Only God

Hiris's appearance had halted the chaos within the city, and this deeply wounded city miraculously stopped its collapse, gradually returning to order.

Thieves, bandits, robbers, and some unclean soldiers, one after another, ceased their wicked ways, filled with fear in their hearts. Some not only returned the stolen goods but also compensated others generously.

Under the daylight, Hiris's upright figure was resplendent with divinity. Even the Dwarves' former kings, before Him, were but servants ruling the Kingdom on behalf of the Divine. His presence made it clear to everyone who the true master of the country actually was.

Under the gaze of Hiris, the Royal City slowly regained order. The creator of the Dwarves bestowed divine edicts upon all Craftsmen Temples of the Kingdom, demanding the entire Kingdom to achieve consolidation within the next hundred years, but without resorting to war.

The divine edicts of Hiris far outweighed any decree from a Dwarf king. The Kaelonde, which had been on the verge of a civil war, fell into an extraordinary silence upon receiving the divine words.

After order had been restored, under the leadership of Aler and others, the problem of post-fire hunger was solved. The Gold Silver Clan ordered the slaughter of most livestock within the city and mobilized their wealthy treasuries to massively buy provisions from other cities and countries. Within a few days, the food-supplying ships jammed the waterways outside the Royal City, packed from one bank of the Rhoda River to the other—with half of it distributed for free, and the other half sold at incredibly low prices.

Some Wanderers, who had neither fortune nor fixed abode, found life after the fire to be much better than before. Previously, they lived meal to meal, often relying on theft or begging. Now, it was all given freely, and they even got to share in the meat. Some heartless Dwarves even wished for more fires to occur.

Under the authority of the miracle, although murder, robbery, and theft still sporadically existed, they were greatly suppressed. The city had long since lost the ability to quell disturbances, but no one dared to cause trouble under the eye of the Divine.

People collected the various bodies after the fire. The remains of animals were casually buried in the mounds, while the mortal corpses, after a simple cleanup, followed their coffins to be buried in the cemeteries outside the city.

Due to various reasons, large sections of the forest outside the city were chopped down, and the wooden structures within the city, burnt and damaged, were dismantled. These woods were used for keeping warm at night, lighting, cooking, and making coffins...

The great fire caused tremendous damage to the city, but it was still bravely greeting its revival. People temporarily forgot the death of the King, the seizure of power by Aler, and other events, devoting themselves wholeheartedly to the city's reconstruction.

To stabilize the public sentiment, Aler and others, after intense discussion, decided to schedule the ascension ceremony of Prince Mura to occur in a month.

The joy of surviving the catastrophe spread throughout the entire city. Shortly thereafter, the Dwarves began to indulge in beer and mead in the newly erected makeshift taverns again, singing boisterous songs, and after a bit of fun and frolic, they collectively praised Hiris.

Xilan patrolled this disaster-stricken city.

He touched the charred walls, and it was not difficult to imagine that, just a few days before, this building had been bursting with flames and sparks, shooting up to the heavens. Now, under the afterglow of the setting sun, the entire city seemed like a lump of charcoal.

It was an unprecedented disaster, the Royal City had almost disappeared from the earth; yet in the streets and alleys now, despair was rare, for people had witnessed the miracle. They understood that the death of friends and relatives was not a permanent farewell—that somewhere, some time, there was still the chance to meet again.

The fervor of faith filled every corner of the city. The Dwarves praised Hiris night and day, chanting various prayers. This fervor quickly swept through the city. Not just traditional-believing Dwarves praised the mountain and craftsman deities, but also those who believed in the Dream God, the Agricultural God, the gods of the seasons, and the True Believers. Many among them, in this fervent wave, resolutely converted, returning to the embrace of the Craftsmen Temple.

Xilan walked for a while and saw a family sitting around a large pot, preparing to enjoy their evening meal.

"Please give me a piece of bread."

Xilan approached and made his request.

The elder Dwarf man and woman hesitated, two of their three children watching him with wary eyes.

The youngest Dwarf child, not yet an adult, thoughtlessly picked up a piece of rough barley bread and placed it in Xilan's hands.

"Hey!"

His older brother let out a call, but since it had already been given, it wasn't good to take it back, so he just glared fiercely at his younger brother.

"Take it, take it,"

the Dwarf parents said,

"Now by the Rhoda River, you can still get some rations."

Xilan nodded in thanks, then lowered his head to bite into the bread in his hands.

The bread was so hard that he took very small bites, and while eating, he found a place to sit down.

"Hey, are you a human?"

The Dwarf elder asked with an unfriendly tone.

Due to various rumors in the city, like the fire being set by humans, the Dwarf elder was not amiable toward Xilan.

Xilan swallowed a mouthful of bread and said,

"I am a True Believer."

The Dwarf elder uttered an "Oh," seeing it as Xilan's admission of his human identity.

"I've heard of those True Believers, they say their Sects are so numerous they span the world, the combined number of Sects from other religions doesn't even come close to twice theirs."

The younger Dwarf sister chimed in.

"Hey, that's a human faith, humans are as numerous as locusts."

The Dwarf elder said so.

"It's not just a human faith, it's just that most of the True Believers you come across are human."

Xilan spoke up to correct him,

"In Ajia Land, in the autonomous regions of other races within Danschel, there are many non-human races that believe, and of course, the Elves, they all believe in the same God."

The youngest Dwarf exclaimed in surprise,

"They all believe in the same God? You True Believers really do have Magic Power!"

The Dwarf elder, however, looked disdainful,

"What's the big deal about that, their latest miracle happened thousands of years ago. Our Hiris's miracles just happened a few days ago, I saw with my own eyes as He lifted the forge."

Then the Dwarf elder turned to Xilan and started to pick a fight,

"The great fire nearly turned Kaelonde into ruins, our Hiris is here, what is your God doing?"

Xilan smiled and said nothing, simply silently chewing the bread in his hand.

But after swallowing the piece of bread completely, Xilan stood up and left, placing a silver coin on the ground as payment. The Dwarves' eyes were glued to it, and by the time they picked up the silver coin and looked up, Xilan had disappeared without a trace.

As the sun set and the sky grew dark, the city became shrouded in shadow. Xilan leaned against a wall, where he could hear people everywhere praying to Hiris and singing the praises of the craftsman, no doubt filled with the joy of faith that night.

Everyone was praising and thanking Hiris,

No one knew Xilan, even if they did, they didn't know what he had done.

Perhaps…

This is the meaning of being a Hermit.