I Ascend to the Divine Throne through Arcane Means - Chapter 178

Chapter 178: Chapter 174 Power of Faith

Triumph Square, Sacrificial Festival ceremony of Feis Kingdom.

With the roar of the ceremonial cannon, Morton Fis, dressed in a luxurious golden robe, slowly made his way to the central platform of the square under the escort of a crowd.

Stepping on the long red carpet and passing by the Knights who drew their longswords to salute, His Majesty the King ascended the steps one by one, and sat on the throne that symbolized the highest honor of the kingdom.

Morton Fis’s complexion appeared much better than when Lis had seen him the previous two times, his face rosy, his eyes bright, smiling and nodding to the surrounding nobles who were saluting.

Perhaps it was also a disguise to reassure the subjects of the kingdom, after all, Morton Fis was hailed as the most enlightened king since the founding of the kingdom, the soul behind the rise of Feis Kingdom to become the strongest kingdom in the East Continent.

It could be said that just the news of his impending demise could stir up a storm.

However, Lis knew that Morton Fis had dragged out his time for quite a while before passing away, laying the groundwork for Taya to smoothly take over the power of the kingdom.

After King Morton took his seat on the throne, the Sacrificial Festival ceremony officially began.

In recent years, the Sacrificial Festival ceremonies have been presided over by Duke Hade.

Firstly, there were the rituals of worship and blessing to the God of Dawn and the Earth Goddess.

As the primary faith of Feis Kingdom, the Dawn Church naturally accounted for most of the kingdom’s believers, but that didn’t mean there was no worship of other deities.

Believers and churches of deities such as the Earth Goddess, the War God, and several others existed within Feis Kingdom, and even a variety of minor deities’ faiths were spread all over, though on a much smaller scale compared to the Dawn Church.

The Dawn Church did not fully prohibit the spread of other deities’ faiths, at most, it just excluded and suppressed them.

In Bright City, there were chapels belonging to churches of other deities, much smaller in scale, without strong figures stationed to guard them.

The other churches of the Gods tacitly accepted Feis Kingdom as the main base of the Dawn Church, and vice versa.

Within the human deities coalition of the True Gods, there was a relatively harmonious status maintained internally under external pressure, after all, arbitrarily targeting other deities’ followers could lead to a war of the gods.

However, for those Evil God churches, there weren’t so many considerations.

During the Sacrificial Festival rituals, the deities worshipped in the kingdom celebration were the God of Dawn and the Earth Goddess.

The God of Dawn was naturally the primary object of worship, with the Feis royal family members, officials, nobles, and majority of subjects all believing in the God of Dawn.

The Earth Goddess was rather special, given that the Sacrificial Festival celebrated the harvest and prayed for favorable weather in the coming year. As the Goddess with the divine positions of “Earth” and “Agriculture,” she naturally related closely to the harvest and thus was included in the worship.

All the attending nobles and kingdom officials followed the order, offering a plump golden ear of wheat to the statues of the God of Dawn and the Earth Goddess each, with His Majesty the King, accompanied by Second Prince Yatean, presenting the most abundant fruits and vegetables of autumn, and freshly baked white bread still releasing the scent of the sun.

After the priests from the Dawn Church and Earth Church offered the Fulan Flower and tricolor violet representative of the God of Dawn on the altar, and sprinkled clove essential oil and benzoin essential oil, all the people present bowed their heads to pray to the two deities.

The residents around the square did the same, with even devout believers kneeling on the ground, hands clasped in silent prayer.

Giving thanks for this year’s bountiful harvest and peace!

Praying for peace and good fortune in the coming year!

Although Lis did not devoutly worship these two deities, or rather, was just a light believer, he couldn’t help but become a bit more solemn under the influence of the solemn atmosphere, bowing his head and silently uttering a few words in his heart.

At that moment, Lis seemed to sense something.

He could not tell if it was because he had experienced the power of deities multiple times, or perhaps because he had gazed directly at them.

Lis felt an indescribable power slowly circulating around him, converging from all directions towards the Divine Statues.

This…

This was the first time Lis had encountered such a situation, and he carefully surveyed his surroundings, a guess forming in his mind.

Strands of strength continuously wafted from the devoutly praying crowd around the square, while the mysterious power that appeared around the nobles was much less.

This inexplicable strength gathered within the two divine statues, spreading waves of divine power that soothed the spirit and bolstered the body from within the statues, which also began to emit a faint white light.

The populace, feeling the miracles above the divine statues, couldn’t help but be more devout in their faith.

Lis clearly saw two ethereal doors open above the statues, incessantly absorbing the gathered strength within them.

Could what he felt be the very power of faith?

The foundation of a deity?

No wonder they made such a great fuss; faith’s power was indeed very important to the deities!

Lis took care to note that, although this power of faith was still a distant concept for him, it was, after all, the essential thing that all gods contended for, and it must hold great secrets.

It was only after the priests of the Dawn Church and the Earth Church announced the end of the sacrificial ceremony that the solemn atmosphere gradually dissipated.

Some of the people around the square left to enjoy the rare offer of free drinks and food of the day, but many more stayed, waiting for the subsequent title ennoblement ceremony.

This was also a hot topic of conversation among the commoners of Bright City in their leisure time.

“That family is done for; the new head didn’t inherit the title…”

“So-and-so is impressive, directly being conferred the title of Court Viscount…”

Lis, led by a servant, also stood to the side, waiting for His Majesty the King’s summons.

Looking at the several people behind him, Lis couldn’t help but smile.

It seemed he was the youngest at this title ennoblement ceremony, and yet he found himself at the very front.

The others behind him were somewhat confused as well, as many were being ennobled for the first time and naturally didn’t recognize Lis.

However, they also knew that in ennoblement ceremonies, the higher the title granted, the earlier one appeared.

And this young man before them, so young–could it be that he was set to inherit an ancestral title? But they had not heard of any great noble’s family head passing away.

Lis naturally paid no mind to the others’ confusion. To him, this Marquis title wasn’t of great importance, for he had already chosen another path–an even greater and vaster one, which was also more challenging: the Extraordinary Path.

Lis believed that this Marquis title was merely an ornamentation for himself.

Just like Teacher Fran, as a Legendary Mage, he could easily occupy a piece of land and proclaim himself king, but he found it too troublesome and didn’t even accept the title of Duke of the Kingdom.

While Lis’s thoughts wandered, the voice of Duke Hade rang out.

“Silence!”

“The title ennoblement ceremony, begins!”

“Please…”

“Court Viscount, Lis Kain!”