When Lolo returned to Mirabar, she found that the city had changed a lot since a month ago. The most obvious change was the population. According to the ponytailed girl from the St. Roland Academy of Magic, in order to prevent the invasion of monsters, not only the surrounding villages, but the people from the two nearby towns had all moved here.
So the most direct result was that the population of Mirabar doubled, and the houses in the city were naturally not enough. Rosita ordered some people to urgently transform some taverns and shops into temporary places for people to live, but most people could only barely make a living by setting up a small tent on the side of the road. The streets were a mess, there were beggars, there were cries of babies, there were hands and feet everywhere, and no one knew where they came from. Carriages had long been unable to pass through.
The three of them could only walk. As soon as they got out of the car, a horrible stench hit them.
Roselle frowned. This was the side effect of the population exceeding the capacity of the city. The entire city's sewage system was completely paralyzed. There was human and animal waste everywhere, and the air was foul. If it was not handled properly, it would speed up the spread of disease.
However, Luo Luo noticed that among this group of haggard looking refugees, there were a few different figures.
They were dressed like missionaries, but the emblem on their chests was not the emblem of the temple. In fact, the emblem was something that the girl had never seen before — a man covered in thorns and a woman being eaten by a vulture.
"Who are they?"
"The Church of Patience," the ponytailed girl said. After staying in Mirabar for a while, she was no stranger to these people.
"The Church of Patience?" Lolo searched her memory and confirmed that she had not heard of this name. She asked, "Is it a new religion that has appeared recently?"
"No, the Association has also investigated the background of this group of people. The Church of Patience was founded more than 120 years ago, and the founder is unknown. However, like other small religions, they have been suppressed by the Temple. It was only after these recent incidents that they really became active."
"Oh?"
"This has something to do with their teachings. They have been preaching that the end of the world is coming. Everyone will face judgment, and those who join the religion and donate money will be exempted." The ponytailed girl shrugged. "Now you know why this religion suddenly became popular."
"Doesn't Rosita care?" Lolo said in surprise. Throughout human history, religious activities were the most frequent when the human world was in turmoil. It was inevitable that there would be some people with ulterior motives. Especially this time, the Divine Temple had suffered a great change. They could not even take care of themselves, so they gave the stage to other sects that used to hide in the shadows.
"The Church of Patience isn't a cult, right? At least for the time being, they haven't done anything out of line. Not only are they helping to provide relief to the victims, but they are also making great contributions in calming the victims' emotions. Mayor Rosita probably turned a blind eye to their recruitment of believers because of this. After all, for now, they are more constructive than destructive."
"I'm afraid the current Church of Patience is different from the Church of Patience 120 years ago" a voice spoke up.
Lolo's eyes lit up when she heard that. Sure enough, she saw that familiar figure in the crowd.
They had only not seen each other for a month, but it felt like a century had passed. Although there were other people beside them, the two of them hugged each other tightly as if they did not see each other at all. After a while, Lolo let go of him. She blushed and asked a little embarrassedly, "What are you doing in Mirabelle?"
"A plague has been discovered between humans and animals here. Fortunately, Mayor Rosita isolated it in time, so it hasn't spread. I'm here to see the situation," Rob said, then nodded at Roussel and the ponytailed girl.
"You just said that the Church of Patience is different from 120 years ago?" Lolo remembered someone's words and asked in surprise.
"Yes, I just got the news from the Divine Temple. The real Church of Patience was targeted by the Heresy Court not long after it was founded. The founder was arrested, and several of the core members of the sect were either killed or injured. It was equivalent to being wiped out. There were no records of their activities for more than a hundred years after that. The current Church of Patience only appeared four years ago."
"The Northern Region was attacked?" The girl said thoughtfully.
"Yes, more or less at that point."
"So who is wearing the skin of the Church of Patience now? What is their goal?" Lolo asked. "Why don't they catch a few people and interrogate them?"
"Their goal is not yet clear, but it's definitely not as simple as using the apocalypse to scam money. Those who come out to preach are basically low-level people. Even if we catch them, we won't be able to get anything out of them. The Association is already keeping an eye on them, so let's wait patiently."
The girl noticed a flash of worry in someone's eyes. Roussel was very tactful. "You two haven't seen each other for a long time. We won't disturb you any further." He then turned to look at the ponytailed girl. "This is my first time in Mirabelle. Can you take me to the branch?"
The latter nodded. "Happy to be of service."
After the two of them left, Luo Bu and Luo Luo returned to the city wall where they had seen the scenery last time. This was the only place where they could temporarily escape from the oppressive atmosphere in the city. After catching their breaths, the girl looked at the canyon in the distance and asked, "Is the situation very bad?"
"It's a little worse than I thought, but it's not completely out of control. Other than the Sacred Alliance, it's only a matter of time before the Lionheart Empire and the Free city-state fall."
"Then why are you worried?"
Rob was silent for a moment. "Under normal circumstances, the gods will not leave their Divine Kingdom because the more eternal they are, the more they fear death. This is also the reason why Teacher and the others killed the gods, to threaten them so that they will not easily step into our world. However, there are exceptions to everything. Do you still remember the scene we saw in Matata's secret treasure?"
Lolo knew what Roland was talking about. When they were on the city wall of the four-eyed people, they saw almost a hundred pillars of light appear, and the real gods that walked out of those pillars of light were real gods. After tens of thousands of years, no one knew if the gods would use the same method to deal with humans.
Previously, just to kill a mere God, they had paid the price of the entire Magic Association's Board of Governors being wiped out. How many top-notch experts did the humans have to expend? Moreover, even all the masters in the Dawn Continent combined would not be a match for the descended gods.
"If we can't find the answer to this question, we will never be able to truly change the fate of humans," Rob said.
"Then do you have an answer?"
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