Sword of Dawn

Page 202

Benny was a little curious, but just before he wanted to continue watching, a curse from the side interrupted him: "Damn it!"

Startled, Benny looked over his shoulder, only to see old Tom who lived on the same block—an elderly cobbler clutching a newspaper, looking pissed off, and swearing again :"I do not believe!"

Benny shrank his neck. He was a little afraid of this old man: Old Tom was a believer in the Holy Light, and he was devout and stubborn. It is said that he donated half of his property to the church after his wife died, and he lived a frugal and lonely life on weekdays. .As a cobbler, Old Tom's skills are unquestionable, but as a stubborn and withdrawn old man, he is very difficult to get along with.

The children are afraid of him.

At this time, Old Tom was still cursing in a low voice. He seemed to be very dissatisfied with what was written in the newspaper. However, while cursing, he couldn't help picking up the newspaper and continuing to read the content on it—— It's almost like scolding a sentence.

The more Benny looked, the more frightened he became. He felt that the lonely old man was probably out of his mind, so he quietly backed away, preparing to leave quietly, but before he could move, the eccentric old cobbler came He stopped him: "Child! Did you say that the newspaper is nonsense!?!"

Benny immediately shrank his neck again. He boldly raised his head, ready to respond with a few words and leave, but the moment he raised his head, the half-grown child froze in astonishment——

He saw that old widower with a strange temper and a lonely life staring at him, his eye sockets were frighteningly red, and his face, which was always cold, was full of painful and distorted expressions.

"It's all nonsense! It must be nonsense!" Old Tom clutched at the newspaper, which was almost crumpled in his hands, and yet his voice trembled, "They told me . . . It's over... As soon as the gold coins jingle, my name will be listed in the Kingdom of God, and Martha will be waiting for me in the Kingdom of God..."

Benny blinked. He didn't know what the old cobbler in front of him was talking about, but his gaze swept over the newspaper in his hand. On it, the words written by the "Theological Commentator" signed "White Knight" The words are plain and clear:

"...they (priests) are good at defrauding believers of money with all kinds of empty promises that cannot be verified. Sending the souls of recently deceased relatives into the Kingdom of God, but in fact this has nothing to do with the teachings of the Holy Light...

"In the Holy Light Codex, there is actually a clear statement about the salvation of the soul, but the priests never let ordinary people see this part of the content, or will not interpret this part in detail..."

Old Tom seemed to have calmed down a little at last, and his eyes were still red, but instead of cursing, he picked up the paper and read it quickly again.

"Pooh."

He spat to the side, then seemed hesitant to throw the newspaper away, but in the end he stuffed it into his clothes and slumped away slowly.

Benny watched the scene in bewilderment, then noticed more people around them all holding newspapers.

People gathered in twos and threes to discuss the contents of the newspaper, some were worried, some were angry, and some were confused.

No one seemed to have such a violent reaction as Old Tom, but they undoubtedly paid close attention to the contents of the newspaper, and many of them didn't hold a newspaper in their hands, and seemed to be inquiring about something with the people around them.

Benny thought for a while, and suddenly knew what he should do.

He held up the newspaper in his hand and yelled loudly: "Newspaper! Newspaper! The new Cecil Weekly! Take a look! The inside story of the church's operation! First-hand news!"

Chapter 0483 Program

Since the end of the southern civil war, all church forces in the entire southern region have entered a period of emptiness. The most influential Church of the Holy Light has been blocked in the city of Luan, and the activities of missionaries have also stopped. Outside the Church of the Holy Light Those churches of the alien gods who were relatively weak and scattered quickly sensed the danger, and took the initiative to stop or reduce the frequency of activities in the southern border. It can be said that with the end of the southern border war, the spread of faith in this land In essence, it has become a vacuum——the only thing that is still spreading is the "Holy Light Protestant Belief" slowly seeping out from Cecil City, or the "Pure Holy Light Theory."

With the opening of the "public opinion propaganda offensive", the slowly infiltrating Protestant beliefs will quickly fill this vacuum. Correspondingly, the influence of the old Church of the Holy Light will suffer an extremely heavy blow in the process.

Cecil's printing machinery was cranked up.

An overwhelming amount of newspapers and promotional materials are covering the entire southern border, and articles revealing and discussing the Church of the Holy Light appear in front of people every day, every minute, every second.

Under the pens of Godwin Orlando and Wright, these articles analyze the behemoth Church of the Holy Light to people in an extremely indifferent, clear and straightforward way. As a holy group with a divine aura, but as an ordinary force that needs to be maintained by power and operated by money, it is placed in front of everyone. After removing all the luxurious rhetoric and cover-up, people first See for once how the church works—how it controls the dissemination of theological knowledge, how it maintains the purity of its top members, how it recruits newcomers, how it amasses wealth, how it maintains force to secure its position, how it invents lies to defeat competitors ...

After all the details have been dissected, every aspect of the Church of the Holy Light's operation has become devoid of sanctity.

On this basis, the news from Luan City began to quietly appear on all the prominent pages of the newspaper as current affairs news interspersed in the "popular science column".

As the editor-in-chief of the news page, Godwin Orlando's grammatical skills showed great strength. His articles did not require any insults, nor did he express any intense emotions. He just quietly stated the Church of the Holy Light. Everything has awakened thousands of people.

However, newspapers alone are not enough.

Cecil City, located in a special building on the edge of the mage area, Jibri is trying to calm down her mood.

This building was originally a part of the Magic Technology Research Institute, but with the establishment of the magic net communication-broadcast complex system, this building was separated and independently used as the control center of the magic net communication-broadcasting. On the upper floor, the technicians worked overtime to carry out renovation and construction. According to the experience of the first Magic Web broadcast, it was transformed into Cecil's first practical "studio".

Although she thinks she has a good psychological quality, and although she had a strong self-confidence before, at this moment, Jibri still feels an uncontrollable tension filling her heart.

She was sitting in the corridor outside the studio, watching through the window the magicians inside were making final adjustments to the equipment - there was a light blue room, half of the room was reserved for herself, and it was decorated It is like an ordinary and warm living room, with simple and comfortable sofas, round tables, and soft and bright lights, but the other half of the room seems to be a huge and complicated magic laboratory: three specially made large magic net terminals are placed in the In three different directions, the metal beams covered with magic patterns extend from the bases of the magic net terminals to the control seats at the end of the room, where a row of seats and rune devices are set to control the lights of the entire room and each The state of a magic network terminal, and when the "show" starts, those seats will be filled with serious and serious technicians.

Jibri knew that later on her job would be to sit on the sofa at one end of the room, facing those huge and complicated magical machines and a group of expressionless staff members, to read her manuscript.

Except for machines, technicians and a certain guest, she will not have any other communication objects and audiences in front of her eyes, but in fact... countless people in the entire southern region will see herself at the same time—by setting up in four new industrial cities As well as the "public magic net terminal" in a large number of satellite towns, his face will appear in front of all of them.

She had never met so many people in her life.

For the first time in her life, Jibri, who had always been proud of her articulate speech, was a little afraid to speak.

And just when Jibri was in a state of tension and anxiety, a brisk voice suddenly came from the side, interrupting the witch's wild thoughts: "Are you nervous? If you are nervous, eat some candy~"

Jibri was startled, and hurriedly looked back, only to see Miss Rebecca Cecil standing next to her. This noble lady with a glorious surname was wearing a baggy technician's white robe over her dress. , without the elegance and restraint of a noble lady, she looked at herself with sparkling eyes, holding a handful of candy in her hand, and was passing it in front of her: "Here, I won't let you enter the studio later." Let's eat."

Jibri wanted to salute and decline, but before she could react, Rebecca had already stuffed the candy into her mouth.

"It's delicious—there's honey in it!" Rebecca said with a smile. "Eat a piece of candy when you're nervous. Aunt Hetty taught me that. It's very helpful."

"Thank...thank you..." Jibri was a little dazed with the candy in her mouth, and it took a while for her to realize that she hastily thanked her, "You are such a kind person."

Rebecca's reaction startled the lady witch: "Wow - this is the first time someone has said such a thing to me so seriously!"

Jibri was a little sluggish for a while, but just when she was thinking about what to say, Rebecca jumped to the next topic: "Are you ready? You seemed to get stuck twice during the rehearsal .”

"I...I think it's okay," Jibri said hastily, and then nodded vigorously, "I'm sure I'm fine."

"Actually, it's almost enough—my ancestors have said that being on the spot is the most important thing, even if you can't remember the words, it's fine if you can make up the words on the spot," Rebecca said shaking her head, "And don't look at you nervous, Maybe the guy who's going to play with you is more nervous than you."

Jibri couldn't help but look back at the temporary partner who was about to appear on stage with her.

On a chair not far away, a two-meter-tall, exceptionally strong man with a scar on his eye was resting with his eyes closed, looking calm and indifferent.

A translucent glowing little girl was floating nearby, and was trying to scare passers-by with grimaces—unfortunately, it was too intimidating and failed once.

Jibri was a little frustrated: "...I don't think Mr. Wright is nervous at all, and Miss Emily is not nervous at all."

Rebecca also saw this, and she wanted to comfort Jibri again, but before she could speak, the bell that meant the device was ready suddenly rang.

Jibri raised her head, looked at the debuggers who were coming out of the studio, and the controller who was entering the room, and then took a deep breath.

She stood up and nodded to Rebecca: "I'm going in."

Rebecca showed a bright smile, clenched her fists in her chest and shook: "Come on!"

After sitting at the focal point of the three magic net terminals, Jibri felt that her whole body was a little light, and an unreal feeling grabbed her heart, which made her heart beat fast.

She was still nervous to death.

Wright also walked into the studio. This man, who was so strong that he didn't look like a priest at all, sat down opposite Jibri. He smiled, and Emily, who was floating behind him, also smiled.

At this moment, Jibri felt that her tension seemed to ease.

She looked at Emily, watching this spiritual girl with big eyes and a simple smile obediently disappear into the resonance of the holy light beside Wright, and suddenly realized what she was here for.

She felt she was ready.

"Equipment in place - count down five seconds to power on."

There was a sound coming from a certain direction. Jibri didn't follow the direction of the sound, but sat down on the sofa and turned her head to the three complex, huge and cold magic machines.

She remembered the first time she used a crappy "divination spell" to fool a certain merchant in exchange for a full ration for the next day. She was also nervous to death at that time, just like today.

"……four three……"

When she was wandering in the poor streets of the southern border, among adventurers and mercenaries, she always used lies to protect herself and trick others with sweet words, but at the very beginning, she didn't want to fool anyone at all. She just wanted to have a full meal at that time.

"... two... one..."

Now, she has enough to eat.

She's going to tell the truth today.

"start!"

Jibri had a smile on her face, that smile was sweet and kind:

"Hello, everyone, I'm Jibri, you can call me Miss Witch.

"I think everyone must be very curious about the scene in front of your eyes, and what a strange person wants to do when he suddenly appears in the magic projection-I believe everyone will know about this issue soon.

"Welcome to the first issue of "Witch Time". Today, we will talk about what happened in Luan City..."

In a room next to the studio, a magic net terminal used for testing was activated, and with the holographic projection crystal filled with magical brilliance, a stable and clear image appeared above the crystal, together with it What appeared was Jibril's sweet voice.

Gawain looked at the picture and sound in front of him, turned his head slightly, and said to Hetty beside him, "She played well—the person recommended by Amber is still fine."

"Indeed, it's better than expected," Hetty nodded, "It's fine if we can maintain the current state."

At this moment, the door of the room was suddenly pushed open, and Rebecca walked in briskly with a happy face, and said happily as soon as she entered the room: "Master Ancestor! The latest feedback is back—— The network terminals have successfully started up!"

Then she also noticed the test audio and picture in the room, and immediately showed a happy look: "Miss Jibri is doing great!"

"Hmm..." Gao Wen rubbed his chin, but suddenly he was a little confused, "But I think this program is called "Cecil Miscellaneous Talks"... That's the name I gave it..."

Rebecca was taken aback for a moment: "Hey, is that so?"

"...It seems that she forgot the words, but I made up one now," Gao Wen turned his head to look at the test sound picture in the middle of the room with a strange expression, "the prompt cards on the table couldn't be saved...but It's not a bad name she's made up."

Witch time is just witch time... It has the characteristics of this world.

Chapter 0484 Rooted

The energy of the magic net is fluctuating, sending information to distant places like a fleeting wave, centered on the main city of Cecil, and relayed by a large number of magic obelisks set up in wilderness, cities, villages, and military depots , Jibril's voice rides on the magic net, and is simultaneously transmitted to every inch of land that the broadcasting system can cover today-in Kant, in Glenn, in Tanzania, in Horseman, and in the four cities in between. In satellite towns, hundreds of large magic net terminals used for public services were lit up at the same time.

Long before the start of this broadcast, various government affairs departments have issued notices, telling the citizens that there will be a "program" broadcast at a specific time, and those who are interested can go to the nearest magic net terminal to watch it. The peculiar notice undoubtedly aroused the curiosity and attention of countless people—because the coverage of the magic network backbone was not completed at the time of the first broadcast test, there were not many people who had actually seen what a "magic network broadcast" was. Most people don't have any idea about the novelty that the government affairs department is talking about, but they do know one thing: what the government affairs department announces must be useful.

As a result, many curious people gathered in various squares early, pointing around the newly established magic network terminals-these terminals are open to the public, although the cost is slightly expensive, they are still in the hands of ordinary people. within the affordability range, but in fact since they were established, very few people have applied to use these machines: the population in this era is basically immobile, most people live in one place all their lives, and their social circles are limited to small Within the scope, those who need to contact distant relatives are basically either nobles or wealthy businessmen.

Those who were affected by the relocation decree basically brought their families with them, and there was no need to apply for the magic network communication.

But even so, most people gathered in the square still have some concepts. They know that these strange-looking large-scale magic devices can communicate with distant places in an incredible way, and transmit distant sounds and images.

Then these machines were lit up, and the pictures and sounds from afar really appeared in front of everyone.

A beautiful-looking woman appeared on the holographic projection, and she greeted the people in the square casually as if she was sitting in the living room at home: "Everyone, audience, I am Jibri, you can call me Miss Witch..."

The crowd gathered from all over the place suddenly broke out. Some people were frightened when the huge holographic projection appeared and exclaimed, some were dumbfounded and amazed, and some immediately grabbed the people beside them and asked about it. What the hell is this? Some people even looked at the beautiful girl on the holographic projection in a daze. When Jibril introduced herself with a smile, they raised their hands and said hello: "Ah... you Ok..." "Hi Miss Witch." "Miss Witch, my name is Sam..."

The "victory broadcast" conducted by Duke Gawain Cecil in a small area more than a month ago was of a test nature, and the majesty of the Duke shocked everyone, and the crowd gathered near the pilot basically did not dare to have too much There was a big commotion, and this time, it was the real on-site reaction after the first magic net program in human history was officially broadcast.

On the square in the main city of Cecil, Godwin Orlando immediately commanded his apprentices to take pictures of this historic moment with a magic machine specialized in recording images.

Of course, Jibri on the holographic projection does not know the situation in the squares everywhere, she just continues to do her work: "...Welcome to the first issue of "Witch Time". Today, we will talk about what happened in the city of Luan things...

"First of all, I welcome the visit of a friend—we are honored to invite Mr. Wright from Cecil Church of the Holy Light, the first white knight in human history. Welcome, Mr. Wright."

As Jibri's voice fell, the angle of view of the holographic projection was enlarged, and people saw that there was a person sitting opposite Jibri - a very tall man wearing a priest's robe and surrounded by a faint holy light .

People were puzzled by the newly heard term—white knight. This term was very strange, and it seemed that it was not an existing job of the Holy Light. Some people also thought of the contents of the recently issued newspapers, with a thoughtful look on their faces. look like.

Wright in the holographic projection greeted the audience: "Hi everyone, I'm Wright. Miss Jibril, you don't need to call me 'Your Excellency', we can relax and talk."

"Okay, Mr. Wright. I would like to ask you to answer my question first. I believe the audience is also curious about these questions-what does your occupation 'White Knight' mean?"

"First of all, I am honored that our lord, the great Duke Gawain Cecil, named this new profession - the word White Knight was first proposed by the Duke. As for the birth of the White Knight... please allow me to learn from our The war that just ended this year is starting to..."

More and more people gathered at the broadcasting sites in various places. A large number of people who were staying at home also heard the news of the magic network broadcasting. They were dragged by their relatives and friends to the place where they could see the broadcasting images. They were amazed at this unbelievable They were curious about who the two people talking in the projection were, and the usefulness and concept of this projection, but soon, they were attracted by the content of the show itself.

They are immersed in Wright's narration, immersed in the story that is very far away from their lives but actually happened.

Wright is indeed an excellent preacher.

Although his preaching style is unique, and although the words of his sermons are criticized by traditional priests, he is really good at capturing the hearts of ordinary people, and is very good at telling his own story while resonating with the audience. Tell more people to listen.

The crowd in the square gradually quieted down at some point, regardless of men, women, young or old, traffickers and pawns, they all listened quietly—many of them have never left the place where they were born and raised in their entire lives, and they have never heard of the distant land. Things that have not been heard of other life.

The emergence of newspapers gave some of them a channel to learn about the outside world, but those who could not read still had no access to information, but the Magic Web broadcast—give everyone a chance.

Even illiterate people can stand in front of the holographic projection made by the magic crystal and listen to a story from afar.

Listening, they found that what they had always known was shaken, and a large amount of information that they had never thought about before and had never been in contact with was rushing towards them——

Noble knights will also become inhuman in hunger and fear, and elegance is just a cosmetic for their satiation.

Extraordinary people attacked unarmed refugees in the wilderness, just to grab the last bit of life-saving food from the refugees.

Soldiers of Cecil's Combat Corps fought their assailants in the dark of night, and Wright's description of the sight was more thrilling and heart-stopping than any bard's corny and made-up poems.

And at the very end, the Knights of the Holy See appeared——

People thought at first that the Holy See knights would be the same as the religious stories they had heard in the past, and they would become righteous men who stood up in poverty and stood up to help justice. However, the truth is that they are also hungry, and they give up more completely in the face of hunger than anyone else. The bottom line of human nature.

People mourned when Emily fell, and exclaimed and cheered when the White Knight was born.

In this era of no entertainment, lack of information, and monotonous and depressing civilian life, it is much easier for people to mobilize their emotions than those on Earth who have experienced information bombing, and their emotional changes will be more intense and more vivid. Against the backdrop of the current era, the brand new "Magic Network Broadcasting", just like the previous newspapers, had an impact far exceeding expectations at the beginning of its birth.

The principle is simple—the drier the land, the more rapidly it can absorb water.

"...on that day, I became the White Knight, and I think I have embraced the true meaning of the Light, and that true meaning is that the Light should not be bound by one's status, but belongs to every righteous man of……"