A Place Filled with Love and Peace

After leaving the cathedral, Ruben began exploring the headquarters of the Holy Empire on his own. As the headquarters, it was naturally magnificent and glorious. Many people came and went through the vast courtyard. Ruben only gave strangers a glance before going about his own business, wandering all the way to the area open to ordinary people—the Mural Hall.

Most of these simple, abstract murals depicted the greatness of the God of Light in order to spread the faith. However, most of them had been fabricated by people, with very few based on reality.

"Young man, are you interested in the murals?"

Just as Ruben was studying the stories depicted in those abstract murals, a stranger's voice suddenly came from behind him. A clergyman in red-and-white robes had appeared behind Ruben at some point and asked with great interest.

"Yeah, I can mostly understand them."

Ruben turned to look at him. At first glance, the dazzling light nearly blinded him. Looking closer, he realized the man's bald head was reflecting the magic crystal lamps on the ceiling. Upon further inspection, he discovered that this middle-aged clergyman did not even have eyebrows.

"Is that so? Young people with aptitude like yours are rare. Would you like to join the faith? As long as you believe in the God of Light, you'll have the chance to learn divine magic. You may even become a cardinal like me someday."

Anyone could understand the pleasantries at the start of the cardinal's speech. He apparently was not good at saying pretty things either, quickly revealing his true intentions and trying to lure Ruben into joining the faith.

"No. I don't believe in superstition. I believe in science."

Ruben promptly refused. As someone born and raised on Earth, he had always been an atheist. Even though he had been saved by a god, he did not think that young man was truly a god, only someone with extraordinary abilities. It was rather ironic. During Earth's apocalypse, countless believers prayed to their gods for protection, yet in the end, only Ruben, who did not believe in any god, survived until the very end.

"Why not believe? The God of Light truly exists. We owe our current lives to the gods' protection."

"I don't think so. I have this life because I created it myself. Although someone claiming to be a god gave me a hand, I got food because I hunted for it myself, and I got money through my own labor. None of that has anything to do with gods. If I could lie in bed and still have food to eat, then I'd believe."

"Y-you... that actually makes a lot of sense... But I think people still need faith. What if, when you're in trouble, a god hears your prayers?"

The bald cardinal was rendered speechless by Ruben's words. He had met quite a few people who rejected his preaching before, but this was his first time encountering someone who used their own life to refute the gods. He could only stubbornly continue trying to persuade him.

"Then I'd rather believe in Aqua."

Ruben did not actually believe in anyone, but he could tell that if he did not agree, this bald man would probably keep pestering him. He could only casually make something up, since Aqua and the God of Light were the only two gods he knew of.

The Holy Empire did not have the nasty habit of restricting religion. In some other novel, Ruben might have been dragged away by the Inquisition, tortured, and tied to a stake after saying that. Here, however, it only made the cardinal sulk.

"The Goddess of Water again? You heretics! She's just a goddess! If the God of Light were a woman too, he'd definitely be more popular. Honestly!"

At the mention of Aqua, the bald cardinal's expression changed. He grumbled at length about how men were animals who thought with their lower halves. Apparently, more than half the believers he had tried to recruit had thrown themselves into Aqua's embrace instead.

"Look, Bald Hans failed at preaching again."

"Yeah, that's already the thirtieth person this month. How damn embarrassing. Just quit the faith already."

Seeing the bald cardinal suffer a setback, two paladins maintaining order nearby burst out laughing. The young men in pure white armor showed no respect whatsoever for a high-ranking clergyman, casually bringing up his history as if chatting about everyday matters.

"You little bastards! Have you finished your work, standing around here chatting?!"

Hans flew into a rage at their words, walked over, and kicked them in the rear to chase them away.

"The aura around these people feels so warm."

Although Ruben did not believe in gods, he had developed a favorable impression of this church. When Mayuna had mentioned the pope, he had instinctively assumed it was not a good place, perhaps one of those places that used the name of a god as an excuse to inflict malice upon others. Yet after seeing how these people behaved and the completely sincere expressions on their faces, he knew he had overthought it.

"Did you think everyone in the church would be like those in the novels in your head—harmonious on the surface, but secretly doing nothing decent?"

"Yeah, a little."

"I have to say, people from your world really have a persecution complex. Whenever a church appears, it's basically a gathering place for villains. But think about it—if the god above the church were a good person, would he allow those below to do such things under his name? And if the god himself were evil, why would he bother pretending to be kind just to deceive a bunch of lesser creatures? Believe me, no god would be bored enough for that."

"You're right. My thinking has become a little rigid too."

Ruben shook his head and admitted it, then went back to examining the abstract murals. In the end, he reached the far end of the hall and finally stopped before the last mural. It was a very short mural, and its style was different from the earlier ones, filled with gloom and darkness.

The mages in the mural seemed to be desperately resisting someone, yet their magic could not harm their opponents. Countless human corpses lay on the ground, while the humanoid creatures advancing over them all had white hair and red eyes.

"Any thoughts?"

Bald Hans had appeared behind Ruben again at some point, asking like a ghost.

"Demons?"

"The demons of the Demon Realm are far friendlier than they were. That was the darkest era of humanity. The God of Light's enemies were not only the Demon King Satan, but also the Goddess of Vengeance. No one knew why she hated the God of Light. She did not seek vengeance directly against him, but instead turned her blade toward humanity, whom the God of Light loved most."

"The creatures she created with divine power were the enemies in that mural. Their bodies were made of light, and no magic could harm them. They had only one purpose: slaughtering humans. Under their attacks, humanity's total population was reduced by half."

"Did the God of Light help resolve it in the end?"

"No. One day, they and the Goddess of Vengeance simply vanished from human records. Perhaps the God of Light reached some kind of agreement with the Goddess of Vengeance. That is not something we can know."

Hans seemed to have appeared only to explain the details of the mural to Ruben. After finishing, he rubbed his smooth bald head and left.

"Is this why people fear Mayuna?"

Ruben had finally found the truth Mayuna had always been unwilling to mention. Naturally, he scoffed at this legend. He could easily come up with several explanations for Mayuna's appearance. Ignorance brought about by backward technology truly was widespread.

"Are you afraid?"

Dragon suddenly asked. He wanted to see what his partner would think and do after learning the truth.

"Legends were never trustworthy to begin with. I only believe what I see with my own eyes."

PS: Please bookmark and vote.

PS: Mo Aotian: So I actually have such an impressive background!?

PS: Regarding the church, I'm an old bookworm myself. In all the books I've read, churches really have never had a single good one, haha. Their status is like Beedrill in Pokémon—basically, the moment they appear, readers think, "Ah, the villains are here." At the root of it all, it's probably because of all the awful things churches in our world have done. "If I can't argue with you, I'll burn you to death." They go wild under the banner of god. I'm pretty lazy and can't be bothered writing conspiracies, so it's nice to occasionally have a church with a different style, right?

PS: Thanks to reader Kerou Sloppy for the 1,000 donation, reader Starry Night★Light for the 500 donation, and readers hamletzhou and Autumn Wind Night Shadow for the 100 donations.