The garden was quiet for a moment.
Now Gwen knew why Bersetia had dismissed the unrelated personnel.
"You are surprised." The Silver Queen looked at Gwen, who was sitting opposite her. "It seems that this is not the answer you want to hear."
"No, this answer is actually good news in a sense, but I am really surprised." Gwen exhaled softly, calming his thoughts while thinking about the meaning behind Bersetia's answer. "Can you tell me more about it? The details of the activities of the secret cult, what kind of god did they communicate with, and what kind of phenomenon did they cause? "
"Of course." Bersetia smiled, and then seemed to fall into a distant memory. She slowly said in a low voice, "Everything started from the fall of Shirahoshi. As you know, in the fall of Shirahoshi, the Druil lost their god, and the original church gradually transformed into various academic institutions and secret meetings of the extraordinary. In history books, this transformation process was simply summarized as a 'difficult transition.' But in fact, the struggle that the elves experienced in the process of accepting this fact was far more difficult than what was described in history books.
"Races with shorter lifespans like humans should not be able to understand all this. Uncle Gwen, I am just telling the truth because for humans, even the most difficult and painful things only take a little time to forget and get used to. Sometimes it only takes one or two generations, and sometimes it doesn't even take one generation. But for elves, our life span is two or three thousand years or even longer. So even until now, there are still Druil survivors from the fall of Shirahoshi. Our long lifespan makes us remember those difficult things for a long time, and for some devout followers … even after centuries, they still can't accept the fact that their god has fallen.
"Some stubborn Druil secret cults were born under such circumstances. People always think that the Druil of the Holy Ghost Church were the most determined 'primitive believers.' But in fact, the secret cults of the Druil that are not recognized by history are. Most of them were high-ranking priests and ascetics during the 'God's Age.' Their belief in god had become their basic way of thinking and the meaning of life. After the fall of Shirahoshi, the primitive church of the God of Nature fell into chaos and faced a doomed split. This group of extremely devout followers took away a large number of sacred books and fled into the depths of the forest to protect the sacred heritage. In the following centuries, they formed several major secret cults. "
Hearing this, Gwen could not help but interject. "What was the Elven Court doing at that time?"
"Dealing with our own chaos," Bersetia said. "You probably can't imagine how deeply the belief in the God of Nature had affected the elven society more than 3,000 years ago. It was a quagmire deeper than the human gods. So when it suddenly disappeared, the chaos immediately took up all the energy of the Elven Court. The secret cults of the Druil took root in the dense forest in the mountains and began to try various methods to restore their former glory.
"At that time, although many Druil saw the fall of Shirahoshi in the illusion, and many people guessed that it meant the 'death' of the God of Nature. But there were still believers who thought that the God of Nature had only temporarily cut off the connection with the mortals. They thought that this was some kind of test from the gods. They even thought that this was a new kind of 'revelation.' They used various reasons to explain the desperate situation. At the same time, driven by these reasons, the secret cults continued to explore new prayer rituals, build new belief systems, and even modify the church scriptures of the past to explain the situation at hand.
"This kind of thing went on for centuries. In the first few hundred years, they were just fooling around. They were so low-key that they did not even attract the attention of the Elven Court. We just thought that they were a group of hermits who could not bear the blow of the departure of the gods and lived in seclusion in the forest. But as time went by, the situation gradually changed.
"Some of the secret cult groups merged together again because they could not sustain themselves on their own, forming a relatively large 'Forest Cult.' Their exploration of the secret cult rituals also became deeper and more dangerous. Finally, unsettling phenomena began to appear in the forest. Elves began to report that they saw bewildering illusions near the hermit's settlement, heard whispers in their minds, and even saw gigantic creatures that had never appeared in the real world walk out of the forest.
"The first thing that alerted the Elven Court was a report from a forest ranger. A forest ranger accidentally entered the base of the secret Druil. He saw thousands of people gathered there to perform a ritual. There were many residents of the nearby villages and even travelers who had gone missing on the road. He saw the secret Druil carving a huge animal on the wall as an idol and worshipping it as the new incarnation of the God of Nature. After a long and disturbing ritual, the forest ranger saw the animal on the wall walk down from the stone and began to accept the worship and prayers of the believers. "
Gwen held his breath and listened carefully. Finally, he could not help but ask, "Then … the Elven Court at that time destroyed the secret cult?"
"Yes, and very few people knew about it," Bersetia said calmly. "It was undoubtedly a heretic cult. The 'god' they communicated with and summoned was a dangerous unknown existence. The Elven Court could not allow such a dangerous factor to continue to develop. So the queen at that time, my grandmother, immediately issued an order. The main members of the secret cult were all captured, and the shallow believers were scattered. After a long interrogation, the Elven Court found that the core members had been completely influenced by the fanatical and distorted belief in the God of Nature. They even tried to preach among the soldiers in charge of custody. So they were all executed, and not a single one was left alive.
"And what's disturbing is that after destroying this secret cult, the royal court sent people to search their former stronghold several times in an attempt to find the whereabouts of that 'deity.' However, they only found broken and collapsed reliefs and many inexplicable ashes. That 'deity' has disappeared, leaving nothing behind.
"After that, similar things happened several times, from my grandmother to my father, and then to my generation. Five centuries ago, I personally ordered the destruction of the last secret cult. Since then, no new secret cult and 'god' have emerged. The forest returned to peace. But I am still not sure if this dangerous organization has been completely and permanently destroyed. They always seem to have the ability to come back from the ashes and find a new hiding place in the vast jungle. "
Bersetia's story came to an end. She looked at Gwen with a calm gaze. Gwen's mind was in turmoil.
He digested the shocking information that the Silver Queen had told him. At the same time, he could not help but think of many things.
The first thing that came to his mind was the 'gods' that disappeared with the annihilation of the secret cult. The 'products of thought' that were born from collective worship and strict rituals had disappeared like a dream. He could not help but think of a piece of information that Giant Deer Amoun had once revealed to him.
The gods that were first born were extremely weak. Perhaps a few large sticks and sharp spears would be enough to destroy them …
The second thing that came to his mind was that Amoun's decision to fake his death for three thousand years was very correct. The long lifespan of the elves had indeed led to a different 'persistence' than that of humans. Dozens of centuries had passed, but the 'remembrance' of the God of Nature had not been cut off. This was really a shocking thing. If Amoun had not chosen to fake his death, perhaps he would have been forcibly reconnected by those 'loyal believers'.
In addition, the information brought by Bersetia had also verified many of the results of the Disobedience Plan. Many of Gwen's conjectures about the mechanism of the gods had also been confirmed. All of this was a huge gain!
"It seems that you still have a lot to ask me." The Silver Queen smiled. "Although this is beyond our exchange of questions and answers, I'm still happy to continue."
Gawain then asked, "After dealing with those secret sects so many times, does the elven court still consider them as mere 'heretical cults'?"
"Of course, they are heresy without a doubt," the Silver Queen replied calmly. "Please don't forget that I'm the highest priestess of the Druil Orthodox Church. So in my eyes, those secret cults that try to establish a 'new faith in the God of Nature' must be heresy."
Gwen looked into her eyes. "At the same time, you are also the Silver Queen, the ruler of an empire. So those secret cults must not only be heresy, they must also be heresy."
The Silver Queen was stunned for a moment and sighed. "Uncle Gwen, after so many years, you are still so heartless."
"I've been sleeping for more than 700 years. To me, not much time has passed. And even if 700 years have passed, the rules of the world have not changed much," Gwen said, shaking his head. "What those secret cults have done is undoubtedly a huge threat. Not only are they a threat to the other Druil factions, but they are also a threat to the order of the empire. I've already experienced this. And for the Silver Empire, this threat is even more deadly. The God of Nature has fallen. Without the support of the gods, the royal family will of course not sit back and watch a group of uncontrollable Druil really create a new god. "
The Silver Queen frowned slightly. "So, what they have created is really a 'god'."
"If the theoretical model I know is correct, it should be some kind of embryonic form, or even earlier, a psychological illusion created by the group thought. It is in the process of transforming into the real world. But due to the small number of believers and the short period of time, this process has been greatly delayed, which gave you the opportunity to interrupt it." Gwen nodded and said. Then, he was a little puzzled. "You still don't realize that those are really 'gods'? And you haven't done any formal research? "
"There are some guesses, but no one dares to come to a conclusion," the Silver Queen said frankly. "After coming into contact with the first secret cult, the Elven Court vaguely realized the danger and sensitivity of this matter. So, for thousands of years, only the members of the royal family knew the complete information about those secret cults. The related research was also carried out under strict confidentiality. Outsiders only knew that the royal family had sent troops to wipe out the cults in the forest several times, but no one knew what else we had destroyed at the same time. Even so, we only treated those mysterious beings as similar to evil gods or 'transcendent spirits', and related research was carried out on this basis. And because those 'spirits' always dissipated quickly, there was almost no progress in our internal research in recent centuries."
Gwen was a little stunned. He could not help but feel regretful because the Silver Empire was so close to the truth. They even came into contact with the terrible truth behind the gods earlier than the Kingdom of Gondor. But in the end, they lingered on the edge of the truth and never crossed the critical point of "disobedience". If they were bolder, if they did not hide these secrets so deeply and for so long, if they participated in the human's disobedience plan during the Gondor period, would the situation in this world be different today?
However, he quickly dispelled these meaningless hypotheses because all of this was impossible. Even if he could turn back time, it would still be difficult to achieve —
The Silver Empire was a secular country. Even if their original religion was only in name, the special identity of their ruler and the complicated political structure determined that they could not go too far on this path. And even if this was not taken into consideration, under normal circumstances, if they did not have the opportunity to get a lot of information from the gods themselves, who would have thought that the gods were born from the "ideology" out of thin air?
The elves could only treat the "spirits" created by the secret cult as evil gods or "transcendental spirits" of unknown origin.
Thinking of this, Gwen suddenly had a new question. "I'm suddenly a little curious. After so many years, the Elven Court and those secret cults had so many dealings. Even if the related research progress was slow, but have you ever considered … 'creating' a god like them, or trying to communicate with the God of Nature? The Silver Queen and the Silver Emperor are the highest priestesses of the Druil, so in a sense, the divine authority also affects your orthodoxy. If you have a real god behind you … "
"We did not do that, and the reason is very simple." The Silver Queen shook her head with a smile before Gwen could finish. "After the gods left, we suddenly realized that we can be orthodox even without a god behind us."
"… I understand." Gwen was stunned for a moment, then said in a low voice.
Then he could not help but laugh. "Who would have thought, as the highest priestess of the Druil, the Silver Queen is actually the one who does not want the God of Nature to return the most."
"You are wrong." The Silver Queen shook her head. "In fact, the one who does not want the God of Nature to return the most is not me, but the leaders of the secret cult who have really summoned the 'gods' but found that the 'gods' are not the God of Nature. They are fanatical and devout at all times, and they even called the 'gods' they summoned as the new incarnation of the God of Nature, Amoun. However, when we brought them to the temple of Amoun to carry out the judgment, they would be filled with nervousness and fear. This sad distortion, once you see it once, you will never forget it. "
Gwen carefully digested the Silver Queen's words and fell into silence. The Silver Queen sitting opposite him smiled and gently pushed the black tea in front of Gwen a little forward.
"Uncle Gwen, the tea is cold."
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