Give Me the Name of God

A fire broke out in the Varuto Forest at the junction of Romulu Country and Bayer Country. Manda received the news and ignored it.

In this era, humans are powerless against forest fires, not to mention that this forest is somewhat special. According to Lacius' description, black velvet worms first appeared in this forest. After the fire, black velvet worms basically disappeared.

The vampire disease in Jiaoye City is almost extinct. Although people infected with the disease will not be able to see the light of day in their lifetime, as long as they sit by the fire and roast for a whole day, they will forever lose the desire to bite people. Naturally, diseases that cannot be spread are not considered Disease.

In October, Hestia harvested more than 20,000 pearls, which was much worse than Demeter's results.

In terms of contribution, this is a bit unfair to Hestia. Demeter sent a bumper harvest, but Hestia prevented the disease many times. The contribution of the goddess of the hearth and fire was by no means inferior to that of the god of agriculture.

Hestia didn't care about this. In the past, the faith he gained was as good as Hera's. It was considered lucky to have more than a dozen pearls in one day.

This month's harvest rivals those of the past dozen years, and the harvest continues after October ends.

Mortals are forgetful. After getting a good harvest, they quickly forgot about the god of agriculture. Moreover, Manda also ordered that the god of agriculture be banned outside September. The god of agriculture only harvested less than 2,000 pearls in October. , these beliefs come from some devout farmers secretly making sacrifices at home.

In November, Hestia's harvest did not drop sharply, and she was still harvesting hundreds of pearls every day, which even Hermes was surprised.

Mortals were accustomed to offering sacrifices to Hestia, for the place with the hearth was Hestia's altar. Mortals do not have the energy to organize grand sacrifices all the time, but they are used to putting a piece of bread and a jar of wine in front of the stove. When life is a little easier, they can also put a small piece of meat, even if it is fresh wild vegetables picked from the mountains. , and a plate must be placed on the stove.

November is the month of Artemis, which may have violated her interests, but Manda still ignored it.

The government order clearly states that public sacrifices to other gods are not allowed.

Placing some sacrifices on the stove at home is not a public sacrifice, and Manda has no right to interfere.

Of course, the protagonist of November is the goddess of hunting. The hunters who have been waiting for a long time finally come to their home court.

Hunters mostly live a poor life. They do not have a stable harvest every year like farmers, but this does not mean that they will be stingy in sacrifices.

As the oldest profession in the world, most hunters maintain ancient beliefs. They are willing to use their few savings to prepare luxurious sacrifices for the goddess, and are also willing to contribute their most precious prey to their goddess.

On the first day of November, Artemis harvested 10,000 pearls. In normal times, Artemis could harvest almost 10,000 pearls in a year. Now she earns a year's income in one day. Artemis Si didn't feel surprised, but he didn't feel disappointed either.

He felt that he deserved this harvest. Mortals did not embarrass Him, so there was no need to punish him. As for rewards, that was overthinking.

"The ceremony is too rough, you have forgotten too many rules," Artemis looked at the mortal world with contempt, "This is just the beginning, you have only achieved the most basic piety."

Hermes heard Artemis's words through the talisman. He summoned hundreds of clones and shook their heads together: "This is not the beginning, but the end."

On the second day of November, the grand sacrifice reached its climax. Hunters divided the kingdom into hundreds of areas according to ancient traditions. Hunters within a few dozen miles of an area gathered together and lifted Al The statue of Themis danced the unique dance of hunters and traveled to every corner of the forest. They prayed along the way and brought sacrifices and blessings to the goddess.

On this day, Artemis harvested 20,000 pearls. She piled the pearls randomly in the temple as a show off and as a mockery of the gods. After all, the harvest in two days had exceeded Hestia's harvest in a month. reward.

The hunters also had a good harvest, and they all harvested black velvet worms that night.

On the third day, there was no sacrifice.

The hunters huddled under the statue of Artemis and waited for death.

People infected with black velvet worm will die within a day and a night. Now that the night has passed, there is still one day left for them.

A middle-aged hunter was crying: "Why is this happening? Are we not pious enough?"

The old hunter gasped: "We must have done something wrong. The ritual process may not be right."

A young hunter shouted: "Even if there is a little negligence in the process, we shouldn't be punished like this! When farmers sacrifice to the God of Agriculture, there is no process at all, they just send the sacrifices to the temple!"

Another young hunter shouted: "Even the Goddess of Kitchen Fire, there is no need to send sacrifices to the temple, only a jar of wine is placed on the altar! The goddess also sent blessings, and my wife's illness has been cured!"

"The goddess of hunting is so cruel to us. We are so devoted to her. We have done nothing wrong!"

The old hunter kicked the young hunter: "Don't talk nonsense! You can't blaspheme the goddess!"

"So what if it's blasphemy!" the middle-aged hunter roared, "We're about to die, so what's there to be afraid of!"

The old hunter said angrily: "Even if we die, we must return to the embrace of the goddess."

"I won't go into her arms, I don't want to see her again!" The middle-aged hunter wanted to get up. "If I still had the strength, I really wanted to smash her statue. No god would be as vicious as her! "

There was a cry of mourning under the statue of Artemis, and a young hunter suddenly shouted: "Our campfire is still lit, pray to the goddess of the hearth, she will help us!"

"Are you crazy?" The old hunter's eyes turned red. "It's November now. You prayed to the Goddess of the Stove Fire, which not only betrayed the Goddess of Hunting, but also violated the law."

"I don't care!" The young hunter took out some dried meat from his backpack, "I only have these things, all dedicated to Hestia! I want to go home, I want to see my wife and children!"

The other hunters followed suit and brought wine and food to the campfire.

Not only are they doing this, there are hundreds of sacrificial sites throughout Romulu Country, and the hunters participating in the sacrificial rituals are all doing the same thing under the leadership of a young hunter.

They were praying to Hestia, they were making a last ditch effort to survive.

Hestia could hear their prayers, standing in the temple, looking down at the mortal world, not knowing what to do.

Demeter was advising him: "Sister, help them. Where there is a fire, there is your holy light."

Hestia shook her head and said, "But it's already November, and I can't steal Artemis's faith."

"This is not stealing, this is redemption. Artemis made a big mistake, and you are redeeming her!"

Hestia still shook her head. Demeter couldn't wait any longer. These hunters couldn't stand it any longer. This was related to the mission Hermes had given her.

"Sister, even if you don't want to help Artemis, at least help these poor people. They have done nothing wrong! Don't add to the resentment of mortals against us because of Artemis' madness!"

"That's all, home is home when the fire is shining. Poor child, go home."

At dusk, the hunters were on the verge of death. At the moment when they were about to lose consciousness, the old hunter was still praying to Artemis, but at this moment Artemis was discussing important matters with Apollo and did nothing in the world. Pay attention.

The bonfire was still burning, and a young hunter was tenaciously adding fuel to the fire.

"Who are you?" The old hunter had never seen this young hunter before.

He didn't answer, and he didn't need to answer. On the edge of life and death, this question had little meaning.

The warm stove fire slowly rose and enveloped everyone's body.

The old hunter wailed: "The Kitchen Goddess wants to burn us to death."

The middle-aged hunter cried: "Death, or burning to death, the gods are all crazy!"

…

After one night, the hunters were not dead. All the black velvet worms in their bodies were burned to death. They vomited, had diarrhea, sweated, and had runny noses, and expelled the black velvet worms from every orifice in their bodies.

After resting all morning, the hunters gradually regained their strength. The old hunter took a sip of wine, stood up and said, "Let us continue to complete the sacrifice. The goddess has forgiven us."

"Fuck you!" the middle-aged hunter spat, "Obviously it was the Kitchen Goddess who saved us, but I dreamed about the goddess last night!"

"I dreamed about it too," shouted a young hunter. "It's Hestia, exactly like in the temple!"

The other hunters responded one after another, and the old hunter shouted: "How dare you disrespect the goddess! You will be punished!"

"We have been punished, but we survived!" A young man threw stones at the statue of Artemis, regardless of the old hunter's stop.

A group of hunters threw stones together until the statue was smashed to pieces.

On that day, hundreds of sacrificial sites did the same thing. The hunters who escaped from death frantically vented their anger, and hundreds of statues of Artemis were destroyed.

The middle-aged hunter picked up a burning log from the fire and said with a pious smile: "This is the holy fire. I want to take it home."