Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
On the debate stage in front of the Temple of War, the other priests had all fallen into silence after hearing Lucien’s speech.
Lucien looked around in his plain white robe and then said to Nena peacefully, “respected Lady Nena, shall the results of the debate be announced now? It seems that no one else wants to continue anymore.”
Nena was a bit startled by Lucien’s question. She took a cold glance at Lucien and turned to the priests, “do you all agree?”
Nob was about to oppose, but he could not find a single reason. The only words coming up in his mind were those just said by Lucien.
His brain had stopped working. Without the guidance of the brain, his mouth had given out the words, “A… Agree…”
Depressed, the priests of the God of Love and the God of Wisdom who had lost in the first round also agreed.
After a short hesitation, the other priests agreed as well — There would be three winners today, so they still got a chance.
Nena lowered her eyes and hid her emotions. Then she said in cold voice, “according to the words of the supreme Lord of War, the winners from today’s debate will be three. Their Church will be awarded the right to stay in the valley of Solna and preach. They are…”
Unconsciously, she had applied the word, supreme, to the Lord of War.
Everyone all held their breath and waited for the final result nervously, including the listeners, as if one single breath could blow the good result away.
“… The God of Revival, Fertility, and Redemption,” said Nena, announcing the not-at-all surprising result.
Seeing how calm Leviathan and Francis were, the listeners present started to more or less believe in the existence of God Ell.
The manner of a priest could well represent how much confidence he or she had in the god, as well as how powerful the god was.
“The God of Moon,”
Out of great excitement and joy, Nob kneeled down to the ground and kissed the floor while praying and praising his god.
“… and the Lord of Underworld.”
Volcan, the priest of the Lord of Underworld, cheered aloud, praising the Lord of Underworld and thanking the Lord of War.
The rest of the priests, however, all looked very pale now.
“Before tomorrow’s sunset, the rest of you must leave the valley. The followers must change their belief, otherwise, they shall be exiled as well!” Nena’s words were cold and cruel.
“…!” The priests and listeners looked at Nena in great shock and anger. Although they knew that they had to leave, they did not expect the fact that they could not even keep their own followers.
Solna Valley was a rich piece of land. Anyone willing to work hard should be able to feed themselves. Once leaving the valley, what was waiting for them in the wild was definitely not pleasant. Therefore, the priests understood that they were doomed to lose most of their followers now.
However, as priests, they did not have a second choice. They had to stick to their belief, or they would be devoured by the Seed of Spirit within themselves.
The many furious gazes did not bother Nena at all. She slowly lifted her right hand, and the soldiers instantly lifted their black-iron weapons. The swords formed a sharp and dense black-iron forest that reflected cold light.
The scene reminded the rest of the priests that Nena was almost as powerful as their god. Thinking about Politown, they lowered their heads and left the stage.
Here started the wandering.
Nena paid no further attention to the scattering priests. She said to Lucien, Nob, and Volcan, “your preaching must obey the law established by the Temple of War, or you will be exiled too.”
Then she simply turned around and left. There were no celebration nor encouragement.
Watching Nena walking away, Francis sent a secret message to Lucien and said casually, “it looks like the Dear Lady has already got the intention to kill us, or, I should say, the Lord of War has got the intention to kill us. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have been treated this way. Maybe our description of the almighty Ell made them feel insecure…”
The topic was rather serious, but Francis didn’t sound like he was taking it seriously.
Lucien was still playing his role well. With a slight amount of shock that suited his current identity, Lucien asked, “What shall we do then?”
“We’ll discuss later. The situation may change.” Francis directed Lucien to meet Ell, Jacob, and Anheuse in the hotel.
Lucien nodded seriously. He wondered if Francis was waiting for the rest of the priests to react.
They walked off the stage, and the followers immediately surrounded them. Their eyes were written with great hope for redemption.
They were all followers of the Lord of Fire, and Destruction. Hearing Lucien’s words, they preferred the God of Revival, Fertility, and Redemption to the horrible Avando, as what they longed for was the hope of ascending to the Pure Land, instead of being driven by the fear of the bloodthirsty Avando.
Francis smiled but did not say anything. He was waiting to observe Lucien’s response and he didn’t even try to hide his intention.
Lucien spoke in a soothing tone, “the almighty Ell always shows mercy. My Lord would never abandon this world full of pain. Instead, my Lord is willing to serve as a bridge, connecting the two worlds to save you all from the endless cycle of pain. Supreme as my Lord, as long as you pray and confess devoutly and act out of kindness, your wish will be heard by Him.
“This is also where the supremacy of my Lord lies: You believe, and then the Lord will be in your heart. I am not superior to any of you, instead, I merely heard the Lord’s instruction earlier than you. I will be your mentor, guiding you to see the almighty Ell in your own heart and then to be saved. I am not a priest, but an initiator.”
Lucien had his principle: He was never willing to make a fortune out of these followers. Although it was already not the first time that he used divinity to achieve his purpose, he never intended to turn himself into the biggest beneficiary.
If it had not been that Francis and Anheuse were right here, Lucien would like to share with them how he understood superego, ego, and the inner self.
Then Lucien wondered if he was addressing too much about the inner peacefulness. Perhaps, he was on his way shaping something like Buddhism.
Hearing Lucien’s words, the followers almost burst into tears. Never had they heard something like this before from a priest — in most cases, they were frightened and threatened.
Francis was a bit amused. In his eyes, Leviathan was such an innocent young man who just joined the Secret Praying Congress but still had his own set of belief. Yet it made sense to Francis, as such a young man who made the previous speech should have his own understanding of divinity.
“Dear initiator, how should we pray? How can we see the almighty Lord Ell in our mind?” Asked one of the followers.
Lucien put on a soft smile, “Anheuse, our another initiator, will tell you the prayer later. Before you pay, you have to learn how to put aside all your emotions first, including your joy, pain, and worries.”
The specific prayer had to be modified after today’s debate.
“Put aside…” repeated the followers thoughtfully.
“It’s simple. You take a deep breath and then exhale… That’s right, to release the emotions out…” Lucien showed them.
Lucien could not stay here for too long. Therefore, after leaving the followers to Anheuse, he went back to the hotel with Francis by oxcart.
“To save them, we have to save their mind first.” nodded Francis in the oxcart on their way back. He smiled and said, “I thought the debate was a chance for discussing divinity and humanity, universals and primary substance, a priori and transcendent, but it turned out to be for bragging. You did very well.”
“Mr. Francis, you taught me a lot,” said Lucien, “but since the Lord of War is involved, we cannot target at the God of Moon anymore.”
Francis shook his head. “This’s also a chance. You’ll see.”
When the oxcart almost arrived at the hotel, a paper wad was darted fiercely through the curtain. As fast as an arrow, it was just an inch away from Lucien’s face.
At this time, Francis raised his right hand and caught the paper wad rather easily.
Lucien slightly squinted — Francis was at least a senior-rank.
Someone on the street made a soft exclamation of surprise and then disappeared in the crowd.
As if Francis was exactly waiting for the paper wad, he did not even check it before opening it. After reading the message, he grinned. “Here it comes.”
Lucien took the paper over and saw the message on it:
“Nena, The chief priest of the Lord of War, has given order to the God of Moon and the Lord of Underworld, asking them to attack you tonight in order to force the almighty Ell to reveal His presence, so they can kill the almighty Ell. The one among us six which makes the most contribution tonight will earn the place left. However, I am much more willing to work with the God of Revival, Fertility, and Redemption, as the Lord of War is such an unpredictable dictator. If the almighty Ell agrees, we’ll meet each other in the middle of the river outside of the city before dawn.”
At the bottom, there was a symbol of the sun.
“Cooperation? Or a trap?” Lucien asked, pretending to be both excited and confused.
Francis shrugged. “How should I know? Alright, let’s get in the room first.”
Lucien walked in the room and saw Ell standing beside the window covered in a white robe. His imposing manner was as great as that of mountain chains. Ell was somehow different now.
Ell turned around when Lucien was still a bit confused. There was no fire in his eyes anymore, instead, his eyes now looked as deep and black as death. Ell put on an easy smile. “Until today when I heard the debate, I finally realized that that Ell in the past wasn’t the real Ell. Now, I finally have woken up from the chaos and obscuration.”
Lucien and Francis were shocked.
