The ghetto, the temple of Ilmat, the god of suffering.
A man in his forties, with almost all the hair on his head having fallen out, looked like a middle-aged male priest in his fifties or sixties. He was kneeling in front of a simple altar and leading a group of believers in devout prayers.
Although the new sect of Talona, ​​the goddess of poison and disease, has expanded rapidly, snatching away many of the original believers of Ilmat to a certain extent, and even squeezing the living space of the church, he does not seem to be anything like it.
I am anxious, and I have no intention of competing head-to-head with my opponent.
Because the doctrine of the God of Suffering itself does not encourage fighting, but hopes that everyone can live in peace and help each other.
Therefore, his pastors and priests rarely conflict with the churches of other gods. Even if they are bullied or suppressed, they often choose to endure it silently.
What's more, the teachings of Talona's new sect are to make the people aware of the nature of poisons and diseases, and to prevent the poor who are not already wealthy from getting sick or poisoned, which is equivalent to reducing the suffering in this world.
This simply coincides with the philosophy advocated by Ilmat.
As a result, a very strange phenomenon appeared in places where poor people gathered in major cities in Amn.
That is the rapid expansion of Talona's new sect, which continues to erode the original base of the faith of the God of Suffering.
But the latter not only had no intention of fighting back, but also pretended to be submissive and lived in peace with him.
When members of both churches meet each other on a daily basis, they will greet each other with a smile, without any hint of hostility.
If you don’t know, you would think that these two gods are allies.
But in fact, anyone with some knowledge of religion and theology knows that Ilmat and Talona have been incompatible rivals for thousands of years.
Whatever Talona wants to achieve, Ilmat will definitely stop it at all costs.
But now, their relationship has become complicated and softening.
Of course, God’s way of thinking is obviously not something ordinary mortals can understand.
Therefore, this priest did not dare to speculate. He simply wanted to do his job well, help those poor people in need, and provide children who had lost their parents with at least one hot meal a day and a shelter from the wind and rain.
residence.
But this is obviously not an easy thing to do.
Although he has received a lot of donations from the Bernard Chamber of Commerce and Zuosi's Wizard Tower, it is still a drop in the bucket for the huge number of poor people in the slums.
Regarding this, you can get a glimpse of this by looking at this temple that is still dilapidated and poor, and the linen blouse worn by the priest who has been mended countless times.
Even with tens of thousands of gold coins in hand, he did not want to use a copper plate to decorate the temple, or buy himself some decent clothes and shoes. Instead, he spent all the money carefully.
Help those poor people who really need help.
This is why Zuo Si never hesitated when donating to the Ilmat Temple, and he donated tens of thousands of gold coins.
Only they know that there are families in the slums that really need help.
Since the God of Suffering does not emphasize complicated and solemn rituals, but pays attention to physical practice to practice the teachings, the prayer ended after just a few minutes.
When the priest stood up from the shrine, all the believers immediately stood up and stared at the large pots set up outside with eager eyes, swallowing their saliva.
The things cooked in the pot are also very simple, which is hot soup stewed with potatoes, onions, cabbage, garlic, animal offal and some bones without any meat.
In order to make the soup look thicker and viscous, a large amount of bread crumbs and crumbs are sprinkled in it.
Whether it's bones, offal or bread crumbs, all of them come from Zuo Si's high-end restaurant in Chengmen District.
The former is the leftover part of high-end dishes cooked in the kitchen, while the latter is the leftover bread that the guests did not take away, dried and then crushed directly.
Although in the eyes of wealthy people, these things are worthless at all and are just garbage that can be thrown away.
But it is a rare delicacy for the poor at the bottom who have lost the ability to labor and work in the slums.
At least it's much cleaner and more hygienic than picking up food from garbage dumps, sewers, or simply catching rats to satisfy your hunger. You don't have to worry about contracting terrible diseases after eating.
Seeing these disabled people with broken hands, broken legs, blindness or deafness, as well as those children who were too young to work, the priest showed an expression of pity on his face and spoke in as gentle a voice as possible.
He said: "Let's eat! Come on, you're welcome. I've prepared enough bread and hot soup today."
"Praise the merciful God of weeping! You gave us the courage to continue living!"
The middle-aged man with only one arm raised the wooden bowl in his hand and shouted loudly, then walked to the soup pot and took the initiative to take on the responsibility of distributing food to others.
The rest of the people did not appear to be fighting, but lined up in an orderly manner.
Among them, children, the elderly and women line up at the front of the queue, while adult men stand very consciously at the back.
It wasn't until everyone had eaten that the one-armed middle-aged man poured the remaining soup from the pot into his bowl, picked up a piece of hard black bread, and held it in front of the sacrifice with one hand: "The Glory One."
, you should also eat some."
But the priest smiled and shook his head and refused: "No, I'm not hungry, you should keep it for yourself."
"But you haven't eaten all day. You won't be able to hold on at this rate." Strong worry appeared on the face of the one-armed man.
Because he knew that except for the temple of Ilmat, the God of Suffering, there was no other god or church in Askatra who cared about poor and disabled people like himself.
If something happens to the noble priest in front of him, and there happens to be no second person to take over, the group of people behind him who live entirely on charity will starve to death and turn into corpses lying on the roadside with no one paying attention.
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Although merchants in Amn like to demonstrate their wealth and social status through charitable donations, their money is usually taken away by those guys who occupy the downtown area and are called "beggars", but are actually liars, hooligans, and gangsters.<
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This group of people are often strong and carry weapons such as daggers with them, and control areas where nobles and wealthy businessmen often pass.
Once other beggars approach, they will immediately come forward to threaten, intimidate, beat, or even kill.
Therefore, beggars in the slums who really don’t have enough to eat and don’t have enough clothes to wear cannot get so-called charitable donations.
Of course, nobles and wealthy businessmen don't really care who they donate their money to.
I simply want to show off my wealth in this way and gain a reputation for being generous and kind.
Just when the priest was about to refuse again, he suddenly discovered that the believers who were eating suddenly stopped eating at some point. They all stood up and poured some of the soup in their bowls into another empty bowl next to them.
ri.
After a while, the bowl was filled with hot soup.
A lame old woman carefully held up the bowl and brought it to the sacrifice. She forced out a smile and said: "Dear Glory, the God of Suffering teaches us to be brave enough to bear pain, endure suffering, and help each other. It used to be the case.
You are helping us selflessly, now please allow us to express a little respect to you in our own way. Eat, if you don't eat, how can we people eat."
"Thank you!"
This time the priest did not refuse, but showed a pleased smile, took the soup bowl and squatted at the door of the simple temple to eat with all the believers.
Under the influence of his personal actions, although these disabled people and children were very poor and hungry, they showed the best side of human nature.
Even if they have nothing and don’t know where the next meal will be after finishing this meal, they are still willing to share the only food they have and struggle to survive in this cruel world.
There is no doubt that this kind of pure act of kindness without any distracting thoughts quickly caught Ilmat's attention.
I saw a golden light flashing across the shrine, and the priest was suddenly surprised to find that his priest level had actually increased, and he hurriedly expressed his gratitude to the god he served in his heart.
But unfortunately, the God of Suffering did not make any response.
Because at this moment, he was standing on the third floor rooftop of a masonry building not far away, looking down at the entire slum area. After a full minute, he asked: "What do you think of the kind actions of those people just now?"
How?"
"Well - how should I put it, it's really touching, but I don't like it." Zuo Si said his thoughts straightforwardly.
"Oh? Why?"
Ilmat turned around with a puzzled expression.
Zuo Si smiled and explained: "Because in my opinion, problems caused by this kind of food shortage can actually be solved in other ways. It is certainly a kind of sacrifice for a priest to rather starve himself than to let others eat.
A very noble move, but it ignores the most important and critical part."
Ilmat seemed to understand something, and immediately nodded slightly: "I understand. Compared to the process, you actually value the change, the result, and the answer more than the process."
"That's right! I never deny the greatness of selflessness, dedication and self-sacrifice.
But these alone cannot fundamentally change the current situation.
Look at this priest, although he is doing his best to help others, has he changed anything in the end?
No, he couldn't change anything, he just prolonged the lives of these poor people a little and alleviated a little the suffering they were suffering.
To be continued...