Secret: The years I served as a foreign aid for the Aurora Club

Chapter 327 Only Moving Forward
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"Your Excellency the Secret Blood Saint."

Irena took a few quick steps forward and called out to the red-robed man who was about to leave at the corner: "There will be a meeting at 8 o'clock tomorrow morning. Please attend on time."

The red-robed man turned his head, revealing a pale and beautiful face under his hood, holding a folder in his hand. Hearing his companion's call, he first made a cross on his chest, and then asked in a hoarse voice:
"Dream or reality?"

"Reality." Irena said, although she also wanted to hold the meeting directly in her dream, "It will be held at the address of the last meeting. In addition, I have another question. What do you think of Intis's current parliamentary system?"

Mr. A, who had become a saint, stood there thinking for a few seconds, and his voice became a little low: "They are not pious enough."

Irena sighed. This was the difficulty in getting along with fanatics: it was foolish to talk about piety with some nobles... The more ignorant they were, the more pious they were. The more resources people had, the more thorough their understanding of the world was. Most of the nobles and wealthy people only cooperated with the church to make profits. Even Irena could hardly find a few people who were pious to the Eternal Blazing Sun in her own family. Even she, who had become a saint and was likely to succeed the future high priest of the Cathedral of Light, was not very pious to the True Creator.

Strictly speaking, she just yearns for light, warmth, sun and some beautiful things.

"The change of faith needs to be gradual. It is difficult for the nobles to be truly devoted to the Lord until they are pushed to the point of desperation."

"Then we should make them disappear." Mr. A said in a matter-of-fact tone, "Isn't that what the church is planning?"

"Not yet."

Although her feelings for her family were limited, the family gave her the capital to become a mid-sequence powerhouse and allowed her to live a superior and affluent life. Irena had to consider the Montemar family to some extent: "The church has already come up with a corresponding plan. We just need to follow the Lord's guidance and implement it."

When the Lord was mentioned, Mr. A immediately stopped commenting and began to cross himself devoutly.

Irena breathed a sigh of relief. "You have been in charge of preaching to the lower classes and subsidizing social welfare activities recently. You have a lot of experience in Loen. How do you feel? Is it going smoothly? What do the people think of us?"

“They are devout.”

"anything else?"

"As long as there is food and no death, a man is pious," said Mr. A. stiffly.

Irena frowned. She urgently needed the Dark Saint to have some conversations with Mr. A that only fanatics could understand. Unfortunately, her envoy was also pious, so she guided the topic subtly and asked, "Do the people have any other demands?"

“More food, better paying jobs, better housing, and education.”

Mr. A's tone was still stiff. Perhaps only the daily communion ceremony and the new holy text that was still being compiled could make him show some enthusiasm. "Humans are greedy. Once they become Sequence 9, they will begin to yearn for Sequence 8. People always want to have better things. But after they obtain better things, they will only take the Lord's mercy for granted, and will not act for the glory of the Lord."

Irena was startled, feeling that the other party seemed to have hit the nail on the head unexpectedly.

She couldn't help but nod and discussed seriously: "It has only been a month and a half since the change of faith. What we need now is to win over the hearts and minds of the people. Cooperating with the Steam Church, developing industry, increasing employment opportunities, and improving the overall level of education are what we need to do in the next few years."

"I don't understand this."

Mr. A said, “I only care whether they are pious and whether they have reverence and love for the Lord.”

“When they receive relief from the Lord, they will show joy on their faces and pray devoutly, but after a few times, they get used to it.”

Mr. A sneered, "I have seen many people who are grateful and pious when they are saved, but become resentful when they are no longer saved. The Lord spreads His glory and allows us to share the happiness of heaven, but His willingness to save people is a mercy, not a necessity."

"And what do you think?"

"My opinion?" Mr. A raised his eyebrows and spoke with full energy, "Of course we should start with the education of the lambs! We need more schools and new teaching materials to make everyone appreciate the Lord's mercy and act for the glory of the Lord. We live for the Lord, so of course we should dedicate our souls and lives to the Lord and always be grateful and take the initiative to contribute to the kingdom of heaven!"

I knew it... Irena's smile immediately became perfunctory.

"Thank you for your valuable advice." She started to leave. "See you tomorrow."

……

Rune, Backlund.

At 160 o'clock on Wednesday afternoon, at Böklund Street, Dwayne Dantes put his hand on his forehead and put down the file in his hand.

"Most people in the hospital have been treated, but there are still many injured people who are not even qualified to go to the hospital..."

He muttered to himself, falling back into the high-backed chair.

Klein hasn't been in a good mood lately. He had just borrowed a special sealed item with healing effects, the "Staff of Life", from the City of Silver through Sefirah Castle two days ago, and also sent over some of the increasingly free food from the Aurora Club.

According to the "Sun" at the Tarot Club this week, most people in Silver City have started eating Mr. Frank's mushrooms. This high-protein crop has a pleasing appearance (compared to the disgusting monster meat), an irresistible taste (compared to the unpalatable monster meat), and a variety of special effects. Currently, the most popular one is the purification mushroom.

If the fact that Frank was able to connect with the Aurora Club only surprised Klein, then the fact that he was being valued by the Aurora Club made Klein feel that World Mushroom Day was approaching. But after seeing the positive feedback from the people of Silver City, their genuine love for mushrooms, and their heartfelt blessings and gratitude to Mr. Frank Lee who was far away in the outside world, Klein felt that this was not bad.

Frank realized his wish to help others and solve hunger. The people of Silver City were freed from the meat of monsters full of various toxins and pollution, and tasted the taste of normal food in an abnormal way. This was a happy thing for everyone, and my own worries seemed a bit inappropriate. Perhaps, Frank, who is still in the middle sequence, can do more in the future... or forget it!
"...However, there are still some devout believers of the Lord who are unwilling to accept gifts from foreign gods."

"It's not that they hate you, Mr. Fool, or for any other reason. They are not hostile to converts. They are happy to see that the City of Silver has been saved, but... they cannot change their own beliefs. They worship the sun and believe that this is salvation."

Derrick felt a little disappointed when he said this.

Faith is not so easy to abandon, especially the faith passed down from generation to generation, the only spiritual support in darkness and despair.

“Mr. World, could you please pass on more items related to the Lord?” Little Sun said almost pleadingly, “If the elders see that Mr. Fool has a close relationship with the Lord, they might be willing to slowly keep their faith and join us…”

Klein, who was already Mr. X of the Aurora Society and concurrently the True God "The Fool", was silent for a moment and nodded slowly:
"I will."

Then he quickly submitted a large amount of intelligence, traded some formulas and materials, and through private negotiations with the Dark Saint, he snatched a copy of the best believer's spell from the Aurora Society and handed it over to the Silver City along with food and medicine.

As the authority of the True Creator increases, the rewards for the Aurora Society's monthly selection of the best believers are also upgraded.

For the first time, Klein knew that the aura of holiness and corruption could be so harmoniously condensed into one spell, and it had multiple effects. It seemed to be based on the ability of the "Shepherd", with the purification, holiness, and blessing of the "Sun" path, as well as the shadow integration, flesh and blood magic, and weakened herding of the "Secret Prayer". It could make multiple choices before the spiritual power was exhausted according to the user's opening spell. It was completely 1+1>2, equivalent to a one-time version of "Creeping Hunger" without side effects.

Klein couldn't help but imagine, if the true Creator had a few more paths, would this God-given spell be omnipotent?
The gift from the gods was the best proof of the close relationship between The Fool and the true Creator. According to the feedback from the Sun, the City of Silver seemed very happy to receive this gift. However, the Council of Six was most interested not in this precious talisman but in items from the outside world. The first thing Klein sent over was a travel brochure.

With these gifts, Klein rented the "Staff of Life" for his followers.

Considering that the City of Silver seemed to have always believed that they were the last humans in the world and were completely unaware of the thriving world outside, Klein pondered for a long time and decided to give the brochure as a gift to the "Fools" to help them see the reality.

There is sunshine in the outside world, but the East Continent did not see the sun until last month; there are many gods in the outside world, but the dangerous shadows and darkness in the East Continent are born from the madness of the real Creator; the outside world is full of vitality, but the East Continent is barren, with no ocean, no forest, no wilderness, no daytime, only monsters and an unclear future... You are not the last chosen people protected by God, but a group abandoned by God and deliberately ignored because of your faith.

The True Creator seems to be sad about what is happening in the Eastern Continent, but will believers hate their Lord because of this?

Klein sighed.

He acted conscientiously in the hospital, and used his eerie face to create some small miracles of regenerating severed limbs. As a result, some of the magic potion of the "weird wizard" was digested, but he was still a long way from being promoted, which was far from enough.

"…There is no end to saving lives. People come and go in the hospital, batch after batch."

"And in the places I can't see, the number of people who died is countless times greater than the number of people I see..."

The physical and mental exhaustion goes far beyond that.

When "Magic Mirror" Arrodes pretended to be Dwayne Dantes, he took the initiative to reveal Mr. Dantes's love for beautiful women.

Therefore, many nobles and wealthy people now began to try to put some beautiful women around Mr. Dantes.

Klein remained silent. He tried to reject these beautiful women who were sent to him, but even if he rejected them, these girls would not return to where they came from, and might even fall into a more dangerous situation. So he accepted them and put them in his mansion and the manor he had just rented as maids. So at some balls, men teased Mr. Dantes in a teasing tone that he knew how to enjoy life and there were beauties everywhere in the manor.

Nausea.

he thinks.

But he couldn't refuse, nor did he want to refuse. At least, these girls, big and small, could have a stable job, a stable home, three meals a day, and the protection of a demigod. Some of them could even go home if they remembered where they came from.

“So much like Capin.” Klein would sometimes observe the nobles during breaks in the dance and think silently.

"These people are the richer and more powerful Kapins, and I am just like Kapin's patrons at the time. The abducted girls were sent to me. Their lives are as worthless as those of the people in the southern continent. If I want them to disappear, they won't even have the chance to ask for help."

"What good would it do me to kill a Kapin?"

"These things have almost nothing to do with the extraordinary. They are not for acting or extraordinary characteristics, but simply because of human selfishness. They still exist without extraordinary power. Kapin is dead. Has the trafficking ended? Has George III stopped? Has the darkness of the Kingdom of Loen disappeared?"

"No, I just can't see it."

"There must be many more Kapins out there that I can't see, but since I can't see them, so..."

Klein closed his eyes and saw darkness.

There was no point in punishing the nobles, and even shouting and cursing at those who had given him women would be of no avail, as some accepted them, some enjoyed them, some were Kapins, and some were Kapin's backers.

"Killing a few people won't change anything. Even if I really have the ability to kill George III, it will be useless and will cause chaos in Rune, which may have more serious consequences during the war."

"So what should I do...what should I do?"

...In the Hall family mansion.

Audrey sat on the balcony of her bedroom to bask in the sun, with Susie lying at her feet.

They did not communicate verbally, but used expressions and actions to read each other's thoughts.

Susie complained to Audrey: "When will the Beyonder who is responsible for monitoring us leave? I haven't gone out for a walk for a long time, Audrey. I feel like I'm getting rusty."

Audrey stroked Susie's head, sighed softly, looked out the window, and winked at Susie: "Be patient for a while, Susie, we can't leave the house now. I'll take you for a walk in the garden after afternoon tea."

Susie barked, then lay down again, closed her eyes and dozed off.

Audrey stood up calmly, lifted her skirt, and said to Anne, the personal maid standing outside the room, "Is the hot water in the bathroom ready?"

Anne's voice came from outside the room: "Okay, Miss."

"Okay." Audrey walked out of the room, and Anne followed closely behind her. After entering the bathroom, he asked Anne to wait outside. Audrey wore simple home clothes today, without complicated laces and crinolines, and could be put on and taken off without the help of a maid.

Only then will the feeling of being watched disappear.

Audrey breathed a sigh of relief, took off the metal brooch and gemstone earrings on her home clothes, picked up the flowers and essential oils for bathing. Then, she took out a candle from her sleeve, broke it into three parts, and built a simple ceremony venue on the dressing table in the bathroom.

She pressed her chest, listening to her heartbeat that was like a drum, and felt even more nervous than when she prayed to Mr. Fool.

"Relax, Audrey. This honorific name is correct and will not be passed on to a strange being..."

She took a deep breath, clasped her hands together, closed her eyes, and chanted in a low voice:

“Don’t extinguish the burning fire;

Prisoners of chaos and death-defying combat;

You are the creator of the cursed city;
You are the protector of all who rebel against fate;
Dear 'Angel of Temperance', Mr. Richard Ernst is with us..."

……

Eastern continent.

"Please rest assured." The True Creator said compassionately to an old woman, "The sun has risen, and the earth will soon regain its vitality. The day of redemption has arrived, and the days of suffering will end."

As He spoke, the dark sky lit up, and the warm sun rose slowly, covering everything in the world with golden light.

The monster turned into black smoke and disappeared. Golden crops broke through the soil, swaying gently like waves. The saved people laughed and sang praises to the omniscient and omnipotent Lord.

The woman, who looked so old that her age could not be determined, looked up for a long time, looking at everything in front of her.

The True Creator waited patiently for a long time before the woman dressed as a priest finally reluctantly turned her gaze away from the sun in the sky. She looked at the young man holding the cross in front of her and said solemnly and slowly: "Thank you, messenger of the Lord..."

Then, she turned around and walked slowly to the altar in the center of the city, lit the sacrificial fire, and threw the offerings and things that pleased the gods into the fire. The smoke rose into the sky, and she knelt down deeply in the direction of the sun.

"Praise be to you, Lord, the Almighty and the All-Knowing..."

"We are finally saved..."

The old and hoarse voice came intermittently, and the priestess's figure disappeared like a handful of sand falling in the wind.

The laughing people, the golden wheat fields and the entire city were weathered together. They were blown away by the wind, and the dream world was shattered.

The world darkened, revealing a pitch-black sky.

The true creator stood in the ruins of a city-state that was completely occupied by strange plants. The altar in the center of the city-state collapsed in half, and a hunched skeleton lay in the center of the altar. The priest's clothes and spiritual things on his body had rotted into mud.

Right above the dry bones, a powerful evil spirit like black fog hovered in the sky, protecting this city-state that had long lost its vitality. But the evil spirit's movement speed gradually slowed down, and its body gradually disintegrated without being attacked.

In its dream, it saw the legendary sunshine and its people received the belated salvation, so it happily disappeared.

The True Creator stood quietly there, clenched the cross in his hand, and whispered: "I am late, may you be liberated."

"Destroyed two hundred and forty-three years ago."

Edward also left the dream and conducted a rough archaeological activity around him. He pushed up his glasses and said, "I didn't expect this place to be destroyed... But without angels and level 0 seals, they persisted for a thousand years without succumbing to endless temptation and despair. In the end, they were swallowed by the external force from the darkness. It's quite respectable."

They came here following the memory of the amulet's last owner, and saw only a ruin that was mostly destroyed by traces of battle, and an evil spirit hovering in the air in a daze, dragging all the living things around it into the battle that destroyed the city.

“But they were not saved.”

When being destroyed by an irresistible monster, when watching yourself and your loved ones die, which is more painful, or the relief of ending the pain? The True Creator took a deep breath, and then exhaled deeply: "Is delayed redemption still redemption?"

The Outer God shrugged.

"It's up to you." He said, "I can comfort you by saying 'at least you came', or I can say 'no', but you should have the answer in your heart when you ask this question."

"Yes, if I have to say, I don't regret it." The True Creator whispered, "But I just don't regret it."

Edward glanced at Him and praised Him casually, "You are in good shape now."

"You call this kind of mental burden a good state?"

"I'm thinking from your perspective. The fact that you can feel the burden means you're already in good shape." Edward crossed his arms and teased, "If you hadn't reacted all along, I would have considered which direction to run in when I leave Earth in the future."

The True Creator did not respond and sighed softly.

He raised his head and looked into the distance. His sight penetrated the shadows and darkness and saw the huge barrier of fog that divided the continent.

Edward was also looking in that direction.

"I have to state in advance that I am currently incapable of opening the seal of the Heavenly Lord." The True Creator said, "Do you still insist on going now?"

The Outer God nodded: "When you have the ability to open the seal, will my Essence still be mine? But there seems to be a city-state nearby. Do you want to bypass it or visit it?"

"Go visit them." The True Creator took a step and walked towards the gray fog seal. "There are few survivors in the East Continent. I can't let them go on like this. The sun alone is far from enough. We need to get help from the outside world like Silver City did."

"Oh, are you going to give them the honorific name of 'Fool'?" Edward said, "You really work hard for the younger generation."

The True Creator glanced at Him and asked, "Which identity are you using now?"

"I think it should be Edward Vaughn." The Outer God paused for a second and tapped his temple with his hand. "Don't you think so? Maybe it's because this land and I are very compatible. I think of the people in it and I accidentally started to speak in the tone of the first me."

The expression on Edward's face gradually disappeared, and he looked out into the darkness with a rather distant look.

"It makes me miss it so much. My hometown is also like this, full of despair and pain. No matter what race they are, they are all sinking in the fighting."

"We were broken into pieces and turned into nests to protect against the cold, fuel, and extraordinary characteristics for nurturing the next generation. But their lives were not easy either. In order to ensure the health of the next generation, they need enough food and nutrition. To this end, they even need to let the mother eat part of the father to keep the fetus healthy, just like the praying mantis. Sometimes, when there is insufficient nutrition, the mother will automatically digest the unborn embryo."

The True Creator frowned.

He said in a brisk tone:

"All this pain is for the sake of living, but living has become a burden... When you asked me about 'salvation' just now, it suddenly occurred to me that if I were a person in the God-forsaken Land, I might kill you just like I killed Him, if I had the chance."

“Not knowing the truth about the Cataclysm may be a kind of happiness.”

The Outer Gods didn't speak again, and neither did the True Creator.

After a few seconds, the Outer God reached out and pinched both sides of his cheeks, and his expression naturally changed from indifference to friendliness.

"Okay, that was just some emotional remnants that came to mind. The story has already ended, and I actually quite like this kind of atmosphere." Edward adjusted his facial expression and said with a smile, "It seems that the human spirit is quite tenacious, much stronger than I thought. Your believers can rely on their faith to support them for so long, and you are the best among them."

"..."

"You are not thinking about what I just said, are you?" Edward asked curiously, "Then I have to interview you."

"No." The True Creator sighed, "Let's go."

TBC
------

Just keep moving forward.

(End of this chapter)