章 509: Chapter 509: Would the World Be Better Without Gods?
Chapter 509: Would the World Be Better Without Gods?
The room was already filled with people, seemingly in the middle of a discussion. The sudden appearance of Hastur and Audrey caused them to halt their conversation and look over in unison.
Audrey glanced at Hastur nervously. Seeing that his face remained expressionless, she understood that everything was still under Mr. Hastur's control.
She slightly raised her chin, using her height advantage while standing, and looked down at the others in the room with a somewhat arrogant posture.
At this moment, she was not Audrey, but Miss Arrogance of the Psychological Alchemy Society, even though this identity was temporarily borrowed.
She had no difficulty playing such roles.
On the other side, Hastur, with the demeanor of a high-ranking individual, glanced at everyone present and naturally took the main empty seat at the head of the table. No one questioned this.
In fact, their postures subtly straightened. Whether it was an illusion or not, the president tonight exuded an intimidating aura that made it difficult for anyone to look at him directly.
He sat there casually, yet his presence felt as vast and profound as the ocean.
"I formally introduce a new member of the council to everyone."
"This is Miss Arrogance, the new head of the Backlund district in the Ruen Kingdom."
"She possesses noble virtues, extensive knowledge, and a heartfelt passion for psychology."
Hastur introduced her calmly and then signaled Audrey to take a seat and join the meeting.
Once Audrey sat in the empty seat, Hastur's gaze swept over the attendees again.
Then, he looked at Audrey and said, "You might not be very familiar with the members of our Psychological Alchemy Society, so let me briefly introduce them."
"Thank you, Mr. President," Audrey responded cooperatively.
"This is Mr. Lust, responsible for the capital of Intis, Trier."
"Ms. Greed is in charge of the capital of the Feysac Empire, St. Millom."
"Miss Sloth oversees the capital of the Fenepot Kingdom, Fenepot City."
"Mr. Envy is responsible for the city of Delis in the Intis Republic."
"Mr. Gluttony is in charge of the city of Conston in the Ruen Kingdom..."
After the introductions, Hastur added, "Our Psychological Alchemy Society's mission is to discover, explore, and research. We do not concern ourselves with the extent of our influence, the number of members, or the resources we possess. Therefore, we have no council members in the Misty Sea, the Stormy Sea, or the Southern Continent."
"Of course, many of our members often venture out to sea to explore ruins and pursue history. I almost forgot, I was once the Black Throne King of the Five Seas."
After reminiscing about his past adventures at sea, Hastur stopped speaking. "Please continue."
He leaned back in his chair, and his seemingly casual tone made everyone present take the meeting more seriously.
"Mr. President, we thought you wouldn't attend tonight's meeting, but you surprised us by introducing a new member," someone said with a hint of amusement. "I believe Miss Arrogance must have extraordinary abilities for you to introduce her personally."
"Miss Arrogance deserves all the praise," Hastur said with a constant smile.
Hastur is quite the actor... Audrey couldn't help but think.
If she hadn't known in advance that Mr. Hastur, like herself, was only pretending to be someone else at this meeting, she would have believed he was the president of the Psychological Alchemy Society.
Mysterious, powerful, and with an identity that was impossible to guess.
Sometimes, she even wondered if the identity of Count Campbell was the least significant of all of Mr. Hastur's identities.
"We were just discussing the war between the Feysac Empire and the Ruen Kingdom," Ms. Greed said, catching Hastur's gaze. She instinctively explained, "We are not looking to participate or intervene in the war; we were merely discussing the possible outcomes for the Feysac Empire."
Hastur nodded, signaling for Ms. Greed to continue.
"Despite losing the protection of the War God, the Feysac Empire has received help from many secret organizations. However, against the combined forces of the Ruen Kingdom and the Intis Republic, defeat is only a matter of time."
"There is an interesting psychological phenomenon: despite losing the War God's protection, the Feysac Empire's faith should have collapsed, leading to a disorganized army. Yet, driven by generations of blood feuds, they continue to fight fearlessly against the Ruen Kingdom and the Intis Republic."
"Especially when facing the Ruen Kingdom, the Feysac people, in a short time, transitioned from fighting for their god to fighting for their country, and then for their homeland."
Ms. Greed's eyes sparkled as she spoke. "Perhaps gods are not essential for ordinary people. Instead, it is the gods who need the people's faith."
"It is the gods who cannot live without people, not the other way around!"
This statement was a revelation to Audrey.
She had never considered the relationship between gods and humans in this way. Weak humans, in fact, were more resilient than gods.
In this sense, humans were superior to gods.
"That was a remarkable statement. It reminds me of a story I once heard," Hastur said, affirming the sentiment.
"In a village surrounded by mountains with steep cliffs, making it difficult to leave, lived a group of isolated villagers who worshipped a mountain god for generations. They believed it was the mountain god's protection that allowed them to settle in such a harsh environment."
"Whenever the village faced danger and needed help, they would place all their hopes on the mountain god. Sometimes the mountain god would respond to their prayers, and sometimes he would ignore them, letting them endure various hardships."
"The villagers did not resent the mountain god for his indifference. Instead, they blamed their misfortunes on a lack of sincere faith and became even more devout, offering more food to the mountain god, leading to more villagers dying of hunger."
"One day, the mountain god disappeared and never responded to the villagers' prayers again. Some believed that without the mountain god's protection, the village would face its doom."
"But over a hundred years passed, and the village still existed. The villagers even carved a path along the steep cliffs, connecting them to the outside world, and their lives improved."
Hastur paused briefly and then smiled. "The person who told me this story said something very interesting: 'Life will find its own way.'"
This simple story carried a profound message, leaving everyone in the room in silent contemplation.
Would life really be better without gods?
Audrey also pondered this question. As a believer in the goddess, such thoughts were undoubtedly heretical and blasphemous.
Gods guide the direction of all beings. Without them, all beings would fall into the abyss of death and despair.
Yet, deep down, she couldn't refute Hastur's words with much confidence.
Life will find its own way. Perhaps a world without gods would indeed be a better world.
Even after the meeting ended that night, Audrey couldn't shake off that thought. She kept trying to imagine a world without gods, wondering what such a world would look like and how its people would live.
"Miss Arrogance, wake up. We need to find the treasury."
After sending off the others, Hastur walked over to the clearly distracted Audrey and called out softly.
"Mr. President, do you think a world without gods would be better?"
"That's a thought-provoking direction, isn't it?"
Hastur didn't discuss the topic further, avoiding influencing Audrey's independent thinking.
"Alright, let's go find the treasury!"
Audrey quickly snapped out of her thoughts and followed Hastur down another corridor.
Not long after, they encountered a white-furred rabbit wearing a black top hat, a black suit, and holding a cane with a pigeon-sized ruby. It seemed to be waiting for them.
The rabbit gentleman smiled and nodded at Hastur, then removed its top hat and bowed deeply.
It then raised its ruby cane, pointing to the left front, as if indicating the direction of the treasury.
"Thank you, Mr. Rabbit."
Before Audrey could finish her thanks, the elegant rabbit gentleman hopped away without looking back.
"Mr. Hastur, do you know this rabbit gentleman?"
"I have a guess about who he might be."
Facing Audrey's inquisitive gaze, Hastur simply smiled. "If we meet him again, I'll tell you about his identity. I believe you'll be very surprised."
Ending the conversation, they followed the rabbit's direction and successfully arrived at the treasury door. Hastur, using his authority as the president of the Psychological Alchemy Society, easily opened the treasury door.
"There's a complete brain of an adult psychic dragon here!"
"The heart of a dreamcatcher!"
"The crystal of a psychic phantom!"
Audrey's eyes sparkled like gems as she looked at the extraordinary materials in the treasury, looking quite adorable with a hint of greed.
After all, the noble Miss Audrey never lacked money.
Hastur took a quick glance and lost interest. This was more of a material storage room than a treasury.
The extraordinary materials stored here were mostly at Sequence 4 level, not attractive to him.
"A complete brain of an old psychic dragon, this is the extraordinary material needed for advancing to Sequence 4 Manipulator!"
Audrey began gathering and packing the materials, asking Hastur to help with the ones she couldn't carry.
Although this was a psychic world, these materials were real and could be used in the real world.
"Alright, Mr. Hastur, let's go!"
Satisfied with her haul of extraordinary materials, Audrey happily approached Hastur. In her good mood, she stood on tiptoe and kissed Hastur's right cheek before he could react, then quickly ran away.
"Mr. Hastur, hurry up, it would be bad if we were discovered."
Running ahead, Audrey turned and waved at Hastur with a smile.
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