Volume 1, Chapter 57 – This Is Hell

This was hell.

Lainia lay sprawled exhaustedly across the dark-red demon ore bricks, sweat sliding down her cheeks and dripping into the cracks between the tiles. After everything she had just endured, even the hard stone floor felt as comfortable as a feather mattress.

There was no doubt about it. Hell was right beside her. The moment she lost her dignity as a human and fell into Stella’s hands, the gates of hell had opened beneath her feet.

And in this school called Lilith, hell had a specific name.

Stella Darkfallen.

The terrifying succubus who was currently looking down at her with lowered eyes.

She was the devourer of Holy Light, an unspeakable embodiment of ultimate impurity, a succubus burdened with great sin, an evil existence who toyed with people’s hearts and delighted in torture, and also the master whom Lainia Pandorica was forbidden to defy.

Lainia’s mind was filled entirely with the unbearable series of torments she had just suffered.

Stella’s methods were simply even more vicious than those of the Holy See’s inquisitors.

Only hell would use methods like these.

“Lainia, I just found a few chunks of demon ore in the storeroom. Carry them and run two laps to warm up first!”

“Lainia, guess what? I just borrowed a gargoyle greatsword. Try swinging it three thousand times. I’ll count for you!”

“Lainia, you’re sweating so much. Go soak in the bath filled with ice for a while. You can come out after just fifteen minutes!”

“Lainia, I know you’re tired. Rest for a bit now. I found some plants called magic-absorbing vines. Sit on top of them and meditate. If you move even a little, they’ll wrap around you, and then…”

“Lainia…”

“Lainia…”

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“Lainia…”

Stella’s voice wound around her ears like a curse, stripping away her faith inch by inch.

Lainia could not help asking herself once again whether she should simply lie down in a grave and let someone bury her, then openly question the Lord about whether He truly believed the human heart was made of iron and could withstand so much agonizing torment.

But there was no doubt that this was her trial.

A trial from the Lord, and her ultimate mission was to overcome the temptation of evil. When she was undergoing the greatest trial, her perseverance itself would be her greatest victory.

Even if her trial was taking place in hell, she was still an apostle of the Lord, a battle nun who would one day serve a Saintess. When she ventured into murky darkness and demons filled her sight, leaving her uncertain of how to respond…

‘Persevere. Keep persevering.’

Lainia gritted her teeth.

Until the evil succubus was completely deceived by her submission and finally revealed an opening!

“…I can’t anymore.”

Lainia lay lifelessly sprawled in the middle of the training ground, listening to the rhythmic, elegant footsteps of leather shoes striking the stone-brick floor.

Just like their owner…

They were utterly unique and impossible to mistake.

She knew.

The evil succubus had come again.

“Mm…”

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Stella looked at Lainia, who was lying motionless on the ground, while mentally reviewing the training chapters of The Asrita Scripture.

In terms of the basic qualities expected of an apprentice battle nun, Lainia was already quite good.

But in terms of her progress in ascetic training, this level was still nowhere near enough.

For the first time, Stella felt that the road ahead in her educational career was long and arduous.

All she had done was carry a few chunks of demon ore for two laps, swing a gargoyle greatsword three thousand times, and soak in ice water for a mere fifteen minutes… Yet these exercises, which The Asrita Scripture clearly labeled as basic training, had already left Lainia looking like she was about to go meet the Lord.

‘Just what kind of monk was the training regimen in The Asrita Scripture that the Inquisitor had given her intended for?’

‘Alright, that was enough training for today.’

Stella thought to herself.

She would just let Lainia handle the remaining basic exercises on her own from now on. When the time came, Stella could simply give her permission to move around freely and let her train independently every day.

There were benefits to becoming a celebrity at Lilith School too. At the very least, no one should dare have any ideas about the slave belonging to her, an SSS+ student of Lilith and the illegitimate daughter of the Valentine family.

Stella crouched down and briefly checked Lainia’s condition.

Lainia’s maid uniform had long since been soaked through with sweat and clung tightly to her slender back. Her breathing was rapid, her face completely flushed, and her entire body trembled like a sieve as she struggled even to catch her breath.

“For this kind of ascetic training, someone who wields divine grace has to remain present and accompany the trainee so they can administer Holy Healing?” Stella muttered.

No wonder The Asrita Scripture mentioned that a member of the clergy capable of Holy Healing had to be specifically stationed nearby.

So not only was she the head coach, she also had to moonlight as a private doctor.

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If Stella had not been beside her keeping watch, with Lainia’s frail little body, she probably would have had to line up for a reincarnation number before even making it past the first page.

As expected, the Inquisitor’s training method was anything but ordinary.

Stella withdrew her gaze and looked around the training ground.

Given the fearsome reputation she currently enjoyed, applying for an entire training area for herself was no problem at all. In other words, there were currently no unnecessary eyes watching them.

Stella lowered her eyes, extended a fingertip, and gently touched Lainia’s forehead. Although Sanctity of the Heart had put her through quite an ordeal, simple healing was still something she could perform effortlessly.

“…M-Master?”

“Don’t move around. I’m giving you a reward.”

“A reward?”

Lainia was thinking that Stella must surely be devising some method or tool with which to torment her when, at that very moment…

A hidden gleam of white light appeared.

Warm Holy Light seeped into her like flowing water, faintly pulsing beneath her skin, around the hollow of her chest and deep within her lower abdomen, before surging upward and blooming like spring flowers…

‘A Holy Healing spell!?’

Lainia’s eyes widened.

The power that should have brought tranquility and salvation to believers instead appeared unmistakably profane in her eyes.

‘This succubus…’

‘She is using the Holy Light she had devoured to heal me…’

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‘This is absolutely not mercy!’

It was like a greedy diner carefully tending the livestock she raised solely so that she could enjoy the freshest, most tender meat.

No matter what, she was still a demon who enslaved Holy Light.

Healing her was merely a way to ensure that this body could endure tomorrow’s torment for even longer, all so she could savor the sight of a nun’s will gradually collapsing beneath the endless tug-of-war between pain and salvation.

But…

The Holy Light was so gentle, like soft cotton, nestling against the place where her heart lay and bestowing merciful healing upon her body. This was the kind of grace Lainia had been searching for ever since she was a child.

And yet, at this very moment, such grace was actually being bestowed upon her by a succubus.

Lainia bit her lower lip tightly, suppressing the whimpers of humiliation and unwillingness rising in her throat.

But…

‘It really is so warm.’

Translator Note

Gaahhh! The frustration is coming! Why the hell Stella doesn’t explain anything to Lainia properly?! I mean, they’re living together! Can’t she tell her secret when they’re in their dorm?!