The Mysterious World Under Steampunk

A rat swarm disaster that was unexpected by everyone disappeared after a month. Those huge rat swarms all over the five church principalities disappeared without a trace in the early morning of a certain day, as if they had never existed. Only countless ruins and flesh and blood corpses were left on the earth.

Although the Purifying Fire Church tried its best to cover up the disaster caused by this rat wave, and even blocked the border to prevent people from the disaster area from running out, but even so, there are still various related news in the areas controlled by the Purifying Fire Church. Spread, and even spread to neighboring countries, aroused the attention of neighboring countries.

Although the main habitat of jerry rats is in the Duchy of Russ, it does not mean that there are no jerry rats in other areas. As a common species in the New World, jerry rats are almost all over the New World, so other regions and countries may also appear Such a rat plague.

Moreover, this rat wave is completely different from the previous ones. The cowardly jerry rats in this rat wave are no longer just eating food and spreading the plague. They even regard humans as prey for hunting. Including the five religious duchies in Ruth Duchy, the total population reached more than one million. After the abnormal rat disaster, no more than 50,000 people survived, and all the others were killed and eaten by those jerry rats.

After the swarm of rats receded, the Purifying Fire Church, under the instructions of the Pope, formed a rescue team composed of senior church clergy, church knights, and rat catchers and hunters summoned from various church principalities. Arrived in the five blocked principalities.

And everything they saw was a tragic scene without exception, countless corpses were scattered everywhere, not to mention living people, even living animals were rarely seen, and everything in front of them made them agree They thought of the doomsday scene often mentioned in the church classics, so the word "the end of January" used to describe this month's rat tide also came out of their mouths, and finally became the official name recorded in history.

In such a disaster, few survivors can be found. Even if they are found, the condition of those survivors is very bad. Either the whole person is completely frightened by the rat tide, or it is a month of disaster and food shortage. Destroying their bodies, all in all, after these survivors were finally rescued, half of them still died on the hospital bed.

Perhaps this is because the sense of crisis that supported their survival disappeared the moment the support team arrived, and those of them who saw their relatives and friends being eaten alive by rats had already lost their belief in living. Their overdrawn bodies also completely collapsed.

It was precisely because of seeing countless survivors whose wills were destroyed by the disaster that the rescue team came to Leo's refuge town. Seeing thousands of survivors living like normal people in the town, the rescue team was a little skeptical. Have I already passed through the five teaching principalities, and arrived at the border of the teaching principality on the opposite side that has not encountered the rat tide?

When people from the rescue team asked about the specific situation, they learned that this town of refuge was built by a parish church fire watcher and an ordinary knight lord. A good thing that has positive publicity for the Purifying Fire Church.

The scope of this sudden rat wave is too wide. One-fifth of the land under the control of the Purifying Fire Church has been involved. Among the five Ecclesiastical Principalities affected by the disaster, two Ecclesiastical Principalities are the most An important source of tax revenue, and one million people died in just one month. From all aspects, the Church of the Purifying Fire has already suffered from this rat wave.

The loss in name is not enough, and the loss in reputation is even more immeasurable. All kinds of rumors spread everywhere among the people, especially when the Church of Purifying Fire sealed off the borders of the five principalities, but did not send anyone in to rescue them. , the civil grievances against the Purifying Fire Church are also rapidly accumulating.

Although the Church of Purifying Fire used various methods to suppress this resentment and blocked various related rumors, it could only control the areas under its jurisdiction, and it had no way to eliminate the rumors and rumors in other foreign places.

So now, the reputation of the Purifying Fire Church among the people can be said to have fallen to the lowest point in hundreds of years. It is no exaggeration to say that some people are already discussing whether the church should control secular power. The military crusade against heretic countries made a fuss, saying that the country needs more young people to join in and help the country out of the crisis, so those troops sent out should be called back as young labor to fill the population of the five principalities Vacant, rebuild the Duchy.

If it was a month ago, the person who made such a proposal would definitely be regarded as a heretic by the fire of purification and burned to death in front of the church, but the situation is different now. This time, the devastating loss of the five principalities has affected The normal operation of the Purifying Fire Church has affected the reputation of the Purifying Fire. If something is not found to restore the reputation, then the Purifying Fire Church may begin to decline because of this disaster.

The Duchy of the Church controlled by the Purifying Fire a month ago may not object to the war against heresy, nor against the recruitment of citizens to join the conquest army, because they all covet the wealth of the Ott Federation, and as long as the war is won, they will be able to gain a lot from it. Interests, but the situation is different now. Because of this disaster, all the Principalities are worried about the situation of the Expeditionary Force, which has been unable to open the occupation for a long time. One of those affected by the disaster, so the war-weary sentiment went from bottom to top, affecting the entire Christian Principality controlled by the Purifying Fire Church, and even many people in the Holy Lord Kingdom and the church had doubts about continuing to participate in the war against heresy.

Because the various impacts caused by this rat wave have seriously affected the follow-up plans of the church. Before the rat wave disappeared, the pope who returned to the Holy Lord from the border of the five principalities did not care about his injuries. The bishops of the various dioceses, the dignitaries of the Catholic Principality, and celebrities from the private sector were directly convened for a meeting to discuss whether the army that was fighting heresy on the front line should be called back.

The final result of the discussion was to call back some of the troops, and then decide whether all the troops should be recalled after seeing the situation of the Rat Surge.

It's just that this compromise to public opinion did not restore the church's lost reputation. On the contrary, some people who were dissatisfied with the church's power saw the weakness of the church at the moment and began to make some targeted accusations against the church. The corrupt and depraved behaviors of the clergy were all exposed this time, and even appeared in some official newspapers of the Principality, which aroused even greater anti-church sentiment among the people.

The church has also dealt with it in a targeted manner, such as revoking all the clergy who have received quality control, arresting them, and saying that they will have a public trial in the near future, and exempting some taxes formulated by a large number of churches. Some reputation has been restored to a certain extent, but not enough to completely stop the decline in reputation.

This time, when the rat wave is over, the Pope will immediately organize a rescue team with complete personnel and logistics to enter the disaster area, in order to save the survivors and complete the rescue of the disaster area before other anti-ecclesiastical forces. Rescue, in order to show the church's importance to the people in the disaster area.

Therefore, all the people participating in this rescue team are the most loyal clergymen and believers of the church. They are well aware of the difficulties the church is facing now, so they have tried their best to find opportunities to help the church gain prestige along the way.

And now the town of refuge established by Father Tovia and Knight Tuffman just happened to meet all their requirements. Think about it, in the center of the rat tide outbreak, a low-level clergyman of the church rescued the The survivors, together with the pious Christian knights, established a refuge town, used the power of the Purifying Fire to resist the crazy rats, and rescued the survivors of the entire Rustic Principality, and thus obtained the approval of the Purifying Fire, Become a high-level clergyman who has mastered higher divine arts.

If this kind of story spreads, it will definitely bring a lot of prestige to the church. Let the church spread the word, and such a church hero born in a disaster will appear like this.

So after learning about the situation in the town of refuge, the patriarch who led the team from the Holy Lord's Cathedral immediately reported the matter here to the Pope through the purification fire, and soon got more information. The further instruction is to ask them to take Father Torvia and Knight Tuffman to the Holy Lord's Kingdom as soon as possible, and all the survivors in the town will be taken to the Holy Lord's Kingdom together. It seems that the Pope will use these survivors author's story to do something about it.

"Why don't you want to, Father Torvia." The Patriarch told Torvia and Tafman the pope's reply, and then asked Torvia, who was frowning slightly.

Compared to the frowning Father Tovia, Tuffman is naturally extremely happy. It is a great honor for him to be able to leave here, go to the Holy Lord, and meet the Pope. He is too happy, how could he object? .

On the other hand, Father Tovia looked preoccupied and asked, "My lord, after I go to the Cathedral, how will His Majesty arrange for me, a humble fire watcher?"

"Arrange it like a hero. You will be a hero that the church will focus on cultivating." The Patriarch immediately gave an answer, but his answer was too vague and without substantive content.

"My lord, I'm talking about specific arrangements, such as my position." Torvia didn't let the patriarch be vague, but made it clear directly.

The patriarch quickly gave an answer, saying: "After completing the propaganda task assigned to you by the church, you should be arranged to enter the Holy Fire Academy and receive training from senior priests. After completing the training, you will be in a certain department of the Holy Church Assuming the position." As he spoke, he looked at the Tafman knight aside, and said, "As for the Tafman knight, he should accept the training of the paladins of the church and serve as an officer in a paladin team of the General Holy Church."

Judging from the speed of the patriarch's reply, it is clear that after he reported what happened here, the general church had already discussed the follow-up arrangements for Father Torvia and Knight Tuffman, and had a result.

"What about the Principality of the Ruth Church and the surrounding other disaster-stricken Principalities of the Church?" Father Tovia asked again.

The patriarch took the trouble to explain: "You don't have to worry about this matter, the church will recruit people from other places to fill the vacancies in these duchies, and will also find bloodline heirs of the dukes of these duchies, and let them succeed the dukes. positions, and will also send various talents to assist in the reconstruction of several teaching duchies."

Although the patriarch was only explaining the results of the discussion from the main church, it was a different feeling to hear Torvia's ears, as if implying that he obeyed the arrangement honestly, and there was no need to ask about other things. As if it has nothing to do with you.

Although Tovia wanted to tell the Patriarch loudly that he hoped to stay in the Principality of Russ and continue to rebuild and open up the diocese, in the end he still didn't say it.

However, there was still a resentment in his heart that did not dissipate, which made him very uncomfortable, so he thought of a way to vent, and said to the patriarch: "I am very happy to accept the arrangement made by the church, but before that, I still have to There is something I need to report to you."

The patriarch frowned and asked in a deep voice, "What's the matter?"

"There may be a heresy hidden in our refuge town." Tovia leaned forward and whispered.

"Heretic?" The Patriarch was stunned for a moment, and said, "Are you sure it's a heretic, not a clergyman from another church?"

In the early period of migration to the New World, there was a period of time when the conflicts between the churches were extremely fierce, accusing each other's clergy and believers of heresy, and killing them without limit once as an excuse.

Later, the dignitaries and high-level people of various civil forces felt that if this situation continued to develop, the New World would become the same as the Old World, and all religions would be enemies of each other, so why should they give up everything in the Old World and take the risk of relocating to the Old World to settle down? Woolen cloth.

Therefore, they forcibly put pressure on the most violent churches at that time, let them sit down and negotiate, and then signed the first set of New World Religious Acts, which directly pointed out that any religion recognized by society was not allowed to be Heresy, and use this as an excuse to attack it.

In addition, it also directly pointed out what heresy is, such as unbelievers, such as people who master power from non-true gods, etc.

The Church of Purifying Fire is much stronger in combating and prohibiting heresy than other churches, and because of this, there have been some oolong incidents, and the clergy of other churches have been purged as heresy. Naturally, some compensation has been paid, so now As soon as a heresy is heard, all relevant clergy must first determine whether the other party is a clergyman of another church.

"No! I can be very sure that he is definitely not a clergyman of other churches, and I don't feel any power of the true God in him." Tovia explained in a deep voice: "His behavior has always been weird, Take a small survivor girl from the small town into the forest every day, sometimes during the day, but most of the time at night, and someone saw that little girl once used a strange power that was not magical, that power Can easily kill a small animal."