36: Chapter 36 The Priest

They were completely overthinking it; this was merely the sound of the transport ship's hatch opening.

The first to emerge were over a hundred soldiers of the honor guard, holding lucius lasguns.

They formed two rows in the plaza, looking around vigilantly to prevent any unexpected situations.

The surrounding crowd watched the people descending from the iron contraption, all wearing strange clothing and armor that seemed like armor but also not.

They held no swords, blades, or long spears in their hands, but instead carried something resembling a hollow rod.

The only thing worth mentioning was that the helmets on their heads looked quite good.

The helmets worn by these soldiers were fully enclosed, identical in appearance to those of knights.

"Wow!"

Cheers and exclamations of amazement quickly erupted from the crowd, their gazes all focused on Xia Xingchen, who was surrounded by the crowd like stars around the moon.

The Imperial attire Xia Xingchen wore was incredibly magnificent; the moment everyone present saw him, they would assume this handsome young man was an incredibly noble aristocrat.

At this moment, they turned their gazes to behind Xia Xingchen. The first woman was dressed in strange attire, her entire body covered in steel components; the crowd whispered amongst themselves, saying she must be a terrifying steel witch.

However, their assessment of Saint Sabbat was much higher.

Looking at Saint Sabbat's emerald eyes, her pure and flawless face, and that peerless beauty that inspired affection, there was only one term everyone used for Saint Sabbat.

Angel.

Saint Sabbat's appearance was exactly the same as the angels depicted in the holy word, pure and beautiful.

Xia Xingchen looked at the surrounding medieval commoners; most of them wore grey or black linen clothes, with only a few people sporting garments of different colors.

Xia Xingchen's gaze swept across the entire crowd, finally landing on the most conspicuous presence among them—a priest dressed in white priestly robes.

Like a supreme lord, Xia Xingchen extended his right hand, raised his index finger, and pointed directly at the priest.

The priest was stunned on the spot when he saw this, and the gazes of the surrounding onlookers instantly converged on the priest as well.

The priest looked at the believers he spent his days with; their gazes carried earnestness and expectation, hiding fear and piety, all hoping he could figure out the situation before them.

And now, the priest had become the most suitable first contact.

The priest swallowed hard; to be honest, he was feeling extremely nervous inside.

But the other party had already actively signaled him, and coupled with the expectant gazes of the surrounding believers, no matter what, even if it meant certain death ahead, the priest had to bite the bullet and go.

Thus, the priest stepped forward, and the surrounding believers immediately cleared a path for him.

The priest walked forward step by step; when passing by those soldiers, his legs couldn't help but tremble. The priest was terrified that in the next second, the soldiers around him would use the rods in their hands to smash his head open.

But everything the priest had imagined did not happen; the soldiers stood there motionless, just like stone pillars.

When the priest finally reached Xia Xingchen, there were only a few steps between them.

The priest looked at the gorgeously dressed young man before him, and before he could even speak, the young man in front of him made a gesture that pleasantly surprised him.

Xia Xingchen directly performed a standard Imperial Aquila Salute toward the priest in front of him.

The priest was still muttering to himself, fearing that in this medieval world, the knowledge of the Imperial Ecclesiarchy was limited only to the holy word.

However, Xia Xingchen was overthinking it.

The next second, the priest immediately returned a standard Aquila Salute to Xia Xingchen.

This instantly bridged the distance between Xia Xingchen and the priest.

"Respected Lord, may I be so bold as to ask," the priest spoke first, adopting a sufficiently humble and modest attitude, "what divine oracle do you bring with your arrival?"

Xia Xingchen did not adopt a harsh tone either, but instead said in a calm, relaxed tone, as if conversing with an old friend:

"Don't be so nervous, Priest; I simply want to meet with the highest ruler here."

The priest heard this.

He nodded repeatedly, saying "Oh, oh"; so this lord's target was not them.

"Reporting to you, Lord, if you wish to see the High Priest, I am afraid you will have to go to the Holy City."

After hearing this, Xia Xingchen inwardly groaned; what a hassle, having to run to another place.

"May I ask where the Holy City is?"

The priest directly raised his hand and pointed behind him, indicating the highest mountain peak that could be clearly seen even from far away.

"It is at the foot of the Holy Mountain."

After obtaining the information he wanted, Xia Xingchen immediately performed an Aquila Salute again.

"Thank you, Mr. Priest, thank you for your answer."

After speaking, Xia Xingchen turned around and headed directly back into the golden transport ship.

The surrounding soldiers also quickly reboarded the gunships and transport ships.

As the transport ships and gunships took off, whoosh.

They disappeared into the distant sky at a speed and in a manner beyond everyone's imagination.

"How did they do that? Flying in the sky like birds?"

"They didn't fly themselves; they clearly crawled into the belly of the iron birds and were carried up into the sky by the iron birds!"

"But why didn't the iron birds' wings move?"

The commoners below were discussing everything they had just seen in a flurry of voices.

The priest was also incomparably shocked, but he was the first to recover from the shock and clearly realized that this was an excellent opportunity to promote the Imperial Cult.

The priest immediately stood up and shouted loudly:

"My dear believers, please listen quietly to the words of the God!"

Upon hearing this, the believers immediately turned their gazes in unison toward the priest.

Seeing his goal gradually being achieved, the priest immediately spoke:

"Those who just descended were the messengers of the God-Emperor! He held a conversation with me. He proclaimed that the God-Emperor is about to bring eternal light to this world, and we shall all be bathed in eternal bliss."

The priest did not dare to exaggerate too much and only used a very general way of expressing it, but this method happened to be exactly what the commoners loved to hear.

In everyone's ears, the most beautiful things they imagined were all different; rather than being specific, it was better to use an abstract concept to summarize it generally.

Watching the cheers of the believers below and their increasingly fanatical faith in the Imperial Cult, the priest inwardly said to himself: Perfect.

Clearly, this time, the priest's goal had been fully achieved.

On the other side, Xia Xingchen and his party had no mood to pay attention to what was happening below; the transport ship was rushing at full speed toward the direction of the Holy Mountain.

In less than three minutes, a communication came from the cockpit:

"Lord, we will arrive at the Holy City in 30 seconds; landing is expected in one minute."

Xia Xingchen listened to the voice coming from the communicator inside the cabin, and immediately after, the sound of static electricity came from the communicator again.

The pilot asked again:

"May I ask, Lord, shall we land outside the city or inside the city?"

Upon hearing the pilot's question, Xia Xingchen said without hesitation:

"Land inside the city."

"As you command, Lord!"

At this moment, Xia Xingchen was also mentally preparing how to speak once he met the local nobility and the High Priest.