Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 458: The Last Priest

"Old God—the Earth-shaking Worm?"

Hearing of this deity, Shard was quite surprised, for he had actually heard of this Old God.

The Old God "Earth-shaking Worm" also had another well-known moniker, namely the "God of Earthquakes." Unlike the Old God "Earthly Giant Serpent" that the doctor had mentioned, associated with dust and dirt, the primary power of the Old God "Earth-shaking Worm" was earthquakes.

Shard had read in his textbooks that in the uncivilized bygone days, whenever earthquakes occurred, the local people would seek out the believers of this god and organize large-scale prayer and ritual activities.

But this Old God had long departed, just like Shard's acquaintance, the "Creator of Innocence," who had left during the Fifth Era. Moreover, the "Earth-shaking Worm" was not a Benevolent God; he was a bona fide Evil God, and the pacification of "the Earth's Rage" during rituals required living sacrifices.

Shard glanced at the kind-looking old lady before him, who seemed very different from those Mermen who also worshiped Evil Gods.

"Not only is she the last member of the Order, I think she's also the last generation of priestesses."

Old Mrs. Ilal smiled and shook her head, and Miss Aphrola responded with a smile:

"Our reason for coming here, as stated clearly in the letter, is this gentleman here, Hamilton..."

She pointed to Shard, who was holding a cat:

"I want him to feel the power of The Great One you worship."

"Oh, the young man from the city, they all have quite handsome features."

The old lady praised Shard's appearance and then grabbed his hand. After a moment, she nodded:

"No problem, he doesn't clash with our Lord's power."

A Circle Sorcerer is not capable of mastering any Spirit Rune at will. A conflict with one's core Spirit Rune, or the characteristics of one's soul, could lead to a rejection of certain Spirit Runes.

Old Mrs. Ilal probably used some form of Divine Arts to confirm Shard's affinity for the power of the Old God "Earth-shaking Worm." Such Divine Arts were common; the True God Church also had similar divine techniques for assessing whether Circle Sorcerers were suitable for learning Divine Arts during their training.

"Very nice, I can feel that Mr. Hamilton is quite suitable to become a priest of the deity. If he had appeared fifty years earlier, I would have insisted that he join the Order."

"Oh, that wouldn't work."

The Witch still maintained her smile:

"Mr. Hamilton is my man."

"That's such a pity."

The old lady shook her head. The Maid Misses finally boiled the hot water and began pouring tea for the three of them. The Maids had cleaned the teacups, but stubborn yellow stains remained on the surface of the cups. Shard noticed Miss Aphrola didn't even touch her tea, so he too only symbolically picked it up without drinking.

In the subsequent conversation, Shard confirmed that his understanding was correct. Old Mrs. Ilal was the last believer of the long-gone Old God—"Earth-shaking Worm," at least the last believer in terms of the Order, discounting individual believers.

As the last priestess and Keeper of Secrets, she was responsible for guarding the treasures and knowledge of the Order. Since it was almost impossible to find new believers, and she did not trust leaving the position of the priest to a stranger, she decided to end the Order's history with her generation.

Miss Aphrola had met her five years earlier, and after some consideration, Old Mrs. Ilal decided to leave the Order's wealth and secrets to the powerful Witch.

Apart from helping to guard the Temple and the murals inscribed with the history of the Order, preventing strangers from intruding and causing destruction, the old woman had not made any other requests of the Witch. She believed that rather than letting those treasures be buried deep underground, never to be discovered, it was better to pass them on to a more powerful Circle Sorcerer, to continue the power of the Order.

This was, in a way, a method to continue the history of the Order.

For the Witch, this meant that after the old woman's death, she could obtain a substantial fortune and all the knowledge and secrets of the entire Order for nothing.

Shard was very envious of Miss Aphrola's experience.

After chatting for a few more moments, the old woman confirmed that Shard wanted the "Vibration" Spirit Rune, and after briefly asking about his views on "earthquakes," she informed Shard that they were headed to the Temple of the bygone days.

The true Temple of the God of Earthquakes was underground, specifically beneath the ruins outside Hercules Town.

The Hercules Town Ruins were left by an early civilization of the Sixth Era. Decades ago when the archaeological team from the Draleon Kingdom came to explore, Old Mrs. Ilal had served as their guide. When she spoke of that time, she happily showed Shard and the Witch photographs taken then, and to his surprise, Shard saw a familiar figure in those photos—the outline of Professor Manning, who lived in the Tobesk University District's Cat Tail Alley.

Decades ago, Professor Manning appeared less old than he does now; he and his companions stood together, leaning on shovels and grinning foolishly at the camera. And Old Mrs. Ilal back then seemed younger than she is now—at least in the photos, she could stand there to take pictures without a cane.

When she heard that Shard actually knew the person in the picture, the old woman took all the photos from the album related to that archaeological expedition and handed them to Shard:

"Give these to your friend."

It was an easy task for Shard, but he hesitated and asked:

"Don't you want to keep them? They are memories."

"Memories are here," she said, not in the photos.

The old woman smiled kindly, pointing to her own head, and then added:

"After I die, these photos will probably be thrown away as trash. Rather than that, it's better to give them to someone who can take good care of them."

Miss Aphrola gave Shard a meaningful look, and only then did he take the photographs:

The source of this c𝐨ntent is freeweɓnovēl.coɱ.

"Alright, I will make sure they get into Professor Manning's hands. I'm sure the professor will be very happy to see these photos and remember his experiences in this town."

Old Mrs. Ilal's mouth wide in a smile, she revealed a row of yellow teeth that were nearly all gone.

Shard couldn't begin to understand the emotions with which the remaining followers of the departing deities continued to worship in the material world.

He had once seen the last follower of the Old God, the Creator of Innocence, but that person had turned into an angel and flown away on the spot. The situation facing Old Mrs. Ilal was even worse; when Ms. Gina Angela Serwell was determined to seal off the underground ruins of Tobesk, she had at least two companions by her side, while Old Mrs. Ilal was all alone.

But she at least did not seem saddened or unable to accept this; after talking with Shard and Miss Aphrola for a while, she got up and led them toward the Ruins.

There was no city taxi system in the small town, so the group walked on foot. Fortunately, the town wasn't very big, and the Ruins were not far from the town.