Sword of Dawn

Page 118

Kamel knew that he had no reason to continue asking, but he still couldn't help but ask, "Do you like living like this?"

"...I don't know," Betty obviously didn't think about this question, she was stunned for a moment before answering, "but Miss Rebecca and the old Viscount are very kind to me, Mrs Hetty, and the master, they are all very kind to me. I'm fine. And when I was young, my family and I were always hungry, since I entered the castle, we can all have enough to eat..."

It took Kamel a few seconds to understand the reason for this period—it was simply because Betty had a ration of the lowest servant in the castle, and her family not only sold the money back, but also lost a ration. It's just a mouth to eat.

This is the way for the low-level pariahs to survive in desperation in this era, and even this requires some luck to achieve it-because it is not always necessary for the lord to buy servants.

This is something that people in this era take as common sense, but for Kamel who came to this era from the heyday of the Gondor Empire, there are too many unimaginable things during this period.

However, he couldn't change the status quo of the entire era, and thousands of words finally converged into one sentence: "It's a cruel era."

"Master said that too," Betty said suddenly when she heard this, "but I don't understand what he means."

"The lord also said so?"

"Yes, the master said that this era is cruel, and he also said that a new order will be established..." Betty recalled vigorously, "In short, it is very complicated. I heard him tell Miss Rebecca and Mrs. Hetty .”

"So that's how it is..." Kamel listened silently, and sighed softly, "This is also normal. He is a person who has experienced that glorious era, so he must not be able to bear the ignorance and darkness now."

Betty looked at Kamel blankly, she didn't quite understand the meaning of the words muttered by the other party, but Kamel looked down at Betty, and suddenly realized why he couldn't help but talk so much to this little girl.

"I once had a sister... ah, she didn't look like you, but the last time I saw her, she was about your age," the ancient magister said quietly, "She was... I like to make tea for me."

Betty blinked: "Is your sister also a great magister?"

"...No, she has no magical talent, she is just an ordinary person, and she died of illness before she became an adult," Kamel said in a very calm tone, "If it weren't for this, I might not have left the imperial capital either, Be a part of Project 'Disobedience'."

Betty lowered her head: "Well..."

"It's all in the past," Kamel lowered his head, wanting to touch Betty's hair, but before his "palm" full of arcane energy touched the latter, there were already bits and pieces of arcane energy. Sparks jumped around Betty's hair. Seeing this scene, the ancient magister slowly withdrew his hand and let out a soft sigh, "Alas..."

Betty felt a little itchy scalp and couldn't help scratching her hair, but when she looked up, she found that Kamel had floated elsewhere: this conversation is over.

The little maid didn't know what happened, so she had to go back to the desk and continue to be in a daze.

Not long after, the door of the study was pushed open, and Gawain returned to the room with a roll of blueprints. He saw Kamel, who seemed to be studying the bookshelf, and Betty, who was standing beside the desk, wandering away, and couldn't help smiling. Get up: "Are you tired of waiting?"

Kamel turned around and floated towards Gao Wen: "No, I was chatting with the little girl just now, and it wasn't boring."

Betty ran up to Gao Wen with the big teapot in her hand: "Master, Mr. Kamel doesn't drink tea! He said he has no mouth..."

"Ahem, I got it, I got it," Gao Wen patted Betty's head in embarrassment, telling the little girl to step back first, "Go back and rest, I don't need anyone here for the time being."

"Ok!"

Betty ran out patteringly, leaving Gawain looking at Kamel with an embarrassed face: "Sometimes this kid is rather dumbfounded when he talks..."

"It's okay, I don't care, she is a very cute girl," Kamel said lightly, "Lord, I have something to report to you."

Gao Wen was about to show Kamel his artillery design ideas, but he was taken aback when he heard this: "Oh? What's the matter?"

"It's about those aberrations," Kamel's expression no one could understand, but his tone was full of seriousness at the moment, "I think... I know where they come from."

"Have you figured out the origin of the aberrations?" Gawain's expression turned serious instantly. He immediately walked to the desk and put down the documents and drawings in his hand, "Where did they come from?"

"We made it," Kamel said slowly, "the product of disobedience to the plan."

"..."

Gawain was silent and didn't speak for almost ten seconds. It wasn't until Kamel felt a little uneasy that he shook his head with a silent smile: "It's such an answer..."

"You expected it?"

"It's just a guess," Gawain breathed out, "After knowing your rebellious plan, I came up with a guess about it based on the information I came across when I rushed out of the Gondor wasteland, but I didn't expect... The situation is exactly what I thought. Tell me, how did you find out?"

"Miss Till gave me a sample of the aberrant body, which is a clean sample that can be analyzed by magic after eliminating the chaotic magic energy. I found signs of type II genetic factor mutation in that sample, and this mutation... is exactly The characteristics of the 'abomination' we created back then."

"Sit down," Gawain sighed, took a seat behind the desk, and pointed to a chair next to him, "Maybe we need to talk about this matter."

Chapter 0286 Where did they come from

As one of the main executors of the "rebellious" plan in the past, Kamel knew all about the "abominations" created by this plan, including the first generation of abominations and the last generation of mutated abominations. It was done under his nose, so when Tyr handed him a piece of the purified remains of the aberration, he quickly saw in it the features that disturbed him.

With a few simple tests and some parameters that cannot be falsified, anxiety becomes reality.

"Although I don't have more professional equipment, I can't determine the sequence of the genetic factors in the wreckage, but the results of the mutation are enough to draw a conclusion: the aberrant is the mutation product of 'God'," Kamel said with a heavy tone, " The power of the evil tide overwhelms the gene expression of the evil... Our plan back then had terrible loopholes. We underestimated the magnitude of the mutation of the biomass in the face of the evil tide. The genetic factors of the "annihilation" cannot resist this level of mutation , causing the factor carriers to become... monsters before adapting to the magic tide environment."

Kamel had tried his best to calm down his emotions, but Gawain could still feel the great sorrow in the heart of this ancient magister. He could imagine this kind of sorrow——Kammel and his colleagues gave everything for this cause , this price even exceeds the limit that human beings can bear, but the final outcome is a result that is more terrible than failure. Instead of saving the people they want to save, their cause turned those people into monsters... Thinking about it for a while, Gao Wen felt that he might not be as calm as Kamel when facing the same blow.

However, he still wanted to ask his own question: "Do you know what happened to the 'Abomination' you researched after it was sent back to the hinterland of the empire?"

"The part I am in charge of is limited to research and development, and I don't know the follow-up 'application' link, but although the details are unclear, I can guess roughly," Kamel said slowly, "Didn't you mention that there has never been an application in the outside world?" Is there any news about the tide of magic? So I guess it all happened in secret——after the 'Abomination' was sent back to the imperial capital, the royal family should have used centralized immunization to gradually eliminate the The abominable genetic factor is injected into all people and makes it a stable genetic factor for human beings. Because our goal is to save all people, every Gondorian must become a carrier of the abominable. So Now... the endless distortions that emerged overnight after the arrival of the demonic tide will have the answer."

Gao Wen thinks what Kamel said may be the truth.

Genetic modification is not something that can be accomplished overnight - Kamel and his colleagues can use powerful magic to directly transform themselves, thus directly turning themselves into a carrier of evil, but for the tens of thousands of ordinary people in the Gondor Empire , It is unrealistic (and not confidential enough) to carry out this level of transformation, so the royal family of Gondor at that time could only adopt secret and gradual methods, such as transferring mutant substances to the bodies of the parents and mothers, and then making them The next generation became born bearers of abominations.

It will take more than one generation to transform all the population of the entire empire in this way, but there is a time gap of 300 years between the completion of the rebellious plan and the outbreak of the evil tide-300 years, with the technological power of the Gondor Empire at that time, it was enough Complete this huge project.

"What I said... I seem to have thought of something," Gao Wen rubbed his chin, and suddenly found some valuable information from his memory, "At the end of the Starfire Era, the empire did suddenly increase the concentration of several types of residents. Immunization and newborn inspection programs - what the imperial capital said at the time was to alleviate the increasingly serious problem of elemental assimilation disease, and to select magic adaptors from the newborn stage... If it is correct, this should be the 'disobedience' plan application stage."

Kamel said in a low tone: "This ended up killing everyone..."

"No, if it's as I expected, then your plan may actually be a success." Gawain suddenly straightened his expression, looked at Kamel seriously and said.

Kamel raised his head in astonishment, he didn't see the expression of comfort on Gawain's face.

"I didn't comfort you," Gawain couldn't see Kamel's expression, but he could imagine what the other person was thinking, "Your plan of rebellion should indeed have worked—it's just that it didn't save everyone. Kamel Er, have you forgotten—the present four major human kingdoms were all established by the remnants of Gondor."

After saying this, Gawain felt his eyes light up——Kamel became brighter.

The ancient magister had a slightly excited tone: "You mean..."

"Many people think that the pioneer legion 700 years ago—or the refugees of Gondor escaped the first impact of the demon tide and hid in a safe area in time before the second impact to survive, but the fact is that On the road, we experienced a complete first and second shock," Gao Wen said while recalling, "When we gathered the team together, the surrounding natural environment had already begun to mutate, a large number of animals, plants, and even The lifeless soil and stones are changing in front of us, and the high-energy clouds brought by the chaotic magic energy gather above everyone's heads. The magic energy surges day and night, and no one escapes the first impact—we are Running out against the first impact."

Kamel flickered: "Is no one mutated?"

"A lot of people died, from vicious diseases or elemental poisoning, but no one mutated," Gao Wen said seriously, "and there is a very important clue—there were not only humans in the breakout team, but also many Races such as elves, dwarves, and halflings who stayed in Gondor when the demon tide broke out were also mixed in our team. The death rate of those aliens in the demon tide was several times higher than that of humans. Apart from [-]% to [-]% of the high-level powerhouses, their low-level professionals and ordinary people died in the first few months."

"So...the 'antibody' still had an effect..." Kamel seemed to be muttering to himself, "But why are all the people in the hinterland of the empire turned into mutants?"

"Maybe it's because of the Deep Blue Well," Gawain expressed his thoughts, "The Deep Blue Well had an explosion a year before the outbreak of the magic tide. At that time, two of the four main reaction towers exploded, causing a large amount of magic energy to escape. Scattered to the central area of ​​the empire, they are like unstable fuel. When the chaotic magic power of the demon tide suddenly erupted, the energy of the Deep Blue Well had a catalytic effect... The genetic factor of "God's evil" may indeed strengthen human beings to resist the demon tide ability to erode, but its effects are clearly limited."

"If that's the case..." Kamel's tone calmed down, "Perhaps it is also a consolation."

Gao Wen couldn't help but think of the identity verification device found in the mountain ruins (Rebel Fortress) before. At that time, the device clearly regarded all human beings, including Gawain, Byron and others, as "safe and stable." Carrying", but the alarm sounded when Amber was trying to pass the verification. Gawain once thought it was the result of a damaged device, but now he guessed the function of that device.

The device wasn't broken at all—it did identify a safe and stable carrier, and every human whose ancestors came from the Gondor Empire was a carrier of "God".

But even after he figured out the origin of the mutants, Gao Wen still had a lot of doubts about those monsters.

"If the aberrants are all mutations of humans carrying the genetic factors of the gods, rather than the so-called 'chaos creatures' produced in the magic tide, then many of their characteristics cannot be explained at all," Gao Wen said about his doubts , "For example - when the number of distortions exceeds a certain threshold, a chaotic magic energy environment will be formed around them, and when the intensity and range of the chaos magic energy environment reach a certain level, there will be distortions in the chaotic magic field' 'out of thin air'...how is this to be explained?"

If the aberrants are "chaos creatures" and their life forms are similar to some kind of elemental products, then it can be explained that they continue to multiply out of thin air in the magic tide environment, but if the aberrants are "regular life" mutated by human beings, they How do they "appear out of thin air" when the environment is suitable like elemental creatures?

Even Kamel couldn't answer this question, it was beyond the knowledge of the ancient magister, who could only boldly assume: "Perhaps it is the source of the 'divine evil'—the power of the gods is working? Although Sin only used the genetic factors of the giant deer Amoen, for the gods, stealing his flesh and blood is equivalent to stealing his power. The power of gods is difficult for humans to understand. ...not a characteristic of conventional creatures."

"Anyway, it's really hard to explain the fact that it can be 'generated out of thin air'," Gawain shook his head and sighed, "Everything in the wasteland is unknown, and no one can guess what happened to those monsters."

After finishing talking about the aberrations, Kamel finally remembered Gawain's original purpose of coming to him, and he asked curiously, "Lord, I heard you designed something?"

"It's a weapon manufacturing plan, but I'm not sure if it's feasible." Gawain nodded, picked up the blueprint on the desk and handed it to Kamel, "Although energy weapons have obvious advantages, they can't be used in the face of anti-magic shields and the like." There are significant drawbacks to what we have, and we still need live-fire weapons—preferably both—to maintain an advantage in complex battlefields."

This lord seems to be approachable and open-minded, but he is actually a cautious and well-planned person who never gives the enemy any chance of survival on the battlefield. Kamel has realized this after learning what Gawain has done , so he was not at all surprised that Gao Wen would keep the live ammunition weapon plan—and he himself tended to use a variety of weapons and equipment to meet the challenge, so he took the blueprint and quickly became interested in it.

"It's still a repulsion mechanism...Using a continuous repulsion structure to form an acceleration orbit, you mentioned this before..." Kamel looked at the detailed description on the drawing, and at the same time muttered in a low voice, "But this time you plan to use the cannonball Add a hurricane rune?"

"It's not just the shells that have changed, in fact the part of the acceleration track has a special design," Gao Wen pointed to the blueprint and explained, "I referred to Rebecca's idea of ​​'amplifier' and added a magic field at the end of the two acceleration tracks. Receiver and load balancer, and use a set of extra runes to introduce this part of the energy into the repulsion mechanism, so that when the gun is fired, all the repulsion mechanisms are equivalent to overloading, and their thrust will be greatly increased—— With the strengthened acceleration guide rail, coupled with the auxiliary power of the shell itself, its range and power will fully meet my requirements—even far beyond it.”

Kamel couldn't help questioning: "Continuously overloaded? In this way, the service life of the magic circle may be shortened by more than half..."

Gao Wen knew that the other party would have this question. He smiled slightly: "I think...in the field of industrialized magic devices, many people have fallen into a misunderstanding, and a master of magic like you is no exception."

"What mistake?"

"Industrial products are not afraid of consumption-a traditional magic ring with exquisite workmanship can be passed down from generation to generation like a family heirloom, and even after hundreds or thousands of years, it becomes an ancestral treasure with a legend. However, things produced by industrialization …they were not meant to be passed down from generation to generation in the first place.

"They are consumables. As long as their service life can meet or exceed actual needs, then they are qualified industrial products. Although a longer service life is good, it is just icing on the cake, not essential.

"If it can be used to complete its own mission, then it is qualified; if it can be used for technology elimination and replacement, it is an excellent work; if it can be used for a long time, and it can be used for generations... then it will affect the industrial process , affecting the progress and replacement of technology.

"Do you want to know why? The reason is very simple. Industrial products will not only be produced in batches, but will also be replaced in batches. As long as there is no problem with the industrial chain itself, the replacement speed will be far faster than traditional magic and alchemy devices—new New technological products will continue to replace old things, and they are better and more practical. The magic ring that is hundreds of years old is still infinitely powerful after hundreds of years. In the new order I want to build, it is It does not exist, if we really create something, and if it is still a mainstream product and the mainstay of society after dozens of years of use, then it can only be said... the magic industry led by Cecil is over."

Chapter 0287 Unsettled Winter

Gao Wen's words caused huge waves in Kamel's heart, so that the flicker frequency of his whole body became 4/4 beat, and the color turned blue as a whole—it's not that he couldn't understand Gao Wen's meaning, It's just that this idea is very different from the traditional concept of magic props production.

Even in the period of the Gondor Empire, when the technology was superb and some ordinary magic items had been mass-produced, many magic items existed as expensive items. People seemed to regard such magic items as rare and expensive from the very beginning. It can be viewed as treasures handed down from generation to generation, family swords, family rings, family amulets... It is normal for these things to be used for decades or even two to three hundred years-although the technology of the Gondor Empire Advanced, but due to the abnormality of technology, the magic items that they can mass-produce are actually limited from the very beginning. Basically, only things such as magic infusion and magic shaping can be mass-produced, and those that need to be further processed must have magic The things that the tutor participates in, still maintain the mode of workshop or laboratory production.

Because the magister cannot be mass-produced.

Therefore, although the technology of the Gondor Empire is advanced, the development speed is not fast, especially in the later period, after the potential of the dark blue magic well is almost discovered, the prosperity and material abundance of the entire empire are no longer the result of technological advancement, but more of "" accumulated".

So Kamel never thought about what kind of changes would happen after all magic devices became cheap, mass-produced, and quickly consumed industrial products.

However, he couldn't refute Gawain's words - although he was old, he was not stubborn, his thinking was only limited by his own experience for a while, but as long as he opened his mind, he would realize that what Gawain said was right.

Magic props become ancestral treasures not because they have a long service life, but because they are so precious that people have to use them for a long time. If a magic device can be mass-produced in a factory, it can make everyone It can be easily purchased and used, and it can be replaced every ten years or even a few years, so do people still need to pass it on from generation to generation?

Gao Wen himself had his own considerations when he said these words - although he emphasized the "consumability" of industrial products, he said this only after careful consideration.No matter when, the service life is an important indicator to measure the quality of the product after all. It doesn't mean that the things that can be mass-produced in the industry can completely ignore the service life-especially the equipment on the battlefield, which must be durable.

Different things have different life requirements, and the life requirements of semi-permanent fortifications and a gun barrel (acceleration track) are definitely different.

Therefore, he conducted some material tests and calculations, using a magic field exceeding the design strength to supply energy to the repulsive substrate, and tested the loss of the copper substrate in various extreme environments, and finally confirmed that this thing can still withstand long-term overload. It can meet the demand.

In fact, he had also fallen into a misunderstanding in this regard before: he considered overloading the short-term output of some magic devices, but after mentioning it to Hetty, the other party would always say that this would seriously affect the life of the magic devices. So the gain outweighs the loss, and there are many other things to be busy, so he didn't delve into this aspect too much, until one day he couldn't help asking Hetty, asking her how well a certain device can work under the condition of frequent overload. How long did it last to maintain stable operation, the latter said a word to him with a serious face:

"Ancestor, in that way, the magic circle will dissolve the elements in less than 40 years!"

Then Gao Wen realized that he had a different world view from the locals on the issue of "lifespan"... In their eyes, if a magic item can't be used by the great-grandchildren, it would be considered a waste...

"According to my tests, if the general-purpose substrate with a copper substrate is used as the repulsion generator, the acceleration rail can continuously fire [-] to [-] shells—of course, this is a rough estimate, and the specifics can only be determined after the finished product test is done. And this number will be affected by the environment, but anyway, I think this service life is fully up to standard."

"Three thousand launches...should really be enough," Kamel recalled the way he saw the production of rune substrates in the rune forge, and had to admit that this service life was really enough, " So the problem of the acceleration guide rail is solved, but the formation used on the shell... seems to be the magic circle of the elf system?"

"That's right, Blessing of the Wind, the basic spell with the suffix of Hurricane, skillful elf rangers will attach the power of wind to every arrow they shoot, which can make flying objects almost immune to the interference of air currents, and can greatly To enhance its flying speed and distance, I think this thing can also be used on shells—although the volume is a bit larger, the shells can still fly out.”

Kamel hesitated: "The magic system of elves and the magic system of humans..."

"Humans are basically unable to use elf magic. This is because the brain structure of the two races is slightly different, resulting in a different way for humans to perceive magic power than elves. Of course, the way to release spells is also completely different, so elf magic must be converted into humans. Human spellcasters can only master the spell models, and when encountering those who cannot convert the spell models, they cannot be cast by human hands at all, but..." Gao Wen nodded, but his tone suddenly changed in the second half of the sentence , "This is just a problem that spellcasters will encounter when casting spells. There is no such difference between magic circles and runes, and there is no such difference in mathematics!"

"what do you mean……"

"I asked for the Blessing of the Wind's 'Formation Expression' from Solderin, which is a magic circle based on elf spells, elves can draw it, and humans can draw it, no matter who it is It can still take effect after drawing it," Gao Wen said unhurriedly, "but this magic circle is still a bit too complicated, consumes too much energy, and requires too expensive drawing materials, so I hope you can do some research on it. Optimization—use the formulas in rune logic to reconstruct these runes. The language of the elements is common, and although these runes are used by elves, their elemental meanings are no different from human runes."

"That's right, the language of elements is universal..." Kamel's voice gradually became eager, "The language of mathematics... should also be universal..."

Gao Wen nodded: "If rune logic can optimize this magic circle, then we have proved one thing: Mathematics, like elemental language, is the language to describe truth—at least in the fields we have already reached, It has such a role. The application of rune logic will be greatly expanded. From now on, not only the human spell system, but even the elf spell system can be included in the Jenny formula group and Ravencrest In the world constructed by constants!"

Kamel was silent for two seconds, then suddenly bowed solemnly to Gawain: "I will accomplish all this with my own hands!"

"I'm looking forward to your results," Gawain smiled, "but don't delay your weapon design on that line—energy weapons are also necessary."

After Kamel left, Gawain stood up from behind the desk, went to the window sill, and quietly looked towards the direction of the north bank.

There are not too many buildings in the territory for the time being, and his line of sight can directly cross the administrative area, residential areas, and the dock area in the north of the city. Using the powerful vision of the legendary knight, he can see very far.

It was a clear day after the snow stopped, and the scenery on the north bank of the Baishui River was even faintly visible.

The newly established 25th production and construction brigade and the "prisoner of war team" composed of sixteen Tifeng prisoners have been sent to the north bank to carry out the construction of a new residential area. The high and low scaffolding is like dry trees in the background of winter snow Fork, gradually growing on that piece of land - the foggy month is coming to an end, after this "month" of more than 60 days is over, there will be a colder and more difficult "cold month", in which the nobles On the land of the lord, there will be a large number of poor people who have nothing to face the biggest test of life and death they have to go through every year, and Cecil Territory will complete the last batch of engineering projects this year, laying the groundwork for the population growth and population growth in the second year. Get ready for spring plowing.

After the end of the cold month is the month of recovery. After the spring plowing begins, farming will be busy everywhere. It will not be so easy to buy cheap serfs, but there will never be a shortage of refugees—there will always be civilians who will Lost their land, lost their homes, were expelled from their homeland or escaped from their homeland, they are like migrating ants from one territory to another, some died on the road, some died in a foreign land, even if the weather is good, there will be people Uprooted.

After all, this is the desolate southern region. It has been 100 years since the Cecil family fell, and the countless pioneering strongholds and grain storage areas have been wiped out in the process of the nobles re-dividing power.Abandoned land is easy to rebuild and difficult to rebuild. Coupled with the constant friction of the nobles in the southern border, people have no way to settle down to reclaim new land and build their homes. Therefore, refugees have almost become a "normal phenomenon" in the southern border. Get used to it.

Under such circumstances, as long as there is a piece of land that is stable and can fill the stomach, it will naturally attract a large number of people to move in. Gawain needs to consider nothing more than two issues. The first is his Can you "eat" so many people, the second...

Will those "good neighbors" watch Cecil's collar grow bigger and bigger.

There was also a heavy snowfall in Wangdu, and it was the biggest snowfall since the beginning of winter.

Veronica stood on the tallest tower of the Cathedral of the Holy Light, letting the cold wind blow the snow flakes from the roof to hit her face, but she didn't notice it.

This is the highest place in the cathedral. There is such a special prayer room built on the top of the tall spire. The center of the roof of the prayer room is inlaid with a whole piece of priceless holy light crystal. The crystal penetrates the roof and directly reaches the Outside the roof, pointing directly to the sky - setting up an energy crystal at a high enough place, believers believe that this is the closest way to get close to God.

Therefore, this prayer room at the top of the steeple is also the most special place in the entire cathedral. Ordinary believers are absolutely not qualified to enter. Even Veronica was allowed to step in after passing the "God's test" .

However, she didn't pray, nor did she look up at the Holy Light crystal that could make any believer of the Holy Light ecstatic. She just opened the window and looked down at the stream of people walking on the ground.

The snow has not been swept away, the whole city is shrouded in snow, the square in front of the cathedral and several roads are also covered with a layer of pure white, that pure color covers up all the filth and filth , decay, whether it is sewage or feces, or even the corpses of the frozen dead, are temporarily covered by white, as if they never existed.

The people who came to worship were walking in the snow-white area. Citizens in colorful winter clothes, wealthy businessmen, knights, and nobles, they were divided into several distinct streams of people, and entered the church area through different gates. In a building blessed by the Holy Light, they seek the guidance of the gods, as well as some psychological comfort so that they can continue to live their current lives with peace of mind.

In the process, the snow was trampled by the crowd and melted by the sun. Behind the worshipers, the black street appeared again, mixed with the mud after the snow melted, as dirty as those worshipers.