CHAPTER 210: CHAPTER 165: THE UNBELIEVERS

Ethan looked at the people prostrating themselves beneath the city wall and suddenly understood the concept that "three feet of ice doesn’t freeze in a single day." To change the current situation, proving the demise of the rightful god was far from enough; a reform concerning religious belief was urgently needed.

Fortunately, the Queen, who had been deeply affected by these issues, stood by his side. Before the new king ascended to the throne, she still wielded enough power, especially after the rebellion initiated by Pope Julius failed. The royal power would reach its peak, and the future of the empire would depend on how the royal family exercised its power.

He could only be grateful this was not an era of rapid information dissemination; it would take time for other cities to learn about the turmoil in the imperial capital. By then, misunderstandings should have been clarified.

With that in mind, Ethan turned towards Queen Margaret. This was his first formal meeting with Ave’s aunt, who had been described by Ave as a kind-hearted and wise person.

He believed that the Queen had already formed her judgment.

However, before he could speak, the reverence and trepidation in the Queen’s eyes deeply pierced him.

The Queen spoke first, "Under the Sun God, may You protect this nation!"

Clearly, Queen Margaret wasn’t as wise as he hoped.

...

While the Kingdom Army, led by the others, dealt with the rebels, Ethan was escorted by the crowd to the royal hall.

"This is an expected outcome."

Ave, sitting opposite him, began to speak. The golden locks above her head swayed, proving her good mood, while Lindong chuckled beside her. She found it hard to explain this peculiar feeling; every time she saw Ethan’s dark expression out of bewilderment, she found it amusing.

After two years, she had returned to this familiar place once again.

"Since the reign of His Majesty Henry III, the empire’s ecclesiastical power has been steadily growing, deeply rooted by now. It’s tough to change people’s minds, eh?"

She was abruptly pulled up by her aunt before she could finish.

With a firm grip on her golden locks, her aunt took hold of her weakness, "You child, who allowed you to come to the table!"

In fact, the Queen also had no experience welcoming the rightful god, since after the First Epoch, the rightful gods had left this world. According to the Sun God, they had long since fallen. Even the tales of the chosen ones had long passed since the Sixth Epoch. However, she had read the Holy Scriptures of the church enough to know that even the Pope, when praying at the Sanctuary of Life, knelt on the ground.

To sit at the table and freely converse with the rightful god was an act of great disrespect!

Despite Ethan’s repeated dissuasion, he could not prevent the outcome of Ave landing on the floor.

After pressing Ave to the floor, the Queen bowed devoutly to Ethan. Next, she planned to arrange a banquet for the descent of the rightful god, a tradition the empire had always upheld.

When in doubt about how to celebrate, throw a feast.

"Your aunt has left, you can get off the floor now."

"It’s alright, sitting on the floor is quite comfortable."

Seeing that Ave had no intention of getting up, Ethan also pushed his chair aside and sat cross-legged on the floor. Lindong followed suit. The three sat on the floor, just like in the cave in the Northern Territory, and began their small group meeting.

"You can’t blame them." Ave insisted on her previous viewpoint, "Didn’t you say we should use the objective world as the benchmark? In the objective world, if your magic looks like that of a rightful god and your behavior resembles a rightful god’s, then you will become the rightful god in people’s eyes."

This was also recorded in her yet-to-be-written "Imperial Truths."

If you create a sun in the night sky, you will be seen as the Sun God.

From her observations, the only difference between Ethan and the rightful god described in the Holy Scripture was his willingness to sit on the floor with "mortals." It was only after spending time together that one could sense his "human" side.

Lindong echoed this sentiment, "Indeed, I think the title of Sun God sounds quite nice."

"Actually, I’ve always had a question." Ave said seriously, "Why do you persistently resist the identity of a god? The church took hundreds of years to embed the Goddess of Life into people’s hearts. Julius spent his lifetime scheming, while for you, it would take merely one magic act."

To prove his authority, Julius had nearly eradicated all dissenters, yet even with his high-pressure policy of accusing the Evil God’s Followers, he could not entirely shift people’s opinions. He only managed to silence the sharpest dissent. Deep within many people, Julius was far from the Goddess Envoy; he was merely a tyrant skilled at power manipulation.

Because Julius could not conjure a sun or a moon over the capital, but Ethan could.

When that golden sun dispersed the darkness, people truly accepted the descent of the rightful god.

Thus, every word Ethan uttered would become a decree, and people would follow his orders without hesitation. In Ave’s view, as long as Ethan was willing, he could at any moment become the de facto ruler of the empire. This had been a tradition since the First Epoch, where the rightful god led humanity out of the darkness and sowed the seeds of civilization. Human worship of the rightful god far exceeded that of a king.

"After returning to the capital, I consulted some materials. In the First and Second Epochs, the concept that corresponded to ’king’ was the envoy of the god. Before leaving, they appointed envoys to exercise their power in the human realm, to safeguard the seeds of humanity. Hence, the concept of ’divine right of kings’ emerged later. Only a king recognized by the divine spirit would have legitimacy, and every king in the empire needed the Pope to personally crown them at their coronation."