Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 689: Brother, should you take good care of your sister?
"What do you think faith is, Metien?"

Linger asked his sister this question, and without waiting for her answer, he continued, "Is it sitting in a spacious and bright church, listening to the sermon of the pastor or priest, everyone praying devoutly to the goddess together, and finally sharing the Holy Communion, in the loud and solemn hymns, everyone has spiritual harmony and peace...?"

Metien nodded hesitantly. She really thought so in her heart, because in essence, no matter how sensible and mature she was, and how strange and changing the world she had seen was, she was still a little girl of twelve or thirteen years old, far from the age to understand all kinds of complicated things.

"But it's not like that." Ling Ge had to point out a huge mistake in her cognition as a brother: "Faith is never so pure. On the contrary, it is very complicated. Mr. Yang Ke once told me: Getting comfort is faith. If you only use one sentence to summarize it, it is naturally simple, but the reality is always more complicated than people imagine."

"So it's not that easy to comfort others and make them want to convert and believe. Listening to sermons, praying regularly, sharing the Eucharist or singing hymns are not specific ways to get comfort. On the contrary, it is something that comes after that, a means to deepen people's conception when they realize that they have become believers. Before that, you need to do two things."

Linger raised two fingers to the bewildered little girl and said calmly, "First, we provide them with spiritual comfort, which is what Mr. Yang Ke is good at. When he patiently listens to people's complaints or gossips, actively mediates conflicts between neighbors, lends a helping hand to others free of charge, and calls on residents to participate in community public welfare activities, this spiritual comfort is passed on to those who receive help in actual actions, and they gain spiritual comfort."

"The second is to give them material comfort. I am not as good at communicating with others as Mr. Yang Ke, so this is a method I often use. By distributing bread and milk, I can help those who are in need to survive hungry nights or cold winters. When they realize at some point that all the material help they have received is actually from God's grace, the gratitude or guilt they have long felt will naturally turn into faith. It may not be pious enough, but it is also human nature."

"After listening to these truths, I want to ask you, Metien: You said you want to spread the goddess's teachings to those aliens and call upon the goddess's glory. So, what kind of comfort do you plan to give them? In what way will you comfort them? Of course, more importantly, can you comfort them?"

Faced with her brother's verbal pressure, the pink-haired girl gradually showed a panic expression on her face. She seemed to want to explain, but Linger did not give her such a chance and continued: "In terms of spiritual comfort, the thing that the aliens are most afraid of at the moment is the pursuit of the Night Watch and the Balance of Order. But can you comfort them like Mr. Yanke comforts those in trouble, saying 'This is only temporary and will pass soon'? Or should you make a false promise and guarantee that you will stand up for them and unite with the cult to fight against them, even if doing so means more innocent sacrifices and it may not be possible."

"As for material comfort, let alone, you have no money, no food, no house, no clothes, no land to accommodate their stable life, and no military force to create a peaceful home for them... In this case, why should they believe in your gods? Just because you told them, 'The goddess created everything in the world, so we should all believe in her'? It's not that naive, Metien."

"But, but!" The girl blushed and retorted anxiously: "Faith is not what you said, it is not, it is not a business!"

Indeed, Lingge describes the process of faith as if it were a business, which appears so material after peeling off the shiny outer layer.

"It's not business, but business is not the only thing in the world that needs to follow the principle of equal exchange." The young man said calmly, "How much comfort God and his believers can give is how much faith people give back, that's all. Therefore, the most devout fanatics are also the ones who get the most comfort. If you look through history books, you will find that those famous saints either gained new life because of religion in extremely dangerous situations, or were influenced by religion since childhood and regarded faith as the only spiritual support. At first glance, you may think this is full of sacred meanings, but the former is the greatest material comfort, and the latter is the greatest spiritual comfort."

Because they knew this, the two pastors who served in Tianxin Church worked hard to run the church. If they didn't cultivate reputation, they would distribute food. To put it bluntly, even those evil cultists knew that they had to give beggars and vagrants some benefits so that they would willingly go to the altar and become sacrifices for God. If they couldn't get comfort, the only thing they believed in was gold coins.

Metien's little head was suddenly filled with such complicated and obscure logic. For a moment, she couldn't tell whether what she had known before was correct or what Lingge said now was more correct. She felt a little aggrieved for some reason, and her eyes seemed to turn red. Under the candlelight, they looked like two tears hanging in her eyes: "But, but, my father never told me these things!"

Lingge sighed silently: "That's because he thinks it's unnecessary for you to learn these things, because you won't become a pastor of Tianxin Church, there's not even a one in ten thousand chance." "Why do you say that?" The little girl clenched her palms, raised her head and looked at her brother, her eyes revealing a stubbornness that was completely opposite to her appearance. Perhaps she has a spirit of unwillingness to admit defeat in her bones, even if the object is the closest family member: "Why does father think that I will not become a pastor of Tianxin Church? Obviously, obviously the only person who really cares about Tianxin Church is me! Lingge never wanted to be a pastor, right? You obviously always wanted to continue to go to college and continue to study history, but because of your father's affairs, you were forced to interrupt your studies and come back to inherit the church! That's why you don't care about the life and death of Tianxin Church at all. You can obviously rebuild the church but you have been perfunctory to me! Lingge, Lingge--"

Tears welled up in her eyes and she gasped a few times. She was so angry that she said something that she must not mention: "Are you still blaming your father for ruining your dream?!"

After she finished speaking, the little girl realized what a horrible sentence she had said. She hurriedly covered her mouth with a horrified expression on her face. She looked at Linger and wanted to explain something, to explain that she didn't mean to say this, to explain that she didn't mean it at all, to explain that she was just too angry and said something without thinking... But she couldn't say a word, so she could only shake her head anxiously, desperately, as if to deny, as if to abandon something.

Lingge was not angry. He quietly looked at his sister who was so panicked that she couldn't speak, his eyes deep and calm.

Why so sure?
The young man was not thinking about the impulsive words that Metien had just blurted out, but was thinking about the answer that Mr. Yanke gave when he asked the same question to him a few years ago.

"Of course it's because Metien is still young."

"You are the older brother, shouldn't you take good care of your sister?"

That was a conversation that took place when Metien was still a child and Lingge was still in grammar class at Sunday school. Now, the man has left the brother and sister forever, leaving them to depend on each other in the world, so he understands the deep meaning of the answer: the brother must take good care of his sister, this is beyond doubt. Faith is such a heavy and frightening thing, in this case, let the brother bear it, the sister just needs to be forever innocent and always have hope for this world, that's enough.

But, when you said this, did you ever consider a question?

Things in the world are not always as we wish.

A warm hand gently stroked the girl's short pink hair, and he whispered, "Don't cry, Metien."

"Lin, Linge... woo, woo-woo!"

Cried louder.

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)