Throne of the North.

Chapter 629 Dawn and Darkness (Part 1)

The North is not suitable for human habitation, but there are people in the North.

Ryan led a large group into the North. There were no roads on the snow-covered land, but fortunately, the Frozen Territory's group was experienced and knew the way. Following the scent of faith, they entered the town of Dawn in the North.

This place belongs to Archbishop Adriana. There was nothing here before, but now, houses stand tall in the snow, each with a lamp hanging above it, providing warmth like the sun.

Before they knew it, there were two or three thousand people here, each one a devout follower of Dawn. They had abandoned the warm lands of the south and entered the cold north to follow their Archbishop Adriana.

"Good afternoon, Archbishop Adriana. These are the supplies delivered this quarter."

Thanks to the Emperor's generosity, Ryan's side has a much better supply of resources, and sending some of them is within the scope of the original agreement.

Adriana looked at Ryan, then her gaze fell on the ranks behind him.

Ryan won't come here easily.

"It is like this, I brought some believers from the Dawn Church, but they are unable to pledge allegiance to me, so I thought that perhaps they would be more suitable for Your Excellency the Archbishop."

The knights behind them led the nuns down from the carriage. Upon seeing the town of Dawn, the nuns stopped struggling and were no longer angry. They looked around in shock at everything.

"Thank you, Mr. Ryan."

Archbishop Adriana spoke sincerely, and had the believers behind her lead the nuns into the town church. These nuns, who had been constantly rebelling like mad dogs in the frozen land, suddenly turned into docile sheep.

While clearing out the supplies, Ryan also strolled around this amazing northern town.

The town is small, but the world that should have been covered with thick snow actually has many roads made of clean yellow earth.

"It snows every day in the North. How do you clear all that snow?"

Ryan was very curious, and Archbishop Adriana replied:

"The Lord has given me the flames that burn the North, and His glory has made the snow here disappear."

Snowfall doesn't accumulate; instead, it turns into meltwater. This meltwater quenches thirst and irrigates the land. It's warm, and in this northern world, the river flowing through the town is as warm as a hot spring.

Ryan was not surprised by this satisfaction, but he was not entirely satisfied, because he had wanted to melt the North Gal River at the foot of Rhinoceros Horn Mountain in the Frozen Territory for many years.

But it was no use. Apart from the lake beneath the waterfall melting in Surtur's divine power, the rest of the long glacier remained frozen.

Ryan clearly couldn't reach the level of Adriana, a true chosen one of the gods; he couldn't get the Lord of Dawn to help him melt that glacier.

"What about your food? I brought you a lot of potatoes, but you can't eat potatoes all the time, can you? Can wheat be grown?"

“Under the light of my Lord, winter wheat and livestock rarely die. Although the land is not large, the winter wheat here can ripen naturally in a month. It can ripen seven times a year, and as my Lord’s power awakens, eventually wheat will ripen in all twelve months of the year.”

Ryan gaped and turned to look at the archbishop.

Woman, aren't you being too favored?

Whose wheat is so good that it ripens twelve times a year and they don't even need to replant?

There is no other explanation but a miracle, but this answer is the most astonishing.

Ordinary people in this world can remember a miracle for a lifetime after witnessing it once, and witnessing a miracle can strengthen their faith. But here, what we see and touch every day is a great miracle.

The river that never freezes, the wheat that never withers, and even the fruit that can be grown here—these fresh fruits have become the most appealing things.

"And what are these lights?"

Ryan pointed to the pineapple-shaped houses around him, their roofs covered in snow, with incandescent light bulbs hanging from the snow.

Let's call it an incandescent lamp for now, because it's clearly another miracle.

The Lord of Dawn blesses this place, just like a sacred mountain.

"Those are fireflies."

"flower?"

"The firefly that dispels darkness under the light of my Lord, its light comes from Ifrit, the sunbird, one of the thirteen great followers of my Lord."

"Sunbird?"

Ryan was numb. He looked at the archbishop, wondering if the other knew that the Sunbird was now sealed in the Kingdom of Nantes.

"In the eternal kingdom lives the great Lord and His thirteen great followers, one of whom is Dawn, Sunbird Ifrit."

“Ifrit has awakened, so I am also able to use His divinity to create these things.”

He has awakened, so you are stronger now, is that the meaning of this understanding?

Ryan was bewildered; Archbishop Adriana beside him was probably many times more powerful than he had imagined.

Why? Because the clergy of the Dawn Church, all their power is bestowed by the great God.

"What about the other gods? Will they awaken?"

"Of course, all the great beings, including my lord, will awaken in the eternal kingdom. However, we do not yet know their names. The North covers and submerges everything, including the names of the great beings, because mortals who mention their names will give them power. The North does not want them to awaken."

“My Lord is destined to awaken. The day He awakens will be the day darkness departs and fire burns the icy north.”

After speaking, Archbishop Adriana looked at Ryan.

“Baron, you also possess the divine aura of another great servant of my lord.”

"Who?"

"Surtur."

???

Ryan looked at the archbishop with a puzzled expression.

"Whether it is the darkness before dawn or the twilight, it is all created by the essence of our Lord, isn't it?"

Dusk originates from the setting sun.

"However, the darkness before dawn is closest to the sunrise, so the sunbird will always be my lord's servant. On the other hand, dusk is too close to the eternal night of darkness, so dusk is the servant most likely to betray my lord and turn to darkness."

"But in any case, they were born in the eternal Kingdom of Heaven."

Was Surtur of Twilight once a lackey of the Lord of Dawn?
It's a truly amazing secret.

Ryan looked at the glowing lights on the rooftops and asked:

"Your Excellency Archbishop, could you please give me some of these lamps?"

“You know, I have a subordinate named Sven, who is now a devout follower of my Lord. After the archangel bestowed divine magic upon him, he stayed in the Kingdom of Andara to help those who suffered greatly in the war to emerge from the darkness and move towards the dawn.”

"The Dawn Church does not recognize his identity and has been hunting him down. You may not know about those Black Swan assassins, but they have started to slaughter nobles like madmen. This is absolutely unreasonable."

"The Dawn Church has become corrupt, and now we need to help it return to its former glory."

Adriana thought for a moment and then agreed. These firefly lamps were nothing special; they were just for lighting and warming the house.

After leaving the town of Dawn, Ryan sent the fireflies he had acquired to the Kingdom of Andara. The quantity was small, but he gave them away this time, and he could ask for more when he delivered supplies next time. Little by little, they would eventually come in handy for Sven.

"Master, could there be a problem with that Sven?" Appia, the cat-man assassin, asked beside Ryan. As the leader of the cat-man tribe, he had always compromised and backed down for the survival of his people, and he knew better than anyone else that humans were not always the same.

In his view, Lord Lane had given that refined missionary too much power.

"No one has the answer to this question, Appiah."

“I believe Sven wouldn’t do that, but I don’t believe in Sven, I believe in myself.”

"If Dawn City betrays us, all I have to do is turn that city into ruins once again, and then rebuild a new Church of Dawn on those ruins."

Appia didn't quite understand; he simply felt that the power held by the civilized missionaries was growing.

……

Kingdom of Andara, Dawn City.

As dusk fell, Priest Sven walked through the streets and alleys. The city's economy was booming, and the residential areas were more lively than other places, allowing them to do more work to supplement their household income.

The recent influx of believers into Dawn City has increased the city's demand for manpower, making them more tired, but their faces are beaming with smiles.

"Get away, get away!"

A group of soldiers roughly parted the civilians on the road and then forcefully pushed a man who was carrying stones to the ground.

"Damn Benson, you think you can get away?"

"How dare you assassinate the Baron! And you even fled the Baron's territory without permission! Your whole family will be caught and hanged!"

Upon hearing this, everyone around quickly moved away, fearing that they would be implicated in the trouble.

"No, I didn't, I didn't assassinate the master!"

The man, pinned to the ground and unable to move, shouted loudly; he was terrified and trembling all over.

When the cleric arrived, he saw the man being held down on the ground and stopped the soldiers from continuing to beat him.

Looking at the refined man, the soldiers hesitated; he didn't seem like someone they could mess with.

"I am Sven. May I ask what he has done wrong?"

“Priest Dawn?”

The surrounding people were talking amongst themselves, and the soldiers, even more in awe, spoke up to explain:

“This fellow is a citizen of Baron O’Connor’s domain, but they dared to attempt to assassinate the Baron, and after the assassination failed, they even fled the domain. We are here to capture him and kill him.”

"No, I didn't. I never intended to kill the master."

The man on the ground cried out, terrified, but all the eyes around him were filled with hostility and fear.

He said he didn't.

Sven pulled the man up from the ground and asked:
"You really didn't assassinate the Baron?"

"I didn't, how could I dare? My whole family lives on the Baron's territory and we have never had the idea of ​​killing him."

The man named Benson had dark skin and calloused hands.

"Then why do they say you assassinated the Baron?"

Sven asked again.

"Yes, it's because of my father..."

Benson's voice trailed off; he was desperate, and cried out:

“My father was a believer in the Dawn. After the king and nobles drove out the priest Soto and his followers, my father couldn’t eat for days.”

"Later, a man came to our house. He was a teacher from the Dawn Church and wanted my father to do something for him."

"I don't know either. I didn't know they wanted to assassinate the master. If I had known, I would have stopped them."

The soldiers looked at Sven, and now they felt justified.

“This…this priest, as you can see, their whole family are traitors who deserve to be killed.”

The venerable priest shook his head and said:

"You heard it too, it's his father."

Where is his father now?

"He was found on his way to assassinate the Baron and killed in public. His head is still hanging at the crossroads of the Baron's territory."

"But this Benson, he wasn't one of the assassins who killed the Baron, was he?"

“Their whole family are assassins; they are to be killed.”

Benson, who was standing there restlessly, was also in despair and said to Sven:

"Father, please save my family. I can go back with them, but my family really doesn't know anything about this."

"Mr. Benson, do you have any religious beliefs?"

Sven suddenly asked a question that startled Benson. He looked at Sven the missionary, speechless for a long time.

"So, Mr. Benson, are you willing to atone for your sins?"

"I do, I do."

Benson kept nodding; he felt a glimmer of hope for survival.

“My Lord has mercy on the world. You are not the murderer of the Baron. Your sins can be redeemed if you wish…”

“I am willing, I am willing to give up all my wealth to atone for my sins.”

Sven shook his head and said:
“Atonement does not require wealth. The Lord does not need the wealth of mortals. Why do you think that wealth can atone for sins?”

“I…I, my father said that as long as I give money to the priest, I can get indulgences and go to heaven after I die, otherwise I will go to hell and suffer torment.”

"That's wrong. It's that priest who needs your wealth. The Lord doesn't need wealth because He created everything in this world. Why give back to the Lord what He created?"

"The Lord created light so that mortals in this world could emerge from darkness and welcome the dawn. His mercy is that He hopes that mankind can have a better life."

“When you feel sad or upset, you can confide in the Lord. When you are happy or joyful, you can share it with the Lord. Our Lord has mercy on the world. He never asks for anything in return. He only hopes that you can live a better life.”

what?
Benson's mouth dropped open, and the people and soldiers around him froze in place.

They had never accepted such an explanation before, but now standing before them was a distinguished missionary.

"So, are you willing to atone for your sins? My Lord cannot get too close to mortals, because not everyone is qualified to bear His gaze. He needs someone to help Him convey the believers' outpourings."

"I am willing."

Sven took Benson away, and as for the soldiers, they couldn't stop him; they could only return to report to their noble lord.

(End of this chapter)