"Ridiculous."

Mephistopheles had just finished speaking when a priest stepped forward.

Since you acknowledge God's material gifts to mankind, you should not deny faith. Relying on the gods to get the current life, but not wanting to believe in the gods, where is such a good thing? ”

The crowd of onlookers nodded their heads, and if you have what you get, you should have something to pay, which is very reasonable. However, in the face of the other party's accusations, Mephistopheles seemed unhurried.

"Your Excellency, I think you may have misunderstood what I meant."

"Beasts can reproduce except for humans, and their children are born to their parents, and they exist because of their parents in their infancy, so they respect their parents, but this is not faith; The gods also have offspring, and their offspring are born of their parents, and they respect their parents, which is also independent of faith. ”

"I confess sacrifice and not faith, because the two are separate and cannot be mixed. Gratitude to the helper, reverence for strength, and recognition of his spirit and deeds are two completely different things, don't you think? ”

When Mephistopheles finished speaking, there was a brief silence on the platform.

The onlookers thought that the unbeliever would say something ridiculous, and then they would easily refute it, but after listening carefully to the other person's explanation, they felt that it seemed to have some truth.

Indeed, the gods are of great help to mankind, and without them, humans would be like ordinary beasts, fleeing from monsters with extraordinary powers. But gratitude and faith are not equated, and if one person saves another, the one who is saved will not become a believer in the former.

"Mephistopheles, you're just twisting the gods."

After a while, on the high platform, a tall young man broke the peace. He is the priest of Poseidon, the god of the sea, but unfortunately, because of the ban of the god king, today's humans cannot get close to the ocean at all, so the temple of Poseidon has never had a sense of existence.

"You think that humans can repay the gifts of God with sacrifices, without having to believe in gods. But what use did mortal sacrifices have to the gods, they only valued the piety of the sacrificers. ”

God measured piety by the number of sacrifices offered by mortals, and piety was what God wanted. If everyone doesn't believe in God, what's the point of offering sacrifices to God? ”

"So you're acknowledging what I said before, that there is a value between humans and gods, but that the 'value' provided by humans is not a tribute, but a pious faith?"

"But if that's the case, I'm afraid this way of judging is not very reasonable."

With a smile on her face, Mephistopheles pointed at herself.

"My existence is proof of that. Since the beginning of my life, I have not believed in any god, but I have still paid enough sacrifices, so that my dwelling is not disturbed by the wind and rain, and my stove is always burning. Then I suggest that the gods change their way of judging, otherwise unbelievers like me can enjoy the blessings of the gods, which will be somewhat detrimental to the justice of the gods. ”

The Poseidon priest was a little speechless, he wanted to say something, but in the end he didn't say a word.

It's a trap, and whether God needs faith or sacrifices, it proves that God wants something from man. Since there is a request, it puts God and man on the same level in some ways.

Although he could have said things like, 'Then we should trust God in exchange for gifts,' the Poseidon priest knew that if he did, it would be a complete failure.

If God really has a need for human beings, then the blessing of God should be seen as a 'transaction' rather than a 'gift'. If everyone believes in God with the intention of 'exchanging faith for reward,' then this so-called faith may not be called pious.

Faith that arises because of profit will naturally end up because of profit. Now, the Poseidon priest only felt that this judgment should not exist today.

Faith should never be discussed.

"What about the Creator, Mephistopheles, do you believe in the Creator?"

Suddenly, someone in the audience spoke up. Perhaps realizing that faith had lost its sanctity when it was treated as a 'bargain', the man decisively chose to avoid the topic and instead led to the existence of Prometheus.

The Creator created the Bronze Humans, taught them knowledge, and opened up wilderness for them, all without expecting anything in return. If Mephistopheles dared to denigrate the Creator, no one would tolerate his actions.

Obviously, though, all this was expected by Mephistopheles.

"Creator, of course I don't believe in it."

Nodding, Mephistopheles said affirmatively.

But before the audience was outraged, he asked the questioner.

"I think that if you believe in a god, you should use his thoughts to guide your thoughts, and if you really agree with the Creator's thoughts, then you should not believe in Him."

"He does not build temples, nor temples, nor receives sacrifices. I have to say that the Creator is indeed worthy of human worship, but he doesn't want us to believe in Him. Can I conclude that whatever is necessary for human beings to believe is not worthy of human belief? On the contrary, what does not need to be believed, is it the god that human beings should believe in? ”

"If so, then we should not offer our faith to any god, which is the standard that the Creator has set for us in Himself, isn't it?"

The questioner was speechless, the faces of the onlookers softened, and many of them fell into deep thought. It was somewhat glad to hear the unbeliever's praise to the Creator, but what the other person said seemed to be true.

If you have to rank the gods, then in the hearts of the bronze humans, Prometheus is undoubtedly high, even the god king can't be half as good as him. But as Mephistopheles said, the Creator built temples for the gods, but not his own, does this prove that the truly great gods really do not need the faith of mortals?

At this moment, the atmosphere in the field is already a little serious. The previous brisk vanished, and the humans below the high platform pondered Mephistopheles' words, and above the high platform, a strange atmosphere spread among the priests.

If you really want to say that you don't believe in God, in fact, these priests are really unfaithful, but they also understand that they can not believe in God, but if the entire bronze human race doesn't believe in God, it will be a big problem.

The Creator had warned them that the gods might not be able to tell whether a particular person was religious or not without coming in person, but they could sense the change in the general beliefs of mankind, so Prometheus told them many times not to let the matter of the sacrifice be known to ordinary people.

And now, if Mephistopheles's words were really accepted by the people, then the gods would definitely find the problems that arose in the human race.

What will happen then, only God knows. After all, truth is truth, and reality is reality. What you say is very reasonable, but it does not mean that the gods will really tolerate human beings who will give up their faith and continue to do as usual. As priests closest to God, they do not feel that the gods are merciful and good, as ordinary humans do.

But he couldn't say these words directly, so Defuss stood up decisively, and he couldn't tolerate the other party continuing like this.

"What about the God-King? Mephistopheles, even the Creator was ordered by the God-King to create humanity, so don't you want to offer your faith in the face of one of your Creators? ”

Devers didn't think the question would stump the other party, he just hoped that Mephistopheles would remember the power of God.

They can create you, and they can destroy you. But apparently, his idea fell through again.

Across from him, Mephistopheles shook her head slightly. Instead of looking at the priests on the high platform, he looked around, meeting every human under the stage.

"God-king. You're right, it was He who instructed the Creator to create humanity. But if you have to offer faith because of this, I'm afraid it is not convincing. ”

"As I said before, it is well known that gods are fertile and procreational, but gods do not believe in another god, so God's children may respect their parents, but this has absolutely nothing to do with faith."

That's what I thought at the beginning – we can sacrifice to the gods as a way to show great respect for God, but faith doesn't have to. The power of the gods awe me, but they are far from being able to spiritually surrender me. ”

"And—"

"Enough!"

This time, before the words could be finished, Mephistopheles' words were interrupted by Devers's cold voice. His face was so solemn that everyone could see it.

He had already realized that the guy in front of him was probably difficult to convince with words. But if possible, he really didn't want to do anything else.

It is impossible to revise the mind by force. Faith, on the other hand, lies in thought.

"Mephistopheles, your mind is indeed sharp, and your words are indeed inflammatory, but that is not a reason for you to be so arrogant."

"Now admit your mistakes, and if you take back what you just said, we can forgive you for your previous actions."

His eyes fixed on the young man, and Devers tried to make him understand his decision. And he was sure that the other party saw what he meant.

But to his disappointment, the other party just returned with a faint smile.

"I stand by my opinion, Your Excellency Priest."

Looking at Devers, Mephistopheles opened her hand and said calmly.

"Take him."

His expression was cold, and when Devers said this, the people around him were stunned for a moment. But the next moment, under the pressure of his eyes, the two assistants who followed him walked towards Mephistopheles.

As a priest serving the God-King, Devers knew that from today onwards, no matter what happened to Mephistopheles, he had already lost.

Now, he has no choice but to let himself lose a little smaller.

(End of chapter)