Otaku Witch-Chapter 593 - 444. Divergence

The next day, in the City of Sin.

Dorothy and Denisha were still wandering around the city under Alice's guidance, but today they didn't go to the bustling central area, instead they strolled around the relatively remote suburbs.

"The most suitable environment for faith to thrive is suffering. The more miserable the place, the easier it is to give birth to faith because besides faith, they can find no other way to bring even a moment of peace to their tormented hearts."

On the road, Denisha started the conversation with this statement.

This Miss Shepherdess had a slightly complex expression when she mentioned this, as faith had once been the pillar she herself had clung to.

In her childhood, her mother often pulled her along to pray to the deities.

If they were hungry with nothing to eat, they would pray while starving, and her mother would describe to her the vision of heaven outlined by the Glory Sect, filled with flowing honey.

When it rained and the roof leaked and thunder roared outside, mother and daughter could only huddle in the corner of the house to stay warm while continuing to pray, her mother recounting that thunder was the wrath of the deities, which would only bring Divine Punishment upon the Wicked people and would not harm good people like them.

Because it was her mother's words, the young Denisha believed them. She slowly got used to frequently starving and to the frightening thunder because she always felt that as long as she followed the teachings of the Deities, she would eventually ascend to heaven one day.

Latter though she never got the chance to ascend to heaven, she did, however, find redemption through the Reverend Father, and life for mother and daughter did improve a lot.

It was also because of the Reverend Father that their faith grew increasingly devout.

Especially Mother Superior, this poor woman chanted the scriptures of the deities even to her death; she was a true zealot.

However, since Denisha followed the Reverend Father to learn reading and knowledge, and after stepping beyond the ignorant perspective of a normal village girl, Miss Shepherdess had always been subtly questioning that past faith.

Is devout faith really useful?

Why, before the Reverend Father came, despite her and her mother's deep faith in the Deities, were their days increasingly hard?

The scriptures clearly stated that the Deities would grant them food, health, and all they needed, so why were they still often hungry, and her mother frequently ill?

She once tried to seek answers from her mother, but her mother got very angry at her questioning, scolding her for doubting the majesty of the Lord of Glory, saying that the god was always watching over them, and it was precisely because of their devotion that the great Lord of Glory had sent the Reverend Father to redeem them.

In short, Mother Superior attributed everything to the grace of the deity.

But because she followed the Reverend Father in learning, and also grew up closely involved with Dorothy, she actually understood this pair of father and daughter far more than Mother Superior did.

Though they always wore priest and nun outfits, the two hardly ever prayed to the deities, especially Dorothy who could be considered a Blasphemer, and as a child, she even dared climb up to play on the heads of the statues in the church.

In Denisha's mind, since it was clearly the Reverend Father himself who rescued her and her mother, why should the credit be attributed to the Lord of Glory?

She just couldn't understand Mother Superior's way of thinking.

Of course, this time she learned to be wise, didn't question her mother's words, and just obediently admitted her wrongs, showing an attitude as if to say, "Mother Superior, everything you said is correct."

But inside, the then-young Denisha started contemplating what exactly faith was.

Of course, given her limited knowledge at that time, naturally, she couldn't find the answer.

But as she grew up bit by bit, and especially since Dorothy, who treated her like a sister, often shirked her nun duties, throwing them onto her elder sister to help, Denisha found herself often interacting with the believers who came to the church to pray.

During this process, she slowly discovered how simple it was to guide faith—it was practically no different from her routine of herding sheep.

It was even easier than shepherding because the more devout believers had stronger self-control. Take her own Mother Superior, for instance; you didn't even need to fabricate reasons to deceive her, she would proactively find reasons to deceive herself.

Through this, Denisha came to a certain understanding about what faith really was; so-called faith was nothing more than self-deception amidst hopelessness and powerlessness.

People who live wretched lives tend to have the most devout faith because, without faith, they truly have nothing at all.

This 𝓬ontent is taken from freeweɓnovel.cѳm.

For these people, you just need to show them Strength, and they will revere you; you just need to offer them a bit of nebulous promise, and they will put their faith in you.

The propagation of faith by the Church of Glory is actually quite simple—it's nothing more than extolling the virtues of heaven, coupled with a promise that if one's faith is devout enough, one might eventually be granted ascension to heaven. Those who are battered by life's hardships cling desperately to your promise as if clutching at their last straw of salvation.

As for the reality...

Well, in the eyes of the flock, she, this Shepherdess, might as well be a godlike figure, always leading them to the most succulent grass and protecting them from the wolves, so supremely capable.