Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 834 Is Everyone Dreaming?
In the empty and quiet chapel, white candles were burning on brass candlesticks, reflecting countless tiny dust particles dancing in the light, and also covering the pious profile of the nun with a hazy veil. The sound of prayers seemed to linger between the rows of basswood benches, but more of them were buried in the corners where shadows grew, and only passed by insects and ants. But they were no longer the ants and spiders that built nests and wove webs on the corners and ceilings of Tianxin Church in the past, so even if they heard the familiar prayers, they might not feel that things had changed.

Livia, who was still kneeling on the ground, lowered her head in silence, as if she was listening to the response from the gods, but what she actually heard, perhaps only by asking her own heart could she know clearly. After a few seconds, the nun slowly stood up and looked up at the statue of the goddess. The stone eyes should have been cold and silent, without emotions like all man-made objects, but at this moment, they were stained by the warm candlelight, thus giving rise to a temperament of kindness and compassion.

This was an emotion that Sister Livia had never seen before when she faced the statues of saints and holy spirits in the chapel of St. Annville's Cross.

If we say that it's all based on illusion, wouldn't that be a bit self-deception?
When she thought about the reason why she left the True Spirit Sect and why she appeared here, the nun couldn't help but smile self-deprecatingly. But she couldn't keep this smile for too long, because soon, a cheerful voice came from the altar: "Okay, that's it!"

Then, a little pink head popped out from behind the main altar, blinking and making a "yeah" gesture to Sister Livia. It was Miss Medien who put on the nun's uniform again after a long absence - but now a qualifying adjective should be added: Miss Medien, the successor, acting priest and chief nun of Tianxin Church.

For some reason, Mr. Ling, the legitimate successor of Tianxin Church, has been unwilling to reopen the church. Even though he has broken off relations with the church and can openly ignore the "Religious Decree", he has not changed his mind. This negative and evasive attitude undoubtedly made his sister very dissatisfied. The two sides argued about this many times. Once, Metien even cried, but no one saw it except Olvera.

Some time ago, Sister Livia, who was the saint of the True Spirit Sect, suddenly decided to stay on Yunjingkong Island for some reason, and decided to convert to the faith of the Goddess and become a member of Tianxin Church. This undoubtedly gave Metien a huge surprise, and she finally found a reason to restart Tianxin Church.

So, she argued with her brother, using the rhetoric taught by a genius player who did not want to reveal her name, and successfully took away the identity of "the legitimate heir of Tianxin Church" from Lingge, which was a complete victory. The pink-haired little girl had made up her mind that if her brother was unwilling to do it, she would inherit her father's last wish and make Tianxin Church stand on the earth again!

At least, stand on the Yunjingkong Island first!
Of course, in order to achieve this goal, she still had a lot of preparations to complete, such as the most important venue, members and believers. As for the venue, she had already cleverly moved a one-to-one replica of Tianxin Church to Yunjingkong Island in the name of Sister Saint Xia Liya and the Countess; as for the members, it didn't matter if Lingge was lost. She and Sister Livia were both pillars of society. She had memorized the teachings of the Goddess and the concepts of the Holy Goddess Church, and Sister Livia was very familiar with various religious precepts and had presided over many ceremonies. The two of them cooperated with each other, so why worry about the overall situation?

As for believers, we'll think about it later. Anyway, let's finalize the matter first. By then, it's a done deal. Can Lingge still object? That's like asking Sister Alice to spit out the snacks she stole. It's impossible.

When she came to her senses, she found that it was Metien who took her hand and gave her a happy smile: "Sister Livia, let's go."

“Sister Livia, what are you thinking about?”

"I see." Livia nodded thoughtfully. This was the first time she had heard of this theory. The pastor named Mr. Yang Ke was able to teach children like Lingge and Medien. He was indeed a very devout believer, and perhaps also very rational.

So, after Sister Livia's injury healed, Medien, who was becoming more and more scheming, couldn't wait to drag her to Tianxin Church. Based on what he had learned when he followed Lingge around to manage church affairs, he presided over a simple baptism ceremony for the nun, declaring that from now on she would be a devout believer of the goddess and an inseparable member of our Tianxin Church!

But in a sense, Leticia guessed right, although it was not that kind of privilege that Metien wanted.

This is too casual!
Sister Livia couldn't help but think.

The piety of faith often leads to two paths, one is the fanaticism driven by pure emotion, and the other is the rational path based on careful thinking. In the past, Sister Livia would think that they both have their merits. Without the fanatical believers who risked their lives, the belief in animism would not have been able to survive under the pressure; and without those rational believers who formulated the precepts, the overly fanatical faith would eventually lead to self-destruction.

And because she was worried about the news leaking out, Medien didn't even tell anyone about it, including her brother. Even her best friends Shemi and Leticia were kept in the dark. They only knew that Medien had been acting secretive recently and they didn't know what she was planning. Shemi thought that Medien might want to give him a surprise, so he was trying to remember when his birthday was; Leticia thought that Medien must be dissatisfied with Ling's harsh rule and decided to rise up in rebellion to fight for the privilege of not having to attend classes and do homework, so she kept making indirect attempts to join Medien's coalition - this little bat would get involved in anything that was against Ling.

Metien's voice woke Livia from her trance. When she lowered her head, she saw the pink-haired girl looking at her curiously. She quickly used a smile to hide her embarrassment: "No, nothing, I just think that this ceremony seems a little too simple."

However, ever since that night, when she saw the Judge Mufasa leading many of his followers to a battlefield where there was no life or death, just to create a blasphemous product, she had doubted more than once: Is it really meaningful to sacrifice one's life like this? If the belief being maintained is wrong, then this fanaticism is essentially just adding fuel to the fire.

Only by using reason to control faith can we find the right path.

Now she has achieved her goal, but what will Mr. Ling think when he finds out? Although Metien has repeatedly stated that he is also the legitimate heir of Tianxin Church, no matter how you look at it, the young man's thoughts are more important, right? Is it really okay to do things secretly without telling him?

Therefore, although the sense of ritual is important, what is more important is the mood and experience of why you have the sense of ritual.

I hope that the path I am taking now is the right one.

Even the prayers were only a few short sentences. Not to mention compared with the many ceremonies held in St. Annville's Cross Church, even the worship and prayer ceremonies of believers on weekdays seemed to be much more solemn than this.

She thought silently, and then her hand was pulled.

"Because this is the style of our Holy Goddess Church." Metien said in a matter-of-fact tone: "Father once said that faith is something that remains in people's hearts. If we pay too much attention to appearances, we will not be able to see what the goddess wants us to see."

"Leave?" The nun was slightly startled, her bright and clear blue eyes were filled with confusion: "Where to?"

"Go tell everyone the good news!" Metien's tone rose, his eyes sparkling. "Also, it's time to prepare for the next seven-day ceremony. Let's go find someone to attend the ceremony. Well, let me think about who to find. Sister Xiaoxia will definitely agree, but it's hard to say about others. I don't want to force anyone... Anyway, let's go and ask first!"

Is this the beginning of preaching?
But why should we take the initiative? Sister Livia had never experienced such a thing. In her mind, preaching should not be waiting in the church and preaching to people when they come to visit. If the other party agrees, then they are all like-minded; if not, there is no need to force it.

It was like this in the past at St. Annville Cross Church. As long as you wait patiently in the church, believers will gather by themselves. Some even come from the far north, the border, and even other countries to make pilgrimages. After the implementation of the "Religious Decree", the number of believers decreased slightly, but even in the most declining period, St. Annville Cross Church never lacked believers who came to make pilgrimages and pray. It was not like what Metien said, even holding a prayer ceremony would not worry about whether there were enough people to participate, and they had to recruit people themselves.

How come the situation of the Holy Goddess Cult sounds even bleaker than that of their exiled colleagues, such as the Fertile Earth Cult, the Order of the Holy Spring, or the Druids?

Obviously, there is the Holy Spirit in charge, and there is also the young girl kingship left by the Virgin Mary when she created the world. Because Sister Livia wants to stay in Yunjingkong Island, Ling Ge briefly mentioned the identities of Saint Xia Liya and others to her. After all, it is impossible to keep it a secret forever. Although she had experience dealing with the dark kingship Karabos before, the nun was still shocked to hear the news. After all, Karabos is only one person, and there are six young girl kingships in front of her!

Of course, the six young queens could not support the Tianxin Church, so it was a topic that could not be touched at all. So Livia did not ask any more questions and was dragged away by Medien to leave the Tianxin Church and go around to join the crowd.

……

Unexpectedly, the first person to agree was Leticia.

As soon as Sister Metien and Livia left Tianxin Church, she flew down from the top of the church and landed in front of them, as if she had been waiting for a long time.

"Metien, so slow," she complained.

"Eh?" The pink-haired little girl opened her eyes wide: "Leticia, why are you here?"

"I'll wait for you." The little bat raised her head, her eyes seemed to see the scene inside through the stained glass windows of the church. Before this, Tianxin Church had always been the place where Saint Xia Liya taught little girls, so she was actually very familiar with the structure here. Just now, she was hanging under the eaves and watched the whole process of Metien's baptism ceremony for Sister Livia: "Are you going to be a nun, Metien?"

"I'm not going to go. I was going to go." Metien corrected her mistake and nodded. "That's right, because Tianxin Church is the precious legacy left by my father to me and Lingge. We can't let it go to waste. If Lingge doesn't want to do it, then let me do it. By the way, I'm looking for someone to participate in the next seven-day ceremony, which is also the first seven-day ceremony after the reopening of Tianxin Church. Leticia, do you want to join in the fun?"

She extended a sincere invitation. The little bat tilted his head and thought for a moment before asking, "Do I need to be a believer of the goddess to participate in the Seven Days Ceremony?"

"Well, it's not that strict." The pink-haired girl smiled awkwardly, "As long as Leticia is happy."

When Lingge was the pastor of Tianxin Church, most people who came to the seven-day ceremony only came for the free bread and milk, and did not care about the doctrines he preached, so Metien, who was influenced by him, did not care that much. Besides, did Leticia need to become a believer of the goddess? Her relationship with the goddess was closer than that.

It’s just that the little bat herself doesn’t have this concept, and other people - especially Nevile - don’t dare to make her understand this concept.

If Leticia changed her words and called the goddess mother, then how should she call Nevile? Should she continue to call her grandma? Even if she wanted to, the Countess herself would not want to, as that would be extremely serious blasphemy!
So, just keep the current state.

"Then I will come with grandma." Leticia's face was tense, and she said seriously, "I will participate in the seven-day ceremony, and then ask the goddess a few questions. Metien, you must let Her answer me, okay?"

"Uh."

I don't have that ability.

Metien laughed dryly and changed the subject: "We'll talk about it later. But what question do you want to ask, Leticia?"

"Well, it's just that someone has been saying some strange things in my ear, and it sounds like the voice of Lingge. I asked my grandma, and she said it was a revelation from the goddess, and asked me to listen carefully. But I don't want to hear Lingge's voice, so I want to ask the goddess if she can replace it with someone else. It would be better if it was Metien."

Medien was also aware of what Leticia described. It should be the aftereffect of Ling'er's prayers for her during her previous reincarnations. Although both parties did not know why this aftereffect occurred, Neviel seemed to regard it as Leticia's hope to get rid of the curse.

But correspondingly, Leticia also disliked Linger more and more because of this - although, that attitude could not be called dislike, Metien thought it should be resistance. For some reason, Leticia had been resisting contact with Linger, and the thorny personality she showed in front of him was probably to cover up her inner tension and anxiety. If I had to describe it, it should be said that... it was like a mouse meeting a cat?
"Besides that, there is also." The little bat suddenly remembered something and added: "Recently, I occasionally have some strange dreams. I don't know what's going on. I want to find the goddess and ask for clarification."

The goddess is not a Moriah wizard who can help you interpret your dreams.

Metien thought about it and didn't take it to heart.

Everyone dreams, it's normal.

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)