Ice Vapor Goddess

Chapter 9 Ark
The next morning, they set off again.

The wind and snow were no different from yesterday, but the alcohol thermometer showed that the temperature had dropped to -15°C, three degrees lower than yesterday.

"I hope it won't stay cold for long..." Xiren prayed in his heart.

The railway tracks, which served as landmarks, were buried half a meter deep in snow, which continuously slowed their progress—they had to determine the direction in which the tracks extended before they could continue.

Fortunately, after walking four miles, a village began to appear in the distance.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Mathilde excitedly dragged the sled forward, and Siren quickened his pace.

It was a typical northern-style village, with houses built of dark gray sandstone and thatched roofs scattered haphazardly on the ground. Thick snow covered the doors and even caused the roofs of several houses to collapse.

There was not a sound in the village.

Xiren pulled open a half-closed door, and then a completely frozen corpse slammed into him, its terrified face and bluish-black skin hitting Xiren's neck.

He was so frightened that he forgot to scream and fell to the ground with a thud, the stiff corpse of the villager landing right in his arms.

"What's wrong?" Aldridge approached upon hearing the voice, and Siren forced down his trembling voice: "Dead."

It was the body of a middle-aged man, wearing only a thin summer linen shirt, his body bluish-black from the cold.

He struggled to climb to the door, trying to leave home, but he froze to death the instant he grabbed the door, his body stiff as ice.

Siren placed the body on the ground and made the sign of the cross on his chest.

"They're dead over here too." Kyle's voice came from afar. The young man, who had witnessed death many times, sat on the ground with a blank look in his eyes, clutching the cross that Xiren had given him. It seemed that only this thing could bring him a little bit of security.

Xiren sighed and continued walking forward.

Mathilde had already run to the front. This girl had always been a woman of action. Judging from her hair color, she was probably a Western Hebrew, whose hair color was mostly red. She was also a great whiskey maker.

“The numbers don’t match.” She opened door after door. “There are fewer dead people than houses, and all the doors are open, which means that many villagers did not freeze to death, but simply left this place.”

Everyone else agreed with this conclusion, and Logan also found some footprints and tire tracks in the snow nearby.

The group continued walking for a while and heard some sounds coming from the wind.

"I do not……"

"You must..."

"It's too late..."

Their spirits lifted, and they quickened their pace toward the direction of the sound.

A dark figure gradually emerged from the wind and snow, accompanied by a cacophony of voices, seemingly hurling insults at each other.

"My cow is dead! All because you stopped me! If we had left earlier, we would have reached Speyside much sooner!"

"Sorry, but if this continues, you'll die on the road too."

"You owe me my cow!"

"That's right, it's one thing if you can't bring the chickens, but how are the cows supposed to survive if you can't bring them either...?" "My geese!"

A group of villagers surrounded a young soldier, hurling insults and accusations at him.

In the crowd, a mother holding her child knelt on the ground to keep warm, a lonely child held hands, a hunchbacked old man was leaning on a man's back, and an old man leading a dead cow was angrily cursing the soldiers.

There were probably more than forty people there, their eyes filled with anger or confusion, but mostly with fear and anxiety.

"What are you doing?" Siron asked, holding a pastor's staff. Little angels singing hymns appeared behind him, and soothing music filled the air. People turned to look.

"Lord!" People knelt down in prayer, but the young soldier remained standing, looking somewhat embarrassed.

“I am the Bishop of Speyside.” Siren looked at the soldier. “What’s going on?”

The soldier punched his chest with his right fist and saluted: "Sir Bishop, I have been sent here by Governor Spesse to guide the villagers to safety."

“I see.” Xiren looked around. “You’re not letting them bring the cattle, is that right?”

The soldier was somewhat embarrassed: "We can't take the livestock that far. It's an order from above, so we can only send people."

Siren nodded: "Are there any kinds of livestock in Naspese?"

“Of course, sir, and there are actually villages closer where you can bring livestock, but this place is four miles from Speyside…”

Siren nodded, then said to the villagers, “You have seen it—the end times have come, just as the scriptures foretold. Have you not heard the words, ‘Bring two of every kind of living creature, male and female, into the ark, and keep them alive with you’? Speyer was the ark set up under God’s prophecy, but livestock were not allowed to enter freely except for believers. Otherwise, wouldn’t that be taking up the place of the believers? And which of God’s children would you allow to freeze in the snow?”

As soon as the words were spoken, the kneeling villagers cried out, "Have mercy, Your Excellency Bishop! Forgive us! Your words are like the words of God. We were wrong, we were all wrong. We are willing to do everything we can to atone for our sins. Please lead us!"

Faced with the crowd kneeling on the ground, Xiren remained silent, but a shocking sense of unease and vigilance welled up in his heart.

So, this is the kind of power I hold in my hands?
He recalled Mathilde's words: he was a bishop, and having taken up the staff, he was bound by such responsibilities and destiny.

He could make people weep with just a word, and he could even make people kneel down simply by appearing in public. That kind of unreserved trust mixed with ignorance put Xiren under immense pressure.

“Get up,” he said. “Now, let’s go to Speyside.”

The young soldier looked at Xilun, a sense of terror lingering within him.

I spent so much time explaining, and the bishop resolved it with just one sentence. Is this divine authority?
Siren distributed the extra winter clothes and food on the sled to the people and told them to put their heavier personal belongings on the sled. Then he selected several strong men to take turns pulling the sled.

So the group of fifty men set off for Speyside.

On the way, Xiren asked the soldiers some questions about the city.

The soldier had only recently arrived in Speyside; he was originally a bodyguard of Rein Hoffman, an imperial general who had been appointed governor of Speyside by the Queen two months prior and was now the local leader.

Centuries ago, bishops were powerful local figures who could even be elected emperors, but that's no longer the case. At least within the Albion Empire, the real power of a local bishop is far less than that of a local governor.

More importantly, according to the soldiers, Ryan had a guard of more than seventy men, and Speyer's more than two hundred militiamen were also under his command.

The church also provided him with a guard, but unfortunately, only Logan and Kyle remained.

(End of this chapter)