Only God

Eden felt a chill down his spine.

He hoped that everything Priest George said was a lie, hoping that the priest was deceiving him.

But Eden could see through the soul of Priest George that he was not a person who enjoyed lying.

Were these really the True Believers he knew?

Eden shivered slightly.

Previously, he had seen in that city the True Believers gathering together for mass despite persecution, but after changing the future, such a tragedy had occurred in the city.

"It's hard to believe, isn't it?"

Priest George spoke,

"But that is the truth.

Priest Eden, the True Believers you met, especially those commoners, were they not extremely respectful and obedient to you? Were they not meek and painfully honest?

Yes, those very people, those commoners, were more frenzied in the massacre than any knight or noble. Some knights and nobles still had compassion and actively protected the weak and women, but not them. They might always talk about being content with poverty and accumulating good deeds, but they were the greediest. They stole not only money but also killed and raped women. They were most cruel to the weak and women, even if some Earl gave his family banner to a group of heathen women and children, but those commoners still did not spare them.

After the massacre was temporarily stopped, were there still plenty of heathens left in the city, and did they just naturally survive? No, they were forced to choose between converting to the True Religion or being exiled.

At that time, I sheltered many heathens in the church and punished some murderers, but… the voices of those commoner True Believers were too loud. They constantly spoke of 'God's will' and even threatened to storm the church with swords. They were both the most devout and the least devout people."

While saying this, Priest George pressed his head, as if mired in painful memories, unable to extricate himself for a long time,

"These people were shouting 'an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,' seeking vengeance for those True Believers who had been persecuted, while killing the weak and women, not realizing that God wants people to love one another!

Did they really not know? No, they deliberately ignored it. They used more grand reasons to justify themselves.

At that time, I, as a priest, tried my best to dissuade them, warning them of Hell and transgressions, but only a few listened to me; more were pulled into a vortex of madness. Although the overt massacre was stopped, the private looting and rape never ceased, and those noble lords intentionally tolerated all of it."

At this point, Priest George let out a deep breath.

Eden looked at Priest George, his hands trembling non-stop.

For the first time, he doubted his actions.

What was the purpose of changing the future, if it wasn't to prevent the persecution of the True Believers?

But now, the True Believers were persecuting the heathens instead. Behind the glorious façade of the True Religion in this city, how much blood was actually being shed?

"Don't they understand the teachings of the Prophets?"

Eden asked tremblingly.

He felt angry and pained.

As the heathens treated them, so they treated the heathens. What difference was there between the True Believers and those heathens who called them fools? He changed the future, saved a group of people, but another group suffered the disaster of massacre. What was the benefit of changing the future?

Eden furrowed his brows, recalling that mass, those pairs of hopeful eyes, it was hard to imagine that people with such eyes could commit similar atrocities and sins.

"Teachings? Commandments? These are useless for them; they only obey during peaceful times unless they are stricken with fear. Do you know how the massacre eventually stopped?"

Priest George paused and added,

"It was when I joined several priests to meet a Duke, requesting him to execute the leading soldiers in the massacre. Only then did the killing finally stop."

Fear...

Eden heard it, the effectiveness of fear.

Fear, this emotion innate to mankind, seems to change a person more easily than education, than moving someone emotionally, than the teachings and commandments of the Prophets, even more than the sacrifice of God.

Eden gasped for breath, his mind filled with those anger-inducing words.

["Persecution! Yes, persecution!

These heathens who worship the King of Kings are always persecuting the True Believers.

But do you know,

have the True Believers never persecuted the heathens?

In the cities of the True Religion, aren't there heathens who lay down their lives for their faith?!"]

["I tell you, there's no difference!

There are also heathens who were hung by True Believers while shouting about justice and the Divine.

There are also heathens willing to help, liberate, and forgive True Believers.

Don't you understand yet? Our kindness is just as kind, our vileness just as vile!"]

As those words surged into his mind, Eden remembered how he had once disapproved of them, but now, he couldn't deny that these words were not unfounded.

Just as heathens would persecute True Believers, so too would True Believers persecute heathens, no matter what the Scriptures said about teachings or commandments, people could never curb their own desires.

"That's enough for now. I told you so much because firstly, not many people can understand me, and secondly, because I thought you probably hadn't encountered something like this in the Imperial Capital, Danschel."