"The secondborn son walked on fertile land, and when he bent down, there were ears of wheat, and when he reached out, he could pick sweet fruits, and there were countless cattle and sheep in the valley."
"His father, the shepherd, warned him not to go into the crypt; otherwise, he would bring suffering to the land."
"The secondborn did not know what suffering was, and day after day, his curiosity grew and could not be suppressed. He eventually went into the crypt, and suffering came to the land."
"The demon spirit, hidden in the dark and unable to see the light, said to him,
'You have released suffering, but the sin brought by suffering is attached to your body. Only by transforming into another appearance can you bear this sin.'"
"The secondborn believed the demon spirit's words and transformed into another appearance, making this appearance ugly and possible to bear sin so that his true appearance could stay far from that sin."
— The words of god : The Age of Revelation
Adam ate a pickled vegetable pancake, leaning against a bookshelf, reading another copy of the words of God, while Master Alva snored, sleeping in a chair in the distance.
Today, after another morning of exploring the church, Adam was permitted to read some books here during noon.
It must be said that the Holy Sound Church's public education was quite good. Every so often, priests would go to each household to explain the scripture and teach children to read.
However, perhaps because the theology school raised its admission standards, fewer and fewer priests were willing to explain to each household like this. For those priests, the knowledge they gained by paying a considerable sum to enter the theology school should not be given away for free to others, even if it was just the basics; they felt it was a loss.
Furthermore, after the admission standards were raised, those capable of entering the theology school were either wealthy merchants or nobles, and these two types of people generally looked down on commoners; their nature determined their attitude towards commoners.
Adam put down the book in his hand. That passage in the book explained the origin of Otherkinds, like werewolves.
They transformed into another appearance to bear sin; thus, Otherkind were considered inherently sinful. Therefore, regardless of how Otherkind appeared outwardly, priests, upon discovering an Otherkind, mostly chose to kill them, returning them to dust.
To exist was to be full of sin.
In the afternoon, Alva's measurement work seemed to be nearing its end. Adam followed behind him and noticed another thing.
Due to the church's renovation work, some believers' baptism and worship were held in the side hall. Adam observed that one worshipper was different from the others.
Similar to ordinary worshippers, that believer's method of worship couldn't be more normal: entering through the main door, purifying hands, face, and ears, then sitting quietly to purify the heart, then kneeling before the holy sound statue, covering his eyes with both hands, and listening carefully to the sermon.
After doing all this, he covered his ears, recited the words of God, walked towards the holy sound statue, and exited through the door beneath the statue's hand.
The worship ceremony was no different, but Adam noticed that while performing all this, the worshipper emitted some sweat, and the sweat also contained a familiar scent.
"An Otherkind enduring pain to worship?" Adam knew very well what the result of an Otherkind worshipping would be. Their whole body would resist, as if a rebel army were rioting inside, bringing intense pain to them.
However, this pain could be adapted to. If the number of times was sufficient, then later it would probably just be a full-body ache and a lot of sweat, without fainting or showing more unusual symptoms.
Unfortunately, that person's sweat still exposed him. It contained the same scent as the witch doctor and werewolf from that day, suggesting he probably also took a magic potion to conceal his abnormality.
"Is it because of fear?" Adam analysed the other party's psychology. Otherkinds were considered inherent sinners; their mere existence was sinful.
In the long struggle, it wasn't as if no Otherkind had given up resistance. They acknowledged their sin and were willing to begin atonement.
Following the words of God, they became priests, day after day craving God's forgiveness. These Otherkind gained the recognition of some human priests and established the God's Tears Church.
However, the God's Tears Church did not have good relations with the other major churches. Some churches even refused to recognise it as a legitimate church, labelling it a cult.
That Otherkind worshipper was clearly not a truly devout believer willing to dedicate everything to God. The reason he came to worship before the holy sound statue now was simply out of fear of death.
With the witch doctor arrested, Otherkinds who had lost their means of concealment became increasingly fearful, yet they were not like the werewolf who attacked the execution ground, whose faith was completely shattered and who was bent on dying.
Therefore, this person fearfully came to the church to worship while also continuing to take the magic potion.
"Such people fundamentally lack faith. Everything they believe in is for themselves, and their purpose is to serve themselves." Adam remembered that person's scent: "And as long as I grasp this person's lifeline, I can control him!"
"And as long as this opening is made, using him as a signboard to gather my influence, I can win over Otherkinds."
There is strength in numbers; it's not just an empty phrase.
When you have many people, others, even if they are individually stronger than you, still dare not act. An invisible force will be formed through unity, restricting the opponent, and then they will become a member of this faction.
Of course, it doesn't rule out the possibility of a reckless person who doesn't care about anything and just relies on individual strength to fight for victory.
"So, in the early stages, a sense of mystery is needed to set the tone, hiding one's true face to maximise others' apprehension."
"But I still need to be careful." Although it was a great opportunity, Adam did not intend to act rashly.
The Holy Sound Church's attitude towards Otherkind was to exterminate them, but there were always some exceptions, so it could not be ruled out that this Otherkind was another test from the church.
And even if it wasn't a test, he needed to find out if the church members had discovered this worshipper's abnormality.
If he could discover that this person was an Otherkind by relying on the werewolf's innate keen sense of smell, then the church might also have discovered this worshiper's abnormality from other aspects.
If that were the case, he would expose himself instead.
"I can't be too hasty…" Adam told himself, but what he truly lacked most urgently right now was time.
After Alva observed the last wall that needed painting, he announced a break and told Adam to go wherever he pleased.
Although Alva didn't show it, Adam actually understood that this teacher also had an opinion of him.
"For example, he never remembers the names of people he looks down on." Adam was one of those whose names were not remembered. Even after two days together, and Alva having him do many things, he never truly called Adam by name once.
"The person he recognised was Fra." Adam didn't feel insulted by this. He had obtained this opportunity through dirty means in the first place.
Adam had a clear understanding of this but would absolutely not regret it or feel guilty because of it.
That night, Adam once again transformed into a werewolf, darting out of the attic, and began searching for his target, following the information he had gathered during the day.
"That person arrived at the church in the afternoon. Besides the magic potion, his sweat also carried the scent of toxicity, likely from the toxic area. Judging from his clothes, that person's family conditions weren't too good either."
"This can also be judged from the economic situation of another werewolf; magic potions are not cheap." Adam recalled the werewolf who attacked the execution ground. That person worked diligently but was never wealthy and had no money to marry. Before, there were even rumours among the neighbours that he was addicted to gambling.
In reality, most of that person's money was probably spent on medicine. By analogy, this indirectly corroborated that today's Otherkind worshipper had poor economic conditions.
Although he really didn't want to go to the slum area he called the toxic area, Adam once again set foot there.
An extremely dense odour permeated this street. Adam stood at the entrance of the street, raising his head as if he could see a huge yellowish-green monster crouching in mid-air, grinning at him.
Public hygiene in this era was extremely poor. Many people believed that water was impure, so they barely bathed throughout their lives.
The commoner district was a bit better, with some public toilets built by the Heavenly Sound Country. People in the slum couldn't care less; they directly dumped their waste onto the streets, mixed with various horse manures, compacted by carriage wheels, forming a new layer of road.
Therefore, Adam called the slum the toxic area.