Chapter 605 (1/2)

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio  Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Wall was originally born to a small merchant family and could be counted as being a part of the grassroots of society. He’d learned to fight in his youth; when he was 17 or 18 his family ran into unexpected trouble and not only lost the family fortune, but also owed a huge debt. He was left with no choice but to travel across the country as an adventurer, risking life and limb countless times for around ten years before finally being able to pay back that money.

Once he’d cleared out his debts, his inclination for adventure dampened, and he settled down instead. He’d originally planned to live out his years in this calm and steady manner, but unexpectedly, misfortune came knocking at his door again. Thus the legendary story of him drawing his Black Blade to kill a noble and creating the peerless hero who endlessly terrified all the nobles in the world for almost 100 years came about.

All these events were already in the past, but Wall would never forget them. Even if he’d already become a god, he was still rather unfriendly towards merchants and nobles. Conversely, he was quite friendly towards adventurers, but this didn’t really match with the “knowledge” clergy at all.

On one hand, he’d gained some realizations while cultivating his mind and spirit these past few years, but on the other hand, he’d been influenced by the power of belief and slowly began to change. What this meant was that he was no longer hostile towards merchants and nobles; on the contrary, he was willing to give his respect to those merchants and nobles who had the ambition to learn or who were willing to spread civilization. Thus belief in him slowly began to spread throughout the middle and upper classes.

Whatever you might say about it, knowledge would always be an extremely important power. Having knowledge meant having immense resources in your grasp that could greatly aid you in both war and governance. Great nobles and merchants might be able to ignore it, but those elites who yearned to join the upper class were deeply committed to learning and were all actively educating their own members—none of this could come to be without “knowledge.”

Not only that, but many spellcasters revered Wall as well. Academic magicians had always especially believed that knowledge was the foundation of magic, and that a mage’s education must first start by teaching the cultural arts. All of this leaned towards the conduct of Wall’s religion, and many such people had already become his believers.

So when Wall came to the Mifata Federation and called his church and believers to begin expanding their influence, establishing a sphere of scholarly cultural influence within the once tough-as-steel Country of Casters, what they gained wasn’t the indifference Sui Xiong had originally been a little worried about, but a warm welcome and fervent support instead.

Because the God of Spellcaster Le-Peyroux had passed, the people of the Mifata Federation were now all a little anxious and apprehensive. Especially because for a long time now, Ymirjar Le-Peyroux had been the Federation’s patron saint, the stabilizing force in everyone’s hearts. No matter how many storms the Federation weathered through, as long as they had him, the mages all held total faith that they’d make it through.

And yet, he was gone.

Ever since the Federation was established, he’d been like a towering sacred mountain that reached to the heavens, withstanding any pressure. No matter how dangerous the situation, he could manage to make the correct decision or simply use his own great strength to break through their predicament. Generation after generation, from ancestors to offspring, the people of the Federation had long since grown used to his presence, even forming a habit of praying to Master Le-Peyroux whenever they ran into any inconvenience.

This was just like how people in the east back on Earth would often lament, “Oh Lord of Heaven,” and people from the west liked to lament, “Oh my God.”

And yet, he had already fallen. The Mifata Federation’s “Lord of Heaven,” their “God,” no longer existed.

This left a lot of people feeling empty inside. Often, people would run into trouble and subconsciously begin to quietly pray to Le-Peyroux for his blessing, only to suddenly remember that the Federation’s patron saint was already gone…

As a result, many people would suddenly start crying and completely break down in tears.

When the Church of the God of Knowledge stepped out to publicize their own doctrine and called everyone to believe in the God of Knowledge, they were taking advantage of the perfect moment. Those people whose hearts were empty wanted something to rely on, and the God of Knowledge’s doctrines and experience all gave them very good opinions. As soon as the public appeals began, a lot of people came in with the currents, directly putting their belief in Wall.

Of course, Wall wasn’t the only god to take the chance for wanton evangelizing; there were actually quite a few churches all throwing manpower and physical resources into missionary work within the Mifata Federation.

But missionary work wasn’t something you could succeed at just by throwing down manpower and resources. Belief wasn’t a business, and if your doctrine couldn’t obtain people’s approval, then even if they joined your church, they could never manage to become true believers.

This sort of situation was called “false belief,” meaning, “I say I believe, but in truth, I don’t.”

The situation above this was called “careless belief,” meaning “I usually don’t have much belief, but at the very least I believe when I’m praying.”