Chapter 599: The Establishment of Theocracy
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Tuan’s non-hypocritical sacred manner made Zhang Lisheng smile in satisfaction. Looking at Yaj leaving with her eyes filled with hopes, he suddenly had more expectations in his heart.
Then, as it turned out, the first mainland chief priest that the young man bestowed on a whim did indeed live up to his expectation. Very soon, the chief priest extended a new theory based on his foundation of ‘building a united nation through faith’—that the Wizard Li God was not a barbarian tribal god. It was just that the Hellfire tribesmen were lucky enough to be the first race to be inspired by him. Because of this, the entire race was reborn into a civilized nation.
Now that the glory of the true god had become unstoppable and started to shine on the Green Leaf Mainland, mainlanders should no longer choose to fight and reject a new, strong god stubbornly but to embrace Wizard Li’s God even more piously to compete for their grace.
If they angered the Wizard Li God or refused the true god or even committed the felony of blasphemy because of their own prejudice and hatred against the barbarians, which led to the wrath of the god, then this person would not only be viewed as a villain of mankind but a sinner of the entire race.
This theory cleverly evaded the generation of blood enmity between the mainlanders and the barbarians, changing the fallen land occupied by the Hellfire tribesmen into the land shone by Wizard Li God’s divine glory. It gave the mainlanders converted to Zhang Lisheng’s faith a reasonable excuse on their morality level, reforming it to become an imperative justice movement that needed to be implemented for the mainlanders to continue to overpower the barbarians to continue to prosper.
Actually, if one carefully analyzed this argument, it was somewhat contradictory to Zhang Lisheng’s idea of ethnic integration. Still, since a small defect would not be able to obscure great virtue, in the stage of establishing a theocracy, it was a crucial impetus for the young man to continue consolidating his rule on the mainland.
Changes gradually took place. Slowly, each of the native riding ‘war partners’ patrolling in various cities was replaced with the mainland religious knights riding a horned horse. At dawn, without the need of any patrolling warrior to urge them, the people would consciously walk out of the house to the temple to pray and praise the power and greatness of the Wizard Li god. The former state power executives like the court, the security department, the tax official, and so on began to resume under the auspices of the newly established ‘religious executive court.’ The entire order of the fallen land was miraculously restored to normal in a short time…
In the spring season, the pleasant breeze caressed the ground, reducing the irritability caused by the increasingly hot sun.
In a simple horse-drawn carriage speeding on a flat and spacious road, a middle-aged man dressed in simple light clothing who looked like he had traveled all over the place and would make use of every little bit of opportunity to do small businesses looked out the window at the crowds queuing in a long line operating various types of strange mechanics as they worked in the distance and asked curiously. “What are these people doing, Mr. Ricardo?”
“They’re building the railway. The great Wizard Li Majesty has introduced a great magical means of transportation to the world,” A long-faced young man on the other side of the long bench answered with his head held high.
“Railway, transportation…” The middle-aged man placed a hand over his eyes to cover the sunlight shining through the window as he looked. “Connect two steel tracks together and let a special carriage on wheels run on it? This is indeed a good quick transportation means, but it’s just too expensive, and it’s not as convenient as an airship. However, it can indeed promote the power of the god when thousands of cars run on top of it.”
The long-faced young man did not understand the scariness of the observation of a guy who could guess the information implied by just viewing it for over ten seconds despite having not seen a railway before. With disdain, he said, “Mr. Cyril, don’t use your mortal wisdom to guess the intent of the god. A train that was formed by a front, resembling a creature and a machine and several dozens of huge carriages, can transport millions of pounds of cargo and thousands of people. Although it’s indeed slower than an airship, only this train and the road under us are the true veins running through the land covered by the Wizard Li God’s faith.”
“This weather of transition between cold winter to such a warm and comfortable weather always makes people feel sleepy,” Upon hearing this, the middle-aged man who was initially filled with smile froze and lowered his head to conceal himself by rubbing his eyes and yawning. When he raised his head again, he said in amazement, “Oh, Mr. Ricardo, what you just said made me notice a very bizarre thing. There is not even a gap in this road under us. Could it be that the god has used his power to slice the entire mountain into slates and lay it on the ground?”
“Mr. Cyril, with the infinite power of the Wizard Li God, of course, it’d be easy for him to cut off the mountain range, but how can the god possibly go do such trivial little things of building the road,” the young man smirked and shook his head, “This road is made by a magical item called ‘cement.’ It’s as soft as soil when it’s wet and can be molded into any shape, but it’s harder than the stone when it’s dried.”
“Mr. Ricardo, this magical item is also bestowed to you by the Wizard Li God?” The middle-aged man froze again. It was clear that he had thought of the high use of this easily molded ‘stone’ for a fortification project, so he asked again.
“Of course it’s a gift from the great god,” Ricardo’s tone was first filled with disdain, and then, as a lightbulb went off his head, his expression suddenly changed as he said with great sincerity, “Only after embracing the Wizard Li God that the mortal world can understand the true meaning in the word ‘civilization.’ The former Hellfire barbarian tribe has evolved into a race far more advanced than us mainlanders. Now, only when more and more mainlanders convert devoutly to the True God’s faith can we keep our past glory as a civilized world. Mr. Cyril, you’re the messenger of the Sun King. I hope that you can tell all of these that you see to this noble king after you return to Fran. If he can follow the example of King Wal, who led 19 round table knights to embrace the ancient god Gaia in the ancient times and embrace Wizard Li God…”
The young man became more excited as he continued to jabber on, as though not sensing how absurd these words were to come out of his mouth, who was supposed to welcome and serve the messenger of an enemy state.
Cyril was usually wise and good in disguise. However, after he finished listening to Ricardo’s strange talk without interrupting him at all. He could not have anything but a perfunctory attitude. “Mr. Ricardo, the reason why I’m here to see Wizard Li God under the order of the Sun King is to know whether Prince Edo and Princess Seliya are safe and what are the actions that we need to do, so His Majesty can release the two of them. As for the belief of Fran King and the king’s knights, it’s not something that a small person like me can control.”
“Mr. Cyril, you’re pushing away the opportunity to carve your name in history and become a legendary person,” Ricardo shook his head and said regrettably, “You’d realize how grave this mistake is one day!”
When the young man sighed, the carriage had also turned into a huge square filled with crowds.
In the center of the square, airships that were so large they were absolutely horrifying slowly rose to the air one by one. Then, the giant propellers that could rotate up and down by 180 degrees under the end of the suspended cabin propelled speedily forward to the distance. Some of them that were loaded with cargo slowly descended. After landing, any small people riding donkeys and horses who looked like small merchants immediately rushed up and extended their necks to look at the types of goods being transported. If they wanted the products, they would bargain the price and return from a fruitful journey, but if these people did not want the goods, they would wait for the next opportunity.
By the time the carriage stopped, Cyril had jumped out of the transport and looked around the noisy scene. Unable to repress the shock in his eyes, he asked Ricardo, who followed suit behind him to jump down from the carriage, “Is this the airship station, Mr. Ricardo?”
“Yes,” It was apparent that Ricardo’s words were significantly less after being rejected by the Fran messenger. However, he still continued to add, “Every suburb of the city that was shrouded by Wizard Li God’s faith has this airship station. Isn’t this a miracle?”
“This is indeed a miracle,” Cyril did not deny the facts and nodded. “Take me to the airship that heads directly to the Sea Haines City, Mr. Ricardo. We don’t have much time to waste.”
“Follow me, everything is already ready.” The young man took the Fran messenger to walk through the crowds. The smell of the animal’s droppings reminded him of some unfavorable past, causing him to frown unconsciously.
After coming to the vicinity of several new wooden houses in the center of the square, the crowds around them had finally become sparse again, and the air turned into something much better. Ricardo covered his nose and walked into the wooden room in the middle and gave a slight cough. After catching everyone’s attention, he flashed a metal nameplate, “The Holy See priest-in-training Ricardo Sanctum Leader is ordered to head to the Sea Haines City. Is the airship ready?”
The rectangular wooden house was not big but was crowded with four people wearing sky-blue uniforms embroidered with a different number of airships on the chest sitting in it.
When they saw that the young man came in without saying a word, a fat middle-aged man with the most number of airships on his chest, who was apparently the leader, curled his mouth. While he was about to open his mouth with an angered look on his face, his expression immediately changed when he saw the nameplate unscripted with a black ‘L.’ At once, he became amiable.
After Ricardo finished speaking, the fat man stood up in a slightly respectful manner and took off his hat as he said, “Respected Priest Ricardo, the frontier knight has already conveyed the news that you are going to the Sea Haines City. The airship is already ready for departure, and you can depart anytime.”
“Alright, Mr. Stationmaster, my partner and I will leave immediately.”
“Please come with me,” The fat man cleverly chose to not look at Cyril, who was disguised in a poor merchant manner and brought Ricardo out of the wooden house, straight to a medium-sized airship that had been inflated before making a flattering remark. “This is the Blast. It’s not the biggest, but it is the fastest airship in Marfa Station. Although it’s not that big, in the case of only two passengers, it has an area that is as comfortable as a small hotel pod…”
“Mr. Stationmaster, I am a priest. After devoting myself to the god, it’s already enough for me to have a cup of water, a piece of wheat cake, and a simple room,” Ricardo interrupted the fat man’s words with a blank expression and stepped into the pod.
“Yes, yes…” The fat man’s words were lodged at his throat. Secretly cursing in his heart, he put on an awe-inspiring and ashamed expression as he watched the airship leave the ground. Only then did he spat on the ground in disgust and opened his mouth to say something. However, in the end, he still swallowed the bad words back in.