Chapter 644 Why not kneel?
The cast iron turntable spun at a steady pace, making a rhythmic clanking sound that Frey had heard in the steam engines of trains and airships.
He once longed for this kind of machine with industrial beauty, but at this moment, he had an indescribable feeling in his heart.
The whip was flying in the air, splashing the blood of the believers, the priest was chanting the creed by candlelight, and the people beside him lowered their heads and dared not look. All these together formed Frey's first impression of Rhine.
Rhine, the jewel in the crown of the empire, the birthplace of industry, the city of miracles.
Frey buried his head deeper in his hood.
It's not like he hadn't seen worse scenes before, and when had the nobles ever been merciful? But the scene before him still filled him with indescribable disgust.
Machinery seemed to be something more sacred in his heart, and everything in front of him always made him feel blasphemous.
Of course, he was just a commoner, not even a member of the Candlelight Society, and had no right to accuse a priest of blasphemy.
but
Frey looked at the other people in the team inconspicuously, and his expression gradually became strange.
These people were obviously believers of the Candlelight Society. Seeing the priest's behavior, they all lowered their heads and remained silent.
Frey originally thought they were afraid, but after a closer look, he felt something was wrong.
Freyben was always hanging around at the bottom of the city and had seen a lot of these poor people. They should be scared, angry, or even numb, but they shouldn't be so fanatical.
Yes, that was fanaticism, what Frey saw on the faces of the other believers.
The believers occasionally glanced at the whipping machine with a pious and intoxicated look, as if it were something sacred.
As the priest turned the handle, the whip fell faster and faster, and the believers who were kneeling on the ground and being whipped chanted louder and louder. Suddenly, an old man in the team also knelt down.
It was as if a switch was turned on, and the other believers in the queue knelt on the ground and chanted the teachings of the Candlelight Society loudly. For a moment, the city gate seemed to have turned into a church, and the priest led the believers in chanting devoutly.
However, the sound of whip cracking as a background hymn seemed a bit monotonous and not very satisfactory.
Everyone knelt down, leaving only Frey standing. He was just a child and not tall, but among the kneeling believers, he was the tallest one.
The priest in front raised his eyes and saw the boy standing there abruptly. Anger flashed across his face: "You! Why don't you kneel down!?"
He almost jumped up from the armchair and kicked the believer in front of him. The automatic whipping machine next to him also stopped clicking because the handle stopped twisting. The rest of the believers turned their heads and glared at Frey.
"Why don't you kneel down?"
"Because I am not a believer of the Candlelight Society." Frey said as he handed over a signature.
This was a fake identity prepared for him by the Ashes Alliance. At that time, Frey was curious. Since they were going to the Candlelight Alliance's headquarters, why didn't they give him a Candlelight Alliance identity?
When he asked, the member of the Ashes Alliance who was in charge of the liaison just smiled and shook his head, saying that this identity would be more useful.
When the priest heard this, he was obviously stunned. He took Frey's signature and looked at it carefully. Then he became like a deflated ball and his momentum weakened.
He hesitated for a moment, then forced out a kind smile, somewhat awkwardly: "Dear child, if you are interested in candlelight church, you can come to the church to be baptized at any time."
"Thank you, I will seriously consider it." Frey said politely.
"Go ahead. Welcome to Rhine, the most powerful and prosperous city on the continent." The priest muttered, turned around and walked back. The believers kneeling on the ground crawled to the sides to make way. Those who moved slowly would be kicked.
Frey walked forward with his head lowered. The believers kneeling on the ground occasionally raised their heads and looked at him, their gazes filled with a mixture of pity, disgust and hatred.
The priest sat back in his armchair and shook the handle. The sound of the whip breaking through the air and the chanting of the scriptures rang out again. Frey walked to the city gate, which was so tall that the top was almost invisible. He slowly raised his head and looked at the emblem etched above.
A candle is burning quietly.
He pulled his hood, buried his face in the shadows, and stepped into the Rhine.
"It seems we made the right choice to take the airship this time."
Erwin folded his arms, leaned against the wall beside the porthole, and looked at the Rhine City below.
After dropping Frey and the others off, they staggered a little and flew in a straight line towards Rhine.
They passed through many cities along the way. Many people would climb onto the rooftops to watch, while some places were not very friendly and would try to attack with bows and arrows - the range of those arrows was only one or two hundred meters and could not reach the airship at all.
"It seems that the empire has no air defense capabilities at all. It feels like a fleet of airships can conquer the entire empire. Have we wasted the opportunity for a surprise attack?" Zoe said worriedly.
Erwin chuckled, and seeing Zoe's puzzled look, he nodded to Gaia beside him, "Ms. Gaia was once the chief engineer of the Castel Arms Factory. She should have a say."
Gaia waved her hand. "It's just a brief introduction to weaponry. Mr. Erwin is more experienced in real combat. But even if we only consider the difference in weaponry, Castel doesn't need a surprise attack."
"Is that so? The gap between us and the enemy is so huge?" Zoe said hesitantly. She turned her head to look at the packaged steam rifle not far away. "Will this also not pose a threat?"
"No, our recently built airships have participated in exercises against steam rifles, and the results were very positive. Even if the steam rifles were set to sniper mode and attacked in large numbers, they wouldn't pose a threat to us. The airships are much more durable than you might imagine. Don't think of them as oversized balloons, but as flying armor."
Zoe nodded in realization, thought for a moment, and then said excitedly, "Then can we take this airship and blow up Rhine?"
Even Gaia laughed out loud. "If it really blows up, we won't have anywhere to turn to for technology. Besides, these two churches have deep roots. Who knows what strange weapons they might be able to come up with."
"Rhine! We're here at Rhine!" The navigator's voice suddenly came from the front. The three of them's eyes lit up, and they all gathered around the porthole and looked down.
But soon, their brows began to frown.
Zoe spoke in disbelief:
"Rhine. How did it become like this?"
(End of this chapter)
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