Witch, Fireball and the Evil God of Steam-Chapter 896 - 183: My Grandmother Sent Me Here

For Solari, his two-hour afternoon meditation session was unshakeable, a habit he developed since joining the Church Court in his childhood, simply because the priest at the church had told him that meditation was the best way to connect his thoughts with the Goddess of Life.

This also became Solari's lifelong dream.

He hoped to see the great being who led humanity out of the dark ages before his life ended.

Yet as time passed, Solari felt that his dream was becoming more and more unattainable. Meditation had long become a part of his daily routine, but the passion in his heart had been worn down by time, leaving behind an endless void, to the point where he occasionally harbored some "heretical" thoughts.

Why does the Goddess of Life never respond to Her devout believers?

And does She still exist?

These doubts intensified after the religious reform in the empire. The Far West had already labeled such people as apostates, but many of the ideas proposed by "Imperial Truth" continued to flow into the area, greatly influencing many people.

"Imperial Truth" presented the fact that all True Gods and Middle-Level Gods had fallen.

Even if the Day of Destruction is inevitable, humanity should focus its energy and faith on self-salvation, rather than pinning hopes on the past, hoping that those fallen gods will come back to save them.

Of course, these statements had already been deemed brainwashing by the Evil God by the Church Court, and every follower of the Life Divine Teachings should clearly and decisively eradicate those Evil God's Followers who spread rumors and shake the army's morale.

Even if the Church Court could not, in fact, present factual evidence to refute it.

The last Saint of the Church Court could be traced back centuries, to the time of Archbishop Turzan during the reign of Henry III. Solari has read all of Turzan's manuscripts, yet none mention any connection with the Goddess of Life.

Unlike the ordinary people outside the cathedral, with his position as a bishop of the border city, he had access to some manuscripts of "Imperial Truth," and Carlo's many speeches and evaluations about its dissemination seemed, to Solari, to be taken out of context.

For instance, Carlo deliberately omitted parts of "Imperial Truth" that encouraged people to actively seek self-salvation, only taking the sections declaring the fall of True Gods and Middle-Level Gods, misinterpreting it as an encouragement for humans to turn to Evil God before the Day of Destruction in hopes of surviving the apocalypse.

After carefully reading the sections of "Imperial Truth" on the fall of True Gods and Middle-Level Gods, he felt a bit persuaded deep inside.

Because the writer of "Imperial Truth" never attacked or vilified the contributions of True Gods and Middle-Level Gods during the dark ages, in fact, they even offered higher praise — those deities had forsaken eternal life and supreme power to break away from the Old Gods, which is the most noble of sacrifices.

Subsequently, the writer explained the possible relationship between these deities and the Old Gods through mystical theories.

It was a vast and complete system, and even through the cold words on parchment, Solari could easily imagine that the proponent of these theories must be a master with deep understanding in theology, religion, and mysticism.

If given the chance, Solari would rather have a direct debate with the proponent of these theories in front of witnesses, which might also solve many of his internal doubts.

This is also why he harbors resentment towards Carlo's series of actions.

Solari considers himself the most steadfast believer, unafraid to debate with anyone and always prepared to defend the legitimacy of the Church Court, but Carlo's out-of-context approach was a major blow to his faith.

He thought it might also be the reason for his inner, subtle wavering.

Because compared to Carlo's actions, the writer of "Imperial Truth" did not hold any ulterior motives in the sections on the fall of the gods, but instead stood candidly from an objective standpoint to analyze the process of the True Gods falling using mystical analysis. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

But Solari also knew he couldn't express these inner thoughts.

Because, in doing so, his position would not be clear enough.

Meanwhile, he also agreed with part of Carlo's views. As the Day of Destruction approached, the Far West was at a critical moment, and at such a time, they could not adopt reconciliatory measures. As a bishop of the border city, any wavering statements could be exploited by those with ulterior motives.

During such a period, they must take action, even if it results in misjudgment, it is a necessary sacrifice.

The meditation time was over.

Solari opened his eyes, his expression grave.

His heart was enduring torment; he understood his meditation was becoming less and less pure, mixed with a lot of personal emotions and concerns about the Church Court's policies, yet he found it increasingly difficult to calm himself and throw these matters completely out of his mind.

Perhaps it also meant that he was destined to never receive the gaze of the Goddess of Life in this lifetime.

"Bishop Solari!"

Almost immediately after he opened his eyes, someone knocked on his door.

"Come in."

The knocker respectfully pushed open the door. Seeing the visitor, Solari was stunned for a moment. The person entering was a young man in a gray priest's robe, unfamiliar to him.

He composed himself, "What is it?"