What did you do with the dice?

"God, we have concluded our discussion."

After the other eleven people finished their discussion, Theresa, as the representative, nodded slightly towards the throne.

"The gates of the abyss are about to open. Before then, gather as much strength as possible." The dark figure on the throne spoke slowly, his voice indistinguishable between male and female. "Also, the prophesied messenger of the end has arrived. Find and destroy him as soon as possible."

The shadowy figures present began to stir, and Theresa, once again, was the first to ask on their behalf: "Excuse me, Lord God, are there any signs of the arrival of the Messenger of the Apocalypse? What are his characteristics?"

"This is part of the test. The meeting is adjourned."

Following the low growl of the taciturn god, Rusalka suddenly opened her eyes and found herself lying on a familiar big bed.

He reached out and touched it, and found that there was indeed a white cloak covering the quilt.

Rusalka: (Oh my god, this is true!)

Sanita: (I'm so sleepy. You should be glad it's true.)

Rusalka: (Why? Isn't this terrifying? A bunch of conspirators are secretly subverting the world. And there's this messenger of the Last God. He sounds a bit like the Great Round God from Stellaris. And it sounds like even the True God doesn't know about him.)

Sunita: (It doesn't matter, because these are too far away from us, but I am very close to you. You should be thankful that these are all true, because if those just now were false and you made them up, I could come and beat you up right now.)

Chapter 27 The sun also rises

As the saying goes, a woman who has been protected by a lion cannot look down on a hyena.

The baron who had entered the Council of Gods was now looked down upon even by the king. After waking up in the morning, he felt that even the mysterious Phoenix was just a tiny cat girl, nothing big - this was what Rusalka herself was talking about.

Although he never took NPCs seriously.

But if you ask him directly, he will definitely answer like this: Of course I don’t take Phoenix seriously, because she already lives in my heart.

The main theme is a rebellion.

"My Lord, have you finished your breakfast?"

Rusalka spoke with a certain amount of pride: "After we finish eating, send someone to Stone Village (the new name of the refugee camp) to help me get Custer over here."

"Okay." Phoenix nodded, pulled up her skirt and left.

The order was issued in the morning and the people arrived on horseback in the afternoon.

Custer seemed to be in a hurry. Wearing armor that he had not had time to wash, he hurried into the reception room of the Pearl Tear Castle and saw Rusalka having afternoon tea with Sanita.

"You're here so soon! I thought you wouldn't arrive until tomorrow morning."

"I heard that the Lord was urgently recruiting me, so I rushed here without stopping. Because there was a massacre of unknown cause before, I thought the Lord had clues about the murderer, so I hurried back to take orders." Caster took off his helmet and placed it on the cabinet beside him.

"Oh, you're overthinking it. I'm actually not interested in the murderer at all. Maybe he's just passing by. Come sit down and have something to eat."

Rusalka gestured for Caster to sit at the side, had the maid serve another cup of tea, and placed a plate of cookies in front of him. "Today's cookies are made by Phoenix herself. They are delicious. You are lucky to have caught them just in time. Come and try them."

"Thank you, my lord. I'll be more than welcome then."

Custer looked genuinely hungry. He hurriedly stuffed a few biscuits into his mouth, swallowed them without even chewing them, and hummed with satisfaction before picking up the teacup and drinking it in one gulp, not even bothering with the heat. "Ah, I'm feeling better now. My lovely maid, could you give me another cup of tea?"

The maid behind him was slightly startled after hearing this, and looked at Rusalka with a slightly red face. Seeing Rusalka nodded helplessly, she walked over happily and brought him another cup of tea, saying softly, "Enjoy your meal, Sir Knight."

Rusalka's eyelids twitched as she watched, and she complained to Sanita in the private chat: (What's going on? My Charm is 20, way better than his, so why can't I get the same treatment?)

Sanita: (You're jealous when you see people making tens of thousands a month, but you don't feel anything when you see people making tens of millions a month. This maid thinks the same thing about you and Caster. When people know something's impossible, they're unlikely to put in the effort. At most, they'll just fantasize about it.)

Rusalka: (Before that, there were some maids who were quite proactive towards me.)

Sanitta: (You had just arrived then, and the servants in the nobles' houses were all very clever. They were just testing your understanding of the nobles' rules. If you didn't, they'd be tricked. But since you hadn't made a move on them for so long, they knew you were a legitimate noble, so they naturally stopped wasting their time.)

Rusalka: (Huh? Is it too late for me to take action now? Can we have a party at the Pearl Tear Castle?)

Sani Iron Tower: (Warflies, plum matter, the probability is stranguria.)

Rusalka: (Tsk tsk, I know you know I won’t do that, so I said that on purpose.)

Sanitita: (Rather than being concerned about the flirting between your maid and your subordinate, you should be more concerned about whether your subordinate is reliable. We have been together for so long, it is time to find out his true background.)

Rusalka looked at Caster and said, "Caster, I remember you are from the Estidi Church State, right?"

Custer nodded: "That's right."

Rusalka: "I remember you said you were a Paladin before."

Custer's eyes dimmed a little, but he continued to nod.

Rusalka: “Oh, then do you know Theresa?”

Caster was stunned, his arm gripping the teacup trembling slightly. Trying his best to sound subdued, he replied, "She's the Grand Saint of the Church of Light, the Estidi State Religion. I think every Estidi, even the Snidi, should know her."

Rusalka nodded: "Indeed, what do you think of her?"

Custer slowly put down the cup in his hand, lowered his head, and supported his chin with his crossed fists. He slowly spoke, "I used to be like everyone else, thinking that the Saint Lady was the most devout believer. She was kind, beautiful, pure, and loving. All the beautiful words in the world were not enough to describe her. She was the hero who saved me and changed my destiny."

Is it really that good? Why do I only feel that she can only be described as astringent?

Rusalka suppressed a smile and asked, "Oh? So you mean you don't feel that way anymore? But you still call her Saint Lady, which is quite contradictory."

Custer sighed deeply. "I don't know. Perhaps I'm the one at fault. My faith isn't strong enough. That would explain why the Holy Light has abandoned me. But it's okay this way. I don't have anything worth worrying about over there anyway. Let bygones be bygones."

Sanitta: "Since you're planning to say goodbye to the past, would you mind telling us why?"

Caster nodded frankly and began to tell his story: "The reason I strive to become a Paladin is simple. I long to be like the Saint, who can use faith and power to redeem the weak, because I am one of those redeemed by her.

Fortunately, God chose me.

After receiving the call of the Holy Light and becoming a Paladin, I joined the Bronze Knights under the command of the Saintess."

Rusalka: "And the Silver Knights, I guess."

Custer was a little surprised. "Indeed, the Bronze Knights are the reserve group of the Silver Knights. Above them are the elite Star Knights. Finally, there are three guard knight orders affiliated with the Saint: the Angel Right Wing, the Angel Left Wing, and the Golden Blade."

Rusalka: (Why aren't there the Platinum Knights, Diamond Knights, or King's Knights?)

Sanitita: (Are you still playing ranked matches? You've organized so many knight groups, do you have enough people?)

Rusalka: (It doesn't matter if you don't have enough people. You can still go fishing in lower tiers.)

Sanita: (That’s about enough.)

Rusalka: "It's okay, just keep talking."

Custer: "My faith has always been very firm, so the connection between the Holy Light and me has become stronger and stronger. After 10 years of hard work, I was finally selected as a candidate for the Angel Left Wing."

Rusalka: "You're rising pretty fast... Wait, how many years did you say? Excuse me, how old is Saint Theresa?"

Custer: "The Saint Lady has angelic blood, so her appearance will not age. As for her age, she is probably in her 30s?"

Rusalka thought, what a joke! He's only 30! I thought he was 300. "Oh, and then?"

Custer: "My final test before joining the Left Wing of Angels was to follow the team to purify a cursed land. However, when I arrived there, I discovered a small village within the cursed land, and the people within it had been infected by the curse."

Rusalka: "That sounds weird, like turning into an evil creature?"

Custer shook his head. "No, that curse is just a seal. Anyone cursed, their relatives, or anyone who comes into contact with their blood will no longer be able to access the power of Holy Light."

Rusalka: (Sounds familiar. Mother-to-child transmission, blood transmission, sexual transmission.)

Sanita: (Could you please not post your own complaints under every comment?)

Rusalka: (You also know it’s a bad point!)

Rusalka: "That sounds pretty disgusting. What then?"

Custer: "Everyone in the village hopes to have this curse lifted. However, this vicious curse is not as fragile as imagined. Once the power of Holy Light is used to purify it, ordinary people without power will not be able to withstand the impact of the two forces in their bodies, and there is a high probability that they will lose their lives."

Rusalka: "Ah, how did you know?"

Sanitta: "My Lord, it means I have tried it."

Rusalka: “Oh, go on.”

Custer: "The low self-esteem of the curse and the fear of death left these ordinary people helpless. Many chose to forgo purification, intending to live out their lives in peace rather than take such a risk. Only a very few were willing to risk their lives to break the shackles that bound their people and their descendants for eternity."

Rusalka: "I understand. Saint Theresa finally ordered the forced purification of everyone, right?"

Custer shook his head. "The Saint Lady wouldn't treat human life so lightly. She decided to temporarily isolate them and wait until she finds a method to break the curse with a higher success rate and without risking their lives before trying again."

Rusalka: "That's good."

Custer: "However, news of the curse leaked out and intensified, eventually evolving to the point where anyone who came into contact with the cursed would lose the power of the Holy Light forever, along with their descendants. Suddenly, the entire nation feared the curse's bearer and begged the Saint to purify the horrible curse immediately.

Even though the Saint has emphasized that the village has been isolated, people are still worried that someone will sneak out and spread the curse. Some people with ulterior motives are even using this to slander the Saint, claiming that she was the mastermind behind the curse in order to develop a killer weapon to restrain the Archbishop's group.

Rusalka thought this guess was quite possible.

Custer continued, "The story ends here. A small paladin obviously couldn't stop the national public opinion. The Saint ultimately chose to stand on the side of the country. I could only silently watch the pillar of light that soared into the sky descend on that small village. At that time, I seemed to have thought of many things in my head, but I have forgotten them all now.

The only thought left was the one that caused the Holy Light to abandon me: If I were the Saint, would I succumb to the fear caused by those rumors and sacrifice that small village?

Custer picked up the cup and wanted to drink some tea, but found that the cup was already empty. He put the cup down and laughed at himself: "The answer is no. Perhaps this is why the Saint Lady is still the Saint Lady, able to use her power to save more people, while I was abandoned by the Holy Light and became a wandering knight who was exiled and could do nothing.

What I still don't understand is, does so-called justice have to be achieved by sacrificing a small number of people? That omnipotent Saint Lady, who was once my idol, is ultimately helpless and can only choose to obey?

I confronted the Saint directly, and soon found myself abandoned by the power of the Holy Light. God Light, in this way, gave me the answer, proving my thoughts were indeed wrong. Custer sighed, "That's why I persisted, because I couldn't accept it."

Rusalka: (What does the life and death of that small village have to do with him? Is he so saintly that he has wasted his own power?)

Sanitieta: (If you're interested, you could ask him about his interactions with the villagers. I think he definitely got along with them peacefully and amicably for a while. I previously thought my friends were isolated, but suddenly I found out they were showering in a concentration camp, with the hero I admired personally turning on the tap. Who wouldn't be shocked by that?)

Rusalka: (Oh, I'll just assume that's the setting. I'm too lazy to ask.)

Sanita: (Nima.)

Chapter 28 Chicken Soup for the Soul

Rusalka thought about it for a moment and felt that it really wasn't Caster's fault for being too sensitive.

In fact, this matter itself was very strange in the eyes of him and Sanitta. If there was a high probability that purifying the curse would kill ordinary people who were cursed, then if they were all purified, perhaps many people would survive.

But when that beam of light hits down, not to mention cursing, all living things within the attack range will definitely be sent to the sky, just like dropping a nuclear bomb.

In other words, the Saint chose to use the worst method to realize the worst expectations. For those panicked people, the decision to eliminate this curse was enough to make them applaud and shout "Long live the Saint."

Relatively speaking, what about those whose interests are harmed?

Oh, he’s dead, that’s okay.

The only thing that puzzled Rusalka was that it was the small team that went to the village. Since one of the people who went there was so fragile that his defense was broken, didn’t any of the other people who went there think that this was inappropriate?

Sanita: (Not all paladins are as good as you imagine. The Nine-Grid faction is true, but people in the 21st century and those in this era have different thought processes, and their definition of a good person is naturally different. Even among lawful good paladins, there are those who are called fanatics. If purifying evil and protecting the weak is their order and goodness, then killing is just a means to an end. Destroying the source of evil is the top priority.)

Rusalka: (You mean a white horse is not a horse, and a good person is not good?)

Sanitta: (There are no absolutely good or bad people in the world. It's just that the standards of judgment are different. We can only say that our standards of judgment are different from the mainstream concepts of this world. People like Caster who happen to connect with our thinking circuits are rebellious freaks. No wonder he was abandoned by the Holy Light.)

Rusalka: (You used to be suspicious of him, but now you believe his story?)

Sanita: (Believe him a little. After all, he hasn't been carrying grenades for several months and is just serving us chicken soup. Take it easy. I'm just a baron. I'll take it one step at a time.)

Rusalka: "Okay, now that things have come to this, let's just be open-minded. Since Light God doesn't like you, why don't you just change your faith to another god."

As if he had heard something incredible, Caster stared at Rusalka with wide eyes in surprise: "Lord, aren't you a believer in the god Light?"

Rusalka thought Custer's guess was strange and replied as a matter of course, "No."

"Then where does your holy light power come from?"

"Of course it stems from my own firm belief and unshakable vows." Rusalka shrugged. Although he wasn't good at lying, he was a natural at bragging, not even needing scratch paper. "Castor, you must remember that everything that belongs to you is your own power. Everything that doesn't belong to you is false."

Caster wavered, shaking his head. "If that's true, then doesn't that mean all the Paladins' faith is false? But I once truly possessed the Holy Light."

Rusalka mercilessly added, "But it left without a trace of regret. I have a dog that is more loyal than your Holy Light."

After hearing this, Custer grabbed his hair with both hands, closed his eyes, and showed an irrefutable and therefore very sad look.

Seeing that he looked like he was being broken by what she said, Rusalka comforted him, "I guess you're wondering, are all the dogmas and beliefs you've believed in for decades false? Of course not. You are real, so everything is real. This is a rather philosophical topic, and it's hard for me to explain to you."

Let me give you an analogy. You work hard all day and earn a silver coin. Then the coin accidentally falls into the river and is washed away, never to be recovered. Does this mean that your hard work that day was in vain? Of course not. At most, it can only be said that you worked for nothing.

Sani Tieta: (If you don't know how to comfort others, you can shut up. You won't be satisfied until you call our only fighting force Yuyu, right?)

Rusalka: (Don’t worry, you know what it means to first criticize before you praise.)

Rusalka continued, "Although you will feel very painful afterwards, I ask you, will you continue to go to work tomorrow? Yes, you always will, because you have to make a living.

Of course, this example I gave may not be appropriate, but if you replace working with your belief and that silver coin with the power of Holy Light, it's almost the same. What I mean is, if you have always believed that what you do is right and necessary, then whether or not you have Holy Light itself is not important at all."

Sani Tieta: (Wait, according to your logic, does this mean that I work for you but you don't pay me? I think you want to be hung on the streetlight?)