THIS world was created by the G.o.ddess, Gaia . That was the prevalent thought among the people since long ago . Not soon after that, people just started to wors.h.i.+p her and consider her as the G.o.ddess of this world . Then small churches started appearing all over the world, all brandis.h.i.+ng the teachings of the G.o.ddess . But it didn"t take long for one church to dominate them all .

The Temple of Gaia .

The one thing that set them above the rest was because they were extraordinarily organized . It all started at the Southwestern continent . There were priests a.s.signed to different small towns, spreading the words of Gaia . The words were all beautiful, convincing people that only good things would happen once you give your faith to Gaia .

A few of their teachings were as follows; Have complete faith in Gaia and she would lead you to paradise . Sinners could have their salvation if they just believe . Do good deeds and your would be rewarded . Do something bad and you would receive retribution .

Those were chaotic times . Countries keep warring against each others and constantly fighting for territories, there were famines everywhere, people were dying left and right . The ones being affected most by these events were the poor ma.s.ses . So the promise of paradise and salvation just became a big attraction to the poor . And since the population of the poor was infinitely larger than those of the rich, the spread of the teachings of Gaia just became faster and faster .

In just a short amount of time, the religion founded by the Temple of Gaia slowly extended to the other four continents where humans flourished . They built churches, established hierarchical order among the priests, gather exorbitant donations from their followers, until the Temple became what it was today - the biggest religious group in the world .

Argent sneered in her heart . In her opinion, what the Temple did was just a big con . They conned the people during their most vulnerable moment . Made them believe in something again, giving them hope to continue living their lives . And while they do that, they slowly emptied the people with everything they had . From their money to their soul . Throughout the years, they slowly became a huge fixture in history . Representing all the goodness in the world .
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What a load of bullc.r.a.p .

If selling people in underground auctions and brainwas.h.i.+ng children and even raping them were considered good because the one behind them were those "good" people, then Argent was a saint . And she bet there were even more dark things going on behind the Temple"s closed doors .

Argent looked at the map screen in front of her . They were already closed to their destination . She and her sister were currently riding her flying shuttle . They left her island yesterday morning and after a day of travel they would soon arrive at Achea . A town to the south of Victoria City . They plan to travel from there to the city also known as the Holy See - Victoria .

Victoria City was enclaved within the country of Vitalya at the Southwestern continent . It"s an ecclesiastical state mainly ruled by the Pope . They were independent from Vitalya, making them exempted from the country"s rules and laws . It had an area of 45 hectares and a population of about a thousand . It"s probably the smallest sovereign state in the world . And it was also the home of the Temple of Gaia .

They planned to enter the city by hiring a carriage from Achea . It would be just much safer that way . According to Argent"s research, the only way to enter the city was through the entrance people called as the Holy Gate . It"s a 40 meter tall gate attached to a wall of the same height surrounding the whole city . To enter, one needed to pay 10,000 gold coins for each day that they would stay . In short, if you needed to stay there for five days then you have to pay 50,000 gold coins . Clearly showing that the only one who could enter there were the creme de la creme of high society .

Not only that, they would also be given a red cystal sphere the size of a ping pong ball . Everyone who entered the city needed to hang it around their body, symbolizing their status as guests . That would differentiate them from the citizens living there . The common people wore a green crystal while the clergies and the knights wore yellow .

Once the duration of your stay ended, the crystal would automatically turn black . Which in turn would alert the Knights in the city . If you"re only a day late from leaving, the Knights would hunt you down and force you to leave . Some might even send you to prison .

Those were the reasons why it"s so hard for an outsider to enter there . Once someone even tried to illegaly enter, the full force of the Temple Knights would run down on them . Doing that would only be equivalent to suicide . Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click www . webnovel . com for visiting .

True, they could just go straight there and steal those red crystals from other city guests . But that would just be too much work . Especially since they wouldn"t know how long the crystal they stole would last . Why would they do that when they could just pay for one, right?

"Brother, do we really have to wear this human skin mask?" Aurum suddenly asked, cutting Argent"s thoughts .

Argent glanced at her sister . Her golden hair was now turned into a long black wig . Her current face was still pretty but not at par with her original face . The only sign that she was really Aurum was her pair of beautiful amber eyes . She tried to wear the contact lens that Argent made but it only irritated her eyes . So they had to give up on that .

"Yes, didn"t I already tell you why?" Argent said .

Just like her sister, she was also wearing a human skin mask . It"s a handsome and arrogant face . His hair was also replaced by a black wig . She was also wearing a special black contact lens . Argent wanted to use a plain human skin mask . But then she thought, they would go there as some small country"s aristocrats . To justify why they had money to enter Victoria City . It wouldn"t be really convincing if they had faces that people wouldn"t even look twice .

She also thought of just posing as wealthy merchants . But strictly speaking, merchants weren"t really interested in going to events like the Festival of Creation . And acting as aristocrats would give them more freedom . Since aristocrats were given much more importance than merchants .

But the main reason Argent chose to use human skin mask instead of her holographic choker was because of the Pope . She could still remember the meeting they had at Shandra . Now knowing everything she knew, there"s a high probability that Lucern Faust probably already knew who she was the moment he saw her . And that"s the reason he approached her in the first place .

He probably longed wanted to dispose of that pig of a bishop and he just used her as an excuse . Or he knew already at that point that the Blackbourne blood could get the sacred artifacts he"s searching for and he just wanted to test her . She"s more inclined to believe it was the latter .

Though why he would know it was her despite her using a holographic choker to disguise her face was beyond her . Her disguise was flawless . Then he thought of the Pope"s Gift - light . Her holographic choker needed light so it could function . Even when it"s dark, her choker had a built-in light source so it could still work . Maybe he could see through the hologram because of his Gift?

So to be on the safe side, Argent decided that they should just used human skin mask .

"But it"s so itchy," Aurum complained . "Are you sure I won"t get rashes with this?"

"It"s because you"re too concious that there"s something on your face . And no, you won"t . I test these masks personally myself . Just don"t think about it . Mind over matter . We still have to wear these masks for another two weeks . Just bear it for a little while . "

Aurum sighed . "Okay . "

Now she wished they brought Black with them . That way, she could bully him to release a bit of her frustration .

A few more minutes later, their flying shuttle was already hovering over the forest near the town of Achea . Argent slowly landed the shuttle towards a clearing . It was already the middle of the night, so she was not worried that someone might see them .

"Brother, there"s no one around . We could go now," Aurum said after checking the surroundings using her Gift .

Both of them went out of the shuttle . Argent immediately turned the flying vehicle back to its capsule form and put it in her s.p.a.ce ring .

"We"ll camp here for tonight . Then tomorrow morning, we"ll hire a carriage at the town," Argent said .

After that, they would go straight to Victoria City .