Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 348 Can't answer frankly?

Alice found Ringer in the forest at the other end of the field, probably near the whale's tail. He was sitting by a pond reading a book. White rocks covered with moss formed an irregular semicircle by the pond. Algae floating in the water and a few silver fish were clearly visible. The sunlight shone through the gaps between the branches and leaves above his head, twisted into bright golden lines at the bottom of the water, and refracted thousands of brilliant lights, as if delicate golden light was floating on the water.

The source of the pool water is a short, light purple cliff. The light purple is not the color of the soil, but the purple-leaved mountain vine hanging from the top of the cliff, which is growing lushly and covering the entire cliff. Under those palm-sized serrated leaves, there is a gurgling stream, forming a small waterfall along the terrain. The clear turbulent water hits the gray-brown rocks protruding between the cliffs and flows into the pool. After being diluted by the soil and rocks, all impurities are extracted, so the pool is so clear and transparent, and just looking at it gives people a cool feeling that penetrates the heart.

The real source of this stream of water should be from the underground river, but it was really strange. The earth had turned into a giant whale and flew into the sky. Could it be that the underground river was still flowing in the whale's belly? Alice wondered curiously while walking on the forest path that had been traversed by people and came behind Lingge.

The crisp and pleasant sound of falling leaves reminded people that someone was approaching this quiet secret place. The natives of the forest were disturbed by the uninvited guests, so they decided to fly away and leave this strange girl. Then the sound of frightened birds flapping their wings came from the treetops. Alice looked up and saw only the leaves at the end of the treetops were still trembling, and a few black flying feathers fell in the air.

It was a particularly tall yew tree, probably hundreds of years old, and each branch was like a giant's forked arm, supporting the home of the flying birds. The birds living here should be the common gulls, gray finches and starlings in the Salia wilderness. The most ferocious ones are the sword owls and dense forest choughs. The former is famous for its huge size and ferocity, and the latter relies on its group tribes and is feared by people. However, these birds are not suitable for living at an altitude of 10,000 meters, just like people cannot breathe freely at an altitude of 10,000 meters.

The reason why people and birds can live and work safely on this floating island far away from the earth is all due to the magical power of Yieta, the girl's royal power called "Great Wind". It not only allows the giant whale made of rocks to fly up to the sky ten thousand meters high, but also forms a special wind belt that surrounds the entire island, allowing the wind full of life to isolate the ecological environment inside the island from the cold and harsh high-altitude environment outside, so that the lives of people including outsiders will not die due to high-latitude physiological reactions such as difficulty breathing and heart failure.

This is why the Ronin Rift Valley can be lush and vibrant even in winter. The three seasons of spring, summer and autumn are incredibly mixed together, creating a brilliant spectacle of spring shrubs, summer trees and autumn primroses.

From this point of view, it is not an exaggeration for the people of Avignon to call this force the "Great Wind" and pass it down from generation to generation.

Lingge noticed Alice's arrival, but he just looked up and then looked away, continuing to focus on the book in his hand, carefully reading the beautiful words written in flame-shaped font.

Alice didn't care, she jumped over and asked curiously, "What are you looking at?"

Isn't that even weirder?

The young man did not answer, but just lifted the cover of the book slightly, allowing the golden-haired maid to see the simple title on it: "Church Scriptures".

She originally wanted to say this, but suddenly realized that this statement seemed impolite to the goddess. If her daughters knew about it, it would be a big disaster. So she changed her words temporarily and pretended that she actually respected her very much.

Chanting God's words, receiving God's admonitions, and finally realizing God's grace, and spreading it to all living beings and lost lambs, this is what a pastor should do. There is no need to be surprised.

Alice scratched her cheek. "Why do you suddenly want to look at this... uh, this book?"

Most religious organizations regard spreading the glory of God as a noble mission, and therefore give these scriptures various fashionable names, such as "The Decree", "The Fallas", "Grace of the Souls" and so on. What impressed Alice the most was that the pink-haired little girl once told her about the prayer meeting for the dead in the united religious orders. Their scriptures were called "The Letters to the Dead", and their content imitated the tone of God to convey the truth to the souls after death and to comfort their resentment towards the living. The most famous sentence among them was "Everyone must die, but the guilty must die first", which once became the motto of judicial officers, arbitrators, police officers and lawyers.

Lingge replied without even looking up: "I was originally the goddess's pastor."

In comparison, the teachings of the Holy Goddess Church are mediocre. Not only are the contents mostly inspirational, but even the names are so plain and lack any style at all.

It is obvious that this is the missionary text of the Holy Goddess Church, a book that records the legend of the goddess' creation and her words and deeds. Many of the inspirational quotes that Metien often said were learned from this book.

Alice blurted out without thinking: "When did you become so pious?"

As soon as she said this, she regretted it a little, and quickly covered her mouth and widened her eyes to show that she didn't mean it. But Ling Ge's fingertips still paused inadvertently because of her words, and when he raised his head again, his expression was unexpectedly calm.

"People's faith is illusory, so it's hard to judge whether they are devout or not. I just think that even if you are not a devout believer, you can learn a lot from this book, such as the principles that Mr. Yang Ke taught us..." When he mentioned his adoptive father's name, he paused and pursed his lips. The sunlight shone on the yellowed pages, making them almost transparent. The beautiful and graceful words seemed to burn in the light, flashing dazzling brilliance. The atmosphere was a little silent, and Alice didn't know whether she should speak.

"People's mistakes are not because of their own insignificance, but because they always use their insignificance as an excuse to shirk responsibility, and also use it as a reason to make excessive demands." Ling Ge suddenly said, while turning the book to the next page and staring at the top line of text: "This passage comes from Chapter 5, Section 14 of the Canon, but it is not the original words of the goddess, but the annotation of later generations."

Alice immediately asked, "What did the goddess say?"

Ling said: "Great things are also small, and small things are also great. This is the essence of the world and all living things, and it is also my blessing to you."

Alice tilted her head when she heard this: "Isn't this a contradiction? How can something be both big and small?"

Lingge was silent for a moment and said, "You have very unique insights."

"Hehe." Alice scratched the back of her head embarrassedly: "I'm not as good as you say."

Ling Ge seemed to be speechless. He raised his head and looked at her. His eyes seemed to say "You'd better be pretending."

"what!"

The golden-haired maid clapped her hands and said, "I almost forgot something important: Lingge, follow me, everyone is waiting for you! We should set out to find the next young queen!"

She hurriedly recounted the contents of the previous war meeting. When she mentioned the establishment of the Gransefa Air Cavalry and Little Jita's appointment as the leader, she quietly observed the young man's expression. When she found that he did not show any dissatisfaction or doubt, she was relieved and continued to boast in a carefree tone: "...After I found out that you were not there, I immediately thought of looking for you. After all, you are an indispensable and important member of our team! Well, second only to me. How could you miss such an important meeting? But Metien and the others refused to come, saying that you were in a bad mood and they didn't want to disturb you. In the end, I, the leader, had to come in person. What a useless thing! By the way, why are you in a bad mood, Lingge? Is it really because of that guy named Rochelle? There is no need. He is not your friend. Besides, I think he deserves to die. Wasn't the Titan summoned by him..."

"No."

Ling interrupted her calmly: "I'm not in a bad mood because of Rochelle."

The endless chatter stopped abruptly, and Alice looked at the young man thoughtfully: If he is not in a bad mood because of Rochelle, then he is really in a bad mood?
"If that's the case, why?"

"what why?"

"Why are you in a bad mood?"

"No."

"what?"

"I'm not in a bad mood." Ling Ge said, put away the book, stood up, patted the dust on his clothes and trouser legs, and then said to the golden-haired maid in his usual tone: "It's time to go."

"Don't keep Metien and the others waiting too long."

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)