Chapter 202: Chapter 40: No Trust

In the spacious open space at the center of Giant Wood Town, it was already bustling with people.

Directly opposite The Temple of the King of All Gods, Zeus, a temporary wooden stage had been erected. It was originally prepared for a theater performance that had just concluded, but now it had been expanded, and several additional rows of seats were added.

Ande’s performance only required one person, but the judgment of the non-believers had gathered all the town’s beings of certain status. The priests from the Temple of Law undoubtedly took the prime position, as they would be the ones to deliver the verdict of this trial.

However, judges should not step down into the arena, so the ones who actually scolded the non-believer were the others seated on the stage.

By now, half of the chairs in front of the tables on the stage were already filled. They chatted and laughed with one another, the atmosphere relaxed, not taking the upcoming proceedings to heart as the outcome of the trial was self-evident.

Humans were created by the gods, and the creator still exists in the Mortal Realm; the blessings of the gods are real. They simply could not imagine what Speech the non-believer could muster to absolve himself.

Instead of a trial, it was more like an entertainment event. Due to that master playwright, Giant Wood Town, which was recently built, had seen a massive influx of outsiders. Therefore, in the name of the gods, holding an event under the pretext of judging the non-believers was why The Temple’s priests were so enthusiastic.

They had even thought out the punishment for the poor soul in advance—let him serve The Temple for the rest of his life. After all, there was no death penalty for humans at this time, nor had the gods explicitly stated what to do with non-believers. Most importantly, the man hadn’t yet committed any truly blasphemous act.

His current actions resembled those of a madman who had suddenly lost his mind, although everyone who had interacted with him felt he was a decent individual.

“So what exactly did that non-believer do, did he refuse to offer Sacrifices to the deity?”

Standing among the crowd beneath the stage, Cohen, relying on his superior physique and sense of balance, stood atop an irregular boulder. From there, the entirety of the stage was in clear view.

“That’s not the case. Although there have been some who disrespect the gods by not offering Sacrifices, this non-believer is different,”

Gripping Cohen’s sleeve tightly, Evans was also standing at the top of the boulder now. The surface of the stone was very smooth, and without Cohen, he felt that he might fall off at any time.

However, alongside the nerves, Evans felt a bit of excitement, which was why he chose to remain up there.

“It’s said that the non-believer doesn’t oppose offering Sacrifices to the Deity; he only opposes—having Faith in the Deity. That’s what he seems to say, and it’s also why we call him the ‘non-believer’.”

“But then again, isn’t offering sacrifices to the gods a way of believing in them? Personally, I don’t quite understand his thoughts. There are so many people gathered here today, in fact, many are here to see him ridiculed. Everyone is eager to hear how he can ‘offer Sacrifices’ and yet be a ‘non-believer’.”

Nodding, Cohen used his Transcendent hearing to glean the sequence of events from the conversations of the people around him while talking to Evans.

The reason the non-believer was seized wasn’t due to any direct act of blasphemy or refusal to offer Sacrifices; rather, he generally behaved no differently from everyone else.

He went to The Temple to offer Sacrifices at regular intervals and never showed dissatisfaction with the priests. In fact, the one thing he did was to openly question the nobility of the gods in Giant Wood Town.

He believed that offering Sacrifices and having Faith were different things. Offering Sacrifices was an acknowledgment of the gods’ power, whereas having Faith was an acknowledgment of the gods’ spirit. However, the non-believer felt that on a spiritual level, gods and humans were equals, and there could be no faith between equals.

Therefore, while he offered Sacrifices to the Deity, he also voiced that he did not approve of the Deity’s guidelines; he worshiped out of recognition of power, but did not believe due to spiritual equality.

This behavior made it difficult to directly judge him guilty since his disbelief was tied only to Thoughts that couldn’t be evaluated, and his actual conduct was above reproach. Thus, the priests decided to conduct a trial, allowing all the onlookers to determine the non-believer’s fate collectively.

At least until now, that’s what they said, and that’s what they believed.

“No need to overthink it, it’s just the deluded babble of an ignorant man. The Creator labored to perfection in giving us our bodies but that was the extent of it. Fools like him always seem to crop up.”

Waving his hand, Evans looked around, standing at such a great height for the first time. Suddenly, as if he had discovered something,

“Here he comes, look, that’s the unbeliever. I thought he would be under guard, but it seems he has come on his own.”

“Let me see.”

Following the voice, Cohen was preparing to recognize the person. In that direction, a young man in black, with a very friendly smile, was walking toward the high platform. He even had time to greet others along the way.

However, it was this young man who caused Cohen’s spirit to instantly tense up.

Meanwhile, as if sensing Cohen’s gaze, the man he was watching also cast his eyes over. Across the short distance, the two men faced each other from afar.

“…The unbeliever you spoke of, is it that man in black?”

Cohen’s tone unchanged, but strength had already begun circulating within him. The young man in black looked handsome and had a gentle smile, nothing like the ‘foolish’ unbeliever of the rumors. In him, however, Cohen felt a subtle sense of threat.

Beyond that, there was an emotion that was negative to the extreme.

“Yes, that’s him. What, have you seen him before?”

Sensing the change in Cohen’s attitude, Evans could not help but ask.

“…Don’t know him. By the way, do you know his name?”

Ever since he had spotted the other party, Cohen’s eyes had not shifted away. This was a dangerous individual, yet if possible, he did not wish to engage with him here. After all, an existence that could make him feel even a hint of threat, even if not a match for him, could easily destroy the small town with the traces of their battle.

Clearly, Evans beside him had no idea that both he and the distant unbeliever were such characters. He and everyone else in the town were teetering on the brink of life and death.

“His name? It’s a bit of a mouthful. Let me think—”

After a moment’s thought, Evans said with certainty:

“Mephisto, or Mephistopheles? Anyway, they sound pretty similar, who knows.”

“Now that the man himself has arrived, the trial should be about to begin. I hope this guy doesn’t just stand there speechless before the priests. At the very least, he should say something, don’t you think that’s the idea?”

Cohen did not respond. Just arriving in the humans’ tribe and crashing into such a special individual, he did not know whether it was coincidence or something else.

But it must be said, listening to Evans, Cohen couldn’t help feeling a bit of anticipation for the trial to come, despite his wariness.

Although he was clueless as to why such a dangerous individual would come to face ‘trial,’ the reality was such, and Cohen wasn’t about to dig deeper. But what kind of statement would such a negatively charged individual make about faith and the deities?

On this, Cohen, who was on a journey in search of answers, was very eager to find out.