Extraordinary Voyage-Chapter 846 - 726: The Seventh Nation of the Alliance
As the end of winter brings the navigable season, Saint Aiven City and Long Island Port gradually become bustling.
Although the old territory residents here comprise the largest group of aboriginal citizens, under macro policy guidance, they have quickly started integrating into the new lifestyle.
Suddenly.
"Listen, where is the bell sound coming from?"
"Look at the sky, it’s a divine miracle!"
Accompanied by the grand bell sound emerging from the void, a cloud in the sky slowly splits open, casting a large swath of brilliant golden cross holy light, directly centered on the core power of this land - White Swan Castle.
After a slight commotion in the city, all the Nimansite people who realized what was happening immediately performed the "Black Iron Cross Church" ritual in eagerness toward that direction, chanting the holy name of the Goddess.
Of course, just as angels would never easily appear en masse before humans like in the war against Ilya, only the most devout and a few residents vaguely saw the blurred human figure with snow-white wings within the Holy Light, and were already deeply moved to tears.
Alongside the brilliant sound and light effects, a large-scale blessing divine skill descended onto this city, indiscriminately falling upon every believer. If belief value could be quantified, this operation increased overall by at least ten percentage points.
The news of Galliot Marquisate being elevated to a Duchy had only just returned not long ago. The immediate arrival of divine miracles speaks volumes.
The Duchy is a place favored by the Goddess! Saint Aiven is beloved by the Goddess!
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
As the grand bell sound echoed, Aiven, as a Saint, had already heard the call from Saint Angel Belenus ahead of time, and together with his sister and Olivia in White Swan Castle, rushed out swiftly.
"This..."
After performing a ritual with the two girls in the presence of the angelic holy light, upon seeing what Belenus was holding, Aiven’s expression turned somewhat nuanced.
Only because this item was somewhat... familiar.
In shape, it was a thrusting sword mostly used as a ceremonial blade.
Half-gilt vine patterns, half ivory sheath, a golden lion-shaped guard, and a hilt embedded with silver-hued nacre presented itself.
It was very similar in style to the longsword admired at St. James’s Palace the previous second, except at the hilt’s end, where a silver pearl embedded, there engraved a line of small text - Galliot.
Without a doubt, this was the "Mother-of-Pearl Gilded Lion Sword" belonging to the Galliot Duchy!
Typically speaking.
During monarchial ceremonies for knighting and ennobling lower nobility, a ceremonial sword lightly taps the shoulders of the recipient with the purpose to "awake from nightmares and strive for noble ideals".
Additionally, it’s a symbol of both a test and admonition, challenging the recipients to maintain lofty aspirations amidst violence, and warning them of more brutal battles to come on their future pathways.
The deeper significance is the simplified symbol of the ancient era’s power conquest and forced allegiance between humans, one indicating the monarch has conquered the recipient by sword, the other showing the monarch possesses the capacity and authority to punish betrayals.
As a military aristocrat who has reached this status step by step, Aiven naturally has experienced this ennoblement process.
It was during his youth when he received the Crown Prince Guardian Knight role, pledging to do his utmost to protect Liweina and the Kingdom’s safety. In the blink of an eye, nearly nine years have passed since then.
But today, upon receiving this sword, no earthly king can ennoble him anymore.
"Duke Galliot, every founding monarch in the alliance’s history has obtained such a ’Mother-of-Pearl Gilded Lion Sword’, also belonging to that country’s ’Sword of Royal Authority’.
Yet you are the sole exception, obtaining the monarch position without the title of knight, take it and accept the Goddess’s blessing!"
In the gentle encouragement from Saint Angel, Aiven softly thanked, reached out amidst Anita’s and Olivia’s extremely excited gazes, and took the ’Sword of Royal Authority’ belonging to him.
Buzz—
As his fingertips touched this magnificent longsword, while the golden divine light burst upon it, a giant shadow bearing an ancient crown appeared suddenly behind Aiven, full of dignity.
A powerful majesty erupted centered around Aiven and the "Mother-of-Pearl Gilded Lion Sword", forcing Anita and Olivia standing behind him to instinctively step back two paces, even the Saint Angel showed a look of surprise on their face.
"Giant Ancestor Mars?"
Aiven, who already held the sword in his hand, didn’t expect that the "Sword of Royal Authority" would resonate with the [Bloodline Plugin: Giant] within him and create such a peculiar phenomenon.
The ancestral "True God Mars" of the ancient giants’ origin is a god of agriculture, war, royal authority, order, and chaos from the beginning of the era. Known as the "bloodthirsty demon king and conqueror of fortified castles," he might even be the first true god of the era to have the [Humanized Divine Position].
Looking back at the two existing true gods with the [Humanized Divine Position], the divine positions of the "Queen and Goddess of Navigation" are [Royal Authority] and [Navigation], while the "God of Black Clothes" holds positions of [War of Injustice], [Violence], [Plunder], [Theft].
This coincidence inevitably leads to wild imaginations.
However, the phenomenon persisted only for a moment and then vanished, and Aiven had no intention to delve into it for the time being. Since the sword was now in his hands, it was only a matter of time before he understood it.
He also swallowed the second half of the sentence that was already on his lips during his conversation with Liweina.
Just wanted to say, truly sweet!
Saint Angel Bellenus, seeing the disappearing phantom, looked somewhat amused.
But the foundation of gods isn’t knowledge but concept and authority, not omniscient either, and he couldn’t fully comprehend Aiven’s current form of life. Of course, he didn’t have the intense curiosity of the Wizard.
"Saint Angel, the first batch of spring tea in my [Witchcraft Garden] has matured. How about coming home to taste it?"
Under normal circumstances, even if they have business-related interactions, angels representing the will of true gods wouldn’t have excessive exchanges with earthly monarchs.
"What belongs to gods returns to gods, what belongs to kings returns to kings" is a fundamental principle for the "Queen and Goddess of Navigation" and her angels, but for Aiven, an exception was made.
The separation between human and god mostly aims to prevent gods from excessively influencing the development process of the mortal world. However, when interacting with Aiven, Bellenus hoped to be influenced by him more, using his thoughts to correct the path of the gods.
Five minutes later, having gathered all phenomena, the Saint Angel turned into a valiant young man sitting with Aiven in the tea room of White Swan Castle.
Aiven poured him a cup of fresh green tea using his self-produced bone china tea set and respectfully said,
"Saint Angel, actually... I’ve always had a question I’d like to ask you?"
Seeing him take a sip of tea and nod with satisfaction, Aiven continued,
"In the hundred years since the discovery of the New Continent, why hasn’t the powerful church focused on the development of the New Continent? They even disregard the potential believers among the Atrean people, whose total population exceeds one hundred million? This can’t be just because they don’t want to interfere with the Material World, can it?"
In fact, this issue had troubled Aiven for a long time, and the Saint Angel’s answer was crucial for his future policy on ruling that continent. Should he remain restrained and proceed slowly, or should he use all means and act quickly?
Seeing Aiven’s thoughts, Bellenus chuckled:
"Actually, even if you don’t ask, I came here to tell you this. On this land, you don’t need to overthink. Just do whatever you plan.
Even though the main divine position is the [Humanized Divine Position] of true gods, only our great Goddess and the ’God of Black Wings’ have their largest impact transformed by human societal changes.
But most true gods might greatly welcome the rise of a strong human civilization state on the New Continent.
Plus, why do you think only the Source Continent has the faith of true gods known across the world? And there are seven of them. Why hasn’t any true god revealed a miracle on the New Continent, which is even more expansive and affluent than the Source Continent?
Noticing that Aiven had fallen into deep thought, the Saint Angel thought for a moment and gave him a not-answer:
"The day you realize what’s within the ’Broken Star Sea,’ you might understand that answer.
Make the most of your time, because once you become part of the world’s rules like us and turn into a manager, ordinary [World’s Favor] will no longer be useful.
Currently, you only need to know that no matter what you do on the New Continent, true gods and the church will not interfere. The only advice I have for you is not to initiate a large-scale massacre against the Atrean people."
Then, they shifted the topic towards dealing with asset holders.
After finishing a pot of tea, the Saint Angel rose to leave, glanced at Aiven’s head, and jokingly smiled:
"Your Majesty, you should prepare a crown for yourself."
In the alliance, at least one must be at the level of direct dialogue with gods and the church among the six nations to wear a crown formally.
Though nominally still under the Phaletis Kingdom, as its bestowed duchy.
Bellenus’s remark directly recognized that the Galliot Duchy had achieved a status equivalent to the six nations, becoming the seventh member of the Tulip Alliance!
