Doctrinal Study (2)

Who was Ethan?

He was a true gamer who had given up life, sleep, and proper meals to achieve 100% completion of challenge tasks.

He was an expert with diverse clear experiences from 1000 playthroughs.

Of course, from Holy Spirit Realm Farmer 1 to Paladin, Priest, Cardinal, and even Pope,

He had played most characters, so

“No, no, you shouldn’t interpret it that way.”

“Huh? But according to this critique of scripture…”

“It seems this is an old book with many errors. You need to filter it.”

He was very knowledgeable about the church’s doctrines.

“Let’s set aside the interpretations of verses that could lead to creationism and xenophobia as claimed by the church, and start from the beginning of creation, okay?”

The current scriptures published by the church are full of lies and hypocrisy.

This was knowledge he gained from accessing various records while playing through stories as a cardinal and pope, but

“I see…”

David, who had just entered the high priest order at best, couldn’t know these things at all.

“As expected of the saint! So clear!”

Maybe that’s why.

He marveled at Ethan’s logical explanation of doctrine.

“Saint… what?”

“Ahem, hem. Excuse me.”

Recalling how Levi had emphasized several times, ‘He dislikes unnecessary attention. Respect him deeply in your heart but don’t express it excessively outwardly,’ he shut his mouth.

“Anyway, continue the lesson.”

“Yes, excuse me.”

He didn’t intervene much in Teacher Yuria’s classes or

Sir Rashid’s swordsmanship lessons, but

“Ciel, are you listening?”

“Huh? Ah, yes.”

“Let’s look at the next verse…”

This time the situation was a bit different.

“Priest.”

“What is it, Elyssia?”

“In the book I read, it said that in the celestial realm, humans are not even considered as dust…”

“E-Elyssia?”

The future saint candidate

Was becoming a heretic in real-time.

‘…I should have checked the book titles before giving them.’

Ethan, deeply regretting that it was all his fault,

Stepped in each time to correct with moderate interpretations.

A saint’s power comes from faith.

No matter how high one’s innate holy adaptability,

Holy power doesn’t dwell in those without faith.

But now Elyssia was

“It seems strange no matter how I look at it. Why do humans crave love when they’re not even loved by God?”

“Big sister is right. It’s too miserable.”

Abandoning her own faith.

Slap!

Ethan slapped his forehead with his palm.

[The fate of ‘Pure White Saint Elyssia’ has been changed.]

[The fate of ‘Elyssia’ is currently being reset.]

[The fate of ‘Elyssia’ is in contention.]

[Currently, ‘Unforgiven Heretic Elyssia’ is dominant.]

‘Oh no, that’s not good.’

What kind of fate name is ‘Unforgiven Heretic’?

Even at best, it sounds like a fate that would end in public burning at the stake.

Anxiously, he quickly skimmed through the story of that fate, and

“……”

Ethan immediately stood up.

“That’s all for today’s study.”

“Huh?”

“Yay!”

Elyssia’s disappointed reaction and Ciel’s, who was bored to death, were in stark contrast.

“I’m confiscating the books.”

“B-But…”

“I’ll give you something else good instead.”

“What is it?”

Ethan left the room for a moment and came back.

And,

Hwaryon, who was smiling brightly saying she held hands after a long time without knowing her future, came along.

“What’s the fun thing, oppa? Oh, huh?”

Hwaryon trembled when she saw Elyssia.

“…Oppa?”

“I’m sorry, Hwaryon. I’ll grant whatever you want next time, so please endure for just one day.”

“T-Traitor…”

Soon a sound like “hehehe-” was heard, and

Elyssia hugged Hwaryon with a satisfied expression.

“So soft.”

“It’s really squishy? This is my first time feeling it directly.”

“Uuugh…”

Thanks to Hwaryon’s sacrifice, Elyssia’s interest in critical phrases about scripture and doctrine quickly cooled in her mind.

“Elyssia.”

“Yes?”

“Come to my room tomorrow morning. I’ll give you a new book.”

Ethan moved busily.

To correct the distorted fate.

He picked up books related to scripture and the Bible from the library,

Retrieved the books he had given to Elyssia, and returned to his room.

He sat at his desk and picked up a pen after a long time.

And,

“Shall we begin?”

[The World Tree’s root activates <Thought Acceleration> to its maximum.]

[‘Maintenance’ completely blocks out surrounding noise.]

[‘Destruction’ asks if it can bring something called popcorn since it can’t be of help.]

The current universal scripture interpretation and doctrine claimed by the Holy Spirit Realm.

And the critical version he had brought from Serdin’s treasure vault before.

In addition, the materials closest to the truth of the world that Ethan had accessed from the Papal Office archives through various playthroughs.

He started organizing everything he could gather.

Of course, he didn’t remember the specific contents in detail, so

He borrowed the power of the World Tree’s root here and there.

‘Root GPT, can you extract and organize information about scripture from my memories? It’s the playthrough where I started as a priest and became Pope Vigentius III.’

[The World Tree’s root conveys that it is summarizing the memories of Pope Vigentius from the 671st playthrough.]

A high-performance AI chatbot with noise-canceling earphones.

Plus ‘Destruction’ providing white noise by munching next to him.

‘Perfect.’

As the environment was well prepared,

His hands moved quickly.

The goal was just one.

To return Elyssia’s fate to normal.

‘Soften and moderate extreme critiques of doctrine if possible, delete discriminatory doctrines. Use parts worth borrowing from existing church doctrine as is…’

He scribbled diligently all day long and still ran out of time.

“Ethan-nim, your meal…”

“Leave it there.”

“How can you be like this. Here, say ah.”

“Aang? Omp!”

Thanks to Hwarin, who came late at night worried and fed him,

He could concentrate on his work without moving a finger.

And around dawn the next day,

“It’s done.”

He was able to complete a doctrinal study book just for Elyssia.

“Uaah.”

He staggered towards the bed and collapsed into sleep.

-Knock knock knock.

He couldn’t hear the knocking sound because of it.

“Um… Ethan-nim?”

After gently covering Ethan, who was sleeping soundly without even changing his clothes properly, with a blanket,

She glanced at the desk.

And,

She briefly skimmed through the stack of papers that hadn’t even been properly bound yet.

“Ah, so this is it.”

The scripture she first learned from the church emphasized holiness and sacredness, teaching that only the church could correctly propagate God’s will.

The book she later received from Ethan sharply criticized the clergy’s complacent interpretations.

Elyssia, still young, had almost no ability to discern right from wrong.

She just developed a critical view, thinking that the side making stronger claims must be right.

But,

“Wow.”

Text written simply and easily to match children’s level of understanding.

“So the third saint…”

An interesting story that boldly reveals the ugly truths the church had secretly hidden while maintaining a neutral stance.

“I thought too aggressively.”

And even a neutral and moderate interpretation that wouldn’t be considered ‘heretical’ by the current church.

It contained all of that, pressed tightly.

Elyssia, who read it all standing there,

“I see.”

She stopped the foolishness of just memorizing what the church taught.

She also stopped unconditionally criticizing the church’s teachings.

Elyssia grew.

“Thank you.”

She bowed her head quietly towards Ethan, and

“I should show this to Priest David too.”

She carefully closed the door and went to find David.

An hour later,

“This is unbelievable…”

David’s hands trembled violently.

Because of that, the manuscript slipped.

Elyssia quickly grabbed the manuscript.

“Oh my, look at me.”

Wasn’t this a holy manuscript written by Him?

It contained intricate teachings almost equal to scripture.

It was good enough to be adopted as the church’s standard scripture.

“Priest, what do you think?”

“It’s amazing. Is Ethan-nim in his room now?”

“Yes, but he’s sleeping.”

David nodded deeply with a very moved expression.

“Rest well, saint of this era.”

Ethan woke up after a good sleep.

He didn’t remember covering himself with a blanket, but someone seemed to have done it for him.

“Yawn~ Thanks to that, I slept comfortably.”

As he got up stretching,

A notification window was blinking.

“What’s this?”

[The fate of ‘Elyssia’ is in contention.]

[Currently, ‘Saint Elyssia Only for You’ is dominant.]

“Huh?”

Her fate had changed again.

Western Holy Spirit Realm, Batalik Province.

Bishop Rubis, the diocesan of Batalik, read the report several times and read it again.

[Confirmed disguised paladin on the battlefield.

Severe damage due to this.

Based on the above information, it is presumed that Etrion’s hero has joined hands with the Papal faction.

It also appears he has formed good relations with the republic.]

“Damn it!”

He roughly threw the silver wine glass he was holding.

This was already the third time.

The maids waiting nearby cleaned up the glass and wiped up the wine, watching his mood.

“How can they keep interfering every single time!!!”

He couldn’t help but scream.

After all, Bishop Batalik was not only the leader of the Bishop faction but

Also the senior manager of the Etre diocese.

The Etre diocese, which was Bishop Batalik’s source of money and collected information from Etrion, was expelled after the secret order was annihilated.

The cause of all this was a certain young man.

Ethan.

“The opportunity to corner the Papal faction was right in front of us! That damn kid ruined everything!”

The Bishop faction had recently obtained the current Pope’s weakness.

So they were planning to push mercilessly this time.

They planned to reduce the Papal faction’s influence so they couldn’t arbitrarily preside over councils anymore,

And then gradually pressure them over time, but

A variable occurred.

If this hero is really that legendary hero chosen by God from the legends,

And if he supports the Pope?

There’s a high chance that no matter what justification the Bishop faction presents, it won’t work at all.

The widely known hero is a being recognized by God and the World Tree.

“Bishop, please calm down first…”

“Calm down! What damn calm down!”

Although Bishop Batalik was raging, spitting as he spoke,

The man who spoke up had no choice but to endure with a smile.

“We gave that much support to the assassination guild!”

“I told you. We didn’t know we’d be up against such formidable opponents.”

“You call that an excuse!!!”

He was the master of the assassination guild that failed this mission.

“Let’s be grateful that the survivors at least sent a report. Right? Thanks to that, we’ve gained a second chance.”

“Sigh, right. You yourself mentioned a second chance.”

Bishop Batalik closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and said,

“Do it properly this time. If you fail, I won’t let it slide.”

“How could I not?”

The guild master grinned as he took out a thin, sharp needle.

“Whether it’s a hero or a dragon, they all die the same when hit with a poison needle.”

He was very confident.

‘It’s nothing, I just need to use all the organization’s capabilities for sure, right?’

It wasn’t.

“…Huh?”

“Boss, this bastard is laughing with a blank expression.”

“Ricky, you were the same that day, are you in any position to mock others?”

“Hey, I was never like that.”

He learned the lesson that mobilizing everything would result in everything being destroyed.

The price of the lesson was very expensive.