Chapter 187 : Differences Even Among Faiths
Chapter 187: Differences Even Among Faiths
After watching the war mobilization speech delivered by the Pontiff of the Tsarist Nation’s state religion at the grand cathedral of the imperial capital, Veronica returned to her residence and wrote down what she had witnessed in her diary.
Setting down the fountain pen in her hand, Veronica hugged her doll and looked out at the garden scenery beyond the window.
The Royal Academy of Roshek was decorated with extreme magnificence. Lakes, landscaped gardens, art galleries, and leisure venues for noble sports—everything was present.
Compared with the faint but unmistakable atmosphere of seriousness and tension that had filled the streets earlier when she and the others went out to watch the public religious event of the Tsarist Nation’s state church, this place felt like an isolated paradise, completely cut off from the world.
Universities within the Seris Alliance, on the other hand, basically all followed a minimalist and practical design style. Among all the buildings, the best-designed ones were the libraries and student dormitories. It was said that these two were funded personally by the Empress, which was why their design style differed greatly from the rest of the campus.
Minimalism did not mean the Alliance universities had poor conditions. Internal heating, cooling, and electrical systems were all fully equipped. The simplicity of the exterior actually left space for students to participate in construction.
Every class of outstanding students, before graduating, could apply to leave a small mark of their existence in the reserved areas of the school. It could be a pattern or a blessing message. The scale depended on the honors they had achieved.
Neither style could truly be called better or worse. After all, they had come out into the world precisely to see its many different sides.
Natalie pushed open the door and walked in from outside. After carefully closing it, she quickly walked to her bed, sat down, and let out a long breath as her entire body relaxed.
Noticing Veronica’s gaze resting on her, Natalie’s cheeks flushed slightly. She straightened her posture somewhat awkwardly, trying to regain a proper and energetic appearance.
Seeing this, Veronica pursed her lips and smiled.
“In the dormitory, I’m blind. Whatever you want to do, I can’t see it~”
“Hehe…”
Hearing this, Natalie simply flopped backward onto the bed and rolled around twice. After spending a few days with Veronica and finding their conversations pleasant, she had deliberately applied to transfer into the same double dormitory as her.
Her previous roommate had been a noble lady from a marquis family, but the girl had been far too sycophantic for her liking.
Or rather, having grown up surrounded by luxury, she had seen far too many people like that. In her eyes, they were no different from walking pieces of wood—except pieces of wood that constantly monitored her every move.
By contrast, the exchange students from the Alliance like Veronica were completely different.
The Tsar had granted these students enormous exemptions as a privilege, yet their attitudes toward everyone remained essentially the same. Regardless of rank or status, they treated people equally.
That feeling—that she was looking at you, listening to you, understanding you, yet also possessing her own opinions and interpretations, and even arguing with you about them—felt incredibly novel to Natalie.
Noticing the thick notebook lying open on the small table, Natalie’s eyes flashed with curiosity.
“Veronica, what is this?”
“Oh, I wrote down some of my thoughts about what we saw today.”
“Can I take a look?”
“Of course.”
Veronica pushed the notebook over, then lowered her head to remove the long boots from her feet, freeing the black stockings that had been wrapped tightly around them.
Natalie casually reached out and touched them.
“What kind of fabric is this? It feels really nice!”
“This… I’m not really sure either. I bought it at a store…”
Back within the Alliance, people wore all kinds of clothing. But after arriving in the Tsarist Nation, everyone had unanimously switched to wearing long boots.
It wasn’t even about the excrement scattered everywhere—though that existed. It was simply that the imperial capital could not afford such embarrassment.
But the roads were indeed muddy. Wearing long boots reduced a lot of trouble. As for how one matched the clothing inside, that depended entirely on personal preference.
Natalie nodded gently and shifted her gaze to the diary.
She didn’t flip through it. She simply read a few lines casually, curious about how outsiders might describe them.
The diary read:
“Actions of the human mind require a purpose. When that purpose becomes abstract, it converges into faith. Therefore, faith itself is essentially harmless; it is a simple human need.”
“But once faith abandons logic and removes thinking, people will forget their own existence within that collective belief.”
“Things produced by collective gathering form immense collective power. Whoever represents it essentially holds the future direction of that collective. In most cases, the ending will likely be a tragedy.”
Natalie stared at those lines for a moment, then shook her head.
“I… I don’t really understand.”
She knew Veronica was summarizing what had happened earlier today, when the Pontiff—under the Tsar’s directive—had called upon believers to enlist in the army. As a princess, she had personally attended the event and truly felt that kind of fanaticism.
But why did Veronica say it would most likely become a tragedy?
“Hmm?”
“No matter whether it’s our country, your country, or even that hateful Church of Holy Light—or the other kingdoms—don’t they all have religious faith?”
“Since you reached this conclusion, why does your Alliance also have churches internally? And your Empress is also a pontiff. Isn’t that basically the same as what my father is doing?”
“No, it’s not the same.”
“What’s different?”
“The people are different, and the purpose is different.”
Veronica shook her head with a smile.
“Our church does not have the authority to incite citizens. Its existence is more like a public welfare institution.”
“According to our definition of faith, it is a vision entrusted to someone.”
“We have our own cause to strive for. Faith places hope in someone else, but when you stand firmly on the ground and work toward it yourself, it should be called an ideal.”
“Can you see the difference now?”
Natalie lowered her head and thought for a moment before hesitantly saying:
“So… your faith is not in a specific person, but in a shared goal? Whoever is most likely to achieve that goal is the one you believe in?”
“Correct! Natalie, you’re very smart.”
“It’s not that the Tsar is the representative of God on earth, nor that the church is the representative of God on earth.”
“Instead—whoever represents us becomes our god!”
“But doesn’t that still place the collective power you mentioned into her hands? Isn’t that the same thing?”
“First of all, we share the same ideal with the Empress. Those who wish that ideal to become reality place their faith in her because she is the one most capable of realizing it. We chose her together.”
“And what about you?”
Whether it was the Tsarist Nation or the theocratic states, what they preached externally was still the same old doctrine—believe in God and obtain eternal life, promises that might or might not ever be fulfilled. From the top downward, they spread this guidance.
This kind of one-sided control over interpretation left enormous room for distortion. Through it, they could incite believers to do things that served their own interests.
Natalie finally understood.
It was simply a matter of sequence—and also the most fundamental difference.
Thinking back to the descriptions she had secretly read before in books that had spread from the Alliance, Natalie suddenly felt somewhat uncomfortable.
In the past, doing things their way might not have mattered much.
But Seris had done it the other way around.
Which meant that in the future, they could never become enemies.
Even becoming allies would be extremely dangerous.