When the Saintess Arrives, No King Exist

"What we seek is the origin. This matter is also recorded in 'The First Cause of Creation.' A mother gives birth to a child, can we say she created the child?"

"Then following this line of inquiry, what is the significance of Miseria and the Holy Tree? Isn't this denying the significance of the Holy Trinity?"

"This is not denying the Holy Trinity. As the church elders say, the Holy Trinity is a dynamic process. In the pursuit of tracing back, our world must have emerged from nothing to something at some point..."

Sitting by the wall on the listening chair, Mitney expected to hear some marvelous twisted logic and heresies, but instead, it turned out to be a legitimate theological debate.

Although these ideas are uniquely unconventional and difficult for the older generation of bishops to accept.

Even for Mitney, who hails from the orthodox Divinity School, he couldn't find any major flaw.

"Lord Mitney, I'm not from the Divinity School, but this seems like doubtful scripture."

Marshall spoke in a hushed voice.

Upon hearing Marshall's suspicion, Mitney didn't immediately respond but listened for a while before blinking.

It really is doubtful scripture.

Said doubtful scripture, also known as pseudo-scripture, involves using the textual examination and comparison of ancient texts to correct and elucidate missing or wrong parts in the 'Gospel Commentaries.'

This "doubtful scripture" emerged around 1066 in the Imperial Calendar, when the Chao Character Army warriors returned from the Royal Court expedition, bringing back numerous lost technologies and books.

To the church's astonishment in comparison, they found that the church's understanding of the scriptures actually deviated from the early saints' understanding, even to a completely opposite extent.

On one hand, the scriptures truly distorted during their transmission; on the other hand, the books brought back by those returning warriors contained a great deal of heretical pseudo-scriptures and false texts.

At the time, it was the Empire's millennium, yet it was the weakest period of church influence, with lords arbitrarily dethroning popes and plundering churches.

The whole Empire was rife with bandits, robbers, and plagues and natural disasters everywhere.

The priests believed that the Holy Father was punishing them for preaching the wrong gospel, thus commencing the grand "doubtful scripture" activity.

They would verify each other based on ancient texts to investigate and prove whether the annotations were correct, and write a more appropriate understanding of "truth."

Yet according to some scholars from the Salin Scholar Association, priests at that time selectively chose ancient texts that matched their ideas.

A small portion of monks would quote heretical scriptures for their political agendas, even to the extent of misinterpreting or modifying faultless teachings deliberately.

During the fifty-four prosperous years of doubtful scripture, five great public meetings were convened to clarify doctrinal disputes.

The church and orthodox teachings that Horn and his followers face nowadays were primarily shaped during these five great public conferences.

It's just that a recent great public conference in 1270 decided that all doubtful scripture activities were "not encouraged."

Mitney is relatively knowledgeable about this.

The so-called "not encouraged" means only theological institutions under the Pope and a few Divinity Schools still enjoy "free doubt scripture rights."

Other priests dare to engage in doubtful scripture, beware of being convicted of heresy.

"Lord Mitney, have you ever heard of their discussion on 'Countering the Origins'?"

Marshall leaned over and asked Mitney quietly.

Of course, Mitney shook his head: "No, this place was originally Ancient Aier Town; I estimate they found some well-preserved ancient texts here."

Just at this moment, Horn tapped the table with his staff, signaling the noisy group to stop.

"...this issue has been argued enough. The debate is too intense, making it impossible to clarify the thoughts."

Horn stood up, halting the debate, and said to them: "Each of you write down your points. I'll go to the Tower Library to see if there are corresponding classics that can resolve the dispute."

"Yes, Church Elder."

Standing in front of the long table, Horn gave Armand a nod, then walked out of the conference hall.

Next to him, Armand promptly pushed open the rear door of the conference room, making a gesture of invitation to let Mitney and others follow.

Following behind Armand, at the end of the corridor, Mitney finally saw Horn waiting with a smile.

"Very pleased to meet you, His Highness Saint Sun."

"You must be Lord Mitney, please call me Horn."

Horn exchanged pleasantries with Mitney, Marshall, and others, then, under the guidance of the guards, proceeded to his study.

Hadn't walked two steps, Marshall couldn't help but pause: "Lord Horn, can I ask what book 'Countering the Origins' is?"

"Oh, it's an ancient text from the Seven Hills Kingdom period; it is a counter discussion to 'On the Origins.'"

"'On the Origins'? What kind of book is this?" Marshall stood baffled, "Why have I never heard of it?"

"Haha, this military camp used to be home to an El Legion Commander who was a noble fond of collecting books, later resided by a Wizard who loved reading, originally containing a large number of Ancient Aier books..."

"Really? Can I take a look?" As a scholar of the Orthodox Revival faction, Marshall was very interested in books from the Ancient Aer Era.

"...but they were burned by a group of Demon Hunters." Horn completed the latter half of his sentence with a smile, looking at the disappointed Marshall, "We have a Wizard with an extraordinary memory... she memorized most of the books, of which a small portion we have transcribed into books."

For various considerations, Horn still did not expose the identity of the Hilov Witch to them.

"May I then, uh, may I..." Marshall stammered, in this era books were precious, rarely shown casually to outsiders.

Horn kindly stepped forward and patted Marshall on the shoulder and said: "If you want to read, let Armand take you to the library, but no borrowing and copying; you can only read in the library."

"Of course, of course." Marshall nodded repeatedly, enthusiastically rubbing his hands together.

"Armand, you may take our guests to the library; Lord Mitney, let's discuss further in the study."

Bidding Mitney goodbye, Marshall followed Armand, heading towards the library.

He closely followed behind Armand, if not for the need of guidance, he wished to run ahead of Armand.

Opening the door to the library, Marshall dashed in like a hungry tiger, but cautiously stopped in front of the bookshelf.

The bookshelf, sparsely arranged by category, contained about thirty books.

"Be careful; many are unique copies." Watching Marshall with drool nearly dripping from his mouth, Armand hastily reminded.

Pulling out his gloves, Marshall showed them to Armand: "I've read many unique copies; I know how to handle them."

After circling the bookshelf twice, Marshall clicked his tongue in admiration; on the shelves were both ancient texts recorded in other books and many not recorded.

Marshall gingerly opened a book, dedicated himself to reading.

The book 'Ukulus Biography' in his hand was just a thin character memoir; he soon finished reading.

This memoir exactly matched the timeline of Ukulus's experiences recorded in 'El Brief History'; the gaps in 'Brief History' were all filled in this book.

"What to read next?" Satisfied, Marshall closed the book, his gaze scoured the books, soon spotting a familiar book title.

"Rossey's 'On Law.'" Marshall gently pulled out this book, which had a fragment in his teacher's library; unexpectedly, he found it here.

Placing this thick book onto the transcription table, Marshall pulled up a chair and sat down.

Upon opening the book, he frowned because this Ancient Aier classic was entirely in Falan letters.

Looking more carefully, he saw the title page saying '"On Law," Rossey wrote, Montesquieu translated.'

It turned out to be a translated work, which is why it is such a thick volume.

Just didn't know how proficient this priest named Montesquieu was at translating.

Faced with such a hefty tome, Marshall devoted himself entirely, beginning to read word by word.