North Shore of Conquest, a major city in southern Castile, Truva.
Truva at night was peaceful and silent. In a suite at a high-end hotel near the port, a faint Light shone. Dorothy, dressed in pajamas, sat on the room's sofa, reviewing the knowledge from other worlds she had recently exchanged using the Wolf Blood Society secret transmission and miscellaneous library information, confirming their origins and uses.
There were two pieces of knowledge from other worlds exchanged this time. The first, 'Vodou Secret Rules,' came from a world almost identical to the Earth she previously inhabited. She had heard of Vodou before.
Vodou is a religion originating in West Africa, a product of the West African natives' resistance against the religious invasion of European colonizers. It is said that during the colonial movement on Earth, powerful colonizers occupied the natives' land and enslaved them, also bringing their own religion, Christianity.
The colonizers forcibly spread their Christianity to the natives, making them convert, but the natives did not want to abandon their original inherited beliefs. However, they were unable to resist the colonizers' powerful military force, so they devised a method of feigned belief. The natives blended their original deities with the Christian God and saints, worshipping the colonizers' Lord as their own God, while also integrating their own religious rituals into Christianity. Under the shell of Christianity, they preserved the core of their original beliefs to resist the colonizers' religious invasion.
After continuous development and the blending of various other miscellaneous elements, this special way of belief finally formed Vodou. On the Earth Dorothy originally inhabited, Vodou continued to flourish and was even the state religion in some countries.
The 'Vodou Secret Rules' in Dorothy's hands are the experiences and rules accumulated by the West African natives during the early period of Vodou when they feigned belief. Due to the significant similarities between the current situation of Natsuki and the West African natives, much of the content can serve as a reference for Dorothy.
The other piece of knowledge is 'Nansha Cross Church: Volume of City Concealment.' The content of this knowledge comes from the world of 'A Certain Magical Index,' and the Earth world Dorothy previously inhabited actually had similar content.
Nansha Cross Church is a product formed after Christianity, or rather, the Christianity of 'A Certain Magical Index' world, was introduced to ancient Japan. Christianity began to spread widely in Japan during the Sengoku period. After the Sengoku period ended and the Edo period began, the Shogunate government, which unified the country, abolished the spread of Christianity to consolidate its power and began persecuting Christians nationwide. Under the high pressure of the Shogunate, Japanese Christians were forced underground, becoming an underground Church.
Having gone underground, Nansha Cross Church constantly lived under the pursuit of the Shogunate authorities and therefore had to exhaust all methods to hide their beliefs. During their long-term resistance, they created a series of actions for conducting secret religious activities, specializing in operating behind the scenes.
For example, they would combine Christian doctrines with Shintoism and Buddhism to a limited extent, worshipping the Christian Lord and saints as gods or Buddhas. They would conceal various religious activities within their ordinary daily lives, secretly performing rituals or chants during seemingly normal daily activities like talking, dressing, walking, and eating, using everyday life to deceive the Shogunate and maintain their faith in secret.
And this 'Nansha Cross Church: Volume of City Concealment' describes such a method of integrating religious activities into daily life. It records methods and insights on how to simplify, conceal, and normalize various rituals. If read completely, one could even conduct religious activities in a busy City area in broad daylight.
Although the name Nansha Cross Church is unique to the world of 'A Certain Magical Index,' there were actually similar organizations in ancient Japan in the Earth world Dorothy came from. The Christianity in 'A Certain Magical Index' is also similar to Christianity.
Vodou is a primitive religion of the West African people who sought to preserve their beliefs, worshipping the Christian Lord and saints as their own gods. Nansha Cross Church is the Christianity of ancient Japanese Christians who sought to preserve their beliefs, worshipping the gods and Buddhas of Shintoism and Buddhism as the Lord or saints.
Although these two appear completely opposite, their essence is actually the same. Both are methods reluctantly employed under the oppression of a powerful authority to preserve one's beliefs. Both are methods of covert resistance spontaneously developed by people in their struggle against powerful authority. Although the deities worshipped in these two pieces of knowledge are completely different, they are both valuable experiences accumulated by resistors during the process of resistance, which will be of great help to Dorothy in carrying out her subsequent work.
'With these two things, plus the Wolf Blood Society secret transmission, my reference materials are quite abundant. Now I just need to wait to get the detailed information on Natsuki's faith, and I can formally help them draft a guide for feigned conversion. With so many references here, it won't be difficult at all to put together.'
'This way, Vanya and the other pilgrims will be safe, the people of Natsuki will be saved, the Church's influence will expand, and I will also gain more Spirituality. Everyone benefits... It feels like a happy ending for all. Is there really no one losing out in this scenario where everyone wins?'
Sitting on the sofa, Dorothy thought contemplatively. After carefully considering the series of encounters Natsuki had, a thought sparked in her mind.
'Speaking of which, how did Natsuki, a native of a southern island with little contact with the outside world, get such detailed information about the pilgrim fleet's lack of escorts, enabling them to accurately attack along the fleet's route?'
'The timing and location were so perfect; this must have been an ambush specifically arranged after obtaining sufficient intelligence. But information from the Church is not easily acquired. This couldn't have been divination; even I cannot break through the Church's anti-divination defenses, let alone Natsuki.'
'So... Natsuki must have obtained this information through some special channel. It seems I can ask them about it later.'
Sitting on the sofa, Dorothy pondered in her mind. Afterward, she shifted her attention back to Natsuki's side, preparing to proceed with the next steps.
...
At this time, Xia Shu Island was still in darkness. After successfully persuading Anman, Anman decided to convene the elders of all islands tomorrow morning to discuss the matter of feigned conversion. He also promised Vanya that after the discussion yielded results, he would send a letter to the Church and open Natsuki's documents to Vanya so she could send them to her tribe's Priest, allowing him to refer to them and formulate a suitable feigned conversion plan for Natsuki.
However, Dorothy did not want to wait that long. She immediately signaled Vanya, telling her to tell Anman that if he wanted to persuade the elders during the discussion, he must immediately present some feasible methods for them to see. Otherwise, disagreements might lead to prolonged wrangling, causing them to miss the best opportunity to express their conversion.
If they waited until the Church's rescue team forcibly rescued some hostages, or until the fleet arrived at Natsuki's doorstep before choosing to convert, their sincerity would be greatly reduced, and whether others would accept it would be a question.
Therefore, time is of the essence now. Before the Church takes actual action, they must release the people and convert first. All Natsuki high-level officials must quickly reach a consensus. Although Anman, the Natsuki Priest, holds the most important highest position in Natsuki, he cannot completely disregard the opinions of others. If they cannot present a few specific implementation methods during the discussion, it will not be enough to convince everyone.
Therefore, Vanya told Anman that she wished to check the Xia Shu Island documents now. She could have the Priest of her tribe help overnight to first come up with a few methods for hidden rituals, and then Anman could use these methods to persuade the other Elders tomorrow.
"Overnight... that is to say, you can contact your Priest right now, and he is also willing to help us think of methods now? That's very thoughtful... But if it's only one night... can we really devise a suitable hidden method for us?"
On Natsuki's sacrificial square, Anman said to Vanya with a slight frown, while Vanya nodded in response.
"Don't worry, our Priest is a very knowledgeable, widely read, and capable person. We have rich experience in hiding faith. Although we can't devise a complete plan in one night, coming up with a small part to help you better convince those Elders is not a problem."
"A very capable Priest? In that case... we'll trouble you..."
Anman responded to Vanya like this, then he led Vanya towards his longhouse. In a hidden room behind the longhouse, Vanya saw the Natsuki documents collected by the Fengshu Priest. They were scrolls of animal skins stored high up, and a small number of yellowed ancient books.
After obtaining these animal skins with copied texts and ancient books, Dorothy had Vanya draw a magic circle on the ground and set up a meaningless ritual. Then she had her place these animal skin scrolls and ancient books one by one within the magic circle to examine them. In Anman's eyes, Vanya seemed to be using this ritual to transmit the content of the documents to the Priest of her tribe.
And the truth was similar, except that Dorothy was not some Fertility Priest, and this magic circle was useless. Dorothy was completely using Vanya's vision to slowly read through all the Natsuki documents collected by Anman.
Just like this, Dorothy began to gain a preliminary understanding of the Xiatree Islands and Natsuki's Fertility faith.
What Dorothy understood were Natsuki's writing and language. She checked detailed translations of Natsuki writing and Iweig writing, and textbooks for Natsuki people learning Iweig language. She found that the difference between Natsuki language and the languages of the entire Main Continent was not very far. It had many similarities with Iweig language and should have also evolved from the Main Continent's common language, empire language. During the Third Epoch, Natsuki should have also been a part of the Empire. Natsuki language was not a language completely independent of empire language like the New World's Spirit Seal Language.
Because Natsuki language was also a remote branch evolved from empire language, the learning difficulty was not high for Dorothy, who had already mastered several branches of empire language. She had a good grasp of it within half an hour. Subsequently, when Dorothy read through other Natsuki documents, she encountered almost no significant obstacles.
Having mastered the language, Dorothy's research into the Natsuki documents began. Most of these documents were ordinary documents without Spirit Sight. A part of them were brief historical documents of Natsuki, recording various events over the past few hundred years on the Natsuki islands, times of natural disasters, including the list of past Priests and Elders, etc. A part were production documents of Natsuki, recording the essentials of island agriculture, the fishing techniques and shipbuilding techniques that Natsuki had continued from ancient times to the present, etc. A part were various customs, rituals, and sacrificial norms of Natsuki, most of which were related to the Fertility Goddess.
Dorothy naturally focused her main attention on the third part of the documents, which was also the part with the most Spirit Sight. After studying this part of the documents, Dorothy gained a concrete impression of the Fertility faith in the eyes of the Natsuki people.
In the faith of the Natsuki people, the Fertility Goddess is a goddess who advocates natural harmony, and is benevolent and kind. She governs the authorities of life, forests, fertility, harvest, nature, etc. She is the mother of all life, the mother of all things, the mother of fertility, and the goddess of the earth mother.
When the Natsuki people engage in production and life activities, they will pray to this Madam, praying for a good harvest of crops, praying for a good harvest of fish, praying for children, praying for peace and health. The temple of the Mother of Fertility is located in the forest, in an open-air state that is close to nature.
In short, the Mother of Fertility in Natsuki faith is a typical image of a harvest god, a nurturing god, and a nature god. Various religious activities in Natsuki are basically centered around Her.
Besides the Mother of Fertility, Natsuki also believes in a deity named the Wave Walker, also known as the Wave Strider. This is the Sea God revered by the Natsuki people. Legend has it that He is the loyal messenger and guardian of the Fertility Goddess, and the Goddess entrusted the sea to Him to control. For the Natsuki people, who are islanders and live on the sea for a long time, the Wave Strider is also an important deity. Before going out to sea, they will always pray to Him for the calmness of the sea.
On the sacrificial square, the saint altar with fish offerings and blooming flowers belongs to the Wave Strider. All the Natsuki warriors respect the Wave Strider even more. They believe that their ability to control water comes from the Wave Strider's personal guidance to their ancestors.
Yes, on Natsuki, the Extraordinary branch of the Wave Path is inherited. They have all the rituals of the Wave Path from Apprentice to Chalk here. The warriors of Natsuki are Extraordinary of the Wave Path, just like the Sea Abyss Church.
Natsuki inherits a method of Spirituality accumulation called the Tide Bathing Method. Beneath the surface of the great sea, there exists a unique current called the "Fertile Current". The seawater that makes up this current is said to be the essence of the ocean, a current of spirits created by nature.
This Fertile Current drifts erratically beneath the surface of the sea, appearing and disappearing, rushing around the entire great sea in a direction completely different from normal currents. The sea areas through which this current flows become more fertile, and the creatures in the sea are naturally attracted to this current.
Experienced Natsuki people can determine the location of this elusive current by observing the subtle movements of fish schools in the great sea. After sailing to a location above the current, they jump into the great sea, dive to find the current's position, and after finding it, they swim forward along the current in a specific manner together with numerous marine creatures. During this process, they absorb Spirituality from the current and from the ocean itself. Occasionally, they can even find some wonderful treasures within the Fertile Current.
This Fertile Current is very scarce and its Spirituality is thin in shallow sea areas, but it is more abundant and rich in Spirituality in deeper seas. Therefore, for Natsuki's Extraordinary, diving into deeper sea areas can activate more Spirituality, but they also face higher risks. Deep diving not only tests physical fitness, but in deeper seas, there are ferocious large carnivorous marine creatures roaming, and even strange and peculiar sea beasts inhabiting them. They are also attracted by this Fertile Current, which is an extremely dangerous test for Natsuki's Extraordinary who want to deep dive to obtain more Spirituality. Almost every year, Natsuki warriors who deep dive are unable to surface for different reasons. They either die in the high-pressure environment of the deep sea darkness or die from dangerous marine predators. Therefore, practicing such a Spirituality accumulation method requires immense courage.
This is Natsuki's Tide Bathing Method, a very dangerous Spirituality accumulation method that seeks the sea's bounty through continuous diving. It is a Spirituality accumulation method inherited from ancient times, belonging to warriors.
And Natsuki itself is also a remnant of the powerful Fertility faith's ocean branch from a thousand years ago.