Several young men and women walked slowly among the white stone-carved buildings. Some were talking to each other, while others were pointing at the statues and asking which saint they were.
"Huh, this is the white-flowered Saint Durlan." Haisen wiped away the sweat caused by the heat and pointed to the white statue standing in the fountain in front of him.
The saint was wearing a close-fitting and graceful dress, and she was holding a special long sword in her hand.
The hilt, blade, and guard of the long sword formed a straight cross shape, and then there was an upright circle on the guard that partially surrounded the hilt and body. There were complex patterns on this circle, like vine branches and leaves.
Duran held this special holy sword and inserted it into the ground, and then water spurted out from the junction between the sword and the ground, forming a small fountain.
"It is said that this saint led the local people to build the city in just one month during the chaos and disaster, and then inserted a sword into the earth to draw clear springs and solve the water problem, thereby saving hundreds of thousands of people. Later.
Because of this, she was canonized. After the war, she left behind an extraordinary faction, the White Orchid Cross Sword, which should still be found in Verga today." Haisen explained the statue.
"It's rare for a woman to be canonized." Bo Li looked curiously at the small stone tablet below, which recorded the years of her birth and death.
"Then is the White Orchid Cross Sword still being passed down? I'll go take a look when I have time."
"Well..." Haisen thought about it for a moment.
"Which city are you from..." He couldn't remember for a moment.
"It should have been in Hopeland before, with the Bailan Cross Sword." Next to her, Rocher walked slowly over and stood with Bo Li, looking at the stone tablet below.
"Is this what happened in the past? What about now?" Another girl also came over and asked curiously.
"It should be on your side. It is said that after the Hopeland Incident a few years ago, most of the members of the White Orchid Cross Sword went to Frost Rose." Lorraine Hill continued.
"I see, I don't know much about it. When I was a child, I preferred to play around." Jelica touched her chin.
The group then looked at other statues one after another, and then walked towards the Song Palace.
Among the tall trees, misty singing came from a small church.
There were few pedestrians around and it was very quiet. Only the occasional chirping of cicadas from the treetops reminded us of the current season.
The seven people from Lorraine Hill did not visit the church because it would disturb others and be too obtrusive. They sat on the benches and rocks outside, listening to the hymns inside.
The nuns and monks in the choir are not too old, and their childlike voices sing a cappella without accompaniment, giving it a pure and sacred feeling.
"Be calm and composed, go your own way, be graceful and generous, and have compassion in your heart."
"Living in the capital city, it is holy and solemn, with orchids in the empty valley."
"My saint is immortal, behaves as if nothing has happened, is graceful and magnanimous, and is inviolable!"
The bytes in it are all short sentences with the same length. When singing, the scale rises with the rhythm of the tune, giving it a vast and solemn sacredness.
Just like this, a few people sat quietly under the shade of the trees, blowing the summer wind, and listened to this distant and sacred poem.
“Although I don’t quite understand the meaning of the lyrics, I always feel calm after listening to it.”
After they finished listening, they continued walking on the mountain road, talking to each other.
"Perhaps this is the effect that hymns are trying to achieve. Sometimes the lyrics are not important, what is important is the quiet sacred feeling."
Several people talked and came to the other side of the mountain.
At this time, what was displayed in front of them was a magnificent scenery.
The setting sun reflected the sky and slowly fell into the horizon. Purple clouds filled the horizon, and the pale golden sunlight fell on the vast slopes under the mountain peaks.
Due to the cold climate here and few trees, most of the ground is gravel, soil, green weeds and the like. And this huge slope stretching for thousands of square meters is now illuminated by the setting sun, and the golden and sparse brilliance fills the sight.
in every corner.
The world is clear and beautiful, the grass trembles slightly in the evening wind and light, and there is a pleasant dry smell in the air.
"There are such beautiful places around the Holy Mountain. How come I didn't know about it before?" Several people sighed a little.
"I'm afraid you have been to this place before, but you quickly ignored it." Crow said with a smile.
"Actually, this place is usually very sparse and ordinary. If it is cloudy, the huge slope below will be gray and white, which is not beautiful."
"It only presents beautiful scenery at certain times."
"Is that so?"
Haisen and others sighed a few words and sat here to enjoy the beautiful scenery for a while. They did not leave until the sun gradually sank into the earth.
"The Holy Flame Palace is not far from here, let's go there for dinner."
Everyone wanted to walk towards the southern peak according to the previously planned route.
As the group of people slowly approached, the noise gradually became louder. A group of priests wearing simple white robes were gathering together and walking along the road. As they shouted, a large group of people followed behind with interest.
In this way, the number of people increased, and the momentum gradually increased, and they walked towards Lorraine Hill and others on the road.
"Sibis manipulated promotions and deployments and persecuted poor priests, which is a heinous crime!"
"A shameless villain is not worthy of becoming an archbishop and a priest with a scepter."
"Remove from office! Let the Adjudication Division interrogate him!"
Facing this huge crowd, the seven of them had no choice but to avoid it for the time being, just like the monks and nuns on the roadside, standing on the roadside and watching them pass by.
"Is this a protest?" Bo Li asked softly.
"It should be, but at this juncture..." Ya stopped mid-sentence, but everyone probably knew what he meant.
"Forget it, it's none of our business. We are still students of Emenas. It's best not to get involved in this kind of thing." Haisen said from the side, slowly waiting for these people to pass by, and continued with a few people.
Go forward and sit down at a restaurant under the Holy Flame Palace.
The space in the restaurant is not big. They are on the second floor and sit at the side.
By this time, the sky had completely darkened, and the indoor walls were replaced with burning wall lamps. The flames burned quietly in the windshield tube, emitting a bright yellow color.
While waiting for their meals to be served, several people heard curious conversations from other customers around them.
"Where did that group of priests come from? They were so bold and directly insulted the scepter priests of the Palace of Ten Swords."
"I don't know the specific process, but I heard from people that most of these pastors are from small places. Due to the arrangements of the church, they have been pastors in remote and poor places for more than ten years and have never been promoted or deployed, so there is a backlog.
I must have a lot of grievances.”
"Then why do you scold Sibis for such a thing? He doesn't seem to care about it."
"He doesn't care about it, but his students and friends do. It is said that many bishops in wealthy areas belong to Sibis's group. They look after each other and are very powerful. This is probably the reason for the public outrage."
"Sorry to keep you waiting for so long."
While Lorraine Hill and others were looking at the night view outside the window, a waiter from the restaurant finally served tonight's dinner.
There are still bubbles in the red ocher stone pot, and the soup in it is still boiling, exuding an alluring fragrance. Inside are small pieces of yellow, green, and red colors, including meat, vegetables, roots, etc., with matching colors.
Very good.
"This is the more unique way of doing it here at Shengyan Palace." One student said, then picked up a wooden spoon, scooped out part of it, and distributed it to each of his companions.
"It is said that it was invented by some priests in remote areas in the early years. Because at that time, just after the Chaos Disaster, many places were short of food. They would cut the prey they hunted, dug out plant roots, fruits, etc. into pieces and put them in to cook together.
. But after a lot of times, I found a few combinations with good taste, and then they have been passed down. "
"This kind of stone pot was used because there was not enough iron at that time, so we had to use local materials. This restaurant also retains the original style." Haisen explained like a master of tasting. This tall and strong student seemed to
Very knowledgeable about food.
"It sounds very historical." Jelica picked up the spoon and couldn't wait to taste it.
"It's better to cool down for a while, this one is very hot." Crow, who usually has a cold expression, is actually caring about people at this moment.
"Hey, okay." Jelica put down the spoon temporarily and looked out the window at the night view.
In the mountains at night, a long line of torches spreads upward along the mountain road. Even if you are sitting in the restaurant here, you can hear the echo of the shouts on the other side of the mountain.
"I didn't expect people to start shouting slogans here." Jelica sighed.
"Is Frost Rose common there?" the silver-haired girl sitting next to her asked curiously.
"Yes, just in the past few years, a lot of new things and new systems have come to Lurna. At first, the local people didn't understand it. The big local families were also very repulsive. Later, they came to
Banners were held on the streets, organizers shouted slogans, etc."
"The general idea is that justice and democracy in rights cannot be controlled by the stubborn local conservatives. As time goes by, everyone will be gradually agitated, and then the senior leaders of Frost Alliance will implement new policies, and there will be much less resistance. In this way
Gradually, the rights of the local big families were taken away.”
"Originally, the local big families were the big chambers of commerce, and the surrounding residents also worked in the chambers. They were all fellow villagers, and they were very united. Now that the power was taken back, the Frost Alliance began to dismember these big chambers of commerce, and gradually merged them into official organizations.
middle."
"In such a large organization, everyone performs their own duties, and there is a lot less competition." When Jelica said this, her expression was not as relaxed as before.
"Isn't this a good thing? In this way, a lot of internal friction can be avoided." Crow said casually, holding a glass of sake.
"But... I'm still a little worried. As a result, many ordinary people have no other choice when facing such a powerful behemoth. And as a result..."
"In this way, a monopoly will be formed." Lorraine Hill added with a sigh.
Although Frost Rose also has so-called democracy on the surface, this kind of 'democracy' only serves the powerful party, that is, the powerful people.
The entire country is like a huge company, its purpose is to earn profits for the top leaders (mages, wealthy families, etc.), and then use this to expand its strength, actively spread to the surrounding areas, annex the Seven Snow Flower Kingdoms, and finally confront Cangcui.
It seems to be the right choice, but it is all based on huge sacrifices at the bottom. Because similar to a company, when you can no longer provide value (labor, battle, wealth), you will be abandoned by it. They
I don't know how to provide for old age or get some so-called guaranteed benefits.
Because the structure of rights is that the higher the extraordinary strength, the more wealth people have, the higher their voting rights. However, the poor and lowly people without extraordinary strength have very low voting rights. Naturally, their interests do not need to be considered in parliamentary proposals, or even considered.
He rebels because he doesn't have the strength.
The people at the bottom are like firewood. After burning through their prime years, they will be abandoned like garbage.
However, under the slogan of Frost Rose United, such behavior is not wrong, but is correct and great. People believe that it is because they are not good enough that they lead to misfortune.
The Green Empire uses bloodline and extraordinary strength to classify social status, whether noble or not.
Frost Rose uses wealth and extraordinary strength to divide social status and power.
The latter is an imitation of the former, so it is very similar.
If this kind of behavior were placed in a distant civilization on earth, it might have been replaced by a new social form. The emergence of extraordinary sequences has caused the actual gap between people to become extremely large, and this concept has become more and more stable.
And the more extraordinary a country has, the more obvious this situation becomes. Although the church's stated view is that everyone is equal, in fact it is difficult to escape the influence of objective laws and ideological trends.
Since the establishment of Frost Rose and Crancia, the social structure and rights topics that were once ignored have been heatedly discussed in recent years. People in other places may have limited information and low education levels.
There are only a few people in the church, and in the church where everyone is literate and proficient in history and classics, the opinions of all parties become lively and intense.
Everyone often discussed with each other, and later they were divided into several factions.
As more and more information about Frost Rose spread to the Holy Land, many priests gradually agreed. They claimed to be the representatives of angels in the world, and they had extraordinary power, which meant they were one level higher than ordinary people.
The main group of people who agree with the theory of hierarchical society are concentrated in the faction of Archbishop Thebes.
As for the Grand Master Otis of the Knights of the Holy Lance, he more agrees with the view that those with merit are superior. No matter who they are, as long as they have merit, they are higher than those who have no merit. This is the view of their faction.
.
Beenice has not expressed her position. Although Lorraine Hill feels that she may be inclined towards equality for all, in reality, she has remained silent perhaps because she does not have strong arguments.
The mountain rain is about to come and the wind fills the building.
Lorraine Hill sighed in his heart, looking at the confrontation and noise scene between the two parties on the opposite mountain, and then a group of knights on horseback came from the other side of the mountain road. They were armed with torches and swords, well-trained, and
It is a long-famous order of Holy Lancers on the mainland.
"Quiet! Quiet!"
This group of knights drove both sides with torches and separated the two groups of people. Then a knight riding a tall horse and wearing dark gold and silver engraved armor slowly walked over, and the scene gradually became quiet.