Chapter 610: Chapter 522: The Moon Goddess Diana Who Ran Away with the Moon
About three minutes later, the door was pushed open again, and Ivina, who had not been seen for a long time, came in with a man with a severed arm.
“Good afternoon, Mr. Speaker!” Ivina bowed slightly, very respectfully.
Compared to the restraint and unease of their last meeting, the girl seemed much more natural, and most importantly, the look of bewilderment in her eyes was gone.
The one-armed man also humbly bowed his head, full of nervousness. He had originally wanted to kneel, after all, sitting in front of him was the Speaker who wielded control over the entire Magic Kingdom, a position roughly equivalent to that of His Majesty or the Pope. But seeing that Ivina did not do so, he became stiff on the spot, suddenly unsure of how to act.
“Good afternoon, Ivina!” Lynn said with a smile. “It seems you have already figured things out.”
“You are right, Mr. Speaker. The lies of the church, no matter how perfectly woven, will eventually be torn apart…” Ivina’s face was full of dust, but her voice was very clear.
During her time in the kingdom, she had not received much preferential treatment, but, along with the captured church clergy and the imperial legions, had undergone reformation—repairing roads and building houses for the poor during the day under supervision, and cramming basic knowledge at night to break free from feudal superstition.
Although many of the nobles who were brought there continuously complained and cursed the council in secret, in Ivina’s view, this was definitely not mistreatment.
There, tired as they were, at least they had full meals, and some of the imperial soldiers even felt that being prisoners was far better than risking their lives for their lords.
Most crucially, after the Wizards defeated the empire and the church, they did not carry out the mass slaughters or sacrifices to the Evil God as the bishops had propagated.
On the contrary, from what she had seen, the city was innovating, the territories were developing, and everything within sight was getting better.
If this was to be the end of days, surely everyone would look forward to its arrival.
Listening to Ivina’s narrative, Lynn smiled. Although the development of the Magic Kingdom still had many flaws, anyone with a clear sight could see that the new kingdom was more vibrant than Eira’s Divine Arts Empire. This was why he had the confidence to cleanse the church’s faith through non-coercive measures.
Of course, accompanying propaganda also had to be stepped up, and Lynn never shunned using some means on the right things.
“May I know who this gentleman is…” Lynn’s gaze quickly shifted to the one-armed man. It was clear that Ivina had come to him specifically in relation to this man.
“Reporting to Mr. Speaker, my name is Bud, and I was… I was once a deputy of the Divine Punishment Army…” The one-armed man said very nervously, his former status once brought him endless glory, but now it was something lethal.
“Do you have something important to report?” Lynn asked.
“It’s about the foreign realms,” Ivina said solemnly.
“Foreign realms?” Lynn was stunned for a moment, looking at the brunette girl with some surprise, his expression turning serious. “Are you referring to the world beyond the Space-Time Gate?”
Ivina turned to look at Bud, who nodded, not daring to conceal anything, and hurriedly conveyed everything he knew.
The foreign realm was the church’s term for the world beyond, where Bud had heard from Lord Gustav, commander of the Divine Punishment Army, that it was the origin of all evil. Powerful magical beasts would often pass through these space-time nodes to reach the empire, wreaking havoc on nearby cities and subjects.
Therefore, the church selected elites from the Divine Punishment Army to form an expeditionary force for the foreign realms, to venture forth actively and clear out magical beasts gathered near the Space-Time Gate.
Hearing this, Lynn’s eyes brightened, as he was troubled by how to acquire intelligence about the foreign realms. He had not expected the news to come to him on its own.
“What exactly is that world like?” Lynn asked, incredibly curious.
“The foreign realm is very dark, very cold. The last time we stayed there for a long time without seeing the sun, moon, or stars…” Bud hesitated to answer.
Before entering, these expeditionary forces all had to have Divine Arts cast upon them, or they would be easily frozen to death.
However, even with every precaution taken, it was still incredibly dangerous there, and each clearing operation required a heavy toll in casualties.
“You couldn’t see the sun?” Lynn asked in surprise, immediately thinking of the Crow telling him before that the Moon Goddess Diana had taken her plane away from the main world.
As to how she took it away, Lynn was not yet certain.
Could it be that she moved away from the original orbital trajectory, taking the moon of the main world away with her?
This was likely the reason why no sun or stars could be seen in the foreign realm.
A world without a star, devoid of sources of light and heat, would undoubtedly become dark and silent. The most frightening aspect is the sharp drop in temperature, quickly reaching minus two hundred degrees Celsius, an environment in which it is nearly impossible for life to survive.
But the foreign realm was clearly not to that extent of desolation; otherwise, Bud and the others would have been frozen the moment they entered, even with the Divine Arts unable to save their lives.
It seems that before leaving the main world, the Moon God must have done something to slow down the temperature decline.
Lynn was contemplating this when Bud continued without stopping, fully aware this was his only chance to cast off the remnants of the church, and he wracked his brain for any useful information.