The Day of Abstinence was the biggest holiday in the land.

Regardless of time zones, bells across the world would ring at the exact same second.

This chime had a name: "The Hour of Divine Advent," signifying the moment the Gods who protected all life descended upon the world. Thus, the Day of Abstinence was also known as "God’s Advent Day."

Naturally, such a grand and sacred holiday couldn’t possibly last for just one day.

Though called a "Day," it was, in fact, a "Month."

The Day of Abstinence lasted for the 30 days between September 8th and October 7th each year.

As the name implied, no one was permitted to engage in sexual intercourse during the Day of Abstinence. To do so was considered a defilement of the sacred and an act of disrespect toward the Gods.

In a world with an almost globally unified religion, this prohibition was absolute. Anyone caught partaking of the forbidden fruit would meet a single fate: they would be branded a Heresy, just like a Wizard, and burned alive.

Furthermore, the families of both transgressors would also face severe punishment and public scorn. If they expressed any dissatisfaction or questioned the enforcement of the ban, it was highly likely they would be implicated as well.

Many local police departments were known for their lazy approach to their duties—working one day and slacking off the next—but this month was the sole exception. They didn’t dare relax for even a moment. Everyone strictly adhered to the special protocols for the Day of Abstinence, working sixteen-hour shifts and conducting thorough patrols of their districts.

Of course, no matter how thorough the patrols, some people always slipped through the cracks.

After all, with a global population in the billions, it was impossible to check on everyone door-to-door. Besides, some couples were quick—it could be over in the time it took to use the restroom. By the time the police received a tip and rushed over, all traces would have been cleaned up. Not even a scent would remain.

Every era has its share of audacious people.

And its share of people willing to tempt fate.

Eventually, a new law was added to the world’s legal code—

"During the Day of Abstinence, the ’presumption of innocence’ is abolished and replaced with the ’presumption of guilt.’"

Burning a few extra people tended to make the rest behave.

In any case, these people were a minority, mostly energetic youths under twenty. By the time they reached middle age, they would realize that such things weren’t as important as they once seemed. A month was easy to get through. You couldn’t even call it "getting through"—for some men who were past their prime, it was actually a reward.

They would get their urges out of their system beforehand and then, free of desire, take their families on vacation or hole up at home for some intense gaming, making the most of this annual holiday.

Though people lost sex for a month, they gained a "freedom" that was otherwise hard to come by.

All schools closed, from elementary to university. Some more laid-back, non-essential businesses, with government approval, would opt to receive a subsidy and give their employees paid leave. Only positions that were not permitted to or did not wish to take a holiday continued to operate, and those employees received triple pay.

As a result, major cities and tourist attractions were always bustling during the annual Day of Abstinence.

Aside from the prohibition on carnal relations, it was practically no different from any other holiday.

Day or night, you would find people everywhere, especially in commercial districts like pedestrian malls. Shopping not only relieved the pressures of work, but it also served as an excellent alibi, a public display of one’s virtue.

But before completely setting aside their work to enjoy the holiday, people had one more very important task: go to a church to confess and pray, drink Holy Water, commit the Master’s face to memory, and prove their faith and loyalty to Him.

Since the number of churches—or rather, the number of Priests—in any given city was limited, praying at a church usually required an appointment and a long wait. To improve efficiency, many churches would hire temporary, qualified Priests to help handle the workload.

The church in Alola Town, for instance.

Sean now stood before a mirror, dressed in the vestments of a Priest, his face a wooden mask.

Behind him stood a beaming Elise and an Elvire who was struggling to suppress a smile.

"How handsome," Elise praised. "It’s true what they say: a good-looking man looks good in anything."

Sean was speechless. "I’ve never been a Priest before."

"It’s fine. You’re just going through the motions, anyway," Elise said with a wink. "Consider it part of learning the local customs. After all, you might be living here for a long time. It’s not like you can go anywhere else, right, Mr. Sean?"

Sean: "..."

Elise had already arranged for someone to forge a new identity for him, but it would take time. Even once it was ready, the cities outside weren’t as safe as Alola Town. So Elise was right. If he didn’t want to live every day in constant fear, settling down here was his best option.

But—

"It’s not the eighth yet, is it?"

Today was September 7th. The Day of Abstinence didn’t officially begin until tomorrow.

"We need to get you familiar with the procedure first," Elise said.

Even if it was just an act, it had to be a convincing one.

Alola Town wasn’t some true, isolated paradise. The place was on record in the town archives of the Siracle State Government; the Dawn Council had simply disguised it as a normal town. Though everyone here was a Wizard, you would never see anyone using Magic out in the open.

A massive Magic Array was buried beneath the town, concealing the fluctuations of Magic Power that Wizards emitted. Even a Smell Crow wouldn’t be able to detect anything unusual.

Correspondingly, they had to act as much like ordinary people as possible. Their behavior had to match their public identities to ensure they remained truly hidden.

"Fine, fine," Sean sighed. "Teach me what I need to do."

’Who was he to argue? He had borrowed 100,000 from the two women, after all.’

’Beggars can’t be choosers. He’d just consider this little acting gig as a way to pay off some of the interest.’

"Here are your lines. Take a look, they’re very simple." For reasons of her own, Elise seemed to enjoy seeing Sean "surrender" like this. Her eyes crinkled with amusement as she handed him a small slip of paper that contained only a few sentences.

There really wasn’t much to teach a temporary Priest. The role mostly involved spouting lines like "The Master will forgive you" and "The Master has heard your prayers." The truly difficult part was obtaining a Priest’s "certification," which required unwavering loyalty to the Master, lifelong servitude, and passing a test of faith—an impossible feat for any Wizard.

However, they had already "taken care of" the person in charge of verifying Priests’ credentials.

When Elise saw that Sean had more or less memorized his lines, she had a Nun bring in a basin of water. "This is the Holy Water," she said. "Don’t forget to have them drink it."

’The Holy Water of the Mortal World was a completely different substance from the Holy Water of the Wizarding World; it had nothing to do with the Spring of Enlightenment. Sean had no idea what this water was made of, but he suddenly recalled drinking it himself every year. Back then, he hadn’t known the world was full of his enemies.’

"Don’t tell me this water is poisoned," Sean said.

"Relax, Mr. Writer, it’s not poisoned," Elise teased. "At worst, it’ll just make you sterile for a month."

Sean: "?"

"They put contraceptives in it?"

"You could say that."

"But that’s the real Holy Water. We swapped ours out," Elise said.

Although they had confirmed long ago that the Holy Water distributed by the church wasn’t poisonous, they were never comfortable drinking something provided by the enemy. So they replaced it all with day-old boiled water, adding a bit of an Alchemy Potion to mimic the taste.

This particular potion had been specially concocted by a very powerful Alchemist. Not only was it harmless, but it also strengthened the body and improved physical conditioning—a free benefit the Dawn Council provided for its Wizards.

And that very powerful Alchemist was in the church right now.

"Just remember the gist of it. Don’t keep him waiting too long."

Elise brought Sean’s original clothes over and gestured for him to change. "Come on, let’s go meet Mr. Witch."

Sean: "?"

’A Witch?’

’Mister?’