Chapter 7: Spiritual Transformation
In the northern part of the main continent, Freslanaenster.
In the central part of Arnstell, in the cathedral area of the Soul-Curing Cathedral, in the Archbishop's office, Vanya, who had just entered the door not long ago, could not help but stand there in a daze after hearing Kramar's words in the office. At this moment, she could not believe her ears.
"Purify...purify tens of millions of people...Mr. Kramer, what are you thinking about!?" Standing at the door, Vanya said in disbelief. She couldn't believe that the words just now came from the mouth of a cardinal saint of the church.
"I'm thinking about how to stop the evil conspiracy of the heretic cult! Don't let the harm spread to the point where it is irreversible! Sinful Nun!" After hearing Vanya's words, Kramer, who was originally facing Sinclair, suddenly turned around and looked at Vanya with a rather disgusted expression. Feeling the obvious hostility from the Inquisition, Vanya couldn't help but panic in her heart and subconsciously took a step back.
"You are crazy, Van Bas! Purifying almost ten million people... How can you say such a thing! You are one of the seven great saints! Do you really treat the Lord's people like ants?" On the other side, Sinclair, who heard Kramar's statement, was extremely excited for a moment. She pointed at Kramar and accused him in an angry tone, and Kramar also sternly refused.
"Yes, I am crazy! But now the crazy can succeed, but what about you! Even at this time, you are still here and can't tell the severity of the matter. If such a large-scale evil ritual is really successfully held, there will be more than tens of millions of people affected! Not only Fresland! When billions of lives in the entire northern continent are irreversibly destroyed, will you regret it now?!"
Kramer responded to Sinclair in a harsh voice, and at this time Vanya also frowned and spoke with a serious look.
"Mr. Kramar... the purpose of the cult is still unclear. We cannot conclude that this is a large-scale evil ritual based solely on the presence of foreign matter in the food... purification at the level of tens of thousands involves a wide range of issues. We should investigate it thoroughly before making any judgment..."
"Investigate thoroughly... Hmph... As far as I know, these problematic grains have been circulating in Fresland for more than a few months. Thanks to the incompetence of the local archbishop, those heretics have had plenty of time to hatch their evil plans. With so much time, the preparations for the entire ceremony must have been nearly complete and are about to start!
"I also want to investigate, but judging by the current situation, I no longer have time to do so. I will not gamble on something that will shake the foundation of the entire Holy Church! No one can afford to gamble! No one!"
Shaking his sleeves, Kramer said firmly, while Sinclair continued to speak sternly.
"This is a matter involving nearly ten million lives. It is not something you can decide on your own! Now that the Holy See is not here, you must at least pass the review of the Council of Cardinals!"
"The Council of Cardinals? Haha... It's a waste of time to discuss with those stupid guys at this time! When they actually made a ruling that this sinful nun was not guilty, I no longer believed in them!
"It's a waste of time to communicate with that group of fools. I will take control of the future of the Holy Church! I believe that when the Holy See returns, he will understand my intentions." Kramar said with obvious resentment, and it was obvious that he intended to bypass the Council of Cardinals and act arbitrarily. This made Sinclair stunned, and he shook his head slightly in despair.
"Vanbas... I know you have a tough temper and cannot tolerate even the slightest bit of heresy... But these are the lives of nearly tens of millions of people after all. For the sake of the Lord's mercy, please think twice..." Seeing Kramar's attitude, Sinclair's originally tough tone suddenly softened, and he began to speak to Kramar in an almost pleading manner, and he also spoke loudly immediately.
"What else can you do besides talking about kindness?! Why don't you tell me your solution! Tolerance... compassion... pity... kindness... I've heard enough of these words from people like you! Can this solve the problem? No! People like you can only use tolerance and kindness to gain ignorant support, but when problems really arise, you can't come up with any other solutions! It's useless and you're always there to bother people who are doing their jobs! It's disgusting!"
With obvious anger, Kramer looked at Sinclair in front of him and said, then he glanced at the scene again, staring at Vanya and Sinclair at the same time.
"Listen! If I show leniency to those who should be purified today, I will be cruel to many more innocent people! Time is of the essence! I will prepare everything and start purification in the early morning of tomorrow! I will only give you one day. If you have any other methods, take advantage of this time to do it! Otherwise, get out of Freslan to avoid being affected!"
After saying that, Krama waved his sleeves, led his entourage out of the Archbishop's office with heavy steps, and no longer paid attention to Sinclair and Vanya in the office. Looking at Krama's leaving back outside the door, the two of them couldn't help but stay where they were.
Suddenly, Sinclair, one of the two, moved first. She quickly walked in front of Vanya, grabbed Vanya's hand, and spoke excitedly.
"Van...Sister Vanya...you've heard it too. That...that madman is actually going to kill nearly ten million innocent people on this land! This is unacceptable...this is absolutely unacceptable!! Who gave that guy the power to dispose of so many lives at will! Even if he is the Judge!"
Looking at Vanya, Sinclair spoke excitedly, with a slight tremor in his tone.
"Don't get excited, Bishop Sinclair... Although it is extreme, Lord Kramar is also fulfilling his duties. There is still time. We will definitely be able to find other solutions before Lord Kramar takes action." After stabilizing her own emotions, Vanya tried to calm Sinclair. Although this had some effect, it was not much. Sinclair still looked very excited.
"Yes... we need to find a solution, but for such a large ceremony, we can't find a solution in one day. We must have more time... so the priority is to stop that madman!
"As a cardinal saint... only the cardinal can stop that madman, Sister Vanya... the close relationship between you and the Salvation Council is well known. Just now, that madman was so crazy that he didn't care about the Council of Cardinals, but he didn't attack you directly without hatred. I guess he was afraid of attracting the Salvation Council... You should have some tricks left by the Salvation Council..."
Holding Vanya in front of him, Sinclair spoke very seriously. Listening to Sinclair's words, Vanya nodded slowly.
"Really... That's good. That proves that the madman is still somewhat afraid of Jiu'ershu. Listen to me, the only one who can stop the madman now is Jiu'ershu! I heard that Jiu'ershu and the madman had a big fight in Shenglin Mountain before. Among all the cardinals, she should be the one with the highest ability to take action against the madman...
"So... for the sake of the lives of nearly 10 million innocent people in Freslan, please, Sister Vanya, contact the Cardinals of Rescue immediately and ask them to rush to Arnster to stop the madman's actions! Of course, it would be even better if the Cardinals of Rescue could call other cardinals!
"I know that you, Sister Vanya, are kindhearted and have risked your life to save thousands of lives. You will not abandon the people of Freslan!"
Holding Vanya's hand, Sinclair spoke excitedly. Looking at the sincere light in Sinclair's eyes, Vanya was speechless for a moment. After a while, she nodded heavily and then spoke.
"Well... I understand. I will contact Lady Amanda immediately and inform her of the current situation here. However, you must also hurry up and find out how to crack it before the ceremony starts..."
"Of course, I will do my best. As for the matters at Holy Mountain, I'll leave them to you, Sister Vanya... Let's go..." Seeing Vanya's reply, Sinclair was obviously slightly relieved. Then she let go of Vanya's hand, and after giving her a serious talk, she left the office with her people.
For a moment, Vanya was the only one left in the huge archbishop's office. With an expression of disbelief, she slowly walked to the French window of the office, looking at the scene of the church and the city outside the window in the early morning, and couldn't help but murmured softly.
"A massive ceremony involving tens of millions of people? This is really... too much..."
…
Early in the morning, somewhere in Arnster, in a luxury suite of a high-end hotel.
Dorothy, wearing a thin white nightgown, was standing on the balcony at this moment, feeling the cold morning breeze and gazing at the increasingly dazzling morning glow in the distant sky with a solemn expression.
"Why... Kramar also knows the news about Freslan. I just found out that there is a problem with the food logistics, and he got the same news right after me. He rushed over in a hurry. Is it really that bad?"
With a serious expression, Dorothy thought to herself that now she found that the situation, which was originally quite relaxed, had become extremely critical at this moment.
'Kramar intends to stop the ritual of the coffin by purifying nearly 20% of the population of a country, and he only plans to start the ritual in one day... In a sense, if we don't consider the huge sacrifice, this is indeed a feasible plan. Such a large-scale ritual cannot withstand a large loss of ritual materials. If we don't know how far the ritual of the coffin has progressed... this is a way if we don't want to take a gamble...
'If even I can't find a way to solve the ritual in the end... then the only solution left is Kramar's simple and crude solution. But... from the strange things that happened earlier, why do I always feel that things won't be that simple?
'In addition, Kramar's state is a little strange. Since he has already made plans to bypass the Cardinal Council and start the purification directly, why didn't he target Vanya? They have already torn their faces apart, so he should have nothing to worry about. Even if he is worried about Amanda's tricks on Vanya, he will not let Vanya go directly...
"After all... Amanda came here because she sensed Vanya's danger... and the result was the same as Vanya's reporting to Amanda and asking her to come here. Just now, Kramer had every reason to attack Vanya... but he let her go in the end..."
Sitting on the chair on the balcony, Dorothy frowned slightly and thought in her heart. At this critical moment, she did not spend more time thinking, but after some consideration, she immediately began her own deployment.
After slowly closing her eyes, Dorothy issued her instructions in meditation. At this moment, she began to carry out her arrangements in all aspects.
…
In the cold wind of the early morning, high in the sky somewhere in Fresland, a giant steel object that outsiders could not easily see was flying slowly towards the rising sun.
On the hidden holy steel ship, Twilight Shadow, many crew members belonging to the Supervisory Court were busy inside and outside, carrying out the tasks at hand. On the corridor near the bridge, there was a secretive nun wearing a black nun's uniform, covering her face, standing there, looking at the sky outside through the porthole.
Suddenly, the black nun felt that the originally stable ship suddenly began to accelerate, and in the process it tilted slightly, as if it was turning. The crew members, priests and nuns in the corridor behind her began to become more busy, and the noise on the entire ship increased.
"What happened?"
At this time, the black nun asked, and a priest who had been standing beside her and waiting for who knows how long answered seriously.
"Sister... our ship just received a message from the missionary plane. We must immediately head south at full speed and return to Shenglin Mountain. We have an important mission."
"Shall we return to Mount Saint-Lady at full speed now?" Listening to the words of the priest beside her, the nun nodded thoughtfully, and then continued speaking.
"If we go back like this... you won't wait for your leader? She's on a dangerous mission all by herself..."
"Our leader?" Hearing the words of the black nun, the priest in charge of the court was suddenly startled. After a pause, he spoke in confusion.
"Isn't our leader the priest? I have told you this many times. From ancient times to the present, the prison has always obeyed the orders of the priest. How could the priest go to carry out a mission?" The priest said so while looking at the nun in front of him. Listening to the words of the priest, the masked black nun could not help but nodded slightly.
"Really... Then keep moving forward." After saying that, the black nun walked slowly into the distance, and the priest who had just responded to her also hurriedly followed. He looked at the nun's back, and a trace of doubt arose in his heart.
"What a strange nun... She doesn't belong to the prison but was sent here by the teaching machine. She has been asking strange questions since last night... I don't know where she came from."
With all these doubts in mind, the priest looked at the black nun's back and followed her.
…
In the morning, the rising sun in the east has begun to shine on the vast land of Frisian. Under the early morning sunshine, people in various cities in Frisian have woken up from their dreams and started a new day of work. Although a severe crisis is approaching, ignorant people are still continuing their daily lives.
The bright sunshine means the beginning of a beautiful day, but not every inch of land in Frisian can enjoy the nourishment of the sunshine. In that forgotten land that everyone ignores, dark clouds are covering the sky.
Dark clouds obscured the sky. Although it was daytime, the whole earth was lifeless and there was a cold chill in the air. Under the sky, there were endless and vast fields, and in the middle of the fields a road meandered forward.
Atoli walked on this road in an invisible manner. In a state where almost no one could perceive her, she walked while observing the gloomy environment around her. Although it looked gloomy, it was unexpectedly busy.
Atoli could see that although most of the flowers, plants and trees on both sides of the road had died, the crops in the fields were growing well. Figures were walking among the crops. At first glance, they seemed to be farmers working in the fields. But after a closer look, she could see that those so-called "farmers" were extremely thin, and their clothes were tattered. The exposed parts were not normal skin, but dark yellow bones and flat skin texture. There was no trace of eyeballs in their hollow eyes...
Watching those horrible skeletons and mummies working tirelessly in the fields, taking care of the seemingly normal crops, Atole felt an extremely strange feeling in her heart. She just glanced at the dead farmers for a few times, then turned her eyes back to the road. Looking ahead, she could see several carriages loaded with goods driving towards her side, but the horses pulling the carriages had long lost their flesh and blood, and the driver was just a skeleton.
After making a brief move to the side of the road, Atoli watched the carriages of the dead pass by her one by one and drive towards her. Then she turned her eyes to the front, ignored the skeletons and continued to move forward. At the end of the road she was traveling, a huge city stood there.
It was a city that was covered in black clouds and shrouded in a hazy gray fog. It looked cold and desolate. Above the city, the dark clouds covering the sky gathered into a huge vortex. Inside the vortex, there was an ominous green light.
There, in the forgotten city of Fresland, Steenham...
"finally……"
Looking at the city of Steenham in the distance, Atole's expression became more cautious, and then she continued her not-so-fast pace, moving forward in a highly secretive state. As she headed towards Steenham, she could see that almost all the farmland around her was not abandoned, but was growing with careful care, and there were often horse-drawn carriages passing by on the road. The entire suburb looked very busy, although this busyness was created by the dead.
"Using dead people to plow the fields, huh... do dead people also need to eat?"
With a hint of doubt in her heart, Atolli continued to move forward. After a while, she finally came to the city and walked on the streets of Steenham.
The streets of Steenham were far less busy than those in the suburbs. The entire street was silent, without a single movement. Not only were there no human figures, but not even a dead person was seen. All the windows and doors were closed, and the entire street was desolate and gray, looking dead silent.
'There are no signs of life on the streets... nor are there any dead bodies... The buildings are so well preserved, it doesn't look like they've been through a large-scale battle...
"Such a big city...where have all the citizens gone?"
Looking at the situation on the street, Atoli analyzed it in her mind. Not long after she continued walking forward, there was a sound of wheels and horse hooves on the street in front of her. Atoli saw a fully loaded carriage turning from a corner, driven by the deceased and heading towards the outside of the city.
"Transportation is also quite busy..."
Looking at the scene in front of her, Atoli decided to see where the carriage came from. Using her skilled tracking skills, Atoli followed the traces of the deceased's carriage and searched along the street. After turning several streets in this dead city, she finally approached her destination, which turned out to be a huge factory.
'This is... a slaughterhouse...'
Looking at the towering and huge factory building in front of her, Atoli could not help but stop where she was. With her keen sense of smell, she could already smell an extremely strong and uneasy smell from it...
That was blood... it was a large amount of blood that had accumulated over a long period of time, and it was thick and stale. And it wasn't the blood of livestock...
With a heavy look and steps, Atoli walked out of the slaughterhouse gate in front of her, and then she stepped on the dark red ground. It was a layer of coagulated blood covering the entire ground. Atoli could feel that its thickness was not ordinary thick.
Continuing forward, what Atoli saw next was two or three carriages parked in the open space in front of the factory. The cloth on the carriages had been lifted, and inside was a cart of flour that looked very heavy. Several skeletons were carrying buckets out of the factory, and after putting them down next to the carriages, a skeleton scooped up the white powder in the bucket with a big spoon and sprinkled it into the flour in the carriage cargo box. Another skeleton mixed the powder with the flour and stirred it thoroughly.
After seeing this scene, Atoli paused slightly, and a bad premonition arose in her heart. Then she turned around and walked towards the open door of the slaughterhouse. When Atoli walked out from the other side of the factory, her face had turned completely dark.
"brute……"
Gritting her teeth and with a gloomy face, Atoli suppressed her surging emotions and murmured softly. She had just explored various scenes in the factory. Even though she had seen countless things in the world, she couldn't help but feel disgusted.
Standing there, Artoli finally calmed down her emotions after taking a deep breath. When she finally raised her head and looked forward, all she saw were towering hills. If she looked closely, she could see that these so-called hills were actually piles of clothes.
These clothes, which seemed to be what ordinary people wore, were piled up on the dark red ground. The piled-up hills had overflowed the slaughterhouse fence and spread to the street beside it...
'Someone has to pay for this...has to...'
Silently, Atoli walked out of the slaughterhouse in silence, and then continued to wander in the empty city, looking for valuable clues.
In the empty search, Atolli gradually approached the center of the city, and finally she came to a place planned to be searched, the local church in Steenham.
In the cold wind, Atoli looked at the closed door of the church in front of her, then dived down and turned into a shadow, sneaked in through the gap in the door, and came to the interior of the church.
After looking at the empty, dusty chapel, Atoli began to search step by step, looking for something valuable with a professional eye. Finally, she found a clue in an empty office.
Under the desk in the office, Atolli found an unsigned envelope. In the envelope, Atolli also found half a sheet of letter paper. Atolli carefully took out the letter paper and began to read its contents.
"Recently, the court, under the auspices of the Magistrates, has reviewed a large number of old files, combined with the latest developments in several cases involving heresy in the underworld in recent years. It has been discovered that there are many omissions in the results of the Frisian Grand Trial ten years ago.
"Ten years ago, Frisian tried to rectify the chaos and deal with many corrupt so-called 'lord judges'. During their tenure, they abused their power, expanded the trials, and created a large number of false and wrongful convictions. Although the evidence is irrefutable, many of the judges involved still insist that their judgments are correct. The reason is that Frisian has never had a large-scale evil spirit disaster in the past few decades.
"The investigation results at that time were that the 'Lord Inquisitors' colluded with each other and deliberately concealed the truth, suppressing the evil spirit disaster. Many grassroots priests and ordinary people can testify that the evil spirit disaster has occurred. The 'Lord Inquisitors' defended themselves with lies. They may have been highly corrupted, and their souls were not immune...
"The Lord Judges have all been executed. During today's file review, combined with the progress of some new cases in recent years, we found that there is still a little mystery about the vengeful spirit disaster. Therefore..."
Here, the letter in Atolli's hand came to an abrupt end, and the rest of the letter was torn up and disappeared. However, even the above words alone were enough to arouse Atolli's interest.
'This... seems to be a letter sent by the Tribunal to its subordinate tribunals. Judging from the content... it should be that the Holy Mountain Tribunal wants the Frisian Tribunal to re-investigate the events of the trial ten years ago...
'If I remember correctly, the trial was presided over by the current Archbishop Sinclair of Kramer and Fresland. The trial itself was an act of self-discipline by the Inquisition. Because of the success of the trial, Van Bas and Sinclair accumulated important political capital, giving them the opportunity to touch the position of the Inquisition.
'According to the contents of this letter...Kramar was presiding over the review of the old files in the previous trial and found that there was something fishy about this trial that had a crucial impact on him, so he wanted to review it...If I remember correctly...the last time the trial court was personally presided over by the judge was at the beginning of last year, not long after Kramar came to Fresno. Could it be that Kramar came to Fresno in March just for this matter?'
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