Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 505 The Secret of Contradictions
The saintess turned her head and looked at Li Wei.

"Is there a problem? Are you trying to say that you care more about the lives of those people in Huadu than the rest of the world?"

"From a humanitarian perspective, every life is precious."

Li Wei uttered a pointless statement to express his stance, which was indeed pointless. From a humanitarian perspective, war shouldn't have happened yet, and he had been at the forefront of many such actions.

"But before that... you just said that the seal is in the City of Flowers. Aren't you afraid that this explosion will break the seal on the Gates of Hell?"

“The seal is not a physical entity. If that were the case, those demon cultists would have dug up the Gates of Hell long ago, without me even having to lift a finger.”

That makes sense. After all, the Holy Bishop has been operating in Huadu for so many years, and he's even moved his headquarters there. If this is some kind of physical seal...

"Then what's the point of you doing this?"

"It's very simple."

The saint blinked.

"This will be a huge disaster, and then we can claim that it was all the work of the devil. We can then tell the whole world that the devil is the one who caused this disaster. Then we can take out some frozen devil corpses as evidence, which will reverse the Holy Bishop's claim that devils are heretics, thereby stabilizing the seal of the Gates of Hell."

"…………………"

This is what happens when a smart person turns evil; they really did think everything through.

Or perhaps this isn't even considered a turn to the dark side, after all, in the Saintess's era, no one knew how many people would die in a single battle... Maybe in the Saintess's eyes, a mere million people were a risk that the world could risk sacrificing.

Even Li Wei himself wasn't sure if this was a bad idea. After all, he had to consider the interests of the empire. Even from Li Wei's own perspective, Fog City and Flower City were only separated by the Storm Sea. If the Gates of Hell really opened in Flower City, who could guarantee that the demons wouldn't cross the Storm Sea to attack Fog City?

Wouldn't you be the one who suffers in the end?
In movies and games, protagonists often say they won't sacrifice the minority for the majority—it's politically correct, after all, so it's understandable. But in reality… well, it has to be said, aside from humanitarian reasons, Li Wei really couldn't come up with a reason to stop the saintess from doing this.

Not to mention that most of the people in Huadu have either fled or been captured and sent to concentration camps. The current population of Huadu is less than a third of its usual size, so this is arguably the period with the fewest casualties. Otherwise, once the situation stabilizes and most people return to Huadu, the number of casualties will be even higher.

But it's not enough.

Li Wei knew why he couldn't persuade the Holy Maiden: the information asymmetry meant he had absolutely no knowledge of the matter and could only believe whatever the Holy Maiden said. Unfortunately, as a detective, Li Wei wasn't so easily swayed by others' words.

Even a saintess...

"Miss Saint, would you mind if I asked you a few questions?"

"What's the problem?"

"The question concerning the Holy Bishop."

Li Wei looked at the saintess and spoke in a low voice.

"Since you're with Emperor Arthur, you must be quite familiar with the affairs of the Holy Bishops. Could you tell me why Emperor Arthur established the Holy Bishops?"

Why do you want to know this...?

The saintess was taken aback by the question Li Wei suddenly posed.

"Alright, now that the Holy Bishop's records are all lies, then I'll tell you what the truth is."

The saintess turned her head and walked to the rooftop, with Li Wei following behind her. At this moment, the floating city was about seven or eight hundred meters above the ground. Looking down from the balcony, one could see the earth slowly moving—well, this thing was moving even slower than an airship, which relieved Li Wei.

It seems he still has enough time to extract information.

How much do you know about the history of this world?

"I know a little bit. For example, I know that this world was originally ruled by ancient dragons, and then the Golden Clan appeared—the latter should be what we now call gods. They defeated the ancient dragons, ignited the flames, and illuminated this world. Later, the flames went out, and the Golden Clan left this world. Then Emperor Arthur appeared, unified the continent, and established an empire."

"You know quite a lot."

Upon hearing this, a genuine look of surprise appeared in the saintess's eyes as she looked at Li Wei.

Are these records also kept?

"I saw it by chance in a book."

Li Wei didn't mention the Ancient Ones, as that was too ancient, and the Holy Maiden couldn't possibly know. It seems she only knew the history of this era, and not the story of the Ancient Ones who first descended from the heavens.

In retrospect, what I saw in that book was not an illusion.

"Just like you said, because the flames gradually died out, the gods had to leave this world. They are like fish, they will die once they leave the water. The same is true for the gods. Without the flames, they will only become weak in this world and eventually die a miserable death. So, the gods left this world and left this mess for us."

At this point, the saintess snorted.

"Of course, this is a good thing for us. But it's not for the gods. In fact, most of the gods who left back then have disappeared without a trace. The gods that people worship after that can be considered their descendants. Of course, some gods did not choose to leave completely."

"I see..."

"These gods and their descendants who survived were the gods worshipped by people in our time. Later, these gods discovered that human faith could also bring them some power, although not as powerful as fire, but human faith could still sustain their existence... For those gods who survived, this was certainly a good thing. So they absorbed the power of mortal faith on a daily basis and occasionally gave it back to their believers to strengthen their faith."

It feels like running a bank. Isn't this just about taking in depositors' money? As long as there are fewer people withdrawing money than depositing it, the bank can make a profit. And whether or not people withdraw money, and how much they can withdraw, is entirely up to the bank.

It's estimated that the money saved for a year will only be withdrawn once a year.

It's possible that it could be taken only once every ten years.

"Initially, the gods thought this was a good method. Although it was not as powerful as fire, the power of faith was enough for them to survive. But gradually, the gods discovered that the power of human faith was not so easy to obtain. As they absorbed faith, they themselves also changed."

"change?"

"Yes, Mr. Li Wei. You should know this principle: one person can never fully understand another, and the same goes for gods. A god's temperament—whether good or bad, what they like or dislike, what their personality is—is something mortals can never understand. Therefore, when believers imagine gods, they imagine the gods they desire. And this influences those gods, causing them to undergo unimaginable changes. In other words, the gods are horrified to discover that they are changing in the direction that mortals have imagined. I think you can understand how terrifying that is."

"That's true."

Li Wei nodded.

"But since the gods and believers communicated back then, couldn't they just publish a book and let the believers record and memorize it in their own way?"

"They are not in this world, and communicating with believers in this world requires energy, and the gods themselves do not have much energy to waste. Moreover, the concept of time is different between gods and mortals. What may have been just a few days in the eyes of gods may have been several years in the eyes of mortals. And what might happen during this time is something no one can predict."

As she spoke, the saint gave an example.

"To put it this way, there was once a pair of twin gods who had a very good relationship. The country that worshipped them at the time also worshipped both twin gods together. But after that, that country experienced political turmoil and division, and eventually the twin gods were worshipped separately. In order to help maintain their rule, both religions fabricated some legends and stories to persuade the followers of the twin gods to hate each other. As a result, the absorption of faith led to the twin gods, who were originally very close, becoming at odds with each other."

"That's indeed... hard to say."

Li Wei thought about it carefully, and from the gods' perspective, this was indeed quite absurd. The power of faith was essential sustenance for them; without it, they would starve. But the problem was that it was laced with poison, causing chronic poisoning… which was very troublesome.

So either starve to death quickly or become a completely different person through chronic poisoning; from the perspective of the gods, neither is good.

"At that time, Arthur longed to unify the continent, and naturally he also wanted to unify the religions. So he came up with a way to solve the problem faced by the gods." Hearing this, Li Wei's heart stirred, and he remembered what the goddess of night had told him.

"Could it be...?"

“That’s right. He approached the gods and proposed creating a completely new religion—the Holy Bishop, and the Holy Lord would become the embodiment of all the gods. All the power of faith would converge on the Holy Lord. Since there is no Holy Lord as a person, this power of faith will not be absorbed by the Holy Lord, and the gods can absorb the part they want through this embodiment of the Holy Lord, each taking what they need.”

So that's how it is. It's like the theological story Elizabeth told Li Wei before, where someone asked the Pope, "How can this Holy Lord be both good and bad, saving the world and destroying it at the same time? It seems like he has a split personality." Obviously, this is also how many believers feel about the Holy Lord. Some believers find him stern, some find him benevolent, and some find him terrifying.

When these forces of faith, imbued with the profound impressions of believers, are gathered together, they can be used by the gods when needed.

For example, a benevolent god absorbs the benevolent aspect, and a stern god absorbs the stern aspect. In this way, they are not afraid to change themselves and can absorb strength to survive.

"The gods have agreed?"

"They didn't object, but they weren't entirely willing either. At the very least, Arthur had to demonstrate his strength and gain their approval."

"Ah, so that's where the section on trials in the Holy Bishops comes from?"

"The Holy Bishop was merely mixing these things together and fabricating new lies. In the end, the gods agreed to Arthur's proposal, replacing the other religions with the Holy Bishop, and the All-Seeing Eye became a symbol shared by all the gods."

"So this is why Emperor Arthur created the Holy Bishops?"

“That’s right. Unifying the country and unifying the religion are both necessary. At the beginning, some gods suggested that we could consider having the same religion but worshipping different gods. However, the fate of the twin gods made the gods decide to abandon this idea and instead adopt the same symbol.”

"In this way, the problem of splitting beliefs will not arise."

Indeed, the current schools of thought within the Holy Bishops are merely different interpretations of the Holy Lord, which is better than splitting into two Holy Lords.

Hmm? But the Goddess of Night said that most of the gods have gone into hibernation? Is it because the power of faith is insufficient?

But how could the power of faith be insufficient? According to the saintess, the holy bishop should have already solved this problem; now, almost eighty percent of the people on the entire continent are followers of the holy bishop…

Thinking about this, Li Wei felt that there seemed to be some problems with the saintess's explanation and the goddess of night's explanation.

“Miss Saint, I have another question.”

"Ok?"

Is the power of faith only generated by devout believers?

"It hasn't come to that point, where faith alone is enough... I think that's how it should be, but that's not my area of ​​research after all."

Indeed, although this woman is a saint, she has absolutely nothing to do with religion; in fact, one could say she specializes in biomedicine and industrial manufacturing…

"Miss Saint".

Thinking of this, Li Wei decided to speak frankly. He stared at the saintess and began to speak.

"I once met the Goddess of the Night by chance. She told me that most of the gods had fallen into slumber because they hadn't absorbed faith for a long time... But there are quite a few people who believe in the Holy Bishop now. Even excluding those casual believers, there are many fervent believers in the Holy Bishop. Where has the faith power they generated gone? Can you give a judgment?"

"———————!"

Sky City suddenly shuddered and came to a stop. Li Wei felt like he was standing on a bus when it suddenly braked, and he almost fell to the ground. He turned around and saw the Holy Maiden looking at him, her face clearly showing surprise and astonishment.

"Have you seen the Goddess of Night? Where?"

"The Realm of Dreams".

"You've been to the Dream Realm?"

"It was just a coincidence."

"You're really lucky. Most people who go to the Dream Realm never come back."

That's right, he almost didn't make it back.

"The Goddess of Night told you that they haven't absorbed the power of faith for a long time?"

"Yes, unless the gods also have a problem with having too many children... they probably don't have many children, right?"

"It might take thousands of years to produce one."

The saintess frowned, her expression grave as she shook her head. Unfortunately, judging from her demeanor, she clearly didn't have time to pay attention to Li Wei's joke.

Clearly, the saintess and Li Wei were thinking about the same problem.

If the gods haven't absorbed any power of faith for so many years, where has that power of faith gone?

Who absorbed them?

If we compare the power of faith to money, the Holy Bishop to a bank, and the Holy Lord to a bank account, then it's like so many believers depositing money into the Holy Lord's account through the Holy Bishop every year, but after so many years, there's not a single penny left.
So where did this money go?
Given that the saint claimed the bishop had become a follower of the devil, Levi had a very bad idea.

"Miss Saint, do you think... it's possible for a demon to absorb this power of faith?"

In reality, when money disappears from a bank account, it's either because someone stole the bank card PIN and account number, or because critical information was leaked. But in this case, the entire bank itself is not clean…

"You mean, the demon is impersonating Holy Lord..."

The saintess gritted her teeth, frowned, and pondered for a long time before finally shaking her head in dejection.

“I’m not sure. As I said before, theology is not within my research scope… In fact, I’ve only heard Arthur mention the Holy Lord’s practice of sharing the faith; I haven’t been involved in how it was actually implemented.”

"So, who was in charge of implementing it?"

“Bishop Mephistopheles, one of the Twelve Knights, was primarily responsible for religious affairs.”

It's quite amusing that a bishop would name himself Mephistopheles.

"Where is this bishop's fiefdom?"

"In your current terms..."

The saintess pondered for a moment.

"In the Kingdom of Krant."

"………………………Um?"

Cront annexed Francis, and Cront sent men to find the saint's castle.

And now, it is actually the birthplace of the Holy Bishop?

　It's only twenty-nine, I think it's about the same as thirty... I still need to buy lamb rolls and beef rolls, that's all I eat for hot pot, and some shrimp paste too?
　　
　
(End of this chapter)