Chapter 143: The Ice and Snow Goddess Church (15)

In the biting cold wind, two young and beautiful-looking maidens wearing unusually thin blue-and-white robes walked through the slums under the protection of temple guards.

These two young apprentice priestesses walked barefoot through the snow, like legendary ice and snow spirits stepping into the mortal world, drawing everyone's gaze.

Such an outfit, which contrasted so sharply with winter, made one feel cold just looking at it, yet their faces showed no discomfort whatsoever.

Both wore serene smiles, gazing peacefully at every pauper who begged them, and distributed the prepared food to them.

Although the Ice and Snow Goddess did not belong to the evil side, she could hardly be called a kind deity either.

As a subordinate god belonging to the 【Nature】 alignment and subordinate to the 【God of Winter's Chill】, the Ice and Snow Goddess's alignment leaned more toward a neutral stance between the two.

She spread bitter cold in winter to plunder life, but also gave nature time to rest and recuperate.

And the reason Her church's people treated these destitute folk so kindly was actually not that complicated.

In the eyes of the divine churches, these were all future believers.

Resources to be absorbed!

This was an era of faith in the gods; deities were all doing their utmost to develop their churches, absorb believers, and obtain more power of faith, thereby increasing their own strength.

Human believers were one of the most sought-after resources in this world.

Compared to many races, humans could multiply rapidly while still maintaining considerable intelligence.

Although their faith was mostly impure, tangled with too many personal desires, the sheer quantity made up for it, and the quality was still passable.

Different statuses, different perspectives.

For a royal ruler, compared to the common folk, they needed the support of the nobles even more to maintain their rule.

But for the gods, a mortal's origin actually did not make much difference.

A noble might donate some wealth to the church, but the faith they offered was not necessarily more than that of a vagrant.

Besides, nobles were few in number; the vast majority of this world was made up of ordinary commoners.

The Ice and Snow Goddess's main believers were not humans; Her source of faith mainly came from intelligent beings living in the icy regions.

But no one would ever complain about earning too much money — if they did, they were faking it, and must be sternly condemned!

She was very envious of the faith pie belonging to the Frost Crystal Kingdom.

Founded by the descendants of dragon-slayers, the Frost Crystal Kingdom was a realm where royal authority outweighed divine authority; although it did not forbid residents from believing in gods, to this day no divine church had been openly recognized.

This was an undeveloped fertile field.

Although the Frost Crystal Kingdom's population was not that large — just a small country with modest territory — powerful gods looked down on it and disdained to come fight over it.

But if one could monopolize this share of faith, the Ice and Snow Goddess's strength would also see a significant boost.

The Ice and Snow Goddess Church had always wanted to extend its reach into the Frost Crystal Kingdom, but had been unable to find an opportunity, and progress had never been very good.

Although it had not been identified as an unrecognized evil-god church, the number of believers throughout the entire country was truly not many.

They had been preaching for decades already, yet the faith had only spread to some small towns and villages around Wang Cheng.

In Wang Cheng, they had not even managed to spread the faith beyond the slums.

Regarding this progress, the Ice and Snow Goddess Church was actually already fairly satisfied.

Because originally most of the believers in the Goddess Church were non-human intelligent beings, and their acceptance among humans was not high; the progress in the first twenty years was very touching.

It was only in the last twenty years that they changed their approach, adopting some human abandoned infants, and after raising them to adulthood, these newly minted priestesses finally managed to develop some human believers smoothly.

And after tasting the sweetness, the Goddess Church continued to adopt more abandoned infants; once they grew up, they could continue spreading the Goddess's gospel to more relatives and friends.

It was estimated that in another hundred years or so, the entire Frost Crystal Kingdom could probably become a hotbed for the Goddess's faith!

It's just that, while their own people thought this progress was pretty good, in Herbert's view, this speed and efficiency was simply……

"Trash!"

Herbert watched the two young maiden priestesses, couldn't help but shake his head slightly, and many thoughts flashed through his mind.

What salary thieves……

These fellows' thinking was still too rigid, pure waste snacks — they only knew the traditional method of distributing food, and didn't understand how to use their own advantages.

If you want to spread faith, there are simply way too many methods, alright!

Not to mention anything else, just look at the situation right before your eyes.

Such pretty younger sisters, and all you know is making them dress thinly and walk barefoot in the snow?

Trying to use that to display a miracle?

Not being afraid of the cold can indeed be a miracle, sure, but isn't that a bit too perfunctory!

You use this to test a cadre?

Which cadre couldn't withstand such a test!!?

Since you're already not afraid of freezing, why do you still need such long skirts?

Damn it, show the legs!

Show the arms!

Show the cleav…… cough!

Ahem.

What I mean is…… no one would dislike seeing such a healthy, vibrant figure.

Yes, that's it.

Herbert thought these thoughts, and couldn't help but watch them and shake his head.

Sigh.

Waste, truly an enormous waste.

This is practically a crime!

And his unusual behavior also caught the attention of the two maiden priestesses; one of them proactively walked over and asked with a light laugh:

"Young Holy Knight, is there anything the Goddess Church can help you with? We…… ah!"

Just now, from a distance, she hadn't seen clearly and had assumed Herbert's hair was only slightly lighter in color, but once she actually walked up close, she finally saw his hair color clearly.

The purest white.

And such a hair color, in this kingdom, carried only one meaning — Silver-Winged Blood.

This was a youth of Albeort family origin.

But this alone was not actually enough to make her cry out.

What truly made her lose her composure was the identity of the person before her.

White hair, grey eyes, Silver-Winged Blood, youthful appearance, the status of Holy Knight.

Those who fit all three of these conditions were exceedingly few; recently there was only one very famous figure.

"Crimson Wings!?"

Herbert had already begun to smile when he saw the girl's terrified expression, preparing to nod elegantly after she finished speaking.

At this moment, he still felt a sense of "who under heaven does not know me," and then…

"Is… huh?!"

But upon hearing the title that burst from her lips, he had to forcibly stop his neck, which let out a crisp crack.

Crack.

The elegant smile on his face also froze, his eyes blinking repeatedly as he looked uncertainly at the young priestess opposite him.

Herbert:?

Crimson Wings?

Who is that?

Damn it, who stole my title!?

Who is it!?

Thanks to Cxxx for the tip

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(End of this chapter)