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 urban area of ​​Taturons at a speed unimaginable by horses and birds.

The first thing I came into contact with was the harbor area. Unlike 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 brought by the big storm seems to be too large. less.

In fact, it was not the case. Outside the city of Taturons Harbor City, on the deserted seaside, the rainfall that had been brought into contact with the ground by the big storm had already formed a huge flood.

The solid rock wall was wetted by rain, and then the side blown by the sea storm was even more like being 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 still touched the ground again. .

They pooled and changed from currents to creeks mixed with debris from the rock wall, and then countless streams of muddy streams mixed together again into a temporary flood that could wash everything away.

In ancient times, the people of the Fara Peninsula struggled for a long time in the floods brought by the big storm.

Every year there are big storms, when countless families are shattered, and people can only go boating to the sea to look for family members and children who may have survived during the short time when the big storm is suspended.

At that time, they either tied everyone together with ropes on the top of the mountain or on the top of the sand dunes, and endured the storm with difficulty, or they hid in the caves on the rocky walls of the wilderness, gathered together and knelt down to pray to the gods.

Or pray that the cave doesn't collapse due to a sea storm.

It was a long, hard time.

People in the Farah Peninsula even prefer to live in the depths of the barren desert compared to the rich coast.

Even if water is like gold, survival is difficult.

It's better than going through the horror 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, at least they brought a possibility to truly free the human beings here from suffering.

And when the empire was first established, the nascent empire actually did some practical things in order to obtain the actual control power in various places.

At least it solves the problem that the buildings in the coastal areas of the Farah Peninsula will be washed away by the sea storm.

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

Of course, this also represents the harsh regimes deep in the desert. After being defeated by the imperial army, it has completely become a past tense that no local people will miss.

At this point, it is time to answer why the sea level in the harbor area of ​​​​Tatullos will not rise.

Because of the dense buildings in the urban area, the roofs that are really in contact with the big storm are like drainage channels that guide all the water that has come into contact with the big storm along the pipes that run up and down in the house to the various parts at the bottom of the house. Every home has a huge water storage room.

After all, most of the water that passed through the storm was pushed horizontally across a large area along the coast, rolling towards the inland.

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

Also because of population growth.

Especially in recent decades, the Church of the Ring of the Sun has ostensibly controlled the ruling power of the entire peninsula. Although the officials were sent by the empire, even the children here know that there are no priests of the church nodding, and the officials of the empire They can't even approve the payment of a copper coin.

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

A few days ago, each household purchased housing materials for this purpose.

During a major storm, it can be really bad if your home leaks. I can't go out of the house, and there is no one to go out. Not only is there no one on the street, but even the shops will not open for business.

That is to say, during the intermission period of the big storm, people will open the door of the house, go out quickly, and finish the things that really need to go out as soon as possible.

That's it, every time there is an interval between big storms, some people will still be stuck in other people's homes or shops where they have to do business, unable to advance or retreat.

At this time, the owner had to provide food and accommodation for the guests who were forcibly left behind by the sea storm. This behavior had gradually become a habit and custom.

At this time, just when everyone closed their doors and windows and had nothing to do, it was located on the main street on the border between the harbor area and the trade area.

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

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

The semi-circular hall is tall and spacious. Not only did the latest structural configurations in recent years be used in the architectural design, but the entire building was also strengthened and protected by the priests of the God of the Sea.

They have managed to make the building even if it is not as solid and solid as other local buildings, but it can also survive the impact of the water during the big storm.

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

Everyone bowed in reverence towards the 'miracle' of the God of the Sea—the current of the great storm.

The priests of all levels of the church gathered around the pool in the center of the main hall, wearing specially modified priest robes, and passed through the center of the pool filled with storm water in turn.

The cold and fresh water flowed down from the heads of the priests, drenching them, but on the contrary, it made the priests more devout.

And the pool they walked through was also exquisitely made. Among the complex and luxurious marine decorations made of colored stones in the pool, some are hidden water guide channels that can 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 really fills up.

This is a design precisely calculated by the gods, in order to make the believers who came here during the great storm feel miraculous and awed, so as to strengthen their belief in him.

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

And the most senior priest present, a bishop of the Church of the God of the Sea, took the lead in singing a hymn in awe of the God of the Sea.

Before the ceremony started, the believers were given a thin booklet for each person, which contained the sequence and rules of the ceremony, and the beginning of it was the lyrics of the hymn that the bishop led everyone to sing.

With the hymn lyrics in the booklet, although most new believers cannot sing the tune, at least they can open their mouths and read the hymn lyrics along with the music.

Because the main hall is in the shape of a semicircle, thousands of people chanting in unison on the field is still very imposing.

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

In the corner of the hall, a young man dressed in uniform from the Church of the God of the Sea seemed to be singing this hymn with the surrounding believers, but in fact he was a faith spy of the ring of the sun lurking in.

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

Thus such a spy could be sent out, pretending to belong to another church, without being detected.

As long as such a spy of faith does not become a priest of the church sent to spy and directly connect with the gods, no one will be able to detect that this person is a spy of faith sent to spy on.

Even fanatics, a rare group and level of believers, can rely on spiritual hints and magical alchemy 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 spy of faith or not.

At this time, the spy sent by the Sun God Church was reading the hymns in the brochure loudly. He was different from other true believers around him. Practice repeatedly and memorize all the content in the booklet.

Word for word, far more than a true believer.

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

The Church of the God of the Sea is still too young. It is not as good as the Church of the Ring of the Sun, who has experienced the ups and downs on the Farah Peninsula many years ago. When people are in awe of the great storm and the spiritual position of dependence.

There is actually a faith spy sent by another church.

Wait for a while, this faith spy who has long put life and death aside will try to make a mess of this ceremony of the God of the Sea Church.

Before coming here, the local Church of the Ring of the Sun had roughly guessed what the Church of the God of the Sea wanted to do this year.

This is a competition for faith, and it is absolutely not allowed by the ring of the sun.

But it is not possible to directly launch a war of faith against the Church of the God of the Sea. After all, a large number of seaport cities along the coast of the Farah Peninsula have to rely on a large number of captains and crews who believe in the God of the Sea to maintain trade.

The church has developed a lot of new believers to participate in the ocean trade over the years, but after all, the days are too shallow, and there is no chance to confront the large number of sea merchant groups influenced by the Church of the God of the Sea.

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

There are also fleets of ships that go directly elsewhere to buy critical food.

Due to the limited food production in the Farah Peninsula, foreign food is very important. This key point must never be in the hands of outsiders.

Otherwise, it will continue to be restrained by outsiders.

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

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

-

Having said that, in the main hall of the Church of the God of the Sea, the act of the priests walking through the sea storm that fell from the sky was quickly completed.

Then it was naturally the turn of the local devout believers.

Among the believers who came here today, only half are local residents, and the other half are the personnel of various ships who come here for trade. They are all foreigners who believe in the God of the Sea.

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

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

He really joined a merchant ship and came to Taturongs Harbor City, but he first came to other places by land, and then joined the caravan that passed through Taturongs, and returned here by boat.

In this way, his identity is unassailable, and no one knows that he is a local. The companions on the merchant ship thought he was a resident of another harbor city on the Farah Peninsula, while the priests of the local Sea God Church believed that these people were all foreigners.

Therefore, among a group of fellows from other places, the faith spy easily attracted the attention of the priest in charge of the ceremony with his appearance that he didn't need to follow the scriptures.

At this moment, the local devout believers are under the guidance of the priests. Like the previous priests, they are barefoot, with trousers braided to expose their calves and knees, and they slowly walk through the sea storm falling from the sky without umbrellas.

In the dark, there are priests who identify these devout believers. After being identified, the believers who can really develop and win will be blessed by the bishop presiding over the ceremony when they walk through the sea storm and current.

This is not a simple blessing. Not only the priests of the church, but also the God of the Sea has prepared for today's important ceremony.

Every believer who needs to be blessed has been investigated and analyzed by the priests before coming.

From the family situation of the believers, to their life experiences, and even things that they may feel regretful in life, they have sent people or investigated, or spent money to buy, and they have figured out a lot.

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

For the elderly who are inconvenient, the bishop, under the prompt of the assistant, the trainee pastor, will perform a powerful divine blessing to restore vitality. As a result, the old man is healthy and free from all diseases until he dies of old age naturally.

For sailors who often run ships on the sea, the bishop will cast the mysterious blessing of not drowning in sea water. As a result, sailors can jump into the sea when they encounter danger, and remain invincible in various dangers like swimming fish.

Calculating the hearts of his crew and the captain of a merchant ship who runs merchants and trades, the bishop will cast a recovery blessing that will make him energetic when he is at sea. As a result, the captain can deal with everything that needs to be dealt with clearly, and use more energy to earn more wealth. With wealth, the captain's position among the crew will be strengthened.

For offshore fishermen who make a living by fishing, the bishop will cast a special blessing that allows them to attract aquatic creatures. In the next few years, this fisherman will be able to catch big fish with a pole, and the nets used to catch fish will be more delicate than other fishermen. Will be wary of schools of fish. At the same time, similar monsters in the sea will not attack the fisherman.

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

For healthy young people, the bishop will give them the blessing of clearing their minds and eyesight, so that young people can learn everything quickly, and can easily gain a foothold in society by relying on their skills.

Even the large amount of divine power that will be used today, the bishop himself has already applied to the gods for it in advance, and even a ray of spirit from the gods is randomly placed on a certain priest of the church, watching here.

Of course, since large storms generally occur in many cities and oases on the north and east coasts of the Farah Peninsula, the God of the Sea is very busy today, and it is impossible to really descend on a certain place, so he can only use a little mental perception to monitor and coordinate the various areas. The city co-sponsored the Great Storm Ritual Celebration.

The ceremonies and celebrations in these places are naturally light and heavy. In some cities and regions that have successfully connected the local residents' spiritual feelings towards the big storm with their beliefs, the gods are naturally more relaxed, and most of them just patrol in advance to see if there is any Leave without omissions.

As for places like Taturones Harbor City, this ceremony celebration is very important, so He sent a ray of spirit here, and when His help is needed or comes, He can provide the help needed by the priests as soon as possible .

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

However, the God of the Sea has already tested it in some smaller cities before, and the real controlling force in the area is the Church of the Ring of the Sun.

Although he was a little displeased with the actions of the God of the Sea, maritime trade still depended on his believers, so he turned a blind eye to these things, as if he didn't see them, they didn't exist.

Anyway, a great natural phenomenon like a sea storm cannot be shaken by the God of the Sea.

That is the natural mighty force that occurs naturally during the rotation of the planet, not to mention the **** of the ocean created by human beings, who is the original **** of nature of the ocean, the real **** of the ocean who is at the same level as the mother of the earth, can How much it will affect the large storm is still unknown.

Others don't know, but the old mage who has lived from the time of the magic empire to the present has seen in some ancient documents that more than one **** wants to get involved in the power of a similar planet, but it is obvious that the power of those gods The end is not very good.

At least the elven gods, who are far older than the human gods, were not involved in the natural miracles and planetary powers within their territory when they ruled over a large area of ​​land.

Of course, maybe the elves have done it before, but because it's too old, no one knows.

At least from the later historical materials and field observations ~www.readwn.com~ the old mage did not find any traces of adulteration from these miraculous natural phenomena in the planetary movement.

-

The devout believers walked through the water flow brought down by the big storm one by one. Every believer was extremely devout, at least on the surface.

Sporadic, believers from different professions are occasionally blessed by the church. Different occupations, different genders, different ages, no matter how you look at it, they all seem to be blessed because they truly believe in the God of the Sea.

People are very envious, and can't help but examine whether they need to learn from each other in all aspects. Blessings are good after all, but what is even better is the church's love and trust in the blessed believers.

The Church of the God of the Sea is not a small church. As long as you have a little contact with the ocean in the human world, you can meet related forces and forces.

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

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

The faith spy lowered his head piously, with the corners of his mouth raised slightly, as if he was immersed in the solemn and beautiful ceremony at this time, but what no one knew was that the reason for his smile was that this seemingly perfect scene could be resolved in a short while. The ceremony and celebration, the tinkering lost the seriousness, and lost the convincing feeling of the scene.

Gululu.

His stomach growled, which seemed to be just a borborygmus caused by a little hunger, but it was actually caused by the laxatives that would cause diarrhea that he had taken before the ceremony started.

Like the Church of the God of the Sea, the Church of the Ring of the Sun also grasped the exact start time of the great storm.

They took advantage.

Not to mention other things, at least it is enough to make the Church of the God of the Sea fail.