468 The Mysterious sPhilosophers (1/2)

”A philosopher from the eastern kingdoms?” The first apostle Jacob looked at Francis, confused.

Jacob wasn't questioning this philosopher's abilities or background — He had passed Avando's test and won ”Crown” Ell's trust. Jacob had raised the question hoping to learn more to make a better judgment about Francis' proposal. After all, he was the Secret Praying Congress' main leader.

The other apostles shared similar concerns. Even Lucien bore a similar expression.

The situation of this world is rather special. False gods, including those that have Moon as part of their domain, are plenty. When the authentic God of the Silver Moon, Alterna, fell to this world, She would be attracted to those whose godhood is similar to hers. It was possible that she would try to reclaim her powers from them. After all, She was also the Primordial Ancestor of the Vampires and was able to harness blood and godhood.

The Congress of Magic's understanding of divine powers was extremely underdeveloped and Lucien's descriptions were largely borrowed from the Church. He had only a vague idea of what terms like ”domain” and ”godhood” referred to, but was unclear to what they were exactly.

With this in mind, Lucien thought to himself that if there are no better methods of finding the Alterna, one effective way to locate Her would be to control and monitor the false gods whose duties were related to the moon.

As for Francis, Lucien wondered which church was he from. He could be from the North Church, the South Church, or the Church of the false gods in the Northwest of the Dark Mountain Range. He could also be from the Congress of Magic or the Dark Congress… The only thing to be sure of was that he's definitely not a Druid or an elf.

Ell's words about a mature religious concept did not make identifying Francis' identity any easier, for Lucien was able to spew similar sentiments himself. If Francis was from one of the Churches, then helping the false gods revolutionize their religion seemed to conflict his own faith. However, for members of the Church's upper echelon and the high-ranking night watchers, it wouldn't be too big a deal to slightly bend one's faith for matters important as finding the God of Silver Moon.

Thinking about this, Lucien grew cautious and alert. Most of his magical items were damaged, and he would be disadvantaged in a long, drawn-out fight. It was also unknown whether Francis had any allies nearby.

Ell pointed at Francis and smiled. 'Mr. Francis had come from an oasis in the eastern desert. He has done extensive research on philosophy, divinity, and occultism. One night, he witnessed a star glow curiously bright for a short while before swiftly returning to normal. It symbolized the rising of God the Father, and Mr. Francis thus came to Erdo to pay religious homage and establish communications.

This quack… Lucien swore under his breath. His suspicion about Francis was growing by the minute. The astrological phenomenon that he had described was one indicating the fall of an ”old god” for a new one to take its place. It had nothing to do with the rise of Avando.

Was he simply making things up or had he said it deliberately to taunt Avando and Ell who clearly knew nothing about Astrology?

Francis sat down on one of the silver chairs. Still wearing that faint smile, he looked at the apostles and said, ”the great God of Fire and Destruction is no longer worshiped by Barrils, not only because the way of preaching was problematic but also was He indeed defeated by Antanas. The Barrils who had feared Avando realized that the God of Fire and Destruction was weaker than they had imagined.”

”That's because the other gods betrayed Him!” The second apostle said loudly. He was unwilling to accept that the God of Fire Avando who was able to destroy the world was defeated.

Francis laid back into his chair leisurely. ”Regardless, He was defeated. For the gods, defeat is even worse than death. As such, I suggest that we forget about Avando's image of the past, and embrace a new method of preaching. We can say that from the flames of destruction, Ell the Savior was born. The previous failure of Avando was only a test for His followers. Those who failed to pass the test must repent devoutly, for only then will they receive redemption from Ell and harvest on the fertile lands after the fire.

”It will be a new god — Ell, the God of Revival, Fertility, and Redemption. He will then gradually embody traits of Avando and assume the domain of Fire and Destruction. Then the followers will understand that Ell is Avando and vice versa. The two of them will be able to become a truly powerful god when They become one.

”Anything that happens after can also be explained as simply another test of god.”

The six apostles around the round table fell silent. Francis' plan made sense. However, writing anything off as the test of the gods sounded rather blasphemous.

On the other hand, Lucien noticed that Francis delivered his words with no sarcasm but rather with an air of fanaticism, which made his words very convincing.

Lucien was more and more convinced that Francis was a ”visitor” from the main material world. He wondered if Francis was really that great of an actor, or was he seeking the God of the Silver Moon for other motives.

The apostles remained in silence. Francis stood up, placed his hand on his chest, and saluted Ell.

”We mortals are incapable of truly understanding the minds of god. If anything goes wrong, it must mean that we have failed to understand enough and neglected His test.