469 The sTheology Debate” (1/2)
Solna River flowed quietly, nurturing one-third of the creatures living on the Erdo Peninsula. Many river valleys formed alongside. In the valley named after the river, Solna Valley, there were a few city-states. Thanks to the plentiful water resource and rich land, Solna Valley became a very prosperous place second only to Politown.Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.
In front of the newly-built temple for the Lord of War in the city of Husum, there was a spacious square, on which a stage had been built up. People wearing flax robes crowded around it voluntarily, supporting the different god they worshipped. The soldiers of the Angonorma Empire stood by lazily in their bronze armors, showing no care to the small conflicts between the followers, as if they wished that those heretics could just kill each other, which would save much trouble.
On the stage sat the eight chief priests, who were representatives of the remaining eight gods of Barril — the God of Moon, the God of Thunder and Lightning, the God of Storm, the Mother God of Earth, the Lord of Underworld, the God of Sun and Justice, the God of Wisdom, and the Goddess of Love and Breed. They waited for the start of the debate on the silver chairs. Should they fail to win victory in this debate and turn their god into one of the three deities, their god would be driven out of the valley by the Lord of War. Over time, the expelled gods would gradually lose their followers and eventually die or become an avatar of the Angonormanian pantheon due to assimilation.
Although they all knew it well that selecting the three deities was just the Lord of War's strategy for dividing and better ruling them and that, in the end, all of them would be assimilated into Angonormanian pantheon, no one dared to speak against of it as this was the consequence of their own choice. Also, to them, there was still hope if they become one of the three deities — Once they survived, they could gather a great number of new followers in Solna Valley. Maybe, in the future, they would have a chance to in turn replace their counterpart in the Angonormanian pantheon.
Sitting on the golden chair highest above, the chief priest representing the Lord of War was a brown-haired beautiful lady. The slit of her white Angonorma-style dress reached all the way up to her waist, revealing her curves and long, graceful legs.
She was high priestess Nena, the second chief priest in the Temple of War in Politown.
”Salute to the great Lord of War, the master of all conflicts and destruction.” The sixteen leading priests of the eight gods bowed together, in the same way as they once bowed to the Lord Avando.
After performing the war dance herself to please the Lord of War, Nena was about to start the debate.
At this time, two black-haired men in white robes came in front of the stage and said to the guards aloud, ”let us in! The God of Revival, Fertility, and Redemption sent us here for the debate.”
”I never heard of this title. It must belong to a false god. Guards, expel them!” Nob, the priest of the God of Moon scolded.
The power of the God of Moon, Asin, was ranked in the middle among the eight remaining Gods. Thus, facing the competitors coming out of nowhere, the old priest was definitely not happy.
As the follower, Francis hurriedly eyed Lucien to deliver the prepared speech.
Fearlessly, Lucien looked right into Nob's eyes and said, ”this isn't your decision to make. Only the almighty Lord of War can decide if we could join or not. How dare you speak before the chief priest of the Lord of War?”
Francis was a bit surprised. What Lucien just said was not the version they previously agreed on. However, it worked better. It seemed that this guy named Leviathan was quite good at improvisation.
Overwhelmed by surprise and fear, the chief priest of the God of Moon suddenly became speechless.
Lucien turned to Nena and said sincerely, ”dear Lady Nena, the Lord of War told us that all gods preaching in the valley are qualified for attending the debate. Did I understand it wrong?”
”No,” Nena answered coldly and briefly.
Lucien smiled. ”Our Lord, the God of Revival, Fertility, and Redemption also has followers in this valley. Please allow us to join in.”
”You must prove it.” Nena did not refuse, as adding one more god to the debate would not hinder the Lord of Wars arrangement, but could instead intensify the conflict and provide an advantage for the future assimilation.
Lucien raised his right hand. Anheuse, who was hiding in the corner, started applauding. Hearing that, all of the secret previous followers of the Lord of Fire and Destruction began clapping their hands and loudly praising Ell, the God of Revival, Fertility, and Redemption.
Nob and the other chief priests exchanged a look. They didn't expect the God of Revival, Fertility, and Redemption, whose name and titles they had never heard of, had already gained such influence.
It never occurred to them that the so-called God of Revival, Fertility, and Redemption was in fact Avando, the previous Lord of Fire and Destruction. It had never happened before that a god would change his godhood, for godhood reflected a god's power and the possible spell collections possessed. Therefore, even though the name of the god was changed, their godhood would remain the same. Also, the change of the name mostly happened when a god had assimilated another god and wanted to create another incarnation in order to absorb the pre-existing faith.
However, Revival, Fertility, and Redemption seemed to drastically differ from Fire and Destruction. Thus, it was hard to realize that Ell was actually Avando's new identity.
Under the hostile gaze of the other priests, Lucien walked on the stage with Francis and sat down on the added silver chair.
Nena said to them, ”today's debate is to tell the true gods from the fake. Only the true gods deserve people's faith. The Lord of War said that the universe came from the number three. Therefore, there will be three final winners.”
That being said, no matter how the debate went, the Lord of War was always the dominator, since even the winner was decided under the Lord of War's oracle.
”My Lord is the sun. His radiance nurtures everything on the land and drives away the darkness, like the fire. He is the light, the power of punishment. The power of light brings us brightness and justice. Therefore, my Lord is the one who made the rules that restrain gods and human beings. Undoubtedly, my Lord's power thus exceeds that of the other seven gods.” The chief priest of the God of Sun and Justice spoke before everyone else, describing his god's power to attract followers.
The uneducated followers nodded. They did not know much, but they could see the sun hanging up in the sky almost every day. It brought them warm, which contrasts greatly with the darkness, so it should be very important. Thus, it seemed that the God of Sun and Justice should be very powerful as well, and it would do them much good if they worship him.
Seeing that, the priest of the Lord of Underworld took a step forward and said, ”when there is life, there's death. No intelligent creature can escape from death. Life is short, but death is eternal. The almighty Lord of Underworld is the one you'll go to after death, the ultimate god that you'll belong to in the end. It is true for everyone. He is unquestionably more important than all the other gods.”
Everyone was afraid of death. Imagining the darkness, coldness, and pain that one would suffer after death, many of the listeners were persuaded — maybe worshiping the Lord of Underworld is a better choice than worshiping the God of Sun and Justice. He appeared to be very powerful and important from the descriptions.