Chapter 121: Do Not Be Lost

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The Monument of Sin… and the holy city… that something-ria… the gods…

Bringing my left thumb to my mouth, I began to bite my nail with a “crunch, crunch” sound.

Countless thoughts rose in my mind.

First of all, I noticed that the gods in the story… didn’t seem all that just.

Although I’m not clear what kind of mindset the gods hold when looking at the world, it’s obvious that they have a special fondness for humans. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have repeatedly bestowed blessings upon humanity, or dispatched angels to assist in wars, and later on, one god even directly “changed the rules of the world”… That’s what Teacher Morgan said. I don’t know what these “rules” refer to, but from that point on, humans possessed Order Power, whereas before that, the power of order belonged only to those non-human races.

The reason behind this must not be as simple as what the teacher said.

As for the so-called story about “kneeling for more than 10 days without eating or drinking” to pray for divine blessings, that kind of nonsense should just be taken with a grain of salt and not taken to heart.

Then there’s the second point. This story was consistently threaded through with two elements: the gods are forever humanity’s “benefactors,” having saved us from danger countless times. And… the Church is their most loyal follower, the bond connecting the gods and humanity.

But after the story was finished, the gods in my heart remain like flowers in a mirror, castles in the air, intangible illusions.

What exactly are they?

Higher-dimensional beings? Managers of the world?

Or perhaps… completely fabricated entities?

Do they really exist in this world…

“…There’s still a bit of time before class ends.” Teacher Morgan’s words interrupted my speculation. “So before we officially learn about faith, does anyone have any questions they’d like to ask? Feel free to ask me anything.”

Oh, we can still ask questions… Perfect, then I’ll ask.

So I immediately sat up straight and raised my little hand high: “Teacher Morgan!”

After seeing this, Teacher Morgan smiled and nodded at me: “Alright. So then, young lady, what would you like to ask?”

“Teacher Morgan, may I ask if you’ve ever seen a god?”

After asking this question, I realized that being so direct might be somewhat inappropriate…

Teacher Morgan is a priest, asking him this, would it be considered blasphemy against the gods? Although I don’t think it’s a big deal, I’ve never understood how clergy members think about such things.

But either way, he’ll answer that he has seen them, right…

“Of course not.”

Teacher Morgan’s answer was the exact opposite of what I expected.

He didn’t make any excuses, nor did he avoid the question or brush it off with vague words. Instead, he spoke candidly: “I’m just a priest, one among countless followers of the great gods, like a speck of dust in the desert, a very insignificant existence, far from reaching the level where I could behold their divine visages… That’s something only the most devout believers in the Church can achieve.”

“The most devout…”

“That’s right. His Holiness the Pope, the four Cardinals, Saint Margaret… Only believers like them have the fortune to witness divine manifestation.”

I frowned upon hearing this.

So even someone like the old man in robes, an Archbishop, doesn’t have the chance to see them?

Cardinals… I remember Carlos mentioned that they’re the purple-robed bishops who oversee the general dioceses of various countries, second only to Engel in status and the highest-ranking bishops in the Holy Church. There are only 4 of them in the entire Church… I recall one of them is called George something, who’s also a Pontifical Knight.

Anyway, I don’t know any of them, and Engel is completely unreachable. As for the Saint… I’ll ask Sister Theresa when I get the chance.

“Then Teacher Morgan, may I ask how we can obtain Faith Power and receive divine protection?” someone asked.

“Just pray to them.” Morgan smiled slightly. “It’s a very simple matter. All you need to do is go to church every day and offer hymns to the gods, praying for their response. As long as your heart is sincere enough, the great gods will naturally hear your voice.”

“But I don’t even know where they are…”

“Do not be lost. The gods… they actually reside within each of your hearts.”

………….

Perhaps to give new students time to adapt, the course schedule for the past few days hasn’t been very tight.

The Order Studies class on the second day didn’t cover much substantial content either, mostly basic system rules that I already knew. In the afternoon was Herbology, which is said to be one of the academy’s most popular elective courses, but in room 1504, only Daisy signed up for it.

Her family has been farmers for generations, with what’s supposedly a very large orchard in Narangard. I remember that the farmers there are all quite wealthy, so Daisy’s parents must be among those wealthy merchants. I just don’t know why she’d come all the way to the royal city to study Herbology… Does this have anything to do with farming?

Well, maybe it does.

But more importantly, it’s probably about gilding her resume. After all, when merchants reach a certain level, they all want to be promoted to nobility, but that’s not an easy thing to accomplish. Daisy is probably her family’s attempt at this… perhaps one of several attempts.

Although she has that kind of personality… getting into the Royal Academy is an opportunity in itself.

Sarah and Sophia disappeared somewhere at noon. With nothing to do, I went to the academy library, wanting to find some useful knowledge or clues from the sea of books. But after making a round, I didn’t have any particularly great discoveries. Most were books useless to me, and even when I occasionally found something interesting, the contents were mostly things I’d already read at Shanter Castle.

I found almost no books documenting the Abyss, which left me somewhat disappointed. It seems I won’t get answers about what I am from the academy library.

But there’s an Abyss Studies class on the afternoon of the fourth day.

What surprised me somewhat was that in room 1504, besides me, someone else had actually signed up for this course.

“Eh~ Peylo, you actually chose Abyss Studies as an elective!”

Sarah stared at me with wide eyes, showing an unbelievable light mixed with delight: “I thought I’d be the only one from our dorm taking this… What a pleasant surprise! Peylo, do you also want to become a knight?”

“Hmph~” I raised my head toward her. “What, is that not allowed?”

“Of course it’s allowed! In fact, I knew it! Peylo, you’re actually really capable, aren’t you? That boy the other day…”

All along the way, my ears were filled with Sarah’s chirping like a little bird. Even though my responses were somewhat perfunctory, it didn’t diminish her enthusiasm for talking at all. It’s probably that kind of joy when you suddenly find someone who shares your interests or has the same goals as you… Not hard to understand.

Just a bit noisy.

I remember the principal granny said that Abyss Studies is an unpopular course, so this classroom shouldn’t have many people…

With that thought in mind, when I arrived at the classroom, I discovered that the number of people was far fewer than I imagined… Looking around roughly, there were probably less than 20 people, right?

I can’t say what kind of mood I was in when I sat down.

I thought back to Granny’s impassioned speech at the opening ceremony, which seemed to stir up enthusiasm in most people, but in reality…

“Pontifical Knights” are humanity’s heroes, legends who are admired and praised. Everyone wants to become someone like that, dreaming in their sleep that one day they too could don a pure white cloak and slay monster after monster in the blink of an eye.

But dreams are just dreams. After waking up, people still have to live their lives.

“Well, is everyone here?”

A familiar gentle female voice came through.

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