Only God
Chapter 223 - 190 Acting According to God’s Will

Chapter 223: Chapter 190 Acting According to God’s Will

Eclipses kept appearing on the earth.

And when it rains, it pours; a new war was coming to the walls of Ajia.

Queen Isis’s hands trembled lightly as she held the parchment before her. She almost fainted, disbelievingly staring at everything written on it.

The King, seeing his mother’s panic, asked Queen Isis in confusion,

"Mother, what is the matter?"

Queen Isis’s voice trembled,

"The ’tyrant’ Claudiu, who conquered many nations, is declaring war on us..."

The King didn’t realize the severity of the situation and seemed somewhat excited,

"Then Mother, after the great war, will there not be a grand celebration?"

Queen Isis looked at her son with complex eyes and then slowly shook her head.

"My son, what will you do without me?"

She said in a mournful tone before turning her head away, no longer paying attention to the current King.

Her son was growing more and more like his father.

Though a monarch by title, the King rarely involved himself in politics; he had no interest in the power struggles with ministers and lacked the sharpness and insight expected of a king, instead showing enthusiasm for poetry, harps, and other pleasures.

This greatly disappointed Queen Isis.

The King didn’t understand why his mother said those words but didn’t dare to inquire further.

"Summon the ministers."

Queen Isis said.

.........

Shortly thereafter, the ministers of Ajia Kingdom entered the Palace to meet the King.

Though it was a meeting with the King, their gaze was constantly on Queen Isis.

Queen Isis commanded a servant to read the contents of the parchment to the ministers.

As every word and sentence from the parchment reached their ears, the ministers showed expressions of panic and surprise, a tense atmosphere enveloping the palace.

"Queen Isis... is this... true?"

Prime Minister Ibia stepped forward, his voice trembling.

Although the King had a Princess, she stayed deep within the palace quarters and rarely appeared in public. Furthermore, the King wasn’t the actual ruler of the kingdom; as the son of Isis and Oton, he was merely a ceremonial monarch.

Also, due to longstanding custom, the ministers still addressed her as "Queen" Isis, and she herself greatly rejected the title "Queen Mother."

Because the term "Queen" carried a connotation of joint ruler, sharing the throne, whereas "Queen Mother" suggested isolation, secluded deep within the palace quarters, uninvolved in worldly affairs.

Facing the Prime Minister’s question, Queen Isis nodded expressionlessly.

The ministers gasped sharply.

The successive eclipses had already caused significant unrest across Ajia Kingdom, with mobs ready to act everywhere. The ministers could only placate the populations time and again by distributing food and livestock, barely maintaining stability.

And now, Queen Isis brought the news of Claudiu’s declaration of war.

This could not but cause alarm among them all.

They had all heard the rumors of the "tyrant" whose wars brought only slaughter, not glory.

The ministers sensed that when the great war would erupt, its ferocity would far exceed that against the Beastman allied forces of King Chenfeng.

"My lords, prepare yourselves."

Queen Isis faced the panicked ministers, and as the pillar of the Kingdom, she could not show cowardice.

Therefore, she said in a high voice,

"Gather the heroes of the Kingdom, for if we do not win this war, only destruction awaits."

.........

In the blink of an eye, two months passed,

At the Queen’s command, the heroes of Ajia Kingdom once again assembled beneath the Royal City.

The entire Royal City, faced with the frequent eclipses, did not become numb with habit; instead, the regularity of the eclipses deepened their fear.

The soldiers preparing for war, the impending battle, brought a solemn and heavy atmosphere to the Three-eyed Ape People.

"Tyrant" Claudiu, whenever someone mentioned this name in the streets, it often scared children into crying.

His acts of brutality were widely spread among the Three-eyed Ape People.

Some Three-eyed Ape People attempted to foresee what would happen, only to be shocked to find that they could see nothing, as if the Prophetic God Kagawus did not allow them to make predictions about it.

The unknown was the greatest source of fear.

In fear, people could only turn to their long-held beliefs.

In the Great Temple of Ajia Kingdom, countless Three-eyed Ape People visited daily, offering up offerings as rich as they could, sometimes precious ivory and gold, sometimes rare and exotic spices and furs, and even some offered all their possessions, pleading for the eclipses to cease and for peace to return.

In the Royal City, besides the Great Temple, many previously abandoned temples were now filled with offerings, sacrifices to the Divine, and also the fears of mortals.

Prophet Noen counted the remaining days in the New Rule Garden.

There had now been five sets of seven eclipses, in other words, thirty-five times.

The day spoken of by the Divine was fast approaching.

Outside the New Rule Garden, it was crowded with people coming to pray and offer sacrifices.

In the past, the most seen in New Rule Garden were the Stone Slaves or free citizens, but in these days, pure-blooded Three-eyed Ape People also set foot in this New Rule Garden, kneeling on the ground in an even more humble posture than the Stone Slaves to pray.

Noen did not reject them; he would turn away no one, just as God would not forsake anyone.

For the newly arrived Three-eyed Ape People nobles, Noen had people teach them to recite prayers and led them in prayer, and Noen’s actions were all recorded by Xilan on either papyrus or parchment.

The Nobles wanted to make sacrifices, offering up their wealth. Noen only took some of it, returning the rest to them, and those donations, the Prophet used to buy wheat, cattle, and sheep, either storing it in the New Rule Garden or distributing it to the poor.

In response, Xilan made the following record:

[They saw that the Prophet took very little, and their hearts were uneasy. A noble said:

"Prophet, people say you are from God,

Why do you not make more sacrifices to God, collect more tributes?

When God sees so many sacrifices, how can He not be pleased?"

Hearing this, Noen asked,

"I ask you, do I act according to the will of man, or the will of God?"

The nobles then said,

"Certainly, it is according to the will of God."

Noen then said,

"Since you know I come from God and act according to God’s will,

how then do you know that making more sacrifices will please God?"

The nobles were left speechless and did not bring it up again.

Prophet Noen did so because he understood that everything he did was watched over by God in heaven, witnessed by Him, and known by Him.]