Hope

Theus frowned as he recalled the details; the information he possessed was sparse. During the brief glimpse he caught when shaking hands with Kaeschi, he had only managed to roughly memorize a few of the constituent elements.

Out of curiosity, he had made a serious effort to commit those "inscriptions" that made up Kaeschi to memory.

Those inscriptions seemed to have subtle differences from the ones he had just sensed on the wall cavity of the confessional.

Theus had never been exposed to knowledge regarding these types of inscriptions, but in his previous life, he had looked over many engineering blueprints and had long been accustomed to constructing the three-dimensional appearance of parts in his mind. Thus, he felt something was off at a single glance.

These two types of inscriptions were basically identical in their main structure, yet they were completely opposite in their minute details.

Perhaps it was due to a difference in function; after all, one was a fixed structure, while the other was a human body composed of machinery...

Hm?

Theus thought of another point: Kaeschi was almost indistinguishable from a human, and his skin felt like normal flesh and blood during their handshake, whereas the Candlelight Society priest who had killed him previously had been full of exaggerated, protruding mechanical parts...

"My lord? Lord Theus?" Chloe's voice came over, sounding somewhat guarded.

Theus flashed a smile and apologized softly to Sister Chloe on the other side of the confessional, assuring her that it was merely out of curiosity.

After some reassurance, Chloe accepted his explanation with lingering doubt—after all, he had donated money, and she couldn't just kick him out for such a rash act.

Moreover, Theus's apology was very sincere, and Chloe soon dispelled the dissatisfaction in her heart.

"Then please, speak. I shall be here to listen to your... troubles."

Theus also gathered his thoughts, realizing that the supernatural power hidden by the Candlelight Society was merely an unexpected bonus; he did indeed have many things he wanted to ask.

"I have some troubles, and there are also some things I would like to ask Sister Chloe to help clarify..."

He spoke with careful deliberation.

When they emerged from the church, the sun was already close to setting. Theus and Connor rode their horses toward the manor.

There were no streetlights in this era, and traveling after dark was a dangerous affair. Fortunately, they were not far from the manor, and he could make it back before the sun went down.

However, it was not so convenient for the fishermen on the island to get home. Theus looked at the uneven, potholed road; if he wanted to start a night school in the future, he would have to solve the problem of night lighting. Without light at night, all activities could only be conducted during the day.

He made a mental note of this, his peripheral vision catching Connor's slightly worried expression.

Theus understood why his old steward was worried—the discord between the royal family and the church was already practically out in the open. As a retainer to the Empress, he shouldn't be getting too close to the church.

In fact, he had no intention of getting too close.

The church did possess some supernatural power, but the risk of coming into contact with them was simply too high.

The "risk" here was different from what most people feared. Theus didn't particularly care about the kind of "risk" that endangered his life; he wouldn't truly die, and his physical shell was actually something of a shackle to him.

But the church's methods didn't seem limited to violence. Theus was secretly worried about whether they possessed some means of mental control—the church had a considerable number of fanatics, and Theus wasn't sure if they were naturally that pious or if the church had used certain methods.

Regardless, based on what he felt in the confessional, the Candlelight Society at least had many clever designs when building it. As for whether they used similar ingenuity to control people's minds, he didn't want to gamble on it.

"Don't worry, old Connor, I have no intention of having much contact with the church," Theus said.

"I just needed to understand what role they could play—you know, there's no telling when one might need them to treat an illness."

Healing, including the treatment of injuries and diseases, was a major duty of the church and also a means of accumulating wealth.

Unlike the horrific medical practices of the medieval West on Blue Star, the church in this world truly possessed some skills, which Theus had just confirmed for himself.

He had chatted with Chloe about the bloodletting and the theory of four humors from Blue Star, only to hear her respond with a look of confusion and advise him not to look into such "superstitions."

Then, the various treatment methods Chloe described to him already had the embryonic form of modern medicine from Blue Star. Although she lacked concepts like bacteria, she understood the importance of disinfection and anesthesia—do not underestimate this; with the concepts of disinfection and anesthesia, at least there wouldn't be surgeries with a 300% mortality rate.

Though the means of implementation were very much in the style of the church.

According to Chloe, the church had a type of "holy water" that could prevent wounds from festering and becoming infected when used for rinsing. The needles and knives used to stitch wounds were also rinsed, and burning a specific type of incense while reciting prayers could cause the patient to fall into a brief stupor, unable to feel pain.

Theus was almost certain that supernatural power was involved in this, because the preparation process for the holy water that Chloe described had nothing to do with disinfection, yet it was indeed effective at killing bacteria.

Sigh, I don't know why this world hides the existence of supernatural power when it could clearly benefit so many more ordinary people.

Castel Island could be considered to have unique advantages; whether it was the fish in the sea or the sweet fruits in the forest, it was hard for anyone to starve to death.

Yet in his previous descents, Theus had seen many people starve to death in the empire. Even in the capital, Rhine, there were vast slums, and the average lifespan of workers in the factories was not even thirty years—and that was considered a job everyone envied.

This world, by and large, is sick.

Theus's gaze dimmed.

He was not a born saint. With the ability to descend into shells, his thoughts had been nothing more than playing among mortals and performing miracles before them.

But with each descent, all he saw were souls suffering in agony, all poor wretches falling by the wayside, clutching their hopes and their resentment. Gradually, his original thoughts faded.

His heart was made of flesh and blood, too; he had emotions. Since he had the knowledge in his mind to change the world, and since he had so many shells and didn't need to fear death, why not try to do something?

The more he descended, the more determined he became. He would let the torrent of industry sweep through this world, let the blood of greedy nobles stain their gold coins, let the executioners who ignited the flames of war fall beneath the guillotine, and let the poor and destitute have bread on their plates.

Industry would bring many new problems and bring new pain to people, but regardless, it was progress, and progress was better than spinning in place.

No system could solve all problems once and for all, and Theus couldn't either, but he could bring hope to the people.

As long as there is hope, it is enough. Humans are a great species; as long as there is hope, they have the courage to move forward.