Fire!"
Seemingly slender fingers squeezed the trigger. The priestess's body gave a slight shudder. From the opening at the staff's head burst a bloom of white light—that blazing holy radiance hurtled toward the distance and exploded in a flare of light against the violet-steel enchanted pillar that served as a target.
Her fine shot complete, she extinguished the flame in the focus crystal as instructed, planted the "Gospel Angel" at her side once more, and turned back to the ranks.
"This is the weapon the Arcane Technology Institute and the Design Bureau improved to meet the needs of our female priestesses," Wright said, nodding at Verodai. "It looks like an all-metal staff, but with weak weight-reduction runes inside, it's far lighter than it appears. The attack principle is essentially the holy-light blast hand-cannon used by the White Knights, but converted from double-shot to single-shot, which halves the weight. It's styled as a staff because close-quarters combat was taken into account as well—you were right before: a priestess is not suited to swinging a White Knight's mechanized warhammer. A defensive staff is the more fitting weapon..."
"I... actually feel you may have misunderstood... no, never mind," Verodai said, feeling somehow weary. She swallowed the rest of her explanation halfway through. In all these centuries she had rarely known such a feeling, and now she could barely suppress the urge to sigh. "Grand Pastor, it seems these nuns have undergone close-combat training as well?"
"They have—only preliminary training, but quite effective," Wright said. "Princess Frostbloom and Lady Hedy provided some instruction..."
"They provided instruction?" Verodai blinked, unable to quite grasp it. "Why would they instruct in this?"
"The Cecil family has always favored martial pursuits, and possesses many accelerated combat techniques. Lady Hedy in particular is well versed in staff defensive arts," Wright explained. "Of course, they only instructed a few drillmasters; the subsequent training was carried out by those drillmasters."
Verodai thought it over and decided it was best not to dig further, yet there were still many questions she could not keep from voicing: "Then what about those gauntlets of theirs? Why do nuns need gauntlets?"
"Lighter, more flexible close-combat weapons that further raise their chances of survival in close-range encounters. And unarmed combat has always been a strength of the New Church's clergy, regardless of sex. Besides, their gauntlets are not merely weapons—each holds a single-dose 'Redemption' compound built in, something that can save a life on the battlefield."
"...That does sound like armament tailor-made for war," Verodai said, straining to keep her smile. "But... isn't it a bit much?"
At that, Wright's expression turned grave at once. He looked into Verodai's eyes and said with utter seriousness: "We live in an age that is not safe. Priests were always meant to be prepared to take the field."