Magical Journey: The Other Shore Blooms on the Other Shore

Chapter 107 The Desert Holy City of Santiago (Part 5)

"Just take a quick nap, at least there's a blanket, right?" Atlan said, pointing to the makeshift bedding on the floor. "At least it's free."

Qin might really like it.

But Elena found it hard to accept—at least the hotels outside had beds, but here they could only offer blankets. What kind of strange custom was this?

Seemingly sensing Elena's displeasure, Atlan sighed and then slowly removed the veil she had worn all day, even while eating: "Legend has it that when the prophet sleeps, he must maintain a close connection with the earth to hear messages from the gods."

She revealed her azure eyes, and it wasn't until just before she went to sleep that Elena saw Atlan's face for the first time.

"Have you heard?" Elena had already taken off her veil during the meal; wearing it all the time was incredibly annoying. She had to be constantly careful not to trip and fall, even while walking.

“How could we possibly hear that?” Atlan said. “Ultimately, we don’t even know if Santiago exists.”

"You're really rebellious."

"If you only eat bland food all day, sleep on this stuff, and have to do a lot of inexplicable things to get around, you'll become very rebellious," Atlan said, yawning.

Indeed it is.

"Then why did you choose to come back?" Elena asked.

"Want to hear my story?" Atlan suddenly revealed an excited expression, the same one he had when he saw Elena seeing gold coins. "My story will cost money, you know."

Elena looked at Atlan, who was now beaming with excitement and pouting like a cat, with embarrassment: "How much?"

"Wow, you really gave it to me! If I had known, I would have... one gold coin, one gold coin and I would have told you," Atlan said.

Elena increasingly felt that this person was a kindred spirit to her.

Normally, people who click on each other's brainwaves would have a more pleasant time together. But Elena felt it would be difficult to develop a deep relationship with this equally greedy guy.

"One silver coin at most," Elena countered.

"How stingy. Five silver coins, that's the lowest I can offer."

"alright."

Only Atlan and Elena were in the room, while Jyn and Chekhov were in another room not far away. This was because the dogma explicitly considered it indecent for unmarried men and women to be in the same room before sleeping—even if they were boyfriend and girlfriend, or siblings.

“Then I’ll tell you.” Atlan received the few silver coins from Elena and was in a very good mood.

……

When people need something to rely on in life.

The promulgation of doctrines is the best way to regulate people's thoughts and ideas. After Allah became the Great Prophet, she brought revelations about Santiago.

Everyone firmly believed in these revelations.

Revelation governs all aspects of people's lives, including but not limited to travel, dining, and clothing. It can be said that these revelations cover a wider range of areas than even legal codes.

This already serves the function of law.

In Santiago, there are no judges; all judgments of right and wrong originate from God and His most direct apostles, the prophets of all ages.

The prophet would come with divine inspiration, and then the accuracy of the inspiration obtained from the prophet would be verified by flipping a coin (this was intended to prevent the prophet from being biased and failing to correctly reflect God's will).

If the coin lands heads, then people will do as the god Santiago (that is, what the prophet conveyed) tells them.

If the coin lands on tails, people will think the prophet is not devout enough and will execute him.

The previous prophet of Atlantis, who was her father, was burned alive in the center of the square because he flipped a coin and got tails.

Next, Atlan's mother, Carmen, will serve as the prophet for this generation.

This situation persisted until a year ago when Atlan returned home, at which point Carmen formally bestowed the title of prophet upon her daughter Atlan through a "divine" ceremony.

Carmen, before leaving her position as prophet, had of course also served as a judge on many occasions.

There were countless moments during which she tossed a coin to determine the depth of her devotion.

The reason she has survived to this day is solely due to her unique magic—using magic to determine the heads or tails of a coin.

Some people who don't know magic might scoff at this. In their eyes, magic should be about flying, teleporting, transforming at will, or firing incredibly powerful lasers.

What kind of magic is this?

In reality, this is not an easy task. Casting magic requires waving a wand—if you wave your wand to cast a spell and interfere with the coin's landing while flipping a coin, it's like making everyone look like a fool.

The consequence of treating others like fools is that they will be executed.

Carmen's magic is applied to coins; for a certain period of time, the coin will only face heads up. If it faces tails up, it will mischievously flip over.

Because of this magic, Carmen became the longest-reigning prophet besides Allah's first great prophet.

But even if this problem is solved, the prophet still has many other troubles, big and small—she has to deal with all sorts of trivial matters between neighbors.

Even if someone reports that another person stole their eggs, Carmen will still come forward.

In situations like this, Carmen has to act like a detective to discern right from wrong. If she makes a wrong judgment, it means she has been following God's will incorrectly.

If the truth comes out in the future and people realize the prophet's misjudgment, they won't think God was wrong; the only one who will be wrong is the prophet who represents God's will.

The outcome... is self-evident.

In short, being a prophet is a dangerous and troublesome job. Aside from the daily reverence it brings, it's mostly annoying and bad stuff.

But no matter how long Carmen reigned, she would eventually grow old and become unable to perform her duties. Therefore, she needed an heir, and before her husband was executed, she had given birth to twins.

They called themselves Chekhov and Atlan.

Chekhov has no magical talent whatsoever, but Atlan possesses superhuman magical power.

Later, Atlan lived up to expectations. When she returned from her studies abroad, she was already a witch, so it was only natural that she mastered the magic created by Carmen.

……

“If I don’t come back, my brat brother will be forced to become a prophet after Mother passes away,” Atlan said. “At that time, I won’t even be able to collect his body.”

"You seem to care about your brother quite a bit." Elena shuddered at the memory of the few righteous blows Atlan had given Chekhov. It would be even better if your concern could be expressed without using your hands.

“He’s just one reason—if Santiago doesn’t have the Prophet… the city’s faith will crumble,” Atlan said. “After all, this is my hometown.”

"Obviously..."

“I know, the people here could become the demons that kill me at any moment. But—I don’t think the fault lies with them—this fault is a historical legacy that has long been deeply rooted and cannot be corrected. At least as long as I am here, I can continue to maintain this error to prolong the life of this kingdom.”

That's why she gave up the comfortable conditions outside and came back.

"If you feel sorry for me, how about giving me a few more copper coins?" Atlan laughed.

"You're so energetic, you're not pitiful at all."