The king of Leize Kingdom issued orders to various cities and villages.
The whole kingdom was mobilized.
God's servants, nobles, and businessmen all mobilized to contribute money and effort to this witch sacrifice.
only.
When we were in Thunder City, we were just calling for donations of money and materials, and it seemed like we were just preliminarily selecting witches; everyone was cheering and looking forward to the divine grace coming.
But when you get to the cities, towns, and villages below, things become completely different.
After receiving the order, the city governors, township tribunes, village peace officers and divine servants began to use this power to plunder and promulgate various laws and regulations.
All kinds of chaos began to appear, and the entire Leize Kingdom was in a state of chaos.
"No, don't take my daughter away."
"If you don't want to hand someone over? Then give money."
"I do not have money."
"I think you are not pious to the gods, so give me a beating."
Many fisherwomen from the swamp fishing villages were taken away and sent to Thunder City, and some even disappeared without a trace.
The barely clothed fishermen couple could only watch the people being taken away and were helpless. They would even be beaten severely if they dared to stop them.
An Earth Dragon Knight led a group of servants to pick people from house to house. If he wanted not to be taken away, he had to pay money.
"Shouldn't you just choose one?"
"Why were so many people taken away?"
The common people who had supported and cheered for the gods before found that the situation was completely different from what they expected.
The knight riding the earth dragon sneered and said arrogantly.
"Why, doesn't a witch need anyone to serve her? Doesn't a god need more servants?"
"Just sending one over is not enough. That is blasphemy to the gods. God will send down punishment from heaven."
"Even various temples are short of maids. Your daughter is good-looking. Even if she cannot become a pre-selected witch, she may be favored by a godly servant. Then you are different."
He was still fierce just now, but now he became pious and solemn in the blink of an eye.
“It’s all for God!”
"This is your glory."
The Earthly Dragon Knight took away the people, raised his whip and headed to the next house.
In an instant, countless snake families were destroyed.
Even a large number of businessmen and workshop owners with no background went bankrupt, had their assets taken away, and lost their lives.
This scene was the same as what Gamel, the servant of God Ivar, had expected, but there were also differences.
Gamel was talking about the nobles, but in the end it was the bureaucrats under the king who plundered and used the name of God to do evil things.
As for those territorial nobles, they have to be more restrained.
This is not because they have good intentions.
It's because the consuls, tribunes, and magistrates are appointed by the king, and they will be transferred after their term ends.
The territory of the territorial nobles belongs to them, and even those who live in their territory also belong to their property, so most of them naturally have to take care of it.
A large number of witch pre-selectors were sent to Thunder City, and they were all pretty girls who were selected through the selection process.
In addition, there are some teenagers.
It is also an offering to the gods.
The witch is the apostle of God, and the accompanying girls and boys are the servants of the witch. They will be sent to the kingdom of God together.
The temple gained the authority they wanted, the king found offerings for the gods, and the bureaucrats and nobles below received enough benefits. It seemed like a win-win situation.
Under the temple.
The divine attendants in blue robes stood in a row, and all the offerings to be presented to the gods were brought forward together.
The attendants prayed devoutly and shouted the name of God.
"Servant of the supreme master of life, the great sky giant, the god of thunder who controls the sky and thunder."
"We followed your oracle and selected your favorite apostle."
"Please tell us."
"Please give us guidance."
"The true apostle of God, the carrier of the Sky Witch."
In public, the temple and the king staged a seemingly solemn but hilarious farce.
They went through layers of screening and were about to select a so-called "witch".
And the way to choose.
Let everyone enter the temple and pray so that the clouds in the sky stop right in the center of the window above the "witch"'s head.
Cloud is the symbol of the giant god in the sky. For the people of Lei Ze Kingdom, this is the will of the giant god——
Outside the Thunder City Temple, there was a sea of people.
Gamer watched this farce, watched the servants of the giant sky god on the high platform pretending to be pretentious, and watched the so-called devout believers below the stage kneeling on the ground and raising their hands and shouting.
As a young man, he was filled with indignation and rage.
"How dare they?"
"Aren't they afraid of divine punishment? How dare they do this in the name of God?"
Oran, who was originally ready to leave but stayed because of the Witch's Festival, also enjoyed the farce in the Leize Kingdom.
In this farce, he also saw the influence of gods on the human world.
Even if you do nothing.
Even if you don't respond to anything.
There are countless people who will use your name and chant your name to realize their goals and desires.
Just to see this scene, Olan felt that he should stay.
This allowed him to see more clearly the relationship between God and humans.
Also prepare for the future.
Oran heard Gamer's words and still raised his head.
"You think it's blasphemy, but they don't."
"They feel that they are doing the right thing, and they firmly believe that this is God's will and God's revelation."
"You can't wake up a person who is pretending to sleep, let alone a group of crazy people who are self-hypnotizing."
In Gamer's view, this is blasphemy, and this is committing evil in the name of the gods.
But in the eyes of these divine servants and nobles, this is not the case.
They firmly believe that they are devout believers and they are God's shepherds.
They sat in their own seats and naturally looked at the gods with their own eyes.
As servants of God, they are herders who replace God, so they naturally have the right to interpret oracles. They are the ones who manage the world for God.
What they said must be the will of the gods.
What they saw must be the guidance of the gods.
They believe so strongly that they not only tell others that this is the case, but also constantly use hypnosis to tell themselves that this is the case.
As for this, they did some not-so-glorious things, and they made some not-so-noble moves for their own benefit.
How can this be regarded as tarnishing the name of God?
The servants of the gods should naturally enjoy superior treatment; as the herders of the gods, they naturally have the right to control the common people.
Isn't this a matter of course?
As for those fishermen, craftsmen, and farmers, are they human beings?
In the eyes of these big shots, they are probably not considered human beings, but a kind of goods and resources.
What's wrong with God's herders using some resources? How could God punish them for such a thing?
How could a superior god care about such trivial matters and details?
Gamer followed Olan's gaze and looked at the faces of the people on the stage. They were all as pious as saints.
Oran turned his head, his eyes seeming to look straight into Gamer's heart.
"Even in your and my hearts."
"Actually, we are accustomed to this kind of evil behavior."
"What we are more afraid of is that they are using gods to do such evil things."
"Not the fact that they did something evil."
"They did evil things because they did evil things and blasphemed the gods, not because they did evil things because they blasphemed the gods."
Gamer was stunned.
Even he himself suddenly discovered it.
What he was angry about was not the matter itself, but because it blasphemed the superior gods.
He sympathized with the poor, but only with sympathy.
No empathy.
Only Olan now sees the essence of certain things more clearly, which is also an important gain from his journey.
"Is it because we are ignorant?"
"No, but because we are servants of God, we are also part of this arrogant person."
Oran looked at Gamer in front of him. He had awakened his arrogance before, but now he had awakened his heart.
Walking in this world, everyone is each other's teacher.
"When a person cannot see the world beyond his own identity, he cannot distinguish between black and white in the world, nor can he see right from wrong."
Gamer was in awe.
"grown ups!"
"You are truly a wise man."
Oran said: "It's just a moment of wisdom. Maybe it can't be called wisdom. It can only be called enlightenment."
"Only true gods can transcend the eyes of mortals and see the nature of the world beyond the limitations of the times."
"The gods can take on thousands of incarnations, and every servant is a pair of eyes of the gods."
Oran said to Gamer: "If one day you really go to the White Tower Alchemy Alliance to study, I hope you can see the world from a perspective that transcends everything, so that when you come back, you can truly be yourself.
Something you want to accomplish.”
"Otherwise, you will be just another funny clown on the stage."
"A person who implements his own desires in the name of ideals, rather than a person who truly changes this country."
The funny clowns Oran is talking about are those divine servants and kings and nobles on the stage.
Gamer asked Oran: "If the gods saw all this, wouldn't they be angry?"
Oran: "It is mortals who are stupid. Why should gods be angry because of stupid and ridiculous mortals?"
"This is the sin of mortals themselves and has nothing to do with gods."
But when he said this, Olan's eyes changed slightly.
"but."
"This time it's different."
"Maybe the giant gods in the sky didn't care before, or maybe they never set their sights on the human world."
"This time He may burst into heavenly fury."
Gamer asked: "What's different?"
"How do you know the sky giant will be angry?"
Oran looked into the depths of Thunder Swamp, but did not answer why.
"This time is different. The giant gods in the sky will definitely pay attention to their actions."
"When they really start this witch sacrifice, maybe the wrath of the gods will come."
Oran raised his head and looked at the farce in Thunder City.
Watching this mortal act of seeking death, watching their cheers and laughter.
If it were in the past, no matter what these mortals did, the gods who supported the giant island of Luhe would not even look at them.
Let them be confused and confused again.
Then they used their power of oracle interpretation to read and chant to the common people.
God has already tacitly agreed.
After that, the believers believed it, even the servants of God and the nobles believed it.
But now, under the eyes of the Creator, when these ignorant people perform the ugly act of human sacrifice in the name of the sky giant, what will happen?
Will the great God of the Sky still care as much as before?
Gamer looked at Olan's expression and suddenly felt a chill.
"What will happen then?"
Oran didn't know either: "How can a mortal know the wrath of the gods?"
Gamer didn't know why, but he believed Olan's words very much.
"You can't do this, it will bring disaster to the entire kingdom."
Gamer kept looking in the direction of the temple.
Oran seemed to sense Gamel's thoughts, and he wanted to prevent this from happening.
Gamer suddenly looked at Oran, as if he wanted to say something.
But Oran looked at Gamer and shook his head slightly.
Oran knew that he wanted to ask for his help.
However, Olan is the founder of the White Tower Alchemy Alliance and an apostle of the God of Desire and Alchemy. With his status, he cannot easily interfere in this matter.
Because he is in a sense.
It represents the White Tower Alchemy Alliance and the God of Desire and Alchemy.
And this is not the Land of the Rising Sun, nor is it his White Tower Alchemy Academy.
Gamer also understood Olan's eyes, and he finally said nothing.
Looking at this impulsive young man, Olan seemed to see himself in his youth.
He was once young and reckless.
Although when he was young, he did not have as strong a sense of justice as Gamel, he yearned more for the mystery and power of alchemy.
In order to practice the mysteries of the tower spirit, he once turned into a puppet and was trapped in the White Tower of Exile for nearly a hundred years.
And after that.
He then lost his youthful heart and became conservative and timid——
Temple of Thunder City.
The lucky one selected a few days ago, the Snake Girl who will become the Sky Witch in people's eyes, was enshrined in the temple, and no one dared to look up at her again.
Not long ago.
She was just a village fisherman who made a living by fishing in Thunder Swamp.
She has never left her hometown and doesn't even know the words.
But now, she has become a high-ranking "witch", and everyone regards her as the human agent of gods.
She changed into a new set of clothes, no longer the rough and tattered sleeveless blouse she once had, and was no longer covered in mud and fishy smell.
Instead, he was wearing a gorgeous robe and a pure white undershirt produced by the White Tower Alchemy Alliance. Hanging around his neck was a gemstone necklace he had never seen before. His hair, ears, and wrists were all exquisite accessories.
Everyone in the temple respected her as Her Highness the Witch.
For a moment, it seemed like she was no longer a mortal.
Rather, he is an apostle of God.
The chief attendant of the temple came to the witch. This big man who she once did not dare to look up to directly now did not dare to look up or look directly at her.
"Your Highness the Witch."
"Good morning!"
"Have you had a comfortable stay recently?"
"Can I meet something or have other needs?"
"You can tell me, or you can raise it with anyone, and they will tell me."
The Chief Divine Attendant was respectful and seemed to really regard the other party as a witch.
The chief attendant of the temple is really exactly what Oran said.
He truly believed that everything was the will of God. The sudden changes in the depths of Thunder Swamp and the sudden stop of white clouds in the sky were God's revelations to the world.
He seemed to have to believe it, because without these, wouldn't it mean that he had admitted that he, the chief divine servant, had never been recognized by the gods, and that the entire temple dedicated to the sky giant was just an empty stone shell deceived by mortals.
Even the entire Leize Kingdom has lost its human orthodoxy, indicating that they are a country not recognized by the gods.
No.
He couldn't accept this.
The king cannot accept it, and neither can everyone in the Leize Kingdom.
So, all this must be true.
"Her Highness the Witch" looked a little embarrassed and was not used to people saluting her.
"I am fine."
“Everything is good here.”
The Chief Divine Attendant asked again: "Your Majesty the Witch, the day of the Witch's Festival is coming soon."
He said with enthusiasm and excitement.
"The kingdom of the gods will be opened to you, and you will enter the kingdom of God in heaven."
"This is a major event that the entire Leize Kingdom is looking forward to, and it is also a blessing from the gods to the Leize Kingdom."
"Are you ready?"
The snake girl also became serious, and there was even a faint expectation in her eyes.
She imagined the beautiful scenery deep in the sea of clouds, imagining a large ship passing through the sky, and gods greeting her in the sky.
She was longing and a little uneasy.
Just like a bride waiting to be married.
"I am ready."
The Chief Divine Attendant then left with satisfaction. Everything was ready and there seemed to be no problem.
And "Her Highness the Witch" is still learning various hymns about the gods in the temple, learning to sing the three-part god's name in a beautiful aria, and learning how to pray to the gods.
She stayed in contact until evening before she learned the difficult-to-pronounce words and pronunciation.
"The Titan of the Sky."
She looked at the statue in the temple. This was the god worshiped by the Leize Kingdom from generation to generation. It looked like a figure wearing a gauze cloak.
Illusive and misty, like clouds and fog.
After she learned those hymns, prayers, and three paragraphs of God's names, she couldn't help but want to try them.
She looked outside and no one was looking at her anymore.
So she knelt down and prayed to the gods.
"Servant of the supreme master of life, the great sky giant, the god of thunder who controls the sky and thunder."
"Your servant prays to you, asking for your answer."
"..."
She pronounced the name of God and repeated it several times.
But there was no communication with the gods.
The first is because she does not have the power given by the gods, and the second is because the name of the god in the temple is wrong.
They imitated the name of the giant earth god in the Temple of the King of Serpents, rather than the name the god told them.
However, the Chief Divine Attendant would not say that. They claimed that this was an oracle sent by the gods to tell them.
The second paragraph is wrong.
This paragraph should be the great giant god Luhe, the giant sky beast, and when it is really used to communicate with the gods, the pronunciation of the sky giant beast should be similar to the pronunciation of the wisdom text of the three-leaf people.
Although it failed.
But the snake girl was not too disappointed.
She thinks this is because she hasn't become a witch yet, or because her pronunciation is wrong.
And this time.
A figure suddenly rolled in from the window and looked at the snake girl.
The snake girl lying under the statue immediately turned to look at the other person and asked.
"Who are you?"
The visitor was none other than Gamel, who unexpectedly broke into the temple quietly at this time and came to this hidden hall.
He was just an apprentice of the God's Attendant, but he managed to get past the strict guards of the temple. He relied on superficial magic to pass through several layers of induction magic and even a layer of barrier.
I met this "Her Highness the Witch".
I have to say, it's really magical.
Gamer saw the snake girl at a glance and recognized this "Her Highness the Witch".
He walked towards the other party slowly, for fear of scaring the other party.
"do not be afraid."
"I'm not your enemy, I'm here to save you."
"I can take you away and take you home."
However, the snake girl looked at him doubtfully and looked into his eyes.
From Gamer's eyes, she did see that he had no ill intentions.
But she replied: "I don't want to go home, please go back."
Gamer asked her: "Don't you miss your home and your family?"
"They snatched you here, and now your family misses you so much. What is more important in this world than being reunited with your family?"
The snake girl looked at Gamel and told him.
"I was not robbed, I was sold to the temple by my father."
The snake girl seemed to recall a scene.
Her cruel father dragged her with a rope and sold her as a commodity.
Humiliation, sadness, sadness.
I don't want to remember it until the end.
The father had his own reasons. There were so many children in the family that he could not feed. It happened that the temple was willing to pay for a good-looking girl. That was enough money for their family to survive for several years, at least to tide over the current difficulties.
It's just that the reason can be understood, but the heart is still unwilling to face and accept this kind of thing.
She can understand her father, but she cannot forgive him.
The moment she was sold, she no longer had a home, she now only belonged to the temple.
"It seems like you didn't know me or recognize me before you came here."
Gamer was speechless. He really didn't know about such a thing before he came.
The snake girl's voice was calm, but it was obvious that she didn't want to mention this matter more.
"I don't want to go back because no one cares about me."
"But here, there are many people who care about me."
Gamer said: "They don't care about you, they just care about whether the Witch's Sacrifice can succeed."
"and."
"Do you know the price of the Witch's Sacrifice?"
"For them, this is just a sacrificial ceremony, but for you, it is a road of no return."
Snake Girl nodded, as if someone had told her something before.
"I know."
"I will enter the kingdom of God, and maybe I will never be able to leave there."
There is a clear difference between the point of no return described by the Snake Girl and the point of no return described by Gamer.
The snake girl prostrates herself under the statue, her expression neither sad nor happy.
"I like it there."
"When I was a child, every time I fished in the swamp, I liked to look at the huge cloud mountains deep in the swamp. I once rode a boat and was lifted up by the clouds of the giant god in the sky and floated in the sky."
"I like the white clouds and everything in the depths of the swamp."
"I have always heard that there is a lost country deep in the clouds. I have always wanted to see it. It must be the most beautiful place in the world."
Gamer laughed angrily, he didn't expect the temple's rhetoric to be like this.
In his opinion, this was even an excuse for failure.
We already have the witch. As for why we didn’t see the witch, it’s because the witch was left in his kingdom by the gods.
No one can confirm it, because no one can enter the kingdom of God alive.
Perfect closed loop.
Gamer whispered to her with emotion: "No, this is all just a lie."
"The giant god in the sky has never sent down any oracle, and the oracle has never been like this."
"You won't become a witch if you are sent deep into the swamp. You will just disappear there and die quietly."
"You're going to be a casualty and it's not worth it."
But the snake girl didn't believe Gamer's words: "No, God chose me, that's what they all said."
The snake girl faced the statue and no longer looked at Gamel.
"You probably aren't from here. I'm very grateful that you can worry about me."
"Please leave quickly. I'll pretend I've never seen you. If someone finds out, you will die."
The Snake Girl has changed a lot, but she still maintains the simplicity and kindness of the Fisher Girl in her heart.
Just don't know.
How long can this kindness and simplicity last if it is always immersed in the filth of intrigues?
Looking at the snake girl, Gamer thought of Olan's words again,
You can't wake someone who is pretending to sleep.
Gamer was a little anxious: "No, this is not just a matter between you and me, this is a matter related to the fate of the entire Leize Kingdom."
"Have you ever thought that if this thing is a self-deceiving lie and farce from the beginning, then when the sacrifices really begin, we will likely anger the gods."
Gamer doesn't know the real reason why Olan said that the gods will be angry, so I can only use my own imagination to guess.
But no matter what, Gamer couldn't just sit back and watch what Oran said happen.
But the snake girl couldn't understand Gamel's words. She only thought that Gamel was a little crazy.
At this time, someone outside also heard the noise inside.
"Your Highness the Witch."
"What's wrong, who are you talking to?"
A man rushed in and immediately spotted Gamer's figure.
"Who are you."
Immediately afterwards, the other party realized that Gamer was not from the temple.
"Come here, someone broke into the temple."
"Someone is coming!"
"catch him!"
Gamer fled in panic and rushed out of the window again.
However, at this moment, a large number of temple guards and powerful people rushed over.
Gamer rushed into a garden, hiding, and was about to be discovered by the consciousness of several powerful people.
He was about to be caught, but he suddenly disappeared from the garden.
Several powerful snakemen rushed over and met each other. They clearly felt that there was movement here, but in the end they found nothing.
"Disappeared?"
"what happened?"
"Where are the people?"
Gamer appeared outside the temple, shocked.
And a familiar figure stood beside him, looking at him quietly.
He saw Olan again, this mysterious and powerful alchemist.
Oran asked as soon as he opened his mouth: "Failed?"
Gamer knew that Olan knew what he wanted to do from the beginning, and even his every move was always under the attention of the other party.
"Sir, you are indeed helping me."
After Gamer thanked Olan, he smiled bitterly.
"Yes, even with your help I still failed."
"I can't stop the Witch's Sacrifice from starting, and I can't stop this stupid, blasphemous sacrificial ceremony."
"Perhaps only a tragic disaster can really make the people of Leize Kingdom wake up."
"Only in this way can those who do evil in the name of God receive the punishment that belongs to them."
Although Gamer said this, there was still fear in his voice.
After all, that is the wrath of the gods!
Who knows how widespread it will eventually be.
Oran is much more stable than Gamer: "Don't worry."
"God only punishes the truly guilty."
"Even if the giant god in the sky is angry, there will be a greater and benevolent being to appease him."
Through the oracle and the will of the Creator told to him by God Iva, Oran was able to faintly perceive the outline and figure of that great being.
But Gamer looked confused. He didn't know who the greater existence Olan was talking about was.
In a hurry, he could only think of the Lord of life.
However, the master of life has already left the world, so why is he still paying attention to this remote corner of the Leize Kingdom?