Hearing Gwen's words, Rosetta's eyes changed slightly. He leaned forward slightly. "It seems that you have an agreement with Tarlonde?"
"Tarlonde's Provisional Council is currently the only legal governing body of Tarlonde. The Giant Dragon under its rule is a legal citizen. The Alliance and the Giant Dragon Kingdom will mutually recognize the above legitimacy. In addition, any Giant Dragon who does not obey the Council's control, does not abide by the Alliance's agreement, does not follow the rules of entry and exit, and destroys the security of the Alliance's territory will have no citizenship rights by default," Gwen said slowly. "Dragons that are out of control are a huge threat to us and to Tarlonde."
"… What a terrible decision," Rosetta could not help but say. "The Dragons can actually make such a decision …"
"This is a race that we have never officially come into contact with. They have a different way of thinking, history, and culture from us. In some ways, the gap between them and us is far greater than the gap between us and the elves." Gwen nodded, talking about his impression of the Giant Dragon. "The Giant Dragon's discipline, decisiveness, and importance to contracts are far superior to other mortal races. Their ability to cope with changes and learn new things may be the opposite. We need a period of time to slowly get to know and adapt to these new friends, and so do they."
At this point, he paused for a moment and continued very seriously. "This is also something that we must always consider after the establishment of the Alliance. Our allies are across countries, races, and even the boundaries of the known civilizations. We all grew up in different cultural environments. Now we have to unite to cope with the pressure of the whole world. We lack the integration process that has been tested by history, so different ways of thinking will inevitably bring about friction and even collision. This kind of collision can't be solved by the absolute suppression of force by a big country. It first needs those countries with strong regional appeal to take the initiative to take the lead, and these countries themselves must have the same opinion. "
"It seems that you have indeed thought about this matter for a long time." Rosetta finally nodded. "I agree with your point of view. Typhon is also willing to take his due responsibility in this matter."
Gwen laughed. "You see, an open and honest conversation is still very useful."
Then he went directly to the next topic. "Next … since we have just talked about the realm of the gods, let's extend this topic. We have just ended a war against the gods. As the leader of the victorious countries, I want to hear your opinion on this war. "
"My opinion?" Rosetta showed a complicated and inexplicable bitter smile. "My biggest opinion is that this kind of war once is enough. Such a huge price, such a difficult battle, and our victory was only to destroy a 'spiritual phantom' that we created. Other than the fragments that can only be used as research material, the God of War only left a scorching scorched earth. He will not bear any war reparations. The 'victorious countries' you mentioned just now is more like a sarcasm."
"… The Dragons have also used their own experience to prove the same thing: using the direct method of killing the gods to smash the shackles is not a good way to go. The price will get heavier as the civilization develops, and our current level of development seems to have reached the stage where the price is too heavy. So if we have no other choice, we had better choose a safer path."
Rosetta heard this and raised his eyelids slightly. "The Theocratic Council?"
"That's it."
"… I have heard this name more than once, and I have guessed its mechanism and function more than once. I can guess that you are going to tamper with the operating mechanism of the gods, but I can't figure out how you are going to do it," Rosetta said. "You have mentioned in general the concepts of universal literacy, the formalization of the church, and the liberation of mind … So I have been thinking recently about what is the biggest commonality between them."
"The biggest commonality is' desacralization, '" Gwen looked into Rosetta's eyes. He finally said this word and put it on the table in front of an ally. But he had never thought that this ally would be Rosetta Augustus. At this moment, he could not help but sigh at the wonders of fate. The development of everything in the world was always so unexpected. "Since we all know how the gods came into being, then we can figure out how they' disappeared 'with a little reverse engineering."
Desacralization. The moment he heard this word, Rosetta narrowed his eyes subconsciously.
He had been thinking about the real operation core behind Gwen's huge plan for a long time in the past. He had flipped through all the books written by Gwen and read every sentence in them. He understood every decision made by Gwen in the past few years and continued to summarize the principles from them. He had almost seen the whole picture of the Theocratic Council. He was just missing a key word, a hint of a "key."
Now, he finally knew what the key was.
"Will this work?" He looked at Gwen with an unprecedented solemn attitude. "Just by relying on desacralization?"
"Of course, this is not the only method, but it will be the most influential factor," Gawain explained. "After analyzing the generation principle and operation mechanism of the gods, we have determined that it is the 'ideology' of a large number of believers that shapes and affects the gods over a long period of time. The basis of this ideology is the 'attribution of everything to God'. It is precisely because everyone firmly believes that something is the authority of God that the corresponding authority will become a real god. So, the key is to stop this process …"
"Blindness and ignorance lead to the birth of such 'ideology,'" Rosetta took the initiative to continue. "Because people do not know the truth of something, and have never heard of any way to explain the unknown based on logic, they will naturally lead to the answer to some existence that does not need to be explained at all."
"Yes, the key is' thinking, 'active' thinking, '" Gwen nodded. "Only when thinking becomes a habit, people will first think of the logic behind the unknown when they encounter it, instead of attributing everything to a divine and omnipotent being. And this kind of thinking must be based on a certain degree of education, and at the same time, the influence of the church needs to be controlled."
"But the wise will always be the minority." Rosetta tried to find the unrealizable part of this theory. "There is no perfect state where everyone can think rationally, and you can't guarantee that the effect of universal education will be ideal for everyone. It is more likely that there will be countless ignorant fools and countless boastful 'tavern scholars.' Their thinking has nothing to do with the truth, and the distance between real knowledge and their minds may be wider than the endless ocean. Such people …"
Rosetta showed a subtle look. Apparently, he was not only deducing these results, but he really had a deep understanding of them. Gwen immediately thought of why Rosetta's description of these phenomena was so accurate.
Typhon's education popularization project was in fact many years earlier than Cecil's. Although they were not as successful as Cecil due to some "detours," the long-term accumulation was enough for Rosetta to see many "unexpected effects" after universal education.
Gwen laughed, his fingers gently tapping on the armrest of the sofa. "Tavern scholars, oral experts, folk scholars, and philosophers on paper. One glass of wine can discuss runes with you, two glasses of wine can discuss mathematics with you, and three glasses of wine can confidently explain the basic laws of our world to you, and even dare to question all the authorities in the world."
"This is the most wonderful evaluation I have ever heard." Rosetta was surprised at first, and then he could not help but smile. "But I have to admit that your summary is very thorough. These people … are they the 'thinkers' you want?"
"Are they not?" Gwen suddenly put away the teasing look on his face and asked very seriously, "Are they not thinking?"
Rosetta frowned subconsciously. "They …"
"They are thinking. Although their thinking is not so accurate, no matter how many glasses of wine they have, they have never tried to attribute these problems to a certain extraordinary and omnipotent god. Because 'everything is attributed to the omnipotence of God' in itself is the opposite of thinking. When they talk to people in taverns and alleys, they are also exploring what they think of as' knowledge, 'not the rules of a certain god. You may think that these people are a little ridiculous, but you should see that they are at least trying to understand the world with their own eyes, not the eyes given by God.
"This is what I mean by the greatest effect of universal education and emancipation of the mind. It can't turn everyone into a scholar, and it can't make everyone learn to think logically, but it can make everyone have the common sense that everything in the world can be explained by logic, and knowledge can change human understanding of the world. On this basis, they will think, and thinking itself … is the biggest shake to the gods. "
Rosetta's expression finally became serious. He thought about these questions he had never thought about under Gwen's guidance. This was an angle he had never tried as a born aristocrat, as a ruler who was used to looking down on the whole empire.
He finally gradually understood Gwen's intention and slowly nodded. "I think I understand …"
"You don't fully understand," Gwen leaned forward slightly and stared into Rosetta's eyes. "The education in Typhon has been going on for years. Although the progress is slow, there must be a lot of data accumulated over the years. But have you investigated the pattern behind these data? Investigate the proportion of devout believers, shallow believers, and pan-believers in the population who have received literacy education. Investigate the influence of the church in developed and underdeveloped areas. Investigate the frequency of dialogue between the clergy and the gods in different areas and the response rate. Have you done any of these investigations? "
"… No." Rosetta shook his head after a short moment of thought. "I have never considered this direction."
"This is the problem. Typhon has done a lot of things, even earlier than Cecil, but you have not done a lot of things." Gwen sighed. "Now that we are going to join the same alliance, I am happy to help you in this regard. Of course, in return, I also hope that you can open up the data in this regard. Not to me, but to the Theocratic Council. This is of vital help to our study of the mysteries of the gods."
"I think that's not a problem." Rosetta agreed to Gwen's request without much thought. He seemed to be completely unaware of the huge value of the "large-scale social data" accumulated over the years and held by the royal family. It was not that he was shallow or negligent, but in this era, no one had studied this field at all.
Gwen nodded with a sincere smile on his face.
Rosetta was lost in thought. After half a minute, he broke the silence.
"So what the Theocratic Council wants to do is not to publicly attack any church, nor to promote the negative image of any god," Rosetta said while thinking. "The Theocratic Council itself will not 'declare war' on any god."
"Yes, this will minimize the acceleration of the 'countdown' and alleviate the doubts of many member states. After all, although monarchy and theocracy are natural opposites, the rulers of countries still have to consider the power of the churches in their countries." Gwen nodded. "In fact, not only will the Theocratic Council not declare war on any god, it will even help the gods to do some 'propaganda' …"
"Propaganda?" Rosetta did not understand what Gwen meant. He looked a little confused.
"The clergy will be secular, the dogma will be popularized, the gods will be celebrities, and finally, the belief system will be entertainment." Gwen's mouth slightly curled up. "We will not create a negative image of any god. On the contrary, we will even make them more glorious in movies, magazines, and movies, and in the process … they will gradually become less mysterious and less sacred."
Rosetta looked at Gwen, dumbfounded, as if he was listening to a fantasy story.
Then he took a long breath, and the expression on his face became more complicated than ever. "… You are the boldest person I have ever met. So bold that it's a little scary."
When he said the word 'person', he seemed to hesitate for a moment, but he did not use any other word to replace it.
Gwen noticed Rosetta's slight hesitation, but he just smiled and said, "Don't you think this plan is worth a try?"
"If my surname was not Augustus, I'm afraid I would have been scared by you." Rosetta made a little joke, and then his expression became serious. "I'm in."
Gwen smiled and raised the wine glass in his hand. "It's a pleasure to fight with the heavens."
Rosetta froze for a moment. He savored this strange sentence and gradually smiled and raised his glass. "It's a pleasure to fight with the heavens."
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