There were many rooms on the second floor of the church, and Hersie carried an oil lamp to a room that looked like a storeroom, took a large bunch of keys from her waist and opened the door, which was dusty, and there were rows and rows of wooden shelves piled up on them, and there was only a narrow gap for people to enter and exit. ()

However, it was such a messy storage room, and there were bags of wheat, flour, and salt on the floor, which were extremely large, and Kui Yin noticed that there were far more than this one, at least four or five, and it was hard to imagine that such a poor church could have the money to stock up on so much food, and he probably already knew where his money was spent.

"Are there so many people to feed?" asked Kui Yin with a frown.

Hersie didn't answer, she dragged a giant sword from behind the wooden frame, threw it in front of Kui Yin, and then took out a delicate ring from an iron box on the shelf and handed it to Kui Yin.

"It's all here, I didn't move the things inside, I just took the money, I'm sorry for lying to you, this matter is completely my own opinion, and it has nothing to do with the people in the church, if you want to retaliate, just look for me. ”

Squeak......

Kui Yin was about to answer, when suddenly the wooden door behind him opened, and a thin figure crept his head inside, followed by several boys and girls of the same age, like a group of little mice, sneaking in.

“...... Sister Hercy is you, I thought ...... I thought it was haunted. ”

The boy at the head smirked and touched his head, he was very thin, he was wearing not too thick clothes, and his neck was so thin that his head looked a little big, and the child behind him was the same, his cheeks were deeply sunken, his eye sockets were lined with bones, his slender arms seemed to be able to break them off even by the wind, and his lips that should have been rosy were stiff and white.

"Why are you coming out so cold? Why don't you go to sleep quickly?"

Hercy frowned slightly, she put down the oil lamp, stepped forward and grabbed his ear a little angrily, saw him crying out in pain, and hurriedly let go of her hand, "What are you guys doing here, you don't want to sleep?" I've already gone to see Sivir, she will come to accompany you later, go to bed quickly." ”

The only thing that responded to her was the sound of her stomach growling, and even Kui Yin could see that these children were too hungry, and Hercy couldn't help but sigh when she saw this, "Go and wait for me in the dining room." ”

Cheers, the group of children rushed out of the storage room, they couldn't wait to drink a sip of hot wheat porridge, the winter in the north was really too long, too cold, hungry to sleep, even the bed was cold.

Kui Yin didn't speak, he put the sword back on his back and checked the contents of the ring, and it was true that nothing was missing except money.

"How can there be so many children?"

The anger in Kui Yin's heart has basically calmed down, and he already understands why Hirsch wants to be a wine escort, why she is not afraid of death and steals money again and again.

Hercy filled the bag with some wheat, took a little salt, hesitated for a moment, and chose two more fruits that looked relatively clean, and when she heard Kui Yin's question, she couldn't help but pause, and whispered, "I'll talk about it later, I'll make them something to eat first." ”

......

Very light food, Kui Yin has a bowl of steaming wheat porridge in front of him, there are no side dishes, just put some salt, a little salty taste is nothing more, not to mention that he is used to eating big fish and meat, and people who have been mixing with various banquets all year round, even ordinary people, probably find it difficult to swallow.

But it was this kind of food, but these children in front of them did not dislike it at all, and after they had finished praying, they devoured the wheat porridge, and wanted to lick the bowl clean.

Hersie also gave them some fruit, which was very small, but it was probably the most extravagant food in the church.

"Eat enough, go to sleep, don't tell others, I'll give you a few extra meals, or ......"

"Got it, got it. ”

"Go to sleep. ”

Before Hercy finished speaking, these children ran away as soon as they slipped away, such a cold weather, nothing can compare to the bed, if it weren't for the hunger and couldn't stand it, they wouldn't run out, Hercy could only shake her head helplessly, and slowly drank the bowl of wheat porridge in front of her.

"They are all the children of nuns, no, they should be the children of prostitutes, they no longer deserve to be called nuns, faith is not full, not many people insist on coming down, for the sake of life to accompany the wine, to pick up customers, to beg, the children born are discarded, but in the end, the children are innocent, the church has so far adopted forty-three abandoned babies, there are too many children like them, frozen to death, starved to death, strangled at birth, you can say that I have blasphemed the identity of nuns, blasphemed the belief in God, but there is really no way to do many things。 ”

Hersie's truth is more than ten times more cruel than what Kui Yin guessed, the Old God Cult has no status in the North Ye Country, many monks believe in the gods all their lives, but because of the deliberate suppression of the royal power, they have fallen to the point where they can't even find their normal work, although on the surface, the Old God Sect is still the oldest religion in the North Ye Country, but its current situation is extremely miserable.

When faith and life conflict, how to choose?

For the vast majority of people, the answer is obvious, and if even survival is a problem, then what is the point of so-called faith?

Nuns have been reduced to prostitutes, monks have been reduced to slaves, and the former faith has become an indelible brand, shackle, and burden on them, but this is already Ye Bei's greatest mercy, he did not choose to wash the old god religion in blood, but let it survive, but for real monks, this kind of life is simply worse than death.

When Ye Bei ascended the throne, the royal power obtained absolute dominance, and in those years, countless monks chose to commit suicide, even if they knew that suicide was an unforgivable sin, but compared to living in this world without any faith, watching this group of people blasphemy, they would rather go to hell.

"I was only thirteen years old that year, not long after I became a nun, many soldiers rushed in, they carved two scars on everyone's forehead with knives, drove away all the believers, took all the money and food, one nun tried to resist and was killed on the spot, I just watched, I didn't dare to speak, maybe from that day on, I was no longer worthy to continue to be a nun. ”

Hersie brushed her forehead open, and her smooth forehead was imprinted with a circular emblem, the symbol of the Old God, but two narrow scars intertwined to destroy the circle, making it look terrifying.

"He Ye Bei is so resolute, why don't you leave, do you have to stay in Bei Ye Country?"

The more Kui Yin listened, the more frightened he became, it was not uncommon for the royal power to suppress the divine power, but it was the first time he had heard of it like Ye Bei, which was equivalent to completely blocking the survival of the Old God Sect in the Northern Ye Kingdom, not to mention fighting back, I am afraid that it would become a problem to survive, no wonder Ye Bei died, he never left room for others, and others would also try their best to kill him.

"Where to go? The birthplace of the Old God Cult is the North Leaf Country, and in other places it is considered heretical, and we can't do without it, we are not allowed to ride the train, we are not allowed to do normal work, the church has lost its followers, it has been reduced to the bottom, worse than beggars, other towns may be able to leave, but in the City of North Wind, do you want us to leave on foot across the ice fields?" Hercy smiled self-deprecatingly.

Kui Yin was silent for a long time, he didn't know what to say, he was not only sympathetic to Hessey's plight, but also resentful, he took out a necklace from the ring and said softly, "My mother is also a nun. ”

It was a silver half-moon necklace, although it was slightly discolored and blackened, but it could be seen that Kui Yin protected it well, and there was not a trace of scratches on the necklace.

"Yuejiao? If I'm not mistaken, Yuejiao, like us, is absolutely not allowed to get married and have children. ”

"Mother she never married, she ...... She just had to give birth to me, at that time Nanyu was also suppressing the Moon Sect, but she didn't do it as extreme as Ye Bei, there are many followers of the Moon Sect, and the Pope is even more responsive, the struggle between royal power and divine power is destined to inevitably be violent bloodshed, but the funny thing is that the most fierce reaction is their respective supporters, and I didn't know at that time that it was the bastard who raped my mother. ”

When Kui Yin said this, his face was distorted by resentment, he never remembered the past, but today, in this small church, when he saw this scene, the past scenes came back to his mind, and he could no longer suppress the hatred in his heart.

"Mother was very scared at the time, she knew that she had lost her qualification as a nun, and the gods and the church would not forgive her, but she still had a trace of luck in her heart, just once, she should not be pregnant, so she hid this matter, but unfortunately I was born ten months later, fortunately, the people around me have a good relationship, they are silent about this matter, just hide it for six or seven years, I can't remember, until the relationship between the Moon Sect and the royal family improved, the situation stabilized, but my mother chose to repent, atone, and publish the truth to the public, leaving me only this necklace。 ”

Kui Yin grew up in a church that did not recognize him as a nun, and after the church he was just an abandoned baby picked up, and his mother was stripped naked and paraded through the streets, she was stripped of her status as a nun and burned alive in a cold winter.

It was declared to the public that the nun had committed an unpardonable sin, but it was not clear what it was, and the nun gave birth to a child, which was an impossible scandal for the Moon Sect to admit, which would affect the prestige of the Moon Sect and shake the faith of the believers.

Kyu-in watched his mother burn to death, watching her turn into charred bones in the flames, but he didn't shed a single tear, because he knew very well that this was his mother's choice.

Kui Yin is more afraid of the Moon Sect than he respects, he doesn't dare to hate the Moon Sect, because he grew up in the Moon Sect, and he knows the strictness of the dogma, all of this is the fault of that bastard man, it is his own fault, his mother is just an innocent victim, after giving birth to him, his mother suffers every day, she can't face her faith, she can't face the gods she serves, for seven years, she finally chose to atone for her sins.