The sacred hall was brightly lit, and the baptism was in progress.
This was a wonderful building. Its construction process was a fusion of incomprehensible symbolic elements and a small-scale distortion of the laws. When standing outside the baptismal hall, one might think that it was just a relatively tall domed building, but when one walked in, the vast interior of the building would be amazing. It could accommodate twenty people without feeling empty, and it could also accommodate millions of people holding worship without feeling crowded. Yes, the interior of the baptism hall was constantly changing. The space here was always in a perfect state. No matter how many believers came in, it would always prepare a suitable place for them. "Do not be disrespectful to the Goddess because of the emptiness, and do not embarrass the Lord because of the crowding." This was the purpose of the temple's random spatial changes.
The baptism hall was a circular, vaulted building. There were no pillars or similar supports inside, only a few thick vines hanging from the high ceiling. The walls of the hall were painted with complicated pictures. Unlike the usual religious pictures, these murals did not depict the miracles of the gods or the deeds of the devout believers on a pilgrimage. Instead, they depicted various wild animals, plants, and humans. These images represented the prosperity of life in the world. In fact, they included every kind of life in the entire universe, even single-celled organisms. They were painted in a one-to-one ratio. In Liliana's words, "I've painted it anyway. If you can't see it, it's just a matter of your eyes."
It sounded impossible to paint the images of all the creatures in the universe on the walls of the baptismal hall, so these murals were the second wonder of the baptismal hall. Not everything they contained would appear in front of one's eyes. Everyone who came here would see different murals. Only those who had a better understanding of the nature of life and more respect for the balance of nature would be able to see more of the contents of the murals and understand more of the mysteries of the world. Lina had clearly stated in the Divine Grimoire, "Those who witness 1,800 kinds of life in the highest baptismal ground will obtain eternal life." This statement might be true, but no one had been able to prove it. According to the Red Dragon Queen, Alexstrasza, who had once challenged this trial, there was a line written under the murals of the 1799th creature:
The following content was only visible to the replies.
No one could leave words on the walls of the holy land, so no one could obtain eternal life this way.
In the middle of the hall was the baptismal altar. It was half a meter above the ground and had a radius of 12 meters. It was carved from green crystal, and in the middle of the "bowl" stood a white sculpture several meters high. The sculpture was of a beautiful girl with waist-length hair. The girl held a water jar in her hands. The holy water for baptism came from this jar and was sprinkled into the shallow "bowl" below. It was easy to imagine that this sculpture represented the Goddess of Life. Liliana used her divine power to create this sculpture based on the holy image of Jingle in her divine form. I always thought that this was one of the few good things that that crazy girl did.
According to religious etiquette, during the baptism, the baptized had to stand on the baptismal altar, which was the bowl-shaped altar that was rippling with holy water. Furthermore, they had to be directly under the Goddess of Life's statue and be "filled" with the holy water from the jar in the goddess' hands. This process lasted for three minutes, and the miraculous thing was that the chosen baptized wouldn't get wet. The priest who presided over the baptism would ask the baptized one question every minute, and the baptized had to answer according to their true thoughts. If they answered the questions correctly, they would avoid getting drenched. These questions might not necessarily be related to religion, but they were completely random. Naturally, there was no way to prepare the answers in advance. However, the baptized did not need to be nervous. There were only three circumstances that would cause the holy water to react, and those questions wouldn't be too difficult.
After the baptism, the degree of dryness on one's body was the most direct indicator of the strength of a believer's faith. Our greatest Pope, Ding? Liliana? She could stand for seven days under the test of holy water and still be dry. Anyway, that's what the latest version of the Bible said yesterday.
With so many miracles gathered in the holy land, the process of the baptism was so solemn and complicated (which was rare in the various religious activities of Jingle's religion). Of course, not every believer could accept this honor. This kind of high-level baptism was only carried out for special people, such as race leaders or epic heroes. Under normal circumstances, the believers of the Goddess of Life in every world would carry out a very simplified baptism ceremony, such as pressing the unlucky newcomer on a chair, and the local priest holding a kettle and swinging it at the girl — at least I thought so.
Funa's baptism ceremony had reached its final step. There was a soft and holy song reverberating in the air, seeping into the mind of every listener from all directions. The delicate girl standing on the baptismal altar had a calm expression on her face as she answered the last question asked by the priest, Artemis: What do you think about the problem of acne in girls?
Funa thought for a second, then answered honestly, "I don't know."
A very suitable answer: True, not hesitant, and not against the teachings of the church. And so, the baptism ended successfully.
I read the ending below, but the ending alone was enough to stun the author.
"I say, where did all the questions about the baptism ceremony come from?"
It took me half a minute to get the organs on my face to return to their normal working positions. Then, I nudged a solemn Avalon priest in a robe next to me. The priest bowed to me in greeting and answered simply, "Baidu."
Do you know, right now I really want to go beat up Liliana.
Probably because my expression was too obvious, the nameless priest standing next to me hurriedly tried to salvage the situation for his female Pope. "Your Majesty, in fact, His Majesty Pope has already formalized this ceremony. In the beginning, when the baptized person answered the question, there would be a group of friends and relatives and a chance to call for help, but now they have been removed …"
Because there are too many things to complain about, can I not complain this time?
At this moment, the baptism ceremony had already ended, and Funa was walking down from the altar. Artemis, who was presiding over the ceremony, smiled and helped Funa put on a green leaf brooch that symbolized a believer. "Congratulations, Funa, now that you have become a follower of the Goddess, the Goddess' blessings will be with you — when she goes to work."
It was not easy to be a follower of Jingle.
"Funa! Artemis! "I squeezed through the crowd and greeted.
Artemis was stunned for a moment, and Funa asked me a question in a flat tone, "My friend, why are you here?"
If you didn't add punctuation, you wouldn't even know that she was asking a question.
"I suddenly heard that you wanted to join the church or something, so I came to take a look. What did Liliana say to you? "
"Liliana told me that believing in the Goddess can help improve the common sense of society — I have been troubled by this recently."
… Believing this kind of nonsense is common sense, you idiot with no common sense! Liliana, do you usually bully the innocent Fina-chan like this?!
"I really didn't think of this reason, Bishop Liliana only asked me to perform the ceremony for this new sister," Artemis suddenly showed a subtle expression, and then she scratched her head, this action completely restored the image of a clergyman that she had painstakingly maintained for so long to the state of the shrewish girl from before, "But I think it's always good to have faith, especially to join the Goddess's church that is as close as a family, we will take good care of Funa — Hmm, the Empire's laws won't prohibit people from the Empire from joining the church, right? Funa seems to be a standard apostle now. "
"That's fine," I pouted, and then reached into my pocket, "Jingle, come out and see your new believer, Liliana just tricked her over."
The little thing's fingers that were hugging me were pulled out of my pocket, and there seemed to be oil on her face from eating. Funa and the little thing looked at each other for a while, and then nodded mechanically, "Hello."
The little thing licked her fingers, and said in a shrill voice, "Funa … So you also believe in Jingle?"
This was the historic meeting between the Goddess and her new believer. Once again, it wasn't easy for these guys who believed in Jingle.
"Oh, this place is so big," The little thing that was pulled out of my pocket was like a cub that had just left its nest. After greeting Funa, she began to look around curiously. Don't be fooled by the name of the Goddess, this little thing that always hung out with me was coming to the baptismal hall for the first time. After a while, she discovered a new continent, and with a snap, she jumped onto my shoulder, and pointed to the side and shouted, "Ah Jun, Ah Jun, who is this idiot holding the jar!? The water is flowing out! "
For a moment, the surroundings were silent, and Artemis was about to cry.
I waved my hand in front of Funa, whose expression was a little stiff, and said earnestly, "Funa, it's not too late to quit now …"
I couldn't describe the atmosphere in which Funa and I were respectfully sent off. Just a few minutes ago, the most serious dark history in the history of the Goddess of Life Pope happened, and it happened in front of at least a dozen bishops, more than a thousand Divine Guardians (Heroic Spirits), hundreds of high-ranking priests, and a leader of the Empire. In the days to come, no matter when I think about it, the sad faces of those Heroic Spirits will appear in my mind, as if they had lost their parents.
It was said that from then on, the Goddess of Life's teachings clearly stipulated a new standard for the statue of the Goddess. No matter what form the statue took, it was required to have a lollipop in its right hand. Although it seemed a little ridiculous, at least this would prevent our Goddess from mistaking it again … Jingle also didn't recognize anything else.
Funa's hut was in the center of the village, next to Artemis's residence. As a half-baked Shiring Apostles who had just become official, Funa should have settled down in the City of Shadows, but she seemed to like the natural scenery of Avalon even more, so after completing her soul adjustment, she lived here. This was easy to understand. In the past few hundred years, Funa's living environment was an iron throne and an ice-cold command hall. She had almost forgotten what a lively world was like. Compared to the City of Shadows, which reminded her of an iron jungle, this picturesque world made the former Queen feel more comfortable.
"Friend, I learned how to make tea. I hope you like it."
After inviting me into the hut, Funa got up to prepare tea, while I briefly looked around. Just like most buildings in this village, Funa's house was a two-story building, but only the first floor was suitable for living. The second floor and above was set up with a prayer room and other things related to religious symbols. In my line of sight, this small house had been cleaned up by Funa, but it was a little too tidy. Apart from the necessary furniture, I didn't see any decorations. It was almost impossible to tell that this was a girl's residence. Although I knew that Funa lacked emotions and understood some common things, I was still quite surprised that she didn't have any personal hobbies other than what was necessary for her to maintain her lifestyle.
I had also seen Sylvia's place before, and it was just as tidy. Perhaps that slow silver-haired mole's brain power was limited, and she usually didn't have any personal hobbies, but at least she would occasionally collect some of the newest candy boxes and place them on the shelves, or design some cards for children. But Funa's place seemed to be even more tidy than hers.
"Black tea."
While I was thinking, a cup of steaming hot tea was placed in front of me. Funa sat across from me and began to stare blankly in my direction.
"Ugh, what's wrong?"
I had goosebumps all over my body from being stared at by this expressionless girl. Originally, I wanted to ask her how she was doing, but in the end, I didn't know what to say.
"Liliana said that when talking to a friend, looking directly into the other person's eyes is a sign of politeness and sincerity."
"… It wasn't easy for her to give you a correct piece of common sense." I slapped my forehead with my hand. "But you still misunderstood … Alright, you can do as you please. I just wanted to see how you've been these past few days. Are you used to living in this world?"
The corner of Funa's mouth curved slightly, as if she was planning to smile. "Thank you for your concern, friend. I'm doing very well here. Everyone is very friendly, and people help each other. This environment is countless times better than the one I lived in."
"Ugh." I scratched my head, but I was a little stuck. Everything was going well before, but in the end, it was still difficult to communicate with Funa. This girl who lacked feelings and common sense was definitely not a good person to chat with. No matter what topic you started with her, it was destined that you wouldn't be able to find any resonance with her. Not to mention anything else, I even suspected that she didn't know what feelings' satisfied 'and' happy 'were. Under such a premise, could I still confirm the current situation of Funa's life?
"Friend, your expression is very distressed. My memory bank told me that this expression means distressed. Can I help you?"
"Sigh." I sighed and gave up on trying to find feelings from Funa's expression. Then, I took out Jingle from my pocket. "Little thing, I'm a little depressed. Can you act cute?"
"Awoo!"
As expected, I was bitten by the Goddess in the next second.
"Friend, do you feel that it's difficult to communicate with me?"
Just as I was busy pulling Jingle down from my hand, Funa actually took the initiative to speak. I wasn't sure if it was just my imagination, but it seemed like … she had an apologetic expression on her face?
"I didn't mean it that way. It's just that … how should I put it? You came from another world to a completely unfamiliar environment, and you don't have any relatives by your side. That's why I wanted to show some concern for you. I'm a person who likes to be carefree. Back then, I also took care of Artemis and the others in the same way."
"Un," Funa nodded her head slowly before organizing her words. "Friend, I can feel your feelings, but I'm really sorry. I really don't know what kind of expression I should use to express the feelings in my heart. I don't even know what the feelings in my heart mean. I can only be sure of one thing, and that is that the current me is much more … 'happy' than when I was on the Iron Throne. This is the first emotion that I learned after leaving those machines. I hope that this will help you to stop being troubled. Friend, I'm really sorry …"
Seeing that the girl in front of me had a slightly nervous and panicky expression in her eyes, yet she was unable to express it with her expression, I immediately waved my hand to stop her futile attempt. A smile appeared on my face. "Alright, perhaps I understand what you mean. It's fine. Back then, Pandora's situation was similar to yours. I've already trained … educated her. It's fine as long as you're happy. Yep, even though life is a little boring."
I was once again conflicted about Funa's room. This ascetic-like environment was truly something that this mechanical girl, who had no hobbies and was extremely happy just by living freely, could endure. I hoped that as she continued to interact with the people around her, she would gradually regain her human heart. At the very least, it seemed that she was able to feel nervous because of my troubles. This was a huge improvement in restoring a human's heart. Artemis must have worked hard.
"There's nothing else. Today, Mercury Lamp's younger sisters came over to play. I'm afraid that a bunch of dolls have already caused a ruckus at home. Actually, I came here to hide from some peace and quiet."
After chatting with Funa for a while, I finally told her the truth. Coming here to observe the public's situation was indeed a dignified excuse, but in reality, I was more afraid of a bunch of rowdy young rose girls. Perhaps the calm and dignified True Red could be calmed down by Anveena's black tea, and Firmament Stone seemed like an obedient child. However, Jade Star Stone, that fellow who never stopped talking, was a super troublemaker. There was also the completely doll-headed Fledgling Berry and the action-oriented Canary … Heavens, please have pity on me. There were already enough young girls at home. Was it time for the Empire's Royal District to become a kindergarten class?
"Is that so? Liliana told me that lolis are the strongest creatures in this world because they are both female and underage. Looks like that's true."
"Just how much common sense did she instill in you?" I muttered regretfully. "Alright, I don't dare to go back before Big Sister finishes suppressing the situation. Let's talk about the carnival. No matter what, you're the former Queen. When the Pan-Milky Way Civilization Community participates in the carnival, you'll have to appear …"
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