Chapter 657: Outside the City: The Three-Way Relationship Between Gods, Priests, and Believers

The area inside the Baishi Chengqiang Guanka is quite prosperous; even though the Southern Province connected to the pass is currently in the midst of war and chaos, there has never been a shortage of merchants looking to make a fortune from the turmoil.

However, wanting to work in this trade is different from being an ordinary merchant; at the very least, one must possess some basic armed force.

Jier followed Bata'er Jiaoshi, speaking in low tones, while watching the morning streets as a few armed caravans passed through the Baishi Chengqiang Guanka from east to west.

The young refugees walking toward the east dared not approach these armed caravans, for the horses of some caravans and the weapons of the caravan guards were stained with dark red, dried blood.

It looked quite frightening.

Jier and his companions were certainly not afraid; as their group crossed paths with an armed caravan on the street, Jier even doubted whether those bloodstains were truly from combat.

After all, horses need their coats cleaned daily, and a good Warrior must also properly maintain the weapons they rely on for their livelihood after a battle.

To just leave them stained with blood like that, no matter how you look at it, seems a bit like posturing.

Mocking them inwardly, Jier narrowed his eyes; he noticed that the cargo being transported by the passing caravan was, surprisingly, heavy, crudely refined iron.

Crude iron containing many impurities sits between high-quality iron ore and smelted pig iron, making it a type of cargo with a very high value-to-weight ratio during transport.

After all, no matter where you are, metal materials are easy to sell.

Through a large tear in the canvas of a carriage, Jier saw the cargo inside.

He found it strange; wasn't it said that law and order in the Southern Province had fallen into chaos? Furthermore, a war over the iron ore regions on the southern border was breaking out, so where did this crude iron come from?

Although curious, Jier was not stupid; he couldn't just walk up and ask the Steward Merchant of the caravan. That would be asking for a beating; didn't he see that even though this caravan wasn't large, it had local pass Soldiers specifically clearing the way for it as it moved through the pass?

With this appearance, even a local Noble wouldn't have such a grand display; clearly, either this caravan had connections within the local Noble circles—and high-ranking ones at that—or this caravan, transporting large quantities of metal materials, was able to pay a hefty tax to the pass.

Although the tax wouldn't actually be shared with the rank-and-file Soldiers, if the managers of the pass ate the meat, they could probably get a sip of the soup, right?

That was why they were acting so obsequious.

The two groups passed each other, and Jier, not thinking much more of it, continued leading his companions eastward until they reached the city gate on the east side of the pass.

The city wall here was built entirely by Humans; compared to the Glowing White Stone city wall opposite the pass, which was as magnificent as the great sun, the wall built by the Humans themselves was truly low and unsightly. If it hadn't been built with sturdy rock, the style of this wall would have been even lower.

"It's shameful; how could those Dwarves build such magnificent creations?"

Hearing Jier's sigh, Xueya Siter chuckled: "Perhaps those Dwarves are particularly good at this kind of thing? After all, they spend all day digging holes in the ground to make a living. They are naturally skilled at this, but we aren't bad either; Humans are skilled at a bit of everything."

Xueya Siter used the arm holding his horse whip to point at the surrounding buildings and the north-south mountain range in the distance: "Look at all this; the land beneath our feet was won from the gods by a legendary Bard and his companions through music and poetry! The Dwarves probably could only wail back then, singing some dirt-shoveling songs in their gruff voices. Haha."

Both Jier and Bata'er Jiaoshi were amused. Although he had yet to see what a Dwarf looked like, or if they were similar to the artistic fantasies of his previous life, through his companion's "stereotypes," he felt he already understood a little of what Dwarves were like.

When exiting the east gate of the pass, the gate Soldiers saw their carriage loaded with many things and wanted to stop them for an inspection, but Jier and Bata'er Jiaoshi, each on their own horse, blocked the sides of the carriage. They said nothing and made no other movements, causing the pass Soldiers to abandon the idea of an inspection.

"Two lords, please be careful and watch out for all kinds of dangers after arriving in the Southern Province."

The Squad Leader of the city gate Soldiers waved at Jier and the other, calling out a reminder from afar.

Jier waved his hand: "Understood, thanks for the reminder."

Bata'er Jiaoshi just nodded, saying nothing.

Passing through the less than ten-meter-long gate tunnel and the inward-opening, iron-clad wooden gate, the Southern Province finally appeared before Jier's eyes.

To his surprise, there was nothing special.

Wasteland, woods, streams, riverbanks, and mountains not far away.

Everything looked very ordinary—

As if!

Comparing the two sides of the Baishi Chengqiang Guanka, one could tell: the west side was the ancient White Stone City Wall of the Dwarves; not counting the Noble viewing manors and small castles outside the White Stone City Wall, other large areas of farmland had never been interrupted, extending all the way from the White Stone City Wall to the walls of Mengtuoka City.

Clearly, the land development was very complete.

But as soon as one exited the Baishi Chengqiang Guanka and headed east, within Jier's line of sight, he couldn't even find ten houses. There wasn't a single plot of cultivated farmland.

"The terrain here is clearly quite open, and it's near a river, so why is there no development at all? Is there no one settled here?"

Jier turned his head and asked Bata'er Jiaoshi.

The Priest looked embarrassed: "When I came to Mengtuoka City, it wasn't like this. Although it was desolate here, there were still civilian houses and inns to stay at along the main trade route."

As he spoke, the Priest's voice grew low: "But it's only been twenty-some days, how did it become like this?" He looked at a blackened stone house without a roof right next to the trade route; he vaguely remembered staying there for a night on his way here, but he hadn't expected that after these days passed, not only had it caught fire and burned the roof away, but the entire spacious stone house had been smoked black by the flames.

The family that once operated the lodging was also gone.

"I hope they are safe; may the Agricultural God protect them."

Bata'er Jiaoshi prayed in a low voice.

Jier let out a breath, looked around, and had everyone follow him to clear the road, coming to the place where young refugees were gathering on the grass by the city gate.

There were roughly over five hundred of these people, and clearly, not everyone had arrived yet, so Jier jumped off his horse.

"Xueya Siter, you stay here. Priest, come with me. Let's organize these people."

Bata'er Jiaoshi, who had just been praying for others, saw Jier striding toward the hundreds of young men and women, intending to organize these young people from different villages, and immediately let out a low wail: "I hope his head isn't broken; may the great Agricultural God protect me."

Dawdling, the young Priest, who was also only twenty-some years old, reluctantly dismounted, took the Amber Metal Long Staff from behind him, cleared his throat a few times to smooth his voice, and then slowly followed Jier.

"Everyone!" Jier shouted loudly. The young people, who had been sitting separately on the ground, stopped their chatter one after another and turned their heads toward the direction the loud voice came from.

It was the Knight companion of the Priest who could receive food bestowed by the gods.

Most of the young refugees present had personally received food, so they knew who they were supposed to follow and whose orders to listen to after being voluntarily driven out this time.

However, although Jier was speaking at this moment, the vast majority of the young people's gazes were fixed on the imposing Bata'er Jiaoshi, who was walking over slowly.

"Everyone pay attention; the gods bestowed enough food for you to be warm and full, not for you to sit on the ground and chat and laugh. All of you, get up and gather together according to the villages you belong to. I want to know you, and you need to get to know me and Bata'er Jiaoshi of the Agricultural God Church."

Hearing the order to get up, most of the young people who had received the divine food hesitated but stood up, and according to the principle of staying with people from their familiar villages, they gradually gathered together.

But naturally, there were still some who had not only never seen Jier and the others distribute food, but because they had found a way to survive inside the pass, they held some resentment about being driven out of the pass by the village elders.

Besides that, there were also some who, even if they had received the divine food, did not want to listen to Jier, a teenager, and relying on the fact that they had many brothers, sat on the ground, laughing and watching Jier shout.

Because new refugees were constantly hearing the news and walking out of the east gate of the pass to gather on the grass outside the city gate, Jier circled the area where the young refugees were gathered, shouting loudly while waiting.

Bata'er Jiaoshi was quite popular; many young people who felt grateful gathered around him spontaneously. Some just wanted to talk to him to express their gratitude, while others boldly approached the Priest, bent over in front of him, and held their hands out in front of them.

Having been a Village Priest, Bata'er Jiaoshi naturally knew what this was for.

He nodded with a smile, gently stroked his chest with his free right hand, and then lightly touched the palms of the young people who were bent over with their hands extended.

This is a type of blessing that only has symbolic meaning, but only church believers will use it; non-believers cannot obtain a response from a Priest. Of course, Priest Bata'er does not know at this moment which of these well-intentioned young people before him are believers and which are not.

He treats them all equally; whoever makes this gesture of craving a blessing, he responds boldly.

Of course, some young Villagers who were not originally believers will mix in, but this is meaningless to Priest Bata'er; he does not care whether they believed before, as in his view, these people before him have certainly come to believe.

They will all be the parishioners under his charge.

Priest Bata'er sees Jier not far away still calling for the newly arrived young people to form groups according to the Cunzi, which might not be finished for a while, so he starts "getting busy" right here, holding a small prayer ceremony.

He forcefully inserts the Amber Metal Long Staff in his left hand into the grass to make it stand, then the Priest takes a wooden Agricultural God Statue from the Leather Bag at his waist.

This is a Protective Statue lent to him by the Mengtuoka Diocese.

It has many uses; of course, it can be used for the prayer ceremony activities of believers in the wild outside the Church.

Carefully placing this wooden Protective Statue, which emits a faint glow, on the top of the Metal Long Staff, Priest Bata'er then has the "Nongshen Believers" gathered around kneel in a circle around the statue, while he himself kneels face-to-face before the statue.

Some of the young people gathered nearby quickly follow suit, kneeling and praying toward the wooden Agricultural God Statue, while some young people who are not believers are much slower in their movements; not only are they sitting comfortably on the grass, but they also do not know how they should pray, so they have no choice but to whisper requests for benefits to the Agricultural God Statue, which is too small to be seen clearly.

"I hope the Agricultural God can end the war, so that my whole family can have enough to eat and escape the current hungry and miserable situation. I also hope the Agricultural God can let my younger sister, who died of hunger, not go hungry after death. If possible, I will work hard; I will do whatever you want, just let me have enough to eat."

"I beg the Agricultural God to still show kindness and let this Priest master keep giving us food to eat. I gave all my previous food to my father and mother, hoping they and my younger siblings can eat for a while longer. I am not going back after coming out this time; I will either be killed by someone or starve to death outside!"

"Please, please, I just want to be full, I just want to be full. Grandpa in the village said that following them out would mean having enough to eat. I don't ask for anything else, I just hope to have enough to eat. If the Knight master could reward me with a piece of land, that would be great. Then I could marry Niji, who came out with me, and start a family. I will work hard to farm, to support her and me, and the children we will have in the future, if we have children. Is that asking for too much? Agricultural God master, if you are in a good mood, would you grant me one or two wishes? Hmm, hmm, first, be full, that is the first one. Of course, Niji must also be full; she cannot die. I will share some of my food with her, that is the second one. Third, I hope the young Knight master can reward me with a piece of land. The land in our village doesn't count; everyone has run away, it's not safe. It would be best if it could be a piece of land in this Knight master's own territory, that is the third one. Fourth, uh, would that be too many wishes? Then three will do; if that really doesn't work, the first two are fine too."

Priest Bata'er walks carefully amidst the buzzing sound, paying attention not to bump into people while carefully observing the words of the "non-believers" who treat the unrelated matters of praying to the gods and making requests or wishes to the gods as prayer.

He shakes his head; if one can just make wishes to the great gods, do they really think the wishes will come true?

Then everyone would not need to do anything at all, just spend the whole day praying for wishes toward the god statue, wouldn't they?

How ridiculous. True believers all understand, or roughly understand, that Faith is essentially a fair trade of mutual choice. It is not to say that fanaticism does not exist or is ineffective, but there has never been love without a cause in this world, nor has there been hatred without a cause.

There are many gods and many churches; which one to believe in and why? And what are the differences?

The "why" lies in the comprehensive act of Faith, which is that it has benefits for the gods, the church, and the believers themselves.

And the difference naturally lies in which god the believer believes in and which church they draw near to; the final results and rewards will also be very different.

If they are both farmers, the result of him believing in the God of Wealth versus believing in the Agricultural God is vastly different.

The Church of the God of Wealth will assist the farmer in finding ways to safely borrow money from others, thereby finding ways to expand agricultural production, or using money to rent fields for cultivation, or using money to buy a Plowing Ox to improve farming efficiency, or buying better farm tools to ensure production, or hiring people to help cultivate the fields.

The Agricultural God Church, on the other hand, will help you unite with other farmers, mediate disputes between farmers over fields and the use of water for irrigation, learn some effective farming methods, and if something happens to one family, all farmers can share the crisis together. Experienced Agricultural God Priests will also study the planting and breeding conditions in various places to select the best production directions and means.

The Sun God Church, under the organization of the Priests, will limitedly influence local climate conditions to make crops receive more sufficient sunlight. They will also organize other farmers to work together in groups during the day and release light at night to learn knowledge, escaping the life fate of being a farmer at the bottom of society. Those with combat talent will become Warriors to protect the property of the church and the believers, and those with business talent will go to sell local products and buy things everyone needs, and so on.

Those who believe in the Moon God can, under the leadership and help of the Three Moon God Church, enjoy peaceful sleep at night, not fearing the fear and harassment of the dark, and families can enjoy harmony and love, obtaining satisfaction in spirit.

Those who believe in the God of Crafts can have their own creative skills improved under the guidance and arrangement of the church, and there will be enough space and occasions for display. Craftsmen with outstanding skills will develop in all walks of life, and even if their skills are not outstanding, they can possess a skill and reliance to support their family.

Having said so much, it is to explain that the relationship between believers, gods, and the church is a mutually influencing combination.

Gods need the Faith of believers, but no matter how great the gods' abilities are, they cannot divide themselves into millions to communicate and interact with every believer and guide their Faith. At this time, the church and the Priests are needed as intermediaries to assist the gods in developing the people's Faith in them.

And the Priests can also obtain the power and authorization bestowed by the gods in the process, performing all kinds of incredible abilities, not only acquiring more Faith from living beings for the gods but also providing help and guarantees in terms of power to the believers.

At the same time, the Priests themselves also obtain many benefits in this process, including but not limited to longer lifespans, higher social status, more social power, more power to use material resources, more mastery of actual power, and bringing progress to the development of civilization, and so on and so forth.

Therefore, the wishes and desires that Priest Bata'er hears some "non-believers" muttering now have no effect at all; they are just faint sounds that dissipate as soon as they are spoken.

Not to mention that the gods cannot hear them, even if the gods heard them face-to-face, the gods would skip over them as if they had heard nothing.

Why is a god statue needed, and why is a Priest needed to teach believers how to conduct prayer activities correctly? It is to place the gods, the Priests, and the believers among the believers into a correct series of behavioral positions among the three through a series of rules and means.

Once the positions are set, the gods can obtain Faith, the Priests can obtain the Divine Power bestowed by the gods, and the believers can obtain direct and indirect help from the Priests.

Therefore, the first step often has several beginnings, but as the first step in communicating between the people and the gods, the "Divine-bestowed food" of last night and early this morning has already allowed the non-believing people to enjoy the benefits of the system of believing in gods.

Now, it is necessary for the people who want to go a step further to conduct correct prayers to offer qualified Faith to the gods.

Priest Bata'er is a Priest who has received formal church training, so he has long understood the above relationships, and at this moment, he begins to conduct systematic prayer behavior corrections for the people who are "praying."