The outsider called himself a believer of the God of Hope, claiming he had come here to offer them relief in the god's name.
Although the Lumbart Kingdom was a nation of polytheistic faith, no one had ever heard of a God of Hope.
Yet this outsider had truly brought them hope—
The "miracles" he prayed for turned barren land fertile and abundant once more, filled dried-up rivers with clear flowing water, and breathed life back into the entire village.
To the villagers, it was simply unbelievable. The outsider had merely knelt upon the ground and pleaded to the God of Hope, yet a miracle had descended.
Though everyone had gods of their own faith, no one had ever truly witnessed a miracle.
The villagers had once worshipped so many gods, yet when disaster struck them, those gods had not sent down miracles to save them.
Faced with the facts before them, it went without saying which god was truly worth believing in.
"So long as you faithfully worship the God of Hope, miracles will descend again sooner or later."
The outsider's words caused a great stir among the villagers. Aside from a small number unwilling to convert, most of them began worshipping the God of Hope.
Next, the outsider handed the villagers a strange-looking black statue and instructed them to enshrine it and pray to it every day.
After the outsider departed, the villagers hurriedly cleared out their largest, cleanest house and enshrined the black statue within it.
What no one knew was that the black statue was continuously giving off an aura of Calamity. Yet because it was invisible, no one noticed it.
Before long, the villagers who had chosen to worship the God of Hope had all turned into fanatical believers.
They gathered together, picked up pitchforks,