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

831
After his spiritual energy was restored a little, Bethel opened his eyes and looked around.

The Dusk Greatsword was not far away, and the Scroll of God was also here, on Sefirah Castle—Bethel had received the message and had just finished reading it—Klein did not take it back immediately. It seemed that Klein was accommodating the uniqueness.

“Klein is about to accommodate the uniqueness… It seems that “He” has not completed the ceremony of advancing to Sequence One at all?”

Bethel was a little confused, but confusion was confusion. Klein's compatibility with Sefirah Castle was so high that Bethel felt he was dreaming. So it was not surprising that He had a special way to bypass the unfinished ritual and directly advance to Sequence One and accommodate uniqueness.

After allowing himself to mourn the death of his old friend Antigonus for a moment, Mr. "Door" looked at the "Scroll of God" with a headache, stretched out his hand, and tried to seal the item.

But once His spirit approached the "Painting of God", it was instantly sucked away by the aura of Sefirah Castle, like a stone sinking into the sea. Bethel had no choice but to take the "Dusk Greatsword" first, and then peeled off two Sequence 2 Beyonder characteristics from it, sealed them casually, and then combined the surrounding objects and spiritual creatures to make a simple seal, and threw it through the "door" to the Abraham family's residence.

——Dorian, who was so excited that he hadn’t slept all night and went out for a walk at dawn, was so scared that he hid behind a tree.

After sending two level 0 sealed objects to his descendants, Bethel felt a little better. He threw the "Dusk Greatsword" into the sealed space, and then looked at the "God's Scroll" carefully.

“Perhaps I can use the aura of Sefirah Castle above to find the location of Sefirah Castle…” An idea suddenly occurred to his mind.

Bethel always does what it wants to do, and it is always decisive and thoughtful.

Before leaving with the scroll, He first flew above Calderon and looked down. The seal left by the God of War had begun to dissipate due to His death. Bethel also accelerated the speed of the seal dissipating, but the scene in front of His eyes still made Him frown.

The spiraling stone steps and the stone pillars supporting the vast underground space were like words formed by the entanglement of birds and snakes... Bethel swept his eyes past these ancient and vicissitudes of life, and his gaze fell directly on the pale, misty river rising at the bottom.

If He remembered correctly, there should be the bodies of the "Mother of Heaven" and the God of Death, as well as extraordinary characteristics, by the river.

But - the riverside is now empty and clean, as if no one has ever been there!
Where did their bodies and extraordinary characteristics go? Did the river water rise? But I had never seen the "Eternal Darkness River" before, so I had no way to get the answer... Bethel felt something was wrong. Looking directly at the pale "Eternal Darkness River" made him feel like he was looking directly into the abyss. Just like those bottomless cracks, canyons, and hundreds of meters high cliffs, there is always a strange magic that attracts people to jump down.

Bethel decided not to explore the secrets at the bottom of the river. He sealed Calderon again and left with the scroll and his spoils.

The return journey was unusually easy and the destination was unusually clear.

The place he was going to was Intis after thousands of years. In the capital Trier, his descendants were waiting for the return of their ancestor.

……

"It's almost over."

Pales said suddenly while looking at the sky gradually brightening in the east.

Leonard, who was lost in thought about other things, suddenly woke up and asked in a low voice: "What's over?"

"The war of gods," Pales said again with rare patience, "The war of gods is over."

Is the war of gods over?
Leonard didn't have much sense of reality about what happened before, but his mind finally cleared up after hearing these words. He thought of Klein, Bethel Abraham, Amon, and the church that was shattered in the light. Pales' words reminded him of the huge wars that had nothing to do with him but involved him. Under the huge blows that followed one after another, the former "nightmare" felt like he had just woken up from a long nightmare. No, he just woke up now. He was still immersed in some details of the nightmare.

"it's over……"

Leonard was silent for a moment, then asked softly, “Is the winner Bethel Abraham?”

"It could be Antigonus, or it could be someone else." Pales said in a steady voice, "But no matter what, Bethel Abraham is another winner of this war. The decisive battle of the Lord of Mysteries is getting closer and closer."

"Old man, what do you think of Klein..."

"Don't keep asking me about your former colleague."

Why are you talking about something else? You ask me, how do I know who the Fool is? How do I know whether your former colleague is the Fool's follower or the Fool himself? Pallez interrupted Leonard stiffly, "Oh! I don't know everything, and now I have lost my Sequence One. I rely on experience to judge the situation. How can I know about your former colleague who is a Sequence Two? Wow, this is incredible. Your former colleague's promotion speed is really fast, and it's the same as mine now."

Leonard sighed and ruffled his hair with his hands, making his already messy black hair even messier:
"Old man, do you think I should feel honored? I have experienced so many things in person. I even faced Amon not long ago and was involved in the war between gods. But I still survived."

"But I can't be happy at all. I, I..."

He was speechless.

Pales did not try to steal the negative emotions in Leonard's heart, nor did he say anything when he was emotional. Only after Leonard gradually calmed down did the old angel sigh and say:
"Well, complaining here won't help."

"I have been completely eliminated from the competition with the Lord of Mysteries. Unless someone wants to take my Sequence Two, we should be able to spend some relatively safe and peaceful time. Whether you want to go find your friend's family and give them assistance, or go to the church to mourn, you can do whatever you want. I only have one request, and that is to try not to get close to the church of the God of Thunder."

"Since you're already alive, don't think about death. Just do what a living person should do."

Leonard listened to Pales' words quietly without saying anything.

He was already a mature and qualified Extraordinary who knew what he should do, but he had temporarily lost his way and was mentally unstable due to the huge blow. With Leonard's own will and ability to withstand pressure, he could gradually recover from his grief, but the presence of Pales was undoubtedly his reassurance, allowing him to find himself faster and better, and to find his due competence and steadiness.

"…Thank you, old man."

Pales made a very loud "tsk" sound. "You're thanking someone and still calling him old man? You're such an impolite boy."

Leonard scratched his head. He felt a little embarrassed by the reprimand. He smiled awkwardly and was about to thank Pales again when he heard the old voice continue in his mind:

"Forget it, forget it. I've gotten used to hearing you yell like that for so long. Don't change it. If you say something like "Respected", "Your Highness", "Your Excellency", I'll probably be so disgusted that I won't be able to read the newspaper."

"What newspaper do you want to order this time?"

Leonard selectively ignored Pales' complaints. Anyway, he was used to Pales' occasional sarcasm and belittlement.

He stood up, patted the dust on his body, and asked casually: "You said before that the main page of "Backlund Daily" was already full of praises for the emperor, and reading it made you sleepy. "Tasok Daily" also said Because news that doesn’t involve politics is getting more and more boring. You are not interested in the two mainstream newspapers in Backlund, and you think Tingen’s daily newspaper is not even as good as the first two newspapers. You can only kill time. Are you right now, old man? Are you interested in the news and third-rate tabloids that gossip about nobles and rich people?"

As he spoke, Leonard walked towards the outskirts of the forest.

After spending a night at the foot of the desolate and cold mountain, he was already feeling cold and buttoned up his coat tightly. He had not dared to go out before for fear of implicating others, but now he could not wait to go to a nearby village or town to eat a hot stew or soup to warm himself up.

"I mean, you might want to consider moving."

"Moving?" Leonard stopped and asked in confusion, "Where to move to?"

Pales did not answer directly, but opened his mouth and said a shocking news:
"The Church of Night will soon cease to exist. You should leave Loen or join the Church of Thunder."

Leonard widened his eyes slightly:

"Are the two churches going to merge? This is so sudden. Why?"

Although the previous cooperation had already vaguely shown the signs of the church's decline...but why did they suddenly merge?
Besides, the doctrines, concepts, and ritual requirements of the two churches are extremely different. Just on the aspects of education, family, and work, the believers and scholars of the two gods have had countless quarrels throughout history. Now that they are merging, whose doctrines and concepts will be the main ones?

Considering the fact that the Church of Evernight seemed equal to the Church of Thunder but was actually slightly inferior to it - he, a captain of a Sequence 5 Beyonder, was actually taken away by the "Manufactured Punisher" with a document from the Church of Thunder, and came after the Church of Evernight's notification, it can be seen that this was a case of acting first and asking for permission later - Leonard had no hope that the teachings of the Church of Evernight could dominate.

If the Thunder Church's ideas are dominant, then as an extraordinary person who has been educated by the Church of Night since childhood, Leonard should really consider not going back to work.

And it was obvious that even if he went back, there would be no room for further promotion.

In Leonard's mind, Pales laughed and asked meaningfully:
"Why aren't you using your brain now? Is it because you don't want to guess at that reality?" "The God of Thunder has already introduced Feynaport's Church of the Mother Earth to Loen. Now think carefully about what 'The Church of the Night will cease to exist' means."

Leonard's breath suddenly stopped.

"Wait, old man, what do you mean by that?"

“You mean, the goddess, the goddess has already—?! Is this true? How did you know? So this is not a fusion of two churches, but the Thunder and Truth Church directly incorporated all the extraordinary people of our Night Church—”

The goddess is dead?

It's unbelievable...very unbelievable, as disturbing as if a piece of common sense suddenly collapsed, as unbelievable as if there would never be nights and stars again from now on.

But can gods die? --Yes.

Leonard had heard of the death of gods more than once. He didn't know when it started, but the idea that the gods, who were high above and existed since time immemorial, could also die had gradually changed from a heinous delusion to a despairing fact.

It seems that since the day when the "Eternal Sun" fell, many occult organizations and speeches preaching that "the gods will die and the end of the world is coming" have gradually spread in various circles. The successive deaths of gods have caused these speeches to gradually gain a market in the church. Gradually, even official controls cannot keep up with the speed of the spread of these pessimistic speeches.

Even the witch sect, which corresponds to "disaster and doomsday" in mysticism, has attracted a large number of believers and followers because of this.

Pales glanced at Leonard and said, "You are calmer than I thought."

"is it?"

Leonard was silent for a while, then reached out and touched his face. He found that his expression was indeed very calm, so he pulled the corner of his mouth and said with a smile: "Maybe I have been stimulated a lot, so I don't have any reaction now. When I heard you tell me this news, I thought I would cry loudly, be sad to the point of losing control, lose the direction of my life, and be at a loss... But I didn't expect that, um, I was quite calm."

“Maybe this is also growth.”

Instead of answering, Pales asked, "Are you sad?"

Leonard was silent longer this time.

Which is harder to accept: the collapse of faith or the death of the object of faith? Leonard didn't know the answer, and he never thought he would have the honor to experience both kinds of pain one by one.

As a child who grew up in the orphanage of the Church of the Goddess of Night, Leonard had to admit that he did not suffer as much as the children in other orphanages, which subtly established his faith and gratitude towards the Goddess in his heart. With the idea of ​​"wanting to give the help that the Goddess gave me to more people", Leonard successfully grew up to be an outstanding person.

Leonard felt that his faith could be considered devout, and the goddess was like the person he admired most in his heart.

Therefore, after realizing that the person he most admired, who "helped him", "saved many people" and "gave him the right to education", actually condoned the occurrence of a series of disasters caused by Ince Zangwill - and even the disasters happened in Tingen where he was - Leonard's cognition and worldview were greatly impacted.

The concepts and beliefs he had held since childhood were shattered by a heavy hammer, leaving spider-web-like cracks. Leonard could no longer be as happy and pious as before.

"I'm very sad." He said in a hoarse voice.

"I feel like crying, even for my faith, but I can't cry, old man."

"Because I already cried once, when I realized that Ince Zangwill was able to escape with 0-08, it was the Goddess's consent."

Pales sighed: "Cry if you want to, I won't laugh at you."

Leonard laughed at himself and said:

"No, I don't want to cry anymore, and I shouldn't complain because I have no right to be unhappy or complain."

"I was just thinking that the future development has always been determined by the gods. For example, when the goddess died, the God of Thunder took over the Church of Night, and then made peace with Feynaport and introduced the Church of Mother Earth. Things seem to have always been developing in this way. Does this mean that the hatred, wars, pain and unreasonable deaths we mortals experience are actually not important?"

"If I say this is a necessity," Pales thought for a moment and said carefully, "it's like sacrificing ten people for a hundred people, or sacrificing a thousand people for ten thousand people. Would you feel better if I said this?"

Leonard lowered his head and looked at the frost-covered grass at his feet:

"If it is necessary, then I am willing to die. But I hope at least someone can tell me why I am dying."

After saying this, Leonard took a deep breath, wiped his face in the cold wind, and patted his cheeks hard, as if he wanted to expel the negative emotions that had accumulated in his body with the deep breath.

"Old man, I understand what you mean. I can't live in Loen any longer."

Leonard summoned the spirits that he had signed a contract with, took the emergency change he had stored from them, counted it and put it in his pocket, then asked, "You mentioned the church to me and asked me to move. Do you have a goal in mind?"

"Hmm." Pales said noncommittally.

"Since you said that you have completely eliminated yourself from the competition for the Lord of Mysteries, why don't I contact Klein? Working for The Fool doesn't seem like a bad idea. Mr. Fool is very kind, and Klein can introduce me to him."

...Pallez said, "I don't object to your idea, but I suggest you observe for a while. Wait until the next Tarot meeting, or until your former colleague contacts you, then you can consider asking him to introduce you to The Fool."

Leonard thought about it and nodded: "You are right."

Then, he raised his head and looked at the main peak of the mountain behind him that towered into the clouds:

"So where are we going next? This is the Honachis Mountains. After crossing this mountain, we can go to Intis."

Intis is the new residence of the Abraham family. Bethel Abraham is most likely there. He should not think highly of me, a Sequence Two of the adjacent pathway... Pales weighed the pros and cons, made a simple judgment with the power of "Decryption Scholar", and finally said.

"Our target is not Intis, but we have to go to Intis first."

Leonard understood the meaning of this sentence: "Want to pass through there and then go to the destination?"

"Correct."

"Where are we going?" Leonard asked. "I only have 300 pounds on hand. I have to exchange currency when I get to Intis. I don't speak Intis very well, so I have to summon a local spirit to help me translate. If I go far, I'm afraid I won't have enough money for the trip."

"It's quite thoughtful."

Pales made a half-appreciative remark, then pondered for a moment and said according to the deciphered answer:

"Go to a small town northwest of Intis. There is an abandoned castle in the forest outside the town. It's called 'Dilan'."

As he spoke, a vague figure appeared in Pales' mind.

After seeing the outline of the figure, Pales's spirituality was touched, and the corners of his mouth involuntarily rose:
"Don't worry, you have enough money for the trip. It doesn't matter if it's not enough. Haha, I have a feeling that we will meet someone there, someone who has the same destination as us..."

TBC
------

"Same destination? Old man, why don't you just tell me our final destination? Have you not yet figured out our final destination?"

"Just stop talking and go over Mount Honachis to the northwest of Intis."

“That’s easy to say!”