A Core Ship From The Start Chapter 1113

Chapter 1113: Chapter 762: Faith Foundation (Collaboration between Koyuki and Licorice) Chapter 1113: Chapter 762: Faith Foundation (Collaboration between Koyuki and Licorice) “MASTER, what exactly is going on here?”

Having left the small town, Mash was still utterly confounded, while Duanmu Huai just snorted lightly.

“What? Didn't what I just said make sense?”

“No, I still don't understand, that sounded like sophistry…”

Mash was at a loss for words.

“Sophistry? Maybe it was sophistry, but at least one thing is certain, they are not ordinary humans; they are more like puppets.”

“Puppets?”

“Yes, not to mention, did you see how they weren't even scared when they met me? Does that seem normal to you?”

“Ah…”

It had to be said, hearing Duanmu Huai's analysis left Mash speechless. Indeed, with Duanmu Huai's appearance, it was already good enough that these rural villagers weren't frightened enough to collapse, yet they almost completely ignored Duanmu Huai.

“Moreover, I think I've figured out the logic of these people.”

Duanmu Huai snapped his fingers.

“Logic?”

“That's right, do you know the reason you're being targeted?”

“Um…”

“Ever heard of witch hunting?”

“Ah.”

At this, Mash suddenly understood.

“In history, witch hunts started in Europe and then spread to the Americas. Of course, the reasons for witch hunts are numerous and varied. In my opinion, it ultimately comes down to the abnormal climate at the time, so they needed someone to blame, and thus women, who were lower in status, became the unfortunate targets. Only such barbarians would commit such foolish acts,” Duanmu Huai said, snorting disdainfully. In his own country's history, they had also faced catastrophes, but people at that time wouldn't foolishly make women the scapegoats. Generally, it was the emperors who were unlucky because a catastrophe implied that the emperor's virtue was insufficient for his position and deserved divine punishment, indicating it was time for him to hastily abdicate and for a change of dynasty.

In contrast, European barbarians had a servile nature, only daring to oppress the weak instead of confronting the Church or the king, thus leading to witch hunts. If they were capable, why didn't they start a peasant uprising? Instead, they only dared to vent their anger on a few women, showing that these white-skinned barbarians have always been consistently bullying and fearing the tough.

“In this case, the defensive measures of this town are clear enough. Obviously, these villagers' actions were aimed at eliminating female magicians. The same was true when Fiore visited last time, whether it was you or Fiore, both skilled in magic, and witches, after all, are just women skilled in magic. Otherwise, look at us two in the house, those guys only went after you, completely ignoring me. Does that seem normal to you?”

“Uh… you have a point.”

Mash had to admit, Duanmu Huai's analysis made sense. Honestly, with her and Duanmu Huai in a single house, one would generally think Duanmu Huai was the villain…

“Hey? But according to what you said, MASTER, they didn't end up capturing me, right?”

“That brings us to a matter of priorities. You must know the saying, 'Heresy is more hateful than heresy…' Well, looking at those villagers, I somewhat understand now, but let's have Medea and Alice Phil explain the specifics.”

“It's the manifestation of faith-based foundations.”

At the same time, Medea and Alice Phil materialized out of thin air, having dispelled their spiritualization to appear next to Duanmu Huai.

“There's no doubt this place is a magician's workshop and it's still operating autonomously.”

“It's based on medieval faith and juxtaposed with witch hunting to intensify the faith… Well, one has to say, modern magicians really do have a lot of imaginative ideas.”

“Or maybe more aptly, wild imaginations.”

Duanmu Huai curled his lip. In the Faelun World, magic and divine arts are distinct; magic is magic, and divine arts are divine arts. But in this world, magic and divine arts are essentially the same. According to Alice Phil, even though the Cathedral Church appears to be a religious organization on the surface, its conflict with the Magic Association isn't because of divine intervention from its God but to fight over the Mystical Foundation based on faith–correct, in this world, the Cathedral Church possesses the largest mystery based on religious faith.

So-called two tigers cannot share one mountain; in plain terms, the clergy of this world are also a type of magician, unlike in the Faelun World where mages are mages, and priests are priests.

The reason is quite simple, after all, there are no real deities in this world, so naturally, they couldn't possibly grant Divine Arts to the Cathedral Church. Thus, the magic used by the Cathedral Church is fundamentally also magic, just the kind focused on Soul Series.

Even the angels of this world, according to magic theory, are conceptualized by magicians who solidify ambiguous magic power to form a solid entity. They are not like those of the Faelun World, which come from Heaven Mountain and belong to the followers of deities.

So, you see, the same terms, in different worlds and different cultural systems, have different meanings.

If Duanmu Huai summoned an angel from Heaven Mountain here, who knows what the magicians of this world would think it was.

Mash seemed to still not quite understand, so Alice Phil also started explaining it to her.

“Medieval religious beliefs leaned towards dualism, good and evil, angels and demons, black and white, life and death. Their faith revolved around these opposing dualistic elements. Simple, direct, convenient, with no ambiguous boundaries, easier for ordinary people to accept and adopt.”

“If you ask me, it's just that the medieval peasants were uneducated, making them susceptible to such nonsense, since their walnut-sized brains probably couldn't comprehend a more complex world.”

Duanmu Huai mocked unabashedly from the side.

“Then this town…….?”

“There were mages here reenacting faith and conflict. Haven't we already said that the residents of this town are overly devout and enthusiastic about religion? Thus, to demonstrate their devotion, there must exist adversaries. Just like to show the great power of a God, there must inevitably be the appearance of devils in legends.”

Alice Phil gazed down at the town below and spoke softly,
“In plain terms, it's just the classic threat tactic.”

Duanmu Huai snorted lightly.

“These idiots like using this method to intimidate others, 'The devil is watching you, if you do not believe in God, you will be dragged by the devil into hell. Thus, you must believe in my Lord, only faith will take you to heaven, if not, you're merely bait for the devil, there's only the path into hell left…. just a poor and despicable form of intimidation. If, as religious legends claim that God loves all beings, shouldn't he love everyone unconditionally? Is this not discrimination? Does this not imply that the nature of deities and devils are no different?”

“Ugh…….”

Such talk would surely infuriate religious believers if they heard it, but Duanmu Huai couldn't care less about such trivial matters.

“So, the operation of this town as a workshop can also be identified now, through devout religious faith and the acts of witch hunting to demonstrate that faith in return, creating a cycle that forms arrays based on this faithfulness. The purpose is probably only one…….”

“The vortex of origins, huh? These heretics really won't stop until they've opened the gates to Subspace. I really should reconsider eradicating all the magicians of this world…… Not now, but it will definitely be on my future agenda.”

Duanmu Huai said this out of real annoyance. Similar incidents had occurred several times during the year, according to the Tribunal, all caused by these heretics trying to open the gate to Subspace. Honestly, Duanmu Huai had more than once thought about completely exterminating the magician families of this world, unfortunately, this was the past world, and he still needed these magicians to stabilize the past and connect to the future Chaldea.

Oh well, issuing an Extinction Order to these magicians after saving the world wouldn't be too late.

“If I'm guessing right, even if we hadn't come here, someone would've been targeted for witch hunting tonight, it's just that outsiders are a higher priority. And ultimately, witches are still just considered heretics——hahaha, heretics are indeed more detestable than heretical believers, there's some truth in that statement.”

Ultimately, religious faith needs an enemy. Christianity needs devils, Buddhism also needs demons; only then can they establish their facade as saviors in front of ordinary people. And witch serves as a suitable tool; countless people died during medieval witch hunts, though none were probably actually witches.

Just like Duanmu Huai said, if witches were truly that powerful, would these peasants who only know how to wield pitchforks and clubs dare to challenge them? A mere wave of their hand and those peasants would be completely wiped out.

Therefore, at its core, it's still just a ritual.

A ritual to demonstrate the greater glory of God–indeed, to the Tribunal, such tactics are all too familiar.

Thus, this ritual needs opposing prey; heretical believers, witches, heretics–indeed, heretics still take the highest priority.

So after that man was identified by Duanmu Huai as a heretic, the whole town's course began to change, just like Artificial Intelligence, because a higher-level threat was discovered, and priority was adjusted, sidelining the witch.

“Alright, that's about it; can we just destroy this place directly?”

“I think not.”

Medea shook her head.

“The opposing workshop is already entangled with the Spirit Vein, forcibly destroying the town would cause irreversible damage to the Spirit Vein, impacting a large area of land here. The best approach is to delve into the core, completely shut down the workshop, then refresh the Spirit Vein.”

“So I guess I'm up then?”

Duanmu Huai sighed quietly.

“Alright, we'll go back into town tomorrow to see the situation, hoping the core of these idiots is easy to locate.”

Chapter end

Report