Chapter 530 (1): The Real and Fake Goddesses

August tenth.

Ostarrichi, headquarters of the Church of Nature.

In the council hall, the higher-ups of the church gathered, including High Prophet Tubert, Holy Maiden Desiree, Vice Captain Garvin, the three Oracle High Reverends—Weaving, Baker, and McCarey—and Acting Pope Senna, who had taken the main seat.

The Pope wore an intricate white robe, her blonde locks running down her back. On her stunning face, her eyes were serene like calm waters, and her snow-white skin seemed to glow. Her beauty was captivating.

She looked gentle, graceful, and noble, obviously a good, mild-tempered pope.

Which was the truth. With the divine artifact, Elemental Mantra, Senna was far more powerful than any other higher-ups, so even her whisper struck like thunder. She didn’t need to raise her voice; she might not even have to talk. And her subordinates would try to interpret her expressions.

Such was power, in both the physical and the political sense.

The headquarters of the Church of Nature was located in Ostarrichi, Prussia’s back garden. To achieve self-evident feats and spread the faith of the Goddess of Nature in the mortal realm, the church had become bedfellows with Prussia, offering the mustached Führer substantial support.

The three Oracle High Reverends, Weaving, Baker, and McCarey, had all established close relationships with the Prussian government for mutual benefit. Both sides would profit.

Prussia had lived up to the church’s expectations. The war machine was able to break down every battlefront from south to north and from west to east. But that had changed. The church’s leadership had undergone adjustments, and Ludwig, the former pope, headed to the Divine Realm of Nature, turning over his authority. Senna became acting pope and oversaw the church, and Wayne the Nature Knight took her place as the new Oracle High Reverend.

With the change of leadership came the change of status quo. As soon as the new Pope took office, she overturned every policy her predecessor had rolled out.

Under Senna’s order, the church swiftly cut ties with Prussia and arranged a friendly visit to the Church of Darkness, signing treaties of collaboration with it.

Such was the way of the Chosen Land. It was all about democracy and reflection. The real ones fought among themselves and stuck close to the agenda, always putting in the most investment for the lowest return.

Why should the church cut itself off from Prussia when Prussia was so strong? What good would it do the church to antagonize Prussia? Were they not going to spread their faith? Why would they work with the Church of Darkness? They were heretics!

The lower-ranking members didn’t understand what the leadership was doing and complained that there had to be someone treacherous by the Pope’s side. The pretty boy named Wayne, for example, was suspect. Where did he come from? Why was he suddenly made an Oracle High Reverend? Was he the Pope’s boy toy?

It would be wise to not look into it since he was her lover.

Not only that, but the pretty boy was also the Pope’s student’s student. At the right age for romance, he encountered an old woman who was right for his age. It was a typical story in high society.

The fact that he was the Nature Knight was a well-kept secret. Before, he hid the fact for his own safety. Later, he just couldn’t be bothered to flaunt his status. Thus, the low-ranking members of the church, including those working at the branches, were oblivious to the truth. Rumors spread like wildfire and resulted in the common story.

Wayne didn’t care. He didn’t mind being a boy toy leeching off a woman. Senna didn’t care, either. She wouldn’t even frown when others ran their mouths.

Since the two parties involved showed no concern—in fact, they seemed to enjoy the rumors—those who knew the truth weren’t going to reveal the truth against their wishes. Every time they heard rumors about Senna and Wayne, they acted as if they had suddenly lost their hearing.

Later, the truth proved the church’s quick decoupling from Prussia a wise decision. The tank of Prussia charged fast and violently, but it didn’t have brakes. At its gloriest moment, it ran into five sharp turns and crashed.

On June twentieth, an astounding piece of news broke out in Prussia’s capital, Berlo: the Chancellery of the New Reich had exploded. All leadership of the empire, including Hidler, the Führer, had been reduced to ashes.

Without the ruthless and influential strongman in politics, Prussia lost its way. The war machine zigged and zagged and started and stopped, not knowing where to go and what its purpose was.

The empire fell. The vanguards became the rear services, and aside from a few occupied lands, all of Prussia’s tides of steel had retreated to Prussian grounds. What followed was a series of internal conflicts. Prussia had a standing chancellor, but not a Führer. No one in the entire country could take Hidler’s place. Internal strife, debates, and assassinations abounded. Prussia’s fall from grace was dramatic and sudden.

Once Prussia lost her prowess, the other countries rose. Franc, for example, had recovered her land after almost surrendering, and she made a ruckus about punishing Prussia. Deploying hundreds of thousands of soldiers to the border, she bared her teeth fiercely.

Franc couldn’t just charge in. Even an emaciated camel was bigger than a horse. If Franc invaded now, there was no telling who would come out on top.

There were those who were headstrong enough to try, like Prussia’s steadfast ally, Enoria. Enoria was in a rush to take a stand and cut ties with Prussia, staging an assault under the banner of justice. Then Enoria ended up becoming a plate of noodles on Prussia’s dining table, feasted on until nothing remained.

The landslide victory only proved how weak Enoria was rather than proving anything about Prussia. The millions of troops gathered in each occupied land, locking down the Prussian border and stopping supplies from reaching the frontlines. Prices soared. Bread now cost five hundred thousand Marks each.

This time, no one was giving speeches in bars.

Well, there were some of them, but they didn’t have the necessary selling points: they weren’t art students, and they hadn’t failed to get into an art school. They couldn’t even become the chancellor’s driver, much less the Führer.

It was only a matter of time for Prussia to face defeat. How the pie should be divided and how the new order was to be established was the hot topic of the world right now.

To make sure that they had a seat at the table and the right to speak—or to earn a spot—the nations began another round of open and under-the-table fights.

Hidler once told Wayne that war would not stop once it began. Wayne could stop him, but not Prussia. Even if he stopped Prussia, he could not stop the whole world. War was bound to sweep across the Chosen Land.

On the Church of Nature’s side, because they had cut ties with Prussia in time, not only had they not suffered losses, but they had actually been thriving. Senna’s reputation soared high. Everyone praised the Pope for her foresight and decisiveness. Only her private life was a little questionable. It was inappropriate to go after a student’s student.

I can take his place, Your Holiness! xN

Above the council hall was a deep blue dome, and below was a round amber lake. White columns lined up on both sides. Wind blew and stirred the air between heaven and earth.

Between the two lines of columns was a white table around ten meters long, with white high-back chairs on each side. Except for Oracle High Reverend Wayne, everyone else in the church’s leadership had attended the meeting. Looking at Senna’s aura, everyone except for Vice Captain Garvin each held a different expression—some were envious, some were jealous, and others believed they could’ve done the same.

They knew how things had come to be. Senna was able to become the Pope and get too where she was today because of the support of Wayne, the Nature Knight. Without him pushing from the back, she would not have become the Pope.

The truth wasn’t far off from the rumor. Favors were traded. Only they had mixed up who was buying and who was selling.

Senna coveted her student’s student (?)

Wayne coveted his master’s master (?)

Wayne coveted his mother’s master (?)

Indeed, the story had been updated once more.

“High Prophet Tubert, is the oracle from the subordinate god real?” Senna asked with an inherent grace and authority.

Tubert respectfully rose to his feet, repeating the oracle right in front of everyone. The goddess asked to meet all higher-ups of the church. It was a hundred percent the real oracle, with no subjective interpretation involved.

Some of the oracles he had shared might be false, but not this time. No matter how bold Tubert was, he wasn’t bold enough to lie in the name of the goddess.

Senna nodded and waited with her eyes closed. While she appeared calm, she was panicking inside. The goddess was no longer her faith, and she had become an Astral life, making her the first spy in the Church of Nature’s history. She could hide the truth from the other vermin, but not the Goddess of Nature.

If She found out...

Senna would be fine since she had come prepared. If worst came to worst, she would be critically injured. She wouldn’t die easily. The problem came after that. If Wayne was dragged into the mess and ended up on the goddess’s kill list, wouldn’t her sin be great?

Aside from Senna, the others were panicking, too.

The three Oracle High Reverends, for example, were the biggest vermin among all vermin. All these years, they had committed their fair share of evil deeds in the name of the church. They only survived to this day because Senna needed them to be the bad guys. That was the most value they had. The Pope might need three Oracle High Reverends who had a spotty track record, but not the goddess.

High Prophet Tubert and Holy Maiden Desiree were also concerned. The former lamented his declining status because of the difference in the oracle, while the latter wondered why the goddess would have the High Prophet relay the oracle instead of telling her, the Holy Maiden, directly.

It had been a year since Desiree became the Holy Maiden. She was a middle-of-the-road mage who had reached Gold rank with the resources that the church gathered for her. It was possible to make her a legendary mage. Kael, for example, had reached Legendary rank with all the resources the Papal State invested in him. The Church of Nature could raise Desiree to greater heights if they wanted.

But there was no point in doing that. She was just a tool that would be replaced in twenty years. The church had limited resources, and each investment was made with clear records. Every warehouse was burned down for a reason. There were no extra resources for Desiree.

What power did the Holy Maiden enjoy now? Whatever she had, it was scrap dug out of the nails of the Pope, High Prophet, and Oracle High Reverends. If she found it lacking, she was welcome to give it up!

If she wanted to become a legendary mage and a Holy Maiden equal to the Pope and the High Prophet, she should fight for it with raw power, forcing others to permit her arson of the warehouses.

ε=(′ο`*)))

Life was hard. The Holy Maiden lamented how difficult it was to survive in the church.

In addition to a lack of raw power, what was most difficult for her was the lack of support. Ever since she became the Holy Maiden, she had not once listened to the goddess’s oracle. Even when the rare chance came, the goddess had bypassed her and ordered a subordinate god to pass down an oracle through the High Prophet instead. Desiree might as well not exist.

It was difficult to be a Holy Maiden!

Among the vermin, Garvin alone had a clear conscience, so his poker face was genuine. When he saw that Wayne was the only one missing among the higher-ups, he frowned at Senna and said, “Your Holiness, Oracle High Reverend Wayne is absent, which is inconsistent with the oracle. Are you sure he has been notified?”

Senna nodded. “He’s in Londan, far from the headquarters, so he cannot come in time. He’s the goddess’s knight. You need not worry about him.”

Garvin nodded. Though he wasn’t convinced, he didn’t say anything.

Senna kept her poker face in place. She hadn’t contacted Wayne since the risk was too great. She would first hear the goddess out. Only once she made sure that she hadn’t been exposed would she inform Wayne about the meeting.

Hum—

Her thought was interrupted by a burst of green light under the dome of the council hall. Rolling clouds painted the entire sky green, casting green light on all of the higher-ups’ heads.

A tremendous power descended upon them. Beyond the veil of green light, three blurry figures slowly emerged—they were the three subordinate gods of Nature. Behind them, one figure sat on the divine throne, impossible to perceive clearly. One could only vaguely make out the form of a woman.

Everyone shot to their feet and bowed to their goddess deferentially, holding their breath. The council hall became so silent that even a needle drop would be audible.