Free Web NovelChapter 151: Chapter 151 Harvest Mother Cult_1
In other words, although the uprising of the Flying Spaghetti Cult was unsuccessful, the Old Lese Kingdom still completely fell due to the combined effects of internal strife and external threats.
Having listened to Rebecca’s explanation, Aiden pondered, "The Old Lese Kingdom was sandwiched between the Gistas Kingdom and the Dragon Spine Empire, right?"
"Correct, it has now been split into three different states, two under the Empire and the remaining one under Gistas."
"Isn’t that very close to the Banquet Forest?" Aiden realized something.
He remembered the location of the Banquet Forest, which was indeed in line with the northeast direction of Gistas as well as the southeast side of the Dragon Spine Empire.
"It seems so. The Old Lese Kingdom was on the western side of the Banquet Forest," Rebecca also nodded in agreement.
"Then the Flying Spaghetti Cult was established by a witch in the Lese Kingdom. Could it be related to the Witch’s Gathering in any way?" Aiden proposed a hypothesis.
But Rebecca objected, "Although the Witch’s Gathering had an embryonic form a long time ago... to be precise, the Witch’s Gathering only became active in the last few decades, after the ’Divine Witch’ Abigail emerged dramatically."
"That makes sense," Aiden agreed with a nod.
The "Divine Witch" Abigail was the organizer of the Witch’s Gathering, which was convened annually in the Banquet Forest by her own initiative. It was because she made the Banquet Forest her residence and the venue for the Witch’s Gathering that the forest came to be known as the Banquet Forest — before that, the place apparently was simply and aptly called the Foggy Forest.
Abigail’s fame had risen more than fifty years ago, even later than Lamia’s emergence, and the contemporary Witch’s Gathering began its resurgence after her appearance.
Merely based on geographical proximity and the record of a witch founding the Flying Spaghetti Cult, it’s still insufficient to assert any connection between the Flying Spaghetti Cult and the Witch’s Gathering.
In view of this, it seemed there wasn’t much significance in delving into the study of the Flying Spaghetti Cult brought by the predecessor traveler.
This cult was but a brief phenomenon in history and had vanished; it wasn’t even the most notable among all the uprisings that took place before the downfall of the Old Lese Kingdom, with the suspected witch traveler predecessor not even leaving behind a name.
However, in Aiden’s view, although the uprising did not succeed, this predecessor still managed to do something sensational. At least, she had more ambition than someone like him, who was rekindling his old life in a different world in hopes of living a stable and uneventful life. He had a great deal of respect for her. ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm
But just then, Aiden suddenly took notice of another detail: "This page is marked as an annex; what file is it attached to?"
From the memories he had inherited, the content within such annexes in the archives of the Inquisition often had some relevance to the corresponding main files, but the relevance wasn’t very tight, only serving as supplemental data and reference material.
"Oh, this is actually an annex to the files of the Harvest Mother Cult," Rebecca answered. freeweɓnøvel.com
"The Harvest Mother Cult? That sounds familiar..." Aiden thought for a moment, "And it seems similar to the state religion of the Old Lese Kingdom."
"It’s a heretical organization that has been active for a long while in the Dragon Spine Empire and Gistas, initially flying the flag of reviving the Earth Mother Religion of the Old Lese Kingdom. They mainly operate within the three states that split from the Old Lese Kingdom and are designated as heretics by both the northern and southern nations," Rebecca explained, "Because in recent years there have been signs of activity within the autonomous region, the Inquisition has established a file, and historical information from the final period of the Old Lese Kingdom has also been included as an annex."
"Is this Harvest Mother Cult aiming for national independence to revive the old kingdom?" Aiden inquired.
The Old Lese Kingdom combined political and religious power, where the Earth Mother Religion and the royal family were bound together. To attempt to revive the state religion of the Old Kingdom on the ruins of the extinguished kingdom is akin to restoration and it’s no surprise that the Empire and Gistas, who divided up the Old Kingdom, consider it heresy.
"Hmm, there are rumors that the current leader who controls the Harvest Mother Cult is actually the surviving offspring of the Old Lese royal family," Rebecca answered.
"After all these years, they still haven’t given up?" Aiden chuckled, "Quite persistent, but it seems rather futile."
Rebecca also nodded, "Yes, before the Old Lese Kingdom was partitioned, the Earth Mother Religion already held little status among the folk. After so many years have passed, there are almost no followers of the Earth Mother Religion left, so reviving this religion really seems pointless."
"But you just mentioned that this cult is active in the autonomous region, so it still exists?" Aiden asked again.
"Yes, honestly..." Rebecca hesitated for a moment before continuing, "It is actually developing quite well. The Empire and Gistas have been trying to eradicate this heresy, but to no avail. Instead, the cult has been growing stronger in recent years."
"Why?" Aiden was a bit surprised, "Didn’t you say there was no longer any fertile ground for faith?"
"Umm..." Rebecca suddenly stalled, hesitated for a long while, and then pushed the question back, "I also... can’t quite remember, why don’t you go check it out yourself in the bureau’s archives? You should still have access there, shouldn’t you?"
Aiden frowned slightly, and Rebecca shifted her gaze away.
He indeed retained some level of access at the Heresy Tribunal, and quite high at that—after all, he was still carrying out the important task of guarding Melifilia on behalf of the Heresy Tribunal.
But Rebecca’s reaction was obviously not one of ignorance or poor memory, but reluctance to speak.
Rebecca had deliberately taken the effort to bring over the documents from the Harvest Mother Cult that Aiden was interested in, so there was no reason for her to suddenly direct him to check for himself.
Could it be that the cult had some embarrassing secret that was difficult to speak of?
Aiden felt his curiosity being piqued.
Just at that moment, the door to the office was knocked.
"Come in!" Aiden called out.
The door opened, and a prison guard walked into the office, saluted Aiden, "Warden, there’s been a situation reported from Cell Block Two..."
"What situation? Speak clearly," Aiden urged.
Cell Block Two was an ordinary block. Compared to the inmates of the core blocks, these prisoners didn’t practice black magic, had no special powers, and were no different from the inmates Aiden had managed in his past life, thus requiring less management. Therefore, it was rare for situations to arise that needed Aiden’s direct intervention.
"Well..." The guard hesitated slightly before saying, "They claim... it seems like there’s a ghost in the cell."
