Chapter 385: The Lord of the Peaks Believers (2/2)

“I’m not slandering. Won’t you know if you check whether the Lord of the Peaks’ believers are gathering at Valla? And we are no villains, but preachers from Valla.”

“Which church?” The girl lifted her chin slightly. “The Church of Games.”

Jom had wanted to simply offer the name of some random church, but he answered honestly once he remembered that Kristina might ask him about their creed, which might lead to his slandering accusation proved true.

Nonetheless, Kristina lowered her staff. “It seems that you speak the truth. Forgive my manners.”

It appeared that she was just intimidating Jom to get some truth out of him.

Inwardly breathing a sigh of relief while praising his own composure, Jom became rather curious why Kristina would change her stance once she learned that he was a member of the Church of Games.

“I am acquainted with Isaac, captain of the wyvern knights. He holds the Church of Games in high regard.” Kristina replied. “Well, do tell me more about the Lord of the Peaks’ believers.”

“I’ve already told you most of what I know,” Jom said, taking a moment to think before adding, “There are many monsters around Valla such as Goblin Nests that usually appear in the mountains. It is abnormal that they would show up here as if they were chased here. At the same time, I have heard that the Lord of the Peaks’ believers were advancing here, and I don’t think they are here to preach when they look like they are out for blood…”

Kristina hesitated at Jom’s words.

As a matter of fact, while the Lord of the Peaks was a god on the side of Order, his reputation was not ideal because his believers were mostly hill-folk.

Hill-folk were humans, and as the name suggests, they were a people who lived in the mountains since ancient times.

Most nations are convinced that the hill-folk had yet to become civilized, and were no different from aborigines or wildlings. Indeed, hill-folk had more robust bodies and relatively long arms, which made them resemble oversized monkeys on first glance.

As their kind lived off the mountains, once most of the wild herbs, fruits and beasts in one region had been mostly consumed, they would leave the mountain to steal food or daily necessities—and the occasional woman.

Thanks to their faith in the Lord of the Peaks, the mountains were their finest fortress. Moreover, a small army would never win against them, let alone adventurers.

But if they did get out of line, the main religion of the affect cities would send in their Sacred Corps to the mountains to handle them.

Still, once the hill-folk made the briefest of contacts with the opposing side and determined that they would not win, they would always surrender immediately and hand over their loot and treasures to the Sacred Corp. They would then mention that their god was the Lord of the Peaks whose boss was Earthweaver, one of the Seven Divine Fathers… and proceed to plead mercy for the Divine Father’s sake, blah, blah, blah.

Most of the time, the Sacred Corps entrusted with handling them would give face and bring several heads with them to appease the citizens or their liege.

Hence, the Sacred Corps would save face and earn some riches, the hill-folk would obtain food and other living resources, with both sides getting what they want for a win-win situation.

That behavior slowly became the norm and an annual thing

However, the hill-folk would always be careful when choosing their targets and avoid touching cities protected by the Temple of Glory. After all, Kratos believers were all war junkies—who could they reason with if they were killed before they could surrender?

For their part, once the hierarchs of the Temple of Glory learned about the Sacred Corps and their ongoing schemes with the hill-folk, they waited for the hill-folk so that they would get a piece of the cake as well, so that everyone got their just rewards. However, they became exceedingly furious when the hill-folk never showed up-how dare you not come out to plunder when we let you?! It’s like you monkeys have the gall to belittle the cities we protect!

Hence, the reputation of the hill-folk and the Lord of the Peaks only worsened in the Temple of Glory.

Though a Scepter, Kristina was not high-ranked enough to know such inner workings, and years of being influenced by her own church meant that she certainly did not like the Lord of the Peaks’ believers. Therefore, thanks to Jom’s pushing her further in that direction, she really believed his explanation that the Lord of the Peaks’ believers had been chasing the monsters away from the mountains…