This time, the road back to the church was much calmer. Jonathan had recovered from the mental and physical exhaustion, so he kept a more serene expression afterward.
He, being a man who didn't like to be expressive, was usually considered by others to be a rather uninteresting type, but in reality, he had a big heart.
He liked gambling, he could fall in love with some unique woman, but right now he didn't have the mindset for those problems. He had a mind fixed on his objectives, so he wouldn't look for companionship or a partner until he knew how to live a more normal life without neglecting his duty as a hunter, since there were few things he wanted to do outside of work.
The church he was responsible for as an Exorcist Priest was considered the central point where many nearby communities gathered, and it was at a certain distance from dangerous families like the Warrens.
That church was Christian, so most who lived around it were Christians. Truth be told, there were other religions, but at least in the area where Jonathan was, there was not much presence of them, so he supposed that in the place he lived, other religions were not that popular.
At least that made things easier for him. It wasn't like he knew much about religious diversity anyway, and to move around it was better to stay focused on a single place.
When he returned, he had prepared a room in advance for Wednesday, who had requested some previous requirements. Her family would come to visit her and, from what he heard from her, they were all proud that their daughter had finally taken a path that was good for her.
Jonathan didn't know what to think about that, so he kept his comments to himself.
Just as he opened the church, Jonathan was greeted by an older woman he had helped some time ago.
The bag that contained the lunch was heavy, so for the first time, Jonathan sat safely outside the church to have lunch out in the open air.
Aside from everything else, the food prepared by the old woman seemed quite tasty, so both were interested in having breakfast; at least Jonathan wasn't picky at all, much less if it was gifted food.
When he opened the lunchbox with several layers of blankets, Jonathan was a bit surprised, and then as if he hadn't understood what he was seeing, he asked Father Doug, who was next to him, "Am I seeing correctly what's under that blanket?"
"Money… That's money." Doug was also surprised, and then burst out laughing along with Jonathan, who didn't know what to do.
On top of the food were several scattered bills, so they immediately understood that this was intentional from the old woman—something that wasn't necessary at all.
"Should we return that money with a gift?" Doug knew they couldn't accept money, at least not from an elderly woman, so he made a very reasonable suggestion.
"That's what we'll do. I'll take care of it…" Jonathan put the money away without even knowing how much it was and focused on the food.
The Healing Church took care of financing all his tools as an Exorcist Priest, so money wasn't necessary in his daily life. However, Jonathan charged only some people with negative energy in his jobs—money he later donated.
"Let's just eat. At least we'll forget many things…" Jonathan handed a baguette to Doug, who was next to him, and they both ate in silence.
In that moment of peace, the system—attribute panel or exorcist window—appeared once again before his eyes with just a single thought.
Jonathan hadn't given a name to the thing only he could see, so he used different nicknames each time he referred to the most supernatural thing that had come with him to this world.
His strength had increased once more. This time, that mysterious ability he received was one that only angels had. At least, that was how it was described.
To be a warrior of God, Jonathan felt connected to that ability.
Looking at all those numbers, Jonathan didn't know how strong he actually was. He wasn't aware, but the general strength was related to everything physical. His Faith strength was focused on his energy for exorcising and unleashing certain abilities such as prayers, blessings, and commands. As for his spirit, he supposed that was the armor of his soul against more special entities.
At first, Jonathan had thought he could be very powerful, but aside from the increase in his physical strength, there was nothing remarkable about his abilities; everything was still normal until the last skill appeared: War Angel.
This ability allowed him, for a limited time, to obtain a certain amount of strength from a warrior angel, giving him the necessary boost to win a life-or-death fight. However, the weakness he would have afterward was too concerning, so Jonathan didn't pay much attention to it.
"I will continue my path…" Jonathan thought as he watched the pigeons walking a few meters away while they were illuminated by the sunrise.
After finishing their breakfast, Jonathan and Doug returned to the church. This place wasn't a base of The Healing Church but a borrowed site to operate in this part of the city, so Jonathan had to come from time to time to maintain a presence.
While assisting in this place, he spent his time in the nursery, but not exactly because he didn't like it—rather because he was more visible to people there.
"Well, Doug, another day as a psychologist…" Looking at the familiar church before his eyes, Jonathan walked toward the entrance, which was open.
When he came to this place and had nothing to do, he normally sat with the other priests. Some believers came to pray every day and, at times, they would seek a question from him even though he was young. One wouldn't notice that he was only seventeen years old, but in reality, that was his age.
Jonathan, being a believer in no religion other than the god in his heart, respected the thoughts of each person, as one never knew which of the gods created was the closest representation to the Almighty God.
For Jonathan, dealing with believers as an Exorcist Priest meant identifying what identity each of them had. Some were rich, others were murderers, most were common, but others had strange behaviors that he could come to suspect.
All believers were mixed, and it was complicated to identify them. Being a priest gave a lot of power but also made you struggle against yourself when discovering certain things from hearing very dark confessions.
While Jonathan walked deeper into the church, he wondered if he would really be considered a priest based on his thoughts, and he looked around.
This church wasn't as bright as others in more populated places, but it had its charm and was certainly old. What he discovered was that no matter how beautiful a church was, as long as it was a church, there would always be believers dedicating their prayers.
"Good morning, priest!"
"Good morning!" Jonathan greeted a group of elderly teachers who gave him a sweet look, and after speaking with them for a bit, he walked toward the main building of the church.
He didn't know why, but he took his role as a priest increasingly seriously; it was something truly strange.
This church wasn't different from the ones in his original world. Here, there were long rows of chairs, many statues of angels, saints, and of course, Jesus nailed to a cross.
Under the lighting of the candles, the general light tended to be dim, which was intentionally done this way to give more respect to this place.
Jonathan walked to the front and stopped when he saw a huge statue of Jesus. He looked at it with respect and then moved his hand over his chest, making a cross. He closed his eyes and said amen. After that, he began to offer his own prayer to the world.
If you don't feel represented by a god, that's fine. But if there was one thing everyone should be correct about, it was a creative mind behind all the known and unknown things. Science itself says this.
"I know you're listening to me somewhere in the universe… I'm still not aware if what I'm doing here is searching for forgiveness, but I won't stop until I know I've done enough."
"I am imperfect, but through my hand I will exorcise as many entities of darkness as I can, and when the time comes, I will be ready to leave this world."
Jonathan, who finished these words, felt a vibration in his body and soon a message appeared before his eyes.
[Congratulations for making a deep prayer, you have obtained 5 faith points.]
"That's an amen…" Jonathan murmured while opening his eyes and looking at those points added to his spirit strength.
After giving one last look at the statue, Jonathan took the backpack he carried with him and walked to the right to wait for the arrival of some believers who would look for someone to talk to. In the end, he also needed to talk to someone to feel useful for a moment.
Even though he wasn't a priest and it wasn't his obligation, he could still fulfill all the duties a priest performed in this church. But since that would be too much, he limited himself to talking to people and to exorcising.
Who knows? Maybe he could meet someone interesting. Things could happen that way, so he hoped for the day when something much more interesting would occur—something that would take him one step deeper into the darkness.