Rome must fall.

Chapter 318 Priests

"Very good!" Maximus' expression was still dignified. "Our human life is but a blink of an eye of the goddess. The souls of those who keep their oaths will ascend to the kingdom of water where the goddess is after death, and live with the gods without worries, illness or disaster! The souls of those who break their oaths will fall into hell, suffer all kinds of torture, and never be able to turn over! ... You must keep this in mind!"

Facing Maximus's majestic gaze, Celissus couldn't help but shudder and nodded solemnly.

The young druids asked Selisis and the others to leave, and led a new group of villagers to stand in front of the statue...

At this time, another young druid came over and asked them to take out the title deed. Then he used an oak seal dipped in blue ink to stamp a temple seal on the title deed.

The mark was the same as the one on the stone gate. The waves formed a semicircle (this was the logo designed by Maximus for the Nix tribe. It looked like waves but was actually the Chinese character "尼"). The magical thing was that under the sunlight, the blue temple mark would emit a tiny glow, which made the villagers firmly believe that the goddess was watching them through the mark, so they all held the title deed devoutly...

After the villagers of Village No. 21 had finished their worship and sworn oath, they should have left the temple. However, most of the villagers were reluctant to leave and lingered in front of the stone gate. The druids had no choice but to drive them away like sheep.

Before crossing the stone gate, Seris looked back at the statue reluctantly and found that the goddess was still looking at him. He was even more convinced in his heart: it was not just a statue, but the goddess Danu was possessed by it!

On the way down the mountain, everyone felt like the previous groups of villagers, feeling empty and a little lost.

Someone couldn't help but ask, "Sage, when can we come to worship Goddess Danu again?!"

The druid who led the way smiled and said, "Goddess Danu blesses all the people of the Nix tribe. The temple is open to you and you can come anytime. However, the temple is busy arranging the worship and oaths of the new members of the Nix tribe. There is no more time to receive you. After this period of time, it will be fine.

But I suggest you don’t come here too often, because the goddess also has things to do in her kingdom, and she doesn’t want to be disturbed too often. As long as you do your own things well, you will naturally get the goddess’ attention.”

Someone said regretfully: "But I really want to come here more often. It feels like all my troubles disappear when I enter the temple and see Goddess Danu..."

"Oh, I feel the same way!" His words immediately aroused the approval of other villagers.

The young druid fell into deep thought as he listened to everyone talking about the wonderful feelings they had after entering the temple.

As the sun sets and the weary birds return to the forest, the newly built Temple of Danu finally returns to its tranquility.

"Chief, the villagers in each village have finished their worship and have led their teams back." The captain of the guard, wearing a robe, walked into the temple and reported to Maximus.

"You can't call him chief here, you have to call him high priest." Maximus reminded in a slightly hoarse voice.

"Yes, High Priest."

"Emeric, how many villages are left to visit?" Maximus looked at one of the two old druids.

"There are still eight villages left, and we can finish the worship tomorrow." Emmerich said, "But in a few days, there should be villagers from dozens of villages coming to the temple to take the oath."

"Standing all day and talking all the time is really tiring!" Maximus stretched himself and said a few words from his heart, then said seriously: "But it is worth it to expand the number of believers for the goddess Danu!"

"High Priest, today the tribesmen came to worship, and everything went smoothly! You carved the statue of the Goddess yourself according to the inspiration of the Goddess, and played an important role in the villagers' worship. They were completely subdued by the statue and became her loyal believers!" Another old druid praised sincerely.

"What about you, Hermigas?" Maximus looked at him meaningfully.

Hermigas bowed and responded: "Your Excellency the High Priest, this is not just a statue. It and the design of the entire temple represent a miracle! Only with the enlightenment of the goddess Danu can your hands create such a miracle! High Priest, you are the goddess's most beloved offspring, there is no doubt about that!"

Maximus stared at the statue, smiling without saying a word.

This is certainly not a miracle created by the goddess Danu, but he, who graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in his previous life, used the statue to fully demonstrate the beauty of plastic arts far beyond this era. First of all, he spent a lot of time designing the appearance of the goddess Danu, deliberately blending the features of Celtic and Illyrian women, painting her face as soft as possible, fully showing her maternal characteristics, so that the tribesmen would feel close to her and not feel blasphemous.

In addition, he adopted some special techniques of Buddhist Guanyin portraits to make the portrait more solemn and compassionate, which was in line with its identity as a deity... In order to create a perfect statue of the goddess Danu who was beautiful, majestic, kind and compassionate, Maximus spent a lot of time and consumed countless sheets of paper before he finally completed it.

The painting amazed the craftsmen, but they were in trouble when it came to carving, because their skills were simply unable to show the charm of the goddess Danu in the painting, no matter how much Maximus guided them. In the end, he had to pick up the chisel and do it himself.

Fortunately, Maximus had studied sculpture in the Academy of Fine Arts in his previous life. When he first entered society, he joined a studio and worked in figure sculpture for several years. He had plenty of experience in this area. It was not difficult to carve a good statue, but it was not easy to make it vivid. The key was the pigment. Therefore, Maximus asked the guards to collect various flowers, soil and minerals in the wilderness. It took a lot of time to mix some pigments that satisfied him.

The area that took him the most thought was the eyes of the statue. By using the angle of the statue's head, the focus of light and the clever use of color, believers would always feel that the goddess' eyes were looking at them when they stood in front of the statue, thus creating an illusion that the statue's eyes were moving.

As for letting the goddess Danu hold a child, in addition to increasing the goddess' maternal affinity and enhancing her attraction to believers, Maximus also had his own selfish motives. He had studied anatomy systematically in the Academy of Fine Arts in his previous life. He traced back his childhood appearance according to his own appearance and then carved the child in order to confirm the rumor that he was the offspring of the goddess Danu.

This statue of the goddess Danu, which cost Maximus a lot of effort, would have been just a mediocre work in the previous life, but now that it appears in the ignorant and backward world, it is truly a miracle!

"Are you sure it won't rain in the next few days?" Maximus asked.

"It won't rain." Emmerich said confidently, "It's dry and rainy in late autumn. Hermica and I have confirmed it repeatedly. It won't rain in the next few days."

Maximus believed him because Druids in that era were considered all-round scholars, knowing a little about sacrifice, law, medicine, astronomy, geography... Moreover, Aymeric and Hermica had lived here for decades and were of course very familiar with the climate here.

"After we finish the worship and oath-taking of the new tribesmen, we must quickly build the temple of the goddess Danu." Maximus did not say the second half of the sentence: otherwise, the rain would wash away all the paint on the statue, and all my efforts would be in vain.

"Valles!"

"Here!" Wallace walked out from a group of young men in robes at the back.

"This matter is left to you. Take my warrant and find Capito and ask him to send a few more craftsmen here. According to the blueprint of the Temple of Danu that I drew before, build the entire temple as soon as possible." Maximus gave the order.

"Yes, chief."

"How many druids has Aymeric recruited these days?" Maximus asked in a low voice.

Wallace answered seriously in a low voice, "There are 12 in total. They are all Segestica people. They have voluntarily joined our tribe and become reserve tribesmen. They have been here to help build and manage the temple in the past few days. So far, they have performed well."

Maximus nodded and whispered, "Although they are all Segstica druids, as long as they can treat believers of other races in the tribe fairly, you can use them with confidence. Observe for a few more months, and then report the name of the druid who performs best. I will make him an official acolyte of the goddess Danu, so as to inspire others."

"Yes, Chief." Wallace pointed to Hermigas over there and said, "What about him?"

Maximus did not respond immediately, but turned around and took two steps forward: "Hermigas, I heard from Valerius and Aymeric that since you joined the Nix tribe, you have been fully assisting them in recruiting druids, building temples, and preparing worship ceremonies... You have played a significant role!"

Hermica said modestly, "You are too kind, High Priest. This is the first time I have participated in the construction of such a temple. The worship ceremony of the temple is also very different from the past. I have learned a lot from it."

Maximus said seriously: "After all the prepared tribesmen have successfully worshipped and sworn to the goddess Danu, you will be the deputy chief priest of the Nix tribe, and together with Aymeric, you will be responsible for managing all affairs of the temple!"

Hermigas responded happily, "Thank you, High Priest!"

"Aimerich." Maximus looked at the chief priest of the tribe and urged him emphatically, "Now that you have Hermigas to help you, you must speed up the compilation of the Danu Codex. You can give the completed parts to me for review first. The reviewed parts can be told to the tribesmen when they come to the temple to worship."

(End of this chapter)