Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters-Chapter 866 - 3 One bottle is water the other is

Chapter 866: Chapter 3: One bottle is water, the other is sand Chapter 866: Chapter 3: One bottle is water, the other is sand North, the distant north.

Crossing the Sheltering Mountain Range, passing through the Holy Empire, and moving towards the end of the horizon, until the tumultuous Narrow Sea is reached, one reaches the true north.

The Venetians complain about the cold, damp winters and dig out long-sleeved clothes from the bottom of their chests;

The Paratu People curse the bone-chilling winter winds and hide inside tightly sealed houses.

Little do they know how gentle fate has been to the Senarthians—the towering Sheltering Mountain Range blocks the cold air from the south, and the vast inland sea acts as a natural heat reservoir, ensuring that the land between the two mountains hardly ever freezes over.

But in the true north, the god of winter will show his cruel and merciless side.

Blizzards sweep everything before them, turning all things in the world into a vast expanse of white. The moisture exhaled by animals freezes on their fur, and preserving body heat becomes a matter of life and death.

In such a world where water turns to ice, a group of people are performing a ritual.

...

A channel is chiseled through the ice on the lake, and a naked boy shivers as he steps into the icy water.

His body heat rapidly escapes as he strenuously swims to the end of the channel.

Many onlookers are present, but no one extends a helping hand.

Thin ice continuously forms on the water’s surface. Were it not for guards with long sticks who promptly smash the ice and remove the floes, the sharp ice shards could prove lethal.

Mothers close their eyes, while men whisper among themselves that rite of passage is typically held at fifteen years of age, and even then, tragedies often occur; letting an eleven-year-old boy swim across the ice river is far too soon!

Yet, the boy eventually reaches the opposite shore. As he steps out of the icy water, the crowd gathered around the river bursts into cheers.

His grandfather approaches the boy and removes his cape from his shoulder to fasten it around the boy.

Then, by his own hand, the grandfather hangs a ruby-studded dagger at the boy’s waist.

Dagger, cape, and sword belt—in the minds of those participating in the ritual, when a boy receives these three items, it means he is no longer a child, but a youth, a warrior.

From this moment on, the boy gains full rights as a “free man.”

Next, the guests are supposed to present gifts to the boy.

But the boy’s grandfather does something unexpected: he removes the iron crown from his head and casually places it on the boy’s head.

“Karl, I had a dream,” the grandfather lovingly rubs the boy’s fine golden hair, his eyes full of affection, “I dreamed—that all this would be yours one day.”

A dream doesn’t explain much; it is merely a beautiful blessing from a grandfather to his grandson.

Yet, at this gloomy moment, the old king’s prophetic words rekindle a glimmer of hope in people’s hearts.

The nobles attending the ceremony sequentially pile their gifts at the boy’s feet.

They still have a battle to fight—a battle for survival and existence.

…

Most adherents of the Old Church and the Protestant Church are unaware that a group of people still live in the far north, nor do they care.

However, to those with a better knowledge of geography—such as Winters Montagne—the residents of the far north are undoubtedly barbarians.

This widespread perception results largely from the Empire’s “long-standing practice of using images of ‘savages’ and ‘barbarian tribes’ to distort the image of the north’s ‘neighbors.'”

Belittling enemies is a consistent narrative strategy of the Empire, describing the northern countries as “barbarians” just as it labels the Senas Alliance as “rebels.”

In fact, ever since the Old Church massively sent missionaries to the Coastline of the Narrow Sea four hundred years ago, the northern societies quickly moved away from their original tribal-district forms and entered the feudal era.

After all, missionaries brought not only scriptures but also advanced technology and culture—how else could they convince barbarian chiefs to convert without offering something appealing?

However, what happened next quickly exceeded the Old Church’s expectations.

Scriptures, culture, and divine arts—armed with these three treasures, the Old Church expanded its territory unopposed.

But in the north… they lost control.

Unlike the old Heretic Religion, which collapsed upon contact, the pantheon faith of the north displayed an unimaginably tenacious vitality.

Because when the Old Church invaded the north, the Narrow Sea’s shores were still in the “mythical age” when demigods walked the earth.

Priests of the north absorbed elements from the Old Church’s faith, such as the “ultimate battle between good and evil,” “heaven and hell,” and “eternity,” and they reorganized the previously chaotic northern mythology into a complete system of beliefs.

Usually, the more disadvantaged a group is in terms of discourse power, the more conservative it becomes.

Updat𝒆d fr𝑜m freewebnøvel.com.

For instance, during the heyday of many dynasties, they could embrace all rivers, yet in times of decay, they often fell into paranoia, seeing everyone as a traitor; religions enforced conversions when rising, yet debated who was more devout during decline.

If miracles truly exist in this world, then the rebirth of the northern pantheon faith could be considered one of them.

The battle of beliefs lasted for two hundred years, the Old Church’s clergy against the north’s demigods, the monotheistic religion campaigning against pantheon faith.

Marked by the successive conversions of the northern kingdoms’ kings, the Old Church won.

However, Pope Pius II had no time to celebrate, as he discovered something far more terrifying—heresy.

The issue arose with the “second-generation missionaries.”

Second-generation missionaries broadly refer to the northern peoples who first converted to the Old Church.

Most of them joined halfway and lacked a complete theological education, moreover, they preached in the language of the northern people.

It is known that “mis-translating even a single sentence of the scripture might lead the lambs astray,” let alone second-generation missionaries recounting the doctrines they understood in a different language.

Ironically, these very native-born second-generation missionaries contributed significantly to the Old Church’s victory.