Law of Space and Time

Chapter 9: Stories of the Holy World Lord

Erwin was thoroughly enjoying the envy and admiration directed toward him as he led the trio of beautiful women to the largest church in the city, the Great Hansen Cathedral.

In the past, this place belonged to the Holy World Church, but from the instant that the Universal Church Freedom Army entered the city, the cathedral was bound to be lost. What was rather amusing was that the clergymen of the Holy World Church were completely fearless as Erwin and his soldiers marched into the cathedral. The clergymen loudly denounced them as blasphemers and demons that had crawled out of the depths of hell, and that they were condemned to be cleansed by the holy flames of the Holy World Lord. Back when Zans had been conquered, Lia had been very lenient in his treatment of the Holy World Church's clergymen, merely banishing them from Zans rather than taking any drastic action against them. With Lia setting such a lenient example, Erwin naturally couldn't just kill these clergymen. Hence, he decided to lock them up together and have Lia decide what to do with them.

The Universal Church didn't have much of a foundation in Newfando. In fact, the religion didn't even have a decent church here, unlike in Zans, where the Holy Jade Cathedral was a significant landmark. Hence, Erwin found the idea of taking over the grandiose Great Hansen Church as the headquarters of the Universal Church in Newfando to be very appealing. In fact, he was already going through with his plan without waiting for approval from Lia.

Erwin didn't have much regard for religion to begin with. He didn't care for the doctrines of the churches, which were complex and dogmatic in his eyes. The only reason why he had chosen the Great Hansen Cathedral was because he liked the look of the place. It wasn't a case of religious reverence, it was simply a case of artistic and architectural appreciation.

Taking advantage of the fact that Lia hadn't arrived yet, Erwin came here early to take a look so that he could decide how he was going to renovate this place. In the past, the cathedral was open only to the nobility, but in the future, it was going to be open to the masses as well, and the murals and statues worshiping the Holy World Lord had to be changed.

"Why have you come here? Didn't you say you wanted to go on a tour of the city?" Theresa asked with a puzzled expression.

"There is an objective to everything that he does. If you actually think he came out just to take a stroll around the city, then you don't know him very well at all," Onean said with a resigned expression. It was clear that having spent far more time with Erwin than Theresa had, her understanding of Erwin's habits and thought processes was also far more in-depth.

An enlightened look appeared on Theresa's face upon hearing this, and she turned to Erwin with an amused expression.

"You make me sound like an extremely sinister and calculating person," Erwin said with a disgruntled expression. "It's just that I saw this cathedral from Fort Breeze, and I thought it was quite majestic, so I wanted to come and take a look. Besides, it's already past lunchtime, but dinnertime hasn't arrived yet, so where else are we supposed to go?"

It seemed that Erwin was at odds with the women accompanying him when it came to their ideas of taking a tour around the city. His first thought was to find a place to rest, while the women were eager to continue on their tour.

In any case, the three women didn't actually care whether he had any ulterior motives for touring the city. For them, his company was far more enjoyable than seeing the sights of the city.

"Come and tell me about these murals. I haven't read the scriptures of the Holy World Church, so I'm relying on you to tell me about everything," Erwin said as he beckoned toward Theresa.

As a noble, Theresa was naturally well-versed in the doctrines of the Holy World Church. However, during the past few decades, the Holy World Church had constantly been embroiled in a series of controversies, and as a result, they were beginning to lose even the support of the nobles. At this point, following the Holy World Church was more of a status symbol than anything else. Otherwise, who would want to see a bunch of portly and lecherous pastors?

In response to Erwin's request, Theresa happily picked up Erwin's hand, leading him around the cathedral as she told him about all of the stories depicted in the murals and statues in the building.

Christine was not very interested in the subject, and she was following along by Erwin's side with an absentminded expression, but it was clear that her mind was already elsewhere.

As for Onean, she couldn't even be bothered to listen at all. She had never been interested in religious affairs, so she sat down onto a bench at the center of the hall and was soon yawning lazily to herself.

In contrast, Erwin was very intrigued and was listening carefully, even raising some questions here and there. He had no interest in religion, but he was very interested in the stories behind these murals. Furthermore, he had only been told the stories of the Universal Lord by Lia and had no knowledge of the Holy World Church whatsoever, and that was another reason why he was listening with such intrigue.

Occasionally, he would pass by a mural that would make him involuntarily stop and observe. The artistic techniques employed in these murals weren't all that exceptional, but the stories being depicted were very interesting.

This particular piece of artwork depicted a white-robed man wielding a large blade, cutting off the heads of the people before him one after another. On the other side of the artwork was a king, who was instructing his subordinates to boil another group of people alive. It was impossible to tell the king's emotions from his expression, while the white-robed man was depicted in a completely indifferent manner, as if he were taking a stroll in the park, rather than decapitating a series of men.

Seeing the intrigue on Erwin's face, Theresa explained, "The story goes that the Holy World Lord's journeys took Him to an ancient nation by the name of Kanan. The Kana didn't believe in the prophecy that the Holy World Lord was going to save the world, so he ordered all of his people to stand in a massive cauldron, then instructed his subordinates to boil his people alive, challenging the Holy World Lord to rescue those people. In response, the Holy World Lord ordered the 72 disciples who were traveling with him to arrange themselves into a line before him, following which he decapitated them one by one. The king was very taken aback to see this. He thought that he had stumped the Holy World Lord, for which he was very pleased with himself, but looking at the heads tumbling onto the ground, his elation turned to sorrow, and he rescinded his order to have his own people boiled alive."

Erwin couldn't help but burst into laughter after hearing the story. "What a brilliant story that is."josei

Christine and Theresa were both quite stunned by his reaction.

Even Onean, who was about to nod off on the bench, had her attention drawn to the story, and she was looking at Erwin from afar, eager to hear his thoughts.

"I've always felt like these ancient religious stories are not reliable. Why do you seem to find this one so interesting?" Theresa asked as she turned to Erwin with a smile.

"How is this a brilliant story, Brother Erwin? Don't you find it downright terrifying?" Christine asked, and she was also looking at Erwin with a stunned expression. Even though this wasn't the first time she had heard the story, she still couldn't help but have chills run down her spine every time she heard it.

"I think it's very interesting. Didn't the Holy Word Lord save all of the people of the city in the end?" Erwin asked with a smile.

"Don't you think it's a completely preposterous story, Brother Erwin? If he wanted to save the people, he could've just implored the king to spare them. Why did he kill his own disciples?" Christine asked, becoming more and more confused by the second.

Theresa couldn't exactly put her finger on what was so intriguing about the story, but she had a vague sense of it. After all, having created the Demonic Puppet Legion, her understanding of life went far beyond that of the average person.

"Isn't that king even more preposterous? This is a king that is willing to kill his own people just to prove a point to the Holy World Lord. Do you really think trying to reason with him or implore him would've been effective?" Erwin countered with a smile. "You have to realize that there are many preposterous people in this world, and they can't be treated with common logic."

"So you're saying that the Holy World Lord had already identified that any words to the king would've fallen upon deaf ears, and that's why he did something so ridiculous?" Theresa asked.

"It's not important whether he identified that or not. In the eyes of the Holy World Lord, there is no fundamental difference between killing someone and saving someone."

"Why is that?" Theresa and Christine asked in unison.

"After listening to all these stories, I've come to a realization, which is that this so-called Holy World Lord is not a title given to any single deity, nor is it referring to a mortal human who is about to attain godhood. You can understand this entity as the entire world. To this world itself, there is no point in saving one person or saving all of the world's people," Erwin explained.

"So you're saying the Holy World Lord did that just to save Himself?" Onean hadn't spoken this entire time, but this question from her struck the nail right on the head.

Erwin couldn't help but burst into applause upon hearing this. "That's exactly what I'm saying."

"So He killed all of His disciples in order to save Himself?" Theresa asked with a perplexed expression.

"As a transcendent being, the Holy World Lord must be detached from all life. Only by eradicating all of His own mortal attachments can He completely save Himself. Hence, killing and saving are essentially the same concepts for Him," Erwin explained. "At least, that is the moral of this story."

Theresa nodded slowly to herself with a thoughtful expression upon hearing this, and she seemed to have gotten somewhat of a grasp on what Erwin was saying.

"Of course, you can also see this so-called Holy World Lord as a complete fraud and charlatan who killed his own disciple so that after he fled the scene, there would be no witnesses to spread the tale of his cowardice," Erwin said with an amused smile, and it was clear that this was a joke.

"In that case, he would have to kill the king and all of the people as well. Otherwise, there will always be someone to spread the story," Christine murmured.

Despite all her wiles in the business world, she was still a gullible little girl, and she had taken Erwin's joke seriously.

"Now that I think about that, that king of Kanan is also quite an interesting character, don't you think? He seems to be a cruel and preposterous despot that would kill all of his own people on a whim, but he also had the potential for complete enlightenment. It's quite an interesting paradox," Erwin murmured to himself with a faint smile.

"Do you remember what you said back in Xeto?" Onean suddenly asked out of the blue while watching Erwin with her smile, resting her chin on her hand as she did so.

"What did I say?" Erwin failed to understand what exactly Onean was referring to.

"You said that humans were born into this world to suffer. If that's the case, then all of the suffering that the Holy World Lord's disciples had yet to endure before their premature deaths would've been passed onto that king, wouldn't it?" Onean mused.

Erwin thought about this for a moment before bursting into laughter. "So you're saying that the sorrow that the king experienced was actually for himself? He was afraid that all of the people's suffering would be passed onto him, and that's why he rescinded his order to have them boiled alive. But if you think carefully about it, given how demented this king is, surely he wouldn't care if more sins and suffering were passed onto him. Besides, the king is not to blame for the deaths of those disciples. After all, he wasn't the one who wielded that blade. Why wasn't the Holy World Lord held accountable for those sins instead? Is it because deities cannot sin?"

After considering Onean's idea, Erwin still couldn't find a way to make it work.

Onean was rather amused as she watched Erwin rack his brains. She had actually only planted this idea into his head for her own enjoyment.

As for Christine and Theresa, they were already unable to understand the contents of Erwin and Onean's conversation, and the only thing that they felt was jealousy toward Onean.

"Forget it. There are never any clear-cut answers when it comes to these religious stories," Erwin sighed in a resigned manner, deciding to free himself from his own self-inflicted mental torment.