What surprised Heloise even more was that Felix's self-validation was not yet over.
"Animals, at this moment, I am the incarnation of the Benevolent Deity..."
"Kneel down! To your worshiped Benevolent Deity!"
"Give thanks! To the Benevolent Deity who has bestowed his grace upon you!"
With Felix's words, all the animals surrounding him began to bow in worship.
Although due to their different body structures, the animals could not make very standard movements, it was not difficult to see from their devout posture that they were sincere!
Witnessing this incredibly sacred scene, Heloise was wholly convinced. Had she not been tied to a tree, she would have wanted to bow in reverence to Felix!
"Alright, animals, disperse. Return to your original lives."
After several rounds of worship, Felix slowly put down his hands, and the animals obeyed his command, returning to the woods one after another.
At this point, Felix turned and looked at Heloise.
For a moment, Heloise thought she saw a deity shrouded in holy light.
She didn't know if it was a delusion or a manifestation of a miracle.
"Heloise, you can believe now that I am a messenger of the Benevolent Deity, can't you?"
Without Felix asking, Heloise had already believed in his identity.
As she watched Felix approach her, Heloise quickly bowed her head in reverence, completing the ritual she hadn't been able to perform earlier.
"O Messenger of the Benevolent Deity, please forgive the ignorance of the apostle of the Nefarious Tiger King. I am willing to take responsibility for the mistakes I have made."
Heloise kept her head low and her eyes shut, feeling relieved in her heart.
She was glad that she hadn't made a serious mistake. If she had harmed a messenger of Deity, she would have been punished by divine retribution.
— (But, considering how strong Felix is, even if I wanted to, I couldn't hurt him...)
Thinking of this, Heloise felt a bit defeated. However, considering that Felix was a messenger of the Benevolent Deity, it was normal that she couldn't defeat him, right?
At this moment, Felix's hand once again rested on Heloise's head. As he stroked her head, he forgave her "sins".
"The Benevolent Deity is merciful and saves the world. Heloise, your transgressions have been forgiven."
.
Tyler breathed a sigh of relief.
Maintaining a suppressed smile and feigning a magnanimous demeanor in order to appear sacred was more challenging than he had anticipated.
Fortunately, Heloise herself was quite adept at chunibyo role-playing, well-versed in the practice of feigning grandeur.
This allowed Tyler to successfully complete the first step of his plan of persuasion.
Seated in the VIP observation seat, the simple-minded idiot loli was impressed by Tyler's maneuvers. She hadn't anticipated that persuasion could be achieved in this manner.
Until the moment Tyler began his operation, the idiot loli had been considering how to undermine Heloise's trust in the Earthly Ghost, how to make her realize that the Earthly Ghost was merely exploiting the human race.
The loli's proposed method was to reveal to Heloise that the Earthly Ghost was part of the evilkinds. Once she understood that the so-called Earthly Ghost, who was supposedly aiding the human race, was actually part of the evilkinds who had invaded the human territory, she would realize that he was their enemy.
However, the claim that "the Earthly Ghost is part of the evilkind" lacked evidence.
If forcefully asserted, it would seem somewhat feeble. Moreover, if Heloise were to counter with "not all evilkinds are the same", the loli would be left speechless.
In contrast, Tyler's approach was rather ingenious.
He did not directly attack the status of the "Earthly Ghost" in Heloise's heart. Instead, he centered his self-validation around the question of whether he was a "demon", thereby minimizing Heloise's resistance.
Subsequently, he deftly utilized the charm effect of his "Deceiver" skill, successfully confusing Heloise.
Now, Heloise was fully convinced of Felix's status as a "messenger of the Benevolent Deity". This not only dissolved their antagonistic relationship, but also indirectly led Heloise to acknowledge the fact that the "Earthly Ghost" was in the wrong.
The fact that the "Earthly Ghost" could be wrong was of great importance.
Idiot loli learned a psychological theory from Tyler known as the "Broken Window Theory".
The theory posits that if a few windows in a building are broken and left unrepaired, the rest of the windows will soon be damaged as well.
Conversely, if a building is in perfect condition, the psychological burden of breaking the first window would be enormous.
Similarly, the cleaner a street, the less likely it is for people to litter; the whiter a wall, the less likely it is for people to vandalize it.
The "Earthly Ghost" was likely an infallible "great figure" in Heloise's mind.
But now that Heloise had acknowledged that the "Earthly Ghost" could make mistakes, it would be easier for Tyler to convince her of the second, third mistake...
Until Heloise believes that the so-called "Earthly Ghost" is not the benefactor of the tigermen race, but their enemy.
(Silly Nissen: I've learned another lesson from Master Tyler!)
(Tyler: Hehe, what a rare occurrence.)
.
Tyler did not let the success of his recent ruse inflate his ego, for he understood it was merely what was expected of him.
Moreover, during the recent revelation, he had also confirmed another matter — whether the "Parasitic Blood Serpent" on Heloise's back was considered a living creature.
After testing with the charm effect of his "Deceiver" skill, Tyler discovered that the blood serpent on Heloise's back showed no reaction, indicating that it was not a living creature, but rather some other peculiar "entity".
Since the Parasitic Blood Serpent was not a living being, could the Earthly Ghost communicate with Heloise through it?
Tyler planned to subtly probe Heloise about this in the next phase, and he was confident he could quickly extract the answer.
What he needed to prioritize now was to fully utilize his status as a "messenger of the Benevolent Deity" and exploit Heloise's guilt from mistakenly identifying him as a demon, to further bring her under his control.
·
"Heloise, even though the Benevolent Deity forgave you, the act of mistaking a messenger of the Benevolent Deity for a demon has left a karmic imprint on you."
Tyler uttered these words nonchalantly, as he untied Heloise, ostensibly "intimidating" her.
Upon hearing this, Heloise immediately became anxious. She didn't know what Felix meant by "karmic imprint", but she had a vague understanding that it was not something good.
"What... what should I do?" Heloise was so anxious that she spoke in human language.
"Don't worry. As a messenger of the Benevolent Deity, I naturally have a way to help you eliminate it, but you must be sincere."
The more anxious Heloise was, the calmer Tyler became.
Because, only by doing this could he fully stir her emotions, so she would not doubt the authenticity of what "Felix" would ask her to do next.
"I... I am very sincere! Lord Felix, please tell me what to do."
Tyler glanced at Heloise, knowing that the mood and atmosphere were perfectly set, so he asked the question he had been planning for a long time.
"Heloise, I remember you saying before that the belly of a tigermen race is not to be shown to others, right?"
"Yes... yes, the weak spot of the apostle of the Nefarious Tiger King must not be exposed to outsiders."
Heloise tilted her head, wondering why Felix was asking this question.
"I see...", Felix frowned, hesitating for a moment before asking, "So, in exceptional circumstances, can exceptions be made?"
"Special circumstances?"
"Yes... To perform the 'Karmic Imprint Purification Ritual' for you, I need you to remove your top."
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