Chapter 99: Regarding Religion

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

To be honest, if the final ‘preaching’ part had been excluded, Gawain had a rather good impression of Veronica. This Saint Princess indeed had attractive traits that would make someone praise her: she was humble, courteous, gentle, and amiable. All these were traits that could be considered a rarity when found in this era’s nobility. In Gawain’s opinion, her amiable personality wasn’t a pretense, and she wasn’t just using this attitude with him. When they walked past the chaotic construction sites and when they saw those busy and ‘vulgar’ commoners and serfs, she would still maintain her smile. Be it her words, actions, or the expressions in her eyes, there wasn’t any disdain or estrangement. However, Count Cohen beside her had an utterly resentful and impatient expression.

Even if Veronica had astounding acting skills and acted as if she was very close to the commoners, Gawain felt that it wasn’t easy either. After all, this era’s nobles didn’t need to consider being close to the commoners; thus, they wouldn’t even bother to pretend.

But in the end, Veronica was a devotee that had converted to the God of Holy Light long ago. From the looks of it, it didn’t seem like the rumors that said it was purely a political move. She had committed her heart and soul to this religion, and she was rather fanatical about it.

Gawain never contradicted religion himself, especially when real power of conviction existed in this world. He had viewed religion as a kind of necessity and natural phenomenon. Since the gods would protect the mortals that prayed to them, he wouldn’t have malice towards the gods for no reason. But he wasn’t really able to accept Veronica’s attitude when she preached… In the end, he still maintained his previous life’s attitude to ‘remain at a respectful distance from gods and demons’.

Veronica was keen enough to notice the change in Gawain’s attitude, but she didn’t think too much about it. She had viewed this situation as a noble being vigilant when an outside force was meddling with his regime. After all, her title as the ‘Saint Princess’ still consisted of the word princess, and she would still have the shadows of the royal clan no matter what. Hence, on this topic, she would simply touch on it and leave it there.

Finally, it was time for the guests from the royal capital to depart.

The White Oak that was at the White River was already prepared to depart. Gawain followed with his eyes as he saw the Saint Princess and her two accompanying members walking towards the gangplank that led to the deck. Before stepping onto the deck, Veronica suddenly stopped and turned around to ask, “Duke Cecil, I have a rather presumptuous question that I have been wanting to ask you, but I didn’t dare to ask until now. Are you able to satisfy this younger generation’s curious little heart?”

Gawain chuckled and nodded. He felt that his current expression could simply be described as benevolent. He had been putting on the airs of the old ancestor front of these ‘juniors’ for almost half a day, and it seemed like he had been overly involved in his role. “If you have a question, you may just ask. As long as I know the answer and it doesn’t involve any secrets.”

“I am not sure if it is considered a secret.” Veronica let out a faint smile while asking, “During the… years that you were a deceased individual, have you ever seen a god?”

Even though she was only revealing a faint smile, Gawain felt that the smile had the zealotry of a devotee. He chuckled before spreading out his hands and said, “Never… Perhaps, I didn’t die thoroughly back then, and the gods didn’t even treat me as a dead person and ignored me.”

“Is that so…” Veronica seemed to be rather disappointed before she shook her head pensively. “Thank you for your reply. I will be praying for you and your territory to The Lord.”

After finishing her statement, the Saint Princess stepped onto the deck along with Count Cohen and Priestess Sandy, who had been glowing in Gawain’s vision from start to finish. The trio’s figure quickly vanished into the rear of White Oak.

Once the fleet departed, Gawain and the others walked down from the docks and returned to the camp.

Along the way, Heidi, who had spared some time to bid farewell, looked as though she had a load on her mind. Gawain asked after noticing, “What are you thinking about?”

Heidi opened her mouth a few times and couldn’t help but ask, “Ancestor, I heard that you refused Princess Veronica’s assistance and goodwill to build a Holy Light church?”

“Goodwill…” Gawain pursed his lips and looked at Heidi’s eyes before asking, “Do you think it was inappropriate?”

“The priests and priestesses from the Church of Holy Light have the ability to heal and pacify the hearts of people,” Heidi said. “The territory is lacking medical personnel. Mister Pittman might be a qualified druid, but most of his energy is on agriculture and the medicines that he concocts aren’t enough for the long term. Especially after the recent battle that resulted in many injuries, all the medicines in the reserves have nearly been used up. There is also an urgent need to purchase medicines from Tanzan Town. But if there was a priest or two from the Church of the Holy Light, or even just an apprentice priest, the current situation would be alleviated.”

“That’s right.” Rebecca couldn’t hold back anymore either. “It is impossible for our territory to provide for an official church, and it isn’t very worthwhile to hire a priest with our own money. If the Princess is willing to provide her own personal funds to construct a church for us, we will be able to save a huge sum of money! Furthermore, the priest that the Princess sends over will definitely not be those dabblers from some small rural church. It would be extremely cost-effective.”

“I don’t like the Church of the Holy Light,” Amber mumbled behind Gawain. “They are always preaching and are also inflexible and stubborn. People like me who worship the Goddess of the Night feel as though we have slaughtered their entire family. No matter where we go, they will look at us with cold eyes…”

Rebecca rolled her eyes at Amber and said, “Isn’t that because you’re always stealing things from the Church of the Holy Light?”

“Don’t talk nonsense! When have I ever been discovered to be stealing something?!” Amber glared and said, “They obviously don’t even know who stole their things, but they still seek trouble with me. If they are not finding fault, what are they doing?”

Gawain and his two great-granddaughters were stupefied as this half-elf young lady’s unequaled logic had instantly triple killed¹ them.

Gawain decided to completely ignore this disgrace to all living beings and replied, “I naturally know that Veronica’s suggestion would be very worthwhile for us. But I have my own considerations too… Do you really think she is simply going to help us construct the local church and send a chaplain here?”

Heidi wasn’t a one-track minded person like Rebecca and quickly reacted, “Ancestor is saying… this might be the influence of the royal clan and the Church of the Holy Light behind her? It wouldn’t be right… Princess Veronica has always been upright and sincere to everyone. She is devoted to the God of Holy Light and would never allow profits to contaminate her conviction…”

“She wouldn’t but it didn’t mean that others wouldn’t. Didn’t you see the people she brought along? One of them is the honorary high-ranking priestess of the Church of the Holy Light. She might not have spoken much during the entire process, but she never left more than half a step away from Veronica. The other person was the inner royal court’s Count that the king personally conferred. Furthermore, he is a Count that has been ‘cut off’ from the eastern Loland Clan.”

Gawain pursed his lips and continued, “The royal clan and the church are standing beside the Saint Princess like her left and right protectors, and they didn’t allow any chance for Veronica to leave their line of sight. That Princess’s devout conviction might not be able to stop the other people who have thoughts that are not so devoted. In such situations, I do not dare to accept her goodwill that easily.”

When Heidi and Rebecca heard the explanation, they couldn’t help but reveal thoughtful expressions. The former was considering the possibilities of the royal clan and church’s intentions, while the latter was thinking what her old ancestor blabbed about.

After Gawain finished, he immediately mentioned another matter that was on his mind. “In addition… I feel that Princess Veronica said something to me that I need to be mindful about.”

Amber asked curiously, “Which statement? She said a lot of things to you today!”

“There might be plenty of gods, but only the God of Holy Light will pardon everything. At the end of the Holy Light will be the final redemption for the foolish beings,” Gawain repeated Veronica’s statement without missing a single word as though he was preaching. “Don’t all of you feel there is a problem with this statement?”

“What problem? Isn’t it just preachy words that those Holy Light devotees love to use?” Amber scratched her head while saying, “They love to declare the universal love of their god… as though the entire world was their children…”

“Most of the latter part is indeed the preaching of the Church of Holy Light. But she added something extra at the front — there might be plenty of gods…” Gawain spoke with a stern tone. “This statement might be short, and she said it indifferently too, but this statement isn’t something a devotee of the Church of the Holy Light would normally say.”

Heidi had a reaction and spoke without too much certainty, “She is… putting the God of Holy Light above the rest of the gods?!”

Gawain nodded and responded, “It is an unassuming induction, but it is indeed the meaning.”

Everyone present had bizarre expressions.

This world had plenty of religions, and it was something that Gawain already knew. There were dozens of reputable and well-known religions. There were hundreds of small churches in villages and towns too. As for those hidden and smaller groups that passed as secret religions, it had reached an extent that was countless. Each of the religions that could be passed on would have their individual theurgy. This would mean that a true god’s power existed that supported them. It might be a god or something that was as powerful as a god.

Even with so many religions, the continent was still able to maintain a relatively balanced situation. The balance had actually surpassed the nations and races’ balance. Even if the nations broke out into war, the mainstream religions of those nations would be uninvolved.

This wasn’t always the case. In history, this continent had plenty of wars between religions. The history books were filled with how the religions annexed and invaded one another. Even when the entire continent was united into a single nation, the Gondor Empire would frequently have warring situations between the different religions.

When Gawain was suspended in the sky during all those years, he had seen so many religions warring with each other that he became sick of them. To add on another condition, it was especially bad since he was unable to turn or close his eyes…

But no matter how each religion beat up the brains of each other, they were indeed at ‘peace’.

All of the conflicts had stopped during the year of the Dark Wave.

The gods had chosen to stay silent during the Dark Wave, and they had stayed silent for an entire year.

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