After Clara got out of the carriage, she was astonished to find herself standing in front of a temple.
Not just her being a heathen, even for followers of Pisya, not everyone was qualified to enter the temple.
The little maid had no idea what Hirodod had up his sleeve.
Lately, many rumors had been circulating in Duolin City that Hirodod had gone mad, as his actions beca increasingly bizarre and unfathomable.
Perhaps only Clara knew that Hirodod hadn’t gone insane because his inexplicable behavior was actually just in adherence to experintal results.
The little maid took a deep breath and followed an exceptionally tall man, covered from head to toe in black armor, into the temple.
"Welco."
Hirodod was shrouded in darkness, and Clara could only hear his voice.
"Welco to the Great Temple of Alberto. While we still have so ti, let give you a tour of this place,"
while saying this, the High Priest lit a torch.
He began showing the little maid around this, the second oldest temple of the Silver Moon Church.
First, he took Clara to a stone wall on the left, lifted the torch slightly higher, and let the little maid see a carving on the wall.
The carving depicted a man gathering herbs in the mountains.
"This is High Priest Kaekas," Hirodod said, "the greatest High Priest in the history of the Church. He lived more than four thousand years ago and so scriptures say five thousand years; this part is sowhat confused... mainly because it’s been too long, and no one knows exactly in which year he was born.
"People only know he was an herbalist. His dical skills were pretty good, but not so outstanding that everyone revered him; perhaps just a bit better than an average herbalist."
Hirodod moved the torch further back, and on the second carving, a man was kneeling under a chariot made of stars, above which was a blurry-faced woman.
"Pisya, also known as the Silver Moon Goddess, appeared before Kaekas, turning him into her first follower, and Kaekas pledged to spread her divine grace as widely as possible across the land.
The torch reached a third carving.
"Does it look familiar? The goddess granted Kaekas her own Divine Power, enabling him to gracefully perform miracles. His dical skills greatly improved; he could save anyone who still had a breath left. His fa grew, spreading throughout the entire west and even southern princes heard of his great na..."
Despite the eerie emptiness of the temple, Clara was still captivated by those ancient, mysterious wall carvings.
Paired with a High Priest personally recounting millennia-old history, the little maid couldn’t help but imrse herself completely, listening to the legendary life of High Priest Kaekas.
By the ti she returned to her senses, they had made a full round and were back at the temple’s main entrance.
Then, she saw another blaze of fire.
Initially, Clara thought it was just a burning candle or sothing, but she soon realized this blaze was not in front of her; it was lighting up from a great distance.
The Great Temple of Alberto was established on a hillside, almost the highest terrain in the city. Standing on the stone steps in front of the Temple, one could see half of the town.
The little maid then looked toward Hirodod beside her; however, he seed not to care much about the blaze in the city, only continuing, "Didn’t the story of High Priest Kaekas remind you of anything?"
"Um, are you suggesting that High Priest Kaekas’s experiences are similar to those of Prophet rlin?"
"Exactly." Hirodod nodded with satisfaction. "The first ti I heard about what rlin did in Rock Snow City, I thought of High Priest Kaekas, and the more I heard about his deeds, the more I felt they were similar. It’s as if they were cast in the sa mold."
"My teacher, Priest Reeves, was obsessed with power. Though the other high priests weren’t as extre, most of their ti was also spent grappling for power, including Priest Martina."
"Don’t get wrong, I don’t dislike Priest Martina; on the contrary, she is my favorite among the other priests, but she can’t save the Silver Moon Church."
"Worldly power cannot win a war between gods," Hirodod said, "It seems that everyone in the Church has forgotten where our faith actually cos from."
"Divine Power is the key to everything, all else is irrelevant, be it power, wealth, or the number of devotees... High Priest Kaekas started from scratch and built the Silver Moon Church."
"If I could possess the Divine Power he had, I could do the sa."
As Hirodod spoke, more places in the city started to light up with fire, and faint cries and wails intermingled with the wind.
Yet Hirodod paid no heed to this, staring intently at Clara, "Now you see how desperately I wish to connect with the goddess."
The little maid was about to say sothing, but she was stopped by the priest who continued, "I have not co to find you tonight but had you brought here because I thought it over again.
"Before, the goddess only gave signs and was unwilling to converse with , possibly because the thoughts of one person are not strong enough, so I plan to use the Holy Spirit Energy embodied in the Great Temple of Alberto to attract the goddess’s attention.
"That way, she’ll tell more."
Looking at the priest’s confident deanor, the little maid could only muster a bitter smile.
She had no idea where Hirodod got all these whimsical thoughts, and he hadn’t even phrased anything as a question but as a statent.
In other words, this evening, she was obliged to et his demands.
The little maid’s mind was racing, but during this ti, to not arouse Hirodod’s suspicion, she had already switched many scientific experints, and now her inventory was nearly depleted.
Especially as Hirodod’s demands grew higher, Clara felt she was like fetching water to douse a fire that could not be extinguished, bringing her ever closer to being exposed.
But those were worries for later; for now, she needed to get through this hurdle.
The little maid thought of an experint that might satisfy Hirodod’s demands.
Most importantly, this experint was also very simple. The little maid had Hirodod bring a water jar, then she found a freshly sprouted tender leaf, on which she dropped two drops of ink at the end of the leaf.
Then she placed the leaf in the water jar. The next mont, a miracle occurred. Although there was no wind at the ti, the leaf moved on its own in the water jar, drawing mysterious ink lines.
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