Witch, Fireball and the Evil God of Steam-Chapter 924 - 194: Your Faith Is Not Firm Enough (2)

The priest tossed and turned with her for a long time, but she had already learned his tricks.

Moreover, her voice was much more pleasant than the priest's, and she never harmed children.

"A rare opportunity, don't you want to experience what it's like to be a priest?"

Lindong entered the room at some point, speaking persuasively.

Then Ethan understood; he was set up by Lindong.

From suggesting the form of entertainment and having Little Dark go first, it was all for this moment. She smiled and said, "Don't you think this is a good opportunity to understand the Far West? Those people definitely wouldn't accept a little girl to listen to their confessions, but you, you have the aura of a priest."

If the process of confession is seen as psychological therapy, then Ethan is definitely the top-level psychological masseur.

He once served as the attending physician, solving psychological problems for critical patients such as Anapolis, Bazatous, and Kaisaros.

And should he encounter particularly tricky patients, Ethan could at times resort to physical means to eliminate... eradicate their symptoms.

"Tell me, what benefits did Ave promise you?"

Ethan asked.

These confessions weren't heard for nothing. In a place like the Far West, the more you interact with the residents here, the deeper your understanding of Carlo, and the easier it is to develop thoughts like "let's burn it all down."

This coincided with Ave's wish for Carlo to wake up one day dead from an exploded fireplace.

Lindong merely gave him a mischievous smile, turned into a white cat, and climbed onto his shoulder.

Ethan sighed deeply and went next door.

Ten minutes after the priest fled in panic, the confessional was reopened, with a notice board erected at the door.

The previous priest had a stomach issue, and Old Sen had taken over in a rush.

Not only did the queued people not question, but they also expressed understanding to the fleeing priest. After all, priests are human too, having to work through the night; occasional stomach troubles are quite normal.

Ethan marveled at the overall quality of the Holy City's residents.

He had thought he would be met with a bizarre tribunal, but as people came and went, he found nearly every confessor who walked into this room only confessed to one thing to him—their faith wasn't firm enough. They wavered in the face of the imminent war, doubting the day of redemption promised by Carlo.

Moreover, before entering the room, they had thoroughly reflected on their problems and reported other residents of the Holy City whose faith was not firm, even including their friends and family. At this very moment, during this critical time, any dissatisfaction and complaints are expressions of impure faith.

They also believed that the rumors stemmed from the Evil God's manipulation, actually causing them to question whether redemption would truly come.

However, in Ethan's view, the "impure believers" were merely raising legitimate concerns.

Some questioned the appropriateness of waging war.

Others questioned whether the sudden mass conscription was humane. In this grand conscription, many families lost their mainstay, and some households have become so poor they can't even afford food. Under these circumstances, can they truly endure hunger till the day of redemption?

And the rationale behind the "Salvation Contribution Points."

According to the current method of acquiring contribution points, for most people, even if they sold all their possessions and worked tirelessly without rest, they couldn't match the donations that nobles casually made. And on the day of redemption declared by Carlo, only a few could survive the darkness before it.

Of course, all these reasonable doubts were uniformly branded as manipulations by the Evil God. Anyone who raised objections must have been corrupted by the Evil God.

Ethan gradually began to admire the priest who had fled in panic.

This was undoubtedly a task that felt like sitting on pins and needles because every confession felt like a soul-searching interrogation for him.

Only those uniquely thick-skinned could persuade the people to continue believing after hearing their confessions, while branding all rational queries as heresy.

Ethan felt that he was lacking in thick-skinned capacity compared to the previous priest.

He had to marvel at the power of faith.

If this were a debate where point met counterpoint, he might have been utterly defeated. However, the confessors' firm belief exceeded his imagination; even if he shifted the topics, the confessors could independently craft a theory to convince themselves.

Before he knew it, the sky outside the confessional had begun to lighten, and just as Ethan decided to end his day's work, a different voice came from the other side of the confessional.

"Do you know what punishment would befall someone impersonating clergy in the Holy City?"

The voice sounded calm but was full of authority.

The queue outside the confessional unknowingly dispersed as the sudden arrival of the Church Court enforcers shattered the pre-dawn calm. They dispersed the queue, surrounding the entire confessional.

"It should be a capital offense, right?"

"Before that, they would undergo the most severe interrogation, and after confessing all their sins to the Goddess, they would be tied to the stake and executed by fire."

The speaker paused for a moment, "But please do not misunderstand, this ritual is not meant to kill the sinner, but to purify their tainted soul. This is the Goddess's final mercy for them."