Louie saw that the Goddess of Morning did not have any intentions of fighting him, so he was enjoying this moment. Naturally, the most important reason was that the Goddess of Morning was just consciousness and a bit of divinity. For dealing with mortals, this was enough, but confronting a demigod like Louie would be like hitting a stone with an egg.
Perhaps it was because she knew this that Lorentia would rather use words to communicate with Louie, unlike the Goddess of Night, Shae, who chose to fight immediately.
Naturally, Lorentia’s anger was probably due to what Louie’s followers did to her chosen one. As a result, she tried to use her ability to subdue his followers.
From her actions, Louie was able to understand the behavior of good gods. It was different from the teachings of ‘if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also’. Although she acted well in a reasonable way, it was closer to the teachings of ‘an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth’.
“Your Highness Lorentia, gods to gods and mortals to mortals. Although I understand a paladin’s dogma, your paladin is a bit too arrogant. If I was truly an evil god, I would have already killed her for her recklessness. If I wasn’t an evil god, she would still have to pay the price. Gods are not beings that mortals can blaspheme.”
Louie’s eyes contained calm aggression. Even in the face of a powerful ancient god like the Goddess of Morning, he did not show any fear. After all, every god was without any home at the moment. Even if the other side had more experience, Louie did not have to please her.
A god who easily bowed to another god would face the ridicule of all the gods.
“Ha…”
The Goddess of Morning sighed. She was a reasonable god. If Louie was an evil god or her enemy, then Lorentia would still shelter her believer even if she offended Louie.
But in her understanding, Louie’s doctrines leaned towards the good camp. As a god who acted with order and goodness, even if the division of camps was not yet fixed, it had long become her instinct and habit that wasn’t easy to change.
Moreover, Louie’s alliance with the Silver Moon Goddess was not yet exposed to the world. Thus, Louie did not stand in opposition to the Goddess of Moring’s point of view. All of his words were logical.
If it wasn’t because she hadn’t regained her power, she would not pay any attention to Louie, but she wasn’t any stronger than Louie at the moment. In this citation, she could only lower her posture and say, “Your Highness Louie, Roselia is my valued chosen one. ‘ I don’t want her death to come.”
Although the words seemed threatening, Louie knew that this was the Goddess of Morning’s surrender.
Roselia suddenly fell to her knees. She was in tears yet full of excitement. She was like Louie’s fervent believers or even more.
“O Goddess, this is a sin that I have committed. I am willing to accept punishment from God Louie. I do not want to see you speak superfluous words for the sake of the small and humble me.”
She was surprised that her own god would speak well of another god for her sake. Moreover, the Goddess of Morning was a powerful god to which Roselia was devoted to. Now, even if she had to die, she would be willing. Even if the Goddess of Morning told her to fight with all her might, she could not hesitate to do so.
She was ready to perform martyrdom.
“My child, this is a path that every paladin has to walk on. You have to learn that ‘order and goodness’ are not fixed. They are like the laws of a country that also change from time to time. What you need to do is to see through the essence of ‘order and goodness’ and guard it at different eras.”
“Do not use a mortal’s thoughts to speculate on a god’s thought. You have to understand that in the face of overpowering evil, temporary resignation is recognized as ‘order and goodness’. The goodness that you must protect is in your heart, not the words of others.”
“Know that what has not happened cannot be attributed to evil. If you judge what has not happened as evil, then you will become corrupted by power and become an accomplice of evil.”
“Only then will you be recognized by ‘order and goodness’ and be transcendent and holy.”
“……”
The words of the god penetrated through her heart. Divine teachings like this were rare, and the Goddess of Morning was burning her divinity just to pour these words into Roselia’s soul, to let this paladin experience sudden enlightenment.
‘This paladin is not her illegitimate child, right?’
Louie secretly pondered, but he knew that Roselia was not something like the Goddess’ illegitimate child. She was definitely just a mortal paladin.
But her talent and character were truly outstanding. If this was in the era of the gods, such paladins wouldn’t be too many, but not too few. Even the Goddess would not pay this much attention to them. But in the current era, her believers have been sharply reduced which could not support her divine power, so the Goddess was more willing to pay a bit more to teach them.
If nothing calamitous happened to Roselia, she could live for hundreds of years. A paladin who could live this long would naturally be favored by the Goddess of Morning, especially in this era where she begins from nothing.
She was like Clooney, who Louie favored. Louie had seen through his talent and if something happened to him, then Louie would shelter him.
This was a God. Whether good or evil, they were extremely selfish beings. Their first priority was themselves before others. That’s why the god who sacrificed himself to save the world was respected by the gods.
Roselia prostrated on the ground and bowed while reciting the goddess’ doctrine.
When Louie saw this, he opened his mouth and said, “Since she seems to be your believer, I will not take her life for your sake, but living to suffer is worse than dying. Her blasphemy is still something that she must pay for.”
“That is your right, Your Highness,” the Goddess of Morning said so.
Naturally, these were just superfluous words. If he had asked for more, she would also refuse.
Louie pondered for a moment and said, “In that case, this paladin should work for me for a hundred years and serve the city. I will not give any orders that are contrary to her teachings, nor will I make her hostile to your church. But when Dragon City is threatened, she will give her all to protect it.
It was impossible to convert a paladin. If Roselia truly converted, then she would lose her power and would become of little use to Louie.
The beginning of the era of chaos was coming. Religions were already being re-established by the gods. Having a paladin serve him for a hundred years would be a big help. It would make it easier to pass the moment.
Things could not always be handled by gods. If one day Louie ascended to heaven and became god, then all mortal matters would be left to mortals.
Paladins should never be underestimated. Although they were small in numbers, they possessed unimaginable abilities.
And Louie was trying to make Roselia work to pay for her blasphemy, to let her become the Dragon’s holy maiden.
