Holy Wing Islands, the capital of Shila Kingdom.
The news that the church will hold the Divine Advent ceremony in three days has spread throughout the city—not only did they put notices at the gate of the Central Holy See, but they also publicized it in various neighborhoods, informing everyone that the gods were about to reappear in Sheila.
"The meeting with the ambassador is also scheduled for the ceremony?" Xia Fan took the invitation from the butler and scanned it briefly.
"Yes." The steward replied respectfully, "This shows that the church attaches great importance to its connection with the East. By then, the entire city of Shila will know the existence of your country."
"I understand, the angel group will prepare the itinerary that day."
"Thank you for your cooperation." The butler said happily, "If you need anything, you can inform me at any time."
"Wait a minute." When the other party was about to turn around and leave, Xia Fan stopped him, "I heard that the screening of the new Son of the Holy Spirit seems to be carried out at the same time as the ceremony of God's presence. Is this true?"
"Yes. This grand ceremony will last for one day. The Church of Hera has arranged a number of matters for this purpose, and the selection of the Son of the Holy Spirit is also one of them." The steward replied in a straight-forward manner.
"But weren't the sons of the Holy Spirit in the past selected by traveling around?"
"This situation is quite special." The steward smiled, "However, the Son of the Holy Spirit himself is a person recognized by God. In this case, wouldn't it be more convincing for God to personally select him?"
After he left the drawing room, Olina came out from behind another door.
"What do you think of this statement?" Xia Fan asked.
"Theoretically speaking, there is nothing wrong with it..." Dragon Girl muttered, "In the past, the baptism of the gods only appeared in the last step. Now it is equivalent to eliminating the intermediate steps, which can indeed greatly shorten the selection process of the Holy Son. But... She hesitated, "I'm still a little worried."
According to Olina, candidates for the Holy Son need to spend one to two years traveling around the Holy Wing Islands to show off their talents and abilities to believers from all over the world. It is essentially like a talent show. In this process, the child favored by the most believers will become the Son and gain the power to perform divine magic after being baptized.
This is also the point that makes Xia Fan most curious - the magic of the West does not seem to need to be learned, but is given by gods for specific reasons. Once the belief is unstable, these magics will disappear. There is no such problem with the technique.
Nowadays, the church obviously no longer intends to follow the past rules. They select so many candidates at one time not only to show that the church is "abundant", but also to facilitate God to directly select suitable children as sons of the Holy Spirit.
There is no doubt that if the Advent ceremony is successful, all the doubts facing the church will be solved.
After all, in the Holy Wing Islands, Hera is not some vague and illusory legendary thing.
It is visible and tangible.
Therefore, the most straightforward way to counter the rumors of the fall of the gods is to ask Hera to come forward.
"How about this? You can act together with the ambassador that day." Xia Fan pondered for a moment and said, "We are keeping an eye on the vampire side, so there is little chance of problems. But the ambassador needs Wu Yue to pretend to be me. If he makes any mistakes, you can remind him."
This is exactly the plan that Xia Fan proposed a few days ago.
Wu Yuelai, a trainee captain of the Baisha, dressed up as the head of the mission and attended the diplomatic conference held by the church on his behalf. The two have similar bodies, and the other spent another week imitating Xia Fan's words and deeds. Although it was not perfect, it could not arouse suspicion. After all, it had been so many days since the mission had been in Hilla City. Except for the housekeeper, few people in the church had seen Xia Fan. Taxis, the one they were most familiar with, was locked up in a solitary room, and Captain Sedaro, the second most familiar person, was There was only one face-to-face meeting, and the invitation for a visit was politely declined because of busy work. As a result, there was no solid impression within the church of what the Eastern Ambassador was like.
This is much easier than replacing the acquaintances you live with day and night.
As long as they speak less during the ceremony and follow the diplomatic regulations, the church probably won't notice that the envoy has changed partners.
"But if I don't go...who will help you evacuate?" Olina was still hesitant.
"Isn't it possible to not be discovered?" Xia Fan comforted her in a relaxed tone, "Don't worry, even if you can take us to escape from Sheila, we can't fly across the endless sea. If the White Sands is detained, we still can't leave. It’s far away, so it’s equally important to help me look over there at the church.”
Olina was silent for a while and then lowered her head, "I understand... thank you."
"If Oren doesn't choose the Holy Son, take him back to Jinxia." Xia Fan patted her shoulder.
The dragon girl raised her head, with a smile in her eyes, "Yeah!"
At this time, Feleyton knocked on the door and came in, "Mr. Xia, I asked about Taksis. The verdict of Yongyi is out."
"Oh?" Xia Fan turned around, "What is it?"
"With the ability to be imprisoned, return to the path of ascending the dragon." Feleyton replied.
…
Three days passed in a blink of an eye, and under the careful arrangements of the church, the city of Hilla ushered in a grand scene that had not been seen for more than ten years.
The walls of the upper city are covered with bright silks, and colorful flags fluttering in the wind can be seen everywhere in the streets and alleys; around the core of the Holy See area, the ground is even covered with strips of red carpets, and there are free tickets at several street intersections. Drinks were distributed, attracting a large number of onlookers who joined in the fun.
The last time such a grand ceremony was held was when Pella IV was crowned.
Such a bold arrangement also dispelled many people's suspicions.
Wanting to dress up the huge royal capital in a few days is not just a matter of money - without the concerted efforts of tens of thousands of believers and the cooperation of many nobles and businessmen, no one can easily do this. . In the eyes of the people, the Central Holy See is still the only force with great organizational capabilities and the ability to unify forces.
"Woo————"
"Welcome the envoys from the Eastern Continent to the God's Arrival Ceremony!"
Amidst the deep sound of the long horn, Olina and others walked through the white marble palace door and entered the square of the inner courtyard of the Holy See.
This place has been transformed into a place suitable for holding ceremonies. Except for the direction facing the door, several rows of stone steps have been built on the other three sides for ordinary guests to sit. A little further up is the "Seating Area" - the platform originally adjacent to the square is filled with round tables and benches. The people sitting on this floor can tell by their appearance that they are of extraordinary origin, and they are basically nobles and wealthy businessmen.
As for the church area on the top floor of the inner courtyard, it is obviously the exclusive place for church senior officials and important guests.
"Please come this way." The receptionist led the envoys all the way to the entrance of the cathedral, and finally arranged to take seats on the left side of the upper area. Everyone was only about ten steps away from the red priests.