Alice in the Land of Steam

"Saint's manuscript?" After hearing Ling's purpose, Chief Wilhelm showed a surprised expression for the first time. Although it was only a slight change, it was enough to show how shocked he was at the moment: "You all don't seem to be believers in animism. If you just want to see the saint's relics, why go through all this trouble? Could it be..."

He thought of a possibility. Linger nodded slightly, looking serious: "As you think, the purpose of our trip to Mount Osor is to follow the old deeds of the saints and explore the truth in the distant universe. However, over the past tens of millions of years, astronomy has changed with each passing day, and the stars have changed several times. The path of the saints has long been lost and difficult to find. Perhaps only with the help of this manuscript, we can observe the changes and find the right path. Therefore, this matter is extremely important to us, and I hope you can understand."

As soon as these words were spoken, the tent fell into an eerie silence. Chief Wilhelm said nothing, but stared at the young man sitting opposite him with a deep gaze. It seemed that his gaze could penetrate his heart and directly see his truest thoughts: lies, truth, or high-sounding words.

Songtaya opened her eyes wide, looking at these outsiders in disbelief. She had never thought that their goal was so grand. They wanted to emulate the great saints and explore the truth in the distant universe. If they really did it, I'm afraid their names would become another legend in the history of civilization.

This matter is also of great significance to the Xiatuoto people. Don't forget that it was because their ancestors helped Saint Tumi to complete the exploration of the starry sky that they indirectly contributed to the establishment of the animism system, which enabled them to achieve the transformation from a mortal tribe to the extraordinary path. In addition, the good relationship with the Spirit Prayer Society also helped them survive several world disasters of catastrophes, divine changes, and natural changes in ancient times, and has been passed down to this day.

But not every ancient tribe can continue their bloodline. Sometimes even a short period of a hundred years is enough to affect the rise and fall of a tribe. The only tribe that can be passed down from the distant ancient centuries to the present day, apart from the "snow-chasing people" of the Eastern Alps, is probably the "homeless wandering people" of the Moruya. The latter relies on the ancient mysterious witch heritage, while the former relies on the legacy of their ancestors.

If the Wusu tribe helps these outsiders to repeat history this time, will they be able to prosper for another 10,000 years? Although, no one knows whether they can succeed, let alone compare them with the great Saint Tumi.

Songtaya stared at Lingge curiously, looking him up and down, trying to find a trace of a saint in him, such as a great temperament, a broad-minded heart, deep wisdom, etc. Unfortunately, she found nothing. The young man looked ordinary and not worth mentioning.

This strange silence lasted for a while, and then Elder Aina suddenly sighed. The gentle and hoarse sigh echoed in the tent, just like the echo of an ancient ballad: "People who want to imitate the saints and explore the mysteries of the starry sky have always had this idea. However, they are either for faith or for fame and fortune, and neither is pure. Young man, I see this purity in your eyes, so I know that you didn't come here for faith or fame and fortune. So what are you really pursuing? If you don't mind, I'd like to hear the answer."

According to Elder Aina, it seems that many animists came to Mount Osor for the same purpose in the past, trying to emulate the deeds of the saints. However, in the eyes of this elder, their attitudes did not seem pure.

If even faith is not pure, what else is pure?

Linger knew the answer.

"For the sake of humanity... or rather, the future of the world." The young man said word by word, "Our world is undergoing earth-shaking changes, and the speed of change is even faster than the speed at which people adapt, as if there is some invisible force behind it pushing it. Many people may think that this change is good, but that is just their one-sided view of the problem. If we observe from a more macro perspective, we will find that this change is pushing the world into an irreversible abyss. I am not overestimating my own abilities and want to change this situation, but fate has determined that everyone has a mission that must be accomplished."

Speaking of fate, the young man's eyes swept over Saint Shallia obscurely. The shepherdess's eyelashes drooped slightly, and she was as quiet as a pine leaf in the snow.

He gave a seemingly vague answer, but it was indeed the truth, but many details were not convenient to disclose. Elder Aina heard the sincerity in the young man's tone, so she just chuckled and did not ask any further questions. But Chief Wilhelm suddenly asked: "Sir Lingge, the invisible force you mentioned, is it referring to the Witch Society?"

Everyone, including Lingge, was a little surprised. They didn't expect that Chief Wilhelm actually knew about the existence of the Witch Society. Although this was no secret to the mysterious world, many people were skeptical, believing that it was impossible for an organization to secretly influence the course of the world and remain silent behind the scenes, and only regarded it as a conspiracy theory. Those who were willing to believe it were mostly influenced by the Thirteen Hermits and had close ties with them.

The Mountain Guards have never been taken seriously by animists, and they are weak and stick to the mountains. Logically speaking, they should not have any connection with the Thirteen Hermits.

unless--

"This is what Solomon said himself." As expected, Linger heard a familiar name from Chief Wilhelm: "That should have happened before he left the Western Continent. He came to Mount Osor with the same purpose as you, and contacted the people of the Mist Mountain Hermitage through our channels and borrowed the saint's manuscript from them. Unfortunately, he failed in the end and did not achieve his goal, but as a reward, he still told us some secrets about the Witch Society and reminded us to be on guard."

Leader Wilhelm spoke in a calm voice, describing his experience at that time: "To be honest, just the alliance of religious groups and the "Religious Decree" made us exhausted. If there is a huge organization like the Witch Society behind it, then blindly resisting will only lead to disaster. After that, we reduced our activities and stayed in the mountains. It was more for self-protection than waiting for the opportunity to change."

Therefore, the Mountain Guards, whose organizational structure was closer to that of a resistance organization, had not come into conflict with the Order for a long time, so much so that the Archbishop of the Heideblsburg Diocese probably had forgotten about them.

Linger captured a key message from his words: "Solomon borrowed the saint's manuscript from the Misty Mountain Hermitage, so what reward did he pay for it?"

Chief Wilhelm shook his head. "No reward—or rather, the reward has already been paid. Solomon's trip is just to fulfill his promise. This involves a rather secret past event, and it has always been considered a taboo by believers of animism and cannot be revealed to outsiders."

Having said that, Chief Wilhelm turned his head slightly and glanced at Elder Aina. The elder laughed and did not give any reply. He just picked up the wooden spoon and poured a bowl of broth for Songtaya. The girl Xia Toto took it with a confused look on her face, not knowing whether she should drink it. Lingge read the subtext of this behavior, and he said seriously: "Please rest assured, no matter what secrets this matter involves, we will keep it in our hearts and never disclose it. Regarding this, I can-"

The young man suddenly stopped. He originally wanted to say some words of promise, but suddenly remembered that his current identity did not seem to be enough to gain people's trust.

The weight of a promise lies not in its content but in the identity of the person who makes the promise.

"Let Brandi and I guarantee it." Xino, who had been silent since entering the tent, suddenly said, "In the name of Sun Snow, the Snow Mountain God Horse, and those recognized by Sun Snow, is this guarantee sincere enough?"

Upon hearing this, Chief Wilhelm looked deeply at Shino who was sitting at the edge, and said, "Of course we are willing to trust the owner of the Sun Snow, but this matter is too serious, so please treat it as my personal request. I hope you can all give me a clear promise, and this promise must be witnessed by the Saint and the Father of the Mountains. If you violate it, you will be like the ice and snow in the mountains, never to thaw."

So solemn?

What kind of secret is worthy of such treatment? And——

Xinuo glanced at Songtaya obscurely, thinking, if it was really an important secret, why did he let Songtaya stay to listen? Or did this matter have something to do with her?
In any case, the request made by Chief Wilhelm was not excessive, because no one had the intention to leak the information in the first place, and the only one who might talk nonsense, Alice, actually had Alzheimer's disease, and it would probably not take long for her to forget about it. The risk of leakage decreased exponentially with time.

After everyone expressed their commitments one by one, Chief Wilhelm's serious expression eased a little. He did not intend to keep the secret and directly asked Ling Ge and the others a question: "Have you heard of the so-called divine gift ceremony and holy stone magic?"

Divine Rite? Holy Stone Magic?
Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment at the two unfamiliar terms, but Linger quickly reacted, his pupils shrank slightly, and he blurted out, "Summoning rituals and refining magic?"

During the Steam Rebellion, another name for the ritual of summoning gods was the Ceremony of Divine Bestowal. The core of the Ceremony of Divine Bestowal was the "Glory Holy Stone" invented by Saint Mida, which could amplify the influence of the power of faith. Therefore, this special ritual was also called "Holy Stone Magic."

Nowadays, perhaps only believers in animism still use these two terms.

"Yes." Chief Wilhelm nodded slightly and continued, "After the end of the Steam Crusade, the United Church took over part of the Steam Church's legacy, including the research on the Divine Ceremony and Holy Stone Magic. Since then, there has been a rumor among animists that the United Church is trying to find a way to completely eradicate the power of faith based on this part of the research data, fundamentally destroying the foundation of the existence of religion. Coincidentally, when the "Civilization and Truth Initiative Treaty" was promulgated, the United Church began to tamper with reality on a large scale, attempting to artificially create a gap between the mysterious world and the civilized world. This move seems to prove the ideas of these people and also makes many animists feel uneasy."

"In order to survive, all the animist factions began to exert their power secretly. As far as I know, all the sects including the True Spirit Sect, the Fertile Soil Sect and the Holy Spring Monastic Order have taken action. At that time, the Misty Mountain Hermitage had not yet established a foothold in Mount Osor. Their holy place was located in the far east of the North Ashka Mountain Belt, called the Land of Misty Mountains. The great spiritual envoy who was said to be able to communicate with the will of Dongpelon and bring snow to the mountains, sent a loyal believer to secretly infiltrate the subordinate organization of the cult that was in line with the research of the power of faith, called the Doctrine Circle, and waited for an opportunity to steal their research results so that he could respond."

"That believer was not only devout, but also very capable. He became a core researcher of the Doctrine Circle alone, and stole the most important research results at the right time and escaped successfully. However, this may not be a good thing. On the contrary, it may be the beginning of a disaster, because the research results he stole, as I believe you have guessed, are the specific information of the Divine Ceremony and the Holy Stone Magic."

The consequences of this were the maturity of the "Holy Spirit's Return Day" theory, the promulgation of the "Religious Decree", and the countless animist believers in the Western Continent who suffered persecution from the combined religious groups while calling for the coming of the gods for their fanatical beliefs, hoping that the power of the gods could reshape the world's order and help animism return to its heyday and prosperity... just like Rochelle.

A name that he had not heard for a long time emerged in the young man’s mind. He exhaled slowly and finally understood why Chief Wilhelm was so secretive about this matter.

Chief Wilhelm's story confirmed his idea: "The believer who stole the information made outstanding contributions and eventually succeeded the deceased Great Spiritual Envoy and became the current leader of the Mist Mountain Hermitage. He owed Solomon a favor because he had received help from him during his infiltration of the Doctrine Circle, and later agreed to lend him the saint's manuscript. However, the fact that the traitor leaked confidential information also made the church alliance furious. It is said that the Night Watch and the Balance of Order are still looking for the whereabouts of the traitor to this day, and they vowed to make him pay the price he deserved."

"In order to prevent them from finding out about the Mist Mountain Hermitage, after the promulgation of the Religious Decree, the Great Spiritual Envoy was forced to lead the believers to abandon the thousand-year-old Mist Mountain Holy Land and hide in the Eastern Alps Mountains. Until today, they still dare not show their faces."

Once their tracks were leaked and tracked down by the Night's Watch and the Scales of Order, I'm afraid that not only the Misty Mountain Hermitage, but also the mountain guards in the area would suffer a devastating disaster under the indiscriminate attacks of the combined forces of the cults.

This was the reason why Chief Wilhelm hesitated at first. He might not have such a deep friendship with the Misty Mountain Hermitage, who were also members of the animist sect, but for the sake of the safety of the mountain guards and the tribe, from his standpoint on this matter, the only option was to be an accomplice.

Animism once brought spiritual sustenance and practical benefits to the Xiatoto people, but now it has become a burden. (End of this chapter)