The Unbeliever (Please Invest!)

The process of leafing through them was tedious. Salomon even sneezed from the fine dust stirred up into the air. Covering his mouth and nose, he waved a hand and summoned a gust of wind to disperse the accumulated dust.

There was good reason ordinary people regarded these books as nonsensical ramblings. More than half their contents consisted of florid but empty passages and all manner of hearsay, while the material that truly dealt with occultism might amount to only a few pages. The oldest of these books came from, at most, medieval Europe, an era when swindlers calling themselves witches and alchemists were everywhere, selling useless elixirs. Most of these books had been written by people like them.

But no one could rule out the possibility that a few of them had genuinely learned certain spells and later written down what they knew. They would conceal the spells in various ways—through poetry, for example, or illustrations—and Angelique Bouchard had most likely acquired her knowledge from these books. But Salomon could not simply bring the books back to Kamar-Taj for examination. The Venerable One had already said that only he could carry out this mission, because only someone who had faced the Dark Dimension possessed a certain resistance to Dark Magic.

Therefore, Salomon could only suppress his irritation and try to find what he needed among these spellbooks. At the very least, he had to confirm that the spells originating from the Darkhold were hidden within these books before he could determine that the Collins family had not concealed any spells for themselves.

This work would consume a great deal of his time, but only after completing it could he proceed to the next step.

While searching through the books, Barnabas left for a while. When he returned, he personally carried a large tray into the room and set it on Salomon's table. On it was a cup of black tea, several neatly arranged sandwiches, and even a few waffles with jam.

When Salomon looked at him questioningly, the vampire sitting quietly nearby blinked. "I heard that you have a British accent, so I thought you must have a habit of drinking afternoon tea. Willie usually cannot come up here, so I had to bring it myself. Don't worry, there's no silverware."

"I would not start smoking just because I touched silverware, Mr. Barnabas." Salomon turned back to his tedious books. Though he was thirsty, he was not foolish enough to accept food offered by prey in his own mind. After all, who knew whether he might be prey in someone else's eyes?

Seeing that Salomon did not touch the food, Barnabas did not become angry. He sat nearby and occasionally made conversation with Salomon, continually probing for information about Kamar-Taj. Salomon did not conceal everything either. He focused on describing the Sorcerer Supreme's standing in the universe and the Venerable One's immense power. After all, he did not trust the vampire, nor did he believe the vampire would trust him so easily. The Sorcerer Supreme's name was still quite useful at a time like this.

But Barnabas's next question caught Salomon off guard.

"Does God truly exist, Mr. Damonnet? Can vampires not enter Heaven?"

"Magic exists. Vampires exist. Why should God not exist?" Salomon looked at Barnabas. The vampire's eyes had widened as he waited for Salomon's answer, his expression utterly sincere.

Whether God existed was extremely important to Christianity. Although the Sorcerer Supreme had barred the forces of Heaven from entering, the Venerable One had not explicitly forbidden humans from believing in God. Perhaps the Venerable One had intended for Christianity and Odin worship to fight one another, but she had not expected one side to eventually dominate alone.

"As for whether one can enter Heaven..." Salomon turned his chair, its legs scraping harshly across the floor. "Is going to Heaven necessarily a good thing?"

"What do you mean?" Barnabas drawled in confusion. He pinched together the index finger and thumb of his left hand, as though he were holding Salomon's words between them. "Shouldn't good people go to Heaven after they die?"

"I don't know, Mr. Barnabas." The young Arcanist shook his head. "I think death should be silent, not some blindingly bright place where one sings hymns every day like an idiot, unable to stop. I would not want anyone picking through my soul, not even God."

"Are you a follower of the devil?" the vampire asked, tilting his head. "Don't witches all sell their souls to the devil?"

"No, I am an unbeliever." Salomon wore a disdainful smile. "In my view, gods do exist, but they are not worthy of worship. If what I do happens to align with doctrine, it is only because that doctrine happens to align with me, not because I believe in it. If I go against that doctrine, it does not mean I deserve punishment; it merely means I do not believe in that doctrine at all. What we need is not gods, but humanity itself. Mr. Barnabas, your family has achieved what it has today not through God, but through your own hands."

This was a conclusion Salomon had reached by combining the knowledge he had learned in his previous life with the teachings of the Sorcerer Supreme. Though the idea was still exceedingly immature, Salomon was a thoroughgoing humanist. His words left Barnabas staring at him with his mouth open in surprise.

Believers looked down upon unbelievers, regardless of the world. In their eyes, they were far nobler than unbelievers. Even if they had neither food nor clothing, they could still spit at a wealthy unbeliever, because they were noble people of faith.

In the eyes of believers, heretics were far more detestable than those of other faiths. Yet even more detestable and unforgivable than heretics were unbelievers. To them, those without faith had no moral boundaries, were beyond saving, and were profoundly pitiable. Though faith could not feed or clothe a person, those without faith did not deserve food or warmth. If unbelievers had food, clothing, or even modest prosperity, then they surely must have done something that outraged both Heaven and man.

Do not think this idea absurd, because it was everywhere.

Theists elevated themselves to unimaginable heights, as if they stood on high together with the god they worshipped. Simply liking high places would not cause trouble, but unfortunately, they loved standing there and issuing orders, as if they were extensions of divine will and all their actions were the commands of their god. If unbelievers gathered together, those believers could rightfully bring war to them, because they were right, and unbelievers were barbarians in need of enlightenment. They believed this to be God's will.

They did not believe in the efforts made by unbelievers, because unbelievers lacked faith. Theists could not open their eyes and look at the facts. No matter how well others performed, they believed unbelievers had merely hidden their filth and corruption away. And no matter how terrible they themselves became, they would become noble alongside the god they worshipped, because they believed in gods. They were the Lord's shepherds, entitled and obliged to guide those lost lambs.

As for their double standards and their habit of turning black into white, there was no need to say more. That was merely routine behavior.

The first memory Salomon had received contained an extremely anti-divine outlook. Perhaps influenced by it, Salomon held atheism in even higher regard. In his view, gods had not contributed even the slightest part to humanity's achievements. If humanity groveled and begged, the gods would only rule over humankind with a clear conscience. If this world had not had Master Gu Yi, modern humans would not have been much better off than lambs.

This was also what the Sorcerer Supreme had hoped for: an unbeliever, the best weapon against the demon gods of the Outer Dimensions.

"Mm~~~" The vampire had clearly not expected Salomon's attitude to be so radical. He raised one finger and forced out a smile. "I think Victoria should be awake by now!"

"Please, go ahead, Mr. Barnabas." Salomon turned back without expression. "I will inform you when I have finished my work."

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