CCXLIII. New Year's Eve

The countdown to the New Year had begun.

It was exactly eight o'clock in the evening, and the noise outside was getting louder. Fireworks were incessantly bursting, polluting the night sky with their light. The smell of gunpowder was strong in the air.

Everything has two sides, and Heaven Port had its bad side, and an even worse side.

The good side wasn't an attribute of pirates but rather the deeply rooted influence of religion.

The Holy Spirit Church was founded on the doctrine of charity. Aside from the present Gion Kingdom, there weren't any rotten activities like the selling of indulgences. To the people here, believing in God and praying were part of daily life. The common folk might not grasp the teachings deeply, but they never strayed from the universal values; do more good deeds and you'll drink from the Immortal's wine in the Holy Spirit Temple for eternity. Do bad deeds and you'll suffer, banished to the Abyss.