Cthulhu Gonfalon

Doing nothing and yet things could develop in the right direction? Of course, this was a very good idea, but putting it to practice was not easy at all.

The tension in the atmosphere between the two churches was very strong because the higher-ups of both churches were still fighting outside Green Tree City. Accidental conflicts occurred repeatedly, and every now and then, there were both major and minor conflicts happening that could even lead to fights.

Fortunately, both churches were disciplined enough to comply with the rules. According to the rules, before there was an outcome for the battle, both churches were not to carry out any large-scale crossfire.

This limited the intensity and scale of the battle, also allowing Wall, who was originally very worried, to gradually let out a sigh of relief.

In contrast to his relief, the mood of the God of Aristocracy was getting from bad to worse with each passing day. It was clear to him that in this battle of belief, he was already at the losing end. His original intention of taking advantage of this opportunity to deal an impactful strike to the great Divine Power would most likely be difficult to achieve, and even the sphere of influence that was previously defined was somewhat shaky.

This was the thing that infuriated him the most.

The God of Aristocracy did not really emphasize the attribution of belief. In his opinion, the most important thing was not who the people believed in, but rather, who the aristocrats governing these people believed in. So long as these rulers believed in him, whether or not the commoners did likewise did not matter to him.

So, all this while, he had focused on spreading his belief among the upper class of society without sparing a glance for the lower class.

In other countries, the influence of his church was much stronger than that of the Church of the God of Knowledge and Culture—the Republic of Northwest was another story altogether, but in the Country of Mages, the situation was reversed.

Even after years of preparation and influence, the mainstream thinking of the Mifata Federation was still that mages were the most honorable presence. The modern mages attached extreme importance to knowledge and culture, which was why the cultural atmosphere was so strong over here. Not to mention the spellcasters, even among the aristocrats, the nobility of bloodlines might be important, but nurturing the cultural side was just as essential.

So when the God of Knowledge acquired a new priesthood to become the God of Knowledge and Culture, many aristocrats and mages who were originally inclined towards the God of Aristocracy re-directed themselves to place their belief in the God of Knowledge and Culture.

It was no surprise that the mages would make such a choice. But with the aristocrats doing likewise, this made the God of Aristocracy unhappy.

He even felt that this was outright betrayal!

Shouldn’t the aristocrats believe in him? He had been trying hard all this time to propagate the nobility of the aristocratic bloodline, the natural rationality of the aristocratic rule, and the correctness of the aristocratic system! How could they switch their belief over to the God of Knowledge and Culture just because of their habits and traditional thinking?

He did not speak out such thoughts, but he was fuming on the inside. Anger, on one hand, was unable to resolve the problem. After some deliberation, he decided to find help.

“Are you sure you want my help?”

“Of course!”

“Sorry, I can’t help you with this.”

“Why? I thought you had a solution for every situation. For example, stirring up some internal strife within aristocratic families that are tending to incline towards the other side, or stirring up some conflicts between the mages and aristocrats, or stuff like that… aren’t these things your forte?”

“That’s what I’m good at, you are right about that, but I don’t have a death wish!”

“What do you mean?”

“I admit that doing these things are completely in line with my position, and they too suit my palate. But why should I make a sudden presence at this sensitive moment, just to provoke the God of Knowledge and Culture? Don’t forget that he has the Void Mask supporting him!

“Are you afraid?”

“Crap! Of course, I’m afraid! I’m not like you, you have the God of Light to back you up. Even if the sky were to fall, you have him to hold it up. I’m a loner.”

“But you’ve long since offended him. Not only that, you have offended so many gods from the Pantheon temple, and you have offended them so many times before, why would you suddenly be concerned about such things this time?”

“There are certain things that I can’t tell you. In short, for the time being, I will most certainly not get involved in anything that would make me an enemy of the Void Mask.”

“Is that a hint?”

“You can think of it that way, on account of the friendly ties we shared in the past, this can be considered a hint.”

“I see… I will carefully think through it again.”

After the God of Aristocracy left, the God of Conspiracy, who had been hiding in the shadows, laughed bitterly and shook his head. Changing into a cloud of smoke, he disappeared and returned to his own God’s Kingdom.

He had a big plan, but achieving this plan would be beneficial in maintaining a relatively good, or at least a neutral relationship, with the Void Mask.

Although this might not necessarily ensure the success of his plan, or more correctly put across, that might only be a glimmer of a chance for success, yet it was something that he had to do for this almost-impossible plan to become a reality.

For this reason, even if he had to give up the chance to spread his conspiracy, it was still worthwhile.

The God of Conspiracy was not a crazy god who was forever looking at whatever was right before them during times of chaos. He had a strict train of thought and clear judgment. For his future long-term interests, he could completely give up on the immediate benefits right before him.

The God of Aristocracy was likewise. Upon returning to his God’s Kingdom, he pondered long and hard. Finally, he came up with a decision. It was alright to concede defeat first. As for the hidden trump card that he had arranged beforehand, he could use that later.

Anyway… this was a trump card that had no expiry date.

“Concede defeat?” the God of Heroes asked. He was looking at the God of Aristocracy with amazement as though he had never seen the latter before. “You are actually going to concede defeat on such a major thing like preaching? Just to strike the great Divine Power with impact, you are going all out at any cost?”

“I used to think I was, but after thinking through it carefully, I realize I wasn’t,” said the God of Aristocracy calmly. “If the price is too great, then it isn’t worth it. Anyway, I have gained some benefits this time around, so even if I have no way of further expanding the scope of my belief, just based on the benefits I gained this time, they are enough to greatly shorten the time I need to strike down that great Divine Power.”

“But if you can drastically expand your scope of belief this time, maybe you can strike the great Divine Power much sooner,” said the God of Protection.

“Indeed, but our God’s System doesn’t really lack great Divine Powers. With you all around, it will be enough assistance to His Majesty. If I can possibly strike that great Divine Power now, of course, it will be ideal, but now’s not the time. It should still be alright even if I were to wait for another few hundred years to strike.”

The God of Protection and the God of Heroes looked into one another’s eyes and nodded.

“We are really glad you can think in such a way,” said the God of Protection. “How do you intend to lose? You can’t just withdraw like that.”

“I intend to speak with the God of Knowledge and Culture,” said the God of Aristocracy in full confidence. He seemed to already have a plan in mind. “Let him offer us some benefits in exchange for my concession. This way, at least it would allow me to look more dignified.”

Soon, his plan was put into practice.

The God of Aristocracy sought an audience with the God of Knowledge and Culture. After a round of negotiation, the God of Knowledge and Culture yielded a rare treasure, and in return, the Church of the God of Aristocracy would acknowledge that they were defeated in this war of missionary work. Both sides also discussed how the sphere of influence would be divided up, and they ended the state of hostility and enmity between them.

When this news was disseminated, the higher-ups of both churches who had been engaged in a fierce battle for almost a month and were already exhausted to the verge of collapse were finally able to heave sighs of relief. Then almost at the same time, all of them acted concertedly and sprawled all over the place. Wherever they were, all fell into slumber amidst loud snores.