Mercenaries and Adventurers

The sea storm roared past the observation tower where the old mage and the others were located, and pushed across to the city of Tarturons at a speed that even horses and birds could not imagine.

The first thing I came into contact with was the harbor area. Different from what I imagined, although the sea level has risen a little, it has not really risen too much. At least compared with the tides caused by the three moons every day, the precipitation caused by sea storms seems too much. A little less.

In fact, this is not the case. Outside the seaport city of Tartulons, on the deserted and deserted seaside, the precipitation caused by the sea storm touching the ground has formed a huge flood.

The solid rock wall was wetted by the rain, and then the side that was blown by the sea storm even seemed to be soaked in water. The water flowed along the rock wall in an anti-gravity flow, and finally, under the requirements of the planet's gravity, it touched the ground again. .

They gather together, changing from water flow into creeks mixed with rock debris, and then countless murky creeks mix together to become a temporary flood that can wash away everything.

In ancient times, people on the Farah Peninsula struggled for a long time due to floods caused by sea storms.

Every year, sea storms destroy countless families. People can only row boats into the sea to search for family members and children who may have survived during the short pause in sea storms.

At that time, they would either tie everyone up with ropes on the top of the mountain or sand dune and endure the violent storm, or they would hide in caves on the rock walls of the wilderness and gather together to kneel and pray to the gods.

Or pray that the cave will not collapse due to a sea storm.

It was a long, hard time.

The people of the Farah Peninsula even prefer to live in the depths of the barren desert than on the rich coast.

Even if water is like gold, survival is difficult.

It's better than having to go through the terrifying days of life or death every year.

Later, the Magic Empire ruled here for a period of time. Although those smart people were cruel and ignored the suffering of mortals, they at least brought the possibility of truly liberating mankind here from suffering.

But in the early days of the empire's establishment, the new empire actually did some practical things in order to gain actual control over various places.

At least it solves the problem of buildings in the coastal areas of the Farah Peninsula being washed away by sea storms.

In this way, this fertile sea area will be truly developed, and the population here will gradually move from the depths of the desert, where it is difficult to survive, to the coastal areas where life is rich and good.

Of course, this also means that those harsh regimes deep in the desert, after being defeated by the imperial army, have completely become a past tense that even the locals will not miss.

At this point, it’s time to answer why sea levels don’t rise in the harbor area of ​​Tartulons.

Because on the densely packed buildings in the city, the roofs that are really in contact with the sea storm are like drainage channels, guiding all the water from the sea storm along the pipes that run up and down the house to all the parts at the bottom of the house. Every home has a huge water storage room.

After all, most of the water passing through the sea storm has been pushed across a large area of ​​​​the coast by the huge force, and is rolling towards the inland.

These places that touch the ground were floods that destroyed cities and homes in ancient times, but now, they make local residents feel that the annual rainfall is not enough.

Or because the population has grown.

Especially in recent decades, the Church of the Ring of the Sun has ostensibly controlled the rule of the entire peninsula. Although the officials are still sent by the empire, even the children here know that without the nod of the church’s priests, the empire’s officials They couldn't even approve a single copper coin.

At this time, every household in the city tightly closed the wooden windows in all parts of the house, leaving no gaps.

A few days ago, households purchased building materials for this purpose.

During a sea storm, it would be really bad if your home leaks. You can't go out of the house, and there is no one when you go out. Not only is there no one on the street, but even the shops are not open for business.

That is to say, during the intermittent period of sea storms, people will open the door of their house and go out quickly to complete the things that they really have to go out to do as soon as possible.

That's it. Every time during the intermittent period of sea storms, some people will still be stuck in other people's homes or shops where they have to do business, unable to move forward or retreat.

At this time, the owner of the house had to provide food and accommodation to the guests who were forced to stay by the sea storm. This behavior has gradually become a habit and custom.

At this time, when everyone had closed their doors and windows and had nothing to do, they were on the main street on the border of the seaport area and the trade area.

In the large-scale, brand-new Church of the Ocean God Temple, this semi-circular religious building is not small at all and is decorated with various marine patterns. However, contrary to common sense, the movable skylight in the middle of the top of the building is deliberately opened. .

Let a waterfall-like rainfall from the sea pour down from the center of the skylight and fall into the empty central pool of the hall.

The semicircular hall is tall and empty. Not only did the latest structural configurations in recent years be used in the architectural design, but the entire building was also reinforced and protected by the divine power of the priests of the God of the Ocean.

They managed to make the building even though it is not as solid and solid as other local buildings, it can still withstand the impact of water during sea storms.

At this time, the building was full of people kneeling on their knees. These people came here from their homes before the storm started, just to participate in the ceremony of the Church of the God of the Sea.

Everyone bowed in reverence towards the 'miracle' of the God of the Sea - the violent currents of the sea.

Priests of all levels of the church gathered around the pool in the center of the hall, wearing specially modified clerical robes, and walked through the center of the pool filled with rain from the sea.

The cold and refreshing water flowed down from the heads of each priest, drenching them, but it actually made the priests more pious.

The pool they passed through was also exquisitely crafted. Among the complex and luxurious marine decorations of colorful stones inside the pool, some were hidden water channels that could be opened and closed under human control. No matter how much water pours in from the building's patio during a major storm, the pool never actually fills to the brim.

This is a design calculated precisely by God, in order to make believers who come here during the sea storm feel magical and awe-inspiring, thereby strengthening their faith in Him.

When the storm officially began, the priests, who had already known the exact time of the storm from the observation tower, used their divine power to open the building's patio.

The most senior priest present, a bishop of the Church of the God of the Sea, took the lead in singing a hymn in reverence to the God of the Sea.

Before the ceremony began, each believer was given a thin booklet, which contained the order and rules of the ceremony. The beginning was the lyrics of the hymn that the bishop led everyone to sing.

With the hymn lyrics on the album, although most of the new believers cannot sing the tune, they can at least read the hymn lyrics to the music.

Because the main hall is semicircular, thousands of people singing in unison were very impressive.

The voices of everyone praising in unison echoed in the hall, making the place more solemn and solemn, and some different atmospheres and things were brewing around it.

In the corner of the hall, a young man dressed in uniform as a believer of the Church of the God of the Sea seemed to be singing this hymn along with the surrounding believers, but in fact he was a faith spy from the Ring of the Sun who had lurked in.

The so-called faith spies are those who truly believe in a certain religion deep down, but have been deliberately arranged by the church not to participate in all the rituals and gatherings of this church since childhood, so that the spies' body in the real world has never been directly affected by the divine power of the church they believe in.

So such a spy could be sent out and pretend to believe in other churches without being discovered.

As long as such a faith spy does not become a priest of the church that was sent to spy, and has direct contact with God, no one will be able to detect that this person is a faith spy who is sent to investigate and cause trouble.

Even for a rare group and degree of believers like fanatics, they can rely on spiritual suggestions and magical alchemical potions to imitate the mental state of fanatics.

As long as the memory and soul are not touched, no one can find out whether this person is a faith spy.

At this time, the spy sent by the Church of the Sun God was reading the hymn in the booklet loudly. He was different from other true believers around him. Due to work reasons, he had even passed by the booklet two days earlier when it was distributed. Practice repeatedly and memorize everything in the booklet.

Verbatim, far more than a true believer.

Therefore, at this time, he put his hands together and clenched his fists on his chest, raised his head and shouted the hymn loudly. Compared with other true believers who had to read from the booklet, he was really very pious.

The Church of the God of the Sea is still too young. It is not as experienced as the Church of the Ring of the Sun, which has experienced the ups and downs on the Farah Peninsula many years ago. At this time, in this extremely important ceremony and celebration, the God of the Sea and the Church seize the local area. When people's spiritual position is related to the relationship between awe and dependence on the sea storm.

There is actually a faith spy sent by another church.

Wait a little while, this faith spy who has already put his life and death at risk will try his best to cause a big mess in this ceremony of the Church of the God of the Sea.

Before coming, the local Sun Ring Church roughly guessed what the Ocean God Church wanted to do this year.

This is a fight for faith, something the Ring of the Sun would never allow.

But we cannot directly launch a war of faith against the Church of the God of the Sea. After all, the large number of seaport cities along the Farah Peninsula still rely on a large number of captains and crew members who believe in the God of the Sea to maintain trade.

The church has developed many new believers to participate in maritime trade over the years, but after all, it is too young to have a chance to fight against the large number of maritime merchant groups influenced by the Church of the God of the Sea.

The fleet organized by the Ring of the Sun Church itself is divided into several parts. The most important part is naturally transformed into warships, responsible for maintaining and controlling trade routes. Others are in the islands near the Farah Peninsula, where they go there to provide support with force and transportation to the young priests who are preaching.

There are also fleets that go directly to other places to purchase critical food.

Due to the limited food production in the Farah Peninsula, imported food is very important. This key point must not be in the hands of outsiders.

Otherwise, we will be constantly under the control of outsiders.

This was how the empire controlled the local traditional aristocratic forces before.

The Church of the Ring of the Sun, which has replaced the local traditional aristocratic power, has integrated most of the power of the Farah Peninsula, so it will naturally want to break through the clamp.

-

Having said that, in the main hall of the Church of the God of the Sea, the priests quickly completed their act of walking through the torrential water of the sea falling from the sky.

Naturally, it was the turn of the local devout believers next.

Among the believers who came here today, only half were local residents, while the other half were ship crews coming here for trade. They are all outsiders who believe in the God of the Ocean.

These people come from all over the world, including natives of the empire, young sailors from other seaport cities in the Farah Peninsula, free personnel from the New Kingdom Alliance in the north, experienced sailors from the three principalities of Roentgen in the south, and even indigenous humans on the islands in the sea. .

The faith spy of the Ring of the Sun was naturally among these people as a foreign crew member.

He really joined a merchant ship and came to the seaport city of Tartulons, but he came to other places by land first, then joined the caravan that would pass through Tartulons, and returned here by boat.

This way, his identity was impeccable and no one knew he was a local. His companions on the merchant ship thought he was a resident of another port city on the Farah Peninsula, while the local priests of the Church of the God of the Sea believed that these people were all outsiders.

Therefore, among a group of guys from out of town, the faith spy's non-scripted appearance easily attracted the attention of the priest in charge of the ceremony.

At this moment, the local devout believers are being guided by the priests. Just like the priests before, they are barefoot, with trousers braided to expose their calves and knees, and slowly walk through the torrential water of the sea falling from the sky without an umbrella.

There are priests who secretly identify these devout believers. After the believers who can truly develop and strive for are identified, they will be blessed by the bishop who presides over the ceremony while walking through the stormy waters of the sea.

This is not a simple blessing. For today's important ceremony and celebration, not only the priests of the church, but also the God of the Ocean himself has been preparing for a long time.

Every believer who needs blessings is investigated and analyzed by the priests before coming.

From the family situation of believers, to their life experiences, and even things that they may feel regretful about in life, they sent people to investigate or spent money to purchase them, and they found out a lot.

After the priests held a meeting and analyzed it, every devout believer who was ready to send a blessing was prepared with a divine blessing that they would really use and need.

For the elderly who have difficulty living, the bishop will use the powerful divine blessing to restore vitality under the prompts of his assistant, the trainee priest. As a result, the old man's body is strong and immune to all diseases until he dies of old age naturally.

For sailors who often sail on the sea, the Lord will give him the mysterious blessing of not drowning in the sea water. From this, when sailors encounter danger, they can jump into the sea water and remain invincible in various dangers like a swimming fish.

Calculating the hearts and minds of his crew members and the merchant ship captains who run merchant trade, the bishop will use the restoration blessing to make them energetic while at sea. From this, the captain can think clearly and deal with everything that needs to be dealt with, and use more energy to earn more wealth. With wealth, the captain's status among the crew will become more consolidated.

Inshore fishermen who make a living by fishing will use the Lord's special blessing to attract aquatic creatures. In the next few years, this fisherman will be able to catch big fish with his pole, and his fishing net will be more powerful than other fishermen. Will be alerted by schools of fish. At the same time, monsters like the sea will not attack the fisherman.

For devout women, the bishop will give blessings to make them articulate, so that their families will be harmonious, their children will be obedient, and their elders will love them. From this, one person and the whole family developed into believers of the God of the Ocean.

For a strong young man, the Lord will use the blessing of clearing his brain and eyesight. As a result, the young man can learn everything quickly and can easily gain a foothold in society with his skills.

Even for the large amount of divine power that will be used today, the bishop himself has already requested it from the gods in advance. Even a ray of the god's spirit randomly landed on a certain priest of the church, watching here.

Of course, since sea storms commonly occur in many cities and oases on the north and east coast of the Farah Peninsula, the God of the Sea is very busy today and cannot really come to a certain place, so he can only coordinate various activities with a little mental perception and monitoring. The sea storm ceremony celebration initiated by the city.

The ritual celebrations in these places naturally vary from light to heavy. In some cities and regions that have successfully connected the spiritual emotions of local residents towards sea storms with their beliefs, the gods are naturally more relaxed. Most of them just patrol in advance to see if there are any. Leave without any omissions.

In a place like Tarturons Harbor City, this ritual celebration is very important. He has sent a ray of spirit here. When His help is needed or comes, he can provide the help that his priests need as soon as possible. .

It's just that the sea storm brought huge natural magic power, which greatly affected the transmission of his divine power. If something happened, it would be difficult for him to intervene in time.

However, the God of the Sea has already tested some smaller cities before, with the real local controlling force - the Ring of the Sun Church.

Although I am somewhat displeased with the actions of the God of the Sea, maritime trade still relies on His believers, so I turn a blind eye to these things and treat them as if I have not seen them and do not exist.

Anyway, such a great natural phenomenon as a sea storm cannot be shaken by the God of the Ocean.

That is the natural power that occurs naturally in the movement of the planet. Not to mention the God of the Ocean created and believed by humans, it is the original natural god of the ocean, the true God of the Ocean who is on the same level as Mother Earth. Whether or not it will affect sea storms is still unknown.

Others don't know, but the old mage who has lived since the Magic Empire has seen in some ancient documents that more than one god wants to get involved in similar planetary power, but it is obvious that those gods It doesn't end well either.

At least the elven gods, who are far older than the human gods, did not get involved in the natural miracles and the power of the planet within their territory when they ruled large areas of land.

Of course, maybe the elves had done it before, but it was so long ago that no one knew about it.

At least from subsequent historical data and field observations, the old mage found no trace of adulteration in the natural phenomena of these miraculous planetary movements.

-

Devout believers walked through the water brought down by the sea storm in turn. Each believer was extremely devout, at least on the surface.

Occasionally, believers from different professions were blessed by the church. Different professions, different genders, and different ages, no matter how you look at it, they all seem to be blessed because they truly believe in the God of the Ocean.

People are very envious and can't help but review whether they need to learn from each other in all aspects. Blessings are good, after all, but even better is the love and trust the church has in the believer who has been blessed.

The Church of the God of the Sea is not a small church. As long as you have some contact with the ocean in the human world, you can encounter related power and influence.

Too many people want to share this power and influence, even just a little bit.

The locals completed the ceremony one by one, and then it was the turn of the believers from other places.

The faith spy lowered his head devoutly and raised the corners of his mouth slightly. He seemed to be immersed in the solemn and beautiful ceremony and celebration at this time. But what no one knew was that the reason for his smile was that he could finish this seemingly perfect ceremony in a moment. Ceremonial celebrations, tinkering and seriousness are lost, and the on-site feeling that makes people want to be convinced is lost.

Gululu.

His stomach growled, which seemed to be just a slight rumbling caused by hunger, but in fact it was caused by the laxative that he had taken before the ceremony started, which would cause diarrhea.

Like the Church of the God of the Sea, the Church of the Ring of the Sun also has the exact starting time of the sea storm.

They took advantage of it.

Not to mention anything else, it is enough to at least let the Church of the God of the Sea fail.