Warhammer 40K in a box

Chapter 428 Sister Sidgar

Inside a grey stone monastery in the wilderness, Sister Siddhartha was kneeling before her simple bed, carefully packing her belongings.

The last rays of the setting sun shone through the stained glass windows, casting dappled light and shadow on her black nun's habit.

She folded her faded clothes neatly, gently smoothing out each wrinkle with her fingers, filled with a secret anticipation for the upcoming trip.

She was a special nun—although she wore the same simple black nun's habit and had a silver imperial emblem hanging on her chest, her pale purple eyes and the faint, ethereal aura around her indicated that she was an untouchable.

The heavy iron gates and perpetually silent corridors of Langdon Abbey, where she resides, also suggest that this is not an ordinary state church.

As the only silent nun's stronghold in this sector, Langdon Abbey sits atop a cliff deep in the wasteland, like a silent guardian.

Sister Sidgar is the newest member to complete her spiritual journey here. Just three days ago, during the ceremony, under the silent gaze of her sisters, she pierced her fingertip with a silver needle and left a blood-red vow of silence on a parchment scroll.

Before becoming a nun of silence, Siddhartha had a beautiful voice that the older nuns praised as "a gift from angels."

She always loved to hum softly while sweeping the corridor in the early morning; her voice was as clear and moving as a mountain stream.

But the ancient commandments of the Silent Sisters require them to refrain from all speech, which is like a lark with broken wings for a girl who has just turned seventeen.

However, Xi Dejia did not remain depressed for long.

Years of monastic life had long since made her accustomed to communicating with her eyes and gestures; the vow of silence was merely to make this silence even more thorough.

The only thing she regrets is that she can no longer lead the singing of hymns during morning prayers.

So, on the last evening before she took her vow, she used the pocket money she had saved for three months to bring back a palm-sized phonograph from the market.

That night, she hid in a side hall of the chapel and recorded her favorite hymns one after another into that small, copper-plated box.

The rudimentary device even recorded her tense breathing and occasional off-key notes, but that was all the sound she could record.

Now, this phonograph wrapped in red silk is lying quietly at the bottom of the suitcase.

Xi Dejia then covered it with two more wool shirts to make sure it wouldn't get bumped or knocked during the journey.

In addition to these, she also needed to bring her newly acquired Vatin armor, decapitation sword, and a slightly old-fashioned large electromagnetic acceleration crossbow.

This Vatin armor was not an ancient relic treasured in the monastery, but a gift from a mysterious patron.

The brand-new ceramic steel armor plates still retained the scent of incense from the mechanical priest's blessing, and each piece of armor shimmered with a dark, matte finish.

The matching decapitation sword is also of extraordinary origin, with a short prayer newly engraved on its sharp blade and a non-slip cloth wrapped around its hilt that has not yet been worn out.

The arrival of these two pieces of equipment thrilled the entire Langdon Abbey.

In contrast, the electromagnetic acceleration crossbow looked particularly shabby—its casing was covered with scratches from use, the exposed coils were slightly blackened from long-term use, and the trigger guard was even somewhat deformed.

But Xi Dejia wiped it with exceptional gentleness, because every scratch recorded the traces of her personal adjustments.

Although Langdon Abbey still maintains the basic operations of a religious order, the passage of thousands of years has severely diminished this line of silent nuns.

The once magnificent hall is now only inhabited by a handful of nuns, and the ancient traditions and equipment they inherited have been gradually lost over the long years.

Most of the precious armor and weapons in the monastery, dating back 10,000 years, have been destroyed. The few remaining pieces are considered sacred and are only used in the most critical moments.

To survive, the Silent Sisters of Langdon Abbey had to find various ways to keep the institution afloat. They would occasionally carry out secret missions for the Inquisition or be employed by the planetary governor in exchange for necessary supplies and funds.

They even tried growing their own wheat and baking bread, just to reduce expenses.

Even so, the quality of their equipment is vastly different from that of ten thousand years ago.

The Silent Sisters of today no longer wear the Vattin armor—they have neither sufficient stock nor the means to maintain these ancient pieces of equipment.

Most of the time, they can only wear bulletproof armor they modified themselves, or piece together rudimentary armor from scraps of ceramic steel.

Their weapons were no longer exquisitely forged sacred artifacts, but ordinary metal greatswords, or even crude weapons they made themselves by hand.

A mechanical priest once received their help during a mission, and in return, he taught them some techniques for making simple weapons.

It is this knowledge that has allowed Langdon Abbey to barely survive to this day.

Although their equipment was barely usable, at least they didn't have to rely entirely on external supplies.

Xi Dejia's electromagnetic crossbow was born under these circumstances.

Under her mentor's guidance, she spent three whole years collecting parts, adjusting coils, and calibrating the sights before finally completing the weapon.

Although it cannot compare to those ancient artifacts, it is the most reliable companion she can have.

Although it can't compare to the standard weapons of the Empire, it's still quite useful overall.

After all, their core value as the Silent Sisters lies in their innate ethereal energy field, rather than their combat skills.

This rare talent makes them natural nemesis against psionicists, effectively suppressing the enemy's psionic abilities on the battlefield.

When serving the judges, they are often deployed in key positions, acting as mobile anti-psychic barriers.

When psionicists attempt to use their abilities, simply standing nearby can instantly neutralize those strange energies.

As for the actual combat missions, they are usually assigned to the Inquisitor's Stormtroopers or other combat personnel.

However, such job opportunities are extremely rare.

Most of the time, the Inquisitors prefer to use other methods to deal with psionic threats, since no one wants to live with an untouchable for long.

Although the nuns of silence, who have received professional training, can control the energy field of emptiness to a minimum, so that ordinary people only feel slight discomfort rather than strong repulsion, day after day of being around them can still make those around them feel depressed and irritable.

This natural aversion makes it difficult for the Silent Sisters to obtain stable employment opportunities.

Normally, they only remember their existence when the planetary governor needs to capture awakened psionicists or when the Inquisition needs to hunt down heretical wizards.

Even so, these tasks are all temporary and the pay is often very meager.

A few years ago, a turning point came when Langdon Abbey finally established contact with another surviving order of the Silent Sisters.

Although life is still difficult, at least we are no longer completely isolated from the world.

(End of this chapter)