Chapter 438: Chapter 426: Westminster Cathedral
Westmaar Cathedral is a cathedral located in the lower city of Langton, to be precise, it’s the largest church sanctuary in the lower city.
It houses the relics of a saint, a nun who lived here four hundred years ago when Westmaar Cathedral was just an ordinary church sanctuary, nothing special about it.
This nun assisted the poor and sheltered homeless orphans day after day, spreading faith in the All-Father through Langton’s lower city four hundred years ago.
Eventually, this ordinary nun succumbed to illness from overwork, and the local believers and populace voluntarily renovated Westmaar Sanctuary into a cathedral and buried the nun’s remains beneath the altar of the refurbished cathedral.
The believers hoped that the radiance of the All-Father would protect this kind and benevolent nun, guiding her soul back to the golden throne of the All-Father.
The deeds of this nun were widely disseminated later, gradually becoming one of the church’s miracles, and the nun herself was canonized and crowned as a saint.
Therefore, in the centennial year of the nun’s passing, Westmaar Cathedral was renovated once more, and the nun’s relics were exhumed and adorned with gold leaf, gems, and various silk and jewels, placed in a holy coffin made of transparent crystal, still enshrined in this cathedral, becoming one of the notable relics of the church known as the Westmaar Nun.
In the subsequent three hundred years, Westmaar Cathedral also became one of the renowned church sanctuaries in Langton, with a large number of pilgrims visiting each year.
The solemn and sacred cathedral and the Westmaar Nun enshrined on the altar have always left a deep impression on people, so much so that every believer who comes here speaks and prays in very hushed tones, fearing to disturb the solemnity of the sanctuary and incur the displeasure of the church’s priests and clergy.
But today, the priests and clergy of the cathedral broke the silence themselves, actively removing all the chairs from inside the cathedral and then having a group of craftsmen break open the cathedral’s floor.
Below the cathedral was not solid ground, but cellars and underground sepulchers built in the past.
In the past, the church buried the bodies of believers here, and over centuries, four hundred years have filled the cathedral’s underground with numerous bones.
Several priests first sprinkled holy water around the broken floor, then led the clergy and nuns in sincere prayers and blessings before allowing workers to go down and carry these relics out, completely clearing out the cathedral’s underground.
Meanwhile, outside on the cathedral’s plaza, a large machine was being assembled. To the familiar, it’s recognizable as the serpent shield machine used by Perfikot in the Northern Territory.
However, the present machine seemed somewhat smaller than the original prototype made by Perfikot, and its structure appeared optimized and improved, with even the cutting disc at the front seemingly upgraded and more efficient.
"Cardinal, the underground sepulcher of Westmaar Cathedral is too deep, and too many bones are buried there. Clearing it might take a lot of time," a white-robed priest reported to the red-robed cardinal beside him.
He is the one in charge of Westmaar Cathedral and has never been underground before, but the church keeps lots of records from the past four hundred years, including those of how many bodies are buried annually in the underground sepulcher.
Though he merely described it as "somewhat many," he clearly knew it was much more than that. According to records, over seventy years ago, more than 500,000 bodies had already been interred beneath Westmaar Cathedral.
This number sounds astounding, but considering it’s the accumulation of several centuries, it’s not so surprising.
After all, in the span of several hundred years, considering the century-long war between the Victor Empire and France, having so many bodies is quite normal.
But while burying them back then was simple, clearing them now is a painstaking task, and tens of thousands of skeletons can’t be cleared out quickly.
"Mobilize the believers, have them come to help," said the red-robed cardinal, glancing at the shield machine being assembled beside him, showing a fleeting moment of hesitation and struggle before resolutely deciding, "Tell the believers, clearing these bones is for transforming the cathedral into a shelter. In end times, the church will protect all followers of the All-Father who need help! We now need them to clear these bones to make room for the shelter’s construction."
Hearing this from the cardinal, the priest, though wanting to say something, ultimately decided to follow the cardinal’s orders.
In fact, the church had previously notified these priests in charge of various churches, and he had known in advance that Westmaar Cathedral was to be transformed into a shelter in end times to protect the people.
Even though the century-old relics in the church were to be damaged and tens of thousands of bones disturbed, the priest felt that if it was for protecting more of the living, then the dead would have to make way for them.
Soon, the priest gathered the other priests and clergy of Westmaar Cathedral and sent them out to mobilize believers to help.
By this time, the news of the apocalypse announced by the Empire had already been known to the public, and they were in a state of anxiety and fear. The church suddenly stepping up, saying it would transform the cathedral into a shelter to protect everyone through the end times, undoubtedly generated tremendous goodwill and trust toward the church among the people.
Now hearing that the church needed their help, especially in constructing the shelter, these believers eagerly joined the process of clearing and transporting the bones.
Looking at the believers flocking from all sides to help, the red-robed cardinal finally let out a sigh of relief.
Westmaar Cathedral is the largest cathedral in the lower city, and it will also be the largest shelter in the future lower city. If it couldn’t be cleared in the designated time and the construction of the shelter couldn’t be completed, it would have an incalculable impact on the church’s entire plan.
Especially since, according to the plan, it would accommodate tens of thousands of refugees and also be responsible for the production of various supplies. Problems arising here wouldn’t just be localized issues; they would affect the entire lower city.
So the cardinal dared not neglect anything, personally overseeing the construction process to ensure nothing would go wrong.
Although mobilizing the believers to clear those bones might cause some mistakes and issues, compared to the shelter not being completed on time, it is hardly worth mentioning.
Therefore, the cardinal could only let go and mobilize these believers and have the priests and clergy of Westmaar Cathedral work a bit harder.